2021 started out as a slow year for releases, it seemed many bands were still holding on to ideas of touring, which were inevitably dashed as shit got worse than the year before. Even still, after sifting through close to 400 new albums, I managed to boil them down to...
Swedish black metallers Ov Shadows are back with their second full length album “I Djävulens Avbild” their first release on Hypnotic Dirge records. Their first full length ”The Darkness Between Stars” (2018) was a relentless assault of chaotic black metal, proving that the experience and fluidity the members gained in Gothenburg’s Waning, in which they all played...
This week I bought a handful of new releases based solely on their album art. I have not heard of any of these bands before and had no idea what to expect, so here’s the results of my expectations colliding with reality. Band: Hermóðr Title: Two Ravens Label: None Release...
At long last my most anticipated album of the year has been released. Considering INSOMNIUM’s last two releases have topped my year end lists, its reasonable to say my expectations were extremely high. This is classic INSOMNIUM album, there’s no experimentation, it’s consistent with their previous releases with all the...
Aeons Abyss is an Australian death metal studio project that has been around since 2017, and have now finished their first full length Impenitent slated for release in November. Apparently the music for this album has been written since the mid 1990’s and it was simmering for over a decade...
Dieuponaday from Edmonton, Canada recently released their album From Where I Draw My Strength and it’s a fun romp that crosses the boundaries between core and metal with hints of a variety of subgenres mixed in. The first track, Amelioration hits hard with a very modern metal intro interrupted by...
The cold northern pagan spirit is alive with Finland’s IKU-TURSO’s latest album “Storm over Isengard”. The six track tribute album of skull shattering black metal pays homage to two of the genre’s greats ISENGARD and STORM and includes a cover of SATYRICON’s “Jij Die God Haat.” Kicking off the album...
At first glance of the album cover for Fight Till The End, complete with a word art looking logo, clashing title font on top of artwork depicting a knight fighting a dragon, you know what exactly what lies in wait under that cover. It’s no secret that I usually lump most traditional...
From the massive wall of sound that opens up the first track, The Haunting Green present a bold and advantageous debut full length with Natural Extinctions. Dready and soothing, the melodic interludes clash against the anguished vocals simmered in the dark murk of drone doom. Experimental elements in the percussion...
Plunged into the darkened enclaves of misery and suicidal depression, NONE has returned with their third studio album issuing a perfect sonic representation of despondency with their heavily distorted and fuzzy album Damp Chill of Life. The bleakness, haunting and dreadful, is a euphonious swarm of distortion with glimpses of...