Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
MournholdOut 15th May on True Cult Records Following a promising debut that stitched a foggy haze of thrash and melodic death metal with a thread of black metal, Tyrannus push this loose alliance to breaking point and gamble it all on the second album. Approaching โMournholdโ is akin to taking the first few sips of... Continue Reading →
Mรถhrkvlth: Gwenojennoรน An Ankounac'hOut 5th May on Antiq Sickly sweet post hardcore rendered in black metal form. Every riff geared toward emotional catharsis, achieving nothing as a result given the fact that no room is left for conflict, tension, strife, contrast. The total lack of patience demonstrable in the melodic signature of modern black metal... Continue Reading →
Permit me to perform a magic trick. Having not listened to a note of Darkthrone's latest album, behold, as I begin typing a review: โanother fearless, authentic, and infectiously fun tour through classic 70s and 80s metal, track X leans more into the classic doom direction of the last three albums whilst track Y takes... Continue Reading →
แฝฯฮบฮฟฯ แผฮบฮปฮตฮบฯแฟถฮฝOut 30th April on Zombi Danz Records After five years of silence, Greeceโs Caedes Cruenta return with an unprecedented document dump of material, spanning an hour and a half in length, a runtime only permissible after the extended period of silence they have subjected us to since the celebrated โOf Ritual Necrophagia and Mysterious... Continue Reading →
Dimension: DaemoniumOut 17th April on Werewolf Finlandโs Vargrav return for another bout of outrageously dense symphonic black metal. Resembling Gnipahรฅlan in their attempt to physically overwhelm the listener with impenetrable waves of guitar and synth led noise, layers that create the illusion of activity despite an axiomatic simplicity locatable at the foundational level. Vargrav remain... Continue Reading →
Blasart: Depravatus Christianis SacrisOut 28th March on Lavadome Productions Overwrought black metal cloaks repetition with subtle shifts in emphasis and pitch, alongside some welcome decorative accents. Chugging thrash articulation beefs up the more fluid intent behind these tracks, only somewhat hampered by the obnoxious domesticity of the hardcore derived vocals. What at first appears to... Continue Reading →
Morbid DesiresOut 27th March on Darkness Shall Rise Productions Being Tulus must be a thankless task. Even the promo blurb accompanying this release canโt quite muster the requisite enthusiasm, boasting โconcise mid-tempo songs performed by proficient musiciansโ, โMorbid Desiresโ is โby no means a one-dimensional albumโ and has โplenty of varietyโ. On that last point... Continue Reading →
Cruel Force: HanedaOut 27th March on Shadow Kingdom Sits at the playful end of German thrash, emphasising the melodic elements of Destruction circa โMad Butcherโ. On the basis of this material there is a clear effort to align with the rough and tumble of 80s thrash via the period correct mix and throaty vocals, but... Continue Reading →
A.H.P: Alltid Imot DegOut 21st March on Purity Through Fire Drab, pessimistic black metal lurches between torturous drone segments bolstered by little more than stumbling, slow rhythms into bursts of linear speed and open, humming guitar lines that retain a lackadaisical energy despite the blast-beat foundation. Raspy, mid-range vocals attempt to enhance the sense of... Continue Reading →
A Monument I Shall Raise in FlameOut 20th March on Werewolf Promotion Polandโs Deathlike Dawn continue the direction set by their previous album โNoc czarna czerniฤ otchลaniโ, extending their tendrils further into semi-chromatic, dissonant territory for this latest release, sacrificing the hazy atmosphere coating 2024โs โAmong the Graves of the Archetypesโ for a more stripped... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 