Vircolac are an Irish death metal band and this is their debut album.
2016’s EP The Cursed Travails of the Demeter was an enjoyable introduction to Vircolac. The band were notable for crafting old-school death metal that focused on atmosphere and feeling, some often neglected aspects of the style. Continue reading “Vircolac – Masque (Review)”
This is the debut album from Holding Absence, a UK modern metal band.
I had no intention of writing about this album. Described as a metalcore album themed around love, it did not push my buttons, I confess. However, I made the mistake of actually listening to the band, and ended up being firmly hooked. Continue reading “Holding Absence – Holding Absence (Review)”
Misery Index are a death metal band from the US and this is their sixth album.
Playing furiously brutal death metal with aspects of grindcore added for savage flavour, Rituals of Power contains 36 minutes of raging aggression. Continue reading “Misery Index – Rituals of Power (Review)”
This is the fourth album from US progressive death metallers Fallujah.
I’ve been waiting for this one. Both 2014’s The Flesh Prevails and 2016’s Dreamless were superb albums, so the bar is set high for Undying Light. A change in singer and loss of a guitarist can potentially be a challenge for a band, but when I saw them live recently it sounded as if Fallujah’s new vocalist had easily made his mark. So now we have the new album in full, how does it all manifest? Continue reading “Fallujah – Undying Light (Review)”
Gorgon are a symphonic death metal band from France and this is their second album.
Symphonic death metal shouldn’t work, and mostly doesn’t. Elegy is different, however.
Imagine Orphaned Land if they were powered by death metal; this is my simplistic, overall Continue reading “Gorgon – Elegy (Review)”
Forged in Black are a UK heavy metal band and this is their second album.
Featuring 48 minutes of material, Descent of the Serpent is well-crafted heavy metal with wide scope. Some elements of thrash are mixed in, for example. Also, occasionally the songs veer into classic doom metal territories in their more atmospheric moments, or sometimes adopt a power metal stance of epic force. Whatever they do this is pure heavy metal goodness all the way. Continue reading “Forged in Black – Descent of the Serpent (Review)”
February saw the release of some very good metal. Let’s have a look at some of the top picks below… Continue reading “Monthly Overview – the Best of February 2019”
This is the debut album from French post-black metal band Heaume Mortal, (featuring a member of Eibon and Cowards).
There are six tracks on this album spread out across a sprawling 58 minutes of material, (including a Burzum cover). This is music that’s dark and crushing, while also containing aspects of resplendence and writhing, textured colour. Continue reading “Heaume Mortal – Solstices (Review)”
Drawn into Descent are a black metal band from Belgium and this is their second album.
Drawn into Descent play atmospheric black metal with blackgaze, post-rock, and depressive black metal qualities. I first encountered the band on their 2015 self-titled debut, which was an album that grew into my thoughts over time, forcing me to return to it over and over again through the years. Continue reading “Drawn into Descent – The Endless Endeavour (Review)”
This is the third album from the impressively named Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, a doom metal band from the UK.
I really enjoyed the band’s striking 2016 debut record Y Proffwyd Dwyll, which saw the band offer up an intoxicating blend of psychedelic sludge/doom metal. In 2018 they unleashed a mammoth, (ahem), split with Slomatics called Totems, which Continue reading “Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard – Yn Ol I Annwn (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 