Progressive Black Metal

In Vain – Solemn Review

By El Cuervo on April 16, 2024 in Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 118 comments

“In Vain were clearly one of the most exciting Norwegian bands in the 2010s, boasting 2 great releases across Aenigma and Currents. The latter was even my Album o’ the Year for 2018, resulting in my unreasonable expectations for a sequel. For those unfamiliar, imagine a more varied and melodic version of Borknagar; a convenient comparator in a year that has also featured a new release from those guys too. And good though that record undoubtedly is, Solemn beats it hands down.” Vain and glorious.

Stuck in the Filter: January’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity on March 11, 2024 in Stuck in the Filter, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Folk Metal, Hardcore, Heavy Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge, Stoner Metal, Symphonic Metal, Technical Death Metal, 75 comments

It’s becoming apparent that our filtering systems work quite well! The crew has done a fine job pulling filth from the workings and releasing the pressure to the system. A second too late and the toilets would have backed up.

Stuck in the Filter – November/December’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity on February 2, 2024 in Stuck in the Filter, Black Metal, Death Metal, Grind, Melodic Black Metal, Symphonic Metal, 52 comments

2023’s cleaning protocols are finally complete, and here comes the Filter scrappings from November and December. Taste them all, then consult a funeral director.

Porta Nigra – Weltende Review

By Carcharodon on July 25, 2023 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Progressive Metal, 80 comments

“The choice of Käthe Kollwitz’s famous Aufruhr (Uprising) as the cover art for the fourth album by Germany’s Porta Nigra is telling in that … hang on, I’m almost sure that … *cue much lip nibbling and skrunkling of eyebrows as I crank my addled memory into second gear*… Panzerfaust!!! You wouldn’t think it would take me quite as long as it did to place the cover art from my 2020 album of the year, the outstanding The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render unto Eden. 2020 was, coincidentally, also the last time we heard from Koblenz’s Porta Nigra, when they dropped the very good Schöpfungswut.” Faust friends.

Bizarrekult – Den Tapte Krigen Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on January 28, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, 75 comments

“On initial listen, I can tell you that Den Tapte Krigen is no Vi Overlevde. Let that sink in as you consider the consequences of that statement. Is that good or bad? For one, Den Tapte Krigen is a tighter album (only eight tracks) with a formalized theme. There’s fluidity from the beginning to the end of this journey. What about those surprise transitions and standout songs, you ask?” Rejoin the Kult.

Träumen von Aurora – Luna and Aurora Review

By Doom_et_Al on August 25, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Post-Metal, 7 comments

“Indecisiveness. Tragic flaw of many of art’s most enduring characters: Hamlet, Holden Caulfield, Spongebob Squarepants. It was also the feeling I got when I first listened to Luna and Aurora by German post-black metallers, Träumen von Aurora (Dreaming of Aurora). This looks, smells and is packaged as a double album, with Spring (Aurora) following darkness (Luna), a neat inversion of The Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The band, however, bills Luna and Aurora as their third and fourth albums respectively. Stylistically linked, released on the same day, but definitely separate albums.” Double troubles.

IATT – Magnum Opus Review

By Eldritch Elitist on May 28, 2022 in Reviews, 43 comments

“The title of IATT’s third LP is not as ballsy as you might think. “Magnum opus” is one of those phrases that tends to be carelessly tossed around in art criticism without really meaning anything, so let’s break it down: literally, the phrase means “The great work,” specifically referring to the alchemical process of creating the immortality-granting philosopher’s stone. While some use the phrase as a placeholder for “masterpiece,” IATT is here wielding it with its proper connotation, as evidenced by much of the record’s subject matter. Taken this way, the title also serves as a metaphor in the context of IATT’s career.” Magnum force.

Tómarúm – Ash in Realms of Stone Icons Review

By Kenstrosity on May 2, 2022 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal, 69 comments

“We as a community speak often of defining and categorizing genres, but sometimes a promo comes along that legitimately challenges those definitions. Atlanta, Georgia’s Tómarúm received a generic “black metal” tag from Prosthetic Records’ PR team, and it falls short as a descriptor for what Tómarúm play. As you’ll surely deduce after giving debut album Ash in Realms of Stone Icons even just one spin, this nascent two-piece perform forbidden alchemy with myriad metallic ores, smelting a writhing, metamorphic amalgamation. It’s that very transmogrification that not only makes this album difficult to categorize but also exciting and satisfying to experience.” Pigeon holes don’t come easy.

Karmanjaka – Gates of Muspel Review

By El Cuervo on February 19, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, 29 comments

“I know what you’re thinking: dark, fantastical imagery; Norse titles and lyrical themes; a spiky logo. Gates of Muspel by Karmanjaka must be the latest in Scandinavia’s bottomless sump of black metal. You’re not wrong. Muspel is a contraction of Muspelheim, the most Abrahamically hellish of the nine realms, replete with fire and destruction. Accordingly, this troupe most obviously aligns with black metal of the core metal sub-genres, advertised as for fans of Enslaved, Borknagar and Rotting Christ. These references are fitting; each boasts particularly progressive or theatrical forms of the style, and so it holds for Karmanjaka too.” Blackened Broadway.

Krallice – Crystalline Exhaustion Review

By Cherd on January 28, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, 37 comments

“For the better part of the last two weeks I’ve done nothing but wrap my head around the entire output of Queens, New York black metal alchemists Krallice. This was difficult enough with their mathy, progressive first four albums, but the wildly experimental, technical second half of their catalogue knocked me slightly out of phase with this reality. I see in five dimensions now. I respond to things before they happen, because they have already happened and are never not happening.” Dimensional crosstrainers.