Reviewed [April 2021] Released [2021 Soulseller Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Norway’s Valdaudr pick up the reins from the long-running black metal project Cobolt 60 that issued albums in 2002 and 2012, but couldn’t quite make it to its third decade. Guitarist Daniel “Død” Olaisen from Blood Red Throne…
Throne – Pestilent Dawn
Reviewed [April 2021] Released [2021 Redefining Darkness Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Michigan’s Throne set the bar pretty high for themselves with their debut EP Altar of The Dying in 2018, a savage bit of blackened tech-death that seemingly came out of nowhere but definitely left its mark. Two…
Bonecarver – Evil
Reviewed [April 2021] Released [2021 Unique Leader Records] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Much as I applaud the notion of a band that would call themselves Cannibal Grandpa, if you want to be taken seriously in brutal death metal circles – if indeed one can be taken seriously in brutal…
Unflesh – Inhumation
Reviewed [April 2021] Released [2021 Self-Released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson My appetite for technical metal of just about any ilk has waned considerably over time. And sorry to get all Grandpa Simpson “old man yells at cloud”-like, but it’s become way too much wank and not nearly enough substance.…
The Crown – Royal Destroyer
Reviewed: [March 2021] Released [2021 Metal Blade Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Swedish melodic death metallers The Crown have been rolling right along since reforming a decade ago after a five-year hiatus, even if they tend to get a bit lost in the mix as acts like the similarly…
Abstrakt – Uncreation
Reviewed: [March 2021] Released [2021 Inverse Records] Rating [2.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson The second album from Finland’s Abstrakt offers up a symphonic black metal grandiosity to match that of Norwegian contemporaries Dimmu Borgir – even without the orchestras and choirs Dimmu now have their wherewithal to employ. But thanks to…
Stortregn – Impermanence
Reviewed: [March 2021] Released [2021 The Artisan Era] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson While “technical black metal” is often used to describe more esoteric, sometimes impenetrable acts like Deathspell Omega, Imperial Triumphant, Krallice or even Batushka, Switzerland’s Stortregn would certain fit the general tag while offering something with genuine teeth.…
Cult Of Luna – The Raging River
Reviewed: [March 2021] Released [2021 Red Creek Recordings] Rating [4.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Though categorized as an EP, the latest outing from Swedish post-metal/doom/prog sextet Cult Of Luna – and first for their own Red Creek Recordings – delivers a full album’s worth of material by most bands’ standards. With…
Gatecreeper – An Unexpected Reality
Reviewed: [February 2021] Released [2021 Closed Casket Activities] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Closed Casket Activities seems to be full of New Year’s surprises these days. Just after Christmas a year ago came the unannounced release of The Acacia Strain’s magnificent one-off EP It Comes In Waves, arguably the band’s…
Harakiri For The Sky – Mӕre
Reviewed: [February 2021] Released [2021 AOP Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Austrian duo Harakiri For The Sky are the very anti-thesis of black metal minimalism. After their comparatively tidy self-titled full-length in 2012, each subsequent release has been a monumental affair that has stretched out to well over an…
Anguish Sublime – Maelstrom Imperium
Reviewed: [February 2021] Released [2020 Silent Watcher Records] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Serbia’s Anguish Sublime have been kicking around in one way, shape or form since 1998 and only now – at the height of a pandemic that has essentially pushed a worldwide pause button – have they released…
Rageful – Ineptitude
Reviewed: [February 2021] Released [2020 Self-Released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Well, if Portugal’s Rageful actually sucked, the title of their debut album would have been an easy launching pad for whatever ham-handed cheap shots one might have wanted to make at the melodic death metal band’s expense. But they…
Best of 2020: Peter Atkinson
Personal Top 20 01. Napalm Death – Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism Napalm Death is turning 40 this year. But time flies when you grind as hard as these guys have, in whatever shape or form the band has taken over the years – and its lineup…
Nervosa – Perpetual Chaos
Reviewed: [January 2021] Released [2021 Napalm Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson After the Brazilian thrash trio Nervosa imploded last spring when bassist/vocalist Fernanda Lira and drummer Luana Dametto quit, founding guitarist and lone remaining member Prika Amaral didn’t waste any time getting the band regrouped and rearmed. Eight months…
Parricide – Fascination of Indifference / Accustomed to Illusion / Crude
Reviewed: [January 2021] Released [2020 Awakening Records] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson While they ended their career in 2015 as essentially a grindcore band, Poland’s Parricide began life 20-some years earlier cranking out a death/thrash metal hybrid that echoed the likes of Obituary, Sepultura, Death, Massacre and Malevolent Creation. Formed…