Coldfells are a blackened doom band from the US. This is their debut album.
This is a blackened doom release that really does blur the line between the two styles. Is this doom metal with a distinctly blackened feel to it, or is this black metal with a doom metal veneer? Possibly more the latter than the former, but either way, the Continue reading “Coldfells – Coldfells (Review)”
Temple of Nihil are a black metal band from Russia and this is their debut EP.
Temple of Nihil specialise in occult black metal with a tasty guitar tone and a daemonic persona. Continue reading “Temple of Nihil – Soul Extremist (Review)”
Locust 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)”
This is the second album from US doom metal band Khemmis.
Khemmis’ debut album, Absolution, was one of my favourite releases of 2015, and has continued to be a firm-favourite of mine ever since first hearing it.
Continuing on with their style of combining traditional doom metal with sludge metal, the songs on Hunted are a tad longer, allowing the band more room to explore and expand on their core style.
The singer puts in a sterling performance once more. Continue reading “Khemmis – Hunted (Review)”
This is the eleventh album from these US death metal veterans.
Abominant’s last album, Onward to Annihilation, was one of the better albums of 2013, so I had high hopes for Napalm Reign. I have not been disappointed.
The band play an underground death metal style that has both thrash and black metal elements, as well as even some power metal ones. This last aspect of their sound was evident on one track on Onward to Annihilation, and although it’s still only a very small part of their sound, it’s developed a little further Continue reading “Abominant – Napalm Reign (Review)”
This is the début album from this Italian death/thrash metal band.
Gnosis mixes the death and thrash styles and adds a bit of progressive metal into the mix as well.
The songs merge their thrash and death metal heritages together, taking aspects from both and adding some progressive structures into the gritty mix. There are some classic metal Continue reading “Psycho Scream – Gnosis (Review)”
This is the seventh album from this US metal band.
I’ve always enjoyed Devildriver’s combination of modern metal, melodic death metal, thrash metal, NWOAHM, classic metal, nu-metal and crushing groove metal. Sure, they’ve had their ups and downs over the years with some albums being noticeably stronger than others, but they’ve always had enough meat on their metal bones to make me happy to listen to them in some capacity or other.
This moves us onto Continue reading “Devildriver – Trust No One (Review)”
Synthetic are a Metal band from the UK and this is their début album.
This is modern melodic Metal that features a EuroMetal style with aspects of Scandinavian melodeth. There’s a bit more depth involved to these songs than you might expect from the description, however, as the band also incorporate elements of classic and progressive Metal, allowing them to stand out from the pack a bit more than the average proponent of this type of music. Continue reading “Synthetic – Here Lies the Truth (Review)”
Veil of Deception are a Metal band from Austria. This is their second album.
This is Groove Metal with a Thrash edge, in the vein of Pantera, Sevendust, Breed 77 and mid-phase Anthrax, mixed with a bit of an Alternative Metal approach.
Heavy riffs and lighter leads form the bedrock of the band’s sound. Their approach is a little different to the average Groove Metal band though, eschewing the more Modern Metal approach and instead incorporating elements of Classic and Heavy Metal into their sound.
The singer is a great example of this – he has a cleaner, more Heavy Metal style than you’d probably expect from a band of this ilk. It adds an authentic edge to the music, as well as a good Rock sensibility on occasion.
Well, this is quite an unexpected turn of events. There I was, expecting Metalcore, (based on the cover, logo and band description), when what I actually got has more in common with 90s Alternative Metal than 00s Metalcore. It’s a welcome change of pace and the band are to be commended for not taking a more obvious route with their style.
This doesn’t mean there aren’t any issues with Tearing up the Roots; overall the songs are enjoyable slabs of Metal, but the songwriting could do with a bit of tightening up in places.
All in all, this is an enjoyable release though; one that makes me feel a bit nostalgic in places too. Not many bands play this kind of thing any more, as it’s too Classic Metal for the Modern Metal crowds and too groove-laden for the Classic Metal crowds. It’s an interesting release and it certainly gets better with repeated spins as the riffs, melodies and vocals work themselves into your brain.
Not bad at all. Check it out.
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Nyx are a Black Metal band from Germany and this is their début album.
Featuring only two members, Nyx make an impressive début that would do justice to a full band.
The music on this 45 minute album is quite varied and features elements of different sub-genres as well as the core of Black Metal that they play so well.
A few Classic Metal licks appear here and there, as well as a decent Post-Metal influence, especially in some of the guitar melodies. There’s enough of this ethereal, transcendental influence to label this Post-Black Metal, although the icy, frozen core of the pure style is still here, corrupting it so that it’s projected out through the prism of urban decay.
The singer’s screamed vocals are ridiculously strong; her voice is blood-curdling and powerful in the best tradition of Black Metal shrieking. Cleaner vocalisations are also used and these add emotional content and a rather ritualistic, sinister aura on occasion. These too are powerful and have real presence. Occasionally they even add in a bit of a more traditional clean singing style, and these parts sound just as good as everything else.
The songs are barbed, twisted and full of unexpected subtlety and shading. There’s a lot of ideas on display throughout these 9 tracks and the band have produced an album that has both immediate impact and lasting depth. The production is sharp and serrated, allowing the music to showcase its dangerous edge.
This is not a run-of-the-mill release, this is sophisticated Black Metal Art.
Very impressive.
Wonderbox Metal 