The Viking in the Wilderness - reviews and news

Netherlands based band Under The Shadows are out with the album "Thesmophoria" through Finnish label Lion Music, and metal is the style explored on this production. It is a dark and moody slab of atmospheric laden metal we get here, with a talk-like, slightly gritty and world weary sounding vocal catering for major parts of the singing alongside more regular, melodic lead vocals. The songs alternate between more doom-laden passages and traditional heavy metal exploits on one hand and more power metal oriented and occasionally thrash metal flavored excursions on the other. With some fine and elegant guitar solo tidbits, some side steps into gentler, melodic and more atmospheric laden landscapes and the occasional folk music inclusion being a part of the experience too. For some reason or other this album did give me a bit of a retro 80's feel in the mix and sound department, and I'd suspect that those who enjoy the more varied underground metal bands from the mid 1980s...

(36:56; Echozone) Track list: 1. The Hills Have Eyes 4:21 2. Miss Demoness 3:38 3. Blood Orgy 4:36 4. German Zombie Attack 3:59 5. Supersonic Vampire Pussy 3:58 6. Eternal Love 2:47 7. Summoned Them From Their Graves 4:57 8. 1000 Ways To Die 4:17 9. Carnivore 4:23 Line-up: Postel - vocals Holly - guitars Marple - bass Ole - drums   German band Lords of Salem have been around since 2015 or thereabouts from what I can see, and released an initial EP back in 2018. The band have released a small handful of single releases since then, and then signed with German label Echozone for the release of the album "Supersonic Vampire Pussy", which was issued in the spring of 2026. It is the industrial corner of the metal universe that is the chosen habitat of this foursome. The guitar riffs are hard and repetitive, the vocals alternate between being more rough and aggressive and more melodic and controlled, and a wide array of synthesizer sounds and electronic sounds flavor the landscapes ...

(41:09; Act Music) Track list: 1. Window to your World 5:15 2. Helios 4:11 3. Alia's Abandon 4:22 4. Paper Boats 4:11 5. Fallow Tide 2:24 6. Forgotten Friend 4:04 7. A Thread in the Dark 5:23 8. Four Flowers 4:48 9. Submerge 6:31 Line-up: Nick Smart - piano Jordan Smart - saxophone Rob Turner - drums  UK threesome Mammal hands has been a feature in the UK and European music scene for almost 15 years at this point, and following 5 studio albums on the label Gondwana Records the band signed with German label Act Music for their sixth and most recent studio production "Circadia" at the start of 2026. This album is also the first studio production by the band that feature their new drummer Rob Turner. If it is one word that for me defines the compositions we are provided with on this album, then that word is elegant. This isn't a threesome that are all that fond of dramatic displays, but a more subtle, detailed and careful expressive mode of delivery appear to be a key fo...

(34:25; M&O Music) Track list: 1. The Lotus Legacy 1:07 2. Arthefac 4:07 3. Ocean 0:38 4. Les Volontaires 4:26 5. Naga 4:19 6. Purvinituq 0:45 7. Inukshuk 4:10 8. Les Adorateurs du Soleil 4:25 9. Le Silence des Observateurs 1:14 10. Yakushima 4:43 11. Témoins du Déclin 4:31 Line-up: Arianne Fleury - vocals Michel Gagné Bouchard - drums François Kelly - bass Rob Henx - guitars  Canadian band Empire De Mu started out back in 2016, and self released their debut album "Spiritual Demise" 4 years later. With a remastered edition of that album appearing in 2023. Since then the band has signed to French label M&O Music, who released their second album "The Lotus Legacy" It is a tight, firm and hard variety of extreme metal that appear to be the main focus for the landscapes explored on this second full length album by the band. Quick alterations in pace, subtle as well as more overt, is one of the defining aspects of this production, with a sound in general and a gu...

(140:47; Soundologia Records) Track list: 1. Charles Norman Mason: Swagger [for amplified bassoon and fixed media) 10:38 2. Federico Bonacossa: Meta I [for guitar and live electronics] 5:44 3. Federico Bonacossa: Meta II [for guitar and live electronics] 3:36 4. Orlando Jacinto Garcia: Marea Cambiante / Changing Tide [for solo amplified violin] 7:58 5. Daniel Estrada: Life Is [for solo flute] 7:46 6. Dorothy Hindman: Ulterior Motives [for string trio] 2:05 7. Jacob David Sudol: Trefoil Knots / Agemaki [for cello and live electronics] 10:28 8. Russ Spiegel: Circles [for large ensemble] 9:58 9. Atomic Theatre: Within [for vocal, piano, bass, drums, percussion and sampler] 13:07 10. Richard Garet: Residue 10:00 11. Gustavo Matamoros: Anatomia de un Deseo 5:24 12. José Hernández Sánchez: Incantation 8:32 13. Juraj Kojš: Boiling Anew. A Sonic Meditation on Water 7:32 14. Jose Veliz: Do We Control Nature? 5:38 15. Night Foundation: Spirit 8:09 16. Eden Grey: Meditation on a Sequence 10:38 17...

(39:06; From Out There Music) Track list: 1. Frostblad 4:24 2. Good Enough 3:53 3. Tystrup Sø 5:00 4. A Much Simpler Song 5:01 5. And So It Goes 4:46 6. Silent Listener 3:43 7. Chico 3:39 8. Throw It Away 4:43 9. Gratitude 3:57 Line-up: Kasper Tagel - bass Knut Finsrud - drums Søren Bebe - piano Danish composer and musician Søren Bebe is approaching twenty years as a recording and performing artist with Søren Bebe Trio, with nine studio albums to his name and a tenth album set to be released in January 2027. "Gratitude" is the ninth album by him and his trio, and was released in the fall of 2025 on Bandcamp and in early 2026 through Bebe's own label From Out Here Music. It is a delicate affair, this production, where the pace is slow and very deliberately so, and the focus appears to be on creating distinct moods and atmospheres with emotional associations more than anything else. The piano is the clear lead instrument all the way through, delivering both careful and vuln...

(57:18; Rockwall Records) Track list: 1. Light Years From Here 3:50 2. Ridin' 3:51 3. We Will Be Rockin' On 3:47 4. First Nations Rock 3:37 5. Another Treason 3:50 6. Comin' Home 3:39 7. To the Edge of the World 4:37 8. All Through the Night 3:59 9. Fire! 2:44 10. There Comes a Time 5:09 11. The World's on Fire 3:20 12. I Still Can't Say Good-Bye 3:38 13. Back to Back 4:34 14. Shout It Out 6:43 Line-up: Michael Sommerhoff - Vocals, guitars Peter Wagner - vocals, guitars Tom Frerich - keybaords, vocals Jens Heisterhagen - bass Dirk Sengotta - drums with: Peter Koobs - vocals, guitars Stefan Kaufmann - guitars German band Piledriver has been a feature in the European rock and hard rock scene since the middle of the 1990s, initially being a straight up Status Quo cover band but then segueing over to explore their own blend of classic rock and classic era hard rock style and expression. "First Nations Rock" is their most recent studio production, and was relea...

(40:17; Fastball Music) Track list: 1. No Pain No Gain 4:16 2. Welcome to the Doez 3:48 3. 10.000 Days 4:05 4. Dark 4:13 5. Solitude 3:30 6. Lost in Thoughts 3:35 7. The Deep 3:56 8. Join the Party 3:37 9. Independent 3:46 10. Come Fly with Me 3:21 11. Cookie Doe 2:10 Line-up: Chriz Doe - vocals Henny - drums, backing vocals Gerrit - guitars, bass Kevin - keyboards German band Chriz Doe was formed back in 2022, and since then the band have had some live gigs along the way, including some nice support slots for somewhat better known bands. Along the way they have also released a succession of singles. In the late fall season of 2025 they released their debut album "Cookie Doe" through German label Fastball Records. I suspect that the best description to give the music explored on this album is alternative metal. Not because the sounds explored are all that alternative as such, but rather due to a specific type of style combination that is a recurring element throughout this pr...

(30:31; Neuma Records) Track list: 1. Everything Is Green 11:55 2. Scott Somebody 7:40 3. Native Tongues 10:56 Line-up: Emily Duncan - flute Randall Woolf - composer with: David Foster Wallace - text Kathleen Supove - piano Rinde Eckert - voice Sara Wendt - vocals Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim - violin Jocelyn Zhu - violin Jay Julio - viola Drake Driscoll - cello Tyler Vittoria - bass Zach Nicely - conductor US musician Emily Duncan has collaborated with US composer Randall Woolf to create material for her debut album "Woolf at the Door", a production that was released through US label Neuma Records in the summer of 2025. Duncan is an upcoming musician specializing in the flute as her instrument, while composer Woolf is a seasoned hand in the US music scene. The three compositions that Duncan explores alongside various musicians here are all unique in their own way, but also share some common properties. Where the main of the denominators is that they all probably could be describe...

(62:24; M & O Music) Track list: 1. Genesis 0:28 2. The Sun Will No Longer Rise 5:55 3. An Overview of the Great Beyond 6:15 4. Far Away From My Precious Life 4:37 5. Worst Day of Your Life... Best Time of My Day 5:50 6. Birth of the Goodness 4:07 7. Prelude to the Shrouded Path 1:34 8. A Gathering for All Wasted Souls 6:47 9. Larvatus Prodeo 5:09 10. Ad Nauseam 5:41 11. Hunting the Hunter 4:48 12. Homo Patiens 4:02 13. Verses of the Final Purge 7:11 Line-up: Alexandre Manin - vocals Alexandre Moulin - bass Matthieu Laforet - guitars Laurent Couarraze - guitars Romain Charbonnier - drums French band Hellixxir can celebrate their 25th anniversary this year, at least if the information on the Metal Archives website is trustworthy. It would appear that the band have had some spells of inactivity during all those years though, which may be the reason for why this band as of 2026 only have four full length albums to their name. The most recent of these is "Beyond the Frame", w...

(46:22; Losen Records) Track list: 1. Backlash of Uncertainty 8:10 2. The Other Route That Wasn't There 8:20 3. Nine Bridges in Königsberg 9:15 4. Temporary Shunt 8:34 5. Occam's Razor 12:03 Line-up: Lorenzo De Finti - piano Alberto Mandarini - trumpet, flugelhorn Stefano Dall´Ora - bass Marco Castiglioni - drums  Italian artist Lorenzo De Finti has been releasing albums at a steady pace ever since his first album "Colors of Life" appeared back in 2013, and to date he has six albums to his name, four of which has been released under the band moniker Lorenzo De Finti Qrt. The most recent of these, "Backlash of Uncertainty", was issued in the late fall of 2025 through the Norwegian label Losen Records. Instrumental jazz is the name of the game for the landscapes explored on this production, and it is an inviting and generally appealing universe we are taken into on this occasion. De Finti's piano, rather unsurprisingly, does have a central position in thes...

(43:42; M & O Music) Track list: 1. Strangled 3:31 2. Senseless Atrocity 3:14 3. Take this Fist 3:38 4. Overflowing Anger 3:52 5. Say Goodbye 3:58 6. My Living Nightmare 3:16 7. Pain Addiction 4:29 8. Aych 3:00 9. Surrender and Kneel 3:04 10. Suffer 3:53 11. Wont Be Wrong 4:00 12. Pain Addiction [Acoustic] 3:47 Line-up: Ivan Magnani - vocals, bass Edoardo Friese - drums Andrea Llvi - guitars Gabriele Turco - guitars Italian band Hateseed is a fairly new addition to the Italian music scene, as the band was formed as recently as in 2023. Following an initial EP and single that was self released by the band they signed with French label M & O Music for the release of their debut album "Rising Through Decay" in the late fall of 2025. Good, old thrash metal is what we get with this production, with more of a no frills approach to the art of thrash metal. The guitar sound is big and somewhat primal, with chugging and circulating patterns alternating with impact riff flavore...

(50:36; Particular Recordings) Track list: 1. Tracking 6:47 2. Omaha 5:03 3. Trondheim I 6:27 4. Trondheim II 4:48 5. Traces 1:07 6. Trondheim III 5:57 7. January 4:29 8. Spiral 8:51 9. Four Refractions 7:07 Line-up: Alex Ventling - piano, synthesizer Tuva Halse - violin Amund Stenøien - vibraphone August Glännestrand - drums, programming with: Sissel Vera Pettersen - vocals Composer and musician Alex Ventling is a New Zealand artist who is currently based out of Norway. As a solo artist he has three studio productions to his name, and as the first of these appeared as recently as in 2023 one might expect a lot more to come from this international jazz artist. "Wavemakers" is his third and most recent album so far, and was released through the Particular Recordings Collective in December 2025. This is an album recorded in Norway and with mainly Norwegian musicians from what I can see, and it is an album that comes with what I'd describe as more than a little bit of Scandi...

(22:31; Demons Run Amok Entertainment / Cargo Records) Track list: 1. Dump 2:21 2. Darker Truth 2:35 3. The Pain You Hide 1:58 4. Burning Soul 1:58 5. Fallen Heroes 2:25 6. The Oath 2:04 7. Lost Fight 2:17 8. Deep Down 2:21 9. Far Side 2:09 10. Unleashed 2:23 Line-up: Cam - drums Kevin - bass David - guitars Pec - guitars Phil - vocals French band Huntdown was formed in 2022, and following an initial demo in 2023 and an EP released later that year, the band released their debut album "This Is War" in the fall of 2025 through the labels Demons Run Amok Entertainment and Cargo Records respectively. This band is a self-described hardcore unit, although from my perception at least they may as well be described as a crossover thrash metal band. Arguably with a bit more emphasis on the hardcore part than on the thrash metal aspects, but in my view at least both are very much present. The songs do stick to the hardcore approach in terms of structure. Short and concise is the order o...

(42:46; Fastball Music) Track list: 1. Thermometer 3:48 2. Zombie 5:02 3. Welcome Motherfucker 3:08 4. Super Pxrnx 3:01 5. Psiocótico 3:47 6. Preludio 2:57 7. Voces Internas 3:27 8. Horizonte Sistema 3:17 9. Esquizofrénico 3:22 10. El Fin 4:36 11. El Cielo 5:26 12. Bass Interlude 0:55 Line-up: Diego Carabajal - vocals Milan Tajdic - guitars Simon Koesling - drums Wolle van Hogh - bass German band Need2Destroy have been around since at least 2010, and have built up a solid CV as a live band over the years from what I can see. Their studio output has been a bit more rare, with their debut album appearing in 2019 and then in the late fall of 2025 they released their sophomore production "Anti" through German label Fastball Music. It is a bit of an interesting one this album, and probably one that warrants the alternative sticker applied to it. With the core sound of the band languishing around the border between hard rock and heavy metal. With some caveats and exceptions here an...

(43:27; Earshift Music) Track list: 1. Full Moon 3:28 2. Futures 3:47 3. The Great Wave Off Kanagawa 4:23 4. Resonance 7:03 5. Lexicon Quarter 2:32 6. Perpetual Motion 4:02 7. Impermanence 4:25 8. Ephemeral Dance 2:49 9. Tides 6:21 10. From Now On 4:37 Line-up: Jeremy Rose - saxophones, clarinets, effects Novak Manojlovic - keyboard, synthesizers Ben Carey - synthesizers Tully Ryan - drums  Australian artist Jeremy Rose has been an active recording and performing artist for more than 20 years at this point, involved in a number of different projects and bands as well as being an active solo artist. His most recent album is "Infinity II", which was released through the label Earshift Music in the late fall of 2025. I see from the liner notes that the material on this album was recorded live, and while I do not actually know if this is the case I do get a distinct association towards this being material with at least some improvised traits. Most likely not full on improvisation...

(41:57; In the Flesh Record Company) Track list: 1. Monk's Dream 4:46 2. Ask Me Now 3:57 3. Ricochet 3:29 4. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning 5:54 5. Smog Eyes 1:15 6. Goodbye 3:06 7. Tricotism 2:19 8. Lennie's Pennies 3:14 9. We See 2:55 10. Well You Needn't 4:21 11. A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing 6:42 Line-up: Kristoffer Vejslev - guitars Martin Brunbjerg Rasmussen - bass Rasmus Elhøj Jensen - drums with: Rudi Mahall - bass clarinet Hannes Bennich - alto saxophone Simon Toldam - piano Danish threesome Vejslev, Brunbjerg  and Elhöj are described as a trio that have been playing together for quite a few years, in a manner described as an intense collaboration. They haven't had the chance to document this however, but in 2025 they hit the recording studio to create their debut album "It's a Riot!", which was released in the late fall of 2025 through the label In the Flesh Record Company. What this trio and their guest musicians have to offer us here is a...

(44:19; Hobby Horse Records) Track list: 1. Intro 2:59 2. Blues for Teitelbaum 6:02 3. Intermezzo No1 2:07 4. Nobility 5:27 5. Paul`s Idea 3:34 6. Intermezzo No2 1:49 7. S/H 4:46 8. For the Love of Wisdom 4:41 9. Sand 5:48 10. Bringer of Light 7:06 Line-up: Erik Kimestad - trumpet Mads Hyhne - trombone Richard Andersson - double bass Jakob Høyer - drums Denmark based quartet Omrum is, from what I understand, a fairly recent constellation in the Scandinavian jazz scene, with three Danish musicians and one Norwegian artist joining forces to form this band. They released their debut album "Bringer of Light" through Danish label Hobby Horse Records in the late fall of 2025. Jazz is the style explored on this production, with a quartet consisting of bass, drums, trumpet and trombone. This is an all instrumental affair in other words, delivered by a band that appear to be fond of a more inviting take on what I'd describe as expressive, instrumental jazz. These compositions will...

(60:36; Echozone) Track list: 1. Don't Wake Up 3:52 2. Sister feat. Conscience 4:00 3. Say It and Stay with Me 4:23 4. Paméla Amen 4:16 5. Heart of Gold 3:06 6. Der Westliche Mann 3:51 7. Dad 3:34 8. Peace Is a Wonder 4:38 9. Through the Windows 3:12 10. Leave My Dreams 4:00 11. Mom 4:02 12. Kosmonaut 4:32 13. An Angel on Earth 3:52 14. In the Fire 4:56 15. A Beautiful Day in Autumn 4:22 Line-up: Projekt Ich - vocals, instruments with: Alex Braun Frecuencias Ocultas  Lisa Pung Maxi Goudi Madil Hardis  Ottoextrem Annabelle  Conscience  Arsine Tibé  Stian Shiver  Suzanne Letting  Manuel Trabucco - saxophones, horns German venture Projekt Ich is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Ulf Möller, and over the past 15 years or so he has released a number of albums under this moniker. The most recent of these is the album "A Beautiful Day in Autumn", which was issued through German label Echozone in the fall of 2025. To my ears it is a rather retro-or...

(41:12; Fastball Music) Track list: 1. High and Above 4:01 2. Room to Breathe 3:57 3. Louder Than Words 4:05 4. Chasing the Sun 4:32 5. Kingdom 3:57 6. Your Chains 3:57 7. Afterlife 3:34 8. Twisted Love 4:20 9. Heartattack 3:48 10. Black and Gray 5:00 Line-up: Zoran Misic - vocals Veit Schlembach - drums Dani Davis - guitars Adnan Basic - guitars Chris Buchberger - bass with: Michael Wagner - guitars Vinnie Colla - bass Jona Raischl - keyboards, organ David Bertok - piano, keyboards Germany based band Bad Rain is a recent addition to the German rock scene. Initially a solo project, this venture soon turned into a proper band and in the fall of 2025 they released their debut album "Louder Than Words" through German label Fastball Music. This is one of those bands that know their way round 1970's hard rock extremely well I would imagine, and have opted to give this classic sound a little bit of an update and makeover. Pulling it a bit closer to the post-millennium era in te...