Bursting onto the scene, as Potteries pounders Black Coast did with Outworld their 2021 debut, is one thing, keeping the momentum going is another, and from the onset of the raging ‘REAL (Are You Listening)?’, it’s clear the five-piece contemporary metal outfit are not just looking to do that, but they intend not to waste the opportunity this five-song offering gives to remind people just how good and how potent they are ahead of any subsequent longer releases.
Justin Broadrick has announced a new album for his JESU project. “Terminus” will arrive this November. JESU’s recent EP Never is out now. Continue reading
Many times in music journalism, we writers are given to hyperbole, often because it is the low hanging fruit of the field to gush about the classics with a torrent of compliments. You often read words like genre-defying, and frankly, a lot of the time they don’t land as they are meant to. However, in the case of the entire career of Fear Factory and certainty of the album Demanufacture (Roadrunner Records), the words can never do proper justice to the music. Simply stated, Deamnfacture is one of the most important, unique, and unapologetically brutal albums in heavy metal history. Continue reading
Those who’ve known me for some time will have had their ears blunted by my constant praise for Birmingham, UK Industrial Doom duo Khost. Equal parts sampled violence, malevolent strings and vocal apocalypse, beautiful Eastern lamentations often deflect from that harsh path and create a nuance flavoured by the likes of VAST and Moby. Their fourth album Buried Steel (Cold Spring Records) sees a band now truly at ease with its style, happy to have edgy two-minute psalms populating a set in the knowledge that they serve a purpose for the whole.
Iconic artist Stephen Kasner who came out of the underground scene to create horror-themed art for films, books, and avant-garde and metal artists’ albums, died on Christmas Day. He was just 48. In addition to painting, art and other mixed media, Kasner also made music under the Blood Fountains moniker. He created art for albums from a variety of artists such as Khlyst, Sunn O))), Integrity, Lotus Eaters, Skullflower, Justin Broadrick, Subarachnoid Space, and Martin Grech among others. Kasner released the book Stephen Kasner Works: 1993 – 2006 (Scapegoat Publishing, 2007), a lavish career retrospective with text by various artistic luminaries and collaborations with Seldon Hunt, David D’Andrea, Dwid Hellion, Steven Leyba, and Steven Cerio. Dwid’s Integrity band posted a remembrance of Kasner on Social Media. Continue reading
Harm’s Way, following their full-length album in 2018 have released a special remix EP PSTHMN, with remixes by such names as Justin Broadrick and Sanford Parker. PSTHMN follows the vision of Posthuman and sheds light on influential aspects that have shaped the sound and aesthetic of Harm’s Way. Purchase and stream PSTHMN now at the link below. The vinyl edition is limited to 499 copies worldwide, so be sure to order your copy now!Continue reading
It’s a curious spelling but when you realise that Yerûŝelem is the new project of Vindsval and W.D. Feld, high priests of French dark experimentalists Blut Aus Nord, nothing else is expected. As mystical as they are, and as profoundly dramatic and volatile as the city which gives the band its name, debut album The Sublime (Debemur Morti Productions) is both an enthralling and a nerve-tingling experience.Continue reading
I’m looking at Spirit Crusher (Prosthetic) the latest release from Sweden’s Dödsrit and I’m getting a feeling. Not super familiar with the band but judging by the font and the presence of umlauts we know extreme music is on the way, particularly of the Black Metal persuasion. And these song lengths certainly suggest experimentation and a non-commercial nature. Dödsrit is a one-man project isn’t it?
Those one man acts always have the most to say.Continue reading
Although initially billed as an Industrial Metal band, France’s Dirge have long left the confinements of the classification. And although electronic sounds abound on their latest EP, Alma | Baltica (Division), the style here is somewhere even further down the post-metal rabbit hole. I’m not quite sure even if Alma | Baltica falls under metal anymore. These five tracks seem more like the score of a science fiction film that’s yet to be filmed. Continue reading
After multiple listens, I’m still attempting to find the right adjective to describe Uniform’s second full-length, Wake in Fright (Sacred Bones). I could use intense, but that probably wouldn’t fit the bill for the more subdued tracks like ‘Habit’ or ‘The Lost.’Continue reading