The guys from Horna have been silent for quite some time. A cover song on last year’s Emperor tribute, and five new songs since Sanojesi Äärelle in 2008. I thought maybe they had fallen into the abyss, turns out they had, down there on the sixth circle as the house band playing to Emperor Frederick […]

The Final Journey is a definite continuation of the First War of the World. The band obviously was quite happy with how that turned out. Finland’s Ensiferum have moved pretty fully toward the power end of metal though the black part of their name still resonates deep down with their black viking metal origins, and […]

I distinctly remember getting introduced to Lunar Aurora from a Belgian friend back in 1996 and I have anticipated each and every release since. The number of bands that I have been listening to continuously for fifteen years or more and still looking forward to new material is a rather small list, usually I end […]

Self released debut recording. Generally that means demo. In the old days everyone needed a label, not so much in the internet age. So when Massachusetts based Infera Bruo contacts me with a request to review their demo I am not expecting a demo, plus the band includes drummer Ardroth of Bothildir. So forget all […]

One of the best kept secrets coming out of the German black metal scene they have been overlooked for far too long. Secrets of the Moon are back with their fifth full length release. They have been kicking around in one form or another for quite a long time, with sG being around for all […]

Metal-jazz fusion or jazz-metal fusion? Or is it neither jazz nor metal? Live Blackjazz is a dvd/ cd release recorded at Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo by Shining. A quick history from the metal context has them forming as a jazz quartet in 1998 and releasing several well received albums before getting to perform with […]

Viktor Scheer and András Nagy are the only holdovers from the last album. Viktor producing and András doing virtually everything else.Everything old is new again. Welcome back founding guitarists János Barbarics and Csaba Csejtei. János played on The Pagan Winter, Phantoms and Haunting, Csaba played on The Pagan Winter, Phantoms, Forsaken Symphony and Glory And […]

Taake needs no introduction based upon the three hundred potential friends Last.fm has lined up for me based on Taake in common. Noregs Vaapen features appearances from Nocturno Culto, Attila Csihar, and Demonaz. I’ll leave it to your explorations to find their contributions, for exploring this album is a task well taken up. The album […]

After a three year warmup spell upon reforming we finally have a new Einherjer album in our mitts: Norrøn. The offering Frode and Gerhard made at Quorthon’s grave was a good one. Harsher, darker, with overlaying melodic leads that are unencumbered and memorable. They are picking up where they left off, which leaves them more blackened than their […]

The only thing here missing is the logo. Not that the dust had begun to settle on Wormwood―that will take many years―Marduk is back to keep themselves fresh in your mind. The band is cyclical. Many fans want bands to evolve, many do not. Marduk evolves by continually borrowing from their own past, birthing new […]

Kampfar is back with a new album but one essential ingredient is missing. These are the first recordings post guitarist Thomas. It was a major blow when I read he had left the band and one of those “what can they do to compensate for the loss” moments. The reality is they missed a few […]

Newsflash! Amon Amarth is releasing a DVD containing all four Bochum shows in which the band played their first four albums in their entirety called Bloodshed Over Bochum. Since these shows were bonus audio on the reissues this time is video. This release comes as a CD+DVD digibook edition with 28-page booklet, a special boxset […]

Don’t hate me because I’m a murderer. Varg Lost Wisdom back on Det Som Engang Var, and what once was, can never be regained. Time to make a big sacrifice. I want my ritual music to take me into a meditative state, not a vegetative state. Fallen achieves this where Belus did not because there […]

Generally when a beloved classic gets the reissue treatment I don’t take notice since I’ve already got an investment with the original version. Add the fact that there are no bonus tracks, so why take notice? First off the great new cover art, second the promo sleeve announcing not remastered but “mastered for the first […]

Blood Magick Necromance. Clean and polished. The sound is massive and full and the clarity is excellent, all of which bears witness to one hell of a death metal album. But this is black metal. Belphegor has flowed back and forth from death to black to black death to blackened death to whatever you want […]

It has been three years since Helrunar‘s Baldr Ok Íss. This follow-up album was started in the summer of 2008. According to the label’s press packet: “Helrunar set about erecting a memorial in their own honor. Sól are two conceptually linked albums of tremendous depth, combining contradictory attributes such as catchiness and complexity in the […]

This album starts off with “to meet again,” I never met them the first time. Here is obscure metal from Mexico, care of Moribund, with a nicely detailed album cover that screams bash and bellow war metal. In that sense I am not disappointed. These guys can bash with the best of them, but the […]

1349 is a true violent passion that lost its violence on Revelations of the Black Flame but not its passion. I seem to be the definite minority in that I actually liked the last album. I think if you listened to this new one first and then went back to Revelations of the Black Flame […]

I’ve been a thrall in Tom’s world for thousands of hours over the past nearly three decades. I do not see that changing any time soon. He has created his kingdom, I shall live in it. I am yours eternally. The deep resounding roar of Tom G. Warrior is back. Crushing riffs supply the ultimate […]

“The Age of the Land is an album about embracing your destiny, about choosing and consciously assuming a way of fife. The Earth is where we came from and where we go back into.” Another natural and organic album from Negru and new company. Now lets move past the record label press kit and delve […]

Negurã Bunget‘s Maiestrit, the album containing the last recordings of the band’s classical line-up, is out, released April 15, 2010. For all of those out there living in a cave, this is the most anticipated disc of the year, followed closely by Virstele Pamantului. The first is, as stated above the last of an era […]

The Spearman’s Steed droops under the weight of the Dweller in Frigg’s Embrace as he ponders the wisdom in the runes displayed before him, Gallows’ Burden is refreshed by flapping of wings of the corpse devourer on high, and the Father of Magical Songs is not bothered by the chattering of Ratatoskr or the roaring […]

Black metal’s bad boy Varg returns to the rock’n’roll scene with Belus, the first Burzum album in ten years or so — and the first since the man got out of the prison system. Read what Teeth of the Divine’s own Grimulfr has to say about the new album.

The rest of the world got this disc late 2009, those of us in North America had to wait till January 26. The limited edition contains a bonus DVD recorded Live at Peace & Love -festival on June 28, 2008 in Borlänge, Sweden. This is almost reason enough to get this album…

Grab your shovel, go out back into the woods, and dig up your great grandfather’s chest, get his bearshirt and put it on. Join in the merriment. Bifröst is a recommended band that has shown great improvements in musicianship and deserves a listen. Modern folk metal is plagued with too many synthesized flutes, too many […]