Altars Ablaze are a blackened death metal band from Czechia and this is their debut album.
Holy crap, now this is the stuff! 31 minutes of blistering blackened death metal that takes no prisoners and is utterly merciless. Life Desecration is pure evil and sounds absolutely great. Featuring current and ex-members of Brutally Deceased and Heaving Earth, Altars Ablaze know what they’re doing with their extreme metal. Continue reading “Altars Ablaze – Life Desecration (Review)”
This is the third album from Russian doom metal band Mare Infinitum.
Cryosleep contains 47 minutes of epic symphonic doom metal, although these simple words don’t really do the music here sufficient justice. Mare Infinitum’s style takes a base of death/doom and then builds on this with lavish orchestration and operatic depth. Continue reading “Mare Infinitum – Cryosleep (Review)”
Kuolemanlaakso are a Gothic metal band from Finland and this is their latest EP.
I thoroughly enjoyed Kuusumu from earlier in the year, so it’s pleasing – yet surprising – to have a new EP so soon. Apparently these songs were recorded at the same time as Kuusumu though, and in the words of the band, “We knew already when entering the studio that we’re going to record more than an album, as we had plenty of material to work on. Continue reading “Kuolemanlaakso – Kuolleiden Laulu (Review)”
This is the debut album from Finnish funeral doom band Arche.
Transitions is a 36-minute exploration of funeral doom. Spread across three tracks, Arche’s seductive music is best experienced whole as it flows from piece to piece into a singular work of solemn art. Continue reading “Arche – Transitions (Review)”
This is the fifth album from Norwegian black metal band Dødsengel.
I haven’t caught up with Dødsengel in a while, but enjoyed both their 2013 split with Nightbringer – Circumambulations of the Solar Inferno – and their 2017 album Interequinox, so when Bab Al On appeared with its very striking album art, I knew I wanted to explore that it had to offer. Continue reading “Dødsengel – Bab Al On (Review)”
This is the debut album from French doom band Monastr.
Crushing together crust, post-metal, and sludge into 40 minutes of scathing doom, On Your Knees is a harrowing journey into the darkness of the real world’s horrors. There’s no escape here, only the harshness of reality. Continue reading “Monastr – On Your Knees (Review)”
This is the third album from German black metal band Imha Tarikat.
Imha Tarikat’s well-written contemporary black metal is satisfying and rewarding to listen to. It combines elements from the modern and classic styles into something all of its own. Elements of hard rock, heavy Continue reading “Imha Tarikat – Hearts Unchained – At War with a Passionless World (Review)”
This is the second album from Shaam Larein, a Swedish rock band.
Sticka en Kniv I Världen contains 39 minutes of idiosyncratic heavy rock. Mixing together elements of Gothic, doom, avant-garde, and post-punk, this offers a distinguished work for the listener to be mesmerised by. Continue reading “Shaam Larein – Sticka en Kniv I Världen (Review)”
Onhou are a doom metal band from the Netherlands and this is their second album.
Onhou crush together sludge, doom, and post-metal into a dense ball of heaviness and mood. Containing four songs spread over 42 very moreish minutes, Monument is a record that any adherent to the cult of sludge should seek out. Continue reading “Onhou – Monument (Review)”
This is the debut album from US death metallers Stabbing.
Here we have something particularly brutal. Stabbing play death metal with lashings of cruelty and bloody punishment. Across 33 minutes Extirpated Mortal Process lays waste with its gruesome brutality. Continue reading “Stabbing – Extirpated Mortal Process (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 