REVIEWS
FIAT NOX – Demanifestation: Hymns of Destruction and Nothingness EP (Crawling Chaos Records January 22nd 2022)
3 tracks / 30 min. 03 sec. Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten? No, not really. This quartet hailing from Bremen, Germany, performs Black Metal and dubs themselves FIAT NOX, which signifies as much as ‘Let there be Night’! This EP is the successor of the debut full-length album The Archive of Nightmares and the EP In Contemptuous Defiance. Do not be misled:…
OSSAERT – Pelgrimsoord (Argento Records June 4th 2021)
4 tracks – 41 min. 06 sec. Abandon all hope ye who enter here… Besides a folk tale’s water spirit, OSSAERT is also a one-man sinister Black Metal project from the Netherlands, the land of windmills, tulips, cheese, peanut butter, Joppie sauce, ánd… qualitative Black Metal! Jack-of-all-trades P. takes pity on the voice, guitars, and…
DÖDSRIT – Mortal Coil (Wolves of Hades May 28th 2021)
4 tracks – 36 min. 37 sec. The Swedish/Dutch atmospheric/melodic Black Metal outfit DÖDSRIT returns with its 3rd full-length baptized ‘Mortal Coil’ (WOLVES OF HADES), after first having issued the self-titled debut ‘Dödsrit’ (ALERTA ANTIFASCISTA RECORDS) and the sophomore ‘Spirit Crusher’ (PROSTHETIC RECORDS). ‘Mortal Coil’ consists of 4 extended compositions, which span over 9 (!)…
GRAVE MIASMA – Abyss of Wrathful Deities (Dark Descent Records/Sepulchral Voice – 14 May 2021)
9 tracks – 52 min. 51 sec. GRAVE MIASMA is a dark, occult Death Metal trinity hailing from England’s capital city. Following a demo, 3 EPs (‘Endless Pilgrimage’ being the latest one), and the debut full-length ‘Odori Sepulcrorum’, members D, Y, T, and special guest guitarist R strike back with ‘Abyss of Wrathful Deities’, a slab of cavernous,…
VERDOEMD – Howling Mountain (Self-Released – 11 January 2021)
8 tracks – Duration: 37 min. DAMNED. That is how the Dutch word VERDOEMD translates into English. VERDOEMD is a solo blackened Death/Thrash Metal project which hails from the Flemish fields of Haaltert in Hellgium, which became fertile soil for retro Thrash Metal class acts like EVIL INVADERS, BÜTCHER, and SCHIZOPHRENIA in the meantime. The…
DEN OF INIQUITY – Legions of Sin EP (Self-Released – 29 November 2020)
6 tracks – Duration: 28 min. The corpse-painted & motivated Germans of DEN OF INIQUITY emerge from the Cologne underground and tag themselves as Black/Death Metal. In my opinion, they are more on the Black Metal side of the spectrum than on the Death Metal side. I would label them as atmospheric/melodic Black Metal. Their Legions…
ETERNAL AUTUMN – To Tame The Impaler (Self-Released – 29 January 2021)
2 tracks – Duration: 11 min. 32 sec. Swedish melodic Death Metal outfit ETERNAL AUTUMN is rooted in the nineties. They were once a duo, but now they are a quartet and recorded this new EP as the successor to The Werewolf Diaries EP from 2019. Jocke Rydbjer mastered To Tame the Impaler at Wolfden Studios in 2020. ETERNAL AUTUMN…
THEOPTIA – Horeb (Self-Released – 21 October 2017)
9 tracks – Duration: 36 min. 14 sec. THEOPTIA is a Swiss progressive Death Metal one-man project which is said to be influenced by GOJIRA, MESHUGGAH, and TOOL. For some reason, early OPETH (Orchid & Morningrise) comes to my mind too. THEOPTIA’s debut album Horeb got recorded at the Carnivore Studio in 2015 -the sound is top-notch- and got…
CULT BURIAL – Cult Burial (Self-Released – 6 November 2020)
9 tracks – Duration: 43 min. Uncomfortable. That is the sensation I experience when listening to the self-titled full-length debut from the surprising Blackened Death Doom Metal combo CULT BURIAL, which is hailing from the London underground (no, I am not talking about the subway). When I state uncomfortable, I mean that as a compliment.…
DIABOLIC – Mausoleum of the Unholy Ghost (Tentacle Industries – 6 June 2020)
8 tracks – Duration: 28 min. 8 sec. This Florida Death Metal ensemble, which is featuring MONSTROSITY guitarist Matt Barnes in its ranks, was founded in 1997. DIABOLIC pulled the plug back in 2004 and stood up from the dead in 2006. ‘Supreme Evil’, ‘Subterraneal Magnitude’, ‘Vengeance Ascending’, ‘Infinity Through Purification’, and ‘Excisions of Exorcisms’ are…
ETERNAL AUTUMN – The Werewolf Diaries (Self-Released – 2019)
4 tracks – Duration: 20 min. This band goes way back in time. In a distant past, I reviewed ETERNAL AUTUMN’s ‘The Storm’ (1998). That album contained the killer track ‘Autumn Opus No 1’, which really blew me away back then – and it still does to this date. The fifth printed edition of ‘The Throne…
BEAST OF REVELATION – The Ancient Ritual of Death (Iron Bonehead Productions – 2020)
9 tracks – Duration: 43 min. The death bell tolls. Thick thumping strings of doom keep reverbing. The seven-headed beast of revelation -as depicted on the logo by Italian artist Roberto Toderico and the dark cover art by Manuel Tinnemans (Comaworx)- took possession over INCANTATION’s frontman John McEntee. Like a demonic oracle, he utters the…
GRACELESS – Where Vultures Know Your Name (Raw Skull Recordz – 27 March 2020)
8 tracks – Duration: 45 min. 37 sec. This Dutch Death Metal band first got introduced to me during their show with ENTRAILS and REJECT THE SICKNESS at Muziekcafé Elpee Deinze, Belgium. I always had a weak spot for Dutch Death Metal, so their no-nonsense and raw sound convinced me in no time. Even though…
SCHIZOPHRENIA – Voices (Self-Released – 2020)
5 tracks – Duration: 20 min. Yes, this is it! From the first seconds, you realize that SCHIZOPHRENIA from Antwerp/Belgium is passionate, old school Death/Thrash Metal, the way it was meant to be. You sense the hunger of these four musicians like you can feel it with retro acts such as CARNATION and EVIL INVADERS.…
AETERNAM – Al Qassam (Self-Released – 27 March 2020)
9 tracks – Duration: 44 min. 49 sec. Early 2020, together with some 30ish other survivors, I had the absolute privilege to get to listen to the premiere of ‘Al Qassam’ in Viking Crown Lounge of the Independence of the Seas during 70,000 Tons of Metal. Goosebumps! The audience just loved it at first sight…
Coming soon…
- CRAVEN IDOL – Forked Tongues
- THÜN – Thün
- DREAMS IN DARKNESS – The Souls Pit
- DECREPITUD– Decrepitud
- DYSPHORIC MIST – The Demo
- WISHDOOMDARK – Blood of the Black God
- DESTROY HUMANITY - Hypnopompia
- EXOTHERMIX – Reaction
- NECROOTS – Distorted Visions of Death
- LÓSTREGOS – Onde Calan os Corazóns, Ruxen as Pedras
- and more!
THRONE OF ABSENCE 