As you can see, this split release brings together 8 bands from the black and death metal underground. The first 4 are from Door County, while the other 4 are international. The 62-minute disc starts with the super raw black metal sounds of Abamath. The one-man black metal entity led by M. (all instruments and vocals) hails from Forestville and showcases their cold musical destruction with the song called "Malice". The second track is reserved for Beetlegork, a 3-piece heaviness from Northeastern Wisconsin. Their song "Bongload of Lungbutter" has a definite heavy sound and represents for us what they call cosmic metal. Then comes Pemphigus from Sturgeon Bay. The trio presents us with two songs, namely "A Link to the Past" and "Sister Dismay", both done in the good old death metal way, reminiscent of early Autopsy and Death stuff. The Crypt from Fish Creek unleashes hell with the following two tracks. Their first song is called "Bûnbak", with lyrics in Hungarian and a rather experimental death metal approach. It's about some really wicked vocals and lots of blast beat orgies. Their second composition is "Вихор Времена", with lyrics in Serbian. There are some very groove-oriented guitar riffs, abstract atmospherics and even female vocals, just to make their music even weirder. The 7th song is called "Fekete Víz" and is performed by Bál from Hungary. This one-man band is deeply focused on the atmospheric and cold aspects of post black metal. Then there's a super long and exotic black metal track called "Quantum Pai-De-Santo", performed by Conrad from Barbados. The almost 14-minute song certainly sounds strange to me, but the fact that they are from Barbados and play black metal was perhaps even stranger to take note of. But they are very good at experimental black metal, that's for sure. Poland's Martyrland continue to explore the weirdness within the boundaries of black metal. In "Biesy Ludu Slowa" you will find some really unusual and innovative solutions that I warmly recommend you to check out. The last and 10th song of this compilation is by the Polish band Teufelschloss. Needless to say, they also play a kind of experimental music, which is probably the closest to post black metal. Their cut is called "Our Breath – Cold", and it's a pretty atmospheric piece overall. The burned CD comes with a 12-page booklet containing the lyrics and minimal information about all the artists. I think you can order this split release from any of the above bands, but ask first!

"Ravage of Empires" is Benediction's 9th studio album to date. Formed in 1989, and I think it goes without saying that the band is known and respected worldwide, not only among death metal fans, but also in the metal community as a whole. So these absolute iron-willed veterans are back with a new album of their unique brand of death metal, and it may sound corny, but they are stronger than ever! On "Ravage of Empires" the successful formula used on the previous album, "Scriptures" (2020), was repeated to the maximum, which also marked the glorious return of Dave Ingram. The only minor change is on bass, with Nik Sampson now playing the thick strings. So the 11 songs on the new album are pretty much a logical continuation of the "Scriptures" album, with the same approach in terms of songwriting, sound and mood. The riffmasters Peter Rew and Darren Brookes certainly ensured the album's success with their most groove-driven and catchy guitar work, while Giovanni Durst's second album with the band features 47+ minutes of his usual super-solid drumming and tasty drum fills. To top it all off, Scott Atkins delivers a punchy sounding production that is incredibly captivating from start to finish. The most memorable tracks on the album are "Engines of War", "Crawling over Corpses" and "Ravage of Empires", but the rest of the songs are also smashingly good and represent old school death metal at its best. This is an incredibly fantastic album that will not disappoint death metal fans, that's for sure! Remember, Benediction is like good wine, the older the better, so what we get from the quintet is death metal magic refined to perfection, deep respect and hats off to them for their perseverance, attitude and music that still kicks ass in the best possible way! The CD includes a huge 20-page booklet with all the lyrics, a cool band photo, live photos of each member individually, and a fantastic Wolven Claws artwork on the front cover. This is one of the best death metal releases of 2025, so get it soon or you'll be damned!!!

This EP, which also bears the title of the forthcoming full-length album, doesn't offer much new, at least for a Destruction fan. There are 5 songs in total, with a length of almost 18 minutes. The first two songs, "No Kings – No Masters" and "Fast as a Shark" (Accept cover), were featured on the "No Kings – No Masters" 12" vinyl released last year. Of course, both songs will be on the new album, and "No Kings – No Masters" is a pretty good representation of Destruction's current musical direction. The band is definitely on fire, and with two new songs, "Destruction" and "A.N.G.S.T.", already available online, which are badass headbangers, the new album is set to be a brutal thrash metal assault. So I'm really looking forward to March 7, 2025 – the official release date of "Birth of Malice". The other 3 songs on the CD are "Whiplash" (Metallica cover), "(We Are) The Road Crew" (Motörhead cover) and the live version of "Nailed to the Cross". The latter is taken from the live album "Live Attack" (2021), while the covers were previously part of the Japanese CD version of "All Hell Breaks Loose" (2000) and the digibook CD version of "Inventor of Evil" (2005). The CD itself comes in a cardboard sleeve with a close-up of the cover of "Birth of Malice", designed by Gyula Havancsák. If you want to get your hands on this 5-song EP, hurry and order Legacy Magazine #154 (01/2025) or you'll miss out. This issue also includes a 12-page Destruction article and a 2-page poster, a must-have for all Destruction fans!!!

Destruction is back with a vengeance! "Birth of Malice" is the title of their new masterpiece, which contains over 50 minutes of thrash metal fury in 12 tracks. Interesting that the CD edition (which I believe contains the original order of the songs) has the middle tracks in a different order than the vinyl edition, I guess due to the length of the album both vinyl sides were simply adjusted to the 25+ minute length. Also interesting, or rather very strange, is the fact that the intro of the album starts with a Hell's Kitchen violin sound effect, I really don't know why they used that at all, but whatever. Well, the quartet's ultra-modern thrash metal formula is even more refined and polished on "Birth of Malice", but also musically and lyrically much darker than before. All this is combined with impeccable sound and visuals to make the listener's journey even more enjoyable. I personally loved listening to the songs "Destruction", "No Kings – No Masters", "Scumbag Human Race" and "A.N.G.S.T.", which are the clear highlights of the new material. The other songs are not bad at all, just less informative for me. It's also incomprehensible to me why most metal bands nowadays are so obsessed with long albums, when a perfect thrash metal album should be around 40 minutes or less, but certainly not 50 minutes or more. In any case, Destruction is still moving forward and creating better things with each release, so it's not bad for the future. The great-looking and well-designed digipak edition comes with a 16-page booklet containing the lyrics, a band photo and digitally manipulated member shots. It's pretty cool for sure, so fans of the band are advised to get it now, otherwise you'll be cursed for eternity!!!