Witchfinder General Death Penalty

Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) was released by Lee Dorrian’s doom metal band Cathedral in 1996 on a 5-track E.P. Formed in Coventry, England in 1989 from ex-members of Napalm Death (Dorrian) and Acid Reign (guitarist, Gaz Jennings), the band sought to ditch the punk and death metal directions their previous bands were heading in and explore slower, ‘doomier’ sounds, being influenced by the likes of Black Sabbath and Pentagram.

In the wake of Napalm Death's long, decade-plus relationship with Earache Records, the legendary band and likewise legendary label partnered once more for Noise for Music's Sake, a double-disc collection of career highlights and miscellany topped off by some informative packaging…

Napalm Death has always been an interesting anomaly in the metal underground: generally considered to be the inventors of grindcore, the band eventually became a ragged patchwork of punk, death metal, and hardcore that was simultaneously sloppy, technical, unwaveringly ugly, and downright vicious. And political – proof being this recording made at a 2002 London animal rights benefit gig…

Debut for a band whose members are well-known on the avant-prog and RIO music scene in France and abroad. Volapük and Metamorphosis are the projects from which come Takumi Fukushima (violin, vocals), Guillaume Saurel (cello, vocals), Christoph Pajer (violin, vocals), Jan Kavan (cello), Richard Deutsch (guitar, vocals, mixing), Martin Alacam (guitar) and Guigou Chenevier (drums). Chenevier was founder not only of Volapük but also of Etron Fou Leloublan and Les Batterries. The "General Dream" including through 2 violins, 2 guitars and 2 cellos opens onto vast and uncharted musical horizons, ranging from chamber-rock to Rock In Opposition. In September 2015, Reve General's debut album was released by the Milano (IT) based label Altrock. The album was recorded live on stage during a 3-day residency at Le Brise Glace in Annecy. Each member delivered at least one composition for the current repertoire presented on the album.

There's no point judging music artifacts on the merit of audile quality, not when the artifact in question represents the birth of one of the greatest metal bands in history, DEATH. Instead, we should embrace the buzzbombing, ratchety and frankly horrid cassette-era transfer of basement tapes comprising MANTAS' "Death by Metal" as a peek into the origins of future genius…

As vocalist/guitarist/songwriter/metal pioneer Chuck Schuldiner was fighting a battle against cancer that he would inevitably and unfortunately lose, Nuclear Blast – probably at least in part in a noble attempt to drum up some revenue for a man burdened with astounding medical bills – released the first live disc from the first name in death metal, Death…

Since practically inventing the sound of grindcore on Scum, Napalm Death underwent a major lineup shuffling, which is well chronicled for convenient comparison on the Death by Manipulation compilation. Six songs come from the group's 1989 Mentally Murdered EP and feature vocalist Lee Dorrian and guitarist Bill Steer, who would leave Napalm Death to lead Cathedral and Carcass, respectively…

Formed in 1983 as Mantas with Chuck Schuldiner on vocals and guitar, Rick Rozz on guitar and Barney 'Kam' Lee on drums and vocals. In 1984 the band recorded their first demo called "Death By Metal". Soon after the recording the band split up and Chuck formed a new band named Death…