Opening with a swarm of discordant riffs on “Primaeval Sacrifice”, the listener must adapt to Halios’ rapidly advancing tide or give in to the swallow of the maelstrom. Formerly a duo, Ceremony of Silence has now become a trio. And combined with a sleeker, fuller production, Halios sounds a lot more polished and a lot more mean than 2019’s Outis ever could.
Read moreThis Week In Metal, 2024 Week 22
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 Kawir, Nocturnus AD, Beaten To Death, and Adversarial, you can do that too!
Read moreAdversarial – Solitude with the Eternal… Review
It’s a great year to be a blackened death metal fan. There’s been an embarrassment of riches within this microgenre so far — Diabolic Oath, Endless Loss, Heresiarch, to name a few — and we haven’t reached the halfway point of the year yet. So how will Adversarial’s new album Solitude with the Eternal… fare in this blackened treasure trove?
Read moreMaere – …and the Universe Keeps Silent Review
The best works of dissonant avant-garde metal shed the harmonic framework of power chords, blues scales and chord-scale approaches to soloing to explore something else. Maere, however, do not manage the feat of deconstruction, an approach that, after the old structures have broken down, needs something additional in the new space. That is to say, the fancy prance of a young buck isn’t always enough to sway our Goat.
Read moreThis Week In Metal, 2024 Week 15
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 BRUTALISM, Diabolic Oath, Manasseh, Replicant, and Altar of Betelgeuze, you can do that too!
Read moreDiabolic Oath – Oracular Hexations Review
Offering the listener a few seconds of respite before annihilating them with megalithic riffs, opener “Rusted Madness Tethering Misbegotten Haruspices” does a fantastic job setting the tone for the rest of the album: biblical-level annihilation. Riffs on riffs on riffs are the order of the day here! Needless to say, Cosmo is very excited about this one.
Read moreThis Week In Metal, 2024 Week 12
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 Aberration, Hadit, and LVME, you can do that too!
Read moreAberration – Refracture Review
Aberration specializes in caustic, spiteful blackened death metal that seeks to crush you into a paste over the runtime. The debut LP is akin to stepping up to bat for the first time, so, how far does Aberration knock the proverbial ball?
Read moreHadit – Metaphysical Engines Approaching the Event Horizon Review
When it comes to blackened death metal, a band needs to stand out from the rest of the crowd if it’s going to impress people given how saturated the subgenre has become in recent years. Enter Hadit. Will this Italian band travel far, or be swallowed by the blackened death metal hole?
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