Tag Archives: Chris Tippell

Délétère – De Horae Leprae

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Québécois Black Metallers Délétère have often had an air of mystique and the outrageous in their cannon, and the overriding narrative of latest album De Horae Leprae (Sepulchral Productions) is arguably more conceptual, with it being devoted to “Teredinis, a simple leper whose calling it is to become a prophet of Centipedes, as well as an incarnation of the Plague.” With such a vivid and eccentric conceptual idea behind it, its surprising to note that De Horae Leprae is a comparatively simplistic listen, albeit one with plenty of wealth.Continue reading →


Exmortus – The Sound Of Steel

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If you break Exmortus down into its finer components they should really stand as one of the biggest bags of fun you can have on record. Take some Kreator style Thrash (paying particular attention to latter-day) with pure old school Heavy Metal love and even a dash of Power Metal and you should get the biggest grin and craving for cold beer. Should being the operative word, because latest album The Sound Of Steel (Prosthetic), despite having some decent moments, never quite seems to reach the levels of battle cry that is hoped for. Continue reading →


Tremonti – A Dying Machine

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In the shadow of such arena stomping colossi as Creed and Alter Bridge, Mark Tremonti’s solo venture has, in your scribe’s opinion up until now, felt lacking. Never being outright bad and often capable of huge songs (as you can expect from the driving force behind the two former), the previous Tremonti albums have not hit levels of adventurous writing that Alter Bridge, in particular, have been capable of, and at worst have felt fairly plodding and generic. Proving that fans of any of his works should never write him off, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that A Dying Machine (Napalm) is a step up for the Tremonti band in virtually every fashion.Continue reading →


Lunatic Soul – Under The Fragmented Sky

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It is often found that from tremendous despair comes profound and reflective art. It is such a tragedy that seems to hang over the current works of one Mariusz Duda; that being the unexpected death of Riverside guitarist and close friend Piotr Grudziński in 2016. Outside of Riverside, Duda took his own personal grief to creating last years phenomenal Lunatic Soul release, Fractured (Kscope), a release that saw the ambient outfit to new experimental heights across an emotional spectrum from pure desolation to showing signs of hopefulness.Continue reading →


Gazpacho – Soyuz

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Over the course of, up until now, nine studio albums Norwegian band Gazpacho have resided in a musical plane entirely of their own, and have consistently shown to be one of most captivating and spellbinding bands of today as a result. Trying to define their sound or vision aside from describing them as an art/avant-garde rock outfit is near impossible with each passing release giving different movements and colours; what is usually a definite however is that the music will be densely packed, complex and often shows an embrace for the dark and melancholic; either vividly or perhaps beneath the surface. Continue reading →


Mask Of Judas – The Mesmerist

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With the UK’s Progressive/Tech Metal scene growing ever bigger and ever more packed, a band that provides any form of new ideas is surely going to be a welcome addition, right? On paper, Mask Of Judas sounds like an intriguing prospect which should offer some wide appeal with their brand of progressive metal with vocals that range from the recognisable growls to contemporary pop and R&B. The sad reality, however, is that, at very best, debut album The Mesmerist (self-released) can only be described as a mixed bag.Continue reading →


The Ever Living – Herephemine

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When you are cited in the same musical bracket as the likes of Cult Of Luna and Isis, you have a hell of a lot to live up to. Post-metal is a difficult field to pull off with such a diverse array of directions one can go in, and often is the struggle between being immersive opposed to come across as purely and needlessly pretentious. Londoners The Ever Living already have a weight of expectation with such a well-received EP release back in 2016; which thankfully debut album Herephemine (Chromism) not only manages to live up to, but drastically improves upon.Continue reading →


Wolf King – Loyal To The Soil

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For those who hold music as dear to their hearts and their being as much as I’m sure you, the reader do, there is nothing quite like that discovery of a new band, perhaps out of nowhere, that captures so much about what you love in music. That feeling of finding a band in their early stages that stays with you, that smashes it out of the park, perhaps on the first try, and that both excites you so much and that you feel may break out in time to come. Ladies and gentleman; Wolf King may just well be that band for you. Continue reading →


Wiegedood – De Doden Hebben Het Goed III

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In a short space of time, Belgian Black Metallers Wiegedood have proven to be somewhat of a special entity, and a name that has begun to creep into a wider audience (not to mention a name that your scribe has found difficult to remember how to spell for about the same length of time). Featuring members of, and having association with, the likes of Amenra and Oathbreaker, their brand of Black Metal similarly revels in moody tropes and being both explorative and emotive. It is interesting, then, that latest album and the final part of their trio of releases, De Doden Hebben Het Goed III (Century Media) follows suit fairly firmly, but does up the ante in places.Continue reading →


TesseracT- Sonder

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Over the course of three full-length albums plus numerous EP releases and reworked pieces, UK progressive metallers TesseracT have shown a propensity for continued change in their music. Making a firm impact on their first full release One, spearheading the then emerging Djent scene, even then they seemed on a different plain of thinking to their brethren and quickly began to branch out. The follow-up Altered State (both Century Media) saw more expansive structures and reduced before Polaris (Kscope) brought refinement, melodic and immediate songs; all throughout retaining enough core to still be recognisable.Continue reading →