Draumar - Gebirge [2012]

Believe it or not, my best findings over the last 2-3 years have been in the field of black metal more than anything else: thrash had already lost its revivalist touch after 2009, and few records besides the olden, antique dimensions of death metal interest me, and there were only a handful of stupendous releases on that department, the remainder being a mostly consistent, but unabashedly generic metric chock of bands sprouting out of pretty much anywhere around the globe - thus, some of the most enthralling releases of recent years belong mostly to black metal. Somehow, black metal musicians are able to achieve salvation, or rather, musical incarceration through their own predilections, incorporating an enormously vast choice of sounds into traditional parameters, ranging from folk metal influences to ambient preferences to progressive rock, and while this rule does obviously apply for all black metal bands, it does take into account a considerable number of acts. Of these refreshingly savvy acts I've found Germany's Draumar to be one of the most beautiful and atmospheric, through the usage of orchestral sounds, a superb EP that shines nearly all the way.

This is absolutely soothing music, and certainly not your traditional kind of ambient black metal. There are indeed acts such as the notorious Leviathan or Oranssi Pazuzu that use their aural tendencies to encase the listener in utterly nightmarish profundity, evoking despair and trauma as effortlessly as putting a mentally disfigured person behind bars, but Draumar contrasts entirely from such acts, firmly providing a warm, spectral and haunting layer of pulchritude. You could say that they were influenced by Summoning in many ways, as the atmospheric reflection of many passages seem to be befit for being a soundtrack covering a lost footage of The Shire in the Fellowship of the Ring, but then again, Summoning is something far more glorious and unapologetic in its triumph, a right soundtrack for the defeat of Sauron. The thing about ''Gebirge'' is that it's 85% ambient passages and only 15% guitars/drums/vocals intertwined with the atmospherics above, so it's admittedly a rather stunning, but slow-paced listen, despite its brevity. The opener, ''Auftakt'' is a mellow introduction ceremony for the upcoming wave of musical transcendence, and my favorite track is probably the follow-up, ''Gebirge I'', which initiates with synthesizers redolent of Ihsahn's work on Emperor's debut, and gradually unfurls into a diaphanous spectacle. The vocals are raw, winter-beaten and raspy to the core bu somehow they fit the sound effects perfectly, and the guitars are such crisp expedients that they balance the weigh of the record with heavenly succession.

For those who might scoff at the ''orchestral'' tag: I advise you to listen before you criticize. This is no collection of cheap fillers, and certainly not some cheesy horror flick your local death metal decided to use as an appendix for their disjointed Autopsy duplicate disc - these are real fucking instruments being played with accuracy and technique, implemented brazenly into the music. Pianos. Acoustic guitars. Flutes. Violins. All adhered to different sections of the EP, making it all the better. ''Gebirge II'' is nearly as good as its successor, running for some 7 seven minutes, and in versatility it never seems to lack material. Draumar's fresh take on black metal does not seem to deviate all too greatly from some of its peers, Summoning included, but it's sensational in every way that I can think of with my sole complaint being the lack of engagement, that, despite being launched towards such speed freak as I, did not seem to matter so much; a mere peccadilo of a stain amid a beautiful rainbow. That said, the EP was too short to be fully effective as well, running for about 20 minutes, but still, I can't say there was a moment where the the surreal and dazzling approach of Draumar didn't stun me. This is the kind of music that really needs to be taken to a larger scale; I heartily encourage garden variety Norwegian black metal groups to cut their ragged, uncircumcised music short to give bands like Draumar a little more space. I'm determined to see ''Gebirge's'' follow-up, because despite the soothing attribute of the music, the German can stimulate many a listener with ''Gebirge'', and the prospect of a 60+ minute ''Gebirge'' is highly exciting. Well, at least, if they continue this way.

Highlights:
Gebirge I
Gebirge II

Rating: 86%

Night Demon - Night Demon [2012]

Night Demon's entry into my extensive compendium of speed/heavy acts to emerge in the 21st century is nothing of a seminal event, but I was nonetheless content, having discovered another band with a solid release to kill a good many minutes. Formed in 2011, our information on the band is fairly limited, with their sole material being their eponymous EP released last year, and my awareness of the band began when I received a promo of the EP that had been reissued by the traditional heavy/doom imprint Shadow Kingdom Records. The Californians offer nothing more than genre-standard heavy metal enmeshed with a dose of speed, imbued with a strong, refined production quality that renders the four brief tracks found on this EP so robust. ''Night Demon'' is composed of roughly equal proportions of Maiden, Priest, Angel Witch, Raven and Saxon, and maintains its muscular exposition sturdily throughout the entirety of the EP without blundering, but it only does so by swaying along the safer borders of traditional heavy metal.

For one, I was actually more absorbed by the cover art and the conceptual preferences more than the music itself, even though I did sometimes lose myself in the wicked, swirling youth of the headbang-friendly riffs. I don't know why, but I certainly found this fantasy-induced concept to be overly attractive, maybe because it explored a somewhat nostalgic and lightweight margin of swords, sorcery, and, obviously, demons, each song delving into a slightly different subdivision of the concept, for instance, ''The Chalice'' had a more medieval, religious vibe to it, with the exception of ''Ancient Evil'' which purely pervaded the listener with Lovecraftian images. That said, there is a surprising amount of variation between each track, with each track, like the lyrical choices, focusing on marginally different breed of garden variety heavy metal. The sound as a whole is professional however, with little or not flaws in the presentation department, and in truth, while this may not be a paragon of speed/heavy metal, I loved the rumbling twists and turns of the guitars with melody swooshing by every now and then, and the entire webbing of riffs was surprisingly complex, brazen, and certainly very catchy.

While this may be for the most part a devout homage to the aforementioned gods, and even Motorhead taking into account the bluesy rage of the guitars and pummeling blasts of the snare on the first and fianl tracks, I did occasionally taste a sprinkling of power metal in its archetypal forms, something redolent of early Fates Warning and Jag Panzer. The vocals are blunt and powerful, nothing overly special, however, when they collide with the backup vocals to harmonize a truly harmonic piece of sound that I thoroughly enjoy is created. Night Demon certainly performed well on this EP, especially since it's their debut offering, but I do think that solely being staunch stalwarts of the art won't quite make them experts in this particular field of heavy metal. There were some subtler, heavier moments that arose with minute precaution into something of a more epic deliverance, like on the chorus of ''The Chalice'' (which I adored), but the Californians need to strew together many more strings to render the web truly inventive and titillating. Night Demon resonate like a faster answer to  their fellow countrymen Visigoth; it's coherent, consistent and quite seamless in its presentation, but lacks an inner essence. Otherwise, it's simple, awesome music for purists. Hail.

Highlights:
Ancient Evil
The Chalice

Rating: 72%

Yurei - Night Vision [2012]

Norwegians Yurei captivated me the moment the first resonating guitar quarrels of their ‘’Night Vision’’ convulsed around my ear drums. Indeed ‘’Night Vision’’ has to be one of the most original offerings of the year 2012, and they are able to put this bulk of originality perfectly into practice, encapsulating the sombre attributions of psychedelic prog-rock in a vortex of wondrously confusing technical manifest. Perhaps most prominently bearing resemblance to Virus’ 2011 album, ‘’The Agent That Shaped The Desert’’ that was equally convoluted, and much more inclined towards the post-metal orientation of things, but even with the closeness Yurei has to its fellow countrymen, this group manages to produce a far more jiving, jazzy buzz by delivering bliss through crystal-clear guitar lines that swerve to irresistible dissonance.

As mentioned, Yurei’s work here may not be as perplexing in discordance as the post-metal arrangement of Virus, but that’s mostly because the Norseman are obviously and intently heading towards a far more bobbing equation; one that’s bluesy, nearly hysterical when contrasted to one of the more technically strained moments of the record, and in fact feels as if it was recorded in an echoing, forsaken desert wasteland with acoustic guitars plugged into distortion amps. They have a tangible enthusiasm for droning prog/doom moments, as seen on the heavenly drudging ‘’Diminished Disciple’’, as an alternative to their jumpier preferences, and I hear a particularly pungent stream of desert/space rock pioneers Yawning Man. Perhaps you don’t need battle-hardened ears to adjust to the fairly intricate passages here, but the undeniable love for experimentation shines brightly on every moment. One thing that only boosts this is the band’s deviation from the aforementioned masters Virus, whose bassist is actually the thumping, serving maniac here, which clearly implies that the Norwegians are endeavouring to surpass the genius of ‘’The Agent That Shaped The Desert’’, trying to do carry this out in a fairly different font.

Besides the guitar tone, and the bevy of sporadic riffs which go from capering diminished chord dispersions, as seen on the well-titled ‘’Diminished Disciple’’, to dowry desert/fusion rock trudges to cavorting singular, lead-based compositions that have an almost technical touch to them (Machinery), Yurei exerts large though not colossal effort into churning the music into an accessible convolution of experimental taste. They certainly keep the music fresh, building it up with countless nuances and more importantly, alien sound samples or instruments diving into the riff foray, effects such as reverb, and the vocalist’s somewhat queer take on the traditional, darkened atoning, which occur at seldom. ‘’Sleepwalkers in Love’’ is an unaccustomed piano tunnel that absorbs the listener in its hymnal melancholy, and ‘’Dali By Night’’, perhaps my favourite, is an almost avant-garde glance at the momentously prehensile fundamentals of Yurei’s brand of progressive rock, a complete slab of sorrowful complexity and experimental touches, clutching the listener from all sides.

As you may well understand, Yurei are out of the generic league for sure and are heading undoubtedly for their own engaging column in the metal/rock universe. What makes the experience twice as fun is that that the Norwegians have worked to render their music accessible as much as they’ve strived to craft the riffs themselves. It’s one record that effortlessly snaps free of the manacles that binds it down, and works in its own criterion; not necessarily ear candy for those who enjoy a more straightforward constraint of proggy rock/rock, but a dwindling plunge into the mysterious and compelling, a source of further agitation if you’re feeling tired of the same tunes.

Highlights:

Machinery 

Diminished Disciple

The Cognitive Crack

Dali By Night

Rating: 86%

Insinnerator - Hypothermia [2012]

Any avid thrasher who's just going to ignore Insinnerator because of the cheesy cover art is simply going feel pretty damn regretful about the mistake afterwards. A little information on the band; this is a trio from Dallas, Texas, who simply loves to play frivolous retro-thrash carnage, and has established a fairly large fan base after the release of their vicious debut, ''Stalagmite Of Ice'', and enter their frigid aura, and you'll find the band to be superior to the myriad of aping contestants in the modern thrash derby, in fact, they're arguably the best pure, no-frills act around, embodying a completely skull-splattering manifestation of everything Exodus, Slayer and Vio-lence. This is basically rowdy old underground thrash buzzing with energy, with the staple influences that apply for nearly the entire thrash metal spectrum, and overall a raucous performance that's treble the rawness that Warbringer or any other over-lauded act can conjure in entire discographies.

So needles to say that ''Hypothermia'' is a rewarding experience for any thrasher seeking denim, jeans, patches and cranial compression via hammering, thundering guitar clangor. Just as you might expect, Insinnerator are purely devoted to the riffs. Well, not exactly purely. I'd say 95% of the music is an angry, rambunctious manifest meaty Bay-Area styled riffing, meaning a storm of entirely volatile bullets, churning up as the raw production quality grants a hefty dose of noise, all rapidly fleeing through the album's resonant velocity, and the remaining 5% percent is a small but entertaining endeavor to enhance the ambiance. Originally, the trio bored no such feature as to adorn their frivolity with a somewhat ''evil'' aura, but here, they're more punctilious about injecting something extra in the mix, which becomes even more evident in certain brooding passages, like in the title track, nearly three minutes confided to the icy, atmospheric glimmer that, though two pale blue album covers has become the band's unique, gelid image, and they even tend to decorate those tranquil sequences with wonderful Spanish guitars.

But otherwise, Insinnerator stay at the highest tempo, at all times. So fast, in fact, that I sometimes mistake the violent attribution of speed for something more crossover-related, particularly the speed devils Wehrmacht, but far more consistent, pummeling and punishing through the immensely jagged bulk of a tone of the guitar. There's also some technical prowess to be noted, which, unlike some other aspects stayed stable, but nonetheless bring an even more gritty edge to the riffs, as if bits an pieces were extracted from ''Energetic Disassembly'' era Watchtower or German tech-thrash crudities Toxin and Toxic Shock, or early Megadeth if you want a more accurate comparison. Finally, ''Brutal'' Ben's vocal delivery has stepped up a notch since I heard them on the debut, fitting much better into the vibrant crunch of the coarse riffing. Granted, you won't be astounded by what you hear on ''Hypothermia'', that much is clear, but through a ton of swerve, nerve and battering bombast, it succeeds where many of its counterparts failed; an utterly blissful paradise of riffs for the fervent thrasher.

Highlights:

Curse (Horror Of Dracula)

Elemental Ice Dragon

Pentagram 

Rating: 80%

Black Table - Sentinel [2012]

No one could have guessed the sheer compelling enigma of Black Table's meticulously balanced EP ''Sentinel'', its genuine manic genius, and its ability to exhibit a remarkably well-anchored post-rock amalgamated with discordant black metal which bears resemblance to that of Deathspell Omega in its cajoling poignancy, ultimately forging an implement that can ship any band from the deep bowels of obscurity to a bright future of striving excellence. For a band who's ingeniously prehensile fabrication lies in the very heart of their ambitious youth rather than a decade or two of seasoned experience, ''Sentinel'' is an unforgiving, highly innovative concussion of core tenets that, after a dozen sessions of dichotomy, automatically burst into an entirely extensive, all-out combustion, simply a maniacal musical achievement that could be belabored for a long time.

As far as I can see, the reason why I'm gravitated so much towards ''Sentinel'' is because it takes the experimental metal niche to a different edge, imparting a melodious, kinetic poignancy to the already an already refine style and spending the entire twenty four minutes of run time bedecking that formula. It's almost as if the group is cultivating a heavier, richer soil for the post-rock formula to be placed in, and the same time, I get a strong technical sludge vibe striding from the band's penchant for strolling into staccatos and slumping extreme metal orchestrations, and like the gleaming grandeur of the sun-bright cover, they inject a heaping doze of eccentricity into the level of extremism, rendering it completely accessible and mature throughout. The riffs are manic, sporadic and totally dispersed around the EP, and the guitars are outstandingly prominent with their switches and convoluted twists snapping around in every direction; there's a tremendous amount of variation in here, more than most young talents can cram into twenty four minutes, and what's more is that they're their volatility does not turn the momentum into a hodgepodge of mass technical confusion for the listener.

The guitars were the main highlight yes, but the static wave of mournful female vocals was no doubt punctilious implement in conjuring the droning, sorrowful ambiance of the record. Mers Sumida's shrieks are of a an incredibly low-pitched atonement, and she applies them sporadically, adding an almost raw black metal appeal to the amalgamation at times, especially when the guitars switch to more carnal, rabid riffing, but somehow the overall pulchritude of the performance mars the band from plunging into a more aggressive effulgence, thus, ''Sentinel's'' excellence becomes evident. Judging by the density of sorrow on the whole EP I imagine the band was trying to depict rustic images and landscapes conjured by, say, Drudkh, Burzum, Blut Aus Nord without their industrialized tendencies, but then again there's an emergent surge for jumping from one riff to another, which proves that Black Table are endeavoring for something truly different than their peers. Hybridized, obfuscated, dour experimental excellence which my only gripe would be the brevity of the material, so I'll more than sure to check out any upcoming releases from these black metal lab rats.

Highlights:
Heist 
Sentinel
To Tear Down
1942

Rating: 87,5%

Anthem - Burning Oath [2012]

What I absolutely love about the last months of every year is that it always seems to be stocked to the chunks with the best releases of the year, and an unmistakable front-runner for the 2012 lists is Anthem, with ''Burning Oath''. Going strong ever since 1981, the Japanese have consecutively released material that would finally pile up to form a meaty bodywork of albums, and while admittedly I've never tasted their radiant brand of heavy metal before, I was staggered by their underrated status, especially after fifteen records, but the past aside, ''Burning Oath'' reveals blazing excellence that could annually be only matched by Pharaoh's own impulsive concession, ''Bury The Light'' when the heavy/power genre is taken into consideration, and quartet certainly exhibit a glimmering sheen of talent on their fifteenth album, even if creativity is omitted.

I think the only thing worth fussing about here is that the group rarely surpasses certain boundaries, let alone exceed them. As far as I've read, the material here is not entirely different from the band's previous material, and I don't think it would take a mastermind to figure out the Japanese are far more fervent on boasting their modernized, amplified cave-crusher of a guitar tone and imbuing it with colorful Van Halen-esque leads, thus firing away into laser-like precision, rather than breaking the rules and processing the entire slew of spacious brilliance in a completely different format. Their sky-high echelon, though, enables them to effortlessly think through redundancy and produce simple, genuine power metal beauty that reflects the resonant, perky and highly jumpy aesthetics that fall somewhere between Priest, Maiden, Drangonforce, Primal Fear and Gamma Ray, all beaten into rainbow-like shimmer that feels dazzling no matter how many times you spin the whole thing.

Every tune they've composed is blazing, each and nuanced highlight that forms the rainbow. The core rhythm tone could have easily worked as a brand new butcher's cleave for the avaricious audience of brutal death metal extremes, all demanding a thousandth weapon to raze and exterminate, but with the vocals of Eizo Sakamoto upon the meat, there's a queer balance formed that anchors both the piercing melody orgy and vibrant pulses of Eizo's tone. The basis of brutality remains quite simple really, but still completely cavorting and critical to the band's mathematical precision, and guitarist Akio Shimizu piles up so many lead work on top of a single slab of bread that it almost seems though he's completely throwing all his solos out into the face of the listener, but at the same time the leads feel ridiculously spasmodic, almost surreal, and he never refrains from supporting a memorable complex while doing so. Strikingly, he seems as talented in crafting modern thrash chug fairs as he is in wallowing the listener in a paradox of quizzical, spurious solos that just make me swelter in excitement every time I hear them.

While the guitar is the undeniable superstar of the record, Eizo's vocals can deliver almost as many twinges of pleasure as the riffs, and in a far more foreboding way, at that. Not that his vocals have a sense of misery or anything, but they occasionally tend to take on melodious, almost mournful hues while delving into overly harmonious territory. But you see, that's all part of his genius. He has such a long-lasting voice that it readily oscillates while literally keeping the entire riff-work going on underneath in one piece. Additionally, I was quite induced by the foreign eccentricity of the Japanese lyrics, and Eizo also shines here; forming perfect transitions that stick the English lyrics to the Japanese, and what felt somewhat ironic is the abstract vividness of the album, and that they're actually more likely to fit the bill for a band like Drangonforce, but the band sings about much more down-to-earth subjects than dragons or unicorns.

It's quite possible for someone to be in a dilemma when choosing from eleven top-notch tunes, but I probably dug the dual violins of ''Get Away'', the airy, sinister edge of the opener ''Evil One'' and the swerving, bluesy rhythmic combustion of ''Double Helix'' the most, though every song is spectacular in its own rights. As stated, ''Burning Oath'' does not require 200 IQ to figure out; its quite simply plays by the rules but produces quality material that any fan of the aforementioned bands should have a hell of time listening. Even with a deep-seated heavy metal inclination swinging the album towards relatively distinct locations, ''Burning Oath'' principally remains a power metal record, and good fucking one, too.

Highlights:
On And On
Get Away
Double Helix
Evil One
Struggle Action

Rating: 90%

Chapel Of Disease - Summoning Black Gods [2012]

As much as I was impressed by the vital, fleshy energy that the Germans Chapel Of Disease conjured with their cryptic demo that came out earlier this year, make no mistake, these vile retros are not putting anything new on the table, even though it undeniably sounds refreshing for die-hards and connoisseurs alike. That being said, the debut by the Teutonic quartet took me by surprise as they unleashed their debut via the overly frenetic oldfactory producers FDA Recotz, and to be fair, despite the limitation of imagination generated from the band's lack of variety in accumulating influences, ''Summoning Black Gods'' does not suspend the hungry listener in iron manacles of banality and delivers quite a heaving, archaic punch with a nice stretch of classic old school death metal influences a la Pestilence, Autopsy, Death, and, as we didn't have enough Swedish death metal to deal with, a splurging context of primal chainsaw ruptures.

The intake of Swedeath is fortunately in less copious amounts than you might expect, and churned up with a classy, foreboding edge, it really turns the album into a panoply of memorable compositions and semi-thrashy textures, all sewed to each other by a raw, highly nostalgic raw overtone. At times,  the band channels the harsher formulas that marginally deviate from the tremolo-laced riffing by having simpler vitality, reeking of 1988, yet what I especially love about the band is that they effortlessly eke out sepulchral hymns and they can perfectly exhibit their love for pestilential antiquities whilst carving out subtexts of these grave-ish moods, perhaps most vivid on ''Evocation of the Father'', a melodious collision of trudging grooves that has an almost Gothic appeal to it. Even though it seems the band is staking their entire momentum by replacing nearly a half of their performance with mid-paced grooving, the subtle balance in between thrash and death is measured adequately and the band is nearly always on-time in lashing just after gloomy transitions and erupt into headbang-friendly death/thrash tumult before you even realize what's going on.

Thankfully, ''Summoning Black Gods'' is infected, though not overarching in a way that could completely asphyxiate the listener. Here, cavern walls don't gradually enclose around you and decompression doesn't overwhelm; instead, as you may understand, these Germans are just staunch freaks that pursue their nostalgic masters Pestilence, Asphyx, Autopsy, Death, Morbid Angel, Vital Remains and the like, and the album is really based on letting out frivolous, encrypted and manic burden that stayed hinged inside the cranial contents of the Germans for far too long. To me, they seem like an unlikely crossover of their archaic countrymen Immortalis and their label mates Skeletal Remains, which have chosen a thicker, if not more technical approach to deviate from the same vein. While not imaginative by any means, this is probably one of the better altars built to worship the aforementioned masters over the last five years; even the vocals have condensed on the Van Drunnen timbre, and this also marks, or helps establish, a new scene for spawn new abominations to spawn and rock their way out the graveyard. A crashing rhythmic fair with a frightening edge. Definitely a nice treat.

Highlights:
Exili's Heritage
The Nameless City
Summoning Black Gods

Rating: 83%

Children Of Technology - Mayhemic Speed Anarchy [2012]

Italian speed freaks Children Of Technology have already buried themselves into the consciousnesses of voluptuous crossover enthusiasts with their 2010 debut which was highly, highly redolent of punk, thrash, grime, denim, and though relatively new to scene, they deserve some applause for the considerate punk, hardcore and thrash choices, exclusively injecting old school energy into their overt amalgamations. It's own simple sphere of influence, ''It's Time To Face The Doomsday'' was a vigorous assault of near-clamorous motorcycle frenzy and explosive outings of punk and hardcore fundamentals, and now they've decided to once again cope with their mass provider of motorcycles, Hell's Headbangers, a two-track EP being their latest penning. Despite the excitement fervent listeners will have over this, there's no need to exaggerate the fact that the motorized punks are going for standard procedure here; chaos, annihilation, and of course, motorbikes aplenty.

I say aplenty, but in truth, there's not much material here, nor would you expect anyone to cram layers and layers of buttering crossover/punk/thrash into a spurious little CD of six minutes. Children Of Technology are, as I stated, applying basic, robotized pressure on their fans with gushing frivolous and downtrodden punk dives and pumping hardcore beats, keeping the fuel burning throughout the almost ludicrous six minutes of run time. The Italians, however dominant over their moshing minions, are not really letting the eclectic listener get anything else than distorted nostalgia: they've got a rumbling bass line line sometimes crashes into the spotlight right before its fellow proponents arrive and take control of the whole stage with unhinged aggression, the drums have take much less space in the mix than the guitars, occasionally going for some perky cymbal abuse after exhausting sessions of one-dimensional blast beats, and the guitars are caked with dirt, the same way it was on the debut, conjuring crunchy and eager crossover pursuits that fit the drum rhythms perfectly in their own simpleminded sense.

You've got to accept that no matter how long these Italians are going to stay in the music business they're always going to be tied to the same aesthetic with crude leather belts, and even though their love for everything old school and everything vigorous and punk makes goosebumps perk on my skin, they're not going to be able deliver anything truly special for fans who like things nuanced now and then. Perhaps my favorite performance was the vocals, reeking of ''Sheepdog'' Mclaren of early Razor, Cro-Mags and perhaps even DRI, lashing out contemptuously shrill high-pitched shrieks to boast their crazed, anarchic cause. Anyone in desperate need of straightforward-as-fuck, broiling old school crossover should throw himself/herself right at this, but then again the debut would serve the same purpose with better overall efficiency, and that's what renders ''Mayhemic Speed Anarchy'' so simple - the only thing that won't be expunged from the listener's memory fifteen minutes after discourse is the cover art, barely memorable itself.

Highlights:
Computer World
Mayhemic Speed Anarchy

Rating: 72%

Desolate Shrine - Sanctum Of Human Darkness [2012]

Desolate Shrine is one of those bands who will appeal to fans of both hammering necrotic Swedish death metal revivalists and far more atmospherically driven occult death metal acts, but, beneath the flesh, it's once again all bones and joints; nothing out of the expected. Desolate Shrine's debut ''Tenebrous Towers'' was an album that I was quite appeased with, and for one it certainly lived up for its name; a crushing monument of Cylopean pillars collapsing upon the listener in an utterly climatic, immense cavernous mess, anchored by the suppressing heft of gigantic, skull-buttering Swedish chainsaws rippling in a rampaging orgy - it was certainly a big fucking record. Intent on smothering more cranial content, the Finns arrive with a sophomore, ''Sanctum Of Human Darkness'' that not only fancies the same crushing outing of the previous effort but also presents the listener with a panoply of spectral galore.

What I absolutely love about this is the pace. ''Sanctum...'' lumbers in a mid paced Bolt Thrower groove, particularly akin to ''Realm Of Chaos'', but, also keep in mind that despite sounding a lot like a concoction of Entombed/Dismember and Muknal, Innumerable Forms, Witchrist and Antediluvian, the band fabricates a formula that doesn't necessarily classify as both. The frothing, uproarious curvatures and blast of the Swedish tone is unlike anything I've heard before, even the harshest of Swedish chainsaw serial killers can't conjure up a tone that delivers such burdened sonic intensity. The band rarely eschews monotony from the pressurizing bombast, and when all the songs are no shorter than six minutes you naturally want more drudgery to take place then straight up aggression, but on some occasions (''Chalice Of Flesh & Bone'', ''Funeral Chamber''), gloomy subtleties transcend into furious impulses and the band immediately surfaces from their subterranean indulgence and take onto rougher, headbang-friendly discourses, though one should be informed that even in energy-abundant tracks, there's a heavy trace of the trio's impregnable doom influence.

Overall, even though I previously stated that Swedeath fans might enjoy this, death metal occultists are still more likely to feel the album's compressing enigma as pleasure. Just like some of the dominant Incantation worships or blackened death metal acts, ''Sanctum...'' displays more efficiency in submersing the listener in dense intricacy than raging in a frivolous surge, and especially after you've been through fifty-five minutes of hammering caused from a drumming giant pummeling your skull, you end up more oppressed than revitalized.  Thus, Desolate Shrine exceeds their previous effort, and more importantly, sticks to the old school formula. There's plenty of mournful caveman out there, but while this may not broaden your horizons by any means, it's still a better mining site than many of its peers and Dark Descent Records certainly made a hell of descent with this one. Don't you dare forget to bring provisions; this journey will take you deep. And I do mean deep. 

Highlights:
Demon Heart
Pillars Of Salvation
Funeral Chamber

Rating: 86%

Hic Iacet - Prophecy Of Doom [2012]

Glancing at the cover, one might easily be persuaded by Hic Iacet's 2 track EP ''Prophecy Of Doom''. A grotesquely engraved image of two ritual necromancers merging as their freakish tentacles coil and reveal a nebulous vortex, all the while an inverted illuminati with a masochist serpent encircling it, stares at the owner of this brief recall to blasphemy, power flushing out. Hic Iacet's 2011 demo ''Hedonist Of The Death'' was a highly potent excursion which successfully put raw black metal and murkier black/death tendencies into practice withing one wholesome package. I was naturally delighted by the demo, perhaps another offspring of the overly prolific occult black metal genre but still high in quality, and the Spaniards's retinue expands as they sign to Hell's Headbangers to harvest and later on, expose more hellish, churning material, yet the EP is not all terrific news for keen followers, because ''Prophecy Of Doom'' introduces aspects that fervent listeners may not like after the prior release.

As on ''Hedonist Of The Death'' the Spaniards heavily incline towards the process of gloom, whether it be scrutinizing the element or spicing it up with different ingredients, yet here, there's a relatively different sustain on completely ferocious, raw aggression. The band's propensity for being able to effortlessly induce loom and cavernous ambiances with the singular use of distortion guitars cranked up sky-high and additional elements of resonance is still the highlight of the EP but the riffs have a more lurching, serpentine taste to them rather than straightforward, gnawing hostility and by simply blotting out the main crispness of the guitars with the vocalist's cavernous growling timbre, Hic Iacet can keep the listener semi-indulged at all times, even if there's hardly any subtext of immense evil. The guitars plod along with pure early 90's death metal ferocity, pretty much what you'd hear from early Death, Incantation, Autopsy or Winter and old Fleshcrawl, venturing into a near-doom metal spectrum, which, admittedly, while still implying strong somnolence onto the listener, still kills much of the primal energy to be found on the demo.

The compositions aren't really funereal, after some point they're simply abridged for obvious risks of boredom, and albeit an eleven minute EP may not cause a listener to doze off, the expenditure of the EP may cause some unwanted banality, one that, amid hundreds of other cavern-dwellers, the occasional death metal revival fan would not want to put up with. The band may truly be up to something promising here: If they scatter the two puzzles they've made and join the pieces to form one queer amalgamation, they can actually turn on the metal community more than you'd care to imagine; drowsy, black-ish death/doom patterns rumbling along the cavernous echoes of the vocalist's great reverb while ruptures of shattering raw strength sway back and forth, a mire of miasma. That said, there will still be a few who will dig this for its massive nature and crude display of death and black metal or its mutual resemblance to Hic Iacet's countrymen and acknowledged blasphemers Teitanblood and Proclamation. Definitely worth a spin or three.

Highlights
Elevation of Sun
Prophecy of Doom

Rating: 76,5%

Lacerated Metal Playlist IV

As you've probably noticed, I've removed the ''weekly'' tag off Lacerated Metal Weekly Playlist. Anyway, here's the crap I've been hooked on last week.

On And On, by Anthem, off the Burning Oath album
2012, Heavy/power metal, Japan
Sounds like: Hammerfall, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Primal Fear

Syrpas Ulfar, by Arckanum, off the ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ album
2009, Black metal, Sweden
Sounds like: Arckanum, Immortal, Marduk, Carpathian Forest, Ragnarok

No Quarter At The Somme, by I Shalt Become, off the Poison album
2010, Neoclassical black metal, USA
Sounds like: Xasthur, Moloch, Darkthrone (circa 1992-1996), Emperor, [Classical + USBM]

Epitome III, by Blut Aus Nord, off the 777 Sect(s) album
2011, Industrial/experimental black metal/ambient, France
Sounds like: Leviathan, Deathspell Omega, Nightbringer, Dodecahedron, Godflesh

Perpetual Oyster, by Yawning Man, off the Rock Formations album
2005, Space/desert rock (no-metal, let's hear the insults comin'), USA
Sounds like: Space-y desert rock

My Ascension Into The Celestial Spheres, by Spectral Lore, off the Sentinel album
2012, Black metal/ambient, Greece
Sounds like: Immortal, Mayhem, Enslaved, Deathspell Omega

When Humanity Is Cancer, by Anaal Nathrakh, off the The Codex Necro album
2001, Black metal/grindcore, UK
Sounds like: Mind-fucking stuff, Fukpig, Grind n' black

White Medal/Slaegt - Split [2012]

In recent months, I had the opportunity to be familiarized with Denmark's very own one-man northern howl, Slaegt, whom delivered a personal mini-favorite of mine with their demo. The demo was a concise emblem of the rustling beauty and grandeur of the frigid northern winds in all its atmospheric triumvirate, and depicting the gelid ambiance and spectral gloom of winter in a near-perfect convocation with raw black metal splendor, thus, I was left hungry and desirous by my brief stay in the northern asylum that Asrok conjured, and I was also promised a split offering more primal pulchritude. Now, the prophecy has been fulfilled. Teaming up with yet another fresh face from the somewhat emergent pack black metal devotees, White Medal, winter itself is evocatively released.

Unfortunately, the brevity of the split forms a blockade that prevents me from adorning the two tracks with utter praise and accolades from the start. However, ignoring that, the split is quite enlightening. Slaegt somehow refined their sound by tidying up the hazy, dissonant splashes of messiness into a more precise whole, and there's admittedly more vivacity encompassing their style. Woven complexities are, for the most part, put aside and are replaced more vivid progressions and there's a great, pacy consistency to the riffs that I can't deny, in spite of their simplicity. Though, while certain structural differences appear to be prominent, the entire formula hasn't really deviated from Asrok's previous motifs: there's a piercing surge of consistent, straightforward black metal excursions, and imagery emboldened upon the listener's consciousness maintains a somnolent balance between the horrendous glacial appeal of mountainous entanglement and a surrealistic approach that which provokes a frosty glory in the listener's fiery heart.

I won't be able to judge White Medal's styling as I judged Slaegt as I had no previous acquaintance with the group, though peering into the anatomy of the music, George Proctor's aesthetic considerations are pretty similar to their countrymen in releasing storming, uproarious maelstroms of winter cold, but there's a sense of multiple possibilities here. For one, White Medal has a lot more surprises crammed into their seven minutes than Slaegt has in roughly the same measure. There's quite a bit of raw black metal coiling going on as subtext of the more massive, explosive rancor of the vocals and the much messier ooze of the production, so the instruments all work as entirely different components; the vocals are completely nasty and haunting in their crazed howling succession, the riffs flip from formation to formation during the incursion, and the drums are absolutely thunderous in anchoring the deep onset of discordance. The two have their differences as well as their stylistic similarities; both are going to to tow different masses of audience onto their chilling anger, so if you're an old school black metal enthusiast, you're more than welcome into this chilling abyss. Choose you path; shall it be a languorous blade of icy affection, or a frenzied assault from the deepest, coldest, most cavernous corners of the Moria mines?

Highlights:
Lysets Dod
Them That Fear t'Wolf 

Rating: 81%  

Dire Omen - Severing Soul From Flesh [2012]

Canada's repugnant, esoteric atmospheric blackened death metal worship has reached such prodigious heights in quantity that acts gradually diversifying their range of atonal OSDM bowel deconstruction and are conveying somewhat simpler ideas instead of directly corresponding to their ritualistic countrymen Antediluvian and Mitochondrion. One of my most recent excavations in this rotten pile of archaic disturbance is Dire Omen, which, compared to the aforementioned behemoths, have slightly nuanced taste in displaying their corpulent hybrid of black and death metal. I'm assuming your protesting to this nebulous tenor; ''What, another Canadian death metal band?'', and I will be replying with the inevitable answer; ''Yes'', however, don't get your hopes down yet, because in all their simplicity, Dire Omen is not at all bad news.

Honestly, the EP is brief, to-the-point, and as you probably noticed, nothing new for the occasional OSDM freak, yet it does have some strong features that are instant hindrances that negate me from degrading the band's performance. Firstly, ''Severing Soul From Flesh'' lives up for its name in every way. The band's continual reservoir of bulky death metal chugs and chops have a nice earthen grasp to them that's reminiscent of early Pestilence and early Death, rather than more massive incursions because of the great, ghastly, fleshy tone the guitar acquires, and there's quite a bit of muscular dependency here; certainly more riffs are strewn on husky complexes than Antediluvian, or, say, Impetuous Ritual. The rippling clasp of the tone has a radiant effect on the overall patterns, and what's more is that the void-like atmospheric haziness that they've supposedly borrowed from their countrymen adorn the gruesome, lacerating ferocity of the guitars, driving the listener into a delicious, aurally enhanced death metal foray.

In such tracks as ''Decaying Moral Scripture'' or the title track, the band perfectly encrypts semi-atmospheric arpeggio sequences atop vivacious tremolo ruptures that reek of Deicide circa 1990-1992. You'll also get, throughout the brief experience, lugubrious, uncircumcised tremolo patterns which actually have sstrong overtone of nightmarish imagery printed on them. To top it all, ''Deserving Of Ash'' culminates the band's prior compositions by jutting into the airy visceral rampage with immensely atmospheric black metal convulsions, and even if for a split second, you get that eerie splash of epic beauty. My only complaint was that the EP sounded like the band hadn't firmly established a stable formula yet. There's definitely a sense of imperfection in the basis of the formula when you hear odd couplings of death and black, thus, the experience was crudely frightening, even if not as horrific as Antediluvian, the combined reiterated output is something to be feared - I'll definitely be looking forward to further bloodied ceremonies by this trio.

Highlights:
Dire Omen
Severing Soul From Flesh
Deserving Of Ash

Rating: 80%

Ævangelist - De Masticatione Mortuorum In Tumulis [2012]

It has now become inevitable for any fervent old school death/black metal listener to encounter at least half a dozen acts that have enough blasphemous energy enough to fuck you up and toss you from side to side as if being churned inside a bartender's cup, along with the gruesome contents of the drink; viscera and subterranean effigies of obscurity. Ævangelist, however, although obviously up to an extent, fits the category of archaic Incantation worships, does not quite rock the listener as its counterparts do. Teaming up with the obscure I, Voidhanger Records they round up some of the most dissonant and abysmal content that one can imagine of; a shrewd yet completely hostile entity rearing in the depths of your subconscious and gushing out in carnal, experimental death metal oblivion; a terrifying experience that will need to dwell in your nightmares for utmost apprehension.

The debut by this mortuary ascension is wholly consuming. Matron Thorn, the delusional brains behind the entire darkened orchestra leads his pack to a tremendous, utterly compelling atmospheric triumph. As a man who has played in such acts as Leviathan and Benighted In Sodom, his transitions of experimental, immensely aural conflagrations seem almost as a natural tendency after years of experience from acts prior to this. The guitars follow well-structured textures through grating, submerged deliverance and they sprout from each other like minions spawning from their primordial cocoons and tearing, smothering each other into sensational, discomfiting oblivion, while the experimental quadrant of the album lies in one very simple but continuous surge of engrossing synthesizers, probably the band's biggest and most crucial implement in forming up the ambiance. The drums stampede amid the reverb-bathed carnage around them, and their crushing prominence add a certain muscular pattern to this nightmarish assembly.

Over the Internet, I've seen numerous comparisons, relating ''De Masticatione...'', or better yet Ævangelist, to Portal, an association I can only find inaccurate due to certain facts. Portal had  gritty and overly cantankerous textures that boasted of nothing but downright miserable noise, whereas Ævangelist definitely has a more accessible output. Additionally, part of Ævangelist's refined sound comes from their excessive usage of proto-brutal death metal aesthetics fitting over an outing of Incantation-like miasma and ambiance as I have noted above, and Portal always sounds ear-scratching; the guitars here are built for smoldering; not nettling. The only exception here is the nine-minute experimental monolith ''Hierophant Disposal Facility'', which, by lurching upon blotted ears, unites Ævangelist's own experimental speculation with nefarious industrial elements; an instrumental affair that brings the band's discordant evil to perfection.

Thus, settling upon my subconscious like some spectral ghoul from the weirdest corner of the netherworld, Ævangelist has convinced me beyond belief. Obviously, my love for ''De Masticatione Mortuorum In Tumulis'' is not strengthened by the somewhat mainstream catchiness it possesses, but by the psychotic trance it bestows on me whilst these convulsions are processed. I shall herald this as one of my favorites in not just similar atmospheric/experimental death metal groups moving about but also as one of the greatest metal releases the year has to offer us. If you too are a sucker for such immensities, then let the spectral bombast circulate through your nervous system and witness the meaning of dreary terror as it provokes innumerable nightmares. Good night.

Highlights:
Hierophant Disposal Facility
Pendulum

Blood & Darkness
Death Illumination

Rating: 92,5%

Sathanas/The Spawn Of Satan - Spawn Of Satan/Sathanas

Ouch. Christianity just got pounded. And it's all thanks to the newest duo the devilish heavy metal capital Hell's Headbangers offers Satan as sacrifice. Up to a certain extent these two impious US blackened death/thrash fugitives offer a fairly exciting, competent and even fierce release, and I'm also considering the amount of experience behind each band, since both have their beginnings dated back to the late 80's and also considering Sathanas has a total of eight albums at the ready to unleash upon mankind like some hungry mega-pack of hellhounds, but to be sure, we've tasted the same razing death/thrash frivolity a good number of times, whether it be from modern tyrants Crucified Mortals, Destroyer 666, Vomitor, Hellbringer, Mongrel's Cross or olden pundits such as Possessed, Venom, Slayer early Death and so on. So I now welcome you to yet another of of the Devil's unbridled minions.

It seems though each band only had the counterparts sufficient to compose one song, which is, in a way, better for my cause, because I won't bored to submission by continual hellish extirpation. The irony is that the entire veteran prowess that Sathanas has comes from their single-minded dedication to their own work, while their split-mate consists of members from more major acts, including the infamous Nunslaughter and Derketa even. Nonetheless, let's not divide the two because of their personal differences, after all, both don't seem far too apart from Nunslaughter's aesthetics, and both, as given on this split can hardly be considered mavens of their own distinct uniqueness. TSOS prefers a more meaty crust on their addition to the split, ''Ritual Murder'', deliberately channeling typical early 90's/late 80's death/thrash worship with chunky guitars bashing all the way through the ritualistic, devil-worshiping colostomy. I'll admit, it's hard to break the good old habit of subterranean tremolo patterns laced with a bit of blackened ambiance, but come on, this is something we've heard one too many times - even other side of the split, Sathanas does a better job at keeping the listener constantly awake.

Sathanas basically pushes the whole blackened death/thrash niche a little further, but still hardly enough for it to deviate from the previous effort. It's more of a concoction of classic German and Australian savagery, flesh-stripping and blasting and there's a nice little twist of Norwegian black metal, at least a pinch of what the Scandinavian grande had in store back in the early 90's, early Darkthrone and perhaps early Mayhem; the atmospheric glory of things unfortunately expunged from the simplistic textures. I can safely say, this isn't novelty of any kind. Structural preference is unequivocal, memorability almost non-existent and the energy is only enough to inject a dose of headbanging pleasure that should last no more than fifteen minutes. Nonetheless, this is still a decent collection piece for vinyl freaks, die-hards or goat worshiping thrashers, so they might as well attain this, at their own expense.

Highlight:
Unholy Eternal

Rating: 69%

Wintersun - Time I

After 8 long years, Wintersun has finally returned with part one of their new material, “Time”. I don’t want to dwell on the fact that has been a while since the last album, but I definitely want to talk about the decision to release this as two separate records. Whether or not Jari Mäenpää or Nuclear Blast made the decision, it was the correct one. Simply put, this album is an epic, bombastic affair of keyboards and symphonic atmospheres that is almost too much to handle. 80 minutes of this style of music would be physically draining on the listener, and I say that because even 40 minutes can be quite difficult to fully absorb what is going on. There may be only three full songs on “Time I”, but they are more than enough material to satisfy the listener.

The instrumental opener, “When Time Fades Away”, introduces some new oriental influences toWintersun’s brand of folky melodic death metal. By the time this song is over, you start to understand the transition in sound from the debut to this record. On “Time I” Wintersun uses more clean vocals, keyboards, and melodies. That isn’t to say that every song here is a rehash of “Death and the Healing” from the debut, but there is certainly less speed and intensity on this record. The band definitely embraced the “melodic” part of melodic death metal. “Sons of Winter and Stars” is the first epic and is actually the track that is most similar to the debut album. There are blastbeats and riffs aplenty, and the intensity is kept up throughout the song; however, you will notice the increased use of choirs and clean vocals. The other two lengthy songs are employ similar methods, but are not quite as fast. In fact, one of the most interesting aspects of this album is the huge range of dynamics. There are perfect transitions from huge, heavy death metal moments into quieter acoustic and keyboard driven sections with Jari's clean vocals over top.

My only real complaint on this record is the lack of guitar solos. They do show up (there is some serious shredding going on in the title track), but are generally less frequent and shorter than on the first record. Considering how talented both of these guitarists are, it’s too bad. The musicianship is great, but they don't show off like they did on “Wintersun”. The only major improvement instrument-wise is the great clean vocals by Jari. His singing sounds more confident and powerful than ever before. A second caution with this record is how over-the-top it is. There are numerous layers of instruments, and the band changes tempos and moods quite often. Don’t dismiss this as lacking substance; it definitely takes more than a few listens to enjoy the album, and I’m not even sure it’s fair to review it so quickly after it was released. Don’t overthink this record, just put it in and listen to it often. If you put the time in to appreciate this masterpiece, you will definitely get more out of it than your average album.

Highlights:

Sons Of Winter And Stars

Time

Rating: 90%

Written by Scott Dorfman

Originally written for Skull Fracturing Metal Zine.

Asilo - Geografias/Wardance [Single]

Chugging out queer processions somewhere amid doom, drone, sludge and crust, I did not see Argentina's Asilo coming at me at all. Seriously, the moment I was contacted by the band and was not disappointed with what I heard from this two track single was the moment when hope and expectancy rose to a considerable level once again, and believe me, finding unknown modern gems underneath a bedrock of geniality is something worth being ecstatic about. Motions aside though, let's get on with the real deal here. Asilo, with whatever dwindled, grotesque murk they could muster present us with a third release, after two singles, and obviously the first release I've heard by them. This Argentinian quartet put the pedal to the drone to present with a lugubrious, almost nightmarish upheaval of dissonant bliss, something that fans of Hell, a rather recent blackened drone abomination will rather like.

The single has two songs, a total of nine minutes if you want to measure how long the lumbering inquisition will last. There's a weird twist though, the band has omitted the usage of electric guitars, and in the stead of the gushing voracity of the guitars, you have two bobbing, discomfiting bass lines, channeled and adorned with numerous effects and pedals to ravish the glory of the horrible atmosphere. They've distorted the basses in such a way that their excursions sound almost like clean, reverb-ridden electric guitar trudges, only a deal heavier by nature. Except the brevity, I really couldn't find anything wrong with the release. The opener ''Geografias'' introduces an introspective channel of hazy sludge and stoner/doom, while surpassing typical boundaries with a witty compulsion of monotonous drudgery, the terrific bass line always constant, and discordant, completely ear-gashing flutters of raw production pushing in and out of the aura; the second half of the song encloses the first chapter almost abruptly and indulges the listener in a completely new array of space-y sludge lumbers.

Wardance embraces the crust-like tendencies of the band to a far more diverse extent. The bass lines crawl along a punky passage while primordial ooze spews from their wretched rumbles, and the band completely switches to all-out-attack mode - screams radiating amid screams. The cathartic damage that the two tracks deal are so compulsive that the listener doesn't even mind the turbulence and aural disturbance, making the fluctuation seem completely viscous. And besides the terrific sludge/drone patrols that stalk you constantly throughout nine minutes, Manuel Platino arranges the analog devices and mechanical portions of the music expertly; not to mention his hellish, transient vocal deliveries. Asilo deserves praise for sure. Through the resonant, cave-riddled abyss they drive the listener through, despite the shortness of the experience, torture and pleasure at the same time is granted, guaranteed. In all, one daunting release may not suffice for such contemptuous, ravenous entities as I, but Asilo has built the essentials of a certain miserable grasp that helps it branch away from its fellow counterparts of drone and crust, and I'm overly excited about what torturous hymns they can churn out on their major craving, a planned full-length for 2013; an unavoidable opportunity for them to not only enrich their engrossed, barren content, but also to work out for an even more experimental expenditure on their disheveled aesthetics.

Highlights:
Geografias
Wardance

Rating: 82%

Autolatry - Of The Land

Although I was aware of the presence of Autolatry's EP ''Of The Land'' for some 6-7 months, my acquaintance with immense progressive black metal output only occurred in much more latter days, wherein, I found myself deeply immersed in the almost cavernous fabrications of this woven, compulsive and fibrous complex that immediately brought vivid imagery of winter gloom and stranded desolation in the colorful, semi-mountainous forests of New England whom the band tries so hard to depict. Despite their independent status and the lack of natural pulchritude, Autolatry create a wonderfully entertaining concoction of numerous influences, deploying big portions of each into the mixture, and utilizing the depressive aura of the frigid winter cold, they really release all their potential had in store for us in a single twenty-minute discharge.

While still borrowing some depressive moods to insert into the diverse spectrum of riffs, ''Of The Land'' is particularly dynamic and does not quite give in to simplicity while carrying out these organic, bludgeoning black metal incursions, and it certainly does not rehash previously used techniques while churning the four, fairly lengthy tracks together. Of The Land's most absorbing feature is its successful blend of grainy, deepened atmospheric black metal aesthetics which may clearly scream Immortal, early Emperor and Dissection due the usage of beleaguering onsets of progressive melody, and less prominent progressive black metal elements that seethe through the fibrous dissemination almost perfectly, creating a unique, dazzling, atmospheric, and slightly depressive procession. The guitar tone is enormous but at the same time it's radiant and precise; the band professionally besets listeners with intricate guitar riffing surfing over a gigantic wall of sonic, claustrophobic Norwegian sound waves.

Originality and creativity is not encouraged and is not amiss. On ''Oak'', the group, after about two thirds of the track is complete, breaks into a gorgeous, transient acoustic medley while a dazzling lead dances over the northern lights, depicting the band's desolate journey through the winter woods. Then, further on, ''Stag'' plummets a cluster  of technical intricacies as an immense chugging brute wanders mildly in the subtext. As you may simply understand, Autolatry have created a very nice little black metal album that we can all enjoy thanks to its relative accessibility and dynamic nature, and as if their efforts did not offer enough, the whole is EP is free at the band's bandcamp, so go there now and throw in a few bucks for the unrealized glory of these progressive black metal practitioners and show your support.

Highlights:
Mountain
Snow
Oak

Rating: 84%

Burning Shadows - Gather, Darkness!

It's always to come across new power metal gems whilst reluctantly weeding through heaps of death metal groups, and one of my latest findings is the Maryland heavy/power quartet Burning Shadows, and their sophomore ''Gather, Darkness!''. To be sure, many who first encountered the group might have actually tossed them far off due to multiple reasons: fear of a generic output, dissatisfaction from the debut records, or simply the fact that the band is not tied together with a label might put off the more spoiled of listeners, yet I, from the very start had a burning desire to contemplate the semi-shadowy aesthetics of this war-arousing bulk of a record. There are many reasons why one might have been drawn to this album while still under the encapsulating tenor of agitation, but I'll only be focusing on the content now; so fear not, we have some damnably solid material here.

Musically, the riffs proceed with simple progressions during verse sequences and there's always a strong war-ensemble worship going on; traits that have been obviously snatched from  European power metal legends, Manowar, Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, Helloween and lesser dose of US power metal influences, like Griffin, Fates Warning and Jag Panzer, and the band's biggest talent aesthetically is forming thick layers of multi-riff bombardments and adjoining with those of of a more atmospheric, epic tangent, tightly composed structures balancing the who place. Simplistic melodies are used often enough, adorned with a pummeling percussive rhythm system to keep the swing at full momentum, and furthermore, compositions are near-drowning because the album is basically divided three burdened tracks ranging at over ten minutes each, separated into briefer segments, so there's always the risk of the instrumental parts immersing you into boredom, but surprisingly, culminating with a blast of fresh, dark aura, sturdy performance and solid riffs, banality is hardly the case.

Tom Davy has an incredibly accessible and clear vocal performance the whole way through. His voice supports clarity and no matter how the guitars shift from thrashy plummets to atmospheric, mood-laden melody explosions, his tone implies a certain strictness, very neutral, and thanks to him the band is never driven into a cadaverous stupor, or suffers from the entry of any sort of derision. In spite of the general lack of power metal surreal overdose, Burning Shadows still has a handful of tricks; on ''Man From Myth'', for instance, you have a very epic rupture of darkness pervaded by the lyrics and a very catchy range of riffs to support it, and upon further inspection, you'll find yourself deeply immersed in a saturating, straightforward black metal dispersion, which, when enforced by the dazzling enigma of wah-wah pedal, sounds absolutely captivating.

There are still tons of bands in today's scene which deserve attention, and this four-piece is on of them. Whether you had frivolous fun on the debut or not, if you're into carnal thrash excavations and the beautiful clash of melody against ambiguity, you need to grab a banner from the local medieval items stores, rally your bannerman and lead the battle against whatever evil dwells in your neighborhood, ''Gather, Darkness!'' blasting out of the steroids behind you. Colorful and solemn.

Night, with the darkness falling
Hand of Sathanas reigning down
Upon this coven
Bred in secrecy
To the wrath of God we pledge
Suffering and agony
Blessed by the will to end this tyranny

Highlights:

To Ruin & Divide: Kingdoms Fall

To Ruin & Divide: Man From Myth

A Thousand Lies: A New Dark Age

Braking The Sanctuary: The Infamous Down

Rating: 85%

Humanity Delete - Never Ending Nightmares

The promise of grinding, corpulent Swedish death metal is still quite the appetite for many seeking only bare-bones aggression and simplistic glance at this nefarious sub-genre of death metal, and those who truly enjoy these redundant aesthetics should look no further then 'Rogga' Johansson's countless projects which have now literally thrown the world in  a state of heavy metal imbalance. Rogga's probably served more fuzzy, bulky Dismember-esque death metal more than any other individual artist over the last decade, yet, shamefully, only few of his projects really had an impact on the metal universe; the long-lasting horror-themed Revolting, Paganizer, the almighty Putrevore and a couple more. Amid procession of riffs, Rogga is still able to find time to come up with yet another act, something that people who are not so fervent about the idea of crushing repetition will only condone.

Humanity Delete, like all of Rogga's previous projects (except Putrevore) merely alters the grinding, thrashy kick of Swedish death metal, and ultimately consists of twelve brief grind/death ghouls that rend their way through the basics. Rogga is handling all the instruments on this record, and if I had to comment of his musicianship I would call him a strong, seasoned and potent musician, with probably the largest riff artillery among his fellow Swedish musicians, but in truth, his style is not providing thousands of headbanging fans with anything entirely refreshing, he's only, as mentioned, rehashing these obscene ruptures and presenting them in different colored ribbons, the content same. ''Never Ending Nightmares'' has a slightly stronger grindcore impulse than Rogga's other abominations: the songs are always abridged into 2-3 minute convulsions, the tone is grand and vile, the drums keep the listener bobbing his head wildly no matter the simplicity, Rogga's vocals are his classic type, harsh, bulbous gutturals imbued with a tinge of darkness, and he'll also throw in a few classy leads here and there to make a little bit of change.

''Never Ending Nightmares'' is not a bad album. But we've been spoiled so exclusively to the tenets of similar groups over the decade that it's only natural that we seek for a good deal of contrast, and a relatively good record in the least from Rogga, especially after his nightmarish assembly of riffs on ''Macabre Kingdom'', and sadly, this doesn't offer that huge measure of differentiation. But even so, if ''Clandestine'', ''Like An Everflowing Stream'' or ''Dark Recollections'' are among your top old school death metal releases and you have a frantic kick for modernized, primal brute force, and if you've already encountered half a dozen of Rogga's albums, then I can't see why this won't add up to your repugnant collection. Solid stuff.

Highlights:
The Eight Fire Narakas
Necromantic Sorcery
Dismal Corridors

Rating: 77%