Kostnatění: ÚpalOut 26th May on Willowtip Records Kostnatění straddle the border between noise rock and technical-cum-dissonant black metal. This jarring stylistic clash serves as midwife to expressions of Turkish and North African folk traditions. Unlike our usual image of folk metal however, Kostnatění forego deploying an armoury of non-rock “traditional” instrumentation, articulating their vision entirely... Continue Reading →

Hail Conjurer: Ouroboros LustOut 18th May on Bestial Burst Hail Conjurer continue their journey into surrealist black metal doom with the latest outing ‘Ouroboros Lust’. Fuzz prevails, with a wash of background static, eerie drones, and minimal synth tones infusing the album with an opaque haze. Many of the riffs are identifiably black metal, albeit... Continue Reading →

Edited by Daniel Lukes & Stanimir Panayotov • Designer: Jaci Raia Enjoying music on the edge of acceptability is a delicate and multidimensional activity. But after (and possibly before) reading Black Metal Rainbows I think I can sum up my current feelings on this debate space: STOP TREATING YOUR HOBBIES AS YOUR PRAXIS. Black Metal... Continue Reading →

CastlesiegeThe Council of Trees Dungeon synth is the expression of a desire to return to innocence, at least the explicitly high fantasy variant touted on ‘The Council of Trees’ by Castlesiege. Far from being a disparagement however, this observation is made with a view to unpacking the ways in which dungeon synth articulates a yearning... Continue Reading →

Each lad chose one overrated band to slaughter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRY26O3ndXY

Description: In this episode, the discourse once again centers on the eminent composer Anton Bruckner, with a discerning emphasis on the deliberations of The Bruckner Journal Conference held at the prestigious Yale University this year. In addition, the colloquy ventures into several other subjects, including the contentious Haas editions discrepancies, the imperative significance of Bruckner’s... Continue Reading →

Esoctrilihum: Astraal Constellations of the Majickal ZodiacOut 12th May on I, Voidhanger Esoctrilihum sit at the apex of third/fourth wave black metal conceptualised as a playground for individuals with a rather generous assessment of their own significance within extreme experimental music. They self-identify as mavericks and outliers, and to some extent they are. Only the... Continue Reading →

Fryktelig Støy: DisappointmentOut 29th January, self-released For all the darkness and anger rife in extreme metal, I have always found it to be well of affirmation, a source of light, strength, a resounding yes to life. Subgenres that lean into depressive themes therefore have a tendency to leave me flummoxed (barring some notable exceptions in... Continue Reading →

YouTube reaction videos are perhaps the starkest demonstration of social media's uncanny reflecting pool of our identities. The subset of metal “reactcore” videos exploded a few years ago, and has only recently receded at the hands of a rising K-pop market. Metal reaction videos take on a number of formats, but broadly fit into two... Continue Reading →

Petrale: Salvation PrecipitatesOut 2nd May, self-released Weird black metal from Croatia now, with the latest offering from solo project Petrale. ‘Salvation Precipitates’ is a surrealist concoction of older (pre-1990) black metal elements, yet rife with dissonance, menace, and *contradiction in terms trigger warning* “modernist avant-garde”. I say this because the way the music is presented,... Continue Reading →