Reviews

The Unyielding Season

Winterfylleth

Please pay me one dollar for each time I say "atmospheric" in this article.

Disgusting Existence

Endless Curse

ENDLESS CURSE released a decent EP. The songs on “Disgusting Existence” are raw and aggressive. The Death Metal sound is direct, very simple, and without any technicality.

Ill Fated Voyage

Iron Brigade

“Ill Fated Voyage” is a mixture of traditional Power Metal and classical Heavy Metal. Heavy Metal inspirations come all from IRON MAIDEN and this heavily affects the guitar riffing, the melodies, and the lead guitar solos including the famous twin guitars

Obsidian King

Ravenspell

With a name like RAVENSPELL I thought this was going to be a Symphonic Metal band. They ended up being more in the CIRITH UNGOL tradition, which is even better.

Road to Rubble

Necrosexual

Very middle of the road as far as intensity and maybe a bit over the top with the performative essence of it. Felt like an amped up Beetlejuice.

Hermetic Transmission

Xenosis

Overall, the album beats you over your head with a steel boot and doesn’t stop after you are bleeding. They have the technical chops, that is for sure, and although the sound is largely dissonant and sterile, their sense of timing is immaculate.

Agnomysticism

The Scalar Process

This was an incredible album from start to finish. The sheer amount of intensity and aggression are tempered with moments of pure wonder. The timing they keep…is perfect. It’s one of the best Technical/Progressive albums I have heard in a while, because the band maintains a balance across all of the songs. Arden enough for any Metalhead, and melodic enough for reviewers like me, it’s really the best of both worlds.

Annihilation Of Civilization (Reissue)

Evildead

The music on “Annihilation Of Civilization” is quite good, the production is as it was expected to be for a band in this music genre, the cover is brilliant. The band was clearly a bunch of very talented musicians with a singer that was very definitely making the right kind of statements for the time this was first released. (Unfortunately a lot of the matters described are again or still valid and important in this day and age.)

The Underworld (Reissue)

Evildead

As their second album, you can hear that EVILDEAD had learned from their debut album, that, although quite good, could have sounded better. That has been remedied on “The Underworld”, as the sound is just that bit fuller, just that bit more rounded.

Atropine

Astraya

This album’s sound is pretty uncommon. At its core, it is deeply somber, some might even tinge it as Doomy. There is a heavy feeling to it, and the weight is always threatening to overrun you.

More Stereo Crush

Gotthard

Gotthard have spent more than 30 years delivering straight-ahead, heartfelt hard rock, and they haven’t […]

Le Sanglot

Impure Wilhelmina

This was a very entertaining album that is difficult to categorize. Deeply somber at times, with flashes of hope intermixed, it’s the kind of recording that begs you to keep listening. The more you are drawn in, the more emotions you can hear in the music.

Fractals

Ticket to Nowhere

In Colorado, there IS a town called "Nowhere." Why are these Swiss guys selling me tickets to the US? I live there, dammit.

Press Start

Samurai Pizza Cats

but after some rigorous research (typing in "Samurai Pizza Cats" into Google), they're named after a vintage anime known for humorous pop-culture joking and fourth-wall-breaking samurai cats who work at a pizzeria (???).

Seed of the Formless

The Moon And The Nightspirit

Whimsical is the best work I can use to describe the album. The vocals are quite passive, at least the cleans, and they are delivered in a dream-like state, while the harsh vocals are like a burst of frigid air with a deep bite. What makes the album so compelling is how it balances beauty with distance. There’s warmth in the harmonies, but it’s a distant warmth. Beneath it all runs a subtle feeling of isolation, a reminder that for all its wonder, the universe is indifferent. That duality of awe and loneliness intertwined defines the emotional core of the record. Listening demands stillness, patience, and a willingness to sit with both wonder and insignificance.

Too Bad To Be Good

Alicate

Alicate was formed in the late 80s by lead vocalist/guitarist Jonas Erixon and bass player […]

Nälkäiset aaveet

Fallath

The music is rooted in the traditions of the Black Metal genre for the most part, but instead of tortured screams that often come, we have shouts instead. They are both effective at pushing the aggression deeper, but the later presents at least some diversity in sound. They also experiment with some other sounds that aren’t traditional to Black Metal, and I say bravo to their spirit for this.

Sapien

Ram-Zet

I know that a band wants to start with the one song that is a cut above the rest, that could easily be seen as the best song they have. Well, that is definitely the case with “Zerocane”. This is simply the best track that RAM-ZET has ever produced.

From The Fade

Joel Hoekstra's 13

On “From The Fade” all comes together in a very good way. Whether the music is fast and furious, or slow and emotional, it all sounds exactly right. All the right notes are being hit, all the right noises are being offered, and the pristine production makes it all gel in just the right way.

A Dark Poem, Part II - Sanguis

Green Carnation

After “Leaves Of Yesteryear” in 2020 and their 2025 album “A Dark Poem, Part I – The Shores Of Melancholia” it is now time for them to give us “A Dark Poem, Part II - Sanguis”. This band from Kristiansand in Norway isn’t just a simple Progressive Rock/Metal band, nope, they don’t have a problem mixing those influences with a lot of Gothic under- and overtones.

Through the Hourglass

Witch Ripper

This was an excellent album that showcases a band that delivers Heavy Metal with confidence. The riff were chunky, and each style of the vocals hits equally. There are some strong melodies as well. My only piece of constructive criticism would be for the band to vary the pacing a little more on the album.

3+2

Repetita Iuvant

Albums that force the listener outside of their box are always thought provoking for me, and this album definitely fits that category. Ambient in nature, you can feel the album pulse and release through each song. Fans who want instant gratification may not like this, but for me it’s like Novocain…give it time and it will work.

Power (single)

Geoff Tate

Hop in the DeLorean Marty and set the Flux capacitor to May 3, 1988, we’re headed back to pick up where musical history was forged, circling once more around to Nikki, Sister Mary and Dr. X. as the OPERATION MINDCRIME chronicle continues, but this time, with a dark unexpected twist.

Pandemonium of Egregores

Mutiilation

Overall, this wasn’t a bad album per se, it just stunk too much of the Black Metal bands of the past. The genre had made great strides over the years, but this band failed to take advantage of the loose boundary structures of today.

Foretold in Ashes

Chaos Revealed

Overall, this was a solid album in the genre, and although it seems the duo is just getting their feet wet, they already have a strong foundation that they can build on for a future LP. All of the characteristics of MeloDeath are there, and it’s a catchy and powerful album.

No Ritmo da Terra

Antropoceno

Culturally delectable.

The Calling From the Depth

Fayenne

DSBM is not my cup of tea at all, and rightfully so, because anyone who uses the phrase "cup of tea" isn't meant for depressive suicidal black metal.

To Wither Beneath Thy Radiance

Hagetisse

Although the album self-proclaimed to be a return to 90’s inspired Black Metal, and those elements are alive here, it’s not just an ode to the FWOBM. In addition to the deep aggression and bleakness of the album, the synths provide just enough smoothing to blur some of the jagged lines. Once you start it up however, it can’t be shut down, and you better just hang on for the ride of your life.

Liitto Hengen ja Veren

Dark Divination

This is FWOBM inspired music, which means it’s raw, primal, and aggressive. I always look at albums through a forward thinking lens however, and this album is just stuck in the past glory days.

Song Of Darkness

Leaves’ Eyes

Song Of Darkness” offers the classical LEAVES’ EYES trademark sound, a mixture of symphonic Metal and Folk Metal elements including historically themed tracks

Infernal Symphony

Shatterheart

SHATTERHEART deliver a good and promising debut album. “Infernal Symphony” offers a very good balance between the Metal sound and the symphonic elements. The orchestral arrangements are very well thought through and fit perfectly to the tracks

In Light, No Shape

Cognizance

For me, the album was like taking a short cut to get somewhere faster but the shortcut is riddled with a dense underbrush that with each step, it gets harder and harder to move. The density is probably its best quality, but so are their technical skills. It was complex, but also accessible, something that not many bands in this style can pull off with the seeming ease that they do.

Italian Dark Sound

Midryasi’s Kult

“Italian Dark Sound” holds together fairly well, and while it wasn’t terribly diverse it does have a few unexpected twists.

Infernau

Azken Auzi

If you’re already invested in doom, you won’t lose anything with this one and, in fact, may have plenty to gain.

Ex Imperium

Nine Orders

Perhaps my biggest concern about the album isn’t the songwriting, or the musicianship, it’s rather the succession of one melancholy song after another. It keeps the album from really being able to take flight. Progressive music is typically always full of surprises, but this just coasted under the radar for me.

Liminal Shrines

Gutvoid

Overall, this was an excellent album. At its central core, it’s Death Metal, but there are some tasty riffs and pyrotechnics that suggest this is thinking man’s Death Metal. There are also some moments of ambiance and outright melody at times. Come take a walk with “Liminal Shrines” and see where it might lead you.

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Reviews

The Unyielding Season

Winterfylleth

Disgusting Existence

Endless Curse

Ill Fated Voyage

Iron Brigade

Obsidian King

Ravenspell

Road to Rubble

Necrosexual

Hermetic Transmission

Xenosis

Agnomysticism

The Scalar Process

Annihilation Of Civilization (Reissue)

Evildead

The Underworld (Reissue)

Evildead

Atropine

Astraya

More Stereo Crush

Gotthard

Le Sanglot

Impure Wilhelmina

Fractals

Ticket to Nowhere

Press Start

Samurai Pizza Cats

Seed of the Formless

The Moon And The Nightspirit

Too Bad To Be Good

Alicate

Nälkäiset aaveet

Fallath

Sapien

Ram-Zet

From The Fade

Joel Hoekstra's 13

A Dark Poem, Part II - Sanguis

Green Carnation

Through the Hourglass

Witch Ripper

3+2

Repetita Iuvant

Power (single)

Geoff Tate

Pandemonium of Egregores

Mutiilation

Foretold in Ashes

Chaos Revealed

No Ritmo da Terra

Antropoceno

The Calling From the Depth

Fayenne

To Wither Beneath Thy Radiance

Hagetisse

Liitto Hengen ja Veren

Dark Divination

Song Of Darkness

Leaves’ Eyes

Infernal Symphony

Shatterheart

In Light, No Shape

Cognizance

Italian Dark Sound

Midryasi’s Kult

Infernau

Azken Auzi

Ex Imperium

Nine Orders

Liminal Shrines

Gutvoid

Latest Reviews

Forever Beyond