This is the debut album by Friends of Hell, an international doom metal band.
As soon as I saw that Friends of Hell featured ex-members of Electric Wizard and Reverend Bizarre, I knew I wanted to sample its wares. I haven’t been disappointed. Continue reading “Friends of Hell – Friends of Hell (Review)”
Aeviterne are a death metal band from the US and this is their debut album.
Aeviterne contain current and ex-members of bands such as Artificial Brain, Tombs, and Pillory, and play a brutal form of death metal with experimental tendencies. Continue reading “Aeviterne – The Ailing Facade (Review)”
This is the second album from US one-man black metal band Starer.
Hot on the heels of last year’s 18° Below the Horizon, (which made it into my year end list), the artist behind the band has returned already. This time he’s packing 50 minutes of new material spread out over four grandiose songs. Continue reading “Starer – The What It Is to Be (Review)”
This is the second album from Greek progressive metal band Playgrounded.
Playgrounded’s progressive metal is skilfully combined with electronic elements to produce music that’s affecting and engaging. As a starting point for what you’ll encounter here, the promo blurb’s statement that this is for fans of bands such as Karnivool, Katatonia, Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, Moderat, The Ocean, Vola, Leprous, and Skyharbor is a pretty decent one. Continue reading “Playgrounded – The Death of Death (Review)”
This is the second album from Black Fucking Cancer, a black metal band from the US.
What can you say about a band with a name like Black Fucking Cancer, other than to describe them as sounding completely and utterly evil? 2016’s Black Fucking Cancer and 2019’s Boundless Arcane Invokations – Split with Gloam, both impressed me with their malignant take on underground black metal, so when Procreate Inverse raised its ugly head, I knew I had to prepare myself for a beating. Continue reading “Black Fucking Cancer – Procreate Inverse (Review)”
This is the debut album from Cryptivore, a one-man Australian death metal band.
Across 27 minutes the artist behind Cryptivore hammers into us his vision for old-school death metal. Taking influence from early Amorphis, Carcass, and Grave, Celestial Extinction is a mix of brutal Swedish death metal, moody melodic death metal, and feral grindcore. Continue reading “Cryptivore – Celestial Extinction (Review)”
CHRMR are a metal band from the US and this is their second album.
CHRMR contain members of Contrarian and Sulaco, but are a different proposition to both of those more extreme bands. Low in the Glow offers a much more accessible proposition, focusing on short songs with catchy melodies and good choruses. Continue reading “CHRMR – Low in the Glow (Review)”
This is the third album from UK black metal act Sidious.
I’ve enjoyed watching Sidious develop from their symphonic black/death beginnings, (Revealed in Profane Splendour), to their metamorphosis into the pure black metal form of their last album, (Temporal). Now we have Blackest Insurrection, where the band spend 48 minutes showcasing a refinement of their raw blackened assault. Out of the two, I’d say that this is the superior release when compared to Temporal, and it’s great to hear the band improving their sound. Continue reading “Sidious – Blackest Insurrection (Review)”
This is the second album from Ukrainian one-woman blackened doom band Sidus Atrum.
Spiral of Life contains 40 minutes of modern black metal mixed with death/doom elements. It’s an album that uses its influences well, taking strengths from both styles to produce something very enjoyable and engaging. Continue reading “Sidus Atrum – Spiral of Life (Review)”
Messa are an Italian doom rock band and this is their third album.
It’s with great expectations that I turned to Close, having enjoyed both 2016’s Belfry and 2018’s Feast for Water so much. I have not been disappointed, I can assure you. Continue reading “Messa – Close (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 