Now this is a lineup. All three bands I’d go and see in their own right, let alone all touring together. Tonight I feel like I’m in for a real treat. Morale is high as I enter the Academy 3, and it’s about to get a whole lot of busy. Continue reading “Better Lovers/Frontierer/Greyhaven – Academy 3, Manchester – 19/01/25 (Live Review)”
Yes, it’s list season once more, so gather round and witness some of the best metal that 2024 had to offer!
2024 was a fantastic year for metal, and that’s an understatement. I thought 2023 was one of the weaker years for metal releases, overall. As such, putting last year’s list together, although challenging as it always is, was relatively effortless compared to this one. I don’t think I’ve agonised over placings more any other year. In the end, similar to last year, I just decided that enough was enough and I needed to just stop needlessly obsessing. Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2024”
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)”
Make Them Suffer are an Australian metalcore band and this is their fifth album.
Make Them Suffer contains 39 minutes of keyboard/electronics-enriched metalcore, laced with deathcore elements. I’ve never heard Make Them Suffer before, but they’ve impressed me with this new album of theirs. Continue reading “Make Them Suffer – Make Them Suffer (Review)”
Saltwound are a death/metalcore band from the US and this is their debut album.
The Temptation of Pain provides us with a brutal and intense hybrid form of deathcore and metalcore. Saltwound spend 29 minutes abusing and punishing with their destructive brand of heaviness. Continue reading “Saltwound – The Temptation of Pain (Review)”
This is the debut album from US metal band Dead Icarus.
I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Icarus’ debut EP Ad Infernum, which brought the ex-singer of Atreyu’s charismatic vocals back to the world of heavy music. Now we have the 38-minute Zealot, and Dead Icarus, (who also contain members of Enterprise Earth and Whitechapel), are on fire. Continue reading “Dead Icarus – Zealot (Review)”
Fit for an Autopsy are a deathcore band from the US and this is their seventh album.
I do so like Fit for an Autopsy. If you haven’t already, check out The Depression Sessions, The Great Collapse, The Sea of Tragic Beasts, Oh What the Future Holds, and The Aggression Sessions; all are worth your time and document a band increasingly carving their own niche in deathcore’s crowded landscapes. So then, what do the 44 minutes of new material on The Nothing That Is provide us with? Continue reading “Fit for an Autopsy – The Nothing That Is (Review)”
This is the debut album from UK metal act Heriot.
I enjoyed 2022’s Profound Morality, so have been looking forward to Heriot unleashing a full album. I’ll tell you what too, they haven’t disappointed me. Quite the opposite in fact. Continue reading “Heriot – Devoured by the Mouth of Hell (Review)”
This is the debut album from French modern metal band Vestige.
To give a flavour of the sort of hybrid style that Vestige play, the promo blurb states that Janis is for fans of Deftones, Alcest, Loathe, and Sylvaine. In practice, this means a modern metal blend of post-metal and black/shoegaze. This results in songs that are highly atmospheric, yet also song-focused. Continue reading “Vestige – Janis (Review)”
This is the debut album from US solo metalcore band Scene Queen.
Now for something a little different. The artist behind Scene Queen offers up a clash of metalcore and chart music that’s shockingly good. It almost doesn’t need stating that this is not the sort of thing I gravitate to normally, but this is simply too good to pass up; as soon as I gave it a chance, I knew it had me. Continue reading “Scene Queen – Hot Singles in Your Area (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 