“Death Knocks isn’t the most extreme album out there, but it straddles the metal boundary more than enough to earn a spot here. While I hadn’t heard of Hoaxed before, their new release caught my eye through its album art and its impressive lead single, “Where the Seas Fall Silent.” This three-piece from Portland plays metal-edged occult rock that aims for an eerie atmosphere as much as for melodic gems.” Deep fake or deep cuts?
“while wading through the promo sump, I stumbled across the self-titled debut of fresh project, Ritual Arcana. Soon discovering this seasoned power trio feature none other than the legendary Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich (Saint Vitus, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan), wielding his scuzzed-up axe alongside Sharlee LuckyFree (ex-Moth) on bass and vocals, and drummer Oakley Munsen (The Black Lips).” Hobo Wino!
“Once, Witchcraft were a prominent figure in the analog rock/metal scene, mentioned alongside acts like Orchid, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, and The Sword. They treated us to some right bangers like 2005’s Firewood and 2012’s Legend, and I was eagerly anticipating whatever might come after 2016’s Nucleus. What eventually followed was the acoustic and intensely somber Black Metal, which struck me as less of a Witchcraft album and more as a hyper-personal form of artistic expression by multi-instrumentalist frontman Magnus Pelander, something meant for him and him alone. It’s an honest and compelling artistic work, but it can be difficult to recall amidst the context of Witchcraft’s proggy occult doom/rock discography. Now, with two fresh band members, Witchcraft have reincorporated the lo-fi buzz n’ fuzz.” Which Witch?
“What better way to bounce back from a week of depressive, melancholic doom than to marinate oneself in a hard-rocking retro stoner/occult release by an act totally unknown to me? Texas-based Warlung boast a spectacular name and though The Poison Touch is their 5th album, they’ve managed to evade my metal detector until now. Their sound is a mix of 70s rock, stoner doom, and occult metal with flashes of NWoBHM-inspired rowdiness sprinkled throughout.” Iron lungs.
“Some musicians pour all their energies into one project, shaping and molding until they’ve chiseled their own David out of sonic marble. Others, like the members of Melbourne’s Black Lava, mix aural color across different mediums, leaving different permutations of themselves in the wake. Consisting of members of Vipassi, Ne Obliviscaris, and Metalstorm, these Aussies emerged from the wilderness two years ago with Soul Furnace, a sludgy platter of death metal completely different from its associated acts. Not content to rest on their laurels, the trio has churned out their sophomore album, The Savage Winds of Wisdom two years later.” The speakers are lava.
““AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.”” Now it rides into the desert.
March Filters bring April POWERS.
“Having spread the spectrum of their influences across a few EPs, Ponte del Diavolo reigns in the fettering ambience and shriekier black metal extremes of their formative work for this debut full-length. In this regard, these witchcraft-worshipping Italians come across like a punk-edged, tremolo riff-informed Sabbath Assembly, with mic-echantress Erba del Diavolo capturing the same essence of cult-fearing warble that a fervent Jamie Meyers possesses.” Tomb knives.
“As metal spawns an ever-growing army of combo meals, sometimes it’s nice to go back to the basics. Finland’s Byron, previously reviewed here by our gone-but-not-forgotten Huck n’ Roll, peddle a brand of occult rock with dashes of NWoBHM. Led by drummer Johannes Lahti—styling himself as Byron V—the band has emerged four years after their debut The Omega Evangelion with follow-up Chapter II: The Lotus Covenant.” Tentacle tantrums.
“Ah, Lucifer. I remember listening to their self-titled debut album back in 2015 and being immediately hooked by the killer pipes of frontwoman Johanna Platow Andersson and their take on fuzzy, doomy occult rock. But as I sit here to craft a review of Lucifer’s fifth album (aptly titled Lucifer V), I must admit that after that very first dance with the devil in the pale moonlight, I haven’t listened to them much in the intervening years.” New year, same Devil.
