Author Jonathan Butlin
Death metal is such an over-saturated genre, even the sub-genres and sub-sub-genres have millions of sound-alike bands, all desperate to prove that there is something unique about them, something which separates them from the other growling, gargling, detuned lunatics. In… Continue Reading →
There must be literally millions of metal bands in the world; some good, some awful. With so many bands with the passion for loud, heavy music, it is almost impossible to come up with something entirely original, without referring to… Continue Reading →
There must be literally millions of death metal bands in the world; many dwelling in total obscurity, and a tiny handful rising to the top to enjoy what I would tentatively call a `career’ in playing death metal. Immolation are… Continue Reading →
`Hate’ is the sophomore album from Thy Art is Murder, and clearly captures the band in ascendancy. These deathcore devotees from Down Under seem to be on the rise, with a pristinely-produced album released by Nuclear Blast and it seems… Continue Reading →
There seem to be an awful lot of retrogressive death metal bands around these days. It seems everyone is hankering for the days when death metal was scary, new, dark and exciting. Not every band hits the mark, in fact… Continue Reading →
`Godless’ is the second, filth-covered, nasty, crusty old-school, death metal album from these surprisingly fresh faced and modern looking Danes. This eight-track opus has `old’ written all over it. The production is so authentic you can almost hear the dust… Continue Reading →
Like many underground bands, Denmark’s Corpus Mortale have a fairly long, yet stuttering history. Since their inception in 1993, they have released only a handful of albums (this being their fourth). One can only guess at the pitfalls and problems… Continue Reading →
There seem to be so many different types of death metal around these days it is hard to keep track; technical brutal death metal, brutal technical death metal, brutal tech-death etc. It sometimes makes my head swim. So when a… Continue Reading →
Italy really seems to be coming into its own these days as a country where metal thrives. There is a huge and bewildering wealth of talent springing from every corner of this nation, which was unimaginable not too many years… Continue Reading →
Many, many bands with a black metal influence claim to be `dark, grim and bleak’ but only a few of them can deliver the goods in the way that they promise, often mistaking `terribly produced’ for `atmospheric’. Schattenbrandung are no… Continue Reading →
Forget the latest trends, forget superhuman, athletic instrumentation, forget technicality and sophistication; if the world does end on the 21st December as some people claim the Mayans predicted, I want to be listening to something like Abysme. The band themselves… Continue Reading →
Some metal albums are genuine classics, with tunes which burrow straight into your brain and stay lodged there for the rest of your life. Others are so ridiculously over-the-top you cannot help but love them despite their flaws. This debut… Continue Reading →