Reviews

Some endeavours are content to linger in ink and screenlight. Others claw their way into the air, take hold of timber and concrete, and settle among bodies pressed close beneath a low ceiling. On 20 March 2026, at Encore Club in Bucharest, Romania, TMLR Underground Live I: Chapel of...

Spring returns by habit. SoundArt Festival returns by oath. Organised by Cavalleria Events, it has become a familiar presence in the city’s cultural calendar, returning each year with its particular blend of sound, atmosphere and artistic experiment. This year again, the festival unfolded at the beginning of the spring,...

Occult doom metal. Sludge metal. A band from France stepping once more into the shadows. Who are they now, years after their first record?What changed between the debut and this new descent?And why does this album feel heavier, darker, almost suffocating? The answer lies with Azken Auzi and their...

The ritualistic Nordic Folk duo, Nytt Land, released their new album on February 20, 2026. Named Aba Khan, the album is dedicated to the great, beautiful and ancient lands of Siberia. Nytt Land picks up the stylistic thread they had previously woven with “Ritual” (2021). The music is generally based on a foundation of current ritual dark folk to which the duo from Siberia adds elements from the...

The second-to-last day of February 2026 brought with it “Hulders Ritual” by Slagmaur. After nine years without a full-length, since 2017, when Slagmaur last placed “Thill Smitts Terror” into our playlists, the Norwegians decided the time had come to offer a new album. And what an album it is!...

France has a great deal to offer when it comes to metal. One of these offerings is the album “Singulier” by Inerte, released on 19 December 2025. I have said it before and I will probably say it again: this country knows its craft, because what emerges from their...

Some records announce themselves. Others wait, patient and coiled, until the moment arrives when avoidance becomes impossible. “Résonances” belonged to the latter. For months, the name Jours Pâles circled the periphery of my listening, leaving behind fragments, afterimages, unsettled echoes that refused to fade. Each encounter suggested unfinished business,...

20–21 February 2026 was set in stone for Rift of Hades. The second edition of the festival organised by Romanian Thrash Metal Club once again took place at Quantic in Bucharest, Romania, thawing the audience both literally and figuratively. Heavy metal was delivered by the book, death and thrash...

“Older than time From the dawn of oblivion Cloaked in decay In his name the world shall fall!” – Slaughterday No more silence in the astral realm, nor in our space; “Dread Emperor” has arrived! In full. Without mercy, as Slaughterday have accustomed us to since their early beginnings,...