Oct 032024
 

(written by Islander)

On November 1st the Monumental Rex label will release the second album by the Portuguese black metal band Everto Signum. Entitled Beastiary, it has an unusually interesting concept behind it, described as follows:

“The band stays true to their elemental background by writing an immersive story that guides the listener through a chain reaction of natural disasters. These calamities are beastialized – manifested as wild uncontrollable beasts exhibiting intrinsic animalistic shapes, traits and behaviours.

“The plot is comprised of seven chapters, each consisting of a contextual introduction that describes the scenery and sets the mood for the destruction to come, and an interpretation of the actual cataclysm. Written in English, the expressively poetic lyrical narrative portrays a journey from an ice-covered mountain top through a valley, down to the depths of a meromictic lake and finally into a perennial forest to witness the dreadful wrath of ancient forces.” Continue reading »

Sep 072024
 

From midnight on Thursday to midnight on Friday we received 221 e-mails about recent and forthcoming heavy metal releases. That’s not counting the e-mails that were just trying to sell us clothing or physical editions of records that have been out for a while, or to announce tours and shows, or to promote music that’s utterly foreign to anything we cover here (no idea how we get on some of these distribution lists).

That’s what Bandcamp Fridays do to our in-box, and the same thing happens on social media. It’s no longer surprising. Bands and labels know that lots of metalheads wait for these days when more of the money they spend will go to bands and labels. But it sure as hell makes me feel like I’m drowning when I look for things to include in Saturday roundups following Bandcamp Fridays.

And that’s not counting all the new songs and videos that were already on my plate before Friday arrived. Continue reading »