Kingdom - Rotting Carcass Arise upon the Burial Mound

KINGDOM - Rotting Carcass Arise upon the Burial Mound (GODZ OV WAR Productions CD 2019)

God damn, is the time flying so fast or is it Kingdom, who are so bloody productive? Both I guess, but the truth is that since 2013's "Morbid Priest of Supreme Blasphemy" Kingdom already attacked us with four albums. "Rotting Carcass Arise upon the Burial Mound" was quite unexpected, because I barely cleaned the mess, which "Putrescent Remains of the Dead Ground" (2018) left. But I'm not moaning about that, it's good to see this band in such a good form. 

Honestly, "Rotting Carcass Arise upon the Burial Mound" doesn't surprise with anything. And if you've ever heard any of Kingdom's previous albums, then you should know exactly what to expect from this bastard. In case you never had a chance to hear Kingdom before, let me simply say that they play this bestial, venomous quite brutal but harsh death metal, with small hint of black metal there as well. Definitely Kingdom are not a band for those, who like to hear melodic parts, more "sophisticated" patterns, more catchy and groovy stuff. Their music is raw as hell, it smells like sulphur and cadaver, is filled with blasphemy and torment... And definitely is not pleasant. I think that the harshness and almost noisy sound gives Kingdom music quite a specific, almost chaotic, character, which I think was absolutely intentional and now became a trademark for this band. 

As previously, Kingdom often blasts like crazy, not taking prisoners, but slaying everything on its way with furious riffage and proper fast drumming. "Dark Light Rising" is one of the prime examples for the savagery you will find in Kingdom's music. But they often slow things down, bringing more heaviness to their music, which is always good to hear. They keep it all raw, of course, but these slower parts have great, obscure atmosphere and bring more diversity, so the music doesn’t simply sound monotonous ("Świątynia zepsucia", “Burial Mound”). All this time Kingdom uses pretty simple patterns for arrangements, it really is as simple as possible, which also gives more straight forward and bestial feel. And I do like the bass work and sound of this album as well. 

And for the end of the album you'll get an interesting cover of the mighty "Baphomet's Throne". Well, at first it wasn't easy to recognize that it's this song, because it's completely derived of any keyboards - which in the original version play such an important role. So, you can imagine that Kingdom's version of this song is much rawer, more brutal and bestial. Is it good? Ehhhh, I'm not really excited, I don't think it's particularly good. It's OK, but it didn't give me the atmosphere of the original version... So, no, I don't like it that much. And it looks like it's my tradition now, not to like covers they do. I didn't like Immortal's cover on the previous album, I don't like Samael's. Who cares... Let's dig some graves. 

I like the consequence, with which Kingdom continues to record their albums. They do not look for anything new, they surely don't care if we like it or not... They just want to play this brutal shit as best as they can. If you happen to like their music, then it's a bonus. I do, even if "Rotting Carcass Arise upon the Burial Mound" is not their best onslaught. To be honest, it’s not something what you can listen to for few hours and every day. But I will not let this CD cover in dust anyway. 

Standout tracks: "Świątynia zepsucia", “Burial Mound” 

Verdict: 75/100 

Затемно - В петле

Затемно - В петле (AESTHETIC DEATH Productions - CD 2019)

Затемно is another mysterious band from Aesthetic Death Productions, which I had a chance to learn about recently and "В петле" is actually a debut album from this Russian project (you can pronounce their name as Zatemno). And well, Russians have quite a vast pagan / folky black metal scene, with an impressive number of better or worse bands. Затемно blends into this scene perfectly, I think, but at the same time I think that their music is unique and has quality better than most of the Russian bands I have listened to before. 

On one hand there's enough of black metal there to please some orthodox fans of this music, with that harsh sound and vicious riffage, often played in fast, ferocious tempo ("Вступление"), what gives a huge contrast to some other parts of the album. To be honest, as a black metal band Затемно is already good enough to capture my interest. Especially when they combine harsh black metal riffs with an accordion for instance. That sounds just awesome. But there's also a second face of their music, which is more experimental, intriguing and is like day and night / completely opposite to the black metal sound. It’s folky, calm, acoustic music. Song like "Лишь только ветер" takes you into the Russian vast lands, if you close your eyes, you could feel like sitting by the fire in such desolated place. And this music is a nice soundtrack to such visions. Towards the end of "Лишь только ветер", this calmness and melancholy in song is abruptly interrupted by great black metal storm - and I have to say that I really like how Затемно kept here that folky atmosphere in metal riffage, when they combined accordion and harsh guitar riffs with angry screams of Vasily, without sounding like happy “humpa-humpa” type of shitty folk metal. 

Generally "В петле" contains only four tracks and is just 36 minutes long. But I actually like that this album isn't longer, as often projects such as Затемно exaggerate, prolong their albums, extend them into barely bearable limits. I prefer shorter, but more interesting and impressive stuff. I definitely think that "В петле" comes into this category. I enjoyed this album, more than I expected, and can only recommend it. 

Verdict: 75/100 

Crucifier - The Ninth Year

CRUCIFIER - The Ninth Year (ELEGY Records CD 2001)

Here's another retrospective material, which I've intensely played for past few days. And this one is from a band, which I think is very underrated and quite little known, despite its near 30 years long existence. This is Crucifier from USA, led by The Black Lourde of Crucifixion, who is the only original member involved in this band from its very beginning. "The Ninth Year" is a compilation, which gives you an interesting look into Crucifier's creations from the 90's, with songs from "Humans are Such Easy Prey" 1991 demo, "Crown of Thorns" 1992 demo, "By Disgrace of God" 1993 demo, "Powerless Against" 1996 EP and "Trafficking With the Devil" split with Nunslaughter. What a portion of devilish music it is!  

Stylistically I think we could put Crucifier next to the likes of Incantation, Acheron, Imprecation, Profanatica or Grand Belial's Key, depending really on what material we speak of. There're some, which sounded like a bestial death metal blasphemy alike to Incantation, but on some other releases Crucifier sounded a bit more black metal. I have to say that I prefer their purer death metal sound, I am big fan of these old US dark, satanic hordes, of their bestial evil sound, obscurity combined with heaviness... Crucifier delivered that style of metal of death perfectly, especially on "Humans are Such Easy Prey" demo. Fuckin heavy, vicious and harsh but brutal sound, some really killer doomy parts, deep, guttural vomits... Everything's there! "Crown of Thorns" demo is also in that same musical vein, with similarly raw sound and primeval, savage style. Another highlight is "By Disgrace of God" EP, originally released by Pagan Records, which simply is a fantastic piece of death metal, probably the best one here! It should have been also released as a 7" vinyl, in my opinion, what a shame it has never been! 

Three years later "Powerless Against" appears and it looks like Crucifier took quite a turn in their musical direction, with black metal and even uglier, harsher sound. They lost a bit of brutality; I also think that these last two recordings aren't as good as their earlier works... Still solid, but I’m not quite as excited about them as I am for the previous works. I am glad then that Crucifier’s debut LP “Stronger than Passing Time” is again more death metal focused, it is a real crushing piece of satanic anthems. 

Definitely Crucifier came up here with recordings, which are not for everyone. I mean, harshness and almost primitive feel of this music, its obscure, morbid, satanic style will definitely loath many. I do not care for these weak people. In my opinion, this is absolutely great underground death / black metal filth, with many crushing songs, shitload of great riffs... And I just like that evil, blasphemous atmosphere of this music. It's a shame that Crucifier is so underrated, but if you worship some of these bands I mentioned above, but never had a chance to hear Crucifier, give them a chance. 

Verdict: 80/100