Metal

Review - Wildernessking: Mystical Future

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Wildernessking was forged in 2011, though South African black metal afficionados may be aware of their time as Heathens between 2010 to that very year. During that time, the band released two EPs and a single before making that monicker change. Since then, the atmospheric act from Cape Town has remained the same four-piece, and with the same musical objective as laid out in their 2012 debut album The Writing of Gods in the Sand. In the time that followed their wildly praised debut outing, they issued a few more EPs, as well as two split efforts before finally returning to the studio to unleash their follow-up album Mystical Future as a limited edition vinyl through Sick Man Getting Sick Records, and digitally through their own Bandcamp account. Of course all prior to signing with Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions, who have just made it available once more in compact disc form. But is this recent outing as good as fans expect it to be, let alone even comparable to their first time?
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Review - Necronomicon: Advent of the Human God

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Canada’s Necronomicon was first forged back in 1988. Even though they issued the Morbid Ritual demo in 1992, and their The Silver Key EP in 1996, it wouldn’t be until eleven years later the band would unleash Pharaoh of Gods, their debut full-length effort. Since then, new recording would become a bit sparse, though rarely ever unimpressive to some degree. A lot of long-time fans will say the group had been steadily maturing between their 2003 album The Sacred Medicines, which is usually the one most fans will say they first heard about the now three-piece band, up to 2013’s Rise of the Elder Ones. So, when it was announced 2016 would see a new album titled Advent of the Human God, those individuals rejoiced at the thought of what could be coming their way. But does this one find the growth paying off, or is it only a leap backwards?
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Review - Six Reasons to Kill: Rote Erde

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Six Reasons to Kill stormed into the underground back in 2000 with their Kiss the Demon debut album. At the time, the world was witnessing the rise of metalcore, not to mention a boom in the mathcore world, which promptly swallowed up the Germany-based group in the madness. Even today with deathcore being the in-thing, most wouldn’t know this band from the next latest group in the style. However, this mathcore and death metal hybrid continued on, eventually finding themselves working with Massacre Records for 2011’s Architects of Perfection and 2013’s We Are Ghosts, slowly carving a name for themselves that distanced them from the aforementioned styles. However, for 2016, the five-piece of ex-Stalemate and Gomorrha members (just to name a few) return to their roots of Bastardized Recordings to issue a new seven-inch vinyl titled Rote Erde. But is it one worth checking out, or is this two-track offering best left on the table?
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Review - Veneficium: Veneficium

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Not much is known publicly about New Zealand’s Veneficium other than it’s composed of “legends” in the region’s field. This, however, did not stop Iron Bonehead Productions from being able to unleash the group’s self-titled debut demo, a recording recent streams have only taunted listeners with the promise of something potentially special on the horizon. With the imminent cassette release nearing, is it something actually worthwhile, or is Veneficium far from as tantalizing a product as most would have you believe?
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Review - Via Vengeance: Harsh Conditions

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It’s been quite a while since Via Vengeance. Back in 2006, the one-man doom project issued a two song demo, followed by a live album a year later. In 2010, Shane Ocell recorded what would be the outfit’s debut full-length, but due to a focus on Sorxe, it sat on the back burner until now. Battleground Records is working with the one-man operation to finally unleash Harsh Conditions, the mythical first studio album from the band. But has it been worth the wait?
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Review - Foul Body Autopsy: Perpetuated by Greed

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Ex-Love Lies in Ashes musician Tom Reynolds is the sole member of the UK-based death metal act Foul Body Autopsy. The project officially began in 2010 with the Foul Body Autopsy - Vol. 1 recording, and since then has been issuing random EPs, not to mention a self-titled full-length in 2013 through UKEM Records. Up to 2014’s So Close to Complete Dehumanization, it seemed something new would pop up at least once a year. However, there was no new Foul Body Autopsy for 2015. Instead, we find the fifth EP, Perpetuated by Greed, dropping early on in 2016 through Grindscene Records. But has that time allowed Tom to further his craft, or is this just a jumbled mess of random, unfinished compositions masquerading as grindcore?
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