wonderboxmetal

Balance Interruption – Door 218 (Review)

This is the third album from Ukrainian experimental black metal band Balance Interruption.

All I knew about this band before I listened to them was that they were a black metal band of some description. As such, I was not prepared at all for what I found inside Door 218.

Here we have an album that might not sound as you expect it to upon hearing the black metal tag. Yes, a lot of the familiar elements are present and correct, but there’s a lot of unusual aspects to the music too. Continue reading “Balance Interruption – Door 218 (Review)”

1914 – Eschatology of War (Review)

This is the debut album from Ukrainian blackened death/doom band 1914.

I really enjoyed this band’s 2016 split with Minenwerfer, so thought it was time to catch up with their 2015 full-length album Eschatology of War.

With a World War I theme, Eschatology of War is a heavy, martial beast that relentlessly marches forwards overcoming all opposition with strength of numbers and a formidable will. Continue reading “1914 – Eschatology of War (Review)”

Ultha – Converging Sins (Review)

This is Ultha’s second album. They are a black metal band from Germany.

Now this is quite the find. Mixing elements of Burzum, Emperor, Wolves in the Throne Room and Lycus, Ultha mix old and new black metal with some crushing doom influences to produce 63 minutes of bleak melancholy and dark allure. Continue reading “Ultha – Converging Sins (Review)”

Dreariness – Fragments (Review)

Dreariness are an Italian black metal band. This is their second album.

Dreariness combine depressive black metal with elements of post-black metal and shoegaze. The result is an impressive album that boasts a lot more depth and atmosphere than the majority of their depressive peers. Continue reading “Dreariness – Fragments (Review)”

Zao – The Well-Intentioned Virus (Review)

Zao are an American metalcore band and this is their eleventh album.

By this point Zao are pretty much a musical institution, despite this being their first album since 2009’s Awake?.

The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here is probably my favourite Zoe release. The utterly catchy chaotic savagery of it still blows me away to this day. The Well Intentioned Virus is Continue reading “Zao – The Well-Intentioned Virus (Review)”

Omnizide – Nekroregime (Review)

This is the second album from Swedish black metallers Omnizide.

As the follow up to 2014’s very pleasing debut album Death Metal Holocaust, Nekroregime continues the band’s blackened assault on the senses, added to and infected by some good old-fashioned death metal influences here and there. Continue reading “Omnizide – Nekroregime (Review)”

Alkira – Klotho (Review)

Alkira are a thrash metal band from Australia and this is their second album.

You may recall Alkira from their 2014 debut album Juggernaut. This was a very enjoyable slab of aggressive thrash metal that I especially enjoyed as it seemed at the time that so much of thrash was doing the retro/ironic/humour/whatever version of the style, which is largely not for me; Alkira were, (and are), somewhat of a panacea for this. Continue reading “Alkira – Klotho (Review)”

Lago/Calm Hatchery – Split (Review)

Here we have a short split between death metallers Lago and Calm Hatchery, from the US and Poland, respectively.

Lago’s 2014 album Tyranny was an album that had a kind of darkly melodic brutality to it. It saw the band balance their style somewhere between the old-school and the new, to great effect. Continue reading “Lago/Calm Hatchery – Split (Review)”

Créatures – Le Noir Village (Review)

Créatures is an avant-garde/experimental black metal one-man project from France and this is his debut album.

The vocals on this release are quite varied, shifting and morphing in line with the demands of the music. Apparently multiple guest vocalists contribute to the tracks, each having a different part to play in the narrative.

Sometimes we get a voice that’s full of commanding authority and blackened malice, sometimes even Continue reading “Créatures – Le Noir Village (Review)”

Call of the Void – AYFKM (Review)

Call of the Void are a US hardcore/grindcore band and this is their latest EP.

Call of the Void operate from a mixture of hardcore, grind and sludge metal influences. This sees them taking all three, rolling them into a dense, dangerous ball and then throwing it as hard as they can at anyone close by.

It’s always good to hear the band. Continue reading “Call of the Void – AYFKM (Review)”