The deathly doom metal of Swallow the Sun used to be offset with moments of cold beauty and increasingly pop oriented vocal lines, that still managed to feel like a fresh breath visible in the chill air. This has been turned on its head on Shining, a move that in hindsight was well telegraphed over the last two albums the band put out.
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Octoploid – Beyond the Aeons Review
Somewhere deep in a Finish archipelago on a breezy and mild summer’s day a smorgasbord is taking place. At a wooden table surrounded by many Finns sits a metal loving bat. Looking more closely he has a huge grin on his face as 70s aesthetic sauce is dripping all over his chicken parm sandwich. Will you join him? Is this the sauce of the summer?
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Altar of Betelgeuze – Echoes Review
Maybe it’s the climate or something in the air or having all those lakes to stare into while brooding about the inevitable decay of flesh—Finland screams metal. Whatever it is, Altar of Betelgeuze got a full dose. They’ve routinely described themselves in the past as stoner doom meets death metal and hitting play on their third album, Echoes, reveals this is still the formula. Betelgeuze, Betelgeuze, Betelgeuze!
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Death Killer – Total Destruction of the Entire Universe Review
The severely titled Total Destruction of the Entire Universe approaches the genre with a metal mindset somewhat divorced from the industrial metal scene, meaning Death Killer do not sound like an industrial band wanting to do monotone metal, rather a metal band wanting to do weird industrial. Missing out on this album would be a grave mistake.
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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?
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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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Hexvessel – Polar Veil Review
Polar Veil caught my attention simply by breaking the ice with distorted guitar in its first preview track. Hexvessel has used this before (and its members are no strangers to Metal), but Blackened Doom Metal was really not something I expected to hear from these guys. Not just another Black Metal Monday.
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Kalmah – Kalmah Review
It was only during a short stint with a local melodeath band that Scuttlegoat decided to reevaluate his bias towards the melodic death metal and gave Kalmah another chance. Did the Finns convince him?
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Crypts of the Unknown: Loss – Horizonless
