The Crimson Ghosts from Germany are in no way strangers to the pages of this zine, because I reviewed their other releases and did not one, but two interviews with this horrorpunk legends and for me the best European horrorpunk band. This time, The Crimson Ghosts re-issued their classic Carpe Mortem album on it’s twentieth anniversary completely remixed and remastered giving the 2026 versions of 13 songs which are contained on this opus a new and refreshing but mighty sound. What I love about The Crimson Ghosts is that they are pretty metallic in their punk sound and it fits perfectly to the song structures. Vlad is one of my favorite vocals and also one of the best vocals of the genre, with fantastic backing vocal harmonies, this being always a strong virtue of this band. For me the definite hits of this opus are Somewhere in a Casket, ballad Night of the Dead Promqueen, also genial Patchwork Fuckface, but you will have to find your favorites yourselves. This is one of top three The Crimson Ghosts opuses for me, so I recommend this one. Go get it and have a listen!
Formed in 2021, Burner are coming from South London and this is their sophomore opus, coming three years after the debut album. This one contains eleven songs of mayhem, all out war attack on your ears and other senses and making you move across the room while listening to this one. Burner play brutal metallic hardcore with lots of breakdowns, moshing parts, some fast parts and sometimes death metal influenced song structures. But, there are some subtle hooks and melodies here and there thrown in for good measure. On the album there are some prominent guests being Josh Middleton of Sylosis and Matt Heafy of Trivium, also Anthony Lucero from Cult Leader. Vocals are mixture of almost death metal growling and screaming with some hardcore shouting too, courtesy of singer Harry Nott. Some of the lyrics are personal, but they also deal with ecology, war and similar merry themes. The whole vibe of the album is very energetic but also somewhat apocalyptic and bleak vision of the human current state and future if we continue in the same way. My personal favorites on this one are: Sunset Parabellum, apocalyptic longer opener The Third Revelation and My Hands Become Weapons. This is a great album, so go check this one out!
Time for some more Norwegian black metal to grace the pages of this zine. Iskald were formed in 2005 and this is their sixth full length opus. What do we have here? There are eight songs on this one being divided into four invocations, namely invocations I, II, III and Final invocation. The music is melodic black metal, but more technical and well played, almost kinda reminding me of later days Emperor. There are lots of atmospheric keyboard and some acoustic song parts, tempo changes and enough melody and aggression to remind us why we love black metal so much as an expression of emotions and aggression at the same time, channeling your inner darkness. Lyrics are in English and are of more personal nature, dealing with battling your inner and outer demons, hope, loss and depression, as far as I understood them like that. This is not your typical in your face raw black metal, although it has some blast beat parts, this is finer goods. Vocals are black metal screaming but not theatrical or bordering with parody, but serious business fitting perfectly to the song structures. My personal favorites: A Burden Of Hope, The Sacrifice. Go check this one if you are into smartly written and played black metal.
