Rating: 8.5/10 Release: 1 September 2023 Label: Independent Ekyrian is a huge nine-member folk metal band from Spain and “Cuentos junto a la hoguera” (“Stories by the Campfire”– as depicted by the lovely album art) is their third album. We’re in the lush forests of the “folk” side of folk … Continue reading →
Rating: 8.5/10 Release: 13 October 2023Label: Napalm Records Varg is a five-member German dark power-/melodic death metal band from Germany and Ewige Wacht (“Eternal Watch”) is their eighth album since they started releasing these in 2007, which is some amazing longevity in this business. “Varg” is Swedish/Old Norwegian for “wolf”, … Continue reading →
Rating: 8/10 Release: 17 November 2023 Label: Mighty Music Vansind is a six-member Danish folk metal band and Mørket (“The Darkness”) is their first full-length album. My preview is really what I like what to hear. I was familiar with them from their 2021 modest hit “Den Farefulde Færd”, which … Continue reading →
Rating: 8/10 Release: 29 September 2023 Label: Independent / Bandcamp Ilmarinen is a big, six-member Dutch folk metal band in a traditional sense, and “Gold” is a very short, two-song EP. It appears to be their third release and a marked improvement over their earlier works: the editing is a … Continue reading →
Rating: 9/10 Release: 8 September 2023 Label: Independent Evilon (a portmanteau of “evil” and “Avalon”) is a Swedish band calling themselves folk metal. Typically, I’ll open these reviews like “BandName is an n-member band of SomeGenre”, but it seems the band is restructuring and some folks have departed. At the … Continue reading →
Rating: 8/10 Release: 17 November 2023 Label: Independent Cabrakaän is a five-member symphonic folk metal band from Toluca, Mexico… just outside of Mexico City in the heart of what was once the Aztec empire. This is where they draw a lot of inspiration for their songs. Aztlán is their third … Continue reading →
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 →
