SHADES OF BLACK: URFAUST, WALLFAHRER, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT, DIPLEGIA, RITUAL, TEMPLE DESECRATION

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  8 Responses »
May 062018
 

 

There’s a lot of new music in this week’s SHADES OF BLACK, which I suppose isn’t all that unusual. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of time for me to write about it, in part because of time spent on a rare Sunday premiere (which also comes from black subterranean realms) and in part because I have other plans for today that will separate me from the computer; I hope I don’t experience unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.

I’ll begin with streams of two fantastic new albums and follow those with four individual songs from forthcoming releases, one of which is paired with an outstanding video.

URFAUST

Maybe it’s not too soon to proclaim the emergence of a trend. Like an unusually high number of other occurrences this year, the august Dutch band Urfaust launched their new (fifth) album with no warning, no advance promotion, no opportunities for scurrilous scribblers to review it before release. This happened on Friday, and although I’ve only managed to listen to The Constellatory Practice once since then, my impulse is to proclaim it a triumph. Continue reading »

DEATH COMES IN THREES: A SELECTION OF SOME KILLER BLACK METAL

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
May 042018
 

 

(Here are brief reviews by TheMadIsraeli of three 2018 black metal albums that have caught his ear.)

I’ve been busy with life, but it doesn’t mean my metal consumption has slowed down.  Let’s talk about some killer black metal that’s come out this year thus far. While the number of great black metal albums this year has been smaller than in 2017 in my mind, what has come around is top-tier and I’ve picked a pretty diverse selection of three very good records.

INFESTUM

Infestum are long-running, but for those still unaware, this Belarusian band play a style of riffy, technical, tight, and concise black metal in the vein of say, Keep Of Kalessin or Old Man’s Child, with a hint of Vader. Les Rites De Passage is a fantastic record with some diverse song-writing thanks to a very Khonsu-esque sense of industrial inclusions. The riffs of Infestum are top-notch, with a pristine sense of phrasing and drama combined with a very esoteric style of melody that I quite enjoy and vocals that definitely will bring ex-KOK vocalist Thebon to mind. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): KATARI — “AVE, REX IVDAEORVM!”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
May 032018
 

 

This album is going to hit most of you like a lightning strike out of the clear blue sky, and just like the shock and surprise of such a electrifying event, it will leave most listeners with a megawatt jolt down the spine and eyes popping out of a smoking head.

It’s a fair guess that only a fortunate few have previously encountered Katari. They’re a duo (Dany I. and Assassin) based in Huánuco, Peru, who first joined forces in early 2006 and went on to release a handful of demos in very limited quantities, as well as a 2011 split and a 2013 EP (At Peace). With any luck, their music is about to reach a bigger audience, thanks to the release of their debut album, Ave, Rex Ivdaeorvm!, on May 4 by From Deepest Records. And maybe our premiere of the music will be of some help, too. Continue reading »

ALKALOID: OUR PREMIERE OF “AS DECREED BY LAWS UNWRITTEN” AND OUR REVIEW OF “LIQUID ANATOMY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  9 Responses »
May 032018
 

 

(On May 18th Season of Mist will release the hotly anticipated (and thoroughly remarkable) second album by Alkaloid (which is now available for pre-order HERE), and today we are delighted to present the premiere of a track from the album as well as Andy Synn’s extensive review of the record, all of which he introduces with a bevy of comments from members of the band.)

So I originally wrote this review last month, and expected it to be published… well… then.

However, just prior to publication, we were offered an exclusive track premiere, and I was asked if I minded holding off on publishing for a little while so that things would line up better. And, of course, I said fine, because I’m nice like that.

Now the song in question, “As Decreed By Laws Unwritten”, is one of the heaviest, and most purely Death Metal tracks, on the entire album, and one of the few which fits with our site name, in that it features… no clean singing.

It’s also one of the songs written entirely by guitarist Danny Tunker, as he explains here:

“This was the second song I wrote for Liquid Anatomy. When we first started sending demos and talking about songs, we felt we needed some heavier songs. We had the title track, which is a ballad, and “Kernel Panic”, which didn’t have a heavy section yet, and another song I wrote, which was a mellotron-driven prog-ballad at that point and turned into “In Turmoil’s Swirling Reaches” later. As a result, Florian wrote “Azagthoth” and I wrote “As Decreed By Laws Unwritten”. Continue reading »

DEATH. VOID. TERROR.: “TO THE GREAT MONOLITH I”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
May 032018
 

 

(In this post Grant Skelton reviews the debut album by the mysterious band Death. Void. Terror. And we will soon follow this review with his interview of the band [now posted here].)

I’m finding that my avarice for the bizarre is increasing. This year, I’ve been getting lost in clandestine spaces of the interweb. Browsing through many an arcane reliquary, my nocturnal work schedule has been bolstered by drone, dark ambient, neofolk, and even harsh noise. These kinds of soundscapes fit in with my waking hours. And despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that many artists in such genres make music that is, simply put, unpleasant to hear, I am enthralled and even soothed by it.

One such eccentric release is the debut album from Death. Void. Terror. When Iron Bonehead Productions released a sample of To The Great Monolith I, I was instantly interested. The band’s PR release indicated that the 2 tracks were not songs, yea not even compositions. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): EKPYROSIS — “PRIMORDIAL CHAOS RESTORED”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 022018
 

 

Many bands have followed the trail of blood and death blazed by such heralded bands as Incantation and Immolation in the early-to-mid ’90s, and there is no sign that the path is about to run into a wall or lead over a cliff’s edge. But of course it must be said that some bands who think they’re hot on that trail have in fact wandered off into a dull and featureless place, the music a lifeless pantomime of the real thing.

On the other hand, the Italian band Ekpyrosis haven’t lost their way. More precisely, they’re in the vanguard of the movement’s newer adherents. They proved they belong with their excellent debut album Asphyxiating Devotion last year, a record that was tremendously satisfying in its own right but also a promise of perhaps greater things ahead. On their new EP, Primordial Chaos Restored, Ekpyrosis have moved from strength to strength, and it’s our great pleasure to bring you a full stream of it today in advance of its May 7 release by Terror From Hell Records. Continue reading »

IHSAHN: “ÁMR”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
May 022018
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn’s review of the new solo album by Ihsahn, which will be released on May 4 by Candlelight/Spinefarm.)

My, my, my… for the second week running I find myself writing about one of the “big” new releases about to hit the Metalsphere, rather than something more unknown and underground.

Clearly this means that I/we have finally “sold out”, and I expect that riches and rewards will come cascading through my letterbox any time now.

But while I’m sat here waiting for my cheque to appear… do you have a few minutes to talk about our Lord and Saviour Ihsahn? Continue reading »

THOU: “THE HOUSE PRIMORDIAL”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
May 012018
 

 

The powerful Louisiana sludge/doom band Thou dropped a surprise yesterday… the first in a series of releases that the band have planned as a lead-up to their first full-length (entitled Magus) since 2014’s Heathen. The lack of any advance promotion or track streams isn’t that unusual for this band, but it seems to be a phenomenon that’s growing more widespread.

This new album-length EP, The House Primordial, is something of a departure from Thou’s main line of sound. Because you can obviously listen to it now, I don’t have a thorough review for you, just some reactions based on one play-through (which was enough to make me buy it). You could think of it as a preview of what you’ll be getting yourselves into if you choose to listen. Continue reading »

ORDER OV RIVEN CATHEDRALS: “GÖBEKLI TEPE”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
May 012018
 

 

(DGR wrote this review of the new album by the Italian death metal band Order Ov Riven Cathedrals.)

Göbekli Tepe, the recently released full-length follow-up to last year’s Order Ov Riven Cathedrals EP The Discontinuinity’s Interlude, takes absolutely no prisoners from the moment its first real song kicks off. Following a similar format to last year’s EP, Göbekli Tepe basically has an intro for ambience and then spends the rest of its time with you going as fast as feasibly possible — in line with many of their Italian hyperfast blast-heavy death metal kin — and making almost no compromise in favor of breathing room.

The mysterious two-piece behind Order Ov Riven Cathedrals continue their science fiction and mythological bent nearly a year later, this time amplifying just about every aspect of last year’s EP, making it feel like The Discontinuity’s Interlude really was laying out a blueprint for them to follow. Order Ov Riven Cathedrals not only wring just about every ounce of highly accelerated  death metal they can out of their time, but also bring along a bevy of familiar movie and media samples (how many albums out there have a sample from Breaking Bad on them these days?). These include metal’s recent obsession with Oppenheimer’s television interview wherein he utters “I am become death, destroyer of worlds”… although the Riven Cathedrals crew mix it up a bit by using it in reverse and closing out with, “A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent”. Continue reading »

DEMONICAL: “CHAOS MANIFESTO”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 302018
 

 

(We present DGR’s review of the latest album by Demonical, which is out now via Agonia Records.)

Considering the various skulls, demon bones, and other awesome metal ephemera in the album art gracing the front of Demonical’s Chaos Manifesto it is probably a strange situation to open with the idea that, with this album, the comfort-food nature of the Swede-death genre and its effects on your reviewer have been firmly established. There’s something near instantly recognizable in the genre’s chosen pacings and structures that feels immediately familiar and speaks to the lizard segment of one’s brain, so much so that just about any band who embrace the mid-to-high tempo thudding nature of the music are bound to at least put on a decent live show, and, with a genre whose foundations and blueprints are so solidly in place at this point, those who merely follow it with a checklist can at least kick out a decent disc.

Which just makes it all the more difficult for a group to stand out from the pack or, given their aims, to make an album that at least ranks as a “solid good time”. Demonical, a group born from the hiatus of another Swedish purveyor of mid-tempo thudding death metal (Centinex) and now with a lineup that includes a pretty healthy chunk of the newly reactivated version of the aforementioned group — three of whose members were made official in 2017 — have released what could be considered the most straight-shooting Swede-death album of 2018 so far. In Chaos Manifesto there are no pretenses, no real attempts at breaking genre conventions, just a solid eight-track, thirty-six-minute slab of death metal that gives metal fans across the variety of the circle-headbanging genres something to salivate over. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries