Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
Overspace and SupertimeOut 27th February on Metal Blade Records It’s been a slow rise for Leeds’s own Cryptic Shift. From clunky sci-fi thrash beginnings in the early 2010s to emerging as local scene darlings by the end of the decade. They were perhaps about to break into international renown by the time their debut dropped... Continue Reading →
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 →
Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne!Out 20th February on Terratur Possessions Dark, fluid, minimalist black metal creates a sense of grandeur by bolstering the near constant tremolo riffing with keyboard accompaniment. That, and the thick reverb covering the mix gives the music a degree of inertia, forcing it into rather simplistic themes that gain greater currency from the... Continue Reading →
Three Faced Trinity for a Two-Faced WorldOut 13th February on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions The obscurantist curveball that is Moonchapel continue their output apace. Following their harrowing debut ‘Chasms of Ash and Inequity’ in 2025, they have since put out two more albums, ‘Famine Weaponized’ released the same year, and now we have this... 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 →
Psy-War: From Deep Depressions to the Borders of SuicideOut 27th November on La Caverna Records (originally released in 1992) Unsettling grindcore notable for shifting the traits of the genre – the micro tracks, the frantic speed, bricks and mortar power chord riffing, and hardcore sensibilities – to a bleaker, almost defeatist place. Basic, three or... Continue Reading →
Goat at SunsetOut 1st February, self-released Croatia’s Petrale add to their significant run of releases with another subtle shift in direction. Where 2024’s ‘The World Down There’ was technically dense but experientially a stripped back, nocturnal journey of dissonant surrealism, ‘Goat at Sunset’ wrests this project in a more playful and melodically typical direction. Typical,... Continue Reading →
Sanctvs: De l'Abîme au PlérômeOut 30th January on Osmose Productions Canadian black metal drawing on the Mayhem school in that the emphasis is more on jagged surrealism and light dissonance over explicit naturalism. This is undergirded by the vocals that adopt a more stretched, throaty howl as if to draw attention to the strained desperation... 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 →
Hybris DivinaOut 9th January on Invictus Productions Dark, imposing death metal reaches for a sharp juxtaposition between the superhuman and the horrendously surreal. The bludgeoning simplicity of early Bolt Thrower, siren wailing, toneless guitar leads and all, is elevated to a place of epical grimness via a sharp melodic flair that, although hardly complex or... Continue Reading →
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