The Blessing Way/Erik's Lament/2022 Full Length Review

 

  The  Blessing  Way  are  a  solo  project  from  Ireland  that  plays  a  symphonic  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2022  album  "Erik's  Lament"  which  will  be  released  on  Halloween.

  Symphonic  elements  start  off  the  album  and  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  at  times.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast b eats  can b e  heard  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  the  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls.

  Operatic  male  and  female  vocals  can  also  be  heard  at  times  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody.  Classical  guitars  can  also  be  heard  on  a  few  tracks  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  on a  couple  of  songs.

  Touches  of  classical  and  folk  music  can  also  be  heard  at  times  along  with  the  album  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  the  music  also  being  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  era,  one  song  is  also  an  instrumental  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  there  is  also  a  small  amount  of  session  work  from  Snowy  Shaw.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  horror  and  gothic  tales.

  In  my  opinion  The  Blessing  Way  are  a  very  great  sounding  symphonic  black  metal  solo  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Hanging  Of  Joseph  Buquet"  "Terror  In  The  Graveyard"  "Delusions  Of  An  Opium  Eater"  and  "Erik's  Lament".  8  out  of  10.

Facebook

Bavaustrian Metalbrothers United/Fall Into Oblivion/Rebirth The Metal Productions/2022 Full Length Review

 

  Bavaustrian  Metalbrothers  United  are  a  solo  project  from  Germany  that  plays  a  very  melodic  and  symphonic  mixture  of  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2022  album  "Fall  Into  Oblivion"  which  will b e  released  on  October  28th  by  Rebirth  The  Metal  Productions.

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.  Death  metal  growls  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording  while  black  metal  screams  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  lot  of  melody.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  while  some  songs  also  add in  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  guitars.  The  album  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  riffing  also  mixing  in  some  elements  of  thrash  metal  at  times  and  a  few  tracks  also  add  in  some  keyboards  and  orchestral  arrangements  which  also  takes  the  recording  into  more  of  a  symphonic  direction.

  A  couple  of  songs  also  introduces  clear  vocals  into  the  music  along  with  all  of  the  instruments  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound to  them  as  well  as  some  of  the  faster  riffing  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  tremolo  picking  which  also  enhances  the  black  metal  side  of  the  recording,  whispered  vocals  can  also  be heard  briefly.  One  track  is  also  a  brief  acoustic  instrumental  and  a  couple  of  the  songs  are  also  long  and  epic  in  length.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  esoteric  and  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Bavaustrian  Metalbrothers  United  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  and  symphonic  mixture  of  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Still  Alive"  "Fall  Into  Oblivion"  "Undead  Salvation"  and  "Riding  In  The  Dark".  8  out  of  10.

  Website: https://rtmproductions.bigcartel.com/

Bandcamp: https://bavaustrianmetalbrothersunited.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bavaustrianmetalbrothersunited
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpbEUx4AqYYAWkyi0EgLg6w

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bavaustrian_metalbrothers_uni/        

The Wolves Of Avalon/Y Gododdin/Godreah Records/2022 Full Length Review

 

\

  The  Wolves  Of  Avalon  are  a  band  from  the  united  Kingdom  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of  pagan  and  folk  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2022  album  "Y  Gododdin"  which  will  be  released  in  November  by  Godreah  Records.

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  while  also  introducing  elements  of  folk  music  onto  the  recording  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  at  times.  Spoken  word  parts  can  also b e  heard  briefly  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody.

  Vocals  are  done  in  a  very  aggressive  blackened  metal  style  while  keyboards  can  also  be  heard  at  times.  Clear  pagan  vocals are  also  utilized on  a  lot  of  tracks  along  with  some  blast  beats  also  being  added  in  the  faster  sections  of  the  times  as  well  as  the  music  also  having its  progressive  moments.  Session  work can  also  be  heard  from  members  of  Venom  Inc,  Drudkh,  Taake,  Forefather  and  Aklash  and  most  of  the  album  also  sticks  to  a  mid  tempo  style.

  On  this  recording  The  Wolves  of  Avalon  takes  their  pagan  style  of  folk  metal  into  more  of  a  progressive  direction.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  ancient  battles  described  in  the  ancient  Welsh  poems  written  by  the  bard  Aneirin.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  The  Wolves  Of  Avalon  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  progressive  pagan  folk  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Men  Of  Gododdin"  and  "Dead  mans  Cloak's"
.  8  out  of  10.

  www.thewolvesofavalon.co.uk

www.facebook.com/thewolvesofavalon

https://youtu.be/McD2wn1QkxI  

Arctora Interview

 

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Arctora started with me creating a solo-album as a side-project. I just wanted to write and record songs and practice mixing on them for fun basically.

For a long time I had no plans on forming a band around it, because getting a band together is usually such a pain with not only having to find good musicians, but good people you want to hang out and create music with.

But I ended up trying my luck anyway after the album was mostly finished, and I found all the members in a span of a week. I would have never believed that to happen!

2.Recently you have released a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

When I started the project, I had the intention of writing a “real” black metal album, but I quickly realized that’s not what I actually wanted to do.

After that I stopped worrying about musical style and just started writing whatever felt right.

There’s a ton of blast-beats, tremolo picking and nordic melodies, but also some progressive elements and technical riffing.

I’d say the albums genre is blackened melodic death metal, but everyone can decide for themselves.

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

The lyrics are mostly introspection about stuff I’ve been dealing with wrapped in a theme or a story.

For example, in the song “Arbiter of Fate” I tell about personal feelings, how sometimes the pressure of wanting to achieve and succeed is the only thing driving you forward, even though you might feel exhausted and close to burning out. 

And I combined those feelings with inspiration and themes from Berserk to tell the story.

Every song on the album has its own topic, some are more fantasized and some more grounded in reality.

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

I came up with the name around a decade ago, when I was 15 or 16.

It was supposed to be the name of my first band, but we decided on a different one back then.

Simply put, it’s just a combination of “Arctic” and finnish word “Tora” or “Torahammas” which mean “altercation” or “fang” respectively.

No deeper meaning than that, just something that sounded cool for my teenage-self back then and for some reason stuck in the back of my mind for all these years.

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

I wanted the album art to portray what I see in my head when I think of the songs and albums feel overall.

In my mind the album feels lonely, cold and barren, but also beautiful and vast in a way.

The art was made by Heino Brand, you can find more of his work here: https://www.heinobrand.com/

He was great to work with and he nailed what I was going for!

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

We have only played three shows so far, and all of them were an absolute blast to play, even the first show which was a bit of a nightmare scenario. Our gear had some weird technical issues all night, like in-ear monitors acting strange and even my guitar jack lost input connection as soon as I stepped on stage. 

But we made it through and had an awesome time!

I’d say we are quite energetic live, with two guys doing the vocals and everyone constantly moving and moshing around!  Not a lot of standing still and looking at your feet.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

We plan on gigging as much as we can in Finland at first and hopefully extending out abroad next year!

8.The new album was released on 'WormholeDeath' Records, are you happy with the support they have given you so far?

We’ve been very happy!

Communication between us and them is always quick and professional. If we have any questions or suggestions, they always answer real fast.

And they’ve been doing an awesome job getting us seen and heard globally.

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

I have been surprised by the amount and how positive the feedback has been.

I’ve mostly just seen people praising the album.

I originally thought the feedback would be more lukewarm, since it is a home-produced album, but no. It has been great!

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

This is a question for which I do not know the answer, since we now have five people involved in making the music instead of just me.

I know we will have real drums on the next record at least!

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I have to mention Jari Mäenpää and Alexi Laiho as the biggest influences for sure!

They are the reason I ever picked the guitar.

Amon Amarth and Insomnium are the two bands I really fell in love with also, and inspired me to start practicing vocals and writing songs of my own!

These days I listen to pretty much all metal genres and a ton of different bands, but a finnish band called Stam1na and the giant Mastodon have really grown on me the most these last few years.

Also, nowadays I listen to a lot of orchestral music and soundtracks.

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

We just released a music video for the track “I Am Human”, you can find it here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ETrMDZreds

Thank you for the interview and the review!

And thank you reader for reading and listening to the music.

Hope to see you all live someday!

Hedon/Year Of The Witch/2022 Full Length Review

 

  Hedon  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  has  bene  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2022  album  "Year  Of  The  Witch"  which  will  be  released  in  November.

  Victory  chants  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  direction  which  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can b e  heard.  The  riffs  also  ad d in  a  lot  of  melody  while t he  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  and  tremolo  picking  can  also b e  heard  in  some  of  the  faster  riffing.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  songs  also  ad d in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  some  songs  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  guitars.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  one  track  also  adding  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  as  well  as  the  music  also  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  thrash  metal  elements,  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  also  long  and  epic  in  length.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Witchcraft,  Blasphemy  and  Black  Magick  themes..  

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Hedon  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dark  Tale"  "Witchfinder"  and  "Digerdol  Den".  8  out  of  10.

  

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Throwing Bricks/The Burden/Tartarus Records/2022 Full Length Review

 

  Throwing  Bricks  are  a  band  from  the  Netherlands  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  a  mixture  of  post  black,  sludge  metal,  hardcore  and  screamo  and  this  is  a review  of  their  2022  album  "The  Burden"  which  was  released  by  Tartarus  Records.

  A  very  dark  yet  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  angry  sounding  hardcore  style  screams  a  few  seconds  alter  which  also  mixes  in t ouches  of  black  metal  at  times.  Melodies  are  also  added  into  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Elements  of  sludge  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  at  times  while  the  music  is  mostly  rooted  in  a  post  hardcore  or  screamo  style.  Clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  on  some  of  the  tracks  along  with  some  growls  also  being  utilized  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording.

 When t he  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  black  metal  style  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  also introduced  onto  the  album  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  post  metal  style  when  they  finally  are  utilized  and  some  of t he  songs  also  add  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts,  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  briefly.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  loss,  mental  health  issues  and  negative  feelings.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Throwing  Bricks  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  post  black,  sludge  metal,  hardcore  and  screamo,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Bricks  Of  Grace"  "Doubt"  "Safta"  and  "Find  My  Way  Out".  8  out  of  10.

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throwingbricksband
Bandcamp: https://throwingbricksband.bandcamp.com

    

Antipope/Rex Mundi/Moribund Records/2022 Full Length Review

 

  Finland's  Antipope  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  shows  the  music  going  for  more  of  a  melodic  and  progressive  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2022  album  "Rex  Mundi"  which  will  be  released  on  October  28th  by  Moribund  Records.

  A  very  epic  sounding  synth  orientated  intro  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  while  also  introducing  melodic  guitar  solos  and  leads  onto  the  recording.  Elements  of  doom  metal  can  also b e  hear d in  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can b e  heard.

  Melodies  are  also added  into  a  lot  of t he  guitar  riffing  while  the  vocals  bring  in  a  mixture  of  first  wave  style  black  metal  screams  and  power  metal  style  singing.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  all  of t he  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  progressive  sounding  along  with  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  amount  of  clean  playing.  Some  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  as  well  as  some  death  metal  growls  also  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based  upon  the  Albigensian  Crusade  and  Cathar  Wars  in t he  1200's.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Antipope  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  and  progressive  black,  death,  doom,  power  and  heavy  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Rex  Mundi  Aeternum"  "Glory  Of  Slaughter"  "Twilight  of  The  Grey  Gods"  and  "Hell  On  Earth".  8  out  of  10.