2020 Albums

2020 Albums

Album Review: Khan – “Monsoons” 8/10 (Stoner/Prog)

January 12, 2021 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

Here I am, fumbling through the digital ether of Spotify again. Another day at work, another familiar album, another podcast. Tap, skip, scroll, skip, scroll. Then my little eye spies a dreary sky, with, wait, what is that? A melting planet amongst the clouds? Yup, sign me up. Tap. I’m instantly rewarded with a rubbery, chubby bass line sliding around under a shuffling drum groove. You got me guys. In chimes the guitar. I’ve found a chill place to let my mind float off through the planetary clouds while the rest of me does whatever earthly chores I’m stuck with. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Hatebreed – “Weight Of The False Self” 7.8/10 (Hardcore)

December 4, 2020 zaxrecordreviews

I’m back, and my black metal streak is over. What ended it? Well… Hatebreed! Hatebreed are a bit of a contentious band, cause they have what I’ve dubbed the “Lamb Of God problem.” They have a considerable and devoted fanbase, but generally aren’t exactly critical darlings due to sorta kinda releasing the same album over and over again. Like Lamb Of God, however, I happen to like this pony’s one trick. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Undergang – “Aldrig i livet” 9.4/10 (Death Metal)

November 15, 2020 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

Fun. A lot of fun. There’s something Undergang does in their writing that draws you into it with all of your enthusiasm. Some parts of this had me moving like the metal version of those goth kids dancing at the underpass or the wacky waving inflatable tube man. On the other hand, they managed a few times to descend into an utter dirge that will tickle your dark. It’s a varied album that comes off as an intelligent deconstruction of death metal rather than blind worship of it. They have a deep understanding of old death, doom and grind – far beyond my own. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Depravity – “Grand Malevolence” 9/10 (Death Metal)

November 15, 2020 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

Grand Malevolence is the death metal album I’ve been waiting for this year. Many have come and gone, some solid albums but even with Necrot and Ulcerate releasing huge albums I was still reserving my fandom for something specific and until now, undefined. It’s a big boy, with many five minute songs making up forty-nine minutes total but not a minute is wasted. Depravity are a machine that will keep force feeding you your own shit the whole time then at the end you’ll doff your hat and thank them. […]

2020 Albums

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

November 6, 2020 zaxrecordreviews

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)

November 3, 2020 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

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. […]