Sleepwalker: SkopofoboexoskelettOut 4th August on Sentient Ruin Embourgeoisment continues apace. Another edict from the arthouse descends to mark extreme metal’s homework, finding its imagination wanting. Metalheads are once again told to get on board with a concoction of noise rock, jazz, and spiced up guitar leads lifted from blandist pseudo intellectual dad rockers in chief... Continue Reading →

Shadow LegionOut 9th August, self-released The arrival of Shadow Legion’s self-titled debut has prompted some to once again dig through the files on dark metal's patchy legacy. Despite the tag’s frugal elegance when taken against the clunkier but much more commonly used "death/black metal", “dark metal” has failed to gain any traction with the listening... Continue Reading →

VerminiscenceOut 28th July on XenoglossyDes Seraphins en HybrisOut 28th July on Xenoglossy Riff salad is a legacy term that sometimes gets thrown into conversation, and like much music criticism terminology, it tends to engender utter confusion. So for clarity, it’s usually deployed to refer to death metal (and occasionally thrash) of the more complex, one... Continue Reading →

Burning down but not out Underground culture sits on a foundation of voluntary participation. Metal has survived multiple heat deaths, blooms, and retractions over the years thanks to a core crowd of dedicated – and often unhealthily fanatical – underground activists. It’s participatory infrastructure arguably anticipated the online norms of today. The 24/7 engagement, the... Continue Reading →

Brian Malone is a true virtuoso in the realm of death metal, having previously led the renowned band Diabolic as its chief creative force. His exceptional guitar skills were instrumental in propelling Diabolic to commercial success. Currently, his musical journey continues with Shadow Legion, a new venture that showcases his virtuosity once again, encompassing a... Continue Reading →

A new album from a legacy acts always provides a good opportunity to take stock. Although it must be said that the rate at which older artists “return to form” or “carry the flame” with new material has created a glut of such opportunities lately. But exceptions must be made for a new Godflesh album.... Continue Reading →

Fleshvessel: Yearning - Promethean Fates SealedOut 28th July on I, Voidhanger, cassette version out 25th August on Xenoglossy What’s perhaps most striking about ‘Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed’ is how it makes us feel as if we have never heard progressive death metal played properly before. The foundational classics of the genre were certainly rich artistically,... Continue Reading →

Izrod: Sarajevski OdisejOut 14th July on Signal Rex The debut album from Bosnia’s Izrod may be philosophically aligned with the grim sparsity of Eastern European black metal, but ontologically it is anything but. A dense, highly strung mix replete with layer upon layer of orchestral guitar work presents a flushed out, overwhelming dump of information... Continue Reading →

SARMAT: Determined to StrikeOut 16th June on I, Voidhanger Despite being semi-improvised (a faux pas par excellence as far as death metal is concerned), despite being produced by Colin Marston of Krallice and Behold The Arctopus fame (who is, to be fair, a better producer than he is a composer), despite interpreting progressive death metal... Continue Reading →

Aura MerlinIlluminations Dungeon synth is a funny old beast at times. Despite its package of alleged influences in ambient to neoclassical, that tend to favour longform compositions, dungeon synth typically seeks to miniaturise this content into brief, digestible chunks of rudimentary sonic information. Even those releases that take more explicit cues from the futurist ambient... Continue Reading →