ALTARS / HEAVING EARTH - Engulfed (NIHILISTIC HOLOCAUST - split MC 2012)
I was very interested in getting this split
tape, as it features one of my favourite Czech bands Heaving Earth, whose
2010’s album “Diabolic Prophecies” did some serious damage to my hearing and
after listening session of it I had to answer some questions to the police, who
wanted to know why all my neighbors are found dead (dead but dreaming!!!!!!).
But OK, Gabriel from Nihilistic Holocaust came with helpful hand once more and
provided a copy of “Engulfed”. This split features also band called Altars – I
never heard of them before – with their Promo 2012 songs and then Heaving Earth
presents completely new material from “Redemption Ablaze” promo.
So, starting with Altars… they’re Australian
and play very brutal, almost grinding (not tempo wise though) at times, but
also very old school death metal. The sound on their material is very harsh,
filthy as hell and brutal as fuck… I really mean that. When I first started to
listen to their first track – “Husk” – I was like: “Shit, have they recorded
that in a dungeon or tomb or what???”. It did take me several minutes to adopt
and get used to this raw production and I must be honest, I still feel like it
lacks something. But the music is fine, it is extreme, brutal old school death
metal. There’s quite a lot of complexity in their music, but all is devoured by
that brutal and tight feeling and gloomy, deep vocals. I don’t feel crazy about
Altars music, to be honest, but I like the slow parts of their music, from the
other hand though this promotional material definitely lacks a better
production (drums especially)… but definitely this band did manage to create an
eerie and obscure, almost suffocating atmosphere, so fans of the likes of
Incantation or Ignivomous, watch them! Currently Altars have been signed to
Nuclear Winter and expect the release of the debut album “Paramnesia” (LP
version will be released by Blood Harvest).
And now Heaving Earth… well, I already
mentioned that I liked their debut CD, so I was really looking forward to hear
“Redemption Ablaze” promo. And man, they did not fail. Great, tight, fast and
technical death metal, in the vein of Morbid Angel, Monstrosity, Immolation, Malevolent
Creation and few more, mainly American death legends. Both songs from “Redemption
Ablaze” rip the guts out and I must say that I really like them both… the
riffs, the vocals, drumming and the production
- everything sounds great and right from the first second I felt very
pleased with Heaving Earth’s music. This stuff is aggressive, is filled with
pure energy and if Altars lacked that spark, which would ablaze the speakers,
this Czech band did that in three seconds. And that ending part of “I am
Nothing” just shreds totally, what an awesome piece of death metal!!!! Cannot
wait then for the second album of Heaving Earth, which I hope those guys will
do very soon.
Final rate: Altars (65/100) Heaving Earth
(85/100) – overall it is 75/100
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