Craven Idol return with a crash of thunder after almost four years of deadly silence. Not only do the London Black metallers have a killer new release, ‘Shackles Of Mammon’ (Via Dark Descent on April 14), they will also open for Nifelheim at the Underworld on May 26. All this with a brand new line-up, as guitarist Scourger and drummer Volgard, have been replaced by Obscenitor (also of Crom Dubh) and Heretic Blades.

“We entered Greg Chandler’s Priory Studios last year and emerged a week later with around 40 minutes of old school extreme metal swearing by the legacy of the first god.” That’s how frontman Wrath starts his epic story about their latest album, which the band launch with a gig at The Black Heart, Camden, this Saturday April 8.

“Our new album ‘The Shackles Of Mammon’ is more varied and way more aggressive than its predecessor ‘Towards Eschaton’,” he continues. “It is a ‘complete’ album with significantly better song-writing and a rawer, old school production. Greg Chandler, from Esoteric, is a brilliant producer and we spoke to him at length during the run-up to the session, and we had a clear vision for the sound. I had in mind the first wave … Read More

It’s difficult to pinpoint what separates one “occult” band from another, especially when it seems like everyone and his nan has started one. The strength of such a band’s convictions, of course, and the depth of their commitment to both their subject matter and their presentation are key factors when it comes to the business of being taken seriously. Without those elements, you’re just another twat in a dress with some hasty pentangles scrawled across your album cover, and metal definitely has no need for any more of those.

Necros Christos have always understood this and taken great pains to ensure that their visual approach matches and accentuates what they’re doing musically. What they’ve been doing for the past decade is crafting multi-faceted, atmospheric, oppressive death metal of the most serious intent. Now, in their 12th year and with a third, and, perhaps, final album on the way, the band clearly have nothing left to prove. To know them is to love them, and to be ignorant of their existence or of their message is to cheat yourself out of one of modern death metal’s most furiously blazing stars.

I’m a massive fan, if you couldn’t tell, and alongside my friend and … Read More