Reviews

Record reviews

Skáphe – Skáphe² Review

By Roquentin on March 11, 2016 in 2016, American Metal, Avante Garde, Black Metal, I Voidhanger Records, Reviews, Black Metal, 36 comments

“You’ve witnessed the scene. It’s a part of the furniture in many contemporary neo-neo-noir, ominously foreboding, condemningly pseudofuturist movies. Our heroic but morally ambiguous protagonist visits some sort of underground nightclub. People, presumably the filth of the city, dance spastically (yet provocatively) under stroboscopes, adorned by black leather and fetishized clothing. A mixture of disgust and temptation lingers while a red haze surrounds the entangled mess of bodies. It’s Hollywood’s typical portrayal of Hell on Earth, a mise-en-scène imbued with cheap symbolism. Imagine now a worthy metal accompaniment to such a spectacle in real life, deprived of all the fabricated fanciness, something that would eclipse phony visual cues and provide a truly infernal setting.” Or just recall the club scene in Blade II.

Sacrilegium – Anima Lucifera Review

By Grymm on March 10, 2016 in 2016, Black Metal, Pagan Records, Polish Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 17 comments

“A lot can happen to people over time. Take me, for instance; my 20-year high school reunion is coming this year, and I can pretty much guarantee that very few people who don’t follow me on a daily basis are going to have a hard time believing that who I am and who I was are the same people. With plenty of tattoos and hair on my face (and little on my head), I know more than a few heads will turn. Wicher, the debut album from Polish pagan metal barbarians Sacrilegium, also turns twenty this year. Until now, it was the band’s only full-length output, given that the band disbanded in 2000.” So what name tag will these cats get at their reunion?

Wormed – Krighsu Review

By Kronos on March 9, 2016 in 2016, Death Metal, Progressive Death, Releases, Reviews, Season of Mist, Spanish Metal, Slam, 40 comments

“The wait is finally over, slam nerds. If, like me, you have been long awaiting the next chapter in the story of Krighsu, the Terrax, and stellar depopulation in the year 8K, then fear not; the new Wormed album, Krighsu, is cresting over the pseudo-horizon, so it’s time to leave that geodesic dome and begin vortex mitosis.” The wait is over, or has it just begun?

Suspiral – Delve into the Mysteries of Transcendence Review

By Grymm on March 9, 2016 in 2016, Black Metal, Death Metal, I Voidhanger Records, Reviews, Spanish Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, 59 comments

“When I was younger, I remember pre-ordering Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete for the original PlayStation, back when it was announced at my local Babbage’s in the fall of 1996. It would be a full three years later before it was released. In that timeframe, I graduated from high school, worked at Babbage’s then-competitor (Electronics Boutique), quit acrimoniously from said competitor, went Straight-Edge very hard, got unnecessarily angry at life and everything around me, gave up being Straight-Edge very hard, and moved around the same town three times Yet I still had my eyes on the prize. When I got the game, it didn’t quite live up to the expectations despite all the delays. This story illustrates that some would say I have the patience of that unfortunate Bible character, Job.” Oh, that can’t be good…

Panopticon & Waldgeflüster (Split) Review

By El Cuervo on March 8, 2016 in 2016, American Metal, Bindrune Recordings, Black Metal, Folk Metal, German Metal, Nordvis Produktion, Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 11 comments

“We’re familiar with Austin Lunn’s home-grown, folk metal Panopticon around these parts. His bluegrass-infused black metal has garnered justifiable (though some say excessive) acclaim, especially as his work has progressively become more melodic and accessible. But this time around he’s sharing album space with German folk-meisters Waldgeflüster, with whom I am less familiar. The split apparently had its roots in the bottom of many beers – as many of the best ideas do – shared between Lunn and Winterherz (of Waldgeflüster) and I was eager to hear what they’d produced.” Split the album, don’t split the beers.

Sulphur – Omens of Doom Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on March 7, 2016 in 2016, Black Metal, Dark Essence Records, Death Metal, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 47 comments

Sulphur (or sulfur in the States) is ungodly, foul smelling shit. This isn’t exactly news to anyone but you don’t know the half of it until you have actually jousted with the likes of benzyl or ethanethiol. There aren’t many chemicals I’ve worked with that linger on your mustache and penetrate your clothes like sulfur. It’s pungent, it’s offensive, and it’s fucking nauseating. While I’ve had my fair share of encounters with sulfur, I have never encountered its black-metal equivalent—which is odd considering I’ve been a fan of Øyvind Madsen’s other project, Vulture Industries, for years. With a name like Sulphur, I had expected some unsettling, engulfing black metal to match the stomach-turning feelings I get when “sulfur” is mentioned.

Necronomicon – Advent of the Human God Review

By Mark Z. on March 6, 2016 in Black Metal, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, Symphonic Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Symphonic Metal, 33 comments

“Despite being dubbed the “Chameleon of Rock” for his ever-changing style, the late David Bowie didn’t agree with this title. “For me a chameleon is something that disguises itself to look as much like its environment as possible,” he once said. “I always thought I did the exact opposite of that.” But fret not, you fanatical herpetophiliacs out there, Canadian blackened-death trio Necronomicon is proof positive that musical chameleons do, in fact, exist.” Those who deny the existence of musical chameleons may be musical chameleons themselves. Trust nothing.

Pogavranjen – Jedva čekam da nikad ne umrem Review

By Roquentin on March 6, 2016 in 2016, Arachnophobia Records, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Croatian Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, 19 comments

“I don’t often get a chance to write about Croatian metal bands or, to be exact, I don’t often feel like writing about Croatian metal bands. There’s barely anything to call a “metal scene” in my homeland, with most acts birthed alone and lonely into a generic and photocopied existence, only to disappear in a flash of insignificance. Suffice to say that during the last 25 odd years since the country’s declaration of independence, there were only a few bands worth mentioning in the same breath with their international stylistic brethren (Ashes You Leave, Umor, Death of Folk, Infernal Tenebra). Imagine my elation, then, when something as good as Pogavranjen’s third LP, Jedva čekam da nikad ne umrem,[1. Looking Forward to Never Dying] came along. Curiously composed and competently played avant-garde black metal that is not merely the fruit of derivative rehashing? Yes, please!” We’ll take a double of that, with fries.

Obsidian Kingdom – A Year with No Summer Review

By Kronos on March 4, 2016 in 2016, Progressive Rock, Releases, Reviews, Season of Mist, Spanish Metal, Progressive Rock, 15 comments

“Catalonian prog-rock quintet Obsidian Kingdom caught my ear with Mantiis, an ambitious and cinematic debut that I’ve come back to often since its 2012 release. The album bordered many genres, but its kaleidoscopic diversity was more than a gimmick; Mantiis felt like a truly complete experience, complete with groovy death riffs, Floydian ambience, acidic snarls, and heartfelt synth-piano ballads. As the band like to say, it’s “hard-to-classify,” and just when I got my hopes up for more of the same, A Year with No Summer comes along to cleverly sidestep them.” The summer wind came blowing in from across Catalonia.

Ripper – Experiment of Existence Review

By Saunders on March 3, 2016 in Chilean Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Unspeakable Axe Records, Thrash Metal, 19 comments

“I often gripe about the general state of the current thrash scene and how it’s stagnating with a lack of cutting edge innovators and general over reliance on rehashing the past. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, however, more often than not I find myself looking back to the past and grabbing an old favorite to get my thrash fix. Already in 2016 old school thrashers have been grinning from ear to ear with the return to form of Megadeth and Anthrax, along with the enduring space-age proggy thrash of the recent Voivod EP. Fortunately there’s a heap of room for new faces to emerge and make an impact on the current thrash scene and show that young pups can be as equally wily as old dogs.” Ready yourself for the latest in pup thrash!