<p class="p1">Sporting an excellent depiction of a plague mask on a bed of skulls, the cover art of Dutch black thrashers Villainy's debut album is an enticing prospect! Released through Hammerheart Records, this nine track opening opus gets underway with "Through Whispering Eyes" and sees Villainy produce blackened thrash in volatile waves of crus...

10/08/2014

Sporting that murky demo sound, Wisconsin black metal one man project Aeolus hits the spot perfectly in creating dark, powerful and moody atmospheric black metal, sort of along the lines of early Burzum! "Celestial Forest" was written/performed/recorded/mastered by just one man and so you could call this a labour of love, the end result being a ver...

31/07/2014

Russian outfit Tacit Fury are a band of changes. Originally a symphonic doom/death metal band from Volgograd, the band now plies their trades in the oceans of traditional death metal and have moved to the Russian capital of Moscow. "A Social Berserker" is the bands fourth full length album release in their thirteen year tenure to date and if simpli...

26/07/2014

Ferocious howling vocals signal the beginning of this new black metal epic as ravenous cloaking blackness ensues through the use of harrowing traditional black metal riffs and furious blast beat drumming which all clash to produce cold, menacing rhythms and aggressive, fast paced depravity of an old school/early Darkthrone (Blaze Under The Northern...

25/07/2014

More and more debut albums seem to hitting an impressive level of talent these days and I'd put that down to bands not wanting to get off to a bad start and so practicing their playing and writing skills more before unveiling their work into the public's critical eye. It wasn't always so! Polish black metal duo Odraza have a whole host of other pro...

30/06/2014

Taking their name from the Cumbrian mountain found within the depths of the Lake District, black metal duo Skiddaw have unveiled their debut self titled EP. Opening track 'Skiddaw Forest' is a slow, unyielding piece of work with a calculating drumming display mixed with pleasing bass melodies and tremolo guitar sounds that leads nicely into the mor...

30/06/2014

Bulgarian symphonic black/death metal band Claymore returned last year with a brand new sophomore album, coming as it did after a five year gap between it and their debut album "Prolonged Active Antagonism". This new one is entitled "Vengeance is Near" and opens with "Beast in the Crowd". My initial thoughts? Oh dear! The vocals on this opening tra...

21/06/2014

How about a little blast from the past? Those kind folks at Destro Records have unearthed a real diamond in the rough with the re-release of 1997's "Mists Of Time" album from US black/death metal band Lucifer's Hammer, a band who started out back in the 80's and saw in the new Millennium before calling it a day! What a find "Mists Of Time" is too,...

08/06/2014

I must confess I’m not massively up on my Serbian death metal scene but having been active for the last twelve years and now onto their fourth studio album I would imagine Infest, based in Jagodina, could be considered a pioneer of their countries scene. This year sees the band team up with Spanish label Xtreem Music for their fourth grisly offerin...

30/05/2014

Woe Unto Me hail from Belarus and this sextet specialise in funeral doom metal. "A Step Into The Water Of Forgetfulness" is the bands debut album and comes to you from Solitude Productions. Opening with 'Slough Of Despond', this five track epic gets under way with fusion of atmospheric subtle tones and zombie flick ambiance before a tidal wave of c...

17/05/2014

Esoteric, the UK's dark heart. For many years now this Midlands based band have been inviting us to experience their misanthropic dream scape. Back in 2004 the band released their fourth studio album through Season Of Mist entitled "Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum" and saw the band expand their horizons to a galactic measures. You get q...

14/05/2014

Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden comes sludge doom quartet Walk Through Fire whose brand new studio opus entitled "Hope Is Misery" is being put out by UK label Aesthetic Death! I knew after the first droning minute of 'Sustained In Grief' that I’d like this album, the drawling grooves and long, drawn out tones hitting the spot exactly right! Oh yes,...

14/05/2014