WINDS OF PLAGUEResistance Century Media (2013)Rating: 6.5/10 California’s Winds Of Plague may be associated most closely with metalcore, but much like their brethren in The Black Dahlia Murder and The Red Chord, their music takes just as many cues from the extremities of death and black metal as it does the “core” aspect of what […]

RELENTLESSSouls Of Charon Do Or Die (2013)Rating: 8/10 Female-fronted doom metal bands may be few and far between but I welcome this Chicago combo with open arms. I know little about this quintet except that they formed in 2012, but there seems to be little in the way of a back catalogue and now their […]

BRIMSTONE COVENII Self-released (2013) Rating: 8/10 Now I don’t wanna sound daft, but it seems that any contemporary band with the word “Coven” or “Wizard” in their name nearly always turns out to be doom metal. It’s not a bad thing of course, especially if the music sits right, but the influence of Black Sabbath […]

SEVENTH KEY I Will Survive Frontiers (2013)Rating: 9/10 Seventh Key is the side project of longtime Kansas bassist Billy Greer and his former Streets bandmate and guitarist Mike Slamer (ex-City Boy and Steelhouse Lande). They released their debut album in 2001 and returned in 2004 to release a live album / DVD. For their second […]