Van Records

Slægt – The Wheel [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

By Grymm on November 26, 2018 in 2018, Black Metal, Danish Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Things You Might Have Missed 2018, Van Records, Black Metal, Death Metal, 50 comments

“When I was a pimply-faced, mullet-headed teenager-cat, I loved watching bands I followed grow and develop their trademark sounds over time and across albums. I did so with equal parts glee and trepidation. On one hand, it’s cool to see bands take their collective influences and morph them into something completely their own. On the other hand, some morphed themselves into a rather comfortable box to grow complacent inside of, settling into a familiar niche that, while successful, doesn’t allow much wiggle room for progression without alienating their fanbase. Case in point: while Denmark’s Slægt.” Evolution is tricky biness.

Paragon Impure – Sade Review

By Lord Doom on November 3, 2018 in 2018, Belgian Metal, Black Metal, Reviews, Van Records, Black Metal, 48 comments

“Founding member and driving force Noctiz has only managed one full length release thus far, 2005’s To Gaius! (For the Delivery of Agrippina), with technical and personal setbacks apparently stalling efforts around 2009 to release a follow-up album which was to be titled Fall of Man. That unreleased material has been reworked and incorporated into this—their second full length in thirteen years—Sade. No, not that Sade, the English singer of “Smooth Operator” fame; Sade as in the Marquis de Sade, that cheeky French noble whose sexuality and writings thereof have been an inspiring, deep, rich vein of perversity for metal artists to plunder ad infinitum.” Sade songs say so much.

Škan – Death Crown Review

By Akerblogger on April 12, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Van Records, 18 comments

“Skan is The UK’s largest Optical and Technical Glass Warehouse and Applications Hub. The band Škan is the focus of this review. You’ll have to visit our affiliate site for a review of the UK Glass Warehouse Skan. A caron rides the s of Škan’s mysterious aplomb; similarly Death Crown, the debut album by this multi-national four-piece, is a mysterious and constantly morphing animal that one will find difficult to put one’s finger on.” Tech-glass is the new black.

Dautha – Brethren of the Black Soil Review

By Ferrous Beuller on March 25, 2018 in 2018, Doom Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Van Records, Doom Metal, 35 comments

“”The meaning of life is that it stops.” – Franz Kafka, doom metal luminary. If there’s one genre of our beloved tumult that, above all others, wants nothing more than to ponder death in all of its final implication, it’s, ironically, not death metal. Doom be thy name and death be Dautha’s, a Swedish band plying the same Candlemasstery that incites many a metalhead to rage against the Dying of the Bride.” Doomed to death.

Faal – Desolate Grief Review

By Saunders on February 4, 2018 in 2018, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Dutch Metal, Reviews, Van Records, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Post-Metal, 23 comments

“While many of my writing colleagues hunker down amid inches of snow and ice, wallowing in gloom, I’m enjoying a haphazard but sporadically scorching Australian summer. The closest I’ve got to such frosty atmospheres recently was on an evening sitting outside where I outrageously had to retrieve a jacket in the middle of fucking summer. As such, my musical appetite generally stays on the lighter side at this time of year, in extreme metal terms that is. However, as it turns out, January, and life circumstances have forced my hand to embrace the darker, doomier realms of metal.” Faal for every season.

Attic – Sanctimonious Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on August 14, 2017 in 2017, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Van Records, Heavy Metal, 73 comments

“Grier walks through swinging double–doors; their rectangular plates and white panels smudged by hundreds of dirty, desperate hands. Along the decades–old, re-waxed checkerboard floors of sun–bleached white and black, the vulnerable Doctor approaches the receptionist’s desk. ‘The doctor is waiting.’ The distinguished Grier makes his way through the buzzer–kept door to the far–end of the faux–marbled hallway. He turns the doorknob to Room 17. Beyond the stuttering fluorescent bulbs overhead, the Doctor finds “Dr.” Landau seated at a walnut–stained desk, just this side of the cherry–red built–ins—bookshelves filled with volumes as convincing as the toupee positioned upon Landau’s head. Grier walks to the glossy, chocolate–brown sofa positioned in the middle of the room. He lies back. Landau looks upon the weathered face and sleep–deprived eyes of the patient. He knows well the sickness the patient suffers.” Physician, heal thyself!

Slægt – Domus Mysterium Review

By Grymm on May 6, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, Danish Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Van Records, Black Metal, Death Metal, 32 comments

“It’s always cool to be introduced to new bands, and watch their progress as their skill set broadens and confidence levels increase with each release. Case in point, Danish black metallers Slægt came out of nowhere last year and impressed the hell out of me with their 4-song EP, Beautiful and Damned. Mixing Dissection’s classically-inspired black metal with heaps of early Dark Tranquillity goodness, Beautiful and Damned left me wanting more.” What just washed up in the surf?

The Ruins of Beverast – Exuvia Review

By Akerblogger on May 4, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, German Metal, Reviews, Van Records, 97 comments

“Exuviae: shedding the skin. The leftover exoskeleton. Alexander von Meilenwald of The Ruins of Beverast has stripped the project bare, exposed it to new musical vistas, and transformed it into a frenetic shamanistic beast.” Second skins, shaman grins.

Dread Sovereign – For Doom the Bell Tolls Review

By Akerblogger on February 28, 2017 in 2017, Doom Metal, Irish Metal, Reviews, Van Records, Doom Metal, 14 comments

“As the curfew tolled the knell of the parting day, I decided to wander through the dark remains of a graveyard near my home. A thick and heavy fog rolled in, illuminated by moonlight, as I stared into the well of souls. By this point, I was thirsty and miserable and I felt myself slipping further into the void. I was bewitched by the scent of death as the children of the grave emerged from the gloom and approached me. The children carried individual USB sticks that held copies of an album by the Irish band Dread Sovereign.” Mix Tapes of the Dead!

Wolvennest – Wolvennest Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on January 20, 2017 in 2017, Austrian Metal, Belgian Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Rock, Van Records, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Rock, 18 comments

“Back in December of 2015, Der Blutharsch and the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand released a three-track offering called The Wolvennest Sessions. A year later, a reconstruction occurred and two of those three tracks were Botoxed and sent scurrying away to a new home. At this new home, these two ditties partnered with three new friends to produce a five-track debut of ambient music clocking in at fifty-five minutes. Within this handful of tracks lies a hint of black, a little doom, and a touch of rock that sends the listener tumbling headlong down Wolvennest’s drug-induced rabbit hole.” Holes, nests – this has it all.