Katavasia - Sacrilegious Testament

| LABEL |

Floga Records

| AVDIO |

Bandcamp

| Melodic Black Metal | Greek BM with a strong pagan feeling both in the atmosphere and the melodies.

The whole album is very well played without getting into some jacking of the guitar battle. It is straight forward as a longsword but with a beautifully crafted handle. Maybe a little dull, but it can still split a skull or two. The melodies has a pagan sound to them that speaks to my primal brain with delight, together with a classic heavy metal sound, so no ear bleeding distortion Im afraid. 

The songs are laid out simple with a song structure that are easy to enjoy, even it the aftertaste leaves you kind of bland. But it is good as long as it lasts, it has some interesting pieces with flute that plays an harmonic melody in the background and guitars that almost goes to the AOR genre, ohhh, did I fucking say that?

As I said earlier is the production of the more cleaner sort with a nineties sound to it. You hear every layer on the album perfectly, the violins, ceremonial drums and words of carnation. The atmosphere on the other hand as you probably guessed it is the one that suffers from it. The album really don't say anything, its pretty forgettable, even dough I fucking like it when I listen to it, but as soon as I turn it of, it is all forgotten like a pile of ash in the wind. Something is missing simply. I hope they figure out what is missing for the next album. 

| EXECVTION	| 85	| COMPOSITION	| 75 |
| INNOVATION	| 70	| PRODVCTION	| 65 |

| GRADE | 74 |

Snakefeast - The Pythoness

| LABEL |

Grimoire Records

| AVDIO |

Bandcamp

| Jazz/Sludge Metal | A original album that sets the bass in the center of it all, and says fuck off to the guitars. The result is excellent occult rhythms and tones that goes under your skin.

There is something extremely primitive with the music on the disc, so primitive that it takes us back to the time when we lived in damp caves and struck bone shaft on a stretched animal skin. It is that primal feeling they really succeed to deliver. The beats are something that sits in the back in your reptile brain, and you just know you like this as hell, even if you have never heard anything like it before.

The thing that gets the album to stand out is the total absence of guitars on the album, without you even noticing that they are missing. Using only the cello, saxophone, bass, drums and vocals mange Snakefeast to accomplish something that is completely unique to Sludge genre, even to the whole damn metal genre!!!

Making use of jazzy rhythm is a stroke of genius. The whole album has a swinging feeling that is indescribable in simple human words. The beats makes may blood boil with primordial rage and madness. The whole body start to move spastic in a trance-like state. It all feels so natural, yet hugely innovative and exploratory of a genre that has incredible treasures. Can not recommend this fucking album enough. BUY!

| EXECVTION	| 93	| COMPOSITION	| 88 |
| INNOVATION	| 97	| PRODVCTION	| 90 |

| GRADE | 92 |

Begrime Exemious - Begrime Exemious / Flash Out

| LABEL |

Filth Regime Records

| AVDIO |

Bandcamp

| Black/Death Metal/Crust | TRAILING fucking dirty BM with the right attitude and with a sickening darkness.

Begrime Exemious begins with its lead heavy interpretations that rides on the loose flapping base in all the songs. It's catchy as hell, a total discharge of emotions. It rumbles like doomsday is near, and the singer messes with his persuasive voice that the end is near. And I enjoy it along my entire bony spine of pleasure and ungodly terror.

The next half is dedicated to Flash Out which plays a mix of Death Metal, Crust, Grindcore to name a few. It's bluster, madness and total fucking war in every song. It's fast and deafening like a cannon on speed. It is as crazy as a sergeant possessed of a thousand spirits of dead soldiers. It's a damn nice experience, which unfortunately is over way too fast!

| EXECVTION	| 82	| COMPOSITION	| 80 |
| INNOVATION	| 85	| PRODVCTION	| 88 |

| GRADE | 84 |

Mindscar - Kill the King

| AVDIO |

Bandcamp

| Death Metal | Technical, grand and majestic are three words that comes to mind as I listen to this royal sulfur scented piece. 

The album begins with the full force of the occult jaw bang Asmodeus. It has both a huge weight, its technically impressive and has a song structure that feels thrilling down the lower intestines. This song represents the whole disc damn good, since almost every single song is of this high class, except for a few exceptions of course.

The whole album has a majestic aura around it. It has royal unholy blood that flows through every complicated riff and blasting drumbeat that builds this castle of fire, torture and other magnificent misery.

Then we comes to the atmosphere, or rather the lack of it. The production is of the more plastic kind, and clean as the sword of a virgin. But hey! That doesn't have to be a bad thing, not on technical music in general. Be course of this crisp production you can really hear and explore every complex and ingenious reconstruction of each song. Even dough it doesn't leave much left for the unconscious or your imagination. 

| EXECVTION	| 91	| COMPOSITION	| 93 |
| INNOVATION	| 89	| PRODVCTION	| 85 |

| GRADE | 89 |

Lunar Mantra - Genesis

| LABEL |

- | AVDIO |

Bandcamp

| Black Metal | Awake the dragon inside you with the arcane piece Genesis. It takes you to untrodden paths, far beyond you psychical mind.

All the songs on the disc are constructed as classical music, they're downright symphonic, without using such nonsense as synths or other cheating devises. In order to accomplish this feat requires almost a genius, or someone that reincarnate carnal knowledge.  They manage to create such a massive space in their music, it's like one moves weightlessly through blind corridors on a astral plane. 

Everything is extremely well recorded to the smallest detail, every single chord sounds like the strings of a doomsday orchestra aimlessly riding in chaos. The atmosphere is always present, it's like you constantly have a creature breathing down your neck, and your body is filled with a devouring void, wanting only more, and more!!!

The album has a lot of ritualistic aspects with the chanting tones, voices  and structure. But it is also a journey through the unknown darkness. It really takes you to other places, far beyond, you see things foul and disgusting. It all comes together in a creation that is both deafening beautiful, terrifying and otherworldly. 

| EXECVTION	| 87	| COMPOSITION	| 91 |
| INNOVATION	| 90	| PRODVCTION	| 86 |

| GRADE | 89 |

Abysmal Darkening, Darkeater, Hereza

| Abysmal Darkening - Sub Terra |
| LABEL | Totalrust Music
| AVDIO | Soundcloud |

| Doom Metal | Drawling, tough and full of atmosphere.

With a production like rusty nails delivers Abysmal Darkening an odd experience with strange screams and macabre minimalist melodies.

| EXECVTION   | 65 | COMPOSITION | 84 | 

| INNOVATION | 81  | PRODVCTION  | 73 |

| GRADE | 76

---

| Darkeater - Иней чёрного рассвета |

| AVDIO | Youtube |

| Atmospheric Black Metal | A dim pine needles fragrant creation with pain and suffering from the primeval forest.

The album contains a dense atmosphere created by the guitars monotonous grinding together with a quite extensive use of synthesizers in a moodsetting way. Like a mixture of Nokturnal Mortum and Burzum, but with a depressing tone.

| EXECVTION   | 77 | COMPOSITION | 75 | 

| INNOVATION | 73  | PRODVCTION  | 80 |

| GRADE | 76

---

| Hereza - Misanthrope |
| LABEL | PRC Music
| AVDIO | Bandcamp |

| Death Metal | Catchy short little pieces of rotten meat.

The album contains fourteen catchy  short songs of old school DM that will make your flesh crawl in gusto. Its primitive, intense and speaks to the reptile brain.

| EXECVTION   | 80 | COMPOSITION | 75 | 

| INNOVATION | --  | PRODVCTION  | 83 |

| GRADE | 79

Desolate Shrine - The Heart of the Netherworld

| LABEL |

Dark Descent Records

| AVDIO |

Bandcamp

| Death Metal | An ancient darkness and a mysterious aura surrounds the entire album, creating a sound as if it were from another world, netherworld!!!

First and foremost, this is a solid album. The structure is as stable and mysterious as an ancient stone monument. Everything is covered in a veil of darkness and mystery, it is cloudy and majestically at the same time. Dark as a forgotten chamber and glistening like a copper shield.

There are several nuances and layers in the album. In the background is constantly a roaring darkness and in the forefront, we find ancient divine melodies that speaks to the body and blood of the inner self. It is an epic soundscape that is created by small means and suggestive undertones. The album oscillates constantly between DM and BM, with the intemperate weight of DM with darkness and mystery of the BM.

It feels like this obscure creation comes from a bygone era. It really manage to conjure up an entire landscape of sounds that you get drawn into, whether you are conscious of it or not. A disc that can be played over and over again. There are so infinitely much to discover. It even activates other senses than just hearing. I think I can feel the odors, tastes and ancient deities in my vicinity. A divine experience!!!

| EXECVTION	| 92	| COMPOSITION	| 89 |
| INNOVATION	| 88	| PRODVCTION	| 94 |

| GRADE | 91 |

Graveyard After Graveyard, Sordide, Sepulchral Curse

| Graveyard After Graveyard - Hellhound on My Trail |
| LABEL | Chaos Records
| AVDIO | Soundcloud |

| Death/Thrash Metal | Simple and straight forward with hellish riffs.  

The album is galloping forward as the four horsemen without mercy. It is pestilence, famine, war and victory! An intense experience that leaves one with a nice rotten aftertaste. 

| EXECVTION   | 73 | COMPOSITION | 80 | 

| INNOVATION | --  | PRODVCTION  | 75 |

| GRADE | 76

---

| Sordide - La France a peur |
| LABEL | Avantgarde Music 
| AVDIO | Bandcamp |

| Black Metal | Patriotic French BM that feels very natural and uncontrived.

The album is very stripped down, only the essential has been left. The whole opus feels very genuine, while it has a cold aura surrounding it. Its pure pride and aggression!

| EXECVTION   | 75 | COMPOSITION | 70 | 

| INNOVATION | 72  | PRODVCTION  | 78 |

| GRADE | 74

---

| Sepulchral Curse - A Birth in Death |
| LABEL | Chaos and Hell Productions
| AVDIO | Bandcamp |

| Death/Doom Metal | Sick fucking evil DM with an immersive occult atmosphere.

With a production darker than the inside of a godforsaken womb delivers Sepulchral Curse an album that feels both alive, as an untamed beast, while constantly thrust into old school roots.

| EXECVTION   | 82 | COMPOSITION | 77 | 

| INNOVATION | 75  | PRODVCTION  | 81 |

| GRADE | 79

Diapsiquir, Eastfrisian Terror, Exgenesis

| Diapsiquir - L.S.D. |
| LABEL | Necrocosm
| AVDIO | Soundcloud |

| Experimental Industrial Black Metal | An insane satanic dope mix that tickles all the senses.

Its madness in its purest form, with weird industrial samples, screams from a insane asylum, and riffs that will give your brain a radioactive meltdown. 

| EXECVTION   | 75 | COMPOSITION | 73 | 

| INNOVATION | 90  | PRODVCTION  | 69 |

| GRADE | 77

---

| Eastfrisian Terror - EastfrisiApokalypse |
| LABEL | Rotten Roll Rex 
| AVDIO | Bandcamp |

| Death Metal/Grindcore | The disc radiates war, destruction and death in infinite quantities.

The album  goes through you like a napalm missile with scorching riffs, smattering drums like lead bombs and pig squeals from the victims. A intense and highly enjoyable experience!

| EXECVTION   | 89 | COMPOSITION | 86 | 

| INNOVATION | 82  | PRODVCTION  | 90 |

| GRADE | 87

---

| Exgenesis - Aphotic Veil |
| LABEL | Rain Without End Records
| AVDIO | Bandcamp |

| Death/Doom Metal | Beautiful and darksome as a tranquil midnight.

Magically woven melodies with a cobwebs precision meets nature's unbridled wrath and ruthlessness. It all comes together in a beautiful opus for lonely, mystical nights.

| EXECVTION   | 87 | COMPOSITION | 81 | 

| INNOVATION | 80  | PRODVCTION  | 88 |

| GRADE | 84

Chalice of Blood - Helig, Helig, Helig

| LABEL |

Daemon Worship Productions

| AVDIO |

Bandcamp

| Black Metal | With a superior will and inspiration from the black arts has Chalice of Blood created a EP that is highly divine!

The whole work is rendered with an infernal strength. Each instrument is part of a condemned army marching forward into the eternal darkness. The guitars play magical arrangements with fast melodies that rips like a ceremonial  dagger.  The bass is like a black fog surrounding everything i mysticism. And the drums chop and rips like a poisonous snake. Together they form a divinely dark and beautiful symbiosis.

The song Structure is like an obscure temple. It is both majestic in its own way, while it is constructed of simple earthly means. It's very bare to the surface, but on the inside, its totally wildness and chaos. The album feels alive, as if it is a own creature, an uncontrollable beast from a place far away from where we live.

The production leaves room for each instrument, and let them speak for themselves, while it all takes place in a large echoing void. Another masterful album from Sweden who end up in the same league as other bands like Ofermord and Ondskapt.

| EXECVTION	| 88	| COMPOSITION	| 91 |
| INNOVATION	| 87	| PRODVCTION	| 86 |

| GRADE | 88 |

Alien Deviant Circus - Ananta Abhâva

| LABEL |

Necrocosm

| AVDIO |

Bandcamp

| Industrial Black Metal | Hypnotizing BM with a occult robotic touch together with a horrible inhuman atmosphere in a twisted digital format

Industrial BM may be a bit trite, but it's still something I can not get enough of. I devour everything in my path, and this opus I swallow with relish. It's a very radical production that allows the mechanical speak. You could call it an inorganic creation that is strange, like it comes from another dimension inhabited by terrible beings. 

The guitars have an almost mechanical sound to them, like large industrial pistons that pumps a heavy satanic machine. The bass smolders in the background like an old generator. And the drum beats with an inhuman precision, and a ritualistic rate as a good drum machine should.

The composition is pretty straight forward, without any extravagant drug induced madness ala Black Lodge.  Its pretty simple without taking any risks, but it fits the music well, it becomes kind of robotic and hypnotizing after a while. It processes the brain in an occult way together with the luciferian theme of the album. 

| EXECVTION	| 79	| COMPOSITION	| 77 |
| INNOVATION	| 83	| PRODVCTION	| 82 |

| GRADE | 80 |

Israthoum / Chalice of Blood / Monte Penumbra / Half Visible Presence

| Ascetic Temples / Sacrament of Death / Downwards Deathmarch / One Is the Alignment of Shrines |
| LABEL | S.A.R.S. Productions | AVDIO | Bandcamp |

| Black Metal | A split that contains four  fascinating songs that takes you to cold caverns, blood dripping alters and the flaming pits of hell.

The fist track is the eminent band Israthoum contribution Ascetic Temple, which is a powerful song straight through. It has a huge coldness and strong will to it, but at the same time as barren as a mountain. The entire song exudes pure darkness.

Then we come to the second track, and the high point of the album, Chalice of Blood's Sacrament of Death. It's like the song has a life of its own. Chaos reigns with amazing blazing riffs, sharp as thousand knifes, a majestic underground production, and a maddening possessed voice . A primordial force that can not be stopped by any means!!!

Then we come to Half Visible Presence's song Downwards Deathmarch which is also the faintest song on the disc, but it is not bad in any way. It is a slow song with raspy vocals and guitars that sound like a dull knife against a stone. Pain and suffering for a higher cause. 

Monte Penumbra ends the disc with divinely dark and epic song One Is the Alignment of Shrines. It is an grand bombastic piece with suggestive tones. It wanders farther and farther down into the uncharted abyss. A perfect end to the split that takes you from cold caverns, blood dripping alters and the flaming pits of hell.

| EXECVTION   | 81 | COMPOSITION | 77 | 

| INNOVATION | 79  | PRODVCTION  | 80 |

| GRADE | 79

Evil spell, Ingurgitating Oblivion, Abstracter

| Evilspell - Necrology |
| LABEL | Black Side Records
| AVDIO | Youtube |

| Thrash/Black Metal | Old school Thrash Metal in the style of Slayers first album "Show No Mercy".

Simple fuck-you-up-the-ass thrash metal with the right attitude, faster than a biffed up chainsaw guitar riffs, infantile lyrics, high pitched screams and pure madness. 

| EXECVTION   | 73 | COMPOSITION | 65 | 

| INNOVATION | --  | PRODVCTION  | 76 |

| GRADE | 71

---

| Ingurgitating Oblivion - Continuum of Absence |
| LABEL | Willowtip Records 
| AVDIO | Bandcamp |

| Death Metal | A impressive piece of art which shows how technical death metal shall be played. 

An elegant creation with both subtlety and intelligence that creates masterpieces. The only thing holding it back is the substandard production.

| EXECVTION   | 90 | COMPOSITION | 87 | 

| INNOVATION | 86  | PRODVCTION  | 72 |

| GRADE | 84

---

| Abstracter - Wound Empire |
| LABEL | Vendetta Records
| AVDIO | Bandcamp |

| Crust/Sludge/Doom Metal | Dystopian views on a cold, cold, cold disc.

The album radiates hopelessness with gloomy melodies that slowly grinds forward and builds up a empty urban environment. It is a beautiful as it is dark och depressing. 

| EXECVTION   | 82 | COMPOSITION | 75 | 

| INNOVATION | 77  | PRODVCTION  | 89 |

| GRADE | 81