Once upon a time, not so long ago, before the internet turned much of the western world’s population into isolated recluses, the tape-trading network was the lifeblood of the underground metal scene. In this spirit, Darkness Shade Records has produced three fine cassette releases.

Hi friends. It’s been a while. I know it. Sean certainly knows it. You, on the other hand, probably didn’t even notice I was gone. That’s okay. In my absence, I heard a rumour that some people have reaffirmed a love affair with vinyl. Some of these people even own turntables! Fucking crazy!! So, in salutary notion to those of you keeping it real and the labels who graciously send us their latest releases on varying colours of wax, I present the all-vinyl edition of Rimshots.

I recently received In Times Of Solitude in the mail from Massacre Records and I gotta say, this is a must for diehard Solitude Aeturnus fans.

In the mood for some thrash-worship discore that manages to fuck up the mix with occasional blastbeats and/or molasses-slow doom? Pick up this seven-inch from Hot Graves as a taster

Ravens Creed is a truly great British metal band, and along with such bands as the Meads of Asphodel and Old Corpse Road, are really flying the flag for true, trend-free, British metal!

Captured by Stuart McKillop and Jesse Carr at The Hive Creative Labs, Baptists have arrived hitting fast and hard. It’s a little cruel that four songs are all we get, but as a way of documenting the band’s formidable power at this early stage, the 7-inch is the perfect delivery method.

New review of the new split 12″ release by APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE and Portugal’s DAWNRIDER.

This twelve inch single is an awesome slab of doom, and that is as it should be, for this is work of Pentagram and Raven legend Joe Hasselvande