Full Length Review: The Night Eternal "Cold Velvet" (Metal Blade) by Dave Wolff

Band: The Night Eternal

Location: Essen

Country: Germany

Genre: Heavy metal

Full length: Cold Velvet

Format: Digipak CD, digital, vinyl

[180g black (US) Clear Purple w/ Black Smoke (EU – Ltd. 1000; includes 7”, slipmat, velvet bag, gas lighter) “Storm Cloud” Violet Blue Marbled (EU – Ltd. 700) Steel Grey Blue Marble (EU – Ltd. 500) Light Grey Blue Splatter (EU – Ltd. 300) “Black Dust” Crystal Clear (EU – Ltd. 200)]

Label: Metal Blade

Release date: August 21, 2026

Somewhere between classic power metal and The Sisters of Mercy lies The Night Eternal’s “Cold Velvet.” Or Queensrÿche and The Cure? Iron Maiden and Souxsie and the Banshees? I remember when those juxtapositions seemed irreconcilable, but today any of them seem more than plausible. Especially considering the appeal The Night Eternal had with audiences while sharing stages with Angel Witch, Michael Schenker and Blind Guardian.

They’ve achieved that appeal on their own terms, drawing not only from music of the ’70s and ’80s but also from qualities largely absent from mainstream metal of the 80s: drama and profound feeling. Finding the places where the twain meets, where classic metal shares something with gothic music and post punk, is much less of a stretch now that Moonspell, Lacuna Coil and Sirenia are well known underground and aboveground. Expanses of pitch-darkness far below the surface, the shared displeasure and despondency between genres, are found or pieced together, enlarged and driven outwards.

The result is a distinctly dark, captivating sound rooted in self-reflection, melancholia, apprehension and phantasmagoria, anchored by a ceremonial backbone, expressed through passion and sorrow. On “Cold Velvet,” The Night Eternal compels reflection through their songwriting and musicianship, channeling emotional weight into every instrument and vocal track. It’s like they rediscovered a time when music first communicated with them on an impassioned level.

Some say the band earned a reputation by inventing their own subgenre: melancholic metal. That may not be far from the truth as their vision becomes a musical opiate that projects persistent waves of gloom and shadow. The veil separating our world and the vast realms beyond is lifted again, again restating the idea that anything’s possible and there are no rules or standards when it comes to writing music.

To demonstrate this further The Night Eternal made a promotional video for the first track of “Cold Velvet,” “Where the World Ends” with nothing more than an eighties post-punk/new wave vibe and a shaded atmosphere. No overdone, overexaggerated close ups, no additional accoutrements, just the band playing in a dusky setting surrounded by fog. The point is to showcase the song, the thoughts and conceptions written into it, and the moving way they’re revealed. It’s purely portraying the band as serious musicians rather than attractive merchandising tools.

In doing so the band return to the basics of building songs, something that thrash bands reminded us of when music was becoming too commercial and image oriented. The Night Eternal’s image takes a back seat to the identity they establish after years of ripening their melodies, the way they harmonize sensitivity with guitar harmonies and vocal sections encouraging mass audience participation. The band has two more videos, “Caught in a Spell” and “The Veins of Time,” that pay close attention to their storytelling.

Michael Zech of Secrets of the Moon knew how to help achieve the band’s sound after working with Triptykon, The Ruins Of Beverast and Sulphur Aeon, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep finding new ways to build narratives of their material and appeal to more listeners when touring with more bands and making more festival appearances. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Ricardo Baum: Vocals

Robert Richter: Guitar

Henry Käseberg: Guitar

Aleister Präkelt: Drums

Track list:

1. Where This World Ends

2. Eurydice (Don’t Look Back)

3. Caught In A Spell

4. When The Last Candle Dies

5. The Veins Of Time

6. The Watcher Of The Burning Veil

7. Shape Of Sorrow

8. Dance On Crimson Ground

Full Length Review: Krallice "Scour Order" (Profound Lore Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Krallice

Location: New York

Country: USA

Genre: Black metal

Full length: Scour Order

Format: CD, LP, digital

Label: Profound Lore Records

Release date: September 18th 2026

It’s taken a significant amount of time since their inception in 2007, but Krallice has gone from playing black metal to playing long, beguiling compositions of progressive-experimental black metal, with compact harmonics reeking of peculiarities.

Starting as a two-guitar partnership and expanding into a full band over time, they shifted toward perfecting their abstruse perception of the genre. Their long succession of full-length albums shows the extensive time they dedicated to practice, experimentation and trial-and-error, always stepping back and focusing more on composing and recording rather than touring.

What ensues from this on “Scour Order” is partially comparable to atmospheric/avant garde bands like Blut Aus Nord and The Ruins of Beverast, only thriving on complicated bass lines and perplexing drum patterns as much as curious guitar harmonies and riffs; that is to say when guitars were required. With a traditional lineup sticking to basics, Krallice exhibit interaction that propels their professionalism toward standards of skillful art rock and acid jazz bands, all with the potency and unceasing vehemence of black metal bands.

For all this, nothing the band thought up is set in stone, and they’ve remained open to recording with different method. At one point Krallice switched from dual guitars to guitar and synth, deciding synths would better help remold and reshape themselves, and communicate with the complex bass and drum tracks, making their sound both dense and expansive. Some of the songs on past albums were even recorded without guitars as synths were more than sufficient to take center stage.

Borrowing occasionally from NWOBHM, sci-fi metal, and classic thrash, the band not only integrates but absorbs raw abrasiveness with intricate musicianship and odd time signatures, guiding the listener through turn after turn. “Agonal Shining” begins with a few moments of crunch before shifting to harmonies layered with a bizarre combination of rawness and electronic sounds, supported by thunderous drums that grow more intricate as the song slowly progresses into a progressive landscape. Blast beats often break up their intensity mid-blast, transitioning into slower beats and time changes accompanied by tangled bass lines and (again) dual guitars. These layered combinations with guitars and caterwauled vocals become more pronounced and striking, regardless of how frequently a new rhythm shift ripples and floods from the previous shift. As the first track, it lays the foundation for everything we can expect from the following tracks.

These rhythm shifts include measures that add extra beats, creating space for the instruments to embellish as if offering afterthoughts to the statements they’re making. Sometimes they build a little more gradually; other times they shift abruptly, fade into somber atmosphere, or become more intense when needed. The volatile appeal of “Scour Order” lies in an unstable, uncertain changeability that’s kept uniform by its simplistic lo-fi production. It’s a dichotomy that sustains your interest in exploring the unknown with Krallice even as they blaze new trails through the unknown themselves. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Mick Barr: Guitar, vocals

Colin Marston: Guitar, vocals

Nicholas McMaster: Bass, vocals

Lev Weinstein: Drums

Track list:

1. Agonal Shining

2. Grievous Corrector

3. Kill The Guardian

4. Unceasing Path

5. Living Useless Ritual

6. Indecipherable Divinities

7. Her Green Arms

8. Scour Order

Full Length Review: Shabti "Haze, Cacophony, And White Light" (Contemn Light) by Dave Wolff

Band: Shabti

Location: Portland, Maine

Country: USA

Genre: Death/black metal

Full length: Haze, Cacophony, And White Light

Format: Digital album, limited edition cassette (100 copies)

Label: Contemn Light

Release date: August 21, 2026

Although seven years passed between "Trembling and Shorn" and "Haze, Cacophony, And White Light," Shabti has taken as long to refine their technicality into something as infectious as it’s deadly. During this time they’ve remained a stable live act, appealing to fans of bands from Today Is The Day to Immolation.

The band is named after an Egyptian funerary figurine, also known as a ushabti, dating from ancient times. Believing the afterlife required manual labor, these figurines were called upon to answer the gods’ call to perform such work for the deceased. Inscribed with spells from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, shabtis were commonly used from the 21st Dynasty onward.

Shabti’s magnetism, beyond their supernatural connotations, lies in their technical skill and their ability to craft detailed, complex songs free of gimmicks or trendy hooks. While death metal customarily relies on low, bass-heavy sounds, Shabti combines intricate death metal songwriting with higher-pitched tremolo sounds associated with black metal, featuring bludgeoning riffs and irregular, disharmonic notes, drawing no clear lines between genres.

As the three members of Shabti have played in various black metal and doom/death metal bands, "Haze, Cacophony, And White Light" sounds like they easily interacted with each other, finding a middle ground where they could compose freely and build upon each other's ideas. Their songs often shift direction and evoke different moods; they piece their own puzzles together, creating multilayered soundscapes bending nature itself while ultimately making sense.

Rob Cook (vocals, guitar) explains that most of the songs carry multiple meanings and can be interpreted in various ways, though some are rooted in personal experiences, crafted precisely as he envisioned them to make sense of those feelings. The band operates in no comfort zone, driven by a relentless desire to impose order on chaos and to navigate life’s experiences. Their lyrics subtly convey themes of alienation, grief, and longing; these are often intertwined with spiritual, mythological, and religious imagery, elements that listeners may empathize with as much as they respond to the band’s songwriting ingenuity.

The band's writing process produced intricate notes that, while not strictly prog, doom, or classic metal, seem to incorporate elements of all three within the death/black metal framework they initially explored. The percussion does more than simply guide the songs through time and mood changes; they accommodate the varying tempos and different frames of mind they evoke each time the band shifts direction. The bass tracks do the same to complement the guitar and vocal layers, adorning the multifaceted riffs and shifts between low and high-pitched vocals.

Moving and blending together in that familiar linear flow, the band members collaborate under principles similar to those of jazz fusion bands. Cook stated that the way this album turned out made him eager to start writing the next one. That it could reinforce his passion that much shows evolution doesn't necesarily have to be overt or demand attention. A band can evolve by building on what they have organically. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Rob Cook: Vocals, guitars

Brendan Hayter: Bass

Ray Capizzo: Drums

Track list:

1. Ambrosia And Lamb’s Blood

2. A Weary Creation

3. Blood For A Blessing

4. Haze, Cacophony, And White Light

5. Sojourner

6. Rise Of The Shabti

Full Length Review: Shrineburner "Hymns of Despair" (Independent) by Dave Wolff

Band: Shrineburner

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Country: USA

Genre: Doom/sludge metal

Full length: Hymns of Despair

Format: Digital, CD, vinyl

Label: Independent

Release date: September 11, 2026

In 2023 Peter Norman started Shrineburner with Brent Favala, aiming to make an impact on Chicago’s metal scene by crafting wall of sound doom metal infused with sludge and a repetitive, mantra-like feel designed to slide into listeners’ heads. The three songs on their debut EP “Solitude” initially seemed to contrast the tranquil cover artwork. A closer look revealed the lone black-hooded figure beside the stream, hinting at something deeply ominous entering the serenity. His presence added an unsettling edge to the wooded shadows in the background.

The tracks appearing on “Solitude” felt designed to guide the mind into deep meditation. Subtle yet persistent, a certain roughness in the guitars and bass, like minerals grinding together, created a friction that intensified the listening experience. The constant rumble, even showing itself during the songs’ somber parts, was habitual of doom and sludge but took on an invocational quality, transforming their wall of sound into a conduit for transmutation. This magnified their trance-like effect, blending their doom/sludge roots with trance-inducing undertones.

In June 2024, Shrineburner released “The Burden,” pushing their sound to a louder, heavier level. The track incorporated some more time changes, cosmic psychedelia, and black metal elements. Norman, handling guitars and vocals, expertly filled in the lyrical space, driving his voice deeper and more booming, more commanding while Favala’s percussion further enhanced the inherent rumble of the guitar and bass lines. The grey-toned cover art, featuring an isolated figure lost in thought made more of an effort to reflect the single’s introspective nature.

By the time they recorded their first full-length “Hymns of Despair,” the band had expanded from a duo to a power trio. CJ Johnson, who helped record their EP and single, contributed bass while Edward Hamel stepped in to fill the shoes of Favala, whose other projects demanded more of his time. This new lineup marked a significant evolution to where they sounded like a different band, which arguably, they were. With fresh input from the two new members, Norman expanded on the slow, meditative foundation of “Solitude,” furnishing his rhythmic litanies with labyrinthine songwriting. His gravelly roughness and booming voice are more conspicuous, bleeding into the heightened psychedelia, atmospheric layers and black metal elements.

Placid introduction pieces like incantations to the controlled chaos that follows, sudden violent bursts of rawness and aggression introducing hypnotic excursions, fluctuating time durations from song to song, songs with drastically divergent temperaments and auras, hints of old doom-death metal and refined solemnity are new directions taken here, all pushed exponentially by minimalistic fills and abundant crash cymbals in the drums, all reflected by the languid painting Joshua Hondros contributed for the cover art: a surreal depiction of hell with nightmarish creatures and somber colors.

For a band that started as a creative outlet and became what is described as monolithic and earthquake inducing, Shrineburner has fulfilled a lot of their potential in a short time, expanding their wall of sound and creating the ideal outlet for when they head out onto the road to present it to their steadily built fan base. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Peter Norman: Vocals, guitar

CJ Johnson: Bass

Edward Hamel: Drums

Track list:

1. Void Of Guilt

2. Spectral Cataclysm

3. Bodies Dragged To Sunlight

4. Slow Death Chant

5. An Ocean Of Broken Hope

6. Hymn Of Despair

Single/Full Length Review: Spike Poilte and Sewage "A.I. Apocalypse" (Sewer Lid Music LLC) by Dave Wolff

Band: Spike Polite and Sewage

Location: New York City, New York

Country: USA

Genre: Punk

Single/full length: A.I. Apocalypse

Format: CD, digiral

Label: Sewer Lid Music LLC

Release date: December 31, 2025

These were my first thoughts while listening to “A.I. Apocalypse,” the latest single and full-length album by Spike Polite and Sewage. Throughout their career, they’ve maintained relevance by consistently writing and performing new material as an actual band, despite the rise of AI-generated music and the trend of digital shortcuts.

Recently, artists have been using AI not only to compose music but also to create entire punk and metal bands streamed online. There are even ongoing copyright disputes over AI-generated work. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish human musicians from computer-generated bands, a growing concern among artists worldwide. For example, just ask podcaster Rick Beato or visit his YouTube channel. If there was ever a need for a rock ’n’ roll revolution, AI-generated music is a compelling reason for one.

Sewage’s raw, authentic sound serves as a reminder of the importance of organic music, no percussion samples, autotune, or compression to thin the sound or mask nuance. “Real music, real time,” says Spike. Staying connected with New York City’s punk scene while reaching out to punk communities elsewhere, the band remains committed to challenging industry norms.

Spike has assembled a strong lineup for this single and the accompanying live tracks, most of which were written years ago and practiced countless times with various lineups. Known for calling for upheaval and renewal, these songs advocate replacing superficial music with the rebellious spirit that fuels both punk art and literature. This rebellious attitude has gained recognition through documentaries about punk culture.

Recorded at Brooklyn’s Lucky 13 Saloon in 2025, tracks like “Rock & Roll Revolution,” “Police Brutality,” “Subway Surfing,” “What Happened to the Punk Rock,” and “Punk Religion” are delivered with taut precision and energy, reflecting the spirit in which they were written. Newer songs like “Big O” and “Credit” sit naturally with the older ones, connecting with the fire dwelling in the soul of anyone who has been stirred by punk in their lives. The bond between New York and English punk has likewise strengthened through years of live practice, drawing more attention to their shared energy.

“Credit” exemplifies Sewage’s lyrical growth as much as their musicianship, offering a sharp critique of corporate greed, consumerism, and materialism. It emphasizes how the pressure to keep up with societal expectations leads to debt and job loss, illustrating the decline of American manufacturing and the increasing reliance on other countries. The song portrays this cycle as reducing the average consumer to an economic pawn of large corporations, highlighting the societal cost of unchecked capitalism.

As for the single/title song, AI and computer-generated music are one thing, but it addresses facial and voice recognition as surveillance tools and highlights how humans are losing their jobs to robots and AI, leading to rising unemployment and inflation that mostly benefit the upper classes. Consumerism and corporate greed are again central themes, with some subtle allusions to Orwell’s “1984.”

Metal and industrial bands have discussed the "cyborg military-industrial complex" that could result from mass surveillance and technological control as symbolism and metaphor; Sewage does so in a very literal sense, highlighting societal decay while managing to avoid sounding like conspiracy theorists. While I still like the older songs I mentioned and always will, it would be interesting to see if Sewage pushes the sociopolitical edge of their single further to see where it leads. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Spike Polite: Vocals

Lue Ann Librera: Backing vocals

Heide Miklitz: Bass

Jon Pannikar: Drums

Antonio Romano: Guitar, backing vocals

Randall Steffes: Mix editor

Track list:

1. Big O – live

2. Credit – live

3. Subway Surfing – live

4. Police Brutality – live

5. Florida – live

6. Rock & Roll Revolution – live

7. Facebook sUcks – live

8. What Happened To The Punk Rock? – live

9. Punk Religion – live

10. Pandemonium – live

11. A.I. Apocalypse

Review of "Punk Not DeAd" (Solid Bass Records) by Dave Wolff

Review of "Pandemonium" (Rotten Bastards Records) by Dave Wolff

Review of "The Italian Sessions" (Independent) by Dave Wolff

Full Length Review: Harlott "Exsequiis" (Metal Blade) by Dave Wolff

Band: Harlott

Location: Melbourne

Country: Australia

Genre: Thrash metal

Full length: Exsequiis

Format: CD, digital, vinyl ("Coagulation" ASideBSide: EU – Limited to 500 copies)

Label: Metal Blade

Release date: September 11, 2026

Whenever I listen to Australian thrash, I feel the energy and liveliness you'd expect from bands like Bestial Warlust or Sadistik Execution. The Melbourne band Harlott embodies Australia’s self-sustaining thrash movement in every way, pouring everything into their upcoming album “Exsequiis:” the fast pace, potency, and independent spirit of thrash that changed the face of music in the eighties.

Since watching the independent documentary series “Thrash or Fuck Off,” I can't find a down-under band that doesn’t meticulously channel technical efficiency, power, and endurance into every riff and progression. I have always sensed a strong determination among Australian thrash bands to gain global recognition and stand alongside their counterparts from Germany, Brazil, England, and the U.S.

Made and released in 2019, “Thrash or Fuck Off” highlights how committed the scene is to thriving on its terms, fueled by zeal and the musical roots shared with bands on our side of the Pacific Ocean (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Kiss, NWOBHM). This series is an extensive examination into a grassroots industry with the cutting edge vibe that spread from the U.K. to Germany and the States so long ago. It offers no apologies showing Australian thrash bands perceive their influences more profoundly than usual; taking the idea that nothing’s sacred from the garage to the stage.

As another example, Hobbs Angel of Death, originally a solo project and the first Australian band to make a name outside their borders, released a self-titled debut through Steamhammer that sold surprisingly well in Europe and gained some attention in the U.S. Though subsequent albums didn’t generate the same buzz, their debut still became a cult classic and something about their “virgin metal” suggested you can be as fast, heavy, proficient, coarse and explosive as you’re inspired to be and compete with the more prominent likes of Dark Angel, Sacrifice and Sadus.

Having released two EPs and four full-length albums since 2006, the Melbourne band Harlott takes that idea and accelerates it, so to speak. Set to be released in a month, “Exsequiis” not only recaptures thrash’s classic spirit but surpasses it in ways most retro-thrash or thrash revival bands haven’t yet touched. Their secret lies in eschewing terms like “retro” or “revivalist” and treating the genre’s true nature as if it never went out of vogue. For them it never did when it comes to the genre’s unruly, defiant spirit and classic punk’s attitude into their song structure, vocals and lyrics.

Already incisive and high-tensile on their early EPs and debut full-length “Origin,” they’ve sharpened their skills over the years, taking time to become faster, tighter, and to harness the density they captured in the studio, steering it toward greater dynamism and melodic invention.Patiently cultivating their identity across three albums from 2015 and 2020 and taking a six-year rest, they evolved into an unstoppable force of precision, crunch, and dissonance. Featuring varying meters, tempo shifts, inventive lead harmonies, occasional blast and scalding guitar solos, their sound is characterized by embittered vocal outbursts condemning societal polarization. Acerbic critiques of a world that is far from the ideals envisioned by the counter cultures of days gone by.

If Testament, Dark Angel, Kreator, and old Sepultura hold a special place in your darkened heart; if you have fond memories of singing along with hardcore bands when you and your friends were handed the mike in the front row; if pop punk feels too commercial for your taste; and if you miss a time when bands prioritized being cutting-edge, swift, shredding, and aggressive over having commercial appeal, Harlott is a prime example of the Australian industry and the genre as a whole. The boldness the band approached this album with produced an album confirming Australian thrash deserves to be recognized as a reputable foundation of high grade thrash bands. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Andrew Hudson: Guitar, vocals

Tom Richards: Bass, vocals

Leigh Bartley: Guitar

Glen Trayhern: Drums

Track list:

1. Incipiam

2. Void

3. Messiah Simplex

4. Trial By Liar

5. The God That Knows No Name

6. Kleptogenesis

7. A Still More Glorious Dawn Awaits

8. The Joyful Stain

9. Endling

10. Vice Borne

11. Exsequiis

Full Length Review: Shannon Jae Ridout "The Magnolia Sessions" (Anti-Corp Music) by Dave Wolff

Artist: Shannon Jae Ridout

Country: USA

Genre: Country: bluegrass

Full Length: The Magnolia Sessions

Format: Digital

Label: Anti-Corp Music

Release date: September 4, 2026

A classically trained clarinetist from rural western Washington, Shannon Jae Ridout changed her world when she stumbled upon a pawn shop and found an old acoustic guitar for fifty dollars. She decided that learning to play it might be a better start for her musical career than solely relying on her classical training.

Soon after, she developed an interest in traditional folk ballads from European countries, songs that depicted violent crimes and horrific deaths. Her fascination with these old tales led her to figure out how to play them with the finger and chord patterns she picked up while learning this archaic instrument. Studying and memorizing these songs helped shape her musical voice as a solo folk, bluegrass, and country musician.

Over the next decade, she hitched rides and traveled across the country to build a grassroots reputation, without an agent or a professional band backing her. She seemed to find her calling on her own steam, pursuing it through any means possible, whether busking on the street or performing on any stage she stumbled upon.

After meeting her future husband, she recorded her debut solo album “Unwritten Scripts,” and a year later, she and Nicholas Ridout recorded “Bottle and Chain” with SourMash Melodies. Their momentum grew quickly as they formed the Spitshine Street Band and released “A Bottle, a Gun & a Troubled Mind.” Following Ridout’s passing, SourMash Melodies recorded an EP as The Teardrop Trio, and Shannon released her second solo album “Strung Up Sorrow” before taking a ten-year hiatus.

It was that long before she returned to the stage and unveiled “Two Busted Boots And A Broken Heart,” released last April through Anti-Corp Records. Shannon’s nomadic excursion across America, along with the rewards and tragedies she faced while building her reputation and working with other musicians, inevitably seep into the songs she recorded for “The Magnolia Sessions.”

After agreeing to collaborate with Dan Emery, who had envisioned a project with her since he began the series, she arranged recording sessions with the traditional setting chosen by Emery: a magnolia tree near the mastering studios for Anti-Corp and Black Matter. Surrounded by nature, contending with rain and natural night sounds, Shannon found the environment eerie but appreciated how her surroundings offered her space to breathe and reflect on her set.

In tune with the dark night surrounding her, this set features songs from her discography that evoke a sense of isolation and world weariness, particularly “Leavin’ Me” and “He’d Seen Some Things.” The latter reflects sadness as Shannon sings about someone she knew who had perhaps experienced too much of life. Yet, her wanderlust and hunger for adventure that called her far from home resonate through the finger and chord patterns she built on.

Some moments are slightly brighter, as “Two Sappy Fools” and “Mississippi Please” look back with the curiosity and hopefulness that stayed with her through her own experiences. Shannon’s centered presence allows her to project her voice and guitar notes into the night, blending with the cicadas, crickets, and katydids as if they’re part of the environment.

Disclosing all the ups and downs of her life with frank honesty, her hopes and fears, her certainty and uncertainty about the future, confident and vulnerable, with nothing sugarcoated or whitewashed, Shannon delivers with a professionalism that most likely came from the classical training of her youth. –Dave Wolff

Track list:

1. Leavin’ Me

2. Let There Be No Trouble

3. Two Sappy Fools

4. He’d Seen Some Things

5. Mississippi Please

6. Unwritten Scripts

7. It Ain’t Right

8. Highways Of Scotchbroom

9. Low As Low

Full Length Review: Encasement "Encasement" (Hypaethral Records, I, Voidhanger Records) by Dave Wolff

Project: Encasement

Location: Toronto

Country: Canada

Genre: Experimental black metal

Full length: Encasement

Format: CD (I, Voidhanger Records), LP (Hypaethral Records), digital

Label: Hypaethral Records, I, Voidhanger Records

Release date: September 4, 2026

Guitarist and instrumentalist James Thompson founded Encasement to incorporate his ideas into a fusion of black and death metal. His goal was to experiment with new sounds and explore new directions within an ever-expanding field. The more he searched and wrote, the more he discovered that his songs had a personal and mournful quality. These compositions moved from themes of grief, reflection, and release to expressing buried emotions. He found a connection between his songwriting and poems he had written several years earlier.

This connection became evident when he composed “Exodus,” the opening track of his self-titled debut album. The piece displayed a distinctive tone upon its completion and served as the launching point for the subsequent tracks. The initial material Thompson gathered was composed with an open, unrestrained impulse, consisting of sudden improvisational bursts. When arranged into songs, these bursts manifested as disjointed night terrors—states of mind that could only be accurately expressed through raw atmosphere and an emphasis on their disconnected, incoherent nature.

Seeing what he had formulated by happenstance, Thompson began to write with a clearer sense of purpose. He channelled his grief and reflection through more structured means, delving deeper into himself to uncover what had been buried beneath the surface. The disjointed songs evolved into pieces with longer, more drawn-out sections that expressed his inner discoveries. Mostly rooted in avant-garde black metal, his music also bears noticeable shades of shoegaze and old-school death metal.

Thompson’s brief creative bursts are characterized by eccentric note arrangements and sections that extend beyond typical measure lengths. These shifts often happen unexpectedly, guiding listeners through a labyrinth of random passages that seem to lead nowhere or circle back on themselves. By pushing his abilities as a musician and songwriter, Thompson adds a sense of subjective vertigo, incorporating outlandish touches into his avant-garde, shoegaze-inspired improvisations.

Similar to the creation of his earliest material, Thompson imparts a sense of immediacy with an introduction that is both fleeting and darkly atmospheric, as heard in tracks like "Inertia." He also explores irregular transitions, shifting from rigid, crunching riffs to dissonant and melodic passages. His music moves seamlessly from thrash-flavored death metal to prog-infused black metal, with sounds ranging from falling rain to furious tremolo picking. Vocally, he alternates between guttural and high-pitched styles depending on which section fits best.

During the recording, mixing, and mastering processes, Thompson paid close attention to incorporating orchestral and classical theatrics inspired by controversial Russian composers Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev, as well as French impressionist Maurice Ravel. He aimed to infuse some of their essence into his work. This influence appeared late in his writing process and often intensified the passionate moods he sought to evoke, particularly in songs like “The Pillory” and “Absolution.”

"Encasement" is a raw, unfiltered vision crafted by Thompson. It holds together seemingly fragmented thoughts, creating a cohesive experience in its own way. The album presents ongoing nightmares, offering a way to confront them in the safest manner possible. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

James Thompson: Vocals, all instruments

Track list:

1. Inertia

2. Exodus

3. Apparitions

4. The Pillory

5. Absolution

6. Fragmentation

Full Length Review: The Dread Crew of Oddwood "Lawful Evil" (Independent) by Dave Wolff

Band: The Dread Crew of Oddwood

Location: Los Angeles, California

Country: USA

Genre: Metal, folk

Full length: Lawful Evil

Format: Digital

Label: Independent

Release date: March 25, 2016

Although “Lawful Evil” was released a decade ago, I’m mentioning it now because The Dread Crew of Oddwood is planning a tour to celebrate its ten-year anniversary. The grassroots tour in October and December will be their first headlining run since their 2016 tour promoting the album. The stops include Dingbatz in New Jersey, Reggie’s in Chicago, and the iconic Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. The band is bringing the tour to locations they haven’t played before and will dedicate more time to “Lawful Evil,” incorporating “more stage antics” into their live set.

The Dread Crew of Oddwood’s first lineup occurred in 2008 when they met at San Diego Comic-Con of all places. It consisted of the only people who attended a fan meeting for the Sega Genesis game “Ecco the Dolphin,” organized by Wolfbeard O’Brady, the band’s founder and frontman. By a twist of fate or a lucky coincidence, everyone who showed up turned out to be musicians. They started working together, their shared vision quickly gained momentum, and within a year, they released their debut album “Reign the Helm,” which is said to have sparked a new era in metal-based music.

Performing at subsequent Comic Cons helped elevate them from a local fan group to a touring band, leading to appearances at Wacken Winter Nights, 70,000 Tons of Metal, and Heidenfest, among other major metal fests. While Celtic metal and folk metal have proven successful for In Extremo, Eluveitie, Ensiferum, Korpiklaani, and Finntroll, this band elevated the genre by inventively leveraging their name, blending metal’s raw energy with Celtic and European folk influences, and weaving tales of piracy, mystery, and myth into their songs. They raised the bar for innovation, approaching their folk pirate metal with greater velocity, keenness, and fervor than similar bands that were around for longer.

Like their three previous albums and their latest “Rust and Glory,” “Lawful Evil” can somewhat fit the “not metal” category, mostly because it wasn’t recorded with loud, distorted guitars and howling solos. Even so, The Dread Crew of Oddwood took an awareness of metal’s potency, drive, and stamina into the studio with them, pouring into the recording sessions the confidence of a band poised to connect with listeners from the stage. The subgenre they’re creating in this way, christened “heavy mahogany,” rings like something they put a lot of thought into.

Despite the absence of volume and distortion, “Lawful Evil” has the sufficient dynamism of an energetic metal album, driven by the conviction of the most fervent band. While the term “heavy mahogany” doesn’t sound typical, it does suit the fast-paced acoustic instruments and frenetic percussion that thrusts the material forward without pausing for a single moment. With a stripped-down backdrop of mandolin, accordion, strings, bouzouki, ukulele, and upright bass, the band invites you on a journey of drinking songs and tales of the high seas, gritty and intense, with bravado, dark camaraderie and occasional gallows humor.

If the energy channeled into their songs had been recorded with electric guitars and bass the effect would be near devastating. Whether capturing the fierce loyalty of a pirate crew with a commanding and threatening tone, boldly celebrating the crew’s loyalty and fierce spirit, painting pictures of being lost at sea, lured by sinister voices, or crash landing on uncharted islands and meeting bizarre creatures, The Dread Crew of Oddwood delivers listeners to a bygone era—the age of pirate ships raiding Aegean and Mediterranean vessels for goods, cargo, or hostages, inviting anyone who listens to them or sees them live to accompany them on their adventures. Encouraging participation, they make you part of the high-seas escapades of pirates raiding vessels or encountering otherworldly creatures. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Wolfbeard O'Brady: Vocals, accordion, flute, harpsichord, guitar

Smithy Crow: Bass, violin, vocals

Stark Cordwain: Bouzouki, tin whistle, horn, vocals

Legendary Pirate King Eric "The" Brown: Drums, percussion, vocals

Deckard Cordwain: Mandolin, tenor banjo, vocals

Riven Rahl: Toy Piano, piano, organ, vocals

Track list:

1. Join The Ranks

2. Side Quest

3. Heavy Mahogany

4. Sulfur

5. Siren's Song

6. Expedition on Heavy Submarine

7. Humours of Oddwood Isle

8. Raise Your Pints

9. Sand Lobster

10. Whalin' Rumbo

11. Trollwhack

12. The Gleeman

13. Storm Riders

14. Dead Man's Medley

Full Length Review: Ænigmatum "FInfinitude’s Passage" (20 Buck Spin) by Dave Wolff

Band: Ænigmatum

Location: Portland, Oregon

Country: USA

Genre: Progressive death/black metal

Full length: Infinitude’s Passage

Format: Digital, CD, LP

Label: 20 Buck Spin

Release date: July 31, 2026 (digital), September 4, 2026 (CD, LP)

From what I’ve read about them, Ænigmatum instantly engenders admiration for their abilities as composers and instrumentalists, and this awe grows the more you listen. On two demos and three albums they’ve plunged head first into determining how much eccentricity they can bring to their foundations in death and black metal, and they always manage to find a new eccentricity, keeping cohesion through their technical capacity.

The technical ability displayed on “Infinitude’s Passage” is the groundwork for hyperactive weaves and corkscrews that even the drums are part of, rather than just supporting the guitars and bass. The term “forward thinking” has come up a few times when reviewers described this album, and it’s also been described as being far removed from what extreme music sounded in the 1990s.

“Infinitude’s Passage” builds toward an unleashing of sound and fury with a spontaneity in direction that’s close to impossible to guess at. Something about this unconstraint had a certain magnetism to it, an attraction that compelled me to open the door between my perception and the band’s improvisational license. Upon doing so I understood the compliments Ænigmatum got for their songwriting, as I was engrossed, almost submerged, in their presentation.

The band’s writing is unconstrained and fiercely independent of any rules of how death metal and black metal should be written. The band’s flow between multiple changes doesn’t thrust you with abrupt hooks but guides you gently through a casual, impromptu process, as if the material was crafted in the studio with subtlety and ease. It’s as if they were aware of how much was being woven into each track and aimed to make the songwriting process smooth and digestible, rather than overwhelming.

There are harsh sections throughout, with the bass and drums consistently hitting hard and the rhythm guitars cross over death and black metal to anchor the songs. The opening strains of "Pitiless Mechanism" establish strong connections to traditional death and black metal, a point Ænigmatum reaffirms in each of the following tracks. While the bass progressions emphasize certain notes when needed, they also incorporate deviations that expand the range of the songs without drawing too much attention or overshadowing the other instruments.

The rhythm guitars complement these variable bass patterns with irregular deviations of their own, and the drums swing between solid beats and fills that decorate the interaction between the bass and rhythm guitar. As the stage setting for the songs, these instruments communicate with each other, pushing the material closer to prog than you would have anticipated from extreme metal.

The lead guitars do the most work to widen the spectrum of sound, with bulky riffs reminiscent of melodic death metal bands like Amon Amarth, dissonant riffs akin to Voivod, black metal chords, atmospheric layers, outlandish note progressions, and harmonies overlapping by two or three layers. The vocals are mostly consistent, but they can sometimes deviate into spoken word sections or other moods to fit different parts of a song.

The noninvasive techniques the band uses to hold all this together are what give "Infinitude’s Passage" its memorability, allowing you to remember one or more of these tracks after it ends. Somber guitars and horn instruments were added to the closing title track, possibly as a hint of the sounds and instruments that may be part of the band's next album, and the one after that. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Kelly McLaughlin: Vocals, guitar, bass clarinet

Eli Lundgren: Guitar

Brian Rush: Bass, backing vocals

Pierce Williams: Drums, synthesizers, backing vocals

Patrick Corona: Saxophone

Danny Quetzal: Backing vocals

Track list:

1. Pitiless Mechanism

2. Inseverable

3. Architects Of The Fated

4. A Tarnished Nexus

5. Nocturne Of Ageless Reverie

6. Infinitude’s Passage