Moribund Records

Vardan – Unholy Lightless Summer Review

Vardan – Unholy Lightless Summer Review

“It’s lunchtime time and you know what that means: AMG time. You open your phone and you see this review at the top of the page. “Fucking Vardan?” you say. “Doesn’t AMG have an embargo on this guy?” you ask. Your mood has changed. Your day has flip-turned upside down. You can’t do this right now. You consider not reading the review. But you know that would be a mistake. You’re dying to know what lifted the embargo. You know you want an Unholy Lightless Summer.” Ograbme!

Provocator – Satan, Chaos, Blood and Terror Review

Provocator – Satan, Chaos, Blood and Terror Review

“Now, this is a weird one for Doc Grier. Back in 2014, I had the pleasure of reviewing Provocator’s debut record, Antikristus. At the time, this one-man, black metal outfit from Slovenia sought the rhythms and execution of Norway’s ’90s scene. The approach was raw—but not too raw—and the delivery was somewhere between the aggressiveness of Gorgoroth, the minimalism of Darkthrone, and the “upbeatness” of Nattefrost/Carpathian Forest. And, after all these years, the record still has staying power for me. What’s so weird about this? What’s weird is that Antikristus was Doc Grier‘s very first review with AMG. So, as you can guess, I couldn’t pass up Hellscream’s follow-up full-length, Satan, Chaos, Blood and Terror.” So much Satan.

Ayat – Carry On Carrion Review

Ayat – Carry On Carrion Review

“Founded way back in 2002, Beirut’s Ayat pumped out a string of demos culminating in their well-received 2009 debut Six Years of Dormant Hatred. Not-so-hot off the heels of that release, (wonderfully-named) founders and only constant members (Reverend) Filthy Fuck and (Mullah) Sadogoat are back with another viscerally angry cut, this time with a side of politics, for reasons that should be self-explanatory in 2017.” Angry worms.

Mortualia – Wild, Wild Misery Review

Mortualia – Wild, Wild Misery Review

“Here’s a sage piece of life advice you can have for free: always carefully check what you’ve typed into your Google search bar before hitting ‘enter.’ I recently fell foul of this little rule while researching ‘depressive suicidal black metal’ (or ‘DSBM’) for the purposes of writing this review. Unless you’re feeling particularly brave, you’ll just have to take my word for it that while DSBM and BDSM might look similar, they are definitely not the same thing. I learned this the hard way.” Are we still doing phrasing?

Waxen – Weihung Auf Satan Review

Waxen – Weihung Auf Satan Review

“Metal has more than its share of genres and sub-genres already, but guitar virtuoso Toby Knapp (Onward, Where Evil Follows) is intent on carving out yet another one via his one-man Waxen project. That genre would be called something like “shreddy black metal,” since third album, Weihung Auf Satan essentially answers the question – what would happen if Richie Blackmore or Yngwie Malmsteen recorded a black metal album?” Prepare to be bewildered.

Dodsferd – Wastes of Life Review

Dodsferd – Wastes of Life Review

Wastes of Life hit me at my most unprepared. Billed as “unapologetically defiant and shockingly melodic” including a statement from Wrath to the effect of “My new album is one of my most soul-destroying albums. It was written under feelings of frustration and disgust.” my expectations were high.” You know, there just aren’t enough soul-destroying albums out there these days.

Cold Northern Vengeance – Maelstrom Review

Cold Northern Vengeance – Maelstrom Review

“When I think of blackened Viking metal with influences from prominent Satan-centric places on this great Earth – such as Norway and France – I don’t necessarily think of New Hampshire. I’m no expert in American history so maybe there were bountiful Viking raids on picturesque seaside towns like Seabrook, but I can’t be sure about that. Nonetheless, Cold Northern Vengeance comes bearing gifts of such blackened Viking metal from their cheerful home town in the form of Maelstrom.” Vikings ruined my leaf peeping weekend.

Moon – Render of the Veils Review

Moon – Render of the Veils Review

“Many people hold many things as precious in this wonderful floating rock we call Earth. Some value money over all else. To others, power is the key to happiness. Love is also a beautiful, unifying force in this cesspool of a world. The one thing we all can agree on and wish we could hoard, is time.” And Grymm will be getting none of the time spent with this album back. Not ever!

Vardan – Winter Woods Review

Vardan – Winter Woods Review

“There’s such a thing as too much of a good thing. Imagine if Agalloch had released Pale Folklore, The Mantle and Ashes Against the Grain over a four-month period. These are all great albums and given time, you can appreciate every glorious nuance that makes them the timeless beauties they are. But over such a condensed period, crammed together, each vying for your attention, you appreciate absolutely nothing and eventually they gather dust. This is the problem that plagues the “busiest man in black metal.”” Enjoy of deep catalog.

Infernus – Grinding Christian Flesh Review

Infernus – Grinding Christian Flesh Review

“I’ve never listened to Infernus before, and a quick perusal of their promo shots (corpsepaint, bullet-belts, graveyards) and song titles (killing Christians, paganism, war, sodomy) led me to believe they were a Scandinavian second wave band that I’d just never got around to checking out. Infernus in fact hail from the other side of the globe…” The votes are in and you want more goats!