Perched on a wobbly table, Cosmo clutches his peppermint mocha like a sacred relic. He lifts it skyward, eyes blazing with caffeinated conviction, and whispers with holy reverence, ‘Ritual Ascension… the bolo tie of Minnesota.’
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Svnth – Pink Noise Youth Review
Have you ever longed for a cold stream on a hot day? Fresh air after rain? Perhaps the fourth album from Italian blackgaze shapeshifters, Svnth, will be what you seek. Lady Inksterium certainly thinks that flower fields everywhere should be in danger. But frolicking is not a crime!
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Istapp – Sól Tér Sortna Review
When Anti-Peat saw a slew of people recommending melodic black metal of a cold and wintry nature, he had to stapp and take a look. Yes, that’s how he ended up pressing anti-stapp on Sól Tér Sortna by Istapp. That translates to pressing play. If you’d like us to stapp with the stapping, please read on.
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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?
Thy Catafalque – XII: A gyönyörü álmok ezután jönnek Review
With a long and spicy Hungarian title, XII: A gyönyörü álmok ezután jönnek is by all counts a folk album. It uses folk music as a basis for its rhythms in bright and airy compositions, filled with a large variety of vocals. It’s also a metal album, which is what it presents as at first with the heaviest compositions landing in the first third of the album.
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Pillar of Light – Caldera Review
The second a band chooses to use a Lewandowski painting for their cover, they set a certain expectation. Ever since his association with Bell Witch’s seminal funeral doom album, Mirror Reaper, this decision implies a certain confidence in quality. Detroit’s own Pillar of Light should know this. With the quiet-loud formula brought to bear on their debut album, Caldera, they make the case that they earn this monolithic cover through sheer emotional heft. It just might blow your top off.
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Thyrathen – Lakonic Review
“Thyrathen hail from Larissa, the birth place of Achilles, but have elected to honour a different group of the bloody-minded and bloody-handed with their second album, Lakonic. Laconia was home of the Spartans for those who don’t know, and as such, the name suggested I could expect some suitably belligerent, stripped back black metal.” If this is the case, Pete’s ears will rejoice, never to rumble in boredom again… if…
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Ataraxie – Le Declín Review
Extreme metal can take many forms. But in this time of ours where acts try to out-Flanderize each other — essentially extremity fitting into the mold of extremity to be extreme — there is less and less that can actually be considered extreme. Ataraxie present their vision of funeral doom as a no-frills, heavily death metal inspired affair. It may be slow, but will it rush to the top of you doom metal essentials?
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Adorior – Bleed on My Teeth Review
Bleed on My Teeth is a relentless assault on the senses, a sonic maelstrom that threatens to consume all in its path. British band Adorior’s third full-length is a masterclass in chaos and destruction, with vocals from Melissa Gray aka Jaded Lungs that defy reason and convention. Ride the red wave.
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Crypts of the Unknown: Bergraven – Det Framlidna Minnet
