Author Andrew Doherty
Centiment unleash themselves upon us with “Streets of Rage”, their appropriately titled first album. The band members are anything but novices. Three of them are key players from InMe, from whom I haven’t heard anything in a while. I sense… Continue Reading →
There’s a clue on Stroszek’s Facebook where it is written that the band’s influences come from “highways, trains, gas stations, hotel rooms”. As you may gather, “Wild Years of Remorse and Failures” is no barrel of laughs, nor is it… Continue Reading →
From the progressive end of the impressive Greek black metal spectrum come Aenaon. This is their second album. With strong instrumentals and exaggerated swathes of darkness at the heart, “Extance” spends around an hour covering a lot of ground. To… Continue Reading →
The history of Manes is such that it could fill a whole review. Suffice to say that this band from Trondheim in Norway has been around on and off since 1993, since when it has developed from black metal roots… Continue Reading →
Frenetic, psychologically challenging black metal is the greeting. I expected this, having reviewed Hail Spirit Noir’s previous bizarre work “Pneuma” (2012). Once again, ideas come at you from all angles. “Blood Guru” is exciting and colourful with its complex infrastructure…. Continue Reading →
Have you ever been hit by a brick? They call this DIY Hardcore Punk. There’s certainly a natural quality about this album by Serpent Eater from Germany. Anger and an almost unending sense of struggle are the medium for getting… Continue Reading →
This album, the first full release by Shallow Rivers from Moscow, starts in orchestral and metal majesty. The opening title track then heads into a big section of despairing doom but impressively, it presses on and develops rather than grinding… Continue Reading →
Mindtech is such a template name for a technical progressive metal band that I’m amazed it hasn’t been used before. This band from Norway follows that template with this collection of meaty progressive songs. For sure the production of “Elements… Continue Reading →
The cover, the album and track titles and opening strains of the sitar suggest a mystical experience. A deep echo runs underneath. Music from India? No, this is the second album by Cult of Fire, who come from the CzechRepublic…. Continue Reading →
This interesting-looking band features members from Naglfar, Secrets of the Moon, Nachtreich and Matthias Jell, the ex-vocalist of Dark Fortress who was on one of my favourite black metal albums of all time, “Séance”. For sure this was never going… Continue Reading →
The signs indicate that philosophy and dark external forces are a significant factor in this second album by Portuguese band Scarificare. In musical terms, this means black metal with suggestiveness. For me, the packaging outweighed the product here. “Ab Aeterno”… Continue Reading →
France’s Year of No Light are back with a fourth album of atmospheric drone, doom, post-metal or whatever you would like to call it. “Exploring boundless possibilities of unique transcendental expressions of sound” is one description. The key is in… Continue Reading →