Much debate surrounds the basis of Norwegian quintet Leonov – are they Doom? Are they post-Rock?? Do they eat much fårikål??? Yawn…what’s certain is that the band’s sound is heavy, melodic and steeped in melancholy, as sophomore album Wake (Fysisk Format) bears out.Continue reading
Despite being established as Death Metal stalwarts, and already perhaps even close to attaining legendary status, the road for Bloodbath has often been seemingly a little bit bumpy. Admittedly a band that wasn’t always the main priority for its various members, over their time Bloodbath has had to lurk in the shadows waiting for busy schedules of to align. With alumni from the likes of Katatonia and Opeth, and more recently Paradise Lost, it has meant live shows are a rarity and album release schedules somewhat inconsistent. However, with Katatonia now on hiatus, it feels like Bloodbath can become a more prominent concern, which certainly seems evident with the fact that The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn (Peaceville) is quite possibly their most vibrant and strongest effort to date.Continue reading
It has been a bloody long time since the last record from Sludge Metal veterans Deadbird. Ten, count them, years have passed, and even though genre as a collective has been in a rut for some time, the band has seen fit to stick to their guns on new record III: The Forest Within The Tree (20 Buck Spin).Continue reading
“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever but to create something that will…” begins the fifth Amaranthe album, all proudly released by Spinefarm. And while this particular release may not be quite in and of itself destined to live indefinitely in our hearts and minds, as a collective, the band really must be given credit for carving a sound and style that is wholly and completely their own. Ten years deep into a healthy and prolific career, Helix not only shows no sign of letting up but feels like a second wind to launch the band into a second decade.Continue reading
There have been eleven Soulfly albums. Eleven! In total, frontman and four-string guitarist Max Cavalera has released 22 albums in just over 30 years. That man is prolific as he is unwavering, and with new album Ritual (Nuclear Blast), he continues to shred and growl in the same way he always has.Continue reading
In their time away from the music scene, life has been busy for Taiwanese act Chthonic. Five years have passed since their last studio album Bú-Tik (Spinefarm), and family has played a large part, most notably with married couple, bassist Doris Yeh and vocalist Freddy Lim, having a baby last year. Having also taken up politics, Lim swapped his stage make-up and black leather for a nice clean suit and tie, his progressive New Power Party, formed in 2015, becoming elected into the Taiwanese Parliament in January this year.Continue reading
If there’s one word in the English language that Pennsylvanian mob Outer Heaven is either completely unaware of or simply have no need for, its subtlety. Whether the five-piece from Douglassville are smashing Death Metal into your guts at a thousand miles an hour, or gradually reversing over your face in a steamroller built from slow, grinding Doom, then there’s not much room for nuance or sophistication.Continue reading
From the fetid depths of Nottingham’s catacombs comes Shrykull, a duo whose severe, wicked noise would shake the foundation of their city. Debut album Shrykull (self-released) is a sub-half-hour blast through blackened hell and pummelling Sludge which commences with the unholy ‘Plagued’: a brutal maelström preceding a morose, often funereal-paced second movement which is wonderfully controlled by William Powell’s spiked riffs and Kez Whelan’s hammer blows. Whelan’s screams cut to the the bone, never better displayed than on the rampant ‘Deafened By The Echo’, Powell’s ireful guitar buzz covering the frantic yet controlled battery.Continue reading
Back in the early days of the djent scene, British metallers Monuments were seen as one of the early originators of the style and rose alongside the likes of Textures and TesseracT (plus, of course to some influential degree Meshuggah and SikTh), yet seemed slower than most to ride the tide of momentum, with a full-length debut release coming significantly later than other bands from that cadre.Continue reading
I don’t know how Matt Pike does it. Six months since Sleep dropped The Sciences (which is still ace and you should totally buy if you haven’t already) seemingly out of nowhere, the man who has forgotten more brilliant riffs than most of us will ever know has effortlessly created another world-beater. I admit that might be a case of me showing my hand a bit too soon – saying a High On Fire record is great is about as predictable as the sun rising in the morning, but both are positive reminders that good things are always on the horizon.Continue reading