Your No. 1 Source For Extreme And Atmospheric Music And Film.

Author Andrew Doherty

I’ve been obsessive about music since the late 60s and early 70s when during my childhood in Grimsby I used to watch Top of the Pops and bought 7” singles after saving up my pocket money. I really switched to metal when I first heard Dimmu Borgir. The ambience intrigued me, and through magazines and concerts I discovered new territory in the late 90s. For preference I now listen to black metal, heavy progressive music, Scandinavian-style melodic metal and any style which has an edge, or is downright unusual or bizarre. I managed the band Devillish Impressions, which was an exciting time as we had an album but no label or distribution method. We got the label and a European tour with Aeternus, and as the promoter’s plane was delayed, I finished up setting up the band’s first concert in Hamburg on 28th November 2006. I wrote for a while for Live 4 Metal but switched to Metal Team UK in 2007. Like any real music lover, I enjoy going to concerts and meeting people with the same interest and commitment.

Loch Vostok – Opus Ferox II – Mark of the Beast (ViciSolum Productions)

This band has always appealed to my senses, and so it was with great excitement that I received this one. Exciting is a good word to describe Loch Vostok’s music but then it is many things: heavy, progressive, epic, catchy,… Continue Reading →

Music In Low Frequencies – Catharsis (Raging Planet)

This is the second album from this Portuguese trio, whose style falls into the category of post-doom-death-sludge. The band has been in existence for 12 years. Sound alert … that’s what the beginning suggests. A persistently dark beat and insistent… Continue Reading →

Šamane – Solstice (Last Day of the North)

On the face of it, this one sounds right up my street and possible other people’s. Finnish trio Šamane specialise “dark halls of cold alternative rock, grieving tones and mesmeric soundscapes”. “Solstice” is their third album release. The minimalist deep… Continue Reading →

sleepmakeswaves – It’s here but I have no names for it (Bird’s Robe)

This Australian instrumental post-rock band has carved out a reputation for their music and also for their extensive touring and appearances at festivals across the world. I am familiar with the band’s 2017 album “Made of Breath Only”, since when… Continue Reading →

The Monolith Deathcult – The Demon Who Makes Trophies of Men (Human Detonator Records)

Here’s a band who have carved out a niche for themselves in the world of death metal. Now it’s time for album number nine for the trio from the Netherlands. Theatrical is a word I could use to describe The… Continue Reading →

Disbelief – Killing Karma (Listenable)

I first got acquainted with Disbelief about 20 years ago when they ripped up the stage with their raucous, in-your-face metal, releasing the appropriately titled “Spreading the Rage”. “Killing Karma” is their eleventh album, the tenth being “The Ground Collapses”… Continue Reading →

Givre – Le CloÎtre (Eisenwald)

Last time out, Givre represented through their epic and atmospheric black metal the theme of pride, patriotism, hardship and faith within the French nationalist struggle in Canada. That was “Destin Messianique” (2022). Here on “Le CloÎtre”, the story concerns six… Continue Reading →

Waidelotte – Celestial Shine (Debemur Morti)

Comprising members of White Ward, Soen, Naoni Orchestra and others, this Ukrainian band combines black metal with melodic death metal, progressive metal and traditional folk singing and instrumentation. The album is about an individual’s journey through darkness and disappointment towards… Continue Reading →

Hideous Divinity – Unextinct (Century Media)

I’m not quite sure why a band from Italy would want to include a couple of track titles in German as is the case here, but this band’s pedigree can’t be denied. “Unextinct” is Hideous Divinity’s fifth album release and… Continue Reading →

Mathilde – 32 Décembre (S/R)

This album with outstanding artwork is a “dark space epic of a person escaping into the most distant constellation of their mind with the help of narcotics”. Although this is Mathilde’s first album, the band has been around for eight… Continue Reading →

The Moor – Ombra (Inertial Music)

We’re told in no uncertain terms that The Moor’s music is for fans of Gojira, Katatonia, Evergrey, Dark Tranquillity and Soilwork, with the added information that Messrs Stanne and Strid from these latter two bands have collaborated with them. The… Continue Reading →

Iterum Nata – From the Infinite Light (Nordvis)

Based on the theme of darkness and light, “the two voices” as the artist behind Iterum Nata calls it, this album crosses numerous genres, amongst them folk and neo-folk, black and doom metal and progressive rock. Our senses are made… Continue Reading →

« Older posts

© 2024 Ave Noctum — Powered by WordPress

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑