My Kingdom Music

Of the Muses – Senhal Review

Of the Muses – Senhal Review

“Good blackgaze feels way too hard to come by. There’s just something about the crossroad of metal and not metal that eludes so many artists and listeners. Done right, it’s one of my preferred styles of metal, allowing for intense beauty and vivid emotion at the same time, so I was excited to have the opportunity to review Senhal, the debut full-length album from Italy’s Of the Muses. According to its promotional material, the album mixes doom, black, and post-metal alongside dreampop elements in a mesh of blackgaze.” Gaze into the void.

Kolossus – K Review

Kolossus – K Review

“As I do with all bands that have a discography, I started from the top. It was only last year that Kolossus dropped their debut record, The Line of the Border. In those forty-plus minutes, my lips would involuntarily mouth, ‘What the fuck?’ Each song is nothing like the last. Each brings something new to the plate, and none cared what came before or went after. It refused to follow the rules—it’s own or anyone else’s. And, to an extent, K is no different.” K is for Klosers.

In Tormentata Quiete – Krononota Review

In Tormentata Quiete – Krononota Review

“What a profoundly odd band In Tormentata Quiete is. Plenty of Italian bands are grand, pompous, cheesy, and theatrical, but few do it like this one, sporting three vocalists in a range of styles but remaining light on orchestral elements. Their first foray into the halls of AMG was shot down with a 1.0 from Grymm for being unstructured and containing baffling, out-of-place elements like rap breakdowns in the middle of their semi-symphonic avant-garde drama metal. Their second, Finestatico, earned them a 3.5 from yours truly, seemingly fixing everything its predecessor did wrong. Krononota sees another change of the guard in the vocal department, but can they maintain the high standard of before?” Pomp in a weird place.

Helfir – The Journey Review

Helfir – The Journey Review

“It’s all about the journey, so the saying goes. For me, the journey from album discovery to album listening to album review is often the highlight of my week, regardless of the ultimate destination (read: rating). For Luca Mazzotta, the one man behind the one-man Helfir project, The Journey is his third release, and one that takes its title very seriously. Taking the helm on every instrument, real and programmed, Mazzotta’s ambitions and inspirations, including such names as Katatonia and Porcupine Tree, are unleashed over fifty minutes of honest, dark, and remarkably flexible music.” Safe travels.

Holy Tide – Aquila Review

Holy Tide – Aquila Review

“Musically, Holy Tide sounds a lot like Pyramaze, specifically Immortal and Disciples of the Sun. Vocalist Fabio Caldeira reminds much more of Disciples’s Terje Haroy than the inimitable Matt Barlow, largely due to the lack of Barlow’s gruff edge. The main reason for the Pyramaze comparison, though, is the keyboards. Both Pyramaze and Holy Tide make heavy use of that once-maligned instrument, smartly toning down the guitars when the keyboard takes the lead and vice-versa.” Big stuff is big.

Embrace of Disharmony – De Rervm Natvra Review

Embrace of Disharmony – De Rervm Natvra Review

“Stagnation is a problem. In this wondrous day and age where music can be shared across the globe at a mere few clicks, you’d think that “too much of the same” in metal would be a laughable concept. Instead, it’s an actual problem. An uncountable number of fledgling bands are being influenced by the same big acts and creating essentially the same sound over and over again. There is nothing more exciting in this musical sphere than a band that breaks the cycle of stagnation, who smashes through stereotypes and clichés both to rise above the rest and revitalize their sad, tired genre. Symphonic metal, I give you Embrace of Disharmony and their sophomore effort: De Rervm Natvra.” Symphonies of slickness.

Crown of Autumn – Byzantine Horizons Review

Crown of Autumn – Byzantine Horizons Review

“Love at first listen. Is there any better feeling? Byzantine Horizons and I have been nearly inseparable since the album first came into my hands. I’d never heard of Crown of Autumn before that happy day, but between the cool band name and awesome cover art, I really didn’t have much choice but to investigate.” Crowned in glory.

Eversin – Armageddon Genesi Review

Eversin – Armageddon Genesi Review

“When I think back to metal’s halcyon days the mid-2000’s is not a time period that gets conjured in my mind, but to Eversin that identity-starved period is their lighthouse, keeping them on an even keel through waters of overcooked angst, clumsy Photoshop filters and a major escalation in the loudness wars.” It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times….

Obsolete Theory – Mudness Review

Obsolete Theory – Mudness Review

“While exploring Mudness, the curiously titled debut LP from Italian genre-benders Obsolete Theory, I thought of a lot of bands — and we’ll get to those comparisons in a moment — but more than sonic neighbors, I kept thinking about Alex Garland’s recent sci-fi/horror masterpiece, Annihilation. I found similarities not in terms of its soundtrack (although Annihilation does have a great fucking soundtrack), but rather in atmosphere and theme. Garland’s film is a grim, gorgeous examination of evolution at its most alien and unhinged; similarly, Mudness’ unpredictable, effortless genre-hopping skills, paired with its downplayed aggression in favor of a creeping sense of dread, feels unique and otherworldly.” Theory and practice.