REVIEW The Ruins of Beverast - Blood Vaults - The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer

This were a kind of a hard album to review, even though I have listen to it multiple times and dedicated a lot of thoughts on it. This a concept album if you already haven't thought that out?! Its about the old german inquisitor Heinrich Kramer as the album title suggests. So you could call it kind of a epic album, it haves a lot off different parts of music and are astonishingly varied on its gigantic 78 minutes of story telling. Its like a high fiber diet this album, you now its fucking good, but it really takes a long fuckin time to digest, but its bloody worth it!!! There are a lot of appropriate church organs and really good mood setting guitars here that brings you right in front of the bloodstain alter. This is a release you really don't want to miss!!! Give it the fucking time it deserves, for this is a infernal fucking good album!!!

9/11

Best track: A Failed Exorcism

Check them out here:

REVIEW Sangus Legio - Vengeful Brutality

This came out of nowhere like a big fucking punch to the face. With its kickass speed and primitiveness that takes you back to early days of BM with bands like Mayhem (think "Deathcrush"), Sarcofago and Hellhammer in mind. This is a hellrockin demo from the american group Sangus, with a lot of attitude and punk influences that makes it hard to stand still. Its almost like the whole fucking floor is melted magma and you just want to thrash everything in your soundings. This shit is really what its all about, hellraising old school BM that makes the blood pump in every vain.

9/11

Best track: Bone Collector

Check them out here:

http://sangus.bandcamp.com/album/vengeful-brutality

REVIEW Temple of Baal - Verses of Fire

What a fucking colossus of a album, this is a really meaty experience, both with its length and the brutality of the recording. This is not a pure black metal album by any means, (if there even are any of those now a days?!?) there are equal amounts of death metal as there are BM in this darkened chalice. This is usually a mix I do not tend to be crazy about, but this excellent French band there is a different story. They mix them together in almost perfection and still retains the most important from both genres. This is a great album all throughout the whole record with interesting texts, fantastic riffs and that dirty rotten guitar distortion from old school death metal that we all cherish!!!

8,5/11

Best track: Bloodangel

Check them out here:
https://myspace.com/templeofbaal/

REVIEW For Ruin - Ater Angelus

I were a little bit sceptical if I should review this record or not, it kind of falls in the category of melodic easy listening BM (If this even is black metal, butt thats a totally different discussion, that I have no interest in debating right now!) pile. But there were something with this album that stuck with me, like the caress from a leprosy sickened man. The melodies were caught in my head, and I fucking liked the stuff I heard, even though I were a bit ashamed of it. There are really fucking good music here, the songwriting is everything you want from a melodic BM band. The weakest link on the album though is the vocals, I just don't fucking care for them, they are so bland that it could come from any swedish melodic death metal band from the nineties. But other then that, I don't really have anything to complain about, its a good album. Give it a chance if you are in the right mood for some melodic shit, and it happens to be so that I am in that mood right now!!!

7,5/11

Best track: Ad Astra 

Check them out here:

REVIEW Mord'A'Stigmata - Ansia

This I must say is one of the more interesting releases in a long time, delivered to us from one of my favorite BM countries, Poland!!! It absolutely brings something new to the genre without wander to far off into some artistic bullshit, that are just being weird for the weirdness sake. They mix different genres in a almost perfect way, you can even smell some jazz tones here and there, without fucking it all up in a bloody mess. This is indeed an interesting and rewarding listening experience throughout the whole record, crammed with madness, misanthropy, enthralling thoughts and idés that you don't want to fuckin miss. 

9/11

Best track: Praefatio Pro Defunctis

Check them out here:

http://mordastigmata.bandcamp.com/

REVIEW Winterus - Dark Womb

I don't really know why I should recommend you to listen to this album, to begin on a negative note. But on the other left hand, this isn't a bad album in anyway at all. It have a lot of potential to be a good album with a lot of autumn inspired melancholy splashes in the music, and they are potent musicians the whole bunch, thats not the question!?! The problem is that the correct feeling is missing, there are almost nothing here. Its like the skulle of you common politician. The record is a short history that leaves you just as fast as it took to press play. And you are wondering, was that all? what a bloody hell was I listening too? It was not bad in any sense, but was it really any good? It's fucking hard to tell, its just  falls behind the chairs. Anyways, give it a chance and see which side you fall on, if you fall on any namely.

6/11

Best track: Reign Supreme

Check them out here:

REVIEW Bloodmoon - Voidbound

This  album is a fuckin behemoth from the far beyond!!! Its heavy as shit, and hard digested like concrete. I had a real hard time to get a grip on this album, its a quite interesting listening experience I must say. From the chanting choir in the beginning on the album that starts of the beast title track Voidbound thats really the meat of this album.There are a lot of exciting ideas here but it ebbs easy out to plain boredom after a while. And there are a little too much of the doom metal spice here for my opinion, but if thats your shit, you probably like it. To conclude it, It is a rewarding journey for the musical part of your brain if you are in the right mood for some doomsday sounding stuff.

7/11

Best track: Voidbound

Check them out here:

http://bloodmoonslo.bandcamp.com/

REVIEW Shitfucker - Suck Cocks in Hell

I really want to fucking love this record, it have every element that I appreciate in the music I consume. For fucks sake its heavy inspired by early black metal bands like Venom , its rockin'shit'hell metal with a lot of punk influences that makes you wanna grab a whiskey bottle and drink it faster than the speed of hangover diarrhea, and then smash it up your fucking sphincter. This record really have all ingredients to be awesome, but there something missing, and I can't really put my finger on what the hell it is, maybe its just the music writing that don't live up to the other bands in this genre, or I'm just too fucking sober?!? One thing is certain though, I like this shit anyway, and its perfect for you weekend drunks!!! Add to extra points to the score if you are shitfaced!!!

7/11

Best track: Sex Dungeon

Check them out here:

REVIEW Wintercult - The Last Winter

It begins with a sombre cold wind that blows through the frostbitten speakers together with some clean melancholic guitars that sets the mood for this record. You can hear a lot of Burzum influences on this recording, both in the music with its nature inspired grinding hypnotic riffs, and the midtempo drums. And of course in the vocal department with painful screams from the frozen abyss. It feels like you have been locked out from the warmth and safety of your social lodge and left alone in the dark windswept spruce. There are a lot of atmosphere here, even though it has been done thousand times before.  

8/11

Best track: Taedium Vitae

Check them out here:

https://myspace.com/wintercultofficial

REVIEW Thrall - Aokigahara Jukai

This is a hellish awesome recording from the australian band Thrall, and it really took me by fucking surprise like a disease infested corpse rising from the swamp. The band mixes traditional BM with a lot of influences from both punk, rock and post-hardcore in incredibly way which gives the music a grand dimension. You get the feeling that you are rotting away in some godforsaken marsh with parasites and fungus taking over what's left of your mouldering bones. This is a bloody excellent album from the opening track "Longing for Death" that slowly build up the decomposing process to the concluding "Slaves" that ends the album in a high note with its black'n'roll scented riffs.

10/11

Best track: Slaves

Check them out here:

REVIEW Hatul - Widergeist

My first thoughts when I heard this record was; oh great another mediocre BM that brings nothing new and are more like some fucking elevator music, but this recording has more to offer. The problem is however that I can't really put my finger on why I like this shit. Maybe its the grinding frost ridden riffs that guides you through the album in a captivating way with a gritty distortion sound on them. And top that with solid songwriting that don't wander off to far from the classical BM recipe. They definitely have something great going on here.

7/11

Best track: Vom Sturm getrieben

Check them out here:

https://myspace.com/hatulband

REVIEW Throne of Katarsis - The Three Transcendental Keys

This band probably don't need any introduction, or else you have been living under million cubics of volcanic ash. This is the norwegian bands fourth opus, and its really differentiates itself from their previous releases with epic long tracks filled with atmosphere and eerie gloom. With no track under ten minutes and the longest and concluding track clocking in at just over 20 minutes, you get the ide.The agonizing haunting screams commingled with chantings summons this almost excellent release of ritualistic music. 

8/11

Best track: The Second Transcendental Key: Beyond the Specters

Check them out here:

REVIEW Castevet - Obsian

I must confess that I really didn't care much for this record the first times I heard it. I thought it was muddled, confusing and boring, but I can tell ya all, that its anything but fucking dull. Maybe it was the mood I were in, or a complete overload of the complexity of this album that I didn't get then. But this album bloody fuckin grows on you, big time!!! Anyhow am I delighted as hell that I finally understood this great craftsmanship of art. Its crammed with interesting ideas, guitar riffs and tempo changes that are pleasant both for the ear and mind throughout the whole record. From the beginning track "The Tower" to the last tune "The Seat of Severance" that incorporates clean vocals in a very good and moodful way and are a worthy end of this enthralling journey.

9/11

Best track: Fathomed by Beggars and Victims

Check them out here:

http://castevet.bandcamp.com/

REVIEW Cold Cell - Generation Abomination

This is a quite unique case, I can't really put my finger on why I like this release. Yes I'm a little bit fuckin drunk right now, but that doesn't matter. I have heard it many times before and i fuckin appreciate the stuff on this record, but I don't really know why?!!. There is something here that occasionally is really awesome though there are synthesizers and other shit from the third wave of BM. Maybe its the concept that we are just meaningless shells, filled with nothingness, that we are as hollow as a rotten old oak. I like it despite a lot of bullshit here and there. Overall it isn't that bad. 

7/11

Best track: EndZeitGeist

Check them out here:

REVIEW Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu

This is a very interesting release that needs many listings to really get a grip on it. If you are in to the scene you probably already know that Oranssi Pazuzu plays a psychedelic variant of bm that really grows on you like a cancer infested tumor, in a good way!? There is so much to explore here in the musical landscape, so you have to listen to the record many times to get equitable judging. So give it time, embrace it, you don't won't to miss a piece like this. This is fucking art, its madness crossed with brillans.

9/11

Best track: Olen aukaissut uuden silmän

Check them out here:

http://www.oranssipazuzu.com/

REVIEW Slegest - Løyndom

This was a real fucking surprise I must say, what a bloody fucking rockin masterful album!!! I have never heard anything about this one man project from Vreids old guitarist Ese before, but I'm almost ecstatic that I  have found them, and now have this marvelous second release pouring through my eardrums. This is really my cup of ceremonial potion, its  filled to its black masses with classical seventies hard rock mixed with the kind of midtempo norwegian black metal you are accustomed too. I have nothing more to say about this fucking awesome Black'n'roll release then turn your speakers to the maximum and put this shit on!!! NOW!!!

10/11

Best track: Løgna sin fiende

Check them out here:

REVIEW Omfalos - Cotton Candy Rendezvous

To begin this is a quite varied album from this brazilian group, and therefore the grade will be accordingly, if I even can grade it in any sense of fairness. There are nothing wrong with the musical talents from this avant-grade duo. There are many highs and lows, with some really fucking boring slow acoustic paths. But on the other hand can they lean to the more moodful parts of the music, so its a fucking hard balance. And some tracks are more like a adrenaline needle in your brain's cortex. But in the end fortunately the highs wins over the fucking untermensch lows most of the times!!! 

8/11

Best track: A Leap Of Faith

Check them out here: 

http://omfalos.bandcamp.com/

REVIEW Blackdeath - Phobos

Here is something as weird as a russian black metal band that sings in the german tongue, and thats absolutly nothing bad about it. The band claims that they play "Apocalyptic Black Metal", and thats probably not so fucking far out. Imagine yourself on a desolated wasteland with nothing than some plague ridden dead plants and a couple of dying chanting mad monks that stroll the razor sharp sand, and you are almost there. 

6/11

Best track: Der letzte Untergang

Check them out here:

http://trueblackdeath.bandcamp.com/album/phobos

FAST REVIEW Sarkom - Doomsday Elite

A fast one for the evening!!! Well produced music from the norwegian band Sarkom, that you probably already heard. Nothing new under the black sun here, but a pretty fucking good record.

Check it out...or fuck it!

7/11

Best track: I utakt med Gud

Check them out here:

REVIEW Stellar Master Elite - II: Destructive Interference Generator

I know what you are thinking, another fucking space inspired black metal record?!? But its merely a coincidence. And don't get fooled by the space theme, there is more on the surface than the magnetic rays. Though there is a presens of the empty space throughout the whole album that mixes classical black metal riffs with newer influences and electronic sounds that most of the time makes a bloody perfect match. The lyrics are much more than your typical space blah blah, They are for instance about intelligence, brainwashing and the "New World Order". This is a record really worth your time both for the music and the texts.

Best track: Pattern of Perception

9/11

Check them out here:

REVIEW Astral Silence - Open Cold Dark Matter

It all starts with an intro that sounds like you are transcending to space. The emptiness and solitude of space is present for out the whole record. You feel the loneliness och harsh grimnes of space from the grinding guitars and the electronic effects. The mixture of space ambiance (even thou in reality it is quiet as mute paralytic in a sealed bag in space) and black metal is almost a perfect combination and brings a suitable mood.

Best Track: Galactika

7/11

Check them out here:
https://myspace.com/astralsilence

REVIEW Noire - Dark Reverence

A melodic black metal album without any unnecessary synthesizers and shit like that from the canadian band Noire. The album is heavily influenced by Dissection with the melodic and cold guitar riffs that feels like the reapers scythe are wielded at you. Ad that together with some acoustic guitars and there you have it. The lyrics are the "standard" black metal texts, nothing that really stands out. But in this case, how the fuck cares?! The music is so bloody fucking good it doesn't matter, and the production is perfect for purpose. Maybe nothing new here, but anyways a surprisingly good release.

Best track: Shadows Rise

8/11

Check them out here: