A sci-fi themed 4-way death metal split release? Hell yes! Sign me up! The class artwork sealed the deal, to be honest, never mind the 19 minutes of quality cosmic metal of death on offer.
UK band Cryptic Shift are the only band here I actually know, (due to Visitations from Enceladus), so was expecting good things; I wasn’t disappointed. Cosmic Dreams is an older Continue reading “Cryptic Shift/Replicant/Inoculation/Astral Tomb – Chasm of Aeons – Split (Review)”
This is the latest EP from To Dust, a deathgrind band from the US.
It’s been four long year’s since To Dust’s debut split with Bent Sea, so Nightmare Cycles is one I’ve been anticipating. With only an 11-minute duration in some ways it’s merely a taster to get the appetite whetted, but hopefully we won’t have to wait another 4 years for more material from the band. Continue reading “To Dust – Nightmare Cycles (Review)”
This is the debut album from Varde, a Norwegian black metal band.
Fedraminne contains 59 minutes of black metal that mixes folk influences into an atmospheric journey. Continue reading “Varde – Fedraminne (Review)”
This is the seventh album form US progressive metallers Leviathan.
Having enjoyed 2014’s Beholden to Nothing, Braver Since Then and 2018’s Can’t Be Seen by Looking: Blurring the Lines, Clouding the Truth, I was looking forward to this. Now that it’s here, Words Waging War provides 68 minutes of progressive metal that’s well-written and well-performed. Continue reading “Leviathan – Words Waging War (Review)”
This is the third album from German death metallers Slaughterday.
Slaughterday are reliable and enjoyable. Drop into any of their discography at almost any point, (Nightmare Vortex, Ravenous, Laws of the Occult, Abattoir), and you’ll find timeless death metal, with an authentic, honest, merciless Continue reading “Slaughterday – Ancient Death Triumph (Review)”
This is the debut album from Bethmoora, a doom/sludge band from Denmark.
It’s good to hear such a malignant slab of filthy doom-fuelled hateful sludge like this now and again. It strips away pretentions and allows you to get a good long hard look at the muck and grime. Continue reading “Bethmoora – Thresholds (Review)”
Farer are a doom band from the Netherlands and this is their debut album.
Monad is a harrowing and uncomfortable 53 minutes that’s made up of components from doom, noise, drone, sludge, and post-metal. The bass is used prominently and well, as you’d expect from a band with two bass Continue reading “Farer – Monad (Review)”
Lie in Ruins are a Finnish death metal band and this is their third album.
Six years on from 2014’s monstrous Toward Divine Death, we get follow up Floating in Timeless Streams. Clocking in at a lean 42 minutes, (compared to its predecessor’s 72), this is a more concentrated and focused slab of brutality and aggression. Continue reading “Lie in Ruins – Floating in Timeless Streams (Review)”
Subterraen are a French sludge/doom band and this is their debut album.
When the promo blurb states that Rotten Human Kingdom is for fans of bands like Eremit, Jupiterian, Lurk, Eyehategod, Neurosis, 71TONMAN, Conan, and Primitive Man, you know you have to check it out. You won’t be disappointed, either. Far from it, in fact. Continue reading “Subterraen – Rotten Human Kingdom (Review)”
This is the second album from Decaying Days, a German death/doom metal band.
Adopting an approach that combines melodic death metal with melodic doom, the emphasis here is on melody and emotive delivery. Imagine a mix of Dark Tranquillity, Insomnium, and Opeth, and you’ll be on the right lines. Continue reading “Decaying Days – The Unknown Beyond (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 