RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://onceupontheend.bandcamp.com/ One of the most interesting and innovative melodic death metal bands in recent memory, the French quartet is even uniquely named, Once Upon The End. After one EP and one full length, plus a change of vocalist, they have independently released (yet promoted by Imperative PR) another EP, the…
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…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://fractalgates.bandcamp.com/ The French progressive melodic death metal ensemble is a debutante on our website, at least as far as reviews are concerned, even though they have been at their craft for 18 years but only 3 full lengths: Altered State of Consciousness²⁰⁰⁹, Beyond The Self²⁰¹³ and The Light That Shines²⁰¹⁸,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/close-to-complete-darkness I found the previous offering by these French sickos titled Lowest Depths of Misery (2022) an utterly amazing and well-crafted piece of work that appealed to all manner of morbid instincts, and the great news is that their latest album, which is fittingly called Close to Complete Darkness, is even…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://innomineseth.bandcamp.com/album/la-france-des-maudits This scribe has always had a bit of a soft spot for the renowned French black metallers Seth, and it goes without saying that I could not pass up the opportunity to review their upcoming opus sporting the evocative title La France des Maudits. Their back catalog is impressive and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://gorodmetal.bandcamp.com/ Did I not just review a French technical death metal album? I sure did (Catalyst’s “A Different Painting For The New World”, 5.5) and here we go with another one, this time from a long running act Gorod whose roots (previously as Gorgasm) go all the way back to…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://catalystfr.bandcamp.com/ The wide spread rumours of heavy metal supposedly dying vehemently militate against reality and vice versa, especially when it comes to extreme yet melodic metal. Case in point, the French progressive technical death metal quartet Catalyst which consists of Jules Kicka (guitars, vocals), Florian Iochem (guitars), Jefferson Brand (bass)…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.rising-steel.fr/ The previous offering by these French metal freaks, more specifically the loud and crushing Fight Them All (2020), was an entertaining albeit slightly uneven ride through power metal, NWOBHM, and thrash metal. I am pleased to announce that nothing has changed in the outfit’s camp as the latest effort titled…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/lowest-depths-of-misery These twisted French purveyors of relentlessly aggressive and hyper intense death metal turned out to be a real fucking delight and a very cool surprise to yours truly. With an immensely powerful sound and a pitch-black aura reminiscent of one’s worst possible nightmare, the talented duo tear through their pummeling…
RELEASE YEAR: 2021 BAND URL: https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/order-of-eternal-indifference Although this split album by the US horde Phalanx Inferno and the French entity Melek-Tha is not brand spanking new as such (it was released back in early December), it is such an interesting one that we need to churn out a few sentences about its many merits. I love…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: Descent Into Madness | CORRUPTER | ???? ?? ??? ??????????? (bandcamp.com) From the fiery pits of the French metal underground comes the 2-man outfit Corrupter, and this skilled duo shows great promise and potential here. “Descent into Madness” is a rather short and concise affair that encapsulates much of what I…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/laluprog/ An incredibly diverse and intriguing mixture of prog rock and prog metal that somehow manages to pay homage to some of the legendary outfits from the 70s and simultaneously sound current and have a modern sheen to their eclectic style is what we have here, and “Paint the Sky” by…
