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Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Reviews

Album Review: T.O.M.E. – I-III

Though from the hotbed of black metal of all discernable forms that is Finland, T.O.M.E – formed nearly a decade and a half ago – is only now seeing its debut realized for wider consumption. Originally independently released in 2009, I-III now bears the mark of Spread Evil, and, as such, is the herald of future material. Distended notes hang in the chilled air, no semblance of warmth at the start of ‘I’, near-doom tempo and plod ala AVSKY, yet fanged and clawed, let not the slowness be mistaken for lethargy or laziness. By 3 ½ minutes in, what’s come […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Witherfall – The Curse Of Autumn

While Nocturnes And Requiems and its follow-up, A Prelude To Sorrow, quickly established California’s WITHERFALL as modern prog-power players on a field that simply doesn’t have that many worthy competitors in the band’s native US, I confess a bit of trepidation when it came to The Curse Of Autumn. Would this be just another disappointment when it comes to third albums released thus far in 2021, or would the quintet finally find their own sound and wake the sleeping giant I felt might lie dormant within? After the neck-snapping rhythms and skipping riffs of ‘The Last Scar’ revealed itself as […]

Music News

Byzantine announces 21st anniversary USA tour

Formed in the summer of 2000, progressive groove metal band BYZANTINE will headline 15 performances this July and August, with local support acts TBA. Frontman and founding member Chris “OJ” Ojeda comments: “Maintaining a band with 4 members for this long has been one of the most difficult, yet rewarding tasks I’ve taken on. We formed the same year as Mastodon, The Ocean and Between The Buried And Me, and to be able to write and record music on a label such as Metal Blade Records at this point in our career is very rewarding. We look forward to performing […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: BRÆ – A Thousand Ways To End It All

Here we go a-fucking-gain. That’s it, after this one right here, I’m not reviewing anything with the word “ambient” in the one-sheet by choice for at least two weeks. I mean, all the boxes were ticked, in fairness to BRÆ. 40+ minute album, two songs clocking in at over 20 minutes apiece. Reverences to “faceless beings”, so on, and so forth. But “insane shrieks” and “raw” were mentioned, so there was hope I wasn’t going to end up in another DEAFHEAVEN album hearing critical darlings / Pitchfork dandies whine about their “feelings”. As the lone piece on A Thousand Ways […]

Music News

Cirith Ungol reveals details for new EP, Half Past Human; launches new single, ‘Brutish Manchild’

On May 28th, CIRITH UNGOL will release their new EP, Half Past Human, via Metal Blade Records. For a first preview, the new single, ‘Brutish Manchild’, can be heard at THIS LOCATION, where the EP can also be pre-ordered in the following formats: digipak-CD 180g black vinyl (EU exclusive) sheer violet marbled vinyl (EU exclusive – limited to 500 copies) orange aurora vinyl (EU exclusive – limited to 300 copies) yellow marbled vinyl (EU exclusive – limited to 300 copies) picture disc (EU exclusive – limited to 500 copies) dark red marbled vinyl (US exclusive) The globe was ravaged by […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Arepo – Arepo

In the ridiculously varied phases and moods of music I’ve gone through in my near half-century on the planet, this one seems to be new. Amid the standards – ‘70s guitar rock, doomed-out sludge, pagan black, Southern hymnody and Neofolk – this ambient thing has thrown me. Maybe I’m appreciating what background music can be? Damned if I could tell you, but here’s AREPO, a duo with a past in everything from BLEACH EVERYTHING (who I have heard and enjoy) to HARMONIC CROSS (who I haven’t, but will after this). Okay, the one-sheet referring to the album as “the most […]

Music News

Texas Death Metal Squad CATHEXIS Signs to Willowtip, Debut Album Out June 25

Austin (TX) – Rising Death Metal force CATHEXIS has signed with Willowtip Records! The band will release debut album Untethered Abyss June 25 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. The album’s first single, ‘Mortuus In Perpetuum’, has been released and is streaming now on YouTube and Bandcamp. Untethered Abyss is the culmination of six years of painstaking songwriting and a carefully selected cast of international talent amassed to bring forward a finely tuned and unrelenting piece of modern death metal. Untethered Abyss is eight tracks of tightly focused death metal with a production that captures the humanity and unfiltered energy […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Spectral Lore – Ετερόφωτος

It’s hard to believe just one man is responsible for everything you hear on this release. The Greek title is a pain in the ass to reproduce, but that doesn’t change the fact that SPECTRAL LORE aka Ayloss is one of the very best black metal bands in the world. This is a massive effort that actually takes up two vinyl albums and more than 75 minutes of time. Almost all of that time is deeply fascinating, and packed with both raw energy and great musicianship. You can call SPECTRAL LORE philosophical black metal that leans towards the grandiose. Only […]

Music News

VAN CANTO Reveals Official Teaser for Upcoming Album, To The Power Of Eight – Pre-Order Starts NOW

The world’s most exciting acapella metal masters VAN CANTO return with their energetic and unique Rakkatakka-power and are set to release their highly anticipated, eighth inimitable offering, To The Power Of Eight, on June 4, 2021 via Napalm Records. Prepare for an outstanding vocal offering smashing in with full force! The record marks another milestone in the band’s impressive career and presents VAN CANTO as a coherent entity stronger than ever! With an impressive new teaser, VAN CANTO draw their devotees into a flawless universe and sonic adventure to deliver a glimpse of what can be expected in this multifaceted […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Bizarrekult – Vi Overlevde

Sixteen years after its initial formation, it’s BIZARREKULT that I’m trusting to give me a break, however short, from this ambient / instrumental mode I’ve been in of late. Having never heard a note of its music, I’m putting a lot of faith in a band who’s only now releasing its debut full-length. And thus… Of course an intro, of course of the ambient sort I’d just mentioned trying to get a respite from, but still different enough from what I’ve been hearing that I’m not perturbed. Mercifully, ‘For 1000 Ar Siden’ arrives, the first thing leaping out of the […]

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