Does Marduk offer anything new? Do they need to if they deliver their style so perfectly? The sound quality is a vast improvement over La Grande…, pulverizing your vocal chords with an immense wall of sound with drumming so intense you will get bruises. Punishing without overpowering the guitars, they have finally achieved the perfect […]

This is true black metal that will make all posers run screaming from the room, no industrial, no groove, no dark ambient. I first heard about Calvarium in 2002 and was intrigued but never tracked down anything to listen to. Now, thanks to Dynamic Arts I’ve got a promo copy of the debut of one […]

This is the band that calls itself “satanic elitist black metal” and a “necrocult.” As most everyone knows by now, Attila Csihar is an official member of the band, but the practice of guest musicians continues. Nattefrost from Carpathian Forest, Irrumator from Anaal Nathrakh, Bard “Faust” Eithun now with Dissection… The question is whether this […]

Five years. It has been five years since I had new material from Spain’s atmospheric black metal band Asgaroth. Corpse paint and swords were already a thing of the past for Lord Lupus, Mythral and associates, now they have dropped the pseudonyms as well. Daniel and Chris were joined in 1998 by Oscar and by […]

BloodRose, a new black metal band from Finland, have been playing together since 1994. In 2000 they changed from Hatework to BloodRose, and changed styles as well. Finland is well known for melodic black metal lacking in intensity and harshness. BloodRose is no exception. The vocals, as is often the case, have the requisite harsh […]

Osmose is not the label it used to be, but for Singapore’s Impiety, signing on for their third album is a big deal. For those that have never heard of them, they play, according to the band, “christfucking black warmetal.” If that does not clear things up, Osmose calls their style “satanic hellmetal.” With titles […]

I dismissed Satyricon long ago. After listening to the first song on Volcano it became apparent I was too hasty. While they bear little resemblance to their glory days of nearly a decade ago, luckily they resemble even less the late 90’s version that turned me away. Satyricon seems to be one of those bands […]

Depending on your circumstances this is either the first work you will see in two years or the second release of 2002 after a four year absence. Forsaken Symphony is the second Red Stream release of 2002, with Grand Destiny being the first. Red Stream re-released Grand Destiny because Nephiim Records went bankrupt shortly after […]

Canadian extreme war metal band Axis of Advance are back with their intense, violent black thrash death style. Once again incorporating all aspects of extreme music, with the subtlety of a shotgun blast to the brain. This is lightening fast black metal with thrash guitars and the precision instrumentation of death metal. Guitarist Wör and […]

My familiarity with Asgaard extends only back in time to 2001’s Ex Oriente Lux which I picked up on a whim, having never heard the band before. Before I get too deep into my opinions on the new disc, let me say I didn’t look to find their three previous recordings. Some background, then, is […]

For the first half on the nineties Enslaved was by far my favorite band. As time went on and they changed their style, no one band rose up to replace them as kings of the wandering, multi-layered, chaotic long-playing epics of black metal art. Romania’s Negura Bunget, formed in 1995, first entered my radar in […]

The revolving door continues for Finland’s Barathrum, with Pelceboop replacing Somnium, Abyssir replacing Beast Dominator, Trollhorn is gone but not replaced. That’s about 18 members in 12 years. Demonos Sova strikes again, and this time he figures we can count by now. Venomous does not announce itself as the seventh album. Other than that, not […]

Originally released September 2000, the fine folks at ISO666 have given us a high quality demo on cd, where it should have been from the beginning. Griffar, formed in 1997 in France, three years later released their first “demo”, Of Witches and Celts, on cassette, which “took so long because we cared for doing well…and […]

The Hellhammer machine grinds on. When Celtic Frost dissolved into a glam band their sound split into two components: Darkthrone and what would, a few years later, become Warhammer. Where Darkthrone was the evil atmospheres and grim attitude of ‘Frost, Warhammer, starting in 1994 resurrected the heavy rhythmic grinding doom. Since such an entity was […]

Farthest From the Sun is a 4 track 51 minute affair done by Sauron, of Spain. This is the debut album from Apotheosis, and the booklet offers several hundred words on how great his computer generated demos are and a dozen words about this debut, which contains two promo songs reworked. Bragging about creating two […]

This relatively new Australian band has been around since 1998. The Graven Sign is their second release and first full-length. The most direct way to describe their sound would be black metal Motorhead style, not really in the sense of early Bathory, but old style black, pre-Norwegian revival. Spikes and bullets are the props of […]

Wrath Of War is the third offering on cd by this well known Texas based organizer of the Sacrifice of the Nazarene Child festival. A band known more for relentless hatred and fury than for anything else, Thornspawn sticks to the formula once again. This, of course, is a compliment. I’ve heard them called cold, […]

For some reason, much like with their debut, even though it is unoriginal, derivative and simplistic, I enjoy Severed Eyes… immensely. Killjoy and Frediablo have successfully brought gore and splatter death metal to the black metal scene. There are, of course, many bands incorporating the sounds of American death metal but Killjoy delights in the […]

WWIII does it again with yet another excellent choice for re-release. Throes Of Dawn broke up a while back so I wondered if this re-release heralded a reformation of the band. Apparently it does, though with four new members; and their fourth album will be out later this year on Wounded Love, the same label […]

This Swedish melodic black metal band is back with their fifth release, The Crowning Carnage, their shortest album title ever. That is all that has changed, which should come as no surprise. Thy Primordial has not significantly altered their style, and they deserve recognition for staying true to that style. They have improved greatly over […]

Keep Of Kalessin is either an under appreciated cult band or an over hyped clone band, depending on who one speaks with. Mercenary Musik has brought Through Times of War to American audiences for the first time as an official North American release. Originally released on Avantgarde in 1998, it has aged well and is […]

Keep Of Kalessin has been around sine 1997, since 1993 if you include their time as Ildskjaer. In nearly a decade they have released only two full lengths, 1998’s debut and 1999’s Agnen, both on Italy’s Advantgarde. Not very prolific, and so I was surprised when WWIII/ Mercenary Musik re-released both albums in North America. […]

Our hearts pump brimming blood of hate and our bodies will be the seed which, fed by our blood, will give rise to an oak grove. Every oak tree will contain the soul of a dead warrior. The forest will symbolize the eternal union of these souls. The above passage is from the song “Forest […]

Chapter III, not surprisingly, is the third full length by this German band. The title underscores the main issue with this band – Agathodaimon are just not very imaginative. They are accomplished musicians and the production is quite good, but there is something lacking. It is hard to really listen to the entire album. Invariably […]

This French band plays orchestrated black goth, and is tailor made for Cradle of Filth fans. The cover art says it all, they are not very original, but the great production makes it worth listening to. I have known about this band for awhile but had never had any desire to listen to them so […]