Oakland death metal band Darkness Everywhere release their first full-length album, To Conquer Eternal Damnation. Darkness Everywhere came together in 2020 in Oakland when a group of seasoned musicians found that they all had an affection for 1990s Swedish melodic death metal. In 2022, they released their first recording, the EP The Seventh Circle. Now they have moved into longform, and the results speak for themselves. The band is Ben Murray (guitar, vocals), Cameron Stucky (guitar), Zack Ohren (bass), and Garrett Garvey (drums). Talking about the new record, Murray says, “We’re incredibly p ..read more

Atlanta death metal band Dååth release their first new album in fourteen years, The Deceivers. Atlanta, Georgia is where melodic death metal band Dååth emerged. Starting in 2003, the band laid down five full-length albums and an EP over the next decade. Then, silence ensued for long enough that fans did not know whether there would ever be more music from Dååth. When the resurrection came, the line-up had changed a little, but the elemental force of the music remained. The band is Eyal Levi (guitar), Sean Zatorsky (vocals), Krimh (drums), Jesse Zuretti (synth, guitar), Rafael Trujillo (guitar ..read more

Philadelphia symphonic death metal band Malphas release a new concept album, Portal. Malphas is a melodic death metal band from Philadelphia (not to be confused with the melodic black metal band of the same name from Michigan). They have been around for more than a decade, logging an EP, The Conjuring (2015), and a full-length album, The 39th Spirit (2018). The new record is a deep concept album, meaning that it is richly imagined. The band describes it this way, “It is a concept album about a man who makes a pact with Malphas to achieve his high political ideals; however, this backfires and ..read more

Melodic metalcore band Sujin present their debut album, Save Our Souls. Operating for about ten years as Whisper Night, the band has changed its name to Sujin and now serves up the first full-length album under the new moniker. Headquartered in Laval, France, the veteran musicians have taken on the theme of environmental degradation and “a planet on the verge of collapse – the Earth” to create a concept album to launch the new era of their expressions. The band is Julien Mellier (vocals), Stève Richard (guitar), Matt Lemonier (guitar), Quentin Bruyère (bass), and Liam Barbier (drums). After a ..read more

Prog death metal band Eternal Storm release their second long-player, A Giant Bound To Fall. Eternal Storm formed in 2009 in Madrid. After fermenting ideas for a few years, they put out their first EP in 2013, From The Ashes, followed by a split and Come The Tide (2019), their debut full-length album. The approach the band has taken to composition has resulted in music that exceeds expectations. The new album is another step up. The band is Daniel R. Flys (vocals, guitar, keys, bass), Jaime Torres (guitar, vocals, keys, bass), and Daniel Maganto (bass, guitar, vocals). There are nine songs on ..read more

Chicago metal band Cariosus release their first full-length album, Will, Until Beauty. Ten years ago Cariosus started playing together. They have released two notable EPs, Crime and Punishment (2015) and Saturnine Depths (2017), along with a handful of singles. Biding their time until the dawn of 2024, they are now ready to bring forth their first long-player, Will, Until Beauty. Cariosus is Alex Pfister (vocals, bass) and Kevin Kryszak (guitar). “The Narrow Path” starts the set off fast and whirling. The black metal-ish vocals are tempered to the point that they are understandable. The percu ..read more

Melodic death metal band As The Sun Falls offer three new tracks on their latest EP, Where The Silence Reigns. As The Sun Falls came together in 2020, and since then they have released an impressive string of records, including three previous EPs, a live album, a long-player, and half a dozen singles. The band is from Finland (although reportedly they started out in Switzerland), and they create a melodic form of death metal. The musicians are Mikko Voutilainen (vocals), Jani Mikkänen (guitar, vocals), Lauri Unkila (guitar), Oskar Englund (bass), and Paul Rytkönen (drums). “The Wanderer” is a ..read more

Austrian metal band Heathen Foray mince no words on their sixth studio album, Oathbreaker. Heathen Foray came together in Austria in 2004. An umbrella description of their music might be melodic death metal, but there are commonly elements of folk and Viking metal in there, too, not to mention the robust percussion that would be at home in other strands of heavy music. Over the years they have released five other full-length albums, beginning with The Passage in 2009. The music they create has moved and changed over time, and the new record in some ways calls back their earlier work. The band ..read more

German death metal band Thron crack on with their fourth album, Dust. Formed in 2015, Thron is a band of mystery. I read a recent list of the musicians in the band as this: Samca (vocals), PVIII (guitars), SII (guitars), SXIII (bass), and CII (drums). So, there you go. I think of the band as progressive death metal, but you can see many elements in their composition. The music on their new album is described this way in the press blurb: “With Dust, [they] incorporate new elements in their sound by going back to their very roots which lie in the early 80s when bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Pri ..read more

Sweden’s In Flames release their 14th studio album of mesmerizing metal, Forgone. Much has changed for In Flames in the past thirty years. There have been line-up shifts, and an evolution in the band’s sound as the decades have passed. What has been consistent the entire time is the quality of the music and the push for excellence. Whatever direction In Flames moved in, they moved with purpose and determination. The band is Anders Fridén (vocals), Björn Gelotte (guitar), Bryce Paul (bass), Tanner Wayne (drums), and Chris Broderick (guitar). Talking about the new album, Anders Fridén says, “In ..read more