Ripper Planning Euro Trip

by Daniel Maarat on May 18, 2017

Two of the best and only worthy modern speed metal bands are embarking upon a European tour together this fall. Ripper and Entrench, who made our lists of The Best Underground Metal of 2014 and 2016, are planning a European tour and need to get some gigs to knock headbangers on their backs. From Ripper’s Funbook page:

RIPPER announces first European Tour together with Swedish Thrashers of ENTRENCH!

Interested promoters please get in touch with Roadmaster Booking.

Available dates between September 15 and 30.
Booking via contact@roadmasterbooking.com

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Morbid Angel Only Playing Steve Tucker Era Material on Upcoming Tour

by Daniel Maarat on May 17, 2017

Current Morbid Angel vocalist Steve Tucker claimed in an interview with the Orlando Weekly that Morbid Angel will only be playing material that he originally recorded in the studio on their upcoming tour with Suffocation. Sole original member Trey Azagthoth will not be playing any of the band’s best material off of Abominations of Desolation.

You and Trey have been working on a new studio album, Morbid Angel’s first in six years. Will the new music be featured in the live set?

Probably one or two new songs; the album’s almost done, but we don’t want to put out too much with YouTube putting it up the next day. The setlist will be different, too – in the past, we’ve covered all of Morbid Angel’s discography, but this time we went with the discography between Trey and I. I’m really excited about the fact that every song we play is a song I was a part of. There are some Morbid Angel classics that aren’t there, but we made our own classics.

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Profanatica Playing Maryland Show Next Week

by Daniel Maarat on May 13, 2017

Profanatica are playing a one off show in suburban Silver Spring, Maryland, next week right outside of the politician-infested swamp that is Washington, D.C. This will be a good chance for capital area fanatics to see Profanatica live if they missed them at the Maryland Deathfest pre-show last year. Hopefully Profanatica will change up their set list and play songs not from from Sickened by the Holy Host / The Grand Masters Session EPs and the not so good The Curling Flame of Blasphemy. Recent shows have been very heavy on compositions from those three recordings.

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Bangladesh Deporting Krisiun

by Daniel Maarat on May 9, 2017

Bangadesh continued the worldwide governmental war on mediocre speed metal by arranging to deport mediocre Brazilian speed metal band Krisiun for supposedly blaspheming against monotheism and Islam in the lyrics to their music. Krisiun were in the overwhelmingly Muslim third world country to play a sold-out festival. Bangladeshi metal fans should man up and listen to better metal bands now. Krisiun then confirmed that they were special snowflakes who believe in equality for all people, creeds, things, places, trees, and toilet paper brands regardless of their quality, proficiency, or absorbency:

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Blessed Are the Sick Full Dynamic Range Reissue Announced

by Daniel Maarat on May 6, 2017

Earache Records announced a reissue of Morbid Angel‘s last great record, Blessed Are the Sick, as part of their “Full Dynamic Range” series. The Full Dynamic Range reissues are sourced directly from the analog mix tapes or digital Betamax or DAT ones with no compression applied in mastering when released on CD, LP, or lossless FLAC formats. They all sound great for the most part and far better than most other vinyl reissues that just print whatever the current CD master is to wax using direct metal mastering. The digital (CD/FLAC) Carnage, Carcass, Realm of Chaos, and Altars of Madness ones are the best sounding versions of those albums by far.

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Onward to Golgotha: The Deepest Death Metal

by Daniel Maarat on May 5, 2017

Incantation‘s debut and best work, Onward to Golgotha, remains the deepest death metal album I have ever experienced a quarter century after its release as of today. With material (“Unholy Massacre” and “Profanation”) dating back to the initial founding of Incantation by guitarist John McEntee and drummer Paul Ledney, Onward to Golgotha was a record influenced as much by Bathory and Beherit as it was Morbid Angel and Autopsy.

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Demoncy & Profanatica Headlining Mass Destruction Metal Fest

by Daniel Maarat on May 4, 2017

The Mass Destruction Metal Fest to be held in Atlanta, Georgia on November 3rd and 4th announced a great lineup this year with Demoncy and Profanatica among the headliners. Also playing are Acheron, Macabre, Nocturnus AD, Deceased, and Brutality. The festival should be a great chance for headbangers in the southeastern United States to experience two of the best American black metal bands live.

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Lantern – II: Morphosis (2017)

by Daniel Maarat on April 30, 2017

Lantern take the Finnish black and death metal and move it back in time towards eighties speed metal to better appeal to a funderground hipster audience who never bothered to listen to Beherit or Demigod. The production of II: Morphosis is clean but slightly cavernous and vocals that sound like Per Boder of God Macabre help deceive inattentive millennials that Lantern are quality death metal and not Finnish Pantera.
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Infester – To the Depths, In Degradation Reissue Review

by Daniel Maarat on April 27, 2017

Martyrdoom Productions, run by Dead Congregation frontman A.V., reissued Infester‘s long out of print classic To the Depths, In Degradation on CD and vinyl LP earlier this year. I purchased a copy of the CD version myself to review for our readers benefit. The record was never originally released on vinyl and being over fifty minutes long, the LP reissue will have compromised sound quality due to narrower groove spacing and all the limitations of the vinyl format such as the compression of the cutting lathe, high and low pass filtering, and mono bass.

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Profanatica & Cianide Playing Destroying Texas 2017 Festival

by Daniel Maarat on April 13, 2017

Profanatica and Cianide are playing the 2017 iteration of the Destroying Texas festival along with a bunch of shitty scenester bands like Black Witchery. Check them out if you live nearby; Profanatica are still great live despite the last album, The Curling Flame of Blasphemy, being a turd. Tickets are available from EventBrite.

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