This is the second album from US black/death metal band Drouth.
It’s been five long years since 2020’s Excerpts from a Dread Liturgy, but now Drouth are back, with a new bassist in tow, (current/ex-Cormorant/Ursa). So, let’s turn our attention to the five new songs we have here in the form of the 41-minute The Teeth of Time. Continue reading “Drouth – The Teeth of Time (Review)”
Acceptance are a post-black metal band from the UK and this is their debut album.
Previously known as Fatalist, (with an album under that name, so whether this is their first or second I suppose is up for debate), Acceptance exist at an interesting intersection between atmospheric black metal, sludge, blackgaze, and post-rock. Continue reading “Acceptance – Crucifixion of Orchids (Review)”
This is the second album from French post-black metallers Heir.
It has been a loooong time since 2017’s Au Peuple de l’Abîme. In fact, I had no idea that Terra Triumphans Jubila even existed until I was kindly pointed in its direction. So Heir are back, with a new lineup since their debut, and have brought 60 minutes of new material with them. Continue reading “Heir – Terra Triumphans Jubila (Review)”
This is the second album from Canadian post-black metal band Hell Is Other People.
Moirae contains 44 minutes of music that combines elements of depressive, atmospheric, and post-black metal, (with a touch of doom), into a cohesive whole. Hell Is Other People, (who contain a member of Æpoch), are recommended by the promo blurb for fans of Agalloch, Altar of Plagues, Winterfylleth, White Ward, and Drudkh, so that should give you a decent starting point for their sound. Continue reading “Hell Is Other People – Moirae (Review)”
This is the debut EP from US black metal band Pyrkagion.
The Katechon and the Unending Fire is a 26-minute EP consisting of two tracks. Brought to us by members of Bell Witch, Human Effluence, and Hissing, Pyrkagion deliver a strong lesson in modern black metal. Continue reading “Pyrkagion – The Katechon and the Unending Fire (Review)”
This is the debut album from US black metal band Earthen Altar.
Earthen Altar play nature-inspired atmospheric black metal informed by the Cascadian style., but not restricted to it. Earthen Altar contains three tracks with a total duration of 27 minutes. Before we start, prepare yourself, as this is a colossally strong release. Continue reading “Earthen Altar – Earthen Altar (Review)”
This is the debut album by Ba’al, a blackened post-metal band from the UK.
I last caught up with Ba’al on their debut release in 2017 – In Gallows by Mass – which showed a lot of potential. This appears to have now been fulfilled, albeit in a different way than I was initially expecting. Elipsism ably demonstrates how the band have Continue reading “Ba’al – Ellipsism (Review)”
Eoront are a Russian black metal band and this is their second album.
Playing keyboard enriched atmospheric black metal with a deep mystical side, Eoront’s latest album contains over an hour of sprawling, epic music. Continue reading “Eoront – Another Realm (Review)”
Buioingola are an atmospheric doom band from Italy and this is their second album.
Il Nuovo Mare is the follow up to the band’s 2013 debut Dopo l’Apnea. This was a release that established Buioingola as a band that were travelling their own way, and a release that firmly stuck in my mind as one of the more memorable ones of that year. Continue reading “Buioingola – Il Nuovo Mare (Review)”
This is the second album from US Sludge/Doom band Abstracter.
After really enjoying their 2012 debut album Tomb of Feathers, this is a release that has been eagerly awaited in these parts.
The first track, Lightless, seems to slowly writhe up out of a dark pit of urban decay, attempting to smother the land with its malignant spread. It’s an insidious start to the album and before you realise what’s going on you’re trapped in a nightmare landscape of pitch-black smoke and evil.
But oh dear Lord is it good. Rarely has cloying, suffocating Sludge felt so visceral and nastily enticing.
Abstracter are heavy and grim in the best ways that Sludge and Doom can achieve. These songs are essays in crawling malevolence and destructive passion. The band emanate a very raw darkness that you can feel like a physical presence.
I like the combination of nuanced riffing, heavy guitars and brutally gorgeous delivery. Abstracter effortlessly combine the beauty of Post-Metal with the dirty horror of Sludge. Their songwriting skills are such that moments of ugliness and transcendence are merged together. When the shades of light and dark clash there’s only ever going to be one true winner, but even though the menacing and murky atmospheres encase everything, the light isn’t totally consumed; you can feel it pulsing, straining against its captivity by this Hellish beast. This tense undercurrent is what gives Wound Empire its hidden beauty.
There’s a Black Metal influence to their sound that fits flawlessly into what they do. It’s not overbearing and doesn’t detract from the Doom, it just adds a further layer of thickly encrusted grime to songs that are already intimately familiar with all things subterranean.
With each of these titanic monuments to apocalyptic dystopian futures, I think that Abstracter have outdone themselves and actually managed to top their début album. No mean feat.
With true depth of composition and a talent for wrapping the listener up in their vision of all things gloomy and heavy, Abstracter have produced an album that has blown me away.
Fans of Neurosis, Altar of Plagues, Indian, Inter Arma, Amenra, Yob, Wolvhammer, Thou, etc. should perk up and take notice now.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 