Devil's Horns Zine

  Album reviews-More awesome releases-Part 3-Writhing, Burner, Firepower, Une Misere, King, Crisis Act, Inner Light and Abyssal Tomb. All fucking bangers. These are the dog bollocks, concise short reviews of shit you need to buy now. Got it, now read, buy and thank me later fuckface. We have a blindingly awesome selection of releases here as the year draws to a close.  Let's go and get into these bangers. Writhing-Of Earth and Flesh . Indeed a 2022 release, but fuck it you cannot miss out on this OSDM banger of a release. All the good shit is repped here hard like Immolation, Cannibal Corpse and Incantation etc. Everything is visceral and abrasive whilst musically and song structure-wise these cats are way ahead of most of their competition. That Which Becomes Death is gory, skin peeling and so crushing that it is up there with the best of Deicide or Morbid Angel. This is slightly groove-driven and every track is brilliant. Well recommended, killing it live and more releases ...

  Sylvan Awe-Pilgrimage. FFO: the best modern Black Metal album in the last 20 years. Sylvan Awe-Pilgrimage. Yes, just in time for Xmas is this gem of a modern black metal classic. This third release, I described to my friends as the best Australian black metal album ever and one of the finest black metal albums I can recall from the last 20 years.  Pilgrimage  is that red hot on every front-musically, production, lyrics, and artwork every single facet is well thought out and the final product is staggering. Plus free of all silly face paint, and crypto-nazi bullshit and it proudly presents astonishing music that will floor you on every track.  Pilgrims of the Sea  starts out atmospheric, and moody and takes you into the gentle winds before giving you both barrels of the black metal cannon. Sylvan Awe excels in merging traditional black metal such as Bathory, Gorgoroth, Dissection and Emperor with much more modern flavours like Saor, Mgla, Wolves in the Throne R...

  Album reviews-More awesome releases-Part two These are the dog bollocks, concise short reviews of shit you need to buy now. Got it, now read, buy and thank me later fuckface. We have a blindingly awesome selection of releases here as the year draws to a close.  Let's go and get into these bangers. Schkeuditzer Kreuz-No Life Left-Remixed . We all love the band no one can pronounce, it's pretty much dancey gothic industrial punk of the highest order, made by one of the best blokes in Australia. This is as Kieren describes it so well: Remixes of songs from the No Life Left LP - ranging from dancey dark synth pop to glitched out breakcore and sludgy dooooooom Man, I love a decent, edgy and wild remix and the five remixes here are the dog bollocks-Distruster brutalises Dead Alive into a breakbeat/dirty techno/electropunk savage classic. I love it when a remix can take a track into the gutter and back to the middle of a warehouse dancefloor. Max Rael has a different approach with...

Album reviews: a truly fantastic selection Part One: The Owen Guns, Wicked Sisters/Foothills, TV Cult and Shatterface. These are the dog bollocks, concise short reviews of shit you need to buy now. Got it, now read, buy and thank me later fuckface. We have a blindingly awesome selection of releases here as the year draws to a close.  Let's go and get into these bangers. The Owen Guns- Monks in Sexyland . Yet another killer album but these funny bastards fuck me can they write some classics every release. The harmonies, the catchiness and sheer brilliance of every release floors me. The main style is melodic hardcore/punk rock, not shite NOFX type bullshit-just songs designed for the live show. This band is also topical in a sociopolitical, body-positive and piss-taking manner. The Owen Guns always take aim at the essential fuckwits like racists, homophobes/transphobes and social media. I cannot even separate the freaking awesome from the brilliant on this album. Still, Unity was a...

  Interview with Donald Tardy of Obituary on the eve of their Jan 2024 tour. How awesome is it for this legendary band to return after an amazing tour in support of their classic Cause of Death album. Now with a cracking new album in tow, they return in Jan for a ripping new set, which will be a mix of classic tracks plus the new album. I implore you to take a serious listen to this album that dropped earlier this year, it is a banger from start to finish and the production will rip you a new one.  I chatted to their down-to-earth and fucking awesome drummer, Donald about the new album,  and much more. -we discussed how sick the new album is, the ripping opening track and perfectly bookended by Be Warned -how Obituary is one of the most consistent Death Metal bands to ever exist -how much fun it is to be in this band and how that aids their longevity -how Donald is so much more than a drummer, his songcraft and contribution to the classic sound over a long period -working...

  Distorta-A Devil in the Dust EP as reviewed by Mark Jenkins. A crushing metal powerhouse, all riffs and aggression, no bullshit. What a wicked independent release from Ballarat, a place known for so many brilliant heavy bands. The initial description made me expect a weak, old-school Manowar type of lame metal, but alas this is solid and frankly awesome. They mix the past with modern metal so perfectly. These high quality tracks will capture your attention from the first listen because this is well-crafted and superb metal at its best. Jump on the Distorta train asap, because this band are going places. First up, let me say even though I have no idea of the band's history or what previous bands the members were in, but the experience shows strongly. Every player is tuned in with the others, it is raw and energetic but shows a maturity in ability and songwriting skill. The overall sound is quite mixed in the best possible way, a few pressers and reviews go on about heavy metal-but...

  Mark Jenkins' review of the album Abyss of a Light Planet by Praïm Faya showcases an incredible blend of metalcore, hardcore, and post-metal. This fantastic band from France are a scintillating mix of metalcore, hardcore and post-metal. There are definitive sprinkles of death metal and black metal as well, making this a well-rounded extreme metal band. Praïm Faya is very much the band you need to pay attention to, as they stray from the generic path and this is an instant classic. Abyss of a Light Planet is their debut album, which completely builds on from their 2020 debut EP which was solid, but quite predictable and standard in terms of genre specific. This debut really plants the battle flag in the middle of the field and declares they have arrived.  They solidly present 11 tracks of super confident and competent metalcore that is less Lamb of God and more a head-nod to Walls of Jericho etc with balls-out riffs and a pronounced hardcore foundation. Guitarwork is sharp, a...

  Gig review: The Exploited brilliantly kicked off their Oz/NZ tour @Barwon Club, Geelong 9/11/2023 By Mark Jenkins. The excitement was palpable as the punk punters were eager to see this classic band pre-COVID and of course that fell on its arse. But it was worth the wait as so many people have stated three gigs into this tour that this is the best they have ever seen the band play. And I agree wholeheartedly, they blew me away. The aggression, tightness and professionalism were top-notch. Wattie is still one of the most entertaining front people around and he can still push himself so hard it beggars belief as evidenced by our interview recently the guy runs on pure passion and dedication to punk. The band are a tight unit and all feed off each other's energy. The Barwon Club is an old-school venue that has historically held so many classic gigs there.  The support band whose name I have forgotten as they were so non-memorable and full kudos to for them getting the support g...

  Adversity, Phoenixes and Potential Driving Music, A Naugrim Review: By M H Thomson   Metalcore and groove metal have long been subgenres of metal that I’ve cherished over the years, so you’d reckon that a metalcore band that throws some complex Lamb of God style riffs into the mix would be something I’d get right into, suffice it to say that is not the case with Naugrim. Unfortunately the Blue Mountains outfit's debut EP “Adversity” left me utterly perplexed, wondering just how on earth such a promising-sounding genre combination could be so banal.   All five of the EP’s tracks follow such similar tropes as to be, at times, indistinguishable from one another. A dizzying blend of complex and melodious guitar riffs, breakdowns, blast beats and very dry raspy vocal deliveries. Although similar, each track does have its own unique highlights peppered throughout. The first track “Destroyer” is a fast-paced groovy gut punch of a tune that introduces some vocalist Greg M...

  Black Metal, Stolen Wardrobes & Plastic Buckets, An Escarion Review: By M H Thomson Escarion is a 5 piece Melbournian progressive metal act and an interesting one at that. Whilst mixing elements of death and black metal into their sound is far from unusual for progressive bands, blending these elements so cohesively is quite a feat, and Escarion has mastered that with their most recent release. The track in question is titled “Towards a Futile Existence”.    The music video they released for it in September is rather simple but beautifully shot. Filmed at legendary Collingwood pub the Gasometer Hotel, it merely consists of footage of a live performance with the studio track dubbed over the top; unadulterated by cinematic tropes or a cutaway storyline, something a lot of bands, often quite unnecessarily, throw a fair bit of budget into these days. Beyond the on-stage and crowd shots all Escarion elected to add was a brief peek behind the curtain, depicting the ba...

  New(ish) Releases: The Amenta, Suffocation, Go Ahead and Die, Starving Millions, and Aeons Abyss. All are exceptionally fucking awesome. These are the dog bollocks, concise short reviews of shit you need to buy now. Got it, now read, buy and thank me later fuckface. The Amenta-Plague of Locus. If you haven't heard this band, rather than curse you I encourage you to listen to all their releases and see them live. The uncompromising, awesome band that mixes genres and makes its own unique sound. A case in point is this new release of cover songs and the choices are wise and perfect for this masterful band.  I mean look at the listing: Intro "Sono l'Anticristo"(Diamanda Galas cover) "Asteroid" (Killing Joke cover) "Angry Chair" (Alice In Chains cover) "Plague Of Locus" "A Million Years" (Wolf Eyes cover) "Crystal Lakes" (Lord Kaos cover) "Rise" (Halo cover) "Totem" (Nazxul cover) "Black God...