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Album Reviews

Album Review: Liv Kristine – River Of Diamonds

LIV KRISTINE, she of the many bands/projects/faces returns with her sixth solo effort, River Of Diamonds. While yours truly had never really “gotten” LEAVES’ EYES, preferring her work with THEATRE OF TRAGEDY and MIDNATTSOL, the issue was never her vocals, more the musical style. This will be my first foray into LIV KRISTINE, the solo artist. And, as I’m not expecting Velvet Darkness They Fear, I feel I’ll be able to approach the album objectively. ‘Our Immortal Day’ begins, awash in keys, a throbbing bassline and the tandem vocal delivery (shared here by Osten Bergoy of LONG NIGHT and TRISTANIA) […]

Music News

Ascend Ascend: Janaka Stucky Live In Seattle With Lori Goldston 2xLP From Prolific Writer Out On Neurot Recordings

“Janaka Stucky is extraordinary, and his work riveting.” – Jimmy Page Neurot Recordings today unveils Ascend Ascend: Janaka Stucky Live In Seattle With Lori Goldston from prolific writer, poet, and performer JANAKA STUCKY. Praised by Jimmy Page as “riveting,” JANAKA STUCKY’s book length poem, Ascend Ascend, published by Jack White’s Third Man Books in 2019, gets a mesmerizing treatment on this album by the same name, accompanied by experimental cellist Lori Goldston. Goldston, known for her work with several acts – including Nirvana, Cat Power, and Earth – provides otherworldly layers of distortion and natural reverb over Stucky’s dirge-like vocal […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Voidceremony – Threads Of Unknowing

Virtuosity bereft of emotion be damned. If the songs don’t stick in the listener’s mind after the album’s finished, you’ve failed as an artist. This carries over to painting, the printed page, practically any form of would-be artistic expression. Art ceases to be art when “Look what I can do!” takes precedence over “This is how I feel.”, or even more so, “How does this make you feel?”. Three years after its debut full-length, VOIDCEREMONY returns with Threads Of Unknowing. The title track is an onion, multilayered, yet the skin is unwound, almost see-through in its viscosity, riffs and melodies […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Numeron – Road To Valhalla

Having not been exposed to NUMERON’s debut, Void, of 2021, I wasn’t expecting much – or anything, really – from the strangely titled Road To Valhalla. In and of itself, the title places an image in the mind, sure. But when the band in question is based in Indonesia, I find myself thinking of Celtic folk bands from Peru, Southern American-styled doom/riff rock from St. Petersburg, Russia, what have you. Yet Road To Valhalla is what I’ve chosen, so let’s wander on… ‘Light Upon The Ground’ starts our journey, awash in synths and processed vocals, Lufti’s register thus far goth-influenced, […]

Music News

Prophecy Fest announce exclusive AGALLOCH reunion show

The makers of Prophecy Fest are thrilled and proud to announce that US metal legends AGALLOCH have agreed to perform their much longed for reunion show in the original line-up exclusively in the Cave of Balve this year. AGALLOCH comment: “After nearly eight years since the band broke up, AGALLOCH are reforming with the intent of playing limited shows”, guitarist Don Anderson writes on behalf of the trio. “The line-up remains the original three: vocalist and guitarist John Haughm, guitarist Don Anderson, and bassist Jason Walton. We will be aided by Hunter Ginn (Canvas Solaris, Sculptured, Radical Research Podcast) on […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Sever – At Midnight, By Torchlight

So, let’s look at SEVER’s July 2022 Sadistic Sorcery demo as the moment of conception. What this does, in effect, is makes the April release of At Midnight, By Torch Light its birth. Now, what hath founder and (yep, you guessed it) sole entity Ma-Kaxul birthed? ‘Abyssonaut’ instantaneously assaults, clanging and cataclysmic, synths, strings and skins attacking from all sides, but retaining a sense of cohesion, impressive in such a storm. While the drums act more as a placeholder than anything else, I’d have liked to see a more dynamic role in this opener, but we’ve still 5 songs remaining, […]

Music News

SVARTANATT Unveil New Single ‘Child Of The Devil’

SVARTANATT returns with the new single ‘Child Of The Devil’. Following their 2016 self-titled debut album and 2018’s Starry Eagle Eye, the Swedish classic rock outfit are now set to release their third studio full-length, Last Days On Earth, during the fall of 2023. ‘Child Of The Devil’ offers a first taste of the new album, and delivering melodious guitars, heavy organ, high-energy drums, groovy basslines and unique, sharp vocals. SVARTANATT on the new single: “‘Child Of The Devil’ is the first single from our third upcoming album, Last Days On Earth. The song is about a person who has […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mystic Prophecy – Hellriot

Hellriot is the 12th studio album from this German metal institution and I’m hoping this will be the one to get them the attention they deserve. I’m not holding my breath, though, and that’s a shame because when it comes to classic PRIEST/DIO inspired metal with a kick, MYSTIC PROPHECY is hard to beat. This is the kind of record that you’re glad when the band tries nothing new. They don’t really need to. They’ve staked out this territory and dominate it…to me, they should be on the same level as PRIMAL FEAR. Their singer R.D. Liapakis has always been […]

Music News

Wytch Hazel Drops ‘A Thousand Years’ Lyric Video and announces London show with Spell & Parish

Ascending British hard rock sect, WYTCH HAZEL, will release its new album, IV: Sacrament, on June 2 via Bad Omen Records. Recorded with long-time producer Ed Turner (Purson), and tracked in a converted Baptist chapel in rural Wales, the record is a resounding achievement and glittering treasure chest that builds on the momentum of the band’s celebrated 2020 album III: Pentecost, glorified by Under The Radar as “an invocation of rock and roll at its purest and, more specifically, of all that made the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in the late ’70s so special” and compelled Metal Injection […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mork – Dypet

MORK is Thomas Eriksen. And if black metal is even in the periphery of your musical world, you are familiar with the name. For nearly two decades Eriksen has been a force of might and misanthropy, even more impressive that he’s churned out now six full-lengths as well as four EPs by his loathsome lonesome all within the past ten years. What sounds like your little brother’s dungeon synth project practicing in his bedroom soon enough is joined by mournful guitars, very near to doom in delivery, and suddenly the synth belongs there, seeming natural and fluid. Set alight and […]

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