Ivan Tibos.

The power of the will directs the destiny. And so, in the perpetual cycle of life and death that defines the tragic fate of the human, a gloomy epilogue can unexpectedly lead to an auspicious prologue…

I guess this project by (bleak) needs no introduction anymore. If not trusted with (yet), or simply when just interested, check out one of the reviews written exclusively for this outfit by the very productive artist behind it (link: see below).

This is a nice surprise. Two very fine and kind human beings from our beautiful planet joined forces to create a sonic effort together. By coincidence, both of them are crafted musicians as well, so this must work out well…

Or: The Silent Watchtower is the result of a collaboration in between the solo-projects Alphaxone (Mehdi Saleh from Iran) and Rojinski (Alexei Rojinski from some place on Mater Terra, or elsewhere within our huge Universe).

Welcome to the sounds of the Dark Realm…

Purification through fire! Rebirth through flames!

For an introduction on this Italian act (like ‘formed in 2020 as a duo’, and that kind of interesting stuff), I’d like to refer to my review on this band’s debut-EP, ingeniously called Pyra (link: see below).

Apparently, Cromworx is a solo-outfit by Grom, part of the original line-up of Slovakian Gothic Metal act Orkrist. They were active – and quite ‘popular’ – at the very beginning of this millennium, and after a pretty long ‘break’ they sort of returned a couple of years ago.

I recently posted a review on Lamaštu, a stunning and magisterial collaborative work of Alessio Antoni aka Neraterræ and Mattia Giovanni Accinni aka Chaigidel (link: see below). But the Chaigidel project created another interesting adventure about four years ago at the moment of this writing, with the working title Entrails Of The Earth.

Dutch act Infinity started almost three decades ago and still consists of two of the original members: Draconis (okay, he left this project for a while) and Balgradon Xul. During the first decade of this millennium, they did record four albums, yet as from then on, they did take their time before releasing new material. In this case, we, the impatient audience, had never awaited so long, for it has been six years (and a couple of times) before we could now, finally, bit welcome to this band’s seventh full-length studio album.

Introduction: released almost one year ago, but Thrash-fanatics: be prepared for another combo from Belgian soil about to conquer the planet…

Location: Liège (Belgium)

Current line-up: Kévin Lambert (drums), Ludovic Hubert (vocals & guitars), Morgane Greeven (bass), Sébastien Grätz (guitars)

Recorded: at Le Garage Créative Music

Mix & mastering: Psycho

Artwork: I think from the band itself; simple and characteristic yet effective!