Full Length Review: The Freqs "No God on the Gold Coast" (Independent, Gum Cuzzler Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: The Freqs

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Country: USA

Genre: Noise rock

Full length: No God on the Gold Coast

Format: Digital, CD, cassette

Label: Independent (Digital, CD), Gum Cuzzler Records (cassette)

Release date: May 29, 2026

Progressive avant-garde noise rock has made significant headway over the last five or ten years, with bands using a bit of imagination to advance their music right from the outset of their recording careers. Starting with what are often basic foundations, be it punk, doom, or stoner rock, they clear new paths for invention and change. These paths often lead to ambitious syntheses of genres that hadn’t existed.

As thrash metal, once a stripped-down musical statement, spread into an endless variety of categories, the growth continues to flourish, with bands playing styles that challenge categorization more and more. The Freqs, who formed and set out to break convention in 2019, is yet another example. The four EPs they released since they got together are careful, thorough explorations of how early hardcore punk, early grunge, stoner rock, and psychedelia can intersect.

Add huge doses of noise rock, post-hardcore, and avant-garde punk, along with a fresh new band's resolve to blur the lines between them and see what grows from it, and you have something sure to shatter your eardrums. "Poachers" (2023) particularly showcases their acquired ability to blend noise and trippy atmospheres into stoner rock, with catchiness reminiscent of arena rock from decades past.

At varying levels of astringent, corroding noise from shifting musical perspectives, The Freqs escalated their energy output until they achieved an almost inexhaustible vitality capable of stirring a visceral, blood-boiling response. Any restraint that was present in "Poachers" is completely cast aside on "No God on the Gold Coast," where everything you knew about their sound is ramped up and magnified.

With the momentum to consolidate eight tracks in under twenty-six minutes, they have created a new album that is a high-octane exploration of how much energy they can channel through the fuzz and noise they recorded, while also reinforcing and strengthening the elements where their diverse musical perspectives converge into something grimy, monstrous, progressive, and momentous.

Opening with the sound effect of a computer dialing the internet, "No God on the Gold Coast" is every bit as dark, chaotic and frantic as new or upgraded new directions go. The first track “John Travolta,” even slightly over three minutes in duration, rushes in with a metal-funk groove that bore some comparability to Rage Against The Machine, set to a raunchy no-wave timbre like Sonic Youth and an aura of attending a seedy out of the way city club early in the 80s.

The band plays that song, which also abounds with feedback, atmospheric lead guitars and complex meter signatures, with a resolute eagerness to launch the new direction they’re taking and convince you of their earnestness. This is followed by “Chainsawman,” featuring heavy, repetitive guitars interspersed with single notes, dissonant lead lines, and vocals evocative of isolated psychosis.

This track pushes emotional boundaries with “Lo IQ,” a sharp critique of mankind’s greed. The vocals reach manic heights, while the instruments build a tense atmosphere that carries through “CLEARANCE WRECK.” The song also reveals softer facets of the album, again having similarities to Sonic Youth as well as The Pixies. As if louder, more frantic sections were needed to sustain heaviness, the tension escalates, embodying a conflict between introspection and rage. The concluding effects suggest this struggle remains unresolved.

By this point, the energy has built enough to carry through the next four tracks, creating a cohesive sense of unity across the album. Even when “Secondhand Jesus,” tighter riffs evoke a blend of metal-infused grunge and avant-garde metal, drawing comparisons to Soundgarden and Voivod and “Nite Hag” leans toward Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit. Despite some people thinking heavy, gritty musicianship constrains song structure, it blows a space open enough to allow The Freqs to enrich their songwriting. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Seth Crowell: Guitar, vocals, theremin, short-wave radio manipulation

Ian Mandly: Bass, backing vocals

Zack Fierman: Drums, aux percussion, backing vocals

Nicholas Pentabona: Additional vocals on “Lo IQ”

Andrew Wong: Additional vocals on “Secondhand Jesus”

Track list:

1. John Travolta

2. Chainsawman

3. Lo IQ

4. CLEARANCE WRECK

5. It Might be Rabies

6. Secondhand Jesus

7. Short King

8. Nite Hag

EP Review: Carnivore A.D. "Transmutation" (Apostasy Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Carnivore A.D.

Location: Brooklyn, New York

Country: USA

Genre: Thrash metal

EP: Transmutation

Format: Digital

Label: Apostasy Records (Germany)

Release date: March 27, 2026

Founded in 2017, Carnivore A.D. emerged as a tribute to Peter Steele’s pre-Type O Negative band, Carnivore, an apocalyptic blend of thrash and doom metal. Over the years Carnivore A.D. performed extensively, steadily building a reputation and cultivating a dedicated following from intimate clubs to prominent festivals.

If you recall Carnivore shows at L’Amour Brooklyn and CBGB among other local clubs, they had a unique, distinctive sound that couldn’t be easily imitated. Their dirge-heavy approach to thrash metal, heavily influenced by Black Sabbath and early hardcore punk, featured a thunderous bass tone that contributed to their signature style. This sound bled over into Type O Negative, establishing them as innovators in the evolution of gothic metal.

Carnivore A.D. was conceived by founding member Baron Misuraca and original Carnivore drummer Louie Beataux. Rather than being a mere carbon copy tribute band, it was intended as a heartfelt homage to Peter Steele and guitarist Keith Alexander, both of whom are no longer with us.

Misuraca, having been friends with the band members since the eighties, considered the project a sincere effort to preserve Steele and Alexander’s memories for new generations of metal enthusiasts. His purpose was not only to celebrate their place in thrash history but also to ensure the spirit of Carnivore remains alive and relevant.

On their debut EP "Transmutation," Carnivore A.D. has transitioned from reviving Carnivore’s classic songs for modern audiences to recording original material built on Carnivore’s singular sound. The title alone gives substance to Carnivore’s original concept as Carnivore A.D. is metaphorically mutating into a new form of life, reshaping itself, channeling Steele’s vision of a cataclysmic future ravaged by war, disease and starvation.

That vision, and the idea that mankind can devolve regardless of technological advancement, is enriched by the band’s backgrounds: Misuraca with the goth-metal band Vasaria, guitarist Chuck Lenihan with the crossover band Crumbsuckers and the prog-rock/metal group Psychic Orgy, and drummer Joe Cangelosi with thrash metal bands like Whiplash and Kreator. Together they forge both a tribute that mutates into a post-modern horror the band thinks Steele would appreciate.

"Transmutation" appears to pick up where Carnivore’s album "Retaliation" left off years ago, heralding a new global apocalypse. It opens with piercing feedback and somber, morose chords, with booming bass that suggests humanity is hurtling toward disorder and entropy. It implies humanity is devolving into primal animalistic instincts, heading toward a devastation from which there’s no recovery.

Then we’re treated to the aftermath: a harsh, unforgiving world where laws have disintegrated, the landscape is a toxic, irradiated wasteland, and the rules of survival of the fittest reign supreme. This bleak environment is vividly conveyed through rumbling vocals and barbaric roars over dark, sinister Sabbath vibes and energy from a time when hardcore was raucous and unruly.

While this theme remains consistent, each song is seasoned with varied elements, showcasing precise musicianship, inventive songwriting, meticulous percussion, goth-inspired vocals, and sporadic effects. Together, all this is arranged to create a cohesive conceptual narrative, reminiscent in some respects to Carnivore’s debut album. With momentum and creative vision, this approach sparks curiosity about how Carnivore A.D. might further develop if they continue to produce new material. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Baron Misuraca: Vocals, bass

Chuck Lenihan: Guitars

Joe Cangelosi: Drums

Track list:

1. Prologue

2. Transmutation

3. I Stand Alone

4. Social Decomposition

5. Mine Is the Hand

Full Length Review: My Heart, An Inverted Flame "My Death Is More Beautiful Than Your Life" (Crucial Blast) by Dave Wolff

Band: My Heart, An Inverted Flame

Location: San Francisco, California

Country: USA

Genre: Synth doom

Full length: My Death Is More Beautiful Than Your Life

Format: Digital. CD, cassette

Label: Crucial Blast (USA)

Release date: May 15, 2026

Prepare for another thunderous, apocalyptic sound that will be heard and felt globally. The seasoned musicians of My Heart, An Inverted Flame, Marc Kate, and Andee Connors aim to create something monumental and doom-laden using only synthesizers, electronics, and drums; no guitars or bass. Their relentless, creeping drone is driven by instruments traditionally found in techno and electro, complemented by a colossal, organic drum sound amplifying the sentiment of their lyrics.

Their 2020 debut album “Plague Notes, Unnamed, Unknown, A Finger Dragged Through Dust” started expanding doom ever outward and upward through minimalist yet ambitious songs, expanding its duration over an hour. These tracks were built from single notes and cold overtones, layered with waves upon waves of reverberations carving out space for themselves. Its ponderously mammoth sound was crafted from scratch, self-sustaining, and relentlessly growing from the momentum of their songwriting and the direction the band was heading in.

The last project to compose music this profound was Neptune Towers, a solo undertaking founded by Darkthrone drummer Fenriz who you may know from Isengard, Dødheimsgard, and more recently Coffin Storm. Or his session work with Ulver, Satyricon, Aura Noir, Damnation’s Hammer and other bands. Neptune Towers’ "Caravans to Empire Algol" and "Transmissions from Empire Algol," released by Moonfog Productions in 1994 and 1995, were among the first ambient/electronic/psychedelic/noise albums to emerge from second-wave black metal, and created opportunities to blend musical variety into something entirely new.

In many respects, their sophomore album “My Death Is More Beautiful Than Your Life” surpasses any and all previous efforts to cross rock, metal, and electronic music over. Its minimalist foundation of single notes and chords gradually penetrates your expectations of keyboard and synth compositions, patiently taking its time, working slowly and persistently to establish their presence. This crawling drone is the auditory equivalent of soaring over an earth ravaged by natural disasters and ecological collapse, searching endlessly for signs of life and finding none. Or maybe even heaven itself falling to earth to forever fade away.

Above the drone, there are near-inhuman noises that appear unattainable with a synthesizer. Some resemble screeching guitar feedback or rumbling bass tones, while others approach levels that no instrument on earth could generate. It seems it was hours of experimentation and trial-and-error ultimately resulted in the creation of these extraordinary downtuned tones.

More conventional keyboard and synth sounds frequently emerge, weaving in and out of the more surreal noises. Driven by drum patterns played with relentless intensity, sometimes erupting as sudden, thunderous bursts, these songs resemble a trance-like improvisational ritual designed to give you time to contemplate and reflect on the unspoken questions the band explores about life, mortality, and death.

The aim is not only to pull traditional doom rock from its box but to annihilate the box entirely, scattering the fragments and using alchemy to lead us all to oblivion. While comparable to bands across various genres, but never exactly like any of them. “My Death Is More Beautiful Than Your Life” dismantles convention with systematic precision and is sure to alter many perceptions of what doom rock can entail. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Marc Kate: Synths, effects, vocals

Andee Connors: Drums

Track list:

1. Every Step Is Corpsed

2. My Body, My Problem

3. Whispers In Dead Languages

4. Yes (__________)

5. Necrosomethingology

6. You. Alone.

7. No And Never

8. Some Leave Forever. Some Leave Forever Through Memory. Some Leave.

9. This Has Always Been The Disappearing Floor

10. We Forgot Who We Wanted To Become

Full Length Review: Yoth Iria "Gone With the Devil" (Metal Blade) by Dave Wolff

Band: Yoth Iria

Location: Athens

Country: Greece

Genre: Black metal

Full length: Gone With the Devil

Format: Digital, Red electric blue melt vinyl [US] 180g black vinyl [EU] oxblood black merged vinyl [EU: Ltd. 500 copies] oxblood blue silver merged vinyl [EU – Ltd. 250 copies] gold black splatter vinyl [EU – Ltd. 250 copies\ jewel case CD [USA], digipak CD [EU]

Label: Metal Blade

Release date: May 8, 2026

Very recently, the Greek black metallers Yoth Iria released a promotional video for their upcoming full-length album “Gone With the Devil.” Made to visualize its final track “Harut, Government, Fallen” the four-minute piece features visuals harking back to the late 1920s; specifically Fritz Lang’s 1927 dystopian film “Metropolis.”

Regarded as one of the earliest landmarks in science fiction, its aesthetic depth and innovation partly inspired “Star Wars,” “Blade Runner,” “The Matrix,” and the “Dark Knight” trilogy. Directed by musician, songwriter, producer, and visual artist Bob Katsionis, the video captures the striking cityscape imagery of “Metropolis,” also revealing inspiration from 1950s film and television adaptations of George Orwell’s “1984.” Watching this video, I also picked up on the dystopian futuristic aesthetics of “THX-1138” and “I, Robot.”

The scope and depth of this collaboration reflect how ambitiously Yoth Iria have pursued their artistic vision since their 2021 debut album “As the Flame Withers.” In sound and approach, they’ve continuously fused influences, embracing accessibility across various subgenres, striving to create something resounding with grandiosity. From their debut to 2024’s Blazing Inferno and their latest album, the band has consistently aimed to craft music that’s not only innovative and diverse but big, sufficiently big to make waves throughout underground metal and leave a lasting impact.

Bassist Jim Mutilator’s personal occult studies, his contributions to Rotting Christ, Non Serviam and Varathron, and his view of orchestrating music as meditation have driven him to explore new avenues of expression as spacious and sweeping as the imagery of the video. His efforts culminate in an album characterized by psychedelic, hypnotic immediacy, delivered through a vast atmospheric sound associated with classical and symphonic metal. With prior experience managing Curious Goods Productions in the early 1990s, Jim Mutilator possesses some understanding of how to reach and engage fans of Hellenic black metal.

Just as “Harut, Government, Fallen” visually captures the album’s expansive sound, "Dare to Rebel" and many of the songs that follow serve as statements of defiance, liberation and awakening from darkness. The imagery of flames, shadows, and fallen angels breathes life into the music, inspiring listeners to embrace themselves without fear, as true magic like that fueled by Jim Mutilator’s work with the band, is a means to a means to carve your own path and shape your own destiny. Beyond its atmospheric qualities, the album subtly and overtly incorporates elements of folk and pagan metal, adding color and texture, while guitar solos reflect the classical and symphonic metal influences permeating its atmosphere.

“Gone With the Devil” skillfully balances reverence for ancient tradition with spiritual and artistic transcendence. It revives and reinvents otherworldly occultism, carrying pagan history from antiquity to enduring relevance. It creates space for ancient wisdom to evolve, fostering ongoing renewal and rebirth. -Dave Wolff

Lineup:

He: Vocals

Nikolas Perlepe: Guitars

Naberius: Guitars

Jim Mutilator: Bass

Bill "Vongaar" Stavrianidis: Drums

Track list:

1. Dare to Rebel

2. Woven Spells of a Demon

3. The Blind Eye of Antichrist

4. I, Totem

5. 3am

6. Give 'Em My Beautiful Hell

7. Once in a Blue Moon

8. Blessed Be He Who Enters

9. The End of the Known Civilization

10. Harut, Government, Fallen

Full Length Review: Desiccation "Legatum Mortuorum" (Carbonized Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Desiccation

Location: California

Country: USA

Genre: Black/doom metal

Full length: Legatum Mortuorum

Format: CD, LP, cassette, digital

Label: Carbonized Records

Release date: May 15, 2026

Before forming Desiccation in 2022, James and Soell Bratt grew up in relative solitude, living in a Northern California mountain town. Although the band would be officially based in Sacramento and Nevada City, they resided far from urban areas, surrounded by expansive natural landscapes. This environment fostered a singular connection to the music of bands like Emperor and Blut Aus Nord, which reflected their Norwegian surroundings.

An increasing number of bands are crafting their own distinctive visions of the end of the world; Desiccation creates one that is as vivid as it is imposing, visceral and all-consuming. Their 2022 debut “Cold Dead Earth” has been described as enigmatic yet gradually bedimmed. This descent into darker sounds symbolized earth’s deterioration and fall into an abyss of cold obscurity.

The band’s sophomore album “Legatum Mortuorum” explores similar themes through a broader perspective. It begins abruptly, emphasizing rawness and aggression through bass, guitars, and drums in “All Light Is Gone,” but the bass and guitars seem to blur and merge into a single instrument amid the furious percussion and waves of synths. It also becomes apparent that the guitars and bass evoke an equally noticeable breadth and atmosphere, reinforcing the conceptual themes.

Throughout this album the band relies heavily on synthesizers from James and Soell Bratt with Patrick Hills and guest musicians Alex Miletich and Karl Cordtz to craft vast atmospheric layers drawing influence from funeral doom/death metal bands like Evoken for cohesion. The raw, grounded intensity symbolizes the earth itself, while the layered soundscapes depict the aftermath of a bleak global catastrophe with nations fallen and ecosystems in ruin beyond man’s capacity for recovery.

The vocals blend seamlessly into this machinery, with echoes enhancing the vastness of the string and keyboard instruments. Faint backing vocals appear as if traveling across long distances, underscoring how widespread earth’s downfall is, with nowhere in sight to escape the destruction. Along with the synths at the forefront of the chaos, many more are layered into the background. Barely perceptible, they serve a similar purpose to the background vocals, adding strategic moments of texture, sometimes hinting at flickers of transcendence, connection and hope amidst the relentless carnage you’re witnessing.

All these elements craft a vast, cinematic soundscape that evokes a time long after civilization’s collapse. You can envision ruined countries, burning or crumbling structures, and the disintegration of nature; dark clouds obscuring the final sunset over long-dead fields. Yet, amidst the devastation, subtle hints of the last survivors emerge, gathered in scattered locations, hoping to someday restore the Earth and begin anew. However, as many have questioned, does humanity truly learn from its mistakes, or are we doomed to repeat history time and again? –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Soell Bratt: Vocals

James Bratt: Guitars, vocals, synths

Patrick Hills: Drums, bass, synths, background vocals

Guest musicians:

Alex Miletich: Lead guitar on “Legatum Mortuorum”

Karl Cordtz: Additional vocals on “The Alchemy Of Grief,” “Ashes Unto The Abyss,” and “Lamentations Beyond The Veil,” additional guitar on “Lamentations Beyond The Veil”

Track list:

1. All Light Is Gone

2. Cursed In Cold Silence

3. Legatum Mortuorum

4. The Alchemy Of Grief

5. Ashes Unto The Abyss

6. Lamentations Beyond The Veil

Full Length Review: Baratro "No Comply" (Supernatural Cat Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Baratro

Location: Milan

Country: Italy

Genre: Cinematic noise rock

Full length: No Comply

Format: Digital, CD, vinyl

Label: Supernatural Cat Records

Release date: May 8, 2026

Baratro (named after the Italian word for “abyss”) formed when guitarist/vocalist Federico Hartridge and bassist/vocalist Dave Curran met at a local squat community show. Their ideas from the beginning began at Cox18 in Milan, Italy, what is now called a self-managed social center or an autonomous social center that has been active since 1976. Though temporarily evicted in 1989, Cox18 remains active, featuring a bookstore with rare publications since 1992. The center is also known for hosting live performances, theater productions and community events.

Primo Moroni, who co-managed the bookstore until he passed in 1998, maintained a grounded, reality-based outlook, saying he and his partners "never had any illusions about changing the world through words or through ideology. Only by 'dirtying ourselves' with 'the real' can we understand it and, perhaps, begin to change it."

Through extensive trial-and-error rehearsals, Hartridge and Curran crafted a cinematic synthesis of stoner and doom rock, psychedelia and noise, with punk influences born from their meeting at Cox18 deeply woven into their songwriting. Bennici’s perspective seems to significantly appear in the full body of Baratro’s work; their debut EP “Terms and Conditions,” their full-length “The Sweet Smell of Unrest” and their latest album “No Comply.”

With drummer Luca Antonozzi, the environment where Hartridge and Curran met is always reflected in its rough texture. “No Comply” preserves this rugged feel with no efforts made to soften or diminish it. The addition of Matteo Bennici on cello has further expanded the band’s massive sound. Somewhere between doom, proto-grunge, garage rock, prog rock, and avant-garde classical, “No Comply” possesses characteristics that may feel unfamiliar to fans of those genres.

The tracks evoke pages from Cox18’s history, presented as if you're visiting the place for the first time. Despite its prog, avant-garde, and experimental nature, the album’s substance is deeply begrimed, full of dirt, grit, passion, and urgency. So much so that bands like Sonic Youth, Godflesh, Corrosion of Conformity, and Weedeater would seem almost like easy listening.

This dirtiness provides a solid foundation and serves as a vehicle for the experimentation I've described. The cello and bass lines create intriguing counterpoints throughout "No Comply," while the guitars forcefully drive the material forward, occasionally embellishing with atmosphere and acoustic sections. The vocals sometimes add melody to their tortured screams, enhancing the raw, expressive intensity here.

Moreover, it feels as though Baratro has matured into a cohesive unit. Having started on equal footing, they developed a creative process in which they collaboratively shape the direction of each song, prioritizing the big picture over taking center stage. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Dave Curran: Bass, vocals

Federico Hartridge: Guitars, vocals

Matteo Bennici: Cello

Luca Antonozzi: Drums

Additional Musicians:

Vinnie Signorelli: Second drums on Not All There

Gipsy Rufina: Cigar box on Keep' Em Needing

Eugene S. Robinson: Vocals on 120 on 280

Naresh Ran: Noise machines on Dusk Christian

Biscaro: Backing vocals and Moog on No Comply

Track list:

1. Dawn

2. Hold Fast

3. Not All There feat. Vinnie Signorelli

4. Keep 'Em Needing

5. 120 on 280 feat. Eugene Robinson

6. Pick A Side

7. Insidious

8. End Transmission

9. Dusk

10. No Comply

Full Length Review: Myrkvid "Nihilist" (Immortal Frost Productions) by Dave Wolff

Band: Myrkvid

Country: France

Genre: Black metal

Full length: Nihilist

Format: Digital, CD, vinyl (see Bandcamp link for more information)

Label: Immortal Frost Productions

Release date: May 23, 2025

The title “Nihilist” encapsulates Myrkvid’s second full-length album, marking their return after prolonged inactivity. Primarily drawing from 90s black metal for staggering force and black n’ roll for fetching appeal, the album is infused with something of a polished edge, only it sounds polished with sand, broken glass, and viscera.

For the most part, “Nihilist” is more focused on adhering to formula than breaking new ground; their sound and unhallowed lyrical attitude have similarities to The Crown and mid-2000s Darkthrone. However, Myrkvid’s eagerness to deliver this kind of villainous intensity directly to your brain is evident, and it’s not without subtle nuances they can call their own.

Myrkvid started deep under the radar in 2007, releasing two EPs and two albums in limited distribution, besides making compilation appearances in 2016 and 2023. After releasing their work independently and briefly signing with Asgard Hass Productions, they were noticed by the committed black metal label Immortal Frost Productions and found a steady home.

I’d say Myrkvid is in good company and good hands, considering Surtur’s fierce loyalty to his clients and the full range of services and live bookings provided to them. For example, with the label’s help, they promoted their EP “Demons Are Inside” at Switzerland’s Forest Fest Open Air in July 2018.

Some reviewers said that “Nihilist” is an improvement over the EP, indicating the energy they put into a full-hearted onslaught. I’d reiterate there’s a lot of rawness here, and any refinement brought to it is strictly kept to a minimum. The album starts with an intro evoking the sensation of something unspeakable pushing its way from the ground, gaining momentum as it nears the surface, and finally escaping after a brief moment of respite in sound and fury.

Guitarists Myrk (who also delivers some frightfully lurid lead vocals) and Legolas Landvoettir work well together in their first collaboration on a Myrkvid release. The two skillfully blend dissonant rhythm guitars with tremolo lead guitars; these combine to create an engaging sound with understated artfulness only a trained ear can distinguish. Their precise execution of tempo changes, combined with varying amounts of black n’ roll, adds character to the band’s rigorous wall of sound.

Adramalech’s bass is a constant presence, especially in “Blackening Millennium,” “Virgin Bitch-Bastard Son,” “The Neverending Running Snakes,” and “The Old Temples Below.” Drummer Skogsvandrer, also known for his work with Angantyr and other bands, provides a solid foundation as his steady percussion cuts through the brutish roughness of “Nihilist,” adding weight with his double bass and fills.

With guest vocals by Morgraven (Excruciate 666) and Hellfire (Warfield), “Nihilist” does more than pay homage to the 90s black metal and black n’ roll sound; the album fully embraces it as if its spirit never really left us. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Myrk Vocals, guitars

Legolas Landvoettir: Guitars, backing vocals

Adramelech: Bass

Skogsvandrer: Drums

Guest vocalists:

Morgraven: Guest vocals (Track 4)

Hellfire: Guest vocals (Track 8)

Track list:

1. Nihilist

2. Pear of Anguish

3. Wolfpack

4. Blackening Millenium

5. Sadistic and Demonic

6. Virgin Bitch - Bastard Son

7. The Neverending Running Snakes

8. The Old Temples Below

9. To Bleed a World

Full Length Review: Asphagor "The Aphotic Vortex" (Immortal Frost Productions) by Dave Wolff

Band: Asphagor

Country: Austria

Genre: Black metal

Full length: The Aphotic Vortex

Format: Digital, CD, vinyl (see Bandcamp link for more information)

Label: Immortal Frost Productions

Release date: October 24, 2025

“The Aphotic Vortex” is the fifth studio album from Austria’s Asphagor, written and arranged as a theatrical presentation of a steady descent into the underworld. You’re the new initiate entering the abyss, escorted by one of its denizens to the deepest pit as you recall the words from Dante Alighieri's “Inferno,” “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.”

Your continuous plunge, or perpetual lure, however you want to look at it, into the dreadful mysteries of a netherworld known only to the band is expressed by a downward spiral through songwriting given additional emphasis by murky, ambient vibration-driven segments, occasional choirs like the souls of the damned, brief passages made to give you impressions of being trapped in their subsurface domain, with its gates locked behind you. These passages establish tension to immerse you further into the story.

It’s all dramatized with a certain amount of professionalism and unpredictability to deepen the technical magnetism and intermittent shades of death metal, and especially to extend your attention span, if sound files with limited durations on some streaming sites have been shortening it. By drawing you into hell Asphagor is drawing you into paying attention to each subtlety and refinement of their narrative, forming a curiosity on your part as to what is to unfold.

Asphagor doesn’t need constant, impossibly quick blast beats to hold your attention or massacre your senses. They perform with aggression when it’s called for, enrich the aggression with subtlety when it’s needed and validate their efforts to build their reputation with technical precision. Most of all they have a way of displaying this crossing over into these infernal regions as if it was a ceremonial journey, giving each song a personality all its own.

Another way the band conjures hell, besides creating romantic moods to heighten the intensity, is by giving the legend sudden, unanticipated pushes forward. “Gates of Manifested Hell,” “Rites of Embarkation,” “Path to Devotion Pt. II” and “Into The Storm” are examples of this as they seem to shift the tale in new directions before you know what is happening. Ambient pieces like “Path to Devotion Pt. I” have similar effects, adding inhumanity and unheard supplication to the tragedy they create for you to experience. –Dave Wolff

Morgoth: Vocals

Hybreos: Guitars

M. Zanesco: Guitars, backing vocals

P.P. Lps: Bass, synthesizers

M.E. Sargoth: Drums

Track list:

1. Procession

2. Gates of Manifested Hell

3. Nostromo

4. Rites of Embarkation

5. Path to Devotion Pt. I

6. Path to Devotion Pt. II

7. Tehom

8. Into the Storm

9. Arrival

10. Conditio Inhumana

11. Dissolution

Full Length Review: Appalachian Winter "Wintermountains Rise" (Nine Gates Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Appalachian Winter

Location: Schellsburg, Pennsylvania

Country: USA

Genre: Symphonic black metal

Full length: Wintermountains Rise

Format: Digital

Label: Nine Gates Records

Release date: June 9, 2026

Appalachian Winter first released "Wintermountains Rise" as a three-song EP in 2023; over three years they expanded it to an eight song full length, presenting a deeper exploration of its theme. With their 2013 debut EP “Ravenforest” they started crafting a distinctive, imposing black metal style that incorporated folk, ambient, and symphonic elements, putting a human face on nature at its most unforgiving.

For a US band, Appalachian Winter draw inspiration from nature and the past in a similar way to Scandinavian black metal bands. “Wintermountains Rise” draws from the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern part of North America, a very old mountain range extending from Newfoundland, Canada all the way to mid-Alabama. Believed to be among the oldest mountain ranges on Earth, the Appalachians formed more than a billion years ago. In modern times its holds deep cultural significance as indigenous Native American tribes like the Cherokee, Shawnee, Creek and Iroquois lived there for millennia.

The region has preserved a blend of Native American, African, and European cultures through music, craft and storytelling, traditions largely untouched by modern man. Personifying its history, cultural significance and especially its timeless nature, “Wintermountains Rise” carries impact through scope, breadth, and richness. Those folk, ambient and symphonic elements I mentioned, introduced with keyboards, horns and strings, all contribute to making their black metal greater than the sum of its parts,

For example, the track “Wolves” evokes a dark yet authentic sense of the land’s timelessness and reverence. It explores the enduring presence of this vast landscape, questioning whether humanity still remembers its many years of history. Not only does it give a face to the enduring nature but it gives a voice to the spirits who dwelled there from ancient times until today, hinting the real monsters are humans who attempt to erase them from history.

This motif recurs in the song and lyric writing of “Mountainwraith,” “Hopeforsook,” “All Coldness Comes,” and “So Howls the Wind.” Each track gives voice to different spirits from this ancient realm, the common themes being the loss of paradise, the inevitability of death, the destructive force of nature, a search for solace and hope for renewal, and a plea for divine strength and warmth in the face of isolation and loneliness. In the end however, the mood changes from darkness and despair to awakening and hope as you emerge from a long, cold, dark period to celestial awakening, a reclaiming of identity and purpose, signifying that nature is ultimately as patient as it is harsh and unforgiving. –Dave Wolff

Track list:

1. Mountainwraith

2. Wolves

3. Forestwhiten

4. Hopeforsook

5. Endless Ice Falls

6. All Coldness Comes

7. So Howls the Wind

8. Angelfrost

2018 interview with Daniel Klyne by Daniel M. Ryan

2024 interview with Daniel Klyne by Daniel Ryan

Review of "Winterhewn" (Nine Gates Records) by Dave Wolff

Review of "The Epochs that built the Mountains" (Nine Gates Records) by Daniel Ryan

Full Length Review: Nequient "Avarice" (Nefarious Industries) by Dave Wolff

Band: Nequient

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Country: USA

Genre: Grindcore. hardcore

Full length: Avarice

Format: Digital, limited edition gatefold LP, limited edition cassette, limited edition CD (see Bandcamp link for more information)

Label: Nefarious Industries

Release date: April 24, 2026

Artists who, according to Nequient frontman Jason Kolkey, prefer to fit neatly into algorithmic recommendation engines are the least he feels alienated and frustrated about. Channeling these feelings into their third album, “Avarice,” the band appears to intentionally steer clear of algorithmic recommendation engines. Does this suggest they want to be overlooked, or are they pushing free expression and open-mindedness to an extreme?

Realizing how much worse the world has become over the past two decades, the band decides to raise their objections through even more bizarre and unconventional music than their previous works, their EPs “Infinite Regress” (2015) and “Collective Punishment” (2021), and their albums “Wolves at the Door” (2018) and “Darker than Death or Night” (2022). Essentially a hardcore/grindcore band rooted in extreme metal, Nequient surpasses the eccentric songwriting of even the most experimental bands, integrating prog elements with relentless intensity.

Intentionally crafting tumultuous, disorganized sounding songs, they deliver alarmingly authentic portrayals of the vexation and cognitive dissonance caused by a system that methodically dismantles what individuals personally value, justifying it with contradictory arguments. The staggering amount of aberrant material packed into less than three quarters of an hour creates a mind-bending experience, offering listeners who share these frustrations a powerful outlet for expression, while also providing an opportunity to listen to a grindcore band unlike any other.

Taking what they wrote into the studio, Nequient collaborated with producer Sanford Parker, known for his work with Yob and Lair Of The Minotaur and masterer Collin Jordan, known for working with Voivod and Harm’s Way. They couldn’t have found a better team to translate their intricate, manic compositions, achieving unrefined clarity, intensity and complexity. The album’s dissonance, blending jazz, blues and doom rock with its prog elements, along with sudden shifts in theme and mood, its controlled fury, its near-desperate vocals, all create a sense of imminent unravelling.

The album is like a massive dam on the verge of crumbling and unleashing floodwaters that will eventually engulf everything. It symbolizes an inevitable social and societal collapse, the result of years of corruption and manipulation, with humanity unable to undo the damage of decades past. Arifullah Ali and Scott Shellhamer’s cover art is as mind-bending as the album itself, existentially illustrating Nequient’s point. It depicts humanity, blinded and screaming in chaos and entropy, unheard amid the turmoil surrounding it. Because humanity ignored past warnings, it must now face the devastating consequences of its own hubris. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Jason Kolkey: Vocals

Patrick Conahan: Guitar synthesizers

Aaron Roemig: Bass, backing vocals

Chris Avgerin: Drums

Track list:

1. Mad King / Fool

2. Christofascist Zombie Brigade

3. Splenetic and Moribund

4. Brain Worms

5. Rintrah Roars

6. Obsolete Machines

7. Siege Mentality

8. Enshittification

9. Stochastic Terror