wonderboxmetal

Exocrine – Molten Giant (Review)

This is the third album from French death metallers Exocrine.

Playing modern technical death metal, Molten Giant gives us 35 minutes of material, as well as some pretty damn monstrous cover art. Continue reading “Exocrine – Molten Giant (Review)”

Venues – Aspire (Review)

Venues are a post-hardcore/metalcore band from Germany and this is their debut album.

This is an enjoyable 47 minutes of modern heaviness, with a style that fits somewhere between post-hardcore and metalcore. Continue reading “Venues – Aspire (Review)”

Zombiefication – Below the Grief (Review)

This is the fourth album from Mexican death metallers Zombiefication.

Zombiefication play death metal that’s dark, covered in underground filth, and delivered in an atypical fashion that speaks highly of the band’s talents as artists. Their music is atypical in the sense that they may take influence from several of the old-school masters, but at heart they’re firmly their own creation, and their songs are filled with interesting and unexpected nuances and subtleties. Continue reading “Zombiefication – Below the Grief (Review)”

Weed Demon – Astrological Passages (Review)

Weed Demon are a sludge/stoner/doom band from the US and this is their debut album.

Sometimes all you really want to do is get lost in the doom. This album swamps you in heavy riffs, colossal groove, and thunderously slow distortion. What’s not to like? Continue reading “Weed Demon – Astrological Passages (Review)”

Gravewards – Ruinous Ensoulment (Review)

This is the debut album from Gravewards, a Greek death metal band.

I have fond recollections of 2017’s Subconscious Lobotomy, so was pleased to see this band’s debut album appear. It’s 43 minutes of old-school death metal that’s influenced by the death metal greats from the 90s, while Continue reading “Gravewards – Ruinous Ensoulment (Review)”

Seven Sisters – The Cauldron and the Cross (Review)

Seven Sisters are a heavy metal band from the UK and this is their second album.

They say you should never judge a record by its cover, (do they say that?), but it was the album cover of The Cauldron and the Cross that made me want to listen to it more than anything else. Continue reading “Seven Sisters – The Cauldron and the Cross (Review)”

Ultra-Violence – Operation Misdirection (Review)

Ultra-Violence are an Italian thrash metal band and this is their third album.

Ultra-Violence play ripping thrash metal, pumped up to the max with a love of extremity and good tunes. Yep, this is fast, sharp, and energetic stuff. Continue reading “Ultra-Violence – Operation Misdirection (Review)”

Mutilate – Tormentium (Review)

Mutilate are a death metal band from the US and this is their debut album.

After enjoying All Life Ends so much I simply had to hear Tormentium. Another 38 minutes of old-school death metal that sounds so authentically 80s it could have been buried in a tomb until now? Count me in. Continue reading “Mutilate – Tormentium (Review)”

Khôrada – Salt (Review)

This is the debut album from Khôrada, a progressive/doom/post-metal band from the US.

Featuring most of the members of the much-missed Agalloch coupled with the singer of Giant Squid, this album contains 55 minutes of contemplative, intelligently-composed music.

Now here’s an album with real emotive power. The music can be loosely termed as progressive post-metal, but there’s a multitude of different styles skilfully incorporated into this release. Continue reading “Khôrada – Salt (Review)”

Mouth of Sauron – Hearken the Echo of Music (Review)

This is the debut album from US death metallers Mouth of Sauron.

Hearken the Echo of Music contains 39 minutes of music, and exists at the nexus of where brutal, technical, and progressive death metal collide. Continue reading “Mouth of Sauron – Hearken the Echo of Music (Review)”