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 →

Article by Jason, aka Lonegoat from the Necroclassical project Goatcraft and the host of the Necropolis podcast Beer metal is a shallow take on the genre of metal that values accessibility and mainstream appeal, often featuring simple and catchy hooks and anthemic choruses. In the case of beer metal in death metal, Amon Amarth, Unleashed, and Runemagick are... Continue Reading →

Smoulder: Violent Creed of VengeanceOut 21st April on Cruz del Sur Music Canadian heavy metal darlings Smoulder return with album number two, ‘Violent Creed of Vengeance’. It sees the furtherance of their strident blend of epic doom, NWOBHM, and old school power metal with perhaps a rawer presentation. The production has certainly tightened up, with... Continue Reading →

Pustilence: Beliefs of Dead Stargazers and SoothsayersOut 24th April on Memento Mori/Rotted Life A solid slab of imaginative if direct death metal out of that Brisbane, Pustilence, despite their moniker, eke out abstract and surprisingly meditative lyrical themes to accompany this diverse broth of traditional death metal riffcraft and pronounced melodic character. Chaos meets premeditation... Continue Reading →

ArcanistPoseidonis Do you ever wonder what it would actually be like to exist in the worlds depicted on dungeon synth and black metal albums covers? Artworks that speak of high adventure, mysticism, the binary moral codes of battle and the obscurantist esoterica of mysterious pantheons. These works – even those of a violent or threatening... Continue Reading →

Athanatheos: Cross. Deny. GlorifyOut 14th April on Lavadome Productions This unassuming French death metal outfit continues its preoccupation with the rise early Christianity on ‘Cross. Deny. Glorify’. This time tracking the decay of the Roman Empire following Emperor Constantine’s conversion to this strange new sect quickly sweeping across Europe out of the Middle East. As... Continue Reading →