This is the debut album from Finnish funeral doom band Arche.
Transitions is a 36-minute exploration of funeral doom. Spread across three tracks, Arche’s seductive music is best experienced whole as it flows from piece to piece into a singular work of solemn art. Continue reading “Arche – Transitions (Review)”
This is the fifth album from Norwegian black metal band Dødsengel.
I haven’t caught up with Dødsengel in a while, but enjoyed both their 2013 split with Nightbringer – Circumambulations of the Solar Inferno – and their 2017 album Interequinox, so when Bab Al On appeared with its very striking album art, I knew I wanted to explore that it had to offer. Continue reading “Dødsengel – Bab Al On (Review)”
This is the debut album from French doom band Monastr.
Crushing together crust, post-metal, and sludge into 40 minutes of scathing doom, On Your Knees is a harrowing journey into the darkness of the real world’s horrors. There’s no escape here, only the harshness of reality. Continue reading “Monastr – On Your Knees (Review)”
This is the third album from German black metal band Imha Tarikat.
Imha Tarikat’s well-written contemporary black metal is satisfying and rewarding to listen to. It combines elements from the modern and classic styles into something all of its own. Elements of hard rock, heavy Continue reading “Imha Tarikat – Hearts Unchained – At War with a Passionless World (Review)”
This is the second album from Shaam Larein, a Swedish rock band.
Sticka en Kniv I Världen contains 39 minutes of idiosyncratic heavy rock. Mixing together elements of Gothic, doom, avant-garde, and post-punk, this offers a distinguished work for the listener to be mesmerised by. Continue reading “Shaam Larein – Sticka en Kniv I Världen (Review)”
Onhou are a doom metal band from the Netherlands and this is their second album.
Onhou crush together sludge, doom, and post-metal into a dense ball of heaviness and mood. Containing four songs spread over 42 very moreish minutes, Monument is a record that any adherent to the cult of sludge should seek out. Continue reading “Onhou – Monument (Review)”
This is the debut album from US death metallers Stabbing.
Here we have something particularly brutal. Stabbing play death metal with lashings of cruelty and bloody punishment. Across 33 minutes Extirpated Mortal Process lays waste with its gruesome brutality. Continue reading “Stabbing – Extirpated Mortal Process (Review)”
Gomorra are a heavy metal band from Switzerland and this is their second album.
Featuring members of Comaniac and Destruction, Gomorra combine heavy, thrash, and power metal into 49 minutes of well-executed music. Continue reading “Gomorra – Dealer of Souls (Review)”
Doubtsower is a one-man Welsh doom metal band and this is his second album.
Ahh, the return of Doubtsower. 2021’s Asphyxiation of a Seasick Soul was an unexpected highlight of that year, and although I was surprised to find a new album available so soon, I’m nonetheless pleased by this unlooked for treat. Once again delivering five tracks of emotive doom metal across 49 minutes, the artist behind Doubtsower continues to produce the very definition of underground gems. Continue reading “Doubtsower – The Endless Shadow of Despicable Power (Review)”
Udånde is a black metal solo act from Slovakia.
After enjoying 2021’s Life of a Purist, I wasn’t expecting to see a new Udånde album so soon, but I’m not complaining. Providing us with 39 minutes of melancholic black metal, 2022’s Udånde offers a harrowing journey into nightmare and desolation. Continue reading “Udånde – Slow Death – A Celebration of Self-Hatred (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 