Reviews

What a better way to end the year than with Ulver moving away from synthpop.

Having a black metal related band to the funeral doom of Esoteric was intriguing enough, but Precipice takes things even closer by upping the share of avant-garde and death metal in the sound.

How does Deafkids' "sonic Ayahuasca" fare when you add a grindcore band in the mix?

An energetic thrash metal experience amongst a sea of complexity, with wave upon wave of progressive guitar work crashing in from all sides.

Like any piece of art, it's important to build context for this record, the sixth full-length studio album from this monumental extreme metal band.

There's finally some closure on Martröð's initial promise, at the expense of the project's supergroup aura.

The primitive shamans of Fauna have returned after more than a decade of absence. Ochre & Ash is a massive Cascadian black metal journey that takes its time to fully develop. But when it does, it is…

The Phantom Spell casts another magical spell that merges the '70s with the modern day, so get ready to embark on another spellbinding adventure in progressive hard rock through Heather & Hearth.

In a world where avant-garde metal is more democratized than ever, Master’s Hammer prove that you can always remain surprising.

I never expected Inuit mythology to be the focus of a post-metal album, let alone one done by an Italian band.

Very fitting for this to be the Blut Aus Nord album to have "Ethereal" in its name.

How much do you like spoken vocals in your post-metal? How tragic do you want their presence to be?

Arrows is a new band blending black metal, death doom metal, progressive metal, and gothic metal in a way that is at the same time palpable and transcendent. Their debut, Yearning Arrows; Cloven Suns,…

It's titled Time And Tide on the account that you'll be given no time to breathe in the sea of crust punk madness, for which you'll simply drown as the tide drags you further in.

For the first time, Health favored conflict over disco.

Painkiller, go home! You're in the wrong album!

The first Bell Witch album since Demo 2011 to be shorter than one hour.

Mayhem: chaos... Wait a few years for the beginning of the end.

Enthroned have spawned from the ashes once again, this time to give a demonic ritual courtesy of their most ferocious black metal offering yet.

2025 is soon to be over, but not before Argus Megere make their return after a near-decade absence to deliver another masterclass in black metal, the Romanian way.

Sepulchral have risen From Beyond The Burial Mound, where still lingering with the putrid stench of rotten decay they continue to build on the foundations that lie Beneath The Shroud.

There's a sadness that's shared.

The cover of Ritual Of Split Tongues is adorned with a sinister creature, obscured and difficult to fully discern, yet evidently malevolent. It’s a depiction that is very apt for the music that accompanies…

Gridlink's final bell is still ringing in my ears, and already we have a successor.

The Sun Of The Dying hasn't gone just yet; they just had a lengthy absence, after which they've returned in their most emotional state yet, and just in time for the winter too.

The Stone has arrived in time for the winter. Now it's time for some ferocious Serbian black metal that remains just as trve to the genre now as the infamous Norwegian bands back in the 90s.

The Runes Of Power take you on another Tolkien adventure to the land of Númenor; this time an even greater force of power lies ahead.

And so living up to their emblem of The Phoenix, Sortilège rise once again from the ashes, this time after the passing of their guitarist Bruno Ramos. On Le Poids De L'Âme, they spread those wings…

The term "gothic doom" doesn't always bring to mind something that could also pass for psychedelic hard rock or electro-goth.

Mathcore is admittedly a quite tough genre to get into. Seems like Pupil Slicer are specifically toning down that side of their sound to make Fleshwork their most direct album to date.

There are plenty of death metal bands whose cavernous interpretations of the style have been referred to as hellish, but there’s precious few that truly capture that horror of being trapped in such nefarious…

Fresh blud.

Some albums just feel larger than life.

Even more proof that Chat Pile can also make interesting music when deviating from their formula.

Steel Arctus deliver another blow of epic heavy power metal, this time defying the odds against the mighty Dreamruler.

This is what melodic death metal is supposed to sound like.

Feather Mountain have exited the maelstrom, but they remain on a journey into the unknown, searching for meaning in a world of chaos.

It's back to the long albums for Primitive Man.

From delicate origins, Monograf are gradually descending deeper and deeper into darkness and heaviness. As it turns out, taking their fusion of post-rock, prog and folk in a metallic direction opens up…

Drowned In Silver seek “beauty in the void, meaning in chaos, and rays between shadows”. With Mothers, they have produced a debut record that delivers subtlety in its heaviness and depth in its rich sonic…

From 1914 to 2025, war has remained an ever present menace, wreaking havoc on humanity; it's something this band knows only too well, and they portray it as such on Viribus Unitis.

The first foray of Ireland's foremost fastboys was a fun, frenetic, and fascist-bashing fistful of ferrous flak. And it was a little peaky.

I put on my hat and wizard robe.

What does 30 years mean to Coroner? It depends. Not a goddamn thing when you consider their impressive stamina, but for their songwriting it means everything. Dissonance Theory displays the energy of a…

Join the VoidCeremony for another voyage beyond the realms of our reality and into a void of high-end blackened progressive death complexity, and who knows what you'll discover along the way.

There's still some mileage in the Mongol metal sound.

You are not safe from breakdowns here.

A lower stakes way to launch Carach Angren as a duo.

There’s quite the bittersweet feeling that arises when you come across a very good new album from a band previously unknown to you, only to see that said album is referred to as their final record. At…

A cathartic guided meditation through death and dying, merging ancient Eastern philosophy with modern existentialism: The Between is conceived with lofty ambitions, but it truly offers a remarkably immersive…

When I last attempted the exercise in futility of putting Dissona’s craft in words, I lamented over the wait in between album releases. In the last few years, many of my long-awaited follow-ups were delivered…

Decay is a very slow process...

What are you? A man, or a mouse?…

Cleanliness is next to godliness.

omne metallum: Despite being one of the most important acts in the early days of deathcore's infancy, Despised Icon are a band who never really got their flowers; at the forefront of the scene when…

Are you experienced?…

Shorter than many prog metal tracks.

It's only fitting for Novembre to unleash their latest offering during the month of November, as it seems they deliberately attempt to portray the sonic soundscapes of fall through their melancholic…

How's the Black Twilight Circle holding up these days?

A new, exciting chapter in Lamp Of Murmuur’s musical evolution.

‘Adult-oriented death metal’: Omnium Gatherum’s self-adorned moniker says it all, as one of the most upliftingly melodic bands in the Finnish melodeath scene leans even further into irresistible catchiness.

Drama, melancholy, and tension with a dash of playfulness all wrapped into one truly engaging package.

To mark their 20-year anniversary, Kauan want to take you on the Wayhome; it's open to your own interpretation where you think home is, but the route there will lead you on one of the most emotionally-charged,…

Aephanemer’s sound has never been a particularly subtle or understated one, but even compared with past records, Utopie feels like a glorious musical extravaganza of high-octane melody.

Hexrot presents us with one of the densest debut albums of the year. Despite the seemingly impenetrable nature of their death metal style, Formless Ruin Of Oblivion will lure you with its complex songwriting…

Sometimes what hardcore needs is a balance between choruses and frenzy.

Dance mathcore?

The final part to The Circle of Life and Death leads to The World Under Unsun, where you'll have a long time in which to ponder upon life and death as you navigate absorbing atmospheric and progressive…

Yellow Eyes have always been set on confusion, but now they want to take you to the Confusion Gate, and what lies behind is truly fascinating.

Helloween surprised the world by reuniting with former members Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske, two central pieces of the golden "Keys" era. They did this not by replacing or expelling anyone, but…