Laster are a black metal band from the Netherlands and this is their second album.
We’ve met Laster before, both on their debut album De Verste Verte Is Hier and on their split with Wederganger. Both times they’ve impressed with their atmospheric black metal, and this continues with their newest release. Continue reading “Laster – Ons Vrije Fatum (Review)”
Drevorod are an atmospheric black metal band from Russia and this is their debut album.
This is atmospheric black metal with folk influences. It’s well-played and manages to balance the atmospheric/folk sides of the music well, so that the band have an obvious character to their music without it coming across as twee. Continue reading “Drevorod – I Swear to Return Here (Review)”
This is the debut album from German thrashers Raw Ensemble.
Raw Ensemble deliver a raw and vicious take on old-school thrash metal on Suffer Well. This immediately grabbed me upon first listen, as the combination of catchy riffs and blast beats that characterises the first song on the album, Enemy, suits me to the ground. Continue reading “Raw Ensemble – Suffer Well (Review)”
This is the seventh Aborym album. They play industrial metal and hail from Italy.
I love Aborym’s earlier work, but after Generator I lost track of the band unfortunately, so Shifting.negative is my first experience with them in about ten years or so. What a shocking omission on my part! This review will inevitably come from this viewpoint, as I have missed out on their last two albums, which would probably, (I imagine), have given me a more smoother transition to the current incarnation of Aborym. Continue reading “Aborym – Shifting.negative (Review)”
Azooma are a death metal band from Iran. This is their debut album.
This is progressive death metal that sees the band upping their game from their already quite impressive debut release A Hymn of a Vicious Monster. The Act of Eye continues and refines their style, mixing Opeth and Death with elements of more modern bands such as Obscura, Gorod and Gorguts. Continue reading “Azooma – The Act of Eye (Review)”
This is the second album from Church of Disgust, a US death metal band.
I really enjoyed 2013’s Unworldly Summoning. Here was an album that was just over half an hour of filthy, old-school death metal that was so ugly, hostile and evil that it was a depraved joy to experience.
Three years later and they have finally emerged from their crypt. On Veneration of Filth the band do exactly what it says on the tin and offer up 40 minutes of corpse-fresh filthy death metal, reeking of the old-school and ripe with pustulent rot. Continue reading “Church of Disgust – Veneration of Filth (Review)”
This is the debut album from Italian symphonic black/death metallers Vereor Nox.
In some ways this reminds me of The Forest Dreams of Black by Tine, which is one of my favourite examples of how to merge black and death metal with symphonic elements. Although Vereor Nox don’t sound like carbon copies of Tine, there’s enough superficial resemblance to make me instantly warm to the music on Noli Respicere. Continue reading “Vereor Nox – Noli Respicere (Review)”
This is the second album from Distant Sun, a Russian power/thrash metal band.
2015’s Dark Matter was an enjoyable slab of metal, in which Distant Sun, (featuring members of Shadow Host and Starsoup), showed the world what they had to offer. Continue reading “Distant Sun – Into the Nebula (Review)”
Zeit are an Italian hardcore band and this is their latest EP.
It seems like only yesterday that 2015’s The World Is Nothing tore into the world with their brand of dissonant, violent Hardcore. The band are now back with a new EP, consisting of three originals and an At the Gates cover. It’s 11 minutes of intensity. Continue reading “Zeit – Monument (Review)”
Obscure Sphinx are one of those special bands that openly wear their individuality like a badge of honour while still fashioning songs that really, really hit the spot. Post-metal can sometimes be one of the most emotional, atmospheric and intense sub-genres there is, and Obscure Sphinx embody this realised potential perfectly. Their third album Epitaphs is 57 minutes of pure class. Here is a band that know what they’re doing and know that they’re doing it very well indeed, thank you.
Guitarist Aleksander Olo Łukomsk told me all about their latest release, with tantalising hints of secrets and ambitions to come… Continue reading “Interview with Obscure Sphinx”
Wonderbox Metal 