“Few albums reveled in existential despair like Sun of Nothing’s The Guilt of Feeling Alive. While punishing in ways that recall Neurosis or Blindead, it settled heavily into tension and despondence beneath the devastation. It always hinted at something without fully grasping it, fluid and powerful heft contrasting with an overwhelming bleakness. Despite its black metal influence, Sun of Nothing did not offer a bleakness like DSBM’s passing glance at a winter landscape, but represented the grey of its troubling cover art: the day-in and day-out of a cold, tired, and worn city, shrouded in smog. For its first album in fourteen years, the Greek quartet has offered something that stands shoulder to shoulder.” Maze of tormets.
Praise the Plague
Praise the Plague – Suffocating in the Current of Time Review
“Evolution can be a tricky thing for a band to get right. Change too much and risk alienating an existing fan base. Or don’t change enough and risk pigeon-holing oneself, or even boring the audience who want to see some growth. Ever since Praise the Plague stepped onto the scene in 2018, they’ve been subtly shaping their intriguing admixture of doom and black metal. Particularly after sophomore The Obsidian Gate saw them commit to wielding in equal measure the grandiosity of the former with the sinister savagery of the latter, the question of where their approach would go next, as they established themselves, was foremost.” Down with the…Plague.
Cult Burial – Reverie of the Malignant Review
“You might not be aware of them, but Cult Burial generated a bit of a ripple in the metal underground with their self-titled debut back in 2020. Garnering top scores from whosoever covered it, the album’s blend of black, death, and doom did possess a certain je ne sais quoi in its moody but somewhat raw approach. It was not covered here, however, and as you know, thou shalt hath no other blogs. So it falls to me, and follow-up Reverie of the Malignant, to determine the mettle of these UK upstarts. Is the music worth the noise?” Cultic buzz.
Spectrum Mortis – Bit Meseri – The Incantation Review
“Through a medium of heavily atmospheric blackened doom, Bit Meseri mainly succeeds in communicating its occult inspiration. There is something of the ancient near east in the lilt of the guitars, reverberating against dusty darkness in quieter passages. The music also holds a distinctively ceremonial air that recalls Praise the Plague in its cavernous grandiosity and Behemoth in a near-warlike march, and guitars that parody church organs.” Necrofancy.
Kronos’ and Grymm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2021
Kronos and Grymm deliver artisan Top Ten(ish) lists for 2021. Just look at that craftsmanship!
GardensTale’s and Ferrous Beuller’s Top Ten(ish) of 2021
GardensTale and Ferrous Beuller unleash their Top Ten(ish) lists in a reckless manner without regard for the safety of others. Wear your safety goggles!
A Secret Revealed – When the Day Yearns For Light Review
“Contrary to popular belief, we adhere to some concrete rules around these parts. You always put the toilet seat back down when you’re finished. You never, ever speak to the whereabouts of former writers once they move on to greener pastures. Finally, you don’t swipe another reviewer’s band unless you get permission first. Long story short, I nabbed When the Day Years For Light by German post-metallers A Secret Revealed without realizing that Cherd tackled their last one, Sacrifices, just two years ago. That said, after profusely apologizing to the sagely-bearded one, not once did he fight me for reviewing rights.” Promo chess and poorly kept secrets.
Praise the Plague – The Obsidian Gate Review
“For as generally tired and played out the genre has become as of late, black metal pairs exceptionally well with a cornucopia of disparate genres. Sure, we all know that it goes together with death metal, like a harmonious, spiked-gauntleted, and dog-food-promoting Reese’s peanut butter cup. Doom, however, seems like a stranger chocolate for our humbled corpse-painted nut butter of dubious origins. Something about not only the speed involved, but also the “hurry up and get to the fucking point, already” aspect of doom that would, on the surface at least, seem contradictory to the icy, tremolo-infested sound that birthed many a hooded sweatshirt-clad frost-dweller. Thankfully, we have German quintet Praise the Plague.” Gate creepers.