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Where do I even start on this Swedish / Finnish band? Damn, I mean they are all over the fucking place, up and down stylistically, and wild as hell! But I mean that in a good way, also they are just very different than what I usually review. That does not mean the music they produce and their influences are not in my wheelhouse though. It is just that I don’t usually find them in a one stop, catch all shop like this haha. I mean the music these maniacs produce is at heart in some ways extreme speed metal, but there is also a lot of punk/hardcore thrown in (especially song construction wise). But at the same time thrown into that speed metal mix is just mad slap dashes and cool sprinklings of heavy metal, thrash metal, death metal and more (even an old school traditional Sabbath / Candlemass extended section in the song “Torrents Of Black Blood”). I know what you are thinking, they are just trying to be progressive or fancy or some shit. But that is not what is going on here, it is not as scatterbrained sounding as my description makes it out to be. It all feels very skillfully and thoughtfully plotted, and thought out, which is pretty impressive when it is so extreme and filled high octane crackling energy. I find it kind of crazy listening to it, how smooth it all sounds. When they transition from simple battering punk/hardcore, to a blazing crossover thrash sequence and then throw in a technical death metal sounding section. When I read that back I find myself thinking that sounds like a mess, but hot damn, these loonies are talented as hell and make it work. It can be a bit of a taxing listen, but is so frenetic, smooth and so fun because it keeps you constantly guessing. As I mentioned if they also had included like flowery, overly melodic or fuck it, I will just say it wimpy elements then no way this works for me. But man these guys are heavy, they are abrasive and extreme in a balls to the walls manner that falls right in to my wheelhouse. I have not even mentioned the vocals courtesy of Coffin (aka Affe Piran), they have a lot to deal with and live up to here, but I will be damned if this guy does an admirable job of doing just that. His vocals, like the music are wild! The base of his style kind of reminds me of the amazingly insane and unhinged vocals from John Dahlin on The Accüsed’s classic albums. But like the music he mixes influences from speed, death, even a tiny bit of black metal rasping influence. For those not familiar with The Accüsed, Dahlin, or his rampaging mental patient punk / hardcore / thrash style vocals. What a ride this album is, like nothing I have not heard before, but this IS something I have never heard combined like THIS, and brilliantly so! Also, as long as you dig all of those styles then you absolutely need to hear this, there is nothing like it. This breaks all the rules, happily so, and with a spiked fist to the face. How does this even exist?! Haha! Get this. - Dale
https://obnoxiousyouth.bandcamp.com/
https://www.svartrecords.com/en
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This new band from Germany took me by surprise, as they grabbed me, put me into a hypnotic slow motion headbanging trance. I was immediately struck by the all-encompassing dark and downtrodden atmospheres that blanket you in a dense, inky bleak audio fog. The aura that permeates their music is filled with a wonderful sense of despondent oppression and mournfulness. The music style for me is very interesting. I say that because they play doom metal. But, usually you have classic heavy metal doom (ala Candlemass, Sabbath, Solitude Aeturnus, St. Vitus, Pentagram, early Trouble). Then you have death doom, which is exactly what it sounds like a death metal variation of the classic heavy metal doom pacing / style (ala early Autopsy, Disembowelment, Cianide, Winter, Evoken, Thergothon, Funebrarum etc…). Then you have Obsidian Scapes, who are more like a true marriage of two, rather than taking influence from one to create the other. With this band the brutal guitar riffing (and production there upon) and some pacing are death metal doom, but the overall song construction, pacing and various other sensibilities are classic heavy metal doom greatness. The excellent vocal performance, while at times, has a bit of a coarse undercurrent, is decidedly almost entirely of the classic heavy metal doom style. A style that features clean, soulfully despondent singing and is filled with emotion filled sorrow. I love this integral combination of these almighty sub-genres. I know some people only like the classic old school style, and not the death doom extremity, but lucky for me I am a fanatic for both. Obsidian Scapes takes the best of both, combined with a great feel and songwriting skill to come out with a killer sound and style. I honestly can not get enough of it and have been listening to this massive debut album on continual repeat loop endlessly. -
Dale
https://obsidianscapesdarknessshallrise.bandcamp.com/
https://darknessshallrise.de/
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Now this is a blast from the past for me. I am trying to remember when I first heard Old Wainds? I want to say I may have tape traded for their third demo, either or that or definitely when I bought a 7” EP by them way back in 2001. Then a while later I was sent an album by them to review if memory serves (so many thousands of rleases and promos over the last thirty years and my memory is getting fuzzy these days haha). This Russian band put out their first album in 2002 and ‘Stormheart’ marks their fifth album over that twenty-plus years. Old Wainds is a duo of Morok (bass & guitar) and Sadist (vocals), though they do bring in some session guys to round things out on guitar and on the drums. They produce a distinctive form of winding, raw, rough yet at the same time a smooth flowing atmosphere coats their brand of black metal. To give you a reference on their sound I might point out a bands like Arckanum, Armagedda or the early works of hordes like Mayhem, Immortal and Burzum. I would say the raw and rasping acidic edge of the vocals, applied to the starkly frigid atmosphere the music produces reminds me most of Arckanum in particular. I am a fan of all of those bands, so it is probably not a surprise when this style is done this well that I would enjoy it. If you worship old second wave Scandinavian style black metal that is also caustic with a grimy chainsaw gutfuck guitar sound. Then you should give this new album by this old goat band a chance straight away. - Dale
https://oldwainds.bandcamp.com/
https://darknessshallrise.de/
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Ominous Ruin out of California return with their sophomore album, and second with Willowtip Records. Since we last tuned in with the band, they have recently added a new vocalist in the form of Crystal Rose (I can find no prior band history of note, before this new gig). This album picks right up where “Amidst Voices That Echo In Stone” left off, some four years ago. Things start off with a somewhat tranquil intro, which reminds me slightly of some Fates Warning interludes. But that is not exactly what follows, instead you get hit with some quick, heavy and nimbly constructed time fluent death metal. The band definitely does dance on the razor’s edge between pounding brutality and fancy, all frills technical finesse and precision. There is always the danger of sacrificing flow and extremity when you walk this line, so closely. Does that happen here, I am not going to lie despite them doing a fantastic job walking that tight rope. There are some sequences where I feel maybe the flow, the rhythm, the extremity suffer and languish a bit. But luckily those moments that gave me that feeling were relatively few and generally they do not let the heavy and the pummel sit on the sidelines, for too long, before it punches it’s way back into the mix. Something that really helps keep that bridge between the two is Rose’s deep growling vocals, which are great and add that in your face, skin grating audio element that is needed here in my opinion. I like also like, unlike a lot of female death metal vocalists these days, she refrained from mixing in clean sung vocal duets. That is not to say I am entirely against the growled/clean sung trade off dynamic, when done well, but the bands music does lend itself well to that IMO. There is also enough delicate prettiness in the techno elements and the albeit fairly brief, progressive sci-fi sounding synth sound effects/samples mixed into the music. The musicianship and overall skill level is extremely impressive, the technicality, the constant time and direction changes are dizzyingly stunning to listen to. If you love death metal and love extremely tech versions of it with a progressive edge then you really need to check this album out. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/OminousRuin
https://www.willowtip.com/
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This band from Spain is new to me, but they have been around a long time now, over a decade, in fact. During that long time they have released an EP, and two albums with ‘Revelations From The Void’ being album number three. So, not overly prolific as have been averaging one album every six years it would seem. They do not skimp on these releases however, that EP is the length of what many other bands call albums, and each album comes within spitting distance of an hour run time. The individual members also seem have their fair share of other bands, past and present such as Ered, Bizarre, Estertor, Ouija, Decapitated Christ and more. Onirophagus play somber, gloomy and heavy doom death metal that leans most the doom portion of that program. The music on here is slow, but has a great dark and foreboding atmosphere that is both chilling and contemplative, in overall effect. The song lengths are interesting to me, as you might expect there are marathon length songs like “Hollow Valley” and 10:53, and the extra hefty and moody “Stargazing Into The Void” that clocks in at right about 16 minutes! Then on the flip side of this are equally downtrodden and plodding numbers like “Landsickness”, and “The Tome” run their slow-mo races around the 6 and 7 minute marks respectively. Which shows the bands talent and maturity, that they can construct such divergent duration with these songs, making them all effective and they fit in well within the collective of the this album. They also have the talent to be able to really transmit emotion that evokes feelings of melancholy, longing and cavernous darkness within their songs. All the while keeping things heavy and melodious, you have to have a little patience, but if you do when they tempo shifts come they are affecting and enjoyable. The painfully slow and soulful death growls from vocalist Paingrinder (an apt moniker that describes his vocals in many way) are filled with emotive range, charisma and feeling for the underlying music. This is the kind of death doom metal I can really appreciate. I loved death doom metal from the time it reared it’s head and started to make it’s mark at the very end of the ‘80s and start of the 1990s. Sadly for me, it was not long before those bands started going more and more into steadily clean, commercial, gothic etc… directions. Which watered down, and frankly for me, ruined much of what they had built, you know the names Anathema, Tiamat, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride. But some held on, and in more positive news quite a few bands in recent times, a growing movement, have picked up that old mantel and are carrying that torch forward. You can add, Oniropahgus pleasantly so, to that movement and tradition. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/Onirophagus/
https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/
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It is probably surprising to some that Sweden’s Paganizer has been around continuously since 1998. Yes, that is right just a few ticks shy of thirty years! I was lucky enough to get in on this band almost right from the start. As during the late ‘90s and early 00’s I was in touch with a fair amount of people from bands, fanzines and some record labels from Malaysia and Singapore. Hell, I even had a tape trader from there and did some writing for a fanzine from there back then. How does this tie into Paganizer, you ask? Well, one of those labels was called Psychic Scream Entertainment out of Malaysia, which also happened to be the label that put out Paganizer’s debut album in 1999. Then once again I was in touch this time with a label out of America, called Forever Underground, who like on their debut I was sent me the bands second and third albums they released. The band kept just putting out music consistently thereafter, but I admittedly lost track of them for near a decade. Then the mighty Transcending Obscurity put Paganzier firmly back on my radar in 2017, when they signed the band long term and T.O. has been their home ever since. As mentioned, these guys have consistently been putting out EPs and full-length albums of strong quality, of which “Flesh Requiem” follows suit. They play some excellent death metal, and yes, it surely does have that classic Swedish death style (Dismember, Grave, Vomitory, Entrails, Bloodbath). But I feel like there is a lot of traditional American death metal influence, maybe a little Brit dm metal too (ala Benediction and Napalm Death). Compared to those bands above, you could probably say there is a little more melody and emotive qualities to the songwriting here, and you would not be wrong. I probably should have thrown early Edge Of Sanity in that band list above. But it is mixed in very smoothly and skillfully within their killer heavy, brutal death metal sound. The only founding member of Paganizeris the prolific mastermind of the band Rogga Johansson (who is also a chief songwriting member of American legend band Massacre (with Kam Lee on vox) now, among many, many other bands! I said prolific and I meant it!! Rogga also puts on a fantastic performance on the mic here. His voice is fantastic with a strong, deep and commanding presence through his decipherable and charismatic growling voice. Again, I can not help but think of Dan Swano on Edge Of Sanity’s first couple superb records as a general reference. Rogga is such a talent, but if you are a fan of his other bands like Catacomb, Furnace, Revolting, Putrevore, Johansson & Speckman or Ribspreader. Then you already know what a consistent talent this man is! I have listened to this album a dozen times by now and it never gets old, another super solid album from this veteran band. - Dale
https://paganizer.bandcamp.com/
https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/
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This is my first encounter with Massachusetts Pathogenic. Though, doing a little research, I see they have been around a long time. They mainly have been releasing their music independently themselves over the years. It appears in the past they largely resided within the blackened death metal realm. Their output over the years is a little on the thin side for having been around for twenty years. I suspect some of that may be due to a bit of a revolving door of line up changes. Pathogenic have released a few EPs and two albums over that period, now after five years of quiet they have prepared and unleashed their third album for us to peruse. Pathogenic seem to have left behind their past more straight forward style for a semi-technical, progressive death metal sound these days. Something I like about them is the band neither overkill on technicality, nor do they go too far off the cliff with their progressive elements. There is no mistaking those elements however, they are an important part of things, but death metal is the foundation here. They also do not let these elements smother or suffocate song flow, and for me personally that is important quality for this style. These guys display their maturity in their song construction, things flow nicely as the brutality, the melodies, and the techno sequences all transition back and forth smoothly, skillfully. The songs have direction and still manage bring in the odd backwash of off-kilter bits incorporated well within the heaviness and extremity. Also, the often brief array of introspective moments add some depth to proceedings. These moments at times remind me a little of some nuances of Fates Warning from their great “A Pleasant Shade Of Gray” album. An influence I suspect, a well placed and incorporated one at that. It really adds to the overall dynamic on this record and pushes forward the resulting emotive depth. I also dig the vocals of Jake Burns, he has a cool mixing various death growls and a more grating, coarse undercurrent. Jake’s vocals are all quite decipherable, so you can enjoy the extremity of it all, while following along with all the lyrics. This is a damn solid album that you can lose yourself in. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/pathogenicmetal
https://www.skepsisrecordings.com/
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Well, hot fucking damn! I did not even know, nor dare to think, that there would be another new Pentagram album. What a gift! It is pretty amazing that Bobby Liebling at 71, with the all the miles that addiction and hard living have put on him would manage to record and release another Pentagram record! I see long time on and off again member Victor Griffin and his nephew Greg Turley (who himself had been in Pentagram for a decade) both seem to have departed the band suddenly just recently. I can not help but wonder what the story is there, though I can probably guess. As the vocal icon Bobby Liebling is notoriously hard to get along with, his drug addiction, and often times being ungrateful and abusive to those that have helped him all along his journey. It comes to mind long time former member Joe Hasselvander (ex - Raven), who pretty much pulled Liebling back into things to reform Pentagram, he wrote most of the bands music and everything. My buddy John filmed the gig before their break up, Bobby showed up late halfway thru the rest of the band doing the show without him. Hasselvander literally, while he is playing, starts yelling at and kicking Liebling on stage - crazy stuff! None of that changes the fact that Bobby Liebling is a vocal god, his dulcet tones and trademark delivery have been killing it since the early 1970s! I have not been listening to Pentagram since the beginning. I mean I am an old metal goat, but no, Bobby and company released their first demo and single the year I was born (1973)! It may be strange for some, despite that fact I got into that early classic hard rock, heavy metal doom of the ‘70s first. This was during the time the band had gotten heavier and even doomier in the ‘90s. I love both periods of the band, maybe because it is my first stuff I prefer the seventies material a hair more. During the print days of Canadian Assault, I published an interview my great metal brother Keith Dempe did with Bobby Liebling, as well as a new (as of Halloweeen 2002) long phone interview I did with original drummer and co-song writer Geof O’Keefe. If you managed to snap up one of the thousand copies printed you will see my knowledge and deep love for this band. A Mexican radio station program even did a Pentagram tribute show, based mostly on my interview, which was fucking cool even if I could not understand most Spanish on the recording of it. Sorry I got sidetracked, what is new Haha. So, as I was saying, I prefer the ‘70s stuff a cunt hair more, and this new album definitely skews a little more into that era. But as always that hallmark classic Pentagram sound and style is as omnipresent as ever. This band has always been about writing heavy yet catchy songs with memorable hooks, and classic tattoo on the brain lyrics. It was never about out dooming other bands, being heavier than everyone else, yes, it has elements all of all that. But it is also always about emotion and songs that reach inside you. Bobby may have an all new line-up, but he always picks musicians who love, and know what this legendary band is all about. Musicians he knows have the ability, and attitude to help him continue on down that storied path with aplomb. At over 70 years old, and again the miles traveled, it kind of blows my mind that Bobby can still sound this good! His charismatic voice still has it, that inherent feel for the music and how to tailor, and time his amazing delivery to maximize every moment of every song. This music and that voice takes me places that I love, and am in no hurry to return to reality from. I suspect Pentagram continues to live on, partly due to love of the music, and due to the die in the wool fans of the band that keep their storied legend alive and well! Pentagram should honestly be uttered, at least in the roughly the same ballpark as Black Sabbath. Whose heels they followed closely upon, but alas it was never meant to be apparently. But us old diehards know good and how important this band is. The fact they are still alive, kicking, playing shows and releasing new music over 50 years after their inception is amazing! It makes me delirious with happiness. Everyone should get this piece of classic heavy metal doom, but Pentagram fans this is an absolute must have! Time to keep living in a Ram’s head, crack your skull open and let the lightning back in! If this ends up being the bands swan song, it is a beautiful note to go out on. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/pentagramusa
https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/
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This caught my attention first from the music itself, then I started to look up the background of the band and label. Both were new to me, but the more I dug up on both entities, who are both very early in their existence. I quickly found one of the men in this bands trio ranks, and the label owner are both old contacts of mine that I wrote old school physical letters with for many years! First up, the record label is owned by Ustumallagam of the legend Danish black metal band Denial Of God (and more recently The Rite - both reviewed in these pages)! I think I wrote Ustu all the way back in 1992 to buy Denial Of God’s debut demo tape, and also a short time later his side project Gigum Xul. We even used to trade issues of our fanzines, for some years, about a decade later. He once sent me a package that had animal teeth, skin, and fur stuck to the pieces along with music we traded each other Haha! Now on to the band, and vocalist Jens Bendtsen Pedersen, who I also started being in regular contact with around, oh probably 2000 to 2001ish. Back in those days he was in bands like Victimizer, Kill and Church Bizarre. I confess I lost track of Jens a little bit, it seemed like, as also happened to me around time he got married and had his first kid, and seemed to retreat at least for a while from most or all of his band activities. A few facebook exchanges happened after that. But it is great to see he has dived fully back in to his musical side with bands like The Vein, Unholy Redeemer and now with Perdition’s Mire. Through the many years, and many bands (I did not even mention some others like Ad Noctum or Cerekloth), Jens has always been solely a vocalist / lyricist. I would go as far as saying when it comes to extreme metal, outside of the aforementioned Ustumallagam, Jens is the best vocalist in the UG scene in Denmark and one of the best in Scandinavia (and I know that is saying a lot and I am a little biased admittedly, but it is still true hehe). It will come as no surprise that Mr. Pederson puts on an absolute tour-de-force performance on the mic with this release. He brings a very diverse arsenal on this recording, transitioning with seeming ease between death growl, acid black metal rasp and influences that span accents from other metal styles. Now, I am not talking about high siren stuff here, but those grittier bits and timing in between in King Diamond’s style, I can hear echoes of that from him. It is fucking impressive! Those vocals wonderfully match with the dark, evil black metal music that is cold, hateful while being inter-spliced with somber introspective melodies. It is a bit of a threading of the needle musically, but this band seems to do it with a smooth skill that works out very nicely. This may be an EP, and kudos to band and label for not trying to push it off as an album. But, having said that at same time, it is a robust run time for an EP at twenty-six minutes of music. You should do yourself a favour and get a copy of this. - Dale
https://perditionsmire.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/headkickmusic
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How about that amazing cover art, very nice. This is my first time listening to this Portland, Oregon band, but they have been around for a minute. Having released a demo EP back in 2017, which Sentient Ruin Labratories ended up releasing on cassette and as a 7” EP. Which is a pretty nice label to get right out of the embryonic gates, so to speak. They followed up that EP a year later with their debut full-length album on the same label on tape and vinyl, but this time around they are also getting a CD version by Momento Mori. That is a tidy bit of work for a new band in my opinion. There has been a six year silence since then, the band now re-emerges with their sophomore album and new, strong label backing them with Svart Records. I was pleased when I hit play on this promo, Petrification is not the usual fare for this label who release a lot of more commercial oriented stuff yet from time to time, they do release faster and heavier shit. Such is the case here as Petrification unleashes a massive audio wall of old school death metal that reeks of a sweetly sick and necro atmosphere. That atmosphere is all encompassing yet manages to convey an oppressively emotive quality, which I enjoy. Their brand of death is a sharpened and honed version of the classic sounds from bands like early works of legendary bands like Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Incantation, Grave, Dismember, Demigod, and Convulse. As well as some slightly newer bands like Funebrarum, Disma, Krypts and the like. But they do this style so fucking well, it is so crushingly heavy and infectious to listen to. The vocals also feel very old school with these great yelling, echo-y growls courtesy of Jason Barnett. The production on here even kind of feels like older, traditional recordings with that more organic feel, it sounds like it could have been recorded in the early ‘90s. This is a really cool album and you classic death metal fanatics, like myself, need to check this monster record out. - Dale
https://petrificationdm.bandcamp.com/
http://www.svartrecords.com/en
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Phaethon is a British band who has been around for about four years now. Previously they have released a demo tape and a mini-album, but now they have readied their debut full-length album. They may not have been around that long, nor had many releases, but that does not mean the members of this band are new to the UG scene. As the members of this band are also in other bands like Craven Idol (which I reviewed in these pages some years back), Disfago, Scythian, Fen, Dysemblem, Fellwarden and more. These fellows play traditional heavy metal of the highest order, it is triumphant, it is heavy and refined music. I know one thing for sure, if I had not already known about those experience levels. I would surely be wondering how they have honed their skills to this sharpened of an edge, as it is quite evident in the songwriting and performances. Phaethon show a maturity in their song construction, not to even mention the solid guitar work and classy soloing. The vocals of Vrath fit the music so well, he has a charismatic voice that shows power, victorious inflection and some decent range as well. He has that main clean voice, but also accents it with an angry undercurrent that approaches an extreme metal style. At other times he lets his strong control slip, and go wild and it gets a little wild ala some old Cirith Ungol vocals. This is an impressive debut that should please fans of many classic bands like Manowar, Rage, Manilla Road, Warlord, Omen, Brocas Helm, Virgin Steele, Chastain, Liege Lord and the aforementioned Cirith Ungol. If that sounds like your cup of tea then you should give this one a try. - Dale
https://phaethon.bandcamp.com/
https://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com/
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Five years onward from this Russian bands second album, comes their follow up ‘Where Obscurity Sways’, also their first record on the storied Osmose Productions. It is interesting that bassist/vocalist Dym Nox is/was in a number of other bands, past and present (Blazing Rust, Lurking, Ulvdlar etc…) yet in all of those bands he is the drummer. It makes me wonder if this is more his baby as opposed to some of the other bands? Anyways, the band plays classic death metal with a dark, heavy atmosphere and tend to roll along at a rather foreboding moderate pace. They keep that conservative pacing for a bulk of the album, never speeding up too fast, nor slowing enough to flirt with the doom death tag either. Generally speaking, this is fairly straight forward extremity, but they do mix slight emotive touches alongside some poignant guitar fills, and brief, tasty solos. Oleg Malleus also puts in a strong, backbone foundation providing performance on the drum kit here. The guitar sound on this recording is really good, weighty, it fits their style really well. I can hear strong influences here from Dutch bands like Asphyx and Pestilence, but maybe even more so Floridian dm like Obituary, Death, Morbid Angel and a delicious sprinkling of Dismember. Speaking of Obituary, this vocalist has managed to truly conjure the spirit of John Tardy here, mixed maybe with a little Matti Karki of Dismember. Yeah, the vocals kick some serious ass on this recording. Pyre are certainly not re-inventing the wheel, nor pushing any boundaries here. But I don’t care about that as "Where Obscurity Sways” is just flat out an enjoyable record for the traditional old school death metal fanatics, such as me, to feast upon. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/pyredeathmetal/
https://osmoseproductions.bandcamp.com/
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Anyone who has known me for a long time, and we talk music, knows my opinion when bands change up their style. Especially if they have built up some history, out of respect for that and their fans they should probably change their name. That may be what they call a hot take, long before I ever heard of that term haha. This is why right off of the bat I have a lot of respect for Rats Of Gommorrah even before having hit play on this album. This German band apparently agree with me as after releasing a demo, a few EPs and two full-length albums over a decade under the band name Divide. They decided to change up their style, and changed to the current moniker along with it, which is also a cooler name too. Truth be told, I had not heard anything from Divide, at least that I recall. But the description I read of their style does not sound super different than the current sound, apparently it was a lot more stripped down and straight forward Bolt Thrower-like death metal. They still play brutal death metal full on, at times still straight forward and not like overly technical much of the time. But there are quite dynamic moments at times, and they mix in some quirky, unconventional elements that might prompt some to call it progressive death metal, I suppose. It is still deeply rooted in traditional death metal, and as mentioned a lot of the time it is still just brutish and battering death metal with crushingly heavy riffing. They do manage to inject into those aforementioned sequences with a nice emotive quality, and a timeless feel that I like. They also add some growled choruses and sort of catchy heavy / speed metal styled song construction, ala the tune I have on now called “Towers, Ropes and Knives”. At times they add in little fancy and noodl-y guitar fills, which adds a little extra layer of nuance to the pounding sounds. See I am a bit of traditionalist, but I like it when bands do it this way, where they can see the forest through the trees. They root and set their foundation in tried and true tradition. But keep that as their as their north star, and interweave those more adventurous or catchy elements without ever losing those roots, or veering too far off the path. It let’s me enjoy those more progressive elements when they are wrapped in blistering and barbaric extremity. The vocals manage to translate this aesthetic vision and execute their growling refinement with emotion, grunting out some some rapid-fire lyrics in a catchy way that is interspersed with higher nasally accents and screams. I think in some ways they are still feeling their way into their new style on this album. But it is really coming together, and has resulted in a damn fine “debut”, if you want to call it that. Either way this is well worth your attention for traditional dm fans like me and those who love the more dynamic and bold elements of progressive death. - Dale
http://lnk.spkr.media/rats-of-gomorrah-vermin
https://us.testimonyrecords.de/
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Rising up out of the imposing yet beautiful area of Western Canada (yes, I am biased as I grew up there) comes Reversed. I thought I knew pretty much nothing about this band. That was until I looked up the members I realized I know some of them from current or past bands such as Spell, Blood Star, Havoc, Archspire and Mitochondrion. This is the Reversed debut album, which was preceded by two demos over the previous five years. These guys play a lethal brand of black death and thrash metal mix that is steeped in dark sinister atmosphere. They don’t just ape the those old classic sounds, these guys do know how to write some killer riffs, and construct interesting and infectious thrashing songs. There is some tasty secondary guitar work to fill in those gaps and keep things interesting. The bio makes a good point that this bands style originates in the mid to late 1980s when the labels black, death and thrash were quite interchangeable and less defined. Where a band that sounded like Reversed may well be listed by any one of those descriptors independent of the others. It was an exciting time that, as the old goat I am, I can proudly claim to have lived through first hand in the extreme metal scene (even if I had not quite yet discovered the UG scene of flyers, tape trading, demos etc… It was on the horizon). I really dig the vocals on here courtesy of guitarist/vocalist Restless Grave. They are an amalgam of spoken word, slightly growled yet very decipherable delivery with a slightly obscured black rasping undertone. The lyrics just scream great old metal tradition that just oozes darkness and evil in a charismatic and devilish fashion. This album is a hell of a debut and a very pleasant surprise for me. - Dale
https://reverseddeath.bandcamp.com/
https://invictusproductions.net/
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This is the second album from Rothadás out of Hungary. It is a string of two’s, their sophomore album, a two man band, and this is being released by two labels (Me Saco with the vinyl and Pulverised with the CD). This duo is made up of Tibor Hanyi on bass and guitars, and Lambert Lédeczy on drums and vocals. Between the two men, very busy men at that as they are in other bands like Coffinborn, Cryptworm, Morbid Carnage, Fagyhamu, Ahriman, Militia and more. Rothadás play cryptic and massively cavernous death doom metal. The riffs are slow, extremely heavy and crushing as they steamroll across everything leaving a gloomy, foreboding audio path in their wake. The morbid, fetid swamp atmosphere is gloriously suffocating yet it is so rhythmic you can still headbang to it somehow. They have a great feel for when to speed things up slightly, to break up a stifling, grinding crawl ebb ‘n flow that keeps it all a very interesting listen in my view. Lambert’s vocals are so dominating with their rolling tremor and rumbling growls. His vocals and voice finish off the necrotic atmosphere with some real sinister, ghoulish aplomb. Yeah, those vocals are fucking fantastic! I think for diehard fanatics (and I know they are out there), like myself, if you worship doom death metal and bands like early Autopsy, Disembowelment, Thergothon, Evoken, Coffins, Funebrarum, early Convulse, Rippikoulu and the like. This is for you. - Dale
https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/
https://www.pulverised.net/
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I have had so many good blasts from the past the last couple months. I have gotten promos for Pentagram (first new album in 10 years), Hirax (first in 11 years), and Naked Whipper (first release in 20 years!). But wait there’s more, tell them what is behind door number four? Why it is the Canadian metal legends Sacrifice with their first new full-length album in 16 years! This is all fucking awesome for me man. Being such an old metal goat in the scene, I was around for the beginnings of all of these bands. So with this much personal history with this band this is a special one for me (so were the other ones for that matter). Having been born and grown up in Canada, a band like Sacrifice is one of those special ones I grew up with in my homeland alongside bands like Razor, Slaughter, Voivod, Infernal Majesty, Annihilator, Disciples Of Power and so on. But yeah, Sacrifice is one of those hallowed names for me. They burst on to the international scene with their debut album “Torment In Fire”, and followed that up with two mighty classic albums in my book. Those being the celebrated “Forward To Termination” in 1987, and in my opinion, the highly underrated “Soldiers Of Misfortune” in 1990. I recorded the music videos for the tracks “As The World Burns”, and the title track of that album on VHS from The Pepsi Power Hour on Muchmusic and watched the shit out of those repeatedly! *Goosebumps* So Sacrifice after an absence longer than a lot of bands exist these old bastards return with a new record. Most of these bands that have been around forever, or reform, you are lucky if one or two members are founding (or at least close to it) members of the band. But I will be damned if all four fucking guys here fit that bill, three formed the band in 1983, and drummer Gus Pynn joined two years later in 1985. That is crazy 40+ years later that it is still the same line up as it was nearly their entire existence. So, how do the old gray beards hold up? I am happy to report they sound great! They bring it as hard, and as fast, as they ever did. They are still playing that classic, signature thrash metal as well and as extreme as they did back in the damn day. They are still riff machines, they still write blitzing fast songs that batter you and yet are still hooky and memorable at the same time. Sacrifice always had a knack for writing tattoo on your brain songs, whose melodies, twists combine with great lyrics and choruses that you will sing in your head for days. They still have those patented time changes and the guitar nuances abound, not to mention the brief poignant guitar solos and fills. They always keep things fast, but never forget to bring flow to their songs and inject high levels of emotion. Speaking of those lyrics, they are brought to vibrant life by Rob Urbinati’s charismatic voice. Rob’s tone is so distinctive, for me he brings what I consider to be just quintessential thrash metal vocals. He belongs in the upper echelons of thrash legends like Sheepdog & Bob Reid of Razor, Tom Araya of Slayer, Joey Belladona of Anthrax, Chuck Billy of Testament, Bobby Blitz from Overkill, Mark Osegueda from Death Angel, Mille Petrozza of Kreator and so on. Damn, I was hoping this would be good, I braced myself it might not be. But these guys delivered another amazing thrash album to add to their considerable legend. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/sacrificecanada
https://cursedblessingsrecords.com//
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“Facilis Descensus Averno” seems to be this bands first released recording, as well as debut album, at least as near as I can tell (and I did look around) as information on this Portuguese band seems scarce. I do know they are a triad and a couple of the members have been in bands in the past like Concealment, and Wells Valley, both of which I have never heard. These three men create a real cavernous and smothering brand of rumbling death metal, which is steeped in a dark, imposing atmosphere. The music is often slow, though not always, I would not so much call it doom death, it is more of an audio version of a giant steamroller of brutality and dissonance. The songs are ever moving, slowly stalking with angular, slightly skewed riffing that cuts through supreme heaviness like a jagged knife. The music is matched by the, again rumbling, echoing and elongated growled vocals that are extremely menacing. Those vocals only further contribute to the all encompassing, suffocating ambiance of the music on this album. If you do not mind your brutal death metal to be on the slower, mid-paced side of things and love the earlier works of bands like Incantation, Autopsy (“Mental Funeral”), Immolation, Morbid Angel, and Funebrarum mixed with hints of black metal then you should give this a listen. - Dale
https://saevusfinis.bandcamp.com/
https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/
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This is first time I am ever hearing the name Sahon. Though they are a band from South Korea that has been around for 20 years, but until now released all their stuff on more local labels from their country, it would seem. “Blood Shall Be Paid” is no less than their sixth album, and it is being spread overseas through their new label Brutal Records. Sahon play mean, pummeling and brutalizing deathrash metal, and I would put a bit of an emphasis on the thrashing end of that sub-genre duality equation. I mean I can hear some of the more out of control, barely controlled chaos energy of early Slayer influence on here for sure. The music on here is decidedly rough, raw, and unpolished. It is brutish and primitive, yes. But that does not mean these guy can not write good songs, because they surely do here. The songwriting is loose yet often memorable and catchy, not to mention some heavy massive riffing. Riffing that drives this music like an audio equivalent of one of those crazy, spiked armoured cars from Mad Max shredding all in it’s wake. The vocals are just as intense as the music as Yong Ho Lee wrecks his throat with some Araya tinged gruff and hoarse bellowing yells, there is also a growling undertone that showcases a menacing and commanding performance. You do not want to mess around with a dude that sounds like that haha. I dig this, you would think they might be a little slicker and polished by their sixth album, but you know what? I am glad they are not, as their freight train threatening to go off the track style really hits the spot for me. I can only imagine these guys are a blast live. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/thrashsahon/
https://brutalrecords.bandcamp.com/
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Pennsylvania's Sathanas returns with their twelfth full length album. Sathanas is a band with a very long and storied history. You would not be out of order to call them legends in the scene at this point. I mean they burst on to the UG metal in the Pittsburgh area with the release of their debut demo tape in 1988!! They have been around this whole time, unlike most old bands like this they did not split up or take extended on hold breaks so many other old goat bands. That is dedication, which brings us to current day with 'Into The Nocturne', which is a real masterpiece of old school blackened thrashing death metal. The guitars are played with fast and furious patterns that are performed with skillful writing adn a feel for a good song flow. The guitarist does write and perform some memorable passages and intertwines some very well performed solo's throughout these dark sinister songs. The drumming is done with some extremely fast passages. The drums do slow to a more calm mid pace throughout a few songs. The vocals are old school black metal screams and some gruff demonic gruff growls and screams. 'Into The Nocturne' is a great release of quality blackened death thrash metal that should please all fans of this style. These old demons have still got it.
- Patrick
https://www.facebook.com/sathanasmetal/
https://www.moribundcult.com/
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I have heard Scalpture’s name around horn, over the years. However, until now, I have not had the pleasure. This is the fourth full-length album from this German band and their first for Testimony Records. Clearly Testimony really believes in this band, as they are also re-releasing their first three albums on disc and vinyl, all on the same day as this new record. Now that is commitment. Apparently I should dip into their back catalog based on this new sweet slab of death metal. This is a concept album as a whole it would seem, as all songs are about the thirty years war in Germany, from 1618 to 1648 that raped, ravaged and plundered their homeland. The band’s experience is shining through here, as this album showcases a very polished band with mature songwriting. I mean the music is crushingly heavy, while you still have this very refined and emotive thread skillfully slithering it’s way through massive extremity. It feels like a lot of thought and planning went into each songs construction. But they never lose the forest through the trees, as things move on like along like a silky ever flowing stream, while never shrugging off all of that careful planning. The production on here is pretty phenomenal too, it is so heavy and so clear yet cutting. It is almost too clean and clear for me, for my usual tastes, but the brutality and behemoth heavy riffing balances it out and makes me like the production. The vocals are great, a tasty melting pot of classic gruff thrash voice, deathrash style mixing of that thrash voice and embryonic death growl. This is all mixed with a more traditional death growl that has a charisma to it, very conscious of how each vocal emanation fits into, or around the tapestry of the music it is joining. This album is old school death metal that has sensibilities and elements incorporated from more current times, combined to create a sweet mix of yesteryear and today. It is well worth your time. - Dale
https://www.scalpture-official.com/
https://linktr.ee/testimonyrecords
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These guys hail from Northern New Jersey, and interestingly for me at least, not too terribly far from where I live in the mountains of northeast Pennsylvania. In fact, to be more precise and fittingly so, they are from Stockholm, New Jersey in fact! Haha. I say that because this band is a tribute and blood spattered love audio letter to the classic and distinctive Swedish death metal style out of same named city of Stockholm that changed the face of death metal in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Sentient may ape that sound and style, but that does not mean they are not talented songwriters in their own accord. The musicianship on this album is absolutely top shelf, it possesses a classic heavy metal construction to it that old dm bands often had. They know how to write interesting songs that build emotion, while also being crushingly heavy and permeated with a nice necro atmosphere. They do keep things on the speedy side though, as mentioned, they briefly change the pacing and build the feels up with anticipation into an oft satisfying crescendo. There is also some tasty guitar solos, at times, thrown in like a lightning bolt through the center of a musical chaos storm. These guys have been at it for a while and their skill and experience shine through. As this is the bands fourth album, in addition to some members also making their mark in the scene in notable bands like Trog, Dead And Dripping and Heads For The Dead. The music is a good backdrop for the classic (because it is awesome and works!) death metal tropes of the undead stalking the earth and spreading their horror plague. Matt Moliti’s yelled and growling vocals are commanding and his rapid quick hit delivery fits the music so well. I almost forgot to mention that the album artwork also rules, gotta throw that in. If you worship OSDM of the Swedish variety (Dismember, Grave, Entombed, Carnage, Bloodbath, Vomitory), and like me, you just can not get enough of it. Then this record is one hell of a fix that you will be happy to tap directly in to your vein. - Dale
https://sentienthorror.bandcamp.com/
https://shop.redefiningdarkness.com/
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I reviewed this Finnish band’s debut album, some five years ago, and now they return to be featured in CA once again. This time with their third album, and the band have certainly been making a name for themselves in the UG scene since then. Their style of blackened death metal with slight doomy touches has returned right along with them. The main difference between then and now, is their experience and maturity has only honed their rich collective craft to an even finer point. These guys have a talent for writing really cavernous sounding riffs that drip in affecting dark feels. The band is brutal yet not overly so, and strike a balance between the barbarous and an infectious array of melody. Beyond the killing heavy riffing and melodic patterns, there is also some nice refinement in some of the guitar fills and meaningful brief solos. There is some solid bass guitar work going on here too, really filling those gaps and adding in some weight. The drummer Johannes Rantala, a new addition to the band (the only one in the bands history) shows his chops and feel for the music with a strong performance on the kit. Some of their music and songs can feel like a bit of a slow burn, but each song has a purpose and reward you with a nice payoff. The excellent vocals courtesy of Kari Kankaanpää do a lot enhance that dark, foreboding atmosphere with his elongated, roiling growls that have a rasped, gurgling edge to them. ‘Crimson Moon Evocations’ shows this band really rounding into form and delivering an album that is rich in depth and ambiance that is well worth your attention. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/SepulchralCurse
https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/
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Shed The Skin make their triumphant return to the pages of Canadian Assault (you can find various other Shed reviews on this site, if you look around) with their fifth full length album. I think with each successive release, this band solidifies me as a bigger fan of this Ohio band. They are a truly veteran band with it’s members having done time, for a long time, in bands like Incantation, FaithXtractor, Crucified Mortals, Ringworm, Estuary, ex-Acheron etc… These guys play some evil death metal that has a great energy and bite to their extremely heavy music. They augment that crackling energy with sequences of dark, emotive and slowed down sections with silky smooth transitioning between the two. They also accent the crushing brutality with some nicely placed guitar fills, and classy brief solos, that have an old school heavy flair to them. I really like that that, it creates a pretty deadly dynamic that cuts in and out of the dark atmospheres and foundational crushing barbarity. They never really go hyper speeds often, but do a good job of moving up and down the speed ranges, from slower impending doom, to a middle paced heavy and headbanging sprint. This all showcases their crafty songwriting ability that coalesces into some really interesting and entertaining songs. They even manage to plunge more little flourishes of melody than you would think they could and still make it all work, never taking away the pounding savagery of their tasty brand of death metal. Ash Thomas’ wonderful growled vocals just top it all off - chef’s kiss. He has such a classic, distinctive and commanding deep growls that drip with a dark ‘n sinister charisma. It is an extremely tall order, but I think they just might have topped their last album “Thaumogenesis” and I loved that album. You know what to do, without delay. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/shedtheskin
https://hellsheadbangers.bandcamp.com/
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This is my first welcome of Sijjin to the pages of Canadian Assault and my first time hearing the band, period. Though it was cool to see that two of the three members of this triad came from the now defunct Necros Christos, a band I was fond of in the past. ‘Helljin Combat’ is the bands second album, with four years having passed since their debut. I think you could call their music Deathrash, but it might be fair (not that it ultimately matters much, I suppose), to list it more as Thrash Death metal. I say that because it has the trappings of the traditional death metal sound, but the song construction, in my view, is decidedly late ‘80s thrash. I mean that in the best possible way, they write some fucking fantastic, interesting songs. Which are as heavy as lead, filled with absolutely killer riffing and yet also extremely catchy and memorable. I say that, but they are not just catchy, despite having great clear production. There is this dirty undercurrent and it is all permeated with a great dark and sinister atmosphere. That dark aura is punctuated from time to time with some really emotive sounding material that gives their music a lot of depth and feel. Then as mentioned it is catchy and can make you want to headbang and thrash about for short bouts of time. There is also some great guitar work going on here, some superb sounding leads and fills. The drumming is commanding, precise and has great flow. This brings us to the vocals courtesy of bassist (forgot to mention how good the bass is on here, see the song “Horrific Distortions” for a good example) Malte Gericke. His vocals are so perfect for a Deathrash band, outside of some of the guitar tone, his vox are maybe the most death metal thing on here. Having said that, his growling vocals are very clear, decipherable and carry a solid undercurrent of old thrash to underpin those yelled deep throat growls. Yeah man, those vocals are so damn good and are that finishing touch that takes this music to another level. I think diehard fanatics of old thrash and traditional death that dig bands like Vader, Death, old Slayer, Possessed, Infernäl Mäjesty, Sacrifice, Master, Razor, older Morbid Angel, Megadeth need to get this marvelous record. - Dale
https://sijjin.bandcamp.com/
http://www.sepulchralvoice.de/
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The U.K./Poland duo known as Sisters Memon return with their most impressive and original sounding release to date. ‘Hail The Satani Daughters’ is the bands third album and it is comprised of thirteen songs. The music on here is mainly mid paced black metal with some very diverse and experimental influences, which are intertwined within the music. There is still enough raw black metal influences and soundscapes to keep the listeners attention in it’s grasp. Each song is composed and presented with enough diversity and rawness to deliver a great release. The guitars and drums are played flawlessly, whether it is the more controlled mid paced style or the more chaotic fast paced passages. Sisters Memon has released another quality release of old school black metal while mixing in some experimental elements to create a very unique and creative release.I suggest you do not sleep on this band and give this one a try. - Patrick
https://sistersmemon.bandcamp.com/
https://plaguedemonrecords.storenvy.com/
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Skelethal is a band that comes out of France's death metal scene that plays a great mixture of fast paced and some mid paced old school death metal. Skelethal has been releasing music since 2012 with their debut demo, and 'Within Corrosive Continuums' marks the bands third full length album in their decade plus existence. This album features a very well composed and executed intro that has a strong atmosphere that sets the tone for the album. The music that follows kicks into a faster and heavier pace with some great guitar and drum passages. The guitarist creates some very well performed and memorable passages. The drums are played with both some extremely heavy mid paced patterns and some faster more chaotic drums. The vocals are traditional death metal growls that are powerful in their commanding delivery. 'Within Corrosive Continuums' is another great release of pure (classic Swedish tinged) death metal at it's finest, if you are a fan of the bands previous works then don't let this one pass you by. - Patrick
https://www.facebook.com/Skelethal/
https://www.hellsheadbangers.com/
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I reviewed this American one man bands debut album a half dozen years ago. If you go find it you will see I came away very impressed with what I heard on there. I listened to it repeatedly back then and periodically since (only because I have a fuck ton of (new) music to listen at all times). This band is largely rooted in a strong blasphemic anti-abrahamic / judeo-christian philosophy lyrically and conceptually. Which is steeped in real life events, objects, and places in our historic past through the many years past. I do not often get too into this area, the lyrics, but it appears to be pretty integral to what the band is about and what guides the music. Besides it being one man doing everything, playing everything and creating all the music for each for each instrument. It is no surprise that the albums were so spaced this far apart, as the music itself is also extremely skillfully constructed, and each song is interesting all on their own or as a collective work. It is damn impressive. Spite play a combination of first and second wave black metal with possibly a heavier nod towards the second movement. The music is supremely baleful and ominous black metal that is utterly freezing and hateful in equal parts. The music can shape shift between dangerously bombastic and atmospheric with an emotive sharpness one minute, and a violent audio dagger the next. I am not sure if I mentioned it last time, but there is a heavy feeling for me of the “Goat Of A Thousand Young” demo and mighty early works in general of Grand Belial’s Key. I mean I also hear a lot of the embryonic and primordial works of bands like Bathory, Darkthrone, Master’s Hammer, Mayhem, Ancient Rites, Mortuary Drape, and Root. Salpsan’s vocals are fucking amazing, they are classic black rasping mixed with yelled style similar to old Burzum (only talking vocals here). His vocal timing, feel and delivery are all picture perfect and purely evil incarnate. It was well worth the long wait between albums, Salpsan has created, in my view, another record that will be looked at as a minor black metal classic in the future. Highly recommended! - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/spitedesecration
https://invictusproductions.net/
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After releasing a demo tape, and a cassette EP, the Norwegian band Sovereign now finally unleashes their debut full-length album. I say finally, but if what I read in the bio was correct, they actually recorded this album in early 2022, and it is just now being released by the great Dark Descent, some two years later. This band features members of bands like Dødskvad, Den Saakaldte, Eternity, Execration, as well as two ex-members of Nocturnal Breed. Sovereign play some tasty old school death thrash metal that is a really solid blend of heavy and intense music mixed with catchy yet moody elements that hit home. You can really tell they focused on that element with the song construction to get this balanced mix of that ripping riff heavy gallop with memorable, emotive sequences to round out a dynamic sound that will really hook you in. There is some great guitar work on here that may get lost a bit within this pounding adrenaline attack. The drum sound is a little strange here, at first I did not like it, but it is growing on me like a fungus with each infectious, newly repeated listen. The vocals from Simen Grong is fantastic, it is a commanding performance, his forcefully gruff yelled and growling reminds me of a mix of John Tardy, Martin Van Drunen, early Chuck Shuldiner and Jeff Becerra. If you love classic deathrash in the vein of stuff like early Death, Possessed, Demolition Hammer, Dark Angel, or say early Sadus then you need to get your mitts on this killer record. - Dale
www.facebook.com/sovereignnorway/
https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/
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Denmark’s Strychnos return to the pages of Canadian Assault with the follow up to their debut album a couple years ago. It is, in a way, notable for this band that they did follow up that first album. I say that as their history shows they formed in 1998, released a demo tape plus a 7” EP, then broke up, before surfacing again decades later in 2021. Which can naturally lead to questions of are they back this time for real? Did they reform just to record old material that never came out? The answer is they is they have come back for real, and appear to be back here to stay for the long haul. Despite that long absence it is not like their members were not busy with other bands. Which currently include Undergang and Cerekloth, as well in the past members have spent time in bands like Koldborn, The Cleansing, Usipian and Corpus Mortale. As near as I can tell, unlike their debut album, this record is not a concept album. Which was an ambitious undertaking for a bands first record, and not something you want to get locked into, I do suppose, unless you are a master storyteller like King Diamond or some shit haha. Strychnos musically pick up right where they left off on that album. Which showcases their strong songwriting, and song structuring abilities that they put to good use in building and paying off those emotional builds as they progress through their quality songs. I mention their talent in this area, even though they are a darker, harder band they do still remind me to classic Edge Of Sanity. They are not quite as melody driven as E.O.S., but all the same their ability to bend and shape emotive qualities in their black / death metal music feels similar. The atmosphere on this album has a pleasing dark feel to it, what it lacks unbridled ferocity and vitriol, it makes up for with an affecting and ominous aura. I don’t want to downplay how heavy their brand of death is at the same time. The one song “Winds Warning The Final Storm” reminds me a lot of a Swedish band I liked, which I have not heard in a long time called Afflicted. Anyway before wrapping this up, I really should mention the growling vocals courtesy of founding member Martin Leth Andersen, as they are absolutely fantastic. They are very deep, while also being highly decipherable and he changes his pitch while elongating words to superb effect. Yes, the music is excellent and to have such great vocals to go with them really elevates this band above many of their peers. Strychnos is here to stay, they are making a statement with this album and I for one can not wait until the next release by this Danish band. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/strychnosterror
https://www.darkdescentrecords.com
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The bio describes the band as coming from a foundation of death metal. But upon my first spin of this album, I was left thinking what the hell are they talking about? There is nothing, to me, that is remotely death metal with is California band on their sophomore album. Upon further investigation, I am assuming they said this as some of the members (mainly drummer Rhett A. Davis) is in the bands Gravehill and Ceremonial Decay, as well as bands like Morgion, Fatalist and Crimson Relic. Also, I hear Bolt Thrower thrown around often as a big influence for Stygian Crown. I am a big Bolt Thrower fan, and have been listening to them since around 1990, and I do not hear Bolt Thrower at all on this album. Anyways, I had to get that out of the way, just because that is how I am Haha. When addressing the music on this album it is excellent traditional doom metal that while heavy is also extremely emotive and moving. These guys know how write classy, and classic sounding metal that keeps things moving at a brisk enough pace, while still bringing on that impending feel of doom. They keep things just melodic enough, catchy enough to make the songs memorable and interesting. There is some tasty guitar work mixed in there, with regards to the fills and affecting solo work. The drumming on here is commanding, and does a solid job of striking a balance of staying busy yet letting those all important slower, doomier epic guitar sequences breathe. There is also some sequences that use violin, and piano, though I have to say the way they did it was perfect, nice little brief accompaniments that are never at the forefront of things. The vocalist Melissa Pinion has a superb classic clean doom metal voice. She delivers the power, along with some range, but stays more in the middle register, not too siren high or overboard deep. Honestly, if you did not look at her name or picture, you might think it is a male singer you are hearing. Now, some might take that as some kind of offensive comment, but it is made with quite the opposite intent. I love her vocals and they fit the music extremely well. There is one exception to this opinion, that is the seventh track on the album, named “Blood Red Eyes”, where Melissa stretches her vocal wings, singing in a much more poignant feminine style and while it is good and well done, it is maybe my least favourite track on the album. Apparently, this album was recorded in five different studios (even outside the continental US), it amazing how smooth and consistent the production is, it sounds fantastic, maybe a testament to the skills of the person who mixed it? Apparently, the band purposely took three years to write and record this album, with the intent of escaping the sophomore curse. I would say they made a Houdini level escape in that regard with this excellent album. - Dale
https://linktr.ee/StygianCrown
https://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com/
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I listen to a lot of albums, but only choose a handful to review in any given month. There are always reasons for that choice, which encompass various things from my current tastes this month of what I want to hear, to overall music quality and even band history aspects of the band. All of those elements came together with this one, something I wanted to hear, quality upon sampling and definitely the history of the band. You see, I tape traded for a demo by Suffer back in the mid ‘90s and immediately wanted to hear what they were up to these days. I had thought them long gone, with good reason as they broke up in 1999, then reformed in 2013, then broke up again five years later. It is also easy to lose track when things go this sort of way, not to even mention how many bands have used this same moniker over the years and I have been into a couple other ones. But enough of the history, let’s move forward as this Suffer reformed yet again in 2022, with two of the three founding members (and the third rounding out the trio joined in the late ‘90s on bass). They put out a new EP last year and now have came right back with their first full length, since, well just about a decade ago. Suffer play brutal death metal that I think you could probably call their style old school, but still sounds current to me. That may be because so many newer and younger bands these days reflect their love of classic old school death, and fuck who could blame them, those sounds became the classic for a reason. As heavy and brutal as this album is, there is a lot of solid guitar work going on here with some great secondary fills going on beneath, and in between the those crushing riffs, not mention some brief yet tasty soloing. Suffer also manage to inject some solid emotion into their song construction that adds some nice depth their collective sound. I will bring up this band again shortly, but there is no doubt the second and third Carcass albums in particular, serve as a real influence for Suffer. Those two albums are two of the best in history of death metal, so not a bad influence at all gents. Having said that it is not the only influence or similar sound, you can throw bands like Carcass, Asphyx, early Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Suffocation, Demilich, Exhumed also whispered through my mind whilst I was headbanged along. When I say that this, this band formed in around the same time frame as those legend bands, so keep that mind here. One of the elements that attracted me into wanting to review this album, besides the (my) history with the band, was the vocals on this recording. There was some definite thought put into the wide range of extreme vocals, not to mention some talent and feel for their timing. The array of vocals cover the death metal spectrum from deep growling, spoken bellows, gurgling style, higher nasal acidic screams and black metal style evil rasping malice. It is a real myriad of vocal emanations, all extreme, from brutal death to classic Carcass sounding vocals all put together in a very satisfying way for me. I can certainly recommend this release to past fans of the band, or fans of the bands mentioned above, as well as followers of guitarist/vocalist C.R. Petit and bassist Jason Ellsworth two other quality bands Empty Throne and Angerot. - Dale
https://suffersd.bandcamp.com/
https://wisebloodrecords.com/
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I remember tape trading for Svartsyn’s demo tape and I was a fan back then. Later on I got a promo for review from Folter Records. It was like in a paper sleeve, with only the label’s logo on the front, a xeroxed paper insert with the band name and song titles in late 1996. The disc itself was a pro pressed CD. I forget now if I ever heard why this happened (did they re-record it?), but literally the album was not officially released until nearly two full years later! Just an interesting bit of personal, tangential trivia between myself and the band that is interesting, to me at least. So, yes, I guess that means I have been into this band for around 30 years, the band is old and so am I. Back in those days this Swedish horde had a full line-up that included members of Dark Funeral, Unpure and Malign. But main man Ornias decided well over a decade ago, he would essentially operate the band as a one man band, save for bringing in a guest musician on the drum kit. When I reviewed Svartsyn’s last album “Requiem”, about five years ago. I went fairly extensively into the history, and pre-history of the band, when they were called Chalice from 1991-1993, which was a duo with Tormentor until his death in 1993. This was when Ornias laid that band to rest in reverence for Tormentor and started Svartsyn. Why am I bringing this up again? That is because it is very pertinent to this present album. As, the first half of this album is new material, and the back half of the record Ornias has reworked and re-recorded the six songs Chalice produced way back when. As a long time follower of the band, and an UG metal historian buff, I find this exciting! Let’s tackle the new music first, back when Svartsyn started they played hateful black metal and thirty-one years later they still play hateful, chilling black metal. My utmost respect to this man, he has never abandoned his roots or his dedication to what Svartsyn is about. The first half features some smooth, flowing, mesmeric rhythms yet still seething with hate black metal. It is some tremolo picked majesty, whilst remaining dangerous and deadly, with a truly sinister atmosphere snaking throughout. It is early second wave black metal with a level of refinement that has come with Ornias’ many years of experience. His vocals are wonderfully maniacal and harshly venomous rasping yells filled with emotive evil. The early material you can feel things are a little more primordial, the drawn-out pacing is a little different, a bit more hypnotic and ritualistic in a way. But the basic bones and sinew of the classic Svartsyn style is there. You can hear it is something very good that is building to something excellent to come. The music is filled with adoration of darkness and evil, it smacks of a more youthful spite. It is still there despite Ornias’ re-recording and smoothing of the ancient rougher edges. His vocals on this material is a little more straight forward, caustic and even harsher than the newer material. Svartsyn should absolutely be viewed as one of the grandfathers of second wave Scadinavian black metal, and they never stopped going, and are still going strong! They deserve much respect and they keep on delivering amazing black metal music that keeps old flame and old traditions burning bright! - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/svartsyn666
https://www.noevdia.com/
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Coming out of the Texas black thrash metal scene is Terrorist with their newest (and fourth) full length. This trio as a band has been around a long time, having formed way back in 2005. This release consists of nine tracks of extreme black thrashing metal at it's best. The guitars are played with skillful writing and features some savage fast paced guitar passages along the way. The guitarist does create some well delivered and skillfully played guitar parts that even manage to add in some well written solo's in a few songs. The vocals are grim and raw scratchy screams and some deeper evil shrieks. There is some some raw black metal screeching also used throughout the songs to give the music a solid variety of vocal attacks. The drumming is extreme and chaotic with some fast paced patterns that is some quite powerful and commanding work from Miguel Trejo. 'Dawn Of Lucifer's Light' is a furious and aggressive beast of an album that should please all fans of this style of music. - Patrick
https://terroristthrash.bandcamp.com/
https://bornforburning.bigcartel.com/
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Throne from Michigan return with their second album, and second on the cult label Redefining Darkness. They conjure up musical spells of blackened death metal yet they are much more than just that. I mean I really appreciate the fantastic balance these fellows have struck on here. There is a dark, sinister atmosphere across what is extremely brutal and devastating death metal extremity. But they also manage to somehow inject and weave large amounts of rhythmic melody into that savage extremity. So many bands in this style lean more heavily in one direction or the other, often sacrificing and watering down one of those elements, to make room for the other. But, Throne keep it all strong, in the forefront and walk along the razor’s edge, and the band accomplish this with authority. The result is an every changing, ever the same songwriting construction that keeps the music dynamic and holds my interest exceedingly well. The skill is very apparent in the guitar work, and drumming is superb, commanding, precise and engrossing. The vocals courtesy of Nathan Barnes pace the instrumentation step for step with a great arsenal of deep growling, whisper-y growl utterances, high nasal crazy discharge, and rasping undertones. All of which, lead to a whirlwind performance on the mic that I enjoyed. Some of those vocal emanations remind me to old Disciples Of Power, and in my book that is a serious compliment. This made my neck sore from headbanging, my ears bleed, all leading to an end result of a dazed, exhausted and highly listening experience. Give it a listen and you will know of what I speak. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/thronemetalband
https://redefiningdarkness.8merch.us/
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Me Saco Un Ojo from the United Kingdom just may be the reigning kings of co-releases, and co-promotion of releases in the UG scene. I fucking love that about them, not to mention they have some outstanding tastes in music, I find. This time around that label is releasing the vinyl version of this release and BlackSeed are handling the CD version. Spain’s Trollcave play Funeral Doom Metal and I find this style might be a little more niche within the extreme metal scene, and an acquired taste for some in the underground scene. Myself I do quite enjoy Funeral Doom, even though I readily admit I have to be in a certain mood to feel the itch to grab one of my albums in this musical movement. I have been into this unique sub-genre for a long, long time though. Some point to Thergothon, who I got into through tape trading in the early ‘90s. But, I think the real shape of this style came a couple years later through a band like Skepticism. Whose first few releases (two albums and an EP) I reviewed in Canadian Assault back in the mid to late ‘90s. That was followed of course by a couple of other pivotal bands like Shape Of Despair, which I also reviewed their first release in CA. But enough of the history lesson, but needless to say I do know Funeral Doom and followed it through the years. Trollcave from Spain carry on this tradition with ultra slow, musical molasses outpouring of doom metal. For those who have never heard Funeral Doom, it is like slow heavy Death Doom, but slowed even further, like by half measure to a near crawl. It becomes a very creepy, almost hypnotic and cerebral musical experience for the listener. You have to either be into that vibe and chill with it, giving it a lot of room to breathe, for some who normally like things fast and technical, you will need patience to get it. There are times when Trollcave do speed up for short sequences where you could say they interplay their speeds, from a snails pace, to a turtle’s pace before returning to usual gastropod state. The growling death metal style vocals and cackles follow suit, and are glacial and elongated, and pretty fucking awesome in my view. Like I said I enjoy this style, but I definitely need to get myself in that trance like mood and vibe and just go with it. When I do the musical experience is pretty sweet. -
Dale
https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/
https://www.blackseedprod.com/
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I had not heard the name Black Dawn for a long time, and frankly speaking I did not realize they were still around. What is more they never went away all this time apparently. How long? Well I remember tape trading for this Finnish bands demo back in the early to mid 1990s. So, yes that long! They released their first demo tape in 1993, as is often the case with UG bands around this long, there is only one founding member left. That one man is vocalist Wrath (aka Janne Kuru), though to put that in a bit of perspective the guitarist Syphon’s history with that band goes back over twenty years, and the rest of the members a decade or longer. I think for people that did not realize they had been around all of this time, it is a fair mistake to make as the True (they adopted the True after legal threats from an American bands years ago) Black Dawn is only now releasing their third album in 31 years of existence! They have released a split record and a few demos along the way, but still that is surely a sparse discography. I am glad to have this new album from them though, and to finally catch up with them. Black Dawn are one of the early wave of bm bands from their prolific and notorious homeland’s black metal scene. The band stays true to those early roots and still play black metal and it is quite a moving piece of music here when taken as a whole. It is dark and it is cold on one hand, but there is a lot of emotive atmosphere they create with their music. Atmosphere achieved without relying heavily on any synth or other atmospheric crutches, no they create most of it with traditional instrumentation. Which is always something that pleases me greatly with black metal bands. There are some of those some accents here and there, and some samples, all of those courtesy of the old goat Wrath. The man who of course provides the vocals, and he puts on a great performance on here with a myriad sinister echo-y voices, tortured screams and absolutely freezing classic rasping vox. It may well have been a long wait, but these grizzled veterans of the scene have finally made their return with a strong album in tow. Which only furthers their storied and long reputation of musical evil and black poison. -
Dale
https://www.facebook.com/trueBlackDawn/
http://www.w-t-c.org/
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Tyhja is a duo who comes out of the mighty Finnish black metal scene and this is a review of their newest full-length (third overall). This two men Matti Jarvo (on drums), Paavo Alander (guitars, synth and vocals), presumably formed Tyhja out of the ashes of their long running previous band The Republic Of Desire. “III” is comprised of an intro and seven tracks of uncompromising and chaotic black metal. The music is played with a variety of tempos and speeds ranging from furious blasting black metal to a more controlled mid paced tempo with some eerie synths being used to flesh it all out. The guitars are played with a fast and aggressive whirlwind pace that is done with skillful writing and playing. The guitarist does slow down to a more middle pace with some well played crafty passages. The drumming is done in the same vein with crazed and blasting drum passages that are potent and powerful in the delivery. The drummer can and does slow to a more controlled mid paced, heavier style in a few of the tracks. The vocals are really grim, raw black metal screams and screeches. “III” is a great release of violent and brutal black metal that should be heard by those who love this style. - Patrick
https://tyhj.bandcamp.com/
https://www.barbaricfury.shop/
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This album and this band has to be one of the more interesting, very familiar, while still being quite unique at the same time band I have heard for a while. Tzompantli’s foundation style is a massive, brutal slow-mo wall of great sounding doom death metal replete with a graveyard aura washing over everything like a thick poison fog. They mix traditional elemental accents of indigenous Mayan music, instrumentation in very clever ways. The transition to these sounds feel very smooth and organic to me, as I tend to lean on the purist side of things, me feeling that way should illustrate how well done this is. It never takes away from the mammoth doom death metal, those indigenous sounds successfully add to the dark and foreboding atmosphere that the music invokes in superb fashion. As you might imagine it also has a ritualistic feeling at times, you can feel the passion that might lead to human sacrifice upon altar, on the temple mount at any moment. It takes that traditional death doom sound you know from bands like those of the early extreme works of Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Autopsy, Bolt Thrower and mixes it with a lethal cocktail of Disembowelment, Evoken, Rippikoulu and Hooded Menace. Maybe even a tiny dash of Moritician. Then blend into that all of those expertly crafted traditional cultural, yet frighteningly savage sounds and you have a very interesting and different sound. It is honestly hard to describe this melting pot, which kind of needs to be heard to properly understand. It is all very faithful to both the extreme metal tradition and the indigenous traditions without diluting the potency of either. I can not stop listening to this album, it is that good and that infectious, and affecting for me. You need to hear this. - Dale
https://tzompantlidoom.bandcamp.com/
https://www.20buckspin.com/
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The men from Topkea, Kansas (any mention of that city makes me think of Almost Famous - I can not help myself) are back with a brand new recording exhibition showcasing their lack of musical mercy and empathy. They are here to punish your ear drums and strain your neck muscles. I reviewed their last album, their third, about five years ago. It looks like there has been a couple changes in line-up since then. Those being the exit of long time guitarist Justin Payne, whose guitar duties have now been taken over by bassist Jeremy Turner, who incidentally was the guitarist during the early years, prior to moving to bass. The other bigger change is the departure of vocalist Kris Bolton, the position of vocalist seems have been a bit of revolving door for the band historically. So, enter new vocal man Josh Riley (also in the band Kohnerah). I was a fan of Bolton on that previous album, but I must say the boys have made the change relatively seamless here. As I find Josh Riley’s mighty brutish growls to be very comparable in style and tone. Like the vocals on the last record Riley mixes in higher nasally secondary screams, though they seemed more pronounced in the past. But, I feel like that might have something to do with the recording / mix, as it was cleaner on the last album. This time around they seem to have went for a slightly dirtier mix and those accent vocals get a bit more buried here. That is not to say anything negative, I liked the mix last time, but this a more grimy, darker tonal quality to the music that is good in a different way. Speaking of which, the band has a rhythmic element to their songwriting, some brief technical flourishes (did I mention two of the members of this band are founding members of the great tech band Origin?) here and there. But at it’s heart it is traditional brutal as hell, pounding (some great piston hammering drum work here) death metal extremity! This is some relentless death metal barbarity that has just enough variation in the song construction to keep my interest high, as I headbang along. I can only imagine these guys are great live, their music seems perfect for the live setting, in my opinion. I think fans of Suffocation, Pyrexia, Origin, Cannibal Corpse, Baphomet, Morta Skuld and Deeds Of Flesh should enjoy the hell out of this one. Check it out. - Dale
https://unmerciful.bandcamp.com/
https://www.willowtip.com/
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This Finnish band formed in the middle 1990s, a trio back then that included the only remaining founding member Sulphur, alongside Infernus (ex-Barathrum, ex-Flame) and Pimea (currently of Flame and ex-Barathrum). A couple years after formation came their debut demo tape and then signing with the great Damnation Records (see interview elsewhere on this site) and releasing a 10" EP to finish out the '90s. Fast forward, Finland's Urn is back with their newest release (sixth album overall) of well executed and played black thrashing metal. 'Demon Steel' starts off with a short intro of bells and heavy guitars. It doesn't take long for the music to speed up to a faster, more aggressive pace. The guitars are played with great skill and pulsating intensity. The album is primarily played with fast whirlwind of cutting guitars. The guitarist does perform some memorable passages and includes some exceedingly well performed solo's. The drumming is top notch with some really good drum patterns that is a mix of lightning fast drums that are done that feed off that high energy of the guitars. The drummer does slow to a mid paced for brief periods in a few of the songs. The vocals are raw gruff screams and virulent growls. If you are a fan of well delivered and played black thrashing metal then do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this record when it is released. - Patrick
https://www.facebook.com/Urnofficial/
https://osmoseproductions.bandcamp.com/
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Vicious Blade is a five piece band rising up out of the storied Pittsburgh underground metal scene. They are a somewhat new band who released their debut five song demo was released in late 2020, followed next two years by an EP and a four way compilation album. That brings us up to date, as the Blade deliver to us their debut album via the great cult label Redefining Darkness. The album title is a marvelous descriptor of the music they produce, it is indeed as forcefully bludgeoning as fuck and as relentless as a runaway freight train. The sounds they produce is a classic form of deathrash metal played at lightning speeds with an endless barrage of killer riffs and heavy headbang inducing sequences. The vocalist Clarissa Badini (also vocalist of the excellent Castrator, whose album was recently reviewed elsewhere on this site) absolutely rips it up on the mic! She produces the vocal version mirror of the music by coming at you with traditional gruff yelling thrash vox, mixed with early death metal style growling delivered with at a red hot fever pitch. Vicious Blade is not all speed and musical wreckage, it is that, but also these demons write some excellent songs that feel so old school, in a good way, that it hurts. I love it. If you love the classic early works of the thrash movement of bands like Slayer, Kreator, Sodom, Sacrilege, Razor, Infernal Majesty mixed with deathrashing stuff like old Sadus, Ripping Corpse and new bands like Toxic Holocaust, Midnight, Hellripper then you should get your claws on this record now. - Dale
https://viciousblade.bandcamp.com/
https://shop.redefiningdarkness.com/ |
I love the South American UG metal scene! It is so filthy in metal bands. By that, I mean there is a seemingly endless supply, much of it being high quality and the people from there just ooze fanatical metal dedication. Whipstriker has been around for a about 15 years now and hail from the Brazilian section of that almighty South American scene. This may only be their fifth album in that fifteen years span, but that can be deceiving as the band has released an absolute fuck ton of split EPs over that time. They are the next Nunslaughter or Agathocles in that regard haha. These guys play cult as hell old school black speed metal that is a spiked glove fist to the face! I am not sure if I mentioned it a time or two hundred that I am a huge fucking Venom fan?! Well I am! In fact, with “Black Metal”, if you really forced me to pick one album as my all-time favourite, that would be it. I feel confident saying that album and all of Venom’s early output is pretty fucking high on this bands list too. They absolutely mix in a lot of ancient metal from that same arena like Bulldozer, Sodom, Warfare and the like. But, there is no doubt in my mind that Venom is clearest influence. You know what? I am here for it all day damn day long! I hear bands now and then influenced by that band, but I am not sure many bands captured their classic sound and essence better than Whipstriker. It is awesome. That early raucous sound, atmosphere, song structuring is all here, and so well done. This band also know how to write those simple, but not too simple, and superbly memorable old metal way with regards to the lyrics, to match the music. Main man Whipstriker’s vocals are very good, he has that Cronos sound and delivery to a model T baby (his bass guitar work is very Lemmy-like too). The guitars are evil, but also have affecting and emotive nuances in the more refined guitar work, as well in the infectious song construction that maximizes those elements perfectly. This is unabashed old school black thrashing speed metal worship. I can not get enough of it! If you are a huge classic metal die hard like me, and are obsessed with, the previously mentioned band(s) then you have to get this record postehaste, if not sooner. - Dale
https://www.facebook.com/whipstriker
https://hellsheadbangers.bandcamp.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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