RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://warbell.bandcamp.com/ The Polish Lower Silesian melodic death metal ensemble Warbell was founded by Paweł “Bloody” Szczypka (bass, vocals), Kamil Ziobro (drums-2008), Patryk Kryński (drums-2013), Marcin “Maroon” Witeska (guitars-2016) and Piotr “Peter” Hasioli (guitars-2019) in 2008 breaking up 2 years later for 3 years without a single recording. Reactivated, the melodeath…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://enrapture1.bandcamp.com/ The Norwegian progressive post death metal ensemble Enrapture’s third installment, Drønn²⁰²⁴ EP, independently released last April 5th is, to, again (as I’ve used it before) quote Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho” a curious little dish I was surprisingly presented by our dear chief editor, Andrea, quite a while ago,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://infraredmetal.ca/ There are few things more satisfying as a metal fan than watching a band evolve and consistently deliver, and few modern thrash bands have done that quite like Ottawa’s Infrared. With Manifestation²⁰²⁴, their fourth full-length released (again) independently last September 6th, the Canadians reaffirm their place in the XXI-st…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://zakula.bandcamp.com/ In the movie “La La Land”, Keith (John Legend), tells his bandmate and friend, Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling), essentially, that jazz is dying because the latter keeps it too traditional without opening himself for new ideas. How often true of heavy metal, how silly it sometimes sounds in the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.woundcollector.com/ For my second perfect score review this year (yet concerning last year) I’ve chosen the Belgian progressive death metal quintet uniquely named Wound Collector and their 1st EP after 2 full lengths, Begging For Chicxulub²⁰²⁴ independently released last June 15th. What makes this outfit compelling is how they seamlessly…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.wordsoffarewell.com/ Sometimes it’s interesting to watch a band evolve from a genre typical act through being a lot of things at once with mixed results to, finally, come full circle and come up with something hard to define. A good example is German progressive melodic death metal sextet, Words Of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://nyktophobia.bandcamp.com/ As much as I appreciate complex and progressive direction in melodic death metal, sometimes I want my melodeath to be just a deluge of luscious melody as in Hypocrisy¹⁹⁹⁹, Insomnium’s Across The Dark²⁰⁰⁹ or Omnium Gatherum’s The Burning Cold²⁰¹⁸, and I am always happy to discover another fantastic album of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://omnivide.ca/ When Opeth gave up (thankfully, temporarily) on the “death” part in their progressive death metal stylings after Watershed²⁰⁰⁸ (now we know why so called) there came what usually comes after a legendary metal force mellows down: an onslaught of would be successors, some whom had started while Opeth was…
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://burndowneden.de/ Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, so that he does not reach out his hand and ALSO take of the tree of life and eat, and live forever….” So Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://motherofallofficial.bandcamp.com/ Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy s@#t we don’t need…We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And…
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: 2023 BAND URL: https://erstwhilebm.bandcamp.com/album/ancient-steel I became aware of this melancholy black metal duo not that long ago thanks to the brilliant and ever-reliable Regimental Records who released the Steeling of a Soul album by Erstwhile on CD. This 3-track EP is hauntingly effective and drenched in an impressively solemn atmosphere that is underlined and…
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://www.6lokust.com/ Since heavy metal was arguably invented in the United Kingdom, and, specifically in England, it’s been fascinating to watch the Americans “hijack” it and arguably make it better but then observe the Britts emulate that previously emulated music in pursuit of their own sound. This complex conclusion I’ve reached…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/DescentIntoMaelstromBand/ Although I had never visited the dodecaphonic metaller’s Andrea “Bigna” “Maelstrom” Bignardi’s independently released (later also on Maculata Anima Records) debut Descent Into Maelstrom’s eponymous²⁰¹⁷, Bignardi handling everything as a sole member after the 2016 conception, I liked the sophomore Iconoclasm (released on Maculata Anima Records in 2019 and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://medevil.bandcamp.com/ The Canadian progressive power thrash metaller’s debut Conductor Of Storms²⁰¹⁶ was already a fiercely original record although the influences were also quite easy to point out. I thought what made Medevil original was their approach to metal: they clearly loved it and were inspired by it but it wasn’t…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.infernaltenebra.com/ I’ve either never had or haven’t had in a while a close 5.5/6 which ended up a 5/6 in the end, subsequent revolutions to clarify the matter failing to deliver. The Croatian melodic death groove metallers Infernal Tenebra’s pre-pandemic predecessor As Nations Fall²⁰¹⁶ was an easy 5/6 but not…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://necropanther.bandcamp.com/ Yet another melodic death metal release on my plate, the Coloradan quartet featuring Paul Anop (guitars, vocals), Joe Johnson (guitars), Marcus Corich (bass), Haakon Sjoegren (drums), is actually quite a genre hopper on their 4th (after the eponymous²⁰¹⁶, “Eyes Of Blue Light”²⁰¹⁸ and “The Doomed City”²⁰¹⁹ with a couple…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.kingkraken.co.uk/ What a lovely and most welcome surprise this infinitely heavy and thunderous metal opus by the brilliant UK outfit King Kraken is. If Black Sabbath, Clutch, Corrosion of Conformity, and early Soundgarden all had a jam together, it would sound somewhere along the lines of MLCXXX, which is obviously a seriously…
