Author Andrew Doherty
I’ve always felt that you know what you’re going to get from Arkona, the Polish black metal who share a name with others. That’s not necessarily a good thing in a creative sense but this band is tight and intense,… Continue Reading →
Finally I catch up with the renowned and long-standing Japanese death metal band Defiled. The subject of updates on the excellent uniteasia.org heavy metal webzine, they achieved a form of notoriety in 2019 when Christian authorities in Malaysia forced the… Continue Reading →
I must confess that I’d never heard of Vancouver Industrial music before I encountered this from Germany’s Haujobb, but I had most certainly heard of and indeed own work by Front Line Assembly, who along with Skinny Puppy are, I… Continue Reading →
Trelldom comprises a trio of luminaries with links to many known names from the Norwegian black metal camp: Gorgoroth, Gaahls Wyrd, God Seed and more. Kristian Eivind Espedal a.k.a. Gaahl himself is a prominent member of the band, which dates… Continue Reading →
This comes with the usual no-nonsense description from the Godz ov War label: “Nasty evil black metal Poland”. No X Factor sob stories here. And we don’t want them either. A bit of research tells me that this is the… Continue Reading →
Avant-garde black metal, dark atmospheres and themes …. let’s try Serotonin. “Motiv” is the band’s fourth album release. The band itself has been around for about 20 years. The album starts with the fast and hard “Climbing the Colossus”, the… Continue Reading →
Along comes Papangu’s second album release. I didn’t know anything about this band before the first one “Holoceno” (2021), other than the fact that they come from Brazil. “Holoceno” was a revelation. A sort of heavy and dark avant-garde romp… Continue Reading →
Thoughtful is a good way to describe the approach of Anciients, whose third album this is and the first since “Voice of the Void” in 2016. Since then real-life events, the pandemic and line-up changes have intervened, but now this… Continue Reading →
If you fancy a bit of noise and distortion, Mekigah is probably not a bad place to come. I did review the album “Litost” and that was something to have to get your head round, but that was in 2015…. Continue Reading →
I know people who’ve dropped off the bandwagon with Leprous since their adventurous early years. I’ve had my wobbles with them but this is a band whose music right up to their last album release “Aphelion” (2021) has always been… Continue Reading →
“An uncompromising death metal record, a crushing swansong for the failing capitalist system” – this is our introduction to this fourth album release by Absence of the Sacred. It’s been a while since the last one: “Come Hither O Herald… Continue Reading →
I have followed this Italian progressive metal band has ever done ever since I saw them play at ProgPower Europe in 2011. They were already experienced then but every album they’ve released since has blown me away. Always expressive, always… Continue Reading →