The Asteroid Bullet Belt

They came, they saw, they conquered, they left. (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on May 4th 2024)  There’s something to be said about bands that hang it up when they’ve peaked in popularity. On one hand, you can’t help but wonder where they could’ve possibly gone as artists, both musically and commercially, but on the other, there’s a certain grace in acknowledging that your work is done and that you’ve said everything you wanted to. One such case is Gulch, whose short-lived existence left a mark in the extreme music scene, with their sole full-length work, Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress , making quite a splash upon release during the pandemic times. Turns out, it’d also be the least release of any substance we’d ever see from the group. If there is one word to describe Gulch’s sound, it’d be “ferocious”. From the very first seconds of the opener, we’re greeted with Elliot Morrow’s delirious screaming, and some absolutely unhinged percussion driving the...

The almost all-consuming darkness. (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on February 21st 2022)  Contrary to popular belief, hardcore and death metal do mix. Not in the deathcore sense where one just adds gutturals over chugging riffs, but in the one where the feral energy of the former clashes with the violent riffing of the latter. Plenty of modern bands have proven that this combination can be used to great effect, such as Xibalba, Gatecreeper, and the topic of this review, Venom Prison. The British quintet has been rampaging through the underground since 2015, and Erebos is the band’s first proper release for the new decade ( Primeval doesn’t count). So let’s take a look at how the band decided to kick this chapter of their career off, shall we? For one, this is arguably their most experimental and eclectic release to date. Problem is, most of these experiments fall flat. The band here leans really hard on 2000s melodic metalcore for the first half of thi...