Sexmag – Sexorcyzm Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier

Thanks to the ever flippery Dolph, I am blessed to have the Sexmag in my life. And you will be too. Regardless of whether you hide them away under your bed or display them in the guest bathroom, the sex mag is back to being a staple in all homes. If it’s classy or filthy smut is up to the beholder, just as long as your children don’t find them. While Poland’s Sexmag and new album, Sexorcyzm, sound like a new addition to the Lordi sump of “metal,” they’re far from it. Tagged as a death-thrash outfit, this little foursome is surprisingly fun and versatile for what they do. I’d go even further than these two genres and pin old-school 80s heavy and hints of black metal to their influences, which adds a beautiful depth and uniqueness to their sound that I haven’t heard in some time. I mean, it’s still as slimy as Midnight, but there is much fun on Sexmag’s debut album. Buckle up, fuckers, we’re about to get sexy.

Formed around stalwarts of the Polish underground metal scene, Sexmag appears to have a newcomer to the metal world in the form of vocalist Jacek “Truposz” Wojno. Having never heard his voice before, his odd vocals provide the right amount of support for the band’s songwriting style. In combination with drummer/vocalist Lord Violator, you’ll find everything from low-to-high register rasps, death growls, falsetto screams, and that odd, clean vocal approach that brings to mind Fenriz’s vocal contributions to recent Darkthrone releases. In the same vein of varying vocal approaches, you’ll find old-school death marches, Slayer-esque thrash moments, and impressive guitar leads and solos that reincarnate the spirit of Mercyful Fate. And to top it off, this eight-track, forty-minute debut sees track runtimes ranging from two minutes to seven.

The appropriately (and ridiculously titled) opener, “Intro (Total Metal),” gets things rolling with an instrumental piece that could have worked well on King Diamond’s Conspiracy album. It does a nice job setting the mood for the upcoming tracks, matching the sinister tone of Sexorcyzm before erupting into “Inkubus.” This track showcases an old-school speed lick that morphs into an 80s-inspired death groove. But, like all the tracks on the album, there is never a dull moment in the riff department. As the song progresses, the two vocalists introduce every vocal style they can dish out with the guitars mindfuck you into oblivion. I particularly like this song because it sounds like the band struggles to match the pace between guitars and drums. But that’s a facade once it gets rolling, and the band’s performances throughout are impressive as hell.

While the front half is good, the album’s back half is great. Specifically, the back-to-back-to-back “Sex z diabłem,” “Córy Koryntu,” and “Psalm I – Intronizacja Szatana.” Like the opener, “Sex z diabłem” begins with some eerie synths before unleashing one of the most badass death chugs on the album. Then, as expected, this seven-minute ditty tears through riff after killer riff, providing moments of old-school Slayer before making a U-turn into an 80s heavy metal plod. It also sports the most solos I’ve heard in a single song in a long time. “Córy Koryntu,” on the other hand, is a slimy, mucky Autopsy-inspired cesspool that eventually escapes the mud in favor of pounding drums and clinical riff mastery. “Psalm I – Intronizacja Szatana” is perhaps the favorite here, opening with clean guitars that bring to mind the intro to Mercyful Fate’s “Into the Coven.” Then, it takes a wild turn for the remainder of the song, bringing to life Blood Fire Death Bathoryisms that could have worked as a bonus track to any of Bathory’s Viking era albums.

While the vocal diversity can be outlandish at times, and songs like “Smród palonych dusz” don’t hold up to the others, Sexorcyzm is a hell of a good time and a smart debut record. Coming into this release, I was dead set on dropping a dozen cheeky sex jokes, but Sexorcyzm is too much fun for even Grier to masturbate all over. Take all the impressive skill and well-crafted structure, then add a dynamic DR9 master to it, and you have an orgy that even the strictest Mormon mother can enjoy. I’m not sure what’s to come for these Polish bastards, but if our new pope continues to support the Sexorcyzm, I’m fully on board.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions | Bandcamp
Websites: Too kvlt for this shit
Releases Worldwide: May 23rd, 2025

#2025 #35 #Autopsy #Bathory #BlackMetal #Darkthrone #DeathMetal #DyingVictimsProductions #HeavyMetal #KingDiamond #Lordi #May25 #MercyfulFate #Midnight #PolishMetal #Review #Reviews #Sexmag #Sexorcyzm #Slayer #ThrashMetal

Teitanblood – From the Visceral Abyss Review

By Alekhines Gun

Teitanblood is more kvlt than you. I mean, how many other bands can say their logo was sported on artwork for a Darkthrone album? Since slithering out of nothingness in 2003, one full-length after another have solidified their reputation as one of the prominent peddlers of darkness. Are they bestial death metal? Deathened black metal? Melodic war metal? They don’t care, and don’t care what you call them; they are only here to remind you that in the end, only death is real. With an average release gap of five years, they have arrived after an unprecedented six from previous album The Baneful Choir, with nary a split or demo between releases. Such time tenderizing their newest aural offering has not gone to waste, as this album is from abyssal depths indeed.

From the Visceral Abyss offers up a production for which “claustrophobic” doesn’t begin to do it justice. An eldritch paradox of sound, the entirety of the album exists to savage you with razor-sharp riffs which seem to crawl from the ectosplasmic ocean of density and aural obfuscation. The vocals of NSK emerge with reverb-soaked into their pores, transcending “merely” cavernous echoes into wretchedly human tones that fill the air around the listener with menace. The ever-violent drumming of J brings the customary sixteenth-note-styled battering, but also finds pockets to fill during the more ambient, threatening moments of relative calm. “Sepulchral Carrion God” shows this stylistic blending in all its horror, ranging from militant bass drum lashings to creative, engaging cymbal-based beats and on-a-dime time signature shifts. The DR, while not exactly awe-inspiring, allows for the clarity of each instrument to complement and go to war with each other simultaneously, rendering the music a seething, perpetually scathing cauldron of sound.

Teitanblood have stated that their approach to songcraft is to “seek the point where death and black metal are not differenced.” Churning, all-out blasting assaults ebb and flow into crushing riffs and back with indecipherable, mercurial transitions. Guitar leads shift between borderline atonal fret-tapping freneticism (“From the Visceral Abuse”) to almost melodic, weeping melodies (“Strangling Visions”), with passages always ready to collapse into the next hazy attack. Some blasts focus on snare abuse, some in double time fills; still others find drums pairing back for guitarist Javi Bastard to violate the listener with weeping whammy bar abuse before sliding into more devastating runs. What would be a bland, uniform tone of violence in the hands of a lesser band is transformed into its own diverse, engaging creature where speed never gives way to homogenization, and repetition is never confused for power.

Still, even the ethereal realm is subjected to the might of the riff, and From the Visceral Abyss is no exception. The handful of slower moments allows for some rare tidings of moshable might with groove to rock the shadows themselves. “And Darkness was All” is the most Death-centric song, with a main riff worthy of crushing skulls bookending the blast furnace raging to be found within. Slow half-time chugging comes as a welcome reprieve and lets J show off his rhythmic skills. Additionally, the entirety of the album is meant to be heard as one continuous flow, with atmospherics, ambience, and sounds reminiscent of Spektrs Near Death Experience linking one song to the next before ending on a damned choir of an orchestral note. This is not an album for listener comfort, channeling borderline war-metal straightforwardness into atmospheres that exist to give you plenty of time to breathe, but absolutely never to rest.

Teitanblood are the sound of the void staring back into you. A two-tone palette of hazy blasts into a menacing groove should be inherently limited by nature, and yet the abyss continues. Each release explores new pockets of pitch black in the most abandoned of unholy caverns, and From the Visceral Abyss is no exception. This is not an album to consume or enjoy, but to be swallowed up by and surrender to. A singular body of work with riffs for days and horrors for decades, no minute is wasted and no tone gives in to the light. Such a deeply committed portrayal of writhing darkness will be too much for some ears, but those who have drank from the seven chalices will find themselves gleefully at home in this abyss among the baneful choir, with only death for company.

Rating: 4.0/5/0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Norma Evangelium Diaboli
Website: Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 28, 2025

#40 #BlackMetal #Darkthrone #DeathMetal #FromTheVisceralAbyss #Mar25 #NormaEvangeliumDiaboli #Review #Reviews #SpanishMetal #Spektr #Teitanblood

Aspaarn – Oblations in Atrocity Review

By Dear Hollow

Shockingly, raw black metal isn’t really known for its accessibility. Its cult utilizes the most discordant of black metal’s already discordant approaches, but its worshipers may notice the range of barbed noise to cloaks of fuzz that populate lo-fi productions. Switzerland’s one-man raw black show Aspaarn utilizes both clarity and opacity alike to cast shadows of a dark wilderness worthy of its cover, with just enough reverb to lend a ghostly presence wandering amid the thickets and pines. While the stereotype lands in moonlit purple castles and catacombs of dust and shadows, there’s a distinctly wild and uncharted feeling about Aspaarn.

The phrase “raw black” doesn’t always wrap up neatly in a Nattens Madrigal-shaped box, and Aspaarn’s sound reflects this complexity. While reveling in that classic barbed clarity of Ildjarn, its ghostly haze recalls the likes of Revenant Marquis, adding to the disorientation. It ultimately ends up sounding a bit like Kryatjurr of Desert Ahd or El-Ahrairah: classically bleak and morbid black metal chord progressions wildly transfigured into a psychedelic and otherworldly visage. Composed of multi-instrumentalist Solaris Lupus, also of the likeminded Lord Valtgryftåke and Svartokunnighet, the Aspaarn project’s fourth full-length Oblations in Atrocity oscillates between second-wave frigid rawness and atmospheric wherewithal that never forsakes its teeth.

In spite of the genre of choice, Aspaarn’s instrumental attack is surprisingly clear, and Lupus’ grasp on songwriting is very firm. Layers of tremolo and bass lead the attack, with the inherent dissonance and minor keys giving Oblations in Atrocity a disorienting feeling (“Duty in Hecatomb,” “Boundless Hunger”), further emphasized by shifting tempos and rhythms, often taking a mad waltz reminiscent of Grave Pilgrim. Drums anchor this sound with precision and reliability, but a sharper trash-can-lid snare graces it a nimbleness that adds a distinct insanity to it as well (“The Order of Fear,” “Memories in Suffering”). Chord progressions are the backbone of every track and are directly rooted in classic Darkthrone’s permafrost soil, allowing its morbid and morose atmosphere to shine in the best possible way. The balance between clarity and opacity is key, as rawness and noise can tend to overwhelm basic musical movement, but Aspaarn’s deft hand manages to keep it surprisingly restrained.

While clarity adds that kvlt intensity and relentless attack, the tools guiding opacity in Oblations in Atrocity give it its supernatural lean. Vocals are most obvious right off the bat, with Lupus’ shrieks and roars cloaked in a thick veil of reverb, giving it a far more haunting feeling than many raw black metal stereotypes. When clean vocals are utilized, they take on a choral quality, nearly liturgical, driving home the album’s blasphemous atmosphere (“Silence of the Gods,” “All Reaching Misery”). One thing that puts Aspaarn in distinction is its ability to sound atmospheric without an overreliance on synths or keys, like genre greats Paysage d’Hiver or Lunar Aurora. In fact, there are very few obvious occurrences of “ambient” vestiges apart from the closer, which just drives home the second-wave worship that pervades Oblations in Atrocity.

For all the balance and atmospheric prowess Aspaarn offers with Oblations in Atrocity, it remains raw black metal, a particularly divisive and unfriendly take on an already divisive and unfriendly style. The vocals, while contributing to the otherworldly and supernatural feel in ways I saw as a clear highlight, are quite loud and can overwhelm the sound. The jarring tempo and rhythm changes, guided by the feral drumming, are an acquired taste but ultimately guide the labyrinthine panic and uncharted wilderness that course through the album. The first half of closer “All Reaching Misery” feels painfully directionless until the atmospheric passages give them purpose. What can I say, it’s raw black metal. Ultimately, Aspaarn has created an album that won’t change your mind about the style, but offers treats and bounties aplenty for those who like their music more with a generous side of pain.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 10 | Format Reviewed: PCM
Label: Self-Released
Website: töö kvlt för v
Releases Worldwide: February 15th, 2025

#2025 #30 #Aspaarn #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #Darkthrone #ElAhrairah #Feb25 #GravePilgrim #Ildjarn #KryatjurrOfDesertAhd #LordValtgryftåke #LunarAurora #OblationsInAtrocity #PaysageDHiver #RawBlackMetal #RevenantMarquis #Review #Reviews #SelfReleased #Svartokunnighet #SwissMetal #Ulver

Arkaist – Aube Noir Review

By Doom_et_Al

A few years ago, my girlfriend and I went to a well-renowned barista in Paris. He was amicable and efficient, and when he handed my girlfriend her latte she enquired if she could have it with some sugar. “No,” he cheerfully rejoined. And that was the end of the conversation. I still smile when I think about this event because it sums up a lot of what I love about the French: quirky and uncompromising. Don’t fuck up their beautiful drink with your primitive sugar. The same attitude is what makes their black metal so endearing and interesting. So much of it is original and avant-garde and just… French. So I was intrigued to review Aube Noir, the debut of a new metal outfit, Arkaist, formed in 2023 by two stalwarts of the French underground scene, Beobachtan and Maeror. It also arrives on the well-regarded label Antiq. Much to be excited about. Lord knows I could do with some strong French coffee…

The first thing to note is that French may be, but Arkaist’s sound is much more closely related to their second-wave Norwegian counterparts. This is very straight-down-the-line black metal that borrows heavily from Immortal and Darkthrone. And this is where we hit the first snag. Aube Noir is so poker-faced and derivative that very little of it stands out. Arkaist surely have an identity, but you would be hard-pressed to find it on their debut. The music suggests they are aiming for something raw and scary, but the lyrics – focused as they are on the philosophy of a decaying society – muddy the waters by proposing introspective and intellectual ideas. The songs themselves are neither riffy enough to count as catchy black metal, nor fuzzy and distorted for a more atmospheric vibe. The result is an album that is unsure of what it is, and as a result, plays things far too safe.

This “safety first” approach is further evidenced in the compositions themselves. Beyond some nice moments here and there, they’re entirely formulaic. Chords move up and down with the unpredictability of a porn film. The structure is rigid with very few explorations beyond the most banal and unadventurous (“Ode à la haine” sounds like it lives and breathes its entire 4-minute run time in 5 notes). The whole endeavor can perhaps best be summed up by Maeror’s vocal performance. It is repetitive and one-note, lacking any real feeling or variation. Inexplicably, it is brought to the front of the mix, perhaps to hide the dearth of music ideas backing it.

It’s not all doom and gloom, of course. These are seasoned musicians, so there are some good moments here and there. “Terre ancestrale” has an interesting chant to begin proceedings, before launching into crunchy, mid-paced black metal that hits the spot. “Puer Aeternus” injects some feeling into a satisfying close. These moments paradoxically frustrate because they show what Arkaist are capable of, but so haphazardly deliver. The whole album has an authentically malevolent sheen, lending it an aura of authenticity. The downside is that the guitars are muddied at the expense of the unexciting vocals, creating a nondescript blur.

Aube Noir, then, is ultimately hugely disappointing. An exciting project from seasoned musicians on a discerning label? Combined with the fact that French metal is usually chock-full of character and personality? This thing checks so many interesting boxes. What we have instead is bland and lacklustre; music devoid of any sense of direction or personality. Songs that can’t decide what they’re going for beyond sounding kvlt. Arkaist need to inject some personality and drive into their material fast. In the meantime, there’s better coffee to be found elsewhere.

Rating: 1.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Antiq Records
Websites: arkaist.bandcamp.com/album/aube-noire | www.facebook.com/p/Arkaist
Releases Worldwide: February 24th, 2025

#15 #2025 #AntiqRecords #Arkaist #AubeNoir #BlackMetal #Darkthrone #Feb25 #FrenchMetal #Immortal #Review #Reviews

Dr. A.N. Grier’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024

By Dr. A.N. Grier

If I were to rate the year of our Lord 2024, I’d give it a solid 4.5/5.0. No, I joke. FUCK 2024. Good riddance, fuck off, goodfuckingbye. This year, the layoffs continued (even affected some of our writers here), the prices skyrocketed, the World Series was bullshit, and landfills across the States are twice their capacity thanks to useless election fliers. This year has resulted in practically zero time to work on AMG efforts, write reviews, or listen to music as I continue to try to keep my job. Yay. Cheers to you, 2024—you sack of horse shit. Let’s go, 2025, you sassy bitch who suggests great things to come but probably won’t deliver. If only you could promise me more time doing the things I love—listening to metal, writing about it, and pretending to edit the other writers’ reviews while completely hammered. If so, I’d kiss you as the ball drops, take you to the back alley during the after-party, and promise not to poison your coffee the next morning.

But we aren’t there yet. We are still stuck in the past, looking over a mediocre year of metal, regurgitating the same shit we already wrote for each album on our lists. That way, you all can praise, argue, and whine about each choice and its placement. Thankfully, my lists rarely overlap with anyone else’s and no one actually gives a fuck, so my sleep patterns remain the same. Having passed the ten-year mark at this amazing madland, my tastes remain the same, and no one will be surprised that most of the selections here are the items I alone reviewed. That changes occasionally but with no time to think about music this year, you’ll be treated to odd takes and albums that only scored a 3.0. Oh no!1

Thank you to the AMG staff for their lackluster productivity and overrating tendencies. To Dolph, Kenny, and Sharky for introducing new segments and keeping legacy ones alive. And to Cuervo and GardensTale for the additional year-end contributions they deliver. I also have to give a huge shoutout to the top bosses—AMG and Steel Daddy—for all they do2. I guess I should also thank all of you for your continued support. I guess. May this list find you well as we are thrust into 2025 and the potential nightmares that it’ll bring. Cheers.

#ish. I Am the Intimidator // I Am the Intimidator – What? You fucking knew this was coming. When Steel told me to review an album about NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt, I couldn’t not do it. I mean, this one-off, self-titled record from a one-off band was a perfect opportunity to unleash my rage. And then… wait, what the fuck? It’s actually kinda good? In a weird year where I reviewed two racing-related albums, I Am the Intimidator sports3 six wild tracks that combine Dio and Iron Maiden with Ministry. What the fuck? And, somehow, the lyrics would be fucking hilarious if they weren’t so passionate. OK, the lyrics of the surprisingly delicious and crushing “Gasoline” are fucking hilarious, and a regular, all-caps attack in the AMG channels. After all the chaos and wild influences that make up this tight, six-track album, the passion for “The Intimidator” is true, even if it’s weird. But, I can’t stop listening to this album any more than I can stop drinking beer.

#10. Dust Bolt // Sound & Fury – Like so many other Grier lists, there’s always an album that becomes the most frequented in my shit-filled ears. Yup, I know, you all fucking hate it, and I couldn’t care less. For the band (and style), Sound & Fury is a brave effort that I find addictive, fun, and hilarious trolling material when Steel talks shit. Is it thrash? No, but that didn’t stop me from proclaiming Load as Metallica’s best album. Shifting away from the overused thrash concept and mediocre record releases, Dust Bolt chose the unconventional route of cleaner vocals, smoother production, and catchier choruses to remove themselves from their past outings (and, some would argue, from thrash and metal in general). For you naysayers, there are plenty of headbangable moments on Sound & Fury, so you don’t have to feel like a poser singing these new songs in your mom’s shower.

#9. Midnight // Hellish Expectations – Perhaps one of the most prolific metal bands out there, what can I say about Midnight that I haven’t said already? Oh yeah, they’re badass and if you don’t like them, you’re shit. Also, fuck you. Like previous releases, Midnight continues to speed through riffs that bring to mind classic outfits like Darkthrone, Motörhead, Venom, and Celtic Frost at a relentless speed. While other Midnight records are better, Hellish Expectations joins its compatriots in a discog that can do no wrong. Unless, of course, you don’t like this band’s style. In that case, read above regarding that “fuck you” thing. What makes Hellish Expectations great in this frustrating year is that it caps at twenty-five wonderful minutes—which is the same amount of time it takes to shit out your morning coffee. So, this is a chance to correct your poserness. If you like this band, you already know Hellish Expectations is a fun ride that’ll keep your spikes sharp and your leather pants shit free.

#8. Bombus // Your Blood – Like another band on my list, this Swedish heavy metal, hard rock band has seen a lot of ups and downs in their career. And, for some reason, their co-founding vocalist and guitarist walked. But that didn’t stop Bombus. Not only did they find someone to fill those two slots, but they also added another guitarist to round it out to three. With these new additions, the skill displayed on Your Blood is superior to anything the band has ever done. There’re solos, harmonizing leads, and riffs up the fucking wazoo. I’m uncertain if it’s due to this new skillset or an increase in motivation with five years between albums, but Bombus held nothing back for Your Blood. While there are plenty of the bangers you would expect from a band of this caliber, like the addictive “Take You Down,” there are also other interesting inclusions that I should hate, yet love. For example, the weird, Spaghetti Western qualities of “Your Blood,” the Nick Cave-meets-The White Stripes musings of “The One,” and the bizarreness that is “Carmina.” With Your Blood, the band has found their groove and passion again, delivering their best album yet.

#7. Vanessa Funke // Void – This year brought a surprising new addition to my favorite bands of all time. In this case, it was the newest release from the multi-instrumentalist, Vanessa Funke. With a small but stellar catalog, Ms. Funke continuously dabbles in new influences and song approaches with each album and Void is no different. Coming off last year’s acoustic masterpiece Vanessa Funke rewinds to her debut record, Solitude, alternating between rasps and cleans, acoustic and distorted guitars, and her perfectly molded combination of folk, melodeath, and atmospheric black metal. The textures created by the vocals, guitars, keys, and piano take Void down into some incredible depths, engulfing its listeners in blankets that can be both soft and stabby. Albums like this are rare for me these days, so when they do completely submerse me to the point that I can’t think of anything else, there’s no doubt it’ll make it on my year-end list.

#6. Crystal Viper // The Silver Key – Maybe not everyone’s favorite Polish act,4 Crystal Viper’s founding vocalist and guitarist, Marta Gabriel, has been knocking around her blend of heavy and power metal for nearly two decades. But, it’s been a rocky road of great, mediocre, and rage-inducing records. Where Crimen Expecta shines like a bright star in the sky, Tales of Fire and Ice is a dumpster fire that topped my most disappointing album of 2019. When I approached this year’s The Silver Key, I was expecting another mid album (or worse) but was immediately engrossed—maybe even more than Crimen Expecta. Though many of you dislike the vocals, Gabriel is in top form. But, her vocal performance is only one aspect of the Crystal Viper sound. Her guitar work is some of the best of her career, lending new ideas to the song structures and album flow. While plenty of bands are—and are not better—than Crystal Viper, The Silver Key is undeniably one of the best albums of their career.

#5. Sidewinder // Talons – Most likely one of the only overlaps I’ll have with the cunts that work here,5 Sidewinder’s newest release, Talons, threw me for a loop. Not expecting anything from a band I’ve never heard about, Talons immediately got my noggin’ bobbin’ in the most pleasing way. I can’t pinpoint exactly why I like this style of heavy, bounding stoner metal, but every time I hear it, it clicks. And nothing is better than diving right into a record where one of the band’s best pieces is the opener. “Guardians” is a quintessential Sidewinder piece that personifies the band and everything they stand for. But that’s only the beginning, as the guitars cruise down the road and the bass rumbles through the gravel. Clocking in at a mere thirty-four minutes, this eight-track beauty never reaches beyond its means, ensuring the songs are straight and tight, allowing Jem’s powerful vocals to direct the varying moods. While the band resides in the lush and beautiful landscapes of New Zealand,6 if a sound could represent the harsh desert lands of my home, this would be it.

#4. Aborted // Vault of Horrors – As many know, death metal is not my cup o’ tea. Once upon a time, death metal was my life, but that ship sailed when my favorites grew old and repetitive, and what you all call death metal these days bores me to tears. But the one band that continues to make me salivate is Aborted.7 And, boy, did this year’s Vault of Horrors deliver. With tracks like “Dreadbringer,” “The Golgothan,” and “Malevolent Haze,” this new release offers some incredible depth and relentless brutality. Aborted has always delivered good-to-great albums but after nearly thirty years, how can these lads continue to improve and produce such quality releases? Vault of Horrors is a great record and arguably one of the band’s best. It’s been several months since this beauty was released, so if it passed by you, rectify your posersivity.

#3. The Vision Bleak // Weird Tales – I don’t know what it is about The Vision Bleak but they fucking hit me and hit me hard. On the surface, their style is quite simple, but it’s the layers, stories, mood, and damning vocal performances that draw me in like I’m viewing a Vincent Price horror marathon. Combining their Type O Negative vocal characteristics with atmospheric moods that can be depressive at one point and ethereal at another, The Vision Bleak took a massive leap by releasing Weird Tales as (technically) a one-song album. Eight years since their incredible The Unknown, Weird Tales doesn’t skip a beat, maintaining the duo’s title as one of the greatest bands in gothic metal. With magnificent builds, eerie transitions, mind-bending fluidity, and heart-wrenching passages, the haunting nature of Weird Tales leaves you contemplating your existence in a world controlled by the fate instilled in it by the late, great H.P. Lovecraft.

#2. Kingcrow // Hopium – For fucking months, our progressive cunt, Dolphin Whisper, tried desperately to steal Kingcrow’s Hopium from me—somehow thinking he’s better than me when it comes to describing the lushness of Kingcrow. The fuck. Even though Kingcrow hasn’t released an album in six years, there’s no way some flipper fucker would take this from me. Sure, I’m not a huge fan of progressive metal, but at least I know what’s good progressive metal instead of lazily making love to everything with the tag of “prog.” Anyway, Hopium continues to deliver gorgeous tapestries painted with soothing vocals, synthy atmospheres, and impressive performances for all involved. Though I consider Eidos their best, Hopium is not far behind. While tapping into common influences like Dream Theater and Spock’s Beard, this Italian outfit is very much on a level all its own. If you like prog, you’ll find Hopium—with such wildly varying tracks like “Vicous Circle,” “Parallel Lines,” and “White Rabit’s Hole”—to be the most diverse prog record of the year.

#1. Borknagar // Fall – Goddammit, I love Borknagar. Few bands have such high album scores for a career that spans thirty years and a dozen albums—especially with a constant rotation of players and vocalists. Though, how can you be pissed off about having any of the great vocalists Borknagar has employed throughout the years? Since the beginning, the band has continuously introduced more melody and keys in their music, but Fall is special compared to the output in the last twenty years. Though this new album hasn’t hung up that hat by any means, Øystein G. Brun, Lars A. Nedland, and crew dug through the ashes of the past to bring some of those old-school black metal moments back into the mix. From the blackened assault of “Summits” and the Dimmu Borgir-esque vibes of “Northward,” the band continues to shock and surprise, avoiding a repetition from a previous album. So, dive into the best album o’ the year in all its glory.8

Honorable Mentions

• Portrait // The Host – While I didn’t like the production of Portrait’s The Host, I’m still a slut for King Diamond and Meryful Fate-adjacent metal. Especially when it comes to Portrait, who continues to be less like a copycat and more like a pioneer of the style.
• Attic // Return of the Witchfinder – More King Diamond-core! Easily one of the best examples of the sound, Attic continues to keep me coming back with each release. As their predecessor, Return of the Witchfinder brings a new story, more twists, and those pleasing falsettos that trigger my “O” face.
• Sarke // Endo Feight – Sarke (the artist) and crew have had one hell of a busy couple of years. This year, in particular, sees not only a new Sarke release but also a new Khold record (see below). Endo Feight is a wonderful addition to the band’s catalog and, by god, it’s wonderful to see the man himself back behind the kit.
• Khold // Du dømmes til død – See? I told you it would be here. While 2022’s Svartsyn was better record than Du dømmes til død (and a fantastic comeback), Du dømmes til død still has those elements that make the band so unique and fun to listen to.
• Blood Red Throne // Nonagon – Three years ago, Blood Red Throne released not only one of their best albums but 2021’s best death metal record. Unsurprisingly, it’s difficult to follow something like Imperial Congregation without some hiccups. That said, Nonagon is still a brutal piece of work worthy of mentioning.

Disappointments o’ the Year

• Darkthrone // It Beckons Us All……. – Like Sarke, Nocturno Culto has also been busy this year. If that’s part of the reason for the utter bore that’s It Beckons Us All……., I don’t know. But, this new record feels like Darkthrone is going through the motions. While I respect that they don’t care what the fuck any of us think, this is one of their worst albums.
• Exhorder // Defectum Omnium – After Exhorder’s incredible comeback album, Mourn the Southern Skies, I was more than a little excited for this new one. Unfortunately, like Darkthrone’s newest, Defectum Omnium is a dreadfully boring record that lacks all the passion of Exhorder’s comeback, leaving me confused and pissed the fuck off.

Songs o’ the Year

• Kingcrow – “White Rabbit’s Hole” – With an album full of great songs, there’s just something about the energy of this track that makes me so happy.

• Sidewinder – “Guardians” – This song represents some of the best stoner metal of 2024, and I can’t stop listening to it.

• Bombus – “Take You Down” – This song is just badass. I couldn’t care less what you think. Die.

#2024 #Aborted #Attic #BlogPosts #BloodRedThrone #Bombus #Borknagar #CelticFrost #CrystalViper #Darkthrone #DimmuBorgir #Dio #DrANGrierSTopTenIshOf2024 #DreamTheater #DustBolt #Exhorder #IAmTheIntimidator #IronMaiden #Khold #KingDiamond #Kingcrow #Lists #MercyfulFate #Metallica #Midnight #Ministry #Motörhead #NickCave #Portrait #Sarke #Sidewinder #SpockSBeard #TheVisionBleak #TheWhiteStripes #TypeONegative #Vader #VanessaFunke #Venom

Tyrannic – Tyrannic Desolation Review

By Mark Z.

No matter how far today’s bands push the envelope, no matter how weird or experimental or innovative modern music becomes, there will always be bands who look around and simply say: “Fuck that, give me Celtic Frost.” Australia’s Tyrannic is one such band. The trio’s founding member, vocalist, and drummer “R.,” has readily admitted that Tom G. Warrior’s brainchild is their biggest influence, though the band’s music isn’t just another carbon copy of Morbid Tales. For the past decade, the group seems to have steadily been gaining attention in the underground due not just to their consistent “cemetery photoshoot” album art, but also their strange combination of black and doom metal. The band seemed to really start turning heads with their second album, 2021’s Mortuus Decadence, which I enjoyed for its sinister atmosphere and epic climaxes. With third album Tyrannic Desolation, the group has largely opted to stick to the same burial grounds as before, but are they able to continue unearthing interesting material?

Yes and no. At first listen, Tyrannic Desolation sounds like the lo-fi extreme metal of Throneum with a bit of Tyrannic’s own special sauce mixed in. Many of these eight songs fill a decent amount of their runtimes with tight, creaky guitar lines that are propelled by clattering, off-kilter drums and vocals that run the gamut from rancid rasps to fervent war shouts to anguished hollers. Perhaps most interesting, however, are the deep operatic vocals that wail just out of the foreground during the doomier segments. The album’s opening duo, “Prophetic Eyes of Glass” and the title track, both slow down after their faster first halves to deliver such operatic singing between eerie, immense, and twisting guitar lines that sound like Candlemass gone black metal.

The approach works well enough at first, but by the time “Impaled before Your Mirror of Fate” hits halfway through the record’s runtime, the “fast first half and doomy second half” songwriting formula begins to lose its footing. Fortunately, the album’s second half adds diversity via ideas that are doomier, gloomier, and weirder. “Dance on Graves Chained to the Labyrinth” is perhaps the most interesting track here,1 as the song creates a strange and ominous mood with its squealing, Mithras-style soloing and bold decision to have the entire band play with no drumming for almost all of the track’s five-and-a-half minute runtime. Later songs like “Incubus Incarnate” and the closer, “Morbid Sanctum,” really drive home the doom, with both songs featuring deathly and morose guitar lines that would sound perfectly fitting at a funeral.

Tyrannic Desolation contains compelling moments, but I can’t say the record as a whole blows me away. While I appreciate how naturally Tyrannic transitions between styles, the album seems content to merely twist and contort itself rather than offer any true hooks or standout riffs. Thus, even while things change in ways that should be compelling, the overall experience ends up just feeling inconsequential. Songs like “Only Death Can Speak My Name” and “Stillbirth in Still Life” are perhaps the least interesting of the bunch, with the former featuring odd, sour notes and the latter being little more than a long, anguished death crawl that doesn’t offer enough to stand out from its brethren. Fortunately, the dry and raw production is a good fit for what the band is going for, with the unpolished guitars and in-your-face sound somehow working together to create a surprisingly strong atmosphere. The drum performance also keeps everything fluid while possessing a natural, unassuming quality that I find endearing.

Tyrannic has a cool vibe, and I always appreciate bands that use a retro sound and aesthetic without regurgitating things we’ve heard a million times before. In this way, the band reminds me of what modern Darkthrone is doing, and Tyrannic’s ultimate level of quality here is about as mixed as Fenriz and company’s albums have been for the last two decades. For those interested in the odder and more foreboding edges of extreme metal, Tyrannic Desolation offers forty-eight minutes that might be worth your while. For me? While I can appreciate the band’s interesting style and ghastly atmosphere, I can’t say for certain I’ll be joining them on their next jaunt through the cemetery.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Website: tyrannic.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: November 22nd, 2024

#25 #2024 #AustralianMetal #BlackMetal #Candlemass #CelticFrost #Darkthrone #DoomMetal #IronBoneheadProductions #Mithras #Nov24 #Review #Reviews #Throneum #Tyrannic #TyrannicDesolation

KrvL – Donkere Paden Review

By Maddog

Written by: Nameless_N00b_89

The nameless souls of the black metal band KrvL (pronounced “Kravaal”) are said to roam Belgium’s Kravaal forest. As a nameless one, too, I felt a peripheral connection to the group, which formed in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. With its 2022 self-released debut Kravaal, KrvL presented its sonic vision to the world. A decent dose of black metal with post and doom leanings, Kravaal caught the attention of start-up Italian label These Hands Melt, who signed the mysterious Belgians in 2024. Steeled now to release its sophomore effort Donkere Paden, KrvL seeks to enter the light from, as the blurb reads, “the darkness they find themselves in.”

KrvL’s black metal takes root mostly in the second-wave tradition, with post-metal and doom both making appearances. Replicating the debut’s blueprint, Donkere Paden leans heaviest on riffs of the tremolodic kind. Layering single-string over double-string tremolos to create melodicism in the faster passages, KrvL harkens back to Transilvanian Hunger-era Darkthrone with less of the catchiness and better production. The slower, doom-like passages have a faster-than-funeral-paced Mizmor quality that serves the album’s atmosphere well, with even the dirge-ier riffs being tremolo-picked. The drums employ straight and d-beat patterns to keep the speedier sections moving, while holding back to give the slower-paced passages more room to breathe, where the bass work often breaks through. The vocals, dispossessed of the variety displayed on the debut, rule the bulk of Donkere Paden with a genre-appropriate scream-shout delivery.

A tale of two tempos, Donkere Paden achieves more with subtlety than aggression. The front half’s speedier movements are dominated in the mix by the drums and vocals, leaving little room for the guitars and bass (“De Koning Van Stilte,” “Cadans Der Drofheid”). Conversely, those same tracks’ doomier passages succeed with a more sonically balanced approach, guitars resonating confidently with enough space to hear the slithering bass lines underneath. Guest appearances serve as a counterpoint to the one-dimensional vocal approach, be it the raspy shouts and spoken words of Oerhek’s H (“Duvielsputten”) or Shazulla’s (of Wolvennest) shouted words on the Filosofem-ic “Zielenrust.” The album’s highlights (“De Verloren Herder” and “Het Onbegrip”) both benefit from speedy tremolos that attain even footing with the drums and vocals. The former song’s midpoint builds back from a single-plucked guitar line to shimmering tremolos that usher the melancholic melody to its end. In contrast, the latter song’s slower second half marches the album to a majestic conclusion with its plodding descent of power chords supporting a single-string melody.

At just over 40 minutes, Donkere Paden’s runtime feels longer due to its formulaic repetition. Instead of using the foundation of Kravaal as a springboard for further artistic exploration, KrvL chose a narrower, more AC/DC-like scope and simply recreated it. Less focused on the doomier, atmospheric song structures that highlight the band’s strengths, Donkere Paden cedes more time to speed, which is where KrvL loses itself. Employing less than a handful of notes to drive melodic variation in both the fast and slow tremolo riffs (“De Koning Van Stilte,” “Avondrood”), this approach further intensifies the album’s feel of similitude. Even the plucked guitar passages that serve as intro (“De Koning Van Stilte”) or interlude (“Cadans Der Drofheid,” “Het Onbegrip”) carry a sense of recycled interchangeability. The overall effect dulls the listener’s senses and significantly impacts memorability.

From production to performance, KrvL’s Donkere Paden is a good album, just not a memorable one. Taken in bite-sized pieces, the constituent parts of the record are all pleasantly digestible, especially when they fire on all cylinders (“De Verloren Herder,” “Het Onbegrip”). However, this success is not par for Donkere Paden’s course, which lacks the structural ideas necessary to support the release as a whole. KrvL does more of its best work on the debut than on this sophomore effort. I enjoyed walking the unpaved paths of KrvL’s Donkere Paden and will be keeping an eye on what these nameless minstrels do next, hoping for something I’ll carry with me for longer.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: These Hands Melt
Websites: krvl.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/KrvL1745
Releases Worldwide: October 11th, 2024

#2024 #30 #BelgianMetal #BlackMetal #Darkthrone #DonkerePaden #Doom #DoomMetal #KrvL #Mizmor #Oct24 #PostBlackMetal #PostMetal #Review #Reviews #TheseHandsMelt