When it looked like Germany’s Chapel of Disease was calling it a day a few years after their 2018, third album – the very wordy,   …and As We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced the Eye my buddy Graham (Deepsend Records) and I commiserated that this was not fun news.  I have followed the […]

Germany’s Sulphur Aeon has been dark for a few years now after churning (literally) out three superb albums of murky, majestic, Lovecraftian death metal since 2013, that had them being uttered in the same breath as the likes of Portal, Ulcerate, and such. But after a 5-year silence since 2018’s The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos, […]

The Second World War has been a go-to subject for any Black Metal band worth their salt. Hell, Marduk has made a career of it over the years and they don’t show any signs of stopping. So it’s not a big surprise that German Black Metallers Endstille are back with DetoNation hammering home the adage, […]

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 […]

There are experts in Greek black metal.  I am not one of them.  But seeing In the Days of Whore pop up in promos I thought Zaratus could be a legitimate gateway into this corner of black metal, for myself and perhaps readers.  Zaratus is a great shortcut to entry because its two members are […]

It can be so easy to fall into a rut when it comes to discovering new music. You get comfortable in a certain lane, start seeking out a particular style of music, and next thing you know it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy where everything new you check out just ends up sounding really familiar, like you’re […]

Well, this sure as shit came out of nowhere.  Nekrovault is a new death metal band to the scene and has only released a pair of eps since their 2017 inception.  Nekrovault are a four-piece German death metal band and Totenzug: Festering Peregrination is their debut album and my dark lord it may very well […]

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 […]

Unless you’ve somehow stumbled upon our site looking for affordable dentistry, then you have likely heard of Death. The band, that is. As someone with a Leprosy tattoo, one could say I hold the band in high esteem. I’m sure many other metalheads agree. The reason I even mention the name is because of Morbus […]

Back in 2013,  Germany’s Sulphur Aeon made quite a splash in the death metal genre with their churning Lovecraftian based debut album, Swallowed By the Ocean’s Tide, then followed it up with the more miasmal, Gateway to the Antisphere is 2015, an album that had lofty expectations but still grew on me. Both albums made my year-end […]

I’ve been rather enjoying this current run of lighter, melodic, sometimes folky, sometimes ‘Cascadian’, sometimes ‘post’, artsy black metal influenced arguably started by and influenced by the likes of Wolves in the Throne Room, Altar of Plagues, Deafheaven, Alcest and Agalloch a few years back. Recently, the likes of Vattnet Viskar, Ghost Bath, Downfall of Nur,  Alda, Soar, Wiegedood, […]

Back in  2013, Germany’s Sulphur Aeon made quite a splash with their debut  Swallowed By The Ocean’s Tide. And rightly so, being a crumbling, cavernous, but memorable sonic monument to Lovecraftian horrors. And yet here we are two years later, and the follow up seems to have been, well… swallowed up. I’m not sure I can […]

Considering my love of folk metal and all things epic, especially the sort that deals with history and historical writings, I have no idea how the Icelandic/German trio Árstíðir Lífsins (meaning seasons of life), featuring members of Germany’s Helrunar and Iceland’s Skendod,  is just now becoming known to me. Especially when an album like, Aldafǫðr ok munka dróttinn (Odin […]

Full disclosure: My history with the now decade-old, German, one-man, black/doom project known as The Ruins of Beverast extends back a whopping 5 months. Why I didn’t investigate something that’s right up my musical alley much earlier is another one of life’s many mysteries, but once the brilliant new track, “Malefica,” hit YouTube on April […]

While seemingly everyone has been gushing over the new Evoken album this year, another comparable death/doom masterpiece floated by with nary a mention. It’s amazing what a difference the support of Profound Lore and Decibel can make. It’s not that Evoken isn’t more than deserving of all the praise they’re receiving, but what Faal has […]

The Devil’s Blood is one of the most complex bands I’ve had to describe. Some bands you just expect corpse paint, satanic lyrics, burning crosses etc… but what I really admire here is the subtle approach they have towards singing and praising Lucifer himself. You can’t even call The Devil’s Blood metal; it’s more 70’s […]

German black metal outfit Inarborat takes its name from a track off Negura Bunget’s excellent Om. While their sound isn’t quite as exotic or evocative as that band’s, it’s still a well-written, convincing example of the genre. There are actually two sounds at work here – in its more frenzied moments, Inarborat conjures the frosty […]

I’m sure this release is more in the realms of fellow scribe Grimulfr, however, in an attempt to broaden my black metal horizons, I made myself listen to and review the debut from this German spike and corpse paint clad trio. There’s nothing remotely original going on here, but it is spitefully done and typically […]

From the underrated German black metal scene and rising Van label comes a ritualistic, ambient black metal outfit consisting of two members of the far more primal outfit, Graupel. With a tangible influence of The Ruins of Beverast in the plodding, moody tones and to these ears, a hint of Summoning in the deliberate percussion, […]