Reviews

It wasn't enough for Yoth Iria to surprise us with one of the best EPs of 2020; they also had to release exactly twelve months later one of the best melodic black metal albums you'll be lucky…

One, Two and then the rest.

How does one make instrumental protest music?

Just to clear the waters: this is not the same band as Process Of Guilt.

Soen really are gathering some serious momentum right now.

I admit, it was a bit hard to take Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum seriously considering the band name and the webform breaking title of their first album. Something that's…

The bards have returned.

It's helpful that post-metal is a pretty broad genre description, as you need a wide umbrella to cover everything that Kultika get up to on Capricorn Wolves.

*The deafening screeches of a thousand boomers on Steven Wilson's official Facebook group as their favorite artists makes a pop album with more synths than guitars*

Nu metal must be dead. Seriously, this is one of my albums of 2020 and there is no comment and like three votes on it here (and one of it is mine). So, whoever is reading this, just give this band and…

After a 4-year break, the New Year's Day tradition of a Mechina album has returned, with all the pros and cons that come with it.

The Ruins Of Beverast is a project that always found new and exciting ways to blend black and doom metal. This time around, they add some Type O Negative, Drown and Jesu to the mix.

I didn't expect to get this far into 2021 before writing my first review, but if there's any band worth getting out of a rut for, it's Cult Of Luna.

Few bands have left me speechless with their music, even fewer I would ever call perfect, and fewer still where tragedy has struck a promising band such that the music is too much to get through without…

Diamond in the dirt.

Living up to its name and giving gravitas to its meaning, Trust No One is the straw that broke the camel's back for me and DevilDriver; where before the odd misstep could be forgiven, with this album…

Don't call it a comeback.

Oh, what could have been?…

I am going to throw this out there and this may seem shocking to some, but I find it very hard to look for an album that I really love from Paradise Lost. I've always had more admiration for their…

Evil Tinker Bell is out for blood...

Is it too early to talk about AOTY contenders?…

This is the most blatant case of false advertising since my suit against the movie The Neverending Story.

On his web page, the South African behind this band states that his "influences include Portal, Blut Aus Nord, Tool, King Crimson and Yob." If this claim did not pique your interest, then move…

What a year 1995 was for the gothic metal scene. Not only were the genre's biggest bands releasing the most influential albums of their career, but it was the beginning of new bands popping up from…

For a country whose black metal is often as blasphemous and raw as possible, Finland Aethyrick seem to take black metal in a different direction. Not really as far as the death metal equivalent of moving…

Not sure if, at this point, Accept should be called Wolf Hoffmann Group instead. Or something along these lines anyway.

The French make some really passionate black metal once in a while.

For a guy who makes incredibly slow music, Daniel Neagoe really can't seem to sit still.

If someone asks you the question "what is epic doom metal?", the obvious thing to do is play Epicus Doomicus Metallicus for them. Or you can achieve similar results by playing Will Of Gods Is…

Predictable and perfectly enjoyable.

Not the sharpest tool in the toolbox.

Hoofmark didn't forget about the blues.

Forgetting about the blues is marginally worse than forgetting about Dre.

It's time to conquer... and retreat.

Oh, THAT record...

For me, Rock The Nations serves as the lowest ebb for Saxon during the 80's, which is a shame as the band were trying to appease their fans of old rather than focus on drawing in new fans. By now,…

Third time is the charm.

A bunch of Texans playing ice cold death metal. It's not like we haven't seen weirder things happen.

With Leviathan, Therion give you exactly what you want.

Primordial's Alan Averill takes a break from his podcasts and brings back the old school doom ethos in Dread Sovereign to properly kickstart the year.

I... I'm out of my element here... Uhh... "Sithu Ayy Lmao" I guess...

How do you reconcile folk metal's increasing need for some innovation with how Latin American bands had a growing tendency to showcase their cultural roots? Easy: Aztlan.

Just when I thought I had the first half of January reviews planned, Gatecreeper had to come out with a surprise release that shakes up their established sound.

An addendum to a pretty ambitious collab, one that finally features a cover of a Cranberries song that isn't "Zombie".

Start 2021 off right: with a 2h long ambient album dedicated to MF DOOM!

Never once in my life of listening to metal have I heard incredibly weird music, and don't look for the weirdest stuff I can imagine. The band that I will be reviewing is so weird that it even makes…

So the T-800 right?…

Love to hate or hate to love?…

"There is no one alive who is youer than you."

Such mysticism.‭ ‬Such wickedness.‭ ‬Such mastery. Malakhim means‭ "‬Holy Servants"‬ in Hebrew.‭ ‬And if that was not yet clear,‭…

If aliens ever invade the Earth, I am sending them to Piet Sielck. The producer from Hamburg, not unlike his counterpart Kai Hansen's Gamma Ray, has been dishing out quality intergalactic-inspired…

Need is one of Greece's best kept secrets. They play progressive metal and they do in style; heaps of style, in fact.

Recipe for Viribus Unitis: - 2 bottles of good guitar melodies - 570 ml catchy symphonic elements - 140 grams of extremely sugary lyrics - 1 Alternate History concept cut into bite-sized pieces - 2 teaspoons…

Hold my Pepsi.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

If found, return to lost and found box.

Let's get 2020 over with.

The debut of Flowing Tears, known as Jade, was something I never paid much attention to until recently. I was familiar with the band's latest album, as well as their album Joy Parade from back when…

My death metal moratorium is over. Time for filthy riffs.

Eleine as in Madeleine Liljestam,‭ ‬which is the name of the‭ ‬striking‭ ‬front-woman who also models for a living.‭ ‬Alongside Rikard Ekberg,‭ ‬she…

Of course Grayceon sound like Giant Squid. Two of its members were in Giant Squid.

Sure, skip this review, just like you skipped on buying Amazon stocks, and Google and Apple. Need I go on?

Most of us know of fantastic albums that combine metal genres, such as blackened death, blackened thrash, death/doom, etc. The danger when merging multiple influences into one work is that it could sound…

"I think Jim no longer wants to write new music for Fates Warning. I think this may be our last album. And this was a kind of way to say that. We all still want to tour, but as far as new music, I…

I thought that I was done with reviewing in 2020; Samsara Blues Experiment apparently felt differently.

Let's end this shitty year on a high note, shall we?

There is no other style I hate more than (or as much as) pop music other than metalcore. When I was in high school starting off listening to metal music like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Death…

It takes a lot of fire to build a post-rock album that is still compelling in 2020. Or maybe it is because the world is also on fire.

Dream Theater is my favorite band. They've been for a while now. However, a lot of people classify their music as mindless wankery and dislike them because of that, and while it's true that their…

Early this January, I published an 8.6 review of Liturgy's November 2019 album H.A.Q.Q.. This was about three years after I saddled 2015's The Ark Work with one of the most vitriolic reviews…