COSCRADH - Carving the Causeway to the Otherworld review

 

COSCRADH - Carving the Causeway to the Otherworld

20 Buck Spin

Hey Saint Patrick's Day is just a few weeks away and here's some cool Extreme Metal to play for the festivities. COSCRADH is a four piece Blackened Death Metal act from Dublin, Ireland. Trust me ya can't get more Irish than that. Also their band name COSCRADH means in old Irish "massacre" Which musically that's what you're gonna get when listening to this release. 

COSCRADH started out back in 2015. Since then they've released a few short form releases, a compilation titled Cra Aosta which has their early material on it and two full lengths. This is their second one and as far as their brand of Blackened Death Metal goes it's a slight break from the usual pattern performed by acts over the past two decades. 

First off COSCRADH sound fresh and unholy. There's a lot of head banging groove on their tracks. Yeah that's a shocker. The lead vocals are wild be they at times sounding like a drunken priest also high on acid and standing in a pit of fire. The backing vocals come across as a grunt DM version to a backing prayer. 

The guitar soloing is minimal with a few cool dive bomb solos and a few cool shreds. It's all good but the riff package and song structures with wild ass drum work make this album so fuckin cool. I mean listen to this for few days and then ask yourself "am I possessed now?" 

Last year I had given up on the whole Blackened Death Metal generic genre. And boom this new album comes out to feel there's some cool ones out there who'll create great stuff. Hell yeah this one rules! 

https://www.20buckspin.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://coscradh.bandcamp.com/album/carving-the-causeway-to-the-otherworld

AND HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dZ7sDrRFa0

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Iron Man’s Anthem: A Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne Compilation

 

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Iron Man’s Anthem: A Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne Compilation

Witching Buzz Records

So just for my obvious bias I hate tribute albums as a whole especially when it's a cash in over some Metal icon's death. I remember ones which came out after Lemme and Dio passed away. And I was like why didn't you record these songs before they passed away. I mean I've heard bands, in this case, do SABBATH covers and you could hate em or love em. But they did em anyways. 

So what we have here is an international band tribute to Ozzy which is almost all SABBATH material. There's a couple of songs on the end dealing with Ozzy solo stuff. But hey no one is gonna cover Randy Rhoads or Jake E. Lee era Ozzy. So they stick with the SAB 4 stuff. 

I'm not going to go all in on all of these covers. There's just some that need notice. Case in point Poland's RUNAWAY DEVILS do a good job with “Black Sabbath". Scotland's HEAVEN AND HELLVIS adds a little fun to the mix with ELVIS styled vocals on "The Wizard". Poland's CORRUPTION take "Paranoid" and give it a rockin Stoner Sludge treatment which I really liked. Now I gotta check em out since they're on the Polish label Ossuary Records and have a full length out from last year. 

Continuing on I like how ROOT ZERO, from England, took "Planet Caravan" and made it their own. They're a Prog Metal act who gave this cut airy female vocals and aggressive guy vocals plus totally made this a more atmospheric sounding song. The same can be said about Poland's POSTMORTAL who turn "Electric Funeral" into a slow Funeral Doom epic. Finland's NECRO WEASEL do a Hardcore version "Never Say Die". After all of these decades I'm surprised that song has not been covered by HC bands.

 

Either way that's about it. I told ya what I think is cool. So there you go.

https://www.witchingbuzz.ovh/

LISTEN HERE: 

https://witchingbuzz.bandcamp.com/album/iron-man-s-anthem-a-tribute-to-ozzy-osbourne

PROFANE ELEGY - Herezjarcha review

 

PROFANE ELEGY - Herezjarcha

Self Released

Ya know over the past decade I've come across some really cool sounding Black Metal from Pennsylvania. And yeah these bands are not from the larger cities. They're from the more rural parts of the state. In other words there's more nature, no urban bullshit, it's clean and probably no human asshole problems. In other words it's probably kinda Nordic. 

Which is probably why this debut full length by a Pennsylvania four piece act sounds very Scandinavian Black Metal. Sound wise it's part Swedish and Finnish Thrash bent BM which is cool as fuck. I'm shocked, shocked I say, that this is not released by a label. Someone needs to make a call and say that poser hiptard shit your label is releasing sucks! Check this band out!

Seriously this eight cut album will be one of your favorite BM releases this year. I'd say technically it's a concept album, if you follow the lyrics. There's a story being told. But for me it's the song craft which makes this a great album. I mean it's got the high pitched blackened vocals. There's plenty of intense riffs and a rhythm section that delivers maximum punishment. 

But then there's the atmospheric parts which add some Folk into the mix. A perfect example is the track "And Then We Are Gone" which is a hypnotic gem. I'd also call in the title track as well as opener "Exeunt Omnes" and the final cut "The Accuser" as being Old School Black Metal being done well by newcomers without sounding like copycats. 

The bottom line to me is that PROFANE ELEGY's Herezjarcha is without a doubt one of the best BM releases you need to hear in 2026. 

LISTEN TO & BUY IT HERE:

https://profaneelegy.bandcamp.com/album/herezjarcha

SHINE - Wrathcult review

 

SHINE - Wrathcult

Dark Descent Records

So here we have the debut full length by SHINE from Poland. The story behind this act is that it's a new band by former HAZAEL bassist / vocalist Tomasz Dobrzeniecki. Just for the record HAZAEL was a early 1990's Polish Death Metal band who put out two full lengths and then that was it. 

Personally, as someone who has been into Polish DM for a while, I thought HAZAEL 90's out put was average compared to their contemporaries. Now I'm basing that on an album and a demo I heard back in the day. Sure some people will say it's fuckin great. And I'll be "sure but was it better than VADER?" Ah yeah so sit down and shut the fuck up.

Which brings us to this new one by SHINE. First off Tomasz Dobrzeniecki is now just playing guitar. Vocals are done by Marek Krajcer who is fucking amazing to say the least. The rhythm section of bassist Wojciech Gąsiorowski and drummer Paweł Duda are full blown dynamic. Finally there's guitarist Mateusz Waśkiewicz who I'm suspecting does all of the lead work.

With all of that said this is the most generic sounding Polish Extreme Metal release ever. Seriously it's as if an AI program took five or six Polish Death Metal and Blackened Metal acts, combined em and produced this release. Anyone into Polish Extreme Metal knows that there's a certain feeling, a hate filled climate of aggression and a original touch to their music. 

This release is a generic insult.

https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/shop/

LISTEN HERE:

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/wrathcult

APOLAUSTIC - No Plenitude Without Suffering review

 

APOLAUSTIC - No Plenitude Without Suffering

Transcending Obscurity Records

So this is a new band by Romain Negro the former vocalist / guitarist of the Swiss Black Metal band STORTREGN. OK fine but this sounds like a follow up from STORTREGN's last album Finitude which came out in 2023. In other words if you are a fan of Switzerland's long time Black Metal / Blackened Death act STORTREGN then you'll like this one a lot. 

There ya go it's Melodic Black Metal to the hilt. It's influenced by the old Swedish Melodic BM sound. And of course there's the Swede DM influence as well. All of which is cool in my book. Romain Negro is also responsible for the cover artwork as well. The guy is fully in control of everything. 

Musically yeah this is cool. Romain Negro has that high pitched roar of a vocal sound. It's a classic vocal sound which anyone into Black Metal for a generation knows well and likes a lot. Along for the ride in this band is drummer Nicolas Muller from the French Melodic Death Metal band AKIAVEL. And on guitar and bass there's Merlin Bogado from DYSSEBEIA who also used to play with STORTREGN during live performances. 

In the end the song writing wins out as far as Melodic Black Metal / Blackened Death goes. Romain Negro finds ways to reaffirm a genre which has been worn out for a decade or more by generic copycats. Yes like I said earlier if you like STORTREGN then you'll like this. But better yet if ya wanna hear a perfect album then here ya go. 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://apolaustic-label.bandcamp.com/album/no-plenitude-without-suffering

CNOC AN TURSA - A Cry for the Slain review

 

CNOC AN TURSA - A Cry for the Slain

Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings

Ironic that I'm listening to a patriotic Blackened Folk Scottish band at the same time I'm reading a news article about two young Scottish girls who have been vindicated for defending themselves from a foreign born predator. Here's a photo of the girl defending herself. Looks like the battles against cultural oppression, attacks by foreigners and national pride still exist today in the great nation of Scotland. But hey check out this girl defending herself. Looks Black Metal to me.

So what we have here is the third album by Scotland's CNOC AN TURSA. Just for the record their name means Hill of the Standing Stone in Scottish Gaelic. That also coincides with the music which I mentioned earlier is Blackened Folk Metal. Their songs are all sung in Scottish Gaelic. Yeah I know it's authenticity to the max. 

What I like about this album is how the song structures are pretty much all Folk driven with the Metal style weaved in. Which for many Folk Metal bands it's the opposite if not just pandering to a genre. As far as the Black Metal aspect goes it's subtle. This is more of an epic yet melodic type of album which is definitely a listening pleasure. 

I mean the roar of the battle vocals. The powerful riffs which diverge into melancholy with leads that are Folk-ish. Of course there's a point where this all falls into what we use to call Pagan Fest type of music or Battle Metal. Either way I like this album a lot and need to find their first two releases. 

https://apocalypticwitchcraft.co.uk/

LISTEN HERE:

https://apocalypticwitchcraft.bandcamp.com/album/a-cry-for-the-slain

MEGADETH - Self Titled review

 

MEGADETH - Self Titled

BLKIIBLK Records

OK so this is it, MEGADETH's final album, alright sure but let me get out a few things. In all honesty I haven't kept up with MEGADETH of late. In fact I had to search the racks to find that the last release I have by em is Endgame from 2009. Maybe that alone should disqualify me to write about this latest release. But hey that's up to you the reader. 

As far as my history with MEGADETH goes well yeah I'm an old fuck so I was there since the beginning. I still think their first three albums in the 1980's are their best. After that it's a pick and choose kinda thing. I say that because when you get my age, average just ain't good enough. Now I will say that the band's 2007 full length, United Abominations, was pretty good. In fact I've listened to that one more than any other releases they put out previously in a long time. 

Which brings us to this their last album. Now obviously when a band says this is our last album, it's gonna suck.It's a fuckin given fact it will suck because the band has admitted it has nothing left to give artisically. We're looking at death throws, get it. But no don't pull the sheet over my face yet. 

So let's start with what I don't like about this album. I think the production sucks. Now sure most MEGADETH albums have what I'd call a "dry sound". That's why when you play their early albums you've got to tweek the knobs on your stereo to bring about a fuller sound. So I hate the sound on here which is OK since I doubt this label had the cash to put into it. 

Now what I like, opener "Tipping Point" is pretty cool. But the next track "I Don't Care" is a winner with an aggressive Thrash attitude of Fuck You. I also like "Let There Be Shred" because of the chorus; 

The second half of this release is less Thrash and more Hard Rock music with boring lyrics, odinary song structures but good solos. "Made to Kill" is decent musically but lyric wise it sucks. "Obey the Call" is worse but hey great solos. Mustaine sounds good on here. I'll give em that prop. But in all honesty this is what I expected aka: an average sounding MEGADETH album.  

https://www.blkiiblk.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NCM96mIQ4U