Another chunky, bludgeoning goregrind-tinged br00tal death offering from the lads in RazorRape, Stripped To Kill has a bizarre and hollow production sound. I’m not the only person to have noticed this it seems, as one of the comments on the YouTube upload of this says its like listening to music coming from someone else’s headphones on the bus. I had to laugh at that. I like the artwork to this one. It has a smidge…

There’s something sweet about the chilled out yet morose tunes of Portishead. Sure, the beats are definitely sounding their age, but the spacey atmospheres and glorious vocal performances that makes this debut so exciting, even today.

What I like about Waco Jesus is that they are primarily a death metal band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously, yet also manages to retain a brutal and sinister edge. Some of the misogynistic overtones are a bit much, especially by 2021 standards, but this is brutal death metal we’re talking about so realistically I need to shut my fucking face about that. A solid record, if not a little short for a death…

Another few months go by, its time to listen to another NxVx split. This time its the pretty fucking good split with the legendary Stoma from The Netherlands. NxVx are on their own sickness ting; rattling bass that echoes through the slave pits and pleasure pits of the seediest vice planets, all lo-fi as shit. Stoma on the other hand still sound pretty lo-fi but also massive as fuck. The sound is perfect. A great…

P.L.F. are always a pleasure. Continuing my shitty P.L.F. puns, having this record queued up in my to-do list could have been called a Pleasurable Listening Forecast (I’ll show myself out). Despite my love for this band I am not super familair with the ins and outs of their splits, and this is the first time I’ve heard them use a pitchshifter, which is an interesting variation. Before I chuck this on and actually press…

Reset is the sophomore Tower Of The Sun record, and showcases the gorgeous expansion that the project has made with its sound. Like an unusual fungi growing across a dirty crystal on a far away planet spinning around an even farther away star, Reset does not so much as press restart on the group’s sound, but instead represents a delicious mutation instead.

Darkthrone had an oddly clean beginning for a band that would go on to spend decades wallowing in lo-fi disgust. Soulside Journey is, if you’ve not heard, quite different to most of what was to follow from this excellent duo. There are echoes of the frostbitten riffs that would define their sound going forward, but for the most part, Soulside Journey is a clanking death metal beast and an interesting beginning for one of the…

I heard you like foot fetish oriented slabs of crushing noise, bro? No? Oh. Well, The Rita brought some anyway. I have a rip of this on my computer and I have absolutely zero idea where it came from haha – either way its a lovely harsh massage of the senses. Its impossible to keep abreast of The Rita but when our paths do cross I always enjoy the experience.

Become The Bitch is the delightfully titled third album from Dutch party goregrind legends, Rectal Smegma. Here, the Smegma have chunked out further since their first release. Gone mostly are the party vibes and tupa tupa grooves, instead a more punishing death metal sound is utilised, through a chunky production that is heavy yet crystal clear (that bass sound, aye aye aye!). What makes Rectal Smegma sound apart from other bands of this style though…

Can’t say I’m the biggest fan of this kind of thing but in 2020 I made the decision to look back at some of metal’s greats, including Maiden, Sabbath and Priest. Killers is, of course, a world-class record. I absolutely love the old analogue production, the drumming and the bass are a pleasure to listen to. For a casual listener such as myself, hearing Maiden without Dickinson is weird, but refreshing. Plus, I love that…

I was performing the impossible task of hunting down Reekorrhoea demos when I found out via Discogs that the legendary Grindfather had released the entire collection on cassette. Time to break out the Walkman with the dodgy drive belt then, for some excellent gore. Honestly, a few of the sessions are bit hit and miss, but when it hits, Reeko is fucking unbeatable. I’ve covered some of this material before in various demo reviews but…

Jurassic Park for the Genesis was a slow, clanky mess of a game, but one that had its own kind of bizarre, dark atmosphere. A lot of that lives on today in this minimal and bassy soundtrack. From the groove of the tectonic “Jungle” theme, the anxiety of the “Pumping Station”, the abstract “Volcano” or the balls-out rock of “The Visitor Center”, the music of Jurassic Park for the genesis is a unique and haunting…

A back to basics approach is given on this early release from Imminent Starvation. I’m enjoying the “end of humanity” vibes on offer here, which are always good fun. Tops. All in all, pulsing, no nonsense electronic music for those who like it to hit that little bit harder.

Target Earth was the first Voïvod record that I ever heard, asides from a few minutes of Dimension Hatröss when I was a younger gentleman (Lies! I was never young!). Target Earth is also the first record that allowed me to “get” Voïvod’s bizarre brand of sci-fi thrash. Expect the usual wailing guitars, robotic vocals and odd time signatures, but of course, with Voïvod, always expect the unexpected. A fantastic progressive metal adventure.

Skeng is one of the best Bug tracks, so of course it deserves its own dub. The original is cut, chopped, mangled, and turned into a new beast all of its own. 6 minutes of genius.

Find Candace is one record from what I like to call the “spooky” era of Venetian Snares. Unsettling samples, child-like doll artwork and an overall air of menace permeates these scatterfuck breakcore compositions. To write Venetian Snares off as pure chaos though does do the man a disservice; the beats and tracks in general here are meticulously created to provide you, the listener, with an uncomfortable electronic music experience.

Short, sharp and to the point. Featuring live soundboard recordings earmarked originally for a (cancelled) split release, Unholy Grave eventually found these tracks released on cassette by Grindfather Productions, and thats what we have here. Things are pretty grimy, even for a soundboard recording, but if you know what Unholy Grave are about then this is, pardon me for saying, more of the same. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in these circles. One for…

Cheers to Earache Records for reminding about this band in a recent tone-deaf meme post which appears to have significantly backfired for them. Anyway, Tomb Mold play a disgusting blend of muddy gore, which is coupled with an abstract and even a technical edge. The production is gorgeous, crisp and meaty. One of the best in the new crop of bizarre death metal legends. Speaking of which, Tomb Mold were one of, if not the…

Typical yet enjoyable slam from another disgusting band with another disgusting name. The incredibly small, tight and horrendous snare drum wins out here. The drum sound appeals to the deepest, most emotional core of my heart. Throw some hammers.

Dusty, sloppy, death metal inspired grindcore is the order of the day. Of course, Blood are the absolute best at this kind of thing. I’d always put off listening to them until I saw them one year at OEF and damn they blew me away. They still retain this incredible sound even now. Mental Conflicts is a bit all over the place, but its a fuckin’ doozy. You’ve always wanted a grindcore rendition of “Auld…

Roman Polanski’s Repulsion has been on the to-do list for a very long time, even more so since I saw Catherine Deneuve in Belle De Jour. I’m not sure that I like Repulsion as much as Belle but she’s perfect for this role, regardless. Deneuve has a still, fragile beauty which betrays no flicker of the chaos unravelling in her character’s mind. Which is, of course, perfect for such an artsy black and white psychological…

I’ve been putting off all things Dune for many, many years. The density of Herbert’s fantasy has always had me rescheduling my goosery into such. The movie, well, I heard was awful, despite being a Lynch film. But, with the 2020 remake coming, I figured now was the time to get caught up, at least with the previous cinematic offerings that came from this world. Dune is a mess, to put it simply. David Lynch…

Ah, here comes the inevitable disappointment. No? Well, that’s a relief. Although I will say watching this made me feel empty. Why? Maybe its because it disregards all original Halloween sequels. Sure, awful as they mostly are, you’re making a bold statement by erasing a chunk of horror cinema history to rewrite it with… what, exactly? Did the entire Halloween franchise really need to be undone for this? What does it offer in continuation or…

As part of my mission to explore more mainstream records that I have overlooked, the most-recognised “debut” of “proper” Pantera came into my periphery. Still boasting some silly tropes of their earlier style, Cowboys From Hell is an odd mix of redneck metal and cringeworthy power metal tropes. Honestly, I just fucking don’t like Pantera. At all.

I’ve always considered Umpskiptar the low key death rattle to the initial Burzum black metal return. The project is barely black metal at all anymore, the songs lean much more towards overt norse and Viking vibes than they do anything dark and evil. That’s not to say that Umpskiptar is necessarily bad however, it actually has its own kinda unique charm to it. The songs are generally long and winding, again that trademark Vikernes hypnotic…

Endroducing is a textbook case of the plunderphonics movement; samples are the focus of the audio collage here, all of which are artfully and gorgeously woven into fantastic tunes for us all to enjoy. This is literally the perfect soundtrack to walking through the city in the rain, at least in my case!

Don’t you just love it when you pick something random to listen to and it blows your head off? Galactic Edge is a strange release, coupling tracks from the Galactic Supermarket album and mixing them with a few new ones, but this doesn’t really matter to me as I am new to this artist and instead am more focussed on just how good this is. I guess it would class as some sort of thinking…

Ah, such woe, such wistfulness! If you’re in the mood for slapping your headphones on and losing yourself in a journey, then I would recommend this record. Great stuff.

I got sent one of these by Bobby back in 2013, which came with a cache of other massively disgusting gore and noise. Transpired Bowel Junk is no different; expect blasting, headache inducing goregrind with a noisy edge. A pleasure to listen to, no doubt.

When it comes down to it, there is little that can compare to the sheer chaos that is Revenge. Album after album, song after song, Revenge are relentless in their delivery of their warring black metal. Triumph.Genocide.Antichrist is a testament to the relentless pummelling the world has come to expect from such a band.

2020 was a good year for death metal. Its crazy to think, ten years ago when I started this site, death metal was probably my least favourite style of extreme music, I found it tired and uninspiring and the whole “brutal” thing cringed me out, despite loving goregrind etc. – turns out for many years I was just listening to the wrong death metal. Because I’m an idiot. Anyway, Of Feather And Bone’s Sulfuric Disintegration…

Dead have been around for a fucking long time. Despite this however, I seem quite adept at avoiding their releases. You’ll Never Know Pleasure, from all the way back in 1995, blends humour with the sick goregrind and death metal templates, delivering a solid performance (with a great, clear sound) that makes me feel a bit daft for not paying that much attention sooner.

Vol. 1 is easily my favourite Immortal Technique album. You can tell how young he is here, but the truth-laced venom and intelligence is entirely apparent from the word ‘go’, even if a few of his more flagrant statements haven’t aged well. Truly a stunning debut, with amazing guest spots and absolute wreckers of tracks, from the boastful opening “Creation & Destruction” to the now infamous “Dance With The Devil”. What a debut!

(I originally wrote this review back in 2014. Enjoy!) Well, if there’s one thing in the universe I never ever expected to hear, it’s J. Randall doing some sort of noisy porno-goregrind shit. Enter Ultracide; the new project by the ANB / Seal Team 666 mastermind, which went up recently on Grindcore Karaoke. I can’t tell if it is a joke or not (it probably is) but luckily for me, I love this type of…

Two of metal’s arguably sickest bands go head to head on this fitting split CD. I’ve mentioned before that Oxidized Razor are incredibly hit and miss, but here’s some good shit from them. Fluids however, whilst being a different beast all together, blow the Razor out of the water. My only complaint however is that this needs to be longer! More gore!

I love how this weird little record from a group of Dutch friends has become a worldwide classic in the goregrind genre. The cover art has no doubt aided in its spread across the musical underworld, but the proof is truly in the pudding, as they say. Groovy riffs, blasting drums and those imitable pitchshifted vocal performances. Absolutely timeless, of course.

I believe this is the only release by Blasted Pancreas. I have read comments that the creator may have passed away, in which case, RIP. Blasted Pancreas is, to boil it down to its barest bones, immaculate Lymphatic Phlegm worship. Eery riffs and reverb drenched compositions contrast heavily with bludgeoning goregrind. Bon apetit.

This is a great record. Real smooth, chilled out and laid back. The re-endition that is named as the title track is simply glorious, changing a big, showy song into a relaxed and horizontal affair. Attention to detail was clearly on the creator’s mind. There are so many little details to catch on relistens. Great stuff.

I look at the sleeve art for this record and I look at the name of the project and all I get are intense Annihilation vibes. Which is furthered by the project’s Bandcamp, where each release is augmented with a cryptic message for its listeners. Similarily, the music too has its own fractured, futuristic feel. Discogs has this classed under vaporwave, but I would class it as such in the loosest sense; Anomalous Planet sounds…

Rounding out a trilogy of Carcass worship records that I have listened to today, is this wonderful full length from Pathologist. The production on this thing is fucking so good. Every instrument hangs perfect in the balance, without losing any of its disgusting grime or charm. Kudos on that front. Musically too, this is a solid block of old school goregrind. Brilliant. One of the best records I’ve heard in some time, and up there…

Thornography could happily be considered the sister release to its predecessor, Nymphetamine. It was also the last album to feature Adrian Erlandsson on drums. It is also, unfortunately, nowhere near as good as Nymphetamine ever was. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great songs here, if we’re going song by song. Its just as a Cradle Of Filth studio album it lacks in several of the departments at which they usually excel: speed, intricacy…

This was a cool little random listen for me. I’ve heard the name Brother Lynch Hung thrown about here and there but it was when my Spotify randomly played me a track from this album that I took it upon myself to explore it further. Lyrically, we are pretty much in horrorcore territory here, with all the usual unpleasantness that comes with it (and then some), but the beats and vibes (and production) are spot…

Don’t you just love it when something sounds exactly like how the name makes you think it will sound? As far as I’m aware, Lair Of The Black Blowfly is another Bobby Maggard gorenoise based project, of which I’m of the opinion that the world simply cannot have enough of. This is a clever and almost artistic approach to the sheer sheets of noise that we are used to, where themes (and sounds, in the…

When I was a teenager I had a Scum System Kill flyer on my wall for years without ever hearing them. I guess I got it through a trade or something like that. (2021 edit: Yes, it was a flyer from Langt Ner Tapes) It was nice then, to finally acquaint myself with the noisy hardcore / crust on display here. A.N.T.I.C.O.P.Z. is hardly a long record, but the 9 minutes or so here is…

I’ve probably opened a whole bunch of posts with this line now, but nowhere else is it more applicable than here: Secret Chiefs 3 are a trip! 1st Grand Constitution is a trip! With a line up featuring (of course) Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance, Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn and Bungle drummer Danny Heifetz, this Secret Chiefs record is the spirit animal of Bungle’s Disco Volante. Genres? What in the absolute fuck is a genre?…

Ah Lymphatic Phlegm. Initially I was not a fan of this band but as time has gone on I have come to appreciate their often-imitated “melodic” brand of goregrind. Spooky reverb drenched riffs and barely audible drums are the order of the day, topped with heaps of disgusting shifted vocals. Honestly, its a little unsettling once the oddness of it all sinks in.

This was not quite what I was expecting. I mean, just look at the ridiculous cover art (lol). Pornthegore have more in common with Gronibard than they do with say, (insert random chunky-sounding Bizarre Leprous death metal band dressed as pornogrind), but the record is well put together all the same. It is, of course, pure fucking nonsense, but that is kind of the point, isn’t it?

Here we are again, with another Satanic Warmaster release. For better or worse, the band sound a lot better here than last time I came across them, almost invoking an Enthrone Darkness Triumphant-era Dimmu Borgir vibe. The main reason I’m here however is Archgoat, which is a much more guttural and brutal affair, sound more like a death metal band in places than the bestial black chaos that they are renown for. Apples for oranges…

Bestial Machinery is the release that blew open the world of Agoraphobic Nosebleed for me. I quickly devoured their history, which is presented here in the form of basically everything released up until the Honky Reduction LP on Relapse Records. The quality is a bit up and down, but for the most part this is relentless, unstoppable, grimy drum machine grindcore. As much as I love records such as Agorapocalypse or the split with Insect…

I was very happy to see Broken Hope return with another record. I love the almost florescent artwork with its bright colours. Sonically, I suppose the record is much the same, and surprisingly bright for such a brutal death metal record. All in all, a good listen.

Entrails Tsunami has to be one of the best album names I’ve come across in recent times. Perfectly of course, it also fits Jig-Ai’s maturing aesthetic, so its a double whammy. The same can be said the for music on display here, the band have honed their unique goregrind and as the project moves further and further from its youth, the sonic clout only continues to improve. Jig-Ai are now a household name in the…

Stratosphere begins in ways that I would expect from this glorious project. Yet, it twists and weaves away through a whole different tapestry of sounds, some of which are an aural treat for the senses, and some of which are a bit tedious. On the whole however, this is a good album and worth a listen.

Arguably the album that ended the klassic era of Korn? And by klassic, I suppose I mean the 90s. In which case, Korn left the era with a return to the drab and dirty sound that they had pioneered on their first two records. Issues is a strange one, as alongside the usual clank and rattle of Korn’s nu metal is a whole series of shorter songs; vignettes if you will, which range from bizarre…

Oozing is a project from the dude behind First Days Of Humanity, which is great. Oozing is even better, with thick chunky slabs of pure goregrind mania. Absolutely top stuff of the highest degree and I cannot wait to get into some more of this stuff. Pharmacist are quickly becoming one of my new favourite things in goregrind. If you thought Medical Renditions Of Grinding Decomposition was good, wait until you hear this split. The…

I’m not a huge fan of the 80s Killing Joke output, with the self-titled and its follow up being an exception. This incendary debut has the sound of a band hitting the ground running, and unlike some of the band’s other 80s outputs, almost feels like it hasn’t aged a day. For its primitive beginnings, Killing Joke sounds as fresh and as interesting as ever. How striking is that cover image? Apparently it was taken…

What a noisy little fucker this is, falling more into the harsh noise camp rather than the harsh techno camp. Is this techno? Fuck do I know about electronic music? Not much, thats for sure. What I mean is, Tollund Men has that pulsing body-moving hypnotic throb to a lot of their stuff, but its buried under 16 layers of grime on this cassette.

Nymphetamine is a double-edged sword for me. I remember tuning into Scuzz TV at the time (I was an avid Cradle fan at this point, having started with Damnation… and worked my way backwards obsessing over the band’s spooky metal), and being enormously disappointed with the single version of the title track, namely “Nymphetamine (Fix)”. As a 14 year old meathead, I loudly proclaimed that I was done with Cradle at this point, and that…

Ah what the actual fuck! 52 (give or take) seconds of absolute blasting grindcore carnage! What an absolute belter. It’s over before you can even really think what the fuck is going on, but this is super cool. Super limited, super fun.

Chunky chunky chunky! Punishing hardcore-tinged dark metal from the kings of the style. God Is War is more of APMD’s perfect storm of a sonic recipe.

A later-career Nazarene offering which still manages to showcase the bands rabid thrashy black metal style. From the endless ocean of this genre, Impaled Nazarene do stand unique with their own frenzied sound. Pro Patria Finlandia had a clear and precise production job and is actually a lot longer than I remember, on a relisten. The CD comes in a cracking little digipak.

This bizarre project has been on my to-do list for a very long time. Today I finally listened, and was taken away on a wonderful musical experience. Chanelling aspects of both dungeon synth and vaporwave (my favourite niche electronic subgenres no less) and filtering them through the worship of an old RPG, we have some glorious low-key compositions that creep and crawl with the right amount of emotional leads over the top. Like, that sounds…

It feels almost wrong to complain about bad production when listening to obscure black metal, but so much is lost in the mud here that it’s almost unbearable. I find myself longing for a clear… well, anything. Otherwise, Anal Blasphemy tick all the boxes with this release. Its just a shame I can barely fucking hear them.

This is a strange one. On one hand, it is almost quite stale metal, on the other hand it is quite bizarre and unusual. There exists a strange duality between the two opposite ends of the musical spectrum, as it were. Surreal Overdose is thrashy, and more-metal-than-thou listeners will no doubt enjoy. But for me, dipping in like this, the production and general style is clumsy, and everything seems to be tripping and falling over…

Listening back now after all these years, I can more or less hear the youth oozing out of the speakers. Coming on like an acid-drenched Sabbath, Holy Mountain contains none of the bong-addled fuzz of later recordings, instead focuses on more concise and groove-led tracks. A classic of the doom and stoner genres whichever way you cut the cake.

Poo samples are perhaps to be expected, but I find myself shaking my head all the same. Disgusting death metal with a touch of goregrind sleaze is the order of the day. The downside is that Defecation Domination does not possess the same solid, fibrous and chunky production from the bands splits. In poo terms, the recordings here are much looser and fluid, and thinner in substance. However, there is still chunks and globs of…

Decent bit of war-tinged black metal. Songs about sluts and Satan and all that jazz, as I’m sure is evident by the cover art above. What is surprising however is the solid, dense production aesthetic which is almost unheard of for this kind of shit. It was a nice surprise. The only downer is that I listened to this back to back with a Revenge record, and it could absolutely not stand up to that.

Did anyone say Carcass worship? Pharmacist have to be some of the greatest goregrind in the old school style that I’ve heard in quite some time. Move on over County Medical Examiners! Pathologist also has someone giving them a run for their money at the moment. The sound is a little muddy but I feel that’s a trite complaint considering the genre. The lowdown is that this is fucking awesome, and is well worth checking…

When I started the Lines In Wax website in 2011, one of the first things I did was document my growing collection of the Slimewave series by Relapse. I don’t collect vinyl all that much anymore, but in line with the ten year anniversary of this site, and my seemingly never-ending mission to catch up on all the reviews I’ve been putting off for years, I figured it was high time to add the remaining…

Recieved the sad news that Alexi had passed away (edit: date of writing is 4th Jan 2021) so decided to spin up some older Children Of Bodom classics. I’ve never been the biggest fan, but there is something cathartic about COB’s sprightly music. Sitting in its own world between melodeath, metalcore and something altogether more Blind Guardian-esque, Hatebreeder is a polished collection of lightening fast tunes filled with youthful energy. RIP dude.

Summoning have always danced on the horizon of my musical periphery, mainly for being that black metal band with that horrendously awful logo. Granted, the more I think about it, the cooler I think that logo actually is, so there you go. Minas Morgul is fantastic. I’m no Tolkien nerd (yet, at least – I still need to get around to reading the books as an adult) but the vibes and atmospheres conjured here are…

A Haggus full length is just what the planet needed. Of course, it takes yours truly here a few years to actually get around to listening to it, but boy, was it worth the wait. Hard not to be derivative, but Haggus does what Haggus does best, with its mincing stomps and gut-churning watery vocals. I will mention however, that a lot of grindcore wonders that rise and fall on the international scenes, becoming golden…

Possibly one of the derpiest things that I have ever had the privilege of hearing. Mayhaps this means that I am not kvlt enough? That’s gotta be it, right? I am surely not kvlt enough for this insane tape recording. Nevertheless, I listened to the whole thing unironically, so this must mean I now ascent to a higher plain of obscurity. Cheers!

Winter are legendary in the world of slow and heavy music. I had the pleasure to catch them live at one of the early 2010’s era Roadburn festivals (I forget which), so it was nice to return to these guys after so many years of not listening to them. Into Darkness is a slow, dirgy romp through well crafted metal tunage. Sometimes you gotta go back to the classics for that decent hit of metallic…

Another one that has been on the to-do list for about six years. I can’t even remember where I picked this one up, maybe some sort of Vice end of year list? I forget. Either way, there is a lot of interesting instrumentation and electronic work here, but those are dragged down by a vocal performance which is interesting at its best and fucking irritating at its worst. Not for me.

The first half of Zeit is somewhat disappointing. There appears to be a prevalence of some sort of bending organ sound or even a theremin, and whilst that is cool for about 2 minute, its irritating after 15 or 20 minutes. Zeit however starts to form into another beast all of its own around the 40 minute mark, where bubbling samples evolve into pulsing electronic sounds and are augmented by gorgeous flourishes of synthesizers and…

A short but massively satisfying debut effort from the Californian version of the mighty Disgorge. Expect bowel-churning guitar tone, spastic drumming, vokillz-from-da-deepz and a production that will rattle your head until your brain turns to mush. Just lovely.

I can’t remember where the hell I got this 7″ from. Anyways, its my only foray into the word of Ladyscraper, who (on this EP at least) play mental speedcore with lots and lots of frenetic sampling. A lot of speedcore just hits the ground running and doesn’t stop, but Ladyscraper at least seems to have all sorts going on with the sampling. The drums are all over the place. Pure chaos. I love it!

I cannot adequatley convey how much I love this band. They are, truly, players of the most disgusting style of goregrind. Happy was I then, to find Traces Of Gore, a compilation throwing together all of the band’s split material, which aside from the tracks with Dystrophy, I have not heard yet, so this was most welcomed. Disgusting putrifying gore is the order of the day here, with a decent balance between riffing and all…

Light, sprightly (is that a word?) synthensizer music in the olde worlde / fantasy vein. I suppose you could call this dungeon synth, but this seems like more than that. I have Tolkien vibes, general high fantasy and massive worlds unfold as I lose myself in this lush music. Great stuff from Elixir!

Whiskertwister doesn’t seem to do subtlety. Which I suppose, is a good thing when it comes to this brand of early 2010s dubstep. The beats pound you in the head, and the bass slaps you in the dick. Over and over. Forever. Or, for a few tracks, at least. This kind of music hasn’t aged well, but it reminds me of a time and a place when it was exciting to watch a whole new…

There’s been a lot of jostling from the LDOH camp as of late, and many splits have been dropped, of varying quality. It was only a matter of time, I suppose, until a new full length record was released by the latest incarnation of the band. I don’t have Facebook, and can’t seem to find any other info online, so I’m unsure who is in the band at the moment? Admittedly, I’ve only checked out…

Neptune Towers is super under-rated. Transmissions… is a stellar electronic composition, heralding styles all the way from dungeon synth to something in the peak-period of Tangerine Dream’s synthesizer output. Its a mesmerising listen, and one of great enjoyment.

Some lovely head-buzzing drones from the earlier portion of the Sunn O))) discography. “Mocking Solemnity” and “Death Becomes You” are excellent offerings, as is the uhhh, interesting take on Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, which is of course, completely and utterly unrecognisable. The biggest drawback with this album is the middle two collab tracks. I love Sunn O))), and I love Merzbow, but fuck if these works are not irritating as fuck. The second…

What is considered by many to be a missed step by Cradle is actually one of my favourite releases for them. Depending on how old school the Cradle fan you are talking to is, Cradle either died with Midian, Damnation… or Nymphetamine. I can see arguements for all of the above, when comparing and contrasting to the original style and vision of the band, but all of the above are great albums in their own…

What a trip. Balanced between elements of harsh noise and creepy atmospherics, Haraam’s awkward, lurching electronics transcend out of the audible mire, writhing into shapes of pulsating body music. Hypnotic, danceable, weird and unsettling. I’m in love.

There’s heavy, and then there’s Triptykon heavy. Its a certain vibe and tone that the band can hit that sometimes just absolutely blows you away. Eparistera Daimones has a pompous name, but its fitting somewhat to the Giger-inspired gothic darkness that the band purvey, taking latter-career Celtic Frost to new depths of audible darkness.

Tu Carne are one of the more consistent goregrind bands, when it comes to full length records at least. Me Quedo Con Tu Dolor! is more or less the bands debut release, and they hit the ground running with their tried and tested, steady sound. That may not sound too thrilling when it comes the world of goregrind, but Tu Carne have a trademark to their hardcore-infused dirty grindcore. Not to mention, those pitchshifter vocals…

I’ve seen this band name bandied about for a while now, so our inevitable date was only a matter of fate’s interest. Here we are then, when mine own ears met the lucid and juice-drenched tunes of Tribbing Is My Religion. Think brutal death with drum machines, leaning more towards the chugging approach than the Mortician-esque explosion of blastbeats. Couple this with vocals that would make Gutalax happy and throw in a bunch of hilarious…

Widowmaker is – unfortunately – a disappointing followup to the all out carnage that was presented to us on Hatred For Mankind. Even today, it is hard to find such a densely evil recording. One could argue that the bar was set too high by the band’s debut, but there was a myriad of different ways their intense and meandering sound could have progressed. Sadly, a lot of Widowmaker is boring where instead it should…

Lemmy N Co’s third offering streamlines the adrenaline rush found on Overkill into a fairly similar yet still heavily enjoyable, classic Motörhead album. I mean, just look at that cover painting. The wheel is hardly re-invented, but its a decent companion piece and a solid discography entry for this workhorse of a band.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – when it comes to industrial black metal, it is really hard to beat Thorns. It seems when Snorre is not assisting in murders he is fully capable of producing some of the best, cold metal around. “Shifting Channels” is an absolute beaut of a track. I’m pretty sure it samples the door sounds from the OG Doom game, but I could be mistaken. What I…

October Rust is quite possibly the perfect album for autumn. Here, Steele et al hone their gothic rock chops and stray away – for the most part – from the doom metal and punk elements that coursed through their first few records. I read somewhere that Pete Steele wanted more “chicks” to be fans of the band, and that says it all with this album. The production is cold and dense, and the gorgeous keyboard…

Haunting, beautiful and heavy doom metal from this proto-Sunn group. The vocal performances from Runhild Gammelsæter are stunning, a foil to the boggy doom of the band themselves. There is a dense Norse kinda feel here (hey, maybe its just the runes on the cover, eh). The only real downside is that there are only two studio recordings here, the rest of the record is made up of live or rehearsal recordings. The drop in…

I’ve read a lot of hype about this Mirror Reaper record over the last few months, especially when looking for new metal music. Can’t say that I am familiar at all with the works of Bell Witch, so going in blind I was expecting something in the vein of Sleep’s Dopesmoker. Colour me surprised then, when I found that this album was a more ambient affair. Mirror Reaper swells and builds, from the smallest sound…

A new record from Lord Gore was not something that I expected to hear in 2020. Nevertheless, pleased I am, to be treated to such a delight. Its been a considerable amount of time since Lord Gore caressed our ears with their sinister yet sweet lullabies of death, and they have returned with a more streamlined and mature sound. Thats not to say improvement was needed in the first place, but Lord Gore have changed…

In anticipation of the release of the newer Carcass stuff I revisited some of my least favourite albums by the band. Yes, I am one of the grubby losers that thinks Symphonies… and Reek… are the pinnacle of Carcass’ sonic output, and yes I’m damn proud of that, even if the band aren’t. Onwards onto Heartwork proper then, the record that sang the melodic death of my favourite bands (and sounds) of all time. Leaving…

Not the first album that I have heard by this legendary Dutch band, but when listening to it, and doing my research, I realised how confused and in the dark I was about the band’s complicated discography. Embrace The Death sits a few albums in, but was recorded towards the start? Or something like that? Despite all of this, Asphyx has this unmistakable mournful approach to the slower side of death metal; a melodic depth…

Mullah Said is my first taste of the prolific and highly revered sound art of Muslimgauze. I find something about this deeply unsettling; dark, meandering soundscapes are the order of the day, steeped and drenched and plunged over and over into dense Eastern weavery and instrumentation. I shall be returning to this project, that is for sure.

Chrome Hoof have been on the to-do list for longer than I would ever care to admit. How blown away was I when I finally checked them out? Well, read on! LOL. Beyond Zade is one of those awkward releases that kinda sits somewhere between an EP and an album, but either way, that doesn’t really matter, what matters is the musical content, of which I can safely report is absolutely bonkers in all of…

Without looking back it is sometimes easy to forget just how brutish and blunt a weapon early Voïvod was. Before the trademark dissonance and progressive science took over the band’s mesmerising songwriting, the band purveyed an interesting blend of unforgiving thrash metal. Sure, compared to some other efforts, the production is somewhat lacking, but I find that the unpolished, rugged edges to War And Pain add to the aural assault on the senses, much in…