Author Andrew Doherty
Infestus is basically a dirty and disease-ridden black metal project from Germany, with a current membership of one. If the track titles are anything to go by, “The Reflective Void” seems to be a thematic step away from previous albums,… Continue Reading →
The arty impression on the sleeve gives only a slight hint of what to expect. This 25 minute album by a trio from Switzerland is as curious as the band’s name. “Blackwave” is a term I’ve seen used to describe… Continue Reading →
Reinvented electronic metal is the description I read about the music of this band from France. Essentially this is lively modern metal with tributes paid to Meshuggah, Textures and unsurprisingly Oestre’s compatriots Gojira and Hacride. Industrial noises, thunderous roars and… Continue Reading →
This album was originally released in 2006, but did not get the publicity it deserved. It was my first exposure to this Andorran band, and it’s now a pleasure to immerse myself once more in this long and epic prog… Continue Reading →
Symphonic dark beginnings give way to standard but free-flowing blackened death metal. There’s an air of confidence about this first full release from Norway’s Vredehammer whose previous recorded output had been three EP’s. I sensed an air of Vader in… Continue Reading →
Who said that heavy metal has to be downtrodden and miserable? Well, no-one did, but these guys from Finland with the Swedish sound manage to bring cheeriness to a totally dark and extreme experience. From the vocalist’s “Welcome to Rottendam”… Continue Reading →
This album seems to be about everyone else except the band themselves. Just because they’re French does not mean that they have to sound like Gojira or Dagoba, but with that image stored up, the comparison is then drawn with… Continue Reading →
If an Argentinian band had released “Hand of God?”, I’d have sensed irony. Pitch Black Process, formerly known as Affliction and in existence since 1999, are in fact from Turkey but with Swedish connections, notably Niclas Engelin of In Flames… Continue Reading →
On the same day that I received this album to review, I read in one of those quirky surveys you find in the Metro free newspaper that Hastings is the place in the UK where the residents are the most… Continue Reading →
An interesting intro to the second album release from this Athens-based band gives a suggestion of something djenty-progressive with electro touches. Such intros can be indicative of what follows or meaningless. Here it’s indicative, at least for the following two… Continue Reading →
I am a great fan of this Belgian band’s previous work “The Long Now” (2011). Its devastating swathes of sludgy sadness are just part of a electrifying progression. Like a book you don’t want to put down, the ever-changing moods… Continue Reading →
From the bleakest and coldest corner of Canada comes Neige et Noirceur’s fourth album, not to mention a brilliant compilation of ambient blackness released last year called “Natura Mortis Sonoris”. The material has varied from eccentric black imaginings to eerie… Continue Reading →