Ontborg surprised me with their latest record “Following the Steps of Damnation”: it unfolds like a frostbitten lament that slowly blooms into grim majesty and the guitars gnash with HM-2 fury (Im in love already). Ontborg weave a melodic death metal tapestry that feels both …
Lethvm give the listener a daring, frostbitten experiment in atmosphere and aggression, a record that shifts between lurching doom, blackened edges, post-metal breadth, and occasional post-hardcore unrest. “Winterreise” doesn’t always land every twist, but many of its risks sing in the silent cold it carves …
Borknagar’s “Fal”l is a refinement, weaving frostbitten aggression with sweeping melody into something both immediate and vast. It balances raw power and reflective calm, proving that the band’s maturity sharpens rather than softens their edge.
Hauntologist offer with “Hollow” an album that rests between the dreamlike and the dissonant, a body of work more interested in atmospheres than in momentum. Built upon the collaboration of musicians with long roots in Poland’s extreme metal underground, the record is neither a straightforward …
Krieg’s return with “Ruiner” is both an affirmation and a revelation, the kind of record that could only come from decades of abrasion, collapse, and survival within American black metal. Since the mid-90s, Krieg has become a singular entity – too raw to be ignored, too …
Kings Rot from Canada carry a a dour pride with “At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness”. It carries itself like a grim march through frost and shadow, with enough melodic flame to give warmth, but not enough to banish the cold. Kings Rot clearly know …
I don’t like one-man-projects. Most lack depth and skill, both in songwriting (which often times profits from a collaborative effort) and execution. So I don’t bother to check out new projects created by single mind. Two-person-bands are a different matter, though. Mighty Mantar proves that …
“Ensemble Under the Dark Sun” is a dark triumph that captures what atmospheric blackened death music can be at its best. For those willing to descend into its depths, it offers fierce brutality and haunting beauty. This is a band to watch.
From its first moments, “The Nine Choirs” makes a promise: you are entering a world of weight, groove, and unapologetic brutality. Tribal Gaze out of Texas seem less concerned with subtlety and more with making your ribcage feel every hammer blow. This is death metal …
Halo” showcases the band’s impeccable musicianship and knack for balancing the heavy, the melodic, and the atmospherically elegant, while also flirting a bit too closely with self-derivation and formua.