Reviews

A Forest Of Coffins.

A two-part descent into the Trollcave.

Le Déclin is aptly titled for Ataraxie's 5th offering, as they only wish to deteriorate your soul further into the depths of death doom.

After completing the monumental task of having a one-track screamo album, Tenue expand both the tracklist and the sound.

The Return of “Nasty” Ronnie is an exercise in Indulgence.

Bütcher haven't butchered their legacy entirely as blackened speed is still well and truly at their core despite them making a few remarkable new alterations.

From the misty, forested slopes of Boise, Idaho comes a surprisingly unique sludge doom sound that mixes rough rhythm with soothing melody.

A meandering miasma of moods. A pleasant listening experience that lacks real punch.

Do you really need 1000mods of psychedelic rock and stoner to Cheat Death? We'll see.

A classic of French heavy metal too quickly forgotten from an equally neglected band.

The waters of this river are less turbid than expected.

A nearly decade long absence for one of Sweden's biggest retro-prog rock bands, has now dutifully ended.

Pleroma is the long-awaited third album by Orgone, arriving ten years since their previous offering, The Joyless Parson. It seems that the album was delayed quite a bit, but, in the end, maybe this is…

From one continent onto another, Ershetu’s exploration of world death culture rendered through folk black metal goes from strength to strength.

As the flame withers, Yoth Iria spark another Hellenic Blazing Inferno.

They are still a band, and Still are unleashing some ferocious aggression in the process, streamlining the diverse sound of their debut album { } into something truly belligerent.

Do you like... coffee?…

Although The Formulas Of Death was long in the rear view mirror, Tribulation were still being described as ‘kings of gothic, deathly metal’ at the time of the release of their last record, Where The Gloom…

This isn't just a Slower, doomy sludge version of Slayer, is it?

After Storming The Walls, will Triumpher triumph once more with Spirit Invictus?

The “post-everything” Canadian collective Respire return with the same grand sample of ingredients, but this time, the mix of screamo, blackgaze and chamber music is more engaging than ever before.

Vola are sticking rigidly to their 3-year album cycles, and Friend Of A Phantom arrives with the same regularity as its predecessors; it also comes with a regularity in style that's slightly surprising…

Strikes on Striker.

What the future held was... good.

Sordide have stripped black metal back to its very core, unleashing their most raw, dirty, and savage attack on us yet.

Isaurian continues The Pulsing Rush of post-metal and doomgaze, this time offering their deepest insight into our human nature yet.

Pharmakon returning after a five year hiatus with a concept album is really cool, but didn't she sense that by naming her previous albums Abandon, Bestial Burden, Contact, and Devour, she created…

Take a large scoop of Every Time I Die and add some The Dillinger Escape Plan and Fit For An Autopsy toppings. And I meant not just in sound but also in lineup.

With first Swallow The Sun and now Gaerea, late October seems to be the time for established bands to undertake a bold new direction that may redefine perspectives of said groups. Coma is a somewhat radical…

Do you sometimes think that post-metal is just not noisy enough?

Do you ever feel like 80s extreme metal just wasn't extreme enough?

The aptly titled Transitions represents wholesale change for Vokonis on a number of fronts; however, the band is still musically recognizable as the one that graced us with Odyssey three years ago.

How fitting that a project that came back from the dead is named Chryst.

What is it with prog guys and ravens? Can Toby Driver make the raven sing?

I've been putting off this review for quite a long while because of how much this entire thing fills me with dread.

The last time there was an Alice In Chains album, Jerry Cantrell hadn't revived his solo career with two consecutive albums.

Somehow, after 30 years, Melt-Banana are even more bananas than ever. You guys ever wanted to hear the slamming noise punk version of the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack?…

Can a spiritual journey through the Cursed Cemetery be any more unsettling?

Despite the uncompromisingly raw nature of their performance and production values, Zbrucz releases a screamo debut album with such a passionate, painful, yet catchy sense of melancholia that it’s difficult…

The passage of time doesn't mean much to Wrathprayer. Enkoimeterion marks the Chilean duo's return after 12 years and their infernal style of black/death metal remains impeccable.

A Drifting Spirit.

Just existing should be enough to make you angry. Very angry. Add to it all the societal pressures and injustices and it's soul crushing. Anyway, here's Chat Pile delivering the soundtrack to…

When your band is so avant-garde that you need a side-project to get even more avant-garde. If the band's name does give you pause, you're not having a dyslexic episode, Doedsmaghird is a side…

2018 must be a year of mixed emotions for Jón Aldará fans; on the one hand, both bands he was already involved with at the time (Hamferð and Barren Earth) subsequently went on prolonged dry spells without…

A year after releasing the colossal, genre-spanning triple album Triangle, Schammasch delved deeper into one of the more unexpected sounds of that album with the EP The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite.

A debut album that has the number ‘3’ in the title? What is this all about?

Live Growth and Sound Expansion.

Other fast food options are available.

A good shot of adrenaline from the late Finnish band Speedtrap.

The Discipline of King Crimson.

Deal thy darkness.

Even with a new singer at the helm, Sinistro prove that doom metal can be seductive.

"Do not go to war with the demons of Mazandaran! Biggest mistake of my life!"

Released in 1995, Symbolic is an important milestone in the development of death and thrash metal, displaying the remarkable musicianship and lyrical depth of the legendary band Death. This album not only…

The Afterlife on Planet Of Zeus can be really quite satisfying.

Vampires On The Castle. After a long break since Deal Thy Fate, Castle returns with Evil Remains. The power trio consists of Liz Blackwell on vocals and bass, Mat Davis on guitar and vocals, and Mike…

Currently labeled on Metal Storm as grindcore, self-described on their Bandcamp page as a mix of black, death, and noise punk, the German band Deathrite proudly play a genre-unspecific style of metal.

The involvement of Dan Swanö in the production of their debut EP was a good early omen of Mother Of Graves’s fortunes as a nascent death doom metal band; the two albums that they’ve gone on to release…

Apeiron, the title of the latest Five The Hierophant record, translates to ‘boundless’ or ‘unlimited’. It’s a rather fitting name when considering the lack of genre constraints that the band have saddled…

After a decade of existence, France’s Kozoria have finally got around to releasing their debut album, and in the wake of Gojira’s breakthrough performance at the Olympics, it might not be the worst time…

The Flight Of Sleipnir used to release a new album almost every year, but now they've spaced out their release schedule significantly, so I can't blame anyone for not being familiar with them,…

Straight-up old school death metal might have had a long course since it's revival in the 2000s, and getting excited about new albums is a rare event. A new Ripped To Shreds is such an event. Let's…

After a decade in which they seemed to be increasingly lost, 2020 saw Ensiferum find the right path, and they continue to reap the rewards.

Phantom Spell is the solo project of Kyle McNeill, best known for his work with Seven Sisters. Immortal's Requiem takes listeners back to the 70s progressive rock sound, but with a modern metal touch.

These ruins are getting real old real fast.

At a rate of one new discovery per year, I’m not quite encountering enough in the way of chamber music/metal fusions to proclaim the emergence of a nascent scene, but given the success rate of the albums…

Going back to their roots, The Crown form a Crown Of Thorns.

Is the sun shining after I swallow it?…

It’s funny to look back at the news from 2019 that Oranssi Pazuzu had joined Nuclear Blast Records, and the concerns that signing to such a label may detrimentally affect the uniqueness of their sound.

You either die kvlt or live long enough to see yourself become avant-garde.