“If it wasn’t for the wise Madam X, I might never have stumbled on Sweden’s Mephorash. After our Queen of Darkness shared the nifty little Covid concert the band released in 2019, I was hooked. Released the same year, Shem Ha Mephorash remains one of my favorite black metal releases. Now Mephorash is back, hoping to achieve an impossible task: releasing an album better than Shem Ha Mephorash.” Mephorash whiplash.
“Ever since they smashed onto the scene with their 2020 debut Impious Viam, following up on the more quietly well-received EP Humanity Will Echo Out, Night Crowned have presented an almost ideal example of symphonic/melodic blackened death. Take a template of symphonic, subtle synth-accented black metal, and add a bunch of catchy melodies, well-pitched dramatic compositions, and that uniquely Swedish death metal flair, and you’ve got Night Crowned. But the group are more than that; they have a distinctive sound that has only strengthened over the years, and Tales continues this trend.” Evening royalty.
“Swedish upstarts Eternal Evil seek to plant their flag along the spectrum of modern thrash, a genre that has become a surprise hot-button issue around the AMG universe. Their 2021 debut album The Warrior’s Awakening…Brings the Unholy Slaughter! garnered a less than enthusiastic reaction from our resident pointy-ear Felagund, citing a sacrifice of “essential memorability for monotonous haste”. Apparently undeterred, the Stockholm quartet have swapped out their battle axes for a box of tapered candles and a nice hooded robe and unleashed a new platter of blackened thrash, The Gates Beyond Mortality.” Evil never dies.
“Sorcerer are back, and boy howdy did I need the sanctuary afforded by their classic epic doom sound after marinating for weeks in Autopsy’s gore-encrusted catalog! For those not familiar, Sorcerer haunted the Swedish doom scene since the late 80s without seeing a proper release until 2015s In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross. Though I was a fan of their demos and compilations in the 90s, I missed In the Shadow entirely and didn’t come back on board until 2017s The Crowning of the Fire King. That album’s loving tribute to the Candlemass school of epic doom blew my mind and ended up my Album o’ the Year. I still spin it often and it’s one of my favorite albums of the decade.” Wanded: Dead or Alive.
“Beautiful and melodious in equal measure, At One with the Night Sky occupies that stratospheric space where the most ethereal atmoblack resides, evoking more faithfully the ebullient tones of Skyforest and Deafheaven than the tumultuous desperation of Mare Cognitum. Delicate twinkling effects and peaceful dalliances with cosmic ambiance characteristic of Skyborne Reveries further embellish Lightlorn’s high-flying approach.” Platonic forms of beauty.
“Since 1994 this sadboi doom/death Katatonia spin-off has been spewing sullen tunes to the beat of a depressed march. Originally more in line with a stripped-down presentation of the kind of work that Dance of December Souls started and Brave Murder Day championed, October Tide festered into its own deathly beast, eventually seeing the legendary Jonas Renkse step away to a succession of progressively more vile vocalists.” High? Low? October Tide.
“Well, well, well. How time flies. On 7 November 2018, my first ever review, under the unassuming alias of Nameless_N00b_17, was posted for The Grand Manifestation by Sweden’s Third Storm. Almost five years on, despite various spates of chronic overrating and hopefully showing some improvement in my writing, I am still here to see Third Storm return with their sophomore album, The Locust Mantra.” Bugnado.
“I beg your pardon, Svartkonst–but it appears you got your corpse paint on my cargo shorts. Over the course of two albums, Rickard Törnqvist–until now the only member of this Swedish outfit–has been concocting and refining his signature blend of Entombed-core Swedeath and Watain’s fierce approach to melodic black metal. 2020’s Black Waves was a revelation and a highlight of that dire year, taking the best of Svartkonst’s influences and boiling away whatever Törnqvist didn’t need. Not since the mad lads over at Reese’s had their mishap with chocolate and peanut butter has a mashup gone so swimmingly. Now Törnqvist is back with a five-man touring lineup in tow, as Svartkonst drops new long player May the Night Fall.” Be-Twix and between worlds.
“What is a successful retro-thrash record? Why would anyone even attempt one? If you lean too much on the old masters, you’re just gonna come off as tired and derivative. Try and diversify, and you lose what makes it retro-thrash. I like the occasional thrash just fine, but when I saw fate had bestowed upon me Tyranex, I breathed a weary sigh and rolled my eyes. Rarely does a promo sheet take this much pride in being retro-thrash, stuffing the short blurb with old school and 80’s speed metal to the point where it felt like managing expectations rather than hyping up the album. But I stuffed my bias in my back pocket and opened my mind to the best of my abilities. Does Reasons for the Slaughter give me reason for a slaughter?” Bring your daughter.
“Swedish war mongers Just Before Dawn are back once again to weave bloody tales of man’s inhumanity to man through their tried-and-true variant of doomy death metal. The Bolt Thower influences are never far from their chosen sound and style and after four full-lengths and several EPs, including last year’s Battle-Sight Zeroing, Just Before Dawn have done all they could to fill the massive crater left by the beloved U.K. fighting unit and battle buddies Hail of Bullets.” War is forever.
