Burial - Relinquished Souls

BURIAL - Relinquished Souls (RAW SKULL Records - LP 2019)

I don't know about you, but personally I worship the early 90’s Dutch death metal scene almost as much as I do the US, Swedish and Finnish ones. There were so many great bands then, so much classic stuff that 25-30 years later it still reigns supreme! What a glorious time... Burial definitely belonged to the best bands from Holland, in my opinion. Maybe it wasn't the best option when they chose Burial for their band name... There were several bands playing with such moniker and few of them – like the British one and two American Burials – were really good bands. But my favourite Burial came from Holland and although they didn’t play for too long, they managed to leave behind a great masterpiece called “Relinquished Souls”. 

First time I heard this album was around 2008 or 2009, so I was very late, but at that time a lot of old, forgotten death metal albums were given a second life. And many of them later were re-released – which is great. So was “Relinquished Souls”, which first came on CD/LP from VIC Records and later also from Raw Skull Records, in a great, better quality (nice insert with lyrics, photo collage, great sound quality...). But late or not, this album caught my attention straight away. 

From the very first seconds I knew that it’s going to be a real death metal feast! And it is. First thing I’ve noticed when “The Second Coming” vomited the opening riffs were: 1) great work of bass and 2) that the production for this album is just like Massacre on their cult “From Beyond” LP! It's very close, in my opinion, with similar sound, vocals, riffs style... It sounds great though. But then another surprise comes with “Failure of Technology”. Shit, this one is massively influenced by Death and everything that Chuck did on his “Leprosy” and “Spiritual Healing” LPs!!!! Similarity comes with the riffs, chorus and the melody that follows it... Certainly Death is a band, which influenced Burial the most, what you could notice later on the album even more. 

Burial actually admitted what their main influences were in the booklet and thanks list haha. Nevertheless, “Relinquished Souls” is a very good album. It's aggressive, but also catchy, with fantastic riffs, well done vocals and interesting ideas. Listening to this album is still a damn pleasure, as it just ticks most of the boxes of “what do I want from classic death metal record to hear”. Burial re-recorded three of their demo songs on the album – “Traumatized”, classic “Frigid Cold” and “Pitiful God” – all well played, without much re-arranging if comparing them to their demo versions. Rest of the album was based on their new songs. 

Anyway, it’s a shame that Burial split up after this one album. Yes, they reformed later in 2000’s, but it’s not the same anymore. For me they were one of many talented and really great death metal bands from the early 90’s, which deserved more, but unfortunately had to be buried by time and dust way too early. It’s cool then that some labels exhume such jewels. Great pick, very recommended vinyl release. 

Standout tracks: “The Second Coming”, “Failure of Technology”, “Frigid Cold” 

Verdict: 90/100 

Six of Swords - Regime Decay / Polaris Vortex

SIX OF SWORDS - Regime Decay / Polaris Vortex (REDEFINING DARKNESS / RAW SKULL Records CD 2019)

It's always cool to learn about new death metal bands and I have a feeling like in the recent three or four years I've checked more death metal bands than in the entire 90's haha! Anyway, this time our destination is Toronto, Canada, where Six Of Swords reside. Rather uncommon name for this sort of extreme music, but maybe there's something more behind it, I don't know (I did learn that it’s one of tarot cards only). I know that this CD (released in cooperation between Raw Skull and Redefining Darkness) contains two EPs "Regime Decay" (2018) and "Polar Vortex" (2015), so it's quite cool compilation. 

Interestingly, you won't really notice much difference in the sound quality and compositions between both these EPs. There is obviously a small advantage of 2018 material, but it's rather small one and you will hardly even notice that. Which is obviously not a problem, as this way there's a natural continuation, without a feeling that they don't match. As a death metal band, Six of Swords sticks to the traditional aims of the genre, which is "crush, kill, destroy!" haha. Joking aside, I can say that they provide a whole spectrum of different death metal styles: there's a little bit of the old school vibe, but also more modern type of DM. There's slower stuff ("Malodorous" is a great song!), a bit more groovy playing, a little bit of melody, even some faster parts... Majority of these songs are mid paced though, the music is not very brutal, it's rather about to kick ass with a powerful riff. I can sincerely say that it's not bad at all. I like the production, because it's really energetic, everything sounds more vicious with it, which is what I like to hear. And there are obviously some very cool riffs, spread over these ten tracks, which makes this CD quite enjoyable. It's nothing remarkable, nothing what would stick with me for too long, I even felt a little bored after a while, three full spins and I had to listen to something else... Sure, there are many better bands nowadays, but it’s good stuff, so you could give them a listen every now and then. 

Standout tracks: "Malodorous", "Hells Messiah", "Lock the Cell" 

Verdict: 70/100  

Urgehal - The Eternal Eclipse - 15 Years of Satanic Black Metal

URGEHAL - The Eternal Eclipse - 15 Years of Satanic Black Metal (AGONIA Records - LP 2008)

I'm not usually a big fan of anniversary compilation releases, especially if all they have to offer are "the best of" kind of shit. But if the CD/LP program is based on exclusive or rare recordings, then this is usually a must to have. "The Eternal Eclipse" by Urgehal is a great example for such worthy compilation. As the subtitle "15 Years of Satanic Black Metal" says, it's been released because of the 15th year of Urgehal existence, back in 2007. And well, for me this is a great addition to "Goatcraft Torment" LP from 2006. And equally good listen.

So, what do we have here? Three unreleased songs from "Goatcraft..." session are first. And they're very much in the same vein as the album songs. They also have pretty much the same quality, so I have no idea what made Urgehal leave them behind. I guess it was just difficult decision and the album already had 50 minutes of material. Anyway, prepare yourself for some malicious, grim black metal played in mostly fast tempo. It's very powerful and hateful sounding satanic black metal at its best. For me "Guds fortapelse - Apenbaring av dommedag" is definitely the best song and one, which is the most worthy. But such "The Moors of Death" is also truly fuckin awesome... and for me these two tracks are better than half of the songs, which actually ended up on "Goatcraft Torment". The first one is insanely fast, while the second is slower, more hypnotic and colder, very grim. It's even slightly melodic, but so bloody good!

Next up there are two songs, which were released on the infamous "Demonrape" 7"EP. Which I happen to already have in my collection. But this is a great EP, very Darkthrone'ish. Arrggghhh, just check the title song, what a killer black metal. These songs are from 2002, from "Through Thick Fog Till Death" session, by the way. I have to say that I like their production a little bit more than the "Goatcraft...".  

Side B starts with four rehearsal recordings from different years... First there's song from "Satanisk Norsk Black Metal" split with Beastcraft from 2007. It's followed by brilliant Von cover "Veadtuck", which was featured on "Tribute to Von" 7" and "The Eternal Eclipse" recorded in 2007 (originally this song was on the first album). These are all great tracks and I have to say that even though they're rehearsal recordings, they sound damn great. Only the very last song "Bloodhunt" has much rawer and filthier sound, truly primitive quality. But who cares. Side B may not be as good as side A, but it's still killer black metal. And that cover of Von wins for me this side of the record!

So... We have here a great compilation LP. I love the music, but also the whole packaging of the vinyl is superb. A lot of archive photographs, which I have never seen before, some lyrics, good layout... Truly a worthy and recommended piece of black wax, in my opinion!

Standout tracks: "The Moors of Death", "Guds fortapelse - Apenbaring av dommedag", "Demonrape", "Veadtuck"

Final rate: 80/100

Nocturnal Hollow - A Whisper of an Horrendous Soul

NOCTURNAL HOLLOW - A Whisper of an Horrendous Soul (RAW SKULL Records / REDEFINING DARKNESS - CD 2019)

Venezuela are no wimps, they also have their Swedish sounding death metal band haha! Of course there will always be moaners, who will say that such bands are useless and it's just better to listen to your old Dismember or Entombed albums rather than a band from Venezuela or where else, which is influenced by them. I don't care, and as long as the music is good, it doesn't matter to me if it's original or not, if it's influenced by band X or not, or if the band is from Venezuela or Thailand - if the music speaks to me and sounds great, that's all what matters. And that's exactly the case with Nocturnal Hollow, whose "A Whisper of an Horrendous Soul" I've been listening to for the past few hours. This band doesn't sin with originality and basically redo what has already been done in the Swedish death metal more than dozens times before. But they have enough skills, guts, creativity and ideas to bring us great old school death metal onslaught.

When checking Nocturnal Hollow for the first time, I was actually very surprised to hear that such band comes from Venezuela. You know, this country isn't known for its death metal scene. I don't even remember if I've ever heard any bands from there? And then Nocturnal Hollow comes in with their CD and "wow" - they really do know how to shred with OSDM shit. They even came up with that characteristic production (HM-2 rules, we all know!), which immediately will let you think of the Swedish death metal scene. And it really is not bad at all. There's fuckin cool, shredding riffage, brutality and viciousness, properly powerful production and obviously also some more melodic bits, which provide more diversity into Nocturnal Hollow music. Sometimes you can obviously have a déjà vu feeling and some riffs or ideas can remind you the classic Dismember and Entombed stuff, or some younger bands like Paganizer. As I wrote earlier though, "A Whisper of an Horrendous Soul" is good enough to defend itself.  Nocturnal Hollow sticks to the very traditional patterns and that’s good. When I listen to songs like “Master of Invidious” I am bought absolutely. Or “God of All Deaths”, which has that cool melodic, epic feel similar to bands like Just Before Dawn. Very cool stuff, yes!

After checking some information about Nocturnal Hollow, I was surprised to see that "A Whisper of an Horrendous Soul" is already their fifth album. I don't think I've ever heard about this band before. Maybe if I did, I didn’t put much attention to this name. But I will definitely try to grab some of their previous efforts also, if they're as good as this album, then they're worth having.

Standout tracks: “Master of Invidious”, “God of All Deaths”, “World Decay”

Verdict: 70/100