For all its simplicity, slam is hard to fuse with other genres of extreme music. The straightforward formula of blastbeats, pig squeals, and muted riffs should be easy to blend with a range of other metal variants, yet most attempts to do so sound soulless. It’s sort of like eating a cheeseburger where the patty is replaced with a raw mushroom cap and the cheese is warm mayonnaise. Just…no.  Luckily, slam fiends and deathcore enthusiasts alike can safely blast the new Internal Organs External albumwith headbanging abandon. The Brutality of Tomorrow, out this Friday, delivers supreme slams ..read more

Tech death has an excess problem. While last year’s absolutely riveting crop of records serves as a hopeful new trend within the subgenre, technically focused death metal has been universally plagued by the practical application of far too much from its inception. Sure, the over-the-top spectacle of it all is part of tech death’s distinct charm, but when sheer instrumental wankery serves as a mask to cover a band’s inability to write quality songs it becomes obvious fairly quickly that the emperor of the artificial intelligence concept album is wearing no clothes. We listen once for the sheer ..read more

Welcome to Death’s Door, hellions. The end is upon us. In almost every sense. But in this particular context we refer to our monthly coverage of death metal in the year that is 2021. After one of the most unusual years for musical production in recent memory, 2021 came in like a bat straight out of hell, churning out release after amazing release. I think it would be fairly safe to say that death metal had a fairly monumental year in ways that I didn’t expect, and the end of the year certainly didn’t slow down in terms of fundamentally excellent releases. Death metal is alive and well, and we ..read more

Blood. Gore. Death metal. Ah, the glorious days of the old school. We all know the tales of yore in which Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel became household names and cultural pariahs, incurring the wrath of one Vice President’s wife and the shock and awe of the music world at large. Those were the days. While death metal ebbed and flowed in both popularity and quality after its initial surge during the early-to-mid 90s, it wasn’t until the mid 2010s that death metal’s darkest, dankest, and outright filthiest sounds began dominating the underground airwaves once more (and with gusto). The old s ..read more

*prognotes breaks down and analyses your favourite metal and progressive concept albums lyrically and musically. Read other entries in this series here.   Editor’s note: This feature is part 2 in a 3-part series on the concept behind Archspire’s records. Read Part 1 on The Lucid Collective here. Welcome back everyone to our continued analysis of the lore and concepts Archspire have constructed in their ripping discography. Today we of course dive into one of the clear standout releases from 2017, the stunning Relentless Mutation. Before we do that though, let’s briefly recap what we ..read more

Welcome once more unto Death’s Door. It’s been an insane month. It’s late, I’m exhausted, and very thankful for good death metal to keep my weary brain company. I’ll be brief: Death metal was good to us this month. There isn’t a smorgasbord of records here due to the insanity-inducing busy-ness of the month, but there are some certified BANGERS below and you should give them a listen if you haven’t already. Let us know what records you’ve been digging on Facebook. Stay healthy, safe, and well. Death metal forever. –Jonathan Adams Cream of the Crop Sermon of Flames – I Have Seen The Light, And ..read more

Death’s Door. August. Let’s get it on. I wish I had more time. Pretty much always. Mainly because I want to listen to more music, and have space to write about it. July was absolutely insane for death metal. Our infernal underlords hath blessed us richly with a bounty that ain’t no one got time to fully absorb. There are multiple records on this list that I’ve been chewing on for weeks that I wouldn’t be surprised to see show up on my AOTY list, and I think Scott would agree with that assessment. Death metal is back in full force baby and we’re all the way here for it. This month, Scott is hig ..read more

Welcome once more unto Death’s Door, ye mortals. Grab a goblet and perch upon a bone throne. June releases are upon us, and the blood floweth ever red. Seriously, though. What a month. Though, as you will come to read in the subsequent paragraphs contained in this month’s entry, time is a lie and sometimes we don’t find out about awesome releases until a month or so after their release. Thus is the case with Atvm, which will be receiving a not-insignificant amount of coverage this month even though their stunning debut was unleashed in May. But given our collective penchant for rule-breaking a ..read more

To many people looking at the metal scene, thrash metal just isn’t what it used to be. And it’s true to a certain extent. It’s not 1986 anymore after all. But to those of us in the know, thrash metal is just evolving and spreading into new territories. There’s all kinds of little subgenre sounds with all sorts of fancy portmanteaus. But what Denver’s Necropanther does is often indescribable. It’s an original blend of creative sounds that defies categorization. Generally speaking, that kind of description of a band’s sound means they rule and such is the case here. But with such a unique combo ..read more

Welcome to Mosh Lit, our new monthly column on storytelling in the world of metal.  Given the smashing success of Godzilla vs Kong last month, it seems appropriate to kick off this column contemplating the soothing power of monster movies.  Yes, you read that correctly. But hear me out. After battling a microscopic virus for over a year, the idea of a megafauna villain seems oddly peaceful. The average citizen of the Godzilla vs Kong universe probably isn’t thrilled with the situation, but they definitely aren’t stressing about a sore throat when trying to dodge a 337 foot tall ape t ..read more