Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Careful what you wish for Following a turbulent start to the year, the constant rain finally relented this week and I got to see the sun for the first time in 2026, but this was conditioned on the temperatures once again dropping below zero. Despite the challenges, I’m determined to attack 2026 with gusto, stubbornly... Continue Reading →
Unfazed by DeathOut 26th January on Memento Mori (originally released in 2016) It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Rotheads. There 2022 effort ‘Slither in Slime’ was one of the best of that year, and easily outstrips the majority of contemporary death metal for its ability to weave tapestries of drab, gothic grace into... Continue Reading →
Depths of SufferingOut 31st October on Lavadome Productions The rough presentation of this album cloaks a well oiled machine of dramatic, borderline orchestral death metal. The music’s darkness emerges not from a drab, introspective melancholia, but from a pervasive, ambient gloom, as if we were in the presence of some unknowably vast presence, be it... Continue Reading →
Christus VenariOut 12th September on Personal Records Choppy, frantic death metal channels the frenetic energy of early Deicide into an explicitly gothic darkness. Borrowing the aesthetic material accrued from more populist extreme metal strains in the form of early 2000s Behemoth, refocusing what was previously empty fanfare into an efficient, tight, yet no less diverse... Continue Reading →
Incinerated: The Epitome of TransgressionOut 14th July on BlackSeed Lifts the clustered melodic density of late second wave black metal (think Cirith Gorgor or Gorgon) with a thread of fatalistic lamentation, topographically similar to modern dissodeath but pivoting more toward traditional melody, rendered abrasive by the freneticism of the performances. The strained emotion, and indeed... Continue Reading →
Understanding Sacramentum I was as shocked as anyone to hear of the tragic passing of Nisse Karlén. Sacramentum were a very formative band in the development of my taste. I was lucky enough to catch them at the London Deathfest in 2022, and was looking forward to seeing them at Cosmic Void Festival in just... Continue Reading →
Draugaskogur: Fullmoon Hypnotic RitualOut 25th April Profundus Records Ethereal but energetic black metal from Serbia achieves a good balance between ambiguous mysticism and epic narrative expressions. The latent heroism of early Enslaved meets a gloomier aesthetic expressed through a haze of additional harmonies played through guitar effects that warp the tone of the instrument to... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
High Speed Death: Damned GenesisOut 7th March on La Caverna Records (originally released in 1991) This restored and remastered version of a previously lost demo reveals an Italian outfit working at the peripheries of thrash’s transition into death metal. I am unable to find out if this material was written prior to 1991. As it... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 