There are probably quite high expectations for At The Gates to live up to with this, their first album since 1995’s landmark melodic death metal opus, Slaughter Of The Soul. I’m certainly feeling a certain sense of trepidation hitting the play button, but my hopes are high after hearing the preview title track. Continue reading
MORGUL is a society created by the metalheads, punks and rockers of the University of Glasgow, for anyone who wants to join, and have had an online presence on Facebook for around 18 months.
Focusing on bands that play Glasgow and/or Edinburgh often, Morgul spent Fresher’s Week in 2013 handing out free CDs to interested Freshers, Students, and gig-goers that featured some of the very best Scottish metal, in an effort to increase interest in local talent and gig-attendance.
It must have gone well as they are back again this year with another compilation for the 2014 intake, with another great selection of local talent to whet the appetite of anyone looking for decent live music in the North, including some notable TMA favourites like NNGNN, Cnoc An Tursa, Adabroc, Saor, Man Made Origin, Achren and Atragon! Continue reading
So here we are; 4 Winterfylleth albums in… yet it only seems like yesterday that these boys were playing in front of a few staunch separatists like myself in sweaty underground clubs. The band as a group, since all but the very earliest live outings, has been consistent and since the second album, “The Mercian Sphere”, the same lads have written and recorded the music. The thing is, the band themselves have been on a bit of a journey in the last 12 months, and I believe that this has resulted in the album of their careers thus far. A tour with Enslaved, festival appearances around Europe and then time to reflect and write have resulted in something very special indeed. Continue reading
Those that know me are well aware of my distaste…. even open hostility for music that I can only describe as ‘wafty’. Doesn’t matter who it is (even Enslaved sail a bit close sometimes), if you’re showing off and widdling so wildly, progging so madly that you forget about the SONGS, you can fuck right off. That’s not too say I don’t like ‘technical’ music but songs come first. Plus I like my death metal to be bludgeoning. I wanna feel beaten up & concussed at the end of the record, not stroke my beard (that I haven’t got) and nod sagely. I wanna be in a pool of sweat having been sonically violated… which brings me to the new album by Iceland’s Beneath. Continue reading
Despite forming in 2005, this only the third release, and second full-length from tech-death Swedes Soreption. Its predecessor, “Deterioration Of Minds”, released four years earlier in 2010, was somewhat of a behemoth, so this time around they have some significant living up to do. Continue reading
Are you listening? Have I got your attention? Good! Because, this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you make brutal, blackened, extreme death metal for modern listeners! Memorable in character from the first riff, this is a stupendously defiant recording on all fronts. If ever I heard so many consistent blast beats being put to such effective use, I simply don’t remember it. Continue reading
sleepmakeswaves are a post-rock band from the land down under who ‘write love songs about delay pedals’ and have been doing the rounds since 2006 but it was debut album “…And So We Destroyed Everything” in 2011 that gained them attention and quite rightly too with a gorgeous and atmospheric take on the instrumental post-rock genre.
Second album ‘Love Of Cartography’ expands and builds on this platform and then some to stunning affect by going for an impressively BIGGER sound with a bucket full of subtle additional influences the stand them out form the burgeoning crowd.
Fans of God Is An Astronaut and Axes should definitely take note Continue reading
Various Artists – “One And All, Together, For Home”
Beautifully packaged on both CD and Vinyl versions, a collection of bands delve into their nation’s musical cultural heritage and produce music generally not associated with their ‘regular’ output. The idea was born from Roman Saenko (Hate Forest, Drudkh, Old Silver Key, Rattenfanger and others!) and Drudkh feature with 2 tracks based on Ukrainian folk songs. Continue reading
I’m not really sure how it’s happened, but despite the fact that this is the fourth album from The More I See (featuring the guitar stylings of Gizz Butt – The Prodigy, Janus Stark, English Dogs, Sabbat!), it’s the first one I’ve heard. There are only four tracks from the full-length provided here, but the Earache label have uploaded the whole thing as a series of individual videos. Continue reading
SHORES OF NULL – “Quiescence”
If you like your death doom, with a vocalist who has range, this album has to be on your to buy list. Cover art featuring a dead tree is often a clue to what’s in store on the disc, and a melancholic myriad of misery and despair ensues. However, the band whom hail from Rome, deliver an album which is heavy yes, but which has very catchy melodies and a vibe not too dissimilar to Ghost Brigade, Katatonia and err, Alice in Chains! Yep, that’s what I am hearing and that’s what I am loving folks. Continue reading