Reviewed: October 2020 Released: 2020 – Blood Harvest Records Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Beandog “Patience and perseverance” – These are the things Transcendence credit for their current position when considering the span of time between their formation in 2013 and the 2020 release of this; their debut album, Towards Obscurities Beyond. …
New music
Abduction / Nocturnal Prayer – Intercontinental Death Conspiracy [Split]
Reviewed: September, 2020 Released: 2020, Inferna Profundus Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry Certain readers of Metal-Rules may be surprised to find out that this split EP created by UK band Abduction and Canadians Nocturnal Prayer is my first real experience with the genre of black metal. Entitled Intercontinental Death Conspiracy, the seven-track…
Elmsfire – Wings of Reckoning
Reviewed: August, 2020 Released: 2020, Recordjet Rating: 2.5/5 Reviewer: Pete Mutant Elmsfire have been about since 1999 and have had two full lengths and a few demos up until this point. The band from Düsseldorf have been in a bit of a transition again as they shake up the lineup…
Sanity Control – War on Life
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Selfmadegod Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry Sanity Control is a crossover thrash metal band hailing from Warsaw, Poland who pay homage to the classic metal sounds while combining it with a distorted hardcore punk assault and shoving the whole thing through a blender repeatedly. I…
From The Depth – Moments
Reviewed: August, 2020 Released: 2020, Rockshot Records Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Pete Mutant Italian power metallers From The Depth have brought the band back after a bit of a gap since their last recorded effort, 2014’s EP ‘Perserverance’. There’s a few new faces to the lineup which now is purported to…
Northern Crown – In A Pallid Shadow
Reviewed: July 2020 Released: 2020, Self-release Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry Hailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, epic doom metallers Northern Crown are about to release their third full-length album, entitled In A Pallid Shadow, on July 3rd, 2020. After forming in 2013 and releasing their debut EP In The Hands of The…
Reverber – Sect of Faceless
Reviewed: July, 2020 Released: 2020, Punishment 18 Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry Italian thrash metal band Reverber return with their third full-length album entitled Sect of Faceless. Founded in 2007 by a group of young musicians with a hunger and a fire to deliver thrash metal at maximum power, Reverber released their excellent…
High Spirits – Hard To Stop
Reviewed: July, 2020 Released: 2020, High Roller Records Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry Chris Black might be the busiest musician in Chicago’s heavy metal scene. The multi-instrumentalist fronts three Chicago bands: Dawnbringer, Superchrist, and High Spirits. He’s also a former bassist for Nachtmystium and has worked with the band in both production and creative…
Ancient Curse – Interview with Gunnar Erxleben
Interview with Gunnar Erxleben of Ancient Curse Interview by Beandog Facebook | Ancient Curse website Many fans of German progressive power metal will remember Ancient Curse from the two albums they put out towards the end of the nineties. The Landing and Thirsty Fields both set the template for the band’s…
Sinisthra – The Broad And Beaten Way
Reviewed: June 2020 Released: 2020, Rockshots Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Beandog 15 years in the making, Sinisthra’s follow-up to their 2005 debut, Last Of The Stories Of Long Past Glories, has taken a lengthy and arduous route from conception to realisation. Significantly, The Broad And Beaten Way is a reference to…
Bonfire – Fistful Of Fire
Reviewed: May, 2020 Released: 2020, AFM Records Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Beandog There’s an infectious sense of momentum in the Bonfire ranks at the moment. This is no small feat when you consider thirty four years, twenty band members and several full length albums that have passed since the band’s debut…
Lordi – Killection
Reviewed: March 2020 Released: 2019, AFM Records Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter You know LORDI, right? Finland’s monstrous masked metallers and winners of Eurovision in 2006? The band may not quite have the collective mainstream’s consciousness to the extent that it did back when they shocked Europe’s annual musical cheese-fest,…
Strykjärn – En Jävla Massa Lidande
Reviewed: January 2020 Released: November 2019, Big Balls Productions Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Beandog Twelve years into their career, and this five piece from Sweden are keen to emphasise the potency of their newest release. To be honest, you can probably draw your own conclusions from the 23 minute running time…
Cell – Ancient Incantations Of Xarbos
Reviewed: January 2020 Released: October 2019, Independent Release Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Beandog Winnipeg is located in Canada, underneath a cold air mass, near the fast flowing polar jet streams of the Northern Hemisphere. It’s placement on the flats of the prairie make it susceptible to harsh conditions and brutally cold…
Diabolical Mental State – Diabolical World
Reviewed: October 2019 Released: 2019 – Self Released Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Beandog Formed in 2012, Diabolical Mental State’s debut album has been a long time coming. That’s not to suggest the band haven’t been busy. By all accounts there is a healthy underground metal scene in Lisbon which the band…