Over the last few years we have noticed that the metal scene in the United States is finally deviating from the ‘commercially safe’ crap and it’s finally producing some kick ass bands like Allegaeon that makes you double check to see if they are indeed from the US. Hailing from Colorado, Allegaeon comes to take the US Melodic Death Metal crown in a heart beat.

Some people might say that there are still some fashion-core remains in this band’s music, and at some points they have some Black Dahlia Murder influences, but we see the bigger picture: a band trying to sound different than most American bands these days. Notice we say different and not original, since bands in Europe have been doing proper Melodic/Technical Death Metal for years and nobody seems to consider this a feat anymore.

When people usually tell me that X band sounds like Death, I usually chuckle and leave before I call that person ignorant and have a heated debate on how that band NOT even closely sounds like Death. Today somebody told me that Decrepit Birth sounded a bit like Death (musically), so I again chuckled and proceeded to end the conversation, however I had “Polarity” on my review queue so I decided to entertain this thought for a bit and have an open mind about this American band.

To my amazement, “It sounds like Death (the band)” is the best statement to describe Decrepit Birth and their monumental third full-length album “Polarity”. Featuring 11 songs of pure Death metal wizardry, I haven’t heard something as brilliant as this album in quite a while and haven’t enjoyed a (Technical/Progressive) Death Metal since the last Death albums. And since I was not a huge fan of Chuck Schuldiner’s terrible vocals, Decrepit Birth greatly improves over Death in this department.

Directly from Croatia today we have Stribog, a very impressive Folk/Pagan Metal band. The band’s first full-length album “U Okovima Vjecnosti” showcases a perfect balance of aggressive Metal sections and ethereal Folk passages that not every band can pull off so gracefully. There is no shortage of epic songs in this album that have high replay value.

Since the first song “Ancestral Skies Of Gold” you know you are for a special ethereal ride with the combination of Folk elements, melodic distorted guitars and angelic female vocals. The band’s songs vary between melodic Folk passages and very aggressive (but melodic) Black Metal-like sections, the intertwining of these two genres is done very well and most of the transitions in this release are done seamlessly.

Featuring 3 members of Moravská Zima, a Czech Black Metal band, today we have Žrec and their latest album “Žertva”. Žrec plays a mixture of Folk and Pagan Metal that focuses more on the Folk side of things. We particularly love bands like Žrec that play Folk Metal where you can easily identify the region they are from if you pay close attention.

Žrec does a great job in crafting catchy and effective tunes that will resonate in your head for quite a while after listening to this solid release. We particularly enjoy that while Žrec has the traditional folk elements with the violin, flute, and pipes, they still show a broad diversity within the songs allowing them to never get old and tired, like many Folk Metal albums get after 5 minutes.

Hailing from the Czech Republic today we have Sezarbil, a Black Metal band that while not very original it’s actually very entertaining. Sezarbil, like countless other Black Metal band has a tick and brutal sound that is very brutal and destructive in nature but it’s nothing we haven’t heard before.

However, if you are a connoisseur of Black Metal we all know that bands in this genre sound a like, but the good ones are equally effective in creating the destructive atmosphere that we all love about this genre. Sezarbil falls in the category of the good bands since with “Dark God”, they have crafted 9 tracks of pure Black Metal hatred against humanity and religion.

Two years after “Pure Unadulterated Hate”, USBM band Teratism is finally back with another hard-hitting grim as fuck Black Metal release that will rattle your insides. With a full-on devil worshipping and the occult concept, Teratism is one of the top flight USBM bands this days and with “Via Negativa” the have pushed their diabolic sound to new heights.

Summer time is the time for warm weather and sunny skies, but Teratism creates a very thick and chilling atmosphere with a relentless Black Metal attack very similar to its Nordic counterparts that will bring forth darkness and bleakness to any sunny day. “Via Negativa” has a very raw sound to it, but it never feels like it was recorded in a shed or a toilet; the production highlights the raw and destructive sound of the band while maintaining enough quality to rival any big budget BM production.