May 122017
 


Craven Idol

 

(Andy Synn focuses once again on a trio of recent or forthcoming releases by UK bands, this time selecting material from Craven Idol, Synaptik, and Telepathy.)

What a veritable smorgasbord of metallic delights I have here for your delectation. Though, with the joys of Brexit coming up, I suppose I won’t be able to use words like “smorgasbord” for much longer, lest I be declared a traitor to the crown…

Anyway, putting the politics and pontificating to one side, here are three stellar slabs of UK Metal for you all to savour – the throat-ripping Black/Thrash of Craven Idol, the epic and extravagant Prog-Metal of Synaptik, and the intricate instrumental storytelling of Telepathy. Continue reading »

Mar 042017
 

 

It’s been one of those weeks. As usual, I accumulated a big list of new songs and videos I wanted to recommend, but just didn’t have time to post any round-ups. And now I don’t have time to play catch-up either. I’ve made some fairly random choices from my list to include in this post, and will have some others in tomorrow’s weekly SHADES OF BLACK installment (we have a couple of Sunday premieres lined up as well).

I say “fairly random”, because in making these choices I did try to provide a variety of metallic sounds, and I also decided (with one exception) not to write about new songs that I think have already gotten plenty of attention elsewhere around the web this past week. And so, for example, other than the following links, I won’t be writing about the new songs and videos by Solstafir, Wolfheart, Svart Crown, Havok, Valborg, Vanum, or Windswept (among others) — though they’re all worth checking out if you haven’t done that.

DOEDSVANGR

Doedsvangr is yet another group formed and fronted by Norwegian artist Doedsadmiral. His other groups include NordjevelSvartelder, and Enepsigos. For Doedsvangr, he is joined by Finnish guitarist Shatraug (HornaSargeist, ex-BehexenNightbringer) and drummer Anti-Christian (TsjuderBeaten To Death). Their debut album Satan Ov Suns will be released by the Belgian label Immortal Frost Productions on March 27. Continue reading »