Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Helloween - Giants & Monsters (2025)

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    Always consistently good, and even more so since their Pumpkins United 2016 days, Helloween continues to prove they are timeless and can deliver some killer music. With “Giants & Monsters”, we get ten tracks and around 50 minutes of masterful Power Metal. As everybody can image, Michael Kiske, Andi Deris, and Kai Hansen steal the show with their talented vocal powers, but it's also the band’s signature style that unleashes some killer high-octane tracks, that we can’t wait to hear live in their 40th anniversary tour in 2025/2026.

    Opening with the epic “Giants on the Run”, the vibe is set to epic and superbly crafty, with killer guitar leads, soaring vocal melodies and that playfulness that has distinguished the band over the years. Bangers like “Savior of the World” and the bombastic “A Little Is A Little Too Much” provide the catchiness that the genre demands and that Helloween has perfected over the years.

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    Rauhnåcht - Zwischenwelten (2025)

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    One-man show Stefan Traunmüller, brings us today a very piercing and engaging Pagan Black Metal release with his band Rauhnåcht and their fifth full-length release “Zwischenwelten”. Featuring a sound that combines bits and pieces of outfits like Summoning, Enid, and some Falkenbach/Vred sprinkles. With six tracks spanning over 40 minutes, this release creates very regal and engaging melodic soundscapes that are perfect for a frosty winter evening of mild headbanging.

    Quickly escalating things with the fierce “Der Spalt zwischen den Welten”, we get fast paced melodic riffing accompanied by tight drumming and an overall regal sense. The raw Black Metal undertones are very well crafted into the more melodic passages and perfectly contrast the dreamy clean vocals onslaughts. While the elements remain the same throughout this release, this outfit does a great job in re-arranging them to create entertaining tracks like “Letzter Pfad”, and the ritualistic “Das Mark des Lebens”.

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    Sea Mosquito - Majestas (2025)

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    Amassing an excellent roster of some of the most unique bands in the world, I, Voidhanger Records is set to unleash another gem into the universe: Sea Mosquito’s latest opus “Majestas”. Creating a very dissonant and nightmarish wall of Experimental Black Metal, this release is not only oppressive, but soul crushing in its hellish passage. Featuring over 44 minutes of music, this release feels like carrying 500 pounds of bricks with your teeth, as it explores very dark and funky corners of the aural spectrum.

    Opening with the pummeling “Organs Dissolved in Lacquer”, the band sets a very dystopian and oppressive vibe with dissonant guitars and hellish harsh vocals. There is an astonishing level of bleakness communicated by this track, and it is only the beginning. The downward spiral continues with the atmospheric “Dead to the World” and its dreamy melancholic passages amidst the chaos, and the brutal Mysticum-esque “Ascension” with its cathartic ending.

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    Azure Emote - Cryptic Aura (2025)

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    Delivering one of the craftiest and weirdest Death Metal releases of 2025, today we have Azure Emote with their fourth full-length release “Cryptic Aura”. Featuring ten tracks and over 42 minutes of madness, this release combines lush instrumentation with pummeling drumming and playful riffing. Led by Mike Hrubovcak (vocalist of Imperial Crystalline Entombment), and featuring Mike Heller on drums and Pete Johansen (ex Sins of Thy Beloved) in violins, the band’s music is quite diverse and very engaging, with plenty of interesting details to discover in subsequent spins.

    Blasting away with “Into Abysmal Oblivion”, the band’s monster drumming leads the way into crafty tempo changes with masterful guitar leads from Ryan Moll and the lush violins of Pete Johansen, creating a very unique atmosphere. Slowly building up the madness, tracks like “Insomnia Nervosa”, and “Aeons Adrift” perfectly balance some crunch Death Metal antics with over the top atmospherics, all while creating a very chaotic and consuming vibe. The band excels in creating very busy soundscapes that are cohesive and engaging, while being very exploratory as well.

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    Ba'al - The Fine Line Between Heaven And Here (2025)

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    Unleashing a highly melancholic and very cathartic release, today we have UK’s Ba’al with “The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here”. Featuring over 60 minutes of a brilliant amalgamation of Sludge/Post-Metal/Doom Metal, and some sprinkles of Black Metal, this release is fierce and punishing. Creating masterful emotionally charged soundscapes, this album will sneak up on you and you will find yourself playing it over and over again.

    Opening with the moody “Mother’s Concrete Womb”, the band sets a bleak and yet pummeling mood, thanks to crushing Sludgey riffs that blend into lush Post-Metal territories. There are plenty of tempo changes into fierce and brutal Black Metal-ish territories, perfectly adorned by the harsh,and familiar, screams of Joe Stamps, of current Hecate Enthroned fame. The band seamlessly transitions between dreamy atmospheric passages, like the opening of “Waxwork Gorgon” as it transitions into heavy walls of distortion and moody Sludgy/Post-Metal atmospherics.

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    Shadecrown - 0 (2025)

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    Since it seems to be a requirement in Finland to play in a Metal band, there are countless excellent bands in that country. While we all know the big names, it is always interesting to find outfits like Shadecrown, which have a killer and very refined sound and yet they are not as big as others. With “0”, the band delivers over 44 minutes of highly melancholic, expertly crafted Melodic Death/Doom Metal, similar to outfits like Before the Dawn, Swallow the Sun, Insomnium, Hanging Garden, but with their own particular style.

    Opening with the high-octane “The Art of Grieving”, the band sets a very melancholic and melodic mood with crafty riffs, engaging atmospherics and a solid blend of weeping lead guitars alongside your traditional growls. There are definitely some similarities to bands like Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum, but the band managed to carve out their own signature style while unleashing excellent head-banging inducing pieces like “In A State of Agony”, “Fragile Chapters” and “Gone”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Blind Equation - A Funeral In Purgatory (2025)

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    Unleashing over 32 minutes of musical madness, today we have Blind Equation and their self-described “Cyber Grind” music. Mixing elements from chiptune, deathcore, grindcore, and videogame-styled music, this release delivers some pretty interesting and extremely catchy songs. While not our usual cup of tea, this release is quite amusing as it is quite engaging and very different from your run-of-the-mill whatever-core music these days.

    Opening with the dreamy synths of “This Eternal Curse”, the band quickly layers distorted guitars, harsh vocals, alongside some soaring clean vocals and plenty of catchiness. Opening with a Prodigy-esque intro, “Nothing” keeps the momentum going with plenty of crafty synths and catchy tempo changes, this track reminded us of the Cybergoth movement mixed with some early Metalcore elements, particularly as tracks like “It Feels Like The End” and the moody “A Funeral..” come around.

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    Eskapism - Skresnava (2025)

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    Always uncovering unique talent, Naturmacht Productions is set to release Eskapism’s latest full-length release “Skresnava”. Featuring a very lively and engaging Atmospheric/Symphonic Black Metal sound, this release delivers four tracks and over 41 minutes of intense and very lush music. Recommended for fans of bands like Grima, Limbonic Art, Saor, and similar, this album is full of melody and magical soundscapes.

    Opening with the melancholic “The Forest of Silent Shadows”, the band slowly builds momentum with crafty atmospheric, weeping guitar melodies and a very hypnotic pace. The band’s ability to craft long, over 10 minutes, songs that are cohesive and very cinematic is one of their strengths as founders Dyvozor and Zymobor navigate very emotional and melodic territories. As “Orison” continues the onslaught, we get those nice emotive guitar tones masterfully surrounded by subtle and yet very powerful atmospherics.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    In The Company Of Serpents - A Crack In Everything (2025)

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    Unleashing a hefty dose of twangy Sludge/Doom Metal with some Stoner elements, today we have Denver’s In The Company Of Serpents with “A Crack in Everything”. As the band’s fifth full-length release, this album features over 43 minutes of engaging music that has a traditional vibe for the genre while infusing some Spagetti-Western undertones and a solid dose of heavy riffs. If you like bands like Yob, High on Fire, and Neurosis, check these guys out.

    Opening with the crafty “Don’t Look In The Mirror”, the band opens the onslaught with some ripping riffs and a very catchy vibe. The raspy vocals perfectly blend with the tempo changes and the masterful melodies of the crushing guitars. Moving into funkier territories, the twangy “A Patchwork Art”, the playful “Cinders”, and the fierceness of “Endless Well”, the band experiments with a wider palette of elements, creating memorable tracks that induce plenty of headbanging moments.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Abigail Williams - A Void Within Existence (2025)

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    Marking their return after six years, “A Void Within Existence” showcases the ever morphing Abigail Williams with a more crushing and dissonant sound. Featuring seven tracks and nearly 50 minutes of music, this release has the band unleashing a mixture of crushing guitar-driven tracks with a hefty dose of atmospheric elements alongside their usual experimentation to create a powerful and devastating mixture.

    Opening with the heaviness of “Life Disconnected”, we get a barrage of raw and visceral riffs alongside technical craftiness with sick guitar leads. Moving into more melodic territories, “Void Within” unravels via the masterful drumming of Mike Heller, while “Nonexistence” delivers Post-Black Metal melancholics. Ken Sorceron’s vocals are vicious and perfectly align with the more violent onslaughts delivered on songs like “Still Nights” and the hypnotic “Talk to Your Sleep”, filled with crafty tempo changes and a vicious wall of distortion.

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