Loathe – I Let It in and It Took Everything (Review)

Loathe - I Let It in and It Took EverythingThis is the second album from UK modern metallers Loathe.

Loathe’s music is based on a modern, contemporary vision of heavy music, and then added to by a wider set of influences. The end result is a multifaceted, textured album that spends 49 minutes exploring diverse and impactful soundscapes with the listener. Continue reading “Loathe – I Let It in and It Took Everything (Review)”

Moonreich – Wormgod (Review)

Moonreich - WormgodThis is the latest EP from French black metallers Moonreich.

Moonreich are a band I always enjoy the work of, (Fugue, for example), and this new EP is no exception. It contains four new songs and a Depeche Mode cover, and lasts 22 minutes. Continue reading “Moonreich – Wormgod (Review)”

Vomit Fist – Omnicide (Review)

Vomit Fist - OmnicideVomit Fist are a grindcore band from the US and this is their latest release.

Here we have 20 minutes of complex, vicious grindcore. This is not your standard grindcore, however, and Vomit Fist have produced something far more atypical and individual than most. Continue reading “Vomit Fist – Omnicide (Review)”

Psychomancer – Shards of the Hourglass (Review & Interview)

Psychomancer - Shards of the HourglassThis is the third album from Psychomancer, a death metal band from the US.

Shards of the Hourglass is a monstrous death/thrash metal release that falls somewhere between Swedish death metal and the more adventurous side of 90s death and thrash metal. There’s a vicious German influence too – think a mix of Vader and Destruction. Take all of this together and it makes for a surprisingly engaging 58-minute blend of extreme metal. Continue reading “Psychomancer – Shards of the Hourglass (Review & Interview)”

Impenitent – Impenitent (Review)

Impenitent - ImpenitentImpenitent are a blackened death metal band from the UK and this is their debut album.

Here we have some raw, underground stuff from the bottom of the underworld. It’s an hour of technical black/death metal, played with skill and passion, which sounds as if the recording of the album was recently found locked in some obscure vault somewhere after many, many years. Continue reading “Impenitent – Impenitent (Review)”

Bölzer – Lese Majesty (Review)

Bölzer - Lese MajestyBölzer are a Swiss black metal band and this is their latest EP.

Bölzer’s music is impressively creative and idiosyncratic, and their take on blackened metal is both enjoyable and infectious. An EP this may be, but there’s still 29 minutes of material here. Continue reading “Bölzer – Lese Majesty (Review)”

Nile – Vile Nilotic Rites (Review)

Nile - Vile Nilotic RitesNile are a US death metal band and this is their ninth album.

On Vile Nilotic Rites Nile return with a new lineup and a new approach to songwriting. There’s a greater cohesion in how the band members work together, and subsequently how their instruments and vocals fit with each other, meaning that the songs on this new album are very high quality. Nile sound focused and hungry. Continue reading “Nile – Vile Nilotic Rites (Review)”

Arallu – En Olam (Review)

Arallu - En OlamArallu are black metal band from Israel and this is their seventh album.

I always really like Arallu’s work, (check out Six, Geniewar, and Desert Battles – Descending to the Sands), so it’s exciting to see a new album emerge. Continue reading “Arallu – En Olam (Review)”

Culted – Vespertina Synaxis: A Prayer for Union & Emptiness (Review)

Culted - Vespertina Synaxis - A Prayer for Union & EmptinessCulted are an international blackened doom band and this is their latest EP.

I really enjoyed 2014’s Oblique to All Paths, and have been waiting for a new Culted release ever since. Well, now it’s here in the shape of this 27-minute EP. Boasting three tracks, Vespertina Synaxis: A Prayer for Union & Emptiness is a sinister exploration of Culted’s world. Continue reading “Culted – Vespertina Synaxis: A Prayer for Union & Emptiness (Review)”