Siberian Hell Sounds – Svengali (Review)

Siberian Hell SoundsSiberian Hell Sounds are from Australia and play black metal/blackened hardcore. This is their latest EP.

This is 18 minutes of blackened intensity and underground rage. Taking the basic imprint of black metal and running it through the grinder, Siberian Hell Sounds have poured hardcore and grindcore influences liberally over themselves so that their black metal is as abusive and contagious as possible. Continue reading “Siberian Hell Sounds – Svengali (Review)”

Suffer Yourself – Ectoplasm (Review)

Suffer YourselfSuffer Yourself are Ukrainian/Swedish and play atmospheric doom/death metal. This is their second album.

This is atmospheric doom/death with an emphasis on long, slow songs that are filled with morbid beauty and hopeless despair.

The pace is torturously slow, but we like it that way. The band take their time to carefully build atmosphere through relentless heavy distortion and lighter, more restrained passages; frequently combined together. Continue reading “Suffer Yourself – Ectoplasm (Review)”

Rudra – Enemy of Duality (Review)

RudraRudra are a blackened extreme metal band from Singapore. This is their eighth album.

Despite being around for a very long time at this point, and despite having first heard of them an almost equally long time ago, this is my first actual encounter with Rudra and their so-called Vedic metal. Continue reading “Rudra – Enemy of Duality (Review)”

Earth and Pillars – Pillars I (Review)

Earth and PillarsThis is the second album from Italian black metal band Earth and Pillars.

It starts off softly, leaving you unprepared for what lies within…

This is atmospheric black metal with long songs and epic ambition.

Mixing repetitive atmospheric mood-pieces with suffocating Continue reading “Earth and Pillars – Pillars I (Review)”

Interview with Downfall of Gaia

Downfall of Gaia Logo

You know that feeling when you listen to a band’s album and you just know that you’re going to be enjoying and exploring it for years to come? Downfall of Gaia’s latest release Atrophy is exactly one such release. I’m listening to it again as I write this, and it makes me quite excited to think that years from now I’ll still be listening to it, only I’ll know it even better than I do at the moment.

With a desire to find out some more about the band behind this superlative album, how else to get to know Downfall of Gaia even better than to reach out to the vocalist/guitarist of the band, Dominik Goncalves dos Reis, for a chat…?

What are your influences?

We are influenced by a lot of things. Musically I would break it down to black metal, doom and sludge as the main influence. Continue reading “Interview with Downfall of Gaia”

Vircolac – The Cursed Travails of the Demeter (Review)

VircolacVircolac are an Irish death metal band and this is their debut EP.

This is a band that have been firmly influenced by the old-school. It’s classic-styled death metal that firmly puts the emphasis on songs and atmosphere, as opposed to mindless speed, technicality or similar such stuff. Continue reading “Vircolac – The Cursed Travails of the Demeter (Review)”

Steve Moore – The Mind’s Eye (OST)

Steve MooreSteve Moore, (Zombi man), turns his hand at creating another soundtrack. I don’t normally listen to soundtrack work, but as I like Zombi, I decided it was worth giving this one a try. I’m glad I did.

There are a lot of moods and feelings at play across the 86 minutes on this release. All of them are arguably cut-short in typical soundtrack style, leading to somewhat of a grindcore-feel, (only synth-based); there Continue reading “Steve Moore – The Mind’s Eye (OST)”