There’s not a lot of info out there right now on Stormkeep (a D & D, Forgotten Realms thing apparently), but I knew as I saw the words ‘triumphant’, ‘epic’ and ‘melodic’ as well as the renowned JRR Tolkein artist Ian Miller cover art (who also graces one of my favorite other EPs ever, Abigor’s […]
Virginia’s Foretoken is the new technical, symphonic black/melodic death metal bans from Steve Redmond (guitars/orchestration) and Dan Cooley (vocals), who both serve in technical death metal band Cyaegha (whose debut Steps to Descent, I reviewed here way back in 2009). They are aided by drummer Hannes Grossman (Obscura, Necrophagist), as well as a couple of […]
I have a lot of inappropriate shirts. Perhaps my favorite is my Carach Angren “You came to the wrong forest, mother fucker.” It’s not my Satanic Warmaster shirt where someone is getting sawed in half through the genital region, which I once accidentally wore (or so I told my girlfriend at the time) to the […]
I know this review is a month or so late but it’s been 18 years since the last actual…And Oceans album so, I think I’m good So, after 18 years, … And Oceans are back and not just back, but back to their symphonic black metal roots that they abandoned when they became more industrial […]
Here’s is more excellent Finnish black metal from Purity Through Fire to go along with Kryptamok’s superb Verisaarna . This time in the form of the fine debut EP from the 5 piece collective known as Nôidva (which has members of The Watcher, Herr De Qual, Sacrificium Carmen, and others). Not as vitriolic or frosty […]
Within a matter of days, I received 2 really good symphonic black metal albums from the UK, and promptly purchased both. First, Argesk’s heavily Hecate Enthroned influenced Realm of Eternal Night, and this, the conceptual debut album (they do have 3 EPs under their belt, which I have not heard yet) from Northern Ireland’s Drakonis. With […]
I’ve been on a bit of a new-ish British black metal kick of late with the likes of Wolvencrown, Drakonis, Vegard, Ante-Inferno, Nefarious Dusk, Sleipnir,And Now the Owls Are Smiling, Shadowflag, The Dying Light and the debut from this Manchester based, symphonic black metal act . Of note to British black metal fans is that […]
Do you crave Dimmu Borgir’s last few albums? Especially craving 2010s Abrahadabra, and notably the single “Gateways”? Want fur, frosty armored outfits and face paint? Want some really good symphonic, bombastic black metal? Check out Russia’s veteran act Welicoruss. Apparently one of Russia’s more respected and biggest symphonic black metal acts, these guys have certainly […]
Oh shit. So I’ve been on a bit of a blackened death metal kick lately, but also still riding last years symphonic black metal wave that had me impressed and littered my year end list. Well outta nowhere come Australia’s Oath of Damnation with a sophomore album with a violent double penetration of both styles. […]
I’m always up for some bombastic, symphonic black metal, but other than maybe False, Belzebubs, Northwind Wolves and Kull (if they don’t really count as ‘new’) and some other Black Lion Records bands, there are few new, exciting young purely old school bands in the genre, as I typically rely on the old guard of […]
Waaaaay back in 2017, California’s Northwind Wolves released their aptly named debut, Dark…Cold…Grim, a superb and authentic delivery of 90s symphonic black metal that made my year end list. Well, as expected for a second album, the follow up delivers the same sound, expands on it a little, but never quite reaches the dark cold […]
I was immediately intrigued by this release as it’s another symphonic/tech black/death whatever release from The Artisan Era who have already wowed me in 2019 with the likes of Singularity, Oubliette, Mordant Rapture, The Odious Construct, Warforged and such, but also that the band features former members of Council of the Fallen, one of the […]
If you were to poll die hard Cradle of Filth fans and even casual black metal fans and ask what the long running UK black metal band’s best album was, it would likely be a mix of 1996s Dusk and her Embrace and 1998s Cruelty and the Beast, maybe with a few votes for 2000s […]
Virginia’s blackened death metal band, Warthrone, return with their second album, and this follow-up to their debut: Venomassacre, showcases the band pummel the listener again and again and again. The band further stream lining their line-up with now Erik and his wife Kristel as the members. Erik plays drums, guitars and now is back to […]
Last month marked the 20th anniversary of Metallica’s S&M show with the San Francisco symphony. I was at that show, and it was a grand and sonic spectacle, as the band jammed out on stage with a phalanx of tuxedoed musicians and film composer Michael Kamen wielding the conductor’s baton. For most of the metal […]
Warning: I am going to say the words Bal-Sagoth, a record breaking number of times in this review… Man, I haven’t had this much anticipation for an album in a looooooong time. Why? Well friends, Let me tell you of an Age undreamed of…. Back in the 1990s a band called Bal-Sagoth arose from the […]
Greek Metal Masters Rotting Christ have returned with another fantastic release with their 13th album The Heretics. The Tolis brothers Themis and Sakis, fresh off their recent arrest for Terrorism (not that kind-the fearful religious kind) in Georgia (the country, not the state) have given a spirited middle finger to organized religion once again. Although, […]
Well I’ll be damned, color me impressed. Brescia, Italy’s, The Scars in Pneuma, and their debut album, The Path of Seven Sorrows, really caught me by surprise with its mature sound and songwriting. While the band cites influences from the likes of Rotting Christ, Mgla, Dissection, Be’lakor and others, in the end it’s just a […]
England’s Hecate Enthroned is largely known for being the band that Former Cradle of Filth bassist/vocalist Jon Kennedy formed after departing Cradle of Filth before they were huge rock stars (he actually appears on the original version of Dusk and Her Embrace, recently released as The Original sin) , and subsequently and unabashedly ripping off Cradle […]
I’ve always been pretty knowledgeable when it comes to heavy/extreme metal and all its facets. All through my life, my fellow metalhead friends have referred to me as a metal encyclopedia. Like many die-hard metalheads, my affiliation with the genre has always been one from a “love and collect” aspect as opposed to merely a […]
Eight years isn’t quite an eon. Still, it’s been quite a long wait for Dimmu Borgir to pull their satanic symphony back together and to don their fringed white leather arctic wizard outfits once again. Wait, scratch that, this time they’re going for bedazzled cosmic hooded robes… no matter – Eonian is finally here. I’ve […]