Black Altar - Black Altar

Here we have the venerable polish one man project Black Alter with their latest release. Some of the songs on the EP were actually meant to be on a Shining split that never happened, and its a good fucking thing that it diden't!!! The five songs stands really good on their own feets, with an competent and somewhat death metal inspired sound to them in this suicidal concoction. The album begins with an kind of creepy and atmospheric piano and then all hell breaks loose with fire and brimstone!!! With fast grinding drums, dark downtuned guitars and great agonizing potent vocals of the more darker kind. You may think that there are a lack of mood because of the DM influences, but then you are fucking dead wrong. They mange to evoke an great atmosphere in every song both with the great guitar riffs and with an helping hand from a keyboard (Sparingly used!!!). Its an great collection of five ghastly awesome tracks, well worth a check up!!! 

666 Megabeast!!!

8,5/11

Listen here and buy it here

Hail Spirit Noir - Oi Magoi

Tonights review is about yet another band from Greece, one can almost think that I'm sponsored by the country, but to be honest, they really have delivered some great fucking releases lately. The album itself is one of the weirdest schizophrenic pieces of art that ever have been digested by my ears. It sounds like if Pink Floyd would have decided to play BM on an LSD psychosis. Its so fucking sick and a bloody delight for the most twisted of minds. You can obvious here a lot of psychedelic rock influences in the music (or is it vice versa, BM influences in the psy rock?!?) with the excellent and sparingly distorted guitars that my as well have been retrieved from an cannabis clouded seventies. Ad that together with the sickly groovy bass and an organ played like it where from another astral plane. It also contains some clean singing, but I don't have any problem with it here, I actually like it a fucking lot!!! It fits the progressive music of the album perfectly, it don't feel like its just have been thrown in for the sake of it, no, it just enhances the experience a lot. It feels like every little mad detail on the album is well thought through, its all done in such beautiful mental way. Every second of the album begs your senses to be awake and expect the unexpectable. Its an shockingly groovy and experimental acid trip that are fertile for the mind. Must not be missed!!!

10/11

Listen here

Buy it here

Thy Flesh - Thymiama Mannan

Welcome to a journey through the twisted and esoteric world of the hellenic band Thy Flesh. And what a ride it is, its both ceremonial and grand with an great sinister dark atmosphere you almost can feel breathing on your eardrums. It even goes further than that, right to the spinal fluid and pulsates out until all the hair on your flesh stands in shiver. This grand bruning temple contains seven well composted manifestations, with the divinely song "Rape Magic" being the black crown of the seven deities. The production of the opus is well fitted with an soundscape that lets every instrument be heard and melt them together in a sound from far beyond the abyss, in the sulphur oozing caves. It delivers an great variation in the songs, no other tune sounds alike, with an great equilibrium between melodies and carnal instincts. Top it all of with lyrics that are well worth to read and you have an intellectual, perverted and terrible temple that must be entered. Recommended for people that appreciate bands like Watain, Ofermod and Valkyrja.

9/11

Listen here and buy it here

Hexis - Abalam

Finally I had the time to review this BM/Hardcore hybrid that has been laying in the pile for a while. First thing first, this record is heavier than antimatter, the weight of the downtuned guitars together with the solid bass (which actually take a lot of space on the record). It delivers an extremely groovy concrete rough sound that you don't hear every day in the genre. The mix of hardcore and BM have been proven to work excellent together before, and this is no exception. They have taken the rawness from BM and shuffled it together with the aggressivity of Hardcore into this thick sludge of nihilism and anti-christianity. They have also taken the length of the songs from the hardcore genre, with the average length of the tracks being around just two minutes, which works just fine for this adrenaline pumped manifestation!!! I can see followers of both genres enjoying this record. Should not be missed if you're tired of lo-fi BM and want something new!!!

8,5/11

Listen and buy it here

Kaoskult - Secret Serpent

I go straight to the point and spare the reasoning for later, because I can't hold this abnormal power of an album within!!! I'm fucking blown away by the latest release from the chaos magic inspired constellation Kaoskult. It packs an pure dark energy throughout the record, an constant presence and a ferocious stirring sound that possess the body and mind of the listener. The brightest star on the opus are the brilliant guitar riffs, shredding, building and plowing like the precision of an criminally insane brain surgeon. They weave together an great citadel of chaos and destruction, that rides on the excellent melodies and harshness from the guitars. It all goes hand in hand with the other instruments (which also are played to almost perfection!!!), and they still manage to stand with one foot in the old school grave. At the same time are they not afraid to experiment (with an very spares use of electronic effects) and defy the standards of the genre and finding new ways to reach their goal, without losing the grip of what is essential. Its all contained in an very dry and raw production that leaves space for all the instruments, which brings a natural heaviness to the album. Its an interesting journey through chaos magic that consumes you and where every turn holds an surprise. Its an enthralling and fertile listening experience that should not be missed!!!

9,5/11

Listen here

Buy it here

Dunkelnacht - Revelatio

Now its time to talk about the french band with the german title Dunkelnacht latest procreation "Revelatio". The group plays "black metal" (with big fucking quotation marks!!!) with shitloads of influences from technical death metal and some electronic effects, maybe not everybodys ear medicine, but to me it packs some interesting stuff. The album begins with an intro with some electronic sounds that doesn't really say anything about the album as a whole, but then the technical revelation begins with a triggered drum bang!!! Its ticking on like a swiss watch throughout the whole album with advanced guitar riffs, a progressive bass and (drum roll) the fast triggered drums!!! And like icing on the cake are there a synthesizer here and there, that to me sound a little bit blip blop video gameish, but hey, thats just me. And before I have repressed it, the clean fucking vocals, they sound horrendous (and not in a good fucking way!!!),  yeah I can take the screaming vocals, they are nothing out of the ordinary, maybe a little bit too high pitched for my taste, but they work, but the clean ones, uhhhh my sphincter do better sounds!!! The heavy influences from death metal is almost always present on this record and brings some enjoyment, together with the progressive tones and the guitar duels. It may not be packed with atmosphere, but it has some other qualities. Worth a listening or two to explore the technical aspects at least. 

7/11

Buy it here

Listen to it here

Or here

Akrotheism - Behold the Son of Plagues

From the ancient land of old thinkers, poets and mathematicians comes this, to use the term orthodox black metal band with their first full-length album and sets the bar bloody high on the pillars. Theres no doubt that this is high quality BM from the first tones that rings out, and then this abyssal serpent just grows in lawless untreaden proportions!!! This opus has all the elements that I'm always searching for, great songwriting and musicianship, interesting lyrics and the most important of all, a heavy, ever-present atmosphere that really captivates you to the innermost burning flame. It grabs hold of your subconsciousness, and you just know how dreadfully awesome this release is!!! As the atmosphere goes, there are an thick nightmarish soundscape surrounding it all and closes it all together. They accomplish all this with simple means, without any fancy keyboards or the national symphony orchestras. One of the biggest things is the use of the underrated instrument theremin, the special horrific and dreamy sounds it generates is an perfect match for this type of music (and more bands should fucking use it!!!). The other thing is the great guitar melodies that are both mood setting (and of the more catchier kind sometimes), chanting choirs that are an hit this time and the excellent and well fitting production (mixed and mastered by Tore Stjerna, do I need to say anymore?!?).  It doesn't make things worse either that they end this album with an great cover of "To Swarm Deserted Away" from the norwegian experimental masters Ved Buens Ende. One of the more interesting releases so far this year, don't miss it if you're into the more serious stuff!!!

9/11

Listen to a sample here

Buy it here

Neglektum - Blasphemer

This is the first full-length release from the up rising swedish force called Neglektum. They pass the burning torch onwards with the tradition of great BM bands coming from this northern land. This is an real pyre of quality music, especially for an first manifestation. The show of an great maturity with an pretty varied procreation with a lot of different tempos (no boring mechanical mangle, no drum triggering, just old, natural and dynamic) and beautiful guitar melodies laid out like smog on a barren wasteland. And the excellent agonizing throat rending vocals doesn't make things worse either, its an case in point how you do fantastic fucking vocals in the genre, and gives it some credibility. They stand on a solid and well-tried ground with this opus, but still manage to raise an curiosite within of what's coming up next while staying on the traditional path. Its like they have extracted the best parts of the genre from the last three decades and letting it decompose to an massive lump of greatness!!! An work thats definitely worth an listening in this endless woods of mediocre releases!!!

9/11

Listen to them here

Buy it here

Diablery - Architect

This may sound just like your run of the mill symphonic black metal band at a first listening, but underneath all the strings and crystal clear production there are so much more to explore!!! It consists of an extremely competent group of talented musicians, both with great writing talents and musicianship. They deliver an cosmic avant-garde smelling melodic BM creation that shows of a real professional sound and song structure, with melodies that really sticks there in the cerebral cortex of your brain!!! They try some new (as is the definition of avant-garde) things here and there, like the use of the gigantic sexy instrument cello, with great results. Its humongous amounts of everything thats good, its pure fucking gluttony in its best form, pompous as hell with everything drowning in massive amounts of synthesizers, but I can't help it. It's kind of a guilty pleasure listening to this album, but I fucking like it, the songs here really lodges on to you like a parasite. It well played, well structured and sickly easy to take in. Recommended for people and creatures that are fans of bands like late Emperor, Borknagar And Solefald!!! This opus actually don't have any release date yet, as the band don't have any record deal, but definitely deserves one. So are you running an record label, don't hesitate the contact the band!!!

8,5/11

Listen to them here

New song from the one and only Mayhem

The legends are finally back again with a new single from an yet untitled upcoming album. And the sweet as thing is that you can stream the song Psywar below with lyric video. To me it sounds hell of a lot better than their last release Ordo Ad Chao. Less weird arty bullshit and just more straightforward!!! Check this fucker out!

Contemplations - Existence

Lengthy songs, space, isolation and hypnotic is a few words that easily could be used to describe this cosmic creation! This post-black metal opus from France may only contain four tracks (and the last one only being ambient) but still do the album clock in at almost fifty minutes. So you understand that its a collection of pretty epic tracks that we are dealing with here, but in some weird fucking way it sounds very simplistic and primitive at the same time. Everything is used very sparse, the guitars are slowly grinding the same riffs in an hypnotic way, with the keyboard slowly in the background building up an dreamy atmosphere, (the vocals doesn't take that much space either, I didn't actually hear them through the first listing to be honest). Its a journey through the astral planes, through the endless nothingness of space, the eternal isolation, solitude and serenity into a bottomless cold cold void.

8/11

Listen and buy it here

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NEWS Thy Worshiper streaming their latest album

Musick Magazine is giving the opportunity to get acquainted with "Czarna Dzika Czerwien", the new full-length album from the polish folk/black metal band THY WORSHIPER, that will be released tomorrow (18/2) through Pagan Records. The exclusive full-album stream is available here.

I haven't had the time to really listen that deep into it, but after a first listening I must say that I find it very interesting, they really have something pretty unique going on here. They use the folk influences in an excellent way, it feels almost a bit progressive here and there. I will perhaps do a deeper analysis in an eventual upcoming review.

NEWS Ansia on vinyl

The excellent latest album "Ansia" (which got a 9/11 on this blog) from the experimental psychos in Mord'A'Stigmata are going to be released on vinyl by Dullest Records on heavy 180g vinyl in gatefold. The release will be strictly limited to 200 pieces, featuring five tracks with over 47 minutes playing time. Exact release date will be coming up.

Check out the review here

And listen to the album here

Teitanfyre - Hymn to Death

This is the single sided ep the eminent russian band Teitanfyre released for Nidrosian Black Mass Fest, extremely limited to only 150 ex. But how many lines can you write about one bloody track?!? Yeah, you could write endless masses of words if it's as fucking good as this track!!! (But we are not going to do any deep down analysis here, not yet atleast) They have taken everything that's great with the untamed beast Teitanfyre and caged it in this fantastic track. The wild lawless guitars are excellent as always and it has this captivating sound to it that got me possessed from the first listening with its nightmarish wandering sound to death. It bodes fucking well for an upcoming future full release!!!

9/11

Listen to them here
http://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/morbid-deaths-sceptre-12lp

Buy it here
http://www.discogs.com/Teitanfyre-Hymn-To-Death/release/4295969

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Warfist - The Devil Lives in Grünberg

This is the first full-length release from the polish black thrashers Warfist, that will be released tomorrow friday 14th. This grey and black demonic creation contains an awesome hybrid of black metal and old school thrash all covered in an illuminating layer of catchy rock n roll and attitude!!! It sounds hell of a lot like Venom (if they had continued to be good that is) combined with the thrash of the early eighties that Venom ounces inspired. The album succeeds to deliver something that both sounds old school and genuine to its dirty nagged bones with a an extremely primitive production that could as well originate from the time Sodom and Kreator was new on the scene. It simple and straightforward songwriting at its best, no 7 minutes guitar mastubations or pretentious bullshit, just pure fucking black thrash metal that is best consummated on earblasting high volume and endless amounts of beer, and I wouldn't want it any other way!!!

9/11

Listen to them here:

https://myspace.com/warfisthorde

Buy it here:

http://www.wydawnictwopsycho.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=168:warfist-the-devil-lives-in-gruenberg-&catid=3:cd&Itemid=3

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Slutvomit - Swarming Darkness

Aenaon - Extance

Oh what a schizophrenic creation, I fucking love it, and it almost gives me an mental overload!!! This little disc of madness is packed to the max with different genres and influences, it all goes together like the sugar cube melting on top of a shot absinth. They are both Avant-Garde, black'n'rolling and jazzy combined in the chaos ridden head of a madman. And best of all, they have some saxophone on the recording, I must confess, I'm a fucking sucker for saxophone (no I'm not ironic)!!! And top that with a organ, piano and harmonica played in a psychiatric ward, its fucking beautiful madness. Its both genius and absurd, I can't name all the influences you could find in this bottomless fusion soup with the tentacles pointing in all directions. The recording have so many elements so your never know what's coming up next, they give the term progressive a new meaning with this opus. But its not all praises, there are a little bit too much clean vocals for my taste, its not much, but it would have been better to just skip that and had some manic chanting instead, but thats just a minor complaint, overall its a solid experience. Its an album thats hard to explain in simple words, its as complex as the neurone system and you really have to listen to it yourself to completely understand it.

9/11

Listen to them here:

Buy it here:
http://aenaonstore.bigcartel.com/

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Hymns - Hymns

This is the debut album from the american newcomers Hymns. It ain't a bad way to initiate a stellar career, you could do much worse than this I must say, but you can still hear that this is new blood on the scene. I was blown away when I heard the first track on this record, but as always are the first impressions quite decisive, so when I dived underneath the pleasant surface it weren't that kind of mind bending experience that I first thought, but absolute not a poor experience!!! All the members a competent musicians and show of their great skills with kind of Emperor sounding fast leads here and there and a lot to explore in the passages. They actually delivers a pretty varied soundscape with some death metal influences mixed in for technical measure and the vocals offer up a couple of surprises with some "clean" guttural voice (that shit that Attila introduced, you know) now and again. It may not win any awards for originality or atmosphere, but its on the technical level it really shines. Its a well worth start for the band, and have lots of potential to grow to a real beast for the next album.

8/11

Listen to them here:

http://www.reverbnation.com/hymnsband

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Temple of Baal - Verses of Fire

My Useless Life - Negative Memories

After a short break in the shadows are we back again, this time with the second release from the depressive american band My Useless Life. My first two questions are, do the scene really need another bloody depressive BM band? And what the fuck is up with the name? It sounds like some depressed emocore bullshit. And at the same time I know the answers, yeah if its any fucking good and brings some of those beautiful painful emotions.And the name?!? Fuck the name!!!

The songs are played in an extremely slow pace (there are of course some parts of the more faster kind too, but the overall feeling is slow and painful, like standing in the line of your local pharmacy), with the guitars and the piano?!? (yeah there are some piano parts, fucking beautiful stuff and great for the mood) slowly building up a nice melancholic atmosphere, that reminds you of the meaninglessness of life itself. I get the feeling of an ghetto concrete complex that are decayed from ages ago, everything is withering down to white dust that flows in the wind. It may not bring that much new to the table except the vocals, which are dark as an oil well, and you can here the obvious influences from bands like Shining (to name the best known in the subgenre, good job). There are some intricate parts here and there however (thanks to the guitars) and the piano adds a really nice touch of pitch black isolation in our modern society.

7/11

Listen to them here:

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Wintercult - The Last Winter

3 FAST REVIEWS Angrenost, Grave Miasma, Set

Angrenost - Planet Muscaria

Start up those gears and let the hydraulic fluid pump with this industrial BM band from Portugal. But don't be fooled by the subgenre of music they play, the lyrics aren't about any animatronic cybertech shit, it is instead mostly in the space theme, about cosmos, galaxies and the astral stuff you know, so you may not drop your chin in amazement!!! They are definitely not the best in the subgenre, but absolutely not the worst in anyway either, they are pretty good to be honest! Its always nice to put on this type of record if you are in the right mood for some electronic spacy sounds, samples and drum machines!

http://www.reverbnation.com/angrenost

Grave Miasma - Odori Sepulcrorum

Here we have an abyssal dark obus to deal with. They have worked out the ancient formula how to mix black and death metal with a great result. Its heavy, gloomy and mysterious at the same time with the dreadful and beautiful intricate guitar arrangements. Its all performed with a very subdued production and a darker voice, which all brings to the heaviness! They succeed with the difficult task to combine the old school sound with newer stuff which results in an excellent soundscape, that both feels old and new. 

http://www.reverbnation.com/gravemiasma

Set - Upheaval of Unholy Darkness

Now we are  talking fucking dark, everything is so dark on this black/death metal hybrid that not a ray of sunlight ever had the chance to shine on the bottomless chasm that is this opus. Its slow, dirty and sinister. Its kind of doomy in its way with the heavy slow tuned down guitars and the guttural (and sometimes screaming vocals) from the far beyond. There is a heavy presence of atmosphere on this album that cloaks it all in an sunproof eternal fog. It cozy as hell underneath it, and you want to stay there for the whole experience. 

http://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/upheaval-of-unholy-darkness

REVIEW Local I - Where the Soul Can Rest

Again are we dealing with a release that kind of falls in the category arty/post-black metal, and this one feels a little bit popish to me (don't get me wrong, not the bad kind of shit). Its very minimalistic in its way, both musical and in the small production, it feels both dry and dynamic in its way and in some mysterious way reminds me of the pop/rock bands of the early nineties. Its a very smallish release, it doesn't ask for much space with pomp and pageantry, its just want to exciste on pure good melodies, music writing and especially quality!!! And to be honest is it an extremely warmth and cozy experience to listen to this disc with all the simple but so genius melodies. It shows that you don't need to write complex mathematical bullshit music to make it interesting, the simple means works just fine!!!  I see it as an evolvement of the genre that always have relied on the primitive and the simple stuff with some new elements injected together with the traditional screaming vocals. I get the feeling that I'm sitting in an wooden lodge isolated in the middle of nowhere, and yeah, it feels damn good!!!

8,5/11

Listen to them here:

https://myspace.com/localonecult

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REVIEW Dødsfall - Kronet i svart eld

The black flaming procreation begins with a classic sample from the formidable movie The Seventh Seal to processed to the devouring flames of traditional BM (as it always has been, and always will be) that this EP delivers! This norwegian/swedish collaboration really succeeds to generate that old, raw and cold feeling from the ancient (probably not so fucking old!!!) days of black metal in a proper way. They build up a creation that feels fairly genuine with solos, the kind of guitars that weaves you into the endless darkness with its string plock and all the midtempo you ever could have asked for!?! And of course are the production very primitive with the drums farthest away and the (extremely raw and grim) vocals closest  in the production (with the "necro sound" as it should be). It may not deliver anything particularly new, but its a nostalgic journey to the past, before there were millions of subgenres under BM and everything derailed. Come forth and be crowned in the black fire!!!

7,5/11

Best track: I skuggans famn

Check them out here:

REVIEW Emyn Muil - Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga

Lets get seated on the back of a dragon and begin the magical journey to the fantasy lands that J.R.R Tolkien once wrote about with this debut album from the one man strong band Emyn Muil (appertanly some rocky and impenetrable place in middle earth were the Frodo guy meet Gollum). Yeah the concept with lyrics and music inspired by Tolkien's writings may not be so original. And its almost inevitable to not draw parallels between this band and the more famous band Summoning (which besides also released a new album last year, "Old Mornings Dawn", what a fucking fantasy feist last year were!!!). There are too much similarities between the two bands that it can't go unnoticed. 

First things first, the dominant keyboard that represents the very foundation of this castle with a wide variation of different fantasy (or medieval) instruments are played on that little electronic device.You can always count on the keyboard to be present, and to play a main role of telling the story and to immerse you into the fantasy lands. The second similarity are the lack of guitars, they are used very sparingly, and when they well are used they don't play anything special (no special riffs, solos or anything), it almost feels like they are only present so they could call it an BM album, and not just an ambient album, but then aren't this kind of music my cup of dragons blood ethier! But hey, the guitars tie together the songs nicely at least, and aren't in any way unnecessary! The third thing is the vocals, they are of the more whispering kind and works well for the purpose! And the last thing, the big fat dragon in the room, Tolkien of course!!! I don't have anything particular to say about that, I don't like his works and I don't give a shit for fantasy, but hey, thats me! Overall it as this kind if nineties feeling over it, when keyboards were pretty new to the genre. And yeah and I almost forgot, the drum machine, I fucking love drum machines!!! to summarize, are you into these kinds of things and like you're BM served with dragons, dwarves and wizards, then you probly going to find this opus interesting. 

7/11

Best track: Death of Glaurung

Check them out here:

REVIEW Necromessiah - The Last Hope of Humanity...

Now are we taking real fucking black'n'roll!!! This must be the closest you ever will come to a worthy equivalent to fucking Motorhead (especially the track "Returned from Hell") in BM format!!! Im totally fucking ecstatic over my alcohol soaked head for this release. It so demonically catchy that i fucking cum in my pants in excitement!!! I had no idea that this old school painted cover had this adrenaline and alcohol fueled rock n roll with shitloads of thrash metal (the good fucking kind!) hidden underneath. Everything i fucking crave for is here, the dirty and quite dominant Motorhead odorous bass, guitar riffs that are as much thrashy as they are catchy as fuck!!! Vocals filled with attitude and a hellish rage and drums that tie this bloodsoaked sac of endless drinking and havoc together!!! Enough fucking writing, I order you to grab a sixpack of beer and the foulest whiskey you ever could find and just start pouring it while listening to this rock n roll beast, or should I just fucking say Goat & Roll!!!

10/11

Best track: Returned from Hell

Check them out here:

http://necromessiah.bandcamp.com/

REVIEW Ævangelist - Omen Ex Simulacra

Here is an psychotic utter from the depths of the smudgy abyss!!! As always when you are dealing with a opus from this eminent duo, it takes a lot of time to really get in to it, under the foul smelling slimy surface to the fantastic and demented atmosphere underneath it all. They serve up an vile and unique farrago of black and death metal that's darker and more sinister than any mass murdering psychopath you ever could think of! They have taken the best parts of both genres with the low tuned guitars and dark vocals (underneath the crust dark) from DM and the atmosphere and music writing from BM, and blended it together as a dark abysmal soup pulsating with pus and cogitation!!! The record is crammed with atmosphere with a heavy focus laying on building it up with slow guitars and a keyboard that are used in an excellent twisted and absurd manner! And everything feels so fucking heavy and filthy (feels sticky like the intestines of a carcass melting in the sun), its a grand colossus in both scale and size, and a big experience that is definitely worth the time it takes to imbibe every little malodorous detail of this abnormal creation!!!

9/11

Best track: Prayer for Ascetic Misery

Check them out here: