Engulfed - Engulfed in Obscurity

ENGULFED - Engulfed in Obscurity (BLOOD HARVEST - LP 2017)

Oh, finally I managed to put my hands on Engulfed's debut LP "Engulfed in Obscurity". This long awaited album was unleashed back in 2017, so it took me a while to got it, but it's better late than never. And as I can see, it's already been seven years since "Through the Eternal Damnation" was released, which is crazy how fast time goes by. Anyways, Engulfed is for me one of Turkey's trinity of killer bands - along with Demonizer and Burial Invocation - where all these bands share some members, but each play slightly different kind of old school death metal. Engulfed is my personal favourite here. 

I can only talk in positive words about their music, I cannot find any weak points here, nothing what would bother me or piss me off. It all sounds exactly as I like. But what else can I write, if Engulfed takes the best elements of Swedish and old Finnish death metal (for example, check some similarities to Amorphis’ debut in “Invocation of Death and Misery”!!!), especially their ability to incorporate killer melodic lines into aggressive and nasty, brutal death metal, which on the other hand would be alike to Incantation, Dead Congregation and so on. They do all that in great style, with a whole bunch of quality, killer riffs, great arrangements... I like the obscure feel of their music, its viciousness, diversity, I also like that raw production they achieved. Finally, I also love how powerful it all sounds and that despite being brutal death metal band, there are still some parts, which are memorable and which give a more atmosphere to the music. 

There are totally straight forward, fast and savage tracks like "The Halls of Grim Eternity", which will break many necks of bangers, who love such merciless death metal attack. But then next song comes in, stunning "Conqueror from Beyond the Outer Gates", which is much slower and more melodic in the opening part, which sounds good enough to feel my jaw hitting the floor. Then they again attack with full ferocity, so the song turns 180 degrees in the style and atmosphere, but that's how I like it! It's massive sounding death metal, you can be sure that it is great quality stuff and your neck won't be spared. From start to finish, it sounds great and I can only recommend it strongly. For me, it is a real highlight. 

Standout tracks: "Conqueror from Beyond the Outer Gates", “Invocation of Death and Misery”, “Inseminated with Demon Seed” 

Verdict: 85/100 

Undead - Existential Horror

UNDEAD - Existential Horror (GODZ OV WAR - CD 2019)

Couple of years ago I managed to get Undead's two releases: "Redemption" CD and "Blood Enemy" 7" EP. And back then I already gave an opinion that this is excellent band and I hope that they will record a full-length album one day. That day finally came, after Undead signed a pact with Godz ov War Productions and in the end of October, on the Halloween day, "Existential Horror" saw the light of the bloodmoon. I was almost 100% certain that they couldn't fuck it up and they will deliver killer portion of old school death metal. And they did, of corpse! Undead sounds awesome on this album and filled all my expectations. And if you like your death metal putrid and filled with the horror atmosphere then "Existential Horror" is going to be up your street also. 

"Existential Horror" is basically 32 minutes of straight forward, unrelenting piece of old school death metal, where not even a single second is wasted, but everything is packed with the proper, solid playing. It's one of those albums, which clicked with me very quickly. From the first seconds of the first song I knew it's gonna be a killer stuff and that it will please me fully. Even though it's harsh and aggressive piece, it was easy to get into it b,cause of its memorable riffage, simple song structures, characteristic chorus parts or even some melodic lines. Also, the production is quite clean, what also adds some more powerful vibe to the music. There may not be too much diversity between all these nine tracks, but because it’s all pretty short, fast and energetic, it doesn’t really bother me and never became a problem. And did I mention how much I love that eerie, haunted atmosphere, which is their music?  

Undead definitely have a strong affair with the Swedish death metal style, personally I would bring comparisons to such bands as Necrophobic, Entombed (obviously), and newer bands such as (early) Tribulation, Verminous, just to name only few...  So, it’s definitely my kind of music, don’t be surprised then that I like this album, despite its unoriginality or whatelse. Recommended stuff. 

Standout tracks: “Sin and Death”, “Curse of the Undead” 

Verdict: 80/100 

Beastlurker - Sanguine Elixir of Psychotropic Divination

BEASTLURKER - Sanguine Elixir of Psychotropic Divination (GODZ OV WAR - CD 2019)

Godz ov War Productions again brought upon me a great surprise, when I got their newly released debut EP from American band Beastlurker called "Sanguine Elixir of Psychotropic Divination". And as it happens often, I started to listen to this material with no expectations at all, but it turned out that this is a great and worthy EP, which will definitely be played a lot in the future. 

I don't really have much to say about the band, because I don't even have much information concerning their history, which is pretty short anyway. The beast was born in 2017, these guys are from some other bands, but none of them would tell you anything. And "Sanguine Elixir of Psychotropic Divination" is a debut offering from Beastlurker. And that's it. Oh, they play fuckin vicious death / black metal and do that with no mercy. 

Obviously, you shouldn't expect anything new or extraordinary from "Sanguine Elixir...", as it is pretty typical, but very solid and quality material. Beastlurker certainly takes a lot of influence from their native black metal scene, which was always characterized by brutality, harshness and also for a little bit more technical approach to the music. I can also smell a little bit of the Swedish black metal stench, which in the end gives a nice combination... Songs are mainly mid paced, but there's enough of faster parts or even a bit of melodic turns, to achieve more interesting results. Even vocals are varied, with harsh, vicious scream and brutal growl, what also suits the music very well. There are four songs on "Sanguine Elixir...", so after twenty minutes of music I know enough to appreciate such quality debut. And I also have an appetite to hear more from Beastlurker. 

Standout track: “Judas Goat” 

Verdict: 75/100  

Kommando Baphomet - Blood Gospels of Satanic Inquisition

KOMMANDO BAPHOMET - Blood Gospels of Satanic Inquisition (GODZ OV WAR - CD 2019)

Kommando Baphomet is so obscure that they don't even have their profile on Metal Archives (yet). For a minute I was thinking about adding them, but I'm just too lazy to do that. But there's a negative aspect of all that anonymity - I have no idea who's responsible for this blasphemy or if “Blood Gospels of Satanic Inquisition” is their debut recording or not. I only managed to find out this band is Portuguese, that's all I know. But well, fuck it, I don't need more info, partly because “Blood Gospels of Satanic Inquisition” doesn’t really sound as good as I would hope it to. 

To describe this album, I could easily just take a note from the label, which says "death metal intensity, war, chaos, blasphemy, cacophony and brutality". I would also add black metal to it. This is pure, bestial onslaught of death, in the vein of Revenge, Black Witchery, Morbosidad and other such nice and friendly bands. Bands, which I've never been big fan of, would you believe? Anyway, Kommando Baphomet is like a porn – it has some good moments, where I enjoyed their music, but the entire album is a little boring. I definitely like when their music slows down, as this is where it sounds crushing and most vicious, I also like these slower riffs much more than when they fasten the music up, especially with that sort of ghoulish, bestial vocals. In faster parts "Gospels..." sounds messy, noisy, chaotic and cacophonic, as their label said, but it doesn't really make an impression on me. It is decent, sometimes very good (like that ending part of “A Thousand Corpses”) with that overwhelming smell of putrid, which will choke you. But do I feel an urge to play Kommando Baphomet daily? Not really.  

Verdict: 68/100 

Djevel - Saa raa og kald

DJEVEL - Saa raa og kald (AFTERMATH Music - LP 2015)

In the past couple of years Djevel arose to one of my favourite black metal bands that currently create the scene in Norway. Their catalogue has no weak albums, each one of them deserves to be a classic. In their early years we had "Dødssanger" and "Besatt av maane og natt" - two incredibly good albums. But then "Saa raa og kald" emerged from darkness and it turned out to be even better! This album has everything I like in black metal and the songwriting and performance on this record is 10 out of 10 for me. If previously any other Norwegian black metal records from the 2000’s made such an impact on me, then they were Taake’s “Noregs Vaapen” and “Hordaland Doedskvad”. Now I feel like Djevel is equally as good, sometimes maybe even better! Which is a great compliment from me, I think. 

What’s the fuzz about? Here's traditional Norwegian black metal, 100% purest and most classic. It obviously combines the cult Darkthrone-esque and Burzum-esque style with their harshness, grim aura and also simplicity, with (early) Satyricon, Kampfar and Taake-like melodic patterns, which all together give a cold, gloomy and hateful atmosphere. There's absolutely nothing innovative about Djevel music, but why would I care? "Saa raa og kald" is the perfect Norwegian black metal. But the high quality of their songwriting, with songs filled with splendid riffage, melodies, great vocals and just absolutely solid arrangements make this (and all other Djevel albums) a killer record. I think that from start to finish it's close to perfection and fits my preference in black metal almost completely. 

The music is mostly very fast, so you could imagine how well it sounds, when fast paced vicious riffage correspondents with majestic, memorable melodies. That aggression and blasting black metal doesn't influence the atmosphere in negative way at all. I mean the atmosphere of this music is always perfectly cold and monumental, maybe because some of these melodies are kind of folky. More so, arrangements and song structures are very interesting, Djevel often adds something extra to their songs, like some clean vocals (similar to Enslaved's Grutle!!) or acoustic guitar... It works very well obviously. And damn - when I listen to such songs like the title piece or "Vaar forbannede jord", then I immediately get goose skin. Killer, killer stuff and some of the best black metal recorded past 1994 in Norway, in my opinion. You may not agree, I don't give a fuck. Djevel is fantastic, in my opinion, their every record in top notch for me! Reco-fuckin-mmended!!! 

Standout tracks: "Saa raa og kald", "Vaar forbannede jord", "Hode og hals i doedsvals", “De som hadde onde oeyne” 

Verdict: 95/100