EP Review: Fistula’s Destitute 2015 Demo Sessions

By Jeffery McCarthy Against All Odds Productions For a release that was recorded live with vocals recorded separately, the entire five song onslaught comes off as a companion to Vermin Prolifocus (released in 2014 on Patac Records). Fistula is a band that hails from Ohio; their veracity is a driving force throughout each song and… Continue reading EP Review: Fistula’s Destitute 2015 Demo Sessions

Track Review: Fulgora’s “Splinter” and “Crutch”

By Jeffery McCarthy Against All Odds Productions This is the second single from the St. Louis/Baltimore-based thrash/grindcore project, with more forthcoming from the album Stratagem (coming out March 24, 2015 on Housecore Records). “Splinter” opens up and I swear I’m balls deep in a Soundgarden track from the early nineties, which of course is not… Continue reading Track Review: Fulgora’s “Splinter” and “Crutch”

Trilogy of Pain – A Review of Leviathan’s Scar Sighted

Black metal is the metal genre I’d have to pick as my favorite. Despite the strict parameters it’s based on, recent bands have taken the sound into strange and artistic territory. It’s no longer always about Satan, Tolkien and teenage rebellion. And production values have greatly improved since the early 90s. But when a modern… Continue reading Trilogy of Pain – A Review of Leviathan’s Scar Sighted

Dopethrone: This is Your Brain on Satan

I don’t know what’s in the water in Montreal, but a lot of dirty, bluesy metal seems to come out of there.  Anyone who’s been reading this blog for awhile knows that I was a huge Barn Burner fan.  I also really enjoyed Mountain Dust, a stoner metal project that Kevin Keegan was (is?) involved… Continue reading Dopethrone: This is Your Brain on Satan

Blood and Wine: A Review of Ensiferum’s One Man Army

  So if you’re an Ensiferum fan, why are you even reading this review? Just go ahead and pick up their new album One Man Army. Because chances are, you already know what you’re going to get. In fact, when dealing with most folk metal bands, there’s never a degree of total surprise. Sure there… Continue reading Blood and Wine: A Review of Ensiferum’s One Man Army

Album Review: The Shape’s Masque of the Red Death

The Shape is a band that’s in it for the long haul. According to their Facebook biography, they have returned to the scene after a five-year hiatus — and what a return it’s been. Playing several shows a month for the past year and dipping their fingers into the booking pie as well, they’ve made… Continue reading Album Review: The Shape’s Masque of the Red Death

Khasm Ticket Giveaway and Interview with Bassist Keith the Wretched

From 1994-2003, gothic metal band Khasm was a force in the Connecticut music scene.  As Ryan Bair wrote last year, their “enthralling blend of dark imagery and theatrics, heavy and melodic compositions, and cerebral concepts… introduc(ed) our local audience to then-unheard-of elements that were popular in European metal.”  For almost a decade, they were riding… Continue reading Khasm Ticket Giveaway and Interview with Bassist Keith the Wretched