Saille – V (2021) – Review

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Ah yes, they still exist. Bands that waste no time and just try to bludgeon you into submission with their mighty hammer of excellent blackened alloy. Blast beats that rumble comfortably across yer stomach, pitch-black tremolo fests, and rasps that scrape about yer earphones like so many pointed fingernails on a blackboard.

And I am not talking about these copycats that just go ahead, strum wildly on their downturned guitars, and try to hypnotize ye with needless drum work. The elaborate RMR selection process will only weed them out and show them the exit door out back. The one that … [...] Click to raid more!

Soothsayer – Echoes of the Earth (2021) – Review

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Why on earth did Heilung change names, move to Ireland, and chant ever more weirdly around the soundscape? But it’s not Heilung, they’re still firmly lodged mostly in Scandinavia. And their chanting didn’t deteriorate either.1 Besides, their earthy lore ain’t the same style as this one here.

It is the Irish band Soothsayer that – for some reason – decided to start their new piece Echoes of the Earth with some atrociously bad wailings on eternal repeat.2 Fringe probably exists solely to lull RMR into some sort of a transcendental state3 to accept more such bizarre garbage … [...] Click to raid more!

Wheel – Preserved In Time (2021) – Review

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Boy, there’s some wheeler-dealer stuff going on. We just heard some proggy news about Wheel from Finland, which didn’t quite make it onto our review pipe yet.

But suddenly, we get those doomy vibes from Germany. And indeed, we got ourselves yet another Wheel on the menu. One with that distinct early Doom Metal flavor. And they ain’t even coming from the US. And that’s almost heresy these days.

Do you know why I kinda stopped looking at Khemmis and – for sure – Pallbearer? They’re great musicians, sure. But somehow, they never quite hit the vibe of the … [...] Click to raid more!

NordWitch – Mørk Profeti (2016) – Review

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To stand out from this vast Extreme Metal populace is hard. Real hard. I usually find an endless procession of coequal black-clad outfits of all flavors on my promo list. Some are a bit clownish, others real ritual seekers. As in invoking a daemon, that kind of thing.

All of them try to sell the same bland ol’ soup all over again. Jockeying for position in a genre that somehow lost a lot of its luster over time. And then there are those bands that can just give you this trifle of added spice.

NordWitch is one of them. Back in January … [...] Click to raid more!