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
Misery Loves Co. are a Swedish industrial metal band and this is their fourth album.
This is the band’s first album in a mere 19 years, so not much expectation riding on this at all…
As soon as the album starts, it’s immediately Continue reading
Fjords are a progressive metal band from the UK and this is their debut album.
Onirica is an interesting and wide-ranging album, spanning, as it it does, elements of melodic doom and death metal, (think bands such as Katatonia, Opeth, and Agalloch), as well as more modern progressive and atmospheric metal. The end result is a curious mix of old and new, wrapped up in a professional, polished package that allows the band to be displayed in their best light. Continue reading
Lord Mantis are from the US and play Blackened Sludge Metal. This is their fourth album.
2014’s Death Mask was a tortured nightmare of evil sludge, pretty much as foul as the style gets. Five years later the band have returned, infecting the world with 44 minutes of new material that’s as virulent and as nasty as ever. Continue reading
Une Misère are an Icelandic metal band and this is their debut album.
Sermon mixes together gritty modern metal and violent hardcore, along with a touch of powerviolence, (and some other styles), and does so very convincingly. Continue reading
Uneven Structure are a French progressive metal band and this is their third album.
I really enjoyed 2017’s La Partition, so it’s good to have some more material from the band. On Paragon Uneven Structure run through 53 minutes of modern progressive metal that demonstrates a band at the height of their abilities. Continue reading
This is the third album from Algebra, a thrash metal band from Switzerland.
Having been impressed with 2014’s Feed the Ego, it’s been far too large of a gap between Algebra releases for my liking. Well, there’s almost an hour of material on Pulse?, including a fiery Sepultura cover, so I feel like the band have made up for their absence. Continue reading
This is the debut album from US metallers Ghastly Sound.
Having really enjoyed both Ghastly Sound and The Bottom, I’ve been looking forward to Have a Nice Day. It has not disappointed, quite the opposite in fact. Continue reading
This is the sixth album from Swedish heavy metallers Ram.
Since 2015’s Svbversvm, and then 2017’s Rod, I have been a huge fan of Ram. Very few heavy metal bands from the last decade or so do it for me quite like Ram. They are, quite simply, just so damn good at what they do. Continue reading
Betraying the Martyrs are a French metalcore band and this is their fourth album.
Betraying the Martyrs play keyboard-enriched metalcore that contains elements of both technical and nu-metal. The band’s sound makes for a dynamic listen that doesn’t pull punches, either musically or emotionally. Roughly a mix of Bleeding Through, American Headcharge, Carnifex, Korn, Born of Osiris, and Slipknot, Rapture is a rich and enjoyable album. Continue reading
