Author Andrew Doherty
Sardinian band Charun, not to be confused with Finland’s Charon, are a post rock band. The fact that Isis’s James Plotkin mastered this album says much. After getting us firmly into the groove with a swampy start, “Malacoda” sends us… Continue Reading →
This is the German black metal band’s third full album release. “Sinuous and serpentine black metal” is what we’re told to expect. Violence and rawness are what struck me about this work. I liked the old school style, which is… Continue Reading →
I’m not normally bothered about band names but I have to say that this year so far the quality of some of the names has impressed me more than the albums I’ve heard. First there was Questionable Blood Pressure. Now… Continue Reading →
I don’t know why it is that Polish death metal vocalists have the raucous tone of people who have indulged in large quantities of vodka and spent their time in smoke-filled rooms, but Voidhanger’s Warcrimer is the archetype of the… Continue Reading →
I know from seeing Poem play live that their brand of progressive metal is far-reaching and ambitious. “Unique” is the Greek band’s third album. “False Morality”, like everything that follows it, is a complex compendium of progressive metal. The dark… Continue Reading →
Hands up those who want a spot of hardcore-infused black metal crust. Well, it’s perpetually gloomy outside so why not? “Ghosts of the Timeless Void” is Ancst’s second full album, supplemented by a number of Eps and split works over… Continue Reading →
I can’t exactly remember how I discovered Nydvind. I suspect I picked up one of their tracks from a sampler, which came with a French metal magazine. I do remember buying “Eternal Winter Domain” (2003). I played it to myself… Continue Reading →
Not much to go on here, but I did establish that OPHE is a one man avant-garde black metal outfit, and the one man likes people like DHG, Blut aus Nord, Manes and Anorexia Nervosa. So that’s good. As for… Continue Reading →
Avant-garde extreme metal albums seem to be following me around so far this year, and here’s another one from Norway’s Horizon Ablaze. “The Weight of a Thousand Suns” is a “journey through the human psyche and a deep dive into… Continue Reading →
This gloomily titled album starts off on a suitably dark and sombre note. As they tell us, it goes into death-doom territory but not quite. Such is “The Absurdity of a Whole Cosmos”, the instrumental opener of this second full… Continue Reading →
Apparently vaitojimas means gibberish moaning. That certainly isn’t a way I’d describe this album from Lithuania’s Erdve. Its thickly laid on heaviness is more like an assault. Impressively, they manage to hold their anger together and deliver slabs of meaningful… Continue Reading →
Do sycamores howl? Well, seeing who is involved with this, they probably do. The name, which stuck out for me, was Davide Tiso of Ephel Duath. This told me to expect highly challenging, indeed weird musical patterns. But it’s not… Continue Reading →