Italy’s Vektor, Vexovoid, just released their debut album, Call of the Starforger. Despite their name, more reminiscent of Portal than anything else, Vexovoid’s sound lies somewhere between aforementioned Vektor, and Voivod. Their own take on progressive, blackened thrash metal is nothing new, thanks to Terminal Redux being one of the absolute best albums of last year, but this had the side effect of making this special brand of metal highly demanded. Call of the Starforger is great and the flow of riffs is unstoppable, making it a very welcome addition to the not so expansive array of releases … Read more
Tag Archives: black metal
Siberian Hell Sounds and Convulsing – The Breath of the Beast and Engraved upon Bleached Bone
Australians Siberian Hell Sounds and Convulsing are perhaps two of the most punishing, dissonant, and avant-garde black metal entities out there, and they’ve joined forces on this split release, each providing a song over twenty minutes long to feed this beastly behemoth of a record. What results is not so much a split as it is a collaborative effort to bring forth to the altar a worthy sacrifice. And worthy it is, as it pleases us with its long, winding and unconventional song structures, its sickening harmony, its thick and heavy atmosphere put on our shoulders to burden, and its … Read more
Chaos Moon – Eschaton Mémoire
The ambient black metal of American quartet Chaos Moon is unleashed upon the world with their fourth full-length, Eschaton Mémoire. Their usually quite expansive compositions are shrouded in thick fogs of ambient guitars, which sound just like keyboard pads. The album’s forty minutes follow an interesting pattern of tension and release that really drive this album home. Be sure to not miss this unique and intense release.
Eschatos – Mære
Latvian experimental atmospheric black metal band Eschatos have released a promising album, last year, in The Grand Noir, and they’re already back at it with their EP Mære. It consists only of an eight-minute track and a fifteen-minute, three-part epic, but displays in that short amount of time great leaps from its predecessor. The first part of “The Night of the White Devil” is one of the most emotionally intense pieces of black metal I’ve recently heard, with some passages reminiscent of Oathbreaker, with the broken voice Kristiāna Kārkliņa pulling those same strings. Mære is a great EP, … Read more
Fire-Toolz – Interbeing
Angel Marcloid’s musical essays with Fire-Toolz paid off, as many lauded the black metal and vaporwave crossing sophomore Drip Mental. Now with the third iteration – Interbeing – finally out, we get to ask ourselves: “What more is there to say?” On the one hand, many of the praises and critics of Drip Mental still apply. The odd but fascinating offspring of two radically different musical genres is still as good, if not better, than ever – imagine slowed-down, funky pop tunes from the eighties (or an original composition aimed at mimicking that aesthetic) with screams and blast beats … Read more