Evocative, emotional, atmospheric… beautiful. I have run out of adjectives to try and describe the feelings I have when I listen to this recording. Written over a 5 year period, Dan Capp, the artist behind Wolcensmen, and guitarist in Winterfylleth, has poured his heart and soul into each and every track. Continue reading
Category Archives: Music Reviews
LUNATIC HOOKER – “Embracing The Filth”
Hopefully this won’t cause any misunderstood nomenclature-based relationship woes, but I love Lunatic Hooker. It’s almost impossible to believe that such panache and grime can walk hand-in-hand, but in the aptly titled Embrace The Filth they do precisely that. Grandiose metal class. Complete and utter dirt. Continue reading
DE PROFUNDIS (UK) – “Decayed, 2007-2017”
De Profundis are one of those rare metal bands that, when you first discover them, you realise your folly of not hunting them out sooner and instantly curse those friends of yours that knew about the band already (including having played gigs with them), but had not forced you to listen to them. They are that good… Continue reading
WINTERFYLLETH – “The Dark Hereafter”
Following on from 2104’s excellent and career defining release, “The Divination Of Antiquity”, England’s heritage black metal heroes Winterfylleth are back. With their label sold and becoming part of the Spinefarm family these songs have been in the can for a while, so its good to see them finally see the light of day.
The title track kicks things off with familiar blast beats and whirling guitars and those who bathed in TDOA will know the track “Pariahs Path”. “Ensigns Of Victory” is my favourite track from the opening three, which have a different feel to the last two tracks with the familiar folk tinged black metal assault. Continue reading
THE KING IS BLIND – “Our Father”
Kicking off with the true essence of Napalm Death, you know from first contact that Our Father is going to heavily present one thing; classic, European leaning death metal. The aesthetic Verdigris of international anarcho-punk smears the surface of every track, and some supreme tangents of doom break for air, but still, it is a sound which is death to (or perhaps from) its core. Continue reading
NOVEMBRE – “Ursa”
It seems like a lifetime ago since the last Novembre album, The Blue, was released. It’s been a long 9 years without Novembre releasing any new material. At the time I had only just become a fan of their music and snapped up much of their back catalogue very quickly. So when I heard that there was a new album on its way on Peaceville Records, I was very excited to hear what we’d all been missing for since 2007… and I was not disappointed! Continue reading
ESCHATON – “Sentinel Apocalypse”
Sentinel Apocalypse from Eschaton is just one of those releases that seems utterly perfect at executing the first blow in bare-knuckle, technical death metal. Everything that happens after opener, Obligatory Conviction, is undeniably fantastic, but it is in the first few moments that followers of bands such as Man Must Die, Agonyst, and Meshuggah are likely to be hooked. Continue reading
ANGMAER – “Towards Darkness’ Paradise”
One-man, black metal band: a phrase that can strike pre-emptive disappointment into the heart of even the most stalwart extreme music aficionado. It can frequently be the case that these projects lack any kind of individuality or panache, aspects which are thankfully becoming more mandatory in the genre. UKEM’s recent signing, Angmaer, is luckily not guilty of this particular sin.
As the bio states, this is very true to the 1990s’ golden age of BM. The character must be incredibly hard for one person to capture this successfully on their own, and in that Towards Darkness’ Paradise is most assuredly a great success. Although it embraces a touch of the clarity brought to later BM releases, it retains an undeniably classic quality. Continue reading
BLACK TALON – “Endless Realities”
It may only be May, but 2015 has already been awash with fresh thrash offerings, some absolute belters, some a bit flaccid, to be generous. Black Talon now step into the spotlight with their debut long-player, Endless Realities, and something magical is happening. This is genuine street thrash, brought up, full time, in the shadows at the edge of the genre’s history, and splattered with the arterial spray of death metal. If the latter is the input of guitarist Mike Robertson, also of Edinburghian brutes, Cancerous Womb, then it’s well-smoothed around the edges. Continue reading
ANIHILATED – “Anti Social Engineering”
Remember when you first fell in love with Metallica’s last great album, And Justice For All? What? You didn’t like it? First of all, there’s a chance we can’t be friends, and second, you could well be put off Anihilated’s freshest release, Anti Social Engineering, from the offset. There’s a more diverse character to the long-player, but the riff that primes the album is very reminiscent of that particular moment in the thrash giants’ career, and it echoes on throughout. If ‘the big 4’ had Anthrax switched out for Testament, and were merged into one band, this sound could very well be the result, instrumentally speaking. Continue reading