Author Andrew Doherty
I confess that I’m not an avid watcher of DVDs, but this one sparked my interest. I’ve followed Haken since their first Album “Aquarius” (2010), and seen them twice at ProgPower Europe and umpteen times in London, so I guess… Continue Reading →
“Black and punk metal from Poland” is the minimalist description of this one. If it’s a case of take it or leave it, I’ll take it. Time to die – well, that’s what the title means. It sounds intriguing. The… Continue Reading →
I realised quite quickly that listening to this album from Sweden’s Gutter Instinct was a case of putting in the hard yards. This weighty death metal tome is, as they have it, “another morbid outlook on explicit realities”. It’s not… Continue Reading →
Urarv’s previous album “Aurum” (2017) was a gem. Inspired by Björn Aldrahn Dencker a.k.a Aldrahn of DHG and Thorns, the Norwegians regaled us with insane black metal atmospheres. This time round it’s a brief affair – 25 minutes – but… Continue Reading →
My recollection of Arallu’s previous album “Six” (2017) is of colourful and even spiritual elements within a black metal soundscape. “Desert Battles” is in fact a remixed version of an album, which the band first released in 2009. It’s evident… Continue Reading →
The fact that this album came to me from Tom de Wit’s label screamed Progressive. Actually, no screams, just dreams. I was barely a minute into it, and I found myself floating away. “Florescence” is about growth. This concept album… Continue Reading →
There’s all sorts going on here, I was told. This is the all sorts of lingering darkness and “an unsettling core of paralyzing torment”, as the label people describe it. Lingering post metal describes the beginning. I liked the fact… Continue Reading →
It was clear from the outset that this was not going to be a boring listen. Certain expectations go with the epithet Progressive Death Metal, I suppose, and even on the opening track of this, Alkaloid’s second album, we had… Continue Reading →
Why not have a nightmare? That’s what this album seems to be about. This wasn’t unexpected after the Swedish black metal band’s previous album “Ter Agios Numini “ (2017). The sounds are intriguing as well as disturbing. Eeriness prevails. Merciless… Continue Reading →
It’s good to know that Sweden is maintaining its cultural heritage of rip-roaring death-thrash metal with deep riffs and extravagant melodies. So Lik has come on the scene to blow our minds and rip flesh. “Carnage” is their second album…. Continue Reading →
Four bands of different extreme kinds were on tonight’s menu. It’s Sunday evening. This beats the domestic torpor of watching “Countryfile”. First on was Triangle Face, who according to my prior research play avant grind, whatever that is. I was… Continue Reading →
To say that I was impressed with Misanthropic Rage’s debut album “Gates No Longer Shut” (2016) is an understatement. Merging and transcending styles, while buttonholed as “avant-garde progressive black metal”, it was basically Polish metal with atmospheres and attitude. Like… Continue Reading →