ALBUM REVIEW: Wolves In The Throne Room – Primordial Arcana


Common wisdom would have you believe that most bands approaching their third decade, and / or seventh album, will have found either a comfortable groove, or a furrow that they like to plough, and that the desire to challenge themselves and their supporters, to expand or revitalise their sound, has probably been dissipated to some degree. The cycle begats the (album) cycle and the artist, conscious of the desired output, sates the audience even if they do make token refinements to keep their own creative beasts content. For while there may be tweaks and tinkerings, there are, deep-down, a forest path of a woodland much explored, not often adventures anew.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Enslaved – Utgard


Viking Metal started out by combining the epic energy of Black Metal with the mystical grace of Folk music. Enslaved is a band at the pinnacle of this heavy, Nordic sound. Starting out as teenagers, this Norweigian act has successively enhanced the Scandinavian metal scene for nearly thirty years. Their beginnings were more in the realm of the extreme, but over time Enslaved has not been afraid to dip into other genres like Prog Rock and Jazz. It’s encouraging to witness their ability to be undaunted by their explorations while still being true to their Viking roots. Their new fifteenth full-length album, Utgard (Nuclear Blast) verifies their astute ambition of experimentmentation and expression.

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Immortal’s Demonaz and Horgh Are In a Fight Over Rights To Band’s Name


Immortal’s members Harald “Demonaz” Nævdal and Reidar “Horgh” Horghagen are involved in a legal dispute over the rights to the band’s name. One of Norway’s first and most successful black metal acts, Immortal was formed by Demonaz and Olve “Abbath” Eikemo in 1990. Horgh joined the group in 1996. Six years ago, Abbath and the rest of the group went through a bitter breakup.Continue reading


Lorna Shore Cancels Tour of Asia After Firing Vocalist


Tough times for Lorna Shore to begin the new year. Frist the band had to dismiss vocalist CJ McCreery after he was accused of sexual and emotional abuse by several women. Now the band has opted to cancel their tour of Asia set to start later this month. You can see the message below from the band. The bands’ debut album in their new deal with Century Media Records, Immortal, is set to arrive January 31st, but the band has yet to determine their future in the wake of their recent issues. Fans are understandably upset and have taken to the bands’ socials to comment. We’ll keep following this story as it develops. Continue reading


Abbath – Outstrider


Say what you will about his corpse paint and his knack for iconic promotional photography posing, but Abbath still has it. Most questions and doubts should’ve been settled by 2016s stellar Abbath, but we metal fans are fickle and panic-prone when it comes to new music. Turns out that after listening Outstrider (Season of Mist), Abbath was no fluke. After decades of working as a professional musician and penning several stone-cold classics with Immortal, Abbath still has plenty left in the tank. Continue reading


Skaldic Curse – Devourer


Skaldic Curse was a band from UKBMs early 2000’s heyday, featuring members of Fen, Akercocke, and other contemporaries. Sadly, defunct after their second album World Suicide Machine I must admit I was rather surprised to see this album in my inbox for review as they officially split up back in 2011.Continue reading


Emperor’s In The Nightside Eclipse Turns 25


Truth is stranger than fiction when it comes to the entire Norwegian Black Metal scene, its founding epoch, and its legacy. A lot of text has been written about how terrible certain characters in the scene were. Every band at the time seemed to revel in being befouled by the stain of their actions. Emperor is no different and was a vital part of that scene. Having made amends to whatever level they can mea culpa their mistakes as kids, their names no less ruined than their peers. Musically, however, they have few equals in terms of what they put down. Their full-length debut album In The Nightside Eclipse (Candlelight Records) is still one of the gold-standard Black Metal albums ever made, and worthy of deep analysis on the silver- anniversary of its release. Continue reading


EXCLUSIVE ALBUM STREAM: Death On Fire And Corpsepaint And Dayglo- “Hope”


Chicago Melo-Death merchants Death On Fire have paired up with Corpsepaint And Dayglo for a split release of originals and covers. The bands seem evenly matched through 10 gnarly tracks! In addition to some killer tracks by both bands, the covers include each band putting a new spin on old classics from Duran Duran, Prince, INXS, Tom Petty, Immortal, and Darkthrone! Expect the unexpected when these two bands get together! Death on Fire released their last full length early in 2018 with their Witch Hunter album, while this EP marks the debut for Corpsepaint and Dayglo. Let’s all get weird and loud right now!

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Inexorum – Lord of the Lakes


I’m a firm believer in giving an album a chance, over the years there have been many albums which I’ve gone on to regard as some of my very favorites which took six or seven, or even more, listens before they finally clicked in. So when the debut album Lore of the Lakes (Gilead Media) by Inexorum didn’t manage to raise the pulse rate even slightly I was not too perturbed, although let’s be fair you do expect a bit more from black metal, its raison d’être, after all, is to shock.Continue reading