Tag Archives: Thrash metal

Best of Progressive Metal 2021

by Dæv Tremblay


The “progressive metal” category casts such a wide net that I had to subdivide it into several subcategories. So, instead of making a top 5 for every one of them, let’s see only the best concept album, the best experimental album, the best instrumental album, the best vocal album, the best prog-power album, and the best prog-thrash album from 2021!

Best Prog-Power: Æphanemer – A Dream of Wilderness


It’s got the cheese, it’s got the shredder, it’s got the pasta.

Best Prog-Thrash: Cryptosis – Bionic Swarm



Throughout the many really cool thrash metal albums the year gave us, Cryptosis’s stood … Read more

Bushwhacker – A Fistful of Poison

by Matt Matheson

bushwhacker fistful cover

I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but one night I stumbled upon a relatively unknown cluster of Pacific deep-northwest metal bands. They were mostly average in terms of musicianship and appeal, but one act with a couple of singles from a forthcoming album stood above the pack. This band was Bushwhacker, and their since-fully released third album A Fistful of Poison is one of the most creative and polished offerings to come out of any metal scene in recent memory. To call this album “underrated” would be an understatement as big as the Montana sky; at the time … Read more

Hardcore Anal Hydrogen – Hypercut

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

The Monégasque duo known as Hardcore Anal Hydrogen just released their fourth album, under the Hypercut title. I wasn’t enthralled by any of their previous output, but I might have to reconsider, given that this one tickles my fancy! The HAH duo delivers more than forty minutes of experimental death metal that lies somewhere between the breakcore of Igorrr (which I still can’t stand) and the cybergrind of Psudoku (which I adore!) Hypercut is filled with inhuman shredding (both figuratively and literally), glitch aesthetics, genre-hopping sections, and distorted, high-pitched harsh vocals. You know, I don’t really … Read more

Vexovoid – Call of the Starforger

by Dæv Tremblay

Italy’s Vektor, Vexovoid, just released their debut album, Call of the Starforger. Despite their name, more reminiscent of Portal than anything else, Vexovoid’s sound lies somewhere between aforementioned Vektor, and Voivod. Their own take on progressive, blackened thrash metal is nothing new, thanks to Terminal Redux being one of the absolute best albums of last year, but this had the side effect of making this special brand of metal highly demanded. Call of the Starforger is great and the flow of riffs is unstoppable, making it a very welcome addition to the not so expansive array of releases … Read more