Album Reviews

Australia’s death metal act Impetuous Ritual released its fourth album “Iniquitous Barbarik Synthesis” on May 12th, 2023 via Profound Lore Records. Emerging from the veiled obscurity to be foisted upon the Australian underground scene with renowned bands such as Portal and Grave Upheaval. The new record elevates the tier of songwriting beyond what the band had achieved in the last effort, “Blight Upon the Martyred Sentient”.
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Unearth is an American metalcore band formed in 1998. After the release of their fourth album in 2008 called 'The March' I personally lost track of them. They released 3 astonishing albums, but couldn't keep the fire going at their fourth album. Last year I saw these guys at Alcatraz (one of Belgium's biggest metal festivals) and was blown away with their scorching set they played. So I was curious what this new album called 'The Wretched; The Ruinous' would be like.
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Following up on the first instalment from a year ago, Australian masters of melancholy Mournful Congregation have completed work on 'The Exuviae of the Gods Part II'.
In structure, this is very similar to its counterpart. One retake of an old song and two new compositions. This two parter has also seen the return of their original drummer / guitarist Ben Petch who recorded the first two demos with Damon Good, but left before their debut proper.
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Forged in the true spirit of the Norwegian black metal aesthetic, mastermind Demonaz marks his triumphant return to the dark realms of Blashyrkh. “War Against All” is Immortal’s tenth album and while there is something reminiscent of the early albums like “Pure Holocaust” and “Battles In The North” You can expect nothing but constant flurries of thundering barrages. Forged in the spirit of the second wave of black metal by Demonaz (vocals, songwriting, and guitars) and the renowned guest session musicians such as Ice Dale (bass guitar), and Kevin Kvåle (drums) have captured the dark icy essence.
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The British prog masters of Haken are bringing their already seventh album to the world. 'Fauna' seems an unusual title in all the dark and depressive album titles we come along in the metal world. Let this not surprise you, 'Fauna' consists of multiple themes like the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, dark lyrics on failed relationships (hence the link to the black widow) to name a few. Each song has also an animal assigned to it, for which Haken has a meaning on how this relates to the real world and to the song's composer. Sounds quite challenging, isn't it ?
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Texan old-school death metal five-piece Frozen Soul unleashed its sophomore release “Glacial Domination” on May 19th, 2023, via Century Media Records. Taking their sound further into a heavy blizzard slab of raw death metal, the lineup of Samantha Mobley (bass guitar), Michael Munday (guitar), Chan Green (vocals), Matt Dennard (drums) and Chris Bonner (guitar) deliver a gripping power through the eleven new tracks. “Global Domination” defines the coherence of its riffing artillery by maintaining the energetic groove and the sheer quality of fusing galloping riffs into oppressive heaviness.
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Invent Animate is an American progressive metalcore band formed in 2011. After releasing 2 great albums called 'Everchanger' (2014) and 'Stillworld' (2016) longtime vocalist Ben English decided to leave the band. But they searched for a replacement and found it in the form of Marcus Vik and released 'Greyview' in 2020 and their fan base became even bigger. And now here is album number 4. Everybody knows that with their 4th album you can make it or break it, so let's see, shall we.
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Mat McNerney is a musical centipede. It’s actually mind-boggling if you stop to think what a wide range this artist has, and in how many quintessential albums he’s actually been involved in. From his early career in transforming Dødheimsgard from straight-up black metal to the avant-garde hydra it became later on, to the psychedelic folk of Hexvessel, and now the gothic post-punk of Grave Pleasures.
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Finnish black metallers Ondfødt will drop its newest album “Det Österbottniska Mörkre” on May 26th via Black Lion Records. Formed in 2013 by Dario Kåll (guitars) and Owe Inborr (vocals, guitars) with new members joining the fold in 2023 such as Joel Notkonen (bassist) and Tommi Tuhkala (drums). Over the last decade, Ondfødt went through some musical changes, but there seems to be a fundamental aim to take the music to the next level and this is what makes the fourth album a great achievement for the band.
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Burying Point is the first album by Darker Days and it is steeped in the history and traditions of where they are from. If you are going to perform in the horror punk genre, I guess that coming from the Halloween capital of the world, Salem, Massachusetts, gives you some significant credibility.
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