DE PROFUNDIS (UK) – “Decayed, 2007-2017”

Decayed 2007-2017De Profundis are one of those rare metal bands that, when you first discover them, you realise your folly of not hunting them out sooner and instantly curse those friends of yours that knew about the band already (including having played gigs with them), but had not forced you to listen to them.  They are that good… Continue reading

BOA Rock Soc – Available 9am – URGENT!

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Festival:                             Bloodstock Open Air Metal Festival.

Date:                                  Thursday until Sunday, 10th to 13th of August 2017.

Location:                           Catton Park, Walton-On-Trent, Derbyshire, England.

Post Code:                        DE12 8LN.

Ticket Cost:                       £127.00 (Adult) & £39.00 (Child 4yo – 11yo) EARLY BIRD.

The TMA Collective will keep you up to date with all the announcements, deals and news for one of our favourite Festivals.

The 15th Bloodstock, and the 11th Open Air celebration of all things metal, will take place at the usual Catton Hall site in Derbyshire, England between Thursday 10th and Sunday 13th of August in 2017

URGENT!   Buy Tickets To Bloodstock

BOA 17 RockSoc

Each year, just 300 sought after Bloodstock Rock Society Memberships are available to purchase, giving a whole host of exclusive and VIP benefits to the discerning festival goer, discounted tickets, VIP Bar access, backstage tours, exclusive forums, competitions, priority access to Signing Tent, etc.. They sell VERY quickly and go on sale at 9am on Monday 31st of October – TODAY!

In the main, these are snapped up by the same group of people each year, a really close and welcoming community, but there are some serious benefits included too.  If you buy your RockSoc Membership with your Early Bird Ticket, you will get 10% OFF the Early Bird Ticket.

Follow link to main site to see full details.

Become a Bloodstock Affiliate.

WINTERFYLLETH – “The Dark Hereafter”

CoverFollowing on from 2104’s excellent and career defining release, “The Divination Of Antiquity”, England’s heritage black metal heroes Winterfylleth are back.  With their label sold and becoming part of the Spinefarm family these songs have been in the can for a while, so its good to see them finally see the light of day.

The title track kicks things off with familiar blast beats and whirling guitars and those who bathed in TDOA will know the track “Pariahs Path”. “Ensigns Of Victory” is my favourite track from the opening three, which have a different feel to the last two tracks with the familiar folk tinged black metal assault.  Continue reading

METAL CULTURE – THE BLACK METAL BREWERY (Edinburgh, Scotland) – All Five Ales

BMB Group“Hi Mark, do you mind if I drop some beer round for you to drink and write about?” said Alex.  “Seriously? Are you winding me up? Of course bud’  I replied…. And soon enough the boss was at my door with a selection of fine ales from the Loanhead based… It’s in Scotland, look it up… Black Metal Brewery, which was spooky as we’d both been to see northern monkey black metallers, Winterfylleth, the night before.

Now Alex has asked me to write about these lovely bottles of brown wonderment because he knows I’m a member of CAMRA and suspects I might know a thing or two about beer.  I’m not a total beer scoring uber nerd but I do drink a lot of real ale. It’s nice. It’s proper. Making it is an art form. Now my wife – Brutal Ruth – says I’m what’s known as a ‘functioning alcoholic’ (she can talk, flat out on the sofa watching ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ with an empty bottle of rose next to her..) but I prefer the term ‘drinking enthusiast’. Continue reading

THE KING IS BLIND – “Our Father”

Kicking off with the true essence of Napalm Death, you know from first contact that Our Father is going to heavily present one thing; classic, European leaning death metal. The aesthetic Verdigris of international anarcho-punk smears the surface of every track, and some supreme tangents of doom break for air, but still, it is a sound which is death to (or perhaps from) its core. Continue reading

NOVEMBRE – “Ursa”

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It seems like a lifetime ago since the last Novembre album, The Blue, was released.  It’s been a long 9 years without Novembre releasing any new material.  At the time I had only just become a fan of their music and snapped up much of their back catalogue very quickly.  So when I heard that there was a new album on its way on Peaceville Records, I was very excited to hear what we’d all been missing for since 2007… and I was not disappointed! Continue reading

The TMA Top Releases Of 2015

 

Despite TMA being largely inactive throughout this last year due to a number of unpleasant reasons, the quality of releases during 2015 has been magnificent. As such, the noteworthy must be noted and the following are 45 of the main ones we have enjoyed.

The year is now over, but we still have all of these beauties to remember the best bits.  I was going to edit it down to the best 40, but couldn’t find any others to remove and we are left with an unconventional 45.

So… Album Of The Year goes to Amiensus!

  1. Amiensus – “Ascension
  2. Napalm Death – “Apex Predator – Easy Meat
  3. Ghost – “Meliora
  4. Macabre Omen – “Gods Of War – At War
  5. Amorphis – “Under the Red Cloud
  6. My Dying Bride – “Feel The Misery
  7. Arcturus – “The Arcturian
  8. Drudkh – “A Furrow Cut Short
  9. The King Is Blind – “The Deficiencies Of Man
  10. Indesinence – “III
  11. Enslaved – “In Times
  12. Forefather – “Curse Of The Cwelled
  13. Jarun – “Pod niebem utkanym z popiołu
  14. Nechochwen – “Heart Of Akamon
  15. Outre – “Ghost Chants
  16. Swallow The Sun – “Songs From The North: I, II & III
  17. Panopticon – “Autumn Eternal
  18. Unleashed – “Dawn Of The Nine
  19. Kauan – “Sorni Nai
  20. Ghost Bath – “Moon LoverContinue reading

ESCHATON – “Sentinel Apocalypse”

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Sentinel Apocalypse from Eschaton is just one of those releases that seems utterly perfect at executing the first blow in bare-knuckle, technical death metal. Everything that happens after opener, Obligatory Conviction, is undeniably fantastic, but it is in the first few moments that followers of bands such as Man Must Die, Agonyst, and Meshuggah are likely to be hooked. Continue reading

ANGMAER – “Towards Darkness’ Paradise”

Angmaer - Towards Darkness' Paradise_Cover

One-man, black metal band: a phrase that can strike pre-emptive disappointment into the heart of even the most stalwart extreme music aficionado. It can frequently be the case that these projects lack any kind of individuality or panache, aspects which are thankfully becoming more mandatory in the genre. UKEM’s recent signing, Angmaer, is luckily not guilty of this particular sin.

As the bio states, this is very true to the 1990s’ golden age of BM. The character must be incredibly hard for one person to capture this successfully on their own, and in that Towards Darkness’ Paradise is most assuredly a great success. Although it embraces a touch of the clarity brought to later BM releases, it retains an undeniably classic quality. Continue reading

BLACK TALON – “Endless Realities”

coverIt may only be May, but 2015 has already been awash with fresh thrash offerings, some absolute belters, some a bit flaccid, to be generous. Black Talon now step into the spotlight with their debut long-player, Endless Realities, and something magical is happening. This is genuine street thrash, brought up, full time, in the shadows at the edge of the genre’s history, and splattered with the arterial spray of death metal. If the latter is the input of guitarist Mike Robertson, also of Edinburghian brutes, Cancerous Womb, then it’s well-smoothed around the edges. Continue reading