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The tale of prolific and longstanding metal outfit HOSTILE RAGE began in a New Jersey bedroom back in 1985. Initially called Rampage, the group issued its debut five-song demo, Vol. 1, less than a year after solidifying the lineup and rebranding itself under the banner of HOSTILE RAGE. The following year, these recordings were re-released alongside four new songs as the extremely rare Vol. 1 + 2; while the now-classic "Dead Meat" found its way onto New Renaissance Records' Thrash Metal Attack II compilation. Another five-song demo—the aptly-titled On the Rampage—saw the light in 1989, followed by the blistering Adrenalin Flow in 1990. The future looked bright, but as 1991 approached, the surrounding musical landscape began to shift, so despite the band's writing continuing to progress, momentum slowed and there would be a four-year delay before HOSTILE RAGE presented two final demos during the mid-'90s.

Rockland County, NY thrash act OUT OF DARKNESS formed in 1990 when three-fifths of the lineup of Sadistik Ritual—guitarists Jon Ciorciari and Greg Paravati with drummer Forrest Leighton—soldiered on with ex-Prowler bassist Sean Weiss and former Torment vocalist Ron Roshong. As OUT OF DARKNESS, the quintet further progressed their foundation into an even more interesting brand of thrash metal that combined quirky and technical riffing with both melody and hard-hitting crunch.

LAST REMAINS took shape around 1989/1990 after guitarist Adam Tranquilli parted ways with New Jersey thrashers Blood Feast, joining forces with former Killigy drummer Adam Kieffer, Bob McLynn on bass, and initial vocalist Rich Caputo. The group set out to develop a heavy-yet-melodic sound that would remain powerful without venturing toward the "balls-out speed thrashing" Tranquilli had explored with Blood Feast.

While the debut album "Vinsta Wiads" (2017) portrayed an "Impending Darkness" in the Alpine mountains, Austrian metal innovator VINSTA now focuses on wintry landscapes with the new album "Drei Deita" ("Three Foreboders").

Multi-instrumentalist Christian Höll continues where he left off: his compositions blend epic melodic Death Metal with acoustic folk passages into landscape-painting music of its own kind. When was the last time you heard hammered dulcimer and yodeling in harsh metal - and it worked?!

VINSTA's second album tells the story of a wanderer facing the forces of nature, taking up traditional motifs and the primeval dialect of the Salzburg Alps. At the end of his seemingly errant hike through the Alpine winter world, the protagonist meets three foreboders and finds himself confronted with perspectives larger than (human) life...

Vinsta wiads – it gets dark. On its debut album, VINSTA leads us into the mountains of the Salzburg Alps.

The seven dramatic compositions allure with sceneries rich in contrast and with vocals sung in the regional dialects of the home lands of band founder Christian Höll.

Thus, the music might sound familiar and eclectic at once: While some influences obviously shine through, VINSTA undoubtedly develops its own approach, blending grim melodic death metal with folk inspired acoustic arrangements (performed a.o. on violin and hammered dulcimer).

Christian realizes his stirring compositions with the help of talented musicians who share his passionate approach to creating music.

“Vinsta Wiads” explores dark aspects of challenges which might bring you to your knees – and finally let you grow. In Christian’s own words: “It's passionate music which takes the listener on a journey through darksome, yet beautiful emotions.”

Norway's ILDFAR are something of an enigma. The band formed all the way back in 1994, by vocalist / multi-instrumentalist Favn, but left behind only one demo in 2003. However, upon reactivating in 2018, ILDFAR began blazing a trail of ancient-days Norse black metal with a quick succession of albums. So pure, so cold, this trio of records landed on such esteemed labels as Northern Silence and Wolfspell, but now under the banner of PURITY THROUGH FIRE, ILDFAR are prepared to blaze a new "old" trail.

Witness Der ligger et land. Immediately, ILDFAR's fourth album distinguishes itself with the much-more-measured mid-tempo pace and, most strikingly, largely clean vocals. However, before any worries of a slackening of black metal ethos arise, one need only listen to Der ligger et land to understand that Favn is picking up the torch left behind by Isengard's Høstmørke and expanding the (old, icy) canvas in compellingly new ways. To be sure, there's plenty of ILDFAR's previous, strictly-Norse fire here - just the recording alone evokes a solemn nostalgia for those forgotten realms - but Favn is stretching apart those sensations in a manner that's mystical, mesmerizing, and AMAZING. ​Also to be sure, there've been other sympatico souls who've likewise reinvigorated Isengard's template - ​namely, the axis of LIK, Lönndom, and Ehlder as well as Sweden's stalwart Grift - but ILDFAR's songwriting here is noticeably more melodic, utilizing clean(er) guitars to stunning effect, and overall textures that suggest stargazing rather than forest-roaming. 

Whatever way you arrive at Der ligger et land, it's guaranteed you'll be possessed to press "play" over and over again, luxuriating deeper into those textures and finding ever more new details with each spin. In short, ILDFAR have delivered an unsuspecting masterpiece.

CD in Jewel case with 20-page booklet.

NARGAROTH is the sole vision of Rene "Ash" Wagner, forged in Saxony in 1996 and driven by nearly three decades of raw, uncompromising German black metal.
‘Apocalyptic Steel’ is a record that refused to stay buried. Tracked in a single weekend at Trident Studios in Pacheco, California, in September of 2014, the album sat forgotten on a hard drive in the United States while ‘Era of Threnody’ took priority. Years later, the recordings resurfaced. Drums were re-recorded in Las Vegas, vocals and mixing completed at AMP Studios in Duisburg, and 12 years after its first sessions, the album is finally here. This is not a vault curiosity. It is NARGAROTH at its most direct: nine tracks of filthy, unadorned metal built on the attitude of old Judas Priest, Accept, Deicide and Obituary. From the predatory menace of “Twisted Steel” to the band-name-studded battle cry of “Metalheart”, from the unflinching historical weight of “Dresden” to the aching Germanic longing of “Requiem Germania”, this is an album that has nothing to prove and wastes nothing on pretense.
Recorded fast, recorded dirty, and finished on its own terms.

For fans of DARKTHRONE, MAYHEM, ACCEPT, MOTORHEAD, DEICIDE.