Creating music as a duo can present a paradoxical dynamic. It can be both easier, as there is only one other person to get in tune with, and more challenging when conflicts do arise, as the intricate interplay between two artistic visions will require a fine balance of compromise and creative synergy. Maria and Coley, the two members of Ragana, take turns on guitar, drums, and vocals, and since 2012 this approach has allowed them to maintain interest with their hybrid of unrefined Black/Doom Metal. Two hearts blast beat as one.
Read more
Mourn the Light / High Priest / Ice Howl / Archdruid – Split Review
Ah, the split. The underappreciated release that can highlight potential up-and-comers, or showcase multiple bands that don’t bring anything interesting to the table. Sometimes, a split gets released and reveals the best of a band’s material. So where does this four-way split land? Pick your player.
Read more
Perky Macabre / SPÖoÖoKY STEVE – Halloween Kills Review
Perky Macabre never changes and has seemingly no desire to. If his music is supposed to be a joke, the literal zero supporters on most of his EP’s suggest that no one finds it particularly funny, either. Maybe that is why I can’t get him out of my head. Perky man, get out of my room!
Read more
This Week In Metal, 2023 Week 45
Another week, another round of metal reviews in the bag. Words are tough, so we assembled the highlights. And if you want to read the latest reviews for the new offerings from The Lion’s Daughter, Convocation, Nightmarer, Dyssebeia, and Neurectomy, you can do that too!
Read more
Neurectomy – Overwrought Review
Tech Death used to be an arms race of dishing out what some might consider too many notes in too little time. Nowadays a lot of Tech Death has lost that aspect in what I suspect is a pursuit of greener (read: more profitable) pastures and a style of Tech that is basically a heightened form of melodic Death Metal seems to be the norm. Neurectomy make an attempt at reviving this classic style of Tech Death. Overwrought or overwritten?
Read more
Dyssebeia – Garden of Stillborn Idols Review
Melodic Death Metal is truly a mixed bag of a genre. You often know what you will get when you press play. For every Carcass, The Black Dahlia Murder and Amorphis, there are thousands of At the Gates, In Flames and Insomnium clones. Are Dyssebeia also gardeners of eternal imitation?
Read more
Nightmarer – Deformity Adrift: Reformed
The concept that the band might want to re-engineer and partially re-record such a well realized album before it is even a year old is at once intriguing and baffling. Can the deformity go even more adrift? Let’s see how well Nightmarer float with the anomalies.
Read more
Convocation – No Dawn for the Caliginous Night Review
My expectations were very high for this album, as they would be for any follow up in this band’s catalog. And yet again Convocation prove to be one of the best bands in the current Funeral Doom scene. So how exactly did this album leave Cosmo moonstruck?
Read more
The Lion’s Daughter – Bath House Review
Bath House is a rawer experience that leans less on the synths, although they are still there – meaner, producing uneasy sounds that often recalls a wounded animal whining out its pain in the distance. The mood the combined elements strike is overall good and there are some hefty highlights here and there. Will Croque throw this album out with the bath water?
Read moreUnlock the Krypts
Crypts of the Unknown: Animosity – Animal
