“While many within the genre drift towards the floaty, gazey, and even anodyne, my favorite kind of post-metal is the dark kind. Post-metal that uses resonant ambience, deep atmosphere, and echoing vocals to create a powerful, weighty sense of foreboding. So it was that back in February, Fvnerals, whose path and mine had not yet crossed, made me sit up and notice them. It seems that in the past, Fvnerals played it a little softer, and safer, with a mellower bent. But this time they’ve plumbed the depths of horror and melancholy.” Dread post ambient.
Post-Metal
Leonov – Procession Review
“Leonov will always have a special place in my heart for being the recipients of the first review I ever wrote for this site (Wake, their sophomore release, and one I still return to on occasion). In the five years since that fateful October day, it’s been a fascinating exercise to see how my writing has progressed over the years, and indeed to compare my life then to my life now. I suspect the members of Leonov feel the same way; five years is a long time.” Time, tides, Twelve.
Helga – Wrapped in Mist Review
“The term “shinrin-yoku,” or forest bathing, was coined in Japan in the early 1980s to describe a therapeutic practice both mental and physical. One can imagine this as a response to the relentless march of modern life that pulls our kind ever further from a connection to nature. Dissatisfied with this state of existence, Helga weaves forest-bathing deep into their debut album, Wrapped in Mist. Led by Helga Gabriel, this Swedish quintet looks to blend folk atmospheres, post-rock, and fleeting black metal into a potent and unique brand.” Thuggery and tree huggery.
Cursebinder – Drifting [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]
“Perhaps some of you will recall that heady moment in 2021 when we reviewed the third record, The Grand Scheme of Things, by Kraków, Poland death metal outfit Dormant Ordeal, not once, but twice. In a week. For reasons. Still, it scored an indulgent 4.0 and a deserved 3.5, so at least it was worth it. Well, DO vocalist Maciej Proficz has another band, Cursebinder. And back in April, to little acclaim (at least that I saw), Cursebinder dropped its debut LP, Drifting.” Curses!
Autarkh – Emergent Review
For your amusement we present two very different perspectives on the new Autarkh opus, Emergent. Will their divisive industrial/post/black metal sound bring an ugly end to a lovely friendship?
Morne – Engraved with Pain Review
“Those familiar with the band’s previous work will find it mostly unchanged here. Morne sit at the intersection of post-metal and doom with the residue of crust and sludge corroding any exposed surfaces. Structurally, they like to write a big, driving riff with methodical drums pounding away and then just camp on that for a while. Then they build a house there and put down roots.” Morne hasn’t broken.
Laster – Andermans Mijne Review
“What a weird band Laster is. As a name in the ever-expanding roster of strange, wailing, and skronk-toned black metal spilling off the banks of Utrecht, Netherlands, the three cloaked comrades join the ranks of other regarded underground acts like Grey Aura, Nusquama, and Verval—each featuring a Laster member no less—truly pushing the bounds of what the genre can harbor.” Laster man standing.
BRIQUEVILLE – IIII Review
“When I reviewed B R I Q U E V I L L E’s third record, Quelle, I got tetchy about all the spaces between the letters, and various other pretensions. However, the Belgian project’s mesmerizing brand of instrumental post-metal won me over. Its bleak, misery-drenched tones conveyed everything that slightly uncomfortable-to-look-at album artwork suggested it might, ranging from a sludgy Bossk to Godspeed You! Black Emperor in tone. At almost an hour in length, and with a few strange choices in its composition, Quelle did struggle a little under its own weight but it still held my attention. Although the spaces now seem to come and go, it would appear BRIQUEVILLE have found a new way to irk me with their fourth record, IIII.” B r i c k by BRIQUE.
Phantom Winter – Her Cold Materials Review
“Seldom does artwork perfectly embody a band’s sound, but Phantom Winter’s four-album streak of black-and-white portrayals of the horrific and fantastical is dead-on. While lightless and unceasingly dreary, there is a stillness that silences the cacophony. Like a barren forest in the last sigh of winter, Her Cold Materials is a scream receiving no echo, the soft “thump” of a body in the snow, the mockery of the woods’ constant and uninterested witness. In the bleak model of consistency, Phantom Winter once again proves the grit of its mettle in a frostbitten silence that proves less is more.” Winter is coming (soon).
Stuck in the Filter – July’s/August’s Angry Misses
When 2 months of Filter crud collects, things get sticky. We got our hands dirty in July and August so you could have nice, fancy fingernails.