Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Channeling the EgregoreOut 15th May on Medieval Prophecy Records The debut album from this Belgium outfit marries the uncanny, atmospheric mysticism of Beherit and Demoncy with a more symphonic ambition. It borrows the subtle, haunting style of early Ancient or Gehenna, but presents it with a relaxed yet intentional pace. Atmospheric, understated, a little loose... Continue Reading →
Oh no, a cheap clickbait listacle! Fear not, however, I come with good intentions. Staying abreast of new material in 2026 feels like navigating a tiny dinghy through a great storm of biblical scale. All you can do is cling on and stay the course through the sensory overload. The annual AOTY roundup functioning more... Continue Reading →
Dire Garden of the AgesOut 29th May on Naturmacht Productions The second album from this Irish solo project could be framed as a transfer of styles from one zone to another. Whilst the debut behaved like an epic fable heavily rooted in Viking and Celtic metal stylings, the follow up offers a rather dramatic volte-face... Continue Reading →
Words by P.B. Elsewhere in this blog, it has been said that there are four metal subgenres -- heavy, speed (incorrectly called โthrashโ), death, and black.ย However, in the article where this was first put forth, little justification was given as to why there were this many subgenres, and what the lines dividing them were.ย ... Continue Reading →
A closer look at specific metal tracks at the granular level, this week we take a closer look at Metallica's Master of Puppets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQykEpeqDVU
ะะฐะทัััััั ะััะฐะฝะฝัะพะผั ะกะฒััะฐะฝะบั (Towards the Last Dawn)Out 29th May on ATMF The debut EP from this Ukrainian outfit is reminiscent of early Abigor in the way it roots a romanticist aspiration in the adventurism of medievally derived melodic lines. But it manages to contain this within an expression of metal at once strikingly energetic and... Continue Reading →
Dysthen: DysthenOut 29th May, self-released Brings a tight, crisp survey of Nordic black metal that, whilst not exactly offering anything new, justifies the extent of its emotive intensity through a sharp consolidation of melodic talking points alongside a bracing momentum sustained throughout the course of this brief EP. In this endeavour it conveys a sense... Continue Reading →
Fournier: DemoOut 22nd May on Caligari Records Angular, tangential death metal chases the dragon of compositional unity meshed with explicit complexity in the spirit of Immolation or Morbid Angel. The production is relatively tinny by modern standards, even for a demo. With a metallic snare cutting through the factory settings distortion, and choppy bass lines... Continue Reading →
The Secret of DeathOut 21st May on Xtreem Music Since the departure of Jarno Nurmi in 2016, Tommi Grรถnqvist has steered the good ship Desecresy in painfully incremental steps from one album to the next, a process that feels like itโs finally bloomed on their latest album โThe Secret of Deathโ. ย Namely a synthesis of... Continue Reading →
MournholdOut 15th May on True Cult Records Following a promising debut that stitched a foggy haze of thrash and melodic death metal with a thread of black metal, Tyrannus push this loose alliance to breaking point and gamble it all on the second album. Approaching โMournholdโ is akin to taking the first few sips of... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 