Feb 272015
 

Tuomas Saukkonen (Wolfheart)

It’s the same old story. Metal is such an over-boiling cauldron of creativity that if you have to wait a few days to go exploring for new things, you find yourself up to your neck in hot water. Or at least that’s what happened to me yesterday.

Having failed to compile a round-up of new music since last Sunday, I felt overwhelmed when confronting how much I wanted to write about today. I had to make some hard choices about what to recommend, and even then I had to stifle my usual verbosity — time is a harsh mistress, and not in a good way. So, with a regrettable (to me) minimum of introductory comments, here’s a selection of what lit me up over the last 24 hours, presented in the order in which I saw and heard them. I’ll have a few more new items to share with you on Saturday.

WOLFHEART

Earlier this month Spinefarm Records re-released Winterborn, the fantastic album by Wolfheart that we praised to the skies (repeatedly) when it was first self-released by the band in 2013. The re-issue comes with two bonus tracks (“Isolation” and “Into the Wild”). Two days ago Wolfheart premiered a music video for the album’s first track, “The Hunt”, which shows scenes from the recording of the track. It’s a wonderful song (it was on our list of 2013’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs), and any excuse to hear it again is welcome. Continue reading »

Feb 102015
 

 

As we’ve noted more than once at this site, the last 12 months have produced a stunning number of stunning black metal releases from Greece, and the flood of blood shows no signs of abating. On February 24, W.T.C. Productions will be releasing the second album by the Athenian band Devathorn. The new work, Vritra, follows the band’s Diadema debut by more than seven years, but the time has not been wasted. As proof, we offer a premiere of the album’s second track, “Doctrina Fide”.

Vritra is named for the great serpent of legend, the archetype of the draconic adversary, the bringer of chaos and liberation. Using this symbol of arcane knowledge and otherworldly fury, Devathorn have poured their musical devotion into a chalice of sulphur flame, where it burns with obsidian light. Continue reading »