Back catalogue: Metal

Review: When No Birds Sang serves as the sonic Venn Diagram intersection between the caustic death-grind of endlessly prolific noise merchants Full Of Hell and their long-time dreary shoegaze companions Nothing. Following previous collaborations with nihilistic post-rock entity The Body and doom-sludge trio Primitive Man, this latest endeavour offers a far vaster musical dichotomy than previous collaborative outings, with melancholic, distorted clean vocals reverberating against howling shrieks and cacophonous walls of overwhelming, near impenetrable fuzz. Echoing the ugliest experiments of Swans or My Bloody Valentine, yet re-purposed, or rather dragged through a mire of broken glass and barbed wire before being vaulted into a deafening echo chamber; this twisted formula of violent vulnerability could best be summarised as post-grind or deathgaze, and offers little help to the uninitiated.

Review: Nowadays rebranded as Nocturnus A.D., the original incarnation of pioneering progressive death metal legends Nocturnus came to fruition in 1987 under the astute eye of drumming lead vocalist and former Morbid Angel member Mike Browning. Utilising an array of synthesisers and keyboards to elevate their sci-fi influenced, cosmic take on the traditionally brutal style (keep in mind this is decades before Blood Incantation would re-popularise the sub-subgenre), the band's 1990 debut full-length The Key as well as its 1992 sophomore follow up Thresholds have grown into underground classics of the scene. While a highly anticipated reissue of their primitive The Science Of Horror cassette demo arrived last year, now their often overlooked two-track self-titled EP receives the prepress treatment. Originally released in 1993, these two cuts continued to showcase the incomparable vision and technical dexterity of Nocturnus which, almost to their detriment, kept them consistently in a league unto their own.