The USA is a big place when you think about it. There's a lot of people there, a not insignificant chunk of which are making metal music. So it’s almost trivial to point out that some of the best and worst in 21st century black metal has travelled to us from across the pond. It’s certainly true... Continue Reading →

Conjureth: The Levitation Manifest (2020) San Diego’s Conjureth return with their second demo of 2020: ‘The Levitation Manifest’. As things stand these guys are two for two in terms of compact, crisp death metal, stylistically sitting pretty much bang in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. It operates somewhere between the chromatic chaos of Deicide’s... Continue Reading →

Take a mainstream summary of black metal, one attempting to introduce unaccustomed ears to the genre. Chances are it will focus on the obvious, namely its extremity (sonically, aesthetically, philosophically etc.). They might then look at some tokenistic contemporary spokespeople; usually artists that haven't had anything to do with black metal in decades, Enslaved, Ihsahn, and the pop band Ulver. This... Continue Reading →

Emyn Muil: Afar Angathfark (2020) Arch Summoning impersonators Emyn Muil return with their third full length ‘Afar Angathfark’. Unlike other projects that borrow liberally from the Austrian masters of Tolkien metal, Emyn Muil seem intent on making music completely indistinguishable from them. It raises many interesting questions about the nature of imitation; namely how a near... Continue Reading →

Bovary: Mes Racines dans le Désert (out 16th October 2020, on Sanit Mils Records) The debut EP from the obscure French outfit known as Bovary, entitled ‘Mes Racines dans le Désert’, was originally released back in 2018. Now it is seeing a vinyl release on Sanit Mils Records, the good people responsible for unleashing HOR... Continue Reading →

At this point it wouldn’t be inappropriate to offer a personal reckoning of the early to mid-2000s. It’s not an era best known for a quality crop of black metal. The artists responsible for its initial explosion had largely dried up or given in by this point. The new generation of extreme metal were yet... Continue Reading →

Into Oblivion: Winds of Serpentine Ascension (out 29th September on Hessian Firm) In a world saturated with voices, all jostling for airtime, all embroiled in a bitter fight to the death for our valuable attention (and clicks), hyperbole is rife. All too often terms such as ‘epic’, ‘legendary’, or ‘ground-breaking’ find their way into contemporary... Continue Reading →

Megalith Levitation/Dekonstruktor: Split (2020) Following a successful debut is notoriously difficult turf; it’s called the difficult second album for a reason. But encased in the experimental cushion afforded by the humble EP, permission to let the experimental side run free is widely granted. Or in the case of Megalith Levitation, permission to elaborate on some... Continue Reading →

Industrial and crust punk: two obscure little underground movements birthed in the early 80s that would orbit metal for some time. Although boasting more trivial output than quality, what worth there was in these genres at their inception should not be underestimated. Both can boast a mightily fruitful period of creativity no matter how short lived.... Continue Reading →

Seeds of Iblis: Morbid Muhammad (2020) ‘Morbid Muhammad’ is the second release from the mysterious Iraqi project known as Seeds of Iblis. If I may drift from my brief for a moment, aside from listening to this album a number of times I know this band only by reputation. Controversies around the subject matter are understandable,... Continue Reading →