Urskog are a Swedish blackened sludge band and this is their debut demo release.
The music is dark and sinister, with eerie melodies used as part of the band’s blackened approach. These are usually deposited on top of darker, blackened riffs that are ably backed up by the percussive section. Continue reading “Urskog – Urskog (Review)”
Ordog are from Finland and play death/doom metal. This is their fifth album.
Okay, so let’s start this review off in no uncertain terms – The Grand Wall is a great album. There. I said it.
The songs follow mournful, misery-drenched themes, as is the norm for this style of music, although Ordog seem quite happy to crank up the aggression when they need to. Due to the overall sorrowful atmospheres though, this is a negatively-charged aggression that keeps within the over-arching framework that the band have set for themselves. Continue reading “Ordog – The Grand Wall (Review)”
Au Champ des Morts are a French black metal band and this is their debut album.
This is contemporary black metal that has a firm foundation in the traditional style, but updated for the modern day with post-black metal, atmospheric and blackgaze influences.
Dans la Joie is full of emotive and Continue reading “Au Champ des Morts – Dans la Joie (Review)”
This is the fifth album from The Furor, a black/thrash/death metal band from Australia.
Mixing black metal with death metal and thrash, this is furious war metal that’s aggressive as Hell and is on an all-out attack. Continue reading “The Furor – Cavalries of the Occult (Review)”
Maze of Sothoth are an Italian death metal band and this is their debut album.
Maze of Sothoth play dark death metal that’s influenced by the likes of Morbid Angel and HP Lovecraft.
Starting off the album with a short ambient track that’s actually quite unnerving and unsettling, when Continue reading “Maze of Sothoth – Soul Demise (Review)”
Burn Damage are a Portuguese metal band and this is their debut album.
Age of Vultures is 32 minutes of stomping groove/thrash metal with some death metal influences thrown in for extra brutality. Continue reading “Burn Damage – Age of Vultures (Review)”
Old Chapel are a death metal band from Russia. This is their second album.
Old Chapel play old-school death metal with a healthy doom influence. Continue reading “Old Chapel – Visions from Beyond (Review)”
This is the debut album from Self-Hatred, a doom/death metal band from the Czech Republic.
Self-Hatred are, refreshingly, a little different to your standard doom/death band; this is a slightly more contemporary take on the style than most attempt, although it still recognises and is influenced by the founders of this particular sub-genre. I also like the black metal influences that can be heard creeping into the music here and there, which also give Self-Hatred a different angle of attack than a lot of their peers. Continue reading “Self-Hatred – Theia (Review)”
Maloic are an Indian death metal band and this is their debut album.
This is melodic death metal with folk elements. Featuring influences from traditional Indian music, Maloic are reminiscent of the early/mid 90s death metal era, where bands were experimenting with the core genre to include wider styles. Continue reading “Maloic – Death (Review)”
Welcome to the world of Vanha. On the one hand it’s a very bleak and desolate world, filled with heartache and misery. On the other hand though, it’s a world full of rich beauty and textured emotive soundscapes. Within the Mist of Sorrow charts and documents themes of suffering and sadness in such a way that the listener is moved by the music and the emotive performance within.
Jan “Janne” Johansson (Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards) and Jesse Oinas (Drums) are Continue reading “Interview with Vanha”
Wonderbox Metal 