Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, Antiq Records Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Kira Levine Abysses is the sophomore album from French neo/dark folk project Wÿntër Ärvń, following up 2018’s Au Devant du Gouffre. It is comprised of namesake Wÿntër Ärvn (also of Aorlhac) and Vittorio Sabelli (Dawn of A Dark Age, Notturno).…
Stormtide – A Throne of Hollow Fire
Reviewed: March, 2021 Released: 2021, Metal Hell Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Graeme Smith There is a lot of symphonic death metal around these days, and I mean a lot. In fact if you Google exactly that you get a hit with a page of ‘Top symphonic death metal artists’ which…
Zac Crye – All The Same
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, self-released Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Svetlana Likhacheva Zac Crye from Hudu Akil is back, dropping his sophomore release called “All The Same”, which is a five track EP in a stoner rock style with some psychedelic elements spicing it up. Composed, performed and recorded by Zac…
Stortregn – Impermanence
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, The Artisan Era Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Svetlana Likhacheva Newbies of The Artisan Era, Geneva-Switzerland-based act Stortregn are ready to show us the next level of their skill with a new record – Impermanence. This 8-track album is real space journey, exploring unorthodox ways and style…
Korpiklaani – Jylhä
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021 , Nuclear Blast records Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Svetlana Likhacheva After releasing several tracks in 2020, Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani has dropped a full-length record called Jylhä, which takes us into a powerful and beautiful world full of marvellous and dynamic sound. The band dug…
Plague Weaver – Ascendant Blasphemy
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Beandog Forged in 2018 and hailing from Ontario, Canada, Plague Weaver was initially created as a solo project for a musician who tags himself simply as, R.M. He performed all the instruments on 2019’s self-titled debut and 2020’s ‘Through the Sulphur Eyes”.…
The Noctambulant – Hellrazor EP
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 19th March 2021, self-released Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Graeme Smith I never understood why bands select dodgy covers for albums which don’t reflect the music contained. Well known examples of this are Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranioid’ and Anthrax’s ‘Fistful of Metal’, which the bands admit themselves are ropey…
Meuchelmord – Mordmelodien
Reviewed: March, 2021 Released: 2021, Purity Through Fire Rating: 2.5/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry For a decade now, Meuchelmord has been holding high the banner of traditional German black metal. The sole work of one Cernunnos AKA Kriegstreiber, the band have quietly built a body of work that is deeply reverent…
Maudiir – La Part du Diable
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, self-released Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Kira Levine Hailing from Montreal, Quebec (Canada), one-man-band Maudiir ring in the new year with a brand new release. La Part du Diable is the second EP from F. aka Frédéric Bergeron for this project, following up last year’s Le Temps…
Age of Woe – Envenom
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, Lifeforce Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Demitri Levantis Age of Woe, hailing from Sweden’s death metal capital, Gothenburg, have released their third full-length album, Envenom. This, along with their previous ventures into the worlds of doom, sludge, and crust punk, has made the band stand out…
Drift Into Black – Patterns Of Light
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, self-released Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter Whilst one-man projects can be a godsend for creativity, they do tread a very fine line between that and overwrought extravagance. With no one to say “no”, who’s to say whether a particular idea for a song is too…
Morrigu – In Turbulence
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, Ghost Sound Media Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Kira Levine Returning with their fourth full-length In Turbulence, Morrigu are a Swiss metal band founded in 1999 by Mirko and Severin Bunder (ex-Eluveitie). Starting out as a doom/death metal outfit, they have forged a more melodic and progressive…
Demon King – The Final Tyranny
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, The Artisan Era Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Demitri Levantis In all the years I have been listening to black metal, one term that crops up a lot to describe some of the more technically advanced bands is “Norsecore.” This is a band that exhibits all the…
Cobra Cult – Second Gear
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, GMR Music Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Andrea Di Stasio Straightforward and soaked in contagious energy: “Second Gear” is this and much more. With their second album, Cobra Cult bring oxygen to the music scene, delivering good old hard rock that never disappoints and engages the listener…
Malacoda – Crawling Chaos
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, self- released Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Andrea Di Stasio “Crawling Chaos” is a solid EP that sets its tone from the very first note of the first homonym track: a wonderful gothic atmosphere, where every sound paints darkness with a different voice. The delicate vocals of…