“Becoming a fully-fledged metalhead is when you stop associating German metal with Rammstein and start with Teutonic thrash. There’s something about Germany that just makes thrash metal meaner, dirtier, and nastier than anywhere else, and without Teutonic thrash, extreme metal would likely look very different from where it is today. Knowing and loving this heritage, Germany’s own Teutonic Slaughter throws their feather-capped hat into the ring with their third album, Cheap Food, brandishing both a ridiculous album cover and a conviction to maintain the glory of old school Teutonic thrash metal.” Eat, prey, leave.
Kreator
Bitterness – Hallowed Be the Game Review
“Thrash metal trio Bitterness has been riffing around Germany’s underground metal scene since 2002. And despite a twenty-plus-year career spent in a state of sustained anonymity, these thrashers three are ready to throw down their eighth full-length odyssey, Hallowed Be the Game. Marching under the thrash banner in a country that birthed not only the Big Teutonic 4, but some very endearing second-tier bands, takes guts and persistence. Luckily, Bitterness has a little bit of both.” In the game of German thrash, be bitter or be dead.
Deathraiser – Forged in Hatred Review
“When considering what Brazil is best known for, people often throw out things like the Amazon rainforest, round-ball football, coffee, beef, and that really tall statue of the Christmas Superstar, but you and I both know that Brazil is primarily known for thrash metal. Seeking to add to that legacy, Deathraiser is raising themselves from the dead by releasing sophomore album Forged in Hatred a mere 15 years after their debut.” Hate can’t be built in a day.
Kreator – Krushers of the World Review
“We’re in the honeymoon phase of our shiny new year, and over the next few weeks, some big names will be dropping albums to set the tone for this trip around the Sun. First up is Kreator, Germany’s long-running and legendary thrash institution, with their 16th album, Krushers of the World. So which version of Kreator are we getting here? The straight-up, no-bullshit thrashers, or the ones that stir traditional metal sounds into the expected speed for a more polished brew?” Painting with a broad krush.
Burning Death – Burning Death Review
“In the prehistoric era known in academic circles as “the 80s,” metal had not yet splintered into the myriad microgenres we know today. Even our ten-ish main subgenres, while beginning to differentiate themselves, were still fairly grey. Within this primordial soup floated the building blocks that would one day give rise to modern black metal, including, among others, the early works of Slayer, Kreator, and Vulcano. This evil-sounding, satanic/anti-Christian thrash metal is also the inspiration for Nashville newcomers, Burning Death.” Die in Fi-YAA!
Coroner – Dissonance Theory Review
“Whether it’s the mystifying hourglass of parenthood or a sudden collision of earth to brain, time erodes both in steady, unnoticeable stutters and blink-speed slides. I’m sure Coroner never quite planned to sit this long on new material, with its inception a decade ago sliding to present today in maturity. But after thirty-plus years, there’s little rush in releasing anything for the sake of the release itself.” Back to examine.
Stuck in the Filter: May 2025’s Angry Misses
May Filters bring August off-kilters. Find your passion amongst the flotsam.
Vertebra – The Same Review
Vertebra is a Brazilian act that formed in the mid-‘90s, disbanded before releasing a debut, and has now re-emerged from the sands of time with a mission to finally finish what they started. Their long-overdue debut, The Same, promises a slab of progressive death/thrash which balances “raw edges” with “melodic awareness” in a way that “defies the passage of time.” Can these reunited rockers craft a collection of tunes that innovates and stands alongside their clear inspiration?
Lucille – Dawn of Destruction Review
“Formed in 2017, Lucille spent a considerable amount of time gigging the underground circuit while writing and refining their message, which would form the basis of their 2021 EP, Too Proud to Beg for Mercy, which caught the attention of Dying Victims Productions. Upon solidifying themselves as a quartet, with a love for 80’s thrash and Negan’s barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat in their hearts, Lucille set out to put together the pieces for their debut album, Dawn of Destruction.” you picked a fine time….
Shed the Skin – The Carnage Cast Shadows Review
“I don’t know how some people can keep creating art for so long. Somehow fucking Clint Eastwood is still making movies, and that guy looked ancient when Gran Torino came out in 2008. Shed the Skin aren’t as old as Clint, but they’ve got a wealth of experience nonetheless. Formed in 2011 as a tribute to the long-defunct Ohio death metal group Blood of Christ, this sort-of-supergroup are comprised of several extreme metal veterans, On their previous four albums, the group offered up fun, no-nonsense death metal characterized by a sense of frenetic melody.” The sharpest tool in the skin shed?
























