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Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Reviews

Album Review: Waxen – Die Macht Von Hassen

Toby Knapp, within black/thrash and, for a time power metal, rivals Rogga Johansson and Chris Riefert in sheer output and projects, side and otherwise. We’ve all heard the whole “signed with Shrapnel at 19” story, which is admirable, indeed. It’s 2023, though, so we’re only judging Mr. Knap related to WAXEN, and thus… Robust from the start, ‘Die Macht Von Hassen’ sets the stage, all instruments mixed so as to give a sturdy sonic foundation to the blackened firestorm set to light before us. A semi-martial cadence on the drums soon slows to a near-doom crawl, yet loses none of […]

Music News

TEGMENTUM – A New Cosmic Metal Project – Signs With M-Theory Audio

TEGMENTUM is a cosmic progressive metal project with Michael Ball producing the music and playing guitar, Chelsea Murphy (DAWN OF OUROBOROS, CAILLEACH CALLING) on vocals, Kenji Tsunami (ONTOGENY, NARCOTIC WASTELAND) on bass, and Andrew Baird (FALLUJAH) on drums. This project is formed with the intent of crossing over progressive metal styles with more extreme elements typically found in technical death metal bands. “TEGMENTUM is humbled to be accepted into the M-Theory Audio family. The recognition they’ve given our unique sound means a lot, and we’re immensely grateful for the chance to be featured among their roster of killer bands,” states […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mournful Congregation – The Exuviae Of Gods – Part II [EP]

Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for funeral doom to make the journey from its birthplace (in either England or Scandinavia, a hot point of a debate which has no place in this review) to the primarily sunlit lands of Australia so, for purists – who also likely already know and follow the five-piece – MOURNFUL CONGREGATION were there “back then”. And thus, doth The Exuviae Of Gods – Part II begin with a new recording of ‘Heads Bowed’, from 1995’s An Epic Dream Of Desire demo. Never having been one for re-recordings, feeling them dangerously close to revisionist history, the […]

Music News

THE OBSESSED Announce Canadian Invasion Tour

THE OBSESSED are gearing up to embark on their Canadian Invasion Tour this July. The veteran doom metal quartet will be joined by WITCHROT and THE DEATH WHEELERS (along with HAZEHOUND in Montreal), a special presentation of Fuzzed and Buzzed, the disruptive record label from Toronto specializing in all things Doom. “Hey Wino here. I just wanted to say, on behalf of myself and my band THE OBSESSED, we are excited and looking forward to our upcoming Canadian shows, July 26 through 29. I am proud to say also we have a new member Canadian guitarist Jason Taylor on second […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Vomitory – All Heads Are Gonna Roll

Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby. And when it comes to classic Stockholm death metal, VOMITORY is as real as it gets. Very glad indeed to see these old school OGs wielding their axes again; they live up to the album title and more! The first two tracks hit with all the subtlety of a pit bull on Fentanyl! This is laser focused destruction that reminds me a lot of fellow Swedes DEFLESHED in terms of economy and ferocity. VOMITORY have come up with a kind of paradoxical sound that is raw in true Swe-death fashion, yet it’s also […]

Music News

Progressive Tech Death from the frozen North; Canadians Widow’s Peak unleash debut album Claustrophobe

Seven years since the creative force that is WIDOW’S PEAK first began to take shape in the basements and backstreets of Calgary, the band’s first full length album is ready to be unleashed – and the development from those first faltering steps has been little short of staggering. The eleven pieces of disconcerting destruction that together form Claustrophobe, this magnificent debut album, are characterised by blinding technical ability and formidable power, but also all encompassing atmosphere and a truly alien individuality that sets the band apart from the pack. Standing alone outside the accepted parameters and expected tropes, they deliver […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Lunar Chamber – Shambhallic Vibrations [EP]

Scattered from the Quebec metal stronghold of Montreal, to the eldritch darkness of Rhode Island, to the somewhat unlikely sun-scorched humidity of an Atlanta suburb cometh forth LUNAR CHAMBER and Shambhallic Vibrations. Add to this concoction the members’ chosen monikers of They, Who May Not Be Perceived, Timeworn Nexus and Æther Lotus, and it’s a recipe for either a mind-altering experience or a complete and total wankfest. There really can’t be a middle ground here, you know? The intro/title track sets the scene, already eliciting an Eastern (pardon the pun, or don’t) vibe, and there’s something about a fretless bass […]

Music News

The River release the sublime post-doom dream of A Hollow Full Of Hope through Cavernous Records

It’s been four years since THE RIVER’s critically acclaimed Vessels Into White Tides quietly claimed its place in the hearts of fans of measured, reflective songs. Since then the gradual metamorphosis of the band has continued, leading them to new album, A Hollow Full Of Hope, where flickers of sunlight and birdsong have found their way into the darkest corners of the band’s once dense and impenetrable sound. While the juxtaposition of weight and fragility that first drew fans to THE RIVER’s unique music remains – that play between delicate vocal lines and deep, powerful guitar progressions – a whole […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Melt Motif – Particles. Death Objective

Blended Brazilian / Norwegian combo, MELT MOTIF quietly (or, maybe not so) crept into my Top 10 List for 2022, A White Horse Will Take You Home’s otherworldliness and simple refusal to be beholden to any “scene” or single genre alluring from first listen. The debut got comfortable over repeated listens but, to this day, will occasionally reveal some previously-hidden glitch, beat or melody, the mark of a truly good album. How, then, to top this? I have come to believe the often-documented “sophomore slump” – which also plagued GUNS ‘N’ ROSES after Appetite For Destruction – is at least […]

Music News

THE MOTH: German Doom/Sludge Metal Trio Signs To Exile On Mainstream; LP Due This Fall

Exile On Mainstream welcomes fellow Germans THE MOTH and their groove-heavy brew of doom/sludge metal to the label for their impending LP. Label owner Andreas Kohl states, “Just as a good friend recently put it: ‘This band, with this lineup and this sound – it was just a question of time until they land at your shores. They just belong to Exile On Mainstream.” The friend, Germany’s renowned Metal radio icon Jakob Kranz, envisioned what we kinda felt but didn’t know. So did we finally achieve becoming a label that defines through a certain sound? Have we become so predictable? […]

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