For the better part of a decade, Leprous have become something of a parody of themselves. Increasingly pop-leaning and focusing on Einar Solberg’s voice, the band started to leave behind their once progressive writing somewhere between 2015’s The Congregation and 2017’s Malina. But when Melodies of Atonement arrives with an album cover and preview tracks that carry shades of their early work… well the road to atonement is loOOoooOOoooOooong.
Read more
Evilyn – Mondestrunken Review
How would a painter handle sound? Pretty damn well, it turns out. Mondestunken’s most defining feature is Alex Weber’s bass, a dynamic center-point which leads the songs on a drunken stroll, calling to mind the style of Aseitas or perhaps even the jazzy all out war of Sarmat’s debut album with its technical dissonance. But for all its flash, does it have its own style?
Read more
Aseitas – Eden Trough Review
Experimentation is abundant in the extreme bounds of metal today. While a lot of bands look for something worthwhile by trying odd techniques, it’s easy to lose sight of working on a defining sound, something that makes a band have that special pull divorced from just pure technique. Aseitas had that from the start. But it’s been a long, trough road for them.
Read more
Sumac – The Healer Review
Brian Cook’s bass rumbles intently along in “Yellow Dawn”, Aaron Turner’s howls and screeching guitar solos are caustic, and Nick Yacyshyn’s drums regularly steal the show with powerfully precise hits. Sounds like our alligator is hungry for some SUMAC.
Read more
Pallbearer – Mind Burns Alive Review
The progressive side of Pallbearer is back, yet colored differently by a larger rock-to-metal ratio than before, in favor of the former. This is not the upbeat or punky rock you might expect from post punk or noise rock bands, but rather the arena rock-ballad kind, somewhere between Neil Young and Takida. If you can’t make it big in the USA, might as well be a hit in Sweden!
Read more
Darkthrone – It Beckons Us All……. Review
Metalligator likes A Blaze in the Northern Sky as much as the next reptile or person (Transilvanian who-now?), but with the opinion that Darkthrone albums are always hit or miss, despite their charm, will it really beckon the gator?
Read more
Inter Arma – New Heaven Review
Since diving into their body of work, fantastic experiments like the one-song prog excursion The Cavern speak of a restless band with a thirst for exploring. Both the hazy desert feel of Sulphur English and the at times show-off nature of The Cavern are important to New Heaven, as it turns out. New Heaven shocks from its first seconds by throwing its most dissonant foot forward in a jarring and feverish outburst. Welcome to dissoheaven.
Read more
Nuclear Tomb – Terror Labyrinthian Review
To get my thrash kick, I often have to look outside the genre to albums that merge a thrash influence into the band’s work, such as with Paladin, Hammers of Misfortune or Vektor. Not to be forgotten, Voivod were way ahead of the game in this regard, and they are relevant to newcomers Nuclear Tomb in just how much this band looks backward. Is our Gator looking forward to a good dose of atomic riffage?
Read more
Hamferð – Men Guðs hond er sterk Review
Several of us at The Goat Review are fans of Hamferð and had Támsins Likam up high on our yearly list back in 2018, before the blog existed. Big changes to a band’s sound are naturally risky, as hearing it as a fan, what you liked about a band might simply be gone, washed away in the ever-shifting tides of the modern metal scene. Maybe the real lister is the friends we’ve made along the way.
Read moreUnlock the Krypts
Crypts of the Unknown: Incubator – McGillroy the Housefly
