Reviewed: September 2020 Released: 2020, independent Rating: 2.5/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes Melodeath is a tricky one to pull off these days, at least on its own merits. It’s a style that took extreme metal in fresh and interesting directions 20-25 years ago, but since then the quality has varied wildly.…
Album Review
Pessimist – Slaughtering the Faithful
Reviewed: September 2020 Released: 2020 (original release: 2002), independent Rating: 1.5/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes Originally released in 2002, Slaughtering the Faithful is the third (and for now, last) full-length album of Pessimist, now remastered and re-released independently, perhaps as a prelude to new material round the corner. Slaughtering the Faithful…
Arrogant Destruktor – No Fucking Mercy
Reviewed: September 2020 Released: 2020, Analog Ragnarök Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Demitri Levantis No Fucking Mercy is the second studio outing from Birmingham’s Arrogant Destruktor, a group of guys who love the old school sound of black metal and don’t pull any punches with their output. In all, this record has…
Dying Vision – The Death and its Slaughter
Reviewed: September 2020 Released: 2020, Self Released Rating: 5/5 Reviewer: Demitri Levantis In a year overrun by a murderous pandemic stealing the lives of the best part of a million innocent people, the genre of death metal seems more appropriate than ever – particularly from bands who like to explore…
Interview with Naglfar
Interview with Andreas Nilsson (Guitars) Interview by Demitri Levantis Website – www.naglfar.net/ Facebook – www.facebook.com/naglfarofficial Instagram – www.instagram.com/naglfarofficial/ We caught up with Andreas of Sweden’s Naglfar to chat about their new album “Cerecloth” and what the band has in store for the future. Please follow and like us:
MESSIAH – Fatal Grotesque Symbols – Darken Universe
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, High Roller Records Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry 26 years after their last studio album, extreme metallers Messiah are about to unleash the successor to their “Underground” record from 1994, entitled “Fracmont” on High Roller Records later this year. For now, however, the band are sweetening…
Kryptamok – Verisaarna
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Purity Through Fire Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Demitri Levantis It would be quite a cliché to say a veteran of a certain scene will produce some of the best new music, but the reason that’s a cliché is that it normally turns out to be true.…
Entartung – Maleficae Artes
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: August 7th 2020, Dunkelheit Produktionen Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Annalisa Orlando This German black metal trio deliver a classic record. The combination of high-pitched vocals and extraordinarily long tracks all hark back to the 90’s heyday of black metal. Having said that, the clean and tidy production…
Cardiac Arrest – The Day That Death Prevailed
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 27 July 2020, Boris Records/ Memento Mori Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Annalisa Orlando Staunch and pleasantly straightforward death metal from Chicago veterans. The record kicks off with “Thrive On Fear” with a howling siren. It’s a real headbanger, the best of roaring, aggressive death metal, with screeching…
Sepulchral Curse – Only Ashes Remain
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Transcending Obscurity Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Demitri Levantis Bands who fuse black and death metal are among this critic’s favourite genres. Blackened death metal is all well and good but it is nice to come across a band with a very catchy death metal sound but…
Bull Elephant – Created From Death
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Eat Lead and Die Music Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Rossy Maguire UK anonymous collective BULL ELEPHANT will release its second album, Created From Death, in August on Eat Lead and Die Music. The album, part two in the BULL ELEPHANT trilogy mythos, picks up where the debut ended. The eponymous creature,…
Jupiterian – Protosapien
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Transcending Obscurity Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes Sometimes you really need to be in the right mood for certain music. Jupiterian’s Protosapien is one such example, and the mood it wants you to be in, the atmosphere it revels in and drips with, is…
Embr – 1823
Reviewed: July 2020 Released: 2020, New Heavy Sounds Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes 1823 is the debut album of U.S. quartet Embr, and shows us a flavoursome, and often downright stunning take on doom metal and heavy music in general. It’s actually named for the age bracket, “18-23” that Eric…
Greyhawk – Keepers of the Flame
Reviewed: July 2020 Released: 2020, Fighter Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes Greyhawk’s debut album, Keepers of the Flame, out now via Fighter Records, is an absolute treat for any heavy metal fan, and a stalwart reminder of just why we love this genre in the first place. This is…
Torchlight Parade – Torchlight Parade
Reviewed: July 2020 Released: 2020, self-released Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes To say an album rocks is almost always a resounding and succinct form of praise. And Torchlight Parade’s self-titled debut certainly -does- rock. The problem is that’s more or less all it does. The band is certainly very clear…