Album Reviews

Greek black metal stalwarts Funeral Storm returns with their sophomore offering 'Chthonic Invocations' out via Hell's Headbangers Records on May 10th, 2024, five years after releasing their stellar first full-length album 'Arcane Mysteries' which manifested its grim unholy traits of true Hellenic black metal by spreading its occult mysticism in the classic method of bands like Rotting Christ and Varathron.
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It’s hard to find a hybrid style of operatic and symphonic black metal nowadays, but it takes some lofty aesthetic for a band like Folterkammer (German word for torture chamber) to present something worthy to the table when these syntheses are combined into one skillful travesty boasted with fresh and unbridled operatic brilliance. The sophomore 'Weibermacht' is musically compelling in a baroque, European way that mixes the interchanging vocal pitches of the talented Swiss female singer Andromeda Anarchia who archives excellent vocal performance. The songs on the album are draped in the themes of anti-religion and an elaborate baroque atmosphere.
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The legacy of the Hellenic black metal masters Rotting Christ has never waned through time. Since the onset in 1987 Sakis Tolis (guitars, vocals) inspired generations of bands in Greece and the international arena. The enduring style of black metal was prominent in their early studio albums like 'Thy Mighty Contract' and 'Non Serviam' the evil façade then had gone through some change in direction towards gothic signature melodies. The 14th studio album 'Pro Xristou' maintains their professional skills and carries on in the direction of the predecessor 'The Heretics', but with compelling song structures.
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It’s been 4 years since ‘2020’, synth rock duo Zombi’s latest regular album dedicated to that doomed year of the pandemic. Now, that doesn’t mean they’ve been lazy or took a sabbatical or anything. They’ve actually been quite prolific under the guise of Zombi and friends. This offshoot incarnation could best be described as the imaginary house band of the Zombi Loveboat. I kid you not. With a range of covers and a slew of revolving guest appearances, they took on sugar sweet, velveteen tunes like “Captain of Her Heart’ and 'Eye in the Sky'. Moreover, these were executed rather faithfully to the originals and not just for laughs, even though you can clearly hear they were having loads of fun with it.
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Austin, Texas-based symphonic black metal entity Vesperian Sorrow was formed in 1997. It is one of the very first bands from the U.S. to parade into the symphonic and orchestral. Vesperian Sorrow debuted its first studio album 'Beyond the Cursed Eclipse' in the late '90s era and thus found its niche that was inspired by Norwegian black metal acts. The band had released four studio albums and now returns with its fifth studio album 'Awaken the Greylight' out on April 26th through Black Lion Records.
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While She Sleeps is usually known for their heavy albums. Not only because they create melodic metalcore, but because they tend to talk about heavy subjects. Those two things usually go together on a While She Sleeps album. Let's see what 'Self Hell' has to offer us.

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Back in the '90s, Deicide was one of the mainstays of U.S. death metal. Their brand of brutality and blasphemous lyrics has defined them as unholy and rebellious. Thirty years and counting Glenn Benton still wields his influence on other bands in the genre, although the mid-discography albums were too different to fit the savage style of classic albums like 'Deicide', 'Legion' and 'Once upon the Cross'. However, recent albums like the 2018 'Overtures of Blasphemy' presented the trademarks of the early albums that brought back the inspiration and the barbaric vocal delivery.
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Many death metal bands in our modern era have kept their style within the boundaries of their technical and symphonic range and the Vancouver quartet Atræ Bilis happens to be one of these bands. Their musical forms and standards further pushed the thresholds to extend the capabilities, but the second album 'Aumicide' released via 20 Buck Spin on April 24th, 2024, gets them back to action.
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Green Day is back with their new album 'Saviors' that came out on January 19th, 2024. Another album released in an election year that has at least one song that shows disagreement with how things are going in politics right now in the USA. Lets see what other things Green Day has to tell us with their 14th album.
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The musical chronology of Darkthrone can be divided into three main eras: although the band initially started as a death metal band the first era was when they were hailed as one of Norway’s true black metal bands. Then came the crust-punk and the change of style. In that particular timeline Fenriz (drums, vocals, guitars and bass) and Nocturno Culto (vocals, guitar and bass) defined a new cultivated signature style of heavy/black/doom metal. These timelines represented a varied musical direction that highlighted some of the best works in their career. However, albums like 'Circle the Wagons', 'The Underground Resistance' and 'Old Star' were deemed to be old school metal.
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