Arizona thrash band Atrophy release their first new full-length album in more than thirty years: Asylum. Atrophy is one of the bands that rode the thrash wave of the eighties as it was peaking and the decline was on the horizon. They released two impressive albums back then, including the high speed Socialized Hate (1988) and the somewhat catchier record Violent By Nature (1990). These were both good albums, yet still by 1993 the band had drifted apart. Press ahead a few decades to 2015 when Atrophy reformed and began to mount a comeback. Then the frickin’ pandemic tripped them up a few years ..read more

Job For A Cowboy brings us more celestial death metal on Moon Healer. Glendale, Arizona death metal band Job For A Cowboy has been stomping the Earth for more than twenty years. With their roots in metalcore, the music they create has evolved toward progressive death metal over the years. Since the beginning, every couple of years there would be a new album or EP, up until their most recent one, Sun Eater, which came out a decade ago. Fans have been wondering whether there would be another record in the JFAC canon. Moon Healer answers that question and ends the wait. The band is Jonny Davy (v ..read more

Arizona death metal band Nuclear Remains gives us a glimpse of our future with Dawn Of Eternal Suffering. The Phoenix band Nuclear Remains came together in the past couple of years, formed by members of other bands that had been doing the hard work for several years. They play a genuinely brutal brand of death metal that is unapologetic and unrepentant. In other words, just the kind of thing a lot of fans in the heavy music world are looking for. The musicians are Aiden Santelli (vocals), Anthony Fazio (guitar, synth), Gabe Villont (bass), and Anthony Buchowski (drums). “Dawn Of Eternal Suffe ..read more

Gatecreeper is a death metal band from Arizona that is creating some of the most interesting music in heavy metal today. Their 2021 album An Unexpected Reality is a monumental achievement with a very unlikely structure – seven songs that run about one minute each and an eleven-minute epic as the anchor. The hooks and crushing riffs were in all their full-throttle glory, and they devastated and primed the crowd for what was to come next. This is third time I have seen Gatecreeper this year and every time is better than the last. Photos by Wayne Edwards. Links. Gatecreeper, https://www.g ..read more

Arizona deathgrind band Languish see the future in the now on their third album, Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation. Tucson, Arizona’s Languish having been plowing the musical fields of destruction since 2014. After an early demo, they opened the gates of the end times on Extinction (2015). Pausing for a split with Oryx, they then handed the waiting the world Unworthy three years later. Their music is a blackened death metal brand of grindcore that is a short blade to your kidney and another to your throat. The music is fast, load, and hard, and it keeps on coming. The band is Sean Mears (voc ..read more

Arizona thrash makers Incite break fresh ground with Wake Up Dead. Leading up to the new one, Incite had released five previous full-length albums: The Slaughter (2009), All Out War (2012), Up In Hell (2014), Oppression (2016), and Built To Destroy (2019). Each and every one is a ripper. Traveling back to the band’s beginning you will find the same in the early EPs. It is metal fierce enough to rattle your molars out of their sockets. Incite is Richie Cavalera (vocals), Eli Santana (guitars), Christopher “EL” Elsten (bass), and Lennon Lopez (drums). They come out swinging with “Fuck With Me ..read more

Healing Magic is on tour opening for Max & Iggor Cavalera and Warbringer. These photos are from their appearance in Indianapolis at The Vogue. Hit the link below for the full review and photos of the other bands. Photos by Wayne Edwards. Links. Main FFMB article on the show, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/06/12/max-iggor-cavalera-warbringer-and-healing-magic-at-the-vogue-indianapolis-june-6th-2022/ Healing Magic, https://www.facebook.com/healingmagicaz The Vogue, https://thevogue.com/calendar/ © Wayne Edwards ..read more

Soulfly returns with their twelfth album, Totem, and it is another earthshaker. The beginning of Soulfly dates back to the mid-nineties. After leaving Sepultura, singer and guitarist Max Cavalera started the band, initially playing a kind of nu-metal that integrated influences from diverse sources. As the years passed, the compositions continued to weave in fascinating elements from world music while turning toward thrash and groove metal, and death metal as well. The new record, Totem, makes an even twelve full-length albums from Soulfly, and it is as creative and innovative as any in their ..read more

The second full-length album from Arizona deathgaze band Kardashev is Liminal Rite. Breaking ground in 2012, Karadshev is peopled by founders Nico Mirolla (guitar) and Mark Garrett (vocals), along with Alex Rieth (bass) and Sean Lang (drums), who both joined in 2019. With three EPs and the full-length album Peripety (2015) under their collective belt, the band now ventures forth on Liminal Rite. The style of music they play has received a variety of labels ranging from progressive metal to atmospheric deathcore and on to the catch-all post-metal. Most recently, deathgaze has been frequently l ..read more

Metal Blade is re-issuing three classic Sacred Reich albums: Ignorance, Surf Nicaragua, and The American Way on February 12th. If you are a thrash fan you know about Sacred Reich because they are one of the leading bands in the second wave of thrash back in the late 80s / early 90s. They are less well remembered compared to, say, Testament, mainly because they broke up for several years around the turn of the century and therefore there is a gap in their catalogue. The band came roaring back in 2019 with the studio album Awakening, which was very well received. That album was a bittersweet re ..read more