Ancient Bards – Artifex Review
The grandiosity of Ancient Bards is just one of the band’s many selling points. But it and the multifaceted voice of Sara Squadrani are the more obvious ones. That fact remains unchanged here, on their …
Buried Realm – The Dormant Darkness Review
If you even just casually perused the somewhat distant corners of conversations about modern melodic death metal, you’d inevitably hear about Buried Realm – an impressive, riff-oriented one-person project out of Colorado. That one person …
The Halo Effect – March Of The Unheard Review
The Halo Effect’s debut, Days of the Lost, was always going to be a loaded endeavor – for the listeners. But it was clear from the release of the first single, “Shadowminds,” that this all-star …
Best Of 2024 – Chris C: Abyssal Tendencies
What. A. Year. Musically. And otherwise, of course. We dove headfirst into the ever-expanding soundscapes of Oranssi Pazuzu, Thy Catafalque, Ihsahn, and Blood Incantation. We retreated to our cozy corner where Sabbat, Judas Priest, Necrophobic, …
Cryptorium – Descent Into Lunacy Review
We’re nearing the end of 2024. Minds collectively swimming. Gasping for air. The 50-odd records we’re still getting to know in one hand. The few records we’ve decided are our anchor this year in the …
Ensiferum – Winter Storm Review
Maybe you’re one of those unfortunate souls whose attention was drawn elsewhere when Ensiferum’s Thalassic redrew the folk metal band’s boundaries ever so slightly in 2020 – unfortunate because that slight boundary push reinvigorated a …
Oxygen Destroyer – Guardian Of The Universe Review
One of the many admirable qualities of the PNW-based METAL (all caps purposeful) band Oxygen Destroyer is its near equal adherence to both aesthetic and evolution. The band sounded every bit like graduates of the …
200 Stab Wounds – Manual Manic Procedures Review
From Maggot Stamp to Metal Blade in four short years, 200 Stab Wounds are – like Sanguisugabogg, Frozen Soul, and Undeath – riding a wave of seemingly renewed interest in simple slabs. Or perhaps the …