Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Lord of Two HornsOut 27th June on Nuclear Winter Records Drawn and Quartered remind us that – despite my growing cynicism – you should never write anyone off before their time. 2021’s ‘Congregation Pestilence’ was a tight but forgettable iteration of dark American death metal. One that led me to conclude that we could expect... Continue Reading →
Grog: Sphere of AtrocitiesOut 13th June on Helldprod A collection of generic brutal and semi technical death metal furniture, delivered with the random freneticism of grindcore. Swirling between ideas, Grog are just as liable to hack up the momentum with abandon as they are to repeat themes and riffs in order to hammer them home.... Continue Reading →
I’m back! After a brief hiatus to process what I’m told were “feelings”. What’s changed since I’ve been gone? Well, nothing…obviously. Except the world’s first AI band finally managing to extract the artist from the artwork. A slow march toward technological homogeneity continues apace, something everyone agrees is bad whilst actively embracing it at every... Continue Reading →
Sacrosanct DemonopathyOut 16th May on Werewolf Records Reminiscent of Gnipahålan for its filling and oftentimes recklessly dense concoction of Nordic black metal leftovers. The result leaves a similar residual feeling of being over sated. All the moving parts work, but at times their simultaneity threatens to collapse the music into incoherence. Given how safe 2021’s... Continue Reading →
An Tóramh: Echoes of Eternal NightOut 9th May on Black Lion Records Mixing the despondency of latter day Esoteric with a lo-fi sensibility grants this album a greater degree of dignity than the overworked emotional catharsis of much modern funeral doom. The usual hesitant, droning chords are punctuated by almost constant harmonic decoration, with the... 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 →
The Philosophy of Eternal Recurrence Out 19th April, self-released Jakarta’s Tombstone return for album number three of no thrills melodic black metal pulling from the mid-90s Swedish style. Here we see the contours flattened off somewhat for the sake of producing an even more direct, transparent delivery mechanism for linear runs of simple melodic sequences,... Continue Reading →
In 1985 Ray Belknap placed a 12-gauge shotgun under his chin and shot himself, dying instantly. His friend James Vance then took the same shotgun, placed it under his own chin, and pulled the trigger. He survived but was severely disfigured. The parents sued Judas Priest, whose music, they claimed, had mesmerised their sons, encouraging... Continue Reading →
Why is metal such a stubbornly perennial passion? I’d venture that it’s not just the intensity and obsession it provokes, but just how deep and far the genre spread across the globe. If you ever feel the need to refresh your listening rotation, you can pretty much close your eyes and point to a place... 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 →
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