You may not yet have heard of Berzerker Legion as they have only been active since 2016 and this, Obliterate The Weak, is their debut album. If you’ve had an interest in extreme metal at all though you’ll certainly have heard of many of the bands these guys either currently or previously played with in the past – Dark Funeral, Asphyx, Vader and Wombbath to name just a few. The list is endless, pretty much covering most of the gamut of extreme metal. No shortage of experience then.

Berzerker Legion despite the wide sub-genre experience stick to death metal, pretty much the old school variety with plenty of the melodic Swedish type thrown in. Speed is not the primary concern here, instead an emphasis on crushing riffs with groove and a good supply of melody serves them well on an album brimming with memorable songs that have you wanting to hit the repeat button, at least it would if I wasn’t listening on vinyl. It doesn’t get any better than the title track alternating between a slow crushing groove for the verse and a faster melodic death metal chorus. These guys seem to have a liking for Bolt Thrower too. There’s really no shortage of great music on offer here though with nothing coming across as weak or misplaced. Of course with this amount of experience the playing as expected is exceptionally good and the production is spot on for displaying the power of this band.

I know it’s still early in the year but I haven’t come across loads of great new death metal yet. This is by far my favourite so far. With these guys having so many other musical commitments I really hope this doesn’t turn out to be a one off as it’s a quality release and I’ll look forward to more from them in the future hopefully.

Until a few weeks ago I’d never even heard of Butcher. After hearing a couple of advance tracks off 666 Goats Carry My Chariot, their second album, I immediately went in search of their first, Bestial Fukkin Warmachine and was so impressed I ordered the pair of them straight away.

Butcher come from Belgium, a country I don’t have too many metal albums from with only Bathsheba, Saille, Aborted and Enthroned coming to mind. Butcher doesn’t sound like any of them. What we have here is a very retro 80’s sounding blend of speed and thrash metal with a bit of black metal borrowed from Darkthrone thrown in here and there. This stuff is manic from the histrionic often high pitched vocals of R Hellshrieker to the music which is very busy and fast most of the times. Guitarist KK Ripper unleashes an impressive barrage of riffs, licks and solos, the kind that drew me into this kind of extreme metal back in the 80’s.The rhythm section of bassist AH Wrathchylde and drummer LV Speedhammer tie it all down, though their playing is equally busy and at times this frantic melee sounds on the verge of all falling apart, which is not a criticism and is a measure of their skill in holding it all together. It all adds to the retro vibe aided by an analogue (I presume, it certainly sounds it) production. You can imagine this is how the band sound on stage as it has very live feel without loads of overdubs in the guitar department.

I liked the first album very much, which I’d played a few times before getting this, but on 666 Goats Carry My Chariot they have raised the bar with an even stronger collection of songs. I don’t suppose you’ll hear much new music like this this year so lap it up, you won’t regret it.

After spending years in Sodom guitarist Bernemann and drummer Markus Freiwald found their services were no longer required by mainman Tom Angelripper. So what are you going to do? Form a band to kick Sodom’s ass of course. Bonded certainly give it a good go and with Rest In Violence they have released an album that to my ears betters recent Sodom releases and even reaches the heights of their best stuff at times.

To say they have bettered recent Sodom releases is high praise indeed as Sodom continues to release excellent thrash metal to this day. Bernemann, Friewald and their new mates, vocalist Ingo Bajonczak, bassist Marc Hauschild and second guitarist Chris Tsitsis have stuck with playing thrash but while there’s plenty of material here that’s belts along at breakneck pace there also slower more groove orientated stuff. The album is stuffed with great songs with strong hooks and an impressive collection of memorable riffs and perfectly demonstrated on the first 3 songs – all killer, the title track featuring none other than Overkill vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth who puts in an expected fine performance. Though having a much lower register Bajonczak is no slouch himself with his powerful and gritty delivery. Je Suis Charlie slows things down somewhat but with its infectious riffing and melody is another winner. In fact these guys barely put a foot wrong. The plodding No Cure For Life doesn’t match the heights of previous tracks but its slow groove still hits the mark down to its strong riff. It’s the more up tempo stuff though where this band really slays and thankfully it’s not in short supply. These guys play well, great guitar work including the solos and a kick ass rhythm section and the sound is tight aided by a crystal clear but powerful production which nails you to the wall.

I’m loving this album, the first 2020 release I’ve bought. There’s a great future for Bonded if they can keep the quality quotient up as shown on Rest In Violence. They have set the benchmark for thrash metal bands this year to beat.

How do you follow an album like Winter’s Gate? Insomnium’s masterpiece in my opinion – one continuous forty minute long piece of music, unless you bought the vinyl version then of course it was split in two. Unless you’re a prog band, not with an album of the same format.

Heart Like A Grave see’s the band returning to the shorter song structure of previous albums though some of them are quite long, Pale Morning Star almost hitting nine minutes for example. The sound is unmistakably Insomnium though they’ve gone and done an Iron Maiden and brought in a third guitarist, Jani Liimatainen. He hasn’t made any noticeable difference to their studio sound but I can imagine how live he could be a benefit for the layered guitar sounds, something he has already been doing for some time I believe. Heart Like A Grave delivers exactly what you’d expect from Insomnium. First rate melodic death metal with powerful melodic riffs overlaid by lead runs and interspersed with acoustic lulls and atmospheric sections. The vocals are largely growled of course courtesy of bassist Niilo Sevänen as usual but clean vocals are occasionally brought in which work well and should be used more often. Insomnium have always released strong albums so while Heart Like a Grave is up against some pretty stiff competition they’ve done well to equal and sometimes better their past work here. The band is obviously very comfortable in their style and sound and it shows through a strong sympathetic production. Best of all they maintain the quality level for the whole album.

Once again Insomnium have produced a winner. This is not going to turn heads the way Winter’s Gate did but musically it’s just as good and any fan of the band will not be disappointed. In fact those who felt the single piece of music format of the last album didn’t work will probably prefer the return to individual songs.

Back in 2016 I was mightily impressed with the debut album from a little known death metal band from the USA called Blood Incantation. On starting this review I decided to start by referring back to my review of said album, Starspawn. While I could have sworn I’d done a review, apparently not, I’d only rated it – 4 stars by the way. Anyway here we are three years down the road and Blood Incantation are back with another dose of cosmic death metal and they’ve just got even better.

Hidden History Of The Human Race is only four tracks long clocking in at a meagre 36 minutes but thankfully every track earns it’s place here. Slave Species Of The Gods opens up and it sounds immense. With its crushing dissonant riffs and organic production fans of Immolation and Morbid Angel should love it. Likewise The Giza Power Plant which follows though adding some light and shade and getting a bit more trippy over its seven minutes. Compared to their debut the sound here is tighter and not quite as dense – less chaotic. That’s not to say I prefer it that way but HHOTHR shows considerable growth with a more progressive approach. Inner Paths (To Outer Space) was the first track I heard from the album and initially I was a bit concerned. It has a slow build starting with a clean sounding cosmic trippy section and took it’s time before anything resembling death metal kicked in. Hearing it in the context of the album though it works and I like it.

Not surprisingly the highlight of the album is the eighteen minute Awakening From The Dream Of Existence To The Multidimensional Nature Of Our Reality (Mirror Of The Soul) which takes up side 2 of my vinyl copy. It’s a mind blowing death metal trip with some of their heaviest riffs but even including a Pink Floyd-ish lull before kicking back in with full force again. The rhythms twist and turn, constantly shifting mirroring the riffs, never staying in the same place too long and it feels like only half its length. It’s a stunning piece of work and perhaps the finest piece of death metal I’ve heard all year.

Just when I was more or less sorted in my mind on my favourite albums of the year along comes another contender. HHOTHR is a staggering achievement and I can’t wait to see where this band goes next. The future of death metal is in safe hands.