Author Andrew Doherty
Treyharsh, in case you hadn’t heard of them as I hadn’t, have been plying their dark and heavy trade in Northern France and Belgium since 2011. “When the Sun Sets in the East” is their second album. One thing I… Continue Reading →
There’s a form I sometimes have to fill in which has three categories: preparation time, travel time and time to deliver the activity. Quite apart from the fact that in my old eyes you deliver coal or milk, not activity,… Continue Reading →
This is a very interesting album for a number of reasons. “Barbara the Witch is the so-called Horror Thrashers’ third album. It is a theme album based on a true story from their Norwegian home town in the 1600s. The… Continue Reading →
“Classic Norse black metal filled with blood-freezing atmosphere” is the promise from Gjendød. It doesn’t take long to be subjected to relentless and murderous drumming and bleak riffage. Vocally, these are the growls of someone who sounds in pain. But… Continue Reading →
A prerequisite for me was to listen first to Farsot’s “Insects” (2011), which I would list as one of my favourite albums of all. Creeping, nightmarish and infectious, it really should be available on free prescription for those miserable souls… Continue Reading →
After a quick check of the merch stand I was in familiar territory … the pit at the Underworld. I’ve taken to looking at merch stands nowadays for bizarre items. A recent one was Haken coffee, which I resisted at… Continue Reading →
I’m always wary whenever I see term “avant-garde” applied to a band. This is the case with Russia’s Lashblood. It doesn’t take long on this follow-up to the band’s debut album “Philosophy of Self-Flagellation: Being and Nothing” (2012). A withering… Continue Reading →
A spot of stoner doom is the order of the day from Finland’s Altar of Betelgeuze, whose second album this is after “Darkness Sustains the Silence” from 2014. This is pretty grainy stuff. Downtrodden riffs with death vocals never make… Continue Reading →
I was lucky enough to review Dynfari’s 2012 album “Sem Skuggin”, a bleak and interesting atmospheric metal album. With a further album “Vegferđ Tímans” (2015) in between times, “The Four Doors in the Mind” looks at human existence and the… Continue Reading →
With a promise of less space rock and experimentation than on their debut album “Desintegración”, Atavismo return with “Inerte”. From jam sessions, Atavismo put the finished structure of their self-proclaimed progressive and psychedelic rock pieces together. “Pan Y Dolor” (Bread… Continue Reading →
One of the most innovative albums I have ever heard was Netra’s “Sørbyen” (2012), a bleak and atmospheric album with the unusual and effective inclusion of trip-hop. The urban street feel of that album features on the artwork of this… Continue Reading →
By the time I’d got to the second track of this album, I could see why this album was touted as being for fans of Anathema, Ulver, Opeth and Alcest. This is achieved by the abrupt changeover between the first… Continue Reading →