RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: http://swallowthesun.net/ We’ve last left the Finnish melodic doom death ensemble Swallow The Sun (STS) on their second album dedicated to, and in mourning of, the tragically and too early departed South African singer, Julia Liane “Aleah Starbridge” Stanbridge and her thus brutally ended romantic relationship with Swallow The Sun’s founding…
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: 2024BAND URL: https://mistra.bandcamp.com/album/waltz-of-death-2 The talented duo consisting of Benedicte Adrian and Anders Odden is an inspired and musically eclectic one that merges something akin to grand-sounding gothic soundscapes with subtle black metal influences and also something along the lines of dark symphonic rock (and even hints of electro pop), and the great thing…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://tomorrowsrain.bandcamp.com/ With all the excitement of getting a new My Dying Bride album after 6 years, as good as A Mortal Binding²⁰²⁴ is, it’s easy to overlook other albums coming out on the same date, April 19th, such as the 2nd full length Ovdan²⁰²⁴ (released on AOP Records) by the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://tarjaturunen.com/new-release-dark-christmas/ The beautifully packaged Dark Christmas by Finnish sensation Tarja Turunen is undoubtedly one of the more interesting winter/Christmas-themed outputs that I have ever heard or come across thanks to its rather creative arrangements and great ideas. In addition, the way in which everyone involved in the endeavor has colored the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: http://www.edgeofparadiseband.co/ Also American and not that far removed in vein from A Dark Halo (whose 2nd full length I’ve just reviewed giving it a 5/6) the Californian alternative rock and metal quintet Edge Of Paradise released their 5th album Halo²⁰²³ on Frontiers Records on July 14th to follow Immortal Waltz²⁰¹⁵,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://firesinthedistance.com/ While (or why) I hadn’t hurried to review the second album, Air Not Meant For Us²⁰²³ from the Connecticuter quartet as soon as it was released on April 28th on Prosthetic Records, it gave me all the more pleasure to realize how excellent it was once I sunk my…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.tribulation.se/ I remember once listening to The Formulas Of Death²⁰¹³ and later The Children Of The Night²⁰¹⁵ (which came out after The Horror²⁰⁰⁹, the debut after 5 years from Tribulation’s conception) and praising the melodic death metal the founders Johannes Andersson (bass, vocals) and Paul Adam “Zaars” Zars (guitars) then…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://antipope.bandcamp.com/music Once agan I find myself reviewing a fantastic album from a long standing band I have never heard of before. One of my excuses could be that Antipope started as a black metal band and, to be honest, black metal is a cherry pick genre for me. Another one…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: http://www.golgothaofficial.com/ This review opens the 5 album expose on the work of Palma de Mallorca Spanish vocalist, guitarist and bassist Vicente Javier Payá Galindo, the creator of 5 metal bands: Golgotha, Unbounded Terror, Decrapted, Bis.nte and Sons Of Cult – all currently on David Sánchez “Dave Rotten” González’s Xtreem Records…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/profile.phpid=100063610741197 I wish there was a God, I’d pray for salvation…If somehow, I could believe, that there was a saviour then maybe this life I lead would be less filled with sin. If there’s no god, no light at the end…then tell me what’s the meaning of it all (Save…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3YyILgRcUSxqmjStt8DZPg Symphonic goth-inspired metal from Italy courtesy of the quintet named LunariaN is what we have here, and this is a rather competent and solid piece of work where the vocals of Aylin (Trail of Tears, ex-Sirenia) serve as the highlight throughout. While all the usual ingredients such as symphonic keyboards,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/semblantband The Brazilian outfit known as Semblant, which was conceived back in 2006, have returned with their fourth full-length assault and what we are served here is a basically a mixture of modern melodic metal, power metal, gothic metal, and arguably also subtle hint of prog metal. That the six members…
