In Solitude is one of those bands from the 00s that managed to tap into the musical DNA of Mercyful Fate. To understand why they deserve this title, it is important to carry a cross-comparison between their beginnings on their debut and their shift with 2011’s The World, The Flesh and the Devil.
Candlemass’s later two 80’s records are an example of how expectation can distort and alter the perception of certain works. They are both fine albums, but because this was also the band who happened to write two of the best albums of all time right before (forget genre for a second), they both tend to be dismissed because they happened to be ever-so-slightly flawed by comparison. Which is a perverse reinforce of the band’s greatness at their peak, in a sense – a friend of mine recently put it that even the two “weaker” Candlemass albums would still make them one of the best doom metal bands of all time.
From the ashes of several previous bands and the eerie corners of Sweden came Head of the Demon. In the eighth year of their existence, they are about to release their third album, aptly named as Deadly Black Doom, on Walpurgis Night, the 30th of April.
Lethal Steel formed in 2011 and released their first and only demo one year later, creating an immediate buzz in underground circles with their raw and unfiltered sound of pure 80’s heavy metal. German label High Roller records swiftly signed the group and in 2016 their first full length effort Legions of the Night was released to the world. Lineup changes forced the band to take some time off and regroup as both guitarists decided to part ways, leading us to now, four years later, with the release of Running from the Dawn, a 4-track EP picking up right from where the band left off.
When it comes to metal, you have the usual rung of classics, and then you have the albums that are epochal in nature. The works that, regardless of whether you enjoy them or not, are the ones that fundamentally altered the landscape of the genre and for everything after them, for better or worse. Candlemass’s debut is, naturally, one of these albums – an album so blatantly influential that it spawned the subgenre in its own title.
Ambush stand out among their peers as one of Sweden’s new premiere traditional heavy metal bands. Due to personal struggles and line-up shuffles, it’s been five long years since we’ve properly heard from these Swedes. They’re now finally set to release another album! Infidel is set for a March 13th release via High Roller Records. It follows the same rough outline as the first two Judas Priest and Accept inspired albums, but Infidel features a bit more experimentation in terms of both music and themes. We interviewed Oskar Jacobsson, Ambush’s vocalist, about the journey to the new album and the themes behind it.
Even today, despite having known it for most of my years as a metalhead, there’s an enduring brilliance about The Somberlain that endures the test of time.
Here at Ride into Glory we provide strong support to upcoming underground bands and artists. We try to highlight high quality new releases and promising debuting artists as often as we can.
The land of extreme metal is vast and without a guiding path it is easy to get lost in the endless sea of new releases and bands. Especially if you are only interested in the sounds that could be Into the Coven (meaning, extreme metal with a prevalent traditional metal structure underneath), finding upcoming artists might look like a daunting task. We thought that highlighting some contemporary bands who have yet to release their debut full-length albums might help readers find a new artist to follow, revisit a band whose first demo they heard a while ago, or just collect the young and new bands they are familiar with in one place.
The final installment of a 4 piece series on Epic Heavy Metal. This segment examines the broader European scene beyond Italy and Greece. This segment also features an interview with Nuno of Ravensire.
Ah, Sweden! Land of the Northern Lights, insanely beautiful people, and delicious meatballs. But wait! – there is more: insanely catchy pop music and powerful metal, two things god forbid should they ever combine.