Album Review: Inter Arma – “New Heaven”


To say that the last five years since Inter Arma put out the magnificent Sulphur English have been tumultuous is a wild understatement. Obviously, a global pandemic took its toll, and the usual suspect of membership turnover reared its head, but the band also had to seemingly fight against nature and fate itself to bring New Heaven to light. Natural disasters, a car crash that almost killed songwriter T.J. Childers and new bassist Joel Moore, and a studio space in such disrepair that it almost precluded them from doing any meaningful recording were just a few of the hurdles the quintet had to jump through.

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Album Review: BIG|BRAVE — “A Chaos of Flowers”

The last time a new BIG|BRAVE album came out (which was not that long ago), there was almost a scuffle that broke out in the household over who got the rights to it.  This time, we tried a more diplomatic approach, because Angela started whining Ian values Angela’s input on all things, and so we bring you another joint review for this, the Canadian trio’s seventh studio album and fourth release in five years.  Despite the tear they have been on, A Chaos of Flowers explores a different side of the project, focusing more on poetry and delivery.

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Receiving the Evcharist: God Smiles Upon the Callous Daoboys and Le Cigare Orange

Receiving the Evcharist 2018

It’s been a while since I’ve been behind the wheel of one of these things, and it’s also been a while since we’ve had some proper booze to pair with a release (although, who doesn’t love a good tea?).  If you think you’re in for something conventional, though, you sure as hell aren’t.  This week’s offerings: God Smiles Upon the Callous Daoboys by, well, The Callous Daoboys and Bonny Doone Vinyard’s Le Cigare Orange.

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Album Review: Spectral Lore — “11 Days”

After an extremely fruitful 2022, with five albums under five different projects, RABM’s most prolific musician Ayloss has returned to his paramount project. 11 Days is Spectral Lore’s first release in almost two years; a four-song, 44-minute EP alternating between metal and ambient tracks depicting the harrowing journey of refugees across the Mediterranean, a trek which has claimed over 25,000 lives since 2014. With powerful music as heavy as the subject material (and lyrical themes to match), Ayloss has crafted a scathing indictment of the EU’s immigration policies alongside what is some of the strongest material under the Spectral Lore moniker so far.

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Album Review: Primitive Man and Full of Hell — “Suffocating Hallucination”

Full of Hell Primitive Man - Suffocating Hallucination

Suffocating Hallucination truly is an album that answers the question of “what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object”.  If you know, you know: Primitive Man are the undisputed champions of doom and the heaviest fucking band on the planet, with Full of Hell taking a close second, albeit for different reasons.  In one corner, we have lumbering, plodding, black-hole-dense doom and on the other we have savage, razor-sharp and breakneck grindcore.  “But Ian”, you say, “when we mix them together, shouldn’t we just get songs that are, you know, a normal tempo?”  You absolute fool.  You’re not ready for what’s about to hit you.

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