Muknal/The Haunting Presence - The Haunting Presence/Muknal

What we have here, is a two way split by Muknal, a newly born blackened death metal band who create a fantastic aura and menacing atmosphere for their music, and another obscure act, The Haunting Presence, which are new to me. Both bands have their distinguished styles and own abominable attitude, but all in all, they both drive you towards the same gate, offering a rather experimental brand of cosmic, befouling black metal with supreme death metal tendencies and such. Both explore the depths of unknown miasma and evil, of blasphemous horror, and you'll be impressed by how complex the music is (Muknal for the most part) underneath that thick cloth we dub as atmosphere, and the music is so seriously evil and drowning that you might actually mistake the riffs for foolish antics, so without further due, I present to you this split.

The split consists of four songs in total, two for each band. That might not suffice, but twenty minutes of compressing black/death should keep you satisfied for some time. Most of the riffage focuses on deep, dense tremolos and sporadic black metal incursions, deviating from the norm with their slightly distinct touches, and both bands can provoke and insert tastiness and spice into the experimental array of riffs, rather than subliminal black metal impulses. When I compare the Muknal here to the Muknal in the previous Ep, I can see little change, which is good, although there are some elements that have been either enhanced or... cleansed, let's say. The drums now have a bigger role in the mix, as they're much sharper and less nullified, riffs a queer amusement to them with the direction more apparent, the vocals have been sharpened and the irrelevant bits and pieces have been trimmed, causing them to sound more ear-piercing and acute than ever, and the production has also been cleaned, improving the two tracks in terms of comprehensibility while still keeping the chaotic side of things fresh and well... chaotic.

Muknal was definitely a quality experience, and the two songs ''Hecatombs'' and ''A Winged Emblem Of Evil'' are well suited for their style. The Haunting Presence was something that I thought would have been a little more cantankerous, like Muknal, but it turned out to be more nostalgic than innovative, henceforth bringing act like Blasphemy, Archgoat, Grave Miasma and Teitanblood to mind. The band plays a heavy, darkened sort of black/death, though unfortunately not so consuming as Muknal even though I certainly enjoyed its bestial approach. My quest was initially for Muknal, but I came with yet another treasure at hand,  so the journey was well worth it. With both bands having a goof number of songs ready on their belts, I can see that a debut full-length for both is not remote; at least that's what I hope. Muknal belongs to the more experimental aggregation alongside Portal, Mitochondrion and Antediluvian while The Haunting Presence is a reminiscent of Proclamation, Revenge, Bestial Warlust, etc, but chaotic black metal geeks will find both enjoyable nonetheless.

Highlights:
Hecatombs
Hideous Faces Of Unknown
Winged Emblem Of Evil


Rating: 86%

Decomposed - Decomposed

I'd been following Sweden's newest death metal massacre Decomposed ever since the release of their 2011 demo, ''Stench Of Death'', another fine slab of punk soaked chainsaw driven Swedish death metal which unfortunately didn't get enough attention as it should have gotten. With the release of their eponymous debut full-length, I can see that they've grown even more mature, and although their style isn't extremely distinguished, few old schoolers will dislike the festering crunch and crust of this maniacal chainsaw assault. Decomposed present surprisingly heavy, cadaverous Swedeath that draw influences heavily from Dismember, Entombed, God Macabre etc, and with a few merits of its own, the music becomes rich in sparse innovations and some twisted melodies, surpassing the boundaries of boredom and repetitivity, forming a rather lasting current of rotten goodness.

I do see some maturity compared to the demo, with a more professional sounding production quality and sturdier riffs, but besides those, it's obvious that they're not changing the basis of their sound, sticking to the classic Swedeath formula for the entire duration of the album. The great thing about ''Decomposed'' is that even though the riffs are nothing new, they're ridiculously catchy and groovy, and besides typical grinding power chord incursions, atmosphere is also a favored aspect, as you can notice from the frequent usage of spectral tremolos and a cavernous, sonorous atmosphere inundating the riffs. That being said, I'll also have to add that there's a threshold of murky, doom laden riffs amongst the bloodier ones doused in subtle horror. To be completely honest, I've never found the crushing, hardcore-tinged bit of Swedish death metal too pleasuring as they sound rather dull and too copious at times, but I've certainly enjoyed creepy melodies and Autopsy-esque song writing aesthetics to the fullest, and ''Decomposed'' mostly excels in inserting a healthy dose of mid paced gloom horror, giving shape to the macabre figure on the album cover.

That's right. This album is a blood chilling experience throughout, simply not excluding the melodious moans for a single minute. Despite its terrifying approach, ''Decomposed'' still has to maintain its muscular balance, as it is, after all, an aggressive death metal album. Brawny chord progressions are dotted with thrash, and they sound especially menacing and crusty with the violent percussion occurring behind, but still channeling inside a resonant sphere. The drums sort of drown in the production and get smothered, but it's only natural in order for the album to preserve the ambiance, and the vocals are another great touch; muffled groans and growls with plenty of chunk and density to them, fitting right into the murky aura of the album. The album is resonant, but not as thrilling as say the debut of Horrendous, ''The Chills'', a slightly more engulfing experience. That pretty much covers all the aspects and elements of ''Decomposed'' as they are unfortunately not plenty in variety, but that doesn't stop them from being high quality. Heads will bob as tracks like ''Infernal Torment'', ''Stench Of Death'' or even ''Ceremonial Slaughter'' lay waste to the earth, but I also loved the ghastly horror melodies on ''Macabre Vision'' or the over six-minute grand finale, ''Ethereal Landscapes'', a sanguinary Swedeath/Autopsy magnum opus of doomy beauty.

Decomposed's self titled debut full-length impressed me beyond belief and now, it's firmly placed in the ''Hope Of Death'' rack of my collection, along with Horrendous, Tormented, Funebrarum and alike. Many complain that the scene is over-saturated with copious amounts of Entombed/Dismember worshipers, but I say nay, for this scene is yet to be befouled by many, many other blistering beasts that will come out of nowhere. Come, we await your presence.

Highlights:
Ethereal Landscapes
Stench Of Death
Ceremonial Slaughter


Rating: 87%


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Power Theory - An Axe To Grind

Power Theory are another classic heavy metal band who incorporate different influences into their music to spice it up, even though the elements they add are never sufficient to wholly improve or flourish their sound. Despite this, they manage to produce a fine brand of original power metal driven heavy metal with tons of catchy riffs and hooks spawning from both sides of the album, and most importantly, they bring a sort of classy, semi-abysmal edge to their metal. The intricacy of the music is definitely not the main attraction here as the riffs aren't technically driven,but I even here some classic speed/thrash a la Megadeth and alike, and so long as the dynamics are kept at an adequately satisfying level, anyone can enjoy this.

Most of the accents pass through the vast maelstrom of tremolo pickings, so you feel as if you're travelling on some speed train for the majority of the record. The riffs aren't really malleable as they don't hold an incredibly innovating sound, but at least they don't blunder and mess around, because they're decisive and well crafted, striking the listener with solid punches every time. Power Theory have clearly worked well on making robust passages and solid bridges to link the riffs together, so whilst focusing on the connectors they probably omitted quality and distinction from the riffs a little, or maybe they just wanted to stick with plain, jumpy riffs, and either way, I'm content with their work as a well balanced song always beats a collection of stellar riffs. Many of the riffs give harsh clouts on the listener's face as I said, so complaining about quality just won't do. One thing that I found queer is that most of the energy on ''An Axe To Grind'' isn't exposed normally, but that's probably me. With a slightly evil touch enhancing the riffs, I'd say Power Theory gets fed by the vivacity hidden under the cloudy veil of darkness.

The vocals are a different experience too as far as traditional heavy/power is speculated. They're semi-evil just like the riffs, and they certainly don't bring much of a high-pitched, epic heavy metal taste to the album, usually taking on a lower voice with some rasps here and there. Another notable mention, is the drum work. I wasn't actually very impressed by the beats that the drummer laid, but the drums have a nice ambiance to them and they're clean and groovy all the way; that's good enough for me.The title track and ''Colossus'' have the sensationally catchy and sharp sound that you're lucking for in your heavy metal,  ''A Fist In The Face Of God'' is vicious incursion of speedy riffs, and the near-eight minute mid paced mayhem that is ''Deceiver'' keeps the momentum at a steady level by displaying some ultimately thrash chomps and stomps. ''And Axe To Grind'' ins't a release that you could dispute for hours, so just shut up and enjoy the damn music.

Highlights:
Deceiver
An Axe To Grind
Colossus


Rating: 82%

Binah - Hallucinating In Resurrecture

I usually see an important release coming, either from the band's earlier demos or by simply receiving news from the label, but the debut album by this morbid UK trio Binah took me by surprise. The band didn't even have a demo released and information about them was limited, so I just obtained their debut album ''Hallucinating Resurreecture'', a doomy collision of Incantation, Autopsy and even heavily churned Swedish guitars. Even though the collection of influences is sparse and versatile, all in all, they're nothing new for a resident old school death metal fan, but then again, doesn't corrosive, atmospheric Swedish death/doom sound like a fun toy to play with? In fact, Binah's sound sounds refreshing as it's morbid and depressing, so it wouldn't be false to admit that Dark Descent has gotten hold of one of the better roosters in the hen.

There are three aspects that play an imperative role in the albums structure and efficiency. The three sections that I like divide the album to are the obvious influences stated above; the heavy, boxy Swedish metal guitar tone providing with heaps of fiery energy and supporting the crushing, rhythmic groove and with additional crutch, the haunting Autopsy overtone, bending the stiffened riffs with a bit of doom n' gloom and viscous Incantation sound, responsible for creating a malleable atmosphere for the album to be drenched with. These influences mainly form the basis of ''Hallucinating In Resurrecture'', but the album does have an extensive array for intricate riffs, so there is really more than just three pieces that make it up. All the elements churn very well alongside the low grunts of the vocalist and atmospheric synthesizers that seldom appear. the riffs are crushing as they chomp everything under them with great heft, but adrenaline fueled incursions of monstrous aggression are scarce, so this isn't really the best headbang friendly record out there.

The repertoire of riffs never cease to deliver quality old school metal, and their thrived with dismal melodies hanging, dangling on their hooks. There's definitely a ''hallucinating'' touch on the album, and that's made clear with thickness of the atmosphere engulfing the music, or the drowsiness of the elements. The vocals are nothing to be worked over for; they're low growls but they go along well with music. One thing that was really queer (especially seen on the title track) was the usage of chaotic melodies and colliding chords that heavily resemble black metal--another influence. The dispersion of the music is what drew me towards Binah's debut, and fans of atmospheric death metal should definitely give this a try. It's dark, brooding and dismal, and it reeks of depressing old school death ghastliness.

Highlights:
Morbid Obumbration
Hallucinating In Resurrecture
Dissolution


Rating: 86%

Dawnbringer - Into The Lair Of The Sun God

Lately, a new trend in traditional heavy metal has been occurring. Traditional heavy metal bands started to feed themselves with different influences from bands and styles you wouldn't even expect, and now, scores of bands have tried incorporating queer twists into their simplistic approach to music. Also, Profound Lore Records, one of my favorite metal labels of the now has been signing particularly bizarre and original bands. What do you get when you fuse Profound Lore with heavy metal oddity? You get Dawnbringer. Although I have not been able to investigate their album ''Nucleus'' closely enough, I do high hopes for the band as their fifth effort ''Into The Lair Of The Sun God'' proves to be an unanticipated blow, an inviting, innovative mixture of traditional heavy metal, thrash, early power metal aesthetics along with an atmospheric black metal touch, in order to exude memorability, and much needed adoption of warm, cleansed heavy metal overtones.

''Into The Lair Of The Sun God'' has a penchant of using queer chords and less common scales, which makes it quite a bit of an oddball in the traditional heavy metal universe. It has a relatively vast and comprehensively mournful collection of tinging melodies and such, with slower, mellow clean guitar and bass sequences usually dominating breaks. Listening to this is enjoyable because the album shows little signs of predictability, so you don't really know what's about to come when, and with such a nice, alluring selection of classic heavy metal riffs and melodious arrays of soft solos, it's hard to reject each riffs when they come knocking at your doorstep. Each track has its hands tightly around the other ones' tail, so the whole album goes on like a train as the songs follow each other, and with such obvious song titles like ''V'' (Roman numbers), you may b a little rattled and confused when you need to distinguish the songs at first. Fortunately, none of the tracks are lacklusters, and each one proves to be vital to the rest of the album.

The Archives dubbed Dawnbringer as heavy metal with heavy metal influences. Now, this is the sort of moment where you expect something chaotic, but at the same time dynamic, but ''Into The Layer'' swings its arm for another slab into the face, and you're left baffled when you can't seem to even find the vaguest of clues. You'll really need to inspect the aura and aspects of the music thoroughly if you want to find something palpable, but fear not, for your search will reveal a few dim results. The so called black metal influences are speckled across and around diverse tremolo pickings or even in sequences much more blatant like the sorrowful chord strums on ''V''. For such a misery laden album I found the delivery to be especially and the production to be warm and inviting, just like the yellow sunburst on its cover.

Ranging at forty four minutes, from outside ''Into The Layer'' would seem like a rather exhausting ride, but its spiking, vigorous riffs and well adjusted dynamics are always in play (or at least for a requited amount), so you'll be refreshed with a new breath of air and a cooling splash in the face with each track. The vocals tend to give out lots of monotony due to to their low delivery (unlike other heavy metal aspects), and that's a really interesting feature of the record. As I said, tracks vary, with ''IV'' and ''II'' being some of my favorites, but there are some truly queer twists the band can pull at times. ''VI'', for example. Its intro riff sounded catchy enough, with much treble given into it, but the real surprise came when that riff escalated into drum-guitar chomp with a synthesizer melody narrating it. So overall, ''Into The Layer Of The Sun God'' ought to be awarded with an accolade for keeping itself fresh and accessible throughout, and for the near-perfect execution of classy, soft, delicate music. It's not a grotesquery of metal, but it's a fun oddity for certain.

Highlights:
II
IV
V

Rating: 88%

Wishdoom - Helepolis

Epic war has always been a favored theme in metal, though with recent bands focusing on blasphemy or gore and death, it has been undoubtedly thrown to the background, and although I see little or no bands pushing it towards its once mighty glory, Greece's Wishdoom appear to actually enjoy this epic, most glorious brand of traditional heavy metal more than others, and they've even turned their musical direction towards the lyrical themes. Wishdoom are entitled as heavy/doom, and I can't really agree on that when subtle, heavy riffs are played in a viscous, energetic manner, but it's blatant that their formula is much more than just a combination of doom and heavy metal. It's quite normal if you feel as if you're being towered by the almighty siege tower Helepolis as the music flows, and you feel as if you're encircled by Greek soldiers, spears and arrows flying everywhere while catapults fling rocks and rams batter against the wooden gates of Rhodes.

That being said, I fear most of Wishdoom's concept and adoration for fantasy and ancient warcraft in another product to keep listeners engaged and baffled, but as the album progresses this distraction loses its efficiency and listener is left face to face with the not-so-intricate riffing. The riffs are not necessarily boring, but besides w few tracks that truly stand out, they can't seem to catch a good amount of attention for the entire momentum of the album, but thankfully, they do tend to bear sublime heft and a crystal clear cloak containing them, and with the additional boast of the thumping drum beats, the simple textures emblazon themselves with a somewhat rich, compact sound. There are myriads of riffs, each similar to the one before, but I can't seem to dislike their robust execution. Glimmering melodies crawl surreptitiously while chunky mid paced stomps smash in the background, and Wishdoom keen on embracing the triumphant and epic edge of metal, pushing it towards the limits, thus, they've proved that with the substantial usage of atmospheric choris and synthesizers. All of these riffs don an armor of glory and glorious victory, shining, gleaming on the golden shields of the warriors.

The vocalist has a strong voice perhaps not exceedingly high-pitched but strong and forceful all the same, and he does play huge role whilst churning elements of doom and epic heavy metal together. The drums have acquired a plentiful amount of space in the mix as their presence is always felt, and their battering effect is persistent just like the momentous riffs; and with the war drums place, the siege is guaranteed to be a victory. Even though their features are poorly distinguished the tracks often vary among themselves; the title track is favorite of mine, its gloriously crafted structure adorned with additional elements with a chorus that reeks of victory, while ''Zeus The Thunderer'' is is a much more moving affair, giving out a classy combo of melodic riffs and jumpy solos, and ''Up The Hammers'' is the ultimate sound track of an army pushing against the walls of a besieged city. ''Helepolis'' is an original release even though it's not wholly innovative, and it's enjoyable, and the whole album is the sound track to victory. Next time you're besieging a city, be sure to take a copy of ''Helepolis'' to boast the morale of your men.

Highlights:
Crystal World
Helepolis
Up The Hammers


Rating: 84,5%

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%

Revenge - Scum. Collapse. Eradication

On first listen (especially if you're ears aren't hardened for this sort of bestial music), ''Scum. Collapse. Eradication.'' sounds like noise. No surprise there, though, as I'll gladly welcome another slab of disgusting, noisy and utterly chaotic blackened death metal with open hands. Surely, the number of bands who try the same abhorrent formula of pulverizing complexity and brain-harassing chaos has increased rapidly over the years, resulting in a conflict between bands who all try to achieve relentless brutality, adamant evil, and with so many poor bands colliding, the scene has been re-shaped thus many have forgotten the true leaders of the pack. Revenge come with a grindcore soaked lump of chopping blackened death metal that should make a few bend the knee.

First impressions can be abusing, and faulting, and if you're going to omit the entire catalogue with your verdict for just one riff, then you get the hell out and try something softer for your ears. Revenge bring sublime ferocity and darkened complexity to their heavily blanketed textures of gritty, cantankerous black metal, with even some old school grindcore flurry added, and with other grinding instruments involved, I doubt anyone would come out of this with at least some pain in their ears. And that's for the tougher ones, I'm afraid. So lots of melody freaks and going to suffer from sore and bleeding ears.

I'm you're a little more patient though, you're guaranteed to be rewarded handsomely for your waiting. Revenge stick to the same formula that they've always went along with, so I don't think many will be bewildered by the music here, though I especially like the execution, making the album even more crazed and crushing than it ought to be, which is great. The riffs come out of nowhere and the tempo tends to twist and churn a lot, so there you have it; a menacing black/death formula that eagerly follows and consumes, butchers and distorts and brings intricate vehemency upon the battlefield. As you ears get more used to the raw mix, you'll find that the album bares a crunchy thrash crust, and the grind drenched riffs will begin to sound more appealing with that destructive blackened punk attitude sprayed all over it. Revenge fashion the frantic face of death metal more than the chaotic arrow fire of black metal, so they do have some diversity compared to other war metal bands.

Another alluring fact; the instruments don't drown each other. They don't shun or outshine each other either, so we've got guitars, drums and vocals anchoring to balance each other throughout the whole album, and the balance is truly maintained well even though the stubborn rigidity of the music feels as if the album was trimmed with tiny break segments dividing it.  The vocals are another frantic addition to the already merciless orchestra, just like sporadic leads fragmented across the album, often switching into dog like barks and rather unpleasant exhalations instead of raspier, throaty gutturals. Put all of these together, and BAM; you have furious chainsaw guitar forays with dogs barking over it. Revenge once again show that war metal is not for softies and it's a genre that's furious, relentless, raw and crusty, so poseurs should keep out of Revenge's territory. Seriously, this beast is hostile.

Highlights:
Banner Degradation (Exile In Death)
Pride Ruination (Division Collapse)
Retaliation (Fallout Prayer)


Rating: 84%