Author Frank Allain
OK, confession time – I listen to most of my music on my Ipod when travelling around. As much as I’d love to spend hours each evening huddled in front of my vinyl player with the lights dimmed, absorbing every… Continue Reading →
This has certainly been a long time coming. Back in 2007 and at the height of the orthodox ‘for Him’ renaissance of truly Satanic black metal, this obscure Swedish duo released their debut ‘De Contemplanda Morte: De Reverencie Laboribus Ac… Continue Reading →
These boys work fast it seems. Hot on the heels of 2013’s ‘Omen Ex Simulacra’ comes the latest instalment of disturbing, horrific death metal from the prolific US-based duo. Coming as it does barely 9 months after that most recent… Continue Reading →
This is an interesting one – having a brief scan of the CVs of the members of this outfit reveals a host of interesting (and disparate) names: Afflicted, Nasum, Maze of Torment, Crematory, Kaamos and a fair few others. Having… Continue Reading →
My first introduction to the work of Roman Saenko (and by extension, the Ukrainian Black Metal scene) was the debut demo from Hate Forest, ‘Scythia’ that saw the light of day back in 1999-2000. This 25-minute recording showcased a unique… Continue Reading →
In a short space of time, this Swiss two-piece have created serious, serious waves in the underground. Despite only having one official release out there, they are already being hailed as that old favourite, the ‘next big thing’ in Death… Continue Reading →
Absolutely no messing about courtesy of a short, sharp three-track demo from this Germanic five-piece. To hell with intros or any of that sort of window-dressing – ‘Til Only The Light is Left’ races out of the gates in a… Continue Reading →
Cold, crisp melodic black metal here from this Bergen-based troupe, the crystalline-clear chilliness seeming to embody the windswept coastal city from which they hail. ‘Solace’ is the embodiment of a band with firm ideas of how they wish to sound… Continue Reading →
Occult-themed black metal is the order of the day from this Polish trio. Suitably esoteric artwork, themes of dark, destructive magic and spiralling, jagged riffs – what more could a follower of the blasphemic arts ask for? Well, a decent… Continue Reading →
‘All things come to he who waits’ goes the saying and in Thine’s case, it feels particularly apt. Back in 2002, the band’s star was very much in the ascent. 1998’s eclectic and well-received debut ‘A Town Like This’ was… Continue Reading →
Great album cover. Let’s get that out of the way now – a brooding, immense painting of a cavernous underground temple with only a few thin shafts of light penetrating the murk, it’s a hark back to the days of… Continue Reading →
It starts with a lone clean guitar – plaintive, bleak, reflective. And then, the weight – crushing doom-laden chords, toms booming with cathedral levels of reverb, the melancholic essence of the initial refrain still intact. An incredible opening and over… Continue Reading →