Author Andrew Doherty
“Filth and fatalism” is what’s promised from this Portuguese purveyor of black metal. This is underground black metal in fact from an eerie and mystical underworld. Grainy and shadowy moaning sounds seem to be passing through a wind tunnel. “To… Continue Reading →
I made the statement after listening to Hegerøth’s 2012 ep “Spectral Fear” that I wanted to hear more. Here it is. The title refers to a place in Silesia where the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and German empires once converged. When I… Continue Reading →
The deep and lush tones which resound from this album told me that this band comes from Finland before I’d even looked it up. It’s a strange thing but many Finnish bands seem to conjure up a melodic and innocent… Continue Reading →
Crystal clear tones distinguish the post metal sound. Amniac are from Greece and this is their genre, as deliberate notes strike forth and create patterns. There’s more than an air of Cult of Luna about this. The trick is in… Continue Reading →
Four suitably grim looking gentlemen from Denmark present us with some blackened death metal. I felt a tang of Hypocrisy and a waft of Amon Amarth in there but “Gehenna” wends its own way darkly and creepily and in a… Continue Reading →
The label says it all, really. HPGD. Horror, Pain, Gore, Death. Inferion should know about this as they’ve been doing it since 1995, now releasing album number three. An all-out assault is the greeting. With shades of Behemoth in the… Continue Reading →
Melkor has been for the most part a single man black metal project since its inception in 2004. This can mean a high degree of introspection and anger. There is some but what is remarkable about “Irrlicht”, Melkor’s second album,… Continue Reading →
To follow their previous album and collaboration with Carnival in Coal “The Stench from the Swelling (A True Story)” (2013), this Parisian band’s latest work also falls further into the twisted avant-garde sphere with recognisable rock metal melodies. As someone… Continue Reading →
Cruachan have been around for over 20 years, and are well known but I confess this is the first time I’d listened properly to any of their albums. Straightaway I realised I was in danger of overusing the word “rousing”… Continue Reading →
You know what you’re going to get with Mors Principium. Exciting melodic deathly thrashing assaults are their byword. They get compared to Children of Bodom, Kalmah, In Flames and At The Gates but a Mors Principium Est riff is something… Continue Reading →
John Bassett may not be a household name but I’ve come to discover that he is a man of unbridled imagination and creativity. My introduction was two prog rock albums by his band King Bathmat, then earlier this year he… Continue Reading →
It’s quickly clear where we’re heading. Hard hitting death metal breaks into the brief sample and save a break here and there, this is about solid and unrelenting punishment. It’s well done and all in sync but whilst drilling holes… Continue Reading →