Khanate – To Be Cruel (Review)

Khanate - To Be CruelKhanate are a doom/drone band from the US and this is their fifth album.

The unthinkable has happened. Utterly impossible. After 14 years, a new Khanate album has arisen from the depths of untold bottomless horror to grace an undeserving planet with its unique form of grim darkness. How and why it has appeared now is anyone’s guess, but surely it must be a sign of the end times? Continue reading “Khanate – To Be Cruel (Review)”

Hellish Form – Deathless (Review)

Hellish Form are a doom/sludge band from the US and this is their second album.

Embrace the atmospheric nightmare sludge of Hellish Form. If you do, you won’t regret it. Featuring members of Body Void, Elder Devil, and KeeperDeathless contains 48 minutes of the good stuff. If by good stuff you mean a compelling mood-focused mix of funeral doom, sludge, and drone, of course. Continue reading “Hellish Form – Deathless (Review)”

Orme – Orme (Review)

Orme - OrmeOrme are a doom/drone band from the UK and this is their debut album.

Orme, (featuring a member of Everest Queen), play long-form droning doom, and on their debut album they haven’t held back. Orme only has two tracks, but there’s still 96 minutes of music here. Nazarene is 42 minutes long and Onward to Sarnath is 54 minutes long. Either one of these would have sufficed as the band’s debut album, but apparently Orme don’t do things by halves. Continue reading “Orme – Orme (Review)”

Big | Brave – Nature Morte (Review)

Big Brave - Nature MorteBig | Brave are a doom/drone band from Canada and this is their sixth album.

I haven’t caught up with Big | Brave since 2017’s Ardor, so Nature Morte‘s alluring cover is good enough of a reason to catch up with what the band are doing once more.

Continue reading “Big | Brave – Nature Morte (Review)”

Neutraliser – Capsule Bowed Space (Review)

Neutraliser - Capsule Bowed SpaceNeutraliser are a drone project from the UK and this is their debut album.

Featuring a member of 11Paranoias and Bong, Capsule Bowed Space is a single 79-minute track of experimental drone soundscapes. Continue reading “Neutraliser – Capsule Bowed Space (Review)”

Рожь (Rye) – В​с​ё (Review)

Рожь - В​с​ёThis is the second album from Рожь (otherwise known as Rye), a one-man post-black metal band from Russia.

Across 47 minutes В​с​ё provides a compelling and utterly absorbing journey into dark feelings and blackened emotion. Honestly, this is not one to miss if you enjoy highly emotive blackened immersion. Continue reading “Рожь (Rye) – В​с​ё (Review)”

Forlesen – Black Terrain (Review)

Forlesen - Black TerrainThis is the second album from US doom band Forlesen.

2020’s Hierophan Violent was a strikingly individual record, one which, for some reason, I never expected a successor to. Well, I’m happy to be wrong; Black Terrain is flush with 59 minutes of new material from this exceptional act. It’s almost double the length of its predecessor, so do Forlesen make good use of this additional running time? Continue reading “Forlesen – Black Terrain (Review)”

Monthly Overview – the Best of September 2022

September was a particularly difficult month to have to limit my choice of key metal albums to just five. As such, I’m going to skip over both An Abstract Illusion’s Woe and Gaerea’s Mirage; both are great records and are getting abundant, richly-deserved praise elsewhere, allowing me to focus on lesser-known releases. Even with this though, I still struggled with having to omit so many other worthy albums… Continue reading “Monthly Overview – the Best of September 2022”