Century Media – Metal Eclipse Reviews

Omnium gatherum – May the Bridges We Burn Light the Way

Metalcatto

Full disclosure: I’m a longtime fan of Omnium Gatherum. I’ve been following them since The Redshift and still consider New World Shadows and Beyond to be Melodic Death Metal classics. (If you haven’t listened to them yet, stop wasting your time and go fix that.) So when May the Bridges We Burn Light the Way dropped, I was all in. That said, I’m not blind to the band’s controversies — It’s always been compared, sometimes unfairly, to its peers. With OG, you never really know what you’re going to get: a genre-defining masterpiece or a divisive curveball. Either way, it’s never boring.

Vildhjarta – + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar +

Metalcatto

It’d be a total understatement to say that Vildhjarta is a strange band. How can I explain it? You know how Meshuggah plays convoluted rhythms, but somehow there’s always a 4×4 groove going on in the drums? Well, forget about that here and get ready to embrace absolute rhythmic chaos — + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + is. I know, that name looks like main effects in a linear model (this is my nerdiest joke to date, I’m so proud!), but that only makes me more excited. We’re here to be surprised, right?

Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar

Enough procrastinating! It’s time to finish what we started a few days ago by giving our “expert” opinion on Imperial Triumphant’s Goldstar. We even made a top to celebrate this occasion. If that doesn’t tell you how pumped I am for this release, then I don’t know what else to do for you. No need for long intros—we all know Imperial Triumphant is one of the most Avant-Garde bands of the last ten years. Not many can compete with the level of urban horror these guys conjure up, but as a huge fan, I’m nervous! Can you blame me?

Lacuna Coil – Sleepless Empire

What? Are you surprised that MER Industries is covering such a mainstream band? You’ll dare to call us not Metal anymore. As if we care. What we do care about is giving even the most commercial band a fair chance. I’m sure those of you with a love for anything Gothic will know Lacuna Coil needs no introduction and that despite my skepticism for Sleepless Empire, I’m willing to suspend my prejudices for a few hours while I analyze another album from a now ancient band.

Tribulation – Sub Rosa in Æternum

Well, this is going to be tricky. You see, I’m what people would call an old-fashioned Tribulation fan. Here I am, eating chips and scratching my head, while the band has morphed from a Black Metal outfit into a Goth Rock one. Evidently, I’m a bigger fan of its first era, but I’m open to giving Sub Rosa in Æternum a chance. Goth albums typically fall into two categories: they either evoke the horrors of the night, or end up as cringeworthy festivals of edgy people in leather. Let’s see which one this album turns out to be.

EP madness part 3: Enforced & Dragoncorpse

Continuing the barrage of releases this week, we had to consider some upcoming EPs, too. It wasn’t easy to decide, but the sting of regret made me hold onto these two rather than let them fade into oblivion. I gave them a spin or two, or three, and good thing I did—things went from weird to interesting pretty fast. Here are two EPs that might just bring a bit of color back to your bleak life.

Sólstafir – Hin Helga Kvöl

How’s your Icelandic? Chances are you don’t even know how to say “hi” in this ancient language. I don’t blame you—part of Sólstafir‘s charm is that, much like its homeland, it transports us to a remote place many have never seen. Yet, it remains familiar enough to be relatable. Calling Sólstafir a “Post/Black Metal cowboy” isn’t far off. In fact, Sólstafir could be seen as the extreme, modern response to Finland’s Leningrad Cowboys. Or am I pushing my Nordic culture references too far? Anyway, let’s dive into Hin Helga Kvöl.

Swallow the Sun – Shining

Elased

Swallow the Sun is at a crossroads. The year 2024 marks the beginning of a new era for it. Just one glance at the cover of its new album Shining makes it unmistakably clear: everything is different from today! This is exciting and stirs curiosity, but it also has its downsides. So before we delve into the music, let me say a few words: Yes, I was also taken aback when I heard the first single for the first time—but I was even more shocked by the sometimes harsh and nasty comments that this and subsequent audio samples received from some “so-called fans”. Did Swallow the Sun deserve that? Absolutely not! Every musician has the right to artistic freedom and to express their own creativity—even if that means rethinking their previous style. Just think of bands like Anathema, Opeth, Katatonia, and so many others. And Swallow the Sun certainly hasn’t been treading water for nine albums either.

Blood Incanation – Absolute Elsewhere

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Blood Incantation is one of Death Metal’s underground darlings and that its first two albums are already modern classics of space Metal. However, the band pulled an “Ulver move” with Timewave Zero, alienating much of its fanbase. Even after what many would call a misstep, I remained optimistic about what Absolute Elsewhere could offer. Now that the band had gotten all that intense psychedelia out of its system, could it return to something more familiar for us Metalheads, or would it fully embrace the path of Ulver? Let’s find out.

Kanonenfieber – Die Urkatastrophe

We know that Sweden has Swanö, Finland has Saukonnen, and lately, Germany has Noise—an anonymous artist involved in countless projects, all receiving high critical acclaim. I won’t hide my bias: I want Kanonenfieber to blow me away. Its Menschenmühle had me more than impressed. Sure, the sound the band goes for isn’t exactly new, but the way it uses it, combined with the power of such an authentic and raw narrative, has turned it into one of the most fascinating acts in Black Metal. Excellent! But how about Die Urkatastrophe? Does it honor the dead? Join us in the trenches!