Venom

Necrosexual – Road to Rubble Review

Necrosexual – Road to Rubble Review

By Mark Z. on February 23, 2026 in Reviews, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, 35 comments

“It was a day like any other at the AMG water cooler when someone mentioned Necrosexual had a new album coming out. Ha, I ought to myself. I vaguely remembered reviewing the Philadelphia band’s Grim1 debut back in 2018, which I had slapped with a 1.5 due to its sloppy execution and lackluster production. Perhaps I expected too much from a band led by vocalist, guitarist, and bassist “The Necrosexual,” whose main claim to fame was doing interviews for Metal Injection and MetalSucks while clad in corpse paint. Let someone else take their new album, I thought to myself. I’m sure someone will get enticed by that band name. But week after week went by, and Road to Rubble sat in the promo bin.” Cold and hard.

Hellcrash – Inferno Crematörio Review

Hellcrash – Inferno Crematörio Review

By Kenstrosity on May 24, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, Speed Metal, 40 comments

“Imagine Venom at their speediest and sloppiest. Electrify that base with the devilish wiles of Bütcher and fortify its boiling blood with the ripping guitar work of Razor and Bulldozer, and char it with a smoky production. As a final touch, sprinkle a decidedly punk-driven attitude that whispers unsweet nothings into every aspect of this material, from performance to riffcraft to production. That’s Inferno Crematörio.” Speed rash.

Bewitcher – Spell Shock Review

Bewitcher – Spell Shock Review

By Mark Z. on September 27, 2024 in Reviews, Black Metal, Speed Metal, 26 comments

“Bewitcher has always felt different than the blackened speed metal wave that emerged in the last decade or so. I’ve enjoyed some Midnight or Hellripper in my day, but by the late 2010s, it seemed like there were way too many groups offering a stock combination of raspy black metal vocals, bouncy riffs in the style of Exciter or Kill ‘Em All, and a chorus where they shout something about fire or Satan or some shit. By the 666th time I’ve heard a song like that, it just starts feeling tired and disingenuous. Not so with Bewitcher.” Bewitcher is back to Spell Shock your brain with the first Rancid name drop in AMG history.

Kontact – Full Contact Review

Kontact – Full Contact Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on January 19, 2024 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Occult Rock, 31 comments

“When a band draws so clearly on an aged aesthetic, the results can be hard to parse as pastiche, worship, or otherwise. Even moreso in niche corners like the epic heavy metal crowd, where soaring vocals of varying qualities—all hoping to stick in your mind regardless—triumph alongside thick kicks, thicker riffs, and battle-tested builds, worshippers of the riff conflict with worshippers of the riffers. Enter Kontact, a young Canadian troupe whose 2022 release, the cheeky-titled EP First Contact, played tightly on the ideas set forth by the idiosyncratic but ever-mountainous Manilla Road, but with enough of their space-bound palette to paint a few stripes of their own.” Bad touch.

Knife – Heaven Into Dust Review

Knife – Heaven Into Dust Review

By Felagund on November 21, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, 30 comments

“On Heaven into Dust, Knife have done what many bands refuse to do: grow. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still heaps of Motörhead and Venom worship; plenty of gang chants and blackened vocals; oodles of speed metal chugging, heavy metal galloping, and thrash riffing; almost everything endearing about their debut still applies here and the changes are relatively minor, but they’re impactful.” Stab or prod?

Third Storm – The Locust Mantra Review

Third Storm – The Locust Mantra Review

By Carcharodon on October 6, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Blackened Death Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 18 comments

“Well, well, well. How time flies. On 7 November 2018, my first ever review, under the unassuming alias of Nameless_N00b_17, was posted for The Grand Manifestation by Sweden’s Third Storm. Almost five years on, despite various spates of chronic overrating and hopefully showing some improvement in my writing, I am still here to see Third Storm return with their sophomore album, The Locust Mantra.” Bugnado.