Nowadays, when the progressive descriptor is added to melodic death metal, this means that the songs are longer without any good reason. You would be hard pressed to find a modern melodic death metal band that is creative or that looks outside its own box. Second Shooter are a band that look back instead. Are they shooting for the stars, or looking back in fury?
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Secrets – Towards the Nightside Review
There is probably a limit to how much love can be shown to a band that is so obviously reminiscent of those that came before but Secrets push at that limit. So what is the secret to Secrets’ success?
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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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Drowned – Procul His Review
Drowned play a blend of primarily death metal mixed with some doom metal elements that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Spectral Voice or a Mortiferum album. But how does this all come together? Semi-drowned?
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Vitriol – Suffer & Become Review
I wasn’t too impressed with Vitriol’s debut full length in 2019, as it lacked memorable songwriting, and the production sounded off. The glow-up this band has had in the nearly five years since has been immense, as the sophomore album not only defies the dreaded sophomore slump, but kicks it to the ground, punches it in the face, and kicks it a couple more times for good measure. Suffer & Read This Review & Become.
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Dissimulator – Lower Form Resistance Review
It riffs. The amount of times an album has been explained to me with just these two words is staggering. The quality of “having riffs” is enough for many a metalhead, thrashers in particular, to fall in love with an album. That said, Dissimulator riffs. But is that all?
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Madder Mortem – Old Eyes, New Heart Review
We’re lucky to have Norway’s Madder Mortem, as they embody the word progressive to a fault, never doing the same thing between any of their albums. You can always recognize a Madder Mortem song, yet not point to a stale formula in its construction. This is the mark of a band that writes progressively rather than chasing trends. Be the change you want to see!
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Ὁπλίτης (Hoplites) – Παραμαινομένη (Paramainomeni) Review
Hoplites is a one-man Chinese black metal/hardcore band that emerged out of nowhere and proceeded to release three full lengths over the course of 2023. I thought each release was slightly better than the last, but none of them really had memorable moments, instead feeling like an aimless jam session each time that threw elements at the wall to see what stuck. Where does that leave the new album? Find out in this review…
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Caligula’s Horse – Charcoal Grace Review
For Caligula’s Horse, Charcoal Grace is a return to the kind of songwriting that attempts to develop a lot over their runtime of extended-length songs. This band is very adept at their vocal hooks, so it’s no surprise that they lean into the vocals for this newest album. This is NOT a horse of a different color. But it is prog!
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Crypts of the Unknown: Lorn – Arrayed Claws
