Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Voodus: Emanating SparksOut 28th February on Shadow Records/Regain Records Modestly melodic Swedish black metal that ups the game as far as their own standards are concerned. The overall packaging is still thoroughly domesticated, renting a generous helping of ideas from ‘The Somberlain’ whilst flattening off its longform ambition in favour of crowd pleasing speed thrills,... Continue Reading →
The purpose of an interview is what it does The recent discussion between Decibel’s Albert Mudrian and longtime YouTube reviewer Anthony Fantano looks benign enough, but what does it do? Unsurprisingly, Fantano’s line of questioning ventriloquises the polarised interests of the modern fanbase, which tends to oscillate between an obsession with death metal’s origins and... Continue Reading →
Scheusal: UrwahnOut 3rd March on Purity Through Fire Supplements the playfully abrasive punk of Ildjarn with a tragedian melodic signature. In this sense there is an oddly modernist swagger to the presentation, a mechanical order speaking more of concrete and machinery than organicism. This is something only emphasised by the predictable precision of the simple... Continue Reading →
Many Things Afflict Us, Few Things Console UsOut 20th September on Cold Spring Records Khost have the unfortunate burden of being a metal adjacent industrial outfit from Birmingham, meaning their output will forever be benchmarked against Godflesh. Whilst there are similarities, Khost go far beyond Broadrick (at least in the guise of Godflesh) in pushing... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 