Satan – Early Rituals (2020)

NWOBHM took the proto-metal of Black Sabbath and mixed it with the hard rock of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, infused it with the spirit of punk and some of the progressive rock of the era, and came up with the last bridge between metal and rock before speed metal punted it out of the park. Early Rituals uncovers this era with zest.

(more…)

5 Comments

Tags: , ,

Blasphemy Licenses “Initiation Of Confliction” War Metal Starter Guitar Kit

As a recognized founder of the war metal genre, the band Blasphemy represents martial conflict and infinite blasphemy. Now it may be the progenitor of future generations of war metal through its latest offering, a war metal starter guitar kit named “Initiation of Confliction” that includes all the necessities for creating a war metal project band.

(more…)

3 Comments

Tags: ,

Tenebra Re-Issues Through Crying Souls I See What I Was On Cult of Parthenope

Italian late-1980s style proto-black metal (Morbid, Venom, Tormentor, Goatlord) at its core, Tenebra speeds up the process somewhat and incorporates 1990s black metal of the Teutonic and Nordic varieties, eschewing the traditional melodic approach of Southern European bands for an advancing front of sawing riffs, using these to produce the backdrop for the slow emergence of atmospheric melody which stays minor-key without getting maudlin.

(more…)

1 Comment

Tags: , ,

Creature – Ex Cathedra (2020)

Metal needs a new sound and a new imagery ecosystem. 1970s metal had doom and warnings of the apocalypse, 1980s metal warned of collapse from within through choppy fractured sounds, and 1990s metal brought a fluid structuralism that emphasized pattern and order while embracing the evil that 1970s metal warned of and the chaos of the 1980s.

(more…)

9 Comments

Tags: ,

Classic reviews:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z