Category: Reviews

  • Swallow The Sun: New Moon

    At its core, New Moon is about what Swallow The Sun have been doing at their best — infectious, melancholy, and swaying lead guitar melodies eventually overwhelmed by crushing fuzz surging against the backdrops of subtle keyboard ambiance. It’s quite possible that there will be time when Swallow The Sun’s sound is in need of…

  • Grave Miasma: Exalted Emanation

    Grave Miasma is the latest proponent of death metal done right. This is nasty, ugly stuff. While not as sharp in attack as Dead Congregation nor as profoundly murky as Mitochondrion nor as surreal as Portal, Grave Miasma entrenches itself in something of a middle ground. Tate Bengston investigates the new EP by British death…

  • Otargos: Fuck God-Disease Process

    By Ola Mazzuca Whether you feel that black metal bands of today are becoming increasingly predictable or losing their touch, there’s always going to be something for everyone even if it just passes the bar of mediocrity. Thus we have Bordeaux, France’s Otargos, blast beats and all. They may not be Scandinavian, but are talented…

  • Various Artists:Swedish Death Metal

    This massive three-disc compilation gives the listener a sonic taster of all the flowery praise thrown around Daniel Ekeroth’s book and if that listener is a seasoned Sverige-phile, then Swedish Death Metal Compilation acts as a 3+ hour trip down the left hand path of memory lane. It’s all here, the good, bad, ugly, awesome,…

  • Shrinebuilder/Rwake/Liturgy @ Le Poisson Rouge, New York City, November 15th, 2009

    I could barely contain my excitement when Scott Kelly, Al Cisneros and Dale Crover quietly joined Wino, set up their stuff, pointedly ignored the choruses of cheers and the prerequisite ‘I love you, man’ from some drunk/high audience member and just started playing.

  • Secrets of the Moon: Privilegivm

    Germany’s Secrets of the Moon win this year’s award for most black on an album cover. Luckily for listeners, there’s as much inky depth to Privilegivm as the packaging’s colour pallette suggests.

  • Paradise Lost: Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us

    I lost interest in Paradise Lost sometime in the mid-90s, and one opening slot for Opeth several years later did nothing to change my mind. But listening to the band’s latest album, Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us did.

  • Devin Townsend Project: Addicted

    Who knew crack would be so cheap? I’ve never really been a drug taker, the occasional joint when I was in my younger days but never really liked it. So while I’ve never done anythning harder, I imagine this record would be something like taking cocaine or meth. The high is quick and the come…

  • Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows: Es reiten die Toten so schnell (or The Vampyre Sucking at his Own Vein)

    It’s an eerily attractive package for those who appreciate agonized expressions, androgynous bodies, and the aesthetics of the damned. What it all sounds like is a graveyard chamber orchestra, complete with strings and horns performed by a long list of guest musicians and produced by John A. Rivers (Love and Rockets, Dead Can Dance, Buzzcocks).

  • Krallice: Dimensional Bleedthrough

    Dimensional Bleedthrough is the sophomore effort from New York’s Krallice. Like the band’s debut, the record is generally steeped in the more recent “avant-garde” or “post-Black Metal” sound, but it offers enough of the little details that are recognizably the group’s own. Jonathan Smith reviews the new Krallice album for Hellbound.ca