Descend ‒ The Deviant Review
Metal may have sprouted from just a few places on the globe, but it’s been decades since it became a truly global phenomenon. As it grew and spread, clearly identifiable sounds and scenes popped up …
Creature – Ex Cathedra Review
Creature is the type of project that happens when one man gets out his heavy metal blender and decides that there’s no real limit to the ingredients he’s willing to take for a spin. Some …
Firewind – Firewind Review
Few would argue against the point that the true heart of power metal is fun. Powerful fun. Triumphant fun. Escapist fun. Uplifting, unbridled fun. The fun, even when delivered in half-baked and stock songs, is …
…And Oceans – Cosmic World Mother Review
The evolution of …and Oceans from an excellent but fairly standard symphonic and melodic black metal band in the late 90s to a group incorporating plenty of industrial and avant-garde influences was not entirely unlikely …
Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus Review
If you wander over to the Bandcamp page for Cryptic Shift’s full length debut Visitations from Enceladus, you’ll easily glean the expected bits of information: genre tags (death, thrash, progressive, technical, etc.), location (Leeds, UK), …
Lord Vigo – Danse De Noir Review
Even a cursory glance at the band details for Germany’s Lord Vigo ought to tell you that this trio of dudes likes having fun. They take their band name from the villain of Ghostbusters II …
Candlemass – The Pendulum Review
Fast Rites: because sometimes brevity is fundamental. Evidently the sessions that created last year’s The Door to Doom didn’t just lead to the best Candlemass record in over a decade – and the first with …
Malokarpatan – Krupinské Ohne Review
[Cover artwork: Svjatogor] Over three albums in just under six years, Bratislava’s Malokarpatan have achieved a bit of a feat: they have managed to maintain their fun, slightly medieval aesthetic (both in their sound and …