Album Reviews

Floridian-based death metal heavyweight Obituary seems to capture the real core of the band’s classic sound on the 11th album “Dying of Everything” out via Relapse Records on January 13th, 2023. Obituary made a name for themselves in the death metal genre for being one of the legendary bands in the U.S. Since then, they’ve made an impact on fans around the world. Obituary’s early albums “Slowly we Rot” and “Cause of Death” were both great classics from the past and will always remain the best albums in the band’s discography. Despite the great effort, Obituary hasn’t changed in the last three and half decades each studio album was well received by the fans.
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Satanic Warmaster is one of the prominent names in the Finnish black metal scene, founded in 1998 by the multi-instrumentalist Werwolf (Grieve, True Werwolf, Vargrav, Orlok, and ex-Horna). Eight years after the last album “Fimbulwinter” which was released in 2014, the band returns with the sixth album “Aamongandr” released via Werewolf Records on December 30th, 2022. Although a lot has changed in the band’s direction over the past years, Satanic Warmaster demonstrates the raw aesthetics of Finnish black metal aggression. The new album includes Werwolf (guitars, vocals), and several guest session musicians such as Necroterror (bass), Nattravn (guitars), Grond (drums, percussion), and, Trollhorn (keyboards).
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With all mastery achieved in the first studio album “Behaft Bekert” mastermind Nahdrut Herlarecks (all instruments) moves from the mystical and medieval realm to a grander saga. The second full-length album “Muspilli” was released by Ván Records on September 20th, 2022. We get to hear this dark side of Erzfeynd from the opening intro “Fewerflam” is a beautiful piece of ambient soundscapes combined with the synth instrument and chiming bells.
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Erzfeynd is a German black metal outfit helmed by the multi-instrumentalist Nahdrut Herlarecks, who brings a spellbinding performance on the full-length album “Behaft Bekert”. Erzfeynd’s music offers mystical landscapes that perfectly match with the Norwegian black metal bands like Gehenna. The keyboards are catchy enough to capture the listener, but the creativity of the composition is truly one of a kind. Although the synth plays an important role in adding a dark aura to the songs, the music is steered with harsh and cut throating vocals driven by sharp tremolos to put you under the spell.
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Acephalix is a death metal band that is based in San Francisco, the quintet now returns with the 4th album titled “Theothanatology” released on September 30th via the giant label 20 Buck Spin. The band was formed in 2007 and was on a hiatus from 2011-2015, although they’re not very different from their peers Acephalix incorporates a dose of grooves with the guitars having a crusty sound. The line-up consists of vocalist Daniel Butler (Vastum), drummer David Benson (Depressor), bassist Erika Osterhout (Aysmal Dimensions, Chthonic Deity), and guitarists Adam Camara and Adam Walker.
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I’m always a sucker for a good symphonic style of black metal music, and recently I came across the sophomore release “I Nordisk Vredeslusta” from the Swedish act Gnipahålan, which is one of the many side project bands founded by the Swedish musician Swartadapuz. According to the old Norse mythology, Gnipahellir is the name of a mystical cave, musically, Swartadapuz (guitars, bass, and keyboards) and the German drummer Taaken joined forces to create a galactic style of symphonic black metal.
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As promised in the first part of this year, come winter we are seeing the next instalment of the Mysterium trilogy from the Dutch death doom legends Celestial Season. Firstly, the artwork is awesome. The gloomy, green hued painting of a shrouded statue fits the band’s melancholic sound a lot better in my opinion than the dragon motif from the previous record. Even though its fiery red of course reflected the more fired up, slightly more uptempo aspect of that record.
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Almost a year ago international atmospheric doom/death act Dream Unending released its debut album 'Tide Turns Eternal'. Along many bands in the doom-death metal genre, drummer/vocalist Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms) and guitarist/bassist Derrick Vella (Outer Heaven, Tomb Mold) has pushed the genre's boundaries into a more atmospheric direction. The sophomore release 'Song of Salvation' opens the doorway for more ethereal sounds, as the duo emphasizes a tranquil mood and dreamy atmosphere.
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With their previous album ‘How it Feels to Be Lost’, they said goodbye to a poppier era of the band and brought back the old school melodic metalcore and post hardcore vibe that the band had in its earlier days. Let’s see how that turns out in their brand-new album ‘Complete Collapse’.
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Swedish symphonic metal outfit Therion is back with the second installment of the trilogy “Leviathan II” released on October 28th via Nuclear Blast Records. In terms of the operatic scale and sonic spectacle, the 18th studio album mixes mythological and mystical themes which have become the trademark of the mastermind Christofer Johnsson. While each of the band’s past albums like “Vovin” sprawled in the epic fantasy world of myths and occult, the same can be said for "Leviathan II". Therion’s musical legacy gradually progressed over the years, in addition to the fusion of classic heavy metal and the orchestral fortes that yield a magical sound and a distinctive persona.
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