Saille – Gnosis (2017) – Review

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Sometimes you just crave it. This blazing hot crunch, seemingly coming from the fiery depths of hell and trying to destroy your eardrums. The whiff of a ritual, all ready to be performed. All this sweet dissonance in the name of the Dark Lord just ignites this urge in me to slap some corpse paint on my face, put on my leaded boots, and don the spikes.

And Gnosis, the latest and fourth release of the Belgian band Saille, does exactly that. You really feel like moving down the hallway, beyond yonder red door, and down the dreaded stairs into the reeking darkness.

Many Black Metal gigs drone [...] Click to raid more!

Thormesis – Trümmerfarben (2017) – Review

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A somewhat subtle hype was discernible lately in the closed confines of the Black Metal fan crowd. Like the odors of a black mass on the breeze, wafting through the morbid realms of a lonesome and foggy cemetery.

A subtle wave of expectation that went on for a while. But now they are here: After some two years of wait, the German band Thormesis released their newest and fifth full-length album Trümmerfarben. Of course, expectations were high after their last offering Freier Wille – Freier Geist.

This last album got pretty high marks throughout the board. And rightly so: A [...] Click to raid more!

Xandria – Theater of Dimensions (2017) – Review

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They did it. They finally did it. Xandria managed to keep one of their female fronts a bit longer than for a felt stretch of one album only. So, here they again feature the classically trained Dutch singer Dianne Van Giersbergen on their second album in a row. And rightly so. Talented girl that she is, she can easily match a range from Tarja Turunen, over Floor Jansen, and back to Simone Simons. And that means something.

As the band’s progression goes, already their last contribution Sacrificium was a step up the star-studded ladder of operatic glory. This makes you [...] Click to raid more!

Vanha – Within the Mist of Sorrow (2016) – Review

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2016 was a pretty good year for all things doom, methinks. RockmusicRaider just released a review on the US band Khemmis and their kind of progressive and melodious doomy self. And – wham – here we go again. 

The fearless RMR scout team just unearthed a tasty morsel of a similar ilk from very late in 2016. But mostly delivered in best, growly Doom Death Metal fashion – with clear vocals and croaks expertly mixed. And the team here thought that the slowly chugging beat of My Dying Bride could not be bested.

But the Swedish act Vanha with their début Within the Mist of [...] Click to raid more!