“Reader, we have before us a scabby and indelicate piece of business. It’s been a busy few shifts at the filth factory for Ectoplasma; Inferna Kabbalah marks the fourth time in recent years that they’ve dropped a compost heap filled with dung and rotting offal on our doorsteps. And a ghastly pile it is!” Nasty plasma.
“Can heavy music make you a better person? France’s Bullet Ride seems determined to answer that question on At the Gates of Hell, which may just pioneer the sub-genre of “self-help metal.” Here are ten thrash-adjacent tunes that lean heavily into their themes of overcoming an ever-shifting combination of adversity, despair, and shitty exes. These veterans of regional acts like Methadol and Divine Punishment have crafted a bright, melodic debut that was not at all what I expected when I requested a blackened thrash promo from Dr. Overlord Himself.” Handling the unknown is an important part of successful n00bery.
Self-releasing an album can be a viable path to success in 2021, but if you’re still at it after seven tries, most bands would find it tough to keep the flame burning. This isn’t an issue for Torii mastermind Bill Masino, whose apparent need to create has seen him persist with the project through years, lineup changes and numerous shifts in approach. Their latest, self-titled platter finds the act returning to its origins as a solo outfit, intent on bringing Masino’s blend of post-metal, doom, and death metal to fresh audiences.” Torii is the word.
““Delve deep in and listen… listen to the atmospheres of an arcane night and return within your thoughts into bygone times.” So goes Krolok’s description of their second offering of ESL-inflected black metal. The band, hailing from a literal Carpathian forest, bills itself as “atmospheric.” Their actual sound, however, riffs on the age-old question: “What if trve and kvlt, but also having of dungeon synth keys?”” What would Krolok do?
“Five eventful years after EP Dimensions Obscure enticed Grymm with its fusion of old school death metal, occult rock, and Gallic idiosyncrasy, these Frenchmen have released their first full-length Echoing Chambers of Soul. This debut is also a swan song, as the band is now calling it quits. Is Cadaveric Fumes leaving the stage with the grand statement hinted at by their early work, or has their creative engine sputtered to a stop?” It feels like a “or does it smell like a corpse” joke was the obvious thing to do here, doesn’t it?
“A doom band emerges from the hills of Southwest England. So does a dark neoclassical outfit, along with a group of ambient specialists dedicated to building sound collages… oh, and a neofolk collective is there, too. They’re not going to do battle, as metal as that might be—they can’t, because they’re all the same unit. Dead Space Chamber Music channels their restless muse into The Black Hours, an ambitious fusion of techniques that spends much of its run time reinterpreting material from the medieval and Renaissance periods.” Chamber of horrors.
