Reviews

At their best, self-titled albums in the middle of a band's career serve as a triumphant encapsulation of the band's best attributes to date. Is this the case with Erra?…

Unrealized potential, a band who could have become something but ultimately never got off the ground.

It if ain't broke, don't fix it.

Like Mechina, Neurotech is a project centered around combining metal with electronic/industrial music. Like Mechina, the Neurotech project was highly prolific between 2011 and 2017 before slowing down/going…

Life after death.

The moodiest of moods.

They used to say that if man was meant to fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to.

This is my 420th review.

You don't just release an album called I'm Going To Kill Myself and then disappear for six years. I was concerned.

Are you looking for a bit more groove in your progressive death metal? Morost have got you covered.

The word 'nous' means 'mind' or "intellect" in Greek. Culted's Nous plays with your mind in the most immersive, frightening, introspective, and nihilistic way.

It might take as much as ten years to come out with a debut full length if half your band is also in Full Of Hell.

A bunch of grind youths from Memphis getting their debut album mixed by Kurt Ballou and its artwork by Ethan McCarty probably means they're doing something right.

Patience is a virtue, particularly when it's rewarded with delights such as Etemen Ænka.

Can you hear the thunder?…

"Be not afraid!" - says the floating head with three pairs of wings.

Do you ever fall in love with an album purely because of its production?

The walking dead stumbles.

Blut Aus Nord's Vindsval created the Yerûšelem project to channel the industrial side of Blut Aus Nord. Now he created Forhist to channel the atmospheric black metal side.

In 2021, Empyrium have the hindsight to slip back into being a dark folk band a bit more gracefully than in the 90s by not foregoing all the metal elements.

Hamferð keeps invading progressive metal bands. It happened to Barren Earth, it happened to Iotunn. It could be your progressive metal band next. You've been warned!

Do you enjoy Neptunian Maximalism's jazz drone, but don't have the patience for a 2h album? Do you enjoy Dark Buddha Rising's psychedelic doom, but wish it had more jazz? You're in…

At this point Evergrey appear to be in a comfort zone where they are unable to produce a mediocre album. Are they capable of releasing a grand album though?

Réminiscence - this is second Csejthe studio album, and in my opinion it is one of the best black metal album ever recorded! I discovered this album 3 years ago and since that time it hasn't…

Where have the years gone.

Who needs MTV videos when we have sludge?…

Skyforger did this already, but there won't be new Skyforger.

Let the northern madness start to rage with a blizzard.

Epica really need no introduction, as far as anyone with a passing interest in symphonic metal is concerned; only Nightwish and Within Temptation really surpass them in terms of international renown. However,…

A progressive sludge album is not exactly the last place I'd expect to hear echoes of middle-period Death - I mean, in the grand scheme of things, all subgenres of metal are right next to each other.

It's a new sound for Architects, but it's still not one that'll win me over.

Ever felt that exhilarating sensation when a strong, cold wind faces you head on and you take a deep breath? For most of the time, this album feels just like that.

F*ck capitalists - the official soundtrack.

Just as with the postponement of Accept's Too Mean To Die, I find an amusing pinprick of irony in Orden Ogan's Final Days being delayed for eight months because the days were getting a little…

Wolvennest's Void was a fairly colossal undertaking; their next album, Temple, is no different.

Tribulation have been one the most exciting Swedish exports of the last twelve years. From their early deathly brutalities to their most recent gothic horrors, these guys have had a streak of sensational…

The stoner metal exports of Poland vary from the thoroughly traditional (Dopelord) through to the musically adventurous. Sunnata fall firmly towards the latter end of that spectrum, and Burning In Heaven,…

Thrash metal and death metal blended together, that's pretty standard. Progressive metal and death metal? Sure. Progressive metal and thrash metal... uhm... what?…

It wasn't since Morbid Angel's Illud Divinum Insanus's joint review that the staff collaborated on a single review. This time it isn't because the album is polarizing. Far from it.

At Odin's table in Valhalla, you will find the "einherjar", the slain warriors who died in battle. Einherjer from Haugesund, Norway are one of the Viking metal pioneers. They have been at…

Out of all the elders of post-rock, Mogwai have been the most prolific. And in a discography that for the past 15 years has had more soundtracks than actual studio albums, it's hard to really wow…

Well that's a guitar tone you don't hear that often in death metal.

It may be true that what initially attracted me to this band was the presence of Daniel Neagoe on vocals (actually, it was Radu sending me a PM that read, "Your darling Daniel Neagoe just released…

I feel like I'd need a lot more time to dissect all the intricacies of this album.

It is a bit weird seeing a Lewandowski cover art for a deathcore album, but Välde is monolithic enough to earn it.

If you like Polish black metal, you should know Furia. If you don't, you need to correct that mistake immediately; but avoid W Śnialni at all costs.

In these hard days there are two vaccine types. One is for the coronavirus but not everyone can have it yet. The other one is the pure metal vaccine and it's always available; this time, I offer you…

Time for another match between Lacuna Coil's discography VS gothic.

This is a bloody death/thrash riot, packed with heavy metal hooks.

I haven't listened to any more Negură Bunget since reviewing Sur Austru's debut two years ago, but I consider myself relieved of any responsibility for further research; after a successful first…

Emptiness left their death metal husk. What's left is Vide.

Can you believe it's been nearly 20 years since God Is An Astronaut's debut?

Musically, I have spent the better part of the last 10 years or so trying to find a substantial replacement for arguably my favorite post-metal band of all time, Isis.

Call me Ishmael, and I'll rip your fucking face off.

Listen. I don't want to brag or anything, but I have an engineering degree, so I am at least a bit versed in "the sciences". That said, what the fuck is a "γ​-​Noise…

"Hermitage is an open-hearted invitation to simplicity. To be humble. To be thankful. To serve you solace. Provide you comfort, entertainment. We sincerely hope this call reaches you. That you kindly…

Hello darkness my old friend.

Last year, I reviewed Gnaw Their Tongues's whatever it was with the really long title and Golden Ashes's whatever it was with the less-long-but-still-long title, and I was welcomed at last into…

"And I said what about The Omen She said I think I remember the film And as I recall I think we both kind of liked it And I said well that's the one thing we've got"…

Desensitized Icon.

The party goes on.

Harakiri For The Sky make their most compelling case yet for the argument that "there's no such thing as too much of a good thing", but I'm still not fully convinced.

It seems it ain't just the newcomers who can come up with fantastic progressive death metal albums.

Hidden gem.

We waited as if it was a tortoise, but this hare surely won the race.

I don't get it. Why is this album a 10/10 in my eyes and it's only rated 6 on the site? Why don't people seem interested at all? Why did the staff listen to it and declare it "not worthy…

Spanish Gold.

Charon was a band that never piqued my interest. They have progressively gone better with each passing album, but for the most part, it wasn't standout music to my ears. Even though I haven't…

There are two big requirements for a great death metal release: emulating the right bands, and writing killer riffs. Mefitis hit both of these right on the head.

I have never been an avid listener of this band but always kept my eye on them since I am a fan of vocalist Jonne Järvelä's eponymous side project, some of which seems to have finally crept…