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Metal Church stands firmly among the legends of American heavy metal, with a history stretching back to 1980. Their career has seen its share of highs and lows, lineup changes, hiatuses, and reinventions, but throughout it all, they’ve produced several landmark albums, including their self‑titled debut, The Dark, and Blessing in Disguise. Now they return with Dead to Rights, their fourteenth full‑length release, and one that introduces three significant...

Rogga Johansson rides again, this time with Paganizer, arguably his flagship band, whose history stretches back to the late nineties. As Mankind Rots marks the group’s fourteenth full-length album, and as always, Paganizer delivers exactly what longtime fans expect. This is straightforward, no-frills Swedish death metal, leaning far more toward the crushing weight of Grave and Dismember than anything associated with the Gothenburg melodeth sound. Bolt Thrower also comes...

Advent of Wounds marks the second fulllength release from Brazilian duo Fossilization, once again issued through Everlasting Spew Records. Across its concise 36minute runtime, the album unleashes a barrage of dark, oppressive fury delivered with unwavering confidence and intent. Fossilization continue to refine their signature sound, a toxic, churning blend of oldschool death metal and suffocating doom, accented by a subtle blackened edge. The production strikes...

Veins of Fire marks the sixth full-length release from German death metal outfit Deserted Fear. While the band’s early work leaned heavily on traditional death metal foundations, their more recent albums have gradually embraced a melodic death metal direction. This evolution continues here, with a sound that is distinctly guitardriven, packed with thick, groovy riffs and elevated by well-crafted harmonies that clearly draw inspiration from the earlytomid ’90s Gothenburg...

Hailing from Kalmar, Sweden, Eye of Purgatory is yet another project from Rogga Johansson—arguably one of the most prolific figures in the death metal scene in terms of sheer output. Darkborne emerges barely a week after the latest Paganizer release, a pace that often fuels criticism that such productivity compromises quality. In this case, however, those concerns prove unfounded. Darkborne delivers uncompromising, classic Swedish death metal with all the...

Gruesome was conceived as a homage to Chuck Schuldiner and Death, not as a cover band, but as a group dedicated to creating original music inspired by their legacy. Their debut, Savage Land, became one of my mostplayed death metal releases when it arrived in 2015; their 2018 followup, Twisted Prayers, however, never fully reached the same heights. With Silent Echoes, the band returns at full...

As one of the true pioneers of the American death metal scene, New York’s Immolation really needs little introduction. Descent marks the band’s twelfth studio album overall, their fifth for Nuclear Blast Records, and the third recorded with a lineup that has now remained stable for roughly a decade. Few bands in extreme metal can boast such remarkable consistency across such a long career, and Immolation is one of...

Swedish death metal veterans Vomitory return with their tenth full-length album, In Death Throes, and it finds the band operating at a level that places it among the strongest releases of their long and uncompromising career. Formed in 1989, Vomitory have always been a dependable force in classic death metal, and In Death Throes is a powerful reminder of why their name still carries weight more than three decades...

Blood Red Throne and I have had a somewhat complicated relationship over the years, largely due to the band’s vocal approach, more specifically, the blend of highpitched screams and deep guttural growls. Personally, I’ve always felt the band’s music would benefit from focusing exclusively on the cavernous growls, which I find far more complementary to their sound. Their outstanding 2021 release Imperial Congregation, where the shrieks were used sparingly,...

At 78, Tony Iommi, The Godfather of Heavy Metal, returns with From The Dark, a solo album that immediately reaffirms his unmatched ability to craft the haunting, weighty riffs that have defined the genre for more than half a century. From the opening moments, it’s clear that Iommi’s creative spark remains fully intact. For this record, he has assembled a formidable lineup: Norwegian vocalist Jørn Lande,...