The Archive

Album & Track Reviews1,247 records catalogued. No filler, no fluff.

Honest, unhurried criticism of heavy music from the underground and the margins — doom, black, sludge, death, hardcore, post-metal, noise. Filter by genre, score, or release date. Read what the band would respect.

Browse Latest Read Interviews
Refine

Filter the archive

Clear all
Genre
Rating
Year
Editor's Pick

Featured Review

Published Nov 14, 2024
Sludge · DoomAlbum52 min

Iron Swathe — Husk

Profound Lore Records · 9 tracks

9.2 / 10

Iron Swathe have always trafficked in weight, but Husk strips their sound to something almost ascetic — three guitars tuned to the floor, a vocalist who sounds like he's been gargling rust, and rhythms that move at the speed of geological events. The result is the most harrowing record of the year, and the one most likely to still matter in a decade. The 14-minute centrepiece "Marrowfield" alone justifies the price of admission.

Read the full review
Filed This Month

Recent Reviews

View all 1,247
EP
Black Metal·Nov 12

Null Cathedral — Vespers for the Unmade

Crown of Asteria

Three tracks of dissonant, USBM-leaning black metal that finds humanity in the screaming void. Lo-fi but never lazy.

8.4 6 min read
Album
Hardcore·Nov 09

Pyre of Yesterday — Burn Clean

Hex Records

Boston hardcore that remembers when the genre was a threat. 22 minutes, no apologies, and a guest spot from Nate Newton that earns its keep.

8.1 8 min read
Single
Doom·Nov 06

Dead Deer — "Tomb for the Living"

Self-released

A nine-minute single that proves the Swedes haven't lost a step. Mellotron-heavy, riff-first, and somehow both funereal and furious.

8.7 4 min read
Album
Post-Metal·Nov 03

Marginalia — The Long Unwinding

Pelagic Records

Patient, textural post-metal that rewards headphones and silence. Closer "Tributary" is one of the year's best tracks, full stop.

9.0 11 min read
Album
Noise · Industrial·Oct 30

Gnaw Their Tongues — Ontveld

Tesco Organisation

Not for the faint. A 47-minute sustained assault that treats listening as endurance sport. Important, deranged, occasionally transcendent.

7.9 9 min read
EP
Death·Oct 27

Sermon of Ash — Liturgy of the Unclaimed

Everlasting Spew

Old-school death metal with one foot in Autopsy and the other in Incantation. Guttural, mean, and absolutely unpretentious.

8.2 5 min read
Browse by genre

Heavy, by category

Doom214 Black Metal287 Sludge158 Death198 Hardcore122 Post-Metal94 Noise67 Drone41 Punk66
Stay underground

New reviews every Friday.
No algorithm decides what you read.

Subscribe to the weekly dispatch — three reviews, one interview excerpt, and a shortlist of records we're still chewing on. No tracking, no upsell, unsubscribe with one click.

Subscribe About the site