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Cryptic Shift – Overspace & Supertime Review

Cryptic Shift – Overspace & Supertime Review

By Andy-War-Hall on February 23, 2026 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 88 comments

“With the same swirling whammy lick opening “Moonbelt Immolator” gracing the opening minute of “Cryogenically Frozen,” Cryptic Shift have returned. Visitations from Enceladus was a monolithic record that rocked my world in 2020, taking me to the most vile reaches of the universe in a technical death/thrash expedition of cosmic horror. Six years later, the group from Leeds, UK aim to expand on their already expansive debut regarding both their sci-fi theming and musicality with their sophomore. They didn’t skimp out on us either.” Shifting to overkill drive.

Lychgate – Precipice Review

Lychgate – Precipice Review

By Grin Reaper on December 17, 2025 in Reviews, Black Metal, 46 comments

“Dense, dark, and demented, Lychgate’s Precipice breaks nearly six years of silence with music as unsettling as the concept it’s built upon. The album’s primary inspiration draws from E. M. Forster’s short story “The Machine Stops,” a dystopian tale first published in 1909 that cautions against over-reliance on technology. In it, The Machine enables people to govern their lives from isolated chambers, interacting virtually rather than in person after the Earth’s surface becomes uninhabitable. Integrating notions such as blind obedience to technology, instantaneous communication, and climate change furnishes a lavish backdrop for London’s Lychgate and their fourth LP.” Throw open the gate!

Bedsore – Dreaming the Strife for Love Review

Bedsore – Dreaming the Strife for Love Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on November 26, 2024 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, 69 comments

“Fresh on the heels of other progressive death accolades in the comeback-record-sphere, Bedsore has staged a lesser-hyped return of their own. Four years on the books since 2020’s Hypnagogic Hallucinations, about which Ferrous Bueller proclaimed that Bedsore aimed “to be as creative as possible within the band’s preferred scope,” these Italian metal history buffs have returned not simply to their ’90s death metal-inspired roots. Trading logo-adorned garments and pit-tussled hair for amber-tinted shades and pressed, patterned shirts—buttoned enough to allow the tease of a scruffy chest—the Bedsore troupe has turned over not to expose a pustular dorsum but rather an ashen mound of patchouli and burnt flower.” Free love and bedsores.

Dysrhythmia – Coffin of Conviction Review

Dysrhythmia – Coffin of Conviction Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on June 5, 2024 in Reviews, Instrumental Metal, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, 83 comments

“Metal identity often rests in the tongue curling, the glottal fluttering, and the breath-rendering prowess that mic-holders abuse to fuse music with a unique enough mouth power. We even segregate genres based on the level of distortion and ill-advised technique that these brave souls apply—the shout-bark to the core kiddies, the shrieky wail to the frosty tones of LARPing black metal enthusiasts, the septic gurgle to death metal. Then, do we call it brave when a band like Dysrhythmia thinks to conjure the same riff-led drive and drama without verbal assistance?” Hush, hush, keep it down now.

AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Save This Utility – 亡失 Deprivation

AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Save This Utility – 亡失 Deprivation

By Dolphin Whisperer on April 6, 2024 in Angry Metal Guy's Unsigned Band Rodeo, Progressive Metal, 48 comments

“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.” Utility is strength.

Those Darn Gnomes – Calling Whitetails to a Tuned Bow Review

Those Darn Gnomes – Calling Whitetails to a Tuned Bow Review

By Huck N Roll on June 26, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Avante Garde, Death Metal, Nefarious Industries, Noise, Non-Metal Metal Things, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Avant-Garde, Death Metal, Noise, Non-metal Metal Things, Progressive Metal, 20 comments

“Imagine being at a party with your musician pals. They’re all very accomplished. Suddenly, they decide to put on an impromptu jam. Everybody joins in–like, a dozen people. They decide they’re going to play, oh, I don’t know, some weird number, like from Harry Partch or something. Only they all play a different Partch composition at the same time, and add some slam poetry, pound on some homemade instruments, and one guy starts growling death metal vocals. Now comes the choose your own adventure part: do you sit there mesmerized, in awe of the spectacle unfolding, or do you stand up and leave due to your churning stomach, unable to handle the confluence of disparate styles, rhythms, and sounds? Welcome to Those Darn Gnomes.” Chaos is a ladder.

An Interview with A Forest of Stars

An Interview with A Forest of Stars

By Akerblogger on September 15, 2018 in Blog Posts, English Metal, Interviews, 16 comments

“At Bloodstock Open Air 2018, I was able to spend an hour with the Leeds-based progressive black metal Victorian menagerie that is A Forest of Stars. They had just finished their set on the Sophie Lancaster Stage and were riding a wave of adrenaline that placed them in an excitable, energetic, and joyous mood.” A day in the forest…with stars.

Arjen Lucassen – Lost in the New Real Review

Arjen Lucassen – Lost in the New Real Review

By Angry Metal Guy on May 4, 2012 in 2012, 4.0, Dutch Metal, InsideOut, Progressive Metal, 6 comments

A few years back when Guilt Machine released, Arjen Lucassen (of—deep breath—Ayreon, Star One, Arjen Lucassen, Guilt Machine, Galexia, Stream of Passion, Vengeance, Ambeon and a myriad of other projects I probably don’t even know exist) is reported to have said that if he’d had to do it over again, Ayreon would have sounded like Guilt Machine. Whether that was just talk in the build up for a new record or not, it appears that to a certain extent he meant it, as his new Lost in the New Real sounds like the combination of the two projects. On the one hand, Lost in the New Real is a concept record and (faux) double album, featuring the dulcet tones of Rutger Hauer as narrator and “psychologist,” like one would expect from an Ayreon record. However, like Guilt Machine, the record features primarily only one vocalist (Arjen himself), and the music is largely a post-Pink Floyd progressive rock heavy with atmospherics and sweet, but melancholic, melodies. As a fan of Guilt Machine and not of Ayreon, I can say that I was curious to see how this sort of combination would work and I was pleasantly surprised.