Strange Matter Venue Richmond, VA What kind of a venue could possibly serve as home base for the Monster Manual-toting, frost giant-destroying, death/thrash purveyors Battlemaster? Some sort of Gollum cave or elven hideaway? Wrong you are – the nerd rage brought on by this Richmond wrecking crew fits snugly into local watering hole Strange Matter,…

It’s pretty hard to to determine Cannibal Corpse’s most endearing personality trait. Oh, what’s that: they’re all real nice guys? Oh come on, surely it can’t be that surprising that guys who have made a 24-year career out of writing death metal songs about extreme (and fairly esoteric) murder scenarios could be normal dudes/responsible dads….

The last time we at the dB HQ heard Seattle’s Samothrace was, well, last week, but the last time the quartet made scene-like waves was way back in 2008, on the Life’s Trade LP. What has Samothrace been up to in the years between? Probably writing an epic of Grecian proportions. Actually, that’s exactly how…

Prog nerds rejoice! It’s the new OSI track “Cold Call”. Formed by Jim Matheos (Fates Warning, Arch/Matheos) and Kevin Moore (Chroma Key, ex-Dream Theater) and augmented by Porcupine Tree mind-blower Gavin Harrison, OSI, in its current iteration, is stripped down and ready global domination on the group’s fourth (first non-license for Metal Blade) full-length. OSI,…

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 go back to the New…

OK, so there is a cynical body of thought that might consider black metal as a live performance artform and argue that the genre is best served by careful cellaring. Like it’s a take-home experience, one to be kept in the studio/bedroom, only ever to be enjoyed on record. Of course when we say “enjoyed”…

Featuring former Landmine Marathon axe-slinger, Eric Saylor, Seas Will Rise is a relatively new entry into the world of thunderously grimy, caustic and brutal hardcore that falls on the punky end of the Swe-death spectrum with touches of crust and enough peace punk influence to have the local pigs salivating at the chance to dust…

To celebrate Tuesday’s release of Utilitarian (the fourteenth (!) Napalm Death full-length), we asked longtime bassist Shane Embury to a pick a non-ND record that related in some way to each of the fourteen full-length ND records (including a covers album) that he’s played on over the last 24+ years. Last week, Shane’s entries took…

Peter Dolving, famed blogger, questionable haircut enthusiast and camo shorts philosopher, has un-amicably split from the band he successfully, after many failed attempts, completely destroyed. Dolving’s confirmation was cryptic, angry and brief: I am officially quitting The Haunted. After years of working with the band, I am out. I have had it. I will NOT…

Recently Anthropic Records — purveyors of excellence and, in their own apt formulation, “heart-breaking, chest-crushing noise and doomed psychic soundscapes” — unleashed Anthrosphere III, yet another fantastic (and free!) compilation of the latest gnashing and wailing coming out of the Philadelphia metal underground. To mark the occasion we invited Anthropic proprietress Shannon Marie to share…