Vouna – Vouna Review
The self-titled debut album from the Washington State-based project Vouna is a relatively simple, immersive album, yet it draws elements from a number of styles. The tempo and ragged synths are funeral doom, the melancholy …
Madder Mortem – Marrow Review
Album titles are usually a crapshoot, an afterthought, a nothing. Do you think Necro Zombie Pus Slurper spent more than ten seconds debating whether to call their latest album Dawn of the Dead Necro-Morts or …
Dire Peril – The Extraterrestrial Compendium Review
Dire Peril’s long-gestating debut full-length The Extraterrestrial Compendium is something of an unexpected gift in a year that has already seen new albums from guitarist Jason Ashcraft’s other band Helion Prime and vocalist John Yelland’s …
Windfaerer – Alma Review
Fast Rites: because sometimes brevity is fundamental. Windfaerer succeeds where many other atmospheric black metal bands have lately flopped by never leaving the ferocity of black metal too far behind in favor of overly wispy …
Anaal Nathrakh – A New Kind Of Horror Review
Although heavy metal’s musical hubs have shifted over time, Birmingham retains pride of place not only for being arguably the earliest forge (Black Sabbath), but for being both an incubator and an accelerator. Follow the …
Furze – The Presence… Review
I had trouble sleeping the other night. I woke up in that barely pre-dawn window where it’s getting light enough that you know you probably won’t be able to get back to sleep, but still …
Sear Bliss – Letters From The Edge Review
The temptation when writing about a band like Hungary’s Sear Bliss is to obsess over what is so unusual about them (a horn section in a metal band) and neglect explaining how they excel at …
Khôrada – Salt Review
In music—as in life—expectations can cut two ways. Without expectations, there might be no disappointments. But without expectations, there’s also little chance for surprise. The relational structure of expectations, however, borders on tyrannical. As a …