I remember how, back when this, Finnish Satanic Warmaster’s debut was released, the reactions in Finland among friends and on message boards were almost unequivocally positive and enthusiastic. In retrospect, there was a feeling as of standing at the precipice … Continue reading From the Vaults #13: Strength & Honour
Release year: 2024Label: Zoharum If you want weird, you got weird. Polish Królówczana Smuga’s sixth album is a veritable cornucopia of, well, just about everything. The label’s promo sheet mentions as influences and key elements keywords such as folklore, alternative, … Continue reading KRÓLÓWCZANA SMUGA: Konwulsanki
Release year: 2024Label: Misantropia Records Now that’s a tongue twister. Zvjerovanje. I mean, it’s not as insane as Polish, but that’s still too many incompatible consonants at the start of the word. But I guess that’s Serbo-Croatian for ya. Apparently, … Continue reading ZVIJER: Zvjerovanje
Release year: 2024Label: Misantropia Records As those who’ve been following this site for a while might know, I first got into extreme metal in the mid-to-late 90’s and by the turn of the millennium was firmly entrenched in the underground. … Continue reading COLDSCAPE: Kolme laulua kuolemasta
Release year: 2024Label: Reigning Phoenix Music Around the time thrash metal icons Slayer called it quits in 2019, founding member and guitarist Kerry King made it known he would not have liked to end the band. As such, when the … Continue reading KERRY KING: From Hell I Rise
Release year: 2024Label: Xtreem Music Christ Denied is one of the many projects of Dave Rotten, whose perhaps best known band is Avulsed, whose Extraterrestrial Carnage ep we reviewed recently (click). Rotten also runs Xtreem Music, the label behind this … Continue reading CHRIST DENIED: Christopsy
It must have been 25 years ago to the month that I first heard US death/doom icons Winter for the first time. I remember it clearly: spring was already turning warm, the end of school was just a few weeks … Continue reading From the Vaults #10: Into Darkness/Eternal Frost
Release year: 2017/2024Label: Iron Bonehead Productions/Misantropia Records Whilst certainly not unheard of, all-female and female solo black metal projects are still a relative scarcity. Everyone who’s been involved in black metal since the 90’s will probably remember Greek Astarte, and … Continue reading IESCHURE: The Shadow
Release year: 2024Label: Misantropia Records Put together, the two acts on this split have (according to Discogs) a total of 63 releases since 2012. That’s pretty prolific – but scarcely balanced, considering Somber Winds is responsible for two of these, … Continue reading KALMANKANTAJA/SOMBER WINDS: Split
Back in the late 90’s, when I started getting into extreme metal, a significant method to discover new acts was to peruse through the catalogues and ads in various magazines. Metal Hammer was essentially worth fuck all and our local … Continue reading From the Vaults #7: Apokalypse & Origo Regium 1993-1994
Only Death Is Real 