Albums of the Month – October 2023
We’ve been observing metal as usual in October, and this is what caught our eye.
Slow Cuts of 2022
For this year’s Slow Cuts (or last year’s, I suppose) the focus is on “true metal” albums that needed more time to ponder. The majority are heavy metal, a few have power genes, a couple lean into doom, and even a sprinkling of folk touches some parts as well, but these 7 releases all […]
The Metal Observer’s Top 30 Albums of 2022
This year we decided to pull our fingers out and make our Top 30 available before the end of the year. Cue frantic observing during much of December and the eventual result of a gleaming Best Of for your inspection and delectation. As usual, there’s a massive cross-section of different styles present on the […]
Slow Cuts of 2021
Slow Cuts of 2021 looks back at albums that needed more time to mull over from Ominous Glory, Wombbath, Omination, A Noend Of Mine, and Dead Space Chamber Music.
Slow Cuts of 2020
Doom albums of 2020 that needed time to mull over. Includes King Witch, Marrowfields, Sorcerer, Pulchra Morte, and Cardinal Wyrm.
Shredding: Windir
In a career that was all too brief, a young Norwegian man named Terje Bakken, now known as Valfar to the metal masses, took black metal to a new level of refinement that bands like Emperor and Satyricon had only hinted at before. Valfar’s vision was a unique one that melded the grandeur and mood […]
Ayreon – Electric Castle Live and Other Tales. Concert and live release review
Ayreon, the jewel of the Dutch progressive rock and metal scene, brainchild of Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a unique musical studio phenomenon that brings together some of the finest craftsmen of sonic artistry from all across the globe. A studio project… or is it?
Non-Metal Album Review of the Month
Taylor Swift – 1989
Shredding: Power Quest
Larry zealously and over-enthusiastically ranks the British power metallers’ discography.
Retro Spotlight: Ningen-Isu – Shurabayashi
Retro Spotlight: Nigen-Isu – Shurabayashi (2003)
