Psychedelic Death Metal – Wonderbox Metal

Veilburner – The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom (Review)

Veilburner are a black/death metal band from the US and this is their seventh album.

A new Veilburner album is always an exciting prospect. I’ve been a fan since 2016’s The Obscene Rite, but it was 2022’s VLBRNR that really saw them reach their true potential in my eyes. Now we have The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom‘s 49 minutes upon us, and I’m ready to fall into Veilburner’s well-realised world once more. And, this time, it’s stranger than ever. Continue reading “Veilburner – The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom (Review)”

Vile Rites – Senescence (Review)

Vile Rites are a death metal band from the US and this is their debut album.

Vile Rites contain a member of Mortuous in their ranks, which is enough to get my attention. Senescence offers us 40 minutes of progressive death metal of a high quality. Some bands playing this sort of style get bogged down in the technicality, but for Vile Rites this is just an enabler, not the prime goal of the music. Continue reading “Vile Rites – Senescence (Review)”

Skelethal – Within Corrosive Continuums (Review)

Skelethal are a French death metal band and this is their third album.

Skelethal play classic death metal and unleash 40 minutes of carnage across Within Corrosive Continuums. Built upon a sturdy foundation of old-school Swedish death metal, the music is forged from iron and molten lava. Continue reading “Skelethal – Within Corrosive Continuums (Review)”

Altars – Ascetic Reflection (Review)

This is the second album from Australian death metallers Altars.

Ascetic Reflection contains 40 minutes of warped death metal. As a rough outline of the band’s sound, take a base of Morbid Angel and then add in elements of bands like Gorguts, Artificial Brain, and Ulcerate. Then know that that these lazy comparisons do nothing to prepare you for the journey that Ascetic reflection offers. Continue reading “Altars – Ascetic Reflection (Review)”

Astral Tomb – Soulgazer (Review)

This is the debut album from Astral Tomb, a death metal band from the US.

I’ve enjoyed watching Astral Tomb develop their ghastly death metal sound, from 2020’s split with Cryptic Shift, Replicant, and Inoculation, to 2021’s EP Degradation of Human Consciousness, (which I honestly thought I had reviewed, but apparently not). Soulgazer is the band’s first album, and I have been looking forward to it. Continue reading “Astral Tomb – Soulgazer (Review)”

Sunless – Ylem (Review)

This is the second album from Sunless, a death metal band from the US.

2017’s Urraca was a very notable and enjoyable release for me, even making it into that year’s end of year list. Progressive, technical, dissonant, avant-garde, psychedelic, and many other high-brow-esque appellations, Urraca was a multidimensional gateway to forward-thinking heaviness from a band who clearly knew their art well. Continue reading “Sunless – Ylem (Review)”

Wharflurch – Psychedelic Realms ov Hell (Review)

This is the debut album from US death metal band Wharflurch.

Across six tracks and 35 minutes, Wharflurch deliver a doom-infested slab of malformed, rancid death metal.

Wharflurch’s death metal contains an experimental edge that’s been dulled by humid rot, but is no less striking and potent for it. Continue reading “Wharflurch – Psychedelic Realms ov Hell (Review)”

Qrixkuor – Poison Palinopsia (Review)

This is the debut album from Qrixkuor, a death metal band from the UK, (who also feature from New Zealand a member of Temple Nightside/Vassafor).

Although you can rightly call Poison Palinopsia death metal, Qrixkuor’s music is definitely not your average incarnation of that venerable style. For starters, Poison Palinopsia contains only two tracks, but each is 24 minutes in length. Apart from this, it’s the type of death metal that Qrixkuor play that’s bound to turn some heads. Or turn them inside out, at least. Continue reading “Qrixkuor – Poison Palinopsia (Review)”

Seputus – Phantom Indigo (Review)

This is the second album from US death metallers Seputus.

Here we have 48 minutes of psychedelic extreme metal. Combining elements of black metal, death metal, and grindcore into meaty, substantial tracks, this album is not your standard extreme metal album. Continue reading “Seputus – Phantom Indigo (Review)”

Ghastly – Mercurial Passages (Review)

This is the third album from Finnish death metallers Ghastly.

Ghastly specialise in death metal that has a sort of creeping, otherworldly malevolence to it. It’s atmospheric and sinister in ways that are unusual. You can hear the debt that has been paid to band’s such as Death and Autopsy, etc., but you can equally Continue reading “Ghastly – Mercurial Passages (Review)”