DEATHHAMMER: "Onward to the Pits"

To hell with thrash metal, I tend to think, but every now and then I have to take those words back when some group unleashes a mammoth of ass kicking thrash with hues of black metal. It doesn't happen often, but Deathhammer's Onward to the Pits is one of these cases that simply stun you with fiery riffing and sharp production.

In essence, there's nothing fancy about Onward to the Pits: this is infuenced by the likes of Sodom, basically meaning old school blackened thrash. ”Deathrashing Sacrifice” kicks in the album with riffs of insane velocity with competent blasting behind, well continued in the follow-up ”Voodoo Rites”. The third piece, ”Fullmoon Sorcery”, could have appeared on the Bathory debut, while ”Emperor of Sin” crawls in funereal mid-tempo pacing in its beginning, a theme further explored in various other parts of the album as well. There's no need to delve any further into individual moments: by now you know what you're in. One element that does deserve a mention is the vocalist who spews some unhinged semi-clean wails every now and then when he's no performing the more traditional rasps. This is one of the features that makes the album distinguish itself from the masses of similar acts.

Onward to the Pits isn't something I'd listen to in every occasion, but for the times when your metal doesn't necessarily have to dwell in deeply philosophical substance, and there might be even some alcoholic beverages in proximity, this record could be a perfect soundtrack for that moment. Onward to the pits indeed, and to hell we're certainly going with this infernal blasphemy.

3.5 / 5

GRAVEWÜRM: "Blood of the Pentagram"

When I witnessed Gravewürm live back in 2009, it didn't say much and paled a lot in comparison to the spectacles performed that very night by Satanic Warmaster, Drowning the Light, and Arghoslent. Gravewürm was just a couple of normal looking guys playing very, almost absurdly simple power chord riffs. On album, it was even worse as it included a drum machine. But I guess that something has went terribly wrong in my head as after the gig I've slowly grown to enjoy this demented simplicity and cheap computer beats and bought Dark Souls of Hell straight from the label Barbarian Wrath. Shortly after that it was announced that Blood of the Pentagram would be the band's last album, so here it is, the grande finale of Gravewürm. This one must be epic.

Is it? Hell no. The band keeps its roots strongly in the very same style they begun with, meaning Hellhammer, Venom and the likes influenced old school black metal with hints of doom and death. The first track ”Goat Command” sets the mood for the rest of the album already. A lot of palm-muted old school riffage and evil, almost whispered vocals on top, plus the steady and sharp drum machine beats in the background. I guess that at least vaguely there's a bit more mysteriousness in the melodies than previously, like e.g. the lead melodies of ”Deeper Dungeons” and ”Necromance” suggest. Also worth noting is the title track with is rhythmic war march that impressed yours truly. ”Two Coins for Charon” surprises with its synths that hint towards Countess, and a definitely welcome feature it is.

Despite the somewhat surprising elements I mentioned in the paragraph above, Blood of the Pentagram is ultimately simple music from its core, and when it it summed to the bedroom level production, I don't think many will enjoy the album - or the whole band in general. Hence it is hard to recommend something like this, but I personally find it satisfying. Of course an album of this sort that comprises twelve tracks is bound to include filler material and this is no exception, but it doesn't matter much. Gravewürm stands true to its uncompromising, primitive approach, and I won't complain. If I had something proper to complain about, it would be the cover art that has for some reason changed from the usual Gravewürm scheme (a stylish painting) to a very common bestial black metal artwork. Not that this cover wouldn't reflect the band's sound – perhaps this is just a more apt cover for the band.

3.5 / 5

EMBALMED: "Exalt the Imperial Beast"

Remember my review of Prosanctus Inferi's debut? Take the main points of that bunch of paragraphs and you pretty much know what I think of Embalmed's upcoming attack Exalt the Imperial Beast. Those looking for even an inch of compromises in their blend of black and death metal, turn away right now.

Exalt the Imperial Beast is nothing but chaotic, incoherent, violent, fast, murky, grindy, underground black / death metal. You could think of the half-improvised first albums by Krieg but with more death metal therein, and you've got this album. While this style can be used with great results, Embalmed's problem here is the production that simply lacks the punch. It is quite muffled, distast and even silent. So not only the music is hard, if at times impossible, to follow: it is also the production that makes it all more challenging. Thus said, I am in the position of not being able to mention any standout tracks whatsoever, but I guess that in the end it's more about the overall atmosphere than fancy song structure and catchy choruses, after all...

Luckily things are kept brief so that not one track passes the mark of three minutes. Luckily because I'm not sure if I could digest more of the same for any longer. The music (or ”music”) isn't really bad in a harassing way, it's just that there's almost nothing to which I could hold onto. It's all a messy blast after another. This is why Exalt the Imperial Beast is worth looking into if you care more about devilish atmospheres rather than compositional qualities. I know there are fans of this barbaric style out there, so in those people's books this album might deserve a couple of stars more.

I guess it could also be worth mentioning that the band has been going on since 1989. Yes, you heard right despite this is their major debut, in 2011. So at least it explains that the lack of structures professional musicianship is intentional; these guys are veterans here...

2 / 5

SANGUIS IMPEREM: "In Glory We March Towards Our Doom"

Hells Headbangers is probably the most sterling of all labels focusing on underground black / death metal, bestial black metal, war metal or what the hell you ever want to call it. All the terms apply to Sanguis Imperem's debut album In Glory We March Towards Our Doom as well, a furious monster of blasting rapidity, growling guitar lines and overall top-notch execution. My first encounter with the band happened on the Nocturnal Blood split but I never gave this band's side enough attention as I primarily listened to the split due to the aforementioned band. Nevermind, In Glory We March Towards Our Doom is an attestation of the young band's skill that is surely worth looking into if the characteristic clichés of the subgenre don't matter.

The introductory ”Nil Igitur Est Mors Ad Nos” might give a misleading notion of the album as a whole, as it's definitely the only song on the album that is led by grandiose acoustic guitars, though it is still fittingly belligerent in atmosphere, no question of that. Soon after, ”The Scourge of Men” kicks in the proper, all-crushing metal, this certain piece belonging to the highlights of the album, the hell only to be continued on the subsequent seven tracks. The band does accelerate a lot, but also realizes to include slower parts where the rumbling guitar sound is magic at its best. Overall, the song material does suffer from repetition and a somewhat narrow array of ideas, and this turns out to be the album's only proper weak point.

And that is the very reason why I am not able to rank In Glory We March Towards Our Doom to the highest ratings possible, because it's very much the same we've heard before. But at what it does – a strict style of ass-kicking old school black / death – it does it with authenticity above many other contenders in the (battle) field. I also dig the cover art which is a nice change from the usual, Blasphemy worshipping black & white & red imagery. Fans of the label's usual output can't go wrong with this one.

3.5 / 5

THE ROYAL ARCH BLASPHEME: "The Royal Arch Blaspheme"

Not that long ago I introduced myself to a certain big USBM project, Profanatica, whose string player John Gelso has now teamed up with no-one else than Imperial of e.g. Krieg fame. The latter person’s work in the realm of black metal I’m a little more familiar with, so seeing these two guys together releasing an album full of filthy black metal is indeed intriguinig.

The Royal Arch Blaspheme is the name of this entity that ravages on ten tracks of primitive death / black metal on their self-titled debut. Tempo kept usually at relatively moderate levels, this filthiness crawls forth not by any fast speeds but by the utter menace of the evil reeking tremolo riffs - a fine example of the relative slowness would be the album ender ”Kingdom of Perversions” that would fit well under the tag doom metal. But for the most part, The Royal Arch Blaspheme comprises quite a static blast beat throughout many songs on which the riffs appear. The guitar ideas here don’t flourish in diversity but who would have expected that anyways? Just expect a big load of Beherit influenced old school worshipping, overall.

While Profanatica’s Disgusting Blasphemies Against God had one certain feature that made it stand above the masses of similar albums (the cavernous, bass-full production), I find that The Royal Arch Blaspheme is lacking that specific feature that would make it truly memorable. Sure, Imperial’s convincing growls and shrieks are a pleasure to hear and the overall atmosphere is pretty well crafted darkness, but on this album the production seems rather to be a minus: the programmed drums are clear to a slightly annoying extent and also otherwise the whole sound seems to in need of heaviness. That said, The Royal Arch Blaspheme does not reach as far as many others in the field, but is certainly a worthwile effort to look into if this definite cult style of black metal appeals to you.

2.5 / 5

DENOUNCEMENT PYRE: "World Cremation"

Albeit Denouncement Pyre’s major debut World Cremation, finally released after a slew of demos and EPs, does not revel in any novel ideas at all, it is funny how some albums still click with rightness. This album seems to do it somehow in spite of its very standard mixture of black, death and a hint of thrash - and mostly old school, of course.

I wouldn’t, however, go as far as saying there’s absolutely nothing innovative here. True, these blastings and evil tremolo riffs sound familiar to anyone who’s even slightly aware of the style, but careful attention to details reveals some genious reworkings of ideas used on various other records in the past, such as the sudden clean yet mysterious chords on ”Purification” and the nicely done Beherit and Archgoat worship on the following track ”Coven of Diabolical Prophecies” (one of the album’s highlights) - or just the sheer ferocity of certain sections on ”Black Womb of Magdalene”. Not to forget the bookend, 7-minute ”Invination of Poison” that features the most original ideas of the bunch with its interesting, semi-melodic guitar lines and almost grooving drums.

Production-wise, World Cremation lacks almost all bass (well okay, it is there but not that much audible), so that the album is a real feast on high-end, sharp and piercing guitars. The tightness and near-absence of bass might be the reason why this album doesn’t garner as much attention as names like Profanatica and Nocturnal Blood receive with their cavernous and morbid sounds that are easy to rejoice in. My only advice to those who are reluctant to give this album a proper go because of the not-that-heavy sound is to try to realize the sheer kick ass quality of these compositions that don’t need the facades of reverb and bass.

My first spin of World Cremation was when the album was in its release stages and it was freely streamable via some website. I remember liking it but somehow pretty much forgot it until I now got it in my hands for review purposes, and luckily I did as it turned out to grow much more after a few additional runs. World Cremation isn’t, of course, anything revolutionary by any means, and some songs clearly pale in comparison to some others, but heck how I do enjoy this blackened death menace all the way through. Do yourself a favor and check it out too if it happens to hit the right spots in you as well.

3.5 / 5

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

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