You gotta hand it to VHS. Death Metal hasn’t been this fun in ages. Not only that, but their music simply rips and consistently gets better with each release. Each album also follows a different theme usually having to do with some sort of movie or television show. Past themes include Vampires, Italian horror and killer sharks. This time VHS ventures slightly outside of horror and into the realm of fantasy. Quest for the Mighty Riff is one awesome journey that you’ll want to be part of. ( *SPOILER ALERT* There are plenty of mighty riffs to be found here)
VHS plays tribute to some of the best there is in Sci-Fi and Fantasy films suchs as Excalibur, Highlander, He-Man and Beastmaster. As a product of the 80s I wholeheartedly approve.
The album starts with some perfectly epic narration as VHS begins their Quest for the Mighty Riff. “Cleve ’em and Leave ’em,” starts things out fast with some nice and fierce punk fueled mayhem. It’s the perfect blend of Death and punk. In true punk fashion it barely last 90 seconds but still leaves a mark.
VHS keeps the party going buy continuously melding genres. You’ll hear plenty of Death Metal mixed with grind, thrash, punk and even some old school traditional metal (“Hail King Arthur,” I’m looking at you.) No two songs sound the same as VHS throws more killer riffs and styles than you know what to do with.
For me, “Eternia Needs a Hero,” is the standout track. Not just because the world needs more songs about Skelator. I’m a sucker for anything in the vein of Black Thrash and this song fucking delivers that and more. The riffs are punchy, the vocals are sicks and twisted and the lyrics are funny as hell.
dea does what many albums hope to do; provide a little something for everyone. No matter what genre of Metal you dig, you are gonna find something to love here.
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.
Black Thrash Space Metal. Those 4 words could sum up Blasted Heath’s debut album, Vela, perfectly. Its as raw and vicious as the great unknown. This group from the far reaches of Indianapolis blend dirty punk riffs with a savage death metal edge. The vocals have an eerie production effect that amplifies the reverb giving it an empty feeling that works well for their “outer space” theme they are going for.
At first glance, this album sounds almost like an homage to some early pioneers of the Black Metal sound such as punk speed and foulness of Venom and the empty darkness of Bathory. “Big Chill,” opens the album up with some nasty dark riffs and echos that match the vocals.
While the first track may feel like an homage, there is plenty going on in this recording. No 2 songs sound alike. Blasted Heath seem to love delivering a variety of styles. Besides the pummeling Blackened Thrash, BlastedHeath includes plenty of slower Doom and Sludge like elements that give the album a more psychedelic and haunting feeling. “The Wind in Vela,” is an instrumental mostly somber track except for some entrancing sound bites about the real life horrors of interstellar space.
The album closes with the 7 minute epic, “Strange Matter,” that perfectly blends the moodiness, eeriness and thrashing foulness into one song. This is definitely one of those types of albums you need to spin a few times until you “get it.”
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.
We recently caught up with the amazing Athenar, the guitarist, bassist and drummer behind Cleveland’s sleaziest and trashiest one man band, Midnight. Athenar took some time from his morning routine to discuss his upcoming album, “Let there be Witchery”, record collecting and combining tofu and peanut butter.
Trve Kvlt Coffee: What are you up to this morning?
Athenar: This morning? Just the usual. Conducting brain surgery, doing a little bit of star gazing. The typical stuff I do in the morning. Besides that just making coffee and eating oatmeal.
TKC: I usually need a couple cups of coffee before I think of any type of brain surgery.
Athenar: (laughs) Not me man. I dove right into the brain surgery and worry about the coffee later.
TKC: I feel it gives me more of a steady hand.
Athenar: True
TKC: Now you do have an upcoming show on February 12th at Photo City Music Hall. That looks like a pretty cool venue.
Athenar: Yeah, I went there for the first time in October, I went to see Nuclear Assault and it was really cool. I know the guy that sets up the gigs and he asked if we wanted to play there and I said, “Hell Yeah!” They started right before Corona doing a winter bash in Rochester. This is, I think, the second one, “Rotting in Rochester.”
TKC: After that, you have an upcoming tour with Mayhem and Watain.
Athenar: Yup. That’ll be our first tour since Corona. We’ve played a little mishmash of gigs in ’21 but this’ll be our first tour since 2019.
TKC: That’s a pretty good lineup to be touring with too.
Athenar: Yeah. At this point I’ll tour with Cindy Lauper and Huey Lewis.
TKC: (Laughs) I would love to see Midnight open for Cindy Lauper! How does it feel to be hitting the road again?
Athenar: Like I said, we’re not there yet. I won’t believe it until we are actually in the van and in the venues because the rug has been pulled out from underneath us and everybody else before so we’ll see. Still a couple weeks (for possible) disappointment.
TKC: Let’s hope for some good news, I think things are looking a lot better than they did before. I’m in the Cincinnati area and we were hoping to see you play here as a part of Transplant Fest in in 2020. I was so excited for that show, that was my one gleaming hope for 2020 that a show might actually go on. I thought maybe it still has a chance, Cleveland isn’t too far…
TKC:That’s all you see in Cincinnati right now. That’s all that’s going on.
Athenar: I’m sure.
TKC: Do you have an additional tours or festivals planned for this year?
Athenar: Well yeah, there’s a shit ton planned just like there was in 2020 when the last album came out. This one’s about to come out, the new album and there are US tours and European festivals, going to Mexico, that’ll be our first time going to Mexico. There is a fall tour, so there is definitely stuff planned but like I said, we’ll see what happens.
TKC: I hope it happens and I hope we get something in my area.
Athenar: Yeah, I’d love to come down there. I used to come down there all the time in Cincinnati. There’s a record seller guy there. We used to make trips all the time to buy records.
TKC: Oh, any certain record store?
Athenar: No it wasn’t a store. He just sold them out of his basement. He mainly sold NWOBHM singles and shit like that. I can remember that exact name of the town but it was just right outside of Cincinnati. Damn. I can’t remember.
TKC: It’ll hit you in the middle of the day and you’ll remember. I did actually catch you guys at Psycho Fest which was an awesome show!
Athenar: Yeah in Vegas. That was our first show back after Corona.
TKC: You guys were on fire!
Athenar: Yeah it was cool. It felt good and natural to get back out there and play tunes again. I did not expect to be playing in an arena, that’s for sure. That was a bit bizarre.
Photo by Maurice Nunez
TKC: Definitely a cool festival. It was my first time and hopefully I’ll make it out again.
Athenar: Yeah that was good. Danzig was good, Repulsion was good.
TKC: I missed Repulsion because it was the last performance and (The House of Blues) was so crowded, I didn’t think I would make it. Your latest album, “Let there be Witchery”, comes out on March 4th and this is your second with Metal Blade. How does it feel to working with Metal Blade now that this is your sophomore release with them?
Athenar: It’s cool. It’s good they gave us another chance. The first one, we didn’t get a chance to really at all and promote that first one with Metal Blade so if everything goes good here it’s gonna be much mo’ better. They’ve been doing this kind of thing since most of the people that listen to the music have been alive. They know what they’re doing. They are not fly by nighters, they do a good job at what they do.
TKC: Almost everyone’s favorite metal bands have had some kind of brush with Metal Blade at some point in their careers it seems. I am enjoying the re-releases they are doing. I think that’s pretty cool to make them available for people, like myself, who may have discovered Midnight a little later and are having a hard time tracking down some of your earlier material.
Athenar: Yeah. That was part of the reason for them to get involved, so that they could keep the catalog in print and get it overseas more. Where as the previous label (Hell’s Headbangers) they got stuff overseas but it wasn’t as accessible. We are a band of the street and for the street. So we wanna get the music out there. I know it’s easy for people to download and to whatever, get it off the computer. I’m still of the mindset of having an actual record in your hand and playing the record. I would like to think that people can go to the store and buy a record.
TKC: Yeah I’m there with you. I usually go digital for the sake of space or if I can’t find it anywhere else. I’m excited you have stuff coming out on cassette. I’ve listened to the new album and I think it’s fantastic, everything you want with a Midnight record. “Szex Witchery”, “In Sinful Secrecy”, I love “Villainy Wretched Villainy”, which is a great title by the way. I can’t pinpoint a favorite yet, it’s tough. Which song are you particularly excited to unleash upon the world?
Photo by Maurice Nunez
Athenar: Oh man. I mean shit, this question my usual answer for it, they are all my babies. Some of them might have a bit of difficulty in life, some of them may excel in life but I can’t choose favorites. But to play live, we are going to start with “Szex Witchery” because it was the first releashed, so we’ll jam that one. I’m sure we’ll get the other ones, “Frothing Foulness”. The drummer seems to like “More Torment”, it’s got that nice plodding drum beat. So maybe we will do that one too.
TKC. Very cool. Speaking of live shows, much like KISS and Alice Cooper, you totally own that sleazy rock star look complete with a crazy and wild show like the one I saw in Vegas. I remember I was looking at some of my photos I took at the show to see if I could use for this interview but I was like, “No, no they are too blurry, they are running around too much.”
Athenar: (Laughs) It’s all the cocaine and blue meth that we do. We do a lotta blue meth.
TKC: Blue meth?
Athenar: Blue Meth. I just started watch Breaking Bad, they have blue meth in there. I’ll try it one of these days.
TKC: (Laughs) Was the look that you have planned from the get go when you decided you were going to start doing live shows?
Athenar: It wasn’t really intended to be a live band, it didn’t really start out that way but there was an intent to at least to take a picture and put it on a record or something like that. The masks were always there. That was the idea because it was so easy to have a look in exactly one second. There was no applying makeup, there was no getting into some sort of space person costume or whatever else. This was like an instant .99 cent look, ya know? Very Cleveland and just as you know, very Ohio in general.
TKC: Yup, the place I work at, we sell a bunch of those hoods.
Athenar: Well, there you go!
TKC: In many of your photos and promos, you are always holding something on fire. In your most recent promo photo, you have a pair of sai on fire.
Photo by Hannah Verbeuren
Athenar: Yeah! I found those at a garage sale for 3 bucks.
TKC: Oh wow! Really?
Athenar: Like I said man, that’s the Cleveland thing. You do with what you have. You find little things and you make do with ’em.
TKC: It’s looks cool as hell. Anything else that you plan on lighting up?
Athenar: I plan on lighting up the crowd man, that’s what we do. (laughs) Who knows? Fire and Heavy Metal go so well together. It’s kinda like tofu and peanut butter. It goes so well.
TKC: I don’t know about the tofu and peanut butter.
Athenar: But there’s always things to light on fire. Who knows? If I ever grow hair I might light my hair on fire like Michael Jackson.
TKC: There you go! That’ll be…something. Going back to records, I’ve seen a video on Youtube where you are going through your record collection. I love the tour of your house. If you are ever looking for a career change you should look into becoming a realtor because you are pretty good at demonstrating appliances.
Athenar: I love it, I look at realtor.com all the time.
TKC: How long have you been collecting music?
Athenar: Since I was a kid probably when I first started getting into this stuff. Probably since I was 10 years old and I’m *cough* *cough* years old now. (laughs) I’m 48 now so about 38 years.
TKC: Do you have any grails or most prized pieces in your collection?
Athenar: There’s all kinds of things. There’s records that are rare and not that good musically. There’s dollar records that will crush you every day. The thing about it, it’s still about the music for me. It always has been, it’s not about finding, “Oh, that’s the rarest record ever, you’ll never see this copy.” But, I’m always looking for the ultimate risk somewhere, the ultimate tune. You never know where you’ll find that. I’m always looking.
TKC: Do you hit up shops when you are on the road?
Athenar: Oh yeah. All the time. When there’s downtime, which there usually is, me and my other buddy Rodney that go out, we’re scouring the place for records. It gets tougher nowadays but you still gotta look. You never know.
TKC: Any favorite shops that you have run across?
Athenar: Over the years some of the best I’ve always thought were…actually we always have fun looking in Rochester speaking of that. They had a place called Heavy Metal Records, Record Archive, House of Guitars. There is a lot of good stuff upstate/western New York. I don’t know why that is. Maybe because it’s a little on the outskirts of New York City. They had the distribution company, I think it was called Important. So there was always a lot of records going around that area. But shit man. That’s the thing about records. You can find a Tyrant 7″ behind the counter somewhere in Cincinnati. You never know, you just need to keep looking.
Photo by Maurice Nunez
TKC: That’s always part of my mission when I travel. Where’s the record store?
Athenar: Yeah, it’s always an adventure.
TKC: This interview is for Trve Kvlt Coffee, have you heard of it?
Athenar: Yeah! I have. I wanna say they made Midnight coffee mugs?
TKC: Yes indeed.
Athenar: Alright. I’m not crazy. Mark that off the list.
TKC: You gotta make sure to try some of the coffee sometime!
Athenar: Hell yeah, I’d love to. Send a bag of coffee and a bag of blue meth.
TKC: Well, I do live in Kentucky, I can probably get some next door, it’s like borrowing a cup of sugar. Anything else that you would like to add?
Athenar: I don’t think so. It was nice rapping with you in the morning while conducting brain surgery.
Let There be Witchery will be out on March 4th via Metal Blade Records
Wise Blood Records are absolutely killing it with releases this year. Graveripper’s “Radiated Remains,” (which was included with our July subscriptions) was already included in my top albums of the year. Swedish newcomers Natterman’s debut, “The Lurking Evil,” is an incredibly strong album full of old school metal that is covered in murky and dirty thrash n’ roll.
From the opening track, “Beauty in Chaos,” you can feel what you have gotten yourself into, a heavily 80’s inspired Blackened Thrash album with its high speed punk chords, piercing solos, tight drumming and raspy vocals. While the punk influence is high here, so are plenty of elements from first wave of Black Metal with its rawness and darkened lyrical content. You can hear and feel the early influences of Bathory, Venom and Celtic Frost along with more modern bands Midnight and Toxic Holocaust.
For me, this is kind of album to me that defines “Metal.” Are they thrash? Are they Black Metal? Is it fun? Fuck yes. From start to finish the energy is high and I want to bang my head and pump my fist as listen. “Die you Will,” is the perfect anthem for anyone who calls themself a “Metalhead,” with so many elements of old school metal blasting you in the face you can smell the sweat, stale beer and black leather.
Indiana’s Blackened Thrashers, Graveripper’s latest effort, “Radiated Remains”, is going to spend a lot of time on your favorite streaming services, record player, tape deck or anyway else you may happen to enjoy music. It’s that good. While 80’s inspired Thrash and Speed Metal crossing with Extreme Metal is nothing new, Graveripper manages to feel fluid and fresh as well as sick and savage on “Radiated Remains.” Fans of Midnight and Toxic Holocaust are sure to find themselves loving this release. In fact, the EP itself was produced by non other than Joel Grind! The band has only been around since 2018 and is already riding some impressive waves.
One thing that all Thrash fans can agree on, is that nothing compares to a killer riff and this EP throws more riffs out than the listener knows what to do with. This EP was bred for multiple listens as you will discover and fall in with something new with each spin. (or stream) The vocals are another strong selling point that Graveripper have going for them. Lead vocalist Corey Parks does a tremendous job of straddling the lines of Thrash and Death Metal, melding together perfectly.
While Graveripper certainly aren’t offering anything innovative or new here, their sound feels much fresher and more organic and natural than many other bands that attempt to capture the beloved early 80’s Thrash sound. If you have around 20 minutes to spare and just feel like banging your head to some raw and angry Metal crammed with some amazing riffs, this one’s for you.
The debut EP from Empty Throne only contains 3 tracks, but with over 20 minutes of incredible and unrelenting blackened Death Metal, your extreme musical appetite will be satisfied. There is little question as to why this EP slaps so hard given the pedigree of the band members involved. Abbath, Possessed, Draconis and Angelrot are just a few of the past or current bands that members of Empty Throne has played for. In fact, if they didn’t come up with something awesome with this lineup, it would have been a crime against not just Metal, but music itself.
The band plays extremely well polished Death Metal that has a hard traditional 90’s feel to it with thrashy riffs and strong melodies. All the hooks are in the right places and tied together with some impressive guitar solos. While there are plenty of old school vibes, Empty Vibe includes a few Black Metal elements that give this EP a darker feel, like the haunting piano intro on, “The Day has Come,” that adds some great variety to an already impressive debut.
Indy’s Shroud of Vulture’s debut release, “Upon a Throne of Jackals,” overflows with plenty of oozing, sludgy, thick monstrous Doom/Death Metal. Starting things off with the dark and plodding instrumental, “Final Spasms of the Drowned” The faint screams heard in the background of this song really give it a haunting pulse and perfectly set up the mood and feel for the rest of the album. “The Altar,” has an incredible groove that you’d have to be dead not to bang your head to. (even then, that’s not much of an excuse.)”Perverted Reflection,” starts of with a creeping crawl before changing things up and adding some Black Metal influenced blast beats. Clearly the guys in Shroud of Vultures are comfortable in experimenting by adding many different styles and elements to their Doom fueled rage. “Invert Every Throne,” includes some elements of Thrash with its sickened and nasty riffs. “Stone Coffin of Existence,” finds the band at their sickest and darkest. There are still plenty of heavy, plodding caveman riffs to found out throughout this release that keep the album thick heavy and nasty. The vocals are deep, haunting and full of unhuman anger that pair up perfectly with the songs on this album. Perfect listening to pair with a nice black cup of Trve Kvlt Coffee.
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.
