This is the debut album from French post-black metal band Heaume Mortal, (featuring a member of Eibon and Cowards).
There are six tracks on this album spread out across a sprawling 58 minutes of material, (including a Burzum cover). This is music that’s dark and crushing, while also containing aspects of resplendence and writhing, textured colour. Continue reading
Drawn into Descent are a black metal band from Belgium and this is their second album.
Drawn into Descent play atmospheric black metal with blackgaze, post-rock, and depressive black metal qualities. I first encountered the band on their 2015 self-titled debut, which was an album that grew into my thoughts over time, forcing me to return to it over and over again through the years. Continue reading
This is the third album from the impressively named Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, a doom metal band from the UK.
I really enjoyed the band’s striking 2016 debut record Y Proffwyd Dwyll, which saw the band offer up an intoxicating blend of psychedelic sludge/doom metal. In 2018 they unleashed a mammoth, (ahem), split with Slomatics called Totems, which Continue reading
This is the second album from Pig’s Blood, a death metal band from the US.
Here we have 32 minutes of raw, underground death metal, dripping with filth and agony and reeking of unholy energies. This is brutal, gnarled, and thoroughly evil. Continue reading
Children of Bodom are a melodic death metal band from Finland and this is their tenth album.
My relationship with Children of Bodom up to this point can be summarised like so –
And now we have Hexed. Yes, there are other albums too, in addition to the ones mentioned above, but you get the general idea.
Hexed contains 45 minutes of rocking melodeath, which consists of ten new tracks and, curiously, a reworking of an older song, (Knuckleduster). My verdict? It seems Children of Bodom have returned to the quality levels of the late 90s/early 00s. Yes, you read that right.
Prominent, expressive keyboards work wonders with the material. Songs that are catchy and memorable tear out from the music like bladed predators scything through the airwaves. Old school rock and metal elements are captured in the band’s electrifying songs, especially in the melodies used. Aggressive, energetic, and melodic, Hexed is full of good tunes and confident attitude.
I’m impressed. I’m very pleased to say that the band sound revitalised, despite how much of a cliché that probably comes across as. The album art suggested something along these lines when I first saw it, but the music firmly backs it up.
Hexed is Children of Bodom’s best album in years. I feel like I’ve rediscovered an old friend.
Cripple Bastards are an Italian grindcore band and this is their seventh album.
2014’s Nero in Metastasi was not only a top quality grindcore release, but one that I’ve frequently returned to over the years. Continue reading
Downfall of Gaia’s recently released fifth opus Ethic of Radical Finitude has rapidly become one of my favourites of 2019 already. It’s a very strong album of post-black metal and I implore you to spend some time with it.
Guitarist/vocalist Dominik Goncalves dos Reis gave me some more information about the process that saw the creation of the album… Continue reading
This is the thirteenth album from veteran Swedish metallers In Flames.
Now here’s a band that should need no introduction, and by this point most people will probably already have an opinion of this album before they’ve even heard a single note off it. Continue reading
Eremit are a doom/sludge band from Germany and this is their debut album.
As I’m sure many reviews will point out, Carrier of Weight is aptly named, as this is an album of substantial heaviness, both in the sense of sheer heaviosity and weighty atmosphere. Either way, it crushes. With only three tracks, but a total playing time of 68 minutes, Carrier of Weight is a monster of atmospheric heaviness. Continue reading
This is the fourth album from Swiss doom metal band Wolf Counsel.
The promo blurb states that this album is for fans of Cathedral, Candlemass, Trouble, and Solitude Aeturnus, and that’s a fair assessment. Continue reading
