Embrional - The Devil Inside [2015]

Polish death metal trope Embrional put out a fairly impressive debut with 2012's ''Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors'' which was arguably among the 'better' offerings of brutal or technical death metal that came out that year, even though stylistically the Poles possess a whim that doesn't quite fit either camp. Of course we can all thank fuck for the Polish scene smothering and festooning us with quality upon quality of neck-braking excursions of death metal, be it Vader, Behemoth's latest, Lost Soul, Decapitated or the less know Deivos, and also for the fact that Embrional hasn't gone astray after the success of their debut. A reasonably unctuous nod at both the old and the new school, ''The Devil Inside'' keeps the pace of its predecessor, with all its mechanized devilry and didactic, old school-oriented precision, though it may have also left me in some degree of dismay along the way while failing to excavate anything novel on the way...

In other words, the gratifying suspense and novelty of the debut has somewhat faded with the sophomore, naturally of course, but you'd think that the Poles would have carved a fresher niche in 3 years for the whole serving. This is grotesque, intense proto-brutal death metal which I imagine garners much of its aesthetics from the Floridian scene of the 90's, as it's very reminiscent of Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Hate Eternal, but with also the beckoning, thrashy technicality of Pestilence or Cynic if I had to take it to such a degree, yet the Poles masterfully retain the primal, urban grime that had made their debut such a cankered cake feast for me in the first place, with enough smudge, distortion and bizarrely spidery riff patterns to creep out even more resilient ears. At the same time, the Poles are certainly never 'brutal' to the extent that I'd equate them with the heavier material of Corpse, even though I highly doubt they weren't influenced by the creeping monstrosity of some of the riffs on ''Bloodthirst''. Surgical but never unnecessarily bombastic or overloaded with worn down chugs or insipid, soulless guitar sweeps and wankery, I love that there is still a sense of trauma and suspense to this record almost as much as there was to the debut, like an industrial anthem empowering cannibalistic corpses from their maggot-infested cemetery.

The vocals are always there, a sinister growl that certainly feels more capaciously evil and absorbing than most forced cookie monster growls, and it helps that every aspect of the music gets a fair share in the mix so that the guitars aren't up front and the drums actually have an earthen texture to them despite being quite impressive, so that they don't sound like mechanized cinder blocks pounding your ear drums vociferously; the graven mantra of a mid 90's death metal record can be traced here if carefully listened through, even if the production have values have a naturally high ramp to them. Yet the debut was far from perfect to begin with. There are hindrances here that unfortunately don't go unheard, such as the lack of depth in the riff-craft. All told, I do love the kind of clinical yet caustic riffing the Poles propagate, yet at the same time I couldn't help but feel that they were somewhat worn out in that department since there wasn't a whole lot of variety between the tremolos, the death/thrashing breakdowns and the more mechanical pickings. ''The Devil Inside'' is an uncouth human grater, efficient and consistently enjoyable, but it's a grater gone a tad rusty, especially after 2-3 spins. Nevertheless, besides that, as well as the utterly disposable and clumsily named ''Whores, Drugs and Brain Dead'', with such great tracks as ''Evil's Mucus'', or the vorpal ''Callousness'', this is a veritable slaughterhouse of culinary hypnosis and mathematical nightmares which fans of carnal death metal, old and new alike, ought not miss.

Highlights:
Evil's Muckus
The Abyss
Callousness

Rating: 75% 

Ketha - #​!​%​16​.​7 (Ep) [2015]

I've not ventured as far deep into this Ep as to understand the meaning behind its affably ungrammatical title, or the artistic nihilism behind the geometric anomaly of the cover art, a full-fledged banner of abstruse, almost kaleidoscopic triangles painted chrome-metal black, but judging by the nightmarish and unique penumbra offered by the music itself, I imagine there is some sort of vague, even philosophical statement about the conceptual preferences of these unfrazed Poles which have come to produce the second most inventive metal experience I've heard thus far in 2015 (first place goes to Solefald's latest). Certainly when you thought you couldn't devote another second to anything Meshuggah-related, these Poles come to seize the day with music more irrationally addictive than the title itself, a masterful performance straddling the straits of death, progressive, avatgarde, jazz, groove and 'math' metal for a price that's cheaper than a pack of cigarettes (€2, yo!) and a run-time that'll be over before you've even had your third fag.

Grooves. With a capital fucking 'G'. Ketha's got 'em, and they're not afraid to use the methodical precision of surgical math metal impetus is certainly immensely riveting, as they're played with spectacular staccato grooves during some of the more percussive moments of the Ep, something of a progressive metal fixation, or just on a more atmospheric basis when they're hoovering above the vocals. Songs like ''Multiverse'' or ''K-boom'' explode with such incendiary tempo patterns and hooking chords and mutes that they make comparisons to Meshuggah at once irresistible and equally difficult because the momentum here is something far more avantgarde in nature. The slugfest of rhythm guitars and bedecked with spiraling, dizzying segments of queer melody and effect-laden lead guitars, but there is an even more compelling feast of sounds and atmospherics manifested through the saxophones which blare vociferously throughout the Ep. The command of the sax over the groundwork is just huge; there is more to them than just arbitrary appearances like on a lot records as they display clear pungency for the majority of the disk, providing some of the best jazzy dissonance you'll hear anytime.

Guitar effects are certainly high in supply, with anything from the convulsive wah-wahs of ''Airdag'' to the fading, algebraic lead riff of the 36 second track ''3C 273'', but pianos, electronic influences, sheer industrialized punishment, saxes, rowdy radio voice-overs and trumpets are exerted at such rates of variety and unabashed playfulness that the Ep reaches Mr. Bungle levels of eccentricity, or CSSABA levels of tension, and that's no easy feat. The tracks are ridiculously short, the longest one being some two and a half minutes and the others ranging typically below the 1-minute mark, and they flow into each other like a meticulously adjoined potpourri of musical freakishness. And yet what a well-rounded offering it is... vocalist Maciej Janas appears occasionally, and harnesses the power of both deep death metal growls and some more distinguished, individual inflections that disperse themselves across the record at his will. And if you're asking about the drums; they're equally impressive, with enough fills and tenacity as any high-brow jazz performance.

12 tracks, each unique, and it's only fucking fault that it's too damn short. And like all other beautiful things, ''#​!​%​16​.​7'' ends up biting its tail much too prematurely. Forget any other musical reservation you've made in recent times and purchase this, since your planned purchases are likely to be dross anyway. Tension. Trauma. Unprecedented, wallowing Lovecraftian evil in the form of the architectural aberrations witnessed by Arctic explorers in At The Mountains of Madness. Ketha don't care if you like Meshuggah or not, and they care less about your lighthearted opinions. There is evil abound; our only reconciliation is to fight evil with evil.

Highlights:
K-boom
Multiverse
The Sounderiad
Crink Crank


Rating: 88%

Deivos - Theodicy [2015]

Poland has proven over and over again that it simply will not endure a lag in the standards of its death metal. The country has, beyond the universal acceptance of Vader and Behemoth, housed a myriad explosive death metal acts trenchant in some of the most brutal, hammering trends the 21st century has yet to offer, displaying skill, technicality and pulverization on all grinding fours with bands like Lost Soul, Decapitation, Calm Hatchery, and most lately, Deivos, whose 2010 opus ''Gospel of Maggots'' blew me straight out of the water for the phenomenal cultivation of this stylized form of sonic smashing that it was. Naturally I found such a dynamic compendium of brutality as a fresh breath of air from the humdrum of other death metal banalities in the business. Come 2015, though, I was excited for a new wave of shattering guitars, but the result was not exactly what I had in mind...

...that's to say the Poles' latest ''Theodicy'' isn't a far shout from its predecessors, and there I certainly cannot voice any complaints, but it didn't instill me the extent that the sophomore did either. All of a sudden these benefactors of brutality have turned oddly... metallic. They always bore some impregnably systematic sound to their bashing guitars and non-stop drumming, but hell, even the cover art's morphed from a beautiful portrayal of their music with vividly insane color palettes and artistic rapture to some grey and dry dust bowl with skeletal goat horns and an equally uninteresting title font. I'm not one to evaluate art, but that shit looks like they had to borrow an amateur artist the last second or had to design the cover themselves (the latter is more reassuring). Either way,  everything about this record is up for the brutal/technical contingency, except for the dynamics. As always, the riffs are abundant and crushing, a slew of hammering torpedoes and lethal chords and tremolos coming right at the listener's ear drums like riffs taking off the maw of a motherfucking whale. That's how heavy this is. Unfortunately, the Poles can't reconcile the blandness of the texture with 39 minutes of mindless fisting.

''Theodicy'' stores nothing of genuine, hooking worth except perhaps the shock value of the riffs, which admittedly, even at this dry stage, are staggeringly well constructed, proggy but punishing mutes delivered in staccatos, spiked with pinch harmonics here and there. The band somehow tries to flavor their sound with oddly dissatisfying, yet thankfully short experiments which generally create an overriding industrial motif. There are clinks and clicks, odd buzzes, but the listener is completely unaware of their destination and purpose, (so too is the reviewer) and some of these quaint ambient sounds like those at the end of ''Amor Sui'' are decidedly taken from the sound of a train just before leaving. This isn't a train station dammit! It's a fucking death metal record! I am grateful for some individual riffs which grappled my attention, and the vocal delivery of Angelfuck is not bad, if anything, preserving the 'death' in death metal in a record which I felt had run its course by the time I had spun it the third time.

Is Deivos skiving its duty? How come ''Theodicy'' didn't rule like its precursors? The answer may be startlingly anticlimactic, but it's probably no surprise that the Poles ran out of fuel after ''Demiurge of the Void'' and ''Gospel of Maggots'', but that's not to say it's a terrible record, in fact it can still kick some ass on rare occasions(the bass lines on ''Parasite'' stand out rather marvelously), and some serious ass provided you're one to drool all over this musical niche in particular, and it's definitely still undiluted Polish death metal with its roots in the best sort, but I'd rather bang my head to some Vader or Decapitation and immerse myself in a wonderfully sonorous clusterfuck.

Highlights:
Parasite
El Shaddai

Rating: 57,5%

Vader - Tibi Et Igni [2014]

And the flame returns.

A mere 3 years after their stunning, colossal, infinitely propulsive masterwork and offering to the Morbid Reich, Vader, the heralds and bannermen of the Polish death metal expand their retinue further, thereby installing themselves as the irrefutable kings of the scene. ''Welcome To The Morbid Reich'', I believe opened new fissures and gates for the genre at large. Showing that grueling on technical riffs or bashing out riffs like ignorant neanderthals wasn't the way to serve death metal justice; by finding the perfect, clinical yet buttery texture, the enduring cohesion and the years of experience Vader proof-read the deficiencies of all its peers splendidly. Yet as much as a victory that record was and a brilliant home run for 2011, your elation naturally disperses pretty quickly knowing it would be something of a mission impossible for Vader to strike a score as flawless as that one. Sure enough, ''Tibi Et Igni'', the band's first record with a Polish moniker, gushes out of the band's womb with not just the shadow of an elder brother, but with the pressure of insatiable curiosity and expectancy which the metal community has been harboring eagerly ever since 2011. So for the critical question: does Vader live up to the hype? Does Peter's outlaws of brutality ace the test?

The answer is, to be sure, a little complicated. As a parvenu of a band, with its humble origins as deeply rooted to as far as the 80's, Vader compels attention not just with its startling set of records, but also with its consistency, being one of the very few bands - in all of metal - to have actually released to many albums without falling shy of quality even in the least desirable efforts; so no matter what they do, after this point you know they're going to do it good. It's the classic forger's mentality, see. The more you work on the anvil, the better your craft becomes, and after a certain level you become proficient enough possess the inability to go down again. Hence, ''Tibi Et Igni''. To cut a long story short, Vader is awesome as always on this record, with its atypical stools of aggression and unchained hostility channeling an excellent level of durability and control, which is what they''re renowned for, after all. On the surface the riffing, the efficacious, infallible riffing that death/thrash maniacs salivate for, seems peerless. Yet as the listener delves deeper into the volcanic, explosive edifice of the record, some of the axioms about bands ''not being able to live up to their potential'' kick in and the gears start turning. Yet this is merely to say that ''Tibi Et Igni'' is not on par with its predecessor, and the latter was an indomitable record. So why the sullen face?

Contrary to a myriad of other bands, the drop of quality does not amount to something big with Vader. In fact, I almost snapped as many neck limbs on this album as the previous. And have no doubt about it; this record is a non-stop session of modern death metal meeting with uncircumcised, skinless thrash at its virtual best. Huge stompers. Megalithic riffing. Vader's style hasn't varied much, so there's still a metric ton of Slayer, early Death, Brutality, early Corpse and Morbid Angel in there, but Vader also elicits listener's with pummeling tunes that might just have been penned by some of their countrymen, like Decapitated, Hate or Lost Soul. In a boundless amalgamation of modern and antique excellence, Vader once more presents the unique Polish death metal sound with everything that is to brag about it. Whirling, majestic tremolos that crash through like serpents smoldering in fire, or some frenetic Ouroboros slithering unscathed, and there's a fair amount of technicality in the riffs that helps create some variation from time to time. And the leads. Those sweet, wondrous leads that seep through the record like molten gold. Perhaps what makes every Vader record so satisfying is that they're superb musicians, and that's not just say that the guitarists know their way around the ropes. The drums are terrific, clean, punchy and muscular, with plenty of machine-gun fills and double-bass plodding, and I don't even need to mention Peter's unmatched vocals, which, as the product of their unique vocal voltage and strangely appealing foreign accent serve the music splendidly. Peter will occasionally pull off a Deicide, infusing his guttural inflection with a wretched, snaring duplicate.

But those accustomed to ''Welcome To The Morbid Reich'' will find few novelties to behold. All of this; the pummeling discourse of guitars and paunchy drums,  the turbulent manifests of tremolos, the atmosphere of pure evil and sinister genius, and Peter's inflection are no surprises to the Vader listener. What does perhaps garner attention as a refreshment is Vader's explicit use of orchestral soundscapes and dreary ambient effects, which, despite being occasionally wrapped around a few of the tracks on the previous albums, have grown larger and bolder in scope and experimentation. We're talking huge synthesizers and howling winds, adding up to a downright imperial philharmonic upsurge of sound. Indeed, though not particularly renowned for their atmospheric tendencies, Vader can at times conjure the sensation of looking down from Sauron's tower to a gaping vortex of shadow and fire. This even works when the orchestration heaves along some of the heavier chugging complexes, but unfortunately much of the heavy onslaughts undermine the atmospheric quality of the album. Translation: if you're one for the aura, go grab a black metal album and try to keep away. Still, with tracks like ''The Eye of the Abyss'' or ''Hexenkessel'', one way or another any fan of death/thrash will succumb to majesty of the album; and I'm not even including the melodious, doleful death/doom masterpiece ''The End'' which pulls the curtains on the album and leaves you with an ear half demolished and half longing for more.

I admit that my first impression was not a very positive one. But that comes from the fact that, all told, ''Welcome...'' was beyond a superb record. It rocked and shook the earth and splintered its center to raise hell. Then all hell let loose. Yet quality-wise the main reason why ''Tibi Et Igni'' doesn't rock as hard as the previous record is that the Poles are playing it relatively safe. Very few innovations, except maybe an added speed/thrash current, make the record adherent to the safe zone. In their universal appeal both records are, to me, well-night equal in their masterful balance of brutality and brilliance, both smashing homages to the Floridian death metal scene and the primeval, rudimentary flourishes of the Polish death metal scene.Yet because we've all heard ''Welcome...'', ''Tibi Et Igni'' feels somewhat... drowned out. But it's still a sweltering wet dream for any death metal collector of die-hard Vader fan. So yeah, do believe the hype (if there's any) and purchase this record immediately. Reign, annihilate, Vader. Rinse and repeat.

Highlights:
Hexenkessel
The Eye of the Abyss
Go To Hell
The End
Abandon All Hope

Rating: 88,5%

Behemoth - The Satanist [2014]

Behemoth is a name that every metalhead out there ought to be familiar with, even though (like me) the negligence of their overpraised backlog may to some seem like the right thing to do; and rightfully so: these Poles are celebrated for pretty much initiating the Polish black metal scene, and being allegedly the best - a statement whose latter part is quite difficult for me to accept. Their extremity then sort of redefined itself in the 21st century with the intrusive entrance of death metal into their influences, forming an amalgamation of their previous, run-off-the-mill Scandinavian sound and brutal death metal mostly in the tradition of their countrymen Decapitation. The band's last output, ''Evangelion'' was not the strongest piece in their discography. Now, after almost five years, hampered by Nergal's unfortunate cancer (and other problems I imagine they faced) the Poles are back, and with almost the entirety of the metal universe eyeing them in eager, almost rapacious expectation; and I don't know if it's the long years our plunge into a fresh decade, but the Poles have completely transformed, carrying the promise of a metamorphosis so immense that it managed to the elicit the attention of even this great scoffer...

To be honest, the change is not entirely an unanticipated one. It's only the consternation a reviewer suffers from so many overrated releases which turn out to be absolute crap that makes him so weary to give ''The Satanist'', the trio's masterful 10th full-length, a proper chance. Before actually mustering the endurance to bear the ill-surmised fragility of the album, I think I was subconsciously aware that the album was in some way superior to its predecessors. This, no doubt, owed to the artistic approach I saw in the cover art. On the other hand, the title seems almost ridiculous; the culmination of everything the black metal genre has ever striven for in one majestic, desultorily release? Oh yes indeed, because ''The Satanist'' is just un-fucking-believable. Perhaps ''Evangelion'' was a nice, steady step forward in the band's career, but this just abolishes everything the band has ever put out; an almost ultramundane current of dizzying carnality and atmospheric impressionism impregnating the untold listener like a slew of celestial demons rupturing forth from the universe's ungodly core - to compare the distance the band made with this to that of its predecessor would be like comparing the idle jump of your neighbor's cat from a tree to the astral leap of a starlit meteor through the expanses of our meager solar system into the eternal vistas of a new galaxy, a new time...

The change goes far beyond certain musical alterations: the conceptual and visual divinity that the trio is trying to portray is just phenomenal. Sure, no outward image of a band can be taken with absolute seriousness as far as black metal goes (even if they're burning churches) but they've taken the idea of satanism to a whole new level with ''The Satanist'', which is just one good reason among a myriad others why it shouldn't be overlooked. Though Behemoth is an established group by now, with a certain distinct sound flowing steadily in their veins, the material required to attain such a metaphysical level of musical progress is no small amount, and one can easily nod at some obvious influences. In general, the Poles seem to have played in the liking of Antediluvian, Mitochondrion, Teitanblood and Morbid Angel even, but there's so much infatuation with orchestral, epic reverberations that I am unabashedly going to add Septic Flesh's recent output into the list as well. Perhaps ''The Satanist'' is slow to permeate its influences, having the attitude of mercurial tempo-changing throughout its course; constantly shifting between savage, unbridled currents of black/death tremolos, more pacy verse riffs and a slower, trudging blanketing of funereal, subterranean might. The dense focus of the guitars immediately create an aura of chaos and uncertainty, but their layered rows of percussive filtering are delivered with surprising clarity. The drums form a punchy, balanced and at times terrific dialect between the walls of sound, the bass is fluent, and the trio is certainly not refraining from throwing in a few synthesizers or even saxes in there (''The Absence ov Light''). Nergal's roar is of course undaunted and huge, unwavering in its divine guttural attacks.

The use of dispersing chords is a well-used aspect of the album that permeates through the beginning or endings, or simply the more droning moments of the album. Tremolos are more than abundant; they spread through the album's veins like lethal poison. What makes ''The Satanist'' special is perhaps the appreciation of epic, almost mournful guitar passages that intertwine with choruses for maximum impact, which, surely enough, works splendidly, especially if we take something like the stellar ''Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer'' into account. And perhaps beyond having memorable guitar riffs, ''The Satanist'' gets its quality from having so many memorable moments in general. Instrumentation might constitute for an important part of memorability, but one has to consider all aspects at hand, and illuminate them with utmost musical acumen in order to achieve true quality. Though this concept is not embraced in full-ease with ''The Satanist'', for a record that relies on the heaviness of its riffs and the ritualistic convolution they create, it has an excellent armada of such moments, ranging from the chorus of ''Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer'', the haunting progressions of the title track and the indisputable awesomeness of ''O Father O Sun O Satan!'', easily the best song I've heard in 2014 thus far.There's even an inclusion of oriental melodies on ''Ben Sahar'', but the overall use of such sounds otherwise is scarce. Behemoth's strain ultimately births a manifest of majestic darkness, with glimpses of wonderful sunlight here and there. And to think, can they get any better? Well. the poetic tone of their lyrics is such that would have made Dante proud:

Voice ov an aeon
Angelus Satani
Ora pro nobis Lucifer
You alone have suffered
The fall and torment ov shame
I'll smite heaven's golden pride
And never pity thee
Immaculate divine
Satan ov Elohim
None dare stand in your way
Thou bow to none
Ov Eden's feculence
Conjure the serpent messenger
Saviour (order in) world's decay
Concord in temptation
And in the fall ov Eve

For Thine is the kingdom
And the power...
And the glory...
Forever!

Behemoth has probably achieved their greatest feat. I doubt that they'll top ''The Satanist'', but as this seems like a new epoch for their career, there is always the possibility that an even better culmination point will be created. The reason I complain about it is because there is, even though the overall presentation was superb, a very slight exasperation, one what makes the album shy of attaining perfection. I don't really have a definition for the immaculate atmospheric death metal album (Septic Flesh came really close with their last two offerings) but I do know that despite everything Behemoth is a tad behind it. I would have preferred a little more vitality in  some of the slower moments. This is always going to be the case with excellent albums: all but a few songs will be perfect demonstrations, and those songs will drown the others out. Fortunately, the caveat can be easily ignored, considering the alteration the trio went with ''The Satanist'' - all I can say is that any fan of death metal ought to give this a try. And if they don't like it, then you could just stop giving a fuck about other people and just cuddle like a newborn baby and listen to this until your ears plead for Satan to redeem them. Because I do not possess the dexterity to get my hands off this fucking monster.

Highlights:
Ben Sahar
The Satanist
Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer
O Father O Satan O Sun!

Rating: 90%

Cultes Des Ghoules - Henbane [2013]

We've certainly been exposed to more horror-themed metal bands than we can count, not just in past few years but over the course of metal's lengthy 40 year history, ranging from Alice Cooper (not really metal, I know) to Necrophagia to newer exports like Negative Plane, but very few bands from this massed tenor actually succeeding in their conquest of horror. The problem lies not in their lack of musical skills or egregiously erratic preferences in structure or techniques, but their bland and one-dimensional perspective on the whole situation - their lack of detail, proper fervor and innovation - which ultimately create impediments for the construction of a virtually horrific and striking midnight experience. There are tenacious masters who still successfully thrive in this particular field - Antediluvian coming to mind at first - but even these acts have started to corrupt the utterly discomfiting omnipresence of horror in their sound, exploring less deep or less engrossing subjects for the sake of deviating from a topic, a theme that very few has struck the bull's eye at. The rest of the so called ''horror-themed'' metal bands have lost their touch long ago, inflicting cheesy 80's horror vibes at their laughing audience, not knowing, possible, that they are actually giving them more of a thrill than a fright.

Has horror metal not had success in a long time? Certainly, recent acts like Aevangelist, Negative Plane or Head Of The Demon have purveyed fear in a much denser and ingenious form than I would have expected, however, perhaps the absolute horror master of the last decade, or, I daresay, the last 20 years, has to be the latest offering of Polish sadists Cultes Des Ghoules, ''Henbane''. In an outstanding succession, the Poles have jumped not one but several giant steps from their debut, ''Haxan'', which, despite not being appalling, was still just another face in the crowd amid an army of eager old-school black-metal rehash maniacs. ''Henbane'' truly leaped out of nowhere and clawed me into the darkness. It merely guided me towards an unprecedented darkness, it smothered me with such ostentatious debilitation that the shreds and burnt pieces of flesh that came from my body simply entered a disheartening abyss that literally sucked the light out of me. Essentially a composite of proto-black metal and voracious bestial black/death that Blasphemy or Archgoat fans should love to endure, ''Henbane'' is so richly filtered with ideas, innovations and coherent thematic representations that it's nearly impossible not to be wallowed in by it, let alone breathe sanely while suffering it.

The guitars are sodden with a wonderful crunch that's somewhat reminiscent of the traditional Swedish death metal guitar punch taken to a lighter and more flexible edge when they are enraged, and the riffs themselves are actually quite technical and cleverly penned. As tracks like ''The Devil Intimate'' flow with smoldering pretense, it becomes noticeable that Cultes Des Ghoules actually enjoy to plod along with doom-like mannerisms, keeping the speed constant and mid-paced for the most part, and giving that old school doom metal feel. Of course, it's obvious that ''Henbane'' is so much more than the actual riffs. It's demented, deranged atmosphere comes from the presence of an unknown aura that somehow seeps from the raw material of the guitars and forms this horrifically delectable texture that's always there, but you only seem to realize its existence only when the album has finally concluded and when the shadow has been lifted. Vocalist Mark of the Devil's vocal complex is unlike anything I've ever heard; he effortlessly shifts from daunting, frigid black metal rasps to more guttural snarls to even throatier barks that undeniably sound like Freddy Krueger screaming his ass of in an abandoned corner of Elm Street - his inflections are vaguer than you you'd imagine, but for the one who suffers the nightmare that is ''Henbane'', they are as vivid as the puzzling gloom of the cover art.

In many ways, the entwining of the messed up vocals and the beautifully distorted guitar riffs sound like Charon's ''Sulphur Seraph'' with a more grotesque vision of reality. To add to the atmosphere, ''Henbane'' has in store a wide range of instruments of torture, my favorite being the creeping, crawling acoustic guitar sections that are randomly distributed along the album; nightmarish guitar sequences which resonate through the echoing cervix of the album. Amongst others, you'll also find ambient passages aplenty, organ medleys, and bleak periods of absolute emptiness where you're left to realize the pull competence of the album's horror infliction. ''A Passion Of A Sorceress'' was for me the wildest tune in the entire record, a feral discharge of cadaverous, spiking black metal tremolos and chords eventually coupling with a ritualistic image of a witch burning at the stake. ''Vintage Black Magic'' explores the sheer depths of Portal-esque black/death insanity with terrifying ululations of absurd creatures howling as the album sways with a steady, trudging groove. Cultes Des Ghoules neared perfection with ''Henbane''. It does not reflect the imageries of something as cosmic and godly as Lovecraft as many people would imagine, but something far more down-to-earth, with just five tracks at 60 minutes, imagine replacing the unnerving classical feasts on Nosferatu with a wholesome helping of this... Or perhaps just form in your mind the soundtrack of a combustive, utterly sentient ceremony of Aztec jaguar-priests ripping the heart out of a living victim. Imagine the torture. Imagine the horror. That is ''Henbane'', a true compendium of the black arts. And all you have to do to feel it is to acquire it.

Highlights:
Vintage Black Magic
Idylls Of The Chosen Damned
The Devil Intimate

Rating: 94%

Ulcer - Grant Us Death [2013]

Despite their morph into more trendy brutal death metal composites over the turn of the 20th century, the bands coming out of the Polish death metal scene (Behemoth excluded) remain some of my favorites even to this day, and they certainly dominate the current legions of brutality thanks to the upsurge of Decapitation, Vader and an abundance of fresher acts which do not refrain from complete and obsolete obliteration. Thus, Pulverized Records introduced me to one of the youngest acts to come out of the debris, Ulcer, yet the aim of the Polish is clearly not to represent their national pride musically, but to call for a homage to those of Sweden, unarguably drawing their sole influences from Entombed, Dismember, Grave, Carnage, etc. It's harrowing to be drowned in myriads of libations to the same chainsaw-wielding gods, and what's further frustrating that Ulcer don't intend of circumventing their own passing of sustenance for the megalithic heart that pulses for the aforementioned mavens, because ''Grant Us Death'' could have easily been one of Rogga Johansson's prolific explorations into the beleaguered sub-genre.

Yes, I was indeed disappointed by the overall results of this record, and if I had to put it simply; if you've already had your fair share of buzzsaw gnawing and Swedish butchery, then this will get you absolutely nowhere new, which means another terrific cover art has been used up, for nothing. And thus, we enter ''Grant Us Death''. This is standard procedure for any Swede, but I was at least somewhat content by the band's overall quality; Ulcer proceeds to play everything by the book, and by the utmost extents, at that. The Poles have no mercy here, everything is Swedish to the bone; there's a mangled, distorted slough of a tone that tumultuously swipes over a regurgitated landscape of rotten bones, grime and putrid blood with a massive slew of heavy-as-fuck riffs to bear it, and despite the genuine redundancy of the whole thing Ulcer can still manage to bind hefty death/thrash paroxysms with d-beat driven death/grind formations and the occasional oozing melody patterns slinking over the broiling carnage during chorus sections to surface the entire momentum of the record into a more spacious, almost atmospheric climax.

Angelfuck's vocals are thicker than most vocalists exhibiting similar inflections, and while nothing of a novelty, he can rise to more high-pitched notes on more atmospherically imbued affairs like ''The Pact'' and then once again submerge into a more cavernous, harsh growl that blends well with the vortex of of explosions caused by the guitars, all complements of LucaSS and Mścisław, two hazardously raged musicians who've had their share of bloodied axes in a number of entities including the black metallers Blaze Of Perdition. Nothing is more evident than the fact that ''Grant Us Death'' was made for the mosh pit, with its crudely arranged riffs, its ravenous attitude, but I couldn't help but notice the group was, perhaps, vaguely experimenting with more aural, cathartic expressions than most acts in this field, but unless they're bound to have an evolution of sound on their third phantom release, then you're just as likely to be revitalized with nostalgia by trying out groups like Graveyard, Undead Creep, Horrendous, Claws or Revolting. And I was scarcely impressed, even though headbanging was still aplenty.

Highlights:
Devitalized
Grant Us Death
Devilspeed

Rating: 68%

Hell United - Aura Damage

The Polish metal scene today is somewhat of an oddball of a scene compared to its peers, and especially when we have a look at its death metal scene, we can see that they keep their riffs sharp and crushing, and their percussion machine gun- like. Behemoth, Embrional and Decapitated can all be considered close to Hell United sound wise, but when I was exposed to the bands sophomore monolith ‘’Aura Damage’’, I knew the band had more than just that. Hell United actually have some history behind them, their beginnings dating back to 1997. Even though the band has been going on for a nice fifteen years, their discography says they have not quite been productive over these years, releasing only two full-lengths during their entire lifespan. Hell United create a evil aura of damage for their second album, and with all of the creative atrocities it beholds, ‘’Aura Damage’’ becomes an intriguing experience and an explosion of heavily stirred blackened death metal.

The interesting thing about Hell United is that they don’t strictly belong to a category of death or black metal, but instead they thread different influences together to fabricate a sound that gathers the strengths of all the influences involved in the mixture, forming a rather queer formula, established around the basis structures of old school death metal and thin wisps of black metal webbing the riffs together. I can compare the sound to the classic Florida death metal sound, consisting generally of ‘’Altars Of Madness’’ era Morbid Angel, and some intensified musicianship borrowed from similar acts. However, despite its relentless fury and unbridled energy, ‘’Aura Damage’’ is a much more evil rupture, and it possesses a very depressing, drowning overtone as well, augmented only with hints of technical prowess and arduous complexity, hidden under the shaggy blanket of riffs. ‘’Aura Damage’’ is furious, brutal and absolutely crushing, and most of its traits belong to the old school category, but there’s still some fairly large sharing of space between black and death.

With a wide spectrum of riffs decorating the thirty five minutes of chaotic black/death, you’ll find a good amount of variation here. Like I said, ‘’Aura Damage’’ is grim and even atmospheric at times, and the portions of atmosphere and ponderousness divides unequally through the songs, giving each affair its own sense of melancholy, grimness and destruction. So you end up getting different bits of this and that in each song – a fresh start. ‘’Apostle Of Plague’’ is a brutal invocation of sledgehammer riffs and mauling vitriol, crushing and shattering joints and bones as the massive black metal laced tremolos flutter by, while ‘’Deathlike Cold’’ is a much more stark and atmospheric affair than its predecessor, with rhythmic ponderousness and forlorn hopes gathering in one box. Amongst all the songs, ‘’Totality Of I’’ is the lengthiest and the drudgiest, a slowly enveloping engulfment of obscured bowels. ‘’Aura Damage’’ offers much more variation and complexity than I had anticipated, and even though it has a few minor flaws here and there (which are of little importance), but other than that, it’s downright evil and absorbing. 

Highlights:
Red Limitations
Aura Damage
Maelstrom's Gravity

Rating: 85,5%

Metal Minis #2 - Doombringer - Wormridden

Doombringer – Sevenfold Pestilence [Ep]

Polish death metal vandals Doombringer are new to me. They’ve had a couple of demos before exhaling this, their two track debut EP; an engrossing splatter of well balanced and chugging death metal with a nice, witty black metal overtone engulfing it. Unlike some other black/death bands I’ve encountered in previous years (Antediluvian, Impetuous Ritual, Muknal, Portal, etc), they don’t really bore and drill into your brain deep enough to leave a permanent mark, meaning they exclude ethereal, cathartic expressions of black metal, and formulate a rather simpler, more direct style of crunchy death metal, with a sprinkling of black metal to add a bit of a spice to the aura, as I stated. Nonetheless, the music is still not something to be interfered, for its wroth and wrath is deadly and cunning once released. The sound is really not arduous or complex, but I still can’t relate it to a singular sound. Few segments remind me of classic Incantation tremolos that even fall into early Morbid Angel territory at times, while some sections are doused with a pungent, chaotic black/death stench, like a reminiscent of Blasphemy or Gospel Of The Horns, but again, not relation is fully accurate. All I can really say is that sound is buttery and dark, old school and cryptic, and many death and war metal fans will fall for this. No doubt.

Wormridden – Infesting The Graves [Demo]

I came across with some very efficient death/doom acts this year like Undergang, Witchrist (even though it’s not purely death/doom) or Macabra, and even a few other like Funebrarum which left their mark in the previous years, and although Japan’s Wormridden display only eleven minutes of their work on their debut demo, the music I heard was sufficient enough to convince me. You can call it a crusty Autopsy, a second Rottrevore or and even filthier version of Incantation; you can call it many things, but the one thing that you can be certain of is that Wormridden produce an ultra heavy slab of festering, cauterizing death/doom, still reeking of filth and abominable 90’s death metal. The sheer level of putrefaction on this two track demo is enough carve you anew nose hole, and the whole of the riffs are so dipped and drenched in murky grittiness and fermenting grossness, that you’d probably be overwhelmed by its heft only. The demo has wide arsenal of crushing, monolithic riffs, and you’ve got the tempo variation set as well. First you’re dealing with gigantic doom metal stomps, while all of a sudden, a rambunctious outburst of buzzy tremolos split your torso wide open, and then the riffs make final, excruciating descent into a mid paced riff, slithering and spreading vile stench all around. This demo is top notch, even though it only lasts for near ten minutes, but I’ll guarantee fans of Winter, Disembowelment, Salem, Asphyx, Autopsy, Rottrevore and Purtenance a totally crushing and enjoyable listen.

Doombringer: 8/10

Wormridden: 8.50/10

Embrional - Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors

Never once have I omitted the wonderful Polish death metal of the 90's and secluded them from all the other wonderful scenes which flowered at that time, and admittedly, it's hard to forget with such bands like Vader, Magnus, Schismatic and Danger Drive, thus the scene today seems to be dotted with bands exploiting relatively diverse and differing styles of their own. Perhaps it's still not as dominant a tyrant than the Swedish or American scene, but whether it's the atmospheric swaggers of Pandemonium, the crushing momentum of Centurion or rather straightforward approach of Embrional, the scene houses a number of quality bands, readying themselves to squirt and explosive barrage of death metal. Embrional may be closer to straightforward death metal territory compared to the other acts I've mentioned, though the sporadic attachment of queer melodies and intricate deliveries of sharp, piercing notes garnish their Floridian sound much more. Embrional's sophomore is an onset that will strike you, break you and dazzle you before you can even raise your shield to guard yourself.

While the cover art may teem with filthy maggots of crude death metal, their style actually stands as a polished aspect of the music, disabling any raw quality that you had hoped to hear before you were just glimpsing at the album art. However, there's still a satisfying face of this sudden change in events. The ceremonial art of decapitating ghouls and digging grotesque graves may be gone, but I can't agree that this fully polished, either, and especially for a band who can muster so many outbursts of vigorous combustion with little depression or oppression hidden under the riffs, a frigid aura of old school brilliance is a huge bonus for the band, even though the listener may only be able to taste glimpses of it. Embrional have been inspired from Floridian acts like Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation and Deicide, adding a fair amount of thrash crust to the blasting barrage of half-technical riffs, enhanced by the amount of intensity and brutality. The drums are almost always of double-bass mode, never ceasing to slam in with the right beat and the guitars slide on a slimy trail of ooze, grinding, chopping, trimming with razor sharp tremolo bursts and diminished chord sequences. Maintaining the level of speed and intensity should be the least of your worries, because with such eerie passages of strident riffs controlling the direction of the album, you'll gladly headbang until your neck can literally take no more.

Tracks like ''Bestial Torture'' and ''Possessed By Evil'' are absolutely monstrous tracks, crypt fiends that waste no time lingering around and just get on with the ruthless decapitation process, evil and sordid as it can be. And what about the groove-laden thumps of ''Maniacal Madness''? The song's a beast on its own, but the classic drum/guitar cooperation is now sprinkled with tiny segments of palm muted notes, like a scorpion crawling and escalating towards your skull, and slowly tearing off a dot of flesh with its mechanic pincers. The whole album is an absolute manifestation of hateful riffs like these and each riff is diminished in length, lasting for a second, them passing the honor to its brother, which fades away a second later. The riffs are so mechanic and so intricate that it may hard to focus on them at times, and the great thing about Embrional is that they can keep that level of intensity and velocity canned (though not lacking liveliness) so that the music doesn't even border to brutal technical death metal, all thanks to the carnal explosions of old school goodness. So many bands are rehashing their masters yet they almost always end up inferior too the beast they were copying, but Embrional's sophomore is inventive, strict, malicious and it never lacks fuel for the fire. A mighty fine effort that exceedingly solid, but still outrageously vigorous. At first you hesitate, but you learn to like it.

Highlights:
Bestial Torture
Last Step Into Nothing
Possessed By Evil

Rating: 85,5%


Embrional on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Embrional

Demonic Slaughter-Dark Essence EP

I'm not much into black metal, but somehow Demonic Slaughter's ''Dark Essence'' EP seemed surprisingly appealing to me at first. Though after a couple of listens I wasn't completely satisfied with my result, I still enjoyed certain moments of darkened epicness and glory on the album. It turns out that the band just kept releasing albums from the moment they were formed, and their latest album was the 2011 ''Revelations Of Death''. This EP is yet to be turned into an album, but for know we'll have to amuse ourselves with an un-sufficient amount of black metal that really doesen't count as original.

''Dark Essence'' strikes the same as any other typical black metal record, but strangely turns unto more abrupt directions from time to time. The riffing is pretty classic black metal, with heavy usage of dense, chaotic chord and tremolo picking to add that incredible boast of atmosphere, naturally. The vocals are much less raspier than any tupical one of its kind and adds a death metal edge to the album at times, when wildly supported by the barrages of tremolo bursts. The one really cool thing about the EP, is that it can perfectly attain a classic, dark, thick atmosphere, something that's not exactly too epic or heroic, or even clear. For the most part, the album is driven savagely with tremolo bursts and grotesque gutturals, roaming everywhere, but in songs like ''Black Storm Invocation'', the music may tend to change main aspects in order to achieve doomy ambients and a very sinister atmosphere. ''Inner-Self Transfiguration'' is an incredibly hard-hitting yet almost infinetely numbing track, it blasts at full speed until the very end, spreading chaos aswel as brutally pulverising the listener with its crushing tremolo/chord hybrids. A very stellar track it is, though unfortunately all the other songs easily fall short of reaching the same attitude as itself.

''Inner-Self Transfiguration'' boasts the album with an immediate blow, instead of increasing the EP's overall quality as fragmants, little by little, just like the other four tracks that can be considered proper songs. After ''Into The Unknown'', which follows pretty much where the previous track left, the EP begins to lose its accuracy in entertaining you adn ultimately, its efficiency. Though while the ride lasts, the EP could be quite entertaining if you are really into black metal, or even darker sub-genres of death metal. I hope that ''Dark Essence'' comes with some severe improvements when it turns into an album, because if it doesen't, I'm not going to get it. For know, I can't call this a bad thing, nor can I call it an excellent album. All I can say is that it keeps channeling in my mind between decen and awesome.

Highlights
Inner-Self Transfiguration
Into The Unknown

Rating: 80%

Egzekuthor-Hateful Subconscious Demo

Poland never really had a huge thrash scene. Besides bands like Wolf Spider and Dragon, which were were decent, It didn't really have some phenominal bands. While surfing the web, I came across this little demo from a Polish band. The sheer power and energy that Egzekuthor had really shocked me especially after having some dull name. But Egzekuthor delivered some raw thrash in the vein of Kreator, Sadus, Dark Angel and even Morbid Saint.

Firsly, lets examine the general look of the album. This is most definetely death/thrash and not because of the really aggressive riffage. The minor amount of tremolo picking was really a cool element to throw into the mixture. That was an important factor in pulling me towards the album. The first time I heard the song ''Merciful Death (After Merciless Life)'', I knew immedeatly that I had to get this demo. Finding it wasn't too easy, but it really paid off. Anyway onto the vocals. The vocals are really sick, like a rabid crossover between Kreator and Morbid Saint. They are actually slightly high-pitched and very evil sounding. The vocals helped the dark aura around the whole album become even more evil-and that's a good thing.

When we look at the riffs, we see crushing assault of absolutely vicious thrash with the additional tremolo picking throw in it. The riffs are almost none stop speeding and raging throughout the whole album while sometimes changing the tempo to a more mid-paced one. While the brutal and ferocious parts of the riffs are mostly very present, sometimes the riffs may become a little more technical and volatile, so that they don't tire you out. The riffs may seem a bit simple but still very powerful and angry. When combined with the furious barks of the vocalist, the riffage can be devastating. The drumming is also a notable highlight of the album. Albeit they are nothing magnificent, they can surely fit the music well and asurprisingly sound pleasing, unlike other demos of the time.

One snall upside of the album is the fact that the energy fades a bit too quickly, even though the total amount of energy present in the album is fairly decent. After the first two songs the music gets a bit repetetive and less diverse and basicly sound like different variations of the same riffs. Ofcourse this doesn't destroy the entire album, but reduces some of its positive points. The one last thing that is worth mentioning is the itsy-bitsy amount of black metal seen in the music. Along with the traditional black-esque vocals and the tremolo riffage combined with the slightly raw production quality of the album, at times you may feel a black metal vibe from the band-but nothing too present.

In the end Egzekuthor actually produced a very good demo(which was also released as an album in 2010 in the same name), with vicious vocals and riffs a good effort trying to relive the heydays of brutal thrash gods like Morbid Saint and Kreator. And this demo is especially good for being brough by such an obscure band from Poland.

Highlights:
Merciful Death(After Merciless Life)
Degenarated Madness

Rating:85%