BANE: "Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness"

On their major debut Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness, Bane deliver a decent piece of diverse melodic black / death metal: this 42-minute whole is divided into three sections that present somewhat different musical styles, starting with the violence of ”Chaos”, followed by ”Darkness” with its more gloomy atmosphere, and ending with the partially doom metal influenced ”Emptiness”.

The album sounds rather modern, fairly bordering on too polished production - especially the somewhat triggered drums - but is still enjoyable to listen to. There’s a lot to discover from the well textured soundscapes of the album: some synths are included (”Abhorrence”), acoustic guitars appear every now and then - on ”Lost Shadow” they even dominate, in fact - and there’s some nicely done cacophony towards the end of ”Pandemonium”, for example, but the main focus is on powerful rampage created with riffs and beats.

Singing style ranges from low grunts to high-pitched screams, satisfying both black and death metal listeners, because this indeed is a mixture of both styles and even some more (hear the progressive tendencies on ”Plague Upon Yourself”). Despite the varied nature of Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness, there’s nothing really unique to find from here, so that the record is more like a mixture of many things done before. Anyhow, Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness keeps my attention throughout and proper fans of modern deathened black metal should give this a go, they could find more to dig from here.

2,5 / 5

TODESKULT: "Apathy"

Apathy - a rather fitting name for Todeskult’s second full-length offering from last year. As I have stated a plethora of times before, there’s an overabundance of bands within the circles of depressive black metal and Apathy seems fairly unnoticable for various reasons, unfortunately.

For sure, this isn’t the cheapest drum machine bedroom project out there, no - there’s a five piece line-up behind this album and everything is executed rather well. But where Apathy fails is providing almost anything significantly personal - not that uniqueness is a requirement for me personally, but Apathy is really gray: partially due to the somewhat powerless production where really nothing stands out and the actual compositions that are mostly quite faceless. And when the album goes on for over an hour, I must say I’m a little bored.

A fitting comparison to Apathy would be a less interesting version of Nyktalgia: Neideck’s desperate screams are pretty much in the same vein and so is the overall spirit on the album. While the atmosphere here is enjoyable, I’d prefer putting on Peisithanatos, for example, for a greater listening experience where I’m not disturbed by musical stagnation.

Now that I look at this, I’ve been mostly bashing Apathy it seems, but I can say that the album most certainly has its fanbase somewhere. Like I implied, the band comprises people who know what they’re doing but this time they don’t really convince me - perhaps I’ve heard too many albums in this vein. If you don’t mind utter greyness in your depressive black metal, then do look into this. 

2 / 5

END: "III"

After multiple spins, End’s third album - simply titled as III in the same vein as the previous two - starts to show how diverse the record actually is, despite how gray it sounded in the beginning. The simple black & white cover art nods to a rather basic underground black metal formula, but III is surprisingly detailed and almost progressive. Yeah, I could even mention Opeth here when it comes to certain beats and guitarwork here and there.

So, what is to be expected of III is frenzied, authentic black metal with rather professional and bassy sound, vocals going from high-pitched screams to masculine growls similar to Mikko Aspa, and even some acoustic guitars (”In the Womb of Sick”, ”Ugly and Bygone”) among the distorted ones that are, by the way, played very well. The menacious melodies are played with ease, making the album sound a well-rehearsed totality. The drummer deserves a mention here, too, due to the successfully powerful battering that is groovy  at the same time. A down-side, however, is the fact that the drum sound is somewhat muffled: for example, the snare drum could do better with some more snare mat.

Song-wise, III is at times brilliant: the rather slow and brooding ”Still in Flesh” sends chills down my spine and ”Lavish Gloom” rises nicely to a melancholic climax, for example. But compositional stagnancy is to be found here, too, unfortunately. In spite of all the many ideas that are provided - III is far from being repetitive or anything - there are moments when the riffs simply don’t have enough power (the first half of ”Megalomania”). But no worries, most of the album’s 50 minutes are still worth hearing, keeping the listener enough interested.

I find it hard to name any similar bands, in all honesty. For who I would recommend III? That’s a question I’ve been pondering since listening to the album for the first time. I guess I could throw Si Monumentum era Deathspell Omega here as a reference point, just don’t expect that deeply evil and dissonant music - a more rocking version of it, this could be said to be. Anyhow, III is definitely above an average black metal album, that is for sure. 

3,5 / 5

SVARTSYN: "Wrath Upon the Earth"

While Svartsyn’s 2007 effort revolved around atmospheric passages where relatively odd time signatures (for black metal) were repetitive and hence easier to digest, the band’s sixth full-length Wrath Upon the Earth has little twists and turns in every corner. This, plus the generally faster tempo, makes Wrath Upon the Earth a more challenging record, but in its technicality also a little less interesting effort: the album is pretty much a blast fest throughout - in the vein of 1349 - with minimum dynamic range, other than the little technical tricks.

That is not to say that the album is bad at all: Wrath Upon the Earth is a mammoth, both compositionally and sound-wise. The bursts of speed are powerful in the massive production, a production that also has its glitches, though: the mixing of drums could do better because the individual drums, such as toms, sound really apart from each other. When toms and certain symbals are hit, they sound like they are coming from somewhere else, making it all sound a bit messy. (This is just a little detail that a drummer, yours truly, found a little harassing in the production, and I can assure you that it’s nothing too severe.)

Due to the static nature of the compositions, it’s hard to pick up standout moments from the 36-minute whole. This is one of the album’s problems, even if the album is worth hearing for the devilish, monstrous atmosphere alone. At times, the seemingly constant blast beat is trance-inducing and there are moments of slightly slower tempo, too (”Dawn of Triumph, ”Blood Temple”), to not dull the listener. The music retains the strictly evil morbidity from the beginning to the end, and I find myself exhausted after the album, which is a good sign.

For fans of Svartsyn’s back catalogue, Wrath Upon the Earth might be a disappointment due to its compressed sound and ultimate speed. Nonetheless, the album is rather well done and deserves a positive rating - the impressive cover art even more points. I could see myself giving this album spins every now and then in the future, most certainly.

3 / 5

KILTE: "Absence"

(Review is based on the 2009 re-release)

From the first seconds into Absence, it becomes clear that this Belgian act doesn’t try to be most innovative depressive black metal project, that’s for sure. And it’s unfortunate, because I fail to find anything really grabbing from the five tracks provided on Eisenwald’s 2009 re-release of this EP.

The band mostly wanders in mid-tempos, overall atmosphere being murky and sound-wise fuzzy and very modified - especially the vocals that are a wall of distortion, killing all the possible emotion of the original voice. It’s a shame, and I personally think that the guitar sound could do better, too, as it sounds too muffled with modern effects.

The aforementioned unnaturalness is clearly Absence’s weakest link, but there’s something to nag about the compositions, too: while ”Haar Laatste Traan” succeeds in creating an enjoyable desolate atmosphere with synths in prominent role and ”Eindeloos Verval” is at least partially a pretty good calmful track  the whole 36-minute package is in general rather infertile, and the two bonus tracks are just earlier demo versions of two of the EP’s songs, so those don’t bring much added value. The sound is more cruel on the demo versions and I find myself digging it better than the effect-filled EP material, nonetheless.

For those who don’t mind unoriginality in their depressive black metal, Absence is recommendable; personally I find it a tad too underwhelming even though it has its moments (I do find myself lost in some sort of trance during ”Eindeloos Verval”). Depressive black metal has seen better releases and I prefer grabbing some Abyssic Hate or Hypothermia from my shelves instead of this, in all honesty.

2 / 5

BLAZE OF PERDITION: "The Burning Will of Expansion"

Religious devil worship is always welcome to my black metal - as long as it’s done tastefully and not following too closely the footsteps of Deathspell Omega, Watain, Funeral Mist and the likes. Since last year’s split and EP releases, Blaze of Perdition has offered its take on the aforementioned subgenre (if that's an apt term already) and to this date has remained above the average, but only slightly. This applies to their most recent release, The Burning Will of Expansion (which is to be released tomorrow on grey seven inch), as well.

When I first heard Blaze of Perdition’s major debut Towards the Blaze of Perdition, I couldn’t help thinking about Behexen’s most recent works, at least aesthetically. On The Burning Will of Expansion, I am more reminded of Watain with all the dissonance, subtle thrash riffage flirts and Sonneillon’s surprisingly similar screaming style therein. Or more fittingly, this could be said to be a mixture of Massemord and Watain. A good dose of furious blast beats is to be found from here but the band also knows how to slow down yet retaining the evil spirit within. Production-wise, the EP is crispy and professional, yet not as polished as the full-length.

The Burning Will of Expansion ventures convincingly onwards through the two tracks but, as easily can happen, I fail to hear how this really differs from many other releases in the field. I would so love to hear Blaze of Perdition being more daring and not limiting their potential to these compositions that are decent and far from bad, but nothing out of the ordinary. Here’s to hoping that one day Blaze of Perdition will surprise. Additional points for the well-done cover art, however.

2,5 / 5

INHUMAN HATE: "Twilight of a Lost Soul"

The grounds of depressive black metal are crowded with a plethora of bedroom projects with cheap drum machines pinging in the background, but with Inhuman Hate’s third full-length Twilight of a Lost Soul my ears are safe from that. Inhuman Hate has avoided all the clumsiness and offers a rather impressive piece of melancholic, doom-influenced black metal with heavy sound.

Indeed, first to notice is the bassy, professional sound full of downtuned riffs. The 16-minute beginning track sets the blueprint for the rest of the  murky album with its variaton from slow, brooding doom metal sections to more black metalish attacks of tremolo. Forgotten Tomb comes to my mind throughout the whole album, and I would say - though some might disagree - that there’s occasionally even a flavour of Agalloch in the calmest, less-distorted sections. The third track seems somewhat unnecessary, at least as a stretched 6-minute piece, because it’s basically an ambient track with some screams on top. It’s a nice idea, but an abridged version would have worked better.

Whereas the whole album is performed pretty admirably, it still lacks a tad of own identity. The atmosphere is there, the production works, I dig the vocalist’s masculine growling (and all the clean vocals on the fourth track), the interplay between instruments is commendable and so forth, but I can’t help feeling that this has been done before. In that sense, Inhuman Hate swims in a bit too safe waters, being a grey album amidst all the other grey albums - but fortunately somewhat above the average, nonetheless. Twilight of a Lost Soul is worthy of recommendation to fans of all the darkest black/doom metal hybrids.

3 / 5

GREY WATERS: "Below the Ever Setting Sun"

Okay, I’m totally honest here. I like Grey Waters' Below the Ever Setting Sun. I have previouly dissed Austere’s take on emotional rock/pop on their last album To Lay Like Old Ashes but on the other hand, I am and have always been a big sucker for Katatonia’s music. On this little EP released early this year, Grey Waters hits the right keys and awakes the little angsty me in me. And I enjoy it.

Consisting of Austere and Woods of Desolation members, the sound here is still (though very remotely) close to black metal - this is most apparent in the guitar department where melancholic riffs are a massive wall of buzzing sound - but other than that we’re dealing with a rock-based EP with simple beats and clean vocals. Think of Tonight’s Decision era Katatonia with modern production, and you have a vague picture of the record, both musically and lyrically.

Despite being full of sorrow, maybe even on excessively sugary levels, Below the Ever Setting Sun is really powerful, epic and massive. While ”Say Goodbye” is a general 4-minute rocky song, ”Broken”, ”The Truth in Your Eyes” and the title track rise to symphonic climaxes near their ends, so we’re not exactly dealing with any unambitious compositions, quite the opposite. Clean male vocals are put to good use and it never sounds too cheesy. But lyrically there is some unwanted cheesiness, something that can easily happen in a style like this - can’t help finding lines like ”what once was is now forever lost” and ”just say goodbye” a bit tacky.

Grey Waters has crafted a rather impressive debut EP, and I’m looking forward to hearing their upcoming full-length. I much prefer this emotional rock under a band name of its own instead of it being stamped on Austere’s name, a band that for me was always rooted in black metal. Below the Ever Setting Sun is a recommendable EP for those into emotional and fairly accessible rock or metal.

3,5 / 5

DARK TRIBE: "Archaic Visions"

The few snippets I’ve heard of Dark Tribe’s previous effort from 2004 (In Jeraspunta...) provided somewhat different sound what the band offers now on their third full-length, Archaic Visions, that has been under work for the last six years. While the second album provided a massive wall of chaotic music with some absurdly weird clean vocals, Archaic Visions seems more stripped down, organic and, well, normal black metal.

Without going further into assumptions what led to this slight change in direction, I can still assure that Archaic Visions is maniacal in its own way. There is something magical in these simple atonal melodies and riffs fired with dominant role in the production - indeed, the guitars are in main role, backed by barbaric drumming. Vocals are plain weird high-pitched screeches and mutterings, fitting to the overall unique atmosphere of Archaic Visions well. At times, for example during ”The Wrath of Our Tribe" and ”I See the Coldness in My Eyes”, I’m reminded of the furiosity of Vordr, and at times the album delves in a lot more wistful, mid-tempo wanderings.

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed an album that really sends chills down my spine and, ladies and gentlemen, here is an album that manages to rise to such enthralling levels of beauty: the sudden melodies full of sorrow on ”Suicide Is the Light” are responsible for it the most but I wouldn’t underestimate the power of e.g. ”Children of Forgotten Times” and ”Desperation” either. By the way, if you are confused by the song titles leaning on suicidal themes, don’t expect any generic Hypothermia clone here, this is far from deserving the DSBM tag. I would categorize this as desperate, demented and archaic black metal, or something along those lines.

There’s some compositional stagnation on the latter half of Archaic Visions - e.g. ”Praying for Salvation” follows the previous tracks’ pattern a tad too closely and ”Endless War” could do better with a shorter running time - but the album still ventures enough deftly to the very end - after all, the insanity captured onto the record is always interesting to hear even if every moment isn’t made of pure gold. If not the best album of the year, close to the top releases anyhow.

4 / 5

ARMAGEDDA: "I Am"

Instead of proper uniqueness, it was the sheer power, agility and spirit that made Armagedda stand above the masses of other grim, cold black metal bands in the first half of 2000s, before the members went on with other projets, namely LIK and Lönndom. I Am captures the true essence of the band, these demo songs being recorded sometime in 2001 and 2002, so don’t get your hopes up too much, this isn’t new material at all. But previously unreleased and great material it is, anyhow.

Dusty lo-fi production backs up these four songs comprising elements of Darkthrone but with little twists and great musicianship of which Armagedda has always been known for. Bass guitar is non-existent: cold guitar riffs and melodies dominate the rehearsal-like atmosphere, drums slightly in the background, doing their job admirably, nonetheless. Songs span from 5 to 6 minutes so quite a lot of ideas are presented on the tracks, ”Den Skrivna Eskatologin”, ”De Vanhelgade” and ”Cold Eon” focusing more on malicious and catching riffs while the title track is filled with brooding melancholy.

As said, it’s the overall quality of performance that makes Armagedda so good, and this EP is no different. Armagedda fans should get their hands on this if they haven’t already. For a regular listener who isn’t so much into low fidelity black metal, I Am might leave him/her a bit unsatisfied because nothing out of the ordinary is to be found from this EP. A recommendable, forgotten piece of second wave old school black metal.

3 / 5

QUEST OF AIDANCE: "Dark Are the Skies at Hand"

On this little EP,  originally released in 2007 already, Quest of Aidance blends together death metal, grindcore, and symphonic / orchestral / ambient... Wait, what? Well, the blending doesn’t happen within songs, but between them: ”Yautjan Overture” and ”Soundtrack To Hish” are responsible for Dark Are the Skies at Hand’s  experimental pieces, taking almost half of the EP’s 15-minute total playing time.

What comes to the actual metal, we are offered four tracks of relentless grindcore / death metal fusion: fast tempos, both guttural and higher-end screeches and downtuned guitar brutality. I sense that programmed drums are utilized here, but it’s handled tolerably. A surprising amount of melody is to be found from these tracks, at least on ”Red Dust” and ”Sirian Breed” that rely a lot on lead melodies. ”Distant World Arrival” and "Yield” offer the most savage pieces on the record, my personal favourites.

15 minutes pass fast and, in all honesty, not much can be remembed of it afterwards. Dark Are the Skies at Hand suffers from being a herring salad: too many ideas are thrown together in so short songs. The fact that two of these tracks are taken from an earlier release doesn’t help the EP at all either, making the package even more confusing as there’s some inbalance between the productions of tracks. To me, it seems Dark Are the Skies at Hand is a rather pointless release, but I guess this could have its fans among the most open-minded grind / death lovers.

1,5 / 5

NEBUNAM: "Nebunam"

Without a doubt, nature and winter inspired black metal has been very common lately, and this could be said to be the category of Nebunam’s epynomous first offering too, though we are clearly not talking about any clone band because Nebunam provides some unique melodies here. Unfortunately, that’s not enough in making a good record, but more about the downsides later.

Consisting of just two long tracks, it doesn’t hurt to describe them both individually: the 14-minute ”A Winter’s Tale” begins the album with an epic guitar riff - a really sweet one that gets stuck in my head often - that recurs in many parts of the track, the mood somewhere between sorrow and hope. A non-distorted guitar interlude (plus some screeching guitar experimentation) happens in the breakdown section in the middle of the track until the song returns again to the grandiose atmosphere just like the song started. ”Sturm” attacks with blast beats but isn’t still an aggressive piece really. The riffs here aren’t as memorable as on the previous track and it requires more spins to sink in. But the ethereal, blue-colored atmosphere is still there, very much in the vein of the cover art. Vocals are in the rather usual black metal screaming vein, with English lyrics on the first and German lyrics on the second track.

While the compositions themselves are fairly well done, the band struggles in other departments, namely in the final outcome of the music: some transitions between parts sound very awkward and during those moments one can hear how some parts are just put together in the editing process. But the biggest complaint goes to the programmed drums: real ones are quite a requirement in atmospheric compositions like these, but what we have here is a really machine-like sound that I would rather hear on an industrial black metal album. During the mid-tempo ”A Winter’s Tale” it’s bearable, but sounds really awkward and mood-killing in the blast beats of ”Sturm”.

Due to these glitches, it’s hard to give Nebunam’s debut EP a favorable rating. There’s most certainly potential in this band, as especially ”A Winter’s Tale” suggests, and if a few crucial flaws are to be fixed on the second effort - assuming such will come - I am sure I’ll enjoy it. Plus points for the musical style that doesn’t borrow too obviously from any other bands, and good cover art, though that could do better with a less harassing logo placement. 

2 / 5

WEAPON: "From the Devil's Tomb"

I don’t think I lie if I say that Weapon is among the most interesting deathenened black metal band out there right now, and From the Devil’s Tomb, this Canadian group’s sophomore effort, is no short of being a brilliant album, though it’s one challenging monster and requires careful attention to open up to its full glory.

Whereas the album is often utterly savage, mixing some chuggy death metal riffage to more blackened guitarwork (hear the dissonant tunes of ”Vested in Surplise, and Violet Stole”, for example), the band knows exactly when to loose the bestial killing a bit and focus on melody and atmosphere. Most prominently this happens in the middle of the album where the Middle Eastern instruments appear in ”Sardonyx” and when the sweet instrumental  ”LEFTHANDPATHYOGA” kicks in with its acoustic guitars - never sounding lame, however - but this fluctuation between well-thought melody and brutality happens inside individual tracks, too. A strong flavour of occultism reeks out of the record, giving it a mysterious vibe, though the occult side of the band is most definitely not just a gimmick to look cool; Weapon sounds really authentic in all departments.

Being a 54-minute monster, diversity is a requirement and Weapon succeeds in it favorably and I don’t feel myself tired in any part of the album. There’s a lot to discover even from just the guitar riffs on the album that are somewhat technical but with all pretentiousness aside. As the songs mostly run for over six minutes - the massive, Nile esque ”The Inner Wolf” even over nine minutes - these aren’t easy songs to digest and the first few spins might go from an ear to another.

Production-wise, From the Devil’s Tomb could maybe do slightly better, because the sound is somewhat loose, but this definitely satisfies all black metal listeners at least, and all instruments are there to be heard, and so are all the little details of ambience. Vetis Monarch delivers the rather low-end growls convincingly, and all in all it becomes hard to name any serious flaws about From the Devil’s Tomb. With an album of this high quality, I could see this rise to the top albums of 2010. I could also see the album deserving a half star more but, as usual, I’m hesitant go give that high scores to fresh records.

4 / 5

ALGAION: "Exthros"

It would be misleading to call Algaion’s firts effort in 13 years, Exthros, a pure black metal album; what we have here instead is a dark, melodic and perhaps slightly industrialized album of black / death metal with hints of Gothenburg sound - especially in the melody department - and an overall flavour of Rotting Christ which they also cover on this album (”Sign of Evil Existence / Era of Satan Rising”).

The driving force to the album is the rather bass heavy rhythm section: Robert Eng’s kit, though too triggered to my taste, pulsates tightly and so does the down tuned rhythm guitars. On the top appears the raspy screams of Mårten Björkman, lead guitar melodies and other melody dominant sound sources such as piano (”Nature Our Slave”) or even some techno elements (”Theos Tou Aimatos”). Sound-wise, everything is done really professionally, even too professionally so that the polished sound curbs the material a bit, but all is still enjoyable despite the really modern production values.

Compositionally, Exthros is throughout on the middle level when it comes to quality. Nothing harasses, yet nothing rises to goosebumps-inducing levels: these streamlined songs, often even chorus-based, are easy to listen to, which kind of bugs me as I’m afraid the album won’t have long durability. So far I’m still enjoying the album, especially during such tracks as ”The Last of the Cursed Days” and ”Ruach Adversi”. Exthros could be said to be the total opposite of anything underground, hence I’m sure this album is to trigger the interests of those who aren’t generally into black metal. Those purely into the rawest of metals, there’s not much to see here. 

2,5 / 5

WOODS OF DESOLATION: "Sorh"

After Austere ventured to somewhat unnecessarily clean grounds on their last effort To Lay Like Old Ashes, it is a pure pleasure to discover a band like Woods of Desolation that utilizes the best parts of lo-fi, depressive black metal. This is, at least, the case with their 2009 EP entitled Sorh, as I’ve heard that the upcoming second full-length shows a slight change of direction in Woods of Desolation’s sound too. While waiting for that album with dread (yeah, I always have my dystopic doubts), let’s delve into the reverby, fuzzy landscapes of Sorh.

As the previous adjectives implied, this EP is really droney due to the extremely foggy production. You can barely hear the drums - only slower beats can be easily distinguished by the accenting bass kicks and snare hits - but that doesn’t matter, as the backbone to the music are the mesmerizing, melancholic tremolo melodies and distant, blurry screams. Everything is dream-like, almost non-moving, soothing. Think of Austere’s debut Withering Illusions and Desolation, this is very close to that in all departments, albeit the ethereal atmosphere is even a level higher on Sorh.

The static production that roars like a vacuum has its downsides, too, as it’s harder to find any specifically grabbing moments from any of the four tracks presented. Listening to Sorh is like a dive into another world where everything is pleasing but nothing really stands out: hence this EP is ideal to get for its convincingly sorrowful atmosphere alone. Recommended not only for depressive black metal fans but for also those who show even a slight interest in the subgenre, because Woods of Desolation seems to be among the best acts in its category in recent years. 

 

3,5 / 5

GRÄFENSTEIN: "Skull Baptism"

On their third full-length effort, Gräfenstein offer a savage beast of asphyxiating black metal with a subtle taste of thrash and careful use of melody thrown therein too. As far as I’m aware, the musical concept has remained the same thoroughout this German band’s history, so nothing out of the ordinary is to be expected of Skull Baptism, an album that is, however, really convincing in all its relentlessness.

Kicking off the album with ”Essence of Chaos”, it comes clear to the listener that this is indeed really brutal, if that is a fitting word to depict a black metal album that still has that cold, razorsharp sound. As the powerful, fast blast beats accommodate the seas of guitar tremolo and mid-range spews of the vocalist, and this all continues until the very end, Skull Baptism can be said to be a really exhausting album: no kidding, this album feels like someone suffocating you. This has something to do with the production, too, that is really chaotic, all instruments very loud.

Gräfenstein does know how to incorporate some melody to the music, too: ”Halls of Dawn” is a great example of that with its occasional mountainous lead guitar melodies, never forgetting the mercilessness either. The same applies to ”Icon if Sin”, as well, that flirts with surprisingly melodic thrash metal patterns. Through tracks like the aforementioned, it becomes easier to decipher what Skull Baptism is all about and I could not imagine the album without them... Or I could: the mere constant killing would get dull fast.

Skull Baptism took many, many listens to open itself to full glory. The incessant chaos might seem uninviting at first, going from an ear to another, but this is one of those examples of records that I’ve luckily ’had’ to listen to more than just a couple of times for reviewing purposes, and they slowly grow. Some nagging could be directed towards the drum sound as the snare drum sounds quite lifeless, as if it didn’t have a snare mat at all. Otherwise, Skull Baptism works (read: kicks ass) successfully even if the musical style is generally unsurprising.

3,5 / 5

FURZE: "Reaper Subconscious Guide"

At first, before hearing the album, I had my doubts about Furze and its fourth full-length Reaper Subconscious Guide: is this some lame attempt at creating experimental music for the sake of sounding different or what? Luckily my thoughts turned out to be false, but most certainly Reaper Subconscious Guide is an odd bird: groovy, heavily doom metal influenced black (?) metal dedicated to Black Sabbath, recorded analogically and with equipment spanning from 40s to 70s, there’s a lot of eerie Glockenspiel played throughout the record, the weird clean vocals proclaim ’hail Satanas’ silently as in some children’s nighttime spooky story, and... Yeah, you get a general idea of the album’s weird nature.

What’s most brilliant about this oddness is that it all works brilliantly. The very, very detailed, professional and natural production is pure pleasure to my ears. There’s some clumsiness in the playing in all departments, especially in the drums, but it’s only charming. Repetitive, doomy and really heavy riffs are all around the album beginning from the first seconds to the album ending brooding monster ”Essential Wait”. Only infrequently can black metal be spotted from this album: as an example, some tremolo riffage on ”Earlier Than the Third Might of the Cosmos” nods to that direction, at least.

The five songs are all long, spanning from seven to thirteen minutes, and though there’s a lot of repetition - which isn’t a negative thing - these compositions comprise many interesting breakdown passages and little twists. The ass kicking riffage is always in the main role, and it’s enhanced by the other instruments and unique vocal delivery. Reaper Subconscious Guide impressed me strongly and the album is not to leave my player anytime soon. A wholeheartedly recommended piece of ghostly, old doom metal sound.

4 / 5

BLASPHEMY RITES: "Hideous Lord"

Blasphemy Rites has been in existence for the last 13 years but has kept relatively low profile, not until this year releasing their major debut, entitled as Hideous Lord that offers a violent, uncompromising blast of blackened death metal in the spirit of Blasphemy and Sarcófago, and somehow this also reminds me strongly of Blasphemophagher. So, absolutely nothing refreshing or innovative is to be expected of Hideous Lord but, of course, that is not necessarily a requirement in making a crushing album.

Comprising fifteen tracks of which mere two cross the three-minute mark, Hideous Lord is evidently one swift monster. The only occasional breathing breaks are given in the form of short ambient interludes between some songs, but other than that, the music demolishes everything on its way. Old school spirit, some chuggy riffage in the middle of tremolo, beats shifting from blast beats to only fairly slower ones, high-range screaming. All is done with professional spirit and there’s no question of the players’ technical abilities. The crispy production works perfectly here, something that albums like Diocletian’s muffled Doom Cult definitely miss.

But how memorable, then, Hideous Lord is? Not much, I must confess, as it’s a real pain in the ass to distinguish the songs from each other: occasional guitar solos are a nice feature and so are the three cover tracks in the end of the album but other than that the songs don’t have much grabbing elements in them. Surely the point of Hideous Lord is to create old school black/death but I wouldn’t mind hearing some innovation here either, because as it is, the 32-minute death manifest becomes a bit dull after the first few tracks. Not to undermine the overall devastating power of the album, however. 

2,5 / 5

BORGNE: "Entraves de l'Âme"

Eerie and distant, yet feisty. This kind of words pop up in my mind when listening to Borgne’s fifth full-length, a deadly cold assault of richly textured black metal that even leans a bit on industrial sound as the programmed drums, a true war machine here, rampage on. Think of the ghostly atmosphere summoned by Xasthur (who actually contributed the introduction track to this album) and Elysian Blaze but with the ferocity of later era Blut Aus Nord, and you have an general idea of Entraves de l'Âme.

It was the production that grabbed my attention the best at first: the album sounds huge and there’s a lot of layers that round up multiple synth and guitar tracks - there’s always something to discover from the ambiance of the album. Compositionally, we’re dealing with quite a diverse record, too, ”Die Trying to Take the Rope Off” is a good example, as the massive wall of distortion disappears in the latter half and acoustic guitars take the main role - not quite something that I would have expected, but it works very well. The album reeks of overall malicious atmosphere and succeeds in evoking pictures of sinister utter darkness.

Initially, I was about to give the album a somewhat negative rating, but after multiple spins I fail to think of any reasons why not to say it’s a rather favorable record - so remember to give this more than just a few listens and it will get better in time. Entraves de l'Âme is a strong whole with good total plaing time of 42 minutes and there’s enough compositional diversity to keep it interesting, and one of my only complaints go to the intro track: I find it completely unnecessary that Malefic provided the intro here because it doesn’t really fit together with the rest of the album. It’s good, but would fit so much better on a Xasthur album. 

3,5 / 5

CONSPIRACY: "Irremediable"

I can admit that symphonic / melodic black metal isn’t really my thing but I’m still able to distinguish the good efforts from the bad. Unfortunately, Conspiracy’s third full-length Irremediable leans towards the latter category, although the album has its few good moments, too.

The problem with Irremediable is that it doesn’t sound either melodically inspired or brutally convincing. It’s clear that the maker has been spinning some Dimmu Borgir discs and, at times, the symphonic elements succeed very well (I especially enjoy the instrumental "Ouverture" and ”Black Mass”) but often the synth melodies - and guitar solos - are just too cheesy. And what comes to the brutal black metal, it’s the somewhat powerless, polished production and the programmed (though incredibly detailed) drums that hinder Irremediable from rising to ass-kicking strength.

To continue the nagging, the total playing time, 55 minutes, is too long for an album that has too many crucial flaws to begin with. Add the occasional awkward clean vocals to my list of Irremediable’s downsides, and the list is about done. Symphonic black metal lovers might find more to enjoy from this, but I still think that Irremediable is subpar in its category, a category that has seen much more impressive albums throughout its history - hence I fail to come up with reasons why to look into this record. 

1,5 / 5

FURIA: "Halny"

Even as a newbie to Furia’s music and hearing their recent EP, Halny, for the first time, it didn’t take many seconds to realize why this material isn’t released under the name of its big brother, Massemord: Furia’s approach is evidently more experimental, albeit black metal is still the backbone to the psychedelic, jazzy, nocturnal music.

Halny is a one big song clocking at twenty minutes, consisting of a plethora of interesting breakdown moments until building up to more paced sections: the song keeps fluctuating between the rather quiet parts - comprising electric and occasionally acoustic guitar - and more active, hypnotic moments of ’shoegazey’ black metal. The overall mood is somewhat obscure and mysterious, but it certainly possesses lots of hopelessness and yearning in it - even the most dissonant riffs on the song have that feeling of dim sadness. This atmosphere is the driving force here, and it’s not common to come across something quite like it in black metal: this is like jazz gone demented black metal.

I always find myself absorbed in the music: twenty minutes go by surprisingly fast and it even leaves me a bit hungry. The professional and detailed production ensures an enjoyable listening experience, and the fairly unique vocal delivery - semi-clean, mid-range utterance - works well, too. Halny might not be the most goosebumps-inducing record I’ve heard lately, but its nocturnal aura is still something that makes me revisit the EP frequently. Do not miss this if looking for some innovation inside the borders of black metal. 

3,5 / 5

AUSTERE: "Only the Wind Remembers"

I’m not so fond of all the suicidal / depressive black metal bands out there. It has become a trend of sorts which means the amount of bands is insane and the quality is non-existent. But luckily there’s some bands that manage to do it well and refreshing, and Austere was one of these with their 2007 debut album Withering Illusions and Desolation. Only the Wind Remembers is a nice continuation to the full-length, bringing even some new elements to the game with a cleaner production.

Originally released as split material with Lyrinx, the two long Austere tracks were released later the same year on this separate own release. The first song, ”Towards the Great Unkown”, is a deeply melancholic, mid-tempo (although blast beats appear later) song that evokes pictures of utter hopelessness and desolation, so Austere has done its job again. The fairly technical drums are in higher role this time but luckily it doesn't turn into a total technical wankery at all, which this kind of music definitely doesn't need. Acoustic guitars are a new addition and they are present in a few places in the song. The reverb-full anxiety continues in the title track which is a bit slower song but as Austere as always, culminating to some well performed clean vocals in the end.

The vocals, handled by both members, deliver some of the sickest shrieks I’ve heard anyone perform. They are one of the key features of Austere, and when they’re mixed with mournful riffs and resounding production, the result is a beautiful package of melancholy. If you liked the debut album, I bet you will like this too. The second album To Lay Like Old Ashes went a bit too far with the clean vocals and sterile production but Only the Wind Remembers is somewhere between these two albums. Which means it's very good.

(Originally written in Spring 2010, reposted with minor editings in December 2010.)

4 / 5

THE ARRIVAL OF SATAN: "Vexing Verses"

The picture on the cover of Vexing Verses, the second full-length of The Arrival of Satan, implies quite successfully what to expect from the album: truly maniacal and schizophrenic underground black metal. It is not uncommon to witness such topics as madness and insanity in black metal - think of the well known Silencer, for example - but luckily this isn’t too crowded area, so that albums like Vexing Verses sound enough refreshing, although one could definitely nod to e.g. Mütiilation’s direction when it comes to influences.

Razor-sharp guitars keep slitting your throat with discordant melodies while the drums set the rhythm and pace for this abominable scenery that lasts for nearly 40 minutes and doesn’t let of its grip until the end. The first few songs are at blasting speeds and signs of slower tempo are not in view until the fourth monster ”Aborted Voices” with its torturous riffs and the mad shrieks and spews of Necropiss - you could think of Azaghal’s Varjoherra to get an overall idea of his vocal output. After the fourth track, there’s some stagnation to be found here compositionally - even if the album possesses that menacing atmosphere throughout - but it all shapes up when the seventh song ”Fascist Whore” (the lyrics are even better) begins. ”She’s Dead” and ”Unworthy” culminate the album in somewhat mournful spirit yet still retaining the insane atmosphere therein.

Vexing Verses can be a vomit-inducing experience in some circumstances (I would avoid this in hangovers) and that could very well be one of the album’s purposes. Those who can endure filthiness in their black metal and even enjoys it at least to some extent, Vexing Verses is recommendable as it does its job very satisfyingly. Speaking of filthiness, don’t expect that so much production-wise: even if the album is raw and rough, this isn’t just mere rehearsal sound material, no, all instruments are nicely audible; all the sickness spawns in the compositions themselves. True masterpiece tracks are, however, missing but the album works well as a full whole. 

 

3 / 5

TSORER: "Return to Sodom"

Hailing from Israel, Tsorer’s debut album Return to Sodom is quite an opposite of anything holy: this is primitive, true old school black metal in the vein of e.g. Hellhammer and old Bathory! Rather minimalistic compositions with very simple song titles (”Again”, ”Gifts”, ”Old”...) and no text whatsoever in the CD covers except the tracklist. This is the way Tsorer attacks, and it attacks with great power indeed.

When listening to the album, I can’t help thinking about Hate Them era Darkthrone - I think the similarity is definitely there in the mid-tempo, demented, menacing riffs, beats and raspy vocals. The songs span from two to seven minutes but the style remains pretty much the same all the way through: really strong songs with focus on the riffs. Indeed, Return to Sodom reminds me again how crushing simple power chord riffs can be! Production-wise, the album is beautifully harsh and underground - how could I not love the guitars on ”Messiah” that almost sound like the amp is about to break down and all hell is loose? Think of a fairly cleaner version of Peste Noire’s 2009 effort and you have a general idea of Return to Sodom’s filthy soundscape.

One really distinct feature on the album is the amount of effects and voices in the background layers: sometimes I wonder what the hell is happening in this house when the sounds are actually coming out of this disc. Occasionally, they seem to be totally out of place - the piano melodies on ”Old”, for example - but it all adds to the absurd, and rather unique - and most importantly, utterly evil and diabolic - atmosphere on the album. So, to condensate: Do not get confused by the ’simple old school black metal’ tag, because there’s a lot more happening in the detailed textures than just the riffs and beats. The sudden reverb effect in the end of ”Sodom” is the only moment when I think it’s not done really tastefully.

Return to Sodom came out of nowhere with its kick-ass riffs and morbid atmosphere, and convinced me. With a debut album of this quality, a lot can be expected from this two-piece act in the future - as long as the listener is not harassed by all the simplicity in riffs and enjoys his/her black metal filthy and evil. 

3,5 / 5

UNHUMAN DISEASE: "Into Satan's Kingdom"

Doom bells reverberate in the nocturnal cemetery where demonic rituals are held. Such is the introduction track to Into Satan’s Kingdom, Unhuman Disease’s fourth full-length - that is actually recorded in 2007 already, before the last year’s Black Creations of Satan - reeking of darkness, death, and, ultimately, Satan worship in the general old school spirit, mixing menacing sounds with a touch of melancholy every now and then, hence reminding me of many Finnish acts. The booklet says thanks to a few bands from the aforementioned country, so I don’t think I’m terribly wrong about this.

The first actual song ”Diabolic Devotion” works already as a blueprint for the rest of the album with its Sargeist esque gloomy atmosphere, drums battering mid-tempo beats, guitars weeping sadness and devilish intention via tremolo, and high-pitched screams proclaiming the same overall atmosphere, just verbally. Sometimes the album ventures to slightly more in-your-face blastbeat moments and at times - prominently, in fact - the approach leans on melancholy - a song like ”Howls of Sorrow” being an ultimate example of this dirge-like style, very reminiscent of e.g. Noenum.

There’s some imbalance between the productions of tracks, resulting in fairly different sound levels between some songs - this is probably because the album was recorded in the span of five months. Luckily the shifting sound levels aren’t too harassing and, actually, hardly noticeable when one becomes absorbed in the music. Speaking of the production, you may already guess that nothing clean and polished is to be expected - this is truly rehearsal-quality, crackly and raw material, but all the necessary is audible.

I remember hearing Unhuman Disease’s first effort earlier this year and can only be happy that the music has clearly evolved from that: while Evil Reigns Supreme was a somewhat loose attempt at Darkthrone esque black metal, Into Satan’s Kingdom is clearly a stronger whole with interesting ideas, yet still retaining a simple approach to old school devil worshipping black metal. The lead melodies towards the end of ”Calling of Satan” are an example of this evolution into a more thoughtful songwriting. I can’t say that Into Satan’s Kingdom is objectively a groundbreaking record - certainly not - but in its category it is a noteworthy album, something that I’m proud to have in my shelves next to the originators of the style, and put it every now and then into the player and enjoy the morbid, raw black metal done with authentic Satanic devotion. 

3.5 / 5

FORTERESSE: "Par Hauts Bois et Vastes Plaines"

When listening to Forteresse’s third album Par Hauts Bois et Vastes Plaines, I am once again reminded of the beauty of minimalism: freezing in moment and just letting the almost motionless music pour into my ears and mind. The wonders of escapism are more than welcome in the middle of my daily hustles, and this album does its job very satisfyingly. I assume that the first offering of Forteresse wasn’t leaning this heavily on ambiance, and the direction started to change to the current one on the second album, so this album shouldn’t come as a shock to those who have heard the previous output, but might disappoint some of the first album’s lovers.

Par Hauts Bois et Vastes Plaines flourishes in ambient: be it in the slow-tempo, highly atmospheric black metal of which the record mostly consists of, or in pure ambient like the second and sixth track on the album. Reverberating, slow drum beats pulse while razor-sharp yet not offensive guitar melodies appear somewhere in the distance, delivering a constant stream of tremolo. Simple, melancholic and occasionally epic melodies, enhanced by prominent, misty synths. The music is very bleak, evoking pictures of barren landscapes throughout the 36-minute playing time during which nothing radically changes: the dynamics are basically the same all the time with the exception of some climax moments and i.e. piano melodies on the fourth track. Screams are somewhere in the distance, too, fitting very well in the overall despondent atmosphere.

Taking a look at the front cover art - which is very much to my taste, by the way, including the placement of the texts - of Par Hauts Bois et Vastes Plaines tells quite much of the album already. Dividing the tracks into seven unnamed movements was a good decision from the band so that one can fully concentrate on the music as a one long piece. The album doesn’t deliver anything new - quite the opposite, remembering how crowded the area of ambient black metal is - but I find myself greatly enjoying the vast aura of the album. This is not something that I could play in every occasion, but for those quiet moments on peaceful winter evenings this is a highly appropriate release to put on. 

3,5 / 5

MASSEMORD: "The Madness Tongue Devouring Juices of Livid Hope"

While I wasn’t so stoked about Massemord’s earlier release, namely the short EP Notes of Antihate Profound, this latest output, a true name monster for sure, grabs my interest on a totally different level. As soon as the first sounds of the fading-in instruments are heard on The Madness Tongue Devouring Juices of Livid Hope, the listener is in for a 35-minute hypnotizing ride.

A down-tuned guitar rhythm pattern is the basis behind the droning, rather slow-tempo, long song. It’s menacing, simple and indeed repetitive, but never boring - much thanks to the intricate yet not too technical drumming and, most importantly, the melodic ideas that are brought on top of the pulsing rhythm section. A lot of interesting guitarwork is provided by the other guitarist while the other keeps going on with the heavy main rhythm. Occasional ethereal synth sounds are presented and at times the atmosphere builds up to semi-fast blastbeats. The singer Namtar’s convincing masculine low-range screams are similar to Mgła’s, and even generally the album reminds me surprisingly much of the aforementioned band.

The brooding atmosphere that possesses The Madness Tongue Devouring Juices of Livid Hope is impressive: the journey is quite an experience. Production-wise, the album is very well done with a professional, full and rough sound with many detailed levels. Musically, the album might not be the most original one but surely a real treat anyways. Just ignore the rather bad looking cover art and invest into this record if you are a fan of, say, Mgła that is this time stretched into an atmospheric, half an hour piece. 

3,5 / 5

MASSEMORD: "Notes of Antihate Profound"

Rapid, relentless black metal is the name of the game on Massemord’s ten minute EP consisting of two tracks of which the other - ”Masskilling Masshealing” - is an old composition now appearing here again, though this isn’t a problem for me as I don’t have previous knowledge of Massemord with the exception of the most recent full-length released just a couple of days ago.

So, compared to the brooding, droning style that The Madness Tongue Devouring Juices of Livid Hope offered, Notes of Antihate Profound is ten times faster and clearly more in-your-face. Blast beats dominate as do the evil riffs - that unfortunately kind of lack personal touch - and Namtar’s convincingly delivered mid-range screams. ”Cognition of Fear” is at best when given a little space for slower tempo and an interesting lead guitar melody. ”Masskilling Masshealing” starts with an almost punky riff but soon after builds up to the general style of 1349 esque speed chaos with occasional technical elements.

Although in general I enjoy the furiousness that Notes of Antihate Profound provides, and production-wise it all sounds perfectly balanced between full yet rough sound where all the instruments are audible, I can’t say I find anything enough gripping from the two songs; hence I was much more impressed by the innovative ideas that the recent full-length offered. I could assume, though, that this is a must-buy for Massemord fans and most certainly the band seems to know what they are doing. Notes of Antihate Profound is not a bad EP at all - just fairly unsurprising. 

2,5 / 5

PSYCHO: "Pain Addict Pigs"

You don’t hear Singaporean bands playing a frenetic mixture of old school black, death, thrash and heavy metal with horror aesthetics everyday, and now that we have Psycho to prove its existence, I am personally quite content - for many reasons.

Putting on their debut album Pain Addict Pigs and hearing the first sounds after the exorcising intro, the listener is introduced to the filthy old school atmosphere reeking of rotting flesh. Catchy and chugging riffage, powerful drumming, and the vocals, the vocals! Penny Torture sounds really good spewing out his filthy lyrics in somewhat high-pitched screams full of abomination - lower growls appear occasionally, too. Frantic guitar solos appear in many corners of the album, ensuring that you can’t get much more metal than this.

The fluctuation between influences make Pain Addict Pigs an interesting and enduring experience: where ”Meat Slit Grinder” and ”Dr. Satan” evidently flirt with butchering death metal elements, ”Mater Lachrymarum…Mother of Tears” brings in some epic heavy metal screams. ”Revenge of the Raging Whore” ventures to surprisingly ’progressive’ and melodic grounds, being kind of an odd bird in the album but fitting in well, nonetheless.

This - old school metal with its boundaries - is not an area where people usually do anything extremely innovative, but it doesn’t take away the fact that Pain Addict Pigs is convincingly crushing. I’m not usually the biggest listener of this kind of metal yet am able to enjoy this album very well, even if there are moments of slight dullness to be found here too, as the final track ”Demon Deathtrance” starts to be too much the same as the tracks before it. Otherwise, there’s a lot of great riffs and overall morbid atmosphere to be found from this half an hour experience that is wholeheartedly recommended to thrash / death / black metal old schoolers. They can add at least a half a star more to my rating, most likely. 

3,5 / 5

NADIWRATH: "Nihilistic Stench"

On their major debut Nihilistic Stench, Nadiwrath offer a vigour 50-minute piece of thrashing black metal with a very occasional touch of depression. Actually, just forget that part about depression for now, as Nihilistic Stench is first and foremost an aggressive output with upbeat power chord riffs, simple yet effective battering and high-pitched black metal screams. This all is packed into a tight, full production where all the instruments are nicely audible, including bass. The album is sound-wise very well done.

As can be deduced, the focus is on the old school ”fuck you” attitude reminiscent of Carpathian Forest’s later works, as such track titles as ”Two Face Shit Fuckers” and ”Another Pimping Whore” suggest. While the band is generally authentic and plays tightly, I can’t help feeling that all the cursing and daring of the vocalist Wrath is a bit overdone and, in turn, does not sound quite convincing and makes it sound tongue-in-cheek: especially in comparison to the more somber material on the album. Speaking of which, Nadiwrath sounds the best on the 10-minute ending track ”Memories Are Dead”, an impressive mid-tempo wandering that almost sounds like a different band. Of all the power chord assault tracks on the album, ”Horns” does it the best with the intimidating, repetitive riff towards the end.

Looking for some ass kicking, almost punky black metal with real energy? Then do yourself a favour and look into Nihilistic Stench, a decent record that is not entirely for my taste but certainly has its moments of splendour. This one might divide the listener base a bit, considering how radically the style changes on the last track, but I guess the old school thrashers know how to press stop when that track begins and enjoy the merciless killing that Nihilistic Stench otherwise delivers.

2,5 / 5

EVANGELIVM: "Nightside of Eden"

The final part of Hammer of Hate’s recent A.V.E. trilogy offers the label’s first foreign signing, namely Evangelivm hailing from Russia. Nightside of Eden is a mysterious, ominous and deeply (theistic) Satanic black metal album that kind of struggles due to the lack of any sparkling moments, but is in general an enjoyable listening experience.

Dissonant, distorted guitar picking melodies kick off the album in the very vein of Si Monumentum era Deathspell Omega and evidently this influence can be found from every corner of the album. Then comes in the drums, and... they are programmed. A shame. Luckily they sound pretty decent but almost in every case the precise and soulless knocking reduces the overall atmosphere and this album is no exception - I can only imagine how much more convincing these compositions would sound with a real drummer. During the second track ”The Void”, the mid-range, masculine screams are introduced, very reminiscent of the output of Thurios from Astrofaes, in fact. And when the fastest blast beats of the aforementioned track and i.e. ”Corpus Dei” appear, I can’t help feeling a vibe of Hate Forest emanating from this music as well.

It’s a pleasure to listen to the menacing journey through the six tracks that mostly wander in mid tempos and occasionally bursting into speeds. The heavy guitar sound and the nicely audible bass are a treat to my ears, but compositionally it’s hard to decipher any standout moments: Nightside of Eden is more like a hypnotizing half an hour that incorporates repetitive sinister melodies but not much can be remembered of it afterwards. If something must be named, it is the epic lead melodies on the intro ”Abyssus Abyssum Invocat In Voce Cataractarum Tuarum” that catch my interest the best everytime. Those who still haven’t got enough of the religious black metal phenomenom might find this album more enjoyable than yours truly does. A decent effort, but there are glitches to be fixed for a better rating. 

2,5 / 5

VALOTON: "Beastificate"

Valoton’s debut album stands as a fairly surprising addition to Hammer of Hate’s roster, considering Valoton’s somewhat modern and technical style in which they play black metal with hints of death metal thrown in too. Attacking with ultimate speed, yet not forgetting atmosphere and a good sense of melody, Beastificate turns out to be a good, richly textured piece of black metal, though it has its flaws too.

In the beginning, Beastificate is most notably fast, fast and fast. The sea of blast beats seems endless and the guitars fire their tremolos all the way through, but the music still has its catchiness, especially when the album ventures to the third track ”Jaws of Abaddon” that adds some interesting elements of melodic breakdowns into the relentless war. This variation is further explored in the belligerent rhythms of ”Avatar” and most clearly in the grande finale ”Reborn in Flames” which incorporates some sweet, epic female singing - a definite highlight moment on the album. The crispy, tight production fits the professionally played instruments very well.

The minus points go to Beastificate’s unsurprising nature. A lot of good ideas have been implemented into the eight assaults plus interlude, but only rarely does the album show Valoton’s own identity which is still somewhat unclear to me even after numerous spins. Ultimately, Valoton stays in rather safe grounds of its musical influences and doesn’t dare to go much further. This is just a generalization of the album though, as there are certain moments that I simply love, but at times it’s hard to say what’s the difference between Beastificate and some other modern deathened black metal record. All the nagging now aside, this is definitely a well done debut album with great musicianship, and recommended to those who don’t mind professional and modern aspects in black metal. 

 

3 / 5

ANGUISHED: "Cold"

Female vocals in black metal - is this some symphonic, polished gothic black metal? No, quite the opposite this time, because Anguished’s debut album ”Cold” offers some piercingly freezing underground black metal with some of the most abhorrent and tortured vocal screeches that I’ve had the pleasure to listen to, and yes, this is a positive thing, and the disgusting howls are coming out of a woman who also handles all the instruments - except the drums that are battered by a session member - on this album.

Musically, Anguished seems to revolve around two somewhat different but definitely connected areas: while songs like ”These Gray Days” attack with relentless old school power, such tracks as the 8-minute ”September Nights” and ”The Last Trip” lean more clearly to sorrowful, depressive melodies and atmospheres. The spine-chilling, malicious invocations of ”Come to Me Satan” could be said to be somewhere between the two approaches, belonging to the record’s standout moments.

The album lives up to its name, and most certainly so when it comes to the utterly raw production, perhaps headache-inducing to some. The bass guitar does exist here but the freezing guitar sound is much more dominating, as are the slashing cymbals and the pounding snare drum - not to even mention again the inhumane vocals spewing out Satanic and suicidal lyrics. Mercy is not given until the final track, introducing ’normal’ chanting female vocals above the clean guitar sound - though a little surprise does happen at the very last seconds.

Hands down, ”Cold” belongs to the most surprising debuts of this year, and not only because of the unique vocal delivery, but also due to the qualified compositions that make the album a coherent whole: none of the tracks seem out of place. Only two tracks - ”Tired” and ”Verivala” - fail to rise to the level of the others but we aren't still talking about any bad material at all. Those who can digest such a raw production and enjoy Arkha Sva / old Cradle of Filth esque vocals, don’t hesitate to check this out. 

4 / 5

HAGL: "Nearer to Victory"

Nearer to Victory, being Hagl’s debut that was already recorded five years ago and not until now seeing the light of the day via Casus Belli Musica, provides some authentic and epic black metal - with occasional flirts with thrash riffage - in the form of a 25-minute whole that most certainly keeps the listener’s attention throughout.

Musically, there’s surprisingly many ideas packed into this short record, and Hagl, still being a 2-piece band at that time, executes them with frenetic energy. It is not until the fourth song ”Pure Crystal of Cognition” when the pace slows down to a Bilskirnir esque atmospheric wandering with hints of melancholy - otherwise the tempo is kept at a higher level and this is very fine considering the short running time that allows Hagl to be as fierce as it wants with no proper breaks. ”Hail, Father Lucifer!” provides some very sweet, epic riffs and an interesting breakdown, hence belonging to the standout moments on the album.

My main complaint goes to the sound department: the compositions could work better if they had a thicker production behind them, especially the drums that are a bit too airy sounding. Also, the singer’s screams, high-pitched in the rather usual black metal standard, have a distortion effect on them which makes it sound inconveniently unnatural. It is to be remembered, though, that we are in fact dealing with a 5-year-old record and samples from the upcoming album tell that the glitches that are still present on this album have been fixed.

Nonetheless, Nearer to Victory is a worthy investment for those who like to hear some sonorous melodies in their black metal and are not looking for anything excessively new - though Hagl does seem to have their own sound going on, that’s for sure. This one makes my expectations towards the second album pretty high. 

3 / 5

YAV': "By the Freedom's Echo"

Yav’s debut album By the Freedom’s Echo didn’t convince me in the beginning, but multiple listenings - which is something that I fortunately do with every album I review - made me find the band’s own identity and realize that the album is a rather good take on heathen folk / black metal, not a mere copy of others, even if the influence of other similar Eastern European acts is still very clear.

Technically, the album is very well done. The interplay between rhythm and lead guitars works like a charm and all in all, the whole ”By the Freedom’s Echo” is executed with fairly precise professionalism: the drums are handled very tightly - even the fastest bursts of double kicks - and basically the compositions just flow because the album sounds like its creators weren’t hindered by any lack of musicianship. Production deserves a mention too: it verges on something fairly polished yet still retaining an enough raw touch (though I wouldn’t mind if it was a bit rougher) so the album is easy to enjoy.

Yav’ is often labelled as symphonic and this is indeed true, so that some might be put off due to the very melodic nature of By the Freedom’s Echo, but usually the synths are mixed relatively low. It is only the occasional fast keyboard melodies, similar to Goatmoon’s ”Alone”, that really rise distinctly to the listener’s ears. Otherwise, guitars - as well as flutes - are in more prominent role in Yav’s both uplifting and wistful melodies.

Tracks like ”Патриот / Patriot” and ”Пробуждение / Awakenings” are of high quality and the rest of the album doesn’t come far behind. I’m not the biggest fan of cover songs and this album provides two of them, but I’m unfamiliar with the original versions and these covers fit well to Yav’s style, so I’ve got no problem with them; quite the opposite, as the Kolovrat cover ”Знак судьбы / Symbol of Fate” is another highlight of the album, in fact. By the Freedom’s Echo might not be the most original release in this field, but surely recommendable for those who are generally interested in heathen folk metal and black metal from Eastern Europe. 

3 / 5

VITER: "Dzherelo"

There is no question of Viterzgir’s musical and compositional abilities, knowing his background in such acts as Kroda and Dragobrath, so it is unsurprising how well Viter’s debut EP Dzherelo takes the listener to the beautiful landscapes of Ukrainian forests and mountains. Melting together traditional instruments, folk metal and black metal, Viter’s sound is undoubtedly close to Negură Bunget and, especially in the masculine clean vocal department, Temnozor.

Consisting of just four tracks, it does not hurt to give a little track-by-track description of Dzherelo: starting with the title track, Viter introduces the mysterious atmosphere with the deliberate use of traditional instruments and Walknut esque melancholic black metal tremolo fire. ”Krov Tikae” is closer to the grandiose folk metal of Temnozor where flutes handle the goose bumps inducing, recurring melodies. Also to be noted is the emotional vocal output of Viterzgir - even if I don’t understand a word, I can hear the passion. ”Sny Hmar” works as an interlude of numerous different traditional instruments, far from some simple and cheap one-note synth fillers. This song ends to the surprisingly happily starting ”Vydrizh”, melodies somewhat reminiscent of Nokturnal Mortum’s later works, occasionally bursting into a beautiful sea of blastbeat filled black metal melancholy.

The amount of interesting ideas that Dzherelo presents is mesmerizing, and this applies to all departments: emotional vocal delivery, the professional and natural production that gives space to all the instruments, the carefully crafted balance between metal and traditional music, and... I could go on and on. If you are into the bands that I’ve mentioned throughout this review, make sure you look into this EP. Even if not playing anything extremely original, Viter manages to make it sound nearly perfect. Only time will tell if this is worth of even a higher score. 

4.5 / 5

TODTGELICHTER: "Angst"

It’s not a rare thing to see black metal bands evolving into more avantgarde and progressive directions and while some fail miserably at it, some, like Todtgelichter here on their third album Angst, succeed in creating an interesting album of emotional yet intense black metal with progressive tendencies, or perhaps prog with black metal tendencies - either way, Angst proves that the well of this kind of genre fusions has certainly not run dry yet in 2010.

It doesn’t take many seconds into the first track to realize that there’s a lot of work put into making this album: multiple layers bring interesting melodies and there’s a lot of diversity going on, from the sudden yet carefully placed female vocals after male screams to the most aggressive bursts of energy. ”Oblivion” is at times close to the grandiose landscapes of Disillusion’s ”Back to Times of Splendor”, while the shorter ”Phobos & Deimos” attacks with furious blasts, and ”Allmählich” slowly closes the 55-minute album with post-rock esque organs and clean guitar sound. Sounds like pretentious fluctuation between genres? Not really, the album flows naturally and nothing seems out of place, and there’s not much instrumental wankery to be found here; just pure emotions in a breathing, atmospheric production. Being a long album with diverse textures, it surely takes multiple listens to find all the nuances that are in the depths of this record.

To cut this praise for a while and to focus on some downsides: Angst isn’t still a perfect record after all, even if quite impressive. Tracks ”Subway” and ”Moloch” drag on maybe a bit too long and have somewhat unnecessarily technical riffage to my taste, albeit the former does have a sweet chorus and the latter builds up nicely towards the end. Otherwise I’m not sure do I find any crucial flaws here. Any certain highlight tracks are hard to mention because at worst the album is still decent, but the cleanly sung passages towards the end of ”Café of Lost Dreams” always stand out as the most innovative ideas of the album when I spin this record. Angst has convinced me pretty well and most certainly deserves a favorable score. 

3.5 / 5