2018 albums

Album Review: OVER POWER – Ruination 9 (Grindcore)

OVER POWER are an Indonesian death grind trio with an addictive grindcore sound, brace and behold the downstrokes and audio samples. I have a soft spot for this style of music, it’s so rooted in having a good time that I can’t bring myself to scrutinize it. Ruination is a mosh a minute and a head-nodder at the very least. There’s some interesting takes on here, especially vocally. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Soul Of Anubis – The Last Journey 6.8 (Thrash Metal)

I’m not a big fan of thrash but through recently listening to Coroner and now this, progressive thrash may be the most digestible format for me. It kills a lot of the boring and repetitive elements that are considered a structural. Hailing from Portugal, Soul Of Anubis are a super loud trio – there’s a thickness that shouldn’t be afforded to so few people. They also look super charming and approachable, just look at the picture below. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Horrific Demise – Excruciating Extermination 8.8 (Brutal Death)

I can’t imagine this album not being up to the standards of the modern metalhead. It’s a good length with a distinct sound drawing from both old school and modern influences. It doesn’t use trendy techniques or gimmicks, it just nails down some solid as fuck death metal. It has good presentation and perfect production. Horrific Demise could very quickly become a heavy hitter within the metal scene, especially with such early label support from Comatose Music. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Gurt – Bongs Of Praise 7 (Stoner Doom)

Gurt are back, a sludgy UK band I’ve posted on IG in the past for their wonderful album covers, something they’ve kept consistent. Presentation is an important thing to Gurt and we are all rewarded for this. They have a unique style that’s difficult to pin down with elements varying between doom metal, death rock and punk and just a lot. They are a lot. Bongs Of Praise in particular is a weed fuelled doom/sludge album that will be a sure hit for stoner doom fans. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: The Callous Daoboys – Die On Mars 9 (Mathcore)

You know that feeling when you hear about an album and know immediately that it will be right up your ally? That’s how I was with this new Callous Daoboys record. These guys are an Atlanta, Georgia based mathcore band. Before I get into the album, I wanna preface this by saying, this will not be for everybody. This album is very weird and chaotic. It’s a niche that not everyone will vibe with, and I get that. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Tool – Fear Inoculum 8.5 (Prog)

This is no doubt a divisive release and there’s a lot of context to consider such as a subversive band history. I’ve always considered Tool to be reliable, I don’t think they’ve ever released a bad album but I can definitely see how their fanbase tainted their image in the social media age. Like many frontmen in the history of music, Maynard has had plenty of cringey moments that get stuck in the spotlight. On a purely musical level, the decades of experience and their connection to the music is still apparent and at the bare minimum is a stellar performance. The question is, whether or not you will care about it I guess. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Knocked Loose – A Different Kind Of Blue 9.2 (Hardcore)

A Different Shade Of Blue is a really appropriate album for 2019. You can hear the exhaustion and frustration in every bit of the music, this isn’t aimless-angry that the metallic hardcore scene is often guilty of. If blue is melancholy then this is something else, a late stage of melancholy brought on by living in a fucked world. This kind of blue is tragic and disgusting. It’s a bruise on the world and our very souls. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Rotting Christ – The Heretics 8.6 (Black Metal)

On the list of countries with an extended history of black metal, Greece would definitely not be among the first options that would come to mind. Yet, their banner-raisers Rotting Christ, hailing from Athens for over three decades, have ever since been a solid name of estimable repute within the community. They recently released their 13th offering, so aptly named The Heretics. As the name suggests and as you might expect, the whole album revolves around the notion of heresy; kind of an accolade to those freethinkers and revolutionaries of enlightenment who have, through their payment in blood or at the cost of their own sanity, laid the foundations of modern free speech. From Nietzsche to Voltaire and everything in between. […]