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ASTROFAES
The Eyes
Of The Beast
(Oaken
Shield / Adipocere Records)
42:10min
I am not familiar
with the Ukrainian scene (Ukraine is yet the country of half
of my ancestors), and this release is my first real contact with it.
“The Eyes Of The Beast” is already the third album of ASTROFAES
and it shows, as I am totally convinced by the quality and freshness
of the band. Of course, the production is abysmal and let’s say
that the musical abilities of the two warriors forming the nucleus
of ASTROFAES still leave a lot to desire, but the overall result
comes out surprisingly great. The strongest point of the album lies
in Thurios’s vocal delivery. The man screams out his tormented
lyrics with full power and force, from the very depths of his lungs.
Musically-wise ASTROFAES stand between ancient BATHORY and IMMORTAL
(“Battle In The North” / ”Blizzard Beasts” era) but they
bring forth their own touches of freshness to an otherwise rehashed
recipe. I don’t know why, maybe it is the fact the musicians
don’t fully master their instruments, but the release sounds very
strange and attractive. The compositions are all fairly enjoyable,
the core of them being kept at a mid-tempo pace (by the way, I think
the drums are computerized). The very special guitar sound helps to
create eerie atmospheres, sometimes reminiscent of the
Norwegian classics, but the fact ASTROFAES are not Scandinavian
becomes pretty obvious after a while. As usual considering the
musical genre, the lyrics are mostly based on a glorification of
nature, battles and a naive ethnic pride common within the ranks of
the Black Metal aficionados. What I like the most with ASTROFAES is
their ability to not fall down into the trap of predictability,
thanks essentially of their use of uncommon chords, like for
instance in ‘Damnation Of Silence’. ASTROFAES is a name to
remember of if you look for something different and yet familiar. It
is the lesser paradox of an excellent release I strongly recommend.
Edouard Vergriete
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ASTROFAES
Idea.Form.Essence
(Supernal Music)
46:37min
We all know the
famous distribution offers of 30 CDs in one package for only one buck
each album and honestly speaking I know that in at least 6 months the
new album of ASTROFAES will be an essential part of each package.
Can’t find any reason why this band is still in the position to
release their Black / Death trash on a solid label. I’m not in the
position to vary between any of the seven songs (even after listening
several times to this “masterpiece”), the drums are honestly
speaking pure crap and even as a diehard Metal maniac with the opinion
that in every album there
is a part of the soul of the individual members I can’t trance any
heartblood here. The album has been recorded in 2006 and I’m not
wondering anymore why Supernal Music did not released it earlier. One
more tombstone on the graveyard of our cult! www.astrofaes.com,
www.supernalmusic.com
Matthias Auch
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ASUNDER
A Clarion Call
(Nuclear War Now! Die Hard Version)
40:21min
Doom unto you all. From the depths of San Francisco (!) comes ASUNDER.
Three songs ('Twilight Amaranthine', 'Crown Of Eyes', and 'A Clarion
Call') of brilliant, infernally heavy Doom / Death Metal with
superlative arrangements and a vocalist clearly suffering from MPD...
which in this case is good, very good. At times ASUNDER is a bit
reminiscent of Finland’s RAPTURE on their stunning debut “Futile,”
but maintain a less studio-polished and more obscure production style,
better suited to this sort of underground Death / Doom. The three
songs, 'Twilight Amaranthine', 'Crown Of Eyes' and 'A Clarion Call'
are filled with haunting melodies, and thick, brooding harmonies best
experienced only at night. True to N.W.N. form, the packaging is waaay
OTT; especially with the “Die Hard” version: First there is the
four-panel fold out double-sided full color sleeve with lyrics,
credits, and pocket for the two LPs. The marble colored vinyl features
a song to each side - the fourth side being an engraved mysterious
diabolic face. Included also is centerfold size poster, and fully
embroidered ASUNDER logo patch. Finally there is a full color paper
envelope for the sleeve itself. Packaging aside, ASUNDER is my pick
for the best N.W.N. original release to date. My mates in Oz’s
MOURNFUL CONGREGATION finally have some real competition – which is
good because I can’t get enough of this sort of Doom. Contact: Nuclearwarnow_prod@yahoo.com.
Charles Keller
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ATARAXY
Rotten Shit (Demo 2009)
(self-financed)
17:01min
Ah, Spain... That warm and hot-blooded country has produced another dark example of Swedish Death Metal.
Ataraxy are a young band (according to band's info) that dipped their talents into the pool of northern darkness. Their demo "Rotten Shit" is a fine specimen of strictly
90s Swedish sound. They are following the lead of their countrymen GRAVEYARD and UNCONSECRATED but, unfortunately, their level of quality stands lower than formers. This is a Death Metal made with a strong feeling but with not enough power. All of this would be great if we wouldn't have so many exquisite bands playing this type of
Metal right now. But, alas, quality demos are popping from the rotten mould of Death like mushrooms form the corpses, and the bar
has been raised very highly these days. The best thing on the demo are the guitars, since they have really proper sound - northern to the bone, basemental to the bone. Next we have vocals which are also good - raspy and not too deep, but altogether well done and suitable.
The main problem for me were the drums which are too thin, taking away the power of the rest. On the writing side,
the music is not terribly original but with lots of breakdowns to slower regions it brings enough melody and interesting riffs to satisfy this reviewer. I predict that the album will be more accomplished and if the guys put some effort in it, it could eventually proudly stand besides Spain's finest new school oldschool Death Metal. Take a listen, I am sure you won't be disappointed.
www.myspace.com/atrociousataraxy
Branko Matijaševic
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ATHEIST
Unquestionable Presence: Live At Wacken (DoCD)
(Relapse Records)
Live: 35:56min / Best Of: 47:53min
I could’ve wished for a couple of tracks from the last album they did in the
90s, simply because it holds a couple of good tunes, despite the fact that “Piece Of Time” and the titanic “Unquestionable Presence” are tide-waves ahead of “Elements” when it comes down to quality.
But one cannot really argue when they play these tracks: 'Unquestionable
Presence', 'On They Slay', 'Unholy War', 'Your Life's Retribution', 'An Incarnation's
Dream', 'Mother Man', 'And The Psychic Saw' and 'Piece Of Time'? Of course you can’t. You can wish for another set, a longer set… But take this as it is, namely a witness of a band that should’ve continued their saga in the
90s. Enough of this nostalgia that doesn’t lead anywhere. “Live At Wacken” has a surprisingly good sound and you can hear the details, the unique basslines, the melodies, Flynn’s insane drumming and Schaefer’s distinct vocal… What more can you ask for?
Included in this package is a "best of…” and it holds songs from all three albums. Personally that doesn’t give me anything since I already own all three albums and I think no album is complete without the rest of the songs. But for new potential fans, this
live / best of release is definitely worth a purchase. Go get it and get your dose of intelligent technical
Death Metal definitely ahead of its time! www.relapse.com.
On sale
here .
Roy Kristensen
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ATMAN
L’Assassi De Venus
(Ishtadeva Vinyl Productions)
31:07min
The assassin of love, eh? Great title. Too bad the music and overall style of Metal this band displays doesn’t match up to the album’s name. ATMAN as you may have surmised is Black Metal, and unfortunately ATMAN are as well a very unimpressive bunch of players of this begotten style.
"L’Assassi De Venus" is the band’s fourth recorded LP that contain six songs of relentless sameness and tediousness, that soon shall be released on 180gram gatefold vinyl for those that care. However, what is ultimately more fascinating about this act than their music by far is the fact they are from Spain and have a East Indian / Hindu religious meaning as the moniker of their name. Bizarre don’t you think? A bit more research reveals that an
ATMAN is "one of the most basic concepts in the Hindu philosophy, describing that eternal core of the personality that survives after death and that transmigrates to a new life or is released from the bonds of existence.” Moreover an
“ATMAN is Brahman itself, the very self that descends down into the elements of nature through self-projection. This dual conception, Brahman and ATMAN, this single, unitary divinity has several aspects and names in the Upanishads, one of the most important of which is ATMAN, a word that originally meant "breath" or "soul" or "vital principle" (as the word "Atmen" does in German). As a cosmological principle or deity, ATMAN seems to be something like "universal soul" or "universal
spirit." In the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad, ATMAN is explicitly called a
person that created the universe by first splitting himself into male and female halves. In the Chandogya Upanishad, this single god is called Brahman, and is "the One without a second"; this Brahman is not only the principle and creator of all there is, but is also fully present within each individual.”
Trippy, huh? Sounds like someone went to University! Contact: vinyl@ishtadeva.com
or P.O. Box 76, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Catalonia, Spain
Wes Rhodes
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ATOMICIDE
Rawsouthamericanwarmetal
(Old Cemetery Records)
61:33min
Aaaaarrrrggggh and aaarrrggh, I say! Once more I'm wondering if the record company picked this title coz as with the
ASSAULT CD, the album title describes the sound exactly. Again Old Cemetery brings us a demo collection and here we have the extreme of a song like the fucking violent
'Troops Of Extermination' (repeated 4 times!) and others like 'Pisagua
Is Burning Down' and 'Crushing Son Of A Bitch' a couple of times each, but
no matter, the very raw but quite audible recordings make for a different listening experience each time so
it's really not repetitious you know? Also a raw cover of BLASPHEMY's
'Demoniac' and an almost spot on HOLOCAUSTO's 'Campo Do Exterminio' show where
ATOMICIDE's heart and influences are! But oh the inhumanity!! One really has to have a black evil heart to produce unwholesome audio fucking violence such as this!!! For people who think
REVENGE is too noisy and unfocused, this is similar to REVENGE but
ATOMICIDE is focusing their primitive but fast nuclear weapons straight at your heart and brain and have actual songs and you remember them, and there is glee glowing in your black fucking heart when you hear
'Alcohol And Gunpowder' again but different, rawer than the last time!
Raw, fast, unholy, better than any norsecore or Black'n'Roll garbage you will hear!! If
"Rawsouthamericanwarmetal" is what you crave, this is the CD you need!!
www.oldcemetery.tk,
www.myspace.com/ocr666
Luis M.L. Sallard
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ATOMIZER
Death Mutation Disease
(End All Life Productions)
For
all vinyl lovers this LP is not a bad thing – limited on 500
pieces, gatefold cover, the bonus-song ‘When The Demons Come’
– cool thing, but what can one expect of the music? Well,
ATOMIZER’s second full-length contains Black / Thrash / Rock Metal
with that typical raw Australian feeling. They have a more rocking
approach to Koala Metal than DESTRÖYER 666 and GOSPEL OF THE HORNS,
who are both a bit more blackish and definitely faster than the
fellows from ATOMIZER. Honestly spoken I was a little disappointed
when I bought this LP and listened to it for the first time, because
only the opener ‘Hesitation Wounds’ was a really good,
entertaining song. The other ones were simply nothing special and
compared to the very strong GOSPEL OF THE HORNS album - “A Call To
Arms” - ATOMIZER’s new effort does not have a chance. I’m
afraid to say so, especially when I call to mind that I paid for the
LP, but “Death Mutation Disease” is a slightly boring album,
sorry guys!!! Reduce the Rock, increase speed and aggression and the
third album might turn out better than this one. If
you like to contact ATOMIZER do it via email: atomizer@connexus.net.au
And before I forget it, the CD version was released on good old
Drakkar Productions!
Stefan Franke
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ATOMIZER
The Only Weapon Of Choice
(Agonia Records)
43:41min
Well, I think meanwhile it has become a widely known fact that people into
filthy yet extreme Metal should concentrate on Australian acts: DESTROYER 666,
ABOMINATOR, GOSPEL OF THE HORNS, GRENADE, URGRUND, CAULDRON BLACK RAM should be
enough good examples. ATOMIZER belong in this category, too, although their War
Metal elements can be reduced to the martial lyrical concept of the band.
Musically traditional Heavy Metal, Thrash and even Rock and Punk are much more
present in ATOMIZER’s sound and especially the vocals have an almost
Punk-like rawness. “The Only Weapon Of Choice” is the Aussie’s third
full-length and easily tops its disappointing predecessor “Death Mutation
Disease” which suffered from rather boring songs. In 2004 the production is
excellent, the songwriting offers much more variation, really speedy tracks as
well as moody mid-tempo (especially towards the end of the CD), one can even
discover an IRON MAIDEN-like riff now and then and despite some weaker tracks
like ‘When I Die I Wanna Die Violently’ the overall good impression of
“The Only Weapon Of Choice” does not get ruined. Whoever likes straight,
dirty Metal from hell should check this out. For additional info check out www.atomizer.net
and www.agoniarecords.com.
The CD can be ordered
here.
Stefan Franke
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ATOMIZER
Caustic Music For the Spiritually Bankrupt
(Hells Headbangers)
45:37min
The name, ATOMIZER, belies a music that constructs an atmosphere one would not expect simply by reading the name alone. Instead, while this is a
Metal album, it is an unusual one. Thrash Metal spliced with "Angel Rat" era VOIVOD and sounds that hint at early
80s Goth results in something like this record. Unlike most musical experiments, this record should not prove a hit or miss affair. Instead, it should either impress or simply satisfy. ATOMIZER have had the
Black / Thrash label stuck on them ever since they began recording, and while that is true, it is also restrictive. The latest record is not only a
Thrash album, it's an esoteric album with a hearty assortment of light, but deeply penetrating melodies. Sadly, this is
ATOMIZER's final record. They've left a healthy legacy. www.hellsheadbangers.com,
www.atomizer.net,
www.myspace.com/atomizer666
Nat Shapiro
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ATROPHIA RED SUN
Twisted Logic
(Adipocere Records)
54:31min
It happens that reviewing a particular album reveals itself a
painful task. So is the situation with “Twisted Logic”, the
first full length of the Polish band ATROPHIA RED SUN. The very
moniker of the band uncovers a lot I think. Yes, these guys are
obviously captivated by the sci-fi side of things, and their music
mirrors that, with all its funny synth and vocal effects and
extremely complex-for-the-purpose-of-it song structures. The result
could be rated between zero, nihil or nada excitement wise. Maybe
some of you will find me extremely severe and infatuated with myself
saying such things. In this case you are cordially invited to spend
your hard earned money (because, c’mon, you don’t copy CDs,
right?) on this little “gem”. Personally I become more and more
tired to review this kind of lukewarm “melodic” Death Metal,
exempt of rage and brutality in favour of a more “intellectual”
approach. Bands like ATHEIST, MEKONG DELTA or more recently THEORY
IN PRACTICE (the latter scandalously underrated and almost forgotten
now) have set the bar very high when it comes to produce complex and
captivating music, then I am afraid ATROPHIA RED SUN looks like
dwarves among these giants. I detected some CYNIC influences here
and there (partly due to silly oriental sounding effects), so I
suppose fans of this band should check out “Twisted Logic”.
Personally I would like to end my review here, if you allow
me to do so. I have far more important bands and albums to listen
to. Before I forgot: classy layout and production. Not enough to get
a good album in the end. Good night. Available
here.
Edouard Vergriete
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AT
THE GATES
Suicidal Final Art
(Peaceville Records)
58:48min
Hooray, finally there's a new album of the godfathers of the so-called
Gothenburg-style AT THE fuckin' GATES. Unfortunately it's only a kind
of 'best of' compilation, but that's already better than nothing,
because this innovative, outstanding and legendary cult act really
deserves such kind of tribute and it's already more than five years
gone since the swansong of Tompa and his crew. Besides god's gifts
like 'Kingdom Gone', 'Raped By The Light Of Christ' or 'The Swarm'
this compilation also includes two video clips of 'Terminal Spirit
Disease' and 'The Burning Darkness' as well as two demo versions of
'Ever Opening Flower' and 'The Architects' taken from the absolutely
underrated second masterpiece "With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness".
But being a huge fan of this unique outfit I have to criticize that
there are only two tracks from their best album ever "Slaughter
Of The Soul" (which is probably caused by some legal problems
with Earache Rec.) and I really miss a couple of very important AT
THE GATES vintage classics. For example, there's not only one single
track taken from the legendary debut MLP "Gardens Of Grief",
although a song like 'All Life Ends' belongs to the all-time classics
of AT THE GATES. Also I miss some rare tracks like the "Slaughter
Of The Soul" bonus tracks 'Dying' and 'Legion' (a cover song
of SLAUGHTER LORD) as well a the cover version of SLAYER's 'Captor
Of Sin' released on Black Sun's "Slatanic Slaughter" tribute
album. But all in all that doesn't matter, so buy this album, listen
to it and bow down reverently on your knees and pray for a resurrection
of this most original band ever from Sweden. It is available
here.
Schenk
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AT WAR
Infidel
(Heavy Artillery Records)
34:18min
I do remember AT WAR. Back then it was in a distro list which came
inside on record I just bought. And whereas most bands were labeled
“Speed Metal” or “Thrash Metal” this one in their debut album
was advertised as “Speed / Thrash Metal”. Obviously it caught my
attention and that one of my fellow Metallers back then. Nope, we
didn’t order anything that time; we were just poor high school
Metallers with just money for a few beers. But still we did get the
tape for “Ordered To Kill” by doing what you did back then: tape
trading. And I must admit that at first I didn’t get that much from
that album. The production was “dry” to call it in a way, and it
sounded damn raw. A few months later one of us got the vinyl and we
were stoked for the cover art, that picture of the long haired members
holding real guns… wow, those were memories. I don’t know if the
cover art had an impact on the music, but in the end it did sounded
better… jut for looking at the cover art. Oh, but let’s get to the
music. Yeah, it could be said that they were a Speed / Thrash metal
band. They had some galloping guitars more akin to early SLAYER while
also have some faster song reminding of VENOM (specially the
Cronos-like vocals), and a lot to MOTÖRHEAD. No wonder they included
a cover in that first record. Still, with the entire aura this release
had, I also knew that this was not really in league with some other
bands which were more interesting and exciting. Well, now let’s fast
forward 23 years later. I knew the band was still alive or at
least recovered from a long hiatus and were ready to release some new
Metal. I have found most of these reunion$ or waking up $lumber to be
boring. In fact of all those reactivated bands that are worthy
nowadays for their actual recordings I can hardly count them with one
hand. Some of those bands, like most of the ancient gods, still
survive due to them playing live their old material. Well, in the case
of AT WAR, let’s just say that they are still playing the same
style, if probably more influenced by MOTÖRHEAD in way they do tend
to sound like newer SODOM (so no big surprise here, eh?) and they
obviously got a very powerful production, and some interesting riffing
here and there, with more than some oldschool touches, and obviously a
better performance. I also appreciate the fact that it is the original
line-up, which considering they were a trio was probably not as hard
as lets say a 5 piece unit. So, what bring us some 20 + years after
their debut release? Well, it is an interesting album, which still
possesses that oldschool feeling, with a very good production and some
good songs. I would say this as good as their debut album, and a lot
better than their second effort “Retaliatory Strike”. I do sense
they are a bit faster in this, so with the coming of age, that is a
thing to thank, than just slowing down. Still, as it was the case with
their debut album, the vocals are pretty much one-dimensional, and
they tend to abuse sometimes of more old Hardcore / Metallish riffs
that with a modern production are not exactly fitting that well with
their more Thrash Metal sound. After a couple more listening to the
album, some songs and riffs are more coherent, and the power contained
in those start to explode. In the end, we have a competent Speed /
Thrash Metal album, with a really awful cover art, with the war-themed
figure present, and with a sound that is pretty much their own. If you
liked them back then, you might enjoy this one. Otherwise, do not
expect much more than a good Speed / Thrash Metal album with gruff
vocals. www.myspace.com/atwartheband,
www.heavyartillery.us.
On sale here.
Julián Núñez
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AUGRIMMER
Promo 2007
(self-financed)
14:27min
From the moniker alone you know this band is Black Metal, right? I mean what else could it be? The band’s name could draw only that conclusion. What it actually means is anyone’s game. Sounds made up, who knows? Who cares? Mayhaps
it's SPINAL TAP-ish and means “None more Grim“ or for that matter mayhaps it means “Those that wish they were from Bergen instead of boring old Bayem…” And that actually could be. As this demo / CD is rife with only one law in mind and that is to sound as close as humanly or inhumanly or better said
still… As close as Panda-ly possible to IMMORTAL as might be made. Without actually crossing the intellectual property line so as not to be sued outright by Nuclear Blast Records! Every inch of this four tracker reeks of IMMORTAL. Even from the very start, the opening first song, its title alone ‘At Winterdawn‘, for crying out loud. The melodic riffs that begin this song, their structure and delivery (…even if strangely and tonally reminiscent of ‘Planet Caravan’, but we won’t get into that..) to the end riffs of ‘Saturn The Solitaire‘, the CD’s closer. Yes, more fuckin’ IMMORTAL than I think Demonaz could stand if he heard this disc. Most definitely more than I can take, and without a doubt more IMMORTAL-isms than the law ought to allow! IMMORTAL still lives! IMMORTAL still draws breath! I am shocked at the fact that the only thing not IMMORTAL about this band is the logo of AUGRIMMER! Were you all tired on that day not to draw something similar?! As we all know every single song within IMMORTAL’s discogragphy, is yet another stake in the heart of BATHORY. This begs the question as to why would anyone want to start up essentially a tribute band to these panda-fied con artists of the great northern wastes? IMMORTAL tread a path already blazed a decade prior to their inception and blazed by a better man than any of you, better than any that have been in IMMORTAL, will be in IMMORTAL or have successfully stolen from his ideas and have made a living off it! May the Devil rest Quorthon’s soul. Couldn’t you hacks of waited until IMMORTAL disbanded before you attempted AUGRIMMER? You make me sick! From this band’s Myspace site, AUGRIMMER hail BULLDOZER, LIVING
DEATH and Hungary’s TORMENTOR. And I will agree granted these acts are amongst a plethora of obscure Black Metal, one decent Death Metal band (…who regret that they were so Black inspired at one
time), an Asian whore and I think one or two True Metal acts. Be that as it may, there was for an instant that I honestly was hoping AUGRIMMER were just mistaken for calling Black Metal their style. And that they instead would have drawn blood from those corpses mentioned above, within those old cryptic realms, and given us something new and cool. Something other than what I was soon to be presented with. The fact is though, that AUGRIMMER do nothing more than sit on their ass, idle in Abbath’s parents’ backyard. Drunk at Doom’s feet, loitering on his back-steps, eyes glazed over, with grass stains on their jeans. Real soulless creeps looking up at Occulta’s mother in the window, wondering aloud why they couldn’t of been ripped from her swollen womb - than from that of their own mothers’.
Contact: order@augrimmer.de
or www.myspace.com/augrimmer
or www.augrimmer.de
Wes Rhodes
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AUGRIMMER
Autumnal Heavens (MCD)
(Northern Silence Productions)
17:56min
The Northern
Silence policy to introduce a new band with a limited MCD instead of a
full album seems the right decision keeping in mind that the music
industry is releasing hundreds of albums every week. So open the book,
absorb the light and invite AUGRIMMER into your own dark world. If you
never heard of this German band don’t be ashamed, the project was
founded by Nord over 10 years ago and the first years had been solely
used to collect their musical basis ideas. But after several years
Nord decided to search for adequate musicians to record their first
demo. The limited MCD “Autumnal Heavens” is finally the first
official AUGRIMMER release and Northern Silence signed definitely
another band with great potential. The three songs plus Intro are (mid
tempo) Black Metal with a certain touch of avantgarde and especially
the title track shows the true face of the band. Nord used the first
years very well and ‘Autumnal Heavens’ is a dark song with great
melody plus small details which had been perfectly incorporated into
the song structure (fading guitars), details which makes it very
interesting to listen to the song over and over again. The following
two tracks are somehow a window into darker AUGRIMMER times; the songs
are concentrating more on the dark Black Metal core and seem in some
way like older compositions. But if the band is in the position to
capture the essence of this release we can expect an impressing
debut – maybe not too far away from the debut of their label mates
KERBENOK (even if the musical approach is slightly different). www.augrimmer.de,
www.northern-silence.de
Matthias Auch
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AUGRIMMER
From The Lone Winters Cold
(Northern Silence Productions)
41:48min
Every dark cloud on the far horizon has the potential to become an
enormous storm but sometimes a cloud just stays a cloud. The
introduction to the official AUGRIMMER debut is maybe a little
metaphoric but if I remember my enthusiasm after their last MCD
(“Autumnal Heavens” released early this year – see also the
Voices review section) the story finds its suitable conclusion. I was
really looking forward to this release but “From The Lone Winters
Cold” is honestly speaking a huge disappointment. I can’t trace
any fresh ideas, the German band is travelling between the Norwegian
and Swedish Black Metal scene of the late 90s - meaning DARKTHRONE vs.
(early) SETHERIAL - but without offering anything essential. The calm
moments / parts are throughout the album nearly identical; the same
must be said about the guitar solos, the advantgarde touch (of their
former release) is completely gone and I really start wondering if we
are talking about the same band. Maybe one reason could be the use of
old band material but why did they enter the studio to record their
debut if they are lacking of suitable material – this release is
like one of above mentioned dark clouds, they are just passing by
without any chance to become the mother of all storms. www.augrimmer.de,
www.northern-silence.de,
www.myspace.com/augrimmer
Matthias Auch
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AUGURY
Concealed
(Adipocere Records)
47:20min
It happened that the promo of this record reached me in a time when I felt
discouraged before the current state of the whole Death Metal genre, so I
delayed the review of this for months. Finding recently the strength to give
this CD a spin, I realized that I made an error by not having listened to it
sooner. I am aware of a favourable buzz surrounding this first full length by
this outfit from the Québec province, and I can easily understand why, so much
the music offered here imposes itself as fresh and captivating. Indeed AUGURY
tried hard to come up with something special, without falling into the trap of
sterile experimentation. I clearly see (hear, to be more precise) that AUGURY
come from the school that gave us class acts like DEATH and ATHEIST before,
that said, don’t be led to the conclusion that the band have adopted the
twisted song writing of the aforementioned
acts. It is simply AUGURY have added a lot of subtleties in their music,
some of them working, some others not. The level of drama is pretty high on
this disc; I mean, you feel a certain sense of mystery running through the
record, giving the music a vast scope; sometimes,
AUGURY even made me think of “Lunar Strain” - era IN FLAMES in
that regard. What doesn’t work too much here is the strategy favoured when it
comes to the sharing of vocal styles: on “Concealed” you can indeed hear no
less than five of them. Guitarist Patrick Loisel adopts the typical Death Metal
growls most of the time combining them with Black Metal shrieks. It is when he
sings with a clear voice than the things worsen (to me at least) because then
he made me think of James Hetfield (and I hate Hetfield’s voice). Also the
band asked for the services of a female vocalist, a good idea in this case,
except when she feels compelled to adopt the soprano mode, it turned me off the
first time I listened to the disc (and partly explains why I was not in a hurry
to review it), even if these vocals grew on me after a while. AUGURY chose to
gather the most progressive of their material at the end of the album, with
lots of beautiful acoustic passages (‘The Lair Of Purity’ with its over 7
minutes running time, presents a sure flair of Swedish Melodic Death Metal in
the grand tradition of the style). Al in all, “Concealed” is a superb
effort indeed, despite the minor flaws I subjectively signalled above. A
refreshing experience, Death Metal with a lot of class! www.augurymetal.com.
Edouard Vergriete
BACK
AURA
NOIR
The Merciless
(Tyrant Syndicate Productions)
27:38min
I remember that the so-called "Black Thrash" sound was very
popular some years ago and a considerable number of bands appeared
defending the spirit of early VENOM, SODOM, DESTRUCTION, HELLHAMMER
and POISON (to name a few). Some of them were extremely ridiculous
while others have been actually persuasive. One of the latter was -
and still is - Norway's AURA NOIR. When I first heard about them I
thought that they were one of those pseudo-revivalists of the good old
German Thrash Metal sound but my opinion changed completely after I
listened to their killer "Black Thrash Attack" album
released in 1996 by mighty Malicious Records (I didn't have the chance
to listen to their "Dreams Like Deserts" EP by then –
released by Hot Records). I admit that I didn't like that much
their "Deep Tracts Of Hell" album released two years after
by Hammerheart and I was slightly indifferent to their "Increased
Damnation" compilation (released in 2000 by Hammerheart again).
Still I was hoping that these guys were going to return with an album
worthy of their reputation. Hopefully "The Merciless" is
(for me at least) their best attempt since "Black Thrash
Attack". This album is full of pure blackened Thrash riffs that
pay tribute to their "ancient" influences. Their sound has
not changed a lot from what you know since all usual AURA NOIR
elements are present like the short, simple Black / Thrash riffs with
some mesmerizing moments, the mid-tempo speeds, and the typical
suffocating atmosphere. Plus they have a good production that helps
them capture the right mood for their thrashing sound. Overall this is
another good album from the band that already has a strong and loyal
fan base. Do you need to learn more? www.auranoir.com,
www.tyrantsyndicate.com.
On sale
here.
Manolis
A.
BACK
AURA NOIR
Live Nightmare On Elm Street
(Oxidized Razor Rex Records)
57:14min
I gotta confess that I missed out on a lot of releases by Norway's
blackened Thrashers AURA NOIR ever since their cool "Dreams Like
Deserts" EP from 1995, but all of the songs that I did manage to
hear every now and then still sounded pretty good to me... That also
goes for this live album here (recorded at Oslo's Elm Street club, way
back on November 26, 1996), which offers one hour of pure mayhem. The
band furiously rages through a 14 song set and definitely took no
prisoners, that's for sure! While listening to the disc I noticed
something which I wasn't aware of before for some strange reason and
that is how close AURA NOIR actually is to old VENOM! The vocals sound
110% like good old Cronos and the chaotic, raw attitude in their
Thrash attacks often recall the legendary Hammersmith days of UK's
unholy trinity. Amazing! So, no surprise that the "Black
Metal" classic 'Heaven's On Fire' made it into the setlist as
well this night. Add to this a couple of classic DESTRUCTION riffs as
well as some old KREATOR aggression and you are already pretty close
here. A bunch of pictures as well as a short history piece complete
the overall very positive impression of this release.
Frank Stöver
BACK
AURA
NOIR
Hades Rise
(Peaceville Records)
38:21min
Since
the rather confidential, yet very good split EP "Überthrash"
and a best-of compilation entitled "Deep Dreams of Hell"
from 2005, AURA NOIR remained quite discreet musicwise. Still,
everyone remembers Carl Mickael Eide’s fall from a window a while
ago. Though the dude seems to have completely recovered, and the power
duo composed by him (Aggressor) and Apollyon is now presenting a new
full length, following the already ass kicking black thrashing album
"The Merciless". So what do we have here? As usual on every
AURA NOIR release there are hints of classic Thrash bands riffs and
arrangements! We were already used to hear some VENOM, HELLHAMMER,
SODOM reeking of putrefaction in AURA NOIR’s archaic noise, but this
time "Hades Rise" with an obvious liking for good old
VOIVOD. Listen to tracks like 'Schizoid Paranoid' for instance and
you’ll get the point! Don’t get me wrong though. Even if AURA NOIR
might sound like this or that band, it is in no way a copy cat at all
like countless retro Thrash use to do. If a comparison could be made,
I’d put AURA NOIR in the same category as bands like late
DARKTHRONE, PENTACLE, ABSCESS (a certain Danny Coralles is playing a
solo on 'Gaping Graves Await') and SADISTIC INTENT. In other words,
these are bands which know where they come from and which digested
their influences in order to bring something new and fresh, yet
sounding strongly crafted in the extreme Metal from 80s. A very subtle
recipe if you ask me, and not everybody is able to do that. But AURA
NOIR manages to do it brilliantly, and delivers a very strong effort
there, as timeless as their great "Deep Tracts Of Hell". So
if you’re already a fan of the band, I guess you won’t be
disappointed, and if you’re tired of this new wave of young retro
Thrashers signed by every big label lately, this record might as well
make your day. Contact: www.auranoir.com,
www.myspace.com/auranoir,
www.peaceville.com
Nathaniel Colas
BACK
AURORA BOREALIS
Northern Lights
(Nightsky Prod.)
32:35min
These guys must’ve been quite busy over the past couple of years as
they already appeared on three compilation albums, contributed tracks
to no less than five tribute records (MORBID ANGEL, JUDAS PRIEST,
BLACK SABBATH, DIO and SLAYER), put out a mini CD entitled "Mansions
Of Eternity" in 1996 and two full lengths ("Praise
The Archaic Lights Embrace" – 1998 and "Northern
Lights" – 2000). The most "famous" dude in the
band probably is guitarist / vocalist Ron Vento, who used to be in
LESTREGUS NOSFERATUS a couple of years ago along with former HALLOWS
EVE man Skellator, who released a bunch of cool demos before they
disappeared into nothingness. I never heard any of the other AURORA
BOREALIS releases before, so I gotta concentrate on this newest full
length, which offers highly aggressive and very energetic Thrash from
start to finish, performed with the blasting intensity of raw Nordic
Black Metal. Technically well executed, but not necessarily good enough
produced to do the material completely justice. This is more of an
underground type release, not completely unique, but at least always
very honest and devastating sounding. Both full length CDs sell for
$12 each (ppd.), the mini for CD $9. You can contact them at the following
address: Ron Vento, P.O. Box 1327, Clinton, MD 20735-5327, U.S.A.,
e-mail: aurora4dth@aol.com,
internet: www.auroraborealis.org
Latest news: AURORA BOREALIS will also appear on upcoming KREATOR
and W.A.S.P. tributes. "Northern Lights" can be ordered
here.
Frank Stöver
BACK
AURORA BOREALIS
Time, Unveiled
(Die Hard Music)
45:22min
Although their
band name sounds a bit silly, the technical US Black / Death act
AURORA BOREALIS convinced me with their last album “Northern
Lights” (2001) that names do not mean a thing. On their newest
album Ron Vento (vocals / guitars / bass) und Tim Yeung (drums)
unleash a much more brutal Black / Death assault, that is not only
blessed by a powerful production, but also with fascinating song
material and technical finesse, all together features that should
attract more Metal fans out there to this underestimated act. If you
have problems with screamed vocal parts, you might have problems
with this, but any open-minded Death Metal fan should check this CD
out, because it does not sound as wimpy as much of the other stuff
than is labeled Black / Death. There are crushing blasts, fast and
complex riff assaults as well as some slower, heavy moments.
Sometimes AURORA BOREALIS make me think of a faster and more
aggressive version of the glorious NOCTURNUS, especially during the
verses of ‘Transversing The Tides’, whereas during the fast
parts of ‘The Last Day’ or ‘Berserker’ they remind me of
HATE ETERNAL, only with scream vocals. Ron Vento’s intense vocal
performance gives AURORA BOREALIS a unique and individual note, that
lets them stand out of the mass of American Death Metal bands.
“Time Unveiled” is a highlight for any fan of technical and
aggressive Metal and proves once again that you can create killing
Black / Death without sounding as soft and “un-heavy” as the
boring Swedish acts. The European version of “Time, Unveiled”
consists of seven new songs and two ’94 demo tracks, which are
also cool, although the drums sound a bit sterile, but anyway find
out for yourself – I can only recommend you to do it! For a link
to the band’s page check out the label’s website: www.diehardmusic.com.
The CD is on sale here.
Stefan Franke
BACK
THE AUSTRASIAN GOAT
The Austrasian Goat
(I Hate Records)
42:32min
THE AUSTRASIAN GOAT is a French one man "band" that was
founded by SHALLNOTKILL guitarist / vocalist Julien Louvet, who also
runs his own label D.I.Y. 213 Records. Other than that I have no
real backing info, so we can focus on the self-titled THE AUSTRASIAN
GOAT debut (?) album exclusively here. Musically the featured
material should easily please openminded fans of sinister Black
Metal in the same way as worshippers of apocalyptic Doom as it
perfectly combines the best of both worlds. Each of the songs is
ultra heavy and extremely slow, while the overall atmosphere evokes
the grimmest and rawest Black Metal (Norwegian style) you can
imagine. Here and there you'll also discover some epic, kinda
medieval sounding elements in his writing, that remind me a little
bit on Quorthon's legendary Viking Metal period (yet it is more
intense and without the melodic vocals here). In fact, the entire
record is by no means "nice" or polished. It's actually
the total opposite! Throughout the whole playing time "The
Austrasian Goat" delivers a very tortured feeling and therefore
is certainly not suitable for the typical mainstream kids, nor for
those depressed souls among you with serious suicidal tendencies...
I bet the whole atmosphere is even more effective in the dark autumn
/ winter time instead of the sunny spring / summer time that we
currently experience. To sum things up: not really a record I would
play very often, but highly impressive nevertheless. For more info
check out: www.myspace.com/austrasiangoat,
http://perso.orange.fr/213,
www.ihate.se
Frank Stöver
BACK
AUTOPSY
Torn
From The Grave
(Peaceville Records)
70:54min
Be warned…under-estimate AUTOPSY’s vile majesty and there
are people in this world who would have you hung form the highest
branch. And I indeed am one such sicko. AUTOPSY were the pustulent
gaping wound, the thorn in the side of the early 90’s Yank
Death Metal scene, giving two fingers at the entire
Morrisound brigade almost single-handedly. Where they went for slick
production values AUTOPSY scaped the barrel and produced something
primal and raw, with undiluted live energy, dark and sinister in
a very real way. Taking some influence from bands like TROUBLE and
CANDLEMASS added painful slow twisted passages amongst the carnage
and enabled them to stand out even more. Mix that in with the breakneck
insanity of the rest of the music and you get an engaging spectacle…
kinds like a car crash! It is really hard to explain what a genuinely
individual band AUTOPSY were and how especially with their second
album "Mental Funeral" they practically redefined a genre.
Lately the legacy of one Chris Reifert has been coming closer and
closer to the surface like some prematurely buried abomination gasping
for air, THE RAVENOUS, ABSCESS and now this all vying for the sickest
spot. My vote for one will always be with AUTOPSY. And this compilation
as with the DARKTHRONE looks great as well and has some demo tracks
and various bits and pieces that make it more than worth your while
picking it up and I must commend them for that, it does however
show how the band began to loose it after "Mental Funeral"
with the following albums "Acts Of The Unspeakable" and
"Shitfun" but "Torn From The Grave" is an awesome
legacy to behold and for thousands of sick minions around the world
it may just make their day that little bit darker. It is on sale
here.
Nemtheanga
BACK
AUTOPSY
Ridden With Disease
(Necroharmonic Productions)
33:14min
Unnecessary to tell you something about mighty AUTOPSY. This band is
a legend and one of the most unique and influential bands of the
whole Death Metal universe. No doubt about it. If you don't agree
with me you better stop reading. All the others have to fall down on
their knees and thank Necroharmonic for putting these two essential
demos on CD. "Ridden With Disease" is nothing but a true
masterpiece of Death Metal history, it's a monument of brutality and
sickness. I was totally surprised by this fantastic, brutal and sick
sound of this CD. So there is absolutely no excuse for you for not
buying this demo compilation. "Ridden With Disease"
contains the "87 Demo" and the "Critical
Madness" demo from 1988 plus the two bonus tracks 'Severed
Survival' and 'Service For A Vacant Coffin' recorded live in
Bamberg, Germany on 3/16/1990. Buyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Contact:
www.necroharmonic.com
Hacker
BACK
AUTOPSY
Dead As Fuck
(Necroharmonic Records)
60:03min
This is a fuckin' great release! Not only because it is from one of
the coolest Death Metal bands we ever had, but also because it
features two very good quality live recordings combined onto one
single CD! Both sessions were previously already available on vinyl,
but there's some little differences to this CD version nevertheless.
"Dead As Fuck" combines the "Tortured Moans Of Agony"
double 7" EP (originally also released on Necroharmonic Records,
in two different colored vinyls, but limited to 1.000 copies only),
which features material that was recorded live at Bonnie's Alco in
New Jersey on May 16, 1993 plus the "Live From The Grave"
(bootleg) LP, recorded live at the Waters Club in San Pedro,
California on March 30, 1991. According to Roy of Necroharmonic
Records the double 7" EP tracks even contain a bonus track and
all edited talking from the original vinyl now and both sessions
were remastered a bit for better sound. So, as a result you get 19
tracks in total of fuckin' A-U-T-O-P-S-Y!!!
The tracklist is comprised by classics of the band from their
legendary "Severed Survival" debut up till 1992's "Fiend
For Blood" EP, which means you get quite a good selection of
the best AUTOPSY tunes ever written! Even the packaging looks great
(very cool artwork and lots of top quality pics by Kurt Hubert!), so
everyone into sick, original Death Metal shouldn't hesitate to order
a copy of this CD right away. It sells for $10.00 (US) / $12.00 (rest
of the world) from Necroharmonic Records, P.O. Box 1271, Kearney, NJ
07032, USA. All further info you may get from the label's website www.necroharmonic.com
Frank Stöver
BACK
AUTOPSY TORMENT
Tormentorium
(Painkiller Records)
35:08min
All you primitive Metal barbarians out
there cheer up, because here’s another heavy, dirty, bloody and
musical hellish lousy masterpiece for you. A release featuring PAGAN
RITES-singer Devil Lee Rot is always a delight for bangers and
"Tormentorium" is undoubtedly no exception. Numerous
simple but killing riffs, the perfect raw, filthy and heavy sound
and primitive Black / Death hymns like ‘Kill Till I Die’, ‘Death
By Metal’ or ‘Human Puzzle’ make AUTOPSY TORMENT’s newest
offering a very good bargain for fans of NIFELHEIM, old BATHORY,
early-TIAMAT / TREBLINKA and comparable Metal kults (but without
ever reaching their class! – Frank). AUTOPSY TORMENT are one
of those bands that positively remind the extreme Metal scene of its
roots and the feeling that made all those mid to late 80’s demos
and EP’s so unforgettable. Alright, I think this is all you need
to know, get this CD – it rots, it rolls, it’s fucking fun! For
additional information visit the following websites:
www.painkiller-records.com
and www.geocities.com/autopsy_torment666/.
You may find the CD
here.
Stefan Franke
BACK
AUTUMNAL
Grey Universe
(Xtreem Music)
47:23min
AUTUMNAL was formed in 1996, a year when Doom Metal in the vein of ANATHEMA and MY DYING BRIDE already reached its zenith. Nevertheless, now in 2007 a band exists that still plays this kind of Doom Metal with a lot of Death Metal influences. And to be honest, would this album have been released in 1993-94 this would have left a mark within the scene, for sure. Nowadays, this album is really an alternation for my 08/15 Black Metal-irritable ears. After four
demos between 1998 and 2003, AUTMNAL now can unleash their debut album unto the world.
"Grey Universe" creates the sorrowful, melancholic and pitiful moments that almost only old Doom Metal can transmit. A huge contribution to the melancholically sounding of the
band is the use of the cello. It plays a quite huge role in the music of AUTUMNAL and is played very-well. 6 songs in total are featured and should be a please for fans of the older recordings of above mentioned bands.
www.xtreemmusic.com
Hurricane
BACK
AUTUMNAL REAPER
Rise Of The Raging Death
(Apollon Records)
44:00min
AUTUMNAL REAPER formed in 1991, and appear to have remained active
ever since - but it's only within the last decade or so that they've
bared their fangs. Sounding very much like DENIAL OF GOD, the music
of AUTUMNAL REAPER is heavy with melody, but not fluffy or tender,
exactly like a Black Metal band should be; not for the faint of
heart. Perhaps another line of comparison lies with DISSECTION, who
everyone knows, is one of the most famous - and infamous - melodic
Black Metal bands. DISSECTION and DENIAL OF GOD both, are beloved by
their fans because of the sheer artistry of their songs, combining
the carnivalesque of KING DIAMOND, and the evil of BATHORY to unique
heights.By rights, AUTUMNAL REAPER should have released this album
years ago - that way they too might have the same level of fame as
DISSECTION and DENIAL OF GOD because they do the same thing almost
as well. But better late than never. This band might be old, but
they play with youthful ferocity.
www.myspace.com/AutumnalReaperBand,
www.apollonrecords.nl
Nat Shapiro
BACK
AUTUMNIA
O'Funer Alia
(Solitude Productions)
49:37min
Even if the glorious times of the French underground label Holy Records are definitely gone (at least since 10 years) their back catalogue bears an enormous amount of Doom masterpieces. Bands like TRISTITIA or YEARNING have established their own musical cosmos and while listening to the third releases of this Ukrainian band lovely memories are rising up. AUTUMNIA had been founded in 2003 and "O'Funer Alia" is their first release for the Doom specialist Solitude Productions. The band is aiming for a very emotional Doom Metal version - so don't expect bloody razors means any kind of suicide melodies here - the music reminds me more of the coming autumn when the trees are losing their colors and everything becomes grey. Even if nearly all 5 songs easily reaching the 10 minutes barrier is their music full of various moods which are musically supported by piano and violin etc. AUTUMNIA have for sure not recorded the blackest Doom release ever but everybody
who prefers a light black instead of total black should at least give this album a
chance - so it's up to you to invite decay & despair into your home.
http://autumnia.org,
http://solitude-prod.com
Matthias Auch
BACK
AVENGER
Godless
(Deathgasm Records)
45:04min
Czech
Black / Death masters AVENGER could already capture my interest with
their debut "Shadows Of The Damned" (Breath Of Night
Records), and the follow-up "Fall Of Devotion, Wrath And
Blasphemy" (Deathgasm, 2001), which had the same level of
excellence as the first assault. Due to their Czech vocals and the
varied mixture of sinister, yet melodic parts and furious rage
AVENGER come along like a cross-breeding of MASTERS HAMMER and
traditional Swedish Death Metal. Their melodic feel and sense for
dark, moody harmonics is extraordinary and though almost omnipresent
free of any softness ruining the aggressive elements in AVENGER's
sound. Bewitching leads, the exotic sounding Czech Black Metal
vocals, a warm heavy production, surprising breaks and a good feel
for tempo variation make "Godless" another exciting
musical journey showing the cheesy interchangeable "Melodic
Black / Death" bands around how this music should sound and how
melody does not mean the death of all that sounds dark, mysterious
and hateful! Crowned with a great artwork by Juanjo Castellano which
shows some impaled and crucified angels, a thick booklet containing
the lyrics in Czech as well as English translation, "Godless"
is an album I can only heartedly recommend to people in search for
individual sounding gloomy music. And by the way, if you ever get
the chance to see this band, don't miss it! They won't surprise you
with a special show and lots of visual gimmicks, but AVENGER will
reach for your soul with their music, offer musical devotion and
skill and will capture you with the spirit that fuels their
performance. A special band and a special album for sure... www.deathgasm.com
Stefan Franke
BACK
AVENGER
Feast Of Anger - Joy Of Despair
(Deathgasm Records)
42:46min
An event of this magnitude is rare…probably once in every thousand bands or so…that a band grows like this is not something exactly happening all the time. This Czech force has already three full lengths before this one, and although all of those were good, and possess some competent songs and a couple of killer riffs, they were, in all honesty, an average band…until now. 5 years have passed since the release of their last album, and it seems the band dedicated this time to become masters in their style. No, they didn't change that much in fact; the main core of their sound and influences are still there. They just pushed the limits and forced themselves to be the best in every sense. This aggressive
Death / Black Metal style is still there, with that distinctive flavor that bands like MASTER'S HAMMER and ROOT gave in their brightest times, combined with a malicious melodic form of metal reminiscent of early
DISSECTION and early MAYHEM, added with a touch of early DARKTHRONE and spices of IMMOLATION and MORBID ANGEL found within. Yes, they never forget about melody and yet they always sound obscure. There is not a single riff or part of a song that was composed without an objective in mind: to annihilate the listener. I am still not sure if this is sung in their mother tongue as the previous releases have
been (based on the lyrics in the booklet I'd say yes here - Frank), but rest assure that the vocals have that charismatic touch that only sung in that old European language can be achieved. Although the vocals tend to be more into the screamy
Black Metal type, they are strong enough and used to a great effect to transmit the sound of painful agony. One thing that makes this sound so powerful is the impressive rhythmic section, with a fantastic drum work, and very precise riffing. Add to that a heavy and powerful production, which avoids modern trends, yet keeps it with ultimate
strength. And although I won't be able to tell you that they play very technical, there is a certain complexity in the arrangements here, but just in the precise quantity that makes the songs to sound as a continuous storm. A mention must be made to the guitar solos, which are above average and used in the right place to make an emphasis on the strength of the songs.
'Just For This Night' has a mid tempo start that suddenly and almost in a very natural form speeds up with such atmosphere of aggression and darkness few bands can achieve. That is another triumph in here, the variety in speed, where AVENGER always sound strong no matter if they go grinding fast or tormented in mid pace, something few bands are capable of achieving with this mastery. The effective use of some intros and interludes (quite macabre sounding I must add) and some few acoustic parts, which in other cases could probably make things to sound out of place, are used to enhance even further the dark and aggressive atmosphere of the album. On
'Vitriol' they play a mammoth riff that would make the envy of any extreme
Metal band. 'Joy Of Despair' also showcases more of their majestic Death
Metal side in the guitar playing. Songs after song it is the intensity that the band oozes that traps the listener in a void-like trance. It cannot end in a better way with "Feast
Of Anger" truly a hymn to darkness, death and perdition. Although we are only at the half of this year 2008, this is surely a contender for album of the year in the extreme
Metal reign. Honor to Deathgasm for releasing this monster and to AVENGER for creating it. This is what
Heavy Metal hunters like me are born for, to discover these blackened jewels. Essential purchase.
More info at: www.myspace.com/avengerofficial,
www.deathgasm.com
Julian Nuñez
BACK
AVERSE SEFIRA
Advent Parallax
(Candlelight Records)
57:00min
I didn't expect these three guys to release a new album so fast, or
maybe three years are enough, but they needed quite some more time to
release the previous one, which was in fact a good thing because I
didn't like their two first works that much and then
"Tetragrammatical Astygmata" blew me away with really
inspired Black / Death Metal, without so much evident influences and a
lot of raw energy, even if their music is much more complex and
powerful that the typical raw Black Metal stuff. "Advent
Parallax" is released on Candlelight Records, which is a good
thing for the band, and furthermore it didn't have any bad impact on
their music. The energy is still here, and I think it is even harder,
a fucking tornado of brutality since the very first seconds of this
recording. On the eight songs and fifty eight minutes of "Advent
Parallax" there are very few moments for breathing, just take a
listen to it and admire how the melodies and highly northern
influenced riffs march upon the brutal drumming of The Carcass (yes,
this is the name of their drummer). Maybe one of the things I like the
most is their rawness, compared with other Black / Death bands which
have the tendency to go into more modern sounds; AVERSE SEFIRA just
take the darkness and brutality of the first IMMORTAL stuff, for
example, and mix it with some heavier Death Metal, which results a
great combination. And maybe this is what they did since their
beginnings, but the songwriting here is much more inspired; even if
the songs are pretty long (from five to nine minutes) and totally in
your face, the riffs are interesting and you can find some details and
magick in every track, and if they stop for a mid paced part it is
really because it is needed. If you want to feel how a horde of
barbarians marches upon you, destroying everything on its way, put
"Advent Parallax" at full volume into your CD player and let
them blow your brain. www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
Jeroni Sancho
BACK
AVSKY
Malignant
(Moribund Cult)
44:38min
Nah… I don’t think so. Because, this is not "easily the most dangerous-sounding Black Metal
bands in ages". First off, this is one band, not one bands. But who am I to judge grammar mistakes, since they are more regular in my writing than in
Moribund’s information-propaganda on the backcovers of their promos. The point is however not the grammar mistake, but rather the statement itself. This is definitely not the most dangerous-sounding Black Metal band in ages. In fact, it’s not enough to produce the album making it sound closer to “Under A Funeral Moon” instead of let’s say “DeathCult
Armageddon” (respectively DarkThrone and
Dimmu Borgir). You have to go below
Mayhem and their “Ordo Ad Chao”, which is the most dangerous-sounding Black Metal album ever! It scares me, simply put.
I would rather say that "Avsky" does sound disgusting (avsky means disgust) and the obvious
DarkthRone and Celtic Frost influences add to the dirt. In fact, this album is not original at all. You’ve heard the sound before. While listening to the album for the 15th time, I feel that I’ve heard these songs previously done by other bands. Still, and this is the fascinating part for “Malingant”, I am not bored at all. I suspect that it is the horrendous vocals that do the difference. Vocalist TO probably does his vocals on the border of his capacity. I feel like he’s about to loose the strength in his voice all the time. They’re ugly and they’re definitely done with conviction.
Compared to their debut, the songs on “Malignant” are longer and in my opinion better. The midpaced approach suits the ugliness of
Avsky’s music, and the atmosphere benefits from the mid-tempo. When they speed up, like in
'Like Poison', I feel that they’re just doing the standard Black Metal galloping that we know from thousand other bands. But even in this track, they make space for a great break after ca. two and a half minutes. Great.
Avsky’s “Malignant” is perhaps not up to par with the top 5 of all
Black Metal releases, but if they continue their development, making the music even better and the sound clearer yet more dangerous (just listen to the latest
Leviathan, and you’re there), I’m confident
Avsky will release a beautiful
album… as in Black Metal beauty, that is. The latter does not have anything to do with melodic, symphonic, epic
Black Metal, but rather ugly, disgusting, filthy music that contradicts the conformity of most people’s daily life!
www.avsky.tk,
www.moribundcult.com
Roy Kristensen
BACK
AVULSED
Bloodcovered (MCD)
(self-financed)
24:01min
I'm
not quite sure if this is really for sale or not as I just got a
CD-R copy of it (with full colored packing though) and the whole
release is strictly limited to 500 copies only. But I will give
it a little mention anyway. All of the five featured songs are cover
tunes, that already appeared on a bunch of different tribute albums
(or probably will so soon), except for a live recording of SEPULTURA's
'Inner
Self'.
Haven't really followed the career of AVULSED over the last couple
of years, but compared to the stuff that I still recall from their
earlier days, this sounds much improved (especially vocal wise).
The tracks they mutilated on here are in particular: 'Immortal
Rites'
(from MORBID ANGEL's alltime classic "Altars
Of Madness"),
'Embryonic
Necropsy And Devourment' (CARCASS,
from "Symphonies
Of Sickness"),
'Edible
Autopsy'
(from the CANNIBAL CORPSE debut "Eaten
Back To Life"),
'Magic
Dragon' (SODOM,
originally to be found on "Agent
Orange")
and the already aforementioned SEPULTURA ("Beneath
The Remains")
classic. The more extreme the original was, the better AVULSED's
version has turned out. So, if you're into brutal Death Metal or
just enjoy covertunes, make sure to contact AVULSED for further
info on this at: avulsed@repulserecords.com.
Go here
to order it.
Frank Stöver
BACK
AVULSED
Yearning For The Grotesque
(Avantgarde Music)
49:39min
Frank already
informed me that AVULSED made a great step in the rigth direction
and I can’t find anything wrong with this record at all: brutal as
hell and absolutely tight, the band composed quite a few impressive
songs that won’t catapult them to the olymp of Death Metal but
with this CD everything seems to be possible! Check out my favourite
‘Pale Red Blood’ with that cool acoustic guitar intro! This
piece of sickness won’t keep you on the sofa for sure! Take a look
at the great artwork at the band’s homepage. www.avulsed.com.
It is on sale here.
Ramon Claassen
BACK
AVULSED
Yearning For The Grotesque
(Avantgarde Music)
49:39min
Well, Dave from AVULSED didn’t feel quite happy with my
‘Yearning For The Grotesque’ review. Not because it wasn’t
positive enough, he wanted more details and he even thought I
didn’t give the album a thorough listen. I won’t tell you my
first thoughts when I read his lines as minors have access to Voices
as well ;-) but then I thought about the affair and had to admit
that to some extend he was right. I tend to write short texts but
the truth is I was on my way to Oldenburg’s Metal Pub (or rather
the Metal / Gothic Night at a pub over here) and I was late. So in
case you’re a musician and don’t like the review I gave your
latest CD, don’t expect me to rewrite it: when I think it’s crap
– that’s it! The next attack I’m trying to prevent is: “oh
yeah, it’s for Dave Rotten, Voices doesn’t want to interfere
with him”. Hey, I was in contact with him like 2 times via
email... I’m more afraid of the guys from GOREZONE because of my
EBOLA BEACH PARTY review: the guys are living just around the
corner! So sorry for a mediocre review indeed. Won’t happen again
I guess. Okay, now let the music do the talking: Shock therapy! The first track
‘Wormeaten’ starts with quite a blast and turns into a mid tempo
groove monster that sometimes reminds you of MACHINE HEAD in their
better days. A melodic solo makes this one even better. Talking
about solos and melodies: exactly this category makes ‘Yearning
For The Grotesque’ special: quite a few times I was reminded of
one of my all time favourites, AMORPHIS’ ‘Tales From The
Thousand Lakes’. This counts for track No. 2, a catchy up tempo
banger a lot. Track 3, ’Pale Red Blood’ starts with a somewhat
oriental sounding acoustic theme being repeated and varied
throughout the whole song several times the electric way and finally
serves as the song’s outro as well. ‘Pale...’ really drags me
along. ‘Sick Sick Sex’, the following number of the feast is
strongly influenced by the trend of today, namely frognoise.
Luckily, AVULSED manage to keep this one interesting with an
orgasmic “chorus” that’s bound to make people raise their fists and shout along at gigs. Next
one, ‘Daddy Stew’, presents even more facets of the new AVULSED:
a thrashy edge and some rather melodic Swedeath influences (check
out the guitar harmonies around the chorus!). I could be bragging on
like this for the last 5 songs as well but I won’t: the high
quality doesn’t decrease throughout the whole album (be impressed
by the SLAYER influenced solo on ‘I Feel Good... Eating Human
Flesh’)! The point is: even though all those references to other
bands keep shining through constantly, the album leaves an
impression of being a unit rather than patchwork. AVULSED are citing
the greatest bands on earth (BLACK SABBATH on ‘Foetivorous
Marriage’) but as oldschool Death Metal basically binds together
the loose ends, the band made the necessary step of being more than
copycats (I fuckin’ dig the solo on ‘Morbid Chef’ and that one
doesn’t ring a bell for me). Technically, the band is on a high
level and the vocals simply kill as they’re to the point and quite
variable. The bottom line is: prepare for the oldschool Death Metal
assault you’ve been waiting for! As long as you don’t despise
melodies being integrated into shredding brutality in general, this
one’s for you. The fact that my favourite tracks on here keep
changing all the time prove the record’s quality, right now I love
the doomy final track best, ‘Decrepit Sigh’. Reminds me a bit of
AMORPHIS’ ‘Black Winter Day’. Quite a bit of blood, sweat and
tears has been put into this album, so I guess now this review
finally gives a bit of a taste. Check out the complete artwork at
the band’s homepage! www.avulsed.com.
You can order it here.
Ramon Claassen
BACK
AVULSED
Reanimations
(Xtreem Music)
66:30min
This
is not the new album from the pack lead by mister Rotten following
“Goresplattered Suicide” as I initially thought, in fact this an
enhanced MCD with a slightly “strange” concept – strange as in
“unusual” which seems to appeal to AVULSED from time to time if
one remembers their remix CD “Cybergore” some years ago (if
somebody wants to get rid of that one – contact me, hehe). Now,
“Reanimations” is not again a technoid remix CD (apart from the
last song). The first three songs on here are AVULSED's own
compositions with their trademark brand of heavy Death Metal with
influences from the classic Finnish sound from the early 90s. 'River
Runs Red' (not a LIFE OF AGONY cover) and 'Foetal Consolation' are the
only new songs on here whereas 'Unconcious Pleasure' is a re-recorded
track from their first demo, blending in quite well with the new
tracks. Following are AVULSED's takes on classics from EXODUS ('Piranha'),
W.A.S.P. ('I Wanna Be Somebody') and GOREFEST ('Mental Misery'), the
latter being the most convincing as it is stylistically not too far
away from the band's original sound. There also seems to be a video
clip for 'Let Me Taste Your Flesh' made up from gig footage,
unfortunately this one is not included on the promo CD. And now to the
strange part: to fill the remaining space AVULSED let nine bands cover
their own material. The results are quite mixed as every bands follows
a different style – not all bands are Death Metal, some play a
modern kind of groovy Thrash, sometimes even semi-clear / melodically
shouted or even female voices are used. The last song is a remix of 'Stabwound
Orgasm' going in a jungle / breakbeat direction (some synthie parts
sound quite like Trance, though). I am glad the band dropped the
original idea of recording a disc full with covers of classics as I am
not too fond of that anyway but turned up with this rather unusual
idea. Not every version may be great but at least this is quite
interesting. On top of it you get a cool cover and if I am not
mistaken there is also a limited edition with a syringe filled with
ominous green liquid available at shows or from the band directly…
maybe a collectors release after all! For more information head here: www.avulsed.com
Ulrich Kreienbrink
BACK
AVULSION
Indoctrination Into The Cult Of Death
(Deathgasm Records)
29:58min
Although
I was a little shocked at first by the short playing time of the US
oldschool Death Metal band’s second album, it proved to be one of
the best half-an-hour’s I have heard for some time now. Do bands
like old GRAVE, CREMATORY, DEMIGOD, old IMMOLATION mean something to
you? You think PAGANIZER or BLOODBATH do not sound “ancient”
enough? Well, then buy this album!!! It is as funereal, morbid and
filled to the brim with the spirit of the early 90s Death Metal as
can be. The production is very bassy, I can hear a dose of Sunlight
Studio ’91, decomposed growls, fierce blasting brutality, heavy
mid-tempo as well as haunting “typical Swedish” melodies
invoking this unique atmosphere everyone into old Death Metal loves
so much. The album’s title might appear a little far-fetched at
first but once you’ve listened to it you will agree it is the
perfect description for this masterpiece. It is a pity that this
kind of Death Metal so often ends up barely noticed, what is sold
today under the label of “oldschool Death Metal” is mostly
nothing but a joke and since AVULSION have disbanded some time ago (this
album was already recorded in 2002) there is only another addition
to the numerous fantastic bands giving up the struggle for
indoctrinating the mass with the ancient essence of Death Metal.
Hopefully this review will help in spreading word about AVULSION
among the dedicated worshippers of honest oldschool Death Metal and
despite a rather unspectacular layout help selling this 30 minutes
of pure sinister delight! As a bonus to the sparse layout (which
consists mostly of pics from “City Of The Living Dead”) the CD
offers a computer part with four bonus MP3’s from 1999, a video of
‘Desecrated Ground’ and a photo gallery. www.deathgasm.com
Stefan Franke
BACK
THE AWAKENING
The Age Of Storm
(self-financed)
32:39min
So here you have the missing review of the great bands I happened
to experience live some time ago supporting NAGELFAR and OF TREES
AND ORCHIDS (now INGURGITATING OBLIVION), namely the aforementioned
bands, DAEMONS EMBRACE and HIDDEN IN THE FOG. Optically, the face
painting of their singer was very original: white with red "scratches"
over the face, just as if some evil Demon (or his girlfriend) had
attacked him. Some of you might know their song 'North (Unite The
Clans)' from the Eternity-sampler #18. What you get is a good mixture
of aggressive and pagan / melodic Black Metal on a fairly high level.
They don't quite reach the quality of some other Oldenburgian /
East Frisian extreme Metal acts, especially the song writing still
lacks some fluency, but they're talented and now as their line-up
problems are hopefully solved, they will enter the studio probably
by the beginning of 2002. So I'm curious about that new material.
Until then: check out THE AWAKENING and the other bands I mentioned
earlier on. I'm pretty sure you won't regret it! www.theawakeing.de
Ramon Claassen
BACK
AXIS
OF ADVANCE
The List
(Osmose Productions)
33:56min
The US is fucking raging, no doubt about that, after the new
THORNSPAWN, ARGHOSLENT, ANWYL and GRAND BELIAL’s KEY albums
there’s another Black / Death / Thrash assault that should satisfy
any fan of apocalyptic and chaotic soundscapes! AXIS OF ADVANCE, one
of many bands James Read (also CONQUEROR, REVENGE) participates in,
attack with a faster, more brutal version of ORDER FROM CHAOS
(especially the vocals remind me of Pete Helmkamp) and... well...
leave nothing but dead bodies behind!!! The sound is raw, hectic,
violent and fits good to this type of music. There are some slower,
sometimes even doomy parts here and there on “The List” and they
assure that the whole thing does not get boring, see the beginning
of ‘Sacrifice’. A song like ‘The Torture’ is rhythmically
and vocally a perfect tribute to ORDER FROM CHAOS and it is cool
that AXIS OF ADVANCE honor this cult-act!!! On the LP version, as
usual limited on 500 hellish copies, you will discover another
tribute, this time it is a cover version of DEATHSTRIKE’s ‘Pay
To Die’, which I would have loved to hear as well, but damn,
it’s not on that fucking promo. But anyway, “The List” is a
manifest of raw feeling and aggression and anyone who praises the
bands I mentioned above, like I do, should check this one out!!! For
more information and a link to AXIS OF ADVANCE’s website, surf to www.osmoseproductions.com.
On sale here.
Stefan Franke
BACK
AXIS
OF ADVANCE
Obey
(Osmose Productions)
37:35min
Trying to define the music played by AXIS OF ADVANCE is an almost impossible
task, so much this Canadian three piece have developed a highly personal style
which defies any categorization. With this third album, AXIS OF ADVANCE have
basically kept the style that made their two previous efforts (“Strike” and
“The List”) so enjoyable. Expect once again a strange brand of Death /
Black Metal, rooted in the past while being futuristic at the same time; I know
this may sound like a paradox, but it is the way I feel this music anyway. To
clear the things up, let’s say that without using any fancy
“experimental” device or element (like trendy samples, badly played
keyboards, or “cyber” paraphernalia), AXIS OF ADVANCE have instilled a
quite disturbing atmosphere, both musically and lyrically, into this disc. AXIS OF ADVANCE
War Metal announces grim times to come, the final battle which could well
engulf the earth into a vortex of perdition because of a sadistic dictatorial
manipulation of mankind leading us to war and destruction. No wonder then that
the music on “Obey” is nothing but a cyclone of violence and hate: each of
the tracks shows intricacy, adventurous tempochanges (emphasized by the insane
drumming of J. Read, once again featured as a “session” member, but he was
so referred to since the very beginning of AXIS OF ADVANCE existence, so I
suppose he is a permanent member now?), perfect musical mastery and insanely
hateful vocals spat as deadly black venom. The production was handled at the
famous Berno Studio in Sweden, so you can expect an excellent overall sound,
yet put in the service of the music. From time to time, the guitar sounds like
at the time of the very first wave of Swedish Death Metal bands in the
beginning of the 90s; this is a new element in the AXIS OF ADVANCE music, and
quite unusual and fresh considering that the band’s style has nothing in
common with this. My only complaint regarding “Obey” is that it appears too
much carefully planned and cold instead of being spontaneous, like “Strike”
and “The List” were. Nevertheless, this album is way above the current
production in extreme Metal, and should be present in the collection of any
serious Metalhead. Obey AXIS OF ADVANCE and get this one urgently, and the rest
of their discography as well! Excellent! You may order it
here.
Edouard Vergriete
BACK
The Axis Of Perdition
Physical Illucinations In The Sewer Of Xulchibara (MCD)
(Code666)
30:07min
"And then again I saw, and behold" a new seal of the UKs
purest avantgardist duo. After their essential previous stereo
drawings namely "The Ichneumond Method - And Less Welcome Techniques"
here they come again with the violent stinch of twitching terror
wrapped in half an hour of a nightmare suspension. Cause here is
their real nightmare suspension... from the very beginning the
sound inexpressibly enters the ear to smelt down unto the mind,
then to the unconscious and thus the nightmare to begins... the 'machine'
aspires every inch of reality, twisting shades start to appear,
the target is approaching... intensity, everything is about
intensity in this digital manipulation, everything... until the
illucination of a waking interferates from the other side: "I
have come to witness the beginning (...)"; be sure you're not
awake, you're just about to touch the first depth ('Where The World
Becomes Flesh') entwined in an impulsive torment of acrid guitars
and pounding chirurgical beats, they sound here as the unatural
progression from the first act, sometimes a bit more Hardcore-ish,
sometimes a bit more Death-ish, sometimes a bit more Black-ish...
nevermind, the definition is avoidable. "Did you do all this?"
- oscillations locked in the red, overdriving the loudness of the
sub frequencies, 'The Pendulum Prey - Reciprocating Horror' is to my
point the track which definitely includes The Axis Of Perdition
into the unique-level-reachers' ranks showing them with an
outstanding sense of rhythm and tunes that contemplates with power
what is given with a far-distance clear voice; they created some
space in their music compared to the (relatively) massive "Ichneumond
Method" album. This, is their key to go beyond everything
that stands. A vast concert of industrial noises and a sonar disturbance ('Reopening
Wounds From The Transition Hospital') brings you to another depth
of the created paradigma ('Heaving Salvation In The Paradise Of Rust'), a visionnary entity of the unknown abyss which is yet to
come, to descend into, but seems infinite, desperately black; and
as oceans' depths drive a soul to get deeper, you're bound to
inexorabily re-begin what you've always done, but what you always
forget - clinging against the stream. Deconstructions, un-harmonic
arpegios, a contemplative voice, and a neverending oppression
progressively guides to revelations, to release the stone you were
hanging against the stream and get carried by it... literally
out-standing... to be continued... (hey Krig, what kind of
drugs did you take before writing this, hahaha - Frank).
www.code666.net, www.clix.to/axis.
On sale
here.
Sonderkrig
BACK
AXIS POWERS
Pure Slaughter
(Iron Fist Productions)
41:04min
Hell yeah, this is one of the finest examples of “real” Death Metal
that has been released lately! Though the band's name might arouse
politically incorrect connotations, AXIS POWERS do not represent any
fascist or right-wing ideology, but like BOLT THROWER lyrically
predominately deal with war in all its destructive details.
Musically “Pure Slaughter” is absolutely everything Swedish
oldschool Death Metal addicts long for, a guitar that buzzes 100%
like Sunlight-sound did in the 90s, songs that resemble NIHILIST /
ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, CREMATORY or GOD MACABRE, straight and catchy
structured material, that’s brutal, driving and nicely raw! A
couple of songs contain some cool melodic leads (e.g. ‘I Am
Anyone’, ‘Ashes’), but mostly AXIS POWERS concentrate on
turning everything to shreds with their well-balanced mix of massive
groove and up-tempo aggression. AXIS POWERS is not the re-invention
of a genre but ancient Death worship with style plus comes along
with a fucking cool ABSCESS cover (‘Suicide Fuck’). This is Death
Metal! www.ironfistrec.cjb.net
Stefan
Franke
BACK
AXIS
POWERS
Marching Towards Destruction
(Pulverised Records)
34:53min
“Marching Towards Destruction” is the 2nd output from this Swedish
Death Metal outfit, and a killer one! I don’t know what the guys
want to say with the intro ‘Marching Towards Destruction (From San
Francisco To Stockholm)’, especially with the words in brackets –
AXIS POWERS need no further words to explain the meaning of this new
CD: it’s Death Metal to the bone! The Swedish origin is not deniable
and that’s as good as it can be. The old masters are clearly
recognizable in their sound, a certain Crust-dose is there, too, and
at the end you get 8 killer tracks (plus the aforementioned intro) of
Swedish Death Metal in a highly professional sound and packing. In my
opinion there is no additional explanation necessary as this is one
killer record with everything which you can expect from a Swedish
Death Metal outfit. Among others you should find it here www.pulverised.net
or
here.
Thomas
Ehrmann
BACK
AXIS
POWERS
Born For War
(Dibbuk Records)
74:11min
I love those Swedes and they really impressed me with their 2 regular
CDs “Pure Slaughter” and "Marching Towards Destruction”.
“Born For War” is a compilation which includes the 5 tracks of
their unreleased “Born For War” EP recorded in 2001, the cover
‘Twisted Mass Of Burnt Decay’ from their “Pure Slaughter”
sessions in 2005, the 2 songs from their “Tribute To I17” split-EP
2003 (with BESTIAL MOCKERY), the 2 songs from “Fresh Human Flesh”
split-EP 2003 (with ILL NATURED), the 4 songs from their “Evil
Warriors” EP 2000 and a couple of rehearsal tracks from several
sessions. Usually I’m quite sceptic about those compilation CDs as
they often only offer remainders of their CD sessions which is luckily
not the case here, not when talking about the studio recordings. I
don’t want to lose many words about the rehearsal tracks as the
soundquality is rather lame, but normal for
rehearsal recordings. Here I see no sense in releasing such
songs on a CD as the band has quite a lot of better recordings to
offer. Anyway, subtract those rehearsal songs from the regular playing
time you still have 46 minutes of great Swedish Death Metal brutality
offered by one of the best and most underrated Swedish Death Metal
bands to date. By the way the last song on the unreleased “Born For
War” EP is a coversong called ‘Yellow Submarine’ and I guess you
know the originators of this song and I’m sure you think the same
than me at first that this song can’t work in a Death Metal version.
Actually it can work and sounds really great. Some of the songs
featured here are included on their “Pure Slaughter” record, too,
but in a way those songs found on “Born For War” sound even a tiny
little better than on their debut album. To come to an end I can say
that “Born For War” is a great compilation CD worth the money and
a prove for all Death Metal fans that there’s quality behind every
release of AXIS POWERS. Well done, guys. Available for 15 USD
(including a patch) or 12 USD (without the patch) through Dibbuk
Records from Mexico (www.myspace.com/dybbukrecords)
Thomas Ehrmann
BACK
AYAT
Six Years Of Dormant Hatred
(Moribund Records)
58:35min
Holy Fuck! This is one of the heaviest discs I’ve ever heard!
AYAT claims to be the first "Anti-Islamic Black Metal Band" according to their page on www.metal-archives.com. While racism is unacceptable in any form, they hail from the unlikely country of Lebanon where this band is clearly a minority to the majority Muslim population so that it makes it somewhat okay, I guess. Plus, it’s hard to take a band’s supposed politics seriously with song titles such as
'Collective Suicide In The Boudoir (Feeling Wonderful Tonight)' and
'Puking Under Radiant Moonlight (Followed By A Century Long
Ejaculation)' and a singer known as Filthy Fuck. Though very little else is known about them, it looks like they’ve had numerous
EPs and demos going back to 2001. So, this disc was long in the making and it was worth the wait. Their sound is a mixture of Black Metal with heaping doses of Thrash and Hardcore Punk not unlike
IMPIETY and IMPALED NAZARENE to name the first bands that come to mind. They don’t have their own website and even their label, Moribund Records, has scant information on them but trust me, if you like your
Metal fast, heavy and hilariously offensive, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
www.moribundcult.com
Jesse Light
BACK
AZAGHAL
Helvetin
Yhdeksän Piiria (The Nine Circles Of Hell)
(Evil Horde Records)
33:09min
AZAGHAL hail from Finland and deliver pretty fast and raw 'Black
Terror Metal' with a heavy dose of melodies. The (debut?) album
contains 8 songs plus outro of tight played and fresh sounding fast
'n' melodic Black Metal more or less in the Swedish vein. Listening
to this album, bands like BLOT MINE or SORHIN come to my mind, which
are on a comparable level when it comes to the quality of the music.
The vokills are extremely raw and the usage of an amount of delay
arouses a cold and deadly atmosfear that fits perfectly to the overall
mood of the songs. The second song 'Hän Joka On Tuleval (The
One To Come)' comes with one of the most impressive melodies
I have heard in a long time on a Death or Black Metal release. And
it reminds me in its breathtaking expressiveness once more of BLOT
MINE and their second song on their album 'Porphyrogenesis'.
The packaging of the CD is way above average. It contains a
lovingly designed 20 page booklet printed on high glossy paper.
The cover and the moody artworks in the background of the lyrics
are taken from artworks done by Doré. Well, the lyrics are in Finnish,
but you get the translation into English of every single word. So
if you are in the formentioned style I can easily recommend this
album to you. Get it through good equiped mailorders or ask the
label directely: Evil Horde Recods, P.O.Box 4912, Curitiba - PR
82530-970, Brasil; e- mail: blacklegion@vrs.com.br
Thomas Georg
BACK
AZAGHAL
Of Beast And Vultures
(Evil Horde Records)
45:14min
All fans of nordic Black Metal can cheer rapturously, because
AZAGHAL’s newest full-length CD is out now and it is great! The
sound is fantastic, raw and very powerful, the riffing is often very
Thrash influenced and the typical Finnish wickedness surfaces as
well. The latter manifests in a few passages with clean or slightly
distorted vocals (e.g. in track 3 ‘Reign’) or some weird guitar
melodies in the background (‘Welho’), but don’t be afraid!!!
Those elements do not disturb the true frosty feeling or the brutal
speed attacks of “Of Beast And Vultures”, but create an
individual, original note. In my opinion those small surprises make
AZAGHAL not only a bit more interesting, but also enables the
Finnish horde to stand out of the hundreds of DARKTHRONE or MAYHEM
copies. “Of Beast And Vultures” is full of variation, speed and
hateful emotion – intense, rousing Black Metal. The album’s
highlights are ‘Kaikki Eläva Kuihtuu (All Life Withers)’, which
features a wonderful acoustic guitar part, the short and brutal
Thrash attack ‘Verenajano (Bloodthirst)’, including an eerie
sample from the Horror classic “The Exorcist”, the atmospheric
instrumental ‘Epilogue’ and the cool BATHORY Cover ’13
Candles’, which easily tops SACRAMENTUM’s attempt at it. Be sure
to check out this CD, it will not disappoint any fan of nordic Black
Metal and especially fans of the wicked Finnish style should get
along with this pretty well. “Of Beast And Vultures” is cold,
raw, brutal and hateful and I think will fascinate a long time,
because AZAGHAL have improved and elaborated their unique style and
feeling and created some interesting songs. Surf to www.evilhorderec.com
to listen to a MP3 file of this album. Contact the band through the
following address: AZAGHAL c/o Kalliola, Kaskentie 3 as.1, 05840
Hyinkää, Finland, Email: tomi.kalliola@pp.inet.fi
Stefan Franke
BACK
AZAGHAL
Omega
(Moribund Records)
44:54min
At the outset, I should admit that I have not been an ardent follower of the veteran Finnish Black Metal horde
Azaghal. I own none of their records and have heard them only in passing. Furthermore, I have been told that their most recent album, "Omega", is not necessarily the best entry point into their rather extensive catalog; but, as it was placed before me for this review, I will attempt to describe my response to it nonetheless.
This album, the seventh full length released by Azaghal, opens with a twin guitar assault that is actually quite effective. At once the listener is totally immersed in
Azaghal's nihilistic and violent universe. However, over the course of the album, their tendency toward a more technical and modern Black Metal sound begins to grow old. Indeed, the major pitfall that
Azaghal seem to be mired in on "Omega" is that of being too dynamic. Even at moments when
Azaghal
manage to summon riffs which invoke that majestic sound of pure hate and blasphemy, they veer off course too quickly. Rarely does it seem that a part lasts for more than four bars before they transition (sometimes very abruptly) into a new part. One never has the opportunity when listening to this album to fully permit the sounds to settle into their consciousness while attempting to take in the songs.
At the album's peaks, Azaghal
manage to utilize just enough melody combined with a delivery that revolves around the layering of dual guitars each panned to predominantly different channels and with slight but vital tonal variations. The result is dense and violent, yet highly controlled. It seems to me though, however, that this sound would be better served by eliminating some of the more modern and technical elements such as the overbearing and cliché use of keyboards and guitar cutaways. Also frustrating is the overzealous use of vocals. Vocals cover almost every part of every song, it seems, and are delivered with the same rapid-fire rhythmic intensity as the guitars. This effect, while initially powerful, becomes tedious and exhausting by about three tracks into the album. As I listened, I found myself frequently desiring to be left alone with the instruments rather than being constantly assaulted by vocals. Overall, I cannot say that this album was ineffective, but nor can I say that I have been immediately possessed to explore the depths of the
Azaghal
catalog. However, I was discussing this album with a friend who is an
Azaghal
completist and who recently purchased this CD with enthusiasm and he seemed wholly satisfied by "Omega." So perhaps for those with similar tastes as my friend, this album is essential.
www.moribundcult.com
Jason Campbell
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AZARATH
Demon Seed
(Pagan Records)
30:12min
Not
exactly a new release, as “Demon Seed” came out in 2001, but it
is only now that I can review it for you. Oh well, the underground
moves very slowly at times anyway, and at least we are not bound by
the market laws of surfing on the wave of the day towards the trend
of tomorrow. Besides and like I told already in my WITCHMASTER
review, the Pagan Records releases are not easy to get. Enough with
that, and let’s talk a little about the music presented here.
AZARATH is a Polish Death Metal outfit (yes, I know, another one…)
and they surely know how to perform the most brutal way. Among
the AZARATH ranks stand no less than Bart (one of the excellent
guitarist of the mighty DAMNATION – the best Death Metal band on
the whole pitiful piece of stone we call earth), the no less
talented Inferno (a workaholic indeed, seen and heard drumming in
BEHEMOTH / DAMNATION / WITCHMASTER), the line up being completed by
the mysterious D on guitar and Bruno on bass and vocals. If you are
an adept of the aforementioned DAMNATION (and I wish you are for
your own sake!), it is absolutely pointless to read this any
further, how much AZARATH is cast in the same mold, that is
technical Death Metal with a very special atmosphere, more an
inheritor of DESTRUCTION than of a certain Florida
“mega-band” I refuse to cite here. Once out a short (and
disturbing) ambient piece (‘Taedium Vitae’), you are left with 9
tracks of pure devilish Death Metal only the Poles, the Brazilians
and some other freaks scattered on the surface of this planet are
able to produce. Always looking for the sickest riffs possible, the
AZARATH musicians reach excellence producing relatively short (as
testified by the total running time) but perfectly crafted tracks,
the best ones being the triangle ‘Awaiting Eternity Of
Fire’, ‘Destroy Yourself’ and ‘Deathlike Silence’ because
of their very twisted structures, in a LIERS IN WAIT meet DAMNATION
fashion. I think I have made myself perfectly clear regarding the
pure quality of this record. An absolutely essential buy! BRILLIANT!
Edouard Vergriete
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AZARATH
Infernal Blasting
(Pagan Records)
29:23min
I was enthusiastic regarding the first AZARATH masterpiece, and I am
extremely pleased to report that this new one from the Polish outfit
follows the same path in terms of brilliance and musical excellence.
To cut it short, “Infernal Blasting” is a must-have in any
serious record collection; that said, you can stop reading this
review immediately in order to get this fabulous record without
losing too much time. For the still sceptics, let’s say that if
you are a fan of devilish Death Metal in the line of what the mighty
DAMNATION (Poland) delivered some years ago, this record is for you.
Some Brazilian vibes could be heard now and then, think of
REBAELLIUN and NEPHASTH to get a rather precise idea of what
“Infernal Blasting” is about. And I have even detected some
traces of IMMOLATION which spice the disc a little more. All the
tracks are short and to the point (except 'Born To Rot' which
exceeds the 6 minutes mark in duration), this fact accounting for
the shortness of the whole disc. Needless to say the musicianship
appears faultless here, guitarist Bart and drummer Inferno in
particular stealing the show on more than one occasion.
The production is buffed up to the max; expect a clear and
rich sound which will blow your speakers down to ashes. It seems
AZARATH is a household name only in their native Poland, as I
didn’t read that much about them elsewhere. Yet this band is
vastly superior to some over praised other Polish bands who
beneficiate of a better promo campaign. Make no mistake, and acquire
this record without delay. A KILL!!!! www.azarath.tcz.pl.
Edouard Vergriete
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AZARATH
Diabolic Impious Evil
(Pagan Records)
32:47min
A Polish band with members from acts like DAMNATION, BEHEMOTH, YATTERING or WITCHMASTER, playing Death Metal,
with a satanic cover and title of the album... Anyone who doesn't know what kind of music
they are playing? Ok, I explain you then: AZARATH is a four member combo playing brutal and dark Death Metal with big influences from MORBID ANGEL or DEICIDE,
as well as some BEHEMOTH ("Satanica" times) or even NILE, and a lot of blastbeats and
speed (fucking high speed in fact in some moments, which is not strange at all if we think the guy who plays here is the drummer of BEHEMOTH), and fast solos
too. Is it original at all? No. Is it good? Yes, quite good, and really well done, as the majority of bands coming form
that country. Just perfectly played, by skilled musicians, but without the so usual
VADER influences that the majority of Polish bands use to have, and which bore me a lot. Furthermore, and as usual too with
Polish band's albums, the recording is just perfect, brutal and clear, powerful as hell. The singer growls like a demon, in a gutural yet not too low style.
Well, I can't say much more about this, just take a listen to it if you like the bands I mentioned before, because this just
sounds great, and the songs are sincerely good ('Devil's Stigmata' is the best example for me).
www.paganrecords.com.pl
Jeroni Sancho
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AZARATH
Praise The Beast
(Deathgasm Records)
41:31min
AZARATH’s appropriately titled disc 2003 disc, "Infernal Blasting", is one of my favorite discs so I’d expect nothing less than pure, brutal Death Metal on "Praise The Beast", their newest release. After the obligatory sound effects-laden intro, the band blasts off (ha ha) through 40 minutes of blast beat inflicted brutal Death Metal. Everything you want is here: tons of double bass drums, guttural death vocals with the occasional Black Metal rasp, lyrical odes to Satan, fast lead and rhythm guitars, and even great sounding production. For those of you new to AZARATH, you’ll be pleased to be informed that they’re made up of members from the mighty BEHEMOTH, the underrated DAMNATION, and one of my favorites, YATTERING. Those expecting something groundbreaking may be disappointed but AZARATH’s members have managed to bring all the best sounds and ideas together from their previous/full time bands to make one excellent, satisfying album.
www.myspace.com/azarath666,
www.deathgasm.com.
On sale here.
Jesse Light
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AZRAEL
Act III: Self + Act IV: Goat (DoCD)
(Moribund Cult)
128:16min
This is one of the most ambitious venture I've seen coming from a real underground label like Moribund Cult. First
and foremost because of the musical aspect and for taking the risk of releasing a double album of a band like AZRAEL which is in fact not
easy to swallow. Not many labels would back up their bands in such a way so this has to be definitely recognized. Business-wise overkill for some, artistic-wise very challenging for others.
This release is basically 2 CDs put together in one package with little or no significant
style / production differences between the two which means that this collection of songs were recorded almost at the same time or at least with the same
production vibe. Musically speaking, AZRAEL call themselves avantgarde
Black Metal that if you ask me is a very pretentious way to be recognized by the public if you obviously cannot pull a decent arrangement,
even though you seem to be very musically capable of coming up with actual songs. AZRAEL "attempts" to actually come up with something coherent end up in a messy, awkward or
even going-nowhere slow-meets-melodic Black Metal improvisations with a psychedelia edge to it. The whole thing does never
lift from the ground and never gets you mentally anywhere. Music is supposed to transport, to move our feelings in some way or
at least to alter your state of mind while listening but what AZRAEL urges me to do is to press the STOP button on my player.
This might do something for someone who's fucking stoned or drunk as hell but if you are looking for quality married to
originality look somewhere else. Get it at: www.moribundcult.com.
Mario Cubero
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AZURE
King Of Stars - Bearer Of Dark
(Pulverised Records)
41:53min
Don’t really know what to make out of this one. First and foremost:
the cover sucks. I think most Metal fans have a soft spot for swords ‘n sorcery but this kind of third-grade
Conan imagery is just ridiculous. To more important things: AZURE play a melodic version of blackened
Metal, comparable to OLD MAN’S CHILD or maybe a slower THY PRIMRDIOAL. What strikes me as brilliant about their music is the guitar-work. This guy is definitely talented and there are some really magnificent solos on display here for example in the opening ‘Dead Men’s Shadow Flickering’. He – as far as I understood, AZURE is more or less a one-man-project – also gathered some pretty excellent studio-musicians for this recording (wicked bass-player!). What I don’t like is the vocal-delivery which sounds almost painfully forced to me. The songwriting isn’t totally convincing as well, especially in the second half of the record until the semi-acoustic title-track ends things up on a positive note. There are a lot of cool parts scattered around the various tracks but they don’t always make for a fully satisfying arrangement. Still there is a lot of potential here and if the mentioned weaknesses will be improved we might expect something really exciting from AZURE in the future.
www.pulverised.net
Torsten Gründig
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