We all miss the glory days of black metal, especially those who were not there to experience them the first time. That urge has spawned many bands who tried to uphold the original style and spirit despite the inevitable tendency of foolish humans to “mix it up” with other genres and random bits that are inarticulate to the purpose of the genre.
5 CommentsTags: Black Metal, clandestine blaze
Andrzej Sapkowski’s “The Witcher” series has seen itself appropriated and simplified in the form of a ridiculous TV show and movie that never garnered much respect in its native Poland and has been heavily critiqued by Sapkowski himself. The books find themselves once again simplified and denied of their essence in the form of three large budget video games that do attempt to bring to life the world of the series, but gameplay, endless superfluous content and the lack of understanding from the writers hinder this. Fortunately we are blessed by a truly transcendent series of books that despite the mainstream’s attempts at commercializing them remain unaffected in their message and expression. Enter “The Last Wish” which is the first book of a majestic saga that soars above the common man’s need for digestible media.
12 CommentsTags: Andrej Sapkowski, Classic fantasy, The Last Wish, The Witcher
by Veadtruck
Some people here don’t like negative metal reviews. I disagree, as I believe that pointing out bad music, and more importantly explaining why bad albums are bad, is necessary.
16 CommentsTags: Arch Enemy, behemoth, Belphegor, blut aus nord, dark funeral, dying fetus, immortal, Kalmah, Sewer, six feet under, terrible metal, terrible music, vader
Queensrÿche plans to introduce its sixteenth (!) album, The Verdict, to the world on March 1, 2019, representatives announced today. Century Media will release this newest work which is “the most metal and the most progressive record we have made in a long time” according to guitarist Michael Wilton.
5 CommentsTags: Heavy Metal, progressive metal, queensrÿche
Artists recovering from the downfall of black metal in 1995 faced a daunting challenge: how to keep aesthetically developing a genre that was based on primitive but elegant melodic and violent music, and how to expand its philosophy past its original primal, nihilistic, naturalistic, and anti-humanist roots.
9 CommentsTags: Black Metal, sorcier des glaces, technical black metal
As metal tries to reorganize itself, bands recombine previous styles, trying to find the right formula from which a next generation could be birthed. Such is the case with Blasphemous, which combines late-model slam-style death metal with power metal to make a listenable but ultimately rather simplified form of extreme metal.
1 CommentTags: blasphemous, death metal, metalcore, power metal, Speed Metal
Notorious violent black metal band Sammath gained a fanbase among the black metal horde for refusing to tone down the intensity of black metal, and instead mixing it with elements of fast technical death metal to achieve an uncompromising sound. Following up on the epic Godless Arrogance, the band faces a massive challenge in exceeding what it has already achieved, but a new demo suggests that this Dutch-German black metal assault has done just that.
6 CommentsTags: Black Metal, death metal, sammath, underground metal
As a genre less defined aesthetically than on terms of propaganda, NSBM bears the mark of Cain that stigmatizes bands that express a certain ideology. On the basis that music is pure Will, this article focuses on contrasting a split by Der Sturmer, Malsaint and Blutkult with Spear of Longinus on the grounds of understanding and conviction to their ideas, or, to be less dramatic, on how the need to express grander statements creates grander music.
70 CommentsTags: Black Metal, blutkult, Der Sturmer, Malsaint, nsbm, review, spear of longinus, TYONS
When Profanatica could not finish their unreleased album, the genius and creator of the band Paul Ledney took time away from the noise of other musicians to fully realize his vision in composing a short album that took the best of his influences from all over the underground into creating something that would show the world the extent of the musical genius that this man possessed and that he was much more than an alumnus of a few great bands. In this final piece in the Craft of Metal series, we look at one album that managed to open new branches for what was to remain of the underground as the Death metal movement had just began to explode with bands getting signed by big labels all over the place and leaving the most repulsive bands to grow far from the spotlight.
35 CommentsTags: Black Metal, havohej, paul ledney, profanatica
Inverloch are an Australian death/doom four piece mostly known for being composed of half of the members of Disembowelment and for being considered their rightful heir. With projects like these there is a fine line between upholding the heritage of a previous project and reiterating past works in hope of achieving former glory. Inverloch straddle that thin line but also manage to find influence in much more recent branches of death metal and the funeral doom subgenre and overall create an enjoyable piece of work that may push the listener towards the greater releases in the genre, especially Transcendence into the Peripheral.
7 CommentsTags: death metal, Disembowelment, Doom Metal, inverloch
