Tideless - Eye Of Water
Review by musclassia

8.4

Extreme doom metal and post-rock, while on the face of it seeming like polar opposites, aren’t actually all that incompatible; both are often geared towards atmosphere and emotion, both are often on the slower side of the spectrum, and both can feature climactic swells of volume. To that end, in a world where metal musicians constantly seek whatever musical territory that remains unchartered, it’s perhaps unsurprising to see bands exploring the similarities and contrasts of hellish and heavenly sounds.

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Taine - Chaos & Contemplation
Review by AndyMetalFreak

7.8

Instead of contemplating Taine's lengthy absence, let's focus on their latest effort, Chaos & Contemplation: a release not as chaotic as one might expect.

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Torpor - Abscission
Review by musclassia

8.2

Given how international music, including metal, has become, it can be fascinating to see ‘microscenes’ of bands of a similar style emerging from the same city. I’ve covered several Mechelen-based post-metal groups for Metal Storm in the past couple of years; over here in the UK, Bristol has been the source of some nastier post-metal.

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Primal Tyrant - Saharan Gods
Review by F3ynman2000

 

Remember when dinosaurs ruled ancient Egypt? Yeah, me neither. But that's not stopping newcomers Primal Tyrant from inventing some fun, dino death metal!

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TesseracT - War Of Being
Review by musclassia

8.2

After the relatively muted response to the positively bitesize Sonder in 2018, TesseracT have pulled out all the stops this time around; new record War Of Being is accompanied by not just a video game based on the album’s concept, but there’s apparently also a novel in the works. As someone who’s had a complicated history with TesseracT, a landmark release such as this provides as good an opportunity as any to re-assess the group.

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Slomatics - Strontium Fields
Review by F3ynman2000

 

Slomatics's newest release deviates from their previous reliable formula, injecting calmer ambience and more operatic vocals. Unfortunately, the songwriting is hung out to dry as the front-loaded piece gradually devolves into uninspired and boring musicianship.

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Baroness - Stone
Review by musclassia

7.6

Attention for this new Baroness album has unsurprisingly been directed towards the band’s departure from using colours as album titles; however, the artwork for Stone, which features every colour that’s appeared on a Baroness cover, indicates that this new release, while perhaps breaking new ground, also recalls the various phases of the band’s career to date.

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Cannibal Corpse - Chaos Horrific
Review by omne metallum

8.0

Resuscitation of the Corpse.

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