Reviews

Within The Viscera

Neckbreakker

NECKBREAKKER deliver an album which is driven by solid Death Metal riffing, crushing basslines, and relentless drumming. The overall sound is aggressive and spine-chilling with some groovy twists

Underneath

Ylisia

The debut album of YLISIA is a mix of symphonic and melodic Metal with darkness and melancholy in the melodies. Highlight of "Underneath" are the excellent vocals.

Something to Pierce

Sadist

At its core, this is Technical/Progressive Death Metal, and the best part of the album is the surprises. When you are eating bowl after bowl of fiber cereal and suddenly bright colored fruit and chocolate appear, it’s a welcome addition to breakfast. They also come at unsuspecting times, and sometimes the connections are odd and even jarring. Although some of the songs were a bit sterile, this is uncommon music.

The Rituals of Resilience

Voidfallen

And impressive Finnish Melodic Death Metal album is what is offered here! Take it!

Chrysalis

Throne Of Roaches

Crossing Old School Death Metal with Melodic Death Metal under a modern tack, this quartet seems to be opening new ways.

When Society Crumbles

Pyrrhic Salvation

A fine Technical Death Metal EP is what this North American act offers. Taste it!

Todschick

Nachtblut

Wow, what a lovely mix between Dark Metal with Gothic Rock influences!

Abur

Pothamus

Some albums merely sound dark; “Abur” embodies darkness. It is a sonic ceremony of suffering, an invocation of pure malevolence channeled through sound. It feels less like listening to music and more like being dragged into an ancient rite, one where the air is thick with smoke, the ground is soaked in blood, and unseen horrors lurk just beyond the firelight. This is evil personified in music—a relentless plunge into madness, ritualistic torture, and sacrifice, with no hope of escape. By the time the last notes fade into the void, it leaves the listener only the echoes of torment, the feeling of having witnessed something they were never meant to hear.

Live at Budokan

Helloween

The German Lords of Power/Heavy Metal shows on this live album that they're one of th best live acts of Metal today!

Black Star

Armory

A fine 2-tracks EP from this Swedish Speed/Heavy Metal quintet.

Récits d'Automne et de Chasse

Cercle du Chêne

Although it was a good album, too many of the songs sounded similar to one another. If the band could find a way to break some of them up, it would go a long way to the improvement of the album. But it was an enjoyable listening experience for me.

Soaring

“Soaring” is an album that ascends, stretching its reach beyond earthly constraints, but it does so with an overwhelming sense of sorrow and fury, like the way fire rises into the sky, or the way storms carve their path across the sky. It is the relentless pursuit of something greater, something just beyond the reach of human hands.

Krásno

Besna

This is an album of is an album of extremes—where seething hatred meets tragic melody, where chaos gives way to mournful introspection, and where a deep-rooted despair is counterbalanced by a raw, unyielding resilience. But there is no passive resignation here—only fury, only defiance. The drumming pounds like war, the riffs cut like blades, and the vocals spit venom at the very foundations of oppression. There is a sense that even if the world is doomed, even if every system is built on a foundation of injustice, there is still something worth fighting for.

Noctambulist II: De Droom

Noctambulist

Few albums manage to walk the razor-thin line between ferocity and elegance as masterfully as this. With a soundscape that embraces the raw, unrelenting aggression of Black Metal while intertwining it with haunting, melancholic melodies, this album carves out its own space in the genre’s ever-expanding sonic wilderness. This is an album for those who crave Black Metal’s icy rage but also seek something more—something layered, something emotional, something that lingers long after the final note has faded into silence. In its perfect equilibrium of savagery and sorrow.

Dry Soil

Adrift

What makes “Dry Soil” particularly striking is its ability to be both suffocating and hypnotic. After all these years, the band hasn’t just continued their trajectory—they’ve sharpened their vision, refining their sonic nihilism into something even more potent. “Dry Soil” doesn’t just reflect the exhaustion of a world pushed to its limits; it embodies it. A crushing, thought-provoking testament to the never-ending conflict between survival and self-destruction.

Punishment

Crown Magnetar

This was one of the most punishing Deathcore EPs that I have ever heard. The band took what was done before them, multiplied it by four, and shoved it down your throat like bitter medicine, and it burned all the way down to your stomach.

Vampire Witch Reptilian Super Soldier (from Outer Space…

Gentle Beast

Yeah, this was a cliché album when it comes to the subject matter, and they make no bones about it. But let me clear that it was also a real banger, and something I enjoyed it quite a lot. They have a simple honesty with themselves and that’s how they approach their music. No bones, no fucks given, just good music.

Grey Mountain

There aren’t too many unique Metal bands out there these days, but count GREY MOUNTAIN as one. At is core, I would describe it a combination of Death and Doom Metal, but with a hearty side helping of surprises. Sometimes the surprises are tasty morsels of melody for example. I applaud them for thinking outside of the box and pulling it off.

Sonsuza Dek Bir Gece

Fragmentary Solid Abyss

All in all, this is a decent little album but it would better resonate with me if there was more focus on full length songs than the shorter instrumentals.

The Abysmal Womb

Moondark

Ultimately, MOONDARK’s “The Abysmal Womb,” is a solid album but doesn’t stand out enough to keep my attention for more than a few songs at a time.

A Sonication

Obscura

The challenge with Tech Death bands is making music that isn’t overly sterile, and finding ways to supplant melody in places where the listener might least expect them. OBSCURA have done that with “A Sonication.” The heavier elements keep the album weighted and powerful, and they rule, but the band tempers them with majestic moments of melody.

Beyond The Wall

Fifteen Stitches

Good, but can be better.

The Prime Dread

Dreadmask

“The Prime Dread” is based on a well-tried melodic Death Metal approach embedded into a dark melodic framework, epic chorus parts with grim and melancholic melodies

The 3rd Dimension

Hazzerd

“The 3rd Dimension” is a mixture of ferocious and melodic Thrash Metal, and fans who love both styles will like what they hear

Where The Darkness Falls

Crowen

Not only is CROWEN proficient in exchanging musical styles at random and exactly at the right times, they also have mastered the ability to write and produce bloody good songs. All six of them on “Where The Darkness Falls” make sense from start to finish and somehow, when they enter your brain via your ears, the sounds stay embedded in there. That, my friends is a sure fired way to distinguish a good piece of music from an excellent one.

The Grave Mistake

Garden of Stone

GARDEN OF STONE is a rather new Finnish band from Tampere, as they have only been in existence since 2023. That they are very inspired to write music becomes clear on 15 February 2024, when the EP “Tides Of Decay” is let loose on us as listeners. I must say that I haven’t had the pleasure of listening to it. And then, just under a year later, on 10 January 2025, these Finns are giving us their debut album “The Grave Mistake”.

For A Few Fixes More

Scumripper

It has been ten years since the Finnish band SCUMRIPPER, hailing from Lapeenranta, Etelä – Karjala / Mikkeli, Etelä – Savo, has come together to make a whole lot of noise. The music they make is a mix of Black, Death and Thrash Metal. In just under half an hour the band lets us enjoy how they feel their Metal should sound.

Iron Will

The Ferrymen

So, now about “Iron Will”, the fourth album of this international power trio. For more than 54 minutes these THE FERRYMEN how good they are musically.

Electric Sheep

The Wave And The Particle

If there is a band that could qualify as Alternative Rock, then THE WAVE AND THE PARTICLE should be put on top of the list. The combination you get here is all Rock. You will hear Gothic and Symphonic mixed with Industrial and Electro. Well, the guitars sometimes do have a Metal sound and feel, but overall “Electric Sheep” doesn’t go past the Rock mark.

Friction

We Are The Catalyst

The Swedish band WE ARE THE CATALYST was formed in 2012 and on 29 November 2024 they presented us with their fifth studio album to date. And it shows that they have been together for so many years, as the cohesion between the musicians as well as the songs is quite clear.

March of the Unheard

The Halo Effect

Although the album overstayed its welcome just a bit with 12 songs, this was a solid listening experience. If you are a long-time fan of the genre, you have to ask yourself, is this the logical step that IN FLAMES should have taken? It’s hard to say, but for me, the album reaffirms what I like about the Melodic Death Metal, rather than taking it to new directions.

The Humble Collapse

Maw

The Humble Collapse by MAW is clearly not a Metal album, but what it lacks in volume and viscera it makes up in innovation and trippiness. Definitely worth a few spins, this one.

Dysphoric Devotion

Greh

Dysphoric Devotion is a solid Blackened Death artifact. It doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. This is pure, unmitigated extreme metal with no flourishes or facades. Only serious metal fans need apply.

The Last Sky Piercer

Nebula Nine

Overall, as with a lot of Progressive music, the songs and the listening experience were very personal, and what each person draws from the music will indeed be different. It does indeed sound like the end of humanity for me.

Mountain Devil

Midryasi's Kult

The music is fairly well put together, and who doesn’t like a throwback to yesteryear? I can hear many of their influences that they list in the music above, but it’s hard to evaluate an album that only has three songs. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t overly impressed, and it was a mediocre effort for me.

I, Moloch

Shrine of Denial

This was indeed a cohesive listening experience, but therein lies my biggest concern with the album. Too many of the songs sounded alike and therefore the album blended together, offering little outside of their strong musicianship.

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Reviews

Within The Viscera

Neckbreakker

Underneath

Ylisia

Something to Pierce

Sadist

The Rituals of Resilience

Voidfallen

Chrysalis

Throne Of Roaches

When Society Crumbles

Pyrrhic Salvation

Todschick

Nachtblut

Abur

Pothamus

Live at Budokan

Helloween

Black Star

Armory

Récits d'Automne et de Chasse

Cercle du Chêne

Soaring

Soaring

Krásno

Besna

Noctambulist II: De Droom

Noctambulist

Dry Soil

Adrift

Punishment

Crown Magnetar

Vampire Witch Reptilian Super Soldier (from Outer Space…

Gentle Beast

Grey Mountain

Grey Mountain

Sonsuza Dek Bir Gece

Fragmentary Solid Abyss

The Abysmal Womb

Moondark

A Sonication

Obscura

Beyond The Wall

Fifteen Stitches

The Prime Dread

Dreadmask

The 3rd Dimension

Hazzerd

Where The Darkness Falls

Crowen

The Grave Mistake

Garden of Stone

For A Few Fixes More

Scumripper

Iron Will

The Ferrymen

Electric Sheep

The Wave And The Particle

Friction

We Are The Catalyst

March of the Unheard

The Halo Effect

The Humble Collapse

Maw

Dysphoric Devotion

Greh

The Last Sky Piercer

Nebula Nine

Mountain Devil

Midryasi's Kult

I, Moloch

Shrine of Denial

Latest Reviews

Songs Of White Lion Volume III

Mike Tramp

Society’s Pact With Satan