Sólstafir – Berdreyminn

By Hera Vidal. Sólstafir is one of those bands that grows on you, especially when you look past their earlier material and realize how much they have changed since their inception. They may have started as a black metal band

By Hera Vidal.

Cover art by Adam Burke.

Sólstafir is one of those bands that grows on you, especially when you look past their earlier material and realize how much they have changed since their inception. They may have started as a black metal band, but, over time, they have moved towards a more accessible post-metal sound, with softer rock influences. However, there is a deep, emotional well behind the music and the lyrics, and the atmosphere Sólstafir creates is one of the most immersive a listener can get into. After all, what better way to explore the various facets of your musical experimentation than by building on what has already been done?

In the beginning, Berdreyminn (Icelandic for “dreamer”) sounds like the sonic landscape their previous release, Ótta, had created. It’s soft, almost like a lullaby, and it’s filled with a presence that you can feel. The softer rock influences take center stage on the album, complementing the vocals, almost lifting them. It creates a sense of calm that stays with you throughout the album, even as it ends and begins again. Although the metal is there – in the emotional vocals that seem to reverb throughout the album – the most prominent aspect of the album are the instruments. If there one thing Sólstafir can do well, it’s layering their music to where it’s most effective.

Everything about Berdryminn is polished and emotional; there are no notes out of place, nothing unexpected that the listener has to worry about. Given that the musicality and the instrumentation of Berdreyminn is excellent, it should come as no surprise that the vocals have taken a backseat. The music has created this atmosphere that you don’t want to come out of, and the vocals, with their almost hypnotic timbre and quality, reinforces this comfort. Berdreyminn could have been a second Ótta, with its instrumental quality and vocals, but it’s not Ótta – it’s a different sound altogether, and one that stays with you long after it’s over.

Despite the brilliance of the music and vocals, the quality of its sound, and the dream-like nature of the atmosphere, Berdreyminn does have the unfortunate chance of becoming stale rather quickly if one is not paying attention. There aren’t many things that makes this album interesting the first time around; to catch the subtleties, you need to listen to the album numerous times. It’s simple to gloss over Berdreyminn, especially when the pacing is odd and the atmosphere stays the same throughout the album. However, Berdreyminn does have the saving grace of having different parts a listener can focus on during each spin or listen.

All in all, Berdreyminn is a fantastic transition from their old material. I am excited to hear where the band goes with their new sound and I hope that, wherever they go, they continue to make stellar music.

Valdur - Divine Cessation

By Steven Leslie. One of the things that made the earliest strains of Death Metal so compelling was the bands’ inherent understanding that for all their boundary pushing extremity, the key to great music was still a groove that sinks

By Steven Leslie.

Cover art by Farron Loathing

One of the things that made the earliest strains of Death Metal so compelling was the bands’ inherent understanding that for all their boundary pushing extremity, the key to great music was still a groove that sinks it’s hooks in and gets listeners moving. As technical skills progress and bands continue to push boundaries, either focusing on displaying their musical proficiency or creating the most atmospherically disturbing take on the genre, that core songwriting element been increasingly neglected.

Undoubtedly Valdur’s newest record Divine Cessation, released in the tail end of 2017, owes a debt to the sound Incantation pioneered. However, unlike many of the teethless rehashes spawned in Incantation’s wake, Valdur has crafted genuinely compelling songs built on infectious dirges and an enveloping sonic darkness that gives the founders a run for their money. While many bands inject one or two killer riffs in a song and suture them together with reckless bouts of chaos, Valdur shows their experience as songwriters by ensuring every section flows together flawlessly, creating songs that will bewitch any fan of atmospheric death metal.

Their astute use of tempo variation is critical to their success, allowing for a diverse and dynamic feel as tracks surge and recede like some unholy army laying siege to a heavily entrenched enemy. The album’s power and range is significantly aided by a stellar drumming performance by Matthew (also of the excellent Sxuperion and Weverin). Instead of simply functioning as the rhythmic backbone of Valdur’s songs, the drums are used to accent and propel the songs forward. Held together by spectacular riff craft and an air-tight interplay between guitar and bass, Matthew is able to play around with enchanting rhythms and charismatic fills, expanding the sound and ensuring that no riff, no matter how long it is sustained, ever gets stale. The crashing cymbals and constantly shifting cavalcades of battery make these catchy, hook-filled hymns all the more compelling.

If there is one area that might hold the record back from being a bona fide classic, it is the vocals. For the most part, Valdur stick to the guttural, echo-drenched sound that is so prolific in the Incantationcore bands of today. While they are competently performed, the warmer, cleaner instrumental production leaves the cavernous vocals sounding rather alien with the rest of the music’s vibe at times. Not necessarily a bad thing, but coupled with a distinct lack of vocal variety, the songs sometimes seem a little more one-dimensional than they actually are. That said, there are a few shining moments when higher register, black metal influenced howls, still drenched in echo and which seem to fit the music better, add that extra touch to take the tracks like “Plague Born of a Dying Star” to the next level. Going forward, continuing pepper their songs with more of this vocal interplay could make them contenders as one of the top modern death metal bands.

Valdur has taken that early groove oriented style and seamlessly integrated it with the atmospheric, murky death metal that is all the rage at the moment. This is an album well worth your time if you enjoy that atmosphere-laced death metal sound. Plus, at a name-your-price download you really can’t lose.

Hammr - Unholy Destruction

Multi-instrumentalist J. Hammer kick-started his one-man metalpunk band Schizoid Hammer in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2013. A couple of low-key releases and one rejigged band name later, and now the Satan-lovin Hammr are set to deliver

By Craig Hayes.


Multi-instrumentalist J. Hammer kick-started his one-man metalpunk band Schizoid Hammer in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2013. A couple of low-key releases and one rejigged band name later, and now the Satan-lovin Hammr are set to deliver their ripping first full-length, Unholy Destruction.

Unholy Destruction is seeing a release via label Hells Headbangers, which is a fitting home for an avidly old-school band like Hammr. Like many groups on Hells Headbangers’ roster, Hammr pays sonic tribute to groups like Bathory, Sodom, Venom, and early Slayer. But equally as important to Hammr's sound is the resounding echo of d-beat legends Discharge.

In fact, it’s Discharge's influence that sees Hammr stand out in the metalpunk crowd. Reason being, Hammr aren't afraid to truly embrace the maniacal metalpunk madness. They don't hesitate to tear into their songs with a bloodthirsty bite. They're prepared to mangle their music and they happily red-line the harshness as well. And those are all crucial 'punk' elements in the metalpunk equation.

Hammr shows an appreciation of how Discharge explored the creative possibilities of sheer abrasive noise. And tracks off Unholy Destruction, like "Satanic Raid", "Under Black Command", and "Eternal Prey", duly feature swarms of jagged riffs and rapid-fire d-beat. What really makes those songs though, is how Hammr just keeps ramping up the relentless and wild ante, with every passing second, and the band maintains that ferocity throughout Unholy Destruction.

On the one hand, Hammr's diehard commitment to a single-minded (and always blistering) musical vision is admirable. But it’s also going to be a make or break feature for some. Obviously, some metal fans want ultra-precise music rendered with crunchy clarity. But Hammr deals in raw fucking mayhem, and intricacy is often buried deep in Unholy Destruction's filthy mix.

Hammr is also dedicated to fusing ferocious black/speed metal with feral punk at a warp-speed pace. And Unholy Destruction holds fast to that scorched-earth aesthetic. There's no 'explorative this’ or 'progressive that’ anywhere. Unholy Destruction is just rip, shit or bust, through and through.

Obviously, if you’re a fan of non-stop berserker blasts of metalpunk, that’s all great news. And Hammr definitely matches their unhinged attitude with a vivid recognition of what made the birth of extreme metal so thrilling in the first place.

Of course, that’s not a unique frame of mind, as such, and galloping songs like "Sadistic Poison", "Death Reign", or "Demonic Rites" share stylistic similarities with the works of fellow old-school worshippers like Midnight or Toxic Holocaust. It's no surprise then to discover that Midnight’s Commander Vanik contributed savage solos to Unholy Destruction or that he mixed the album too. Toxic Holocaust’s head-honcho, Joel Grind, mastered Unholy Destruction as well. And Midnight, Toxic Holocaust and Hammr do share very similar creative convictions.

Unholy Destruction isn't breaking any new ground. But the album's frenzied tracks are primed to remind you why underground metal first grabbed a hold of your rotten little heart. Hammr deliver whirlwind broadsides of barbed riffs and barked vocals and Unholy Destruction’s sole focus is 666% lawless intensity. Hammr might be a lone-wolf right now. But after Unholy Destruction's release, there’ll be plenty of others only too willing to join the pack.

Wake - Misery Rites

By Matt Hinch. When I think of Calgary (Alberta, Canada) I don't think of grind. I think of oil, rodeo, and Country. But Wake is changing that perception. I first heard the quartet on a split with Rehashed back in 2013 but had forgotten

By Matt Hinch.


When I think of Calgary (Alberta, Canada) I don't think of grind. I think of oil, rodeo, and Country. But Wake is changing that perception. I first heard the quartet on a split with Rehashed back in 2013 but had forgotten about them until 2016's Sowing the Seeds of a Worthless Tomorrow. Fast forward a couple years and the “terror grind” act cement their place as a force to be reckoned with, regardless of locale, with Misery Rites.

If you can't tell by the album titles, Wake deal in personal struggles like addiction, depression, and isolation. Rather than wallow in sombre moods and depressive atmosphere they work through those demons with force. Intense, explosive force. Especially from drummer Josh Bueckert. The way he attacks the kit breeds catharsis just listening to it. From the pure force of hard strikes to the lactic acid blasting of “Rumination”, he leaves the listener anything but wanting.

“Rumination” and its follow-up “Bitter Winter” both go for the powerviolence jugular, eviscerating eardrums with no holds barred speed and power. All is dust. You can feel your atoms being torn apart and thrown into the abyss in a release of energy that just gets fed back into the machine.

Vocalist Kyle Ball does some of his best work on those tracks but throughout the album his intensity never waivers. Deathly growls, higher pitched yells and other terrifying vocal manipulations maintain a fear factor. To make matters worse (in the best way) Primitive Man's Ethan McCarthy lends his voice here and there. That's not the only Primitive Man you'll hear. When Wake slow it down they've got that same filthy weight we've come to know and love from their Coloradan friends.

Photos © John Mourlas. All rights reserved.

You may also notice Misery Rites “sounds” familiar. (Because you're already listening by now, right?) I'm not saying they are copying anyone that way. Not at all. But it does bear the sonic fingerprints of one Dave Otero. He recorded, mixed, and mastered this 27-minute adrenaline shot. He's also worked with the aforementioned Primitive Man as well as Cobalt (and Khemmis but that's a whole different ball of wax). To these ears Misery Rites kind of sounds like if Slow Forever Cobalt went full on grind with that sickening feeling you get from Primitive Man while maintaining Wake's own identity. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

With grind such as this the violence is usually meted out in small bursts. That's mostly true here but not the 45-second premature ejaculations you get from a stereotypical powerviolence band. Wake have more stamina, pushing over two and three minutes. The shortest is 1:33. That is until you hit closer “Burial Ground”. It's over seven minutes but obviously not 1000bpm the whole time.

Something tells me Wake didn't slow tempos for the album's finale and drop “quiet” moments into a furious black metal flaying to give the listener some breathing room. No one who's made it this far into the album wants to cool down. You're not getting much of a break anyway. The iron still glows red as they hammer away at the world's collective psyche with crushing doom. Guitarists Rob LaChance and Arjun Gill lock horns and feed off each other through tremolo runs, feral chaos, and outright oppression.

Misery Rites is a lot to take in. It's full of unstoppable energy no matter the tempo and gorgeously painful tone. Unreal percussion and lung-searing vocals battle the ferocious guitars resulting in a bitterly angry record guaranteed to affect your day. The world is going to shit but at least we have something to soundtrack our misery.

Solstice - White Horse Hill

By Calen Henry. Solstice are magic. Their deft combination of trudging, pounding doom and British folk sensibilities is unmatched. White Horse Hill is their first album in twenty years, the follow up to the epic doom masterpiece New Dark Age.

By Calen Henry.

Artwork by Chris Smith.

Solstice are magic. Their deft combination of trudging, pounding doom and British folk sensibilities is unmatched. White Horse Hill is their first album in twenty years, the follow up to the epic doom masterpiece New Dark Age. It carries the torch into the twenty first century bringing their magnificent sound to a new generation.

New Dark Age was built on a foundation of epic doom songs breathing with British history and folklore, interspersed with folk interludes surprisingly as good as the crushing doom tracks. Morris Ingram's lilting Yorkshire vocals brought everything together to make epic doom history.

White Horse Hill follows the same formula but is more concise, conceived to be no longer than a single vinyl LP. Comprised of three long form doom tracks, one long folk track, and three interludes, the album is comparatively short for the genre but it ends up being just the right length. None of the songs are throwaways and it's hard not to simply play it again once it ends (my approach since it dropped on Bandcamp).

Though the lineup has changed since New Dark Age, lead guitars and drums remain the same and nail that Solstice sound. Huge melodic riffs, mostly in 6/8, folk rhythms, dual leads; it's all there and it's all amazing.

The biggest change are the vocals. Paul Kearns replaces Morris Ingram and I actually like his vocals better. While Ingram undoubtedly completed the sound of New Dark Age, his vocals were folky to a fault, taking some acclimatization if you weren't used to that style. Kearns hews closer to traditional doom, though keeping a nice lilt to his delivery. Coupled with the shorter run time, White Horse Hill makes for a more approachable record than New Dark Age, though only time will tell if it ultimately lives up to its predecessor.

As it stands I absolutely love White Horse Hill. It's everything I wanted from a new Solstice album. Even the album art is amazing! Solstice have delivered with aplomb. Those disinclined to epic doom will be unlikely to be converted, but Solstice aren't out for crossover appeal. They bring the doom.

Locktender - Friedrich

By Justin C. Have you ever rediscovered one of your own purchases? I had that happen with Locktender's brilliant Rodin. I liked it when Matt Hinch first wrote about it for our site, and then I let it slip into the depths of my digital catalog.

By Justin C.


Have you ever rediscovered one of your own purchases? I had that happen with Locktender's brilliant Rodin. I liked it when Matt Hinch first wrote about it for our site, and then I let it slip into the depths of my digital catalog. Not until a couple of years later, making the start of a long drive on rural roads in Vermont, did I stumble on it again, and I was reminded how blown away I was by both the musicianship and the content: an album paired with an artist, including the sculptor Rodin and the author Kafka before that. Bombing down those roads (because I drive too damn fast, always) with Locktender’s emotional heft pushing me along, I got excited again.

Little did I know that the gap between Rodin and the band's latest, Friedrich, would be a long four years. And little did I know that I wouldn't immediately take to Friedrich.

Friedrich deals with Caspar David Friedrich, an 18th century German landscape painter. Usually I'm bored with landscapes--much like my metal, I want to get to the weird modern stuff elsewhere in the museum. But given the period he worked in, Friedrich's paintings often having a haunting, surprisingly modern feel. I urge you to take a look at the paintings (and the band’s lyrics) at Locktender's site.

With this album, Locktender decided not only to cover Friedrich, but to also tell a story over the entire course of the album. It’s a story of a man lost, shipwrecked and conscripted into a foreign army, fleeing to a monastery, and ultimately drowning himself, questioning everything about his life and faith. It's bleak stuff, but yet opener "The Monk by the Sea" serves as a grand entrance, striking an almost a triumphant tone in spite of the fact that the lyrics describe a man giving himself up to the ocean. Riffs of every variety abound, but in a cohesive way, and vocals are primarily of the hardcore-scream variety, although there's a hefty dose of clean singing, including the album's most haunting refrain: "Please let this overcome me. Tide in, tide out. Steps in a cleansing direction. Cold chills across my bones. Please let this overcome me."

What's not to like? Well, on first listens, I sometimes found the album's heart-on-sleeve emotional impact almost too much. To my ears, the band leans a bit more heavily on their screamo influence than they have on past albums, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that, either. Granted, the band has always been open about this influence, and they even list "screamo" as a tag on their Bandcamp page (along with the brilliant "philosophercore""). The epically building "Winter Landscape" features some particularly vulnerable and pained rendition of the "Please let this overcome me" vocal motif, with gang vocals on a slight delay. "The Abbey" even includes an exaggeratedly shaky vocal style that I also associate with emo/screamo, and I just wasn't sure. Could I like this and still maintain my cool, detached reserve?

But in the end, this album grew and grew on me. The band's musicianship is still brilliant. Quiet passages build into explosions and fade away, emotions stay raw, everywhere from rage to despair to quiet melancholy. Sure, a lot of us tend toward more impenetrable and cerebral metal, but I think there's still a part of us that wants memorable, anthemic choruses, even if they feel a bit over the top, and Locktender delivers. On the day I wrote this, I caught myself absentmindedly singing, "tide in...tide out...," and I knew I'd been hooked for good, and any "I'm too cool for this” pretension melted away. I urge you to give this band, and this album in particular, the same chance to work its spell on you.

Metal Bands-you-might-have-missed-camp 2017

By Calen Henry. Things you might have missed. I'll be honest, I only checked out Dumblegore because of the band name, among the best of 2017. It turns out, though, that they totally rule, though they don't sing about Harry Potter.

By Calen Henry.

Things you might have missed.


I'll be honest, I only checked out Dumblegore because of the band name, among the best of 2017. It turns out, though, that they totally rule, though they don't sing about Harry Potter.

Dumblegore play "Spooky Metal" the stuff drenched in B-movie horror tropes, but their spin on it is unique. They marry fuzzed out stoner doom, spooky organ, and a kind of "laid-back Mantar" vocal approach with punk rock attitude (and often song structure). It's a little bit black metal, a little bit stoner rock, a little bit punk and a whole lot of fun. The master is decent too, a respectable DR 8.

Come for the silly name stay 'cause they rock.

Vaivatar are Finnish. That seems to be the only information available about the band which is always a great sign!

They play a strange mix of symphonic but raw black metal. It's extremely busy, but extremely melodic with very inorganic sounding synths. It gives them a sound like Havukruunu meets Master Boot Record by way of Castlevania. The guitar distortion and the synths are eerily similar so it can be hard to tell which is which adding another outré layer to the music

It's epic, but mysterious, dense but soaring, and Pay What You want, also a nice master at DR 8.

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Cover art by Bring.

I LOVE Angel Sword but feel like I'm mostly alone in my love of their mix of Motorhead vocals and sloppy Iron Maiden instrumentals, but I don't care. They rule! Their 2016 release Rebels Beyond the Pale is still in heavy rotation for me, and though this is only an EP more Angel Sword is more Angel Sword.

I initially checked them out because of their so bad it's amazing album covers, and wrote them off as inept traditional metal due to some odd chord structures and vocals but I was missing out. Underneath the intentional roughness of their presentation are fantastic songs. They keep it classic; nothing is lighting speed, lots of the songs are in major keys, and many are even about heavy metal. But it's all so well done, just sloppy enough to seem totally genuine but get across the wicked riffs, choruses, and gang vocals.

Things I missed, but apparently no one else did.

Cover art by Paolo Girardi.

2013's Manifest Decimation didn't click with me so I glossed over Nightmare Logic until it was all over year end lists, metal and otherwise. Boy, was I missing out. Power Trip play reverb drenched throwback thrash with pop sensibilities. Every riff and every chorus is so catchy. It's one of 2017's most fun and most relevant releases. While a lot of metal concerns itself with how everything is terrible, Power Trip implore us to get out and do something about it. Thankfully since the album's release many have!

Unfortunately the album's production, reverb drenched though it is, isn't a total throwback. It's mastered incredibly loudly and clips almost as hard as it rips. Musically, though, it's a total win.

Track o' the Year


Not metal, but The Deep is the best single track of the year. Commissioned for the podcast This American Life, it's an homage to Detroit electronic artist Drexciya, extending their mythos wherein the children of pregnant African women thrown overboard from slave ships were born and adapted to life underwater.

It's a microcosm of what made Splendor & Misery so compelling; fascinating concept, exquisite execution, and great production. The production matches the watery theme with beats and accents that sound "bubbly"

In The Deep the water-dwellers go from peaceful existence to climate change worry to full-on war with the "two-legs" from the surface. The track is divided into movements as the situation escalates. It starts of slow and laid back but each revelation towards confrontation and eradication of the two-legs increases the pace of the music and lyrics and adds more layers to the beat.

Though I love Splendor & Misery, it was criticized by some for its lack of immediacy, essentially required a full listen through to properly experience it. The Deep is the answer to that. Five minutes for one of the best, and most immediate "concept albums" of 2017

Fister / Chrch - Split

Fister and Chrch are both known for being as heavy as really heavy things so putting them together on a split should have caused a collision of black holes. But we're still here and the only black hole you'll find

By Matt Hinch.

Artwork by Ethan Lee McCarthy

Fister and Chrch are both known for being as heavy as really heavy things so putting them together on a split should have caused a collision of black holes. But we're still here and the only black hole you'll find is the one you find yourself in (mentally) after succumbing to the darkness both bands foist upon you with one long song each. One might like to think however, that the resultant gravitational waves from this imagined collision influenced the sheer weight this split contains.

Chrch gives us “Temples”, a nearly 17 minute doom ride that begins with a lonesome guitar intro that seems very Pallbearer-like (if we're doing those kinds of comparisons). Even when the heavy comes there's an undertone that creates the same sort of melancholy, yet married to monolithic doom of the kind not meant to annihilate from the core but to destroy from the outside in. Almost six minutes in that overt doom power takes over as thunderous slo-burning riffs pummel at a measured pace. Atmosphere creeps back in and darkens the heart while squeezing tight. It feels sky high and completely buried at the same time. The vile vocals, sparse as they can be, beckon from a tortured place thick with rasp and vile adding another element to the complex brew. Eventually the track returns to that syrupy slog oozing despair with clean vocals barely audible beneath the crash, bringing in yet more atmosphere leading into towering riffs sure to put a scowl on your face. It then pushes back around to that depressive guitar that began the track. Like completing a circle. Perfect for repetition.

If you're not wise to Chrch and love (old) Pallbearer's style of superb heaviness and heart-wrenching melancholy, look no further. Don't get me wrong. They're far from clones. They're just likely to push the same buttons. But push them harder. If you are already wise to Chrch, this latest service should have you primed for their next LP slated for release in April.

Screams most unholy strip the colour off the picture of pain and darkness Fister are trying to paint with the slogging pace of their concussive “riffs” on “The Ditch”. Repetition wears you down under a mechanical power but the vocals inject muscle to fight your way out of the pit. As you get settled into a loaded 20:28 a spectre of colour suddenly materializes sending tendrils of chaos swirling through the fog in the form of a guitar solo straight from the gut. All that buildup and noise turns to dust as Fister change the atmosphere with their own lonesome guitar. Through this more contemplative section, complete with some interesting noise and whispering, it slowly creeps back to hammering, pulsing, life-sustaining doom. Ascendant riffs run head-on into massive chugs and otherworldly vocals. It continuously pounds the listener like a stamping press, forming something dark and twisted. And much less likely to rise up than it was before.

I'm not sure what Fister has in the pipeline but “The Ditch” should give listeners enough to digest for a while anyway.

Get your doom on, folks.

[Got a heads up from Fister: "our new full length will be out in April on Listenable Records!"]

Novareign - Legends

By Calen Henry. Novareign play power metal, the new American style that injects it with traditional metal grit and a bit of death metal heft. They hew closest to other California bands, often sounding like Holy Grail dialed up to Exmortus

By Calen Henry.


Novareign play power metal, the new American style that injects it with traditional metal grit and a bit of death metal heft. They hew closest to other California bands, often sounding like Holy Grail dialed up to Exmortus (and featuring a former member). But they inject a bit of the epic swagger and genre-hopping of recent darlings Unleash the Archers and Aether Realm, as well one of my favourites, Tanagra.

Despite Legends being the band's first full length, they've been together since 2012 and it shows. It's an instrumental fireworks show; drums gallop at lightning speed and riffs fly by. Solos blaze through arpeggios, tapping, and whammy acrobatics.

There is so much going on that, upon first listen, it can all blend together to simply sound like "some neoclassical band", but the album unfolds upon repeated listens revealing all manner of catchy riffs and choruses as well as some diversions into Necrophagist-ey death metal riffing. Impressively, it doesn't come off as self indulgent, but earnest and fun. Novareign don't think they're better than you. They can shred and want you to have as much fun listening as they do shredding.

Front to back, Legends absolutely rips and any fan of the new wave of US power metal will be in for a treat. I get the feeling, though, that the best is yet to come for Novareign . It sometimes sounds like they're pulling of the instrumental acrobatics effortlessly and that they could actually be doing a bit more, compositionally, which is a bit of a back-handed compliment. Their shredding is already top notch, but there are moments of sheer brilliance where an arpeggio or riff goes in a different direction than it first seems and I want to see that creativity pushed further, since their musical skill is amply clear.

Similar to the musicians, it sounds like singer David Marquez is holding back a bit, though there are moments of absolute brilliance that really show what he can do like the sustained note at the end of "Call on the Storm". Across the album, though, he doesn't quite reach the heights of Holy Grail's James Luna, but I think he could.

None of this drags the album down, though. It's a blast, and a really great addition to the US power metal canon but it leaves me feeling like their next record will blow this one away and could shatter expectations the way Apex did, taking an already great band to the top. I'll certainly be along for the ride.

Hound the Wolves - Camera Obscura

By Ulla Roschat. Go get your mind's space gear (head phones), because it's got an invitation by Hound the Wolves to join them on a psychedelic journey through Drone, Doom, Stoner soundscapes with their debut album Camera Obscura.

By Ulla Roschat.

Cover art by Adam Burke

Go get your mind's space gear (head phones), because it's got an invitation by Hound the Wolves to join them on a psychedelic journey through Drone, Doom, Stoner soundscapes with their debut album Camera Obscura.

The journey has four stages and takes about 30 minutes.

The first one, the opening song, "If Lost In Mind" is a kind of an intro song. There doesn't seem to happen very much, but it perfectly lays out what the music is about. There is such a hypnotic power to it that entrances and lures you into its spritualistic vibe, opens your mind and senses for what's to come. Drone based, slow paced, echoing, reverberating sounds, ethereal vocals that seem to come from different directions, surround and enshroud you. A rotating droning sound like a spinning gyroscope, or prayer wheel adds a ritualistic element and it softly lifts you up. The very next moment you get hurled into space and into the next song.

"Masquerade" starts off heavier, faster and more aggressive, but there’s always a spacious open sound and a sense of elusiveness. Soon the song slows down and slides into a mysterious gloomy atmosphere with a dark Drone background and murky melodies. Propelling driving drums and bass and many layers of sounds mount into a climactic build up carrying the song to its glorious end. There's a great Sludge and Post Metal feel to this song with different kinds of dynamics and tensions. Throughout the album  the vocals always match the respective moment's mood perfectly well and contribute to its sense of harmony and completeness, but nowhere on the album this is as striking as it is in this song.

"Omnia In Numeris Sita Sunt" then calms everything down again and floats along a gloomy space road in a slow pace . This song somehow seems to balance out the unsettling mood of its predecessor. The mesmerizing vocals, that repeat the song title in mantra-like chants and the rotating, spinning  sound from the opening song brings back the hypnotic, ritualistic feel of that song.

The 4th and final song "Everything Lies Veiled In Numbers", doesn't only share the title with the 3rd song, just in a different language, it also has a similar kind of structure and dynamics. The mood differs, though, going more into a melancholic direction, but it's no less obscure, gloomy and magical.

Camera Obscura is truly trippy and meditative. The way this five piece band from Portland /OR layer the sounds and melodies, keep it all spacious and elusive, lucid and obscure at the same time, connect it with a genuine spirituality that avoids all cliché, is quite unique, highly emotional and powerful.

The track "Everything Lies veiled In Numbers" is featured on The Wicked Lady Show 158

Basalte - Vertige

By Hera Vidal. Jean Piaget had an interesting theory about object permanence, the concept that objects still exist despite not being observed. He believed that this was one of an infant’s most important accomplishments, as they could understand

By Hera Vidal.


Jean Piaget had an interesting theory about object permanence, the concept that objects still exist despite not being observed. He believed that this was one of an infant’s most important accomplishments, as they could understand that objects had a separate, observable existence. Of course, in the concept of permanence as a whole, nihilism as a philosophy states that nothing has a real existence, even the words that are being written at this moment. In metaphysics, nihilism states that there might be no concrete objects at all, and, if there were, they might not be replaced. This is one of the main concepts Basalte explores on Vertige (“vertigo”), an album that seems to convey the sense that nothing is permanent.

Fin de siècle funèbre, un cadavre tourne le dos au ciel,
creuse vers ses semblables, y cherchant son désespoir.

Vertige starts dissonantly, with random piano notes being played to cover up the sound of the guitar’s feedback slowly creeps from the album. As the guitar gets louder and the piano becomes more atonal, the listener can sense that there is a certain amount of uneasiness and uncertainty that clouds the album’s mood. This is what you will hear for the rest of the album, even as the music lapses into frenzied rhythms that mirror rage and anger. The atmosphere is at work here; even with the blast beats and the howling vocals, it’s the soft, melodic undertones that truly captures the emotions being conveyed. It also adds some interesting tones that act as a cue for the listener to get a sense of what’s going, even with the language barrier. For example, on the song “Acouphène”, there is a persistent ringing that accompanies the song before the main melody fully sinks in. The ringing remains in the background; you can only hope it ends quickly before getting some Advil to cure the headache you can get from the ringing. This is one of the many effect the album has to have the listener completely listen to the album and bask in its story. It also flows well, allowing for the album to play in one smooth sitting, although I don’t think it should be played that way.

Another concept that caught my attention was structural; there are four stories being told on the album. From what happens to a corpse after it has been buried (“Ce que le corps doit au sol”) to the persistent ringing in your ears that leads to sleepwalking and insanity (“Acouphène”), each vignette shows how something can lack permanence. A corpse rots away; the ringing in your ears can be covered by either another sound or, in this case, death; a vial is emptied of its contents; the disappearance of euphoria after the body has metabolized a drug’s effects. This is an album that took the concept of metaphysical nihilism and ran with it, as there is nothing that can replace what has been lost. In the universe the album creates, things sway and change, but lose their permanence. They are abstract and hard to conceptualize, leading to a dizziness that becomes overwhelming. You aren’t fast enough to catch the changes; any sudden movement leads to vertigo, and you are left with the dissonance of it all.

All in all, Vertige is an album filled with a density that requires multiple listens to fully grasp what’s going on. Its concept is highly abstract but understandable, and it requires your full attention. However, choose to selectively listen to parts of the album, and the atmosphere of the album changes. It’s compelling and worth the runtime. Come for the music, stay for the metaphysical nihilism.

Dream Tröll - The Witch's Curse

By Bathy Kates. Hello metal warriors! Long time, no see! I’m back to tell you about a band I wrote about many moons ago on Metal Bandcamp: Dream Troll. Hailing from Leeds, England, the band delivered a righteous offering of traditional metal

By Bathy Kates.


Hello metal warriors! Long time, no see! I’m back to tell you about a band I wrote about many moons ago on Metal Bandcamp: Dream Troll. Hailing from Leeds, England, the band delivered a righteous offering of traditional metal that added a sleek coating to the Barbarian metal sound. The Knight of Rebellion was like Iron Maiden and Manilla Road running on Windows 10. And guys, I have to be honest with you right now. Start actively supporting this band right now, because they are going to be the next big thing in traditional and power metal. I promise you. With this new EP, The Witch’s Curse, the band strikes while the iron (maiden?) is hot and proves that their debut was no fluke.

A revelation I had about Dream Tröll while listening to The Witch’s Curse for the first time that I did not include in my original write-up is that the band really isn’t a full-on “throwback” act. It’s subtle, but the band knows how to make their music sound modern both in composition and in production. This hit me during the first track on the EP, “In The Name of Isabella”, where the music breaks down into a bit of a hard rock groove as new vocalist, Paul Walsh, sings “Listen up boy you've only got one chance…”, and suddenly we’re barely in a metal song anymore. Of course, the mighty riffs returns full blast but the short detour adds so much to the character of the music. Hell, there’s even some tasteful cowbell on this thing in later tracks. The same tight production from Rebellion also adds to the more modern approach to a classic sound.

Witch’s Curse is a bit more theatrical than Rebellion. Where their debut album, despite the title, had orderly and neat hooks, Walsh adds some grit and spirit to his lyrical delivery, painting a vibrant picture of the medieval tales and occult drama. To further assist their epic storytelling, their long songwriting is back and better than ever. Dream Tröll never just lets a song write itself with boring, generic riffs. Each section of the song is expertly crafted to fit the words and story. There’s so many harmonies, diverse riff choices, clean sections, and a thrilling rhythm section. It’s actually very reminiscent of Blind Guardian’s approach to their music, especially in their later albums. It’s not that their writing the most dense and complex music of all time. Dream Tröll , like Olbrich and Kursch, simply has a firm grip on their sound and know exactly how to paint the story with the talent that they possess.

This EP will certainly give fans of Knight of Rebellion something more to chew on while they wait for the full follow-up from Dream Tröll. Keep an eye on these guys and check out their absolutely brilliant traditional heavy metal on their Bandcamp page. You will be singing along in no time.

Tints of Obsidian - What You Missed in 2017

By Justin C. Much like the Christmas shopping season, sometimes it seems like the end-of-year album lists come earlier and earlier each year. Inevitably, this means some otherwise excellent albums released in November and December get lost in the shuffle.

By Justin C.

Much like the Christmas shopping season, sometimes it seems like the end-of-year album lists come earlier and earlier each year. Inevitably, this means some otherwise excellent albums released in November and December get lost in the shuffle. I'm here to educate you on what you weren't paying attention to: two outstanding splits from bands known and unknown and a full-length from a newcomer.


In late November, black metal bands Barshasketh and Outre released a split called Sein / Zeit. We haven't talked about Barshasketh around here since way back in 2011, which is a shame because they've made some fine albums since then, including their latest full length, Ophidian Henosis. For this split, Barshasketh contribute the Being ("Sein"). Their black metal here has a touch of dissonance and a driving energy. The rhythm is sometimes chunky, sometimes galloping, but always addictive.

Outre brings the Time ("Zeit") and an additional track, and from the first off-kilter, thrashy strains of "Zeit," you can tell that they're a bit more zany in their approach. Is zaniness allowed in black metal? I say yes. The jangly chords and manic vocals add a bit of playfulness to the full-speed meanness in the riffing, and it's a great combination. I wasn't familiar with Outre before this, but I'm going to check out their back catalog.

Siberian Hell Sounds has, thus far in their career, produced short blasts of blackened, crusty noise, with songs usually hovering around the three-minute mark. When I saw that they contributed one, 20-minute-long song to a split with Convulsing, I was worried. Could their signature sound be extended to funeral doom lengths without getting tedious? The answer is yes. Who would have guessed that the band had ambitions to make a damn mini-epic with what I'd actually call legitimate movements while never taking their foot off the gas in terms of intensity?

Convulsing's track is similar in scope and sound, although if anything, their rough parts sound even nastier, although perhaps that's just in contrast with the delicate, barely-there ambient sections, doomy sections, and slow-creepy-death sections, to name just a few of the fascinating interludes contained in this one, long track. Like Outre, Convulsing is another band I need to check out in more detail. This split was another late November release that I feel like slipped by too many people.

In December--if you'd been paying attention--Dsknt brought war to your ears (and sometimes to vowels) with their album PhSPHR Entropy. Their style is definitely bottom heavy, pairing low growls with a bass-heavy production. For reasons I probably can’t defend in a musicological sense, I’m put in mind of Portal--I think they share a dense muscularity, but the big difference is that Dsknt doesn’t employ Portal’s suffocating impenetrability and focuses on songs that mere mortals can comprehend. I couldn't resist the dissonant jabs of guitar overlaying the black-death churn on album opener "Exhaling Dust," and the rest of the album is equally compelling.

Hooded Menace - Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed

By Calen Henry. Hooded Menace's new LP grabbed me from the first riff. On Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed they dive deep into doom and gloom creating a slab of devastating Gothic tinged death doom laced with melody and dripping

By Calen Henry.

Cover art by Adam Burke.

Hooded Menace's new LP grabbed me from the first riff. On Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed they dive deep into doom and gloom creating a slab of devastating Gothic tinged death doom laced with melody and dripping with atmosphere. It's the aural equivalent of a decaying manor, once stately rooms still as death, their lace hangings decayed and still, layers of grime hiding the once grand trappings.

The album opens with the two guitars building a slow melody, the kind that usually lasts a few seconds before thundering into a massive HM-2 powered Swedeath riff. But in "Sempiternal Grotesqueries" the riff slowly builds, then morphs into another plodding melodic riff before it picks up into a death stomp.

For a 40 minute record Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed is delightfully unhurried, reveling in every grotesque riff and lingering lead. Despite the pace there's never a dull moment. Tempos vary from funeral doom to slightly more mid-tempo and dual guitar interplay morphs into tomb-shaking death and even into some stomping deathrock riffs with slightly shimmering almost clean leads.

Though most of the members changed since the last album the band is and always has been Lasse Pyykkö's project with him writing and arranging all the material. The vocalist is new which changes the sound a bit, but musically it fits the band's catalog, just a deeper down the Gothic doom rabbit hole. It sounds like Ghost's take on death doom, and indeed it was mixed and mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano who handled Ghost's Opus Eponymous. The rest of the presentation fits the Gothic shift. Tracks, and indeed the album itself could have been named by an AI picking the most Gothic words in the most Gothic sequence.

The production, for the most part, is excellent and enhances the atmoshere. The drums are thunderous and the guitar tone, just a hair below "Sunlight Studios", is devastating on riffs and darkly pretty on leads. The master, though is quite loud and it does clip occasionally. It's not hugely problematic but an album of such massive songs deserves a more dynamic master like Vainaja's vinyl masters.

With Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed Hooded Menace have created a record with everything I didn't know I wanted from death doom. Longtime fans should also be pleased as the band hasn't drastically altered their sound, simply improving the formula they had already laid down.

[Note: in September, at the Kill-Town Death Fest 2018, you can hear Hooded Menace dig into the past and play their 2008 debut Fulfill the Curse.]