Album Reviews

Since the inception of the Danish death metal trio Deiquisitor in 2013 the band bordered on the old school brutality. And their fourth album “Apotheosis” out via Extremely Rotten Productions and Night Shroud Records on January 20th, 2023 proves the sheer cold brutality in its most hideous form. In its savage intensity and uncompromising quality the new album conveys nine tracks showing a remarkable combination of subversive drumming assault and churning guitars.
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German atmospheric black metal duo Imperium Dekadenz is set to release its new album “Into Sorrow Evermore” on January 20th via Napalm Records. Once again Vespasian (guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards), and Horaz (guitars, keyboards, vocals) lift the veil from the shadowy realm of darkness. The follow-up album to the 2019 “When We Are Forgotten” weaves the contrasting elements where the melancholy echoes from the depth of the cold forest.
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Katatonia proudly presenting their hauntingly beautiful next studio album, Sky Void of Stars, out on January 20, 2023 via Napalm Records. It will be their 12th studio album. This album will be the successor to 'City Burials' which made it to the charts in 2020 (e.g., #6 rank in the Germany). Founded in 1991, KATATONIA continually have been living through different genres and their evolutions – developing their own particular form of expression. Their delicate, melodic and melancholic music is a specific style that has become their trademark. Their new album is the consequent further evolution of the loved gloomy, often depressive and dark atmospheric sounds.
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Following their outstanding 2018 release “The Boats of the Glen Carrig” and their 2020 live album “Live Prey” 2023 see the return of the masters of Nautical funeral doom Ahab. After 8 years of complete silence, the German four-piece unfolds yet another epic journey into the vast deep ocean. “The Coral Tombs”, which is the band’s 5th album, is based on a science-fiction novel '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' by French writer Jules Verne. The maritime novel is centered on fictional characters such as Prof. Arronax and Captain Nemo descending into the vast ocean the story is set on the Nautilus submarine vessel.
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Floridian-based death metal heavyweight Obituary seems to capture the real core of the band’s classic sound on the 11th album “Dying of Everything” out via Relapse Records on January 13th, 2023. Obituary made a name for themselves in the death metal genre for being one of the legendary bands in the U.S. Since then, they’ve made an impact on fans around the world. Obituary’s early albums “Slowly we Rot” and “Cause of Death” were both great classics from the past and will always remain the best albums in the band’s discography. Despite the great effort, Obituary hasn’t changed in the last three and half decades each studio album was well received by the fans.
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Satanic Warmaster is one of the prominent names in the Finnish black metal scene, founded in 1998 by the multi-instrumentalist Werwolf (Grieve, True Werwolf, Vargrav, Orlok, and ex-Horna). Eight years after the last album “Fimbulwinter” which was released in 2014, the band returns with the sixth album “Aamongandr” released via Werewolf Records on December 30th, 2022. Although a lot has changed in the band’s direction over the past years, Satanic Warmaster demonstrates the raw aesthetics of Finnish black metal aggression. The new album includes Werwolf (guitars, vocals), and several guest session musicians such as Necroterror (bass), Nattravn (guitars), Grond (drums, percussion), and, Trollhorn (keyboards).
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With all mastery achieved in the first studio album “Behaft Bekert” mastermind Nahdrut Herlarecks (all instruments) moves from the mystical and medieval realm to a grander saga. The second full-length album “Muspilli” was released by Ván Records on September 20th, 2022. We get to hear this dark side of Erzfeynd from the opening intro “Fewerflam” is a beautiful piece of ambient soundscapes combined with the synth instrument and chiming bells.
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Erzfeynd is a German black metal outfit helmed by the multi-instrumentalist Nahdrut Herlarecks, who brings a spellbinding performance on the full-length album “Behaft Bekert”. Erzfeynd’s music offers mystical landscapes that perfectly match with the Norwegian black metal bands like Gehenna. The keyboards are catchy enough to capture the listener, but the creativity of the composition is truly one of a kind. Although the synth plays an important role in adding a dark aura to the songs, the music is steered with harsh and cut throating vocals driven by sharp tremolos to put you under the spell.
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Acephalix is a death metal band that is based in San Francisco, the quintet now returns with the 4th album titled “Theothanatology” released on September 30th via the giant label 20 Buck Spin. The band was formed in 2007 and was on a hiatus from 2011-2015, although they’re not very different from their peers Acephalix incorporates a dose of grooves with the guitars having a crusty sound. The line-up consists of vocalist Daniel Butler (Vastum), drummer David Benson (Depressor), bassist Erika Osterhout (Aysmal Dimensions, Chthonic Deity), and guitarists Adam Camara and Adam Walker.
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I’m always a sucker for a good symphonic style of black metal music, and recently I came across the sophomore release “I Nordisk Vredeslusta” from the Swedish act Gnipahålan, which is one of the many side project bands founded by the Swedish musician Swartadapuz. According to the old Norse mythology, Gnipahellir is the name of a mystical cave, musically, Swartadapuz (guitars, bass, and keyboards) and the German drummer Taaken joined forces to create a galactic style of symphonic black metal.
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