RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALKYMIST – Sanctuary
And the Grammy award for the weirdest sludge/doom metal record goes to "Sanctuary", Alkymist’s 2nd album after "Element" EP (2018) and eponymous LP (2018). On the guitar basis a’la Entombed’s "Wolverine Blues" or any Vallenfyre’s record a growling vocal a’la Nicholas John Arthur Holmes (Paradise Lost, Bloodbath) or Gregor Mackintosh (Paradise Lost, Vallenfyre) drives mid-era…
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ICON OF EVIL – Icon of Evil
In my review of Czerń’s excellent "Zgliszcza" album (5/6) I claimed that there was more to the Polish death metal than the Trinity Of Death (Azarath, Behemoth, Vader). Czerń was exhibit A and now these Lower Silesians from Wrocław, Icon Of Evil, featuring Rafał "Mokry" Pietras (vocals), Kamil Folga (guitars), Łukasz "Rapidfire" Małys (guitars), Paweł…
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ULCERATE – Stare Into Death And Be Still
Few people who have watched The Shire as depicted in Peter Jackson’s "The Lord Of The Rings" Trilogy motion picture would associate those green picturesque pastures with bleak depressing death metal, yet it is here, in Auckland, New Zealand, that Ulcerate, one of my favorite death metal bands, was born as Bloodwreath in 2000 and…
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VADER – Solitude In Madness
Before Azarath and Behemoth there was Vader, indeed, the first Polish export death metal band, which started off as a heavy/speed metal construct in 1983, in Olsztyn, Warmia-Masuria, and eventually embraced a death metal sound with reminiscences of thrash, according to Encyclopedia Metallum. Vader was named after the Sith Lord Vader, the dark alter ego…
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SHARK ISLAND – Bloodline
Uplifting and instantly appealing tunes with an 80s hard rock-vibe straight out of the LA scene is what the musically fiery US veterans Shark Island offer, and this eleven-track record of theirs is just what the good doctor ordered for troubled times like these. Big riffs and even bigger choruses coupled with real solid vocals…
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TRIPTYKON with the Metropole Orkest – Requiem (Live At Roadburn 2019)
There are certain albums that, once you have investigated their origins and delved deep into the recordings, you just know are special and worthy of classic status. When it comes to Thomas Gabriel Fischer, the mastermind behind Switzerland’s Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Triptykon (all three projects being HUGELY influential and iconic), every release creates a…
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John Mayall with Joel McIver – Blues from Laurel Canyon: My Life as a Bluesman
The living legend and purveyor of riveting blues rock that is John Mayall surely needs no introduction and one could argue that without him, the classic rock and early hard rock outfits that sprang into life in the late 60s and early 70s would have sounded quite different had it not been for his huge…
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FROM HELL – Rats & Ravens
The rather cool album title “Rats & Ravens” may give you a subtle clue as to what all of this is about, namely a horror-themed (thrash) metal opus with a storyline and concept to it conjured up by the US quartet named FROM HELL. Musically and stylistically speaking, one could argue that there are certain…
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HAVOK – V
American thrash metal doesn’t always come from San Francisco Bay area, even if it tends to be inspired by that legendary scene. Thrash could come from such unlikely place as Denver, Colorado, as in the case of Havok, who, having released one demo (Thrash Can, 2004) and one EP (Pwn ‘Em All, 2007) managed to…
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LUSTRE – The Ashes Of Light
There are albums which make one wonder why they were made, why they were released into the wide world instead of spending eternity stashed away on the artist’s hard drive. Such is the case with the Swedish ambient project Lustre and its 7th album, the subject of this review. Born in Östersund, Jämtland and persisting…
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ARCKANUM – Kaos Svarta Mar
The now-defunct Swedish black metal entity that is Arckanum re-issued this 5-track EP via Folter Records a few months ago, and it was originally released years ago by Blut & Eisen Productions, so if you missed out on that wicked beauty back in 2004, now is the perfect time to get your hands on the…
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DUSK OF DELUSION – Watch Your 6
I recall reviewing the previous record entitled “(F)unfair” by the hard-hitting French metalcore/melodic metal outfit Dusk of Delusion a couple of years ago and being neither impressed nor blown away by that particular album. Fortunately, this brand new war-themed offering of theirs, “Watch Your 6”, is a more musically cohesive and memorable slab of aggressive…
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DEMISE OF THE CROWN – Life In The City
We’ve heard it say that the purest form of metal is practically classical music on guitars, yet much of metal is in a song, verse/chorus/solo form. Should metal artists write their compositions in a classical form and then make them into a song? This progressive Canadian Montréal, Quebec outfit eschews such notions, reportedly writing pop…
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STEVE HOWE – All My Yesterdays
The legendary Yes guitarist Steve Howe surely needs no introduction as he is undoubtedly one of the most talented and innovative musicians to have come out of Britain, which is saying something. While his utterly impressive and revered work with prog rockers Yes and the slightly more commercial outfit Asia speaks for itself, his solo…
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GRAVEIR – King Of The Silent World
Inspired by the legendary sculptor, Michelangelo, writer Nils Parker said in "The Angel In The Marble" that sculpture, like editing, is about chiseling away at the unnecessary, at the external, in pursuit of the truth and beauty within, and as you diligently cut away at the heavy, burdensome excess, as a result, the angel in…
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CHRONICLES OF HATE – Birth of Hate
I have been slacking off recently on Jon Asher/Asher Media Relations reviews and I know it, so soon there will be a slew of releases from this promoter in order to remedy and catch up. Accordingly, after Torchia’s "The Coven" and Scorn’s "A Comedic Tragedy" I present you the Italian melodeath/groovers, Chronicles Of Hate, with…
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ABYSMAL DAWN – Phylogenesis
The Californian death metal ensemble Abysmal Dawn had once shown a promise with their debut album "From Ashes" (2006), after the 2004 demo, but I was disappointed with the follow-up "Programmed To Consume" (2008) subsequently ignoring both "Leveling The Plane Of Existence" (2011) and "Obsolescence" (2014). In fact, I probably would have ignored "Phylogenesis", too,…
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FUNERAL LEECH – Death Meditation
As I have previously stated in other reviews, today’s death/doom scene greviously suffers from lack of original thought, mostly stuck between Anathema, My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost points of the ancient Peaceville paradigm, which, given that 2 out of 3 of these legends are currently still very doom/death, seems pointless. I think, looking at…
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IGNEA – The Realms Of Fire And Death
If former Arch Enemy vocalist Angela Nathalie Gossow started singing in sensual Ukrainian on "Wages Of Sin" or "Anthems Of Rebellion" some people would be surprised, although Ignea’s Helle Bogdanova sounds just like her when death growling on the Kyiv-based progressive metallers’ 2nd album. Born as Parallax in 2011, they released "Sputnik" EP (2013) and…
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TRIVIUM – What The Dead Men Say
Can you Imagine Death without Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner, Megadeth without David Scott Mustaine, Pantera without Darrell Lance "Dimebag" Abbott, Annihilator without Jeff Waters or Kreator without Miland "Mille" Petrozza? Taking out the founder in each and every case would effectively nullify the band, and, in that sense, we can say that it would be…
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THOUGHTS FACTORY – Elements
The German quintet known as Thoughts Factory released this impressive offering of theirs a few months ago via Melodic Revolution Records, and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by the combined talents of the group and, more importantly, the atmospheric and tremendously diverse compositions that these skilled dudes have pieced together. So, what…
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RED DEAD – Forest of Chaos
I recall reviewing the “Sons of Red Visions” three-way split CD a while back, which contained a number of songs by the French death metal combo Red Dead, but what I have here is nothing less than a full-length assault by the aforementioned act containing twelve crushing tracks. These hyper-aggressive death/thrashing maniacs dabble in…
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AGENDA – Maverick
The German act named Agenda used to dabble in thrash and speed metal if I remember correctly, but this 5-track EP of theirs, which was released in early 2020, showcases a somewhat different sound and style in that “Maverick” leans much more towards classic heavy metal and hard rock. There is a raw and gritty…
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SATAN WORSHIP – Teufelssprache
The scummy black/thrash metal maniacs known as Satan Worship unleashed this raw, skull-bashing collection of vile songs via Folter Records not that long ago and musically speaking, this opus evokes the aura of Venom and early Sodom as well as Old and Trench Hell just to list a few examples. “Teufelssprache” is their sophomore effort,…
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CZERŃ – Zgliszcza
The Polish death metal scene is so much more than Vader, Behemoth and Azarath, yet there are bands whom no one outside of my old country/my current country of residence heard of. But that should change, because the Warsaw, Masowian dark ensemble Czerń (Blackness) are worthy of international recognition despite their short life, having only…
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MYTH OF I – Myth of I
I was just admonishing The Artisan Era for Symbolik the other day and here they have an all-instrumental progressive entity, Myth Of I, a Boston, Massachusetts based outfit who has been playing this vocal bereft highly eclectic style since "Needlepoint" demo (2016), having followed it with just "S.T.E.M." EP (2017) before this eponymous full length.…
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HALPHAS – The Infernal Path into Oblivion
The German black metal outfit Halphas has been rather productive these past few years and this seven-song spell of theirs came out late last year via Folter Records. Let us examine what they have in store for us, shall we? Your correspondent was fond of the band’s previous output, more specifically “Dawn of a Crimson…
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ABORTED – La Grande Mascarade
The Beveren, East Flanders-based Belgian juggernaut have been cranking out twisted technical gore death metal since "Necrotorous Chronicles" demo (1998). Inspired by "Symphonies Of Sickness" and "Necrotiscism: Descanting The Insulubrious" Carcass Aborted spewed forth "The Purity Of Perversion" (1999), "Engineering The Dead" (2001) and finally the critically/fan acclaimed "Goremageddon: The Saw And The Carnage Done"…
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THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER – Verminous
According to Encyclopedia Metallum, The Black Dahlia Murder (TBDM) is the name taken from the infamous unsolved murder of Hollywood waitress Elizabeth Short. Short, who was posthumously given the nickname "The Black Dahlia" by the local press, was found murdered in a Los Angeles park in January 1947. Her body had been cut in half…
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AZUSA – Loop Of Yesterdays
Whether or not you are aware of the Christian progressive metallers Extol, a Norwegian act in my estimation equal to Opeth in creativity and skill while exceeding it in songwriting quality, the fact is the band influenced and continues to influence numerous new acts I encounter on my reviewer’s path. Two of Extol’s members –…