“Maybe I’ve heard one too many shitty re-thrash bands but it’s easy to draw conclusions from the bold illustration and title of Biological Enslavement by Hemotoxin. I feared that simplistic chugs, an angsty vocalist and a Neanderthal’s lyrics would lie behind the spiky logo and alien landscape. Happily, Hemotoxin are marginally more refined than this.” Marginally refined rethrash could be a whole new genre.
“Greek brutal death outfit Murder Made God didn’t exactly make a splash with their debut, Irreverence, which introduced the band with little fanfare. Enslaved isn’t out to challenge your conceptions of brutal death metal, but there’s a wealth of material on this album that shows the band growing but certainly not diversifying. With a name like Murder Made God, brutal death is what you expect, and brutal death is what you get.” Take what you get when it is given!
“Thunderstone have been around for 15 or so years and for most of that time they’ve labored in the shadow of fellow countrymen Stratovarius. It’s not hard to see why either, since their debut was such a carbon copy of their bigger, better peers. Over time they developed a bit more of a unique identity and proved themselves capable of crafting rollicking Euro-power tunes with big payoff choruses.” Is the apocalypse back again? I thought we sprayed!
“We live in a time where everything old is new again, and metal music is no exception. We have retro-stoner rock, retro-thrash, Scooby-Doobie Doom, and now… retro-tech-death? With the creation and success of Horrendous, many nimble-fingered, musically-acrobatic musicians are screaming bloody gore and exploring their more Human side to bring back a classic sound with all of the necessary upgrades to keep things somewhat fresh.” Tech-death like Death? That might just sell!
“Hailing from the Kópavogur area of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, Zhrine rose from the deathly remains of Gone Postal. Somewhere between taking top spot in the 2012 Wacken Metal Battle and and today, the voices behind Gone Postal noticed their sound growing darker, becoming more atmospheric and permeated with despair.” Iceland keeps the fires burning still.
“For those engulfed in the US Black Metal (USBM) scene, California’s Palace of Worms may be a familiar name to you. For everyone else, the band mixes Pacific Northwest Black Metal (PNWBM) and the ethereal beauty of Alcest (Alcest-core) with some signature Norwegian Black Metal (TRVEBM) rawness.” March of the Acronyms!
“The reigning kings of techno/industrial/party death are back once again to pump up the volume and rock your boots n’ pants, boots n’ pants. On their 13th full length, Monument, Crematory sees some major line up changes but the kraut rockers pick right up where 2014s Antiserum left off. That means more poppy techno-death tailor-made for metallized strip clubs and sketchy back alley discos.” Boots n’ pants and boots n’ pants….
“Desaster is fuckin’ coconuts. There, I said it and I stand by it. The reigning overlords of overkill are back for an eighth album full of lunatic blackened speed/thrash loaded with nods to the deep roots of metal and NWoBHM. They’ve always been unhinged, unpredictable and at times almost a parody of metal itself, but they’ve churned out some righteously amusing and trve moments of molten goodness over their leather and spike studded career.” Feel the foam!
“Whenever I’m given a new band to check out for review, I do as much thorough investigating as humanly possible. So when a band is labeled as “doom rock,” which is the case with today’s subject of scrutiny, Portugal’s Sinistro, I get a bit antsy, as it’s usually just a cover-up for gothic silliness. Add to the fact that the band members only go by one letter each (save for frontwoman Patricia Andrade), and it doesn’t bode very well from the start. Can you judge an album by the band members’ tired monikers?
“Ihsahn is always in motion. Following a storied career in one of the premier black metal bands of all time, he’s released five full-length albums. Nearly all of those records have been critically acclaimed, but only one has been critically acclaimed by me. While I enjoyed The Adversary, Ihsahn’s post-Emperor zenith was angL. Starting with After, however, Ihsahn started to lose me. What made his earlier material so good—riffs, riffs, more riffs, and slick composition (also riffs)—began to be replaced by increasingly abstract compositions. And when songs like “Scarab” started getting replaced with tracks like “M,” I stopped enjoying new Ihsahn albums. Yet Arktis. marks the next phase for Ihsahn, having finally left the Nihilists behind him.” Praise Zarathustra!
