PROSANCTUS INFERI: "Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation"

When a Black Funeral guitarist forms another group, I would have expect something piercincly cold industrial black metal again, but that is quite far from the truth in the case of Prosanctus Inferi that delivers some utterly disgusting death metal on their major debut Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation.

All the thirteen songs are brief, resulting in a less than 26-minute whole, and musically they are utterly disgusting and chaotic, swift pieces of all that is rotten and abominant. The songs seem very incoherent as the drums blast the hell out of everything all the way through and guitars deliver insane lines of discordance that is very hard to grab on. Listening to Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitations throughout is like a dive into a whirlwind in which one loses all control of himself and sucks up everything that this morbid creature compels.

A careful and devoted listener might eventually find Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitations enough catchy, but for a regular listener this will be that very whirlwind. But does that matter in the end? I’d guess that’s one of the points of the album: a totally fucked up feast on crumbling menace that lives for the spirit rather than compositional values.

In spite of the music’s chaotic nature, the production deserves a favorable mention. It’s natural and, in a way, warm, so that although the actual music might be a total mess at times, every second of the album is still pleasure to the ears. Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitations does not blow my mind with ingenuity but is still a worthwile effort to check out of ugly and bestial death / black metal bands appeal to you - basically meaning all kinds of bands that American labels Nuclear War Now! and Hells Headbangers usually convey.

2.5 / 5

WALK THROUGH FIRE: "Furthest from Heaven"

The label Aesthetic Death has been churning out some quality doom metal lately, and Walk Through Fire is another addition to their roster, now delivering fourty minutes of painful, slow sludge / doom metal with some post-metal influences on their second full-length Furthest from Heaven.

Considering the album's title, the aura is fittingly desperate. The self-titled ”Furthest from Heaven” creeps up slowly, starting with slightly atonal and distortionless chords and then building up to the slow metal which consists of just a couple of beats and riffs. ”Through Me They Bleed” continues this with even better ideas in the riff department, as the predecessor may stagnate a little too much during its 12-minute static repetition.

”The Dying Sun” is an interlude of droning synth mats, nothing out of the ordinary really, but an apt moment of peace until ”The Dead Sun”, the true monolith of Furthest from Heaven kicks in. It is chaos meeting desperation in this partially faster song, and here the band has managed to create their most consistent composition in which the unchanging nature of the style bothers the least. The mid-range growls deliver the minimalist lines convincingly, and the riffs capture the emotions the best.

Furthest from Heaven does not really hit any special spots in me. Most of its material is definitely not goose bumps inducing nor totally memorable. But the fact is that the songs are decent at worst and there’s no moments of irritation on any corner of the album - it flows nicely throughout and luckily realizes to stop after the fourth song so that it hasn’t been prolonged to unnecessary extents. I have seen Neurosis and Isis mentioned in regard to this album and I agree that fans of those bands might enjoy what’s on the bleak landscapes of Furthest from Heaven.

2.5 / 5

DRÜNKEN BASTARDS: "Horns of the Wasted"

From the band name to the album title, one might guess the deal right here. Yes, you guessed right: alcohol influenced punky and blackened thrash metal, no more or no less. Not your thing? Proceed no further. Drünken Bastards' second full-length Horns of the Wasted delivers seven tracks and nineteen minutes of d-beats, simple power chord hell, some thrash and speed metal guitar licks and an overall spirit of a bunch of drunk friends having fun worshipping the likes of Barbatos, Abigail and Motörhead.

The actual music, then, certainly doesn’t revel in novel ideas, as can be deduced. There’s very little material on Horns of the Wasted that truly grabs my attention: one of the few might be ”Destroy the Factory (Eat My Fuk)” with its catchy chorus and there are occasional solos dropped in some corners of the album that are quite well delivered metal-to-the-bone twirlings - these raise their heads nicely from the mass of rather generic thrash bludgeoning.

One word of warning if you’re planning to invest in Horns of the Wasted and already have rest of Drünken Bastards’ back catalogue: this album contains no new tracks! They have all appeared previously on either their 2007 debut Posercrusher or on some of their three splits, but at least these are new recordings of them, of course.

Recommending Horns of the Wasted to anyone else than likers of the bands mentioned in the first paragraph is hard, because the mindset of a slightly tongue-in-check release like this will certainly not appeal to those who require a tad more seroiusness from their metal. I am able to see the appeal of some of the ideas here and the sharp production does fit the band well, but I can’t say I would see myself returning to Horns of the Wasted that often - not only because its style doesn’t meet with my usual taste, but because this has been done so many times in the past already - and with better success.

2 / 5

PROFANATICA: "Disgusting Blasphemies Against God"

Although Profanatica has a long history dating back to the very early 90s, the band’s second full-length Disgusting Blasphemies Against God is my introduction to the their music, and a very sweet one it is. The deal here is rather simple: morbid, rotten death / black metal that mocks every possible aspect of Christianity.

Covered in a layer of cavernous bass guitar - which works as the driving force of the record in all its overpowering - the compositions on Disgusting Blasphemies Against God differ little from each other. At times the tempo might be a tad slower and doomier while at times it’s sheer blast beat crushing all the way through, and a song like ”Covered in Black Shit” incorporates some doom bell samples; similar little special features can be spotted from many corners of the album, but they are nothing major. The low-end frequency atmosphere that dominates on the record is probably the best feature of the album whereas the songs themselves might lack all originality. When this muddy menace is combined to the harsh, deathly screams, the result is pretty damn working.

In the end, it’s up to the listener if he’s up for a feast on primitive and uncompromising blasphemy and whether the mere overall sound and atmosphere is enough for enjoyment. I personally really like the filthiness here, and such dominance of crumbling bass guitar isn’t something you hear on many records. Disgusting Blasphemies Against God might not lure for repeated listens on a regular basis, but every now and then this morbidity does invite. I might not have dwelled in a plethora of depictions and details here as I review this title but I think that everything necessary has been said, and everyone knows by now whether these 'disgusting blasphemies against god’ will appeal to him.

3 / 5

INQUISITION: "Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult"

The more time passes by, the more I realize how many bands I have somehow managed to totally miss, bands that have been even essential and foundative in black metal. Inquisition could be mentioned as one of the most important black metal groups from the Americas, so being a newbie to their 1998 major debut Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult until some days ago was admittedly shameful.

Now that I’ve discovered this gem of nineties’ USBM, I am not only happy because I finally know what’s all the fuzz about, but because the actual material here is brilliant. Inquisition seems to have their own thing going on right on their first full-length, which basically means crushing, almost death metalish riffing that meets hazy, dream-like, atmospheric, melancholic chord pluckings. So while the first part of some certain riff kicks ass with pure power, the latter part of that riff suddenly turns into wistful, tear-evoking mysteriousness. These riffs are often repeated a lot and often even without vocals, an evident example being the 9-minute ”Summoned by Ancient Wizards Under a Black Moon” that has a long instrumental section towards its end.

This massive 66-minute whole is based on this definite element in the guitar department, though there are some interesting deviations from the paradigm, like the folkish, lively tunes that appear a couple of times on ”The Initiation”. For one straight listen, Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult might be too much to handle, resulting in boredom due to the quite unchanging nature of the compositions, but when savored in a little smaller portions, the music’s ingenuity starts to shine and I can not name one weak track of any of the ten.

By now I’ve already gotten to the fourth paragraph and there’s still been no mention of the vocals that have been the dividing point between the band’s lovers and haters, and ultimately the most distinctive feature of Inquisition. While some find Dagon’s vocal delivery just laughable, I think the almost robotic, frog-like faint snarling works well in these magical pieces of black metal that predominantly concentrate more on atmosphere than the attitude of who’s the heaviest and sickest sounding throat killer of all.

The production deserves a mention too as, in fact, it’s another big plus in the album’s book. It’s warm and detailed yet has just enough sharpness for the power chord riffage and enough smoothness for the melancholic pluckings. Also, drums are recorded with more than just one microphone so that they have a nice amount of detail present, and no complaints either for the bass guitar that together with drums form the well working rhythmic basis of Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult. 

It might be that at the moment I’m just in a mood of utter Inquisition hype and by next week the album doesn’t sound that special anymore, but right now I’m willing to go as far as handing almost a full score to the record. I’m always hesitant to give this high points for a newly found album, but what the heck, Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult seems like an endurable album that I’ll be listening to in years to come. The right amount of originality in this sort of underground black metal and the terrific atmosphere makes this piece one of my favourites of late.

4.5 / 5

BLACK CRUCIFIXION: "Hope of Retaliation"

A few weeks ago, Black Crucifixion’s music was still an unexplored territory for me, from the earliest and ugliest black metal recordings to Hope of Retaliation, their newest offering after a long silence. While The Fallen One of Flames / Satanic Zeitgeist taught me a lesson on primitive, early Finnish black metal, the cover art that adorns Hope of Retaliation does confuse. Is this some poppy industrial metal, or what exactly?

Not at all, though we’re clearly dealing with a record that doesn’t exactly try to avoid mainstream popularity as the polished, crystal clear production and chorus-based progression of the first track ”Retaliation” nod towards a general metal audience instead of any underground black metal cultism. Hope of Retaliation brings to the game four new songs (of which one is a brief interlude) and five live tracks, so calling this album a brand new full-length seems a little off.

Musically, we’re not entirely away from the band’s earlier material as the whispery, Beherit esque vocals imply. A bunch of blast beats can be spotted from here as well, though for the most part the pace is kept a quite slow levels, and the guitars comprise a lot more melody than before. Thus said, a more proper genre tag for Hope of Retaliation would be dark metal, I guess. The most I’m impressed of the 9-minute ”Bitten by the Long Frosts of Life” that wanders in both brooding and epic landscapes to a great success, and the weakest link of the new songs is definitely ”Night Birds Sing Your Demise” which is a short, droning interlude that doesn’t bring much to the table, except irritation by the fact that it takes one slot of the very few new songs on the album.

The second half of the disc, consisting solely of live tracks, showcases material from the whole career of Black Crucifixion: ”Master Spirit” from The Fallen One of Flames, ”Promethean Gift” and ”Serpent of Your Holy Garden” from Promethean Gift, and ”Where Will You Hide” and ”Winterkill” from Faustian Dream. While on the actual records one can notice the band’s clear evolution from simple black metal to more experimental approach, here the songs fit seamlessly together, forming a good 18-minute whole of its own. Heck, in a way these songs fit together with Hope of Retaliation’s new material as well, so from that perspective you could call this a proper full-length album.

I can’t say that Hope of Retaliation is hundred percent my thing. The dark metalish approach does work and the live takes are solid pieces, but then what? The material isn’t anything out of the ordinary, as the first side of the album is quite basic metal of nowadays and live songs don’t offer much pleasure to anyone but the hardcore fans of the band and those who are new to the band and hence get a compact view into the band’s whole career. These things added to the cover art that I really do not dig makes a record worth of a moderate, goodish score. Would be lovely to hear a true full-length next time, but knowing how slowly Black Crucifixion crafts material, it might take a while.

2.5 / 5

KRATER: "Nocebo"

On Nocebo, Krater’s second full-length, this German horde offers little surprises in its relatively fast black metal that balances between aggressive and melodic approaches. The style is nothing new, especially for a German group, and for the most part Nocebo seems way too familiar, but there are bits and pieces within this 45-minute piece that shine with greatness, making the album a worthwile listen all in all.

At first, Nocebo attacks harshly with blast beats and violent tremolo riffage not unlike Marduk. This is what ”Parasit” and the follow-up ”Ebrietas - Crush the Equilibrium” mostly offer, and while it sounds convincing all in all, there’s a clear lack of memorable songwriting in those songs. The album’s brilliance resides in its middle where the two simply titled songs, ”Aura” and ”-”, appear. While the former is still a fast bleast beat manifest, it incorporates subtle melancholy into the harshness and it works very well. The latter, then, is the true highlight of the album with its grandiose, heart-rending lead melody pattern carried throughout the song. When these songs end, Nocebo returns to the less memorable pummeling of fierce black metal, though ”Zerissen” is still worth mentioning in all its 12-minute length that features some nice atmospheric elements, the last five minutes of it being solely strings & choral.

As can be implied, Nocebo is at times pure pleasure, but too commonly it turns into not-that-interesting tremolo firing and blast beating that has been heard on a plethora of black metal records in the past. Production-wise, the album isn’t either raw nor polished, rather balancing somewhere between, which is good so that it isn’t too lo-fi for high volume speaker use, nor too clean to drive away potential black metal listeners. Consider Nocebo an overall good record that is partially in need of more memorable songs.

3 / 5

AZARATH: "Blasphemers' Maledictions"

When I think of the contemporary Polish metal scene, I’m instantly reminded of a myriad of extreme and rather polished blackened death metal groups, so Azarath’s approach on their fifth album Blasphemers’ Maledictions did not took me by surprise. When I say polished, I do not mean the music here is soft and sweet, not at all, as Blasphemers’ Maledictions is one of the most violent and aggressive death metal records I’ve heard lately.

The constant violence - which basically means a lot of blast beats and tremolo-picked riffing in ultimate tempos - turns out to be the album’s downside as well. While the pummeling does convince and one can notice the rising throbbing of his heart as soon as ”Supreme Reign of Tiamat” kicks in with its suffocating war, 45 minutes of it is a tad too long time, and towards the end the listener is more likely just exhausted and no longer impressed. The band does include some melodic, almost epic solos in their music, like on ”Firebreath of Blasphemy and Scorn” and ”Under the Will of the Lord” which is very welcome. More than just a couple of spins are recommended to be given to this album before any final judgements, as the chaotic compositions seem to become more catchy on every go.

What comes to the album’s musicianship, well, everything is top-notch as can be expected. Precise, strong drumming, tight and sharp guitar lines and good vocal delivery that ranges between higher pitches and lower growls. You may know what I usually think of this carefully executed music, but in this case the band is enough heavy and crushing so that the unsurprising nature of the music does not matter. I’d consider Blasphemers’ Maledictions among the better blackened death metal records of recent times, and it is definitely recommended to the proper fans of the style - I’m certain this will appeal to those.

3 / 5

BLACK CRUCIFIXION: "The Fallen One of Flames / Satanic Zeitgeist"

While Beherit’s early recordings became total cult items and the band has been praised incessantly to this very date, their brother band Black Crucifixion, hailing from the very same circles in northern Finland, never garnered the same amount of attention. The Fallen One of Flames is, nonetheless, an essential piece of the country’s black metal history along with the originators - namely Beherit and Impaled Nazarene - and on this recent re-release, the demo comes together with the live recording Satanic Zeitgeist that was recorded at the legendary Day of Darkness festival a year before The Fallen One of Flames’ release.

The Fallen One of Flames comprises five tracks of which three are actual black metal, starting with ”Flowing Downwards”, a lengthy feast on mid-paced, simple riffs reminiscent of Samael with subtle synths in the background. ”Master Spirit” is a faster, blast-filled piece and hence more clearly in the vein of Beherit, also due to the whispery vocals. ”Goddess of Doom” was originally a bonus track on the first 50 copies of the tape, but luckily it is included here as well as it is as strong song of muddy, evil black metal in a fitting, dirty soundscape.

For me, the best part of the CD is actually the live recording Satanic Zeitgeist. I’ve heard some criticism about the sound production here, but I can not fathom that: this sounds brilliant! I’d go as far as saying that it sounds better than the demo due to the sharper and tighter sound in which these swift songs work very well. As implied, the compositions are simple here as well and they profit from being enough short. ”Black Crucifixion” and ”Satanic Zeitgeist” are pretty damn great songs of utter morbidity and all that is possibly evil, most perfectly apparent when the blast beats get high in tempo and the vocalist does maniacal, high-pitched screams that bury everything else in the background. Needless to say, Venom and Sarcófago covers fit like a fist to the face to the slew of tracks here, and I’m especially fond of the latter, ”Nightmare”.

If you’re to explore what the history of Finnish black metal has to offer in its very first years, The Fallen One of Flames / The Satanic Zeitgeist is a logical purchase among the obvious ones. It convinces with its deep dark atmosphere and knows to crush with riffs. A worthwile re-release undoubtedly, and wholeheartedly recommended.

4 / 5

FALLS OF RAUROS: "The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood"

The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood belongs to the many albums of contemporary black metal on which nature and atmosphere are in the main focus, and where influences are gathered from a wider spectrum that just the usual Burzums, meaning that one may find big doses of experimental song progressions and professional musicianship instead of purely primitive hammering into a scruffy four-track. Black/folk metal names like Shroud of Despondency, Wolves in the Throne Room, Agalloch, Fen, Wodensthrone, October Falls and Alcest are easy to drop in regard to Falls of Rauros’ third full-length that is very similar in spirit and overall aesthetics.

That said, one can spot the post-rock qualities right in the beginning of the album as ”Earth’s Old Timid Grave” kicks in with richly detailed acoustic guitars, developing heavier with the inclusion of reverberating, Red Sparowes esque electric guitars. ”Banished” and ”Awaiting the Fire of Flood That Awakes It” are responsible for the most of the album’s metal, running for almost 25 minutes together, providing relatively ’complex’ and versatile compositions yet never forgetting the importance of emotion and natural flow. On the latter of the two, I can’t help but to compare its lead melody pattern to Disillusion’s Back to Times of Splendor. ”Nonesuch River Chant” is a brief acoustic interlude after which ”Silence” begins, the last metal piece of the album, and it’s as well done as the previous ones. Fittingly, ”The Cormorants Shiver on Their Rocks” concludes the album in grandiose melodies that comprise e.g. pianos and chanting male vocals in the background.

Undoubtedly, The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood wasn’t an easy record to concieve as it sounds so very well done in all aspects, including the natural yet rich production. The riffs are all full of emotion, not to forget the convincingly delivered screams. The record’s only proper fault resides in its unsurprising style that ultimately brings nothing new to the table. Everything is epic as hell and so be it, it works after all, but I’m left with a feeling of wanting to hear something more daring and original from an album that ends up being very close to its influences. If you haven’t got enough of albums in this vein, please do check out The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood because it is indeed very well done. Those who are already replete with their The Malediction Fields and Diadem of 12 Stars might not spot anything outstandingly refreshing here.

3.5 / 5

BALANCE INTERRUPTION: "Era II: Deserts of Ashes"

The recent release batch from the Finnish black metal label Hammer of Hate derivated a bit from their common routine. While the new Sacrilegious Impalement was of course a logical release, Desolate Shrine offered old school death metal, and Balance Interruption here provides their second industrial black metal full-length entitled Era II: Deserts of Ashes. Like Evangelvm's debut from last year, Balance Interruption hails from Eastern Europe, another rather new area in the label's history after the focus on Finnish bands.

Now, to the meat. Era II: Deserts of Ashes will not appeal to the fans of the most old school of metals. This album is a machinery where drums are executed with ultimate precision in a polished soundscape while guitars provide either harsher approach amidst blasting or somewhat slower discordant menace. Vocals are quite general screaming and growling though at times it turns into a robot-like voice. The band's instrumentation is handled very well so that there's definitely no question of their professional musicianship, hence the modern black metal here crushes and convinces.

What then comes to the industrial elements, well, it's very much up to the listener, and I'd consider myself among those who really don't like it. Industrial can be done greatly within the borders of black metal but too often I can not take some techno beats seriously amidst the metal, and I'm getting similar feelings of embarrassment when the circus of the beginning of "Chaos Reign" begins. Luckily, Balance Interruption keeps the industrial elements in minor role for the most part so that the album is overall an enjoyable ride throughout.

Combining the not-that-awesome industrial with the compositional work that doesn't exactly shine with innovation nor uniqueness, Era II: Deserts of Ashes isn't what I prefer to listen to, but I've heard a lot worse efforts in the field as well. Plus, the band knows when to stop as the album runs for a fitting length of 37 minutes, never really boring the listener on the go. If you have a little softer spot for industrial in your metal, you may add a star or more to my rating.

2.5 / 5

BLACKMOON WARRIOR 88: "W.P.G."

 

In spite of keeping rather low profile and limiting releases to less than 100 copies, Blackmoon Warrior 88 has received an unimaginable amount of criticism on various message boards, but after giving W.P.G. an honest listen, I do not understand the incessant flaming. At all. Except, well, the little thing that this is deeply National Socialistic material. I’m no nazi, but I will not deny the music’s brilliance here.

As far as I’m aware, Blackmoon Warrior - the person behind this project - is also responsible for the noise project Pogromnacht, and the noise elements are very evident here in the beginning of W.P.G. (White Power Gang), as the first minutes of the tape consist of low-end rumbling noise that seems to have sounds of war behind it, but then again, I am not sure if it’s a real sample or just skillfully generated sounds.

After that kicks in the black metal that is on the verge of noise as well, much thanks to the brilliant guitar sound that must be one of the most violent of guitar tones I’ve heard to this date. It’s screeching, ringing, damn distorted, and when these simple, menacing riffs are played with that sound, the result is magnificent. Drums are somewhere in the background an apparently programmed, but it doesn’t matter a thing as it’s done tastefully. Vocals are a little buried as well, so those afraid of nazi propaganda can give this a spin without a clear exposure to the tabu.

The tape lasts for about ten minutes and, unlike websites like Metal Archives imply, it consists of just one long track, or two if you wan’t to exclude the noise intro to its own track. The four song names circulating around the net are actually the four first lines of lyrics of W.P.G. Definitely a recommended piece of NSBM that endures repeated listens, and I’m more than eager to see what this project offers on all its other releases.

4 / 5

MONS VENERIS: "Vastlands of My Decayed Realm"

Although Portuguese raw black metal scene has appealed to me a long time already, for some unknown reason it wasn’t until recently that I exposured myself to Mons Veneris, one of the most important acts in the country’s underground, and also part of the Black Circle Propaganda along with Vetala and Irae. Vastlands of My Decayed Realm is thus the first piece of Mons Veneris I’ve heard, and most certainly I am not let down. In fact, this tape seems to surpass many other releases from this circle of bands.

The key to Vastlands of My Decayed Realm’s success is that it knows how to craft utterly noisy and sick lo-fi black metal but with sufficient amount of musicianship. I don’t mean that you have to be a master of your instrument when you play this kind of filthiness, but compared to acts like Astaroth or Decrepitude, Mons Veneris actually keeps these songs nicely together, evident right after the introductory ”The Cremation of Light” (a true feast on screeching and random guitar noise) on ”Vastlands of My Decayed Realm” that has a really grabbing guitar riff into it along with steady drum beats. ”Darkmoon of the Vampire” returns to the maniacal kind-of-noise of the intro, meaning a low-end guitar (bass?) pattern being repeated in front of some inhuman voices.

”Cursed and Tormented for All Eternity”, then again, gets back to the black metal, but fuck how insane this piece goes as well towards its end. The drum beats remain there, but both guitars on left and right channels turn into an utter mess of high-pitched notes on the fretboard. After this, ”Return to Chaos and Void” seems almost calmful with its howling, mysterious and less distorted guitars, but in reality we’re dealing with another well crafted piece of filth, concluding the demo tape that definitely leaves a positive aftertaste. I would go as far as saying that Vastlands of My Decayed Realm belongs to my favourite Portuguese releases at the moment, and I’ll make sure to keep track of this band’s output from now on.

4 / 5

AMNIS NIHILI: "Christological Escalation"

The label Avantgarde Music has expanded from the territories of experimental black metal to various prog / doom fields lately, so seeing a harsh black metal attack like Amnis Nihili’s Christological Escalation being released through the label brings a smile on my face.

Not that we’re dealing with an uncompromising, straightforwardly Satanic underground black metal release, but Christologiical Escalation’s filthy sound does surprise me. These four rapid songs don’t have much bass behind them and this is the biggest reason behind the harsh nature of the EP. The guitars are piercing, dead cold, and so are the incredibly fast drums of which cymbals are a whiplash to the listener’s ears. Nothing to complain about the high-pitched vocal delivery either that goes somewhere in the lines of Neige of e.g. Peste Noire and Alcest fame.

Via the use of fast speeds on which discordant riffage appears, Amnis Nihili creates a trance-like, hypnotizing atmosphere that works to a great extent. Individual songs don’t much rise to attention from these 17 minutes, but as a whole, Christological Escalation sounds good and succeeds at what it’s doing: cold, harsh, fast black metal with ambient undertones. Sometimes the riffing reminds me of Deathspell Omega’s convulsion while at times it turns into a sea of tremolo-picked, harmonous and almost droney ambiance à la Altar of Plagues. An interesting release overall that might not deserve its place in my top 10 of the year, but does lure for replay.

3 / 5

MORDHELL: "Suffer in Hell"

Combining black metal with punk / rocking elements is something I’ve grown fond of lately, but such acts have mostly resided in the most filthiest undergrounds on scruffy tape demos. What comes to bands like late Carpathian Forest, Nadiwrath or Mordhell right here, now they’re the kind of punkish black metal bands that seem to try too hard to sound evil, alcoholic, sick and basically anti-everything.

That said, there’s no way of not reading song titles like ”You Are My Fucking Pornostar!!!!” or ”Alcoholic Titfuckblast”  tongue in cheek, and this already reduces the music’s effect on me. Call me too serious or something, but I do require something more from my music than mere ’let’s drink, be evil and hate everything’ which makes also Mordhell’s second album, Suffer in Hell, a hard bite to swallow.

By now, one can probably guess the band’s musical influences. Darkthrone shines through in all departments, but the most I’m reminded of Craft, not only by the instruments but also by the very similar screaming style. Just think of a less-grooving, more straightforward Craft with lame song titles, and there’s Suffer in Hell for you: 13 rather short bursts of simple beats and power chord riffs. The band handles their instruments smoothly and I’m also digging the semi-warm production. There’s surely a fanbase for this kind of black metal, so fans of the bands mentioned in the first paragraph can't go wrong by checking out Suffer in Hell. I personally prefer to just skip these.

2 / 5

NOMAD: "Transmigration of Consciousness"

A fast glance at the intricate artwork adorning the cover of Nomad’s Transmigration of Consciousness already reveals that the band does not fall to the most common sub categories of death metal. Not that they are mindblowingly experimental or anything here, but the focus seems to be more on the atmosphere and the flowing of tracks rather than punching death metal.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a heavy load of death metal murkiness right here that grooves and crushes not unlike Gojira, and there’s also faster blast beat bursts of energy more reminiscent of black metal as also the screams go a tad higher during those sections. But the underlying motif of Transmigration of Consciousness seems to be the ambiance, becoming evident when taking a look at the tracklist alone in which brief ambient tracks precede every single metal track. While one might think that some ambient crap is mood-killing among all the blasting, I think they belong very well to the whole, and all the songs flow seamlessly together.

On paper, the concept of highly atmospheric and rather melodic (expect a nice slew of solos) death metal sounds fantastic and also in practice Transmigration of Consciousness succeeds for the most part. Hate me or not but I still think there’s a lack of truly brilliant songs: the album sounds massive and authentic yet there’s still something lacking in the composition department that would deliver the goose bumps. All around, I enjoy Transmigration of Consciousness, but the riffs simply aren’t anything out of the ordinary to lure me for repeated listens.

2.5 / 5

WOLFHEAD: "Wolfhead"

It hasn’t been but a few weeks when I reviewed Earthride’s Something Wicked, and here’s another stoner / doom metal outfit and their fresh album, again released through Doomentia Records. While Earthride focused on muddy and groovy tones, Wolfhead breathes more, giving more room for longer compositions in which a lot of different influences get mixed together.

First and foremost, Wolfhead is old school to the bone, and it doesn’t necessarily take anything else than to hear the scruffy and rather lo-fi production of the album to realize this. And when I say that different influences flourish here, I do not lie: while the basis of the music retains in Black Sabbath esque doom metal, ”Cul de Sac” is a straightforward Motörhead track and the massive 8-minute ”Sons of Asgard” reeks of latter era Bathory. Not to forget a slight taste of Darkthroneish black metal on the album as well, nor the bookend "Wish You Were Here", a loyal Pink Floyd cover sounding very close to the original. After hearing the whole album, these sentences in the promo text make sense: ”...it’s the exact opposite of Graveyard that stands for a specific sound. For Wolfhead, whatever sounds cool to our ears will make it, let it be keyboards, harmonized vocals, strange instruments or even harmonica!”

Wolfhead sounds nocturnal all the way through, mostly thanks to the deep dark ritualistic trances of ”Journey by the Shaman's Hand” and the self-titled track, not to underestimate the importance of the cover art either. This combined to the well done material and a good sound production makes Wolfhead another successful Doomentia release, and this one is undoubtedly going to receive spins from me along with the other new album from the very same label. Old school doom metal and stoner fans, make sure not to miss this one.

3.5 / 5

WACKHANALIJA: "In the Hope of Your Death"

With four full-lengths over the course of ten years, one could expect a tad more popularity from a group like Wackhanalija hailing from Belarus, but to this date the band has remained in almost total obscurity. It has been five years since the last offering, though In the Hope of Your Death, this massive 51-minute album of atmospheric and melodic black metal, was already recorded back in 2006.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the band’s non-existent recognizability is due to the music’s low quality, but I can still see that Wackhanalija isn’t inventing anything new here, and when it’s combined to a rather sloppy, polished production where programmed drums are somewhat annoying, the result isn’t really charming. But, without a doubt, there are great ideas presented throughout the album during which the band both accelerates in speed and aggressiveness and also knows how to slow things down to Burzum esque, moody atmospheres.

There’s also a constant undertone of medieval ambiance, mostly thanks to the fine use of synth / midi sounds reminiscent of - once again - Burzum’s prison cell albums. This is apparent on tracks like ”In Embraces of the Black Wood" (probably the highlight of the album) and though they are not concretically present on every song, they somehow intertwine their ambience onto the whole record. The truly magical piano / synths combinations of ”Through Unreality of the Nightmares” are definitely worth mentioning here too. Also, expect a nice load of acoustic guitars (”God of the Fog”, ”Emptiness”, ”Sabbath”) on the album, as well as overall proficiency in the instruments played. This applies to the bass guitar too which is nicely apparent and provides some sweet lines every now and then.

In the end, In the Hope of Your Death does not exactly disappoint yet I do think it’s too long a monster, plus the drum programming clearly isn’t for the band’s good and neither is the overall polished sound that would have profited from a little harsher appearance that could have given the compositions a well needed punch. Fans of Eastern European black metal are the main audience of In the Hope of Your Death, and perhaps I would be one among that audience as well if only the biggest glitches of the album were fixed. Consider the rating somewhere between two and a half and three stars.

2.5 / 5