This is the debut album from Swiss black metal band Nidelgret.
Trauerlärm comes recommended for fans of Endstille, Fluisteraars, and Wiegedood. It’s 32 minutes in duration, and has intriguing cover art. All of these things mean that Nidelgret are worth checking out. It turns out, expectations are not only met, but exceeded too. Continue reading “Nidelgret – Trauerlärm (Review)”
Has it really been a year since last year’s excellent Fortress Festival? Apparently so. Fortress has quickly established itself as one of the world’s premier black metal festivals, (some would say THE premier black metal festival), and it’s brilliant to have yet another year with a massive amount of fantastic bands. Increasingly, attendees get to experience some very rare appearances too.
Before we get into it – as was the case last year, this review is greatly enriched by the stunning photographs from the very talented Aleksandra Hogg, so a huge thanks to her once more. I urge you to check out her work at Acidolka here, here, or here. Continue reading “Fortress Festival 2026 – Scarborough Spa, Scarborough, 30/05/26-31/05/26 (Live Review)”
This is the second album from UK post-black metal band Unmother.
State Dependent Memory contains 38 minutes of modern/post-black metal, which includes a cover of a band called ΟΔΟΣ 55, here transmuted into something Continue reading “Unmother – State Dependent Memory (Review)”
This is the debut album from Agenbite Misery, a US black/death/sludge metal band.
Okay, it’s to the promo blurb for this one – “…the band began with a deceptively simple idea: to adapt James Joyce’s Ulysses into an experimental metal album. What emerged from that idea is a 55-minute odyssey of layered sonic aggression and literary depth, an album that blends blackened sludge, dissonant death metal, post-punk, ambient drone, and more into a singular, genre-defying statement of purpose.” So there you have it. Continue reading “Agenbite Misery – Remorse of Conscience (Review)”
Another year, another list. 2025 followed 2024 as it was meant to, and brought with it a plethora of new metal albums to get excited about. Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2025”
This is the debut album by German post-black metallers Hæresis.
Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum contains four tracks, with a duration of 41 minutes in total. Hæresis offer up a feast of foreboding hostility, and will ably reward anyone into acts such as Akhlys, Black Birch, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Terzij de Horde, This Gift Is a Curse, Ultha, and Wiegedood. Continue reading “Hæresis – Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (Review)”
Terzij de Horde are a black metal band from the Netherlands and this is their third album.
Whether it’s 2015’s Self or 2022’s In One of These, I Am Your Enemy, Terzij de Horde being the intensity. Now they’re back, sooner than expected, with the 43-minute Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone, and it absolutely rages. Continue reading “Terzij de Horde – Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone (Review)”
This Gift Is a Curse are a blackened hardcore/sludge band from Sweden and this is their fourth album.
I thoroughly enjoyed 2019’s A Throne of Ash, so the return of This Gift Is a Curse is a welcome one. They’ve not held back either; Heir is a 67-minute monster. Honestly, I was expecting something good from the band, but Heir is just exceptional. Continue reading “This Gift Is a Curse – Heir (Review)”
Still are a post-black metal band from the UK and this is their second album.
Still boast a fierce, ugly sound that’s equal parts black metal, sludge, and hardcore, resulting in a post-blackened 35-minute burst of punishment that’s damaging, yet moreish. The more Still scar and brutalise you, the more you want more. Continue reading “Still – A Theft (Review)”
Rorcal are a Swiss post-black/doom metal band and this is their sixth album.
Rorcal have shown what they’re capable of very ably on previous releases such as their 2014 split with Process of Guilt, 2016’s κρέων (Creon), 2019’s Muladona, and 2021’s collaboration with Earthflesh, so I was eager to experience the punishment Silence inevitably held in store for me, whatever form it took. On this release we get 42 minutes of new material, and it is not to be approached by the unwary. Continue reading “Rorcal – Silence (Review)”
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