Album Reviews

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Hippotraktor - Stasis (2024)

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    Berlin based Pelagic record always finds some of the most interesting and genre-bending bands, with Hippotraktor the tradition continues. Blending elements of Post-Hardcore, Post-Metal and even some progressive touches, “Stasis” marks the band’s latest offering. Featuring seven crafty tracks filled with expert instrumentation and engaging tempo changes, this release delivers over 46 minutes of highly engaging music.

    The album sets a very hectic page with the Djent-ish “Descent”, a track that has a nice Cult of Luna meets Meshuggah meets The Ocean, thanks to its crafty intensity, crushing vocals and ripping guitar work. As “Echoes” and “Silver Tongue” roll around, soaring clean vocals perfectly add an extra level of epicness to the band’s very well crafted and layered music. The drumming is top notch, unleashing some pretty cool patterns and brisk tempo changes on longer pieces like “Renegade”.

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    Rhapsody of Fire - Challenge The Wind (2024)

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    Alex Staropoli and company are back with another fantastic release titled “Challenge the Wind”. The band’s signature high-octane Symphonic Power Metal continues to deliver epic songs as they unleash ten tracks and over 63 minutes of pure epic music. Rhapsody of Fire is a band in its own league and with this release they further consolidate their legacy as one of the best in the genre.

    Opening with the perky album title track, we instantly get dreamy keyboard melodies, engaging vocal arrangements and intense guitar leads. Pretty much all the previously mentioned elements are staples of the band’s sound and they continue to deliver epic and memorable songs like “Whispers of Doom”, “The Bloody Pariah” and the 16-minute epic “Vanquished By Shadows”. This last track is definitely one of our favorites from the band as it weaves back and forth between moody passages with soaring vocals and dramatic tempo changes.

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    Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God (2024)

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    Abundantly delivering on one of the most awaited releases of 2024, Ulcerate returns with another incisive release titled “Cutting the Throat of God”. Featuring seven tracks and nearly one hour of punishing music, filled with raw brutality alongside crafty instrumentation and hypnotic melancholy. Slowly getting better and better over time, we thought it would be hard for the band to surpass “Stare into Death and Be Still”, but they managed to completely leapfrog it and set a whole new standard.

    Opening with the crushing “To Flow Through Ashen Hearts”, the band over the years has moved away from a more traditional Technical/Brutal Death Metal into more expansive and experimental Avant-garde territories and this track is one perfect example of that. The mysterious mood is perfectly flanked by textured guitars, pummeling drums, and harrowing harsh vocals, however, it's the crafty tempo changes and sinister melodies that make it interesting.

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    Teramaze - Eli - A Wonderful Fall from Grace (2024)

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    Hailing from Australia, today we have Progressive Metal juggernauts “Teramaze” and their latest opus “Eli - A Wonderful Fall from Grace”. Featuring eight tracks and over 55 minutes of music, this release is highly polished and engaging, showcasing the band’s evolution over the years and abilities to craft superbly catchy and engaging tracks. While some might not like the band’s lyrical themes, the music is superb and definitely worth a listen for fans of the genre.

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    Rotting Christ - Pro Xristou (2024)

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    Hailing from Greece, Rotting Christ is finally back with another sinister exercise of aggression and melody with “Pro Xristou”. Featuring ten tracks and over 45 minutes of highly engaging music, the band shows no signs of slowing down and delivers another high quality release. Slowly refining their melodic Black Metal over the years, the band has it down to a science and unleashing ten of their most catchy and enjoyable tracks.

    Setting the stage with a dramatic atmospheric intro, “The Apostate” nicely takes on from where the band left off with their previous release “The Heretics”, and continues unleashing unholy atmospheric brilliance, paired with eerie vocal arrangements and the band’s signature riffing. Sakis Tolis has the band’s sound perfected to deliver crafty guitar melodies alongside his signature snarls, as songs like “Like Father, Like Son”, “The Sixth Day”, and the blistering “La Lettera Del Diavolo” demonstrate.

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    Deathcult - Seven Are They (2024)

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    Spewing some blasphemous old-school Norwegian Black Metal, today we have Deathcult and their latest 7” release “Seven Are They”. Featuring Hoest from Taake (and others) and the brothers Thurzur and Skagg, which also play or have played with many other Black Metal bands, this release gives the listener a little taste of the band’s commanding sound and blistering energy.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Botanist - Paleobotany (2024)

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    We always had a love and hate relationship with Botanist and their music since their earlier more ‘experimental’ release. While totally flamed them on their first albums, we have grown to actually like them as their later stuff has been more structured and genre-bending. In “Paleobotany”, the band unleashes ten tracks and nearly forty five minutes of quite interesting and complex music, ranging from Post-Metal/Rock elements to Progressive Metal/Rock passages, to darker and more experimental efforts.

    The release opens with the dreamy “Aristolochia”, a piece that has a certain Katatonia-esque sound, with proggy and Post Rock-ish elements, something we didn’t quite expect from the band, but we totally dig it. The dramatic clean vocal arrangements make tracks like “When Forest Turned to Coal” and its Black Metal riffs, “Magnolia” and its moody madness, have a very lively and engaging nature, as well as an interesting interplay with the growls and the melodic nature of the dulcimer.

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    SYK - eartHFlesh (2024)

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    Holding us over until the new Ulcerate drops next month, today we have Italian outfit SYK and their pummeling release “eartHFlesh”. With eight tracks and over 45 minutes of highly intricate and punishing Death Metal with Groove and even some Djent elements, this release is as crushing as it is complexly layered to infuse maximum pain. If you like music that is brutal, relentless, filled with excellent ideas, and masterfully executed, this is an album you can’t miss.

    Opening with the ravaging “I Am The Beast”, the band sets a very disturbing and cinematic vibe with creepy atmospherics until the massive drumming and layered guitars make their appearance. The band’s ability to unleash sinister riffs is outstanding, as they pair perfectly with blistering drums and insane tempo changes. On tracks like “Where I Am Going There is No Light”, “I'll Haunt You In Your Dreams”, and “eartHFlesh”, the band rips through crafty tempo changes, hellish growls, and tons of Meshuggah-esque passages, showcasing masterful musicianship and execution.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Six Feet Under - Killing for Revenge (2024)

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    It’s been a while since we have liked anything that Six Feet Under has released and with “Killing for Revenge”, it looks like this will not change yet. Chris Barnes and company unleash thirteen songs of highly uninspired ‘Groovy’ Death Metal that while not as bad as some of their previous releases, it is still a stinker. If you are looking for the good old times of Chris Barnes in CC, or even some of the band’s earlier releases, this is definitely not for you.

    Opening with “Know-Nothing Ingrate”, we see the main change is that the vocals sound a bit different, albeit better, than on the previous release. They are deep and snarly and constant, which is an improvement and there seem to be no attempts at doing squeals as “Accomplice to Evil Deeds”, “Ascension”, and “When the Moon Goes Down in Blood” roll in. It is also notable that some tracks are over four minutes and have a few interesting riffs and hooks here and there.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Brume - Marten (2024)

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    Featuring a very sultry and jazzy sound, today we have Bay Area outfit Brume and their latest full-length release “Marten”. Featuring eight tracks and nearly 50 minutes of music, this release has a very hypnotic and enigmatic pace, nicely mixing Doom/Occult Rock with more experimental influences. If you are looking for something unique with a chill vibe, but with some heaviness to it, this is a very interesting release to check out.

    The release opens with the magical “Jimmy”, a six-minute piece filled with moody tempo changes and hypnotic doomy riffs. Susie McMullan’s vocals are quite sultry and perfectly fit the loungey nature of the music, with tracks like “New Sadder You” and its magical cellos, “Faux Savior” and its melancholy, or the dreaminess of “Otto's Song”, showcasing the bands versatility and uniqueness of their style.

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