God Dethroned - The Ancient Ones

This early compilation from long running Dutch death/black veterans God Dethroned is a pretty tasty treat. Featuring the bands 3 track demo 'The Christhunt' (which came before their debut full length of the same name), unreleased songs and live material all packaged together in one great package. This is the original pressing on Cold Blood Industries from 2000.

Gravestone - Rotten Kill EP

Gravestone features Per Samuelsson of Entrails, and features really grimy, slimy Stockholm styled death metal that if it wasn't for the beefy production; could've crawled out of Sunlight Studio in the early 90s. Speaking of the production, the band apparently used the complete engineering settings from Entombed's album 'Clandestine' for this release - so if anything, that should give you a nice idea of what to expect upon pressing play. Good shit indeed. A Raw Skull Recordz release, a label with their ear to the ground when it comes to digging out little gems in the OSDM underworld.

Glorhme / Vénambre ‎– Tvuèrbe

More music from the mind of Vordb here (he of Les Légions Noires' Belkètre, amongst many others). This is a split release of two of his bands who play both dark ambient (or black ambient). A pretty short affair, it was released to small quantities on pro-pressed CD-r. A nice trinket for the collection.

Ghoul - Dungeon Bastard

The long awaited fifth full length studio album from US horror merchants, Ghoul. If you haven't come across these guys before, correct that immediately. Featuring quite a pedigree in band members (Sean McGrath & Ross Sewage of Impaled among others), Ghoul mix up the perfect quantity of thrash, death and blasting grind set to a horripilating theme of horror, death and destruction. In terms of quality, these guys rarely put a foot wrong, so well worth your time investigating (if you haven't done so already). Tank Crimes Records.

Gravebomb - Rot In Putrid Filth

Anyone who reads this blog or knows me will know my one true love is classic Stockholm sounding Swedeath. Well, this is the debut album from Gravebomb, a new Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg who kick out a HM-2 guitared toned, chainsaw dismemberment of an album. Slime, death and that orange and black colour scheme - what a winning combo. Anyway, this is the Raw Skull Recordz release, a fairly new label who continue to release a lot of killer cuts.

Gory Blister - Cognitive Sinergy

One of the most questionable band names ever? I'd say so. Surely a case of the language barrier causing such a name, these Italians have been blasting out technical death metal since the early 90s, with this being their early EP from 1997. Fast, angry and with flawlessly technical musicianship, this is sure to blow the cobwebs away. Nosferatu Records.

Gore Beyond Necropsy - Noise-A-Go-Go!

The Japanese scat-kings themselves, and self proclaimed masters of "Analdrillingrind Hardshit Core". It takes a strong disposition to get anything out of such aural abused which is trying to be the very antithesis of music's usual core structures, which is probably why these guys are hated by so many - much to their own pleasure. To me, this is funny as.... shit. It just makes me laugh that they go to such extremes in just about every respect. Pure mindless noise-grind for poo lovers everywhere! Relapse Records.

Gotsu Totsu Kotsu - Legend of Shadow

Gotsu Totsu Kotsu here with their album Legend of Shadow. Some fine death metal from a little known Japanese band. Similarities with Defiled can be heard (they shared a band member in fact). These guys have phenomenal grooves and gnarled blasting - well worth investigating. It's just a shame their albums are pretty hard to find in the western world!

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

This is one album I left far too late before checking out, even though I'd heard good things about it through reliable sources. I wanted to check it out, but was waiting for the right price - found it cheap, so decided to give it a whirl. Talk about a return to form! I loved early Godflesh (Streetcleaner, and their self titled EP in particular), but got a little jaded with their later albums before their original split. This, the 'reformation' album absolutely rocked me back on my heels. Killer, primal, crushing and coldly clinical, Justin Broadrick and co have combined all the elements that made thousands fall in love with their sound in the first place, and connected them together here for an absolute stone monolith of an album.

Grave Miasma - Endless Pilgramage

Now going right to the other end of the metal scale from the Anthrax post (I have to keep at a least *some* underground cred, right?!), we have the latest EP from Grave Miasma. I absolutely love what these guys are doing. It must be a tough line to walk when trying to sound like the throbbing ebb scattering from a hellish black hole without just sounding like pure trash, but Grave Miasma do it time and time again. File under grimy, misanthropic and occult, and get swept away in their foul musical miasma.

Gama Bomb - Untouchable Glory

I was as happy as anyone with the huge resurgence of "proper" thrash which happened 10+ years ago, and amongst the wave one the bands whose energy I was most responsive too was Gama Bomb. This is their 5th album from 2015 on AFM, where they still smash out great thrash, tongue in cheek lyrics and an overall vibe of actually enjoying what they do and having a lot of fun along the way.

Gruesome - Dimensions of Horror

First off, we have one of my favourite new bands, Gruesome. Featuring a line up featuring members old and new of Exhumed and Malevolent Creation amongst their ranks, Gruesome are unashamedly worshippers of Chuck Schuldiner's Death, particularly their early Combat Records era. These guys have the sound, style - EVERYTHING down pat, and damn is it awesome. This is the band's recent EP, serving as a taster of what is to come following their brilliant 2015 debut. The Ed Repka artwork is again, the icing on the cake. Relapse Records 2016.

Gothic Slam - Just A Face In The Crowd

Gothic Slam reared their thrashy head in the mid-80s, recording two albums before dissolving in 1993. This is their 2nd album from 1989 on Epic Records, featuring some fair quality thrash - but nothing which will take your head off. Still, there's plenty for your average Bay Area thrasher to get off on. Worth a look.

Gwar - Scumdogs of the Universe

Everyone knows Gwar, so there isn't really need for an explanation of style/substance here in my opinion! This was their 2nd full length, the album that saw them gain the attention of Metal Blade Records in 1990. This is an original Master Records pressing on CD, every pressing afterwards was released by Metal Blade. Not impossible to find by any means, but a first pressing none the less!

Gutted - Bleed For Us To Live

Ohio's Gutted here, with their debut album from 1994 'Bleed For Us To Live'. If you frequent metal forums, chances are you've come across these guys in an 'underground death metal gems' thread, or suchlike. These guys got quite the name for themselves after disappearing into the ether thanks to the age of the internet, and there's plenty to like about their sound. Down-tuned, mid-paced and gnarled death metal is the order of the day, with truly crushing vocals and guitar tone. An original pressing on Red Light Records, and out of print - even the band themselves released a CD-r copy of this for fans in 2007 which was remastered. Hard to find for a low price these days, more so if you can find one without a hole-punched barcode.


 

Gates of Ishtar - A Bloodred Path / The Dawn of Flames / At Dusk and Forever

Haters of melodeath, turn away now. Although not hailing from Gothenburg (they're from Lulea) Gates of Ishtar had a good thing going in my opinion pushing that delectable melodeath sound to breaking point without getting overly sugary. But as was the way for many bands, they got overlooked by most in the huge wave of melodeath which swept through Sweden in the early to mid 90s. Original pressings on CD on Spinefarm, Invasion and Invasion respectively.

Gorerotted - Her Gash I Did Slash

Chances are if you're British and were into extreme metal in the late 90s/early 00s you'll have come across Gorerotted. Personally I loved their tongue in cheek gore-filled grinding death metal, particularly the crazed dual vocals. A lot of Carcass & Macabre to be heard here, but they also had their own thing going. I felt these guys lost something with their final album, but have re-found the some form since they split and the majority of the members went on to form The Rotted. This was the bands self released demo, which deserves more recognition than it gets if you ask me.

Gontyna Kry - Welowie / Krew Naszych Ojców / Sciezka Zapomnianych Prawd

Well, here's a little more obscurity for you all. Gontyna Kry is an old Slavonic term meaning "Temple of Blood" in Polish (yes, they're from Poland), and these guys started out in the early 90s playing a raw brand of black metal with a pagan edge. Lyrically, they were National Socialists, but as the years went on they've tried to move away from the NS ideology to something resembling strictly pagan outpourings. 'Welowie' is the self released demo from the band (here on it's original CD-r pressing with pro printed inlays from '98), 'Krew Naszych Ojców' is handnumbered and limited to 500 copies on Battlefield Records and 'Sciezka Zapomnianych Prawd' is also on Battlefield Records.

God Macabre - The Winterlong...

God Macabre are seen by many as the ultimate underground Swedeath band who were missed by most first time around. The age of the internet made this a classic years later, and probably quite rightly so. Originally released on Mangled Beyond Recognition Records in 1993, this is the definitive re-issue on Relapse Records which contains the band's 'Consumed by Darkness' demo which they released under the band's former moniker Macabre End.

The Gathering - Always...

The debut album from Holland's The Gathering, and in my opinion, the only album they released that was worth a shit. I know, pretty harsh seeing as they went on to become very popular with a lot of people, but I just didn't enjoy anything they put out after this one. This is the remixed/remastered version re-issued by Foundation 2000, with the original artwork intact - not so easy to find these days.