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

Detroit’s death-doom institution Temple of Void had an interesting journey over their 12-year career. Their 2014 debut split the baby between 90s Peaceville doom and nasty death metal like Asphyx and Bolt Thrower, and the end product was heavy as fook. 2017’s Lords of Death shifted toward death metal without losing any of the crushing, venomous intensity. It wasn’t until 2020s The World That Was that Temple of Void really started experimenting with the scope of their sound as influences like post-metal crept in. When 2022s Summoning the Slayer arrived, it seemed like the band was losing the plot, as their sound became overly pared down and simplistic, causing tedium to set in. That brings us to their fifth album, The Crawl. With a new bassist in tow, the band stated that they set out to write a heavy record without regard to how many death or doom influences were included. In that pursuit, they’ve expanded the scope of their sound to include elements like grunge and Goth for greater dynamism and diversity. Will that be a boon or bane to those who just want another ball-busting, skull-crushing death-doom platter?

I’ll give Temple of Void some credit for spicing up their recipe this time out. Opener “Poison Icon” is a hard-rocking death-meets-stoner-doom meat paste that’s bright and upbeat while managing to remain pretty damn heavy. There’s a rowdy urgency to the riffs that doesn’t fit neatly into death or doom camps, and the segues into hard rock stanzas with guttural death vocals over the top remind me of various melodeath Rogga products and the recent works of Hooded Menace. It’s not the nasty Temple of Void that I long for, but it’s entertaining nonetheless. “Godless Cynic “moves into darker, more grotesque death-doom territory with riffs that slither and snake all over, and when teamed with really hostile death vocals, things feel threatening and dangerous. It’s one of the album highlights, and it reminds me of the long-forgotten, criminally underrated Dutch doom band Another Messiah, which is a win in my book. 1 The title track is classic death-doom designed to pulverize and pummel. It does the job well, and the riffs are grisly fun as they swing from death stomp to doom plod.

Things also heat up on “A Dead Issue,” as discordant leads and eerie keyboards conspire to create an ominous, unsettling soundscape. The dreamy, ethereal guitars that weave in and out add another layer and make for a dynamic listen. The 7:41 closer “The Twin Stranger” is ferocious, with huge riffs dropping from the sky like spiked anvils. There’s enough forward momentum tank chugs to recall the glory days of Bolt Thrower and the pacing keeps the song from feeling as long as it is. Not every track is as successful at world-building, though. “Thy Mountain Eternal” attempts to cram an epic Viking metal element into the death-doom foundation, but ultimately ends up sounding more like recycled Omnium Gatherum than Ereb Altor, and at just under 7-minutes, it drags on too long. At 41-plus minutes, The Crawl is just about the ideal length for this kind of fare, and though there are moments of bloat to be found, most of the tracks are fairly fit and spry. The production gives the guitars enough raw power to intimidate, and those death vocals will shake the molars out of your head.

The Temple of Void edifice is highly reliant on the riff firepower brought to bear, and Alexander Awn and Michael Erdody bring enough explosives to flatten a small city. Yes, they dabble in outside influences, but this is a death-doom album at heart, and the bulldozing leads aim to harm. The rock, Goth, and other outside elements decorate the riffs, but they don’t replace the hammer and axe. There are many hook-tastic leads and smoking solos to absorb, and the diversity keeps things from feeling like a monolithic slog. Erdody’s large-scale death roars are highly effective, and he keeps things heavy no matter what genre the guitars decide to visit. It’s really the writing that elevates The Crawl beyond what was heard on Summoning the Slayer. This is a much more ambitious, adventurous outing, and it sounds like the band felt more confident and free to develop their sound this time out.

I came into The Crawl concerned that Temple of Void was going to evolve right into an early grave, but the material here is full of life, liberty, and the pursuit of the best bits of death and doom. There’s variety and inventiveness, but it will still flatten your ass regularly. I doubt they will ever give us another Lords of Death, but this ain’t so bad in its stead. Visit the newly renovated Temple.



Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: NA | Format Reviewed: Fucking STREAM!!
Label: Relapse
Websites: templeofvoid.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/templeofvoid | instagram.com/templeofvoid
Releases Worldwide: March 6th, 2026

Spearhead sind eine #BoltThrower Tribute Band.
Hier das neueste T-Shirt der Band, das Bild erinnert stark an das War Master Album Cover.

Der Vollständigkeit halber, es gibt viele gute Bolt Thrower Tribute Bands, so auch 'For Victory'.

Die Band 'Extermination Order' (mit HSB Gitarristen Maik Weichert) spielen ebenfalls im Bolt Thrower Gewand, aber eigene Songs.

Ihr könnt natürlich auch das Original hören. 🤘

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on #KEXP's #VarietyMix

Bolt Thrower:
🎵 Dying Creed

#BoltThrower

https://bolt-thrower.bandcamp.com/track/dying-creed-5

https://open.spotify.com/track/4Ec5LvJrXrTTTnrZhTWveK

🎶 show playlist 👇
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6G4PaS9BNkIuGqMo44rbfZ

🎶 KEXP playlist 👇
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6VNALrOa3gWbk794YuIrwg

#nowplaying #boltthrower

https://youtu.be/vA55DqbGa0A?si=tsyLAZjdcUiKAYh8

#BoltThrower #War #History

https://youtu.be/GNO6ExX9Nl0?si=x1nddhZ_Yjw3reos

For over 30 years, Casket has been a reliable—if slow and not terribly well-known—source of classic death metal. Originally forming as a four-piece in Reutlingen, Germany in 1990, they released a slew of demos between 1992 and 1996 before releasing their debut, Under the Surface, in 1998. They’ve released something (demo, EP, or LP) every five years or so since then, and aside from paring down to a trio in 2007, not much has changed since the early days. Although they experimented with gothic/symphonic elements on 2017’s Unearthed, their fifth full-length sees Casket returning to form. In the Long Run We Are All Dead promises raw, basic death metal, diluted by neither time nor inferior metals. Is their barebones style still virile, or is it a relic best left in its bygone age?

Casket’s death metal may be barebones, but they’re damn good at it. With nary a note of warning, Casket hits the ground running on opener “The Will to Comply.” Vocalist/guitarist Schorsch launches beefy, retro riffs and vicious, descending tremolos while vomiting up chasm-deep vocals like slabs of cement grinding against each other. Casket’s skill and experience are painfully obvious as they rip through track after track of dumb, violent death metal. The low-end heft from Susi Z’s bass makes In the Long Run We Are All Dead feel more like blunt force trauma than a stabbing or a slashing, and drummer Marinko consistently provides just the right tools for his bandmates to inflict maximum damage. This is old school death metal played the way only the old guard knows how.

Hammer, Knife, Spade by CASKET

When I first saw that In the Long Run We Are All Dead boasted a whopping 11 tracks, I was worried it would overstay its welcome. Luckily, that’s not the case. Casket constantly shifts between various iterations of the old school formula. Incantation is the biggest touchstone here, but not the only one. The specter of Bolt Thrower lends its inexorable, crushing riffcraft to “Highest Thrones” and “Fundamental Rot,” and there’s a dash of punk woven throughout, largely driven by Marinko’s drumming (“Highest Thrones,” “Seeds of Desolation”). While Cannibal Corpse’s freneticism shows in tracks like “Hammer, Knife, Spade” and “Mainstream Mutilation,” much of In the Long Run We Are All Dead stalks along at a middle pace, trading speed for power and complementing Schorsch’s demonically low roars. Even when my attention does start to wander by album enders “Strangulation Culture” and “Graveyard Stomper,” Schorsch’s guitar ventures for the first time into higher registers, adding a novel brightness in a final push to the dead wax.

There’s not much to complain about on Casket’s latest. Missteps on In the Long Run We Are All Dead are few and minor, while mid-to-highlights—like the strong conclusions of “Seeds of Desolation” and “Graveyard Stomper,” the instrumental pause in “Fundamental Rot” when Schorsch roars over the gap, or the punky shifts that peak in and out on “Highest Thrones”—are fairly common. I did find the occasional kinetic plucking noise on the bass a little distracting, and I wish the kick drum sounded a little less anemic next to an otherwise robust kit. The opening and recurring riff of “Skull Bunker” fails in repetition and would have served better as a hook. Two tracks are dubiously cut interludes (“Mirrors,” “Necrowaves”), and “Fundamental Rot” takes its time leaving the stage, but at a combined two and a half minutes, none of it is bothersome enough to hit skip, or even properly be called bloat.

In an era of always searching for the next big thing, Casket brutally reminds me of a core life lesson: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Casket has been around since the beginning, and they know the basics never go out of style. Sure, there’s a weird riff here, a bad bridge there, but even 36 years in, In the Long Run We Are All Dead is no exception to Casket’s consistent quality and timeless, nuts-and-bolts style. Casket doesn’t do hype or trends; they don’t care about exploring boundaries or subverting expectations. They’re just here to break your skull open with a hammer. Or a knife. Or a spade.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Neckbreaker Records
Websites: Official | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
Releases Worldwide: January 23rd, 2026