Reviews by Michael O'Brien
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Suma
The Order of Things
By Michael O'Brien | 23 October, 2016
The Order of Things is an album I've been waiting for for a hell of a long time. Six years now, in fact.
Back in 2010 Sweden’s Suma released Ashes, which was and continues to be one of my all time favourite sludge/d...
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Syndrome
Forever and a Day
By Michael O'Brien | 04 October, 2016
I’ve long been a fan of Belgium’s Amenra, but it wasn’t until earlier this year that I became aware of just how powerfully captivating they can be in their acoustic form. In addition to their excellent live album, Alive,...
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Warfather
The Grey Eminence
By Michael O'Brien | 16 September, 2016
To say that Warfather’s 2014 debut, Orchestrating the Apocalypse, was a disappointment would be quite the understatement. With the exception of his vocal duties with Nader Sadek, it had been quite some time since (then) ex-Morbid An...
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Imperium Dekadenz
Dis Manibvs
By Michael O'Brien | 02 September, 2016
Over the couple of months I’ve spent with Imperium Dekadenz’s fifth full-length album, Dis Manibvs, - which also happens to be my first exposure to the band - I’ve had this nagging feeling of familiarity in the back of m...
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Vader
Iron Times
By Michael O'Brien | 22 August, 2016
I’d be amazed if anyone went into a new Vader recording expecting to be surprised by what they hear by this point. Aside from the fact that the band has been active for over 25 years, their output has also been incredibly consistent over tha...
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Crypt
Disgusting Zombie Metal
By Michael O'Brien | 17 August, 2016
Crypt, who hail from Brisbane and who have recently reformed after 15-odd years away, released one of my favourite Australian demos in 1994 with Excruciating Agony which, at the time, was one of the heaviest things I’d ever heard an...
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Sanford Parker
Lash Back
By Michael O'Brien | 29 July, 2016
Well, this isn’t what I was expecting to hear at all.
I’ve been a fan of Parker’s work as a musician and a producer for a while now, and especially for his contributions in Minsk and Buried at Sea. His more recent program...
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Lord of War
Suffer
By Michael O'Brien | 11 July, 2016
Just as there are labels out there like Flenser Records and Blood Music that I tend to be drawn to because of the kind of material they specialise in, there are also labels out there that I shy away from for the very same reason, and Unique Leader...
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H.P. Lovecraft
The Lurking Fear
By Michael O'Brien | 11 July, 2016
While I’m a lover of books, I’ve never really gotten on board with the audiobook format. There’s something about the experience of digesting a story through the written word that isn’t quite the same for me when it’s ...
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C.B. Murdoc
Here be Dragons
By Michael O'Brien | 24 June, 2016
There were two things that drew me to this promo from the outset. The first is that the band’s unusual moniker reminded me of the kind of name a character from a Raymond Chandler novel might have, and the second was that the band was formed ...
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Dark Funeral
Where Shadows Forever Reign
By Michael O'Brien | 07 June, 2016
With seven years having passed since their last album, Sweden’s self-proclaimed “ineffable kings of darkness”, Dark Funeral, have returned with Where Shadows Forever Reign, marking their sixth full-length relea...
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Mirrors for Psychic Warfare
Mirrors for Psychic Warfare
By Michael O'Brien | 25 May, 2016
When it comes to collaborations between artists I like and respect, I tend to try to temper my expectations as best as I can before hearing the fruits of their work, because the only thing worse than a disappointing release from one such artist is...
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Gorguts
Pleiades' Dust
By Michael O'Brien | 11 May, 2016
Like what I assume to be the case with the vast bulk of the death metal community, I’m a pretty big fan of Canada’s Gorguts. They’re a band that has not only spent their lengthy career pushing themselves creatively, but have also...
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Amenra
Alive
By Michael O'Brien | 06 May, 2016
When I first heard 2012’s Mass V, the fifth full-length album from Belgium’s Amenra, it was love at first listen, but as the years stretched out post-release, I found myself returning to the album less and less. Not because I&...
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Wolvserpent
Aporia:Kala:Ananta
By Michael O'Brien | 03 March, 2016
It’s funny how a band’s name can predispose you to an assumption about what they’ll sound like even before you’ve heard a single note. In the case of Boise, Idaho’s two-piece act, Wolvserpent, I’m not really sur...
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Entombed A.D.
Dead Dawn
By Michael O'Brien | 23 February, 2016
You’d have to think that there’s a fair bit riding on the success of Dead Dawn, the second full-length album from En...
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Wildernessking
Mystical Future
By Michael O'Brien | 11 February, 2016
If you’re anything like I recently was and are unfamiliar with Cape Town, South Africa’s Wildernessking, I can save you some time right up front by asking you the following question: do you like atmospheric or, dare I say it, Cascadian...
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Rotting Christ
Rituals
By Michael O'Brien | 05 February, 2016
You really have to hand it to Rotting Christ. Over the course of nearly 30 years and now 12 full-length releases, I can’t think of a single album that hasn’t at the very least been decent, but can definitely think of many that have bee...
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Conan
Revengeance
By Michael O'Brien | 29 January, 2016
From the rough and raw doom of their 2010 EP, Horseback Battle Hammer, through to the more refined but no less crushing doom of their second full-length album, 2014’s Blood Eagle, The UK’s Conan has been responsible f...
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Abbath
Abbath
By Michael O'Brien | 20 January, 2016
At the risk of sounding like a grouchy, jaded contrarian, I have to say that I didn’t come into Abbath’s debut album feeling overly excited about it. I was curious, sure, but excited? No.
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