The first things I heard regarding about Sólstafir‘s sixth full length Berdreyminn weren’t too convincing. The Iceland post rock formation is often accused with being too ‘hipster’, ‘too soft’, and ‘poppy’ and when the first tracks of Berdreyminn surfaced, these were the exact terms flying around. Being one of those Sólstafir enthusiasts, I couldn’t wait […]
CD review 2017
Les Discrets – Predateurs
Released on April 21st, Les Discrets (Lyon, France) released their third full-length album, Predateurs. Although very much on the edge (or actually over) of what I consider metal, the experience I had when watching them on Prophecy Fest 2016 was enough for me to pique my interest in their music. Predateurs is an aesthetically pleasing, […]
Life Of Agony – A Place Where There’s No More Pain
Brooklyn metal band Life Of Again are back with their first new studio album in 12 years. A Place Where There’s No More Pain is the follow up of Broken Valley (2005) after which a turbulent era started for the band and especially for vocalist Mina Caputo, who came out as a transgender in the […]
Warbringer – Woe To The Vanquished
To my confession, I don’t listen much Thrash metal at home. Live shows on the other hand are another story. It’s one of the best genres to watch when played live and I’ve seen Warbringer quite some times on the stage. Therefor I was thrilled to listen to their new album because I was sure […]
Body Count – Bloodlust
The record Manslaughter (2014) marked the return of rapper Ice-T and his comrade guitarist Ernie C. of the gangster-metal collective Body Count in the metal scene. While Manslaughter was described as a decent comeback, the follow up Bloodlust can be seen as the result of adding fuel (racism, police brutality, social inequality) to the flame […]
Nightbringer – Terra Damnata
‘As above, so below’ – an oft heard lyrical expression within metal, originating from the Hermetiscism. Something that has led me to scratch my head many times over. While contemplating Terra Damnata, the new full-length of Nightbringer, I found my personal (engineers’) perspective on this: we build the world as we see (f)it, and the […]
Obituary – Obituary
Obituary is one of the best-selling death metal bands of all time and therefore hardly needs an introduction. Their debut album Slowly We Rot (1989) and Cause of Death (1990) are among the most praised death metal albums due to their unique heavy sound and manic guitar solos. Also their live performance kick ass thus […]
Pillorian – Obsidian Arc
A while back, American-made Agalloch disbanded and left thousands of fans with a nice little heartache. The band that unleashed some of the best albums out there, has died out like embers. John Haughm, alongside Trevor Matthews (of Uada) and Stephen Parker went on to form Pillorian, which is the culmination of the past few […]
DODECAHEDRON – kwintessens
Dutch experimental black metal formation Dodecahedron (inspired by Mayhem’s Ordo Ad Chao and French metallers Deathspell Omega) are about to release their antagonizing sophomore record upon a metal scene that is unaware of Armageddon that is heading their way. Where the self titled debut was a hint of the band’s technical prowess and explorations beyond […]
Fjoergyn – Lucifer Es
I followed Fjoergyn from their first release ‘Ernte Im Herbst’ until their third full length ‘Jahreszeiten’. All three of those albums proudly stand in my album collection at home, and I listened an insane amount of time to all of them. I fell in love with their rough (avant-garde) black metal combined with a dreamy […]