Tag Progressive
Solace and Stable are self-proclaimed “progressive metalcore bruisers” from Kansas City. What I heard after a deliberate start was an explosion into brutal death growls with incongruous colourful technicality going on in the background. There’s a touch of Suspyre there,… Continue Reading →
Threshold may not need introduction. After all they are a long-standing band with a pedigree of eight albums prior to this one. Their music seems on the face of things to be straightforward, but the more you look into it,… Continue Reading →
This quartet from Basel, Switzerland have been plugging away with their low-slung dramatics since 2003, and this constitutes their third long-player; this time with a new “fixed” line-up. The fact it’s getting a release on the revered Candlelight label proves… Continue Reading →
With an unusual sounding band name comes an unusual album. I’d seen this second album from the French band described as “melodic death metal” but this is much more than that. There’s a bit of everything here. The sound is… Continue Reading →
Linear Sphere set themselves the ambitious task of tracing mankind’s journey through the ages. Ambitious is a good way to describe “Manvantara”, the band’s carefully constructed second album. The opener “Origin” is much more than a scene setter and musically… Continue Reading →
USBM is no longer an entity that can be considered clear cut and orthodox. The foundations laid down by the likes of Judas Iscariot and Krieg and later adopted by everyone from Kult Of Azazel to Nachtmystium entered new territories… Continue Reading →
I’ve been following Danish band Mnemic since their first album “Mechanical Spin Phenomena” in 2003. This and its successor “The Audio Injected Sound” (2004) showed signs of a fresh face in the world of modern, futuristic metal or metalcore or… Continue Reading →
Everly, Jackson, Gibb, Allman, Gallagher, Cavalera; I could go on but you should have joined the dots by now. Adding to that list of Bros in bands we now have the Von Hertzen’s who we are informed are the ‘wild… Continue Reading →
I’ve been a fan since I first heard these guys in ’92 and a friend gave me the first four albums, so I’m rather familiar with most of the material that’s been rerecorded for this album. After the first few… Continue Reading →
There is nothing hurried about this album from Portugal’s The Firstborn. “Lions Among Men” opens with the shaking of a tambourine, every 5-10 seconds and after about a minute some guitar harmonics and sustains start making a presence, at around… Continue Reading →
Amongst the usual stuff I think about, recently there has been the question as to what we actually mean by extreme metal. I wonder because it seems to have been reduced to “has been known to use ‘death’ vocals.” In… Continue Reading →
Barren Earth are both a fairly new but also familiar sounding group whose fronds dig deep into the frozen soil of Finland and comprise members of many well known acts from the land synonymous with atmospheric doom and gloomy… Continue Reading →