DEMON CHROMEHung Drawn & Quartered EP Self-released (2024)Rating: 7/10 In 2022 I raved about the debut full-length outing – First Contact – from this intriguing Providence, Rhode Island-based act so I’m glad they’ve returned with this new four-song EP. Main man Dylan Kulpa (vocals, guitar and bass) is joined by drummer Evan White and together […]

PRAYING MANTISDefiance Frontiers (2024)Rating: 8/10 It probably sounds a bit weird to call the 13th full-length studio album from these legendary New Wave Of British Heavy Metal rockers “lovely”, but that’s exactly how I felt when this record unravelled like a rich tapestry of metal melody. Okay, so the cover art is a bit grey […]

NUCLEAR TOMBTerror Labyrinthian Everlasting Spew (2024)Rating: 8/10 Almost a decade ago Baltimore, Maryland-based combo Nuclear Tomb teased out a 2015 single entitled ‘Kill The Clowns’ and then fell into silence, but then re-emerged three years later with a demo – Admission Of Guilt – which was followed by a brace of EPs – Succumbing (2019) […]

RAVAGESpider On The World Thrash With Power (2024)Rating: 8/10 With their first full-length studio album of new material since 2009’s The End Of Tomorrow, traditional Boston, Massachusetts-based metalheads Ravage return with a fine slab of melodic metal in the form of Spider On The World. Taking their name from original vocalist Alec “Al Ravage” Firicano, […]

EARTHBLOODWitchburner EP Inverse (2024)Rating: 7/10 I’ve seen this Finnish band described as sludge-thrash, which is why I hopped on board this sophomore EP. With Earthblood’s 2023 debut EP Primal Fury I was impressed by the mix of faster, bruising segments and more robust, almost hardcore slower passages, and Witchburner follows a similar trajectory; sweaty, confrontational […]

EXTINCTIncitement Of Violence MDD (2024)Rating: 6/10 Although Incitement Of Violence is only the second full-length platter from these German thrashers since forming in 2003, it’s a timely reminder of how potent the Teutonic thrash scene is. Enjoy Extinct before they, err, become extinct again because this is a rousing, war torn effort bristling with angst […]

UPCASTI Self-released (2024)Rating: 5/10 Sounding like every other modern day generic thrash act, Russian band Upcast delivers a hostile but formulaic debut full-length that frantically throws the listener around for its duration only for said audience to get its energy back and move on to something else. From the opening chords it’s obvious that Upcast […]

SULPHUR AND MERCURYAlchemia Prophetica EP Time To Kill (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 I had not heard of Sulphur And Mercury before but couldn’t help but be drawn to this EP via the cover art. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I guess in my head I had some sort of stuffy mid-80s Euro metal weirdness, and at […]

HEAVY TEMPLEGarden Of Heathens Magnetic Eye (2024)Rating: 7/10 I do sometimes struggle with bands who so desperately want to look and sound as if they have been plucked from the psychedelic haze of the late 60s and early 70s. In the case of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based hippy trio Heavy Temple I can’t help but feel they’ve […]

TYRANTyran’s Oath Iron Shield (2024)Rating: 7/10 German label Iron Shield Records has been churning out decent material since 2010 and one of the latest bands to join the roster is Bavarian clan Tyran. The combo originally formed in 2020 as Martyr but soon changed their name and now the debut full-length outing is upon us. […]