Many a reviewer will tell you that music PR is good mainly for laughs or danger warnings, but I find it a useful guide to a band’s intentions. You see, where most PR releases cite influential and benchmark bands, Aitheer’s mentions none and instead throws around words like cinematic and theatric. And just like that, I have a way to frame The Serpent.
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Maud The Moth – The Distaff Review
For the past month, all I heard was “Maud the Moth AotY”, counterpointed by the disgust of a certain caprine tyrant at such statements in early February. Suffice to say by the time I actually got to hear The Distaff, my appetite was well and truly whetted.
Is Peat singing praises or sighing into the void?
Ereb Altor – Hälsingemörker Review
One of the best trends in metal right now is the recent spate of black-trad hybrids. It’s a welcome revival of a combination with a long history that makes a ton of sense as their shared love of drama goes together like blood and ice. Ereb Altor know what I’m talking about — they take their sanguine cocktails on the rocks just like Anti-Peat.
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Lord Agheros – Anhedonia Review
Anhedonia clearly stretches the black metal genre tag a very long way. Yes, you can hear practices inherited from black metal bands in Lord Agheros’ work, but they’re all quite divorced from the traditional framework. Yet without using that genre tag, without expressing a desire to belong to that movement, I’d have maybe missed this and that’d have been a shame.
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Shrieking Demons – The Festering Dwellers Review
Shrieking Demons namecheck Death and Autopsy as their comparables. In terms of style, that’s pretty accurate as long as we’re talking about those bands in their earlier, rawer eras. The Festering Dwellers is all malevolently melodic riffs and pounding rhythms. Is somebody gonna match their shriek?
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Sabhankra – Nocturnal Elegies Review
Album names shape expectations, and Nocturnal Elegies suggested something atmospheric. Sabhankra’s mix of melodic black metal, folk, and even thrash reinforced that idea — but they defied expectations.
Sometimes, it’s good to be wrong.
Wyatt E – Zamāru Ultu Qereb Ziqquratu Part 1 Review
Music for staring balefully at deserts is music for staring balefully at deserts, wherever you are. Yet those Middle Eastern accents are prominent, and so too is a certain stoner drone doom vibe. Wyatt E are wearing a lot of hats here. And it’s glorious.
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Putred – Megalit Al Putrefacției Review
You see, Putred’s very name suggests all the adjectives I’ll be wanting for their brand of death metal. Words like filthy, nasty, foul, and gruesome. Let’s decompose.
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The Halo Effect – March of the Unheard Review
Stretching beyond melodeath’s greatest works is a long tail of releases that are banal, toothless, or some combination thereof. In theory, The Halo Effect’s roster of In Flames alumni fronted by Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne is great news for people hoping for more gems. But if you can hear their riffs from a mile away, how can their march be so silent?
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Crypts of the Unknown: Khonsu – The Xun Protectorate
