Hierophant Nox

REV 16:8 : GRAND TIDAL RAVE Temple of Darkness Records Rev 16:8 is a Swedish death metal assault corps recreated from the ashes of Bloodshed, a band in which all three members featured at some point or another. “Grand Tidal Rave” is their debut statement under this banner. It seemed utterly plagued by problems, with [...]

DISCHARGE : DISENSITISE Vile (self-released) Discharge is easily my favourite band ever! I have many bands I love, some totally extreme, some not, but none I feel so strongly as this band make me feel! Make no mistake boys and girls – Discharge 2009 is very much ‘the real deal’. Cal is gone for good, [...]

OLD MAN’S CHILD : SLAVES OF THE WORLD Century Media I’ve always had more than a little soft spot for Old Man’s Child. Periodically, “Captives of Humanity” from “Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion” imbeds itself in my head seemingly from nowhere, and I have to listen to the entire back catalogue for three days solid, a condition [...]

FOLKSTORM : SWEDEN Cold Spring Originally having crawled out of the fetid cave of Lord Nordvargr’s mind back in 2001, “Sweden” saw a limited release of 1500 copies in 2004. Judging the time right to unleash this profoundly unsettling release once again, Cold Spring and Nordvargr have come together to re-mix, re-master and sharpen the [...]

KHANATE : CLEAN HANDS GO FOUL Hydra Head A fuck-off cacophonous dirge of charred and blackened hatred… I freakin’ love this morose and pestilential “Hail Now Go Die!” posthumous “musical” coda – freshly disinterred (as it is), from the putrid remains of this dead outfit. Absolute bloody gee-knee-us! The deceased, Steven O’Malley, Alan Dubin, James [...]

THE SIN COMMITTEE : CONFESS Unsigned Dutch progressive act The Sin Committee have certainly extended the range of music we’ve listened to this fortnight with this very different EP, “Confess”. A rumbling, modern, grooving, doomy slice of experimental rock/metal, this release may be impossible to pin down but it’s no less enjoyable for being so; [...]

PENSÉES NOCTURNES A short while ago, Les Acteurs de l’Ombre sent me a new release they were sure I would enjoy, from Pensées Nocturnes, the project of French solo artist Vaerhon. With its powerful combination of bleakness and passion, and easy, emotive melding of traditional and classical elements, “Vacuum” was indeed to become a firm [...]

FOSCOR : GROANS TO THE GUILTY Temple of Darkness Records Foscor’s recent UK live debut at the Infernal Damnation festival left me salivating for the arrival of “Groans to the Guilty”, their third full-length album. Passionate, assured and impressively tight onstage, it’s pleasing to discover that in the studio, too, these interesting and fathomlessly sorrowful [...]

SUNN 0 ))) : MONOLITHS & DIMENSIONS Southern Lord Arguably (surely!) THE most eagerly anticipated extreme metal release of 2009! The drone driven megalithic O’Malley/Anderson war machine towers massively over and above us, horrifying in its nihilistic enormity…ready to annihilate our damaged and crumbling world – and yet…but yet…is there just a glimmer of light [...]

STREAM OF PASSION : THE FLAME WITHIN Napalm Records I’m not sure if I get left to review acts such as Stream of Passion because I’m a girl and therefore inherently sappy – I did offer this one around the office, only to be met with stony, grim silence – but I have to say [...]