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Psychomancer – Shards of the Hourglass (Review & Interview)

This is the third album from Psychomancer, a death metal band from the US.

Shards of the Hourglass is a monstrous death/thrash metal release that falls somewhere between Swedish death metal and the more adventurous side of 90s death and thrash metal. There’s a vicious German influence too – think a mix of Vader and Destruction. Take all of this together and it makes for a surprisingly engaging 58-minute blend of extreme metal. Continue reading “Psychomancer – Shards of the Hourglass (Review & Interview)”

Avslut – Tyranni (Review)

This is the second album from Swedish black metallers Avslut.

Hot on the heels of last year’s Deceptis now comes Tyranni, with 47 minutes of cold fury. This is black metal of the old-school Swedish variety; vicious and evil. Continue reading “Avslut – Tyranni (Review)”

Timeworn – Leave the Soul for Now (Review)

This is the third album from Timeworn, a Norwegian sludge metal band.

This is riff-friendly sludge metal, with both a hardcore influence and an atmospheric one. There’s a mix of the harsh and the beautiful here, which is weighted towards the energetic former, but the latter is still an important part of the band’s sound too. Continue reading “Timeworn – Leave the Soul for Now (Review)”

Monthly Overview – the Best of November 2019

What an unreasonably strong month for metal releases November was! Be assured, this list could have been much, much bigger. Let’s see what made the cut… Continue reading “Monthly Overview – the Best of November 2019”

Impenitent – Impenitent (Review)

Impenitent are a blackened death metal band from the UK and this is their debut album.

Here we have some raw, underground stuff from the bottom of the underworld. It’s an hour of technical black/death metal, played with skill and passion, which sounds as if the recording of the album was recently found locked in some obscure vault somewhere after many, many years. Continue reading “Impenitent – Impenitent (Review)”

Bölzer – Lese Majesty (Review)

Bölzer are a Swiss black metal band and this is their latest EP.

Bölzer’s music is impressively creative and idiosyncratic, and their take on blackened metal is both enjoyable and infectious. An EP this may be, but there’s still 29 minutes of material here. Continue reading “Bölzer – Lese Majesty (Review)”

Mara – RÖK (Review)

Mara is a Swedish one man black metal band and this is his third album.

Sometimes you just need a hit of the black stuff, and RÖK offers 36 minutes of the darkness you need. Spread across 5 tracks, this is cold black metal played as if it was still the 90s. Continue reading “Mara – RÖK (Review)”

Façade – The Eternal Dance (Review)

Façade are a doom band from the Netherlands and this is their second album.

This is the follow up to 2017’s Loathe, featuring 54 minutes of new material. These songs are generally longer and even more rich in substance and delivery than those of the debut, which is no mean feat. It sounds as if a lot of work has gone into The Eternal Dance. Continue reading “Façade – The Eternal Dance (Review)”

Teeth – The Curse of Entropy (Review)

Teeth are a death metal/grindcore band from the US, and this is their second album.

A new Teeth album! I’ve been following this band ever since their debut album Unremittance was unleashed in 2014. After that, we had their very tasty split with Fister, and then the downright delicious split with Barghest. Unlike the latter, with Continue reading “Teeth – The Curse of Entropy (Review)”

Mesmur – Terrene (Review)

This is the third album from international doom band Mesmur.

Mesmur’s 2016 album S was a heavily atmospheric slab of funeral death/doom, one which was notable for its depth of mood and delivery. The band have now returned with four new imposing songs, clocking in at 55 minutes. Continue reading “Mesmur – Terrene (Review)”