Album Reviews

The long-awaited second full-length album “The Deepening” by the Norwegian black metal outfit Vemod took the social media by storm, out now via Prophecy Productions since January 19th, 2024. After 12 years of absence, it may have seemed that the band has perfected the definite tone of melancholy by honoring their roots in black metal. Vemod is roughly translated as a pensive sadness about the past, and this is precisely what the second album imparts through its rich landscape and wrapping it up with a somber and meditative atmosphere.
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British heavy metal institution Saxon still stands with might, four decades have passed, and these veterans never run out of ideas striking their fans with every studio album. “Hell, Fire and Damnation” contains the blazing power of Saxon’s heavy guitars, thanks to the magnificent musicianship of guitarists Doug Scarratt and Brian Tatler, with Biff Byford’s charismatic vocals and Nigel Glockler on drums and Nibbs Carter on bass guitar foraying into the spirit of NWOBHM. The 27th album is a perfect example of Saxon’s traditional approach that holds to its classic roots and metallic sound, therefore offering potent dynamism that impose its catchy riffage throughout the album. As always, the production is top-notch where most of the songs bring the unsheathing power of Saxon’s formula.
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Indian-based black/death metal outfit Tetragrammacide launched its second full-length album “Typho-Tantric Aphorisms from the Arachneophidian Qur’an” via Iron Bonehead Productions on November 3rd, 2023. While transgressing beyond the boundaries of the Abrahamic religions the duo M. Opium (vocals) and Entropymurti (bass, guitars) with the assistance of the session drummer Davide Billia (Beheaded, Antropofagus and among others) improved the songwriting quality of their newest album to staggering levels.
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Slidhr is an international black metal band that was formed in 2005 by the Irish guitarist and vocalist Joseph Deegan, the lineup also features members from Icelandic black metal band Sinmara, and Almyrkvi Bjarni Einarsson (drums) and, Stefan Dietz A.K.A. Draghkar (bass guitar) from Crescent, Nocte Obducta and Suel. After hearing the band’s sophomore “The Futile Fires of Man” which in my opinion was a modern approach to black metal and was well received by fans of genre. The trio now return together for a third album “White Hart!” released on October 13th, 2023, via Debemur Morti Productions.
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Serpents Oath has been quite the revelation for the Belgian black metal scene, coming out of seemingly nowhere with their fiery debut ‘Nihil’. On closer inspection however, it's revealed that these aren’t newcomers at all. At least not to the broader extreme metal scene: at the helm of this cult we find vocalist Tes Re Oth, who is in his daily life nor other than James Criz, the frontman for death doom veterans Insanity Reigns Supreme.
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Swedish symphonic/operatic metal ensemble Therion crafts one of its best albums to date, inspired by their defining work of combining the elements of heavy/power metal with sublime orchestral elements. With many achievements in the band’s discography in the past comes the final installment of the trilogy 'Leviathan III' which in my opinion surpasses the preceding volumes, is composed by none other than mastermind Christofer Johnsson. The newest endeavor is the first to be released under the banner of Napalm Records and is set for a release date on December 15th, 2023.
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England’s three-piece death metal band Cryptworm is back with their second full full-length album 'Oozing Radioactive Vomition' out on December 15th, 2023, via Me Saco Un Ojo Records, Pulverised Records and Extremely Rotten Productions. All the rotten elements of Demilich and those burping-soaked vocals degenerate into something foul and filthy on the band’s newest album, although I do think that Cryptworm has enhanced the putrid chunky death metal riffs with plenty of variation to pound the listener into a sickening nausea.
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Norwegian black metal outfit Troll continues to carry the inspiration of its homeland’s symphonic black metal. It was formed in Oslo by the legendary iconic multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Stian Arnesen A.K.A. Nagash (ex-Dimmu Borgir, The Kovenant, ex-Carpe Tenebrum). Nagash's talent was cited in the 1995 demo 'Trollstorm over Nidingjuv' as blisteringly cold raw and atmospheric, but Troll made its name with the first full-length album 'Drep de Kristne' in 1996. Since the mid-era of the band eschewed the traditional second-wave black metal and took an experimental form in sound, it was not until the year 2010 that the band launched its fourth album 'Neo-Satanic Supremacy' which was a welcoming return to symphonic black metal.
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Cincinnati-Ohio-based melodic black metal outfit Valdrin returned with their fourth album titled “Throne of The Lunar Soul” out via Blood Harvest on November 24th, 2023. The initiation of the quartet in 2014 is a testament to high quality caliber, and the fourth album is the consequence of excellent songwriting and talent in the underground metal scene of the USA. “Throne of The Lunar Soul” is the band’s best outing yet, the composition is layered in symphonic canvas combined to make the album melodic and captivating.
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Montréal-based death metal band Phobocosm is back with their new album “Foreordained” and the final part of the trilogy which began in 2014. As gloomier as the covert art of the album, Phobocosm insists on a doomier sound and this is one of the remarks that defines the third installment. The Québec quartet showed great potential on the debut "Deprived" and the sophomore "Bringer of Drought". Even though the atmosphere here plays an intriguing part for the six new songs, Phobocosm has that cavernous quality of sludge death doom.
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