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

Rating: 3/5
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Mind over Metal Limerick 37

Rating: 3.5/5
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Hooks hold fast, melodies are memorable, and Nightwish is learning how to transform into this new band they aspire to be. A gradual metamorphosis for sure, this feels like an awkward phase that would have benefitted from editing.

Rating: 3.5/5
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While Nephelium should ultimately devise a more unique attack with creative weaponry, this is still a deadly first strike.

When I found out that the mighty Mastodon was set to do a club gig in Oslo, I lept into action immediately and got hold of a ticket. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing the band in a smaller venue as they’ve preferred bigger gigs when they’ve visited these shores; festivals like Roskilde, Hove, Norwegian Wood, and support slots on tours like Unholy Alliance.

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: 4/5
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To me, stoner rock conjures images of desert scenes and/or longhaired dudes with auto fetishes. Norway’s Lonely Kamel aims to change your perception with plenty of slow, smokey riffs from frigid northern fjords.

Rating: 5/5
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This is easily one of my top picks for 2011. I’ve been waiting for a great live album all year and this fucking delivers! The curtain may be coming to a close for Cathedral in 2012, but this is a fitting eulogy.

Zebulon Pike, Morkobot, Animals as Leaders, and Abnormal Thought Patterns!