🔥BEWARE OF THE DUNGEON MASTER(S)🔥

June 19 is not only the release day of our third album ETERNAL DAGGER, but finally our debut album DUNGEON MASTERS will finally see its first re-press on vinyl and CD!

For obvious reasons, this album holds a special place in our hearts. It also contains some of the absolute fan favourites like Black Magic Spells, Born under the Tower, or Heavy Metal Generation.

We recorded the album at the legendary Toxomusic Studio in Koblenz, the same place Cruel Force recorded their debut album THE RISE OF SATANIC MIGHT. #HeavyMetal #IronKobra #SpeedMetal #DungeonMasters #CruelForce #metal

German black/thrash/heavy metal trio Witching Hour return for your soul, eight long years since their last outburst ...and Silent Grief Shadows the Passing Moon. Alongside contemporaries like Nocturnal, Cruel Force, and Manzer, Witching Hour’s recent output has been well-received by critics and audiences alike. This puts the upcoming Decending… Where Time Has Ceased to Exist, Witching Hour’s fourth release in 20 years, in a prime position to compete well in its field. Will Descent… lead to greatness or will Witching Hour fumble the landing?

In some ways, they’ve threatened both. Witching Hour are an incredibly talented bunch, deftly straddling fences between black metal char, heavy metal righteousness, and thrash metal vitriol. Descending…’s warm and natural tones enhance these qualities, presenting a product that is easy on the ear while deadly to the spine. Songs build around long-form structures, with the shortest cut measuring over six minutes (not counting the fluffy instrumental intro), but overall runtime slots in at a tight 43 minutes. This makes repeat listens easy to approach. Sounds like everything is in place to secure a high score on the board, right?

Unfortunately, the songwriting lets Descending… down. Witching Hour’s latest epic suffers the same flaw as its predecessor: a lack of compositional dynamics and an overabundance of recycled parts. Each song taken out of the whole makes a compelling case. “Where Time Has Ceased to Exist” sets the bar quite high for the rest of the record, churning with a heavy metal swagger and roaring with spirit through epic leads, scorching tremolos, and thrashy switch-ups. Similarly, “Profane Resurrection of a Presumed Dead” hooks its claws into the brain with an insidious chorus bark and fiery guitar and percussion work. However, when unified as a whole, it’s all too easy to interchange phrases and measures between songs without fragmenting the experience. I can place my mark on two opposite sides—and stick a couple more pins in the center—and the same riffing motif, similar leads and flourishes, suspiciously familiar vocal runs, and the exact same bass-snare alternation greet me.

Doubly damning, epic 11-minute closer “…and Then Came the Flames” showcases all of these issues in a microcosm, establishing a concise summary of everything heard thus far. And just like the others, taken out of the album context, the song rocks. Reminiscent of the same kind of grand, hellish adventure that Bütcher so gloriously captures on 666 Goats Carry My Chariot, “…and Then Came the Flames” feels complete, exciting, and wild, at least at first. As the track progresses, recycled parts and pieces cheapen the experience until I’m desperate to jump off the boat as it reaches shore. This mirrors my experience with the album as a whole. Fun and entertaining in the initial throes, it becomes a slog to get through in remarkably short order. By the time the closer wraps up, I’ve heard multiple iterations of the same ideas, spliced and arranged to deceive me into believing, if only for a moment, that I could pick any of these songs (minus the opener proper) out of a lineup without a cheat sheet.

Confounding as it is, Witching Hour represents a clash between having great ideas and writing songs that don’t adequately support or develop them. Instead, Descending… drops their best work into a sea of repetitive structures and monotonous bloat in the hopes that observers might then discern and appreciate them. With at least a half dozen spins under my belt at the time of writing, I did indeed find worthy gems to take home—and when isolated from the collection, those gems really sparkle. However, those rewards don’t quite justify the expanse of fluff and drag that bog Descending… down. In another world where Witching Hour invoked a greater variety of techniques, tempos, and textures to fortify their compositions and bring reliability to excitement, this record would’ve been a barnburner. As it is, it never truly catches fire, and leaves me wanting.

Rating: Disappointing…
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 22nd, 2026

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on #KEXP's #SeekAndDestroy

Cruel Force:
🎵 Sword of Iron

#CruelForce
#newRelease 🆕 album

https://cruelforceofficial.bandcamp.com/track/sword-of-iron

https://open.spotify.com/track/3gzlrkyqM6XqFDunwNG9il

Evolution. It’s one of those principles that seems to undergird just about every aspect of existence in this universe. As students of our most favorite of genres, we often speak about the “evolution of heavy metal” and how it has birthed a plethora of subgenres of varying degrees of viability. While some of these subgenres carry enough useful traits to become long-lasting pillars in the monument of heavy metal, others seem to serve the role of transitional forms or “missing links” between more well-known styles. Case in point: speed metal. Often seen as a momentary stop on metal’s journey from traditional to thrash, relatively few bands have built a career on speed alone. Acts who start with speed metal (many early thrash bands and power metal bands, especially) often incorporate other elements or transition to something else entirely. While this may be the general trend in metal’s history, Germany’s Cruel Force says, “Fuck that.”

Formed back in the late aughts as a blackened thrash/speed metal band, Cruel Force regrouped after a long hiatus, reinventing themselves as a pure and simple speed metal band with 2023’s Dawn of the Axe, an album that impressed me enough to earn a spot on my list of honorable mentions for that year. Well, if that was the dawn of the axe, 2026’s Haneda is the reign of the axe, an axe that has been meticulously honed and polished to the point of being as beautiful as it is lethal. I’d suggest doing a proper warmup before pressing play on the embedded “Whips-A-Swinging,” because severe neck damage is all but inevitable.

Haneda by CRUEL FORCE

In fact, Haneda should have come with a warning from the surgeon general stating something like, “May cause permanent stank face. May cause carpal tunnel syndrome secondary to excessive involuntary air guitar. May cause the user to run through walls, laugh maniacally at inappropriate times, or punch strangers in the face. Do not use while operating motor vehicles, as dangerous and irreversible acceleration has occurred. User may also feel the urge to destroy said vehicle with their bare hands, Street Fighter style.” And that’s just my experience with the record these maniacs have produced. Guitarist Slaughter absolutely lives up to his name, slaying all before him with unbelievable rhythm skills and classic metal leads, while Spider’s fingers crawl across his bass fretboard in an effort to keep up. Carnivore feasts, delivering a timeless, thrashy vocal performance that suits the music oh so well, but MVP honors go to drummer GG Alex, whose incessant fills have managed to become a hallmark of Cruel Force’s sound.

The prospect of 42 minutes of speed metal probably doesn’t sound all that special or exciting, but in Cruel Force’s capable hands, Haneda has managed to transcend the genre’s ham-fisted, beer-guzzling stereotype to create something truly special. The compositions are incredible, ranging from 4-minute rippers like “Whips-A-Swinging,” “Savage Gods,” “Sword of Iron,” and “Black Talon,” stretching into more complex work like “Warlords” or the album’s instrumental centerpiece “Crystal Skull,” and finishing in grand fashion with the epic, 9-minute, Song o’ the Year-frontrunning title track. Every song features wild, yet somehow graceful transitions and killer grooves, and the production is simply beautiful, proving that an album can sound authentically old and brutal while simultaneously feeling cultured and refined. I’m honestly still in shock from how hard this album hit me; what on first listen felt like just a really good speed metal album has revealed itself to be utterly excellent.

To finish my musings on evolution, Haneda sounds like a handful of speed metal bands become isolated on an island that drifted away from mainland Metal millions of years ago (let’s call this island ‘Metalgascar’) and whose progeny have spent the intervening time adapting and mutating without any other external musical influence. Where mainland Metal achieved heaviness through ever more extreme vocalization, down-tuning, and genre bastardization, Metalgascar developed its heaviness through ever-increasing speed and compositional quality. Far from being some hunched-over figure towards the beginning of heavy metal’s March of Progress, speed metal, in the form of Cruel Force, has achieved its final form, becoming Homo deus, the Übermensch, the Gigachad, or as the kids say these days, “he’s him” (or “she’s her,” or “they’re them,” if you prefer). This fantastic record will undoubtedly be on my year-end list (if not atop it), because I doubt that 2026 can produce something that’s more quintessentially metal.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Shadow Kingdom Records
Websites: cruelforce.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/cruelforce
Releases Worldwide: March 27th, 2026

Ich habe heute schon ein frühes Freitagspaket bekommen und darf deshalb die neue LP „Haneda“ von #CruelForce bereits hören - very Heavy, very Metal, very Speed. Und ich liebe den Drumsound, diese Kaskaden auf den Toms, herrlich!

#nowplaying #vinyl #heavymetal

Review: Cruel Force “Haneda”

Release date: 27 March 2026

Label: Shadow Kingdom Records

Gage J. Tolin

SHADOW KINGDOM RECORDS is proud to present CRUEL FORCE’s highly anticipated fourth album, Haneda, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.

Truest of the true, Germany’s CRUEL FORCE burst onto the scene in 2008 with the Into the Crypts… demo. While many have tried to emulate the ancient German (black)thrash sound, CRUEL FORCE brimmed with an authenticity that could not be denied, as well as songwriting that added to that noble tradition rather than lazily picking at its corpse. Their two successive albums, 2010’s The Rise of Satanic Might and 2011’s Under the Sign of the Moon, made CRUEL FORCE a certifiably CULT name in the international metal underground. Sadly, the band fell into a hiatus following that second album, but returned reinvigorated with the comeback 7″ EP Across the Styx in 2022 and, a year later, the glorious full-length Dawn of the Axe at the hands of new label home SHADOW KINGDOM.

Continuing to make up for lost time, CRUEL FORCE storm back with swords gleaming high on their fourth full-length, Haneda. Where a line could be drawn between the band’s “first era” of The Rise of Satanic Might / Under the Sign of the Moon, so continues this Second Era that began with Dawn of the Axe – one that harkens to the “Jurassic period” of heavy metal, when everything was rawer, less polished, and more energetic and powerful. As displayed by that pivotal predecessor, Haneda further proves that CRUEL FORCE are more so an old-style speed metal band, largely bereft of that blackened edge during their First Era. The tradeoff is that there’s a prominent mysticism coursing through that speed, and the blue-collared aspect of Dawn of the Axe is now spit-shined to a lethal slickness that makes Haneda hit that much harder.

However, it must be stressed that, while it follows logically from Dawn of the Axe, Haneda is very much its own headspace, its own continuation of a still-vital aesthetic. At times more epic, exuding both more and different atmospheres, CRUEL FORCE here take the listener on a journey from old temples to desert planes, from deep jungles to mountain tops, and other mysterious locales beyond; indeed, the whole record is like a journey through mystical realms. Although no concept album, Haneda is very conceptual in its aesthetics, even down to its production: BIG and natural-toned, from the guitars to especially the drums, everything here is as ’80s and authentic as possible, underlining those days when it was imperative to have a massive-sounding record. 

“To us, it often feels like what Rainbow / Dio would have sounded if they’d played speed metal!” state the band, and with its neoclassical moments plus tasteful references to Eastern European metal, Haneda locates that unique melting-pot of the thrashing rage of classic Kreator, Deathrow, Razor, Piledriver, and Powerlord meeting the grandeur of equally-classic Rainbow, Iron Maiden, and Virgin Steele. Again, this is AUTHENTIC as it gets!

With whips a-swinging, the warlords of CRUEL FORCE wield the Sword of Iron and await the Titan’s awakening. Dare you venture into Haneda and disturb the Savage Gods on the way to the Crystal Skull?

Line-Up
Carnivore- Guitars
Slaughter- Vocals
GG Alex- Drums
Spider- Bass

Review

“The Cross”, our slightly over a minute intro, erupted from the onset with some solidly melodic guitars and an overall rhythm that felt like the build up to something big.

“Whips-A-Swinging” desecrates and defiles the aforementioned melody right out of the gate with thundering double bass, drummer GG Alex is all over the place here (in a good way). The recurrent drumroll is such a nice touch to add another layer to the drumming. Carnivore’s vocals felt a bit more melodic as well, compared to the rest of Cruel Force’s discography and especially their early work. Slaughter and Spider, on guitar and bass respectively, really hold things down with some incredible riffing throughout. Spider, in particular, is ravenous at keeping up a nasty groove. This was an excellent piece of blackened thrash for about the first two or so minutes, and then there’s an insanely funky breakdown that really moved it into the next level.

With a downright malicious riff to start, “Savage Gods” wasted little time in getting to the point. There’s a freneticism here that a lot of modern speed/thrash tends to sorely lack, but Cruel Force has it here in spades. Once again, GG is destroying the drumkit like they owe him money (or blood). While the chorus was a bit hookier than I’d anticipated, it was a total earworm. That first call-out of the track title hits like a bulldozer! For the guitar solo in this one, there was a sense of neo-classical playing (a la Randy Rhoads), adding another layer to this Satanic onslaught. Also mega props for the Big Rock Ending, Rock Band style!

“Sword of Iron” let loose with another dastardly riff and some more incredible drumming (the mixing on the drums is perfection). Notably, there’s less of a black metal influence on this one and more straight up speed/thrash metal. The addition of the background choir at around 1:30 to back-up the outstanding guitar solo was peak stuff, really structured like some old school 80s metal. It actually felt like to belonged and not like a tacked on nostalgia tug, and it really propelled the track up a notch. For the final minute, the choir returns for a second guitar solo before the fadeout. If I had any complains for this one, it’s that it wasn’t long enough, and it was still 4 minutes long.

“Crystal Skull” began with an Indian-style introduction, complete with the perennially underutilized sitar. It was brief but it did a lot to build ambiance for the forthcoming track. Similarly, the tempo of the main riff was so uniquely odd that I found myself enthralled by it. Not even anything unbelievably complex, it was just cool sounding. This was an instrumental track that featured great riff after great riff, along with the incredible drumming that had become commonplace. It’d be nearly impossible for me to pick out a favorite riff or sequence, but the portion near the 3 minute mark where things slow down into something that made me think of deserts (and Ancient Egypt?) was a particular highlight. I normally never know what to say with instrumentals, but this one was absolutely mental.

https://youtu.be/Btshd3iX1yw

At 6 and a half minutes long, “Warlords” was the first of two lengthier tracks and it began with a great headbanger of a riff. Spider’s basslines shine through the darkened haze, with each pluck of the string striking like cannon fire. GG Alex’s incredible drumming persists, in particular with the section at 4:30. As is customary for Cruel Force, littered throughout the track were many more ace quality riffs. I must also commend their keeping of the frenzied nature of much of their riffs, just because the song is a bit slower, doesn’t mean Cruel Force is any less deadly. While it didn’t quite grip me as firmly as the other tracks thus far, this was still an absolute banger, and it’s nice to see Cruel Force slow things a bit and make a more straight-up heavy metal song.

“Black Talon” featured a monumentally gripping main riff that I couldn’t help but headbang along with. Carnivore’s delivery in this one had a particular venom attached to it as well, as if he was cursing the listener. In terms of vibes, this one reminded me a lot of early Slayer (particularly Hell Awaits era, aka best Slayer era). Again though, Cruel Force’s ability to juggle the ferocity of blackened speed metal with a refined sense of melody that is often lost for many black/speed bands is to celebrated. I wish I could say more about this one, but I can’t get that riff out of my head.

With a main riff that felt almost discordant, “Titan’s Awakening” began with a sense of evil and foreboding. The first two minutes or so of this one was already incredible black/speed goodness, but the riff at that 2 minute mark was like the part in Total Recall when that dude’s head blows up (it was cool). But then Cruel Force hits me once again with an insane chugging riff and then a sizzling groove with a bit of guitar solo over it. Yeah, this was insane stuff. The final half of this track is some of the best stuff on the entire album, and maybe even in Cruel Force’s entire discography thus far (that’s a high bar though haha).

Finally we come to “Haneda”, our title track and the longest of the album at a whopping 9 minutes. That fact alone had my interest piqued (I love long thrash songs, what can I say). As you’d expect, there’s a bit of a build up to kick things off with the traditional ‘clap-along-to-the-beat’ drum/bass combo, but this ain’t hard rock, this is f*ckin’ speed metal baby and there’s a sort of thunder behind every crash of the drums before the guitars erupt into a frenzy. The delivery of the chorus is glorious stuff as well, band chant sequences will always get me, and Carnivore even gets an ‘Eugh!’ moment. The midway point of the song brought things back down to Earth (Hell?) with a slower and more melodic bridge section that also saw a return of the drum/bass sequence from the intro. An appropriate final track to be sure, everything that worked throughout the album all came together for a bonafide opus of epic proportions.

Conclusion

Cruel Force returned in 2021 with arguably their best work to date in Dawn of the Axe, but I have to say that I think that title is up for contention with Haneda. While longtime fans might malign the less overt black metal influences in favor of the more speed/power tinged areas, Cruel Force has shown that they’re not just another in the long ass line of Bathory/Venom clones. Instead they’re something unique and while they still proudly wave their love of those early black metal legends, their ability to also dive into the wellspring of their influences and immerse their sound and style into their own identity is something to behold. After all, if every metal genre were a color on a painter’s palette, you’d have to combine them all to get black.

TheNwothm Score: 9/10

Links

Bandcamp: https://cruelforceofficial.bandcamp.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cruelforce

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cruelforceofficial/

Label: https://www.shadowkingdomrecords.com/

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