Age Of The Wolf – Ouroboric Trances


In further proof of Metal’s worldwide appeal, dropped-out troupe Age Of The Wolf hail from Costa Rica. There’s pedigree in the ranks too, with ex-Corpse Garden six-stringer Christopher de Haan at the forefront of their sound, and the Extreme Metal experience of the quartet lends a seriously hard edge to Stoner-flavoured debut Ouroboric Trances (Aural Music).Continue reading


Contrarian – Their Worm Never Dies


Progressive Death Metal is all the rage in Metal at the moment. It seems to have exploded in the past decade with bands like Opeth, Gojira and Between The Buried And Me being the crème de la crème. However, with today’s focus on spotless production and mechanical quantization, some of the primal energy from the genre’s roots in the nineties has been lost in the pursuit of sonic ear candy.Continue reading


EXCLUSIVE ALBUM STREAM: Black Mass – “Warlust”


 

Late last year we shared the news that Massachusetts Blackened Thrash band Black Mass was dropping a new album this winter, and now the time is nigh! Their sophomore album Warlust arrives later this week, February 15th via Iron Shield Records/Timeworn Records. We’ve heard it already and it is nothing but bangers! The band draws influences from classic Thrash, NWOBHM Trad-style bands, old-school Death Metal, and enough modern kvlt metal references in their songs to spin your head around and make you praise the great Satan. Ghost Cult is proud to share the full album stream with you now, and you can pre-order Warlust at the link below! Continue reading


Cancer – Shadow Gripped


It is interesting to see how a band who has not released new material for a significant period of time – twenty-four years in the case of Midlands (UK) Death Metallers Cancer – will react to the task. As we know, Carcass, the test case, was an overwhelming success as Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast) refined their previous styles into a singular, focused direction of travel with added bite. Subsequently, At The Gates also returned with a show of strength, albeit with a more reflective tone to this year’s output; once again, an alteration to previous ideas was the way forward for that troupe. Both acts showed deference to their seminal works, choosing not to take them head-on, referring to their past with respect, while carving a newer niche.Continue reading


RAISE YOUR FIST! Heavy Metal Album Reviews Round up: Royal Hunt, Satan, Beyond The Black, Cauldron, and more


As summer swings round towards autumn, there are no shortage of odes and tributes to the Gods of power and glory that brought us traditional and classic Heavy Metal. Ghost Cult dives in amongst the raised fists and studded wristbands to round-up the latest album releases.

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Mutilation Rites – Chasm


Brooklyn, New York, based black metallers Mutilation Rites are a name that have been making somewhat of a buzz in some extreme metal and underground circles. Far from being a necessarily revolutionary band, Mutilation Rites’ sound has been predominantly old school based; being raw, frantic and evil sounding; but they have always felt genuine and backed up with quality.Continue reading


Prong Announces Tour Dates With Powerflo


On the heels of their recent announcement of their co-headline tour with fellow legends Helmet, Prong has announced another run of tour dates. The “Zero Days Tour” will see the long-running metal innovators joined by supergroup Powerflo, which features members of Cypress Hill, Biohazard and Fear Factory in their ranks, and special guests at each date. Prong continues to tour in support of their killer 2017 album, Zero Days, released last summer on the Steamhammer label. Continue reading


Kirk Windstein Of Crowbar On The Serpent Only Lies, Fans And Much More!


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The almighty Crowbar will be releasing The Serpent Only Lies on October 28th via Entertainment One (eOne). As you’ve heard from the ‘Falling While Rising’ and ‘Plasmic and Pure’ singles, the NOLA legends are as heavy as ever, and Kirk Windstein continues to write riffs that truly shake the world. I recently had the honor of sitting down with the riff lord to discuss the writing of their new album, the return of Tommy Buckley, and much more.Continue reading


Harlott – Proliferation


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Do you ever have those moods where absolutely, positively nothing else will do but some metal up your ass? Of course you do – you wouldn’t be here otherwise would you? Well next time the calling is upon you, treat your tympanics to a tickle from Proliferation (Metal Blade) by Harlott. It’s the finding of gems like this that make me glad to be a reviewer.

Hailing from the land of shite beer and Bogans where absolutely everything wants to fucking kill you [he means Australia – UK Ed], these boys are clearly patriotic crusaders.

Equal parts Megadeth, Slayer, Annihilator and Darkane, this album is a proper, bruising, neck-destroying slab of old school trad thrash. As such, it can be a little derivative and predictable at times, but it’s all played with so much heart, pace and vigour that you can’t help but love it. Let’s face it – we don’t listen to thrash for odysseys of self-discovery. If you like your thrash, go see them on their tour with Annihilator. The crowd at those shows is going to look like a supercharged wind farm.

And that’s all there is to it really – there’s little point in going though track by track, as I’d be saying the same things about each one: Fast, heavy, tight, meaty, shouty slices of old school thrash excellence.

That said, we all have our favourites, and mine are ‘Proliferation’, ‘Systematic Retribution’ (it kind of reminds me of Mary Beats Jane in places), ‘Restless’, ‘The Fading Light’ (Annihilatortastic), ‘Civil Unrest’ and ‘Legion’ (We Are Harlott!).

This album is designed to turn a crowd into a sweat – and lager – drenched maelstrom of moshing, windmilling, sky punching and burst vocal chords.

In other words, it’s a fackin’ beaut, mate.

Steve Hughes will be proud.

 

8.0/10

PHILIP PAGE