Reviews by Simon Crawley

  • Tronos - Celestial Mechanics
  • Tronos

    Celestial Mechanics

    By Simon Crawley | 29 April, 2019

    The enigmatic UK bassist Shane Embury is part of yet another new project. The Napalm Death man is already involved in the likes of Lock Up, Brujeria, Venomous Concept, and Born to Murder the World, and now he’s added Tronos (the Spanish for ...

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  • Pulchra Morte - Divina Autem Et Aniles
  • Pulchra Morte

    Divina Autem Et Aniles

    By Simon Crawley | 16 April, 2019

    There's nothing like a ferociously morbid start to the year and especially when there's a mass of riffs and dark melody partial to such a beginning. My first contribution of 2019, in the way of heavy metal ramblings here, is my take on the first f...

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  • Revocation - The Outer Ones
  • Revocation

    The Outer Ones

    By Simon Crawley | 05 November, 2018

    Full-length studio album number seven from Boston, Massachusetts’ Revocation is a significant one. Its release coincides with the band’s career at a juncture in its trajectory. That perhaps sounds too dramatic, but Revocation has, in t...

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  • Infera Bruo - Cerement
  • Infera Bruo

    Cerement

    By Simon Crawley | 11 October, 2018

    I will admit that what initially drew my attention to this release was learning of the link to Trap Them (also signed to Prosthetic Records) through the band’s bassist, Galen Baudhuin. He is Infera Bruo’s vocalist and guitarist and he ...

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  • Pig Destroyer - Head Cage
  • Pig Destroyer

    Head Cage

    By Simon Crawley | 03 October, 2018

    Significant foundations were laid earlier by the likes of Napalm Death and Repulsion, but grindcore never quite saw Pig Destroyer coming. This was in 1997 when vocalist J.R. Hayes and Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s Scott Hull formed the band, which...

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  • Gulch - Burning Desire to Draw Last Breath
  • Gulch

    Burning Desire to Draw Last Breath

    By Simon Crawley | 05 September, 2018

    Hardcore certainly has, in my opinion, a lot more room for the warped and avant-garde. Originality and a good ol’ fashioned pair of balls are also qualities all too often lacking with hardcore acts. California's Gulch is a five-piece force o...

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  • Marginal - Total Destruction
  • Marginal

    Total Destruction

    By Simon Crawley | 08 May, 2018

    To say anything is ‘old school’ has gotten a bit tired, but when it comes to Belgium’s Marginal who kicks it seriously old school with their brand of grindcore/crust punk, it just seems fitting. This is a sound, whilst fully bene...

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  • OHHMS - The Fool
  • OHHMS

    The Fool

    By Simon Crawley | 07 June, 2017

    With the debut release of Bloom in October 2014, Kent’s (U.K.) OHHMS sidled up warmly to fellow The Metal Forge contributor Simon Milburn. And when 2015’s Cold came out, that was that – Mr. Milburn was won over ...

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  • Warbringer - Woe to the Vanquished
  • Warbringer

    Woe to the Vanquished

    By Simon Crawley | 08 April, 2017

    Thrash is a highly coveted strain of heavy metal. Its speed, groove, and gritty aggression are elements diehard fans hold dear and get very protective over when the progressive arm of metal sidles up to it. In some ways, death and black metal have...

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  • Havok - Conformicide
  • Havok

    Conformicide

    By Simon Crawley | 20 March, 2017

    Havok is a band I only came to know at the time they unleashed 2011’s Time is Up upon modern day thrash. One cannot ask for a better introduction. Time is Up remains a personal favourite and go-to album when my mood lends i...

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  • Bear Mace - Butchering the Colossus
  • Bear Mace

    Butchering the Colossus

    By Simon Crawley | 20 March, 2017

    In keeping to the gruesome theme, this is an album that, like a bear trap, will crack both the air and your bones as it smashes closed upon your stumbling across it. With beginnings dating back to 2012, this five-strong band hailing from Chicago l...

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  • Kreator - Gods of Violence
  • Kreator

    Gods of Violence

    By Simon Crawley | 30 January, 2017

    This is the 14th studio album from the German thrash legends, and its whipping ferocity was conceived amidst the rising levels of hate and resentment gripping our planet all in the name of religious beliefs. This powerful theme soaks every minute ...

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  • Fetid Zombie - Epicedia
  • Fetid Zombie

    Epicedia

    By Simon Crawley | 14 December, 2016

    An album title like Epicedia comes across as being almost tongue in cheek, but then there is always the appropriate sense of stating the obvious that also works. Go ahead and spin this, the creation of renowned metal personality Mark Ridd...

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  • Anaal Nathrakh - The Whole of the Law
  • Anaal Nathrakh

    The Whole of the Law

    By Simon Crawley | 18 November, 2016

    Imagine any apocalyptic scene where the world is burning and the sea is galloping towards the shoreline with devastating intent – you can be sure that the soundtrack to such events will be courtesy of Birmingham, England’s Anaal Nathra...

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  • Darkthrone - Arctic Thunder
  • Darkthrone

    Arctic Thunder

    By Simon Crawley | 07 November, 2016

    Black metal, and that of the Norwegian persuasion in particular, definitely occupies a stark corner of the heavy metal realm. To that extent, Darkthrone was always one of those potently bleak acts that somehow conjured one’s respect. Their f...

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  • Insomnium - Winter's Gate
  • Insomnium

    Winter's Gate

    By Simon Crawley | 06 October, 2016

    With a steady flow of studio album releases since 2002’s In the Halls of Awaiting, Finland’s Insomnium reveal its seventh in Winter’s Gate. Consisting of a single 40-minute track, this is a conceptual album insp...

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  • Soilwork - Death Resonance
  • Soilwork

    Death Resonance

    By Simon Crawley | 30 August, 2016

    Amidst the Swedish melodic death metal veterans’ ongoing tour to support their 2015 studio album, The Ride Majestic, fans are treated to over an hour’s worth of music consisting of two brand new songs and 13 rarely released tr...

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  • Hammers of Misfortune - Dead Revolution
  • Hammers of Misfortune

    Dead Revolution

    By Simon Crawley | 15 August, 2016

    There are those bands and styles of metal that ooze that sense of ‘epic’, taking the listener on a journey of riffs, melody, hooks, guitar solos, and dramatic vocals all tied to a string of stories or overall theme. Hammers of Misfortu...

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  • Defiled - Towards Inevitable Ruin
  • Defiled

    Towards Inevitable Ruin

    By Simon Crawley | 21 July, 2016

    The Japanese death metal juggernaut that is Defiled has been crushing skulls and taking names for 22 brutal years. Much like their home city of Tokyo, this is metal of monstrous proportions. In the five years since Defiled’s last full-length...

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