ALBUM REVIEW: Necrot – Lifeless Birth


 

Despite crust death metallers Necrot forming in 2011, the Oaklanders’ newest slab is only the trio’s third full-length in their brief-yet-inviting discography. 

Essentially, the band doesn’t rush to put out a record, nor do they seem to want to release something before every “i” is dotted and “t” crossed.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Blue Oyster Cult – Ghost Stories


One of the least high-profile sign-offs since Button Gwinnett affixed his moniker to the Declaration, Ghost Stories (Frontiers Music srl), billed as Blue Oyster Cult’s final studio album, still qualifies as a “must have” for aficionados, even if it will never be widely celebrated or remembered in the same way as Secret Treaties, Agents Of Fortune, Cultosaurus Erectus, or Fire Of Unknown Origin.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding


My Dying Bride might be the most important Doom band ever. Their second album Turn Loose The Swans (1993, Peaceville Records) redefined the genre, forsaking Sabbath worship, and creating a romantically depressing river of sonic darkness from which they sailed. Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Avralize – Freaks


They say fashion recycles motifs and trends every twenty years or so. It could be argued that’s nearly true for music styles. German quartet Avralize is pulling on the threads of late 00’s/early 2010’s style to blend it into a modern Metalcore outfit. Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Lustmord – Much Unseen Is Also Here


Lustmord is the pseudonym of Brian Williams, now more than four decades into his music career and with myriad releases under his belt, including many soundtracks and collaborations, as well as a plethora of “ordinary” albums.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Myrath – Karma


The Myrath sound is an exciting, intoxicating and entertaining one. On Karma (earMUSIC), there’s a dark side to some of the lyrical content (“Wrath of a raging sea …” Demons, oblivion, etc), leaning towards the heavy and the epic, but the overall impression is relatively light, hooky and generally uplifting. Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Kollapse – AR


The newest offering from Kollapse is by no means something that should be consumed whilst in a distraught headspace. AR (Fysisk Format Records) is as much an introspection as it is a complex collection of seven Noise Rock, Sludge, and experimental tracks from the Danish trio. Continue reading


REVIEWS ROUND-UP: ft – Haystack – Rough Justice – Crawling Through Tartarus – Dwarrowdelf


When Entombed followed Uffe Cederlund’s vision and produced the divisive Same Difference in 1998, the direction and sound that incorporated a hefty dose of Unsane and Cederlund’s other project, Haystack, was quickly parked following an overwhelmingly negative response -it’s genuinely not a bad record at all, with hindsight – Senior Ed], and the Stockholm massive returned to their HM-2 Death n’ Roll stylings. 

Haystack, too, fell by the wayside for over two decades, too. The resurrection continues, though, with second album since their return, and fourth overall, Doomsday Goes Away (The Dogma Repertory Institute/Threeman Recordings). 

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REVIEWS ROUND-UP: ft. Amaranthe – Blackberry Smoke – Bokassa – Shooting Daggers


When Swedish Europop-metalcore (they’re a difficult band to put a tag on considering how distinct their sound is!) sextet Amaranthe announced their arrival with 2011’s self-titled semi-classic album, it was hard to imagine them, as great as their first shot was, still being around thirteen years later. Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Ace Frehley – 10,000 Volts


You can take the boy out of The Bronx, but can’t take The Bronx out of the boy. 

Ace Frehley, Kiss guitar legend, gives birth to some of his finest cuts and hottest licks with the fret-burning, string-bending, grin-inducing 10,000 Volts (MNRK Heavy).Continue reading