Released by Iron Fortress Records in late 2025, End of Eden, the debut album from American duo Primal Scourge arrived as a surprisingly refreshing force seemingly out of nowhere. The band, consisting of Austin Asmus (guitars, bass, vocals) and Rio Mariucci (drums, vocals), delivers a compelling blend of classic death metal and doom metal with a clear artistic vision. End of Eden spans an impressive range:...

Released at the tail end of 2025, Reckoning of the Damned, the sophomore album from French death metal outfit Death From Above, arrived as a striking and unexpectedly refreshing highlight. While the band doesn’t reinvent the wheel, their approach to classic death metal is executed with such precision and energy that the record feels anything but derivative. The album leans heavily into uptempo aggression, delivering tight,...

Although Coroner have been active since the early eighties, they’ve always been one of those bands I knew of but never fully explored. I’ve likely encountered some of their early material in passing, but never with the attention it deserved. If their previous four albums are anywhere near the caliber of Dissonance Theory, I clearly have some catching up to do. Firmly rooted in thrash metal,...

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,...

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...

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...