Bewitcher – Spell Shock (Review)

Bewitcher - Spell ShockThis is the fourth album from US black/speed metal band Bewitcher.

I was taken with Bewitcher’s style of black/speed/thrash metal ever since I first heard 2016’s Bewitcher. After this, the band unleashed a worthy follow up in 2019’s Under the Witching Cross, as well as 2021’s Cursed Be Thy Kingdom, which I missed out on. All of which brings us to Spell Shock, the band’s longest album yet at 40 minutes, (44 if you include the bonus track). Continue reading “Bewitcher – Spell Shock (Review)”

Emasculator – The Disfigured and the Divine (Review)

Emasculator - The Disfigured and the DivineThis is the debut EP from international death metallers Emasculator.

Featuring the vocal talents of the singer of Unfathomable Ruination, (also ex-Abnormality), Emasculator are here to bring the death metal carnage. The Disfigured and the Divine contains 21 minutes of brutal death metal caved up into seven bloody chunks. Continue reading “Emasculator – The Disfigured and the Divine (Review)”

Servant – Death Devil Magick (Review)

Servant - Death Devil MagickThis is the third album from German black metal band Servant.

Following on fast from last year’s Aetus Ascensus comes Death Devil Magick, bringing us 41 minutes of new material. Servant’s style is intact and well, delivering a richly melodic form of black metal that’s based on the 90s second wave, but shows a post-black metal influence in places. Continue reading “Servant – Death Devil Magick (Review)”

Pyrrhon – Exhaust (Review)

Pyrrhon - ExhaustThis is the fifth album from Pyrrhon, an extreme metal band from the US.

Whatever you want to call it – progressive, dissonant, experimental, avant-garde, etc. – Pyrrhon are not your average band. Their music is atypical and envelope-pushing, while retaining enough death metal sinew amidst the jazz and hardcore influences to propel their extreme metal output forward with creative intensity. Continue reading “Pyrrhon – Exhaust (Review)”

Crimson Veil – Hex (Review)

Crimson Veil - HexCrimson Veil are a progressive metal band from the UK and this is their debut album.

Across 56 minutes Hex offers up a hybrid style that’s interesting and absorbing.  Crimson Veil have made a very favourable impression with their first album, one that I urge you to take the time to explore. Continue reading “Crimson Veil – Hex (Review)”

Deathless Void – The Voluptuous Fire of Sin (Review)

Deathless Void - The Voluptuous Fire of SinThis is the debut album from Deathless Void, a black metal band from the Netherlands.

The Voluptuous Fire of Sin contains 39 minutes of aggressive black metal. Deathless Void play a style that manages to incorporate a few mutually complementary elements into itself, enriching its hostility with greater depth and range. Continue reading “Deathless Void – The Voluptuous Fire of Sin (Review)”

Coffin Rot – Dreams of the Disturbed (Review)

Coffin Rot - Dreams of the DisturbedThis is the second album from US death metallers Coffin Rot.

2018’s Coffin Rot demo promised much, and then 2019’s A Monument to the Dead delivered. Well, it’s been five long years since then – has Dreams of the Disturbed been worth the wait? Continue reading “Coffin Rot – Dreams of the Disturbed (Review)”

Glacial Tomb – Lightless Expanse (Review)

Glacial Tomb - Lightless ExpanseThis is the second album from US death metal band Glacial Tomb.

Glacial Tomb boast not one, but two members of the mighty Khemmis, so I’m somewhat shocked that I’m so late to their sludgy blackened death metal party. Yep, that’s right – Lightless Expanse gifts us with a 36-minute platter of horrific death metal, ripe with sludge and black metal flavourings. It’s only right that we eat deep of this malignant bounty that’s set before us. Continue reading “Glacial Tomb – Lightless Expanse (Review)”

Kanonenfieber – Die Urkatastrophe (Review)

Kanonenfieber - Die UrkatastropheThis is the second album from German solo black/death metal act Kanonenfieber.

Brought to us by the artist behind Leiþa and Non Est Deus, Die Urkatastrophe unleashes 53 minutes of fierce black/death metal. The artist behind Kanonenfieber has cemented once again why many people rate his output so highly. Continue reading “Kanonenfieber – Die Urkatastrophe (Review)”

Untervoid – Parasite (Review)

Untervoid - ParasiteUntervoid are a black metal band from Poland and this is their debut album.

Brought to us by current/ex-members of bands such as Hate, Redemptor, and ThawParasite contains 40 minutes of black metal of a sort that took me by surprise. Untervoid are not your typical black metal act it seems. Continue reading “Untervoid – Parasite (Review)”