2020 will certainly go down as a year to remember. The devastating effects of Rona-19 on music scenes across the world have taken a severe toll. Already in a precarious position for many years, many small to mid-sized venues have been forced to closed. Abandoned by a system that insists that underground music is a... Continue Reading →
I like the beats and I like the yelling: Boreal, Sad, Askog
Boreal: The Battle of VOSAD (2020) Hereโs a novel fucker, an American atmospheric black metal outfit that doesnโt suck balls. Although founder Ash Fox has apparently been at it since 2003, it was only in 2018 that he was joined by a rhythm section in JR and AW. 2020 sees them throw out a re-recorded... Continue Reading →
Pacifying beauty: Wiegedood and Drudkh
โConsistencyโ is a descriptive word. But when used to discuss discographies, beneath consistencyโs benign exterior lurks the spectre of value judgement, a positive subtext. A consistent artist is one that can be relied upon to achieve a baseline level of quality. Both these artists are consistent. But this commonplace reading of the word carries with... Continue Reading →
I like the beats and I like the yelling: Sorcier des Glaces, Goatcraft, Kyrios
Sorcier des Glaces: Un Monde de Glace et de Sang (2020) 2020 is an even number. As such, we were due a new Sorcier des Glaces album. Their rise from obscure one-time hitters with 1998โs โSnowlandโ to one of the most celebrated pillars of Canadian black metal has been a slow and steady march. A... Continue Reading →
I like the beats and I like the yelling: Beherit, Spiritual Holocaust, Oldmoon
Beherit: Bardo Exist (2020) 2020, a year that will be remembered for its global pandemics and aging black metal artists offering up ambient albums no one asked for. And much like Burzumโs aptly named โThulean Mysteriesโ, Beheritโs โBardo Existโ lands with little fanfare or preamble. It is a habit of these mysterious misanthropes from the... Continue Reading →
I like the beats and I like the yelling: The Kryptik, Helvetes Javla Skit, Noxis
The Kryptik: Behold Fortress Inferno (2020) Straight out of Rio de Janeiro comes the best Swedish black metal album youโve heard all year. This forty-minute-long EP offers some of the best melding of epic riffcraft with bracing symphonic atmospheres to be heard in a long time. Channelling the spirit of Dawn or Vinterland, The Krytpik... Continue Reading →
Ambient/Neofolk
Dargaard Die Verbannten Kinder Evas Byrdi Empyrium Equitant Heilung Khand Kreuzweg Ost Lord Wind Mordor Neptune Towers October Falls Sequestered Keep Tenhi Wardruna Wongraven
Doom metal
Acid Bath Acid King Ahab Anathema Bongripper Candlemass Cathedral Church of Misery Churchburn Conan dISEMBOWELMENT Divine Eve Earthen Grave Electric Wizard Esoteric Jess and the Ancient Ones Jex Thoth Kadavar Kyuss Lord of Putrefaction Mael Mordha Magic Circle Monolith Cult Monolord My Dying Bride The Obsessed OM Pallbearer Paradise Lost Pentagram Pik Pist.On Purson Saint Vitus... Continue Reading →
Death metal
Acerbus Abomination Adramelech Amorphis Anatomia Asphyx At the Gates Atheist Autopsy Blaspherian Bolt Thrower Cancer Cardiac Arrest Carnage Cemetary Cenotaph Ceremonium Ceremony The Chasm Cianide Creepmime Cynic Death Deceased Deicide Demigod Demilich Derketa Desecresy Disharmonic Orchestra Dismember Entombed Entrails Eulogy Execration Father Befouled Funerus Gorguts Gorement Grave Grotesque Horrendous Immolation Imprecation Incantation Infester Krabathor Krisiun... Continue Reading →
Black Metal
1349 A Forest of Stars A Transylvanian Funeral Abigor Abruptum Absu Agatus Ancient Antaeus Aosoth Aura Noir Averse Sefira Bathory Beherit Behemoth Beithioch Belial Belphegor Black Funeral Blasphemy Blood of Kingu Burzum Celtic Frost Cirith Gorgor Cradle of Filth Cultes des Ghoules Dark Tribe Darkspace Darkthrone Dawn Demoncy Dimmu Borgir Dissection Drudkh Eldamar Elysian Blaze... Continue Reading →