death metal
Of all the Polish bands that followed in the wake of Vader’s ongoing conquest of mainland Europe and North America with “Litany”, Yattering was the most technical and also, for lack of a better term, the weirdest. The fact that they named themselves after a demon of an early
Anders G. Offenberg, Jr.
The times that an album’s cover artwork captures a recording’s general atmosphere as well as it does here are far and few. Mysticum’s debut album “In the Streams Of Inferno” is an intensely bleak, downtrodden, foggy and morose album. It was probably one of the earliest of
Chief Spires
After spending a good five years finding and optimizing their sound South Carolina death metal combo Nile was contracted by American independent record label Relapse Records. For their label debut Nile compiled the best songs of their demo phase, and wrote a handful of new tracks to balance out its
black metal
While Satyricon wasn’t the first black metal band to capitalize on the visual media in the second half of the 90s – they were able to make the most memorable entry. Although being predated by its regional peers Gorgoroth and Immortal, Satyricon distilled the black metal genre down to its
Alex van Schaik
Gorefest was, along with bands as Asphyx, Sinister, Acrostichon, and Thanatos, among the earlier proponents in the Dutch extreme metal scene. While other bands played a good deal faster and more technical, Gorefest always was more like their British peers in Bolt Thrower. Above all else the band concentrated on
Aad Kloosterwaard
The Netherlands has always had a strong if not underappreciated presence in the international metal scene. At the genre’s inception and earlier days Holland had important figures in the likes of Altar, Asphyx, Gorefest, Pestilence and Thanatos – alongside these generally more known outfits were also lesser known entities such
black metal
“Heaven Shall Burn…” is the band’s fourth album, and the one where Marduk perfected its long-desired high-speed black metal sound, and cultivated its corny more-evil-than-thou image. For at least three albums prior they had been vying to be the most blasphemous and evil sounding
Cenotaph
One of the earliest death metal bands from Mexico was Cenotaph, who formed in 1988 under the moniker Damned Cross. Under their original name they released a demo tape in 1989 called “Excretion Of Infected Corpses”, before abandoning the gore/horror subject matter and transforming into Cenotaph. Despite its musical
At the Gates
There was a considerable turnover in the ranks of Cenotaph after “The Gloomy Reflections Of Our Hidden Sorrows” – and as such it isn’t very surprising to note that a change in style would occur reflecting that shift. Where “The Gloomy…” was an occult and dark sounding record in vein
Australia
Of the earlier full-blown death metal acts Mortification from Australia was one of the more interesting outfits. Sounding as a mix between Morbid Angel, Kataklysm and Sinister the lads from down under delivered their ultimate effort with “Scrolls Of the Megilloth”. The band’s second album is a bass-
Aaron Swartz
Burn: Cycle (1994) Developed by Trip Media Published by Philips Produced & directed by David Collier (game) Written & directed by Eitan Arrusi (full motion videos) Music by Simon Boswell and Chris Whitten Starring Aaron Swartz, Viva Duce, David Sterne, Abigail Canton “Burn: Cycle” was a 1994 videogame for the
Babak Davodian
The second and only widely available Divine Rapture album is the record Morbid Angel should have released when “Heretic” hit the market in 2003. While imitating Morbid Angel had been a practice dating as far back as the 90s, in the early 2000s it came to a peak with bands