This is the debut album from Polish death/doom metal band Haunted Cenotaph.
Abyssal Menace contains 41 minutes of gloomy old-school death metal. With a hefty amount of doom metal elements, and a Celtic Frost influence, this is an enjoyable listen for anyone that wants to explore OSDM that has a different perspective on the genre than that of many of the band’s contemporaries. Continue reading “Haunted Cenotaph – Abyssal Menace (Review)”
This is the second album from Heads for the Dead, an international death metal band.
2018’s Serpent’s Curse was a great record, so this new one is much-anticipated. Into the Red contains 47 minutes of horror-themed old-school death metal, and the album has been worth anticipating; this is a crushing record that deserves much attention. Continue reading “Heads for the Dead – Into the Red (Review)”
This is the debut album from US black metal band Heretical Sect.
Heretical Sect’s sound combines blackened ferocity with doom misery. Specifically, traditional black metal and 90s death/doom. It’s a combination that works well, yielding some gruesome rotten fruit over the course of six grim tracks. Across Continue reading “Heretical Sect – Rapturous Flesh Consumed (Review)”
This is the fourth album from German death metallers Profanity.
Despite the decent-sized discography of Profanity, this is my first encounter with them other than their 2014 EP Hatred Hell Within. The EP was enough to ensure that I checked out this album when it appeared, (although it Continue reading “Profanity – Fragments of Solace (Review)”
Growth are an Australian death metal band and this is their debut album.
This is essentially modern progressive death metal, but with a distinctly personal slant. That’s a bit too simplistic a description though. The promo blurb mentions bands such as Opeth, Gorguts, Black Crown Initiate, and Fallujah, and I can see why. To Continue reading “Growth – The Smothering Arms of Mercy (Review)”
This is the second album from Australian death metallers Depravity.
Depravity’s 2018 album Evil Upheaval was a fearsome slab of devastating death metal, so listening to their new slab of aggression was a must. Continue reading “Depravity – Grand Malevolence (Review)”
This is the debut album from Pneuma Hagion, a death metal band from the US.
Ugly and heavy, death metal like this feels like it should be able to swallow stars. You can hear influences from both black and doom metal, but mostly you can hear the sound of brutal nightmares forged into music. Continue reading “Pneuma Hagion – Voidgazer (Review)”
A sci-fi themed 4-way death metal split release? Hell yes! Sign me up! The class artwork sealed the deal, to be honest, never mind the 19 minutes of quality cosmic metal of death on offer.
UK band Cryptic Shift are the only band here I actually know, (due to Visitations from Enceladus), so was expecting good things; I wasn’t disappointed. Cosmic Dreams is an older Continue reading “Cryptic Shift/Replicant/Inoculation/Astral Tomb – Chasm of Aeons – Split (Review)”
This is the third album from German death metallers Slaughterday.
Slaughterday are reliable and enjoyable. Drop into any of their discography at almost any point, (Nightmare Vortex, Ravenous, Laws of the Occult, Abattoir), and you’ll find timeless death metal, with an authentic, honest, merciless Continue reading “Slaughterday – Ancient Death Triumph (Review)”
Lie in Ruins are a Finnish death metal band and this is their third album.
Six years on from 2014’s monstrous Toward Divine Death, we get follow up Floating in Timeless Streams. Clocking in at a lean 42 minutes, (compared to its predecessor’s 72), this is a more concentrated and focused slab of brutality and aggression. Continue reading “Lie in Ruins – Floating in Timeless Streams (Review)”
