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This Minnesota
band creates and plays ultra technical deathrash metal that is
usually paced at breakneck speed too. I mean this is some high level
stuff my friends. I am surprised listening to the high end and
crafty musicianship that the members past bands (which seem to be
more local Minnesota scene bands) are not ones I have heard of
before, because they come across as talented seasoned musicians. I
have to say in my view that it is not just technicality for
technicality sakes here most of the time either, it is not wanking,
and there is actual song flow and emotion in there. Which is not an
easy thing to convey within such intricate and high velocity song
structuring. There is so much going on in these songs at soaring
speeds, it is very intricate but also there is a memorability factor
to the music, it is heavy and you can headbang to it, which again
speaks to the flow that I find important with bands that play techno
metal. The drumming on here does not take a backseat to the amazing
nuanced guitar showcase; the drums have their own impressive and
elaborate web of patterns while staying extremely powerful. Another
area that can get overlooked with this style are the vocals, which
are very decipherable gruff growls that possess some range, and
manage express an array of emotion reminding me to the great later
day Shuldiner vocals in Death. Technical death metal bands have been
on the rise in recent years, now it is great in my opinion, that
some talented deathrash bands like Obsolete are also starting to
take up the mantle. Fans of bands like Disciples Of Power,
Demolition Hammer, Coroner, Hellwitch, Theory In Practice, StarGazer,
Cynic, Sadus, later day Death and the like should really dig this
marvelous debut album. - Dale
https://unspeakableaxerecords.bandcamp.com/
http://www.unspeakableaxerecords.com/
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I have been a
devoted follower of the Quebec (Canada) death metal scene for a
very, very long time. How long? Well I had a few different tape
traders I regularly traded with from Quebec from the early ‘90s and
throughout the decade. One of those traders (Alexis Gagnon RIP) was
an avid UG gig attendee and made quality recordings of gigs on a
weekly basis, and collected video of the same, so I had literally
around one hundred audio and video recordings of most UG bands from
that province in my collection at one point. I ordered many demo
tapes from bands (for example Lord Mortis, Dislocation, Necrotic
Mutation, Gorguts (1990 demo tape) etc...). I wrote for a fanzine
from there and I even helped facilitate three dates to fill in the
gap (the guitarist told at the time the tour may have fallen apart
otherwise) of Cryptopsy’s first Canadian tour to promote their as
yet unreleased debut album “Blasphemy Made Flesh”. I know I am
rambling here, but the flood of memories is overwhelming me right
now, I could go on and on. But let’s turn our attention to Obvurt,
who despite this being their debut release have some interesting
history already. As this band started out as a solo project for main
man Philippe Drouin, who was then in a car accident that badly
damaged the dexterity of his right (playing hand), and he ended up
re-teaching himself to play left handed player. That is impressive,
and since doing that he has filled out Obvurt with band members
Samuel Santiago (Agony, ex-Gorod, ex-Black March) on drums and on
bass guitar Olivier Pinard (Cryptopsy, Cattle Decapitation, Akurion,
Neuraxis). The music on here is semi-technical and very brutal death
metal with that great old Quebecios traditional base I have enjoyed
so much through these decades. It is not all brutality and blast
beats though, as there are some stretches where they just let a
memorable riff go for a bit of a walk and mix in some brief darkly
emotive guitar fills and the odd manic succinct guitar solo. There
is definitely a ‘90s feel to a lot of the songwriting, but there are
moments that nod to the current movement in the UG scene with a lot
of the technical brutal dm bands as well. The material on here is
not stupefying in it’s greatness, yet it really is some strong
headbanging, pit inducing skillful death metal barbarity that many
diehards will appreciate. - Dale
https://www.indiemerch.com/obvurt
https://brutalmind.bandcamp.com
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Ocutos is a solo
project coming out of Brazil's black metal scene, and this is a
review of the debut demo that is getting a CD pressing for the first
time. ‘Cult Of The Witch’ contains a intro and outro, along with
three full length songs, which is essentially their demo plus a
seven minute bonus song. The release starts off with a short the
intro, which consists of drums and nature sounds. The first song is
“Goat And The Moon” that starts off with some semi fast guitars and
drums, accompanied by raspy, raw black metal screams and screeches.
The title track is up next and is a little faster paced with fast
paced guitars, and drumming that is executed with intensity and
blasting strikes. The vocals are more raw, grim black metal screams
that fit the music perfectly. After the outro comes their is a bonus
song "The Lunatic Melancholy”, which is a slower mid paced song that
is created and delivered very well musicially. Ocutos plays satanic
old school black metal that is expressed through some strong
memorable passages. If you are a fan of black metal, then I highly
recommend picking up a copy of ‘Cult Of The Witch’ today. -
Patrick
https://plaguedemonrecords.storenvy.com/
https://bchrecords.storenvy.com/
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Old Pagan are a
band coming out of the German black metal scene. ‘She Loves The
Pain’ is the bands newest and fifth full length release in the bands
twenty five year career. The music features skillful writing ability
that mixes both fast paced and a more controlled mid paced range in
the songs. The guitars are played with aggressive, fast patterns
that are executed with high intensity and destructive guitar parts.
The guitars do slow to a more mid tempoed range throughout the songs
even adding in some memorable passages. The vocals are a mix of grim
black metal screams and some gruff old school growls are used
throughout the recording and that fit Old Pagan's music perfectly.
The drums are done with powerful and furious drumming that is
delivered with excellent drum patterns. If you are a fan of Old
Pagan's previous releases then do not miss out on ‘She Loves The
Pain’ it will please both long time fans and new ones that are into
quality dark black metal. - Patrick
https://www.facebook.com/groups/oldpagan
https://plaguedemonrecords.storenvy.com/
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Order Of
Nosferat are an international duo with members from Germany and
Finland, ‘Arrival Of The Plague Bearer’ is the bands second release
that showcases the bands ability to compose both dark, atmospheric
passages and some grim traditional black metal elements to give the
band their own style and sound. Usually I am not a fan of keyboards
in black metal, but the band uses them to add another layer to the
music and to give the music a dark and eerie sound. The two tracks
that stick out to me are "Followed Path Of The Carpathian Wolves",
which does a great job of showcasing the bands ability to write
harsh black metal along with some slower more melodic passages mixed
into the structure of the song. “Beyond Pitch Black Woodlands” is
delivered with a more aggressive harsh black metal approach, but the
song does add a good amount of atmosphere and slower more controlled
patterns to give the song a mix of harsh and atmospheric blackness.
- Patrick
https://www.facebook.com/Order-of-Nosferat
www.purity-through-fire.com
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I reviewed a
re-release of this bands 2005 demo tape about five years ago, which
was also through Nihilistic Holocaust. The label has decided to
finish re-releasing the bands entire catalog with ‘Mortes Fables’,
the bands debut album from 2010 and their final output. Ossuaire
produce dirty and obscure sounding death metal with definite roots
in the embryonic years of the genre. I like the murky ambiance that
saturates the entire album; it is a strong feeling gloom and
suffocating darkness. While listening to this I get an impression of
a more stripped down, slightly less technical sound similar to the
early works of bands like Immolation, Incantation, Suffocation,
Gorguts etc… They have some good riffs that propel some middle to
slightly sped up songs at times, alongside some good rhythmic
brutality. The vocals like the music are obscured boiling and
gurgling growls with some varied supporting accent voices that fit
the underlying music nicely. If you love old school death metal
wrapped with a blanket of murky atmosphere in the ancient traditions
then you need to get a copy of this tape for your collection. -
Dale
https://nihilistic-webzine-distro.fr/
https://nihilisticholocaustrecs.bandcamp.com/music
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Regain Records
through their new Reborn Classics sub-label continues to dig up gems
that need to be discovered by new metal fans or reminded to old
metal dogs like me. These two albums by the Swedish Overdrive were
released in 1983 with the debut “Metal Attack” and the following
year in 1984 with “Swords And Axes”. Now somehow I missed and never
managed to track down their debut album, but “Swords…” on the other
hand I bought this cassette back in 1985 (Only 25+ years ago!!), it
was released on Banzai Records in Canada. It is cool to hear their
debut album, finally, all of these years later and it is fantastic
example of classic early ‘80s heavy metal. An album while relying
fairly heavily on the NWOBHM, it is not only extremely well done and
showcases these young fellows talents and sound, also shows them
honing in on mastering their craft. They would really perfect their
craft on the second album, which is a true classic
in my opinion. I have not listened to the “Swords And Axes” album
for probably over a decade. I believe I even reviewed it in my
classics section of the print issues of CA at the end of the 1990s.
I could not believe the waves of nostalgia I experienced when I hit
play on this album, back in the ‘80s & ‘90s alone I listened to this
album hundreds of times! I swear every note, nuance, hook, siren
scream and lyric immediately pulled up out of the recesses of my
brain! I had not listened to this record in probably 15 years at
least, yet I knew everything that was coming next in each and every
song before it came out of my speakers. I mean the constant chills
of goose flesh upon hearing tracks like ‘Black Revenge’, ‘Burn In
Hell’, ‘Mission Of Destruction’, ‘Swords And Axes’ – well fuck
honestly I could name every song on this album, they are all great.
Okay, yeah I should emerge out of my nostalgia fog long enough to
let you know these releases are deluxe to the max, with thick
booklets and both discs feature a half dozen bonus tracks for die hards like me to fawn over. If you love classic eighties heavy metal
and do not have this in your collection yet, then you must have it!
I want to give a personal thank you to the label from me for
re-releasing these albums. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/OverdriveMetal
https://regainrecords.bandcamp.com/music
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I am starting to
think this Seattle, Washington band are chuckling at the thought of
their record label trying to design those releases and promo
material, while attempting to fit album title on everything Haha!
Oxygen Destroyer refer to themselves as thrashing Kaiju metal, so
along with their album name and visuals, you can guess their whole
concept is built on a deep love for old Japanese related giant
monster movies and lore. I mean even the band name refers to a
weapon used against Godzilla. So what does the music sound like? It
is a whirling dervish of speed, adrenaline and controlled chaos that
should have been the soundtrack to the fight scenes in the Pacific
Rim or Kong vs. Godzilla movies. But talking in terms the UG metal
fanatics reading this would understand, it is high energy deathrash
that is played at breakneck speeds and flirts with some wild techno
song structuring. You can definitely bang your head to this music,
but not for long for fear of whiplash as you will try in vain to
keep up to the killer riffs and absolutely punishing light speed
drumming. I am not sure how they manage it, but within that
controlled chaos they still manage to find space for brief and
frantic guitar solos. The vocals are somewhat nasally acidic dm
growls, but also have that clearer gruff thrash edge and you can
make out most of the lyrics with ease if you have an ear for it
(like mine after 30 years of practice hehe). The mixture of death
metal and thrash metal is within sight of being picture perfect with
this talented band. If you have an addiction to old Kaiju monster
movies and tech deathrash then tap that arm and tie it off, because
I have your fix right here! - Dale
https://brutalthrashingkaijumetal.bandcamp.com/
https://shop.redefiningdarkness.com/
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Pazuzu rise up
out of the mountainous and often picturesque country of Costa Rica
and have been plying their trade as a band in the UG metal scene
with releases since 2017. This tape is a compilation of sorts, it
includes all of the bands tracks from their various split EPs over
the last few years (plus a bonus live cover of Nihilist’s “Carnal
Leftovers”) for a total of just over 30 minutes. Pazuzu produce a
very morbid and macabre death doom metal style of music. Their sound
while extremely brutal is also produces a really suffocating and
oppressive atmosphere that is both punishing and compelling to
listen to I find. The doomy parts are crushing and steam roll the
listener slowly into dust, but when they do speed things up you can
really headbang to it too and just bleed with it. The recording and
the music is extremely raw and primeval, which really suits the
music and helps create a gloomy aura. That aura calls back to some
of the early classic bands and albums of the genre (Autopsy, Grave,
Immolation, Rippikoulu, Disembowelment, Abhorrence etc…). They
definitely wear their hearts on their sleeves with some of their
influences, but I am okay with it when it is done this damn well.
Considering these tracks came from three different releases that
came out over a period of a few years, it all comes off feeling very
cohesive and I enjoyed it a lot. It makes me want to pull out some
of those classic to listen to some more. This is a really good
looking release, it comes on silver cassette with a beautiful fold
out (like a mini-poster size) 12 page booklet. But I believe it has
been limited to only 201 copies, so you better get on your horse and
ride quickly to make sure you can secure a copy of this excellent
release. You can thank me later. - Dale
https://pazuzu.bandcamp
https://nihilistic-webzine-distro.fr
https://nholocaustrecs.bandcamp
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I like when
record labels band together to produce, release and promote a single
band together, it is great for all involved in my view. Just to
clear up who is doing what you have Nuclear Winter releasing the CD,
Sentient Ruin is co-releasing the vinyl and Goat Throne will unleash
the cassette version of this album. The riffing and rhythms on this
release while always staying heavy and brutal have this
infectiousness to them, it is done in quite an alluring and
interesting way without crossing over to what I would call melodic
territory. I can not remember hearing very many bands do this, at
least in this way and maintain such an ominous and morbid atmosphere
to their sound. The overall music tends to operate at a temperate
speed with rhythmic pounding drums that are hypnotic especially in
concert with the winding serpentine structure of the riffing. The
drumming is a more prominent and driving force on ‘Bason Gryphos’
than you will find with the majority of their contemporaries. It is
interesting to me that Pestilength can create music that is somehow
so driving and intense yet the pacing is largely slow to middling
with just the occasional speedy outbursts, which often come from the
percussive portion of this horde. The vocal performance on here is
pretty impressive as well, the amount of gloomy and creepy emotion
put into those growls is notable keeping them that obscure and
severe yet having more range than you would ever expect. This is
some superb vocal work in my view on this recording. If I had to
describe their music it would be dark and evil death doom metal and
it comes highly recommended from me. I do not get to review a lot of
bands from Spain these days, but Pestilength is doing that UG scene
proud and representing well. - Dale
https://pestilength.bandcamp.com/
http://sentientruin.com/
https://nuclearwinterrecords.com
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Denmark has been
such a sparsely populated country in the UG metal scene over the
past couple decades or so. I mean there are notable exceptions (ala
the mighty veterans Denial Of God), a fact which always surprised me
with their neighbor Scandinavian countries of Norway, Finland and
Sweden being unstoppable hotbeds for UG metal. But I have noticed
recently, like just in last couple or few years Denmark is making up
for lost time and seem to be exploding on to the scene with many
good bands like Deus Otiosis, Sulphurous, Undergang, Ascendency,
Deiquisitor, Konvent, Tongues, Septage, Shamash, Solbrud, Taphos and
more. Now I would like to add Phrenelith to that list, even though
they have been around for about five years as a band, it is more
recently they have begun to really make their mark and their second
album ‘Chimaera’ is here to really plant their flag. This band
conjures up some monolithic old school death metal with that great
‘ole suffocating necro atmosphere permeating everything, like so
many of the classic bands in this genre reveled in. Some influences
that immediately jump to mind for me are the early works especially
of Immolation, Incantation, Disciples Of Mockery, Autopsy,
Funebrarum, Banished, Morpheus Descends and the one lone Euro band
Grave. It is a great list of influences from bands I loved back in
the day and still love now. Phrenelith put all those influences in a
melting pot, sprinkle in some eyes of bat and tongue of demon to
brew their own doomy brutal death metal concoction that will burn
your ears, fry your brain and wreck your neck. Followers and
worshippers of the ancient death metal ways you need to check into
this band. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/phrenelith
https://nuclearwinterrecords.bandcamp.com/
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This is my
second review of an album released through Blood Blast, which is
connected to Nuclear Blast Records, where they help bands I guess
that they like (or is it just a straight hire out thing?) with
advice, PR and digital distribution. I would think there is going to
be some physical format releases as well, but I have not been able
to find any definite confirmation of that so far. This band features
members of Through The Eyes Of The Dead, Cognitive, We Are The
Romans, and Aronious (spread out across various points in the United
States). It is striking immediately how much skill we have going on
with the members of this band, and their years of playing and
extensive recording experience is immediately apparent. The band
plays extremely technical death metal that features some
exceptionally slick and skillful songwriting and song construction.
The fear I always have with bands like this, are they so fucking
techno oriented that the plot is lost with song flow, thus devolving
into a dick measuring wank competition. I am happy to say POYWTO
adeptly avoid falling into this trap, despite the massive
technicality on here, the songs have a strong musical current, they
are heavy and brutal and you can headbang to this shit for sure!
That last statement is one of the best compliments I can give a
techno death metal band in my view. There is a lot of cool variation
in the songwriting as well, they keep things really entertaining,
whilst being a total crush fest in the barbarity department. The
vocals of Shane Jost follow suit with the music, he brings a superb
and highly entertaining arsenal of deep brutish imaginative
growling, husky shouts, high pitched voices, squeals and lengthy
screeches that will pierce your ear drums and drop you on the spot.
He even sings all about Dungeons & Dragons, so that is a definite
plus too. This album is an extremely impressive debut that diehard
fans of bands Gorguts, Suffocation, Origin, Cryptopsy, Theory In
Practice, Nile, Necrophagist, Obscura and the like need to get
posthaste. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/POYWTO
https://poywto.com/product/ceremorphosis/
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I must admit
that band name gets me, and brings a smile to my face. The title is
not so bad either. Speaking about the record itself, it is this
Australian bands debut album, a relatively new band having only
previously released a 15 minute EP. Pustilence produce heavy as all
hell, crushing death metal with that old chunky, punishing barbaric
sound and production. They just pummel you with rhythmic steam
rolling riffs, wild ‘n spastic quick hitter guitar solos, sadistic
hammer to the head drumming and some rumbling bass. You are also
treated to some really killer classic inhuman death metal growling,
courtesy of Taylor Burnett, who puts in a commanding and ruthless
performance on this recording. Okay, I am not going to lie;
listening to this gives me some sweet nostalgia tingles. The overall
style and songwriting remind me heavily to a great period of time in
my life and the scene, we are talking the first few years of the
1990s, when the UG metal scene was like an amazing new onion. An
onion that kept peeling back layer, after layer of pure awesomeness
with fanzines, demos and albums of this burgeoning new fucking
amazing genre known as death metal. This was the explosive period of
time with those early ‘90s bands in the US scene, which Pustilence
is a product of, in my opinion. It was a time period you had brutish
death bands like Morpheus Descends, Incantation, Morta Skuld,
Rottrevore, Broken Hope, Monstrosity, Gorguts (okay yeah not
American ;)), Malevolent Creation, Oppressor, Suffocation and the
like. Yes, I said it, this gave me nostalgia pangs, but that does
not mean it is not really fucking well done, in it’s own right, but
it does sounds honestly sound like a long lost classic from those
days. Die hard dm fanatics like me, who adore those embryonic days
of the will dig this one. FYI the CD and tape are releasing right
now, but the vinyl version will come out later in the year via
Rotted Life Records. - Dale
www.facebook.com/PustilenceAus/
https://www.rottedlife.com/
http://www.memento-mori.es/
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I have to admit
I was surprised this band has such a long history behind it, since
this is my first time listening to their music. I mean despite this
being their fourth album since then started using the name
Resistance in 2002. Their history reaches much further back (all the
way to the late ‘80s!!) than that, when they used band names like
Heathen (no not that one, but they probably caused the first name
change), Caustic Visage, and Anarchy Divine. So are they yet another
retro heavy band? Well yes, they are but that matters not to me when
music is this good, the songwriting this quality, and the songs this
strong and memorable. The band tears through 40 minutes of ripping
classic heavy metal, which features hook-y yet heavy riffs and some
great smoking guitar work nuance in between those catchy riffs and
infectious song construction. I really dig vocalist Robert Hett, he
has that archetypal ancient heavy metal style ala like a molten mix
of Udo Dirkschneider of Accept on the gritty end mixed Chris
Boltendahl of Grave Digger and Eric Adams of Manowar. There is
another, what should be an obvious vocal influence there that I am
having trouble putting my finger on. I guess my only small pet peeve
is the recording is almost too clean, and these songs would go up
yet another half notch if the production was a little heavier and
dirtier. Yet, having said that I have heard other albums that have
even cleaner, more pristine computer plastic coating on the
production, so do take that as a very minor complaint. Otherwise,
this is a really solid traditional heavy metal record that old
diehard fans will enjoy. - Dale
http://www.resistanceusa.com/
https://www.puresteel-shop.com/
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Well now, Rigor
Sardonicous, now there is a name I have not heard in a very long
time! You will find reviews of this bands 1999 (’05 re-release
version) debut and their 2008 album “Vallis ex Umbra de Mortuus”,
elsewhere on the Canadian Assault site. I was not even sure they
were still going, but it is pleasant news to hear that they still
are well above ground and kicking. I am pretty certain way back in
the day, like we are taking close to 25 years ago, I hung out with
Joe Fogarazzo (guitarist/vocalist), one half of this duo at some
gigs way back in the day. It is good to see fellow UG goats like Joe
still scratching at the dirt and locking horns after all these
years! This band has not changed much over the years, thankfully in
my view, as their brand of dank, dark and gloomy doom death metal is
a massive and all encompassing audio fog that suffocates you into
submission. Their music is so heavy, so brutal that it just crushes
the listener in slow motion, while creating such an eerie aura which
seeps through it all. Joe’s roiling evil growl vocals are so perfect
for this style; they are guttural yet have this sinister whispery
undercurrent to them that melts into the music, so effectively. It
has been a very long wait for me since I last heard Rigor
Sardonicous, but with this album it was worth the wait! I think
death doom diehards who worship heavyweights such as Evoken,
Thergothon, Winter, Disembowelment, Hearse and other cult bands that
create doomy death funeral music will need to get their hands on
this record. - Dale
https://rigorsardonicous1.bandcamp.com/
http://www.memento-mori.es/
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After releasing
a demo a few years back this Salt Lake, Utah band have rounded out
their line-up, and now unleash their anticipated debut album.
Sacrilegion show a pretty high level of skill on their instruments,
and some strong proficiency in memorable songwriting ability on this
record. The music on here displays some heavy and driving death
metal, backed with a dark atmosphere yet always possessing a strong
melodic thread running throughout. There is a lot of transitioning
between the catchy melodicism, the heavy brooding pummel and sudden
bursts of breakneck speed. Some of the bands like The Chasm,
Demigod, Shub Niggurath, At The Gates, Cenotaph, Darkness Eternal
and the mighty Edge Of Sanity count among the acts that come to mind
as influences on this release. I really dig the vocals of Connor G.
Carlson, they fit the music perfectly as he puts in a nuanced
performance featuring an array of voices, yells and growls that
accentuate and pull out the darkness and emotive elements of the
music. This is a solid debut album that is worth your attention.
- Dale
https://www.facebook.com/Sacrilegion/
https://www.chaos-records.com/
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The man of the
black metal underground known as Werwolf (Grieve, Knife, Krüel
Kömmando, Orlok, Satanist Terrorist, The True Werwolf,
Vritrahn-Werwolf, ex-Horna, ex-White Death and more) returns with
his (solo) band Satanic Warmaster, which he is arguably most known
for. Satanic Warmaster does not release albums very often, as this
is their 6th album in the last twenty-two years, this
time around it was an eight year wait! Though to be fair during this
long existence S.W. has released nearly 30 demos, EPs and splits,
not to even mention a handful of live albums, so this band is never
dormant for too long. But let us move out the bands history and into
the moment at hand here. The opening hymn “Bafomet” is a less frosty
and little more mildly melodic, especially with regards to the
guitars, than I was expecting when I hit play. Yet those deathly and
dangerously acerbic vocals I admire were exactly what I had hoped to
hear from the start. A solid track yes, though not entirely what I
hoped to hear, but my apprehension was quickly erased and never
returned for the remainder of the album. As the hateful, sinister
archetypal second wave Finnish filtered black metal only grows and
strengthens as this strong record progresses. That cold and spiteful
black metal continues to drive hard through this musical snowstorm
and winding through it all like a writhing serpent is a healthy dose
of timely, well placed eerie synth work that brings in some
malevolent arcane atmosphere. Werwolf’s lethal and bitter bm caustic
rasping vocals are some of the best in UG scene in my opinion, a
superb welcome knife to the brain! I worship this stuff and can
never seem to get enough of it, but was it worth the wait? Well is
any release worth waiting eight years for? Probably not, but that
does not mean it is not excellent, because this album is indeed. The
vinyl version of this is not due until later some time in 2023, but
whatever your preferred choice of format, if you love Satanic
Warmaster and good second wave bm then you need to get your mitts on
this. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/satanic.war.terror
https://www.werewolf.fi/
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Coming out of
Thailand's brutal death metal scene is Savage Deity with their third
full length release. This is my first encounter with the band, so I
can’t comment on the music of their previous releases. But the music
on ‘Decade Of Savagery’ is well executed and powerfully delivered
old school death metal that is intense and filled with many well
written musicial passages. The guitars are played with skill and
high level writing ability and range from extremely which fluctuate
from fast patterns but does slow to a heavier more controlled guitar
pace. The vocals are powerful old school death metal growls that fit
Savage Deity’s music perfectly. This bands new release is highly
recommended to those who enjoy quality death metal. - Patrick
https://www.facebook.com/savagedeityofficial/
https://inhumanassault.bandcamp.com/
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This quartet
rises up out of Antwerp, Belgium and despite Schizophrenia only
releasing their first recording (a single track) a few years ago.
They have been around a while starting out as the band Hammerhead,
they put out a couple EPs under that name before changing their name
to Schizophrenia. Since unleashing that single three years ago, it
was followed up with a CD EP two years ago and now comes their debut
full-length. This album features nine tracks of slickly produced
heavy, driving and skilled old school death metal with thrash
touches. A number of influences pop into my mind while listening to
this like earlier works of bands like Sepultura, Demolition Hammer,
Ripping Corpse, Slayer, Malevolent Creation, Pestilence, Sadus,
Morbid Angel, Possessed and the like. The vocals kind of walk the
line between death and thrash metal styles, and also like the music
lean heavier on the dm side of things, but they are good husky
yelled growls that fit the music well. There is some excellent
guitar work on display here with some smoking guitar fills and
solos. All of that is neatly nestled within some thoughtful and
interesting song writing. This is a real solid first album, it has
me looking forward to what comes next as this talented band
continues to come into it’s own. - Dale
https://linktr.ee/schizophrenia.official
https://shop.redefiningdarkness.com/
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After releasing
a couple demos and an EP, this triumvirate from Spain unleashes
their debut album. They may be a relatively new band, but their
influences are deeply entrenched in old school death metal. Some
ancient bands of inspiration for them in my opinion are the earlier
works of Dismember, Autopsy, Impetigo, Ancient Rites, Pestilence,
Slaughter, Obituary, Entombed and the like are thrown in a fiery
melting pot. They end result comes out with some quality brutal
death metal that is wrapped in a dark and oppressive cloak. Having
said that their music is often a bit of a dichotomy to me, you have
this gloomy morbid aura yet a lot of the music is very upbeat and
energetic, even catchy at times. When I read that back it feels like
those things should not work together, like oil and water, but
somehow Sepulchral mix it together and make it work for them. The
vocals are absolutely killer growls like if you mixed Lemmy with the
vocals from the old days of bands like Autopsy, Impetigo and Bolt
Thrower together – all with an evil whispery undertone. Also there
is a truly killer cover of “Blood Freak” by Necrophagia on this
recording that people need to hear. This album is a solid debut and
I look forward to more from this promising band. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/sepulchraldeathmetal
https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/
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This band was
born out of Demonic Oath, which was the prolific musician Kevin
Desecrator’s solo band whose name changed when he decided to go with
a full line-up and Sépulcre was born in 2020 (only releasing a demo
prior to this release). I wrote musician above because despite Kevin
D. being the guitarist / vocalist in this band, he is also the
drummer of the mighty Destroyer 666 and plays guitar / drums in Iron
Bonehead Productions band Venefixion, not to mention all those
instruments in prior bands. That is what I call a real musician to
do all of those instruments at a high level. But the band now has 3
other members and those guys bring some of their own experience in
prior bands into this line-up. Sépulcre create dark heavy death
metal that gives off an emotive gloom and dank aura that I find
quite an enticing listen. They also keep things driving and
memorable with some good riffs and some strong varied song
construction, which is reminiscent of earlier releases of bands like
Morbid Angel, Incantation or newer bands like Tomb Mold, Funebrarum
and Sedimentium. All of those influences are good thing in my book
and very well done here with some talent and vision behind it. The
shadowy and somewhat obscured shouting growl vocals that possess a
whispering underbelly to them adding to the sinister air of the
music and blend nicely. If you like quality death metal and are fans
of the bands I mentioned above I think you will find much to like
about this album. Also, you can add Sepulchre to the growing number
of quality death metal bands in recent years coming from the French
UG death metal scene. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/sepulcre
https://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/
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Shrieking Demons
is a new band rising up out of the Italian old school death metal
scene. This debut EP release contains four songs of heavy, death
metal in the vein of notorious bands as the bio rightly points out
like Autopsy, Dream Death and Decomposed. Each song is displays
intense and skillful songwriting ability that is delivered in the
bands ferocious grimy approach. The musicians do speed things up to
a faster pace throughout the songs, to give the music a nice mix of
extreme speed, which is then countered by a slower, heavier approach
at other times. The vocals are powerful deep death metal growls. If
you are into death metal with an old school style and feel then
definitely pick up a copy of ‘Diabolical Regurgitations’ today.
- Patrick
https://www.facebook.com/CaligariRecords/
https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/
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This band from
Chile is a serious change of pace that is an interesting and
peculiar yet menacingly sinister musical experience. I believe this
is largely a one man band and had been that until just recently,
when main man Witchfucker (also in the bands Dekapited & Invocation
Spells) after doing their demo by himself has brought in Thoth from
Denying Nazarene to handle the drums for this debut full-length
album. The band is labeled as black speed metal and I think that is
a fairly apt description, but it is all presented through a
psychedelic audio lens. Though not the cool hippy psychedelia trip
with all the colours, bongs, lava lamps and shit – no this is a dark
hallucinogenic musical trip that is disorienting and sadistically
evil. This is going to be hard to review and describe, but fuck it I
will give it a try. Besides the creative and strange off-kilter
rhythms of the riffing, there is also a lot of the time put into
this effect on it where it sequences sounds similar to an old,
stretched out malfunctioning wobbly sounding cassette tape at
strategic times. You might think that sounds annoying and it may to
some, but for me the way they did it and only apply it lightly it
actually cool in this quirky unique way. Then at times things will
switch on the higher toned guitar parts, and then is off on the
heavier secondary riff to bring this mix of traditional metal sounds
and eccentric sounds to create a pretty unique idiosyncratic sound.
This extends in a similar way to the vocals where you have the more
traditional yet crazed yells, screamed and growled vocals with a
range of metal genres employed. Then there is this second set of
warped vocals courtesy of a harmonizer distortion that like a cross
between an evil menacing alien and a demon straight out of hell (the
label bio sites "very early Carcass, Impetigo, or Carnage" to give
you a general idea of the vocal processing used here) - all of this
gives the vocals a wide spectrum of depravity for a really varied
interesting to listen to in my opinion. You are probably wondering
about some influences well they are a huge cauldron mix of some
great first wave black metal, thrash and speed metal bands like
Venom, Mortuary Drape, Hellhammer, Necromantia, Master’s Hammer,
Warfare, Bulldozer, Motorhead, early Bathory, early Destruction and
many more. There are even hints here and there of extreme hardcore /
punk bands like G.I.S.M., Amebix and GBH. If you are looking for
something different, something filled with darkness and evil yet
dripping in traditional metal worship then you really should take a
ride on this bizarre depraved musical trip. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/signofevilchile
https://edgedcircleproductions.com/ |
The Silent Rage
from Greece is not the most prolific band, considering this is only
the bands second full-length album (plus a few demos), despite
releasing their first demo release over fifteen years ago. It is
very debatable whether the long distance between releases is worth
the wait. But, that does not mean this is not a good album, because
it is a banger. The band creates some extremely memorable and
classic sounding power metal (minus the heavy synth and fluff of
some modern bands), which delivers some great musicianship across
the board, not to mention a flawless production. Literally every
song has great riffs, and catchy songs that will stick in your head
as you nod along singing to the triumphant sounding choruses. You
need a top level, high quality singer to pull off a good power metal
band. These guys have that with Michael Rinakakis and his silky,
powerful voice that glides seemingly effortlessly across the
spectrum from sleek yells to soaring air raid siren. As an added
bonus for long time metal fans of this metal genre, you also get
guest appearances by Stu Block (Into Eternity, Annihilator, ex-Iced
Earth), Harry “The Tyrant” Conklin (Jag Panzer) and Bob Katsionis
(Stray Gods, ex-Firewind). You can definitely hear some of those
same bands influences of the guests bands coursing through this
talented bands veins. If you are a fan of American melodic power
metal new and old (think the Sanctuary, Judas Priest, Helstar, Liege
Lord etc), you might want to give The Silent Rage a spin. - Dale
https://thesilentrage.bandcamp.com/
https://scarletrecords.it/
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Sisters Memon
are a duo with members from both the Poland and the U.K black metal
UG scenes. The self titled debut release features eleven tracks of
well crafted songs and shows some amazing musicianship. M.W. Daniels
who lives in the U.K handles the songwriting and performs all the
music on this old school black metal release. The guitars are played
with high intensity and skillful deftness with a mix of mid tempo
guitars and some faster and more extreme passages. There is some
very well executed and performed solo's which in turn create some
memorable sequences that you don't always hear in a black metal
release. Natalia Sara (also vocalist in the band Aura) handles the
vocals for the band and she produces some old school screams and
demonic shrieks that are done in an impressive vocal style. This
bands self titled debut recording is a must have for all fans of
quality black metal. - Patrick
sistersmemon.bandcamp
https://plaguedemon.storenvy.com
https://bchrecords.storenvy.com |
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I, The Witch is
the second full length from the duo known as Sisters Memon. Natalia
handles the vocal duties; the vocals are a mix of grim old school
screams and some very original gruff growls and screams. Natalia has
some of best vocals I have ever heard and one of the best
performances to be recorded on a release. MW handles all of the
music side things, and once again this is composed and written with
pure musical genius and his experience shines through. The guitars
are performed with a mix of fast paced structuring that is played
with intensity. MW does slow things down to a more controlled mid
pace guitar range at times in the songs. Both the fast and mid paced
passages are played with quality and a skillful writing ability. If
you have never heard Sisters Memon and are a fan of quality and
original sounding black metal I very highly recommend I, The Witch.
- Patrick
sistersmemon.bandcamp
https://plaguedemon.storenvy.com
https://bchrecords.storenvy.com |
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I am pleased to
have the new sophomore album of this Canadian band come across my
desk, so to speak, once again. I think I have reviewed everything
this band has put out now, save for their initial demo tape, which
came out about half a decade ago now. Smoulder comfortably, and
skillfully, reside within the realms of epic heavy metal and classic
doom. They write classically structured music with emphasis on
memorable, catchy song hooks, while always keeping in the forefront
of mind, an epic and triumphant aura and smooth forward flow. I feel
like their debut album had a moderately strong mournful element to
their music, this to me at least, has slowly melted away with that
heroic, driving confidently into battle feel taking over more and
more. Which I am cool with, I like both approaches, but they are
very good at this aspect, and of course it fits the lyrics and
general loose concept of the bands releases perfectly. Smoulder is
neither overtly slow, nor fast, technicality is not their thing
either; they are all about letting the strong and straight forward
songs stand on their own. There is some really tasteful riffs and
guitar work in general going on here; in particular, the timely
guitar fills really showcase the bands emotive charisma. I can not
talk about these aspects without talking about the fantastic vocals
of Sarah Ann, she has a real feel for this musical style and wraps
it in a warm drawn out vocal embrace, in a very effective and
affecting way. I find her vocals an addictive listen, honestly. I
can easily see die hard fans of bands like Solitude Aeternus,
Candlemass, Gatekeeper, Reverend Bizarre, Manilla Road, Crypt
Sermon, Cirith Ungol, Eternal Champion, Omen and other excellent
bands of that stripe. I am very happy to see this band still going
strong. - Dale
https://smoulder.bandcamp.com/merch
https://cruzdelsurmusic.bandcamp.com/
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This is a one
man band and that one man is Maurice De Jong, who is originally from
South America, but now resides in The Netherlands, and I am sure
that is an interesting story all by itself on how he ended up there.
But De Jong is a really interesting guy and very prolific in the
metal UG scene with bands like Black Mouth of Spite, Caput Mortuum,
Cloak of Altering, De Magia Veterum, Dodenbezweerder, Gnaw Their
Tongues, Golden Ashes, Grand Celestial Nightmare, Hagetisse, Malorum,
Obscuring Veil, Pyriphlegethon, The Black Mysteries and has done
time in many more believe it or not!! The name of this solo project
is a pitch perfect representation of the music it produces, it is
very emotionally somber, cadaverous and melancholic like it is
purposely draining you of all joy and optimism. It is not only the
omnipresent dismal feeling, it is more complex than that, as I also
I find it also invokes in me an feeling of tension and an oppressive
vibe of dread that slow builds and sustains within me for a long
stretches of time. The death doom music on here is also very heavy
yet slow, so yes doom death that is heavily reliant on the doom end
of that dual spectrum. The vocals do feature some relatively
sparsely used spoken word or cleanly sung accents, but the main
vocals are deep, obscured and cryptic whispery growling. I enjoy
those vocals a lot as they manage to convey emotion and mirror the
gloom of the music. I can surely recommend this quality album to
fans of profound and cavernous doom death metal. - Dale
https://gnawtheirtongues.bandcamp.com/
https://www.chaos-records.com/
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Here again I
return to The Sombre, who I have become a fan of thanks to Chaos
records re-releasing the bands 2019 debut album “Into the Beckoning
Wilderness”, around a year ago. This time around it is an album of
all new material released through Chaos Records once again. This is
a solo band of one Maurice de Jong, who is a long time veteran (his
first band released a demo in 1989!!) of the UG scene and an
extremely prolific musician. Some of his current or past bands, the
majority of them one man projects include Black Mouth of Spite,
Caput Mortuum, Cloak of Altering, Coffin Lurker, De Magia Veterum,
Dodenbezweerder, Gnaw Their Tongues, Golden Ashes, Grand Celestial
Nightmare, Hagetisse, ex-Atrocious, ex-Soulwound, ex-The Nefarious
Cult, ex-Cauteror. Those are not even all of them, there are
probably another half dozen or more, most of his projects near as I
can tell are various black metal related mixed with a lot of noise,
experimentation and such. Okay, I am an absolute sucker for band
history related stuff as you probably know by now. Finally working
my way to the music of The Sombre, it is not black metal at all, but
rather we are talking classic doom death metal. The material is of
course very slow, but not in a crushing way, as it is extremely
depressive and sorrowful in a contemplative soul wrenching fashion.
It is utterly joyless music lacking any aggressive qualities, just
an all-encompassing and oppressive blanket of hopelessness. The bio
rightly points out the so-called ‘Peaceville Three’ as a strong
influence, which of course includes Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride
and Anathema. Not to worry though, we are talking their early works
and not after they went all soft and mushy later on Haha. The one
thing that differs here in my opinion is the vocals, Maurice’s
vocals on here are very obscure sounding gruff growls that almost
seem, when I think about it, like they should not work with the deep
emotions of this music yet somehow they really do and do not
distract from what is going on and add to it. If you are a fan of
melancholic, mournful doom death then you should give The Sombre a
try. - Dale
https://gnawtheirtongues.bandcamp.com/
https://chaos-records.bandcamp.com/ |
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Sorgetid is the
solo band of the well known veteran UG Finnish musician V-Khaoz, who
has done and been in many bands over the years like Vargav, Druadan
Forest, Hellkult, Grieve, Oath, Azaghal and more. As for Sorgetid,
as far as I know this debut album is also the bands first release
period. The music is absolutely freezing cold black metal that is
dripping with a malevolent acid aura. It will remind you immediately
to the, for me, glorious days of the second wave of black metal out
of Scandinavia from the early to middle 1990s. It was surely a time
when most creating this music were coming from a release place of
dedication to darkness and evil rather than just a style. I
immediately have the nostalgia of stir of the early classic releases
bands like Darkthrone, Immortal, Mayhem, Emperor, Enslaved, Marduk
and then bands that soon followed on their heels like Horna,
Graveland, Dark Funeral, Judas Iscariot etc… There is some sound
effects like wind howling, wolves baying and synth interludes, but
for the most part it is icy and biting traditional black metal
greatness with just enough baleful melody to keep dark musical river
flowing. V-Khaoz’ vocals are fantastic archetypal rasping vocals
that will send a chill through you at night. If you worship, as I
do, second wave Scandinavian black metal and again like me just can
not get enough then this album deserves your attention. - Dale
https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/sorgetid
https://www.werewolf.fi/
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This comp has 3
songs from each of the five bands. Naitaka (Canada)
starts off with a clear, almost too muted production on their thrash
metal mixed with melododeath style. Their songs feature some solid
musicianship with vocals that are all over the place from a bit of a
gruff thrash voice, a tinge of a death growl and suddenly out of
nowhere clean siren heavy metal vocals. A bit uneven vocal
performance to me, although there is a lot of talent and potential
bubbling under with this band, but they need a more in your face
production IMO. Next up is Narcolepsia (Argentina) and
they have the heavier, grittier production that the previous band
needs. They rip things up with some intense, energetic straight
forward death metal littered with some thrash leanings. They have
short songs like a punk band, but they are not a punk band. I like
the dark growling vocals from this band too. Good stuff. Now comes
Jenner (Serbia) who plays speed / thrash metal and it
is good shit. Some nice galloping riffing, smoking fills and leads
on guitar backed with some pounding drum work. Aleksandra
Stamenković has some great vocals and good voice; she can do the
clean soaring style, then seamlessly transitions to deeper and even
slightly coarse gritty vocals. This is a very strong appearance by
Jenner on this disc and maybe the top highlight in an overall strong
line up. Strujen (Argentina) slides in next and they
are duo that plays death metal grindcore sorta mince style. Maybe it
is because this is coming on the heels of such high end musicianship
and good songwriting by the previous band. But this feels very
rough, raw, simplistic and has it’s brief moments, but otherwise
honestly I found this to be very so-so stuff at best. Finishing up
this interesting compilation is Apofenia (Argentina)
which is another duo that is again raw and simplistic yet much more
effective than the last band in their primitive death metal style.
Maybe a sound that brings to mind a looser version of the early demo
days of Swedish bands like Unleashed, Nihilist and Carnage. I have a
soft spot for this style and enjoyed these songs. Something all of
these bands share in common is all have at least one female member
or as is the case with Jenner, Narcolepsia and Apofenia are all
female bands. So, that may add an extra element of interest for some
out there I suppose? At this point females in extreme metal is now
fairly commonplace, so it is just another band for me. Which is good
thing in my book as the UG metal scene is progressing fast and I am
sure that is what female bands want, to be seen as being no
different for better or worse than any all male band and judged
solely on their music only and not their gender in any way, shape or
form. There is many kick ass dedicated and talented women in the
scene the world over these days for damn certain. As always with
Soulgrinder comps, they do an excellent job with the packaging and
you get a nice looking foldout inlay of band logos, pics, web links.
Check this out and support the great Soulgrinder! - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/soulgrinder.zine/
http://soulgrinderzine.blogspot.com/ |
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Being the doom
metal hound I tend to be, it is surprising to me that this is my
first encounter with the long running Finnish band Spiritus Mortis,
which started releasing demos back in 1990!! I am not sure I would
call their style straight up doom, more like traditional doom and
classic heavy metal mixed together to pleasing effect. You get the
slow gallop heavy doom riffs and the skillful, finesse heavy metal
guitar intricacies and melodies under one banner. I could go for
even more of the heavier plodding riffs than are present here, but
they do a pretty good job of mixing it up, they have a penchant for
the moody, even slightly melodramatic emotional moments. Kimmo
Perämäki does an admiral job of conveying the deep introspective
tones of the music through his vocals, as he shape shifts his silky
voice to mimic the poignant musical affectations. As much as I am
digging Kimmo’s vocals on here, it also gets me wondering what their
past two albums sounded like, as they featured the vocalist Albert
Witchfinder of the infamous (now sadly defunct) doom band Reverend
Bizarre. I guess I will have to look into their past works now to
find out, hey? I think I shall. Until then I will keep enjoying the
moody and somber heavy metal doom sounds on this solid album. An
album that I am sure fans of bands like Candlemass, Reverend
Bizarre, Manilla Road, Omen, Solitude Aeturnus, Count Raven, Pagan
Altar and the like will enjoy. Give it a try if that applies to
you. - Dale
https://spiritusmortis.com/
www.svartrecords.com
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These Australian
avant-garde occult black/death metallers have been doing this for a
very long time, so I do not lump them in with the current trend of
progressive extreme metal bands the last few years. I would instead
claim them as one of the fathers and originators of this sub-genre,
as they started doing this in the mid-90s when very few if anyone
else was. So full disclosure, I go into this release as a long time
StarGazer devotee, I even ordered a band tshirt that had, if memory
serves, the cover artwork from their ’99 split album with
Invocation. The two original members of this trio are The Great
Righteous Destroyer on bass/vocals & The Grand Inquisitor on
guitars/vocals are currently or have been in a ton of bands you
should have heard of like Misery’s Omen, Cauldron Black Ram,
Mournful Congregation, Martire, Road Warrior and more. The music of
StarGazer is always cloaked in a dark and sinister aura, but the
music and the playing is always so smooth, precise and as classic
metal sounding as one can imagine. They do have a lot of inventive
songwriting, but one of the things I love about this band is they
never let things get out of hand by splicing flowery melodies, or
just silly sound effects and samples to let those do the work for
them at being avant-garde. StarGazer makes everything sound very
shadowy and do as much as possible with traditional instrumentation.
They stay as true to the evil sound and intentions of the pioneering
days of black/death as a central thread, while pushing envelope in
dynamic ways that I find infinitely entertaining. The talent and
song crafting vision is thing to behold on “Psychic Secretions”, as
it invokes in the listener feelings and emotions of malevolence and
introspection thusly taking you on one hell of a mental journey. Pay
your respects to one of the inventors and masters of this musical
concept / sub-grenre by ordering a copy of this excellent album
posthaste, if not sooner. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/StarGazer-292821067421712
http://www.nwnprod.com/
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If you have read
Canadian Assault for any length of time you know Autopsy is one of
my all-time favourite bands in any genre. You say but there are a
lot of bands these days influenced by them, well this is different
because this new band features Chris Reifert, the drummer / vocalist
of that same said legendary band! Okay, but does it sound anything
like early Autopsy and the answer is a resounding YES!! I mean there
are differences here, but musically, stylistically and sound wise it
is probably 70% classic doomy Autopsy, and Reifert’s amazing
growling vocals are one hundred fucking percent early Autopsy! Oh it
is glorious my friends, those vocals are in such fine form, it is
almost unbelievable how good that man’s vocals still sound – I have
chills literally. His vocals added to that music are like some sort
of arcane musical rite that only Chris can master with that
charisma, perfect inflection and brutal yet clear enough to
understand growl. I do apologize that I have yet to mention the
other half of this two man band, which is Greg Wilkinson (owner /
operator of Earhammer Studios as well as being in bands such as
Deathgrave, Brainoil & Leather Glove) on guitar / bass. The
production on this album is clear yet not clean, everything is
incredibly heavy and powerful. Static Abyss create death doom metal
at it’s finest, at it’s most grimy and necro with that
quintessential old ‘Mental Funeral’ (also known by me as the
masterpiece album) sinister aura wrapped around everything. As
mentioned there are differences like the pounding sections like in
the song “Jawbone”, which will compel you to headbang on command
before it transitions into this extensive gloomy emotive section
that is wonderfully hypnotic, then snapping you out of it once again
to briefly to finish with another neck wrecking fury. Yes different
and not so much old Autopsy sounding touches, but also very good and
welcome sounds that are seamlessly transitioned in and out of with
aplomb. This is honestly a great album in it’s own right, and in my
opinion an absolute must have for fellow Autopsy diehards like
myself. This is not even mentioning that I am sure many fans of
bands that are heavily influenced by them like Incantation,
Immolation, Funebrarum, Undergang, Disma, Dead Congregation and
similar bands will love this. Speaking of which, like I have not
mentioned Autopsy enough in this review, they also added this same
Greg Wilkinson to their classic line-up and are working on new music
as we speak! Will it sound more like Autopsy than Static Abyss?! I
am not sure, but I can not wait to find out!! Until then get this
ASAP. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/staticabyss/
https://peaceville.com/
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This is
surprisingly, to me, this Danish bands debut full-length album. I
say surprisingly because the band has been around since 1997. Though
as you might imagine there are huge gaps of silence between
releases, as during the last 25 years they have only released 2 demo
tapes, one 7” EP and a CD EP. This trio of musicians that make up
this band have many other bands past and present bands that kept
them busy, some of which include Undergang, Cerekloth, Procession Of
Headless Angels, The Cleansing, and Usipian. The music on here
features some nice guitar fills in there, a little melody too, but
just enough to add depth and keep things interesting to augment the
brutality of it all, which stays firmly in the driver’s seat of this
album. The vocals of Martin Leth Andersen is something I enjoy very
much about Strychnos and this album, he has an extremely magnetic
traditional growl that bends and shape shifts around the underlying
music like a serpent. I also like the epic length strident, boiling
yell near the start of the song “Regiments Of The Betrayed”, and
this song is a fine example of Andersen’s ability elongate his vocal
chords and convey good emotion. Speaking of emotion, the music is
always extreme yet showcases a real talent for building deeply
emotive sequences into satisfying crescendos and mental journey’s. I
am not saying Strychnos sounds overly like them, but their talent in
this area is very reminiscent to me of the magnificence of the
middle ‘90s Edge Of Sanity albums. That is high praise coming from
me, as a diehard fan of that period of E.O.S., and in turn speaks to
Strychnos’ strong songwriting abilities and feel for song flow. The
artwork and lyrics are about a famous story of a Danish author
written in 1847 and the music wonderfully conveys the range of
despair, sadness and tragedy of the woman the story focuses upon. As
debut albums go, even despite the long wait for this one, it remains
one hell of a debut record that I would recommend. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/strychnosterror
https://www.darkdescentrecords.com
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It was good to
find this in my mailbox, and it is always great to be in touch UG
maniacs from France. This band however is from Chile and this
twenty-two minute tape is the European version of this release,
which first came out in 2019. The music on ‘Existential Realism’
good ancient darkened death metal with thrash roots, like taking
Possessed and Morbid Angel then mixing them with classics from their
homeland like the early works of Sepultura, Sarcofago, Mutilator,
Pentagram, Atomic Aggressor, Vulcano etc… That should give you a
good idea of what you have in store when listening to this release.
The music is filled with punishing, weighty riffs that will force
you into a headbanging fury whilst violently stomping you into the
ground. The production on here is perfect; it is heavy and gritty
while still being clear enough to hear everything well, especially
the killer guitar work on here. The arsenal of caustic growls, gruff
yells and gritty screams all delivered with a nice creepy whispery,
echo-y undertone courtesy of vocalist Impetigo. This is some pretty
killer stuff I must say. I believe Suffering Sights have just
released debut album just recently, but a little birdie told they
think the music on this EP is even better than the new stuff. I will
let you decide on that. The cassette from Nekrassious is very
limited, so hurry up if you want a copy, and if you really love old
school deathrash metal and can not get enough of it then you should
own this. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/sufferingsights
https://nekrassioustapes.bandcamp.com/music
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Sulphurous hail
from Denmark, despite only being a duo they produce a very big and
full death metal sound. M.F. handles the Guitars, bass & vocals (he
is also in the bands Ascendency, Had, Hyperdontia, Sort Sind and
Taphos), while the drums are handled by Tuna (Apparatus, Eldjudnir,
Eternich, Hyperdontia, Redivivus and Witchburn). As you can see both
men have been very active in the UG scene for many years. Sulphurous’
songwriting is sort of a structure within a structure, by that I
mean they have that old school brutal death metal foundation as the
skeleton and flesh it out with a lot of newer death metal
creativity. That flesh and those organs musically speaking are
vibrant and at times almost busy, there is a lot going on with the
individual instruments that is interesting and presents a real
energetic drive that keeps things compelling. Yes, there are a lot
of sub textures, interesting fills and patterns whilst never losing
sight of that dark crushing brutality. I like all of that and you
will not get bored whatsoever listening to this band. In addition to
a very strong performance on the drum kit by Tuna, I also very much
enjoyed M.F.’s somewhat obscured evil, commanding and aggressive yet
not too aggressive growling that fits the music well and adds that
touch of cruelty and audio depravity to the aura of darkness their
music is enveloped within. For me, the band delivers well on their
sophomore album and it is worth your attention. - Dale
https://sulphurous.bandcamp.com/
www.darkdescentrecs.com/
https://www.mesacounojo.com/
https://desiccatedproductions.com/
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Sunless hail
from the not so sunny, heavily forested and often snow covered
landscapes of Minnesota. This sophomore full-length shows itself as
very technical, often creative and sometimes quirkily structured
rhythmic death metal music. I think to give you a general audio
picture of their sound you can reference influences like later day
Gorguts, Gigan or maybe a little less brutal / aggressive version of
the music on recent albums from Deathspell Omega, Ulcerate and
Pyrrhon. You can tell at times the band want the instruments and
their songwriting to do the talking, so to speak. I say that as
there are growling vocals on here, which are a dual layer mixing of
deep growls and slightly higher pitched cleaner growling, though
good they are sparsely used for long sequences to allow the
underlying music ample breathing room. I feel like I should mention
the drum work on here as well, it is superb in it’s own technical
yet nuanced fashion. Despite the level of technicality, much like
say Gorguts there is an emphasis put on an oft times moody, emotive
and introspective atmosphere through the album. It is a bit of an
onion type of album, not always immediately accessible yet the more
you listen and the more you absorb I think the more you will get out
of ‘Ylem’. If you like the bands mentioned above and imaginative and
busy technical death metal with a slight lean toward pensive tonal
touches then you should really give Sunless a chance. - Dale
https://sunless.bandcamp.com/
https://www.willowtip.com
https://willowtip.bandcamp.com/
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Suppression
hails from South America, the absolute hotbed for extreme UG metal,
more specifically in this case the country of Chile. Their debut
album (even though they released a demo in 2012 and have been going
ever since!) features some excellent death metal music that
possesses a decided undercurrent of thrash metal darkness. Their
influences clearly originate in the early to mid 1990s death metal
scene and you can hear influences from that time period like Death,
Pestilence, Obituary, Sadus, Gorguts, Skeletal Remains etc… I might
even throw Pungent Stench in there for those little off-kilter
guitar fills which rears it’s head from time to time. The old school
death metal description is a very apt one here, not only do they
have those old school influences, but the songwriting and structure
itself is very early nineties, and I for one dig it. There are some
little inventive yet quirky underlying guitar nuances like in the
song “Unperpetual Misery” that are kept subtle yet they really add
an extra dimension and make things interesting. I mean really some
the guitar work on here in general may not jump out at you upon
first listen, but with repeated listening you can really start to
appreciate the thought and skill put into a lot of those impressive
passages that dot the landscape. The good growling vocals on here,
also like the music are death metal yet have that dark yelling gruff
air of thrash style vocals. This is of particular note for diehards
of that classic deathrash metal of early days of extreme metal. -
Dale
https://www.facebook.com/Suppression
https://unspeakableaxerecords.bandcamp.com/ |
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Sxuperion is a
one man band (who is also a member of Valdur, Weverin, Oreamnos &
Garden Of Hesperides) from California. That one man has produced
some really dark shadowy black death metal that has an evil aura to
it at all times has a hypnotic tremolo picked rhythmic quality, yet
always stays brutal as well. That obscured fog of an atmosphere is
omnipresent, but is quite often accented in both subtle and not so
subtle ways by a plethora of sound effects alternating haunting and
creepy, or in other instances have a cosmic space effects like the
sound of lasers, klaxon siren and the like. When I write that I read
it back and say that does not sound like a good combination, but
somehow Sxuperion make it work and make it sound natural and at
times even mildly unique. Speaking of obscure earlier, that term
also applies nicely to the various sinister voices and growling
vocals employed on here, they are all very murky and ethereal
sounding like they are coming from nowhere and everywhere at the
same time. I am not sure if this will be everyone’s cup of tea, but
it definitely is taking an old great style and doing it well,
staying true to it’s roots and still making something different and
distinctive sounding. - Dale
https://bloodymountainrecords.bandcamp.com/
http://www.bloodymountainrecords.com/
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This secretive
Polish band apparently take their musical witchcraft seriously, not
to even mention their pagan roots, and the roots of the great early
days of black metal terror that spawned in their country in the
early 1990s. There were some great bands in those days that I can
say I was actually into back then, such as the earlier works of
countrymen Graveland, Veles, Infernum, Behemoth (no not the later
days of the band, the early days were different, I ordered their
“The Return of the Northern Moon” demo cassette from Pagan Records
in 1993, it is to this day still one of my most cherished bm
releases). Szary Wilk play harsh second wave bm and mix in heavy
doses of flowing epic riffing that glide across the darkness like a
silky and sinister spirit. Actually, considering how harsh and evil
some of the nucleus elements of their music is, there is a higher
level of memorable melody than you might expect. I could actually go
for the freezing callous side to their music to take on an even more
prominent grip on things, but that is just my personal tastes.
Having said that, there is enough there for me to enjoy and the more
melodic side is well done and enjoyable in it’s own right. They
certainly do create an atmosphere that is interesting. I still think
the hatred and cold rawness could be turned up a notch or two on
this album. But if you like that old black metal severity mixed with
some free flowing melodic melodies and moody epic style then you
will probably get into this album even more than I did. - Dale
https://putridcultproductions.bandcamp.com/
https://www.putridcult.pl/
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Thale comes out
of the long running and rich in history Norweigan black metal scene.
‘Daudens Kalde Auge’ is the bands debut containing five tracks of
raw black metal, but the band does add some elements of modern black
metal into the music to give the music a twist. Mainly the music is
played with mid paced guitars and drums that are played with some
really powerful arrangements and furious intensity. The musicians do
speed up throughout the songs to give a more aggressive and
destructive feel. The vocals are demonic shrieks and blackened
screams that fit the music like a glove so to speak. Thale deliver a
great debut of melodic black metal with some aggressive passages
intertwined within that framework to give each song it's own
identity. - Patrick
https://bchrecords.storenvy.com/
https://plaguedemonrecords.storenvy.com/
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T.O.M.E. (Tome
Of Misanthropical Experience) from Finland is one of those
mysterious initials only bm bands. This collective turns out very
atmospheric black metal, now I know what you are thinking
atmospheric that must mean wall to wall synths, samples, angelic
voices etc… Well you should forget those thoughts. This band creates
deep encompassing atmospheres through traditional instruments
mainly; okay there are a few wind samples and sounds, but mainly
traditional instrumentation. The band while traveling along moderate
guitar driven pace, like to then transition slower and slower,
before you know it it is one note hanging in the frigid winter air
like steam, moving but barely moving. Then things usually speed up
eventually reaching a full on hateful, speedy second wave black
metal velocity and this build up and mixing has a emotional timing
and feel to it that is near perfect. The emotion and brooding
anticipation this slowly creates is pretty delicious in it’s own
sinister fashion, which makes the delivery of the stormy black metal
outbreak that often follows very satisfying and invigorating. Some
will be tempted to label this band in the depressive black metal
category, not sure they belong there, their music feels like
something else, something with a more malevolent intent. Despite all
the foreboding gloom and black blood freezing aggression there are
brief sequences, now and then, where they are actually verge on
slightly rocking and headbanging territory. I know that flies in the
face of what I have described, but it is there and somehow they make
it work in their own dark manner - It should not work, but it does
anyway. The vocals should be mentioned here as well, they are all
manner of evil shadowy voices, ominous howls (similar to early
Burzum perhaps) and emanations dripping with depraved, haunting
passion that are mixed with excellent traditional black metal
rasping mainstay vocals. I am not sure if this will be a band going
forward or a one off release, as T.O.M.E. have released only one
demo over a decade ago and it would appear the music here is the
same as that release possibly with some fine tuning and updating.
Either way, even if this is the bands only legacy, this is very
worth having for any black metal devotee that worships atmospheric
black metal with a hefty wintry primordial old school feel. -
Dale
http://www.mikseri.net/artists/tome.69189.php
http://spreadevil.net/
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I have heard the
name of this band around in recent years, but this album, their
second is my introduction to this New York City quintet. The music
itself is fast and catchy and great, but hot damn the vocal
performance of vocalist Sarabeth Linden on the opening (and best)
track “Blood Moon” is so over the top fiery and explosive is amazing
and needs to be heard! The energy and power she put into that first
song is ridiculous and she leaves it all out there on the floor so
to speak. That is not to say her performance on the rest of the
album is lesser, because it is fantastic throughout, but yeah she
went above and beyond to kick things off. The band has a knack for
writing memorable hook-y songs that keep up the speed, while still
leaving enough breathing space for some classy emotive guitar work
and tasty little guitar fills. The song structuring and vibe does a
pretty nice job of mixing things up and they keep a varied style
from song to song as the album progresses along. I would say the
band musically, in my opinion, ranges from just decent to pretty
good, but it is the vocalist that puts Tower over the top and pushes
them to a higher level. You should check this out if you are a fan
of both old and newer schools of heavy metal. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/TOWERnyc/
https://cruzdelsurmusic.bandcamp.com/ |
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Ulvedharr come
to us out of the Italy, it is my first time listening to this band,
despite them being veterans of the UG metal scene, as “Inferno
XXXIII” representing their 5th album in the last decade.
I was pretty quickly taken aback upon hitting play, as I was awash
in a rapid fire, rip ‘n tear busy barrage of high octane deathrash
metal! It was easy to very quickly get caught up in this quality
blitz attack. One of the most immediately striking things about this
band, after the shellshock of the ripping music, would be the
distinctive vocals on here. They come courtesy of Ark Nattlig Ulv,
and they are quite different than any other current death or thrash
metal band I can think of, currently. Those vocals are an
interesting mix death growling with elements of crossover thrash
style vocals, incorporating little tendrils of hardcore/punk. Yes, I
know it is not something that should mix together well, but Ark
applies those influences to his distinctive and charismatic voice,
and for me, much to my surprise it really works. Just to give you a
general idea think of the growled vocals of Paul Speckmann of
Master, Dave Hewson of Slaughter & early Chuck Shuldiner coalesced
with Gary Meskil of Pro-Pain & early Tommy Victor of Prong. I told
you it is interesting, and different from what you normally hear
these days, but extremely well done too. Okay, I gave you a general
idea of the vocals, but how about the musical influences? I would
throw out bands like Demolition Hammer, Righteous Pigs, Unleashed,
Possessed, early Prong, early Vader, Morbid Angel, old Sepultura and
the like. It definitely shreds with intricate yet heavy memorable
song structuring and massive headbanging riffs interplayed with some
smoking guitar solos. Ulvedharr is most definitely a change of pace,
compared to what I have been reviewing lately, a fresh breath
hitting my lungs like the crisp air on a icy, frigid morning. I mean
that in a good way, a very good way. You should check this out if
you love the olden days of the bands mention, and that era of
extreme metal Ulvedharr burst forth. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/Ulvedharr
https://scarletrecords.it/
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This Brit band
is a collective of very active long time UG musicians that have done
time at one point or another in bands like Inebrious Incarnate, The
Body Farm, Fleshrot, Bloodshot Dawn, Drenched and more. They play
brutalizing and violent death metal with this release featuring
nearly twenty minutes of it. Unfathomable Ruination is able to
strike a good balance between out and out murderous brutality and
headbang inducing catchy riffs and song structuring. I would not
label the band as technical death metal, but all the same there are
some brief intricate sequences, and the extra attention to detail
with nuanced elements / accents give off that vibe all the same. The
growling vocals are exceedingly powerful and commanding as they boil
and churn the audio waters leaving a violent wake. I like Ben
Wright’s vocals a lot; they are an example of quintessential death
metal goodness and a cut above most. Not to be out done is Doug
Anderson’s drumming, which is a whirlwind of precise hammer blows
that pummel and batter your headphones with both dexterity and
unmerciful brute force. I can not believe that I have not heard any
of this UK bands material before now, because I am duly impressed
and now feel the pull to check out their previous releases (which
include a demo, EP and three albums). I suggest you order a copy of
this, and if you are like me, awaken from slumber and pay closer
attention to this killer band. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/Unfathomable.Ruination.Official/
https://willowtip.bandcamp.com/
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Coming on the
heels of their first release (a four song demo EP) as a band, we now
have the debut album of the promising Vadiat. They may be a new
band, but their members have been around the UG metal scene block, a
time or two. This quartet collectively have seen time in bands like
Shed The Skin, Vindicator, Shok Paris, Abdullah, Soulless, Ringworm,
Terror, Funeral Pyre, Blood Of Christ and more. Yes, their
experience levels stretch back to the late ‘80s (!!), for some
members in thrash bands like Civil Disobedience and Alterrik. Vadiat
play straight up classic death metal from the embryonic days of the
genre, their influences while rooted in the US scene of old, you can
also hear strong hints from the early works of classic bands from
Scandinavia, and Britain as well. While there is some real doomy
elements to the bands sound, to very good effect, I am not sure it
is strong enough that I would call them a doom death band. Yet, the
more I listen I go back and forth, and think yeah man this is
definitely a doom death band lol! As the band does often chug along
at a slow to middling pace, while mixing in a lot of tasty, even
moody guitar fills and leads into their heavy plodding music. There
is a definite aura of darkness that spreads across and blankets the
music, which I find quite infectious, and even a little addictive to
listen to. This darkened doom death sound further deepened, and
solidified by the gloomy, elongating and roiling growl style to the
vocals that really adds to the atmosphere created by the music. If I
have one nitpicky complaint about this album, it would be that it is
almost over produced, their style could use a little dirt and grit,
but honestly this is a minor point, it sounds too good Haha! Man,
this is a superb debut album, maybe somewhat unsurprising coming
from this skilled, veteran collective of musicians, but nonetheless
they really deliver with “Spear Of Creation”. They even top
everything off with a cool dm cover of the classic song “Pray For
The Dead”, from the legends Trouble (RIP Eric Wagner) to finish
things off nicely here. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/Vadiatmetal/
https://shop.redefiningdarkness.com/
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Coming out of
the German black metal scene is Vampyric Tyrant who plays a 90's
style of raw vampyric black metal. ‘Zorn Und Hass’ is the bands
latest release which is comprised of four tracks of cold and well
executed black metal music. "Vereinsamung" starts off the release
with a cold mid paced guitar and drum patterns, which is performed
with some nice skillful songwriting. The vocals are raw black metal
screams and a few traditional hollering lines are used. The title
track “Zorn Und Hass" is up next and is a much faster and aggressive
track that goes for the throat. The guitars and drum patterns are
played with a faster more intense pace in their wicked delivery. "Ein
Traum" is a instrumental track that is very well played with a mid
pacing and produces some atmospheric elements on this song. The
final track "Totschlag" is a good song that is played with a mix of
fast and mid paced passages to give the song it's own identity. On
this track the vocals are more of a gruff screaming style and
growling mixture that is done with intensity and power. This is my
first encounter with Vampyric Tyrant, but the band does a great job
of creating memorable traditional cold black metal. If you are a fan
of this style then I highly recommend you picking up a copy of this
strong release. - Patrick
https://www.facebook.com/vampyrictyrant
https://shop.purity-through-fire.com/en/
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I must confess I
am a fan of a number of this bands two main songwriters Werwolf
(Satanic Warmaster, Grieve, Knife, Krüel Kömmando, Orlok, Satanist
Terrorist, The True Werwolf, Vritrahn-Werwolf, ex-Horna, ex-White
Death and more) & V-KhaoZ Stormrage (Druadan Forest, Olio
Tähtien Takana, V-Khaoz, ex-Oath, ex-Azaghal plus more). Though of
course there is no denying they are currently in, or have been in
many, many bands over the years Haha. Clearly these two demons fit
together well musically though, as evidenced by their strong work
together in this band and in Grieve. While both these men musically
come out of the mighty second wave of black metal. Grieve is cut
more from the cloth of the earlier works of Darkthrone, where as
Vargrav definitely has a much more of an older Emperor bent. Vargrav
produce some truly evil sounding, freezing black metal with a strong
backing of cryptic synth, which helps to create a black wall of
sinister atmosphere. The music is razor fucking sharp, fast and
aggressive with a constant attacking, current flowing to the torrent
of riffs, battering hammers and caustic blackened rasping vocals
propelled forward to create a feeling of intense impending doom. The
only thing that smoothes it out at all is that haunting, baleful
synth, which gives off a creeping audio fog that grounds the attack
with moody ambiance. So, rounding out this four song release you get
a superb cover of one of my favourite Emperor songs “Ancient Queen”.
That is surely the song that probably made me an Emperor devotee,
when I heard their demo in the early ‘90s, a real masterpiece. The
final track on here is a live recording of “Netherstorm” from 2019
at the Steelfest. So, essentially you get one new track, the title
track, which is set to be released again on their upcoming third
album. Then you get two re-mastered tracks, which were only
previously released as a bonus limited 7” with their debut album,
the Emperor cover, and finally the live track (that apparently is
only on this CD and not on the digital version). I hope I explained
all of that right, I believe I did. This release is a damn good one,
even if there is no real exclusive material (though those two seven
inch tracks are probably fairly rare up to this point), save for the
live track. Anyways, I know I enjoyed this five song release. -
Dale
https://www.facebook.com/Vargravofficial/
https://www.werewolf.fi/
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This US band has
been around for a while, releasing a number of albums. I have heard
the name around yet I have not had the pleasure of listening to
their music until now. Veilburner I guess you would call them
progressive or even avantgarde black death metal that manages to
stay both dark and brutal at the same time. There is some really
off-kilter, seemingly wonky, deformed and unconventional rhythms,
riffs and eccentric song writing that can be a roller coaster ride
at times. I am generally not a fan of roller coasters both literally
and figuratively in the musical sense, but this one I can dig. The
band takes their extensive old school death metal roots and
influences, throws them in a blender while mixing in all sorts of
unusual outside influences like Laibach and other intense shit. So
many so-called progressive metal bands, in my view, go so far down
the progressive path that they become lost and forget where they
started from. I mean before long you can hardly even call them heavy
or extreme any longer, but I can tell you this band keep a rope
anchored to their brutal death metal nucleus at all times. Which in
turn, makes me trust them, and is why a purist leaning old goat like
me can buckle up and go along for the wild ride. Veilburner take the
weirdness and adventurousness of old bands like Pungent Stench,
Disharmonic Orchestra, Pan.Thy.Monium, Sigh, Dodheimsgard, later
Deathspell Omega and put their own spin on it. Possibly an argument
can even be made that they take it all a step further on this album.
It is impressive that somehow Veilburner has managed to musically
stick a square peg into a round hole, and in doing so created a
fascinating audio journey along the way. I find myself endlessly
amazed at the amount of promotion and sheer volume of merchandise
(discs, vinyl & special vinyl versions, shirts, hoodies, patches,
badges, coasters, cards, box sets and extensive packaging) that
Transcending Obscurity put into every band and every release! It
must cost a fortune, but they clearly believe in the bands and the
music they create. Veilburner is yet another example of the many
quality bands they support; this is well worth your time. - Dale
https://veilburnerband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/TO
https://tometal.com/
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A scene that I
do not give much attention or generally think of as a thriving one
is the UG metal scene in Spain. Which is where this band rises out
of, and which I am finding out has more quality than I thought. Velo
Misere features members with ties to bands like Aversio Humanitatis,
Eohl, Eterna Penumbra and Primigenium (man I remember fucking loving
their ’94 demo tape when that thing came out back in the day). They
build their sound on a foundation of epic black metal, despite that
epic flowing nature; they manage to concentrate their song
compositions and pacing on a heavily moody and creepy aura. It is
kind of strange you could almost swear the songs are extremely long,
but that is not the case, apparently they just fit seamlessly
together from one to the next, as the song lengths only range from
less than five minutes to a little over six minutes. It is
interesting even though it is epic black metal heavily filtered
through an ambient fabric, somehow I can still feel that trademark
old school freezing cold hatred rear it’s dark head at times. The
vocals are well done and haunting bm rasps and obscured screams that
fit well with the evil yet gloomy nature of the underlying music. As
you can tell from my description (hopefully haha) Velo Misere while
always staying extreme and on task with their core sound, they also
have some range to their music. Which touches many facets of the
black metal sound and the sinister emotions and atmospheres this
musical movement richly and vividly creates. - Dale
https://velomisere.bandcamp
https://www.nebularcarcoma.com/
https://lunarapps.bandcamp
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Verbum from the
Chile hotbed UG scene have released only one demo in 2016,
everything has been silent since then until now with their debut
full-length suddenly appearing via Iron Bonehead. The music on
‘Exhortation To The Impure’ is crushing slow doom death metal with a
ominous aura that saturates you, creating a constant foreboding
feeling of creeping death upon the listener. Some influences that
spring to mind are Disembowelment for sure, but also a couple others
like Evoken, Winter and the slower doomy sections of bands like
Rippikoulu and Cianide for example. Having named those influences,
Verbum crafts that style of music and adds small songwriting quirks,
sudden subtle changes in emotion or interesting creative vocal
accents that add some of their own touches to that traditional death
doom sound I adore. An example of this is in the track “Abrahamic
Sedition” the guitars speed up, then the drums suddenly speed up but
the guitars slow done to more severe slow-mo for a bit, then the
guitars speed up again while the drums start dialing back the pace.
It is a cool dynamic and creates a lot of atmosphere, especially
when wrapped before and after (in this seven minute song) with super
plodding and snails pace destroying heavy doom. The sluggish roiling
demonic murky growls and the secondary elongated throaty growling,
plus the occasional mordant acid yell accents. This myriad of vocal
elements all combine to add another excellent layer of suffocating,
evil ambiance on top of the instruments to create a superb and
mind-bending torturous experience. I highly recommend this to old
and new extreme death doom fans. Chile delivers once again in
spades. - Dale
https://ironbonehead.de/
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/
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Void Of Apep is
a solo project coming out of Portugal's UG black metal scene.
‘Horror Vacui’ is the debut release featuring four tracks of mid
paced black metal. “Tenbris in Lux” starts off the release and is
played with mid paced guitars with strong drum passages that are
done with skillful writing. The vocals are harsh black metal
screams. “Ex Imperato Averno” is up next and starts off at a bit
faster pace that is done with some very well played guitars and
drums. The vocals are grim black metal screams that really seems to
work well with this band. “Lapsit Exillis” is a heavier and darker
song that has a variety of faster and mid paced melodies that create
eerie melodies. This EP finishes off the debut and is done with a
sinister guitar style that is mainly played with mid paced guitars.
Void Of Apep plays a style of occult black metal that is rooted in
the 90's. But is not a clone by any means and creates a dark and
haunting masterpiece. This has me for one looking forward to hearing
more this band. - Patrick
voidofapep.bandcamp.com
plaguedemonrecords.storenvy.com
bchrecords.storenvy.com
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Though this is
the bands second album, it is my initial foray into the sounds of
the Californian band Vrenth. Though I have heard Ruin, which shares
no less than three members with Vrenth, and musically there can be
no denying the similarities betwixt the two bands and that is not a
bad thing at all. There are enough differences as well that you can
easily distinguish between the two both bands. Another thing that
jumped out at me (as you know I love band member history and
lineages) is the drummer is in a bunch of bands like Ascended Dead,
Chthonic Deity, VoidCeremony and the mighty Funebrarum – who surely
is an influence on Vrenth as well. This album is filled with dank,
dark and gloomy brutalizing death metal that often mixes in doom
death elements into their massive music at times. It is quite an
overall experience that batters and envelopes you with its
oppressive and crushing sound. I am a huge fan of what feels like a
movement (ala the old styles called the Sunlight sound or Floridian
dm sound) in the UG scene in recent years and I have often commented
on it in recent times. I am talking about this growing list of bands
that combine some of my absolute fave old school bands and sounds,
mainly from the early to mid ‘90s scenes of the USA, the UK, Sweden
and Finland. I am thinking of the early works of old bands like
Autopsy, Incantation, Immolation, Cianide, Bolt Thrower,
Benediction, Dismember, Grave, Rippikoulu, Demilich, Abhorrence,
Demigod, Convulse. This brings me back to Funebrarum in the early
2000’s, as in some ways that band probably started the revival and
movement of combining those particular country / scene specific
influences into one dm style. I just need to think of a name for it
Haha. The current crop of bands is expanding by the day it seems and
some newer bands I see in this style consortium are Tomb Mold, Disma,
Dead Congregation, Undergang, Anatomia, Church Of Disgust, Krypts
and lots more! As I have said I fucking worship this movement and
the original bands and classic albums that spawned it. Vrenth is
another top quality addition to take up the mantle of these cult
sounds. Give a try I think you will be glad you did. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/VrenthBand/
https://rottedlife.bandcamp.com/ |
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Columbus Ohio’s
The Wakedead Gathering is the solo project of Adam Lampe, who does a
number of one man bands like Echushkya, Invultation, Longbarrow, and
one lone band named Acrid Tome with other members. All of Lampe’s
bands seem to reside in the black and death metal realms.
‘Parallaxiom’ is T.W.G.’s fourth full-length album, and the first in
half a decade, but keep in mind this is one busy guy, so the
distance between releases is not entirely surprising. This album
lyrically, and obviously by extension musically tells of a dystopian
sci-fi future where potential criminals are predicted and weeded out
at birth. Naturally this system and social law is less than perfect,
it leads to cracks in the system, a rebellious element is fomented
and sets out to destroy authoritarian regime. The music on here is
dark death metal with a certain moodiness that fluctuates from
brooding and downtrodden, to aggressively stirring and blithesome
triumph. Some of the guitar work, fills, and the like remind me a
lot to the early Floridian death metal style and there are some
killer riffs and rhythms going on here that got my head nodding. The
obscure sounding and shadowy evil growling vocals are so good and
mix in with the sinister aura produced by the music perfectly. I
would definitely call The Wakedead Gathering a straight up death
metal band, yet there is this doomy edge to their sound at times
which enhances the murky feel the music often produces. This is a
good album that I think many or most death metal hounds, especially
those with a leaning towards the early days of death metal will find
something to enjoy here. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/thewakedeadgathering
https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com
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Wampyric Rites
hail from Ecuador and despite only being in existence since 2019,
they have an extremely plentiful release history already for a band
this young. I mean at a guess they probably have put out over 20
demos, EPs, splits and ‘The Wolves Howl To The Moon’ is their second
full-length album. They play vigorous, somewhat raw and decidedly
freezing cold black metal in the second wave early ‘90s tradition.
They do a good job of mixing in other elements now and then from
sound effects, chants and keys to flesh things out. Yet, those extra
elements are always employed as accents with the flowing, hatefully
glacial archetypical bm sounds at the Wampyric Rites core. It is not
all mindless straight ahead raw black metal either, though I like
that too, but rather Wampyric have that as the mainstay while
varying the songwriting in ways I found interesting and almost
trance inducing. The vocals are purely classic second wave rasping
acidic vocals, the kind that I admire, there is some screeching,
tortured and bellowing accented accompaniment as well to garnish
these sinister vocal emanations. Some bands that spring to mind
would be the earlier works of bands like Immortal, Darkthrone,
Burzum, Judas Iscariot, Horna or some newer bands like Inferno
Requiem, Armagedda, Craft, Vampirska etc… If you, like me, worship
early ‘90s style black metal and traditions and can not get enough,
then you should give this album a try. - Dale
https://wampyricrites1.bandcamp.com https://signalrex.com
https://signalrex.bandcamp.com
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The black metal
scene from Greece has always been a quality one with a lot of
history. It was for me on the same level in the early 90s through
the mid ‘90s, alongside Scandinavia as the best and more important
in the underground…period. That rich history of the Greek scene is
brought to life and carried on in grand tradition by some select
newer bands from that country, and for me it is safe to say you can
place Wampyrinacht in that collective. The traditional Greek sound
has never been about lightning speed or explosive bombast, no it
owes it’s roots more to the first wave of black metal than the
second wave of their aforementioned counterparts. This sound
generally ranges pace wise from slow and brooding, to middle paced
with speedy flourishes to add contrast and keep things that much
more interesting. This old style is chiefly in service of the song
and the atmosphere first and foremost. There is and often was
underlying background use of keyboards and piano, but it is not what
you are probably thinking, it is not pretty or melodic shit, it is
horror soundtrack style stuff again a staple of the old Greek bands
tradition. Now when I mention this movement of bands and sound, who
are some of the bands I speak of? That would be the earlier works of
bands like Rotting Christ, Necromantia, Kawir, Nergal, Thou Art
Lord, Zemial, Varathron and a few others. I am always tempted to
throw in the non-Greek legend band Mortuary Drape from Italy as part
of this movement, as they came along around the same time and share
so many traits with those ancient bands from Greece. Certainly
Wampyrinacht (who surprisingly to me put out their debut recording a
demo in way back in 1996, followed by an EP and then lay dormant for
20 years!) fits right in with those bands and does a fine job
carrying all of that forward here on their second full-length
release. So, in case you have not figured it out by now, this should
be of expressed interest to any fellow diehards of the mighty Greek
black metal scene of old, and to any who want to get a taste of what
it was about. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/Wampyrinacht/
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/
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The Floridian
band Wharflurch is new to me having formed in 2019, they previously
released a demo and an EP prior to this four songs, fifteen minute
‘Shitslime’ EP picked up by Personal Records. The music is very
rooted in the old school UG metal tradition yet they also have this
quirky edge (but not in a goofy or trying to just be progressive
way) with hard to describe little touches and accents that give off
that vibe. I am talking about things like tossing in a super catchy
headbang riff, a dramatic guitar fill (ala start of the song
“Intergalatic Death Spectrum Vortex”), a catchy sped up short
section of a song seemingly out of nowhere or just a strange sound
effect or sample, which is kept brief yet impactful. I can tell the
band is very careful that these elements do not distract from their
core sound, which is very much extremely heavy, sewer level guttural
death metal with a suffocating slowed aura wrapped around it all.
Their base nucleus sound to my ear is a mix of doom death metal, ala
Bolt Thrower and especially early Autopsy mixed with just ultra
brutal riffing and pummeling drums, but when things speed up it
reminds me a lot of early to middle ‘90s Floridian death metal. It
is all done so well though. My first couple listens this did not
grab me that hard, but with successive listen afterwards their
infectious grip tightened around me until I could no longer resist
and submitted to it’s suffocating embrace. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/wharflurch
https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/
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Classic and
classy sounding heavy metal doom music is what you get from the
German band Wheel, and you get it in spades. I was struck pretty
quickly by these fellows penchant and ability to convey so much
emotion through the structuring of their music, with the guitars
taking a lead role in this and some of the riffing and playing are
so enchanting and hypnotic. Arkadius Kurek has down the
quintessential vocal style for traditional doom metal, it is tried
and true for a reason because it fits this genre like a proverbial
glove. But it takes talent, timing and the right vocal tone to pull
it off as well as Arkadius does on this album. It does help the
vocalist along the way to have quality lyrics to work with to be up
to the challenge of singing to such dramatic and epic music. Some
influences that spring to mind when listening to ‘Preserved In Time’
is a mix of bands like ‘70s era Pentagram, ‘80s era Candlemass,
Saint Vitus, ‘90s era Solstice (UK), Reverend Bizarre and possibly
more than any of those is the great band Solitude Aeturnus. I mean
all of those influences as a real compliment; they take in some of
the best elements of those bands and produce something that I think
all fans of those bands and the time-honored archetypical doom metal
would gladly welcome to their collection. - Dale
https://wheeldoom.bandcamp.com/
www.cruzdelsurmusic.com
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This is my first
encounter with this young Swedish band, on this their sophomore
album, and honestly it hit me like a runaway truck. I mean this is
some truly ferocious and battering death metal yet there is also a
strong level of technicality and finesse within the music. It runs
like a blitzkrieg freight train engine, while it pummels, it also
pays much attention to detail with highly precise involved
songwriting, performed with impressive nimble crispness. The varied
and emotive, deep growling vocals on here also quite impressive. The
vocals remind me of nuances from some of my all-time fave dm
vocalists such as Matti Kärki, Ola Lindgren, Dave Ingram, David
Vincent, Corpsegrinder and so on. It is a striking vocal performance
on this album to go along with superb music. Despite the wreckage
and carnage the speed/brutality creates, the band does at times
manage to slow down just long enough to build up some brief brooding
atmosphere, as evidenced on a song like “Upon The Weak”. This facet
of their sound only adds depth and range to their techno barbarity.
I feel the base of this bands sound is indeed rooted in the classic
Swedish bands of yesteryear, such as Dismember and Grave yet there
is also a heavy injection of old school American death ala Morbid
Angel, Sufocation, Cannibal Corpse and like. Additionally, I feel
like I hear a some ultra technical dm influences of intricate bands
like Practice In Theory or Gorguts, at times, swimming around in
this lethally layered musical cocktail. I think you can tell, I love
this album, if you are into the bands I mentioned above then I can
not imagine you not liking this killer album as much as I do. -
Dale
https://wretchedfate.bandcamp.com/
https://shop.redefiningdarkness.com/
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I must confess I
know very little about Minneapolis, Minnesota native Nick Stranger
(also of the band Ashbringer who have a few albums out) or his one
man band Xythlia, but I now find that surprising that I had not
heard of a guy with this level of musical abilities. I say that
because Nick composes and plays everything on this album. The songs
are extremely tight, intricate and super technical, but also very
brutal feathered into progressive elements and structuring. This
obviously speaks to the man’s ability on numerous instruments as
well, of course, his song writing capability. The music of Xythlia
is as caustic as it is skillfully nimble, it is hard to describe
this music, but I will give it a go. The music is brutal death
metal, intense bits of grind and techno thrash mixed with industrial
sound elements / samples expressed through extremely agile and
inventive song arrangements. I feel like some of the many influences
I can hear in this large melting pot are things like Brutal Truth
ala their first album, Voivod ala “Dimension Hatröss” era, Napalm
Death early albums, later era Death, Coroner and Mekong Delta. Plus
I also hear some new and old techno death bands like Gorguts, Nasum,
Pig Destroyer, Decapitated, Theory In Practice, Spawn Of Possession
and Neuraxis. As far as the industrial overtones (which may be
partially down to an expertly programmed drum machine) I mentioned I
would say it is along the lines of early Fear Factory and Godflesh
material. The overall listening experience for me was both
exhilarating and exhausting, as it pummels you into submission in a
dynamic, lively fashion that will challenge your mind and ears to
attempt to keep up with. It is striking that Nick is able to keep up
this level of scathing brutality and speed while playing such ultra
technical, intricate music within such acrobatic song writing. The
final verdict for me is "Immortality Through Quantum Suicide" is an
impressive (in more ways than one considering this all came from one
man) debut that will be difficult to top. - Dale
https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com
http://i-voidhanger.com/
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