Dimmu Borgir – Eonian (2018) – Review

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There was a time when the purists and die-hard adepts would have burned them disks on heaps of flaming plastic. Like those churches, they liked to torch in Norway. We talk about those records that emanated from bands that stepped away from the pure path of flaming, spiked, and red-hot Black Metal.

Those that reduced themselves to screamy bombast and loads of make-up. Cradle of Filth come to mind. Even if Dani Filth and his merry warriors are adamant that they are no Black Metal band no more. But still, this is pure blasphemy to the goat!

Or theatrical maniacs [...] Click to raid more!

Carach Angren – Dance and Laugh Amongst The Rotten (2017) – Review

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Sometimes theatrics are just part of the show, there’s nothing else to it. Or they can be part of a band’s DNA, out of which their style and lifeblood emerge. Just look at bands like Cradle of Filth, whose works would be rated much differently, were you to judge them by the music only. Yet – as it turns out – their on-stage and on-clip performance plays an almost equally important role in their fans’ perception. And by that same token for the reviewers and critics as well.

This is something we will see more of, as the music [...] Click to raid more!

Xaon – The Drift (2017) – Review

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The RockmusicRaider officescape likes drama. Especially a loud drama with a lot of boom and bang. And we have remarkable drama queens around the Gothic and Symphonic Metal universe, blackened and death-oriented ones included. Just think about Dimmu Borgir or Fleshgod Apocalypse to name just two of them.

Now, here we can add another one: The Swiss outfit Xaon rumbles onto the scene like Mad Max on a bad day. They already gave us a first broadside of what they can do in 2016 with their EP Face of Balaam. And they are back with a hammer blow of [...] Click to raid more!

Darkend – The Canticle of Shadows (2016) – Review

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Ah, the devil communicates in Italian. How very fitting. Black Metal moving closer to Rome, spiked fists and all. But then Darkend are speaking in tongues on The Canticle of Shadows – many tongues.

Mixing English with Italian, French, and Latin into the fray. A real tower of Babylon, but what else would you expect from the devil? Right? 

Dissonance at every corner, monologues, and a weird Lovecraft-esque type of nightmare Black Metal of the melodic kind. Some of that stuff is very reminiscent of the liturgical Batushka, keeping you unhinged like Myrkur or Saille at every turn of [...] Click to raid more!