“Simply saying these Swedes sound insane would be completely underselling the bands bestial brand of barbaric blackened brutality. Döda Själar is death metal of the blackest, filthiest variety, the kind you turn to when Incantation or Convulsing just can’t quite hit that horrid spot.” Overkilled.
“In their first two albums, Altarage began a career—and a successful one at that—by walking just a few steps behind Portal. Sure, Portal’s most avant-garde ideas never made it into Nihl or Endinghent, but the Australians’ influence on Altarage has always been as clear as either band’s music was murky.” Now THIS is Portal racing!
“Tchornobog is Soroka’s attempt at infiltrating the extreme metal sect occupied by the likes of Portal and Abyssal; a brew of cavernous, cacophonous death metal, dripping with fringe-style elements that blur genre lines.” Gesundheit!
“One of the complications of writing about and conceptualizing metal in the past – well, almost a decade – has been the music’s incredible diversity and availability. With bands able to record and distribute music so easily, scenes and trends have become less important and less centralized. Sure, there’s been a huge interest in nostalgia-core – occult rock and retro-thrash albums arrive in AMG’s inbox monthly – but it’s doubtful that in 2026 we’ll think of the first half of the ‘teens as being dominated by musical throwbacks. Metal as a whole lacks a zeitgeist, and in some ways that’s frustrating, because it’s hard to keep up with such a decentralized and broad genre – but death metal, as a smaller and more manageable entity, does indeed seem to have direction.” And that direction is interesting indeed.
“The latin phrase “Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius” comes from an incident in the early 13th century known as the Massacre at Béziers. The ironically named Pope Innocent II had declared a crusade against those he identified as heretics in Northern France, and the first town his assembled force attacked was the well-fortified town of Béziers. As the siege developed, it became a massacre, with more disciplined soldiers losing control of the mercenaries in the force who massacred the people, pillaged the town and ultimately burned it to the ground. The Massacre at Béziers has become emblematic of religion gone mad, persecution in its most extreme and dangerous incarnation, not just for the degree of the bloodshed, but for its indiscriminate-ness.” This is late, but also good. Nat knows her black metal!
Italian death metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse are planning to release a new EP called Mafia later this year (assumedly via Willowtip Records, though that’s not confirmed). After last year’s fantastic release Oracles (which was my #3 album on the year), I’ve gotta say that I’m really looking forward to this. Hopefully I can figure out who […]
