ALBUM REVIEW: Majesties – Vast Reaches Unclaimed


 

The Swedish death metal scene, especially the Gothenburg-based one with quintessential names like At the Gates, Entombed, and Dark Tranquility surrounding, is indeed all-around influential; many bands heavily inspired by the Gothenburg death metal scene have emerged throughout the past years. The Minneapolis-bound Majesties is one of the said bands. With members originating from the equally groundbreaking extreme metal acts Obsequiae and Inexorum, there was born a convergence, an allied force between those two acts– which is Majesties who recently have just released their first full-length entitled Vast Reaches Unclaimed, through 20 Buck Spin.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Frozen Dawn – The Decline of the Enlightened Gods


Having been around for fifteen years, the Spanish black metal act Frozen Dawn has been experimenting with sounds that are inspired by nineties Scandinavian black metal bands – mostly the ones that come from Norway and Sweden – such as Satyricon, Dissection, Darkthrone, Dark Fortress, Watain, and Necrophobic.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Der Weg einer Freiheit – Noktvrn


As the familiar strains that launch Noktvrn harken back to a theme from predecessor Finisterre (both Season of Mist), it is a fitting acknowledgement of an integral part in the ascension of Der Weg einer Freiheit that was played with the release of their 2017 masterpiece in establishing the band as a serious artist of note. It also serves to guide us into the slow-building and considered unveiling of first track proper ‘Monument’, preparing us for the fact that we are taking part in a procession, a conscious movement from one state in an evolution to another.

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EP REVIEW: Bodom After Midnight – Paint The Sky With Blood



Recorded towards the end of 2020, Paint The Sky With Blood (Napalm Records) was meant to signal the beginning of a new era in the career of Bodom After Midnight frontman Alexi Laiho. His first release since leaving the groundbreaking Finnish melodic death metal act Children of Bodom the previous year should have been the beginning of an exciting new journey. Instead, his tragic death in late December means it ultimately becomes an epitaph.

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The Spirit – Sounds From The Vortex


A cold nocturnal Scandinavian wind blows; icy tendrils stabbing southwards, searching, seeking for blackened hearts to infect. The hosts wait, apprehensive, yet welcoming, ideas already pregnant. The frost-bitten hunter swirls at first, before plunging its whole intent deep into the waiting prey. Saarbrücken, Germany, nominally a thriving, modern economic centre, is now the scene for the cultivation of a different type of essence, for that which grows inside it is not the spirit of commerce, but The Spirit of melodic blackened metal.Continue reading


Délétère – De Horae Leprae


Québécois Black Metallers Délétère have often had an air of mystique and the outrageous in their cannon, and the overriding narrative of latest album De Horae Leprae (Sepulchral Productions) is arguably more conceptual, with it being devoted to “Teredinis, a simple leper whose calling it is to become a prophet of Centipedes, as well as an incarnation of the Plague.” With such a vivid and eccentric conceptual idea behind it, its surprising to note that De Horae Leprae is a comparatively simplistic listen, albeit one with plenty of wealth.Continue reading


Scumpulse – Rotten


Full disclosure here, something about Scumpulse piqued my interest enough to pick this one out of the myriad of potential albums to assault my ears with for review, but at the time, I wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was that I expected fun, ugly grindcore (which this isn’t)? Maybe it’s that I trust the source that it came from? Or just maybe it’s because the UK is a hotbed of talented, abrasive, creative intent bubbling and broiling just below the surface of everyone’s conscious right now and I didn’t want to miss out on the next thrilling, grimy rendition? Continue reading


EXCLUSIVE: Wintersun’s Jari Mäenpää Talks Musical Influences


In this exclusive album preview for Ghost Cult, Wintersun mastermind Jari Mäenpää discusses is his biggest musical influences. You can watch the video below. Continue reading