(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the second album by Minnesota-based Suffering Hour, which will be released by Profound Lore on February 19th.)
It remains a true pleasure, pure and unsullied, to watch a band grow and ascend from humble beginnings towards true greatness.
Such is the case with Colorado terror-trio Suffering Hour, whose second album, The Cyclic Reckoning, may quite possibly be the first truly “great” record of 2021. Continue reading »
For their third album, and their first one in six years, the Greek black metal band Caedes Cruenta have gone BIG, one might even say Olympian. In the most objective (and mundane) of terms, it is roughly 62 minutes long. But the scale of the album is vast in other, more consequential, ways.
Unmistakably, Caedes Cruenta uphold the finest traditions of classic Greek black metal — the foundational works of Rotting Christ, Varathron, and Necromantia — by melding ferocious aggression and heavyweight punch with ringing heavy metal leads and judiciously deployed synths, as well as a vocal tandem of throat-slitting shrieks and horror-spawning growls. But they do this in ways that create a wide range of atmospheres and emotional sensations — as you shall discover through our premiere stream of the entire album in advance of its February 12 release by Helter Skelter Productions. Continue reading »
(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the heavy Swedish band Humanity’s Last Breath, which is set for release by Unique Leader on February 12th.)
In the life cycle of every genre there comes a moment of… let’s call it apotheosis… when the build-up of artistic and creative pressures can no longer be contained, resulting in a sudden evolutionary leap, a genetic divergence, when something new is born.
This does not mean, of course, that the original genre dies out, or ceases to evolve either (the very fact that the most traditional, “old school”, forms of Death, Black, and Thrash continue to exist, create, and proliferate, is proof enough of that), nor is it limited to just one time. But, no matter how long it takes or how hard people try to deny it, delay it, or defeat it, it is always… always… inevitable.
And it seems like, for Deathcore, that moment may almost be upon us. As while Välde may not be the album destined to finally redefine the genre (in all its various forms) for a new generation, the steps it takes to refine it, to distil it into its most essential, elemental form, have no doubt planted the seeds for the next stage of its evolution. Continue reading »
(We present Todd Manning‘s review of the debut EP by the Indiana band Mother of Graves, which was released on January 8th by Wise Blood Records.)
Mother of Graves are not the first band to rise up from tragedy, but the pain and sadness on display on their debut EP, In Somber Dreams, is palpable. The formation of this band came in the wake of the death of a friend and former bandmate, and as founding guitarist Chris Morrison explains, Katatonia’s EP Sounds of Decay became a focal point for channeling his sorrow.
Mother of Graves take their moniker from a Latvian entity that functions as a protector of graves, but much of their inspiration comes from Britain, Katatonia notwithstanding. We are of course referring to the Peaceville 3, i.e., Paradise Lost, Anathema, and My Dying Bride. The early work of these three bands laid the groundwork for the marriage of the violence of Death Metal and the depressive strains of Gothic Rock, and Mother of Graves have learned their lessons well. Continue reading »
Iron Bonehead Productions has recently pushed back the release date of Abythic‘s third album to February 19th, but the more prolonged wait will be easier for fans to bear because today we are presenting a full stream of this momentous new record, the name of which is Dominion of the Wicked.
Informed by mid-period Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Grave, and Pentacle, the album represents a more thorough-going embrace of crushing doom than this German band (now stripped down to a power trio) might have previously achieved, and certainly a more powerful (and sophisticated) rendering of haunted and harrowing atmosphere. All of the songs flow together, and as the band maneuver you through them you experience the dynamism of the band’s songcraft and their capacity to create a lasting spell, notwithstanding how frequently oppressive and horrifying the sensations often become. Continue reading »
(Here’s Vonlughlio’s review of the debut album by the Indonesian brutal death metal band Hysterorrhexis, which was recently released by Dismembered Records.)
Hello dear readers, I hope you are all well and staying safe in this 2021. I have not been able to do reviews recently due to my family and myself having COVID-19 (we are well, with no major consequences in our health). Self-quarantine, medicine, and a lot of Death Metal in my household.
In this period I was able to listen to some BDM releases that, if I had heard them before doing my year-end list, would have been included, and to some new projects that are releasing music this year. Which is the case of the Indonesian band Hysterorrhexis who have just dropped their debut album Maggots Infest the Limb via Dismembered Records. Continue reading »
What can you do with an 18-minute block of time today? Wash those dishes that have been in the sink since January? Ponder whether you should start showering more than once a week? Beat your head against the wall for wasting four hours watching that dull-as-dishwater Super Bowl? Rush through sex like you’ve got somewhere else to be?
We’ve got a better idea: Listen to Demon King‘s debut EP The Final Tyranny. Though to be fair, the odds are high you won’t stop with just the one listen. Continue reading »
I’ll be so bold as to say that lovers of black metal, or at least those whose tastes aren’t rigidly hemmed in by convention, are in the midst of a musical Renaissance. I don’t mean to say that every band and every variant are worth our time or our devotion — as in all art, there is wheat and there is chaff to be separated. But there are giant bushelfuls of wheat to fall into!
Sadly, out of the many noteworthy releases I discovered during the last week, the timing of which perhaps had something to do with Bandcamp Friday, I only have time to feature a couple, and I chose these two. Even with just these two, time prevents me from going into great depth about them
MISOTHEIST
I’ve been impatiently waiting for a new Misotheist album ever since coming across a preliminary version of a new song named “Benefactor of Wounds” in the spring of 2019. I had thought that Terratur Possessions would release the album that year, but the year passed, and so did 2020, and we continued to wait — though the debut of the album version of that same song last November did bring with it the news that the album would finally arrive this month. And so it has. In a word, it’s stunning. Continue reading »
(This is TheMadIsraeli’s review of the new album by Ektomorf from Mezőkovácsháza, Hungary, which was released by Napalm Records on January 22nd.)
I plan to take a step back from doing normal reviews for the most part in the name of doing bigger more ambitious projects for the site in 2021, but I’ll definitely still be popping in to review something here and there.
I’m picking this as an initial 2021 review choice because it is actually pretty related to the project I’m currently working on for the site, but also because, with no shame, I proclaim to you now that I not only love Ektomorf, but in the world of absolute shithead aggro metal that mixes thrash, hardcore and a bit of that nu metal angst, Ektomorf are one of the absolute best at it and have been almost since their inception. Continue reading »
Cult of Luna
(Andy Synn wrote these three reviews of recent and forthcoming EPs.)
It’s been a busy, busy week for me this week… but, then, when isn’t it?
It’s times like these, though, that I really appreciate the short-form, straight-to-the-point, structure provided by a good EP.
It’s a place for bands to experiment, to explore new ideas, and to formulate these little (or not always so little) slabs of perfectly proportioned form and function without having to worry about living up to the demands or expectations surrounding a “full-length” release.
Of course, one of the EPs featured here today is basically long enough to be considered an album – although I can see why, after listening to it, the band themselves declared it an EP – but all three of them manage to give a more focussed impression of each of the bands in question, while also providing an attention-grabbing primer for whatever they’re going to do next.
And so, without further ado… Continue reading »