Valborg – Nekrodepression Review
German (and Central European) metal has always contained a notable strain of off-kilter innovators. Sure, the careers of Destruction, Kreator, and Sodom have been staked on aggressive but mostly straightforward thrash, but one also must …
Atriarch – Ritual Of Passing Review
Portland’s harrowing, blackened, gloomy deathrock outfit Atriarch announced itself quite suddenly with 2011’s debut Forever the End. As good as that first album was, though, it finds itself happily eclipsed in all respects by the …
Blood Of The Black Owl – Light The Fires Review
Frontiers are borders in reverse. To the extent that the dream of America (that’s largely “America” – the idea, not the country) was that of a radical break from tyranny and tradition, the Western frontier …
Omega & Ravencult – Straight Down In Hell/Deifier Of Necromancy Review
I suspect that the average listener goes into a 7” split with a completely different mindset than the participating bands intended, but why not judge for yourself? [Dreamy harp music and a shimmering cut scene. …
Spectral Lore – Sentinel Review
Although one-man black metal acts have seemed unusually ripe for mockery over the years, it’s not entirely clear to me why one dude singing songs about Satan, suicide, hobbits, dragons, or suicide by Satanic hobbit …
Dan Obstkrieg’s Best Of 2012 – Reeling In The Dawn
At the risk of stating the embarrassingly obvious: There’s a lot of music out there, out in the dim distant land just outside our individual reckoning. And well, really, that’s a comfort. If you’re a …
Sacred Guardian – Sacred Guardian Review
Sacred Guardian’s debut album is a case study in the importance of managing listener expectations. Take a minute, if you will, and examine that cover art. Warrior standing atop a crumbling castle wall? Check. Fierce-looking …
Cradle Of Filth – The Manticore And Other Horrors Review
It should be relatively uncontroversial to suggest that Cradle of Filth’s finest days are almost certainly in the past. That’s not intended as a withering indictment of the band’s recent output, but one imagines the …