“It’s been said by some that Moldova sucks, but when it comes to metal, Latvia does not! Hailing from Latvia’s capital city (Riga), Eschatos have been constructing their brand of avant-garde/progressive black metal since 2012.” Better black than red.
“Amidst all the inevitable aspects of life and death metal, as we know it, the tried and true sounds of old school Swedish death appears here to stay. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and the rotted riffs and buzzsaw tones of the Stockholm death metal scene that spawned endless imitators of varying quality remains a strong source of inspiration for up and coming death metal bands. And sucker’s like I keep coming back for more.” You can’t have just one bite of Swede-death.
“War is hell. It’s also pretty metal. This defining aspect of the human condition has been touched upon by more bands than you can rattle your saber at. It’s even made its mark on black metal, as Eastern Front will be quick to remind you. Plundering the history books for wartime atrocities has inspired some ferocious work from Eastern Front before, and EmpirE rides that Panzer down a solid if unsurprising path.” Let’s blow stuff up!
“Follow me into the electronic church of Ricardo Remédio, a prolific musician who has collaborated with various doom bands and electronic projects in his native Portugal. Under the divine gaze of Sunn O))) and Ulver collaborator and multi-instrumentalist, Daniel O’Sullivan, Natureza Morta is Ricardo Remédio’s first solo record. The album is atypical in that it contains no riffs, vocals, drums or your everyday heavy metal violence.” And now for something completely different.
“Remember that awesome review of Barbatos’ Straight Metal War a year ago? Remember those silly lyrics and song titles? Remember checking out all the bands referenced because you’re a sick son of a bitch? Well, here’s Abigail, another one of Yasuyuki Suzuki’s sick and twisted metal outfits.” Have a bad taste in your mouth? Just wait….
“Barely a year after their debut record The Key, Geoff Tate’s Operation: Mindcrime project is back with Resurrection, part two of what threatens to be a trilogy of concept albums. Backed by a large cast of supporting musicians, the former Queensrÿche vocalist is aiming to beat his former band at the conceptual-metal game.” Tate v. the Rÿche: Round II. Place yer bets.
“Hailing from the Netherlands, doom duo Swampcult offer us sophomore outing The Festival – this time in full concept album regalia. We have all heard the myriad odes to Cthulhu and the Elder Ones, of star spawned atrocities and dark bloodlines, replete with many a tentacle toting album cover. Thematically speaking, originality is barely worth discussing; the real question is, as always: is it any good?” Get in your LoveCraft!
“Deathcult can be comfortably lumped in the niche “weird” OSDM scene with bands like Obliteration, Morbus Chron, and Tribulation. The root of it all is old Death, Entombed, and Autopsy riffs, but it tries to be more “progressive” by making the songs a bit more technically involved and spaced out, but less immediate along with hints from the melodicism of the old Swedish scene to spice things up. Beasts of Faith aims to mix this all together with a nearly transparent coat of new paint much like The Matrix added virtual reality to a combination of Descartes’s “evil demon” thing and Plato’s cave allegory.” This isn’t your father’s old school death.
“I haven’t reviewed death metal in a good long time, so I thought I’d get back on the dead horse with upstart Arizona act, Gatecreeper. For their Sonoran Depravation debut they’ve crafted a style mixing equal parts of the D-beat Swede-death style made famous by Entombed, the grit and dirge of Asphyx and the bastard war grind of Bolt Thrower. Sounds tempting, eh?” Tempted by the tank of another….
“I became absolutely giddy when I managed to snag Cryfemal’s ludicrously titled D6s6nt6rro as it hurtled into the depths of the AMG Rookie Pit. A one-man Spanish black metal project from a guy who calls himself Ebola, (yeah, really) Cryfemal has existed since 1996 and has an impressive number of releases under its belt.” From the rookie pit to the throwback ditch.
