Malichor: "The Serum"

Lovecraftian metal that presents the author's more visceral side

We come to find ourselves once again in the company of Australia's Malichor, brandishing the proud tradition of blackened thrash metal with wild fervour as per usual. From previous experience with the band I have come to expect nothing but the best in ruthlessness and riffing that takes to straight to Lovecraft's most tenebrous nightmares. Inspired by equal measures Re-Animator and From Beyond - Two absolute classics of Lovecraftian horror cinema, both starring Jeffrey Combs - we're being spoiled with a take on the classic mythos, but without the by now standardised Cthulhu/Azathoth shtick.

AK-11: "Legendary, Demonic & Invincible"

Northern blasts of black metal warfare

Black is traditionally stripped down to the bare necessities of extremity, but this goes especially for AK-11, a self-proclaimed "triumphant black war metal" band from 2011. The project, fronted by - at the time - sole member Valak, never lets a breath go to waste with no effort spilled on fancy solos, lofty orchestrations or overly complex compositions.

Hobbs' Angel of Death: "Heaven Bled"

Hobbs' Angel of Death makes a return, but not so much a return to form

What year is it!? The Stranger Things series inspired by classic Spielberg and the like is a huge hit, while synthwave artists are spreading their neon glow all over the world, and Hobbs' Angel of Death - Australia's prodigal thrash metal son - has returned with the first album in over 20 years!

Malichor: "Ancient Brew"

Return of the Australian warlords

TONEwood has previously lauded Malichor's earlier EP, Lurkers in the Crypt from 2012, and now the time has come for Ancient Brew to continue the black-thrash legacy of the Australian band. With four tracks Malichor certainly aren't about to waste any time with lengthy intros of nonsense shenanigans. Instead, they continue in their uncompromising ways, living and dying by the riffs.

Power Glove: "Trials of the Blood Dragon OST"

Hits but mostly commercialised misses for undiscerning fans

Mysterious Australian elecro-duo Power Glove have been lurking and looming for some time, poking their cyborg heads out once in a while to drop off a new track, an EP or a soundtrack at regular intervals. Their hugely popular soundtrack for the Ubisoft game Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon in 2013 was many people's first look into the neon-bathed vector lines of retro-futuristic synthwave music, and now they're back, revisiting the franchise that to some degree broke new ground for them.

Beyond Mortal Dreams: "Dreaming Death"

Exceeding critical mass as the band explodes

Expectations mean a lot. When a band severely exceeds expectations, that makes for a whole different experience. With a name like Beyond Mortal Dreams, you sure wouldn't expect death metal as convincing and heavy as is the case with the Dreaming Death EP.

The band has been around in some form or another since the early 90s, but didn't adopt the Beyond Mortal Dreams moniker before 1995. Their long history lends them a certain credibility which is brutally underscored by the vicious skills in the art of death metal. Dreaming Death is only the fourth release as Beyond Mortal Dreams, but it speaks volumes of the band's abilities and of great things to come.

Lamia Hyde and the Southern Witches: "Conjuring Lamia"

A band that gives bad music a worse name

Lamia Hyde and the Southern Witches is, in itself, a rather awful band name. With a biography that pretentiously lists their style as dark, hypnotic music with a touch of inspiration from black metal, mythology and horror films, hopes that their debut demo Conjuring Lamia can be anything other than dreadful are slim. However, one must have an open mind.

Malichor: "Lurkers in the Crypt"

Flaming thrash metal riffs in a furious black metal environment, enveloped in mystery

Blackened thrash metal has potential to be both extremely energetic and well-composed, but also to be a standardised mish mash of boring riffs and d-beats. Perfected by bands such as Deströyer 666, Aura Noir, Desaster and more, it's a genre where the best are incredible and the rest are usually awful. So where does Malichor fit in with all this? Hailing from Australia, their nationality would suggest that they belong at the top together with D666, Razor of Occam, Gospel of the Horns and Nocturnal Graves.

In many ways Malichor take the high road. Their lovecraftian themes fit the genre very well, but their main strength lies within the music itself. Straight to the core black and thrash in equal amounts, shredding tremolos and rolling d-beats front the riff-fest that is the Lurkers in the Crypt EP. Their recipe for disaster consists of iconic and catchy riffing over a high tempo rhythm section, which in turn is made up of a powerful and audible bass and a drummer with noticable flair and a surplus of energy. D Defiler's vocals, too, show great range in roaring growls and classic rasping.

Dead Hills: "Purgatory / Winds of Time"

Master crafted atmospheres and grey vibes

Australia has a track record of great metal bands, and in a huge variety of subgenres too. Most well known is probably the country-continent's affinity for blackened thrash bands like Deströyer 666, but with big names like Portal, Psycroptic, The Berzerker, Abyssic Hate, Hobbs' Angel of Death, Mortal Sin and more, it's safe to say they know what they're doing down under. Dead Hills, however, is a rare occurence yet. A black metal band at heart, the one-man band rends depressive soundscapes with electronic clouds of ambience and lengthy passages of withering distortion.

Sewercide: "Severe Trauma"

Dynamite Sepultura-thrash from Australia's young hope

Lengthy introductions aside, Sewercide is a 4-piece thrash metal band from Melbourne, Australia. Their genesis was in 2011, but they waste no time, having by 2012 already released this demo - Severe Trauma - and a split with fellow Aussie band Randomorder. Though the two releases combined consist only of 7 minutes of Sewercide, their hails of machine gun rapid fire are plenty effective to make up for it.

Various Artists: "8-Way for Destroy the Music"

Living life on the edge of music

In many ways music has become progressively more aggressive over time. There will always be individuals who seek to push the boundaries, and others asking if we have finally hit rock bottom. With genres like powerviolence and grindcore is it even possible for music to be more extreme without seizing to be music? The bands featured on this split are certainly pushing the limit with their individual mixes of grindcore, noise and droning industrial. They call it noisecore, and the term says it all for this 8-band split album.

Sabretung: "Conquest"

Standardised by enjoyable thrash from down under

Checking all the boxes when composing isn't everything. Sure, thrash metal bands can have shredding guitars, fast drumming and throat-tearing vocals, but it's not all you need. You'll need flow, engagement, aggression and more. Sabretung gives the middle finger to all the black metal-infused thrash bands Australia has become known for with a spell of straight up thrash metal.