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Another monstrous reinvention emerges.

Though perhaps best known as the band that originally put Cannibal Corpse front man George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher on the map and often overshadowed by their more prolific and fellow Florida-based contemporaries, Monstrosity is a band that captures the highly otherworldly character of death metal in its purest form.

The respective niches and gimmicks of unrelenting gore, blasphemy, and occult themes that are often presented to cartoonish degrees by the aforementioned Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Morbid Angel are generally tempered in favor of a more abstract and all-encompassing darkness, perhaps best explained as a versatile beast that can assume whatever form of horror it wishes.

Now just shy of six years to the day that their 2018 opus The Passage Of Existence answered an extended period of studio silence with an old school masterwork, their seventh LP Screams From Beneath The Surface accomplishes a similar feat with a fairly different aesthetic.

The arrival of this latest studio excursion, much like the previous six, lands with a couple of highly consequential shifts in the band’s lineup. The most pivotal of changes is the exodus of vocalist Mike Hrubovcak and the entry of one-time Massacre frontman Ed Webb, whose guttural barks and ravings aren’t a massive departure from his predecessor’s diabolical grunts, but prove slightly more nimble and closer to the original standard set by Fisher back in the early to mid 1990s.

Then again, the concurrent exit of guitarist Mark English and acquisition of scene newcomer Justin Walker to cut heads with Matt Barnes has resulted in an even more technically extravagant and melodically rich tapestry of terror being painted, making for an equally chaotic yet more melancholic experience. Top it all off with the return of long-absent bassist and co-founder Mark Van Erp to the fold with his glassy, virtuosic high-jinks to rival Alex Webster on his best day, and the rapid-fire auditory violence from behind the kit courtesy of Lee Harrison, and a seamless link to the formative glory of 1992’s Imperial Doom becomes impossible to miss.

While what this 10-chapter sonic codex of rage doesn’t outright cross the threshold that separates the old school sound from modern subsets of melodic and technical death metal, the building blocks to what birthed those later 90s styles are on full display. Following a brief ambient exposition of dreary keyboards and droning clean guitars, “Banished To The Skies” lands like a primal sledgehammer, showcasing the chops of every instrumentalist involved while also evoking a sense of nostalgia for the epic and multifaceted exploits that death metal regularly unleashed before any orthodoxy was established.

About the only drawback is that this extravagant first offering and the subsequent third entry, “The Atrophied,” in all its tech and blast-happy glory, stand on top of an impressive fray and all but catch the band hitting their apex point prematurely. Then again, the more consistently explosive character of shorter, thrash-infused crushers like “The Colossal Rage” and the chaotic fit of frenzied riff work and noodling bass majesty of “Spiral” hit so hard that even a seasoned death metal enthusiast might find himself knocked on his proverbial ass.

From one song to the next, it becomes clear that Monstrosity’s versatility continues to be their most distinctive feature, and it pays massive dividends at every point. The bone-crushing fits and starts of “Thorns” are painted over with a fluttering gloss of wild lead guitar breaks and a mystical atmospheric flavor that almost feels like an early 90s forerunner to Nile’s brand of brutality in a punchier 2020s package, meanwhile the overtly Middle Eastern-tinged and keyboard-steeped stomp of “The Dark Aura” could almost be a direct nod to the death metal Egyptologists from Greenville.

Compact and chaotic beasts like “Vapors” and “Blood Works” come with the most overtly old school death metal stylings, yet are so insanely busy and extravagant at every point that it effectively blurs the lines between the mad technical noodling of early Suffocation and the early progressive strides of Death’s middle era.

The closing hurrah of “Veil Of Disillusion” essentially compresses everything already encountered into one towering mass of exotic, technically charged mayhem, topped off with some of the most spellbinding guitar solo work since Death’s Individual Thought Patterns, and sees Webb deliver the most ferocious performance of the entire album.

For one of the original pioneers of the Florida scene that has been consistently plugging away in the death metal underground for just over 35 years, Monstrosity might have had more lineup shifts than they’ve had studio albums, but this is an institution where quality trumps quantity.

Much like their more prolific fellow travelers, Malevolent Creation, they’ve walked an interesting middle ground between the technical, brutal, and melodic strains that have subsequently cropped up without being drawn out of their old school sound, though they’ve definitely proven more adaptive in recent years.

Those who have been enamored with the Florida sound since its late 80s birth and younger trustees that may have been introduced to it via revival acts like Gruesome and Skeletal Remains will find a mighty tree of death still firmly rooted in the traditions that they love, but one with branches that spread farther out and touch upon more intricate territory.

Release Date: March 13th, 2026
Record Label: Metal Blade Records
Genre: Death Metal

Musicians:

• Ed Webb / Vocals
• Justin Walker / Guitars
• Matt Barnes / Guitars
• Mark Van Erp / Bass
• Lee Harrison / Drums

Screams From Beneath The Surface Tracklist:

1. Banished to the Skies
2. The Colossal Rage
3. The Atrophied
4. Spiral
5. Fortunes Engraved in Blood
6. Vapors
7. The Thorns
8. Blood Works
9. The Dark Aura
10. Veil of Disillusion

Order the album here.

The post MONSTROSITY – Screams From Beneath The Surface (Album Review) appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Tom Davies & The Bluebirds formed in 2019 and formed their current incarnation in 2022. The band hail from the South of England (Hampshire) UK. They perform around the UK and Eire at blues clubs and festivals, with appearances in Europe in 2026. The band are influenced by the 3 kings and other iconic blues artists, such as Peter Green, […]

The post Tom Davies and the Bluebirds ‘Angel on the Mississippi’ Out April 10th appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM!.

In a few weeks, bass-noodling funkateer Thundercat will release his collab-heavy new album Distracted. The LP features contributions from friends like A$AP Rocky, Tame Impala, Flying Lotus, Channel Tres, Kenneth Blume, and the Lemon Twigs. We’ve already posted the Lil Yachty collab “I Did This To Myself” and the posthumous Mac Miller team-up “She Knows…

The post Thundercat – “ThunderWave” (Feat. WILLOW) appeared first on Stereogum.

Surely even in her wildest dreams, Emily wouldn’t have believed she’d be singing the lyrics from that album on stage with the band herself

The road warriors are celebrating 50-year legacies. Continue reading…

Cars are an intrinsic part of modern American culture. The insatiable hunger to seek and subdue frontiers both real and imagined has always been ingrained in America’s collective consciousness. The automobile became the perfect evolution of this obsessive wanderlust. Once the interstate highway system was conceived in 1956, there seemed to be no limit to where a set of wheels could take you. A car symbolized a tangible, attainable level of freedom for the average person. Forward motion solidified into a creed. “One fast move or I’m gone,” to quote Jack Kerouac. However, this freedom, like virtually everything else in America, comes with various (sometimes incredibly steep) costs. Most people will tell you that they’re afraid of dying in a plane crash, but the truth is, you’re far more likely to get hurt or killed in your comfy old Camry. Almost 45,000 people succumbed to the road in 2023 alone. Highways and byways are often theaters of random, cruel, and unimaginable carnage. 

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Leave it to veteran NorCal maulers Exhumed to step fearlessly into the breach and begin examining, as only they can, this commonly neglected arena of everyday guts and gore on Red Asphalt, their ninth record and latest affront to common decency and good taste. Indeed, head honcho Matt Harvey announced that the band was cordially inviting curious slaughtercult members to “accompany us to a place where we spend a disproportionate amount of our lives, someplace familiar yet far more dangerous than it feels.” Or, as Ross Sewage, of the low, low vokills and roiling bass, put it more succinctly: “The road is a meat grinder.” While there are a number of bands currently plumbing the cold, endless brutality of the cosmos for new visions of paranoia, anxiety, and death, Exhumed remain hideously earthbound, earnestly committed to documenting the daily toll of bloodspattered windshields, blunt force trauma, and severed limbs.

Hewing faithfully to Matt Harvey’s longstanding template for building songs around memorable choruses, Red Asphalt is at times a little more formulaic than F1, with a couple decent but ultimately pedestrian tunes like “Shock Trauma” and “Signal Thirty,” strewn amongst the tracklisting. The former’s chorus is defiantly audible through a miasma of blasts, grunts, growls, and bursts of good ol’ shrill, trebly Hanneman/King style whammy bar abuse, while the latter track is a little quicker and far more bass-heavy. The formula sounds perhaps too similar between the two. The question is, do the aforementioned components add up to something memorable as a whole? Mileage may vary throughout the course of the album.

Harvey’s recipe works far better on songs like “Shovel Head,” a grinding Oldsmobile-sized midtempo behemoth punctuated with slippery timeshifting stabs of subtly punishing double-bass by drummer Mike Hamilton. The title song starts with an eerie South of Heaven vibe and then winds its way into a burly bass-heavy blastoff through its snarled choruses before finally downshifting into some fluid, damn-near pretty Heartwork-esque interplay near the fadeout. Being nine albums and three decades into their career, it’s interesting (and natural) to hear Exhumed evolve in an almost parallel trajectory with some of their most foundational influences (i.e., Carcass and Entombed), as it’s possible to hear touches of Heartwork (as noted above) but also aural glimpses of Wolverine Blues’ sludgy death and roll.

The production, spearheaded by guitarist Sebastian Phillips, is molasses-thick, giving the songs an extra level of bone density and depth. Everything sounds heavier than your average F-150. It’s one of Red Asphalt’s greatest attributes. Phillips and Harvey’s guitar tones are uber filthy and the two men play seamlessly off each other. The same can be said of the vocal interplay between Harvey (high) and Sewage (low). The chemistry of this incarnation of Exhumed is undeniable after over eight years, multiple tours, and two well-regarded full-lengths together.

Fittingly for an album devoted to all things mangled metal and roadkill, Red Asphalt radiates brightest during warp speed pedal-to-the-absolute-metal salvos like the killer “Iron Graveyard” and the vicious, sub-two-minute trucker speed throwdown “Symphorophilia.” Speed kills, gentlemen. I thought everyone knew that. Ripping album opener “Unsafe at Any Speed” accelerates like the General Lee marauding down a curvy dirt road in a grimy, beer-soaked spew of growls and shrieks before culminating in a dizzying guitar solo spinout. Increased velocity still serves Exhumed well and these tunes stand out amidst the glut of lumbering tempos found elsewhere. Balance is certainly important, but a little more lightning and little less thunder may have been in order here. “The Fumes” ends the record uncannily, in that it seems to encapsulate every style, tempo, and flourish contained within the previous nine songs. It ties the mid, the mid-tempo, and the primo slices of blazing short-track speed all together into one raucous chrome-plated package

Underneath their gory aesthetic, it’s no secret Exhumed are actually a relatively fun and fun-loving band. There’s pitch-black gallows humor to be found throughout their discography. That hasn’t changed too much on Red Asphalt, a solid, worthy addition to their catalog. Strangely enough, though, the familiarity and ubiquity of the subject matter gives this record a more bleak, ominous aura than you might initially expect. Proceed with caution. 

–Dennis Seese

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Red Asphalt is available now via Relapse Records.

When Is Slaughter To Prevail Touring Europe In 2026?

Slaughter To Prevail will tour Europe and the UK from July 17 through August 15, 2026, mixing major festival appearances with headline shows alongside Vended, Crypta, and Chained Saint.

TL;DR

• Slaughter To Prevail has announced a major European and UK summer 2026 tour
• Support on select dates includes Vended, Crypta, and Chained Saint
• The tour runs July 17 through August 15
• Several stops include major festivals like Bloodstock, Motocultor, and Dynamo Metalfest
• Rising thrash band Chained Saint will make their European debut

For fans of modern deathcore, Slaughter To Prevail has become one of the most explosive live bands on the planet, and their latest tour announcement shows no signs of that momentum slowing down.

The group, fronted by the unmistakable Alex Terrible, is preparing to storm across Europe and the United Kingdom this summer with a tour that blends headline club shows with some of the continent’s biggest metal festivals.

With support from Vended, Crypta, and rising teen thrash outfit Chained Saint, the run looks built to showcase both established names and the next generation of extreme metal.

And judging by the venues and festival stages involved, the crowds are likely to be massive.

A Lineup That Spans The Modern Metal Spectrum

What makes this run particularly interesting is the mix of bands joining the tour.

Vended, the Iowa-based band featuring the sons of Slipknot members Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan, continues to grow rapidly within the modern metal scene.

Brazilian death metal powerhouse Crypta will appear on multiple dates as well, bringing a darker, old-school edge to the lineup.

Meanwhile, one of the most intriguing additions to the tour is Chained Saint, a young thrash band that’s been generating buzz across the underground.

The group will be making their first-ever European appearance during this run.

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The Moment That Helped Launch Chained Saint

The connection between Slaughter To Prevail and Chained Saint actually started in dramatic fashion.

At the 2025 Louder Than Life festival, Chained Saint’s set was abruptly cut short due to severe weather conditions.

Rather than let the moment disappear, Alex Terrible invited the band onstage during Slaughter To Prevail’s set, giving them a chance to perform in front of a much larger crowd.

The move instantly turned heads and helped introduce the young thrash band to a wider audience.

Now, less than a year later, they’ll be crossing the Atlantic as part of a major European tour.

Slaughter To Prevail 2026 European Tour Dates

July 17 — Warsaw, Poland — Progresja (+ Vended)
July 18 — Vienna, Austria — Gasometer (+ Vended)
July 19 — Vizovice, Czech Republic — Masters Of Rock Festival
July 21 — Zagreb, Croatia — Tvornica Kulture (+ Vended)
July 24 — Athens, Greece — Floyd (+ Crypta)
July 25 — Thessaloniki, Greece — Moni Lazariston (+ Crypta)
July 27 — Sofia, Bulgaria — Maimunarnika (+ Crypta)
July 29 — Rasnov, Romania — Rockstadt Extreme Fest
July 31 — Loebnitz, Germany — Full Rewind Festival
Aug. 1 — Saarbruecken, Germany — Garage (+ Crypta)
Aug. 2 — Stuttgart, Germany — LKA Longhorn (+ Vended)
Aug. 5 — Villena, Spain — Leyendas Del Rock Festival
Aug. 7 — Kortrijk, Belgium — Alcatraz Festival
Aug. 8 — Derbyshire, UK — Bloodstock Open Air
Aug. 10 — Glasgow, Scotland — SWG3 Galvanizers (+ Crypta)
Aug. 12 — Bristol, England — O2 Academy (+ Crypta)
Aug. 14 — Carhaix-Plouguer, France — Motocultor Festival
Aug. 15 — Eindhoven, Netherlands — Dynamo Metalfest

Fans interested in attending can find available Slaughter To Prevail tickets here.

Slaughter To Prevail’s Rise In Modern Metal

Over the last decade, Slaughter To Prevail has evolved from an underground deathcore act into one of the most recognizable heavy bands on the global festival circuit.

Their aggressive sound, massive breakdowns, and the imposing stage presence of Alex Terrible have helped the band stand out in a crowded genre.

The group’s viral success online has also played a role in expanding their reach far beyond traditional deathcore audiences.

Between relentless touring and a growing international fanbase, Slaughter To Prevail now regularly commands some of the biggest crowds in modern extreme metal.

And with this summer run hitting multiple major festivals, the band’s momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon.

So the real question might not be whether this tour will draw attention — it’s how many of these shows will end up selling out.

Check This Out – Sonic Trainwrecks or Secret Masterpieces? The 13 Most Hated Metal Albums of All Time

FAQ

When does the Slaughter To Prevail European tour start?
The tour begins July 17, 2026 in Warsaw, Poland.

Who is touring with Slaughter To Prevail?
Support on various dates includes Vended, Crypta, and Chained Saint.

Will Slaughter To Prevail play festivals on the tour?
Yes. The run includes major festivals like Bloodstock Open Air, Motocultor Festival, and Dynamo Metalfest.

About Slaughter To Prevail

Slaughter To Prevail formed in 2014 and quickly gained international attention with their brutal deathcore sound and the commanding presence of vocalist Alex Terrible. Known for tracks like “Demolisher” and “Baba Yaga,” the band has become one of the most talked-about acts in modern extreme metal, blending crushing breakdowns with viral internet momentum and massive live performances.

The post Slaughter To Prevail Is Bringing A Brutal Tour Package Across Europe This Summer appeared first on Loaded Radio.

(Andy Synn says get ready to turn off your brains and turn up the volume with Acranius) It’s pretty well-established that we tend to favour music of the more cerebral and artistic type… while still, for the most part, being heavy as hell… here at NCS. In fact, it’s almost become something of a running […]

The post ACRANIUS – WHITEOUT appeared first on NO CLEAN SINGING.

youbet are raising the volume. The Brooklyn indie act is back with “Receive,” the second single from their upcoming eponymous album, and it’s a rager. “I wrote this chorus I really connected with years ago and struggled ever since to find the right song to put it in,” Nick Llobet explains. “‘Receive’ is my third…

The post youbet – “Receive” appeared first on Stereogum.

The hazy, downcast London underground rapper Jawnino has become a real favorite around here lately. Last year, Jawnino made it onto our list of the year’s best new artists even before he teamed up with SURF GANG, the production collective behind the upcoming Earl Sweatshirt/MIKE double album, to release the extremely cool collaborative project amnesia.…

The post Jawnino & Deer park – “Mattress” & “Buggy” (Feat. YT) appeared first on Stereogum.