Author: Anders Ekdahl

TORCH ”Reignited” (Metalville) TORCH has made one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time with their eponymously titled debut album. That one is a true masterpiece. Unfortunately they didn’t manage to match it with the “ElectriKiss” album. By 1984 it was all over. Until 2009 when we saw an album of rerecorded songs. Not the greatest of albums to be released. As we write 2020 a new album sees the light of day. And this is one I am looking forward to based on the previews I’ve heard. It can never be like it was in the early… Continue reading

DESCEND INTO DESPAIR “Opium” (Funere) I just recently played Urza’s debut album and realized how much I miss funeral doom. It also made me think what it is that makes people want to play even slower than doom metal. Not that I complain. I am a huge sucker for anything melancholic and when it comes in doom, or funeral doom format I am even happier. This their third full length album only has three tracks but with a total playing time of nearly one hour you know that you are in for some classic funeral doom. This is slow, heavy… Continue reading

MONTES INSANIA “Fikcia Erao” (Symbol Of Domination) Avant-Garde? What is that really? “The avant-garde are people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society. Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term “avant-garde” implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original elements, and the idea of deliberately challenging or alienating audiences.[1] Avant-garde music may be distinguished from experimental music by the way it adopts an extreme position within a certain tradition,… Continue reading

MANIPULATION “Mind Control Ultra” (Symbol Of Domination) MANIPULATION are not new to me. This is as far as I can tell my 3rd encounter with them. And each previous time they have impressed me with their brutal take on death metal. I have no reason to change my mind with this new one. They continue to decimate with ultra brutal death metal. Listening to this is like sparring with a really good boxer while you yourself aren’t even half decent. You know that it can only end one way. But you wouldn’t have it any other way. This is brutal… Continue reading

LAUXNOS ”Crushed By Waves” (Symbol Of Domination) I still wish that the whole blackgaze thingamajig had become so much bigger than it ended up being because I found some really cool bands in that genre. Bands that I still return to today. LAUXNOS are post/black metal. Another new sub-label that I have kinda fallen for. I don’t know what it is about the mixing of different genres that ticks all the right boxes in me but I do love it when things are melancholic as well as atmospheric. “Crushed By Waves” is a really cool album that will be with… Continue reading

VOFA ”S/T” (Funere) I am still amazed that there can be so many cool bands coming from Iceland. With a population around 300 000 people the country is no bigger than an average small European town, yet there is a black metal scene that is widely known worldwide. And not to forget Sugarcubes and Björk. No single artist has put a country on the music map like she has. VOFA is my latest Icelandic discovery. I don’t think I have heard an Icelandic funeral doom band. I know of plenty of black metal bands. And pop bands but no band… Continue reading

SINISTER DOWNFALL “A Dark Shining Light” (Funere) As soon as I saw this band name I knew that I had reviewed one of the previous albums. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember what I wrote about it so I had to look up the review. Apparently I was pretty impressed with what I heard. So it is with that in mind that I tackle this album. hopefully I will be as blown away this time as I was the last time. I even wrote that SINISTER DOWNFALL was my new fave funeral doom band. The competition is harder this time but if… Continue reading

DONARHALL ”Helvegr” (Symbol Of Domination) Instrumental atmospheric black metal. That gotta be a first for me, at least as far as I can remember. But I am no stranger to giving this a chance. I totally love atmospheric black metal with vocals so why wouldn’t I like it without? In a way, listening to this makes me think of a Bal-Sagoth that has gone black metal, or an alternative soundtrack to any Lord of The Ring movies. I don’t miss the vocals as much as I thought at first. This does require that you let your imagination take you on… Continue reading

ORNAMENTOS DEL MIEDO ”Este No Es Tu Hogas” (Funere) I guess an English translation of this band’s name could be Ornaments of Fear. To me that sounds like a band that play music full of sadness and melancholia. But that I just me wishing that this is along the lines of old My Dying Bride. I could be in for any sort of trip really but right now I really, really wish for a trip down melancholia avenue. I don’t know what it is with Spain and funeral doom but this is the second one in a short while I’ve… Continue reading

Стахановцы ”Ниже ада уголь есть” (-) Don’t make me pronounce the band name because that is impossible without help. A Stakhanovite (стахановец) in Soviet iconography is basically an over achiever, somebody that goes that extra mile to do the job. If you mine 100 tons of coal, I’ll mine 101 tons. How that translates in the music of Стахановцы I have no idea but this is basically thrash metal mixed with a ton of different styles. Or at least a couple of different styles. I gotta say that I really like what I hear. There is an aggressive side to… Continue reading