Reviews

Album Review: Usnea — “Bathed in Light”

ZykloniusLeave a comment

One of my favorite experiences with metal is how a band I enjoy vanishes from my radar screen, remains removed from my consciousness for years and then makes a roaring return with an album that transcends their previous achievements. It’s been six long years since Usnea released their previous album, the towering Portals into Futility, and Bathed in Light reveals that the absence has only hardened the band’s artistic resolve as calamitous global events and personal tragedies of the intervening time have whipped them into a creative frenzy.

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Album Review: Sacred Outcry — “Towers of Gold”

DanLeave a comment

Sophomore records are notoriously difficult, and there are a myriad of ways bands could choose from to approach theirs. You could go longer, you could go shorter, you could “AC/DC” it and churn out more of the same, or you could change styles entirely. But I don’t recall many bands who’ve gone the route of Greece’s Sacred Outcry, though. For album number two, Towers of Gold, mastermind George Apalodimas recruited an entirely different lineup of musicians than he’d had on the critically-acclaimed debut, Damned for All Time, three years ago.

It’s a bold strategy, Cotton, but fortunately, it’s wound up working in Apalodimas’ favor. Towers of Gold doesn’t quite match its predecessor in quality, but it’s still a (mostly) terrific record and arguably a pace-setter for power metal in 2023.

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Album Review: Heretoir — “Wastelands”

HeraLeave a comment

It’s been almost six years since Heretoir graced us with their presence, with 2017’s The Circle being one of the most poignant post-black metal records I have ever listened to. Memories aside, I have felt that black metal is no longer my genre du jour, and the more time I spend away from it, the more I feel disconnected to it. However, Heretoir brings me back to the genre’s embrace with their newest EP, Wastelands.

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Album Review: Botanist — “VIII: Selenotrope”

IanLeave a comment

There is no other band out there like Botanist.  A lot of bands make this claim for themselves, and for most of them it is more or less true, but in this case there is no denying it: there is no other band out there like Botanist.  From the aesthetics to the instrumentation to the execution, everything about this project is both wholly unique and contrary to the dour, sometimes hostile black metal that this project shares its roots with, pun very much intended.  On VIII: Selenotrope, mastermind Otrebor returns to solo recording and expands the already inventive music they are known for.

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Album Review: SHRVL — “Limbus”

HeraLeave a comment

I am no stranger to depression and what it can do. It has affected me to a certain degree, where I am always on constant alert about changes in moods and thoughts. While I present myself as functional, there are days where all I want to do is block out the world and lie down on my bed. Listening to SHRVL’s Limbus feels like waking up after a particularly bad depressive episode, where any wrong thought or action during the day leads to doubt and to spiraling about things outside of your control. It’s oppressive, cacophonous, and eerie, and you can’t help but stare at the looming, gray walls these songs seem to conjure.

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