Hekata are a Russian death metal band and this is their debut album.
Hekata play a virulent mix of death metal, black metal, hardcore, crust, and grind. It’s quite the mix, and essentially results in songs that merge these influences into blackened slabs of Scandinavian-influenced deathcrustcore. Or something. You get the idea, I’m sure. Continue reading
Altarage are a Spanish blackened death metal band and this is their third album.
2017’s Endinghent was a contagious plague of ugly blackened dissonance, and The Approaching Roar provides us with a brand new 43 minutes of dark intensity and malignant hatred. Continue reading
This is the second album from Aver, a progressive stoner rock band from Australia.
Aver play sprawling, spacefaring music that combines stoner and psychedelic influences into a progressive framework. The end result is 51 minutes of material divided into just 5 tracks. Continue reading
This is the third album from A Pale Horse Named Death, a Gothic/doom metal band from the US.
Featuring the ex-drummer of both Type O Negative and Life of Agony, When the World Becomes Undone is the band’s latest release after a long wait; their second album came out in 2013. Continue reading
This is the second album from German doom band Carrion Mother.
On Nothing Remains Carrion Mother are channelling their internal harshness in no uncertain terms. In fact, this has now become external harshness that has spread across four tracks, and lasts 53 minutes. Nothing Remains is a colossal monster of harshness and, well, more harshness. Continue reading
Blurr Thrower is a one man atmospheric black metal band from France and this is his debut release.
Blurr Thrower’s music is heavily influenced by the Cascadian scene, which is no bad thing when the results are this good. Continue reading
This is the second release from US deathgrinders Maltheist.
Five songs, 11 minutes of filth. Yes, this is deathgrind mayhem and underground carnage. We like. Continue reading
Neorhythm are a groove metal band from Finland and this is their latest EP.
This EP contains 5 tracks and 18 minutes of material. There are three new songs, and two covers, (Disturbed and Mudvayne). Continue reading
Barshasketh are a black metal band from New Zealand/the UK and this is their fourth album.
My past encounters with Barshasketh have always been very positive, (see their split with Void Ritual and split with Outre), but this is my first exposure to a full length from the band.
Well, I enjoyed the band’s previous work that I’ve heard, but this is something else. Continue reading
This is the eleventh album from Soilwork, a veteran Swedish metal band.
Soilwork’s eleventh album mixes melodic death metal with fat grooving riffs and a hard rock sensibility that sits at the heart of the band, allowing them to straddle the worlds of metal and rock quite effectively. Having said that, it should be clarified that the rock aspects of this album are mainly hidden underneath a firmly metal veneer; they inform, without overpowering. Continue reading
