In Hoc Signo Vinces Compilation (Black Goat Records 2010)

Black Goat and partner label Shadowgraph Records have to be two of the hottest underground labels bringing us the most dreary and terrifying sounds imaginable through fusing black metal/doom metal/Death/Grind/ambient mediums. If you have not graced your consciousness with the sounds put forth from this label then you should do so. You have not experienced the best sounds that are available to you and grow like a fungus beneath the surface in the dark to eventually contaminate the weakly proclaimed sounds considered ideal and poison our minds back to health. This toxic compilation consists of 6 tracks of: Halo of the Sun, Gnaw Their Tongues, The Arm and Sword of the Bastard God, and The Slaughtered Lamb. Hopefully at least one or two of those names rings a bell, if not it doesn’t mean that you are beyond hope, you just need to get on the ball and check this stuff out. These artists and labels boldly go where many don’t have the talent, creativity or guts to do so, and even quite possibly because they have been gutted by the likes of some of these acts in the process.

The Opening track “Fenriz” by Halo of the Sun is melodic modern black metal complete with tremolo picking chords and a downpour of distorted background that remind me somewhat of the latest release by Twilight. The powerful and deep atmospheres created through melody and aggression, effects, mixing, and a keen sense for the right blend of: synth, guitars, percussion, and vocal effects to create the perfect experience make this track the ideal dramatic opener for this compilation. It’s the brilliance of acts like: Minsk, Nachtmystium, Evoken, Krieg, Burzum, Darkthrone, Xasthur, Isis, etc. all combined to create the blood boiling, adrenaline rushing, ultimately desperate feeling of the peak of destruction and death.

The contribution by The Arm and Sword of the Bastard God is pure blackened Doom sludge grime like a filthy resin from an old sewage pipe. Dense and throbbing, this heavily weighted Mack Truck of slow oozing riffs and condemning percussion will pound you into an oily pool of organic matter and then continue to reverberate the ground through low-end rumble until you are forced to trickle to and into the deepest crevice of darkness. Complete with warped, but still recognizable Sabbath riffs and doom elements this track is unmistakably doomy and rhythmic, but remains unique in it’s experimental progression that manages to be as unpredictable as it is smooth.

The two donations from the deranged and horror inducing black ambient/metal masters, Gnaw Their Tongues, are eclectic and experimental atmospheres of pure suicide. If anyone ever doubted the power of sound to move one to the absolute pinnacle of psychosis, they have not been educated by the likes of some of these acts. Everything sounds as though it’s echoing out from deep within some cavern of Hell, complete with the clanking of chains, growling and howling of some inhuman beast that is barely recognizable except for the pain and suffering that it calls out in hopes to relieve itself of.

Unfortunately I have not had the experience as of yet to put this one on in the dark with my prescriptions for insomnia and see what insanity awaits me in the limbo of consciousness, but now that I got my new prescriptions I’ll be doing so tonight. They always suggest that insomnia is helped by the use of white noise as a background, but when it involves haunting rantings of a mortal wanting to die and the chanting of the souls of murdered creatures from within the most disturbing places of existence calling to them to do so, it’s doubtful that GTT will induce anything but a state of pure shell-shocking insanity, total PTSD will result.

The Slaughtered Lamb sees us returning from that last terror trip only to be encased in a sad state of funereal doom and blackened atmospheric metal. Distorted spoken words of mildly coherent dread and hatred are spewed forth as they come through a sea of white noise fuzz and crackle, hiss, and rattle around. The message may sound interrupted to the undiscerning listener, but make no mistake, there’s no ambiguity as to the intention of the messenger. Slit your throat with me and do us all a favor, then slowly drown in your own blood and fluids and slowly emerge into the world in which The Slaughtered Lamb is bringing to you.

Equal parts sludge drone tainted with suicidal and raw black metal come to the forefront of the diseased mind that desires to be entertained by these images of mutilation and pain. But just when you think you’ve figured it out, The Slaughtered Lamb morphs into a pure ambient track to finish off the psychotic semi-subconscious ride that is this compilation.

Essential for fans of: any of the bands on this comp (obviously); funeral doom; Khanate, Asva, Twlight, Minsk, Portal, Xasthur, Ash Pool, Dead Reptile Shrine, Dead Raven Choir, Blood of the Black Owl, Pro-Death, Navicon Torture Technologies, Indigo Larvae, Megaptera, In Slaughter Natives, Strom.ec, Yen Pox, Subklinik, Profanatica, Cold Meat Industry Label.

Temple of Pain – Lord of The Undead Knights (Black Widow Records 2010)

As usual Black Widow releases some of the best in doom and knocks me on my ass in pure amazement and orgasmic delight with this Italian doom act featuring Fabio “Thunder” and anonymous special guests. As a huge fan of the label and their massive catalog of beautiful heavy releases Massimo rewarded me with this one as a sneak peak bonus to my Sancta Sanctorum. Sadly other than the MySpace page info and my listening experience I can’t get too much additional info on this band or release, but being that it’s classically epic doom and on BWR should be enough to prove its doom pedigree certification.

With doom, as many of you know, there is so much diversity in terms of sound and style so it’s not always easy to fit a band in somewhere perfectly and many of us have our specific preferences in those as well. Mine are most of the styles so I can’t really select any sound that dominates my hearing preference aside from my personal mood at the time of listening, which by now given the diversity of my reviews should appear schizophrenic or at least ADD. Fuck, regardless of what I like there’s something unmistakable about this one’s sound, it’s the perfect epic metallic doom of: Solitude Aeturnus, Candlemass, Lord Vicar, Mirror of Deception, Count Raven. You get the feel of great melodic metal, but you still get that indistinguishable tone and atmosphere that only comes in true Doom clothing. If you love the great melodic guitar work, the unforgettable riffs, variety in tempo, poetic and genuinely gloomy and desperate lyrics, phenomenal metal solos, and perfect vocal delivery that you get with the aforementioned acts, then you’ll be caught in the rip-tide of Temple of Pain’s take on Doom.

I really wish that I could say more about the band, but honestly it really doesn’t matter when the music is this powerful. All that I can say is that if you are a fan of Doom, a legitimate fan, then you really need to invest the time into hearing this album. Solitude Aeturnus is my all time favorite Doom band (if I had to pick, it’s damn near impossible to do so though) and anything that epic, devastating, and yet still alive and metallic will surely attract my attention like a shark to a drop of blood several miles away. I know many feel the same way, you like your doom: distinctively doom, metal, melodic, flawlessly executed, and HEAVY!!!!!!!!! So check this one out for sure, you’d really be a sucker not too. I’ve been unable to wean myself off of this release for the last week, and I have a ton of equally awesome new acquisitions to experience a bit deeper. Check out the audio on their page and feel the pull into the Doom abyss, it’s unavoidable really.

Denouncement Pyre – World Cremation (HHR 2010)

And the Blackened- Death metal conquest continues for total domination of the underground!!!!!!!!

This Australian beast of blasphemy and hatred is bringing to our hungry ears another piece of unadulterated filth and fury courtesy of Hells Headbangers Records. To me “World Cremation” is another perfect mutant hybrid of black metal, death metal, and thrash metal. You get the thrashy almost Hellhammer-like riffs and rhythm, but you get the low-end bomb blast rumble and aftershock of doom and destruction from the guitar tones along with the shredding “squeal like a fresh hog getting it’s throat slit” that harkens back to early Death metal days. As for being Black metal, which is a sort of glorious bastard child of thrash, shock value, and a need to vent and destroy anything unworthy, so this band fits into that box nicely.

This blackest thing about this band aside from their ideals is the soot of charred remains of things considered pure and sacred that they leave in their wake. This maelstrom has been around for close to a decade, gone through many line-up changes, released successful and promising sounds to wet our appetites for their future unveilings of diseased intentions, and has now finally grown into a mature sweltering heat wave of Hells force. As refreshing for myself as it is offensive and fear inducing to many naïve and weak sheep, this is yet another storm of death complete with winds of holocaust to further plague our lives this year. Worshippers of violent murder and the morally corroded rejoice and partake.

Fans of: Profanatica, Prosantus Inferi, Church Bizarre, Inquisition, Deathspell Omega, Dead Congregation, Bestial Mockery, The Royal Arch Blaspheme, and Sacrilegious Impalement will be especially delighted with the sound of this one.

Band Contact: http://www.myspace.com/denouncementpyre

The Sullen Route - Madness of My Own Design (Solitude Productions 2010)

This is the debut album of Russian band The Sullen Route and already is racking up some great reviews. Sadly the Russian Metal scene doesn’t get the recognition that it deserves and hopefully more artists like this one will continue to push it forward a bit more and thankfully a label like Solitude Productions and it’s off-shoots will keep it growing.

Marketed as a Death/Doom album and compared to the likes of Mourning Beloveth, Officum Triste, they create atmospheres as cold as an oncoming Ice Age and as immobilizing and gloomy as the anticipated approach of the reaper himself. No symphonic elements are used to create this mood of pure disparity, just the sullen guitar string arpeggios and the pain-filled growl of an almost suicidal mood. The Sullen Route makes a memorable impact on listeners with “Madness of My Own Design”, you can feel your body ridden with agony and exhaustion as you yearn for death and the solace of your lost love. Every chord will be another blow to your psyche as you spiral into the deepest hole of doom, the drums count out the rhythm of your dying heart as your soul begins to drift out of your soon to be empty and wasting physical mask, and you fall at the base of the gates of your destiny.

This is unbelievably powerful and deep stuff, and obviously not for the weak minded or hearted…menacingly entrancing and heavy and an absolute doom release to be looked into. Would appeal equally to fans of: Isis, Minsk, Mouth of The Architect, Centurions Ghost as it would those of Evoken, Skepticism, and Esoteric.

Chaossworn - Challice of Black Flames (Abyss Records 2010)

Another fireball of melodic brutality set aflame by Abyss records, this Swedish black death metal band releases a piece of rhythmic and melodic yet brutal metal EP. I’m not a huge fan of EP’s, but on a very rare occasion like this one it’s totally worth it. I’d like to say that hints of the brutal occult melody found on classic Dissection i.e. “Storm of the Lights Bane” comes to mind for me, but that’s up to great debate as are most comparisons. It’s been sadly quite a few years since I graced my ears with that album and the likes of Amorphis’ “Tales From The Thousand Lakes”, as I’ve been going more into my classic death metal days of gore and blood, blasphemy, and good old fashioned doom sounds.

Every so often a band comes across my path like a blessed black cat and inspires me to revisit those sounds, maybe I gave up after Jon’s death and their final album, it felt a bit lost from what I’d been accustomed to, but nothing will undo that initial powerful presence as Emperor’s “In The Nightside Eclipse” or Mayhem’s “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” also had on my ears. Some things are immortal to a certain extent, and Dissection is a band that falls into that realm. There are very few bands these days that earn that cycle of continual listening and always sound as thrilling as they did the first damn time. Now I’m digging out “Storm of the Lights Bane” from my library of albums to revisit. This damn band inspired it too, so it will do the same for you if you give it the chance.

This review is obviously not about Dissection, but there is a definite hint of that black/death melodic feel of the great days past felt strongly on here and that seems to be what memory struck me. Regardless of the accuracy of my memory, which might be as flawed as any, memories are very inaccurate and unreliable, but mark my words “This band brings that dark melodic feel back”. You can feel the blizzards blow, the frozen wasteland, and the rising of the eternally condemned. There is something as catchy and memorable with Choassworn as with the classics mentioned, you can feel the life swell within the sounds as the supernatural within your veins. For those who yearn to recapture that classic Dissection/ early Emperor sound and continually live frustrated shall be ultimately relieved to hear this band.

Chaossworn holds the torch to the majestic and awesome sounds of the past and Abyss Records seems to release albums with the intent to re-awaken that era. Maybe some have moved on, and rightfully so, but once an impression that deep has been left it’s very difficult to resist those nostalgic urges to hang on. Those catchy phrases and distinctively unique and evil, yet inspiring moments, will always tug at us and leave us in that state of permanent reminiscence. Shit…if the opening and main riff on “Crowned” doesn’t instantly make you drool and boil your heathen blood, than you clearly don’t belong here. I hope to Fucking Hell this band releases a massive full-length soon. If anything will resurrect the glory days it’ll be a band like this. I know a few friends of sorts from within my circle are reading this right now and will grab at the chance to check this out, hopefully they will and many others. If this shit sucked and wasn’t worthy of my time and words, it wouldn’t be here.

Do yourselves a favor and give this one a spin, it may be three songs, but it’s three songs of pure old-school joy. Nothing here is cliché, stale, borrowed, or uninspired, this is electrocuting and exhilarating menacing metal played the way it should be, so get off your spoiled pathetic asses and listen to something worthy for once, as opposed to a barf fest of knock off crap form a bunch of pussies with a hard-on to be scary and “brutal” or “cult”. This is fifteen minutes of your mundane existence that will actually count for something so get off your ass and check this stuff out!!!!!! If you still HHHHMMM and HUMMMMMM because it’s a bloody EP than you should be strung up by your balls, or nipples (some of us are female) until the weight of your body causes them to tear apart and your nerves are severed and your body goes into shock form the pain.

The Howling Void - Shadows Over the Cosmos (Solitude Productions 2010)

This very recent release of US based funeral symphonic doom act The Howling Void is one of the most powerful albums that I’ve heard this year in terms of creating an encapsulating ominous and 100% isolationist atmosphere. This is definitely the epitome of the sounds of tragedy and despair, eternal suffering and longing for someone or even death itself. With most of the tracks clocking in at almost fifteen minutes a piece you can be sure that you will have very little difficulty being absorbed into this deserted world of pure despondent emotions, like being deserted in a vast wasteland of nothing, not even a mirage to keep you company.

When something is labeled DOOM, I expect and look forward to this depressive and heavy sound, the sound of your breath shortening from the weight of the burdens of life, the feel of drowning in ones regrets and emotions that amass like an ocean and intend to swallow you whole. On “Shadows Over The Cosmos” you get exactly what the title suggests, there’s no light at the end of the tunnel here as the entire universe is consumed by shadows and sadness. All of us need a break from our groovy and rhythmic doom to take a deep journey into another dimension or universe of gloom and despair at times, especially when looking to unwind after a long week or day and just disappear altogether. This is the perfect soundtrack to embark on that treacherous voyage to, it’ll wash over your consciousness in waves of dark and cold chords of doom.

In terms of sound you can expect something along the lines of Esoteric/Evoken/Ahab/Astral Sleep, in other words a grandiose and ultra heavy sound of abysmal dismay and utter hopelessness coming at you from within the catacombs of absolute suffering. The ultimate in heavy is here and not just present in the sound, but in the feeling as well. The experience created here lies somewhere between the epic, poetic and gripping ones created by the likes of Solitude Aeturnus and an Edgar Allen Poe tale. Highly recommended to fans of: Hallowed Butchery, Ahab, Esoteric, Evoken, Skepticism, My Dying Bride, Officum Triste, and label mates Astral Sleep.

Check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/thehowlingvoid

Ophis - Withered Shades

Another new arrival from the heavy leaden hearts over at Solitude Productions, this sophomore full-length release by highly praised German Doom band Ophis is a more classic doom metal sounding album than The Howling Void and other label mates, although no less gloom filled or heavy. This is definitely one of my favorite new Doom metal scores.

The length of the tracks are yet again the roughly fifteen minutes of pure and unbridled abysmal gloom and lead-like chords, but where others go more into this trance-like sloth fog of emotional and symphonic elements, Ophis likes to throw in some great riffs and melody with speed in places to add a bit more metal throttle and momentum to this beast. Honestly, most of this release is a return to a fathomless and abysmal Doom metal sound that will equally appeal to fans of: Candlemass/Solitude Aeturnus/ Solstice/Mael Mordha/Centurians Ghost; as it will to the funeral doom crowd, for it still predominantly remains as slow as a glacier gliding across the bottom of the ocean, but the dreamy feel is gone in favor of massive riffs heavier than the gravitational pull of a nearly dead star about to implode into a black hole. The vocal style is very much the hollow and foggy growl heard from bands like Esoteric, Skepticism and Ahab, sounding as if they are a calling from some inhuman beast or mythological creature entrenched miles beneath the Earth.

Regardless of how you like your doom or metal, Ophis will satisfy the craving for absolute despair and the haunting of one’s soul, as you ache with eternal pains and crawl across your existence toward the end. This just came out and has already been on constant rotation with me, I can’t seem to escape its pull as it’s equally hypnotic as it is heavy. You’d be doing yourself a major disservice to not check into this release. It’s diverse, heavy, melodic, and will appeal to fans of anything just mentioned. “Withered Shades” trades in the funereal and isolationist feel for a more narrative feel of something Lovecraftian or even Tolkien, like a giant basilisk or serpentine creature deep within the bowels of the Earth doomed to lurking and slithering along for all eternity in search of an escape.

Check them out at: http://www.ophisdoom.de/

Neon Bastard – Meikhaus (Robotic Empire 2010)

I think that it’s damn mother fucking obvious at this point that I really get my kicks from heavy crusty and sludge grime sounds and SURPRISE…Robotic Empire sends this release my way because they thought I’d be digging it based on my reviews and spot on they were in that assumption. With a name like Neon Bastard it doesn’t it doesn’t take too much else to convince me to investigate them any further.

Instantly the album opens up as a sludge-core fury whip, I was blown out of my chair and onto my ass from the blast of audio coming out from the speakers. Neon Bastard provide the perfect cross-blend poly-cotton audio fabric of: Black Cobra, Fistula, Melvins, Black Market Ministry, Eyehategod, with Discharge, Anti-Cimex, Butthole Surfers sound and feel. Sort of a punk/indie/sludge/doom/stoner/ “louder than an explosion in an airplane hanger sealed airtight with you as the only witness to the blast” type of atmosphere is what these New Zealanders create here. Amidst the riot there are also slow doom riff moments that crawl along at the pace of snails fucking, but are short-lived as the anger and “bull in a china closet” energy is the overwhelmingly dominant force here.

Either way you slice it “Meikhaus” will result in the un-scratchable itch to bang your head and run around in an intoxicated anarchic frenzy. This band is BOSS!!!!! These New Zealand miscreants also served time in some other acts: Dial, Strangers, and Captains Log. Hey man, even the cover art shows cacti that appear to be giving us all the finger!!!!!!! It makes my eyes swell up with tears of joy.

Welter In Thy Blood – Through the Fields of Mourning (Shadowgraph Records)

With so many atmospheric and raw/lo-fi black metal acts over saturating the genre and leading to the predictable complaints against it, there still are a few like Welter In Thy Blood that dare to progress beyond limitations and still manage to be clearly in the style. Don’t expect the typical Xasthur/Leviathan/Dodsferd/Burzum regurgitations here, this stuff is in a universe of it’s own creation. I’m a fan of the dismal and grim atmospheres of the previous acts mentioned, hugely in fact, but with so many bands imitating those forerunners it makes it almost impossible to remember the first intense experiences that captivating some of us to begin with. Just because it’s marketed as misanthropic and bleak, or better yet “cult”, doesn’t mean anything really except that it’s a coin flip as to what you’re really getting. Most times it’s some screech owl poser Satanist in a basement or woodshed venting as his nuts are being bitten off by a squirrel.

So what makes Welter in Thy Blood better than the others, or at least a stand out? Well…several things come to mind when listening to this release actually: in places the drums are actually in front of the entire mix giving it an unusually “live” feel not to mention a certain 3-D sound almost; the layering of thunderstorm sounds, what could be field recordings, and some ambient electronic hum throughout tracks that range anywhere from 4 minutes all the way to 30 minutes make it as much a dark ambient release as a soundtrack to a foggy night in a graveyard; some classically abysmal black metal that reminds me of something recorded in a cave or a live setting, but the mastering and production is not lo-fi, so the result is actually that of being there in the room as the tracks are being laid out!!!!!!

The upped production quality takes the raw and frosted sound and makes it clear, crisp, and actually hollow, it echoes as if it’s leaking out from deep within some chasm and never loses any of the grim feeling. If anything the production here makes the haunting looming feeling of pure isolation intensified and the guitar sound goes from buzzing distorted standard fare to being this morbid funereal doom-like entity.

Welter in Thy Blood is a project that’s taking ambient black metal to the next dimension of disparity. The vocals sound almost as if they are literally being frozen as they are done, they have this slow motion freeze-frame effect and definitely sound like something was buried alive and is self-resurrecting to seek revenge. There is always a very ominous feel in the sound, like a soundtrack to the waking of the ungratefully dead on a late autumn evening. Yet again an act dares to wade through unchartered waters fusing Power electronic/dark ambient/industrial with the truly haunting sounds of black metal/death/grind and doom to create a cataclysmic experience of the darkside within us all. The imagery and narratives concocted in these releases are unrivaled in terms of content, substance, ingenuity, and pure terror inducing. Grab these releases up quickly, take a couple of sedatives of your choice and embark on the thriller of a lifetime. You’ll possibly wet yourself at some point so save yourself the embarrassment and lay on something non-absorbant. If Hitchcock did audio it’d sound like some of this stuff, true suicidal urges…

Essential for fans of: Gnaw Their Tongues, A Taste For Decay, Yen Pox, Navicon Torture Technologies, Nortt, Xasthur, Portal, Indigo Larvae, Megaptera, and everything remotely related to those mentioned.

Pro-Death – The Aesthetic Somber of Death (1999- 2005) (Black Goat Records)

Pro-Death is the misanthropic bastard child of dark ambient/power electronics and classic raw/gore death metal that I’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of, well one that captures the best of both without compromising the original intended sound. If that isn’t enough to make you squirm a bit and your eyes bug out, the sounds on this album would certainly succeed in doing so with it’s horror/psychotic ambience and terror inducing sound effects. This band has been a long time hidden treasure on the underground circuit, toured with some of the best and brutal, and donate proceeds from merchandise sales to organizations trying to stop animal cruelty. Ironically the sounds these guys create are in themselves a major rib splitter of murderous death metal/grind riffs and inhuman deep growls.

These guys invoke the exact imagery and cruelty in their tracks as they hope to help avoid in the real world. The drum patterns are almost industrial, sort of executioner rhythms, amidst samples of environmental debates and violent clips, and that continual deep-end growl that sounds like the some necrotic hallucination of insane ramblings of the shadowy figure holding a surgical blade over your naked body while you are undergoing a live autopsy without any anesthesia. Complete with laughter and pure hysteria, Pro-Death definitely takes creating a genuinely sadistic and atrocious atmosphere with some of the most skilled and tightly engineered extreme death/grind metal that I have ever heard to the normally unreachable height of perfection. This stuff will scare you out of your skin, assuming that they haven’t skinned you alive already with the razor blade barrage of percussion and guitar shreds.

Seriously… terrifying, carnage filled, blood spilling, decapitating, pulverizing, haunting, thrilling, murderous, treacherous illusions and fantasies abound. This stuff is really intense, so unless you are sure that you can handle this level of brutality and impenetrable atmospherics you will not make it through alive. This album is an absolute must to be heard, it’s as brutal and fucked up as anyone could ever ask for, myself included.

The mixture of dark ambient/industrial elements with classic grind-death metal has never been this strong, so if you’re worried that it’ll be atmospheric and wimpy ethereal stuff, then get your pathetic ass ready to be impaled upon first listen. This is pure terror inducing bludgeoning grind/death, everything on this album will KILL!!!! I have to shut up now or else I’ll ramble on forever about how fucking amazing this stuff is.

Essential for fans of: Steel Hook Prostheses, Strom.ec, Navicon Torture Technologies, Welter in Thy Blood, Gnaw Their Tongues, The Slaughtered Lamb, Pathology, Cattle Decapitation, Skinless, Mortician, Carcass, and any deadly combination of these.

Wan - Wolves of the North (Abyss Records 2010)

The spirit of Bathory lives on!!!! The possibly mythological Christ, yet ordained wonderman was only resurrected ONCE, but the “unholy” and unrefined Nordic sounds of the black and malevolent soldiers of aggressive black/thrash terror are continually being brought back from the grave by bands like this one that chose to remain loyal to that sound. Amazing how it’s the one considered to be true evil that gets the most respect and loyalty, and no I don’t mean Christ either.

Is it a tired and abused sound…? Yes…depending on the context (i.e. band/artist).

But are there any good bands that keep that blue blood frozen in the veins of pure and untampered with metal?

Hell Yes!!!!!!! This Swedish trio of blood drenched, axe wielding barbarians (you should see the photos on the inside cover) is one who defends the territory once dominated by Quorthon, early Immortal, early Darkthrone, Celtic Frost, and Hellhammer. I really can’t write a tome on this album because it’s exactly this: simple, annihilating, raw, barbaric, melodic Nordic black metal/thrash ala 1985-1994. If you need more explanation than that, you are looking in the wrong music section.

This is good and solid stuff that breaks no boundaries that haven’t been already, but will gladly break someone’s neck instead. If you want some really great Scandi sounds but already own the classics, then pick this one up to add to it. You’d swear that it was a lost release. I love it myself, and I’m generally picky, so if it gets my snotty seal of approval, it at least stomps and shreds. AAHHHH…Comfort food for metal heads!!!!

I also highly recommend other classic sounding Nordic/ influenced black metal bands: Immolith (US), Black Crucifixion (FIN), Church Bizarre, Denouncement Pyre, Funeral Goat, Graveland…you get the idea: “Chilling and really hollow sounding like an echo through an ice crevasse, with thrashy riffs that rip and tear to some riotous rhythm.”

Batillus/Hallowed Butchery - Split 12" (Vendetta Records)

Batillus: a band comprised of members of bands such as A Storm of Light and Inswarm and takes extreme doom to the extreme. Described by many as an ultra slow doom outfit, and this being my first experience with their sound, I have to say that they honestly seem to be a lot more diverse in styles than they are given. Listening to the “Children of the Night Make Their Music” track, they remind me more of bands like Flood and Cervix, Beast in the Field, maybe Elder in spots as well, but the name-dropping isn’t the important part here. The three installments by Batillus are epic and psychedelic doom inspired tracks, they have megaton weighted riffs, an almost Isis/Minsk atmosphere in areas that is equal parts dense and melodic, and a great variation of tempos. At some points it’s an all out free-for-all jam fest of boogie grooves and heavy psyche components, then it’s this calm black ocean that begins to stir from a massive storm building up beneath the ominous surface that becomes the gargantuan riffs of gloom and doom that strike down upon the listener without any warning.

To me it’s mixing the brilliance of bands like Isis/Minsk and throw in some doom and cataclysmic disparity of Evoken/Esoteric, then add a huge amount of classic doom rhythms and you get somewhere in the vicinity of what is here. It’s one of those bands that you want to label and fit nicely into a comparison because that’s what sells albums, but it’s unfair at times because the spectrum is so damn broad with bands this good. I will now be a confirmed Batillus fan, and probably play their tunes as much as I do the other bands mentioned. With talent like this you get that sense of flow throughout, the unpredictable yet perfectly placed changes within each track, and the atmosphere with a small sense of bluesy and psyche sparks that makes it addicting as much as successful. Regardless of the who or what, the strength of this release is monolithic and it’s definitely one for established fans and new discoverers of this band.



Hallowed Butchery: a solo prog-doom project masterfully pulled off by Ryan Scott Fairfield makes up the last portion of this split with his ambitious and brilliant “Coffin Life”. For some insider information about this track, which is essential to understand it, I’ll digress for a few sentences. This is a conceptual piece about a man born and raised in rural Maine who basically commits suicide to escape his horrid monotonous life and be reunited with his dead wife. Things don’t work out the way they should and he realizes that nothing lies on the other side, including his late wife and the realization that his life and hers are now reduced to simply laying in adjacent coffins, ironically living a now “everlasting” existence without her and back to uneventful and standard daily goings on.

This track is as complicated to describe as fluorescent colors would be to a blind-man, as it is with many things so much easier to experience then to get it second hand. The track starts out in a compressed almost Neurosis style slow and funereal sludge/doom riff assault complete with great bluesy riffs and solo bits thrown in that scream 70’s doom groove. Honestly for the first 2 minutes it’s a bit more like the Batillus sound, then suddenly it starts to run a marathon through quicksand as it gradually slows to a hault before plunging into the Esoteric/Evoken abyss of funereal black doom for about three minutes.

At the 5 minute mark the acoustic guitar begins an almost folksy passage and suddenly you have a beautiful and tragic song about his body weakening and slipping away into obscurity complete with lyrics describing his death. You almost feel your own mortality begin to fade out as the song switches into a Wolves in The Throne Room like black shoe-gaze metal riff tornado complete with the vocal style and all.

Around the 10-11 minute mark the track suddenly goes to a proggy doom feel and then comes to a grandiose end. The classic moog-like synth and effects really bring out the kraut and spacey feel of his afterlife realization. What a fucking ride!!!! Everything that you could ever want in a band, all of the best influences and sounds whipped up into this 14 minute hurricane of audio. It’s damn near impossible to accept that it’s ALL Ryan doing this too. The vocal styles change, the guitars, bass, drum, and synth work is flawless and it’s mixed so well that you’d swear that it was a full band.

This split is one of the best albums that I’ve heard in a while, and I’ve heard many, and missed some as well. Essential for fans of: Minsk, Isis, Mouth of the Architect, Neurosis, Wolves in the Throne Room, Evoken, Esoteric, Hellas Mounds, Rosetta, Nachtmystium (from Instinct Decay onward). A colossal and sophisticated dark and psychedelic/black/doom influenced masterpiece…yes, it’s a masterpiece.

Deliria - Children of The Darkness (self-release 2009)

I have to start this out by stating first and foremost that, “I’m a massive Italian doom fan “: Paul Chain, Abysmal Grief, Death SS, Black Hole, The Black, Zess, THC Witchfield, Arpia, etc. So here’s the low-down on this underground Italian Psychedelic/Prog Doom project and this EP. These guys have been going for a decade now, released 4 EP’s including this one, and did flawless covers of some Black Sabbath tracks that honestly immaculate. This is the true doom sound right here, it’s just as psychedelic and 70’s blues doom and metal as it is prog doom, and it’s only two guys!!!!!!! Francesco Gallo on lead and vocals alongside Ivan Ritrovato on Keyboards.

Okay, it’s only two guys and no drummer, but here’s the catch… you couldn’t even tell unless you were closely looking for it and even then I’d dare to call your bluff. This band sounds soooooo much like a Black Widow Records release, Italian doom and horror metal classic that to not think Paul Chain would not only show insufferable ignorance but should result in your being cast out of existence, or worse yet you’ll be cast into listening to rap, pop country, and teeny bopper shit. I challenge anyone out there into doom and psyche to not dig into this bands sound like vultures on an anorexic teenager, you won’t be able to escape the gravity pull on tracks like “13 Witches”.

As with anything in this style of doom, expect to be sucked into this black abyss of ghostly hymns, cosmic guitar solos that encompass you into a world of black occult psychedelia, and classic warm analog riffs. This stuff is lava lamp and occult acid trip doom, in a vault secretly hidden in the catacombs of the ancient burial grounds beneath the modern city. It really gets close in sound to Paul Chain’s: “Sign from Space” and “Park of Reason”.
I always buy promos and self-releases from underground bands like Arpia and several others of this style, so don’t pass this up because it’s not a fancy copy. That’s bullshit, if the talent is this damn good you should be begging and scrounging for change to pick this up. This is as mystic and eerie in parts as it is doom and all around completely FUCKING awesome.

Essential for fans of anything mentioned so far: Solitude Aeturnus, Candlemass, Dark Quarterer, Black Widow, Lucifers Friend, you get the idea. Check out the link to hear the audio, most of the info on their website/s is in Italian, but all you need is the music and to send them a message and they’ll gladly get back to you, they found me to start with so they can communicate effectively.
http://www.myspace.com/deliriadoom

Sorgeldom - Inner Receivings

Extreme frost ALERT!!!! Essential tragedy and atmospherics for fans of: Alcest, Ebonillumini, Ameseours, Celestia, Finnr’s Cane, Wolves in the Throne Room, Autumns Grey Solace, Blood of the Black Owl, Dormant, and Lifelover.

When I heard about this album it was marketed as Black Thrash mixed with Shoe-gaze, which turned my attention toward it out of curiosity, but it’s completely different than one would expect given that description and the result is an astoundingly beautiful one. I want to say that it’s a perfect blend of all of the above-mentioned bands, which it is, but that’s not very fair so I’ll try to think of a way to do it so bear with me. I really wouldn’t call it shoe-gaze either, it’s spacey and dreamy like a lucid daydream on a rainy afternoon in spring that suddenly takes a tragic turn. The clean vocals are elegant and sound almost as if they are haunting you from behind the music that resembles Alcest/Lifelover passages of soft guitar that become intertwined with the characteristic atmospheric buzzing of black metal guitar tones and effects somewhere along the musical path.

The tracks very from almost bleak and forlorn arpeggiated folk melodies to a stripped down black metal fuzz with some classic blistering tempos appearing in spots without losing any of the original emotional depth. You can feel as if you are completely alone and wandering on foot through a dense European wilderness with only your thoughts to keep you company and your breath to remind you that you are still alive. You will hear so many similarities to other groups that we all love in this band, but it’s this style that never seems to wane and manages to be that refreshing chill that you get when you take your first breath of a cold and biting winter wind.

This is as much for the: neo-pagan, neo-folk, martial, Cold Spring, Ahnstern, Sturmklang, Tesco, Old Europa café, War Office Propaganda listeners as it is for the lovers of black and atmospheric metal. This stuff bends stereotypes and stale sounds and imagery, pumps them full of new blood, never runs from sophistication and demands strength and perfection. It’s also colder than a witch’s tit, so the saying goes. Cold, tragic, and barren, a story of loneliness and the internal hauntings of ones own trials and tribulations.

Angrepp - Warfare (Abyss Records 2010)

When approaching this release be prepare for a wrecking ball of old-school crust and death/black thrash savagery. This Swedish group is pure toxic thrash and very much at home with fans of acts like: Hellhammer, Darkthrone, Venom, High on Fire, Skeletonwitch, Scorched Earth, Ravens Creed, Lair of the Minotaur, and label mates MAAX. Another perfect hybrid of fireball riffs ala Kreator and early and golden thrash, a metallic punk FU vice, amphetamine powered rhythm battery, and total pillaging insanity. A definite classic aggressive metal influenced and well-rounded sounding band, this stuff tears everything up with roots and all. As addictive as it is ugly and melodic, this is yet another filthy beast that I can’t seem to get enough of.

Many of you are probably thinking: It’s just a black thrash type of project so it’s nothing new right?
Yes, possibly, …but it does it so damn well and so “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, or better yet, “if it kicks ass then don’t fuck with it”. I personally can never get enough good rhythm, maybe I’m biased as a bass player, but that is one big selling point for me and I solely guarantee that if you have any sort of interest in any of the mentioned bands you will be sold on Angrepp. Split your ears with this one nice and loud, it reminds us all of the days when Metal was fun and furious. This is a long anticipated release from the underground so sink your teeth in you filthy rocking rodents!!!!

I stumbled upon this heap of socially indignant Swedes the other day...well actually they tripped me, the douchebags!!!!! Anyway, I can’t get enough of the giant turd flingfest that is better known as D-beat, Crust, Anarcho, hardcore, these days. Is it because it’s some of the only music that I hear recently that ACTUALLY waves the finger high and boldly at the wreckage and bullshit game of life that people consider society? Possibly, it definitely doesn’t hold back behind paint and costumes or images of evil, it stands stark naked in the face of politeness and social constrictions. NO ONE likes to tell someone to Fuck Off more than me, many may tie, but none can exceed my frustrations and disgust most days. Where many care more about image, these louts care more about the message and making some of the best metallic punk racket that I’ve heard period.

So, what do you get on this upcoming release?
Seven tracks of nihilism, some of the sharpest and jagged melodic metal riffing that brings about thoughts of melodic and hardcore influenced current acts like: High On Fire, Resistant Culture, Black Tusk, Sanctum and Kylesa; and the classics of the sound: Doom, Deviated Instinct, Anti-Cimex, Discharge and company. This stuff just reeks of circle pits and chaos, it’s as much classic FU hardcore as it is grind/death/thrash metal. For intense riff-a-holics like myself, fed up with the Idiocracy also known as the human race, this is the anger management program that your surrounding companions have been pleading with you to get involved in. In this tumultuous album you get to throw your blows, scream obscenities at the top of your lungs, and destroy things without ever having to be held accountable legally for your actions. Rebels rejoice and Fucking make some NOISE!!!!!!!!!!!

“ Hi, my name is Janet and I’m fucking pissed and tired of ignorance and bullshit.”

The release is due out this month and I will be getting my official copy the moment it lands and decimates. Absolutely essential!!!!! For all info on purchasing contact the band, this is a Halvfabrikat Release and will be available from that label.

http://www.myspace.com/misantropichardcore

Niveau Zero - In_Sect (Ad Noiseam 2010)

I've been a fan of this label for a few years now, because it brought me acts like Cdatakill, Hecq, and Detritus, and tends to release some rather outstanding electronic overall. I really try to shy away from the hip-hop influences, mainly the MC stuff, so for me that has always made Drum N Bass styles a challenge to get into fully. I'm not an expert on dubstep and DNB styles, but I do know awesome sounds when I hear it and this French Dubstep artist and Ad Noiseam are definitely ones to convince me to venture a bit deeper into these styles. My knowledge of the sound goes about as deep as Burial and Boxcutter these days, but my electronic knowledge goes very deep.

Many issues with the dance and electronic styles are the recycled elements, pre-programmed and standard rhythm patterns and overall predictability, but none of that is an issue on this release. The basslines here form the main backdrop to the album, tight and addictive they overpower the listener rendering them unable to resist the prodding rhythms and undeniable grooves woven within. Multiple titanic bass lines and methodical percussion, a smooth yet unpredictable flow in the rhythms makes this as anthemic as it does an infectious groove trip. Some of the basslines here are as heavy as some of my favorite riffs or power electronic hums and buzzes, and there's as much a sense of darkness, suspence and hidden mystery within the tracks to keep me happy. Ad Noiseam hopes to break the musical sectarian boundaries with it's releases, and stubborn assholes like myself can't get past the MC stuff, but will be induced to skip over those few tracks in search of the ever-encompassing rhythms that lie beyond them.




Check out the artist site: www.myspace.com/niveau0

Phelios - Astral Unity (Malignant Records)

The title is deinfitely accurate, as this is real astral music. You can feel yourself floating through the cosmos, the flourescent nebulae on the horizon already billions of years old as you perceive to view them at the moment they have ocurred as the tribal drum rhythm beats in the distance. This album opens up with "Cold Unity", a track that immediately reminds me of some of the "Dark Side of the Moog" series albums with it's surreal tribal beats and spectral synth. I begin to expect more of the Fax label sounds when "Cloud Sector Beta" comes in and suddenly I'm star traveling and floating against the ceiling of the room looking down at what is actually my body. My skin turns cold and then every pore opens up to breathe as the microhairs on the dermal surface stand electrified by the shock of pulses raging throught the circulatory system underneath in response to this sound. That is only the beginning....

As you go deeper into space, you are surrounded and hugged by warm cosmic dust and then chilled by various radiation and distant solar winds. Everything is black one moment an then instantaneously becomes an astral sunset with glittering and flickering particles of light and psychedelic acid spirals of galaxies. The bright fractal patterns spin and rotate as you move through them into another freezing cold and black empty plane in the vacuum that is space.

Symphonic space music is what this stuff is. So magnetic that it actually pulls you out of your consciousness and reality and transports you into an experience that only math and some psychedelic guru can describe to you. This music will convincingly hypnotize you into levitating and leaving your known world behind. With so much of the throwing around and abuse of terms like ethereal and esoteric, it's still almost painful to fight using them to describe Phelios becuase they actually belong here. Imagine Carl Sagan's writings brought into sounds as you are pulled across the astral plane and witness the dawn of the universe approach you as you feel the almost massaging tug of black holes as you pass in and out of their gravitational reach. Finally Einsteins relativity is one of the only things that makes sense and nothing that ever did before does now.

Definitely a magnum opus in the realm of ambient and fits in nicely with Tangerine Dream, Robert Rich, Peter Namlook, Alio Die, Steve Roach, and Mathias Grassow to name a few.

Essential and monumental!!!!

http://www.phelios.de/

Phragements - Earth Shall not Cover Their Blood (Malignant Records)

Unlike the darker industrial and apocalyptic ambient releases from this label this one shows the other side of Malignant and dares to tread more along the neo-classical route with fellow artists: Coph Nia, In Slaughter Natives, Raison D'Etre, Desiderii Marginis, The War Office Propaganda Label and many more.

Pure ethereal and symphonic ghostly atmospheres are brought about through this music. There's something mystifying and glorious, like an ancient battle victory that is felt here, but also haunting and disasterous like the sight of the fields of impaled victims and mutilated bodies of the enemy as you realize your victory over the enemy is a reality and the price it cost. There is a genuine pagan feel, as well as animalistic desire in this music, to conquer and destroy as much as protect and secure. A hybrid of post world-ending nuclear holocaust and roman atrocities over barbarian tribes in tiring battles millenia ago, this has as much futuristic and industrial nihilism and robotics as it does a hail back to the alledged "primal" human conflicts and early civilizations development through violent struggle and bloodshed.

Definitely intense and beautiful, dynamic and sedative, this has it all and will definitely rival some of the above mentioned forebears of the sound and style. One of my new essential listens and an envigorating aural view into what is being created out there. Another top-notch release for a label that can't seem to go wrong. You haven't felt real ambient atmospheres until you've added this to your experience list.

Check them out at the following links: http://www.constructdestroy.com/
http://www.myspace.com/phragmentsindustrial

Ad Noiseam label Compilation summer 2009

I've been a long time fan of dubstep, darkstep, breakcore, and harsh and groovy tunes and this is one of those labels that's been consistently superior and worthy of my audio needs and high expectations. I've been out of it for about a year and left off with this comp that I keep spinning and feel the need to pay some homage to. Many electronic and drum'n bass labels went the MC/hip hop route and lost my ass 10 years ago, but some labels still manage to keep the groove without redundancy and crap, Ad Noiseam and Planet Mu, along with Ant-Zen can still make you bust a move without puking and running away from the post-rave hip-hop invasion. Maybe that shits novelty has value elsewhere, but here in the US where it originated, it fucking blows and is nauseating, and this is coming from a funk/jazz head like myself.

Most of the artists on this compilation are amazing artists and display true electronic rhythmic and funk values as well as explode upon the listener with some sick and twisted basslines and post bullshit rave hard banging stuff, and are worthy of mention here like: Detritus, Larvae, Somatic Responses, Cdatakill, The Teknoist, Math head, Cardopusher, Mothboy (on occasion), Broken Note, Raoul Sinier, and DJ Hidden. I miss the days of Aphex Twin, Peter Namlook, Bill Laswell and the Mick Harris DnB stuff at times, but you have to admit that some of this stuff is killer and stomping and so worth the time and effort. Here's more proof that electronic grooves aren't dead. Anyone who claims they don't dig a great bassline and bit o' funk and discredits some of the best talent and underground scenes is just full of shit. So show support, enjoy the sounds and absolutely expand your listening experience, if ya dig Parliament and CAN, King Tubby and the original dub scene, Mille Plateau and the microhouse dub tech invasion, you can't pass this stuff up.