Byzantine – “Harbingers” review

Byzantine is a groove metal, thrash metal & metalcore band from Charleston, West Virginia consisting of bassist Ryan Postlethwait, drummer Matt Bowles, lead guitarists Brian Henderson & Tony Rohrbough and finally frontman/rhythm guitarist Chris Ojeda. Forming during the beginning of the new millennium, they would put out 5 LPs together until signing with Metal Blade Records almost a decade ago & making their debut for the label on The Cicada Tree. Nearly 7 years after Chris’ solo debut Lullabyz, the band’s getting back together for their 7th full-length album & Metal Blade sophomore effort.

“Consequentia” begins with some guitars & clean vocals singing about being frozen in time eternally along with tomorrow bringing what today has made whereas “A Place We Cannot Go” turns up the heaviness so they can tackle the ever growing problem of mass shootings in the U.S., particularly in schools. The lead single “Floating Chrysanthema” details a bleak dystopian future when AI overpowers mankind & enslaves us all just before “The Clockmaker’s Intention” heavily bases it’s subject matter around the S-Town podcast.

Chris & company pull inspiration from the thrash subgenre during “Riddance” while the title track reads as a jab towards the Trump administration since literally everyone who’s a part of it represents the song’s message: Greedily doing everything they can to maintain power. “The Unobtainable Sleep” was a poetically dark choice of a single telling a story about pursuing serenity through death & after “Kobayashi Maru” bases itself around the fictional training exercise from the Star Trek franchise, “Irene” rounds it all out with an acoustic outro singing about Empress Irene of Athens.

Looking to raise the stakes with a revitalized lineup, Byzantine puts all of their chips on the table during Harbingers now that they have much more insight on what they needed to do to really make a push after many fumbles they’ve encountered during their career spanning a quarter of a century for this conceptual opus revolving around a maternal ruler. It marks a significant shift in the thrash/groove metal & metalcore outfit’s process testifying their resilience & creative evolution as a unit far enough where those in the metal community who’ve been sleeping on the Lamb of God affiliates all this time will finally be awoken.

Score: 4/5

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Rivers of Nihil – Self-Titled review

Reading, Pennsylvania progressive tech-death metal band Rivers of Nihil consisting of lead guitarist/keyboardist/programmer Brody Uttley, drummer/backing vocalist Jared Klein, rhythm guitarist/backing vocalist Andy Thomas & bassist/frontman Adam Biggs returning after 4 years with an eponymous 5th LP. Signing to Metal Blade Records on my 16th birthday in 2012, their full-length debut the next fall The Conscious Seed of Light & their sophomore effort Monarchy broke their ground as a progressive tech-death outfit until Where Owls Know My Name became notable for it’s secondary djent & jazz fusion influences. The Work toned it down on the death metal elements in favor of standard prog metal & had a feeling this self-titled body of work would delve further down that rabbit hole.

“The Sub-Orbital Blues” was a tolerable progressive death metal single singing about the dichotomy of living in a 21st century society rife with scientific & technological advancements whereas “Dustman” asks if you believe what you see & being nothing but dust. “Criminals” had to be my least favorite single due to it’s meat & potatoes take on death metal, melodic metalcore & deathcore preying on innocent men while “Despair Church” promises to take the whole world away.

To end the first half, “Water & Time” encourages to let those 2 things disintegrate it leaves you alone lost in space going for a progressively melodic death metal direction just before “House of Light” ditching the melodic elements of the previously mentioned single asking for a sign to be set free told no lies. “Evidence” turns up the hostility talking about dangerous games being played with a cage, waiting at the end, but then “American Death” refuses to believe a word said & calls themselves the American Dream itself.

“The Logical End” keeps the progressive death metal hybrids going singing about building another empire right where they’re standing due to them never having to see a logical end for as long as they live the rest of their days & not fading away while the title track appropriately finishes the album asking not to breathe in a disease born from the flowers of despair, encouraging to wake up or you’ll bе swept away because of another day being lost wasted.

Setting out to bring the sounds of their previous material with all the fat cut away, Rivers of Nihil complete their mission successfully with a body of work reminiscent of The Conscious Seed of Light & Monarchy in terms of technicality with the only exception being these guys having a mature understanding of pacing or bringing a more refreshed perspective of the experimentation throughout Where Owls Know My Name & The Work respectively.

Score: 4.5/5

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Hate – “Bellum Regiis” review

Hate is a blackened death metal band from Warsaw, Poland consisting of drummer Nar-Sil, lead guitarist Domin, bassist Tiermes & frontman ATF Sinner. They’ve released a total of 10 studio albums in a little over 3 decades including many lineup changes until the historic Van Nuys, California label Metal Blade Records signed them to for both Auric Gates of Veles & Rugia respectively. It’s been 3 & a half years since the latter already, reuniting for their 3rd body of work under Metal Blade & the 13th studio LP in their entire catalog as a whole.

The title track is this death metal intro calling to break the waves of the eye of doom whereas “Iphigenia” cautions of there eventually being a night when embers of evil will come your way. “The Vanguard” sticks out as the fastest & most viscerally aggressive song of the bunch basing it’s concept around King Agamemnon while “A Ghost of Lost Delight” asks for optimism in hard times although it feels longer than it should be.

After the “Rite of Triglav” interlude, “Perun Rising” gets the 2nd half of Hate’s comeback on a melodically blackened death metal vibe talking about the prominence of the Slavican supreme god of sky & war leading into “Alfa Inferi Goddess of War” gets her story told thereafter due to the name of the album being a guiding phrase during the songwriting sessions. “Prophet of Arkhen” continues to deliver further down the mythological touchstones & “Ageless Harp of Devilry” lastly sums up the whole key of work in front of us whilst shedding new light on some of the strongest themes.

Significantly more humanity focused & personal than Rugia was, Bellum Regiis marks Hate’s return with a timely aural & visual exploration of a struggle for power & everything that comes with it. They hone a modern sound rife with eerie atmosphere & depth to the point where they forge a bolder & more aggressive style than ever as well as similarities to Erebos in the character of the compositions & overall sound except this one’s being richer in style & contains more black metal elements.

Score: 4/5

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Kardashev – “Alunea” review

Kardashev is a deathcore & deathgaze band from Tempe, Arizona consisting of drummer The Great Filter, bassist Alex Rieth, guitarist Nico Mirolla & frontman Mark Garrett. Introducing themselves a decade ago off their full-length debut Peripety, they returned in 2022 by signing with Metal Blade Records for their sophomore effort Liminal Rite putting a bigger emphasis on post-metal. However, they’re linking back up for their 3rd studio LP & the 2nd since Metal Blade brought them onto the label.

“A Precipice. A Door” explores themes of loss, memory & the search for identity in a post-apocalyptic setting to kick off their sophomore effort under the high profile indie label whereas “Reunion” fuses deathcore, post-metal, post-rock, shoegaze, progressive metal, technical death metal & doomgaze singing about responsibility & the ethics of creation.

The final single “Seed of Night” works in elements of progressive metal, post-metal shoegaze, post-rock, deathcore reclaiming all what is gone from their perspective leading into “Speak Silence” featuring Genital Shame brings in these clean vocals at the start ahead of the breakdown asking what came before the sounds of silence did leading into “Truth to Form” sings about finding identity & morality during the human experience.

“Edge of Forever” & “We Could Fold the Stars” featuring Pawel J.J. Przybysz starts the final portion of Alunea by taking Kardashev’s ability to create massively soaring moments & crank them all the way up to 11 that is until the closing track “Below Sun & Soil” found them challenged to keep the spirit of the 2012 track “Pillars of Creation’s” spacey emptiness & turn it into a story closer humanizing it’s characters & indulgers alike

A direct sequel to the events of The Almanac & picks up right where the song “Beyond Sun & Moon” leaves off, Alunea tells the story of the main character from The Almanac meeting a being created in the song “Continuum” from Excipio that becomes a philosophical examination of where responsibility & duty intersect. Kardashev doesn’t explicitly attempt to answer those questions, yet rather examine them deeply.

Score: 4/5

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Lik – “Necro” review

Lik is a death metal band from Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden consisting of guitarist/bassist Niklas Sandin, guitarist/vocalist Tomas Åkvik, drummer/vocalist Christofer Barkensjö & bassist Joakim Antman. Following their full-length debut Mass Funeral Evocation, they would sign with Metal Blade Records furthering the acclaim in the form of both Carnage & Misanthropic Breed respectively. 5 years later, the band’s getting back together to put out their 4th full-length studio LP.

“Deceased” is this death metal intro feeling like the living dead waking up whereas “War Praise”homages the style of bands like Dismember taking us through the horrors of conflict. “They” paints the image of demon’s spawn who wait, watch, hunt & kill addicted to the taste or flesh prior to “Worms Inside” turning up the tempo a bit assuring the torturing nightmare is real & slowly becoming numb.

The 2nd single “Morgue Rat” crosses over standard death metal with elements of melodic death metal singing about their funeral obsession forever feed the band’s carnal lust just before “Shred into Pieces” kinda goes for a grindcore vibe abiding by the sickness. “In Ruins” easily sticks out the slowest track here talking about now being the time to die while “The Stockholm Massacre” takes inspiration from the Stockholm Bloodbath that occurred centuries ago.

“Fields of Death” pushes further towards the final moments of Necro throwing it back to the days of Mass Funeral Evocation explaining that the meadows of demise are eternally endless reigning chaos & awaiting their turn to perish, but then “Rotten Inferno” closes the LP showing Lik’s appreciation for Autopsy’s groundbreaking sophomore effort Mental Funeral talking about living solely to feel the pain of others suffering.

Gloriously returning to action standing loud & proud over so many imitators, Necro is the musical equivalent of a classic shock-horror movie that’s drenched in blood & gore packed with over-the-top extremities. On the other hand: It could most likely be the weakest of the 4 albums Lik has put out despite it’s bigger number of highs & lows primarily due to the meat & potatoes presentation of both death metal & melodic death metal.

Score: 3.5/5

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Messa – “The Spin” review

Messa is a doom metal band from Cittadella, Veneto, Italy consisting of guitarist/bassist Marco Zanin, drummer Rocco Toaldo, guitarist Alberto Piccolo aka Little Albert & frontwoman Sara Bianchin. Their debut album Belfry as well as the sophomore effort Feast for Water & Close have become amongst the highest quality traditional doom metal of the past decade with influences of heavy psych thrown in. Metal Blade Records has signed them for their 4th studio LP & one I was highly anticipating.

“Void Meridian” is this heavy psych/doom metal intro asking how far can 1 go whereas “At Races” blends goth rock, psychedelic rock, post-metal & doom metal to sing about being cursed & running. “Fire on the Roof” shows a bit of an industrial metal influence I wasn’t quite expecting admittedly spiraling backwards where Sara feels like she belongs while “Immolation” takes a shot at piano rock with a heavy psych twist asking to be sacrificed or immolated.

We have “The Dress” bringing together doom metal, dark jazz, jazz fusion & heavy psych singing about all Sara’s monsters that’re ready to be fed coming over to feast on her heart with no exception in addition to not even looking at herself at this point anymore while “Reveal” begins with a bluesy guitar until getting heavier & darker in terms of general sound. Last but not least, the closing track “Thicker Blood” finishes up the album with a cinematic 9-minute doom metal epic.

Making another step towards legendary status, Messa invites the metal world on a breathtaking journey across the wide open skies of their creative imagination over a beautiful landscape of moods, twists & styles during the course of their Metal Blade debut. From a basis in the band’s eclectic sound they they call scarlet doom, The Spin rises, falls, broods, bites, comforts & destroys while resounding with both instinctive, compulsive magic & obsessive, concerted hard work.

Score: 4.5/5

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Allegaeon – “The Ossuary Lens” review

Allegaeon is technical death metal band from Denver, Colorado consisting of lead guitarist Greg Burgess, rhythm guitarist Michael Stancel, bassist Brandon Michael, drummer Jeff Saltzman & frontman Ezra Haynes. These guys have been making themselves at home with Metal Blade Records for the past 15 years ago putting out 7 albums & the most notable being their last 4; Elements for the Infinite, Proponent for Sentience, Apoptosis & Damnum. Beginning the 2nd quarter of 2025 however, they’re coming back after 3 years to deliver their 8th studio LP.

After the “Refraction” instrumental intro, the first song “Chaos Theory” begins with a progressive technical death metal vibe explaining an abysmal dissolution causing chaos to be restored in life whereas “Driftwood” maintains the prog-tech-death approach talking about the shadows of your past taking you eventually. “Dies Irae” promises to spare no one while the technical death metal-tinged “The Swarm” asks to give ‘em falling skies to take their eyes.

“Carried by Delusion” maintains the tech death flare talking about his ghost carrying the sword & standing in a shallow grave immortalized just before “Dark Matter Dynamics” featuring Adrian Bellue devours all light where questions roam with answers being kept tight-lipped. “Imperial” asks to what degree is our fate sealed & to what end do we allow while “Wake Circling Above” morbidly explains being on his way out & never finding himself again. “Scythe” ends by talking about Hell opening alongside fear dying a long time ago.

Ezra’s return after a decade represents several different viewpoints of death further touching on some classic Allegaeon science-related topics such as chaos theory & dark matter while also strumming the chords of more introspective topics such as alcoholism, relationships & perseverance embracing a new subgenre called melotech bringing melodic death metal & technical death metal together to display the band at their most cohesive.

Score: 4.5/5

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Sanhedrin – “Heat Lightning” review

Sanhedrin is a metal band Brooklyn, New York consisting of drummer Nathan Honor, guitarist/vocalist Jeremy Sosville & bassist/vocalist Erica Stoltz. Introducing themselves a decade off their full-length debut A Funeral for the World, the next couple The Poisoner & their Metal Blade Records debut in particular Lights On would increase their popularity, returning after nearly 3 years to deliver their 4th full-length studio LP & their 2nd for Metal Blade coming off a couple singles within the last few months.

“Blind Wolf” is this heavy metal opener reminiscent to that of Iron Maiden finding the Brooklyn outfit coming together to share the light whereas the title track works in some chugging guitars to sing about when the wind whips a righteous storm & the smoke blinds the sun. “Above the Law” has a bit of a punkier edge to it showing a rebellious side to Sanhedrin living in a pit full of vipers, but then “The Fight of Your Life” sings about the compulsion to play music no matter what.

To start the other half, “King of Tides” finds the trio leaving all they know behind in order for them to have better lives just before “Franklin County Lines” feels like a cross between Thin Lizzy & Motörhead taking inspiration from the surrounding area in the northern part of New York. The song “Let’s Spill Blood” reflects how fortunate the human race is that most people seek justice as opposed to revenge & after “High Threshold of Pain” angrily calls ego a death wish, “When the Will Becomes the Chain” ends with them singing that the wicked world will leave us torn.

Delivering a diverse collection of songs that wholly captures their wide array of influences with an elevated level of production, Heat Lightning is the fullest representation of the power of Sanhedrin has by handing Metal Blade their most complete offering. When you take 3 seasoned musicians with their favorite handpicked instruments & put them in front of 2 brilliant producer/engineers in a studio stacked with incredible equipment & no outside distractions, this is what you get.

Score: 4/5

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Whitechapel – “Hymns in Dissonance” review

Whitechapel is a deathcore band from Knoxville, Tennesse consisting of drummer Brandon Zackey, lead guitarist Ben Savage, rhythm guitarist Alex Wade, the 3rd guitarist Zach Householder, bassist Gabe Crisp & frontman Phil Bozeman. They would later fit right in with Metal Blade Records following their debut The Somatic Defilement by putting out This is Exile, A New Era of Corruption, self-titled, Our Endless War & Mark of the Blade. Their last couple The Valley & Kin have proven to be their most acclaimed, returning after 6 years for the band’s 9th full-length studio LP.

“Prisoner 666” opens with this hellish deathcore intro bearing the number of the beast whereas the title track further integrates brutal palm-muted & tremolo-picked riffing, blast beat-focused drumming & guttural vocals with groovy breakdown sections coming to consume all the seas. “Diabolic Slumber” talks about life being a lie & suggesting that everyone meets their demise just before the lead single “A Visceral Reach” throws it back to The Somatic Defilement era.

After the “Ex Infernis” instrumental cut, “Hate Cult Ritual” begins the 2nd half revealing themselves as disciples of hate as well as rage & murder leading into “The Abysmal Gospel” talks about having a silver tongue continuing to fuse death metal & metalcore together. “Bedlam” reassures everyone listening that they’ll never be reborn descending towards the mouth of failure & doubt while “Mammoth God” talks about his greed growing strong. “Nothing’s Coming for Any of Us” ends with 1 more deathcore track revolving around nothing being real.

It’s really a sequel to This is Exile, but the band residing in the same city that made former 3-time WWE women’s world champion & 2-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Bianca Belair returns to their heavier roots prominently shown throughout their earlier material on Hymns in Dissonance following the story of a cultist who’s gathering worthy people to join his cult including moments in the storyline where the cult followers are singing an evil hymn to open a portal for the head cultist to enter. Some of the characteristics that made The Somatic Defilement so special notably seep their way throughout the dynamic, brutal musicality backing the compelling lyrical story.

Score: 4/5

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Killswitch Engage – “This Consequence” review

Killswitch Engage are a metalcore band consisting of bassist Mike D’Antonio, lead guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, rhythm guitarist Joel Stroetzel, drummer Justin Foley & frontman Jesse Leach. A dominant force in the subgenre spanning 25 years off their eponymous debut, Alive or Just Breathing, The End of Heartache, As Daylight Dies which was my favorite of the Howard Jones era, their 2nd eponymous album produced by Brendan O’Brien, Disarm the Desccent, Incarnate & more recently their Metal Blade Records debut Atonement. The band who wrote “This Fire Burns” for Monday Night RAW superstar, former 6-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE tag team champion, 2-time AEW World Champion, inaugural ROH Hall of Fame inductee, ROH World Champion & 2-time ROH World Tag Team Champion CM Punk who later albeit unsuccessfully competed in the UFC division of the Endeavor-owned TKO Group Holdings took 6 years off & are finally returning for their 9th studio LP.

“Abandon Us” sets the tone with this melodic metalcore intro airing out every single last person who turned their backs on them whereas “Discordant Nation” infuses more elements of melodic death metal into their sound so they can create a more metallic & melodic style of the metal/hardcore punk hybrid subgenre they’re known for suggesting to yield & bend a knee. “Aftermath” promises to give Jesse’s life to save this individual although it’s too late while the single “Forever Aligned” sings about connection & the spiritual energy that bonds us as humans.

Meanwhile on “I Believe”, we have Killswitch Engage mixing alt-metal influences with melodic metalcore confident of not being led astray & brighter days ahead just before “Where It Dies” singing about it being too late for one’s repentance & suffering Jesse’s vengeance because of it. “Collusion” observes the whole world being a conspiracy these days leading into “The Fall of Us” singing about bitterness overtaking an individual they knew. “Broken Glass” tells those who speaks in shards of shattered glass that they’ll suffer the consequences & “Requiem” ends by promising this isn’t the end.

Instead of making something contrasting from anything the band has previously done, This Consequence encapsulates of the things that fans have come to love from Killswitch Engage throwing it back to the Alive of Just Breathing era albeit making it feel modern. The energy is noticeably different from any of their recent material & they prominently address the topic of societal division in light of Donald Trump’s 2nd presidential inauguration last month cautioning the repercussions of our actions will come back to bite us in the ass in due time.

Score: 3.5/5

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