Into Darkness - Into Darkness

INTO DARKNESS - Into Darkness (HELLTHRASHER - CD 2013)

Another killer Italian death metal band? Fuck! What happened to this country that all of a sudden within two or three years it spawned so many really cool old styled death metal hordes, while prior to that there was only very few, old bands, which I liked – like Bulldozer, Mortuary Drape, Horrid and Necrodeath – and nothing else managed to catch my attention?! I will not complain on that, as surely it is a good and positive thing, as bands like Undead Creep, Eroded, Profanal have been shredding mercilessly and Into Darkness joins their ranks… and who knows, if I like them even more than all those just mentioned bands? I mean, surely Undead Creep is awesome in their Swedish death metal slaughter and Profanal is also excellent at what they do… but Into Darkness may be the most obscure and evil sounding of all these bands and they really made my ears bleed with the material released under the title “Into Darkness”… which actually have been released as a demo first, but Hellthrasher found it as worthy being released professionally on CD, which they finally did (while Iron Bonehead will take care of the vinyl version – a must to have!).

I must admit that even before I have heard any music from Into Darkness I thought that a band with such moniker can mean one thing – that they can take some influence from the almighty gods of doomy death metal, Winter! They did the “Into Darkness” LP back in 1990 and really have shred to pieces with it. Into Darkness surely has many influences from doom death metal in their music, but I guess the origins of it lies slightly somewhere else, mainly in few American bands – Incantation and Derketa (whose last album “Goddess of Death” I still seek for; any help there?) and some European legends: Asphyx (oh yes!), Pentacle and Bolt Thrower, with some additional influence from Gorefest’s debut LP and a bit of early Swedish and Finnish death metal scene. Sounds promising? It surely fuckin does! This demo is truly excellent. First of all, I love its production, which is heavy, brutal, but so powerful that every guitar riff sounds like played in the chamber or catacomb, bringing forth lethal energy and smell of putrid!

But it wouldn’t be so effective, if Into Darkness didn’t manage to find the POWER OF RIFF! Riff must be killer, must be catchy and brutal, but combined with the dark, evil atmosphere and sometimes even with some more harmonic passages… and that’s exactly what I have found on “Into Darkness”. Amazing riffs, well composed, arranged and executed songs and fantastic vocals of Doomed Warrior. And in this kind of music this demo seems like a perfect stuff, comparable to the classic albums! Really, I mean it… just as much as I worship Asphyx or Bolt Thrower, I sincerely do the same now with this new band, so badly their music has massacred me. Ears are bleeding and the brain is boiling, the guts are ripped and the body is dismembered… A lovely musical torture! Every song on “Into Darkness” sounds like a classic tune to me, I like every aspect of them and often catch myself thinking “wow, is it new Asphyx album or are these Italians really so bloody good????”. Yes, they are and hit my musical G-point with their music perfectly, as this is exactly what I like most! Right from the amazing first song I am impressed… that title track is just amazing, starting a bit like “The Rack”, with killer doomy riff, then there’s a melodic theme and a guitar solo, which some mindreader could have taken directly from Eric Daniels’ or Paul Baayens’ head. The song is wonderfully varied and basically you’ll find here the essence of Into Darkness and because it lasts for almost 9 minutes then you can prepare yourself for many attractions – massively heavy, brutal doomy riffs, some faster parts and those harmonies here and there… plus deep, raspy vocal of Doomed Warrior… what an excellent effort. And the following songs are equally good, with the same, simple and classic recipe – to play killer riffs, create the evil atmosphere and fuck everything else.

Only four tracks, but they last for 25 minutes, so there’s a good portion of excellent doom / death metal to find on this CD. I definitely recommend you getting it, especially if you’re into the bands I mentioned above, especially Asphyx. And also if you like when so good looking women play your favourite tunes… as let’s be honest, Doomer Warrior looks fantastic and growls like a beast, how cannot I love her hehe???!!! Just don’t show it to my wife he he! I’m even more impressed when I see that she’s only 20 years old. Ha, back in the old days Nuclear Death, Derketa and Mythic have impressing everyone, now it is time for Into Darkness!

Final rate: 95/100

Blaze of Perdition - Necrosophist

 

BLAZE OF PERDITION - Necrosophist (PAGAN Records - 7"EP 2013)

“Necrosophist”, which is a new release from Polish black metal masters Blaze of Perdition, was yet another must to have piece of black wax, as I really liked both full length albums, which this band has spawned. They immediately joined Furia, Kriegsmaschine and Mgła to my favourite Polish black metal bands and surely it will be damn difficult for someone to move them from the throne. Anyway, this new 7”EP consists of two songs – one of which is a new track and another is Dissection cover. And “Night’s Blood”, originally from “Storm of the Light’s Bane”, has been performed here in truly excellent way and I dare to say that some of you may think this is a new, never unheard before version of this track, so well and carefully played it was. Blaze of Perdition didn’t toy with any changes and rearrangements and just played this track as it originally was and I like it a lot. But it was the new track from them, which I was more curious about. Cover is just an addition to it…

Blaze of Perdition used to have Watain and other Swedish religious black metal bands written all over their faces in almost every review they got. Now, after they released “Necrosophist” that may change into Dissection hehe. Clearly the opening theme for the title song from this EP has been influenced by Dissection and I really mean it, as every time I hear it I have such a strong resemblance, sort of déjà-vu feeling, to “When Dead Angels Lie” that it is a bit annoying almost… But fuck that, I still really like that theme; it truly is infectiously catchy and well played. Besides, for the rest of the song Blaze of Perdition walks slightly different paths; maybe it’s something between Dissection, Necrophobic, Sacramentum, Unanimated – so, the old, cult Swedish melodic black / death metal scene - and that damn Watain also, but everything played in more personal way, which is good of corpse. Even if I’m still trying to decide whether I like “Necrosophist” more than the two previous albums from the band, there’s no denying that this track is really, really good… different to the previous recordings, but good. I definitely like the vocals a lot, as they’re so diverse and sometimes just sick, but other time they’re screamed in clearer, epic way, which is damn good. From the other hand I feel like sometimes the band tried to put too much into this song and as so that finishing, over lengthy guitar solo is completely useless and I would rather just hear the plain riff, as the solo annoys me a bit. Other than that, the song is vicious, mostly damn fast and aggressive as hell, with many variations… Yeah, it is good song, definitely, stylistically different to their previous works, but it is up to you if you like it more or not. Personally I cannot decide… I do like this EP a lot, it is a great addition to my collection, but I’ll need to hear more music, as “Necrosophist” alone is not able to convince me 666%.

Final rate: 75/100

Unaussprechlichen Kulten - People of the Monolith

UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN - People of the Monolith (PROSELYTISM - CD 2008)

I feel more and more impressed and inspired by what’s going on in the Chilean scene (as well as in some other South American countries like Brazil and Peru), seeing the great number of dedicated maniacs who run killer fanzines (Crypts of Eternity shreds! Compilation of Death shreds even more!) or labels, not to mention some fantastic bands, which I had a chance to get to know recently – like Diabolical Messiah (which I think is the best Chilean band I’ve ever heard!), Demonic Rage, Communion, Slaughtbbath, Atomicide… and of corpse also Unaussprechlichen Kulten, which was one of the first Chilean bands I’ve heard of (but I’m speaking of the newer bands from this country; I don’t mean the old crews like Toten Korps, Pentagram or Atomic Aggressor whatever…). I think I’ve heard of them, when I saw an advert on Blood Harvest website, announcing the release of some vinyl. Then I’ve got somewhere their split CD with After Death, which turned out to be just killer, but only recently I finally managed to got the chance to purchase a copy of “People of the Monolith”, which I took without hesitating and surely I don’t regret that, as the CD turned out to be really solid and worth listening to. Besides, once again I must applause the way Proselytism releases their albums. Before that I really felt astonished by their work, which they did on the amazing “Satan Tottendemon Victory!!!” of Diabolical Messiah and here on “People of the Monolith” the whole artwork and the way this album was released is equally amazing and special. Again it comes in the 7”EP size cover, which you fold out and can see great picture of the band, even better picture of desecrated figure of christpig… and inside, within a very nice, Lovecraftian frame there are all the lyrics… Really, I do appreciate the whole effort Proselytism does to make their releases special and unique and they really are such. It’s a shame only that they’re quite difficult to obtain here in Poland, but whenever I have luck I do buy them without hesitate. Definitely this is one of the most thrilling labels at the moment for me.

OK, but let’s back to Unaussprechlichen Kulten and their “People of the Monolith” album. I actually would really like to listen to some of their previous stuff as well, as I never had any chance to give a listen to either any of their many demos or the debut CD “Wake Up in the Night of Walpurgis” from 2005. A shame really, but I hope I’ll have a chance to fix it at some point. But for now “People of the Monolith” is enough to satisfy the hunger for some brutal, obscure and morbid death metal. Unaussprechlichen Kulten has stuck totally in the classic death metal style, mainly from the American scene and surely they do take bands like Immolation, Incantation, Goreaphobia, early Vital Remains, Morpheus Descends, Sadistic Intent, Disgrace, Grave and quite a lot of early Suffocation as their main influence, which is very fine for me, if you ask. Don’t think of them as a bare copy though, as it would just be stupid. Those Chilean maniacs have been smart enough to get everything done in the only proper way and really played this music with passion and dedication. And yeah, the effect is just massacring and really if you dig those bands, which I mentioned they you must give Unaussprechlichen Kulten a listen. The music is BRUTAL, the music is MORBID and it is utterly DESTRUCTIVE, composed of many killer riffs and great, deep growling of Joseph Curwen. On top of all that I just worship the atmosphere of this recording, as it is truly macabre and eerie, invoking the ancient rites of ghouls… and of corpse the band is hugely influenced by the works of Lovecraft and I really love that atmosphere they create here. But the music… well, as I already written Unaussprechlichen Kulten really did great job on this album and even if they may not be discovering any new planets on the universe or whatever, then who would care? I don’t even wanna hear any experimentations on such albums, just plain and sincere, traditional death metal sound. And whether Unaussprechlichen Kulten plays it in slow, almost doomy way or makes it so fast that the walls collapse, I always enjoy it. And those fast parts are actually dominating the album. And for dessert you’ll find here a cover of Sadistic Intent (“Conflict Within”)… Aarrgghhhh!

OK, the album may not be the most thrilling I’ve ever heard, especially after I was completely devastated by the amazing Coffin Texts or Nominon LPs, but still I just cannot resist those sounds and hail the band for doing a great work. Give me so more, uurrghhhh!

Final rate: 75/100

 

 

Mordbrand - Kolumbarium

 

MORDBRAND - Kolumbarium (DEATHGASM - 7"EP 2012)

What a jackass I am. When I first gave a couple of spins to this new 7”EP of Mordbrand titled “Kolumbarium”, after hearing the first song, I told myself “oh, it is really good, very vicious with great, harsh vocals of Per Boder, who sounds here like those guys from bands like Invidious and Degial” and for the second song I told “ah, this one sounds a bit weird”… And then what happened? Fuck, I just realized that I have played this EP at the 45 rpm instead of the classic 33 rpm (and it even says on the vinyl to play it on 33 rpm!!!!)! Haha, what a stupid shit! Fuck it is funny that the song “Consume Them” actually sounded quite good even at 45 rpm. Try it! Anyway, I had start all over again and listen to “Kolumbarium” properly this time.

“Consume Them” is definitely the best track of Mordbrand, which I have listened to so far (although I still haven’t heard their split MLP with Bombs of Hades unfortunately, but I’m working on getting this piece of vinyl as well…). But their first MCD “Necropsychotic” was OK, even if nothing exceptional really… good, but also quite forgettable to be honest. “Kolumbarium” sounds then much better, in my opinion. “Consume Them” sounds to me like one of the most crushing and absolutely killer death metal anthems played in the Swedish style, which I have recently heard. It starts with quite brutal riff – and the sound is also very aggressive and heavy, which is great – but the song has actually many different faces and there are also some more melodic and dark accents and I absolutely love this slow, doomy fragment in the vein of the Winter and Autopsy. It is just a fuckin smasher and it makes my ears bleed and brain has been squeezed into a bloody blob after I’ve listened to it. Oh, it is truly excellent and Per Boder’s vocals are truly great here. But honestly “Consume Them” belongs to those songs, which once you listen to they’ll stay with you for a long time. It is a true descendant of God Macabre and Goddefied, I am telling you that!

But “Let Them Slumber” from side B is also a good song and again I like it more than the stuff from “Nercropsychotic”. The riffing is just way better, the atmosphere is more evil and darker, it is very horror-esque, which is fantastic, especially when the band plays some slower bits and “Let Them Slumber” also has such kind of doomy riffing, which I absolutely worship, while in some other parts the song is almost catchy and surely will invite everyone into the mosh! Ha, so there are two new songs from Mordbrand on “Kolumbarium” (which Deathgasm released in huge quantity of 1000 copies; I managed to get one of 200’s white vinyls) and I can honestly say that the band really shreds here. Can’t wait to listen to a full length album finally!

Final rate: 90/100

Graveyard / Ulcer - Of Ancient Metal and Eternal Death

GRAVEYARD / ULCER - Of Ancient Metal and Eternal Death (SELFMADEGOD - 7"EP 2013)

Selfmadegod Records is more and more active, which is something I can only applause, as good labels and releases will always have my support. I do buy some stuff from them once in a while and in my recent order, along with some EPs and new Megascavenger CD, I purchased this jewel – a split 7”EP of Graveyard / Ulcer!!!! Damn, I didn’t even know that something like this was planned for release, so it was a great surprise, when I found it on the Selfmadegod website. Good news and of corpse I quickly made my order, as I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to have such a killer release (even if 500 copies is quite a lot, so there was no risk it will sell within few days). I really like the idea of having both bands together and more so, I like the fact that one of them is Polish and everything has been unleashed by a Polish label – call it a local patriotism hehe! Anyway, EP comes in really cool layout, as usual nice drawings from Rafał Kruszyk and I also like the deep red burgundy wine colouring of the layout!

I think everybody knows already what to expect from Graveyard – nothing more or less, but a pure old school death metal, heavily influenced by the Swedish scene and classics like Dismember, Entombed and Carnage. They even managed to recreate that wonderful Sunlight Studio sound, with this incredibly characteristic and one of a kind guitar tone, which I – and so many other maniacs I guess – love so much. Obviously no one will say that Graveyard plays anything exceptionally original here, but who would care? I don’t, really, I just totally worship this band’s recordings. Their debut album is such a killer recording, so is the MLP “The Altar of Sculpted Skulls” – all full of excellent (Swedish) riffs, fantastic dark, evil atmosphere and filled with great aggression and energy. What else can someone expect from a death metal release? “Ye Incantation” is just a superb track, I mean it. That first riff, sounding like taken directly from “Left Hand Path”, does the entire job and instantly forces me to bang the skull!!!!! Fuck! This song has excellent feeling and I really appreciate Graveyard’s music. Also the sound is just great. From the other hand the cover of Celtic Frost (“The Usurper”!!!) has slightly different production, maybe not as good especially when comparing it to the brutal sound of the first song. But this cover is decent, well played, so certainly it is a good addition to this EP!

While Graveyard is already a well established underground death metal band then Ulcer isn’t as popular and known to many maniacs. Not yet at least, as they’re about to release their CD on Singaporean Pulverized Records (“Grant Us Death”). I never heard any of their previous releases: demos or the debut CD “Serpent Trinity”, which was self financed and I guess even here in Poland it isn’t that well known (let me just add that the band features members of Deivos, Abusiveness and Blaze of Perdition, including the ever busy Mścisław a’ka Revenger and Wizun – how do they do this that they have so much time to play in all these bands and always deliver a great quality over the quantity remains a secret to me, but well done!). So, this is my first meeting with Ulcer music and I’m really glad I could finally listen to them. I’ve heard that the band plays quite Swedish influenced music and that is something not so common here in Poland. We used to have Hazael years ago (THORRRRRRRRRRR!!) and recently Vexatus and The Dead Goats, but still this kind of music is not so common on this ground. Ulcer surely knows their influences and uses them in correct way, not necessarily copying one or two bands, but putting something more into their sound. Their only song from this EP (“No Room in Hell”) is definitely nicely brutal and aggressive, the riffs are not too melodic, but more straight forward and relentless, providing a good portion of lethal energy and uncompromising attitude and a very nice, more harmonic guitar solo in the end. Yeah, this band is really good, maybe not as good as Graveyard, but good!

Both bands from this EP are about to release their new albums soon – Ulcer will unleash “Grant Us Death” and Graveyard will release “The Sea Grave” (a must to have to vinyl!!!!). After listening to this EP I cannot wait to hear both albums, my hunger is now very, very strong, so you better run or I might bite your head off and something… No, but seriously – Graveyard never disappoints and Ulcer is also a very good band, so this EP is just a must to have in the collection, nothing more is needed to be said.

Final rate: 80/100