Angist - Circle of Suffering

Art by Christian Sloan Hall

Angist is from Iceland and Circle of Suffering is an EP of uncompromising death metal. They band take in many influences, a little doom, a little black, a little old-school - the latter mainly in the great live sounding drumming - and a little experimental. All this is mixed into a cohesive and atmospheric sound. It may not be entirely original, but Angist carve their own path in between the swe-death clones and the current crop of death/doom bands.

The growls of Edda Tegeder Óskarsdóttir are deep and throaty, and the interplay between her and lead guitarist Gyða Hrund Þorvaldsdóttir is fluid; as can be witnessed in this live video from Wacken Metal Battle 2012.



No Clean Singing published an interesting interview with three of the four members of Angist. Read it and listen to some excellent death metal below.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Scum Guilt - Enslaved

Intricate this, atmospheric that. Multi-layered, post. Stoner, doom, progressive, haunting. I need a palate cleanser, and Enslaved by Scum Guilt will do just fine. 9 tracks of pissed off grindcore in the classic Napalm death vein. Fast, furious, unhinged, and with a great guitar tone. Click that player, and feel the blood rushing the next 10 minutes of your life.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Adrift for Days - Come Midnight​.​.​.

Written by Ulla Roschat.


Come Midnight... (2012) is the second album of the five piece psychedelic/drone/doom band Adrift for Days (formed in 2009) from Sydney/Australia. It consists of 6 songs with a total playing time of about 71 minutes.

The album is a psychedelic journey through soundscapes of extreme contrasts, contrasts in quietness and loudness, in acoustic fragility and massive walls of droning distortion, in enchanting melodies and crushing riffs. These contrasts may unfold in an agonizingly slow build up weaving a multi-layered texture of sound with threads made of psychedelic, drone, sludge and post metal elements, or it may just hit you unprepared with a crushing riff coming out of nowhere.

There’s an underlying eerie atmosphere throughout the entire album created by the incredibly beautiful melancholic melodies, the menacingly driving tribal rhythms, the echoing sounds barely locatable - from far away or from inside your mind?, and of course the creeping doomy heaviness and crushing destruction.

And despite all the contrasts and many different elements the album never sounds forced or glutted. Instead it simply takes over your mind from the first sound and won’t let it go until the last one faded away. It is bracingly experimental, organic, progressive, unpredictable... and with vocals to die for.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]