Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Overspace and SupertimeOut 27th February on Metal Blade Records It’s been a slow rise for Leeds’s own Cryptic Shift. From clunky sci-fi thrash beginnings in the early 2010s to emerging as local scene darlings by the end of the decade. They were perhaps about to break into international renown by the time their debut dropped... Continue Reading →
Is AI just the next technological development musicians and producers must contend with (akin to MIDI or DAWs)? Or does it represent a watershed moment in our relationship to music? And what, if anything, should people who spend their time reviewing and discussing new music do about AI’s growing proliferation? Joseph and Shelley are thrilled... Continue Reading →
Unmother: State Dependent MemoryOut 20th February on Fiadh Productions Although not entirely terrible, Unmother suffer from the garden variety shortcomings of much RABM, in that the music appears distracted and disjointed precisely because it is being forced to serve competing agendas. In the case of Unmother, it’s a simple checklist: from London, hardcore punk background,... Continue Reading →
In a recent episode of 2 Promoters, 1 Pod, co-host and Damnation Festival organiser Gavin McInally launched what some took to be an all out assault on the music press. His contentions were three fold. That the music press no longer does “real” journalism”, i.e. following up on leads and breaking stories. Secondly, that its... Continue Reading →
In an effort to catch up with current events we thought we'd doff the cap to Ozzy's passing by focusing on the part of his legacy that has impacted us the most, the first six Sabbath albums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPuwa8NMfxU
Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne!Out 20th February on Terratur Possessions Dark, fluid, minimalist black metal creates a sense of grandeur by bolstering the near constant tremolo riffing with keyboard accompaniment. That, and the thick reverb covering the mix gives the music a degree of inertia, forcing it into rather simplistic themes that gain greater currency from the... Continue Reading →
Three Faced Trinity for a Two-Faced WorldOut 13th February on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions The obscurantist curveball that is Moonchapel continue their output apace. Following their harrowing debut ‘Chasms of Ash and Inequity’ in 2025, they have since put out two more albums, ‘Famine Weaponized’ released the same year, and now we have this... Continue Reading →
Careful what you wish for Following a turbulent start to the year, the constant rain finally relented this week and I got to see the sun for the first time in 2026, but this was conditioned on the temperatures once again dropping below zero. Despite the challenges, I’m determined to attack 2026 with gusto, stubbornly... Continue Reading →
Psy-War: From Deep Depressions to the Borders of SuicideOut 27th November on La Caverna Records (originally released in 1992) Unsettling grindcore notable for shifting the traits of the genre – the micro tracks, the frantic speed, bricks and mortar power chord riffing, and hardcore sensibilities – to a bleaker, almost defeatist place. Basic, three or... Continue Reading →
Goat at SunsetOut 1st February, self-released Croatia’s Petrale add to their significant run of releases with another subtle shift in direction. Where 2024’s ‘The World Down There’ was technically dense but experientially a stripped back, nocturnal journey of dissonant surrealism, ‘Goat at Sunset’ wrests this project in a more playful and melodically typical direction. Typical,... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 