After the self-titled debut and its sophomore follow-up ‘Exile’, a title like ‘Ascension’ could imply a turn towards the positive for the end of times tale of this band from Nantes. A glimmer of hope before the apocalypse. Regarde Les Hommes Tomber’s closing of this trilogy, however, holds little hope for mankind. Ascension’ is by no means an easy album. Akin to, for instance Inter Arma’s latest offering, it is a claustrophobic work that leaves little room to catch your breath, a worthy closure of their trilogy of releases with a very moody and dissonant tone.

Read the full review here.

A couple of years back, Sepultura proved that they still had it in them to make impressive albums that go in the direction of “classics”. Their latest release ‘Quadra‘ however, came in like a bombshell. Somehow they managed to blend all their different iterations and sounds together into a massive sound that is some of the best work the post-Cavalera era has produced. There’s an intriguing experimental vibe laced throughout the whole release, from the at times progressive and tribal sounding songs all the way to the interesting concept behind the album. Sepultura is back and people are getting more excited about them again, more than ever before the past decades.

Bay Area thrash metal masters Testament returned once again with an absolute banger of an album with ‘Titans of Creation‘. Testament has released a fierce album that presents its true sound, mixing thrash metal with touches of black and other genres to keep things exciting. After three decades of business, the band bears a new code that will keep them on the top of the billboard charts of the top thrash metal bands. ‘Titans of Creation’ is a robust mixture of complex guitar work, aggression and above all, it’s the ultimate thrash metal record.

Read the full review here.

Finally, after twelve years of waiting the British death metal veterans Benediction returned in 2020 with the highly anticipated album ‘Scriptures‘. By finding the precise balance between grooves and the sound of traditional old school death metal, Benediction managed to produce a masterpiece of raw, old school death metal full of grinds and attitude! A must listen for any death metal fan around!

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The year 2020 sees the return of Tobias Möckl aka Wintherr, the mastermind behind the black metal/ambient project band, Paysage D’Hiver. ‘Im Wald’ will take you deep on a spiritual voyage to the cold icy plains of vast wintery realms. This is certainly a modern masterpiece of lo-fi black metal. The gloomy tone of the guitars continue to reverberate depicting a grim sensation. Till the final moments of the debut full-length, the music projects an extraordinary level of a musical scale. The album is quite lengthy, but adheres to the obscure foundations of what this project has presented in the past.

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Trivium has been around for about 2 decades and released their 9th album ‘What the Dead Man Say’ in 2020. They’ve had their ups and downs, but have been steadily expanding their fan base all over the world regardless. But since the addition of Alex a couple of years back, seemed to have steered the band back in the proper direction. Their last release ‘The Sin and the Sentence’ had some of the heaviest tracks of Trivium‘s existence, but also the most catchy. With this year’s album, they again went a leap further with emotive storytelling and at times a refreshing and more experimental sound you’d expect of them. An absolute banger of a metal album!

Read the full album review here.

During the 2020 run, a lot of older and established bands came back with a new album. And while some of them clearly impressed us, like Testament did, we also have room for some more modern thrashers. The Californian Warbringer with their latest release ‘Weapons Of Tomorrow’ is one such band that caught our attention. They build upon the excellence of their previous work with added complexity and a potent mix of songwriting and storytelling. In doing so, they once again establish their place among the best modern thrash bands working today, with one of the strongest thrash albums of the year.

Read the full album review here.