Apr23

Fatuous Rump – I Am at Your Disposal Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on May 1, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, Slam, 48 comments

“Slam and goregrind go together like week-old roadkill and a mid-July heat wave—between flail and fester this oft-maligned corner of brutal death metal hobbles with neither functional brain nor censor. Well, no censor on Bandcamp if you rock with goregrind and not pornogrind. Bandcamp has standards after all. At the slampicenter of these thick string rattling, pong snare clanging, sample-infested in-joke bands rests a bevy wildly stylized vocalists, allowing the throat-singing influenced snorter Larry Wang (Gorepot, Virginity Fraud, and many more…) a dank spotlight.” Rump truck.

Neverus – Burdens of the Earth Review

By Eldritch Elitist on April 30, 2023 in Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, 20 comments

“To any germinating young metal bands reading this, please heed my advice: Don’t attempt what Neverus has done here with your first record. Without so much as a public demo under their belt, this young Dutch act simultaneously revealed themselves and began releasing singles in 2022, culminating in this debut LP, Burdens of the Earth. But it’s not just that Neverus started releasing music with no pent-up hype or a label to back them; it’s that they did so while swinging for the damn fences, sprinting before anyone knew they could even crawl.” The burden of potential.

Tarchon Fist – The Flame Still Burns Review

By Kenstrosity on April 28, 2023 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, 22 comments

“It feels like ages since I last reviewed Tarchon Fist. Nearly four years ago, Apocalypse provided a fun but deeply flawed heavy metal experience, despite the wonder that is “Proud to be Dinosaurs.” Now it’s 2023 and these Italian steel addicts forge ahead with The Flame Still Burns, their fifth full-length, filled with new stories of war, wengeance, wictory, and, of course, 9/11—more on that later. With great excitement, and perhaps a small scoop of trepidation, I enter the Tarchon arena.” If at Fist you don’t succeed…

Bell Witch – Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate Review

By Cherd on April 28, 2023 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Funeral Doom, 73 comments

“Mirror Reaper expanded the scope of what doom could be, delivering a towering epic dedicated to the band’s original drummer Adrien Guerra, who passed away in 2016. Any reasonable human would look at this accomplishment and probably decide it was time to scale things back. Dylan Desmond and Jesse Shriebman are not reasonable. One wonders if they’re even human as they prepare to test the limits of attention span again with Future’s Shadow, a proposed tryptic of one-song records of which the 83-minute The Clandestine Gate is first.” Gate Reaper.

Runemagick – Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind Review

By Steel Druhm on April 28, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 23 comments

“Sweden’s Runemagick have been banging away at the extreme metal world since the late 90s. With a sound traveling from basic nuts n’ bolts death metal into doom-death, these magick wielders have put in over 3 decades of sweat equity with 12 albums to show for their efforts. That makes it all the weirder that I’ve never heard them until grabbing the promo for album number thirteen, Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind. Making my decades-long oversight all the more glaring, Katatonia drummer, Daniel Moilanen has manned the kit for Runemagick since 2002. Oh, the shame! With a poser check on Steel frantically underway at AMG HR, I ran back through their voluminous back catalog to sample their wares.” Spells of concealment.

Enforced – War Remains Review

By Holdeneye on April 27, 2023 in Reviews, Hardcore, Thrash Metal, 87 comments

“It’s certainly not unusual for me to field accusations of improper scoring around these parts, but, while I usually stand by my assessment of a record long after the review has come and gone, I’m willing to admit that I do occasionally get things wrong. Case in point: Enforced’s 2021 album, Kill Grid. I was initially enamored by that record’s furious hardcore-tinged thrash, and, at the time, a 4.0/5.0 score was a no-brainer. But the intervening years and my countless returns to the album have revealed an inescapable truth: I should have scored it higher. Needless to say, follow-up War Remains approaches the battlefield facing a nearly invincible host of expectations.” Of war crimes and MOAR crimes.

Dawn of Ouroboros – Velvet Incandescence Review

By Itchymenace on April 27, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, 50 comments

“Dawn of Ouroboros is a project started by Botanist and Cailleach Calling guitarist Tony Thomas and Cailleach Calling vocalist Chelsea Murphy. They play a wild, proggy mix of blackgaze, death and atmo-metal with sprinkles of new age and post-hardcore along the way.” Soup for you.

Chrome Waves – Earth Will Shed its Skin Review

By Carcharodon on April 26, 2023 in Reviews, Post-Metal, 20 comments

“When I reviewed Chrome Waves’ last effort, 2021’s The Rain Will Cleanse, I described its languid, whimsical tones as the epitome of great work music. While not intended as a slight to the band, as everyone needs great work music, it was hardly a ringing endorsement for the Midwest post-black metal quartet. I finished that review, however, by saying that the band had done enough (on tracks like “Aspiring Death”) to make me think they had a great record in them. Mark Z., who had also awarded a 3.0 to the band’s previous record, A Grief Observed, materialized unbidden in the comments to agree with my assessment.” High tides of potentiality.

Predatory Void – Seven Keys to the Discomfort of Being Review

By Dear Hollow on April 26, 2023 in Reviews, Post-Metal, Sludge Metal, 18 comments

“Voids are not an uncommon thing to discuss in metal. Somehow putting to music the vastness, the unfathomability, the colossus of nothingness is a feat in and of itself, and many have attempted to bring it to life. It’s the ultimate futility, the great vanity. While many have tried, from the mysterious Prava Kollektiv’s Voidsphere, the Swiss enigma Death. Void. Terror., and the dense death metal of Desolate Shrine or Abyssal, they are mere glimpses of the monument, the perspective of madness. When the cold nothingness attaches to the skull and does not shake, will Predatory Void provide the siren’s song sprinting to the early grave?” When voids attacks.

Fires in the Distance – Air Not Meant for Us Review

By Thus Spoke on April 25, 2023 in Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, 65 comments

“Back in September 2020, as the UK enjoyed respite between Covid lockdowns, and the air started to grow colder and the leaves duller with the promise of autumn, I heard Echoes from Deep November, the debut of melodic death metallers Fires in the Distance. It sounded—to my ears—like no one else, despite having elements reminiscent of Omnium Gatherum, Amorphis, and Be’lakor. And it stayed with me long after the leaves were dead and fallen. Fast-forward two and a bit years, when the singles from sophomore Air Not Meant for Us began to drop, and I was flooded with nostalgia and excitement as I heard that signature sound again.” Fires closer than they may appear.