Reviews

This is a typical Amorphis album. As in, it’s bloody lovely.

The "M" is silent.

An ode is a poem that praises and venerates. An elegy is a poem that mourns and laments. An Ode And Elegy is one of 2022’s most ambitious genre fusions.

What’s the hardest part of releasing a masterpiece? Following it up.

I'm about at my wit's end trying to find the right words for this little diddy.

Eternity must be a very long time to keep a smile.

A few tweaks here and there can make a whole lot of difference.

With most of the bands I have listened to in high school, many of them have drifted away from my ears as I grew older.

Electromancy is a band of robotic mannequins and their human builder, playing black metal with an industrial and technical twist. Aye, robots. No joke.

Kurokuma are on a quest to make sludge grim again. With Born Of Obsidian, they’re going about it in the right way.

Only the bare necessities are present here.

Black metal's trailblazing hyper-technical offspring comes out with its most grounded work on Crystalline Exhaustion.

Andorra’s greatest export continue to transcend.

Why would anyone do drugs when they could just mow the lawn?…

Black Renditions is like that scene when our hero, black metal, is being monologued by the villain, pop music, in the final act, and the villain hits it with "You and I, we're not so different…

Astronomy as a theme + raw black metal that flirts with black'n'roll, but with a delectable dissonant guitar tone and an occasional taste for progressive rhythms? Say no more.

Recent ad spotted in a Finnish local newspaper: Sentenced-influenced doom metal band looking for a keyboard player who is solely into that hopeful Nightwish sound. That is Shadecrown in a nutshell.

Thick As A Brick could well be one of the most ambitious albums ever made; certainly back in its day it was. Although this kind of concept was not entirely original, it had never been done before to this…

The change in direction of Earthless on Black Heaven turns out to have been temporary; the insanely long instrumental jams are back with a vengeance.

You may know the Greek metal scene through its more extreme output, but there is one traditional heavy metal band that formed back in the mid-eighties, and - surprisingly - they are still around and they…

Loads of metalheads talk big about how metal isn't dangerous anymore. Well, not "here". There's still places in the world where metal is actual resistance. And regardless of how much…

The previous Boris album was called "No". This one is called "W". The next one might be called "".

What is it about metal bands, the solar system and extremely long albums?

A posthumous dissection of a metalcore great's final album.

Crimson Glory had begun their career very impressively with this debut, which was topped only by their following release Transcendence. This early rise to glory became their downfall, as they never really…

Probably the most controversial moments in any major band's history are vocalist replacements. Black Sabbath's had quite a few. And despite having the second longest tenure as Black Sabbath's…

South American culture was in vogue on extreme metal debut records released on 14 January 2022.

Some metal albums really make you think “damn, do I love drums”.

Judging a book by the cover.

Stoner/doom metal bands love the void; if they’re not going into the void or wondering where you were whilst they were into the void, they’re focusing on things coming from the void.

A Bright Future Lies Ahead.

I'm starting to think that "dood" might not mean "dude".

Truly special. There are complex feelings I get from The Astonishing and no other album makes me feel this way.

I put a spell on you.

“Seven deadly sins, Seven ways to win, Seven holy paths to hell, And your trip begins…” Oops, wrong album! But the trip is guaranteed nonetheless.

2022 is absolutely not messing around as far as music is concerned.

Choo... Choo... this train is departing and there’s no time for stopping!

Grab your leather-bound book of runes, and let's go camping in the mystical forest up north. It is pagan black metal time.

In the end, I didn’t get to join the Sunn O))) reviewing club before 2021 was over, but better late than never. Now I get to have opinions about everyone’s favorite weird drone duoooo))).

Burzum and Wolves In The Throne Room walk into a Serbian bar, with promising results.

And thus 2022 began with an album more than a decade in the making.

The 31st of December has got to be the worst possible release date.

Another 1 January, another Mechina album.

This album is about as icy as the artwork adorning its cover.

A fantastic black metal album being almost slept over due to a surprise release in late December? Where have I heard that one before?…

If you thought that Negură Bunget, Dordeduh, and Kultika are enough Romanian bands releasing records in 2021 after a long time, you're wrong. There was room in the very final days for a more obscure…

The 70s brought us so many legends of hard rock, such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin. Amongst those big names came Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, which, like those early hard rock bands,…

2022, go home, you're already on fire.

This is the album that I want to experience live in its entirety at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. One can only dream.

This is why you wait till the bitter end before listing the best albums of the year.

Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga Is ideal for Tolkein fanatics who are perhaps tired of listening to the mighty Summoning, and are familiar with Caladan Brood. If so, and you're in search of…

Considering the fascination with ancient history and cultures that exists within the metal genre, it is at times surprising to me that we don't see more bands exploring the subject of Persia, no doubt…

Saturnus are a band that have been on the scene for a while now, and have made a huge impact on modern-day doom metal. Despite their discography only being relatively short to date, it is a flawless one…

I had fun coming up with alternatives to Doodswens (DudeSwans, DodoSwagger, DidoSwede). Likewise, Doodswens had fun coming up with different styles of black metal and molding them into a great debut album. Formed…

King Crimson had a mightily prolific career during their first five years, but on Red is where the magic really happened. Yes, this is the apex of King Crimson’s career and, by induction, the pinnacle…

You pass the Earth's destructive tectonic force through cold analogue machines and you get P.H.O.B.O.S.. On Bleaker Beater, you also remove all strings, leaving just the machines.

Ok Nefna Tysvar Ty is argubly Falkenbach's best album, and one that should not go unnoticed by any Viking metal enthusiasts.

I listened to a shitload of Black Album covers so you don't have to.

First, place a cauldron filled with five litres of water over a fire until the frogs boil. Next, add the psilocybin, darkness extract, and zombie kittens. Finally, get Steve over there to stir it with…

A long-awaited follow-up that is also sadly a swansong? An atmospheric black metal colossus that really wins its runtime? Yes!

Well, that’s certainly a memorable band name.

I guess you never really stop growing.

90s meloblack, aged in Nightwish barrels for 23 years, expertly performed and slightly overproduced. Welcome to 18th century Scandinavia, just in time for the Great Northern War… Grab an ice pick…

Dormant Ordeal aren’t the only Polish death metal band making waves this month.

Confidently living in the shadow of the previous records.

Those distant fires are burning brightly.

Death metal has reached its conclusion. And Charnel Altar is just getting started.

Metal is at a place where it’s hard to envisage where the next truly unique sound will come. In the absence of this, finding new ways to merge existing styles is the best way to stand out, which…

Daydream is just as majestic as I like all my daydreams to be.

Anybody wanna sign up for two and a half hours of acoustic Melvins songs?