Radien – Unissa Palaneet (Review)

Radien - Unissa PalaneetThis is the second album from Radien, a sludge metal band from Finland.

Unissa Palaneet is a 46-minute album containing five tracks, where the a full 21 minutes of the total duration is made up of just the final song. Radien are not without ambition, and they have the skills to back up their vision for doom-heavy sludge music. Continue reading “Radien – Unissa Palaneet (Review)”

Legacy of Brutality – Travellers to Nowhere (Review)

Legacy of Brutality - Travellers to NowhereThis is the fourth album from Spanish death metallers Legacy of Brutality.

Legacy of Brutality play death metal that is backed up by melodic might. Theirs is a recipe that takes many well-used ingredients, but deploys them in ways that end up very tasty and satisfying indeed. Continue reading “Legacy of Brutality – Travellers to Nowhere (Review)”

Gozu – Remedy (Review)

Gozu - RemedyGozu are a stoner/grunge band from the US and this is their fifth album.

Remedy contains 49 minutes of stoner rock and metal mixed with a healthy dose of grunge. Imagine a mix of Clutch, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, Corrosion of Conformity, and Mastodon, and you’ll have a decent idea of where Gozu are coming from. Continue reading “Gozu – Remedy (Review)”

Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Rejecting Obliteration (Review)

Blindfolded and Led to the Woods - Rejecting ObliterationThis is the fourth album from Blindfolded and Led to the Woods, a death metal band from New Zealand.

Blindfolded and Led to the Woods play a modern form of death metal that combines progressive, technical, and avant-garde elements together into a savagely impactful package. Rejecting Obliteration is 45 minutes of surprisingly rich extremity. Continue reading “Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Rejecting Obliteration (Review)”

Nattehimmel – Mourningstar (Review)

Nattehimmel - MourningstarNattehimmel are an international, (Norway/UK), black metal band and this is their debut album.

Featuring current and ex-members of Emancer, Ewigkeit, Green Carnation, In the Woods…, Old Forest, and The Meads of Asphodel, Mourningstar is a 45-minute journey into 90s black metal that’s nostalgic, yet still relevant, and has a few detours too. Continue reading “Nattehimmel – Mourningstar (Review)”

Mnajdra – Mnajdra (Review)

Mnajdra - MnajdraThis is the debut album from US black metal band Mnajdra.

From out of nowhere comes Mnajdra, a 44-minute slice of underworld darkness. This is thick, unfriendly black metal that has subsumed elements of doom and sludge into itself to better portray the utter bleakness and horror of existence. Continue reading “Mnajdra – Mnajdra (Review)”

Verzauber – Frankincense & Vitriol (Review)

Verzauber - Frankincense & VitriolThis is the debut album from solo Irish black metal band Verzauber.

Containing a colossal 80 minutes of material, Frankincense & Vitriol is an extended undertaking, with epic-length songs that are full of immersive content. Verzauber’s primary style is that of raw atmospheric black metal, and within and alongside this a few different influences can be felt, resulting in a well-textured and detailed work. Continue reading “Verzauber – Frankincense & Vitriol (Review)”

Gatekeeper – From Western Shores (Review)

Gatekeeper - From Western ShoresThis is the second album from US heavy metal band Gatekeeper.

Gatekeeper play epic heavy metal, and they do this with passion and skill. From Western Shores contains 49 minutes of classic-feeling material from a band that clearly know what they’re doing with this old-school style. Continue reading “Gatekeeper – From Western Shores (Review)”

They Watch Us from the Moon – Cosmic Chronicles, Act I: The Ascension (Review)

They Watch Us from the Moon - Cosmic Chronicles, Act I The AscensionThey Watch Us from the Moon are a doom/stoner metal band from the US and this is their debut album.

Cosmic Chronicles, Act I: The Ascension provides us with a feast of progressive stoner doom. Across 45 minutes – five meaty songs – They Watch Us from the Moon impress with their charismatic take on a notoriously bland style. Spoiler alert: bland, this is not. Continue reading “They Watch Us from the Moon – Cosmic Chronicles, Act I: The Ascension (Review)”