“Holy shit, Shylmagoghnar doesn’t do itself any favors. Everything about the project seems engineered to scare all but the most committed away. Unpronounceable name that’s a spelling mistake waiting to happen? Check. One-man, home-made black metal? Check. Excessive length and an inability to self-edit on previous albums (both of which clocked in at the 70 minute mark)? Check. And yet, there was something undeniable about the band’s previous output.” Fat Wednesday.
“I am highly skeptical about the value of social media. For the most part, if you ask me (which I appreciate no one is but you should – I have OPINIONS!), it simply allows anonymous idiots hiding behind stupid pseudonyms to think that their opinions on anything from politics to music matter. For the most part, I don’t social. However, it was via a post on Zuckerbook (which I reluctantly use on occasion) that I first came to learn of the existence of Swiss blackened progressive death outfit, Dyssebeia, and their forthcoming debut, Garden of Stillborn Idols, which I duly snagged for review.” Farm fresh Idols.
“Aetherian is young in the sense that this is but their second album, but they’ve been at it for almost a decade now. It has taken the band 6 years to craft a follow-up to their debut. Has the time investment paid off, or is there a sophomore slump after all?” At the bleeding edge of brilliance.
“Back in September 2020, as the UK enjoyed respite between Covid lockdowns, and the air started to grow colder and the leaves duller with the promise of autumn, I heard Echoes from Deep November, the debut of melodic death metallers Fires in the Distance. It sounded—to my ears—like no one else, despite having elements reminiscent of Omnium Gatherum, Amorphis, and Be’lakor. And it stayed with me long after the leaves were dead and fallen. Fast-forward two and a bit years, when the singles from sophomore Air Not Meant for Us began to drop, and I was flooded with nostalgia and excitement as I heard that signature sound again.” Fires closer than they may appear.
“Italian they may be, but Ontborg play melodic death metal of the sadboi persuasion starring the classic Swedish tones of an HM-2 pedal. This old-school Amorphis meets Omnium Gatherum by way of Carnation and Helslave combination threw me for a big loop when I first spun it. Few and far between are my encounters with slow and somber melodeath with such a gritty, serrated sound, and yet Ontborg make it work seamlessly.” Resistence is brutal.
Lists are a gift and Doom_et_Al and Dear Hollow have presents to distribute. Prepare for tidings of anger and joy.
“In a stunning display of journalistic talent, I actually still agree with the 3.5 I awarded to Be’lakor for their last record all the way back in 2016. Vessels was a solid successor to what distinguished gentlemen regard as one of the best one-two punches of melodic death metal: Stone’s Reach and Of Breath and Bone. It was an accomplished musical development from these records, though not a real development in quality. The 5-year gap since this is an especially long time in a world of 3-year album cycles, so does this indicate another assured step? A return to form?” Form and emptiness.
“I’ve heard it said many a time that In Mourning carry the torch that Opeth “abandoned” with the release of Heritage. I don’t happen to agree with that statement. Sure, superficially the Swedish prog-melo-death-doom quintet share something in common with Blackwater Park-era Opeth, but it was clear to me from the first minute of the indelible Monolith that In Mourning were an entirely different collective, a point that each subsequent release reinforced.” Mourning frost on the Great Pumpkin.
“Today, our case involves a patient who came in contact with Amanita Virosa — a deadly, basiodiomycete fungus. No, Dr. X, it’s not the same thing we isolated from Dr. Druhm’s paw the other day. And it’s not contagious. No, Dr. Holdeneye, I would not feed it to your daughter, no matter how much it resembles those portobello mushrooms she so clearly likes. Its nickname is ‘The Destroying Angel’ and this baby is full of amatoxins and phallotoxins… Stop sniggering, Dr. Wvrm. We’re supposed to be professionals here.” Do mo harm.
“Surround myself as I might with dissonant blasts and angular minimalism, all it takes is the first few notes of a melodic lead by Insomnium or mid-era ,b>Amon Amarth and all of my weirdo-cred moves to the back burner. There’s something about that mix of primal aggression and soaring emotion that scratches an itch no other genre can reach, so whenever I happen upon a new melodeath record of exceptional quality, it’s almost a religious experience. Come the Tide, the incredible debut album from Spain’s Eternal Storm, is just such a record.” Seize the tidal.
