This is the second album from Romanian progressive/post-metallers Kultika.
I’ve been eagerly awaiting this ever since 2017’s Pursuance. I’ve had to wait longer than I expected for Capricorn Wolves, but it’s been worth the wait. Continue reading
This is the second album from Romanian progressive/post-metallers Kultika.
I’ve been eagerly awaiting this ever since 2017’s Pursuance. I’ve had to wait longer than I expected for Capricorn Wolves, but it’s been worth the wait. Continue reading
This is the third album from Irish doom band Nomadic Rituals.
This is the follow up to 2017’s excellent Marking the Day, which also made it onto my end of year list for that year. It’s great to hear the massive sludge-infused doom of Nomadic Rituals once more, and this new album is a strong contender for the best in their discography. Continue reading
This is the debut album from Sepulchre by the Sea, a one-man post-black metal band from the UK.
Sepulchre by the Sea’s music is a hybrid form of modern/traditional black metal, expressed in an atmospheric style and enhanced with elements of post-rock and blackgaze. This approach results in a sprawling post-black metal epic that unfolds across 58 minutes of evocative, well-written music. Continue reading
This is the debut album from Belgian post-metal/sludge band Pothamus.
Pothamus play an atmospheric amalgamation of post-metal, post-rock, drone, shoegaze, and sludge influences, which has resulted in 50 minutes of rich, luscious music. Continue reading
Growth are an Australian death metal band and this is their debut album.
This is essentially modern progressive death metal, but with a distinctly personal slant. That’s a bit too simplistic a description though. The promo blurb mentions bands such as Opeth, Gorguts, Black Crown Initiate, and Fallujah, and I can see why. To Continue reading
Farer are a doom band from the Netherlands and this is their debut album.
Monad is a harrowing and uncomfortable 53 minutes that’s made up of components from doom, noise, drone, sludge, and post-metal. The bass is used prominently and well, as you’d expect from a band with two bass Continue reading
This is the debut album from Cult Burial, a death/black/doom metal band from the UK.
After being a big fan of the band’s early work, expectations were high for Cult Burial. I have to say that they have been met, and this is a superlative album. Cult Burial play a hybrid form of blackened extreme metal, one which takes what it likes from black, death, and doom metal and then slaughters what’s left. Continue reading
This is the third album from German black metallers Beltez.
Following on from 2017’s well-regarded Exiled, Punished…Rejected, A Grey Chill and a Whisper is well-received and quite exceptional. Across 65 minutes Beltez brutalise and mystify with a compelling tale of darkness and despair, but with some glimmers of hope. Continue reading
This is the debut album by Ba’al, a blackened post-metal band from the UK.
I last caught up with Ba’al on their debut release in 2017 – In Gallows by Mass – which showed a lot of potential. This appears to have now been fulfilled, albeit in a different way than I was initially expecting. Elipsism ably demonstrates how the band have Continue reading
Auðn are an Icelandic black metal band and this is their third album.
Auðn play atmospheric black metal, and I like what I hear here very much. Theirs is a form of music that’s rooted in classical atmospheric blackness, but is not limited to the second wave by any means. This is a very contemporary release, despite its Continue reading