Jul 192021
 

 

What we have for you today is the complete premiere stream of one of the most exhilarating and explosive albums of the year so far. Anyone who’s heard this Barcelona band’s 2017 debut EP Burning Torches won’t be shocked to hear that, but even devoted fans of that EP are going to have their eyes opened wider and their jaws dropped lower by what Krossfyre have achieved on the rip-roaring Rites of Extermination.

Once again, the band have stewed together a host of metal styles in a boiling cauldron, with black metal, thrash, and death metal being the most prominent. Benefitting from a more clear and cutting production, the music creates blowtorch heat and black powder explosiveness, whirling-dervish wildness and feral savagery, hellish grandeur and dire melancholy — and all of these experiences, save perhaps the last of them, simultaneously radiate an atmosphere of unchained devilry, of a coven of witches and warlocks spinning and levitating in the throes of diabolical possession. Continue reading »

Aug 182017
 

 

In April I came across the first single from Burning Torches, the debut EP by a Spanish black/death band named Krossfyre. I was eager to hear it partly because the line-up includes members of Sheidim, Graveyard, Körgull the Exterminator, Insulters, Suspiral, and Morbid Flesh, and in part because the press announcement made references to classic Nifelheim and Vomitor, early Tribulation, later Desaster, Gospel of the Horns, Bestial Mockery, and Nocturnal Graves.

That first song, “Fire Solution”, was as good as I hoped it would be, and definitely earned its name. The whole EP turns out to be a fire solution to whatever might be ailing you. It will be released by the ever-tasteful Hells Headbangers on September 15 (CD, 12″ MLP), and today we have the premiere of the title track. Continue reading »

Apr 082017
 

 

I started what was supposed to be a two-part SEEN AND HEARD round-up last Wednesday. I couldn’t finish it as fast as I  planned, and as time passed I continued discovering new music and videos worth recommending. What was supposed to be two parts became four. So, here it ends… but only for now, because I’m sure I’ll start all over again early next week.

There are four individuals songs or videos in this collection, each from a forthcoming or recent album, plus one full album stream. As in Part 3, I’ll keep my verbiage brief.

VAMPIRE

The new album by the Swedish band Vampire is With Primeval Force. It will be released by Century Media on April 21st. Yesterday the label debuted a video for a song from the album named “He Who Speaks“, which I believe is the fourth track from the album to be previewed so far. Continue reading »