RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://open.spotify.com/album/0yLSPVbADe1jMVUWjebilM?si=1jfRgj-NROe6ddzsqJwGaw Unfortunately, there is just no stopping the annoyingly productive purveyors of all things dark and melancholy known as Picture Ann, i.e. the exponents of lo-fi post-rock and dark ambient drones of the rather dense variety. The latest output titled Promising Oddities is essentially an odds-and-sods collection of tracks and ideas…
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…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://gjenferdbergen.bandcamp.com/album/gjenferd This stunning and ridiculously well-written not to mention infectiously catchy debut effort by the Norwegian outfit named Gjenferd is one of the best things that has happened to me this year. By Odin, this is so fucking awesome and inspired that I lack words, and that rarely happens, mind you.…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://mydyingbride.net/ My Dying Bride (named after the middle sequence words in the debut album’s closer “Return Of The Beautiful”) is a British death doom metal band with a penchant for progressive writing which needs no introduction to anyone familiar with the so called British Peaceville Three, along with Anathema and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://bismarck.bandcamp.com/music The opening few bars of the title track leaves no doubt as to who and what this is; a frightening audio onslaught by the Norwegian doom metal freaks known as Bismarck. Vourukasha takes me back to their debut offering (Oneiromancer from 2020) in terms of its thunderously heavy tone and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://xtxax.bandcamp.com/album/the-passion The musically compelling force of darkness known as Glacial Mass, which consists of members Themis and Manos, is a frighteningly heavy and claustrophobic proposition that promises a deep, introspective journey through the worst alleyways and oddest corners of the mind – a proper examination of one’s true self and an…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://martyrdoom.bandcamp.com/ It’s been awhile since I reviewed something from my native Poland, let alone something good, so the 2nd (after Grevious Psychosis²⁰¹⁷) full length from the death metal doomsters Martyrdoom (the most brilliant name since Cryptopsy?), As Torment Prevails²⁰²³ released on October 23rd via Memento Mori, is a great opportunity…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://lnk.to/thewretchedandthevile The crushing metal outfit sporting the wicked moniker Rituals of the Dead Hand recently unleashed a six-track torrent of harsh and cynical soundscapes that fall somewhere between doom metal, sludge, black metal, and even death metal at times. Does it work? You can bet your saggy ass that it works!…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.brujeria.com/ The Californian grindcore death metal groove act Brujeria (Spanish: witchcraft), which performs their vocals exclusively in Spanish, was formed by John David “Juan Brujo” Lepe, Patrick “Adam Bomb” “Fantasma” Hoed, William David Gould “Güero Sin Fe” Junior (Faith No More) Eric Reed “Jello Biafra” “Hozicón Jr.” Boucher and (until…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023BAND URL: https://arabs.bandcamp.com/album/the-magic-of-sin The sixth LP by the magnificent and eclectic prog rockers Arabs in Aspic originally came out in 2017 and contained lyrics and song titles in Norwegian, but this reworked, remixed, and remastered version of Syndenes Magi has undergone quite the change and now features words in English, hence the title…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023BAND URL: https://arabs.bandcamp.com/album/victim-of-your-father-s-agony The fifth record by the magnificent Norwegian ensemble known as Arabs in Aspic, which originally came out in 2015, is an evocative journey through glorious psychedelic landscapes shaped by hazy atmospheres, doom-laden riffs, and epic vocals that never fail to impress me. Impressive actually would have been a rather apt…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://maddermortem.bandcamp.com/album/old-eyes-new-heart Is there even any point in trying to categorize or label the unique sound conjured up by one of Norway’s most enticing musical outfits, namely Madder Mortem? Thirty years into their career and they still manage to amaze and excite me – how awesome is that?! Incorporating traits from doom…
The tail end of December saw the lo-fi ambient post-rockers known as Picture Ann grace a doomed planet with a full-length album comprised of six sprawling compositions that all revolve around the idea of losing one’s way in life, of being misled and losing oneself somewhere terrible only to find the way back home an…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/GoAheadAndDieBand It seems ages since the legendary Massimiliano Antonio “Max” Cavalera, the (in)famous ex-Sepultura and current Soulfly frontman, aided by his younger son, Igor Amadeus Cavalera (vocals, guitar, bass) as well as Khemmis’ drummer Zach Coleman, released the explosive bombshell of Go Ahead And Die’s eponymous²⁰²¹ probably because so much…
The latest full-length offering by the demented peddlers of haunting dark ambient drones and lo-fi post-rock soundscapes is out now and contains three tracks with a rather loose concept and theme to them. From the industrial revolution in Britain to the strangely unsettling works of painter Walter Sickert and further on to the cinematic quality…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://dwaaldoom.bandcamp.com/album/never-enough Ever since the outstanding Gospel of the Vile opus saw the light of day in 2020, I have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up to that crushing piece of work. The arrival of Never Enough is imminent and you might as well start preparing for it now, because this is one…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://lurkdoom.bandcamp.com/ The Finnish psychedelic doom and death rock and metallers have an interesting genre trajectory, active since 2008. Their debut Lurk²⁰¹² (on Totalrust/Svart Records) was more of a hardcorish straightforward death/doom affair with just a bit of sludge, but the Crowbar-ic and Ulcerate-d Kaldera²⁰¹⁴ (on Doomentia Records) already swayed more…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://strangehorizon.bandcamp.com/album/skur-14 The previous album titled Beyond the Strange Horizon by this fabulous Norwegian outfit impressed this scribe greatly, and their lively, exciting, and organic mixture of heavy metal, stoner rock, and doom metal worked like a wicked charm and had instant appeal to these ears. This upcoming LP of theirs, Skur…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://lepercolonydm.bandcamp.com/ The mighty death metal warrior Roger “Rogga” Johansson (bass, guitars) whose musical contributions to the genre run for four lines on Encyclopedia Metallum, is back with another slab of classic extremity, here infused with substantial amount of doom, thrash, groove and even traditional metal, joined by Marc Grewe (vocals)…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://dsadeath.bandcamp.com/ It’s a good feeling to be able to rest from a genre, in this case melodeath, and take in some good old classic death metal in the vein of the first two Paradise Lost albums, early Hypocrisy, Immolation and Death, with a few surprising twists courtesy of the Canadian…
