The Screaming of the Valkyries is a well-executed blast of catchy, escapist bombast that stands up to multiple listens. In particular, Anti-Peat can’t help but think how after many reviews complaining about overambitious writing and poor structure, Cradle of Filth’s songwriting drags his attention back time after time. The thing is while he’s a sucker for catchy, escapist bombast. Have you figured out what escapist bombast means to you yet, dear reader? You might just need to to get down with the CoF.
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Tubal Cain – Slime Abyss Review
Black metal used to be about icy feelings — depression, hate , borderless self-expression. Scuttlegoat, for one, is quite glad that black metal musicians have discovered that having material that can actually be grabbed on to is beneficial. He wholly welcomes the rise of blackened traditional metal, which Tubal Cain and Slime Abyss fall into nicely. What once was kvvl is now kvlt again.
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Beneath a Steel Sky – Cleave Review
Beneath a Steel Sky’s debut, Cleave, goes far beyond being just another album title. Divided into two distinct sides, like an existential sandwich, this post rock/post metal debut seems carefully structured. It’s an A and B. It’s a start and a finish. It’s a rock and a metal. Two sides, one post-y sky!
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Patriarkh – Prorok Ilja Review
For the uninitiated, this band’s original name was Batushka, or at least vocalist Bartłomiej Krysiuk tried to claim it was. But after a legal battle for the rights to the name Batushka, Krysiuk lost and was forced to rename his incarnation of Batushka. But he didn’t name it Bartushka. You might just like Prorok Ilja anyway!
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Sergeant Thunderhoof – The Ghost of Badon Hill Review
If you’re into psychedelic stoner metal and bands with names that sound like they moonlight at medieval jousts, The Ghost of Badon Hill by Sergeant Thunderhoof is for you. With a title as riveting as a wargaming brony, this album promises trippy vibes, and no curveballs about its genre.
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The Black Dahlia Murder – Servitude Review
For newcomers, Servitude serves up the same kind of cutthroat melodic death metal that this band has been putting out for shy over 20 years now, with a sound that bleeds in colors of Carcass and At the Gates, among others. Fans will find a good album that harkens back to the sound of albums like Nocturnal. The Black Dahlia Murder are very much still alive.
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Kanonenfieber – Die Urkatastrophe Review
Kanonenfieber barely qualify for the blackened death metal moniker. Their interpretation of war is one of pathos, bittersweet glory, and they express it in a matter both melodic and anthemic. And they sound surprisingly similar to Amon Amarth. Nothing like a good Viking raid in the trenches.
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Emasculator – The Disfigured and the Divine Review
Too often does an “all girl band” make that statement their main marketing gimmick. Labels too then are quick to jump on the train and defeat the emancipatory value that the tag can hold. But Emasculator? They’ve got a grip on this whole death metal thing. Rock out with your… um… head off?
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Kawir – Kydoimos Review
One of the seemingly endless joys of being a metal fan is stumbling across a band that’s old as the hills but somehow new to you. Kawir is a good example. They released their first demo in 1993 and Kydoimos is their eighth studio album. You could say that up until this point, it was all Greek to our poor Anti-Peat.
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Crypts of the Unknown: Blunt Force Trauma – Vengeance for Nothing
