Full Length Review: Bloedmaan "Vampyric War in Blood" (Immortal Frost Productions) by Dave Wolff

Project; Bloedmaan

Country: Belgium

Genre: Black metal

Full length: Vampyric War in Blood

Format: CD, digital

Label: Immortal Frost Productions

Release date: December 19, 2025

When I first heard "Vampyric War in Blood," I had the impression of watching a horror exploitation film from the seventies. To me the album felt like the legend of a vampire cult forgotten by history but alive, concealed from humanity, turning humans in the shadows and performing rituals deep underground beneath ancient, forgotten, crumbling castles in the middle of nowhere, waiting for the inevitable day to reveal their existence. It piqued my interest in delving further into their hidden society, and discovering the nature and significance of their rituals.

As I mentioned in my analysis of "Castle Inside the Eclipse," Bloedmaan is a project helmed by Ronarg, who is also involved with Antzaat, Ars Veneficium, and Ronarg, and collaborated to some extent with Druon Antigon, Nachtmaer, and Doodswens. The Belgian musician has contributed artwork for Dystopia, A Thousand Sufferings, Gurthang, Sidious, Ondfødt, Psychonaut 4, and others. Being that he was born in 1992, when second wave black metal was gaining traction, it's should be little surprise that this project is ideal if you like Gorgoroth, Black Funeral, Darkness Ensrhoud, and Tsjuder.

In some ways "Vampyric War in Blood" feels similar to early Immortal (“Pure Holocaust,” “Blizzard Beasts”) as millennia of cold, snow, and ice seem to radiate from the album's guitars, atmosphere, and ambience. While Immortal gave us glimpses into the fabled land of Blashyrkh, Bloedmaan shows us the everlasting cold and frost as final place of repose of an eons-old vampire lord, perpetually sleeping but not quite dead, laid to rest when his time came to an end, but not for forever. When his time finally comes to rise again, it will be heralded by a birth cry heard far beyond the vicinity of his burial.

As if symbolizing the deity the vampire cult worshipped and served since the beginning of time, a deity older than time that will endure long after humanity has winked out forever, the opening piece creates a mood like a ceremony to celebrate a return to unspeakable vampiric practices, creating intensifying suspense and unease. This mood, with keyboards and choral vocals added for more environment, advances the growing anxiety and spawns refinement instead of focusing entirely on engulfing you.

As on Bloedmaan’s debut, the ambiance provided this album at Wolfthrone Studios is bursting with Ronarg's frost-laden lead and rhythm gutars. The surrounding darkness is made to feel cold, the cold you would feel in a region between the surface of the earth and a subterranean ruin where no sun has existed for as long as anybody can remember. Rumbling, echoing bass evokes something that has slumbered beneath for too long and has now awakened. Ronarg's voice heralds the dawn of a new era marked by its rebirth, reaching far and wide into the blackend sky above.

After "Vampyric War in Blood" flooded my imagination with such vivid imagery, I'm curious to learn more about Ronarg's extensive research into vampires and vanpirism, the sources he consulted, and what they mean to him. I'm drawn to this, and I imagine there's a lot more to what he uncovered that's covered in mystery next to what he revealed on in his album. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Ronarg: Vocals, guitar, bass

Lennart Janssen: Keyboards

Frederik Geuvens: Drums

Track list:

1. Intro

2. Vampyric War in Blood

3. Return to Castlevania

4. The Clock Tower

5. What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse

6. Commander of Spectral Forces

7. Outro

8. Rise of the Blood Moon

Full Length Review: King Parrot "A Young Person's Guide To" (Housecore Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: King Parrot

Location: Melbourne

Country: Austraila

Genre: Grindcore

Full Length: A Young Person's Guide To

Format: Vinyl. cassette, CD, digital

Label: Housecore Records

Release date: June 6, 2025

For years now, grind bands worked overtime to push outward adding originality of one kind or another to the genre. King Parrot follows suit on "A Young Person's Guide To," adding humor common to their home country of Australia, according to Metal on Tap.

The webzine features a video interview with the band from June 2025 that I researched while listening to the CD. I picked up a lot about them, including the making of "A Young Person's Guide To" and how they spent time in the studio to integrate clean production and an organic sound with the feral intensity they've established over the years.

The album has gained a lot of recognition since its release and the band has secured tours with well-known acts like Pantera and Gwar, with whom they’ll tour beginning in March of 2026 (Soulflly is accompanying them). The aggression and wrath that drove their ferocious, lustrous grindcore since 2010 make their attitude clear, even when comedically tempered.

After releasing their 2020 EP "Holed Up in the Lair" (rereleased in a compilation in 2022), King Parrot took five years to launch this album with six singles and three promotional videos as an all-out assault on the grind industry. Producing the material in a clear-cut way is designed to sound both professional and brutal, to enhance the stamina they exhibit at pubs with small crowds or fests with larger ones.

The production gives the guitars a kind of raw dissonance and the bass a rumble like fault lines preparing an earthquake while the drums present blast and double bass with as much discernable clarity as the well-enunciated vocals. In many cases, "A Young Person’s Guide To" sounds pushed as far away from classification as possible. The band takes time to add subtle distinctions to their writing in addition to incorporating aspects of death and black metal into their grind themes.

This is particularly true of the bass tracks, which propel the songs in the same manner as bass guitars give funk songs additional weight. There are some moments in the guitar tracks where notes seem to slide, which is as close as I can put it. You have to listen carefully to fully appreciate the unconventional crunch and odd guitar harmonies, and many riffs border on industrial music.

The band's approach to songwriting and composition seems to serve as the foundation for the humor mentioned earlier. I'll give you two examples of this humor in case they interest you in checking out the album. The vocals sound like someone screaming at the top of their lungs, as if to deliberately mock the assumption that metal vocalists only scream because they can't carry actual notes.

Next, their promotional video for "Fuck You and the Horse You Rode In On" begins with a rude patron riding his motorcycle into a pub in Australia, and it turns out he’s disabled as a result of several riding injuries. The video plays like a short film, mostly told from the bartender’s perspective, and depicts the mayhem that occurs when he has his first drink of the evening.

Described by Earsplit PR as "thoroughly crafted" and "sensory destroying," "A Young Person’s Guide To" should lend grind more legitimacy and may even help the genre to increase its popularity given the recent attention they’ve been receiving. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Youngy: Vocals

Mr. White: Guitar

Squiz: Guitar

Slatts: Bass

Toddy: Drums

Track list:

1. Get What Ya Given

2. Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On

3. Cunning As A Dunny Rat

4. It's A Rort

5. Punish The Runt

6. Target Pig Elite

7. I Got The Right

8. Look Away I'm Hideous

9. Glazed And Diseased In Defeat

10. Pissing On The Fist Of The Law

Full Length Review: Deceased "Children of the Morgue" (Hells Headbangers Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Deceased

Location: Arlington, Virginia

Country: USA

Genre: Thrash, death, heavy metal

Full length: Children of the Morgue

Format: Digital album

Label: Hells Headbangers Records

Release date: August 30, 2024

Since I first heard “Fearless Undead Machines,” Deceased has never disappointed. Based in part on George Romero's original "Living Dead" trilogy, it was a concept album about the now-popular zombie apocalypse with complex song compositions, not to mention meticulously written, intelligent lyrics.

Each of their subsequent albums up to their eighth, “Children of the Morgue,” expanded a little further in the musical, lyrical or conceptual department. Then are the two volumes of "Rotten to the Core" (Malt Soda Recordings), which featured punk and hardcore landmarks by The Ramones, Cro-Mags, Angry Samoans, Final Conflict, The Accused, The Buzzcocks, and more.

Such was the energy, passion and conviction of those albums they even surpassed Slayer's "Undisputed Attitude" (this from someone who was huge on Slayer in the 80s and 90s). "Thrash Times at Ridgemont High" emphasizes Deceased's love of 1980s thrash without falling under the “retro” label.

All talk of gatekeepers, posers, and preachers aside, Deceased has always been about preserving the joy of discovering those bands when they were at first active and carrying it through into the present. Doing so and being the finest old school band they can be is its own form of recognition. This is exactly what you can expect from “Children of the Morgue.” No excuses, no softened blows, no apologies.

After eight albums, newest members Shane Fuegel and Amos Rifkin work well with longtime members Les Snyder and Mike Smith, effectively mixing technical, melodic and improvisational license. The lines between death, thrash, and NWOBHM is further blurred as half the album consists of tracks between five and eight minutes, allowing for many sections especially based on a particular influence. This and the occasional intro pieces help them break out from stagnation and predictability.

Vocalist/lyricist King Fowley (also of October 31), writes and provokes thought in a manner befitting classic literature. Emerging from behind the drums allows him to focus solely on his vocals, which he delivers with greater amounts of energy and intensity, drawing wind from his gut, deepening his voice and enunciating with more clarity. Themes of existential dread, parasitic creation, false optimism, and humanity's unstoppable march toward its own destruction are explored without subtlety.

The cycle of life and destruction, or of birth, death, and rebirth, is explored with dismal frankness with images of extraterrestrial creatures, forgotten memories, psychological pain, and of course grim reapers come to claim more souls. Where Black Sabbath, Dio, and Candlemass offered thin but tangible rays of hope, Deceased illustrates the gradual collapse of hope as humanity is pushed to its eventual end.

In this sense Children of the Morgue" is a complement to "Fearless Undead Machines" and its depiction of humanity succumbing to the zombie apocalypse not with a bang but a whimper. Both albums depict a progressive descent into entropy, madness, and the extinction of the human race, set to an extravagant metal opera and crafted with enough forbidding diligence to make "The Walking Dead" look optimistic.

Additional vocals by Jillian Smith enhance the lyrics' literary personality, giving tracks like "Fed to Mother Earth" a feel somewhat akin to Cradle of Filth. Also look for guest solos by former Deceased guitarist Mark Adams, Matt Ibach (ex-October 31) and Mike Bossier (CrusHuman). –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

King Fowley: Vocals

Mike Smith: Guitars

Shane Fuegel: Guitars

Les Snyder: Bass

Amos Rifkin: Drums

Track list:

1. Destination Morgue

2. Children of the Morgue

3. Turn to Wither

4. Terrornaut

5. The Reaper Is Nesting

6. The Uninvited Dirge

7. The Grave Digger

8. Eerie Wavelengths

9. Fed to Mother Earth

10. Skull with the Vacant Stare

11. Brooding Lament

12. Farewell "Taken to Forever"

Full Length Review: Enslaved "Heimdal" (Nuclear Blast) by Dave Wolff

Band: Enslaved

Location: Bergen

Country: Norway

Genre: Progressive black/Viking metal

Full length: Heimdal

Format: CD, digital

Label: Nuclear Blast

Release date: March 3, 2023

Enslaved’s sixteenth recording “Heimdal” is the culmination of more than four decades of exploration and self-discovery which haven’t exhausted these Norse Viking metal pioneers.

Since embarking on solitary excursions into the distant Scandinavian past and chronicling what they discovered on their demos "Nema," "Yggdrasil," and "Hordanes Land," they've sought not only to distinguish themselves from their contemporaries, but to transcend every perception of extreme metal from Immortal, Gorgoroth, Mayhem (though the line from Mayhem’s song “Pagan Fears,” “the past is alive” is more than appropriate when discussing this album). In doing so Enslaved generated soundscapes that couldn’t be defined as black metal or anything else.

"Frost," "Eld," "Mardraum (Beyond the Within)," "Isa," "Ruun," "Ritiir," and "E" were not only unique but exuded timelessness and heralded new phases of innovation, regardless of commercial viability or lack thereof. Beyond sword and sorcery and Robert E. Howard-inspired fantasy, Enslaved writes lyrics based on historical accounts and mythological legends.

"Heimdal" is named after the Norse deity who watches over Ragnarok from Himinbjörg, his dwelling between the rainbow bridge and the skies. The motif running through "Heimdal," reflecting Enslaved's long periods of growth and development, is Heimdal proclaiming the foretold war between the old Nordic gods, which would eventually lead to a new epoch with new gods replacing the gods who fell during Ragnarok. The Gjallarhorn's sound echoes far and wide across the world, drawing slowly but steadily closer, signaling the end of an era and the eventual coming of a new one.

The complex, eerie, mesmerizing and darkly beautiful "Behind the Mirror," "Forest Dweller," "The Eternal Sea," and "Caravans to the Outer Worlds" contribute a stronger foundation to the shadowy undercurrent behind the lyrics. The conflict between the old gods begins not with explosions and widespread destruction, but rather with relentless waves as one section of a song flows into another. As the tracks alternate between unsettling vocal harmonies and harsh, rough-edged voices, the guitars and bass also vary between bizarre, soporific arrangements and drawn out, discordant tremolo plucking.

Many sections, being lengthy, avoid becoming monotonous or repetitive since they’re written to capture and flow gradually deeper into your mind and soul. The combination of strings, keyboards, synthesizers, and electronic sounds forms an ever-changing setting with shifting complexities and a stimulating atmosphere that invites your interest to the arrangements and the hidden vibrations beneath.

You get the idea that the band has found a niche they can expand on after devoting considerable time exploring and searching for a sound that was elusive but within their reach. Now that they've achieved it, they're just getting started evolving to heights you hadn't expected from a black or Viking metal band. We can expect much more from Enslaved in the future. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Ivar Bjørnson: Guitars, keyboards, effects

Grutle Kjellson: Vocals, bass, keyboards, effects

Arve Isdal: Lead guitars

Håkon Vinje: Keyboards, clean vocals

Iver Sandøy Drums, keyboards, effects, vocals

Track list:

1. Behind The Mirror

2. Congelia

3. Forest Dweller

4. Kingdom

5. The Eternal Sea

6. Caravans To The Outer Worlds

7. Heimdal

Full Length Review: Testament "Para Bellum" (Nuclear Blast) by Dave Wolff

Band: Testament

Location: Oakland, California

Country; USA

Genre: Thrash metal

Full length: Para Bellum

Format: Digital album

Label: Nuclear Blast

Release date: October 10, 2025

Although I've always appreciated Testament, even when some albums didn’t seem so hot to me, I wasn't prepared for the degree of savagery and skill I experienced on “Para Bellum.” This album is a huge improvement from anything they've previously produced, musically, technically, emotionally, and in terms of composition, musicianship, variety and vocal delivery. It's a visceral rollercoaster that keeps pushing ahead until the very end.

I'm not sure where they're getting their energy, but Testament has benefited much from age and experience, and adding Steve DiGiorgio of Act of Denial and Chris Dovas of Dovas and Fire Wing (who is also Vital Remains' live drummer) has given them a boost of stamina. Testament has always been a band to stick things out and carve their own niche among their colleagues. This time, these Bay Area thrash veterans are pushing their efforts to stand out even further than "The Legacy," "The Formation of Damnation," or "Brotherhood of the Snake."

It’s been a long period of growth for them, and building on their sophisticated technical thrash by adding equal amounts of death metal, black metal, prog and orchestral elements they generate most likely the finest moment of their existence. If you're wondering if Testament can outperform themselves about forty years after their inception and after working with such musicians as Dave Lombardo, Paul Bostaph, Gene Hoglan, John Tempesta, and Nicholas Barker, just listen to the opener "For the Love of Pain" which combines thrash, death, and black metal with more tightness and conviction than anything I've heard before, and it's only the first track.

Long-time members of the band have been active in several other projects, which is most certainly rubbing off here. Dovas’ blast beats adds more push to Eric Peterson's work with the black metal band Dragonlord, plus Alex Skolnick's work with Savatage and Metal Allegiance, and live work with Anthrax and Ozzy Osbourne. Chuck Billy has been building his range as a vocalist, and here he complements his typical thrash vocals with deeper guttural roars that move closer to death metal vocalists.

The album’s title “Para Bellum,” the Latin phrase for “prepare for war,” is all too applicable for the current times we live in, and the mirror Testament casts on modern society in the slightly groove laden “Shadow People,” the black/thrashy “Witch Hunt,” the Megadeth-like “Room 117” and the epic title cut is as poignant and unwavering as most people's perceptions of where we may be headed.

That furious intensity can even be found in the album's sole ballad, "Meant to Be," the one moment of regret and downheartedness in the midst of all the implacable entropy. Blending thrash with classic eighties metal, strings, and classically influenced solos, it sounds like a final plea for redemption from a world on the edge of complete destruction. Its swing from melancholy to impassioned is nearly enough to bring a tear or two to your eye if you feel it strongly enough. In this way, Testament is honing more than one capacity to make you empathize with them. –Dave Wolff

Lineup

: Chuck Billy: Vocals

Eric Peterson: Guitars, vocals

Alex Skolnick: Guitars

Steve DiGiorgio: Bass

Chris Dovas Drums

Track list:

1. For the Love of Pain

2. Infanticide A.I.

3. Shadow People

4. Meant to Be

5. High Noon

6. Witch Hunt

7. Nature of the Beast

8. Room 117

9. Havana Syndrome

10. Para Bellum

Full Length Review: Sodom "The Arsonist" (Steamhammer) by Dave Wolff

Band: Sodom

Country: Germany

Genre: Thrash metal

Full Length: The Arsonist

Format: CD, vinyl, digital

Label: Steamhammer

Release date: June 27, 2025

What more can I say about Sodom than I already have? To this day I still remember them as the band I initially (and briefly, I might add) disliked but grew to love.

Going back again to "In the Sign of Evil," that EP is either loved or despised, but someone had to impart those songs with the chaotic wickedness they contain. Without it, they wouldn’t have evolved their own personality or had long-term inspiration on thrash and black metal bands. If they’d been cautious and tried to tone it down, they wouldn’t have created a sound and attitude that is now considered iconic.

Today, they manage to retain the Crowleyan esoteric temperament, metaphysics, and mythology Tom Angelripper that suffused “Obsessed by Cruelty” with. This characteristic, their precision and lyrical intensity, and Angelripper’s slightly punk meets Motorhead disposition and slightly beer soaked pub crawler vocals, is still evident in their native Germany and the worldwide resurrection of thrash metal.

My enthusiasm for Sodom prompted me to listen to their most recent full-length “The Arsonist” as soon as I had a chance. They generally haven’t lessened what has given them distinction to thrash fans since the eighties. Their grand, regal coarseness I’ve noted persists, perhaps more firmly imprinted with more sophistication after their studio and live experience.

Would you expect anything less than outrageous irreverence from a band founded within their country's working class and titled after the biblical town where many taboos were broken? A perfect example is the track "Witchhunter," a tribute to their former drummer Chris Witchhunter, who passed away in 2008, and demonstrates the influence his aggressive, frenzied drumming still has on Sodom's sound.

The intensity, accuracy and intricate solos Frank Blackfire brought to the band were no less significant, and they stiff fit now that he's part of the lineup again. You'd swear its ferocity and blender bass was in their repertoire for longer. Their embracing of gruesome, bloody and unpleasant imagery propels "The Arsonist" as much as it did "Til Death Do Us Unite," "M-16," "Decision Day," and "Genesis XIX."

Their ages ranging from late 30s to early 60s, they're not presenting a throwback mood or attempting to relive previous triumphs. They’re channeling their effort into composing hook-laden guitar progressions with greater focus on thrashy and mid-tempo portions rather of the all-out speed they’re known for. Composing in this fashion, knowing the limitations that come with age, and proceeding accordingly is allowing them to subsume more additional creativity and imagination.

The unclean musicianship, and increased amount of thought out riffs in their songwriting, enriches their old-school flavor, pushes past age restrictions, and demonstrates another side of Sodom’s capabilities. In other words, "The Arsonist" does not sound like a band that is fading and losing its fire; rather, it sounds like something fresh from a band making do with what they have and crafting the best songs they can, displaying something that they had not displayed before.

And this was always the incentive for sticking to their guns, playing what they felt and keeping it fresh, as opposed to mainstream bands that hopped on trends and faded away after a few years. Sticking to formula was not stagnation for them; rather, it was establishing their position in the history of German thrash and thrash in general. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Tom Angelripper: Bass, vocals

Frank Blackfire: Guitar

Yorck Segatz: Guitar

Toni Merkel: Drums

Track list:

1. The Arsonist

2. Battle Of Harvest Moon

3. Trigger Discipline

4. The Spirits That I Called

5. Witchhunter

6. Scavenger

7. Gun Without Groom

8. Taphephobia

9. Sane Insanity

10. A.W.T.F

11. Twilight Void

12. Obliteration Of The Aeons

13. Return To God In Parts

Full Length Review: Sodom "40 Years at War: The Greatest Hell of Sodom" (Napalm Records) by Dave Wolff

Full Length Review: Sodom "Genesis XIX" (Entertainment One, Steamhammer/SPV) by Dave Wolff

EP Review: SODOM "Partisan" (Steamhammer Records) by Dave Wolff

Video Review: SODOM Caligula by Dave Wolff

Full Length Review: Amyl and the Sniffers "Cartoon Darkness" (B2B Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Amyl and the Sniffers

Location: Melbourne

Country: Australia

Genre: Punk, rock

Full length: Cartoon Darkness

Format: Digital album

Label: B2B Records

Release date: October 25, 2024

Naming themselves after the Australian term for poppers, and comparing themselves to the thirty-second effect it has on you when taking it, Amyl and the Sniffers have won three of nine Aria Award nominations. Not too shabby for a pub rock band that released two EPs and three albums since 2017.

You may say it’s the band's capacity to encompass punk, proto punk, post-punk, rock and inspiration from Cardi B and Dolly Parton that got them favorable press in Australia, but it’s just as likely it was their causing a stir by channeling their inspiration through loud, raw guitars and the irascible cockiness punk became known for in its inception. Sharing the stage with high profile artists like Weezer, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Jane's Addiction, Foo Fighters and AC/DC didn’t hurt either.

On “Cartoon Darkness” Amyl and the Sniffers bristle at and reject preconceptions of punk, daring you to judge them, waiting to call bullshit with as much scorn as you yourself laid out. Lead vocalist Amy Taylor’s seething umbrage and displeasure oozes through her lyrics like molasses. Her approach to girl power is infused with enough baleful menace to give you a headache like a post-popper experience.

That being said, do I think they're selling out or becoming posers because their raw, scratchy guitars and sharply accented Australian vocals are receiving more aboveground notice? Probably not, considering they still seem to have their pub rock/street punk attitude, they've reached their mainstream success by their own merit and more people are exposed to the fresh viewpoint they bring to their work. Like punk was in the 70s, they're about being themselves and not being restricted on either end of the spectrum.

The band usually concentrates on feminism and personal issues, but according to an interview they did at Triple J in 2024, “Cartoon Darkness” is externalized and focused on comprehending the world around them. Taylor, an imposing frontwoman, injects melody and personality into her message about what's considered proper societal behavior. The band is inevitably bound to piss people off, not because of rude dispositions but because of their rejection of traditional standards set below and aboveground.

People dislike being trolled and/or body shamed online, and this is an issue Taylor unrepentantly speaks out about. Rather than feel obligated to appease those who criticize from behind screen names, Taylor defines herself on her terms. The promotional video Amyl and the Sniffers made for "Jerkin'" (linked below) in 2024 is about empowerment, not gratuitous nudity. The band and people they know are shown as accepting themselves as they are, despite not having perfect bodies seen on "Baywatch."

Knowing each other and growing together over the years has made Amyl and the Sniffers comfortable working as a unit and diversifying under the umbrella of raw grit and energy. As you listen to "Cartoon Darkness" you don’t sense egos interfering with the band’s passion, professionalism and mutual respect; They maintain that the music they create together is most important, and they demonstrate how release of anger makes room for the exhilaration and joy of playing good aggressive music.  –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Amy Taylor: Vocals

Declan Mehrtens: Guitar, keyboards, vocals

Gus Romer: Bass, vocals

Bryce Wilson: Drums, vocals

Track list:

1. Jerkin'

2. Chewing Gum

3. Tiny Bikini

4. Big Dreams

5. It's Mine

6. Motorbike Song

7. Doing In Me Head

8. Pigs

9. Bailing On Me

10. U Should Not Be Doing That

11. Do It Do It

12. Going Somewhere

13. Me And The Girls

Full Length Review: The Rumours "Suck It" (Independent) by Dave Wolff

Band: The Rumours

Location: Waterloo, Iowa

Country: USA

Genre: Punk, rock

Full Length: Suck It

Format: Digital album

Label: Independent

Release date: March 19, 2020

With "Suck It," their second full length following “Hotbang,” (2017) The Rumours achieve what many punk/hard rock and pop/punk bands aim for, without trying. By playing what they feel, they show there’s little difference between the attitudes of punk and rock & roll. Either it speaks to you or it doesn’t.

I could be way off, but as this is my first time sitting down and listening to this band I gather this album expresses a modicum of disdain for musical romanticism, viewing it as a pompous smokescreen for the primal love instinct. This sexualized presence meant to mirror the primal urges behind the romanticism falls somewhere between street punk, androgynous proto-glam, and sleaze rock.

"Suck It" is crude, brash, and raw on many levels, resonating with the snippy, hymnatic sarcasm Johnny Rotten and Steve Jones brought to the Sex Pistols in the 70s and the unconventional toughness Joan Jett introduced as she fronted the Blackhearts and went solo a decade later, with little patience for hangers on, punk wannabes, and would-be rock stars with oversized egos.

If punk is still about individualism today, Carli Foxx exemplifies the genre by projecting ferocious independence and standing in a category all her own. As the band's lead vocalist and frontwoman, she sings with relative melody, moans, squeals, yelps, growls, snarls, yells, screams and delivers snarky raps, titillating the audience in a way that fulfills and mocks expectations about how punks behave.

Behind Foxx’s voice are bluesy vamps, Angus Young inspired solos and energy inherited from Jerry Lee Lewis, old Kiss, the New York Dolls and the Donnas with equal parts conviction. Mixing the disdain I perceived earlier with dark humor, and the sexuality I noted with playfulness, The Rumours make the experience fun and enjoyable, especially when they play out (as I gather from their live clips).

As early punk bands did in the 70s, they manage to capture a healthy portion of their live energy in the studio. Undermining the stereotype that punk is all about playing three chords and screaming about how angry you are at the world, the band reminds you in “Electric Blues” and “You Suck, Baby” their sardonic disposition is meant to be satirical, as is the defiance of traditional "blonde bombshell" beauty standards they project during their shows with equal ardor. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Carli Foxx: Vocals, guitar

Stu The Dew: Lead guitar, vocals

Ela Rose: Bass, vocals

Daniel Kluiter: Drums, vocals

Track list:

1. Hey You

2. Never Comin' Back

3. Electric Blues

4. Caroline Brown

5. Phone Calls

6. Take Me Shake Me

7. Put Your Love On My Face

8. You Suck, Baby

9. L.A. Trends

Full Length Review: Gridfailure "Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III" (Nefarious Industries) by Dave Wolff

Band: Gridfailure

Location: New York, New York

Country: USA

Genre: Experimental

Full Length: Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III

Format: Digital album, limited edition cassette

Label: Nefarious Industries

Release date: October 3, 2025

It’s been a few years since “When the Lights Go Out Volume II” and “When the Lights Go Out Vol. III” by Gridfailure were spotlit here. Back then, this project gave me the idea this was not your typical ambient project. As nightmarishly bizarre as Abruptum is dark and violent, and old Mortiis is cold and solitary, this David Brenner-led ensemble seeks other avenues into your mind to disconcert you, generating specific discomfort and dismay, literally to the point of primal dread.

Corban Skipwith stated Gridfailure has the potential to scare you out of your wits if you listen late at night when it's black as pitch outside and everyone is sleeping, probably with more agreeable ideas on their minds. He went on to explain that the project's work seemed tailored to one's deepest hidden fears and apprehensions, as it gave him the creeps in all directions.

When you cross paths with Gridfailure again you’ll be propelled headfirst over the thin barrier between rationality and lunacy, and it will as always take a considerable amount of time to return. “Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III” sees Brenner handling more instruments than his previous recordings.

Along with Steve Austin of Today Is The Day on vocals, guitar, and extra lyrics, he collaborates with his most manifold lineup to date. His list of studio collaborators this time includes musicians who have worked with David Bowie, Hasard, Xtinguish The Code, Cardinal Wyrm, and Chrome Waves, as well as artists who have accompanied him during live performances.

The increased amount of musical instruments and studio collaborators bring this record closer to conveying a narrative than Brenner’s previous Gridfailure efforts. Said narrative continues to illustrate humanity's proclivity for self-destruction, which by now has resulted in the extinction of the ecosystem on a worldwide scale and widespread misery.

This impression is clear from the beginning, and as you listen you can imagine a scene so bleak and devoid of hope it makes “Blade Runner” look like “Legally Blonde”. Brenner and his partners elevate Gridfailure’s creativity while atmosphere, programming, effects and the most horrid vocals ever heard make the lyrical and musical images even more palpable.

With minimalism, dark ambient, post-punk, goth, folk, techno, black metal, industrial, experimental jazz, chant, Americana and classical, the disastrous scope of man’s lost war against a world he created is replete with images of disasters, starvation, moral perversion of every kind, homicide, cannibalism and tribal warfare, not to mention the increased reliance on artificial intelligence.

This is more than an apocalyptic event, it’s slow extinction of every human being on earth. It’s the sonic equivalent of humanity fading out. Even as life itself is falling apart at the seams, there's still a crawling suspicion that the worst is yet to reveal itself with Gridfailure’s next album. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

See Bandcamp link

Track list:

1. Subdividing The Survivors

2. Extermination Level Eventuality

3. Hybrid Warfare In Defense Of One’s Habitat

4. Anthropophagiae Nationis

5. Drunk On The Blood Of My Neighbor

6. Vestiges

7. Ration Distribution/Processed For Storage

8. Communal Taxidermy

9. This Was More Than Just Killing… It Was Art

10. Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III: Acquiring A Taste

11. Maria

12. Necrotizing Fasciitis

13. End In Sight

14. Species Deconstructivist

15. Transmissions Cease

Single Review: Awaiting Abigail "Anxiety" (Independent) by Dave Wolff

Band: Awaiting Abigail

Location: Dallas, Texas

Country: USA

Genre: Rock, metal

Single: Anxiety

Format: Digital

Label: Independent

Release date: October 24, 2025

When most bands are a gathering of musicians that pool their resources from scratch, Awaiting Abigail is formed largely of musicians who’ve known each other for some time. The band started with three old high school bandmates crossed paths again and discovering a former band student of one of the founding members, her father (an aviator and musician), and a theater student and vocalist.

They seem to be on similar enough wavelengths to form a cohesive unit as they’re acquainted with each other to some degree or another. Solidifying the lineup in 2024, they launched a series of singles with a professional, crystal clear sound identical to Lacuna Coil and Within Temptation, with textures added by synthesizers and more candid sentiment expressed in the vocals. Going by what I've heard, Awaiting Abigail is becoming more established, displaying equal potential and passion while receiving airplay on local and national levels, while still being quite green when it comes to experience.

What I mean is, their songs portray the growing pains encountered with being different from everyone and not fitting in while pursuing your own path to follow late in high school or early in college. At the same time, there's an awareness that remaining on that path ultimately means everything. To highlight the intensity of the lyrics and emphasize the feelings they express, the vocals appear to vary and fluctuate in accordance with each song or verse. The capacity to attract new listeners is improved by the dark undertones and commercial potential the vocals possess each time they’re given radio rotation.

The melancholy, despairing tone of "Anxoety", aided by the synths, poignant guitars and solemn piano, features a darker tone than usual, with drawn out notes and palpable isolation and sadness. Its central message of being surrounded by people who don't understand you and being silenced both inside and out when you try to maintain your point of view is enhanced by a harmonic vocal influence in the background, subtle but nonetheless profound. When combined, these elements create a style likened to gothic metal with twice the honesty and drive, and should make a lasting impression. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Abigail Hill: Vocals

James Smith: Guitar

Mike Tolla: Guitar

Kori Tolla: Keyboards

Laurie Barnett: Bass

Heather Hammonds: Drums

Single/Video Review: The Zenith Passage "Fleshbound Reliquary" (Metal Blade) by Dave Wolff

Band: The Zenith Passage

Location: Los Angeles, California

Country: USA

Genre: Progressive technical death metal

Single: Fleshbound Reliquary

Format: Digital

Label: Metal Blade

Release date: December 1, 2025

The Zenith Passage is partly comprised of former members of The Faceless, a Los Angeles-based technical deathcore/prog technical death metal band. From 2006 to 2017, they wrote lyrics heavily influenced by science fiction and handled their songs with inventive, spine-chilling precision.

Also comprised of members of Dreamer (extreme prog metal), Exterminatus (tech death/groove metal) and Atavistia (symphonic death metal), the band builds on The Faceless’ work. Their CD “Datalysium” is a trippy excursion into unexplored regions with a personality all its own; the band describe it as a fusion of Necrophagist and Meshuggah, or Cynic and Extol. The progeny of either wedding is described as a film student into the films of Ridley Scott and David Lynch, and synthesizer-based music.

Composing harsh music rich in atmosphere with a healthy dosage of prog rock, jazz metal and prog metal while accentuating each instrument, is the result of tremendous effort on their part. Balancing low-pitched vocals with prog-influenced songwriting, illuminating the multi-layered, electronically enhanced ambiance, and giving the guitars an electronic feel are the consequence of an imagination going above and beyond what is expected of musicians raised on death and technical death metal.

On “Fleshbound Reliquary” the band’s elements of jazz fusion, dissonant black metal, synth and orchestra are dramatically tightened and pushed further into the foreground, for a chilling portrayal of where humanity is likely being taken by artificial intelligence in the near future. Where “Datalysium” is founded on the premise that human beings, while developing for mankind are inventing themselves out of their own identity, “Fleshbound Reliquary” shows a resultant world where resources are spent and the machine is looked to as a higher consciousness.

Performed and produced to resemble an unending ocean of virtual reality, machine learning, and cyber communication threatening to drown us, “Fleshbound Reliquary” is a stunning, horrific visualization of the future. –Dave Wolff

Derek Rydquist: Vocals

Justin McKinney: Guitar

Christopher Beattie: Guitar

Brandon Giffin: Bass

Max Sepulveda: Drums

Promo Review: Cleaver Cult "Promo 2024" (Independent) by Daniel Ryan

Band: Cleaver Cult

Country: Greece

Genre: Death metal

Promo: Promo 2024

Format: Digital

Label: Independent

Release date: August 2, 2024

“Deadly Reflections” starts off strong with a powerful groove of brutal death metal that tears you up from the insides. This manifestation is pretty wild and straight forward at the same time. It stands on its own very well.

“Cold Blood Slasher” is my favorite of the two and has a resemblance of Cannibal Corpse in some areas. Then it breaks down for some moshing for a less than a minute picking up speed and back to the nasty growls and guttural tones by the vocalist Valantis “Cannibal” . They are from Greece and there is a huge scene there.

They can possibly fit in anywhere when it comes to live shows of the extreme metal genre but mostly pure death metal. Check these guys out if you want a taste of something brutal in all categories! Emphasis on gories! –Daniel Ryan

Track list:

1. Deadly Reflections

2. Cold Blood Slasher