2020 Albums

Album Review: Draconian – “Under a Godless Veil” 9.5/10 (Doom Metal)

This year has been a flourishing year for doom metal as several of the Doom giants have released their masterpieces, among whom we can name My Dying Bride’s The Ghost of Orion, Paradise Lost’s Obsidian and Pallbearer’s Forgotten Days. But above all, I had been looking forward to listening to Draconian. They have always been an inimitable band to me and their signature gothic doom death metal sound has enthralled me ever since I discovered them more than a decade ago with their album Turning Season Within (2008), where I listened to “When I Wake” until my ears, as well as my heart, started to bleed. Album after album, they have stamped themselves upon the massive corpus of Doom Metal. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Shaidar Logoth – “Chapter III: The Void God” 9/10 (Black Metal)

The fact that I wound up reviewing this album is serendipitous for two reasons. 1) Both myself and the band members live in Minneapolis, MN (no, I’ve never met them) 2) They are named after a city in the WHEEL OF TIME series by Robert Jordan (& Brandon Sanderson). While I’ve never read this particular book series, I’m a huge nerd for Adult Fantasy novels. I’ve listened to this album many times over the past few weeks, savoring all the different shades of black that this band has to offer. […]

Black Metal

Album Review: Hastio – Self-Titled 8 (Black Metal)

I was first introduced to Hastio a few days ago by a close friend who runs an underground tape trading network, I know right? Sounds like some fight club style shit, but I digress, lets not lose focus here. Since my 1st listen to their self-titled album these guys have been stuck on repeat. Some of my favorite tracks on their self-titled album include “Yog Sothoth (El señor de la galaxia)” and “Isengard.” When I was considering how to start this review I thought to myself I need to point out the very obvious hardcore punk influences you can hear throughout the album. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Serpent Column – “Kathodos” 8.5/10 (Black Metal)

Upon first listen, I’m immediately reminded of the first time that I listened to some of the “catchier” tracks off of DeathSpell Omega’s Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice. There’s a lot of dissonance and discordance going on in this album and Theophonos – the sole member of Serpent Column – delivers it in full dose on this album. In fact, he goes perhaps even one step further by starting the opening track “Departure of Splinters” in what sounds like the middle of a song, like changing dials on a radio station and hearing the tail-end of a really cool Black Metal song. Then, in comes a funky head-bobbing rhythm with some off-kilter drums and a toe-tapping beat. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Fumarole – “Valley Of Ten Thousand Smokes” 9/10 (Stoner Doom)

Brisbane’s Fumarole have been around since 2018. They dropped the “Mountain” EP in 2018 and have released 3 singles leading up to the ambitious concept album “ Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes”. The album was recorded and mixed by Scott French of Lovestreet Studios, Gold Coast. Mastered by Haldor Grunberg of Satanic Audio in Poland, this is a great sounding album that excellently captures the live prowess of the band and is dripping in classic stoner goodness. Got a light? […]

Interviews

Interview: James McBain from Hellripper

Scottish one-man band Hellripper is absolutely tearing it up at the moment with The Affair of the Poisons, undoubtedly one of the coolest Metal releases of 2020. Steve, from Aeons Abyss, was very grateful that James McBain, the man who is Hellripper, took some from his hectic schedule to answer a few questions about the release. […]