OUR LIST OF 2024’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 2): ALTA ROSSA, CANDY, BLACKEVIL

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2024  No Responses »
Jan 032025
 

(written by Islander)

Welcome to Part 2 of this list of 2024’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. If you’ve stumbled across this for the first time today and have no idea what I’m doing, you could take a look at the introductory verbiage in Part 1. But today I’m just going to get right into the next three selections without delay, each one radically different from the others.

ALTA ROSSA

Alta Rossa‘s A Defiant Curse hit fairly late in the year, near the end of November, and Andy jumped on it fast. In his review he wrote:

“Dealing in a form of Sludge/Post-Metal that errs more towards the Hardcore-inspired end of the spectrum – think LLNN, Herod, and early The Ocean (i.e. when the band were at their best… yeah, I said it) – Alta Rossa hit hard and refuse to pull their punches…. As punchy and pugilistic as the band’s sound is, however (and there’s no question that Alta Rossa came ready to fight), it’s also brimming with dark, desolate atmosphere…. those who connect with this album will be in for one hell of a ride, equal parts primal, gut-level impact and deeper, darker soul-scarring slow-burn.”

Continue reading »

ALTA ROSSA – A DEFIANT CURE

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Nov 282024
 

(Andy Synn hopes you’ve saved some space in your year-end lists for A Defiant Cure)

As we approach the end of the year I should probably think about preparing for my annual “List Week”, wherein I take over the site with five days of posts rounding up the “Disappointing”, “Good”, and “Great” albums of the year (the ones I’ve heard enough to be able to form an opinion on, anyway) culminating in my “Critical” and “Personal” top tens.

But with everything that’s been going on recently I haven’t had the time or the energy to really get stuck in yet (which might be a problem, considering I plan on kicking things off on the 09th).

That being said, not having things set in stone yet means there’s still room for a few surprises to make an impact (and I plan on reviewing new, and upcoming, albums, right up until the start of “List Week”)… and one of those surprises which has the potential to massively shake up my “Personal Top Ten” is the recently-released second album from French firebrands Alta Rossa.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: SORDIDE, PSYCHONAUT 4, AMYSTERY, ALTA ROSSA, APOTHECARY, CELEPATHY, ANCESTRAL CÂNTICO, SILHOUETTE, PAYSAGE D’HIVER

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Oct 132024
 


Sordide, photo by Jeremy Tiercelin

(written by Islander)

Over the past week I added an even 30 new songs or complete releases to my list of black and blackish metal that I wanted to check out in building today’s column. That was on top of how the list stood a week ago, already wobbly from its ungainly height.

As usual, I didn’t have time to check out all 30. In a handful of instances, I defaulted to previously proven names. For others, I had dependable recommendations. And for others, I went exploring, based on glimpses of one thing or another (artwork, lineup, location, conceptual framework) that I thought were interesting.

Here’s what came out at the end of the sifting, with the choices due in part to how the music fit together in my head, sometimes complementing and sometimes contrasting. Continue reading »