Bloodstock organisers have confirmed that metal legends Mercyful Fate are the final headliner for the 2021 weekend and will be joined by Dimmu Borgir.
Cosmic World Mother has been the hardest record to wrap my head around in quite some time. There are…
Polish black metal legends Arkona have been infecting underground airwaves with frigid, uncompromising evil across six full-length albums, culminating in their seventh, Age of Capricorn, now available on Debemur Morti.
The reissue of Stab Wounds by Germany’s Dark Fortress is not only a worthy addition to any black metal library, this remastered version is a great example of how black metal can supersede its clichéd, raw and unfinished roots and instead exist as a well-rounded, high-quality product that values melody and composition without sacrificing any of its implied nihilism in the process.
Unus (Season of Mist), the sixth full-length album by Canadian group Necronomicon is a powerful piece of Lovecraftian death metal, but its impact is lessened by superfluous symphonic flourishing.
Portland-based photographer Peter Beste’s latest book release, Defenders of the Faith (Sacred Bones), is less a photo essay and more an anthropological investigation, interrogating that staple in the heavy metal uniform – the patched and painted battle jacket.
If UK black metal built around the sparing, yet tasteful application of keyboards over fairly complex guitar passages with occasional clean, operatic vocal passages is your thing, Necronautical offer exactly that – in spades – on Apotheosis, their latest release on Candlelight Records.
Kali Yuga Crown (Werewolf Records), from Australia’s Advent Sorrow, combines misanthropic fury and crushing despair in guitar-led compositions topped off with subtle yet effective keyboard elements that never diminish the heaviness of the black metal music, only underscore its scathing message.
With just a couple of days to go, Bloodstock Open Air organisers have issued a statement regarding the late news that Sunday special guests Dimmu Borgir had been forced to pull out of their highly-anticipated set.
Due via Australis Records, Illvsio Machina, the latest EP from Chilean symphonic black metal outfit Antartandes, is over-the-top, brash and unapologetic in its industrial, post-apocalyptic fury.
To discuss their debut record Celestial Mechanics, out now via Century Media, in addition to questions about some of his awesome tattoos, we spoke with Tronos vocalist Shane Embury!
An unmistakably Kampfar record, Ofidians Manifest (available from Indie Recordings) blends historic black metal tropes with contemporary care to composition and arrangement to craft one of the most exciting pieces of black metal music in recent history.
1349’s fast, heavy and uncompromising “aural hellfire” approach to Norwegian Black Metal returns on a state-sponsored tribute to the work of artist Edvard Munch, Dødskamp, released by Season Of Mist.