Horrendous-The Chills

The horrific album art was simply the only reason why I got this album at first but little did I know that Horrendous's album, ''The Chills'' offered so much more. Horrendous plays beautiful, dirty and horrific old school death metal and nothing more. This album is just brilliant in all ways possible, a muffled atmosphere pulling the riffs back so the voracious appetite of the listener is never fully pleased, the brain-penatrating madness of constant assaults of buzzy, groovy Swedeath guitars and an apocalyptical aura of filth and crudely undeveloped and primival, savage onslaghts of pure, intense old school spectacularity. If you like what you've heard by know, then no doubt, you will adore this album within just seconds.

The whole album is covered with heaps of dark and misty nebula as if some sort of magnet rendering the listener hostile to the music. The nostalgia of old-school death is inevitable and it is exremely vivid, too. The riffing is complex and fluctuates between incursions of more technical riffage and rather straightforward, thrash-tinged attacks with plenty of your typical descending tremolo chugs and aggressive riifage. The riffs are sometimes concise and effective yet they always have an appealing technicalty to them as they are not too simplistic. There is plenty of energy which sometimes renders that riff-blocking aura useless and lets the riffs charge with ferocity and rage. The song ''Fleshrot'' is a perfect example to this as it is short and violently vehement. One thing that may separate this album from other old-school albums is the amount of doomy passages, which isn't frequent in this album. Only at seldom, Horrendous decide to slow their tempo down for longer moments, but since sections like this aren't very popular in the album, it's not something you should worry about.

''The Ritual'' which actually starts off with a doomy intro for about two minutesi immedeatly settles on a more aggressive approach and starts to mangle bodies and split skulls like a machine. Another great thing about the album is that it tends to have alot variation. While some songs can be unbarably brutal and demolishing some other may retain energy and increase the level of dynamics while still being able to sound powerful. Some sections obviously carry a alot more atmosphere than others, so it makes the album sound rather epic and bursting with feeling at melody. The album manifests many styles and although it follows slightly different directions, the riffs are mainly based on the same pattern, executed flawlessly and never repetetive. The vocals are outstanding and sound just as old school as the rest of the band. They would be crossover of Chuck Shuldiner and Van Drunnen yet at times, they might turn slightly more raspy and cracked. The vocalists' violent and croaky screams shadow over slower parts of the album to emphasize the blood-cyrdling feeling of the album. Just as many new death metal albums, solos on this album are very rare, but with such a strong and consistent rythm department, it doesen't even matter.

From the crushing intro of ''The Womb'' to the miracolously melodramatic ending of ''The Eye Of Madness'', ''The Chills'' is a wonderfully crafted record that opiates the old school sound very well. Out of many, this album stands out to the most crushing, melody-laden and relentlessly variated one. Channeling between Incantation and early Death in many ways, Horrendous' debut album have managed to do and exceedingly well-done album to start off the year, thus bringing us hope that 2012 will have many more fine releases.

Highlights:
The Womb
The Somber
Fleshrot

Rating: 94%

Follow them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HorrendousDeathMetal?ref=ts&sk=wall

King-Forged By Satan's Doctrine

King is yet another band who fuses death and black metal together to create a mayhemic attitude. But to the opposition of bands like Blasphemy, Conqueror or Bestial Warlust, their album ''Forged By Satan's Doctrine'' is a much different effort. King has delivered an album which is tremendously complex and crushing like a crossover between Deicide, Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse, with a black metal edge. The songs are all ferocious and will split your skull in mere seconds, thus they are played in a technical and groovy sense to add that hint of heaviness to the music.

The riffage alternates between your typical tremolo picking madness, and frenzied power chords. There are alot of instant tempo changes of the album that adds a neck-breaking groove to the music. Sometimes the riffs may transcend into a more technical mood, and that's when you will hear a mash up of notes played in a way to suit the overall ferocity. When I say that the tempo changes, I don't mean that it affects the music. This album is very similar to ''Tomb Of The Mutilated'' in many ways, so when the riffs suddenly get all doomy and sludgy, they immedeatly turn back to their thunderous ways. The bass lines are also noticeable as they are clean thick and sometimes they will stand out, though not too prevalent. The overall agility and ferocity of the music is a huge benefactor as it stands out to be an absolutely crushing brutal death album. And a good thing anout that is that King doesen't overdo in the brutality department.

As I have stated, the music overflows with dynamic and crushing sections until the very end, so it won't beat you to boredom. The only thing ''black'' in this album is probably the blasphemous voice of the vocalist which can be related to Glenn Benton's voice in many ways. The vocals shift between sinister shreiks of a higher tone and growling gutturals with a raspier feel. At times, the two vocal sections will combine to form the same sort of vocal delivery formed by Benton in Deicide. When we look at the production, there is really not much that could be said about it as it is clean and simply suits the riffs well. The drums however are thunderous and menacing and create an instant headbanging atmosphere for the listener. They are extremely consistent and rapidly played with double-bass kicking onslaughts yet they are concise and have few variety to them. But since the music is always played in a high pace, there was few the drummer could have really done and he did what he did professionally.

This frantic album leads patterns of undeniably crushing and powerfull riffs and pulverising drum beats. From chunky chords to muted tremolo assaults, the album is monstrous riffwise and percussionwise. While King's effort could have been just another one of waves and waves of numerous death metal albums, it certainly stands out with its energy, power and overall consistency that displays their technical and musical talents which pushes their stamina and endurance to the very limits. Whether you like Deicide, Coprse or Suffocation or even the likes of Emperor or Burzum, then give this a listen, you won't regret it.

Highlights:
No Pray No Mercy Just Death
When The Walls In Heaven Turn In Black
Macabre Satanas
Satan's Fabrica

Rating: 90%

Be sure to like King on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KINGSATHAN?ref=ts&sk=app_2405167945

Weregoat-Unholy Exaltation Of Fullmoon Perversity EP

For those who like their death metal fused with frenzied assaults of black-tinged mosntrosity, then Weregoat's ''much too long named'' Ep must be a good find. Weregoat have been around 2009 and their Ep shows that the arrival of a full-lenght is close, and expected. This is pure satanic, blasphemous and bestial war metal played in a way that reminds the listener of Blasphemy, Sarcofago, Bestial Warlust, Conqueror and alike. Though it has eight songs, the Ep is short and you won't even feel time flying.

This Ep has got to be the best war metal in sometime, because it is so chaotic, outrageous and blasphemous, that one can only imagine. The atmospere is enough to take control of the listener, but the riffs and guitars provide even more. The tone of the guitars is dark, buzzy and filthy to the bone and it can blend in with the rest of the instrumental work easily. The riffs are usually vicious tremolo barrages and bestial death metal attacks, however sometimes the Ep may take a different direction. This direction is perhaps the greatest separator that divides this from all the other black/death metallers, for me atleast. There is a frequent use of dark and doomy dirges, accompanied with sinister melodies and nicely-done mid-paced drum beats. Especially the song ''Invoke The Black Oblivion'' is a doom laden track that may give listeners an old-school death/doom vide, especially considering bands like Purtenence, Cianide, Autopsy or Incantation. Of course just because the tempo slows down every once in a while doesen't mean that the whole Ep is going to slow down. The Ep is bestial and savage all the way and doomy sections are pretty limited.

Weregoat's Ep is a promising one, and could only be better if turned into an album. This is war metal with dark, growling vocals, short and effective tracks and razor sharp riffs. If you dig old school black/death or even black/thrash, then this is your thing for sure. The only last thing left to say is that this is one thing you shouldn't listen to on a dark night, when you are all alone. Especially if you imagine the demonic goat in the album cover, it's pretty damn frightening.

Highlights:
Nocturnal Hunt
The Hideous Stench Of Occult Slaughter
Blackwinged Abominator

Rating: 86%

Be sure to follow the satanic trio from Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Weregoat/194437767248125

Charon-Sulphur Seraph

After seeing the black/thrash tag on Charon in the archives, I had a vivid picture in my mind that easily described the music I would get from this. But to my suprise, Charon's album ''Sulphur Seraph'' was something quite unexpected to me. Instead of hearing hard-hitting riffs with nasty vocals repeatedly, I heard a monstrous black metal influence which was, if I may be so bold, even more prevalent than the thrash influence. Coming from Germany and being formed in 1997, you'd expect Charon to have a large discography, but to the opposition, this is Charon's debut album. Therefore, I welcomed this supreme and occult so-called black/thrash hybrid eagerly.

Firstly, let me get this straight, if you don't like black metal in general, then this album is not really for you. The tremendous black metal influence has immersed the thrash influence in this album, creating something that's highly different then the typical black/thrash bands of our time. I like my black metal as a side dish. It goes almost perfectly with any genre that I enjoy therefore I can it as long as there is the non-black metal genre stays supreme. Charon, however totally changed my ideology. This album, as I mentioned before is unlike other black/thrash albums because the black metal side of the music is more dominant. And I think this is what made Charon so attractive. The supremacy of the black metal side over the thrash and small amount of black. While other bands lay their 25% percent of black metal on top of their 75% plain, ferocious thrash approach, Charon is 40-45% thrash and 55-60% black metal all the way. The music is so dense that it swallows the listener whole in an orgy of mass comfusion thus hypnotizing with brutality. While many may not be able to handle this overwhelming density, but to those who can comprehend this utter complexity, it is a treasure full of treasure.

The first two tracks are absolutely indulging, black-tinged tracks that set a good start line for the album. The riffs finally start to change their direction towards the third track, where an assault of Brazillian brutality and German hunger takes over and sends the listener into a neck-breaking quest, instead of mesmorizing black metal waves. Inside of this complexity there is actually a good amount of technicalty in the dense mixture to add a nice feeling to the riffs. As much as the songs have an epic and chaotic feel, you cannot deny that the album has its moments of brutality aswel. There are razor sharp tremolo barrages that are constantly accompanied by raging blast beats and d-beats during most of the riffs. The devastating power of ''Sulphur Seraph'' is tremendously powerful, and can crush anything in its path. The raw recording is another thing that keeps the album going, epecially in the songs which worship black metal the most.

The vocals have a wide range of variety. From sinister shreiks to outrageos growls to demonic whispers and mormours, the abundance of vocal delivery suits the album very good even though it doesen't have a very controlled direction. Sometimes they are very muffled and blurry thus burried beneath the intense music, but when the riffs start getting more straightforward, the vocals become easier to hear. Charon, I think also wanted create an atmosphere by using synthesizers and creepy whispers. I can't quite put my finger on it, but all I know is that these little ambients give a great taste to the album and echance the aura. There are only six tracks since the intro and outro tracks are basically medleys of there so-called ambients. But don't worry, these six songs will give you much more then you want.

It has only been two months since the year has started, yet so many bands are releasing albums that could be called mini masterpieces. Charon, with their debut album, created something slightly different than all the other typical bands of its sub-genre. Fusibg intesity with speed, chaos, epicness and hard-hitting riffs devastating the fields as they rage throughout. Immense technicalty and brilliant musicianship is displayed in a way that isn't quite popular, but will become popular. If you like black metal with a blend of ferocious and technical thrash madness, then get this now.

Highlights:
Solution... Averse... Tenebrous... Answer: Nothingness
Thy Weapon
Flagellum Horribils

Rating: 94%

Follow Charon from Sepulchural Voice Records: http://www.sepulchralvoice.de/charon

Deathhammer-Onward To The Pits

While their debut remains as just another example of simplistic retro-thrash metal, Deathhammers sophomore album is a crushing monster that certainly runs in front line for the best thrash albums of the year. Deathhammer have achieved maturity and have produced a straightforward album with an evil feel to it. No bullshit, just vengeful thrash attacks played in really aggressive way. I can't say that this is the most old school sounding thrash album out there, but I am not at all complaining about that. Deathhammer have succesfully managed to eject a healthy dose of evil (a black metal edge), to their vocals and produced a prime thrash record.


As much as this record is vicious, it is also a great blend of old school speed, thrash and black metal, creating something that is fairly unique and quite energetic. This in many ways is similar to early Sodom and Kreator. The songs are fun yet totally outrageous and that alone is a factor that can pull the listener into the music. The riffs are thunderous and rapidly progress along with frequent blast beats that allow the songs to flow viscously and with ease. Deathhammer have managed to sound evil and catchy at the same time, much like recent black/heavy metaller ''Midnight'', only perhaps a little faster and thrashier. Deathhammer was able to put together a few things which quite doesen't ryme together, but despite that this record is a frantic assault of razor sharp riffage, simple yet effective and also equally old-school and evil sounding.

The cathiness of the music comes from the bluesy riffs and funky solo attitude. The tremolo-chord hybrid riffs along with the sinister black-esque vocals sum up to create a fast-paced mash up of notes and a barrage of pounding drum beats. The riffs are almost always furiuos and malevolantly fast, witha more heavy metal feel to it rather than thrash really. The song ''Emperor of Sin'' shows something quite the opposite though. It is not as straightforward or fun as the the other tracks and follow a more darkened tone in general. There are even certain doomy sections in the album to create a whole different atmosphere than the standard neck-spilitting vicious speed metal one. In this track the black metal edge of the album takes over and totally engulfs the album within a black cloak of a more complex and evil sound. The album worships well-known proto black metal acts such as Venom, Bathory and early Sodom. Though perhaps not as sordid of hefty in terms of riffage, the record has a high resemblance of the aformentioned lengends.

The vocals on this album are slightly muffled and can reach very high notes quite easily. The high-pitched and black metal influenced vocals delivery is a great spice to add to the mixture because it helps sustain a large amount of energy whenever the instrumental section starts to get repetetive, which by the way scarcely happens. The only noticible black metal influence is perhaps the vocals, because besides them, the album is pretty much plain, fast and fierce speed metal. Now the preoduction is also a nice touch, as it has a sort of old school vibe, though still managing to sound clean and audiable. The intro riff on ''Army of Death'' is like direct Venom riff because it has so much old school in it. The whole album in general may seem repetetive and similar as it progresses, but surprisingly it is able hold the level of dynamicism at a very high level. A level high enough to make a metalhead bang his head for nearly forty minutes.

At the end, I was very pleased with the results I had: Speed, evil and cathiness all in one cup, blended in a succesful way. If Deathhammer keeps this up, they might aswel get better and better with each record. While many bands sound brutally monstrous, they fail to achieve what Deathhammer have achived-fast paced music that vener ceases to entertain you. ''Onward To The Pits'' is fun, frenzied and also a great old-school speed/thrash hybrid with some unexpected influences thrown in aswel. If you dig Sodom, Midnight, Bathory, Venom, Kreator or Insinnerator then this is your thing.

Highlights:
Fullmoon Sorcery
Voodoo Rites
Emperor Of Sin
Seduced By The Flames

Rating: 89%

Check Deathhammer out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/deathhammerofficial?ref=ts&sk=wall

Macabra-Blood-Nurtured Nature

Macabra have showed they are among the better Autopsy/Incantation worshipping bands and for a good reason. These guys are an international Belgian/American collaboration that totally perfect the old school sound of the grotesque. Their brand of Auotopsy worshipping doomy and mid-paced death metal is certainly a very nice treat for any OSDM fan. While this may seem different compared to many Swedeath worshippers, it has a fithy album indulged in dirt and all elements needed to make an album sound evil and vile. As irritative as this may sound to many, for those who enjoy it is certainly more than just appealing.

This journey of thrash-tinged OSDM is almost directly connected to the likes of Autopsy, Incantation, Cianide and early Death in many ways. It's meaty guitar tone is one great highlights from the start. The guitars are filthy, but are not as distorted as many other other bands. In fact the guitars have a somewhat appealing sound with their crunchy and chunky tone. The tone is crucial in this here album. It is pretty ''Polish Free''  much like other bands which try this sound. The guitars use the occasional pinch harmonics very frequently to produce a sort of horrific atmosphere, altered by a the dominant and peculiar guitar tone. The songs resemble Autopsy so much that besides a few changes, it would be as if the listener was listening to ''Mental Funeral'' in all ways, not just riffs. Even though the album is sloppy and doomy, there is actually lots of energy hidden inside it. The riffs have high amount of energy especially when guided with the vocals. This most probably because the don't sound muddy at all. The riffs may take alternative directions, sometimes a heavy thrash riffs and sometimes doomy passages leading to goosebumps.

The vocals can be a constant reminder of Autopsy aswel, though not as much as the riffs. They are smothered and raspy and alter between simple, gutturally harsh growls and Autopsy-esque grating shreiks. This can form an interesting experience for the listener. While at times the listener may get a crushing and forlorn vibe from the music, sometimes this may alternate to an onslaught of face-crushing riffs, sustained by the more high-pitched vocal delivery. While the riffs may blazon to  a common listener, the drums are just as conspicious and important. Since the general aura of the music creates an often dark ambient, many may skip the drums, however little do they know that the drums are equally crucial here. The drums play with teqnique and scarcely do blast-beats since the overall tempo of the music is slow or mid-paced. They sound very clear and could be heard well throughout the album. The only place where a listener may actually pay attention to the drums is when the synthesizers arrive, which isn't something that doesen't occur too often. But at the end, the drums boast the overall quality a lot, even though for some this may be nothing more than a subsconscious feeling.
That is a great shame because the drums are fantastically elaborated and worked out to the tiniest detail.

This ridicolously macabre album is definetely a keeper, especially considering the best DM albums of 2012. It's filthy way of fusing Autopsy-esque riff-fests with thrashiness and a weird piano/synthesizer ambient is an interesting sight for many metalheads, though the ambient is not too pervasive, which doesen't bother me at all. This fine slab of doomy, sloppy OSDM is promising and carries all the beauties of the early nineties death/doom sound. This album will surely please the appetite of a voracious OSDM freak and will indulge him/her in a monstrous bath of blood, gore and wonderful grotesqueires.

Highlights:
Hominal Feel Diggers
Life Is The Symptom
Consuming The Fleshy Wax

Rating: 88,5%

Crucified Mortals-Crucified Mortals

Crucified Mortals was formed around 2001 and have released their first full-lenght in 2011. They produce some straightforward break-neck thrash metal with an aggressive death metal attitude and glimpses of melody and technicalty thrown in different places to boast the overall quality of the riffs. This is some fast, yet nicely done energetic thrash metal played in it's most simple way. Not too repetetive but not too original either, this makes a fine album for any fan of thrash metal who like to bang their heads and destroy everything in their past.

The riffs are crushing and have blended with nice melodies to create slightly different. The hefty riffage is certainly the best part of the album, since the album is pretty much made up of these sort of riffs.The energy is highly prevalent in the riffs but after some time they seem to tire you. Because despite being so poundingly heavy, Crucified Mortals have all their energy hidden inside their riffage. The riffs perform perfect until the very end, however the same dynamic approach that it had at the beginning starts to fade near the end of the album. The good news is that if you want something to just bang your head to, then this is your thing. ''Fatal Scheme'' has a somewhat nicely done melodic and techy approach to the music, that which has accomplished to muster a fair amount of energy into the album to make it sound more lively. In ways this does sound pretty old school, with some of the bands fairly unque sound thrown in for a very small amount. It resembles ''Assorted Heap'' or ''Archic Torse'' in terms of the style of riffage.

As I said the overall sound is pretty much the same throughout the whole album, so there is just simple onslaughts of thrash. Sometimes the songs may take a slightly death-esque direction, with their generic thrash attack sometimes changing abruptly into a proggressing death metal tremolo chug. These tremolos only prolong for a small amount of time, but are able to capture the listeners attantion throughout their short livespawn with their descending sound. The drums are always upbeat, though sometimes it seems as if the guitars outpower them. But no need to panic, since sections like these are scarcely existent. The drums sound abit sloppy at times but overall they fit the music well as long as the riffs don't get too complex. And the vocals, which is the final thing I want to put my finger on, are clear and the lyrics can always be heard. The vocalist blends some simple, pumping thrash energy with a slightly distinct death metal tone, creating something that is quite convenient riffwise. Overall they are just like the drums, well done however nothing phenominal.

Crucified Mortals is a durable effort that is solidly constucted. The biggest gap here is the lack of originality, since there is a little amount prevelant. But once you put all these factors aside, you get an aggressive assault of simply solid thrash metal with some death metal influences here and there to help raise the overall quality. This is a fine album that can be glorified by any die-hard thrash fan, but for a typical extreme metal metalhead it a decent effort yet still able to create a certain amount energy that is large enough to get a 75% at the least.


Highlights:
Doom
Fatal Scheme
Ghastly Affliction

Rating: 83%

Follow them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/crucifiedmortals?ref=ts&sk=app_2405167945#!/crucifiedmortals?sk=wall

Venenum-Venenum EP

Sweden is mustering waves of buzzsaw guitar mayhem while the States are coming with an onslaught of filthy Incantation/Autopsy worshippers. So where the hell is Germany? Has their fine brand of black and death metal in the nineties suddenly all faded into dust? Not necassarily. After hearing Venenum, I had new hope for the German metal scene, death and black in particular. Venenum's doomy style of a forlorn death and black metal hybrid is certainly some of the most refreshing of its kind I have heard in a long time. While the whole aura is dominated is with a dark and chaotic black metal atmosphere, distorted guitars rage in the background tormenting listeners as they do.

This may be an EP, but with its twenty-eight minute lenght, it is nothing short of a ''Reign In Blood''. Though unlike the genre-defining masterpiece, the songs on this mini-album can range from eight minutes to a mere thirty seconds. The disappointing thing is that while only a handful of songs have great lenght the other few tend to be acoustic passages, nonetheless very well done. This whole EP is a twisted journey of old school death metal with a black metal touch and a hint of thrash metal, with a beautiful raw recording, but not too raw. The songs are tiring at first but that just shows that this album is not for everyone. It is a very tiresome piece of music though executed in a very professional way, and it clearly shows that Venenum love their music. The album is a thrilling experiance filled harmoniously darkened melodies, doomy passages, a chaotic black metal feel and furious onslughts of raw power and energy. So without further due, let's examine this specimen more closely.

Despite being a death metal album(in its most basic terms), there are very few sections on this album that make you feel like banging your head. It may be hard to accept at first, but then you realise that that's the beauty of it. The music is almost always played at a steady pace so the riffs never tend to change their tempo too much. The riffs resemble black metal as much as they do death metal with their chaotic and totally disastrous feel. The song structures are unconventional, and the vocals don't really for too long. Despite being so raw, the riffs are actually quite technical at times and show that musicianship should be never avoided no matter what music you play. The production, as I mentined before is raw but all instruments are still always quite audiable and clear. ''Lunar Tombfields'' is much obviously the most savage track on the album. Its assault of tremolo chugs and pounding thrash mayhem along with amazing intesity and energy prevail until the very end of its six minutes. Though sometimes the track may border around doom, the intensity is still highly existent in the melodious harmonies. It actually does tend to slow down near the fourth minute, however the energy is only transferred to the epic feel of the song.

With most of the album being doomy and sludgy, the drums are obviously slow too. However they show incredible talent throughout any part of the album, let it be tremolo assaults or doom-laden passages, the drums spew forth talent and technique along with furious pounds. The drummer likes using cymbals alot, to emphasize the epic and insane feel of the black metal feel. With so long instrumental sections on the album, the vocalist never gets to really stand out. He sings in a blurry way, and shreiks out the vocals in a low tone. He can make the album a whole lot better, for some reason he doesen't want to. He rarely appears on the songs, but when he does, he does a fine job of spreading chaos and menace, and still sounds alot like a straightforward black metal shreiker, while sometimes doing growls to keep the death metal tag on.  The acoustic medleys are used as a sort of passage to separate songs, and still succesfully giving a miserable feel, which is probably the porpuse all along. The medleys are well constructed arpeggios made by using only minor notes and preparing the listener before the main impact.

Venenum's seld titled EP has managed to create a large hole in the much growing black/death metal scene, especially the developing scene in Germany. If you like your black metal mixed with bestial death metal and played the ancient way then this EP is certainly for you. It is a tiring piece of music and even tormneting to those who cannot appreciate it to the fullest. For me it is finely crafted, and once turned into an album it will place Venenum as one of the better death metal bands who fuse together the savagery of death metal and the doomy and chaotic ways of black metal. Like all of the things listed above, and you will no doubt be pleased with this raw death metal record that undeniably inherits their predecessor's power.


Highligts:
Lunar Tombfields
Crown Of Reversion
Sacrosanct Transcendence

Rating: 87,5%