Hulder return with their third studio album Velbolgen. I discovered Hulder back in 2024 by accident with their album Verses in Oath and I was severely underwhelmed. It was album that tried to be something more than a black metal album, but couldn't get out of its own way and ended up just sounding like another black metal album. Their return in 2026 does not have that problem in such a grandiose scale as they did before. Verbolgen has some real energy and passion drawn out of it through its more folk roots. When the riffing on "The Crowning" began I could already hear the massive improvements; from the well textured guitars, good bass and percussion that was not overbearing. 

I enjoyed the thrashier riffing on "Verbolgen" and the slow, but effective crescendo on "In Blood And In Earth". The vocals of special mention show a great range, both technically and emotionally. Many of the albums (relatively) shorter songs are strong compositions since they do not try to baton pass melodic ideas such as on "In Blood And In Earth", a much better example shows up on "...And We Shall Sing" and "View From Nemeton". I think that Verbolgen is a great improvement from the last record, but I still feel its is too one dimensional. Perhaps those more experienced with the black metal genre will appreciate this more than myself.

Best Songs: Thy Blinding Oath, In Blood And In Earth, View From Nemeton, ...And We Shall Sing

For Fans Of: Moonsorrow, Aeternus, early Ulver

By 1972, British rock legends Deep Purple had demonstrated a work ethic unheard of by today’s music industry standards. In the span of four years, they’d released five studio albums and one live album. They’d dabbled in psychedelic music, classical collaborations, and bluesy-inspired hard rock. And with recent output such as ‘In Rock’ and ‘Fireball’, they’d finally settled on a sound and established themselves as one of the premier hard rock/heavy metal bands. 

And so, with 1972’s ‘Machine Head’, it was truly time for Deep Purple to take over the world. 

Featuring a selection of absolutely iconic hits, outstanding musical performances, and without a doubt THE most famous guitar riff of all time, ‘Machine Head’ sees Deep Purple really fire on all cylinders. The production is fantastic, and holds up to this day, giving the band a heavy crunch that wasn’t too common in those days, and really helps highlight the virtuoso performances of every member. 

Particular praise must go to guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and keyboardist Jon Lord, who’s chemistry is laying the foundations for legions of guitar/keyboard duos to follow, and vocalist Ian Gillan, who is setting the standard for high-pitched metal wailers for years to come.  

Featuring classic hits such as ‘Highway Star’, ‘Space Truckin’’, ‘Maybe I’m a Leo’, ‘Pictures of Home’ and the legendary ‘Smoke On the Water’, this is Deep Purple at their very best, making ‘Machine Head’ an absolutely essential addition to every hard rock and heavy metal collection.    

“Buy everything they have put out! You will not be disappointed!”

“Perfect in every way.”

“Quite simply the best black metal album of this millennium…”

These are just some of the accolades posted on the Bandcamp page for this release. High praise indeed, as you can all see. For an artist that I have never heard of until this month, it appears that I may have been missing out on an underground treat based on these lashing of superlatives at least. With demos appearing as far back as 2009, Black Cilice are hardly a new outfit either. Perhaps their shady persona/s have kept them off my radar, given that “none” is the consistent lineup information for each release they have done (a similar trait to fellow Portuguese bm outfit, Candelabrum). The cavernous black metal, littered with Xasthur-esque howled vocals, produced with a muffled overall sound effect, certainly points to a one-man project. Raw is the order of the day here, and whilst that can spell “indecipherable tosh” for some ears, to me it is my preferred style nowadays.

Having done a couple of listens through the record now, I am not as excited by it as some of those exuberant reviewers are. Likewise, I cannot say I dislike the album either. One of the key aspects that I do find challenging are the raw values in the production, as they aren’t all that raw to my ears. The vocals most certainly are, but the rest of the sound has such a muffled filter applied that it almost blunts the rawness of the intended approach. This can make listening to tracks quite a jolting and disorientating experience (closing track ‘Boiling Corpses’ being a particularly difficult one to follow).

Yet, I must balance the above against the melodic tremolo that shines through on ‘Timeless Spectre’. Spending some headphone time with Banished from Time does unearth more detail that is otherwise buried in the initial, speaker-only based listening experience. The acute sense of isolation and desperation of the vocals take on a whole new level of impact when you bring the music that bit closer. It sounds like there is someone trapped somewhere cavernous, howling out all the negativity of their life in its most terrifying moment. I would describe Banished from Time as a culmination of sound. The pinnacle of pity, sorrow and suffocating misery laid bare in audible format. In a way it is acceptable for things to sound lost, for the component parts to clash in places to highlight the confusion around such a tumult of emotions. Maybe that jolting and disorientating effect is more intentional than I first thought. Definitely one for future revisits as not sure I have a full wrap around on this release yet.

It has been a decade since Ripper's terrific "Experiment of Existence" album was released and there have been wholesale lineup changes with mainman, guitarist and vocalist Patricio Spalinger, the only member remaining from the lineup that recorded that sophomore album. For most of the intervening decade Patricio has been concentrating on his Venus Torment solo project as well as featuring in several other outfits such as Slaughterhousse and The Missings, but has now decided that the time is ripe for a new Ripper offering. He has assembled an impressive array of talent this time around with guitarist Nicolás Young (Critical Defiance, Demoniac) and drummer Javier Buzeta, who appeared on Mayhemic' s excellent 2024 "Toba" album, being joined by bassist Tomás Barriga of heavy metallers Axe Battler.

If you are in any way familiar with the chilean thrash scene then "Towards Rebirth" will be instantly familiar. After a short 'spooky synth' intro we are treated / subjected to an onslaght of breakneck riffs, pulsating basslines and screaming solos accompanied by gruff, bellowing vocals and an intensity that references death metal as much as thrash, with it all barely seeming to hold together as it tears past as a gale of energetic velocity. Buzeta sets the pace, battering away in a flurry of machine-gun double kicks and pulverising thrashbeats that goad the riffs into a demonic charge, ably bolstered by Barriga's busy and kinetic basslines. The two combine inordinately well and are as much a force of nature as a metal rhythm section. The riffs are mighty beasts indeed and are actually quite memorable and melodic, despite the fact that they hurtle past like an express train, providing more than enough ammunition for a damn good neck wrenching. As we have come to expect from chilean thrashers, the solos are where they like to go to town, with hyper kinetic shredding and smoking fretboards being the order of the day, providing the artistic flights of fantasy in contrast to the tightly focussed ballistics of the riffs and rhythm section. The album is, arguably, slightly front-loaded with the final three tracks from the instrumental "The Secret Dawn" onwards not feeling quite as awesome as the rest, but even these three are still pretty decent thrash workouts.

What I think appeals to me most about the chilean scene is that it takes the intensity and vitriol of the older, late eighties and early nineties, deaththrash records and transforms them with ultra-tight focus and undoubtedly superior technical skill into an even more impressive beast and, with ultra clear production, finally realising the potential that so many of those earlier records possessed. In so doing albums like "Towards Rebirth" don't just rehash a thirty-plus year-old trope, but present a thorougly modern sound that taps into the vigour and energy that thrash once possessed in spades, but which long ago had started to feel staid and stilted.