Hells Headbangers Records

Perdition Temple – Malign Apotheosis Review

By Mark Z. on November 24, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 15 comments

“Since coming to prominence as the guitarist and primary songwriter of Angelcorpse in the 1990s, Gene Palubicki has been tearing a burning warpath through the extreme metal underground, scorching eardrums with projects like his (sadly defunct) death-thrash band Blasphemic Cruelty and his current collaboration with Morbid Angel’s Steve Tucker and Origin’s John Longstreth in the death metal supergroup Malefic Throne. My favorite of Gene’s post-Angelcorpse projects, however, is Perdition Temple, probably because it sounds the most like Angelcorpse.” The corpses of angels in the temple of sin.

Stuck in the Filter: August 2025’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity on October 27, 2025 in Reviews, Stuck in the Filter, Black Metal, Blackened Death Metal, Death Metal, Hardcore, Heavy Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Power Metal, Sludge, Sludge Metal, Speed Metal, Stoner Rock, Technical Death Metal, 60 comments

August is but a warm, sunny memory and All Hallows Eve is upon us. Good thing we finally de-gunkified those August Filters to avoid tricks.

Deceased – Children of the Morgue Review

By Steel Druhm on August 28, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, 39 comments

“Virginia’s Deceased are about as cult as a metal band gets and over their 37 year career of evil they’ve harvested the best bits of traditional, thrash and death metal and stitched them together into shambling monstrosities. Evolving from death into grind and then death-thrash with ever-increasing melodic sensibilities, Deceased have always been a feral, shaggy beast unfit for polite company. Albums like Fearless Undead Machines and Surreal Overdose are stone-cold classics overlooked by far too many, and any Deceased album is guaranteed to be a mangy ball of undisciplined hyperactivity thanks to founder and brain trust King Fowley.” Still dead, still insane.

Skelethal – Within Corrosive Continuums Review

By Mark Z. on July 12, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, 27 comments

“Smelly cheese, extreme horror films, and Skelethal. All things France has given us, two of which I actually care about. Today’s topic is the last of those three. Formed in 2012, this group play a belligerent and unpolished form of Swedish-style death metal, complete with a musty vibe that seems to always come along with being signed to Hells Headbangers Records.” Bones in the slime.

Cardiac Arrest – The Stench of Eternity Review

By Steel Druhm on May 18, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, 25 comments

“You can’t listen to everything out there and we all have gaps in our metal detection system through which plenty of quality product sluices out. Still, I’m left wondering why I never spent time with Chicago’s death metal maniacs Cardiac Arrest until last week. Active since 2004 and with 7 full-lengths under their belt, this is a Windy City death institution that I completely slept on despite AMG having reviewed their 2018 opus A Parallel Dimension of Despair. On eighth album The Stench of Eternity, these scuzzmongers deliver a nasty sound mixing classic Floridian death with the uglier side of grind and crust and occasional flirtations with meatheaded slam.” Chest pains are the best pains.

Acid Witch – Rot Among Us Review

By Steel Druhm on November 4, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 11 comments

“Unlike the treacherous triumvirate of necromancers up on the hill in Macbeth,Acid Witch are a silly, tongue-in-cheek entity and always have been. Their stoner doom-death style owes more to cheesy horror flicks from the 60s and 70s than it does to Black Sabbath or Autopsy and their typical fare feels like it could function as a soundtrack for Return of the Living Dead or Trick or Treat with the camp levels besting those seen around Crystal Lake. On fourth album Rot Among Us little has changed in their odd witch’s brew.” Come, come to the sabbWitch.

Hammr – Eternal Possession Review

By Holdeneye on February 8, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Punk, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 49 comments

“I’m kind of obsessed with hammers. Write a song about hammers, and I’ll probably like it. Include “hammer” as part of your band name, and I’ll probably like your band. In a roleplaying game, make hammers a wieldable weapon, and, by god, I’m going to wield one (or two). I don’t know how to build shit, but I own a framing hammer and sleep with it next to my bed for personal protection. I use a twenty-pound sledge for my conditioning workouts, often while Asphyx’s “Deathhammer” plays in the background on repeat. Anyway, now you know why I felt so compelled to give Cleveland’s Hammr a swing.” Hammr time.

Bonehunter – Dark Blood Reincarnation System Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on August 18, 2021 in Reviews, 57 comments

“Bonehunter and I have a deep, penetrable relationship that’s difficult to describe. They put out albums, and I review them. OK, so that wasn’t complicated. But, the last time I checked, I’ve reviewed more of their albums than I have any other band since starting at AMG. This year’s Dark Blood Reincarnation System makes four albums and four Grier reviews for these crusty Finns. If you don’t know Bonehunter, it’s time you were educated. Bonehunter is best known for two things: bear erections and punky, black-thrash.” Bones to the wall.

Expunged – Into Never Shall Review

By Steel Druhm on July 28, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, 31 comments

“What would you do if you came into possession of a functioning time travel device? Some would undoubtedly set out to right great historical wrongs. Noble stuff that. Unlike these do-gooders, the three low-life bastards in Expunged would blast back to 1990 and make Left Hand Path way more raw, ugly and unpolished. Also a noble endeavor if you ask me.” Violent revision.

Cadaveric Incubator – Nightmare Necropolis Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on May 11, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, 32 comments

“In The Beyond, Italian director Lucio Fulci’s second film in what’s commonly referred to as the “Gates of Hell Trilogy,” an entombed carcass is exhumed and, before an autopsy is conducted, is hooked up to a brainwave machine thanks to a lab tech with a sense of humor. Thankfully the room had a “Do Not Entry” sign so the fellow had some privacy. In Nightmare Necropolis, the second record from Finnish death metal band Cadaveric Incubator, the band takes influence from Entombed, Carcass, Exhumed, and Autopsy. A tree with breasts, a puking skeleton, and what looks like a very sad frog atop a tombstone adorn the cover thanks to an illustrator with a sense of humor. Let’s ignore the sign(s) and entry into the necropolis.” Make way for the Incuba-TOR!