Author Andy Pountney
Finnish black metal is in a rude state of health at the moment with bands such as Horna, Sargeist, Archgoat, Baptism and several others all being on permanent rotation for me….. I will now be adding Riivaus to that list…. Continue Reading →
Black metal is much like a living organism, staying true to its roots while constantly evolving and developing, and many modern day black metal outfits have little in common with the forefathers of this genre. However, these days it is… Continue Reading →
“I’ll tell you now and I’ll tell you briefly, I don’t ever want to go to Keighley”……says the John Cooper Clarke poem ‘Burnley’, referring to the West Yorkshire town which was ranked 40 in the book “Crap Towns: The 50… Continue Reading →
Last November I had the pleasure of interviewing Kobra when she rolled into Manchester with Delain, Evergrey and, of course, the rest of Kobra and the Lotus. During that interview we discussed their forthcoming album and she revealed that although… Continue Reading →
Norwegian black metal ensemble Dimmu Borgir were spawned 24 years ago in Oslo when the Norwegian black metal scene was arguably at its creative peak, not just with an explosion of bands and releases which are today revered as “classics”… Continue Reading →
Les Discrets may well have fallen under some radars, but they are a wonderful hidden gem worthy of immediate investigation. Describing themselves as “Cinematographic Indie-Post Rock from France” goes some way to describing their sound but they are really more… Continue Reading →
Day Four Saturday 15th April The final day of any festival is always bitter sweet, with a whole day’s festivities still to look forward to, but also knowing that it is almost over. Thankfully day four at Inferno was another… Continue Reading →
Day Three Friday 14th April Good Friday brought day three of the festival and I couldn’t wait for things to get underway. With things not kicking off until 1730, I had a lie in and then took the opportunity for… Continue Reading →
Day Two Thursday 13th April Before the festival began on day two, I paid a visit to the excellent Katakomben records store, and emptied my wallet on a variety of hard to find black metal releases, before heading back to the hotel… Continue Reading →
Norway’s Inferno Festival is one of the highlights in the gig calendar for me, and this was to be my sixth consecutive pilgrimage to witness an enticing mix of big names rubbing shoulders with the best of the underground from… Continue Reading →
I am not usually a fan of the doomier end of the spectrum, but something about Belgian four piece Bathsheba hooked me in and got inside my head. Opening with ‘Conjuration of Fire’, the spoken word intro gives way to… Continue Reading →
The symphonic female fronted genre is beyond saturation with new bands seeming to appear on a daily basis, and for many of these bands it seems that as long as there is a female warbler at the helm, then nothing… Continue Reading →