MIDNIGHT FORTRESS Midnight Fortress Self-released (2025) Rating: 9.5/10 Poland’s Midnight Fortress is the sort of power metal / glam metal / thrash metal band that existed in droves in the mid-to-late 80s and which so many modern metal bands are trying to emulate. Not many get the ingredients right, but Midnight Fortress has somehow gained […]
PUTRID All That We Hate Godz Ov War Productions (2025) Rating: 6/10 This Peruvian gang are one of a zillion bands with the Putrid moniker. To an extent, the band name doesn’t necessarily fit the sound because one might expect something dismal and deathly here. However, this particular Putrid is very much a well established […]
HOUSE BY THE CEMETARYDisturbing The Cenotaph Pulverised (2025)Rating: 5.5/10 Horror-obsessed death metal ensues as House By The Cemetary – obviously influenced by legendary Italian horror director Lucio Fulci – release their latest instalment of butchery. Hot on the scabby heels of 2024’s The Mortuary Hauntings, Rogga Johansson (guitar and bass), Mike Hrubovcak (vocals), and Thomas […]
TENEBRO Una Lama D’Argento Time To Kill (2025) Rating: 8/10 If you know Italian death metal then you’ll be familiar with terror titans Tenebro. And if you call yourself a horror movie fan then you should know Italian director Dario Argento. Una Lama D’Argento is a coming together, of sorts, of both, this being the […]
LUST OF DECAY Entombed In Sewage Comatose (2025) Rating: 5.5/10 Twenty-five years in the business and North Carolina’s grisly deathsters Lust Of Decay finally gets round to issuing a long-awaited fourth full-length album, coming 19 years after last slab Purity Through Dismemberment. Okay, there have been a few hiatuses throughout the band’s career, but the […]
SACRED LEATHER Keep The Fire Burning King Volume / Wise Blood (2025) Rating: 9.5/10 With its striking cover art which reminds me of Judas Priest, Keep The Fire Burning is the second full-length album from a band that has been loitering on the scene since 2014. Indianapolis, Indiana-based quintet Sacred Leather may not be the […]
BYGONE Bygone Svart (2025) Rating: 6.5/10 With their debut full-length album, Boston, Massachusetts-based rockers Bygone straddle a fine line between a stoner type of cosmic groove and vintage hard rock but without ever being in a hurry. I missed out on the band’s 2022 demo so was looking forward to this seven song affair. However, […]
SEPULCHRAL Beneath The Shroud Soulseller (2025) Rating: 7/10 With their brand of Basque Country brutality, Spanish death metallers strike us with a sophomore full-length outing, Beneath The Shroud. Alongside the customary intro (‘A Pact Written In Bone Dust’) there’s ten songs to suck up, the first being the blackened horror of the title track. Boasting […]
BURNING DEATH Burning Death Caligari (2025) Rating: 7/10 Erupting from Nashville, Tennessee is formidable hellish thrash manifestation Burning Death. The evil entity is the creation of Ethan Rock (vocals, guitar and bass), Jerry Garner (guitar) and Gore (drums and additional vocals). As debut releases go this is quite the blackened spit ball to the eyes […]
