Sonny's Forum Replies

The Great Old Ones - Kadath (2025)

I have been a big fan of the Lovecraft-obsessed Frenchmen since the release of their sophomore, Tekeli-li, back in 2014. They have always imbued their atmospheric black metal with post-metal and even atmo-sludge elements to add an additional emotional redolence to their tales of eldritch horror. Whilst this latest follows a similar template, the band are also moving in a generally more progressive direction, as exemplified by the ten-minute opener, "Me, the Dreamer" and even more pertinently by the lengthy instrumental "Leng". "Me, the Dreamer" begins in TGOO's recognisably dense atmospheric black metal style, but at midpoint it takes an even more menacing turn, introducing an air of dissonance that sees it covering similar territory to that heard recently on Ulcerate's "Cutting the Throat of God", before making a more triumphal-sounding procession to song's end. The fifteen minutes of "Leng" exhibits even more musical turns, being an epic piece that expresses the faded grandeur and looming menace of long-forgotten and abandoned alien cityscapes better than any amount of words could. This track in particular, without it's reliance on the human voice, reveals how adept the band are becoming at writing metal that can convey atmosphere and mood by instrumentation alone and is a seminal piece for the band. The three guitarists weave in and out of each other with wistful and lighter motifs alongside hulking and towering, darker riffs making this a beautifully constructed and expressive instrumental.

Not only on those two tracks, but throughout it's hour-long runtime, Kadath sounds more ambitious than the band's previous material and feels like a band stretching their wings, having grown more confident in their technical abilities and reaching for more tools to utilise in their quest to produce music that fully conveys the dark and ominous concepts of the Cthulhu Mythos around which they base their ethos. They have always produced epic-sounding black metal, but their new-found confidence in their ability to expand their sound has taken this to a new level, with increasingly light and dark shades contrasting each other to deepen the otherworldly atmospherics. This isn't by any means a sea-change in the frenchmen's sound, but rather an evolution in the way they express themselves, I guess in a similar way that Enslaved successfully managed on their releases during the 2000s. Like the Norwegians TGOO are unafraid to sometimes take a slightly more melodic route with several of their riffs proving to be decidedly hooky, the opening riff of "Under the Sign of Koth" for example, being a particular foot-tapper.

All this has not come at the expense of any inate heaviness, it must be pointed out. Well, maybe a little, but I think that the more reflective moments often serve to throw the heavier sections into even sharper relief and render them consequently more effective. Look, Kadath is not exactly the kind of album you would put on to work out some aggression or for a good headbanging session, but that doesn't mean that it can't shake the foundations occasionally and it possesses enough sonic gut-punches to appeal to any number of discerning metalheads. But that ultimately isn't the aim of the album, it is for reflection and contemplation of the unknown corners of the human psyche and the barely concealed horrors lurking therein, to which end it is reasonably successful, I would suggest.

4.5/5

Here is my review:

Dekapited are a four-piece thrash band from Santiago, Chile who formed in 2006. This 2011 EP marked the band's debut release, following on from three demos, one from each of the preceeding three years. The EP features five tracks and an intro with a 21 minute runtime. I have constantly been heard espousing the merits of chilean thrash metal and these guys are deservedly one of the beneficiaries of my effusive praise over the past few years.

Taking their cues from deathly thrashers of the late 80s and early 90s such as Demolition Hammer, Dekapited tread a path that will be familiar to anyone who has any knowledge of the 21st century South America thrash scene, especially as it manifests in the chilean capital and it's surrounding areas. This small area has kept the thrash metal flag flying through what has been a lean time for the genre by incorporating aspects of extreme metal, usually black or, as is in Dekapited's case, death metal. This is nothing new of course, but I believe that because there is an actual vibrant and lively thrash scene centred around Santiago and Valpairiso, then the bands, including Dekapited, who are part of that scene, feed off each other and consequently produce metal that sounds more vital and energetic than the thrash that is being produced by more isolated practitioners. It is no coincidence that a lot of the metal world's greatest material has come from clearly defined scenes, such as the NWOBHM, the Bay Area thrashers, Florida death metal and the scandinavian black metal scenes. There is a fair bit of cross-pollination in the chilean scene with many musicians being members of several bands concurrently, allowing a flow of ideas between these bands, but an integrated scene also sees bands pushing each other to new heights as each tries to outdo their peers, which can only be good news for the fans.

Dekapited play at an almost unrelentingly quick pace. This is energetic stuff that is meant to get fans moving and feed those mosh pits with hurtling bodies. The riffs are the stuff of the classic Bay Area thrashers, loaded with hooks aplenty and being memorable enough to remain in your head long after the EP has ended. It is almost impossible to listen to this as a thrash metal fan and not to feel your head starting to nod along with most of those riffs. The guitar solos are fairly noteworthy, being more expansive than the Kerry King-derived howls that so many of the more extreme thrash acts aspire to, being more in keeping with a classic metal style of soloing. They aren't exactly birthed in neoclassical metal, but they are a bit more imaginative than the short-sharp shock of the more usual Slayerisms.

The rhythm section is decidedly capable and underpin the riffs admirably, drummer Raul Guevara displaying the chops to maintain such a high velocity assault with power and precision. He may not indulge in a lot of the fancy fills that some of his contemporaries flourish, but his is a very solid performance. Bassist Alonso Friend likewise does a great job providing a rumbling foundation for the two guitarists to perform their six-string acrobatics. A trait which is peculiar to the chilean scene specifically is for the bass to sit quite prominently in the mix, but here it is mixed much more traditionally and less conspicuously.

For me, this was a nice calling card for a pretty talented bunch of guys who could take what originally made thrash metal so great and transpose it into the modern day with just enough of an extreme metal twist to imbue it with an energy and vitality that renders it so much more relevant than a mere harking back to earlier times.

4/5

Revenge - Violation.Strife.Abominate (2025)

Canada's Revenge are not a band for fucking around - they burst in, drop their war metal ordinance which is designed to cause the maximum number of aural casualties and then they get the fuck out. It isn't pretty and it isn't melodic. It is vicious and nasty and is meant to provoke a reaction of repulsion from the general record-buying public - and even the majority of metal fans I would surmise. To say that a band like Revenge only play for themselves and their fans is no hyperbole. I can't imagine them giving a shit about what anyone says about them because they make no concessions to trends, they make no attempt to expand their sound to appeal to a wider audience and they exhibit no desire to stretch themselves artistically. And you know what, I can respect that because I always appreciate those who are comfortable in their own skin and who couldn't give a toss what naysayers think or say.

Then, on the other hand there is a counter argument which says, how many Revenge albums do you actually need if they all plough exactly the same furrow? How can you get excited about a new Revenge release when it sounds so much like all the others? These are both good questions and certainly have a validity. They are charging $9.99 for the digital version on Bandcamp, $16 for a CD and from $29 for the vinyl - even the cassette version is $18, so why should you pay that much for a further rehashing of the same old sound? I am sorry, but I don't have a nice, neat answer for you and if you need to ask the question in the first place then I would have to say dont bother and look elsewhere for your musical kicks.

So what is that sound I probably don't hear you ask? It is a pulverising deathly black metal cacophony that is typical of the war metal genre. It is abrasive and unrelenting - there are no lulls in the perpetual aural bombardment, no reduction in tempo, no dropping into the odd groove-laden riff or dishing up of the occasional hook to give the brain a fragment of flotsam to hold onto in a boiling sea of blood and steel. The vocals are distorted shouts and hideous growls that often don't even seem to be issuing from human throats, shearing away even that shred of human connection from the listener. The drums batter away with a basic brutalisation of blastbeats whilst the few guitar solos just sound like somebody torturing their six-stringer into acquiescence. War metal in general and Revenge in particular produce metal that is meant to test the endurance of the listener. It is meant to be a visceral, almost physical, experience that is supposed to leave you feeling worn out and spent, it isn't deep and contemplative, or designed to make you think, unless it is about unmentionable horror and fear. This is metal that is uncompromisingly primal, raw and uncaring, so if that sounds truly awful to you then don't waste your time here - Revenge wouldn't thank you for it anyway.

3.5/5

New Fallen releases slated for 14th February:

Dawn of Solace - Affliction Vortex (album)

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction (album)

Klastos - Born to Ruin (album)

Carcolh - Twilight of the Mortals (album)

Throne - Ossarium (album)

Warlung - The Poison Touch (album)

Lord of the Void - TON 618 (EP)

The Hidden Hand - Live in Leipzig (live album)

Public Enemy - "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" (1988)

This was the first hip hop record I can remember really enjoying. It was brought to my attention by one of my best mates while I was in early high school & we spent most year 7 & 8 pretending we were Michael Jordan on the school's back basketball courts with this blaring out of a nearby ghetto blaster. The difference with this classic old-school hip hop is that, not only do Chuck D's lyrics have a viciously potent & politically conscious message, but DJ Terminator X never forgets to push the funk that African-Amercian dancefloor culture was built on with a seriously impressive array of high-quality breakbeats. This makes Public Enemy's sophomore album a total dancefloor bomb from start to finish & I can't help but shake my booty to it all these years later.

For fans of KRS-One, Boogie Down Productions & Intelligent Hoodlum.

4/5

By a country mile the best hip-hop album ever made.

Thanks guys, for your prompt submissions.

While I guess Mirror's Edge is a staple of The Gateway, it doesn't do a whole lot for me I must admit. The first track proper, "Afterimage" is the only one to offer any appeal to me, the female vocals being very nice and the track generally being less in-your-face than the other material. An overall sound that seems like a mixture of metalcore, nu-metal, djent and some industrial and electronic stylings, it doesn't speak to me at all, but its choppy riffing and angst-ridden vocals manage to irritate the shit out of me if I am being honest. It does seem to be competently performed and the compressed production style is tailor-made for this sort of angsty material, so I am guessing it is exactly the kind of things the band's usual fans expect. It is clear that I am far from the target audience for this and sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say "We can't all like everything can we, so I'll leave this to those who get it". Sorry Andi.

1.5/5

Collating the five Death studio albums lists gives us a Metal Academy ranking of their discography that looks like:

1. Human - 28pts

2. Symbolic - 27

3. Leprosy - 20

4. Individual Thought Patterns - 18

5. The Sound of Perseverance - 17

6. Spiritual Healing - 14

7. Scream Bloody Gore - 13

Pink Floyd - The Early Years 1971 Reverber/ation

I have listened to a lot of Pink Floyd Bootlegs over the years and some of my favourites are from 1971 when their set was chiefly made up of tracks from Atom Heart Mother and the newly released Meddle album. This is one of the official releases from 2017 that covered earlier Floyd material. The bulk of the album is an hour-long BBC live session from the end of September 1971. The first track, however, isn't part of the session and is a track called "Nothing", which was often introduced live as "The Return of the Son of Nothing" and is actually a very early demo version of part of "Echoes". The rest of the release is the BBC session which also has the added advantage of featuring the dulcet tones of the late, great John Peel in between each track.

First up is one of my favourite tracks from this live era of the band, "Fat Old Sun", which turns the five-minute, folky studio track from Atom Heart Mother into a terrific fifteen-minute jam which features Rick Wright's keyboards quite heavily. In fact the whole session reveals just how integral Rick was to Floyd's live sound.

"One of These Days" is up next and I love the studio version, but here it is merely OK here as the timing seems off a little and steals some of the impact of the studio version. The third track is a big draw, it being a live version of the obscure track "Embryo" which was originally recorded for Ummagumma, but only ever appeared on a label sampler (against the band's wishes as JP explains in the intro to the track here). I love this track as it features some superb Gilmour guitar work and even if it was cut from Ummagumma I think it would have sat really well on AHM instead of the baffling Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, the Floyd's most pointless song.

Closing out the set is the full 26-minute Echoes experience, the one track I am pissed-off that I never experienced live as it is one of my all-time favourite tracks and every live version has sounded amazing - see Floyd at Pompeii for proof.

So, quite simply a superb pre-DSOTM Pink Floyd live set from back when they were a bit freer in a live setting. Great though they were in later years, their live shows were very much attempts to faithfully recreate the album experience in a live setting and were inconducive to ad-libbed jamming, an art at which they were actually excellent.

I can feel an Eighties gothic rock Spotify playlist coming on!

Uummm… here’s one I created some time back. It’s not ALL 80’s but it’s basically what you’re after.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3E3I9HTnDcYCt1zESsAEVM?si=YPbj334wTHqWEfZgx5_D8g&pi=4JL5lbNBROmkt

Nice one, Daniel. I'll check it out tomorrow. I'm gonna work up an all-eighties one too.

I bought "Sonic Temple" on cassette shortly after it was released & played the shit out of it. I haven't heard it in more than half a lifetime now but will always have a soft spot for it. I don't think I've heard anything from The Cult that I regard as highly to be honest, even "Love" which I revisited only a year or so ago.

Yeah, I am a big Cult fan, even since they were known as The Southern Death Cult. Saw them play the last ever gig at Birmingham Odeon before they knocked it down to make way for some development or other and they were fantastic. Astbury and Billy Duffy were a brilliant foil for each other, like Mick and Keef in The Stones. That would have been between Love and Electric if I remember rightly, so '86 or '87 when they were at their height. Sonic Temple, Dreamtime and Love are my big favourites and are interchangeable depending on how I'm feeling on any given day. 

Yeah that's right, I was a massive goth rock fan (but not a Goth, I was too much of a biker and metalhead for that). Siouxsie, The Mission, Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus and Fields of the Nephilim were all other big favourites and I still listen to all of them pretty regularly.

I had a big thing for buying 12" singles by goth bands in the Eighties and I've still got a ton of them. I will have to dig them out for a spin I think!

I can feel an Eighties gothic rock Spotify playlist coming on!!

Saint Vitus:

1. Mournful Cries

2. Saint Vitus (1984)

3. V

4. Die Healing

5. Born Too Late

6. Hallow's Victim

7. Thirsty and Miserable EP

8. The Walking Dead EP

9. Saint Vitus (2019)

10. C.O.D.

11. Lillie: F-65

1. Symbolic

2. Human

3. Spiritual Healing

4. The Sound of Perseverance

5. Scream Bloody Gore

6. Leprosy

7. Individual Thought Patterns

There are no wrong answers to this question. 

Here is my review:

This is the debut album from Cleveland's Noxis and is an album of quite brutal and occasionally technical death metal. I love the guitar tone, it sounding thick and meaty with a marked weight to it. The production pushes the bass to the fore quite often, deliberately I am guessing because the basslines provide a point of emphasis in a number of places, especially early on. The playing is very tight, with an impressive crispness and precision as all three of the instrumentalists are in lockstep and never seem to lose a beat nor drop a note. And therein lies a bit of the downside for me. I am not advocating sloppy playing or messy production as such, but it is no secret that I am an old-school fanatic and I often find death metal that is very tight and precise comes off as a bit sterile to my ears. Noxis do counter that to some extent by veering towards a visceral brutality, which I often find to be a mitigating factor that can balance out overt technicality, at least to a degree. The vocals are, in the main, an aggressive and bullish, bellowing roar, which I like, but they do occasionally drop into "stuck-pig" mode, on second track "Blasphemous Mausoleum for the Wicked" for example, which is a style that is a particular bugbear of mine.

So there are a number of factors that work against Noxis, at least based on my normal taste profile. The technical shifts and flourishes, the very precise nature of the instrumentation and overly crisp production that often leaves me cold and the resorting to a vocal style I am not a fan of all suggest I am in for an unsatisfying experience. Yet, somehow Noxis manage to keep me onboard, probably due the suggestion of brutality they maintain throughout the runtime. This gets me through the early part of the album, which is where I think there is a greater concentration of the problematic elements for me, and sustains me enough to reach the second half which feels less technical and more in-your-face brutal. Then there is the crazy "Horns Echo Over Chorazim" which isn't only one of the most brutal-sounding tracks on the album, but also has a crazy solo section that seems to be performed by a large selection of wind instruments, such as oboe, saxophone and so on, each following the other to perform a single solo. Weird, yet strangely compelling.

The four tracks from "Horns..." onwards are more to my liking than the earlier parts of the album, with less emphasis on the technical aspects making the band sound freer, looser and more relatable for me at least. The title track, which follows "Horns.." is a formidable beast and sees the band hinting at an old-school desire to sound as intimidating as they can. There are still some interesting moments in this latter part of the album, the off-kilter guitar solo and especially prominent basswork in the middle section of "Emanations of the Sick" as well as the previously mentioned wind instrument solo in "Horns..." are inspirational and really stand out during these more brutal tracks, more so than I feel they would in the more overtly technical earlier material.

So, ultimately this was, for me, an album which started off OK without especially wowing me, but which kept me sufficiently engaged to persevere and find the buried gems that are the final four tracks. These are the motherlode of the album as far as I am concerned and would have made a killer EP, but as it is, this is a decent album of pseudo technical and brutal death metal with a killer final 22 minutes.

4/5

The Mighty Slayer:

1. Reign in Blood

2. Show No Mercy

3. Haunting the Chapel EP

4. Hell Awaits

5. South of Heaven

6. Seasons in the Abyss

7. Divine Intervention

8. Christ Illusion

9. Repentless

10. Undisputed Attitude

11. Diabolus in musica

12. God Hates Us All

13. World Painted Blood

1. Master of Puppets

2. Ride the Lightning

3. Kill 'em All

4. ...and Justice for All

5. The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited

6. Garage Inc.

7. Metallica

8. Death Magnetic

I gave up on them after Death Magnetic and haven't listened to anything after that. Can't stand Load / Reload or St. Anger and can't bring myself to include them.

Great pick, Karl. I have never heard of these Russians before, but on first listen I found this really enjoyable. A mix of USPM and Epic Doom Metal that is impressively heavy. It will certainly get a bit more attention over the next few weeks and I will try to write up a review before the month is out.

Black Sabbath

https://metal.academy/lists/single/306

Top Ten:

1. Master of Reality

2. Paranoid

3. Sabotage

4. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

5. Black Sabbath

6. Vol. 4

7. Mob Rules

8. Heaven and Hell

9. The Devil You Know*

10. Dehumanizer

I completely understand your reasoning, Daniel and as someone who has actually engaged with the process, I fully respect your position, but on this I think we will have to agree to disagree. Maybe I am just a cynical old bastard who doesn't embrace change as I should or properly understand this brave new world, so I think I'll leave it there.

I have got to say, Daniel, that doesn't sound much like AI, as it is understood to be, but rather a software tool for art creation, in essence a piece of graphic design software. Maybe the software designers are shooting themselves in the foot labelling every new piece of software as AI just to jump on that particular bandwagon when, in reality, it isn't AI at all. To the layman, i.e. me, AI means autonomous software that makes it's own decisions, such as you tell it "give me a vision of hell with three fiery demons in the foreground" and that is exactly what the software produces for you. If you are then just tweaking it by inputting something like "move the outer two demons back a little" then that isn't art, that's engineering.

If, however, we are genuinely talking about AI software, how would you feel if a new metal label was putting out all AI generated music, or movies were using AI to produce soundtracks? Are these not just slippery slopes for corporate types in the future to use computer programs to satisfy all their artistic dollar needs by getting us used to them now while human beings still have some input. It feels a bit like turkeys voting for xmas to me.

I think it is more than valid to be apprehensive about such things in the hands of corporate entities because the money men have consistently proven that they never have the consumer's or their employees' best interests at heart. The bottom line has always been and will always be the hill on which they stand.

I think comparing AI art software to synths and even drum machines is a false equivalence to be honest as they still require significant human input. That said, they too have been a part of the "slippery slope", being now so ubiquitous that when they are programmed by AI rather than a human then no one will care or even notice probably.

I completely agree with the sentiments about sexualised violence. I get that in most cases it is probably just shock tactics, but I feel it contributes to the "normalisation" of violence against women and should really be unacceptable to any mature mind. I also avoid the real-life victim of violence photo- type covers if at all possible because, quite frankly, they make me feel a bit queasy.

Totally agree with the "cutesy" comment of Ben's too. Every time I see an anime-inspired cover to a metal record I die a bit inside. Another bugbear is real low effort covers - photos of the band, etc (except on live albums), or mundane photos of everyday shit like, say, a car.

As far as cassettes go, as Daniel says, a lot of underground bands release albums on cassette only. I have bought several myself from Bandcamp because I want to support the artist and they usually include the download too. It is quite common for the bands to put the download alone up for something like £666 or £999, but allow a legal download to be included with a £5 or £7 cassette. I even bought a cheap retro Walkman-type player so I could get the whole authentic tape hiss experience!

I am all in on the genre covers, though. Sci-fi, fantasy, Lovecraftian-type horror are all big faves and make up the majority of my 5s.

I have found that I am actually a tougher scorer on covers than I am on the music inside them. I have rated roughly twice as many covers as releases and I only have 27 five star covers and 125 five star releases.

Back to the point in question, I rate cover art like I rate music, the more it resonates with me then the higher I rate it. Ir really is as simple as that for me. I don't care if the band logo is on it or not and sometimes they just get in the way - if it's on the back cover instead then that's fine.

I love good cover art and the covers are one of the reasons I still love to collect vinyl albums, but I tend to judge them solely as art works when rating them here. This doesn't always necessarily sit right and I do occasionally question my methodology, but as long as I stay consistent then I don't intend to lose sleep over it (unlike the proliferation of AI). Oops, sorry. There I go again!😉

I honestly couldn't care less whether a band utilizes AI for their cover artwork. We were actually going to use AI for the Neuropath cover artwork before the platform our designer was using decided to ban all the gory stuff. The ideas we were coming up with were genuinely unnerving & intimidating & suited the themes beautifully. I was initially disappointed that we couldn't use it until I noticed the eventual artwork we went with on sale online.

I honestly think this is a big deal from a human perspective, Daniel. Cover artwork, good or bad, is created by humans who often get paid for their endeavours and are able to pay their bills as a result. I know most bands don't make millions out of their music and AI-generated cover artwork may be a good way of reducing costs, but this reeks of corporatism and the requirements of capital over art and human endeavour which I will always rail against.

Apart from the ethics of the matter, do we really want to remove the human factor from art? If we do, what are we really left with? Soulless images bereft of human interpretation. Even photographic shots, such as many on atmospheric black metal covers, are framed by human eyes to speak to something deep inside us that no computer program could ever fathom.

I would rather AI be limiited to use as a tool to aid in objective and scientific fields like medical diagnosis or solving climate change than trying to get inside human beings heads and touch us emotionally.

Sorry for the rant, I'm sure I sound like a right preachy twat, but this is something I feel very strongly about. I am not completely against AI, but I feel it should be used appropriately and restrictively. No, I don't think AI will destroy the world, but unrestricted use will enable the corporate world even more control over what we think and do. Mobile phones are bad enough, but combined with AI the effect on human beings may well be catastrophic. I am into my 60s now, so I am sure most people will just say I am an old man who fears change, but change isn't always for the better and nowadays is seldom for the common good, but is rather for the benefit of the few.

Don't fuck with the nerds. They rule the world now!!

i didn't realise that so many people did things this way and I am not knocking it at all - whatever works for the individual is cool with me, but I am a bit old-fashioned I suppose and a definitive methodology is a bit too "scientific" for me. I am much more of a "feelings" person when it comes to music and it is often the intangibles that make or break an album or piece of music for me. This is very much tied into my own mental or emotional state at the time, which is obviously subject to fluctuation (wildly varying fluctuations if I am being honest). As a result, I find it much harder to definitively state that a certain album is objectively "X" and set my opinion in stone, other than for a few exceptionally meaningful (for me) albums such as Watching from A Distance, Killers, Stained Class, A Pyrrhic Existence, Mental Funeral, Bomber or Transilvanian Hunger.

In fact, now that I am thinking a bit more deeply, I wonder if my list-making obsession is due to a deep-seated need to try to order my often exceedingly disordered mind (psychology graduates only need reply!)

This is a fascinating conversation though.

Thanks for the replies. It looks like I'm a real amateur when it comes to rating and ranking metal releases compared to you guys!!

I've just published my best of 2024 list, with the link below for anyone interested:

https://metal.academy/lists/single/296

I am starting to think that maybe I'm not taking this whole music rating thing seriously enough.

I understand exactly what both of you are saying, but do you not find that your opinions and "enjoyment factor" changes over time? Just for example, I have been re-evaluating my 2016 list (from RYM) which was made at the time and found that several albums have moved significantly, both up and down. I was convinced of their positionings at the time, but time has woven it's spell and now I am equally convinced otherwise. I guess I am asking can a list ever be anything more than a snapshot in time?

I have got to ask, Daniel, are you being serious about the spreadsheet or is that a bit of sarcasm aimed at ardent listmakers like myself, because I can assure you I do nothing of the sort?

I quite enjoy looking through extensive lists, if only to get to more obscure stuff and I enjoy finding out what others may like, but very long lists (over 100 or so) can get a bit samey.

Would you put me on rotation for The Fallen clan please Andi?

Nice one, Vinny. It felt a bit awkward being the only one putting forward feature releases.

Some good stuff there, especially the Ulcerate and Oranssi Pazuzu albums which should feature in any best of the decade list. I thought the High on Fire album was a bit ordinary to be honest with far better albums in the Fallen this year (Ataraxie, Monolithe, Scald, Pallbearer, to name but four).

Nice choice, Andi. I hadn't heard of this project before, but a single playthrough while I was out this morning found me enjoying it very much. Hopefully I will be able to spend a bit more time with it during the month and work up a review.

Here's my review:

This 2018 album was CHRCH's second full-length album and, for me, a step up from their still impressive debut. One of the most striking strengths of CHRCH's music is the simplicity of the melodies and I don't mean that in a negative way. Despite the lack of complexity they are delivered in such a way that the effect is shattering. The opener, the twenty-minute "Infinite Return" for example, begins with a really simple melody picked out by guitar with very little distortion to produce a beautifully clear sound, accompanied by Eva Rose's clean-sung vocals for a gorgeous, calm opening that we all know just can't last. As guitar and vocals are joined by the drums, beating out a distant-sounding militaristic tattoo, the ominous atmosphere builds like gathering thunderheads. The guitar becomes increasingly insistent as the vocals get more desperate-sounding until the storm hits around the seven-minute mark and the riff crushes all before it as Eva shrieks and snarls and the drums hit the fore like a seven-pound sledgehammer. Around the midway point the maelstrom passes and a similar, but more hesitant-sounding, melody to the one at the beginning of the track is picked out and the calm returns, albeit now with a lost innocence as notes of dissonance insert themselves into this gentle refrain. This too cannot last and another, albeit more triumphal and anthemic, crescendo is reached, as if the victims of the first have now become the perpetrators of this second atrocity. What an opening twenty minutes - possibly one of my favourite slabs of doom metal ever - and a real high mark for the rest of the album to follow.

Second track Portals weighs in around the fifteen minute mark and kicks off with a weighty riff from the outset, but despite this it manages to become increasingly heavy as the track buids, filling all available space and threatening to collapse under it's own weight. Again this main riff is quite simple, but is deployed in such a way that it seems to be more complex than it actually is as the listener's mind grapples with the crushing weight of it. The vocals once more run the whole gamut from ethereal and angelic to savage and demonic. The soaring, distorted guitar solo towards the end of the track feels like the Comfortably Numb solo being torn apart and destroyed by the mass of an errant supermassive black hole. Final track Aether is the shortest at nine and a half minutes and has a riff and tone that sounds remarkably like Warning's Watching From A Distance album, at least until the last couple of minutes anyway, which are just utter madness as everything must go before album's end! Before concluding I must make mention of Adam Jennings drums, they sound phenomenal and as good as any doom drum performance I can recall. In fact, the production as a whole is superb and is a major factor in the success of the album.

This has jumped right in as one of my absolute favourite doom albums. To use a sporting analogy, it sounds like an album where the band have "left everything on the field" and absolutely given it everything. If I had any criticism at all it would be very minor - with the epic Infinite Return up front, the rest of the album is overshadowed slightly. I would have liked to hear the running order of Portals; Aether and closing with Infinite Return ending the album with a real triumph. FFO Sub Rosa, Warning, Pallbearer and any "no fucks to give" doomhead. If you have any love at all for real doom metal then you need this album.

5/5

So, it appears that this is Mechina's debut album, released in 2005, a year after the band formed. I understand that they later went down a more symphonic path with their industrial sound, but here they have gone for straight-up classic Nineties-era Fear Factory worship. The riffs are decent with a meaty guitar tone FF fans will feel comfortably at home with, although I don't think Mechina's riffs have the same high memorability factor as the LA legends achieved on their best material. Where they do score well though is when they use synths to add an additional, thin layer to their sound, such as during "Afterimage" or on the title track. "War Fog", which connects the two tracks, is a short, synth-driven interlude which is also quite evocative and further illustrates the band's nascent atmosphere-building prowess. Vocalist David Holch also has a creditable crack at reproducing Burton C. Bell's growling bark as the main vocal, but where he comes unstuck is with the complementary clean vocals which, in all honesty, sound terrible, as if he can't carry a tune at all. They are so bad that I can't believe no one advised the band to re-record them or get a guest in to help out.

Ultimately, for me, this is an enjoyable enough slab of Fear Factory worship, irreparably tainted by very poor clean vocals, that I am unlikely to turn to in the future unless the FF back catalogue suddenly disappears from the face of the Earth.

3/5

February 2025

1. Bathory - "A Fine Day To Die" (from "Blood Fire Death, 1988) [submitted by Sonny]

2. Dark Funeral – “My Dark Desires” (from “Dark Funeral” E.P., 1994) [submitted by Daniel]

3. Kampfar - "Kledd i brynje og smykket blodorm" (from "Mellom skogkleedde aaser", 1997) [submitted by Karl]

4. Novembre – “Let Me Hate” (from “Dreams d’azur”, 2002) [submitted by Daniel]

5. The Great Old Ones - "Me, the Dreamer" (from "Kadath", 2024) [submitted by Vinny]

6. Keep of Kalessin - "Obliterator" (from "Reclaim", 2003)

7. Black Anvil - "On Forgotten Ways" (from "As Was", 2017) [submitted by Sonny]

8. Ragnarok - "Minner om svunne tider" (from "Nattferd", 1995) [submitted by Karl]

9. Imber Luminis - "We Are Not Free" (from "Nausea", 2017)

10. Ellende - "Ballade Auf Den Tod" (from "Todbringer", 2016) [submitted by Vinny]

11. Al-Namrood - "Kail be mekialain" (from "Wala'at", 2020)

12. Aggressa – “VooDoo Doll” (from “Nuclear Death” E.P., 1988) [submitted by Daniel]

13. Kvlthammer - "Hounds" (from "Kvlthammer", 2014)

14. Gehenna - "Morningstar" (from "First Spell", 1994) [submitted by Sonny]

15. Bestial Warlust – “At the Graveyard of God” (from “Vengeance War ‘Till Death”, 1994) [submitted by Daniel]

16. Angantyr - "De dødes valg" (from "Indsigt", 2024) [submitted by Karl]

17. Impaled Nazarene – “Steelvagina” (from “Suomi Finland perkele”, 1994) [submitted by Daniel]

18. Barshasketh - "Nitimur in vetitum" (from "Antinomian Asceticism", 2025) [submitted by Sonny]

19. The Black – “The Black Opal Eye” (from “The Priest of Satan”, 1994) [submitted by Daniel]

20. Смрт - "U raljama košave" (from "Na utrini", 2024) [submitted by Karl]

21. No Point In Living - "The Path To the End" (from "The Cold Night", 2017)

February 2025

1. Burn Down Eden - "Fake News for Breakfast" (from "Epiphany", 2024) [submitted by Vinny]

2. Dismember – “Fleshless” (from “Indecent & Obscene”, 1993) [submitted by Daniel]

3. Nile – “The Underworld Awaits Us All” (from “The Underworld Awaits Us All”, 2024)

4. Gorguts – “The Erosion of Sanity” (from “The Erosion of Sanity”, 1993) [submitted by Daniel]

5. Siderean - "The Sacred Sea" (from "Spilling the Astral Chalice", 2024) [submitted by Karl]

6. Bolt Thrower - "Celestial Sanctuary" (from "The IVth Crusade", 1992) [submitted by Karl]

7. Coffin Curse - "Reeking Filth of Ages" (from "The Continuous Nothing", 2024) [submitted by Sonny]

8. Dissection - "Retribution" (from "Storm of the Light's Bane", 1995) [submitted by Karl]

9. Revocation - "Lessons in Occult Theft" (from "Netherheaven", 2022) [submitted by Vinny]

10. Blood Incantation - "The Stargate [Tablet III]" (from "Absolute Elsewhere", 2024) [submitted by Sonny]

11. Vitriol - "Flowers of Sadism" (from "Suffer & Become", 2024) [submitted by Vinny]

12. Diabolic Oath - "Oracular Hexations Leeching" (from "Oracular Hexations", 2024) [submitted by Sonny]

13. At the Gates - "Windows" (from "The Red in the Sky Is Ours", 1992) [submitted by Karl]

14. Avulsed – “Morgue Defilement” (from “Dead Flesh” compilation, 1993) [submitted by Daniel]

15. Mortician – “Brutally Mutilated” (from “Brutally Mutilated” single, 1990) [submitted by Daniel]

16. Exhumed – “Oozing Rectal Feast” (from “Dissecting the Caseated Omentum” demo, 1992) [submitted by Daniel]

17. Pathologist – “Progression of Putrefaction” (from “Forensic Medicine & Pathology” demo, 1992) [submitted by Daniel]

18. Eucharist - "Floating" (from "A Velvet Creation", 1993) [submitted by Karl]

19. Black Curse - "Ruinous Paths…" (from "Burning in Celestial Poison", 2024) [submitted by Vinny]

20. Atomic Aggressor - "Faceless Torment" (from "Sights of Suffering", 2014) [submitted by Sonny]

21. Slaughter Lord – “Die by Power” (from “Taste of Blood” demo, 1987) [submitted by Daniel]

22. Antagonyze - "Deadly Sorrow" (from "Interpretations of the Unknown Wilderness", 2024) [submitted by Karl]

23. The Fallen Prophets - "Beneath the Veil of Flesh" (from "Beneath the Veil of Flesh", 2024) [submitted by Vinny]

24. Illdisposed – “When You Scream” (from “1-800 Vindication”, 2004) [submitted by Daniel]

25. Embalmer – “Rotten Body Fluids” (from “Rotting Remains” demo, 1993) [submitted by Daniel]

26. Invocation - "Hypnosis" (from ""The Archaic Sanctuary" (Ritual Body Postures)", 2024) [submitted by Sonny]

February 2025

1. Paradise Lost - "No Forgiveness" (from "Shades of God", 1992) [submitted by Vinny]

2. Avatarium - "My Hair Is on Fire (But I'll Take Your Hand)" (from "Between You, God, the Devil and the Dead", 2025)

3. Smoulder - "The Sword Woman" (from "Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring", 2019)

4. Electric Wizard - "Legalise Drugs and Murder" (from "Legalise Drugs and Murder" single, 2012) [submitted by Sonny]

5. Impaled Nazarene – “Quasb/The Burning” (from “Suomi Finland perkele”, 1994) [submitted by Daniel]

6. Boris - "Farewell" (from "Pink", 2005)

7. Woods of Ypres - "Shards of Love" (from "Woods 4: The Green Album", 2009) [submitted by Vinny]

8. Iron Monkey - "Misanthropizer" (from "Spleen & Goad", 2024)

9. Marthe - "Victimized" (from "Further In Evil", 2023)

10. Hypocrisy – “Apocalypse” (from “The Fourth Dimension”, 1994) [submitted by Daniel]

11. World Below - "Gilgamesh" (from "Repulsion, 2006)

12. Ufomammut - "I" (from "Eve", 2010)

13. Chained To the Bottom of the Ocean - "One Last Dream" (from "Sisyphean Cruelty", 2024)

14. Orphaned Land – “My Requiem” (from “Sahara”, 1994) [submitted by Daniel]

15. Daevar - "Amber Eyes" (from "Amber Eyes", 2024) [submitted by Sonny]

16. Toadliquor - "Tenderloin" (from "Feel My Hate - The Power Is the Weight - R.I.P. Cain", 1993)

17. Slimelord - "The Hissing Moor" (from "Chytridiomycosis Relinquished", 2024) [submitted by Vinny]

18. Sepulcros - "Vazio" (from "Vazio", 2021)

Winterfylleth - The Dark Hereafter (2016)

The Dark Hereafter was the fifth full-length from the Mancunian black metallers and marked a slight tonal shift for the band. It also courted some controversy amongst fans, not for its musical progression, but for the fact that it had a mere forty minutes runtime and only five tracks, one of which "Pariah's Path" was already available as a bonus track on the previous The Divination of Antiquity album. The closer, "Led Astray in the Forest Dark" is a cover of Ulver's "Capitel I: I Troldskog faren vild" from their iconic Bergtatt album, so The Dark Hereafter only actually delivered three new tracks, yet at full price!

Anyway, down to the music. Side one comprised three tracks of the sweeping and melodic atmospheric black metal we were familiar with from Winterfylleth's previous output. Opening with the title track, the pummelling blastbeats tell us we are on solid ground, especially when the expansive tremolo riff sweeps us away to windblown moors where opposing warrior bands face off against each other. The lyrics of this opener and also "Ensigns of Victory" feed very much into that aesthetic with tales of Anglo-Saxon resistance against Norse invaders in Dark Age England. Along with the aforementioned "Pariah's Path" these two tracks comprise side one, their familiarity easing us fans into the album. I must, however, point out at this point that I felt something a little "off" here and decided it comes down to the production which seems to mute the higher registers of the tremolo riffs and renders the cymbals almost inaudible. It's not a big deal as such, but it is sufficient to be noticeable.

With the two tracks on side two the Mancunians depart somewhat from their usual approach. "Green Cathedral" is a much slower affair than we are used to from the band, straying into post-black metal territory, spending much of its opening five minutes building from a sparse beginning with thin synths, a clean, almost liturgical chant and a hypnotic, chiming guitar phrase into a mournful-sounding middle section with plodding drumbeats and a ringing tremolo riff accompanied by Dan Capp's harsh vocals. The final third of "Green Cathedral" sees the synths sweep in and the liturgical voices join with the harsh shrieks to provide a quite epic and melancholy climax, eventually ending with a clean-spoken eulogy to a departed soul, which I personally found to be quite haunting and affecting. 

The album then closes out with the Ulver cover, "Led Astray in the Forest Dark" which is faithfully reproduced by the Mancunians as a tribute to an album that they claim was very influential on them. It has a bit more meat on its bones than the thinly-produced Bergtatt original, but otherwise it is a faithful rendering of the Ulver classic. Small quibbles aside regarding whether this is worthy of full-length album status and a niggling issue with the production, it is nevertheless an interesting release in the Winterfylleth discography and is probably worth it for "Green Cathedral" alone, although the rest is certainly up to the band's usual standards musically. Interestingly, this is the first Winterfylleth album to involve Mark Deeks and, in light of some similarities between "Green Cathedral" and some of Deeks' work under his Arð banner, I can't help but wonder if he had a big impact on the band's songwriting at this point. It may also be salient to acknowledge that the next album was the pure folk album The Hallowing of Heirdom and The Dark Hereafter may have been a case of the band clearing the decks before a new phase in their development.

4/5

If you are looking for really dark gothic country then I highly recommend Black Claw's "Thieving Bones" album.

Wędrujący Wiatr - O turniach, jeziorach i nocnych szlakach (2016)

Wędrujący Wiatr are a polish duo comprising W. (aka Swaikstan), who is also a founder member of Sworz, and Razor (real name Tadeusz Jurzec). Both play guitar and contribute folk instrumentation with Razor performing vocals and playing drums and keyboards, whilst W. is the band's bassist.

"O turniach, jeziorach i nocnych szlakach" is black metal that is completely rooted in the natural world, its title translating as "About the Peaks, Lakes and Night Trails". From its panoramic, sweeping soundscapes with their pipe-like accompaniments to the restrained, clean-picked folk interludes and field recordings of natural sounds such as birdsong, wind and running water, this is a celebration of the Great Outdoors in all its splendour. There is a richness to the sound that gives it more solidity than the ephemeral and thin production often associated with the frostier versions of atmospheric black metal, as if to emphasise the permanence of the mountains and lakes when compared to the mere fleeting passing of seasons. The vocals contribute to this fuller sound, Razor's voice being a lower-pitched, ragged bellow rather than the harsh shriek often employed by black metal vocalists. It is still pushed down slightly in the mix to give it a more distant quality, as is common, but it retains sufficient power to bolster the depth of the overall sound.

Instrumentally, the tremolo riffs swell and recede like the mountain peaks they portray, with some gorgeous melodies that speak of the immense majesty of the natural landscape. The sound is filled out further with the incorporation of several folk instruments, particularly pipes, it appears, and with a restrained application of keyboards which gives several of the tracks, especially the opener-proper, "Wołanie z granitowych twierdz", a Celtic flavour, reminding me very much of Andy Marshall's Saor project. Razor's drumming is mostly blastbeats and cymbals, driving the tracks and adding impetus to the riffing to ensure the dynamic sweep of the tracks never flounders.

With "O turniach, jeziorach i nocnych szlakach" these Poles have turned in exactly the sort of album that hits my atmospheric black metal sweet spot, its paeons to the natural world being both uplifting and inspiring, this is black metal with a positive spirit for those who feel any kind of connection with Nature.

4.5/5

Looks like the venue owners were deceived by duplicitous bastards. If nazis are so proud about who they are why are they so fucking sneaky about it? 

It sounds like the venue did the right thing shutting it down as soon as they realised what was going on.

Maybe your band could talk to the venue owners about putting on an anti-fascist show or something?

With how things are panning out, it was probably openly promoted on X with full approval of Mr. Musk. I have a feeling black metal acts won't be the only nazis coming out of the closet in the next four years.

It still sucks though.

1. Deep Purple - "Bloodsucker"

2. Uriah Heep "Look At Yourself"

3. Diamond Head "Am I Evil?"

4. Motorhead "English Rose"

5. Blitzkrieg "Blitzkrieg"

6. Iron Maiden "Wrathchild"

7. Black Sabbath "Children of the Grave"

8. Venom "Countess Bathory"

Removing Rainbow for no other reason than when I saw Rainbow with Dio back in 1979, sulky-faced Ritchie Blackmore decided that the crowd hadn't worshipped him adequately and refused to play an encore, so fuck him (oh yes I can carry a grudge for a long time). Replacing with Blitzkrieg's brilliant eponymous track, one of the most vital and energetic tracks of the NWOBHM era.

1. Ash - "Midnight Witch"

2. Black Sabbath "Snowblind"

3. Burning Witch "Sacred Predictions"

4. Sleep "Dragonaut"

5. Eyehategod "New Orleans is the New Vietnam"

6. Electric Wizard "Funeralopolis"

7. Year of the Cobra "Lion and the Unicorn"

8. Buzzo*en "Hollow"

Nice enough though "Rip Van Winkle" is, particularly the guitar leads I am going to drop it for Year of the Cobra's "Lion and the Unicorn", the opener from their "...In the Shadows Below" album. YotC are husband and wife duo who don't use guitars. As a bassist yourself, Zero, I thought you might appreciate Amy's stoned-out psych-heavy basslines.

OK Sonny explain it to me, what is the thing with "Am I Evil"? I've never really gotten on with that tune or with Diamond Head.

Really? Lightning to the Nations is one of the best albums of the entire NWOBHM era and Am I Evil? has one of the greatest intros outside of Hell Awaits as well as being one of the tracks that encapsulates the metal spirit for me. 

I know I am the only one, but I fucking love "War".That said Holy Moses are pretty damn great too, so I will give this a spin later.

I agree Daniel that Angel Witch the track is a little bit hokey. I've drunkenly sung along to it a thousand times and live it always got the crowd going, but of all AW's debut it has aged least well.

1. Deep Purple - "Bloodsucker"

2. Uriah Heep "Look At Yourself"

3. Diamond Head "Am I Evil?"

4. Motorhead "English Rose"

5. Rainbow "Run with the Wolf"

6. Iron Maiden "Wrathchild"

7. Black Sabbath "Children of the Grave"

8. Venom "Countess Bathory"

Removed Rocka Rolla. It is perfectly fine, but has never been one of JP's anthemic numbers. My replacement is "Am I Evil?" Why? Because it's " I Am Evil? " of course.

Truth be told I am also not a huge Uncle Acid fan, I like them well enough but they wouldn't be absolute favorites. Their inclusion here is partly for being right on theme, and mostly because my wife loves that song. Gotta check out some Burning Witch when I get home if they are as nasty and trippy as you imply here.

I don't know about trippy, but nasty, most definitely and liable to induce a bad trip in any unsuspecting acid head.

Great set Zero. Another one where I don't really want to change anything.

1. Sargeist "Black Fucking Murder"

2. Burzum "War"

3. Nargaroth "Possessed by Black Fucking Metal"

4. Satyricon "Mother North"

5. Immortal "Blashyrkh-Mighty Ravendark"

6. Darkthrone "In the Shadow of the Horns"

7. Mayhem "Freezing Moon"

8. Bathory "One Rode to Asa Bay"

But, CF are probably the weakest of a great bunch and I will replace them with Sargeist's BFM which just about sums up the cold hatred and pure evil of the best scandi-BM.

Daniel, you must check out Mexico's Stenched and their "Purulence Gushing From the Coffin" album before the closing date. I came upon it by accident and it is utterly filthy and rotten sounding OSDM that has got me proper fired up. Fuck all this fancy bollocks, this is the shit.

What a great playlist, Zero, I almost don't want to change it as I had seen all of these bands live back in the day and it would be a great playlist for a bit of reminscence.

1. Uriah Heep "Look At Yourself"

2. Judas Priest "Rocka Rolla"

3. Motorhead "English Rose"

4. Rainbow "Run with the Wolf"

5. Angel Witch "Angel Witch"

6. Iron Maiden "Wrathchild"

7. Black Sabbath "Children of the Grave"

8. Venom "Countess Bathory"

However, I have heard Doctor Doctor roughly one billion times and it isn't a patch on Rock Bottom or Lights Out, so has to go. I am replacing it with a well-known, but lesser-acknowledged band and my favourite track of theirs, Uriah Heep and the title track from their 1971 album.

Also, the British aren't coming - we have always been here!!