Noctem – Haeresis (Review)

NoctemThis is the fourth album by this Spanish blackened death metal band.

It seems like their previous album, Exilium, was only released last year, but no; it was actually 2014. So here we are now, with another 46 minutes of their dark and malevolent brand of blackened death.

First off, let’s state the obvious – Haeresis is the sound of a confident and professional band at the height of their game. This is blatantly apparent from the start. Continue reading “Noctem – Haeresis (Review)”

Veilburner – The Obscene Rite (Review)

veilburnerThis is the third album from US experimental blackened death metallers Veilburner.

Veilburner have produced a monster of an album. This is 60 minutes of blackened death metal, filtered through a corrupted lens of experimental dissonance and pseudo-industrial undertones.

In a way it’s difficult to separate the disparate influences at play in Continue reading “Veilburner – The Obscene Rite (Review)”

Our Place of Worship Is Silence – The Embodiment of Hate (Review)

Our Place of Worship Is SilenceThis is the debut album from Our Place of Worship Is Silence, a blackened death metal band from the US.

Oooh this is ugly, underground stuff that’s as raw and hurtful as having your face shaved off with a blunt razor.

If you take a seething, furious death metal base and pour corrupted blackened hatred all over it, you’ll have a good idea of where Our Place of Worship Is Silence’s proclivities lie. Continue reading “Our Place of Worship Is Silence – The Embodiment of Hate (Review)”

Forlet Sires – Journey Towards Ruin (Review)

Forlet SiresForlet Sires are a Swiss post-black metal band. This is their debut album.

Using black metal as a base for their dark explorations, Forlet Sires create heavy and atmospheric music that contains aspects of post-hardcore and doom in their sound.

Forlet Sires deal in raw blackened atmosphere. Continue reading “Forlet Sires – Journey Towards Ruin (Review)”

Minenwerfer/1914 – Ich hatt einen Kameraden – Split (Review)

Minenwerfer 1914This is a split between black metallers Minenwerfer from the US and Ukrainian blackened death/doom band 1914.

First up we have Minenwerfer, with 21 minutes of fast and barbaric black metal.

Their side of the split contains four tracks; 3 originals and a re-recording of a song off their debut demo. Continue reading “Minenwerfer/1914 – Ich hatt einen Kameraden – Split (Review)”

Hryre – From Mortality to Infinity (Review)

HryreHyrye play atmospheric black metal and come from the UK. This is their debut album.

Featuring harsh black metal that’s born out of the early atmospheric style, it also has some progressive and folk influences that it welcomes into its wind-swept embrace.

Over 66 minutes the band paint dark pictures through extremity Continue reading “Hryre – From Mortality to Infinity (Review)”

Damnatus – Io Odio la Vita (Review)

DamnatusDamnatus is a one-man Italian black metal band and this is his debut EP.

This debut release offers us 36 minutes of raw black metal in the depressive style, full of woe and lonesome sorrow. There’s a barbed edge to the delivery though, making for songs that play depressive black metal with a bit of bite to the attack. Continue reading “Damnatus – Io Odio la Vita (Review)”

Tortorum – Rotten. Dead. Forgotten. (Review)

TortorumThis is the latest EP from Norwegian black metal band Tortorum.

This EP is on the longer side for such things, giving us 30 minutes of dark, occult black metal.

The songs are largely, (but not completely), slow-to-mid-paced, building on the band’s ability to create malevolent atmosphere and grim mood. Even when blast beats do appear though, the sense of atmosphere is retained. Continue reading “Tortorum – Rotten. Dead. Forgotten. (Review)”

Interview with Agatus

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The Eternalist by Agatus is a very distinctive album. In today’s over-saturated musical climate, that description alone should hopefully be enough to pique your interest. It’s a very more-ish album too; once you’ve devoured its contents once, you want to do so again. The songs are positively infectious, and the way it switches from black metal to classic rock to heavy metal without skipping a beat…well, it’s a joyous thing to hear.

So without further preamble, let’s dive into this interview and find out why Agatus are such an individual creation…

Introduce us to Agatus!

The band was formed in Athens, Greece during the early 90s and we made our first introduction to the scene with our demo A Night of the Dark Ages (1993) a release well received and leading to the recording of our debut album ‘The Dawn of Martyrdom (1996) that was recorded the in 1994, the same year the band moved to Australia. Continue reading “Interview with Agatus”