Maiestas: Purgatorium (2019) Texan black metallers Maiestas released their first LP in 2019: ‘Purgatorium’. It’s black metal that is – for the most part – informed by old school heavy metal and thrash. Although at times it comes across as a rather schizophrenic release. On the one hand it's a primitive, dirty slab of classic... Continue Reading →

Metal’s relationship with Tolkien has a long and proud history. The more ambitious offerings from the likes of Cirith Ungol from the 1980s created the perfect backdrop for lyrics that to drew from sword and sorcery novels for inspiration. Although thrash and death metal tended to more violent, base themes; black metal, with its yearning... Continue Reading →

Widziadlo: Void (2017) Widziadlo – a mysterious ambient black metal outfit from Poland – released their debut LP ‘Void’ in 2017. I was initially asked to give this one a spin in light of my discussion of Darkspace’s ‘Dark Space II’. And whilst there are certainly some stylistic similarities what is most remarkable is how... Continue Reading →

We’ll do something a little different this week, because I was recommended two albums I don’t know, from bands I’m unfamiliar with, from a country not all that known internationally for its metal scene (hence my ignorance): Italy. But good death metal is a universal language, one with hallmarks that are instantly identifiable even when... Continue Reading →

Metal was in a strange place ten years ago. An ageing and fragmented genre, with larger festival lineups already typified by older, well established acts as the only viable way to guarantee any mass attendance. The underground scene was (notable exceptions aside) struggling for relevance, trapped in a bunker, throwing projectiles at any curious outsider... Continue Reading →

Perverted Ceremony: Sabbat of Behezael (2017) The debut LP from Belgium’s Perverted Ceremony is a rare thing in this day and age; no gimmicks, no excess of surplus ideas, and no gratuitous aping of an older school tradition. In fact, they are so confident with the material on ‘Sabbat of Behezael' that they tried to... Continue Reading →

The older you get, the more you understand the passage of time. As a kid listening to Morbid Angel and Deicide one marvelled at the leaps their music took from Possessed and Hellhammer just a few years before, and the further dynamism of black metal a few years later. But this deified period from about... Continue Reading →

Praise the Flame: Manifest Rebellion (2015) Chile’s Praise the Flame are a classic throw back to pre-1990 black metal, one that seems to have passed the world by (myself included). Their debut LP ‘Manifest Rebellion’ released in 2015 is heavily rooted in the past, but with some very modern flourishes. At it’s core it’s a... Continue Reading →

A weighty, lumbering discography made up of fairly frequent releases once or twice a year is often the calling card of a subpar artist. Very rarely can someone release consistent, high quality music that regularly. The presumption that one can is either a mark of arrogance, or a compulsive need to keep putting out material... Continue Reading →

Withered: Grief Relief (2016) Do remember when Gorguts released ‘Colored Sands’ back in 2013 (it's spelt 'coloured' by the way), and everyone rushed to condemn or praise it in equal measure? A modernised version of Gorguts at the turn of the century, or yet another aging death metal act struggling to keep step with one... Continue Reading →