The Further Listening series “On January the 13th 1969, King Crimson was born, in the basement of the Fulham Palace café, on the Fulham Palace Road, in London…it was a Monday”. And on the 10th of October 1969 King Crimson released their debut album ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’…it was a Friday. It... Continue Reading →

Pestilength: Basom GryphosOut 7th March on Nuclear Winter/Sentient Ruin/Goat Throne Stop your grinnin’ and drop your linen, we have a death/doom band that doesn’t sound exactly like Incantation, I’m so happy I could cry. ‘Basom Gryphos’ is the second LP from the Spanish entity known as Pestilength, and whilst not the most obviously ground-breaking exercise... Continue Reading →

Inner Missing: Dead LanguageOut 25th February on Inverse Records Quoted from Inner Missing's Facebook page on the day of release: "Dead Language is here. Today is the worst time possible to release an album, but the date was planned long ago and we simply cannot change it, that's the way the world goes on now.... Continue Reading →

#42 - Khand: Jim from Khand joins. Beyond being a central figure in the current Dungeon Synth scene (he should be the main leader of DS, in my humble opinion), he has been heavily involved with metal and other forms of music. Shelley returns as the cohost as we delve into some of the nerdy... Continue Reading →

Tundra: The Darkening SkyOut 4th March on Corrupted Flesh Records Exemplifying a brand of cold black metal that is usually the preserve of the solo project, Italy’s Tundra reacquaint raw and atmospheric black metal with the power of energetic instrumentation and collaborative playing in a way reminiscent of early Gorgoroth. The riffs may be familiar,... Continue Reading →

It is fascinating to consider how quickly homogenisation can set in. Over just a few short years death metal went from being the outward frontier of metal to a rigidly prescribed set of rules and expectations that – when not met – buried many creative avenues before they were able to reach fruition. Fledging careers... Continue Reading →

Immolation: Acts of GodOut 18th February on Nuclear Blast Immolation make for an interesting case study in the phantasmagorical journey that death metal has taken since the 1990s. Steered by the nicest power duo in metal in Robert Vigna and Ross Dolan, they can lay claim to a lengthy run of consistently seminal albums from... Continue Reading →

#41 - Sam Biles: Sam Biles from Hideous Mangleus and Goblin (US) joins Necropolis to talk about his exploits, the old days of death metal in the US, the PA scene, some elements about Gary from Goblin being someone truly unique, some of his philosophy about why new “old school” death metal misses the mark,... Continue Reading →

Sinoath: Portraits of Personal DarknessOut 26th February on Hessian Firm Metal is not a style that lends itself to freeform improvisation. Whilst it certainly creates space for elaborate soloing and lengthy instrumental segments that might look like improv, as soon as these elements are committed to record and subjected to the scholarly study of its... Continue Reading →

The term blackened thrash warrants closer scrutiny. Today it’s considered a subgenre, and one that contemporary fans seem to have a near limitless appetite for despite the endless conveyor belt of colour-by-numbers artists that are currently flying its colours. But a strong argument could be made for this being the black metal archetype. Given the... Continue Reading →