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US black metal often struggles to get the same kudos as its European counterparts. Sure, USBM is not without its charge-leading anti-heroes but take any top fifty black metal albums and you’d struggle to find more than a couple of… Continue Reading →
With bands pilfering from every metal genre through the ages these days, it’s becoming harder to confidently pigeon-hole them but, what the hell, I’m going for it anyway. Cosmic progressive thrash. There, I’ve done it. I’ve slotted Monsterworks into their… Continue Reading →
If we can, for a moment, try to divide the output of the extreme metal scene into the good, the bad and the downright ugly, there is absolutely no question that that Howls of Ebb fall headlong into the foul… Continue Reading →
That’s Lucifer on the front cover, chomping on betrayers Judas, Brutus and Cassius. The cover is based on a painting from the Divine Comedy, and this is combined with drawings by Hieronymus Bosch, with the artwork inside representing the seven… Continue Reading →
Flicknife have been compiling compilations of the many friends and related bands affiliated to Hawkwind past and present since early in the 80’s. Many fans of the band grab these up as readily as releases by Hawkwind themselves and it… Continue Reading →
If only there was another way of describing the various forms of ‘post’ black metal without being as totally dismissive and casually offensive as that description implies. It’s a label that’s almost impossible to get excited about and suggests a… Continue Reading →
Kampfar was one of the bands that defined dark, extreme pagan metal back in the 1990s and has always managed to keep its hobnailed boots planted firmly in respectable black metal territory. Now, with the band’s 20th anniversary approaching, Kampfar… Continue Reading →
One of the skills of black metal is snatching order from the jaws of chaos and Folge Dem Wind manages to remain just inches from the dragon’s teeth. The music the band produces is more like some mesmerising ritual than… Continue Reading →
There are definitely no false idols to be found on this album from pagan black Czech horde Panychida. On this their third album the group take us on quite an enthralling journey through 50 minutes worth of music that is… Continue Reading →
If you’re looking for seamless meeting of metal and electronica that’s just as suited to a Sunday morning as a Friday night, you may have just stumbled into the right place. When Dreams Become Nightmares is the band’s first platter… Continue Reading →
It was inevitable that a band like Behemoth would eventually burst its way out of the underground, eyes filled with blackness and balled fists busting with energy and lightning. Front man Nergal has, clearly, forever had big ideas beyond even… Continue Reading →
DAY FIVE begins. The Borderlands is that rarest of beasts, a found footage film that isn’t total shite. Strange things have been happening at a village church in the West Country, and a team of Vatican investigators are sent to… Continue Reading →