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…
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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…
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…
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…
Aborym – Hostile
Reviewed: February 2021 Released: 2021, Dead Seed Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter It can never be easy reinventing oneself, and far less so in the world of art. Establishing oneself in one frame of light, only to transform into another can be an example in both bold autonomy, and…
Endezzma – The Archer, Fjord & The Thunder
Reviewed: January 2021 Released: 2020, Dark Essence Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter Ask anyone with even a passing interest in metal to offer a description of black metal and you’ll likely get at least one person mention the word “dark”. And you would usually expect most black metal records…
Utbyrd – Varskrik
Reviewed: January 2021 Released: 2021, Petrichor Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Svetlana Likhacheva Norwegian black metal band Utbyrd, through Petrichor, are about to give their album Varskrik (which translates into English as Warning) a chance to see the world with the physical release. The digital version was released in the far 2017,…
Empyrean Fire – Deliverance
Reviewed: January 2021 Released: 2020, independent Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter In some circles, there is a school of thought to keep music genres pure. By drawing influence from other genres, the one that forms the core of a band’s sound becomes diluted. For some, this makes it worse: a…
When Frames Collide – Quattro (EP)
Reviewed: December 2020 Released: 2020, X-Ray Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry WHEN FRAMES COLLIDE is a short-lived Melbourne rock band featuring Andy McLean from AUSTRALIAN ROCK ROYALTY on vocals who graced the stages of a number of intimate venues in 2019, playing to loving crowds before disappearing to record, never to…
Keiser – Our Wretched Demise
Reviewed: December 2020 Released: 2020, Non Serviam Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Kira Levine Norwegian black metal outfit Keiser released their sophomore full-length Our Wretched Demise on November 27th, through their label Non Serviam Records. The record’s lyrics deal with the concept of being at war (with one’s self as well…
Protokult – Transcending The Ruins
Reviewed: November 2020 Released: 2020 Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Lee Carter It’s not often that you come across a band that neatly encapsulates the more po-faced nature of supposedly “traditional” or straight-forward metal with the boozy fun times of a party band, but here we are with PROTOKULT. It’s a bit…
Act of Creation – The Uncertain Light
Reviewed: November 2020 Released: 2020, Black Sunset Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry The Uncertain Light is the brand new fourth studio album from the German death metal heavyweights Act of Creation. Born from the ashes of the nineties German band E605, guitarist Carsten Schluch didn’t hesitate to form a new outfit with…
The Infernal Sea – Negotium Crucis
Reviewed: October 2020 Released: September 18th 2020, Apocalyptic Witchcraft Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Annalisa Orlando These black metallers from the fens of East Anglia, a flat nothingness that makes up much of the surrounding area native to The Infernal Sea, bring a nuanced and groove-rifting record of British black betal. Energetically…
Forlorn World – Umbra
Reviewed: October, 2020 Released: 2020, Self-released Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry Forlorn World is a melodic death metal outfit formed in July 2019 by frontman and founding member of Bloodshot Dawn, Josh McMorran. With music using soaring guitar melodies whilst mixing dynamic clean and harsh vocals, Josh set out to…