Tyrannus and Magicide’s newest release may be short but it leaves a mark. The mash up idea of blast beating black metal and hard hitting EDM may sound weird on paper but totally works here
In this under 10 minute EP Tyrannus’s contribution track takes up the majority of the length with it’s 5 minute “Bricks & Flesh”. It’s a brutal assault that is sure to leave you senseless. There is plenty of finesse in their attack however. Between the buzzsaw driven guitars are some killer solos and savage vocals. The drums on this song are simply amazing.
Magicide starts off their contribution with “Madness” that starts off with some odd sounding EDM music mixed with some crushing Death Metal beats. Odd but it works. “Tory Punching Music,” is more of the same. While the track runs only 1:39 feel free to spend more time punching and beating down fascists.
Tory Punching Music is a short and savage EP. The contrast between blast driven metal and EDM beats are enough to keep this release interesting despite its short length.
Labor day is the unofficial last day of summer in the states. Many begin look forward to Fall with its longer and colder nights and onslaught of pumpkin spice products. Here a Trve Kvlt, nothing warms our little black hearts more than a fresh serving of Black Metal.
Krigsgrav is from Texas and with the current heat wave the states is experiencing, it might as well be Hell itself. Perhaps just the spark of inspiration that band needs to keep pumping out incredible material. Fires in the Fall, is the group’s 7th album in their 20 year existence.
One of the first things that hits you on your first listen is the outstanding production. Every note and sound is heard and has a larger than life feeling. This is especially felt in many of the Doom elements that are infused into the recording. While production value is often looked as the enemy of Black Metal, Krisgrav expertly use it their advantage.
Krisgrav creates melodic atmosphere throughout the album. Each song feels massive and takes on a life of its own. At one moment you are enjoying a nice slow Doom beat and the next Krisgrav hammers you over the head with some killer thrash riffs and hooks. The band perfectly fuses these elements together with great fluidity.
Closing track, “Alone with the Setting Sun,” is the band at their peak. Krisgrav adds just the perfect touches of Doom, Black and classic Death Metal here to make an absolute banger. There are too many great guitar moments here to count. Stop reading and start listening!
Often I stream albums for review during my day job. It’s a great way to kill two birds with one stone and makes the work day much more enjoyable. However this album gave me pause. Spellbinder does not work well with the exciting world of Excel Spreadsheets.
That’s not a dig in the slightest. Gyrdleah’s long awaited debut album is meant to be savored and digested with minimal distractions. The band was formed in the UK back in 2005 and took until just this year to release what is considered their “debut” album. While the group did manage to release an EP back in 2011, this is their first full length.
Grydleah perfectly deliver plenty of Black Metal staples with their sound from the low-fi production, eerie treble and savage shrieks. Most of the album has a slow and somber feel as the songs lurch and lumber from track to track. The band includes a good amount of clean vocals in their attack. While many extreme metal fans balk at even the mention of clean vocals, Grydleah make great use of them. Often their tracks are darker even more bleak with them.
Another reason why it was difficult to work and review this album was that it took a few spins for the sound to sink in. There is a lot going on here as the music often easily goes from savage to somber and vice versa. There is a lot to unpack here. The more you listen, the more you pick up the next time.
Opening track, “Stab the Lamb,” starts with a crawl and soon sees the band at their fastest towards the middle of the song.It is also the perfect song to open to as it gives you an idea of what is in store. All in all, if you are looking for some depressive black doom that dosen’t get old after several spins, be sure to check this one out!
You know that feeling when you hear the first few notes of an album and you instantly realize that you are going to love it? That’s the exact same feeling I had when I heard the opening and title track, “Metall, Blod & Aska.”
Last Legion is a Swedish band that formed in 2009. After releasing an EP in 2021 the band return with their debut full length album. And it’s a helluva debut too. It’s equally savage as it is thrashing; Black ‘n Roll madness. If you are a fan of Midnight, Hellripper or Cloak this is definitely worth your time checking out.
After the first neck snapping track Last Legion changes gears a bit with “Dodens Falang.” With it’s somber and atmospheric beginning it helps showcase that the band is not just your average Black Thrash band. The violins add the perfect uneasy touch. The band quickly blasts the speed back up towards the midpoint of the track. Last Legion blends in plenty of classic Black Metal eerines and savagery to keep it compelling.
All of the lyrics are sung in the groups native Nordic language. Although many English speaking Metalheads may not understand the lyrics, they are delivered perfectly savage here. Something about the lyrics being sung in their native language ups the brutality for me.
This album contains tons of hooks, groovy riffs and plenty of blast beats. At some times it feels Black N Roll or Black Thrash and at other times it feels like classic tried and true Black Metal. However at all times, they are savage as fuck. While they aren’t offering anything we havent’t heard before, they are giving us one hell of a ride.
Ever since my interview with Heljarmadr late list year, I had been looking forward to Lycaon’s release. Fortunately, the wait was well worth at it. Lycaon is a beast of a recording stuffed full of skull crushing beats and darkened riffs.
The first track, “White City Devil,” is a powerful song with some of the most melodic moments of the entire album. The sound is big here and veers into more of a “Black n Roll” style. It’s a total banger and one of my favorite tracks on the album.
Don’t worry GRA hasn’t abandoned their roots . “Flame of Hephaestus,” brings the back the more familiar Swedish Black Metal sound the band sound “Torn Asunder,” sees GRA melding more darkness while adding dome more killer riffs. Heljarmadr’s demonic vocals take center stage here.
The title track “Lycaon,” is sang in the band’s native Swedish language. For me, this makes the song go harder than any of the songs that the band performs in English. Next we treated to a straight up ripping cover of Bathroy’s “Chariots of Fire,” GRA goes hard as fuck here making it an absolute must listen. It’s fast, it’s aggressive, it’s mean, It’s awesome!
“Brannmarkt” slows things down but turns up the darkness. It’s a murky trek deep into darkness. “Jaws of the Underworld,” acts as the perfect send off for Lycaon. The instrumental track boots some incredible drum work and cinematic flair.
All in all, Lycaon is another solid release from GRA. It stays true to its Swedish Black Metal roots while adding in more melodic and black n roll sounds. Luckily, none of this feels force or “experimental.” What you have here is a damn fine Metal album that’s worthy of your attention.
Dark Funeral are currently halfway through their extremely successful North American tour with extreme metal titans Cannibal Corpse, Immolation and relative newcomers, Black Anvil. The fans showed up in full force with this string of shows with many of the dates selling out and the rest with very few tickets remaining.
The Cincinnati show which took place at Bogart’s, one of the city’s longest running music venues wasn’t sold out but it sure felt like it. People were packed and crammed into the tiny venue excited to witness a night of killer metal. Black Anvil started the evening off early and did an incredible job. I was both surprised and impressed. I had not heard any of their material before checking them out live and will definitely seek them out in the future. Immolation’s set was brutal as fuck as usual for an Immolation show. Headliners Cannibal Corpse proved that they are still one of the finest live Death Metal acts around even after all of these years.
Seeing Dark Funeral live for the first time was amazing. Immediately upon entering the stage, their presence and energy could be felt throughout the entire venue. From the first note of the opening song, “Unchain my Soul,” the crowd was totally captivated by their performance until the end of the set closing track, “Where Shadows Forever Reign.” It was crazy to think that another band had to follow this killer performance. (In fact, I was so worn out I left towards the end of Cannibal’s set)
Before the gig, I had a chance to sit down with Heljarmadr, Dark Funeral and GRA’s vocalist. Despite his extremely intimidating stage presence, he is a very thoughtful and accommodating person off stage. I don’t think I would have had the balls to speak with him in his stage gear!
Trve Kvlt Coffee: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me before the show. Just to start things off, how has the tour been going so far?
Heljarmadr: So far so good I think. Turnout has been awesome. All the bands are performing excellent; it has been a pleasure to watch them all. I think it’s rolling strong. Very strong. There have been a lot of sold out shows.
TKC: That’s what I was going to say. There has been a few sold out shows
H: More sold out shows coming up too.
TKC: That’s awesome. I was at a Cannibal Corpse show earlier this year and a lot of their shows were selling out. I think that was in March. Everyone was so hungry to see shows again after COVID shut downs. How does it feel to be touring again?
H: After 2 years of silence, you can imagine. It’s like being constipated for 2 years and you finally get the shit out. It’s the only way I can describe it properly. You’re really, really hungry and you finally get that pizza.
TKC: Just a big relief now?
H: Yeah. It’s a different world we are coming back to that’s for sure. I mean with inflation and everything. Everything is extremely expensive. Flights are insane but it is what it is. I mean we are back on that road and have to be very glad about that.
TKC: When you are on the road, what do you do with some of your down time? I’ve seen some of your Instagram pictures, what do you look to do in the cities you are in when you have a chance?
H: Actually, I try to do as much as possible. Just before now we had a soundcheck and then I went for a quick run because it’s so warm out. I try to stay fit and see as much as we can.
TKC: This area has changed so much, I wish I had some recommendations for things to check out but I don’t even know what’s around here anymore.
H: It’s still one of those days where I have a lot of administration to do and don’t have much time to do stuff anyway. The first thing I do is, I Google what there is to do in the town. Recommendations, Atlas Obscura, do you know about it? It’s like a website with weird places. They have an app and website, in a new town that’s the coolest website to checkout because it’s weird shit. This town has the world’s biggest stamp and an abandoned railroad. That’s what we try to do as much as possible. Sitting on the bus is a waste of time. We are trying to get out, especially when the weather is as nice as this, it’s amazing to be out.
TKC: I’ve been listening to a lot of We are the Apocalypse. Which is fucking awesome! I wanted to ask about the song, “Let the Devil in,” We did some of the inspiration come from the lyrics?
H: Inspiration comes from everything and it kind of mounds down into a song. It’s kind of an introvert song. I mean looking into yourself and taking control of yourself or letting go, you know? You can do either or. In life you always have choices. You can let the devil in or you can let the devil out. That’s kind of where I’m going with it.
TKC: It was one of those songs where the lyrics just hit write as I was working at my computer today.
H: Yeah. He’s riding on the shadow of my soul, you know? This is how my eyes see the world. It’s like we all have our little angel and demon on our shoulders. They see things differently depending on what mood you are seeing things through. Which eyes you see it through.
TKC: Another song I really dig is “Nosferatu.” You have the song referring more to the original film.
H: Oh yes! The 1922 film. I watched it during the Pandemic actually. I had this weird idea. So I have a lot of time and I’m going to watch Dracula themed movies from oldest to newest and there are lots of them. So I had to make a selection obviously. I started with the first one and nothing measured up after that. Everything became this romantic crap but the first one had a darkness. It’s out of this world, this feeling from that movie. Maybe it’s the fact it’s mute, maybe it’s the fact it’s black and white, everyone that’s in this movie has been dead for a long time, you know? It’s really like an old book but it’s a movie. It’s kind of cool that it’s 100 years old.
TKC: It’s so hard to find a complete copy and find one with the correct original score. I recently heard they are once again going to be releasing a remake.
H: I saw that too with the Swedish guy.
TKC: What do you think of that?
H: Why not? Actually the second best Dracula movie rendition was from a couple years back. It was a 3 episode series or something like that. (Note:This series is named Dracula and is currently streaming on Netflix) A different take for example is the classic movie from the 90’s, Bram’s Stoker’s Dracula, that one was not so good. I don’t think it aged so well. Too gothic for me. But this new one was quite interesting. Some interesting takes on it.
TKC: Nice. I’m going to have to check that series out. You’re working on a new album and when that’s coming out?
H: Well the album is done already. We are just waiting because post Pandemic the world has changed as you’ve said. So the vinyl pressing companies are slow as fuck. Or jammed as fuck. Sometimes it’s even hard to get a hold of material. We decided instead of gambling and getting the CD version and maybe people have to wait to get the vinyl, we decided to postpone and the album will be out in mid January. And that is for sure when the vinyl will be available.
TKC: You also have your solo act as well. I was listening to that last night, which was great. I loved the video (watch below). You have a full album coming out?
H: Yes. It’s being planned to be recorded next year. We’ll see whenever it’s released. We are also negotiating some record deals for that album too. So it’s a work in progress. The drummer for that project will be Dennis Ekdahl from Thyrfing. So we are working together so this can come out next year.
TKC: Awesome! With all of that I have to ask, Do you ever sleep?
H: (laughs) I don’t know, I’m a very restless person. Sitting still is not my thing, you know? Maybe I’m like this shark that has to swim or otherwise I’d drown or something. I like to keep occupied and I like to keep active. I don’t know, I’m just that kind of person.
TKC: I totally feel it myself. I just finished my full time day job before coming here and I’m always grinding and looking for something to do. Again going back to your Instagram stories from the road, I love the picture with the Rocky statue in Philly.
H: Oh yeah! I mean, why not?
TKC: I would have done the same thing. Any spots in the US that you are looking forward to seeing?
H: Well the thing is when we came here we all flew into New York and we had a couple of days before the first show. So we rented a car together and just went sightseeing all the way down to Baltimore. We went to DC to check out the Lincoln statue, those things. That’s something I had really looked forward to seeing. I’ve never been to Washington before and it’s an iconic place that you’ve seen in movies since you were a kid.
TKC: I haven’t been there myself yet.
H: It’s definitely worth seeing. I don’t know what to do there for more than 1 day. In 1 day you will be very overwhelmed and impressed. It’s an impressive thing to see, you get all of the Forrest Gump references. Aside from that I don’t know if there is anything on the radar. I try not to plan too much ahead because you never know what days are gonna be like. You have other things to do like administration or something is broken. I don’t want to be disappointed so I take it day by day. Of course I’m usually thinking a couple days ahead but I try to take it slow.
TKC: You gotta be careful with shows right now. Someone gets sick and that cancels a few dates or the bus breaks down.
H: Someone gets sick, the bus breaks down and you’re stuck somewhere. It happened not the last time we were here but the time before when we were touring with Septicflesh. The bus broke down, so we went to the nearest airport, rented a car and a Uhaul. So we were touring and hitting hotels every night. So that was like an adventure. I’ll never forget that, I’m from a small Swedish town and I was driving my car in Chicago. I think that was kinda cool.
TKC: Definitely different from driving in a small town.
H: I was also driving in DC, I’m not afraid of driving anymore. Nothing can scare me.
TKC: I think that’s all I had for you today. Anything that you would like to add?
H: Thanks to everyone for coming out to the shows, the turnout is awesome and thank you for this interview.
Well the concludes this interview. Be sure to check out Dark Funeral’s newest release “We Are The Apocalypse” and Grá’s newest music video(below) for “Flame of Hephaestus” from their upcoming 4th album “Lycaon”
Here’s some suggested content to check out that is relevant to Heljarmadr:
Alright! Here’s some pure 100% Norwegian Black Metal, something here at Trve Kvlt Coffee that is close to our little blackened hearts. Why many newer bands claim to have a “True Norwegian Black Metal,” sound, they often fall short or miss the mark entirely. Thankfully, Likhelm delivers on this promise. Likelm’s debut EP is a welcome recording full of plenty of all school raw black metal tones, haunting atmospheres and unlike most traditional black metal, some very clean and slick production.
The tracks are vicious with blistering tremlo guitars with shrieks and guttural vocals amongst somber and haunting backgrounds. Spoken vocals are included as well. Likhelm keeps the atmosphere to a minimum instead relying on a satisfying raw and unforgiving experience. The closing track, “Stormen,” is an absolute banger that takes advantage of all these elements. If you dig early Immortal and Mayhem, this one can’t be missed.
Bulletbelt may be best known for their thunderous theme track to the incredible 2015 metalhead themed horror flick, Deathgasam. Flash forward 5 years and a new lead singer, this New Zealand based group is still angry and out for blood on their 4th album.
Bulletbelt does an excellent job here switching from straight blitzkreig thrash insanity to black metal bleakness with plenty of melody throughout. The album is full of heavy and catchy hooks and complex passages nicely presented with some slick and smooth production. New vocalist, Paul Roberts’s screeching vocals work well with the filth and fury presented here.
“Blade on Fire,” starts out with a killer punk inspired riffs complete with a 70s fuzzy tone then transitions to a much more thrash feel. The next song, “Flames of Hell,” goes back more into the black metal territory with plenty of tasty riffs and great song structure. This is where Bulletbelt really shines; the melding of different styles and harmonies in such a smooth transition that it feels natural.
“Warlords “isn’t your standard blackened thrash album. There is so much to unpack here, it’s brutal as fuck in parts, eerie and dark in others and includes too many incredible riffs to keep track of. Hopefully we can get these lads to the states soon as touring has become possible again. These songs are begging to be witnessed live.
Deadyellow is a post Black Metal band from New Jersey who are just getting started and are already bringing the noise. Their debut self titled effort contains only 6 tracks but is meaty enough to satisfy any palate. The guitars are low and murky with some great riffs and solos amongst the tremolo picking. The vocals are a little less harsh than your typical Black Metal fare but blend in well with the rest of the band. Most of the music on this release runs on the slower to mid tempo side. Don’t let that worry you, there are still plenty of blast beats included here and the overall sound is still heavily rooted in Black Metal. Deadyellow’s tracks are multifaceted and include the use of pianos and clean vocals for a truly epic journey.
Snogg’s offering to March’s subscribers is an epic 20 minute single track. The song, titled “Dan, ko je vrag vzel šalo,” translates to, “The Day the Devil Took the Joke.” Throughout the song listeners will be treated to several tempo and vocal changes. There are elements of experimental Black Metal, noise and general strangeness on this track. Despite the different styles included in this piece, it connects and flows well into each style without any jarring changes.
If you are looking for something to different and far from the norm, “Dan, ko je vrag vzel šalo,” is unquestionably worthy of your attention. With so many musical changes and styles coming at you, this track just begs for multiple listens. So pour yourself a cup of your favorite Trve Kvlt coffee, kick off your shoes and take a journey with Snogg.
© Tomasz Podgorny
