Archive for January 2025

Really fun and interesting stoner metal that pulls as much from the school of Kyuss and desert rock as it does from the more murky worlds of Doom metal. One thing that really stood out to me about Polar Fleet on the first listen is that the songs are not attempts at 6/7/8 minute monoliths (which often results in boring, dragged out songs in the over-saturated doom world, let’s be honest). The production on this…

UGH! Holy fuck, I slept on this. This shit rips. How do you produce an album that’s so heavy it feels like you are drowning in some sort of tar or sludge and you can barely move, yet this is still nimble and dexterous as fuck? I have no idea, ask fucking Rippikoulu. 30 minutes here of solid, super dynamic and super interesting death metal. Brilliant!

Okay… so this is a thing that happened. I’m sure what tectonic series of events occurred that set in motion the stack of dominos that tumbled down into this final result, but here we are. This is now! This is the future! Speaking of which… is… is that a cyborg BlackGoat on the cover? Oof marone! Anyway, this is pretty silly but also a lot of fun. It feels a bit strange hearing Goatmoon music…

Excellent, almost NWOBHM inspired heavy metal with nice frosty touches that almost reminds me of dodgy 70s exploitation films or the kinda vibes you get from “Magick Metal” (sans the Nazi shit), Treacherous Beast is not a long EP at only 10 minutes in length, but it is terribly catchy (especially the title track). A short teaser of a record that absolutely leaves you wanting to know more about these guys.

Banging! Sounds as sweaty as the basement club you can imagine this playing in (at unfathomable volumes, no less). It’s an alternative lifestyle theme night and you’ve just seen your boss being led around the dance floor on a leash by woman who could be a Mortal Kombat villain. Or something.

Without wanting to be too melodramatic, Happy? is everything I worried that Album would be (yes, the album before this album, which is called Album). Album was so poppy and drenched in a sunny, up-beat 80s production, that I worried it would be the death of PiL’s experimental and weird side. Whilst Album retains PiL’s uniqueness, I unfortunately cannot say the same for Happy?, which succumbs far more heavily to the vices of the 80s…

Fairly clean compared to how I usually like my black metal but this is just my own personal preference rather than a defect; the music on display here is nimble and dexterous and the guitar playing is exciting enough to keep you interested for the whole demo. I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s polished, but the drums have a nice heft to them and the vocals are pretty great too. I’d absolutely give…

Really cool and evocative black metal with excellent synth passages and incredible artwork to boot. The whole package, you could say. For real, this is pretty exciting stuff, and an excellent listen. Highly recommended in my book!

Fogwraith (assuming that they are the first band up) get a bit lost amongst the reeds (or is that within the fog). There’s no clear definition to what they are trying to achieve, but it’s not an unpleasant listening experience. Flagellant are my kind of black metal. Production is natural and raw without being unlistenable lofi garbage, and the drums sound absolutely fantastic. It won’t be the most original thing you’ll hear, but it definitely…