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 “Growth – The Smothering Arms of Mercy (Review)”
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 “Farer – Monad (Review)”
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 “Cult Burial – Cult Burial (Review)”
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 “Beltez – A Grey Chill and a Whisper (Review)”
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 “Ba’al – Ellipsism (Review)”
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 “Auðn – Vökudraumsins Fangi (Review)”
This is the ninth album from German progressive metal band The Ocean.
The follow up to 2018’s Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic, this sister album was always going to be immense and hugely anticipated. Continue reading “The Ocean – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic (Review)”
This is the debut album from Swedish grindcore band Grid.
I do like me some Swedish grind. Grid play merciless grindcore, with fiery blasts, punishing d-beats, and melodic crust all included in their aggressive formula. I very much liked 2017’s Human Collapse Syndrome, so I had high hopes for Livsleda, and it has not disappointed. Continue reading “Grid – Livsleda (Review)”
This is the second album from Wills Dissolve, a progressive metal band from the US.
Wills Dissolve play a multigenre form of progressive metal that takes in a range of other styles and subgenres. Progressive black/death metal, post-metal, ambient, doom metal, and progressive rock are all included in Echoes, and all get Continue reading “Wills Dissolve – Echoes (Review)”
Svnth are an Italian post-black metal band and this is their third album.
We’ve met Svnth before, under their longer name Seventh Genocide. On new album Spring in Blue Svnth mix black metal with shoegaze, post-metal, and progressive rock influences, crafting a 61-minute album of post-blackened grandeur that’s quite enticing and extremely enjoyable. Continue reading “Svnth – Spring in Blue (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 