Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Lord of NightmareOut 25th July on Hessian Firm (originally released in 2006) Endless Dismal Moan, the brainchild of one Chaos 9, who sadly took their own life in 2008, was an enigmatic Japanese black metal entity that typified or even perfected the dark, urbanist turn the genre took in the early 21st Century. Hessian Firm’s... Continue Reading →
Décryptal: SimulacreOut 11th July on Me Saco Un Ojo/Rotted Life Attempts to forge links between the old and the new in death metal via a survey of muscular old school traditions through the crushing swing of the Earache crowd to darker 2010s caverncore. In this endeavour it retains a refreshing focus and coherence, marking it... Continue Reading →
Mortalha Negra: NecromanteOut 18th June on Helldprod Records Essentially a thrash metal rendering of ‘Under a Funeral Moon’. Excitable yet austere, riffs reach through the old school filter, reinjecting archaic speed metal elements into an unambiguously black metal setting. The latter elements of which are deployed as developmental material. This in turn injects the music... Continue Reading →
Vomitum TempestasOut 30th June on Nuclear War Now Productions Texan death metal engages in a distant but often proactive dialogue with the genre’s macabre roots. Blaspherian, Condemner, Imprecation, all are muscular, direct, energetic iterations of death metal. But on closer inspection it becomes apparent that their raw physicality is a façade, a delivery mechanism designed... Continue Reading →
Understanding Sacramentum I was as shocked as anyone to hear of the tragic passing of Nisse Karlén. Sacramentum were a very formative band in the development of my taste. I was lucky enough to catch them at the London Deathfest in 2022, and was looking forward to seeing them at Cosmic Void Festival in just... Continue Reading →
Lord of Two HornsOut 27th June on Nuclear Winter Records Drawn and Quartered remind us that – despite my growing cynicism – you should never write anyone off before their time. 2021’s ‘Congregation Pestilence’ was a tight but forgettable iteration of dark American death metal. One that led me to conclude that we could expect... Continue Reading →
Grog: Sphere of AtrocitiesOut 13th June on Helldprod A collection of generic brutal and semi technical death metal furniture, delivered with the random freneticism of grindcore. Swirling between ideas, Grog are just as liable to hack up the momentum with abandon as they are to repeat themes and riffs in order to hammer them home.... Continue Reading →
The noise diaries XVII There’s maybe just one more heat wave standing between us and a seasonal reset. Brown leaves are already littering the ground in the North of England. Autumn is in the bones. I think I’ve finally reasoned my way through why I take such umbrage with summer, and it’s nothing to do... Continue Reading →
Nithe: Funeral DeathOut 30th May on Caligari Records Standard retro black/death/thrash metal conceals a more active imagination than is typical for this beaten and very much deceased horse. Each segment revels in its simplicity, but as an excess of ideas unfurl across each track, one can at least admire the attention to detail in constructing... Continue Reading →
Funeral Baptism: In SolitudineOut 30th May on Loud Rage Music If you ever conceived the (admittedly niche) desire to know what Dissection would sound like playing depressive black metal it’s all here. Thrilling and graceful melodic content flirting on the border of the trivial engages in a balancing act with intense emotional flourishes expressed through... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 