Eleven long years after their last full-length studio release, Floridian act Solstice makes a glorious comeback with Casting the Die (Emanzipation Productions), reuniting founder members Alex Marquez and Dennis Munoz for the first time since 1995’s Pray (Steamhammer SPV).
Armed to the teeth with more riffs than you can shake a Howitzer at, Danish thrashers Artillery return with X (Metal Blade Records), their self-explanatory and succinctly titled tenth album. Sadly, guitarist Morten Stützer, brother of fellow founder member and co-guitarist Michael Stützer, passed away in 2019 meaning the band were forced into a change in personnel. His replacement, Sacrificial axeman Kræn Meier, pulls off an excellent job under the darkest of circumstances and this latest record stands as one of their strongest to date.
In this day and age, it can be a daunting task for Heavy Metal music fans to decide what music to purchase due to the influx of new music available. Thank goodness there are bands like Heavy Metal powerhouse Tetrarch whose music never disappoints and is always the right choice. The band’s second full-length studio album, and first for Napalm Records, Unstable, unleashing ten tracks of mind-blowing Metal.
With a gap of eight years since their last studio album and boasting a new, reshuffled line-up, UK thrashers Evile are back with an absolute vengeance on their fifth full-length release. And as its title suggests, listening to Hell Unleashed (Napalm Records) is much like letting an angry, unfed Rottweiler loose in a roomful of overweight and particularly slow-moving children.
Sad news as legendary Thrash Metal drummer Tom Hunting of Exodus is fighting a form of esophageal cancer. He has been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, a gastric tumor that was diagnosed in his upper stomach The reveal was made in a post to the bands’ Facebook account and contains a message from Tom and the band. He was diagnosed in February and the diagnosis has not quelled his desire to tour once the new album releases this summer, due via Nuclear Blast. Get well soon Tom.
As fitting for such an enigmatic entity, the sixth album from Speed Metal legends Agent Steel has been released under some rather bizarre circumstances. In addition to being the first album to feature their original vocalist John Cyriis since 1987’s Unstoppable Force, he also ends up being the only original member left in the band after the fallout of their last reunion. Subsequent live festival debacles and his eccentric responses to preemptive concerns regarding this album’s quality certainly haven’t helped matters, leaving fans to wonder whether it will be a return to form or an insane conundrum.
While preparing their planned full-length for the end of this year, Skeleton has surprised us with the EP Ordainment of Divinity on 20 Buck Spin. This 12 minutes demo comes straight from the catacombs to fulfill your ears with dusty and viscid aggressiveness immersed on a Lo-fi production that is undoubtedly instigating us for a ‘nuclear bomb’ record.Continue reading
Neither a sequel to Tiger King nor a thrash metal act usually associated with the region, Californian act Wolf King blasts their way out of the Bay Area with some seriously sick and abrasive blackened hardcore on their second album, The Path of Wrath (Prosthetic Records).
Metallica released their Thrash Metal defining moment thirty-five years ago today with Master of Puppets (Elektra Records/Blackened Recordings). While 1986 gave us many legend-status albums from top-tier bands, this is still the one that stands above all the others. Taking the NWBHM influence of Kill Em All, and the improved thrash stylings and songcraft of Ride The Lightning, and moving leaps forward, MoP rules from start to finish. Sadly, this was to be their final album with Cliff Burton who died during the tour cycle promoting this album, but Master of Puppets is a genre classic through and through. Jam it loud and proud today! Continue reading
Puerto Rican Thrash Metal titans Calamity have announced the addition of Weslie Negrón (Moths) taking over bass guitar duties. The band is currently finishing the writing process of their new album and will enter the studio for a later 2021 or early 2022 release. This will be the follow-up to their 2019 album Kairos. Check out this video of their reveal of their new bassist Weslie!