Plague Weaver: Ascendant Blasphemy (2021) ‘Ascendant Blasphemy’ is the debut LP from this Canadian outfit. It’s a forceful mix of cyclical Rotting Christ style riffs, with the oppressiveness of early Samael, and some riffs even reaching all the way back to Celtic Frost in their relentless and dronelike qualities, as if they being dragged along... Continue Reading →

The first iterations of symphonic black metal – or rather any black metal that leans heavily on keyboards – was too advanced for its time in many ways. The tech available and affordable in the mid-90s was limited and clunky when put in service of the grand operas many underground artists – those without label... Continue Reading →

Why did the UK never witness an enduring black metal scene? It’s a question nearly as old as black metal itself. And one that continues to be asked despite this particular hole being filled with a suspiciously Cradle of Filth shaped peg. But looking past fingers of blame, the fact that the UK never established... Continue Reading →

Ordo Cultum Serpentis: Derej Najash (2021) An extreme metal album with lavish ambient interludes is a fairly common thing. But what if someone came along and flipped this on its head? Why not write dark ambient music with the occasional foray into the metallic territory? As banal as such an endeavour sounds, there are many... Continue Reading →

Deepest gratitude to El Negro Metal for allowing Hate Meditations to publish the English language version of this interview with Mefitis. You can find the original version of the interview here, along with other great articles on underground metal. On the release of their brand new album 'Offscourings', Pendath and Vartha of Mefitis have been... Continue Reading →

Amon Acid: Paradigm Shift (2021) From Hate Meditations’ hometown of Leeds comes the new LP from Amon Acid. To call ‘Paradigm Shift’ an amalgamation of Hawkwind and Electric Wizard would be simultaneously a great disservice yet entirely true. In the literal sense, Amon Acid have taken the slow, brooding doom of Electric Wizard, which rooted... Continue Reading →

Kjeld: Ofstan (2021) Dutch black metal seems to consistently offer a tight hammer blow of audial experiences that are at once rich with melody yet bound along with near infectious aggression. Kjeld are no exception in this regard. Their latest LP ‘Ofstan’ offers hyper-fast black metal constructed of forceful, upfront riffing contrasted with moments of... Continue Reading →

Was metal in its original form a fundamentally new phenomenon? The answer to this question will in part depend on when metal could be considered a fully autonomous form of music. And establishing this – as I shall argue – is not as simple as declaring “Black Sabbath” to all and sundry. Metal’s upbringing was... Continue Reading →

StarGazer: Psychic Secretions (2020) The latter-day saints of progressive extreme metal (those that have achieved some semblance of artistic success) tend to thread an understated needle between competing styles. I’m thinking of the likes of Norway’s Execration, Sweden’s now defunct Morbus Chron (Sweven doesn’t count), and Australia’s StarGazer, whose latest album sounds more like the... Continue Reading →

Yorkshire – and the North of England in general – is a fitting setting for melodic and gothic doom metal to have gained a foothold. Land of the perpetually downtrodden, self-assured yet hard done by. Boasting many proud cities that still embody the drab spectre of England’s industrial past. But also the gateway to the... Continue Reading →