Full Length Review: Gates of Kiev "Gates of Kiev" (The Laser’s Edge) by Dave Wolff

Band: Gates of Kiev

Location: Amsterdam

Country: Netherlands

Genre: Progressive rock

Full length: Gates of Kiev

Format: LP, CD, digital

Label: The Laser’s Edge

Release date: November 6, 2026

The garage band that could? It’s possible. Gates of Kiev was formed by a keyboardist and a drummer (Tomas Mesman and Hessel Braat) who were close friends for years beforehand. In high school, they indulged in their passion for inventive music, throwing around ideas during nocturnal garage sessions. It’s like something out of a Bill and Ted movie, in which an adolescent dream became a success story, one that can’t be denied due to an unconventional fusion of ideas exclusive to themselves and the musicians they made acquaintances with after starting out.

Assuming a seventies prog-rock style similar to Emerson, Lake & Palmer, with twists of psychedelic rock and garage punk, the band developed an intense, boisterous live presence. They brought that live presence and the grime of their garage sessions to the studio when they recorded their debut EP and their debut full length. Recorded in Holland, mixed and mastered in Norway, this album breaks rules of composing and arranging prog, incorporating their punk attitude not only into the occasionally gritty musicianship but also a seemingly disorganized, turbulent rhythm scheme that’s as erratic as it is proficient.

The informality of the garage practices stayed with the founding members as they became a full band. Their debut EP “Tales of Aion” from 2024, was structured in an orderly fashion, but they were already steering themselves toward songs that were volatile, interchangeable and epic length, with complex structure and keyboards assuming the roles of two instruments; keys and guitars. They were established with keyboard sounds that soared and dove, vocal harmonies that were beautiful and eerie, and steady bass heavy grooves under an animated succession of notes and aural effects.

On “Tales of Aion” this backbone upheld itself through each adjustment in trajectory, disappearing when a new attempt in ambient interludes took place, then re-emerged and reshaped itself. The band could go from the carnivalesque tunes of old to ELP to The Clash to something early sixties to something new and experimental, intersecting them and holding it all together with tribal drums, ambient and metallic key sounds and an unashamed sense of punk rawness. Sometimes you couldn’t tell where a song was going next; most times you couldn’t tell, and the band just kept you guessing.

On their full length they’ve kept the erratic quality of their variability, added to their fusion of styles, tightened the transitions and provided a steadier underlying groove. The material became less abrasive and more hard edged. The keyboards and bass work more closely together, time changes come at inopportune moments, songs change direction before you know it, and vocal harmonies are more pleasing and sinister. Bass lines are more pronounced and take more of an active role in directing the material. Longer instrumental sections elaborate on lyrics about private struggles and societal issues, carrying them farther with visuals complementing words.

If you like music with louder, edgier, more caustic guitars, this album may make you more interested in adding prog rock and experimental music to your playlist. -Dave Wolff

Track list:

1. Hamlet Burns

2. Baltazar’s Feast

3. Silhouette

4. Drunkship Of The Mice

Full Length Review: Die Entweihung "Worldwide Terror" (Morbid and Miserable Records) by Dave Wolff

Project: Die Entweihung

Country: Israel

Genre: Blackened heavy metal

Full length: Worldwide Terror

Format: Digital, CD

Label: Morbid and Miserable Records

Release date: August 7, 2026

Listening to Die Entweihung over several years reveals unpredictable growth, from subtle changes on reissued albums to radical shifts in the classic power and thrash metal that forms the cornerstone of "Worldwide Terror." Denis Tereshenko does more than revisit the past to redefine his project's future on this album, deliberately avoiding painting by numbers or resorting to formulaic writing.

He seems to intuitively recognize that relying on nostalgic nods to metal’s glory days or recreating the youthful energy of previous albums would be an obvious, and ultimately boring, move for a project becoming known for breaking molds. After a decade and a half, during which time he spawned eleven full lengths, Tereshenko gives a voice to the ongoing decline of human decency and righteousness, a steady emergence of moral corruption and indifference to suffering.

To just say he’s reflecting it would be oversimplifying things. Here the neurotic, unstable nature of the world around him seems to have seeped into his soul to illustrate. He’s not just setting himself apart but taking in the isolation of generation after generation, watching the decline grow steeper and harder to avoid. Watching people profess evolution while embracing a primitive mindset.

The vocal harmonies on "Worldwide Terror" are among the first clues that something is off, and much more than simply a retro imitation of '80s bands. A dual vocal presence emerges and reemerges from the first track, often featuring two melodic styles (sometimes with different pitches) overlapping, or a melodic vocal paired with a louder, more piercing one. This peculiarity works surprisingly well, creating a contrast with the musicianship and adding a bizarre twist to traditional vocal harmonies. These techniques often alternate and clash within the same track, like order thinly masking chaos, and there are moments when vocals take a back seat altogether to lengthy instrumental passages.

The song structure sounds guided by the conflict, confusion and disorder characterizing the times we’re living in, expressing disorganization as a call to clean the mess left by authority figures of the past, and maybe even to create something bold and new from the ashes. Tereshenko doesn't define Die Entweihung by bands he grew up with, bands he has listened to since starting the project or bands that rubbed off on him while writing and composing "Worldwide Terror." Instead, he defines it by how he arranges what he worked with and the unconventional, abnormal directions in which he took them.

Where most bands alternate between subgenres or blend them, Die Entweihung often manages to layer them; thrash over metal or thrash over power metal; and make these layers work effectively. The start and buildup of each song differ strikingly, taking varying amounts of time to prepare the listener for the lyrics. The instrumentals in “Generation of Pawns” and “The Brightest Night” carry the songs almost entirely on their own, without a need for lyrical content. The absence of traditional verses and choruses is compensated for by a reinforced narrative quality in the instrumentation.

Another contrast they achieve is a stripped-down sound, combined with blackened metal, folk metal and atmosphere to add rawness and breadth, complemented by strategically placed violin, cello, and saxophone. All these contrasts generate a feel of chaos and disarray, contained within a compact, intense sphere of energy. The dynamic tension, tightly focused, is more than enough to keep you on edge. For its subject matter, "Worldwide Terror" does not aim to overwhelm you at first listen. But after following it through once, you begin to grow accustomed to its numerous dissimilarities. With repeated listens, it gradually sounds less abrasive and more operatic, flaunting its complexity. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Denis "Terror" Tereschenko: All instruments

Alena 7: Vocals, vocal arrangements

Saxophone in track 1 by Thesaxpilot

Violin in track 3 by Nino Chikviladze

Saxophone in track 4 by Topesax

Cello in track 8 by Noelia Diaz

Lyrical assistance by Andrew K.

Track list:

1. Worldwide Terror

2. Warriors of the Lie

3. Generation of Pawns

4. Newborn

5. (Not Sure) It's Really Your Life

6. Eight Billion Headed Whore

7. The Brightest Night

8. The Blackest Morning

Review of "Kings & Pawns - Remastered edition: by Brynn Kali StarDew

Review of "Kings & Pawns - Remastered edition" by Dave Wolff

Review of "Hypnotic Dreams (Remastered Reissue 2023)" by Dave Wolff

Interview with Denis Tereschenko of Die Entweihung by Dave Wolff

Review of "Strict Regime Country" by Dave Wolff

Full Length Review: Distorted Reflection "Doom Zone" (Iron Shield Records) by Dave Wolff

Band: Distorted Reflection

Location: Athens

Country: Greece

Genre: Epic doom metal

Full length: Doom Zone

Format: Digital, CD

Label: Iron Shield Records

Release date: February 27, 2026

If members of Candlemass and Celtic Frost recorded an album in 1986 or 1987, it might have sounded something like this. These bands were given inspiration from Tony Iommi's contribution to Black Sabbath, exploring new ways to express it in death and doom metal’s early years.

By a gradual, continual transformation process, Distorted Reflection offers a reinterpretation of the visions Candlemass and Celtic Frost pioneered. The journey they embarked on with “Doom Rules Eternally,” continuing with “Doom Zone,” is marked by transformation leading to self-discovery and liberation from religious concepts.

From the Biblical tale of the serpent of temptation to a dystopian future (3000 A.D. to be exact), disillusionment with imposed authority fuels a quest for individualism and authentic spirituality. Introspective and defiant, "Doom Zone" embodies the resolve to seek truth within oneself. Ringing of traditional metal with a healthy touch of dinge, an equally healthy prog-metal presence and an operatic motif in the vocals, “Doom Zone” is heavy, grimy, plodding in many places and skilled at hammering the listener.

But make no mistake, this heaviness is accompanied by harmonious and innovative characteristics. There are times the songs become surprisingly buoyant and optimistic, for all the dark themes infused into it. Indicating traces of St. Vitus and Cathedral, it also holds discernible eccentric indications you wouldn’t anticipate from a band aiming for doom and stoner rock’s target audiences.

At times a progression or vocal will sound a little off when juxtaposed with the rest of the song. The band’s dichotomy takes thorough form in the lyrics, personifying the struggle between disenchantment with supposed truth and thirst for knowledge and actuality. Each song is replete with dualism: gratitude and deep respect mixed with loss and grief, longing for spiritual strength and desire for vengeance, turmoil and the hope for renewal, idolization and self-respect, acceptance of mortality and despair, guidance and betrayal, dreams and nightmares.

The album seems to become more bizarre as it progresses, but for each reference to the darker sides of existence, there are hints of resilience and philosophical awakening. Again, loss and grief becoming nightmare and madness lead to existential reflection in its own way, as the last few tracks seem to indicate. What’s most important to remember is in the end, the overall message, the big picture, is about aspiring toward higher ideals. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Kostas Sal: Guitar, vocals

Vangelis Yal: Bass, synth, backing vocals

Thomas Zen: Drums

Jack Starr: Guitar solo on “3000 A.D.”

Track list:

1. 3000 A.D.

2. My Second Father

3. Gates Of Paranoia

4. Love On Earth

5. Asphyxiating

6. Certain Death

7. Diminished

8. Tower Of Dreams

9. Forecourt To Death

10. The Final Attempt

11. Morbid Reality

Full Length Review: Messa "The Spin" (Metal Blade) by Dave Wolff

Band: Messa

Country: Italy

Genre: Doom metal

Full length: The Spin

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

Label: Metal Blade

Release date: April 11, 2025

Recorded in a centuries old villa (about five hundred years) near their hometown of Bassano del Grappa, “The Spin” is indeed a spin metal, post-punk, new wave, and other genres. Working in separate locations and at different times, over the course of six weeks, Messa embraced spontaneity and inner focus throughout the process.

Unlike their previous album “Close,” which the band recorded together in the same room, they chose to record “The Spin” in isolation. This approach alleviated the pressure of synchronization, allowing the band to focus on refining their musicianship. Starting with minimal structure and emphasizing variety, they deliberately avoided repetition to keep the songs engaging. The result boasts sharper contrasts between genres, with each instrument creating dynamics with distinct personality.

Personality and an identity independent of any “scene” is core to this band. Drawing inspiration from early eighties goth rock, before it became a “scene,” they explore it freely, not merely referencing it but integrating its essence into their evolving musical palette. With the essence of dark ambient, black metal, punk, prog, blues and jazz, the incorporation of goth rock gives greater depth to something that doesn't directly compare to Sisters Of Mercy, Killing Joke, Mercyful Fate, Jimmy Page, Journey and Vangelis but synthesizes elements of all these artists with a massive and unpredictable sonic landscape.

From capturing heights of joy to depths of despair, Messa is known for a relentless work ethic bordering on obsession, constantly challenging themselves to craft music with a magical appeal. Their approach to diversity surprised me in many ways, proving to be far more immersive and impactful than I initially expected it to be. As I hinted, their method of songwriting makes a point of offering something new with each album, as each album reveals multiple shades of itself.

At first “The Spin” sounds like it may be typical electronica or industrial. However, it gradually shifts, subtly but markedly, first toward new wave, then toward doom metal. Throughout, lovely and soulful vocals emerge organically, blossoming from within and filling every space as they explore these constantly shifting soundscapes.

What makes Messa’s dark elements unique is that they’re not presented in a menacing or hostile way. Instead, they’re integrated thoughtfully, creating an atmosphere that invites curiosity and reflection, appealing to listeners with divergent tastes. The contrasts I mentioned can be likened to a spiderweb with threads woven together in irregular patterns, or a tapestry where each space equally emphasizes color and meaning, creating a rich, intricate fabric of scenery, or in this case sound and emotion.

The interplay of genre and mood, ranging from rough and smooth, bombastic and reflective, progressive and aggressive, angelic and feral, more or less reflects upon the complexities of being a human being. This interplay feels more profound than bands that depict good and evil as equal opposing forces. Angels and devils are not separate aspects of humanity; each person is both deep within. One side doesn't require the other to exist; both are the same complex entity.

To illustrate this, the drums, bass, guitars, and vocals work in tandem, allowing each shift in influence to flow organically. While they integrate, building on the themes they devised working separately, each band member retains their own distinguishable character, emphasizing the fluid complexity of the music and, metaphorically, of human nature itself. Together they create a breakthrough in doom metal that is diverse, compelling and inspirational. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:

Sara: Vocals

Marco: Guitars, bass

Alberto: Guitars

Rocco: Drums

Track list:

1. Void Meridian

2. At Races

3. Fire on the Roof 

4. Immolation

5. The Dress

6. Reveal

7. Thicker Blood   

Demo Review: Lord of Horns "Beneath a Broken Cross" (Independent) by Dave Wolff

Band: Lord of Horns

Location: Lodi, New Jersey

Country: USA

Genre: Black metal

Demo: Beneath a Broken Cross

Format: Digital

Label: Independent

Release date: May 14, 2026

Despite the continuous progress and refinement of black metal, marked by evolving styles and new interpretations, it’s always refreshing to see a band return to the basics and draw inspiration from early Darkthrone, Burzum, Emperor and obscure black metal bands like Belkètre, Countess, Vlad Tepes and Nåstrond.

What’s being referred to the classic sound here is intensely raw, featuring atmosphere-rich guitars evoking a foggy moor you can barely navigate, tremolo picking and bass like bladed weapons, frigid keyboards with airs like the thickening mist obscuring your eyesight, severe, jarring percussion and rasping, grating vocals that scrape at your consciousness.

I've talked extensively about black metal bands taking me back to a time when music was cult without the need to be kvlt or to rely on labels like Kvit to define themselves. When what they composed seemed to be invocations of all things dismal, unlit, and fascinating. When songs were less like traditional songs and more like mediums for channeling mysterious, hidden truths, bringing the secret stuff of mystery, secret depths of the unknown, or an apparition with illicit revelation about the future, into actuality to dispel the mundane.

The rawer and more aged the music sounded, the more it carried those mysteries from obscurity to conjoin with the listener's spiritual inclinations and sense of self. Demonic possession? Or another state of being, one long untouched from deep inside? Maybe a little of both is to be found in “Beneath a Broken Cross,” three demo tracks of songs planned for inclusion on Lord of Horns’ next full length “Cursed by the Horned Moon.”

The tracks released on this preview of the new album are designed to tear open the shroud between reality and an inscrutable supernatural world where the devil himself dwells, waiting to be invited into our world, if even for a brief period of time. Beyond that veil is a universe of delirium, turmoil and hysteria, almost beyond comprehension.

While I listened to these songs I kept thinking of John Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy, especially “Prince of Darkness” and “In the Mouth of Madness.” I kept sensing a transformative vibe emerging from the combination of elements the band blended their sound with. I sensed this most strongly with the blend of atmosphere and a rigid industrial-black metal sound similar to Mysticum and Thorns. Exceptionally forceful, a lot like the dark force unleashed in “Prince of Darkness” and the altered perception of reality shown in “In the Mouth of Madness.”

In typical black metal fashion perceptions are skewed and transposed, and disparate modes of awareness emerge. With the band we journey through exile, carving a new path in desolation, separated from the world and divine grace. We start to see spiritual corruption within that grace, broken crosses suggesting disillusionment with classical religion, rotting decay and pestilence hidden beneath.

We hear invocations to darkness, ancient occult practices leading to transformation, reverence and power. When the devil appears it’s like a distortion, or maybe even a shredding, of the line between illusion and reality. From there comes the inevitable confrontation between good and evil, this time a conflict between institutional power trying to impose spiritual cleansing and a refusal to relinquish the self-awareness achieved through dark rites.

This is symbolized by traditional exorcism rites and demonic hordes, possibly raising the question: which side is the overwhelming evil seeking dominance? Which side emerges triumphant? For the answers, you should experience these tracks for yourself. –Dave Wolff

Track list:

1. Beneath a Broken Cross

2. I Conjured the Devil

3. Exorcism Denied

Interview with Vin Varg of Lord Of Horns by Dave Wolff

Review of "The Forest at Dusk" (MossCorpse Records) by Dave Wolff

Review of "Few Ever Survive The Night…" (Independent) by Corban Skipwith