Vinny's Reviews

On paper at least, I would have normally avoided Lord Agheros. That album cover screamed gothic metal at me, and so when I discovered no gothic metal on the record, I was immediately caught off-guard. Indeed, opening track, ‘Lament of the Lost’ had me thinking of Wardruna, which was a completely unexpected reference point. Whilst The Fallen is most certainly the correct clan for Anhedonia, there is a lot of different elements musically to digest. Whether it is symphonic, choral, melodic black metal or outright atmospherics, Anhedonia provides lots of angles for the listener to run at it from. It should be noted that some parts of the album sound truly beautiful, being rich in depth.

When they get the arrangement correct, Lord Agheros are quite the accomplished songwriters. However, there are some occasions whereby contrast the compositional aspects of some tracks are clumsy and cumbersome. In the early part of the album, transitions seem to struggle to land all that well. As a result, songs sound like they jerk and jolt around. As the record progresses, this problem does seem to fade in frequency and the second half of the album suffers a lot less from this.

Overall, though, as much as I cannot deny the unexpected allure of this record, it is still dogged by the impression that some sections of the record are a triumph of design over content. I suspect there is some conceptual narrative to proceedings, and this may go some of the way to explaining the sense of some parts being forced to fit together. Credit where credit is due on the ethereal beauty that is inherent behind these issues, they are truly an unexpected bonus. However, they are too few and far between for me when taken into consideration with the whole album offering.

Passages nearly didn’t get a look in when I was jumping through new releases in The Fallen. The EP is one of those releases that does an interlude track and then a proper track which is hard enough to stomach on an album, but over a shorter format so easily could have been a turn off. As it turns out, Sunrot manage to pull it off. The actual sludge content pisses all over the noise interludes for me, to the point where I don’t remember them being there by the time the power of the instruments and the vocals kick in with an Olympian level of fury.

Sunrot make pissed off music for pissed off people. Their music is slamming and juvenile without sounding immature. It’s the hand cupping your balls whilst the other one is punching you in the dick. Both easy and effectively picked targets. They even get Dylan Walker from Full of Hell and Brandon Hill from Cloudrat to guest on the record, so have the respect of grindcore royalty it seems (although Hill’s contribution is to one of the ludes). It is an EP on which I only like two songs out of five though and I cannot help but feel a little short-changed by the experience. It did pique my interest to explore some of the full-length releases by the band though so in a way did still serve a greater purpose. Would have preferred some live tracks instead of the ludes in all honesty.

Hungary is not normally a country I associate with any metal output, let alone death doom. When I first heard Töviskert... a kísértés örök érzete... Lidércharang I had no idea what to expect, there was a genuine air of mystery that even got me to thinking ‘has any Hungarian even heard death or doom metal, ever?’ Turns out they have, well at least two of them have. Hanyi and Lambert might as well be Finnish though as the death doom they offer is very much in the sound of that geography. In fact, they remind a fair bit of Krypts now I come to think of it. On this, their second album, the duo lumber through a selection of mid-paced death doom tracks. I mean, don’t get me wrong here, it’s deathy and it’s doomy too of course, but it never gets into funeral doom territory.

Lambert deploys a horrific and ghastly vocal style throughout the six tracks here which fits the marauding guitar perfectly, both backed up by Lambert’s thudding drums. Hanyi for his part covers guitar and bass on the album and although you are going to struggle to find the bass in here (apart from on album closer 'Az örök isten Lucifer'), the guitar makes its presence known. On the slower sections it hangs hauntingly in the air, like some horrendous spirit that refuses to pass over to the other side because it is having far too much fun threatening the living. In their more frantic moments, the band sound like a squally death metal act (hints of some Portal at times, to my ears at least) but they have mastered the mid-paced plod style of death doom best.

There’s a groove to some of the riffs here which is a welcome bit of variety that seems to help build tracks as they get going ('Sikoltó füst'), quickly switching to be that marauding beasty style that I mentioned earlier, just in case we need to be reminded of the threat of Rothadás’ intent. At the end of the day, nobody picks up a death doom album looking for variety. It is a safe space for those who know what they like, and this Hungarian duo will tick all the boxes for any fan of the sub-genre. I liked it more the first time I heard it if I am honest, probably because I listen to very little death doom nowadays and I was excited to still find such appeal in my heart for the style when Töviskert... a kísértés örök érzete... Lidércharang first started getting on to my rotation. It is very well put together, but it is nothing outstanding. It is not safe death doom. If such a tag exists, I demand it be expunged immediately. These two know their art and play it with a clear passion, it is just nothing new for me and I feel there’s always one or two records that come out each year like this one. I nod my head appreciatively, holding my chin whilst looking out of the window like some death doom connoisseur, enchanted but not overwhelmed by what I am hearing.

Drudkh tailed off for me not long after Microcosmos. A Handful of Stars was a poor follow up to 2009’s triumph of a release and I progressively lost interest in the band. In writing this review, I looked back at some of my ratings for what has come after 2010 and found that on the few I had rated, I had little if any memory of what they sounded like (ratings on relevant releases have therefore been deleted from MA). Whereas I would have once looked forward to a Drudkh album, I found news of Shadow Play arriving landing with a less than muted applause. For me it almost feels like Drudkh have said everything I wanted to hear on their first few records. Those first four albums were the band’s golden run in my book and although they most certainly do have albums outside of that window of releases that I enjoy, I sensed that Shadow Play was not going to see me reaching for the higher end of the scoring range.

My fears were confounded by the frankly boring album opener ‘Scattering the Ashes’, a seven-minute plus track that is frankly one of the dullest pieces of music the Ukranians have ever written. I get the sound of the footfalls in the snow are of someone carrying an urn, however the track itself goes nowhere in between the footfalls that bookend the instrumental. Not a positive start then. Hold on though, both ‘April’ and ‘The Exile’ immediately get me interested in the album again with their driving rhythms and charging pace. The riffs seem to wrap effortlessly around one another, seemingly at home regardless of the tempo being deployed at the time. The rich melody that Drudkh are famous for is certainly still at the forefront of their music. The sound of the guitar alongside Roman’s grim vocals are familiar and welcome sounds. There’s a jangle to a Drudkh tremolo that sometimes sounds like a 60’s psychedelic rock jam. As we get onto the halfway point of the album, things are looking up.

I would go as far as to say that the previous two tracks are a couple of the best songs Drudkh have pulled together in a long time. Solid and memorable, urgent and pressing, as well as sounding like they are performed with passion and guile. ‘Fallen Blossom’ introduces a more aggressive sound, not dissimilar to the overall sound of album The Swan Road. Whilst the melody is still obvious, there is a harsher, colder edge to it on here. Even when the track seems to settle down into a rhythm, it still feels oppositional. The keys do little to soothe this abrasive edge, seeming to support its threat and intent with menacing atmospheres. The track builds into a tumultuous mass of tremolos and percussion, never taking its foot off the gas for the final third of the song. A more melodic opening greets us on ‘The Eve’, even if we are still seeing no signs of the pace letting up in the first instance. At this point I did start to wonder if some variety was missing here, but just as the demons started to have me doubting Drudkh, there’s a swell of accessible, more leniently paced melodies that is cleverly given space to breath and develop before becoming consumed again in the more raging torrents of the track. There is great use of pacing here, even though I missed this on my first few listens, it seems so obvious as I listen through on my review write-up.

Album closer, ‘The Thirst’ sounds like there may be some folk instruments at play in the raging mix that starts the track. I cannot see anything listed other than guitars and keyboards, so it may just be clever use of the keys, but I hear some light droning warbling in the background that seems to be a different pitch to the tremolo that I would normally attribute such sound too. In the end though, Shadow Play is not an album that needs much in the way of expansion. It says what it needs to say very well without much in the way of thrills being needed. It is one of the most consistent Drudkh albums that I have heard in a while and it really is only let down by that lifeless opening track which thankfully soon becomes a distant memory as the real quality of the album soon starts to take over.

Whilst listening to Year of the Cobra, I found myself debating how difficult it must be to be in a two-piece drum and bass doom combo.  I mean there must be a lot of pressure on the bassist to start with.  How much do you yield to the temptation to play it like a rhythm guitar, or perhaps go the opposite way and use the bass to create dense atmospheres like Bell Witch? On YotC, Amy manages a bit of both.  She carves out some bone-jangling riffs for sure, yet she also gives us enough bottom end to thicken up proceedings nicely on the tamer sections, when the beefier riffs are on the back burner.  You can sense the same dilemna with the drums of course.  Do they take precedence over the bass or simply play along in support of the four strings?  Again, like his wife, Johanes finds a good balance here.  As unremarkable as his performance maybe, the presence he brings cannot be underestimated.

Of course, Amy also has responsibility for the vocals.  Her dreamy, stoner/psychedelic style works in great contrast to her heavier bass work.  The vocal performance on album closer 'Prayer' stands out in particular with its very personal and sentimental traits making for a deeply heartfelt display.  It is not often a doom track manages to invoke emotion in me, but I genuinely fought back tears when listening to that song.  As the album highlight for me, it is a shame that such beauty is quite isolated here.

With some sense of inevitability perhaps, YotC suffers to a degree of a lack of variation.  Tracks such as 'Alone' lose me completely, and no matter how many times I play the record, I cannot tell you how 'Sleep' sounds.  Stronger tracks like opener '...Full Sails', 'War Drop' and 'Daemonium' are sufficient to rescue the record from the lower end of the scoring spectrum.  Like I said at the top of this review, tough gig this two-piece doom set up and unfortunately it shows here.

If they have achieved nothing else, Pothamus have introduced me to a new instrument in the Shruthi Box, an instrument predominantly used in Indian classical music.  It is deployed here on single, ‘Ykavus’ where it adds a droning presence to proceedings.  Fortunately, this is not my only take from Abur, although it is a distance away from my usual diet, it is still a very entertaining record.  There is still some familiar features to compare with the backdrop of my usual listening habits, but the duration of this record in the main is time spent away from my comfort zone.  The sludge tag it has on Metal Academy has some relevance most certainly, but it is the post-metal tag that fits the majority of the record better.  On top of this though, there are those hints of drone as well as a sense of Middle Eastern infusion.

After a few listens through to Abur with the tribal percussion and dense atmospheres, coupled with echoing chants and expansive keys, it is obvious that a lot of thought has gone into the record.  Whilst it might not have an immediate argument for frequent revisits (this very much a mood record) it is a very professional sounding yet artistically endearing album.  Where the band are most definitely skilled is in the ability to combine multiple elements on one track, not necessarily blending them, just very capable at arranging them.  The title track absolutely feeds off the atmospherics before breaking off into some of the denser sludge content present on the album.  When in full flow, the atmosphere here is reminiscent of an Akhlys album, minus the horror of course.

I cannot fight the haunting and ethereal charms of Abur.  It is such an accomplished sounding album that is in many ways a shame that it only fits a more serious mood.  I will come back to this album when I feel enclosed or suffocated by my existence.  When I am sensing my boundaries are the same four walls far too often and I need reminding of how far outside of my comfort zone I can actually go.  This is where Pothamus will come into their own for me, occupying the same ‘open when needed space’ as Russian Circles, Wardruna and Forndom.

Orkalet (the main man behind Häxkapell) is a talented fella with a fascinating background in choral singing – working with Erik Westberg one of the greatest choir conductors in the world - who also uses a process of meditation-induced psychography, or automatic writing to write his lyrics. Basically, the guy writes his lyrics and doesn’t even recognise he’s written them. He can switch these states on at will which makes me think that the lyrical content of Om jordens blod och urgravens grepp could well be written by spirits from another realm. As well as the above, Häxkapell also utilises the services of Oraklet’s wife, Ida for violin, viola and her voice.

As you would expect then, this record is a transcendental affair. With progressive elements sat alongside conventional black metal fare, there is real depth to what Oraklet delivers here. The more pagan/folk elements compliment his baritone vocals perfectly, creating a wholesome and earthy sounding experience. The violin and viola create a classical style of atmosphere to the familiarly grim and gnarly black metal music also. Add in acoustic sections, choral passages and near epic, sweeping elements also and you soon know that you are in for a treat with Häxkapell’s sophomore release. The downside for some maybe that there is a loss of the traditional coldness to the sound that diehard fans of bm would harken for. The sound is hardly warm like say Hellenic bm would fashion in the traditional understanding of such a description, it’s more comforting even though the genuinely desolate and morbid elements are still plainly on show.

The baritone vocals do not always land as well every time they are used and for me there are a couple of occasions where compositionally things are off in general but there are never any moments that make me reach for the skip button. At worst, some tracks seem to suffer from minor issues in terms of a lack of balance. In short, there are occasions where I want a little more black metal in all honesty. These moments are infrequent enough to stop me dropping the rating into the lower part of the range, at the same time however they hold it back from an outstanding score.

My high hopes for Kryptan’s debut full length are certainly met by the horrific edge to album opener ‘The Unheard Plea from Thousands of Broken Hands (Intro)’. The pleading voice in the background of the track sets off the old nerve-endings into a jarring frenzy immediately. The intro track then drops into the first proper track on the record and those guitars certainly make their presence felt early on. However, it does not take long for things to start to unravel. The drums remain audible but unintrusive throughout and as a result come across as lacking in power. By comparison the bass is virtually non-existent in the mix, which instead sees the synths, guitars and vocals get centre stage.

The main issue I have with Violence, Our Power though is the vocals. Whilst not horrendous by any means, I do question their suitability on more than one occasion. There are obvious Behemoth comparators in terms of the vocals, especially when the vocalist here deploys a kind of strained shouting style (‘The Miracle Inside’) which is not a bad thing, but I just do not feel that Alexander Högbom has the pipes for it to be honest. On the more grim, black metal style vocals he is fine, but this attempt at variation sounds a tad amateur to my ears.

This strained description is applicable to the whole record in all honesty. It strikes me that the music is being forced through something to get to the unappealing outcome we are presented with. The mix just sounds off to me, like it is stopping me getting at the true content that the band intended to share. My experience somehow feels muted and like I have constantly missed something. I do not sense that they are any artist capability issues here, just a not too kind mix job. That withstanding I still do not believe that the vocals fit the direction of the band overall. Stick to bm croaks guys, you sound much better.

2025 has seen me take the unusual step of tracking new releases for at least two of my clans. The Fallen and The North between them are keeping me highly entertained as it happens, and it seems that my usual reluctance to seek out new music had little grounds for the burnout I feared would occur. The real bonus though is the discoveries I am making. In the past three weeks or so, I have picked up on some real gems, with Norway’s Nachash being one such discovery. It is not unusual to find a black metal band from Norway that I like of course, however this trio blend a crude mix of thrash, speed and black metal that reminds me of both modern and classic reference points. There is just as much Bathory in here as there is Mortuary Drape for example. There is a warmth to the sound that reminds me of Varathron at times though. Equally, I could see these boys slugging it out with Nekromantheon or Condor in terms of the more recent examples of the sound explored here.

Eschaton Magicks manages to pummel the old ears consistently well for over forty-minutes. Showing a punk bounciness to some of the percussion at times, this is an album for any thrash/speed metal fan who likes a darker take on things. It unapologetically sticks to a quickly established blueprint, using guitar melodies to maraud the listener. Despite those Varathron vibes and the melodies described above, Eschaton Magicks still possesses a coldness all of its own. Whilst there most certainly is not any icy atmospheric black metal here, the coldness comes from the oppositional stance that the band postures with here. It feels like a punk album as well as occasionally sounding like one.

I enjoy the immediacy of this record, as well as its honesty to be able to stick to what it does best. Everything is clear in the mix without loss of the murk that you would expect from such a record in this sub-genre. You can hear the bass just as well as the drums, guitar and vocals. Each component part contributes to the urgent tempos and the overall threat of the record. Do not be fooled into thinking that this is a collection of three-and-a-half-minute blackened speed metal tracks though. We have some tracks here that go over the six and eight-minute mark. The band know how to write solid songs and can maintain their energy for as long as required. Listen to the high-speed rumble of the bass on ‘Death’s Mordant Blaze’ as it dances over the top of the drums and guitar, showing there is some real rattle and hum behind the sound (not a U2 reference though). Nachash have produced a real treat here on their second album. No sophomore slump here folks.

I cannot pretend to be a big CoF fan. Other than Dusk…and Her Embrace, The Screaming of the Valkyries is the only other album of theirs that I have listened to in the last thirty years. Somehow, I find I like the idea of CoF more than I like the actual reality of CoF. Gothic metal is not a go to sub-genre for me by any means, and so as the band moved away from their initial melodic and then symphonic black metal sound my interest levels (which were not particularly high to begin with) soon began to wane. It is unexpected then that I am sat here about to write a review of their latest album as it plays on what must be its sixth spin in the last three days.

To my ears, to start off with at least, The Screaming of the Valkyries does not introduce itself as an entirely gothic metal record, certainly not as I would expect gothic metal to sound anyway. The opening two tracks are up-tempo and full-frontal attacks of metal. Full of power and promise as opposed to pomp and haughty posturing as I expected. There is even some fantastic lead work to get lost in also. All in all, ‘To Live Deliciously’ and ‘Demagoguery’ make up a great start for the album. Everything sounds well balanced; instruments are all audible in the mix that does them all sufficient justice.

However, The Screaming of the Valkyries peaks far too early as it turns out. That is not to say that the rest of the album is terrible by any means, but it does lack the immediacy that was promised by the opening two tracks. Whilst I completely acknowledge that ‘The Trinity of Shadows’ is well written; it just does not measure up to what precedes it and seems to herald the start of a mediocre section of the album for the next five tracks. It is not until ‘Ex Sanguine Draculae’ that things pick up just in time for triumphant album closer ‘When Misery Was a Stranger’.

As a result, there is a real sense of lost potential on CoF’s sixteenth album. For an album that is so well performed and deftly written, I feel like I should be getting more from the nine tracks than I do. The long-term fan will have a different view, I am sure. However, for me, the record falls short by not playing to its opening strengths and extending that footprint throughout the album.

I have been spinning this one for a few weeks now.  Each time i feel like I have the meaure of it, I chnage my mind.  The enchanting blend of black metal and death metal keeps me coming back regardless.  Not that this combination is anything new by any means, but for all its flurries of keys and gang chants, Lost Legacy never comes across as pompous or grandiose.  It still feels earthy and unafraid to its sinew and bone.  Whilst it retains a lot of melody, this is not a record that you could easily pigeonhole as being simply melodic black metal.  Arguably a black metal record with a hefty dose of melodic death metal for good measure, the album uses the death metal elements to hone the intensity of the black metal experience.

It is riffier tracks such as 'Amanita Muscaria' that take on a blackened speed metal vibe. The melodicism here sounds almost an organic by-product of the speed influence as opposed to any notes released by the black metal element.  The croaky vocals leave the listener in no doubt where the band's heart truly lies though.  I liken the band's sound to Necrophobic, with the threat that they could tear off into Aura Noir territory at any moment (they don't btw). Tracks such as 'Samhain' are nasty slabs of riffing black metal, spliced with dazzling leads to add to the entertainment.

Sometimes though, I do find myself wanting the album to pick up on the intensity stakes.  'Inside The Wickerman' needs a little more than the skant tremolo against the drums treatment.  Often, I feel what is missing is some Spectral Wound style blasts to really hammer home the impact of the album.  That having been said, Lost Legacy still stacks up as a good black metal record.  Although it misses the quality of the Gràb or Grima releases this year (it is a different style of bm in fairness to Regnum Noricum) it packs enough punch to get four stars from me.

Truly atmospheric black metal all too often strays dangerously close to 'gaze' territory for my liking.  It is as if the true art of some serene and icy cold black metal, cloaked in dense atmosphere has been lost at times.  I can't pretend that some of the notes on Sacred Sound of Solitude would be out of place on an Alcest record (nobody is perfect) but the thought process overall here by Bloodbark appears to be very much orientated around black metal still.  If, like me, you schooled yourself on atmo-black via any of the Memoria Vetusta records by BAN, then Bloodbark is most definitely for you.  The snow here is pristine white, the air is clear and the atmosphere holds a density behind these endearing images.  The music still has a charge to it, a vibrancy to the tremolo that reminds me of some of Grima's album from this year also.  You would be hard-pushed to call this one a classic by any means and it certainly lacks the variation of Nightside by Grima, yet this record still possesses a charm all of its own.

Very little is known about Bloodbark.  The band chooses not to disclose details of the members - even shying away from confirming the geography that they are native to.  None of that really matters though as there is enough of an air of mystery to Sacred Sound of Solitude to keep me interested without having to speculate about how is responsible for the music.  It is clearly performed by capable musicians who know their way around the atmospheric and post-black metal scene.  As such they are able to create haunting music that fills the space you are listening to it in.  The BAN reference is most certainly valid but there's also nods to Summoning in the mix here to boot.

Where SSoS falls short is that it never truly gets beautiful.  It hints at the surreal appeal that winter landscapes can offer but those swan-like qualities never feel like they have become fully formed.  The clean singing and spoken word aspects to the vocals are a bit dull in all honesty and I think this is because they are not shrouded in enough mystery like the rest of the instrumentation around them.  In a way they are almost too obvious for their own good.  As I am listening through on my seventh or eighth visit to the record, I am now starting to sense that 'gaze' element more.  However, this is by no means of a threatening level to the more bm elements by any stretch and although the rating is not in the higher end of the spectrum, it is still a record that stands out from the pack in 2025 so far. 

Wren is one of the most unmetal sounding band names that could be picked really. One step up from Sparrow or Dunnock I suppose but still leans heavily on the lame side of the bird world. Whilst it may not be the most threatening name in the world metal, Wren does fit the atmospheric sludge of this London four piece as they explore a vast and dense landscape across their third album, Black Rain Falls. Foraging through punishingly slow riffs, flitting between ethereal density and atmospheric ecosystems and nesting in the rafters of the solid structures of the seven tracks on offer.

Describing themselves as a ‘blackened noise band’ (at least according to the Spotify bio anyway) could not be further from the truth, as there is no noisy element to this record. The agonising pace of album highlight, ‘Toil in the Undergrowth’ is testimony to how captivating atmospheric sludge is. By the time the first riff lands we are three minutes into the track. Those hoarse and tormented vocals heralding the arrival of the track proper perfectly as that riff crashes in behind them. This album is full of Neurosis and Isis influences, and as a result had me hooked from the off. Songs feel like they are expanding even though there is little in the way of variation to suggest this is naturally the case. Any progression is deliberate and measured, feeling organic and unforced.

Tracks often end feeling like very little has happened in the way of change once the established format has been engineered, but still, I get sense of total satisfaction from the majority of what is on offer here. The interlude in the middle of the record feels a bit out of place though, even though it does in some ways introduce the dense, bassy opening of ‘Metric of Grief' nicely. Album closer ‘Scorched Hinds’ is one of the more obvious Neurosis sounding tracks, with its shifts and swells accompanied by chiming guitar notes that remind me of Kowloon Walled City. There is a lot to like in the simplicity of Black Rain Falls and it stands out as one of my happier new finds in The Fallen clan of late.

After many years of them floating around the periphery of my black metal sphere, dropping multiple albums in their wake that somehow did nothing wrong yet at the same time also brought nothing remarkable to the table either, I think Grima have finally come of age on the sixth album, Nightside.  That’s a bold statement to open any review with I know, but the fact is that Nightside is an absolute triumph of atmospheric black metal.  It is well written.  It is thoughtfully composed.  Heck, even the normally sub-par artwork of Girardi is actually almost passable this time around.  Once again we have a bayan (accordion) successfully incorporated into proceedings, and without it turning the whole album into folk-fest either.  Safe to say, I am rather smitten with Nightside.

I think what stands out most for me on the album is how mature it sounds.  This is a band who can layer different instrumentation into a perfectly complimentary arrangement.  That bayan never once sounds intrusive.  It is tempered perfectly by the tremolo riffs and balanced well in terms of atmospherics with the keyboards of Valentina Astashova.  When it does get sole playtime it manages to add welcome depth to the track (the end of Skull Gatherers).  But the expected instruments also put in a great shift.  A mention must go to the subtle yet effective work of guest drummer Vlad Yungman, who like Morbius and Villhelm is also of Ultar fame.  The drums are never a blasting frenzy, yet are interesting and in total keeping with the pace of each track.  The tremolo riff is strong here, complimented by strong melodies and leads also.  As I say, it is all so beautifully arranged to make tracks such as Impending Death Premonition take on such a haunting, ethereal mood just by this clever use of aggression and melody.

I might still be unconvinced by the tree masks gimmick but I can see well past this for the first time with Grima.  Nightside adds so much credibility to the band for me that I feel their aesthetic no longer is my main focus.  Whilst it is nearly fifty-minutes long, the album does not feel bloated, despite its largely consistent track format and staying true to the atmospheric tag for all ten tracks.  The passion here is clear, as is the ability to hone that into coherent and effective songs.  This might be the bands peak, but it is a a real treat nonetheless.  More please.

Liverpool (UK) based black metallers, Ninkharsag caught my attention with their sophomore, The Dread March of Solemn Gods back in 2021. Claiming four well-earned stars for their efforts on that one, the future looked promising for what started out as a one-man project back in 2009 and had since grown into a four-piece band. Their brand of charging, rampant melodic black metal, instantly brought the likes of Dissection and Sacramentum to mind. Coupled with some Watain-like intensity, the sound of Ninkharsag soon found favour with these ears.

This EP nicely scratches my Ninkharsag itch as I wait for the next full-length. Continuing their themes of ancient history, magic and occultism, The Black Swords of Winter is a raging torrent of melodic black metal that ticks more than enough boxes for me over the six tracks on offer. Suitably opened by a moody and atmospheric intro track, the EP soon picks up the pace and barely lets up for the next twenty-two-minutes. Muhammad Candra’s artwork absolutely represents the icy content that lies within. As the flames of the dragon on the cover suggest, any burn here is a cold one.

It is nice to find a band in my local area that are forging a solid path through a ton of (mostly) unremarkable black metal releases so far this year. The nods to the Swedish bands mentioned above never feel like unbridled worship and they retain a freshness to the sound, like new life is somehow being breathed into a tried and tested formula. Looking forwards still to the next full length offering, if they can keep this standard up, it should be another winner.

I was around some thirty albums into a black metal in 2025 discovery trip this week and if I am honest, I was starting to despair. Other than a couple of brief glimmers of hope which I will save the detail of for some further reviews, I was starting to think that 2025 was going to be a barren year. Now, there are a couple of caveats to that initial view, the first being that in general I make no effort to stay on top of new releases. Secondly, I am solely going off the new bm releases added to MA, so there will inevitably be gaps at whatever point of the year I bother to look since we cannot possibly capture all releases in these output trigger happy days that we live in. Anyway, after sitting through two of Drowning the Light’s five albums they have released so far this year, and wondering why the hell I was bothering, I finally landed on German duo, Gràb (German for “grey/old”).

I have listened to a lot of black metal over the years and the albums that I hold in high regard all exude passion for their artform. In a sub-genre that champions the minimalist approach it is easy to become lost in a sea of raw, primitive and yet utterly emotionless music. There is absolutely a time and place for that, however with where I am at in my bm musings nowadays I like to hear some heart in what I am listening to. Luckily for me, Gràb are full of passion for what they do. Yes, the melodicism helps no end here. That smattering of doomy atmosphere also does much to enhance the experience. But at the very core of Kremess is the undeniable presence of musicians revelling in what they love doing and in turn letting the listener revel in the majesty of the music they produce.

The Bavarian lyrics may be completely undecipherable to me, but it does not matter one bit. I feel I can still connect with the whole experience of Kremess regardless. There is a lot going on instrumentally here as well. With viola, flute and dulcimer all being deployed alongside keyboards, guitar, bass and drums, Kremess offers a real gamut of instrumentation. Yet nothing is ever allowed to override the core bm offering of the band’s sound. As eclectic as some of the instrument choices may seem, they are cleverly deployed and incorporated into the overall aesthetic. Gràb know how to write songs, and it shows in abundance here.

Produced by Empyrium’s Markus Stock, the members of Empyrium contribute light touches to parts of the album. The choral elements Thomas Helm adds on Im Hexnhoiz (A Weihraz-Gschicht, Kapitel Oans) and Deifeszeig add real depth to both tracks with the former being one of the standout moments on the album for me. It would be easy to get fooled by the slightly amateur (yet still somehow charming) artwork on the album cover that this is a base bm record that will be full icy atmospherics, and do not get me wrong, they are there. However, Kremess possesses a majesty to the grim musings that make up the eight tracks on offer. My initial fear that it was too long at fifty-five minutes was soon dispelled as the arrangement of the album is just as top notch as the content.

Triumphs such as Vom Gråb im Moos (A Weihraz-Gschicht, Kapitel Zwoa) at the midway point of the record and on album closer Dà letzte Winter, make the duration seem more than worth it. This record ends as strong as it starts, something which I rarely feel listening to new music nowadays. Hands down the best release of 2025 so far, Kremess restores my faith in black metal amidst the slew of gazey, avant garde releases (who needs samba black metal??) that was starting to seem the norm so far this year. It does of course also set the bar high from here on in.

The gritty and gnarly style of groove metal that Prong play on album opener, Another Worldy Device is like an oddly melodic punk track in some ways.  The clinical riffing plays on through most Prong tracks I have heard and makes me think of Helmet a lot of the time, except Prong possess a more potent infectious essence than Helmet, with the added exception being that Tommy Victor and co are also much more experimental.  Cleansing is the album where the electronic experimentation meets the more familiar riff patterns.  Whatever element is present however, the overall sense of Prong simply writing some of the least complex yet still delicious tasting industrial groove metal is impossible to shake off the old tastebuds.

Even the absolute overkill of attention that Snap Your Fingers… gets seemed justified when you don’t visit that one track over and over again.  It is a track that rings true to the “less is more” mantra.  That having been said it is One Outnumbered that stands out as my favourite track on Cleansing.  The abrasive nature of the industrial elements are tempered well by clever pacing that whilst clearly creating something of a void in terms of power at times, somehow do not dilute the venom behind the messaging.  Prong are the proverbial grinning assassins here on album number four.  A seemingly clean production job actually exacerbates the muckier tones of the music, that industrial grime somehow smeared across the album as opposed to being wiped away.

It does not always work however.  Out of This Misery lacks punch and suffers from a loss of regimenting in the songwriting that epitomises the earlier tracks on the record.  In fact, it soon became clear just how front-loaded Cleansing is.  As we drop into a more Machine Head style groove in the second half of the record, tracks soon start to sound whimsical in nature and lacking in form.  I am not sure what the intent was behind Not of This Earth but it is far and away the most throw away of the tracks available here.  The balls are still around in places but the earthier elements all but disappear all too soon on Cleansing, ruining that early promise in favour of unnecessary experimentation.

After over five decades of drugs, crime and doom, Bobby Liebling returns with a whole new line up, some ten years after Pentagram's last album.  Although I do not follow Pentagram releases, (in fact, I lost track right after their self-titled debut if I am honest) something about that vibrant artwork caught my eye and I thought to myself that if the content of the album was anywhere near as focused as the cover art then this could be a real treat.  As it turns out, I am more than half correct.  There are some absolute bangers on this record.  Although I had not caught any of them as singles the three tracks that came out prior to the album release are all strongly written affairs.  The opening track, Live Again certainly lives up to its billing as with the new line up in full flow, Pentagram sound just as good now as they did forty or fifty years ago.

Touching on psychedelia, stoner rock, hard rock and classic rock alongside the more doom-laden side to proceedings Lightning in a Bottle is actually quite a varied affair.  Full of lyrical absurdities ("I spoke to Death last night, he wore a nightmare gown, and when I spoke your name, he turned his eyes down to the ground" - from "I Spoke to Death") and widdling solos, all performed to a backdrop of solid and consistent percussion, I found this record way more interesting than I expected.  The artists Bobby has recruited might have their moments of mistiming here and there (which somehow is just acceptable) but overall they have put together eleven consistent tracks.  Unafraid to play with pace and tempo, the band create a distinct feeling of balance over the album.  Starting off with the previously praised opening track, Live Again and then closing the album with the deliciously doomy Walk the Sociopath, Pentagram have managed to achieve a complete album experience here.

Whilst not flawless, all the tracks belong here and bring something unique to the table.  Whether it is the spiralling, fuzzy chaos of Lady Heroin or the solid and direct punch of Thundercrest, most tracks leave a mark for me as I have listened through the album a few times today.  Above all else, I am impressed with how good Liebling sounds.  The guy is 71 for fuck's sake!  On here he puts in a shift that belies any stereotypes linked to his age.  Energetic, reflective and even outright thoughtful, Liebling gives a truly stellar showing here.  Props also to guitarist Tony Reed who manages to mark his own identity on the record whilst still somehow staying true to the Pentagram sound at the same time. The bonus tracks on the digital version are not essential and of the main listing I can genuinely only call out I'll Certainly See You In Hell and Solve the Puzzle as being the items that should have been left on the cutting room floor.

Well, this was a neat little find as I went through the feature releases this month.  My usual excuse of not having the time to listen to much of the releases was left to one side by virtue of this being an EP.  That twenty-one minute run time was perfect for me to perform a few smash and grab raids on Contra iglesia y estado on breaks between work calls and it even accompanied a few workouts this past week also.  What kept it on such frequent rotation was the obvious passion for their art that Dekapited clearly have.  As thrash metal continues to be viewed with that regurgitated/retro lensed glasses on, it is clear that this band are just out for the fun of it.  High energy levels with a consistent and scathing attack make for a very entertaining experience indeed for me.

Laden with Sepultura and Sodom vibes, Contra iglesia y estado does little to reinvent the wheel, and it is stronger as a result of this in my book.  I cannot point to any weak tracks on here, even though the overall rating still sitting below a five star mark does mean that I equally cannot flag this EP as being truly remarkable overall.  However, what is here is powerful sounding stuff.  The blows hit with a consistent level of force and are certainly not pulling any punches as they rain down on the listener.  The ferocious form of Chilean thrash that we have come to know and love (well me at least) from the likes of Critical Defiance and Ripper is certainly coursing through the veins of Dekapited as well.

The appeal of this EP for me is its earthiness.  It sounds like a true reflection of the band.  Never tryingto be something that they are not, Dekapited here simply play the music they love and provide a fine celebration of thrash metal at its best.  Short, sharp and succinct whilst being delivered with a hell of a level of grit this leaves me full of promise for further exploration of their discography.  My only reservation is how they make this style of balls to the wall intense thrash metal interesting across a full length release, but I guess I will have to wait and see.

Six years ago, Barshasketh released their fourth full length album (s/t) and I sat looking at it everytime it played, unable to fathom why I kept coming back.  A few critical listens later (three years worth to be precise) and I finally settled on a four star rating for the Mgla influenced melodicism and Sargeist-like chaos of the album.  Come 2025 and Barshasketh have me in pretty much the same position with album number five.  I have been listening to Antinomian Asceticism for about three weeks in all (even plugging in some earphones for some rare close time with it) and will be the first to admit that I am very much on the fence with it still.  It is not like there is not much to like here, even during the first track I am already reminded of Aosoth (one of my favourite French bm bands).  As the album goes on, those Sargeist vibes are strong again and I even get a hint of Akhlys in the music here (one of my all time favourite bm acts).

Despite these pleasing outliers, I still have all these splinters in my buttocks from this fence.  Whilst there are most definitely bits that I do not like (those chants are a little too verbose for me - bordering on over-demented, if such a term exists), Antinomian Asceticism has some absolute bangers also with the likes of Lebenswelt Below and Charnel Quietism both doing a superb job of ensuring that the middle section of the record is a real high point.  Yet, it lacks any memorability for me.  Spectral Wound do a far better job of letting melodicism rule the day and write better songs as a result of it for me.  In a way, whilst I acknowledge that Barshasketh overall is a very different band in style and approach, they are still a bit lost on me I am sorry to say

When the album finishes, I have no desire to revisit it; almost as if it is too arcane in nature for me to justify the reward for the effort I put in to try and figure it out.  As tightly played as it is (these guys know how to play) and as meaty as the production job makes it sound this time around, iteration number five of Barshasketh still presents a challenge for me.  In many ways, I want to like it a lot more than I do and maybe the repeated plays throughout the next few years that I dedicated to their previous album will eventually glean a similar outcome in terms of the rating, however for now I just cannot fully get to grips with Antinomian Asceticism.

Very much a tale of two different listening experiences in the same week, A Pathway to the Moon has had a bumpy old ride with me this week.  The first run through was as a result of a late night exploration of new releases on Spotify as I struggled to sleep in a hotel.  In that scenario the rich tapestry of melodic guitars and gazey vocals, soothed my soul sufficiently to send me off on a peaceful sleep.  By no means a backhanded compliment to Unreqvited, this was a good first experience in that particular circumstance.  The second listen through was done in the car driving along a picturesque section of motorway in the north of England.  Again, this was a positive experience. The lushious instrumentation was the perfect accompaniment to the rolling hills of the landscape I was passing through.  My thoughts turned to listening experiences with the likes of Saor as those soaring leads and expansive soundscapes took me back to my early explorations of that group.  It is rare that I find myself being able to make such a connection between my surroundings and the music in my ears at the time, let alone find an album to be so endearing to me under two very different scenarios.

I know what you are thinking now, dear reader.  Why is this rating showing a paltry 2.5 stars if he loves it so much?  The fact is, outside of sleep impaired lucidity and breathtaking scenery, A Pathway to the Moon is repetitive to the point of being boring.  When listened to in the isolation of trying to appreciate the actual album content it is hard not to feel cheated in that the same ideas are just being repeated over and over again.  Tracks more or less are just built the same, using the same notes it sounds like, and as much as I cannot deny that this is really well performed stuff, clearly written by a very capable artist, the performance level is marred by the lack of variation in style.  There is, of course, something to be said for establishing a blueprint and sticking to it.  However, truly great albums need to work at a very basic level first of all.  Before A Pathway to the Moon can be (correctly) acknowledged for its ability to work in the tenderer moments of one's surroundings it needs to be putting down roots, and unfortunately there is little to get entangled with when you look past the aesthetics of the album.     

The overall experience is a little akin to meeting someone whom you believe at first engagement to be really exciting or possessing a large degre of intrigue about their character, only to find after a few minutes that they are just regurgitating the same script that is clearly well rehearsed.  Whilst I cannot go as far as to say Unreqvited are a fake, the interest levels lack much in the way of magnetism to truly keep them an interesting concept.

Knocked Loose need to calm the fuck down and learn how to write some actual songs. That was my gut reaction to the first full play through of You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. Despite having the track Don’t Reach for Me already on my workout playlist, the full album did not possess the same level of immediacy for me. After multiple listens, I have tempered my initial reaction somewhat. Whilst I cannot pretend to be overly enamoured with the record, I can acknowledge that there is more here than just the furious ranting I heard upon my first listen.

As bizarre as it sounds, the album needs to be listened to fully understand it. Being fooled by the spurious nature of the tracks into thinking that this is just music to batter your head into with little need for focus or attention was a mistake for me. The sub-genre tag that Saxy mentioned of “beatdown metalcore” certainly fits the billing mind. There is little covert activity over these ten songs and the delivery is as rampant as the sub-genre billing suggests. For me at least, that level of consistency needs to be recognised. Picking up such a level of intensity and rarely letting it falter makes for a challenging listen, but it also shows a lot of heart. Listen enough times and you will hear the variety in the tracks though and be able to see beyond the slamming fury of the band overall. They are brief, but there are lulls in the chaos (actual pacing in fact) that somehow do not detract from the primitive intensity of the record.

This is not to say that YWGBYST is not without its flaws. I cannot cope with more than thirty minutes of those vocals, no matter which day of the week it is. They are without doubt the most one-dimensional aspect of Knocked Loose and soon get into “grating” status as they dominate the record far too much. This is a shame, as Knocked loose have much better qualities in the instrumentation itself. But the solid percussion and jarring riffs just get trodden on all too easily by those vocals which are too memorable for all the wrong reasons.

I guess there’s no real surprise to any of the Metal Academy regulars that I am not in love with Knocked Loose. If they genuinely could write more material like the closing track on the record, then we would probably get along better at least. Oh, and change vocalist of course.

Having been a one time elitist, “all core is shit” type (until a few years of MA was under my belt at least), the metalcore world still occupies a very rare level of content in my listening habits.  On paper at least, metalcore should not be that alien a concept to me.  That combination of hardcore punk and the extreme elements of metal is a sum that I should have no problem with the outcome of.  I don’t mind hardcore punk and I obviously love me some extreme metal.  However, I think that true combination is not there in most of what I hear from the sub-genre, all too often getting infused with other elements that aren’t necessarily as advertised.  Enter Sorcerer’s 2024 album, Devotion.  This absolutely fits the above described blueprint perfectly.

Sorcerer are angry.  Not “my Mom took my Game Boy off me because I called her fat” angry though.  More of a gnarly level of pissed off that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Agnostic Front record.  Devotion is a real middle finger to the world type of album that certainly gets things off its chest whilst still deploying a strong ear for melody and pacing as it goes along.  Simply put, I could put Devotion on all day (in the right mood) and not need to change the record.  It possesses a level of angst that somehow is not intrusive, a sort of “getting on with it in the background whilst I do my ironing” kind of vibe.  Occasionally I am more engaged with it more than I am others because I too hate relationships/people in general (for example).  As it stands Devotion has been on everyday for about three weeks.  In the car, on the beanie earphones whilst in bed, in the office whilst I continue to battle the corporate monstrosity that I work for and even whilst gaming of late (this would make a healthy addition to the radio in GTA in particular I think).

My (largely untrained) ear picks up elements of Converge (whose You Fail Me album got a revisit off the back of listening to this Sorcerer record) and I am also reminded a lot of the gnarlier aspects of some crossover thrash that I have heard over the years also.  The energy levels are high for pretty much all of the record yet as I mentioned above, there is some care, some level of thought and attention to Devotion also.  Closing track Someone Else’s Skin, for example, starts off with a scathing almost bm tremolo sounding riff before veering into more familiar punk territory, settling into those crossover moments nicely again for me.  However, by the end of the track we have gone through some almost tender moments of reflection and contemplation, giving the track a real wholesome feel.  The photograph on the cover of the album is probably one of the best representations of what actually lies beneath.  Battle-hardened, wounded and ugly as fuck music with the tenderness of those tears on the soldiers face suggesting the depth I have been able to describe.

Following on from the success of Limbo, Portuguese black metallers, Gaerea continued that rich vein of form into Mirage some two years later, with the latter release achieving a full, five-star rating from me in 2022. Pipped to the post of AOTY for that year only by the might Messa with Close, Gaerea continued to show a great panache for performing some richly melodic and yet intensely focused black metal, even landing them the title of my favourite modern black metal band. Somehow during 2024 I lost complete track of the band and I subsequently missed Coma being released altogether. I do recall hearing the single, World Ablaze however and feeling underwhelmed which may have subconsciously thrown me off the trail of the album.

After a few listens through Coma there are a couple of points of note. The riffs sound like they have more bite than on previous releases and the trill factor of the tremolo seems to have increased also. This seems largely due to the addition of Sonia Schuringa on second guitar after Guilherme Henriques added vocal duties on top of his string responsibilities following the departure of original vocalist Ruben Freitas. The melodies seem to resonate stronger throughout the tracks this time around, creating something of a wall of melody that sits behind the pounding percussion and more aggressive vocal sections.

The change of vocalist has beefed up the sound of Gaerea in some regards, with a death metal style complimenting the blackened intensity of the guitar as well as providing a nice juxtapose to the more clean, post-metal elements. Yet in some way, Coma feels tamer than what has gone before it. It is as if this album is an experiment in to just what direction Gaerea will turn next as their career progresses, exploring those “post” elements whilst dialling up their vocal delivery, certainly hints that creativity flows strongly through the band’s veins. In doing so though, the delivery seems to be off this time around. For me at least, Coma is a frontloaded record. Once I get past the title track at the halfway point, I struggle to remember much of what I hear. I only remember Wilted Flower because it feels one of the most overtly “post” tracks here, with its whispered vocal section drifting dangerously close to “gaze” territory.

None of this makes Coma a bad record. I would argue you would struggle to find as creative and ambitious sounding band in black metal as what I hear over the fifty-minutes run time of this record. Whilst it is too early to be crying phrases such as “identity crisis”, Gaerea are evolving, and the direction might not be for all. For now, there is still enough quality on this album that covers black metal, blackened death and post-metal without alienating me.

There is a lot for me to like about Excursion Demise.  In theory at least, those clear Demolition Hammer and Dark Angel influences postively kick down the front door as the album announces its own arrival with a an intensity level touching on nuclear.  Everything is frenzied more or less from the off (well once the fade up of the intro lapses), and with a vocal style that I always feel sounds like the lyrics are tripping over the music in some clumsy yet somehow with a rhythmic relationship to the music, things look promising for Invocator early on.  The drums also show a welcome presence on the opening, title track.  Not technical as such, but interesting enough to be able to mix it up whilst hitting a consistent level of power at the same time, against a mix that does not necessarily sound like it wants to help them at all.  I am unsure though as to why the band elected to put in a thirty-two second track instead of just using it as an intro to what they bill as track number three, yet to me it is all clearly one track??  It is not a massive issue but is certainly an early annoyance.

Strong start though it has, Excursion Demise suffers badly from a poor production job on the guitars.  The riffs are lacking any power in the mix at all,  playing at times as if they are black metal riffs, such is their lack of meat.  Conversely, the sonic chaos that I would describe the lead work as being offers a much more scathing and memorable experience for me.  It is like the guitars got recorded on a different day inside a barrel with just a couple of holes in it, whilst the rest of the instruments and vocals got done in a studio proper.  Whlst I can still put the album down as being overall a suitably frenzied and frantic experience for my metal tastes, the rhythm guitar does ultimately detract from my otherwise positive listening experience here.  Only on the excellent The Persistance from Memorial Chasm comes close to being able to overcome these production struggles but if ever there was a case for a remix of an album, Excursion Demise is top of the list in my book.

Still, for me to find an album of this style from the 90's that I had never heard of before (although I recognise their sophomore, Weave the Apocalypse from programming the playlist) is a good enough treat.  There are not many albums of this intensity that I discover on a frequent basis.  Just as I thought I had swept the decks clean of most decent thrash metal releases from back in the day, Ben churns one up as a feature release to keep me on my toes.  I just wish the quality of the production, matched the quality of the music.  Whether a conscious effort or not (I doubt it was conscious) it is the main thing that keeps Excursion Demise away from the higher scores range.

Based on Darkthrone’s last three albums, I should love It Beckons Us All. I absolutely lapped up Astral Fortress, Eternal Hails and Old Star, affording two out those three ratings of over four stars. This methodology of what I saw described in one review as “radical egocentrism” or “artistic freedom”, whereby Fenriz and Ted just do whatever the fuck they like has served them well in my book. It has produced some earthy sounding metal that stands out in the modern era like a sore thumb when compared to the more polished elements of metal music nowadays. For the record, I have no problem with any degree of egocentrism if produces true sounding music like Darkthrone have done over the last five years or so.

I recall that I may even have gone as far as to suggest that I may like modern Darkthrone more than I do the early black metal incarnation of the band. In terms of memorability, the last three albums shade most of the early-mid 90’s stuff for me, even if there is an argument to say the quality has dipped over recent years (and of course there is an element to say that it is supposed to have dipped). The fact is though, my love affair with latter day Darkthrone has come to an end with It Beckons Us All. Despite multiple listens and an acknowledgement that there is nothing far removed from previous releases on this latest offering, I just cannot get into the record. Perhaps there is something to be said for continuing to tread a well-trodden path before the scenery goes from being interesting to just lots and lots of fields – although that does not feel like a fair reflection of the sound of the album.

I can hear all the riffs in here that virtually infect your brain from the start of the record. That familiar crusty edge to things still retains enough cvlt points to keep the tracks constantly dunked in necrofilth and even the doomier aspects continue to grow across the album. Yet somehow, It Beckons Us All just does not speak to me as well as its predecessors. The change is with me, most definitely. Darkthrone have not necessarily put a foot wrong, more I am just no longer on the same path as them. As with most love affairs, it was great while it lasted though.

Apparently, the guys in Noxis hate being referred to as a technical or progressive death metal band. This is strange really when you consider the amount of technicality and odd time signatures in their music, for a band who want to focus on how death metal they really are at their core, this can be a tough sell. Assisting with the latter part of that sentence though is the amount of head bobbing riffs they can muster and the extensive level of groove that gets applies to them as well. On Violence Inherent in the System, whatever their motivations and influences, Noxis take the listener on a fantastic exploration of the foundations of death metal whilst being unafraid to add modern and even avant-garde touches.

You cannot fail to be sucked into this record if you like Cryptopsy, Demilich or Adremalech. In an age where death metal suffers from endless regurgitation of the old school sound, it is not always sufficient to simply extend the already well-established bloodline that started in the 90’s. Unless, you are super tight at playing your weapons of choice, which Noxis most certainly are. Enter current Nunslaughter drummer Joe Lowrie. Described in an interview as being a “cyborg” by his bandmates, he gives a strong performance across the ten tracks that make up the record. Now, he is no Saint Merat (we even get straight up d-beat drumming on the title track), and he doesn’t need to be given that this is a very different sound to the expansive soundscapes of Ulcerate. However, when coupled with Kirsch’s bass work (which is top notch) the two instruments become a singular unit almost, pulling and pushing tracks in different directions. This creates lots of opportunity to put those riffs front and centre, something that Dylan Cruz manages to achieve fantastically. That groovy riff that opens Torpid Consumption is real “get your eyes back on the road” moment, and the album is simply littered with such occasions (such as the title track) that make you stop whatever you are doing and put more of your attention onto Violence Inherent in the System.

That bass does come across as too placed on some occasions though; notwithstanding the fact that Kirsch clearly has free reign to do whatever he wants, it sounds like he does not need to go as far as he does sometimes. It does not necessarily confuse things but certainly adds a bit of bloating in places. I have heard the clarinet and horn solos on the appropriately titled Horns Echo over Chorazim several times and after swinging between “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?” and “actually this works” I find myself in the latter camp most of the time, even though I am not usually a fan of such intrusions.

This record caught me off-guard. Laid up in bed with a raging chest infection and suddenly out of Xmas activities I had much unexpected time to listen to some 2024 releases, and Noxis have been an absolute curve ball for me. They would certainly make top three on my year end list but are unlikely to remove Ulcerate from the top slot. However, as I said above, this is a very different album to Cutting the Throat of God, and one that holds its own in the world of modern death metal whilst still being able to display a very healthy set of roots in the past.

Portland’s Vitriol may have adopted a band name that instantly screams deathcore or metalcore at least, but a listen to any of Suffer & Become and you will soon find that they something else altogether. This album is a dense and chaotic explosion of death metal; probably the best modern death metal I have heard this year outside of the mighty Ulcerate. Make no mistake, there is A LOT going on here. The multitude of parts that layer Suffer & Become take some digestion most certainly (here, multiple listens are needed folks) and at times I do find myself looking for space to breath and absorb this raging torrent of death metal.

Clearly put together by accomplished artists, the contributors to this album come from a varied palate of metal experience. The drums from a brutal death metal background, the guitars are more deathcore (yet Steve Jansson of epic doom outfit, Crypt Sermon fame guests on track three) with supremo Kyle Rasmussen showing his agility on leads and riffs alike. That is not to say that the experience of the riffs on the album is them being deathcore sounding. Whilst there most certainly is a hint of it somewhere, as a band Vitriol have a huge amount of Hate Eternal influence here alongside the grindcore sounding aspects of Cattle Decapitation (thankfully minus the horrible vocals of the latter band). With nods to Nile, Morbid Angel and Cryptopsy, the group allow a healthy platform of death metal staples to shape Suffer & Become. The solo work is some of the best I have heard in a long time. I have lost count of how many death metal albums I have heard over the last five years alone that are sadly redundant in the lead work department. Rasmussen and Ellis are fucking beasts though. Think Morbid Angel at their Altars… or Blessed… best (minus a lot of the swarming chaos) and you are on the right track.

Confidence feels high on this record and the inclusion of an instrumental track in the exact middle of the record shows this. In an otherwise manic riffest of a record, some clean strings are quite striking in their arrival, especially given their off-kilter tuning. This track too ends up a nefarious mass of riffs which introduces the second (and for me better) half of the record.

For the front end of the album, Vitriol appears to be setting pace only. From Weaponized Loss onwards is where they truly hit their stride, however. This track is the first one where the chaos gets some order applied to it, some discernible structure alongside those diving, blackened melodies that works to a truly overwhelming effect. As the backend of the album continues, tracks seem to grow in stature; that earlier confidence seemingly taking on new heights of assurance making this part of the album the domineering force. In some regards, this gift could be considered a curse as if the whole of the album matched the virility of the last five tracks, then we would have a real contender for album of the year here. As it happens the first half of the record feels unfulfilled by way of comparison.

The clear highlights of the record for me are the final two tracks. Both, I Am Every Enemy and He Will Fight Savagely see the band finally pull all that potential promised on Weaponized Loss and hone into perfect death metal music. Bearing in mind that this is their sophomore release, the potential for Vitriol to grow into a modern death metal behemoth feels tangible and wholly realistic. If they can maintain a stable line up then these guys could well be unstoppable come album number three.

My relationship with Katatonia has been distant at best. As documented in my review of their debut, it took many, many moons before I finally got to grips with it. In terms of the rest of their discography, well, I was approaching it at the same pace that I had the debut until recent life events led me to look for some music with a little more of an emotional connection to reflect my strife. Soon, The Fall of Hearts was not only on consistent rotation, but it more or less immediately adorned a spot in my vinyl collection.

I do not often listen to alternative metal, and although I get the connection here, still I do not feel The Fall of Hearts is necessarily justified of this tagging. Playing as a progressive rock record in the main, the album is certainly not my usual bag of extreme metal listening. Its more challenging aspects are still what draw me in though. That awkward structuring that forbids catchiness without sacrificing memorability is a welcome inclusion for me. Similarly, the expression of feelings, without the grandiose and minus the tedium is an honest share that I can acknowledge and respect in equal amounts. There are still some big riffs in here that inject real depth into tracks, often unexpectedly. A solemn and yet obvious bass presence also has great effect on proceedings, keeping the mournful and sorrowful themes of the album true against a background of solid if not all that remarkable drumming.

Vocally, I should not get on with Jonas Renke’s vocal style, having a usual disdain for clean vocals sung by a less than tuneful vocalist. However, his monotone style with those occasional harmonies that only half work is well suited and only adds to my enjoyment. The lyrics are what speak to me more however in terms of their content, seeped heavily in themes of uncertainty and turmoil, Jonas’ vocals only seek to enhance the appeal for me. I was not looking for something soulful, more the need was for an honest, rawer expression without the instrumentation necessarily leading this for once.

Suffice to say that this album struck the correct chord with me at the perfect time, standing out from the wealth of other music I was going through at the time to try and find some connection with. There truly is no greater feeling than finding such a record and on reflection I can honestly only say that this has happened on a handful of occasions over the years. Getting on for nearly forty years of listening to music, this has been a very unexpected yet incredibly rewarding find.

Supergroups largely suck as a concept. Adrenaline Mob start out stronger than most others by they had drum aficionado Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater in the line-up and long serving Symphony X vocalist Russell Allen front and centre. Oh, and a couple of guys from Fozzy (meh). On paper then there was the promise of something interesting at least. Inevitably though, what is on paper is much better than reality, and this most definitely the case with Adrenaline Mob.

For a start, I don’t like Russell Allen’s, straining whilst having a poo style of vocals at all. They fall short of any operatic/epic metal standards and are by far the most annoying aspect of the record. When these guys were all sat round having a beer and going “Hey man, we should record an album together!” at least one of them should have gone “Hang on, do we actually fit together?”. As a result of missing this simple sense check, this album lacks any coherent form or substance. Allen’s vocals take the groove metal prowess of the group and dumbs it down to some indifferent (pun intended – read the tracklisting) mish mash of heavy metal vocals over some potentially interesting riffs and rhythms.

Considering I have zero time for Fozzy, Rich Ward does a great job alongside Mike Orlando on the guitar front. Great leads get pulled out of what are otherwise laborious and poorly conceived structures that are let down largely by a very tame and underwhelming vocalist. Can you write groove rock? Well, no in all honesty. This does not stop the mindless pop/country/rock of All on the Line getting an inclusion here though. Evidence of predictable ego playing an unwelcome from a bloated bunch of metal “celebs”?

For his part, Portnoy is as good as you would expect him to be. I doubt he breaks sweat here though and I cannot help but think of the image of him pounding the skins with one hand, whilst the other sips from coffee cup, the rest of the band looking like they have run a marathon to keep up with him as they puff hard, chests wheezing and faces all ruddy.

Somewhere after the aptly named Hit the Wall, I drifted into a coma in all honesty. It is arguable to me that this is even metal in some parts but I care so little about this album and all the layers of cheese that accompany it (even Lzzy fucking Hale gets an appearance, FFS) that the Hall of Judgement nomination can stay untouched.

As if the excessive snare drum of St. Anger era Metallica needed any further reminders of why such overuse of the instrument was a poor idea, it is worth noting that Acid Drinkers already went down that cul-de-sac five years before Lars and co. ever put stick to skin. It is not that this is even the main issue with High proof Cosmic Milk either. That list is near endless for me. Dull song structures that tickle alternative tentacles far too often (even for a groove metal record), horrible production that makes the whole thing sound sterile and borderline lifeless, vocals that constantly sound like they are straining to be heard when in fact they are already far too clear in the mix…I could go on, but I won’t.

According to other scribe son the internet, this album is a departure from the band’s usual conventional thrash metal sound, and it seems that the trend of venturing out of that familiar pen into the groove metal stall just across the farmyard was being followed by this quartet of Poles just like seemingly many long-standing trad thrash bands before (and after) them.

Unfortunately, Spotify offered up the bonus track version of this album when I searched it and, not content to simply numb my mind with their own material the band butcher Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival. A truly awful discovery right here folks.

Searching through groove metal over the past twelve months or so has churned up a mixed bag of releases. Crossing into core, death metal and of course thrash metal, the journey has been one that has broadened my horizons from my personal (and seemingly insular) belief that the genre consisted of Pantera and (early) Machine Head as its brief contribution to the metal world before it was consumed by the arrival of nu metal. Hitting a search on Metal Academy for releases in the genre up to 2020 pulls fifteen pages of results containing household names such as Anthrax, Overkill, Decapitated, Lamb of God as well as at least three bands containing one or more of the Cavalera brothers.

By the time Quadra was released, both Max and Igor were no longer in Sepultura. Andreas Kisser and Paulo Xisto were the only long-standing members left (although I often smirk at Paulo’s status under that banner given, he played nothing on Schizophrenia, Beneath the Remains or Arise). With the now familiar voice of Derrick Green fronting the band and Eloy Casagrande starting his third album on the drum stool, Quadra had a stable line up and this shows in abundance on the record for me. Kisser was always lauded as a great guitarist back in the day and I never really got onboard with that sentiment if I am honest. Yet on Quadra I find his work is consistent and versatile. That slightly detuned solo on Capital Enslavement could have really been butchered I sense, but despite it risking teetering on the brink of plain amateur, Kisser carries it off nicely. Likewise, his riffing maybe a little too familiar, resulting in some sense of there being a lack of variation across the riff and rhythm sections of Quadra, but it is entertaining enough when the vocals and song structures add the necessary depth to the album that is at times lacking.

The above having been said, Quadra may not be my favourite Sepultura release. But having heard everything up to an including Chaos A.D. on a consistent basis over the years, Quadra is the most interesting release from the band to my ears. The thrash metal elements are sparse, and the groove metal takes more of a centre stage. This is no bad thing. Based on my groove metal exploration to date, I would say Quadra is one of the better releases I have heard. Within these progressive structures there is no loss of the urgency I would seek in the tempo of the record. The orchestration of tracks like Guardians of the Earth are done against an obvious metal backdrop and blend well. The crowning glory of the album is without question for me the well-balanced, Agony of Defeat. Here the choir arrangement is professionally done to add depth to the tack, giving it a sense of the epic. Bestial Devastation fans need not apply.

I prefer this record to Roots, an album that whenever I have attempted to delve into has resulted in some horrible combination of confusion and disappointment. Indeed, I would go as far as to say that I prefer Quadra to pretty much anything Max and Igor have put out since they departed the band. If, like me, you had assumed Sepultura’s better releases where behind them after 1993 then you would be mistaken. This is not Arise or Beneath the Remains, it is something else altogether, and whilst it will never trump those two it is still a very strong release based on its own merits.

Black Curse follow up their 2020 debut with another slab of blackened death metal that displays the pedigree of the band members who perform this unholy racket. For a quick update, Black Curse have members of Khemmis, Primitive Man and Spectral Voice. An eclectic if not consistent range of metal music is gathered here yet the music itself could not be more basic in all honesty. Here be the realm of no fucks to be given and Black Curse are right in their sweet spot inhabiting such a space. With all the best elements of Teitanblood, Grave Miasma and a smattering of Revenge and Archgoat for good measure, Black Curse have grown into a real tour de force come record number two.

For performing with sheer abandon alone, Black Curse get a five-star rating. The wall of noise that underpins their sound is a swarming entity that envelopes all in its path. The whole record sounds like it was recorded in the bowels of the earth itself, erupting from its core like volcanoes spewing utter despair and blatant disregard for life. The chaos is so tightly contained it borders on being overwhelming. The music swirls around your head like taunting demons, undertaking pretty much the same dizzying exploits as they fly into your ears, disorientating your senses.

To infer that Burning in Celestial Poison is nothing more than pure, blunt-force trauma to the head metal is unfair a reflection as this feels a very calculated level of clawing stealth. These five tracks make for a complete experience. Without checking the lyrics, I would go as far as to say there is something of a concept at play here (technically tracks 4 and 5 are one song – according to the booklet anyway). If it is a rampant blackened death metal journey you are after to close out 2024 then look no further folks. However, do not think this as simple an offering as you might first think.

As far as melodic death metal albums go, I have found a lot more time for Goliath than I would normally afford anything else from this sub-genre. Having never seen the appeal of Kataklysm from any of my previous connections with their discography (was Sorcery really that good guys??) it was odd that I ended up drawn in on their fifteenth outing. It could be that the more groove metal moments are slightly more relevant given my ongoing exploration of that sub-genre via the Clan Challenge. Tracks like Gravestones & Coffins, with its infectious riff is one of the standout tracks for me on this record but there is nothing remarkable about any aspect of Goliath overall.

After multiple listens, I have concluded that Goliath is a bit dull. However, I still find myself coming back to it, as if the background music qualities of the record somehow cannot be denied. Having taken the time to try and understand which primitive aspect of my musical nature the record appeals to, I realised that the record is nothing short of a riff-fest. Upon my sixth or seventh listen it dawned on me that the record has no lead or solo work whatsoever. Its ten tracks rely solely on chugging and groovy riffs backed by a solid if not unremarkable percussion section. With a clumsy vocal delivery to boot, Goliath is a classic smash and grab melo-death album.

Those stabbing riffs that permeate the verses, (keeping the momentum going very well it must be noted still) give way to rolling slabs of groovy and sometimes less urgent moments that somehow manage to be relevant even when they appear to be slightly out of time on occasion. I would suggest that the lack of thought around pacing is one of the albums weaker points overall. When they do get it right (Bringer of Vengeance) it works well but it is inconsistent at best throughout the record.

To go more than three tracks on any melo-death album is an achievement for me but to last for ten without their being any solo work is just a bridge too far for me. Goliath plays as a record that tells me nothing about the band. It is ten tracks that mostly sound the same and what little glimpses of variety I do get are just not doing anything to separate Kataklysm from the rest of the field. It is memorable and slightly addictive but for all the wrong reasons in the end.

Progressing through the clan challenge for Groove Metal sees me arrive at one of the more inconsistent bands I have experienced over my time listening to metal. After their debut album, Poland’s Decapitated dropped right off my radar with Nihility and The Negation doing nothing to further the promise offered on Winds of Creation. Over a career that saw the band suffer immeasurable tragedy and move from their more traditional technical death metal sound to a more groove orientated direction in later years, Decapitated have gained very little of my attention since the early noughties.

Anticult landed on my radar before the clan challenge brought me here though, with Kill the Cult appearing on a workout playlist earlier this year and finding itself becoming a mainstay track for most of my kettlebell sessions. The rabid yet rhythmic style of that track was a good indicator of what to expect from the album overall. Although I would argue that there is nothing remarkable about Anticult in terms of being a classic by any means, it does offer a consistency that avoids pedestrianism largely due to the vicious and seemingly tireless energy levels that are deployed in abundance.

The old Decapitated sound is still here (Anger Line) amidst the more groove orientated sections. Closing track, Amen sounds like a Nile track – albeit never lives up to their sense of the epic by any means it must be noted. Part of Anticults success is that it does not allow the groove elements to be at the expense of the death metal strains of the record. Death metal is the core structure still with groove metal applying the fixtures and fittings if you like.

Anticult misses out on higher score because as solid as it maybe it never gets exciting. I have no desire to revisit it immediately after most plays, even with raging moments like One Eyed Nation still present in my brain. Whilst Kill the Cult continues to help me push various weights around, the album overall leaves me satiated yet still looking for a bit more somehow.

It is virtually impossible to underline importance of Obituary in terms of them being my gateway into death metal some thirty plus years ago. If your first taste of a death metal vocalist is John Tardy on Slowly We Rot, a man who rarely used actual words to express his vocals then you were pretty much guaranteed to be either repulsed and run straight back to your Iron Maiden LP’s or be so drawn in that there was soon no way back from the path you had been dragged down. As the years have rolled by, watching other stalwarts of the early nineties’ scene fade away, I would argue that although they do not have a flawless discography, Obituary are still consistent performers of death metal who have a lot more in their arsenal other than those glorious first two records.

Hence my nomination of World Demise for the October feature release. I feel like the internet has talked endlessly about the first two Obituary albums and much of the discography is an almost presumed failure by comparison. Although I accept that World Demise does not match those classic outputs from 1989 and 1990, it still possesses enough identity to standout in the grander scheme of things. This was a slower paced Obituary, shed of its more scathing skin of old with a more socio-political bluntness being deployed instead. When Tardy sneers that he really does not care on the opening track, you believe him, 100%. Backed by his brother’s solid drumming and the superb bass of the late Frank Watkins, John could not ask for a better set of backup weapons to his unique and newly legible vocal attack.

Despite, the slower pace, the more focused lyrics and general stripped back nature of the record, it is still quintessentially Obituary. Those riffs from Peres and West are as familiar as ever and if you allow yourself to get lost in them, you could just as easily be listening to the debut album all over again. World Demise ultimately lacks any truly standout moments though. Despite its solid musicianship and altered direction that they carry off well enough, it does tend to plod in places. The loss of that dense atmosphere left a few cracks uncovered and those snippets don’t land well when they try including them. The best example here being that shifting effect on Splattered which I think is one of the worst errors of judgement in the history of the band.

These quibbles are just that though, nothing earth shattering when taken in the context of the whole record which is a solid slab of death metal. Give me World Demise over Tales From The Thousand Lakes or Blasphemy Made Flesh from the same year.

When Lamb of God returned to their previous name of Burn the Priest for the release of a covers album, they managed to find a real sweet spot for themselves with these ten tracks from a selection of punk, hardcore, industrial and alt-rock bands.  I do not class myself as a fan of either iteration of the band's music from a discography perspective, however here on Legion: XX they bring an appeal in the earthiness of the tracks they choose to perform.  They push the right buttons for me at least with the likes of Kill Yourself (S.O.D.), We Gotta Know (Cro-Mags) and Kerosene (Big Black).

Blythe finds his best territory on the Bad Brains cover especially and drummer Chris Adler sounds like he is having a ton of fun on more or less all of the tracks.  In fact, the vibe throughout the whole album is a positive one with the band capturing a real jam session ethos on the record.  As a result, Legion: XX sound like a real fun album.  Whilst not being one I will probably revisit very often beyond this couple of weeks of discovery, it has kept me entertained and works well as an accompaniment for driving around or even as background music when working.

So, as it turns out my favourite BtP/LoG release is one were the band wrote none of the music themselves.  If nothing else this proves that you do not necessarily need to make music yourself that appeals to me everytime.  Harking back to your roots and exploring some of you influences on a release is not always as shameful and corporate a move as can often be implied.

Alongside simple intrigue and some nostalgia for groove metal it is death/thrash that has mainly kept me interested in The Pit clan of late. Many of such releases sit in the early days of the development of the two genres themselves and so it was great to find a release from the current year that ticked this box nicely. With the progressive edge to proceedings of course there was an additional level of interest to When Time Becomes Loss. Those strong Death influences alongside Atheist and Cynic also make for a nice hint of that nostalgia also.

Comparisons with Vektor seem obvious but I think that Hemotoxin go for the jugular more with their songwriting being a lot less expansive than Vektor, one of the main drawing points for me on this album being that it has a run time of less than half an hour and is very easy to digest even if you consider its diversity of sounds. With an ear for melody evident also, it is not difficult to see that the band possess a high level of expertise with their instruments and can translate this into catchy as well as technical at the same time.

If I had to cite a more modern release to compare this to, I would pick Deconsecrate by Aenigmatum from 2021. Perhaps Hemotoxin are a little less frantic than that record (certainly less bass driven), but I think it is a comfortable reference point for me. The mix here helps all the instruments feel more contained than I would normally like – I think the drums suffer the worst from this – however, the band do still sound tight as a unit and get every opportunity to flex their individual and collective muscles. A ferocious and inventive release, When Time Becomes Loss is an explosion of energy from the off that never wanes over seven invigorating tracks.  I most certainly had not factored a release from The Pit featuring in my year end list, but Hemotoxin's fourth full length release has caught me unawares. 

Albums with big openers are usually going in one of two directions, right? Either the full energy and quality of the album is exhausted in the opening track, or it sets the precedent for the rest of the album. In my experience anyway. Germany’s Praise the Plague open their sophomore offering with the vast The Descent. A track that takes time to build its doomy atmosphere before it veers off into more frantic black metal musings. A big and powerful track, The Descent pulls you into the album immediately, surrounding you – no immersing you – in its dense and murky atmosphere from the start. When it ends, the second track instantly takes over and continues this journey superbly. Blackening Swarm II (I can’t see the first one anywhere, so will assume it is on a previous release) picks up right were the opening track left off continuing this solid structure and the immense depth promised from the previous track.

The production job is great giving the album a dynamic sound and one that does not falter when the more dissonant passages arrive at various points of the record. There is a constant sense of power behind the sound no matter which track you listen to and more importantly this album plays well track by track, delivering a cohesive and recognisable sound throughout. Even the eerie, spoken word section in the middle of Great Collapse that gives way to post-metal pickings does not rob the momentum from the album as when the weight comes back into the track it does so with a hair-raising level of success. At over nine minutes, the third track on the album could have easily become a collapse, yet Praise the Plague carry it off superbly.

To be honest, I spent most of The Obsidian Gate waiting for the dip to arrive. The fact is though, even with the instrumental title track pacing things more subtly with its industrial atmospherics at the halfway point of the album, this record has amazing resilience and staying power. Compositionally it is of a consistently high quality and the tracks are arranged superbly. Taking the six tracks in the context of two making up the beginning, two the middle and the other two the end section of the record, The Obsidian Gate is frankly flawless.

What was promised from the start, in terms of a densely intense, atmospheric experience is still evident as the album draws out its final breaths. With the promise of some escape route from closing track The Ascent, the listener will find themselves merely teased by the prospect of this release as they probably will not want to leave and nor do Praise the Plague have any intention of letting them go.

A successful discovery from this month’s The Fallen playlist, Ponte del Diavolo grabbed my attention with the strong and commanding intro to the featured track, Covenant.  With their dark wave style, female vocals and their Messa-esque tones I was intrigued more or less from the off.  Hailing from Italy and seemingly some sort of supergroup (albeit from three bands I have never heard of), the band like to incorporate elements of black metal into their sound as well.  Whilst Covenant is most definitely the strongest track on their seven track, Season of Mist debut release, there is still a lot to enjoy overall for the patient listener.

First off, the instruments that are used go beyond simple drum, guitar, bass and vocals.  Synthesisers, a theremin and a clarinet all make an appearance on different tracks and each inclusion adds dimension to the album.  There is mention on the internet that the band deploys two bassists but as far as I can see this was only on their debut EP Mystery of Mystery back in 2020 so there’s definitely only one bassist present for Fire Blades From the Tomb.  There is also a cool post-punk vibe to the record as well and Elba del Diavolo’s voice lends itself perfectly to this style of music.  Those black elements are sparse yet effective when they are engaged and the album is underpinned in the main by a solid group performance of occult doom metal.

It is not without flaws as a record however.  The Nick Cave cover is done well, but I have no time for anything Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have ever done so it is an unfortunate choice in terms of my review.  Whilst most tracks have memorability, there are elements of filler where this memorability is for the wrong reasons.  Repetitive lyrics and clumsy arrangements can plague the likes of Nocturnal Veil for example and I cannot honestly remember anything about Zero other than some guest male vocals.  This is still a strong debut though and one that will get the band further notoriety I am sure with SoM behind them now.  Definitely one to watch.