THE HAUNTED
The Haunted Made Me Do It 
(Earache Records) 
36:11min  

Well, I don't think I need to give you the longtime story of where THE HAUNTED come from (AT THE GATES, SEANCE, WITCHERY, etc.) and how much they actually mean for nowadays scene, huh?!  These Swedes actually came up with a hell of a self-titled debut record in 1998 that I actually would consider the most important Thrash Metal record of the 90's, so it was pretty obvious that they would have a hard time topping that masterpiece. But let's stick to the facts first: the debut got toured a bit  (USA with TESTAMENT, the UK with NAPALM DEATH, Japan too but unfortunately only some single  gigs in the European ground) but the audience somehow nevertheless managed to overlook the 12-track  debut as THE HAUNTED didn't make a big step forward in terms of popularity. Then they ended up  loosing their awesome vocalist Peter Dolving (currently not active in Metal) and drummer Adrian  Erlandsson (currently in CRADLE OF FILTH's ranks) but managed to find some quality replacement  with Marco Aro (ex-FACE DOWN) and Per M. Jensen (ex-INVOCATOR) to finally start working on a  new album. The wonderfully entitled "The Haunted Made Me Do It" record (nice mass-murder design...)  now somehow continues the SLAYER style fast-forward vein of the previous record just adding a bit  more midpaced drive to things and some more catchiness in melodies. I actually did miss Peter's very  original vocals at first listenings but the new shouter is actually doing a great job to keep us Metalheads  happy and actually will make sure that all you people who always wanted more AT THE GATES  vocalpower in THE HAUNTED are satisfied. Also the production suggests a difference here as these  11 songs were recorded at Berno Studio instead of Fredman resulting in maybe not as thick sound but surely a more "individual" approach. The songs themselves capture the relentless all-the-way, no mercy aggression-feel of the debut (well, 'Bury Your Dead', 'Trespass', 'Revelation', 'The World  Burns' and 'Victim Red'...) but also include some more dark-groove ('Leech', 'Under The Surface' and  the outstanding 'Hollow Ground') which nicely out-balances the album, especially with some rather  relaxed sounding effect on the melodic vocals. I suppose my personal fave pick would still be the  debut if I could get away with only one THE HAUNTED album but saying that this album is inferior  would be simply blasphemy noticing that it's still so much more classy than all the rest of nowadays'  Thrash Metal scene! For sure one of the absolutely best records these days if you are into merciless  musical violence...oh, and watch out for THE HAUNTED destroying your local club in February with  NILE, CARNAL FORGE and THE FORSAKEN. What a blast!!! You can order it here.

Leif Jensen  

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THE HAUNTED
One Kill Wonder
(Earache Records)
38:18min

Phew! I had quite some trouble getting into the new HAUNTED material. Although it takes off with some doomy part totally in the good old SLAYER vein, “One Kill Wonder” is less straight forward than its predecessor. The only track I loved right from the beginning is the instrumental 'Demon Eyes' which instantly reminded me of AC/DC in the beginning. Additionally, Marc Aro’s voice started to get on my nerves a little as well! I have no idea why this was the case but as I was listening to the CD in my car yesterday: there it was, the click - something had turned the switch and I had trouble controlling my speed (the German police is always waiting for me...). I’ll stick to my theory of “One Kill Wonder” entering the brain more subtly than “The Haunted Made Me Do It” although songs like 'Urban Predator', 'Downward Spiral' or the title track should blast off every Thrash maniac’s head. 'Shadow World' is a fucking hit single for the Metal club in your area (if there is one) and 'Shithead' seems to take over a few elements of 'Shadow World' which doesn’t turn out to be annoying but rather helpful for blockheads like me. If you can still lay your hands on the limited edition of “One Kill Wonder”, go for that one as it looks nicer. On the other hand there are no bonus tracks on here, thank god (or rather Earache), so you don’t really miss anything. And catch THE HAUNTED on tour, they’re still for today’s Thrash scene what SLAYER used to be in the 80s! Go here to order a copy.

Ramon Claassen

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HAVOHEJ
Kembatinan Premaster
(Hell's Headbangers)
34:16 min

HAVOHEJ returns with the second full length 16 years after the well-known debut "Dethrone The Son Of God". Well I never liked that record and didn't check any following album until this one "Kembatinan Premaster". The pictures I checked of mastermind Paul Ledney, as a preparation for this review predicted something evil and wicked beyond recognition! Some would call it madness and the extremity does go even beyond the Northern Black Metal anti-christianity, but to me it's conviction and commanded respect. Total dedication to an obscure form of art and seeking the boundaries of its expression. I'm not deep into this rebellic edge of Black Metal so the only comparable and convincing acts at this level of appearance I can name are SADISTIK EXEKUTION, PROFANATICA, old MAYHEM and probably GORGOROTH. Hungry for a trip that would finally shock my soul, the music entered my mind hoping for something haunting like AGHAST, sick like ABRUPTUM or powerful like THORNS. Well, I ask myself whether the emotions I got while listening to "Kembatinan Premaster" are the ones I'm supposed to feel. The machinal and minimal compositions bring an apocalytic, nihil and desolate atmosphere. Not do I feel disturbance, evilness or agression against the principles my community tries to teach me (civilisation; not religion!). Sure, the harsh Black Metal vocals still spit their disgust on anything holy but they don't convince enough to invocate evil. Actually it's sort of beautiful in its darkness! Just listen to 'Bloud And Souls' and especially the brilliant 'Bloud Of The World'. The soundwaves are something that will grip your attention like a soundtrack from a movie, due to the absent of any conventional guitars. So after listening for the fifth time to these 8 tracks I feel a bit mislead. Is this the evolution? Well, the difference between "Dethrone The Son Of God" and "Kembatinan Premaster" is significant. Repetition was one of my keywords to describe the debut and still the compositions march by in similar tempos. Main difference is the constant industrial noise that backs the rhythm-section and vocals. Gone are the old INCANTATION / PROFANTICA styled arrangements although some parts come close, like in 'Hatefull Unto God' which is an exact copy of 'Pious Breath' and 'Kembatinan Premaster'! In the end I moved back and forth through tracks to find out which part matched in what song. Maybe arranged as some sort of beginning and ending of this trip? I dont' know. What I do know is, that it's an enjoyable trip, but not the rollercoaster I expected. Still a dark record and you'd check www.myspace.com/havohejofficial or www.hellsheadbangers.com to decide for yourself.

Michael Tak

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HAVOK
Apathy Esplanade (EP)
(self–financed)
32:44min

This is a tricky one, cause there's several bands under the HAVOK banner around. In case of this self made EP we talk about a four-piece, based in the Swedish town Lund. The band already collected some promising reviews in the wellknown Swedish Close-Up Magazine, but let the music do the talking for itself. HAVOK don’t sound traditional Swedish in the common oldschool sense. This deadly dose is more based in the brutal Death Metal camp. The music is probably closer to SPAWN OF POSSESSION or the US based one, but most of all especially newer ANATA rushes through my mind. HAVOK do it technically and brutal, but instead of a total US worship this six tracker comes along with some quite cool experimental atmospheric touches within the guitar work. Imagine some weird melodies and moody type of post Rock elements packed between brutal blasts and freaky kind of riffings. This really gives HAVOK some indivudality. The music still has a dark touch and the extremely long tracks for this type of Death Metal grow with each listening. In terms of concept and artwork this is a lot more in depth and artistic touched than the standard type of blood, gore and pussy shit. There’s really something to discover within HAVOK’s creations, so don’t expect the typical brutal shit that gets boring and repeating after the third song already. Productionwise the drums are a bit too dominant compared to the guitar department, but face the fact that this is a self financed release, so labels are you sleeping out there!?! Don’t waste more money on average shit and give Swedish HAVOK a push instead. Take a serious listen at www.myspace.com/sophisticatedkillingmachine or www.havok.se. Promising brutal but original stuff!

Ralf Hauber

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HEADHUNTER D.C.
...And The Sky Turns To Black...
(Mercenary Musik / World War III)
46:13min

Yep, another fantastic band hailing from the Brazilian jungle. But this is not a new one. HEADHUNTER D.C. (D.C. stands for death cult) exists for about 13 years and has already released two albums. So “...And The Sky Turns To Black..." is their third effort and believe me it's truly a masterpiece of blameless, non trendy, brutal and amazing Death Metal. This Brazilian Death Metal horde creates a dark and unholy atmosphere and composed some really cool songs. In my humble opinion “...And The Sky Turns To Black..." is one of the best South American Death Metal albums ever. These days many bands, especially from the States only play fast and brutal shit and create brutal but soulless 'fast-food' music. Sometimes it seems that all these 'modern' bands lost the capability to write real METAL riffs. I won't tell you that all these bands totally suck, no they definitely don't but as I'm a METALHEAD I always prefer bands like HEADHUNTER D.C. which know that Death Metal is a brutal kind of Heavy Metal. And so you can note that the guitar players perform pure Metal riffs and some awesome leads. HEADHUNTER D.C. uses now and then a keyboard, fortunately not very often. You all know that I totally hate the use of keyboards, but in this case it is okay for me. I really enjoy “...And The Sky Turns To Black..." By the way, the voice of Sergio sounds very eerie and powerful. And now join the death cult and buy this highly recommendable album, you won't regret it (the US version even features two additional bonus tracks: excellent covers of SEPULTURA's 'Morbid Visions' and POSSESSED's 'Twisted Minds' - Frank). You may order it here.

Hacker

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HEADHUNTER D.C.
God's Spreading Cancer
(Obscure Domain Productions)
53:31min

Somehow I already knew that this album would blow me away before I even had listened to it for the first time. Brazil's HEADHUNTER D.C. have been around for so long by know and never ever betrayed the roots of oldschool Death Metal that I would've been really surprised if they all of a sudden would've come up with something weak these days. Luckily my already high expectations weren't only fulfilled, but even surpassed immensely! This is oldschool Death Metal in perfection! Every riff, every drum-beat and every vocal line comes across so perfectly that you can easily forgive the band for taking seven long years to deliver the highly anticipated follow-up to "...And The Sky Turns To Black...". It's worth every minute of it, believe me and completely blows its predecessor away! While other Death Metal acts nowadays either come up with ultra brutal US-styled material, start to incorporate unnecessary Black Metal elements into their writing or increase the technical level way too much HEADHUNTER D.C. obviously didn't give a fuck at all. They simply wrote a whole bunch of ripping songs, destined to become classics in the not too distant future. And the good thing about 'em is: even though they are heavily influenced by a lot of bands that started this whole movement, they never ever sound retro or fake! It's actually more like they could already have been part of the scene when POSSESSED released "Seven Churches", SEPULTURA  came up with "Morbid Visions", DEATH served us "Scream Bloody Gore", NECROPHAGIA wrote "Seasons Of The Dead" and SLAYER were still considered "evil". HEADHUNTER D.C. mix the best of all of that and add their own little unique note to it. It's brutal, it's dark, it's raw, its got a lot of feeling and an overall very sinister atmosphere that you already have become an addicted before you finished listening "God's Spreading Cancer" for the first time! With 'Angelkiller' (a re-recorded song of singer Sérgio's previous band THRASH MASSACRE) and 'Long Live The Deathcult' there's two tracks that really stand out. The first simply for being a killer, aggressive oldschool Thrash tune, while the other could turn into the band's anthem pretty easily. Remember that PENTACLE used Tom G.Warrior's famous "Uh!" from an old CELTIC FROST live tape as an intro to one of their songs? Well, HEADHUNTER D.C. did the same with POSSESSED's Jeff Becerra here... Very cool as it perfectly captures the album's entire atmosphere and the band's attitude! To sum it all up: an essential buy! I just hope that the young label Obscure Domain Productions will benefit from this release in the same massive way as the band will benefit from the label's fresh enthusiasm. www.myspace.com/headhunterdc, www.obscuredomain.com

Frank Stöver

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HEADHUNTER D.C. / SANCTIFIER
…In Deathmetallic Brotherhood (Split 10”)
(Legion Of Death Records)

"Listen to this fuckin' piece of total death at the maximum volume or die!!!!!!" – is printed in the Portuguese language on the backside of this split 10” EP. What a great packed release, what a beautiful gatefold sleeve, professional from the beginning to the end! Next is the most important information: this release is strictly limited to 500 pieces and I’m not sure how many copies are still left from this print. So better be fast in ordering it. About the music: two of the strongest bands of the South American Death Metal scene joined forces for this release, each one covering one song of the other band plus playing two own songs. The HEADHUNTER D.C. side starts with the version of SANCTIFIER’s song ‘The Cycle Of The Entity’ released on their 1993 demo “Ad Perpetuam Rei Memoriam”. As I don’t know this demo I can only judge this version and, folks, this song kicks ass in the usual HEADHUNTER D.C. tradition. It would simply fit perfect on their last effort “God’s Spreading Cancer”. The same goes for the 2nd song ‘Hymn To Babylon’, a new and unreleased song so far and it’s Death Metal in the best possible way. The last song is ‘Falling In Perdition’, originally released on their 3rd album “…And The Sky Turns To Black” in a live version. Though the first 2 songs have an amazingly great sound, the last one lacks in sound quality a little bit, but as we are talking about an underground release no one of us old tapetraders would mind!! To finish this part: the HEADHUNTER D.C. side hardly couldn’t be better. Got to turn the black vinyl now. Side B starts with SANCTIFIER’s version of HEADHUNTER D.C.’s ‘Am I Crazy?’ released back in 1991 on their debut album “Born…Suffer…Die”. The sound is not as great as on the first 2 HEADHUNTER D.C. songs but still above the average (and in a way better than the original sound on “Born…Suffer…Die”) and musically it’s amazing what SANCTIFIER are creating. A great song and a great coverversion! I’m not sure which version I like more, this one or the original one? Great start! The remaining 2 songs are ‘Cthulhu – The Great Master Of R’lyeh’ and ‘Necronomicon’, heavily inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, Death Metal songs played with heart and feeling. Technically again high above the average, but not exaggerating. SANCTIFIER together with HEADHUNTER D.C. prove to be one of the strongest forces in the South American Death Metal scene. As I guess that HEADHUNTER D.C. are the more well-known band I think I can only say that all fans who like them should check out SANCTIFIER, too, as this is really amazing what they produce on their side of this mighty split EP. I think I have to listen to their “Awaked By Impurity Rites” now as I haven’t heard it yet (which seems to be a huge mistake!!). Shame on me… Well, as I said in the beginning, don’t think too long and be fast in ordering this mighty piece of Death Metal quality. This could be a collector’s item very soon. I’m not exactly sure where to get it, I ordered my copy from Iron Pegasus Records (www.iron-pegasus.com), or try asking Legion Of Death Records directly (www.legionofdeath.cjb.net, email shaxul@wanadoo.fr).

Thomas Ehrmann

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HEADHUNTER D.C.
The Darkest Archives... From The Death Cult (1987-2007) (DoCD)
(Crypts of Eternity Productions)
128:33min

It's kinda scary that these Brazilian Death Metal masters had already celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2007 and still aren't as wellknown to the international Metal scene as they actually should be after such a long period of steady activity. Oh well, at least Ricardo of Peru's Crypts Of Eternity zine was familiar with them and obviously such a big fan that he even started up a label to put out this more than 2 hours long double CD compilation of rare HEADHUNTER D.C. recordings. That's what I call true dedication! The material on offer here is featured in chronological order, which means CD 1 covers the years 1987 - 1989 (the era of original vocalist Eduardo Falsão) and CD 2 continues on with the years 1990 - 2007 (with Sérgio Baloff on vocals). I guess it's rather superfluous to mention that most of the material on CD 1 still lacks in the quality that HEADHUNTER D.C. later stood for as this should be pretty obvious... You want an explanation anyway? Well, part of the reason is first of all of course the still rather immature musicianship / songwriting qualities, but also the fact that it's almost exclusively kinda weak sounding rehearsals and live songs from those days (the most interesting probably being the already pretty cool SODOM cover 'Blasphemer' from 1987). Did I say "almost exclusively"? Yes, cause they ended up digging really deep into the band's archives and managed to locate no less than 6 studio tracks of an unreleased 12" EP from 1989, which is definitely the highlight on this first little silver disc. Quality wise CD 2 is the total opposite (well, at least for my personal taste)! Even though there's also some rehearsal and live recordings on here, the band's musical abilities had increased so much by now that's it's a real pleasure to listen to extremely raw versions of songs that later ended up on their full length albums. Highlights on here are without a doubt their "Promo Tape '96", the unused take of 'Álcool' (the band's contribution to the DORSAL ATLÂNTICA tribute album), the DEATH cover 'Zombie Ritual' (from a very good sounding 2004 live recording), as well as 4 songs (incl. the POSSESSED cover 'The Exorcist') that got recorded live in Santiago, Chile on January 26, 2007. Very cool are also two excerpts of radio shows that had featured HEADHUNTER D.C. in 1998 ("Sonic Insanity" from New York) and 2000 ("Factor RH", unfortunately this one's in Portuguese). The great album cover artwork was supplied by Daniel "Desecrator" Corcuera, who should be known to most of the VOICES readers through his work for cult acts like EKRON CULT, DEIPHAGO, MAGNANIMVS, BESTIAL MOCKERY, SUICIDAL WINDS, UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN, TOTTEN KORPS etc.etc. The fat booklet (20 colored pages) comes up with tons of old and rare pics, flyers, press features, a couple of lyrics, as well as liner-notes by vocalist Sérgio Baloff (in English and Portuguese). Unfortunately the printing partly turned out a bit dark, so that it's kinda hard to check out all of details here and there. But it still looks very impressive! So, all in all this is a highly recommended, packed to the max, release for every HEADHUNTER D.C. fan that covers a good selection of recordings besides their regular album releases. Value for money guaranteed! More HEADHUNTER D.C. info / sound samples you will find at www.myspace.com/headhunterdc, Crypts Of Eternity Productions can be contacted for ordering details at the following email address: coe.prods@gmail.com.

Frank Stöver

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HEARSE
Dominion Reptilian
(Hammerheart Records)
52:17min

Although HEARSE are definitely not the type of music I dig, I have to admit that their mixture of traditional Metal / Hardrock riffs with raw and dirty vocals à la newer ENTOMBED managed to fascinate me especially at the beginning of the CD. HEARSE are the new band of ARCH ENEMY vocalist Johan Liiva, Max Thornell (ex-FURBOWL) and Mattias Ljung, a rather unknown but very talented guitarist. HEARSE stand for melodic Death Metal, that spices up this absolutely boring genre with an energetic Rock’n’Roll attitude and a certain amount of coolness and individuality. Liiva’s raw and intense vocals, varied wellcrafted songwriting, great classic Metal / Rock leads and an excellent production make “Dominion Reptilian” a really good and valuable album for fans of mid 90’s SENTENCED or any other melodic yet aggressive Scandinavian Metal band. Well, if you like comparable stuff, give HEARSE a serious chance and enjoy songs like the catcy ‘Torch’, the great titletrack or the almost 9 minutes long ‘So Vague’. The band’s website: http://medlem.spray.se/hearse The label’s website: www.hammerheart.com. On sale here.

Stefan Franke

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HEARSE
Armageddon Mon Amour
(Karmageddon Media)
46:38min

John Liiva's band HEARSE returns with a second album, entitled “Armageddon Mon Amour”. If that title is inspired by the movie “Hiroshima Mon Amour” directed by Alan Resnais is beyond my knowledge. Anyway: this band reminded my a bit of the second FURBOWL output. Somewhat groovy Death Metal elements, a slight punk edge, melodic hooks and leads and a Rock-influenced approach similar to modern ENTOMBED plus some stoner elements. Some clean guitar effects, Hammond organ and female vocal lines (few) are included to spice the mixture up. This sounds like the most superfluous rehash possible you may think when reading this, hehe! Actually, I think this album works and is more than suitable for beer drinking. Liiva's vocals sound great and I definitely enjoy this band here more than ARCH ENEMY in every respect. The production is ok as well, the sleeve is nicely illustrated. Ah, and there is a cover of Kim Wilde's 'Cambodia' which is quite funny. Better than I thought is my final conclusion and people into for example DISGRACE, XYSMA or the aforementioned bands should be sure to check this out. Buhuu, I could cry – one riff in 'Tools' sounds exactly like a part in 'Cremation' by MACRODEX (on the “Projections Of A Stained Mind” – sampler)… www.hearse.se. You can order it here.

Ulrich Kreienbrink

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HEARSE
In These Veins
(Dental Records)
38:03min

Melodic-Death'n'Rollers HEARSE from Stockholm, Sweden are striking back with their 4th studio album “In These Veins” and new label Dental Records. What? You never heard about this damn cool three piece before! What an omission. HEARSE features legendary vocalist / frontman Johan Liiva (former CARNAGE, FURBOWL and ARCH ENEMY). This man is a living legend in the Death Metal scene. Hell yeah. Furthermore he teamed up with his old FURBOWL buddy Max Thornell on drums again. Both brought the highly talented Mattias Ljung on (lead-) guitar on board and the three are releasing Death Metal classics since 2003. No bullshit! Alrighty. Now you have learned a little bit about HEARSE's history. Let’s check out the music on “In These Veins”. This album starts with an instrumental introduction, which is pretending the course damn clear. No prisoners on this album. Then it’s going straight into the first song 'House Of Love' which is a killer opener with lots of cool melodies and typical Swedish Death Metal riffing. You can’t beat that. 2nd song is called 'Corroding Armour' which shows a heavy and filthy Crust Punk side on the riffing and features the damn cool vintage Ace Frehley “KISS – Alive I” guitar solo at the end. Mattias Ljung is showing here once more how many different facets he has. Next one is a real smasher named 'Intoxication', which got played on the UFTG open air last year. This is early Hardcore meets Melodic Death Metal at its best and features Jugga of MOB 47 on guest vocals. A real dirty bitch of a song. 'The Naked Truth' is a well done song, which includes all necessary ingredients. Unfortunately not that good likes the stuff before. But still better than the songs by thousands of other Death Metal bands. Only Mattias Ljung is kicking ass as usual during his solo parts. Then another cool cover song called 'Crusade (Gonna Start A Fire)' by Swedish band SATOR CODEX is setting accents. Damn. This old song fits perfectly to HEARSE's own material. Here you can listen to the perfect crossover of Death Metal, Hardcore and Punk once more. Thumbs up. The following 'Among The Forlorn' is my personal highlight of this CD. What the hell are these guys doing here? This is Melodic Death Metal larger than life. This kinda song a band like ARCH ENEMY for example couldn’t write these days anymore. This song could stand as a prototype for all Melodic Death Metal songs. It includes just everything what a real classic needs. No doubt. With 'Atrocious Recoil' the band is providing us with another fine tune. Especially Johan Liiva on vocals and once more Mattias on leads are doing a fantastic job. This one also includes a strong Crust Punk attitude. Great song. With 'Hearse' the 3 men wrote their own anthem, or so? This instrumental track shows again the complexity of the band. They can mix all different kind of styles together and in the end you will have one song of a piece. This is something I call skills! The finishing title track 'In This Veins' is another unique trip through extreme Metal music and full of maxima. Conclusion: HEARSE did it again. They released another Melodic Death Metal masterpiece, which will stand the test of time very easy. By the way. For all who want to know. The mix on “In These Veins” was done, by no one else, than Mr. Dan Swanö at Unisound Studios, Örebro. Now, please feel free to check out the exciting world of HEARSE at www.hearse.se or www.dentalrecords.se. Support these guys!!!

Marc Lehmann

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HEARSE
Single Ticket To Paradise
(Vic Records)
42:18min

The Death / Black Metal world is such a serious place with so many bands which are more interested in their (nevertheless vague) image than their musical performance. But there are also guys from just around the corner who - by recording one good album after another - are showing the world their way of Metal vs. Rock’n'Roll. The Swedish band HEARSE is such a sympathic band and after a long time with more or less very disappointing experiences with their record labels I really hope that Vic Records can assist with the first steps to worldwide domination. The funeral vehicle is on the run since 2001 and their first two releases via Hammerheart Records are still perfect examples of the fusion of Death Metal with certain Rock influences plus one of the best cover songs ever ('Cambodia' by Kim Wilde). The former record “In These Veins” had been released in 2006 via Cold Records but the last three years passed nearly without any sign of life. But the long waiting time is over and HEARSE are ready for a new assault. Don’t expect any impressing changes – even if the names of two band members will forever be connected with their former band FURBOWL – the new record “Single Ticket To Paradise” has become the expected good Metal album. Maybe the ultimate killer hymn is missing but not a single song is dropping below the quality level and songs like the opener 'Misanthropic Charades' or the title track are offering perfect Death'n'Roll with a lot of dedication. As usual you can expect outstanding guitar work and every disappointed ARCH ENEMY fan (are there still some left after their ultra predictable last releases?!?) should give HEARSE a chance  – you will not regret it! (especially if you can grab one of the limited versions with a 5 song DVD plus video). www.vicrecords.com, www.hearse.se

Matthias Auch

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HEATHEN
Recovered
(Relentless Records)
47:45min

The Bay Area crunch masters or better known as the Bay Area Metal gods have finally returned with a vengeance after so many years of silence. "Recovered" is still not the so much awaited comeback album from those geniuses but at least it gives us a chance to introduce something new to alternate between "Breaking The Silence" and the untouchable "Victims Of Deception". This nine song affair features their unrealised EP originally recorded in 1992 plus the 1989 pre-production demo for "Victims...". "Recovered" opens the hostilities with QUEEN's 'Death On Two Legs' (a real good cover which sounds of course way heavier than the original while retaining the original feel), THIN LIZZY's 'Holy War' is next (a killer rendition of this classic tune, David White sounding amazing just like he was when they've performed it at Wacken in 2001), 'In Memory Of...' is an original emotional tune written in memory of two close persons to the band, 'Hellbound' follows (certainly the crunchiest of all covers here - absolutely outstanding) and finally SWEET SAVAGE's 'Eye Of The Storm' ends this first part in a killer way as the tune is truly executed - in both sense of the term - in the best tradition (after all N.W.O.B.H.M. material has no secret for those butchery experts, just check out a BOMB THREAT live set to know what I mean). I guess HEATHEN are capable of transforming the worst tune into a diamond if they choose to cover it! Then comes the four song demo and despite the fact that those tunes ('Hypnotized', 'Opiate Of The Masses' - truly one of the most outstanding / most challenging / best Metal songs ever written, 'Timeless Cell' and 'Mercy Is No Vertue') have been eaten, analysed, shelled to the bone, nothing can change my mind concerning this stuff - truly nothing. Those guys were and still are the masters / experts / untouchable ones when it comes to write this type of Metal, I'm sorry but no description can be explicit enough for describing such art. Between the total mental rifferama produced by Lee Altus / Doug Piercy (now replaced by Ira Black), faultless solid drumming courtesy of Darren Minter and David White's unique singing, you just can't survive to such a sonic deathly assault. It's that killer. Those recordings were produced by Rob Beaton (known for his work on "Victims...", EXHORDER...) so it adds a touch of class if it was needed. Now let me finish this review by adding this; out of all the Bay Area acts that are still around (TESTAMENT...), that have reformed (DEATH ANGEL, EXODUS, P. THREAT, KAOS...), that plans to reform (???), HEATHEN along with WARNINGSF is the only act - and I moderate my words - that can deliver an album of the same class as the ones they did before just because they haven't sold their souls to the trends that are around for more than a decade. They are fans of the original Metal, they do know what old Metalheads are expecting and that's where the difference lies with the other acts. Welcome back guys, we really needed you in that world of mediocrity. Try this location to order a copy.

Laurent Ramadier

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HEATHEN
The Evolution Of Chaos
(Mascot Records)
68:34min

It was in 1988, that HEATHEN released their debut album "Breaking The Silence" on the much missed Combat Records (I know a couple of years ago Combat Records were supposed to release a bunch of screamo garbage, but forget that) and the way I found out about 'em is that a buddy of mine brought a cassette over (yes I am old) and I recall as I heard it, the motherfuckin' crunchy as fuck guitars and "Bonded By Blood" like speed and intesity grabbed me! And then the vocalist opened his mouth and it all came crashing down! Ugh! Melodic, nice and somewhat pretty even! I rejected it coz after all, being the arrogant little prick teenager that I was, I was the tastemaker in our clique! You didn't fuckin' tell me, I told you! But I was wrong! The riffing was chunky, the solos were thrashing but classy and I worked on getting around (at first) and then getting accustomed to David Godfrey's (now David White) vocals. Even liking them... It was like an EXODUS "lite" if you will and was and is a great album. A bit on the melodic side but not the fuckin' gay-ass lullabies that passes for "Power Metal" nowadays! I greeted the news of Mr. Godfrey leaving and being replaced by THE Paul Baloff, with much satanic glee (as Baloff himself said, if you are in a grave, you do not say "please open the grave and let me out" ('Open The Grave' from "Breaking The Silence"), but rather Baloff would have said "open up the fuckin' grave and fuckin' let me out or I'll tear your fuckin' face off!!". True story (as reported in the Spanish language Thrash Metal magazine out of Spain)!! However, that was not to last and Mr. Godfrey came back and we got the second HEATHEN album, now on Roadrunner, and unfortunately for them it came out at a time when there was a beautifully disgusting and horrid epidemic sometimes known as the "Stockholm syndrome" at least for us in underground Metal, infecting many of our brains. I am sure, like me, many of you purchased that CD or cassette, but didn't give it the proper listening it required or the time of it, cause we were salivating at the next thing to come from Scandinavia! Then HEATHEN broke up, got back together and released a covers album that I could give a flying fuck about! Release original music, I said! And finally here it is: "The Evolution Of Chaos". We start off with an old nemesis of mine: the more than 15 seconds intro which is an actually very well played Middle Eastern like piece... but it gets tiring after 25 seconds! Ah, but then thrasherama ensues on 'Control By Chaos'! Not very fast Thrash though, it's what I call "lazy" Thrash as the beat is fast, but not very! Although Darren Minter is anything but lazy as he proceeds to pound almost all the pieces on his drumkit to great effect, great thrashing opening song! But what is very noticeable is the perceptible change in David White's vocals! He sounds 85% nothing like he used to. He reminds me now of John Bush! And even though Mr. Bush's vocals are not entirely to my taste, David White's vox fit the music now better in its gruffness (compared to the soaring ultra melodic vocals before). It's a bit more modern but not to worry, it's not "Nu" ok?! What happened? Did he change his voice to fit the more modern times or did his voice naturally change, becoming richer, darker more the voice of a man as opposed to the kid who recorded the high soaring vocals of "Breaking The Silence"? Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and go with the latter... the riffing of Lee Altus and Kragen Lum is sufficiently crunchy and the solos still classy yet thrashin' (the guitarwork in general is simply not of this earth - it's just incredibly great! - Frank). The bass of Mr. Jon Torres, I'm sure it's well played and he is a superb musician but it is not to my liking as it reminds of rubber bands... Now 'No Stone Unturned' comes on and I am pissed off! Why do bands have to bring it down, slow it down on their second song?! Oh wait, I was wrong, as they come back at us with a fuckin rifferama assault that satisfies the thrashingest hunger. Then they have some other midpaced songs that are good but I prefer the speedier numbers!! Then they go all crunchy with a start stop riff in 'Arrows Of Agony' and some of you might cry foul thinking this is close to a PANTERA? Nu Metal bullshit thing but now please remember that all those Nu Metal assholes took all those heavy start stop riffs from Thrash and put them in their bullshit songs! So do not confuse this HEATHEN song with that other garbage! I like this song and I think it works! The riffing... mmmmm, tasty fuckin' Thrash! So, if somewhat melodic but not wimpy Thrash is your cup of beer, check this out most definitely! It'll be released on January 25, 2010. For all further info go to www.myspace.com/heathenmetal, www.mascotrecords.com

Luis M.L. Sallard

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HEATHEN HOOF
The Occult Sessions / Promo 2004
(NWN!)
approx. 25min

NWOBHM, er, I mean NWOFHM lives! That's the New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal, of course. HEATHEN HOOF is one of the strangest bands I've heard in a while. They worship the NWOBHM scene, specifically bands like BLITZKRIEG, CLOVEN HOOF (hmmm), WITCHFYNDE, SATAN, AVENGER... and IRON MAIDEN (with Paul, they point out). I suppose it's a fair comparison, though to my ears they sound more like a cross between MERCYFUL FATE and ENGLISH DOGS. Their lyrics are pretty silly, "I'm a pariah, I'm running wild, I'll fight the world, metal's my guide," though to complete the ensemble next time they should have a line or two about "breaking the chains of something-or-other." The music is standard e-based Heavy Rock with gruff, semi-melodic vocals. Their "Promo 2004" cassette includes seven tracks of crispy Heavy f-ing Metal recorded in two sessions from 2002 and 2004. In no way original, but it is fun in its own context. "The Occult Sessions" were a definite step forward; better produced, tighter, faster, and great feel throughout. Love the chord progression throughout 'Heathen Hoof'. The vocals still aren't great, but they're more natural sounding than on the tape. Kick ass guitar solos, too. Oddly enough, some of it reminded me of early DAS DAMEN. Weird, eh? The quality of the release is up to NWN! standards, though the band could have put a little more into the layout. All in all, great drinking music - the kind of stuff you put on just after you get warmed up on ANGEL WITCH and before you get serious and bring out WITCHFINDER GENERAL's "Death Penalty."

Charles Keller

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HEAVING EARTH
Vision Of The Vultures (Demo CDR)
(Nihilistic Holocaust)
12:46min 

It's great to have Morbid Angel back! I missed them in their absence and, oh, wait a minute, my mistake, this isn't Morbid Angel. This is Heaving Earth from the Czech Republic. Not that there's anything wrong with wearing one's influence on his sleeve when you've got killer vocals, unusual, dissonant guitar riffing, speedy solos and blasting drumming holding together numerous odd time signatures. Even the production is phenomenal for this debut demo CD. I just wish these guys would have waited a bit longer to release a disc so that we'd have more than 3 songs to bang our heads to. I guess true creativity can't be rushed. But the best news is they're heading into the recording studio in May to record their first full length! I await that release with great anticipation! www.myspace.com/heavingearthcz, http://bandzone.cz/heavingearth, Nihilistic Holocaust: http://site.voila.fr/NIHILISTIC/cadre2.htm

Jesse Light

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HEGEMON
Contempus Mundi
(Season of Mist)
43.10min

Coming from France, this is my first encounter with this band, as this is already their third album. The drummer at one point used to play with MUTIILATION, so I was kind of expecting a similar style of Black Metal. But no, they are quite different. I would say it is a melodic form of Black Metal, which can be related to bands like DARK FUNERAL, early MAYHEM and EMPEROR. The band is wise enough to present themselves as very competent musicians, and they even have some technical parts although not that complex, but adds a lot to the music. They also use some acoustic parts, and are not afraid of using some Death Metal sounds to make their music also more brutal. There is a great guitar works like in the song 'Eli, Eli, Lamma Sabacthani' which also shows the high composition skills of the band. Probably only the vocals could sound a bit generic for the style, and although A, the vocalist, tries to use some variation, it all sounds a bit alike at the end. The overall way of composing and some riffs and guitar playing reminded to the band DAWN from Sweden. If you like very well played Black Metal, and a band that is not afraid of using more musical elements, I suggest you to give them a try. Sure, it is not original but is really above average most bands nowadays. You can check them out at www.myspace.com/hegemon666

Julian Nuñez

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HEINRICHREICH / TARANIS 
Ancient Will
(Iron Age Records)
43:27min 

A split CD is a very suitable form for underground bands to present their releases to a wider audience. But also a risky business due to the fact that both bands are more less competing against each other. So even if we are talking about 'old' demo releases / tracks you can find a lot of light and shadows on "Ancient Will". The Irish band HEINRICHREICH is a one member project and on their demo easily called THE REICH. I can't trace any special 'new' musical ideas or impulses. It's more or less average Pagan Black Metal without any remarkable moment and I'm really wondering why Iron Age Records is supporting this band because a demo was a more than sufficient way to publish these six songs. TARANIS, the old Celtic god of thunder, is another band from Belgium (Flanders) and the songs from 2005/2006 are really impressing. The band is reawakening the old Black Metal spirit by offering five great hymns of heathen Black Metal completely in line with one of the best German Black Metal bands MAYHEMIC TRUTH. Especially the Thrash influences and the vocals are so essential for this music and based on these songs it's more than clear why the cult label Iron Pegasus released their selftitled debut in 2007. In total a remarkable handful of songs by TARANIS which still justify the acquisition of this underground release. www.ironagerecords.com, www.myspace.com/taranisvl, http://heinrichreich.com

Matthias Auch

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HELFAHRT
Wiedergang
(Trollzorn)
49:04min

It’s more or less a fact that within the last couple of years a lot of very good, means very unique German Black Metal bands had faded into dust (NAGELFAR, LUNAR AURORA) and only very rarely their musical legacy can be “touched” by the next generation of bands. HELFAHRT are one of these bands and with their second release “Wiedergang” they are in the position to close some gaps between old and new. The band toured intensively with HELHEIM and without stealing them their musical identity, which is the most important fact for any band in the overflowing Metal business anno 2008, the great old HELHEIM beast is occasionally shining through. The band plays intensive Black / Pagan Metal but there is no sunshine in the HELFAHRT cosmos, no beer tunes, no sing along jumping tales just the traditional icy  face of the first generation of the Pagan Metal cult. The band plays on a very skilled level and the sound of this album can really compete with the big studio productions, furthermore is the cover artwork like a window to HELFAHRT's 10 songs creation. Think that in every review for this release HELRUNAR must / will be mentioned because both bands are creating this special kind of Pagan Metal feeling but I saw too much average albums during the last 6 months that I will not complain about 2 great German bands which are not matching but setting musical standards. Honestly speaking this release will darken the sun, so don’t get lost in the woods! www.trollzorn.de, www.helfahrt.com

Matthias Auch

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HELFAHRT
Drifa
(Trollzorn)
52:23min

The Trollzorn family is unleashing again their ‘deadliest’ weapon and everybody – including myself – who has foreseen a bright future for the Germany based band HELFAHRT will not be disappointed. These days only a few German bands are worth to be connected to cult acts like NAGELFAR or LUNAR AURORA but with the follow up to their strong “Wiedergang” release the band is proving once more that they deserve this honor. HELFAHRT are in every sense of the word a true Black Metal band (so no need to advise any kind of Pagan attributes) but they are not completely focused on Blood & Fire & Death. The music is highly aggressive - very often up to the highest levels – but the band is incorporating calmer moments and these contra points are forming a musical matrix quite similar to the first releases of Germanys finest Black Metal export (choose for yourself which one of the above mentioned bands you prefer!). What makes this release so enormous interesting is the perfect interacting of guitars and bass and very often the first LUNAR AURORA release is shining through. It takes quite a while before “Drifa” is opening all hidden doors – so definitely not a release for the Sunday evening tea with your mother in law. HELFAHRT's third release is quality wise aeons away from the current underground standards – and this is a more than positive thing. If you are lucky there is maybe still a chance to order the limited wood box, so for more info please check: www.trollzorn.de, www.helfahrt.com

Matthias Auch

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HELHEIM
The Journeys And The Experiences Of Death
(Dark Essence / Karisma Records)
47:58min

I’ve listened to that HELHEIM album over and over again and it’s one of those albums that have a very tough beginning, but grow after each listening. A creative piece of Metal art that needs full dedication and if you label the Finish reindeer and humpa–humpa bands FINNTROLL, TURISAS or ENSIFERUM Viking Metal then HELHEIM defintely won’t let you enter their dragon boats. HELHEIM’s debut “Jormundgand” could be labeled as a really special and dedicated album of that genre. Not about production, but about feeling, and in some way “The Journey And The Experiences Of Death” lacks that feeling in a minor way. Maybe because in its first half the album is really focused on riffing brutality and beatwise, somehow you might have a bit of a ZYKLON feeling here and there, while the end of the album gets darker and more epic. Compared to genre godz ENSLAVED it’s obvious that the HELHEIM quartet still sticks to brutality instead of overacting with progression and psychedelic elements, although HELHEIM also have a lot of faces, while especailly the epical 'Oaken Dragons' (feat. “Big Boss” from Czech ROOT on vocals) is really oustanding. Unfortunately I’m not really convinced by the production (courtesy of Bergen's Conclave Studios), which could be more detailed and massive sounding to me, cause the arrangements are really complex and with huge space to discover. It’s extreme Viking Metal with a special type of approach, not based on 08/15 clichees. If you plan to check it out, then look forward to the digipack version which comes along with the so far never released “Helsviti” MCD that has been recorded back in 2001 at the classical Grieghallen Studio in Bergen, Norway. www.helheim.com

Ralf Hauber

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HELLACAUST
Inevitable Dementia
(Morbid Moon Records)
42:35min

There aren't many bands who scream forth their blasphemies very convincingly these days. Naturally there are always a few, but they're few and far between in comparison to the... others. HELLACAUST are not one of those others. "Inevitable Dementia" is a vengeful record somewhat like, but not akin to: DESASTER, URN, and other bands with a blackened edge. HELLACAUST use blast beats far more frequently than either DESASTER or URN, which points to a distinct death metal influence, and who can blame them? Blast beats convey aggression very well indeed. At times the guitar tones are slightly overlapped by the drums, but its a minor flaw, and to some ears may even be an advantage. Bands like this deserve if not your devotion, then at least your respect. A good effort. www.myspace.com/hellacaust

Nat Shapiro

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HELL-BORN
The Call Of Megiddo
(Conquer Records)
35:00min

To  get a copy of this particular CD proved itself a painful task (thanx to my good friend Philippe Vayssière, a legend in his own right within the Parisian underground, who finally find this for me!) I was so eager to listen to this sophomore HELL-BORN album that my expectations were very high, and maybe too much I must add. Indeed, “The Call Of Megiddo” doesn’t quite match its predecessor in terms of quality. Before I got the entire album, I only listened to the MP3 of ‘Legion Is Our Name’ featured on the Conquer Records website and I felt exhilarated by this. Unfortunately, this song is probably the best of the album. So what happened? The answer is simple, at least for me. The songwriting is slightly weaker than on “Hell-Blast” (HELL-BORN previous effort), I mean it is less surprising, less striking. I have always regarded Les as a master composer, be it with DAMNATION (where he writes 100 % of the music) or with HELL-BORN. He has a very special talent to come up with unusual ideas, twisted riffs and eerie arrangements. This time the song writing is split in two between Les and other guitarist Jeff. No offence to the latter, but his songs sound more generic, and less inspired. But at the same time, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression: “The Call Of Megiddo” is still vastly superior to 99 % of the Death / Black Metal productions of these days, it is just that the little don’t-know-what made “Hell-Blast” so essential is missing here. HELL-BORN have fortunately kept their trademark style rooted in the 80s and that is clearly their own. I don’t know any other band who have the same sound, it is purely HELL-BORN. This is a very rare quality to find today, and only for that, “The Call Of Megiddo” should be a mandatory purchase. And also the songs are fairly enjoyable if not perfect, with the aforementioned ‘Legion Of Doom’ and ‘Down Below He Dwells’ as standout tracks. So all in all, an essential buy, despite the little annoyances I have signalled before. It is just that I consider HELL-BORN a too fantastic band to acknowledge that they can sometimes succumb to the false promises of rushed work. The CD is on sale here.

Edouard Vergriete

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HELL-BORN
Hellblast
(Conquer Records)
46:26min

HELL-BORN is a side project of Les and Ravenlock from DAMNATION, and this CD comes as a real surprise, because five long years have passed since the band's first offering, a five track MCD on Pagan Records. HELL-BORN could be seen as a tribute to the ancient Death / Black gods of the past, with a touch of originality due to the fantastic – and I mean this - composing talent of guitarist Les. In fact, most of the tracks on offer here show strong hints of “Obsessed By Cruelty”-era SODOM ('Raise The Dead', 'Visions Of Decline'), “Pleasure To Kill”-era KREATOR (the mid section of 'The Victory', this track being an instant classic, memorable!), plus POSSESSED and DESTRUCTION (especially on the four last tracks, taken from the aforementioned 1996 MCD). HELL-BORN is now a trio, with the addition of new recruit Jeff who handles the four strings abuse duty. The five new tracks (discounting a frightful intro) on offer here are absolute killers, and one could feel a kind of menacing presence haunting them. The vocals are shared by both Ravenlock and Jeff, and more than often they spit their hatred in unison, for the most frightening effect. The addition of the 1996 tracks (unfortunately minus the superb DESTRUCTION cover 'Antichrist') is a good idea in a sense, giving them a second chance, but I would have preferred them being redone for this album, just to match the devilish abyssal sound of the new songs, but this is a minor complaint really. I hope you understand that “Hellblast” is a mandatory purchase. Make no mistake, this is classic stuff (and by no means a “retro” thing), you could not say that about 99% of what is issued today. And don’t forget to check everything coming from the DAMNATION dudes too, because they always deliver highly captivating and exciting stuff. Hell born, Hell blast, Hell yes!!!! You can order it here.

Edouard Vergriete

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HELLBOX
Sadisticlaw
(KTOK Records)
35:02min

Pretty straight, rocking Thrash Metal from Finland comparable to the newest SCEPTER, MOTÖRHEAD or early VENOM offer HELLBOX on their debut full-length CD “Sadisticlaw”. The band was spawned in 1998, released four demos and I guess especially on stage their sound kicks serious ass. In comparison to Chicago-based SCEPTER HELLBOX offer more musical variation and tempo changes and will definitely capture your interest for a longer time than the Americans. The ten pretty catchy tunes have an aedaquate raw and rocking production, the vocalist has this dirty, fucked up throat inevitable for this kind of evil oldschool Thrash / Rock and the songwriting keeps the same, high level of quality throughout the entire playing time. To sum it up, “Sadisticlaw” is a damn good CD for fans of traditional, heavy thrashin’ Rock’n’Roll from hell that should be good for every party! Up the beercans!!! Visit www.hellbox.4-all.org for additional information and MP3’s of the HELLBOX-bastards. The link to the label’s website is http://ktokrecords.cjb.net.

Stefan Franke

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HELLCULT
Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferni (Demo)
(self-financed)
26:26min

Well, I’ll try to keep it short on this one: Polish HELLCULT’s first demo CDR contains 6 primitive oldschool Black Metal songs plus an intro and should satisfy anyone who is deepily interested in the typical DARKTHRONE or ARMAGEDDA-style. Let’s do not talk about originality on this CD, HELLCULT do not give a shit about being original, they have chosen to walk the path of the Norwegian Black Metal legends and well, they are alright, but unfortunately nothing extraordinary in my opinion. Black Metal die hards should give this offering a serious chance, especially because of the excellent raw sound and the grim vocals. What I would like to know is if they have a human or computerized drummer, because the cymbals sound a bit suspicious, but I’m not sure about that... Here’s the email address of HELLCULT, so you might find out what this CDR costs and obtain other information about this band: hellcult_horde@wp.pl

Stefan Franke

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HELL ICON
Symhonia Corrumptor (7")
(Macabre Operetta Productions)
15:50min

Oh dear – what shall I say about this? I bet that HELL ICON don’t give a shit about views of others anyway – but still keep on sending stuff to receive reactions concerning their efforts to create something unique. This is ridiculous I think. HELL ICON obviously felt inspired by acts such as ABRUPTUM, most noticeable the latter’s “Vi Sonus Nigrae Malitiaes”. Probably everyone reading this knows what a pain in the arse Free Jazz may turn out to be. You really need to be into this sort of genre in order to appreciate and get your head around it. I think the meaning of this comparison becomes clear, doesn’t it? When you think about it – there is one essential difference, apart from conception, sound, musical ingredients etc. I know that Free Jazz musicians are educated professionals who are very much aware of the scales, rhythms and general intentions of their music. HELL ICON are most certainly not aware of the stuff they play. This sounds like a mediocre band rehearsal to me. A guitarist who tries to manage his first pickings, a drummer who is keen to hit the cymbals and toms totally arbitrarily, rejoicing that he was given his first reverb effect to play around with. The singer… well he snorts like a pig, whispers and apparently presses the keys of his synth every now and then. I think it’s very likely that there are some freaks out there who feel confirmed that we are all wimps and unworthy to listen such elite elaborations of Black Metal art. Well… if this is Black Metal art with a profound utterance of man’s true nature underlying the surface level of the world we perceive… then Black Metal is in a pretty deplorable state of affairs at the moment. This is – like ABRUPTUM – a total waste of time as well as a desperate effort to contribute something in the scene as well without having to say or present anything worthwhile. Ave! Contact: www.macabreoperetta.com

F. Cthulhu E.

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HELLISH CROSSFIRE
Slaves Of The Burning Pentagram
(I Hate Records)
39:07min

I would not dare to say that German Thrash Metal celebrates a reincarnation, but the underground spawns out some great hordes every now and then (if we are just thinking about the WITCHBURNER General or the Master NOCTURNAL eclipse). HELLISH CROSSIFRE are maniacal and skilled enough to rank into the current five best Thrash Metal hordes out from Germany, without any restrictions. Even if the band exists only since 2002 and went through many line-up changes they already know how to create the Thrash Metal we want to hear and once have meant to be. So, you can expect a rough, brutal and even dark Thrash Metal, no funny shit telling us meaningless things. I especially would like to point out the guitar work of "Iron Incubus" Chris and especially the brutal and evil voice of singer "Iron Tyrant" Thomas (reminding me on Jeff Becerra). Fast thrashing Metal is the game – here and there some pounding moments (just listen to the beginning of track number five 'Shadowcurse') are to be found as well. "Slaves Of The Burning Pentagram" is HELLISH CROSSFIRE's debut album and got released until now only on vinyl-format in a limited edition of 500 copies. Homicidal maniacs will like it… www.ihate.se

Hurricane

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HELLISH CROSSFIRE
Bloodrust Scythe
(I Hate Records)
42:48min

Death himself is sending his warm invitation to every true Metal soul and really nobody should ignore this ‘hellish’ hour of Death / Thrash otherwise his Metal soul will definitely burn in hell. What an album and what a fantastic and breathtaking opener in form of the killer track 'Night Of The Possessed' – while listening to this song your neck will scream for all night action without remorse. Without blaming these guys from Nürnberg / Germany but the parallels to the great DESASTER and consequently their idols KREATOR and / or the almighty SLAYER are undeniable - especially due to the fact that their shouter Iron Tyrant sounds like the lost twin brother of  the former DESASTER frontman Okkulto. But HELLISH CROSSFIRE offer a wider perspective with further minor Heavy Metal influences. The album sounds on one hand extremely traditional but nevertheless unbelievable powerful with fantastic guitar parts – especially the track 'Into The Old And Evil' is more than worth mentioning here. This time it’s completely unimportant how you call this music - HELLISH CROSSFIRE are playing fucking Metal without compromise and any nonbeliever will automatically shoot to death. The year is still young - and a lot of good and far more bad releases will surface during the year  - but releases like “Bloodrust Scythe” will be rare occasion even if I’m everything else than a holy prophet . Buy this album, bow your head, open a bottle of good German beer and worship his killer band. For more info check out: www.ihate.se, www.myspace.com/ihate666, www.myspace.com/hellishcrossfirethrash

Matthias Auch

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HELLKOMMANDER
Death To My Enemies
(High-Roller-Records)
33:30min

To read the letters “raw Death Metal” on the inlet of this LP made me smile! To read that HELLKOMMANDER is a Brazilian band let me hope! To read the other bands HELLKOMMANDER’s drummer Adrameleck is involved in brought me confirmation! Confirmation that HELLKOMMANDER is a great band worth to support. All this was what I thought the first minutes after I got this LP and before a first listen. Almost a few moments listening to the opener ‘Gift Of Death’ assured me that the first impression is mostly the correct one. HELLKOMMANDER convince with simple Metal songs, a mixture between HELLHAMMER (more) and old CELTIC FROST (less) and perhaps some MOTÖRHEAD here and there. Probably not what you commonly expect as “raw Death Metal”, but that’s not the point here as the formula works just perfect on this recording. With reading those influences you know what to expect and fuck it’s so damned well-played, offers a lot of atmosphere played by musicians with the right attitudes and besides that offers such a good sound which is usually not the case for this “primitive” type of music. I’m totally impressed by this recording, which is again, and this seems to be some kind of central theme with the High-Roller-Records-releases, an older recording from 2006. I’m not sure if this recording was released on CD before / as well on another label, but what counts here is this vinyl release which is in my eyes a must-have for every dedicated worshipper of true, unpolished Metal music. Check out www.hho-records.de immediately and place your order as this release is as usual limited to 500 pieces. Band contact through www.myspace.com/hellkommander

Thomas Ehrmann

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HELL MILITIA
Last Station On The Road To Death
(Debemur Morti)
47:49min

Having never payed a special attention to them and having Bruce from EMBALMED listening to one of HELL MILITIA's CDs as one of the only 4 CDs he'll listen to ever (true story) I was curious as to the greatness of these guys. So we go on to the disc at hand and we get some tasty atmospheric guitar and nary a keyboard in sight with some good "De Mysteriis" like Black Metal, very enjoyable, BUT, then they feel the need to stop and slow things down and I ask why? Granted it has lots of atmosphere and heaviness but just for a bit, then it gets boring and you long and pine for the speed parts again! With the slow, bordering on suicidal Black Metal (and about that, if you are suicidal do it! Don't go around saying "I'm gonna do it! Look at me! I hate myself and wanna die!" By the way, didn't that dipshit Kurt Cobain of NIRVANA used to say that? So, Kurt and Jon Nödtveidt did it, why don't you?) and some riot Thrash backing vocals that I don't know why the fuck they included them here, they bore the shit outta me! Especially on 'Shoot Knife Strangle Beat & Crucify' (bad english? Now why would you fuckin' beat somebody that you've already shot, knifed and strangled? Maybe they were thinking of France's own world cup team!) (well Luis, that one's a GG ALLIN cover; so it's not of France origin... - Frank) and then the fast returns on 'The Pig That Became A God' only to stop again!! Fuck! Why?! Ok, I get you can be atmospheric enough already! Fuck, forget it! There are some good parts that show lots of gusto and that they are ready to slaughter the world! But then they slow down and its all for naught! Yawn... Oh well... better luck next time! www.myspace.com/hell_militia, www.debemur-morti.com

Luis M.L. Sallard

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HELLSAW
Spiritual Twilight
(Black Attakk)
63:12min

When I heard HELLSAW'S first demo "Sins Of Might" first back in 2003, I thought that this band sucks. Too meaningless was the whole music on it. Luckily the band managed to develop and has now put out some fresh recordings under the name of "Spiritual Twilight" (including "Sins Of Might" as bonus) which are far ahead of the demo. Of course we are talking about Black Metal here and HELLSAW use the wide variety of speed, although mostly in a driving manner, within this genre to lay their guitar melodies and riffs on. The focus is on the melodic guitar lines which sometimes turned out a bit too "happy", but at least you can hear that these dudes like to play and therefore it sounds somehow fresh. So skipping the demo, I consider this CD as a solid output on which HELLSAW can build further material. Have at least a listen! www.black-attakk.de

Andi Bauer

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HELLSAW
Phantasm
(Folter Records)
40:30min

The latest update out of the HELLSAW camp is a new contract with Napalm Records and the recording session of their third album "Cold“. So what can we expect from an Austrian Black Metal band under the wings of the once so blackened major label. For sure not another napalmed edition of ENTHRONED – the presented songs can be roughly summarized under the terminus mid-tempo Black Metal but with an extreme dose of depression and melancholy. “Phantasm” had been released in 2007 and it’s the true understanding of the term ‘keep the underground alive’ that Folter Records are still supporting the band even after they left their label. The melancholy is perfectly woven into the 9 songs mainly by giving the music some points of rest or reducing the overall aggression of the songs and maybe that’s one reason why the album needs quite some time to fully catch the ear of the listener. But after several trips into the phantasm world I must admit that everybody who is interested in good and solid played Black Metal with a certain piece of individuality will find in this Austrian horde a further interesting band. If HELLSAW are in the position to intensify the shades between their Black (Black Metal parts) and White (silence & depression) cosmos they will further impress the world wide extreme Metal scene – “Phantasm” is for sure a good point of reference. www.folter666.de, www.hellsaw.com

Matthias Auch

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HELLSPAWN / HATEFUL / IMPUREZA
Tworzenia, Resurrezione, Démence (3-way split)
(Nihilistic Holocaust )
45:52min

Another slab of great underground Metal presented by Nihilistic Holocaust is what we have here. All three bands play heavy and fast Death Metal which owes to both the North American variety akin to newer MORBID ANGEL as well as Brazilian Speed Death Metal. The first five songs are taken from the demo 2005 of HELLSPAWN from Poland (actually I first thought this might be the defunct band of the same name from Brazil). Fast and brutal Death Metal is the game here, as already hinted at with a solid MORBID ANGEL base, played in a fericious way which reminds me of bands from South America, some blast passages let me think of RAVAGER for example. The vocals are deep and a tad bit muffled, nothing overly original but very appropriate. The riffing gets crowned by some cool solo runs here and there which are not unlike the chaotic outbursts of Trey Azagthoth or Gene Palubicki, yet it should be noted that the band does not blast away exclusively. Heavy parts with fast double bass drumming can be found here as well as some staccato riffing, nevertheless the overall tempo is fast. Some minor chord work sounds slightly blackish at parts. Nothing groundbreaking but a massive demo for sure! All relevant info and two songs can be found here: www.hellspawn.metal.pl. HATEFUL from Italy really deserve their monicker: fast and technical Death Metal with evil breathy midranged vocals and a slight Thrash note. The arrangements are by far less straight forward than those of HELLSPAWN but more twisted with little bits of change in the time signature during the riffs. With plenty of breaks, blasts bridges and lots details this band will surely appeal to fans of brutal (semi-) technical Metal who can dig acts like CORONER and IMMOLATION as some of the riffing, rhythms and the incorporation of disharmonies branch out a little further here. Only three tracks are offered here – let's hipe there will be some more in the future. www.hateful.info. IMPUREZA surprised me quite a bit: the band hails from France but sings in Castillan… of all bands here they sound the most like a South American band crossed with some NILE influences. But wait – what is this? A Flamenco guitar? Yes… IMPUREZA incorporate Spanish Flamenco rhythms and scales in their songs and they do it bloody well without sound the least bit pretentious. This split contains songs from their demo 2006 as well as three bonus tracks from 2005. IMPUREZA also play slightly technical as their songs are varied with blasts and breaks. Some people might have a problem with the Spanish vocals but personally, I think that this language fits very well with this kind af brutal and heavy kind of Death Metal.Their homepage offers two tracks to get an impession so go there. www.impureza.fr.fm. Clearly a collection of demos for fans of dark underground Death Metal, that strange kind who still buy 7” and tapes, hehe. For me, this an excellent release – well done! http://site.voila.fr/NIHILISTIC/

Ulrich Kreienbrink

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HELL UNITED
Hornokracy
(Lilith Productions)
43:39min

One more release which shows how huge the influence of BEHEMOTH was (and still is) on the Polish Metal movement during the last years. HELL UNITED are another band which takes many details from BEHEMOTH’s work of the last couple of albums. For sure it is obvious that they can’t match with the uniqueness of BEHEMOTH's mighty development over the last years. As this is HELL UNITED's first full-length release we probably shouldn’t expect too much and BEHEMOTH didn’t convince me that much either with their first releases. Musically this is quality stuff and for me totally strange to see again how huge the talent in the Polish scene is. The technical quality is over the top and the first 6 songs on “Hornokracy” are impressive in music and sound. Those 6 songs were recorded in January 2008. The last 3 songs (plus intro) added here are the songs from their demo “Extra Strength Of The Obscure” from 2006 and seriously I don’t understand the reason for including them here. The songs might be pretty good (which they are) but it still feels kinda strange to have 2 different recordings from one band on the first release. From my point of view it would have been the far better decision to record those songs new again and include them in this version on this release. Anyway, HELL UNITED is a good band in the Polish blackish Death Metal vein which deserves your support if this is your brand of Death Metal. Available at www.lilithprod.com.

Thomas Ehrmann

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HELLVETO
In The Glory Of Heroes
(Pulverised Records)
39:56min

This is already the fourth full-length release in 2006 of the Polish atmospheric Pagan Metal band HELLVETO. It's quite impressive for a band (furthermore formed by only one member) in only one year, or perhaps just the contrary if we think about quality. I already said in another review that I've never been too impressed by the Polish Pagan Metal scene compared to others (especially the Ukrainian), although the bands in that country were among the first who started that style, and HELLVETO is no exception. From the very first moment you can imagine where they come from, with that midpaced Pagan Black Metal where keyboards have the most important place (which, exclusing some bands, like SUMMONING or ELFFOR for example, is never a good option for me, as it seems to hide the defects with the other instruments; even the guitars are hard to distinguish), and a combination of clean and harsh vocals, which are not too impressive again, with a distortion effect or something similar on the harsh ones, and even on some clear ones. Furthermore, the mix is not especially good, so in some moments it is a bit hard to listen to it without having to pay attention if you want to understand what you are listening to, although the last tracks seem to be quite better focused on that side. But I can't say all is bad on this recording, as some moments are quite epic, like the third track, 'Baltic Tale' or the beautiful acoustic guitar track 'Last Moments...'. For sure, this can be a good album for the ones who like that scene, but I think there are better things to listen to, even in that style. www.pulverised.net

Jeroni Sancho

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HELLVETO
966
(Pulverised Records)
46:21min

What is Hellveto? Hard to tell, maybe it has something to be related to “Hell” or something. Come on, this is pagan Black Metal, it has to be something occult, diabolic or something; just read the title of the album and it is almost 666 or 999. Ho many releases are there before this one? This is actually their 10th full length…I mean, this man is even making more than a couple of albums a year! Man you say? Are we talking about a project or something? No, it is a one man band. So this means a drum machine, some so-so performance at some instruments or what? Well, I don’t know if it is a drum machine, a program or Lon (yep, the one and only member) playing drums…but the final result is quite good to be honest, as the music is not abusing form fast parts or complex rhythms, that would expose the real nature of the drums. And what about the production values? It has a decent production, I mean everything is clean, yet for the Heavy Metaller, the guitars are not loud enough…although not completely buried in the back, I feel like this needs more distortion and power. Oh well. So, what band would you compare it to? Well, any pagan Metal band will give you an idea…you know, mid-tempo music, eerie melodies, a lot, and I mean a lot of sounds done by keyboards…it kind of feels “epic” at times, not exactly heavy nor aggressive…maybe some Viking era BATHORY with a more pagan flavor…and with more screamy vocals too. How does this stand with other bands of the genre? Hard to tell. It is quite enjoyable, but to be honest I am not going to put this on my CD player for more than once in a year or so… But the man got 10 CDs out! It has to be something! Yeah, right I won’t deny that. Maybe he's too damn prolific, and maybe there are some crazy pagan folk Metal fans out there that can only listen to meal this way…I don’t know. As a whole, as a unit, as a musical band…well, it is still not that interesting. Have you heard the previous works of this band to assume that attitude? Yep, songs from most of their releases can be put together and still you won’t make a difference…I mean they have a style of their own, and probably even some identity, yet it is not strong enough to catch my attention. I am no pagan you know, so maybe that’s the problem. What would you change from this release? I’ll make it more Metal, you know, more heavy distorted guitars and more powerful drums…it sounds a bit too “quiet” if you know what I mean… Final thoughts? Yes, this comes in a really nice digipak edition, complete with a booklet, but not all the lyrics are there, so that takes away something…I mean if it sounds like ancient pagan tales, put the damn tale in there. Ok, I suppose for the quantity of releases that they are doing something right, but to these ears, it is not as metallic as I would like it to be. www.pulverised.net

Julian Nuñez

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HELLVETO
Neoheresy
(Pulverised Records)
35:12min 

The Polish Black Metal scene has become smaller and smaller over the years. The main reason is that the few Polish acts which can advise an international status "realized" their Death Metal roots and left to conquer MORBID ANGEL territory. HELLVETO are part of this traditional scene since 1996 and honestly speaking "Neoheresy" is my first contact with this band and taking into account the quality of this release I should bow my head and ask the Dark Lord for forgiveness. The band is playing great Epic Pagan Metal and they are - like the almighty NEGURA BUNGET - in the position to transfer their heritage, history and emotions into their music. The atmosphere is supported by their lyrics in their mother tongue and the added folklore parts which are woven into the six songs like gold into a precious piece of jewelry. But the music is still very powerful and I think after nearly 20 official releases in form of demos, split CDs etc it's time for the only member L.O.N and his project HELLVETO to leave the wooden hut in the Carpathian forest to show that not only Rumania has the right environment to create great Pagan Metal. www.hellveto.com, www.pulverised.net. Also available at this location.

Matthias Auch

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HELLVETO
Kry
(Pagan Records)
31:50min

Formed in 1995 this is their 13th release…wow…almost a record to be released every year. This is not my first encounter with this band. I have somewhere their “966” album, and have also heard some more releases and very few things have changed. This is, to start with, a one man band…project…whatever. The music style is that to be called Pagan Black Metal. There is also a lot of use of keyboards, orchestral parts, all of this encompassed in a mostly mid-tempo atmosphere and whispery like Black Metal vocals, although not that shrieky, and specially here they remind me a lot to the vocal style of early ROTTING CHRIST. Some few fast parts are used here and there to give variety in the songs, and there is also a lot of more dramatic, movie-like background music used. At times, this sounds more like BLAKAGIR which is the same mastermind behind, although that band is purely orchestral / classical / dark music, whereas here there are still lots of distorted guitars and extreme vocals. This music would fit in no time with maybe those epic battles form movies like “Lord of the Rings”, specially depicting those horrible Orcs with their swords dripping blood. And for a change, I enjoyed this one. Yep, the epic BATHORY albums come to mind, but then again it has a strange Greek Black Metal tone to this…or at least that sounds to my ears. On the last song 'Smak Zniewolenia' I can hear to some more Heavy Metal tones. A very atmospheric album, where those possessed by brutality and speed will be lost to the strong orchestral / movie-music-like atmosphere, but on the other hand, it is also enjoyable in a very Metal way. And compared to what I have heard from this band, this might as well be one of their best efforts. www.myspace.com/hellveto, www.pagan-records.com

Julián Núñez

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HELLWITCH
Omnipotent Convocation
(Xtreem Music)
40:00min

Formed back in 1984, it is hard to imagine that the band up to this day has only released two full length albums. The first time I came in contact with the band was through a compilation and their song 'Torture Chamber' which is not that hard to forget due to their weird composition and the catchy chorus if that witching voice singing “Torture chambeaahhh”. Those were the days. Then Richard C, from Wild Rags sends me a tape promo for the first album of the band, the underrated “Sizygial Miscreancy” . That was way back in the early 90s, and it was only their debut album. That one was a twisted, bordering on technical, style of Deathrash Metal played at high speed and with more hysterical and high pitched vocals, that the band leader / founder Pat Ranieri was the one guilty of. Then the band entered in a slumber state where many labels announced the follow up, but it all went through line-up changes, music trends and generally bad luck. Until now. Their style is in fact quite intact, it is still Deathrash, played at high speed, with many crazy breaks here and there and a magnificent performance as it has been the sign of these Floridian mongers of pain. If the cover art of their debut with that space-evil-alien thing was weird, well this new one is not short. A yellowish-orange vortex, that looks like been seen through something like a shattered glass… oh, my. A quite good point here is an excellent cover of their land-mates DEATH with 'Infernal Death', which is very well performed, but also showcases a truth with the band. They sometimes go too far in approaching a technical edge to their music. Sometimes, ATHEIST comes to mind here and there, whereas before that comparison would be out of place. I also can hear riffs similar to those of NECROPHAGIST which makes me more confused, as the logical thing would be the other way. But this is the realm of the HELLWITCH and logic just does not make sense. In the end, I was left with a strange sense; they are obviously faithful to their style, but it seems that it has not aged exactly that good through the years. I now compare them to SADUS in the fact that they still got that fire burning inside, but it is not flaming with enough strength to create a wildfire that was expected after all these years. If they choose to go for more straightforward songs, they had definitely the potential to create a masterpiece. As it is, it is way above average, but still, there are many other newer bands that create things in a similar way but yet more exciting. Maybe now with less time between recordings they can recover that flame, that they are undoubtedly carrying on. www.hellwitch.com, www.xtreemmusic.com

Julián Núñez

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HELLWRATH
Anger Words
(Demo 2005)
18:42min

This band from Italy revealed itself a so much a good surprise that I can’t help but to find this three tracks offer a little unsatisfying in terms of duration. In fact I would gleefully scream for more, because “Anger Words” appears more than simply convincing! On this HELLWRATH rekindle with the tradition of evilized tech Death / Thrash pioneered by INFERNAL MAJESTY, and offers a lot of complex arrangements coupled with a faultless vocal delivery reminding me on the one of the great David Vincent (while the music could be seen as a slightly less intense version of what you can find on INFERNAL MAJESTY's “Unholier Than Thou”). The overall sound comes out in a rather satisfactory way, even if the quality of the music needs even more power and dynamic, but I suppose this imperfection will be cared about on the first proper full length, a record I hope that will surface in a not so distant future. HELLWRATH are surely an outfit to watch closely as these guys are excellent and well-inspired musicians. Note that the band exists for a relatively long time now, they were known as DREDFUL OMEN back in their gathering in 1999; that can explain the maturity showed here. Check out their website, still under construction (and written in Italian) at: www.Hellwrath.net. More than promising!

Edouard Vergriete

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HELRUNAR / NACHTMAHR
Hauch Wird Sturm / Trollnacht (Split CD Single)
(Lupus Lounge Records)
11:44min

This is a very interesting (and strictly limited to 1.000 hand numbered copies) appetizer for two upcoming albums on Lupus Lounge Records. Two German bands, HELRUNAR and NACHTMAHR, both definitely deeply rooted in the Black Metal genre, totally raw yet very matured sounding and in a way also a little avantgarde! HELRUNAR is featured with the song 'Hauch Wird Sturm' (playing time: 6:30min) and offer us very grim Black Metal vocals, lyrics written partly in German and partly in Norwegian and some surprising, yet very beautiful and skillfully performed acoustic guitar sections as well as the unavoidable BATHORY type, clean epic choir vocals. NACHTMAHR on the other hand should be familiar to some of you already as they used to share another very cool split release with SUN OF THE SLEEPLESS previously. Their contribution 'Trollnacht' (playing time: 5:14min) also basically offers us Black Metal the oldschool way, but all of a sudden manage to surprise with very heroic sounding, clean vocals. If the bands material on their albums is also of this quality (great production on the two tracks as well here!), you should definitely make sure to get 'em at all cost! This split CD single features exclusive material, not to be found on the albums ("Frostnacht" and "Trollzauber") and comes in a nicely designed b&w cover, which has the size of a vinyl 7"! Extremely cool packaging for two extremely cool bands! www.lupuslounge.com

Frank Stöver

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HELRUNAR
Frostnacht
(Lupus Lounge)
52:13min

After a demo ("Grátr") and their contribution to the limited split CD single with NACHTMAHR ('Hauch wird Sturm') we're finally able to experience the first HELRUNAR full length album via the fine and always very quality oriented Lupus Lounge label. And it was definitely worth the wait as "Frostnacht" impresses with a very professional production, tasteful packaging and a clever songwriting. In the past the band used to name bands such as HELHEIM, ULVER and TAAKE as sources of inspiration, and even though they don't copy any of them, they should nevertheless appeal to the same fanbase. HELRUNAR's music could somehow be labeled as "Black Metal with a difference", as it sets free the same dark atmosphere and grimness, yet often surprises with very relaxed acoustical interludes. Considering the fact that the band is not too much known yet, they already sound very matured in their writing and luckily also offer the necessary playing abilities to get their (partly rather sophisticated) ideas across. Nine out of the ten songs have German written lyrics, while the last one is in Icelandic (as far as I know). Even though it has become a very common thing these days to use German lyrics in Black Metal, I still prefer the English or Nordic languages. German may be a harsh language and therefore it obviously fits to such a style of music, but to me (as a German) it still sounds a little weird though, especially if you recognize what's been sung about (just like in HELRUNAR's case). So, to me Nordic lyrics fit a lot better. Just because of the sound of the language I already associate it with coldness, ancient warriors and stuff, without even understanding a single word (long live clichés, ha!)... But I still gotta admit that HELRUNAR's German lyrics are very clever written though. Apart from that, there's only one other little subject that I dislike about "Frostnacht"... I'm not too much into those clean vocals they used in 'Der Trank des Gehängten', but as that's something I often dislike on other records as well, so its not a particular criticism here, but my general point of view. All in all a very strong debut from a band with a bright future! For all further info check out www.helrunar.com or www.lupuslounge.com. You can order the CD here.

Frank Stöver

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HELRUNAR
Baldr Ok Iss
(Lupus Lounge)
51:00min

It’s a huge pity that I have missed HELRUNAR when they played live here in my surroundings together with BEHEMOTH about 2 weeks ago, as I’d be interested how this threepiece comes along live. Anyhow, it took me quite a long time to start writing this review, not that I think that this album isn’t good, by no means, but I guess it just felt quite hard to write the right words about it. To point it out: this record is great. It begins with the atmospheric intro ‘Dickichtgott’ starting with acoustic guitars, clean vocals and military drums, directly followed by the intense ‘Loka Lögsaga’, a song fast a furious in the wellknown Scandinavian way of Black Metal. To make it clear, this song is as great as an opener (well, a follower of the intro…) can be, but even more intense is the next song ‘Schwarzer Frost’ with its amazing riff and harsh vocals added with a great chorus and once more fast drums totally fitting to their Scandinavian brand of Black Metal. Don’t wonder, many would call HELRUNAR a Pagan Metal band and probably they are exactly that, but in my eyes it’s Black Metal, raw and cold what these 3 Germans offer. Next one is called ‘Baldr’ and for the first time the tempo slowed down a bit and that suits them good as well and offers a necessary variety on this CD, but 3:30 minutes later we are again back to listen to a blasting drum rhythm. Well, I could go on commenting each song, but I think that’s not really necessary as we have here 8 songs (plus in- and outro), which are nothing else than no fillers - just killers. The in- and outro as well as the short acoustic interlude called ‘Winter’ offers some moments of rest which is more than important to completely enjoy the other grim cold Black Metal songs here. I need to add that this 2nd album of HELRUNAR offers besides the great songs a great sound and shows a band that is aware of their musical intentions. This is high quality Black Metal the way all fans of Black Metal will adore. It goes as a normal CD as well as a deluxe edition digipack including CD and a DVD. All I can say is that HELRUNAR did a fantastic job with their 2nd CD and I’m sure we will hear even more great tunes from them in the future. Don’t ask me why did it take me so long to write this review? Probably I was just blown away… A breath that becomes a storm as the illusion fades away and the misty world awakens... Take a look at www.lupuslounge.com. Available here.

Thomas Ehrmann

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HEMNUR
Satanic Hellride
(Infernus Rex)
36:48min

I know that Frediablo is involved in a multitude of musical projects (NECROPHAGIA and GRIMFIST being the most famous), but it is the first time I am exposed to one of his creations, the case in point being the band / project HEMNUR. What can I say? “Satanic Hellride” is maybe a cool album, but for sure offers little in term of freshness. In fact, the flood of Black Metal bands coming from the Great White North becomes a little annoying right now; it seems everybody feels the urge to be involved in the most possible of projects, exploring the faint “nuances” separating a given style from another one. While listening to “Satanic Hellride” it quickly appears that we face a very relaxed form of Black Metal (Black’ Roll as the promo babbling names it), an impression reinforced by the cover art of the album, depicting our man Frediablo seated in a black limo (Christine?) in front of the legendary Norman Bates motel. The overall production, fat and greasy, helps to digest the very banal Black Metal offered on this platter. All the mandatory ingredients are here: “freaky” samples, harsh shrieks (with some Attila Csihar - like effects here and there) and basic chords, to the point this effort bored me to death very fast. The only point of interest is that Frediablo manages to approximate the Tom Warrior’s guitar style on some occasions, but it is not enough to grab the attention of any well-seasoned Black Metal fanatic used to all the tricks of the game. This is a rushed disc to me, cool to listen to once, but not more. I almost forgot that Frediablo is accompanied here by a woman, Heksblod (oh well…), responsible for co-producing and for playing synths. www.infernusrex.com. Available here.

Edouard Vergriete

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HEMORAGY
Jesus King Of Wine
(self-financed)
33:14min

Interesting. A Thrash / Rock / Heavy Metal band from Paris that has a moniker and logo akin to that of a Death Metal act yet who ultimately sound like RUNNING WILD in their early days mixed with a stack of overlooked, and obscure NWOBHM, altogether delivered in a hefty rollicking roughshod manner. The cover art of this independent CD album just kills me, as it is totally reminiscent of King Wolle from Desecration Of Virgin fanzine. Wolle if you’re out there, if HEMORAGY get signed this band owes you some royalties my friend! As this CD spins I can’t help but think of the Finnish Metallers MORNINGSTAR when they released “Hell “, that same kind of rough and tumble feel is there within these songs. That stated HEMORAGY is much more technically advanced than MORNINGSTAR. Better riffing, song structures and better leads to be sure! The only real drawback to this CD is that even though the titles are in English, the actual words of each piece are in French. So makes for a bit of a hard listen and then there’s the fact the vocals are buried too low in the mix and you can’t understand or follow anything shouted into the mic, even if you tried. So if you care about such things best to just turn up the volume and deal with it and for those that don’t really care about what the singer has to say, then keep drinking your beers and bang that head! Contact: grouphemoragy@hemoragy.com or www.myspace.com/hemoragy or www.hemoragy.com

Wes Rhodes

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HEOL TELWEN
Mor Braz
(self-financed)
21:12min

This is a joke, and I am afraid I am not in the right mood to fully taste it. Life is too short, and I have other things to do to dedicate more than a few lines reviewing this crap. Usually I try hard to salvage something of interest in an otherwise bad offering, but I am tired to do this, enough is enough. HEOL TELWEN claim a Celtic heritage (from Brittany to be precise), so this bunch of French dudes thought it would be clever to placate some traditional instruments (like Britton bagpipes and Irish whistles) to their pitiful brand of Black Metal. The first track is nothing else than an acoustic and ludicrous one that has nothing to do with Metal. I even imagined some drunkards dancing on a table listening to this. The rest is not better, believe me. As a matter of fact, "Heol Telwen" is supposed to mean "Dark Sun" in Britton language, so may this band forever shine in obscurity! Appalling… Investigate by yourselves on http://www.heoltelwen.fr.st just in case you have time to waste.

Edouard Vergriete

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HEOROT
Ragnarök
(Stygian Crypt Productions)
44:58min

If it comes to Pagan Metal it’s currently more than difficult to avoid the term sellout and see every release as objective as possible. It has started years ago with bands like FINNTROLL and a completely new direction with a lot of interesting influences was born. But as usual the new ideas had become the first victims and in 2008 nearly all bands started to sound as similar as possible. HEOROT is another Finnish band and I was not too enthusiastic about a further debut from a band from the 10.000 seas (maybe the poor cover was the major reason). But the band luckily is trying to find its own way and further influences from their Swedish brothers TYHRFING could be found. The 8 songs are an interesting mixture of Metal with Folk parts and not the other way around. It’s a shame that the band is not offering an English translation for their Finnish lyrics because a whole world is not available to the interested listener. HEOROT had released two demos before they recorded “Ragnarök” and you can hear that the band is keen to vary their basis ideas just to avoid the Pagan Metal overkill. “Ragnarök” is for sure not offering 8 masterpieces but ‘Ristiretki’ or ‘Kansaansa Vastaan’ are great songs which make this album more than just an average release. So if you miss the good old times and you are a fan of old TYHRFING (Hammerheart Records era) you can buy this album blindly - all others should give HEOROT at least a chance. www.heorotband.com

Matthias Auch

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THE HERETIC
Chemistry For The Soul
(Xtreem Music)
65:01min

Spanish label Xtreem Music has a talent to discover and sign excellent Death Metal acts e.g. Sweden's VERMINOUS, PAGANIZER or Spanish fellows VISCERAL DAMAGE, but besides the boring GODÜS another even worse band namely THE HERETIC have been picked up by the label although a trash can or sauna club would be the right place for this band. Crappy keyboards and sounds reminding me of that German lady whistling famous tunes on TV - I don't remember her name, maybe something with Ilse - have been blended with melodic Black / Death which is performed skilfully but exactly fits into the category of Metal I absolutely despise and most (all?) other contributors to this webzine shun, too. There are so many great unsigned bands and acts like THE HERETIC get their deal - why????? Their music is well-played, well-produced, sounds individual and new, but it perverts and affronts everything Black or Death Metal is about - not sissies, happy, cheesy melodies and "symphonic" elements, it's about darkness, violence, hatred, evil, blood, zombies, grave desecrating, war and sodomy! That sounds infantile and not very mature, but that is what MY Metal is about and THE HERETIC make fun of it. This shitty review is enough promotion for them. www.xtreemmusic.com, www.the-heretic.go.to

Stefan Franke

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THE HERETIC
Gospel Songs In E Minor
(Xtreem Music)
44:53min

THE HERETIC from Spain are active since 1998 and “Gospel Songs In E Minor” is already their third full-length album. The music travels over a wide range of influences, from symphonic and melodic parts, a huge quantity of keyboards to Thrash Metal riffing. The song-structure is fairly progressive, reminding me of the latest ENSLAVED releases. The vocals also cover an extensive spectrum, clear to growling and back again. On the song ‘Monster’, after starting with an acoustic guitar intro, even choral singing appears. Of course the music is based on what is described as “Metal”, namely guitars, bass and drums, but due to the progressive songwriting this area is occasionally left behind. Especially the keyboards sometimes are completely far beyond what can be heard by other Metal-bands using keyboards. It is really difficult to explain. The only band I know are the above mentioned ENSLAVED (on their three latest albums). Some symphonic parts are influenced by EMPEROR and some people might think of COVENANT, but THE HERETIC are definitely playing a unique form of music. If you call yourself open-minded then you should take a listen. But beware, like wrote above, the genre “Metal” is from time to time completely left behind. www.thehereticband.com, www.xtreemmusic.com

Mirco Szymyslik

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HERMH
Before The Eden – Awaiting The Fire (MCD)
(Pagan Records)
36:28min

Even though we get approx 40 minutes of music (incl. one video-clip), this is a mini-CD. That’s one really positive thing about this release, for we get only two new tracks. Three tracks are new versions of older songs and we get two covers. Hmm, reminds me a bit about the release from Dimmu Borgir which I never liked since that item was fully prized. Oh well, Hermh released a fine and different Black Metal album a few years ago named “Angeldemon”. The new songs are, as far as I reckon, in the same vein. That’s not a bad sign, because there’s no need to change something that is good. However, Hermh should try to develop a bit, and I can’t see that this necessary development has occurred. Could be the ability to make the songs float has increased, for 'Hunger' and 'Red Blood Running' run (pun intended) well wrapped in a clear production. Due to the keyboards I guess we should name Hermh Symphonic Black Metal. In fact, the keys seem to be a dominant instrument since the music is more traditional and simple. These songs are fine examples to use when you show your friends how keyboards can lift Black Metal songs from the more standard starting-point. The three re-recordings show us that Hermh hasn’t developed, since they could easily be songs written these days, at least judging from the two new tracks. What I don’t like with this release is, as always, covers. First off, I don’t see the point in doing covers (hmm, tell that to Six Feet Under?). I have never heard a song that beats the original version, no matter how good the actual cover version is. Hermh’s 'Valhalla' is not a copy of the original, but hey, I still don’t see the point. Why couldn’t they write another new track instead? And, in my book a cover version will never be a tribute. I would rather prefer if the band used one page of the booklet to honour a band or two. Another point is that I don’t feel like listening to 'Deathcrush' done by any other than Mayhem, despite the cool use of keyboards in this cover version. A new full-length, now that’s something I desire from Hermh. www.hermh.pl

Roy Kristensen

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HERMH
Eden's Fire
(Pagan Records)
40:12min

This is the first time I heard about HERMH from Poland, although "Eden's Fall" is already the bands 5th album, so I missed out 4 albums and 2 demos. In my case this is not really a pity because HERMH's music, like it sounds on this release, is not my cup of tea. HERMH present a very symphonic and theatrical mixture of Black and Death Metal in the vein of newer BEHEMOTH and the likes. Expect good musicianship, constant keyboard-playing, partly complex structures and a bombastic production. I really respect what HERMH has created with "Eden's Fire", it simply is not meant for my ears. So before saying something superfluous negative, I shut the fuck up and recommend to those who are into that symphonic Black / Death Metal, to have at least a listen. www.hermh.pl, www.paganrecords.com.pl

Andi Bauer 

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HERMH
After The Fire-Ashes
(Pagan Records)
43:17min

Pagan Records released over 10 years ago some remarkable records, for example the BEHEMOTH debut, the last MORTIIS demo “The Song Of A Long Forgotten Ghost” (as official release) and for sure the last worth mentioning album from greek cult act VARATHORN. But times are changing and the label had mainly been concentrated on their home country scene. This scene still fights with the problem of a lot of potential but unfortunately only a very limited amount of bands had finally gathered a bigger audience outside of Poland. HERMH published their debut nearly simultaneously with BEHEMOTH in 1995 but I don’t think that more than a dozen fans of Nergal & Co. ever heard of them. With “After The Fire-Ashes” they are releasing a very trendy album form because we are not talking about a full new release. It’s more or less a mini CD with some new songs, some re-recorded ones and a cover song (again VENOM and again ‘Black Metal’) and a handful of live tracks. This form is honestly speaking not new and other bands had released such albums (VADER, ANOREXIA NERVOSA etc.) but if your are a fan of keyboard dominated Metal it’s worth investigating. HERMH are not reinventing this musical style and I’m sure that such a band could now only be found on a tropical island far far away but in a way they are still sounding fresh. The most important advantage of HERMH are very good keyboard parts and a powerful sound which gives their music a base aggression. The re-recorded (techno) version of their 2004 Song ‘Red Blood Running’ (from their “Before The Eden-Awaiting The Fire MCD) is Voices unfriendly but the live songs are again on the same quality level so I think HERMH will not conquer whole europe with this release but maybe they get a chance to leave their Polish shores. www.hermh.pl, www.paganrecords.com.pl

Matthias Auch

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HERMH
The Spiritual Nation Born (DVD)
(Pagan Records)
approx. 240min

What can I say about this official HERMH release? It's a live DVD but lacking a full live concert… the term road movie is maybe more suitable. HERMH from Poland had been touring quite extensively within the last four years (mainly in their home country) and these tours had been luckily also captured on film and are now available for all fans. But which fan needs these tour reports when all live songs are only presented in bits & pieces. Sorry, but I can’t find any words for this. In one moment you can see HERMH perform ‘Deathcrush’ in front of a hungry crowd but as usual the song is fading out and you can see 2 band members wrestling each other? It’s nice to add some tour anecdotes, but for a Black Metal band the music / performance should be the essential key to their creation and times. So I don’t want to see a band playing volleyball, table tennis or football; I don’t want to see them taking a shower or mocking each other – what I want to see is a professional powerful gig. To all this nonsense furthermore comes the fact that nearly everything (interviews, tour report, menu) on this DVD is only available in the Polish language and that all concert fragments are without any advise which song is performed. So, honestly speaking if you speak Polish and you really need every HERMH release to find sleep in the night this DVD is maybe acceptable, but for all other people it could perfectly be used as a flying saucer in the next THE KOVENANT video. www.hermh.pl, www.paganrecords.com.pl

Matthias Auch

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HERMH
Cold+Blood+Messiah 
(Regain Records) 
38:49min 

Polish Black Metal is among the most unique on the planet. Members of the early guard, like MASTER'S HAMMER and ROOT played with a nasal, yet disturbingly sinister and primitive, satanic style (probably because they're both from the Czech Republic and not from Poland Mr.Shapiro... - Frank). By contrast, HERMH sound like KEEP OF KALESSIN crossbred with DIMMU BORGIR. Somehow, through this ever popular mix, they retain their Polish character. As you can expect with a band polished enough to play KEEP OF KALESSIN material, HERMH have precise metronome timing, a near constant double bass drum going, and riffs that can scale mountains. But they are not without their slow, epic songs. The keyboards are a cheesy addition that sound anything but anti-christian. They're more in keeping with something BAL SAGOTH would use to help narrate a cosmic battle of Atlantis. Some songs are introduced with Gregorian chant, which are quickly followed by more of the same songs that begin the album. Good stuff. www.hermh.pl, www.myspace.com/hermh

Nat Shapiro

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HERPES
Doomsday (Demo 2010)
(Nihilistic Holocaust)
22:40min

This demo from the French formation HERPES shows us a copycat version of AUTOPSY. Some traces reminded me of PUNGENT STENCH during their "Been Caught Buttering" album but for the rest this is a mere clone of the "Mental Funeral" masters but without reaching the level. Midtempo muddy Death Metal with occasional Doom parts. The garage-like production helps to gain a familiar sleazy atmosphere but on the other hand could make this come across as a rehearsal tape. The 5 tracks 'Corrupted Flesh', 'Stench Of Death', 'Doomsday', 'Spinal Ashes' and 'Frozen Funeral' show that these guys have a long way to go. Apart from some nice parts and riffs it was not enough to convince or stick into my mind. It's not that bad, just totally unoriginal! Still in love with the rotten legacy of Chris Reifert and co.? Check www.myspace.com/cockmincer, http://site.voila.fr/NIHILISTIC for more info.

Michael Tak

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HERUKA
Leggenda (MCD)
(self-financed)
24:48min

HERUKA is a fantasy Black Metal project hailing from Italy. "Leggenda" is HERUKA's second release after a demo from 2001 called "Doxa Epicurea". Like many fantasy Metal albums, "Leggenda" comes along with very melodic music, created by lots of keyboard-use. All in all I would say this is a solid output, the guitars and keys work together harmonically and although the drumming on this mini album is programmed, I think there are worse things in this world of music, because it is also done solidely. The vocals are in the typical shrieky vein, not too present in the mix which makes them not get on your nerves. The lyrics are entirely in the Italian language so one can figure out their content hardly. I think HERUKA has some good potential and although "Leggenda" is not yet the killer-release, there should come bigger things in the future (a full-length album is in the making), if the band goes on working concentrated. heruka@email.it, www.heruka.it

Andi Bauer

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HETROERTZEN
Flying Across The Misty Gardens
(Magistellus Prod.)
43:18min

Nowadays it's mostly the rather exotic countries that deliver quality when it comes to brutal Death or raw Black Metal. And Chile is just one good example for that. While most European and American acts have started to sound wimpy, musically matured or simply uninspired, HETROERTZEN still sticks to the grim cold Black Metal that used to take the underground by storm a couple of years ago. Even though they use a rather weird band moniker, this unholy three piece recorded eight extremely convincing (and soundwise very promising!) blasphemous compositions that should easily satisfy the needs of all those of you who still worship uncompromising acts like CARPATHIAN FOREST, DARKTHRONE, TAAKE, ISVIND, old MAYHEM, old IMMORTAL, ARMAGEDDA and so on. Back in those days this certainly would've been promoted as "true Black Metal", which I don't have a problem with. This is simply really cool stuff you definitely should check out, so feel free to contact the band for all further (ordering) info at this email address: hetroertzen@hotmail.com. A very impressive debut!

Frank Stöver  

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HETROERTZEN
Rex Averno
(Rawforce)
48:10min

Third effort from this southernmost Chilean Black Metal horde, and like their previous works, this one gets your blood frozen just after a couple of seconds as soon as the first riffs of the opening track 'The Cursed Cross' starts. Crowned by the hellish screams of drummer/vocalist Kaeffel (founder member and former BEWITCHED drummer), but how can I give you a clearer description about this new opus? Well, for those of you who are familiar with the band's sound, it's a progression from their last album, "A Crimson Terrible Vision" (Trollberg / Rawforce 2003) mixed with some touches of their highly acclaimed debut "Flying Across Misty Gardens" (Trollberg 2002). Razorblade guitars, high speed necro pounding and truly under the skin screaming, but there's also some new elements added to their classic sound. Some Death Metal touches à la MORBID ANGEL, but don't worry, they are not taking the path of current BEHEMOTH (by the way I dislike their "new" sound, I prefer their old Black Metal days). The Death Metal elements are added to the musical structure of their Black Metal style, resulting in a more powerful and solid sound. Also the band has experimented with some speed changes this time. We can find some slow tracks like 'The 7th Visit', a really suffocating near death experience. The production was done by Claudio Salinas (formerly of DOMINUS XUL, current TRIMEGISTO) in his own studio, giving a more professional touch to this highly recommended opus. I hope to see this work being spreaded around soon, because to be honest, this album is one of the best Black Metal ones unleashed from South America in the last years. Check out their previous works through Rawforce as well. www.hetroertzen.com, hetroertzen@gmail.com,
www.rawforce.cl

Rodrigo Jiménez

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HEXENHAMMER
Divine New Horrors
(Twilight)
35:53min

So – according to one review on HEXENHAMMER’s website - this is an act to be aligned with other superb German formations such as NECROPHAGIST, GOLEM and the likes? Oh well, this probably is a bit far-fetched I would say. I mean check out the former outfit and compare their sheer technical musicianship which they constantly progress with the present act. No, this is an awkward comparison. One can state that HEXENAMMER’s musical vision is solid and has an ok-ish production. They remind me a bit of VADER when they have these fast staccato guitar riffs, there is minor tapping here and there which provokes CANNIBAL CORPSE recollections straight away, of course. HEXENHAMMER have a lot of Thrash-influences regarding guitar-strokes and the drums. Basically this is a very straight-forward outfit with some technical indications. One thing that generally annoys me is the fact that people stand in awe when a drummer hits his cymbals based on some slightly varying patterns or the guitarists play some tapping figures – geee, this is not what technicality is constituted by. In any case – this is a substantial production that doesn’t have the usual extremely annoying traits of German outputs. HEXENHAMMER really sound professional and acoustically sophisticated. On this record you’ll find blast-beats as well as vile lava-riffs (MORBID ANGEL parallels), the vocalist’s voice isn’t too extreme – sort of mid-ranged, one can detect loads of interesting guitar elements here and there, especially in a rhythmic respect. As mentioned above, this is solid work – but, according to my taste, all a bit heterogeneous. There are too many mediocre elements connecting some really cool components like in 'Tortured Existence' (cool CANNIBAL CORPSE tapping quotations) or a bit of VADER-ish lines in 'Hell Force One'. On the whole, I miss evilness and spirit – two constituents that determine real Death Metal for me. Website: www.hexen-hammer.de. The CD is available here.

F. Cthulhu E.

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HIBERNUS MORTIS
The Existing Realms Of Perpetual Sorrow
(self financed)
36:29min

I guess you all know cases of unsigned bands that make you wonder why the hell they do not have a contract yet. HIBERNUS MORTIS are such a case. They have the perfect unholy and brutal Death Metal style that makes me think of acts like the mighty INCANTATION, IMMOLATION, old GRAVE, DETERIOROT or INFAMY. Especially the Californian influence manifests in some grinding yet dark moments like in the song ‘The Breed Of Unembodied Impurity’. In addition to that the self financed debut CD “The Existing Realms Of Perpetual Sorrow“ containing eight sinister and damn heavy tracks has a professional production (Jeremy Staska e.g. MALEVOLENT CREATION, DIVINE EMPIRE) and all musically essential elements of a first class Death Metal album are existent. Blasting speed, heaviest soul-crushing mid-tempo, oldschool drive, deep natural sounding growls (not this modern frog noise stuff) and a morbid atmosphere are skilfully combined in songs like the titletrack, ‘Mayhemic Prowl’ or ‘Moral Extinction’. Another plus is the extremely downtuned guitar sound (somewhere below “B”), which creates an extraordinarily heaviness and bass, two thumbs up for that guys!!! It would be unfair and a damn pity if this band remains without honest label support, they really deserve attention and no real Death Metal maniac should miss the chance to check out their material. Therefore surf to www.hibernusmortis.com, listen to an mp3-file, watch a cool live video and expect an interview with those guys here soon! For email contact use: dave@hibernusmortis.com or write a letter to David Miller, 4265 N Meridian Ave, Miami Beach FL, 33140, USA. Killer band!!!

Stefan Franke

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HIDDEN
Spectral Magnitude
(Red Stream Records)
54:08min

Sometimes it's a bit sad that some releases don't come with a cover and especially lyricsheet, as I would have liked to gather a further look on them. The concept of the album seems to present the projection of time as eternity in the cosmos. And while concept and coverartwork (by J.P. Fournier if someone cares…) are very “spacy”, the music on the contrary is very basic and earthy. What we have here is mostly midtempo or partly rather doomish Death / Black Metal or better classical Death Metal. To give just a few names that came to my mind: DARKTHRONE, MORBID ANGEL, CELTIC FROST – perhaps I am wrong here, but these came all over a sudden again and again but nevertheless do not work as comparisons alone but more as examples of how the sum is sounding. I am also quite sure that this album reminds of a demo, but I simply cannot remember which one. This is simply another fact – I would have liked – as a result of its sound etc. – to see this as a demotape. The sound is clear and especially the omnipresent bassguitar is something I adored on this release but the sound is simply nearly too thin. As a demotape this would have been a killer, though I still think that this is worth your attention. For those who stand aside the trodden paths of furious high-speed Black Metal. On sale here.

Nhashi

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HIDDEN IN THE FOG
Of Hidden Chronicles And Stellar Fires
(self-financed)
19:25min

This is beauty your mum really wouldn't like to experience! These guys are from Magdeburg, Germany (far away from East Frisia, unbelievable...) attracted my attention at a powerful gig opening for THE AWAKENING, DAEMONS EMBRACE, OF TREES AND ORCHIDS and NAGELFAR (by the way: all those bands are worth checking out - take a look at their reviews) and they had quite a strong stage presence! (It was the first time I appreciated a band anouncing their songs with extreme vocals, though - this strange east german accent... - sorry, I had to mention this!) Anyway, HIDDEN's main influence is EMPEROR and their rather long songs are definitely exciting enough to keep you "awake"! They're not as evil and a bit more accessible (great orchestration!) These guys know what they're doing! If they ever hit a stage in your area: don't hesitate and go see 'em live because on stage they're even stronger. Until then: check out their other demos as well! http://www.hiddeninthefog.de

Ramon Claassen

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HIDDEN IN THE FOG
Promo 2001
(self-financed)
44:04min

Their new promo presents the Symphonic Black Metal outfit HIDDEN IN THE FOG in an even better light than their previous CD. The orchestration is far more impressive and the aggressive parts are even more kick ass! Actually, HIDDEN... is one of the rare few demo bands I can listen to over and over again. I'd say that's a sign for them being ready for higher honour (record deal?). They don't reach evil coldness of their big influence EMPEROR but I don't think that this is their aim anyway. Still, after SIRIUS anouncing a change of their style, HIDDEN... is one of the few bands left over that might satisfy the needs of EMPEROR fans world wide without being copycats. This band consists of amazing musicians and highly promising songwriters who never seem to lack good ideas on their way to become masters of atmosphere. Impressive! Once again: go see 'em live! www.hiddeninthefog.de

Ramon Claassen

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HIDDEN IN THE FOG
Abstract Maelstrom Paragon
(self-financed)
30:15min

Ramon Claassen’s words of praise: forgive us for doing it the long way... in the summer time when the weather is fine I usually don’t give a fuck about Black Metal. Bands like TWISTED SISTER, DIO, MAIDEN or SAXON (my “Sunshine Reggae”),  and a good beer – that’s what I call summer feeling! But HIDDEN IN THE FOG simply rule supreme! I mean, melodic Black Metal on summer festivals in the dark is okay but traditional or even the rather sophisticated stuff HIDDEN deliver simply requires a certain spiritual level I can’t reach with the sun shining warm on my belly, the birds singing and the bees buzzing. But let me tell you something: with their new album HIDDEN IN THE FOG did not only manage to put me in a Black Metal mood, no, even the sun stopped shining and right now we’re drowning in rain, haha! No, seriously, I always intended to call HIDDEN the only true heir to EMPEROR’s throne (okay, let’s wait for the new SIRIUS record) but somehow their previous albums never quite reached that level. Maybe a DIMMU level with a completely different approach, though. Now, with “Abstract Maelstrom Paragon” HIDDEN present themselves incredibly mature. First of all, let me brag about their phenomenal skills a bit: the sound has become professional, orchestration and instrumentation are miles above average and the whole album was written in partiturs! Still, the band doesn’t forget the non-musicians among their fans: everything is well structured so that nobody gets lost. HIDDEN IN THE FOG seem to have slightly different influences than EMPEROR, though, especially in the classic sector as they sound lighter and maybe a little more cutting. But their true achievement is that their music creates images in the one’s mind: listening to the title track for example makes me see a Demons’ ball with distorted figures dancing in a palace of ice. They’re slaves to the music for as soon as the band starts blasting, the creatures are forced to slaughter each other until the song becomes mellow again, making them dance together once more. Yeah, I know I’m sick but what really makes me furious is the fact that as far as I know the band still doesn’t have a record deal! Unbelievable! Don’t you dare and hesitate getting this piece of excellence, try to catch ‘em live as well and visit the band’s great website now! F. Cthulhu E.’s praise: this certainly is the an album that is bound to re-define Black Metal standards in the German scene. Moreover, I predict that HIDDEN THE FOG will be one of the next German underground acts that will arise from the pits and receive their well-deserved recognition and public appreciation. That is for sure. Why that is so? Well, the band has been standing for high – standard material for quite a while now, but this album surpasses all the previous recordings they’ve accomplished so far. I don’t think there are many acts in the Black Metal scene that can compete with this complexity, this subtle juxtaposition of symphonic ingredients and varying Metal attacks (parallels to EMPEROR and LIMBONIC ART are evident in this respect…). Let me just quickly comment on the five entities that constitute this jewel: 'Introitus' – the intro as you may guess. Warped synth sounds with a snarling voice hovering above… very spherical. 'Mirages Of Redemption' – the first actual track on the album… very complex interweaving of melody lines, partly some fragile oriental leads. A worthy opener so to speak. 'Nautilus (Swimming Through Oblivion)' – this track is introduced by acoustic guitar pickings that are accompanied by polyphonic male vocals… very melancholic. There is an exceedingly solemn and festive interval in the middle of the track, which adds a very special note I think. The bass-work is brilliant in this song, quite playful actually. At the end the track is resolved by progressive chord-work, which suits the bizarre atmosphere just right. 'Abstract Maelstrom Paragon' – again there are quite progressive chords. This time at the beginning of the track. The oeuvre develops into an intricate and complex masterpiece of black magic. Finally it is rounded off by a major-resolution, which I deem very festive again.'Dignity’s Fall' – this song is so very fierce and dynamic. Very fast drumming  at rates… one can sense that Botis, the drummer, is a CRYPTOPSY freak, hahaha. Just in brief an evaluation of the musicianship and its qualities – I think the guitar-work, Gash and Gorbag are doing, sounds so skilful and precise, the sound is a pleasure, too… no further comments. As a I mentioned above, the bassist, Draug Carcharoth, is doing an extremely filigree job as well. He doesn’t just support the guitarists but he evolves his own secret life in the compositions… exquisite! Botis, the drummer, is doing such a good job, too. Very tight drumming (except for a few rolls… but these flaws are minor in nature!)… the only thing that bugs me is the bass-drum sound. I think it somehow doesn’t fit into the very good overall sound of this record. It’s too cold, too technical… if you know what I mean. But that is personal taste. Then the singer (???), Gash, who’s also playing guitar – he sounds so very wicked and venomous. I reckon he gargles little snakes every morning to get into gear and vomit forth these ghastly vocals. My opinion? Definitely a must-have and a very promising release of these Black Metal masters… buy or die! www.hiddeninthefog.com, hiddeninthefog@firemail.de. You can order it here.

Two truly impressed and flabbergasted reviewers Ramon Claassen /  F. Cthulhu E.

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HIDDEN IN THE FOG
Damokles
(Twilight Vertrieb)
62:16min

New stuff from my fave German Blackies! After Twilight picked up their “Abstract Maelstrom Paragon” EP which had been highly praised by the big German Metalzines, they also put out this full length release. As much as you’ll have to read my other HIDDEN IN THE FOG reviews and buy those CDs, there is no way around “Damokles” because there is nobody around who can compete with these masters! The EMPEROR influences are less evident this time, though, while the parts with clean vocals and the acoustic bits sometimes remind me of mighty OPETH. Not really, but that’s my best shot. Oh, fuck, this passage right now on ‘Miasmic Foreboding’ obviously breathes OPETH’s beauty. Then there are those neck-breaking Thrash parts, the twisted Prog parts and of course those orgasmic symphonic parts – simply awesome! Botis’ drumming strongly supports this impression – he’s a master – not only when blasting! In case you love Progressive Symphonic Black Metal, this is gonna be your new heaven (or hell)! www.hiddeninthefog.com. Available here.

Ramon Claassen

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HILDR VALKYRIE
Shield Brothers Of Valhalla
(Stygian Crypt Productions)
59:35min

If it comes to Pagan Metal it’s still more than astonishing that a ‘small’ German band called FALKENBACH had been such a source of inspiration for a whole new generation of bands. After the OAKENSHIELD debut midth of this year the Greek band HILDR VALKYRIE is presenting their powerful FALKENBACH inspired debut via the Russian label Stygian Crypt. The only member Hildr Valkyrie who was also a member of the first only female Black Metal band LLOTH later renamed into ASTARTE nearly a decade ago invested a lot of time and passion to release “Shield Brothers Of Valhalla” and even if it has taken over three years it was worth all efforts. If we are talking about a FALKENBACH inspired band it’s quite clear that no real “Frost” wind is blowing over the misty Fjord so nobody should expect a modern version of ENSLAVED or HELHEIM. The band is concentrating on the term Hymn, so passion is much more important than pure aggression and the 8 mid-tempo songs are a lasting trip to our Nordic ancestors. The title track is without doubt the real highlight of this 60 minutes journey because all major trademarks (female vocals, great keys and a lot of pathos) had been summarized into one fantastic song. Think that the two bonus tracks from FALKENBACH and BATHORY (‘Ring Of Gold’) are a real tribute to HILDR VALKYRIE’s own musical gods and I hope that the release will reach all Pagan fans which are looking for a more challenging release than the 25th Humpa Metal clown / clone. www.hildrvalkyrie.com, www.stygiancrypt.com

Matthias Auch

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HILLS OF SEFIROTH
A Draught In The Seas Of Iniquity
(Perish In Light)
43:27min

“If this recording is not up to your absurd production standards then please do not listen” states the minimalistic booklet. Well, if the production would be the only problem, I’d gladly oversee it. Nevertheless I am pretty sure I will hardly ever listen to this again unless I want to show someone what Black Metal should not be like. Admittedly, I am probably not the most critical person when it comes to Black Metal, but enough is enough. This is supposed to be slow Black Metal that carries its essence with painful shrieks and razor-sharp guitars. What it is, is a typical bedroom Black Metal band with a monotonous drum computer, guitars performed without any idea of timing (which is certainly even worse when your drum computer is tight but without any stresses that could distract from the sloppy playing) and from time to time you hear someone shrieking in. Admittedly though, the vocals are probably still one of the few better things on this album, if it only would not sound as if he sings a part here and a part there by pure coincidence. Adding to this as we know from the beginning is the production: yes, Black Metal has to be raw and yes, production is not really important with most Black Metal recordings, but at least one could try to keep it coherent from song to song! All of the above would not be so bad if this was the first recording of a band in the form of a demo, but according to the discography sent with the CD – telling us additionally that this is a mixture of Judas Iscariot, Xasthur and Leviathan, which of course it is not – this is at least the third album on CD, and some of the MC-releases seem to be albums as well, and this is all in all the seventh release already in three years! I guess you can figure it out. Forgot anything? Ah yes, limited to 500 copies! Wow! www.perishinlight.de

Nhashi

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HIMINBJØRG
Haunted Shores
(Red Stream Records)
37:39min

Fuck! Shit! Do you know what happen with the good wines? They usually gain a lot of taste when time passes on them... Something similar can be said about this band. Their old works were not exactly my cup of tea, I listened to them like to whatever other "normal" record you use to hear if you're really into the music, but without thinking twice about it. But this time, I'm absolutely surprised. What a piece of record, man! Starting by the high quality production and continuing with the musicianship, this record is absolutely amazing. I don't understand very well why the fuck the label says that this is Viking / Pagan Metal. Maybe there are some touches of this procclaimed Viking style (listen to the song 'Of Desire And Lust' for instance...) but I think it's exagerated to say that this is Pagan Metal. It's undescribable melodic, yet aggressive and powerful Black Metal with a lot of content and certain elements taken from other styles such as Doom and even Death (and Viking Metal?... well, it's up to you!!!). It has melodies full of emotion and meaning perfectly mixed with the intensity of a very good musicianship. Try to imagine to mix really awesome melodies (that sometimes remind me on KATATONIA, "Brave Murder Day" era!) with a lot of aggression, all in an incredible manner, and you'll have what those French guys have achieved with this last record. The only thing I agree with is the "refined" expression they use. This is extremely refined and good. Seriously, if you like quality and extremely good musicianship, check this out. Very good, for Christ's sake!!! You can order it here.

Volver

(this review originally got published by Xtreem Music)

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HIMINBJØRG
Golden Age
(Adipocere Records)
38:43min

While most bands in Pagan / Viking Metal, obviously influenced by BATHORY‘s "Hammerheart“-era, rather tell of deeds long gone and partially deliver marvellous results (just take FALKENBACH or MOONSORROW as two examples), the Norse bands showed at the beginning of the nineties that it is not enough to hail their forefathers with hymns, but that they are still capable of raping, plundering and killing themselves. The French guys of HIMINBJØRG seem very much inspired by those Norwegians, especially ENSLAVED’s “Frost” and HELHEIM’s “Jormundgand” do not look too alien to them. While they need two songs to get their sails on full-speed, especially ‘The Galleries Of Time’ and ‘What Was...’ convince me and are a positive surprise if I compare the new album to their 2001 effort “Haunted Shores” which was far too laid back in my opinion. Unfortunately they can’t keep the good impression they made with the aforementioned songs, but they are on a good way. Lyricwise they have left the Norse mythology that I guess they used on their first albums for Celtic mythology, so it might only be wise to drop the Norse sounding name as well. It is obviously a hard decision if just two really good songs are reason enough to buy a complete album, but to me at least these two songs were completely refreshing, as I hadn’t listened to such music quite a long time. Let’s hope they will continue this way and their next album will be full of quality songs. You can order it here.

Nhashi

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HIMINBJØRG
Europa
(Adipocere Records)
51:58min

This is my first encounter with this French band, even if I do know their name and their flattering reputation for years. As usual in this case, I can’t comment on their evolution (or lack of) with time passing by. Rumoured to be a “Pagan Metal” band since day one, HIMINBJØRG play a hybridized form of Black Metal (riff wise) on “Europa”, well served by a crystal-clear production. The Pagan concept lies only in the lyrics, no trace of Folklore or fake medievalism here, good point. The vocals are the weakest link on this, an average clear voice alternating with regular Black Metal shrieks tainted with Attila Csihar / Abbath - like mannerisms. The ambitions of the band for producing daring and unusual music (how commendable could they appear) don’t suffice in the end because certain monotony comes to settle in after a while. This music lacks passion and may sound a little too cold for comfort. Make no mistake: “Europa” is a top quality album despite its flaws. Some tracks show a lot of interesting factors (‘Yon’ for instance evokes first-era EMPEROR but with highly original interludes to spice up the things), and the musicians are excellent. Classic Black Metal rises its ugly head on some occasions in this disc, like on ‘The Law Of Worship’ (my personal favourite, with its haunting refrain) always mixed with Heavy Metal elements in the melody department. To sum it up, “Europa” could appeal to fans of IMMORTAL (“At The Heart Of Winter” era) and maybe OPETH (for the delicacy of the arrangements) or pure Black Metal period ULVER. Try to listen to this to form your own judgement; maybe I missed something of importance regarding this album since I can’t connect emotionally with it, be it in a positive or a negative way. http://www.himinbjorg.fr.st You can order it here.

Edouard Vergriete

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HIMINBJØRG
Chants D'Hier, Chants De Guerre, Chants De La Terre
(European Tribes)
44:50min

French HIMINBJØRG come up with their sixth full-length, "Chants D'Hier, Chants De Guerre, Chants De La Terre". Mainly this is an interesting release, both music and concept wise. Quoting the band's website "It's purpose is to sing for the ears of those who hear and to whisper in the ears of those who awaken." In my humble opinion, this is a traditional hymn and a statement of pagan and ancient tradition. Considering this is a self-produced album (released on the band's own label) the production is really good, clear and the mix is well balanced. There is a vast array of instruments, such as violins, flutes and acoustic guitars. Add Black, Folk and Pagan Metal influences and you have an album that is constantly shifting and changing moods. Personally, it is not my cup of tea, but I can't deny that being this my first listen to HIMINBJØRG, this album is a good listen that deserves the attention of metal fans. Contacts: www.himinbjorg.fr, www.myspace.com/himinbjorgspace2

Alfonso Perez

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