Black metal – Page 196 – Wonderbox Metal

Echoes of the Moon – Elusion (Review)

This is the third album from this one-man US atmospheric post-black metal band.

Last year’s Entropy was a jaw-dropping release that was chock-full of atmospheric blackened goodness. It was a highly accomplished album and Elusion continues the theme.

Like Entropy, this is very atmospheric and richly textured music. It has elements of psychedelic, progressive and depressive Black Metal, as well as aspects of doom and post-metal. This all manifests in well-realised songs that follow Continue reading “Echoes of the Moon – Elusion (Review)”

VIII – Decathexis (Review)

This is the second album from VIII, an Italian black metal band.

VIII have produced an ambitious release that spans 50 minutes across three sprawling, ugly tracks. This is not an album for people who like polished, shiny music. Oh no. This is the sound of dying, decay and forgotten dreams.

Decathexis sees the band playing raw, underground black metal with a mean, dispirited edge. Alongside the Continue reading “VIII – Decathexis (Review)”

Harrower – Remembrance (Review)

Harrower are from the US and play black metal.

Harrower play a raw form of black metal that occasionally branches out into post-metal waters.

Remembrance sounds cold and sharp, and has a lot more of a raw, underground feeling than a lot of black metal bands that also dabble in post-black metal. I think it works really well, and the sound they Continue reading “Harrower – Remembrance (Review)”

Wayfarer – Old Souls (Review)

This is the second album from this US atmospheric post-black metal band.

Children of the Iron Age introduced us to Wayfarer’s quality, interesting black metal and was a pretty damn stunning début album in many ways.

Old Souls is not as long as their first album, (18 minutes shorter), but we still get some epic, sprawling tracks.

Wayfarer have a Continue reading “Wayfarer – Old Souls (Review)”

Morthus – Over the Dying Stars (Review)

Morthus are an old-school blackened death metal band from Poland. This is their début album.

Now this is quite exciting. I’ve been looking forward to hearing something more from this band ever since their début EP The Abyss arrived in 2014 and floored me with its combination of death, black and classic metal. Continue reading “Morthus – Over the Dying Stars (Review)”

Stheno – Liberty Crawls in Waste (Review)

Stheno are a blackened grindcore band from Greece. This is their début album.

I like Stheno. Their split with Grassroll introduced me to their blackened grinding ultra-violence, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

So, joy of joys, we now have a full 20 minutes of their nasty savagery to enjoy, and enjoy it we do. Continue reading “Stheno – Liberty Crawls in Waste (Review)”

Sheidim – Shrines of the Void (Review)

Sheidim are a Spanish black metal band and this is their début album.

This is orthodox black metal with a modern coating and a matching cover. It’s extreme, passionate, vicious and venomous.

Sheidim’s music is heavy and full of darkness, injecting streaks of colour through the blackened melodies that burn with intensity and passion, as does the band’s music as a whole.

Shrines of the Void is powerfully Continue reading “Sheidim – Shrines of the Void (Review)”

Black Fucking Cancer – Black Fucking Cancer (Review)

This is the début album from Black Fucking Cancer, a US black metal band.

Due to the name of this band I was expecting short, punky, excrement-filled black metal lasting probably no longer than about 20 minutes. What we actually get is a full 60 minutes of hate-powered misanthropy and perversion, courtesy of these blackened maniacs.

This is ugly music that the band manage to stretch out Continue reading “Black Fucking Cancer – Black Fucking Cancer (Review)”

Demonic Rage – Omen of Doom (Review)

Demonic Rage are a Chilean death metal band.

Omen of Doom is a compilation of a lot of the band’s early hard/impossible to get demos dating back as far as 2001.

Due to the nature of a release like this the sound quality does vary between the various demos, but overall the band have unearthed a surprisingly well-preserved rotten corpse. The recording and production values deteriorate the further back in time you go, but even this doesn’t diminish the essential quality of what the band produce. Continue reading “Demonic Rage – Omen of Doom (Review)”

Interview with Rorcal

The latest Rorcal full-length Creon (κρέων) is an absolute monster of an album. A churning maelstrom of blackened riffs and grim intensity, it shows the band absolutely on fire and filled to the brim with darkened delights. Let’s delve a little deeper…

For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

We are a black/doom band from Geneva, Switzerland. We’ve been playing together since 2006 and our 13th release is out this spring 2016. Continue reading “Interview with Rorcal”