Having slowly creeped its way into influencing Metal bands, Post-Rock is a genre we have always enjoyed and found quite engaging and dreamy to so extent. One of the best bands in the genre has to be French outfit Lost in Kiev, which returns this October with their latest opus “Rupture”. Producing over 51 minutes of high-octane cinematic music, the band covers many different moods and tempos in a very cohesive and engaging release.

The release nicely builds momentum with the intriguing “We Are” and its crafty progression, filled with intricate guitars and engaging drumming. Featuring Loic Rossetti from The Ocean, “Prison of Mind” perfectly layers dramatic and aggressive vocals on top of the band's exploratory and momentum building style. This is definitely the heaviest track of this release. Our favorite track in this release has to be the magical “Another End is Possible” and its oozing bleakness alongside dreamy shoegazing passages.

It is hard to innovate in Metal these days, however, there are always bands like Abyssic that take known formulas and greatly improve on them with their highly eerie Symphonic Doom/Death Metal. With “Brought Forth in Iniquity”, the band’s sophomore release, Memnoch and company craft over 50 minutes of highly atmospheric and very crushing music that greatly improves over their first release.

Opening with the decadence of “Cold as Winter Storm”, we are introduced to a perfectly balanced old-school Funeral-ish Death/Doom Metal with a huge atmospheric component. This atmosphere is quite cinematic and it feels like a black and white horror movie, making songs like “Mirror of Sorrow” and “Djevelens Lys” deliver a truly immersive and imposing experience. The band features members like Memnoch (ex-Susperia) and Tjodalv (ex-Dimmu Borgir) and they bring their years of songwriting experience together in a very cohesive and engaging way.

Unleashing a nice old-school Death Metal vibe, Ravenoir delivers over 40 minutes of catchy and engaging music with “In the Womb of Sin”. With a sound more akin to Grave, Dismember, and Entombed than current DM outfits, the band perfectly balances atmospheric elements with melody and crunchy guitars. Featuring a couple of members of the defunct Root and other Czech outfits, this release is full of nostalgia and craft songs for any fan of the genre.

After setting a mysterious and yet imposing mood with the opener “The Ecstasy of Desecration”, the band’s excellent riffing sets the album’s more sinister tone with the brilliant album title track. Changing gears into more traditional and punishing territories, “The Cold of Casemates” and “The Scene Obscene” have that vicious edge that makes this band standout from the rest, particularly when combined with the subtle atmospherics and the intense guitar leads.

Unleashing one of the most punishing releases of 2022, today we have Lorna Shore and their highly anticipated release “Pain Remains”. Further refining and sharpening their razor-sharp sound, this release blasts away with over 60 minutes of brutal, and yet melodic Deathcore music unlike anything you have ever heard before. Yes, there are elements of bands like Black Dahlia Murder, Fallujah, etc., but this American outfit takes them to a whole new level with the perfect blend of blasting aggression, crafty tech proficiency, and dramatic atmosphere.

Our first introduction to the band was this summer during their European festival run at Brutal Assault. With an unusually high amount of security guards in the photo pit, we were not prepared for how as the band hit the stage, waves of people started crowd surfing and moshing to the band’s relentless music (see some of our pics here). The album wastes no time in establishing its dominance with the piercing opener “Welcome Back, O' Sleeping Dreamer”, which nicely builds up with atmospheric arrangements until it blasts open with crushing drumming and Will Ramos insane vocals. This track, and most of the album, has a very unique vibe as it feels like a mixture of Cradle of Filth/Dimmu Borgir and The Black Dahlia Murder, but on its own level of intensity.

We are constantly impressed on how Sun & Moon records always manages to find very interesting underground bands like Selbst, Blaze of Sorrow, etc. The label has done it again with the incisive Catacombes and their crafty and engaging Black Metal on their sophomore release “Des glaires et des briques”. The band’s music is raw and direct, with a certain Peste Noire meets Monarque approach that will lead to plenty of weird headbanging sessions.

After a mood setting opener, “Cathédrale” creates a very decadent and moody atmosphere with fierce guitar riffs and hellish vocals. The pace is not always intense, allowing the atmosphere and tempo to accommodate more experimental and even Doomy passages. However, not all tracks are the same as pieces like the album title track and “Face à Godasses” are commanding and pummeling from start to end. The band can easily switch gears and they are not afraid of showing it.

Completely blowing us away, today we have Ellende’s latest opus “Ellenbogengesellschaft”. As one of the most anticipated releases of 2022 for us, this album delivers nearly 50 minutes of highly melancholic atmospheric Post-Black Metal unlike anything you’ve heard before. L.G manages to improve the band’s sound by introducing additional elements while keeping its raw core untouched.

The elegant intro “Ich bin” nicely sets a solemn mood that is quickly elevated with “Unsterblich”. In this relentless track we get our first dose of the band’s signature blistering aggression nicely adorned with subtle atmospherics and dramatic tempo changes into lush melodic passages. The mood of the track completely changes when it transitions to weeping guitar leads and dreamy choral arrangements.