This is the second album from Indian avant-garde metal band Serpents of Pakhangba.
Air and Fire is an ambitious album, in more ways than one. Across 54 minutes you’ll find a wealth of creativity and ideas, all delivered with skilled performances and detailed songwriting. Serpents of Pakhangba are resolutely not your average band. Continue reading “Serpents of Pakhangba – Air and Fire (Review)”
This is the seventh album from Canadian solo post-black metal band Unreqvited.
Pathway to the Moon contains 43 minutes of post-black metal, taking in elements of blackgaze, symphonic black metal, progressive metal, and post-rock along the way. If you are familiar with Unreqvited’s past work, Pathway to the Moon finds the artist taking their art to the next level. Everything here is an evolutionary step up, delivering music that is extremely well-rendered into its final form. Continue reading “Unreqvited – Pathway to the Moon (Review)”
This is the fifth album from Ukrainian metal band Jinjer.
I haven’t caught up with Jinjer since their 2016 album King of Everything, so this new album seemed like a good place to see how the band are faring in 2025. It turns out, very well indeed. Duél is a keeper. Continue reading “Jinjer – Duél (Review)”
Katoaja are a Finnish progressive metal band and this is their debut album.
What We Witness contains 45 minutes of modern progressive metal. Katoaja operate on the heavier end of the progressive metal spectrum, delivering seven songs that showcase the talents of this relatively new band very nicely. As this is progressive metal, there’s more to Katoaja than just heaviness though. Continue reading “Katoaja – What We Witness (Review)”
Yes, it’s list season once more, so gather round and witness some of the best metal that 2024 had to offer!
2024 was a fantastic year for metal, and that’s an understatement. I thought 2023 was one of the weaker years for metal releases, overall. As such, putting last year’s list together, although challenging as it always is, was relatively effortless compared to this one. I don’t think I’ve agonised over placings more any other year. In the end, similar to last year, I just decided that enough was enough and I needed to just stop needlessly obsessing. Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2024”
This is the debut album from Icelandic progressive/post-metal band Múr.
Across 54 minutes Múr have crafted a multifaceted record that takes liberally from the progressive and post-metal styles, resulting in a journey that’s very satisfying. Múr should appeal to fans of bands such as Ihsahn, Gojira, Alcest, Devin Townsend, Iotunn, Opeth, The Ocean, and Enslaved, as it touches all of these bands and more in different places over the course of the album. Importantly though, Múr never sound like they’re plagiarising, and instead have managed to forge a personality of their own remarkably quickly. Continue reading “Múr – Múr (Review)”
Another year, another Damnation Festival. As always, the organisers are to be commended for putting on one of the UK’s premier metal festivals. I’ve been coming here most years for almost two decades now, and I’ve never yet had a bad day.
There are three stages. Two smaller stages that clash with each other, and a main stage that clashes with nothing. Continue reading “Damnation Festival 2024 – BEC Arena, Manchester – 02/11/24 (Live Review)”
Iotunn are a progressive metal band from Denmark, and this is their second album.
Now here’s one that’s been greatly anticipated. It’s an absolute travesty that Iotunn’s 2021 debut Access All Worlds didn’t end up on that year’s end of year list. How it didn’t I’ll never know, as it would easily have been in the top 5 or 10. Entirely my mistake, as it’s a fantastic record. All of which is to say that Kinship has a lot of expectation riding on it. Continue reading “Iotunn – Kinship (Review)”
Mother of Millions are a Greek progressive metal band and this is their fourth album.
Magna Mater contains 43 minutes of progressive metal. As my first encounter with Mother of Millions this is an extremely strong one. Let’s dig into this impressive, powerful record. Continue reading “Mother of Millions – Magna Mater (Review)”
This is the second album from UK metal band Lowen.
Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran contains 37 minutes of progressive metal. The promo blurb describes Lowen as “Crushing progressive doom steeped in the history of the ancient middle-east and the empty vistas of space.”, which is a great introduction to the band’s work, although I’d argue that the doom aspect of the music is not a huge one. Continue reading “Lowen – Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran (Review)”
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