* Our "NEW YEAR SALE" continues through March with more essential Black Metal release at the BEST ('LOW') Prices around!!! LUNAR AURORA "Andacht (Jewel-Case Edition)" CD VERZIVATAR (Ma...

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* NEW ARRIVALS for the beginning of February-- our "LOW PRICE" SALE continues! AVENGER (Czech) "Feast of Anger, Joy of Despair (Enhanced) +Bonus video!" CD AZARATH (Behemoth, Throneum,...

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Fresh Batch of RESTOCKS *[SALE!] AVSKY ATHOS FIMBUL PAGAN HERITAGE VROLOK* PRICES ARE FALLING LIKE A NEW SNOWFALL!Fresh Batch of RESTOCKS: LOW SALE PRICES! AVSKY (Sweden) "Mass Destruction *[SALE!]"...

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NEW ARRIVALS FROM SUBTERRANEAN DISTRIBUTION AND MORE!   ALIEN FORCE "Hell and High Water (Reissue)" VINYL LP ANCIENT WISDOM (Bewitched, Naglfar, Throne of Ahaz, Vintersorg) "The Calling...

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NEW ARRIVALS FROM CLOVENHOOF RECORDS!   NORDAL (Germany) "Meil Herz voller Haas (LTD.# 100) Demo" PRO-CDR ARCHGOAT "Light-Devouring Darkness Crusade 2009 Tour" T-SHIRT MORBOSIDAD "Demonic...

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Blackmetal.com / Cybertzara is proud to present:       THE SKADEN (formerly EIKENSKADEN)       "You'll Hope I Had Died" CD       NEW RELEASE FROM STEFAN KOZAK of MYSTIC FOREST!!         New...

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ATOMTRAKT, ABORYM, LUTOMYSL, POGROM+ MORE FROM MERCENARY MUSIC .. ATOMTRAKT (Battle Dagorath, Graven, Vinterriket) "Nuklearchetyp + Bonus Videoclip! (LTD.)" DIGIPAK CD ATOMTRAKT (Graven,...

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NEW ARRIVALS & KILLER RESTOCKS  FROM RED STREAM!!   SKEPTICISM "Alloy" CD BETHLEHEM (Ondskapt, Shining) "A Sacrificial Offering to the Kingdom of Heaven in a Cracked Dog's...

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NEW ARRIVALS IN STOCK FROM RUSTY AXE RECORDS! GIAMON "The Buried Buried Memories" MCD TOIL (Mord, Nazxul, Satanic Funeral, Vrolok) "Lullabies for Insects" MCD BLASPHEMOUS CRUCIFI...

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HEAVY HITTERS IN STOCK NOW!  AGONIST, THE "Lullabies for the Dormant Mind" CD AGONIST, THE "Once Only Imagined" CD ARCH ENEMY "Root of all Evil (Jewel-Case Edition)" CD...

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DELAIN ? the Dutch gothic rock/metal project founded by ex-WITHIN TEMPTATION keyboardist Martijn Westerholt (brother of WITHIN TEMPTATION's Robert Westerholt) ? has announced the addition of bassist Otto "The Baron" Schimmelpenninck van der Oije (DETONATION) to the group's ranks.

Roadrunner Records/Loud & Proud Records has announced the signing of MEAT LOAF.

Canadian extreme metallers KATAKLYSM have completed the songwriting process for their new album, "Heaven's Venom", for a tentative fall release via Nuclear Blast Records.

Reformed Greek metallers NIGHTFALL have entered the studio to begin recording their new album, "Astron Black And The Thirty Tyrants", tentatively due later in the year via an as-yet-undisclosed record label.

Tribunal Records has set an April 13 release date for the reissue of the 1990 self-titled debut album from the German hard rock band CASANOVA.

ELEPHANT MOUNTAIN, the new band featuring former BRAND NEW SIN members Joe Altier and Brian "Slider" Azzoto, will make its official live debut on April 10 at the Lost Horizon in Syracuse, New York.

"Let There Be Rock" recently conducted an interview with KOTTAK (formerly KRUNK) ? the band featuring singer/songwriter/guitarist Jimmy Ratchitt (a.k.a.

Forerunners in the heavy metal scene since its humble beginnings in the early eighties, Metal Blade Records is once again spreading the word of heavy metal to the world now through the label's brand new site, Metal Blade TV.

Coming on March 29 is "The Very Best Of Free & Bad Company Featuring Paul Rodgers".

Drummer Gonzo Sandoval of California metal veterans ARMORED SAINT will guest on the "Heavy Metal Mayhem" radio show with Mike "The Big Cheese".

Behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot for "Collapsing", the new video from Seattle-based Christian metallers DEMON HUNTER, can be viewed below.

"Worship The Sun", a brand new song from the legendary death metal band MASTER, is available for streaming at this location.

Vocalist Eric "A.K." Knutson of the legendary Arizona heavy metal band FLOTSAM AND JETSAM has joined THE HUMAN CONDITION, the group led by SACRED REICH guitarist Wiley Arnett.

Prosthetic Records has signed Denver, Colorado's CLINGING TO THE TREES OF A FOREST FIRE.

EMG TV sat down with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett at the band's San Rafael, California headquarters in September 2009 to discuss his use of EMG guitar pickups.

To all Decapitated fans: I would like to inform everyone interested in knowing about the status of the band that we are on indefinite hiatus for now. It is too early to continue or try to continue without Vitek and/or Covan at the moment. Regarding Covan. He’s recovering now and needs all the time in the world [...]

Nuclear Blast Records has announced the signing of the Tasmanian technical death metal band Psycroptic. Nuclear Blast’s U.S. A&R representative Gerardo Martinez stated about the signing: “We are beyond excited to be working with one of the best technical death metal bands in the world right now! We feel the band will reach the status [...]

Metal Hammer writer Joel McIver reports that the new guitarist in Florida death metal legends Morbid Angel is none other than ZYKLON’s longtime axemeister [...]

Louisiana based experimental project “Psychometry” has hired the services of Suffocation drummer Mike Smith to perform and record on their upcoming Album “The Four Points”. Psychometry is an atmospheric, melodic metal band made up of professional musicians experienced in several different styles of music. The project ranges from symphonic, classical, electronic, as well as extreme [...]

Romain Goulon joins Necrophagist as the official new drummer. The band and Romain look forward to working together on the new album. Meanwhile, check out a video of Romain playing to guitar tracks from the album “Epitaph” at Necrophagist’s official YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/NecrophagistOfficial The band wants to thank ‘human metronome’ Marco Minnemann for playing drums on last [...]

Hey Everyone!!!! Sorry that im never on here but I been busy with music and band stuff. I wanted to post this message for all the people making Morbid Angel guitarist tryout vids for youtube, etc. First I wanna say THANX!!!!! to everyone taking any time to make some vid of them playing the songs!!!!! Its amazing to see [...]

Dear Carcasses! Firstly, I?d like to thank all the people who have been posting comments and sending messages since we announced the reunion. I can tell you that we feel very inspired by your enthusiasm and excitement for the shows this summer! Also, special thanks to the lovely Kristelle for designing and maintaining the only official Carcass MySpace [...]

Montreal’s CRYPTOPSY has revealed that they have decided to postpone all future CRYPTOPSY performances and the release of the group’s forthcoming album, “The Unspoken King”, Drummer Flo Mounier had this to say: “Due to the current circumstances of the fans being unable to comprehend our new material, we have decided to call it quits. It should [...]

Thats RIGHT! Origin has the recording and mixing done for their new album Antithesis! Expect some face melting guitar riffs/sweeps cause Origin is one of the craziest death metal bands to date! Death Metal Hails, and 100% unending support for ORIGIN!!! -Admin

“the album is done, mixed and all. I’m listening to it right now….! I want to boast, but I’ll keep it together and do it later instead.” “Watershed” is the name of Opeth´s 9th studio observation. The album has just been mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren with M. Ĺkerfeldt. The album consist of 7 songs [...]

I'm still convinced that whoever signed these New York-based alt-merchants to Metal Blade must almost certainly have intended it as an April fool's prank on Brian Slagel. (0 out of 10)

Arsis has proved its reliability and consistency as a band that can continuously deliver this balanced hybrid of technicality and melody. This forty minute record is all what you would expect from them, which infers a lack of surprises. (5.5 out of 10)

Between the Buried and Me have developed a lot from their self-titled debut, which had prominent metalcore influences, all the way to their fifth studio album _The Great Misdirect_, which will have you marveling at its calm beauty and within the same minute, running for shelter from its brutality. (9 out of 10)

I was really hoping that after the release of _Origin_ in 2006, Borknagar would release something truly different, yet still in the unique Borknagar style. (7.5 out of 10)

You will go a long to finding a group who have managed to cross-breed the vaguely accessible with the downright anti-social with quite the same level of class as Germanic grimsters Dark Fortress. (9 out of 10)

With only a handful of albums, Ensiferum have managed to express themselves quite variously as they play around with their medley of folk-influenced power metal and death vocals, and they surely cannot be said to grow stale between releases. (4 out of 10)

Totalrust is not a label I would associate with black metal, and such a combination is analogous to No Colours releasing power metal -- but if they had to stray from their roster of dirty and slow-as-molasses doom, this is as good a choice as any. (8.5 out of 10)

"Abstract" -- an ironic word, which the Emperor frontman himself has used to describe his third solo outing in recent interviews. And indeed, if ever there was an antithesis to his previous full-length, 2008's sublime _angL_, then this would be it. (6.5 out of 10)

So, while _Shadows in the Light_ was certainly captivating in its own right, as an Immolation devotee I longed for the coal-black ambience that had pumped like tar through the veins of their classics -- _Close to a World Below_ especially. (9.5 out of 10)

Most of us are cognizant of the no-name revivalist bands who take up the banner of old-school death metal, and I personally tend to lose interest straightaway when I receive the album of any newer band with this particular disposition. That being said, Paganizer are assuredly not newcomers to this movement. (5.5 out of 10)

Secrets of the Moon raised the bar ever higher for themselves as their cold, blighted work steadily improved. _Privilegivm_ sees the group playing vanguard, black-inspired metal at a speed that doom fans could easily stomach. (7 out of 10)

To wit, _Graveyard Classics 3_ comprises a roll-call of the typical, oft-covered suspects (Metallica, Slayer et al), which virtually to a song are left stripped of their dignity. (1 out of 10)

With festival appearances of The Kovenant planned for this summer and a new Troll album, it's obvious that in 2010 Nagash is thinking resurrection and world domination once again. (6.5 out of 10)

It is not that their music is so brilliantly conceived and executed (which it is). It is not even that they separate the art from the artist to let it breathe its own life (which they do). It is that, for me at least, their music touches the very core of my senses. (9.5 out of 10)

Technicality is never easy to incorporate properly into metal. Bands going for an overtly technical sound somehow give me the impression that I'm wasting my time, but that is not the case with Zillah. (7 out of 10)

After the unimaginatively titled demos _I_ and _II_, Aquila have foregone the possibility of recording _III_ in favour of a full-length. (7 out of 10)

While still playing atmospheric black metal, Arthemesia decided to slow things down considerably on _a.O.a_ -- almost doing away entirely with ferocious tremolo-picking and blast-beats (except for the last song), and opting for a more mid-paced, measured approach. (9 out of 10)

Greg Massi, perhaps best known as a founding member of maudlin of the Well, and its later incarnation, Kayo Dot, has left behind the increasingly avantgarde tendencies of the latter for a more accessible form of audio expression. (6.5 out of 10)

_Nouveau Gloaming_, the debut of this UK-based avantgarde black metal act, was one of my most played albums of the last few years. No pressure then, _Resplendent Grotesque_. (9 out of 10)

The Readers Digest version of Count Raven's history is that they formed in the mid-Eighties, released a their debut in 1989, issued a few more classics, split up in 1996, reformed in 2003, two thirds left, and six years later, the sole surviving member gathered together a few buddies and recorded this, their first album for the 21st century. (8 out of 10)

It's been a fair few years since Deströyer 666's last couple of albums -- _Phoenix Rising_ (2000) and _Cold Steel... for an Iron Age_ (2002) -- and they waste no time before unleashing their black/thrash attack on _Defiance_. (9 out of 10)

"Live album by a Metal God. Buy now." Those eight words should suffice as a review, right? After all, what more need be said? Sadly, quite a lot.

For those who don't know, F.K.Ü. ("Freddy Krueger's Underwear") play an amazing brand of humour / horror-soaked retro-thrash. Before rolling your eyes, and moving onto another review, let me just tell you that this is retro-thrash the way it was meant to be played. (9 out of 10)

In those endearing frailties and rawness _The Malediction Fields_ finds extra character, which is often the mark of the truly chosen -- the likes of Katatonia's _Dance of December Souls_ or In the Woods'... _HEart of the Ages_, for instance. (8.5 out of 10)

Having released several demos over the last few years since starting up as a solo project, For Ruin grew into a full band and finally distilled their accumulated experience, skill and creativity into their debut _December_ -- to which _Last Light_ is the successor. (7.5 out of 10)

Birthed from the likes of Sunn O))), Thorr's Hammer and Burning Witch, Goatsnake summon the swamp without so much as a hint of west coast attitude. Groovy from the first chords to the closing hum, the guitars are the essence of _Flower of Disease_ (originally released in 2000). (8 out of 10)

So do you prefer your favourite bands to remain steady and reliable, or demand that they try and win you over with something different every time? With Insomnium's fourth album, the former are assured of another cracking album, while the latter should probably look elsewhere. (8.5 out of 10)

While the rest of the post-metal kingdom is off flirting with brighter, more accessible textures, genre godfather Justin K. Broadrick recedes back into the shadows of melancholy and experimental abrasion with a pair of recent releases.

The latest Katatonia full-length, _Night Is the New Day_, is by no means a difficult album to like if you're a Katatonia fan -- especially if you don't mind some Opeth either, which is hardly an unlikely set of circumstances. (8.5 out of 10)

_L'Abime des Jours, l'Ecume des Nuits_ was originally released in 2007 through Dungeons Deep Records, containing only two tracks, but almost 40 minutes of music, with one track surpassing 25 minutes in length. (8 out of 10)

Not to meander with my words too much, _The Voice of Steel_ is a stunning piece of folk -inspired- black metal, which does not stay within the defined (and confined) boundaries of the style and more often than not ventures into psychedelic rock territories in the vein of Pink Floyd. (9.5 out of 10)

Portal didn't release _Swarth_ to please anyone; their constant dissonance and sporadic compositions, their abstract themes and avantgarde attires all play a role in conjuring up the evil, malignant image Portal have become. (9.5 out of 10)

Let's make one thing clear here: I don't care how many bands are coming from the UK lugging the 'retro-thrash' banner anymore. I can confidently say that I've heard their best and from the current standpoint, and none of them seem to have what it takes to top Savage Messiah's second album _Insurrection Rising_. (8.5 out of 10)

As Egyptians, we are internationally known for our monumental pyramids and age old civilization; but today I bring you a new cultural export, a musical export that differs from all other music (popular and unpopular) in Egypt. It's a death metal band by the name Scarab. (6 out of 10)

Formerly from the UK and Hungary, but now relocated to New York, Sectioned play a very familiar form of "old-school" death metal many of us have come to know quite well. (6 out of 10)

I'll tone down the use of superlatives here, and just say that this is really, really well played melodic death metal. Each of the ten tracks is a gem unto itself, and leaves you with a feeling of wanting more and more. (10 out of 10)

At just three full-lengths in their fifteen years of existence, no one can accuse While Heaven Wept of being prolific; yet their 2003 release _Of Empires Forlorn_ was a very decent stab at Candlemass inspired epic doom metal, punctuated by leader Tom Phillips's distinct vocals and guitar style. (8.5 out of 10)

Black metal demos all too often follow the same motif; a hermit or like-minded group of frowning weekend Satanists record five songs of badly performed, badly produced generic rip-off of Darkthrone, Burzum or Mayhem. This is not one of those. (4 out of 5)

Ill Grande Scisma D'Oriente's new promo, entitled _Synestheisa_, features twenty-three minutes (over five tracks) of very interesting and progressive death metal. (2.5 out of 5)

The triple apparition of Ramasses that lurks in the Borderline, nestling deep in the grave of the Astoria, raises the question: is there a market niche for buskers in the corridors of Hell? And is it filled? If it isn't, these guys have the afterlife sewn -right- up.

It's a tight inter-genre race to the finish line this year; who will win the 2009 CoC Album of the Year award?

Though not an official band member, Greek god of drumming George Kollias lent his drumming prowess to his fellow Greeks Cerebrum for the recording of their debut album _Spectral Extravagance_, and his name is written all over it. (7 out of 10)

Once again, Metal Mind has inexplicably re-released a DVD as a CD. If the DVD is sold out (as it should damn well be!) then why not just reprint it?

Grimlord's previous full-length was plagued by inadequate clean vocals, a problem that has now been resolved through the use of a more extreme vocal style. But a further problem has surfaced, that of inchoateness, as this album has all the hallmarks of a rushed release. (5 out of 10)

After a trio of albums, Dutch romantic doom-mongers Morphia disintegrated in 2008, but not before performing a swansong gig.

Now with Pressure Points, I feel that they are a very capable band indeed, displaying some excellent musicianship, and some fairly interesting ideas; however, there's just something missing here. Maybe it's just plain feeling or emotion? (6 out of 10)

With a too-cute acronym standing for the unwieldy "Modern Expressing Machines of Revolutionary Youth", this possesses all the hallmarks of youthful fervour and creativity. (7.5 out of 10)

Amorphead's music has a hint of the traditional heavy metal sound, which is evident in their plentiful use of steady chugging riffs, and it also has a more apparent melodic death sound. (5 out of 10)

Hearse are plying their wares again; and so they continue to bring us that highly unique brand of death 'n' roll that is somewhat similar to, but still quite different from related acts such as Convulse and later-era Carcass. (9.5 out of 10)

This is their debut album originally released in 1990, although many of the songs were present in demo form before then. (8.5 out of 10)

Russian Circles are back with _Geneva_, their third album, and it is yet another transcendental musical experience. If you think that instrumental music played by only a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer can be boring, then I pity you for never having listened to this band. (8 out of 10)

If there is a recent album one can draw parallels with Sólstafir's _Köld_, that would be _Vertebrae_ -- but less psychedelic and much more rocking. (10 out of 10)

Lamb of God are part of a recently burgeoning scene intent on bringing back the heaviness and brutality that once marked metal but has been worn down by several years of nu-metal, melodic metal and the current plethora of supposed metal bands that actually play post-grunge, namely Saliva, Staind, Linkin Park, etc. To their credit, Lamb of God do a good job of doling out genuine death metal with guitar riffs that are not too overly complex, vocals that are the requisite combination of growling and shrieking and violence as the subject of many of their songs. What's incredible is they manage to pull all this off despite the fact that they are on a major label. The band formed in Virginia in 1998, toured constantly and put out a pair of well-received records on indie labels. They were signed to Epic in 2003. - Mike McGuirk

Along with At the Gates, In Flames rule the fertile Swedish metal scene with an iron fist. Darkened keyboard introductions lay an ominous feeling of dread over your soul, but come nowhere near preparing you for the coming assault. Seemingly without warning, frantic guitar riffs explode with feverish intensity and lightning speed. Soon maniacal shrieks join the battle with merciless intent, growling truths that are hard to deny. Given the dramatic guitar work and structural complexity of the tunes, one would expect the lyrics to be drenched in myth and fantasy. While certainly melodramatic, the lyrics tend to focus more on personal issues than theatrical excess, lending the tunes an emotional authenticity and urgency rare in black metal. In Flames' epic style owes quite a bit to the seminal work of Iron Maiden, but reaches heights of speed and depths of evil that Maiden have yet to approach. Fierce stuff. - Doug Russell

Sweden's Opeth specialize in doom-laden, downtrodden epics that combine elements of '70s Progressive Rock, melodic Death Metal, and Scandinavian folk music. Their songs move through blazing Metal sections, somber acoustic guitar picking, classical piano interludes, and majestic dual guitar harmonizing -- often without revealing any discernible underlying theme until, say, the tenth listen. Songs run in the ten minute range (though twenty isn't out of the question), with very little repetition. Listening takes patience, for one thing, as well as a fondness for the cold, dark gray atmosphere and borderline self-pitying sense they exude. Then there are the vocals, which alternate between deep growls that could send a bear cowering back into his cave, and clean, melodic singing that could put a crying baby to sleep within seconds. Clearly, this band isn't for everyone, but they haven't become one of the most talked about underground Metal bands of the last five or ten years for nothing. - Will York

One of the biggest metal bands to come out of Finland, Children of Bodom bang out heavy but melodic death metal with synthesizers playing a major part in the music -- which isn't a bad thing at all, as songs are suitably brutal, with wriggling guitar riffs and pit-of-hell wraith-vocals. At their best, Children of Bodom sound like Ram It Down-era Judas Priest mixed with Celtic Frost. The name comes from a notorious, as-yet-unsolved 1960s mass murder near their hometown of Espoo, Finland, in which three teenage campers were brutally killed. The band's 1997 debut, Something Wild, sparked international fame for them, and they've been steady sellers both in Finland and abroad ever since. - Mike McGuirk

Formed in 2004, this Sheffield, Yorkshire, England quintet took its name from a line in Pirates of the Caribbean and its sound from American hardcore and metal. Combining the elements of straight-edge hardcore, primitive '90s metalcore, and death metal, BMTH fused their own brand of crushing music that got the attention of the music industry. After releasing their debut album only in the U.K. in 2006, the band -- Oliver Sykes (vocals), Lee Malia (guitar), Curtis Ward (guitar), Matt Kean (bass), and Matt Nicholls (drums) -- was voted Best Newcomers by Kerrang! Magazine, and the media frenzy ensued. They quietly re- released the album in the United States a year later, but it wasn't until Epitaph Records released 2008's highly anticipated second full-length Suicide Season following their stint on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour that BMTH became a force in the States. - Jen Guyre

New, dark and heavy sound with brutal vocals references Progressive and Power Metal. Thrashing guitars and rhythm.

One of the most aggressive, influential, violent, frenetic, fearful Metal bands of the '90s. Let's refer to their aural assault as "Splattercore." - Marc Kate

Imagine if scientists were to hybridize the DNA of late-1980s Metallica and Chaos A.D.-era Sepultura, splice it into the genome of a superhuman cyborg, then send it on a mission to destroy all weak Metal bands in its path. That cyborg would be Meshuggah. Building their stuttering jackhammer riffs atop constantly shifting odd-time rhythms, they execute with frightening, machine-like precision and cement-crushing heaviness. Vocalist Jens Kidman barks out sci-fi-damaged lyrics in an unyielding roar; guitarist Fredrik Thordendal chimes in now and then with Fusion-derived solos that would probably sound horrible on a jazz record, but fit right in with what Meshuggah does. The biggest criticism here would be a lack of outward variation -- the fast tempos, melody-free vocals and densely packed guitars lend a similar surface to each song. Within that limited framework, though, the variations are fast-paced and seemingly endless. - Will York

Most striking about this band is their vocal delivery, a whips-and-satin style that combines harsh growls and limpid, clean singing. There's a touch of In Flames and At the Gates in Shadows Fall's counterbalancing of down-tuned guitars and high-flying vocals, but their playing is more progressive, allowing each player to fan their talents across the table like a winning hand. - Chad Driscoll

Formed in 2000 in North Carolina, Between the Buried and Me play extremely technical and varied death metal with super-growly Cookie Monster-esque vocals. The songs have many components, ranging from obliterating grind-core, to messing with signature signatures like the Gorguts on lithium, to moments of sheer ethereal beauty. But it's these passages with light guitars and sung vocals that really set Between the Buried apart from other folks playing death metal today. - Mike McGuirk

Wailing electric guitar folk melodies and hoarse screaming vocals follow heavy power riffs. Raw Finnish melodic metal. - Marc Kate

Formed in 1996 in Bayonne, France, this progressive death/doom metal band didn't make its U.S. debut until 2006 when Prosthetic Records released the acclaimed third full-length From Mars To Sirius. Originally called Godzilla, vocalist/guitarist Joe Duplantier, guitarist Christian Andreu, bassist Jean-Michel Labadie and drummer Mario Duplantier were legally forced to change their name due to copyright infringement. They decided on Gojira, the Latin translation of the Japanese title for Godzilla. Rooted in death metal, the band also utilizes sludge and doom metal undertones for a progressive, technically advanced sound that lyrically tackles socio-political issues like global warming and spiritual theories like Impermanence. - Jen Guyre

This San Diego-based modern death metal/metalcore band formed in 2001. As a part of the current crop of American death metal acts, including Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall, the band plays clean, technical metal that is more suited to radio airplay than the progenitors of the genre ever were. Setting the group even further from the heyday of hardcore/metal crossover is the fact that the band members themselves are Christians, which is a guiding force in their songwriting. Their first album, Beneath the Encasing of Ashes came out on Pluto records in 2001. Shortly thereafter, the band signed to Metal Blade, with their major label debut, Frail Words Collapse coming out in 2003. - Mike McGuirk

Formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2000, 3 Inches of Blood specialize in light-speed D&D metal with vocals that recall Rob Halford's highest pitched moments tweaked beyond human capabilities. Their Roadrunner Records debut, Advance and Vanquish is surprisingly good, full of blurry, but memorable guitar riffs, lyrics about killing orcs and vocals that may actually drive you insane after awhile. The band toured with the Darkness and are some kind of power/fantasy metal poster children, along similar lines to Avenged Sevenfold's emo-metal. Thankfully 3 Inches of Blood has enough going on (they actually sound like a metal-core band-gone-Maiden) to warrant the attention. - Mike McGuirk

After lordly At the Gates decided to quit while they were ahead, Bjorler brothers Anders and Jonas re-surfaced in 1998 as the Haunted. Their music had suffered a sea change from ultratechnical "melodic death" to bludgeoning hardcore Thrash. Upon hearing the self-titled debut, most ATG fans crossed their tattooed arms, harrumphed loudly and turned their backs. It wasn't that the music had relented in ferocity or waned in precision, but it had picked up a lot of radio-rock Americanisms that made it more accessible and not quite as singular. Death Metal fans will have a hard time swallowing the gristle-necked Pantera vocals and the crotch-grabbing rap delivery, especially in songs such as "Undead" and "Three Times." Future offerings may drop the chest-beating bluster to plumb the depths of the spirit (which is what ATG did so well). After all, listening to one man go on for forty minutes about his disgust for society can leave you numb, paranoid and mad at nobody in particular for everything in general. But, if that's where you're headed anyway, hop on. There's probably no one that can get you there faster than the Haunted. - Chad Driscoll

The stereotype that Death Metal bands are one-dimensional does not apply to Hypocrisy. Since their inception in the early 1990s, this Swedish trio have continued to evolve while generally maintaining their fan credibility. Early releases such as Osculum Obscenum (1993) proved they could dish out raw, guttural brutality roughly along the lines of fellow Swedes Entombed. Subsequent efforts including Abducted and The Final Chapter incorporated more melodic (though still dark) guitar riffs, along with atmospheric keyboard touches and high-pitched shriek/scream vocals that brought them closer to Death/Black Metal hybrid territory. After disbanding briefly, they came back strong with the live Hypocrisy Destroys Wacken 1998 and the immaculately produced Hypocrisy (1999). The latter featured much more clean, melodic vocalizing than before, as well as a hefty dose of synth-heavy, Pink Floyd-ian melodrama. - Will York

Is At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul the perfect dark Metal album? There aren't many recordings that can throw your entire world off its axis and leave you spinning lopsided with the weight of doom, but this record will. Every song pounds with its own black heart and abides by its own bleak logic. Most so-called "technical metal" acts truck in cheap, penny-ante riffs that line up head to tail like so many well-heeled sheep. At the Gates move fluidly through a menagerie of complex, unpredictable measures -- each phrase gliding imperceptibly into the next -- without ever sounding showy. Lyrically, this band brilliantly defies the pomposities of Black Metal, writing songs that writhe with real agonies. Everything At the Gates touched is worth hearing, but Slaughter... represents them in their finest hour. It's an album with flesh between its teeth, blood under its nails, and the cloud of horrible visions in its eye. - Chad Driscoll

That so many Carcass fans considered the fierce Death Metal assault of Swansong (1996) a sellout says something about the band's origins. Debuting in 1988 with the guttural early Grindcore of Reek of Putrefaction, the quartet established itself as one of the more extreme Metal bands around. The medically detailed and all but indecipherable lyrics to songs like "Cadaveric Incubator of Endoparasites" tend to grab attention first, but the self-consciously gory shenanigans are backed by an appropriately stomach-churning musical attack. Their murky riffs, claustrophobic drums and absurdly low-in-the-throat vocals (courtesy of onetime Napalm Death guitarist Bill Steer) established a pattern many bands would follow. After a brief recording hiatus, they reemerged in 1994 with the more cleanly produced and increasingly song-centered Heartwork, and bassist Jeff Walker's demonic mid-range replaced Steer's low growl. The aptly named Swansong put the last nail in the coffin, so to speak, offering their most accessible yet most controversial work. Whether it signaled evolution or "sellout" was something the band itself could not agree on, and they split around the time of its release. - Will York

Despite a short life span and only a pair of releases, now-defunct sludge and doom metal band Acid Bath were nevertheless a major piece of the lauded New Orleans metal puzzle of the mid- to late '90s. With many of the same trappings as their peers (slowly thudding guitar riffs, an almost unmatched reverence for early Black Sabbath), Acid Bath stood apart from the pack thanks to variations employed by singer Daxx Riggs, a wide array of influences in their music and a strong psychedelic bent in their songs. Riggs' singing -- often melodic and given to moments of gothic somberness, but also known to lay out hardcore/death screeches and growls with the best of them -- garnered the band early renown among critics. Their two records, When the Kite String Pops (1994) and Pagan Terrorism Tactics (1996), pointed to serious potential, but the band split following the tragic death of bassist Audie Pitre in a car accident in 1997. Riggs went on to front several psychedelic doom bands, most notably Agents of Oblivion and Deadboy and the Elephant Men, as well as recording and performing as a solo artist. - Mike McGuirk

Brutal Metal riffing that seems to harbor thoughts of death, doom, and other Metal prefixes. The vocalist's evil growl is matched by slow, chugging guitars harbored in winter. - Jessy Terry

Scar Symmetry are a five-piece melodic death-metal act from Sweden that formed in 2004. The band's extremely varied songs and fluid transitions -- from heavy-duty crunch to the sweetest of melodies riding over blastbeat drums -- have some folks talking about a resurgence of the once-burgeoning Scandinavian metal scene. With three albums to their credit, and having recorded for both Nuclear Blast and Metal Blade, Scar Symmetry, while inhabiting the same milieu as Children of Bodom and Dimmu Borgir, pack an astonishing array of metal styles into each song and exhibit a technical ability impressive enough to make them hard to ignore. Their first album, Symmetric in Design, appeared in 2005, Pitch Black Progress followed in 2006 and the band put out Holographic Universe in 2008. - Mike McGuirk

GWAR is a renegade outfit of performance artists who, with their macabre and perverse live shows, strike as much fear into the hearts of city council members as the word "Ticketmaster" does with concert-goers. Pagan ceremonies, sci-fi schlock, and fake blood by the gallon are the main elements of their repertoire. Oh, and their music -- workmanlike forays into grinding Death Metal. See them live, then the albums will make great souvenirs. - Chad Driscoll

Morbid Angel represent just about everything a Death Metal fan could ask for, and everything a skeptic of the genre could think of to ridicule. Blinding tempos, ultraheavy riffs, beastly vocals, psychotic guitar solos and blasphemous lyrics about flesh and "sinful desires" -- these Floridian freaks have been dishing it all out in glorious excess since the mid-1980s. Their sincerity has often bordered on self-parody, and sometimes it just plain crosses the line, with David Vincent's inimitable, phlegm-covered grunts ("Whuuuuuhhh") as just one example. All chuckles aside, they back up the evil posturing as few others can: not only are they incredibly fast, technical musicians, but their songs are elaborate and well-constructed, making smart use of time and tempo changes as well as recurring themes and riffs. They also sound pretty, well, evil. Their early albums (Altars of Madness, Blessed Are the Sick, Covenant) remain classics of the genre and are still probably the best places to start, though they haven't exactly sloughed off in recent years. - Will York

Death founder and mastermind Chuck Schuldiner has skippered the band through endless line-up changes and stylistic permutations. The group's general trajectory has been from gruff Thrash blasts to operatic technical metal with wall-of-sound mixing and Byzantine song structures. Death deserve credit for almost single-handedly hewing off the prickly, gore-spattered Metal sub-genre which shares the band's name. Unlike the anatomically fixated, charnel house miscreants that followed in their wake, Death's music possessed real substance. It was arguably profound. Using sickness and moribundity as metaphors for social decay and moral corruption, the band never merely gloried in gore for gore's sake. Schuldiner endeavored in his lyrics to make connections between the social and the somatic, between the pollution of the planet and the contamination of the spirit. - Chad Driscoll

One of the most violent manifestations of early Florida Death Metal, Obituary also tended toward a more elaborate orchestration of ultra-violent Thrash than the Death Metal bands that followed. John Tardy's vocals are corrosive and crusty; they scream with a rough urgency that matches Trevor Peres' grinding guitars. His chords cut like a rusty axe swung with great intent, if not precision. Obituary revels in blind, manic violence first and technical virtuosity second. - Marc Kate

Founded by Fear Factory drummer Raymond Herrera, Brujeria are even more sonically extreme than his previous band. With lyrics inspired by the blood-stained tabloids of Mexico and Brazil, the band creates gruesome aural splatter-fests with flailing guitars and larynx-lacerating vocals.

When Suffocation vocalist Frank Mullin "sings," it sounds just like a long, sustained eructation*. One listen and you'd swear Satan himself had set up shop in that man's vocal chords. We're talking Exorcist material here. With devastating sonic brutality as their goal, this band set upon their instruments like bloodthirsty marauders. This is motivational music for serial killers.

*belch - Chad Driscoll

Founding fathers of Florida's Death Metal sound, Deicide have been creating unholy terror since the late 1980s. Their belligerent riffs pit technical proficiency against guitars that crumble under excessive distortion. Screaming vocals blurt out demonic words rising to piercing shouts and dropping to low, thunderous growls. - Marc Kate

Entombed established their preeminence on the Death Metal scene with their 1991 Earache debut Left Hand Path and their pivotal second album, Clandestine. No history of the genre could do without a long paragraphs on these touchstone recordings. But by Wolverine Blues (their 1994 major label debut on Sony), they had alienated many of their fans with slower, more commercial sounding songs. Their tenure at Sony turned out to be short-lived, but subsequent releases on independent labels indicate that Wolverine Blues wasn't so much a sellout as a sincere effort by the band to evolve and mature musically. Entombed have continued to downshift the tempo and have added blues elements to their sound, giving them a groove-rock flavor somewhere between the Black Crowes and Monster Magnet. Time will tell if these musical innovators have fully matured, or if they'll undergo yet another transformation in their long, polymorphic life cycle. - Chad Driscoll

With brutality as its guiding aesthetic force, Cryptopsy prove Canada to be less peaceful than previously thought. Punishing chaos. - Marc Kate

Napalm Death were the band responsible for hacking off the Metal limb that would subsequently regenerate as Grindcore. Pushing the human body to discover the limits of how fast it can drum, strum and vocalize, the tempos they achieved on their early albums are unsurpassable, except digitally. Guitar notes swarm in on listeners like a cloud of flesh-eating insects with a fondness for ear meat, while the drums seem like they're being played with a machine gun. Meanwhile, vocal duties sound like they're being shared by Yoda after a long trek through the desert without water and a shrieking Sam Kinison stuck in a cocaine-less Hell. Though later efforts found the band backing off maximum overdrive to explore heaviness at slower speeds, their music still teems with sound and fury. Napalm Death's organ-mulching blasts of noise continue to define the state of the art in audio brutality. - Chad Driscoll

In the minds of many, Celtic Frost's Death Metal opuses To Mega Therion and Into the Pandemonium are two of the greatest Metal albums of all time. They're certainly impressive work for a three piece, even if they sound a touch overdramatic today. The weird operatic falsettos, cavernous percussion and sci-fi prog-isms of these records haven't aged gracefully, but in terms of influence they easily rank with the Possessed's Seven Churches and Slayer's Reign in Blood. Much to the horror of fans, the band strayed into the flowery fields of Pop Metal during the late '80s. Cold Lake has the feel of a simple makeover that went terribly wrong, inadvertently gelding the band. The mom-approved Metal of "Cherry Orchards" was only a long, curly hair better than the Wonder Bread rock of Whitesnake. Fortunately, subsequent efforts saw the band reasserting their claim to the blackened Death Metal throne, giving the story a happy ending after all. A mismatched platypus of a record, Parched With Thirst Am I and Dying: 1984-1992 captures the band in all its topsy-turvy glory. - Chad Driscoll