At this point, Ihsahn needs little introduction. His work first with Emperor and then as a solo act has established him as one of black metal’s luminaries. His blackened and avant-garde approach to metal on IHSAHN straddles emotions. It’s by turns bombastic, melancholic, tense and angry—an excellent example of why Ihsahn is such a big deal.
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Second Shooter – Fury Made Flesh Review
Nowadays, when the progressive descriptor is added to melodic death metal, this means that the songs are longer without any good reason. You would be hard pressed to find a modern melodic death metal band that is creative or that looks outside its own box. Second Shooter are a band that look back instead. Are they shooting for the stars, or looking back in fury?
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Ponte del Diavolo – Fire Blades From The Tomb Review
Enter Ponte del Diavolo (Italian for Devil’s Bridge), a band that has been steadily releasing EPs since 2020 and have now ventured into the realm of their first LP. Inksterium jumped into this with no expectation and emerged from the experience utterly perplexed. This is a nation of people who seem to possess a unique grasp of religion, moody atmosphere, and the art of seamlessly blending these into music. We promise the toll is worth it.
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Ministry – HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES Review
Fast forward 12 years and Ministry have put out five albums after their supposed death, digging deeper and deeper into the shit. Before Relapse you were always in on the joke, but now, Ministry are content to be the joke instead. Masses beware: this hopium might leave you high on disappointment.
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Apogean – Cyberstrictive Review
Wasting no time with an intro piece, this album kicks off with “Bluelight Sonata”, which does a good job showcasing what Apogean does correctly: hooky, catchy riffs. Unlike their contemporaries in the tech death scene, this band focuses more on writing riffs than writing wanksterpieces. But is that enough to get a high score from the eggplant bat?
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Cyberaktif – eNdgame Review
Sophomore Cyberaktif album eNdgame arrives with a ton of history resting on its shoulders, with some of its songs beginning life as a Skinny Puppy album that never saw release. Industrial history lesson from Metalligator to get this weekend started!
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Stygian Crown – Funeral for a King Review
Overall, I was not really sold on their debut, but Funeral for a King sees Stygian Crown return with significantly improved writing and performances, as they seem to lean into their death doom influence stronger than before. The amalgamation of death and epic doom tropes leads to a uniquely feeling album. But will it reign supreme in our Goat’s estimation?
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Fathomless Ritual – Hymns for the Lesser Gods Review
The Goat once waxed poetically about the challenges of wearing your influences on your sleeve a little too much. One potential offender, Fabricant, overcame this issue by adjusting for the time that had passed, imagining a Demilich that never stopped making music and took in new ideas without ever losing track of who they were. Fathomless Ritual is a Demilich worship band as well and similarly don’t feel like a total ripoff. Even still, do they do more than just play riffs like lesser gods?
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Golden Core – Kosmos Brenner Review
Golden Core have shoved a lot of black metal influence into their work here. At their very best they use it as a violent cathartic contrast to follow up passages of head-nodding, rumbling stoner fare. Cosmos Tremmer makes a Kosmos Brenner!
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Crypts of the Unknown: Loss – Horizonless
