Reviews

Are you a man, or a mouse?…

If it comes to reviving old projects, Fulmineos couldn't have chosen better than to have Clouds' Khrudd join the eerie Cursed Cemetery.

Do you like Elder? Do you like Weedpecker? If you answered 'yes' twice, then you will like Humanotone.

Imagine two French knights bonking each other in the head with flamed swords like the Slag brothers in Wacky Races.

When left to their own devices, Periphery’s guitarists go hard.

Without waves, the layers of the ocean would become stagnant and unconducive to life. However, Without Waves by no means sound stagnant.

The opening fusillade of Circus Of Doom seems designed to assuage the concerns of fans who wrote them off after No More Hollywood Endings – it’s a bold start, and one whose energy carries through…

Sometimes I read what other people are saying about an album and wonder how we possibly listened to the same thing.

Hey, turns out there are more bands in Indonesia outside of Vallendusk and Kekal.

Black Fucking Metal.

Music so violent it might actually get in an altercation with you.

I don’t know what it says about either my listening tastes or the country’s metal scene that I was genuinely surprised to find out that E-L-R are not from Belgium.

I slept on The Smell Of Stars And Vomit in 2021. It would be a crime to sleep on WolloW too.

You like blackened doom? You like hard trance? You like meth*? Déhà’s got you covered. *Sold separately.

An early contender for 2022’s best folk metal album comes from the very Nordic lands of... The Netherlands.

A faint war drum rumbles away.

The mythic demo finally materialised. How does reality compare to legend?

Here’s an album for everyone that misses Tarja-era Nightwish.

After a great debut and confusing follow-up, I was curious to find out which path Oddland decided to walk down, and sadly, Vermilion leaves me disappointed.

No form can exist in the abyss.

All that was promised by Hath’s debut album was the next big thing in death metal, and All That Was Promised delivers.

It’s always nice to see stoner metal bands trying to push the boundaries stylistically.

Colors II, now Symphonies II: just like movies, all people want in music today is sequels, I hear disgruntled musical elitists groan.

How much more blissful can one be?

There's somewhat of a overflow that happens when a sound is so dated that it becomes timeless.

There's generally a lot of pretty clear images that come to mind for most genres. Post-metal. Avant-garde metal. Doom metal. Progressive metal. So when something comes along and just hints at all…

Did you enjoy Stormkeep’s debut last year? Good. So, here is another one for you that will quench your thirst for over-the-top, melodic/symphonic black metal.

How many death metal bands can boast about a career of over 35 years and 11 full lengths with no real misfires? Immolation can, but they don’t seem particularly content. They can still get heavier.

So, you’re in the market for an album full of moody melancholy and memorable melodies, yet still devastating heaviness? Of course you are, so look no further than the admirably ambitious, wonderfully…

After two albums that clearly spelled "final album", Scorpions release another album, and something tells me that not even this might be the "final Scorpions" album.

Gimme Fuel, Gimme Fire, Let The World Burn Upon a Funeral Pyre…

Don’t blame it on the sunshine, Don’t blame it on the Midnight, don’t blame it on the satanic times, blame it on the witches.

What is it with the Nordic countries and melancholia?

Yep, they're still kicking ass and quirky as hell 40 years later.

I guess it's time to admit that doomgaze might soon have as big of a share of the metalgaze market as blackgaze does.

Chris Barnes has been in the news again lately, disparaging “what [death metal] has become” and taking aim (this time metaphorically) at another roster of superior vocalists, among them his…

Naxatras are still serving up slick jams, but there’s been some changes since the last album.

If Timewave Zero is so great, how come there's no Timewave One?!

In 2003, members of epic doom metal band Isole formed the pagan black Ereb Altor. In 2019, a member of pagan black Winterfylleth formed the epic doom Arð. Maybe the two genres are not that different…

It is difficult to label Necrophobic accurately, but doing so could help a newcomer find out if this is the band they are looking for. The band is sometimes referred to as a blackened death metal formation,…

Back In lack.

The song remains insane.

You may have noticed there have been a lot of Lordi albums lately. They've been conveniently packaged in this boxset, to allow me talk about all of them at once.

Debris from lost worlds: a name like that conjures to mind thoughts of alien and unpleasant entities. Débris De Mondes Perdus has the music to match.

Ysyry Mollvün’s self-titled debut is a fix for those who like their black metal to be atmospheric, melodic, with a folk touch, with infinite hooks, and with a fine storyline to back everything up.

Damnum, according to the promo materials, is the first Allegaeon album on which all band members creatively collaborated. Evidently, some of the previously unheard voices are big fans of Swedish metal.

What if you tripped on downers?

A sweet keyboard melody trickles in. A feeling of dread arises with every passing note as we are enveloped by the eerie atmosphere. A buzzing guitar riff crashes in, mimicking the soft melody. The tension…

If I had a pound for every Finnish-sounding melodeath band from Australia I’ve come across, I’d have two pounds: not a lot, but more than you’d expect from a country that’s more prone to being on fire…

I wonder if industrial metal musicians are tired of hearing their music described as "mechanically crushing". Because that's generally my "go-to phrase". And it applies to Krüller…

Grave Digger found it would be ideal to change up their musical style, name, and lyrics to something more commercially acceptable, by dropping the "Grave" from their name, leaving them simply…

How does a Matt Pike solo album sound? Exactly like you would expect it to.

What happened here? I had such great expectations for this album, and I'm terribly disappointed. Logar's Diary is a concept band, dealing with the life and adventures of Logar, a wizard in the…

Something wickedly bad.

The essence of power metal in one neat package.

The circus is back in town but the jolly times are ending and the abstinence is setting in.

Let me tell you the tale of the Northern Prince of Evil, chosen for a crusade to tear down the very heavens. Listen and cower before the story of Lord Belial.

Ahoy, fellow rum enjoyers! If you’re looking for some speed, technique and melody, check this album out.

Do you ever ache for more experimental South American music?

Sometimes checking in with a band you gave a brief listen to once last decade pays off nicely.

The promo sheet of Amoth’s The Hour Of The Wolf said that it is recommended for fans of Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Testament, Megadeth, and Joe Satriani. So I thought, “if this is even half-accurate, it…

MACHI BHASAD, DEKH MACHI BHASAD, DEKH BEECH SADAK TERI MACHI BHASAD, AB KHODE MILKE TERI KABAR, BAS KHATM HUA DEKH MERA SABAR

"Eradicate your fallacies or suffer for eternity."

Devil Is Fine was the blueprint for the Zeal & Ardor sound, and Stranger Fruit was the realization of that sound. Zeal & Ardor is the critical next evolution.

The Long Road North is a good Cult Of Luna album, but it feels like it’s missing a little something.

When we think of metal from Iceland, undoubtably we think about black metal or something more dark and deep than power metal. Therefore, it is not very usual to hear about power metal bands from Iceland,…

Making an impact.

Hello darkness my old friend.

Still going strong.

The night comes after the fire.