Suffocation – “Blood Oath” released July 14, 2009 on Nuclear Blast If this band does one thing right, it’s approach their songs with the delicacy of a surgeon who plans to carve a cadaver so that the organs spill out in a most interesting fashion. But the thing is, Suffocation actually does several things right: Frank Mullen is one of Metal’s most imposing and understandable vocalists; Derek Boyer holds up the bottom end like Atlas himself; Mike Smith’s drums expertly match and accent the band’s dynamic ebb and flow; and the Terence Hobbs-Guy Marchais guitar attack grates, slices, bludgeons, [...read more]

Candlemass – “Death Magic Doom” released May 5, 2009 on Nuclear Blast These guys have made a career playing tunes mainly about the three things in their trifective title. Their tenth studio album is their second with former Solitude Aeturnus vocalist Robert Lowe, and I think chief songwriter/bassist/founder Leif Edling is more comfortable writing for his style. It’s different from Messiah Marcolin’s vamping vibrato, with a confidence and class akin to Ronnie James Dio. The band charges out the door with balls on full display, driving hard with a great chorus/battle cry. They then slow to a lurch with [...read more]

Assjack – “Assjack” released August 4, 2009 on Curb Records Hank Williams III is something of an anomaly. A classic country music outlaw with an affinity for heavy music, III would often unleash Assjack as one of his live sets opposite half a show more suited for his grandfather’s tastes. Such is the beauty of line-blurring. Yeah, well the beauty stops there. This is one brutish beast of an album, written, produced, and performed by the man himself (he tours live with his “Damn Band”). Though still raw as a grizzly-caught salmon, it’s a marked improvement over the four rough [...read more]

Gwar – “Lust In Space” released August 18, 2009 on Metal Blade 25 years after their Antarctic thaw, the masters and creators of our bastard race finally escaped to the nether regions of space…and returned! As a token of their good(?) graces(?), they offer us another album commemorating their exploits for our voracious mass consumption. Their eleventh studio release finds the band reuniting forces with Metal Blade to disseminate their filthy splendor, and though the devastating brutality has thankfully escalated with post-2000 Gwar, this is the best realized album on the whole in over a decade. And oh, do [...read more]

Church of Misery – “Houses of The Unholy” released July 7, 2009 on Rise Above Records The third full length album of bluesy downtuned doom from this Japanese quartet is absolutely monstrous. Obviously inspired by the godfathers Black Sabbath, they actually manage a darker and more sinister sound, due largely to the fact that every song is themed around a serial killer (the one exception is their Sir Lord Baltimore cover, 5). They even include sound bites retelling the original accounts: some of the people themselves (2, 3), some of officials (also 3, 4, 6), and some which sound [...read more]

Merauder – “God Is I” released June 19, 2009 on Regain Records Merauder’s sound is described as “hardcore meets metal ferocity” and they have toured with the likes of Sick Of It All, Motorhead and Morbid Angel among others. “Until” gets the ball rolling with a good mix of crunchy guitars, thundering bass and drums that feel like rapid gunfire. “Built On Blood” has that old-school hardcore feel similar to Sick Of It All but much, much heavier in nature. “Perdona Me” reminds me a bit of Coalesce and/or In Flames by starting out slow, eerie, and working its’ way [...read more]

Litmus – “Aurora” released August 18, 2009 on Rise Above Records It’s way out retro 1970s space jam rock vibrations, dude! Imagine when Pink Floyd still had ‘The’ in their name, and psychedelic freakers abounded through England, inventing the rave-up and taking far too many drugs. Litmus channels this same energy, with the feel of both the bands to which Lemmy Kilmister is most closely associated: Hawkwind and Motörhead. The keyboard is such an MVP in terms of continuity, its omnipresent undercurrent leading the listener past pulsars and planets. Repetition, especially with vocals, adds an entrancing layer across their [...read more]

Doro – “Fear No Evil” released February 3, 2009 on AFM Records Though the German siren has been proudly belting out power metal for over a quarter century now (as evidenced in the track “25 Years”), her voice has aged well. You can hear how she is adept at both gritty battle calls (the lead track, which brings to mind her original band, Warlock), and tender croons (5, which is also sung in her native tongue). The album fails to succeed as a whole because she is all you hear half the time, as her band is buried in [...read more]