Exmortus are a four-piece band from Whittier, CA, the former stomping grounds of Richard Cee’s Wild Rags Records. The band formed in 2002, concocting a battle plan replete with apparent objectives: to spread the shred, pound steel and brew, praise the mighty Crom, and crush the craniums of many. While …

X-Mantra are a four-piece thrash metal band from Kathmandu, Nepal, who formed in 2000. In 2012, they released Pralaya 2012, a disc containing eight songs. X-Mantra is very fortunate to have signed with British label King Slam Records. The signing and subsequent distribution will hopefully greatly increase their international reach …

Gothenburg, Sweden’s Vampire have presented listeners with an eponymous, ten track tour-de-force of intense, dark metal. Combining elements of traditional heavy metal with more extreme subgenres like death and black metal, this foursome has found a time-tested, battle-ready, winning formula. Vampire seems to take some of the best elements from …

Montreal, Canada’s Your Last Wish is a melodic extreme metal outfit featuring founding member Dave Gagne alongside a fresh crop of talented metalhead musicians. The band released 2013’s Desolation through Maple Metal Records. Desolation features 11 tracks of fairly intricately produced “melodeath”, showcasing the vocals of Roxana Bouchard. Tunes feature …

U.S. death metal veterans Incantation will release their new album, Dirges Of Elysium, in late May, through Listenable Records. The band commented: “Elysium. Sky burial, necromancy, a cult in ancient Prussia, and pure blasphemy all await those who will hear the new release. The music is diverse, and holds more …

The musical brainchild between Troy van Leeuwen (Failure, A Perfect Circle, Queens of the Stone Age) and Serrina Sims, California’s alt-rock Sweethead takes it’s name from a vintage “vulgar” David Bowie song, and it’s sound from the various eras of rock music. Premiered quietly in November 2013, the band’s catchy …

Check this out. The new American band, Conquering Dystopia, has their eponymous instrumental debut album on sale for about $10. Fans and listeners can legally stream the album from the band’s official website for the huge price of FREE though. Yes, in our time of “no free lunch”, this professionally …

Ginger Wildheart, one of the UK’s cult heroes of rock and roll, has completed yet another album, his seventh in just two years. This platter is titled Albion, and is released through Round Records. The number of songs on the disc varies: if you contributed to his PledgeMusic campaign for …

The Joy of Motion is the third album by instrumental progressive metal group Animals As Leaders, released through Sumerian Records. This 12-song release seems like a quirky collection of hundreds of freely associated aural ideas, abruptly or tangentially assembled. First the ideas congeal in to riffs, then verses, then “heads” …

With a sound that boasts captivating vocal lines and infectious licks punctuated with delectable dual-lead melodies, fresh UK upstarts Emperor Chung are quickly making friends. The band garnered support from Scuzz TV and Team Rock Radio, as well as recently wooing crowds at 2013’s Download Festival. The band’s 11-track eponymous …

Jackson Firebird are an Australian hard rock duo: the team of Dale Hudak and Brendan Harvey. The band, formed in 2006 in Mildura, have perfected the art of drumming on “bottle bins” and running on sweat. “No frills, nothing fancy: just straight up, 12 bar lovin’ rock & roll” is …

Emerging from a bout with depression, Josh Homme and his Queens Of The Stone Age released their latest, …Like Clockwork, in the summer of 2013. A hungry, eager audience snapped the ten-song disc up, for good reason: it’s catchy, it’s moving, it’s impulsive, it’s sensual, and it’s production is flawless. …

Animus are a new Scottish “progressive metal band who draw influences from Djent, Tech, and Death metal bands.” On the cusp of their maiden tour, Animus, widely characterized as “Djent”, have released their nicely produced, four-song EP debut, Fall Of The Elite. They stick nicely to an extreme theme throughout …

German guitarist Raimund Burke‘s latest full-length effort, Get It 2.0, mixes a keyboard-rich AOR type feel with progressive instrumental rock. The lead guitar parts do seem lyrical in spots, but the album doesn’t seem to jump magically from ‘instrumental rock’ to ‘rock and roll that just happens to be without …

An elusive Texas progressive metal band, Mahogany Hand Grenade, released (in May, 2013) a five-song EP, titled Return To The Point Of Departure, through bandcamp. Mastered to digital perfection by Maor Appelbaum (Adrenaline Mob, Cynic, Yngwie Malmsteen, Angra, etc.), four out of five of the tunes are six-minute-plus length. The …

A ‘one man band’ type project, Sons Of Crom features the work of two Swedish / Finnish musicians: Janne Posti and Iiro Sarkki. Their new 12-minute “epic single”, “Victory”, is meant to serve as a rule or yardstick to show what they’re capable of, or what their upcoming full-length album …

Rejoice, hair metal fans, the genre still lives, although it’s migrated to Japan and… Brazil. Pleaser, from Brazil, have released their One Night In Paradise disc. Steel Panther they are not… Pleaser seem average players who take their party rock seriously. @PlanetMosh reviewer Louella DeVille states “(Pleaser is) reminiscent of …

If you’re one of the fortunate few to have snapped up this sold-out re-release of Terrorizer‘s seminal grindcore pillar World Downfall, we @PlanetMosh salute you. Record labels occasionally re-release out of print items for various reasons. Here, Earache Records re-released this on colorful vinyl (100 orange, 200 green, 300 red, …

  One of my favorite albums from 2013 was Månegarm‘s Viking metal epic Legions Of The North. Their 2013 album, released on Napalm Records, presents various perspectives on death, life, and the beyond. One day, this long-running Swedish band came up in conversation, and from that moment, this was an …

Swedish ‘heavy metal’ band Tad Morose was formed in 1991 by key member Christer “Krunt” Andersson. The band’s history becomes a murky bleakness… but in 2013, at Andersson’s urging, they regrouped and released a new album, Revenant. Best described as classic heavy metal with a modern touch, these guys draw …