#Metalgate: Former Agalloch Frontman Subject to Pillory from Media, Betrayal from Bandmates, and THREATS of VIOLENCE from Aesop Dekker over “Anti-Semitic” Facebook Comment


Guest article by Eugene Stryker

The PC witch-hunt of the Leftist Indie/Mallcore Mafia continues ever on in its plaguing of the Metal scene throughout the 2010’s. No longer content to pillory some of the most vicious and well-respected acts in the Black Metal genre, the latest victim of character assassination and social media hysteria is none other than former Agalloch leader John Haughm.

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Infamous – Winter Ruins in Howling Mist (2019)

Infamous contributed two tracks to the split CD/EP with Cmentarny Zew, Thorncastle and Ordo Sanguinis Noctis named Winter Ruins in Howling Mist released by Darker Than Black Records. These songs demonstrate why Infamous remains at the head of the new brand of black metal, mainly by staying true not just to black metal, but to idea-driven music.

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Keep Black Metal Evil

We find ourselves at one of those terrifying and exciting points in history, like standing on the narrow point of a mountain ledge and feeling the cold northern breeze. The old system has failed; we are going to change to something new, although most are still kicking their feet in a tantrum of protest at the threat of change. This opens up new spaces and possibilities.

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Zloslut – Sahar

Zloslut is a Serbian Black metal that initially consisted of sole founding member Agnarion who had produced all the records by himself but here on Sahar, Agnarion is joined by a full band that changes the dynamic of this album compared to previous works. All the previous rough edges have been rounded out from the production all the way to the riffs themselves. While this does create a certain amount of sterility, it also allows the band the freedom to explore and to develop their own style.

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Cult of the Horns – Chapter I – Domination

Cult of the Horns are a French one man band from Bordeaux with one full length released to this day. The band’s aesthetic is that of the typical NWN “goat-something” band but beyond the corpse paint and cheesy titles lies an honest combination of Death and Black metal which unique band member Mephisto makes an honest attempting at fusing both genres and though this record fails at times, there are a lot of interesting particularities, making this an above average listen.

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Retrospective : Intestine Baalism – An Anatomy of the Beast


Intestine Baalism are a Death metal band formed in the suburbs of Tokyo in 1991, their first full length only came out in 1997, having only released a pair of demos featuring songs that ended up on this album, it is safe to confirm that Intestine Baalism is a latecomer to a genre that had already seen it’s apex and was now slowly descending into Brutal and Technical Death metal territory. Anatomy of a beast takes advantage of the power of hindsight to successfully fusion the works of Carnage,Dismember and Suffocation against the more Heavy metal derived melodies of Sentenced, bringing to life a potent record that is at times just as peculiar as the band’s name.

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NECROM – The Light Has Never Been Here (2019)

From the mid-90’s throughout the 21st century, the Ukrainian Black Metal scene has received the attention of listeners across the world. The Metal music coming from this nation (and particularly the Kharkiv region) has been defined by many noteworthy bands which expanded upon the keyboard-heavy “Symphonic Black Metal” stylings of bands like Emperor to include elements of 70’s prog rock, thrashing hardcore riffing, and the traditional Slavic folk music of their ancestors to create an iconic “epic” sound which combines the appeal of classic melodic Heavy Metal music with the folkish mystic fury of “second-wave” Black Metal.

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End of Year Reflections on Metal


The end of the year for some people is a time where they participate in debauchery and related idiocy as they are convinced that the arbitrary beginning of a calendar year absolves them of past mistakes and gives them the possibility to renew themselves without the burden of accepting reality. Those who don’t hide behind such comforting fallacies accept that this is a day like no other and that no actual changes will occur except for remembering to write 19 instead of 18 when it comes to paperwork. Metal has continued its sad and hilarious explosion to the top of the mainstream while pushing out less and less meaningful art. Rather than go ever end of the year lists as they are just useless and contain mostly salvaged junk with the occasional pearl. Here at DMU we shall analyse new compositional tools we would like to see implemented and which ones should be discarded.

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The Best Underground Metal Of 2018

The task before a reviewer varies widely. If you want to be a big shot, you need to write about what the labels want, since they are the only source of top-down money coming into the genre. They will then reward your publication with advertising, it will then reward you with a promotion, and eighteen months later, you can ditch it and move up to the big leagues.

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