ALBUM REVIEW: Darkthrone – It Beckons Us All


Darkthrone has been long associated with being “True Norweigan Black Metal” but has not made any attempt to adhere to this expectation of them since 2004’s “Sardonic Wrath”. Instead, the band has circled its wagons around crust punk and wandered off Celtic Frost worship. “It Beckons Us All…” (Peaceville Records)  finds the band perfecting the traditional metal path they first embarked on with “The Underground Resistance”. Now 11 years later the duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto are done obsessing over their record collection and have focused on writing headbanging anthems that cold a touch of melody and mystery.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Dodsrit – Nocturnal Will


Dodsrit began as a solo project for ex-Totem Skin multi-instrumentalist Christoffer Oster, who recorded and released two highly acclaimed records – Dodsrit (2017) and Spirit Crusher (2018). 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Cloak – Black Flame Eternal 


 

Two things are apparent when delving into Cloak’s third full-length: the Atlanta-based four-piece is not your run-of-the-mill black metal outfit, and they have no interest in churning out a vanilla, run-of-the-mill black metal record.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Søstre – Søstre


 

Bergen, which is located in the heart of southwestern Norway, is widely known for producing an army of all-around great bands in the extreme metal scene – Borknagar, Enslaved, and Immortal, to name a few. Being the home of the renowned Norse sonic warriors Wardruna as well, there are almost always exciting things to look forward to in the Bergen scene. One of them is definitely the newest self-titled release by the up-and-coming psychonauts Søstre!

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ALBUM REVIEW: Katatonia – Mnemosynean


It has been thirty years since drummer / vocalist Jonas Renske and Anders “Blackheim” Nyström began a musical journey that would see them evolve from a studio-only project  exploring their darker musical tastes to becoming one of the most respected purveyors of melancholic and post-Gothic music; always evolving with each album, embracing Gothic and progressive metal, and always distinctively Katatonia

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ALBUM REVIEW: Satyricon – Reissues


The general conceit within black metal is that the rawer and more under-produced the album the more authentic and trve it sounds. Therefore remastering and remixing records of that particular genre is a venture never likely to be met with universal praise. Not that a little fact like that has deterred Satyricon in any way, the Norwegian act even going so far as to completely change the artwork on their first two albums for these updated releases courtesy of Napalm Records.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Vreid – Wild North West


Black metal connoisseurs rejoice!

The latest Vreid record is an homage to the classic black metal sound the members helped create way back in the days of Windir while simultaneously experimenting with bold new soundscapes and storytelling. Wild North West (Season of Mist) is a pounding cataclysm of power and fury, yet it does so with a style and panache in a way that only these Norwegian black metal stalwarts could deliver. They offer a fresh take on the traditional black metal tropes while cutting the growls and blast beats with a melody that keeps your head banging and your mind racing, like on the hypnotic “Dazed and Reduced” and the ominous tone-setting title track.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Hellripper – The Affair of the Poisons


The reignited interest in distinctly eighties-sounding metal styles, and more specifically, the thrash revival of the 2000s, has brought with it a handful of blistering new acts, alongside a slew of respectable releases from its originators. However, as a general scene, it has also suffered from a lack of innovation and compositional creativity. Often bands of this scene are perfectly content to just emulate classic sounds long-established by Sodom, Kreator, Venom, Bathory, and Slayer. Oftentimes, I find it a dull guessing game of which thrash bands are being ripped off whenever I listen to these bands. But there are nevertheless a handful of acts that in addition to paying tribute to the old guard’s sound manage to capture that fury, excitement, and blasphemous spirit of heavy music during the proto-extreme metal era. James McBain, the singular creative force behind Hellripper, clearly loves the style of first wave black metal and Teutonic thrash but is also creative enough to blend them to create something that sounds completely fresh. The result here is The Affair of the Poisons (Peaceville Records), a sophomore effort to the more straightforward Coagulating Darkness, and a release of blackened thrash/speed metal fury that will leave you yearning even more for a destructive live experience in 2020.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Okkultokrati – La Ilden Lyse


Most reviews and articles concerning Norwegian dark hearts Okkultokrati seem to contain slightly differing classifications of the band’s sound. I’m no different: if you’re going to mould the likes of Motörhead, Emperor, and Sex Pistols into a ball of spewing hate, you’re playing Punk / Black ‘n’ Roll as far as I’m concerned. Anyone care? Of course not. More interesting is the decision of certain band members to change their stage names in a move that seems purely designed for new album La Ilden Lyse (Southern Lord Recordings), and which corresponds with a further evolution of the sextet’s direction.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Forgotten Tomb – Nihilistic Estrangement


I’m just going to come right out and say it: Italy’s Forgotten Tomb is one of the most criminally underrated bands in the Harsh Doom arena, most probably because its early fanbase still feels aggrieved at its reinvention from a Black metal band. Get over it: it’s been that way for the last seventeen years and eight albums. With a solid unit existing throughout that period, it’s also safe to say that this is more than Herr Morbid‘s project, and new album Nihilistic Estrangement (Agonia Records) continues to display the trio’s ever-strengthening unity with expansions on the core sound.Continue reading