RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.suidakra.com/ Appearances can be deceiving and many a war has been founded on such deception. Take the name for the band: Suidakra, even typecast weirdly as SuidAkrA. Is that like a fancy name for suicide, such as harakiri (male) or seppuku (female) shame/honor self-killing? Or is it a name of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://afargang.bandcamp.com/album/andvake Afargang, which is a relatively new and exciting addition to the Norwegian progressive scene, offers plenty of atmosphere and evocative qualities on this unique-sounding debut album of theirs. Spearheaded and masterminded by fiddle player and harpist Olav L. Mjelva, this talented ensemble merges folk music, forward-thinking black metal, and prog metal…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/octoploidmusic/ It has become almost a custom among heavy metal (and rock) artists that members of well-established and successful bands either make solo albums or join other bands while remaining active in their main abode. It used to be (80s and 90s), due to time and space constraints (both now…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://thanateros.bandcamp.com/ I distinctly recall reviewing the previous two offerings by Thanateros, namely Insomnia (2020) and On Fragile Wings (2022), and back then I was of the opinion that the German outfit had a lot of good ideas and that their records contained promise and potential. In other words, the albums had their noteworthy and enjoyable…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://carthus.bandcamp.com/ It’s raining independent debuts here at ER so, after the British death thrash groovers Lokust now comes the Australian progressive melodic death metal folk quintet Carthus with Images Of Tyranny²⁰²³ released on July 21st just 3 years after formation. What stands out the most are the band’s extraordinary skills…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://astralborne.bandcamp.com/ Other than the perfect debut from Majesties Vast Reaches Unclaimed²⁰²³ I reviewed here I have not run into a melodic death metal album recently that would so clearly echo the Gothenburg founding fathers of the genre (At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames) while remaining fairly unique, that…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://lumsk.bandcamp.com/ I will be the first to admit that I have never been a huge fan or admirer of Norwegian folk metal outfit Lumsk. Full disclosure here, people. Then something strange and magical happened the other day when I received the promo copy of their upcoming full-length entitled Fremmede Toner, which…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://thanateros.bandcamp.com/ The German folk-inspired metal outfit known as Thanateros released this twelve-track effort of theirs just a few weeks ago via Echozone and despite not being what one would deem an immersive experience or an enthralling listen, it does have its merits and some rather interesting ideas to it. In truth,…
