RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
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REPULSOR – Trapped in a Nightmare
Dette er noe alle vet. Polakker er verdens beste på jordbærplukking, de oppfant solidaritet, de er støggdyktige på death metal og de er etter hvert blitt enorme også på black metal. Og, med noen få hederlige unntak, trodde jeg det var det de holdt seg til der nede. Men nei da. Her dukker det opp…
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VARDAN – Verses from Ancient Times
Since 2013, one man Italian BM powerhouse Vardan has released 7 albums, making ‘Verses from Ancient Times’ his 9th full length release. Expect long, repetitive tracks of cold, raw BM in a slightly depressive, introspective vein. Ok, so you won’t find anything new or that you haven’t heard elsewhere before – but that doesn’t bother…
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SHREDHEAD – Death Is Righteous
Israel is a country not just known for religious warfare, but also a hotbed these days in terms of domestic heavy metal bands. Shredhead is a thrash quartet, originally founded as The New Order in 2009 and changing names in 2011. "Death Is Righteous" is the second album from this four-piece, and the band intertwines…
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MANILLA ROAD – Out of the Abyss
‘Out of the Abyss’ was originally released in 1988, the 7th full-length album by Shelton and crew. With its thrash influences, it remains one of the fastest and heaviest things they have ever released, although the sound and everything else is as you would expect from Manilla Road. Although many people talk about the ‘golden…
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BATTLE BEAST – Unholy Savior
The third album from Battle Beast, "Unholy Savior" comes at a time after decent touring opportunities opening for Nightwish and Sonata Arctica across mainland Europe as well as performing at numerous festivals like Loud Park in Japan, Wacken in Germany, and Tuska in their Finnish homeland among others. Poised for headlining status, the 11 tracks…
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VOLAHN – Aq’ab’al
Volahn play a ferocious form of South American black/death metal, but as you can guess from the cover image, with a very strong vibe relating back to the historical roots of the culture of Central America. Imagine running blind through the black heart of the jungle pursued by jaguar-skin clad warriors who seek to capture…
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GRORR – The Unknown Citizens
The second album from French progressive metal band Grorr "The Unknown Citizens" is lyrically based on a W.H. Auden poem, and conveyed musically in three, three-part song constructs. Divided amidst "The Fighter", "The Worker", and "The Dreamer", the quintet are not of the ordinary metal cloth – incorporating a mixture of death, djent, alternative, and…
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KAIPA – Sattyg
Swedish progressive rock with folk and fusion textures, Kaipa return for a 12th studio album in "Sattyg", and adventurous fans will rejoice in these 7 tracks. Opening with a 15 minute plus arrangement, "A Map of Your Secret World" contains guest whistler work Fredrik Lindqvist, a spirited instrumental start before quiet, acoustic oriented verses take…
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MESSIAH’S KISS – Get Your Bulls Out!
Taking a 7 year break to deal with significant health issues for vocalist Mike Tirelli (stage 3 stomach cancer) and guitarist Georg Kraft, the fourth album "Get Your Bulls Out!" from Germany’s Messiah’s Kiss contains a lot of the traditional heavy metal spirit and melodic hooks that they’ve been known for since their inception in…
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DARKENHOLD – Castellum
Darkenhöld hails from France and performs epic and medieval-themed black metal filled with mystical atmospheres, sweeping melodies, and bombastic parts. Strictly speaking, "Castellum" is neither an original nor an innovative release, but the musicianship is pretty strong and the majority of songs are quite well-written and catchy. Many of the melodies are melancholic and somewhat…
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NIGHT DEMON – Curse of the Damned
Much like the first heyday of the NWOBHM scene, it appears that traditional metal is gaining another ground swell of attention, and not just from British lands this time. California’s Night Demon are a power trio who convey a lot of the youthful spirit of those days on their debut album "Curse of the Damned".…
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USURPRESS – Ordained
Nok en liten overraskelse fra det tsjekkiske selskapet Doomentia Records. Denne gangen i form av det svenske metal bandet Usurpress. Usurpress er klin umulig å plassere i en bås sjangermessig. Det heter seg at de er et death metal/sludge metal band, men det blir mer riktig å skrive at de er et multimetalband. De hopper…
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HORRENDOUS – Ecdysis
US three piece Horrendous follows up their brilliant debut "The Chills" with another masterpiece. "Ecdysis" is a modern death metal masterpiece, enough said.It has "almost" everything required to satisfy hungry DM fanatics eager to hear something new and fresh. The sound, the arrangments, the vocal, the formidable riffs. It´s all here on "Ecdysis" and after…
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PRIMORDIAL – Where Greater Men have Fallen
Primordial´s heart and soul lies within the chest of frontman(mastermind) Alan Averill. His unique take on black metal with celtic influences from his homeland of Ireland has kept the listernes on their toes every time a new album have been announced and there was no exception on "Where Greater Men have Fallen" Primordial´s eight full-length…
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EVIG HAT – Ikonoklassist
The album is built up in a very special way, and it is easy to choose favorite parts. The backside of the medal is that most other parts seems a little bit dull and uninspired at times. It would maybe be a smart move for "Satan" to wait a bit longer with his next release,…
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SCAPES – One:Unseen:One
There’s something about Finnish gothic metal/rock that embeds itself deep into all your emotional crevices, bringing shadows and thoughts to the light, exposing areas that need attention for the betterment of life. Scapes is a duo in the recording studio (expanded to a quartet for live shows) and on their debut album "One:Unseen:One" revel in…
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SLIPKNOT – 5 – The Gray Chapter
Five albums in, a controversial line-up change and a death in the family. So how are Slipknot holding up? The answer isn’t entirely clear. For the first half of the album, it seems they are in the best form of their lives. I haven’t seen as high a blastcount from the masked marauders before and…
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SKELETHAL – Interstellar Knowledge of the Purple Entity
Skelethal play their death metal as if it was 1992 and they were going out to support Entombed on some Earache sponsored tour. The guitar sound and the chosen pathway evoke the early days of the DM genre so closely. It is not just the doom-heavy guitars but the whole approach reeks of the scene…
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NOCTEM CURSIS – Nocturnal Frost
The French black metal entity known as Noctem.Cursis unleashed its debut album containing 9 songs a few months ago. Musically speaking, the album, which is entitled "Nocturnal Frost", draws pretty heavily on some of the old Norwegian black metal titans and releases dating from the blackened 90s. Noctem.Cursis performs symphonic, epic, and melancholic black metal…
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DEIMOS – Beyond
Starting out as a Gamma Ray tribute act before writing their own original material, Italy’s Deimos has a little of that German power sound in their debut album "Beyond" for certain. Differentiating themselves from the norm is drummer Massimo Goletti, who performs more of a progressive shuffle style amidst his double bass and standard metal…
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PRIMORDIAL – Where Greater Men Have Fallen
On first stepping into "Where Greater Men Have Fallen" I felt the gentle tug of disappointment. It sounds so much like ‘Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand’ and ‘To the Nameless Dead’ that it looked as if the Irish five-piece had made no effort at all to push the boundaries of their sound into new territory.…
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RAUNCHY – Vices.Virtues.Visions.
The sixth album for this Danish sextet, it’s obvious to those who have followed Raunchy’s career arc that their sound has transformed from its early roots to current incarnation. If you own the early Nuclear Blast albums "Velvet Noise" and "Confusion Bay", they definitely came from more of a modern thrash/ groove background in line…