When the band returned in 2004, after breaking up, they released possibly one of their strongest albums ever, Tempo of the Damned. I saw that tour, got their autographs, and spoke with them for a bit with my buddy Slips Jason Majinsky. That album destroys front to back. But before we could blink an eye, the band was having some issues with long-running singer, Zetro. Out was Zetro and in was Rob Dukes, a new face to us fans, and the 2005 release Shovel Headed Kill Machine actually was a killer album, and Paul Bostaph was in on drums and did a great job.

Saw them on this tour and they were all really cool. People were still screaming for Zet, however, Gary Holt was smart in having Rob emulate Zetro to a T, for the most part. Dukes sounds great on this album. Exodus then stumbled and bumbled their way through the next few albums. Saw them a bunch of times during these moments, and both Atrocity Exhibit albums were pretty good, but the band took on writing such long songs that each album was exceedingly bloated and drawn out, going over the 70-minute mark each time.

Then we all shook our heads on them re-recording their classic debut, Bonded By Blood, called Let There Be Blood. All very perplexing, and that re-recorded album is completely unnecessary. Rob’s vocals never reached the height they were on SHKM, and with each album, his power and style, for me, were just not there, and in some spots, I found his vocals to be irritating. Then Dukes is given the boot, and Zetro is back, and I saw them live on the comeback album with Zetro, Blood In, Blood Out, from 2014.

Simply put, there is no comparison between Zetro live and Dukes. Zetro blows him away in stage presence and crowd interaction. In 2021, the band followed it up with another brutal scorcher Persona Non Grata. What a heavy album that was and still is. Then Zetro is out, and Gary stated he does not like change and did not wanna have vocal try-outs, and back in is Rob Dukes. JFC!!! The comparisons and back and forth now have almost reached the heights of who is the better Cannibal Corpse singer, Barnes or Corpsegrinder.

At this point, I know Exodus had a bunch of shows lined up and knew well in advance of their Canadian tour with Megadeth and Anthrax, and I guess Gary just wanted to go back to his friend Dukes, who was familiar with the past material. Whatever the case may be, I think maybe the band should have attempted to work things out with Zetro or had vocal tryouts. Going back to the well with Dukes is a mixed bag on this album, and the music has taken a bit of a turn as well….all items I will get to, and they are not good!

10 songs in 54 minutes, and some of the songs could have still been streamlined or done away with altogether. The first single released was “3111”. Smart choice. A phenomenal opening song, and it is brutal and fast. The tempo is similar to the fast songs on SHKM. Dukes sounds awesome on this song. Very aggressive and angry. Still emulating Zetro, because that’s what Holt wants. The production is thick and chunky with a guitar tone to melt faces worldwide. This is how you open an Exodus album, son!!. “Hostis Humani Generis” is up next, and it’s another brutal and fast scorching thrash number. Over the top guitar solos…but the vocals start to shift. In parts, Dukes sounds venomous, but he winds up taking on more of a talking vocal element, which then becomes much of what he does on the rest of the songs. It’s weird, it’s not aggressive. When he is doing these talky types of tones, it’s as if he loses his power and cannot do his thrash vocals. He sounds very similar to Zetro on the higher range parts, and Tom’s drums sound bludgeoning and chest-collapsing.

“The Changing Me” is a slow number, and the song is exceedingly commercial. Like almost radio-friendly in parts and not a very good song, which is not something that has happened on the last 2 Exodus albums – all those songs were scorchers.

“Promise You This” has a lot of those talky type of vocals, and it’s just odd. A few cool thrash moments thrown in, but again, more commercialized moments, and I am like, this is starting to sound like the band members’ ages, in terms of a thrash album, played by old people for old people. The title track has grown on me quite a lot. Did not like it when it was released as another single. It is slow, doomy, heavy, but I actually love the song now. Killer guitar melodies and the vocals are pretty good.

“Beyond the Event Horizon” is a monster with thrash, great bass lines from Jack, and groove sections with a slow moment that is pure slam. It’s got tough guy vocals, slam, and tremendous double bass drums. This must be in their live set.

“Summon of the God Unknown” is a god-awful song and should have been clipped from this album. Commercialized, and the vocals are terrible with Dukes attempting to do some crooning, as he does on a few other of the weaker songs, but here it is, 10-fold. The riffs have more of a rock n roll feel to them, and this song comes across as pandering to the alternative rock/metal masses. While I will not mention the debacle that was their Force of Habit album from decades ago, this is arguably the worst song Exodus has ever written. From the vocals, to the weak riffs, to the rockin’, rolling vibe, this song blows.

“The Dirtiest of the Dozen” ends the album and is a ripper. Great opening with the guitar soloing over the fast thrashy gallops. Then the song fully kicks into gear and has a brutal rhythm section as well. The song slows down to a groove, and Dukes lays down some good vocals. The last minute of this track is ruthless.

Goliath is a disjointed Exodus album. I had my expectations set low with Dukes returning, but I am further perplexed by the vocal tones, the crooning, the loss of power, and doing more talky type of vocals – it’s not good and makes the Exodus sound weaker. When Dukes is on, he does sound damn good to great in parts, but I am wondering how this would have sounded with either Zetro or someone else who could truly belt out the thrash vocals. The decision to add in the commercialized songs, the rock and roll vibe, in sections, and some truly weak-sounding elements is puzzling to say the least.

The album cover sucks, sorry, not sorry. This weirdo demon – ummmm goliath, with the sarlac vagina hand, is just cringe. On the flip side, the production is immense, and the sound is killer. The musicianship is great, but also misdirected. I did NOT want to write this review, for many reasons, one of which is that I have been a diehard fan since Bonded By Blood dropped in 1985, and I bought it on cassette. When the band is on fire, they smoke, and the thrashy songs sound great and are fun; however, the inclusion of all those oddball things like the vocal tones and experimentation brings this album down quite a number of notches for me. Exodus can do much better than this. Disappointing!!

I can say with certainty that the country of Ukraine, home of 1914, would certainly rather turn back the clock to those simpler times before Vladdy-boy decided to turn the entire world on it’s head and do his damnedest to kickstart World War III.  The unceremonious and brutal deaths of some hundreds of thousands of soldiers, not to even mention the tens of thousands of civilians, since the War in Ukraine began in 2022, will tend to make most normal folks stand back and wish for a return to better days.

But despite the relative peace in Ukraine at that time, Where Fear and Weapons Meet still saw 1914 turning to a much more aggressive, blitzkrieg-like attack than found in the doomier, moodier beginnings. More blast beats, more shredding riffs, more carnage and chaos than ever before, even if it came a bit at the sacrifice of some of the dreariness and dread that made an album like The Blind Leading the Blind such a thoroughly compelling record.

So it’s probably of little surprise that, after 3 years of having to deal with Putin’s temper tantrum, the band comes out the gate with guns absolutely blazing. After staying the course as the band always does with an historical wartime song recording to intro the album, “1914 (The Siege of Przemysi)” gets right down to business with a relentless blast attack and dramatic tremolo-picked riffs that throw you right into the middle of the fray with no warning or time to prepare. Every member of the band seems completely focused on the task at hand (ultimate annihilation), and the attack seems as pinpoint-precise as the band has ever sounded. The result is intoxicating, if a little overwhelming, with a delicious mix of Blackened Death fury and down-and-dirty D-Beat rage giving at moments the feeling of laser-guided missile-like efficiency, and other times a more brutal, hand-to-hand melee of fists and bayonets, real down in the mud and guts type shit.

And for the start of second track “1915 (The Battle for the Zwinen Bridge), you’d be easily forgiven to think that Viribus Unitis was following the same all-out blitzkrieg formula of their prior offering, as the all-on-assault continues on the senses straight away. But midway through the track, we start to get a little bPart it of the magic that, to this reviewer, made some of their earlier work all the more compelling. This time, it starts in the form of some really powerful grouped chanting over a relentless blast that, in and of itself makes for an almost euphoric, chest-swelling listening experience. The band then doubles-down by slowing things right the fuck down, and bringing in some of the doomier, more bleak tones of The Blind Leading the Blind that I felt were lacking on the last record, ramping up to a gorgeous build that keeps those beautiful monastic chants front and center. It’s a really impactful moment early on in the record that suggests the band is bringing a much more layered and nuanced offensive to the battlefield this time around.

After the excellent, if not more straightforward barn burner in “1916 (The Sudtirol Offensive),” follow-up “1917 (The Isonzo Front)” seems to prove the point. Kicking off with another hailstorm start, the band then does a really nice job of varying up tempos, offering up a smattering of some of nastier riffs the band have ever offered, particularly around the 3:50 mark where guitarists Oleksa Fisyuk and Vitaliy Vyhovskyi really just let loose with a pummeling, thunderous sort-of breakdown that hits like a Paris Gun blast. It all makes for one of the strongest tracks on the album, leading nicely into a trilogy of tracks under the name “1918,” starting with “WIA (Wounded In Action).” Where the introduction of orchestral elements were the biggest bright spot and development in the band’s sound on WFAWM, the monastic chants found throughout this album have the same effect here, expertly deployed again on this track to set a really eerie tone the gives one of the doomiest tracks on the album even more life, not to mention the hysterical screaming in the background of the track while vocalist Dmytro Ternushchak repeats the line “SHELL-SHOCK” over and over again. I can practically feel myself loosing my goddamn mind during this passage, and I swear I mean that as a compliment. It’s another powerful moment in an album that stacks quite a few throughout.

Part 2 of the trilogy, “POW (Prisoner of War)” continues the doomy assault, further diving into the depressed state of mind one would presumably be feeling in such a precarious situation, a feeling that carries through into part 3, “ADE (A Duty to Escape).” Both tracks offer standout guest appearance from Christopher Scott (Precious Death) and Aaron Stainthorpe (High Parasite, ex-My Dying Bride) offering appropriately haunting clean vocals to the tracks, and along with album closer “1919 (The Home Where I Died)” (also featuring an incredible guest vocal spot by folk vocalist Jerome Reuter), it all comes together to complete a landmark moment for the band, who deliver their most poignant and impactful stretch of tracks the band has recorded to this point in their career.

Viribus Unitis is, arguably, 1914‘s biggest achievement to date. You can nitpick and say the album’s pacing suffers a touch from the last four tracks taking a decidedly slower approach, but you’d be hard pressed to deny the impact they ultimately leave on you as a listener. This band has always been able to capture all the ugly, glorious, painful and haunting aspects of war through their music, but I suspect recent traumas and struggles in their own home country made it all just hit that much closer to home, and the lasting effects are noticeable and powerful on this record. Once again, go ahead and reserve a spot for 1914 on a number of year-end lists, they’ll certainly be on mine.

Hot off the heels of the crushing No Sign of Life album from 2021 and coming in hotter than a flaming arrow, they are killing the competition (not literally), but the release of anything new from these guys is a special fucking thing.

Fortunately for Unleashed, they haven’t changed their core sound; those guitars are still gritty as a mouthful of sand, and they’re even more massive thanks to the excellent production.

Goddamn, this is a nasty album; it rips open a blood eagle across your ears. The first track,“Left for Dead” sets the pace with breakneck speed and precision. Those guitars shred over Anders Schultz’s blasting drums, and believe me that they are blasting. I haven’t heard this many blast beats on an Unleashed album in a short minute.

“A Toast to the Fallen”, “The Road to Haifa Pier” and “War Comes Again” are all chock full of incredible, flesh-ripping blasts and that scythe-sharp guitar tone and blast beats falling like steel rain. Fire Upon Your Lands is a powerhouse album, and that’s evident even in the fucking album Art, holy shit, that’s going to look good on a t-shirt.

When the title track bursts in with striding blasts right out of the gate, it’s like a revelation. Fire Upon Your Lands is my favorite Unleashed album since 1995’s Victory. I know, right. That’s not to say that I haven’t liked them all since then… are you nuts? “Revenge” has a special place in my heart, so there.

Anyway , enough of my personal shit and back to the task at hand.

“Loyal to the End” kicks off with some killer DNA strand twisted soloing and builds towards massive blasting before it goes to a mid-paced brutalizer; this is one of my favorite tracks on Fire Upon Your Lands, Unleashed are masters of their craft, deftly switching tempos on the march to the songs end.

“Midjardarhaf” goes from mid-paced crusher to a thrashing midsection, while “Hail the Varangians!” has this triumphant chorus that’ll be a huge moment live; the main riff is fucking beautiful and savage at the same time.

The album is wrapped up with the slaying trio “To My Only Son” a father’s lament set to a brutal background; this is followed by the immense brutality of “Hold Your Hammers High!” and that solo, o my fucking God, that outro is heavy. Finally, at the end comes “Unknown Flag” an OSDM beat down with some badass double bass rolls throughout.

When it comes to Swedish Death Metal the list is long, you think of the original bands Nihilist, Entombed, At the Gates (get better soon, Tomas!) You start to get nostalgic for those halcyon days of primitive brutality that blew you away with every riff and blast. This is the real fucking deal, you should get it and play it all day and night. Seriously, what are you waiting for?

Also, Alestorm made a song about a girl with really big boobs. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?

Alestorm is now (in the United States) legal to drink, this being their 21st year of existence. Hard to believe! But it’s kind of poignant. A band that has spent it’s developmental years with the nearly impossible task of being taken seriously while also spearheading the very niche and subjective Pirate Metal subgenre, now find themselves true veterans of the scene and, for the sake of this comparison, fully self-aware adults. If this band was ever trying to actually being taken seriously, The Thunderfist Chronicles is doing nearly everything possible to ensure listeners know that was never the point. The vast majority of this album is so, SO dumb, and it would be so stupid if it were any other way.

Sure, opener “Hyperion Omniriff” may carry a more aggressive tone than perhaps we’ve become accustomed to from these Scots of recent, but the earworm chorus including the line “… are you a c#*t, or do you. Drink. Rum??” should be more than enough to dissuade anyone from thinking these guys are suddenly becoming philosophical in their old age. And sure, the band puts some growth and evolution on display by further blending their Folk/Pirate metal roots with more modern, bombastic riffs and drum work, not to mention further embracing club-friendly electronic elements that only serve to drive home the point that Alestorm is more than comfortable appealing to a wider audience, making the outrageous party they’re hosting that much more an inclusive and massive an event, a point driven even further by the absolutely ridiculous “Banana,” an ode to Banana Daiquiris and drinking rum and all things piracy with fully integrated EDM elements and more liberal use of C-Bombs throughout to land an even more immediate buzzworthy impact. It’s a song that would just as easily become a TikTok trend as it would become the party anthem of the next 10,000 Tons of Metal cruise and, you know what? I’m here for every second of it. Bring on the fruity, tropical drinks.

And I mean, come on. “Killed to Death by Piracy” and the absolutely stupid “Mountains of the Deep” (it’s the one about the big boobs) are absolute bangers in every essence of the word. Is there clever songwriting at play? Absolutely! Are there actual displays of legitimate musicianship on display? Sure! I guess? Honestly, who cares?? I’m having such a ball banging my head to songs about large-chested women and living the free-wheeling life of a pirate, AND it’s all helping me escape the harsher realities of my actual life to such a successful degree that hearing some of the more intricate progressive elements of a Nekrogoblikon cover in “Goblins, Ahoy!” (what an insane sentence to write) and blistering riffs of “Frozen Piss 2” (seriously what the fuck even is this?) are just bonus points on top of this gem of an album. Hell, the 17-minute “Mega-Supreme Treasure of the Eternal Thunderfist” is pretty much as epic a Sabaton song as you’ve ever heard, with not even a quarter of the level of seriousness. I think that’s incredible. I think that deserves all of our applause and admiration.

So like, I dunno man? What do you want me to tell you? In all likelihood, you’re already either fully on board with The Thunderfist Chronicles  or you want absolutely fucking nothing to do with it. To be fair, either opinion is valid and I totally get why this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But subjectively, you’re lame if it’s not. This is really fun. Have more fun in your life before we all get bombed into oblivion or whatever other fresh hell this world has cooking up for us. Live your secret pirate fantasies and get on board.

So I’m willing to forgive the fellas for all of those words they just kinda threw together here. Like, sure, it is a complete and, with a little patience, coherent statement, but it kinda reminds me of corporate lingo in the way that it uses so many additional and unnecessary words just to say “Waking Nightmares.” That’s it! That’s all they had to say. When I go to drop a deuce, I don’t say I’m “Ejecting the Spent Remains of Otherwise Masticated and Digested Foreign Substance.” I took a shit.

Anyway, you’re not here for the autism you wanna know if this album is good or not. Right.

At this point, it might be fair to assume Katatonia certainly doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone, but the recent bombshell departure of Anders Nystrom suddenly sees the band, Jonas Renske especially, under a new and unexpected microscope. I also did opine that 2023’s Sky Void of Stars was one of the best and most complete efforts the band had put together in quite some time – certainly not far removed from the darker, more goth-leaning sort of melodic rock/metal this era of Katatonia has settled into as of late, but a much more focused and memorable version of it for sure.

The first thing you’ll probably notice with NAEOTWS is that, perhaps not actually that shockingly, the departure of Nystrom seems fairly negligible. Certainly, this is owed in large to the prevailing notion that Renske has pretty much been the captain at the helm of Katatonia for a bit now. All the hallmarks are here – the startling and off-putting sudden start to the album on opener “Thrice” which, once again, somehow caught me off guard and ill-prepared for the band to get right down to business. It is however, another in a long-running streak of killer album openers, and showcases the band’s more progressive leanings in stellar order, with clever, evolving riff work from new guitarists Nico Elgstrand and Sebastian Svalland. Granted, it’s fair to wonder how much input either had into the riffs or songwriting but, either way, the signature Katatonia tone and timing is all instantly recognizable. You could remove Renske’s vocals from the track altogether and there’s still be no question who recorded it.

A big part of that “Katatonia sound” at this point is also unquestionably the drumming of Daniel Moilanen, now having been with the band for nearly a decade and having established a style all his own that goes such a long way to setting the tone of each record he’s been a part of. His ability to carry the pace on tracks like “Wind of No Change,” “Lilac” and “Warden” where good stretches are left to him to carry the load is impressive and necessary to the entire picture Renske is painting. I point out these three in particular as they are real standouts on the album, the first having such an immense presence with chanted backup vocals and sturdy, heavy riffing that all come together to feel like I’ve stumbled into some kind of cult ritual where, I have a sneaking suspicion they’ll be “borrowing” some of my blood. “Warden” features one of the album’s catchiest choruses that will find appeal with metalheads and goths alike, (once again) brilliantly bridging the gap between the two in a way it seems only Katatonia is this capable of.

And really, for better or worse (depending on your perspective) that whole “this is obviously Katatonia” vibe is prevalent through the entire album. The guitars, using whatever effect it is they’re using on on “The Light Which I Bleed,” are unique and obvious to this band alone. The pacing of the album, the tone and ebbs and flows, I can’t really say any of it is unpredictable. For me, this is not a complaint. Much like my love for bands like Amorphis and Children of Bodom and Mors Principium Est, you’re likely never going to catch me complaining about getting more of a sound I love. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a band finding their lane, especially if it’s so unique to them, and sticking with it so long as they’re still keeping the songs engaging – and Katatonia certainly have done that again here on (insert ridiculous name here).

So if you’re wondering what life after Nystrom sounds like for Katatonia, the truth is, it sounds a whole heck of a lot like it has for getting on the past couple decades. If it wasn’t clear before, this is now Jonas Renske’s ship to steer. For those of us who’ve been on board, the seas are steady and clear. If you’ve been looking for a reason to jump ship, grab a life jacket and take a nose dive, I guess. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Well, lo and behold we have more lineup changes (to go with a new record label – which makes Existence is Fultile‘s quality make more sense) as Dani goes through keyboard players like the Cleveland Browns go through quarterbacks. This time, the wife of guitarist Ashok, Zoe Federoff is the new keyboardist/female vocalist, joining new guitarist Donny Burbage (Aether Realm, ex-Vale of Pnath).  And this lineup appears to have gelled better than the lineup on Existence is Futile, as The Screaming Of The Valkyries is in line with the two aforementioned albums that preceded it. 

For the second album in a row, there is no overarching concept or theme, but the album still feels cohesive, and again Scott Atkins ensures, the sound is top-notch. Federoff is, if you can believe it on a Cradle album…rather understated, both her keyboards and vocally. In fact, you don’t notice her singing for an extended amount until the fourth song, “Non Omnis Morir”, which might be one of the band’s best ballad/ slow songs they have penned. Her keyboards are not nearly as overbearing and gothic as in the band’s past and vocally, she is far less operatic.

Song-wise, this album isn’t going to change your mind if you are a Cradle of Filth hater, but if you are a fan, Screaming delivers everything you want from a Cradle album over thirty years into their career. That said, the album does take a while to get going and truly shine.

Forgoing the usual lengthy atmospheric intro track, “To Live Deliciously” opens things up with a vicious thrashing (the increased thrash element is very much notable throughout the album) number, before “Demagoguery” highlights the big, crunchy Atkins production. Third song “The Trinity of Shadows” has a more commercial verse/chorus structure, and is one of the duller tracks the band has penned.

Then, in what was a real surprise, the track that sets the album off is the aforementioned ballad “Non Omnis Morir”, where Federoff delivers a seductive chorus, and might be of one the band’s more emotional songs of their career. Then as if on purpose, the next song “White Hellebore”, (which I am learning is a poisonous plant) comes crashing out the gates with a blistering blast beat, some classic 80s thrash riffage, and more of Federoff’s sultry vocals before it ends with some classic CoF moments. 

The excellent run of tracks continues with the labyrinthine, moody (if a little long)  “You Are My Nautilus”, which has a last third that’s pure CoF goodness.  “Malignant Perfection”, initially starts as a rather flat mid-paced number, but its second half imbues Cruelty and the Beast (with Federoff even doing a spot-on Deva impression for a spoken word part).

Then, the album ends with the albums two best tracks; “Ex Sanguine Draculae” is downright epic, with a plethora of moods and speeds, and arguably the band’s most melodic, slicing riffs in several albums, and ” When Misery Was a Stranger” is a fiercely sultry thrasher, that could have come from the band’s early catalog. Both are up there with the likes of “Yours Immortally”, “Blackest Magic in Practice”, “Vengeful Spirit”, “Achingly Beautiful” or ” Wester Vespertine” as absolutely top-notch tracks from the last few albums, if not better as both bring Federoff’s keys finally to the forefront a little more.

On the slight downside, the songs tend to run a little long, with most in the 6-7 minute plus range, but they have never been known for short sharp songs, what’s also noticeable is the lack of interludes/intros/ outros, a staple of the band’s albums. The songs all get right to it. Take that as you will.

As I mentioned earlier, this won’t change your mind if you’ve never liked Cof. It’s a damn solid 14th album, 30+ years into their career, despite some missteps. How many bands can say that? It certainly does not hurt the band’s legacy, nor add to or improve on the band’s early classic catalog. But what has? 

Hear me out, though. It’s not your typical furious blasts of battle hymns, but it’s no secret their home has been under attack for what seems an eternity to this observer, so I’m sure it’s far worse for them. The songs reflect it, as “Someone’s Daughter” shows. While it’s certainly not ridden with blast beats, the lyrics of “I have to swing my sword alone” lend to this notion. The music never lacks in the “heaviness” department, which is of course my favorite of the departments, the vocals are melodic until there are two minutes left. At that point, the breakdown beckons the use of Tatiana’s gutturals, but only for a short time.

Adding more to my evidence of this being a war metal album is “Rogue.” This is one of the heaviest tracks, made more impactful by its length (maturing as a writer is not making the obvious joke, but I probably ruined that with the acknowledgment). It’s a beatdown from start to finish, illuminating the prevalence of the bass.

The album flows well, and an example of that is how “Rogue” flows into “Tumbleweed” with its vocal tradeoffs. Since it’s a shorter one, it’s another example of why this could arguably be called war metal. Although I can’t relate to the soulful and tragic words regarding one’s homeland being taken, the juxtaposition between the gorgeous vocals and tortured words paints quite a picture.

I only wanted to spotlight some of the heavier tracks, but that’s easy as the album is filled with them. “Fast Draw” could very well be the heaviest. Gutturals and an overall furious pace grab you by the butthole immediately. There are several instances of smooth, clean double bass, as well as blast beats. With around 30 seconds left, the heavy breakdown finishes the track with some impressive deeeeep vocals.

I know no one’s going to buy what I’m selling to call this a war metal album. Most of those fans won’t accept it unless the music sounds like Bolt Thrower or Kanonenfieber. I want to assure you I hold those bands in high regard. I hold Jinjer in high regard as well but in a different way. They are somehow underrated despite the coverage they receive. Oddly, I haven’t seen much this time around. Maybe it’s because I don’t frequent the same spaces of the internet metal circles anymore. While that’s irrelevant, Jinjer is not. Duél is potentially their best, heaviest, and brimming with an unspoken, yet potent charisma. I can’t recommend it enough.

I’ve been a fan of the band since 2017s Stonehymn, where they really locked into the whole Dwarven metal persona, costumes, and themes.  Since then, they have been one of the consistently excellent power metal bands around, arguably peaking with the watershed cover song, “Diggy Diggy Hole” from 2019s Wintersaga.

Right off the bat, the album is the shortest the band has released coming in at 42 minutes, and it feels like the band has trimmed some fat and shortened the average length of the songs. But still at play is the band’s beefier take on keyboard-heavy, Power Metal, with a Dwarven girthy-ness , rather than a more wispy, elvish tone.  And it’s still catchy as hell, with eight hammer-swinging anthems befitting the halls of Khazad-dȗm in its glory days.

After the intro, the first track “Dance of the Axes”, is a perfect mood-setting opening number with a galloping pace and epic chorus. But it’s the next track “The Great Feast Underground” where the album really takes off with a boozy, raucous romp that Alestorm would be proud of.

Then the album hits a sort of familiar territory lull as the next few songs, are good Wind Rose songs, but there is definitely a drop-off from the opening two songs, and nothing quite gets the blood pumping. “Rock and Stone”, is a bit repetitive, and seems to have some all too familiar refrains and riffs from prior albums and songs. The same with “To Be A Dwarf” the title track and “Legacy of the Forge” but they are still pretty fun tracks. Just not next level, like every track on Warfront was.

Closer “No More Sorrow” finally gets back to truly superb songcraft with a moody, darker pace and gait, though not quite as somber as “Tomorrow Has Come” from Warfront. It shows the band can change things up just a bit (i.e there’s a different vocal pitch in the chorus), and be still effectively ‘Dwarven’.

Ultimately, despite a few good songs, Trollslayer is a bit of a drop of from Warfront, but still a solid Wind Rose album nonetheless.

Well, hopefully, you already read my review of Fleshgod Apocalypse‘s Opera, which I loved and reviewed first, and now I think you know where this is going.

The Underworld Awaits Us All appears to be a bit of a reset for Nile.  First, they have jumped from long-time label Nuclear Blast who released the band’s last 5 albums to Napalm Records. And there are yet more new band members in Dan Vadim Von (Morbid Angel) replacing Brad Parris on bass/vocals (seems like they have been trying to fill Dallas Toler Wade’s shoes for a couple of albums now) and Zach Jeter (Lecherous Nocturne, Olkoth) now makes the band a 5 piece on guitars/vocals, joining Karl Sanders, Brian Kingsland (guitars/vocals), and George Kollias (drums). Though the now three-guitar attack isn’t really noticeable.

So what does this mean for album number 10 for these revered Egyptomaniacs after all these years? Well, its certainly still Nile. And The Underworld Awaits Us All is most certainly still a Nile album. But after 2015s What Should Not be Unearthed and 2019’s excellent Vile Nilotic Rites, it seems a bit of a step back, even with some added elements that Sanders has added.

Those new elements are often still buried in the band’s trademark dervish of Middle Eastern brutality, which still hits pretty hard, but Sanders dipping back into his early thrash metal roots can be heard ( his first band was a thrash band called Morriah) on tracks like “Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes” and some new choirs and female vocals add something different to “Overlords of the Black Earth”, “Naqada II Enter the Golden Age”, “Under the Curse of One God”, “Doctrine of Last Things” “True Gods of the Desert” and the title track.

But The Underworld Awaits Us All is ultimately still a Nile album. And I’d rank it somewhere around 2012s At the Gates of Sethu, and maybe 2007s Ithyphallic level of quality, that’s to say it’s not the band’s best work. It’s got all the Nile-ish things you’ve come to expect like absolutely relentless, dive-bombing Stuka-ish brutality on tracks like the aforementioned “Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down……”,   “Under the Curse of One God”, the almost black metal-ish “To Strike with Secret Fang” and “Naqada II Enter the Golden Age” (with more thrash metal riffage to close).

In fact the first half of the album is pretty focused on shorter faster songs, though there are a few more restrained moments buried within (ie ” “Overlords of the Black Earth”) but they don’t really do anything for me, and seem a bit phoned in.

It’s not until later in the album that we get the longer slower songs, which are always my favorite Nile songs (they have yet to top “Stones of Sorrow”, “To Dream of Ur” or “Unas”). There is “Doctrine of Last Things, which while a fast song it has one of the album’s more crushing slower riffs. Then there is the 7+ minute “True Gods of the Desert” and the 8-minute title track, both deliver my favorite about Nile– those slow massive, lumbering, churning crumbling riffs and more atmospheric pacing. In particular personal favorite “True Gods of the Desert”, which comes close to the aforementioned classic Nile tracks I love, and is in truth the first time I gave the stank face while listening to the album. Closer “Lament for the Destruction of Time” is a bit of an excessive 5-minute instrumental, slower song, that isn’t really needed when the prior title track seems like a perfect endpoint.

Production-wise, Mark Lewis returns to mix and master Sanders’s sound, it’s clear and allows all of the elements to breathe, but I still prefer the brutish, heftier tones of the debut (“Smashing the Antiu” and “Ramses” still cave my skull in).

In all an OK, to solid Nile album that’s not quite as good as the last 2,  and of course no match for the band’s first four classic efforts, but it is slightly better than At the Gates of Sethu, and  Ithyphallic but it certainly doesn’t blemish the band’s stellar, consistent discography.

You know exactly what you are getting with Alestorm at this point in their prolifically fun discography while and that does not change with the short little EP, it feels a bit….filler-ish?

There’s the title track which frankly feels a bit too commercial and formulaic, despite including Patty Gurdy on vocals and Hurdy Gurdy for the chorus. It’s clearly a quickly written track to get to EP out for the tour and is one of the weakest songs of the band’s entire discography.

“Uzbekistan” continues the band’s country-themed shanty’s (“Mexico”, “Come to Brazil”, “Magyarország”) and has a fun little techno/disco break, an element the band is getting increasingly comfortable using.

We then get 2 appropriately fun seafaring covers, the EPs highlight,  a cover of The Arrogant Worms’ “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate”, which organically feels like an Alestorm song due to its maritime gait, and the cover of Ian Taylor’s “Sea Shanty” is a short instrumental number.

The EP rounds out with “Cock”, a short filthy little ditty in line with “Fucked with An Anchor”, but it still adds to the disappointing ‘filler’ vibe of the entire EP that seems to be rushed out to coincide with the current tour. I’m sure (I hope) the next album will be back on par.

And now armed with a new name (‘Dragon God’- also a famous Korean female rapper, which took my research of the name to a weird place….), a new big label, and the considerable interest of Trivium’s Matt Heafy who produced and appears throughout the album on four songs. His interest in Eastern culture, of course, stems from his heritage, being present on Trivium releases as well as his side project Ibaraki.

So what does all this sound like? Well of course, there’s a heavy Trivium metalcore/melo-death influence, but to these ears, Ryujin sounds as if Ensiferm were from Japan; bouncy, catchy riffs, lots of shredding, rousing choruses, etc, all delivered with the band’s ‘Samurai metal’ aesthetic. So also like Finland’s Whispered, I guess? But more commercially viable with more clean vocals, choruses, and a heavy anime soundtrack vibe (they and Heafy cover the Attack on Titan theme “Guren No Yumiya” to hit that influence home).

Either way, it’s fun as heck, with some really cool moments, especially with the ethnic orchestration and instruments/choirs that border on power metal cheese, as do Ensiferum and such. It’s not as chaotic as fellow Japanese act  Imperial Dead Circus Decadence, as it’s far more structured and melodic. And when listening to early, epic, and energetic tracks like “Gekokujo”, “Dragon, Fly Free”, “Raijin & Fujin”, I’m smiling pretty hard.

The album’s second half is broken up with a couple of ballads in “The Rainbow Song” and “Saigo No Soshi” (there is also an English version as a bonus featuring Heafy to end the album), though they are broken up by more fun numbers like “Kunnecup” (feat. Mukai Wataru of the Kansai Philharmonic orchestra on cello) and frenetic “Scream of the Dragon”.

“Gekrin” gave me Hans Zimmer/Pirates of the Caribbean theme vibes with its nautical sway while the closing title track delivers almost 8 minutes of epic, shreddy majesty before the aforementioned bonus tracks (the Heafy sung Attack on Titan cover and Heafy version of “Saigo No Soshi” round out this fun as hell album that is possibly going to be the third year in a row a Japanese band will be on my year-end list.

You’re going to get your typical new wave of old-school death metal beatdowns, such as in the opening 2 tracks, and track 4, “Rhythmic Demise” continues that trend. Andreas is all over that mic with the deep bellows sounding like he’s swallowing it whole. Oooh, Jesus Christ. Imagine Chris Barnes in his Cannibal Corpse and early SFU days. Of course, the riffs must be killer for any of it to matter. They are especially the one starting a little over 2 minutes in. Sometimes things work without necessarily reinventing.

“Among the Filth,” with its war metal beginning, mixes it up. This is also where the album turns into something else more than just your average OSDM album. Around 2 minutes in, there’s a filthy groove, which doesn’t last long before it turns into a melodic guitar break. Then, back to brutality. Another grimy, nasty, sexy groove hits with a little more than a minute left, taking the track home with some nice cymbal work by Matias.

The title track, “Reptilian Warlords,” at nearly five minutes, has a blistering riff to start, and a nifty bass break. It continues to stomp on the bloody stumps you’re no doubt calling arms by this point in the album, including a frantic blast section. This sounds like mid-era Six Feet Under, which some may find a turn-off, but I’m not one of them. The chunky riffs and Cookie Monster vocals are fantastic to me. You know when Barnes could still do it.

“Ambrosia” isn’t the closer, but at over 9 minutes, it probably should be. There’s a clean-picked intro, then they get all experimental and shit by turning into black metal. At least briefly. The vocals of course are still pure death metal. At around 4 minutes, everything is frantic, seeming like a death and black metal track all in one, almost as if everything is about to fly off and spray shrapnel. Then, we get back into a chunky death metal riff. It continues that way for the remaining few minutes until the ending brings in some flamenco guitar.

Then, of course, we have the true finale, “Carnivore.” It’s as if Plaguemace needed to re-establish they’re a death metal band, which they do admirably. The guitar tone shines, but this is where I must admit my ears are getting a little tired, as it feels like maybe the master is a little too smashed. I’m not saying this is a huge issue, as I only notice it on occasion, but it’s something of which to take note.

Napalm Records is certainly not the label that comes to mind when I think of old-school death metal, nor anything really, but I’m glad they picked up Plaguemace. This isn’t their typical cup of tea and honestly seems like it’s trend-hopping, as they tend to do. Despite those opinions potentially giving me preconceived notions about the album, Reptilian Warlords has been added to my collection. The band knows the style, adds their flair, and releases a pure winner.

Now in 2023 we have a self-titled album with Shining. Historically when a band releases a self-titled album it’s seen as a statement of sorts. It’s a fist on the table, the pinnacle of a grand career, if I may be so bold. Is this Shining’s pinnacle? It could be because, with these six tracks, they’ve created a very complex and emotional album that drips with the essence of human suffering and pain. Time changes that go from modern Jazz to furious double bass Thrash and Nicholas Barker’s (ex Dimmu Borgir, ex Cradle of Filth) signature blasting.

Clocking in at 50.08 minutes, Shining utilizes every second to blow your fucking mind. The haunting opener “Avsändare okänd” switches effortlessly from a Black Metal attack to a subtle, yet absolutely brutal breakdown at 4.00 when it erupts into a pummeling experience throughout the rest of the track. “Snart är dom alla borta” begins with an acoustic guitar that counters the distortion. Starting at the 3.55 mark is a fucking beast of a solo, before the surge of punishment that is to follow and the tortured vocals of Niklas Kvarforth squeezing every boil from humanities festering carcass. It’s the album single “Allt för döden” that is the crux of this pitch-black slab of melancholy, featuring twisting riffs that infect your mind, a constant reader.

The album gets better and better as it continues on this path of madness with “Fidelis ad Mortem” featuring the talent of Mr. Andy LaRoque of his own and King Diamond fame. Closer “Den permanenta sömnen kallar” evolves around this mesmerizing, sick as a motherfucker riff before the drums come thrashing in, a savage punch to the face of Black Metal that slows abruptly around 6:00 minutes to let the song breathe before it starts to build intensity with another ear ripping solo. It ends as hauntingly as the album began.

Shining has built a massive piece of work with this self-titled release. They are an entity unto themselves and if you’ve never heard them, you really should; this album is coming to a stereo near you quickly. So prepare the ritual chamber, raise the red lights, and light the black flame. Raise the horns! Skóll!

The first item I want to get out of the way is the production. If you caught the first track on YouTube as I did, it sounded compressed and awful. I also didn’t quite get that BDM snare sound. I am happy to report the production on the album does leave something to be desired but doesn’t distract from the whole.

You get a brief intro, two bruisers in a row, and then “The Outsider,” which is even heavier than the previous two. There’s a melodic intro, but Fernanda’s vocals are brutal. Perhaps her lowest I’ve heard. If you haven’t seen her playing the bass like a woman possessed and growling her vocals live, just know her facial expressions are what tie it all together. The solos on this track from new guitarist Jéssica di Falchi are nothing short of mesmerizing. The guitar melodies overall have taken a massive, melodic step forward.

“Stronghold,” which is the very next track, may be the best they’ve recorded. Although it isn’t an instrumental, the music is allowed to breathe much more than in most of their others. The solo section ending around 4 minutes in makes Fernanda’s vocals when they come back sound even harsher. Then, it goes into the excellent chorus and another killer solo.

Despite it beginning with a whisper, “Lullabies for the Forsaken” is no ballad. With that snare sound, if Fernanda made some pig squeals, one could mistake it for a BDM track in a few sections. The production would have to be different and have some bass drops added though. However, you’re just going to have to settle for another badass solo to end the track.

If you ignore the brief outro, the real closer is “Lord of Ruins,” and it’s worthy of the distinction. The bass sound mixes incredibly well with the drums, but both are still audible. I’m guessing the frequency blending is the reason for the snare sounding the way it does. This track is an absolute monster, with more of that melodic sensibility they’ve embraced throughout, but it’s also heavy.

That about sums it up, but I do have one complaint. The length. It’s 13 tracks and 52 minutes, which is a little tiring for my poor attention span. Somehow this isn’t as much of an obstruction as it used to be for my enjoyment of an album. However, one could speculate if maybe one or two tracks could be removed to make it shorter and more impactful. I won’t lie. It’s a valid point. However, this is a more complete album than their debut. It’s more confident, heavier, more melodic, and hopefully a sign of things to come. I’m excited to see how far these ladies can go.

I am, and have been, a pretty big fan of the Tuomas Saukkonen universe of music (which is a vast and ever-growing world). From the chest-pounding might of Wolfheart, to the somber, introspective melancholy of Dawn of Solace, the guy’s instantly-recognizable sound has lent itself to some fantastic work over his illustrious 20+ year career. But it all started with a little doom-y, gothic-y Melodeath act called Before the Dawn which, for what it’s worth, really kind of established the “Tuomas Saukkonen sound.” From the guitar tone, to the bellowing, growling vocals, to the rich balance of dark and lightness that has always been the hallmark of his work, it all pretty much started and developed here – in fact, the earliest releases saw BTD as a Saukonnen solo act, until the first full-length in My Darkness that saw the entire group form, including guitarist Panu Willman, and later bassist Lars Einkind, both of whom I mention only because they both provided the band’s clean vocals that, paired with Saukonnen’s signature growls, always made for a dynamic and complimentary combination that only elevated the band’s sound through the years.

Fast-forward after a decade of the project laying dormant while Tuomas concentrated on all of his other projects, the band not only announced their return, but the addition of a new vocalist in Paavo Laapotti, who gained a bit of notoriety by becoming a bona-fide finalist in Finland’s version of The Voice, where he brought the likes of Iron Maiden, Dio, even Slipknot to a national television audience (and international social media audience) to show the rest of the world just how much better life in Finland apparently is. And on that stage, he sounded pretty good! Seemed like maybe he’d be a good fit for Before the Dawn‘s rebirth. Then came the first single, “Downhearted,” and, while I wasn’t necessarily blown away by his addition to the mix, it didn’t really give me pause to think there may be a problem, either. Perhaps the fact that the track itself showed a band with a renewed sense of vigor helped, but I left thinking, “OK, cool, I guess? Lets see where this goes.”

Friends… I don’t really like where it went.

Before I get too down on Laapotti’s performance, let me be clear – I don’t think he’s a bad vocalist. There is plenty of evidence available to show he’s a talented dude! But here, with Before the Dawn? I just don’t think it works. And that stinks, because this is a reformation I REALLY wanted to love. Take third track “Reveries” as a good example of how frustrating an album can be; it attacks you with a really good intro, with fantastic riffs and military-like drumming that build up to an awesome release that sounds like the best parts of BTD and Wolfheart coming together for a potentially epic combination. Then comes the trademark melancholic break of drums, bass and subtle synth that you know is building to some clean vocals – which they do, but man… I kinda wish they hadn’t. There’s a weirdly grating, nasal-y quality going on here that just doesn’t sit right. It’s like laying down on what you assume must be a normal bed, only to find the mattress stuffed with shrapnel – there’s no softness or subtlety in the delivery, it’s all sharp, unfinished edges, topped with an itchy blanket that offers little warmth or comfort. Then come his harsh vocals which, admittedly, are certainly a damned-side better than the cleans but… they’re also not as good as Saukkonen’s. They’re not bad, but you know there’s a better option being left on the bench, and it just doesn’t sit well. It doesn’t matter how solid the guitar work is, or being reminded how good a drummer Saukonnen also is on top of everything else he does well, I just can’t get over the vocal shortcomings.

And unfortunately, it doesn’t get a whole lot better anywhere else on the album. Even on the previously mentioned “Downhearted,” which at first a year ago I met with a vague indifference towards the vocals, I’ve now been so soured on them that the flaws are standing out even more. It seems the band tried to give Laapotti a chance to make a mark with a big ol’ building “YEAAAAHHHHH!” introducing the track, but instead it just falls flat, almost like he’s trying too hard to control his voice instead of just letting it fly.

Again, the rest of the band provide plenty of work that I should be enjoying a whole lot more than I am, but then comes another melancholic stretch with his cleans that take three perfectly balanced tires with fresh treads, and render them useless by stabbing the fourth tire and running the car on its rim. There are a few moments where his gutturals try their best to save the day, like on “Chains” where, if you’re not paying especially close attention, his growls don’t sound far off from Saukkonen’s own, and even the cleans on the chorus seem a little less strained (though I suspect maybe they’re just buried a bit beneath the huge instrumentals, and also balanced out with a growling harmony), but when the cleans are left to their own devices again, I’m back to square one wondering how anyone in that studio heard the final mix and said “yep, that works!”

To further cement the point about the vocals, by far the best track on the album is “Divided,” where the band opts to mostly keep with the harsher vocal deliveries, only busting out the cleans near the end of the track where they’re again less pronounced, being balanced once more with a growling underbelly and soaring guitar melodies that mask their bite (unfortunately we’re also introduced to Laapotti’s attempt at a higher-register harsh vocal, which also DOES NOT work). All the layers certainly mask the harsh reality of the cleans, but it’s like accidentally adding vinegar to cake frosting – you can add all the butter and sugar you want to try and negate the effects, but you can never fully hide it.

To a certain extent, there’s a linguistic pitfall that isn’t helping Laapotti’s performance. There’s a lot of really hard “R’s” and over-enunciation going on that certainly isn’t unheard of when Fins sing in English, which only makes it harder to find that smooth delivery that’s missing here. I’ll say it again, Paavo Laapotti is a talented singer. And I know I was not very kind to him here, but this isn’t anywhere near, like, Chris Barns-levels of embarrassment on display – it just isn’t on par with where the rest of the band is operating, and they drag the whole thing down a bit.  Maybe he’s better suited for a Power Metal setting, or maybe he just needs more time to work with Before the Dawn to sand down the edges of his voice and find a better mix. I dunno. But on Stormbringers? His vocals just ain’t it. If all you want is to hear some very Tuomas Saukkonen-riffs and melodies, you’ll find them aplenty here, but the reunion is let down by one component – and like a NASA rocket hurdling into space, all it takes is one piece to make the whole thing come to a bad ending. Let’s hope they can clean it up for another go-around next time.

With each release they have surpassed themselves, evoking images of their gorgeous homeland through the music. Albums such as 2009’s Goi, Rode, Goi! With the infectiously heavy, yet fun as fuck “Yarilo”, 2014’s Yav and 2018’s Khram have seen the band grow like a mighty oak. Somber passages lead to blasting upheaves on their recent magnum opus Kob’ (‘Sorcery’), an eight-track Pagan Black Metal beast with a flaming heart.

From spiritual opener “Izrechenie. Nachalo” (‘The Speech. The Beginning’), flows into the title track with the force of raging rapids. If it seems like I’m on an arboreal trip here it’s because Kob’ makes me feel like I’m walking in some Kincade painting of a mystical European forest, I’m talking fairies and shit, like if Princess Mononoke was set in Russia. So, continuing in that train of thought (and since I’m a creative writer at heart), there’s the epic core of the album in “Ydi” an 11.48-minute assault that shifts tempos so many times it’s like an attack from a fucking bear.

“Ugasaya” (‘Fadin’ Away’), begins with ominous spoken word and an atmosphere thick with menace before this sick as a dying sonofabitch passage with just the bass and the drums doing this hypnotic beat and when this song soars it fucking goes high as an eagle, in true Arkona fashion once the blast from Alexander Smirnov comes in and Masha switches from Black Metal to soaring vocals before the end.

“Na Zakate Bagrovogo Solntsa”, “Razryvaya plot’ ot bezyskhodnosti bytiya” (‘Tearing the flesh owing to the despair of being’) and the soothing “Izrechenie. Iskhod” (Eng. The Speech. The Conclusion) closes out the album in grand fashion; the former two are Black Metal creatures pulsing with the blackest blood, while the latter is like a soothing pond.

I did multiple listens to this album, and each time I heard a different thing; sometimes subtle as a time change or a riff that I hadn’t picked up on previously and that’s what makes Arkona genre leaders at what they do. They’re consistently good and keep the listener captivated. I could complain about this being a streaming-only promo which made it a tad bit hard to navigate back to the album if I had closed windows or something like that (look at that, I did complain), this in no way reflects on the band or their music…

Anyway, enough of that whining. Ultimately, I have nothing negative to say about Kob’ so that’s the moral of this story. A ‘For fans of’, section might seem pointless, because seriously if you like Arkona you’re probably already a fan of Eluviete, Varmia, and Bathory’s Nordland saga in terms of the music painting a picture as each song progresses and adds color to the work. Clocking in at just a couple seconds over an hour Kob’ is long, but not dauntingly so and it’s an album that could be put on repeat to let the beauty wash over your eardrums. So, get it when it comes out, I hear Napalm Records is doing a wood collectors box that would look good on any bookshelf. Just saying.

For those unfamiliar, AHAB have been serving up their brand of hefty, plodding Funeral Doom Metal with a consistent nautical theme for nearly 2 decades now. And I get it! They REALLY lean into the undersea thing pretty dang hard, each album essentially being a conceptual re-telling of classic nautical themed novels ranging from Moby Dick, to Edgar Allen Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, to William Hope Hodgson’s The Boats of Glen Carrig (they didn’t even bother to come up with a different title on that one). And hey, I’m all for it! I appreciate a good theme. But does that make it its own genre?

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

Anyway, since you’ve apparently been kind enough to stick around through my yelling aimlessly at the sea to no one in particular, I guess I’ll get on with actually reviewing AHAB‘s long-awaited new album, this being over 7 years since the band’s last release. That’s a pretty good amount of time for any band to come up with some fresh new ideas – and the approach on The Coral Tombs sees AHAB at perhaps their most morose, contemplative, and maybe even meditative – which when you consider that in the context of Funeral Doom, is saying something. This time around, the band is covering Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with the title focusing specifically on the underwater burial of a killed crew member in the Coral Kingdom. And let’s be honest, for a nautical themed Funeral Doom band, this is pretty much the apex, right? A funeral… in the ocean… in a kingdom of coral… *MIND BLOWN* That said, the band does pull a bit of a fast one on you at the start on “Prof. Arronax’ Decent Into the Vast Oceans,” which storms out of the gate in a fury of blistering guitars, gutteral growls and deafening, tortured screams, unfitting of a band known usually for it’s methodical, heavy-footed, slow gait. But it’s a brief spat of madness, and when the bubbles clear and turbulent waters calm, the band paints a serene, gentle picture of life underneath the waves, away from the harshness of humanity and the gravity of terrestrial existence. Daniel Drost’s clean vocals enter the fray to match the scene, and help build to an epic, spacious and awe-inspiring sense of grandeur and endless discovery, much like the emotions that must have been going through Prof. Annorax’ mind as he first set his eyes on a world undersea. It’s a monumental re-introduction to the band after a long hiatus.

Where prior albums maintained a pretty consistent level of menacing heft, The Coral Tombs instead opts for a more exploratory expedition. While “Colossus of the Liquid Graves” may provide a bit of a heavier offering, it doesn’t necessarily carry a feel of malice or evil. It feels like an effort by the band to solidify the vastness of its setting. I know I’m projecting simply because of the band’s chosen theme, but I can almost picture the overwhelming visions of a giant underwater kingdom, along with the pomp and pageantry of a formal burial ceremony. Conversely, “Mobilis in Mobili” offers up a much more foreboding, sinister vibe – playing out like an anxiety-ridden swim through a dark, unexplored cavern where every twist and turn could be hiding some gigantic eel or viper fish ready to make this your last excursion. It’s a thoroughly unsettling crawl that more than makes up for its lack of heft with an increased emphasis on space and tone that make for a spine-chilling effect. That spaciousness (appropriately) continues through “The Sea as a Desert” and “A Coral Tomb,” both in slightly different ways capturing the feeling of emptiness, loss and vulnerability. The former opens with a pretty clever little riff that almost sounds rooted in country-western, adding to the desert-like feeling and, with the way some of the notes are bent, lends itself to the feeling of onset madness one might feel if left stranded in the middle of the sun-drenched Sonoran wilderness (or I guess, in a crippled submarine at the bottom of the ocean, as the case may be). The latter, in true Funeral Doom form, is a real dirge – dragging you through the emotional depths of despair, and balancing it out at times with lighter, more melancholic bliss as a funeral-goer may remember the fonder memories of the one they’ve lost.

The last two tracks cover the classic novel’s crescendo pretty nicely, though I’d have liked to have heard a bit more of that chaotic, more aggressive burst that we heard at the beginning of the album – especially when covering Captain Ahab’s eventual bloodthirsty revenge for his dead wife and daughter (“Ægri Somnia”), and certainly when Annorax and his partners are caught in the Maelstrom near the story’s conclusion (“The Mælstrom”), fighting for their lives against the power of nature itself. Granted, if they hadn’t busted out that new wrinkle at the start of The Coral Tombs, I probably would have been more satisfied with the end of this album, but since they made it apparent they were willing to go THAT hard, I’m left wanting more of it. That all said, they’re hardly weak tracks, I just feel they could have used a little more or an emotional punch and they do little to change the overall impact of The Coral Tombs – which is that it’s an immense, immersive record that shows the creative brilliance of these four musicians. From the stunningly beautiful cover art (which I want painted on the sign of a van, if not at least just framed and put on display somewhere prominent) to the depth of moods and tones used to create such vibrant settings, AHAB have clearly used their time away well and made an album worth taking the time to sink into and explore thoroughly – and in a genre that, I’ll be honest, I often find myself struggling to differentiate one release from another, it’s pretty remarkable that they were able to create something that indeed stands on its own apart from the rest of their catalogue.

Just don’t call it “Nautik Doom.” At least not around me.

And on Sky Void of Stars, as I’m sure you’ve probably assumed at this point, Katatonia has done it again, this time mixing both strategies. Renske’s voice is the first thing you immediately hear as you press play, followed shortly by a surprisingly chunky, heavy riff and pounding drums that slap you across the face before you’ve even had a second to sit back and settle into Sky Void of Stars.  STOP DOING THIS. I’M GONNA HAVE A HEART ATTACK.

The difference this time around, perhaps, is that not only does “Austerity” get off to an unsettlingly hot start, but the energy is maintained throughout the track to create what is, far and away, the band’s most urgent and focused opening to a record they’ve had in some time. Even “Forsaker,” as heavy as that opening riff was, settled into that familiar Katatonia pit despair pretty quickly. Led by Daniel Moilanen’s instantly recognizable, unique rhythms and some really inspired riffing and solos from Anders Nyström and Roger Öjersson, the band storms ahead and delivers one of their strongest tracks in recent memory, utilizing the catchiness we all know Katatonia is capable of, but adding a bit more bite to the overall tone, adding a little more meat to the bone than I think I was really expecting.

But where the band might bring the energy levels back down to the mean on prior efforts, second track “Colossal Shade” instead squashes those expectations – hitting first with a somewhat uncharacteristically cock-sure, strutting riff that hits with more bravado than you might have imagined the band would deploy, and after presenting listeners with an huge earworm of a chorus, the band doubles down and goes super heavy – unleashing a crushing, doomy breakdown layered with trademark Katatonia dissonance and atmosphere that makes it as complex and intricate as it is earth-shaking. This really was not the experience I’d prepared for in my head leading up to Sky Void of Stars, but gosh dang if I’m not loving the band’s newfound vigor!

But before anyone gets the wrong idea that the band might be losing its identity, Katatonia still know where their bread and butter lies, and while the more spirited performance is certainly grabbing my attention, it’s the band’s indelible ability to create melodies that stick with you long after putting the headphones down that carries the day. “Opaline,” once again made stronger by Moilanen’s brilliant choices behind the kit, features a hook that has been swimming around at the forefront of my mind since first listen, and the vocal performances on tracks like “Author” and “No Beacon to Illuminate our Fall” continue to prove Renske’s brilliant understanding of how to use his own voice which, on it’s own is wonderful, but is made so much better through his use of clever, staccato vocal lines that make them all the more interesting and dynamic. And the band is still utilizing that trademark, haunting keyboard tone that, to anyone who knows the band at all, already knows what I’m talking about. It continues to weave itself into the fabric of Katatonia‘s sound like a warm blanket that should give longtime fans that sense of comfort and familiarity, even when the band’s pulse is resting a little higher than per usual.

With winter truly settling in, I figured Sky Void of Stars may be unleashed into the world at the perfect time – and that’s still true! The emotional lows and melancholic feelings so closely associated with the band are still rightfully on full display, but this time Katatonia are delivering an album I’m pretty certain I’ll be spinning long after the snow and ice thaws. Sky Void of Stars is, put simply, the most complete and thoroughly enjoyable record the band have released since probably Viva Emptiness two decades ago. It’s beautifully paced, never lingering too long on the lows before you’re hit with another shot of emotionally charged adrenaline. It’s not rewriting the book on the sounds and tones you’d associate with modern Katatonia, it just showcases a sense of confidence and balance that recent albums just haven’t quite hit the mark on.

It’s early in the year, I know. And I know well enough that every January, I hear a record that I think will be a “best of” candidate at the end of the year, only to have it overshadowed by a slew of releases as the year goes on. But Sky Void of Stars, right now, just feels special, and if this is indeed another example of me getting too hyped too quickly, then I truly can’t wait to see what else is on deck in 2023, because this is one hell of an effort by a band that doesn’t really have anything to prove at this point.

To that end, Warkings have made a nice little niche for themselves, going in-character to perform rousing songs involving military history – mostly focusing on Roman and Spartan themes, but sprinkling in some viking and crusader stuff as well (hence all their characters, The Tribune, The Spartan, The Crusader and, you guessed it, The Viking). While Warkings certainly fills the bill of “all-in” power metal we all here tend to love, they never quite got to that level of adoration we have for those previously mentioned acts. Solid, but just not with quite the staying power. But this new album, Morgana? Oh baby, these metal warmongers might be on to something, here.

So a couple things of note – first being, the band has recruited a mercenary into their ranks in the form of Morgana le Fay (voiced by German singer and voice actress, Secil Sen), Prince Arthur’s infamous witchy sister. Her addition on Morgana comes with a bit of ambiguity – is she a permanent member? Is this just a one-time kind of thing? WHO’S TO SAY?! I hope she’s sticking around for the long haul though, as her addition has adds a whole new dynamic to Warking‘s sound that takes it to another level. She adds both a clean to harmonize Georg Neuhauser’s soaring choruses, but primarily (and most notably) she adds a pretty great, raspy harsh vocal delivery that adds a sneering, sinister energy to the whole sound, helping to make for a much more interesting listen. And the band lets her presence be felt right off the bat – with “Hellfire” storming out of the gate with maybe the band’s most aggressive riff to date, and Morgana’s demonic vocals on full display. It actually hits more like a Melodeath track a la Arch Enemy or The Agonist than it does Power Metal, though when Neuhauser’s vocals enter the fray it certainly begins to lean in that direction. The contrast makes for a pleasant and dynamic listening experience, and the whole band seems more energized than every before, with guitarist Markus Pohl ripping out a truly great solo along the way as inspired as any he’s recorded before.

And indeed, many of the album’s most interesting tracks seem to be ones that heavily feature Morgana (She’s officially listed on only 5 of the album’s 10 tracks, two covers notwithstanding). “Heart of Rage” features some really cool, mesmerizing Middle Eastern accents and influences, and the clean duet between Morgana and The Tribune is truly a thing of beauty, catching you with an absolute earworm of a melody. Her last official credit on “Immortal” is a much darker, moodier track, which again features some great harmonized vocals during the chorus, while her seething harsh vocals continue to bite at the bone and give the track more of an edge.

Outside of the Morgana tracks, there’s a couple other notable gems, including “To The King,” which plays out like a modern day Amon Amarth track in it’s rousing, midpaced glory – complete with a chorus that will certainly be an absolute ball to sing along with live. While Warkings may still have a fairly simple, straightforward delivery, the band seems to be kicking it into a higher gear this time around. To that end, “Last of the English,” quite simply, SLAPS. Like “Hellfire,” it shows off the band’s newfound sense of urgency and aggression, grabbing you by your tattered chain mail and demanding your attention before delivering a final, fatal blow. “Shame” taps into that famous scene from “Game of Thrones,” with an infectious, fun-to-follow “SHAME!” chant that, again, seems purpose-built for a hell of a good time through the band’s next festival circuit.

I hope Morgana stays a regular member of the band, but if not, I hope at least this opens the band up to bringing other characters into the mix down the road, because it really seems to have given the band an extra creative boost, making Morgana easily the band’s best effort. If you just want something fun that gets your fists pumping, this album will definitely do the trick. If you’ve passed on these guys in the past, go ahead and give this one a chance – you may be pleasantly surprised.

Of course – part of the reason we care, that Candlemass is held in such high regard to begin with, is because they essentially invented the genre of Epic Doom Metal with that seminal record. Never mind that Langquist was never more than a fill-in when called upon by the band over the last three decades, you can’t lend such a massive contribution to the world of metal without creating a certain cult-like following. Still, while that’s all well and good, I don’t think it’s an unfair question to ask – what does a band, even one as influential as Candlemass, still have to offer to the world of metal in 2022? Are they better off living in the past, celebrating the work that made them so revered in the first place? Or is there still room for growth?

Well, when Candlemass officially brought Langquist into the band for 1998’s The Door to Doom, the buzz surrounding the return of the original lineup was somewhat quelled by the fact that the album, while not bad by any stretch, didn’t seem to change the notion that guitarist Lars  Johansson and bassist/chief songwriter Leif Edling had kinda been on autopilot since 2009’s Death Magic Doom. Such is the burden of heavy expectation, right? Also WE GET IT. You guys invented a doom subgenre! Great for you! You don’t see Venom running around forcing “Black Metal” into every other album title. It was a weird sort of posturing that, despite a few decent tracks (I’ll be honest, “Splendor Demon majesty” and “Death’s Wheel” were bangers), felt somewhat like Door to Doom itself – a bit unnecessary.

So here we are again four years later wondering if, maybe, the band has found a little more juice and inspiration so make a bigger impact. To start, I’ll give credit where it’s due – Langquist, as he did on Death Magic Doom, sounds pretty great! Maybe it was more personal reasons that kept the band from making him an official member in the past, who knows, but I’m having a hard time seeing any reason not to have brought him in sooner given his recent performances. Where Messiah gave the band much more of a dramatic flair, Langquist’s vocals lend a much more wildly appealing, straightforward performance that, nonetheless, is as technically impressive as it is impassioned. Think of it as Black Sabbath transitioning from Ronnie James Dio to former Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan – he may not have been quite as captivating as Dio (I mean, who was?) but the difference in vocal delivery did add a sort of refreshing change to the overall sound. Langquist also adds more of a gruff undertone with his vocals, perhaps adding even more to the heft of Lars Johansson and Mappe Bjorkman’s riffs which, as always, are plenty hefty on their own. “Wizard of the Vortex” starts the album with a doozy, a classic doom bruiser dripping with dark, morose intent. It carries some of that grave-like atmosphere that I felt was missing not only on their prior release, but has been missing to some extent from the band’s sound for a while now, setting Sweet Evil Sun off on a really good start.

That genuine feeling of doomy dread doesn’t end there, either. “Black Butterfly” is classic Candlemass through and through, plodding along like a funeral procession, while adding a bit of life with the use of more-than-appropriate organ work to the mix to accentuate the chorus. While the pacing could easily becoming overbearing over the course of the track’s nearly 6 minutes, the band breaks it up really nicely half-way through, first with an excellent change of riff to go along with Johansson’s reliably excellent lead work, and then briefly going double-time to shake off and dust that might have settled to get your blood pumping back at a normal rate. “When Death Sighs” continues the emphasis on that slower, classic doom vibe, bringing in a guest appearance by Avatarium‘s  Jennie-Ann Smith (Avatarium was originally founded by Leif Edling, so I suppose that wasn’t a difficult collaboration to put together), and “Goddess” continues the organ-accented, crypt-loving old school vibes that longtime fans should eat up with glee, with the latter featuring one of the band’s most righteous Heavy Metal riffs and solos they’ve recorded in a while.

And that’s where Sweet Evil Sun really hits its stride – when the band is able to blend the old school doom they helped to create, while embracing the more Heavy Metal leaning riffs they’ve become more known for in recent years. “Angel Battle” may be one of the band’s strongest tracks in some time – a righteous mix of monstrous, lumbering riffs, and pure, epic heavy metal aggression that hits with just about every trick in the band’s bag, including one of Langquist’s best performance since his comeback. “Crucified” pulls off a similar trick, showcasing a band willing to embrace all aspects of the sound they’ve built over nearly 40 years to create a better sense of balance and pacing over the album’s duration. That said, there’s still a couple miscues and nitpicks – “Sweet Evil Sun,” as catchy as it is, seems out of place with the rest of the album, as if the band intentionally wrote the song as a single on its own separate from the rest of the album. It’s not a bad song – like I said, it’s actually pretty dang catchy and will likely worm its way into your head in some capacity – but compared to the rest of the album, it just isn’t quite cutting the mustard. The album’s second single, Scandinavian Gods,” faces a sort of similar issue – not so much in the catchiness department, but moreso in that it also seems to exist sort of on it’s own aside from the rest of the album, incorporating some kinda trippy, strange drum effects to create a sort of synthetic arena rock track. Maybe in that way, the song will work really well in a live setting – but here on recording? It seems self-indulgent and weird.

All that said, I think what Candlemass has created here is a more than worthy addition to their catalog, and certainly an improvement over their previous “original lineup” effort. I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re reinventing themselves or creating something altogether “new,” instead the band seems to simply have found an extra sense of vigor and passion for their art that should make both longtime fans, and whoever’s left yet to discover this legendary act, plenty to latch onto and enjoy. I also appreciate that they didn’t even have a single track on Sweet Evil Sun that included the word “doom” in it, so that’s something!

It’s been a steady build over the last few years. While a select few have continued to valiantly try to keep the Melodic Death Metal ship afloat, it’s been a minute since the genre has gotten a steady injection of fresh blood to keep it from withering away into the ether. But recently, a stream of really high-quality releases from both the old guard and newer, up-and-coming acts, have made the release of a new banger Melodeath album much less of an outlier – and this new release from Finland’s Brymir sure as heck qualifies.

As far as where Brymir fits on the Melodeath timeline, they’re not exactly newcomers – their first full length album released all the way back in 2011 – but with four albums in 11 years, they’re certainly not the genre’s most prolific or perhaps even very well-known acts, either. That said, after 2019’s very solid Wings of Fire helped the band gain a little more attention, they eventually found a (frankly, perfect) fit with Napalm records last year, setting the stage for Voices in the Sky to skyrocket them (pun 100% intended) to brand new heights. They’re certainly bringing a sound that should be appealing to a wide audience – an unerringly catchy and powerful mix of Finnish Melodeath and folk that covers a fair amount of ground as influences are concerned. If this isn’t your first time at the Brymir rodeo, you’ll definitely notice that the band is moving a little further away from their more folk-forward sound, and leaning a lot more heavily on the Melodic Death metal influences. Perhaps most recognizably, you hear a LOT of Soilwork, particularly on second track “Forged in War,” that features riffs and progressions that could easily have been featured on some unheard Sworn to a Great Divide or The Panic Broadcast-era bonus track. Even Viktor Gullichsen’s vocals, apart from his more operatic cleans, carry some very Speed Strid-like qualities – perhaps not in exact tone, but very much in his vocal delivery.

Later on, “Rift Between Us” starts with a clean guitar lick that sounds very much influenced by current Soilwork guitarist Sylvain Coudret, and during the clean, dissonant verses,  Gullichsen’s vocals really carry that Strid-like quality that might even have you doing a double take. In between that however, you catch glimpses of one of their Finnish Melodeth compatriots, Omnium Gatherum – in particular the signature guitar leads of Markus Vanhala. You get that vibe very clearly even earlier on the record on “Fly With Me,” which genuinely just sounds like an OG track with less cookie monster-esque harsh vocals.  But that clean-vocal-backed chorus? My mind immediately goes to Omnium Gatherum, and that’s not at all a bad thing.

All that said, as the album moves along, you do start to get more of their Folk Metal roots shining through. There seems to be a real shift starting with “Herald of Aegir,” which really hits those Ensiferum/Wintersun notes, with speedy, galloping riffs, and epic backing orchestrations that make the sound absolutely massive. Not that guitarists Joona Bjorkroth (also of Battle Beast) or Sean Haslam were by any stretch of the imagination holding back prior to this track, but the riffs they throw down during the bridge and solo are absolute units built to throw you to the ground and flatten you. Mixed with those orchestrations, I’m ready to run straight through a giant sequoia on my way to leap into a raging torrent and catch a mighty salmon with my bare teeth.”Landfall” continues the more folk-forward festivities, starting with a huge chorus of vocals that just beg for an audience to sing along with, before barreling into a tremolo-picked frenzy – creating a great, intoxicating juxtaposition of fun and fury that carries through until final track “All As One.”

On “Borderland,” the band again shows a great knack for creating memorable, sing-along moments, this time with a great little sort-of thrashy breakdown with syncopated, barking vocals that sound like a group of heathen warriors getting ready to sack a village and burn the whole thing to the ground. I’m ready to go to war with Canada all by myself. But the vocal majesty of that track doesn’t even hold a candle to the outrageously catchy “Far From Home,” which brings back some of the Soilwork influence heard earlier on in the album,  while effectively blending super folky vocal patterns through the chorus. If not the lyrics, the vocal melody itself will be stuck in your head in absolutely no time at all.

The album ends on a bonus cover of Dark Funeral‘s “Diabolis Interium,” which, despite my relatively meh attitude towards cover songs on albums, is actually pretty dang impressive! I still don’t really find it necessary, especially given how beautifully the epic “All As One” wraps up Voices in the Sky, but kudos where they’re due for pulling off such a fantastic and somewhat unexpected tribute. If nothing else, it matches the high-volume energy of the rest of the album, which is really it’s biggest strength. It compels you through sheer force to keep listening  until you find yourself mindlessly and randomly humming the melodies throughout the day. If Melodeath truly is back for real, I pray we keep getting efforts like this one from Brymir, because Voices in the Sky sounds anything but tired. It’s here for the kill.

To that end, one of history’s most chronicled and bedeviled figures, the demon Lilith, is certainly held in high regard in this reviewer’s mind. Pretty much the character that sparked eons of institutional misogyny after her banishment from Eden for refusing to obey Adam’s command, Lilith has long been held, depending on your world view, as a gauge in the eye of God and nature, or a symbol of necessary resistance against an established patriarchy. Or, perhaps, both. Either way, I’m rooting for her.

And I’ll tell you another thing – I’m definitely rooting for this new Danish Melodic Death Metal band who’ve chosen Lilith, one of history’s greatest icons and whipping posts, as their collective muse. A band that, seemingly out of nowhere, have come screaming out of the pits of hell with a debut album already backed by of one of the biggest labels in the business (Napalm Records). Led by the seething, snarling voice of Sandie “The Lilith” Gjørtz, and backed by guitarists Signar Petersen and Christian Nielsen, bassist Rasmus “Kalke” Nielsen and drummer Michael Olsson – Defacing God are pulling no punches, putting their intent and influences front and center in an unholy display. As a band with a general Melodeath backbone that happens to have a woman on vocals, of course the Arch Enemy comparisons are going to be inevitable – and they’re not completely unwarranted. “The Resurrection,” “The End of Times” and other sections of The Resurrection of Lilith certainly carry the sort of anthemic, muscularly riffed vibe that has become synonymous with Michael Amott and his work – but Defacing God takes a much more dramatic approach, leaning very heavily on a more Grecian/Mediterranean core. The trio of “The Invocation” parts 1, 2 and 3 (which also introduce such demonic female icons as Jezebel and Abyzou into this unholy mix) simply would not exist had this band not clearly spent a lot of time listening to Rotting Christ and Septicflesh. We’re talking riffs that could have been co-written with Sakis Tolis himself, backed with the kind of bombastic orchestration and and ritualistic, chanting backing vocals that would leave the most stoic of Italian men or women draped dramatically over a chaise lounge in emotional despair. And the influence certainly doesn’t stop there – “The End of Times” and “In the Land of Rain and Sorrow” could easily make you double-take and think you accidentally put on Rituals or The Heretics instead.

There are even moments like in the blasting of “Rise of the Trinity” or the epic final stanza of “Into the Mist of Memories” where you can’t help but think of the Mediterranean kings of drama and Death Metal, Fleshgod Apocalypse – though perhaps more accurately, they channel a good dose of Carach Angren‘s sense of Pantomime and story telling. It all makes for a very engaging listening experience that manages to walk a fine line between one-off, single-track-at-a-time listenability, and being a full-album, track-by-track session that can hold your attention for the entire duration. Though not an official member of the band, the orchestral work put together by Danish guitarist and composer Lars Vinther is as much an important and defining characteristic of The Resurrection of Lilith as the excellent guitar work of Petersen and Nielsen, or even Gjørtz’s commanding vocal performance for that matter. They elevate the level of grandeur to greater heights and make it sound absolutely massive without becoming the overall focal point of the record.

This is a fantastic start for a young band that, with the power of Napalm Records, will be getting thrown straight into the pretty massive audience out the gate, and every part of the product presented here on The Resurrection of Lillith suggests they’re ready for the limelight. And it all comes at a perfect time with it’s heavy imagery of witchcraft and occultism, as we get ready to get spooky season into full swing. Look for Defacing God to blow up quite a bit and make a big impact on the world of metal in the coming year.

When I reviewed Wolfheart‘s Wolves of Karelia two years ago, I approached it thinking, frankly, that the band, and particularly mastermind Tuomas Saukkonen, was pretty much cooked. That his furious work ethic and insane rate of creative output had finally caught up with him and his particular brand of metal. But before that released, he took a step back from Wolfheart to revive one of his oldest projects, Dawn of Solace, and I still believe whole-heartedly that the re-focus was exactly what the doctor ordered, giving him a refreshed perspective and redirecting his creative process. As a result, Wolves of Karelia was a revelation. Not a “return to form” of their first two incredible albums, but a whole new beast entirely – one with renewed focus and ferocity. It was one of my favorite albums of 2020, and my favorite album of their career.

Well if Wolves of Karelia showed a band re-sharpening their fangs and getting back into the hunt, King of the North is a band finally utilizing the full strengths of the entire pack to become the apex predators they always had the potential to be. It’s Wolfheart‘s greatest, most complete effort yet.

Signs that this album may be ushering in a sort of new era for the band started when they released their first single, “Ancestor,” with a guest appearance from Killswitch Engage‘s Jesse David Leach. While the song began with typical Wolfheart ferocity and fire, the chorus gave way to a gorgeous melody featuring Jesse’s fantastic clean vocals. The result was utterly intoxicating for me, with the cleans creating huge sense of balance to Saukkonen’s bellowing lows and muscular guitar work, and I vividly remember my first reaction being, “Damn, now I really wish Wolfheart would fuck with more cleans.” It seemed like the missing piece bringing the whole thing together. As it turns out, I got my wish – and the results are exactly as I had envisioned. With the addition of guitarist and new clean vocalist Vagelis Karzis (who used to play live with Rotting Christ), this is now a band ready to attack from all angles, surrounding it’s prey with a mix of fast, muscular brutality, and cunning subtlety and grace.

Tracks like the epic opener “Skyforger,” and the stunning “Headstones” are using every tactic in the book – the former announcing itself with an enormous intro melody that has all the pomp and swagger of a band extremely confident in what they’re about to unleash, and doing so without hesitation. Tuomas’ signature growls enter the fray with an explosion of furious guitars and drums. This all sounds fairly typical of the band, before everything but the drums and bass shut down and slow to a spacious, eerie crawl. Karzis’ cleans then enter the fray, and even with Jesse Leach’s guest appearance on “Ancestor” serving as a foreshadowing of the band’s direction, the new wrinkle still blows you away. It’s just such a nice break from the more typical Wolfheart storm, and when the guitars ramp back up and Saukkonen retakes the vocal lead, it hits with that much more impact.

I’m also very happy to hear King of the North continue the band’s more recent trend of making concept albums. Saukkonen is a tremendous story teller, and now with the new wrinkles being added to the band’s sound, they’re even more suited to telling these tales with a greater sense of mood and clarity. The super heavy, angular “The King,” struts with the sense of power and poise of the character the song boasts, where “Knell,” a song about a character forcing themselves not to give in to the grips of death, hits with an icier, more dire tone that allows you to really visualize the story playing out in your mind. And when the band wants to unleash their attack and bash your brains in, they’re still more than capable of creating the necessary intensity. One listen to “Cold Flame” (featuring Nile‘s Karl Sanders) or “Fires of the Fallen” and you’ll be gasping for breath trying to keep up.

As usual, it’s Saukkonen’s distinct guitar melodies and solos that carries the day, and though it probably doesn’t even need to be said, they’re fantastic. His melodies continue to be second-to-none, and his solos can easily be picked out of a crowd of his Scandinavian counterparts. Whether it’s Wolfheart, Dawn of Solace, Before the Dawn or any of his other billion projects, you know it’s Tuomas playing guitar, and it’s a quality that I think you can only find in maybe a couple handfuls of musicians around the world. His mastery of piano and orchestration also continues to play such a huge part of Wolfheart‘s sound, perfectly accentuating the cold, desolate lows and the epic, blood-pumping highs of the album. If the guy wanted to get into movie scoring (and Gods know he’s a guy who loves to keep himself busy), I think he’d find success very quickly. Get a hold of Danny Elfman pronto.

There are so many little nuances and decisions made by the band on King of the North that make it such a huge success that I could go on writing for days about it. I’m not going to do that, nobody wants to read that. I’ll just leave you with a plea to get this thing in your hands as soon as possible, because it’s not every day you get to hear a band really come into full form like this. This is a band whose journey has been much greater than its years (I don’t know why but it blows me away that they haven’t even been around 10 years yet), and who knows – this may not even be the destination they’re ultimately seeking – but if we can get more of this from the band moving forward, I’m all-in. King of the North has solidified the band as just that – they are the new kings of all Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal. Argue whatever you want, I will not (for now) be convinced otherwise.

Its hard to describe what it is, exactly. Argh! Ok, its fair to say I have never done any sort of Classical music review… ever. While this is a Satyricon album, and their name is on the tin. This is part of a larger project; a celebration of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, best known for his painting “The Scream”.

So, does anyone remember the Wongraven album Fjelltronen? Dungeon Synth, heavy on atmosphere? Maybe you’ve heard of Mortiis? Fenriz’s Storm and Isengard projects? Maybe I’m throwing out ambient Black Metal albums, grasping to categorize what Satyricon & Munch is within the realm of the Black Metal spirit.

On blackened chords it comes from the speakers, a single track, fifty-nine minutes long ebbing and flowing like a stygian river, boiling through the bowels of the earth. Guitars are present, and according to the press release, Satyr used a multitude of instruments to create the beautiful miasma.

The first half of the record is classical based, but not bouncy and jaunty, its Wagner tones that bring the darkness and it isn’t till the halfway mark that Frost shows up on a drum kit that the song takes on a frozen, desolate feeling. The journey down this river of black lava is almost over; it’s been a strange trip through the mind of Edvard Munch and Satyricon.

I recommend this, it’s a different kind of mood and atmosphere, unsettling at times. Boundaries of what Black Metal is are flattened and scattered across the soundscape universe. Satyricon has undertaken a huge project, a celebration of the man and his work, while also adding a diverse and stunning Black Classical (new genre, just made it up) album to an already classic discography.

I’m not gonna get too specific, but I’ll tell you that outside of Teeth of the Divine, I don’t live a terribly exciting or spectacular life. I’m not “living my dream” or working some self-made passion project for a living. This isn’t a complaint, I have a steady job that I’m grateful for, but it’s not something that’s by any means definitive of who I am. And that’s fine! I save my passions for life outside of work (ergo, you find me here, doing this). But sometimes, you can’t help but look at the world around you and ask yourself, “what the hell am I doing with my life?”

Indeed, more and more it seems there’s not much you can’t make a life out of if you’re willing to work hard enough for it. Just look at YouTube! It’s full of folks doing all manner of shit and making a pretty dang good living off it. There’s a guy near me with 1.6 million subscribers who makes Unnecessary Inventions for a living. That’s literally the name of his business! Again, WHAT THE SHIT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE.

I don’t bring this up because I’m having some existential crisis (not today, at least). I bring it up because, if ever there was a band that embodied the notion of finding your niche and going at it full-bore, goddamn if it isn’t Germany’s Victorius, who are once again bringing their outrageous world of dino-fighting space ninjas to the masses with Dinosaur Warfare Pt.2 – The Great Ninja War, technically a follow-up to their 2018 EP Dinosaur Warfare – Legend of the Power Saurus, but immediately following their 2020 fever dream of an album, Space Ninjas from Hell. Which was about, uh, different ninjas? I think? Less laser dinos and more laser sharks, for sure…

WHAT. AM I DOING. WITH MY LIFE.

So like, I’m an unabashed Power metal fan. Give me all the cheesy hooks and bombast and crazy orchestral arrangements you can fit into an album. I’m all about it. Just don’t ask me to ever take it very seriously. The bands doing it best (Wind Rose, Brothers of Metal, Grailknights, to name a few) are the ones who are laughing the most and leaning into whatever their schtick happens to be the hardest – and there ain’t NOBODY leaning in harder than Victorius, who are still riding this bonkers-ass train of intergalactic assassin ninjas and weaponized dinosaurs that they’ve been conducting for around 4 years now. We’ve got songs about magic wooly mammoths, we’ve got puns and clever word play (“God of Roar”), we’ve got Jurassic gym rats! (“Triceps Ceratops.” For the love of everything good in this world make this a shirt and take my money). There’s a song called “Dinos and Dragons.” I don’t need to elaborate on this. DINOS AND DANG DRAGONS. Metal anthem of the century.

According to the band, the story of this album is actually bringing their two prior works together to create the final showdown between the Dinosaurs, who have risen and are led by the aforementioned “Mighty Magic Mammoth,” to defend humanity from the evil nuclear space ninjas known as the “Sunbladers.” Story as old as time, amiright? Anyway, this is still the super-speedy, all-out Dragonforce-styled Power Metal you know and either love or hate, although musically speaking, Victorius are certainly more restrained overall than many bands of this ilk. Modest, 3-4 minute average length on their songs, that still bring you all the guitar-and-keyboard dueling and sugar-fueled hooks you could ever possibly need, without the abundance overly self-fellating guitar solos and melodies that can make something like this exhausting. I want to bang my head to some nasty riffs and sing along to songs about epic dino battles, not listen to the audio equivalent of a dude masturbating in front of a mirror. Right out the gate , “Victorious Dinogods” delivers the goods, and the band keeps delivering time and time again over the album’s 12 tracks.

If I had to nitpick DW:PT2, and I can’t believe I’m actually saying this while listening to a song called “Jurassic Jetfighters,” I’d say that maybe it’s not quite as silly as it could be. On Space Ninjas, the bands used some very entertaining little vignettes – most notably the dad-joke-cracking sushi and wasabi on track “Wasabi Warmachine – that really just lent itself to the out-of-control lunacy of the album. Like I said earlier – if you’re gonna do it, go all-in to it. Fuck it. You live once. While DW:PT2 does include a couple little narrative passages, I do find myself wanting for more of those goofier moments. What they have again done well is remembering to add a little honest-to-goodness heft every now and again to at least somewhat balance out the sugar and caffeine overload. “Katana Kingdom Rising” is a plodding number more akin to a Sabaton or Dream Evil track, providing a nice break from the all-out sonic assault, and while “Tyrannosaurus Steel” and “Triceps Ceratops” get back on the throttle a bit, they both offer a little more grunt to their riffing that are both worthy of a good, solid head bang.

Look, I don’t know how much longer this fucking madness can last. Logic tells me that at some point, staying firm on the central theme of Dinosaurs and Ninjas just can’t be sustainable. But then again, Amon Amarth are still growling about vikings, Powerwolf are still a weird cabal of Christian(?) underworld werewolves, Gloryhammer are still mostly gross misogynists and racists (I’m not sure how just replacing the singer makes up for the rest of their bullshit, but whatever!). Point is, even the most absurd of schticks may have more lasting power than you’d think, and Victorius‘ brand of Power Metal is only bringing more fun into an otherwise bleak world. So go off, you glorious dorks! Keep the good times coming.