Rating: 4/5
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‘StormDragon’ has a strange balance of traditional black metal production quality and inventive melodic modernity, utilizing both progressive harmony and a few heavy metal hooks.

Rating: 4.5/5
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“…[M]ore of what you would expect from Alcest: that droning shoegaze place caught between joy and melancholy. The vocals are wondrous and mellow. You might think the drums would fall to the background like they do with a lot of post-black metal, but they’re way up there, produced well, and dynamically engaging.” ~Breath of Mozym

Neige is the mind behind Alcest—a French band birthed in black metal, but whose wings have broadened beyond its fledgeling origins. Read about the personal vessel that is Alcest, how significant is nostalgia through his creation, and the development of ‘Les Voyages de l’Âme’.

The Breath of Mozym utters his infernal list for the tenebrous masses.

We may be the first to post Brian Posehn’s Best of 2011 list, as lifted from Twitter.

Rating: 3/5
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‘Hymnes de la Montagne Noire’ is a decent black metal album, but leaves much to be desired in terms of composition—the songs are too long for not having an epic flavor, and often run together without establishing any defining hooks.

Rating: 3/5
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The Breath of Mozym emerges to not only rate, but write a fucking SONG for this review!

Rating: 2/5
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If Abhor releases another album, I truly hope they stray from stereotypical symphonic black metal and concentrate on forming an acoustic niche.

Rating: 3/5
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“Vermin To The Earth” doesn’t have much lasting appeal, even though many of the songs are actually pretty good. It all boils down to the over-the-top production, which spoils the misanthropic doom-ish atmosphere of the album.

Rating: 3.5/5
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From the Czech Republic, Root was one one of the first black metal bands before the second wave hit. Devout Satanists, they grew different directions than Venom and mid-’90s Norwegian bands. Root is still alive today with their ninth offering, “Heritage Of Satan”. Let’s dig deep for this one.