I think we can all agree that Willowtip has been one of the most consistently reliable US-based extreme metal labels around since they kicked out the Creation is Crucifixion/Fate of Icarus split back in 1998. From legendary bands like Rune, Watchmaker, Defeated Sanity, and Impaled, to recent bands like Hath, Cathexis, Contrarian and Ominous Ruin, […]

If you consider yourself an Emperor fan, there are 2 releases this spring/summer of 2022, that you need to be aware of. If you are a fan of the more technical,  latter, Prometheus, IX Equilibrium era stuff, then the upcoming release from Sweden’s, Katharos, Of Lineages Long Forgotten, will be right up your alley. However, […]

Rampant mimicry is a large part of metal; Whether in the rip-off or homage category. There are 1000s of Cannibal Corpse clones. Just as many Suffocation clones and don’t get me started on Bolt Thrower and Entombed/Dismember. And those bands have their place, especially as the originals flag or call it quits. Some are really […]

I had no idea that Nuclear Blast Records founder Markus Staiger had a split with his label last year and had formed a new label, the not so subtly named Atomic Fire Records, with some of his former Nuclear Blast folks. Not only that, they have pulled over some serious heavyweights over with them like […]

Seemed like yesterday I reviewed Multitudes of Emptiness from Journey into Darkness.  This is Brett Clarin’s (formerly of Sorrow), symphonic blackened death metal band. Infinite Universe Infinite Death is the bands third album and this is longer than their previous album.  Brett still likes those instrumentals as 3 out of the 9 tunes are just […]

“What does music mean to you? I don’t know. But it’s full of emotion It’s not happy. No. It’s not happy”- from “Eternal Unrest”. Crikey. so I thought Christian Consentino was the only solo artist from Australia making epic, classically inspired, symphonic progressive black metal. Well, apparently there is another one who has been around a […]

Back in 2020, I reviewed the debut EP from this D & D, Forgotten Realms named, then-unknown act, Galdrum. I loved it and it ended up on my year-end list, and I ended my review stating I was really looking forward to what the band was going to release next. And apparently, the metal world […]

For two albums now, Dani Filth has delivered a reinvigorated Cradle of Filth since gutting the lineup after 2012s forgetful The Manticore and Other Horrors. Both 2015s Hammer of the Witches and 2017s Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay, with the same re-vamped line-up, delivered classic Cradle of Filth writing and energy that signaled Dani […]

‘M’ or ‘Mories’ or his real name, Maurice De Jong, as he is known here, is the Netherlands’ black metal version of Rogga Johansson. He’s in double-digit bands, though I’ve onlyheard  Gnaw Their Tongues,  and arguably his most known creation and De Magia Veterum, as I reviewed releases by both on this very site.   And […]

The UKs Necronautical (which I’m now learning means ‘to explore death’, and not something maritime related…) first appeared on my radar their second effort, 2016s, The Endurance at Night on the then reborn , legendary UK label, Cacophonous Records. They were a solid , enjoyable, but unspectacular symphonic black metal act with innate Cradle of […]

You kind of know what you are getting into here from the get-go: the band name taken from a Vlad Tepes song, the album title, the corpse painted, armored promo shots of lone Finnish member, Lord Vrăjitor, (also of Old Sorcery and doom act Musta Risti) the logo, the cool artwork, prior releases named Burning […]

Wow, there is a lot to unpack from this Italian duo’s third EP, Царепоклонство – Il culto degli Zar (Cult of The Tsars). At its core, it’s symphonic black metal. Musically, I’m reminded of 2 recent symphonic black metal EPs that were a little out side the box; First Lamentari’s Missa pro Defuncrtis from last […]

So here is my second American symphonic metal album released this spring, the other being Dead World Reclamation‘s solid The Black Dahlia Murder with keyboards effort, Aura of Iniquity. I have no idea what or who a Wythersake is (google was no help), but on their debut album they offer up some solid if unspectacular […]

Remember the doom/death metal band Sorrow from LI, New York?  I still have their demo when they were called Apparition, saw them live a few times, then they changed their name to Sorrow and put out an ep and album.  Some of my favorite music.  I became friends with the drummer, Mike, who then had me do guest vocals on […]

Generally speaking, when Black Metal introduced classically inspired symphonics (Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle fo Filth,  etc) to its frosty or satanic visages in the early 90ss, it was broad, epic, Wagnerian, tempestuous brush strokes that matched the more often than not, darker atmospheres with regal bombast. Some exceptions came about as symphonic black metal branched […]

The physical reissue of this 2017 digital only release from this Norwegian symphonic black metal band caught my eye as it features Clemens Wijers of Carach Angren doing the symphonic/orchestral arrangements. And boy is this fucking good! Its definitely got a bit of a theatrical/dramatic Carach Angren vibe, with Wiljers rendering some superbly rousing strings […]

With some promotional tag lines stating this was ‘Extreme Finnish Symphonic Metal’, I grabbed this promo right away as anything symphonic’ gets my attention, and I had never heard of this band before, so a new find in the genre is always a positive. And I’m glad I did, this is really good stuff. The […]

I’m always up for some 90s styled Symphonic black metal, and Sweden’s Svartghast is up to the task with their solid, if by the numbers debut, Perdition. Not surprising when you consider one half of the duo is G. Johansson/Choronzon who has served in the likes of Setherial, Impious, and Torchbearer. The formula is pretty simple […]

There’s not a lot of info out there right now on Stormkeep (a D & D, Forgotten Realms thing apparently), but I knew as I saw the words ‘triumphant’,  ‘epic’ and ‘melodic’ as well as the renowned JRR Tolkein artist Ian Miller cover art (who also graces one of my favorite other EPs ever, Abigor’s […]

Virginia’s Foretoken is the new technical, symphonic black/melodic death metal bans from Steve Redmond (guitars/orchestration) and Dan Cooley (vocals), who both serve in technical death metal band Cyaegha (whose debut Steps to Descent, I reviewed here way back in 2009). They are aided by drummer Hannes Grossman (Obscura, Necrophagist),  as well as a couple of […]

I have a lot of inappropriate shirts. Perhaps my favorite is my Carach Angren “You came to the wrong forest, mother fucker.” It’s not my Satanic Warmaster shirt where someone is getting sawed in half through the genital region, which I once accidentally wore (or so I told my girlfriend at the time) to the […]

I know this review is a month or so late but it’s been 18 years since the last actual…And Oceans album so, I think I’m good So, after 18 years, … And Oceans are back and not just back, but back to their symphonic black metal roots that they abandoned when they became more industrial […]

Here’s is more excellent Finnish black metal from Purity Through Fire to go along with Kryptamok’s superb Verisaarna . This time in the form of the fine debut EP from the 5 piece collective known as Nôidva (which has members of The Watcher, Herr De Qual, Sacrificium Carmen, and others). Not as vitriolic or frosty […]

Within a matter of days, I received 2 really good symphonic black metal albums from the UK, and promptly purchased both. First, Argesk’s heavily Hecate Enthroned influenced  Realm of Eternal Night, and this, the conceptual debut album (they do have 3 EPs under their belt, which I have not heard yet) from Northern Ireland’s Drakonis. With […]

I’ve been on a bit of a new-ish British black metal kick of late with the likes of Wolvencrown, Drakonis, Vegard, Ante-Inferno,  Nefarious Dusk, Sleipnir,And Now the Owls Are Smiling, Shadowflag, The Dying Light and the debut from this Manchester based, symphonic black metal act . Of note to British black metal fans is that […]