Taking a decidedly anti-authoritarian and perhaps even antifascist perspective, each song here is about a different time period in history, with the prime focus being French history. Every track takes on a melancholic tinge, and can be considered laments, because nothing feels triumphant. What a Monday pick-me-up!
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Laurel Halo – Atlas Review
Do you need a palate cleanser after listening to all that Vortexectomy, Parasitic Ejaculation and Cattle Decapitation? Then I present to you, Laurel Halo, the musician behind Atlas, one of the best ambient records of 2023. “Ugh, ambient” you might say, but don’t be so quick to dismiss this beautiful and apprehensive kaleidoscope of sounds. Take a walk on the mild side.
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Dreamwell – In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You Review
If Screamo and elements of Math and Hardcore variety meets Post-Rock build-ups sounds like your idea of a bad gimmick, perhaps Dreamwell’s sophomore album, In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You will come as a pleasant surprise. Hopefully as a good dream.
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Vertebra Atlantis – A Dialogue with the Eeriest Sublime Review
This year, Gramaglia has released the follow-up Vertebra Atlantis album, A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime. Combining harsh, gnarled riffs and hypnotic dreamscapes, this specific blend of Progressive Death Metal may just be his magnum opus. This album is not afraid to show some real backbone, so make sure you don’t leave it at the bottom of the ocean.
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Mānbryne – O próbie wiary i jarzmie zwątpienia Review
Interregnum seamlessly continues the sonic journey Mānbryne started on their debut album, delving deeper into melancholic tones, and culminating in an explosive finale. Cosmo might not have been fishing for a new addition to his end of year list when he got caught in Mānbryne’s hooks.
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Moonlight Sorcery – Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle Review
Like straight out of a time capsule from the late 1990s or early 2000s, Moonlight Sorcery come bursting onto the scene with their debut album Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle. This could be the band that fans of early Children of Bodom or Wintersun have been looking for over the past 20 years. September keeps on giving *eggplant emoji*.
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Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit Review
What we get on The Enduring Spirit is certifiably fantastic, but I cannot say that I could have foreseen the direction Tomb Mold would take with this album – or that anyone could have, really. This new album utilizes the dichotomy between different textures, tonalities, timbres and moods like I haven´t heard a metal album do in quite a while. Dining on that fine mold.
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Tongues – Formløse Stjerner Review
Tongues hits many taste centers with uncanny precision. From salty waves of Doom riffs echoing on the back half to spicy Death Metal outbursts to the sour and dramatic tremolo riffs of Black Metal… Tongues has licks. Taste the black metal.
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Spectral Voice / Undergang – Spectral Voice / Undergang Split Review
Caveman Death Metal feels dime-a-dozen nowadays, with many up and coming bands deciding to pursue this filth-encrusted style. But none of them do it quite as well as the filthy Danish kings themselves, Undergang. Here they’ve teamed up with American Death Doom cave-dwellers Spectral Voice in a surprise shadow-dropped split release—crouching caveman, hidden riff.
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Crypts of the Unknown: Lorn – Arrayed Claws
