Owl is a German duo that has three prior offenses under their belt and on their record.  I haven’t heard a single lick of anything they’ve done to date, so I’m drawn into their forest bewildered and untainted by past opinion for this new release.  Patrick Schroeder handles drums/percussion and Christian Kolf multitasks on guitars, […]

I’ve had a hard time getting into any of Zeitgeister Music’s recent releases (Woburn House, Skarab, Klabautamann), but after seeing so much praise heaped upon Valborg and their previous  albums and most current release Nekrodepression, by many of my respected peers and close friends in the metal journalism world,  I felt I should give another […]

The guys over at Zeitgeister Music sure are creative, I’ll give ’em that. That’s the small German label responsible for avant-garde black metal act Klabautamann, the opulent and tragic Woburn House and the hoary progressive doom of Valborg, among others. It’s an incestuous collective, with the members freely circulating from one act to another, and […]

Metal fans listen to their favorite genre for many different emotional responses. Some of us seek an exhilarating high from its more epic and powerful expressions. Others find an outlet for frustration and aggression from its visceral, blackened and bludgeoning strains. And some enjoy the intellectual immersion and awe that comes from its most ambitious […]

Germany’s Klabautamann wowed me with their 2009 release Merkur, which featured a surprising Opeth-meets-Enslaved progressive black metal sound. I was particularly impressed by the soft, jazz/lounge-inspired interludes and the inventive compositions. The fact that the vocalist sounds like a dead ringer for Grutle was a bonus as well, so I slotted the album in at […]

One of the guys on the board mentioned this one in the Avant-Garde Death/Black thread, with the description “progressive black metal Opeth.” Those are three of my favorite metal-related terms, and I’ve always been on the lookout for something that fits the bill. However, aside from moments on last year’s excellent releases by Janvs and […]