“Do you miss Wintersun? Are you hoping Jari Mäenpää gets his groove back soon? Have an epic melodeath itch that no amount of black metal shenanigans can scratch? Well, Atavistia is here to take your mind off Jari’s attempts to convince you to build a recording studio for him to finish Time II.” Low winter sunblind.
“Sweden’s Sorcerer has had a bouncy ride through the ages. They released a series of demos I really enjoyed back in the early 90s and then completely vanished from the metal scene for some 20-plus years. They reappeared in 2015 with a comeback album I slept on, then knocked me flat, silly and senseless with 2017s stupendous The Crowning of the Fire King. That album’s expertly crafted blend of traditional and doom metal was impossible to resist and Fire King seized my Record o’ the Year glory easily. Naturally I was quite stoked to receive the followup, Lamenting of the Innocent. With a concept based around the Inquisition and witch trials, all signs and omens pointed to another big dose of classy metal with hooks by the boatload.” No one expects the Swedish Inquisition!
“Solar Flare, a five-man crew, has been a part of the Ohio metal scene for six years now, playing a blend of one part 80’s power metal and one part NWoBHM. Frontman Ethan Jackson, a classically trained vocalist, demonstrates impressive vocal range in the higher registers from the get-go.” Flare ups.
“Sweden’s Sodomisery began as a project that included live members from the monstrous Diabolical, as well as Katatonia‘s Niklas Sandin on bass and Netherbird‘s Johan Fridell on vox. At the completion of their 2017 self-titled EP, Fridell and Sandin left and a new lineup formed. Borrowing from their experiences with Diabolical, Sodomisery unleashes a crushing mix of black, death, Swedeath, thrash, and melodeath for their debut, The Great Demise. I know what you’re thinking: that’s a lot to digest. Well, at least the record title sounds uplifting?” Big death, big prizes!
“I’m always happy to see old school death metal bands that are still around and putting out new music, especially when that music is as good as Sinister‘s. Though they formed in 1988, this Dutch group’s 2017 album Syncretism was my first exposure to the band and my neck has never been the same.” Deform the neck bones.
“This is the last time I pick up something that more respectable reviewers wouldn’t. Steel Druhm, in his infinite wisdom, decided he had some other unfathomable thing to do besides review Hermeneutics, the fifth LP by Italian-Swiss symphonic prog-metal band Blut.” Blut force trauma.
“With their cosmic, dense blackened doom, this two-piece seek to conjure a dark Swiss magic. In 2015 they released their debut record Ilmasaari, a psychedelically wrapped piece of doom. Five years later they’ve reemerged from the shadows with Kaikuja.” Swiss mist.
“France’s Fairyland last released an album in 2009 and were already seasoned at that point, with a decade of releases under their belt. 2020 brings with it a release called Osyrhianta, a bombastic, symphonic power metal record. What does 11 years of development bring to the table?” Time and Tolkien.
The sea is churning and the brews are frothing. That must mean Alestorm is back to harass your coastline again. YAAR!
“Wolves Den, a German blackened death quartet, unleashed an unsung monster of a record back in 2015 named Deus Vult. While it wasn’t genre-defining or anything like that, I often question why it gets such little fanfare. Perhaps with their sophomore full-length, Miserere, they can establish some kind of foothold in the heart-voids of our fair metal community.” Misery loves running with the pack.
