RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/becomingthearchetypemusic The Georgian Christian progressive metallers Becoming the Archetype (BtA) may be very well known to Christians who love metal but I suspect they are virtually unknown in the greater heavy metal community, possibly due to Christian lyrics most people who aren’t Christians have no interest in reading much less…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://cryptopsyofficial.bandcamp.com/ While I admit that the Canadian brutal technical death metal purveyors Cryptopsy have one of the best names and (legible!) logos in metal, I don’t quite hold them in such high regard as others. True, Whisper Supremacy¹⁹⁹⁸ was once in heavy rotation in both my CD player and my…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.sylosis-band.com/ Sylosis is a British metalcore act with some thrash and groove metal influences of which you could not tell that they were British just by listening to their vocalist who sounds so like the New American Heavy Metal screamer I was actually shocked to learn he was not an…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://artofpropaganda.bandcamp.com/album/tulpa Linus Klausenitzer is Alkaloid’s powerful bassist and on October 6th last year the man decided to release his solo album Tulpa²⁰²³ via AOP Records. To succeed in this endeavor he had asked many renown contributors to take part in it, among whom are Juggernaut’s Javier Perera Martin on vocals,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://m.facebook.com/octobertideband October Tide (henceforth OT) had been formed in 1994 by two Katatonia members Sven Fredrik Norrman and vocalist Jonas Petter Renkse and persisted for 5 years and two albums (Rain Without End¹⁹⁹⁷ and Grey Dawn¹⁹⁹⁹) before breaking up for a 10 year hiatus. They returned with A Thin Shell²⁰¹⁰…
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://adarkhalo.bandcamp.com/ As Fear Factory gets its second breath after losing the original extraordinary vocalist Burton C. Bell, numerous bands crop up inspired by Fear Factory’s phenomenal combination of metal, industrial and electronics they dubbed cybermetal. Then, of course, some additional genre melding is expected, nü metal riff here, progressive passage…
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://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.shoresofnull.com/ In my review of the Italian melodic death/doom metallers Shores Of Null’s one track third full length Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying)²⁰²⁰ (5/6) I necessarily compared it to both Edge Of Sanity’s Crimson¹⁹⁹⁴ and Insomnium’s Wintergate²⁰¹⁶ the former had inspired, but I concluded that it was inferior…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: http://www.augustburnsred.com/ Believe it or not, progressive metalcore bands are hardly a dime a dozen these days, especially those worth listening to twice. Arguably Between The Buried And Me were the first band to marry hardcore to progressive metal, what with their chaotic but still quite original self-titled debut²⁰⁰² followed by…
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://stillbirthofficial.bandcamp.com/ As you listen to the German brutal death metal and death core act’s Stillbirth’s new album Homo Deus²⁰²³ released on April 7th, you may get an impression you’re dealing with one of those young highly skilled ensembles at most on their 3rd installment, stylistically somewhere between All Shall Perish,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/omniumgatherumband While most bands either break or make it by their third album, few drop a debut near masterpiece (Spirits And August Light²⁰⁰³), remain puzzingly average and underdeveloped for the next three albums (Years In Waste²⁰⁰⁴, Stuck Here On Snakes Way²⁰⁰⁷, The Red Shift²⁰⁰⁸)and just when you’re about to give…
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: http://enslaved.no/ Whereas E²⁰¹⁷ was a sore disappointment after the phenomenal In Times²⁰¹⁵, the former seemingly ending the string of top shelf material from Axioma Ethica Odini²⁰¹⁰ and Riitiir²⁰¹², Utgard²⁰²⁰ was a notable, if a partial return to form. I remarked similarly in my review of the album (5/6) where I…
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: 2023 BAND URL: https://unearthofficial.com/ When the official Century Media Records release calls the Boston, Massachusetts quintet Unearth “nothing short of standard-bearers and keepers of the faith for American metalcore” it’s not just a suave public relations rhetoric. As metal was largely losing its raison d’etre at the dawn of the XX Century, Unearth…
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…
