Author: Shan Siva

Carnifex – “Die Without Hope” (Nuclear Blast Records) Close to 10 years on, it didn’t look for a while that Carnifex were gonna continue having announced a hiatus after 7 years of relentless touring! Thankfully Nuclear Blast stepped in and personally I feel the band are better placed on a pedigree metal label rather than on an admittedly reputed hardcore one in Victory. It would seem that the break allowed Carnifex to find their feet big time in the song writing dept with probably some of their best and certainly deepest material on this 5th album. Previously playing deathcore, “Die… Continue reading

Destrage – “Are You Kidding Me? No.” (Metal Blade Records) WTF? Definitely the most talked about Italian rock band right now, Destrage are not just famous for looking like five different attempts by Dr Frankenstein to perfect his monster, but actually sounding like it! Fusing math metal with alt punk, electronica and even classical, Destrage celebrate diversity, seeing it as a natural human condition so they compose by way of incorporating band members ideas that fit into the overall core theme of a particular song, hence guaranteeing a musical fit and flow – all done by way of Post-its apparently!… Continue reading

Words Of Farewell – “The Black Wild Yonder” (AFM Records) Despite coming from the heart of Germany’s industrial Ruhr region, these guys play a tremendously uplifting form of progressive death metal despite their melancholic name! While Alex Otto’s vocals growl and Tristan Wegner pounds his drums, guitarists Erik Gaßmus and Henrik Tschierschky compose beautifully emotional melodies, executing them amidst delivering alternating power DM riffs and suave, futuristic rhythms. With Leo Wichmann’s keyboards bolstering their sound even further with delicate ambiance and surrounding atmospherics, songs like ‘Luminary Ghost’, ‘Beauty In Passing’ and ‘In Kingdoms Of Rain’ have a real air of… Continue reading

Annihilator – “Feast – Special Limited Edition” CD/ DVD (UDR Music) If you missed Annihilator’s latest offering “Feast” whether in the standard CD format or the deluxe ECO-book version featuring re-recordings of 15 of the band’s most well-known songs prior to current vocalist Dave Padden joining, then look no farther. This Special Limited Edition contains all of the above plus a new DVD from the band’s Wacken Open Air set last year featuring yet another 11 songs including ‘No Way Out’, ‘King Of The Kill’ and ‘Alison Hell’ as the band charge through a blistering set creating the perfect ice breaker on… Continue reading

Flotsam and Jetsam – “No Place for Disgrace – 2014” (Metal Blade Records) Originally released in 1988 as the successor to these Arizona thrashers’ groundbreaking debut, “No Place for Disgrace” was their first album without bassist Jason Newstead, who’d just left to join Metallica. Nevertheless, the album received rave reviews and sits respectably in my own vinyl collection, continuing their tradition in driving, heads down thrash with Eric AK’s quirky vocals being definitive in their sound. Over the years there have been many calls to re-mix the album given the new technology available nowadays, but sadly when the band and… Continue reading

Conan – “Blood Eagle” (Napalm Records) These are the guys everyone’s talking about and will be playing a number of high profile European summer festivals including Holland’s Roadburn, France’s Hellfest, Germany’s Doom Over Leipzig before journeying to Australia later this year! Conan are as mighty as their name suggests, playing heavy stoner doom noise featuring dual primeval roaring / trippy harmony vocals mixed into slow, feedback fuzzed smogged out guitars and dull, stone age drums that own more to pagan ritual that any form of modern civilization. Conan’s lure is to take us back to the land that time forgot and indeed, it… Continue reading

More Than a Thousand – “Vol. 5 – Lost At Home” (Steamhammer / SPV) Now back in their native Portugal, More Than a Thousand have learned a thing or two in the decade they lived in London, as well as recording in the USA and Sweden. Mixing catchy metal core with pop harmonies amidst Vasco Ramos’s aggro vocals and Filipe Oliveira’s dervish like guitar work, More Than a Thousand have a very commercial sound which is no bad thing especially if you’re wanting to break out’ve a small corner of Europe. With strong choruses promoting shout outs and air punching… Continue reading

Nothing – “Guilty Of Everything” (Relapse Records) Philadelphia’s Nothing, formed in 2011 by Domenic Palermo, have been destroying the eardrums of audiences throughout North America for the past 2 years with their 130 decibel smashing post punk akin to Trail Of The Dead and Slowdive. Nothing’s sound reminded me a lot of the so called shoegazer bands around 1990, characterized by massive walls of noise played through hyper strummed guitars often droning out any melodies albeit in the most ambient of moments. Palermo’s hush vocals and their accompanying trippy harmonies equally follow the trend in taking a backseat in the mix… Continue reading

Entrails – “Berzerk” Single (Metal Blade Records) If the drummer smashed into his kit any harder there would be an earthquake!!!! If you like old school Swe-death a la Dismember, Grave and Entombed then Entrails – who certainly live up to their fetid name – are still in the abattoir hacking out meaty ditties like ‘Dreaming’ on this single taster of things to come. Originally formed in the early 90s, a fifteen hiatus saw the band resurrected in 2008 and things haven’t looked back since for founder Jimmy Lundqvist, whose filthy, distorted guitar work matches Jocke Svensson’s hoarse growls shaking… Continue reading

Tengger Cavalry – “Ancient Call” (Metal Hell Records) Warriors of Genghis Khan! Having just won the Wacken Open Air Metal Battle Competition in China, Tengger Cavalry return with their 5th album no less, continuing their ferocious onslaught on the west like their mighty ancestors. Mixing molten metal with ultra powerful Mongolian folk melodies drawn from the steppes songs like ‘Galloping Towards The Great Land’, ‘Summon The Warrior’ and ‘Legend On Horseback’ befit the epic legends from the East forged through time and remain spoken even to this day! Harsh warrior vocals and savage, raw guitars lay waste to all asunder… Continue reading