Free Metals: Serpents Lair - Demo MMXIV

Danish black metal band Serpents Lair released Demo MMXIV  a few months back, and if these guys keep making music like this, our future could be very dark, indeed.

Despite having only two tracks and clocking in at about 15 minutes, Demo MMXIV  is well worth your time, and if you've got time to kill, put it on repeat.

Free Metals: Old Graves - Like Straining Boughs

Old Graves is a one-man atmospheric black metal project from Abbotsford, British Columbia. If you think that maybe Alcest and
Lantlôs have gone a bit too soft lately, then Like Straining Boughs should be right up your alley.

The intro to "The Short Way Home" features an instrument not too commonly heard in black metal - the acoustic guitar. It's also used on other parts of the record, adding an extra layer of depth and emotion.

Review: The Proselyte - Our Vessel's In Need

The Proselyte's Our Vessel's In Need is a mélange of sounds with which we're all familiar, yet this five-song EP manages to make the sum of its parts come across as both fresh and genuine.

Upon hearing this Boston trio's new release for the first time, I wasn't really sure what to think. After a few more spins, however, I started to realize just how much of a grower this record is.

Free Metals: Skáphe - Skáphe

Very little seems to be known about Skáphe. The band's American, and that's about all I can find. Not sure about where Skáphe is from, how many members, etc. This self-titled release is available through Fallen Empire Records, but Skáphe doesn't appear to have any sort of social media site of its own. Skáphe plays low-fi, sometimes doomy, black metal that the record label calls "asphyxiating," and I have to agree.

Free Metals: Nolti Nan Gana Nan Nolta - Death by the Venomhammer

Nolti Nan Gana Nan Nolta hails from Edinburgh, Scotland, and plays a mixture of thrash and black metal. The band calls it black thrash and so will we. On the Death by the Venomhammer EP, the trio delivers 4 songs in just over 20 minutes, and my only complaint is that it's not longer.

Review: Panopticon - Roads to the North

Panopticon's Roads to the North can be a bit hard to pin down. Is it black metal? Is it approaching Scandinavian death metal territory at times? And what about the Appalachian folk element?

Previous full-length Kentucky put an interesting spin on black metal by adding bluegrass and folk into the mix, but Roads to the North is not simply a rehash of its predecessor. It takes everything that is Panopticon to the next level.

Free Metals: Conjuro Nuclear - Conjuro Nuclear

Imagine if M83 had grown up in Norway during the second wave of black metal. When I first heard Barcelona's Conjuro Nuclear, Joy Division came to mind, but the more I listened, the more I was reminded of a black metal M83.

Conjuro Nuclear whets your appetite for its sound with opener "Conjuro Nuclear," and for the next half hour, these eleven songs will strangely feel both old and new at the same time.

Review: Bölzer - Soma

Bölzer has been getting quite a bit of attention lately. Despite having only released a demo and the Aura EP, the Swiss(/New Zealand) death metal duo took the Maryland Deathfest by storm and has been generating more and more buzz ever since. Now comes the new Soma EP.  The bad news is that it's only two songs, but the good news is that Soma picks up right where Aura left off.

Free Metals: Wolf Blood - Wolf Blood

Just when I thought I'd heard all the bands with "wolf" in their names, along comes Wolf Blood out of Duluth, Minnesota. I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical and almost passed, but it's a good thing that I didn't - Wolf Blood is for real.

This self-titled cassette begins with "Witch," and you can tell what's in store for you pretty quickly. Wolf Blood play stoner metal with a healthy dose of sludge and maybe a hint of grunge thrown in at times.

Free Metals: Locktender - Rodin

Locktender's Rodin consists of four songs, and each one focuses on a different sculpture by Auguste Rodin. When I first came across this record and its concept, I was intrigued (mostly because of how much my wife and I enjoyed the Musée Rodin on our honeymoon) but unsure of how a band could pull off such an idea. This, however, is not Locktender's first attempt at such a feat. Apparently, this is what Locktender does - they write songs about artists and their works (Franz Kafka, William Blake, Herman Melville, Earl Nightingale, Raphael Gleitsmann).