This is the third album from Canadian black metal act Liminal Shroud.
Following on from 2022’s All Virtues Ablaze, comes the 44-minute Visions of Collapse. On their new record Liminal Shroud continue to forge ahead with their brand of black metal, refining it further, with some very tasty results. Continue reading “Liminal Shroud – Visions of Collapse (Review)”
This is the third album from Swedish black metal solo act Kvaen.
The name Kvaen hit the black metal underground hard with 2020’s The Funeral Pyre, and then followed this up in 2022 with The Great Below, which showed that the quality of the debut was no fluke. Another two years have passed, and now we have The Formless Fires. Do the 39 minutes of new music here still demonstrate a continuation of these quality levels? Continue reading “Kvaen – The Formless Fires (Review)”
What an incredible lineup this is. I mean, just look at it. It’s ridiculous. I’ve never been to Fortress Festival before, (this is its second year), or Scarborough, but this was an event not to be missed. My words below won’t really do justice to what a great festival this was, but hopefully you’ll get a flavour of it at the very least.
Before we get into it – if you’ve ever read one of my live reviews previously you’ll notice that the quality of the photos used here far, far, far outstrips my usual meagre efforts. This is because I didn’t take them. I’m enormously pleased to say that they very talented Aleksandra Hogg captured and supplied all of these photos, and I urge you to check out her work at Acidolka here, here, or here. Continue reading “Fortress Festival 2024 – Scarborough Spa, Scarborough, 01-02/06/24 (Live Review)”
This is the debut album from French black metallers Houle.
After thoroughly enjoying Houle’s 2022 debut self titled EP, I was pleased to see Ciel Cendre et Misère Noire appear. Houle deliver 45 minutes minutes of melodic black metal across this album, and the record is a scorcher. Continue reading “Houle – Ciel Cendre et Misère Noire (Review)”
Mumuksu/Iravu are both solo acts from Malaysia. The latter plays black metal, and the former doom.
I thoroughly enjoyed Iravu’s debut album from last year – A Fate Worse Than Home – so knew I wanted to check out this split. It contains three tracks and has a total duration of 55 minutes. The first two songs are by the individual artists, and the final is a collaboration between them both. Continue reading “Mumuksu/Iravu – Sudra – Split (Review)”
This is the sixth album from Árstíðir Lífsins, an international, (Germany/Iceland), black metal band.
2020’s epic Saga á tveim tungum II: Eigi fjǫll né firðir was a notable album that introduced me to Árstíðir Lífsins, and I thoroughly enjoyed 20203’s Hermalausaz even more. This means I’ve been looking forward to Aldrlok ever since I became aware of its presence on the blackened horizon. Continue reading “Árstíðir Lífsins – Aldrlok (Review)”
This is the fifth album from Belgian black metallers Cult of Erinyes.
Since last catching up with Cult of Erinyes on 2016’s Transcendence and 2017’s Tiberivs, the band have changed vocalist, (now Déhà from Acathexis, C.O.A.G., Silver Knife, Slow, We All Die (Laughing), Merda Mundi, and countless others), and released another EP and album, both of which I unfortunately missed. Which brings us to the 44 minutes of material on Metempsychosis. Continue reading “Cult of Erinyes – Metempsychosis (Review)”
This is the second album from Naxen, a German black metal band.
Descending into a Deeper Darkness is the follow up to 2020’s Towards the Tomb of Times, and contains 43 minutes of new material that’s spread out over four sprawling tracks. Naxen were already a quality band before this, but Descending into a Deeper Darkness sees them raise their standards even higher. Continue reading “Naxen – Descending into a Deeper Darkness (Review)”
This is the fifth album from Corpus Diavolis, a French black metal band.
I enjoyed 2017’s Atra Lumen and 2021’s Apocatastase, (which I honestly thought I had reviewed), so when the promo for Elixiria Ekstasis appeared I wanted very much to be able to get to it. Alas, it was not to be, as sadly there just isn’t enough time in the world. However, as I like Corpus Diavolis I eventually made the mistake of listening to it – a mistake, only because it’s damn good and I knew I had to write about it – which is why, despite this coming out in March, you’re reading this now. Continue reading “Corpus Diavolis – Elixiria Ekstasis (Review)”
This is the sixth album from German solo black metal band Infestus.
Has it really been ten years since 2014’s The Reflecting Void? I really liked that record. With only one album since then – 2018’s Thrypsis, which I somehow missed – I’ve been looking forward to exploring the 46-minute Entzweiung. Continue reading “Infestus – Entzweiung (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 