Anyone still listen to pure 80s’ heavy metal? If so, embrace Canada’s CELESTIAL DAWN – a band that belongs in the early 80s but still comes as a breath of fresh air in 2002, an age of baggy-pant trends and ADIDAS mall music. I received their demo GENESIS from their Pakistani-born guitarist Kash, who has… Read More Celestial Dawn – Genesis
Candlemass is one band we, or at least I, can safely call pure doom metal. No jerking around, they play and have always played pure guitar based doom metal. Not only have they consistently released strong albums, but they are also an immense influence on the manifold of doom bands that came into existence after… Read More Candlemass – From The 13th Sun
No real metal listener needs a history lesson about Judas Priest, so I’ll just skip that. I’ll start by saying that this is another fucking heavy, fucking great and fucking classic Judas Priest album! RAM IT DOWN contains some of the best material Priest has written (‘Ram It Down’, ‘Hard As Iron’, ‘I’m A Rocker’),… Read More Judas Priest – Ram It Down
I’m not a fan of later Fates Warning. I much prefer the heavy metal approach of their first three releases to the progressive rock/metal of the later stuff. Even though they’re pretty good at the progressive stuff as well, the style just doesn’t work for me. However, I feel there are still two worthwhile albums… Read More Fates Warning – Parallels
Dimmu Borgir have long been threatening to crawl out from the Black metal underground and fight Cradle Of Filth for the top spot of the extreme metal world. They promised it and came oh so close with “Spiritual Black Dimensions” and “Enthrone Darkness Triumphant”, but only now, with “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia”, do they actually deliver.… Read More Dimmu Borgir – Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia
First of all, let me pay my obeisance to my friend Nikhil, who introduced me to post-Soulside Journey Darkthrone, the True Black-Metal Warriors. (For those not in the know, Darkthrone refuses to acknowledge the releases prior to "A Blaze in the Northern Sky"). Those of you who have already heard Darkthrone would exactly understand the… Read More Darkthrone – Plaguewielder
The Devil is defeated, darkness has lost its Power Fire and Brimstone will torment him eternally (Revelation 20:10) (Song #7: Reality) I am sure most ours’ knowledge of the Revelations is limited to what was told to us by the veteran Brit-Legends, Iron Maiden. Here’s a band from Indonesia, out to educate everybody about some… Read More Kekal – Beyond The Glimpse of Dreams
There comes a time in every musician’s life when he questions the boundaries of the "genre" he belongs to. There’s this inherent urge to do something different, to step up ahead of other also-had-been bands. Some want to establish a unique sound (e.g. – the Maiden sound); others want to redefine their "genre" or create… Read More Shatriya – Violence
Sepultura released their latest album "Nation" through roadrunner records this February hot on the heels of Soulfly’s second album! This album is truly a very mediocre album in every sense!! The old-Sep aggression and fury is gone and there is this nu-metal sound, with a very subdued type of aggression replacing it. If u love… Read More Sepultura – Nation
Everybody has heard of Mayhem :- They were the forerunners of the whole black metal scene- great; They are strongly against Christianity – cool; They have been involved in tons of controversies- amazing; They hit the headlines when Dead committed suicide and more when Count Grishnack murdered Euronymous – holy shit; They’re bad, they’re evil,… Read More Mayhem – Grand Declaration Of War
I read somewhere recently that "good" music is one that AFFECTS you -makes you ponder about it, makes you feel something different and influences the steps in your life. Take a slightly different version of that argument and you could say that truly brutal music doesn’t just pound on you or zap your energy or… Read More Immolation – Close To A World Below
Yes!!! This is awesome north American death/grind. 22 sick songs with a great big heavy sound, a serious grind feel to bludgeon your brain to death. This band challenges with the best bands of the genre, they have the same big sound as Exhumed, a bit of brutal death metal blent with a straightforwardly grinding… Read More Anal Blast – Vaginal Vempire