As I write this, it’s 15 degrees Celsius outside. The sun rises, but does not provide any warmth. Everything in my world is covered in a thin layer of ice, and things seem to be moving very slowly. In other words: it’s cold as shit out here. This is the perfect weather for some gloomy, atmospheric, slow-ass metal. And it just so happens that I have At Every Door, the new album by Finnish sextet Hanging Garden.
I can’t help thinking that parts of Dustwalker would make a half-way decent soundtrack to Dante’s journey through the underworld.
Paradox has been knocking around for ages, with few albums resulting. Steel Druhm is here to fill you in on the latest from these Germanic mavens of melo-thrash. Can one of metal’s least prolific bands sway the nostalgic metal heart of the Steel One?
Tech death is a fickle mistress. Madam X is our less fickle mistress of evil, debasement and death. Join her as she examines the techy, deathy strew cooked up by Kamikabe. It doesn’t sound all that appetizing, does it?
Happy Anniversary to Destruction!! 30 long years in the thrashing biz and biz has mostly been good. To help celebrate, they delivered a brand new album for our listening enjoyment. Steel Druhm dons his party hat and tells us if Spiritual Genocide is a party thrasher or a party crasher.
We haven’t had any old school Swedish death for awhile, so here’s some of that! Nominon does that beloved, old school style, but with much more thrashing, crashing, bashing and harassing. It sure is speedy, but is it good?
Hungary has a booming black metal scene and Kolp is a part of it. Madam X thinks they’re the sleep inducing part. Apparently they also steal riffs from themselves. What’s up with that?? Kids today…
More power metal reviews by Steel Druhm? When is enough really enough? Rebellion rocks the classic Grave Digger style of Germanic power metal and with several ex Digger members onboard, they usually get it right. This time though? Tricky question.
Shining has been a consistent favorite of mine since I discovered the band. Since V:/Halmstad: Niklas angående Niklas I have reviewed every one of their records and have witnessed a change in the band that I think is hard to ignore. Starting with V, the band has continued an Opethian evolution away from the raw, gut-wrenching emotional black metal into something less raw, more catchy and proggy (Marillion prog not Dream Theater prog). Having now dropped the numbers and donned instead an English title, (what would have been VIII) Redefining Darkness continues the band’s evolution away from its gut-wrenching roots. Were we looking for a redefinition? After the mighty VII: Född förlorare I sure wasn’t
Enslaved has really secured its position in the highest tear of metal bands in the world. Though they started out long ago in the second wave of Norwegian black metal, nothing they’ve done since the late 90s has really represented that faction of their existence. Instead, they’ve become one of metal’s shining examples of a transition from the extreme to the progressive. While doing more to maintain their extremity than a band like Anathema or Katatonia have done, the band’s last full length Axioma Ethica Odini and their EP The Sleeping Gods both lacked extremity while pushing out the borders of the band’s progressive bona fides. I wasn’t sure of what to make of Enslaved’s RIITIIR when it first arrived – but while the record is ostensibly different than the band’s previous work, that mellow, bong-water stain of ’70s progressive rock continues to push further and further from their black metal roots. For the better?
