Tag Archives: 2020

Artist: On Thorns I Lay Album Title: Threnos Label: Lifeforce Records Date of Release: 21 February 2020 Thunderous, churning riffs, haunting lead guitars, guttural growled vocals? Oh yes, now this is good stuff. Then the bass kicks in and the riffs continue to writhe with a slow-paced authority, the like of which you’d hear on  Continue Reading »

Artist: God Dethroned Album Title: Illuminati Label: Metal Blade Records Date of Release: 7 February 2020 Dutch blackened death metal stalwarts God Dethroned return in 2020 with their eleventh album in a career that has spanned nearly thirty years since their formation in 1991. They are one of those bands that feels like they have  Continue Reading »

Artist: Fragment Soul Album Title: A Soul Inhabiting Two Bodies – single Label: Independent Release Date of Release: Out now Rules are meant to be broken aren’t they? That’s why I have decided to break one of the unwritten rules of manofmuchmetal.com and review a single. Why? Because I set up this website for all  Continue Reading »

Artist: Mariana Semkina Album Title: Sleepwalking Label: Kscope Date of Release: 14 February 2020 You may recognise the name, for Mariana Semkina (who has tweaked her real name, Marjana for this release) is one half of the duo that, alongside Gleb Kolyadin has created the rather intriguing and beautiful Iamthemorning, who have rightfully gained in  Continue Reading »

Artist: Serenity Album Title: The Last Knight Label: Napalm Records Date of Release: 31 January 2020 In the recent past, most notably within my review of 2017’s ‘Lionheart’, I have boldly proclaimed that Serenity were one of my very favourite bands within the melodic metal sphere. Both ‘Lionheart’ and its direct predecessor, ‘Codex Atlanticus’ took  Continue Reading »

Artist: Ihsahn Album Title: Telemark Label: Candlelight Records Date of Release: 14 February 2020 What can I possibly say about Ihsahn that hasn’t already been said? The word ‘legend’ is used very widely and flippantly these days but Ihsahn must surely be approaching this status within the world of heavy metal. For starters, there’s his  Continue Reading »

Artist: Temperance Album Title: Viridian Label: Napalm Records Date of Release: 24 January 2020 I want to start off 2020 in positive fashion, so I will refrain from complaining about record labels who insist on only offering streams of albums for review purposes. I won’t mention the fact that it makes it almost impossible for  Continue Reading »

Artist: Blasphemer Album Title: The Sixth Hour Label: Candlelight Records Date of Release: 24 January 2020 Occasionally, a little unrepentant aggression and brutality is necessary. Normally I want more finesse and subtlety, not to mention melody, to my heavy metal. But sometimes, just occasionally, I can find myself in the headspace where I want to  Continue Reading »

This series is never finished. There are always new announcements that are made as the year progresses and I enjoy putting these compilations together to ensure that I place the spotlight on albums that I’m really excited to hear during the year. So here’s another batch of releases that have got my juices flowing… Part  Continue Reading »

Artist: Deathwhite Album Title: Grave Image Label: Season Of Mist Date of Release: 31 January 2020 The previous album from Deathwhite was one hell of a frustrating listen for me. The band cited a who’s who of my favourite bands as inspiration but ‘For A Black Tomorrow’ fell way short of reaching the quality of  Continue Reading »