Deathstorm - Nechesh

DEATHSTORM - Nechesh (WM PSYCHO - CD 2013)

Polish death metal… Fuck yeah, I like it a lot. And I am not saying this because I’m Polish and want to be patriotic… fuck patriotism… I write this just because this shitty country had spawned a great number of killer death metal bands and it keep doing so, increasing the antichristian partisans to a bigger and bigger number. It’s a shame that many of these hordes (AZARATH!!!) still don’t get the deserved attention as much as some bands from Sweden or USA, but that’s another story… Anyway, here I have a pleasure to introduce you to another great Polish death metal band; one, which I honestly didn’t know about, until the very last month, when I saw the advertisement of their debut full length CD somewhere in my e-mail box… Their name is Deathstorm and this is their debut CD “Nechesh”. Supposedly the band released one demo before this album, called “Storm of Death” back in 2010, but I have never heard about it, so the impression is even bigger, if I hear so well arranged, played and recorded death metal. Certainly those guys don’t sound like newcomers… and they’re not, as they’re also members of some other Polish bands, but none of these bands is really a high profile and well know act, so the impression is really huge here.

I personally see Deathstorm as the quintessence of the Polish death metal. Think of such bands as Trauma, early Hate, Vader, Betrayer, Armagedon, Hellspawn… add to this a lot of the old school US death metal, maybe also a small dose of Sinister and here it is: “Nechesh”!!! Obviously to some of you Deathstorm will not be anything special and you would consider them to be too unoriginal – but personally I just don’t give a damn… This band is just good at what they do, they blast like crazy, nail the listener down with some killer riffs and generally great, brutal atmosphere of the music… and this is death metal, what else can you expect, especially as the music is so well played and so well recorded? I like “Nechesh” a lot. This music is so possessing, so energetic, blasting with ferocity, but at the same time there are so many killer, almost catchy and memorable riffs… Perfect.

I mentioned that the music is almost catchy and memorable, and that is definitely truth. I mean, the music of Deathstorm is not too technical, but also isn’t too simple... it is just classic death metal riffing, played in the proper way, with some catchy moments, which will instantly invite you to bang your head like crazy maniac, especially when Deathstorm blasts like madmen. No mercy, no forgiveness, no taking the prisoners – just pure energy and the slaughter on the ears and the mind of the listener. I already feel a neck ache, but I still want to listen to “Nechesh”! I like the fact that each song can stand on its own and be a good representative for the whole album and at the same time each one of them offers something exceptional. But obviously I have my favourites, like “Victims of Mental Enslavement”, “He, Who Bears the Light”, “Cross, the Inverted Symbolism” (Morbid Angel?!!)… “NChSh” is another killer song, one which differs a little from the rest, as not only it lasts for eight minutes, but also has been played in slower and more massive way, with some great, more harmonious leads, etc. The whole album is sort of half and half: some songs are faster, while some other are more mid paced or slower, what obviously gives a very good result, as the music definitely is not monotonous and is nicely diverse. Finally the artwork for “Nechesh” is really, really good… what else can someone require? Oh, maybe a damn low price? Here we go; WM Psycho releases are really cheap, cost around 5 euros, so I cannot imagine more reasons for you if you’re looking for killer death metal and still hesitate to get this Deathstorm album.

Standout tracks: “He, Who Bears the Light”, “Victims of Mental Enslavement”, “NChSh”, “Cross, the Inverted Symbolism”

Final rate: 80/100

 

Infinitum Obscure - The Luminous Black

INFINITUM OBSCURE - The Luminous Black (DEATHGASM - CD 2013)

I discovered the music of Infinitum Obscure only few months ago, to be honest. After reading so many interviews and reviews about them I just decided that I must finally check this band out and see if they’re worth of all the noise around them… So I got their second full length album “Sub Atris Caelis” and right afterwards I got also their old split release with Ancient Gods and finally also a 7”EP “Obscuridad Eterna”. Why have I got all those releases of this Mexican band? Well, I guess the answer is very simple – I just really liked their music and consider Infinitum Obscure as one of the best Mexican bands ever! It’s a shame that I cannot get “Internal Dark Force” anywhere, but now everything what matters is that finally three years after the release of “Sub Atris Caelis” the band released something new… It is a short, three track only, miniCD titled “The Luminous Black”.

This short release’s main aim is obviously to announce coming of the next full length album from Infinitum Obscure and I must say that I can’t wait to listen to it. This appetiser is just… hmm, delicious hehe! Three songs are here, as I said: one is a brand new track, then there’s a re-recording of an oldie and finally a Bathory cover… Starting with the last one, Infinitum Obscure recorded their version of “Through Blood by Thunder” – it is classic and wonderful song, beautiful epic Viking metal from one of the best Bathory LPs ever “Twilight of the Gods”. I must say that the choice of the cover was a bit surprising for me, but it turned out that Infinitum Obscure played it so fucking well… Their version is very close to the original really, even the clean vocals – something what I was most afraid of, as Quorthon’s clean, epic singing was very emotional and unique – has been performed perfectly and almost sound like it was Quorthon singing here… Very good cover tune, if you ask.

And then there are these two Infinitum Obscure songs… “The Luminous Black (Ode to the Fallen Angel)” and “Path to Apocalypse” are their titles… and well, the first one, which is a brand new song, is very,  very long, lasting 10 minutes, epic tune, quite melodic and also relatively slow. I must confess that I expected maybe something more aggressive and eerie. Meanwhile, as I said, the music on this song is sort of melodic and slow, very calm in some fragments… still played in the dark death metal style, but definitely it is not something what fans of utterly brutal stuff will like. Listen to this opening theme or that great, long melodic guitar solo in it… WOW! Well, from one hand it is a sign of a band, which successfully developed their own style and has charisma to play something like this and also have some great ideas and compositional skills… and from the other hand it is something what some of you may find as a little bit too weak or monotonous for this sort of music. But in this review I’m writing about my own feelings towards the music and I must say that I really, really like it. I feel like the atmosphere, which Infinitum Obscure created in this song is just one of a kind and very possessing and even if the song is so slow and harmonious, it is also very, very good. It sounds like Dissection, but much calmer and more majestic, in some ways, more epic… And as for “Path to Apocalypse”, well I don’t have the debut album, so I wasn’t familiar with this song, so I cannot compare it to the original version. But this one sounds very well as well, this track is more varied than “The Luminous Black (Ode to the Fallen Angel)” and while the opening riff sounds almost like heavy metal, then further on the song develops into more aggressive and sometimes even quite fast, still slightly melodic death metal, with dark and eerie atmosphere. I don’t actually know the reason for re-recording this song, but I don’t care – it sounds damn well and is good addition to the whole miniCD, which I must say is very interesting and absorbing listening experience. “The Luminous Black” may not be a thing, which some will like instantly and it may require several careful listening sessions, but personally once I really listened to it I just liked it a lot. And if “The Luminous Black (Ode to the Fallen Angel)” is an announcement of the next album then I have no worries, it will be great album, I hope though that it won’t entirely focus on just slow and melodic paying and will be able also to smash our heads properly. So far it is all good…

Standout track: “The Luminous Black (Ode to the Fallen Angel)”

Final rate: 85/100

Deathevoker - Towards Nothingness

DEATHEVOKER - Towards Nothingness (ENVENOMETAL - CD 2013)

Death metal from Malaysia? Well, I honestly must say I am not so fond of most of the bands from this region of the world – with few exceptions like Impiety, Thorns of Hate and few Japanese bands, most of them is just bad and uninteresting… They usually suffer for bad production and really a strong lack of any good ideas and songwriting and usually just bore me to death with the primitiveness and infantilism of the music they play. I have a lot of respect for many die hard metal maniacs from the Asian countries, but usually it just doesn’t go in hand with good music. Recently I got few releases of Malaysian bands and first one, which I decided to give a listen to, is this new CD release from Deathevoker. I must say that I have never heard about this band before, but it certainly looked very, very promising. Why? Well, just fuckin take a look on the band’s logo – killer! – and on that excellent and fuckin impressive artwork, which is on the “Towards Nothingness” CD. It reminds me some classic death metal releases like Dismember demos and I must say that the guy, who’s responsible for the whole artwork (Ironworx Gravefix) did truly an eye catching and awesome job here. I love his style, the sketches of all those zombies, skulls, slimes and other creepy things… ha, classic death metal artwork and surely one of the best I have seen lately.

But don’t judge the book by its cover… the artwork for “Towards Nothingness” for sure is great, but what about the music? Well, Deathevoker is very inspired by the old death metal bands, mainly those European ones, like classic bands from Finland and Sweden… their sound is quite close to the traditional productions of the old demos from those countries, but without actually being a copy of the Sunlight Sound, maybe it is more similar to the old Unisound or something… Anyway, I like the production of “Towards Nothingness” demo and must say that instantly Deathevoker hit my G spot of musical taste and I liked their music. It is nice to hear a good band from such an exotic country like Malaysia and more so, one which really knows how to play some killer death metal tunes… and I bet that all of you, who like old death metal demos from the countries which I mentioned above – of bands like Nihilist, Dismember, Entombed, Demigod, Amorphis, Grave, etc – will also like this CD. There are some really killer riffs, some nice melodies also and so my general feeling about the whole material is very positive and I am very happy to hear this band. Maybe the weakest thing of the whole “Towards Nothingness” are the vocals, which could have been better, maybe more brutal and have more guts, but they’re not terrible neither, just not totally effective, so I wouldn’t call it a big fault of the demo. All in all “Towards Nothingness” offers three cool songs from Deathevoker and for sure this band is a must have for all the collectors of underground old school death metal.

I wrote that “Towards Nothingness” contains three songs… and this is the demo 2013, but this CD version, which I have – released by Envenometal Records, limited to 500 copies – contains “Eternally Rot” demo from 2012 as a bonus. This one has four tracks and maybe doesn’t sound as good as the second demo, is slightly messy and more obscure, but it still has similar style of music and similar attitude of rotten old school death metal. Nice! Remember then that Deathevoker is definitely one of the best metal bands from Asia for now!

Standout track: “Towards Nothingness”

Final rate: 70/100

Mass Burial - Gangrene Hymns

MASS BURIAL - Gangrene Hymns (WM PSYCHO - CD 2013)

I honestly didn’t bother to check out Mass Burial’s first release, which was their debut full length album “Of Carrion and Pestilence” from 2012… I don’t really know why, but maybe I just have been a little exhausted with every new old school death metal band coming out each month, especially as every one of them was considered by the labels to be “the next death metal sensation playing in the Entombed and Dismember way”. Of corpse there were many such bands, which I totally loved – Entrails, Graveyard, Puteraeon, Undead Creeep, etc to give you just very few, but some of the best examples – but sometimes you just need to say “enough is enough”. I think I have checked one or maybe two Mass Burial songs on you tube and just decided that I won’t be getting their album, as there’s no point. Sorry to be so unfair, but there must be some limits for everything… anyway, recently WM Psycho sent me the message that they’re about to release another recording from Mass Burial; which is “Gangrene Hymns” four track miniCD. And I was like “OK, fine, but whatever…”. But later on it turned out that this miniCD is so damn cheap (costs only 15 zloty, which is about 4 euros) that I decided to give it a chance, bought it and so one copy laid on my stereo. Well, first I must say that once more Juanjo Castellano did a killer job with the artwork… I’ll never have enough of such awesome pieces of art and this one from “Gangrene Hymns” looks just brilliant. Well done, mate!

“Gangrene Hymns” consists three new Mass Burial songs plus Sodom’s “Persecution Mania” cover. Well, starting with that cover tune, it definitely sounds weird to hear Sodom’s song with classic Swedish death metal sound, but the song is OK… Speaking of the production, Mass Burial has a typical filthy and obscure sound with the characteristic guitar tone of the Swedish death metal bands. Well, I love such sound, but here I kind of miss something… I don’t know, maybe it is not energetic and powerful enough? It seems muffled a little, but for the miniCD I guess it is OK. The songwriting of the three Mass Burial songs is quite good; there are some killer riffs here and there, some nice Swedish melodic harmonies as well, so my overall impression is good. I have just one minor problem with Mass Burial and it is the fact that with so many similar bands around I can pick up at least two dozens, which are just better than those Spaniards… take their countrymen Graveyard for instance… I have a feeling like Mass Burial is more of a mediocre kind of band, quality wise, and honestly there can be so many better bands to invest your money for… I guess Mass Burial is on the same quality level as Revel In Flesh, Lifeless, Sorcery… so, bands, which are OK to listen to, I have absolutely nothing against them and I even have albums of few such bands, but they’re just nothing mandatory and if you wanted to be really picky and make a selection then Mass Burial would be taken away and prevailed by some more awesome acts.

Final rate: 65/100

Ominous Crucifix / Entrails

OMINOUS CRUCIFIX / ENTRAILS - Split LP (Dark Recollections - LP 2013)

I must confess that I purchased this 12” split LP mainly because it is a new release of the Swedish death combo called Entrails, which is such a cool band. And I just collect now everything they release… I don’t know if I would ever get interested in any Ominous Crucifix recordings, if they haven’t shared this LP with the Swedes. But it is cool to get to know this Mexican band, now I know that… and it turned out to both bands from this split did good job. I am especially happy for Ominous Crucifix… I mean, OK, I have heard their name before, it popped up several times here and there, but I never had a chance to hear some music from those Mexicans. It turned out that they play very solid death metal.

It is old school, it is dark and morbid, it is also quite memorable – so it has everything I like most in this style. Their part of this split contains three brand new tracks  - all under the tile “Inert Deities of Deceit”. I must admit that while I didn’t have any expectations from this Mexican troop of death I liked their music instantly. Man, this is just truly awesome and killer piece of old school death metal. They remind me Throneum a little, with the difference that maybe Ominous Crucifix seems to be less chaotic and not as furious… but anyway, these three songs, which they have putted on the split are great. I like the riffs a lot, I also like how the band creates the obscure and evil atmosphere; and more so, these sounds are just filled with passion, energy and aggression, which is something necessary, if death metal was going to really catch my attention. Even if Ominous Crucifix doesn’t play anything ultra fast and relentless, you will still get blow away by the power of their music. I also must mention that to me their music seems to be a little epic, with some of these monumental riffs, which sometimes have even been accompanied by keyboards in the background to deepen the dark atmosphere and eerie feeling. I cannot even pick up my favourite song from the three; each has something great to offer and something memorable. All in all Ominous Crucifix has made a huge impact on me and they’re yet another band, which I must put on my shopping list; their “The Spell of Damnation” debut full length on vinyl is now one of my most wanted items. I strongly recommend this band to the fans of Morgoth, Throneum, Pentacle, Asphyx / Soulburn and The Chasm.

Meanwhile Entrails from Sweden occupies side B of this 12”. This band is well known to me already; I have their first two albums on vinyl and now I also am looking forward to get the third death metal opus, which Metal Blade is about to release in couple of weeks. I must say that the change of the label for such a mainstream one is something quite worrying for me. Fuck, none of those big labels have been giving a damn shit about this style of music for well over a decade and now they all seem to like it – or the money, which go with these new old school bands – again. But that’s something what I will moan about once I hear “Raging Death”. Now let’s see what Entrails have prepared for this split with the Mexicans. Well, I was hoping to hear some new songs from this band; meanwhile we have here a couple of old demo songs, which have been re-mixed for this release. Luckily none of them have been re-recorded on the two full length albums, which I have heard, so for me they’re like completely new songs anyway. And they both really blow my head off. I don’t know why they haven’t been used on the LPs, maybe because such “Depression” is so doomy and slow and they thought they wouldn’t fit on the album – which I think they would anyway. By the way, I must mention here that I think the label mixed up the titles of the songs. Jimmy said in the interview I did with him last year that “Depression” is a doomy song, so it would be the first track of the two; besides, the second one has a chorus, where they scream “human decay!!!!!!!!”… So, if we take than I am right then “Depression” (not “Human Decay”) is truly awesome; the opening melody is kind of those, which sound like they have been taken from some old horror movies; it is truly eerie and has great sinister feeling. And as I said already “Depression” is just slow and obscure, doomy track, but it works just excellent in my opinion. Who knows if it isn’t actually one of my favourite Entrails songs so far… It is colossal, massive motherfucker, with great doomy riffs and creepy harmonies – it’s the best description for “Depression”. Then comes “Human Decay” and well, this song doesn’t make as huge impression on me as “Depression” does. It is almost standard Swedish melodic death metal… I don’t wanna say that it is not good or something, it just doesn’t crush me so much and all in all I think it is one of the weaker tracks from Entrails… luckily, it also is quite short, so I quickly play “Depression” once more…

So yeah, definitely a killer release from Dark Recollections Productions. My only complains would be for the change of the song titles on Entrails side… and also the quality of packaging is not the best, if I can be honest. Anyway, I strongly recommend you getting this piece of black wax.

Final rate: 90/100