Kehlvin – Holistic Dreams (Review)

Kehlvin - Holistic DreamsKehlvin are a progressive hardcore band from Switzerland and this is their third album.

Holistic Dreams contains 35 minutes of material. Kehlvin’s style is a progressive form of hardcore that also has post-hardcore and sludge metal flavours in it. For lack of a better description, imagine a mix of Knut, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Mastodon, and that will give you a rough starting point for Kehlvin’s sound. Continue reading “Kehlvin – Holistic Dreams (Review)”

Employed to Serve – Conquering (Review)

Employed to Serve - ConqueringThis is the fourth album from UK metallers Employed to Serve.

Across 48 minutes Employed to Serve dish out eleven tracks of energetic damage. Combining metal and hardcore together like it’s something fresh and vital, the band manage to avoid the tired metalcore tropes and instead deliver an album of crushing tunes and anthemic heaviness. Continue reading “Employed to Serve – Conquering (Review)”

ILLT – Urhat (Review)

ILLT - UrhatThis is the debut album from one-man Norwegian blackened extreme metal project ILLT.

This solo act is rounded out by session musicians from such notable bands as Megadeth, Soilwork, Nile, and Chrome Division. There’s 36 minutes of material on Urhat containing a modern blackened mix of death metal, thrash, hardcore, and splashes of doom and hard rock. Continue reading “ILLT – Urhat (Review)”

Mastiff – Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth (Review)

Mastiff - Leave Me the Ashes of the EarthMastiff 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 – Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry (Review)

Underdark - Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-EntryUnderdark 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)”

Sense Offender/Nil – Split (Review)

Sense Offender Nil - SplitThis 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 – Victims of Vile Torture (Review)

Tombstoner - Victims of Vile TortureTombstoner 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)”

Erdve – Savigaila (Review)

Erdve - SavigailaErdve 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)”