Tag borknagar
As I’ve mentioned previously, one of the nice things about this festival is that it is not just about the music, it is so much more. On the final day, I took the opportunity to explore the Midgard Vikingsenter a… Continue Reading →
If God is Seven! I am mildly surprised that Sarke have reached their seventh full length release – it seems like just the other day that I listened to Vorunah for the first time. Turns out that debut was released in 2009! Waaaaaahhhhh! This time… Continue Reading →
White Ward were one of the bands for whom the pandemic could not have come at a worse moment. Their absorbing last LP Love Exchange Failure, released in the autumn of 2019, fusing lounge jazz with black metal, had left… Continue Reading →
2020 was a difficult year for most people and given the time, musicians in particular had to find their own different ways to deal with it. Many were very active on social media, posting blogs, lockdown videos, acoustic tracks and… Continue Reading →
If a lot of traditional Norwegian black metal is a mass of thorny bushes growing from the rich Norwegian loam, becoming tangled up and like a single mass, Mork are the ones who stand apart: Superficially the same but get… Continue Reading →
This is an intriguing proposition from Norway, a new act featuring some old friends taking things in an unexpected direction. Vocally we have ex Tristania singer Vibeke Stene who is naturally associated with symphonic metal. With her we are joined… Continue Reading →
Back in February, Niklas Sundlin felt that the time was right to let some of his creative ideas which didn’t quite fit for Dark Tranquillity gain a life and identity of their own. ‘Mitochondrial Sun’, the self-titled debut album of… Continue Reading →
Symphonic Black Metal band Nachtterror…no, hang on, merely using the term “Symphonic Black Metal” does not do Nachtterror justice. OK, as labels go, it’s not a million miles away and yes there are plenty of Symphonic Black Metal elements to… Continue Reading →
“Thunder In The Mountains” is the third full-length album from American Avant-garde (naturally) Extreme Metal band Dzö-Nga. It admirably continues the bands lyrical journey through Native American folklore (“Thunder In the Mountains” is lyrically based on on H. W. Longfellow’s… Continue Reading →
Even though this super-talented American band are new to me, this is actually their second release, which I am assured follows on perfectly from their previous album released in 2017. To be fair, there is so much variation and melded… Continue Reading →
Top 20 2019 Pete Woods (Editor) What a year 2019 has been musically, the sheer wealth of releases has made it a really difficult task choosing the albums that have made it special. The last few months have in particular… Continue Reading →
Borknagar are ever-evolving. Never static, never predictable, defying labels and genres, a constantly morphing force of Progressive Extreme Metal that show no signs of stagnation. Previous album “Winter Thrice” was an absolute masterpiece that just gets better with time, but… Continue Reading →