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Articles by Peter Atkinson
TEMIC ‘Ceiba’
TEMIC Ceiba Season Of Mist What the international prog-metal “super group” TEMIC may lack in genuine household names, it more than makes up in formidable chops to go along with impressive pedigrees that speak to the quintet’s bone fides. Neal Morse Band guitarist/vocalist Eric Gillette, who also played with Mike Portnoy’s SHATTERED FORTRESS, is probably the most prominent figure here.
CROWN MAGNETAR ‘The Hollowing Of Godflesh’
CROWN MAGNETAR The Hollowing Of Godflesh Unique Leader Records As extreme metal continues to push the envelope of, well, extremity – sometimes/often at the expense of listenabilityor just common sense – it can be refreshing when someone shows a measure of restraint. At least in a manner of speaking. No one can accuse Colorado brutes CROWN MAGENTAR of going soft or edging toward accessibility, far from it.
Damnatio Ad Bestias – Martyr Incipit
Reviewed: [September 2026] Released [2026 Witches Brew Records] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson The debut mini-album/EP from French miscreants Damnatio Ad Bestias is like stepping back in time. It’s primal presentation and unbridled, rough-and-tumble delivery recall the early days of U.S. death metal and the formative work of Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Massacre, Malevolent Creation, etc.
Sacriversum – Before The Birth of Light
Reviewed: [September 2026] Released [2026 Fireflash Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson After a nearly 20-year hiatus, Poland’s Sacriversum reunited in 2022 and have now released their comeback album Before The Birth of Light, that showcases a “death metal meets Deep Purple” style, offering an unlikely but effective twist to a genre where genuine surprises can be few. And it marks a fairly radical sonic transformation from where things ended on the band’s first go-round.
Chronic Hate – Defeating The Oblivion Of Life
Reviewed: [September 2026] Released [2026 Time To Kill Records] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Italy’s extreme metal scene is noted more these days for the stupefying technicality and/or over-the-top pomp of Fleshgod Apocalypse, Beheaded, Hour of Penance, Hideous Divinity than old school brutality. And for good reason, given the inroads those bands have made internationally – especially Fleshgod.
Uneven urban resilience across economic sectors revealed by satellite nighttime lights
Abstract Urban resilience is critical in the context of global disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, yet recovery processes are rarely uniform across urban economies. How resilience varies across economic sectors and geographical contexts, and the extent to which it is structured by business essentiality, remain poorly understood at the global scale.
BOUNDARIES ‘Yearning: The unbeautiful after’
BOUNDARIES Yearning: The unbeautiful after Sumerian Records As their Massachusetts neighbors might say, the fourth album from Connecticut’s BOUNDARIES sounds “wicked pissed.” The ceaselessly belligerent, unrelentingly brutal affair revels in its maximalism and rage. The 14 tracks here aren’t so much songs as they are a series of profane, one-sided arguments or breathless screeds – an airing of grievances worthy of any Festivus gathering at the Costanza household.
MORK ‘Monolitt’
MORK Monolitt Peaceville Records Thanks to decades of TV reruns, most Americans are much more apt to equate the name MORK with Robin Williams, “Na-Nu, Na-Nu,” Mindy and lots of stereotypical sitcom shenanigans than grim and frostbitten kingdoms, dark, forbidden forests and old-school Norwegian black metal. The MORK in this case, however, is very much the latter – and definitely “ikke noe å le av,” or no laughing matter.
Dysgnostic – End Whispers
Reviewed: [July 2026] Released [2026 Transcending Obscurity] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Denmark’s Dysgnostic spent the first decade-plus of their career performing as Defilementory but changed names in 2021 to reflect a shift in their sonic direction from brutal death metal to something headier, more progressive and dissonant.
Nunslaughter – Satanic Chaos Legions
Reviewed: [July 2026] Released [2026 BLKIIBLK Records] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Cleveland by way of Pittsburgh provocateurs Nunslaughter have been around in one way shape for form for what seems like forever. And while frontman Don of the Dead is the lone constant in a lineup that has chewed through two-dozen or so members since 1987, the band released a veritable shitload of EPs, splits and live recordings on seemingly every tiny underground label on God’s green Earth, so to speak.
Belarus Beaver – Grind af den Brune Bäfver
Reviewed: [July 2026] Released [2026 Self Released] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson When I reviewed Planet of the Beavers, the second album from Belarus Beaver – a duo who actually hail from Sweden – way back in 2020, I was curious how long these guys could, or would, keep their “Swedish Beaver Grind” schtick going. Well, as evidenced by their new fourth album Grind af den Brune Bäfver, at least six more years.
KHEMMIS ‘Khemmis’
KHEMMIS Khemmis Nuclear Blast Records Colorado’s KHEMMIS began life as a fairly textbook stoner doom outfit – a new band with an old sound inspired by Conan the Barbarian tropes and plenty of THC. But over the past decade, the quartet has been working to open the aperture on its trippy “slow, deep and hard” sonic template, embracing everything from traditional metal to prog- and post-metal to thrash and a bit of death/black metal.
Natural forest expansion is a larger carbon sink than secondary forests in moist tropics
Abstract Tropical secondary forests grow back naturally after the original forest has been cleared, while degraded forests comprise regrowth within forested land that has experienced partial structural and functional loss. Both represent important carbon sinks. However, natural forest expansion into originally unforested land also occurs, and despite covering 6% more area than secondary forests in the moist tropics, its carbon sink remains unquantified.
Se, Josta Ei Puhuta – Syvyyden portit on saatava auki
Reviewed: [June 2026] Released [2026 Inverse Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson There was a lot of copying and pasting and Google translating for this one, what with the band’s name, album title and songs all in Finnish, a tongue-twister of a language for the uninitiated that is even more difficult to spell/type. But it was worth the, umm, effort, since the latest album from Iisalmi-based Se, josta ei puhuta (or What is Not Talked About) is a pretty captivating listen.
Piołun - Exolvuntur
Reviewed: [June 2026] Released [2026 Malignant Voices] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson While Behemoth are rightfully the flag-bearers for “blackened” Polish metal, given their worldwide prominence, the country’s underground offers plenty of other options for more traditional – or authentic – black metal. Mgła and Furia certainly come to mind, as does Blaze Of Perdition whose last couple albums were issued through Metal Blade Records before the band split up in 2025.
Galvanist – The Silence Between Stars
Reviewed: [June 2026] Released [2026 ATMF] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson The second album from Bozeman, Montana-based heavyweights Galvanist is certainly a portrait in contrast. On the one side is lumbering doom with mountain-sized grooves and imposing heft, on the other furious black metal with blasty drums and flighty trems, and somewhere in the middle are soaring, atmospheric, post-metally bridges that lend a vast and epic vibe befitting of their home state.
CROWN LANDS ‘Apocalypse’
If you’re a fan of the RUSH’s classic ‘2112’ to ‘Moving Pictures’ period – and if you’re not, for shame – fellow Canadians CROWN LANDS should be right up your alley. The Oshawa, Ontario-based duo has the same penchant for combining progressive sprawl and instrumental dexterity, heady plotlines and thematics, crafty songwriting and anthemic catchiness that made its Toronto-based peers legends. Also, the divisive balls-in-a-vice yowling. More on that in a bit.
Infected Dead – Invicta
Reviewed: [May 2026] Released [2026 Self Released] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Britain’s Infected Dead are, somewhat ironically, experiencing a new life. After a couple of pre-Covid singles and the Archaic Malevolence EP, the band took a bit of hiatus before returning with overhauled lineup in 2024.
Scarab – Transmutation Of Fate
Reviewed: [May 2026] Released [2026 Brutal Records] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Ever wonder what Nile might sound like if they actually came from Egypt, instead of South Carolina? Well, probably a lot like Cairo-based Scarab – which is to say, not much different sonically, just a bit more genuine aesthetically.
Melechesh – Sentinels Of Shamash
Reviewed: [May 2026] Released [2026 Reigning Phoenix Music] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Hard to believe it’s been 11 years since there was new music from Melechesh, which had a reasonably productive run from 1995’s As Jerusalem Burns… Al’Intisar to Enki five albums later in 2015. But since then, nothing. Now the band, or more precisely frontman/guitarist/composter and founder Ashmedi, is dipped its toes back into the extreme metal pool with the new Sentinels of Shamash EP.
AT THE GATES ‘The Ghost Of A Future Dead’
The latest, and in all likelihood, last studio album from Swedish melodic death metal pioneers AT THE GATES is certainly a bittersweet effort. Recorded during frontman Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg’s battle with a rare cancer – adenoid cystic carcinoma, to be precise – it’s release comes seven months after he ultimately lost the fight and passed away. ‘The Ghost Of A Future Dead’ actually began as something of a celebration for AT THE GATES.
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX ‘Sceaduhelm’
England’s CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX (or CBP, if you will) is more of an itinerate/mercenary collective than a band in the classic sense. Creative director Justin Greaves, ex-of IRON MONKEY, has been the lone constant in the ensemble’s 20-plus year existence, assisted by a veritable army of musicians, vocalists and various collaborators who have come, done their thing and gone. Yet it’s been a surprisingly productive arrangement.
Feuilles grignotées : l’otiorhynque, ennemi discret du jardin
Un insecte invisible ravage votre jardin : © Getty - Peter Atkinson Diffusé le mercredi 8 avril 2026 à 10:45 Publié le mercredi 8 avril 2026 à 10:45 Des feuilles découpées et des plantes affaiblies signalent souvent la présence de l’otiorhynque. Ce parasite nocturne agit dans l’ombre, mais une méthode biologique permet de limiter ses dégâts durablement. Feuilles grignotées et racines attaquées : un insecte nocturne discret ravage les plantes sans être vu, mais des solutions existent.
Sisyphean – Divergence : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [April 2026] Released [2026 Edged Circle Productions] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Lithuania’s Sisyphean have been pushing the proverbial boulder up the hill for the past decade or, enduring a host of lineup changes – only guitarist Kamil remains from the original quintet that formed from the ashes of Division in 2014 – new labels and sporadic touring. But they stuck with it and in the process have made themselves a formidable and compelling outfit.
Sicarius - Nex : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [April 2026] Released [2026 Adirondack Black Mass] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson After building a fair head of steam in the late 2010’s on the strength of an EP and two well-received albums – Serenade of Slitting Throats and God of Dead Roots – produced by Anaal Nathrakh’s Mick Kenney and released through M-Theory Audio, California blackened death metallers Sicarius pretty much ran out of gas and fell apart before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Album Review: SAMURAI PIZZA CATS ‘Press Start’
Sometimes dumb and fun will do the trick. And Germany’s SAMURAI PIZZA CATS hits the mark on both counts. With a band that takes its name from an early ‘90s Japanese anime show and boasts guitarist Daniel Haniß from ELECTRIC CALLBOY – who have essentially conquered the world with its own knuckle-headed but insidiously entertaining shenanigans over the past few years – as a founding member, you probably shouldn’t expect anything less, or more, depending on how you look at it.
1984 To Headless: An Exclusive Interview With BLACKIE LAWLESS Of W.A.S.P.
The AJ & RJ Show recently caught up with the one and only Blackie Lawless for a candid conversation that covered everything from the road ahead to the road that brought him there. Blackie shared what fans can expect from the upcoming “1984 to Headless” tour celebrating the band’s early era, gave a reassuring update that his health is strong and he’s feeling great, and reflected on the gritty early days of arriving in Los Angeles with little more than ambition and volume.
Album Review: LAMB OF GOD ‘Into Oblivion’
Once a pioneering act of the new wave of American heavy/thrash metal, Virginia’s LAMB OF GODis now one of its longest-surviving champions. And the band’s durability is testament to the consistency and dependability it has worn as badges of honor for more than 25 years. While LAMB OF GOD sometimes has strayed a bit from its sonic path, the quintet has never gone completely off the reservation like many of its contemporaries, thus avoiding the dizzying career ups, downs or crashes and burns.
Unburier – As Time Awaits : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [March 2026] Released [2026 Self Released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson One of these days, U.K. death/thrash metallers Unburier will get around to putting out a full-blown album. Until then, we’ll have to be content with the series of EPs the band have been pumping out every couple of years.
Cryptic Shift – Overspace & Supertime : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [March 2026] Released [2026 Metal Blade Records] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson As their sonic breadth and ambition have grown – quite literally – exponentially with each release over the course of their 15-year career, England’s otherworldly Cryptic Shift have taken the notion of over-the-top way, way, well, over-the-top.
Hellevator – Feed of Arms : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [March 2026] Released [2026 Self Released] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson It can be a nice change when a Swedish metal band doesn’t really sound like a “Swedish metal” band. And there’s almost nothing in the groovy, death metal-tinged thrash of Skövde’s Hellevator that suggests anything Gothenburg-ian or Swe-deathy.
Album Review: MAYHEM ‘Liturgy Of Death’
Over the past decade or so, once – and often – tumultuous Norwegian black metal icons MAYHEM have somehow become a model of stability. The 40-plus-year-old band’s current lineup of vocalist Attila Csihar, founding bassist Jørn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud, long-time drummer Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Blomberg and “new” guitarists Morten Bergeton “Teloch” Iversen and Charlie “Ghul” Hedger has been together since 2012.
Carrion Vael – Slay Utterly : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [February 2026] Released [2026 Unique Leader Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson If you would like your Black Dahlia Murder with a bit more, well, “murder,” then Carrion Vael should certainly scratch that itch. The Indiana quintet tread largely the same melodic technical death metal ground as their Michigan counterparts, at least from a musical standpoint.
Amongruins – Advent of Chaos : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [February 2026] Released [2026 Theogonia Records] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson While they hail from Greece (though drummer Scott Naylor is English), Athens-based quartet Amongruins have a distinctly northern European sound. The band’s fourth album, Advent of Chaos, recalls the likes of Insomnium, and Dark Tranquillity and Amon Amarth, with some distinct variations on the Finnish/Swedish melodic death metal theme – and no Viking lore to speak of.
Vesseles - Home : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [February 2026] Released [2026 Self Released] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson There is a rather extensive backstory that came with the press materials accompanying the first full-length, Home, from Silicon Valley black metal outfit Vesseles – indeed too much to try to paraphrase here. So, I’ll let the group’s Bandcamp bio info do the explaining, since it is comparatively succinct.
Best of 2025: Peter A.
1. Paradise Lost – Ascension (Nuclear Blast) 2. Deftones – Private Music (Reprise) 3. Lorna Shore – I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me (Century Media) 4. Helloween – Giants And Monsters (Reigning Phoenix) 5. Coroner – Dissonance Theory (Century Media) 6. Testament – Para Bellum (Nuclear Blast) 7. Nightfall – Children Of Eve (Season Of Mist) 8. Harakiri For The Sky – Scorched Earth (AOP) 9. The Acacia Strain – You Are Safe From God Here (Rise) 10.
Astronoid – Stargod : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [January 2026] Released [2025 3DOT Recordings] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson While I rather liked Astronoid’s previous work, the band’s fourth full-length managed to slip under my radar screen in the run-up to its mid-November release. But life happens sometimes, and once the dust had pretty much settled and I was finally able to wade back through a growing tide of promos, I gave it a quick spin – and it has been on heavy rotation ever since.
Rotten Sound – Mass Extinction : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [January 2026] Released [2025 Season Of Mist] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Finnish grind veterans Rotten Sound are nothing if not efficient. Give them a few minutes, they will blast out 8-10 songs that will smack you right in your fucking face – and before you even know what hit you, they are over and out. It’s been the band’s MO for more than 30 years, and there’s no use in trying to fix what obviously isn’t broken now.
Historical and Projected Impact of Global Climate Change on the Extrinsic Incubation of Dirofilaria immitis
1 Introduction Reports of vector-borne diseases (VBDs) have increased faster worldwide than any other infectious diseases in recent years (Bartlow et al. 2019; Rocklöv and Dubrow 2020). Numerous anthropogenic factors have contributed to this acceleration, including climate change and increased interfaces between definitive host and vector populations, following changes in land use and urbanisation (Bartlow et al. 2019; Rocklöv and Dubrow 2020; Chala and Hamde 2021; de Souza and Weaver 2024).
Filet-o-Flesh - Inner Piece
Reviewed: [November 2025] Released [2025 Self Released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson At first blush, you might think Filet-o-Flesh was some sort of death metal piss-take on McDonalds, a novelty act-ish sort of thing a la Mac Sabbath. But near as I can tell, there are no Mayor McCheese-y costumes or Sabbath covers redone with fast food lyrics to be found here. There is, however, plenty of death metal on this Chicago-based solo project of one Brandon Chase, among other things.
Shadecrown - 0 : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [November 2025] Released [2025 Inversed Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Finnish melo-death/doom metallers Shadecrown have been around for over a decade but have managed to fly under my radar screen for most of that time. Well, better late than never. 0 – and that’s the numerical for “zero,” not a capital letter “o” – the band’s fourth album offers plenty to like for fans of Paradise Lost, Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum, or, to a degree, Swallow The Sun.
Dysentery – Dejection Chrysalis : Metal-Rules.com
Reviewed: [November 2025] Released [2025 Comatose Music] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Not sure if “be ready for the return of Dysentery!” is the kind of PR slogan you really want to be throwing around, but this being slam-style brutal death metal I guess most folks know not to take that literally – at least in the shitting blood sense. Yes, Dysentery – the band – is back after a 10-year absence with their fourth album, so there is that.
Full article: Comparative analysis of long-term trends and climate sensitivity of spring phenology across forests, shrublands, and grasslands in the middle-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere
?Mathematical formulae have been encoded as MathML and are displayed in this HTML version using MathJax in order to improve their display. Uncheck the box to turn MathJax off. This feature requires Javascript. Click on a formula to zoom. ABSTRACT Climate change is profoundly reshaping terrestrial ecosystems, and the start of the growing season (SOS) serves as a key indicator for understanding ecosystem dynamics and climate-driven responses.
KNAC.COM - Reviews - WRETCHED 'Decay'
WRETCHED Decay Metal Blade Records For the band's first full-length in 11 years, North Carolina's WRETCHED reteamed with former vocalist Billy Powers and then set about recording a full-blown conceptual prequel to the last album he worked on with the band, 2010's lofty Beyond The Gate. Dunno if the resulting Decay was the reason for the reunion with Powers, or a result thereof, but here we are.
KNAC.COM - Reviews - PARADISE LOST 'Ascension'
PARADISE LOST Ascension Nuclear Blast Records PARADISE LOST brings its on-going return to classic form full circle with Ascension. The English band's 17th album, Ascension serves as a royal sampler of the ever-evolving quintet's peak periods. And it does so with as consistently good a batch of material as PARADISE LOST has ever produced, which is saying something after nearly 40 years.
NAILED TO OBSCURITY 'Generation Of The Void'
NAILED TO OBSCURITY Generation Of The Void By Peter Atkinson, Contributor Monday, September 8, 2025 @ 11:59 AM NAILED TO OBSCURITY Generation Of The Void Nuclear Blast Records Germany's NAILED TO OBSCURITY has been around for 20 years, with four albums under its belt and a deal with Nuclear Blast Records, yet I've got to admit to pretty much having slept on this band - despite getting promos for at least the last couple of albums.
SIGNS OF THE SWARM 'To Rid Myself Of Truth'
SIGNS OF THE SWARM To Rid Myself Of Truth Century Media Records With To Rid Myself of Truth, Pittsburgh brutes SIGNS OF THE SWARM put on a veritable deathcore clinic. Seemingly every weapon in the deathcore arsenal - brontasaurian breakdowns, curb-stomp grooves, widdly-twiddly djent/tech death flourishes, blast-beatybursts, whiplash tempo changes, heaving rhythms, stupefyingly brutal vocal contortions, etc. - is brought to bear at some point on this, the band's sixth full length.
INHUMAN CONDITION 'Mind Trap'
INHUMAN CONDITION Mind Trap By Peter Atkinson, Contributor Monday, July 7, 2025 @ 8:18 AM INHUMAN CONDITION Mind Trap Listenable Insanity Records INHUMAN CONDITION began as something of a "fuck you" to MASSACRE and its mainman Kam Lee by three ex-members of the band but has evolved into an ongoing, and rather productive, thing.
Back in the limelight, Audi aims to steal the show
E-Tron. Q4. Quattro.Three names that if people voted for them as the cast for a new tech-thriller movie they would only be half wrong.Those who love cars can't help themselves when the big players get into the act.And after a slightly quiet year or two, German mammoth Audi has lifted the lid on how it plans to ride the new wave clean energy with its new Q4 SUV - an all-electric family wagon set to push the EV message along.
Back in the limelight, Audi aims to steal the show
Back in the limelight, Audi aims to steal the show
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