Woods Of Ypres final album is a great captivating work of dark splendour. Anthemic, brooding, and beautifully morose. Continue reading
BORKNAGAR – “Urd”
The latest instalment form the folk/progressive black metal ensemble included the welcome return of ICS Vortex (Dimmu Borgir, Arcturus). Continue reading
BLACK TUSK – “Set The Dial”
After finding out that Red Fang were on tour I looked into who was supporting to see if it was worth going to….and found Black Tusk. Another Stoner Rock band that owes a nod to Mastodon but also High On Fire and sounds exactly like you would expect. Continue reading
RED FANG – “Murder The Mountains”
Prehistoric Dog / Wires / Hank is Dead – 3 Songs, 3 Videos – For most bands it would be ‘Band play in a warehouse plus attractive girl doing nothing interesting’. Continue reading
CHRISTIAN MISTRESS – “Possession”
On paper joining the ever increasing band wagon of ‘New Wave Of Traditional Metal’ however these worshippers of the ‘Old Skool’ have an ace up their collective spandex. Continue reading
ELUVEITIE – “Helvetios”
Folk Metal rising stars Eluveitie return with their anticipated new album and on the surface an 18 track concept album covering the Gaulish/Roman war appears a daunting/risky task (As a band they’ve already proved to be willing to take risks by following up Slania with the fully acoustic Omnos) . Continue reading
THE DEVIL’S BLOOD – “The Thousandfold Epicentre”
A 2011 release: Having decided to ‘take a punt’ on this album, after reading various positive comments from such metal luminaries as Alan Averill among others, I found myself curious as to what to expect from The Devil’s Blood. Continue reading
SWALLOW THE SUN – “Emerald Forest And The Blackbird”
Whilst there is no denying the influence of My Dying Bride on Swallow The Sun’s sound and evolution, the band have their own distinctive sound within the genre. Continue reading
SEAR BLISS – “Eternal Recurrence”
Hungary’s Sear Bliss have been on the scene for many years since their inception in 1994. I stumbled across them on a sampler CD in 1996 and was instantly smitten, but they have remained little-known over here. Continue reading
EXHUMED – “All Guts, No Glory”
Following up after Autopsy’s superb release last year, comes Exhumed and it appears they’ve been listening to a lot of thrash recently. Continue reading