Reviews Archive
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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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Fall
The Insatiable Weakness
By Rod Whitfield | 10 February, 2016
I hadn’t heard of this Texan outfit before this album came up on the album review list, but I thought I’d give them a crack anyway. They managed to attain the services of none other than Dirk Verbeuren on the drum stool for this record...
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Voivod
Post Society
By Simon Milburn | 10 February, 2016
It’s almost surreal to contemplate that Canada’s Voivod have been going at it - in various forms of course - for well over thirty years. They are one of the few acts not only with that kind of longevity but also who have really managed...
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Lost Society
Braindead
By Simon Milburn | 09 February, 2016
When fellow TMF reviewer Simon Crawley covered Lost Society’s 2014 effort, Terror Hungry, I must admit I was a little late to the party. By the time I read his review and checked out the album enough for it to sink in, I was somewha...
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Ektomorf
Aggressor
By Simon Milburn | 09 February, 2016
Ahhh Ektomorf, I know what you’re all about. If you’re not familiar with this Hungarian quartet, they are not just influenced by Roots-era Sepultura and early Soulfly, they live and breathe it. There’s more than a few ti...
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Textures
Phenotype
By Chris Gibbs | 08 February, 2016
What comes to mind when you think of The Netherlands? Amsterdam, weed, Heineken, windmills, God Dethroned, Gorefest, canals, and don’t get me started on the bicycles! But, I’ll be damned if I’d ever heard of Textures until a few ...
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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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Fleshgod Apocalypse
King
By Rod Whitfield | 03 February, 2016
This is the album I’ve been waiting for from these Italian maestros. As a massive sucker for bands that combine heavy guitars and pounding drums with bombastic orchestral stylings, I love bands like Nightwish, Epica, Death Cult Armageddo...
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Lumberjack Feedback, The
Blackened Visions
By Simon Crawley | 01 February, 2016
Entirely instrumental albums are always somewhat of a grey area in terms of overall appreciation and enjoyment. The absence of vocals accommodates that extra element of risk of not capturing the listener’s attention. The instruments are left...
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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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Witchcraft
Nucleus
By Chris Gibbs | 25 January, 2016
This is my first exposure to Sweden’s Witchcraft, whom have just released their fifth record and second for Nuclear Blast, entitled Nucleus.
Opener “Malstroem” is very misleading with its heavy, compounding, and q...
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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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Venomous Concept
Kick Me Silly VC III
By Simon Crawley | 19 January, 2016
Heavy metal in 2016 gets off to a blistering start and the evidence is right here in the third full-length studio album from ‘super group’ Venomous Concept. The band’s brand of ear-searing grind punk is that bucket of icy water t...
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Aborted
Termination Redux
By Chris Gibbs | 18 January, 2016
What does a new Aborted EP often signal? A new Aborted record is on the horizon. Opening this five track EP is “Liberate Me Ex Inferis”, a 30 second introduction that essentially borrows some dialogue from the deep space horror flick E...
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Lion's Daughter, The
Existence is Horror
By Michael O'Brien | 10 January, 2016
Blackened sludge is one of those genres that I find amorphous and broad enough to never really know if I’m what I’m hearing can be classified as such. That said, there are enough albums I enjoy that
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Body & Krieg, The
The Body & Krieg
By Michael O'Brien | 01 December, 2015
The Body & Krieg marks the second collaboration that I’ve reviewed in the past month but, unlike the one by Dragged into Sunlight and Gnaw Their Tongues, I wasn’t entirely what to expect from The Body & Krieg....
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Horrendous
Anareta
By Simon Crawley | 23 November, 2015
A year has passed since Philadelphia’s Horrendous released their sophomore album and follow-up to the highly acclaimed The Chills. As we reach the end of 2015, while some look to dusting off the Christmas decorations, others might l...
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Cryptopsy
The Book of Suffering: Tome 1
By Michael O'Brien | 17 November, 2015
I guess you could characterise my relationship with Cryptopsy as being somewhat atypical for someone of my age group. While I get the impression that the bulk of folks who are my age or older hold up 1994’s Blasphemy Made Flesh and ...
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Dragged into Sunlight & Gnaw Their Tongues
N.V.
By Michael O'Brien | 14 November, 2015
There was never a chance this wasn’t going to be ugly and vicious as hell, was there?
Over the course of two full-length albums, the UK’s Dragged into Sunlight has deservedly earned a reputation for crafting filthy and challengi...
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Otargos
Xeno Kaos
By Michael O'Brien | 11 November, 2015
What initially drew me to France's Otargos when I reviewed their fourth full-length album, No God, No Satan, a number of years back was the band's mixture of black metal with light hints of industrial influence. While I’d be lying i...
