Vinny's Forum Replies

 man that cover is awful

Fossilization - "Advent of Wounds" (2026)

This one is getting some praise on the internet and it is not hard to see why.  Full of the best bits of Dead Congregation, Incantation and a selection of death/doom acts to boot this is pretty intense stuff from these two Brazilians.  Justin Stubbs of Encoffination fame makes an appearance to provide additional vocals on track three.  It's right up my street this one is as I have been finding a renewed interest in death metal this year and this one has made a real splash after three spins.  Might get around to a review at some point.  Also reminds me of early Altarage (opening to 'Scalded by His Sacred Halo', especially). 

I have been on an exploration of The Fallen clan releases from 2010 and sound found myslef back with Wolvserpent also:

Wolvserpent - "Blood Seed" (2010)

In terms of my exploration of The Fallen clan, one sub-genre that is noted as “not for me” is drone metal. Unable to fathom the appeal of Sunn O))), Earth or Khanate despite numerous attempts, I soon got to the opinion that this was never an area of music that I was going to gel with. Then I remembered Wolvserpent. I recalled how I had become lost in the ethereal beauty of their Perigaea Antahkarana and Aporia:Kala:Ananta releases from over a decade ago. How the haunting strings of violins played by a seemingly melancholy soaked set of troubled spirits had soothed my frantic thoughts before a crashing riff came in to wipe away any lingering fears in my soul.

As soon as I put Blood Seed on recently, I quickly found myself in the exact same space. This is the debut from the now defunct duo, from back in 2010 when the pair had been around for five years prior as Pussygutt. Brittany McConnell handled the drums as well as that tormented violin sound and Blake Green covered guitar and vocals. Not that vocals play a big part in the debut (or indeed any other release from Wolvserpent), the band have always been about the music, and this was set out very clearly on their first release. Side A is a single track, ‘Wolv’ and the ‘Serpent’ track makes up side B. I can imagine a wolf or two padding around some dark forests, hunting for prey, searching for signs of life to take from unsuspecting animals to the first track. The choral style howls and guttural gurns perhaps imitating the language between the menacing pack of predators (or maybe the screams of the victims?). At over twenty-two-minutes long, this track requires attention to fully embrace the magic of it, yet I find this a very easy ask to comply with.

‘Serpent’ lands a little shorter in duration at the eighteen-minute mark. Straight out the blocks, I can envisage a coiled snake, slowly unfurling itself to the nightmarish atmospheres that open the track. Brittany’s violin is accompanied by some distant howls (the ‘Wolv’ I suspect) courtesy of the guitar of Blake and a tense atmosphere permeates between the instrumentation. You may have noticed by now dear reader, that for someone who opened this review by remarking how little they like drone metal, I have managed to wax lyrical about a drone metal release for over two paragraphs thus far. In my defence, I think Wolvserpent are a different offering to any of the other bands that I mentioned above. They have more obvious “sections” to their tracks, incorporating varied elements of sludge (around the six-minute mark of track 2), doom, dark folk, chamber music as well as drone also of course.

Although repetition is still a mainstay here, there is enough going on at any given time to keep me focused entirely on Blood Seed, which is the similar experience that I have of their other releases I am familiar with. In short, all of drone may well not be a write off for me after all.

4/5

Another month of feature releases and I managed all of them again (although I had already listened to The Pit, The Infinite and The Gateway offerings beforehand).

It was a solid month from the site members, although I struggled to get much from most of my non-clans.  The pick of the bunch (as I knew it would be) for me was the Swallowed album from The Horde that I nominated.  I actually pegged it back from a perfect score though as it did push me a bit too far in the end.

Here's my review, I am particularly interested to hear Sonny's take on this one as I suspect it might push him a little out of his confort zone as he continues to stretch his legs in The Horde.

“Caverncore”, the 2010’s movement borne out of bands taking the sounds of Incantation and maxing out the reverb was my bag at the time. Having notched up around two decades of listening to death metal already, this sub-genre at least gave me something new to listen to that walked the fine line between blackened death metal and death doom. Except, depending on the levels of saturation the average death metal fan was willing to go to into this realm, the frantic squall of Portal was to be found in the darkest corners of this new soundscape. Bands like Finland’s Swallowed, had zero qualms about taking the extremity of metal’s most alienating sounds and incorporating them alongside more traditional tropes.

My theme for the feature releases I have picked this month has been single album bands who split thereafter. A “tragedy” themed month, I guess. This certainly resonates with Swallowed. The duo of Ville Kojonen (drums and vocals) and Samu Salovaara (guitars and vocals) employed a dirge of bassists for Lunarterial as well as guest drummers, guitarists and vocalists. In essence they created a real moment in time record given that not all those same musicians (five of them) would likely be in the same studio as the two mainstays of the band. As such, Lunarterial is a one-of-a-kind record within a one-of-a-kind sub-genre. I have no idea who is babbling the tormented vocals on each track, who is torturing the guitar, punishing the drums or contributing to the maelstrom of chaos that constitutes this beastly record.

Far from being a total abandonment of order, Lunarterial had a very set and individual path set out for itself. The fact that this path may have been an aberration to many potential listeners mattered not. You can easily hear the death metal, you can track the doomy pacing and reel at the blackened, caustic guitar sounds, but can you fathom the depths of depravity behind the heinous mix that is done across the record? Unlike an art-based project, which is how I view Imperial Triumphant, Swallowed simply strive to immerse the listener in chaos, leaving them to fathom what they can. Tracks like the twenty-five-minute closer, ‘Libations’ are a stretch too far even for me, yet I absolutely am not surprised that this album not only takes me to the limits of my love of extremity but also seeks to push me out of my comfort zone.

4.5/5

Sweden, home to Bathory, Morbid, Nifelheim, Marduk, Dissection, Svartsyn, Vinterland and Sorhin. The latter band on that list is the one I am perhaps least familiar with, and so the feature release for The North is truly expanding my horizons. I did get them confused with Dawn at first before I got into Apokalypsens ängel proper, although the similarities are more than obvious. Sorhin, on what has to date been the last full-length release from the band, treat the listener to “101” blueprint of how black metal should be done. Grim, ghastly vocals? Check. Scathing guitar riffage? Check. Blistering drums? Check. For an album released at the turn of the century, it could easily be from the height of the second wave

Holding a largely stable lineup for the duration of their career, with vocalist, Nattfursth and guitarist/bassist (and latterly drummer also) Eparygon having been constants since the band’s inception in 1993, Sorhin sound cohesive. Yes, there is a strong element of a celebration of chaos in their music; obvious throughout Apokalypsens ängel in fact, but this is not a band who are all over the place with their timings and tempos. Sorhin have mastered the art of ordered chaos, taking the charge of Marduk but pairing it back with lashings of melody to keep those hooves from running too rampant. Therefore, Apokalypsens ängel manages to stand out from the dirge of other black metal albums in the traditional style.

Coupling maturity with stinging attack, measure and balance with intensity and burning passion for their artform is the key to Sorhin’s success here. I did have to take a few listens to the album for it to click, but at the third or fourth attempt, it all fell into place nicely enough. The drumming of Zathanel is also worthy of a mention (he is no longer listed as being in the band nowadays), as he gives an assured performance in the background, the mix perhaps not always doing him justice as it does favour the guitar and vocals more. However, he does manage to peak through on occasion, if only to let us know he is still there.

I do have a couple of criticisms of the album however, that peg it’s rating back somewhat. Firstly, it is too long with the version on Spotify having an extra track at the end that takes the whole experience to over fifty-four-minutes. This adds a further problem in that on this version the two longest tracks are at the end, and as such the impact of album closer (proper) ‘Utmarsch - den nya Messias’ is somewhat lost. The arrangement therefore seems to have this sense of slipping over the last two tracks on the record. With most other tracks under five-minutes the concise consistency of the album does tend to come to an abrupt end unexpectedly and the ending experience is disappointing as a result.

3.5/5

Sonny has been on form this month.  I am rediscovering some appetite for death metal after the last 12 months has been dominated by black and doom metal.  The playlist in The Horde this month has only added fuel to that flame.  I found it easier to run at the list in thirds this month and took time to check out the releases that individual tracks came from where they jumped out at me in the list.  Nefarious, Broken Torso, Knoll, Embalmer and the absolute find of the list, Ceremony of Silence all fell into this category.

I revisited Altars but still cannot get on with that record despite the featured track here being a banger.  You can’t go wrong with a Macabre track in my opinion though. Here is a band who manage to take the true macabre essence of people at their worst and put a comedy slant on it without sacrificing the quality of the music.  Good to see Angelcorpse getting a run out to alongside some of the more household names like Incantation and Morbid Angel.  Speaking of which, Karl’s selection of that track from that album not only led me to discover a great album I had somehow never listened to until this month but it also put me on a Morbid Angel trip for two days solid whilst I was away working and spending a couple of nights in a hotel.

Gates of Slumber took a while to land with me. The vocals of Karl Simon were by far the biggest hurdle following my “pay what you like” Bandcamp download of Conqueror in 2008. By the time I got around to the self-titled debut album by Wretch, the band that got put together after the initial hiatus being called on GoS, eight years had passed and I was by this stage much more in tune with Karl’s Winoisms. Wretch and I hit it off from the first listen and it is an album that gets a couple of plays each year nowadays still.

For a doom metal record, it is surprisingly catchy. In addition to this it has a rich vein of the blues running through it. Those early Sabbath riffs, sat alongside the obvious Saint Vitus and The Obsessed influences show a band with some firm roots in the founding fathers of the genre and the debut album from Wretch really does sound like it comes from the soul of everyone involved. The Judas Priest cover works well, even given the full hazy doom treatment.

The band even manage to shine on the two instrumentals that are present here. I did roll my eyes at the prospect of two tracks without vocals at first but they are so well played, it is hard not to get onboard with them. The brooding bass of ‘Bloodfinger’ is a wonderfully psychedelic experience set against the bluesy noodling of the guitar. Not that I have heard all the GoS albums and notwitwstanding the style is perhaps different overall, but I would say that Wretch is my preferred output above even the might of Karl in GoS. It is a shame that we only got one record out of the project, but at least it is a killer.

4/5

I didn't get much from this one.  Unfortunately the belicose vocals of Veronica Freeman lack authenticity for me, often sounding forced.  I cannot understand the near spoken word style she adopts for the cover of 'Heaven and Hell', it just seems an odd choice.  The guitars are steady if not unremarkable on Uncreation and I find it hard get anywhere near in the swing of the music , even though it is still clear that they know how to write a song.  The independent/strong female themes are done to death also (and that is coming from someone who is an advocate of such ideals).  Not for me this one.

3/5

Vinny, Karl, don't forget that the North playlist has gone back to being a monthly affair, so suggestions by the 15th please.

I had forgotten, thanks for the nudge:

Craft - "Kill Everything" (from "Total Soul Rape", 2000)

Immortal - "Wrath From Above" (from "Damned in Black", 2000)

Tsjuder - "Daemon's Journey" (from "Kill for Satan", 2000)

Judas Iscariot - "Benevolent Whore, Dethroned for Eternity" (from "Dethroned, Conquered and Forgotten", 2000)

Givre - "Louise du Néant (1639-1694)" ( from "Le Cloître", 2024)

Blaze of Sorrow - "Ascensione" (from "Eterno Tramonto", 2011)

These releases were some of the ones that originally got me into the genre during the late 1990's & early 2000's Vinny so they're probably a pretty good place to start:

Aphex Twin - "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" (1992)

Osamu Sato - "Transmigration" (1994)

Various Artists - "Artificial Intelligence" (1992)

Various Artists - "Artificial Intelligence II" (1994)

I listened through these recommendations, thank you Daniel.  I hadn't realised that Aphex Twin had been going since the eighties (but then again I am a complete beginner here) and therefore there was plenty to keep me intrigued on that one.  I found Osamu Sato's stuff to be too happy for me and didn't really find much on that first compilation but the second one is full of great stuff.  I found alot of stuff via the "audiofonos con cable" playlist on Spotify.  It was mostly the ambient stuff that I got into, the garage stuff being the least popular for my tastes.

These releases were some of the ones that originally got me into the genre during the late 1990's & early 2000's Vinny so they're probably a pretty good place to start:

Aphex Twin - "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" (1992)

Osamu Sato - "Transmigration" (1994)

Various Artists - "Artificial Intelligence" (1992)

Various Artists - "Artificial Intelligence II" (1994)

Thank you

I have given Neverbloom around three spins over the past couple of days and it has grown on me, from my first impression at least.  When they settle down into rhythm and riffage, there are some genuinely entertaining moments for me. Tracks such as ‘Widower’ and ‘Maelstrom’ standout as being high points in this regard and I suspect there could be more of these moments if the arrangement was just a little better thought through.  I think the piano is perhaps the worst conceived part of the instrumentation, often it sounds like someone has started playing another track over the top of the current one and it does take a couple of seconds to reconcile that it is actually on the same track.  The synths stab perfectly well to create a sense of theatre and drama where they get deployed, but for a “symphonic deathcore” record, I find it surprising how little focus the symphonic elements actually get.

Vocally there is nothing here to surprise me as it seems to be pretty standard deathcore fare in all honesty, but it is the riffs that are my only real positive takeaway from this record.  They are by no means perfect, but they certainly do land a lot better than most of the rest of what is on offer.  I get the sense that Make Them Suffer had some good ideas going into this one, and I am of course giving them some rope as this was their debut.  However, the ideas never really shine as I suspect they could, appearing to be sacrificed by a confusing, if not outright disorientating arrangement problem that is something of a curse on the album I feel.

I listen to a lot of deathcore during my workouts nowadays and so I am perhaps a little more desensitised to The Revolution clan’s previous penchant to overwhelm this well-travelled metal head than I was some three or four years ago.  Although Neverbloom does not quite land all that well with me, I still enjoyed the discovery experience and could be tempted by a listen to a later album to see if they did improve at all.

2.5/5

Andi?  If you are accepting nominations from non-clan members then I would like to suggest a track for March - fine if not accepting any.

Make Them Suffer - "Maelstrom" (6:49) from Neverbloom (2012)

I have played the playlist four times over now, end-to-end each time.  This is unprecedented in the history of the MA playlists.  I hear ya dk about the RoB album, each time I go back to it with a planned refreshed outlook I still end up on the fence.  His clean vocals are terrible, and not even in a cool, post-punk manner either.

Autechre - "Garbage" E.P. (1995)

The third release from Manchester duo Autechre is yet another masterpiece from one of my all-time favourite artists. It's comprised of four lengthy tracks with the A side being a very solid example of complex IDM. It's the B side where the gold can be found though as I prefer the added depth of ambient techno number "Bronchusevenmx24" & the beautiful ambient closer & release highlight "VLetrmx21", both of which I consider to be perfect realisations of the enormous potential of electronic music. "Garbage" should be essential listening for all electronic music nuts.

For fans of Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada & Monolake.

4.5/5

I went on a bit of a discovery session outside of metal last week and hit upon Autechre and Boards of Canada also as it happens.  Ended up putting together a couple of playlists for my non-metal moods and would be interested to hear any other recommendations you may have around IDM, Daniel.

Iron Maiden 'Killers' is 45 years old. Gulp!

No problem, Vinny. Thanks for your feedback.

No worries, I am aware that the Sphere, Revolution and even the Infinite and Gateway clans can get as little lonely on feature release feedback so I am trying to make an effort to check out the features in those clans more.

I can't say I loved this, but at the same time I did find a level of tolerance for it to listen through the full album.  It sounds a little too mainstream for me, a lot lighter than I was expecting in fact.  It is interesting to see a different dimension to Peter's musical output but I cannot say it intrigued me enough to revisit at any point.  It does start to sound the same across the latter tracks to my ears.  Thanks for sharing though Andi.

I am sorry to say that I need to raise a complaint about this month's The Fallen clan playlist!

Perhaps we should have a Metal Academy Zoom call to discuss, such is the level of focus I feel needs to be given to this matter as the playlist cannot continue in this manner!

My complaint is......

I fucking love all of this list!  THERE IS NOT ONE BAD TRACK ON HERE!

How am I supposed to work today knowing that this 2 hour slab of doomy, sludgy, deathy goodness is but a click away for me to lose myself in?  I was sat there yesterday, foolishly thinking to myself 'I will just pop this month's playlist on in the background.' and then BOOM, Cult of Luna kicks things off and I am straight away drifting through a sea of turbulent sludge waves that give way to lapping tides of post-metal goodness.  Then, no rest for the wicked, Sonny's landed a Celtic Frost track in there next.  Two tracks later, Fall of the Idols appear out of nowhere and go straight onto my "to do" list along with Evangelist, Doomster Reich, Flesh of the Stars, Ramesses, Earthbound Machine (YOB wannabes) and Church of Lies all courtesy of Sonny (barring Ramesses).

All the while, the silent assassin that is dk having already deraile dmy Sunday "background listening" plans with Cult of Luna is then responsible for a Batillus track to finish things off, having already made me rethink that Ruins of Beverast release might be better than I first thought based on the track he's picked for this list.

Joking aside, an absolutely stellar playlist Sonny, the best one yet.  Keep em' coming!

Loved this release from last year, here's my review:

Thundering out of Berkshire, England to truly throw a spanner in my ‘EoY Fallen Album List’ come atmo-sludge quintet, Dimscûa. I would say that 2025 has been the year that I started to explore atmospheric-sludge metal for the first time, its calmer post-metal tendencies offset nicely by the harsher vocal attacks and smothering heaviness of the riffs that are my usual (and still preferred) listening fodder. Listening to Dust Eater sort of feels like I am in familiar territory nowadays which has most certainly helped me warm to it quickly. Hidden behind the straight delivery and more subtle sections, there is a sense of the epic going on also though which adds extra interest into proceedings.

This may just be clever use of guitar tone in all honesty, with some well-placed chiming effect adding some positive volume to the already doughty performance. Dust Eater is delivered with an attack that brings to my mind that each of the band members are grinning with each blow they make in their flannel shirts and jeans – another image I have in my head for some reason. Whilst I cannot describe the EP as uplifting, it does possess a pragmatic approach that gives the music a sense of being constructive without being restrictive. There’s no question that the band have gears they can get through, but they are always in full control, not just when ticking over in first or second gear.

The poignancy in the strings that open the final track, ‘On Being and Nothingness’, set against that haunting ambience that drifts through the background of the track, shows a band who can play with real emotion in their performances. Whilst the subject matter may explore darker tropes, the five-piece are unafraid to display the inherent beauty that can still be found in the themes of grief or loss. Of the content of this sub-genre that I have heard this year, Dimscûa chart pretty highly to my ears.

4/5

I have aleady reviewed this one:

The French have a penchant for popping up at unexpected points in my music library. I mean thrash metal (or more death/thrash in this case) doesn't automatically take one's mind to France when we talk about a European scene, with Germany firmly at the forefront of the genre here. But when I stumbled across Agressor recently I was more than pleasantly surprised.

The mention of Teutonic thrash just now draws some reference to Agressor's sound as they do border on some of the rabid paced thrash of Kreator (for example) during the forty minutes of Neverending Destiny. The album feels like a late eighties thrash album, notwithstanding the big and clunky drawing that adorns the album cover that reminds of the kind of stuff I used to draw on my school books, it oozes that style of the period with the band having been around since 1986. By the time they got aorund to a debut full length they had numerous demos under their belts. They honed their sound to give plenty of weight to the thraashy side of things but as mentioned above there is a massive amount of death metal influence here also which serves to feed that rabid nature that I also have pointed too already.

Reminiscent of the ferocity of Massacra or Merciless who also released great records in the same year, Agressor channeled their efforts into a similar wall of razor sharp riffs and frenzied tempos that rivalled their fellow French and Swedish artists. They could pull a neat solo out the bag too and maintain that rampant pace at the same time. All the while the military sounding drums of Thierry Pinck brought up the levels of intensity to even higher proportions. Alex Colin-Tocquaine's vocals were a raspy and gruff affair full of threat and menace that sat perfectly in the mix here, not drowned by the raging inferno of guitars and drums around them nor at any point stealing the show.

As with most death/thrash records the levels of intensity are as much a gift as they are a curse. The thing that keeps this rating under four stars is the fact that there is very little variation in the album which over eleven tracks becomes a bit of a slog in the long term. That having been said there's enough entertainment here to still make this is a riot to listen through.

3.5/5

Here you are Sonny, for March please:

Froglord - "They Came From Saturn - Lower & Slower" (from "They Came From Saturn - (Lower & Slower)", 2026)

Doomsday Profit - "Spirits" (from "Doomsday Profit", 2025)

Warcoe - "The Wanderer" (from "Upon Tall Thrones", 2025)

Encoffination - "Nefarious Yet Elegant are the Bowels of Hell" (from "Ritual Ascension Beyond Flesh", 2010)

Ufomammut - "III" (from "Eve", 2010)

Zoroaster - "Trident" (from "Matador", 2010)

Agrimonia - "The Battle Fought" (from "Rites of Separation", 2013)

Mental Devastation - "The Delusional Mystery of the Self Part II"  (2025)

Some fine Chilean technical thrash that I suspect Sonny is already aware of?  Vocals do stray to the grating styles of Forbidden and Vio-lence a bit too much for me, but musically this is sound.  I will get one of the tracks featured on the March playlist methinks.

Here are my picks for March, Vinny:

Testament - "Infanticide A.I." (from "Para Bellum", 2025)

Violator - "Cult of Death" (from "Unholy Retribution", 2025)

Enforced - "Avarice" (from "War Remains", 2023)

Morbid Saint - "Assassin" (from "Spectrum of Death", 1990)

Celtic Frost - "Suicidal Winds" (from "Emperor's Return EP", 1985)

Kreator - "Psychotic Imperator" (from "Krushers of the World", 2026)

Dark Angel - "Merciless Death" (from "Darkness Descends", 1986)

Metallica - "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (from "Ride the Lightning", 1984)

Trastorned - "Reborn Through Hate" (from "Into the Void", 2023) 

Just a touch over 40 minutes I think.

A good mix of classic and modern here Sonny, thanks.

Reminder that the list for March is under construction and any submissions by 15th Feb please.  

One submission per non-clan member.

Kreator - Krushers of the World (Released 13/01/26)

Since the turn of the century Kreator have taken to releasing a new album every four or five years and here we are at the beginning of 2026, with the world turning to shit, and the Teutonic Titans delivering full-length number 16. With Mille and Ventor both turning 60 this year, it would be overly optimistic to expect that they will ever reproduce the bile and venom that they unleashed with their classic period which spanned from "Pleasure to Kill" to "Coma of Souls". Indeed, they haven't really issued anything essential since 2005's "Enemy of God". This does not, however, mean that a new Kreator album deserves to be ignored. No, far from it because, although "Krushers of the World" is inconsistent and patchy, occasionally a brief glimpse of former brilliance does shine through.

There are riffs a-plenty and there is a decent energy to the album, but on the whole this latest is a little too groove-laden for my particular taste with choruses that often seem to have been written with optimum catchiness in mind and, as such, it lacks the biting venom of the band's best work. Some of the best moments come from the guitar solos which are deployed more sparingly than I would like, but when they are used, such as during "Barbarian and "Combatants"," they elevate the tracks with a level of intensity that the riffs and vocals don't quite encapsulate. For my money, the clear highlight of the album is "Psychotic Imperator". It sounds the closest to classic-era Kreator with an added choral section and a searing guitar solo that elevate it to head and shoulders above the rest of the album.

I guess that "Krushers of the World" delivers pretty much what you would expect from a Kreator album at this stage of their career, being cast into shadow by the monumental magnificence of their best and trying a little too hard to capture listeners with sometimes overtly catchy choruses. I am sure there are many who couldn't wait to tear this apart and I have no wish to join them as nothing here is actually poor but, apart from the aforementioned "Psychotic Imperator" I can't hear too much that will keep me returning to this either.

3.5/5

I am pleasantly surprised by this album if I am honest.  I was so pissed off by their last studio album that I gave it a 2.5 rating, and it fucking deserved it.  This one is a different beast to my ears, the melodeath elements combine with the thrashing intensity we have come to expect of Teutonic thrash almost perfectly.  I cannot say the record is absent of filler and I am not a fan of the track with the singer from Hiraes on it either, but album number sixteen is a solid affair, well played, memorable and carrying some thankfully familiar levels of intensity.

Got the urge to throw some Burial on tonight, which is something that rarely happens.  Heck, I am not even sure this is the right thread to discuss his music in.  It’s most certainly electronic but has all manner of dubstep and ambient littered in there.  My go to album has always been Untrue following a recommendation I picked up years ago on the old Terrorizer mag forum, of all places.  I like the fractured nature (as it is often described) of the music here with that generally bleak outlook in that dreary sounding ambience.  Tracks like Near Dark and the well known Archangel tend to scratch the itch best when it comes to a Burial fix.  I really should get around to listening beyond just this one album (I have heard but never really bonded quite as well with the debut full length) and get into the plethora of EPs he has released.

Hi Ben, can you please add the new Kreator  album ‘Krushers of the World’.

I got through all the feature releases this month (let's see how consistent that becomes throughout the year, eh?)

As stated in my review, Trivium is the most played given it's EP format seems so accessible and the music is great.  The best release for me on reflection is the Skepticism one though.

Not so hot on The Gateway or The Sphere features but they are largely hit or miss clans for me regardless.  My surprise find was that In Mourning album which on paper would not be my bag but it proved to be a great listening experience.

Below screenshot from my spreadsheet as I have far too much time on my hands this month so far and yes, I have colour coded it!

I have a real soft spot for the often-ridiculous fantasy artwork of heavy metal albums from the eighties. Asgard’s one and only album release from 1986 has enough levels of grandiosity on its artwork to make up for a whole career of albums that never where made. A muscular warrior, barely clothed in a loin cloth stands, bow drawn back ready to take down another mountain crocodile that is somehow completely out of its natural habitat and is attacking him and his cleavage proud princess fawns at his feet. Yeah, the eighties weren’t the best for gender equality, were they? That is not to knock the quality of the artwork by any means. Personally, I think it looks fantastic, and I was sad to read of the passing of the artist responsible for this amazing piece, Ken Kelly in 2022. He is of course better known for his excellent work on Manowar covers as well as The Gates of Slumber and even Satanic Warmaster. If this was a review of the album artwork, then it would be a solid four out of five-star rating.

Sadly, despite their best efforts, Asgard’s musical prowess doesn’t quite match the exploits of the cover artist. In short, In the Ancient Days is all over the place. As with most speed metal albums, there is a fine line being walked between traditional heavy metal and speed metal. In the Ancient Days tends to follow this same pattern accordingly. A mixture of Venom sneer creeps into the vocals of Rene Tholen, teetering on the brink of the over-theatrical on tracks such as ‘Witches Brew’ and ‘Hounds of Hell’ (the version on YouTube has either a skip from a vinyl rip or there’s a terrible edit job on the actual record just before the twenty-minute mark). Yet at the same time, the riffs on this record are superb examples of the heyday of thrash/speed metal. Remembering that this record is now forty-years old, there is a heavy element of nostalgia in my feature selection this month in The Pit.

Being more at the extreme end of metal in terms of my listening habits, the more thrashy/speed metal elements are where I find highlights on In the Ancient Days. The drama could easily be left at the door for me, along with the acoustic (flamenco?) guitar of the interlude ‘Granadinas’ which is crudely placed as the penultimate track on the record. Whether this should be considered as some intro to the anthemic sounding album closer ‘Metal Tonight’ I am unsure but the combination of these two tracks at the end of the album does leave a sour taste in my mouth to finish the album on. I am unaware as to why Asgard lasted for only one album. The ability was there on the debut, albeit not terribly well showcased overall and I sense if the talent could have been grown over subsequent albums then we might have heard the name Asgard more over the years.

3.5/5

Unexpectedly coming out on top of the current crop of feature releases is this three track EP from Trivium. For no reason other than rampant elitism, I have avoided Trivium for most of their career. Based on this EP, that could have been an even dumber decision than it first appears. Notwithstanding that this is a very short format to base any long term opinions from, there is still plenty here to have kept me entertained over the six or seven listens I found myself giving Struck Dead in just one day!

It is clear that my view that Trivium are just another annoying metalcore band are incorrect. Yes, there are elements of that style here, I cannot dispute that. However, there are some serious grooves going on during the riffing on ‘Bury Me With My Screams’. The cold, blunt and almost industrial chops of the title track are a bruising experience also. Add into the mix the fiery leads and anthemic vocals and there is a lot to be pleased with. Whilst I expected high energy levels to be on show, the EP goes much further, possessing an almost hardcore ferocity at times.

It is not an annoying overactive energy that I feared might haunt the release, there is a lot of maturity in these three tracks. ‘Six Walls’ might be the weaker of the tracks on offer but it is by no means terrible. After the intensity of the two first tracks I guess some balance was needed, even if those acoustic strings on the final track do mislead the listener into believing we will be needing on a power ballad. Suffering a little in the arrangement stakes, ‘Six Walls’ feels like a b-side at best but still keeps those energy levels well primed for the whole EP duration.

4/5

Probably going to ease back on the new releases this year and be a bit freer in my listening habits (says the man who has three lists built of albums to check out across black metal in 2000 and doom/sludge/funeral doom/death doom over 2010 and 2011already).  Oh and a death metal 2015 list too.

Can you also please add Legacies of Human Frailty, the new album by US black metal outift, Woe?

There’s some definite gothic metal touches in the new Ruins of Beverast.

There is, which is probably why I didn't take too well to my first listen through.

Despite not being a fan of melodic death metal or progressive metal, here I am writing a review for an album that is tagged as Progressive Melodic Death Metal. My interest in (trying to) check out all the feature releases each month has certainly paid dividends with The Infinite feature release having enjoyed a fair old amount of plays this past week. If I was pressed to sum up why I have enjoyed The Immortal so much, I would call out the rich and full sound that is on display. The album is by no means a perfect, or even complete package, yet it carries enough positive markers as it plays for me to continue to come back to it.

One of the unexpected positives for me are the clean vocals. A fan of the more aggressive style of vocals that occupy the more extreme ends of the metal spectrum, on this occasion the clean vocals work better than the more traditional growls. I have to agree with Saxy in that the harsh vocals are lacking somewhat. The opening track manages to hit this vocal sweet spot early on in the album and as it continues to play it almost becomes a contest between the two styles, with the cleaner elements a clear victor. If I then factor in other moments such as the groovy riff of ‘The Sojourner’ and the post-metal palate-cleanser that follows on ‘Moonless Sky’ as well as the excellent strutting of ‘The Hounding’, I soon have multiple positives to talk to.

I would however like the lead work to have more direction. What often starts off as luscious sounding injections of melody, never quite seem to expand into any established endpoints. This sense of going nowhere is frustrating, notwithstanding that there is plenty of melody still over the album as a whole. I do feel however that the standout moments as a result are limited and that more interesting lead work, as well as perhaps less harsh vocals would have helped here.

4/5

Here we go Sonny:

Sulphur Aeon - “Devotion to the Cosmic Chaos” (from “Gateway to the Antisphere”, 2015)

Blasphemic Cruelty - “Imperium of the Lawless One” (from “Crucible of the Infernum”, 2015)

Vastum - “Amniosis” (from “Hole Below”, 2015)

Immortal Bird - “Neoplastic” (from “Empress/Abscess”, 2015)

Wombbath - “Underneath the Rotten Soil” (from “Downfall Rising”, 2015)

Ancient Necropsy - “Forces of Evil” (from “Sepulchral Profanation”, 2015)

Acid Death - “Mental Slime” (from “Hall of Mirrors”, 2015)

I have been working on a 2015 death metal album list and so thought what better way to share some discoveries for the upcoming playlist.

For Feb Sonny please:

Phobocosm - "Beyond the Threshold of Flesh" (from "Gateway", 2025)

Bell Witch - "I Wait" (from "Longing", 2012)

Amenra - "Nowena | 9.10" (from "Mass V", 2012)

The Atlas Moth - "Horse Thieves" (from "An Ache for the Distance", 2011)

Initially, I dismissed this album when pulling together my list of bm releases for last year. In hindsight, I think I was having a bad black metal day and was far too dismissive of this album, basing my distaste solely on the clean vocals that are at best occasional across the track listing. Having spent much more time with Existenialismus over the past week, there have been times when I have considered whether I missed a hidden gem in my haste to expunge the album from my listing. That is not to say that I don’t still have challenges with the cleaner elements that can appear quite amateurish (‘Truth is as Sharp a Sword as Vengeance’ being the main bug bear I have), however whilst they do peg the rating back somewhat, it is more than a little dramatic of me to dismiss the album outright on the basis of their existence alone.

The fact remains that Abduction are a fantastic modern sounding black metal band. The record strays well into territory already occupied by the likes of Mgla, Gaerea and even the chaotic black/death of Grave Miasma. With all these acts being brought to mind whilst listening to Existentialismus. The Derby outfit (appears to be one main member and some guest/session musicians on this album) put in an accomplished performance, sounding like a band who have been at it for a decade or so who have used that time to hone the listeners experience of them. I could not go as far as to call Existentialismus perfect, but it is still a treat of black metal extremity.

Able to apply melody and at times subtle groove (‘Blau ist di Farbe der Ewigkeit’) to the riffs on the album alongside wonderfully squally tremolos shows versatility in the kit bag. Whilst the cleaner sounding aspects do still alienate me, their appeal to fans of the lighter sounds of the genre is not lost on me either. With tracks like ‘Razors of Occam’ leaning into BAN territory, Abduction keep stretching their legs right until the album’s final, and best track, ‘Vomiting at Baalbek’. If more of the tracks sounded like this one the rating here would be even higher.

4/5

Probably on your radar Ben, but can the new Ellende please be added?  “Zerfall”.

This was not my bag.  Walking that tightrope of trying the feature releases for each clan this month does make me feel like a bit of a grumpy old man at times, but this one was just too much for me.  Far too synthy for me and was a very nu metal sounding record which I didn’t expect.

I do need to get around to reviewing and rating the rest of the Death discography, although I say that to myself everytime I look at one of these lists.

Out of curiosity, how many of them have you heard?  And if all of them, how long has it been since you last went back on them?

All of them (have them all on CD) but must be 12 months since I last listened to any one of them.

I am on my second run through of this and it is much more positive an experience as suspected.  Review to follow.

I have had a spin of this one this morning and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it if I am honest.  Melo-death and prog are not my usual bag and although I don't adore it, I may get round to putting my thoughts into a review if not a rating at the very least.

I do need to get around to reviewing and rating the rest of the Death discography, although I say that to myself everytime I look at one of these lists.

I listened through this album yesterday and was completely underwhelmed by it.  It genuinely sounded like the vocalist was wanting to be in an entriely different band to the rest of the group (which I guess is where the temporary split and ensuing change of scenery for the vocalist comes from).  The vocals aren't all that great either, switching from a deeper tuneful element to more aggressive attempts that just sound juvenile and amateur.  Some good riffs going on though and I would suspect the group is a better metalcore artist than this attempt at alternative metal.  Props for trying something different I suppose but it does not work for me.

Reading various reviews of Mercenary online, I soon found myself looking at two factions of opinion. Group one, believe that this is a perfectly respectable Bolt Thrower record. Group two, believe the production job killed this one entirely. Although I would also add that most of either camp seem to acknowledge that this is the weakest album in the discography. As I have listened through over the weekend, I can see both camps arguments as being valid. The production on Mercenary is muffled, although I have heard much worse, and it is unclear even after multiple listens whether the album lacks power in the performance or whether it is robbed by the production job. I am finding myself in the production camp at this stage of my experience of the record, based on the belief that there is enough classic Bolt Thrower in the sound still, all with some prowess and heft behind it too, but there is an obvious dulling of the absolutely unstoppable force that came across on the previous two albums.

Therein lies another topic of contention of course. After two absolute bangers in The IVth Crusade and …For Victory, could anything match the standard set by those two records? I suspect not, certainly given that of the three albums that followed …For Victory, only the final Bolt Thrower album, Those Once Loyal stands out as being a highlight. When all is said and done, 1994 was very much the band’s peak. Much is also made of the fact that Karl Willets left the band after Mercenary, citing a lack of commitment and financial pressures. I cannot say that there’s anything about Willet’s performance on Mercenary that makes me think his heart was not in it though. My belief is in fact that he was just as potent as ever, the production job for me is the guilty party in any perceived shortfall in this aspect of Mercenary.

If I had to pick the weakest album from the Bolt Thrower back catalogue, it would not be Mercenary. Yes, there are better albums in the band’s kitbag, but it is my fundamental belief that Mercenary suffers from poor (not terrible) production. I prefer it to Realm of Chaos which if I recall correctly suffers from the same affliction. My choice for the worst Bolt Thrower album would be Honour Valour Pride, notwithstanding that Bolt Thrower on a bad day could still produce death metal that most other bands still could never hold a candle too. I have increased my rating of Mercenary based on this revisit by a whole half a mark, albeit the performance I suspect is at least a further half a mark on top that gets robbed back by the production.

3.5/5

Like its predecessor, Lead and Aether has proven a great accompaniment on winter walks this weekend as the northwest of England sees its first snow of the season. That is not to say that this is a cold sounding record by any means, in fact I find the exact opposite experience to the record. To me this is the sickening warmth of a hug from the arms of death itself. It is comforting to witness, how I imagine the release of all worry, stress and adversity of life would feel at the very moment of conscious expiry of one’s existence. Far from finding the funereal keys and monolithic melodies oppressive, I take a great solace from this album, therefore.

This record plays as an instrumental in my head, the vocals are so low in the mix, consciously so I would guess, that I am almost ignorant them for much of the album. Normally I would find this as a negative point, a key missing feature almost, but here I think it works perfectly. Good funeral doom to me is about letting the music build the aesthetic and atmospheres, the vocals are just a complementary element in comparison. Equally, I think Skepticism got the placement of the drums correct here. Whilst not as absent from my mind as the vocals are, the drums provide the very definition of a subtle supporting role here. How many bands can say that they have successfully used drums o create space and atmosphere on a record?

There is always a danger that with such a minimalist approach to music, particularly extreme genres like this, that the recording can end up sounding amateur. I would argue that the opposite is in fact true here. This sounds like a thoroughly professional album, composed with care and thought for overall arrangement. Maintaining that gloomy warmth for me over the entire album duration is a real win here, but there are a couple of moments where tracks seem to end up a little disjointed (album closer, ‘Aether’ stands out for this) which just takes the perfect score aware from an otherwise brilliant release.

4.5/5

I already reviewed this one:

For their twelfth album in a career spanning over 30 years, Blind Guardian have finally delivered the album that probably should have followed At The Edge Of Time. That was the last album from the German power metalllers that I truly enjoyed and The God Machine succeeds in capturing the more simplistic elements of what came in 2015. The unnecessary pomp and circumstance of the last two albums appears to now have been ditched in favour of a more straightforward approach to some anthemic and memorable power metal and this is a decision that pays dividends for virtually the whole of the album. Now, there is no match here for Sacred Worlds, Road of No Release or Wheel of Time from the aforementioned 2010 release. Although there are anthems here, they lack the edge of what came before and the longer-standing fan will acknowledge that The God Machine does not challenge the imperial majesty of Imaginations From The Other Side but this is most certainly the return to form we have all been waiting for.

Structures here are uncomplicated and are not afraid to dip back into the earlier reference points of the bands sound (check out the speed metal riffing of Violent Shadows for instance) to breed a great sense of familiarity across the whole of the 9 tracks on show. Clocking in at 50 minutes, the album feels lean without being lacking in any area - indeed this is a beefy record for a sub-genre I usually find much to grumble about for usually lacking meat on its bones. Hansi sounds vibrant and strong throughout the record and seems to have found new life in his vocal cords as he approaches his late 50s. Like the guitars carry real presence whilst remaining at a tone that allows the more regal atmospherics to shine also. Frederik's drums do sound a tad stifled if I am honest but this does have the advantage of letting the riffs and leads take centre stage behind the vocals. Indeed the lead work saves Secrets of the American Gods which otherwise feels like the weakest link in an otherwise excellent release.

Listen to Architects of Doom if you have any doubts that Blind Guardian aren't back and your cynicism will soon be dismissed. For a band who I had feared lost to the annals of power metal history for good following their last two releases, The God Machine re-establishes a brand. I am even buoyed by the sentiment of ballad Let It Be No More - a track which showcases the strength of Hansi's voice perfectly. I don't care if Blind Guardian called time on their career right now as they would be going out on a record that does real justice to their illustrious contributions over the last three decades. Likewise, if this is the shape of things to come then more please.

4/5

I should start by saying that I think it is great that The North is getting an increase in programming frequency. I have a list from 2025 of bands to check out from last year’s playlists already as I genuinely do find new bands and albums from listening to the playlist. I am also, for my part, going to make more of an effort to comment on the tracks that jump out at me each month, especially from acts/albums that are new to me.

Thou Art Lord – never listened to these Greeks before and it seems I am missing out, so added to the to do list.

Stworz – this was a real find from last year that made my top ten bm releases for the year. Reminds me of Swan Road era Drudkh on this track in that it holds that potency in the attack of the track but somehow still possesses that earthiness at the same time.

Mayhem – increasingly they sound the same with most of what they release in recent years, and they certainly lack the mystery they had in the 90s which is what I feel is missing in recent years. This track has the attack of a Watain track and some hint of the menace I would expect from Mayhem.

Odium – symphonic bm is increasingly less my thing in recent years (Emperor made it good and then it’s been broken ever since really) but this Odium track has a real glacial edge to the keys that permeate nicely alongside the harsher riffs. The keys do interrupt the flow on at least one occasion from where I am sitting but they are still not an entirely invasive force.

Martwa Aura – another fave from the past year that ended up just inside the top 20 bm records. The vocals here are a harsh whisper which adds to the overall smothering effect of the music for me.

Nexion – this album was last month’s feature release and what a filthy little number it is. This track gives some Attila style vocals into proceedings which can only be a good thing. Overall, here the vocals are fucking deranged and a perfect accompaniment to the music.

Enslaved – Sonny has picked my favourite track off this record; I love the opening to this one. Unusually positive sounding for me to like it.

Apati – tragic to read about what happened to the guitarist and vocalist of this band and his overdose. Solid DSBM but not sure about the post-rock vibes on this one.

Menhir – with pagan bm a growing sub-genre for me, I was disappointed by the terrible clean vocals on this track. Otherwise, I would have gotten along fine with the rest of it.

Malakhim – one of the 2025 releases that got on my EOY list just on the quality of musicianship and song writing alone. An incredibly consistent album this one and this track shows this in heaps.

Vreid – whilst not a band I have extensive experience of, whenever I have dipped into the Vreid catalogue, it hasn’t rewarded much. Same here with this one from perhaps the earliest in their career that I have listened to. Vocally, I just cannot get on with it.

Naked Whipper – whilst I get the aesthetics of war metal, sometimes it does just sound like the band set up one microphone and then hit record. Not my thing this one.

Imperial Crystalline Entombment I.C.E. – a bit too Dark Funeral for my tastes, but better than I remember when I listened to the album last year.

Finsterforst – the matching plaid shirt image of the band pisses me right off but this track was more than pleasing to me so I should get over myself and listen to the album perhaps.

Soulless – most definitely not soulless by any means, this was an uplifting ending to the list that I was just a tad too heavy on the melodic keys.