Mastiff are a hardcore/sludge metal band from the UK and this is their third album.
Following on from 2019’s well-received Plague, Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth contains 32 minutes of anger and violence. Continue reading “Mastiff – Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth (Review)”
Underdark are a post-black metal band from the UK and this is their debut album.
Underdark combine black metal, post-rock, post-hardcore/screamo, and blackgaze into their sound. That might sound like a slightly strange mix of subgenres, but on Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry these influences all coalesce into a very effective and enjoyable 36 minutes of post-blackened darkness. Although Continue reading “Underdark – Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry (Review)”
This is a split between UK hardcore bands Sense Offender and Nil.
Sense Offender start us off, with 8 minutes of material. The band play a form of jagged chaotic hardcore that is belligerent and lethal. Continue reading “Sense Offender/Nil – Split (Review)”
Tombstoner are a death metal band from the US and this is their debut album.
Now here’s one I’ve really been looking forward to. 2020’s Descent to Madness was seriously good, and I’ve only grown to love it even more over time. On Victims of Vile Torture, we once again get a feast of old-school death metal, played with a modern edge that incorporates elements of grind, hardcore, groove, and thrash metal. The music combines all of the above elements into a roaringly good collection of tracks. Continue reading “Tombstoner – Victims of Vile Torture (Review)”
This is the second album from US metal band Sleep Waker.
Alias contains 31 as of modern metalcore spliced with elements of electronica and ambience. Continue reading “Sleep Waker – Alias (Review)”
Erdve are from Lithuania and play blackened hardcore sludge. This is their second album.
Following on from 2018’s crushing Vaitojimas, Erdve have returned with 43 minutes of new material. Savigaila contains eleven songs, compared with Vaitojimas‘s six, yet is only five minutes longer due to the overall shorter duration of the individual tracks. Continue reading “Erdve – Savigaila (Review)”
Urne are a metal band from the UK and this is their debut album.
Urne combine a variety of influences onto their sound, resulting in an album of heaviness that’s crushing, while also taking the listener in an emotive journey. You can hear elements of bands like Mastodon, Opeth, Metallica, and Alice in Chains in Urne’s sound, but mostly you Continue reading “Urne – Serpent & Spirit (Review)”
This is the debut album from Wanderer, a hardcore band from the US.
Liberation from a Brutalist Existence contains 23 minutes of violent aggression and dark intensity. Smashing together grindcore, crust, sludge, doom, mathcore, punk, and metal into a scathing hardcore assault, Wanderer’s debut album is an exceptional slice of abrasive darkness. Continue reading “Wanderer – Liberation from a Brutalist Existence (Review)”
Somnuri are a sludge metal band from the US. and this is their second album.
Featuring an ex-member of Cleanteeth, Somnuri’s sound can best be described as something like progressive sludge metal. The promo blurb mentions bands such as High on Fire, Mastodon, Converge, Torche, and Baroness, and this sets the scene nicely. However, while all of the Continue reading “Somnuri – Nefarious Wave (Review)”
May continued 2021’s trend of being a very good year for metal. As is now usual, restricting the list to just a handful of releases was difficult. There’s more where this came from! Continue reading “Monthly Overview – the Best of May 2021”
Wonderbox Metal 