Reviews

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…

Hear the battle cry of The Besieger, the master of the art of war!…

When I encountered a new one-man project with a monochrome Bandcamp picture, monochrome album covers, and blackened doom and death metal genre tags, my expectations were very much tempered; however, not…

In 1986 a young San Francisco band was ready to take the world once again; was the world ready for Metallica?…

To me, Gore Obsessed has always just been an awfully average death metal album. It doesn't really try anything new and stays pretty consistently bland throughout; to me, this album doesn't have…

The question here depends on how much epic fantasy one can endure in hard rock, because on Romantik III Bergfried go to the very limit.

Are you ready to let Remina take you on another emotionally-charged journey into the outer cosmos? Only this time it'll be on a more gothic route across The Silver Sea.

I guess you can't keep making life loathing noise rock forever.

Symphonic deathcore can be a real roll of the dice. Sometimes it slaps; more often it flops harder than a fish out of water. This little EP knocked me off my socks so hard, I had to take a bus to get back…

The overwhelming length of 2024’s A Grand Stream made for a thoroughly immersive experience, but Smote’s new album Songs From The Free House represents an impressive further evolution of Daniel Foggin’s…

Happy Halloween!

Last time out, Wolvennest bucked a trend for long, engulfing albums with the relatively compact The Dark Path To The Light. Those worrying that this might be the start of a new trend can rest easy, as…

I take a small amount of umbrage at the decision to use the title Metal Forth for Babymetal's fifth album. But perhaps, numeral nomenclature aside, it suits an album whose eyes are so thoroughly fixed…

Fanning the flames.

It would be easy to simplify Have You Heard Of The High Elves as a compilation of reworked versions of previously released songs. However, this album is so much more, as it sees Lord Snow revitalising…

Haxprocess have burst forth from the caverns of Duat, to journey beyond what eyes can see...

The Battle Beast doesn't exactly sound like it's going into battle here, but it brings another highly enjoyable blast of power metal your way regardless.

The Wings Of Steel have been soaring through the Winds Of Time, and have brought back with them some of the best quality heavy metal you'll hear in modern times.

Remember how divisive Sunbather and Aesthethica were and how a significant part of that was because they carried the "black metal" tag? Agriculture continue that divisive legacy but The Spiritual…

History-making.

Graveripper are ready to let rip from the grave again, only this time they're taking a much darker and more savage route From Welkin To Tundra.

Endless repeat listens.

Conjurer are a band that have been difficult to categorize in the past: too savage and twisted musically to naturally place alongside typical post-metal bands, but too dynamic and expansive to be confined…

Post-metal is a genre defined by contrast between heaviness and levity, melody and visceral intensity. It feels optimally poised to serve as the vehicle for composition shaped by simultaneous joy and grief,…

It's 2017. Der Weg Einer Freiheit put out their most post metal leaning album yet. It's 2021. Der Weg Einer Freiheit put out their most post metal leaning album yet. It's 2025. Der Weg Einer…

An Abstract Illusion put six years to excellent use in creating a sophomore album to be truly proud of. Woe is the kind of record the up-and-coming bands dream of creating; however, it sets a daunting…

Are you looking for something different for your Halloween playlist this year? Well, maybe some doom/post-metal with eerie witchy vocals could be a good option for you?

The colourful death of the leaves has reached me. I feel blessed during this season, as Geneviève Beaulieu has, for the last couple of years, consistently presented us with autumnal odes to nature, works…

Sanguisugabogg return with their most Hideous Aftermath in brutal death yet.

After more than two decades, you’d think that Kayo Dot wouldn’t have more barriers to cross, but the avant-garde group manages to push the boundaries of composition and ambient music even further, along…

Before Cathedral separated back in 2013 they made one last pact with Satan, and this right here was it.

Igorrr’s transition from “weird breakcore with metal elements” to “weird metal with breakcore elements” is complete and there’s no going back, to my dismay.

Finland's Hooded Menace have taken a less doom and more gothic approach this time, but believe me, that still doesn't mean they're any less menacing.

The music that makes Zen Buddhists headbang.

Of course "fairy doom" is ethereal, almost inviting, but you shouldn't completely trust anything from the fae world.

How ironic to review a "Deftones clone" right after reviewing an actual Deftones album.

Fairytale of New York.

All out war.

We're all going on a summer holiday.

Sum Of R began life as a drone/dark ambient project, which later evolved into drone metal, before turning a whole lot weirder on 2022’s Lahbryce. Spectral continues in the vein of its predecessor, but…

When I reviewed the previous album from Khan in 2023, I remarked upon how the band had evolved from the short songs of their debut EP to the point where they successfully pulled off a 10-minute song. Well,…

From the Sorrowful Land comes another fine death doom offering fitting for this time of year in Hiraeth.

It’s already been three years since Asunojokei’s アイランド (Island) blew up in the underground blackgaze scene for its unique sound, and many were eager to hear what the band had in store for their next release.

74 years of age and Glenn Hughes is still performing at the very top of his game. He may well be the Chosen one, at least when it comes to hard rock.

Considering that the genre’s foundations were inspired by the intense heaviness and complexity of Meshuggah, it’s quite remarkable that djent is responsible for many of the catchiest and most accessible…

When a band follows up an EP actually titled "Ow, My Eye" with first a single-song prog-sludge odyssey of an album and then a psychedelic rock jam EP, it seems futile predicting what they might…

“We fail to love ourselves” – words that I’m sure many people have resonated with at one point in their lives, and words often accompanied by the kind of searing anger and negativity coursing through this…

Back when Borderland was announced, Esa Holopainen remarked that Amorphis “strongly felt that it was time to explore something new”; while this was directly in reference to a change in producer after a…

The last time we heard from Between The Buried And Me, they were undertaking an extravagant ‘do-or-die’ endeavour that paid off in spades with Colors II. It’s the kind of record that should have been a…

It's almost like there couldn't have been a better time for a new Deftones album.

Lvmen have honoured the legacy of their late founder Mirda and also mark their 30-year anniversary with this magnum opus. I say Amen to that!

When Falling Leaves released their full-length debut 13 years ago, I'm sure most of us that heard it thought we'd have a rising death doom star on our hands, and considering the rarity of such…

Ratatouille.

Keeping on rotting in the free world.

Ascension is a bleak yet beautiful reflection on existence.

"Like a beautiful experience when you least expect it"

When I cook, things usually turn out one of two ways. Winging it based on inspiration I can (read as “could”) end up with something palatable*. If instead I follow a delicious recipe line by line, what…

"Waiter! There's some country twang in my post/stoner metal!"

How despair-inducing do you want your hardcore to be?

Agalloch, Apocalypse Orchestra, Swans, Weeping Sores, Wolvennest, and Dead Can Dance walk into a bar enter a studio. Would you be interested to find out what their jam sounds like?…

Spinal Tap may be long past the glory days of Intravenus De Milo and The Sun Never Sweats, but at least they can still do better than Shit Sandwich.

How noisy do you like your industrial music to be?

Is it pop? Is it punk? Is it noise? Yes!

Rubidium is rather overlooked compared with the other alkali metals, but as a component of fireworks, it makes for a fitting title of a debut album from a band looking to start with a bang.

Hey man, just chill out and enjoy some songs in the sun with the Lord Stoned Jesus while you still can.

In typical prog fashion Jack The Joker closed their first album with a 10-minute-long epic. But that wasn’t epic enough, so they increased it to 25 minutes on their sophomore. Following that trajectory…

Lorna Shore struck gold in recruiting Will Ramos during a turbulent period for the band, but the first full-length that the band and vocalist released together felt like it fell short of their collecive…

Novembers Doom are a band you can say have genuinely lived up to their title. Now they want to doom listeners further still, this time taking you on a spiritual journey guided by the Major Arcana.

If I had a dollar for every 90s metalcore band that had a surprise return album this summer after more than two decades, I'd have two dollars.

Want to get as much cello-based post/prog as you can get?