What’s the first thing that comes to mind about Grey Metropolis from Denmark’s Sanctus Daemoneon? With Halloween coming up, it might be one to consider as the soundtrack to one of your morbid holiday gatherings. That statement is not intended to sound like I’m making fun of Grey Metropolis; it is just recognizing the fact […]

In the deep south of these United States of America a man known as Mortigan stands defiant in the midst of trend whores and mall metal junkies, opting instead to (basically) go it alone and make raw, minimalist black metal rife with sordid tales of sadomasochism and bizarre fetishes. Performing under the moniker Octagon, new […]

Do you see that grainy picture of a creepy looking forest on the cover of Tarm’s Nad Tulevad Kääpaist? Well somewhere in there is bound to be a dilapidated old farmhouse converted into a makeshift analog studio where these Estonians recorded this platter of Pagan black metal. I’m telling you, there seems to be a […]

Hailing from the craggy depths of New Jersey, Helcaraxë are one of the resurgent US bands plying Viking inspired forms of metal (Oakhelm, Hammer Horde, etc) and is one of US metal very best kept secrets. After their impressive debut, Triumph and Revenge, the trio has tightened up their form of gruff, dense and loose […]

While I enjoy the far more fruity elements of traditional Viking metal such as beer hall wocals and chants and galloping synths and such, I wish a few more bands plied a slightly darker, more brutal visage of Viking metal. Enter New Jersey’s Helcaraxë. Named after the huge wastes of grinding ice from J.R.R. Tolkien’s […]