Invictus – Nocturnal Visions Review
[Cover artwork by Juanjo Castellano] I dove into Nocturnal Visions – Invictus’s sophomore effort – having heard zero seconds of the Japanese death metal band’s debut, The Catacombs of Fear. In some ways, it’s an …
Kreator – Krushers Of The World Review
[Album artwork by Zbigniew Bielak] Since at least 2012’s Phantom Antichrist, Kreator has been an arena metal juggernaut. No matter how one feels about the releases that followed, we can agree that record, for better …
Best of 2025: Chris C – Finding Renewal In A Cyclical Escapism
As cyclical as it is — the experience of being a listener of heavy metal — it is exciting, truly, how every new year brings a surprise or two or three. And it doesn’t have …
Demiurgon – Miasmatic Deathless Chamber Review
Miasmatic Deathless Chamber is Demiurgon’s third album. And because I am not familiar with the band’s prior two albums, I had decided at some point that I would dig before I attempted to describe this …
Clairvoyance – Chasm Of Immurement Review
To cut straight to the chase, Clairvoyance’s Chasm of Immurement is riff-heavy Polish death / doom—emphasis on death—and it rules. It is possible to be death / doom—emphasis on doom—and still rule, of course. But …
Helms Deep – Chasing The Dragon Review
I would say Helms Deep is a band that needs no introduction, but the fact that they ought not need one doesn’t quite get us there. So brief introduction you will get. Helms Deep is, …
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 …