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 »

A DOUBLE PREMIERE: DOMINANT (“VACANT SOUL INVASION”) AND INFESTUM (“MONSTRA TE ESSE BESTIAM”)

 Premieres  1 Response »
Nov 062017
 

 

We have not one, but two, premieres for you in this post, each of them drawn from forthcoming albums that will be released on the first day of 2018 by Lacerated Enemy Records. The first one is a track off the debut EP of the Norwegian death metal band Dominant, and the second comes from the fourth album by the Belarusian band Infestum.

DOMINANT

Dominant’s first release, which will be discharged on January 1, is named The Summoning. Although Dominant may be a new name, the band’s lineup is composed of members of such groups as Hideous Deformity, Necrotic Disgorgement, Conjuration, and Dauden. The track you’re about to hear is “Vacant Soul Invasion“. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: CHÂTEAU, GRAFVITNIR, HAMMER OF WAR, HERON, HORROCIOUS, INFESTUM, STANDVAST, UNHOLY ORDER

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Nov 122015
 

Chateau-Amissus

 

I’m in an unfortunate position. Before I began my trip to Alaska about a week ago for my day job, I had collected a lot of music that I intended to compile for an installment of our Shades of Black series. And since arriving in Alaska I’ve found a few more songs (in the little time I’ve had to myself) that I wanted to add to the post.

The problem is that I haven’t had time to write my impressions of the music in detail — and I don’t think I will find the time in the near future. So, with apologies to the bands, I’ve grudgingly decided to just share the music streams with you, even though I can’t share all my words of praise about them. I do hope you’ll check out everything in this post, despite the large volume of music — I think it’s all very good.

CHÂTEAU

Amissus is the name of the debut EP by a band named Château from Raleigh, North Carolina (the first of two bands from Raleigh featured in this post). It’s available for order on CD or download at Bandcamp. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: INFESTUM, WITCHRIST, HELLFEST, JEFF LOOMIS AND ARCH ENEMY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Nov 172014
 

 

I’ve seen and heard a lot of metal things on this Monday. I thought I’d try to collect all of them for tomorrow’s first post, because that way I could do some other things with what’s left of my Monday, such as doing some work for my fucking day job, because there are some people who actually think I should do something I’m actually paid to do. But fuck that. I decided to make a start right now and finish everything up in tomorrow’s first post.

INFESTUM

Last week the European Space Agency landed a small spacecraft named Philae on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a 2.5-mile-wide ball of rock, ice, and dust that was moving faster than 40,000 miles an hour and was 317 million miles from Earth at the time of the landing. Not a bad piece of work. I have trouble landing my car in my driveway.

Unfortunately, the spacecraft shut down on Saturday after its batteries were drained. Apparently it landed against a cliff or crater wall where it couldn’t get enough sunlight to recharge those batteries. Before that happened, Philae did send back some photos. As you can see above, one of them looks suspiciously like the cover of Monuments of Exalted, the new album by Infestum from Belarus that was released by Lacerated Enemy Records just a couple of days earlier. If you’ve heard anything from the album, you may be less convinced this was a coincidence. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INFESTUM — “ORDO INFESTUM”

 Interviews  1 Response »
Jul 092014
 

Lacerated Enemy Records has described the music of Infestum from Belarus by referring to the sounds of Behemoth, Emperor, and Aborym, and when you hear the Infestum song we’re premiering today from their new album you’ll understand why.

“Ordo Infestum” begins with a deep thrumming sound that resembles the notes of a bass violin, and then the song explodes in a fury of deep, doom-cloaked riffs, gut-rumbling percussion, and venomous serrated vocals. The sound is massively skull-flattening, and the music’s atmosphere is bleak, occult, and threatening.

Yet the music is not all one thing. In the course of this warlike assault you will hear a piano melody and otherworldly keyboard ambience drifting eerily through the avalanche of riffs, along with the voices of a choir, aching clean vocals, and even an industrial-tinged beat near the song’s finish. Continue reading »