“UKĆ is the brainchild of Łukasz ‘Icanraz’ Sarnacki, a Polish artist who has knocked around the local scene for a while. Billed as “black-prog from the heart,” I was impressed by some of the early singles, and the promo pit wasn’t exactly overflowing with goodness, so I grabbed Coming Out.” Out in the cold.
“The last record from the curiously-named Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree, 2019’s Grandmother, did not grace these pages but for some reason, I was aware of it and it made enough of an impression on me that I was interested to review its successor, Aion. Buzzing around since 2014, Bees released their debut, Medicine, in 2017. A whimsy, faintly progressive doom record with a few hints of stoner around the fringes, it was solid. Grandmother was an altogether more interesting affair. A tightly-written slab of doom that upped the progressive quota by dialing in some psychedelia, as well as a rumbling darker edge, it showed a lot of promise.” Tapping out the vein.
“The first thing that interested me about Nuclear Winter is that they’re from Zimbabwe. I don’t know much about Zimbabwe, and I’ve never reviewed or even listened to a record from Zimbabwe, but I thought that maybe metal produced there would have some unique sounds and textures. I quickly found that not to be the case. Seagrave sounds like a thousand other European symphonic power metal-type records.” Uranium graves and winter burials.
“Royalty and Roman numerals. It was for these reasons that I chose III by Royal Deceit for review from the pit of despair where other promos reside. Metalcore with delusions of grandeur? Count me in! Sadly I was misled; III is actually Ill. Rather than deluded grandeur, I would be analyzing ailments.” Turn your head and core.
“I don’t know what possessed me. Maybe it was a genuine desire to get out of my comfort zone with some straightforwardly grimy death metal. Maybe it was the trusted Transcending Obscurity label, or the pleasing purple color scheme (though not the art itself, which is definitely not pleasing). Maybe it was just the name Dead and Dripping which amused me with its stereotypical death metal disgustingness.” Mop and lock.
“My time reviewing music by Sweden’s Humanity’s Last Breath has been a rewarding, yet frustrating experience. I liked a lot of what they did on both 2019’s Abyssal and 2021’s Välde, but the former lacked a killer focus, and the latter needed a bit of pruning. I’ve been intrigued by this band ever since the first time I heard their world-crushing track “Abyssal Mouth,” and I keep waiting for them to deliver a full album that captures that same level of energy and unbridled heaviness. As we prepared to enter into the second half of 2023, I heard a familiar, deep rumbling, a rumbling that could only foretell one thing: a new Humanity’s Last Breath album was on the way.” Fresh breath or hateitosis?
“Emerging from the primordial sludge of Los Angeles, Arch Blade brandishes a sound that harks back to the salad days of classic metal, blending the spirit of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with streaks of thrash metal’s intensity. Kill the Witch is their debut release, featuring an ensemble cast of father/son co-founders, a Ukrainian vocalist, and the powerful beats of an ex-Dark Angel drummer.” Dadcore.
“If there was an Ol’ Reliable of the musical world, it would be death metal. While the core sound has seen some evolution over the years, the timeless ideology remains unchanged: to inflict sonic blunt force trauma. Inhumed, a young trio-turned-quintet from Canada, aren’t interested in any fancy subgenre qualifiers that might dilute the pure death metal ideology; no, they’re here to hurt you.” Injured or hurt?
“Brazil’s Blackning have been producing concise neo-thrash records for nearly a decade. After a six-year hiatus, this quartet is back with their third album, Awakening Rage. As with so many thrash greats, will this third offering be the band’s epic masterpiece? Or will it be forgotten like so many others before it?” Third time’s the harm.
“As a die-hard Metallica fan in my teens, I worshipped their first 4 albums mightily, and since Evile’s entire existence seemed to be based on mining the best of Metallica’s early days for inspiration, it seemed they would be easy to love.” Well knowns and Unknowns.
