Reviews

It's nice for a band to come along once in a while and remind the world that New Zealand's metal scene has more to offer than only Ulcerate.

I remembered seeing this when it came out and thinking "Ah, another doom-tinged OSDM album from 20 Bucks Spin". Boy, was I wrong.

He's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the…

Apt title.

The Wolf is at the door again.

By demons be driven.

Mortality doesn't seem so bad with a soundtrack like this.

There are one-man black metal bands that take inspiration from thrash metal, and thrash metal bands that take inspiration from black metal, sometimes even one-man thrash metal bands. Or are they all just…

Raw one-man black metal projects usually come a dime a dozen, so for one that is only now releasing its actual full-length to get so much underground buzz, it must mean they're doing something right.

This is the part I've anticipated the most, the time where I look into Anathema's Gothic metal era (although some would still say they are not there yet). Eternity has a special place in my…

I'll be honest, I haven't listened to The Silent Enigma in its entirety in a while. I remember being so obsessed with this album during my first year of community college, but other Anathema…

Conjuring the sound of the old American West to life in black metal form, Wayfarer once again craft something epic and distinctly their own.

And now time for something completely different.

Actual footage of Houkago Grind Time sending me this promo…

The only Virus that I wanted this year.

It's only been a bit over a year since I last reviewed a Teramaze album; It's amazing how long ago that feels now.

Skeletal Remains produce a record that pays you back for the years of keeping them in your mind.

I knew Toadeater would impress me with their next album, but I was still surprised.

This is going to be a very long review but I don't intend to beat around the bush. Instead, I'll give it to you from the very beginning: Empire Of The Blind is uninteresting for general thrash…

Transcendence Into The Peripheral. The title says it all, once you dive deep into the the more disturbing sounds of death-doom. I was surprised that nobody has reviewed this album, so I decided that I…

Pentecost III comes at an unusual moment in Anathema's career. This would be the last release to have Darren White as vocalist. However, while on the verge of leaving, he remained in the band for…

A solid feast for the ears.

Life after Liv? The first album without her, 2018's Sign Of The Dragonhead, was honestly a bit underwhelming for me, but after hearing it live, some songs grew on me. Yes, Leaves' Eyes played…

Almost again.

Prepare to be ravaged by the savage.

The dead know what they're doing when they leave this world behind.

The northern lights are shining again.

The next step in human evolution, but standing still for Fear Factory.

Faceless In The Machine.

Together with Wormlust, Skáphe is essentially the elder statesman of Mystískaos, the band that's been around the longest and exerts the most creative influence over the overall ethos…

Of all the recent additions to the Mystískaos roster, say from about 2018 onward, Serpent Column has undoubtedly proven to be one of the most interesting.

Mystískaos, that shadowy black metal label/collective of American and Icelandic origin, dumped three new releases on us last Wednesday. Let's dive into them, shall we?

French atmospheric doom metalers Ixion have returned from, er, Return with their latest voyage, L'Adieu Aux Etoiles. The title translates to "Farewell To The Stars", which is rather amusing…

Well at least the title explains what happened with this record.

Remaining at the head of the trail being blazed can be exhausting, but it can also invigorate the senses by providing inspiration for sources of new ideas.

I sometimes forget that my country makes metal music once in a while.

With May You Be Held, my quest to understand the appeal of Sumac remains unresolved.

An experience that you need to take.

The only thing fans of the band need to know is that this album can hold its own against Carnage.

A lot of Japanese rock and metal tends to be so melodic as a matter of course that the lines between "pop music" and "other stuff" get blurred; it can be difficult to tell when a band…

I can't think of a single alternative metal band that aged better than Deftones.

Katavasia is a supergroup whose younger members use their instruments to revive the style of music that their eldest member helped shape and evolve back in the '90s.

At this point, Amaranthe have been around long enough for most users on this or any metal site to have had the opportunity to encounter them and develop one of what I imagine are the only two possible…

Either because the genre has just been pretty weak in 2020 or because I simply haven't been paying attention, I haven't heard many doom or stoner metal releases this year that have really knocked…

After 30 years of existence, John McEntee refuses to let Incantation go quietly into that good night.

Given how explorative their career had been from their beginning up until 2010's iconic Axioma Ethica Odini, Enslaved's last few albums were surprisingly similar stylistically. Utgard is here…

*Ominous organ starts playing*

I have long* criticized Frontierer albums for being too long for how brutal they are. So they kinda took Fawn Limbs under their wing to condense it to 28 minutes.

Leave it to the Germans to operate at peak efficiency.

Ever watch those documentaries about the death of hair metal and the glam scene in general? Those few people who don't point the finger squarely at the flannel-bedecked grunge bands often refer to…

Rotten but a fresh of fresh air.

Amiensus started off being labelled as a meloblack band without really playing all that much black metal. They've moved increasingly towards black metal as their career has progressed, but the further…

Every now and then, I click through my promos on a whim, because I am stupid and unaware that I already have too much content I am supposed to be publishing in addition to my editorial duties. I enjoyed…

What a prolific year for the growing death-doom sub-genre. 1993 not only saw some of the best releases from Disembowelment, Katatonia and My Dying Bride, but this was beginning of some of these bands transitioning…

There will always be room for healthy debate about whether maintaining relevance or establishing a niche is the most important aspect of content creation.

A mysterious duo of French musicians posing with metallic heads; now where have we seen that before?…

In 2017, I discovered Night by listening to their then newly released album Raft Of The World. The cover art of that album was so good it immediately piqued my interest, and to my pleasant surprise the…

In late September 2019, I gave a glowing review to a new album with monochrome artwork released by an established post-metal band. Given all the chaos that has come with 2020, I'm experiencing a surprising…

A new take on the tried and tested formula.

I came for the artwork. I stayed for the hallucinatory jamz behind it.

By the time Anathema released their EP The Crestfallen, they were already beat compared to the other Peaceville trio bands that defined death-doom. Paradise Lost had already released their third album…

Every folk metal band by now has either fallen off, had a lukewarm phase, or they were never that big in the first place. Finntroll endured.

Neoclassical power metal is probably one of my favourite subgenres of power metal. As a result, I'm always excited when there's a new release. This time we have Kenziner's new work, Phoenix,…

Selling out doesn't mean putting crap out.

Late to the party.

The only way to make thrash sound dangerous is to either be an extreme metal pioneer in the 80s or to sound like one.

Remember when black metal used to be about Satan?

I don't know what sin produces a sentence like this but It's time to go on a sin spree.

Prog's most emotionally gutwrenching one-man band returns with plenty more feels.

Some bands elevate the genre in which they find themselves aligned. Others merely produce as if commanded to do so.