France’s Hell Militia have been kicking (unfortunate) Euro ass since the early aughts, so it stands to reason there’s a “sizeable” contingent of believers into the group’s three full-length albums, the most recent of which is Jacob’s Ladder on the Season of Mist label. “Jacob’s Ladder reveals the inner side of Hell Militia,” says the…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for. This week, we have, by special request of…

Because every day another band records another song.  Because 83% of those songs are unlistenable and you can’t be bothered to sift through the dreck.  Because metal is about not giving a shit and waking your own personal storm.  Because music is universal, expression is boundless, and even indie labels (whatever that means these days)…

In the boundless quest to distinguish one’s band from metal’s ever-growing pack, comes another new sub-genre, given birth by Vancouver’s Auroch. Referring to themselves as “Lovecraftian death metal,” the trio is set to release their debut full-length From Forgotten Worlds via Poland’s Hellthrasher Productions. The band’s debut, which follows a spate of five demos that…

We’ve been lucky enough to have the likes of Shane Embury, Greg Mackintosh and Anders Nyström tell us about records that related in some way to each of their bands’ studio albums. This time around, Aaron Stainthorpe (that’s him on the far right) combed through My Dying Bride’s discography (including the quintet’s eleventh and latest,…

How instrumental was the faux-documentary/film The Hellstrom Chronicle to the making of Insects?v.03/170: The film wasn’t that essential on our musical concept, but it surely influenced the overall lyrical concept on Insects. Its abysmal mood and the menacing close-ups of actually small creatures give a special kind of impression which helped to form pictures in…

We offer this as more of a geographic reference than a musical one, but if you’re curious about the origins of Troubled Horse, you need look no further than the the same Swedish town, Orebro, that spawned both Graveyard and Witchcraft, who coincidentally have new albums just out or on the way. The Witchcraft connection…

The long-awaited follow-up to Look What I Did’s fantastic 2010 everything-and-the-kitchen-sink kaleidoscope of smart-as-fuck chaos metal Atlas Drugged is nearly upon us and if the below exclusive stream from the larger “epic rock opera” entitled Zanzibar III is any indication these Nashville boys continue to raise virtually every aspect of their game — musical, lyrical…

According to those gentle, God-fearin’ souls at Studylight.org, Maveth—transliterated from Old Testament Hebrew and translated into English—is defined as: “death, dying, Death (personified), realm of the dead; death; death by violence (as a penalty); state of death, place of death” . . . And my, how that is apt, because Finland’s Maveth are pretty much…

The quote, “This is a good place to start where we left off”, seems appropriate for death metal outfit General Surgery. The first new material since 2009’s Corpus In Extremis: Analysing Necrocriticism effort, Like An Ever Flying Limb—yes, that’s a nod to Hall of Famers Dismember—follows in the gory, early Carcass-like footsteps of General Surgery’s…