Reviews

Do you remember the French heavy metal Sortilège from the 80s? No, well it's time to make amends.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, the world has never been less predictable, and “djent” is not a genre”. So say Periphery, but the bands that have been labelled as djent all sound similar enough to merit a…

Polished new school tech death, even with more of a core leaning, might be a sound that's already quite saturated, but there's still enough that's unique about Entheos sound for them to…

This is it. This is Stoned Jesus' first album since their country was invaded.

“This is Satanic black metal”, says the fine corpse paint-wearing gentleman, and all hell unfolds.

It’s not universally true, but the general consensus is that great album artwork is a good indicator of album quality. Rezn’s Solace is the latest record to support that hypothesis.

Throughout the Vast Reaches Unclaimed, the Gothenburg sound truly lives on.

Fauna signals a lyrical departure for Haken; their first album without an overarching story, it’s comprised of unconnected songs sharing a theme of animal-human behavioural parallels. Considering their…

So Primitive Man now collaborated with Full Of Hell, who collaborated with The Body, who collaborated with Thou, who collaborated with Emma Ruth Rundle, which means a Primitive Man/Emma Ruth Rundle collaboration…

Greece used to be the center of the world. The ancient civilization brought us the bounty of philosophy, the boon of drama, the laughter of comedy and the study of knowledge among other handy everyday…

A big sound in a small bottle.

Addicted to that rush.

A real throwback album... you'll be throwing it back to where it came from.

Easy to listen to, but so forgettable, you’ll forget how forgettable it was...

More than two decades later, Paradise Lost become Depeche Mode Host again.

*clink* *clink* *clink* "Warriors… Come out to play!" *clink* *clink* *clink* "Waaaaarriiioorrrs! Come out to plaaay-aaay!"…

If the late 80s glam side of metal is your kind of thing, then try this bunch of Swedish metal badasses out for size.

You're here because you want heavy music, right? Well, how about 71-ton-heavy?…

Looking for some seriously heavy death metal with extra groove and melody, and more than just pure brutality? Well, now it's time to get your groove on, as this Ultimate Abomination could be the thing…

Ready for some wild traditional heavy metal from the equally wild regional lands of Botswana?

“Stone, leaf, bone, shadow Listen to the trees, listen to the hollow, Stone, leaf, bone, shadow Listen to the trees, listen to the hollow” So is one beckoned At The Altar Of The Horned God.

Have you noticed how some modern albums intentionally sound as if they were recorded many years ago and were preserved in a time capsule, only to be released today? This kind of description often refers…

It seems that every decade or so, a metal band must come with a pair of sibling albums prefixed with "Helio-" and "Anthro-".

First The Ocean did it. Now comes Ulthar.

Why does the OSDM album of this US band sound so much like a certain Finnish underground classic? Well, I'm not complaining!…

Nanowar Of Steel have had my ears on speed dial for the last five years now, ever since Stairway To Valhalla proved that it is possible to make fun of Manowar while simultaneously making fun of Manowar.

Omne, I hear you ask, do you think Schrödinger was banned from adopting cats?

Omne, I hear you ask, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck?

Raising hell.

I'm not entirely sure why the person behind a one-man black metal band would need to also start a solo project, but anyway: here's Serpent Column's Theophonos's first solo album.

A couple of years later, let's check back on Vvilderness.

The first album to strike that perfect balance between thrash and death metal so far this year is Visions Of Infinihility, brought to you by Carnosus, and this could well end up being amongst the most…

It’s been over a decade since we last reviewed a Hypno5e record on Metal Storm. It’s certainly not been for a lack of review-worthy material, as the French ensemble have continued to impress across the…

The last two Insomnium releases received adulatory reviews from self-proclaimed fanboys. I am not an Insomnium fanboy, but there is a longstanding tradition of Metal Storm reviewers enthusiastically waxing…

Riffs riffs riffs riffs riffs riffs riffs!

Who would've thought that the great gig in the sky was actually a bear all along?

After a hiatus of 11 years, Necrovation have returned with two songs of brilliantly produced, expertly performed death metal.

A 50-minute-long black metal album that tackles historical tragedies across five tracks, including three songs that each last for more than 13 minutes. Few bands could pull off such a daunting task. Let's…

Spring 2023 is shaping up to be a major season for Melissa Bonny fans; not only is the third Ad Infinitum record, Chapter III: Downfall, going to be released on 31 March, but the debut album from her new…

Traditional heavy metal with a few unique touches sprinkled into it.

Of course the Darkthrone worship album will have "Transylvanian" in its title!

On the eastern horizon, a black sun rises. Five skeletal warriors ride on dragons into battle, wielding weapons of finest black metal.

Each year, you may find yourself searching the melodic black spectrum and come across a gem or two, and here's one of those very gems: The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods, a delightful treat for those…

As time goes on, more and more post-metal seems to bleed into the black metal skeleton of Gaerea’s music. Therefore, perhaps it’s not surprising that when members of Gaerea take a stab at extreme doom,…

Here it is, the review of the February 2023 album that’s the first outing of the new-look version of a symphonic metal heavyweight, after the band’s founding keyboardist kicked out everyone else a year…

Omne, I hear you ask, what 'cha gonna do, when Hulkamania runs wild on you?

One small step for man, one big step for mankind.

Long a genre whose appeal mostly eluded me, deathcore has really managed to gain my attention in the past few years courtesy of a group of bands with more grandiose ambitions, led by the likes of Shadow…

For any gamers out there that are into the Dark Souls saga specifically, and of course if the death doom genre appeals to you as well, perhaps you would be interested with this Bloodbourne-inspired death…

There’s certain styles that I feel so innately predisposed to liking that it becomes hard to give enjoyable albums in said styles the appreciation they arguably deserve; it’s almost as if it’s too easy…

“Nous sommes l’orchaostre”: thus is the mission statement of WuW on the aptly named L'Orchaostre. Comprised solely of two brothers, WuW have a task on their hands to replicate the immense depth of…

In one of the most unconventional moves of the year so far, Slovenian post-metal outfit The Canyon Observer took a detour by blending with a free jazz ensemble to create some of the weirdest metal out…

Of all the ways I encounter new music, recommendations sliding into my DMs from certain users can offer up some of the most intriguing records. Sometimes I get forwarded an album and am left wondering…

There are bands that release their second album soon after their debut in order to take advantage of the momentum. On the other hand, there are bands like Menace (GRE), who wait until the result is not…

All Out War see no reason why a band with more than 30 years of experience shouldn't still strive to be as heavy as possible.

The funny brutal death metal band are getting slightly more serious.

The World Is Quiet Here... supposedly; I can’t say that ‘quiet’ is a word that passed through my mind much while listening to Zon. This is probably the most ambitious album I’ve heard so far in 2023, and…

It’s curious to think that there was a time where black metal considered death metal to be a sworn enemy; all things considered, there’s far more that unites the two styles musically than divides them,…

The final weeks of an ending year and the first few weeks of the following one are usually fairly quiet on the release front; it gives music reviewers, professional and amateur alike, time to pontificate…

Omne, I hear you ask, is this a poor attempt at establishing a new and unique writing style?…

Omne, I hear you ask, don't 'cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?

Meanders is not the first Swiss tech-death album I’ve reviewed for Metal Storm; that honour, I believe, goes to Stortregn’s Impermanence back in 2021. It’s perhaps fitting that a fluke of nationality allows…

Forget Bodies Bodies Bodies or Glass Onion, here's a prog black metal whodunit.

Sludge and death metal have always been unusual companions in blends, but ones that Turbid North could juggle. Though their material is sparse, The Decline finds them leaning the closest to stoner/sludge…

Daevar's debut album represents the epitome of stoner doom — with all its merits and limitations.

One thing I’ve learned since the start of the pandemic is that, if a progressive metal band shares a name with a song by a metal band I like, I am immediately compelled to check them out. This approach…

Recent discussion threads of an album that I actually quite liked and its associated review brought to my mind the question of what exactly it is that separates the wheat from the chaff when it comes to…

Come down to the land of the dead, where jackal-headed gods play prog death metal.

Metalcore in the new millennium has an inextricable history with melodic death metal; however, as the decades have passed, new waves of metalcore have arguably de-emphasized this lineage in favor of more…

As much as I hold a dear place in my heart for post-rock and particularly post-metal, as time goes on, it gets harder to find the words to describe new generic-sounding instrumental post-rock/metal albums…