Reviews written by: Jesse

Reviews

Frosthelm - Pyrrhic

North Dakota (USA) based metal band, Frosthelm, has released a solid blackened thrash album in "Pyrrhic" on Revenger Records. This is their second album – the first being, "The Endless Winter" of 2015. Something I comment on continually is texture – the changing of styles, rhythms and musical clashes. "Pyrrhic" contains much texture – from the f...

09/05/2019

Blodhemn - Mot Ein Evig Ruin

One-man metal from Norway, Blodhemn, has released a new album - his second full length album, "Mot Ein Evig Ruin". On the surface, it dances the edges of black metal. And it is in fact black metal. But the musician is influenced by a range of styles and eras in metal that take it way beyond tremolo picking and whiny growls - though there is plen...

07/04/2019

Der Rote Milan - Moritat

"Moritat" is Der Rote Milan’s second album and is a really good listen – as contemporary black metal albums go. I will call it a black meal album... It opens with a simple string picking, 'Die Habsucht', on the clean channel, with some cymbals and background music – then blasts into the full distorted sound. That track goes through a few chan...

28/02/2019

Paragon Impure - Sade

This is a strong black metal inspired album for sure – but I cant say it is a black metal album purely (a question I will leave to the band’s current and future listeners). The reason for this declaration is the thematic nature of the album’s lyrics – reflecting and riffing on the works of, yes, Marquis de Sade (not the first time the Belgian band...

04/01/2019

Imperialist - Cipher

Imperialist, a California based heavy black metal band, has produced a fabulous mega-star record with "Cipher" this year (2018). I mean, this is a powerful album – worthy of listen after listen! I write this for several reasons... I usually associate rhythm changes with black metal, but this band does something extra with their use of rhyt...

02/12/2018

Nefertum – Revered Lames

Nefertum’s REVERED LAMES is a breath of fresh air. From Val D’Agri, Italy, they have done their scene well in that they have taken a sound well done and cleaned it up with some technical strengths and intricacies. The sound to which I refer is the Century Media sound associated with Dimmu Borgir. If you have read any of my numerous reviews here at...

13/05/2010

Fallujah - Leper Colony

The San Francisco Bay Area, USA band, Fallujah, carries on the American tradition of blurring the lines between hardcore and metal. I think we might tag this genre as, “metalcore.” Every time I hear a band that does this well, I think about the one album/one ep band of the East Coast, Prayer for Cleansing and the revolution they caused in the Ameri...

25/03/2010

Strydegor – Back On Ancient Traces

Strydegor, from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Deutschland, titillate my musical tastes with the pagan-affected sounds of "Back On Ancient Traces". I listen to a bunch of metal of course, but have been drawn over the years to some sounds over others. Haven’t all real fans? But this band opens with a pounding drum into, followed by certain old –school musi...

24/03/2010

Brilliant Coldness – Poisoned Reality

Brilliant Coldness, of Ukrainian origin, plays an insistent sound. Insistent Metal is a new descriptor as far as I know. I use it because Brilliant Coldness uses a form of amazing repetition and motif that forms a particularly strong type of death metal. It’s weird because the CD, POISONED REALITY, called, “Kingdom of the Dead,” a title which sound...

11/12/2009

Ablach – Aon

Ablach, from Aberdeen / Obar Dheathain, Scotland, uses a traditional rune (in the style of a tribal tattoo) on their album cover. I like this because it disengages the normal picture of the band or of some other scene. The image has 6 sides, reminiscent of the Star of David, but still, by its inclusion of the death heads at the end of each point, a...

03/12/2009

Cuntscrape/DeathFuckingCunt – Splitroast

There have been bands at odds on splits before, but the Split Roast with Prime Cuts Music mates, Cuntscrape and DeathFuckingCunt could not be more severe for bands on the same label. I assume the collection was decided upon because both bands are porn-core bands with grind and brutal death elements. These similarities, however, are where the overla...

03/12/2009

I Built The Cross - Bridging The Gap Between Heart And Mind

The Nevada, USA grind-core band, I Built the Cross (IBTC) certainly stands out in the Christian Underground scene. Their stuff is as heavy as bands like Splitter and The Lucifer Principle, but they showcase technical prowess in the vein of The Dillinger Escape Plan on their metal side. With “Bridging the Gap Between Mind and Heart,” IBTC opens with...

01/12/2009