Existentialist/Terminal/Seek & Shake/2025 EP Review

 

  Existentialist  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  symphonic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2025  ep  "Terminal"  which  will b e  released  in  June  by  Seek  &  Shake.

  Symphonic  style  keyboards  and  orchestration  start  off  the  ep  and  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  at  times.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  while  the  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  and  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  lot  of  melody.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  elements  of  deathcore  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  ep.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style,  clean  playing  is  also  added  on  a  couple  of  tracks  and  a  couple  of  songs  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  as  well  as  the  bonus  track  also  adding  in  some  choirs.

  Existentialist  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  symphonic  black,  death  metal  and  deathcore  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  human  condition.

  In  my  opinion  Existentialist  are  a  very  great  sounding  symphonic  mixture  of  black, death metal  and  deathcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUD E "Death  Before  Death'  and  "Wraithchild".  

https://www.facebook.com/ExistentialistUK

https://www.instagram.com/existentialist.uk/#

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4wLNwOLv2VRH88SncD9yD5?si=TZQ10QjWSgin4Hceb7HkSg&nd=1&dlsi=efcf9b7616334bae

Lacabra Interview

 

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

We are staying very busy and about to drop our debut album Self titled LACABRA. Also staying busy doing Album release shows and a showcase in Las Vegas for MTheory Audio, the label we are signed to.

2.You have your first full length coming out in June, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

We just went with our musical influences for this first album and smashed them all together and it created a really unique sound. Our influences range from Black Metal to Melodic Death Metal to Punk. 

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?

All of the lyrics are written about personal experiences, ranging from friends that have OD’d to personal drug abuse in the past to cult leaders which we could dig into that one later.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'lacabra'?

I almost opened a punk metal bar with a friend and we were going to call it La Cabra Negra. The name just rolled off the tongue really nicely and at the Same time we were forming LACABRA so I thought it would be a cool name meaning the goat. Doesn’t get much more metal than that.

5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

Yes, it’s a beautiful creation by one of my favorite artists Nestor Avalos Who has done work for Exodus, rotting Christ and Diecide among tons of other bands. He is doing the artwork for our sophomore release as well, which we are currently working on.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

I think two of the shows that stick out for me personally were opening for Crypta at a legendary venue in Seattle, our hometown called El Corazón. The pit was huge and people brought their kids and were putting them up on their shoulders in the pit. It was fucking nuts! Another one would have been Spézet in France with our good friends Anthares (French Thrash Metal), that crowd was so fucking crazy! France goes off!

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

Yes, we have a couple short runs after the album release regionally and another European tour in October that includes Germany, Netherlands and France again, we absolutely love France so we’re going to keep going over there as much as possible.

The guys from Anthares have been so good to us and got us such good shows. How could we refuse and we’re going to try to do the same for them for next year in the states. So yes, we will be staying busy!

8.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black and death metal?

There’s so many different genres of those two types of music now we’ve gotten really good reception from all of them, not exactly sure how they true black metal crowd feels about us, they usually don’t like too much outside of their own realm, but that’s OK with us, as long as we know what we do is fucking real and we are happy with what we do that’s all we care about. We don’t really pay much attention to what’s going on around us or how people feel about us. We just do our thing. But so far the reactions have been really good.

9.What is going on with 'Locisteller' these days which also shares a lot of the same band members?

Never count Locistellar out! hopefully, we’ll be able to put together a couple shows in the future, I’m very proud of that album and Didier and I are in constant contact. We are good friends and talk about putting something together someday when the timing is right, we are both busy with our own projects now, so who knows? He has a killer doom band called EXDESTRIER out of Edinburgh, Scotland. Hopefully, they put an album out soon!

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We’re going to just keep doing us whatever we are feeling is what we put out. I think the next album will be a little bit more cohesive now that we’ve found our groove playing these songs live. I imagine some of the songs are going to be faster as well from what we’ve been writing so far. But it will all sound like LACABRA for sure.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles these days that some of the band members are currently listening to nowadays?

Some of the guys have been listening to immortal, Old In Flames, and stuff like that. I listen to Punk, Dark Wave and Metal (Nightfeeder, ACTORS and Bear Mace, but I’ve been listening to a lot of classic metal as well like Judas Priest and Bathory. There’s just so much out there. It’s really great to go down rabbit holes, and discover new music too.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? 

We are really hoping to get out there and start touring and doing what we do best, so we hope to see you all at the shows! Cheers!

www.facebook.com/lacabrametal

www.instagram.com/lacabrametal

www.lacabrametal.bandcamp.com

Memories Of A Lost Soul/Songs From The Restless Oblivion/My Kingdom Music/2025 Full Length Review

 

  Memories  Of   A  Lost  Soul  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black,  death  and  gothic  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2025  album  "Songs  From  The  Restless  Oblivion"  which  will  be  released  in  June  by  My  Kingdom  Music.

  Epic  sounding  keyboards  start  off  the  album  and  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  at  times.  Melodies  are  also  added  into  a  lot  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  the  harsh  vocals  bring  in  a  mixture  of  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  and  blast  beats  are  added  into  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  the  clear  vocals  also  bringing  in  elements  of  gothic  metal.

  Clean  playing  is  also  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  album  along  with  the  recording  also  having  its  symphonic  moments.  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  progressive  sounding  as  well  as  some  female  vocals  and  spoken  words  also  being  utilized  on  a  few  tracks,  tremolo  picking  is  also  added  into  some  of  the  faster  riffing  and  a  later  track  is  also  an  instrumental. The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  abstract,  death  and  darkness  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Memories  Of  A  Lost  Soul  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  black,  death  and  gothic  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Immortal  Rites"  "Two  Dividing  Souls"  "Into  This  Maze  Of  Torment"  and  "Prone  To  Revolting".  8  out  of  10.

  https://www.facebook.com/memoriesofalostsoulofficial   

Rum Runners/Wreck And Revere/2025 EP Review

 

  Rum  Runners  are  a  band  from  Australia  that  plays  a  very  epic  form  of  folk  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2025  ep  "Wreck  And  Revere".

  Nature  sounds  start  off  the  ep  along  with  some  folk  instruments  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs.  Melodies  are  also  added  into  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  some  of  the  recording  also  adds  in  a  touch  of  classical  music  and  some  of  the  vocals  bring  in  more  of  a  power  metal  style.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  lot  of  thrash  metal  elements.  Blast  beats  are  also  added  into  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style,  black  metal  screams  are  also  introduced  in  a  later  song  and  the  recording  also h as  its  progressive  moments  as  well a s  some  clean  playing  also  being  added  on  the  closing  track.

  Rum  Runners  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  epic  folk,  black,  thrash,  power  and  progressive  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  pirate  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Rum  Runners  are  a  very  great  sounding  epic  folk  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "The  Glory  Is  Mine".  8 out  of  10.

  https://rumrunners.bandcamp.com/album/the-quest-for-mead

https://www.facebook.com/rumrunnerspiratemetal

https://www.instagram.com/rumrunnersmetal/?igsh=MTcxYWZ5a2V4amg1cQ%3D%3D#

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ddQeQ4adwKYHErsqtkHrQ?si=dt5RpjkJSJy-TIIluzxrEQ&nd=1&dlsi=a8f991bbe31b4633

https://www.youtube.com/@RumRunnersau

  

Lacabra/Self Titled/M-Theory Audio/2025 Full Length Review

 

  Lacabra  are  a  band  from  Seattle,  Washington  that  plays  a  very  melodic  and  progressive  form  of  blackened  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2025  album  which  will  be  released  in  June  by  M-Theory  Audio.

  A  very  dark  yet  distorted  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  at  times  the  music  also  gets  very  progressive  sounding.  

  Vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  while  the  death  metal  growls  are  also  added  on  some  of  the  track.  Melodies  are  also  added  into  a  lot  of  the  guitar  riffing  along  with  some  clear  singing  also  being  utilized  at  times  along  with  the  faster  sections  of  the  album  also  adding  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  tracks  also  adding  in  touches  of  darkwave  and  traditional  metal.  Spoken  words  can  also  be  heard  briefly  as  well  as  one  song  also  introducing  stringed  instruments  onto  the  album  and  tremolo  picking  is  also  added  into  some  of  the  faster  riffing,  clean  playing  is  also  introduced  on  a  later  song.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  realistic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Lacabra  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  and  progressive  blackened  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Blood  Of  The  Goat  1876"  "Nothing"  "Enemy"  and  "Fractured".  8  out  of  10.

  www.facebook.com/lacabrametal

www.instagram.com/lacabrametal

www.lacabrametal.bandcamp.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vvFCE7JcCI&ab_channel=M-TheoryAudio

  

Bryan Eckermann/The Fall Of Heaven/Bonespill Recordings/2025 Full Length Review

 

  Texas's  solo  artist  Bryan  Eckerman  has  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  shows  the  music  going  for  a  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2025  album  "The  Fall  of  Heaven"  which  will  be  released  in  June  by  Bonespill  Recordings.

  Clean  playing  and  synths  start  off  the  album  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  at  times  the  music  also  gets  very  progressive  sounding.

  Melodies  are  also  added  into  a  lot  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.  Throughout  the  album  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  of  the  tracks  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  clear  singing.

  On  this  recording  Bryan  Eckermann  goes  for  a  very  melodic  and  progressive  form  of  blackened  death  metal.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  afterlife  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Bryan  Eckermann  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  and  progressive  black  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Deafening  Silence"  "Death  By  Dream"  "Denied  Of  Grace"  and  "A  Darker  Grey".  8  out  of  10.

  

facebook.com/ bryaneckermannofficial

instagram.com/bryaneckermann

youtube.com/@ bryaneckermannofficial

bryaneckermann.bandcamp.com

linktr.ee/bryaneckermann

  

Dramanduhr/Vertuhn/Broken Bones Promotions And Productions/2025 Full Length Review

 

  Dramanduhr  are  a  solo  project  from  Italy  that  plays  an  avant  garde  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2025  album  "Vertuhn"  which  will  be  released  in  June  by  Broken  Bones  Promotions  and  Productions.

  Synths  start  off  the  album  and  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  at  times  while  the  clear  vocals  bring  in  more  of  an  avant  garde  style.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  lot  of  black  emtal  style   tremolo  picking  and  blast b eats  can  also  be  heard.

  The  harsh  vocals  are  mostly  grim  screams  when  they  are  utilized  on  a  few  songs  while  back  up  shouts  can  also  be  heard  at  times.  Throughout  the  album  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  dark  yet  melodic  style.

  Spoken  chants  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  album  along  with  some  of  the  tracks  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  and  folk  music  style  percussion.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  clean  playing  is  also  added  on  a  couple  of  songs,  one  track  also  adds  in  a  brief  use  of  female  vocals.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Italian  and  cover  esoteric themes.      

  In  my  opinion  Dramanduhr  are  a  very  great  sounding  avant  garde  black  metal  solo  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Andeterlit  Stahr  Hammit"  "Dertèh  Marlàhk"  "Thermanos  Trekitat"  and  "Vertuhn".  8  out  of  10.

  Bandcamp: https://dramanduhr.bandcamp.com/ 

Sito ufficiale: https://linktr.ee/Dramanduhr 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dramanduhr/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dramanduhr/