British Metal

Shadowkeep – Shadowkeep Review

By Swordborn on April 7, 2018 in 2018, British Metal, Power Metal, Pure Steel Records, Reviews, Power Metal, 12 comments

“Britain’s Shadowkeep lay more or less dormant for seven or eight years following 2008’s The Hourglass Effect, which itself was delayed due to line-up changes. This oft-contracted plague of metal bands received a cure in January of 2017 when none other than James Rivera of Helstar stepped forward and offered his services as the voice of the band for its long-awaited self-titled fourth studio album. As something of a fan of Shadowkeep’s earlier work, and especially The Hourglass Effect, I was interested to see what James would bring to the table in a setting other than Helstar (a band I’m admittedly not overly fond of).” Shadows of Hel(star).

Morrow – Fallow Review

By Grymm on March 30, 2018 in 2018, Alerta Antifascista Records, British Metal, Crust Punk, Halo of Flies, Post-metal, Reviews, Crust Punk, Post-Metal, 39 comments

“UK emokrust collective Morrow dropped a massive debut on my lap in 2016 in the form of Covenant of Teeth, an engrossing 4-song album that told a tale of a futuristic society where Earth was so ravaged by humankind’s assault of its natural resources that they became tribal again. The marriage of poetic lyrics, visceral vocals, and a sad-yet-ragingly-defiant musical backdrop lingered in my psyche long after my review was published. In fact, truth be told, it’s all I listened to this past Christmas season, not only to keep my mind occupied and my energy maintained, but also because the follow-up, Fallow, was due to drop in the spring of this year. So imagine my surprise when Fallow was released as a “name your price” release on the band’s Bandcamp over Christmas Eve last year, with a physical release soon.” Grymm surprises.

Foul Body Autopsy – This Machine Kills Zombies Review

By Mark Z. on March 26, 2018 in 2018, British Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 30 comments

“Let’s get this out of the way up front: despite being named after Onset of Putrefaction’s opening track, Foul Body Autopsy doesn’t really sound much like Necrophagist. If you came hoping for a whirlwind of brutal neoclassical tech death, you’re better off reading one of Kronos’ reviews; for the rest of us, slightly techy melodic death metal is what’s on the operating table today.” Bone Saw is ready!

Eye of Solitude/Marche Funèbre – Collapse/Darkness [split] Review

By Grymm on February 26, 2018 in 2018, Belgian Metal, British Metal, Cimmerian Shade Recordings, Doom Metal, Hypnotic Dirge Records, Reviews, Doom Metal, 0 comments

Chocolate and peanut butter. Cheese and crackers. One-person black metal and January. Some things just naturally pair up beautifully together. What normally doesn’t pair up too well? Funeral doom and brevity. So imagine my shock when I got assigned a two-song, 30-minute EP featuring two of the scene’s leading exports, UK’s Eye of Solitude and Belgium’s Marche Funèbre, and finding out that the EP’s just a hair over a lunch break long!” Doom comes fast on a Monday.

Feed the Rhino – The Silence Review

By Kronos on February 20, 2018 in 2018, Alt-Metal, British Metal, Century Media, Metalcore, Alt-Metal, Metalcore, 0 comments

“I’ll waste no time with introductions here and immediately address the four-thousand-pound pachyderm in the room; have metalcore bands just stopped trying whatsoever? What kind of fucking scene is it where it’s standard procedure to derive every single band name via mad libs? Between [verb] the [noun], [noun] [preposition] [noun], and [verb] [subject] [noun or phrase acting as a noun], you could cover a good 60% of all metalcore bands today.” Tonight only: Read the Review!

King Witch – Under the Mountain Review

By Ferrous Beuller on February 10, 2018 in 2018, British Metal, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Listenable Records, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, 0 comments

“Thanks to a job that requires me to travel frequently, I spend an inordinate amount of time on trains. This allows me ample opportunity to sample whatever promo delight I happen to be attached to, but it also affords said artist a particular challenge – namely, can you draw my attention from the hell that is public transport. Between the droves of marauding spawn tearing up and down the aisle and the fuck-knuckle proudly standing in the middle of everything with his fucking bicycle, sweet riffs are all that separate the general public and an omni-directional wave of misanthropy, and Scotland’s King Witch have them.” Riffs over humanity.

Chasing Ghosts – These Hollow Gods Review

By Kronos on February 9, 2018 in 2018, British Metal, Hard Rock, Mighty Music, Releases, Reviews, Rock, Hard Rock, Rock, 0 comments

“I am nothing if not a glutton for punishment, which is why I continue my dive into corners of the promo bin untrammeled by more self-respecting reviewers. While my last foray into the depths brought back a surprisingly good collection of alt-metal songs, today’s entree is a bit less appetizing. Marking their ground somewhere between bluesy hard rock and ’90s death doom, Chasing Ghosts don’t sound like many other bands.” Boo-urns.

Trespass – Footprints in the Rock Review

By Dr. Wvrm on January 21, 2018 in 2018, British Metal, Heavy Metal, Mighty Music, NWOBHM, Reviews, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, 11 comments

“Dad metal is a bit of a specialty here at AMG Inc., and Trespass certainly have the “dad” part down. The OG NWOBHM act cut their teeth in the ’70s alongside Iron Maiden and counted Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield among their early fans. But for a band approaching its 40th birthday, their metal resume needs some work. Footprints in the Rock marks only the third official LP of a lengthy career that, until now, has issued more compilation CDs than actual albums.” Rock in an old place.

Dawn Ray’d – The Unlawful Assembly [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

By Roquentin on January 7, 2018 in Black Metal, British Metal, English Metal, Feast of Tentacles, Halo of Flies, Prosthetic Records, Things You MIght Have Missed 2017, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, 86 comments

“Dawn Ray’d’s black metal is dense and aggressive, often almost too brutal and hasty in its delivery, as if crumbling under the pressure of channeling the musicians’ revolt at the systemic inequality and oppression. Yet, at the same time, Dawn Ray’d deliver an incredibly melodic and tuneful sound.” OCCUPY!

Me and That Man – Songs of Love and Death [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

By Madam X on January 4, 2018 in 2017, Alt-Metal, British Metal, Cooking Vinyl, Folk Metal, Hard Rock, Non-Metal Metal Things, Polish Metal, Things You MIght Have Missed 2017, Alt-Metal, Folk Metal, Hard Rock, Non-metal Metal Things, 56 comments

It always struck me as curious, that Nergal didn’t branch out with any other such notable side-projects. 2016 came and went, and with it Nergal’s single-minded dedication to Behemoth. But in 2017, his Me and That Man project saw fit to release Songs of Love and Death.” A very special episode of Nergal and the Man.