Vhöl: Deeper Than the Sky (2015)

Vhöl is turning out to be--as their debut might suggest--more than just a supergroup. It's a worthy, unique band in its own right. As I described them before, they're sort of an American Darkthrone, combining black metal with old-school heavy metal, crust, and thrash.

Deeper Than Sky by VHOL

The formula from the first album is intact, but this time around the song lengths are more varied. The

Perversor: Anticosmocrator (2015)

Perversor is a Chilean band who play bestial black metal. It’s brutal, ugly, and uncompromising. I must be a sucker for this kind of stuff, because it seems I never hear one that I don’t like—but then again, I mostly listen to the ones that come out on Hells Headbangers, and if any label knows their shit, it’s them.

*FREE* Compilation Vol. 8 by PERVERSOR

I couldn’t tell you what sets them

Graveyard Shifters: High Heels and Broken Bones (2015)

Remember that feeling of pure joy that you felt the first time you heard Kvelertak? Graveyard Shifters give me that same kind of feeling.

The songwriting is infectious, and their enthusiasm for the music comes through in the performance. It sounds great, and it's almost impossible not to love.

I mean, how can you not love an album with a song called "Beerserker"?

Like Kvelertak, they play

Nekrofilth: Filling My Blood with Poison . . . (2009 Demo)

Maggots in Your SkullLast year, Nekrofilth satisfied those of refined taste with their tasteful full-length debut, Devil’s Breath . Hells Headbangers, always eager to cater to those of us with delicate musical palates, took notice, and decided to reissue the band’s 2009 demo, Filling My Blood with Poison . . .

This Cleveland steamer apparently knew exactly where to go, right from the start.

Exmortus: Slave to the Sword (2014)

Welcome to ChotchkiesI had joanismylover move his desk to the file room before writing this review.

Exmortus - We need to talk about your flair. I mean Exmortus, come on. You only have fifteen pieces of flair. Dragonforce, they have thirty seven pieces of flair. And a heck of lead guitarist. Yes we know that 15 pieces is the minimum. But people can get guitar leads anywhere. People listen

Principality of Hell: Fire & Brimstone (2014)

Back Patch TerritoryI’m just guessing that if you went to see Principality of Hell, you’d probably see a lot of dudes with back patches in the crowd. Call it a hunch, but this is just the kind of bread-and-butter tr00/kvlt/underground metal that I associate with cut-off denim vests. Debut Fire & Brimstone is coming out August 18 on W.T.C. Productions.

There’s simply nothing new here, but there’s