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%

Ataraxy - Revelations Of The Ethereal

Spain has become, over the years, one of the more prominent old school death metal fields worldwide. There seems to be substantial bands popping out during tumultuous bull races, and some have especially proved to be quality acts, Morbid Flesh, Graveyard, Mass Burial and Necroven for example, (not to mention some of the ruling tyrants of war metal Teitanblood and proclamation), and its densely threaded web is only growing denser. The simple truth about Ataraxy is that the moment I was acquainted with them, I knew I would like them. How? The brilliantly drawn cover suggests a semi-epic surge of atmospheric convulsion, and so does the album title, bearing a charismatic and almost subconscious surge of infinity, thus the music produced is an almost exact copy of the album art itself.

I have to emphasize on the cover one last time because I really, really like it; it heavily resembles Horrendous' self titled album, or Necrovation's self titled record, taking on the same ephemeral hue, and moreover, the album feels as if you're floating over some immersing dense liquid, swooshing and fluttering slowly, steadily. The mesmerizing atmospheric beauty of Horrendous meets Asphyx and it ripens in cauldron of Finnish macabre, infusing into a sort of dark, somber orchestration. These Finnish tendencies of course know when to froth and blast into dominant outburst, and besides its doom laden outputs and crunchy Finnish overtone, Ataraxy has a brilliant subtext of heavy fucking Swedish death metal; which especially fascinating because until now, nearly the entire catalog of Swedeath gimmicks had a subtext of contrast, and even sometimes, no contrast to revitalize their artillery, but the Spanish prove to be crudely antithetic somehow, ending up as the caveman yet still managing to become the exemplary specimen.

The production is somewhat terrific. I don't why I actually felt awe-stricken about it, and I definitely prefer a dark, less radiant production qualities over semi-atmospheric ones, but the production on ''Revelations Of The Ethereal is cavernous yet cleansed of impurity, and it supports the heaving momentous burden of the drip-drop trudges linked together, becoming ultimately rich and quite engrossing. The band certainly loves starting tracks off with ominous drudgery, first heaving a hefty body out of the bed as if awakening from a thousand-year slumber, them focusing on a more dynamic sound, and eventually bursting into blazing tremolo incursions. And as if the artillery weren't sufficient to keep the ears pulsing and bleeding, we also have a collision of sounds reminiscent of a demon raping Martin van Drunen and Chuck Shuldiner both, something that I will pitifully dub as ''vocals''. Overall, this entire output is just short of excellence. If you ever want to free yourself from the merciless incarceration of these retro death metal bands, take a brief forty-four minute voyage upon this ghastly little boat and sail out to find the obscurities of life, set sail towards Ataraxy.

Highlights:
Ominous Putrefied Ground
Demons Of The Storm
Ceremonial Storm

Rating: 88%

Proclamation - Nether Tombs Of Abaddon

Right next to Revenge, another one of my top war metal acts of today are the Spaniards Proclamation. In fact, it would be safe to say that I enjoy them slightly more than the vile Canadian act, as releases like ''Messiah Of Darkness And Impurity'' are easily my favorite bestial black metal albums. ''Nether Tombs Of Abaddon'', though, feels like a much more standard affair due to its sublime predictability and and its canned brand of chaos, simply engaging the listener brutally and pasting the same sound found on the previous releases on top of a muffled, distorted texture. I'm not going to say it was boring all the time, because it surely wasn't, but variation and liveliness was not at its climax, so if Proclamation plan on staying installed to their throne, they had better think of something much more moving, and diverse.

There are many ambient choirs and short sound tracks dispersed around several tracks as a need to buy some time I suppose. Just like many albums who fail to deliver some spiking, vivacious crust, the first few tracks of this album sound as deadly and as lively as the previous albums, but no fire blazes forever, and the flames of ''Nether Tombs'' are rather futile and within a short period of time, they extinguish. The downright simplicity and half-living outbursts of chaos are nothing new to me, and within a few deathly incursions, they fade away and crumble into dust. Well, almost dust. Even that rich, saturated tone of fullness doesn't tend to affect the ability of the riffs positively, but after the mark of futility has been set, the album pretty much travels in that same sense for its entire duration.I suppose I can grant a few points for the desecrating attacks of chaotic chords and scattered notes, flying, diving and crawling onto each other, but I can't get too avid even when the violent, churning chord strums are pungent with pious evil.

The vocals are not as dissonant as I anticipated, and their well done in a blasphemously raspy matter. The drumming is just as fine, flourished with some additional cymbal abuses and plenty of blast beats, which is by no means something new. I would have enjoyed the music more if the riffs were more cantankerous and challenging, to fit the music better, but at least they're morose and downright evil, so the album still reaches for a level above average, but never too high. On this album, Proclamation were far from their best. If they had concentrated more on the passionate evil and had worked more on the details instead of spurting out simplistic chaos and plain anger, then I would have enjoyed ''Nether Tombs Of Abaddon'' more. Nonetheless, still a solid effort with decent consistency and a crushing array of black metal dozed death metal riffs, even if it's not for everyone.

Highlights:
Psalms Of Mortification
Regurgitated Bibles


Rating: 73%

Mass Burial-Of Carrion And Pestilence

Much like their fellow countrymen Graveyard, Mass Burial play some of the most widespread styles currently present; Swedeath. The direction leans and focuses on pure old school Swedeath, played in a very similar vein to masterpieces like ''Like And Everflowing Stream'' or ''Left Hand Path'', but trimmed and cropped so that the simplicity of the riffs is may be displayed with ease. Old school and brutal this may be, but if you are not in a voracious binge fro Swedeath, the simplicity and plain sound may put you off easily. Fortunately, I have always been a die-hard fan of the scene and have bared too much of this style to give up on it now, especially when we're talking about such a good example of the ancient stylings. Pulversing and velocious is the perfect description for ''Of Carrion and Pestilence'' yet the band can't give the same archaic, rotting sound that may Swedeath metallers perfect add chunks of into their music.

The riffs are definetely there, crushing an oppressive as ever and never failing to enable a good head bang. The fact that the album delves into even more primal stylings actually caught my interest, since the riffs are quite thrashy and of course ultimately distorted and mangled with fuzzy guitar tone, like a crazed electric chainsaw, ripping and shredding a man's guts and belly like a spastic maniac. The riffs are indulged in the guitar tone, and they thrust themselves into the listeners ears every single time, creating a battering impact, both sharp and bluntly archaic. Now these kinds of riffs have obviously been played over and over again, and they are absolutely nothing groundbraking, in fact it wouldn't be wrong to say that they are a bit too simplistic, but efficient blows always strike me hard, and leave some severe scars. With the structures adn repetetive patterns also pervasive, the feeling that the band tries to do something to uniquely decorate or boast the quality of the album comes and goes often but unfortunately their desperate attempt to experiment through more complex sounds or styles fail for the most part, putting the war of originality to conclusion rather shortly.

One thing that offers some change and ingenuity is the relatively frequent usage of solos, and I'm only saying they're frequnetly used because many bands these days almost never go down their frets and play some cool leads, especially black or death metal bands. Anyway, the solos as you would understand are nothing worth some serious attention, they're not virtuosic shreds or anything, but are simple brooding, haunted melodies obviously used to emphasize the shrunk amount of atmosphere on the album. Even so, the leads are barely sufficient, and are almost of no use. The primal savagery of the album is there, along with a tinging old school feel, but the atmopshere fails to go above basic standards every time, and that sucks for sure. Though it was obvious that the band failed in  ambience from the start, due to the clean atmopshere and rather vigorous incursions that assaulted the listener quite commonly. The vocals provide some quality, with their echoing and tremolous tone and guttural barks. I'm just glad that most of the music carries vivid resemblance to the music of their forefathers.

Even though ''Of Carrion and Pestilence'' is was a enjoyable listen, even I have my boundaries, boundaries which indicate that too much derivation can never reach collosal heights. Crushing and delivering the music like a chainsaw, this album is just pure primitive brutality and nothing more. I had a number of gaps, in which the most important one is the lack of brooding atmosphere, but it could still last a while. I am ascertain that noone one will gape in bewilderment when they listen to this album, but the one who worship the sound that it attains, will have a headbanging feast.

Highlights:
T.T.T.R
Rotten Rise Again
Intense Genital Punishment

Rating: 84%