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Mad John the Wise - Voyager
By Calen Henry. Dominic Sohor’s eye catching Voyager cover jumped out at me during a dive into Bandcamp’s “progressive sludge” tag. While definitely progressive and stoner rock, Mad John the Wise are...
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Beaten to Death - Agronomicon
By Matt Hinch. Back in 2011, this crazy-ass Norwegian band called Beaten to Death decided they were going to take up permanent residence in my head with Xes and Strokes. Seven years, two albums and a...
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Death Fortress - Reign of the Unending
By Bryan Camphire. Reign of the Unending. It's a fitting title for a record released just before the fall of Fallen Empire Records, as the label prepares to lock up its gates. The venerable label's...
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New Light Choir - Torchlight
By Karen A. Mann. It’s difficult to know just where to begin in reviewing New Light Choir. With black metal, doom, death metal, prog rock and even a little NWOBHM in their musical arsenal, the Raleigh...
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Altarage - The Approaching Roar
By Bryan Camphire. The Approaching Roar is the third record for Bilbao's blackened death metal act Altarage, released on Season of Mist. The set consists of nine songs and clocks in at 43 minutes. In...
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Enon Chapel - Enon Chapel
By Justin C. Before we get to the band Enon Chapel, we’ll take a quick history lesson of Enon Chapel, the church built in 1823 in London. The chapel’s Reverend Howse allegedly offered cheap burials,...
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Pan - The Boreal Coast
By Calen Henry. The Boreal Coast is an album of contradictions. The intro track, “Eventide”, sets the tone with a stomping metal riff that abruptly turns acoustic to finish out the 1:46 run time....
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Vanum - Ageless Fire
By Justin C. I’ll put my biases right up front so you can decide whether to trust me or not: It’s entirely possible I’ve become Michael Rekevics’s unofficial PR man. I’ve reviewed a lot of his projects...
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Chrome Waves - A Grief Observed
By Justin C. Way back in 2012, a fantastic self-titled EP by a band called Chrome Waves came out. Natalie Zina Walschots described it evocatively on our own site, saying, “Heavily blackened and...
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Un - Sentiment
By Karen A. Mann. Just by their name alone, Seattle funeral doom quartet Un would lead you to believe that they are bleak and depressing, bogged down in the darkness of negative energy. The word “un”...
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Saor - Forgotten Paths
By Calen Henry. Through his three previous albums, Andy Marshall’s largely solo project Saor honed a unique sound. The project is rooted in atmospheric black metal, but riffier and more melodic,...
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Aephanemer - Prokopton
By Calen Henry. Though death metal is huge right now, the dirty Entombed sound and progressive Death worship prevail. Melodic death metal is somewhat of a rarity. Bands like Be’lakor and Parius carry...
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Magic Circle - Departed Souls
By Karen A. Mann. More than three years after electrifying the metal community with Journey Blind, an expertly crafted blend of doom, traditional metal and classic rock, Boston’s somewhat mysterious...
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Bridge Burner – Chlorine Eyes / Abyssal
By Craig Hayes. The New Zealand metal scene isn’t short of strong vocalists, but the voice of Bridge Burner singer Ben Read stands out as one of most powerful and versatile. Read’s time fronting bands...
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Helms Alee - Noctiluca
By Justin C. I stumbled across Helms Alee just one album ago, with 2016’s Stillicide, so I can’t pretend to be intimate with their entire career arc. I’ve seen them described as sludge, psychedelia,...
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Tanagra - Meridiem
By Calen Henry. Tanagra are an unsung hero within the recent US power / traditional metal revival. In 2015, with little fanfare, they released a great debut, None of This is Real, a scrappy mix of...
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Leechfeast - Neon Crosses
By Ulla Roschat. I've been a fan of the four piece Slovenian Sludge Doom band Leechfeast since they started oozing their crusty filthy noise and let it drip into my ears and settle in my brain and soul...
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Spirit Adrift - Divided by Darkness
By Calen Henry. Nate Garrett’s solo doom-project-turned-touring-band, Spirit Adrift, returns with their third album, Divided by Darkness, and it’s a stunner. Curse of Conception was one of my favourite...
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Dreadnought - Emergence
By Calen Henry. Dreadnought’s fourth elemental themed album, Emergence, carries on the band’s signature sound while tightening it up. Pulling back from the dizzying density of A Wake in Sacred Waves,...
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Caspar Brötzmann Massaker – The Tribe & Black Axis
By Craig Hayes. It takes a bold (or entirely reckless) band to deliberately destroy all the signifiers and motifs that define the music we hold dear. But that’s exactly what German guitarist Caspar...
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