This is the debut album by Friends of Hell, an international doom metal band.
As soon as I saw that Friends of Hell featured ex-members of Electric Wizard and Reverend Bizarre, I knew I wanted to sample its wares. I haven’t been disappointed. Continue reading “Friends of Hell – Friends of Hell (Review)”
This is the debut album from Cryptivore, a one-man Australian death metal band.
Across 27 minutes the artist behind Cryptivore hammers into us his vision for old-school death metal. Taking influence from early Amorphis, Carcass, and Grave, Celestial Extinction is a mix of brutal Swedish death metal, moody melodic death metal, and feral grindcore. Continue reading “Cryptivore – Celestial Extinction (Review)”
Messa are an Italian doom rock band and this is their third album.
It’s with great expectations that I turned to Close, having enjoyed both 2016’s Belfry and 2018’s Feast for Water so much. I have not been disappointed, I can assure you. Continue reading “Messa – Close (Review)”
Although I’d ideally love to be able to conduct hard-hitting, in-depth interviews, who has the time these days? In lieu of this, I’ve thrown together the below question template, hopefully to gather some interesting and informative results, without taking up too much of anyone’s time. Continue reading “Standard Interrogation Techniques: Five Questions for Kuolemanlaakso (Interview)”
This is a spilt between two doom metal bands – Cardinals Folly from Finland and Purification from the US.
I like Cardinals Folly very much, (see here, here, and here), so it’s always a pleasure to hear new material from them. On this split the band give us 18 minutes of new music divided into three songs. Continue reading “Cardinals Folly/Purification – Possessed in the Ritual Grove – Split (Review)”
Krvl are a Belgian post-black metal band and this is their debut album.
On Kravaal we are treated to a traditional blackened sound that’s been augmented with modern elements. Krvl combine a 90s second wave influence with a modern black metal approach that Continue reading “Krvl – Kravaal (Review)”
Similar to January, February was a surprisingly strong month for metal albums. There were many highlights, and limiting my recommendations to just the below five as not easy. Have a look at the albums below… Continue reading “Monthly Overview – the Best of February 2022”
This is the twelfth album from US sludge metal legends Crowbar.
In an ideal world Crowbar whould need little introduction. The band have been toiling away producing some of the absolute best song-based sludge metal since the early nineties, and have managed to not only amass a huge discography of great songs and albums, but have done so while basically carving their own path through the metal landscape. Continue reading “Crowbar – Zero and Below (Review)”
Kuolemanlaakso are a Gothic metal band from Finland and this is their third album.
Featuring the singer of Swallow the Sun, Kuusumu contains 47 minutes of polished, professional material. For a starting reference point think of a band like Paradise Lost, and then add in elements of acts such as My Dying Bride, Sentenced, Barren Earth, Amorphis, and Orphaned Land; this will give you a rough idea of where Kuolemanlaakso’s talents lie. Continue reading “Kuolemanlaakso – Kuusumu (Review)”
JIRM, (previously known as Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus), are a Swedish hard rock band and this is their fifth album.
Following on from 2018’s Surge ex Monumentis, JIRM’s new offering contains 52 minutes of hard rocking atmosphere and progressive wanderings. Continue reading “JIRM – The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 