WItchfuck - Black Blood Baptism

WITCHFUCK - Black Blood Baptism (GODZ OV WAR - CD 2021)

Finally I have "Black Blood Baptism" in my hands. It's actually my second attempt to listen to this album. The first one was rather funny, because the original CD turned out to be a misprint of CD factory and had completely different music on the disc. I have now something like one copy only misprint CD, which I am sure will be worth a thousand bucks in the future hahah! Jokes aside though, but I am glad that Greg from Godz ov War sent me a proper copy to replace that fucked one. Now I can finally listen to Witchfuck as it's supposed to be. The band itself is still relatively new to me, because I missed their debut EP "Disgusting Rock’n’Roll" and only had "Blasphemous Hell's Legions" split with Necrosadist in my collection. There was only one song featured on that split, but I liked it a lot, so getting "Black Blood Baptism" was the only option. 

And here it is then - 37 minutes of intense, insanely uncompromising and aggressive black metal onslaught. Pure and raw energy, uncontrollable fury and savagery hearable in every riff or Maras' scream - this is what Witchfuck is. Do not expect this music to sound nice and polite, do not expect that it will be atmospheric and melodic... Witchfuck's music has that old school feel obviously, some riffs may have a bit of old Sodom or Venom influence, while other can be more in the Marduk vein... Such “Dar” opens with almost Darkthrone’ish riff even. Mostly this shit is fast and songs are short, which is why they can sound like quick, merciless punches straight in the face. That attitude can remind me old fucks like Impaled Nazarene or even Witchmaster a little. But I like that Witchfuck can diversify their music properly with songs like "Pentagram In Fire", which are slower, have more interesting structures, etc. Anyway, the whole album sounds incredibly energetic and aggressive, what is exactly the thing I seek in such bands. More so, riffs are great, vocals are brilliant (it's not the first time I am impressed with Hellscreamaross' performance) and the production is perfect for that sort of black metal. There’s not a dull moment here, also that “Pure Evil and Hate” cover sounds cool, even if it’s the least interesting part of the album, in my opinion. 

And well... I'm not sure what else can I write here... I mean, Witchfuck is not a band, whose music would need long, deep descriptions, it's not sophisticated type of shit, if you know what I mean. It is primeval, pure and poisonous. Great album, in my opinion, giving it 80 points is just easy.

Standout tracks: "Pentagram In Fire", “Dar”, “The Horned Archangel” 

Verdict: 80/100

Cave Dweller - Walter Goodman (or the Empty Cabin in the Woods)

CAVE DWELLER - Walter Goodman (or the Empty Cabin in the Woods) (AESTHETIC DEATH - CD 2021)

Aesthetic Death keeps surprising me, doing albums I would never expect to hear... this time with Cave Dweller and their album “Walter Goodman (or the Empty Cabin in the Woods)”. Before I go into details about what you will find on this CD, let me just say that Cave Dweller is a project of Adam R. Bryan from Pando, whose "Rites" recently have been introduced here as well. Musically there isn't really much in common between these two projects, but I need to say that in both cases I've been really impressed by the visual presentation of these albums. I mean, the whole layout and more so, the incredible photographs in the booklets are just brilliant. And in case of “Walter Goodman (or the Empty Cabin in the Woods)”, it is all about the nature. And when I see a photograph of Adam himself (or I think it is him?) relaxed, lying somewhere at the river, then it just all fits together perfectly, as this album can be a nice soundtrack when you take a walk in the woods or somewhere to chill out and just spend some time in loneliness. 

But, what sort of musica do we have here? Well, Cave Dweller goes deeply into acoustic neo folk / ambient sort of stuff. And the music is very tranquilizing, I think, it can charm the listener much, but it can deliver kind of dark, melancholic feel as well. Which is nice, I think. Obviously, it’s nothing like acoustic Ulver or stuff like that. It's not nordic folk or whatever. But if you know some neofolk acoustic projects, then I can assure you that Cave Dweller fits this category of music very well. And these songs are great. I admit that at first I was a little sceptical towards it. But one or two listens and Cave Dweller really convinced me. I like this album a lot. I don't listen to acoustic music often, but I do from time to time and mostly it would be stuff like Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio or Death in June... I just need to be in a proper mood for something like that. “Walter Goodman (or the Empty Cabin in the Woods)” will be a guest in my stereo in the future also, I am sure. 

But again, I am sorry that I didn't have time to read the all these notes and lyrics on the album, to understand “Walter Goodman...” better. I will do that one day for sure, just I didn't have time to do it now. Anyways, I think this is a very interesting and impressive album. 

Verdict: 70/100

Pando - Rites

PANDO - Rites (AESTHETIC DEATH - CD 2021)

Damn, albums like this one are such a pain in the butt for every reviewer. They are albums, which escape all easy classifications and contain music, which is anything but obvious and foreseeable. This is what describes many releases from Aesthetic Death, actually. And Pando's "Rites" is another challenging and difficult album from that label. About the band I cannot even say much, other than this two-men project is from Massachusetts. "Rites" is not their debut, they already have few recordings behind them, but since I have not heard anything from Pando before, I will not make any comparisons or comments for how much the music of this project has changed or developed over the years. 

As for "Rites" itself, I have to admit that I really enjoyed this music. At first, I was like "hmm, will they ever decide what music they want to play or what?", because so much is "Rites" away from the usual musical schemes and rules. And what Pando does is sort of ambient / noise / drone with a harsh, ferocious and lo-fi dissonant black metal and as such, it simply needs certain conditions to be set, before you play the fuckin CD. It's not an album, which you want to listen to, when you want something powerful to give you energy or when you just need something what will provide some sort of entertainment. "Rites" is something what you listen to in careful way, you may prepare a proper atmosphere for it - like a candle-lit room and a glass of wine... or some other sort of that cheesy crap. But only then such music can really speak to you. Obviously, there are some more "metal" fragments on the album, like "Total Station Theodolite", which is probably the least interesting part of the album - just because I don't like the main opening riff there... To my surprise, the most interesting pats of "Rites" are all those ambient moments, when the music is experimental and when it crosses some boundaries, like such "Excarnation" for instance. But I won't go deep into describing that or any other song, because basically every part of "Rites" is different, with many different layers and emotions. But I can say that "The Octagon Room" is probably my favourite part of all, if you ask. All in all, it is quite adventurous album, I sometimes seek for less violent, but more ambient kind of music and this one can fit there, even if sometimes it goes into more raging and aggressive territory. Still, an interesting effort. 

And holy crap, the booklet filled with disturbing, yet beautiful photographs only add mystery to this project. Just take a look... 

Verdict: 70/100  

Dominus Xul - To the Glory of the Ancient Ones

DOMINUS XUL - To the Glory of the Ancient Ones (XTREEM Music - CD 2011)

It's been some time since I have written anything about my utter appreciation for the Chilean death metal scene. So, I will do it again, this time influenced by the sheer fierceness and brutality of Dominus Xul's "To the Glory of the Ancient Ones". It is not a new album, obviously. It was unleashed a decade ago, through Xtreem Music, but maybe it is exactly a good reason why I should remind this killer album.  

As for Dominus Xul, they are quite old band, formed in the early 90's as Dominus - under this moniker they did two demos, if I remember that correctly. Then as Dominus Xul two albums were released. I never had a chance to get "The Primigeni Xul (I Condemned My Enemies)", which is a shame, since I hold "To the Glory of the Ancient Ones" high in my ranking. This second effort, from 2011, is a fantastic piece of death metal, if you ask me. Oh, did I mention that Dominus Xul's line up involves people, who are also members of acts such as Magnanimus, Melektaus or Trimegisto? 

But what can you expect from Dominus Xul? Well, I can sincerely say that this band sounds exactly the best Chilean death metal way. Which is that brutal, obscure, vicious and evil sounding stuff, which has a strong Incantation or Immolation influence and which with its heaviness and powerful sound can really blow the speakers out and turn everything into ruin. Their suffocating riffs really have a great feeling and massiveness, and let's not forget that they often hold also that brilliant Morbid Angel-esque mesmerizing, ominous atmosphere. You will find here plenty of fast, neckbreaking paces, but a lot of killer, crushing slow stuff is here also. Songs on "To the Glory of the Ancient Ones" embrace everything what such type of death metal needs. And I am fully content with it. Songwriting is great, the production is properly murky, brutal and raw... What else do you need. I mean, if you fancy bands like Unaussprechlichen Kulten or Godless, then Dominus Xul will be up your street for sure. I love this album, would love to see it on vinyl... And I really need to grab their debut as well.  

Standout tracks: “The Secret of Liquid Arcane”, “Elements Against Weakness” 

Verdict: 80/100

Decameron - My Shadow...

DECAMERON - My Shadow... (NO FASHION - CD 1996)

Mid to late 90's was quite a weird time for Swedish metal scene. It started to spawn dozens of new bands, which had a new thing in common – melody. At the Gates, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity were on one side of the coin. And Dissection, Unanimated, Centinex and Necrophobic on the other. Jon Nodtveidt’s band had an enormous influence on creating a whole new wave of satanic black / death metal. The followers appeared, many of them around the infamous No Fashion Records. I remember I was moaning a little on some bands from this label, because they all sounded the same! And only few had really something great to offer. So, I disliked such Ablaze My Sorrow, Gates of Ishtar and Decameron, but I did enjoy Sacramentum, Dawn, Vinterland and Unanimated. 

Time goes forward and years later “My Shadow…” gets another chance... And well, I am still far from calling it the best thing I ever heard in my life, but it's not so bad either. It has some good moments for sure. Yes, Decameron music may not have been so ferocious and satanic like Unanimated's or Sacramentum's stuff. But it had its charm and character. Blending Dissection-esque melodic death / black metal with a surprisingly often present Iron Maiden-ism, we get an album different to many others. Decameron was close in finding a perfect balance between these styles and their own original sound. Sure, some songs, like the awesome “Our Time Has Come” and “Satanized” (which was written in cooperation with Jon from Dissection) stand above the others as more aggressive and straight forward with almost thrashing chorus and riffage – which I like a lot. While “Le Roi Triste” is more melodic based, with some classic heavy metal instrumental passages and guitar soloing. But this song had found a room for some arse kicking fast playing. 

Another standout song, “The Scar of Damnation”, is just great. It’s opening minute long riffage is excellent, having both thrashing riffs as well as some truly catchy melodic ones, then followed by quite melancholic parts. Finally, its ending brings wonderful melodies and riffs and… some clean vocals, which give something extra, really. It must be remembered that Decameron composed quite lengthy tracks; most of them were above the average 5-6 minutes, so the band had plenty of time to show a good number of ideas they wanted. And that’s why the entire album, almost every song actually, sounded so varied and interesting. “Sexual Immortality” or “Skabma” are another cool pieces. 

I think the worst aspects of this album happen towards its end. This is where everything becomes too mellow and Decameron started to incline even more heavy metal influences, which didn’t work that well. And at some point they just started to sound boring, I had enough. Even bigger problem are those damn annoying clean vocals, which sound just awful in such “Prophecy of Life to Come” and the last song, “Mistress of Sacrifice”, which... well, I have no idea what did Decameron want to present with this last song, but it sounds just shite and so, so off. This is why "My Shadow" is very uneven. There are some great riffs or songs, but also few, which I would immediately delete and forget about. But cut three songs off it and it would be a brilliant album. 

Standout tracks: “Carpe Nocem”, “Satanized”, “Our Time Has Come” 

Verdict: 70/100

Encabulos - Abandoning the Flesh

ENCABULOS - Abandoning the Flesh (VENOMOUS Records - CD 2000)

Let's travel in time, back to the year 2000, when an Australian band Encabulos released their first and only EP "Abandoning the Flesh" on Venomous Records. It was rather little known band and I doubt that many people still remember this CD, which is a shame. As for the Australian death metal, it's one of the most impressive releases, in my opinion. Encabulos just did everything what death metal needs and did not fuck around with bullshit. Stylistically, their music had a vast US death metal influence, mainly from the likes of Deicide, Imprecation, Monstrosity or early Immolation, without sounding like a copycat parody of these bands. And without going too much into the more technical and complicated riffs and song structures. 

Even today, this shit sounds brutal, fierce, straight forward and insanely powerful. Every song kicks ass with some nasty stuff, I love the feeling and dark, evil atmosphere as well. You could feel passion and thirst for death metal, and its aggression mixed with a bit of that groove and massive guitar wall is pure joy to hear... Especially slower parts sound awesome, but such “Inside the Inferno” – which is the fastest fucker here – also slays. And let’s not forget about Bolt Thrower’s “Cenotaph” cover. 

Sooo, what went wrong with Encabulos? Well, they split up in 2002 and then Crucifire was born - another killer band from Australia. As Crucifire, a killer demo and 7"EP were released. And the band split up again. What a damn shame... But I recommend checking them both, if you ever get a chance to grab their music. 

Verdict: 80/100

Phthisis - Embodiment of Decay

PHTHISIS - Embodiment of Decay (BRUTAL CAVE Productions - CD 2021)

Here's more death metal coming from the rotten crypts of US underground, this time under the name Phthisis. The band is from Colorado and "Embodiment of Decay" is their debut demo, released on cassette first and then on CD through Brutal Cave. The demo features 4 tracks of murky, cavernous death metal, which reeks of putrefaction and disgust, and has a great dose of more doomy stuff, which adds more crushing and obscure vibe to the music. Generally, it feels like Phthisis embraced a style, which on one hand can remind you old fucks like Asphyx on their very early releases or Incantation and those young beasts from acts such as Undergang or Anatomia in the slower parts, on the other. 

This is almost kind of neanderthal death metal, Phthisis doesn't show off with extra-terrestrial technical skills of guitar molestation (but music is not primitive either), growls are heavy, low and awful and the production is harsh, dirty and Phthisis sounds like from the catacomb rather than from a fancy studio. So, the music can be sloppy sometimes, especially in these slower parts like in the title song, which sooo much reminds me of Anatomia, with its slow paced, insanely heavy, creepy instrumentation and atmosphere. Surprisingly, this song sounds a lot different from such “Detestable Putrescence”, you could almost feel like they were from two different bands, as the latter is faster, more vicious and savage. But along with the mentioned title track, my favourite is “Rotting Vermin Flesh”, which also has more of that obscure doomy stuff. And I hope that Phthisis will go that direction in their future recordings. And as for "Embodiment of Decay", this is a great demo, which I enjoyed a lot, there’s a lot of great things from Phthisis in the future, I believe. 

Verdict: 75/100