Witchtrap: Evil Strikes Again (2020) Columbian blackened thrash veterans Witchtrap have returned this year, or struck again you could say. ‘Evil Strikes Again’ makes apparent that Witchtrap would like us to note of how much housework they have carried since 2015’s ‘Trap the Witch’ (they're note known for masterful wordplay). Not only is the instrumentation... Continue Reading →

It was old style black metalling, before it got such a bad name. That, at least, is the perception of these disparate scenes of the late 1980s taking root (I’ll refrain from making too many Root based puns from here on in), looking for a way out of thrash and death metal’s mire. The renewed... Continue Reading →

Solitary: The Truth Behind the Lies (2020) Step one: form a band. Step two: select genre. Step three: harvest knowledge of  genre tropes. Step four: profit. Well, step four is easier said than done with certain styles I hear, but y’know, don’t stop dreaming. To be fair to Preston’s Solitary they are no newcomers to... Continue Reading →

Germany is something of an enigma in metal circles. An argument could be made for its being the capital of the metal world. Yet despite its status as a cultural hub for the metal community, outside of thrash/speed metal it has never led the world in a particular style or unique regional flavour in the... Continue Reading →

False Gods: No Symmetry…Only Delusion (2020) Dunno about false gods, but I’ll give you a false dilemma. One that crops in the stoner/sludge arena all the time. Bands think they either have to strip away all guitar and vocal melody in favour of…nothing tonally or rhythmically, to compensate; or they think they have to go the... Continue Reading →

It’s easy to play up the rivalries of by gone years as if they still hold significance. Norwegian bands hated Swedish death metal. Profanatica in the US hated Norwegian black metal. Impaled Nazarene in Finland hated Norwegian black metal. Norwegians hated Norwegian black metal. It’s all terribly groundskeeper Willie. Was it a coincidence that many of these haters’ best work... Continue Reading →

Leviathan: Formorkelse (2020) Black metal’s a funny thing at times. Like...it’s literally a funny thing. It makes people laugh. But if you take the humorous theatrics seriously, they can work in your favour. If you take humour with a sense of humour on the other hand, you may end up with farse. If you ignore... Continue Reading →

It’s an oft made distinction, but that doesn’t make it any clearer. The difference between underground metal, and extreme metal. I’m forever using the tag ‘extreme metal’ for the sake of convenience. But the term is open to abuse. From Sam Dunn documentaries and flashy marketing videos for latest Enslaved album at one end, to... Continue Reading →

Nubivagant: Roaring Eye (2020) From the polymath known as Omega (Acherontas, Blut Aus Nord…every other band in Europe) comes a new project by the name of Nubivagant. Apparently not one to stand on ceremony, debut LP ‘Roaring Eye’ has dropped suddenly into out lives and demands we have a butchers. Musically, we’re on very familiar... Continue Reading →

Given how much time we spend agonizing over the recorded output of metal artists, it might be worth asking: what exactly is an album? Cards on the table, this essay won’t answer that question. This chestnut dredges up some pretty weighty philosophical concepts around the ontology of music, as distinct from paintings, sculpture, film, theatre, and... Continue Reading →