Category: Black Metal

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GIRSU – Rotten Earth – REVIEW

Coming out of Philadelphia is the debut EP from Girsu, “Rotten Earth,” the group dosent waste anytime trying to reinvent the wheel with their sound and instead use that time to unleash some brutal and riff heavy songs. From their pummeling opening track, “Remains,” Girsu lay down some killer Progressive Black Metal that slams right through your skull.  “From Blood to Ash” adds some thrash elements to the mix that showcases some impressive guitar work. “Bodies Upon the Tide,” slows the temp down a bit and brings the heavy, vocals become a little more desperate and full of despair at the midpoint, the track takes a turn and ups the tempo and finishes with a fury. The EP closes with the final track, “The Carcass of Consciousness,” a nearly 8 minute long epic that comes in with a frenzy and slows down to a heavy groove before going into some hard hitting blast beats. This song is a great showcase of what Girsu is capable of by highlighting their Progressive Black Metal style as the guitar work here is clean and technical but clearly deeply rooted in the Black Metal vein. Is that even allowed? This EP is worthy of a few spins and Girsu should remain on your radar.

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FLOOD PEAK – Fixed Ritual – REVIEW

Fixed Ritual is an epically heavy EP. The songs contained in this release are full of crushing riffs that submerge the listener into their dark, depressive and gloomy world. While this release may not be for everyone, anyone who enjoys their metal drenched in sludge and dread, this makes for a satisfying listen. You want some Doom and Gloom to go along with your first up of Joe as you begin your work week? The boys in Flood Peak are are ready to take you for a ride in a sludgy sonic scape of misery in their sea of despair. The EP barley clocks in at 30 minutes but you’ll swear this musical journey you are taken on with this listen lasts even longer. The vocals have an impressive range going from haunted howl to mid range melodies. The guitars perfectly blend in a world both absolute bleakness and chaos. Just when you think a song is going to hammer a riff right through your skull, the music becomes calms down to a crawl.

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POISON WIND – Virus! – REVIEW

As we inch closer to shows opening back up and the year anniversary of Covid shutting everything thing down in the first place, we actually starting to see new  projects and albums come emerge from this rather bleak period of time. Poison Wind bills itself as a “Quarantine Band.” The group was formed in the earlier stages of the pandemic by Brian Magar (Cultic, The Owls ANWTS) who brought together some of his musician friends from other groups to remotely compose and record 8 tracks which would become “Virus!” Mager laid down the groundwork with the drum tracks then passed the recording off to the rest of the group who supplied the guitars, bass and vocals. The band did not know who or which members they were working with at any time

With such a unique method of recording it has captured an extreme metal album the encompasses many different elements ranging from Doom, Sludge, Black, Death, Grind and even some Thrash elements. The songs themselves riff of the chaos that has been the last year with such titles as, “Branch Covidians,” “Get me out,” and “Wear a Fucking Mask!”

All of this adds up to a satisfying listen full of diversity ,some killer experimentation and good ol’ fashioned cooped up quarantine fury. More than a novelty album, this is proof something good can come out of a lockdown.

 

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NAV- Necrotic Voices from the Ether – Review

Most of the nation is gearing up for a tumultuous snow storm that may keep us encased in our tombs for the next couple days. Sounds like the prefect time to brew a pot of Trve Kvlt, kick back and turn up the Black Metal. Nav are the prefect soundtrack to a snow filled apocalypse. The vocals are sharp and cold, the guitar tones cut deep into the soul and the drums keep the storm raging. For just a 3 song EP, the duo behind the band put in a tremendous amount of musicianship into their blackened tales of Slavic folklore. With the opening track, “Drowning the Winter Goddess,” Nav start the EP with a blistering and filthy frenzy. “Blood Harvest,” is a real standout with eerily moving guitar beat, echoing vocals and perfectly layered and haunting electronic layers. It comes across as both dark and majestic at the same time “Altar of the Black Flame,” puts a nice cap on the release ending the EP with plenty of power while not sacrificing any quality. The production here is great without feeling “too polished.” This will be a group to keep your eye on to see what they do next.

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GRAVE DESECRATOR – Sign of Doom – REVIEW

Our second review for the month also borrows their sound heavily from Brazilian legends Sarcofago and early Sepultura. Also hailing from Brazil, (whatever is in the water there, is sure doing a great job of producing Metal bands) Grave Desecrator are ready to fuck shit up with their 2008 full length release, “Sign of Doom.”  Nasty and raw are two words that can sum up the sound happening here. There is plenty of sacrilege and chaos going in the music and lyrics to get even the most jaded Metalhead’s dark blood pumping. The pacing of the album is the perfect blend of speed without being too fast that it becomes a wall of noise or treads into Grindcore territory. It plods along with a nasty (and fulfilling) blasphemous fury. Lyrics are barked out in a filthy, venomous fury in the Old School Extreme South American Metal tradition.

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HEXORCIST – Bestiarum Vocabulum – REVIEW

 

If you are into down and dirty old school Metal, Hexorcist have you covered with their debut demo, “Bestiarum Vocabulum.” It’s fitting that the artwork provided for the album is for a cassette release. Listening to this makes you feel like you were a part of the early tape trading days. This recording will bring you back to the beginnings of extreme Metal with a sound that is familiar to early Sarcofago with a hint of pre “Reign in Blood” Slayer.  Even at three tracks Hexocist leaves much to be appreciate on this demo. The vocals have a great Black/Thrash quality to them and the guitar and drum work gels perfectly together. This is a prefect listen for the old school fans and the kids just being introduced to the scene.

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SVEDERNA – Hard – REVIEW

SVDERNA are a Black Metal band out of the frozen bleak depths of Sweden. On their third full length release, “Hard”, the band focuses their maniacal might to make a mark in the already crowded Scandinivian Metal scene. The first track ,”Den Arkaiska Rotan,” hits hard with blast beats and some blood pumping grooves that does a good job of setting the tone for the rest of the album. For the most part, this album is traditional, tried and true Black Metal. For those of you looking for something fresh and new, you won’t find it here. Which isn’t a band thing. While this may not be something “new,” this is still something good. SVDERNA fly the traditional Black Metal flag high and proud. There are some incredible riffs included throughout this release. The guitar work here is ‘Hard’s” strongpoint and will have you come back for more.The vocals work well here ranging from to tortured screams to angry shouts all fiendishly delivered in their darkened native Swedish tongue. Throughout the ten tracks here the band remains consistent and tightly knit. Perhaps the only thing that doesn’t follow the Black Metal playbook is the album’s production. It does not sound like it was recorded in leaky basement with a tape recorder. The production is very clean by traditional Black Metal standards and really brings out those killer riffs more.

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AWENDEN – Golden Hour – REVIEW

Awenden comes to you from Olympia, Washington with their second release, “Golden Hour.” This album is an incredibly atmospheric Black Metal experience from start to finish. Mostly a somber and reflective listen with bits of familiar Black Metal concepts of tremolo picking, blast beats and torchered vocals spread throughout the album. It’s enough to be relaxing and Metal as fuck at the same time. Metalheads can take some time to chill and reflect too. 

Awenden has often been described as Cascadian Black Metal which is noted for its lengthy atmospheric compositions, which are awesomely abundant on this release. Most tracks on “Golden Hour” extend the 10 minute mark, but the songs flow well and before you know it, you have listened to the album in its entirety. Even those of us who may have a shorter attention span by listening to entirely too much Grindcore will find this a thought provoking and intriguing listen.

The production on this album is incredible which is important to note as many Black Metal bands have the recording quality of a Casio keyboard in someone’s parents’ basement. The record sounds full from start finish and captures the fierce flows of chaotic guitars and vocals into melancholy synth and murky and sinister arrangements. 

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SHEZMU – A Travers Les Lambeaux – REVIEW

 

Shezmu is basically the Egyptian demon god of wine, oils, blood and slaughter, which makes for a fucking epic band name. The band lives up to the expectations of their namesake by delivering an absolutely crushing debut album.

 

The lower end guttural vocals are perfectly blended into the sonicscape of maniacal musicship that goes from lurches along one moment to fast and frenzied burst the next. Shemzu perfectly blends the best elements of extreme Metals like Doom, Death, Black and even some atmospheric bits like some sort of twisted alchemist. With thick and meaty groove riffs that quickly change tempo alongside some solid drumming, pounding bass and wild variety of vocal effects, Shemzu are putting something out that is both fresh and familiar. 

“Les Secrets des Ziggourats,” has an amazing mid song groove, alongside some incredible blackened thrash and some additional haunting vocals to great effect. The interlude ,”La Rage,” is haunting and eerily relaxing instrumental that perfectly breaks up an otherwise rather intense album. 

With plenty of unrelenting brutality expertly mixed with intense and almost hallucinogenic atmospheric vibes,” A Travers Les Lambeaux” is a truly unique take on tried and true Extreme Metal components while remaining faithful to the source material. 

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CURSEWIELDER – Arma Christi – REVIEW

 

Not much is known about the mysterious Cursewielder. The group hailing from South Ireland, released their debut demo EP, Arma Christ via Fomorian Hate Recordings earlier this year. With only 3 songs, it’s a short but powerful listen. The recording is extremly raw, dark and murky as fuck. Just the way we like it!  This demo is covered in plenty of harsh vocals, crushing riffs and an enveloping and ever present darkness. Orifice Mysticism brings the speed and fury mixed in with some evil ambience for good measure. Hordes starts off with a sludgy doom like pace before killing it with the blast beats and going back to the sludgy style. Cursewielder does a great job transitioning smoothly between styles. Evulsion Spectre closes out the demo with some killer some classic thrashy and old school sounding Black Metal.

Cursewielder has already gone into a second printing of this release at the time of this review as they are already begining to cause a stir in the extreme underground. It will be interesting to see what they have in store for us when the release a full album.