We head into Manchester as ghosts and ghouls descend on a sold-out O2 Ritz for a night from everyone’s favourite undead rockers Creeper.Continue reading
Tag Archives: occult
ALBUM REVIEW: Ruim – Black Royal Spiritism – I – O Sino da Igreja
Rune Erickson aka Blasphemer has created an impressive career in black metal. After a decade-long run in Mayhem, he has also found himself performing with Aura Noir and Hammer of the Gods, along with many other side projects that fall into other sub-genres of metal. Here is his newest project which sonically falls closer to Mayhem. This was started in 2020 with Aggressor drummer Cesar Vesvre.
ALBUM REVIEW: Legion Of The Damned
After a four-year break, Dutch death/thrashers Legion of the Damned return with The Poison Chalice (Napalm Records), the band’s eighth full-length studio release their inception in 2005. Originally called Occult, only drummer Erik Fleuren and frontman Maurice Swinkel remain from that early incarnation spawned in 1992, the band never deviating far from their original sound, consistently honing their attack into an even more effective riff machine with each successive record.
INTERVIEW: Gwyn Strang and Sean Bilovecky of Frayle Talk “Skin and Sorrow”
We recently caught up with Gwyn Strang and Sean Bilovecky of Frayle to discuss their new album “Skin & Sorrow” – due out soon from Aqualamb Records! We chatted about the new album, the evolution of the group both live and on record, Salem Massachusetts and the infamous witch trials, their attention to detail for visuals, their recent music video, and much more!
Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Bewitcher – Cursed Be Thy Kingdom
Bewitcher has always stood out for having a more melodic slant than their Blackened Speed Metal peers and that distinction is at its most apparent on their third album. The band’s Venom meets Running Wild style leans much in the latter’s favor on Cursed Be Thy Kingdom (Century Media Records). The guitar rhythms are noticeably more accessible with more flamboyant leads above them and more dynamic song structures to match. Even the blatant Welcome To Hell worship on ‘Satanic Magick Attack’ has an almost Hard Rock flair to it.
ALBUM REVIEW: High Priestess – Casting the Circle – Ripple Music
When LA trio High Priestess‘s eponymous debut High Priestess (Ripple Music) landed in 2018, it took my breath away with its mesmeric, Doomy hypnosis and occasional brutality. Waxing lyrical about it then, I was already eager and anxious to see if they could follow it. I needn’t have worried: sophomore set Casting the Circle (Ripple Music) maintains the impossibly high standards of that first album while enhancing the entrancing elements of their sound.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Yatra – Blood of the Night
Yatra‘s 2018 début album Death Ritual (Grimoire Records), rather than being a “grower”, receded in appeal due to the unflinching harshness of their slow, Doom-laden sound and the voice of Dana Helmuth, which sounds as if Gaahl had been gargling on hop-bombs. There were flickers of invention in the Maryland trio’s sound, however, and these are further explored in follow-up Blood of the Night (STB Records).Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Black Royal – Firebride
After five years honing their craft with live shows and a trail of EPs, Finnish Stoner/Sludge quartet Black Royal garnered decent praise for 2018’s debut album Lightbringer (Suicide Records). Follow-up Firebride (also Suicide Records) delivers more of the same but with a certain refinement and increased maturity to that Death-flavoured, filthy anger.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Blackwater Holylight – Veils Of Winter
Blackwater Holylight (RidingEasy Records), the début album from the Portland, Oregon-based doomstresses of the same name, delivered not merely an enlivening quality but also realised founder member Alison ‘Sunny’ Faris‘ intent of giving heavier rock a new lease of life by incorporating more tuneful, lighter music into that sound. With second album Veils Of Winter (RidingEasy Records) the band, now a quintet with the addition of guitarist Mikayla Mayhew, aim to expand on that formula and the buzz created by that first release.
Arrowhead – Coven Of The Snake
Aussie fuzz rockers Arrowhead have hammered the Sydney underground since 2009, releasing two albums and an EP in that time but levelling many of their home city’s smaller venues in the process. Newly a quartet, third album Coven Of The Snake (Ripple Music) is nevertheless full of the expected trippy imagery but is titanic in its power and weight.Continue reading