Black metal – Page 180 – Wonderbox Metal

Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2016

Yes, it’s that time of year again. 2016 has been a phenomenal year in terms of metal releases, and here I’d like to pay tribute to my top 25.

As always, it was very tough to compile this list into any form of decent order, and I’m sure, (again, as always), that if I were to do this again, the list would look quite different.

I’ve limited the list to a mere 25 releases, so there are necessarily sooooo many good ones that have been missed out. Below are a selection of some of my other favourite releases of 2016, all of which made it into some previous version of my top 25 before I settled on the final one – Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2016”

Thralldom – Time Will Bend into Horror (Review)

This is the latest EP from US black metallers Thralldom.

Returning after an absence of a decade, the band have re-cast themselves and emerge as a reborn, terrifying proposition. Thralldom’s black metal delivers us a 28 minute release that sounds quite disturbing and individual. Continue reading “Thralldom – Time Will Bend into Horror (Review)”

Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive (Review)

Mayhem are a Norwegian black metal band, but do they really need any introduction?

In case the cave that you inhabit doesn’t get wifi, this is the live incarnation of the band’s 1994 landmark debut album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. This is a black metal must-have, of course, so you already know that the songs on this live version are absolute classics, so all that remains to discuss, really, is the band’s performance and the quality of the live recording. Continue reading “Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive (Review)”

Gravespawn – Inexorable Grimness (Review)

This is the latest EP from Gravespawn, a black metal band from the US.

This is cold, malignant black metal that draws influence from the second wave era and successfully and authentically produces five songs of enjoyably grim orthodoxy.

As a side note – it’s worth mentioning, I suppose, that at 33 minutes in length this EP is actually longer than some albums. Continue reading “Gravespawn – Inexorable Grimness (Review)”

Balance Interruption – Door 218 (Review)

This is the third album from Ukrainian experimental black metal band Balance Interruption.

All I knew about this band before I listened to them was that they were a black metal band of some description. As such, I was not prepared at all for what I found inside Door 218.

Here we have an album that might not sound as you expect it to upon hearing the black metal tag. Yes, a lot of the familiar elements are present and correct, but there’s a lot of unusual aspects to the music too. Continue reading “Balance Interruption – Door 218 (Review)”

1914 – Eschatology of War (Review)

This is the debut album from Ukrainian blackened death/doom band 1914.

I really enjoyed this band’s 2016 split with Minenwerfer, so thought it was time to catch up with their 2015 full-length album Eschatology of War.

With a World War I theme, Eschatology of War is a heavy, martial beast that relentlessly marches forwards overcoming all opposition with strength of numbers and a formidable will. Continue reading “1914 – Eschatology of War (Review)”

Ultha – Converging Sins (Review)

This is Ultha’s second album. They are a black metal band from Germany.

Now this is quite the find. Mixing elements of Burzum, Emperor, Wolves in the Throne Room and Lycus, Ultha mix old and new black metal with some crushing doom influences to produce 63 minutes of bleak melancholy and dark allure. Continue reading “Ultha – Converging Sins (Review)”

Dreariness – Fragments (Review)

Dreariness are an Italian black metal band. This is their second album.

Dreariness combine depressive black metal with elements of post-black metal and shoegaze. The result is an impressive album that boasts a lot more depth and atmosphere than the majority of their depressive peers. Continue reading “Dreariness – Fragments (Review)”

Omnizide – Nekroregime (Review)

This is the second album from Swedish black metallers Omnizide.

As the follow up to 2014’s very pleasing debut album Death Metal Holocaust, Nekroregime continues the band’s blackened assault on the senses, added to and infected by some good old-fashioned death metal influences here and there. Continue reading “Omnizide – Nekroregime (Review)”

Créatures – Le Noir Village (Review)

Créatures 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)”