Tag: review

  • Kosm – Cosmonaut

    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…

  • Foghound – Awaken to Destroy

    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…

  • Virgin Black – Requiem Pianissimo

    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…

  • Damnation Festival 2018

    Damnation Festival 2018

    Damnation Festival 2018, November 3rd, Leeds, UK While the first weekend in November was hosting Guy Fawkes celebrations across the country, Leeds University had its own reason to celebrate — Damnation Festival 2018, which was taking place on November 3rd at Leeds University’s Student Union. Over the years the festival has featured a vast amount…

  • Deadbird – III: The Forest Within the Tree

    Deadbird – III: The Forest Within the Tree

    I guess they’re back from the dead? Roughly 10 years since their last album, Arkansas outfit Deadbird, featuring a few guys from Rwake and the current bassist of The Obsessed, has returned with their third full-length installment of southern-fried sludge, offering up eight tracks in a little under 40 minutes. Fans of Rwake, or even…

  • Iomair – Iomair

    Iomair – Iomair

    One of the most important elements of music is sincerity, and Iomair have that in spades. Think of a folky Opeth and you aren’t even half-way there. What I like most about this album is its heartfelt emotionality. This is really music for the inner you, not for the face you put on for the world. Strange…

  • We Hunt Buffalo – Head Smashed In

    We Hunt Buffalo – Head Smashed In

    As a kid growing up in Calgary, I know I visited Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, in nearby Fort McLeod, at least once or twice. Pretty sure that’s where I had my first bison burger, too.  So I am loving the cover of We Hunt Buffalo’s latest album before I even push play. Album number three from…

  • Suffocation @ Lee’s Palace, 24 October 2018

    Suffocation @ Lee’s Palace, 24 October 2018

    Death Chopping North American Tour: SUFFOCATION, CATTLE DECAPITATION, KRISIUN, SOREPTION The “Farewell Frank” tour went absolutely great in Toronto on October 24. Every single act perfectly built hype surrounding Toronto’s last time to watch original Suffocation vocalist Frank Mullen, live and it was an absolutely killer show. I thoroughly enjoyed every single act especially Cattle…

  • Space Sirens, Scientists and Princesses by Dean Conrad

    Space Sirens, Scientists and Princesses by Dean Conrad

    Nowadays, women are rightly a central part of science fiction films, but it was not always so. In early science fiction films women were usually assistants, eye candy, or there to give the square-jawed male hero someone to save from the flying killer bots from the planet Zog! Compare, for example, Forbidden Planet (entertaining though…

  • Sunrunner – Ancient Arts of Survival

    Sunrunner – Ancient Arts of Survival

    Despite their Native American inspirations, Sunrunner have a lot in common with European power metal bands, in the sense that their music is melodic, well-played and optimistic. This then is a concept album, and an interesting one, though the songs would work equally well on their own. Different, but all the better for it. http://www.sunrunnermusic.com/ https://www.facebook.com/sunrunnermusic/…