This is the fifth album from US death metal band Fallujah.
Fallujah have a storied list of releases at this point, (The Flesh Prevails, Dreamless, Undying Light, Empyrean), all worth getting your teeth into. After the slight dip in quality that was Undying Light, Fallujah returned very strong with Empyrean. All of which means I have been interested to see what the 42-minute Xenotaph brings us this time around. Continue reading “Fallujah – Xenotaph (Review)”
This is the debut album from German progressive death metal band Changeling.
Changeling is brought to us by current/ex-members of Alkaloid, Belphegor, Defeated Sanity, Fear Factory, Obscura, Vipassi, and Virvum. It’s supported by an army of guests, who perform everything from guest solos, vocals, and choirs, to cello, flutes, horns, piano, tuba, violins, viola, and much, much more. The music combines progressive and technical death metal, with jazz fusion, progressive rock, and world music. It’s a lot, and it’s all packed into 60 minutes of compelling material. Continue reading “Changeling – Changeling (Review)”
Alkaloid are a German progressive death metal band and this is their third album.
Containing current and ex-members of bands such as Defeated Sanity, Hate Eternal, Howling Sycamore, Obscura, Obsidious, and many others, Numen is an album that benefits from a wealth of experience, and it shows in all aspects of this professionally crafted record. Continue reading “Alkaloid – Numen (Review)”
This is the fourth album from Indian one-man extreme metal band Demonstealer.
I enjoyed both 2016’s This Burden Is Mine and 2021’s The Holocene Termination, so it’s now time to catch up with the talented artist behind Demonstealer. This time he’s come with a large supporting cast, as he’s assembled an enviable amount of musicians to help him to achieve his metallic goals, (from Continue reading “Demonstealer – The Propaganda Machine (Review)”
So here we are again. It’s December, and year end lists are flying around like shrapnel. Due to the inherent subjectivity of music it’s always interesting to see what people have made of the preceding year.
For me, I made a concerted effort to drag myself away from the depths of black metal’s always-enticing abyss to spend some more time with other genres and styles that I also love. I said something similar last year, but I feel this year I was more successful in achieving that end. Of course, I still love black metal, still listen to it constantly, and you’ll still find some great examples of the blackened arts in the list below.
2022 was a strong year for death metal for me, and I enjoyed more death metal bands in a deeper way than I have done for some time. In every year there are standout releases, but I felt this year the standard was raised throughout. Possibly I was simply more receptive to it. Either way, you’ll find more death metal-related acts, and in higher spots, in this selection than you’ll have seen in my lists for a while.
As with last year, grindcore was largely absent from my year, disappointingly, as was hardcore. Additionally, the sort of lengthy, ugly, abyssal doom that I love so much has been largely lacking too. It’s all probably out there somewhere, but I didn’t catch it.
The top two spots this year are both claimed by albums/bands/styles that I simply could not have predicted would be at the pinnacle of my list by the year’s end, (one of the bands I hadn’t even heard of in January). I hope you enjoy these excellent records even half as much as I do.
Lastly I just want to say a big thank you to any and all that might read this site. It’s only a small endeavour, and I do it purely for the love of all things METAL and to support bands that I enjoy in whatever minor way I can, but if this is you, a heartfelt thank you for enduring my scribblings.
On to it! Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2022”
This is the debut album from international death metallers Obsidious.
Containing current and ex-members of bands such as Alkaloid and Obscura, Obsidious play a form of progressive/technical death metal that melts faces, but does so with an epic hook. Continue reading “Obsidious – Iconic (Review)”
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