03 Nov 2023 - Thorsten
Avantgarde Black MetalWorld Death Metal

When it comes to Metal with World Music influences there is always that thin red line (or razor’s edge, if you like) that the bands have to walk on. On the one side of the blade you will find Sepultura (and/or Soulfly) and on the other are bands like Ill Niño – you can decide for yourself which one is the good side. Now we get a new (symphonic) Blackened Death Metal band named Ershetu who perform on the Sepultura side of things and who have released their debut on Debemur Morti Productions. Really good stuff!

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02 Nov 2023 - Knut
Post-Rock

A billowing current of energetic, fuzzy Post-Rock surges effortlessly from the softest touches of music and meanders through gushes of musical distortion. The trio of Paolo Cirillo, Gianluca Zannone and Libero Verardi knows how to fuse guitar, drums, and bass to create impeccable musical art as a way to develop the ideas behind their music.

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31 Oct 2023 - Thorsten
Black MetalGrindcoreNoise

Which moment might be the hardest in all of the history of mankind? Answer Rorcal: That one moment – for each person individually or as a whole society – when we realize that the end is unavoidable that we cannot change it anymore no matter what we do about it. The moment of total silence. Of course, their new album is not one of complete Silence, it’s just the idea behind it. Nevertheless, this kind of “silence” might be one of the most brutal, devastating and haunting ones ever.

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27 Oct 2023 - John O.
AmbientDrone

On their accomplished debut album Melodic Drone, Unruly Disturbance deftly blends expansive electronic soundscapes and resonant, expressive melodies across a lengthy 16 tracks. With a run time of more than an hour and a half, there are plenty of immersive worlds in which to lose one’s self.

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27 Oct 2023 - Martin
Melodic Blackened Metal

Pssst, you…yeah, YOU! In search for new music? Then I have something special for you…a band still somehow relatively unknown, but oh so good. A hidden champion of Melodic Blackened Metal, just waiting for you to be unveiled. A maelstrom of heavy circular riffing, forward pushing drumming, sweeping melodies and intriguing storytelling, that will make an lasting impact, the second you hear it´s mesmerizing charm. Accompanied by unique visual elements and a warm, clear sound, you get the full package here. So, do I have your attention?! Then let me introduce you to Crystal Coffin and their new masterpiece The Curse Of Immortality.

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23 Oct 2023 - Thorsten
SynthwaveIndie-Rock

Lush. If there is one thing that my wife and I cannot agree on, then it is my preference for soap of that name, because if I use soap and not some kind of creamy soap lotion or something, then I like that one. However, when putting on Slowdive’s new record everything is alive we both agree that lushness can be something great, because when there is a band with the ability to wrap you in a blanket and give you comfort that feels as lush as this one – then it’s a moment for the heart. Even though its background story is a very sad one.

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22 Oct 2023 - Jeremy (former writer)
Post-MetalSludge Metal

The soul crushing full-length debut from London based Post-Metal collective Novere has seemingly, for me at least, came out of nowhere to thrust themselves at the top of AOTY discussion.

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21 Oct 2023 - Stephan
Post Black Metal

War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

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20 Oct 2023 - John O.
AmbientElectronic Chill Out

Ed Herbers takes listeners on a “nighttime odyssey” with his latest album, Coming of Age. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Herbers’ contemplative piano and guitar sojourns evoke strong feelings of nostalgia through a rich compositional style focused on graceful melodies and gossamer soundscapes. The album explores themes of loneliness and angst that unfurl along the journey of a supposed protagonist of a movie that doesn’t yet exist.

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19 Oct 2023 - Hunter

When thinking about ‘Rock’n’Roll’, it is likely that someone might imagine their father talking about back when bands made ‘real music’, classic rock songs played on the radio, or cringe-worthy karaoke renditions of Journey witnessed at a bar. Over the decades, rock music has distanced itself from its blues-y origins and branched into innumerable genres and subgenres where the original moniker no longer provides an accurate portrayal of the music. At its best, rock is a blanket term. In most situations, however, describing music as ‘Rock’ has more or less come to mean ‘not Hip-Hop or Country music’. The wanton abandon and loosely-controlled sonic chaos of electric-blues music as well as the label created to describe the style in its infancy are relics of the past which have lost relevance and meaning long ago. What does ‘Rock’n’Roll’ even mean anymore? On their most recent release, Norwegian outfit Årabrot imbibes the essence of rock throughout an eclectic assortment of tracks.

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18 Oct 2023 - Knut
Post-Rock

On their third, eponymous album First Came the Shadow have widened their musical scope with a layered album with wonderful, complex orchestration where the instruments infiltrate each other. At times the music sounds elusive, sometimes dense and engulfing.

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17 Oct 2023 - Lucia
Black Metal

There are albums that I know I will immediately love without even listening to them and then be blown away by the beauty and the emotion. Such is the case of Drache’s Devenir le rien. This is music that will pierce your soul, a downpour of emotion, bleakness and all those haunting things and feelings that lurk deep inside, just waiting to come out.

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16 Oct 2023 - Daria
Black MetalAtmospheric Black Metal

This time I may have crossed a peculiar line. I always try to explain why I choose some records to review, and I have my reasons for this one as well. It may not be the kind of music that I listen to everyday but I have my reasons for this choice: female vocals (It’s always nice to feel represented in music), aggressive and intriguing riffs, use of a language that is not English (yes sorry, I’m a simple linguist, I see lyrics in a foreign language and I’m already intrigued). Another brief note to catch your attention: if you’re into black metal with an epic twist this record may be for you!

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13 Oct 2023 - Martin
Death Metal

In times like these, do you also want to escape the harshness of reality without neglecting its very existence? Maybe even observing the power of fear embodied, the potential for chaos we experience, from close range, but nonetheless securely enjoyed in the safe space of the imaginary? You might be utterly captivated by the unknown and its presence intensively felt. So behold! I will convey to you the greatest ”pleasure” you can have with the embodiement of boundless evil this year: the mighty Sulphur Aeon and their newest sonical take on the Cthulhu -mythos of Lovecraftian lore. Melodic Blackened Death Metal at its most diverse and potent!

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11 Oct 2023 - Gene

An incisive, fiery achievement unerring in vision and execution!

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08 Oct 2023 - Knut
PostHardcore

Damokles´ sophomore album is even more feisty than the first one. They have fused their creative forces into making another engaging, ferocious, and high-spirited album.

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07 Oct 2023 - Stephan
Post-Metal

The AI secretly running this site reminded me that my Post Metal review quota doesn’t meet the required expectations for this quarter yet. This could have been a problem, because the wall of monolithic monumentality usually built in this genre often tends to feel a bit stale and tiring on studio albums to me. Fortunately the Norwegians Dwaal recently released their second album - and it doesn’t fall into this category.

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05 Oct 2023 - Knut
Post-Metal

A debut release made by seasoned Grenoble-based musicians for connoisseur listeners. The band´s take on Post-Metal is unique in form and performance and at the same time deeply rooted within the genre and open to nearby genres.

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03 Oct 2023 - Thorsten
Industrial Metal

Iskandr has shed its skin and yet it is the same kind of appealing snake it has always been – a mix of deadly seduction and dark mentality, but now clad in Post-Punk and Industrial sounds. O.’s latest work Spiritus Sylvestris is very convincing but please do not think it is a completely new thing for our beloved Gelderland-historian!

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03 Oct 2023 - Thorsten
Heavy Metal

It was “Abraxan Hymns“ all along. And all over again. Again all overwhelming, this time also at second glance. Baroness reclaim a throne they built for themselves by not lurking in the shadows behind it like some characters in Game of Thrones but rather by sprinting in its direction, ramming everyone in their wake from it and then slowly and gracefully descending onto it with a big smile saying “We never left, you just didn’t see us!”

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02 Oct 2023 - Knut
Death Jazz

Give me an F! Give me an A! Give me a D! Give me a J!. What´s that spell?!! What´s that spell?!! Furious, Angry, Death, Jazz!

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28 Sep 2023 - Knut
Post-Metal

Somewhere beyond the Post-Metal highway, floating on undulating oceanic waves, in the eye of a storm the true nature of Helve´s debut album unfolds. It does so with fifty sublime minutes of melodic heavy, dense music and surging glissading crescendos.

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26 Sep 2023 - Daria
Post-Metal

I did it again, I don’t know how, call it sixth sense or magic witch vibe. I managed to keep an eye on this record for a few months and now that I had the time to review it I found it completely right for these days. So, keep on reading, I’m going to tell you why World Builder by Stillbeing would be a perfect dystopian Armageddon soundtrack.

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25 Sep 2023 - Stephan
Psychedelic Rock

So there you are again! It has been two years, you know! Have you been dancing in the woods and skinny-dipping in the lakes all that time? Now bring me back to my happy place, you darn Swedish hippies!

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22 Sep 2023 - Martin
Black Metal

Winter is coming and Hexvessel provides you with the most fitting soundtrack for the months to come. Their ”Polar Veil” will settle over the scenery of your mind. Experiences of solitude and foreboding doom as also impressions of nature´s sublime will accompany you on a journey through deep snow, harsh winds and a starlit sky to the cabin in the woods. Embrace freedom, darkness and the call of the wild! You may find spiritual transcendence or at the very least an absolutely captivating record!

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