Metal Assault: Album Reviews

By Francisco Zamudio

When an album makes me you feel as though you’re drowning in intensity and there’s no use in trying to tread these waters, as the waves of brutality continue to pummel you, coming at you from every angle, you don’t see it coming and all you can do is enjoy the thrashing and slamming and grinding you’re being put through. French grinders Benighted have provided such a soundtrack to your demise on their eighth full-length entitled ‘Necrobreed’ through the outstanding label, Season Of Mist. Continue reading “Album Review: Benighted – Necrobreed”

By Andrew Bansal

The Long Dark Road is a new band hailing from Toronto, Canada, readying to release their self-titled debut album as their first effort to exhibit their eclectic brand of dark, heavy music. The vision and brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Jeremy Cavan, The Long Dark Road draws inspiration from black metal and blends elements of hardcore, punk, shoegaze and alt rock. This four-track, 35-minute offering certainly establishes the band’s initial identity and presents them as a band that generates intrigue. Continue reading “Album Review: The Long Dark Road – Self-Titled”

By Ryan Falla

The death metal younglings Reaping Asmodeia look to build on the success of their 2013 debut record ‘Poison of the Earth’ with their new release ‘Impuritize’. Like any good death metal band, right out of the first track they build a settlement within your face; zero intentions of abandoning their new home by bashing your face in deeper and deeper as the record plays on. Although Reaping Asmodeia plays with a lot of standard death metal elements, there is a fair amount of ingenuity behind the musical talents of ‘Impuritize’. Continue reading “Album Review: Reaping Asmodeia – Impuritize”

By Jaide Alicia

Hailing from the land where grunge reigned supreme, noteworthy power metal band Sanctuary has unveiled a treasure for metalheads everywhere. ‘Inception’ is a collection of nine “lost” demos dating back to 1986 that have been completely revamped by highly praised producer Chris “Zeuss” Harris. The highest level of commendation goes to Zeuss for restoring and remastering these tracks to the exceptional listening quality we hear them in today. What makes ‘Inception’ such a diamond in the rough is that it provides insight into the band’s roots and allows us to hear the earliest forms of the songs we know and love from their Dave Mustaine produced 1988 debut album ‘Refuge Denied’. Continue reading “Album Review: Sanctuary – Inception”

By Ryan Falla

One look at the track listing for the record ‘Eternal Rituals for the Accretion of Light’ by Boston natives Junius looks more like the chapter listing to a book on metaphysics than an album. Junius makes an effort to mix the intellectual stylings of spiritualist writers with the musical intensity of melodic epics. Touted by Rolling Stone as “a perfect mix between Neurosis and The Smiths”, vocalist Joseph E. Martinez puts on a hypnotic display of dark baritones in the same vein as Type O Negative icon Peter Steele. Continue reading “Album Review: Junius – Eternal Rituals for the Accretion of Light”

By Francisco Zamudio

For some, genre labels are unnecessary and “un-cool”. “It either rocks or it doesn’t, bro”, and to them nowadays, everything rocks. And no matter how many new bands come out, more often than not it seems, you have more bands aiming their marketability towards the mainstream by incorporating a multitude of genres in their songwriting, to reach a broader audience. But it’s necessary to distinguish and identify the multiple genres within metal, or how else will you be able to describe what it is you like? Now, while a female-fronted metal band isn’t necessarily a genre but a preference – on paper, Once Human is a noteworthy band now carrying that heavy helm. Continue reading “Album Review: Once Human – Evolution”