PLANET EATER – Blackness From The Stars

One of the reasons the postmetal/groove Canadian band Planet Eater exist is because Troy Breich was not content to merely be singing and bassing for Into Eternity, but, evidently, wanted to do something totally different. Planet Eater is closer to early Mastodon with generous texture of Meshuggah but, thankfully, in an interesting way. Contrary to…

SOLSTORM – live at Hulen –

Watching the crushing musical ensemble Solstorm lay waste to a small intimate venue in their hometown was something that yours truly had been looking forward to for a long time and I might as well tell you right off the bat that the quintet neither disappointed nor let me down last night. Before Solstorm went…

NOX INTERNA – A Minor Road

A rather charming and entertaining affair, this EP by the goth rock outfit Nox Interna is worth checking out if goth rock with a slightly dark vibe to it appeals to you. Truth be told, I had no idea what to expect from this one, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Although…

UADA – Cult of a Dying Sun

Second installment from the American melodic black metallers offers a great even journey through sophisticated melody, huge old school death riffs and a variety of vocalizations, with excellent production bearing repeated listens. Uada (latin: haunted) may be wearing their influences on their sleeves but what they lack in originality they more than make up for…

ISKALD – video released

  After four years of silence, the Arctic black-metallers Iskald finally return to the battlefield with more fierce and power than ever before! Iskald will release their fifth studio album titled "Innhøstinga" (Norwegian: ‘the Harvest’) on August 31 and now a new video is out!

MAGICAL HEART – Another Wonderland

The melodic hard rockers that are Magical Heart from Germany recently released this 11-track debut offering of theirs via the ever-reliable Fastball Music, but although the record boasts some titanic-sized riffs, huge choruses, and a solid dose of testosterone, it lacks something in the vocal department. As such, it is one of those rather frustrating…

TSJUDER – Throne of the Goat

Rarely if ever have Norwegian black metal stalwarts Tsjuder let yours truly down. Their icy and sinister take on raw and pummeling black metal has been sharpened and honed to perfection over the years and 2015’s “Antiliv” proved a high point in these ugly fuckers’ career. This 8-track effort, which is scheduled for release in…

NATE BOHNET – Therapeutic Destruction

While it is still too early to identify this year’s best metal album, I am fairly sure I am reviewing the worst, courtesy of Nate Bohnet, his solo debut a way for the man to exorcise some personal demons. He plays all the instruments, vocals and even crafted this abstract cover Pablo Picasso would shoot…

DE PROFUNDIS – The Blinding Light Of Faith

The fifth installment from the British artisans of fierce death metal shows them at their creative best. The band sounds incredibly fresh, powerful and inventive harkening back to classics yet refashioning them into their own art where thrash, death, black and melodic metal are indistinguishable from one another, with jaw-dropping skill, musicianship and originality, as…

KNELT ROTE – Alterity

On their fourth and final album (according to Encyklopedia Metallum they split-up after this release) Knelt Rote unleashes such a ferocious slab of extreme industrial grindcore/death/black laced with thrash metal that it almost makes me think it ought to be illegal, seven tracks of some of the most extreme and truly savage metal you’ll ever…

PUREST OF PAIN – Solipsis

Having established its sound somewhere between the likes of In Mourning, Dark Tranquility, The Absence, and their own country men Detonation, Purest of Pain (featuring guitarist Merel Bechtold of Delain), aims to redefine and restructure melodeath from within rather than without, using strictly guitars to create the most unusual and atypical sounds and effects normally…

SUFFOCATION – Of The Dark Light

Since the 2006 eponymous devastating come back album, Suffocation has been on a roll. Both “Blood Oath” and “Pinnacle of Bedlam” have been exercises in ordered brutality which showed signs of progression and even successfully flirted with unlikely genres such as hard core and thrash to get the point across. Considering that this is one…

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