Violet Cold - Anomie Review

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Merchant - Beneath EP Review

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Snares Of Sixes - Yeast Mother: An Electroacoustic Mass Review

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GATHERING DARKNESS - The Heat Of A Dying Sun Review

Gathering Darkness - The Heat Of A Dying Sun (Necromance Records)

Release date : May 22nd, 2017

Death Metal and Latin seems to be a natural fit like tonic and gin. Formed in 1998, Gathering Darkness is a Spanish outfit that carries the flag of Death Metal in the 1990’s fashion way. Think of Morbid Angel, Hypocrisy, and Vile and you have a good idea of the meaning of this last phrase.

Sxap - Cathedral Review

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Artificial Brain – Infrared Horizon Review

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Dodecahedron – Kwintessens Review

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ISENORDAL - Shores Of Mourning Review

Isenordal - Shores Of Mourning (Eternal Warfare Records / Pest Productions)

Release date : March 25th, 2017

Coming from the Cascadian region of the United States of America, Isenordal is labeled as a Black Funeral Doom/Neofolk project; what an amalgam. It is almost as if when ordering delivery food you don’t know what you’d like and tell the guy I’m taking a bit of every possible thing on the menu and wrap it in a burrito. The 

burger/pizza/sushi/poke/enchiladas/egg roll first bite you’ll have might be a bit suspicious and near total disaster of a meal. Let’s see if the buffet of Metal genres that is Shores Of Mourning is a total disaster or not.

Record Of The Month: March 2017

Well, well, another month and another record of the month coming. With lots on my mind lately it is a lot more difficult to get to sit and write about the new music that is released these days. Even if some albums are really worth it only the albums that really deserve it will get a proper review others might just be added and graded on our scale that you can find at the upper right side. So for March what took our attention?

DYNFARI - The Four Doors Of The Mind Review

Dynfari - The Four Doors Of The Mind (Code666)

Release date : April 14th, 2017

With the huge success of Deafheaven with their ability to take the ugliest music genre in the popular’s mind perception into something as sensible and meditative as Shoegazing and hints of post-rock many hipster millennials jumped on the bandwagon to make Post-Black Metal/Blackgaze/Post-Rock-Black Metal into one of the biggest shitloads of trend and legions of lovers/haters. Sure it is a bastardization of the ‘’purest’’ and ‘’trvest’’ form of Black Metal,  almost no tongue in cheek here, but every music has the right to exist and even the worst genre can have hints of genius and produce once in a while a great album.

SLOTH HERDER - No Pity, No Sunrise Review

 

Sloth Herder - No Pity, No Sunrise (Grimoire Records)

Release date : March 24th, 2017

Back in 1999-2000 I got into more ‘’extreme’’ and ‘’underground’’ Metal by the doors of Converge and Second Wave Black Metal essentially. Both are not related by scenes one might say, but I find Converge to be more Metal than Hardcore or Metalcore. Until this day, Jane Doe and Petitionning The Empty Sky are some of the most important albums that forged me as a metalhead. Grindcore with Pig Destroyer, Nasum, Spazz, ROT is also a chunk of my obsession for bastard music as my parents were calling it back then. They might be calling it that way if I was still living in their house and blasting this music all day long.

NETRA - Ingrats Review

Netra - Ingrats (Hypnotic Dirge Records)

Release date : March 9th, 2017

Back in the 1990’s, when underground Metal was becoming a little bit more on the map we had to go to a record store, sometimes in a dark basement of a bad neighborhood to get our fix of DarkThrone, Mayhem, and Ildjarn. Now that Black Metal is as easy to get as a burger and fries at any corner many bands and one man bands have been pushing the limits of genre crossing with Folk, Shoegaze, etc.

CONDEMNED - His Divine Shadow Review

 

Condemned - His Divine Shadow (Unique Leader Records)

Release date : March 10th, 2017

Unique Leader Records is synonymous with Death Metal and mostly Brutal Death Metal. They have rosters that represents many American states that produce the best and the worst of the genre. A genre that’s been a bit worn off in the latest years. Between Technical DM and Brutal DM is a plethora of talented musicians and brutalists.

ROZAMOV - This Mortal Road Review

Rozamov - This Mortal Road (Battleground Records, Dullest Records)

Release date : March 3rd, 2017

After a series of EPs and 7’’ releases, Rozamov formed in Boston in 2011, are throwing Doom Metal lines and Neurosis like monolith songs. In fact, the similarity with the legendary Oakland band even goes into the vocals that are a shared between Tom Corino (also bass) and Matt Iacovelli (also guitars and piano).

Record Of The Month: February 2017

With a little delay and less reviews than we were supposed to produce here are the two best Records of the Month of February 2017. It is almost a tie but the winner is the lesser known and underrated Dissonant Metal album of the month. The other one has had many well deserved accolades.

VASTUM - Carnal Law Review

Vastum - Carnal Law Remaster Reissue (20 Buck Spin)
Release date: March 10th 2017

8.0

SAILLE - Gnosis Review

Saille - Gnosis (Code666)

Release date : March 13th, 2017

The fourth album of the prolific Belgian Black Metal quintet of Saille is a concept album exploring the world of the Promethean ideal and its Luciferian counterpart. Taking inspiration from the Symphonic Black Metal that followed the Second Wave of Black Metal, Saille’s sound is closer to Windir, Dark Funeral, and Emperor than Dimmu Borgir even if they still have a clean sound and the backing of a Polish production of the Hertz studio (Behemoth, Decapitated, Vader).

ANDE - Het gebeente Review

Ande - Het gebeente (Self-released)
Release date: January 7th 2017

This is pretty much a copy paste of the Scandinavian Second Wave of Black Metal sound except for some Doom elements here and there that steers the music towards an Atmospheric BM.

Nothing really groundbreaking and even the production sounds as if it was a DarkThrone's UnHoly Trinity takeover or an early Burzum record.

Another Black Metal one-man-band in the ocean of one-man-bands.

5.0

WOE - Hope Attrition Review

WOE - Hope Attrition (Vendetta Records)
Release date : March 17, 2017

Woe was formed in 2007 as a black metal solo project of multi-instrumentalist Chris Grigg. After catching the underground’s attention with a strong demo of ugly, raw black metal, the first full-length, A Spell For The Death Of Man, was unleashed in 2008. The album presented the first glimpse of modern Woe: faithful to the traditions established by the black metal classics but a willingness to inject a very American perspective by way of punk and hardcore influences. It found critical acclaim both in the underground and beyond.

SUNLESS - Urraca Review

Sunless - Urraca (Self-released)

Release date : February 24th, 2017

As I am into a lot of things other than reviewing new releases lately, I am still listening to a bunch of the albums that are overcrowding our promo mailbox. February wasn’t the strongest month in new releases and there are few records that will eventually be in my permanent rotation. Sunless and their first full length Urraca might be one of the few acts to be piercing this so-called prestigious rotation of mine. Their use of Dissonant Metal à la Gorguts and Ulcerate is quite something.

THERA ROYA - Stone And Skin Mini-Review

Thera Roya - Stone And Skin (Self-released)

Release date: February 17th, 2017

6.0

Record Of The Month: January 2017

INSANITY CULT - Of Despair And Self Destruction Review

Insanity Cult - Of Despair And Self Destruction (Ogmios Underground)
Release date: February 11th, 2017

6.0

XIBALBA - Diablo, Con Amor… Adios EP Review

Xibalba - Diablo, Con Amor… Adios EP (Closed Casket Activities)

Release date : February 17th, 2017

The release of their full length Tierra Y Libertad last year showcased their mastery at merging Hardcore and Metal together was well received. To some, they sounded a lot like Hatebreed. The comparison isn’t false but Xibalba has more Metal in their song structures than the aforementioned band and less cheesy moments. One year later, they are now releasing a three songs EP Diablo, Con Amor… Adios with the songs ‘’Diablo’’, ‘’Con Amor’’, and ‘’Adios’’.

YITH - Dread Review

Yith - Dread (Hellthrasher Productions / Vendetta Records)
Release date: February 10th, 2017

The first full-length from Yith, is a cold slab of hopeless black/doom that continues the project’s exploration of darkness, fear and grief. With haunting melodies and lyrical inspiration coming from the pages of M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft, „Dread” tries to pull the listener into a bleak abyss of endless horror. 

5.0

CZAR - Life Is No Way To Treat An Animal Review

Czar - Life Is No Way To Treat An Animal (Self-released)

Release date : January 20th, 2017

Of all the things that I love in my life being critical is one of those things I don’t get bored with easily. Sometimes, in album reviews, you already know how the music is going to sound and how you are going to write those few lines trying to point its better and weaker elements. Other times you get a real challenge and even genre description won’t even help you trying to make out of what you have listened. The case of Czar and their full length album Life Is No Way To Treat An Animal is of the later kind.

ASHENSPIRE - Speak Not Of The Laudanum Quandary Review

Ashenspire - Speak Not Of The Laudanum Quandary (2017, Code666)

Release date : January 20th, 2017

Lately, we have been receiving promo from the label Code666 and we have been mostly impressed by their quality and their variety of offerings; Aenaon and Terra are two of the albums we reviewed on this blog. Avant-garde Metal band Ashenspire formed in 2013 in the United Kingdom are the latest to be released on Code666. Mixing the speed of both Primordial and Ved Buens Ende with a vision that’s closer to Dodheimsgard and Arcturus, Ashenspire might have created the most theatrical record to have moved this critic for a long time.

HEAVY BABY SEA SLUGS - Teenage Graveyard Party EP Review

Heavy Baby Sea Slugs - Teenage Graveyard Party EP (2017, Heavy Baby Records)

Release date : January 21st, 2017

Recorded as a companion CD to their Japan/Taiwan tour in January 2017, Heavy Baby Sea Slugs’ EP Teenage Graveyard Party sounds like a business card where the band presents itself as a Sludge/Punk American band that isn’t afraid to get to experimental places.

UNDRASK - Battle Through Time Review

Undrask - Battle Through Time (2017, Self-released)

Release date : January 27th, 2017

Melodic Death Metal isn’t our cup of tea around here on LMDM and the last two records we reviewed earned each a 7.0 rating. Which is not bad at all if you look at the rating system on your right. However, it takes a lot for the genre to wow us especially since the golden age of Melo Death back with the early albums of In Flames, Dark Tranquility, At The Gates, and Darkest Hour. In fact, Melodic metal isn’t our forte but we know when an album will make history or not. Let’s see if North Carolina’s Undrask’s first LP Battle Through Time is a winner.

MOURNING DAWN - Waste EP Review

Mourning Dawn - Waste EP (2017, Aesthetic Death)

Release date : Late January, 2017

Consisting of two track of the same length 25 mins and 14 seconds, ‘’Waste’’ the song and the EP is the overlaid of ‘’The One I Never Was’’ and ‘’The One I’ll Never Be’’. So the running time of this EP of behemoth grandeur is 75 minutes and 42 seconds. Coming from Montpellier, France, Mourning Dawn is atmospheric and Doom.

ECFERUS - Shamaniacal Essence EP Review

Ecferus - Shamaniacal Essence EP (2017, Hellthrasher Productions)

This four songs EP, not to be confused with the previous three songs EP released this past November, Ecferus’ kind of infectious Black Metal is far from the usual American Black Metal trending right now. Out of Indiana, Ecferus is another one man band of dissonant Black Metal and claustrophobic barrier of noise.

AXIS OF DESPAIR - Mankind Crawl EP Review

Axis Of Despair - Mankind Crawl EP (2017, Give Praise Records)

As many fans of Punk and Metal I have a soft spot for Grindcore and its many incarnations. Sweden’s Axis Of Despair formed of members of Nasum, Coldworker, Infanticide, Volturyon, Livet som insats, Nervgift, and Overtorture is close to be a replacement of the aforementioned defunct Nasum in this writer’s heart.

KETCH - The Anthems Of Dread Review

Ketch - The Anthems Of Dread (2016, Aesthetic Death)

Named after the infamous King Charles II’s executioner, John or Jack Ketch, Ketch the band is a Doom/Sludge Metal outfit from Colorado. Their sound is as aggressive as Indian and navigates in many waters like Funeral Doom pace, Black Metal tremolo, and heavy Doomish drumming. Self-released in April 2016 but recently released by Aesthetic Death with four songs from a previous EP, The Anthems Of Dread is one of the latest surprises of late 2016. We decided that the album was enough important to be on the early 2017 review schedule.

BEHEADED - Beast Incarnate Review

Beheaded - Beast Incarnate (2017, Unique Leader Records)

Malta’s own Brutal Death Metal oddity in Beheaded has released another punishing album on the Extreme Metal label of Unique Leader Records. Formed in 1991, those veterans of the genre are coming with a Brutal yet Melodic album with a renewed lineup and more than twenty five years of existence getting among the likes of Suffocation and Dying Fetus.

FLEURETY - Fragmenta Cuinsvis Aetatis Contemporaneae EP Review

Fleurety - Fragmenta Cuinsvis Aetatis Contemporaneae EP (2017, Aesthetic Death)

Formed in Norway during the most prolific era of the Second Wave of Black Metal, Fleurety have their feet into the BM scene while always carrying the Avant-Garde flag just as Arcturus did. With a new EP consisting of two songs over 12 minutes, Fragmenta Cuinsvis Aetatis Contemporanaea might be longer to write than to listen.

BALFOR - Black Serpent Rising Review

Balfor - Black Serpent Rising (2017, Drakkar Productions)

With the coming of 2017, many things are on the way and we have our first review of an album we received way before 2016 ended and we started getting our ears on it since many weeks. Ukraine has been a huge provider of new Black Metal acts and Balfor is one of the front runners of the Barbaric Black Metal coming from Ukraine. Their new album Black Serpent Rising pinpoints every element one must expect from a Melodic Black Metal record. To many, Melodic Black Metal has been defined by Windir, personally Dissection did the original path on this and its best successor is Mgla.