Vinny's Reviews

Enter the avant-garde, bass twanging, bone-jarring branch of Gorguts that seems to cause equal amounts of praise and revulsion across the death metal fan base.  I sit firmly in the praise camp.  Not that I don't get the challenges that people have with this directional shift from the bands previous releases (all respectable enough DM records), but for me what impresses me the most about Obscura is the sheer range and scope of the album.  It isn't perfect by any means but, as per my love of Colored Sands this record likewise retains death metal as its core source, despite the multi-layered influences on display here Obscura does still come across as a raging death metal record full of energy and rampant angst.

Lemay's trademark demented shriek accompanies the instrumentation perfectly.  I find the music twists and contorts perfectly throughout, taking the listener on a real journey.  The only real downside to that journey perhaps is the length of it.  Clocking in at an hour in duration, the record does meander a bit unfortunately.  Although it is stylistically refreshing it is not controlled enough in its delivery to be able to sustain a presence for such a long period of time.  To compare it with the aforementioned Colored Sands is a fair contrast really as the latter album absolutely nails the delivery of the avant-garde/experimental aspect by integrating it into the overall sound better, even though the run time is more or less the same the 2013 album feels more palatable.

From reading the criticism of Obscura there's definitely a feeling of the album being something that is done to the fans as opposed to being something they feel is introduced to them.  As full on as it is, the record is still fun and an entertaining enough curved ball.

Albums grow on you for different reasons.  As an avid fan of most of Death's earlier releases I didn't find the same levels of entertainment in much of anything after Spiritual Healing.  Whilst I could more than see the talent and skill involved in the direction that Chuck was taking Death's sound, progressive elements of metal have only recently become of interest to me - over the last 12 months say - so for a number of years the majority of the bands later releases gathered some dust on my shelves.  I now find myself oddly in the reverse mindset where I prefer the later output to the initial three releases.  For me The Sound of Perseverance is the crowning glory in this more progressive style of death metal, largely because the whole thing just feels so natural and effortless.

Oddly for death metal, there are lots of feel good vibes for me on this record.  The chords sound more open but the riffs are just as cutting as you would expect from one of the founding fathers of death metal.  Whilst obvious, the time changes are not intrusive and feel clean and polished.  Again these are traits i would not attribute to me gleaning enjoyment from in terms of my more extreme tastes but they work so well with the confidence and aptitude of Schuldiner, Hamm, Clendenin and Christy.

The band sound like they enjoyed making the record, such is the warm feel to proceedings.  They almost tease the listener during Story To Tell, with their stop/start playing leaving you wondering if the track is over or whether another time change is due.  There's an accessibility to proceedings that is reminiscent of almost rock music proportions, only Chuck's grim vocals and the chugging riff passages keep you of the understanding this is still a death metal record at its core.  The creepy atmospheric bass and guitar interlude during Flesh and The Power it Holds also adds the necessary levels of menace you'd expect.

In terms of criticisms (what is keeping that half star off the score) I have two.  Firstly, the cover of Priest's Painkiller is both out of place in the greater context of the album and also not a very good cover either.  Secondly, the album is a tad too long with the cover on here.  In terms of flow it is all mapped out superbly as an album but it just falls at the end unfortunately.

My melodic death metal tastes aren't really that wide in scope as I tend to dwell in the more extreme end of my tastes in death metal generally.  Without wishing to generalise too much I find most bands that fall under this sub-genre to be underwhelming.  Why would I want my death metal to be melodic, ergo more accessible is the question that has remained largely unanswered for the past 30 or so years of listening to metal.  Dark Tranquillity were still a new band for me until today, but sadly they have brought little in the way of reasoning for my opinion of the melodic side of death metal to change much.

I mean it is very melodic, don't get me wrong.  There's keyboards galore on display as well as melodious guitar parts, but none of it sticks with me.  The riffs feel aggressive enough but they don't really set anything on fire for me and so come off as being restrained or blunted somehow.  Stanne's vocals aren't awful by any means but just come across to my ears as being very generic ad tired sounding.

The album seems to go on and on as a result of my struggles it seems with only really track twelve standing out as the album closes with it's adept instrumentation bringing a memorable ending to proceedings. Again, I don't report that the band are doing anything wrong here, I know that the issue lies more so with me than anything they are trying to achieve.  To a convert of the melodic death metal sound it probably will have more stars against it's name.  I however struggle to give much of anything to the release.

As intros to death metal go, mine wasn’t too shabby.  I bought “Slowly We Rot” blind, in the days of (me) having no internet and just a sick logo and equally sick artwork to tickle my pubescent fancy!  I had never even heard any death metal at that point but I instantly loved every fucking minute of this record.

I had to play it at my grandparents house and luckily my grandad had a great stereo set up.  When he first heard the record he thought he had something wrong with his equipment.  I had to convince him for a good few minutes that it was supposed to sound like that.

I was instantly enthralled by Tardy’s vocal style and remember thinking how insane it was that a human could make such a noise.  It was like a dumped high school girl puking and sobbing her hatred for boys out with only the occasional word actually audible through all the hatred and vitriol.  

The atmosphere on the record scared the shite out of me, like some soundtrack to some mind-bending horror film.  The record plays like a writhing, shifting mass of fetid, acrid evil just toying with the listener and taking great pleasure in doing so.  The riffs on here are fucking scathing too so any flesh left on your bones from the Tardy onslaught is soon detached once the riffs kick in.  Peres and West made a great partnership, leaving as much of an impact with their six strings as Tardy did with his vocal chords.

Although end to end this is a thoroughly ferocious affair it does lose me sometimes, not necessarily out of complexity more out of if sounding a little samey in places.  Still though this is a benchmark Death Metal album for me based on both nostalgia and the overall genre impact it had.

Regrettably I sold my vinyl copy of this record and now don’t even have it on stream but I can still recall every track and every terrifying Tardy howl.

Candlemass 2019 are epic. I mean in terms of the sound at least. This plays more like an epic heavy metal record as opposed to a doom record. Yeah, the heavy drudging riffs are still there but there's a real sense sword-wielding, bicep popping warriors flanked by women in metal underwear sat on spiky horses type fantasy. Opening track "Splendor Demon Majesty" is an unashamedly dark opener full of occult promise that pulls of a perfect balance of menacing worship of evil deities whilst also pacing superbly to open the album strongly. Even the most doomy tracks here are still laden with such vocal stylings. "Astorolus - the Great Octopus" (great fucking song title) is an obvious choice here, even given Iommi's input it still doesn't stray to far away from the epic nature the song title and feels well balanced. It rumbles and rolls like a great Octopus would do assisted by some superb lead work along the way that stab through the menacing atmosphere. Likewise, the gallop of "Death's Wheel" drops down in pace to doomy depths for the chorus to become one of the nearest experiences to the 1986 debut heard on here.

Let's be honest though folks, this isn't "Epicus..." part two. Not that anyone really wanted that though, right? On its own, "The Door to Doom" stands up as a fantastic record for a band who haven't released anything notable since "Tales of Creation". It is not that recognisable as a Candlemass record though which will no doubt get the diehards moaning into their retro flares and skull effect candlestick holders whilst crying into their earthen drinking vessels full of mead. The only real reminders on here of the doom relationship is the fact that the record on the whole reminds me of a much better version of "13". As I sit listening to "Black Trinity" I hear so much similarity to numerous tracks from Sabbath's last full length that I had to look twice in the instrumental parts to make sure I didn't the library on shuffle. 

That withstanding, "House of Doom" is a superb doomy romp with monumental riffage and pace and horror themed synths to build the atmosphere to boot. This was on the the EP of the same name from last year and is probably may favourite track on here certainly in terms of its authenticity to the Candlemass sound of old, chiming church bells ringing to fade as the track closes. If anything the record gets doomier the final 2 tracks. Check out the riffs on "The Omega Circle" if you still need your bed wetting from some punishing doom metal before the band signs off on a job well done.

There is only really two criticisms I can level at the record, one being the utterly pointless filler of "Bridge of the Blind", a crap ballad dropped in after just 3 tracks of excellence is just out of place both in terms of the timing of its placement and the marked difference in pace from the rest of the album. Secondly, too many tracks start the same way. There's about 3 or 4 that start with some slow picked strings and Languist crooning as an introduction to the tracks proper. It just gets old after the second or third time even though on each occasion the track is soon hit by an epic riff or stomping pace change,

Sadly, if it wasn't for the shit ballad this album would have afforded a higher rating as it makes very few bad steps along it's length. Buy it for the love of metal though, not just because it's Candlemass.

Death/Thrash or Thrash/Death? Does it really matter?  Whichever style you believe has most traction in the calculated attack of Opprobrium (known as Incubus to the older audience), it certainly makes for an authentic and entertaining listen.  For me the Thrash elements act like explosions of flavour, giving notes of energetic bitterness.  The menacing death metal atmospheric dirge is still the more prominent factor in the sound but both elements are akin to some acceptable collaboration between the genres with neither one ever truly outweighing or outdoing the other.  Like two warring factions have decided to call it quits and just try and get along as best they can!

The authenticity comes from that sound on the production that gives the impression that this was recorded in someone’s garage, yet the quality of the songwriting leaves the listener with structures that suggest it may have been planned in the office of an architect.  

This is the kind of album that makes a consistent entry on thousands of music blogs about “Underrated/Unsung Classics” from the 90s.  And  the majority of those bloggers are right.  There’s nothing here that is any dramatic step down from the nefarious and menacing death/thrash  of “Seven Churches”.  “Beyond...”punches well within its category but never quite reaches the furious delivery of Demoltion Hammer.  The latter just works hard on the jab whilst “Beyond...” has a more varied sack of sucker punches that strike from behind its darker guard.

At just eight tracks, the sophomore release from these guys feels like a real clear cut, transparent statement of intent.  Turn up, put it down and get it out there, and it is this immediacy of the record that really appeals.  The band name may have changed but this album remains exactly as good as I remember it first time of listening.

The debut full-length from Taake came at the arse-end of the second wave era of BM.  By 1999 nobody was burning churches anymore, bands weren't killing each other's members and many stalwarts of the genre had already drifted to a more experimental sound.  The success of 'Nattestid...' at first glance seems surprising, yet a couple of listens unearths an album built on a foundation of solid songwriting, supported by razor sharp steel riffage  and decorated with a consistent theme permeated by some subtle yet lasting nuances to maintain its hellish Feng Shui.

For all the cold and scathing guitar here there's more than a fair share of melody, whether that is rooted in the viking style passages or just the more obvious folk leanings of the album.  Whenever it is there, it seems effortlessly measured.  It never takes the edge off the raw energy of the tremolo and nor does the cutting of the riffs blunt the impact of the more melodious elements.  Throughout the album the bass and drums maintain a strong presence (especially on instrumental track, 'Vid IV ') and Hoest himself, shrieks and rasps along like some demented high priest undertaking some satanic and nefarious ritual.  There is an edge to the guitar throughout more or less the entire record that sounds a little too hazy at times which I can only put down to the production job (yes I know it is a BM album, but nonetheless it remains my only gripe).

It is easy to see from the seven tracks on show here that Hoest's talent for accomplished and consummate songwriting was already well developed at this early stage of his career.  Frostein's deft contributions on both drums and bass make these visions whole.  Considering the two man line up it is an album that has a vastness in scope that belies the small number of contributors.

The menacing and creepy looking artwork on the album sums up the nightmarish soundscape inside perfectly.  The minimal approach to the tracklisting earns kvlt/troo points by the bucket load.

A shuffle playlist in my hotel room this past week threw up 'Heresy' from this record and I have ended up playing the whole record through in my head before getting home and playing the CD.  In the 90's this record occupied a near constant place in the top 4 of my 'most played', alongside 'Painkiller', 'Arise' and 'Seasons in the Abyss' it got span to death over nearly the whole decade.   There was so much that appealed to my established taste at the time yet also equal amounts of new and enticing sounds to absorb, all delivered with a fervour and ferocity that was literally breathtaking.  In so many ways, playing this for the first time was like listening to something that was nothing like anything I had heard before, yet at the same time there was enough reference points to breed the necessary amount of familiarity for me to engage with it instantly.

Although this does not retain the top slot in my favourite Pantera list, it holds enough nostalgia and tangible feelings still of the initial awe of the discovery to always have an important place in my evolution through the genre.  

There has always been a real sense of cohesion to me about the sound of Pantera.  They are like some well oiled machine with just enough AI in it's computer parts to deliver flare and panache instead of just routinely processing the same parts over and over again.  Whether it is the shrill wailing of Anselmo, the chunky stick work of Vinnie, the rumbling current of Brown or the insane string wizardry of Dimebag you focus on, they are all there together as a unit.  Yes, for me the overarching memory post-listen is those fucking riffs, but the structures they form part of are also key to their impact.

I enjoy the darker side of the album's sound.  'Medicine Man', 'Message in Blood' and 'The Sleep' stand out as a trio of tracks that add a real depth to an album that given its relentless approach could otherwise lose you towards the end.  Pantera seem to "grow" with the progress of the record which is rare in most releases that have frequented my headphones since the 90s.

Does it stand up well as a singular release some 29 years later?  Not quite for me, even with the memories these 12 tracks hold for me I can't avoid the need for a couple of tracks to be trimmed ('Heresy' and 'Shattered') to really cement five stars in the rating for this review.

I am not a fan of compilations generally.  I usually see them as opportunistic releases designed to boost the coffers of the associated record company who have been fortunate enough to scoop the demo recordings or greatest hits rights to a band's back catalogue.  That withstanding, 'Amon: Feasting The Beast' actually has relevance beyond appealing to just the avid uber-fan of Deicide.  It is a release that showcases the raw talent, energy and commitment of the band before they became the death metal household name we all recognise to be Deicide.

There's still some turkeys on here, the second attempt at 'Sacrificial Suicide' sounds like Benton has a lisp and is just ridiculous, for example.  However, as a release of a piece of death metal history, 'Amon...' stands up well enough.  It is hard to get too excited by it, likewise difficult to extend paragraphs enough to stretch to a full review of the release.

There are very few albums nowadays that I can recall track by track in my head.  The fact that ‘Heartwork’ still plays through my memory some 26 years after I first heard it is testimony to it being a big part of my metal journey and also the catchy nature of the songwriting.  I get that it is a departure from previous direction and that for many it was a step too far away from the more familiar sound of the band, but “Heartwork” was still a strong metal record and still recognisable as Carcass regardless.

My rating of 3.5 stars really only reflect my transition towards their earlier material as I have aged.  “Heartwork” gets less rotation than “Symphonies...” or “Reek...” do, but at the same time will always have that element of nostalgia present to give it a solid rating.  Whether it is the energetic start to the title track or the chop n chug of “No Love Lost” or even the spiralling maelstrom of “This Mortal Coil”, there’s still variety on this record.

As a melodic death metal album this just about has enough edge still to cut the mustard with my more extreme tastes. Often it gets criticised almost as an album that let the band down in some way, but I don’t think that is fair as it still stands up as a successful turn of direction for Carcass as well as being a defining record for the melodic death metal movement.

'Rituale Satanum' stands up as a glorious exploration of how true aggression can be ported onto an audible format with pure aplomb and genuine heartfelt hatred. Some of the riffs on show here are truly demonic and when coupled with those rasping and harsh vocals make for great effect on one of BM's most under-rated releases.  The melodic elements whilst not always as obvious to the ear are there in the background like some dark, melancholic tidal current that churns up sightless, shrieking beasts in it's waves.

From the menacing spoken word to 'Intro (The Summoning)' we are instantly into the scathing guitar that opens 'Sota valon jumalaa vastaan" which straight up lashes away at the listener for its entire duration.  'Night of the Blasphemy', whilst no less intense in the delivery, offers that melodic element to give additional structure to the chaotic riffing and blasting.  'Christ Forever Die' with its more measured approach to the track offers a well-paced build to the track whilst losing none of the looming threat built so far over the first three tracks.  The hatred and vitriol for the icon of the subject matter from the track title is obvious as ever in the vocals here.  They act like some scorching wind that you could envisage peeling the flesh from the face of the holy one just by virtue of the wickedness behind them, spat like acid onto the face of the crucified man.  I find that the instrumentation and arrangement of the song actual temper the vocals really well also.

One of the real successes of 'Rituale Satanum' is that whilst it remains unrelenting in delivery it never feels like a drain to listen to in one sitting.  Rampant BM records like 'Battles in the North' or 'Pure Holocaust' do lose me at times despite my enjoyment of them.  I think the unexpected moments such as the lead work on 'Towards the Father' keep things interesting and challenging without showing any dip in the fury on display.

The big build up to 'Saatanan varjon synkkyydessä' feels like the start of some epic heavy metal track but soon becomes that familiar slaughtering paced frenzy, yet there's great structure to pace the track out to retain some of the majesty built in the intro to the song, to bridge the chaos in between solid start and finish sections and add a funereal set of keys to finish.

My favourite track on the album is 'Baphomet's Call', it has an almost easy feel to how it drops around some light riffing into an almost foot tapping pace.  It plays like some old rock track given the Satanic treatment with it's death metal like layered growls midway through.  'The Flames of the Blasphemer' is just as harsh as the track title indicates but again makes great use of melody to manage the flow of the track.  There's also an almost NWOBHM feel to the pace here as well, although the return of the funereal keys soon stamps sufficient atmosphere on proceedings to remind me that this ain't no Diamond Head record.

The final two tracks work superbly to give a almost grandiose ritual(e) feel to the closing part of the record.  The solid drumming of 'Blessed Be the Darkness' and demented shrieks of the vocals that share space with spoken word recitals midway through the track weigh a dense atmosphere to proceedings.  By the time we get through the closing (and title) track with its slow pace there's a real sense of finality and closure, like as a listener we have been through some torrid and yet positively memorable experience.

If you have been paying attention to my musings in The Pit Clan Challenge then you won't be surprised to find that I have given this record four stars.  It characterises that rabid and vicious thrash metal that I enjoy so much and only the fact that some of the production work on this is truly terrible (as in beyond being able to simply be considered kvlt or cool) then a full five stars would have been easily awarded.

For sheer lack of fucks given the album scores about a ten at least, this is a record forged out of complete abandon of compromise.  It starts off relentlessly and ends up the same without once letting up.  Every aspect to it feels bestial and evil in the most primitive sense.  Whether it is the menacing vocals with their sneer of derision and mocking undertone, the bashing fury of those drums or even the manic strumming of the bass underneath the charging dual guitar attack, it all has a fee for antediluvian values throughout.

Considering the band started out some six years before recording this by just playing Priest, Maiden, Sabbath and Crüe covers, what they eventually got to transcribe to record was far removed from their covers days.  This is crude and unrefined music for ears of fans who genuinely don't care too much for compositional excellence or song writing prowess.  Each track has one intention, to rip your fucking face off!  And they do it, eight times in a row.

As I mention above, the main issue here is the production job sounds terrible.  Notwithstanding the fact that it kind of suits the ideal in so many ways it is too obvious even for my extreme metal scarred ears for me not to notice.  Instead of charging the energy in the record it kind of blunts it a little bit although I still get multiple lacerations after each spin of this record.

Blessed Are The Sick" is still as relevant now as it was 20 + years ago, with its sonic wizardry, beefed up guitar sound (when compared with its predecessor at least) and the furious thunder of Sandoval on the drum kit driving forward this beast of a record. The complimentary lead work of Richard and Trey (Richard and his more melodic moments to temper Trey with his swarming, chaotic and sonic shredding) works superbly and you get a real sense that this is band much improved ability wise from their previous outing.

The maturity is evident and the whole package has a more serious edge to it with the album artwork grotesque and twisted like the sound of the considerably darker music within. The intro is a perfect opener with the almost engine like noise of some hellish machine made from crying children and grinding bones being revved up to floor the accelerator and destroy all in its path. By the time it gives way to opener proper "Fall From Grace" you are sat bolt upright waiting for the assault to happen and your are not going to be disappointed as the track smothers you in glorious low end marauding DM.

The build up to the title track is varied with each track managing to stand out as individual points of brilliance. The fury of "Brainstorm", the sudden slowed technique of "Rebel Lands", the horror film soundtrack keys of "Doomsday Celebration" and the frantic pace of "Day Of Suffering" all cement the foundations of the stairway up to "Blessed Are The Sick/Leading The Rats". The title track is a slower but epic descent into the bowels of Hades themselves the bottom end of every note pulling you further down into the darkness before the flutey ending adds a bestial cherry to the top of the hellish cup cake!

The title track acts a central pin for the whole record, it is not that this is the peak of the album as what follows it is just as intense and powerful as the rest of the album so far, but the title track does exactly what it is supposed to. It is the pillar running through the atmosphere, direction and experience of the whole album. This brings me on to the structure of the album as a whole, the already mentioned intro starts things off perfectly but the changes of pace are brilliantly scheduled, the haunting beauty of "Desolate Ways" with its picked acoustic strings is like a beautiful woman with an underlying darkness lay in field of scarred and twisted corpses and it stays with you long after the album has finished. "In Remembrance" is the perfect ending to the album, an acknowledgement that although the chaos is over things won't be the same again as a result of it.

It is hard to quite put into words the monstrous fury of Ulcerate. The difficulty largely lies in the fact that for every bludgeoning riff, hammer blow drum hit or swirling wall of noise that the New Zealanders strike the listener with, there's a remarkable amount of deftness and skill in the calculations they invoke to deliver their assault.

There were times when I listened to "Vermis" (the predecessor to "Shrines..." for the uneducated reader) and that precision was off, albeit very minutely. The vocals for example on the bands 2013 opus felt some how lost in the mix and at times there was a sense of not actually being aware whether they had begun or not. They are some of course who thought this a clever use of the mixing desk to create that folly deliberately, but for me the storm of Ulcerate's sound needed that extra bit of definition vocally to turn a great album into an absolute classic.

Thankfully, here on the band's fifth full length offering, the vocals are prominent and whether you deem them visceral or based on intellect they are very much a centre piece of "Shrines Of Paralysis". Yeah, there's occasion when they do go under the churn of riffs, drums and bass but thankfully these are rare and do not distract. 

As well as Paul Kelland's lyrical exploits being a point of particular note, the listener cannot miss the frankly fucking amazing performance of Jamie Saint Merat on the drums. They are powerful, punishing and utterly fucking relentless. The clever bit being that every other instrument is allowed to breath around them without any one detracting from the other. In a tornado of sound like the brand that Ulcerate stir up to say you can pick out the bass is testimony to their technical excellence at not just performance but at actual songwriting also.

Hoggard's riffs are of course merciless too. They are like being stabbed by a surgeon, with each slash designed to incapacitate whilst also make you nod in complete appreciation. There's geologists probably queueing up to take abrasivity tests on Ulcerate's riffs and they know the scores will be off the motherfucking chart.

Things get off to an explosive start with opening track "Abrogation" as it bursts out of the speakers like a soul of hell clawing for freedom from the burning fury of Hades itself. As "Yield To Naught" continues in much the same vein it is here I first start to note the clever use of melodic components of the tracks. These are there most of the time but instead of being drowned out by the thunderous roar of the band in full throttle, they are more marshalled by the riffs and percussion as if being constantly reminded of their place even though they are key still amongst all that is going on. Throughout the pulverising violence of the bodily harm inflicted you are never far from an atonal stab or dissonant tranquility as they bob atop the tide of the endless churn.

To have all that going on must require an almost military precision as never does anything seem confused or chaotic. Even at their most furious Ulcerate show clarity of structure and planning. The title track with its progressive build and eventual unleashing of all living fury proves this point perfectly.

One thing that is obvious throughout is the layering of the experience. "Extinguished Light" is like unwrapping a gift and finding exploding candy in each layer, each variety giving a different flavour and texture experience to the last.

To sum up "Shrines Of Paralysis", it is like an in depth documentary on the mechanics of Technical DM. As well as exploring the intense fury of emotions involved, it takes opportunity to delve into the skillset required, demonstrating along the way a work of real dark art done by true masters of the genre.

Last time Ulcerate and Gorguts released an album in the same year was 2013 and they both blew me the fuck away, with "Colored Sands" edging "Vermis". In 2016 they've reversed it for me. "Shrines Of Paralysis" is nowhere near as dense as "Pleiade's Dust" in content and style but it takes the raw emotion of the genre and hones it into an explosive, purposeful and memorable DM experience.

Behind every great man, there's a great woman. Behind every camped up, shape throwing, garrulous Black Metal vocalist there's a great song writer. Both of these statements are true, except the second one actually does not commend Abbath as being the imaginative, creative and artistic driving force behind Immortal. This is blatantly obvious if you have heard his solo pop/rock record of a couple of years ago.

What "Northern Chaos Gods" does is essentially pull off one of the best tattoo removal jobs in the history of "I Love Sharon" ink stains on most truck drivers (married to a woman called Rose) arm's being obliterated by lasers. Despite a big character no longer being present on this record, I don't for one second miss Abbath. Demonaz and co manage to put out an album that sounds so much like Immortal of old you could be forgiven for crying "Fake News!" at every mention of the turmoil and split between the founding members given the music is as strong as it has been in some while.

Demonaz even sounds like a more in control albeit slightly more subdued Abbath. But it isn't the vocals that will get you sweating like a blind lesbian in a fishmongers. Nope, IT'S THE FUCKING RIFFS MAN!!!!!! It is genuinely like getting twatted by an octopus for 42 and a bit minutes, listening to this record. Utterly relentless in their delivery, Immortal just pummel away at you, occasionally throwing an atmosphere building intro before thundering off on hoofed steed to epic landscapes such as "Where Mountains Rise".

There's no Judas Priest or Iron Maiden esque dip in output here in the absence of their established frontman here. Demonaz and Horgh have - to put it in layman's terms - just picked up and ran with the established format. Don't get me wrong, it isn't anywhere near the quality of "At The Heart of Winter", although it does piss all over "All Shall Fall". Think of it as being the record "Damned In Black" could have been as a better precursor to the great "Sons of Northern Darkness".

They have a song called "Blacker of Worlds"!!! I mean what grown man with the mind of a pubescent boy doesn't think that is cool as fuck??? If the start of closing track "Mighty Ravendark" doesn't bring you out in goose pimples, you're dead inside. Fist pumping, neck snapping metal right here folks.

Glen Benton is 51. Fuck I feel old now too. Deicide are 30 years old (32 if we count the Amon era). Album number 12 from the fathers of Florida death metal is a strong effort considering yet another change of personnel has occurred. It is bye-bye Jack Owen, hello Mark English of Monstrosity fame taking up guitar duties and ironically I like "Overtures of Blasphemy " a lot more than Monstrosity's effort this year.

Whilst it can never make the "beast of a DM record" title I would give to the debut or"Legion" for example, "Overtures..." is entertaining. Whether it is the melo-death passages that litter the streets and alleyways of this record or the more familiar sacrilegious blasting fury of Deicide at their (old) best, there's plenty to balance the experience over these 12 tracks. Take "Seal The Tomb" for example, it goes immediately for the jugular, relentlessly chugging riffs alongside Benton's usual demented growls only to be tempered by menacing and interesting leads and sonics that carry the song along well. Listen once to this track and it is in your head for literally days after.

Then there's the vehemence of the lyrics of "Compliments of Christ" were you can feel the spittle from Glen's lips splattering your ears as he spews forth the vitriol he is best known for. "Anointed in Blood" opens like a lead jam session recorded mid flow before developing into a hellish gallop of fiery hooves, again perfectly completed by some well placed and well timed leads.

This is were Morbid Angel went wrong with "Kingdoms..." safe DM with little if any attention paid to the sonic wizardry of their sound. Take a leaf out of Glen's book Trey!

It is clear that this is no nonsense DM that  still has enough equal measure of extremity and assured and unapologetic attitude to hold it's own against most of the DM records released this year. It is not perfect by any means. I lose it on more than one occasion if I am honest ("Crucified Soul of Salvation" in particular hits my 'standby' button really nicely) and it is a couple of tracks too long making for an almost excessive feel to the running time. Whilst it is a well paced record there's definitely some "filler" present. But for any turkeys in here there is still thankfully the brilliance of tracks like "Consumed by Hatred" to snap you back to attention. "Flesh, Power, Dominion" is one of the strongest things Deicide have ever put to tape btw.

There's life in the old dog yet it seems. In terms of original members only Phil Fasciana remains in the ranks of Malevolent Creation now and after the passing of Brett Hoffman last year you could almost forgive fans for thinking the curtain had fallen on Malevolent Creation. The fact is that whilst "The 13th Beast" reinvents no wheels it does exhibit the sound of a band in the throes of something of a regeneration phase. There's nothing tired sounding here, no dull interludes to build unnecessary atmosphere. As soon as the spoken word intro to "End the Torture" finishes it is straight up thrashing death metal until the very end, some 11 tracks later.

Although all debuting in the Malevolent full length stakes here, the 3 musicians that join Fasciana on this record are all clearly capable and qualified purveyors of their art form. Again, I highlight that this is not far above your average DM record yet it is so assured and solid you can easily forgive it to some degree. Lee Wollenschlaeger gives a good acquittal of himself as an established and competent vocalist, filling Hoffman's shoes nicely. Phil Cancilla is a machine on those skins, blasting his way across the soundscape yet also using the percussion well when the occasional let up in the pace permits. Fasciana and Wollenschlaeger work well together to keep the chug of the riffs motoring along whilst Gibbs plonks, twangs and rumbles his way through every track, allowed to be heard in the mix and show his variety without ever showboating. For a band together for only 2 years as a four piece they sound tight and committed.

There's no metal fan worth the denim their patches are sewn onto that doesn't look at that album cover and mouth a "fuck me, dude!" I mean, come on, it is fucking awesome. Like a more ornamental Predator head on a ghostly green background. I love it when album covers are matched by the content of the record inside, and whilst there are obviously some shortfalls here, still in the main "The 13th Beast" delivers. When they keep the track length short and succinct, Malevolent Creation are at their best. "The Beast Awakened", "Agony for the Chosen" and "Knife at Hand" all kick serious ass. By the same token "Born of Pain" at nearly 7 minutes long doesn't really do anything or go anywhere to justify the length attributed to it.

Overall, I would have preferred a shorter record. At 11 tracks the band cover a lot of ground in under 50 minutes but not all of it really needs treading. That withstanding, never does it get grating and still the accessibility factor remains consistent enough to forgive the extra excursions present.

Sometimes albums just slip by you, don’t they? Whilst I would not class myself as an avid fan of Testament exactly, I do have a few of their albums and made a purchase of Formation of Damnation on vinyl in the last twelve months. Yet somehow Titans of Creation slipped by me unnoticed. I could say “more or less” unnoticed because now I have gone back to my catalogue Excel spreadsheet I can see that I rated this record at three out of five, which could suggest an average album, or (given that I never transferred that rating onto Metal Academy) more likely that it was a holding score until I could find time to give the record a critical listen. News today that a new album is in the offing, in a year that has little in the way of quality releases stacking up in The Pit clan, brought this album from five years ago back onto my radar.

The fact is, Titans of Creation is a great thrash metal record. I would go as far as to say Testament’s best since 2008’s Formation… album that I enjoyed so much I made a physical purchase of it. Following the mediocre Dark Roots of Earth and the flat sounding Brotherhood of the Snake, Titans… is a much more dynamic sounding record. Opening strongly with the racing ‘Children of the Next Level’ I immediately sensed that the band indeed had upped their game to the next level in a literal sense. The guitars and vocals especially sound like they have a burning hunger to them, the lead work is nothing short of exceptional at times which is something that has been missing for too long on Testament records. ‘Dreamer Deceiver’ is brilliant in this regard and it is a toss up between this track and ‘False Prophet’ for which is my standout moment on the record.

Inevitably almost, with twelve tracks in play, there are some blunted moments where the razor-sharp nature of what we have heard overall gets the edge taken off it. After a solid first half of the record, things do get a little patchy thereafter, but they never go into full on filler mode thankfully. Whilst it may not always translate into fluid thrashing music, the energy levels behind it rarely abate and that is so refreshing to hear from a band at this stage of their career. The outro to the record seems particularly pointless in the grand scheme of things but I still find it forgivable if a few less-than-ideal moments slip through due to clear overexuberance on the bands part. If they can carry this enthusiasm through into Para Bellum later this week then I personally be a very happy chappy.

As the Burzum chimes grow heavier on 'Der Spalt zwischen den Welten' ('the gap between worlds') there is a sense that Rauhnåcht's fifth full length has arrived. I am very much a fan of that particular trait from the Filosofem album, so any use of that sound can only be a good thing in my book. For a band/artist that is advertised as pagan black metal, it was a bit of a surprise to hear ambient chimes, yet it fits the track aesthetic perfectly. There are other influences on show as well, such as the illusions of grandeur of Summoning or the earthy fortitude of Drudkh.

Zwischenwelten (‘between worlds’) is music for times of adversity. Acting as a balm with its soothing atmospheres yet also providing strength and hope in the chants and resonating tremolo riffs. As an album it has a succinctness in how it plays for just under forty-minutes, as if the artist is taking brief respite from some daily labour to share tales of mysticism and dark fantasy. As the album artwork alludes to, there is a darkness to the album that dress its contents as a warning, a collection of tales of what exactly it is that lurks in that gap between worlds; without ever stating which worlds are being spoken about.

Although less direct in approach than Drudkh, the timbre of the guitar matches on track such as ‘Naturgewalten’ (‘forces of nature’) as it builds up to full speed. Cleverly applying atmospherics in the vacant space around the instruments is well done. As with the album overall, the pagan/folk elements are obvious but never intrusive and as such Zwischenwelten feels like a more conventional black metal album than at first expected. I think the release is only let down by the fact that it lacks any genuine standout moments though. There is no raging intensity that takes the breath away at any point, nor any passages of true ethereal beauty to reflect upon either. Closing track ‘Alleinsamkeit’ comes close with its choral vocals and melancholic leanings but still comes up short in the long run.

It has take me a while to catch onto LoM. This one-man black metal project sees high praise regardless of where I look and last night, whilst revelling in the glorious fury of Storm Amy to remind us all of our place on this planet, I watched a couple of USBM documentaries with this guy being called out on both. Whilst I have high hopes for the new album, based on the single that is out currently at least, I have found this debut to be inferior to Saturnian Bloodstorm from 2023, yet not without its merits.

I like how the majority of the similarities come from other contemporary bm acts as opposed to just endless second wave worship (Immortal and Mayhem aside - those yodellingvocal moments are pure Attila, "De Mysteriis..." worshp to my ears). This makes for an interesting album that sounds modern whilst still firmly nodding to the old ways. It has an enduring, ever-forging direction to it. The atmospherics seem to grow as the album presses on, culminating with the Dead Can Dance cover at the end of the record.

Embracing rawness alongside melodicism to much success, Heir of Eclipital Romance is a strong debut album that sets out the stall of LoM well enough I feel. It is a tad too long in hindsight, which could be put down to over-exuberance on the artists part. Credit where it is due though, I enjoy the record enough as the start of my (chronological) LoM journey.

They are back again. Halifax’s finest are here with album number seventeen. Again, I am stood scratching my head wondering why I have neglected to listen to probably fourteen of those records from that back catalogue, having made a vow to dip back further into the discography after being interested enough in 2020’s Obsidian to write a review on here for it. Like Obsidian, it is the riffs and leads on Ascension that steal the limelight for me. Aedy and Mackintosh’s resilience on guitar to keep their instruments at the center of proceedings keeps me interested in most of the record as I find my attention on Holmes’ vocals waning every now and again (just like on Obsidian).

Tracks like ‘Diluvium’ are unfortunate examples of where the credibility of the song writing gets called into question. Vocals sound like they are striving rather than driving here on this track and it is Mackintosh’s antics on the fretboard that save the track for me. This consistency to the potency of the riffs is what keeps me away from the skip button on more than one occasion on Ascension. As the album goes on, and it is another long-arsed Paradise Lost album we must contend with, the filler starts to get increasingly obvious though. The bite to proceedings never quite blunts altogether but I find the vocals sound increasingly sterile and flat.

This is a shame, not in the least because I do think PL are genuinely trying to be entertaining. As it turns out though, they do end up building more of a sense of running through the motions and at this stage I am not sure if I have another PL record in me. Seven or eight tracks maximum would suffice I feel, as although I can resist the skip button, I am still checking that track listing to see how long there is left. With Guido Montanarini now stepping away from drumming duties (leaving the seat for the returning Jeff Singer) PL are losing a solid drummer based on what is on show here. Maybe a (re)refresh of the line-up could help reinvigorate things enough to see us avoid repeating what has plagued the last two albums. Complacency is culpable for Ascension’s downfall sadly and something will need to change to see me increasing my scores on any future release.

My reach into the underworld of raw black metal stretches further than ever before in 2025. Tornekrans from Norway are proof of this with their rampant charge of black metal that whirrs violently at the listener across ten tracks that rarely let up for breath. I stumbled my way to this one-man project after discovering Khaos Aura earlier this year and being the naturally inquisitive type that I am, my research soon directed me to other projects band members are involved with. Torkus, who does everything in Tornekrans, unleashes his debut full length following his demo from last year. Clearly worshipping at the altar of 90s second wave, he crashes and bashes his way through the album with the fury of Gorgoroth on crack.

This is a record steeped in the stench of that dank scene. Attacking each track with a seemingly inexhaustible level of enthusiasm, Torkus leaves me in no doubt of his intentions on Silent Whispers Echo from Forbidden Realms. There are no whispers or silence for that matter on the record, just echoes from forbidden realms. They come in waves, constantly. Like a hideous undead army of evil spirits, they just keep coming. Attack after attack makes for an unrelenting experience. Zombified warriors, drunk on their hatred and vitriol for the living just hack and slash away at all in their path. A record that is not for the faint of heart, Silent Whispers Echo from Forbidden Realms is a furious expulsion of black metal played against a pagan/folky backdrop.

The croaking harshness of the vocals slices through the wall of tremolos and percussive chaos, and they do elevate what are otherwise simple song structures. Nobody is coming to raw black metal for its complexity of arrangement and so this format works well enough. Whilst I am sure some will find this too frantic an experience, I cannot help but admire the approach. Unwavering and perhaps unnerving it may well be, but at the same time it stays true to the aesthetic it sits in. The folk instrumental that opens the album is the only respite you get folks, it is hell for leather from track two onwards.

As I indicated in my forum post summarising the feature release this month, if I look at Sinmara’s discography, they have never quite topped their debut album. For me the capture of dissonance and atmosphere is rarely exemplified as well as it is across Aphotic Womb. What really stands out is that in creating such a vibrant sound, the band never once let much in the way of light into their songs. As the album title suggests, this is a creation grown in the darkest of wombs, utterly devoid of light. Taking all the best parts of Deathspell Omega, Carpe Noctem and Svartidauði the band make a real European mix of black metal sounds, incorporating elements that also remind me of Irish bm crew Slidhr and even Mgla in the album’s mellower transitions. For an album with so many moving parts it could easily sound like instruments are falling over one another as the layers overlap, yet there’s none of that cumbersome nature present on the album, in fact it is one of the most deftly played dissonant bm records of the 2010’s.

The band clearly take great pride in their attack on Aphotic Womb and there is a real sense of them owning the songs in the fullest sense of the term. Without creating any sense of restraint, they manage each of the tracks so diligently that it is hard not to see their pride in the delivery of their art. Album highlight for me is ‘Shattered Pillars’ with its riffs jittering across the track in glorious shimmering dissonance. In fact, some of the lyrics on here sum up the experience of the album perfectly:

“A cluster of storms

Breathing through wormhole mazes

Feeding gaping jaws the bitter waters of nausea

To harvest the foul seed and rape the crops of life

The demented ancestry of nebulae afar”

The album feels like that cluster of storms, with each track creating that maze as they are performed. There is something foul underlying in the music of Sinmara here, something wicked that barely makes the effort to stay hidden. That strong Ulcerate sound to the guitars on ‘Shattered Pillars’ is one of the reasons why I love this track. The New Zealand dissonant death metallers had only just released the might Vermis the year before Sinmara dropped their debut. Whilst percussively speaking there is a clear difference, the similarity in the guitar sound is undeniable.

Two instrumental tracks on your debut are a bold move, especially with one opening the record, yet Sinmara pull it off for me on both occasions. Working well on the two-disc vinyl version (I am guessing as I only have a digital version of the release) these tracks herald the arrival of each disc to the turntable with a sense of drama that never quite strays into the realm of epic. The harshness of Iceland’s landscape certainly comes through on Aphotic Womb, that unrelenting, heaving nature to the guitars sounds particularly symbolic in comparison. The album sounds like a vast and desolate landscape; possibly invoking images of a mass larger than its country of origin itself at times.

If you look in my Spotify playlists, you’ll find one titled “Workouts”. Fittingly I use this for my kettlebell and free weight exercise sessions, and I would say approx. 80% of the content is deathcore or metalcore. This is something of a revelation for someone who up until around three years ago had heard virtually zero of such music, in fact I had intentionally looked to avoid it for most of the two sub-genre’s existence. Whilst this by no means makes me an expert on such styles of metal, I figure that I am at a reasonable enough level of maturity with this music to pass the occasional comment on The Revolution clan feature release.

As Blood Runs Back have a sound that I instantly find jarring as they deploy that djenty style of riffing that reverberates throughout the track and then there’s the big bloopy and mathy leads that run riot over proceedings. ‘Hesper Prynne’ has the makings of great Meshuggah worship but blows it by just piling more things on top of one another. This track is then followed by instrumental track ‘Pouring Reign’ which just feels like pointless musings really. By this point I am missing some of the big, rhythmic riffs that I use to fuel my workouts. What constitutes as breakdowns here (and I genuinely like a good breakdown) feels just more like a fake slowing of the pace where something else happens. There are moments like on ‘The Brighter Side of Suffering’ when the album sounds a little more on point than on other occasions, but this is still a bit too tame for me.

For me, As Blood Runs Black lack cohesion, bobbing around a little too much on the waves of their own farts in the bath water. I am aware as I type this that I am commenting on a scene that I do not entirely understand and so I am trying not to sound disingenuous to what I am listening to. To put it in grown up terms, the record is too melodic and lacks consistent punch. Tracks such as ‘Beneath the Surface’ start off with such promise but soon end up sounding more or less like every other track on the record and after a while (a short while), this just grates on me.

Well, Sadistic Intent like their splits and EPs, don’t they? I count no fewer than four EPs and three splits in their discography that goes all the way back to 1988 (if you include the demos). Spurious in their output, these Californians play a death thrash style of death metal that recalls Possessed (whom both Cortez brothers played with 2007-2010, alongside guitarist Ernesto) at times but equally they are just at home playing Morbid Angel-esque out and out death metal. With such a healthy background of putrid death thrash in their veins, Sadistic Intent are clearly well-versed in their satanic and occult tendencies.

Their EP from 1994, Resurrection finds them in fine form. The opening riff on ‘Dark Predictions’ has an almost Swedish death metal crunch to it. That marauding lead only adds to the tension the track invokes. Taking a big old run up to get to the vocals, this track is the standout on the release for me. Full of dark energy and blistering intensity and really brings out the Morbid Angel comparison with all the swirling lead chaos.

This sophomore EP was their first major release in four years, but Sadistic Intent do not sound like a band who had been stood around leaning on their instruments since 1990. Although the production leaves a lot to be desired, the instrumentation possesses a primitive yet still cultivated edge to it. It is not that anyone is trying to be showy, but the band can play well and with a lot of heart. They sounded like a determined death metal band on this record, and I personally hear that fortitude in droves on the release and top marks to them for the effort alone. It might only be twenty-four minutes long but Resurrection is entertaining from start to finish and a really exciting feature releases for this month.

If there was a specific pigeonhole that I had to put Die Close in, there’s no doubt it would be labelled something like, ‘Not My Usual Bag, But I Actually Like It’. Taken at face value with its red and grey artwork, you could be forgiven that you are about to enjoy a death or death/doom record or perhaps a blackened death metal record. Die Close is some of and none of those things, all at the same time. If you are looking at the artwork thinking you will get your fix of chugga, chugga, chugga then you are not going to be disappointed. When it riffs, this record riffs hard. However, there is a lot more to the album than that. For a concept album about a vampire, it is in fact a very contagious record all round.

Displaying a groove element to their big doomy riffs, Blood Vulture heads up a charge of doom metal riffs combined with gothic rock and grunge, with the very occasional spray of death metal for good measure. A solo project in the main, Jordan Olds recruits Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota, Sightless Pit and Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter), Jade Puget (AFI, Blaqk Audio and XTRMST) as well as Shadows Fall and Overcast vocalist Brian Fair to assist him on some tracks, whilst Gina Gleeson of Baroness also appears on a couple of tracks. So not only do we have a plethora of styles/genres being moulded together, but we also have a cacophony of artists from different backgrounds collaborating to deliver the album. As such, any listener who just tries to focus on one element of the record will be disappointed. One of the main successes of the album is how well it all combines into a coherent and powerful single entity. The production job certainly helps this, but the song writing in the main is solid, achieving infectious levels of catchiness almost at times.

As I listen to this I am constantly reminded of Alice in Chains (albeit the more modern version of the group) but the album is a real treat of influences and styles, with Pallbearer being in the sound also to my ears. My favourite track on the album is ‘Entwined’ which features Kristin Hayter. Full of dark opera and drama yet still catchy as well, this track combines allure with reward perfectly. The rolling riff on ‘Burn for It’ featuring Brian Fair stays with you long after the record has finished. In a little over a fortnight, many tracks are traced into my brain so deep that I can recite them end-to-end. Where it does come unstuck to rob it of full marks, the album is only guilty of missed edit opportunities. I don’t need the interlude halfway through the record, although I get its relevance in the story being played, it does rob us of some momentum I feel. ‘Silence of God’ is the only real proper track that I find falls over itself a bit, Whilst I did have some reservations over ‘A Dream About Starving to Death’ with its repetitive structure, I soon calmed my fears by relating the concept of a nightmare being something that happens relentlessly and so perhaps that repetition is actually a genius way of representing the horror of the vampire’s dream.

Good hooks out manoeuvre the need for complexity and excessive grandiosity here. Die Close will chart highly somewhere on one of my year end lists I am sure, just which one it fits under is going to be the only quandary.

Poland continues their knack of producing quality black metal albums then. I mean Mgla, Furia, Blaze of Perdition and Kriegsmaschine all have managed to make a niche for themselves, and now Kraków residents Medico Peste (which means Doctor Plague/Doctor Pestilence) offer up more than just blastbeats and tremolos on their third record. Landing somewhere between the production values of their fellow countrymen, Mgla and the skittish musings of Deathspell Omega, there is most certainly lots to explore on Aesthetic of Hunger. Full of twists and turns to keep the listener on their toes, it possesses a level of musicianship that few other acts can boast. The combination of the dissonance in the riffs performed within progressive structures give some of the tracks a real sense of expansion. Meanwhile the vocals carry a cruelty that seems to infect the very lyrics as they are spat into the air around them.

One must take note also of drummer Adrian Stempak’s performance. It is his assured and skilful playing that holds the fabric of the album sound together. Just as at home with blastbeats as he is with slower-paced or progressive patterns, he really manages to stand out for all the right reasons here. His good work starts immediately on the album opener, ‘St. Anthony’s Fire’ a track that shows the real gamut of his abilities. As well as having a strong line up to begin with, Medico Peste invited a range of guests onto the recording of the album. Instrumental number ‘Antrakt’ has a different drummer (Janusz Gałyga – who also covers electronics over the record), and a Bartłomiej Bardon adds some guitar work on ‘Ecclessiogenic Psychosis’. Most obvious in terms of their contribution though is female vocalist Hekte Zaren who contributes some dark alchemy to three tracks on the record.

Mostly, I find admiration for the bravery in the song writing on Aesthetic of Hunger. Tracks such as ‘The Black Lotus’ use melody in an almost non-linear way, maintaining an ominous presence as it guides the track along. These thrusts of melodic dissonance carve ever-growing arteries and veins into the harsher elements of the record. They feed the Medico Peste monster with a seemingly unending supply of pestilential blood for its rotten appetite. Balancing, the urgency of the tremolo alongside these more expansive elements is a task that is handled well. ‘Ecclessiogenic Psychosis’ clearly shows how well they manage this, being able to have the progressive structures teetering on the brink of destruction from the swarming guitars. Descending into an almost jazzy section around halfway through the track, the progressive elements really take over with the bass getting a lot of space in the mix. Hekte’s dark operatic vocals add yet further opulence to this lusciously nefarious little number. This is probably my album highlight in all honesty as the track ends up very much in a different place to where it starts.

The palate cleansing instrumental is unfortunately where things come a little unstuck for me. Although it is well placed in terms of still carrying some of the experimental structure from the previous track, ‘Antrakt’ is a slowing down of pace that I doubt the need for in all honesty. As interesting as it is, it just feels like it is obstructive when considering the album track listing. The more experimental elements do bring Furia to mind and ‘Folie de Dieu’ has a great riff structure to it that continues this theme. With some of the most scathing use of tremolos on the album to this point, this is a real welcome return to form after the instrumental let down. Yet, the album does still feel like it has lost some of the earlier form in terms of structure, over the second half at least. There is not any filler present on the album, but ‘Viaticum’ seems to meander a tad, dragging its heels a bit with a slower pace that if nothing else, does further emphasises the menace the album carries. As the very Mgla-esque closer ‘Act of Faith’ plays out the album, it is hard to ignore the earlier quality that covered the first four tracks in such glory. Whilst the album does go off the boil from the midway point onwards, Medico Peste are clearly still swinging punches the whole way through even if not all of them land correctly.

I have been trying to do this write up for a while, frustrated by the fact that whilst I freely admit that this is a good album, after it has finished, I get little in the way of memorability. Mossblood seethes with all the urgent intensity you would expect from a black metal record. Yet at the same time it possesses intricacy in how tracks are put together. Whilst the tremolo is very “trilly” in the main and plays a big part in their sound, Lichen are not afraid to use chords either. Add to this a morose sounding melody and an ability to change pace and tempos, and you can hear how things quickly become interesting.

The audible bass sound most certainly helps Mossblood carry a complete and full sound. It is not a heavy or particularly “twangy” bass presence by any means, however it does retain its shadowy subtlety as it drives tracks like ‘Chthonian Mysteries’. Equally, a solid, if not perhaps a little muffled sounding performance on the drums is also a consistent part of the instrumentation on the album. The production job is lo-fi enough in terms of values yet there is also some polish to the sound that helps with the clarity in the mix. This balance should keep the kvlt hordes happy as well as bringing a sense of the dynamic to the sound of the record.

Album highlight, ‘From Life to Loam’ bristles with a sharp melodicism that could give Spectral Wound a run for their money. There’s a section about halfway through where the bass picks up some real resonance and the tremolo slugs it out with some open chords. It is moments like these that help Lichen standout from most of the releases I have heard in black metal so far this year. When you consider that there are no synths/keys on the record, the amount of tension that Lichen can build is impressive. The tremolo has a foreboding about it and the hopelessness in some of the melodies helps in building this thick atmosphere. Silly “fungal” black metal tag aside, Mossblood offers as strong a representation of the second wave you are likely to hear in 2025.

Songs of Hiraeth is a compilation of (majority) unreleased tracks spanning two years from 2009 – 2011. Inspired by Lunn’s first time in Northern Europe, as well as his more frequent trips to the remote north of the USA, there is a real sense of freedom in the seven songs here. The record feels like a collection of songs, and for once this is not a problem. The capture of these moments in time, the artist’s memories, carries a clearly personal nature, one which permits the listener some insight into the artists world. You can picture vast landscapes when listening to this record or envisage perhaps the frustration at having to leave such views to return to the humdrum of the daily grind.

The songs here are of the quality we have all come to expect from Austin Lunn. The more atmospheric pieces possess that familiar ethereal appeal to them. Embedding aggression around these tracks with a level of mastery that somehow still retains the atmospheric tropes that are usually so well established, whilst still suggesting varying degrees of emotion being expressed, takes talent, simple as that. The build of ‘The White Mountain View’ shows this perfectly over a near eleven-minute track. Yet the track that follows immediately after it, ‘Haunted America II’ has a much more direct approach with its scathing riffage and myriads of percussions attacking the listener from the off. Indeed, it is testimony to the talent on display here that a compilation record of tracks over fifteen years old could easily make a dent in any end of year list.

There are a couple of occasions where the production sounds a little muddled to my ears (‘A Letter’ in particular) and whilst it does not necessarily ruin the listening experience, it does diminish the momentum somewhat. I sense that some elements are just placed off in the mix and the black metal squall comes with an underlying reverb that is just, well, unhelpful. I must note however what an outstanding drummer Lunn is. On previous releases, I had somehow missed this, but on this one his skin bashing really shines through. As I say, for a compilation release, it is hard not to be impressed with Songs of Hiraeth. It is another great addition to the Panopticon discography and one that carries a real sense of connection with it. If you were disappointed (as I was) to think that the folk laden Laurentian Blue was going to be Lunn’s only release of 2025, then Songs of Hiraeth will be a more than welcome addition.

I posted Private Music in a thread on another forum I frequent and got asked by one of the regulars there to help them understand the appeal of Deftones. After a lot of words, I came to the overall conclusion that I respect Deftones because they never attempt to “be” anything. Their range of musical styles and influences could take up a whole paragraph of this review quite easily. However, the comparison I eventually made was that in my experience of metalcore/deathcore, there are some acts who like to step around inside Bilie Elish style electro-pop ecosystems for a few minutes before landing a twenty-second breakdown of crushing riffs to keep some semblance of metal relevant in their sound. For some of these acts, they could quite easily for go the metal parts and just stick with the non-metal if they do it well enough. However, although Deftones work with a blueprint, it is one that exists in such a size already that on their best records, the sky is literally the limit and metal may not always obviously be on the cards.

That having been said. I cannot recall the last time I actively waited for a Deftones album, let alone really enjoyed one in its entirety. Following the huge impact that Diamond Eyes had on me when I returned from a hiatus from metal in 2010 was realistically never going to be repeated, I know. When Koi No Yokan dropped some two years later, I lapped it up most definitely but my levels of fascination with its predecessor were never repeated. Working back from Diamond Eyes into their discography rewarded me with White Pony of course, which will go down as one of my all-time favourite alt metal releases, albeit I do not have an extensive listening history within that sub-set of metal music. When it came then to their more modern records, Gore and Ohms just failed to hold my interest and I drifted from the Deftones world of gazey, alt-metal, trip-hop, dream-pop music altogether.

With more of a focus on new music this year, I soon got wind of the singles ahead of the release of Private Music itself. Whilst neither ‘My Mind is a Mountain’ or ‘Milk of the Madonna’ bristled with any true sense of a reinvigorated intensity returning to the Deftones sound, I have hung fire passing any judgement until the album itself was available. Whilst they were both perfectly inoffensive tracks in isolation, I was more interested in how they fitted into the usual multi-textured layers of a whole album by Chino and co. It does not take long for me to find things that I like very much about Private Music. Whilst in isolation ‘My Mind is a Mountain’ is an appetiser, as an album opener it sets out the stall of the record well. Bold in the riff department, whilst also letting the percussion do its thing it marries perfectly with ‘Locked In’ which then follows a similar blueprint, leading into the chugging ‘Ecdysis’. Exploring the bass to get the pace going before establishing a very familiar sound to the Diamond Eyes era that I am such a fan of adds much needed familiarity for me to this track.

The stories within stories layering of the Deftones writing is alive and kicking still on Private Music. Watch the video to ‘My Mind is a Mountain’ and see Chino dancing to a very different theme to what is playing. This is a good thing for me, seeing the heavier end of their sound being embraced a little more whilst still having an agenda the listener must work on uncovering. Whilst far from perfect, the flow of tracks this time around feels more cohesive than it has in a while. Running the usual musical gauntlet over forty-two minutes there are still some golden runs of tracks, especially towards the end of the record. ‘Cut Hands’ through to album closer ‘Departing the Body’ springs to mind. Two up-tempo pieces followed by a more poised track to finish shows the maturity that the band clearly have at this stage.

Caution remains on calling this a return to form perhaps. If I was ranking the record against the last few over the past fifteen years, then Private Music sits in third behind Koi No Yokan and Diamond Eyes respectively. A large part of me doubts the band can achieve the heights they once enjoyed, but Private Music is evidence enough that the potential remains.

I have a project list in my office for sub-genres I need to conduct a deep dive on. Pagan black metal is one item listed there as I have very little, formal knowledge of the sub-genre. When I come to a release that is tagged as “pagan” on the Metal Academy site I instantly think of folk metal, then I quickly remember that is a different thing. At least I think it is? Anyway, I won’t let the study of the tag take over the whole review, but if pagan black metal has more of what Aldaaron offer on Par-delà les cimes then I will be taking that deep dive sooner rather than later. The title of the album translates as “how pagan black metal differs to folk metal”. No, wait that’s wrong. “Beyond the Peaks” is the correct translation and the album is dedicated to their fallen comrade Thöl who covered bass duties in the band 2010-2012. Sadly, he passed away in 2022.

The album caught me off guard in two aspects if I am honest. Firstly, its potent aggression is vivid and striking from the off. The harrowing scream that starts album opener ‘Antediluvian Prophecies’ is an early taste of the venom of Aldaaron have coursing through their veins. The second item that was unexpected is how atmospheric and expansive the sound is here. Beyond those earthy tones there are soaring tremolos and majestic melodies that loop up into the air around them. Although the release has a thirty-six-minute duration, there are only four tracks here and with a couple of them stretching over the ten-minute mark it is important that the main duo of Ioldar and Voldr create some enchantment to these tracks. Thankfully they achieve this in bundles.

The choral passages are unobtrusive and befitting to the aesthetic of the album. Spaced well apart from the blackened material that drive the tracks in the main, these more ethereal sections are a clever contrast option. The charging tremolo of tracks such as ‘Chants d’hiver et de solitude’ are a joy to behold. Add into this mix, the thoughtful production job that allows each instrument some space to be heard. The vocals are superb throughout, with their ghastly edge creating atmospheres all of their own. The way you can pick out the bass on the final track, ‘Under the Icy Sky, Memories Fade Away’ is pleasing on the ear and the soaring lead work only adds to the allure of the track. A superb discovery, if not a little too short overall.

To me, I liken a good doom record to the looming threat of a thunderstorm. The smell of that electricity in the air that crackles along your nasal passages, causing your ears to strain in the distance for that first rumble of thunder or have you reach for the light switch to plunge the room into darkness so your eyes can catch that first flash of lightning. This record gives me that vibe. It is not that I am expecting a full-blown thunderstorm experience from the record, far from it. Grief’s Internal Flower holds me in that pensive, excited and anticipatory state nicely. Whilst it would be a push to call it the calm before the storm, it is still an enjoyable experience for the looming presence it creates. Abated by the almost hushed, monotone of Cottrell’s vocals layered like pasta sheets in a fuzzy lasagne the album lulls me a little, giving a false sense of security. Then, on the strike of a drum or the dancing melody of a lead, the sky lights up in the distance. A big, bold wall of sheet lightning makes its appearance known and I switch my focus to the rumble of some thunder from the bass or rhythm section overall.

Tracks like ‘Tanngrisnir’ open big and loud yet possess some regimented nature in the tightness of the bands sound still. It is not necessarily a catchy record in the strictest sense of the term, yet the head is banging, and the foot is stomping along to the funereal death march of the drums and the monolithic chug of the guitars. It is an infectious sound to my ears at least, the competency of the artists in a style of music that feels inherently laid-back carries a devoted level of intensity still. The Electric Wizard influence is strong, unavoidable in fact. But it is such a genuine representation of that sound that I cannot help but lap it up.

Having recently discovered Cottrell’s solo work (which debuted the same year as this record), I am a fan of her non-metal stuff. However, the ballad, ‘Sparrow’ does very little for me here. It is well positioned in the album, giving a change of pace in the middle of the record but I am so caught up in all this thick doomy goodness that I find it an unnecessary distraction almost. Of course, by this point we are shaping up for the run into the album’s conclusion. Two lengthy tracks await us, with both clocking in at over fourteen-minutes. ‘Hesperus’ may have a glacial pace to it, but it is so harrowing in its delivery that it just would not work in a shortened format. As a track, it does shift restlessly at times and the way it just cuts off in full flow at the end is baffling to me. ‘Kingfisher’ is borderline a stretch too far for me at this point. There’s just too much to process at the back end of the album with these two tracks laid side-by-side in the running order. Whilst there are obvious differences between the two tracks from a structural perspective, it is still two massive tracks backloaded onto the album together.

In isolation, even on separate albums if not at least at opposite ends of this one, the tracks are not poor. However, they do not complement each other well. Acoustic album closer, ‘Aition’ serves some soothing purpose almost by proxy, but I sense that closing the album with ‘Hesperus’ is a missed trick unfortunately.  So a mixed bag in all for me on this one, still undeniably well performed and well written, even though the arrangement does leave a lot to be desired overall. 

Turns out I am a sucker for the rawer end of black metal. As much as I can dig (earlier) Enslaved or atmospheric wonders from the likes of Drudkh and even blackened dm from the Akhlys of this world, give me a meat ‘n potatoes black metal record like Thorn Bringer and I am as happy as a pig in the proverbial. With the blazing intensity of Gorgoroth slicing through all in its path, the third album from Norway’s Khaos Aura is not here to show any mercy. In a year that has seen Altar of Woe charge straight to the top of my EOY black metal list, Khaos Aura were always going to be a strong entry on that list.

I would concede that there is at least some melody and alteration of pace present on Thorn Bringer though. As frenzied as it can be, there is also a sense of how well placed some of the blows are. Equally at home in nicking the skin of the listener as they are in slicing through flesh, Khaos Aura are a calculating pair. Building as true a picture of Norwegian black metal as you could hope to see, Thorn Bringer possesses a real venom to it. But instead of just relying on its bite to placate its victims, it is just as at ease coiling and slithering around limbs and into orifices to maximise the potential of its threat.

With lo-fi but not too primitive production values, the album sounds ugly without being alienating. The borderline ambient closing to ‘Sort Vintertrolldom’ contrasts perfectly well with the jangling guitar attack of the track that follows it, ‘An Empire of Unlight’. So, all in all, Thorn Bringer is right up my alley really. It brings the rawness but shows character with it, just as it shows real heart for the good old days of Norwegian black metal. Worth noting that Torkus who handles drums and synths for Khaos Aura also has his own project, Tornekrans which is a little more roughshod than this and is also worth a listen.

It feels like Blackbraid has been around forever, when in fact it is just a mere three years of existence for the indigenous black metal solo artist from the Adirondack Mountains. Despite my confusion over how long Blackbraid has been around, this is the first time that I have gotten around to listening to one of his albums. I was interested in the beginning but then (bizarrely) I got pissed off with the constant flood of marketing emails I was getting from him and so I senselessly punished him and myself by not listening to his albums. What a twat I am sometimes.

Nowadays, Vinny comes with some degree of in-built maturity about him and so can understand that for a fearsomely independent artist such as Blackbraid, who must have a queue of labels after him by now, promotion is key to his success. The other element that is central to being successful of course is the quality of your music and album number three certainly delivers on that front. Unafraid to fire some leads into the equation, Sgah'gahsowáh can work beyond just tremolos and blastbeats. His racing and urgently paced tracks carry some real attack behind them. Channelling as much Uada as he does Immortal on tracks such as ‘The Dying Breath of a Sacred Stag’, there’s a fair old bit of power behind those punches that he throws.

As we would expect from a largely atmospheric-black metal act, there are fleeting acoustic passages and flurries of natural sounds akin to Panopticon, alongside the more direct and aggressive black metal sounds. From looking at the eye-catching artwork on the cover (a combination of border work by Adrian Baxter and imagery form Adam Burke) it is hard not to expect some of the more spiritual aspects we get here. There’s no surprises on the album. From a brand perspective, the listener should find exactly what was advertised is delivered.

My first impression of Blackbraid is that this is an incredibly well-written and skilfully performed record. Drummer Neil Schneider puts in a shift behind the skins that supports the rest of the sounds well enough. The guitar in the main is the element that shines however, alongside those harsh vocals they make quite a combo with the melodic leads and harsh riffs to boot. I guess I could criticise the three instrumentals as starting to get a little old by the time we get to track eight. However, they do all serve a purpose and aren’t directionless sounds of motion like whatever it is that is going on with the opening of the latest Drudkh album. There is a much richer melodic bm vein to the record than I was expecting based on previous reviews I have heard of his work. Whilst I won’t go over the top with praise for Blackbraid III, it is a good album. Its use of interludes aside, it is structurally sound and although I will probably not rush out to buy a physical copy I will try to make up for some lost time with Blackbraid by enjoying this record many more times in the coming weeks, months and years.

Fer de Lance present a problem for me in that they play a with very traditional heavy metal sound when approaching their music. Of course, I publicly left that sound behind a long time ago when exiting The Guardians clan. There are times when listening to Fires on the Mountainside when I begin to doubt its doom metal credentials altogether if I am honest. Yet at the same time, there is such quality to this record that I cannot help but put aside my dissatisfaction and be drawn into the joys of the record. I have seen their sound described as folk-prog in some reviews as well as mention of blackened tinges in others. I can see both most definitely, based on this record at least. Influences aside, it is easy for me to appreciate the epic metal authenticity of Fer de Lance’s sound as it is a stalwart of the tracks collected here on this record. Wherever the album does tread over the seven songs presented, the listener can be left in little doubt as to where the heart of the band truly lies.

It is good to hear the Viking metal elements of Bathory protruding through in places, and with some spurts of Candlemass alongside the more modern similarities of Atlantean Kodex we are soon finding ourselves transported around the world of metal with Fires on the Mountainside. The keyboards really drive tracks like ‘Ravens Fly (Dreams of Daidalos)’ whilst soaring leads and epic yodelling vocals continue to embellish the grandeur of the sound. Vocally, I am most reminded of King Diamond. Which, given he is one of the most overrated vocalists in my metal in my book, could be considered a slur somewhat. I find the sound of the higher pitched vocals on this record to be far more endearing though and the songs to be better structured than most Mercyful Fate/King Diamond tunes I have tolerated over the years. I sense there is more than one singer on this record though (or just one with amazing range and heavy use of overlays). ‘Death Thrives (Where Walls Divide)’ is probably the best example of this great vocal display.

As tracks like ‘The Feast of Echoes’ prove, simple structures can still make epic metal. Here is a big Bathory, stomping track if ever there was one. Straight and to the point, this is one of the most memorable tracks on display here and has great longevity as a result. Should there ever be cause for me to consider revisiting some trad heavy metal then there is a good chance that this record could be the trigger for it. Yet doubt does still creep in. There is a very well-established format to Fires on the Mountainside and to some degree it does become repetitive at times. Maybe isolated to my own battles I accept, but I am kind of “epic exhausted” by the time we are getting to the final couple of tracks on the record. There’s nothing wrong with them at all, but perhaps they are a stretch too far for me still at this point of my listening habits. However, Fires on the Mountainside has still surprised me and has been kicking around my rotation list for a good few weeks as a result.

Former Ne Obliviscaris vocalist, Marc Campbell has joined forces with Virgin Black’s, Sesca Scaarba to create funeral doom outfit Spiine. Boasting none other than Lena Abé (My Dying Bride) on bass and current Opeth drummer, Waltteri Väyrynen on their debut record, Tetraptych has a lot of class involved in it. As if this star line-up was not enough, the album also features the work of late Norwegian photographer Lene Marie Fossen on the cover. The emancipated figure in the bed is Fossen herself, a lifelong anorexic who was a master of self-portraits and used her art to reflect human suffering. Fossen died in 2019.

Tetraptych then has it all it seems. Some well renowned artists in metal, a sense of grandeur in its use of orchestration, an incredibly harrowing and personal image adorning its cover and a run time of over an hour. The stage is set nicely for some funeral doom folks. And funeral doom we do indeed get. Agonisingly slow riffs and melancholic leads fester in the fetid air of album opener ‘Myroblysiia’ (yes, every song title has a double ‘I’), whilst the drums remain present but unintrusive in the background. All is shaping up nicely until around eight-and-a-half minutes into the track when some crude clicking rhythm takes hold and completely derails all the excellent work done to that point. I am unsure if this was intentional or not, but it is disorientating to say the least.

Taking the track title at its meaning (at least the correctly spelt version anyways), myroblysia is the scent that emanates from the bodies of saints. The odour of sanctity is said to come from the wounds of stigmata according to the Catholic Church. Despite the ugly interruption, this track carries that air of sanctimonious grandeur about it. Clocking in at over fifteen minutes long, it takes a couple of turns along the way, holding the interest still throughout.  That orchestration is obvious throughout the album and is sprawling in the tapestries it weaves. Building tracks subtly alongside Campbell’s varied guttural and raspy vocals, the arrangement of the instruments feels very well thought through. There is plenty of space to be used and the urge perhaps to fill all of it is thankfully resisted. At the heart of Tetraptych is a fathomless void that mere mortals cannot fulfil. Whilst its four panels are very clearly framed (four tracks), there are expanses around each of them that can only resonate with the echoes of curses. Lost in all this sadly is Abé, which seems a waste.

The performance of Väyrynen needs noting though. He plays a clever and important part on the record. I doubt anyone else could have made such a measured performance without losing overall presence. His accomplished, patient and thoughtful style is what allows the atmospheres to really shine without being overshadowed by them at the same time. Tracks like ‘Glaciial’ just simply would not work without him. At the very core of the Spiine sound though are the cavernous vocals of Marc Campbell. The attack of the opening of ‘Oubliiete’ is led by his explosive gurns and the thick atmosphere that ensues sees his deathly rasp ride atop of it. When combined with the crushing riffs of Sesca the results are phenomenal, if not always sustained for long enough for my liking.  As you would expect from a funeral doom release, Tetraptych is a punishing and challenging listen. It rewards in abundance also, especially once tracks have built into their full flow. It is a lot still for me to take in across one sitting, and I do find that splitting the record in half as two separate listens does increase my enjoyment of the album more. Fans of Evoken and Loss, should find lots to enjoy here.

In choosing Portal’s Vexovoid for the feature release this month I have challenged myself to try and put into words exactly what it is that appeals to me about this frenzied, chaotic and utterly aphotic style of music. In terms of what it wants to be seen as, Portal is androgynus to me. It is of indeterminate form. An almost alien being that inhabits a permanently chthonic state, and whether it is necessarily esoteric or arcane in who it connects with or not, ultimately, I take comfort in the maelstrom that is the sound of Portal, with Vexovoid being probably the pinnacle of the Australians own brand of bedlam.

It is not that I like chaos. I have a very chaotic and stressful job (though the people that I work for term it as a ‘dynamic environment’, of course). Whilst precisely zero of my nerves are stretched into that taught and fractious state by Vexovoid, there is a sense, from a love extreme music perspective certainly, that when the record is playing, I am somewhat at home in that churning mass. I have said elsewhere on MA about how my love of metal has created the notion for me that the music is mine, purely for me. Therefore, when I find an album like Vexovoid, I cannot help but form a smug grin on my face. The sheer sense of identity it gives me is so pleasing that I am happy to watch form, structure and even the general architecture of music in its basest form, burn around me.

The promethean values of Portal, therefore, hold great appeal for me. Tracks play like a series of paroxysms, scathing and monstrous outbursts of wonderfully transgressive noise. The sound carries an infection. Not in a catchy or hooky nature of course. A genuinely verminous level of virulent horror, and I fucking love that bravery. This is not just admiration for artists going out and committing their true form to record though, there is appeal also in them being able to do it memorably. I can hear parts of Vexovoid in my head when I concentrate. It doesn’t drift into my head like other music does randomly most mornings, I must seek it out. Seemingly it lies there dormant, like a slumbering beast, exhausted from its years of torment and so only able to give me short bursts of its fury unless left to recharge itself for prolonged periods.

I can easily see how overwhelming this album can appear, indeed that sense of foreboding is very much part of the appeal for me. Yet even I can find fault with Vexovoid. The familiarity of the tracks, in terms of sticking to a very consistent sound does start to feel overbearing as the album crawls on. Attempts to control and vary the pace are clearly made, and for the most part, they do deliver. Yet for all my love of the album it is guilty of a lack of variety. The subtle changes to vocal style and tempo are noted, yet they do little to steer the rating to a perfect mark. Then again, as I have already stated, I do not come to Vexovoid for anything more than its glorious chaos. No frills are needed really, I guess.

Residing in a cold and yet familiar place somewhere between the ambient trappings of Burzum and the more medieval grandeur of Satyricon, Skuggor wears many influences on his sleeve throughout his third album, which is my first experience of the Australian who now resides in Sweden. Those deep, chiming notes that punctuate opening track ‘Writhe’ immediately resonate through the dark emptiness of the atmosphere of the record. Those ghastly vocals maraud and worry the listener with a menacing sense of triumph.

Things take an immediately more melodic turn on the appropriately named ‘Meditations Upon the Roots of Infinity’. A more laid back, slower tempo is embraced on this one giving a contemplative nature to the sound. The drums threaten disruption, but never quite get there. Appearing as almost ritualistic behind the thrusting notes of the guitar and the light synths that accompany them. After just two tracks it is clear why Where Sun Resigns caught my attention so quickly. There is depth and variety here, with a record that still sticks to the core black metal aesthetic. There is a balance to things, a level of control applied that shows maturity.

The man behind Skuggor (Matthew Bell) is active in a lot of other projects it seems. Ranging from dungeon synth to post-metal/post-rock, from atmo-black to thrash metal as well as funeral doom, folk metal, avant garde and symphonic melo-death metal, it is safe to say that Mr Bell has quite the repertoire to play with. The danger would be for the fusion of all those elements across the wide selection of bands, projects and collaborations he is involved in to permeate into one horrible mish mash of styles. However, as I note above, there is a firm hand on the tiller in Skuggor and having set his stall out early on, he sticks to the classic sounds referenced earlier on in the review.

There’s an overall sense of calm that I get from this record. Even in the more urgent moments it never quite sets the pulse racing. This is well executed black metal that knows the content it wants to project and focuses on delivering that to a high standard. ‘For Every Wound A Hymn of Growth’ is the longest track on here, but it stands out for its clever arrangement as opposed to just its actual length being the only thing of note. The nastiness still comes through though, mostly as a by-product of the vocals as I said. But the evil in the album is framed in this dark ambience so well that it somehow emphasises it almost organically.

Argentine black metal has got to be one of my more niche geographical listening habits. But with the likes of Brazil and Chile now regularly appearing in my listening explorations, it seems natural that other parts of South America start to cross my radar. Dark Blasphemer seem to be a long-standing outfit having formed way back in 2011 and here releasing album number three some seven years after their last album, Suicidal Catharsis.

All three albums to date have been released independently, but based on Winter of Darkness, they could easily find themselves a record label if they so wished. This is grim black metal of a suitably depressive nature but has a lot more to it than just a tape machine on record and some instruments being murdered in the same room. There might only be three of them in the band with one of them doing both guitar and drums for this record, but the sound overall is strong. All the instruments standout in the mix nicely enough, with even the bass twanging in now and again from behind the scathing riffs.

Although most definitely rooted in black metal, Winter of Darkness possesses some death metal elements for variation here and there. Those galloping dm riffs on ‘Lord of Misery’, show the band stretching their legs early in the record. Whilst the picked tremolos of ‘Legal Fiction’ is pure Burzum worship, complete with the chants for good measure. Overall, there is nothing here to note that this is not a record released by a band from Norway and the authenticity to the sound of the album is testimony to the band members experience to date. I sense there’s a lot of years in the band and that maturity comes across well in the music.

It would be remiss of me to indicate this would place high in my year end list in five months’ time. However, I must acknowledge the genuine black metal article when I hear it, and Winter of Darkness ticks all the boxes for being a veritable feast of the dark arts. Not too showy but also devoid of shabbiness at the same time, there is hopefully a lot more to come from Dark Blasphemer. For now, I can be satiated well enough by this though.

2025 has seen me really stretch my legs in The Fallen clan for the first time. According to my spreadsheet I have hammered through ninety-four releases from this year alone. Ranging from sludge through to death/doom metal, there’s a healthy section of doom metal in there also. The two most under-represented sub-genres are clearly drone (not my bag) and gothic metal. The latter category has seen CoF make a couple of splashes in the pool before dropping out of rotation quickly enough, and to be honest there’s been little of anything else that way inclined that I have picked up on. A couple of weeks ago, that changed with the discovery of the bold artwork that adorns the cover of the sophomore release from San Antonio band, Marble Orchard.

The band have a dramatic logo, dressed in gothic font, much like the album title. Then we have the just as dramatic artwork, with its bold use of red against a backdrop of grey and black. Ruminations of Ruin certainly grabs the attention visually in the first instance at last. Musically, the bands sound fits the logo and artwork perfectly. Dripping with Type O’ Negative style vocals and littered with Swallow the Sun and My Dying Bride musings, it is soon clear that no curved balls are being served here. The vocals have been an on and off challenge for me in all honesty, and right now (for this review at least) I am onboard with their bellicose nature. They do sound a bit goofy at times still, yet for most of my listens through they have certainly settled nicely with everything else I am hearing.

It is hard still to not get too drawn into them ahead of the other activity that is being performed alongside them. The guitar sound is thankfully prominent also which does give opportunity to tear your ears away from the vocals for a few sections of each track. The riffs are big and crunchy, and the leads are sorrowful forays, leaden with melancholy as we would expect. The percussion does appear to have some challenges with the mix (what is going on with that jangling noise that intermittently appears on tracks, or is that just me?), but still the drum work is commanding. The organ on tracks like ‘Anti-Mirth (Anhedonia)’ adds lashings of atmospheres and that taught sounding bass also helps here.

The main problem I have with Ruminations of Ruin is that it is just too long. The intro track is instrumental and takes forever to get through and then another two instrumentals at nearly a minute each at later points in the tracklisting don’t help with this sense of design triumphing over content a little. I get the album is a bold undertaking (I have called out all the signs of this already in the review), but it does seem that the band have gotten a little carried away with themselves here, and a trim would have helped. That having been said, there is still much to enjoy on the record. However, it has taken more than few listens to bed in, so it is not an immediate type of a record for me.