Monthly Archives: January 2013

Terra Tenebrosa, are a relatively new band featuring members of legendary, but now disbanded, hardcore/post metal band Breach. Terra Tenebrosa’s previous album, The Tunnels, released in 2011 was such a surprise not only for how dynamic and layered it was, but for how it seemed to have taken parts of Breach’s unique sound and dropped them into the black pits of hell.

The first track, “The Redeeming Teratoma”, serves as an introduction to the gloomy world of the masked Cuckoo and his two accomplices, Hibernal and Hisperdal. This sets the atmosphere with delay, tremolo riffs and nightmarish tone.

“The Compression Chamber”, kicks in with a repeating creeping riff until the...

Leeds based Humanfly have been going 12 years, and have gradually evolved their sound over time from their original punk sound through to post-metal. Although anyone familiar with 2010’s excellent ‘Darker Later’ will be aware that their brand of post-metal did have healthy chunk of punk attitude and some absolutely monster riffs too: the atmospherics were often kept separate.

I’ll be honest when hearing that their new album was a prog beast I wasn’t sure what to expect. ‘Awesome Science’ however is a great album, its prog Jim but not as we know it. There’s immediacy here, and a complexity and inventiveness which is exciting to hear, and if anything the monster riffs are even better.

It harks back to the solid song construction of bands that weren’t following...

‘Vertikal’ is the sixth album from Swedish post-metal, atmospheric sludge giants Cult of Luna, and their first since 2008’s ‘Eternal Kingdom’.

Heavy metal and machinery have always gone hand in hand since Black Sabbath were originally inspired by the constant mechanical pounding noise of industrial Birmingham. The album is based upon Fritz Lang’s timeless Metropolis and this album really does manage to convey that very well.

Although not intended to be considered a companion piece to Metropolis, when listening to this album and watching metropolis at the same time (I need no better excuse). It really does add to the atmosphere of the film and capture the essence of the film far better than the original score. There’s a calculated and...

Swedish 3 piece Kongh are back for their third outing of 4 slabs of crushing sludge. This is their first album on Agonia Records, a label known for some great death and black metal releases.

The 10 minute title track, ‘Sole Creation’, starts with pounding tribal drumming with David Johansson’s twisting riffs erupting into sweet sludgy groove. David’s blackened tinged screams lead into soaring clear vocals somewhere between Mastodon, Alice in Chains and Callisto. The track winds down into haunting riff that builds back to that great opening assault and those soaring vocals.

Second track is entitled ‘Tamed Brute’, but there's nothing tame about this track as it stomps its way forth like...

Old school death metal (OSDM) has become something of a catchphrase in recent years, a term descriptive of a relatively consistent onslaught of contemporary bands employing a sound and approach to the genre of death metal reminiscent of it's late 80's and early 90's pioneers in a more often than not genuine and authentic manner. As with any sub-genre experiencing a flood of popularity there comes a surge in the output of current bands alongside the formation of new blood and, with this, a hell of a lot of mediocre and forgettable material. Of course wherever there is shit, gems will shine. 2011 saw the releases of bands such as Mitochondrion, Sonne Adam, Necros Christos & Disma deservedly making plenty of well-respected end-of-year lists and forging through into 2012 the trend continued. Germany's Chapel of Disease released at the beginning of 2012 their debut recording, a demo under the title "Death Evoked" which was soon followed up by a split with fellow countrymen Lifeless and lastly, in the winter of the year, their debut full-length "Summoning Black Gods"; a thrashy, energetic and captivating affair...