Escape Is Not Freedom – Surrounded by the Great Nothing (Review)

Escape Is Not Freedom - Surrounded by the Great NothingEscape Is Not Freedom are an alternative/sludge metal band, and this is their second album.

Escape Is Not Freedom are no strangers to this site, (here and here), and it’s great to hear some new material from them. Combining elements of metal, sludge, rock, and noise, Escape Is Not Freedom remind me of a cross between Fudge Tunnel, Helmet, Nirvana, Skyscraper, and others. Continue reading “Escape Is Not Freedom – Surrounded by the Great Nothing (Review)”

Lord Mantis – Universal Death Church (Review)

Lord Mantis - Universal Death ChurchLord Mantis are from the US and play Blackened Sludge Metal. This is their fourth album.

2014’s Death Mask was a tortured nightmare of evil sludge, pretty much as foul as the style gets. Five years later the band have returned, infecting the world with 44 minutes of new material that’s as virulent and as nasty as ever. Continue reading “Lord Mantis – Universal Death Church (Review)”

Cloud Rat – Pollinator/Do Not Let Me Off the Cliff (Review)

Cloud Rat - Pollinator Do Not Let Me Off the CliffThis is the fourth album from Cloud Rat, a grindcore band from the US.

In my humble opinion Cloud Rat are one of the most forward-thinking, talented, and innovative grindcore bands out there, although simply labelling them grindcore is misleading and constricting, as their work frequently features so much more than your standard grindcore fare. Releases such as Qliphoth, and their various splits demonstrate this amply. Continue reading “Cloud Rat – Pollinator/Do Not Let Me Off the Cliff (Review)”

Culted – Vespertina Synaxis: A Prayer for Union & Emptiness (Review)

Culted - Vespertina Synaxis - A Prayer for Union & EmptinessCulted are an international blackened doom band and this is their latest EP.

I really enjoyed 2014’s Oblique to All Paths, and have been waiting for a new Culted release ever since. Well, now it’s here in the shape of this 27-minute EP. Boasting three tracks, Vespertina Synaxis: A Prayer for Union & Emptiness is a sinister exploration of Culted’s world. Continue reading “Culted – Vespertina Synaxis: A Prayer for Union & Emptiness (Review)”

Uniform & The Body – Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back (Review)

Uniform & The Body - Everything That Dies Someday Comes BackThis is the second album from Uniform & The Body, a collaboration between industrial rockers Uniform and experimental metallers The Body. Both are from the US.

I haven’t reviewed Uniform before, but I like 2018’s The Long Walk. As for The Body, you can see some examples of my appreciation for their work here, here, and here. Continue reading “Uniform & The Body – Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back (Review)”

LINGUA IGNOTA – CALIGULA (Review)

LINGUA IGNOTA - CALIGULALINGUA IGNOTA is a one woman experimental artist, and this is her latest album.

Aided by a multitude of guests, (including members of The Body and Full of Hell), this is 66 minutes of beauty and brutality. This is an album that fits in no real category other than a loose experimental one. Peppered with noise, avant-garde, industrial, and post-doom/rock influences, this is music that largely belongs to the artist alone and defies easy categorisation. Continue reading “LINGUA IGNOTA – CALIGULA (Review)”

Full of Hell – Weeping Choir (Review)

Full of Hell - Weeping ChoirThis is the fourth album from US grinders Full of Hell.

The noise-enhanced grinding extremity of Full of Hell returns, and with Weeping Choir we get a further 25 minutes of abrasive nastiness and inventive grindcore intensity. Continue reading “Full of Hell – Weeping Choir (Review)”

Nibiru – Salbrox (Review)

Nibiru - SalbroxThis is the fifth album from Italian doom band Nibiru.

This is occult, ritualistic doom, drawing elements of black metal, sludge, drone, noise, and psychedelia into itself and crushing it down into a super dense material that’s used to fashion the imposing tracks on Salbrox. Continue reading “Nibiru – Salbrox (Review)”