Kep Reviews

2021

Album Review: Beleth – “Silent Genesis” 5.5/10 (Death/Groove)

June 19, 2021 Kep

During the death metal renaissance that’s been happening over the last couple of years it feels like a few other related styles have all but fallen by the wayside. Groove metal is one of these, with releases hitting here and there but all being overshadowed by a particularly strong stretch for the big brother subgenre. Maybe that’s due to a lack of notable new blood, or the fact that the titans of groove metal are all in their senior years in the scene now […]

2021

Album Review: Thūn – “Thūn” 9/10 (Death Doom)

June 16, 2021 Kep

I’m a sucker for a concept album. I love it when a band writes a damn good story. I worship Coheed and Cambria, I eat up everything that Hideous Divinity releases, Opeth’s My Arms, Your Hearse is one of my favorite records of all time, and what metalhead hasn’t listened to King Diamond’s Abigail and adored every second? I’m also a huge fan of Bull Elephant, the anonymous UK-based collective that has released two amazing progressive doom epics, the first two of a planned trilogy. The story is basically this: Indiana Jones flavored with Lovecraft, plenty of Nazi bad guys, and necromancy. It’s a hell of a fun time.  […]

2021

Album Review: Dimwind – “Slow Wave Violence” 9/10 (Post Metal)

June 4, 2021 Kep

Some albums take you on a journey, and sometimes you don’t even realize that you’ve started one until suddenly something in the music shows that you’re not at home anymore. A moment catches the ear and all at once you look around and see not your bedroom, or your office, or the gym, but a vast ocean full of cloudy haze, or a stormy mountainscape covered in wind and rain, or an oppressive cave mouth yawning open before you. That’s what happened to me on my first listen to Slow Wave Violence. It was the opening of track 3, “Slow Wave Deceit”, that opened my eyes to the journey. […]

2021

Album Review: Nevropathy – “The Deafening” 7/10 (Black Metal)

May 26, 2021 Kep

We listen to music for lots of reasons. One of those is the experience of the authentic expression of the artist; sometimes we want to hear the soul of the human being on the other side of the recording. It’s rewarding to feel what they feel, especially when the artist or album prioritizes that authenticity. Nevropathy is one of those artists, and debut The Deafening is one of those albums. […]

2021

Album Review: Unfathomable Ruination – “Decennium Ruinae” 9/10 (Brutal Death)

May 15, 2021 Kep

Few bands in the technical brutal death metal scene are as reliable as London-based five-piece Unfathomable Ruination. Formed in 2010, they’ve cranked out three utterly fantastic full-length albums, including 2019’s Enraged & Unbound, plus an equally solid EP. This 11-year run of quality is particularly impressive when you consider that only drummer Doug Anderson and guitarist Daniel Herrera remain from the original lineup; the band has had several personnel adjustments, including three different vocalists. They’ve never lost their signature sound, though, which is astoundingly heavy, intensely fast, and mindblowingly technical. That applies 100% to new EP Decennium Ruinae, due out on May 28, which is every bit as excellent as we would expect. […]

2021

Album Review: Wreche – “All My Dreams Came True” 8/10 (Black Metal)

May 12, 2021 Kep

When someday I teach a college course on heavy metal, one of the things I’ll cover on the first day of class is the basic instrumentation of the style: guitar(s), bass, vocals, drums. Some bands drop vocals from the standard lineup (Animals as Leaders, Behold the Arctopus), some drop the bass (Eremit, formerly Pig Destroyer), and some will even drop the guitar (Bell Witch, Necromantia). Autarkh even blew minds earlier this year by using DJ-style beats instead of a drumkit.  […]