Posts by SeanO)))

I was very happy to see Broken Hope return with another record. I love the almost florescent artwork with its bright colours. Sonically, I suppose the record is much the same, and surprisingly bright for such a brutal death metal record. All in all, a good listen.

Entrails Tsunami has to be one of the best album names I’ve come across in recent times. Perfectly of course, it also fits Jig-Ai’s maturing aesthetic, so its a double whammy. The same can be said the for music on display here, the band have honed their unique goregrind and as the project moves further and further from its youth, the sonic clout only continues to improve. Jig-Ai are now a household name in the…

Stratosphere begins in ways that I would expect from this glorious project. Yet, it twists and weaves away through a whole different tapestry of sounds, some of which are an aural treat for the senses, and some of which are a bit tedious. On the whole however, this is a good album and worth a listen.

Arguably the album that ended the klassic era of Korn? And by klassic, I suppose I mean the 90s. In which case, Korn left the era with a return to the drab and dirty sound that they had pioneered on their first two records. Issues is a strange one, as alongside the usual clank and rattle of Korn’s nu metal is a whole series of shorter songs; vignettes if you will, which range from bizarre…

Oozing is a project from the dude behind First Days Of Humanity, which is great. Oozing is even better, with thick chunky slabs of pure goregrind mania. Absolutely top stuff of the highest degree and I cannot wait to get into some more of this stuff. Pharmacist are quickly becoming one of my new favourite things in goregrind. If you thought Medical Renditions Of Grinding Decomposition was good, wait until you hear this split. The…

I’m not a huge fan of the 80s Killing Joke output, with the self-titled and its follow up being an exception. This incendary debut has the sound of a band hitting the ground running, and unlike some of the band’s other 80s outputs, almost feels like it hasn’t aged a day. For its primitive beginnings, Killing Joke sounds as fresh and as interesting as ever. How striking is that cover image? Apparently it was taken…

What a noisy little fucker this is, falling more into the harsh noise camp rather than the harsh techno camp. Is this techno? Fuck do I know about electronic music? Not much, thats for sure. What I mean is, Tollund Men has that pulsing body-moving hypnotic throb to a lot of their stuff, but its buried under 16 layers of grime on this cassette.

Nymphetamine is a double-edged sword for me. I remember tuning into Scuzz TV at the time (I was an avid Cradle fan at this point, having started with Damnation… and worked my way backwards obsessing over the band’s spooky metal), and being enormously disappointed with the single version of the title track, namely “Nymphetamine (Fix)”. As a 14 year old meathead, I loudly proclaimed that I was done with Cradle at this point, and that…

Ah what the actual fuck! 52 (give or take) seconds of absolute blasting grindcore carnage! What an absolute belter. It’s over before you can even really think what the fuck is going on, but this is super cool. Super limited, super fun.

Chunky chunky chunky! Punishing hardcore-tinged dark metal from the kings of the style. God Is War is more of APMD’s perfect storm of a sonic recipe.

A later-career Nazarene offering which still manages to showcase the bands rabid thrashy black metal style. From the endless ocean of this genre, Impaled Nazarene do stand unique with their own frenzied sound. Pro Patria Finlandia had a clear and precise production job and is actually a lot longer than I remember, on a relisten. The CD comes in a cracking little digipak.

This bizarre project has been on my to-do list for a very long time. Today I finally listened, and was taken away on a wonderful musical experience. Chanelling aspects of both dungeon synth and vaporwave (my favourite niche electronic subgenres no less) and filtering them through the worship of an old RPG, we have some glorious low-key compositions that creep and crawl with the right amount of emotional leads over the top. Like, that sounds…

It feels almost wrong to complain about bad production when listening to obscure black metal, but so much is lost in the mud here that it’s almost unbearable. I find myself longing for a clear… well, anything. Otherwise, Anal Blasphemy tick all the boxes with this release. Its just a shame I can barely fucking hear them.

This is a strange one. On one hand, it is almost quite stale metal, on the other hand it is quite bizarre and unusual. There exists a strange duality between the two opposite ends of the musical spectrum, as it were. Surreal Overdose is thrashy, and more-metal-than-thou listeners will no doubt enjoy. But for me, dipping in like this, the production and general style is clumsy, and everything seems to be tripping and falling over…

Listening back now after all these years, I can more or less hear the youth oozing out of the speakers. Coming on like an acid-drenched Sabbath, Holy Mountain contains none of the bong-addled fuzz of later recordings, instead focuses on more concise and groove-led tracks. A classic of the doom and stoner genres whichever way you cut the cake.

Poo samples are perhaps to be expected, but I find myself shaking my head all the same. Disgusting death metal with a touch of goregrind sleaze is the order of the day. The downside is that Defecation Domination does not possess the same solid, fibrous and chunky production from the bands splits. In poo terms, the recordings here are much looser and fluid, and thinner in substance. However, there is still chunks and globs of…

Decent bit of war-tinged black metal. Songs about sluts and Satan and all that jazz, as I’m sure is evident by the cover art above. What is surprising however is the solid, dense production aesthetic which is almost unheard of for this kind of shit. It was a nice surprise. The only downer is that I listened to this back to back with a Revenge record, and it could absolutely not stand up to that.

Did anyone say Carcass worship? Pharmacist have to be some of the greatest goregrind in the old school style that I’ve heard in quite some time. Move on over County Medical Examiners! Pathologist also has someone giving them a run for their money at the moment. The sound is a little muddy but I feel that’s a trite complaint considering the genre. The lowdown is that this is fucking awesome, and is well worth checking…

When I started the Lines In Wax website in 2011, one of the first things I did was document my growing collection of the Slimewave series by Relapse. I don’t collect vinyl all that much anymore, but in line with the ten year anniversary of this site, and my seemingly never-ending mission to catch up on all the reviews I’ve been putting off for years, I figured it was high time to add the remaining…

Recieved the sad news that Alexi had passed away (edit: date of writing is 4th Jan 2021) so decided to spin up some older Children Of Bodom classics. I’ve never been the biggest fan, but there is something cathartic about COB’s sprightly music. Sitting in its own world between melodeath, metalcore and something altogether more Blind Guardian-esque, Hatebreeder is a polished collection of lightening fast tunes filled with youthful energy. RIP dude.

Summoning have always danced on the horizon of my musical periphery, mainly for being that black metal band with that horrendously awful logo. Granted, the more I think about it, the cooler I think that logo actually is, so there you go. Minas Morgul is fantastic. I’m no Tolkien nerd (yet, at least – I still need to get around to reading the books as an adult) but the vibes and atmospheres conjured here are…

A Haggus full length is just what the planet needed. Of course, it takes yours truly here a few years to actually get around to listening to it, but boy, was it worth the wait. Hard not to be derivative, but Haggus does what Haggus does best, with its mincing stomps and gut-churning watery vocals. I will mention however, that a lot of grindcore wonders that rise and fall on the international scenes, becoming golden…

Possibly one of the derpiest things that I have ever had the privilege of hearing. Mayhaps this means that I am not kvlt enough? That’s gotta be it, right? I am surely not kvlt enough for this insane tape recording. Nevertheless, I listened to the whole thing unironically, so this must mean I now ascent to a higher plain of obscurity. Cheers!

Winter are legendary in the world of slow and heavy music. I had the pleasure to catch them live at one of the early 2010’s era Roadburn festivals (I forget which), so it was nice to return to these guys after so many years of not listening to them. Into Darkness is a slow, dirgy romp through well crafted metal tunage. Sometimes you gotta go back to the classics for that decent hit of metallic…

Another one that has been on the to-do list for about six years. I can’t even remember where I picked this one up, maybe some sort of Vice end of year list? I forget. Either way, there is a lot of interesting instrumentation and electronic work here, but those are dragged down by a vocal performance which is interesting at its best and fucking irritating at its worst. Not for me.

The first half of Zeit is somewhat disappointing. There appears to be a prevalence of some sort of bending organ sound or even a theremin, and whilst that is cool for about 2 minute, its irritating after 15 or 20 minutes. Zeit however starts to form into another beast all of its own around the 40 minute mark, where bubbling samples evolve into pulsing electronic sounds and are augmented by gorgeous flourishes of synthesizers and…

A short but massively satisfying debut effort from the Californian version of the mighty Disgorge. Expect bowel-churning guitar tone, spastic drumming, vokillz-from-da-deepz and a production that will rattle your head until your brain turns to mush. Just lovely.

I can’t remember where the hell I got this 7″ from. Anyways, its my only foray into the word of Ladyscraper, who (on this EP at least) play mental speedcore with lots and lots of frenetic sampling. A lot of speedcore just hits the ground running and doesn’t stop, but Ladyscraper at least seems to have all sorts going on with the sampling. The drums are all over the place. Pure chaos. I love it!

I cannot adequatley convey how much I love this band. They are, truly, players of the most disgusting style of goregrind. Happy was I then, to find Traces Of Gore, a compilation throwing together all of the band’s split material, which aside from the tracks with Dystrophy, I have not heard yet, so this was most welcomed. Disgusting putrifying gore is the order of the day here, with a decent balance between riffing and all…

Light, sprightly (is that a word?) synthensizer music in the olde worlde / fantasy vein. I suppose you could call this dungeon synth, but this seems like more than that. I have Tolkien vibes, general high fantasy and massive worlds unfold as I lose myself in this lush music. Great stuff from Elixir!

Whiskertwister doesn’t seem to do subtlety. Which I suppose, is a good thing when it comes to this brand of early 2010s dubstep. The beats pound you in the head, and the bass slaps you in the dick. Over and over. Forever. Or, for a few tracks, at least. This kind of music hasn’t aged well, but it reminds me of a time and a place when it was exciting to watch a whole new…

There’s been a lot of jostling from the LDOH camp as of late, and many splits have been dropped, of varying quality. It was only a matter of time, I suppose, until a new full length record was released by the latest incarnation of the band. I don’t have Facebook, and can’t seem to find any other info online, so I’m unsure who is in the band at the moment? Admittedly, I’ve only checked out…

Neptune Towers is super under-rated. Transmissions… is a stellar electronic composition, heralding styles all the way from dungeon synth to something in the peak-period of Tangerine Dream’s synthesizer output. Its a mesmerising listen, and one of great enjoyment.

Some lovely head-buzzing drones from the earlier portion of the Sunn O))) discography. “Mocking Solemnity” and “Death Becomes You” are excellent offerings, as is the uhhh, interesting take on Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, which is of course, completely and utterly unrecognisable. The biggest drawback with this album is the middle two collab tracks. I love Sunn O))), and I love Merzbow, but fuck if these works are not irritating as fuck. The second…

What is considered by many to be a missed step by Cradle is actually one of my favourite releases for them. Depending on how old school the Cradle fan you are talking to is, Cradle either died with Midian, Damnation… or Nymphetamine. I can see arguements for all of the above, when comparing and contrasting to the original style and vision of the band, but all of the above are great albums in their own…

What a trip. Balanced between elements of harsh noise and creepy atmospherics, Haraam’s awkward, lurching electronics transcend out of the audible mire, writhing into shapes of pulsating body music. Hypnotic, danceable, weird and unsettling. I’m in love.

There’s heavy, and then there’s Triptykon heavy. Its a certain vibe and tone that the band can hit that sometimes just absolutely blows you away. Eparistera Daimones has a pompous name, but its fitting somewhat to the Giger-inspired gothic darkness that the band purvey, taking latter-career Celtic Frost to new depths of audible darkness.

Tu Carne are one of the more consistent goregrind bands, when it comes to full length records at least. Me Quedo Con Tu Dolor! is more or less the bands debut release, and they hit the ground running with their tried and tested, steady sound. That may not sound too thrilling when it comes the world of goregrind, but Tu Carne have a trademark to their hardcore-infused dirty grindcore. Not to mention, those pitchshifter vocals…

I’ve seen this band name bandied about for a while now, so our inevitable date was only a matter of fate’s interest. Here we are then, when mine own ears met the lucid and juice-drenched tunes of Tribbing Is My Religion. Think brutal death with drum machines, leaning more towards the chugging approach than the Mortician-esque explosion of blastbeats. Couple this with vocals that would make Gutalax happy and throw in a bunch of hilarious…

Widowmaker is – unfortunately – a disappointing followup to the all out carnage that was presented to us on Hatred For Mankind. Even today, it is hard to find such a densely evil recording. One could argue that the bar was set too high by the band’s debut, but there was a myriad of different ways their intense and meandering sound could have progressed. Sadly, a lot of Widowmaker is boring where instead it should…

Lemmy N Co’s third offering streamlines the adrenaline rush found on Overkill into a fairly similar yet still heavily enjoyable, classic Motörhead album. I mean, just look at that cover painting. The wheel is hardly re-invented, but its a decent companion piece and a solid discography entry for this workhorse of a band.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – when it comes to industrial black metal, it is really hard to beat Thorns. It seems when Snorre is not assisting in murders he is fully capable of producing some of the best, cold metal around. “Shifting Channels” is an absolute beaut of a track. I’m pretty sure it samples the door sounds from the OG Doom game, but I could be mistaken. What I…

October Rust is quite possibly the perfect album for autumn. Here, Steele et al hone their gothic rock chops and stray away – for the most part – from the doom metal and punk elements that coursed through their first few records. I read somewhere that Pete Steele wanted more “chicks” to be fans of the band, and that says it all with this album. The production is cold and dense, and the gorgeous keyboard…

Haunting, beautiful and heavy doom metal from this proto-Sunn group. The vocal performances from Runhild Gammelsæter are stunning, a foil to the boggy doom of the band themselves. There is a dense Norse kinda feel here (hey, maybe its just the runes on the cover, eh). The only real downside is that there are only two studio recordings here, the rest of the record is made up of live or rehearsal recordings. The drop in…

I’ve read a lot of hype about this Mirror Reaper record over the last few months, especially when looking for new metal music. Can’t say that I am familiar at all with the works of Bell Witch, so going in blind I was expecting something in the vein of Sleep’s Dopesmoker. Colour me surprised then, when I found that this album was a more ambient affair. Mirror Reaper swells and builds, from the smallest sound…

A new record from Lord Gore was not something that I expected to hear in 2020. Nevertheless, pleased I am, to be treated to such a delight. Its been a considerable amount of time since Lord Gore caressed our ears with their sinister yet sweet lullabies of death, and they have returned with a more streamlined and mature sound. Thats not to say improvement was needed in the first place, but Lord Gore have changed…

In anticipation of the release of the newer Carcass stuff I revisited some of my least favourite albums by the band. Yes, I am one of the grubby losers that thinks Symphonies… and Reek… are the pinnacle of Carcass’ sonic output, and yes I’m damn proud of that, even if the band aren’t. Onwards onto Heartwork proper then, the record that sang the melodic death of my favourite bands (and sounds) of all time. Leaving…

Not the first album that I have heard by this legendary Dutch band, but when listening to it, and doing my research, I realised how confused and in the dark I was about the band’s complicated discography. Embrace The Death sits a few albums in, but was recorded towards the start? Or something like that? Despite all of this, Asphyx has this unmistakable mournful approach to the slower side of death metal; a melodic depth…

Mullah Said is my first taste of the prolific and highly revered sound art of Muslimgauze. I find something about this deeply unsettling; dark, meandering soundscapes are the order of the day, steeped and drenched and plunged over and over into dense Eastern weavery and instrumentation. I shall be returning to this project, that is for sure.

Chrome Hoof have been on the to-do list for longer than I would ever care to admit. How blown away was I when I finally checked them out? Well, read on! LOL. Beyond Zade is one of those awkward releases that kinda sits somewhere between an EP and an album, but either way, that doesn’t really matter, what matters is the musical content, of which I can safely report is absolutely bonkers in all of…

Without looking back it is sometimes easy to forget just how brutish and blunt a weapon early Voïvod was. Before the trademark dissonance and progressive science took over the band’s mesmerising songwriting, the band purveyed an interesting blend of unforgiving thrash metal. Sure, compared to some other efforts, the production is somewhat lacking, but I find that the unpolished, rugged edges to War And Pain add to the aural assault on the senses, much in…

I fell in love with Priest’s debut single, “The Pit”, and the album which followed it. Unfortunately, the kinship with their cold and awkward techno pop ends there. 2020’s sophomore effort lacks in just about every attribute that made the original so interesting, which is a true shame. I hear there may have been line up changes in the band? Either way, this is pretty disappointing, truth be told.

Dusty, hiss-filled dungeon synth compositions of lost lands and endless dark imaginations. Like, this is so fucking good its not even funny. Some of the vocal performances on the latter track(s) leave a little to be desired, but this a golden gem of dark dungeon music.

Blind listen of the day award goes to the madfolk in Psudoku, which despite the slightly silly name live up to the head-scratching promise of their moniker with this epic cataclysm of mathematic chaos. Owing more to certain experimental metallic genres than anything too far into the grindcore camp, Space Grind is however an excellent and perplexing listen. If you like your metal absolutely bonkers, then come one come all.

An absolute classic of the thrash genre, but it is also so much more! Voivod are the Swiss army knife of the thrash metal world, and Killing Technology pinpoints the turning point, where Voivod’s primitive, brutal thrash morphed significantly into something far wider and more experimental in scope.

The Thought Gang moniker has cropped up here or there on Twin Peaks soundtrack records (and the show itself, lets not forget). From the bizarre, softly spoken offerings on the FWWM OST, to the frenetic jazz given to The Return, it was awesome to finally listen to an album’s worth of material from this Lynch / Badalamenti collaberation project. As perhaps predicted, this is a mixed bag of tunes, more of a collection than a…

Pink Flag is one of those albums that holds its own kind of mysterious cult status. On the surface of it, Wire is not a particularly groundbreaking group, but on repeat listens one can appreciate some of the more subtle undertones to the music. At first it appears to be an interesting approach to the punk rock template but then when you realise the song structures are based entirely in repetition, almost to the point…

A mammoth of a record, pulling from a myriad of styles and influences. Can’t say I’ve ever been massive on BTBAM but I heavily enjoyed this album.

I was very sad to hear that Cookie Monsta passed away. Whilst not so much a part of the original gestation of the dubstep sound, he was part of the original wave of artists pioneering this new, dirty style. This early EP, on Circus Records, is a perfect example of that. Cookie’s bass work is massive and interfering, and thats how it should be. Great stuff.

Another record that is vying for the place of first ever death metal record. Whether it wins or not, Seven Churches is a classic record, one deserving the attention of any metalhead, and not just for its historical status. On Seven Churches, Possessed end up mixing styles of proto-death metal with thrash and something that’s a bit more reminiscent of what Repulsion would do on Horrified. Take all this, and give it an almost blackened…

Make my shit The Chronic! I love this album. I hadn’t listened to it in so many years, so went back to it for the purposes of this entry. In hindsight, its weird how so close together in time The Chronic and its follow-up, 2001 (released in 1999 lol) are. When I was younger, these two eras of rap felt like worlds apart, with The Chronic in particular sounding absolutely ancient in comparison. I wouldn’t…

Terria was my first taste of Devin’s up and down world of solo work. I vaguely remember Syncestra (is that spelt correctly?) coming out, but this goes back even further. I’m not sure what it was about Terria that made it stand out amongst some of the others, but its a bizarre, airy trip through some long and dense tracks. If I had one criticism of Terria it would be that it doesn’t really go…

Booming Words From Hell is the sprung as fuck debut from everyone’s favourite bogeyman, Esham. Our man here bolted out the gate with an amateur yet now legendary record. All the tropes and themes that Esham would continue to explore over the course of his legendary original acid rap / horrorcore run of records begin here, but Booming… also contains a more “street” or gangsta rap sensibility to it. Either way, if you like abrasive…

I’ve had good experiences with ExCx in the past, but here the rehearsal room feel is a little too rustic. The riffs sound fuckin’ great – when the rest of the din stops and you can hear them. But hey, this is sloppy goregrind, can I really complain? Biological Monstrosity are the most solid band on this split by a country mile. They play extra dirty, lightening fast goregrind topped with disgusting watery vocals. They…

Admittedly I had never even heard of this EP until recently, so I went back and had a very good goose, expecting to find the dusty origins of the intricate death metal that Nile is so revered for. Unfortunately, this 1994 cassette showcases a band of completely different stripes. It isn’t bad per se, but Karl Sanders’ glorious personal guitar tone is missing, as is the stunning Egyptian atmospheres. I would say that this is…

Nasty Face are one of my favourite goregrind projects of the last 5 years or so. Playing in the crusty / old school style rather than the tupa-tupa OEF-fodder style, Nasty Face is garlging sickness down the very core. Expect, of course, pustulent pitchshifters, shredding guitars, and barely audible drums at practice room quality. I would have it no other way.

HKE’s HK record lies somewhere on the more spaced out, introspective end of vaporwave. Few and far between are the tropes of nostalgia and the repurposing of 80s and 90s music (at least, any that is immediately recognisable). Instead we have swathes of crushing ethereal ambience; soundscapes that seem to live their own life with analogue flutter. Its deep, moving stuff, and a listen that I would strongly recommend.

Possibly a hallmark of the industrial genre? Do I even need to prefix that sentence with “possibly”? I read online that someone called this a “random tapestry of sound”. That particular review wasn’t a good one, but the phrase stuck with me. At first, 1/2 Mensch can no doubt seem random, but what this is is a carefully constructed monolith of industrial noise, encompassing all the atonal and rhythmic duality that comes with such a…

Easily, hands down, zero argument: the best Sabbath album with Dio. Released seemingly randomly between the band’s albums with Tony Martin on vocals, Iommi rather unceremoniously sacked off that entire line up to reform with Geezer and Dio to reignite the Mob Rules line up. There seems to be a lot of shit online about Dio’s lyrics on here, but I genuinely don’t think they are particular awful, especially on the usual Dio cheese to…

Khost are a dark, heavy, miserable band and Needles In The Ground is a fantastic record. Expect a few subtle flourishes from Mr. Broadrick. Unsure why he hasn’t just used his own name on this rather than the Godflesh tag? Maybe GC Green was in on this? Hey, maybe it just helps sell records.

Cross Purposes is yet another Sabbath album in the seemingly endlessly bland Tony Martin era. I don’t blame Martin for this per se, but every album he fronts just happens to be some different variation on the theme of boring stadium rock. That being said, Cross Purposes is definitely the heaviest output to feature this line up thus far (not counting Forbidden) and notably includes Geezer Butler back on bass, even though he was not…

Expanding on the epic doomery of the previous material, Nightfall enters new territories of pomp, cheese and theatre. To me, the addition of Messiah on vocals steers this almost into the realm of power metal, but is held into more trad or doom classifications by the songwriting and perhaps more importantly, the pacing.

Volume 1 is another one of those records that got played to death in my teenage years. Listening again as an adult, it seems almost like a jumble of different sessions stitched together rather than a cohesive album, but that isn’t too much of an issue when the songs are of this quality. From the instant mega hit of the opening track, the abstract heaviness of “Rio Bravo” or “Lost In A Contraption”, or the…

Its hard to embody the spirit of the early Mortiis releases without completely ripping them off. This is done with varying degrees of success, but Elffor’s Dra Sad III, my first encounter with the project, manages to weave the vibes of those early 90s dungeon synth masterpieces into tapestries of their own. Dra Sad III, with the full title of Beneath The Uplands Of Doom, evoke longform, dense ambient soundscapes, with the right balance of…

The debut from Priest is far removed from a lot of the band’s later albums, from any of their eras. In fact, Rocka Rolla is a snapshot in time of a band that may not have ever moved into the world of heavy metal. Its not for me, but I’m glad I started from the beginning.

Another stomping entry from the ever excellent Haggus. It is literally impossible to fault this stuff. Totally, utterly insane and on point, crusty, grindy, mincecore. Golem Of Gore are new to me, but make a good impression. I look forward to crisscrossing into their crazy world in the future as I meander through the grindcore underworld.

This record haunted me. There’s a reoccurring motif that I just couldn’t place. It hit me after a while, it was a sample used by Gorillaz for the track “M1 A1” on the self titled record, which was the first album I really spent any decent amount of time with when I was a kid. I’ve also seen the Day Of The Dead film so I have no idea how didn’t put this together before….

Brilliant, meandering, dusty old world rock and roll with proggy elements. Considering such, the tracks are actually surprisingly short, but either way, I feel like I’ve cracked open a forgotten time capsule. Not my usual cup of tea, but a great listen none the less.

I’ve had this on my to-do list for donkeys years, but finally got to listening to it after hearing a recent Earache post from Al explaining a bit of the goings on. I chose the Full Dynamic Range reissue, which was a solid re-release. I’ve not heard the original, but even on a flat monitor signal through some IEMs I absolutely could not fuck with any bass, which is a shame. Would it be lazy…

It took me quite by surprise when I turned on Radio 1 one day whilst in the work van, and was treated to a single from the up and coming new record from long-time heavies, Mastodon. Wait, like, they play this shit on the radio now? Since when? But I digress. I’ve been meaning to check out some “later” Mastodon stuff for a while, and the cover art for this thing stood out to me…

Oh, she’s a depressing one! Dialling back a bit from the slightly more sparkly offering of October Rust (an album made to attract female fans), Pete’s doomy wrecking krew instead hit us with tales of death, depression and drug abuse. How cheery! Of course, that wicked Type O humour is there, but as a whole this is back in the Bloody Kisses realm of misery. Good stuff gents!

Keyboards in death metal is usually a something of a turn off for me. Even in black metal, it works probably about 50% of the time. Nocturnus however, are something of an exception to that narrow minded rule of mine. The debut record from this excellent band, The Key, is not as muddy or confusing as its follow up, but is still a maddening and punishing descent into some glorious sci-fi tinged metal ov death….

Undeath is one of the more heavily hyped death metal bands around right now, and its easy to see why. Sentient Autolysis is a perfect showcase of the sickness that was to come on the Lesions… record. Dirty, horrible, disgusting death metal, the way it should be.

This is my first foray into the world of Pestilence. Right off the bat, everything sounds fantastic, with tbe exception of the drums, which sound flat and horrible. I’m sure there’s a grainy and decent analogue recording buried somewhere in there. Perhaps one for the remaster treatment?

Satyricon gets a lot of shit. Personally, I would say most of it is completely undeserved. I suppose that is the nature of the beast that is black metal; anyone who transitions or meanders out of it (or blends it with something else) is unavoidably going to catch flak from genre purists. Brass tacks: Deep… offers very little in anything new, but is another solid offering in the bands now almost two decade long vein…

Plasma’s second album is a lesson in how to take goregrind influenced metal seriously. Punctuated by disturbing samples about body snatching (and reminding me of The Berzerker’s Reawakening album in the process, if that album had just been any good eh), Dreadful Desecration is a solid and well made production that doesn’t stray too far from its sloppy gore roots.

Jim Kirkwood is something of a father to the dungeon synth world. His compositions bridge the gap between electronic soundtrack music and even – dare I say the buzz word – Berlin school kinda synth fuckery, but its the Tolkien inspired backdrop to these fantastical compositions that really is the icing on the cake. Middle Earth is a long album. I took it out with me and walked a few miles with my dog, burnt…

This is… different. I appreciate the sentiment and meaning behind it, but after two tracks I’m sick to death of it. Dungeon synth or any fantasy based electronic music is niche enough as it is, at this point it seems almost like a joke to narrow it down to “comfy” RPG interior music. I’m sure there’s an audience for this, but I’m not in that audience.

Stunning, gloriously dense synth works that unfold and meander through spaced-out worlds and atmospheres. It’s not a million miles away from something that Tangerine Dream would put out, but retains that unique Jean-Michel Charrme (lol, sorry). I picked up a copy of this on chrome/metal tape (ferric eat my dust!) and although the quality isn’t as clear as I would have expected (I have regular cassettes that sound better), playing this on the Walkman, warbles…

What in the nine hells? I suppose I had to start somewhere with The Residents and this was a place as good as any to randomly jump in. I can’t quite put my finger on what is going on here. I feel either I’m missing the greater picture or that Not Available needs a few listens to truly unfurl itself. Its unsettling, a little weird, and a little catchy too. I look forward to hearing…

Eternal is rather dancable for such a cold and industrial take on black metal. I suppose the black metal element is dialled back quite a bit, but nevertheless, Eternal is a classi of the crossover genre that happened a lot in the 90s. Some great beats here, which drive these misty compositions. Plus, any album that has “Supra Karma” on it is a winner in my book.

Christ! What the hell is this!? Doomy Sabbath? That’s what I’m talking about. In something of a U-turn from Cross Purposes (the heaviest Tony Martin album but still a shitter), Forbidden is a weighty record. It sounds like a mix between 90s Cathedral and Warning, but with a lacklustre vocal performance over the top of it all. As a whole, the album is a swing and a miss, but showed Sabbath on a correcting path,…

Tolling 13 Knell is a peculiar set of metallic tales which I suppose unfurl mainly in the black metal school of thought, but draw inspiration from a wide array of sources. It has taken me a good few listens to get into this, but its a solid album, albeit one with a strange, hollow production job.

Untouchables was incredibly anticipated at the time, even more so on the strength of opening track and lead single “Here To Stay”. Even although in hindsight, the gap between this and the previous record was fairly short (3 years? Ish?), reports in media at the time had Untouchables down as some sort of Chinese Democracy style spiral of ridiculous cost and excess – a record stuck in studio purgatory. When it did drop, Untouchables was…

The Chromatics bring their unique, haunting brand of bubblegum dream pop to the Simon & Garfunkel classic. Ethereal, moody synths and breathy vocals take you on a trip well worth travelling. Not a groundbreaking cover, sure, but still a gorgeous listen.

Ooh, what an stomper. Putting most (if not all) pornogrind and digigrind bands to shame with an absolutely savage programmed attack of the senses. Everything is synthesized, from guitars to blasts, and honestly it sounds amazing. Gets a bit glitchy in parts, but this just adds to the chaos that unfurls. Its a shame that this appears to be a one-off release.

On Katabasis, Vacuous improve leaps and bounds from their demo that was released earlier in the year. True, some of the scuzzy feel is lost in the more clear production, but the songs have much more room to breathe and grow. Ones to watch.

A promising start for this interesting band. The drums are a bit far away in the mix, but that is really my only complaint. The vocals, guitar and especially the bass all sound fantastic. Vacuous would progress heavily with their next release, the Katabasis EP, which is probably a much better place to start.

I understand that one should expect the unexpected when it comes to Mr. Bungle, and I understand that this is a revisit to a pre-self titled world, but I did not expect this to be as metal as it is. Sure, the inclusion of Scott Ian on guitar and Dai Lombardo on drums probably goes a long way in facilitating this feel, but there is not a single saxophone, trumpet, jazzy interlude or glockenspiel to…

I slept on this when it first came out in 2018. Like, totally under the radar she went. Sometimes I have this habit of zoning out for months, even years, at a time when it comes to music scenes, and then I find myself playing catchup. Thankfully, this fourth Deafheaven record was worth chasing after. The band push their shoegazy, black metal influenced noise further into more abstract and interesting directions. Can this even be…