Author Reverend Darkstanley
After plunging headlong into a full-scale Harakiri For The Sky obsession last year I was pleasantly surprised to hear only a few weeks ago that the band’s vocalist JJ had spread his wings ready for death or glory with his… Continue Reading →
As much as Nightbringer’s career-defining Ego Dominus Tuus impressed me in my capacity as a good-for-nothing, chin-stroking writer, I never quite bonded with it in the way I’d initially expected. True, it’s often the case that reality fails to match… Continue Reading →
We already know that French black metal bands hold convention in low regard. But these days, if it’s French, it must not only be good, but pushing so many boundaries it’s halfway to the Baltics. At least that’s pretty much… Continue Reading →
Every now and again I veer towards the whole stoner metal scene and usually towards what I think of as its purist form. I sit down with an album by bands like Dopethrone or Weedeater and think that I really… Continue Reading →
Frost bitten French ritualists Nyseius are on their second album now after the last one, more or less an extended EP, introduced the band with a nice icy blast onto the scene. But it’s been years since that album was… Continue Reading →
It’s been a good year for classic black metal with the bar raised pretty high by a bunch of bands that could easily form the beginnings of a decent top ten even at this stage. So it shouldn’t come as… Continue Reading →
“Ok guys, we’ve got 29 minutes to create a good impression – so let’s get to work,’ I imagine Rise of Avernus saying to each other with eager glances as they headed into the studio for the recording of their… Continue Reading →
It’s rare that I reach these levels of excitement about a pagan black metal release – in the same way as I did when I first heard all those early Kampfar, Falkenbach and Forefather releases. It’s not that I’m jaded… Continue Reading →
Helrunar have always stood out from the black metal crowd with their unique atmosphere and Germanic vibe. Rather than relying on the rapid fire blasts and tremolo riffs, the band has increasingly preferred to bludgeon with heavy riffs and hammer-like… Continue Reading →
Looking back across the decades of parents, religious groups and self-appointed moral guardians with too much time on their hands during the 60s, 70s and 80s really didn’t know how good they had it. Anyone complaining about the unholy racket… Continue Reading →
I once read somewhere that the storytellers and magic practitioners of the pagan dark ages would use a range of different voices to create different effects and atmospheres. Given the range of sounds metal vocalists can produce these days, the… Continue Reading →
The French have a habit of throwing curveballs into whatever purist theme tries to assert itself in extreme metal but, even by Gallic standards, Decline Of The I is a CD-sized can of worms. First of all, this is a… Continue Reading →