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

Flatulent Sermon - Purulent Revelry

FLATULENT SERMON - Purulent Revelry (BRUTAL CAVE Productions - CD 2021)

"Purulent Sanctification of Disgorged Revelry" is a debut demo from Oregon, US death metal band Flatulent Sermon. Luckily, the band came to thought that this title may be slightly “too catchy” (hah), so they shortened it to simple "Purulent Revelry" and so the CD was released through Brutal Cave Productions. There's something truly great going on in the North American death metal scene (both US and Canadian), with so many excellent new bands... There's something fresh and exciting in many new demos or albums... Flatulent Sermon is no different. This demo shreds. Three songs are here, all filled with brutality, gore, sickness and putridity. And played in the fine tradition started by the old zombies from Baphomet, Pyrexia, Morta Skuld, Suffocation, Incantation... and more of corpse. 

Flatulent Sermon does not reinvent the wheel, these guys just stick to what we all love the most about that brutal US death metal style. And that is absolutely fine for me. They have some killer riffs spread through all these songs, there's sort of brutal groove in it, with a crushing wall of noise tearing your flesh into disgusting piles of blood and slabs of meat. And I do like how Flatulent Sermon sounds here. Sure, they have a lot of room to improve, to become better in many aspects... but as it is, "Purulent Revelry" is a fuckin solid demo, worth checking out. I think it is a pure sadistic pleasure to listen to such stuff and I always want more. I am glad then that labels like Brutal Cave bring it to a daylight and they put these demos on CDs. A 7” vinyl would be fine too! 

Verdict: 70/100

Incertus - Predestination to Damnation

INCERTUS - Predestination to Damnation (DEFENSE / MYTHRONE - CD 2021)

When getting ready to listen to Incertus, I had no idea that this is a Polish band. Not that it matters at all to me or makes any difference. It was just weird that I never heard anything about them before. Here is their album titled "Predestination to Damnation", with thirty minutes of quite intriguing, but also difficult to get into blend of black, doom and death metal. I gave few listens to this CD and I still am not quite sure what to think of it. On one hand Incertus style is definitely far from common, but some of the ideas they had, especially with the use of keyboards, are so annoying that they ruin the whole effect for me, personally. 

What I like about "Predestination to Damnation" is that this album takes a lot of influence from the old Greek scene for instance, and a bit of very, very early Polish black metal as well (with the exception that Incertus has far better sound). Music is strongly trying to get that dark, sinister vibe, definitely the atmosphere and epic feeling is what matters here the most, but Incertus does not avoid also some faster, more savage parts. In songs like "Rise for Torment" it worked very well. There's a nice riffage, monumental, obscure aura, harsh sound... but also a bit of more progressive parts (listen to guitar solos at 3:00). Basically, every song has something I liked, but to be fair, there was also a bit of stuff I didn't like. Sometimes it just feels like Incertus tried too much to diversify their music, to be honest, instead of staying focused on the one, proper direction. Like those weird keyboard sounds in the title song. And all in all, this material is not convincing me entirely. Let's say that "Predestination to Damnation" is mediocre, at best, and is for the die hard collectors of underground metal only. 

Verdict: 65/100

Baalberith - Manhunt

BAALBERITH - Manhunt (GODZ OV WAR - CD 2021)

I had one encounter with Baalberith before, when they released a split with Parh titled "Total Regression of Humanity". But that was few years ago and I don't remember anything from the mentioned split CD, to be honest. I am not even sure if I still have it. But Baalberith recently returned with their debut album "Manhunt", released through the restless Godz ov War Productions. And so, I had a chance to give few spins to this CD. 

My impression? Baalberith is a solid band, for sure. I can admit that their music has a good quality, technically everything was done correctly here. The production is meaty and powerful, Baalberith came up with some killer riffs, I like the feeling, how a bit of groove was mixed with brutality of their death metal. They had some cool ideas for arrangements and songwriting, this shit has a nice flow, it's intense and vicious... It’s a bit in the same vein as other Polish bands such as Stillborn or Kingdom. So, "Manhunt" delivers a nice listening session, especially with songs such as "Your Last Step" or "Tons of Mud". 

What is wrong then? I just cannot say that “Manhunt” blew me off. First and foremost, I am not big fan of that sort of growls, which you could hear here. They bore me and just sound a bit irritating. Besides, I constantly have that feeling that overall this music is just very mediocre. I don't want to say that it's forgettable or worthless, because that wouldn't be fair to the band and all the work they did here. And I am sure that there will be fans, who will enjoy this music more than I did. Personally, I just cannot find there many things, which would really knock me out or make me remember this album for good. And with all the high-quality releases around, this one has a small chance to win my full appreciation. Luckily, "Manhunt" is rather short album, a little over thirty minutes long, so giving it a spin or two doesn’t hurt. 

Verdict: 69/100

Ireful - The Walls of Madness

IREFUL - The Walls of Madness (DEFENSE Records - CD 2021)

Damn, I listen to so little of newer thrash metal that this style of music is almost inexistent for me. Almost every thrash I have in my collection is the 80's or early 90's shit. Exceptions are very few. I am even glad then that occasionally I get a new thrash metal recording, which I actually do like. Like "The Walls of Madness" by Italian Ireful. it's their debut EP, but I can truly say that I enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun to listen to this CD. 

There are just five songs, a little over twenty minutes of music, so I will keep my review short as well. But you need to know that Ireful plays the old school US thrash metal style. You may quickly make some comparisons to the old stuff from Exodus, Anthrax, Vio-Lence, Dark Angel, there's a lot of Possessed in it... Even some early Metallica similarities. Cool, why not, as long as the songs have some quality. And they do here. Ireful is thrashing like crazy with some brilliant riffs. With no remorse and no time wasted their music is just plain, straight forward thrash metal. "Panzerschreck" is the best example, I absolutely love that opening riffage there. When you listen to it you cannot stop your head from banging. Otherwise don’t call yourself a metalhead. Fantastic. Musically this is a very good effort. I guess the only thing I don't like here are those shouted vocals. The main vocals sound a lot like Becerra or Souza, and they are good. But there are many parts where some phrases are shouted by multiple voices, which is something I always hated about in many old thrash bands, like Anthrax. It's not something what would immediately ruin the listening for me, especially because I love many riffs and the production is also killer... But I just don’t like that kind of vocals, sorry to say. And Ireful uses them a lot. All in all, it’s a very cool debut and I am looking forward to hear more from Ireful. Check them out. 

Standout track: “Panzerschreck” 

Verdict: 70/100