This Gift Is a Curse – A Throne of Ash (Review)

This Gift Is a Curse - A Throne of AshThis Gift Is a Curse are a blackened sludge band from Sweden and this is their third album.

Here we have 45 minutes of hateful extremity that combines black metal, sludge, and hardcore. It’s violent, world-ending music that’s wreathed in both aggression and atmosphere most foul. Continue reading “This Gift Is a Curse – A Throne of Ash (Review)”

Haze of Summer – Stuzha (Review)

Haze of Summer - StuzhaThis is the second album from Russian post-black metal band Haze of Summer.

I enjoyed 2017’s Znoi, and on the band’s new release we get a further 33 minutes of melodic post-black metal. The album follows on from Znoi, even down to the tracklisting, which picks up where the last one left off. Continue reading “Haze of Summer – Stuzha (Review)”

Getting Stabbed – Atmosphere of Decay (Review)

Getting Stabbed - Atmosphere of DecayGetting Stabbed are a powerviolence band from the US and this is their debut album.

Featuring a member of No Funeral, Getting Stabbed play a vicious mix of grindcore, hardcore, and powerviolence. Fuelled by a punk rage and an outright hostility to everyone and everything, this is nasty stuff. Continue reading “Getting Stabbed – Atmosphere of Decay (Review)”

Mutilate – Contagium (Review)

Mutilate - ContagiumThis is the second album from US death metallers Mutilate.

Mutilate seem to be pumping out music like nobody’s business. 2018 brought us both Tormentium and All Life Ends, and now we have a new album containing a further 37 minutes of primitive and ugly death metal. Continue reading “Mutilate – Contagium (Review)”

Ancient Hostility – Ancient Hostility (Review)

Ancient Hostility - Ancient HostilityAncient Hostility are a Ukrainian/US black metal band and this is their debut album.

This is, on the surface of things, a second wave black metal album, full of the sort of misanthropy and hatred that you’d expect for something like this. Scratch the surface, however, (and by this I mean actually listen to it), and you’ll also find a bit more than the norm here. Continue reading “Ancient Hostility – Ancient Hostility (Review)”

Morass of Molasses – The Ties That Bind (Review)

Morass of Molasses - The Ties That BindThis is the second album from Morass of Molasses, a stoner rock/metal band from the UK.

The Ties That Bind is a hard rocking stoner metal album that combines elements of sludge rock, doom, and distorted blues into its style. Continue reading “Morass of Molasses – The Ties That Bind (Review)”

Cave In – Final Transmission (Review)

Cave In - Final TransmissionCave In are a US post-hardcore/rock band and this is their sixth album.

Final Transmission is born out of and shaped by the trauma of catastrophe; the band’s bassist tragically died in a car accident prior to this album being finished. He plays on each song here, however, with the tracks fully Continue reading “Cave In – Final Transmission (Review)”

Soulskinner/Obsecration/Abyssus/Malicious Silence – Sign of the Covenant of Death – Split (Review)

Soulskinner Obsecration Abyssus Malicious Silence - Sign of the Covenant of Death - SplitThis split is between four death metal bands – Soulskinner, Obsecration, Abyssus, and Malicious Silence, all of which are from Greece.

Oh, what a sickeningly horrible feast of underground death metal we have for you here! Each band has two tracks, and each band gives a good accounting of themselves. Continue reading “Soulskinner/Obsecration/Abyssus/Malicious Silence – Sign of the Covenant of Death – Split (Review)”