Cyclone Empire

The Foreshadowing – Seven Heads Ten Horns Review

By Grymm on April 19, 2016 in 2016, Cyclone Empire, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, Italian Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, 38 comments

“Imagine, if you will, a world torn asunder by racial and cultural intolerance. Entire countries are erased, and many religions are shunned, their followers persecuted or worse. Now picture, if you can, a united Europe acting as a new Babylon, a holy ground for those seeking shelter from the bitter storms of prejudice and hate, and bustling with diversity, all while impending doom is just looming over the amber horizon. Such a lofty world is given life on Seven Heads Ten Horns, the fourth album by Italian gothic doom sextet, The Foreshadowing.” A concept album about the 2016 American election cycle? That was fast!

Feral – Where Dead Dreams Dwell Review

By Saunders on June 2, 2015 in 2015, Cyclone Empire, Death Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Death Metal, 16 comments

“The festering stench of classic Swedish death metal is surely one of the most comforting and addictive scents in the metalverse. Try as I might to disregard the bulk of subpar bands pedaling the oversaturated style where bands are so often prone to lazily ripping off their idols with blatant plagiarism, when the words ‘old school Swedish death metal’ are thrown about I generally sit up and take notice.” Fun Fact: you can’t spell Feral without fear.

Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Onheil – Storm Is Coming

By Dr. A.N. Grier on December 11, 2014 in 2014, Black Metal, Cyclone Empire, Death Metal, Dutch Metal, Post-metal, Things You Might Have Missed 2014, Black Metal, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Post-Metal, 15 comments

“Being the metal fan that you are, I can only assume you’ve had that late-night trip to the record store, hell-bent on purchasing a new album. It doesn’t even matter what album. However, tonight it turns out your favorite record store doesn’t have shit in the way of metal. Either you own it or don’t want it. So you base your purchasing decision on close examination of the “fans of blah blah blah” labels, the artwork, and the band name itself. You finally come across an album just released that week and buy it knowing there’s the possibility for one-of-three outcomes.” Buying blind, oh the thrill!

Ophis – Abhorrence in Opulence Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on September 16, 2014 in 2014, Cyclone Empire, Death Metal, Doom Metal, German Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 4 comments

“Five doom/death songs comprising sixty minutes of music is a risky proposition that lives and dies by one thing: riffs. If you’re going to write songs that average out to twelve minutes in length, the riffs contained within had better be interesting, dynamic, and, of course, crushing.” That means some long, potentially ADHD offending tunes. Can Ophis hold the interest of the busy metaller?

Ereb Altor – Fire Meets Ice Review

By Steel Druhm on July 17, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, Black Metal, Cyclone Empire, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Viking Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Viking Metal, 3 comments

“With little or no fanfare, the trolls of Viking/doom/folk/black metal known as Ereb Altor storm back from the frozen wastes with their hybrid sound and more tales from Norse mythology. Though they began life as an epic-sized, Viking metal act with a strong doom influence (check out By Honour because it’s badass!), they added more and more black metal over time, culminating with 2012s Gastrike opus. As before, they worship the sound and mood of Bathory’s Hammerheart opus (and to a lesser extent Twilight of the Gods) while also incorporating early Darkthrone influences and doom stylings similar to While Heaven Wept.” A fusion of Viking, black and doom metal pretty much sells itself, but Steel Druhm still showed up to grab a paycheck and examine the heady brew that Ereb Altor cooked up. Tastes like…wictory.

Paganizer – World Lobotomy Review

By Steel Druhm on May 7, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, Cyclone Empire, Death Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Death Metal, 3 comments

“More Rogga?? With Mr. Johansson being involved in one of every three reviews I write lately, maybe we should change the website name to Rogga o Rama. I’ve recently examined his Megascavenger and Just Before Dawn projects and here he is again with his main outfit, Paganizer (he also has a collaboration with Paul Speckmann of Master coming in a few weeks). The man is an omnipresent force in the Swedish death scene (hell, he IS the Swedish death scene) and he’s been responsible for lots of rich, creamy death metal. In all honesty though, I’ve always found Paganizer to be a pretty spotty act. Some of their early output was solid and some of the more recent stuff was less so.” So does World Lobotomy cause brain damage or suffer from it? Our resident Rogga expert Steel Druhm is back from the nervous hospital to provide his diagnosis.

40 Watt Sun – The Inside Room Review

By Chalimar on November 2, 2011 in 2011, 4.0, Cyclone Empire, Doom Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, 6 comments

How often does music effectively convey the emotions that have been put into it? How often do lyrics and music truly fit and complement each other? I really don’t think it happens that often. I’m not a lyrics kind of guy, mostly because, most of the time, the lyrics don’t really do anything to me or they are plain stupid. And when does the music itself ever really seem heartfelt? There are so many examples of bands that are great at songwriting, who handle their instruments perfectly, but on that important emotional level, it just isn’t what it could be. Still, it can be great music. Take Opeth for example. Boy, can those guys make music! The sheer awesomeness of some stuff they put to record is something to behold. But much of their back catalog really doesn’t convey any emotion, at least to me, that is. It’s actually quite cold, buried somewhere between all that awesome-sounding stuff. It’s really very much like a rollercoaster ride. You get overwhelmed with all kinds of input and it feels great, you enjoy it, but does it move you in any other way?

Gloria Morti – Anthems of Annihilation Review

By Angry Metal Guy on July 29, 2010 in 2010, 3.5, Black Metal, Cyclone Empire, Death Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 2 comments

One of the best parts about being a reviewer, honestly, is getting a hold of records that you’d’ve never thought to buy on your own and really enjoying them. 2010 hasn’t actually had a lot of those for me. The year has gone pretty much as expected (and a little worse for certain bands, unfortunately). But one of the big disappointments has been the number of bands that I’ve gotten who I’d never heard of that just never pan out to anything. Because obviously it’s newer bands that keep things going and some of my favorite records of the last few years have been from bands that I didn’t even know existed until I got the record to review (Istapp for example, or In Mourning). Gloria Morti is one of those bands that I’d sorta gotten wind of, but never really heard before. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I received Anthems of Annihilation but I was pleasantly surprised.