So what does Necrocene have that Left to Die lacked? ORIGINALITY! I’m going to try and keep away from the comparisons to Left to Die. Necrocene’s Scumocracy is an ode to the Morris Sound studio … and it’s fucking excellent in case you were wondering.

Right away, “(Threshold)” is the perfect intro for Scumocracy, capturing the horror vibes from those visceral Italian films like Gates to Hell and Zombie. It ends abruptly as “Ordinary Enemy” kicks in and wipes the floor with your feeble sense of dignity. This is what I’m talking about, there’s a Death riff here that could’ve been right at home by the fire on Human. This makes me want to run around my backyard and mosh with my dogs.

“Tempestarii” has the tastiest riff and solo on Scumocracy. Guitarists Alex and Joy channel those days of early brutality, fledgling Death Metal bands that have become legends in their own right: Death, Obituary, and Cancer right off the bat. But this is more than an homage album, like I said, there is originality, and that goes a long fucking way.

I love Scumocracy because of moments like “Scale of Grey” and the absolutely bonkers title track that’s going to have those people who like to pretend they’re Sho Kosugi in Revenge of the Ninja spinning around like crazy people. “Scumocracy” is a great sing a long sing-alongen kidding) It’s pretty indicative of the current state of affairs that we’re being forced to endure. Listen to the lyrics, they’re pretty understandable since vocalist Apo has a voice on the cusp of Chuck Schuldiner and John Tardy.

“(Stillpoint)” is another crawling instrumental that sticks around briefly, giving the album room to breathe before the throttling begins again. “Human Lithifacation” I don’t know what that means, but it sounds painful. I do know that there are some sick riffs being fired off. This is just a crushing album and total experience overall. The production is on point, in your face with a bloody hammer, and the killer artwork brings it all together.

“Concrete Petrichor” starts off slow, allowing the track to breathe once again, which I love about Scumocracy; the tempo changes are surgically precise. “Weapons of the Damned” brings some Cancer to the proceedings, think Death Shall Rise and Sins of Mankind era. This is OSDM done absolutely right.

Last up is the “Lust of Us” it’s not exactly a sexy track, it’s slow-burning, and then boom! Blast beats show up briefly, and they make the song that much more devastating. This is the best way to end an album like this. No frills, just honest and savage meat and potatoes Death Metal that will have you banging your head against the concrete for all the right reasons.

If you like those bands I mentioned (even Left to Die) then you’ll be happy as a cannibal in a mass grave. Plus, these guys are apparently from Italy, and we all know that great things come from Italy. So go get it!

Terrestrial Hospice have been in existence since 2018 and have three full-length albums (including this one) Indian Summer Brought Mushroom Clouds (2020) and Caviary to the General (2023). Neither of which I have heard, so I’m going in blind here.

Omnicide: Chapter I starts off subtly enough. It’s a bit gentle, lulling you into a false sense of security. Then “Phosphasc Salvation” hits like a ton of bricks with a nice acoustic guitar intro that goes on for a solid two-minutes before a very Bathory “Destroyer of Worlds”-ish track begins to beat you and that’s before the blasts kick in, it strides along pretty confidently. There’s some epic shit going on around the six-minute mark, when this totally unrelated riff comes out of nowhere and elevates the song to this two-minute level for the solo.

Omnicide: Chapter I pours on the atmosphere like a black rain. “The Couloir of Despair” and “Call of the Void” bring to mind more of a Bathory meets Dimmu Borgir Black Metal attack. Whereas “Serpents in the Grass” and “Menace” hover on the cusp of Behemoth and Gorgoroth. I can picture that fancy chef guy sprinkling the band influences all over this album and Terrestrial Hospice make their sound not overly derivative of their peers. Which is a good thing because this album could have been horrible and not make me want to listen to it ever again.

“Depraver (Black Invocation)” has a lot of that atmosphere that I was talking about. It’s hard-hitting, and that’s really all you can want from a hellish blasphemy. The production could have benefited from a bit more emphasis on the drums in that they are sort of buried in the mix and when we’re talking about Inferno on drums, they need to be loud as fuck.

“Drowning Spirit” and “The Gospel of Obedience” finish the album with two elite flourishes. Both go heavy on the ambiance, and ratchet the brutality up for the last hurrah. All in all, I’d say that Terrestrial Hospice has done a super solid job with Omnicide Chapter 1, as it doesn’t reinvent anything; it’s good on its own merit.

So if you enjoy Gorgoroth, Dimmu Borgir and even some Thunderbolt, then you should trample orphans to make sure you get this album.

Straight away, I can tell I’m going to be blown away; the opening track, “Anqa,” bursts from the speakers like a rhinoceros on Crack. It’s got it all figured out with a sort of Fear Factory-ish vocal delivery, and the music itself is reminiscent of Fear Factory’s best album, Demanufacture. The clean vocals battle for dominance against the growling, and it all coalesces in a powerhouse of an opening song.

“Hex Of The Frenzied Decay” brings in the Blackened aspect, and holy fucking shit, this is mesmerizing. Effortlessly brutal, but within the brutality there’s a sense of beauty that cannot be ignored. You’ll see what I mean when you listen to it. It’s brooding, yet blistering at the same time, making for a brilliantly delivered wall of death, think, like, Onward to Golgotha or something in that vein, and you’ll be in the right neighborhood.

According to the presser, the band leans heavily into their Persian and Arabic backgrounds, creating some ultra-brutal World Music that has to be heard to be believed. This is a whole other level of Folk Metal insanity, trust me, you need to hear this album.

“The Soaring Enigmatic” is a massive one. The mid-paced bits are interspersed with moments of unhinged brutality and raw emotions. Zvindiyar have moments where they blast and thrash their way through the boundaries of Hell (there are a few scattered riffs and tonal shifts that will remind you of Slayer. Spoiler alert: they’re there, but I’m not going to point them out.)

“Fell” is the slammer here. Knuckle-dragging riffs interspersed with moments of insane violence and one breakdown after another, it’s like Suffocation and Internal Bleeding showed up to lend some neck-snapping destruction and then split directly after.

“الهمس الأول” is an instrumental with some soft, spoken words in the background. It sets up the big ending, which comes in the form of “Shadhavar”. This six-minute epic is worth the wait, blasting out of the gate; it weaves through tempo changes with ease, and it’s a punishingly beautiful song. The perfect way to close out Six Rites, and I love it all. This is too fucking good to pass on.

Zvindiyar has hit it out of the park with Six Rites. This is a complex album, melding technical brutality with subtle ambience that comes creeping in when you least expect it. I hope they have nothing but total success in the future. If you like Fear Factory, Suffocation, and Internal Bleeding, but with some Blackened influence to boot, then you know what you need to do. Go get this album now!

Weather aside, it’s ‘western’ black metal act, Sunscorched, that I’m here to talk about… I’m not Max Velocity, hahaha!

This debut album is called Blood of the Badlands, and let me tell you one thing straight away: they are NOT a clone of Blackbraid! These guys are in Arizona and Blackbraid are from New York, so there’s a difference right there. But their approach couldn’t be more different.

The first track is an instrumental called “Whiskey and Oak” it meanders along like a peaceful creek running through the desert, it reminds me of “Blackout Bar” by :Skull&Dawn: mostly for the swagger it has; like that of a gunslinger who has just won a duel in the streets of some shitty western no name town, leaving his opponent lying in a pool of his own blood.

“Stranger’s Land” should be enough to dispel any notion of Blackbraid worship. Where Blackbraid plays sort of a Swedish style of Black Metal (think Marduk and Dark Funeral), Sunscorched is more Eastern European than anything else in that they almost sound Finnish, on the Behexen and Horna path, but there’s also something else that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe when you listen to it yourself you’ll see what I mean.

Really quick, I want to talk about the artwork. I’m quoting from the release: “Visually, the album is anchored by Frederic Remington’s 1901 painting The Old Stage-Coach of the Plains, reinforcing Sunscorched’s focus on the mythologized American frontier, a world where movement, violence and isolation define existence.” That picture is cool as FUCK! It perfectly describes the music played on Blood of the Badlands.

“Slaughter at Camp Grant” balances tempos and emotional gravitas with an edge of Enslaved-style urgency as Sunscorched paint devastating tapestries across the Southwestern skies. It’s a violent track that is representative of the story being told. Next up is “Vultures that Circle my Grave” and this is one of my favorite songs; it’s a punishingly beautiful ode to loss, existence, and the human experience.

“The Gallows Tree” and “Thousand Year Drought” are sloooow, doomy… borderline DSBM on the scale of Happy Days. “Blood of the Badlands” literally starts off as a bloody stallion racing across the desert and ends up as a soaring eagle with wings of fire. The title track is a blistering whirlwind, an instrumental powerhouse, and it roars like thunder over a mountain.

I fucking love Blood of the Badlands. This album isn’t Blackbraid, and it doesn’t need to be, since there’s already a Blackbraid and they’re doing just fine, thank you very much.

I mentioned a few bands here, trying to help with the tags, but it’s your journey to take in the end. I recommend it, so go get it.

The whole reason I grabbed this promo was because of the mention of The Birthday Party; they’re such a wild, balls-to-the-wall part of Nick Cave’s history that name alone drew me in. The Back of Beyond is a fucking banger; it’s ridiculous how good this album is.

Right off the proverbial bat, Dry Wedding grabs you by your pathetic cerebellum with “Arrowhead”, and there’s that raucous abandon that made The Birthday Party so awesome back in the day. Chugging along with gusto, it becomes a Gothic Western number with a bit of Fields of the Nephilim flavor.

There have been setbacks in the past that might have destroyed a lesser band, but they have soldiered on. There was the pandemic and the release of The Long Erode (2020) that had the band doing shows behind glass, and then in 2023 some asshole stole their van and gear during a West Coast tour. The second album was released independently and is titled Sway (in case you were curious).

Moving on, track numero dos is “The Serpent Box” it is super upbeat, like a court jester on Meth. It jingles and jangles to a crazy Birthday Party beat. It’s wild and unhinged, and is followed by one of my favorite tracks on The Back of Beyond, “Sure as a Gun”. It’s angry, spewing vitriol and resentment, but it’s taking its time while doing so. It’s in no hurry whatsoever, a slow, meandering ode to murder.

“Blood-Red Vengeance” features some killer slide guitar and, for the most part, just exists in its own psychotic story; it’s also the shortest song on The Back of Beyond, coming in at just 1:59 minutes. Nonetheless, it leaves its bloody handprints all over the album. “One Last Strand” feels like a Punk-Western version of “Whiplash” by Metallica. It’s ridiculous fun, and it will get your ass moving. It gathers power and unleashes it until the vibrations shaking the earth have subsided. Chadwick Ferguson treats his bass like it owes him money. A vibrant, malicious track if I ever heard one.

“Moths” is haunting and triumphant, the chorus is massive, and it all swarms around your head, bouncing off and coming at you from all directions. It’s a hair raising track and I fucking love it. “Shifting Wilderness” is the last track and it fucking smokes like a wildfire in June. It’s not fast, it’s just steady sailing on black waters. This is the kind of music that is perfect for 100+ weather, dry and brutal and utterly unforgiving.

It’s safe to say that I’m all in for Dry Wedding. Albums like this are rare and I grab them when I can. The Back of Beyond is a stellar album. It’s mixing of genres and the way it grabs you from the get go are the reasons why I think you need this album in your life.

If you like Nick Cave, Fields of the Nephilim, Swans and 16 Horsepower; you will no doubt eat this album for breakfast. So run, walk, drive or fly to your nearest mom and pop record store and pick it up. You won’t be disappointed.

Holókauston makes me think of Incantation first and foremost. Onward to Golgotha and Mortal Throne of Nazarene more than any of their other albums. Holókauston has that sort of cavernous feel to it; Sedimentum comes to mind also, as well as Writhing. Its murky atmosphere resembles a Louisiana backwater dripping with pitch-black malice. But there’s also a Black Metal undercurrent, which is why vocalist Naas Alcameth describes Holókauston as a “heretical black opera forged in adverse esoteric and eschatological tradition” and “a madman’s alchemical experiment”.

“Hellmouth” is the opener, and it’s bursting out harder than Cronos, with a runtime of 10:33. This shit rips open wide swaths of the earth with how heavy this is. An echoing bell tolls, and right away there’s that murky atmosphere, pounding, body-shaking heaviness beyond heaviness. It gets ethereal at the 6:06 minute mark, where it takes on this whole other level of extremity… an epic fucking opener if there ever was one.

“Obscurator” is next, and there are blasts right away, no time to recover from the “Hellmouth” you just got shoved through. You’re in the fucking belly of the beast, baby. This is also the shortest track on Holókauston, coming in at a respectable 8:25. Near the middle of the song, it gets almost somber, but not by much. There are still violent whirlwinds in this oppressive storm just waiting to see the light of day.

“Howling” is the Christ-obliterating 11:09-minute third track, and it’s a fucking whopper! Slow, dripping menace like a bloody nose. It drags itself across a moldy earth before it goes completely off the rails with subtle ambience for about 2 minutes before returning to the soul-crushing heaviness. Screams echo from behind an awesome wall of sound, and it elevates this song to unbelievably huge heights.

Last up is “Iniquity”, and it’s a killer, raging track. Moving like a pissed-off bison towards an idiot tourist, it literally runs you over. You’re being gored to death by the most vicious 2000-lb wild animal whose sole intent is to get your ass out of its fucking territory. It’s a brutal, unrelenting way to say goodbye, hasta la vista motherfucker!

This re-release probably sounds better than the original, that’s usually the goal in these situations, and so if you liked it back then, chances are you will again. For those who like Incantation and knuckle dragging, Neolithic heaviness. Go on, then!

Four long years later, Ad Finem Omnia have returned from their Chilean tomb to unleash a new album upon this wretched world. Senectus Viae is the sophomore album I’ve been waiting for.

After I review something really good, I start looking forward to the next album. Some think I’m weird for that. “dude, the album just came out.” Yeah, I know. I’m just getting ready for the next big thing.

Is it worth the wait? Fuck yeah, it is! Here’s the rundown.

Beginning with an “Intro…” that segues into “The Hermit and the Wind” and we’re off to the races. Reminiscent of “In Defiance”, it builds towards the ultimate discharge, blasting interspersed with alternating Thrash beats. It gets atmospheric around the four-minute mark and continues that way for a good minute before the guitars rise up and take off with furious blasting as well.

Eight songs in forty minutes, and next up is “Inner Decay”, a no-frills atomic bomb that sets in to punish you for no reason other than it can. Ad Finem Omnia are veterans at this point, taking ideas from No Peace-No Dawn and expanding on them like memories on a theme.

“Anguish and Revelation” has a bit of a Darkthrone vibe to it, especially mid-track when the tempo shifts to a sinister blackness reminiscent of Ravishing Grimness and Sardonic Wrath.

Senectus Viae isn’t set on reinventing the Black Metal wheel and it doesn’t need to. Even on their second album, Ad Finem Omnia sounds like they’ve been doing this for years. The production is spot on, and the cover art is very representative of the violence contained within.

“The Leaf that Refused the Light” is epic and unapologetically atmospheric. The furious blasting at the beginning gives way to a solemn midsection before ripping off the bandages and sticking their fingers in the open wounds that are already bleeding from the beating you’re receiving. “Where Existence Fails” is up next, and it’s another exercise in brutality. This motherfucker is a bruiser, and I’m all here for it.

“Abolish God” spits venom and hatred towards all things holy, as it should with a title like that. The ending comes with the instrumental title track and it’s bloody awesome, twists and turns like the Nürburgring, and builds upon hypercar velocity.

I’m near the end here, and I’ve yet to make the important decision that must be made… is Senectus Viae better than No Peace-No Dawn? Or is the predecessor still the champion? I think it’s pretty well balanced. The latter had the immense power of “Vultures” and “In Defiance”, while Senectus Viae has the brilliance of “The Hermit and the Wind” and “The Leaf that Refused the Light”. That’s not to say that Ad Finem Omnia didn’t pour their souls into this masterpiece, because Senectus Viae is a fucking beast of an album. These guys have dropped a ruthless Black Metal album that needs your attention.

For the Darkthrone and Watain lovers out there, go get it!

I don’t even know where to start. I picked this one fine promo day, and unfortunately it has sat here waiting for me to listen to it. Today is the day, and I’m here to tell you, constant reader: you need to hear this. Especially if you are/were a fan of those odd Norwegian bands that came out in the 90s like Ved Buens Ende and Fleurety. This is definitely not your Impaled Nazarene or Horna or anything like that. This is a different beast altogether.

Back in 2021, Shadowy Peripherals was released and then… nothing. But over the course of those lost years, they grew from a trio to a quartet, which is where we are now. The production is stellar, the artwork is killer, and most importantly, the music is absolutely fabulous.

Starting with “Culprit Sunsets (To Chew on Darkness)” proves that this corpse has risen. There’s actually emotion in there that gives me the willies. It’s not all just blast and repeat; there are tempo changes galore, and it’s easy to get caught up in it all. There’s some Folk Metal, some Power Metal, plenty of Black Metal all pulled off with artistic flourish.

“Purple Storms (The Desert Unites and Cloaks the World)” is next and right away I can tell this is going to be a mind-scraping ride. This is nine tracks in forty-one minutes and fifty-one seconds, and I can cheerfully report that no song sounds like the other. This is what I’m talking about: balance. It’s a force of nature on Melas Khole; I want to absorb this album like a sponge. It balances the brutal with the beautiful, and takes you on an ethereal journey across time.

“Twinhearts (Fall from Grace Again)” is, at the beginning, an atmospheric stomper. Every note is given a singular purpose; the build-up to the last few brutal moments of this song is fantastic, and when it happens, it comes on deadly riffs and earthshaking blasting. “Melankolia (The Silent Acceptance)” slows things down considerably; it’s an emotionally charged bit of somber that washes over your mind and crushes your soul with its gravitas.

“The Redeemer (Smudged Flesh Withers)” ventures into Arcturus territory circa Sham Mirrors with angular riffs and a drum pattern that’s out of this world. “Revelations (Gone in Remembrance)” rages with elemental fury, demanding your full attention, and it grabs you and throws you into the wall.

“Echoes (At the End of the Rainbow)” has Arcturus on speed dial with this one; the off-kilter feeling pulls at your sense of equilibrium, while closing track “Hollow Minds Collide (In Ominous Wellbeing)” moves through space and time to open up the gateway to your mind’s eye, then gouges it out with pliers.

At the end of the day, you really need this album in your life, especially if you enjoy that period when Arcturus and Ved Buens Ende were introducing themselves to the unsuspecting world as a whole. Don’t sleep on this one!

Now here we are in 2026 with Swollen, In Flux, and it’s my first exposure to their weird brand of Blackened Death Metal. It’s a good thing I like off-the-wall shit, because these crazy Idahoans are here to wreak sonic mayhem, and I’m all here for it.

I’m just going to jump in the deep end and try to keep from drowning. “Intro…” comes and goes after 2:16, and then the best song on the album comes bursting out in pit-creating fury.

“Whence Blood No Longer Flows” breaks out these bad-ass sort of late 80s, early 90s riffs that grab the money and run. Around the four-minute mark there’s some nice solo blasting with intermittent atmospheric melodies that are fucking deadly. It’s something newer, and I think it’s pretty spiffy.

Seven songs in 35:22 minutes, and next up on the altar is “Every Flame Structured, Every Face Ablaze”, and it’s a fucking whopper, as well. It’s more of a Death Metal track than the previous, and the way Seven Chains weave their blasphemy between genres is fantastic to behold. The production is also nice and in your face. The drums are dual-wielded AK-47s, and the guitars have a vicious bite to them.

“A Declaration of Vengeance” is to the point, a beating from beginning to end. When Seven Chains lock into a groove they’re absolutely sublime, and this track is a pitch-black slab of Midwestern-style Blackened Death Metal.

There’s another “Intro…” not sure completely why, but whatever; “Gestating Ash (The Thickest Darkness)” is a late 90s Black Metal fever dream and it’s followed by the 10-minute “The Earth’s Tentacular Cross”. The perfect closer for Swollen, In Flux, it moves through tempos like a turbulent storm. I’ll be going back to check out their previous albums when I get the chance for sure.

I didn’t mention any sound-alike bands, and that’s because Seven Chains come to the table with their own set of tricks up their sleeves. Sure, I hear some Furze and a bit of Portal, and definitely Ved Buens Ende add in some True Mayhem here and there, ya go.

Swollen, In Flux is a fucking odd album, but it’s also refreshing to hear something that’s fairly original. So I’m recommending it; you know what to do.

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 titles are very useful to help convey the context of the album, so it’s no surprise that Nirriti have ridiculously long song titles. Esoctrilihum have some competition here. Take the first track “Mandukya, The Primordial Toad Croaks At The Outer Edge Of Sushupti”. First of all, I want a primordial toad; second of all, I want my voice to echo as Bhasma’s does. At first it annoyed the absolute shit out of me. Have you ever looked at your phone like it doesn’t have your best interest at heart? That’s how I looked at mine throughout the course of my listening… like what the fuck did I get myself into? But what ended up happening was I started to like it. Those drums are the battering ram of the gods, JFC!

This is what would happen if Teitanblood and Deathspell Omega were to sound like if they assimilated each other. Even Furze is probably thinking ‘goddamn, I thought my lyrics were indecipherable and obnoxious as fuck’! Not even close, buddy.

Dhrupad Anutpada (ধপদ অন$ৎপ&দ): Apophatic Ragas Of Non- Origination will kill you if given the chance. “In The Hallways Of Pure Existence, Freewill And Determinism Play Their Futile Game Of Chess” is absolutely nun-fucking insane. Blasting so savage that you’ll lose feeling in your arms and legs from swinging them around like a fucking idiot; you might end up in a coma, who the fuck knows? More importantly, who fucking cares? Nirriti don’t.

“One Foot On Samsara And The Other On Nirvana” is about as crazy as the title sounds. The amount of reverb that is used on the vocals is like an instrument in itself; that’s what almost sunk this battleship for me. They might do the same for you, I don’t know, I don’t control your life choices… You do you, buckaroo.

“Glissando Of Ever-Fleeting Moments As The Ephemeral Wheels That Carrieth The Chariot Of Perpetuity”… I had to look up what a Glissando is: ‘Glissando (from the Italian glisciare, meaning “to glide”) is a musical technique of sliding continuously or rapidly up or down a musical scale from one pitch to another’. Okay, that’s interesting. How that translates into the literal wall of sound that is spewing from my speakers, I have no idea, but there it is. These songs are endurance tests; thinking of them as weights for your ears to lift and get stronger is a pretty accurate way to describe the feeling.

“Golden Yolk of a Black Egg of a Multicolored Peacock” and “Vilambit Laya of Vitanda Mridangam Forewarns a Pan-Philosophical Defeat (Symphony No. 0 in Doom Minor)” are the last two tracks, and this is where the Indian music comes out proper. Below the howling wind vocals, there are Sitars and other crazy noises that bring the haunted sands to your living room.

To say that Dhrupad Anutpada (ধ্রুপদ অনুৎপাদ): Apophatic Ragas of Non-Origination is a challenging album might be an understatement. It’s decidedly not something you listen to if you want to chill out. I’ll admit that I was ready to hate it after that first listen. I stuck with it, and am I better off? That remains to be seen. However, I’m more inclined to recommend this than I was, which is saying a lot about my musical tastes.

Fuck it. Go get this slab of raging noise and blistering Black Metal if you like Deathspell Omega, Furze, Teitanblood and Thou Shalt Suffer… or some of the other spaced-out, cosmic devotees that make psychotic music like this. You’ll love yourself in the morning. Trust me.

I covered their split EP with the mighty Fluids in these hallowed pages back in 2023. That came hot on the heels of Red is the Color of Ripping Death (2021), which just so happens to be their last full-length until now, and their brand-spanking-new album, Satanic Chaos Legions.

I was recently asked if there’s any album I don’t like; it does feel like I like most of the albums I have covered (including this one). I didn’t like the new Sepultura… there’s that. I don’t know, but it’s a true story that this album kills, and the only reason I didn’t mind it being a streaming promo is that my device is out of memory, so I don’t have any choice in the matter.

So yeah, this is another one of those maturation albums. If the new Darkthrone is their Black Album, as I opined in my review for THAT album in these pages as well, then Satanic Chaos Legions is Nunslaughter’s finest hour and their most mature album to date.

So from the title track, you already have a baseline for how things are going to go down. It’s a blistering Death/Thrash number that’ll get your head rattling right away. The production is on point with the move to BLKIIBLK, and this being Nunslaughter’s debut on the label, it had to be good, right?

“Jesus Fucking Dies” is track numero dos, and it is just as brutal as a song bearing that title should be. It’s a short track too, running 1:20. Which is perfectly fine; the whole album has a runtime of 34:11 and so it shows up, metes out some blasphemy and moves on. “Unsacrament” scoots along pretty fucking quickly as well. A slice of diabolical Death Thrash, it’s an intense bloodbath taking place in just a few minutes.

Bands like Nunslaughter get the fucking job done right away. No niceties for you here, only bludgeoning OSDM, and isn’t that what should be expected? By now, yes. These guys are legends in the Pittsburgh/Ohio area, and it’s easy to see why. They’re consistently good whether it’s a full-length or a split EP.

”Christian Ruse” is the most Slayer song on the album that’s also balls-to-the-wall Death Thrash in sort of a Malevolent Creation sort of manner, so think of those two bands having a bastard offspring; there’s a tasty blast section near the end of the track as well. Meanwhile, “Die Your Own Death” comes barging in like a drunken rhino with an attitude.

Satanic Chaos Legions checks all the boxes for what makes a great OSDM release in 2026. “Rotten Messiah”, “Peukharist” and “In the Flames of Inferno” form the guts of the album, ripping open gates to Hell and dancing with demons. Each track on this record seethes with rage and hatred for the Christian Church.

“Heavenless” is a knuckle-dragging spectacle of neck-snapping destruction, while “Lucifer the Light” is a Slayer-esque thrasher that’s got a slew of killer riffing going on in its short runtime. “Cathedral of Stench” brings some crazy time changes: first, it’s mid-paced and almost friendly until the middle of the song, and it’s blasting drums twisting and turning, smashing into a hypnotic blast of doom before cranking it up again.

Rounding out the end of the album, it’s “Listen to the Lies” for the fastest track. From the count-in to the abrupt stop, it’s a Death Grind, rude sonofabitch. I eat shit like that up; it’s like being hit by a train, in the ears…

“Infernal Reign” is a fucking Punk waiting to stab you and take your money or your life. It’s followed by “The Spear of Satan”, the last track, and it’s a shredder. There’s this cool skanky beat before the track ends. There’s your money gone.

Satanic Chaos Legions is a solid OSDM album from a band who have been spreading their Satanic devotion for years. Nunslaughter doesn’t have to prove a fucking thing; they’ve stayed true to themselves and the scene as a whole. Their videos on Facebook are interesting as hell, so if you don’t follow them, you’re missing out.

By now if you love bands like Mortician, Deeds of Flesh, Fleshgrind and of course… Slayer. Always Slayer. Get this apocalyptic beast and be scorched by Hell’s flames.

For years now, they’ve toured the earth keeping the memory of Death Metal legend Chuck Schuldiner alive (as if anyone could forget those classic albums). There is another Death “cover band” with former Death members in Death to All, but as far as I know, they have yet to put out an album. Probably for the best, honestly. But here I am reviewing the debut from Left to Die, and trying to decide how I feel about it.

I’m impressed with the production; straight out of the box, the album sounds good. The bass is perfectly in the mix, and it all sounds lush and warm. And some of these songs/riffs are ones Chuck had apparently written back in 1984 and never got to use, so it’s only fitting that this is going to at least sound like early Mantas/Death, which it does. A lot.

That’s not completely a bad thing, as there are some pretty killer riffs going on, but my question is: do we need another Death? Personally, I see it kind of like this whole resurrection through hologram craze. There comes a point where homage becomes parody, and Left to Die is straddling that line pretty damn close.

Initium Mortis is the title, and musically it sticks to the Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy blueprint. Also, not a bad thing, but I’m wondering if this will be a one-off release or the start of something else? How much can you farm the Death ‘sound’?

Let’s see what we have here… “Legion of Doom” is the first track and of course it’s a banger, Matt Harvey sounds exactly like Chuck, his understandable rasp lends itself to following the lyrics. It’s got soaring leads courtesy of Rick Rozz, Terry Butler’s bass rattles the walls with unrelenting force; it’s all very nostalgic and sticks to the Death formula to the point where it’s almost like reciting scripture.

“Archangel” sounds so much like “The Final Command” from Slayer’s eponymous Show no Mercy, but it comes across as lackluster and uninspired.

Meanwhile, “Power of Darkness” sounds like Venom, but again it’s a bit dull. If Left to Die can get out of Chuck’s shadow they could make a solid banger of an album. I know this is a debut, but these guys are veterans at this point. Just saying…

“Zombie” is a pointless instrumental that once again sounds like Slayer. It’s not a horrible track, but goddammit; it should be better than it is. I’m starting to get the impression that these songs and riffs from the early days were left out for a reason at the time of the recording process. I remember hearing Scream Bloody Gore for the first time and it knocked me out with how good it was/is. Maybe if Left to Die do another album they’ll try and make it their own. Time will tell.

“Witch of Hell” could’ve been on Massacre’s From Beyond, sounding like “Corpsegrinder”, I mean Rick Rozz is a precise motherfucker so his writing is all over this song. I have to say it’s one of the more ‘original’ tracks on Initium Mortis, even though it sounds like Massacre… it is what it is though. Lots of dive-bomb solos are peppered throughout which makes me think of Massacre even more because literally every solo on From Beyond has dive-bomb solos.

“Rise of Satan” and Summoned to Die” could have been on Leprosy, but this is a by the numbers version of Death, so it isn’t as good as it should be. Which is sadly the case with Initium Mortis. Man, I wanted to love this album… but it’s really hard to. This is a meeting that could have been an email.

“Mantas” is the name Death had before they became Death. That should tell you all you need to know about the song, it’s just ‘meh’ unfortunately.

Last two tracks, “Slaughterhouse” and “Death by Metal” close out the album with a little bit of Possessed showing up in “Death by Metal”. Honestly I’m glad it’s over.

My problem with Left to Die and Initium Mortis is that it’s the “we have Death at home” version and it makes me wonder why Death to All hasn’t made an album yet. I mean, two touring acts doing their version of Death and only one makes an album of ‘original’ material? C’mon man, be serious now.

At the end of the day I can only recommend this for… well I’m not quite sure. I guess if you like Death and want to hear from the people who played on those seminal albums, then yeah it’s going to be your jam. But if you’re looking for an album that takes what Chuck did with Death and advances on it; this is not the album for you. Or maybe it is, I don’t fucking know, I guess if you like what you’ve heard then you’ll eat it up. Enjoy your day.

Sinister Strain is their second full-length following the release of Charnel Heart (2019) and subsequent EP Through the Earth and Through the Sun (2019) and then… crickets. Nada until a trio of singles leads up to Sinister Strain, and here I am reviewing it. How is it? It’s ok. It’s certainly not going to reinvent the Black Metal wheel, by any stretch. But then again, sometimes things don’t have to be revolutionary to be enjoyable, which is about where Flykt is sitting here in this review.

Starting with “You Will Know Them by the Reek of Defeat”, which is like listening to brown noise, acting as an intro that is slightly off-kilter. It’s suitably ominous and sets up for “Transcendent Rebellion”, a pretty good blaster; it gets a bit Watain-ish near the end with some droning riffs. The production reminds me of Reign of Erebus and their HumanRacist album, communion wafer thin with the treble cranked and the bass somewhere in there. Just clinging on by a fingertip, more or less.

“An Uncarved Block” is reminiscent of Marduk circa Wormwood, which isn’t bad. I just can’t find the drums in there, as much as I want to; all I hear is snare… tap, tap, tap. Now on the other hand, “The Release and Descent” is a bare-knuckle beating. The drums are there, everything is right with the world in this track, and I think it’s where Flykt really stretch their wings out and the song is better for it. It’s brooding mood gets faster at the end till the blasting takes over and it’s catapulted into “Armed with Countless Daimons Seeking Abode”. It’s a Dark Funeral-ish diddy, battering ram drums competing with the fire-spitting guitars. There’s some cool shit going on around the 1:30 mark.

“Rebirth in the Name of Reprisal” has some killer riffs going on. Combative, stabbing, and rapier-sharp. “Unswerving Strife, Unyielding Will” is a pretty decent track; it plays nicely with tempos, one minute blasting hard and the next it’s slow and precise. Meanwhile, “A Furnace for the Stars” is a meandering instrumental track. It’s okay, not groundbreaking by any stretch, but it gets you ready for the 15:18 minutes of “There Comes the Light”. For the first 7:48 minutes of the track, it’s slow and then fast and then… instrumental for the remainder of the song. It’s meh. That’s all.

Seven years ago, Flykt released their debut album, and now they’re releasing their second album. It’s not a horrible album. But it’s pretty hit and miss, and at the end of the day I doubt I’ll be listening to it again after I turn this review in. For you people that like this sort of thing. You know who you are…

For those keeping track, this is their 8th full-length album, and it’s another feather in these savage Nordic horde’s cap. These guys have stayed true to the Black Metal philosophy and continue to shred the faces of non-believers. With this new album, Monolitt, Mork is set to cleanse the earth with some proper Norwegian Black Metal.

I covered Syv in these hallowed pages back then, and it turned out to be my Black Metal album of the year if I’m remembering correctly. It had this ritual nature to it, and Monolitt expands on that with crushing intensity and high-powered riffs straight out of Hell.

First track “Under vekten av verden” seethes with unholy rage. They lock into a Satyricon groove alá Rebel Extravaganza (“Filth Grinder” to be exact), and it’s off to the races. Those blast beats are delicious, benefitting from excellent production that literally shoves your face in its furious glory.

“Ødelagt” is quick as fuck at the beginning and then slowly devolves into a crawling chaos with a snappy riff that reminds me of Old Man’s Child on The Pagan Prosperity. These songs are so diverse and so deadly that merely listening isn’t enough… You feel them in your bones. “Torden” comes rising on a diabolical set of riffs, almost Emperor level, the disjointed riffing reminding me of “The Prophet” from Prometheus: the Discipline of Fire and Demise. It’s unrelenting mid-paced delivery is unholy point throughout.

Syv had some killer moments on it, and there’s even more killer moments on Monolitt than you can shake a stick at. Like the slow part in “Skrømt” is like wading through a poisonous swamp where everything wants to kill you. One second, droning riffs are swirling around your ears like there’s no tomorrow, and the next peeling off blasting sections like a bandage from a septic wound.

“Ferdamann” crawls into your ears like the creatures in Star Trek 2. It’s slow-burning, merciless, and pure evil. This is one of my favorite tracks on Monolitt, it’s got a bit of a Gorgoroth-filled center… think Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam or anything from Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt.

“Inn I en annen saere” has an almost Dissection vibe to it, circa Reinkaos, with maybe a smidgen of Gorgoroth added for flavor and Immortal to give it suitable gravitas. Oddly enough, for me anyway, I sort of hear the refrain from “Diary of a Madman”, that background harmony just makes sense in this context.

“Martyr” is my second favorite track; it’s got a Doc Martin on your throat and is ridiculous fun while being beaten to a fucking pulp. The battering ram drums, competing with the lumbering guitars, are pulverizing. “Jutul” has some of that staccato riffing and artillery shells going off around the 1:36 point where the song just fucking rips open a hole in the space-time continuum to a place where demons mosh while they tear each other apart and eat each other back to life in a spray of blood and gore.

“Utryddelse” plays with tempos like a deranged kid with a pile of severed heads. One second it’s like listening to the screaming of the damned, the next it’s Borknagar-esque rhythms that could’ve been on The Archaic Course/True North. These songs bleed with the spirit of Norwegian Black Metal, and Mork has created a magnificent Norwegian Black Metal album. I keep highlighting the Norwegian part because I don’t really hear any other influences (besides that Ozzy one). No Dark Funeral, no Marduk, no Impaled Nazarene… just pure Norwegian darkness. That’s what we’re here for, right?

Go get this motherfucker, trample over your neighbors’ children to get to the record store before they do. Monolitt is a fucking beast of a Black Metal plague unleashed upon this unsuspecting world!

…By the Word… is a bit of a slower-paced album than 2024’s…By the Shadows… (which I covered in these hallowed pages back when it was released) dot, dot, dot. Anyway, it’s a stirring album coming in with a respectable 39:55 runtime that doesn’t feel rushed or anything like that. This is more of a somber pace with some scattered blasting, but it is reigned in to almost sparingly here.

First track “When This Was Young” is on the slow burning side, it picks up some speed towards the end. This being a Trelldom album, there is weird atmospheric things going on in the background, but for some reason these sounds tend to overpower the drums so I found myself sort of squinting my ears to hear what they were doing.

“I Speak Forgotten Voices” is a faster track, incorporating some insane blasting into the mix near the end of the song, but before that is the build-up, and what a build-up it is; haunting shit is going on in the background, and I dare say I might hear a saxophone somewhere in there…

“This Moment the Life of a Memory” is furious out of the gate, but then it gets almost somber and stays that way through the remainder of the song. Not quite DSBM territory, but pretty fucking close to it. The title track has these scatter-shot drums that are slightly unsettling, and jazzy as fuck to boot… in a good way mind you. The only way to really describe it would be like two armies standing toe to toe, just hammering the shit out of each other. The saxophone squeals like a pig in heat, capturing the animalistic nature of the beast Gaahl has created, and it all coalesces in a ritual of destruction and blinding chaos.

“Folding the Mind” is my favorite on …By the Word… and it all starts with drummer Kenneth Kapstad slapping his drums around as if they owe him money. This goes on for about two minutes before things slow down and shit gets serious. It brings out that slow headbanging where the music feels like a physical force hitting in waves of bleak sorrow.

“The Word – Choose to Vanish” brings some more soaring, discordance and downright insane effects that defy any nature-based lifeforms to not get caught up in the swaying, evil wind that this ship of cold Black Metal supremacy is riding on. “In There Outside” is that song that is the perfect way to close the album. I haven’t mentioned any other bands in this review, and this is the song that is the most Gorgoroth-ish on …By the Word… landing somewhere around “Carving a Giant” and “Rebirth”. In between those diseased folds of flesh is where the answer lies.

…By the Word… is a nasty Black Metal album. It maintained a suitably Kvlt atmosphere that got palpable the more and more I listened to it. It’s a soul shredding creation and earsplitting at times. Is it better than …By the Shadows…? Not quite. But it stands on its own psychotic merit and that’s okay too. For you sickos that worship Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam and can’t get enough of the weirdness that challenges the concept of what Black Metal is in 2026. What are you waiting for? Go get this album.

There comes a time in every critic’s life when they’re torn on an album whereby on the one hand you have a good, compelling album with cool moments, but then there’s the feeling that it’s boring as watching flies fuck, and so you (as the critic) must be diplomatic.

A few listens later…

Well, it all starts with “Divinity”, a nice instrumental track that erupts into “A Red Dawn”, and it’s got a pretty good chug to it, kicking off with a sick roar that brings the brutality out. It’s not overly brutal as in say… It’s not Dying Fetus or anything like that. More like a Green Carnation meets Opeth meets later on Amorphis. That doesn’t make sense. Too fucking bad, this is sort of a choose-your-own-adventure album.

“Servant to the Sun” has this slow-burning sense of urgency, the melody kind of echoing Tales From The Thousand Lakes; while the following “Prophecy” brings in some gravitas in the form of another chill instrumental track.

“Visions of a Crimson Moon” comes lurching forward and brings another roar to open the album. This one has more of a staccato riffing that makes it sound a bit progressive. This could have been a thrashing track, but that would be like putting a Polka song on a Mayhem album. I can picture a lot of crab walking going on around the midsection point where they get extra heavy.

The title track is like watching paint dry, however. It drags you along while being as dull as can be. This is that torn feeling I talked about earlier. I don’t like this song, but it doesn’t tarnish the album any more than “Meant to Be” did on the latest Testament album.

“Omen” has a cool intro riff but falls into mediocrity pretty damn quick. “Field of Reeds” is yet another instrumental that meanders like a drunk on the way home. It’s a pretty tune, but it’s a whatever track at the end of the day.

There’s probably a reason why I don’t usually review albums like this because, ultimately, it’s been done before and by better bands. Not saying that Black Sea of Trees is slouching on their instruments because they’re certainly not, but I think I wanted more than what I got with Cult of the Sun.

“Eclipse” and “The Dark Distance” round out the album, and I can’t really say it’s with a bang. I wanted to like Cult of the Sun, but alas, I don’t.

Having said that, if you do happen to like this sort of thing and you love the new sound of Opeth, then maybe this is for you. So, follow your heart and pick this up… if you want.

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 Black Metal album as it should be.

From the first track, “Call to Sedition”, they get right down to business. Most of Acts of Sedition hovers around the world of Gorgoroth/ Ov Hell territory, and since those bands are basically one and the same (by way of King Ov Hell from Gorgoroth). Anyway… they’re talented musicians, no doubt about that.

“Lightless Lantern” rips straight out of the gate with an ice-cold arsenal of riffs alá 1349, early Immortal style. Pretty fucking cool, and yes, there are some killer riffs to be heard. Melkorpse is the main vocalist (they’re all listed as vocals, but he’s the head dude), and his voice box must be fucking shredded after shows.

Savagery is unleashed with “Incantation of Death”, followed by “Boil of Humanity” with an intro slightly reminiscent of the first couple Reign of Erebus albums. I mean, there are beat downs, and then there are Buffalo, NY Black Metal beat downs and Hubris aren’t fucking around. The title track? Holy shit that’s the good stuff right there, like the riffs are on an Adderall speed ball… fucking excellent.

“Era of Hubris” has this crazy-cool center that’s incredibly enjoyable. “Pissed on Ambitions” is a full-speed-ahead instrumental that reminds me of “Violent Generation” by Brutality.

“The Great Division” and “Outer Space Satanic Torture: Hymn to Nuit in the Abyss” round out the last two, and of course, they take it out with a bang.

Hubris doesn’t appear to be conceited, as their name would imply, and Acts of Sedition is, indeed, a humble release. It wears its influences on its sleeves and there’s nothing wrong with that. Like I said, they’re not going to reinvent the Black Metal wheel, but they elevate the genre with Acts of Sedition. If you like the bands, I’ve mentioned then you’ll be over the moon for Hubris. Get this album now!

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 to the much more accepting Netherlands to avoid religious intolerance); I’m talking about Melechesh. Who did you think I was talking about? Nile?

Yes, you read that correctly: Melechesh have a triumphant EP called Sentinels of Shamash, and it is a fucking whopper. Having released their last album Enki back in 2016(!) I first heard them on their Djinn album back in 2001, and they followed that with the powerhouse albums Sphinx and the blistering hell of Emissaries. I don’t know what happened between 2016 and now. I’m not going to speculate about it… the result is Sentinels of Shamash, so I don’t care what they did for the last ten years. Maybe they played Cricket, who knows.

If you can’t already tell by the general tone of this review, I fucking love this new EP! It’s a culmination of the sounds from each individual album rolled into one brutal bastard. They come out swinging with the fiery first track, “The Seventh Verdict”, and it’s all there. Those riffs that skin you alive like a sandstorm, a Bedouin beat down if I may be so bold. The drums are AK-47 machine guns raised in defiance of tyranny, an epic 6:32-minute death roll. This mid-paced brutalizer throws you in the abattoir from the opening riff.

Melechesh in 2026 is a force to be reckoned with. The core members are back together: Melechesh Ashmedi (vocals), Lord Curse (drums), and Moloch (guitars), proving that they are the leading name in Mesopotamian Blackened Death Metal.

“In Shadows, In Light” is a complex maze of Black Metal torment (see what I did there). There’s a HUGE Behemoth breakdown at the 2:26 point that is absolutely massive, and then there’s yet another chord progression that spins your head 360 like Regan in the Exorcist. The solo at 4:10 is a banshee’s wailing call, then the song entwines you in its coils, it gets thoroughly thrashing as Melechesh heads for the conclusion of this maniacal track. The vocals are full of hatred and bile; it’s like that ten-year span didn’t even happen.

Finally, the last track, “Raptors of Anzu” blasts like Blackbraid, only there’s a venom to their delivery that Blackbraid could only imagine having in their arsenal. This song just sounds like it could be playing while a fucking Falcon rips off some poor bastard’s face. Deftly switching tempos from Black Thrash to shredding Black Metal, and the breakdown at the 4:59 mark is just chef’s fucking kiss.

Holy fucking shit, I can’t get enough of this EP. If this is what Melechesh has in mind going forward, I’m here for it! For the fans of Rotting Christ, Dimmu Borgir, and Blackbraid and anyone else, fuck it… Just go get this EP already. What are you waiting for?

Deliverance is arguably their best album from the ’90s, and they didn’t slack on, either. But Deliverance… you just had to be there. The sound and tempo changes were evident and continued through subsequent albums until we are here in the now with Good God/Baad Man (I had to speed it up or I’d be stuck in the 2000s for paragraphs to come).

Bold statement time: this might be AOTY material. It’s fuzzy, Black Sabbath-y as fuck, and unapologetically HEAVY. Like right away there’s “Good God Final Dawn”, and it’s a scorcher. Pulling out a solid Punk beat and running with the scissors that are cutting through the riffs like a hot knife through butter. It’s a killer track and a great way to open this album, their 11th one following 2018s crushing No Cross No Crown. I loved that album and even got a physical copy of it when I worked at Best Buy.

I saw them open for Megadeth back in 95 (I think), and they wiped the floor with Megadeth. Blew them off the stage. Then I got to see them in October with Judas Priest, and they played some of the songs from this release and the crowd was eating it all up.

Enough memory lane, “You or Me” is where the Sabbath comes rushing in. That same raucous abandon that Sabbath had on “Fairies Wear Boots” and “Behind the Wall of Sleep”. These are elephantine riffs, and it is absolutely fabulous to hear this sort of take on the Sabbath legacy (I don’t know if they intended to have that outcome; but fuck it because I’m all for it).

Good God Baad Man is everything I could ever want in a Corrosion of Conformity album. This is a massive album. “Gimme Some Moore” is like hard rocking Blues, but they have these huge riffs opening the songs that you are commanded to move your head.

This is a long album, clocking in at 1:06:54 it’s 14 tracks are like deep cuts. “The Handler” is one of those Sabotage, Never Say Die Sabbath moments that Corrosion of Conformity peel off effortlessly. It’s bouncing rhythm forces you to move that bone sack you call a body. “Bedouin’s Hand” is a mystical, swirling experience spent in the Middle Eastern dunes and it is a truly magical experience.

“Run for your Life” is one of those bluesy Corrosion of Conformity songs that are as lazy as a muddy river. It’s a sublime song, just rambling along with not a care in the world. “Baad Man” is a barrel house Southern style bake off, drawling drums and the funky guitar and bass make for a party time track that’ll live rent free in your head for days.

“Lose yourself” is a solid banger, bringing to mind smoky bars with the house band playing hell for leather to about 250 loyal fans. “Mandra Sonos” is another mid-paced instrumental track that grabs you and moves you on a sub-atomic level. These guys don’t let up, even the almost Slayer-esque “Asleep on the Killing Floor” featuring some Tom Araya style vocals that are brutal as fuck.

Corrosion of Conformity has managed to take the Punk sensibilities and combine them into a special sort of madness. For me, this is their best since Wiseblood; not that I’m not shitting on the in-between albums because they’re all amazing albums, but that sound and fury of the 90s are brought to the fore here, much to my delight.

“Handcuff County” starts off with a police car siren, just a warning for those listening while driving, the track being a roller-coaster ride that twists and turns like a snake on LSD. “Swallowing the Anchor” has a bit of that Deliverance groove that gets you going with a fist in the air.

“Brickman” has sort of a Mazzy Star “Fade into You” vibe to it. Maybe it’s the slide guitar, I don’t know, but that vibe just hit me in the memory banks. “Forever Amplified” is the closer and what a closer it is! A huge, feedback laden intro and then bang and the song gets triumphant, a message saying that they will always be loud and obnoxious and frankly, that’s how I hope they always are.

With Good God/ Baad Man, Corrosion of Conformity has dropped an effortlessly fantastic album that is giving me end of year list vibes. You know them by now and I’m sure you’ll be wanting to get your grubby hands on this. The badass artwork seals the deal. Go get 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 my way, nor were there Goth girls.

That was 1994, and the Black Metal gods were smiling on me. I immediately wanted everything from them, and I was able to get my fiendish little paws on Panzerfaust, Ravishing Grimness, The Underground Resistance, and anything else this savage Nordic horde spewed forth from Necrohell Studios.

This is their 22nd full-length, and I fucking love it! Here’s something I noticed over the course of its 41:07-minute runtime. This is Darkthrone’s Black Album. Hear me out before you call for my crucifixion. The last few albums have been leading to this point: Eternal Hails……, Astral Fortress, and It Beckons Us All.

The Black Album (Metallica’s seminal 1990 release that skyrocketed the band to obscene heights) showed them slowing down and getting way heavier in a “Thing that Should not Be”, “Harvester of Sorrow” sort of vein. So why am I comparing this new Darkthrone album to Metallica’s bestselling album? In a word… maturity.

There’s a level of ambience on a Darkthrone album that’s new to me. Pre-Historic Metal is a menacing, pitch fucking black Norwegian Troll striding across the icy mountains. From the count-in on “They Found One of My Graves”, a Black Thrash number that will have your head banging so hard your brain will be sloshing around in your skull. It’s that good, and Fenriz adds some interesting fills, keeping it thrashy with not a blast beat in sight.

The title track bursts along with suitable speed and ferocity. Nocturno Culto’s voice is gritty and… older. Older than time? Not that old, but it’s got the weight of years behind it, so semi-old. “Siberian Thaw” has a bit of a “Quintessence” feeling to it; there’s a cool part where it’s all slow and brooding, and then the song bursts forth like a demon baby from an infected womb.

“Deeply Rooted” is more of a ‘standard’ Darkthrone track and throws back a bit to Hate Them and Sardonic Wrath. ‘Standard’ because it seethes with barely contained hatred and bile, so you know… a Darkthrone song.

It’s funny how in the press release it says “for fans of Darkthrone”… like no shit, you don’t say? But it’s funny because you’ll have a mountain of Darkthrone impersonators, bands who stick to the formula: Esoctrilihum, Embers Of Ouroboros, and An Autumn for Crippled Children. But at the end of the day, there’s only one Darkthrone.

“The Dry Wells of Hell” and “So I Marched to the Sunken Empire” are my favorites on Pre-Historic Metal. They crawl and writhe across the sound waves, fat and smelling of suffering and Brimstone. Especially the latter, which is utterly frightening in how good it is, bringing in some reminiscent memories of Thorns, Arcturus, and later Ulver.

“Eat Eat Eat Your Pride” is a raucous, abandon sort of track, a bit punkish and angry as a swarm of wasps with rabies, also has Fenriz doing his best Mercyful Fate-era King Diamond voice. The song even has a Don’t Break the Oath vibe. But it is closer “Eon 4” that shocked the ever-stinking shit out of me. It’s a light, ambient journey, a trip through Hell, and it’s Darkthrone at their most vicious since “Snø og granskog (Utferd)” from the mighty Panzerfaust album.

Out of their recent releases, this is by far my favorite. It’s a culmination of decades of Black Metal mastery and shows why these fuckers are at the top of their game. I don’t know if the comparison to the Black Album was made clear, because this could also be mentioned in the same sentence with Satyricon’s Age of Nero or Now, Diabolical, and not be out of place at all.

With stellar production, this is a Darkthrone album for the ages. So I wholeheartedly recommend it to keep the heat at bay this summer. Horns up!!

This is a quirky album. It is its own best friend. Some parts are super fucking depressing, parts where you’ll boogie till you puke, and then parts where you just feel alive. So, how is it a Black Metal album? I’ll speculate on that in a second.

It’s Punky as fuck on the opening track “Space Heater”, like Reverend Horton Heat on meth. Hyper as an un-medicated child with ADHD, it’s bold and brash and doesn’t give a shit what your mom thinks. “Ærlig Talt” reminds me of Björk and her vocals with the Sugarcubes; hell, even on her own, she’s an angel. The song has a sense of whimsy and positivity (they could be singing about slaughtering kittens for all I know; it’s in Norwegian).

“Stellar Suicide” is a perky Goth chick in a sundress, but when Twin Serpent goes dark, they go pitch fucking black. So the song jangles and bangles along all the while begging for your attention. It’s also the single from True Norwegian Blackgrass, oh, the wonders of insanity! “Freak Flag” is one of my favorite tracks, “come join the dark side, come to the cool side”! I fucking love it, and it’s all delivered in this delicious homage to American Bluegrass.

But this is ‘True Norwegian Blackgrass’… how is this album, with no blast beats whatsoever, barely any distortion, and absolutely zero mention of Satan; how can this be a Black Metal album? Very carefully, if you understand the core beliefs of the Black Metal movement. These are lyrics about love and loss (“Ain’t Home No More”), the epic breakup song where the guy coldly states, “you’ll die alone”. Fucking heartbreaking and savage as hell. “Hundromshelvete” is just fun as fuck, like the whole album is fantastic but it’s little bits like an electrified banjo pulling off some deadly solo licks that get the redneck in me doing something like dancing.

“Tusen Takk” is this drawly, lazy as fuck until the 1:13 when the song sits up and yells at its kids to shut the fuck up. “Radiophobia” has this apocalyptic Nick Cave vibe to it, and that’s another reason why I like this album so much. It has that Tom Waits awkward and off-kilter time signatures that laugh in the face of all convention, and that, goddammit, is what makes this a Black Metal album.

There’s songs that give me the willies. “Forventninger” is just wilding with itself. Around the 1:40 point, there’s a badass little break, blink, and you’ll miss it, but it’s killer. “Holy Ghost” has a revival spirit to it, a bit of Nick Cave once again leaks in, giving it a confidence boost. “Kipu Kivi” is a haunting track. Creepy banjo against these almost chanted vocals, Hanna Fauske has moments where she sounds like Björk, and this is one of those times.

Closer “Anti-Nation Blues” erupts in spurts (clean out your minds, ya pervs) at times being quiet and resistant to hysterics, but a second later it’s just fucking chaos and the baby is out with the bathwater.

Final verdict is that I fuck heavily with this album, I became friends with it, we smoked bowls together, and cuddly shit like that. If you think this is up your tree, it just might be. Especially if you’re a fan of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tom Waits, and Roy fucking Clark. Get this album and line dance in your front yard just to piss off your HOA!

I first heard Sepultura in 1990. It was Beneath the Remains, and from that opening acoustic guitar, I was hooked. It was brutal, beautiful, and violent. Its predecessors Morbid Visions/ Beastial Devastation and Schizophrenia, were still unheard mysteries to me, and I later was able to get a hold of them. It was 1991’s Arise that cemented me as a perma-fan. Its unrelenting force has made it a gateway album for millions of fans. The original lineup that consisted of Paolo Jr., Max and Igor Cavelera and Andreas Kisser were unstoppable… until they weren’t. Enter the Roots album, following the massive Chaos AD; it divided fans, and ultimately, people started leaving the band. Max started Soulfly and Igor, and Andreas formed a new Sepultura with vocalist Derrick Greene.

That’s when I lost interest. Max isn’t the vocalist anymore. Who the fuck is this new guy?!

Part 2: Irony and the present day

Against came out in 1998, and I checked it out… nope. I hated it, maybe I was predisposed to hate it because I was angry about the breakup of the band and so that might have had something to do with it. Whatever the case, I’ve refused to listen to any Sepultura album since 1998. Rewind a couple days and El Jefe is asking if anyone wants to cover The Cloud of Unknowing , it’s their last release and all… the other guys did not; so I’m taking one for the team (so to speak).

I decided to be fair and went to my streamer of choice and checked them out. The ones with Igor are tolerable at best… I don’t know what went so sideways, but it did, and ten full-length albums later they’re taking their swansong. Another full-length? No, this is like a half-day in school… It’s an EP???.

BUT! Here’s where the irony comes storming in like an army of angry Karens. I actually like… most of it. There are parts where I experienced enjoyment, and it sort of felt like the Sepultura I love (who are now known as Cavelera. Maybe you’ve heard of them). But then there are parts where I’m like, no! What the fuck are you doing? Why are you putting a fucking Twinkle Toes piano part smack in the middle of a heavy song? “Sacred Books” is otherwise a fairly heavy song, but then right in the middle… fucking Liberace shows up and poof, you’re sidelined by that shit. Like the ballad on the latest Testament album, it just pops the wind out of the sails.

“All Souls Rising” has more of a Slayer vibe, especially the solo near the end. It’s one of the fastest on the album, so of course I like it, and yeah, it’s kind of even got a bit of an Arise feeling; not a lot mind you, but it’s there. “Beyond the Dream” has the double duty as being boring as watching paint dry and then the Metallica-ish intro compounded by the song basically sounding like Godsmack, and not even a good Godsmack song (they exist).

It all comes to a close with “The Place”. It’s not a bad song. Some cool riffs shine through, but ultimately, I was happy it was over. Of course, I had to give it a fair shake, which involved multiple listens just to see if I could tease myself into liking it. In the end I like one song, I guess that’s something considering that it’s an EP; one out of four ain’t bad, right?

Anyway, if you have liked their music without the Cavelera brothers, then you’ll eat this shit up. Goodbye Sepultura, long live Cavelera!

The main man is Ghramm, and according to Metal Archives, he plays “everything”. So there ya go. As far as album lengths go, I reviewed Esoctrilihum, and that album was an hour and a fucking half long. This record is a shorty, running thirty-one and fifty-six minutes without losing any neck-snapping moments.

How is it? Pretty fucking good. It’s not Emissaries. It’s raw and dirty, full of sand and grit; it suffers a bit from the one-man lack of quality control, as most songs stick to the four-minute mark; this is fine for this type of album. Starting with the blistering “La’anat Al-Woujoud (لعنة الوجود)”, the production is wafer-thin, definitely a dude in a basement with a four-track quality. It’s unapologetically raw. It’s almost Graveland-ish on “Wahat Al-Shouroud (واحة الشرود)”, there’s a cool mixer of Sitar (is that a sitar? I think it’s a sitar) and raging drums and guitars.

The mid-paced “Ana’a Al-Majarra (عناء المجرة)” keeps your attention with its killer riff structure and a wild solo. Wailing and Madness doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and the real surprises here are the Middle Eastern instruments, but songs like “Dana’at Al-Amr (دناءة الأمر)” are only elevated by the Middle Eastern melodies that poke through. Otherwise, this is just a good Black Metal album.

“Washma Ramad (وشم رماد)” is a cool Dimmu Borgir throwback track that brings to mind For Al Tid and Stormblast vibes. It’s got a crazy sitar solo against this sort of standard Black Metal track, the vocals are gravel and graveyard dirt, and work really well against the backdrop of blasting and wailing guitar work.

“Alhan Sarmadeyah (ألحان سرمدية)” sees the production drop a bit more. There’s literally no bass on Wailing and Madness, Metallica’s …And Justice for All has more bass presence than this. Which is kind of disappointing because without that low end, everything is sort of abrasive. “Hebr Al-Akwan (حبر الأكون)” has some killer ideas floating around in there. The mid-paced aspect of the track is suitably menacing, creating a new level of gravitas, but after a while it starts grating on the ears.

Final track has some badass acoustic work around the two-minute mark “Shorfat Al-Fana’a (شرفة الفناء)” is one that could’ve been on Deathcrush. Primitive riffing and thunderous drums keep things interesting but the song ultimately ends too quickly without using its full potential.

At the end of the day, I’m left with a good Black Metal album with Middle Eastern melodies. It could be great if there were more bass and a bit more oomph. If you are a fan of Melechesh and Al Nimrood, you’ll probably love this. So go get this if you want.

Last year’s A Dark Poem Part 1: The Shores of Melancholia was, in itself, an emotional roller-coaster, and on A Dark Poem Part 2: Sanguis, they take that somber pace and crank the depression to eleven.

From the get-go, we’re dropped into a relationship that’s falling or has already fallen apart. Anger and emotional distress take hold with “Sanguis (Blood Ties)” and the music perfectly matches. Punching the sky with some killer Hammond organ cranked out of its comfort zone. The opening lyrics “A house not a home, a heart made of stone… I survived you” fucking hell, that’s quite a statement, and it sets the tone quickly and succinctly. This is not a happy album.

A Dark Poem Part 2: Sanguis is a shorter album than Part 1. Clocking in at 37:14, it’s about ten minutes shorter. That’s not a bad thing, I’m just mentioning it in passing. I do think that the shorter run time lets the album stay focused and more to the point. So there’s that.

“Loneliness Untold, Loneliness Unfold” is depressing as fuck. Like, I’ve been in some shitty relationships, but the one happening within the barriers of A Dark Poem Part 2: Sanguis is imploding like the Titan submarine. The music is slow-burning and malicious, the lyrics drip with vitriol and resentment. A heartbreaking track if there ever was one.

“Sweet to the Point of Bitter” has an Arcturus vibe to it, interspersed with some epic Enslaved harmonies. The slow build at the 4:16 mark takes the song in a whole different direction; it takes on a life of its own. There’s not much in the way of blasting on this release like the last album. These are more restrained, more precise, and, dare I say, more brutal in terms of message.

“I am Time” gets up to some Enslaved-style melodies; it’s uplifting and gets the job done. “Fire in Ice” literally almost brought me to tears, and I’m not even ashamed about it. This is such a somber yet forceful attack. The music touches the soul in ways that few albums are able to hold a candle to. It’s a revelation of life after unbearable trauma. The worst break-up in musical history is played out with this killer track.

“Lunar Tale” is such a beautiful song. It’s a track about closures and regrets. The music is like a warm, comforting blanket. Unless some band puts out an album with nothing but people crying, it might be as impactful as A Dark Poem Part 2: Sanguis. Around 4:00 minutes in, the harmonies take your breath away.

Sporting a glorious production that makes you feel like you’re in the studio with the band, Green Carnation has achieved a masterpiece in the world of Metal, an incredibly emotional album that stays with you even after it has ended.

At the end of the day, Green Carnation has fully surpassed their previous albums in every way, shape, and form. This review has taken longer to write than I expected. Although I love this album, it’s so emotionally heavy-handed that it brought back memories for me that weren’t pleasant to think about. This is a DEPRESSING album. But maybe that’s what they were intending all along, and if so, they have most definitely succeeded because A Dark Poem Part 2: Sanguis is probably the most depressing album I’ve heard in a long time. Like, even DSBM is more uplifting than this… It’s where Green Carnation excel, though, and that’s why you need this album. We live in an apathetic society these days, maybe music such as this will remind us that we all share the same place when it comes to matters of the heart.

So yeah, this album sticks with you. I can still hear those riffs in my head while I sit here writing this. I’m not even sure of a ‘for fans of’ section because this is in a league of its own as far as I’m concerned. It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard before (at least that I can remember). My advice is that you go out and get this album post haste. Long live love!

Massive production is the name of the game like never before. This album is coming to kill your family and your irritating neighbors in a blistering mushroom cloud. Lauks leans into epic territory on the first track, “Czarne drogi Xsiężyca”, delivering some haunting synths before the blasts storm in, ripping at your ears and causing serious internal bleeding. It’s less of a bouncing Folk Metal track and more balls-to-the-wall blackened death metal.

There’s some mind-blowing musical acrobatics contained within Lauks. “Zwykli zmarli” echoes more Behemoth-style bludgeoning, while “Niekrwi” seethes with ancient malevolence. The top-notch production ensures that you will be deaf after your first listen, no matter though because you’ll still be able to feel the bass rumbling in your chest.

So yeah, there’s a different spirit on Lauks. It’s very violent, and while all their albums have an unequivocal feeling of foreboding menace, this one is HEAVY as fuck. You thought I was going to say it wasn’t good, didn’t you? On the contrary, this album might be my favorite from these Polish Metal monsters.

“Stēisan azzaran waks” reaches the dizzying heavens and crashes into the bowels of Hell. Simultaneously. There’s a foggy mist permeating “Dzień, pół nocy” and personal favorite “Der Tot Adalbert”, it being a knuckle-dragging colossal abomination in musical form.

“Korona” and “…po widok za” round out the last gasp of Lauks, and it’s already time to hit play again. This is a crushing album; it’s not a walk through the tulips. It’s thorny, and it might hurt you if you let your guard down. For the hordes that love Behemoth, Kawir and Vader. Get it now!