Posted on October 16, 2023

Black Orchid Empire have had quite the year. The prog-metal band released their first album for Season of Mist back in the spring to critical acclaim. With ‘Tempus Veritas’, Distorted Sound declared that BOE “set the new standard for prog rock”.

Posted on October 12, 2023

ON THORNS I LAY deliver more of their legendary death-doom on their first album for Season of Mist. With chugging riffs, ear-shattering wails of terror and eerily melodic funeral passages, their new self-titled LP is bound to crush your spirit.

Posted on October 9, 2023

BASK have taken us on quite a long, strange and headbanging trip. Ten years ago, the band came thundering down from the mountains of North Carolina with their debut album. ‘American Hollow’ cast their pastoral landscapes in in country-twinged doom, but on the next two albums, the hearty four-piece painted with a headier and heavier brush.

Posted on October 6, 2023

Strigoi were already plenty unsettling on their debut album. But the UK death-doom band’s follow-up pushed their grinding asphyxiations to such vile extremes, that it produced an abundance of putridity.

Posted on October 5, 2023

Alkaloid contain more than just multitudes. Their new album ‘Numen’ compresses meteoric riffs, seductive flurries of jazz and flamenco, and a multi-part saga about a godlike galactic civilization into a dizzying, thrilling 70 minutes.

Posted on October 5, 2023

Icelandic black metal ensemble HELFRÓ are back with their sophomore project Tálgröf – A project inspired by the dark manifestations of the human mind. The sickness of humankind is explored through intense rhythmic passages, fusing the extremities of traditional death metal together with sombre, introspective lyrical convictions.

Posted on October 4, 2023

Autarkh venture into a bigger, brighter and more uplifting headspace on their new album. On the first two singles off Emergent, the Dutch contemporary metal band tapped in to supercharged industrial-sized riffs and even clean, radiant harmonies. But their new single “Duhkha” finds them struggling to hold onto that serene state of mind.

Posted on October 3, 2023

TEMIC are prog’s new supergroup, but all four members navigated quite the career maze to reach this point. These guys have played with Devin Townsend, Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress, Neal Morse, SHINING and Maraton. It’s fitting then that their debut album is layered with twists and turns.

Posted on October 3, 2023

‘Cursed Mortality’ casts Carnation in a deeper and darker light. The first four singles off the Belgian band’s new album experiment with gloomy synths, melodic leads, clean vocals and lyrics inspired by sci-fi classics and a real life horror story from WWII. Their new single “Cycle of Suffering” is a brutal reminder of why Carnation are at the forefront of the old-school death metal revival.

Posted on September 28, 2023

Summoning a plethora of layers and genre, HELGA culminate their premier album ‘Wrapped in Mist’ into dirgeful lamentations of mortality and mental health, punctuated by formidable drums, spectral strings and chugging riffs. The album’s first single, ‘Skogen mumlar’ (The Forest Murmurs), transcends forthwith into emotive dreamscapes that leave hairs trembling on goose-pimpled skin. Ennio Morricone echoing as the intro’s muse.

Posted on September 27, 2023

WORMHOLE are rising up from the underground. When they’re not blasting aliens in Metroid, the band have been fine-tuning their signature combo of brutal slam and technical death metal both in and outside of Baltimore. With ‘Almost Human’, they’re proving that there is no ceiling they can’t tech-slam through.

Posted on September 26, 2023

Summer is a welcome break for most people, but try telling that to Sylvaine. While us mere mortals were snoozing by the pool, the killer Norwegian singer and rip-roaring guitar player hit the summer festival circuit hard. Maybe you caught her shredding through Midgardsblot or screaming and soaring across Motocultor Open Air. But she’s far from done.

Posted on September 25, 2023

On Thorns I Lay are perennial doomsayers. For 20+ years, these Greek titans have been crafting immense tales of loss and despair. But on the new single off their upcoming album, they warn of a fast-approaching apocalypse that’s so powerful, it might be too late for us to escape.

Posted on September 22, 2023

HEILUNG will be bringing their oracular ceremony to the AFAS Live venue. Having released their critically acclaimed third album ‘Drif’ in August of 2022, the collective will make their mystical appearance in Amsterdam for the first time ever on the 21st of September 2024.