“When Demoniac released So It Goes back in 2020/2021, they wowed a lot of metal folks with their unique take on classic thrash. That record attacked the genre in so many interesting ways, using progressive song structures to create a thrash journey that had to be heard to be believed. But the thing that really pushed these Chileans into the spotlight was their use of interesting instrumentation, including some piano and, most notably, the clarinet.” So it went.
“Five-piece NATT comprises a core duo of songwriters, René Misje (Kraków) and Roy Ole Førland (Malignant Eternal), who are then joined in the studio by others, including Enslaved’s Iver Sandøy behind the kit. Would the launch gig for their self-titled debut justify a visit to Norway?” Tour core.
“Everybody misses Bolt Thrower. Ask any death metal fan what band they’d want to resurrect for one last platter of greatness, and I bet the British bruisers would be near the top of the list, alongside Death itself. There’s just something about Bolt Thrower’s trance-inducing grooves that speaks to the violent beast hidden within each and every one of us, and the band name’s is still sprayed across death metal reviews like so much machine-gun fire whenever a burly tremolo rears its head—and this is nearly two decades after their last album saw the light of day. No one has been able to completely fill the void left in Bolt Thrower’s absence.” Tanks for the memories.
“I’ve declared my undying love for Necrophobic (or Necrop4.0bic, as I affectionately refer to them) in the past, and I’ve described how their melodic blackened death sound was what paved the way for my burgeoning love of black metal. Mark of the Necrogram and “Tsar Bomba” left an indelible, five-pointed mark upon me, and I was absolutely delighted when follow-up Dawn of the Damned ended up being just as great or better. Between those two albums, I fell head over heels for the guitar playing of Johan Bergebäck and Sebastian Ramstedt, and I even went so far as to describe Necrophobic’s music as “blackened Judas Priest,” mostly because of that duo’s ability to infuse the band’s sound with classic heavy metal swagger. So you can imagine the violence of my excitement when I discovered that Bergebäck and Ramstedt had joined forces with Cryptosis drummer Marco Prij to form a pure black metal project named In Aphelion.” Are you Moribund?
“For the second time this year, I grabbed what appeared to be a brand new band’s debut record, only to find that the band has already existed for many years in another form and under another name. This may, in fact, be the member’s first full-length release together, but before they changed their name to Siderean in 2020, the band had worked under the name Teleport for ten years, releasing demo after EP after demo as their sound evolved from the Voivod / Vektor-influenced progressive thrash of their beginnings into another beast altogether. On their final release as Teleport, the 2018 demo The Expansion, the band abandoned nearly every trace of their original thrash sound, embracing a proggy death metal that was infused with copious amounts of dissonance. Somewhere along the way, the members decided that their evolution warranted a fresh start and a fresh moniker, and Siderean was born.” Bring me the event horizon.
“While Fatal Visions saw Inculter producing exemplary thrash without altering the formula used by many of the genre’s legendary bands, the promo for So It Goes promises that Demoniac is about to take me down “all sorts of wild ‘n’ weird paths.” Now call me old-fashioned, but I don’t usually get excited about “experimental” things when it comes to my metal. So when I pressed play on So It Goes, I did so with more than a few reservations, wondering if I’d be able to appreciate the journey I was about to take.” Strange highways.
“What is an Inculter? Is it the person sitting behind the registration table at your local religious cult convention? You know, the one who greets you, helps you select the appropriate cult, provides the correct forms for you to fill out, and introduces you to the last family you’ll ever have? Or could it be that all-important person involved in the metal production process who is directly responsible for injecting the proper amount of cvltness into the music?” The cult of fatality.
“Sir David Bowie. The Duke, The Chameleon, The Goblin King. In January 2016, the world lost one of the greatest musicians it had ever known. Throughout his illustrious career, Bowie wore many faces, but even at his darkest, he retained a sultry air with his seductive voice and androgynous personae. First-wave black metal would place near-last on my list of metal genres that could pair with the Duke, but that’s exactly what ,b>Lydia Laska aim to do.” Look back in blackness.
“Welcome to the future, dear readers! Once again, we’ve braved a lap around the sun. 2018 looms ahead, and I get to look forward to another 12 months of somehow always picking the shittiest promos.” The Wheel of Promo is a brvtal mistress.
“Upon learning that Norwegian newcomers Reptilian were peddling a “unique and twisted form of Death Metal” on their debut Perennial Void Traverse, I gritted my teeth and prepared for the boring hipster “soundscape” that was to greet my ears when I hit play.” But you won’t believe what happened next!
