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Mar 24, 2025 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
OK!! So, let’s go with this new ADE album, Supplicium (Time to Kill Records), yeah? I got into these guys when my dear friend and fellow death metal fan Tito turned me onto them. I was hooked in seconds, and I’ve got the Bandcamp receipts to prove it!2019’s Rise of the Empire album really got our motors runnin’, and by “we” I mean me plus my partner in crime — my son Corey. He has been the litmus test for many of the albums and bands for over a decade now, so if he goes nuts ,the group is a hit.
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Mar 24, 2025 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
So, the first thing I want to talk about with the new AVERSED album, Erasure of Color (M-Theory Audio), is Sarah Hartman’s vocals. She goes from the dirtiest and nastiest of growls to cleans that will cause whiplash in the unsuspecting listener. Think I’m fuckin’ around? Go listen to “Cross to Bear.” Yeah, that’s what I thought.
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Mar 9, 2025 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
So, I have a love/hate/love relationship with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE (cue the AIC song now). I went all in with 2004’s The End of Heartache and my fandom was cemented … or so I thought. Disarm the Descent made my Top 5 Worst Albums of 2013 list, and several not-good live shows followed (Dallas, 2014 was the worst!)A few years, and some Hella-great records and live shows later, I was back! This brings me to the new album This Consequence, out now on Metal Blade Records.
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Mar 9, 2025 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
While I haven’t been on board the WHITECHAPEL train as long as most of you, I have really come to dig their music for the past dozen years or so. I think what did it was seeing them live in Dallas, TX, not once but twice two summers in a row. Their energy was equally contagious and infectious. Then 2014’s Our Endless War came down like Porkins’ X-Wing in Star Wars, and I was all kinds of in.
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Feb 16, 2025 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
It took me a little while to dig into the latest DREAM THEATER record, Parasomnia, but when I was finally able to, it reminded me of why they’re the best at what they do. Is it a bit ostentatious and over the top at times? Yes! But Hell, Mike Portnoy is back, dammit! So why the Hell not? Right from the start “In the Arms of Morpheus” takes us on a journey that will have you buckling your seatbelts lickety-split!Now, that was just for openers like Chet demanding Wyatt’s VCR all those years ago.
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Jan 26, 2025 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
I’ve been on this HAZZERD train since I first heard them in 2017. Uncompromising, heavy, and brutalizing thrash metal is one of the few ways to my cold, blackened heart, and these guys deliver and then some. The new album, The 3rd Dimension, is out now, and believe me, it absolutely slays. Again, I’ve been a fan, but on this one, they took their sound and aggressive nature to another level. Case in point?
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Jan 25, 2025 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
EX DEO is the project of KATAKLYSM frontman Maurizio Iacono. Released this month through Reigning Phoenix Music, the new EP Year of the Four Emperors is equal parts heaviness and ferocity with a monstrous groove. Truthfully, I normally wouldn’t even check something like this out. I don’t know what my issue is, but EPs bug me for some reason. I’m very much in the “give me full-lengths or give me death!” camp. I know, I have issues.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
MYLES KENNEDY (ALTER BRIDGE) has a brand new solo album, The Art of Letting Go, out now on Napalm Records. This man is on my Mount Rushmore of vocalists, along with Ralf Scheepers (PRIMAL FEAR), Johnny Gioeli (HARDLINE. AXEL RUDI PELL), Rob Halford, and Bruce Dickinson (Do I even need to? Okay, IRON MAIDEN, just for the youngsters who might read this). So, with that in mind, LET’S GO!! Right off the bat, “Miss You When You’re Gone” was and is my No. 1 favorite song.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
Oh. So you want heavy, right? I’m talkin’ neck-breaking skull-crushing kind of heavy. You in? Well then, pull up a chair, and let’s get into Apophenia, the newest album from my boys in DEIVOS. Poland has long been a hotbed of metal madness. Mini-Amps (my son) and I have been groovin’ to bands such as DECAPITATED and BEHEMOTH for over a decade now, and DEIVOS is right up there as far as we’re concerned. I first discovered these guys with the killer record Theodicy and have been a fan ever since.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
therockfather.com | Damian Cousins |Dallas Mavericks Fan |Corey. He |James Zahn
Well, here’s something you don’t see every day. We have a band here named THE DEAD CAN WAIT. Now, this is normally something I’d press DELETE* on faster than you could say, “Jack Rabbit Slim’s Dance Contest,” but my dear friend is working on the release, so I figured I’d take a shot. [*Ed. Note: Damian takes issue with four-word band names.]And…I’m glad I did because this band is an ass-kicker with hooks and some pretty cool guitar work. So, I will overlook them using four words in their band name.
