Category: Reviews – Audio
Glorious metal in all its earthly forms, compressed onto shiny plastic discs or into digital files. Which ones will become the soundtrack to your life?
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Cancer – Shadow Gripped
There is an important and very true quote from Carl Jung in the CD booklet to Cancer’s excellent Shadow Gripped, which I will share with you. “It is a frightening thought that man also has a shadow side to him, consisting not just of little weaknesses and foibles, but of a positively demonic dynamism. The…
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Wasted Theory – Warlords of the New Electric
Delaware’s finest purveyors of heavy riffs and silly song titles are back with their third full-length album. With tunes like “Bongronaut,” “Doomslut Rodeo” and “The Son of the Son of a Bitch,” they definitely don’t disappoint in the song-title department on this one! “Rawhide Hellride” kicks off this eight-track effort with a groovy, 70’s style…
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Holy Grove – II
OK, stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Female-fronted Portland outfit mixes heavy riffs and soaring vocals on one of the best doom metal albums of the year. Only this time, we’re not talkin’ bout Witch Mountain, but rather the second record from recent Ripple Music signing Holy Grove. II kicks off with a…
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Ominous Eclipse – Sinister
With a name inspired by the film Pitch Black, Ominous Eclipse tick off all the correct death metal boxes. However, the more one listens to Sinister the more one detects other influences and this bodes well for some longevity in their career. One to look out for in the future. (Self Release) Ominous Eclipse is Guitar, Vocals:…
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Bloodbath – The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn
To me, The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn really proves that death metal as a genre has staying power. This album builds on the classic work of Death, Autopsy, Carcass, Entombed and Unleashed and their ilk and forges its sound into something true to its roots, yet very much of the 21st century. The track “Bloodicide”…
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Cantique Lepreux – Paysages Polaires
Cantique Lepreux are gearing up to release their second full-length album on Eisenwald on November 30, 2018 and it’s proving to be the perfect album to listen to during the snowy months. Quebec trio are yet again putting out some of the best black metal in Canada and they have nothing but masterpieces behind them.…
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The Great Sabatini – Goodbye Audio
On the surface this is a well-recorded and played album of Melvins-inspired music. However, what sets it apart is the fact that the songs are strong. If they were to be played acoustically they would still work – the sign always of a good song. Moreover, the band have their own identity, and I can…
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Kosm – Cosmonaut
Cosmonaut was released on 16th November, the day before my birthday, a time of reflection and change for the future, when I reflect on just how many albums I’ve reviewed that weren’t bad, just generic… which in a way is even worse than being bad. No one ever remembers ‘it was okay’. But Kosm’s Cosmonaut…
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Foghound – Awaken to Destroy
The third album from Maryland heavy rockers Foghound comes out under a cloud of tragedy, less than a year after their bass player, Rev. Jim Forrester, was senselessly murdered on the streets of Baltimore. In that light, one might look for some lyrical tributes on here – say, “Death Will Tremble” or “Gone Up in…
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Virgin Black – Requiem Pianissimo
Requiem – Pianissimo is both opening and resolution. This long-awaited release presents the first section of Virgin Black’s three-part requiem but it also brings the trilogy to a close, completing the two-hour and thirty-three-minute masterpiece more than a decade after it began. Although Pianissimo opens the requiem series, to me this album begins in what…