Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Screaming with no face The Englishman’s reflex for emotional repression is unmatched. But even he will experience particularly challenging periods, periods liable to breed emotions faster than they can be slaughtered. The obnoxiously clement weather mocking any attempts to wallow in peace. In such times, his fine tuned ability to kill emotions in their cradle... Continue Reading →
Impious Throne: Suffering Out 11th April on ATMF – De Tenebrarum Principio (originally released in 2024) Despite the brevity of this album, one can’t help but wish for some heavy handed editing. Frantic, riff centric, immediate black metal succeeds in conveying a tragedian gravitas and sense of occasion. But Impious Throne are forever saddling themselves... Continue Reading →
Is metal transgressive? Before breaking up in 2023, Dawn Ray’d were one of the most prominent Radical Anarchist black metal bands. The video for their song ‘Go as Free Companions’ features the band performing in what looks like an abandoned factory. It cuts to shots of people putting on black balaclavas and gloves, who slowly... Continue Reading →
IncandescentOut 12th April on I, Voidhanger Records The second album from this Australian solo entity sees them move out of the downbeat gloom of blackened doom to bring a more thoroughly black metal expression to the foreground. Irredeemable darkness remains the raison d’etre, but the music is more active, busy, purposeful. Something articulated through riff... Continue Reading →
Vortex of the DestroyerOut 28th March on NoEvDi Records One could read Svartsyn as a direct descendant of ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas'. In the sense that this is one way of achieving a “post riff” form of black metal without leaning on ambience. Rudimentary riffs are still present and correct, but their existence is now... Continue Reading →
Hateful Draugar from the UndergroundOut 28th March on Darkness Shall Rise Synthesises elements of early Enslaved with Burzum to great effect, but veers away from the detached cinematic narratives of the former, into something closely resembling the understated folk narratives of Isengard. The result is a satisfying reaffirmation of black metal as both an atmospheric... Continue Reading →
Words by Jason Kiss The Deep When we describe something as deep, we often imply that it goes beyond the surface and holds a kind of significance that eludes the realm of the superficial. Depth stands in opposition to shallowness and points toward a more reflective and nuanced reality than the socially accepted “truths” of... Continue Reading →
Daniel Lake of Decibel magazine joins for a discussion on the role and importance of music criticism. Mainstream journalism vs underground blogging: different paths or open hostility? Is it fair as a music critic to have an agenda? Can music criticism have a real impact in the scene? How to deal with hate: when the... Continue Reading →
Clactonian: Everlasting PaleolithicOut 28th March on Prehistoric Sounds Clactonian return for another brief skirmish of dark war metal. Here we see them combine the violent intensity of early grindcore with the haunting darkness of Von. Pivoting on a basic, punk riff, hammered home with an almost ludicrous determination, with only brief variations in pitch or... Continue Reading →
The Ichor of ChimeraOut 28th March on No Remorse Records Following the promising ‘Visions of Esoteric Splendor’ split in 2021 with Ezra Brooks, Serpent Rider return with an unapologetically heavy metal debut, sidelining the extreme metal elements of the EP. This is done for the sake of expanding on rich, longform tracts of classic metal... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 