This is the debut album from Holding Absence, a UK modern metal band.
I had no intention of writing about this album. Described as a metalcore album themed around love, it did not push my buttons, I confess. However, I made the mistake of actually listening to the band, and ended up being firmly hooked. Continue reading “Holding Absence – Holding Absence (Review)”
Forged in Black are a UK heavy metal band and this is their second album.
Featuring 48 minutes of material, Descent of the Serpent is well-crafted heavy metal with wide scope. Some elements of thrash are mixed in, for example. Also, occasionally the songs veer into classic doom metal territories in their more atmospheric moments, or sometimes adopt a power metal stance of epic force. Whatever they do this is pure heavy metal goodness all the way. Continue reading “Forged in Black – Descent of the Serpent (Review)”
Children of Bodom are a melodic death metal band from Finland and this is their tenth album.
My relationship with Children of Bodom up to this point can be summarised like so –
And now we have Hexed. Yes, there are other albums too, in addition to the ones mentioned above, but you get the general idea.
Hexed contains 45 minutes of rocking melodeath, which consists of ten new tracks and, curiously, a reworking of an older song, (Knuckleduster). My verdict? It seems Children of Bodom have returned to the quality levels of the late 90s/early 00s. Yes, you read that right.
Prominent, expressive keyboards work wonders with the material. Songs that are catchy and memorable tear out from the music like bladed predators scything through the airwaves. Old school rock and metal elements are captured in the band’s electrifying songs, especially in the melodies used. Aggressive, energetic, and melodic, Hexed is full of good tunes and confident attitude.
I’m impressed. I’m very pleased to say that the band sound revitalised, despite how much of a cliché that probably comes across as. The album art suggested something along these lines when I first saw it, but the music firmly backs it up.
Hexed is Children of Bodom’s best album in years. I feel like I’ve rediscovered an old friend.
This is the thirteenth album from veteran Swedish metallers In Flames.
Now here’s a band that should need no introduction, and by this point most people will probably already have an opinion of this album before they’ve even heard a single note off it. Continue reading “In Flames – I, the Mask (Review)”
Herod are a progressive sludge band from Switzerland and this is their second album.
Here we have 43 minutes of post-metal that takes a progressive sludge approach to its material. Continue reading “Herod – Sombre Dessein (Review)”
This is the second album from A Secret Revealed, a post-metal band from Germany.
The band’s debut album – 2015’s The Bleakness – was an album that I thoroughly enjoyed and stuck out with its vision of heavy, emotive modern post-metal. Continue reading “A Secret Revealed – Sacrifices (Review)”
This is the third album from A Pale Horse Named Death, a Gothic/doom metal band from the US.
Featuring the ex-drummer of both Type O Negative and Life of Agony, When the World Becomes Undone is the band’s latest release after a long wait; their second album came out in 2013. Continue reading “A Pale Horse Named Death – When the World Becomes Undone (Review)”
Neorhythm are a groove metal band from Finland and this is their latest EP.
This EP contains 5 tracks and 18 minutes of material. There are three new songs, and two covers, (Disturbed and Mudvayne). Continue reading “Neorhythm – Meteoric Thoughts (Review)”
This is the eleventh album from Soilwork, a veteran Swedish metal band.
Soilwork’s eleventh album mixes melodic death metal with fat grooving riffs and a hard rock sensibility that sits at the heart of the band, allowing them to straddle the worlds of metal and rock quite effectively. Having said that, it should be clarified that the rock aspects of this album are mainly hidden underneath a firmly metal veneer; they inform, without overpowering. Continue reading “Soilwork – Verkligheten (Review)”
This is the debut EP from German post-metal band Haven.
This is music with dark undertones and ambient atmosphere. Haven mix together the atmospheric allure of post-metal, with the harsher framing of post-hardcore, and the delicate introspection of progressive rock. These influences collide Continue reading “Haven – Anima (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 