Latest Reviews
There are way too many records released every week - which one should you listen to? We want to help you by reviewing lots of records every week and you can also check out a little teaser before reading the whole thing. And if you want to, you can also browse through our archive and have a look at the amazing records you might have missed out on.
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Natt - Natt
08 Feb 2023 - Knut
Atmospheric Post Rock, Electronic, AmbientNatt´s new instrumental album is music for the night - the repetitive parts will mesmerize you while the broad musical scope will induce a tonic calm.
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A Diadem of Dead Stars - Emerald Stars (Comp)
07 Feb 2023 - Thorsten
Atmospheric Black MetalA band‘s name is sometimes more important than normal people like to think. Of course it‘s not difficult to find a name Whitey Carey or Pariah Houston, but who knows the meaning behind Boysetsfire or Satyagraha (if you know which band I am referring to with the second name, then we will have shared school days together!). Sometimes it can also purvey a sense of what is to come, for example Grindcrusher. Or: A Diadem of Dead Stars.
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Draken - Book of Black
06 Feb 2023 - Knut
Heavy Metal/Hard RockPut the pedal to the metal and blast off with the vibrant heavy metal thunder from Norway’s Draken.
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EYES - Congratulations
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WIZRD - Seasons
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Palace of Worms - Cabal
03 Feb 2023 - Knut
Death Metal, Progressive MetalThis one-man band, founded and driven by the musician Balan, has been around since 2007. His debut release, the Black Metal album The Forgotten, was the first ever album to be released on The Flenser in 2009. Of course, this being Balan, there was more to it than mere Black Metal snd the same counts for this new release: there is more to it than just one distinct style. Had this not been in the hands of a master at making metal-related music it could easily have become a mess. It is not. It is a marvelous musical achievement.
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Obelyskkh - The Ultimate Grace of God
02 Feb 2023 - Thorsten
Sludge, Psychedelic RockEveryone knows that old comparison often used to describe food “Oh that tastes so good, it takes me back to my childhood, when (Grand)ma used to make this for me!” Somehow in a twisted, nerdy way, the latest record by Obelyskkh called The Ultimate Grace of God does the same thing for me. And on top of that, it’s a hell of a brilliant, scratchy bastard of a record!
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Soothsayer Orchestra - The Last Black Flower
01 Feb 2023 - Thorsten
Blues Rock, Alternative Rock, Post-PunkNearly one year ago, the music died. Okay, a bit melodramatic, but when Lanegan died, that really hit me because of the voice, the story, the fact that he came through. No one will ever have a voice that hits as deep and as warm, as scary and as brittle-strong as him. Being a music “addict” and always searching for new methadone, it was a sheer pleasure to stumble upon Soothsayer Orchestra and The Last Black Flower.
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Atsuko Chiba - Water, It Feels Like It’s Growing
31 Jan 2023 - Gene
Psychedelic, Progressive, ExperimentalThere is a world in which The Mars Volta knocked up Radiohead and their kid is smoking the Sinful Cilantro in the attic, listening to Punk Rock protest songs. This is that world.
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Polar - Everywhere, Everything
30 Jan 2023 - Sebastian
HardcoreNew year, new me? Well at least not musically, because I still love most things hardcore, hence I picked the new Polar record Everywhere, Everything as my first review of 2023. The record is already out via Arising Empire and, spoiler alert, you should definitely go and give it a listen.
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The Holy Circle - Don't Disturb my Waking Dream
29 Jan 2023 - Dan D.
Dreampop, ShoegazeI’ve been increasingly drawn to Dreampop and Shoegaze over the last couple of years. As I’ve grown older my tastes have moved away from the more ‘in your face’ ferocity of Extreme metal and Hardcore and I have become much more contemplative and introspective. There’s a sense of love, longing, and loss in both the fore mentioned sub-genres that I can get lost in and reminisce.
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STAHV - Simple Mercies
26 Jan 2023 - Thorsten
Alternative RockOkay, let’s do something different this time. I will not talk about the band at all, so you have to figure those things out by looking at the headline and picture next to these opening lines. Let’s only talk about the six songs on this EP and let them initiate my talking. Because hey, that’s what happened in the record stores of old as well, right?
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Phal:Angst - Whiteout
25 Jan 2023 - Thorsten
Post-Rock, Doomjazz, SynthwaveWhy is a genre like Post-Rock destined to never ever die? Simply because the disenfranchisement of classical structures in order to come up with new, unconventional ways of performing music makes for unlimited possibilities for writing, structuring songs and incorporating new mirrors that have yet to be shaven but that are exhilaratingly infectious. The Vienna, Austria-based ensemble called Phal:Angst has just released another example of that difficult thesis: Whiteout is a perfect amalgam of Post-Rock ethos and fragility, Industrial harshness and Doomjazz passion!
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Death Engine - Ocean
24 Jan 2023 - Thorsten
Blackened Shoegaze, Post-MetalDeath Engine‘s latest release is called Ocean and indeed it bears some resemblance to the music by the powerful Post-Metal collective of the same name as the album title! Nevertheless, there is also some Chino Moreno in it, which shall not be neglected. Therefore we can affirm that this record is somewhere between Post-Metal and Blackened Shoegaze, for the Deftones were never Nu-Metal but hard, heavy Shoegaze. Just listen to White Pony - Ocean is like a crossing between that album and Precambrian!
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Wuodan's Wunde - Es Glimmt Empor aus Ewger Nacht
23 Jan 2023 - Thorsten
Atmospheric Black Metal, Dungeon SynthI do not want to go as far as saying this will be Dungeon Synth’s Nevermind but in a just world it would surely be its Sunbather. Big statement? Yes, but sit back, enjoy the ride that one-man-project Wuodan’s Wunde from Austria is providing on this record and tell me afterwards whether I was wrong or not. Fire away, actually, because nothing can hit me here, down deep in the dungeons!
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Raum Kingdom - Monarch
20 Jan 2023 - Simon
Post Sludge, Post MetalWith enough barely contained visceral energy to power a small town, Raum Kingdom trample all over the idea of the difficult second album.
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Mare Infinitum - Cryosleep
18 Jan 2023 - Knut
Atmospheric Doom MetalMare Infinitum set out in 2010 and released a full-length in 2011 and a second one in 2015. For each of these two, they broadened the scope of their music leading to this release seven years after the last one. The musical sphere in which they operate on this album is near to unfathomable. It is a grandiose display of visionary musicianship that defies any genre one tries to narrow it down to. It is clearly rooted in Doom Metal and Death Metal, but add the angelic choir, the operatic vocals, the epic, orchestral arrangements and melodic themes and this goes beyond styles and genres.
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M.S.W Cloud - Diversus Ambitibus
17 Jan 2023 - Gene
Classical, Piano, ChoralWhen you set out for Hellfest but end up at Montreux Jazz festival, and don’t even mind.
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AHAB - The Coral Tombs
15 Jan 2023 - Thorsten
Nautik Doom, Funeral DoomThe absolute masters, pioneers, forefathers and simultaneously the future, the promise, the chosen are back. Ahab, the best band in a genre they founded and that they alone inhibit. The most successful Nautik Doom band ever. Okay, all of that might seem like a lot of irony but I am sure the Heidelberg, Germany-based quartet will take this with the little twinkle in the eye. Nevertheless, to clarify it – being able to listen to new music from the best German Funeral Doom band ever, is so rewarding! Furthermore, because The Coral Tombs shows the guys from atop of their game. Every single riff, every hit on any part of the drum-kit, everything is simply magical!
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Azken Auzi - s-t
14 Jan 2023 - Thorsten
Blackened Stoner MetalIt is always interesting to see how heavy trios can be. Azken Auzi from Toulon in Southern France can be taken as a new example for just that. Stemming from afoot the mighty Alps and simultaneously right on the blue beaches of the Côte d’Azur, the threesome started only two years ago and have now released their self-titled debut record which is somewhere in the realms of Blackened Stoner Metal. Impressive!
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Ropes Inside A Hole - A Man And His Nature
13 Jan 2023 - Knut
Post RockThe Italians of RIAH finally tell us, five years after their debut, what the acronym stands for. It really does not give more sense. Does it matter? No, not when the band has transformed and reformed itself, and releases a tremendous Post Rock album at the start of the year. This album quite literally contains everything a heavy Post Rock release should be about - passion, emotions, longing, yearning, solitude, joy, and immense reflective parts. And some more.
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Onhou - Monument
12 Jan 2023 - Thorsten
Blackened Doom, Funeral SludgeAs someone coming from the West of Germany, I have always had a strange “relationship” with the Netherlands. Being a young football fan, we didn’t like the Dutch, because they always gave us a hard time. Being a music lover I was always amazed by their scene and their metal bands and festivals. Being older now, I can definitely say “I love Holland” Its people, its landscapes and beaches. I am somewhat obsessed with its music scene and am happy to support it as much as I can. Not because a band like Onhou is from Groningen, but simply because it is an insanely good band!
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Misþyrming - Með hamri
11 Jan 2023 - Thorsten
Atmospheric Black MetalAnthemic. Epic. Accessible. Earwormy. All these adjectives are going to be used in this review of the latest full-length Með hamri by Icelandic Black Metal trailblazers Misþyrming. Does that indirectly mean they lost some of their edge? Don’t think so! Will some scene policemen call them out for being a bit too melodic on this new album? Maybe. Should anyone care about that? No!
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KOLLAPS\E - Phantom Centre
07 Jan 2023 - Knut
Post Meal/Sludge MetalNo need to be subtle about this full-length debut from these Swedes; it is an amazing Post Metal/Sludge Metal-release with hints of Post Rock in between the multilayered music. The album is varied, it is furious, it is heavy, it is complex - yes, it ticks off all the parts that high quality Post Metal music consists of.
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Kali Malone - Living Torch
05 Jan 2023 - Stephan
Drone, Neo-ClassicalTwo souls alas! are dwelling in your breasts? One which yearns to prolong the contemplative part of winter solstice season? And the other one just wants things to be earth-shattering loud again? Luckily, music has specialized genres suited exactly for this dichotomy, offering soothing meditative qualities, yet also eagerly sending bone-pulverizing vibrations through your body - if you just turn the volume up high enough. And it’s one album in particular, already released about two weeks after summer solstice, which I want to entrust to you for this purpose now.
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