Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
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 →
Pandemonium of EgregoresOut 26th December on Osmose Productions I’ll happily eat a hat or two if I made the wrong call, as it seems I did in writing off Meyhna'ch after the middle age tantrum that was ‘Black Metal Cult’. But the difference between an exceptional artist and a quite good one is the former’s... 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 →
Hate Meditations 