This is the debut album from solo Dutch black metal band Sterveling.
Brought to us by an ex-member of Wesenwille, Sterveling brings us three sprawling songs across 43 minutes. Despite being a solo act, there are three others involved in the album who provide vocals, synths and additional vocals. Continue reading “Sterveling – Sterveling (Review)”
This is the eleventh album from French one-man black metal band Esoctrilihum.
Over the years I’ve developed a real fondness for the creative blackened output of this prolific artist. 2018’s Pandaemorthium (Forbidden Formulas to Awaken the Blind Sovereigns of Nothingness) started my journey, 2021’s Dy’th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath really made a mark, 2022’s Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh was harsh and unforgiving, and then last year’s monster triple album Astraal Constellations of the Majickal Zodiac was far more enthralling than anything as long as that had any right to be. Of course, then there’s also the rest of the Esoctrilihum’s discography too, which I haven’t reviewed. For now though, we have the colossal 80-minute Döth-Dernyàlh. Continue reading “Esoctrilihum – Döth-Dernyàlh (Review)”
This is the debut album from Wrach, a Welsh solo black metal band.
Quad Infra Volo Videre contains 48 minutes of sinister underground black metal. It’s inspired by the 90s second wave style, but other influences from across the last few decades have been drawn into its malevolent embrace, giving it more of a 00s feel overall. Continue reading “Wrach – Quae Infra Volo Videre (Review)”
This is the debut album from one-man Polish death metal band Embarla Firgasto.
Temporal Capsule offers up 31 minutes of dissonant blackened death metal. The artist claims influence from acts such as Deathspell Omega, Aosoth, Ulcerate, Gorguts, Leviathan, Convulsing, and VI, and this is a good place to start when approaching this album. Continue reading “Embarla Firgasto – Temporal Capsule (Review)”
This is the eighth album form US progressive metallers Leviathan.
I first encountered Leviathan on 2014’s Beholden to Nothing, Braver Since Then. I enjoyed that record, so have made sure to catch up with the band every time they produce something new; 2018’s Can’t be Seen by Looking: Blurring the Lines, Clouding the Truth and Continue reading “Leviathan – Mischief of Malcontent (Review)”
This is the seventh album form US progressive metallers Leviathan.
Having enjoyed 2014’s Beholden to Nothing, Braver Since Then and 2018’s Can’t Be Seen by Looking: Blurring the Lines, Clouding the Truth, I was looking forward to this. Now that it’s here, Words Waging War provides 68 minutes of progressive metal that’s well-written and well-performed. Continue reading “Leviathan – Words Waging War (Review)”
This is the sixth album from US progressive metallers Leviathan.
The band’s 2014 album Beholden to Nothing, Braver Since Then was an album that I not only enjoyed when it came out, but is one that has definitely grown on me over time. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. Continue reading “Leviathan – Can’t Be Seen by Looking: Blurring the Lines, Clouding the Truth (Review)”
Crawl play blackened doom, and Leviathan play black metal. Both are solo artists from the US and have got together to birth this hideous, reeking mass of unpleasantness.
This split lasts 24 minutes, with each artist contributing a single track lasting 12 minutes exactly. Continue reading “Crawl/Leviathan – Split (Review)”
This is the third album from US Black Metallers One Master.
This is underground, occult, raw Black Metal that lays its cards on the table in the very first few seconds and blatantly announces, “this is who we are, this is what we do”.
And it’s bloody good, in an evil, malevolent way.
Although the band stick to the USBM template as laid down by the likes of Leviathan, there’s an impressive amount of depth to the songs on Reclusive Blasphemy. Each track takes you back to a pre-digital age where hearing bands even remotely like this took effort, commitment and contacts.
Back to the present though; One Master are definitely showcasing their dark talents on Reclusive Blasphemy. Will it be enough to propel them to the elite upper echelons of US Black Metal? If there is any justice, they’ll at least get a good shot at it as this album really is a bit of a corker.
Whether they blast it up or Doom it out, their proficiency never drops and the songs hit their marks. The aura of Blackened wrath is omnipresent and the band work their grim wonders across all 36 minutes with the ease of the naturally gifted.
Blackened melodies and forlorn emotions combine with furious rage to create hymns to lost gods and jealous daemons. These songs have a ritualistic edge that’s hypnotic in its delivery and frightening in its danger.
Reclusive Blasphemy hopefully will not stay reclusive. This needs to be heard.
Extremely highly recommended.
Wrong are a Black Metal band from Spain and this is their second album.
Created by two people; one from a Thrash Metal background and one from a Technical Death Metal background. From these unlikely roots an album has grown which is surprising in that it is both the epitome of what is meant to be but also pleasingly fresh and full of morbid life.
Wrong play creepy, fragile, melancholic Black Metal with a depressive/nihilistic edge akin to some of the work by Xasthur and Leviathan only not quite as minimalistic and with more of a Paradise Lost/Katatonia/etc. influence to some of the Doomier riffs; think Forgotten Tomb for some of the parts in fact.
The songs are long compositions and have many different facets to their delivery, from fast and sharp to slow and misery-laden. It’s an approach that serves them well.
The sound is suitably fuzzy and Blackened but it has a solid backbone of precise, focused drumming that grounds the band no matter what they’re playing.
Wrong take you on a Blackened nihilistic journey through the underworld, tastefully underscored by some subtle riffing and even subtler effects that hide underneath the torrent of darkness and the pounding drums.
Pessimistic Outcomes takes me back to prime-time 00’s underground Black Metal and all the associated feelings it has for me. This is a great album full of bleak melodics and nuanced moments propelled forwards by some powerful drumming, expressive riffing and scathing, slicing vocal emanations.
If you only have a choice of one album full of emotive Black Metal this month then make it Wrong.
Wonderbox Metal 