WHITE WILLOW – Storm Season (2024 Remaster)

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://whitewillow.bandcamp.com/album/storm-season-remaster Storm Season, the fourth full-length journey by renowned prog outfit White Willow, was recently remastered by the group’s very own Jakob Holm-Lupo, and the sparkling new edition will see the light of day in mid-December thanks to the good people at Karisma Records. Did I mention that it will be…

THE FALLEN PROPHETS – Primordial Instinct

RELEASE YEAR:  2024BAND URL: Review by Raynier Swiegers Now this is Death Metal! With top-notch production, exceptional sound quality, striking artwork, and outstanding musicianship, this EP is a true masterpiece. The classical guitar intro and outro are simply brilliant – a perfect way to kick off a blistering Death Metal EP. The vocals, like the…

BENIGHTED – Ekbom

RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.benighted.fr/ The French purveyors of (currently) death metal grindcore have been around since the dusk of the last century but are getting only tighter and better as if in spite of their name, Benighted, which means “pitifully ignorant or in a state of contemptible intellectual or moral ignorance” or “overtaken…

WIZRD – Elements

RELEASE YEAR: 2024  BAND URL: https://wizrd.bandcamp.com/album/elements The musically gifted and delightfully adventurous Norwegian rockers named Wizrd released a stunning debut album titled Seasons back in 2022, and ever since then I have been looking forward to its follow- up. Elements will arrive in early December and let me tell you straight up that this could very…

THE VERGE – The Verge

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://the–verge.bandcamp.com/album/the-verge The latest release on the lovable Is It Jazz? Records is a proper tour de force in every conceivable way and a dizzying yet incredibly cohesive output that harbors a raw, authentic power unlike anything else that I have come across.   This musically tasty and elegant yet highly explosive…

WHITE WILLOW – Sacrament (2024 Remaster)

RELEASE YEAR: 2024  BAND URL: https://whitewillow.bandcamp.com/album/sacrament-remaster The third album by renowned prog rockers White willow, namely the one entitled Sacrament, was recently given an all-analogue boost and remastered by main-man (and musical mastermind) Jacob Holm Lupo, and new life has definitely been breathed into this already evocative creation. Originally released back in 2000 to great acclaim…

YOBREPUS – A Rhizome Revolution Part 2

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://yobrepus.bandcamp.com/album/a-rhizome-revolution-part-1-2 I was thoroughly taken with A Rhizome Revolution Part 1 when that came out roughly seven months ago as it was an emotionally demanding yet perfectly accessible and rewarding listen that managed to transport the listener elsewhere and leave a lasting impression. The textures and motifs the band so effortlessly…

ELECTRIC HIGH – Colorful White Lies

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://electrichigh.bandcamp.com/album/colorful-white-lies Apollon Records were kind enough to hand me a copy of this raw and raunchy debut offering by the Bergen-based hard rockers known as Electric High, and I am eternally grateful to them for that as this groove-laden, catchy, and energetic record ticks a lot of the boxes for me…

HØSTSABBAT 2024 – anmeldelse dag 2

Anmeldt av Kamilla S.Bilder: Jonathan Mazin samt mange av de man kan finne på strømmetjenester og plate allerede. Stemningen er akkurat der den skal være for å sette dagen; musikken er god, men stemninga er jovial og ikke for alvorlig. Her har publikum og band det gøy sammen. Så fikk skribenten her av uforutsette grunner…

HØSTSABBAT 2024 – anmeldelse dag 1

Anmeldt av Kamilla S.Bilder: Jonathan Mazin Vi er helt på tampen av oktober, mørket har inntruffet og årets Høstsabbat står for døren. I år som i fjor befinner vi oss i Kulturkirken Jakob plantet i en trygg avstand fra Oktoberfestens larm for de som søker en helt annen type støy og stemning i Oslos gater.…

TOBY AND THE WHOLE TRUTH – Look Out! (Vol. 1)

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://tobyjepsonofficial.com/ Renowned songwriter, screenwriter, record producer, and radio host Toby Jepson is as talented as they come, but as much as I admire his work with Wayward Sons, it is rather refreshing to once again hear same brand-new solo compositions of his. “Look Out!” marks the first musical chapter of a…

INADREAM – Strange Words

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/inadreamband/ Inadream, which is a German outfit dabbling in 80s inspired post-punk, released this energetic record of theirs via Echozone just a few days ago, and it certainly has its merits and some catchy and cool moments to it without being a decidedly great or noteworthy slab of raunchy rock. The…

ARS VENEFICIUM – The Lurking Shadow of Death

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: http://lnk.to/thelurkingshadowofdeath Ars Veneficium is about as trustworthy as a dark roast coffee on an early Sunday morning, which means fucking excellent, solid, and massively potent in every sense of the word. While I have enjoyed their previous albums and outputs immensely, their latest offering is undoubtedly their most remarkable and accomplished…

THERMALITY – The Final Hours

RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://thermalitysweden.bandcamp.com/ I wonder if In Flames founders Anders Frieden and Björn Gelotte had been privy to listening to fellow Gothenburg melodeathsters Thermality’s independently released (3 years after formation) very good debut album Before I Get To Rest²⁰²³ when the former contemplated the direction of Foregone²⁰²³, which was released on that…

MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND – 17.10.2024 – BERGEN, NORWAY

VENUE: Forum SceneDATE: 17.10.2024 ORGANIZER: Bergen Live PHOTOGRAPHER: J. NepperPhotos copyrights belong to the photographer. No unauthorized usage allowed. Please contact photographer if you wish to reuse images in any context.   It had been five years since I had the great pleasure of witnessing the inimitable Manfred Mann’s Earth Band in a live setting,…

STARFORCE – Age of Nano

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://starforce.bandcamp.com/album/age-of-nano-ep Thanks to the good people over at Darkhan Music we can now look forward to a glorious vinyl edition of the deftly executed Age of Nano by the gifted Finnish entity known as Starforce, and what could possibly be cooler than that? Stylistically speaking, we are talking synthwave of the…

UTFLOD – Efterdønn

RELEASE YEAR: 2024  BAND URL: https://utflod.bandcamp.com/album/efterd-nn I absolutely love and cherish pretty much everything about this band and their latest pummeling effort. Not only is Utflod one (if not the) hardest hitting thing since the first Rocky movie and as devastatingly fierce as they come; they have also shaped and perfected a unique sound and a…

ULCERATE – Cutting The Throat Of God

RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.ulcerate-officia.com/ Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? – Epicurus As soon…

ENDE – L’Aube Des Anath​è​mes

RELEASE YEAR: 2024  BAND URL: https://lnk.to/laubedesanathemes The French black metal horde known as Ende is not one that I had encountered prior to this, but they have been quite prolific ever since the band’s inception in 2010, and I must say that this seven-track opus of theirs is oftentimes rather spellbinding and a perfectly melancholy listen.…

GURTHANG – Martyrium

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://lnk.to/martyrium The delightfully brooding and utterly compelling act known as Gurthang rarely fails to disappoint this scribe, and it just so happens that Martyrium is their most accomplished and impressive musical feat to date. Thoroughly drenched in a thick and impenetrably dark atmosphere that swallows you whole, these five addictive compositions merge somber…

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