Hierophant Nox

VELVET CACOON : GENEVIEVE Southern Lord An interesting and contentious re-release here from the mighty Southern Lord stable. There has always been speculation about Velvet Cacoon, as to whether they are indeed a real black metal/dark ambient outfit, or, as many others have claimed – are they are simply a publicity seeking bunch of piss-taking [...]

MASTODON : CRACK THE SKYE Reprise Nothing like almost impossible expectations to keep you on your toes, eh people? I wonder just how much pressure the guys from Mastodon have felt with the release of this new album looming? So have they ‘played it safe’ or did they ‘go for broke’ with album number four? [...]

BELTANE : THROUGH DARKER SEASONS Satanica Having thoroughly enjoyed Beltane’s most recent EP, “Shadowplay Desolate”, I was incredibly keen to delve slightly deeper into their impressive back catalogue. “…Through Darker Seasons” was 2008’s full-length release, the follow-up to the record the band identify as their turning point, “Jera II”, and it’s a focused, characterful and [...]

GORTHORN : DEMO I Unsigned Gorthorn is a fairly new experimental proposition hailing from the United Kingdom. Although soul member Joe pitches the genre as ‘black ambient’, the varied sounds present on this debut demo roam beyond the generally oppressive and melancholy aura such a tag might suggest. Cues are certainly taken from the mystically [...]

ORCUSTUS : ORCUSTUS Southern Lord Yet another world-class extreme offering from Greg Anderson’s brilliant underground Southern Lord label: the releases may not be frequent, but Gods are they always of the most exquisite quality. This is yet another unholy Norwegian black metal supergroup, but the ‘quality’ of BM personnel involved – including those from the [...]

GORTHORN : GJENNOM STILOSE SKOGER Unsigned Following 2007’s demo release, which pulled together various existing compositions, Gorthorn went to work on a new creation, the result of which is recent release “Gjennom Stilose Skoger“. The same varied, dark ambient synth work prevails, but with more tracks to play with, this release sounds more balanced than [...]

STUKA SQUADRON Stuka Squadron are a band quite unlike any other you’ve seen in recent times. Pieced together during founder member Graham Pyre’s brief moments of calm whilst on leave from serving in Iraq, they embody a true metal spirit that is one-part fist-pumping heroism, and two-parts fantastical, elaborate escapism. Musically, they bring an old-school [...]

MUMAKIL : BEHOLD THE FAILURE Relapse GRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNDDDDCORE!!!! Yes! YeS!! YES!!! 27 songs in 30 minutes??? YYYEEESSS!!! Old school Grindcore pure and simple, and very fucking excellent it is too! No lyric sheet here, with vocalist Tom taking the Obituary ‘make your own mind up’ approach to his raging vocals. Now I know how ‘sloppy’ grindcore [...]

KYLESA : STATIC TENSIONS Prosthetic The Grateful Dead used to sing the praises of the “Rolling Thunder” twin drummer approach. I mention this because Kylesa also utilise the twin drum powerhouse sound, but far more aggressively and venomously (fairly obviously). Kylesa are now on album number four, and have refined their style and sound to [...]

STUKA SQUADRON + LAMP OF THOTH + WITH ONE LAST BREATH The Riverside, Selby – 03/04/09 The chance to witness a rampant band of undead fighter pilots raging past your doorstep, guns and amps blazing, doesn’t come around every day. If you think about it, that’s probably a good thing; sacrificial virgins are thin on [...]