Element of Chaos – A New Dawn (Review)

Element of ChaosElement of Chaos are a progressive metal band from Italy, this is their second album.

With a sharp sound, serrated riffs, and savage vocals, Element of Chaos burst onto the airwaves with the first track on the album The Second Dawn of Hiroshima. It’s quite an entrance. Continue reading “Element of Chaos – A New Dawn (Review)”

White Ward – Futility Report (Review)

White WardThis is the debut album from White Ward, a Ukrainian post-black metal band.

This is post-black metal with avant-garde tendencies. However, this is a very simplistic description of what you’ll find on Futility Report; the music is anything but simple.

Mix Ihsahn, Ulver, Ephel Duath, Blut Aus Nord, Deafheaven, and Wolves in the Throne Room together, and you’ll still only have the barest glimpse of what White Ward play. Continue reading “White Ward – Futility Report (Review)”

Sloth Herder – No Pity, No Sunrise (Review)

Sloth HerderThis is the debut album from Sloth Herder, a blackened grindcore band from the US.

Sloth Herder are a murky underground monster that’s slowly been rising up through the underworld over the last few years to claim its victims. With No Pity, No Sunrise, they’re finally ready to make their big assault. Continue reading “Sloth Herder – No Pity, No Sunrise (Review)”

Locust Leaves – A Subtler Kind of Light (Review)

Locust LeavesLocust Leaves are a Greek avant-garde/progressive black metal band and this is their debut album.

This is black metal that embraces classic, thrash and progressive metal in its search for a perfect form of artistic expression. Continue reading “Locust Leaves – A Subtler Kind of Light (Review)”

Sunless – Urraca (Review)

SunlessSunless are a progressive death metal band from the US and this is their debut album.

Well, if this isn’t a twisting mass of complex nastiness. Urraca is 44 minutes of progressive/technical death metal full of dissonant, experimental and avant-garde stylings. Continue reading “Sunless – Urraca (Review)”

Todesstoss – Ebne Graun (Review)

TodesstossTodesstoss are a German black metal band and this is their eighth album.

After releasing 2015’s challenging and unusual Hirngemeer, Todesstoss are now back with their latest release, which features one 48 minute track.

Just like its predecessor, Ebne Graun is a sprawling, mind-shattering release full of discordant black metal, rampant experimentation and peculiar personality. Continue reading “Todesstoss – Ebne Graun (Review)”

Créatures – Le Noir Village (Review)

CréaturesCréatures is an avant-garde/experimental black metal one-man project from France and this is his debut album.

The vocals on this release are quite varied, shifting and morphing in line with the demands of the music. Apparently multiple guest vocalists contribute to the tracks, each having a different part to play in the narrative.

Sometimes we get a voice that’s full of commanding authority and blackened malice, sometimes even Continue reading “Créatures – Le Noir Village (Review)”

Obake – Draugr (Review)

ObakeObake are an Italian experimental sludge metal band and this is their third album.

Obake are an unusual band, as you may have surmised from the oddly unsettling album cover. They essentially take a sludge metal base and use this to launch an experimental foray into avant-garde waters, usually quite defying the listener in their expectations. Continue reading “Obake – Draugr (Review)”