NO CLEAN SINGING

(written by Islander) No one in their right mind would leap headfirst into a broad pool of water without knowing whether the landing spot is shallow or deep, toxic or pure, devoid of swimming creatures or loaded with toothsome things that would attack out of sheer vicious reflex. But that’s what we invite you to

(written by Islander) You might see the band whose music is the subject of this premiere identified as Conflux. But the complete name is The Conflux Collective, so-named mainly because the two musicians who initiated the project wanted to bring in a diverse group of extreme vocalists to accompany their compositions. Those two musicians —

Recommended for fans of: Celeste, This Gift Is A Curse, LLNN Call them what you will… Sludge, Post-Metal, “Negative Hardcore”… there’s no question that this band, by any other name, would still sound just as dark and heavy. That name, by the way, is Erdve, and the band in question hail from the balmy Baltic shores of

(written by Islander) This is the final edition of SHADES OF BLACK. The final edition of May 2026! (Sorry if I made you gasp – but I hope I did.) The last day of May marks the end of Spring in the northern hemisphere, at least if you use the common meteorological definition of the

(written by Islander) Here we are again, another day of difficult decisions. Even after the modest head-start I got a couple of days ago, I still found myself staring at dozens of links on my list of new songs and videos. DGR compounded the problem by popping up two days ago with another half-dozen I