Most extreme metal fans who survived the mid to late nineties will remember just how crucial Finland became in the emergence of the more melodic and experimental side of black metal. While Norway and Sweden clearly held the upper hand in terms of bigger names, their non-Scandinavian neighbours certainly contributed more than their fair share to this exciting new movement.
Having been around for fifteen years, the Spanish black metal act Frozen Dawn has been experimenting with sounds that are inspired by nineties Scandinavian black metal bands – mostly the ones that come from Norway and Sweden – such as Satyricon, Dissection, Darkthrone, Dark Fortress, Watain, and Necrophobic.
A new doom metal “supergroup” releasing a COVID-19 lockdown album in late 2022. That sentence, which describes MMXX‘ Sacred Cargo (Candlelight) in plain terms, will no doubt inspire a variety of different thoughts and feelings in people with an interest in such things. Some might dismiss the concept (album) out of hand. After all, the band’s name translates as “2020” and, well, not only is it not 2020 anymore, but the mere mention of that year is liable to inspire at least a wearied eye-roll if not a flashback to genuine out-and-out despair.
Although unable to play live for over a year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Indianapolis based death metallers Obscene were still fortunate enough to release their debut album The Inhabitable Dark in mid-2020. Finally back on stage last year, the four-piece didn’t hang around, taking the time to write the bleakly titled follow-up From Dead Horizon to Dead Horizon (Blood Harvest).Continue reading
It’s been twelve years since composer Arjen Lucassen released 2010’s Victims Of The Modern Age under the Star One banner, which in itself was eight years removed from 2002’s Space Metal. Fortunately, the project’s vision remains intact despite its sporadic output with all the tropes that fans have come to expect out in full force on Revel In Time (InsideOut Music). There’s plenty of cheesy Prog goodness to go around informed by Power Metal tempos, crunchy guitars, bombastic keyboards, and a slew of vocalists delivering pop culture Sci-Fi lyrics in over-the-top fashion.
Based out of Indianapolis and featuring a who’s who of veterans from such bands as Obscene, Harakiri, and Bulletwolf, Mother Of Graves makes a strong first impression with their debut EP. The group’s melodic approach to Death/Doom makes no bones about the influence from Paradise Lost and Katatonia, mixing the former’s mournful leads with the latter’s mid-tempo pacing. One can also detect traces of Novembers Doom in the vocals and Dan Swano’s signature touches on the mastering.
High Spirits’ endearing sincerity has always been a shining contrast to the often-sour realms of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, and that feelgood brightness is needed now more than ever. While it’s been four years since the release of their last album, 2016’s Motivator, the Chicago project’s fourth full-length doesn’t skip a beat and their established blend of AOR and Classic Metal is well intact. You always know what you’re getting but it’s presented with far too much enthusiasm to ever feel stale.
Long-running Black Metal legends Naglfar has resigned with Century Media Records and will release their new album Cerecloth via on May 8th. The band recorded and mixed by Naglfar guitarist Marcus Norman at Wolf’s Lair Studio and mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound, the underlying musical and lyrical themes of Cerecloth were succinctly and confidently described by guitarist Andreas Nilsson as, “the usual death and destruction”. The cover art was created the renowned artist Kristian Wåhlin and layout by Seiya Ogino of Ogino Design. New music is forthcoming and the band has already booked shows and festival dates for 2020, which you can see below. Continue reading
It’s nice to have God Dethroned joining us once again. And by that I mean another reactivation of the band not unlike they had in 1996. Yeah, extreme metal is a tricky business to try to make a living in, but lineup changes and restarts aside, it seems like this Dutch metal institution is stable enough again to crank out a new LP in The World Ablaze (Metal Blade).Continue reading
As far back as 2008, with the independently released EP The Heathen Throne, Ancient Ascendant have been very clear in their intentions. And with a couple more EPs and two very well received albums under their belts, the English Black/Death Metal quartet have raised the bar again with latest full length, Raise The Torch (Candlelight).Continue reading