Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
In a recent episode of 2 Promoters, 1 Pod, co-host and Damnation Festival organiser Gavin McInally launched what some took to be an all out assault on the music press. His contentions were three fold. That the music press no longer does “real” journalism”, i.e. following up on leads and breaking stories. Secondly, that its... Continue Reading →
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 →
Metal Archives got itself into a bit of a state recently over its poll for album of 2025, seeing an Italian goth/prog/yacht rock/grunge album make the top spot by quite a significant margin. Many were quick to point out the irony of a site like MA, with a reputation for being highly selective about what... Continue Reading →
Supuration: Sultry ObsessionOut 27th November on La Caverna records (originally released in 1990) By 1993, Supuration had developed a unique voice within death metal, bridging the richly textured gloom of the Nordic style with the brighter prog permutations developing on the other side of Atlantic, adding their own distinctive goth sensibility to the mix. With... Continue Reading →
2025 audit of the year Well, that was a year. Got sued for a book review. Got divorced. And I think underground metal had one of its best years in quite a while. It’s fair to say I’ve been on a journey in my attitude toward album of the year posts. From revulsion to begrudgingly... Continue Reading →
Una Lama D’ArgentoOut 12th December on Time to Kill Records Bracing, fluid death metal achieves a sense of power through ambient riffing that weaponizes repetition as a tool of malevolence. The album is defined by a wall of guitar noise that monolithically frames the parameters through which riffs can work, limiting them to basic, dry... Continue Reading →
This World we Live in…Out 12th December on Dolorem Records Mechanical death metal combines elements of clinical industrialism and prog informalities paced out in oddly pulsing sequences. Cryoxyd leverage repetition as an important compositional tool, creating a meditative, almost hyper fixated flow, only to lurch into soaring waves of melodic euphoria. This creates a sense... Continue Reading →
Malign ApotheosisOut 28th November on Hells Headbangers What ‘Malign Apotheosis’ lacks in fresh ideas it makes up for in just how tight and focused the music is. Vintage Tampa style riffing – most obviously Morbid Angel, but vestiges of fellow Morrisound regulars Malevolent Creation make their voice heard – collide with modernist percussive death metal,... Continue Reading →
Elsinore: The Vengeful Ghost/Tombstone HexOut 5th December on Caligari Records Brief but tight EP that reminds us that death metal, even in its germinal form, was always melodic in some sense. Explicit references to early Death sit happily alongside the journeying primitivism of Celtic Frost. The presentation is cleaner than the vintage implied by these... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 