November was a strong month for metal. Both death metal and doom are well-represented below, but as we’ll see more than just those two genres produced some great records in the past month. November saw a strong showcase for UK talent too, as five of the below bands are all from this country. Continue reading “Monthly Overview – the Best of November 2018”
Dead Retinas – Divine (Review)
Dead Retinas are a hardcore band from the UK and this is their latest EP.
Here we have 10 minutes of energetic and charismatic hardcore. This is sharp, scathing music that knows a good riff when it sees it and is backed up by punishing beats and a sense of songwriting that’s compelling and moreish. Continue reading “Dead Retinas – Divine (Review)”
Windrunner – Mai (Review)
Windrunner are a Vietnamese metalcore band and this is their debut album.
Billed as a progressive metalcore band, this means that on Mai we get 43 minutes of heavy stop-start belligerence mixed with elements of modern progressive metal spread out over 11 tracks. The end result is music that mixes aggression and emotion well to achieve a balanced style of modern heaviness. Continue reading “Windrunner – Mai (Review)”
Master – Vindictive Miscreant (Review)
This is the fourteenth album from veteran US death metallers Master.
I really got on well with 2013’s The Witchhunt, so was pleased when this one appeared for my listening pleasure. Continue reading “Master – Vindictive Miscreant (Review)”
Bast – Nanoångström (Review)
This is the second album from UK blackened sludge/doom band Bast.
This is a colossal, sprawling slab of doom that lasts 58 minutes and is divided into an intro track and five mammoth songs. Continue reading “Bast – Nanoångström (Review)”
Dysmorphic – An Illusive Progress (Review)
Dysmorphic are a death metal band from France and this is their second album.
Dysmorphic play a mix of technical and brutal death metal, meaning that they fuse straightforward extremity with wandering basslines and intricate guitar complexity that probably requires more fingers than the average human possesses. Continue reading “Dysmorphic – An Illusive Progress (Review)”
Warp and Weft – Patience (Review)
Warp and Weft are a US hardcore band and this is their debut release.
Featuring members of the dead sexy Morality Crisis, Patience is a raw, nasty blend of hardcore, punk, metal, and noise rock. Continue reading “Warp and Weft – Patience (Review)”
Cryptopsy – The Book of Suffering – Tome II (Review)
This is the latest EP from Canadian death metallers Cryptopsy.
Wow, has it really been three years since The Book of Suffering – Tome I? Apparently so. Well, Book II is now here, gifting us with 18 minutes of brutality and mayhem. Continue reading “Cryptopsy – The Book of Suffering – Tome II (Review)”
Chapel of Disease – …And as We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced the Eye (Review)
Chapel of Disease are a German death metal band and this is their third album.
2015’s The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art stood out for its dark individuality and bleak delivery. Here was a band that took the old-school death metal template and added an atmospheric, sometimes doom-laden twist to it. It was a very effective record. Continue reading “Chapel of Disease – …And as We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced the Eye (Review)”
Echtra – BardO (Review)
Echtra is a one man black metal/drone band, and this is his fourth album.
All Echtra songs clock in at 23 minutes, and BardO contains two of them. Across these sprawling tracks depth and texture is achieved through a variety of instruments that are used in conjunction with each other to create a tapestry of atmospheric darkness and light. Continue reading “Echtra – BardO (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 