Biff being Biff! 8)

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Monstrosity have been a death metal institution for over 30 years. They were part of the big Floridian death metal boom of the late 80s/early 90s, but were always overshadowed by the likes of Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Obituary. That said, their 1992 Imperial Doom debut brought the death-thrashing thunder and introduced the world to one George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher. He and his neck left after their second album to join Cannibal Corpse, but Monstrosity soldiered on, releasing a string of good to very good albums, including their most recent, 2018s The Passage of Existence. With 2 original members remaining, the band is now rounded out with a new guitarist and vocalist. Can the infusion of fresh blood keep the Monstrosity carcass moving in the right direction for 7th album, Screams from Beneath the Surface?

For a long-time listener of the band, opener “Banished to the Skies” may cause a jolt. It’s an Amon Amarth-esque melodeath piece with a bit of an epic vibe, which is not the usual Monstrosity modality. It’s a good song with a dark, brooding mood, fluid guitar work, and moments that remind me of vintage Edge of Sanity, but it’s definitely not what I would expect from these Florida men. Things quickly revert to caveman death thrashery on “The Colossal Rage,” and the mission statement is to pummel with lead pipe savagery. New throat Ed Webb (ex-Massacre) is effectively brutal, and the riffs have touches of Cannibal Corpse and old school Deicide. It’s entirely solid, entertaining death metal and sure to get the blood moving. “The Atrophied” is even more frenetic and thrashified, with slower, more epic Viking metal segments that serve as a contrast. The solos are colorful and beautifully melodic, which makes them pop out from the caveman Viking aesthetic.

The band clearly wanted to try several different things here. Their core thrashed-up death metal sound is present, but with overlays of epic melo death and doom that add dimensions to their blue-collar thugery. “Fortunes Engraved in Blood” is an example where the band tries to bring all these elements together. It’s part Floridian death, part macho melodeath, with touches of prog in the guitar work. The fact that it works is a testament to their writing and playing. The remainder of Screams features tracks with the various elements playing a greater or lesser role, and most of them work well enough. “The Thorns” is a darker, doomy piece that feels especially sharp, and “The Dark Aura” treads the same muddy battlefield as Bolt Thrower with slower power chugs and a grinding, inevitable feeling. It’s all well done, competent death metal that tries to push the envelope creatively in small ways, but unfortunately, much of it sits in that “good but not much more” category. A few of the meaner, more violent cuts reach higher since the death-thrash approach is Monstrosity’s best weapon, and why people come to the monster yard in the first place. At just under 44 with no song feeling like filler, Screams is a pretty easy spin with plenty of raw energy. The production is crisp and clean, but wholly lacking the edge and murk I prefer in my death metal.

Ed Webb is a well-traveled, extra-seasoned death vet, and his vocals are a good anchor for what Monstrosity do here. He’s got a classically big, burly death roar and can pull out effective blackened screams when called upon, though he can feel like a standard-issue croaker at times. Guitarist Matt Barnes and new axe Justin Walker show all kinds of talent and skill, forging nasty death riffs, ragged thrash leads, and some highly impressive, nearly neo-classical solo work. Some moments take me back to the glory days of 90s James Murphy, and that’s a great thing. This is a very talented crew, and they have the ambition to go beyond the usual caveman fare, which I respect.

Screams from Beneath the Surface is a solid death metal platter with a few barn burners and some interesting twists and surprises. It likely won’t make many end-of-year lists, but Monstrosity are still alive, capable, and trying new things. Not every death metal act with 30-plus years in the game can claim the same. Worth a listen. Hail, Florida men!



Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: monstrosity.us | facebook.com/monstrosityofficial | instagram.com/monstrosityflorida
Releases Worldwide: March 13th, 2026

It’s been a long five years since we’ve had an album from this Norwegian foursome. Which is probably a good thing, considering their last few releases haven’t been their best by a long shot. Basically, since 2011’s V, the band has struggled to retain their days-of-yore sound while trying to expand on it and deliver something fresh. Having left Season of Mist and returned to Indie Recordings, now is the time to drop something new and exciting—especially if you’ve once again enlisted the mighty Mistur’s keyboard wizard, Espen Bakketeig, to lend a hand in the finished product. One spin in and Vreid fans will find a lot of what you’ve come to expect from the band, while also exploring some surprising new directions that are sure to drop your jaw. But, is that a good or bad thing for The Skies Turn Black?

As has become the norm for the band, we’re blessed with some killer guest appearances by the aforementioned Espen Bakketeig and Djerv’s Agnete Kjølsrud, a smart decision by Kampfar on the amazing Ofidians Manifest. While Bakketeig’s performance on 2021’s solid Wild North West, I felt he was underutilized when crafting his key atmospheres or lustful piano passages. Thankfully, that is not the case for The Skies Turn Black. Outside of the emotional piano interludes, you’ll find plenty of powerful, spacey, and quirky key atmospheres throughout. And Kjølsrud’s contributions to the almost gothy “Loving the Dead” make it one of the best songs the band has ever penned.1

The album begins on a strong note with “From These Woods,” which is one of the longer and more epic tracks. After opening with some soothing clean and acoustic guitars, the black metal assault ensues. After passing through a dark alley of echoing clean-vocal support, the new riff change is nastier and heavier than ever. But the moment you get settled in, the song comes to a screeching halt, unloading beautiful piano, soaring guitars, and lush, clean vocals. When it concludes, you’re whiplashed with a vicious attack because the fucking song still has two minutes to go. Another track that has similarities is “Smile of Hate.” This one has a simple but headbangable riff in the vein of Amon Amarth, that marches along at one point and collapses into another impressive piano passage. This time, a little less ethereal and more like the piano and key work of Dimmu Borgir.

But, like all Vreid records in the last decade, there’s a point where things get real weird. Not in a negative way, like some previous material. On The Skies Turn Black, it begins with “Kraken.” It turns out this track is part of the soundtrack to this year’s Norwegian “blockbuster,” Kraken.2 But being more synth-driven than guitar-driven, it has an eerie vibe that actually would work equally well in the movie Sorcerer.3 It’s not a standout track, but it’s the perfect introduction to “Loving the Dead” because it uses the same elements. As mentioned, this song stands way out because Kjølsrud dominates on vocals. This eight-minute epic takes you through so many emotions, from Kjølsrud’s vocals to the intertwined guitar work and the climactic finish. This special piece is definitely a Grier SotY contender.

There are plenty of other high moments on this record, which is hella nice to hear for a change. The track that really loses me, though, is “Echoes of Life.” It’s not a bad song, but it’s an odd duck of ’70s progness. While it’s smooth and clean, it’s too old-timey to fit with the rest of the album. Thankfully, the follow-up closer “The Earth Rumbles” reignites the fire before the album concludes. If “Echoes of Life” ended the record, I might be a bit more upset. But, I’m pleased to say The Skies Turn Black is Vreid’s best album since V. Which is wild to say considering there are four full-lengths in that time. The master is nicely done, letting everyone shine when it matters—especially the bass, which has always been a major staple to their sound. If the skies really are going to turn black, I’m here for it. After all, that’s better than the color they are these days.



Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: Stream | Format Reviewed: Stream deez nutz
Label: Indie Recordings
Websites: vreid.bandcamp.com | vreid.no | facebook.com/vreidofficial
Releases Worldwide: March 6th, 2026

After more than 1 year bad news every single day & yesterday 1 of the nightmares coming true, I needed a pick me up.
If you need one too, hope this makes you feel better like it does me:

#musicislife #AmonAmarth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VLMKHikNrM&list=RD5VLMKHikNrM&start_radio=1

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CASTLE RAT Announce Headlining Shows Around AMON AMARTH & DETHKLOK Tour

https://metalinjection.net/tour-dates/castle-rat-announces-headlining-shows-around-amon-amarth-dethklok-tour

#CASTLERAT #AMONAMARTH #AnnounceHeadliningShowsAround #Tour #announcement #MetalInjection #metal #music

Seeing an album described as “blackened death metal” almost always gets my juices flowing. The problem with that tag, however, is that it can mean anything from weird avant-garde blackened dissodeath (yuck) to Christcrushing necronuclear Blasphemy-worshipping goat metal (fukk yeah!!). But Bloodred are neither of those things. This German band is technically a duo but is really more like the solo project of vocalist, guitarist, and bassist Ron Merz, who’s been enlisting the talents of drummer Joris Nijenhuis (ex-Atrocity, ex-Leaves’ Eyes) since the band’s first releases back in the mid-2010s. I admittedly hadn’t heard of these guys when I saw their name crop up in our promo bin, but I decided to give their back catalog a whirl when I saw Amon Amarth was tagged as a similar artist on Encyclopedia Metallum. It turns out that comparison isn’t entirely off the mark, as the group’s three prior albums generally do sound like a band capitalizing on Amon Amarth’s more epic moments while increasing the black metal influence and stripping away a lot of the melody.

With fourth album Colours of Pain, Ron has again kept himself within the blackened death sphere, this time by producing what’s essentially a modern black metal album that still contains enough variety and heavier flourishes to keep it from being trapped solely within that genre’s confines. Roughly half the songs here are similar to the opener, “Ashes,” which faintly recalls Satyricon in how it bobs forward on rocking rhythms that support Ron’s wretched, raspy growls and headnod-worthy riffs. The song is a decent tune with guitar-work that’s clear and assertive, if somewhat unremarkable. Of the other songs in this style, “Mindvirus” and the closer, “Resist,” are the best of the bunch, with snappy mid-tempo drumming and catchy, “riding to war” riffs that are sure to earn them a spot on my future jogging playlists. In much of the record’s second half, things drift more into post-black metal territory, with tracks like “Death Machine” using slightly slower passages, flashes of melody, and high-register guitars to conjure the melodrama of stuff like Woods of Desolation.

On paper, Colours of Pain seems to be a pretty diverse set of songs. Yet, somehow, it still comes across as oddly homogenous. In part, this issue may be caused by Joris’s drumming: While I enjoy the man’s beats, I wouldn’t call his performance particularly dynamic, with much of the album cruising pleasantly along at a similar tempo. As a result, many of the songs end up having a similar overall feel, even when the underlying riffing is quite different. The blame is not solely his, however. While Ron employs some decent riffs here, he never delivers anything that truly grabs you by the balls, resulting in an album that requires a decent amount of undivided attention to reveal its charms. The production has a clear and balanced sound that reminds me of Art of Propaganda signees like Harakiri for the Sky, which works for Bloodred’s style but exacerbates the album’s homogeneity a bit by coming across just a touch too loud and clean for me.

Despite these shortcomings, Colours of Pain remains an enjoyable release overall, and its highlights become increasingly apparent with repeated listens. The title track, for instance, shifts between a nice shuffling, mid-tempo riff and more traditional black metal hammering, resulting in a cool song that sounds something like a socially-conscious version of Belphegor. “Heretics” is another good cut, featuring an odd sidewinding riff and a particularly combative tremolo line. The backing operatic vocals in “Winds of Oblivion” and the climax of “Ashes” are also a nice touch, with the former track also serving as one of the album’s only true “slow” songs (making it a perfect lead-up to the boisterous closer, “Resist”).

Colours of Pain is the type of album that you can put on for any extreme metal fan, and while they may not love it, they almost certainly won’t hate it. Although initial impressions suggest an album that’s too inoffensive for its own good, repeat listens reveal a record with enough quality ideas and variety to keep it from being just extreme metal elevator music. What’s more, a perusal of Bloodred’s website shows that Ron seems quite passionate about the music he makes and the politically tinged lyrics that color these songs. In all, if you’re looking for a modern extreme metal album that goes down easy, you could do far worse.



Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Massacre Records
Websites: bloodred.bandcamp.com | bloodredband.com | facebook.com/bloodredofficial
Releases Worldwide: February 13th, 2026

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Deceiver of the Gods
Deceiver of the Gods

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Put Your Back Into The Oar
Put Your Back Into The Oar

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