Category: Reviews
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The Night Flight Orchestra – Amber Galactic
Sometimes the degree of talent involved in a project leads you to expect that the said project will be at least as great, if not as good as the sum of its parts. Sadly, despite the competent musicianship displayed here (hence the five out of ten for that), this is music created by committee. The Night…
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Cradle of Filth – Cyptoriana: The Seductiveness of Decay
There is often talk about what band will be the next Iron Maiden. To my mind, a strong contender has to be Cradle of Filth. Their music is first class, easily up there with the Iron Maidens and Judas Priests of this world. Moreover, like the aforementioned Iron Maiden, they are steeping in the story-telling tradition.…
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Jane’s Addiction – Ritual De Lo Habitual Alive at 25 CD/DVD
I love live concerts. But I find something about just focussing on a single album – a band playing that and only that at a show – a little hard to take. In that situation, what one is witnessing ceases to feel like a show or a concert and sort of feels like a clumsy…
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Horse Head – Terminal
By the time you read this, Horse Head will be no more. The Phoenix sludge outfit released this third EP as their swansong, calling it a day after six years. So I can’t tell you to look into this promising trio anymore—this is literally the last you’ll hear of them. At least they left us…
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Tau Cross – Pillar of Fire
For those who love Amebix’s excellent, original and heartfelt music, there is much to enjoy here. Tau Cross (also featuring Voivod’s excellent drummer Away) are something of a progression from Amebix, yet still very much in the same vein as that seminal band. Amebix were very much prophets without honour in their own land yet now…
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Spirit Adrift – Curse of Conception
Not to be confused with German band Spirit Descent, Spirit Adrift is a side project from the Phoenix sludge and death metal scenes, with members also doing time in outfits like Goya, TOAD and Gatecreeper. Their first album, Chained to Oblivion, was a solo effort, with one guy playing all the instruments—but they’ve since expanded…
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With the Dead – Love from With the Dead
Although With the Dead have gone from being one part Cathedral, two parts Electric Wizard to two parts Cathedral, one part Electric Wizard with the addition of Leo Smee and subtraction or Mark Greening, this doomy supergroup’s legacy is still very much intact. This latest Lee Dorrian project is his self-stated antithesis to hipster doom,…
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Arcadea – Arcadea
Another Mastodon side-project, this time from Brann Dailor. Mastodon are so prolific they could start their own record label just featuring their own projects. Anyway, Arcadea has some resemblances to Mastodon as you’d expect, but it’s more 80s/electronic orientated, like Mastodon channelling Daft Punk. The danger with electronic-orientated projects is they can noodle off into…
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High Reeper – self-titled
Their name might be silly, but if you like your doom underdone Saint Vitus style with a dash of Black Sabbath, the debut album from Philly’s High Reeper ain’t no joke! From “Die Slow” to “Reeper Deadly Reeper” to “Weed and Speed,” the nine tracks on this freshman effort don’t disappoint. “Die Slow” starts things…
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Madrost – The Essence of Time Matches No Flesh
Throw those horns, whip your locks and hail the dark lord himself… or at least that’s what Madrost‘s latest crusher, the appropriately titled The Essence of Time Matches No Flesh will have you doing halfway through track one. Having already released two other albums in the last half decade these guys seem pretty on point…