ALBUM REVIEW: Godflesh – Purge


 

Thirty-one years after the release of their sophomore Godflesh album Pure, Justin K Broadrick and Ben Green (and Machines) allude to this one aspect of the band’s crushing history with new album Purge, releasing on June 9th on Avalanche Recordings.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Phlebotomized – Clouds Of Confusion


 

With a career that has spanned 30-plus years to date (factoring in a 16-year departure), Dutch Death Metaller’s Phlebotomized are a band with a legacy and a cult following even amongst extreme music. Attributed as being one of the first such bands to use additional instrumentation including synths, theirs was a sound that was considered by many unique and pioneering at the time and in part a clear influence on many bands since then and in the current day. With this in mind, how does the new Phlebotomized hold up in the current day? On the evidence of Clouds Of Confusion (Hammerheart), pretty well.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Drott – Troll


 

On Troll (By Norse Music) Drott draws from Scandinavian folklore to create a soundtrack for the listener to inhabit a dank, murky forest, with the eponymous troll close enough that you can smell it, delivered via dark, slightly campy electronic rock soundscapes that would feel totally in place in a (not too scary) fantasy/ horror movie. Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Yakuza – Sutra


 

This experimental Chicago band has been toying with the dark sonic corners for over twenty years. It’s been eleven of those years since we have had a new album from Yakuza, and it is good to dive back into their land of twisted shadows. The focus has shifted to a more deliberate brand of heavy, that places them not far from the sonic zip code of older Mastodon. The differences are fewer guitar pyrotechnics and a much darker trajectory than the Atlanta progsters. Bruce Lamont’s baritone moan carries a hint of anger as the opening track is framed with dissonance.

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INTERVIEW: John Cxnnor Discusses Their New Live Album with The Devil’s Trade, and Roadburn Festival 2023


 

As part of our preview of Roadburn Festival 2023, Ghost Cult Keefy interviewed Rasmus and Ketil a.k.a. John Cxnnor! The duo, who also have the hardcore band LLNN, are curating a special presentation and curated performance at Roadburn this year. In addition, they are releasing their collaborative live album with The Devil’s Trade – “Live At Roadburn” album out April 21 via Pelagic Records. The guys discussed the genesis of the project, how they connected with Roadburn founder and artistic director Walter Hoejimakers, touring, future plans for both projects and their favorite Terminator flick!

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ALBUM REVIEW: Big|Brave – Nature Morte


 

Big|Brave, along with recent collaborators The Body (on Leaving None But Small Birds), Sunn O))) and Earth, are one of those bands whose music while fundamentally heavy and ‘Metal’ (for all intents and purposes) nonetheless expands far beyond the sometimes self-imposed conservative restrictions of the genre. Being a somewhat inactive member of a Metal group on Facebook, I am all too familiar with the more traditional brand of Metalhead for whom the genre stopped being ‘true’ after Iron Maiden‘s Somewhere In Time or Metallica‘s …And Justice For All. If you are of that ilk therefore, I have a sneaking suspicion that this album possibly won’t be for you.

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ALBUM REVIEW: The Otolith – Folium Limina


 

My first encounter with SubRosa’s music was back in 2016 as an eighteen year-old who had just gotten a headstart into music journalism, just right after they released For This We Fought the Battle of Ages. That 2016 release was especially remarkable for my eighteen year-old self, because, apart from its droning resonance in a form of menacing atmospheric doom that would drive the listeners into a solemn state of enchantment, the album was also inspired by Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, a Russia-bound dystopian novel that portrays a state ravaged by modern-day authoritative surveillance; an uncanny prediction towards the terror of the Stalinist regime in real life. The theme and inspiration of the said SubRosa album just instantly ignited the politically conscious side in me at the time.

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