Rating: 9/10 Release: 20 October 2023 Label: Mighty Music Sylvatica is a four-member Danish melodic death metal band, and Cadaver Synod is their third full-length album. They’re a band I’ve heard of but never found time to sit down and give them a listen, and that was a huge mistake. … Continue reading →
Rating: 7/10 Release: 8 July 2023 Label: Independent / Bandcamp Zeitgeist is a solo act out of Nancy, France, as far as I can tell, and La voie de l’Atlantique (“Way of the Atlantic”) is their second release. It’s a guitar, drums, a keyboard and vocals, and the sound is … Continue reading →
Rating: 9/10 Release: 16 September 2023 Label: Independent Toter Fisch, German for “Dead Fish” is a five-member folk / death metal band out of France. I was excited to give this a listen based on the epic band logo and great album art alone, and I found out quickly: however … Continue reading →
Rating: 8.5/10 Release: 4 August 2023 Label: Running Wild Productions Nemoreus is a six-member Austrian folk-metal band who probably don’t even need this amount of introduction. I wrote the review for Chapter One, and I’d recommend going back and reading it first. The folky, plaintive, flutey, minor-key metallic goodness continues … Continue reading →
Rating: 9/10 Release: 16 July 2023 Label: Independent Flor De Loto (“Lotus Flower”) is a five-member Peruvian prog-metal band. Their bandcamp page at the time of writing says they’re “what would have happened if Iron Maiden met Jethro Tull in the ruins of Machu Picchu”, and that’s close, but this … Continue reading →
Rating: 7/10 Release: 8 Septerber 2023 Label: AOP Records Finsterforst is a six-member German folk metal band, and Jenseits (“Beyond”) is their eighth album and 3rd EP. There are two guest musicians who brought their voices and instruments into the booth, too. All-in-all, it’s a strange little beast: an EP-length … Continue reading →
Rating: 9/10 Release: 16 August 2023 Label: Independent Lombolo is a Swedish folk metal trio and “Här och Där” (“Here and There” but way more fun to say) is their second full-length album. ‘Trio’ is a bit misleading because there are guest appearances from Anchorsmashed, Rietas, and Amadeus Kamsvåg. Some … Continue reading →
Rating: 8/10 Release: 4 August 2023 Label:Independent Adarvirog is a huge, eight-piece Belarusian dark folk metal band. I never get tired of Eastern Europe’s folk metal contributions, and Adarvirog’s second album exceeds expectations. Čornaje Sonca (“Blacker than the Sun”) follows closely in form to 2017’s Край паданняў (“Edge of Traditions”). … Continue reading →
Rating: 9/10 Release: 18 Februari 2022 Label: Independent “Tell the Wind” is the second full-length album from Slovenian six-member symphonic folk metal band Zaria, and the first to feature English-language songs! This band walks on the edge of the chasm of symphonic metal bands with operatic singers. I don’t like … Continue reading →
Rating: 9/10 Release: 17 March 2023 Label: Via Nocturna Diaboł Boruta– typically a five-piece metal band from Poland named for the Devil Boruta, a character from Polish mythology known for corrupting noblemen– have forgotten their metal gear on the way to the recording studio, and, instead, met up with some … Continue reading →
