Various Artists “Sepulchral Feast: “A Tribute to Sepultura”” (Century Media) This little romp through Sepultura’s history by the legions of bands that have been influenced by the Brazilian powerhouse is mostly through a more straight ahead death metal approach. A…
Eyehategod ““10 Years of Abuse (and still broke)”” (Century Media) Noisy Sludge-core/Doom at its finest is the easy description of one of New Orleans’s seminal southern serving of thick as mud take on Black Sabbath. A more experimental version compared…
Jag Panzer “Mechanized Warfare” (Century Media) This is metal in the traditional vein. Jag Panzer’s songs drive along like a rickety dilapidated horse-drawn carriage over long abandoned mountain roads. The double bass clicker clacks along, guitar solos soar out of…
Ebony Tears “Evil As Hell” (Century Media) Ebony Tears play speedy Swedish metal with vocals along the lines of Sodom’s Tom Angelripper, rather than out and out death roaring. There is definitely a non-Black Metal Swedish sound emerging with the…
Angel Dust “Of Human Bondage” (Century Media) Industrial machine-like drumming keeps the backbone of the opening track throbbing along under the fierce guitar rhythm and superb keyboard work. The band, on this, their sixth album, is clearly in progressive and…
Ram-Zet “Escape” (Century Media) Ram-Zet is a very unique and very creative band. They definitely stand alone in their own category. It was all put together by a multi-instrumentalist named Zet in 1998. Zet had a vision to doing something…
Sentenced “The Cold White Light” (Century Media) Sentenced is a heavy gothic metal band in the vein of Moonspell, To Die For and Entwine. Insofar as this particular sub-genre of metal appeals to me, Sentenced displays very good compositional skills…
Dream Evil “Dragon Slayer” (Century Media) No way, dude. What’s this? Heavy metal. [laughs] What they singin’ dude? Chasing the dragon. That’s too funny. This dude I know called the Magic Gnome, he plays at the park in my drum…
Yakuza “Way of the Dead” (Century Media) Certainly the most interesting introduction I’ve heard for any album in quite some time and if you care to base that statement off the number of gall darned albums I listen to, then…
Shadows Fall “The Art of Balance” (Century Media) Tough, exciting metal playing by its own rules, no trend hopping, no nu-metal crowd pandering, just out and out tip-top pure angry heavy metal. The guitar work ought to please fans of…