Out of all Black Metal bands that come to my city, I’ve seen Dark Funeral the most. They never disappoint, and are totally consistent each time they play here. They’re one of the best live experiences I’ve ever had. So now there’s a live album called A Beast to Praise and of course it’s good. […]
I can add Poland’s Terrestrial Hospice to the list of bands I’ve never heard of that have more than one album under their bullet belts. It’s nothing new. I thought I was well-versed in Black Metal bands… until I started doing reviews which quickly taught me that I don’t know jack shit. Terrestrial Hospice have […]
As I sit down to write this review, it is currently 108° in my backyard, 94° in the house (with the swamp cooler on 73°, mind you; it’s a dry heat). Fortunately, I don’t live in Arizona, where the maniacs in Sunscorched are from. I have visited there twice, and both times in the summer, […]
I’ve never heard of Colorado’s Bestia Arcana until now, and what I’ve got here is a re-release of an album I didn’t hear when it came out in 2017 via Dark Descent Records. Holókauston was the follow-up2008’s008s To Anabainon ek tes Abyssu (which I’ve also never heard, but intend to remedy that soon). Holókauston makes […]
Back in 2022, I covered Ad Finem Omnia and their blistering debut No Peace-No Dawn. I climbed mountains to shout about how good it was, and it remains one of my favorite Black Metal albums of that particular year. Four long years later, Ad Finem Omnia have returned from their Chilean tomb to unleash a […]
Now, this. This is what I’m fucking talking about! First of all, any Black Metal album I cover from here on out is going to be measured against this crushing slab of Finnish ice-cold Black Metal. Goddammit, this is possibly AOTY material, and that’s just a cold, hard fact. I don’t even know where to […]
Well. My gasts have been flabbered recently by this til now pretty dormant band called Seven Chains. Their debut Seven Chains came out in 2016, followed by Thus She Speaks, the Spiraling Maranatha (2020)… and then crickets. Now here we are in 2026 with Swollen, In Flux, and it’s my first exposure to their weird […]
Certainly, any band that has been around for decades (let alone over three of them) can most likely be broken up and examined by “eras” of their existence. Over that amount of time, artists are likely to go through stylistic changes and experimentation, paving their way through their art to find their voice and express […]
This is not a fun album. Nirriti don’t want you to have fun while you’re listening to their debut album Dhrupad Anutpada (ধপদ অন$ৎপ&দ): Apophatic Ragas Of Non- Origination. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to like it. It’s ugly, it’s abrasive, and that was after the first spin. Many hours later… Song […]
Solo French artist Antoine Scholtès has been productive with his Inherits the Void projects with an EP and 3 albums since 2021, and the 4th album, The Silent Abscission, was released earlier this summer. On album number 4, he is again joined by some session players, who are pretty well known; drummer Nico Muller (ex-Otargos, ex- […]
It’s safe to say that, for the most part, Swedish Black Metal sounds nothing like Norwegian Black Metal. Marduk sounds nothing like Satyricon, nor does Satyricon sound like Dark Funeral. Flykt are from Sweden, Stockholm to be precise, formed back in 2016 apparently. It’s also safe to say I’ve never heard them before… until now. […]
Mork has been spreading their disease since 2007. That’s a pretty long time in dog years to be sure, but those years have sharpened their sound to a razor-sharp edge, and with Monolitt, their follow-up to 2024s Syv, they are bringing more ferocity to the table and some absolutely deadly riffs to boot. For those […]
Norway’s Trelldom is back with another mind-boggling release, filled with cosmic horrors and coiled malevolence. Gaahl (Gaahls Wyrd, ex –Gorgoroth) has this Black Metal Midas touch that ensures anything he releases is going to be at least amazing. …By the Word… is a bit of a slower-paced album than 2024’s…By the Shadows… (which I covered […]
I have generally enjoyed anything that German vocalist/ instrumentalist Baptist has been involved with; Mavorim, Eisekult, and this, Atronos, an outlet for more medieval, melodic black metal, founded by guitarist Henker (also in the above two bands as well as Drudensang). But after three good albums, including 2022’s Erwachen, I didn’t see this coming, as […]
The Formula for a raw Black Metal album: take some stomach bile, mix it up with some menstrual blood and a pinch of salt, and pour it on the band members’ heads in some sort of blasphemous ritual. Featuring members of Finnish Black Metal royalty (True Black Dawn, and …And Oceans, to name two). Accelerated […]
I have no idea how I have not crossed paths with Scotland’s Cnoc An Tursa (“Hill of the Standing Stone”) up until now. I know they haven’t been super prolific, with only 2 albums since 2013, but lawd, we have covered them here on their debut The Giants of Auld, and heck, we even interviewed […]
From the Dictionary: The meaning of HUBRIS is exaggerated pride or self-confidence: arrogance. How does that translate into scalding Black Metal from Buffalo, NY? I’ll get to that shortly. Hubris isn’t going to rewrite the Black Metal blueprint anytime soon, but that’s just fine. Acts of Sedition is a satisfying album, a meat and potatoes […]
“This is a big release for them. First in over a decade. Sound of the new single is their best sounding recording. There’s my 2-second review”. Fellow scribe Frank Rini said he would punch me if I didn’t quote him regarding this fantastic new offering from international mutilators (but mostly from Jerusalem/ Bethlehem, having relocated […]
This is my first time reviewing a Darkthrone album. I know, right?! I’m shaking my head too… lame as fuck joke but whatever. I’m pretty jazzed about it. I found out about Darkthrone through the classic Transilvanian Hunger; picked up from an Albuquerque bookstore, used. It wasn’t some hole-in-the-wall store either; no lit candles guided […]
Last year, I reviewed one of the most unusual albums I think I have to this point… The Harvest by :Skull & Dawn: was my AOTY, and it was well-deserved (I even got a victory lap because I got the other guys to like it too). I digress because Twin Serpent is a bit similar […]
So UK’s Venom have been around for a minute, eh?? If we are to look at the first three extreme bands using extreme lyrics, where devils, killing, and all things evil were first written about, the top three bands are: Black Sabbath, The Misfits, and Venom. I mean, with over 15 albums to their name, […]
Lawd. It’s been since 2008 since I last heard Kentucky’s Blackened doom/sludge act Highgate. It was their debut self-titled album on Total Rust Music, and apparently, I really liked it. Now, since their debut, they have released a couple more albums with Shrines to the Warhead , Black Frost Fallout, and their last album, Survival, […]
So, I don’t have kids – and as a 40 year old man married to a woman of the same age, the likelihood of it happening at this point is… not great. Which is fine! We have dogs. We really like dogs! And I’ve been yelled at by more than enough of you parents of […]
Germany’s Schattenvald (Shadowforest) has been knocking around since 1998, but didn’t release an album until 2007, and has released 5 albums since, yet somehow neither I nor any of the staff here has covered them. And we love us some German black metal in these here parts. As I said in my review of Nazghor’s […]
There have been stellar Black Metal bands coming out of the Middle East for years: Melechesh, Akvan, and Orphaned Land, to name three. Nile, while playing Middle Eastern Death Metal, is still from South Carolina, so they barely qualify (in sound only). So, having said that, I’m here to talk about Gomma, a one-man outfit […]