This is the fifth album from Finland’s black metallers Oranssi Pazuzu.
This is the follow up to 2016’s well-received Värähtelijä, which is a record that has only increased in my estimation over time. Now, across 50 minutes of multifaceted and highly textured music, Mestarin Kynsi is an album that I have little doubt in my mind will keep on giving for years to come as well. Continue reading “Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi (Review)”
This is the second album from Azusa, an international progressive metal band.
Featuring current and ex-members of bands such as John Frum, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Extol, you know there’s a lot of talent and experience in Azusa before you even listen to them. Continue reading “Azusa – Loop of Yesterdays (Review)”
This is the debut album from Dawn of Ouroboros, a progressive black metal band from the US.
Combining elements of death, black, and progressive metal, this is a enchanting mix of the three that adopts a modern extreme metal approach to its highly engaging material. Continue reading “Dawn of Ouroboros – The Art of Morphology (Review)”
This is the debut album from Dutch blackened post-punk/metal Ainsoph.
Ainsoph’s material is constructed from a sort of atypical blackened base that takes in elements of post-metal, post-rock, post-punk, avant-garde, progressive rock, doom, blackgaze, and jazz. It’s an eclectic mix on paper, but in execution Continue reading “Ainsoph – Ω – V (Review)”
This is the fourth album from Abstruse, an experimental rock project from Greece.
Well, there’s a lot going on here. This is music that refuses to be just one thing, and exists as a constantly-shifting mass of musical styles and content. Amazingly, Submerge:Ritual works with this well, and doesn’t come across as disjointed or a failed science experiment. Continue reading “Abstruse – Submerge:Ritual (Review)”
Schammasch are a Black Metal band from Switzerland. This is their fourth album.
Was it really 2016 that the epic Triangle was released to an unsuspecting world? Apparently so. An incredibly strong release, it narrowly missed out on the top spot for my best albums of 2016 list. It was followed up in 2017 by the even more avant-garde EP The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite, which provided a compelling dose of atmospheric material. Continue reading “Schammasch – Hearts of No Light (Review)”
This is the second album from Maïeutiste, a French Black Metal band.
2015’s Maïeutiste was a record that impressed. Full of wide-ranging content and engaging blackened exploration, it was an album of fire and mystery. Veritas continues the theme developed in the band’s earlier work, only to refine it further. Continue reading “Maïeutiste – Veritas (Review)”
This is the second album from White Ward, a Ukrainian post-black metal band.
2017’s Futility Report was striking and enjoyable, mixing cold black metal with an avant-garde modern edge. Compared to Love Exchange Failure, however, it’s almost as if Futility Report was the prototype of this new album. Expanded Continue reading “White Ward – Love Exchange Failure (Review)”
This is the second album from Uniform & The Body, a collaboration between industrial rockers Uniform and experimental metallers The Body. Both are from the US.
I haven’t reviewed Uniform before, but I like 2018’s The Long Walk. As for The Body, you can see some examples of my appreciation for their work here, here, and here. Continue reading “Uniform & The Body – Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back (Review)”
LINGUA IGNOTA is a one woman experimental artist, and this is her latest album.
Aided by a multitude of guests, (including members of The Body and Full of Hell), this is 66 minutes of beauty and brutality. This is an album that fits in no real category other than a loose experimental one. Peppered with noise, avant-garde, industrial, and post-doom/rock influences, this is music that largely belongs to the artist alone and defies easy categorisation. Continue reading “LINGUA IGNOTA – CALIGULA (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 