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It is nice when you get to follow a band from their inception.  The King Is Blind first came to my attention as a result of their vocalist Stephen Tovey being a regular poster (at one time) on a forum I frequented.  After a couple of EP releases and numerous festival appearances (Bloodstock and Damnation) they have finally got around to releasing their debut full length via Cacophonous. Boasting a line up consisting of ex-Extreme Noise Terror and Cradle of Filth members (as well as Entwined - Steve's old band) there's some obvious pedigree on show across these ten tracks. I mean you could look far and wide across the metal spectrum at various releases and still not find as a broad a range of metal as is on display throughout "Our Father". The band proclaim themselves to be "monolithic metal" which at face value suggests a heavy assault on the senses in the form of crushing riffs and pounding rhythms, yet there is far more evident on "Our Father...

It has been 33 years since Megadeth first formed.  In those three decades of line up changes, drug abuse, fallouts and increasing political awareness Megadeth have always still remained for me on the fringes of my thrash metal tastes.  After the first 3 albums which I enjoyed immensely, I was totally bemused then (and still am now) by the worship for "Rust In Peace" in 1990.  "Countdown To Extinction" fared better in these ears but still that was my last Megadeth album purchase.  Nothing happened release wise for me until I stumbled across "Endgame" in 2009 which I actually thoroughly enjoyed, with its showy guitar antics and solid song structures it kept me entertained. It's fair to say that Megadeth are a different band to the duo that first came together back in 83, however "Dystopia" instantly captures something that was lacking in the bands two previous releases. Energy.  Four tracks in and the racing plod of "Death From Within...

Hipster doom.  It is a term I hadn't any knowledge of the existence of let alone the meaning implied until quite recently on the internet someone described Lycus as being this.  I suppose in a world where all existing genres of old have been divided and subdivided to with an inch of their original recognition it is questionable whether or not "hipster" simply means something new that people simply don't understand?  That sound or style that one can't quite place even though there are still so many familiar elements to what you are hearing. To the ears of Eminent Silence, Lycus are a monstrous, planet eating machine of doom.  Within 5 minutes of hearing "Chasms" they have smothered you in an overwhelming shroud of relentless dirge that you have no chance of escaping from.  It isn't just the power of opening track "Solar Chamber" that surrounds you, it is the emotion as well.  It is a complete immersion into a world of sorrow so heavy you s...

So Immortal as we know them are no more.  As a fan of Immortal I met the news of Abbath leaving/being ousted/walking away needing rehab etc with a glumness normally reserved for receiving socks at Xmas.  However, seemingly undeterred, Abbath decided to press on regardless and release his own record with none other than King Ov Hell collaborating with the bonkers mainman. Now as I read various reviews and Facebook comments it seems the idea of judging Abbath's solo effort without comparing it to "All Shall Fall" is near impossible.  It's hard though sat here listening to "Winterbane".  A mere 2 tracks into the album and I could just as easily be listening to Immortal as far as I am concerned. Where "Abbath" differs from Immortal is actually quite subtle.  Structurally it is the same, vocally (obvs) it is the same as it is lyrically.  The direction is a slightly different path to being trodden.  Although still icy cold in the main, the album has ...

I am not a massive Anthrax fan, I'll be honest.  Give me "Persistence of Time" or "Among The Living" all day I am happy enough but not much else really moves me.  I read an interview earlier in which Scott Ian describes "For All Kings" as "the most metal album" the band have made "in a long, long time".  Sounds promising doesn't it?  Unfortunately it isn't true, unless over the last 10 years or so Anthrax became a pop band then yeah you could consider their latest to be more metal.  However, it isn't even that metal really. At times during "For All Kings" it is like I am listening to a slightly angry Queensryche (the non bonkers Tate version).  What riffs there are a blunt and constrained sounding collection of tired sounding repetitions.  "Breathing Lightning" and "Suzerain" are examples of this.  I could find albums full of this sound in the albums under a fiver section on Amazon if I r...

As though having stalked like some prowling beast since July of last year, no sooner is 2016 upon us than we have a new EP from New York headfuckers, Krallice.  Not content with me still having to try and process "Ygg Huur" they have gone and dropped 3 new tracks of blistering dysfunctionality for my puny brain to fathom. "Hyperion" kicks things off and is a real romp of a track as it ebbs and flows like some seething tide of dissonance and jarring rhythm.  As it bashes and boshes its way through 7 minutes plus of mania induced instrumentation and demented vocal arrangement this scribes mind is grateful that I only have 3 installments to ingest this time as opposed to a full length offering. Second track "The Guilt Of Time" sets off at a million, tremolo picked miles an hour before settling into a well paced plod interspersed with clashing cymbals and occasional time changes.  As things appear to slow down we still have furious guitar work aplenty to r...