We are into the second half of 2024 and what a year it has been for new music! Even some of the reissues of older recordings coming out so far have been really good. The latest that deserves attention is the 2020 topical album about isolation and loneliness during the COVID Lockdowns, Show Me A Dinosaur’s Plantgazer (AOP Records). The Saint Petersburg post-Black Metal outfit toys with your emotions for nearly forty-five minutes. All while a “fictitious” man lives out his days in lockdown staring at his home plants, pondering about life under the new normal.Continue reading
Tag Archives: Ghost Cult
SPLIT REVIEW: DISKORD/ATVM – Bipolarities
I’ve been finding lately that splits coming out in the last several years have been reminding everyone why they are a cool, and slightly more affordable, way to showcase music for the masses. DISKORD and ATVM teamed up to put together thirty-five minutes of their brands of death metal on this collective effort, forever known as Bipolarities (Transcending Obscurity Records). Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Amarok – Resilience
Funeral Doom is one of the more difficult subgenres of heavy music to get into. Hell, I am not even sure if I can say I am a fan of the subgenre, moreso some bands or even some albums by said bands.
ALBUM REVIEW: Fórn – The Departure of Consciousness
Nothing beats a sunny day, a cold beer, and some sludge and doom blasting over the speakers as I melt in the heat. Just in time for summer, Fórn is reissuing The Departure of Consciousness (Persistent Vision Records) for its ten-year anniversary. The Boston-based funeral doom/sludge outfit made their name in the Boston scene by bringing some of the heaviest, most beefy riffs. Now they grace us with a reissue of their debut full-length where those riffs are as tasty as ever.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Missing Link – Watch Me Bleed
Sometimes the day presents challenges to us all and we just need to swing haymakers in a pit. For days worse than that, there’s Missing Link. One of the most “unga bunga” ignorant Hardcore bands I’ve ever seen play (American Hardcore Festival 2023). Getting the chance to review their full-length debut, Watch Me Bleed (Triple B Records), is an absolute privilege. Eleven tracks (twelve if you count the hidden track) of unadulterated violence and aggression are going to stampede into your ears and not apologize for the disturbance.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Thou – Umbilical
As the summer in the Northern Hemisphere approaches, I always find a nice doom or sludge album really sets the mood for a day of yard work, or just sitting on the deck with a cold beer. The new album from Thou, Umbilical (Sacred Bones Records), may not fit that exact moment, but it certainly would fit in for after the sun sets and the flames rise in the firepits and the tips of our joints. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Dopethrone – Broke Sabbath
It is well-known to not judge a book by its cover.
However, Canadian sludge titans, Dopethrone, dropped one of the coolest album titles yet, Broke Sabbath (Totem Cat Records). Super descriptive for anyone who has not given these Stoner, Doom-infused sludge gents a shot yet. Seven tracks spanning just shy of forty minutes is the perfect length to see what the group is all about as they drag you through the muddy waters out to a clearing to end you.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
Kentucky Hardcore stalwarts Knocked Loose continue to march forward in their vision of beatdown in the form of their third full-length, You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To (Pure Noise). Twenty-seven minutes of cathartic aggression laced with panic riffs of nu-metal fame and climaxing at soul-crushing breakdowns is all the band needs to prove their rightful spot in the upper echelon of modern Hardcore. With three absolute banger singles put out before release of the album, the rest of the tracks need to stand out on their own as well, which they do.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Unleash The Archers – Phantoma
Unleash the Archers is a band that reliably produces songs that are unconventional and wildly exciting. This Canadian Power Metal act has broken barriers in the genre by their dauntless divergences, hearty songwriting, and overall efficacious passion. The quintet is preparing to release their sixth full-length album, Phantoma (Napalm Records), which elevates their innovative skills and strengths to new heights.
ALBUM REVIEW: Engulfed – Unearthly Litanies of Despair
Death metal has always been a very hit-or-miss subgenre for me but most of it I do appreciate it. In good news, I have been listening to the new Engulfed album, Unearthly Litanies of Despair (Me Saco Un Ojo/Dark Descent Records), and it is certainly a hit and not a miss. Just shy of forty minutes, the four-piece from Turkey slams and shreds their way through your cranium. Just the right mixture of grimy OSDM and technical fretwork gives this album some replayability.Continue reading