Old-School Hardcore – Wonderbox Metal

Polar – Five Arrows (Review)

This is the sixth album by UK hardcore band Polar.

It’s always a pleasure to catch up with Polar. Ever since 2016’s No Cure No Saviour I’ve been a big fan of the band’s hardcore/post-hardcore stylings. This album was followed in 2019 by the heavier Nova, and then in 2023 by Everywhere, Everything, which developed Polar’s more textured post-hardcore side. Now, uncharacteristically fast, we have Five Arrows, which brings us 38 minutes of new material. Continue reading “Polar – Five Arrows (Review)”

Ancst – Culture of Brutality (Review)

This is the fourth album from Ancst, a shapeshifting German metal band.

You’re never quite sure what you’re going to get from Ancst. Black metal, crust, hardcore, death metal, dark ambient – these are just genres to play with for the band, using and discarding styles and influences at will, depending on the needs of any given release or song. Which brings us to Culture of Brutality, a 35-minute, 20-track album that fuses deathgrind, metalcore, and hardcore into a monster of brutal heaviness. Continue reading “Ancst – Culture of Brutality (Review)”

Tribal Gaze – The Nine Choirs (Review)

Tribal Gaze are a death metal band from the US and this is their debut album.

The Nine Choirs is a 36-minute journey into death metal and hardcore territories that’s well-worn, yet feels fresh at the same time; Tribal Gaze take the old-school style and makes it absolutely massive, both through the mammoth sound of the record itself and how stupidly fun the music is. Tribal Gaze just destroy. Oh, and they have riffs for days. Continue reading “Tribal Gaze – The Nine Choirs (Review)”

Cage Fight – Cage Fight (Review)

This is the debut album from Cage Fight, a metal/hardcore band from the UK.

Featuring a guitarist from Tesseract and an ex-singer of Eths, Cage Fight are here to smash your face unceremoniously into the concrete, over and over again. Prepare yourself. Continue reading “Cage Fight – Cage Fight (Review)”

Spill Your Guts – The Wrath It Takes (Review)

Spill Your Guts are a blackened hardcore band from China and this is their second album.

The promo blurb states the following bands as influences on Spill Your Guts – Turbonegro, Kvelertak, Trap Them,
Every Time I Die, The Bronx,
All Pigs Must Die, Refused, and Shai Hulud – and these serve as a decent starting point for approaching the 31 minutes of material that makes up The Wrath It Takes. Continue reading “Spill Your Guts – The Wrath It Takes (Review)”

Of Feather and Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration (Review)

Of Feather and Bone are a death metal band from the US and this is their third album.

This is the follow up to 2018’s brutal Bestial Hymns of Perversion. Of Feather and Bone’s newest album digs deep into the past to produce a grim treasure trove of primal deathly delights. Continue reading “Of Feather and Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration (Review)”

Sect – No Cure for Death (Review)

This is the second album from hardcore band Sect, featuring an international lineup.

Here at Wonderbox Metal we know that you like the kind of ultra-aggressive jagged violence that’ll strip you of skin at 100 paces, so we try to please by bringing you the nastiest of the metal/hardcore/grind worlds. With that in mind, it’s time for Sect. Continue reading “Sect – No Cure for Death (Review)”

Tag: Old-School Hardcore