Skullbanger Media

Festival Review: NummiRock 2018: Mid-?Summer? Festival???

  Beast in Black

Nummirock is one the longest running festivals here in Finland and from what one of the festival goers told me, it has been going since the 1920’s.  Of course, it was not always metal festival, it originally was a jazz and traditional music festival and in the late 70’s and 80’s it transitioned into the hard rock metal festival it is today.

So, this would be the first year I was…

Music Review: Antioch Album: III: Wings and Warlocks

  Label: Rapid Fire Records

Available: NOW

Official Websites:

http://antiochmetal.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/antiochmetal/

  Here is cool little band coming out of Canada I heard about from an email I received from their record label.  Antioch is no nonsense band that plays straight ahead heavy metal that resembles a bit of Manilla Road, NWOBHM and more currently a little bit of…

Available: NOW

Label: Hells Headbangers

Official Websites

https://www.facebook.com/Midnight-87909491643/

http://totalmidnight.webs.com/

  It seems Cleveland, Ohio has a very deep underground metal movement which is helped out by the locally based label Hells Headbangers.  While Hells Headbangers normally deals in a lot of extreme metal bands, I really admire the fact that they seem like a close…

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BY: TJ Fowler

Label: Nuclear Blast

Available: Now

Official Websites:

https://www.facebook.com/beastinblackofficial/

http://www.beastinblack.com/

  Power metal has really struggled for the better part of a decade and half with, in my opinion, being distinctive and creative.  While usually the vocalists in such bands have high octaves and range and the guitarists can solo and noodle…the songs…

Guillotine released debut album

American Death Metal band Guillotine just released their debut self-titled album. The album was recorded at Ledbelly Sound Studio by Matthew Washburn, who also did the mixing/mastering.

https://guillotinemf.bandcamp. com/album/guillotine

Guillotine was formed in 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia by two brothers Lance and Adam Miller, who wanted to create a band that combined traces of Scandinavian Black…

Music Review: GWAR Album: The Blood of Gods

BY: TJ FOWLER

Available: NOW

Label: Metal Blade Records

Official Websites:

https://www.facebook.com/gwar/

http://www.gwar.net/

  Ok, I am one of those guys who has always HEARD of GWAR and their notorious reputation…but I had never HEARD GWAR before.  I knew the stories of their live shows, the story of the band’s hilarious history and of course the passing of their lead singer Oderus Urungus. …

Michael Mackert Ink Management Deal With GlobMetal Promotions

  American Heavy Metal musician has inked a worldwide management deal with GlobMetal Promotions. Last year Michael Mackert released his debut solo EP «Psychedelic Messiah». The EP was recorded and mixed at “Seraphic Records” by Michael Mackert, and mastered by “Headroom Mastering”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw-ocePpIp0

Michael Mackert is a Washington, D.C. based Heavy Metal/Hard Rock…

Music Review: Dead Soul Communion Album: MMXVII

  Available: NOW

Label: Self Released/ Def2Music Records

Official Websites: 

https://www.facebook.com/thedeadsoulcommunion

  Ok I am bit late with this one.  I apologize to Dead Soul Communion for this review taking as long as it had but…well….here is the review now!

It is a bit rare to hear a band that mixes doom elements, some modern, albeit minor elements of modern emo bands and also have a…

Progressive metal band Sarpedon to announce new vocalist

Progressive band Sarpedon have announced their new vocalist.

  Previous vocalist, Eirik Krokfjord, who have featured on the band’s debut album ”Anomic Nation”, left the band due to personal reasons and the band welcomes Swedish singer, Göran Nyström as the new vocalist.

Sarpedon is also in the studio finalizing the second album.

  https://www.facebook.com/SarpedonNorway

Music Review: Mausoleum Gate Album: Into A Dark Divinity

By: TJ Fowler

Available: September 2017

Label: Cruz Del Sur Music

Official Websites:

https://www.facebook.com/MausoleumGate/

http://cruzdelsurmusic.bandcamp.com/album/mausoleum-gate

  There is traditional heavy metal then there is REALLY TRADITIONAL heavy metal.  By this I mean bands that sprung up in the mid to late 70’s before NWOBHM hit the scene in the 80’s.  So basically you have a hybrid…

Music Review: Stereo Nasty Album: Twisting the Blade

  BY:  TJ Fowler

The Irish, fist in the face, dirty metal rockers, Stereo Nasty are back with their new album, ‘Twisting the Blade’ and I have to say it has been too long…though honestly it really hasn’t been that long since their last album, the phenomenal ‘Nasty By Nature’.  I just really love this band and I am always eager to hear new material from them. (more…)

Concert Review: Chicago Open Air 2017

By: Melody Ryan

Photos by: Melody Ryan

  …..day 1.

    I didn’t know directions from the back parking lot of Taqueria Los Comales (convenient free parking) to where I was going, but I wandered in the general direction from which I could hear the low, rumbling sound of metal pulsing ominously through the warm summer air and eventually ended up at my destination: Toyota Park where the 2nd annual…

Music Review: ACCEPT Album: The Rise of Chaos

AVAILABLE: August 4th, 2017

LABEL: Nuclear Blast

Official Websites:

https://www.facebook.com/accepttheband/

  ACCEPT just keeps that metal train rolling like a juggernaut that just can’t be stopped.  Since releasing ‘Blood of Nations’ back in 2010, ACCEPT have been the recipient of a revitalized career that most bands of their age could only dream of and all the younger bands would hope they…