Armchair rhetoric on extreme metal
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 โChasms of Ash and Inequityโ in 2025, they have since put out two more albums, โFamine Weaponizedโ released the same year, and now we have this... 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 โ the micro tracks, the frantic speed, bricks and mortar power chord riffing, and hardcore sensibilities โ to a bleaker, almost defeatist place. Basic, three or... Continue Reading →
Goat at SunsetOut 1st February, self-released Croatiaโs Petrale add to their significant run of releases with another subtle shift in direction. Where 2024โs โThe World Down Thereโ was technically dense but experientially a stripped back, nocturnal journey of dissonant surrealism, โGoat at Sunsetโ wrests this project in a more playful and melodically typical direction. Typical,... 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 →
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 →
Good clickbait draws in an audience even when they know theyโre being baited. Rick Beato recently did this to me with his โIs metal dead?โ thumbnail. As an experienced Youtuber with an audience in the millions, heโs an adept practitioner of this dark art. In this case heโs served up a kind of double baiting.... Continue Reading →
The Descent of Mortals PastOut 14th November on I, Voidhanger Records Following the outpouring of material from the Midnight Odyssey camp in recent years itโs probably about time Dis Pater took his foot off the gas with his flagship project. Itโs not so much the amount of releases that was causing a problem but the... Continue Reading →
Pลรญliลกnost (Excess)Out 7th November on Willowtip Records Coming off the back of the adventurous โรpalโ in 2023, the latest offering from Kostnatฤnรญ is a case study in growing pains. Todayโs release incontinence epidemic has rendered the difficult second album a thing of the past. There is no build up of digestive materials before the ultimate... Continue Reading →
Seven Bloodied RampartsOut 14th November on Caligari Records (originally released in 2010) This reissue of British crust oddity Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom gives us the opportunity to scrutinise what is essentially Amebix reimagined through the lens of Time Team (a twee as fuck 90s TV programme about archaeological digs, for any non British readers), and... Continue Reading →
Hate Meditations 