EP Review: Spiter – Enter the Gates of Fucking Hell

Spiter - Enter the Gates of Fucking HellMay 24th, 2024Blackened Speed Metal / MetalpunkHells Headbangers RecordsPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Anyone who's been reading this blog for a while will know that I'm a huge fan of the particular breed of metalpunk that has been emerging from Philadelphia over the past several years. Whether it's Devil Master …

Live from the Pit: Spiter @ Piranha Bar – 05/26/2024

Spiter @ Piranha Barw/ Desolus, Shroud, MistwalkerMay 26th, 2024Dungeon Works ProductionsMontreal, Quebec, Canada I've been a fan of Spiter since the release of their first album, Bathe the Babe in Bats' Blood, which completely ripped my head off in a way that I wasn't expecting. I was stoked the first time I caught them live …

Album Review: Midnight – Hellish Expectations

"Why would I want you to die? So you could be free? Don't want to see you in hell, not next to me." Midnight - Hellish ExpectationsMarch 8th, 2024Blackened Heavy / Speed MetalMetal Blade RecordsCleveland, Ohio, USA Screaming back for more after the release of 2022's Let There Be Witchery, solo musician Athenar, under the …

Album Review: Mistwalker – Oceanic Heritage

"What shall become of this island, another century down the road? Abandoned hopes and towns of ghosts, left scattered amidst the bones.” Mistwalker – Oceanic HeritageJune 24th, 2023Blackened Heavy MetalViridian RecordsGlovertown, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Mistwalker returns to the turbulent history of Newfoundland and Labrador on their 2023 full length album Oceanic Heritage. With this …

Akhenaten’s Best EPs of 2023

While 2023 was full of tons of incredible full length releases, it was also a great year for EPs. I found myself digging through a cornucopia of excellent short form releases that came out, many of which are from right here in Montreal where I'm based. Read on to discover the top five extended plays …

Album Review: Evil – Possessed by Evil

Evil - Possessed by EvilFebruary 1st, 2021Blackened Thrash / Speed MetalNuclear War Now! ProductionsTokyo, Japan I took one goddamned look at this album art and decided almost instantaneously that I was going to love this album, and dammit I wasn't wrong. As soon as this record starts up with the opening track, "The Cycle of …

Live from the Pit: Devil Master @ Cabaret Foufounes – 11/03/2023

Devil Master @ Cabaret FoufounesW/ Fuming Mouth, Final Gasp, SkumstrikeNovember 3rd, 2023Extensive EnterpriseMontreal, Quebec, Canada Devil Master are one of the few bands who I will go out of my way to see every single time they come to Montreal. I saw them pre-pandemic twice, once with Obituary and Abbath, and another time with Power …

Album Review: Knife – Heaven Into Dust

"There are no gods, no gods in the dark." Knife - Heaven Into DustAugust 25th, 2023Blackened Speed MetalNapalm RecordsMarburg, Germany I first became aware of Knife in 2021 around the release of their first full length record, Knife, which was a ripping piece of auditory devastation that I found myself returning to time and time …

Album Review: Hellcrash – Demonic Assassination

"A clashing of swords, tormented souls, don't break the oath." Hellcrash - Demonic AssassinationMarch 24th, 2023Blackened Speed MetalDying Victims ProductionsGenoa, Italy Italian speed metal maniacs Hellcrash are back with a second installment of unrelenting, chaos-raising blackened speed that takes no prisoners and pulls no punches. I first discovered this band through a recommendation by a …

Album Review: Chainbreaker – Lethal Desire

Chainbreaker - Lethal DesireFebruary 15th, 2019Blackened Heavy MetalHells HeadbangersToronto, Ontario, Canada I was first informed of Chainbreaker through a friend of mine who told me that it was essentially a new band formed by the members of Cauldron. Consisting of both current and former members of that vaunted Canadian NWOTHM band, Chainbreaker is a noticeable …