Starting in 1995, a dark cloud emerged over Jyväskylä when Alghazanth was formed. A name taken from within a dream of Gorath Moonthron delivered to him by a ‘death bringer spirit in the shape of a white wolf’. After 3 demos and a split Alghazanth released their first full length...
The first thing to notice about Dark Archive’s Cultivate Our Blood in Aeon are the coherent harsh vocals. The argument could be raised that it’s not trve black metal with those kind of vocals, but that argument subsides as soon as the face fucking by blast beats begins. Even the...
Verikalpa (Finnish for Blood Épée) is a folk metal band hailing from the northern city of Oulu, Finland. Self-described as “troll/beer” metal, they incorporate the standard folk elements: bouncy, catchy melodies and high energy riffs and lyrics that are easy to sing along to, provided you speak Finnish. It took...
Overall, Repressed by Finland’s Asylum 8 is pretty weird. Although that’s weird mainly in a good way. A strong promising electronic start with typical industrial metal elements open up, the synths, the pounding 4/4 beats with distorted uncomplicated guitars; Coarse vocals, that remain clear and coherent but occasionally bordering on...
A band playing songs in tribute to other bands can be a risky move when you consider the rabid fan base of the band being covered and how they might receive a new take on their favorite songs. To formulate an entire EP of tributes to three of the most...
As expected, Two Paths begins with the typical Ensiferum intro that starts every album, building the anticipation for the thrust into the moshing music defined by the double kicks, the fast guitar riffs and the gang chants. Brass fanfare and hoarse vocals bring us full circle into the standard Ensiferum album. The...
The most epic album of the year. That was the promise and as expected with anything claiming as much, it was followed with disappointment. If anything, The Forest Seasons was the most hyped album of the year and to expect anything to live up to its hype is, insane by...
Never to be a band that rushes releases, we have seen a new album from Insomnium every couple years, with each release surpassing the former in ingenuity, most recently Shadows of the Dying Sun (full length) in 2014. This was an absolute masterpiece and instantly became my favorite album of...
Churning out the largest number of metal bands per capita means lots of potential pouring out of Finland these days, including Shadecrown’s Agonia. They are off to a great start with this album, even though some of the elements don’t jive the best with each other. The contrast between the vocals is...
It is not uncommon for power metal bands to incorporate video game sounds into their music, but Sweden’s Machinae Supremacy takes this influence to a new level. The quintet, avid video gamers, choose to incorporate the SID chip from the Commodore 64 with their power/industrial metal riffs, creating a very...