I thoroughly enjoyed this journey through the ages of electronic music. I was sitting here vibing, thinking, “damn, this thing covers some bases!”, from the deeper Berlin School origins to the bubblier “acid” approach of the 90s. When the beat kicked in during “Life Making Its Way” I was sold on Enophophilia and went to read the description on the Bandcamp, where the artist admits to wanting to create a hybrid electronic sound that encompasses…

The primitive yet thoroughly entertaining beginnings of one of metal’s most endearing (lol) bands. Things are a little rougher around the edges on Cannibal’s debut, with the influences of 80s “proto” death metal still in the mix along with (dare I say) a few thrashy elements too. I wouldn’t call their playing sloppy by any stretch of the term, but the band are certainly looser here than on any other studio record, but moreso due…

AGx stuff here I think is live (I think lmao), but pretty fuckin’ solid, and thrown in are a few of the band’s classic tracks to keep things interesting (unique to this session of course). Cannibe session is on par with their other material if you’ve heard it. If not, expect razor sharp guitars and monotonous but also incredibly satisfying drum programming. Insane watery gore vokills are then slathered all over the top of the…

Gotta love the mix of smoooooooth gangsta rap compositions and sick as fuck horrorcore lyrics. Brother Lynch was truly a pioneer of the horrorcore style, at least in the dark and disgusting lyrical content. Content varies from the usual gangsta fare but dialled up to 11, through to mad shit like cannibalism, which feels like it comes waaay out of left-field with the gangsta rap beats that are carrying this thing. So bizarre! Esham might…

From Sacrifice To Survival is probably my least favourite Skinless release. Nothing about the songs here pop out at me. Older stuff is grimier, nastier, more savage. Later stuff is more slammy / precise and fuckin’ brutal. This one kinda just falls through the cracks in the middle, which is a pretty shitty analysis to make but I can’t think of how else to describe it, because there’s nothing necessarily wrong with this album, it…

Imagine that some maniax poured all of the members of Carcass and Agathocles into that giant blender from that halloween episode of The Simpsons where the teachers are eating all of the children at the local school. The contents are then slurried down to what is basically a thick pulp. The pulp is magnetised, pumped out into wafer thin stripes and air-dried for maximum retention of gooey goodness. The thin strips are then wound around…

Don’t come into a project entitled Anal Vomit expecting the world, and you will be rewarded for your imaginative frugalilty with a cut of messy, unholy death/black hybrid. It would be too easy to add the tag of war metal to cover all of the above bases, but realistically this isn’t quite unhinged enough to fall into that punishing category, if one was to be anal about it (lol). And seeing as I am here…

One of my favourite pieces of “dungeon synth”. It, of course, pre-dates the formation of such a genre by a considerable margin, and perhaps owes more to the worlds of Berlin School or film sountracks than it does Mortiis and other dark dungeon dwelling maniacs. There is a purity to Kirkwood’s releases that keeps it out of the mystery fjords and onto the rolling hills, the battlefields, the craggy cliffs etc. of far-off fantasy lands….

Quite possibly one of the most awful things I have ever heard, but I already knew that going in. Guess I’m a sucker for degenerate pornogrind and every now and then something like this is a nice palette cleanser. Horny Tentacles has gotta be up there though with the worst of ’em. Horrendously bad! Ha!

Due to the period of time in which this came out I probably look at it with rose-tinted glasses. I LOVED this things when I was a teenager, to the point where I got it tattooed (under age, I might add) – just another one of a long line of silly decisions that I’ve made over the last 30+ years. If I am being honest with myself though, The Wraith is not as good as…

Raw, uncompromising, wobbly, rehearsal-room grade recording from a classic period of time. A formative time, you could say, with The Dark War… bridging the gap between Hellhammer / early Celtic Frost / early Bathory kinda shit and the styles of what would be dialled up to 1000 in the war metal genre. Evil demons, darkness, and all sorts of unholy shit abounds. Tidy.

Koshiro’s genius is (of course) ever-present on the SOR sequel as it was on the original. My one complaint is perhaps the lack of variety here when paired up with the OST for the first game, what we get is essentially more of the same kinda compositions. Now, in a world where such smoooooooooth fuckin’ pieces of work can be composed for the Sega fucking Genesis console there is the very real argument that if…

Repentance comes on initially like a Tongues Part 2, but repeat listens indicate a slight maturing in this style of songwriting, as well as in the production style. Pretty sure Esham was on Psychopathic at this time, so the production fits right in with other records from their roster released during this time. Also, there’s some great features here from ICP, Twiztid, TNT (from Natas) and Bone Thugs.

Stinky, nasty old school death metal, just what the Dr. ordered. Been hyped about a second Cryptworm album for a while and I was very happy when they delivered. The band are now in possession of a drummer that can keep time and oddly enough at first this gives the impression of a loss of some sort of charm (coupled with the slightly cleaner production here on the sophomore effort), but once everything clicks into…

FF4 was the first (and last) FF CD that I ever bought in person. My version came with, if I recall, a scented Hallowicked CD, which I’ll review separately (there are a few remixes / featuring tracks that are seemingly unique to this version of Hallowicked however). I remember thinking that Forgotten Freshness Vol. 4 was straight bullshit at the time. I had already heard tracks on Shaggy’s solo album, or on the Wraith remix…

Immortal Tech is second to none if you are into that conscious / political flow. There’s even a few zingers in here where Tech drops the seriousness and just has fun (imagine that!) such as the excellent and entertaining “Obnoxious”. Vol. 2 however is a step down from Vol. 1 in regards to the production, which is beefier but the sounds on display are not as hard hitting or aggressive, which I find does the…

I’ve struggled with reviewing this album for seven years. I just keep putting it off and off and off, and today, after one more listen, I feel exactly the same way. For as lush and as dense as Utopia’s production is, I cannot shake the feeling that this is a listless, rudderless voyage through a sea of magnolia coloured clouds. Every so often, a huge piece of glass or crystal is visible through the mist,…

Solid album with confident, clever flows from Action Bronson. I gotta be in the mood for this guy but it really scratches the itch when nothing else can. There are certainly more “independent” sounding releases in Bronson’s catalogue, not that Well Done sounds particularily generic, but it does have a very, how can I say, “New York” sound. Easy comparisons can be made to Ghostface Killa or even MF DOOM what with all the food…

For the last twenty years I have dismissed this album as being not worth my time, but on a recent hip hop binge I revisited it once more and well, to be honest, I don’t know what the fuck was wrong me. I think, if anything, I’ve just not really paid proper attention to the rhymes. On top of that, the production is not as hard-hitting as their debut, which was really cold and unique….

This shit slaps. It was slap even harder however, if Busdriver spent less time trying to sound clever and more time on constructing worthwhile, long-lasting songs. Instead we get a blurry, top-speed barrage of flows that are all loosely held together. Which is fine, because it’s impressive as fuck, but mans right here is basically the rap equivelent of Dream Theatre or some such music wankery. The production is great and the songs are great…

Ah, Boondox. No amount of high profile guest stars or biiiiiig dick production can save the mediocrity that is a fuckin’ Boondox record. I mean, I don’t really know what the problem is. Boondox himself isn’t exactly a terrible rapper, he can hold his own, but there’s just something about the songs on this thing that irritate me to no end. The Harvest isn’t anywhere near as bad as some of the albums that followed…

Attack Of The Weirdos got that perfect hardcore 90s production and feel to it, coupled with Bizarre mad rhymes (which are here in their infancy but still great) and some amazing guest spots and you’ve got a winner of an EP. This isn’t gonna win any awards or smash any records but all in all it’s a solid debut EP with some hilarious tunes on it.

The tracks on this one should have been left on the chopping room floor. Forgotten Staleness Vol 3 sounds like 80% outtakes from The Amazing Jeckel Brothers (an album which draaaagged anyway) and 20% featuring cuts that are worth checking out for the novelty. The album’s high point is the Mix-a-lot remix / cover song “Posse On Vernor”, which is by far the best song. The Eminem diss is pretty funny, but is also pretty…

For when you run out of old school wicked shit acid rap era Esham to listen to, there’s always a gang of fuckin’ Natas records for you to fall back on. Multikillionaire is not a far cry from a regular Esham record, with The Bogeyman on production duty (and we all love Esham’s production, right?), and taking up a good 40/50% of the verses here too. TNT is on point too, the only thing really…

The “Space Ambient” tag is relevant here, especially on closing track “Space And Time” which sees the more typical dungeon synth structures fall away for something that is altogether more new age and Berlin School mixed together into one strange melting pot. The first three tracks are more in the vein of what you would expect from cavernous 90s synthesizer music in this vein, but with more active, orchestral elements at the forefront, rather than…

Not gonna lie, I usually enjoy the wicked, disgusting end of horrorcore more when it has less of a polished sound and more of a janky, fucked up production. Snuff Porn Gore, as uninspiring a title as that is, is a nice exception. This is THE Billy Big Bollocks of the horrorcore world, especially in the circles of MC Bushpig and the extended cast of the Harem / Suicide Rap Orgy. It’s extra layers of…

Smooth, relaxing vaporwave that doesn’t fall off too far into the ether due to the ever-prominent prescence of ticking beats holding everything together like glue. I’m not sure of the album’s aesthetic, being from the UK I have of course been to the red light districts of Amsterdam and Brussels to have a nosey at what goes on, but the IRL vibe at these kinds of places is so much more chaotic than the tunes…

Well, this is an interesting listen, even for those who may be already versed in the world of MC Bushpig or the Suicide Rap Orgy. Weird, angular, and downright obstructive beats and backing tracks are the order of the day, and the vocals are more amateurish than the other releases, especially from MC Mule, but it’s quick to adjust to the vibe and roll with. Tape 1 is worth listening to for the production alone,…

Sick, deep fried, southern rap with insane, chunky production drenched in tape hiss and dank samples, all laid underneath a variety of MCs spitting all sorts of nasty shit. I guess on first impressions it was like a Memphis version of the Wu Tang Clan’s first album, but that would be a fairly cheap comparison. If you’re into the darker side of hip hop this is a gem shining in the darkness.

Solid as fuck debut from one of the best MCs on the planet. I don’t know why but Del never really reached superstardom, because this guy has such a strong flow and such great charisma. The subject matter is a bit clumsy in places on this debut, but the production is fantastic (if not a product of its time, in all fairness). Highlights have gotta be “Pissin’ On Your Steps” and “Sleepin’ On My Couch”.

Wasn’t the biggest fan of the second disc so figured I’d come back and talk about the first disc because it’s also listed as a separate entry. This is a good thing, for sure. The tracks on disc one are much better – all that old school Detroit smog shit. I know I use that “Detroit smog” descriptor a lot when talking about ICP but its the best way for me to describe that style…

Mans got a way with the drum machine, I’ll give him that. And the flows are really cool. Like, proper old school 80s hip hop sound. Despite this the mix sounds kinda hollow and devoid of bass, with the focus instead directly onto the beats (“Mall Dropper” slaps though). This works in many ways but also leaves the “stage” really sparse and empty in between verses sometimes, which gives the record an odd, unfinished feel….

Tunnel Of Love is silly as fuck but hey, it’s ICP we are talking about here. Considering songs like “Lil Somethin’ Somethin’” from the same kind of era aren’t very good, so facing a whole EP of “love” (read: fucking) tracks, on paper at least, didn’t seem like the best idea. Tunnel Of Love is a quality slice of wicked shit however, from the world famous (lol) opening track, the hilarious “Super Balls”, to deeper…

This shit haunts the absolute fuck out of me. I could never really get very far in Ecco 2 (The Tides of Time), my little child brain couldn’t work out the abstract puzzles, concepts and messages that were on display. I used to just swim around eating fish and doing jumps out of the water, and that’s about it. I did end up using passwords that I got out of some cheat book to see…

I listened the ever-living fuck out of this album when I was a teenager. The Wraith and Great Milenko were my introduction to ICP, and whilst I worked backwards and preferred the older Joker Cards, Great Milenko will always hold a special place with me for reigniting my interest in the band. I can remember it now, as clear as day, my girlfriend sent me an .mp3 of “Halls Of Illusions” via MSN Messenger and…

Another massively “meh” release from the Tempest era, which is unsurprising, all things considered. I would have to say in the case of Eye Of The Storm, it is the over-reliance on a rock/metal production to the tracks, which I’ve never really thought ICP is any good at. The production is pretty good though, so it gets middle marks. I cannot think of a single reason to pick this up and ever listen to it…

Falls a bit flat in isolation, with the usual fare from Necro against a fairly mid beat. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, just fails to really capture any feeling, be that disgust, awe or anything in between.

Short, sweet but mostly pointless solo EP from Shaggy 2 Dope. I say pointless because J is on these tracks too and the whole thing is produced by Mike E Clark, so you might as well as slapped a fuckin ICP logo on this thing and be done with it. In fact, track 4 “Three Rings” ends up on Riddle Box anyways (with slightly different lyrics). I’m not complaining though, whatever name it’s under this…

A shining example of fantastic modern hip hop. Four albums deep and I’m starting to crave a little bit more variety from RTJ’s sound but you can’t argue with those insane beats (seriously, so so good and with pristine production) and excellent flows. A confident effort from a band that know they are at the top of their game.

Free from the Joker’s Card legacy, ICP was rudderless and without direction. Let’s just be honest; that’s how it was. Or, at least, that’s how it seemed at the time. I loved both Wraith albums as a teenager. I thought both of them were fantastic for completely different reasons. But when The Calm dropped, I was bored to tears. And then, The Tempest came a few years later and I could not have been more…

Like most early Wu Tang solo efforts, Ironman is more like an extension of the 36 Chambers early 90s freshness, with a ton of the MCs from the main release showing up here like they do across a gamut of different releases. Like, Raekwon and fucking Cappadonna appear on almost every single track as well as the cover art haha – Throw in that trademark RZA production and you’re onto a winner, of course. Essential…

This doesn’t sound anywhere near as bad as you’d think it would. To be honest, calling this an ICP release is really a stretch. I understand why it gets labelled as such, with the ICP gang existing a good while before ICP the musical project, but in J’s book he seems to make it out like this “Intelligence & Violence” project with D-Lyrical was something else entirely that pre-dated ICP. I guess he could be…

Die Antwoord has always been a guilty pleasure. Their legacy perhaps hasn’t aged that well, but when I first heard SOS (it was “Enter The Ninja” playing over the stereo in a bar in Amsterdam) I had never heard anything quite like it. The rapping is objectively terrible but it’s also very entertaining, the production is great and well, I fell in love with Yolandi Visser for a short while in 2010. Just being real…

Judging by the cover art this is a cheap cash-in “best of” that was supposed to collate some of ICP’s older stuff in one place for people new to the band with The Great Milenko. But don’t let the crappy cover art fool you. This is a great mix of old shit. A lot of the songs are cut down too, giving this record the vibe of an extended live set. I’m usually a guy…

Interesting mix of styles that should be absolutely mind blowing but unfortunately falls a bit flat due to the production / instrument mix. Expect conscious rhymes over a variety of dirging, droning, apocalyptic soundscapes. On paper, this is far ahead of its time, but just misses the mark, sadly.

Part a typical Hyperdub conscious electronic music masterpiece, partly a garage / hiphop work of art. Love the dichotomy between the two styles, which can often go hand in hand but seem to work as separate elements here rather than harmonizing together in unison. And that’s OK, honestly. Also, as an aside, and I think this is true of many Hyperdub releases in general, this works so much better when being listened to at 3am!

You can always rely on Foreign Beggars for bringing some of the best grime flows against a backdrop of dubstep-inspired beats. Two solid tracks back to back on this thing. Tidy.

This one should have stayed at the idea stage. Quite probably one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard. I’m sure many juggalos dig it but I have absolutely nothing positive to say about this collaboration from an objective musical review perspective so I’ll just leave it at that lmao

I remember when The Calm first came out. After the double barrel of both Wraith albums, and what seemed to be the wrapping up of the whole Joker Card saga, The Calm seemed directionless. It was for the same reason that I disliked Bizzar and Bizaar; ICP without the dark carnival mythos was just hollow for me. Granted, I’m not a teenager anymore so in my 30s I can return to this EP and enjoy…

Chill as fuck compilation of really, really cool dungeon synth tunes. This has turned me on to so many fucking cool as fuck DS artists, such as Lunar Cult, Gelure, Elminster (lol) and Villein. Can’t say I’ve ever played this game but the soundtrack is boss. Random Bandcamp find of the week!

Pointless, vapid bubblegum pop that sounds soulless and modern yet tired and outdated all at the same time. Mind you, this thing is so inoffensive it’s hard to justify getting riled up enough to give it a stinker of a review. The producers have made a fair enough effort in all fairness but Minogue sounds like she really can’t be arsed to even be here on her own album.

I’m not gonna lie to you, this shit is well outside of my wheelhouse. I only know Flowdan from his tracks with The Bug but damn his delivery is infectious, even though I’m not the biggest fan of grime (perhaps I’ve just not heard the right stuff). Either way, Serious Business is a solid 4 track EP and a great way to get into Flowdan’s solo stuff. “Ambush” and “Fuck About” are my favourite tracks…

Better than the old shit, with the production being the highlight of the record (not sure if all of it is by Devereaux (sp?) but it’s really good work). But yeah, Ouija Macc clearly isn’t for me and to be completely honest this record is an embodiment of absolutely everything that I hate about rap, so I’m in no position to really objectively review this. It’s awful in my eyes, that’s all I can really…

Checked out Ouijja Macc after the 3 Headed Monster albums with Violent J and Esham. It’s cool as fuck they brought him in and it did take me a while to warm to his voice but I really got into it by the time I was done with the first 3HM album. Unfortunately, I decided to start at the beginning and the title of this record says it all. I’m not just gonna sit here…

This sounds almost identical to the previous 3HM album, to the point where I’m not even sure if it was from the exact same studio session. Some proper Load and ReLoad ass shit going down here. Like its predecessor, Obliteration, Rampage is firing on all cylinders about 60% of the time, with the rest being pointless, repetitive filler. There’s a moment or two where Ouija Macc gets given the space to shine but for the…

Heard about this collab on some recent interviews with Violent J but with everything Psychopathic you gotta go in with tempered expectations because it could very easily be a complete bag of shit. Thankfully, the first 3HM record has more bangers than stinkers, but still boasts a cache of frankly pointless tunes to bloat out its runtime, which, honestly, doesn’t outstay its welcome for once. The concept is great, the production is fantastic, and (I…

I guess if you’re gonna listen to horrorcore you might as go for the sickest, most depraved shit you can find. That being said, this stuff is so far down the rabbit hole / iceberg chart that it may be a bit too much for some people. You can trust anything labelled with Suicide Rap Orgy, Butcher’s Harem or MC Bushpig to have the seal of absolute depravity and sickness. Honestly, this shit is absurd….

ABK often gets it in the neck for being a shining example of the shit that Psychopathic used to sign in the 00s. Personally, I think Boondox is infinitely shittier, but that’s another story for another time. It is true, some – if not most – of the tracks where ABK stands solo on this thing are just absolutely appalling. However there are collabs that prop up other tracks, and the backbone of ICP and…

Hell’s Pit is one of my favourite ICP releases (a rare album which doesn’t fall off into silliness) so I was stoked as all manner of fuck to hear these 9 tracks from those sessions that didn’t make the album. In some cases it’s obvious why the songs didn’t make the cut (and I’m glad all of these samples of twisted TV preachers didn’t make the record either, it gets a bit samey). There are…

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Kendrick Lamar but in the interest of returning to albums I last listened to a very long time ago, a review of Good Kid m.A.A.D. City was waaay overdue. I can commend the excellent writing and delivery, and the streaks of sampling that run in between the tracks offering a wider narrative that gives the whole experience much more depth. Production-wise, this shit is also on point, which…

Suffers the same fate as its brother/sister album, in that it cannot escape the mixed bag effect of “leftovers-from-Jeckel-Brothers-itis’. There are, as always, some high points, but when the peaks drop into the troughs, there are some serious low points for sure. Production is great, as the Esham cover / reworking of “Cherry Pie”, but I could really give or take this entire era of the band’s history.

Some really sick beats on display here, but it is debatable whether G Rap and Necro work together all that well. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not awful, but it doesn’t feel so much here like these two worked together, more than that someone took verses from both of them and slapped them both into the same songs. On the surface it works pretty well but if you wanna go deeper then you can’t.

Even as a huge ICP fan in the 2000s I always overlooked Bizzar and Bizaar. For one, the covers looked awful, and they sat outside of the joker’s card series, so I didn’t really see the point in them. They kinda flew under the radar. People hyped the Jeckel Brothers. People hyped the Wraith albums. Nobody gave a shit about these “bizarre” albums, at least not in my experience. I don’t know if I’m carrying…

Over the course of albums from Boomin’ all the way to Mail Dominance you can trace a slow but deliberate change in Esham’s music. Each album along the way is another iteration of what could be considered a classic Esham sound, but each era had its own distinct vibe and production. Tongues is a mixed bag in comparison, both in terms of quality as well as regards to production and musical structure. Not only do…

I’ve listened to this countless times since it dropped last summer all with the mind of writing about it here but as enjoyable as it is, I’ve had no real inspiriation to come and talk about it. One has to ask why that is the case. There is nothing particularily wrong with the songs on this EP, in fact they are actually rather pleasant and whilst I don’t feel they really push the envelope in…

Damn, this shit is all over the place! A blistering mix of blasting grindcore carnage and barrages of industrial noise, all chopped and changed up into glitchy, headache-inducing soundscapes. I guess think of breakcore techniques but applied to a slightly different musical landscape. (Recommended by kay192x, thank you!)

Excellent songwriting from one of the stronger names in the current British underground. Perhaps Spectral Intercession does not live up entirely to the sheer excellence of Septic Funeral but this is still a solid follow-up and a solid debut to boot. The HM2 buzzsaw sound in 2023 is no doubt polarising and is indeed a bold choice, because Coffin Mulch are NOT just another one of those derivative copycat bands. The songwriting is nuanced and…

(It’s worth mentioning the OST originally came out with the game it featured in back in 1998, but wasn’t realised as a stand-alone OST until 2001) Easily one of the best game OSTs of all time, but there is always the risk that I am heavily biased, having played this game to death when I was 9 to 10 years old. I had no idea what I was doing, but I loved it. Hoenig’s soundtrack…

I learnt recently that the composer for the Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 soundtracks was a member of Tangerine Dream and also released solo albums such as this. Hence then, the inevitable “working backwards” excercise in which I have now had the pleasure of hearing this lovely, well-made synthesizer record. Utilising, perhaps obviously, the spacey ambience of the Berlin School style, Hoenig presents to us a series of compositions that excellent detail other astral worlds…

Death In June clone this may be, but it has its moments of genius and songwriting flair. I commend these moments of brilliance, but they are often mixed in with other less inspired passages and some just downright terrible arrangements. A mixed bag, but when it’s good, it scratches that neofolk itch perfectly.

Great traditional single release of smoky, dark folk music, with Side A being by far the strongest. Dude and Wolfe play off each other brilliantly and really make for a captivating duo.

What a U-turn…. LOL Whilst not as “weak” as Turbo, Ram It Down doubles down on the 80s-to-the-max vibes of stadium bands of that time period. BUT – and its a big but – the electronics here have a much more industrial element to them, at least that’s how it seems to me. There’s a coldness to them, a harshness and a heaviness. So instead I find myself welcoming these strange electronic / rhythmic elements…

As enjoyable as Twilight Of The Gods is, there is something about that pales in comparison to some of the earlier records in a similar style. It is difficult to put my finger on it, purely because there is nothing “wrong” per se with anything that I am hearing. There is also the fact that TOTG was the first “viking” Bathory album I heard (before I decided to address them chronologically, which was a much…

Archival, looping ambient drones from multi-faceted electronic genius Mortiis. The Shadow Of The Tower is purely for the die-hard collector, however. There is nothing really of merit here for the new listener, unless you are stumbling into this Mortiis release blind from the drone / ambient world, then by all means tuck in. The Shadow Of The Tower is one single 30+ minute piece of repetitive droning atmosphere. It does not invoke a sense of…

Underwhelming.com flash sale! Mesmeric Enabling Device sounds like lazy noise I used to make in my early 20s when I figured out how the paulstretch tool worked. Considering the names involved, this is heavily disappointing.

What an unusual and endearing sound. First impressions come across like a mixture of Oi! and the post-punk recipe perfected by groups such as Joy Division. An interesting mix for sure. Comparisons to acts like Black Magick SS would not be incorrect to make (particularily in regards the ethereal wails found in opening track “Sailing To Other Lands”), but there is a more of an earthy, grounded feel to the songwriting from Longbow (and overall…

I take no pleasure in declaring that this has to be one of the worst things that I have ever heard. Musically I suppose it’s quite strong, but generally the songwriting is appalling and both vocal performances here make me cringe so hard I feel like I’m going to have a stroke. When I say things like “folk rock band based in Elder Scrolls lore” or “it sounds like The Handsome Family for fans of…

I took a chance on this after falling in love with the cover art. My previous experience with Ponty goes no further than the Aurora album, something which I found to be a touch underwhelming, in all honesty. Hopes were not high for Mystical Adventures, then. I am pleased to report however, that the record blew all previous conceptions that I may have held well and truly out of the water. Mystical Adventures does not…

The beats are fantastic, the rhymes are really clever, and as I’ve stated on other YS releases the effort involved in pulling this off is massively commendable. Unfortunately, Sheogorath’s Zoom outstays its welcome very quickly, and I’ve never been able to make it to the end.

Excellent idea in conception, perhaps not as excellent in execution. Love what Young Scrolls is doing however, but this isn’t as good as something like “Neon Vivec”, which sticks the landing much better.

I have endless respect for the sheer effort involved in pulling this off, and the rhymes that have been written for the Juib character are outstanding. Unfortunately, objectively, the musical execution of it all is pretty poor (only so much chopped audio vocals you can listen to before your head starts to hurt).

Not sure if this was supposed to be some sort of off-cuts compilation or a best-of? Either way it kinda fails at being both, and I 100% recognise tracks off Esham records but not so much some of the others here? Fuckin’ bizarre. Anyways, this is some good old school acid rap shit from the king of the genre. There’s just no need to come here until you’ve been to all the other albums first…

Great, super entertaining old school west coast gangsta rap for the whole family to enjoy. Drugs, bitches and getting dat paper more or less totally envelopes the entire subject matter. but that’s OK. Expect smoooooooth but aged-tae-fuck gangsta rap synthesizers and boom bap beats (the beats have aged quite well, those synthesizer lines maybe not so much).

Wanted to rate this higher because I haven’t listened to Bizarre for years and years and this fucker was supposed to be some sort of super serious return to form. “Uzi” and “Hecker” out the gate makes you think shit, they might be right about that. Unfortunately, an hour of this shit and the shine wears off. There’s some fucking awesome peaks on this album “Desert E with Dope D.O.D.)” and “25 with Nems and…

The art is shite (developers of barely functional early 2000s photo editing software called, they want their crappy effects back), and at times this record reminds me of Mortician (never thought I’d be writing that on a Graveland review) what with it’s bizarre production. Despite these drawbacks (not that sounding like Mortician is always a drawback but for fucking Graveland it should be) Creed Of Iron is a very well made black metal record. What…

Stunning black metal, that ticks all the boxes of what I look for from the genre (could take or leave the apparent NS element but there we go). On top of this, you’ve got the fucking trash can snare sound of goregrind! Surely not intentionally done, but the dustbin snare drum works very well here. But yeah, no fooling around, this shit is fucking fantastic. The riffs walk the line between sinister and majestic, and…

First two Kaevum demos, compiled together for convenience. Production varies, of course. First demo is much rawer but is a really good listen. Second one is a bit more adventurous in terms of both song writing and also in production style. Fantastic black metal.

What is this tuned to? Drop Z? Heavy as fuuuuuck tunes here from this elusive goregrind project. Is Intrepid Corpse no more? I’m not sure! Maybe we should find out. But when it was around and active, this project dropped some amazing records. This release reminds me of earlier Dead Infection, some Blood, perhaps Black Clouds Determinate era of Agathocles (but that might be the artwork talking).

(Original:) Mmhhmmm de-fucking-licious brutal death metal with the mandatory slam passages that make you wanna beat your chest like a gorilla and throw some mad fucking shapes, dawg. The original mix of Butcher The Weak is much muddier than the remaster but it makes up for that in spades. Likewise the drums are lower in the mix here but I don’t know how it just somehow works far better. The guitars are walls of sludge….

Rock music that sounds like it was recorded inside a wind tunnel. There we go, that’s my expert opinion. Nah, for real though, this is some chilled out shit. Beautiful old school production, well balanced and infinitely repeatable (just let the album play over and over!). A highlight for me is “You’d Better Believe It”. Great stuff.

Ahhhh fucking hell blast blast blast blast! Cystgurgle gotta be one of the standard bearers for “gorenoise” right now, surely? This shit is absolutely fucking unstoppable. What a disgusting, impenetrable gory mess.

Blasphemous, cavernous war metal from Cyprus. Expect intense flurries of chaotic energy in the form of blurs of unfathomable guitars, an impaling percussion barrage and a hydra-headed vocal approach akin to the violent and terrifying exorcism of multiple demonic spirits from a singular host. Also, how fucking sick is that logo?

This is my shit right here. The cover art is just *chef’s kiss*, and the tunes ain’t too bad either, you dig? Back when old school death metal was the new school, Suffo was hitting it out of the park with releases like this. Dry, but organic production holds the framework for rigid but punishing cases of songwriting.

Markedly different from pretty much every Electric Wizard release that would follow, the self-titled walks a different path to the fuzz-laden doped up dirge that the rest of the discography plods along to. Nevertheless, the band’s debut is still unmistakably Electric Wizard, with riffs heavier than all the matter in the universe and of course Jus’s immediately recognisable vocal style.  Don’t be fooled by the Dave Patchett cover art (as awesome as it is), this…

Open the fukken toilet bowl, two gore legends are gonna crawl out, walk downstairs and play a set in your living dripping with piss and covered in shit. CBT got that porno groove that everyone knows and loves (your gran is a big fan) and LDOH’s music here is the aural equivalent of being turned into a meat crayon underneath an 18 wheeler truck. Fucking top dog split, this.

The similarity in name to both Voivod and Vektor cannot be a coincidence. By the time you reach the third or forth track, all doubt is gone. Terrifically intricate, maddeningly technical, but drowning in compression and triggers and on top of that, incredibly unoriginal. Top musicianship, but not very interesting.

Get your dicks out for some br00tal fukken slam, brutha! Bust out the pots and pans, run your guitar through your chainsaw (somehow) and get the Cookie Monster out of rehab for some vokills. Expect such ditties as “Maggot Swollen Titties” and “Concrete-Filled Rectum”. No frills, no experimentation, no compromise. Straight up brutal shit.

Make no mistake here, Pandemonium is a punishing listen. Doubling down on the rejuvinated sound of Extremities…, Killing Joke fall further into the world of industrial metal. Their sound is always unmistakably theirs, wherever they take it, but the industrial influences are hard to ignore. Geordie’s riffs are still dissonant, angular and strange, but there’s a repetitive chug to them in leui of the abstract post-punk approach on older records. Pandemonium finds a band which…

Thus today I spake ov thon deepest boggs ov Goremany, and of which creatures dwell therein! Oh, such hideous things! Oh, such ghastly sounds that are an affront to mine own ears! Ronseal as fuck goregrind / death metal here for sure. If you can stomach another frog project (frogject?) then this is really fun.

The Kill play some fuckin’ meaty grindcore. All your desired grindcore traits are here, i.e. ferocious blasts, rabid vokills and harsh production, but daaaaamnnn The Kill also brings the riffs. Case in point being the end of “Digestion”, which breaks out a passage that fucking dares you to not throw down (if I had to do one of those cringe “try not to headbang challenge” videos to this song I’d headbutt my camera into a…