They say you’re a different person every seven years. That’s how long it takes for every cell in your body to slowly get replaced by a new batch, rendering you a new fellow, hopefully wiser and better than the one you were before. By such metrics, Cranial Osteotomy are a new band twice over, emerging from the mountains of Russia with their second offering, Vortex of the Dark Knowledge, a whopping fifteen years after their debut. Brutal death has had a lot of growth in those years, where the slams got hammier, the jams got whammier, and the sanity of listeners everywhere grew more defeated. Have the last fifteen years given Cranial Osteotomy the knowledge they need to compete?
Vortex of the Dark Knowledge comes with a sound that sounds modernized, for better and worse.1 Vocalist/guitarist Vlad carries a moist, guttural register between Devourment and Symphobia, and manages to make his syllables serve the riffs instead of vomiting mindlessly over the tracks. Drummer Vlad Melnik has a good flair for triplet and quintuplet-heavy fills, using a more jazzy, perpetually changing approach to rhythm making, especially with his snare, not relying on sixteenth-note straightforward monotony. Bassist Vitaly Sturk, while never quite showcased beyond a few all-too-brief fills, is given enough room in the cramped mix to bolster the collection of grooves and slams present. Despite a fairly brickwalled master, there’s been enough care put into the mix to ensure it sounds somewhat thick and chunky to justify the writing style, with a decent amount of articulation being given to the drum kit.
At their peak, Cranial Osteotomy know how to fling some absolutely savage snapshots of brutality. “Structures of Decadence2 Impurity” features the stankiest snare-to-rimshot accent before dropping into a halftime slam while Vlad changes his beats with the creativity of Gigan. Riff structures yeet the listener hither and dither, using Decrepit Birth’s …And Time Begins approach to stitching the moments together, but actual measures feature a Putridity meets Visceral Disgorge styling. “Obscenity Aeon” channels vintage Suffocation through staccato-laced chugs, while “Dripping into Sombre3 Quagmire” toys with arpeggio leads which consistently descend into Abysmal Dawn-styled chugs. Multiple cuts come with a mean slam or foul bop of a beat, always metamorphizing into the next brief idea.
The problem is these highs are so disassociated that it renders Vortex of the Dark Knowledge a collection of dope moments, but not of dope songs. The compositional approach Cranial Osteotomy have taken is dizzying, disjointed, and high-octane, but so rooted in the art of the transition that remembering a whole track is a difficult task. I can recall the slow-mo slam opening up “Vortex of the Dark Knowledge”, the time signature changes littering “Cathedral Butchery Feast”, and a litany of other bits, but if you aren’t following the track list actively, you wouldn’t know you’re in certain songs until those highlights arrive. Song changes are so rapid as to be nonexistent, with only the requisite fadeout closing “Scorched Diadem” a clear signal the album has concluded. This outro is another highlight, with the drums continuing to dig more and more pockets into the menacing riff as it carries us to the finish line. It’s also another point of regret, as that outro is the only part of the song I can remember existing. Vortex of the Dark Knowledge is curiously backloaded, which, while not an issue unto itself, exacerbates the overall blurry nature of the album, as early cuts rush by without much in the way of real identity. While featuring a glut of moments to make listeners clutch the air and bench-press their couch, there are no songs that demand being replayed for their beginning-to-end sense of quality in composition.
Credit where it’s due, our Russian lads have indeed emerged from the ether sporting some real growth in their Dark Knowledge. Nevertheless, their struggles with putting together memorable songs over memorable snapshots cannot be denied. If this upward trajectory continues, we will all meet back here when I’m in my late 40s to be subjected to a real taint-kicker of a release. Until then, give it a listen, harvest your choice of cuts for some gym playlists, and then join those who have already chosen the path of brutality in seeking true enlightenment elsewhere.
Rating: 2.5/5.0 DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3 Label: Comatose Music Website: Album Bandcamp Releases Worldwide: July 10th, 2026
Nate Daniels turns workplace frustration into an irresistibly sharp indie rock anthem with Janice From HR. Packed with punchy guitars, infectious rhythms, and witty, tongue-in-cheek lyricism, the track captures the absurdity of office life with equal parts humor and rebellion. Its energetic arrangement never lets up, balancing catchy pop hooks with a restless rock edge that mirrors the song’s escalating tension. Smart, sarcastic, and undeniably fun, Janice From HR transforms everyday corporate burnout into a memorable, high-energy singalong that’s as entertaining as it is cathartic.
Hardcore is starting to appear to encompass an ever increasing range of musical styles, but at its heart, hardcore remains more than just a sound; it’s an attitude, a community, a feeling. With their fourth full length release, ‘Alone Together’, Show Me The Body capture this spirit better than ever before. A direct call to arms, ‘Alone Together’ tackles themes such as personal loss, grief and political turmoil in modern America, but remains at its core a positive force of nature, focussing on the power of collective love and direct action in the face of adversity.
Opening with the horn drenched, spoken word ‘Overture’, the album blasts out of the gates in earnest with the charging, catchy ‘Eat For Peace’, as frontman Julian Pratt implores “Radical love compels me to fight”, a lyric that perfectly embodies the album’s message of standing together in times of darkness, both politically and on a more personal, immediate level. Much like the music, the words are direct and hit hard with Pratt’s no frills delivery. “I try to be a man about it, what the fuck even that mean” ponders Pratt on the plaintive, restrained ‘See You Again’, a song dealing with personal bereavement. “No grave or cemetery will keep you from me” he further implores, over melancholic banjo and deep bass groove.
In an album with no dull moments, ‘Dance In The USA’ is a standout. A bass heavy, danceable rage fuelled tirade against the capitalist hellscape of modern low-wage America. “It’s a fool’s game but I ain’t gonna lose… dance to the minimum wage” screams Pratt over gritty bass, choppy guitar licks and a funk induced beat. Similarly, the closing title track is an absolute juggernaut of sound as crushing bass, irresistible grooves and heavily distorted riffs underpin some of Pratt’s most heartfelt vocals to date. The dry, unfussy yet clear production only adds to the album’s direct nature too, with Pratt’s standout voice cutting clearly through the punchy music.
‘Alone Together’ is an album for our times, a hard hitting response to the turmoil in the modern western world, a reminder of the power of unity within our culture, of standing together and supporting one another, a true tenet of hardcore culture. It’s also the most direct and focused the band have sounded thus far, a collection of songs that will undoubtedly translate perfectly to the live setting. The spirit of hardcore is alive and well.
Heart built one of rock music’s most enduring catalogs by combining Ann Wilson’s powerhouse vocals, Nancy Wilson’s guitar work, and a fearless mix of hard rock, folk, and pop. This complete A-to-Z list brings together the band’s studio songs, bonus tracks, demos, live recordings, holiday material, and later-career releases across more than four decades. Their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, released in 1975, propelled Heart to international fame with hits like “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You.” The album showcased Ann Wilson’s soaring vocals and Nancy Wilson’s acoustic and electric guitar brilliance, establishing a new standard for female-fronted rock bands. Dreamboat
Sammy Hagar – The Best Of All Worlds, The Halls, Wolverhampton, 06.07.26
Can you believe it’s been 30 odd years since the Red Rocker performed some headline dates in the UK? At 78 this is probably going to be his last tour over here as well, so we were excited to see what he would bring to this show, which was being billed as a career spanning show.
Unfortunately we missed local lads Jayler who continue on their upward spiral with this latest guest slot. Hopefully we’ll catch them soon to see how they’ve progressed.
Hagar has recruited some big hitters to bring this tour to the UK, on bass is his long time collaborator Michael Anthony (Van Halen, Chickenfoot), drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Fogarty, John Mellancamp), keyboard player Nathan Mercado and the guitar maestro Joe Satriani.
Following the bands residency in Las Vegas, a live album “Sammy Hagar & The Best Of All Worlds Band – The Residency” was released, 18 tracks from Hagar’s 50 year career. It was going to be interesting to see what we got tonight as he did say he would be mixing the sets up throughout the short run of dates.
Unfortunately there was no pit access for the photographers tonight so Tony headed off to try and get a vantage point from the crowd and it was pretty much bang on 9pm when the band came out and straight off the bat he hit us with his anthem There’s Only One Way To Rock and we knew instantly we were in for a great night.
Hagar sounded bang on form, the band were tight, which given the talent on show, was to be expected. This was quickly followed by Top Of The World then the first really big sing-a-long Runaround. By now, the room was packed, everyone was singing the band were having fun. Satriani literally glowed like some heavenly being with his full on bling Ibanez, you can see why he wears those shades! But seriously the guy is a guitar god.
On the other wing, Anthony was just as equally having a great time, often the “forgotten” member of VH, he is revelling in the spotlight tonight, his bass tone was pure and clean and drove the pace along. And what a pace it was. Hagar showed no signs of his nearly 8 decades as he covered every inch of the stage, never missing a beat or a note.
A few songs in and we get Bad Motor Scooter shockingly the only Montrose song tonight. It was heavy, fast and loud. Chickenfoot was also only represented by one track, Big Foot. So yeah, the bulk of the set was VH, no surprise really, they even snuck in an David Lee Roth era track with Anthony singing on Somebody Get Me A Doctor.
Big surprise was Joe Satriani performing his masterpiece Surfing With The Alien a particular favourite of mine and we’ll forgive them not playing Space Station No 5!
A nice touch was on during the song Mas Tequila, Hagar handed out tequila shots to fans at the front, I hope he checked their ID!
We wondered if there would be any ref to EVH tonight, and last but one track, the big video screen showed an old clip of him walking away with his signature guitar and the band played Hagar’s latest song Encore- Thank You, Goodnight
Which he said he wrote after EVH came to him in a dream.
Well, how do you follow that show up? You invite a local lad up to play drums on a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Rock And Roll, that local lad being Jason Bonham! Hagar also invited young James Bartholomew of Jayler up onto stage to share vocal duties, a wow moment for the young lad no doubt.
An amazing night and one we were glad we got to see. Will he be back again? Who knows, he looked fit and the voice was strong, so fingers crossed, and maybe next time he’ll slip in Space Station No 5! 10/10
Sammy Hagar – The Best Of All Worlds, The Halls, Wolverhampton, 06.07.26
Can you believe it’s been 30 odd years since the Red Rocker performed some headline dates in the UK? At 78 this is probably going to be his last tour over here as well, so we were excited to see what he would bring to this show, which was being billed as a career spanning show.
Unfortunately we missed local lads Jayler who continue on their upward spiral with this latest guest slot. Hopefully we’ll catch them soon to see how they’ve progressed.
Hagar has recruited some big hitters to bring this tour to the UK, on bass is his long time collaborator Michael Anthony (Van Halen, Chickenfoot), drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Fogarty, John Mellancamp), keyboard player Nathan Mercado and the guitar maestro Joe Satriani.
Following the bands residency in Las Vegas, a live album “Sammy Hagar & The Best Of All Worlds Band – The Residency” was released, 18 tracks from Hagar’s 50 year career. It was going to be interesting to see what we got tonight as he did say he would be mixing the sets up throughout the short run of dates.
Unfortunately there was no pit access for the photographers tonight so Tony headed off to try and get a vantage point from the crowd and it was pretty much bang on 9pm when the band came out and straight off the bat he hit us with his anthem There’s Only One Way To Rock and we knew instantly we were in for a great night.
Hagar sounded bang on form, the band were tight, which given the talent on show, was to be expected. This was quickly followed by Top Of The World then the first really big sing-a-long Runaround. By now, the room was packed, everyone was singing the band were having fun. Satriani literally glowed like some heavenly being with his full on bling Ibanez, you can see why he wears those shades! But seriously the guy is a guitar god.
On the other wing, Anthony was just as equally having a great time, often the “forgotten” member of VH, he is revelling in the spotlight tonight, his bass tone was pure and clean and drove the pace along. And what a pace it was. Hagar showed no signs of his nearly 8 decades as he covered every inch of the stage, never missing a beat or a note.
A few songs in and we get Bad Motor Scooter shockingly the only Montrose song tonight. It was heavy, fast and loud. Chickenfoot was also only represented by one track, Big Foot. So yeah, the bulk of the set was VH, no surprise really, they even snuck in an David Lee Roth era track with Anthony singing on Somebody Get Me A Doctor.
Big surprise was Joe Satriani performing his masterpiece Surfing With The Alien a particular favourite of mine and we’ll forgive them not playing Space Station No 5!
A nice touch was on during the song Mas Tequila, Hagar handed out tequila shots to fans at the front, I hope he checked their ID!
We wondered if there would be any ref to EVH tonight, and last but one track, the big video screen showed an old clip of him walking away with his signature guitar and the band played Hagar’s latest song Encore- Thank You, Goodnight
Which he said he wrote after EVH came to him in a dream.
Well, how do you follow that show up? You invite a local lad up to play drums on a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Rock And Roll, that local lad being Jason Bonham! Hagar also invited young James Bartholomew of Jayler up onto stage to share vocal duties, a wow moment for the young lad no doubt.
An amazing night and one we were glad we got to see. Will he be back again? Who knows, he looked fit and the voice was strong, so fingers crossed, and maybe next time he’ll slip in Space Station No 5! 10/10
Swedish/American Old School Death Metal trio Ravaged By The Yeti are back with their follow-up release to their 2023 debut Apex Predator in the shape of Snowbound Horror, an eleven-track, thirty-four-minute slab of icy blood-splattered OSDM.
Thankfully, past rumours of Ravaged By The Yeti’s demise were overexaggerated as they rise from their frost-ravaged tomb with a fresh line-up. For this release, Michael Borders on bass and Jon Rudin on drums have taken over from Jon Skäre and Jonny Pettersson. As a result, the first thing that will hit fans of the previous album is a notable difference in the sound.
Ravaged By The Yeti – Snowbound Horror, an eleven-track, thirty-four-minute slab of icy blood-splattered OSDM.
The first offering was a very fast-tempo, manic offering with a Grindcore edge and a slightly thinner sound, whereas this release is more of a mid-paced plodder. Snowbound Horror is chunkier and more OSDM, rich with eerie grooves and a more downtuned edge that bears much more of a Rogga signature to it. You will get no complaints from me about that.
Another difference is the length of the tracks. The predecessor followed a Grindcore layout of two dozen shorter, sharp shocks of tracks. This time you get fewer tracks, but they follow a more Death Metal duration.
Lyrically, it continues with themes revolving around a marauding, blood-crazed Yeti, with a good degree of tongue-in-cheek humour woven in, the kind you get in ’80s blood-splatter horror.
From the opening notes of the first track, Vengeance In Fur, you immediately sense an atmosphere of one severely annoyed marauding Yeti, unhappy about being disturbed by humans but sensing an opportunity for a tasty meal or two.
The pounding rhythms echo his angry pounding footfall as the angry, freshly awakened beast is set to go on a rampage. A superb opening piece that oozes atmosphere and malicious intent aimed at the foolish humans who dared to rouse him from his slumber, with Rogga’s deep growling vocal delivery building the atmosphere as he delivers the gripping narrative.
Human Spoil continues in the same rampaging, pounding delivery as the Yeti is moving down the snowy slopes now on the hunt for human flesh. It is a little quicker and more intense, but balanced with repeating dark reflective melodic swathes. The mid-point drop is punchy and powerful, and it contrasts nicely with the melodic elements. I do love how the lyrics describe his “chewing through the gristle, gnarly teeth masticating, the human flesh.”
Much of the pace, swirling riffing and unrelenting drum battery of the next piece, By The Hands Of The Beast, reflects the previous album but with a more defined Rogga feel to the construct. I love the Doomy death drops, which add more contrast and texture, and the melodic parts are just downright sinister. Again, it is vividly descriptive lyrically with the humans being “crushed like rotting fruit” and “ripped apart like a bloody feast.”
As Fangs Go Deep opens on a filthy, repeating, plodding riff which is superbly hypnotic. The sound thickens with menace as the vocals hit. The pace quickens every time the lines “as fangs go deep you will scream, as fangs go deep you won’t breathe out” and the closing leadwork echo that repeating riff with sharp, sinister clarity.
The sinister plod of the opening riffs of Beast Prey has you looking over your shoulder to see if you are being stalked. As the pace builds, so does the unease. I love this piece. There is good variance of pace, it is packed with atmosphere, and the blasts of leadwork and deep vocalisations build on that further.
The pace elevates for Frozen Stiff, as the Yeti’s food is frozen out in the icy wastelands for maximum freshness in “nature’s own meat locker.” The driving riffs are punctuated with sharper riffs alongside more ominous swathes. This is a piece that creates some great mental imagery again.
They Came Through The Cold continues in a similar vein with driving riffs but packing even more ominous punch. You get a couple of ominous drops which build the atmosphere, and as the pace ramps up towards the close, you get a superb blood-curdling scream.
Tusk Of The Yeti unleashes another hypnotic, driving delivery alongside ominous undertones and blood-curdling screams.
Death By Icicle is a great track. It packs a massive punch, delivering powerfully sharp riffs and pounding drum rhythms with the ominously protracted vocals snarling through the midst, with the bleak lead work at the close adding contrast.
Title track Snowbound Horror is a crushing pounder that gradually builds in pace, depth and unnerve, dropping back to rebuild that unnerve with much of it harbouring a heavy groove that is hugely catchy.
Final offering, the icy and raw haunting crusher Land Of Ice And Snow closes this chapter of the saga, taking a final back glance at the inhospitable landscape and what it may or may not harbour.
Snowbound Horror is a great listen. You will find yourself smiling at the ’80s blood splatter horror atmosphere (as a fan of that era, I know I did) created by the lyrical content.
Although I quite liked the predecessor, I actually prefer this follow-up. It is catchier with a good flow to the sound. This is an essential listen for Swedish OSDM fans, so “prepare yourself for the irresistible impact of the Snowbound Horror.”
Danielle Nicole is excited to announce her ‘Fireflies‘ February 2027 UK Tour. Tickets go on sale at 10am (UK) on Friday July 10th from The Gig Cartel. The tour will showcase tracks from her new studio album ‘Fireflies‘ released by 40 Below Records on Friday August 28th which is available to pre-save and pre-order here. […]
They say you’re a different person every seven years. That’s how long it takes for every cell in your body to slowly get replaced by a new batch, rendering you a new fellow, hopefully wiser and better than the one you were before. By such metrics, Cranial Osteotomy are a new band twice over, emerging from the mountains of Russia with their second offering, Vortex of the Dark Knowledge, a whopping fifteen years after their debut. Brutal death has had a lot of growth in those years, where the slams got hammier, the jams got whammier, and the sanity of listeners everywhere grew more defeated. Have the last fifteen years given Cranial Osteotomy the knowledge they need to compete?
