Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Verdadero PoderOut 19th November, self-released The second offering from this Chilean powerhouse of speed metal smooths off the rougher edges of the debut, seeing a more focused, weighty, yet no less frantic entity come into sharp relief. Letalis thread the needle of maturity by employing a fatter production, tighter songwriting, and a more intentional flow... Continue Reading →
Fessus: Subcutaneous TombOut 26th November on Darkness Shall Rise Productions Competent if unremarkable OSDM apes the playful bounce of Autopsy alongside the heavier malevolence of Incantation. As a listening experience, โSubcutanerous Tombโ is a โfill in the blanksโ album. Moments of creative surrealism โ usually expressed through the innovative lead guitar work โ populate an... Continue Reading →
The Descent of Mortals PastOut 14th November on I, Voidhanger Records Following the outpouring of material from the Midnight Odyssey camp in recent years itโs probably about time Dis Pater took his foot off the gas with his flagship project. Itโs not so much the amount of releases that was causing a problem but the... Continue Reading →
Gloombound: Dreaming DelusionOut 21st November on Gruesome Records Scrapes together the more downbeat elements of death/doom as a means of conjuring up a foundation for self-indulgent, achingly tedious balladeering. Much like Ahab before them, the pacing and content of these compositions is a hollow faรงade, leaning on depressed tempos to contrive tension and drama where... Continue Reading →
Pลรญliลกnost (Excess)Out 7th November on Willowtip Records Coming off the back of the adventurous โรpalโ in 2023, the latest offering from Kostnatฤnรญ is a case study in growing pains. Todayโs release incontinence epidemic has rendered the difficult second album a thing of the past. There is no build up of digestive materials before the ultimate... Continue Reading →
Death Summer 2025 was not kind to metal. The death of Ozzy was every bit as a dramatic and stage managed as expected. Somehow surprising us all despite the very literal realisation of the inevitable. The suicide of Nisse Karlen prompted me to undergo a detailed re-appraisal of Sacremantumโs discography. Their set at Septemberโs Cosmic... Continue Reading →
Seven Bloodied RampartsOut 14th November on Caligari Records (originally released in 2010) This reissue of British crust oddity Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom gives us the opportunity to scrutinise what is essentially Amebix reimagined through the lens of Time Team (a twee as fuck 90s TV programme about archaeological digs, for any non British readers), and... Continue Reading →
Depths of SufferingOut 31st October on Lavadome Productions The rough presentation of this album cloaks a well oiled machine of dramatic, borderline orchestral death metal. The musicโs darkness emerges not from a drab, introspective melancholia, but from a pervasive, ambient gloom, as if we were in the presence of some unknowably vast presence, be it... Continue Reading →
SAD: Fullmoonโs Bestial AwakeningOut 31st October on Purity Through Fire SAD continue their quest to appropriate generic second wave black metal sweet-nothings into what is essential punky rock โnโ roll. Despite the length of this album, and indeed the considerable girth of the tracks within, there is little to suggest they have expanded into a... Continue Reading →
Ialdabaoth: G.O.A.T. / S.C.O.P.E.Out 13th March on All Is Threat Lo-fi, frantic black metal pulling from the futurist undercurrent of the genre, here reimagined as a random, feral entity, defined by illogical fits of violence, laboured interludes of despair, and uncanny structuralism. Despite the demo quality production โ something utterly incapable of containing the flamboyant... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 