If you like your death metal brutal, progressive, and quite possibly from another dimension then look no further than genre-bending quartet VoidCeremony. Formed in 2013, the Californian act’s second full-length studio album Threads of Unknowing (20 Buck Spin) delivers more of what was promised on their 2020 debut but with even more intensity and technical virtuosity.
One of the most influential figures in the constantly evolving Indian metal scene, vocalist and guitarist Demonstealer (aka Sahil Makhija) is probably best known for fronting progressive technical death metal act Demonic Resurrection. Since 2000, Makhija has been integral to the growth and development of a metal scene in a country not exactly renowned for its metallic input. Not just via his music and the establishment of India’s first designated metal recording studio, a record label (Demonstealer Records), and metal-centric festival (Resurrection Festival), but by creating Headbanger’s Kitchen, the world’s first heavy metal cookery show. Because why not.
We end the year on a chaser episode. Who are the Big Four of Death Metal? If Death Metal had a Mount Rushmore, what bands would be on it? Nik and Keefy rank the best Death Metal bands of all time, checking down from a list of about 30 bands!
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Legendary death metal icons Morbid Angel will celebrate their 40th anniversary this Spring with a month-long US headlining tour! The United States Tour Of Terror 2023 will commence on March 15th in Pensacola, Florida and run through April 22nd in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Support will be provided by Revocation and Crypta as well as Skeletal Remains from the March 15th through April 4th and Vitriol from April 6th through the tour’s conclusion.
Old school metal lovers gathered on the west side of Detroit last Saturday to witness the acclaimed and beloved band, Accept. Nestled on the borders of two of the city’s burbs, The Token Lounge is a cozy-sized venue that has been serving Livonia, Westland, and beyond for over fifty years. Known for welcoming everyone from world famous bands to local artists down the street, this hallowed hall was a special spot to host the legendary German/American act. Touring for the first time in a while, Accept have been excited to promote their sixteenth full-length, Too Mean to Die (Nuclear Blast Records) that came out in 2021. Read our review here! Their show last weekend hit town near the end of their month-long North American run, and we Michiganders were happy to have them.
Something gigantic and terrible is looming over the dark horizon, and it’s reaching its mighty hand to drag you down below the earth. That’s the feeling anyway on Summoning the Slayer (Relapse Records) — the fourth full-length record by Michigan’s death/doom quintet Temple of Void.
Leaning on everything from horror movies to medical science and general human nastiness, New York death metallers Undeath return with the much anticipated follow-up to their 2020 debut Lesions of a Different Kind. Using the lockdown period during the pandemic to (de)compose new material, the band pays homage to the past as well as mining from the present on murderous second full-length release It’s Time… To Rise From The Grave (Prosthetic Records).
Musicians are masochistic creatures. Never truly happy unless their schedules are recklessly overstuffed with writing, studio work, live shows and promotion, guest appearances and side-projects are just two more ways to ensure life outside of music consists of nothing but eating, sleeping, the occasional TV show and visits to the pub.
Since George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher joined Floridian death metal legends Cannibal Corpse in 1995, he has gone on to become one of the most highly respected figures in death metal and beyond. Not just for his fearsome guttural roar or for the unnerving ability to grow a neck wider than most people’s heads, but because underneath all the sweat, hair and spit he just seems so damn loveable. From his well documented obsession with World of Warcraft to donating toys to charities and hospitals, it’s quite astonishing how a man who regularly vomits up lyrics about dismemberment, blowtorches, necrophilia and evisceration has gradually developed into something approximating a role model.
Formed last year, Malefic Throne finds Morbid Angel frontman Steve Tucker joining forces with former Angelcorpse guitarist Gene Palubicki and drummer John Longstreth (also of Origin and Hate Eternal), the trio producing an eponymously titled four track EP (released via Hells Headbangers) of finest quality death metal.