Inter Arma – Wonderbox Metal

Agenbite Misery – Remorse of Conscience (Review)

This is the debut album from Agenbite Misery, a US black/death/sludge metal band.

Okay, it’s to the promo blurb for this one – “…the band began with a deceptively simple idea: to adapt James Joyce’s Ulysses into an experimental metal album. What emerged from that idea is a 55-minute odyssey of layered sonic aggression and literary depth, an album that blends blackened sludge, dissonant death metal, post-punk, ambient drone, and more into a singular, genre-defying statement of purpose.” So there you have it. Continue reading “Agenbite Misery – Remorse of Conscience (Review)”

Abraham – Idsungwüssä (Review)

This is the fifth album from Swiss post-hardcore/metal band Abraham.

Idsungwüssä is the 60-minute follow up to 2022’s Débris de Mondes Perdus. A mix of post-metal, hardcore, and sludge, Abraham’s new record is sure to find firm fans amongst devotees to bands like. Blessings, Coilguns, Converge, Cult of Luna, Inter Arma, Neurosis, The Ocean, Sumac, etc. Continue reading “Abraham – Idsungwüssä (Review)”

Ba’al – The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here (Review)

This is the second album by Ba’al, a blackened post-metal band from the UK.

I’ve been looking forward to this. 2017’s In Gallows by Mass introduced me to Ba’al’s brand of post-metal, but it was on 2020’s Elipsism where the band truly came into their own, developing a post-black metal framework for their post-metal that was hugely impressive. Last year’s EP Soft Eyes, a quality collection of songs, merely whetted my appetite for more, which we are now gifted with in the form of the 62-minute The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here. Continue reading “Ba’al – The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here (Review)”

A Flock Named Murder – Incendiary Sanctum (Review)

A Flock Named Murder are a black/extreme metal band from Canada and this is their second album.

Incendiary Sanctum only contains four tracks, but has a running time of 64 minutes. A Flock Named Murder are ambitious, and use this time to explore a hybrid sound that combines elements of black, death, doom, and post-metal together very effectively. Continue reading “A Flock Named Murder – Incendiary Sanctum (Review)”

Cave Sermon – Fragile Wings (Review)

This is the third album from Australian post-metal solo band Cave Sermon.

On Fragile Wings the artist behind Cave Sermon has created an interesting and enjoyable 4o minutes of music. It’s a hybrid style, combining death, black, sludge, progressive, and post-metal, resulting in an album that covers a lot of bases in a well-blended, immersive way. Continue reading “Cave Sermon – Fragile Wings (Review)”

Damnation Festival 2024 – BEC Arena, Manchester – 02/11/24 (Live Review)

Another year, another Damnation Festival. As always, the organisers are to be commended for putting on one of the UK’s premier metal festivals. I’ve been coming here most years for almost two decades now, and I’ve never yet had a bad day.

There are three stages. Two smaller stages that clash with each other, and a main stage that clashes with nothing. Continue reading “Damnation Festival 2024 – BEC Arena, Manchester – 02/11/24 (Live Review)”

Skelethal – Within Corrosive Continuums (Review)

Skelethal are a French death metal band and this is their third album.

Skelethal play classic death metal and unleash 40 minutes of carnage across Within Corrosive Continuums. Built upon a sturdy foundation of old-school Swedish death metal, the music is forged from iron and molten lava. Continue reading “Skelethal – Within Corrosive Continuums (Review)”

Inter Arma – New Heaven (Review)

Inter Arma are a post-metal band from the US and this is their fifth album.

Inter Arma are not your average band. They contort and shapeshift from one track to the next – from one part of a song to the next – delivering a multifaceted metallic journey through all kinds of different styles and genres, including doom, death metal, black metal, sludge, and more, all wrapped up in a progressive/post-metal bow that’s just wonderfully realised. Continue reading “Inter Arma – New Heaven (Review)”

Dvne – Voidkind (Review)

Dvne are a progressive post-metal band from the UK and this is their third album.

I fell hard for Dvne on their 2017 album Asheran, which they then followed up in 2021 with the critically acclaimed Etemen Ænka. Which brings us to the much-anticipated Voidkind, an album that boasts 58 minutes of new material. Continue reading “Dvne – Voidkind (Review)”

Distances – Abstruse (Review)

Distances are a post-metal band from the US and this is their fifth album, (assuming you count 2016’s covers album Rip Offs).

Eagerly awaited after 2018’s hugely impressive Diableries, which rightfully made it into the top 3 of my album of the year list for that year, its follow up is finally here. Abstruse contains 41 minutes of new material, and finds the band altered, but full of fire and creative passion. Continue reading “Distances – Abstruse (Review)”