Under the needle

The blackened and violently energised delights of Incineration Fest 2019 are just hours away from spectacularly laying waste to an unsuspecting capital this Saturday. But before you hurl yourself headlong into this glorious feast of gratuitous, blackened aggression and alcohol-sodden shenanigans, do yourself a favour and check out our ultimate guide to the fest's finest forthcoming attractions! CARPATHIAN FOREST SOUNDS LIKE: Immortal, Emperor, Marduk STANDOUTS: 'A Forest', 'I

The annual inferno of blackened brilliance that is Incineration is about to hit Camden on Saturday and no doubt, like us, you’re bouncing off the walls with excitement - but the sheer amount of eye-wateringly exceptional acts crammed into this single day can feel daunting even to the most obsessively well-informed of fanatical metal-heads. But fear not, Dark Matter have got your leather-covered backs. We’ve sacrificed both sleep and sanity over the past few days to relentless

Scratch the surface of any dominant political agenda, social norm or organised religion and you’ll very quickly uncover something infinitely more ugly and primitive lurking beneath in limitless abundance. And through desolate, darkly unravelling strains of rasping snarls, ricocheting blasts and deathly atmospherics, it’s with seamless ease and diabolical panache that Anaal Nathrakh plunge the listener headlong into these horrific waking nightmares. So hold your breath and bra

There’s no denying that a supergroup numbering such genre-defining heavyweights as Joey Jordison, Mayhem’s Attila Csihar and Dragonforce bassist Frédéric Leclercq is nothing short of a metal fan’s proverbial wet dream. But before you hasten to reach for a clean change of underwear, let’s first consider how this varied melange of sonic personas and traditions might possibly come together as a sound independent of its high-profile origins. The answer? In more gloriously savage

With its densely contorted lines of inky, ceaselessly churning fretwork, ghoulish atmospherics and exquisitely fine melodic details, it’s hard to imagine a record more perfectly engineered for doom-laden listening pleasure than Monad’s gloriously deathly debut. But despite being generously steeped in all the instantly identifiable trappings and trademarks of the genre, the brutally crushing and coldly majestic ‘IVIIV’ displays a rare richness of character that’s seldom witnes

Image by Stella Mouzi www.stellamouzi.com Making the tricky transition from meticulously engineered studio perfection to the electrifying, utterly unpredictable dynamics of live performance is seldom a seamless process, least of all for a band whose blistering and bewilderingly complex legacy underpins more than two decades of genre-defying extreme metal. On the night that finds the Greek metal titans primed and poised to decimate the London Underworld, uber-talented drummer