"Reptilian Agenda" by Embryonic Devourment

From Willits, Ca.we get the brutal death metal group, Embryonic Devourment. What is it with death metal bands coming out of temperate climates? Seriously, there is no serious death metal scene in Winnipeg, Man.

You'd think up there with the temperature routinely reaching minus 40F(C) that there would be just dozens of angry metal fans ready to spread their wings and scream against nature, but apparently not.

The group formed in 2003 and released the Beheaded by Volition EP and released their first full length album in 2008, Fear of Reality Exceeds Fantasy. The CD of the hour today is their first release in nearly four years. They have released nothing since 2010's Vivid Interpretations of the Void. They certainly do know how to craft a catchy album title don't they?

"Sweven" by Morbus Chron

Morbus Chron are a death metal band from Stockholm, Sweden that have been around since 2007. Sweven is their fourth release, and second full LP release. Depending on how you look at it, this is either the follow up to 2012's A Saunter Through the Shroud EP or 2011's Sleepers In the Rift LP.

This band is another unknown to me. One of my favorite things is being able to introduce new music to people who have never heard these bands.

Like much of what has been happening on this site, this band is metal and they refer to themselves as Death Metal, but put the Tampa Bay Death Metal like Deicide or Morbid Angel out of your head, because this band is so very, very far from that that it is nearly incalculable.

"XIII" by Zoax

London based Zoax is the culmination of years of touring experience between the members. After spending time playing with other bands, the boys have come together and they're ready to unleash their own music on the world, but what is their music?

Normally, it's very easy to place a band's sound in a certain genre. Metallica plays metal. Deicide plays death metal. The Eagles play whacked out California southern rock, but Zoax, plays....well they play music.

The best way of explaining what they do is that they toe the line between metal and rock as though it were the straight line of a sobriety test being taken by someone who's over the limit. Sometimes this band is very heavy, and other times they are rocking and singing. They never really play metal, and they never really play hard rock, but they a brand of music that's interesting indeed.

"Boneset" by Diane Cluck

Are you familiar with Diane Cluck?

I am not and it really seems like that I should be. In my family, one side of it anyway, there's someone who really loves the singer/songwriters like this, or the Storytellers if you will.

Raised in Lancaster, PA she now resides in Virginia. Her music is described as neo-folk, but she calls it intuitive folk. She plays the guitar, the piano, and the mighty glockenspiel on this record.

She also sings, naturally. This record is composed of songs that had all been written for a very long time, and she finally got into the studio to record them, which she did in chronological order. She described it as dark, then light, and then dark again.

"Dark Pantheons" by Agiel

From the angriest City east of Buffalo, but still west of New York City, and not really all that close to Toronto, or Syracuse: ROCHESTER comes Agiel. (I have spent a couple fun, but non-consecutive days in Rochester.)

They are a band that have outgrown their roots as a brutal death metal/grindcore band and have become a symphonic death metal band. Their first album, Dark Pantheons Will Reign Again, was released in 2002 and the world is still waiting for a proper follow up.

For this EP release, the band has chosen a new direction for their music and have revisited the material from their debut LP. They have selected five tracks to re-record for their new sound. They are still aggressive, angry, and over the top, but now they also include some violins and other stringed instrumetns.

"The Fall of Ominus" by Nephren-Ka

Do you ever wonder where metal bands get their names or often times the content of their songs?

Ok, truth time, metallers are big ol'nerds. Comb the Led Zeppelin lyrics carefully and you'll hear Lord of the Rings references, and this was before the Peter Jackson movies. Ace Frehley and Gene Simmons were huge on Science Fiction and Horror respectively.

So, these guys took their name from the Cthulu Mythos. Even the mighty Metallica has used that name, though they misspelled it.

These nice French boys have started a death metal band with some very obvious nerdy references and lyrical content. Encyclopaedia Metallum lists their lyrical content as influenced Frank Hebert's Dune. Ok, this is about as nerdy as it gets, unless you think about this song here. 

"Sirens" by DA & The Jones

DA & The Jones is a pair of singer song writers from the far west of Echo Park, Calif. (Why is it so many artists come out of California? It must have something to do with the warm weather and laid back attitude that helps artists flourish.)

The pair, Daniel Ahearn and Mindy Jones, have been working as a pair since 2011. So really, this is a bit of a younger group. The released their debut EP, Electric Love, was released in 2013 and the first single, Break My Heart, was featured on the television show Pretty Little Liars.

Sirens is their first full length album of what's sure to become their signature brand of folksy pop.If you think that sparsely accompanied music without a full band behind the vocals isn't music, well, thanks for reading and you may wish to check back next time...

"The Good Life" by John the Conqueror

John the Conqueror is a blues band based out of Mississippi or Philadelphia, depending on your concept of time and space.

Either way, this group has only been together since 2010 and the Michael Gardner's only been playing drums since that time just as Pierre Moore started singing at the same time by plugging a microphone into a practice amp. Along the way they started belting out blues and bassist, Ryan Lynn was brought into the fold. This rounded out their duo into a full band which they named after the folkloric slave hero.

The Good Life is the sophomore record of this very young band. What is truly amazing is how quickly this whole thing has come together for this band of friends. Pierre and Michael have been friends since childhood, and the quickly brewed friendship with Ryan is what got him into the band as it were.

"Shiner EP" by Mainland

This band has an interesting genesis. The singer, Jordan Topf, lost his father and needed to get away.

What would you do?

He bought a van and went on tour. Just try to imagine that. After the loss of your father, you then head off into the world? Loss of stability and he gives up all stability and everything he's ever known.

Well every good song and good album starts off with an even better story. Mainland set off to write their story. This is a very staggering idea to me. Over the weeks and months, seeing new faces, they wrote, they created and they met a fellow in Austin who's got a recording studio and they wrote as much as they could and picked out these four to put into their debut EP.

"This Cemetery, My Kingdom" by Coffin Dust

Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration, we have a group of death metalers from Philadelphia, PA who've been assailing unsuspecting audiences for the past four years. Today we have their fourth release, but first full length LP.

Sludge. Thrash. Tampa Bay Death Metal. All of these words would aptly describe the aforementioned Coffin Dust. They have developed a new kind of metal, that sadly would go unnoticed by legions outside of the know.

The growls and screams of Deicide, the seriously precise riffing of Metallica, the sludge of High On Fire,  and the punch of Carcass. Things in this world must have names. This new kind of metal will henceforth be known as Thrampa Slay Dudge Core Metal.

"Eye of the Storm (7" Single)" by The Haunted

The Haunted are a long running metal band from Sweden. Honestly, what is it with the Swedes and death metal...and hockey?

They have released a bunch of albums over the years. How have they never found my ears before today? Well, here we are and they are releasing an album called "The Eye of the Storm" later on in the year. Today we're considering the first single off of what will become their eighth studio album.

It's still surprising that this is the first I have heard of them, but I'm glad to have the opportunity to check out their first single.

The band got together in 1996 when the brothers Bjorler decided to be totally metal and start it all.

"Canto III" by Eye of Solitude

This is the latest release by a band who's been around for nearly four years. The band was started in 2010 and has released a bevy of records, but this is only their third full length release.

They are considered to be Orchestral Funeral Doom Metal. There is a part of me that really loves considering the thousands of metal subgenres, because it just gets ridiculous.

Eye of Solitude is a super group of sorts, featuring members the bands: Unfathomable Ruination and Sidious.

This particular release is a very ambitious six track project. Please read that again, and ensure that you read it without any sarcasm. This is a very ambitious record.

"Rock Them Back To Hell!" by Left Lane Cruiser

Rock Them Back To Hell

It has been awhile since we've heard from the psychobilly Blues duo from Fort Wayne, Indiana (Home of the Komets! The last and only time I was in Fort Wayne for more than a fill up was in April of 2001 to see the Missouri River Otters RIP play the Fort Wayne Komets...good times.)

It's been about a year and a half since any  new music of theirs has crossed my desk and into my iTunes, but it was a killer album with old friend, James Leg. One the greatest things about this band is that they are one of the most hard working outfits in the business today.

When they are not in the studio, they're on the road. These two guys are just a pair of amazing road dogs. In the time that they have been on my radar, they have played in St. Louis at least four times for very reasonable pricing.

"Chillicothe Fireball" by The Hooten Hallers

 This album is a little bit on the old side, but you will not be robbed of it!

This is the sophomore release of Columbia, MO's most favored sons, The Hooten Hallers.  Their first record, Greetings From Welp City, was superb, so I had high hopes for the trio, formerly a pair from Columbia.

It had felt like some time since they had announced work on a new album and now, when it's finally in my hands to peruse, but this is a group that tours more than most of us go to work.  As of this writing, they have about thirty concert days set for the next five weeks.

These folks are quite the hardworking band and they are not living the glamorous life on the road full of groupies, blow, and trashed hotel rooms, but driving themselves from gig to gig, and often times taking turns sleeping with the drums while someone else takes a turn at the wheel.

"In The Minds of Evil" by Deicide

Glen Benton!  Deicide has been around a very, very long time. In just a single year from now, the boys will be eligible for entry to the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame and honestly if any death metal bands deserve it, they do.

Deicide got their start in the Tampa Bay Death Metal scene with other extreme acts like Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, and Obituary. The evil ones in Deicide have never stopped. It's staggering to think about just how long this band has been at it. Twenty five years and still playing clubs.

 For me, it's very easy to respect the death metal bands. They know they're not going to get rich in music. They know that they won't be able to even do music full time. Lots of these guys have jobs on the side, but heavy music is their passion and for some, Glen Benton and his cohorts, it's a method of getting their message out. As usual, we'll be glossing over the lyrical content, because I don't care.