Reviews

The Lion’s Daughter – Skin Show Review

By GardensTale on April 10, 2021 in Reviews, Industrial Metal, Sludge, 22 comments

“Do you all miss Mark Z? I do, too. The poor bastard is eyeball deep in educational files and folders and here I am, cosplaying him in a misguided attempt to bring forth some of his essence. Two previous The Lion’s Daughter albums our dear slutgöatwitchvomitfuckerlörd reviewed, each scraping together very respectable scores and candid praise, but the burden now befalls me to continue the Big Z’s legacy concerning the St. Louis weirdos, a burden I declared to shoulder enthusiastically. Yet the promo for Skin Show gave pause.” Skinned to win?

Nad Sylvan – Spiritus Mundi Review

By Emya on April 10, 2021 in Reviews, 16 comments

“To be frank, my expectations were not high going into listening to Spiritus Mundi. As a Nad Sylvan noob, a quick glance at Sylvan‘s promo shots and the choice of album cover had me performing the dreadful sin of judging an album by its cover. The deeper I made it into Spiritus Mundi, however, the less I questioned the numerous times El Cuervo has sung praises of Sylvan‘s progressive rock in each of the ‘Vampire Trilogy’ albums. I unabashedly admit that Nad Sylvan knows how to write a charming album.” Nad spirits.

Les Chants du Hasard – Livre Troisième Review

By Twelve on April 9, 2021 in Reviews, Experimental Metal, 45 comments

“Sometimes, you have to try something different. Stagnating into a limited pool of metal quickly leads to burnout, and if there’s one thing I can’t stand… well, it probably wouldn’t be burnout explicitly, but that’s up there for sure. To stave off that awful feeling for as long as possible, I’ve made a conscious effort to be reasonably variable in what kinds of music I review for this site. I tell you this so you’ll understand why it was that when I first scanned through the promotional material for Livre Troisième, the third full-length release from French act Les Chants du Hasard, and saw the line “is it still metal? The question is now irrelevant,” my response was to dive right in, sight unseen.” Les Pretentious.

Mānbryne – Heilsweg: O udrece ciala i tulaczce duszy Review

By Doom_et_Al on April 9, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, 97 comments

“The reason many debut albums sound so good, the theory goes, is that the composer has been creating and honing these songs (at least in their head) their whole life. What the songs lack in finesse, they make up for with creativity and fresh energy. It’s why hardcore fans of many bands prefer their earlier output, before an established groove was settled into. What happens, though, when you have the shaggy exuberance of a fresh and gifted songwriter, combined with the talents of more experienced heads to hone and polish the rougher edges? Mānbryne answers that question with Heilsweg: O udrece ciala i tulaczce duszy.” Marinating in Mānbryne.

The Limit – Caveman Logic Review

By Steel Druhm on April 9, 2021 in Reviews, 25 comments

“I’m not the biggest fan of the so called “super group” or “all star collaboration.” Nine times out of ten these end up pointless vanity projects with little to recommend them beyond the cast of players. Are there exceptions? Sure, that’s why I said NINE out of ten. The Limit definitely qualifies as a super group, featuring members of Pentagram (Bobby Liebling) and 70s punk icons The Stooges (Jimmy Recca) and Testors (Sonny Vincent). In an effort to pay homage to the 70s punk scene the members cut their teeth in, Caveman Logic is a collection of hard charging garage rock tunes with a pronounced punk attitude.” Early men doing primitive rock,

Exterminated – The Genesis of Genocide Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on April 8, 2021 in Reviews, 16 comments

“Look, you know as well as I do that this is going to be brutal death metal. The cover, the band name, the label, and the album title all definitively point in that direction. No amount of clever misdirection can draw anyone who’s spent even twenty minutes listening to some “intro to brutal death metal” playlist astray from this fact. Even the biography of Exterminated – two members, one doing all the guitars and programming the drums, the other doing vocals – screams brutal death metal.” Generic genocide.

Kauan – Ice Fleet Review

By El Cuervo on April 8, 2021 in Reviews, Post-Metal, 75 comments

“It’s April 2021 and our favorite Russians masquerading as Finns by way of Ukraine and Estonia are back with their ninth studio release. Ice Fleet is their first album laced with any English (in its title) and tells the true story of an unidentified fleet of ships discovered in Northern Russia in 1930, with its crew and cargo perfectly frozen in time. Kauan offered some of the best post-metal of the 2010s, culminating in the delicate and stirring Kaiho in 2017. It arguably deserved a spot on my list given that I return to it more than most from that year, so what are my thoughts with the passing of 4 years?” Frozen feelz.

Arion – Vultures Die Alone Review

By Huck N Roll on April 8, 2021 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Melodic Metal, Power Metal, 17 comments

“I don’t put much stock in award shows or competitions. Really, who amongst us does? Ever since the first Metal Grammy went to Jethro Tull metal fans around the world have viewed these sorts of things with more than a little trepidation. So when a band comes my way that came to fame in a competition, it’s more a curse than a blessing. Power metal act Arion (the Finnish act, not the Greek) is such a band. As teens these guys were finalists in UMK, the Finnish qualification program for Eurovision, eight years ago.” Beauty pageant meets the metal world.

Fuoco Fatuo – Obsidian Katabasis Review

By Dear Hollow on April 7, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 23 comments

“In the case of funeral doom, I’ve run across several people telling me that Skepticism and Moss are the best funeral doom out there, followed by warnings to stay away from Catacombs and Until Death Overtakes Me. What happened? Neither Skepticism nor Moss stuck with me, and I routinely return to Catacombs and Until Death Overtakes Me. With a style as minimalistic as funeral doom, everyone will react differently to the same slab of concrete-thick, 20-BPM riffs, and will entirely depend on the atmosphere it provides.” Journey to the center of Katabasis.

Zao – The Crimson Corridor Review

By Grymm on April 7, 2021 in Reviews, Metalcore, Post-Metal, Sludge, 86 comments

“As someone who’s candidly gone on record about mental health in the past, it’s always a gamble for me to dive into an album that heavily focuses on such a difficult subject. It’s not often that it’s treated with the necessary weight and care that it undoubtedly deserves, and more often than not, for every one An Isolated Mind‘s I’m Losing Myself, there are about 50 of these littering the scene, taking up way too much space and energy. If there’s one band, though, that can tackle it with grace and honesty, it’s Pennsylvania’s Zao.” Corridors of the mind.