Hekata are a Russian death metal band and this is their debut album.
Hekata play a virulent mix of death metal, black metal, hardcore, crust, and grind. It’s quite the mix, and essentially results in songs that merge these influences into blackened slabs of Scandinavian-influenced deathcrustcore. Or something. You get the idea, I’m sure. Continue reading
Altarage are a Spanish blackened death metal band and this is their third album.
2017’s Endinghent was a contagious plague of ugly blackened dissonance, and The Approaching Roar provides us with a brand new 43 minutes of dark intensity and malignant hatred. Continue reading
This is the second release from US deathgrinders Maltheist.
Five songs, 11 minutes of filth. Yes, this is deathgrind mayhem and underground carnage. We like. Continue reading
Cóndor are a Colombian death/doom/heavy metal band and this is their fourth album.
Cóndor, (with members of Siete Lagunas), play a beguiling and personable mix of death metal and classic doom/heavy metal, at least musically. Vocally, we’re firmly in the territory of formidably daemonic harsh growls for most of the time, (we also get the occasional spoken word part and clean singing on the final song, the folky title track). Continue reading
Gross Misconduct are a Canadian death metal band and this is their third album.
This is progressive death metal with a thrash influence. The band describe this album in the following way – “Imagine Cynic with a dollop of Death, a smattering of The Crown/Mastodon/Gojira and healthy doses of 1980s Metallica and Slayer.” I’ve simply regurgitated this here as it’s a better descriptor of how Equinox sounds than anything I could come up with. Continue reading
December is always a tricky month, as generally the releases slow down in the run up to the new year. That doesn’t mean there were no notable releases during this time, however. Check out the outstanding metal albums below and let me know which your favourite is… Continue reading
This is the second album from Polish deathmetallers Eteritus.
Sucker for Scandinavian-styled death metal that I am, I really enjoyed 2016’s Following the Ancient Path, so when I saw this new slab of filth appear I knew I had to give it a listen. Continue reading
This is the debut album from UK death metallers Bludgeon.
In some ways this album is a textbook example of what-you-see-is-what-you-get – the album cover just screams brutal death metal ripped from the underground in huge great bloody chunks. In other ways, however, this does Bludgeon a disservice, as this release is surprisingly technical and involved, and the band’s individual personality shines through the gore with an unexpected brightness. Continue reading
Having considered it long and hard, I’ve decided that any form of introductory paragraph with any real substance would simply detract from the list below. As such, all I’ll say is that 2018, like every year, has given us some top quality metal releases. So have a look at my top picks for 2018, and hopefully you’ll find a new band to obsess over…
I arrive at the venue before the first band is scheduled to start, (as I always try to). Once there, I’m presented with the longest queue outside the building that I’ve ever seen, surely a testament to the insane quality of this star-studded four-band bill. Continue reading
