Recorded in a concert hall in July 1993 by a band with no keyboard player, then left unmixed for the best part of a year. What Emperor actually invented, who painted the sleeve, and why the most ambitious record of the second wave has the worst descendants.
By Eirik Solvang
7 September · 7 min read
Essential Albums
A genre built inside Morrisound and Sunlight does not transfer easily to a stage, and most of its live albums exist because a contract said five. Seven that are worth the money, and the thre...
By Rafael Quintero
Label Histories
Nine catalogue numbers out of a shop in Oslo, a band that founded its own company rather than accept anyone's terms, an English label set up to release one band nobody else would touch, and...
By Andrzej Sawicki
Explainers
Death metal took the voice down and black metal took it up, into the same band as the guitars. What follows from that one decision is most of what the genre sounds like.
By Eirik Solvang
Eirik Solvang
Black Metal
How Black Metal Vocals Got That Shape
Andrzej Sawicki
Blackened Death
The Death Metal Labels That Built the Genre
Rafael Quintero
Death Metal
Death Metal Live Albums Worth Owning
Gareth Llewellyn
Grindcore
Grindcore vs Death Metal
Ilse Brandt
Doom Metal
Black Metal and Gothic Metal: The Border
Declan Rourke
Heavy Metal
Thrash Metal in the 1980s, Year by Year
| Date | Band | Album | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Sep 2026 | Mittags-Abgrund | Mittags-Abgrund | Full-length |
| 16 Sep 2026 | Soulers | The Straightforward Dream | Full-length |
| 18 Sep 2026 | Anthrax | Cursum Perficio | Full-length |
| 18 Sep 2026 | Blackment | Pandemonium Portrait | Full-length |
| 18 Sep 2026 | Hanging Garden | Dream Death | Full-length |
| 18 Sep 2026 | Krallice | Scour Order | Full-length |
| 20 Sep 2026 | Legion | Legion/Blissful Misery | Compilation |
| 23 Sep 2026 | Soulers | Watching the Whole Tragedy with Bated Breath | Full-length |
| 25 Sep 2026 | Lacrimas Profundere | Lay Me Down O Silent Fear | Full-length |
