KOMMANDANT: “Titan Hammer”

 

Combine your Antaeus and Nunslaughter, and you’re getting close to the militant soundscape of Kommandant’s Titan Hammer, a relentless assault of black and death metal blended. The band has an extraordinarily tight sound, showing they’re not newcomers, but thanks are also due to the excellent production of the album. The snare drum is, for me, the pulse of the record, and I love the sound (and high mixing) of it. You could expect an album like this to be hyper fast, but they’re mainly playing mid-tempo, which is probably the reason it’s not so exhausting at 40 minutes.

3.5 / 5

CURSED EXCRUCIATION: “Arcane Diabolism”

 

Rooted in the early 1990s spirit of Mystifier and Necromantia, Cursed Excruciation offers its blend of black and death metal without compromise. Mainly operating at a medium tempo, Arcane Diabolism relies on the power of its piercing riffs (great tone, by the way) and the cryptic vocals, sometimes half-whispered. Compositionally, the songs are nothing to write home about – essentially what you have are rather simple but powerful riffs repeated across each track, most of which span over 6 minutes – yet if you are simply after a dose of the old-school energy of the aforementioned bands, you cannot go wrong with Arcane Diabolism. For me, the album overstays its welcome a little, so the dose could’ve been smaller, but I know there are real fans of the style out there.

3 / 5

ASKEREGN: “Brennende åkres grøde”

Ash rain, harvest of burning fields – fitting (translated) words for Askeregn’s sophomore album, a relentless assault of screeching underground black metal from Norway. Listening to the 40-minute record indeed evokes images of an apocalyptic storm. Aesthetically very pleasing overall, Brennende åkres grøde does suffer from the lack of standout moments, which may be partly due to the rather watery production. I wonder if the songs would stand out better if the sound was tightened up a notch? Be as it may, the album grows better when the final two tracks emerge with their trance-inducing, lengthy repetition. Noteworthy Norwegian black metal to anyone into bands such as Dødsengel and the like.

3 / 5

FOREST GRAVE / THUNORSLEAP: Split tape

In addition to Through Thickets and Trodden Paths, Path of the Wolf released another tape at the same time, a split between Forest Grave and Thunorsleap. The latter is totally unknown to me and, as far as I’m aware, this is their first appearance ever.

Forest Grave, on the other hand, does its job here as safely as always. “Through These Old Forests” begins the journey in characteristic low-fidelity soundscapes: drums pummelling somewhere there with mostly snare, bass drum and accented crash hits audible, guitars firing their positively monotonous tremolos, and Nox delivering deadly screeches. An acoustic guitar line on top of the black metal is a nice addition, bringing something relatively fresh into the game. “Echoes of Eternity” follows very similar patterns, with a somewhat more heroic approach in the melodies.

When Thunorsleap kicks in with “Storm Winds”, you know immediately that this new band will not disappoint. It’s possible to make several comparisons to Forest Grave – as in the harsh production, the vocals, and the slightly ritualistic, repetitive approach to composing – but Thunorsleap seems somewhat more focused, structured, and more carefully played (not to underrate Forest Grave’s unique style). The band combines sombre and hateful moods very eloquently, not entirely unlike such Finnish names as Sargeist and Cosmic Church. The two songs here are pretty much perfect pieces of underground black metal, both tracks hammering like old doers in the field, knowing their game already (which makes me wonder if this is truly the band’s first effort).

Two somewhat similar acts presenting great tracks on a same tape, an apt format for both bands, so I really can’t complain. A mandatory purchase for Forest Grave followers, and a good way to introduce a really promising band on the same go.

4 / 5

RAVENMOON SANCTUARY: “Winter Desolation of Death”

It’s no secret that Poland is clearly among the best countries when it comes to quality black metal today: while Mgła is deservedly conquering the planet with several festival appearances, Dark Fury, Ohtar and Selbstmord related personnel among others keep garnering the praise of a slightly smaller, yet truly devoted audience. New projects seem to be founded all the time, such as Ravenmoon Sanctuary, an appropriately titled band that on their debut album Winter Desolation of Death present dark and atmospheric black metal. Unsurprisingly, it sounds fantastic.

Winter Desolation of Death is absolutely not about racing or technical abilities. The key here is, as clichéd as it sounds, the atmosphere. The band tends to crawl in mid-tempos, playing rather sloppily, focusing on dark and sombre soundscapes. The desperate shrieks would even nod to depressive black metal’s direction, but that is not the deal here at all. Like the artwork and song titles tell, the album is more a journey through wintry forests and graveyards… Ravenmoon sanctuaries? The band name may seem pretentious, but in truth it’s quite fitting.

Much credits for the atmosphere go to the keyboard mastermind GrimSpirit, better known from the synth-heavy Evilfeast, whose work on this album is admittedly admirable. The grand intro “Gravespirits of the Frozen Woods” alone brings the chills, not to even mention how sweetly the keyboards are incorporated to the black metal on latter tracks.

Ravenmoon Sanctuary doesn’t offer anything truly new on their debut, but since when has that been the most significant point? Once again, you may look at the artwork and song titles and decide if you can stomach a rather traditional Polish black metal album without the slightest sight of anything modern. I sure as hell can, as long as it’s done as tastefully as right here.

4 / 5

FOREST GRAVE: “Through Thickets and Trodden Paths”

The ever-consistent Nox behind Forest Grave (among other low-profile acts of the underground) hasn’t rested much since the first FG tape in 2008. While the discography is huge, the listener base is less so; but I do need to raise a hat for the endurance of keeping releasing short runs of his material for the specific audience. Through Thickets and Trodden Paths is chronologically the tape number god-knows-what, and I bet I’ve seen all the five words of the title appearing on previous tapes, and the riffs aren’t anything new either really, but in some perverse way it’s always such a joy to uncork a new Forest Grave tape. You kind of know what you’re going to get, but it’s never going to disappoint or even bore me either, it seems, as years roll by… 

Through Thickets and Trodden Paths presents the harsh metal side of the project (for those who aren’t familiar, there are some occasional acoustic releases). Two long and crude songs that wander mostly in mid-tempo, drums beating simple patterns and guitars firing constant tremolo (with some slower breakdown sections), the characteristic Forest Grave combo. Whereas the songs don’t compositionally present anything revolutionary and the playing isnt’t the world’s tightest, the feeling and the atmosphere – the most important elements – are always there, haunting, evoking pictures of raw nature, as raw as the rehearsal-like music here recorded on four analog tracks. Comparing this to some previous releases, I don’t find this quite as captivating as some of my old favourities, like Change & Renewal or Where the Land Is Silent, but if you are one of us few who don’t mind Forest Grave’s unoriginality from a release to another, there is absolutely no reason why you would not acquire this tape.

3.5 / 5

ARSONIST LODGE: “Iänkaikkinen, pysyvä, muuttumaton pimeys”

Although having possessed a copy of Perkele, antikristus ja väärä profeetta in my shelves for a number of years, I’m not sure if I’ve ever given Arsonist Lodge a chance, but luckily I had the opportunity to see what the band is about on their new full-length Iänkaikkinen, pysyvä, muuttumaton pimeys, which, in fact, is their debut album – ten years after the band’s foundation. If it took a long time for them to complete a full-length, so it did take time to write a review of it, for I’ve had really mixed feelings about the album which has delayed and delayed the writing. And I’m still not sure where I stand with this record, because half of the music seems lacking, while the other half simply beats every other Finnish effort in the field this year.

To demonstrate the frustration I have with this album, let us consider the first four minutes of the album. Things start with “Intro”, a nice one-minute, solely sung intro. Okay, I can take that. Next up is “Unleash Armageddon”, so now things must really pick up, right? But the first minute of the song is weirdly diminished in a way that you barely hear a simple drum beat somewhere in the distance along with a rumbling guitar. When the true sound kicks in along with vocals, the band is almost unleashed, but not quite: there is still a confusing, humming sound on top of the instruments, portending harsher things to come. Just when you think that now all hell is loose, the song ends before the three minute mark.

Then, fortunately, we get into the real meat. “Instrument of All-Evil” is such a menacing, devastating piece of black metal that I seriously haven’t heard so grabbing a composition from the Finnish soil in a while. Arsonist Lodge balances somewhere between straightforward, sheer, Satanic killing and convulsing, hooking, almost groovy rhythms. This pure joy continues for a couple of tracks, but then there’s the interlude “Prayer I” which kind of ruins the flow the band had finally captured. Two long, great and even epic black metal pieces (of which I just must mention “The Arsonist” in its completely thrilling clean vocals and organs) compensate after the interlude, but I can’t help feeling that this album never really got off the ground, and that it’s held back with all sorts of unnecessary features.

That said: what a perfect, 5-song extended play this would have been! The production, surprisingly warm yet evil (which would fit vinyl format admirably), is nailed very well, the band plays smoothly together and there’s a seriously sinister atmosphere (much thanks to the vocalist’s possessed output). The music reeks of authentic devotion and Satan. But, as it stands as a full-length which includes the intro(s) and the interlude, and thanks to which there’s a shortage of real material, I can not rate Iänkaikkinen, pysyvä, muuttumaton pimeys much higher. A really good and promising effort, which would have worked better either as an EP or as a fuller-lenght.

3.5 / 5