After a bizarre musical intro sitting somewhere between an atmospheric black metal interlude and a soundtrack for a cheap horror movie, Barathrum launch into murky, slow death metal with bizarre, robotic yet haunted vocals. I understand Barathrum’s place in the scene and their trajectory music-wise, but calling this black metal at all is really a stretch. Interesting stuff, though.

0 read more

From a murky and somewhat intimidating backdrop of demos, Barathrum presented Hailstorm as their debut album. It is in many ways clearer than the more amateurish demo recordings, but in other ways it is a harsher, more unforgiving beast. Hailstorm is not typical of the black metal style; it is slow, doomy and filled with all sorts of weird atmospheres. Moments of it remind me of Beherit’s Drawing Down The Moon, but this is still…

0 read more

A fantastically well made and produced album, but one where the songs do not jump out and grab me. The title track is, of course, absolutely stellar and this is one of those albums that is incredibly top-heavy for that exact reason. Tracks like “Public Animal #9” and “Grande Finale” are certainly interesting, but don’t push the album to greater heights of enjoyment. Oh, and the West Side Story bit is just, well, not great.

0 read more

Damn BRO if you like Cannibal then you’ll fukken love this, but that’s all I got for you, brah brah. As a whole, the record is pretty uninspired in regards to how good some of the latter career Cannibal records are. If you check my other reviews you’ll no doubt be thinking “damn son, why don’t you stop talking about the other Cannibal albums and actually talk about the album at hand?” – Well, I’ll…

0 read more

This one is so low and heavy that it farts outta the speakers, fam. Which, to be honest, is not great. But hey, buried beneath the grime is some serious riffage, for sure. Crush The Cenotaph is worthy of a listen for metal completionists and those who are interested in the historical aspect of the band and this genre. Everyone else? I’d not bother, to be honest.

0 read more

I love it when an album sleeve sums up the sound of the record within so goddamn perfectly. This shit is a hideous mess, fam. All the hallmarks of the demo remain; HM-2 buzzsaw carnage drenched in lo-fi noize and sleaze, with bubbling vats of vokills and sledgehammer DOINK drumming. Less of that wobbly tape sound from the demo; more straight to the point nastiness. Tidy!

0 read more

Evisceration Plague is another high quality slab of well produced death metal from the kings ov the genre. Unfortunately, Evisceration comes after a long line of incredibly (seriously) consistent Corpsegrinder CC albums and just cannot keep up with those that came before it. As I said, the production is excellent, and there are some fukken fantastic songs here, but there are moments of lulling where I find interest to be waning or sections to be…

0 read more

You can trust Mephitic Corpse to keep it real with that DISGUSSSSTIIING death metal slop. After recently re-familiarising myself with their first demo I was fukken stokked to see they had dropped their debut in early 2025. If you like your death metal gory and BURIED in fukken fuzz then look no further. Hideous shit. Top stuff.

0 read more

TBH I usually find most HM-2 stuff to be complete fucking garbage (talk about an overused trope) but Caustic Phlegm’s use of nasty, disgusting demo production and gargling pitchshifter vokills over the top of the buzzsaw riffery, coupled with slow dustbin drums and spooky synths, creates a rotten and damp atmosphere where the best, most interesting and sickening death metal can flourish. Loses a few points for the artficial tape flutter effect (ONLY TRVE ANALOG…

0 read more

I’ll be honest with you, when I found out that Phil Anselmo had a black metal band, I thought that it was going to be absolutely fucking terrible. The reality is that Scour’s debut is actually pretty fucking good. Decent production, decent riffs, decent vokills and most importantly, deeeeeeeeeeeeeecent fucking drumming, brah brah. Gold didn’t blow my socks off but it didn’t disappoint either.

0 read more

MMmmmhhhmmmmmmmmmmm that sounds like complete and utter shit, brah brah! Just what the doctor ordered! Expect non-stop blasting carnage (drums sound fukken amazing, but beware they are buried in grime and bodily fluids). Vokills are eXXXtra disgusting on this one. 10/10 would recommend this to my gran, if she were still alive.

0 read more

Pornography and power electronics go together perfectly, just like a cigarette and a pint of lager. However, if I wanted to listen to a bunch of annoying porn samples, then I’d…well, watch a bunch of annoying porn. Surely we should be letting the noise do the talking here? Let the imagery and titles set the scene, and then let the noise conjure that sleazy, submissive and oppressive atmosphere. There’s actually some great pieces here, but…

0 read more

Off the strength of the demos you knew that Hell Returns (the debut album from Dutch speedy blackened metal maniax Bad Omen) was gonna be a bangerooni. Production is even better than the two cassette EPs, and I think only two tracks (from memory) reprise here from the demos. All the rest are new original fuckin’ belters. Top playing across the board. The drums in particular sound really great on this one and the vokills…

0 read more

Shorter and sharper than Returns, Hell is instead a more Venom-esque romp through some goddamn motherfuckin’ fuckin’ metal. Production is still top notch, as is the playing and vokills. Awesome bare-bones metal!

0 read more

Fuckin’ old school fuckin’ metal from fuckin’ Bad Omens. Heard of these guys from the Headsplit Records newsletter for Jan/Feb 2025 and glad I checked them out. This is a really high quality production demo, more of an EP than a demo. This thrashes hard. It kicks you in the dick with a spiked boot. Tidy!

0 read more

A totally different beast from the debut album which came a year after. It sounds like a totally different band, even. This EP is fast, loose and sloppy. You could say the debut album from these guys is also all of those things, but where the album has quite a heft to it, this debut EP is quite slippery.

0 read more

This split contains material from Ildjarn that’s so polished I had to look up whether or not I was listening to a friggin’ bootleg. Huh. I did a search, and of course, like other Ildjarn shit, it is disputed. So I dunno, is the shit here on this split legit Ildjarn material? Who even fucking knows. It’s good shit, though. Hate Forest stuff here is deep, bassy and still quite majestic despite its heaviness. All…

0 read more

Mad as fuckin’ beef noisecore from the US with a pornogrind tilt to it. Expect nonsensical barrages of idiotic noise, with all sorts of interesting vibes and sleazy additions. From blurs of digigrind madness, to slabs of impenetrable noise, Gruesome Toilet does it with a smile and a slingshotted condom filled with piss right to the face. Tidy.

0 read more

Murky, weird, off-kilter, moody, doomy black metal here on demo no. 3 from Barathrum. It sounds hideous as all fuck, but that’s pretty cool in my book.

0 read more

Very patchy stuff, especially considering how great the next demo is (Discrimination against the Vagina). Seems to be culled together from various different sessions.

0 read more

Chimaira’s Impossibility Of Reason is far heavier than it has any reason to be. This is coming from someone who hasn’t heard this record in over 20 years (where the fuck DOES the time go!?); I had the shock of my life playing through this again. Holy fuckski, brah brah, this thing knows how to throw down! Don’t get me wrong there’s some metalcore-ish parts that aren’t so great and even some leftovers from the…

0 read more

Another oddball entry into the Candlemass canon. We are so far right now from what the band is known and loved for (even on records that came after this) that it’s almost funny. What isn’t funny however, and is actually rather impressive indeed, is that this album is still heavy and doomy as fuck, and it’s still pretty damn good. Is it original? Not really. Is it a product of it’s time? Kinda. Are the…

0 read more

Without wanting to criticize too heavily, Bulldozer at this point are little more than a mediocre Venom clone. The two songs on this 7″ are a lot of fun, though. Don’t expect the world in regards to production, but things are clear enough that this doesn’t quite fall into demo territory.

0 read more

The vibes are a bit “off” with Anciet, if you’ll permit me using Gen-Z speech for a moment. They certainly have their own unique edge, which is special to me considering that they are part of that early 90s Norwegian wave of bands. On Svartalvheim (what a record sleeve, btw), the usual black metal necro shittery is witheld with a servicable production courtesy of Cato Langnes, and accentuated by unusual and sometimes anxious atmospheres permeating…

0 read more

Your one-stop shop for the Anaal Nathrakh demos in modern times. Contains both Total Farking Necro as well as the self-titled demo for your aural carnage needs, but interestingly also includes the stand-alone bonus demo “Necrogeddon”, which is a super-early version of “Forging Towards The Sunset” from Vanitas (sans chorus). Cool shit! Mayhem cover is great too.

0 read more

Nasty fucking early demo from Anaal Nathrakh. Pummeling industrial drum sounds are the order of the day, with the blanket of frosty riffs atop them. The now-trademark gargling, howling screeches of Dave Hunt narrate you through the chaos from beginning to end. An aural feast of intense, cold hell. “Lethal, D.I.A.B.O.L.I.C.” and “The Technogoat” are amazing in particular.

0 read more

Not as good as the other demo that came in the same year but still a solid slice ‘o nasty, harsh, industrial black metal. The sound is overall far more tinnitus-inducing here than on the debut demo. Interestingly, the sample where the words “Anaal Nathrakh” are uttered is re-used here to open this demo just as it was on the last.

0 read more

An incredibly raw and amateur demo from the legendary Asphyx. It’s absolutely great to see where bands germinated from, demos like this are more or less a thing of the past now. Despite the fact that this is very rough around the edges, you can genuinely hear the underlying vibe that the band were going for and this audibly carries through into their early studio albums. It’s well worth a listen for fans of the…

0 read more

It is incredible to me just how consistent Cannibal Corpse can be sometimes, and Kill is no exception. It’s place in that incredible run of albums from late 90s to late 00s; uncompromising death metal with brutal vocals dressed up in hard-hitting yet super clear and precise production. KIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!

0 read more

Sound quality? Who Cares? Do You? A stormer of a set, with a good mixture of the regular stuff along with some, uhh, less common numbers, such as the excellently-titled “Financial Cris-Ass”.

0 read more

Whilst not quite reaching the heights of Love It To Death, Killer is another decent Alice Cooper record. The songs don’t quite jump out at me here on album number four, but the sound is still excellent and the journey is enjoyable for every second. To it’s credit, there are no pacing issues with Killer; it seems more solid and consistent a version of Love It To Death, but is somewhat more generic as a…

0 read more

Things take a general uptick for the better on Alice Cooper’s third album. The production, once again, is absolutely fantastic in every possible way and makes this a dream to listen to. Speaking of dreams, opener “Caught In A Dream” (doesn’t Napalm Death have a track with the exact same name? ha) gets us off to a flying start, a start made even stronger by the incredible “I’m Eighteen”; one of Alice’s biggest hits for…

0 read more

Truly, this is a stunning album. In a lot of black metal the synthesizers feel either like an afterthought or just a texture that helps fill out the soundstage. On Hyperborea, Ancestors Blood really take things to new heights with an incredible synthesizer addition. They have always been a part of the sound since the beginning, but here more than ever they help to lead the compositions rather than just compliment them. The production is…

0 read more

Is this a set of original songs? Holy fuckski, brah brah! Production isn’t TOO shittified either, so fuck a duck, you’d best get on this one! It’s a rare one!  Stupid comments aside, this is a tidy fucking slice of head grinding mincecore, so enjoy that shit!

0 read more

Time for some more extremely well produced pornogrind! Anal Penetration is silly as fuck (of course) but really can blast ‘n’ rattle away with the best of ‘em. The sound really packs a punch for a one man project (which are often a bit shit tbh). This is a perfect 15 minute or so EP of grinding chaos. Recommended for sleazy pervs and grinders alike! 

0 read more

Thick, chunky production on this! Bass clanks away manically underneath the layers of guitars and fat drum sound. Solos abound – and fucking good ones at that, I’ll be honest. The proficiency on this one is effortless, I’ll give them that. Really cool shit bridging the gap between death and thrash.

0 read more

A damn sight better than the previous effort, The Return Of The Northern Moon sees Behemoth actually come into it’s own as a tangible, listenable project. The songs are cohesive, if not quite excellent just yet. There is a large influence from the Norwegian world, but this is probably unavoidable for 1993. Interestingly for all the “black metal safespace” folks, Rob Darken from Graveland plays keyboards on this thing.

0 read more

People say to me, “Behemoth used to be a proper black metal band back in the day”. It don’t get much more back in the day than this, and this piece of shit demo is 110% death metal, brah brah! Looks like ol’ Nergal and pals came full circle, eh? This demo is pretty terrible, to be honest. I’d only really recommend listening to it if you are like, madly obsessed with Nergal or something….

0 read more

Feels like a demo compilation more than anything, with sessions ranging in audio quality and also seemingly, musical proficiency. Not a particularly great start to a discography.

0 read more

Heavy as all fucking shit blasting drum machine gore and or porno grindcore. Yeah! The first session is great, with unfathomable watery vokills, but Pt. 2 has a fatter, nastier sound.

0 read more

Fucking oustanding early EP from the mincegore legends that are Agathocles. I’ve heard this set of songs about 4000 times by now, but honestly, when they come across this well, it doesn’t really matter all that much. Production-wise, things are pretty raw but the sound is very warm and it really packs a punch. The session is clear enough that you can hear everything that is going on, whilst also not treading absolutely anywhere near…

0 read more

A decent follow-up record and a solid sophomore effort in general. Easy Action feels more grounded, even if it is quite progressive in parts. It is experimental, but not “Zappa weird” (for lack of a better term) like the band’s debut. If I thought Alice (the man) had developed his trademark snarl out of the gate with Pretties… then boy was I wrong, as on Easy Action, right out the gate with the (absolutely excellent)…

0 read more

Pretties For You is the debut full length album from Alice Cooper (the band, not just the man) from all the way back in 1969. Other than the bizarre inclusion of a live track about 2/3 of the way through the tracklist, this thing is produced wonderfully for the time and sounds fantastic. Musically, Alice’s (the man, not the band) vocals are distinct even at this early point in time, but as a whole the…

0 read more

Unforgiving, non-stop, breakneck, conscious hardcore from 1984. People seem to get a bit panty-twisted over what came first, but who gives a shit? Plenty of people praise modern hardcore bands without bringing up the fact the genre is over 40 years old. Honestly, this fucking rules and if it doesn’t make you wanna get up and move then I don’t know what to say to you.

0 read more

Lo-fi but rather listenable demo / early EP from the Belgian legends of mince. You can expect all the regular Agathohits, and the regular disgusting sound quality! This one is of particular historical note however because it comes at the very start of their long and illustrious career. PS – I love the old Agathocles logo, I wish they used it more.

0 read more

Dense, heavy, sleaze goregrind from Portugal. 28 traXXX of unstoppable goredozer madness, with old school sexploitation movie themes (generally). Depsite the imagery and themes I would say that this stays firmly in the goregrind camp of sound, so for those of you who think pornogrind is cringe as fuck then please do not let that put you off from checking out this record. Production is mad solid. Do not expect the wheel to be reinvented,…

0 read more

The first 25 tracks on this thing are absolutely top-tier grinding mince. This era of Agathocles is vital for grindcore listeners and it can often be buried in a sea of prolific releases that aren’t all that good. This album, however, is fantastic. Deep, dark, crusty grind with the mandatory political / left-wing undertones (which go hand in hand like a Biscoff with a black coffee, to keep the reference somewhat Belgian haha). As others…

0 read more

Solid, chunky goregrind from two excellent bands in the Portugese scene. Namek and Pussyvibes share members if I recall, so it’s really cool that they ended up doing a split together, on Chase (MAC)’s label, of all things. I didn’t know about this split until recently, which sucks because of all who are involved. Musically, this is excellent. The production is fantastic; out of the gate, Namek’s gut-churning distorted bass really pumps out of the…

0 read more

A blistering session of rough-around-the-edges mince. Can you really fault it though when you’ve got 20 songs in 8 minutes? That’s absolutely tango and cash to me, brah brah. Get into the pit!

0 read more

(Interesting that this has the nu metal tag lol) Chunky, groovy grindcore from Russia. I first heard of these guys when Seth from AxCx did some shows with them (it was written on his website). I checked this album out not long after. Condom Of Hate is perhaps unsurprisngly a bit silly, but is worth checking out for those who don’t mind some playful riffs in their grind (I say “grind” but it’s not very…

0 read more

Chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug…

0 read more

I had this 7″ on transparent blue. No idea what I’ve done with it. Look after your stuff, kids! Anyway, this shit fucking rules. Absolute audio carnage, but in the most distilled and controlled manner. The drumming on this thing alone boggles my mind, but the whole finished product really is something else. The reissue comes with a bunch of live tracks that are actually not just bolt-ons to fatten the runtime – this too…

0 read more

Murder In Mind is quite simply one of the best death metal albums ever made. Don’t get me wrong, every single Desecration record is a banger, but Murder In Mind is just lightning in a bottle. The production is pretty dank, and the group don’t have super-fast drum maniac Mikey in on the kit yet, but even so, this shit absolutely fucking rules. If you even have the most remote interest in death metal and…

0 read more

Guess my brain isn’t big enough to understand whatever the fuck it is that’s going on here, try as I might. Yes, I listened to the whole thing. Yes, I appreciate the artist merit involved. No, it’s not good. Sorry, it’s awful.

0 read more

Sicko Baby is a lesson in the school of Gut, let’s just put it plainly. It’s funny to me; these guys either knew Gut or were very heavily influenced by Gut’s early stuff. Then, in turn, for their 2006 Cumback album, it’s like Gut decided to do the exact same by taking Mucupurulent’s intepretation of that sound (and mix it with some terrible rapping). Expect silly song titles, farmyard vocals, fairly tidy production and overt…

0 read more

So this is what, a re-intepretation of Stones’ Exile album? If there’s a joke (or even a purpose here) then I’m afraid it’s gone over my head. Like… I’ve listened to some shit in my time, I’ll be honest with you. This does absolutely nothing for me.

0 read more

Tidy little slice of Oi! – Really short EP, does not fuck about. Production is fucking great, I won’t lie; proper warm analogue sound that really does the songs a service.

0 read more

Breach Birth is the first EP by experimental collective God. It is significantly shorter even than some God songs (lol), but it’s a brilliant, if slightly rougher around the edges taste of what would come with the full lengths. Admittedly, they are more sprawling in scope and weirdness, but the experimental carnage was there from the very start. An excellent EP.

0 read more

A Short of Mdou Moctar playing live popped up on my YouTube account a few months ago. I have no idea how, or why, it was recommended to me, but I’m sure as fuck glad that it was. Afrique Victime is a fantastic album. It’s a bit outside of my wheelhouse so forgive me this somewhat lacklustre review. The production is clear as day, allowing the ever-flowing inspiration that is Mdou Moctar’s music to unfurl…

0 read more

Non-stop, pummeling goregrind which is right up my shit-smeared, corpse-littered alley (lmao). Vomi Noir, as I’ve established in other reviews, as a force to be reckoned with and are really helping to put France back on the map in the goregrind world. Neurovisceral Exhumation are a new experience for me, but they hold their own on a split with one of the best gore bands around right now, so they are decent as fuck in…

0 read more

What a fucking treat. This short EP kicks you in the dick and then does a little dance afterwards, before handing you a flyer about a local environmental concern on the way out. Production is good enough to get the message across with a decent whack to the face, but raw enough to still be “punk as fuck”. Oh, it also has one of the coolest sleeves ever, fight me!

0 read more

Standing Up For Falling Down is where I came in (a bit late) to the Sheer Terror discography. If I had to come out the gate with picking a fault (of which there are few) it would be with the production, which feels a bit overdone. As for the music, Sheer Terror’s bludgeoning hardcore oozes over you like molasses; either at a neck-breaking skank or a brooding crawl. Some of the song titles are a…

0 read more

Quite possibly one of the best black metal records I’ve ever heard. Lucufigum’s debut full length is a magical mix of synthesizers and non-stop, pummeling metal. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a ton of bands that do that, especially in this genre, and I’m not entirely sure what it is about this record that does it so perfectly. I guess it’s the “vibe” (to get all white girl namaste for a moment), which is second…

0 read more

Excellent piece of work; one that is unfortunately very short lived, so it’s hard to figure out what this is all about. Obviously, that adds quite heavily to the mystery around this 16 minutes of dark synthesizer beauty. Well worth a listen for anyone even remotely interested in dungeon synth.

0 read more

A frosted, bejeweled black metal masterclass. Taking the fragility of 90s symphonic black and throwing it head on into a sea of unstoppable blasts and wasp-like guitars, Cirith Gorgor pull absolutely no punches on their debut release. Excellent stuff!

0 read more

Overwhelming blackened death with an absurd wall-of-sound production. Drum triggers tear through your ears like the fuckers were shooting nails out of the speakers. Vocals are great. Guitars are a blur of overcompressed mids.

0 read more

Suppository play a chunky blend of groovy grindcore; commendably I must say in a rather serious manner (lol), before this entire subgenre became a bad fucking meme. Regurgitate stuff here should be great, but the production sucks ass. I don’t expect big production from Regurgitate, but even their older, stank and disgusting shit had a gelatinous heft to it. This session is thin and brittle, and lacks punch, which is a shame, because the songs…

0 read more

RGTE stuff here is fast and loose but fuck me does it half hit hard. Sessions like this remind me why I fucking love this band so much. Absolutely peak goregrind. Gore Beyond Necropsy are a bit more of a wildcard, but as is their style. The compass is a bit more all over the place, but the overall sound is fantastic. A highly recommended gore split!

0 read more

A Naked Whipper comeback / sophomore album was not on my 2025 bingo card, I’ll be honest with you. It’s also very easy to be sceptical of something like this happening, especially so long after the original run, as it were. However, much like David Lynch’s Twin Peaks (bet you didn’t see that comparison coming huh), the Naked Whipper return after several decades does much in the same in that it takes that original perverted…

0 read more

A mixed bag of material spanning the entire world of Goner grind. Usually, I’ve noticed after many years of listening to comps like this, unless going chronologically they seem to start off with the strong stuff at the beginning and the quality lessens as the disc goes on. Not here. This is all over the place; solid studio shit is shuffled in with all sorts of hideous live / rehearsal room recordings, giving the whole…

0 read more

My uncle gave me his copy of this album many years ago and I used to think it was the shit. In hindsight, especially taking it into account with the rest of The Exploited discography, it’s not quite as good as I remember. It is however, a crapload of fun. It’s also the most audible Exploited album in a while (chronologically), with Horror Stories and Death Before Dishonour both having somewhat dank and difficult production….

0 read more

Arachniiiiiiiiiid!!!!! I remember first hearing Temples Of Ice with absolutely no context, I want to say, ten years ago. I was a bit perplexed because it sounded absolutely nothing like the Venom that I knew (at the time, being the first couple of albums only). In the context of the band’s chronological releases (and general band history), Temples Of Ice does not sound so shocking. In fact, it’s not a million miles away from it’s…

0 read more

Another interesting British demo that fits perfectly into the ongoing ASKE label roster. With the production and ethos of black metal, vs the ferocity and attitude of oi and punk, Rampant is both sonically and aesthetically similar to other bands that work with this label (Longbow springs to mind). These four tracks however, are very unique. For those far off the beaten path of both of the aforementioned genres, this comes recommended.

0 read more

Killer fucking grind that really hits the spot. Non-stop blasts and punk grooves, with a thicker production and death metal influence despite the clear punk roots. Truly, I suppose, this embodies the crossover genre that grindcore really is between hardcore punk and metal. This shit is pure carnage.

0 read more

Subterranean death/doom without the pomp or abstract bullshit. Straight to the point, hideous and torturous shit. It’s not a very long demo, but it’s long enough to leave it’s mark in metal history like a disgusting slap in the face from a shit-smeared hand. Tidy.

0 read more

Good shit! An often overlooked relic from the past, which had the whole grim and disgusting death/doom shit ironed out before a lot of contemporaries. Personally, I think the demo is better (is it possible to write that without ever sounding like a hipster?) but there’s plenty to be gotten here with this EP. Production is unsurprisingly better here and the songwriting and overall finished sound is much more matured, but there is something about…

0 read more

A cool way to get all of the Grotesque Infection stuff in one place, if one was so inclined. Personally, I could give a fuck about the live set at the end, but such is the way with these things. This comp is worth it for the demo and the EP.

0 read more

The final (original) run with Cronos was a bit disappointing, in all honesty. With Prime Evil, it was Mantas’ turn to try and take Venom forward; and he did so into a whole new era, with members new and old (but no Cronos). Can I just say, that what a marvel it is that new frontman / bassist Tony Dolan fits in right out of the gate! I remember when, idk, I first heard Priest…

0 read more

Fuckin nasty shit, bro. As we say in the Valleys: fucking bogging, son! Truly, this is a sound so decrepit and disgusting it’s hard not to completely lose one’s mind whilst listening to it. It feels like falling down a swirling vortex of innards and goo; a maelstrom of bone and unidentifiable viscera. Think Cryptworm crossed with the early Dead Infection demos / LPs.

0 read more

Bowel churning death metal of the gory and disgusting variety. Expect fathomless depths to both the guitar tuning as well as the vocal performance (hey, not to mention the production!). The drumming on this from Jullian Rhea is second-to-one; the skins are loose and kinda wet sounding, which is a far cry from the fetid (lol) pings of dustbin snares eternal in these murky subgenres, but every smack of the snare – be it blast…

0 read more

You gotta love early Dismember. This shit is great. Absolutely God tier HM-2 fuzz attack death metal with that defined Swedish style. I have gone off the sound quite a lot especially because of how derivative it is these days (if you use HM-2 pedals with THAT setting ironically or not that’s an instant turn off for me lol), but albums like this one or Entombed’s Left Hand Path were originals; trend setters, I guess….

0 read more

Unleashed’s debut gives that proper old school death metal feel; before death metal became over-produced with it’s dryer-than-a-martini Morrisound production (lol). That’s not to say that Where No Life Dwells is fast and loose; the production is perhaps more organic but the riffs and the drumming are executed with excellent precision. Without wanting to be trite, you can easily make comparisons to early Obituary or even Autopsy (sans gore). There’s also something decidedly Swedish about…

0 read more

Hedd fukken nekk wrekkin brain mushin death fukken metal brah brah and don’t you fukken forget it! SHITE computer generated cover art? You got it, brah brah. Production that farts out of your speakers? You got it, brah brah. CHUNK for daze, brah brah!

0 read more

Disgusting, raw and angry as fuck – that’s what really good fucking punk is supposed to be, right? It’s a shame that Death Before Dishonour was recorded inside a wind tunnel, because otherwise I think this would be an absolute corker of an album. Wattie sounds insane here. The tracks generally are darker, more brooding, than most Exploited fare. There is also a big metal influence, something which would continue to bleed into the band’s…

0 read more

Bongripper for LARPers. Not exactly put together in a ramshackle way; Darkstalker is technically sound. However, unfortunately, it’s so infuriatingly boring that I find I’m asking myself whether I can turn off a three track EP before the end. The alternative would be death by yawning, it seems.

0 read more

As someone who “came up” (in grindcore terms) through the late 00’s MySpace explosion of DIY gore and/or pornogrind projects, Brazil’s Lymphatic Phlegm felt like weird outliers; purveyors of the kind of music that would inform and inspire that entire wave of bands, yet standing out as weird and original in their own right. I’ve said it before, but at times, Lymphatic Phlegm sounded more like a super strange black metal project than a tried-and-true…

0 read more

Dense, noisy, intimidating; these are three words that could quickly summarize the racket that Asinin creates on their debut 2024 demo. To say that punk is full of energy is quite possibly the most lazy fucking way to describe it, but it’s easy to feel like you are in the room with the band on this record. The band doesn’t seem to have done much else, but I’d certainly be interested in hearing more off…

0 read more

Punk that’s right up in your grill. 34 minutes of non-stop energy with rabid vokills. Production is rough around the edges but bright and clear enough to allow these short, sharp messages of vitriol to smack you in the chops. Great, great shit. The bass sounds absolute fantastic.

0 read more

Despite what the cover art may indicate to the contrary, The Legend Lives On is one of the stronger Celtic Warrior records. The production is dense and heavy, and whilst not quite “metal” it smacks pretty hard. The bass pops underneath everything and clanks away with a really nice sound. The drums hit hard. It’s easily the best record since the debut, if going chronologically.

0 read more

I love that album cover. No doubt that Mysticum walked so a million other bands in this odd crossover style could run, but unfortunately I don’t find In the Streams… all that engaging. The production is great for 1996, and the beats are laser precise. I’m just not really sure if it works with the kind of black metal Mysticum plays on top of those beats. But hey, that’s just me. I do understand why…

0 read more

What a split! An absolute classic of porno/digi-grind sickness. Libido Airbag do not need an introduction at this point. This EP contains more of that super consistent sleazy electronic gore vocal shit (pretty sure the first track also appears on a later EP/Mini-album). Intestinal Slaughter sound like a mix of Libido Airbag and old Anal Whore stuff. Super sketchy electronics pitched up and down. Proper bargain basement programming sound but fuck, it’s genius. Really good,…

0 read more

I might have heard that intro sample a bazillion times, but who gives a fuck when the mincing gore is THIS fucking good? The stomps are real good on this thang, but let that not detract away from the grinding gore. Sometimes in this kinda punk-influenced mince stuff the dance-y bit can dominate, but not on the Necrotic Liquefaction debut. There’s plenty of headspinning blast sections and sick fucking riffs. The vocals are 10/10 toilet…

0 read more

Facking absurd gorenoise shit. A headcrashing of 6-pack-o-tinnies drum programming, bubbling vats of slimy shite vocals, and a power sander attached to a distortion pedal “guitar work”. Throw in a peppering of hideous samples and you’ve got the cherry on the cake.

0 read more

Fucking rabid shit from Goatmoon on this one. “Firepower And Steel” in particular is a hell of a track. Really hits the spot. At first, Godless North’s vocals are a bit comical to me, but you get used to them after a little while. Production is a little bit muffled on their side, but the sound is hellish and chaotic enough on this split EP to make me want to find more of their shit,…

0 read more

First EP from Pagan Hellfire, after several full length records. Real chunky, well-produced black metal with plenty of kick (think mid-career Marduk, GBK, 1349). There’s no thin and brittle frosty sound here! Heavy shit!

0 read more

Production has an odd hollowness to it but the compositions are dark, evil and sinister as fuck. Equally majestic as it is unsettling – and to top it off, that cover art is absolutely fantastic. Well worth checking out.

0 read more

Not too dissimilar to part 2, if I’m honest. I’m not really sure why this was rerecorded. I guess there are some subtle differences but all in all, this set of songs is still great either way.

0 read more

Disappointing. Starts off OK but descends into a mire of boredom and low quality jiggery fuckery. The production across the board lacks any real impact or bite and couple this with the typical compilation rot of “gets worse as it goes on” and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. If I wanted to hear tired, shit-tier cover versions of Mayhem and Bathory songs I’d ring up the guys who I used to rehearse with at…

0 read more

A mixed bag, but what a bag of goodies it is! It would be realllllly fucking cool if every single track sounded like “Piece By Piece (Remix”) because the drums are fucking out of this world. Proper blast your feckin’ heid off kinda shit. But yeah, idk, what do you want me to say. This shit fucking slaps. Subterranean, dirty-sounding black and/or death from the melting pot that was the Finnish 90s scene.

0 read more

Grind Your Fucking Head In is one of my favourite Phobia releases. This thing is fucking bonkers. Grindcore and “well produced” are not usually phrases that go hand-in-hand (even though there is like a sub-genre of grind bands that indeed do have very good production). The drums on Grind… are just incredible; lightning fast, just like the blurs of absurd riffs and hardcore/pv-inspired beastmode vocals. Songs like “Shit Housed” and “Fuck What You Think” should…

0 read more