Funeral Doom – Wonderbox Metal

Aphonic Threnody – The Loneliest Walk (Review)

Aphonic Threnody are an international funeral doom band and this is their fifth album.

I like Aphonic Threnody a great deal, and really enjoyed last year’s The All Consuming Void, (also check out Of Loss and Grief and The Great Hatred). So, imagine my surprise when I saw that the band had a new album coming out so soon after the last one. Then, imagine my even further surprise when I found out that it was a monstrously huge double album! Continue reading “Aphonic Threnody – The Loneliest Walk (Review)”

Assumption – Hadean Tides (Review)

This is the second album from Italian death/doom band Assumption.

Following on from 2014’s The Three Appearances and 2018’s Absconditus, Hadean Tides contains 56 minutes of new material from Assumption. Continue reading “Assumption – Hadean Tides (Review)”

Qaalm – Resilience & Despair (Review)

This is the debut album from US blackened doom band Qaalm.

So here we have a gargantuan, monstrous record. With only four tracks it’s a long-form foulness that’s on offer here, one that spreads across the 70-minute playing time like a virulent plague. Continue reading “Qaalm – Resilience & Despair (Review)”

Epitaphe – II (Review)

Epitaphe are a French progressive death/doom band and this is their second album.

Featuring three near-20-minute songs bookended by a 3-minute intro and outro, II is a mammoth 63-minute offering from this enticing entity. For a simplistic starting point, think of a mix of bands such as Opeth, Nile, and Pink Floyd, and then realise that Epitaphe have even more to offer than this would lead you to believe. Continue reading “Epitaphe – II (Review)”

Nathr/Ordo Cultum Serpentis – Shadows Crawl – Split (Review)

This is a split between two blackened doom bands – Nathr, who are from Norway, and Ordo Cultum Serpentis, who are from Mexico/South Korea.

Nathr open the split with the 19-minute track The Burial. Continue reading “Nathr/Ordo Cultum Serpentis – Shadows Crawl – Split (Review)”

Mur – Cut the Rivers Vein (Review)

This is the fourth album from one-man blackened doom act Mur.

Cut the Rivers Vein spends 51 minutes mixing together doom, post-metal, and black metal, with elements of folk, ambient, and drone, to great effect. Continue reading “Mur – Cut the Rivers Vein (Review)”

Worm – Foreverglade (Review)

This is the third album from Worm, a blackened death/doom band from the US.

Foreverglade is the fetid swamp where black metal, funeral doom, and death metal meet and all drown slowly. It hard not to get caught up in the band’s rotting stench. I mean, a blackened form of death/doom? One which knows how to craft atmosphere as well as crush with brutal harsh nastiness, all tied together with very effective songwriting? Sign me up. Right now. Continue reading “Worm – Foreverglade (Review)”

Label Roundup: Vendetta Records – Gespenst, Aristarchos & Lurid (Reviews)

Wonderbox Metal gets sent a lot of new music, (which is great), but there’s no way that everything can get covered unfortunately, (which is not so great). This new column hopes to redress this balance, if only slightly, by taking a look at a handful of releases that a record label has recently sent out that might have otherwise slipped through the cracks.

For the very first one of these columns I thought I’d pick the below three from Vendetta Records. I have a high opinion of this label’s output, and these releases reinforce that. I would ideally have covered each one of these individually, but sadly there’s just not enough time to give everything its proper due. In lieu of that, let’s see what you think of these three below… Continue reading “Label Roundup: Vendetta Records – Gespenst, Aristarchos & Lurid (Reviews)”

Ghostheart Nebula – Ascension (Review)

This is the debut album from Italian funeral doom band Ghostheart Nebula.

Ghostheart Nebula play a mixture of funeral doom and melodic doom metal, with added post-metal and post-rock flavour in places. Continue reading “Ghostheart Nebula – Ascension (Review)”

The Slow Death – Siege (Review)

This is the fourth album from Australian death/doom band The Slow Death.

The Slow Death contain current and ex-members of bands such as Illimitable Dolor and Temple Nightside. On Siege, we are given 63 minutes of crushing death/doom metal, which also contains elements of Gothic metal and funeral doom. Featuring four colossal songs, this is a dark and gloomy trip into a world of multifaceted misery and woe. Continue reading “The Slow Death – Siege (Review)”