Tag Archives: post-metal

Best of Post-Metal 2021

by Dæv Tremblay


Post-metal is often slow and atmospheric, somewhat akin to doom metal with riffs, or post-rock with riffs. There’s been a lot of really good post-metal this year, so here are my favourites!

Number Five: Cave Sermon – Memory Spear

Australia’s Cave Sermon released a jaw-dropping debut this year with Memory Spear, an amazing atmospheric post-metal album with a tinge of black metal inked into it, which makes for a marvellous entry into our top 5!

Number Four: Daxma – Unmarked Boxes


Doomgazy post-metal with melodic female vocals over drawn-out chords and slloooww riffs. Is that what you want? Then … Read more

Best of Death Metal 2021

by Dæv Tremblay


No need to introduce death metal, right? It’s death, and metal! There has been so many great death and death-adjacent records this year that this top 5 was one of the toughest to call! I could’ve easily extended it into a top 10, but for the sake of concision, I was able to keep only the 5 best in my opinion!

Number Five: Dagtum – Revered Decadence


Dagtum released an underground gem of dissonant death metal with Revered Decadence. The band is actually a supergroup hailing from the Philippines, and they truly deserve the “super” prefix, as everything they … Read more

Bushwhacker – A Fistful of Poison

by Matt Matheson

bushwhacker fistful cover

I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but one night I stumbled upon a relatively unknown cluster of Pacific deep-northwest metal bands. They were mostly average in terms of musicianship and appeal, but one act with a couple of singles from a forthcoming album stood above the pack. This band was Bushwhacker, and their since-fully released third album A Fistful of Poison is one of the most creative and polished offerings to come out of any metal scene in recent memory. To call this album “underrated” would be an understatement as big as the Montana sky; at the time … Read more

Dreadnought – Emergence

by Matt Matheson

With the release of their fourth full-length album in six years, a band I once called “one of the best, most progressive young bands in metal right now” is nearing a level of establishment and maturity that probably signifies we can ditch the “young” adjective. While not everyone knows who Dreadnought is, Dreadnought knows what it is, and they waste no time on Emergence reminding us, kicking off the album with more immediacy than ever before. On the first track of their 2013 debut, Lifewoven, they opened with haunting ethereal atmosphere, introducing us to flute, congas, and lilting vocals … Read more

Mord’a’stigmata – Dreams of Quiet Places

by Matt Matheson

Mord’a’stigmata—not a name that is easily forgotten—has been a name on the periphery of my radar for years. The Polish group’s brand of bleak metal never captivated me enough to warrant much attention, but on fifth full-length Dreams of Quiet Places they have refined their sound into something impossible to ignore. Both composition and production have taken a substantial step up from 2017’s Hope, with nods to purveyors of blackened sludge like Rorcal and older Altar of Plagues, alongside psychedelic elements reminiscent of Entropia and older A Forest of Stars (or their lesser-known reincarnation, The Water Witch… Read more