Archive for 2023

Swans are one of those special bands that sound completely different on each record. The early stuff is some of the hardest music you can possibly want to hear. You could also argue that the sound began thawing on Holy Money or Greed, albums that came before this, but the way I see that instead is that the band added more elements to their work, rather than stripping back their work. Children Of God was…

Cystoblastosis play their down-tuned, dirgy goregrind with intense pinging snares and gargling vomit vocals. It brings the feeling of a subterranean horror bubbling beneath the surface, about to breach the ground level and destroy humanity, or something. Haggus stuff is a peaking a bit, drums are loud as all manner of fuck, but that’s OK. Dirty, nasty, goregrind is the order of the day, of course with the expected Haggus mincecore influences. Disgusting vocals, some…

I got into JMT through Vinnie Paz guesting on some Immortal Technique stuff (I think, anyway), so I came in around this era and this was the first record I ever heard by them, so a lot of the chat about this not being as good as the old shit wasn’t applicable to me, as I hadn’t heard any of that stuff yet. I’ve had this album “saved” on my to-do list since 2014, and…

I am admittedly very late to the party when it comes to Bal-Sagoth. I remember them from my Cradle-years as a teenager, where Bal-Sagoth’s albums were advertised inside flyers that came with the early Cradle records (they were on the same label for a while). I can draw other similarities here with CoF too: the style of keyboard playing in very similar in parts, as is the slightly-pitchshifted narration-style vocals. I know CoF came before…

A bit of a non-starter, if I’m honest. The tracks take a very, very long time to get moving (I know this is the point), but when they do start doing something (the odd melodic riff echoing away in the background over the droning ambience), then it sounds pretty good. The only problem is that we have to listen to an absolute ton of go-nowhere ambience before reaching that point. I don’t dislike this because…

This has to be one of the greatest game soundtracks of all time (I probably say that about every game soundtrack to be honest). It is very difficult for me to not look back at stuff like this with rose-tinted glasses on. These games were a huge part of a childhood that was perhaps misspent playing silly games instead of being outside playing (although to be fair I did a good amount of both, I…

This came highly recommended, although I must say I was very sketched out by the cover drawing. Like, not only is it beyond sketchy (lol) but it is also absolutely awful – not really selling this music to me at all in any way shape or form. I was perhaps slow to warm to Fanisk for these reasons but Noontide is a slow burn; the intro taking it’s sweet time to load you into the…

I absolutely loved this album when I was a kid. Back then, in the golden year that was 2000, where the world was changing and looking forward to a brand new millenium (what a dissapointment, eh?), 10-year-old me and one of my best friends, Alex, went to the local Woolworths, money burning a hole in our pockets, and we bought our first ever albums. I bought Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory (the first album I ever…

I feel like I’ve heard multiple different iterations of this “best of” collection over the years, but it doesn’t really matter because everyone knows what tracks are always going to be on these things. Whether you’ve seen the movies that these tracks appear in or not, Goblin are such an unique band that listening to these compositions is always an enjoyable experience. The atmosphere is tangible, the instrumentation weird and tense. I mean, I guess…

I really enjoyed Cosmogramma and its odd mix of jazz tropes and disconnected electronic elements. It was a refreshing mix of styles (not to mention a mix of styles that has failed to mix well in the past). I appreciate that in the dense world of electronic music (and jazz, for that matter), FlyLo is able to give himself an unique, stand-out sound. But, there is something about You’re Dead that just does not gel…

Well made and brilliantly written black metal, but not in the style that I’m the biggest fan of. The production is frosty, grim and at the same time sparkling with life and activity. The album unfolds in such a way that it does genuinely feel like you are on some sort of epic journey. I gotta admit, I absolutely lost it when the “boing” sound goes off. Interesting decision, that.

Solid efforts here from both bands: Denak are more straight up grind, with the brutal, speedy edge you’d want from such a disgusting, underground split. Haemorrhage in this particular session / era have the Carcass worship dialled up to 9000 split skulls per minute. Off the hook sickness, but you’ll know what to expect before you even go in.

This is some historical sick shit right here. Perhaps for its time one of the sickest and heaviest sounds ever, and a precursor to the entire sub-genre that we know today as slam or slamming death metal. There was just something more brutal about a lot of these New York bands compared to shit coming out elsewhere in the country – I guess it was maybe the hardcore influences, I don’t know. I’ve never been…

Really solid, high-energy and modern-sounding crossover thrash from grimm and frostbitten VVales. Production is super clear and the playing is super tight. There’s no fucking about at 4 tracks in length either: in, out, job done. Gonna keep an eye on these guys for sure.

As I said in the review of the vocal-less Goatlord, the music of this release fascinates me. However, the vocals added later, in an attempt to make Goatlord into a complete album – well, these things are pretty fucking bad. I appreciate the desire to complete the demos that they started many years prior, but there is a whole farmyard worth of different vocal noises here, from the kvlt down to the absolute bizarre. Not…

I can’t help but be captivated by the music that Darkthrone play on Goatlord. It is a true “what might have been moment” where the whole course of music could have been changed. Can you imagine a world without Darkthrone as a black metal band? Think, what would the implications of this be? Black metal would still exist obviously, but it would look different, that’s for sure. I never really got into Goatlord as a…

Absurd have always drawn me in, as far back as I can ever remember, due to the forbidden nature about listening to these guys. They are, after all, the OGs (I bet they love that) of NSBM. The trouble is, is that every “classic” Absurd release that came my way sounded like complete unlistenable shite. And hey, I’m a man whose heard his fair share of crappy demo tapes – but the Absurd ones are…

Nowhere near as bad as people are making it out to be, but still lacking in spark and originality, that’s for sure.When I first heard the tracks that the band dropped in anticipation of this record, to me they sounded overcompressed, synthetic and false. Lars’ drums sounded quantised to all hell, and James’ vocals were autotuned to death. I understand my man James is pushing 60, but y’know, idk, fuckin’ Michael Gira doesn’t use autotune….

This is the third Pain Killer full length album to date (although its kinda weird to call the first two full lengths such, because they aren’t all that long). Execution Ground breaks the mould, entering far, far spacier territory. You can really feel the influences that Mick was experimenting with at the time; dub, ambient etc. (let’s not forget Laswell has albums in this territory too). The album is a far cry from the jazz-grind…

I’m a listen to a demo in it’s original form kinda guy, but Demon Entrails is one of the exceptions, as it pulls together a pile of Hellhammer OG demos into one compilation. I mean, that’s what demo compilations do, right? LOL I’m not sure what it is about this that I prefer to listen to over the originals, but I think it has something to do with the seemingly endless amount of old shit…

After the two noisecore/blurcore smears that were Everyone Should Be Killed and Top 40 Hits (the blurs on this are insane), Anal Cunt shocked the musical world (lol) by coming armed for their third full length album with…. actual songs. Well, the term can be used loosely, but there is more musical structure here than on anything that they had released up until this point. This is also where the song titles and content really…

Highly influential grindcore band, especially to those who went on to pioneer noisecore in the years that followed 1988. Fear Of God (the 7″) is a pretty essential listen to anyone on the path of grindcore history, but for me it’s not something I come back to all that often. The bass and drums are drowned out by the guitar and then absolutely everything is drowned out by the vocals. It’s a mixing choice (or…

Notable for being the first album of Voivod’s to feature Jason Newsted on bass (who?), and to include the return of original vocalist Snake, after Eric Forrest’s departure. I’m a bit unclear on whether Eric left or whether Voivod 2.0 disbanded, before reforming with Snake and Newsted. Either way, this self-titled record was the product of the new line-up for the new millennium. Despite the incredibly strong staffing on this record, Voivod S/T begins something…

Suffering a similar fate to that of Katorz, Infini falls a bit flat by treading in slightly safer territory than the band’s usual frenetic thrash or prog-metal output. Is Infini bad? Absolutely not – some would have you believe that this era of Voivod needs wiping from the face of the earth, but I am not one of those people. There is, however, a reason why this period of Voivod languishes as the least favourite…

I’ve heard a lot about how much of a shit show this record is, how that Mustaine gutted the band’s sound is some ridiculous attempt to sell out, and so on and so forth. But honestly, to me, I don’t care enough about Megadeth to give a shit about any of that. From an outsider’s perspective, this is just a boring, less than mediocre album.

I firmly believe that Candlemass’ cover of “Don’t Fear The Reaper” is one of the greatest cover songs of all time. I may be biased as I first heard it performed live at Roadburn Festival with both Längqvist and Rob Lowe sharing vocal duties. “All Along The Watchtower” doesn’t quite have the same impact for me but I enjoy it all the same.

I used to play the hell out of “Synthetic” and “New Disease” when I was a wee lad, but I never played this album all the way through until 2023. Which you’d think, is possibly a travesty, depending on your appetite for Spineshank’s industrial-tinged nu metal. Unfortunately, Spineshank were one of those bands who never really survived the fall of nu metal, and judging by the fact that this album sounds more dated that some…

Since I discovered this album about ten years ago, there has been a war raging inside my head: is this the greatest album cover of all time or the absolute worst album cover of all time? Honestly, like, what the fuck? Hahahah As for the sound, I rather enjoyed the 90s industrial-influenced incarnation of Voivod. The new influences don’t overtake the sound, except for moments here or there (closer “DNA” being the biggest culprit, and…

It pains me to rank a Voivod album so low (not that 3 is particularly dog-rough). I struggled for years to get into the Newsted-era / final Piggy releases but have returned to them now with a greater appreciation for the wider Voivod discography and history. It is a shame then that I still generally am not that into this era of the band; Katorz is fairly inoffensive and also rather “safe” for Voivod (they’ve…

I’m not familiar with Mangled Whore Flesh (what a sentence) outside of this split, but the material here is objectively terrible, let down mainly by the bedroom production – but hey, this is the territory we are in folks. As far as Malignant Germ Infestation goes, there’s better material out there by this project, for sure.

For someone who talks a lot of shit in interviews about the usual we’re-better-than-you-because-we-are-elitist-black-metal-musicians rubbish, Asagraum sure fail to really strike a match and light a fire. Is Dawn Of Infinite Fire a bad album? Not by any stretch of the imagination. But does it offer even the tiniest remote smidgen of something new to black metal? Absolutely fucking not. Again, let me re-iterate that this is not a BAD album. However, the entire record…

Enjoyable but somewhat predictable noise from this prolific project. I dig the aesthetic (this stuff just really works with noise music for some reason), but there’s not much in the way of variation here. And I don’t mean that in like, it’s just a slab of HNW – I mean that the record in general is a bit uninspiring for noise, unfortunately. There are loud bits, there are quiet bits, and there are some rumbly…

An album that defines the sound of the 90s for me. I was just a kid, but fuck me, these sounds are just forever burned into my head. It’s the closing epic “Halcyon + On + On” which for me just absolutely blows my mind apart every time I hear it, taking me back to the times where the world seemed like a less scary place (of course it wasn’t, I was just ignorant to…

I’m pretty sure I saw Nausea touring this thing at the same festival as Terrorizer LA played, in some sort of Oscar Garcia-related frenzy. I could be wrong, because I find all of the iterations of Terrorizer confusing, but why on earth am I talking about Terrorizer in a Nausea review? Well, this is exactly why – the various iterations / lineups of Terrorizer confuse the fuck out of me and I somehow, probably because…

Holy shit this is one of the most insane things I have ever heard. Incredible, explosive, volatile yet so delicate – honestly, words are escaping me right now as I start to try and solidify my thoughts on this thing into one digestible soundbite. It is worth mentioning that I am familiar with Liturgy’s earlier works, specifically Aesthethica, but its been a long, long time since I checked in on this project. My initial reaction…

Lifelover’s initial follow-up to Pulver changed a few things. Some of the more downright disturbing and troubling elements of the music were replaced instead with more subtle, morose feeling. Likewise, the album’s art is far more abstract than the starkness of its predecessor. There are less intense outbursts here on the sophomore, instead the album feels more like a flowing whole, with gentle piano medleys haunting their way over the top of the black metal….

I fell in love with Sarah Barthel after hearing the Big Grams album (a collab project between Phantogram and Big Boi from Outkast). The problem I have with Phantogram themselves however is a similar ailment that strikes me when I listen to The Chromatics (although perhaps not so much there, the problem is worse here with Phantogram). And the problem that I am talking about is… well, I could be listening to just about absolutely…

This isn’t usually my bag but I was drawn in by the incredible vocals. Ended up sticking around for the whole EP, which is at points as dark and weird as it is poppy – the songs are crackling and alive with the spark of youth (lol) and I’d be very excited to hear more from this group to find out where they ended up taking things.

Feel like I’m missing something here. Goatmoon appears to be revered by those who peer behind the “NSBM” veil, but I’m not getting blown off my seat by this debut. Yes, it’s disgusting, hideously produced black metal, with an underlying streak of melody beneath the frosted grime – but there’s plenty of that out there. Not to detract from these songs, but I expected more.

Total Death is one of those “middle period” albums from Darkthrone that I have always historically overlooked. However, this has always been a pretty silly thing to do, as it is a fairly decent slab of black metal. It’s not too different from the earlier stuff, but not as raw or uncompromising. The major difference here is that the songs are written by vocalist Nocturnal Culto or guest writers from the wider musical world, rather…

Colour me disappointed. Can’t remember where I picked the recommendation for this up but I was expecting some seriously evil obscure shit. Granted, this IS obscure evil shit, it’s just not very good.

One of those super obscure, sleazy underground splits that you can only find in the depths of grindcore depravity. 2MD play here their earlier brand of messy goregrind/pornogrind with insane monster pitchshifter vocals. The trouble is, do you want to sit through tons of fuckin’ irritating movie samples to get to the juicy nuggets of farting shitgrind? Genuinely feels like the sample to grind ratio here is 10 to 1. Will Rahmer is currently drafting…

A bit camp, a bit silly, but also in a contradictory way very solid and grounded trad rock / heavy metal stuff. Probably, to me, more iconic for its artwork than for its songs, but that might be my own prejudice against this kind of music that is shining through. The production is lovely too, so there’s that.

The Real Thing is one of those records that reveals itself to you more and more the longer you spend with it. It has been surely said a thousand times but Faith No More really were a special band, and whilst perhaps you could argue that the sound on this record is a little dated now, it is still a pleasure to return to and a highly recommended listen for anyone into rock and metal…

A weird one for Voivod, and that is really saying something by Voivod standards. But seriously, this disposes of the hectic, dissonant thrash metal and instead makes us listen to what can only be described as hectic, dissonant grunge. Some say it is Voivod’s sell out album. I don’t know if that is true, but it still has a ton of good songs on it.

First impressions: 14 year old boys taunting each other on CoD, set to Hatebreed jamming using Devourment’s gear. Fuckin’ wild if you ask me. Black magic. Satanic sick shit.

Solid and chunky but with lots of jagged edges, I guess like a club with nails sticking out of it: a weapon that’s gonna cause some ugly damage. Behind this typical artwork is a nasty, disgusting sound that is ugly as fuck – deep, goat-semen gargling vokills, bomb blast attacks on the drums, intense riffs. Yep. Short N sweet ugly brutality.

The wasps are coming, and they have brought with them their riffs. Under A Funeral Moon is peak Darkthrone and peak second wave black metal in general, to be honest. Still fairly robust in its construction despite the previously-mentioned wasp-like guitars; credit for this is entirely due to the prominent bass. Later records would be unforgiving in focussing on the guitar only and letter the mix suffer (whether that was a good thing or not…

Well polished and well recorded (hey, and well performed) metal with heavy elements of groovy death metal and blasting grindcore. These lovely people have the energy and stage presence more akin to the hardcore/punk worlds but play a fantastic melting pot of metal styles, many of which are aptly displayed here on Indoctrination. It’s got that buzzsaw grinding edge but really brings in stuff from all over the place. Bang yer head!

A lot of things can be said about Peste Noire but there can be no denying that their debut record isn’t one of the most intense black metal recordings ever put to tape. The production is a fantastic blend of raw and audible, and the vocals are out of this world. Some of the best I’ve heard in the genre, up there with Bethlehem, with intense storms of blasts carrying the screeching along. At times…

I enjoy Lifelover, more often than not, but there is something about Konkurs which really just is a swing and a miss in my eyes. The damp, miserable semi-acoustic DSBM that we love from the Pulver days is still here in spades (they haven’t quite got to the full-on, full-band fuzzy sound yet), but the vocal deliveries, whilst they have always been a bit fruity, here they fall just a little onto the wrong side…

Came for the ass, stayed for the death metal. NGL that cover art had me immediately checking out this short demo (at just shy of 10 minutes in length). I then promptly forgot about it all under now, so I figured I’d best write up about it. The intro and outro tracks are absolutely fucking pointless, with respect. What’s the point in pushing a two-track demo to being four tracks if only two of the…

What can I say that has not already been said before. Often times when confronted with reviewing something as gargantuan as this I can find myself lost for words. Luckily, the music more often than not will speak for itself and do most of the work for me. Black Sabbath’s self titled record changed everything, at least in my opinion. It set the entire world of rock music onto a different course. One cannot understate…

I love how Cannabis Corpse are still active, I really do. They have come a long way from their parody beginnings, but still stick to their guns about releasing solid, no-frills death metal. Fuck experimentation, fuck pushing the envelope, Nug So Vile proves that Cannabis Corpse are still about headbanging, riffs and weed. The guitar work is second to none, as is expected when you look at the discography previous to this one. Nug So…

Brutal and enjoyable slam that is unfortunately falling just on the wrong side of predictable. Formulaic songs aside, Fate is a beast of a record, with bludgeoning production that is thick, heavy and dry. In the first instance it reminds me of Cephalotripsy with more chug and less gravity blasts. At 8 songs long and only 25 minutes in length, Fate doesn’t hang around for long but honestly, after two listens it actually felt much…

Spectral Ecstasy is the perfect and I suppose logical continuation of the sound first presented on Kaleidoscope Dreams. This album is thirty minutes of fantastic psychedelic rock with small amounts of doom influence, as well as a larger dollop of black metal influence too, although this is definitely more restrained here than in the past. The production is mostly the same as what came before but there have been leaps and bounds made in the…

Caught these guys live with Napalm Death recently so wanted to check out some of their stuff beforehand. I gotta say, off the bat, this stuff is not for me, so take my review with a pinch of salt. I don’t really like the whole bear cult act thing, and honestly, you can get better party thrash stuff done elsewhere. Join The Bear Cult is not awful, the musicianship is faultless, and the production is…

An interesting mix of artists, performing a bunch of tunes that are not always so typical for the sounds of the often confined dungeon synth genre. What I mean to say is, that there is a wider range of sounds here than I expected going in, and I even came away with some artists that I really want to check out, so that’s good news too. Some of the entries here are quite obscure however,…

Now this is my kind of dungeon synth. Spooky, kooky, lo-fi and minimal composition using cheap retro synths and drenched in hiss and wow / flutter. Lots of short moods and performances, rather than the longer more meandering pieces you would expect from dungeon synth artists. Really refreshing, glad I stumbled onto this, I would recommend it for any fan of the genre.

This is a release that is definitely not for everyone, especially in regards to the wide range of people that Killing Joke are lucky to call fans. However, there is a subset of folk who will be well aware of Youth’s producing history, and of his penchant for electronic music and of course, the art of dubbing. This is far from the first “in dub” collection we’ve had of Killing Joke classics, and it definitely…

Facelift hits a lot harder than I ever would have thought (or given Alice In Chains credit for). Featuring a slightly rougher production that its more well-known follow-up Dirt, Facelift for me is the better album, with heavier riffs and generally just better songs. Y’know, there are probably more “stand out” songs on Dirt but Facelift works better as an album, in my opinion (not that its worth much). Never would have thought after all…

I’ve never been a big fan of pretty much anything in the grunge style (perhaps Kyuss or Melvins come closest) but I checked out a bunch of Alice in Chains stuff recently after replaying GTA San Andreas, which pumped “Them Bones” into my head about 500 times in the space of six weeks. And I’ve got to be honest, I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. I don’t know enough about the…

As someone who has always loved Us & Them despite the flaws it has, you wouldn’t believe how happy I was with the dubs that accompanied A World Lit Only by Fire. Then, in 2017, Post Self dropped, which was some serious shit. You’ll no doubt appreciate my excitement then, upon hearing Nero, that the trend of sick beats in Godflesh’s stuff is set to continue. “Nero” itself is a claustrophobic, bludgeoning affair, but it…

Synchro Anarchy is another amazing offering from Canada’s legendary Voivod. The fact that these guys are even still going is nothing short of a miracle. They seem to have been on something of a Killing Joke-esque latter-career renaissance since Target Earth; forging the chaotic and dissonant madness of their 80s output with modern production and a sharper yet more mature streak. I do understand why some fans have started to say that Voivod are falling…

Early Voivod records are a treatment in pure blunt sonic force. Sure, the weirdness was there right from the start, but didn’t start developing properly I would say until the record that came after this one. However, Rrroooaaarrr is absolutely worth your time and it’s probably one of the hardest (if not the hardest) Voivod record. It just comes at you, in it’s little weird alien tank thing, and it comes at you guns blazing….

I’ll listen to anything by Kevin Martin or Justin Broadrick, so put them together we are absolutely cooking on gas. Having thusfar made it to 2023 without ever hearing Ice, my first layman’s impression of them is that the vibe and sound here is very similar to the latter Bullen-era Scorn; spacey, acid-head dirges consisting of sub-bass, electronic beats and wailing guitars, all lead by dead-pan, haunting vocals. This record is a monster; all the…

Mor Eressea is a project of one Morgan James, from it seems the Swansea area which isn’t too far from me, actually. There’s a bunch of stuff out from this project but the one I gave a full listen to all the way through was Haunted Shores and Coasts, where it seems both the history of and beautiful landscapes of The Gower has inspired multiple tracks of dense atmospheric black metal. I’ve spent a lot…

One of the first comments I ever read about this WAD was that it’s absolutely perfect if you have a lot of time on your hands. That rings true, with the 6 fecking episodes that are on display here. It kinda plays like Eviternity on steroids, if only a little more inconsistent. Personally, I loved Doom The Way id Did, although I never truly felt it “truly” did Doom the way id did (lol), I…

Sporting probably some of the hammiest cover art and band photos in the history of time, Odium is best not judged on its visual accompaniments. Musically, the band is not a million miles away from early Dimmu or Welkin-era Emperor, but with its own unique harshness and brutality. Tidy. Even for the crowd who don’t like keyboards in metal, this should probably get a pass.

Before CKY, there was Oil. CKY have a rich and varied history, but the band Oil was basically CKY in all but name. Granted, this is pre-Ginsburg, but by listening to this 1997 release (also known as The Gold Tape) you are listening to an old CKY demo, rather than material from another band the guys were in beforehand. A lot of these tracks never made it in the future, but this demo contains one…

Admittedly, at the time of writing I’ve not actually seen Creepshow. However, through a combination of Waxworks releases being really awesome to look at, and John Harrison doing the blinder of an OST for Day Of The Dead, I ended up checking this out anyway. If anything, it’ll be a sweet little primer for when I finally do get around to watching the film. I was going to say that perhaps this isn’t as iconic…

Pressing the random band button on Metal Archives is currently my new favourite thing to do. This interesting little ditty is a 2 track demo from an absolutely abysmal war metal band. Like, this is noisecore at best. You can’t hear a single thing that’s happening, and it’s all over the shop. The best compliment I can give this is to say it sounds a bit like Gorgonized Dorks.

Gruesome Stuff Relish are probably one of the most under-rated “goregrind” bands. Nowadays, Carcass-worshipping muddy death metal / goregrind is all the rage again, but Gruesome Stuff Relish have always been doing it. This 2013 effort is a good a place to start as any for your fix of giallo and exploitation fuelled grinding gore.

My first impressions of Dark Quarterer were that of a poor man’s Messiah-era Candlemass. But, I gave this record a chance and damn, did it grow on me. What an interesting display of sounds. The production is garbage, the vocals are just… weird and the overall vibe is of classic or occult rock but after few grams too many in the pot whilst making the mushroom tea. It’s like, aliens observing from space saw rock…

I have no idea where I picked these lot up from but this is a bizarre mix. Like… its almost hardcore, or post-hardcore even, as much as it is black metal or even folk or dare I say dungeon synth in parts. When you think of hardcore and black metal mixed together you either think of the crusty side of things, or the dark hardcore trend of the 00s and 10s, or you think of…

This has to be one of the stupidest and creepiest things I’ve ever heard. From the album cover, to the recurring themes of Satan and, weirdly, drunk people in there songs, to the creepy ass delivery of the vocalist who comes in on the choruses (I’m not sure which brother it is). Honestly, everything about this is fucked but musically it’s pretty fun. Oh, I also now know where the “Hell is a real place”…

Venom Prison is a band that is fairly local to me and one that has blown up massively and has continued to rise for what is not long coming up to a decade, give or take. Animus is an older album of theirs (how the time flies), and one I missed at the time for various reasons. One of the main things that stands out to me about this on a first listen is the…

With a name like Cosmic Putrefaction I had high hopes but unfortunately this one isn’t for me. Imagine, idk, Disembowelment meets Blood Incantation (again, a sentence to get the blood flowing, no doubt) but with a dark and misty production that obfuscates as much as it bolsters the sound. I can’t put my finger on this one.

Doom 64 was a game that I never thought I would get around to playing, but with the recent remaster and re-release, I was able to get it on Xbox Live. Which is great, because I was never going to buy an N64 or sort out an emulator, let us be honest. Doom 64 is markedly different from the other Doom offerings from the 90s, but is a canonical release and continues the loose story…

Necromantia have an unique and really cool sound. It’s not often you hear the bass so forward in the black metal scenes. Don’t get me wrong, Scarlet Evil Witching Black is not as unusual or unique as later efforts such as, say, The Sound Of Lucifer Storming Heaven, but its still a great record. Personally, I prefer the aesthetic of this record as well as the sound, even if the drums are a little quiet…

This is considered a classic I know, and I decided upon reading a feature length magazine article on the album’s creation that I would check it out. The record also got its 40th birthday during the COVID lockdown endtimes of 2020, which put it on my radar. Yeah, I’ve heard the hits over and over, but I’ve never really given this the time of day. As with the other Ozzy solo stuff I’ve heard –…

Anything with “brethren” in the title gets immediate chuckles from me for reasons I can’t be bothered to explain, but also because its such a stupid and hammy word. Truly, it is the only reason I checked out this early demo from Apostasy. All in all, this is some decent, cavernous old school death. These guys were very obviously worshipping at the altar that was Napalm Death’s transition from grind to death, but all in…

So this is the first time I’ve sat down with a Lustmord record. Honestly, I got bored very quickly. This was nowhere near as crushing or as oppressive in its weight as I was expecting. Then again, what was I expecting? I don’t think I know and perhaps this is part of the problem. This record just came across like a standard movie soundtrack with nothing that really stood out. I guess if I return…

Debodified play busy, chaotic death metal in the school of Cryptopsy and the like. On the Utopia In The Eyes Of The Banished record, and no doubt any other album to their name, the band employ scatterbrain drumming of the frantic blast’n’fill variety, layering on equally jumpy and technical riffage, not to mention globs of disgusting vocals. The band are not afraid to dive into a chugging section every now and then, but endlessly complicated…

Blut Aus Nord is a name that I have seen tossed around for decades. It is probably about time then, to check them out. I assumed that this was the debut record, but that honour seems to go to 1995’s Ultima Thulée. Memoria Vetusta I still has that frosty mid-90s vibe however, reminded me of stuff like Enslaved’s Frost or the Kampfar record with the melting icecaps on the front of it (Mellom Skogkledde Aaser,…

Random listen is random! If I could be so bold this artist immediately reminded me of Lurleen Lumpkin from The Simpsons (I’ve probably spelt that wrong). Hazel Dickens makes workin’ class country music for the workin’ man (or woman). Songs are about the struggles of life and low wage employment, relationships and other difficulties us proles face whilst running the gauntlet of existing and trying to stay alive. All of this is delivered with an…

I was pleasantly surprised to find that a second Jazz Sabbath album has come out. These are very well handled and excellently played interpretations of Sabbath songs that take on more of a life of their own rather than mimic the originals, which is always a sign of a good cover song. It’s easy to say that Jazz Sabbath kinda transcends “covering” songs, though. Check out “N.I.B.” to see what I mean.

Punishing old school death metal for the masses! I was lured in by the candid sleeve art and the related name (lol), and I stayed for the brutal assault. For an early 90s death metal demo tape, this is incredibly well put together, and the production is very clear too. What I love most about Bloodclot’s* songs is the frequent descent into all-out blasting chaos. It reminds me of Harmony Corruption / Utopia Banished era…

You can always count on Mumakil for delivering the breakneck high speed, high gloss polished grindcore. There are many that would say “polished” and “grindcore” shouldn’t exist in the same sentence, and you may possibly even be right, but a market for this kind of stuff does exist (cheers Nasum!). Thankfully however, Mumakil are fantastic and whilst it is initially rather difficult to ascertain the differences between a lot of the songs in this session,…

I’ve had this album saved to come back for a review now for 9 years lol – my reluctance is mainly due to the post-rock element, which really isn’t my thing. However, Blackflower starts off really well. Some I’m sure will consider the opening track a bit of a tedious affair, and whilst I fully appreciate the effort and artistic vision, it doesn’t really go anywhere or change up in any noticeable way other than…

You can always rely on Jim Kirkwood to provid consistency across his colourful musical career. The man has touched on a variety of different vibes and compositional styles, from higher fantasy and religious themes to more, how shall I say, typical dungeon synths forms, but whatever he puts his hands to is always incredibly well crafted. Knight Of A Dark Grail is no different, with this 1992 offering a few selected pieces which are an…

A pretty piss poor effort to be honest (no pun intended), especially considering the weight of the names involved. This goes absolutely nowhere and is over before you can really settle in and get involved with the noise (as ridiculous as that sounds).

Not gonna lie, Fief is fucking class. I feel like I’m inside a never-ending medieval fete inside my head. There’s not much that compels me to start a diet primarily of wild game, stale bread and staler beer, but Fief hits the mark. Very lovely instrumentals are the order of the daye, mayhaps not sparkly enough to win over thon young fine maidens, but beautiful enough to rouse the young men to arms. The joust…

Beautiful, stunning, dusty and mysterious old school dungeon synth. Very wobbly, both in regards to the tape quality, and that of the timing of the two players – but if anything this just adds to the charm of the record. Feels a little bit long, especially with the lack of variation, but if you’re after a particular mood or sound, you can’t go wrong with this.

Every now and then I check in on Shpongle and am blown away that they are still making records. On top of that, the records are of the same consistent quality, with the same kind of brain-tweaking production. I don’t know how the duo continue to cook up such beautiful explorative compositions, but they have definitely found their place in the world of music and I really hope that they continue to release music. I…

Savage grindcore but with a bevy of interesting vocals, some even in the death metal or hardcore styles, and a lovely jubbly chuggy grindy chewy nasty fucking HM2 guitar sound to boot. Honestly for months I thought these guys were named after the Dead Infection album Brain Corrosion, but I’m an idiot. As the record develops it spreads its wings a little, more variety creeps into the songwriting, we get wider expanses where riffs can…

Very well produced for a stinky demo tape. Slow death metal is the order of the day, but not slow enough that you’re about to fall asleep in your pint. Great compositions. Vulgar as fuck. Lovely riffs. Final thoughts: is necrolatry even a word? Peace.

Weirdly unsettling stuff, with a backdrop of sexual menace. Imagine Big Black and Filth-era Swans fighting at a Ramones gig. I dig the retro art though, I really love those old sleazy vibes. I’m not sure if Pussies is for me but I’ve never really heard anything quite like this, so I’ll give them points for that!

Well fuck, isn’t this a collaboration of the grindcore elite? Your men Dorian Rainwater and Bryan Fajardo (both of 9000 different amazing bands), along with Rahi (Insect Warfare) on vokills, smash out a stunning set of spasmodic, intensely complex technical grindcore. With production by Scott Hull, art by Arif Rot and a complimentary noise piece by everyone’s favourite stoner madman Jay Randall, the fact that I have snoozed on this album for 12 years is…

Lividity have long been one of my favourite brutal death metal bands, from the swampy, down-tuned earlier stuff, to the well-produced sickness of the later days. Used, Abused… marks that initial departure away from the murkier side of things (at least in terms of studio albums), and instead ushers in a new era of mind-boggling speed and precision. The drumming on this record, by Jordan Varela is absolutely second-to-one. Like, this is seriously fucking fast….