This is the second album from US death metallers Rude.
2014’s Soul Recall was a thoroughly enjoyable slab of old-school death metal. The band have now returned with a new album, ready to crush all those that would oppose their classic death metal onslaught. Continue reading “Rude – Remnants… (Review)”
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”
This is the second album from Ulcer Uterus, a death metal band from Poland.
This is brutal death metal that rages and tears out of the speakers like savagery incarnate. Yes, yes, hyperbole perhaps, but the album definitely starts with a bang and gets the adrenaline going for sure.
The singer has a deep growl that has a kind of rough, Continue reading “Ulcer Uterus – Cursed Saints (Review)”
This is the second album from Spanish death metallers Necroven.
Necroven worship at the altar of old-school death metal and serve up Primordial Subjugation with a visceral assault on the senses. Aggressive 90s death metal styles are smashed together at high speed to create 36 minutes of music that’s a joyful ride through everything dark, macabre and brutal. Continue reading “Necroven – Primordial Subjugation (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)”
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)”
Here we have a short split between death metallers Lago and Calm Hatchery, from the US and Poland, respectively.
Lago’s 2014 album Tyranny was an album that had a kind of darkly melodic brutality to it. It saw the band balance their style somewhere between the old-school and the new, to great effect. Continue reading “Lago/Calm Hatchery – Split (Review)”
Rudra are a blackened extreme metal band from Singapore. This is their eighth album.
Despite being around for a very long time at this point, and despite having first heard of them an almost equally long time ago, this is my first actual encounter with Rudra and their so-called Vedic metal. Continue reading “Rudra – Enemy of Duality (Review)”
This is the debut album from Abduction, a black metal band from France.
Une Ombre Régit les Ombres consists of songs that are epic in length and vision, blasting out of the darkness with confidence, style and much aplomb. The music is a mix of progressive black/death metal, more skewed to the blackened side of things, if only due to the atmospheres evoked and the rasping screams of the main vocals. Continue reading “Abduction – Une Ombre Régit les Ombres (Review)”
Vircolac are an Irish death metal band and this is their debut EP.
This is a band that have been firmly influenced by the old-school. It’s classic-styled death metal that firmly puts the emphasis on songs and atmosphere, as opposed to mindless speed, technicality or similar such stuff. Continue reading “Vircolac – The Cursed Travails of the Demeter (Review)”
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