HERRATIK: "Compromise Gone"

Although Compromise Gone is Herratik's second full-length, the history of the group dates back to the late nineties under the name Abortus. The time span of (at least) 13 years has shaped seemingly professional musicians firing rather melodic death / thrash here on their latest offering, and generally speaking they've got everything under control, but a major problem between this album and me emerges from the fact that this isn't the kind of metal that I like.

Sure, things are heavy here and I can imagine how this tight deathrash riffage appeals to goosebumps inducing levels to certain kind of people. The melodic introductory beginning of the album does not reveal the name of the game yet, but the follow-up ”Enough” works as a blueprint for the rest of the album: a savage and brutal feast on ass kicking evil riffs, mid-range screams and heavy, fast battering. There's also a prominent amount of melody in the form of occasional lead melodies or just usual metal solos. While melodies are very okay in this style, I think they become just way over the line as the cheesy 'epic' melody twirlings on ”Enough” after the solo tell. ”Bottom Feeder” continues after and I'm afraid this is another least favourite song of the album as it uncomfortably reminds me of Slipknot in all departments: the chugging palm muted riffs and repeated choruses with backing vocals are all there. Skip, please. ”Closed Book... Palm Muted” is the first time something differing happens in the form of ghostly, atonal piano melodies and samples in front of convulsing drumming, but soon after the first minute it turns into the very familiar scheme of uninspiring extreme metal.

Compromise Gone probably has its fanbase somewhere, but far away from the Vehement Conjuration territories. I'm not sure how to articulate this but I think there's something almost childish about this whole effort from the catchy riffs and choruses to the cartoonish cover art. No hard feelings towards anyone, but that is my general outview of Compromise Gone after multiple spins. Not enough authentic evilness nor darkness for my preferences of metal, but I know that is always up to the listener and those who take their metal a bit less seriously (not necessarily a negative thing) will discover more goodness from this record than me.

2 / 5

TYRANT WRATH: "Torture Deathcult"

There's an inextricable link between Norway and black metal, but what's the state of the country's supply right now? I can name a few great names from the Fossbrenna cult, but other than that the scene seems to be crammed with myriads of semi-technical, professional, soulless acts that try to evoke the spirit of the old without success. Tyrant Wrath's debut Torture Deathcult is another addition to the list of new names playing rather precise and well produced black metal, and it is only up to the listener's preferences if Torture Deathcult is at all what he seeks from his black metal.

Unfortunately, I'm leaning towards a category named 'I really see no point in overthought and well played black metal, I prefer it rough with authentic spirit'. I can see the buckets of sweat that have filled up during the creation of this wild record full of different riffs and tempo changes, but that does not equal music that would move me. Tyrant Wrath's take on black metal has elements of crunchy death metal which works nicely in the tight, crystal clear production. Evil riffs is the name of the game, meaning a lot of palm mute along with minor discordance and some rare flirt with melancholy. Vocals are delivered in a rather familiar black metal spirit, nothing bad nor necessarily good to say about them.

To sum it up, Torture Deathcult is your general modern deathened black metal album made by (seemingly) professional musicians. Great musicianship and none of the compositions suck (I actually even quite dig the acoustic outro of ”Revelation of Life”), but that is not enough, because the album leaves no taste afterwards. 45 minutes pass quite fast while this album is in the background and I can't say I found myself very often raising my attention to the music, even if I tried. Not bad at all, but can't spot many, if any, places that would make it great either.

2.5 / 5

HARM: "Demonic Alliance"

On their second major offering Demonic Alliance, Harm blasts quite common modern thrash metal, though with evident flirts with death metal, as at times the album rumbles like a Gojira record. But the main focus is on the rather fast thrash beats and power chord riffs, and these both mixed with a touch of semi-technicality (these aren’t that simple, nor old school, compositions) and a clear and tight production.

The only, though quite crucial, glitch of the album is its predictability throughout the 36 minutes: occasional lead melodies and solos do not count as anything really peculiar. So while I appreciate the tight and fast execution of instruments (which is probably the biggest plus in this album, these guys play damn nicely), there’s not enough interesting variation between the nine tracks of solidly executed metal. This is, however, just my personal opinion, as an album like Demonic Alliance isn’t the kind of music I usually listen to anyways, so it is to be kept in mind that these comments are coming from a person who would always prefer a little more devilish, old school and dirty sound in his thrash metal, something like Gräfenstein, for example.

Demonic Alliance’s aftertaste is decent. I’ve heard worse efforts in modern thrash, but also a slew of more convincing ones. The bonus DVD includes a video for ”Demon” and a bunch of more and less interesting extra footage that only a devoted Harm fan can truly enjoy to follow.  Demonic Alliance might not have been made for these ears, but it will reach and please the fans of the style.

2.5 / 5

SUBLIRITUM: "A Touch of Death"

Keep of Kalessin might not be the thing in the underground right now, considering their appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest a year back, this event triggering a flood of youngsters hailing the band’s name, but the truth is that the group has their own epic and extreme thing going on, and I personally consider ”Armada” a quite damn nice album. Subliritum’s recent release A Touch of Death brings me back to that certain record because we’re dealing with very, very similar music here. No surprise there, as Keep of Kalessin’s singer Thebon is handling guest vocals vocals every now and then, not to forget the session drums battered by no-one else than Vyl from the aforementioned group as well.

The comparison above basically means that A Touch of Death is melodic, semi-technical, partially epic, fast and well-produced black metal. Old Man’s Child is another fitting name to drop here, as is Arcturus’ Sideshow Symphonies due to some occasional clean vocals that are pretty much identical to ICS Vortex’s  output. 

The fact that I am able to compare A Touch of Death to so many bands tells already that there’s not much room for uniqueness, and no matter how crushing some heavy sections and how sweet some melodic passages here are, there’s always a layer of safeness and predictability over the music. This is of course just a matter of taste, and the reader might be aware of my inclination towards raw and not-that-careful black metal, so in my books the tameness is a minus. In its own category, meaning modern melodic black metal, I see no reason why this wouldn’t appeal to the style’s fans, as A Touch of Death is evidently a thoughtfully crafted work, and I haven’t come across a better album in its field in some time.

As said, A Touch of Death has its specific fanbase that will most likely revere the album’s blasting rapidity and lush guitar solos. Those merely into uglier and filthier old school metal should logically stay away. I guess I’m somewhere in the middlegrounds as I’m able to spot the group’s talent but in the same time the compositions don’t really move me. Bring something more daring to the game and yours truly is much more impressed already.

3 / 5

HARKONIN: "Detest"

Labelling Harkonin’s fourth release Detest as mere black metal doesn’t really do justice. Instead, a more fitting term would be something like technical death / black metal in the vein of The Legion: continously wandering music in different tempos with little surprises, vocals ranging from high-pitched screams to low growls, and an always prevalent malicious atmosphere, though Harkonin does implement more melody to their music, ”Chaos Anthem” being a good example among others.

In general, Detest does its job successfully: it grabs your attention well enough and the production is pretty top-notch. But when I start to search for features that would make Detest above any other album in this field, and when I realize the album runs for over an hour, I am not so convinced anymore.

For sure, Harkonin comprises professional musicians, everything is executed with tight precision, sounding evil and strong, but the same time I would have loved to hear something more daring, something that would’ve made Detest sound slightly different from all the rest. After all, we’re not dealing with any superb riffs and melodies here, everything is compositionally on the average line, perhaps slightly above the usual standard of modern metal. A song like ”Insurrection” is a real treat to ears and makes me wish the rest of the album was made with same energy.

Remembering the long running time and the challening technical elements, Detest requires many listens, and perhaps if I had listened to this a few times more before reviewing (I think I’m on my third or fourth run right now), my rating would have gone slightly up, so keep that in mind when viewing my score. Recommendable for fans of death/black mixtures with modern technicality therein.

2.5 / 5