Amon Amarth – Berserker (Album Review)
Charging forth in a maddened rage. For the better part of 30 years, Amon Amarth has not only been a pinnacle of consistency within the…
Author Jonathan Smith
Jonathan Smith
Jonathan is a long time contributor to The Encyclopaedia Metallum website under the pseudonym hells_unicorn and has written for The Metal Observer on and off for the past 10 years. He was previously a lead guitarist in the Philadelphia-based folk metal band Frost Giant and played Dave Murray’s parts for the Philly-based Iron Maiden tribute band Tailgunner. He is currently the guitarist and principal songwriter for the nascent symphonic power metal project Ominous Glory.
DESTRUCTION To Release ‘Born To Perish’ Album Next August 9th
German thrash metal veterans DESTRUCTION will release their 17th studio album, Born To Perish, on August 9 via Nuclear Blast. The disc was recorded in January and…
Ceremony Of Silence – Oútis (Album Review)
Contemplating the unsilent blackness. One does not normally associate a meditative state with the dissonant rage normally tied to the violent fury of central European…
Eluveitie – Ategnatos (Album Review)
Celtic lore and mighty mountain heights. Over the past couple decades there has been a fair degree of tribute paid to Celtic culture among various…
Mägo De Oz – Ira Dei (Album Review)
Once more down the yellow brick road. There is a fine line between genius and insanity, or so the old adage goes, and few names…
Musket Hawk – Upside Of Sick (Album Review)
Nola comes to Maryland. The outer fringes of metal’s extremities are noted for their pungent aroma of mental and physical decay, like a marshy moat…
West Of Hell – Blood Of The Infidel (Album Review)
Holy war for the modern age. Though the metal world has been an ever-expanding one since the year of its inception, in recent years it…
Battle Beast – No More Hollywood Endings (Album Review)
From rivalry, improvement is born. Music is not something that you can just quit, according to the 1992 Beethoven Lives Upstairs depiction of said legendary…
Bloodbound – Rise Of The Dragon Empire (Album Review)
A dragon’s evolution is a gradual one. Undaunted by changing lineups and grand strides of stylistic evolution that border on subgenre-hopping at times, the Swedish…
Contrarian – Their Worm Never Dies (Album Review)
Schuldiner’s dragon still lives. When the topic of the good old days is brought up, the question that naturally arises is “which good old days”?…
