Vile Creature are a Canadian doom duo and this is their second album.
This is a themed album that comes with a short story. It’s an ambitious concept, but seems to have been pulled off quite naturally by the band across this 42 minutes. Continue reading “Vile Creature – Cast of Static and Smoke (Review)”
This is the second album from UK sludge metal band Gurt.
This is heavy sludge metal, full of crushing groove and caustic vocals. Influenced by the Eyehategod school of thuggery, (but not limited to it), Skullossus is 40 minutes of romping sludge belligerence. Continue reading “Gurt – Skullossus (Review)”
Wake are a Canadian grindcore band and this is their third album.
Ahhh, now this is the stuff. 27 minutes of harsh, relentless, nasty music. Continue reading “Wake – Misery Rites (Review)”
This is the debut album from Conjurer, a sludge/post-metal band from the UK.
Here we have 44 minutes of music that combines contemporary, doom, sludge, progressive, black, and post-metal. The material on Mire offers up everything from slow, monolithic crawls, to focused blast beats, meaning that Conjurer cover Continue reading “Conjurer – Mire (Review)”
This is the latest EP from US sludge metal band No Funeral.
Having been introduced to No Funeral through their very enjoyable split with Livid, I’m pleased to now have this new EP to get to know them a bit more. Continue reading “No Funeral – Mankind Is Carrion, Fit for Nothing (Review)”
Hyborian are a stoner metal band from the US and this is their debut album.
Although quite short at only 32 minutes in length, this is an album that’s undeniably enjoyable. Continue reading “Hyborian – Hyborian Vol. 1 (Review)”
This is the second album from US hardcore band Centuries.
This is dark hardcore, bolstered with metallic weight and delivered with furious energy and well-rounded creativity. Continue reading “Centuries – The Lights of This Earth Are Blinding (Review)”
Coilguns are a hardcore band from Switzerland and this is their second album.
Playing music that’s intricate and full of lethal promise, this is 39 minutes of focused violence and barely restrained aggression. The songs on this album are full of intensity and harshness, but in a controlled and directed manner. Continue reading “Coilguns – Millennials (Review)”
This is the debut album from Pissboiler, a Swedish doom band.
With a name like Pissboiler, an indecipherable logo, and an album cover that’s terrifying and disturbing, you know this isn’t going to be an easy listen before you ever press play. Continue reading “Pissboiler – In the Lair of Lucid Nightmares (Review)”
2017 was an amazing year for music, with so many top-notch albums seeing the light of day. I pretty much say this every year, of course, but that doesn’t seem to stop it being true. With this in mind, the 2017 list was especially hard to put together, and I agonised over this one more than I did for any of the lists in previous years.
As is traditional, I also want to mention some releases by bands that could easily have made it onto the list, and should have by many rights, if only I could have somehow managed to fit them all in –
Abhorrent Decimation, Amenra, Apes, Artificial Brain, Au-Dessus,
Celeste, Desecrate the Faith, Earth Rot, Earth Witch, Falls of Rauros,
Full of Hell, Gnaw, Gutslit, Helpless, Henry Kane,
Hundred Suns, Ingurgitating Oblivion, Into Orbit, John Frum, Karne,
Kval, Livid, Morbid Angel, Primitive Man, Craven Idol,
Slow, Soulskinner, The Kennedy Veil, Ulsect, Wildspeaker.
I urge you to check out all of the above releases, in addition to the ones in the actual list below. I could probably keep adding more bands you should give a listen to, but a line has to be drawn somewhere, I suppose.
So, without further ado, let’s get right down to it… Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2017”
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