Very raw recording, it’s bizarre hearing just the first three albums and knowing that the rest of the stuff doesn’t exist yet (Seventh Star wasn’t even a twinkle in Iommi’s dilated pupil yet hahaha). Ozzy seems in a very good mood on this one, but it’s far from essential.

An EP of covers material, but excellent efforts from both bands, especially Drudkh who just have the perfect mix here. Not to shit on Winterfylleth, their Hate Forest cover here is pretty majestic, considering the pummelling / repetitive nature of the source material.

A beautiful pairing of songs. Old folk songwriting meets modern production and sound. Great stuff.

An interesting release from the excellent Old Tower. Lots of ambient noises, soundscapes and the like. Not to reduce it down to cheap descriptive tactics but it’s like a dungeon synth version of one of those spooky CDs you can get for Halloween, that is until the actual synthesizer work kicks in. Honestly, this invokes the spirit of the original “ds sound before it was a genre” in such a fantastic way. Truly brilliant playing.

I am dying of cringe.

Interesting and progressive sound compared to Mediator… which had a bit more focus on the heavier aspects, as well as the more tribal drumming etc – Machine Messiah instead flexes its muscles a bit and goes a bit more “out there”, for Sepultura, at least. There are some moments that do not really inspire me but there are always equally as many that are quite clever and definitely engaging. It’s never going to top the…

This later solo effort from J (in the ICP timeline) seems to be held in fairly high regard amongst the juggalos but honestly I’m struggling to see what all the fuss is about. It’s well produced, and fun, but nothing really stands out, much like the later “second deck” jokers cards. A good effort and some great guest spots but it’s never gonna be spun again over the classic ICP stuff.

Peste Noire continues to entertain at the least, with the ongoing twists and turns of his – or their – uh, music. This one contains a lot of dancey industrial beats, which was not what I was expecting, I’ll be honest with you. Again, as I’ve said a few times now regarding Peste Noire, when it sticks to the black metal, that shit is fierce and incredible. And I’m not one to piss and moan…

I appreciate the innovation and experimentation present in this release, in fact I find it more enjoyable than the previous three Peste Noire albums (but it does not hold a candle to my sweet, sweet love that is La sanie des siècles). Moments of flat out, uncompromising black metal are rare, but when they hit, they hit hard. Otherwise, this thing comes on like some mad French painter throwing shit at a barn wall, or…

It may have been rerecorded 5000 times but this, the original, you cannot argue with it. Comparisons to Napalm Death are of course apt, but ENT have their own raw punk energy that is propelled along with flashes of absurdly fast d-beat from drummer (here, at least) Stick. The record has surprisingly good production too, excellent levels of clarity for something so filthy and soaked in piss and cider.

I didn’t think it would be possible to “mature” a sound like that which is played by SROM, but Supreme Malicious Necro Terror is proof that it is totally possible. Like hanging meats for drying, or cheese for aging, SMNT is a brilliant extension of the sickess found on Goreblast. The production, whilst still raw, is just, well, disgusting to be honest. It reminds me of old Impetigo or LDOH, but with the trademark “dinner…

Came to this because the art was so fucking cool, but my god this is fucking deplooooorable. Ok, maybe it’s not that bad, but the vocals are all over the place, back and forth between this whole My Dying Bride / Paradise Lost thing, and the more standard black metal approach. I never know what’s coming next and the whole album is a mixed bag of random tropes of “pagan shit”, like you fed a…

I enjoy Pungent Stench but don’t come back to visit them all that often. Been Caught Buttering, which is the band’s sophomore album, walks a tightrope between concise, clear music and production, and on the other side, wallowing in a pit of disgusting gore. There is also the matter of the band’s purile sense of humour, which compliments proceedings nicely, of course. Pungent Stench play with the discipline and tightness of a death metal band,…

Veles stuff here is stuck under some sort of murky swamp or bog deep in a dark forest. As long as you are aware of the subterranean sound before you enter, then you’ll be fine. Good stuff but not as great as the full lengths. Legion on the other hand is particularly unhinged, at least in the vocals department. Sound is generally a little clearer than Veles but they make up for the sonic clarity…

Nothing of note to really report. Slow, plodding doom in various forms is the uhh, order of the day. Notable for being one of the first 10” records I ever but it never got many spins from me and I sold it years ago. Coming back to it now I can see why. Not bad, but pretty nondescript.

Whilst not reaching the dizzying heights of the magical debut, Emptiness x 3 is a fabulous neofolk record with some wonderful songs and atmospheric passages. Speaking of the latter, perhaps “Algir Naudir Wunjo” and closer “Reficul” do not need to be quite as long as they actually are, especially the latter, but they are still great all the same. Very chill, very mystical, very (refreshingly) not fashy lol – a decent sophomore album.

On today’s episode of black metal that sounds suspiciously like goregrind, we have the first (I think?) Hate Forest demo, Scythia. I have always appreciated Hate Forest’s super heavy low register vocals and uncompromising approach to black metal, but that approach is pared back to its most base and inferal core here on this debut. Frenetic drum machines act as a backbone to a sludge of – let’s be fair, quite melodic – riffs, topped…

Kommodus – for better or worse – has become one of those Goatowarex darlings that people end up snapping and braying like wild animals for trying to get copies of the latest vinyl drop, or what have you. I can safely say however – whilst without wanting to really understand that level of hype for absolutely anything, i’ll be honest with you – that I can see why people think that this shit is really…

A truly magical and stunning experience that is fully deserving of its reputation and legendary status. Recently I have been checking out the reissue which has the additional mixes from Steve Wilson – nothing that’s going to blow your mind with the insane differences or what have you but all the Wilson mixes that I’ve heard of TD stuff thusfar have been brilliantly done and this is of no exception. On the note of the…

I gotta get one thing out of the way: I appreciate what they were going for, but hooooollllyyyy shit the drumming on this thing sucks ass. Man be dropping mad beats like Pantheon are the Dillinger Escape Plan of NSBM. This blows, really really hard. Have you ever been sat there listening to a wanky tech death album and have thought to yourself: “hmmm, this would sound really cool with zero triggers and also if…

Frosty, icy, thin production that is so brittle it sounds almost hollow. If it wasn’t the for excellent blanket of orchestral / keyboard elements slathered over the top, this would be a pretty poor release, but the two almost conflicting elements work surprisingly well together. The vocals are of the Darken / Abbath / Dagon “frog” stock but not really as ridiculous as any of those I’ve just listed. An interesting demo, for sure.

A really beautiful piece of work! A tapestry of fantastically woven riffs lead this mesh of atmospheric harmony. The synth work is second to none, especially when it goes all out on record closer “Victoria Solis”. There is excellent cover art to boot, the only complaint I have is that it’s only 26 minutes long. Alas, there is always more Bilskirnir. A brilliant release.

Some excellent moments, but others which have a really weird slant to them, almost sounding completely artificial like a fuggen pornogrind band or something. Nevertheless, the compositional quality is very good. I’m gonna give Wolfnacht the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Only the trvest, most intense vampires need apply for this one. It seems almost mandatory that you listen to this one on the shittiest pair of earphones ever, or with a chewed up cassette copy complete with wobbles and surface noise. It is however to these gent’s credit how they conjure up such fantastic paranormal atmospheres from what is essentially a very basic template. The drums are truly abysmal, and the vocals aren’t better. The…

An interesting pairing of songs – long, of course, in the true “epic pagan metal” style of later Graveland. Production is probably in the middle on the Grave-o-meter, half way between “kvlt as fvkk” and “clear as day”. Great stuff, but not all that much can be said about two songs. Good if you just want to dip your toes in, as it were.

Good, but fairly “middle of the road” and – odd for me to say despite the name and content – fairly inoffensive black metal. Some of the Der Sturmer stuff is fantastic, but this isn’t it.

I love “alternative timeline” listens like this one. Abominations Of Desolation is, if I’m not mistaken, Morbid Angel’s original canned debut album, which didn’t come out, and instead we got a much more buffed up version in the form of Altars Of Madness. Abominations is well worth your time however, not only for the alternative takes on favourite songs, but also for the historical significance of a band as important as Morbid Angel is to…

I seem to be in the minority here but I think the Absurd stuff here is some of their best. The drums, for quite possibly the first time in their original run, are incredible. The vocals here, seem extra rabid and angry and disgusted with the world. Like someone took the Totenlieder sessions and injected some steroids into them. Gourmet Burger Kitchen are the weakest band here, easily, but even their session has grown on…

Quite possible one of the greatest live releases of all time? I had this 12” and I sold it because I’m an idiot, I used to enjoy listening to this thing at full volume. Danzig’s voice sounds absolutely fucked and Henry Rollins clearly doesn’t know the words to “We Are 138” but it’s worth it for the churning, unforgiving monster that was the sheer brute force of 80s Misfits. An absolute classic!

Interesting split, from two bands I never thought I would see together on one release. Fistula stuff seems culled together from various sessions, but what the fuck do I know. For downtuned, sludge-loving sleazeballs exclusively.

Absolute fuggen carnage is afoot on Blood’s debut album. They have not quite perfected their death metal / grindcore blend yet but the template is surely there. Expect messy, nasty grindcore with sick downtuned riffs and absurd vocal experimentations. Even in this “proto” form Blood sound fucking fantastic.

One of the greatest black metal releases that I have ever heard, and I am not exaggerating. It is easy to throw scorn at Vothana’s approach to black metal. You can argue that once you’ve heard one album or demo then you’ve heard them all, but the devil really is in the detail here. There is a track at the mid-way point, I think perhaps “Mồ chôn tập thể / Mass Graves” which just has…

Almost inaudible, subterranean, unholy black noise. The grinding low rumble is not dissimilar to that offered by bands in the gorenoise / noisecore scenes, or even reminiscent of harsh noise itself. Very repetitive, dark and disgusting, making the 5 minutes run time feel a lot longer than it actually is. I can’t imagine getting this from a distro in 1993, throwing it on the turntable and hearing it for the first time with no context….

The Kristallnacht stuff is good, the Seigneur Voland stuff is excellent, but the Blessed By Sin stuff is pretty bad to be honest, with the drunken “Gate Of Nanna” cover at the end just killing the vibe of the whole disc.

A really cool split LP. Carcass stuff is very early, no pitchshifter FX on the vocals. Very primitive, proto-Carcass stuff. A good window into the early days. Napalm Death stuff here is really cool to me because it’s recording in Cardiff here in Wales, back in 1988. The between-song banter (from Mick Harris, if I’m not mistaken?) references the Rhondda Valleys and the boys from Caerphilly, which is pretty funny to hear on a Napalm…

An improvement on “Fall in Line” but still fairly uninspired. The production however is fantastic.

Frantic, high-energy, fast-paced death metal from the time where thrash was giving way to a whole new underground, including stuff like this. The band are firing on all cylinders, but are also playing fast and loose, driven by their intense energy and speed, rather than a coherent, laser-focussed tightness. But that’s OK, this is a death metal from 1988, where precisely this kind of thing is encouraged to flourish. Rabid, rabid stuff – oh, and…

Peak Daggerfall-core. Honestly, the “dungeon synth” elements here are to die for, and whilst I do appreciate the longform beauty of Summoning’s black metal compositions, I do sometimes find my mind wandering. The album on repeat listens however, truly reveals itself. One is rewarded for repeat listens, as the epic reveals its secrets for you with each passing journey. It’s easy to consider Summoning overrated, but it’s also easy to see why so many hold…

All Skrewed Up is Skrewdriver’s debut album, before the band was resurrected as a white power group. It’s an interesting document, an early entry in the scene, and also, to be honest, a pretty enjoyable if not a little typical escapade in British punk. 12 songs in 26 minutes is fine with me. Interestingly enough, their debut has the best sound and musical performance of any of their records that I’ve heard so far. When…

Sextrash built off the er, sex thrash of their previous record with a far more brutal and heavier offering. Funeral Serenade, despite its name and year of release making you perhaps think that this was some cataclysmic, slow doom metal record, is actually a savage assault of the sense that has its roots in what I suppose is a mix of both black and death metal, more so the latter as the second wave hadn’t…

Gorgeously weaved black metal with a deep, repetitive ambient feel. Think along the lines of Drudkh or Burzum but also wholly unique in its own way. This is the second in a series of EPs that are well worth checking out.

North of the River Thames is album I have come to address here several times, but often fail to find the words to describe it. One should except dub reggae, of course, but there is an extra-low quality to the bass that really works well here. On the other hand, there are some repetitive natures to the melodica and / or keyboard lines which act less like a leitmotif and feel more like you are…

Quite possibly this is one of the greatest dub albums of all time. Quite possibly there is also the fact that I am heavily biased, as it was the first album in this style that I ever heard. I am surely one of many who first heard this album when playing GTA III on the PS2. The horror theme plays right into my sensibilities, but its easy to forget all of that, just throw this…

Spookier than a granite coffin filled with hallucinogenic toads, Spheres Like Death is a well-produced, crystal clear slice of sinister black metal. There is some excellent riffery afoot here, more unusual or explorative than a lot of stuff, but not too angular, weird or dissonant, which makes for some interesting compositions. The snare cuts through the mix like rifle rounds. Cool compilation! Impressive stuff!

I remember reading that Kirk Hammett lost his iPhone which contained all the riffs for Hardwired in demo form. I can’t imagine how devastating that would be. However, in a hilarious twist, Hardwired Mk2 is a completely unnecessary double album. Someone really needs to learn how to tell these people to “just stop”. Every album since 1990 has been overly long, there has been no quality control, and goooooood lord some of the songs are…

I’m all for raw black metal, but some of the other Revenant Marquis records are so impenetrable it is nigh on impossible to get any real enjoyment out of them. Anti Universal Compassion on the other hand, stands out from the other subterranean offerings from this mysterious project to offer something far more enjoyable and unique. Yes, the record is buried in a thousand layers of dust and cobwebs, emerging from some forgotten basement like…

There’s something about Kanonenfieber that I can’t quite put my finger on. The songs are – at the surface level – enjoyable and engaging, but as soon as you try and scratch further, to dig deeper and form a more meaningful connection with the music on the record, there is something that is blocking this from happening. It seems that the band’s black / death metal is only skin deep, and after you scrape away…

Mysterious, plodding black metal with a ponderous mix of synths and guitars. Vocals aren’t the greatest thing in the world but the rest of the composition plays back nicely. I prefer the longer songs, such as “Frozen Emotions in the Naked Northwind”, but even here at this early genesis of the production it’s easy to see why Nargaroth is laughed at and not taken all that seriously, there is a very goofy edge to things,…

Absolutely deplorable shit in every sense of the word. I would write more about this, but none of it would be productive or positive. The world would be a better place without this EP in it.

The Horna material is tight as hell, and the riffs and drums are savage, at the cost perhaps of their whole session being a little one dimensional. Still, fucking good stuff. Pure are a new discovery for me, and their sound is far more obscure than Horna; there is a weird pan to proceedings, the bass rumbling beneath everything like a separate entity. All in all, really impressed with the songs on offer and would…

Goatmoon stuff is fucking exemplary, whereas Azazel leaves a little bit to be desired. Some of the meatier tracks are great, but there’s a lot of fucking about in the name of “atmosphere” that well, only works when it works. It doesn’t work here. Goatmoon stuff also has a much higher quality production whilst still being raw and cold.

A great album, filled mostly with irresistible soulful tunes, that don’t always hit the mark but when they do, be they acoustic pieces or more fuller big band works, really cannot be beaten. Unfortunately, for my personal tastes this only really lands for about half of the album – so please take that into account when you see the rating of this one. Extra points can be given for the frankly gorgeous production. It feels…

Otep’s seemingly nonsensical ramblings have not aged well, but at least on Sevas Tra the musical section has enough chops to sustain a full record and act a baseline for her to run free. Outside of “Battle Ready” (which I heard on a promo CD back in’t day) and the tbh pretty fucking good “Blood Pig”, I’ve always considered this album to be an inescapable mire of self-loathing set to a hideous meandering backdrop of…

Sounding more like a darkly gothic take on Death’s Scream Bloody Gore than anything off of Panzer Division Marduk, the origins of one of black metal’s most enduring and well-loved bands is an interesting one. Their genesis does not seem entirely planted in the sister genre of death metal waiting to flip over to black (unlike say, Darkthrone’s Soulside Journey), but Dark Endless streamlines the melting pot of various “extreme” genres of the late 80s…

Oh great, a lassie being dicked down by a wolf. Not something I’d expect to see outside of red on black war metal album sleeves but here we are. Fortunately, the contents of this EP are nowhere near as cringe as the record sleeve. Blasting it’s way through a fairly lo-fi and raw production job (in comparison to the other Destroyer 666 records I’ve heard, at least), this is something that is no doubt helped…

I am unable to climb upon the hype train (operated by wolves no less) for this album. I’ve had pretty bad experiences with later Destroyer 666, and whilst this debut is far, far better, with very good, rabid, angry songwriting juxtaposed with moody atmospheric passages and a guitar player whose maturity holds together these almost punk-orientated songs filled with sneering and savage vocals. Despite all of this, something about this is failing to get me…

Diocletian are a band that could possibly be considered the thinking man’s war metal. Warm, dense production enraptures Doom Cult, with its fast yet sludgy riff compositions and untriggered, organic drums fighting away against the tide of unstoppable riffs. The vocals seem like an afterthought; primitive howls and screams across the top of the swirling cauldron of chaos. Great shit, in all fairness.

A solid effort, with some great songwriting, and not to mention some excellent balanced production (not too raw / not too polished), but unfortunately fails to hit the heights of greatness achieved recently on Schwarze Bande. Nevertheless, the JFN-led current incarnation of Absurd is one to keep an eye on for sure.

A glorious composition of darkness and wonder. Samael’s black metal by this point was taking on anything but a typical form, with coherent and excellent production (but not too squeaky clean, no no!) and an excellent balance with the band’s influences from outside of the genre. You can feel the industrial / goth influence on this thing, especially in the drums and some of the keyboard arrangements. Don’t go in expecting this to sound like…

An exciting and vibrant EP filled with savage black metal. The drum production is perhaps polarising, what with the kick drums dominating the mix, but the riffs on this thing are… sweet merciful gutfucked Jesus corpse, they are phenomenally outstanding. Sharp as a blade of ice, they cut through the mix (as do the shrieking / gargly vokills) and lead these icy cold compositions in all of their majestic glory. A truly excellent black metal…

Messy, amateur and with rough production, this album can be perhaps be excused of all three “sins” due to it being released when the band was so young (and perhaps even in prison at this point? I’m not an Absurd historian by any stretch). There are moments of genius and flashes of greatness but for the most part the experience is marred by the above issues.

You can’t argue that ICP doesn’t put the effort in. If you’re a fan of their ongoing saga then truly you must be quid’s in (as us Brits say) because they don’t half give you enough to keep you going! Yum Yum’s Lure is an EP that is longer than most metal band’s albums, full of tracks prefacing the coming of the first female Joker’s Card, Yum Yum Bedlam. The trouble is, despite having its…

Supposedly the last gig the band did with Ray Gillen before his release from the band. This adds up because during the between-song banter he says that they are going to take a break after this show and work on a new album, which could only have been The Eternal Idol. Unfortunately, we all know what happened to Ray Gillen and the lassies he was fucking whilst touring the world. HIV ain’t no joke. Regarding…

If the production doesn’t cook your head… if the unnecessary length of these songs doesn’t fry your brain… then there are some good songs in here, somewhere. You just have to find them.

Great songs, great riffs and insaaaane vocals unfortunately completely buried under an assault of overcompressed, modern drum production. Akhlys called, they want their insufferable wall of noise back. No, seriously though, these songs sound like they would be absolutely fucking fantastic with a more nuanced and organic production. Maybe the answer would be to watch this band live instead. Great (and even wholly present) potential, thwarted by unnecessary production trickery.

Ah, Load, truly you were the death knell for Metallica, right? The warning signs were there with the self-titled, but the songwriting remained strong enough that most did not notice. On Load, the transition to whiskey-drankin yeehaw RAWK had finally completed, and if Load was the death of Metallica then ReLoad was the final nail in the coffin that buried them forever afterwards. But I like Load. This is entirely because it was one of…

Even from the start, if evidenced by Haunted, there wasn’t much chance of Six Feet Under ever achieving the heights of greatness that Cannibal Corpse had. Barnes’ new project was on a much more “meat and potatoes” level (that’s really saying something when comparing against Cannibal lol), delivered perhaps one of the most cut-and-dry metal performances I’ve ever heard. From the production, to the utilitarian riffing, to Barnes’ very own trademark growls, Haunted beats you…

Entirely serviceable and well produced black metal that unfortunately fails to light a fire for me, despite the number of people with torches on the cover. I feel like Ragnarok really came into its own as a project with its sophomore record. Don’t let the goofy ass cover image fool you, this is worth checking out if you’ve not heard it, but there’s far better black metal out there.

For those who found the Caretaker through the “Everywhere at the end of time” series, they will no doubt find An Empty Bliss Beyond This World an excellent companion piece; coming several years before Caretaker’s magnum opus, and consisting of similar elements both thematically and sonically, yet feeling more concise (although barely lol) and less demanding than its gigantic big brother, An Empty Bliss can almost be considered an enjoyed listening experience. Imagine that, would…

Not sure what I expected in regards to returning to the very first album of Midnight Configuration: as if heading back to the debut would give me some sort of explanation for the crazy Cookie Monster on smack vocals, the cheesy beats or the token “female backing vocals”. Alas, I was very much mistaken, and I am just as perplexed by this record as I was its follow up. Truly, one of the most bizarre…

I can’t speak for the original live album / EP but the “compilation version” of Demone’s Love For Sale is a test of patience. The recording quality isn’t so bad but the songs are bland and grating on the nerves, which is a real shame.

This soundtrack recording is a bit of a novelty when approaching Tangerine Dream chronologically, because Sorcerer is far closer to a “traditional” album than anything they had done before. Short, isolated pieces of work make up the runtime instead of the longer, sprawling tracks, and it feels like a more active approach was taken to instrumentation; more anxious and suspenseful use of melodies and electronic noises sometimes create an almost hellish and frightening listening landscape….

Gooooooooood fuuuuuuckkkiiing griiiieeeeef this has to be one of, if not the worst thing, that I have heard all year. It’s mere existence beggars belief. Imagine Mortiis’ Smell Of Rain, but strip out most of the guitars, make the songs repetitive and annoying (inb4 “its danceable!”) and give THE WORST POSSIBLE vocal performance you can imagine over the top of it. Honestly, I’m not sure what the vibe here is, but Jesus fucking Christ those…

2.5 stars for rudimentary ability to play and construct basic rock songs, which, honestly, the production kinda saves. The bass pops through the mix nicely and in a strange reoccurrence with RAC bands, the drumming is surprisingly tight. It’s just a shame that the vocalist sounds like as if Danzig’s neck got so fat that he was permanently swollen up like a bullfrog. Not great.

The guitars on this thing seem set on scraping out the contents on the inside of my skull one layer at a time. Fuck, this shit is harsh. One could even say minimalist, even. But, as with a lot of stuff in this vein, this obscure gem can put you into a hypnotised state of bliss that is unique to a good raw black metal record. My French is useless enough that I can’t even…

The first thing you’ll no doubt notice about Rotting, at least if coming at the works of Sarcofago chronologically, is that the band really seem to have gotten their shit together musically by this point. This is mostly explained with the presence of a new drummer, but generally the whole band sound far more on point than they did on INRI (not that INRI was bad, not at all). Rotting is thrash at its core…

I hope it is not too cringeworthy to suggest that this is a beautiful piece of black metal. In fact, it’s one of the best pieces of work that I’ve ever heard in the genre. Now, I guess this is subjective, but it’s the perfect mix of rawness and obscure production, with enough balance in the warmth of the sound to ensure all elements are present and accounted for. The songs on Blut & Krieg…

A fucking magical collection of songs, which may or may not come from different sessions (perhaps the fidelity of the files I have are not great, I could be wrong on this front). In Flames Of Purification (potential yikes on that title) is a raw yet entirely coherent and incredibly well written piece of black metal. You’d never think this came out in 2002, it sounds ageless, timeless (or at the least from the early…

Lives up to the copious carnage proposed by the sleeve art. At six minutes you’d best be paying attention to this shit otherwise it’s gonna sail you by. Expect guitars reminisce of brutal death metal, with the most excellent expected staple of pots and pans drumming, as well as vocals that sound like some sort of demented toilet monster. Fabulous.

Often heralded as one of the best / most terrifying pieces of industrial / noise music that can be found, Leichenschrei is a dark and twist trip through a seemingly endless patchwork quilt of disturbing samples, clanking noise and dense atmospheric intensity. Personally, I don’t find this all that terrifying or disturbing, but it’s incredibly well made and an absolute pleasure to listen to. The freeform tracks unfold expertly, drawing you in to their thick,…

Very surprised to see the year of release on this thing, it feels older than time and from an early (and better) era of power electronics / death industrail. Expect cold, wailing atmospheric drones and noises, part introspective and part absolutely terrifying; an analogue, rough and ready journey through an electronic hell. Great stuff.

Brutal, bludgeoning, primordial Finnish death metal of pedigree from the very early year of 1989. I know that the formative years of death metal were far earlier than this, but not so much for this particular blend of crushing death. The Cranial Torment demo presents 20 minutes of incredibly solid work, for your listening displeasure.

Raw, unforgiving, brutally Finnish (lol) black and or death, of course in dusty and disgusting demo form. Don’t expect the world (and deffo you should expect it to kind of sound like shit) and Sanctus Satanas will reward you in spades filled with black, diseased metal.

Very enjoyable and very well made raw black metal buried beneath layers of time and dust. However, unfortunately, nothing seems to “stick” with me after multiple repeat listens. If you like lo-fi wampyryc blvck mvtvl then you may do well to check this out, but I failed to develop a connection with it. This is not a sleight against the composers / performers!

Trepanation is the debut full-length album of industrial / nu-metal act American Head Charge. They were another one of those bands to quickly “forget” their original debut as soon as they got signed, and a considerable number of these tracks ended up in re-recorded form on the Rick Rubin produced The War Of Art. It’s easy to perhaps fall into the trap over wondering which is better, this or the major label debut that followed?…

Grimblood are a difficult listen: with distortion bordering more into noise territory than black metal, making out what the hell is actually going on – if anything – is nigh on impossible. Thanks then, to Calling Of Phasmic Presence, who save this split. Their super lo-fi dirge of monotonous black metal and atmospheric conjurations feels almost like the sweetest, most intricatley composed jazz piece next to the distorted mire of Grimblood.

Let me preface this review of this legendary split by saying that this is not the best material on offer from either of these bands. Why then, do I still suggest you check it out? Well, When it comes to the original run of LDOH in particular, I feel that the many styles / sounds that they went through had such an important impact on the various offshoots / approaches to goregrind that we still…

Love or hate J-Dawg, he’s 100% right about one thing: Haemorrhage are one of the greatest goregrind bands of all time. This shit fucking slaaaaaays, brah brah (or is that “flays”?). 3 traxxx of stunning medical sickness for you to ram down your gullet. At first it doesn’t even sound like Rompeprop are even trying but some decent grooves and riffs do emerge, as well as that legendary pitchshifter vocal attack. What a beauty! I…

A cool compilation that I used to own, rendered entirely fucking pointless by the fact that the band reformed a few years after it dropped. Another downside is that disc 1 just took a few songs from each album, if I recall.

Forgive me if I’m way off here but at the time this release kinda felt like there was some sort of “passing of the torch” ceremony, what with Rompeprop winding down and GP looking like one of the up and coming heavyweights in the groovy goregrind scene. CBT haven’t done anything in years, TDEBN are very hit and miss, so the genre needed a new face. I don’t think that all quite went to plan…

Smooth, well-produced, effortless violence from legendary hardcore/pv-tinged grindcore maniacs Phobia. 22 Random Acts Of Violence has enough mosh riffs and blasting drums facing off against each other to create what are no doubt the most incendiary of pits. The band have rather nicely contained all said carnage here onto one little CD for you to enjoy at home, and for that we can only thank them for their efforts. Yeah I dunno what the fuck…

Compilation CD of both EPs which I’ve already reviewed so pointless publishing this review to RYM. Comes with a shitty bonus live track as an extra fuck you.

First of all, this EP comes on an awful lot like the later Angels Save Us, but the differences are there for the eagle-eared grindcore consumer. Also, what in the actual fuck is that artwork?

This is crackers. The call and response opening of “B-A-T-H-T-U-B… Shitter!” was not something that I knew I needed to hear in my lifetime, but I feel like my entire existence on this earth is richer and more meaningful for having heard it. On top of that you’ve got a fairly long 7” EP, chock full of bonkers grindcore, with prominent bass, weird angular guitars, and gruesome vocal attacks. Tidy!

Lures you in with fake promises of the band’s very prominent death metal influences / roots, but very quickly devolves into boring ass plodders and big hit singles. “Gehenna” has to be a career low for this band, up to this point. On top of all of these different vibes you’ve still got vestiges of nu metal groove like a second rate 2000s+ Sepultura, and fucking DJ cutting. Nobody needs fucking DJ cutting. Get that…

I genuinely believe that Calderum is some of the best black metal that I have ever heard. With perhaps the exception of the closing track here, which is just a moody outro piece in the dungeon synth style, Lord Cramridor is stuffed to the gills with raw, organic-sounding black metal, full to the brim with melodies, hypnotic riffs, moody synths and incredible drumming. Honestly, this is fucking fantastic.

LOL the cover image to this one gets me all the time. Back in the “mincegore” boom of the late 2010s, I was always on the hunt for more shit like Hyperemesis and Haggus, and Weedeous Mincer’s Brain Devoured By Mincegore was always a fun listen. Asburd, of course – but fun nonetheless. If you’d rather your goregrind to be about the sticky icky rather than someone’s head exploded across a freeway, then look no…

A cool, fun listen, especially for those who are a fan of Igor Cavalera’s drumming. We get the thrash of olde here but with a bigger, more modern production, which doesn’t always work, but for the purposes of appreciated said drums you’re absolutely laughing! Complaints about the overuse of reverb on the vocals are not without merit, but as someone who listens to a ton of black/war metal I’m totally OK with the reverb vocals….

I must have been living under a frigging rock to get to July 2024 without having heard this masterpiece of messy primitive black metal. In my head it’s like Impaled Nazarene meets Beherit (and no, not on a live split LP lol), with scuzzy electronics from gory video games like Doom used to intersperse the tracks of sonic metal carnage. This shit is unholy as fuck, heavy as fuck, and the production is oddly crystal…

An ear-raping but also somewhat endearing early effort from Graveland. This particular demo is considered a classic because… reasons? I guess it’s cool to hear Graveland in its infancy but there’s some shaky shit here, specifically in the drumming department. One for the true black metal cultists only, I’d say.