Author Andrew Doherty
There’s always a risk in taking on traditional music, as sometimes through no fault of the music it’s just impossible to cut across the culture. In this case it’s Castilian oral folk music but mixed with avant garde metal. Well,… Continue Reading →
Örebro (pronounced in the most Swedish way you can imagine and not as I once did, making it sound like a famous German sweet manufacturer) is an extremely pleasant town with a nice castle. It is also home to my… Continue Reading →
Tonight marked a special event, not because of Mother’s Day or England v Lithuania, but because the UK has apparently become a continent, if the tour banner “Touring Europe and the UK” is anything to go by. What we did… Continue Reading →
Christ, it’s like being in the middle of an industrial cyber war. Distant and organised screaming punctuate this very dark edition of Dr Who. Throbbing electronic sounds are at the epicentre. Margaret Chardiet’s Pharmakon project is in its tenth year,… Continue Reading →
I must say that the highly dramatic symphonic strains of the opener to this album immediately put one of my favourite bands Carach Angren into my mind. Given that Slagmaur are known for their outlandish outfits on stage and more… Continue Reading →
Raise your horns, light the camp fire and blend with nature! If you like traditional songs in Norwegian, Byrdi is your world. Folk-tribal drums, acoustic guitars and epic vocals emitted with crystal clarity covers it but this is far too… Continue Reading →
It’s good to hear that Lantern are looking to expand their horizon rather than locking themselves up in a black metal cave. I can get what’s meant by this, as whilst on the face of it, this second offering from… Continue Reading →
“Metanoia” means an initiation, a rebirth, an awakening of the higher self, and the rekindling of an inner flame. Hungarian duo The Moon and the Nightspirit’s brand of folk and world music is a representation of this state. This isn’t… Continue Reading →
Locust Leaves have an “ecumenical vision of metal”, whatever that means. In fact when I read the following statement, I realised it was time to stop reading and start listening: “A voice, a final utterance of a vague, illogical, recurring… Continue Reading →
“Throes” is promoted as being at the human end of the post-sludge spectrum occupied by the likes of Neurosis, Isis and Cult of Luna. But it’s human anger, pain and agony. “Thrust” leads us off. Urgent harshness is balanced with… Continue Reading →
I remember being impressed with Belgian band Saille’s debut album “Irreversible Decay” in 2011, since when they’ve released two more epic black metal albums and now a fourth in “Gnosis”. This album is a concept album based around “Prometheus: Poem… Continue Reading →
I first came across this Portuguese black metal band in 2015 through their album “Mysteries”. Eerie whistling and fog-filled atmospheres met blasting and chaos-laden black metal. “Mysteries” was far from the first release by the band, whose discography covers two… Continue Reading →