Fornicus are a black metal band from the US and this is their second album.
Since 2014’s Storming Heaven it seems that Fornicus have only become harsher and more extreme with their black metal. Hymns of Dominion is 43 minutes of fast and scathing icy hatred. Continue reading “Fornicus – Hymns of Dominion (Review)”
This is the third album from this German-based black metal band.
This release is a solo affair, masterminded by just one talented individual and backed up by some guests.
Oneironaut is black metal with an epic, mystical, even cosmic, feel to it. The songs are on the lengthy end of the spectrum on average, (which for this kind of music is always something I like), culminating in Continue reading “Crimson Moon – Oneironaut (Review)”
This is the fourth album from German black metallers Ctulu.
I’m familiar with Ctulu from their second album Sarkomand, which was a savage album full of fast-paced blackened hatred.
Their latest release is similar in style, but more sophisticated and diverse in its scorn. This is still dark, aggressive music, of course, but there’s more nuance to the delivery in places alongside the more frenzied assaults. Continue reading “Ctulu – Ctulu (Review)”
Hellripper is a one-man black/speed metal band from the UK.
Complete and Total Fucking Mayhem is a compilation of all of the Hellripper work so far. This includes The Manifestation of Evil, a split with Batsheva, a three-way split with Acid Cross and Kreigg, and finally a split with Fetid Zombie called Prophecies of Ruin. All tracks have been remastered for this release. Continue reading “Hellripper – Complete and Total Fucking Mayhem (Review)”
This is the second album by Mesarthim, an Australian atmospheric black metal band.
Mesarthim create cosmic-themed black metal that’s spacious and rich in atmospheric attack.
This is a very striking release. The album layers cosmic Continue reading “Mesarthim – .- -… … . -. -.-. . (Review)”
Hailing from Poland, Arkona are a veteran black metal band and this is their sixth album.
Lunaris boasts 48 minutes of the kind of second wave black metal that would be right at home had it actually been released in the 90s, probably about the time that Arkona actually formed.
This is an album based on the classic black metal template of the time, forged through experience and the hands of people that have been doing this long enough to know how to write good black metal. And it is very, very good.
Blackened riffs of frosted hate seep Continue reading “Arkona – Lunaris (Review)”
This is Spirit of the Forest’s third album. They play atmospheric melodic black metal and hail from Canada.
Are you a fan of Emperor, Dissection, Windir and Borknagar? If you are then I’ll happily point you in the direction of Spirit of the Forest and let you listen to their very satisfying new release.
For others that might require a bit more convincing, let me Continue reading “Spirit of the Forest – A Void into the Fields of Silence/La Nature Oubliée (Review)”
This is the second album from this Norwegian black metal band.
Their debut album Withered Roots was Viking-themed black metal with a touch of death metal now and again, and very enjoyable it was.
As with their debut release, this album plays to the more extreme end of the Viking metal sub-genre, essentially to the point where they’re a purestrain black metal band really. Continue reading “Uburen – Frå Døden Fødes Liv (Review)”
Anaal Nathrakh are a UK black metal band and this is their ninth album.
This is the follow up to 2014’s Desideratum. Continuing their slow-burning evolution of merging the underground filthy side of black metal with something altogether more modern and epic in scope, The Whole of the Law is their Continue reading “Anaal Nathrakh – The Whole of the Law (Review)”
Insanity Cult are a black metal band from Greece and this is their debut album.
This is raw, underground black metal filled with negative energy. The album has a melancholic feel that spills over to full-blown depressive black metal on occasion, although they’re not fully embedded in this particular sub-genre.
Frosted black metal riffs rendered out of Continue reading “Insanity Cult – As My End Unfolds… (Review)”
