Album Reviews

Finnish black metal duo Moonfall was formed in 2008, but soon vanished to spawn again in 2019. The lineup consists of Goatprayer and Black Moon Necromancer, a member of the current iteration of legendary black metal act Beherit. Moonfall’s debut full-length album “Odes to the Ritual Hills” presents two long tracks and clocks in twenty-seven minutes to provide a perfect ritual for summoning the demons.
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Swedish death metal purveyors LIK has spearheaded the Stockholm underground scene for over a decade, the fourth studio album “Necro”, to be released via Metal Blade Records, roars absolute aggression. LIK pursues high-stakes games to deliver another outstanding record. The quartet continues to sound brutal and raw as they provide a rotten counterpoint to the likes of Entombed and Dismember with the ten tracks packing propelling force of HM-2 distortion, all seemed to be setting an old-school Swedish sound for uncompromising brutality.
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The British Columbia ensemble Tribunal brought a sort of semblance to the 90s gothic doom, although there aren’t many bands that play this kind of music today, Tribunal perfectly fit to the comparison of bands like Estatic Fear, My Dying Bride and Dismal Euphony. The quintet returns with the follow-up album “In Penitence and Ruin” to the debut full-length “The Weight of Remembrance”. The second outing is a fine theatre of ethereal melodies and solemn doom requiem to thy severed heart, that defines this majestic and sorrowful opus.
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For the past two decades or so, it sort of been perpetually up in the air whether Nortt is actually still active or not. After ‘Galgenfrist’ in 2007 it had gone very quiet for this minimalistic black funeral doom act for years on end. Considering the preceding decade constituted a fairly prolific output from this one man project, this sudden silence led one to believe the man had just hung up his guitar on the proverbial weeping willow.
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If you’re planning to go to the Alcatraz festival this summer and your metallurgic interest lies on the more leftfield part of the spectrum, then be sure to check out this Italian act Messa. Since their inception about a decade ago Messa, which incidentally translates as “mass” from Italian, has sprouted three records, beginning with ‘The Belfry’ in 2000 and followed by ‘Feast for Water’ and ‘Close’ in 2022, not counting the ‘Live at Roadburn’ rendition from 2 years ago.

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Birmingham-based death metal formation Benediction returns with an aggressive and brutal record. Ninth album “Ravage of Empires”, to be released via Nuclear Blast on April 4th, 2025. Benediction unleash a brute force with old-school rawness and ravaging full energy. From the sinister brutality of “Transcend the Rubicon” to the chugging grooves of “Grind Bastards” and the rejuvenating 2020 comeback album “Scriptures”, Benediction proved to be among the top forerunners of British death metal bands besides Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death and Cancer.
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Dynazty is lead by vocalist Nils Molin, who you might have heard as the clean singer in Amaranthe. Dynazty is his original band, bringing melodic heavy metal with clean vocals and synth elements. Their latest album 'Game of Faces' released on valentines day 2025. Lets see what it brings us!
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For the past handful of years, we've been closely following one of the most promising new bands of Finland, which for now has been mostly captivating crowds in Finland and recently the Netherlands, but are about to burst out of their cocoon towards the rest of the world. Luna Kills has been impressing us with their modern sound where they use elements of alternative rock and metal greats and vocalist Lotta's unique voice delivers a cocktail that makes them stand out anywhere their music is played. Last year, they signed to renown label SharpTone Records, joining a roster of bands that stands for a big part for the future of heavy music, and now they're here with their brand-new full-length 'DEATHMATCH' as a herald for their world domination!
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Many Norwegian black metal bands gained prosperity in the mid-nineties and sowed fruition of their musical conception within the spectrum of symphonic and melodic black metal but remained overlooked. When the underground metal scene witnessed the eminence of Norwegian black metal bands, Mactätus was a prime example of what Norway could offer to fans of Gehenna and Ragnarok. While their style was praised because of the refined level of song structure and the raw composition, Mactätus produced several albums and were best remembered with the debut full-length album “Blot” and "Provenance of Cruelty”. Unfortunately, the band disbanded and disappearing entirely from the underground scene after the release of their fourth album "Suicide".
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Cerebral Rot’s two albums sent shock waves through the underground death metal scene. Unfortunately, for some reason, the band decided to call it quits, only to re-emerge from the pool of feces like a decomposed corpse under the name of Corpus Offal. The band features Ian Schwab (guitar, vocals), Clyle Lindstrom (guitar), Jason Sacks (bass), and Jesse Shreibman (drums).
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