Vader are by no means a new band, now on album number ten its not an easy task to keep music such as their interesting. Much of the time I have found myself thinking that their music although fantastic, shows not much progression. A lot of the songs are similar almost blurring into one making it hard to differentiate between tracks. However Tibi Et Igni seems to have this very much in mind. With opening songs utilizing the usual Vader pattern of relentless drums mixed with fast paced riffing this is old school Vader, I’m talking from the days of Kingdom. We’re greeted with the usual grandiose intro in “Go To Hell” and straight into a classic Vader style riff, the same happens for the next couple of songs until we hit “Hexenkessel“.

When it comes to the despairing sound of black metal who better to call on than riff overlords, Goatwhore. Being able to meld the frosty texture of black metal, with the buzzsaw sound a la Entombed all the while keeping that venom that is with punk and an almost hardcore groove. After releasing Blood Of The Master a couple of years ago Goatwhore have been writing their next release.

When artists are labelled ‘ambient metal’ you would generally think that it would be music with a lot of synths with effect-layered guitars and drums driving them. This generally seems not to be the case with the standard apparently set by Burzum’s prison albums, and it is ok to make an dark, concept-inspired, atmospheric synth album now and label it ‘ambient metal’. I’m not so sure about that, but let’s get to Wolves in the Throne Room.

Sonic Syndicate have had a few years to reconcile and think about their direction over the last few years. They went on a temporary hiatus in 2011, and regrouped in 2013 to numerous line-up changes and the announcement of a new album. It was an announcement that nobody seemed to particularly care about, as in all honesty things couldn’t have gotten much worse for the band after the tragic release that was 2010’s ‘We Rule the Night‘. But then the announcement followed that Mr. Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid of Soilwork would be making an appearance on the album, and if Sonic Syndicate could convince a Gothenburg legend to feature surely the record that would be self-titled effort ‘Sonic Syndicate‘ would have some redeeming features?

Having been biding their time to unleash their latest slab of pessimistic technical death metal, it seems that Origin‘s patience has paid off. Already not the easiest genre to get your head round, with many bands falling into the just noise category very easily Origin seem to have always stood alone. This doesn’t mean to say that this is an easy ride, by no means is it. Origin are known for their “riffarps” as they coined the saying and their relentless drumming. The sheer talent needed of each band member to consistently pull this music off alone is an arduous task.

7 years later and more line up changes than a retail store, Mayhem are back with a brand new album to follow up 2007’s ‘Ordo ad Chao’. As a pioneer of the Norwegian Black Metal scene, a new Mayhem album is taken into high regard by the international Black Metal elite – but can ‘Esoteric Warfare’ live up to its expectation after 7 years of waiting?