Metal Mole Reviews

You’re either going to love this album or hate it. Depending on your nostalgia level for that dark, dark time… “the nu‑metal years” between 1997 and 2001. I, for one, certainly do not have rose-tinted glasses on when I think back to those times. However, for the clowns in The Violent Inzident they have made Nu Metal a way of life By photocopying the biggest names of era: taking the costumes of…

This is one of the fastest and most furious records I have ever heard. From basically the first note, S.M.D.‘s mission is to play as fast as possible, and they can say they excel at this to excess. Think of DRI or S.O.D., but played at double speed at least. I can seldom think of a Speedier band. S.M.D (which I assume stands for Suck My Dick) from California has produced a unique racket on this…

It almost feels obvious that the sub-sub genre of Depressive/Suicidal Black Metal seems like a means to an end. Not that I am condoning that “end”. (Seek help: samh.org.uk) However, Aberdeens Dreich are seeking to enhance and bring new life into the genre. This full-band project (a rarity in the genre), Dreich’s debut EP “Edicius” (which is suicide spelled backwards), released via As Pestis…

Bands: Bloodthread, Catalysis, HexenHammer, Vantage Point Welcome back to my occasional local singles run down. Lets get swiping and see if I get any matches. HexenHammer – “Die on Your Cross“. Starting off with a one-man band project of former Immortal Omen bass player, Hexenhammer is a new project that takes things old school providing a gloom dark metal prayer. With a an impressive guitar…

It’s supergroup time, and no other group is quite as super as the talents of this quartet, in terms of ability to jam and shred. This dream team features the God‑tier talents of the Dream Theater bunch (John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, and Mike Portnoy) and King Crimson’s legendary bassist Tony Levin. But can this instrumental group produce more than just pointless, lyric‑less, progressive…

Nassau is not only the capital city of The Bahamas, a name of an aristocratic dynastic house, or a Town close to New York City, but it is also the name of the debut album “Nassau”, by the Scottish odd-ball metallers Nassau. This debut album is their first since finding much success at Bloodstock in 2021 and Hordes, this band of misfits’ talents are on full display Kicking off with brilliant…

4-way Split. That title is quite the mouthful! Stringing along all of the bands’ names like a human centipede, this split album from 2019, the results were undoubtedly going to be messy. As so many slam albums do. With Gore House Productions specializing in this gross area of extreme metal, this should be a great ride. Parasitic Ejaculation (lovely name) from Santa Cruz, California, are up…

Dog Tired discography Review Part IV It’s about time I got back to this series, as Dog Tired seems to have overtaken me and bounded ahead. The first new album released since I began this series and affectionately called the “blue” album, sees the band take their biggest shake so far. Leaning heavier and heavier into thrash territory while maintaining their unique sound. Keeping up the tradition…

Completely passed by, by Skate culture in my youth, which I was never a part of due to having the motor skills of a drunken pelican (which did not help), I was never intrigued by CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) as I had always assumed their Logo was some skater brand or whatnot. But here I am in my late-30s, finally listening to the music that goes with the logo I’d seen everywhere. Also, since one of…

Now this one is a throwback. Nu Metals, much-maligned Hed (Planet Earth) or (Hed)PE, is one of the genre’s most overlooked and dismissed acts. However, since I recently saw them live and kicking supporting Spineshank/Drowning Pool. Now is the time to have a relisten. It certainly doesn’t feel like it’s been so long since this was the predominant sound of metal, and nothing makes you think “fuck…

Bands: Devastator, Necrot, Deadguy, Brodequin, Panzerfaust, Wormrot, Castle Rat, Messa, High on Fire, Deafheaven, Pertubator, Corrosion of Conformity It’s migration time again. For the first time since 2021’s Bloodstock, I have gathered the courage to cover once again a multi-day, mammoth festival. For years, the formidable Damnation Festival has caught my eye with its striking line-ups and…

Bands: Solar Sons, Volcano X, Atlantic Rift, Spreading The Disease As my small project grows, I anticipate receiving a lot more contact from prospective bands seeking my valued opinion on their output. Sometimes, though, the band in question only has a single or minimal material to send me. Not really enough to sink my teeth into, but still worthy of merit and of (however brief) some slight…

Bands: Luxera, Chin Up, Permacrisis, Volupta As my small project grows, I anticipate receiving a lot more contact from prospective bands seeking my valued opinion on their output. Sometimes, though, the band in question only has a single or minimal material to send me. Not really enough to sink my teeth into, but still worthy of merit and of (however brief) some slight exposure. So here, on a…

Russia has been on many people’s minds lately (I wonder why?), much like it was for former members of Sentenced, and a few other Finnish musicians who formed this bizarre project. Staying mostly away from current geo-politics, this suomeksi group Kypck seems to distill the misery of the gulag-era into doom metal Рационы for your consumption Starting with extremely fittingly depressing soviet…

The Mole resurfaces! During my long “hibernation”, it seems that there have been quite a few changes in the air. From multiple line-up changes, to new bands emerging, to others splitting up entirely. I have a lot to catch up on in the local scene. One of the new breed of bands to arrive is mid-fife’s Feral Ghoul. With their first recording only being a month or so old, I have not seen anyone else…

https://www.facebook.com/events/1071340226910625 Bands: Hellripper, Dog Tired, Catalysis, Iron Altar, Nassau, Hellfekted, War Grave, Haint, Medusa Touch, Necrocracy, Bastyon, Hyperstasis, Sol Noctis It’s great to be back at the one and only Hordes X, even though the market for all-day shows may be more competitive now in Dundee with Cadaver Concerts stepping up earlier this year. Slow Dragon…

https://www.facebook.com/events/727365335360990 Bands: Coffin Mulch, Conjurer, Carcass It can be easily argued that Machine Head’s appearance last September was the largest band to Play Dundee in recent memory, but I would say not the most influential. That title would easily go to the central act of this gig: the gruesome and legendary Carcass. Being brought to Dundee for the first time in…