Album Reviews


Review: POWER TRIP – ‘Nightmare Logic’; Full Album Stream

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POWER TRIP; Hailing from Dallas, the band has toured the world relentlessly for years. Their musical proficiency, perfect song structure, rich tones, fierce riffs, delivery, and collective attitude has seeded them as one of today’s most prolific acts in any astute or heavy genre. POWER TRIP executes music with raw energy, and it’s easily heard on their previous material as well as this new release. They are the up and coming thrash band that everyone should keep their eyes on. These thrashers have 2 full length albums ‘Manifest Decimation’ and their most recent release ‘Nightmare Logic’ out and both are impressive feats. With 5 other releases in their discography that include EP’s, a split and a demo, it shows that nothing can hold this band back from success.  Continue reading →

Review: WOUNDVAC – ‘Infamy‘ [Album Stream]

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WOUNDVAC is a hardcore/grind quartet from Phoenix, Arizona. The band formed in 2014 The band’s most predominant styles are hardcore and grind, but you also can hear some punk influence within their sound as well. The band has 7 varying format releases so far in short amount of time they have been formed. Everything was started with the bands ‘S/T’ EP that released in 2014, and then followed up with ‘DISGRACED CONVERT’ 7″ in 2015. In 2016 the band had 4 different releases. The first of which was a ‘WOUNDVAC // COLUMNIII Split’ 7″ that featured 2 tracks from WOUNDVAC and one from fellow the Arizona natives COLUMNIII. It was on this release that current vocalist Rich joined the band, taking the place of the bands original singer. The next release was the single “Sentient Cancer” which is features an array of political themed lyrics. Next was another split released in October of 2016, this time released on cassette. The ‘WOUNDVAC // GLITTERBOMB Split’ Cassette which featured 2 songs by each band. The 4th and final release of 2016 was a two track flexi disc release titled ‘They Eat Their Own Young / Rumination’. The flexi disc is a record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal turntable. Though the flexi disc was created in the 60’s their popularity was brought back by Decibel Magazines monthly flexi disc series that features exclusive songs. Now WOUNDVAC has started off the New Year strong with yet another release. ‘Infamy‘ was released on February 17, 2017. Drums recorded at Arcane Digital Recording with Ryan Butler (Exhumed, Ghoul, Nightrage), the Guitars, bass, and vocals were recorded and mixed by Kiel Siler and Additional vocal mixing by Zachary Rippy at Sound Signal Audio. The album was mastered by Ronald J. Llewellyn (The Freeze, Destruction Unit) of Welshman’s Pride. WOUNDVAC has not only proven that they have achieved the sound in which they have been progressing towards, but their vast discography in less than 3 years as an active band shows the immense work ethic they have.  Continue reading →

Review Of NonHuman Era’s Self-Titled Debut!

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 ***** Review by guest contributor Roni Palmer *****

NonHuman Era is:

Pierre St–Jean – Vocals
Carlo Zappavigna – Guitars
Rick Dessi – Drums
Jean – Francois Vincenti – Bass
Marek Krowicki – Keys

Out of Montreal, NonHuman Era consists of founding members and cousins Rick Dessi [drums] and Carlo Zappavigna [guitar], along with Pierre St. Jean [vocals, guitar–Heaven’s Cry, Alcoholica (a Metallica tribute band)], Jean–Francois Vincenti [bass—Alcoholica] and Marek Krowicki [keyboards]. I gave this album a listen on the recommendation of a friend and my only regret is that I didn’t hear of it when it first came out in November of 2015. I’m completely blown away that they haven’t been picked up by a major label. A Progressive Metal band that’s a synergy of sound and energy reminiscent of Iron Maiden, Pantera, and Symphony X with a polish that you seldom hear on a first album.

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Review: Havok – ‘Conformicide’

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Havok

Havok is an American thrash metal band from the mile high city of Denver, Colorado. Since being formed in 2004 the band has been dominating the thrash scene. ‘Conformicide’ is Havok’s 4th studio album and it was done through Century Media Records. It’s the first album with bassist Nick Schendzielos as well as the first release via Century Media Records. This is also the longest gap between albums, coming 4 years from their last effort. ‘Conformicide’ will be released on March 10th 2017. Relatively speaking, Havok is “new” to the thrash scene. They have been around since 2004 but have really secured their place in the new wave of thrash metal. They drastically change their sound with every record and that keeps them interesting enough to stay on top of other bands coming through the thrash scene. This album is largely centered around politics with another big focus to the record being a religion.

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Review: SLOTH HERDER – ‘No Pity, No Sunrise’ [2 Tracks Streaming]

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Frederick, Maryland based four piece SLOTH HERDER have been working steady at distilling their sound since their formation in 2009. The band quickly released two EP’s in 2012, ‘Sluggard’ and ‘Abandon Pop Sensibility’. The later of the two has been noted as being very obscure but also receive critical acclaim throughout the metal community. SLOTH HERDER is a band that doesn’t just think outside the box, they break the box. Their unique style has varying moments of influence from a cast of different genres. You will hear a grindcore style for moments and then hints of black metal sprinkled in, and then out of nowhere you will get a faint taste of doom in their mix. SLOTH HERDER will not be barricaded to one genre and the simplest way to define their sound is extreme. In addition, do not let the word “Sloth” in their name deceive you. Unlike the Central and South American mammal in their name, nothing about this band is slow. The follow-up their 2012 EP, ‘Abandon Pop Sensibility’, SLOTH HERDER’s ‘No Pity, No Sunrise’ released via Marland based Grimoire Records presents a monstrous, fourteen-track attack in just over thirty-five minutes delivered by vocalist Josh Lyon, bassist Luke Ibach, drummer Sean Wilhide, and guitarist Nick Craggs, and additional sounds by Ryan Neal. An unhinged surge of extreme metal that will appeal to a wide range of acts, from Antigama to Pyrrhon, Yautja to Gaza. The album also includes some amazing imagery within the cover art as well. It would surely be one of those albums you buy on a whim just because of the album art. ‘No Pity, No Sunrise’ was recorded by Noel Mueller in the Fall of 2016, who also mixed and mastered the album. ‘No Pity, No Sunrise’ will be released on March 24th in several formats including CD, pro-cassette, and digital download. Grimoire Records’ Noel Mueller, who also handles the recording of the label’s releases stated, “We’ve been talking to SLOTH HERDER and trying to record/release an album with them ever since we started Grimoire Records back in 2013. So yeah, we couldn’t be more stoked that four years later, the band finally decided to step into the Grimoire studio and recorded their long anticipated full length with us. The payoff is that much sweeter given how long we’ve been waiting for this to happen.” Continue reading →

Review: DAMNATION PLAN – ‘Reality Illusion’ [Song Stream]

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Finnish progressive metal band Damnation Plan are here in 2017 to release a masterpiece for the masses. Damnation Plan formed in 2004 in Espoo, Finland. The band released their first EP in 2007, ‘Darker World’. They took a little bit of a hiatus after that but then regrouped in 2011 to begin work on their first full length album. In 2013, that album, ‘The Wakening’, was released on Coroner Records. The lineup of the band has not changed since 2012 and consists of: Tommy Tuovinen doing harsh and clean vocals, Asim Searah also on clean vocals, Antti Lauri and Kalle Niininen on guitars, Jukka Vehkamaa on bass, and Jarkko Lunnas on drums. Starting work on this new record almost two years ago, the time has finally come. Damnation Plan’s second full length album, ‘Reality Illusion’ will be dropping on March 10th 2017 on Inverse Records. The mixing was done by Dan Swanö at Unisound Studios. You can preorder ‘Reality Illusion’ here. Drummer Jarkko Lunnas had this to say about the new release: Continue reading →

Review: XIBALBA – ‘Diablo, Con Amor.. Adios’ [Full Stream]

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XIBALBA is one of the most violent and fierce acts I have ever witnessed in person. The band formed in 2007 in Pomona, California. The band’s sophomore release and Southern Lord Records debut ‘Hasta la Muerte’ (2012) is still one of the most influential hardcore albums released in the last decade. It was during their tour in support of that album that I was able to see them in what used to be a United States Post Office in the small town of Whitesburg, Kentucky. The city has a population of less than 2,500 people, and it just goes to show the band is willing to play anywhere that their music is wanted. They followed up ‘Hasta la Muerte’ with their 2015 release ‘Tierra y Libertad’. On that album XIBALBA demonstrated their ability to progress their aggressive sound from one album to the next. It’s been one year since the release of ‘Tierra Y Libertad’, XIBALBA now returns with three vicious new tracks of hard hitting hardcore on ‘Diablo, Con Amor.. Adios’ via Closed Casket Activities. The EP is a continuation of the bands gritty, raw, downtuned, metallic grooves. As with their prior titles, ‘Diablo, Con Amor.. Adios’ was recorded at The Pit Recording Studio with longtime cohort Taylor Young (Nails, Twitching Tongues, Disgrace) and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Integrity, Nails, Harm’s Way), XIBABLA also once again secured artwork from Dan Seagrave (Dismember, Entombed, Suffocation) to visually depict the wrath of these three relentless tracks. XIBALBA has climbed their way to the top in regards to hardcore bands and the new EP is the proof that they have earned their rightful place at the top. Continue reading →

Review: KEMEROV – ‘FMKD’ [Album Steam]

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Photo Credit: Kwstas Kartelar

Two guys that grew up with old school 90’s death metal joined forces and formed the band Kemerov in 2013. The quartet hail from Serres, Greece. They could never really choose between the metal sound and the rock n’roll feeling, and their sound meshes the two together perfectly. Giving in to these schizophrenic tendencies, they are inspired by bands like Entombed, Cathedral and Turbonegro and various others. Kemerov decided to throw all their influences into the mix, which created this new hybrid sound you won’t find anywhere else. In 2013 they got the ball rolling with guitar, voice and occasionally bass and drums. By the summer of 2015, the band had acquired permanent members for both drums and bass. This would become the first ever full Kemerov lineup. The lineup was now stable and in November 2015 they released their debut self-titled EP, and they’ve began to hit the stage in support of acts like Rotting Christ, Septicflesh and Jucifer, among others. During this time the band was also working on new material for their debut full-length release. The full length titled ‘FMKD’ was released on January 31, 2017. The album was produced by Kemerov & Emmanouil Hermano Tselepis. The band recorded at various studios including Flow Recordings Studio, Galdemi Studio and Steve’s studio and then it was all mixed and mastered by Emmanouil Hermano Tselepis.   Continue reading →

Review of Born In June’s Debut, “Ill Gotten Gains”

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Born In June is:

Bryan Rock – Drums
Cayse Ramirez – Guitar
Gene Ramirez – Guitar
Harvey Hampton – Vocals
Nick Terrell – Bass Guitar

Born In June grabbed my attention during the Death Angel show that I covered a couple of months back (Show Review) at the 1904 Music Hall here in Jacksonville. This was the third live show that the band had played since their commencement as an official band. As stated in the show review, I was blown away by their poised stage presence and crisp playing abilities. Very impressive for a group that had only been playing together for a little over six months. Since then, the band has played many shows in and around Jacksonville with a variety of other talented locals and released their debut EP entitled Ill Gotten Gains that was independently released on January 25, 2017. As promised, here are my impressions of this up and coming band’s first release…

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Review: EX DEO – ‘The Immortal Wars’

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After what has seemed like forever, Canadian death metal band Ex Deo has returned to bless us with their third full length release, ‘The Immortal Wars’. After releasing ‘Caligvla’ in 2012 with a bit of touring, the band decided it was time for a break in 2014. It was soon being reported that the return of the band was unlikely. Lead singer Maurizio Iacono, Jean-Francois Dagenais, Oli Beaudoin, and Stéphane Barbe went back to their main project in Kataklysm. Also featured in the band is Jonathan Leduc on the keyboards and François Mongrain on the bass guitar. Only a year later in 2015, the band announced that they were to begin work on their follow up. In January of 2016, it was revealed that the band’s next release would be titled ‘The Immortal Wars’. It has been a long road since then, but the time has finally come. On February 24th, 2017, Ex Deo will be releasing the album on Napalm Records. It was produced and mixed by Jens Bogren in Sweden. The Roman themed heavy metal band is prepared to unleash hell. You can preorder the new album here. Continue reading →