Black metal – Page 130 – Wonderbox Metal

Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive (Review)

Mayhem are a Norwegian black metal band, but do they really need any introduction?

In case the cave that you inhabit doesn’t get wifi, this is the live incarnation of the band’s 1994 landmark debut album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. This is a black metal must-have, of course, so you already know that the songs on this live version are absolute classics, so all that remains to discuss, really, is the band’s performance and the quality of the live recording. Continue reading “Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive (Review)”

Gravespawn – Inexorable Grimness (Review)

This is the latest EP from Gravespawn, a black metal band from the US.

This is cold, malignant black metal that draws influence from the second wave era and successfully and authentically produces five songs of enjoyably grim orthodoxy.

As a side note – it’s worth mentioning, I suppose, that at 33 minutes in length this EP is actually longer than some albums. Continue reading “Gravespawn – Inexorable Grimness (Review)”

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)”

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)”

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)”

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)”

The Promise of Plague – Sleepwalking into Armageddon (Review)

The Promise of Plague are an industrial black metal band from the US. This is their debut release.

Featuring members of Fatal Step, Astrum, Empyrean Asunder and the mighty Abominant, here we have 16 minutes of raw black metal with industrial/modern influences that place it somewhere between the underground and a more accessible area; not quite polished and commercial, but potentially getting there. Continue reading “The Promise of Plague – Sleepwalking into Armageddon (Review)”

Siberian Hell Sounds – Svengali (Review)

Siberian Hell Sounds are from Australia and play black metal/blackened hardcore. This is their latest EP.

This is 18 minutes of blackened intensity and underground rage. Taking the basic imprint of black metal and running it through the grinder, Siberian Hell Sounds have poured hardcore and grindcore influences liberally over themselves so that their black metal is as abusive and contagious as possible. Continue reading “Siberian Hell Sounds – Svengali (Review)”

Rudra – Enemy of Duality (Review)

Rudra are a blackened extreme metal band from Singapore. This is their eighth album.

Despite being around for a very long time at this point, and despite having first heard of them an almost equally long time ago, this is my first actual encounter with Rudra and their so-called Vedic metal. Continue reading “Rudra – Enemy of Duality (Review)”