ALBUM REVIEWS

RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS

  • TOMB MOLD – Planetary Clairvoyance

    On their 3rd album the Canadian death metallers unleash a devastating blend of 1992 Carcass, Death and Ulcerate with flawless execution, very good songwriting, yet with few hooks and moderate memorability. Formed in 2015, the quartet of Max Klebanoff (drums, vocals, electronics), Derrick Vella (guitars), Steve Musgrave (bass) and Payson Power (guitars) garnered very positive…

  • ENFORCED – At The Walls

    The debut album from the Virginian ensemble is a mix of co-precipitated aluminium salts of naphthenic and palmitic San Francisco Bay Area thrash acids with crossover hardcore petrol of Cro-Mags, Biohazard and Hatebreed for the most volitile devastation since the Vietnam War. Similarly to 1994 Hatebreed, the quintet (if you don’t count the drumming sessions…

  • MARTIN POPOFF – Lettin’ Go: UFO in the ’80s and ’90s

    The skilled Martin Popoff wrote an excellent book on the legendary British hard rockers UFO back in 2005, namely the long-out-of-print "Shoot Out the Lights", and this informative and expertly crafted 2019 opus of his is basically the latter half of the aforementioned "Shoot" packed into one neat volume that covers UFO’s somewhat troubled and…

  • ROGGA JOHANSSON – Entrance To The Otherwhere

    On his 2nd solo album, the Swedish old school death metal legend, Roger "Rogga" Johansson presents excellent marriage of classic death Edge Of Sanity, old Amorphis, Paradise Lost and Tiamat death, while infusing the material with plenty of melody for some of the best melodic death metal in recent history. Rogga Johansson needs no introduction,…

  • MARTIN POPOFF – The Sun Goes Down: Thin Lizzy’s Final Years

    As much as I love and cherish "From Dublin to Jailbreak: Thin Lizzy 1969-1976" in that it provides an excellent insight into Thin Lizzy’s often-overlooked first few years and records (not to mention that it is expertly researched and well-written), "The Sun Goes Down: the Final Years", which is the second and final installment in…

  • HAMMERHANDS – Model Citizen

    On their third installment, the Canadian sludge/industrial/punk/blues/alternative (insert a genre) ensemble offer excellent music which defies easy categorization, but is definitely heavy metal, for one of the most original albums in recent memory. What if every artist threw caution to the wind and just wrote and recorded what’s in their heart? We’d get train wrecks…

  • IMMORTAL BIRD – Thrive On Neglect

    The second full length from the Chicagoan black/death/sludgecore metal ensemble offers a highly original coctail of Pig Destroyer, Fear Factory and Mastodon power with songwriting supercomplexity of Enslaved, Extol, Ulcerate and Deathspell Omega, for excellent outcome. Immortal Bird is, apparently, one of my home town’s best kept secrets, although I remember seeing the cover of…

  • BURIAL REMAINS – Trinity Of Deception

    The debut album from the Dutch old school death metal ensemble shocks with a power equal or exceeding the likes of Entombed, Dismember and Grave, with no originality whatsoever, pedestrian songwriting with a drop of occassional melody or hook, all worsened by the horrible mix. Honestly, I am not a big fan of Swedish old…

  • HEX – God Had No Name

    On their sophomore album the Spanish death/doom ensemble bring back the power of early Paradise Lost, Gorefest, Aspyx, Malevolent Creation and Max Cavalera Sepultura, with melodicism of Hypocrisy and My Dying Bride atop early 2000’s Behemoth, for an excellent mix of styles and sounds. "God Has No Name" received many raving reviews and rightfully so.…

  • HAVENS – On The Verge Of Collapse

    On his new album Daniel Donahue, one-man atmospheric black metal band, mixes shogazing black metal a’la Alcest with hardcore and dreamy post-rock of Beetween The Buried And Me, for varied results. Inspired by Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, subject of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings, Daniel Donahue created 5 tracks of black metal fighting for primacy with hardcore…

  • NOCTURNAL BREED – We Only Came for the Violence

    The Norwegian scumbags collectively known as Nocturnal Breed recently spat forth this blackened thrash metal juggernaut appropriately named "We Only Came for the Violence", and it is as aggressive and unrefined as its title suggests. Thirteen hook-laden tracks bearing such over-the-top titles as "Nekrohagel" and "A Million Miles of Trench" that are hell-bent on punching…

  • YELLOW EYES – Rare Field Ceiling

    The fifth album from the New Yorker black metallers is a revelatory concoction of classic Emperor-ic and Opeth-ian melodicism with dissonant violence of Deathspell Omega and Ulcerate for a very original, fresh and utterly horrifying experience. Founded in 2010, Yellow Eyes doesn’t play around on "Rare Field Ceiling". According to both the label promotion and…

  • SVADILFARE – Fortapte Roetter

    Svadilfare, in Norse mythology, is a stallion that dragged all of the stones in the wall that surrounds Asgard, and did so in (just upwards of) one year. The owner of Svadilfare had made a bet with the Asgardians that he could build the wall with the help of his horse in less than a…

  • VICTIMS – The Horse And Sparrow Theory

    The 7th full length from the Swedish hardcore/punk ensemble brings expected dose of mostly one-dimensional music in the vein of early Mastodon, Crowbar and Biohazard but there are a few surprises such as genre crossing into d-beat/death metal and industrial. Victims have been around since 1997 and, unlike the proverbial "Forrest Gump" "life as a…

  • THE NIGHTTIME PROJECT – Pale Season

    The second installment from former Katatonia/Trees Of Eternity and October Tide members project is an excellent, enchanting and utterly beautiful mix of alternative, progressive rock and metal, with fantastic musicianship and powerful emotionally-explosive songwrting. The Nighttime Project (TNP) was formed after Katatonia’s excellent "Night Is The New Day" album, guitarist Sven Fredrik "North" Norrman (October…

  • ESOCTRILIHUM – The Telluric Ashes of the Ö Vrth Immemorial Gods

    The Telluric Ashes of the Ö Vrth Immemorial Gods (I had to make sure I spelled this correctly) is the fourth full-length album by Esoctrilihum (I frankly had to make sure I spelled this correctly as well) in only two years, with the debut Mystic Echo from a Funeral Dimension being released in 2017, and…

  • TYRMFAR – Renewal Through Purification

    The second full length from the Swiss melodic black/death metallers fuses melodic black of Dimmu Borgir or Watain with melodic death of Evocation or Hypocrisy, with no clear demarcation line between the styles, recalling such genre amalgamates as Dissection or God Dethroned for a very good outcome. Established in 2013, for their 2nd album, Tyrmfar…

  • EVOHÉ – Deus Sive Natura

    The French purveyors of pagan black metal, more specifically the quintet known as Evohé, have been at it for nearly twenty years now, but "Deus Sive Natura" is merely the band’s third album so far and it has been eight years since its predecessor ("Annwvyn") saw the light of day, but I am happy to…

  • KRYPTOS – Afterburner

    The Indian heavy metal outfit explodes in an unmistakably 80s retro-metal vibe in the vein of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate and ancient Metallica and Megadeth, with excellent musicianship and execution but the songwriting is so base, cliché and safe the prophecy of the title is hardly fulfilled. My first contact with this trio…

  • ZEROZONIC – Dead On Arrival (Daniel Olaisen series)

    Having finished, for now, the Blood Red Throne chapter of the prolific Daniel "Död" "Paisy" Olaisen series until it’s time for "Fit To Kill" review, I now return to his 2nd biggest project, the thrash/groove metal ensemble Zerozonic for the incredibly powerful and expertly executed debut. "Dead On Arrival" is an album that is very…

  • CODERED – Dominions Of Our Deceitful Beliefs

    Here’s a blast from the past, another one in the line of old Loud Rage Music releases which only now got its time of the day. The Romanian death metaller’s debut is a very good record in the vein of early Immolation and Morbid Angel, with hints of Vader, with impressive musicianship throughout. I’m not…

  • INTOTHECRYPT – Vakor

    The Russian death/doom folk metal band of Scald members create a very dark and foreboding album in the vein of Bathory, old Amorphis and Paradise Lost/My Dying Bride with dominant Slavic and Finno-Ugric mythology elements for a fairly unique yet inconsistent quality debut. "Vakor" lyrics, written in Ancient Russian/Finno-Ugric grammar and dialectal vocabulary, are written…

  • MIRRORPLAIN – Lost in Paradise

    German hard rockers Mirrorplain are about to release this sophomore effort of theirs via Fastball Music, and if you are into dramatic music boasting huge choruses that falls somewhere between alternative rock and metal with a modern sheen to it, this one will most likely serve you as a pretty decent soundtrack to your life…

  • ARCKANUM – Första Trulen

    "Första Trulen" is basically the very first and previously unreleased version of the infamous "Trulen" demo tape by the Swedish one-man band that was Arckanum, which was recorded in a rather lo-fi manner using a Fostex 4-track cassette tape recorder. What is not to love about a primitive set-up like that? "Första Trulen" differs slightly…

  • TAUSEND LÖWEN UNTER FEINDEN – Zwischenwelt

    The German hardcore ensemble unleashes their 2nd full length with competent if inconsistent blend of Trivium, Biohazard and Killswitch Engage while echoying Earth Crisis for a sound typical for the genre despite crossing into progressive, death and thrash territory. "Zwishenwelt" (World Between) is an existential tale of a human soul caught between the polar political…

  • WHISKEY RITUAL – Black Metal Ultras

    With a great band name like Whiskey Ritual, it should come as no surprise that these depraved fuckers revel in loud and filthy black/thrash that reeks of hatred and debauchery. Consisting of members of Forgotten Tomb and Hagzissa among others, the outfit started out as a side-project but eventually mutated into a proper band that…

  • ILLUM ADORA – …Of Serpentine Forces

    The German act named Illum Adora revels and specializes in old-school (or traditional, if you will) black metal that hearkens back to the second and third waves of said genre, which is to say that it is quite reminiscent of many of the early-to-mid-90s Norwegian releases that were spawned all those years ago.  "…Of Serpentine…

  • TEMPLE KOLUDRA – Seven! Sirens! To A Lost Archetype

    The German black metal/ambient project of a man mysteriously hidden under a M:W pseudonym is a revelation of epic proportions with a sound somewhere among Emperor, Nile, Ulcerate and Deathspell Omega with generous helpings of Behemoth. Temple Koludra (TK) combines the chaotic beauty and epic melodies of Emperor (especially "Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk"),…

  • ARCKANUM – Den Förstfödde

    The swan-song release by the renowned and rather unique Arckanum came in for review lately, but given that it was originally released in late 2017, please consider this a short, retro-active review of a great album. The entity’s inventive and inspired mixture of raw black metal, folk, dark ambient, and ritualistic music made sure that…

  • THE BLACK MORIAH – Road Agents of the Blast Furnace

    The Black Moriah’s "Road Agents of the Blast Furnace" is yet another quality release by the German Folter Records and what a great and welcoming surprise this blistering black/thrash record is too. I was not familiar with this US outfit before I popped the disc into the CD player and pressed play, but the band’s…