“Founding Crowbar member, grizzled veteran of the NOLA metal scene, and all around sludge legend Kirk Windstein makes his first foray into solo territory on debut album, Dream in Motion. Although known for slinging tar coated slabs of sludge and doom with his main band, Windstein embraces a decidedly less metallic mindset here.” Iron dreams.
“Metal Archives lists ten bands that go by this name, but the metal realm’s equivalent of The Citadel of Westeros and the rest of the interwebz together yield precious little information about Sweden’s version of Reaper.” This is the story of one of them.
“Metal-Fi? One has got to wonder if the serious lack of updates on the site is because of these issues or are they in fact the root cause? I honestly don’t know. Certainly, neither Dave nor I could have possibly foreseen that our unannounced hiatus last year would kick off Ragnarök. But unfortunately, that’s what all of the facts seem to indicate. Our bad.” Deaf and taxes.
“Deathwhite have been playing it annoyingly coy for nearly 6 years now, releasing increasingly sophisticated music while steadfastly keeping their identities concealed. Grave Image is their sophomore full-length, and therefore a critical moment in their career of mystery. Their For a Black Tomorrow debut merged elements of goth, doom, and post metal with alternative rock, creating something unusual and highly compelling, and in the process nearly created a whole new type of mope rock. Back when I was absorbing Black Tomorrow and drafting the review, I was struck by the nagging feeling the band was only just getting started on its musical odyssey and things would only get weirder. Grave Image fulfills that expectation.” A grave you can live with.
“I kind of forgot about Fear Factor for a while there. I can give no particular reason for it, they simply slipped out of my mind and slunk through the front door, down the stairs, into the street. But a band with such a unique sound was bound to return, at least in doppelganger form, burrowing back into my head. It took a minute to get my thoughts in order, but after mentally crossing out Godflesh, I knew who Ereley were pushing back into my brain. It wasn’t the pure stuff though.” Strange bedfellows.
“I’m largely not interested in traditional black metal anymore, but Pyre was something different, an album that eschewed the typical ‘atmospheric’ or ‘melodic’ trappings to conjure something truly unique. The music was vast, haunting, psychedelic, and emotional, with an atmosphere that feels more enthralling the more I reflect on it. The Cabinet of Numinous Song is the band’s second album, and in addition to plunging listeners back in the otherworld created by Pyre, it also serves as a terrific continuation of that sound.” Beyond the black.
“Apparently, these Norwegian musicians all live some 400 kilometers away from one another, and only make music sometimes. Lucky for us, this is one of those times. Trail of The Fallen is their debut full-length, a welcome offering of symphonic metal offering complete with a creepy skeleton on the cover. Between those two aspects and the band name, things are already looking good.” Long distance relations.
“When it comes to sheer force, nothing compares to Impiety. Formed in 1990, this Singaporean quartet originally played fairly traditional black metal before transforming into a blakkened fukkin death monstrosity with 1999’s iconic Skullfucking Armageddon. Amidst a salvo of blast beats, staccato riffing, and livid vocals, that album began a musical warpath which has now continued for over two decades.” God fight!
“So when I pulled my head from the murk of the most grimy, gritty, and distorted music metal has to offer to review the clean, keyboard-laden progressive metal of Thoughts Factory, my initial reaction was that of a belligerent child forced to take a shower after playing in the mud: I don’t like it this clean! Make it more filthy! But does that knee-jerk reaction hold on repeat listens?” Clean thoughts.
“Before mastering the steel, you must first master yourself. Yet mastering oneself requires the mastery of epic metal. This is the riddle of trveness, and why your journey has brought you here to this Ironsword review. Portugal’s most trve of metal bands have long toiled to forge the perfect sword with which to lay waste to posers and the defenders of false metal. In their quest for metal supremacy they traveled the Manilla Road to the ends of the world.” Steel away the night.
