Tag Archives: death metal

Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

New York’s avant-garde death worshippers Imperial Triumphant recently released their much anticipated album Vile Luxury, the follow-up to 2015’s stellar Abyssal Gods. On this new record, the mysterious trio is joined by a brass quartet and a vocal quartet to craft a sonic aura more daunting and regal than ever. When the trumpets swell and the choir wails, it is the carnal embodiment of the name “Imperial Triumphant”; like the malignant annunciation of a vile king.

While the previous iterations of the band’s vision sounded more like homages to Portal and Deathspell Omega, Vile … Read more

Spires of the Lunar Sphere – Siren (Take the Fair Face of Woman and Gently Suspending with Butterflies Flowers and Jewels Attending Thus Your Fairy Be Made of Most Wondrous Things)

by Dæv Tremblay

We’ve been somewhat mystified by Spires of the Lunar Sphere‘s debut, back in 2015, so their newborn with a most megalomanic title, Siren (Take the Fair Face of Woman and Gently Suspending with Butterflies Flowers and Jewels Attending Thus Your Fairy Be Made of Most Wondrous Things), has less of that bewildering factor. That being said, it doesn’t mean it’s bad – far from it –, just that you only make a first impression once. Still jumping between metalcore, post-hardcore, mathcore, and deathcore, the duo takes its idiosyncratic eccentricity to extremes of peculiarity and heaviness. Think Arsonists Get … Read more

Altarage – Endinghent

by Dæv Tremblay

Altarage is a sickening death metal band from Spain. Their penultimate release – Nihl – was heavy and muddy and dissonant, and their newest one keeps that ball rolling. Endinghent was released on 13 October, and it’s ripe with forty minutes of the same breed of what’s commonly called avant-garde death metal. Think Ulcerate, Portal, you’re in the right frame of mind. While I would contest the avant-garde label, it’s a great album with a contemporary view on harmony and dissonance, and the chops to sit alongside other better-known names of the same ilk. The guitars are disgustingly heavy and … Read more

Hybrid Nightmares – Almagest

by Dæv Tremblay

After their Ages EP tetralogy, Australian progressive black metal band Hybrid Nightmares gaze upwards towards the skies. Almagest is their new conceptual full-length album, and takes you on the journey of the Pilgrim, an unnamed automaton, going to various cosmic spheres in a quest to balance spirituality and reason. Basically, it’s a science-fiction retelling of many classical philosophy concepts. It’s quite rare that black metal bands of that ilk look to the future and out into space, although not unheard of, and Hybrid Nightmares is a strong quintet capable of putting this idea into reality and making it truly enjoyable … Read more

Naeramarth – The Innumerable Stars

by Dæv Tremblay

Naeramarth is a progressive metal band from Salk Lake City, and their debut album, The Innumerable Stars is coming out on 20 October. Stating influences as varied as Ihsahn, Leprous, Enslaved, and Opeth, Naeramarth cover an impressive range of metal genres, from black metal to doom metal, with a lot of straight-up progressive metal and prog death in-between. “Asterisms” is a pretty much perfect example of this, it covers well progressive black metal, with a very Opethian acoustic guitars corridor in the middle. Thanks to its 8:50 runtime, each part has the time to breathe, but its only about half … Read more