This is the thirteenth album from veteran Finnish metal band Amorphis.
The latest Amorphis album contains another 57 minutes of the band’s charismatic and beguiling mix of folk and progressive-tinged metal and rock. Continue reading “Amorphis – Queen of Time (Review)”
This is the debut album from Italian metal band Gigantomachia.
Here’s a somewhat evocatively heroic release. Mixing elements of melodic, doom, death, and epic metal into a meaty metal base, Gigantomachia have produced 41 minutes of engaging metal. Continue reading “Gigantomachia – Atlas (Review)”
This is the second album from this Swedish thrash metal band.
Defiatory’s debut album Extinct was a notably enjoyable thrash attack, ably mixing together older influences into a modern take on aggressive thrash metal. Continue reading “Defiatory – Hades Rising (Review)”
Tantal are a Russian metal band and this is their third album.
Mixing elements of modern, progressive, melodic, and Gothic metal into 49 minutes of music, Ruin is the follow up to 2014’s Expectancy, which was a good starter for getting to know Tantal’s sound. Ruin sees the band Continue reading “Tantal – Ruin (Review)”
Buried Above Ground are a US metalcore/deathcore band and this is their new album.
The Crown is a 30-minute slab of brutality, full of punishing grooves, heavy breakdowns, and savage vocals; NWOAHM-meets-deathcore, with added electronic/keyboard enhancements. Continue reading “Buried Above Ground – The Crown (Review)”
Arya are an Italian progressive/post-metal band and this is their third album.
I enjoyed last year’s Dreamwars. This was a curiously individual release, blending emotive modern progressive/alternative metal with a dreamy strain of post-metal. It’s an album that is striking upon first listen, but properly Continue reading “Arya – Endesires (Review)”
Barren Earth are a progressive metal band from Finland and this is their fourth album.
My my, there’s a lot of talent in this band. With members from notable groups such as Amorphis, Moonsorrow, October Falls, and Kreator, as well as many others, you know this isn’t going to be a dud. Special note should Continue reading “Barren Earth – A Complex of Cages (Review)”
An Argency are a deathcore/metalcore band from Belarus and this is their second album.
So here’s a band that are travelling a path slightly less-worn – self-described as symphonic blackened deathcore, or occult deathcore, Eternal Legacy is the sound of deathcore/metalcore structuring that’s been warped and corrupted by black metal’s sickening touch. Continue reading “An Argency – Eternal Legacy (Review)”
Distances are a post-metal/atmospheric sludge band from the US and this is their fourth album, (assuming you count 2016’s covers album Rip Offs).
Now here’s an interesting and involved release. I like something a bit different, and across the 65 minutes of material on this album Distance cover a lot of…ahem…distance.
Okay, I’ll get my coat…
Anyway…the Continue reading “Distances – Diableries (Review)”
Light the Torch are a US metalcore band and this is their debut album, (or third, depending on how you look at it).
Light the Torch have arisen from the ashes of Devil You Know, whose 2015 They Bleed Red was somewhat of a sleeper hit for me, one which I now regularly return to for a splash of modern song-based heaviness. Continue reading “Light the Torch – Revival (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 