Archives of the Dead part XXII: Dawn – The Darkness Within (demo 1993)

Archives of the Dead part XXII: Dawn – The Darkness Within (demo 1993)

Simmi Schand (drums), Robert "Wenge" Wenglorz (guitars), Martin "Witchskinner" Jäger (vocals / guitar), Arne (bass)

Recorded and mixed at Mainstreet Studio, August '93. Produced by Dawn and Falk Gruber.

Bill Koeb (Artwork)

I am surprised that in times, when almost every old demo and every old band has been already exhumed and re-released on CD or vinyl, no label was yet interested in Dawn. But I mean Dawn from Germany, not the well know Swedish band (who actually had their albums and demos re-released last year on Century Media). I hope it is a matter of time though and that their recordings will also get a proper re-release. I suppose not many of you know or remember Dawn, I cannot remember if this name have ever appeared in old fanzines, in reviews, reports, etc. Personally I also have been recommended to check them a couple of years ago – and I was really surprised by great quality of their demo from 1993 called “The Darkness Within”.

Damn, I did not expect that this demo will be that good – and I really mean GOOD, in my opinion Dawn was just as good as many other old death metal bands from Germany, such as Fleshcrawl, Obscenity, Mangled Torsos or Infected Virulence. It was the same type of brutal death metal, it was the same quality… so, why no label was interested to sign Dawn back in the old days, I have no idea. They never released an album and after “The Darkness Within” Dawn putted out just a couple of EPs (“Trespass Infinity” in 1996 and “Entrance to Malevolence” in 1998), before splitting up in 1999. What a shame. By the way, it’s worth mentioning that some of the band members played also in Blood and Malaphar.

I have listened to “The Darkness Within” many times already and I cannot say anything bad about this demo. It’s absolutely excellent stuff. Yes, it is rather typical death metal grunt, the music is relatively brutal and obscure, violent and sick. For me it’s a real jewel that people, who loved old stuff from early Benediction, Gorefest demos, Morgoth, Mangled Torsos, Sinister and so on and on should love immediately. Right from the first song “Ex Oblivion” the demo explodes with really fast stuff, but obviously it’s not one dimensional playing, so there are also classic patterns played in slower tempos and I like these slower parts the most. Take for example such killer songs like “Morbid Dawnfall” and “Open the Gate” and tell me if that isn’t a real death metal feast. I can almost see in my head Dawn playing these godly songs in a stinky small venue, with handful of maniacs banging their heads and doing an aggressive mosh. Old school to the bone, with harsh, but really awesome production.

Overall “The Darkness Within” contains five sickening brutal songs and each will bring massacre, I can promise you that! Have a bath in excrements and discover this forgotten German band!

Standout track: “Open the Gate”

Final rate: 80/100

Comecon - Converging Conspiracies

COMECON - Converging Conspiracies (CENTURY MEDIA - CD 1993)

I remember the first time I’ve heard about Comecon. I think it was the end of 1992, when I saw an interview with them in Metal Hammer. I noticed their killer, Entombed-like logo and it obviously caught my eye and brought interest in probably yet another great Swedish band. I got their cassette of debut album, but I cannot say that I was really impressed by the music. It was decent, but not quite as good as some other bands from their country. Yeah, that was many years ago. I still have first two Comecon albums, but honestly I haven’t listened to them in many years. But recently I decided to give a listen to “Converging Conspiracies” and damn, this album sounds way better than I remembered and I actually really fuckin enjoyed it. This album has everything that fans of the Swedish death metal should like and even more. Somehow “Converging Conspiracies” is rather forgotten, so I decided to write few words and remind you about Comecon.

Well, maybe one of the reasons why Comecon seems to be underrated is the fact that they never were a typical Swedish death metal band and in some ways they were quite odd. Their music may have had some typical ingredients of the genre (Sunlight Studio production, a lot of Entombed influences and so on). But some of their songs or riffs were just weird and far from typical. They have been changing the style with every album, and sadly their third album “Fable Frolic” went such a crazy and weird way that it turned this band into total garbage. Yeah, if there’s an album, which you should avoid, then avoid “Fable Frolic”. They have also been using a drum machine – which was not so common back in those days. And finally every album featured different vocalist – LG Petrov sang on “Megatrends in Brutality”, Marc Grewe on “Fable Frolic”. “Converging Conspiracies” featured Martin van Drunen. Actually it feel like the change of vocalist fitted also the change of the musical direction. Like Grewe, who sang on “Fable Frolic”. At that time Morgoth also turned into complete fuckin crap with their forgettable album “Feel Sorry for the Fanatic”, so both albums were weird, very un-death metal productions of once death metal bands. Meanwhile “Converging Conspiracies” is quite harsh, vicious and aggressive death metal and for such van Drunen’s voice fits perfectly.

It’s not your most brutal and vicious death metal album. The music is quite groovy, a lot of their riffs do not even sound typical death metal. Sometimes they have that Entombed-like death’n’rollish sound, other time they may remind you Morgoth from not bad at all “Odium” album, so Comecon did not avoid a bit of experimenting with the music. But there are also some more straight forward death metal pieces and even some killer melodies, so the whole album is very varied, but sounds good all the way through. And van Drunen’s vocals add more harsh and aggressive feeling to everything, that’s why I listen to this CD with such a huge pleasure. Songs like “Democrator”, “Community”, “Bleed / Burn” (definitely the best song on the album), “The Whole World” or “Worms” (which surely is the most angry and aggressive track here) sound incredibly good, there are many fantastic riffs, great arrangements and ideas, killer vocals... Comecon will let you look at death metal from different perspective and it’s surely a great advantage of “Converging Conspiracies”. The music may sound like a mixture of Entombed, Pestilence and Morgoth (from “Odium”), but it also sounds original and kind of unique, so that should be enough as for the reason if “Converging Conspiracies” is worth to find. Yes, it is. It’s Comecon’s best album for sure.

Standout tracks: “Democrator”, “Community”, “Bleed / Burn”, “The Whole World”, “Worms”

Final rate: 75/100

Anthem - Goecja / Necronomicon

ANTHEM - Goecja / Necronomicon (Self released demo 2007/EP 2009)

Anthem is one of those great, but little known death metal bands from Poland, which I really wanna recommend. I doubt if many from abroad have heard of them, but damn – their music fuckin slays. “Phosphorus” album from 2014 is such a killer. Now Anthem is about to release their second CD “Praeposterum”, so I’m really looking forward to hear it. In the meantime I would like to introduce you to Anthem’s very early and quite hard to find recordings: “Goecja” demo 2007 and “Necronomicon” EP 2009. I managed to grab copies of both and damn, the music on these releases is simply great. I am quite surprised to hear such a great quality crushing death metal and it’s a shame that none of these demos was better promoted, because they deserved to be! Maybe one day someone will think about re-releasing them on CD, that would be a great idea. Both demos were “pressed” on CDr with simple, printed covers and slimcase, so I would also wish to see these recordings better released. Hope it will bring them an idea to do so!

“Goecja” from 2007 contains four killer tracks of fast and brutal death metal. From the very first second, this music brings an utter destruction and slays with no mercy. Great fast tempo, very dense riffage and killer production. It all sounds like a massive cannonade, heavy attack, which can turn whole city into ruin. And I love it. It’s so powerful, so fuckin intense. It’s not constant blasting, there are some slower or mid paces parts as well, so the music is quite varied. And the riffs, with vocals and whole performance is top notch, with songs like “Ol Sonuf” and “Chirographum” being damn ferocious crushers. Demo wasn’t even recorded in professional studio, but the final effect is better than you would expect and I dare to say that this music should impress every death metal maniac.

Then “Necronomicon” EP, with two tracks. This time the band went to the studio – but honestly, I’ve never heard of Bloodblack Studio before. But the sound has even improved. Anyway, these two songs continue the fierce and destructive death metal style from “Goecja”. Anthem doesn’t waste time for useless crap and both tracks are filled with great dose of death goodness. It’s super fast, intense and brutal. The vocals are vicious and you won’t even notice that the band had all lyrics written in Polish. And quality is superb.

If you like Azarath, you will like Anthem also. If you like Vital Remains, then Anthem will be for you also (although they don’t have that epic side of Vital Remains music). You can even compare it to Deicide, but Deicide is utter shit since many years, so I don’t care for this band. Anthem is better. And both “Goecja” and “Necronomicon” are super awesome releases. Shame (for you haha) that they’re not available anywhere, but I do hope it will change. And now I’m ready for “Praeposterum”. Nie ma boga.

Final rate: 80/100

Rex Mundi - Ontology

REX MUNDI - Ontology (WOLFSPELL Records - CD 2016)

Discussing the quality of albums like “Ontology” by US black metal band Rex Mundi is kind of problematic. I did enjoy this album, yes I did. I’ve been playing it quite many times, I really got into the atmosphere of the music, I found many stunning fragments on there and generally I feel like this is not only one of the best releases from Wolfspell Records, but also an album, which I really want to recommend to all. It’s very solid, it’s well done, good sounding black metal. And that’s it. What’s the problem then? Well, maybe it’s something completely irrelevant, but tell me – how many such well done and worthy albums are being released every month? Oh, dozens I guess? And now think how many of them will really have an impact on the scene, how many of them will be remembered in the future? And how many of them do bring anything constructive to the genre? Well, I guess not so many. And that’s probably the only problem that some people may have with such album like “Ontology”. Because other than that, this is just great black metal CD, well worth to get and to listen to. I cannot say anything bad about it. OK, maybe one thing I have to pick up – the album is a bit too long, in my opinion. It goes endlessly for over 60 minutes and because the songs are rather similar to each other and none of them brings anything completely different from the other, then you will feel that 65 minutes is simply too much. I would prefer to keep albums such as this one up to 40 minutes long and that’s it. You can take two songs off this CD and release them as an EP or something and it would be fine.

Allright, I’m not picky. “Ontology” is what it is and from strictly musical point of view, this is just well done black metal. Rex Mundi presents quite clean sounding, well produced black metal, with a strong atmospheric background, filled with a lot of harmonies, easily listenable fragments, which are sometimes spiced with keyboards, acoustics or different kind of vocals… so, it all sounds just very fuckin well. The music – even if it’s fast (and it gets fast quite often) – is very easy to get into, sounds almost catchy and memorable. I know that such descriptions usually won’t fit primordial black metal sound and some purists may think now “fuck, that must be some crappy pop / black metal”. Hell, no! Rex Mundi has kept a bit of that black metal harshness, as well as aggression and cold, grim feeling. But they come up with great, melodic, atmospheric black metal. It’s nothing dull, nothing cheesy. It’s nothing that would not speak even to black metal purists. The songwriting is not bad at all, I really like many of these riffs and arrangements. It does feel sometimes like the music was circling around one song only, because all songs sound quite alike to each other. But that’s not a major problem and in the end I have to say that I did spent quite a lot of time with Rex Mundi. I’ve never heard of this band before, but their debut album was released on Debemur Morti Productions. I have to get it as well, but until then I can only recommend “Ontology”.

Standout tracks: “Holon”, “Palisade”

Final rate: 75/100

Instinct - An Auroral Gathering of Skulls

INSTINCT - An Auroral Gathering of Skulls (SCHATTENKULT Produktionen CD 2016)

Darkness spew out another black metal filth, this time it’s UK based Instinct. Well, it’s yet another name, which I was not familiar with, until I got this CD, released by Schattenkult Produktionen. Sorry for that, but I just missed this project before. Verst (the sole Instinct member) managed to release quite many different recordings until now. His newest release titled “An Auroral Gathering of Skulls” is a compilation of various material of Instinct and to be honest, it was tough to get into it, not only because it’s difficult to find interest in a band, which you never heard of before, but also because this CD contains over 70 minutes of various quality music. There are some great songs, but also some, which I could easily skip and simply forget about. The sound is also different through the whole CD, but that actually was not a big problem for me personally.

The best part of the whole compilation are surely songs from “Blackmore Isolationist” EP from 2015. These are some seriously obscure and morbid sounding black metal pieces that I did enjoy and which are fine representatives of harsh, primeval black metal sound. What I like about them is that they do incorporate some melodies into the cold, grim riffage, but also come up with atmospheric pieces like “Conceit, Sapience & Execration”, which is a great song. You can find there even some spoken vocals and keyboards to fill the sound – so, the result is definitely an interesting one and it’s not the usual boring and overdone harsh, primitive black metal. The only part of this EP, which I didn’t like so much, was Blitz cover. But you can always skip these two minutes easily with your remote control, right? By the way, what an odd choice for a cover on a black metal release!

Going further through this compilation, first we get a track called “An Auroral Gathering of Skulls - Part I”, which is an exclusive recording for this CD. It’s another interesting song, especially because it’s more like experimental and instrumental music, so it’s not typical black metal. It slowly develops from ambient beginning into black metal. The riffing, just like on the earlier EP, is almost hypnotizing. The production is quite noisy, but somehow it doesn’t disturb, but fits such style of black metal very well.

I have more problems with following track called “Nocturnal Invocation” (taken from “Albion” CD). The fact that it’s 20 minutes of the same, monotonous playing is something of a challenge for listener to get into. There are some great riffs in it, really, I like it, but damn, this song goes endlessly! It’s just way too much and gets boring after a while.

What else is here? Next couple of songs are taken from various split releases (with Myrrdin and White Medal). They’re older recordings, but such “Chamber Dark” belongs to my faovurite songs on this compilation. It’s quite slow paced, with cleaner production, some melodic accents and generally it’s just different to “Nocturnal Invocation”, but it sounds really killer and I like its cold, dark aura a lot.

Later there are three more songs – each in different vein, each from different year (one of them is an old recording from 2005!) – but they complete the whole album in good way. Overall with “An Auroral Gathering of Skulls” you will get 76 minutes of music, so it’s a lot, but I think that Instinct is worth of your time and money, and this CD should be a good recommendation for black metal fanatics.

Standout tracks: “Blackmore Isolationist”, “Conceit, Sapience & Execration”, “Chamber Dark”, “An Auroral Gathering of Skulls”

Final rate: 75/100

Depraved Literature part IX – Putrefaction issue 5

Depraved Literature part IX – Putrefaction issue 5

Authors: Tomas Nyqvist

Origin: Sweden

Release date: 1991

Interviews: Agressor, At the Gates, Baphomet, Marduk, Bolt Thrower, Carbonized, Dark Tranquillity, Death Courier, Demigod, Dissection, Repugnance, Immortal, Impaler (UK), Infamy (FL), Infested Incarnation, Interment (FIN), Malaphar, Macabre End (God Macabre), Merciless, Misery (SWZ), Sadist, Sadus, Salem, Samael, Sentenced, Shub-Niggurath, Therion, Atomic Aggressor, Unleashed, Traumatic, Torturer, Obscure, Osmose Productions

I haven’t done any old zines articles in long time, so it’s time to bring it back to this website. Here’s Putrefaction zine from Sweden, issue five, from 1991!!!

I know that back in the old days Putrefaction (ran by Tomas Nyqvist, who was also a founder of once famous No Fashion Records) was among the most influential and best fanzines in Sweden. I think I’ve seen just two out of five issues of this zine and to be honest I can say that in my opinion it was rather typical zine of its time. Its biggest advantage was the fact that it was released in the best period of time, so it featured the best bands that were around then. Putrefaction covered many classic bands and helped promoting many fantastic, legendary demos, but I cannot say that the content and text quality was better than in other zines. It was solid, but nothing special. Sometimes it was simply awfully bad, so I cannot agree that Putrefaction was a killer fanzine.

To cut this retrospective article short, here I have issue five from 1991. Well, the content of bands, which Tomas interviewed for it is absolutely amazing and contains a bunch of fuckin killers and classics. Just check the list above. Wow, it’s impressive. Sadly, the quality of all interviews was poor. Usually they were really short (some of which may have had less than ten questions with answers that include maybe five words – so you can imagine how boring and uninteresting are these interviews!). And the questions often were just boring and typical. And sometimes simply stupid, where Tomas asked for completely irrelevant, childish things, trying to be funny, but he was pathetic. I always feel it’s a shame that we get an old fanzine with such an excellent list of bands interviewed and after reading it turns out that it gave you nothing – no new information you were searching for, no joy of reading some old chats…

Take that interview with Morbid Angel as an example. It’s just waste of space. These days something like this would never be published. Interviews like those with Morbid Angel, Misery, Baphomet or Atomic Aggressor would end up in the rubbish. Then we have interview like the one with Merciless, which is full of bullshit, stupid questions (about fuckin, drinking or whatever) and half of it is in Swedish, what makes completely no sense.

Much better impression was to read chats with smaller bands, which never made it through, like Traumatic, Obscure (Spain), Interment (Finland) and Infamy or finding about completely new names like Malaphar. At least there was something interesting to find out about. Also reading about bands you don’t read often, like Salem, Death Courier or Impaler (UK) was OK. Finally it was great to read about very early incarnations of black metal bands such as Immortal and Marduk (this one with their very old logo and band picture – very precious thing to find!).

Best interviews surely are those with Traumatic, Bolt Thrower, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, Obscure, Macabre End, Unleashed.

As for the layout and everything else – it was also nothing special, nothing what would distinguish Putrefaction zine from all other fanzines around. It’s weird that there were no reviews in it. Soooo…. Yeah, cult name on the fanzine scene, but I cannot say that Putrefaction really deserved this.

Quotations:

“Lyrics on the LP are against all kids of crap like war, violence, coca cola, drugs…” (Therion)

 “I’m the hottest guy in this world!” (Arturo, Shub Niggurath)

“I’m not interested in girls. But in fact I’ve fucked dogs and pigs, goats and children this week” (Vorphalack, Samael)

Lathspell - Torn Cold Void

LATHSPELL - Torn Cold Void (WOLFSPELL Records - CD 2016)

I just finished listening to Sarastus debut album and here’s another Finish black metal band from Wolfspell Records roster, with digipak CD released in cooperation with Patologian Laboratorio Productions. Here’s Lathspell with “Torn Cold Void”. Their name is familiar, but I cannot remember if I’ve really heard anything from their biography before (and this is already their fourth full length album, so I have some work to do to catch up with Lathspell discography). Anyways, in Lathspell line up you’ll find Grim666 on bass / vocals, who’s obviously known from many other projects, such as Kalmankantaja. Musically though there’s just absolutely nothing what both bands would have in common.

I have to say that “Torn Cold Void” is one of the best releases from Wolfspell Records so far. I’ve really enjoyed this album a lot and have been spinning this CD more than anything else in the past days. It’s just one of those releases, which maybe won’t be ever called groundbreaking and classic, but the music is so well composed and played and everything sounds so damn awesome that you just wanna listen to it again and again… and again! It definitely is more than just solid release; it’s something that I wanna recommend to all black metal maniacs.

There’re only four tracks on “Torn Cold Void”, but the overall length is close to 40 minutes, so it’s a lot of music. With average 10 minutes per song, Lathspell managed to keep the listener interested and comes with great riffs one after another. Their music is not that typical Finnish harsh and cold, primitive black metal, alike to Horna. And that’s good. It’s relatively fast black metal, with some slower parts thrown here and there to create more diverse and interesting effects. Riffs, which are here, are very sharp and vicious, they have a strong melodic base, sort of in the vein of many Swedish black metal bands, which keep their black metal fast and melodic. It all sounds great, because the music is so bloody aggressive and fierce, but it has a proper obscure atmosphere and the whole album is filled with great dose of energy to rip your souls. In songs like “Beneath the Flaming Earth” I could find only fantastic riffage (like the opening riff, what a killer!!!) – whether the music is fast or slower (like in the further part of this track), it sounds damn great and I cannot stop playing it loud as fuck. It bursts with hatred and viciousness, it rips the flesh apart and it simply delivers a killer dose of black metal slaughter.

The sound quality of “Torn Cold Void” is perfect also, so if I had to make a short summary of this review, I would just say that Lathspell came up with almost flawless black metal album. It has everything you should like about fast black metal and despite having so lengthy songs, it never bores or gets monotonous. “Torn Cold Void” surely belongs to the most surprising releases of Wolfspell Records… and you know, instead of wanking over the new Dark Funeral, who bores to death as always, you should simply get this Lathspell album and give it a listen. It’s way different music when compared to other Grim666 projects, but for me Lathspell crushes them all.

Standout track: “Beneath the Flaming Earth”

Final rate: 80/100 

Sarastus - II - Toinen tuleminen

SARASTUS - II - Toinen tuleminen (WOLFSPELL Records CD 2016)

Sarastus is another Finnish black metal band in the Wolfspell Records roster. And it’s yet another project, whose music I liked and which I have a pleasure to recommend with all honesty. Previously to this CD Sarastus released only “Demo I”, so “II - Toinen tuleminen” is like their first proper release. It’s not bad then for a debut album, I have to admit!

But in the beginning I wasn’t so much convinced. First time I played “II - Toinen tuleminen” I was not impressed at all and felt like Sarastus is one of these dull and totally forgettable black metal bands, which bring nothing interesting to the genre and all they do is making you sleepy and bored. But after few spins I started to like “II - Toinen tuleminen” more. I realized that even though Sarastus music is not something what will bring them popularity (all in all they’re not from hyped country like Iceland haha), it’s solid and good enough to interest every black metal maniac. Their music sounds insanely Finnish. Mainly because the lyrics are written in Finnish – and harsh, aggressive vocals sang in Finnish have a very specific sound, which you can immediately recognize. You don’t even have to check Metal Archives to guess that this is a band from Finland, so unique and different from the usual English or even Norwegian are the Finnish lyrics in black metal bands. But the music also reminds me about Finnish bands, such as Azaghal, so it all fits perfectly.

“II - Toinen tuleminen” really stands out from the mediocrity, because the album contains some great riffs and the overall songwriting is very good. I like the ferocious, vicious feeling of these songs, I like its aggression and fast parts. I also like how that harsh, violent and fast black metal riffs are mixed with melodies, especially because they’re never done in a way, which would make Sarastus music sound weak and too soft. The production is also relatively clean and polished, but it fits the music very well and so everything sounds just as it should be. And even if “II - Toinen tuleminen” is not the best black metal of this year, it’s good enough to have a recommendation. Check it out then.

Final rate: 65/100

Nile - Black Seeds of Vengeance

NILE - Black Seeds of Vengeance (RELAPSE - LP 2000)

“Black Seeds of Vengeance” is often recognized as Nile’s best album ever. Is it really? Yes, I have to say that it is one of their best records for sure.

Originally released in the year 2000, “Black Seeds of Vengeance” brought an obvious progression in the style of the band. Of course as a follower to “Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka” it keeps many integral elements of Nile music intact – such as dense, brutal and technical riffage, unique combination of different kinds of beastly growls and inclusion of epic parts with some orchestral elements, Tibetan chants and use of some traditional Mid East instruments. And of course with “Black Seeds of Vengeance” Nile went even further into the concept and the world of Ancient Egypt – and what I love about this record is that from now on Karl Sanders started to use descriptions for every track, explaining us not only its meaning and lyrical content, but also the sources where he was taking some ideas, old transcriptions and general knowledge. This is something fascinating and reading these liner notes (which Nile continued doing on all their future albums) is highly interesting. You know, lyrics are one thing, but knowing their meaning in such difficult subject like Ancient Egypt and old cultures, where higher knowledge is required, is essential, especially if we deal with band like Nile.

The basis of Nile music was still the same. What did change was the song structuring and songs / album length. Nile extended the length and “Black Seeds of Vengeance” is something like ten minutes longer than its predecessor and (most of the) songs are not so short anymore. When you will listen to this record you will surely notice that the riffage are even tighter and more brutal. It all really sounds like a furious demonstration of brutality and is almost close to cross the line of ridiculousness sometimes, giving you an image of unreadable, chaotic wall of brutal noise. It is obvious then that you need to listen to this album with special attention. Only this way you’ll be able to catch all these technical details and ideas. Complexity will not be a problem if you will hear the riffs, instead of hearing a wall of noise.

Luckily “Black Seeds of Vengeance” also contains many hooks, interludes or epic, slower parts, so it’s not one dimensional and boring brutal death metal. Already in the first song, which is the title track, you’ll get surprised when after three minutes of relentless cannonade of vicious riffage a killer slow part breaks the intensity and I am sure that everyone then starts to growl “Black Seeds of Vengeance!!!!!!!!”. Similar patterns have been used also for “Defiling the Gates of Ishtar” and “Masturbation the War God” – and they do sound amazing. And this is why we all love Nile, because it has these special motifs that differ them from other brutal death metal bands. On this album all slower parts / songs sound extremely good and I can especially mention “To Dream of Ur”. It does sound dark and eerie, epic and monumental. I have to say that the ending part of “Black Seeds of Vengeance” is my favourite, because it strays from the blasting, thick brutal death metal and the music became more spiritual, mystical and ritualistic. It just sounds super amazing.

Well, the whole album is fantastic. It may not be my favourite Nile record, but I easily put in my top four. Essential stuff for death metal maniacs, even those who usually don’t like technical and brutal stuff.

Standout tracks: “To Dream of Ur”, “Black Seeds of Vengeance”, “The Black Flame”

Final rate: 80/100

Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka

NILE - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (RELAPSE - LP 1998)

Technical, modern brutal death metal?? Absolutely not my cup of piss. So how come that I really like Nile and most of their albums are so damn good, in my opinion? No idea, but there’s something special about this American band what makes me think that their music is not just tiresome brutal and unmemorable piece of guitar masturbation with deep growls. Obviously Nile music is technical, fast and brutal, but they do remember about good songwriting, about having some catchy, memorable riffs or melodies. They are able to create special atmosphere in their music, by adding intros or symphonic parts, which are really well suitable to the entire (ancient) Egyptian concept. And they do are high class songwriters. So, I do like to shred some Nile records once in a while. And from their whole discography I still consider “Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka” as one of my real favourites.

This was obviously first Nile album I’ve ever heard. And back in the end of the 90’s this LP was like a breakthrough for the death metal scene. It was special, because new band came up with original sounding and exceptional death metal and crushed the scene, which back then was so much focused on black metal (or its symphonic parody). What I like about “Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka”, especially when compared to other Nile albums, is that this is their most straight forward and punching album of all. The length of these songs is much shorter (well, the whole albums I rather short, with barely 35 minutes on the clock!), their structures are not so complicated and the whole record is relatively easy to listen to, especially as it has some intros or keyboards that underline the whole concept of ancient Egypt is such a good way. Their tight and precise riffage and vocals are very brutal, the music is mainly fast, but it’s really damn great dose of adrenaline and aggression, it has a very nice powerful feeling and when played loud, this album unleashes enormous dose of energy. Right from the first song “Smashing the Absu” this is just a relentless punch in the face, absolutely phenomenal death metal in one of the strongest and most original performances ever.

Nile pure death metal songs catch attention, but the epic, bombastic symphonic pieces gives something special and absolutely amazing to the whole “Amongst…”. For example the opening theme of “Ramses Bringer of War” is something extraordinary and truly spectacular. It sounds like the most heroic and epic death metal theme ever. I can say the same about “Stones of War” (what a great slower song, so massive and heavy!!!) – and this is exactly why this album doesn’t sound like a typical boring and unlistenable technical death metal album. Because there’s something more about it! Finally you have “Die Rache Krieg, Lied der Assyriche” – which is probably one of the best songs I’ve ever heard in my life. I love it, even if it’s not a metal song, but something what would fit perfectly a bombastic movie soundtrack, with its infectious choruses, rhythms and keyboards.

We all know how important is the Egyptian concept for Nile. Unlike the future albums, the lyrics for “Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka” have no liner notes and explanations. But I’ve found this description of the album’s title on Wikipedia, so I guess it would be nice to put it here, as it gives a small idea of what the album is all about:

“The title of the album is a reference to the H. P. Lovecraft story "The Outsider". The phrase is featured in the song "Beneath Eternal Oceans of Sand" which has lyrics paraphrased from the aforementioned tale. In Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, Nephren-Ka was an Egyptian Pharaoh whose unspeakable cult worship led him to be stricken from almost all Egyptian records. The catacombs where he is buried are referenced in several Lovecraft stories as well as many stories by other mythos authors.”

Standout tracks: “Smashing the Absu”, “Ramses Bringer of War”, “Stones of War”, “Die Rache Krieg, Lied der Assyriche”

Final rate: 90/100

Pénitence Onirique - V.I.T.R.I.O.L.

PENITENCE ONIRIQUE - V.I.T.R.I.O.L. (EMANATIONS - CD 2016)

Yet another band, which I have never heard about before. And another one coming from France. This is Pénitence Onirique, one man project formed by Bellovesos. For his debut album “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” he was joined by Diviciacos, who did all vocals and lyrics. And the album was lately released by Emanations, which is a sub label for Les Acteurs de l'Ombre Productions. And as some of you may remember, LADLO specializes in usually experimental, avant-garde black metal projects. I don’t know what is the aim for Emanations, because I think that Pénitence Onirique would fit LADLO roster pretty well also. I suppose it doesn’t matter though. Let’s enjoy some good music.

One thing, which I’ve noticed already since first listen is that “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” sounds more aggressive than the majority of other releases from this label. And that’s something what I personally really like about Pénitence Onirique – that you can call them atmospheric black metal band, but at the same time they really sound vicious and nasty, with almost every song on “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” being fast and harsh. Definitely this is quite extreme and violent stuff, I have to say I didn’t even expect it to be in this vein.

I suppose it’s good that Pénitence Onirique found a good balance between the extreme part of their music and the atmosphere. Their music is quite cleanly produced, so it’s not noisy, primitive black metal. Their songs also blend melody within the aggressive, relentless riffage, so the result is then very interesting. Obviously there’s absolutely nothing groundbreaking or exceptional. I doubt if “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” will be remembered by many people after ten years or so. But it’s a solid album for sure and listening to it was surely not a wasted time.

There’s one thing, which I think didn’t work perfectly on the album and it’s a slight monotonous feeling that will pop up after few listens. Each of its five songs is like ten minutes long and I am afraid that after a while it all gets quite blurry and one dimensional. There may be some phenomenal riffs, some sound almost beautiful (like the one, which opens the whole album), but when the songs are so long and the music becomes repetitive, it becomes less effective. Generally the music has sometimes quite hypnotizing feeling, it also sounds rather simplistic and minimalist. You can feel like there are just three or four riffs that repeat constantly, so yes, it gets one dimensional. Anyways, with so many exceptionally good parts, the album is far from being boring and uninteresting. Due to the lengths of the songs, “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” will only simply require more attention and focus.

I love the opening theme for “Le Sel”. While the majority of the album sounds aggressive, this song is opened with rather quiet, melancholic and slow paced motif that sounds great. Pénitence Onirique really have good ideas to blend such atmospheric parts with blasting black metal. It’s just shame that quite often they tend to disappear in the too lengthy songs. That’s why “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” is not a perfect album and there are things, which I wish were done a bit differently.

Anyways, I enjoyed it, Pénitence Onirique deserves your interest and if there will be another album coming from Bellovesos in years to come, then I am sure that I will want to check it out as well.

Standout tracks: “Lame Sur Les Paves”

Final rate: 70/100

Demored - Absolution Through Dissolution

DEMORED - Absolution Through Dissolution (NECKBREAKER Records CD 2016)

Neckbreaker Records is a new record label from Germania, and it starts with their first release (putted out in cooperation with excellent Raw Skull Rekodz from Holland). I suppose that such name for a label obligate you to expect only "neck breaking" kind of bands haha. NBR001 presents us Demored, a young band from Braunschweig. They did one EP before (it was limited to 100 copies only, so I have not heard it... yet) and "Absolution Through Dissolution" is their first full length. Did it break my neck? Maybe not brutally, but I surely did feel an ache after playing this shit loud.

First thing, which I noticed about this album is its short length, with slightly under 30 minutes of music in offer. Well, if the idea was not to waste time, but bring everything you have the best, then it's good idea. Besides, many legendary albums were also so short, but they sounded so fuckin powerful and aggressive due to that. Well, Demored music is not that type of death metal, which would mercilessly want to cut you into pieces and cause only bloodshed and devastation. It's more like a mid paced, slightly melodic and tempered stuff, which has more to offer than sheer brutality. And it's OK, I guess, "Absolution Through Dissolution" shows that there's a lot of potential in Demored and this band managed to come up with some great stuff. But I wasn't impressed by the entire album. Somehow I found some of its slower parts as a bit boring, to be honest. Or maybe not boring, but I just missed something there. I'm not even sure how should I describe my feeling, but maybe it's that lack of really powerful and crushing sound? Yes, I guess so. "Absolution Through Dissolution" sounds sometimes too gentle (in songs like “Abiosis”). The band has great riffs and ideas, but sometimes they sound like they were afraid to unleash all their fury and aggression. Or maybe it’s a matter of the pace? So, definitely this album could have been better with more massive and heavy production.

Don't walk away yet though, because I do think that "Absolution Through Dissolution" is a solid debut and a nice beginning for new band. Demored style is not quite as common, I think, because you cannot compare their music to just one or two bands, one or two death metal scenes. Sometimes they sound more American, other time it's more European. Sometimes their stuff is a bit technical, other time it's simpler and more straight forward, slower or faster... but always in the traditional, old school way. I definitely like “Rotting” the most – it’s fast, aggressive and there’s nothing dull about this track. Also “Rest In Pieces” or “Absolution” are great.

All in all Demored shows us six tracks here (their seventh song is an acoustic instrumental piece, so this one doesn’t count) and it’s just as solid as it should be. I cannot say that I am fully impressed, but I will keep my eyes open and will check their future stuff to see if they’re get better or not. It’s worth to say that it’s another German death metal band that needs your attention. I think that Germania became one of my favourite scenes in Europe at the moment, which is good!

Standout tracks: “Rotting”, “Rest In Pieces”

Final rate: 70/100

Paganizer - Divine Rapture

PAGANIZER - Divine Rapture (XTREEM Music CD 2004)

I just finished my review of “Murder Death Kill”, and few months ago I also did reviews for albums such as “Dead Unburied”. I like these albums a lot, Paganizer is really fantastic band, even if not all their releases were fantastic. Some, like their split CD with Depression, are a bit useless, but majority of Paganizer stuff is superb. And I don’t know if there’s anything else that I can write about them what was not written so far, but this fourth album of the Swedish commando of death called “Divine Rapture” is surely as great as their earlier works.

Stylistically “Divine Rapture” is a natural follower of its predecessors. So, it is chunky, heavy and fuckin powerful death metal done in the Swedish vein, of bands like Grave, Unleashed and Vomitory. And if you didn’t like what this band was doing before, then the chances that you will like “Divine Rapture” are slim. Damn, this album was released back in 2004 and was  a fifth full length which Paganizer released in five years. At that time their music was getting better and better and in my opinion this is probably the best album that Rogga Johansson has released under this logo.

This album is just super awesome and I love its atmosphere, its energy and powerful attitude. When you will play it, get ready to be injured, as this music always leaves a terrible neck ache. From start to finish you will hear a bunch of killer songs. They’re unoriginal and predictable? Who cares? Because as long as this stuff evokes the feeling of bulldozer crushing your body, then it all sounds exactly as it should and I have no problems with it. And yeah, this are 35 minutes of pure death metal massacre. These songs are brutal, fast and vicious. But they’re also sometimes groovy and sometimes even a bit slower, so within its own niche Paganizer did everything to make sure that their album is top notch from start to finish. Personally I love such songs like the title track (sooooo fffuuckiin ffaaasstttt, sooo killleeerrr!!!!!), “Way of the Rotting”, “Nailed forever” or “On your Knees”. The rest is also great, each song is killer, so…

Believe me, this album will crush and grind over you with great passion and without any mercy.

Standout tracks: “Divine Rapture”, “Way of the Rotting”, “Nailed forever” or “On your Knees”

Final rate: 80/100

Paganizer - Murder Death Kill

PAGANIZER - Murder Death Kill (XTREEM Music CD 2003)

When “Murder Death Kill” was released, this album was like a damn awesome feast of traditional, Swedish sounding death metal. Back then (it was released in 2003) not many bands or fans were really interested in this style of music, especially when compared to what’s going on these days. So this also why we loved all these new bands like Kaamos, Repugnant, Eviscerated, Necrovation, Nominon, Revokation, Verminous, Delve, Karnarium and so on. And Paganizer was like a brutal assault of great Swedish death metal riffage that ripped all the guts out. I received this album as a promo and loved it since the first listen. And this is also how I found out about Rogga Johansson and many of his death metal projects. Nowadays I have quite huge collection of his music, with many Paganizer albums and splits or other shit – and this band is surely my favourite from all Rogga’s projects. And well, I can honestly say that this band had its ups and downs, not all releases are that good, but most of them is damn solid and great. But I still enjoy the early albums the most and “Murder Death Kill” is probably my favourite along “Divine Rapture”.

Every time I play “Murder Death Kill” it’s like a pure joy and excitement. What I like about Paganizer  is that it’s straight up death metal, with no bullshit. Their music is aggressive and heavy, it’s also fast and groovy – it all just depending what song we’re talking about. It’s nothing like the melodic or atmospheric death metal, and damn, you can be surprised sometimes how fast this album is. Paganizer took a lot of influences from bands like (old) Entombed, Grave or Unleashed, but played their shit in way faster and more aggressive manner. The result is still superb. I love their riffs and the fact that they’re quite simple, not super technical or whatever. This is why every song is so easily listenable and the music is just memorable and catchy, but in brutal death metal standards, of course haha! There’s almost a crust feeling, grind core’ish simplicity and straight forwardness sometimes, so you can prepare your neck for a killing pain, which you will suffer after some maniac headbanging sessions with this album. And did I mention killer, deep vocals of Rogga and super awesome production from Mieszko Talarczyk?? In almost every aspect “Murder Death Kill” is great and there’s only one song (“Du vaknar som död”), which doesn’t do me any damage. But such “Meateater”, “Bleed Unto Me” or “Dead  Souls” are excellent and I am sure that

Standout tracks: “Meateater”, “Bleed Unto Me”

Final rate: 75/100

Hermóðr - Carved in Ice / A Place of Eternal Twilight

HERMODR - Carved in Ice / A Place of Eternal Twilight (WOLFSPELL Records CD 2016)

I don’t know if there’s anything more that I can write about the music of Hermóðr what I already haven’t written. I mean, I got something like six CDs of this project within a year or something and I can see that Rafn consequently walks the path of melancholic, doomy black metal he chosen in the beginning. And basically every release is a fine representation of his style. What’s important – and that’s something I’ve always been underlying in my reviews – is that despite such a frequent release schedule that Hermóðr has, Rafn manages to keep high quality on his recordings. It’s always there. What else is important is his gift for composing stunning melodies that make his music sound almost beautiful and surely very capturing.

And when I was listening to one of the newest Hermóðr releases, which is a compilation of two long EPs: “Carved in Ice” and “A Place of Eternal Twilight”, both recorded in 2016, I basically have had the same impression – that it’s a good quality sorrowful black metal, with some splendid melodies and captivating dark atmosphere. The music floats very slowly and is not really demanding, as it’s just so easily listenable. If you know his earlier works, then you will not get surprised at all.

But there’s one more side of the coin. And while I think that the high quality of Hermóðr is still here, it was also the first time, when while listening to Rafn’s music I started to ask myself, where is it all going? I mean the impression of repetitiveness and stagnation also had to finally appear. The thing is – is there anything that would distinguish these two EPs from the previous recordings? Is it anything better than such “Då skogen var ung” or “What Once Was Beautiful”? I am afraid that no, it’s not. It almost feels like you’ve been constantly circling around very similar scheme, the same melodic lines and rhythms or the same vocal patterns. While it was fantastic to hear it for the first or third time, now when I got Hermóðr’s sixth CD, I feel like it becomes tiresome and almost slightly boring. Maybe my impression would be different if I heard these two EPs before the other stuff that Rafn did, who knows. But at the moment I feel like I get a bit bored.

Don’t get me wrong though – this is still a damn fine stuff, I was playing it with pleasure. There are some stunning moments on this CD, like for example in “A Place of Eternal Twilight” and “I Watch It Burn”. Fantastic melodies, hypnotizing, enchanting feeling, easily listenable melancholic black metal… So, even if this was the first time that I really had something critical to say about Hermóðr, it doesn’t mean that I stopped liking Rafn’s music. It just has its faults. But this faults are more hearable with every next release of this project.

“Carved in Ice / A Place of Eternal Twilight” CD is limited to 250 copies only.

Standout track:  “Carved In Ice”, “I Watch It Burn”

Final rate: 70/100

Altarage - NIHL

ALTARAGE - NIHL (IRON BONEHEAD LP 2016)

I’ve heard so opinions that this album from Altarage titled “Nihl” is totally sensational debut and that it got very good opinions from the critics. So I got tempted and bought myself a copy of vinyl, without even checking a single song, hoping that the impression will be insanely great. Now, after few days of playing this record I can say that I feel disappointed a bit. I’m not saying that “Nihl” is bad, because it’s a decent album, I quite like it, but I am far from calling it the best thing of this year or from using words like “sensational”.

So… what’s wrong with “Nihl”? Well, I feel slightly torn apart when hearing this music and sometimes I cannot make up my mind whether I love it or just hate it. On one hand I have to say that I like that sepulchral, totally ghastly and cold aura that the music awakes. Altarage really can frighten some people with such dose of morbidity and (ravishing, urgh!) grimness. It definitely is one of the coldest and darkest sounding death metal albums I’ve heard in a while. And this aspect is surely the strongest characteristic of “Nihl”, especially when it comes with some killer riffs that I have spotted here and there. But on the other hand Altarage creates such a dense and heavy, monstrous wall of sound that sometimes their music becomes a bit too chaotic and simply unreadable… Which wouldn’t be necessarily a bad thing, but it turns out that a lot of this material starts to sound the same and as such it just gets dull. Obviously you need to listen to “Nihl” carefully, this album requires full focus if you want to catch all its nuances and details. Only then you’ll be able to get into it, but I suppose even in such circumstances it’s not an easy album. Personally I have to say that I was able to catch some exceptionally great fragments, but sometimes I felt bored, so this is why I think that their songwriting still needs an improvement (to avoid writing songs like “Baptism Nihl”, which is just mediocre). Altarage do impress often, especially when they break the neck with furious speed and almost Morbid Angel-esque viciousness, like in “Graehence” or “Vortex Pyramid”. Or in “Altars”, which is just earthshaking track, with definitely the best riffs and arrangements off the whole album!

The thing which I didn’t like the most though are the vocals. On one hand they sound quite unusual and are far from the typical death grunts, sounding a bit like screams, howls and shrieks that you hear from the distance echoed in a catacomb. Or if someone was growling into the tube, which is even worse. Unfortunately, too often the vocals arrangements seem to have no sense and they don’t even match the music, what is very annoying. They just appear here and there, growl with no sense, creating only cacophony, what surely doesn’t help the listener if he wants to get into “Nihl”. I would prefer to hear more typical, deep growl, which would actually fit the riffs, rather than originally sounding ghastly whispers and shrieks, which don’t match the musical background.

So, I am not sure what should I really think of “Nihl”. It’s good album, but is it really something that I would recommend to everyone and make such a big fuzz about it? I don’t think so. I surely do not regret buying this record, as it’s a nice addition to the collection, but I wonder if it won’t end up as a dust gatherer rather than something I will play a lot. I have to admit though that even if “Nihl” can reminds you acts such as Portal, Antediluvian or Impetuous Ritual, they surely belong to those bands, which try to walk their own path of extreme death / black metal. And that counts as something positive. I will keep an eye on them, hoping that for the next album they will improve some aspects of their music, while keeping its sepulchral, eerie aura intact.

Oh, I have to say also that hardly ever the artwork matches the music so perfectly as it’s in case of “Nihl” killer graphics.

Standout tracks: “Graehence”, “Vortex Pyramid”, “Altars”

Final rate: 69/100

Coffin Lust - Beyond the Dark

COFFIN LUST - Beyond the Dark (SARLACC - demo MC 2012)

Listening of the killer debut album “Manifestation of Inner Darkness” forced me to take Coffin Lust’s demo “Beyond the Dark” and give it a listen also. I remember Putrid Matt recommended me this demo some years ago and I managed to find a copy quickly. And loved it immediately. This was also why I wanted to hear Coffin Lust album – but it took them four long years to complete it. Anyway, I almost forgot how killer “Beyond the Dark” is, until I played it again this morning. I wanted to give it one or two listens but ended up playing this tape ten or even more times, so fuckin good it is and always infecting me with its obscure, impious sound.

This demo is a complete massacre. From start to finish, it attacks with some truly killer songs and leaves only ashes behind. Now, when I know “Manifestation of Inner Darkness” also, I have to say that this demo has slightly more European oriented style, it can remind you some cults from Sweden (Nihilist, Entombed, Dissection demos), Holland (Asphyx), Germany (Morgoth), Finland (Demigod) and so on. I love the riffs here, the feeling this music has and the atmosphere it awakes. For me this is perfectly presented old school death metal worship in its most preferred style; bloody vicious, aggressive and simply killer shit. And “Forsaken” is surely the best song, as it just sounds like taken from the Swedish catacombs, with that fuckin killer melody and horror aura. “Fading Life” is another my favourite slab of filth. But damn, all four songs are killer.

After numerous listens of both demo and the album I got to conclusion that I like “Beyond the Dark” over “Manifestation of Inner Darkness”. Both recordings are amazing, but the demo is just brilliant. But let’s cut this crap. Totally recommended band, believe me, one of the best since Repugnant’s spawn of malevolence!

Standout track: “Forsaken”, “Fading Life”

Final rate: 90/100

Coffin Lust - Manifestation of Inner Darkness

COFFIN LUST - Manifestation of Inner Darkness (HELLS HEADBANGERS LP 2016)

It was about time for these Australian beasts to unleash their debut album! Four years have passed since they did “Beyond the Dark” demo, which I still have in my collection somewhere. By the way, I remember it was Putrid Matt, who recommended me to check Coffin Lust! Great job, indeed. But I almost forgot about their existence, until I saw the vinyl of “Manifestation of Inner Darkness” in one of the distros. I didn’t even have idea that Coffin Lust are still active and are about to do this album. So, I welcomed this news with open arms and neck ready for fuckin headbanging. And now after spinning “Manifestation of Inner Darkness” several times I have to say that this album didn’t disappoint me at all. It’s just damn awesome slab of filthy old school death metal; a feast for die hard headbangers and pure mutilating pleasure!

I’m really pleased with what I found on “Manifestation of Inner Darkness” and all this time I was waiting for this album to appear was worth it. And more so, I am lucky that my wife and kids are away for the weekend, so nothing disturbs me and I just play this record so damn loud that the walls crack. Only this way you’ll make sure that this raw and obscure death metal is so vicious and aggressive that you can feel the riffs are cutting your skin in sadistic bliss. I immediately loved the production! Maybe some of you will think that the guitars sound too thin, but I don’t. I actually love their old school tone and how rough and powerful it all is. Definitely this sound fits Coffin Lust perfectly and more importantly, it’s not that common to hear a band sounding this way, especially in Australia, where many bands try to sound like Portal or Destroyer 666. Definitely it brings you to one conclusion – “Manifestation of Inner Darkness” is very traditional sounding death metal album that doesn’t sound outdated or too archaic. Listening to this album made me also grab “Beyond the Dark” demo again and I have to say also that the sound difference between both recordings is quite big. And I’m not sure which of these recordings I like more haha! Both sound fuckin great, I love the demo, it’s so bloody killer and nasty, it’s definitely more harsh and less organic… but the songs are just fantastic. “Manifestation of Inner Darkness” sound is cleaner, but still obscure and raw, and it’s old school to the bone. So I guess the best is to say that both releases sound great.

If “Manifestation…” surprised me with anything, then I would say that aside its cleaner production is the fact that songs are not quite as harsh and fast as you would expect after hearing “Beyond the Dark”. Tempo wise, this album is mainly mid paced, with only occasional faster parts… And well, if I had any complains, then maybe I would wish to hear more of these killer fast parts. This is probably why I like songs such as “Mass Extinction” or “Prophecy of Malevolence” the most, as they’re the fastest and most violent. But it’s all good really, the title song for example has some of the best riffs on the whole album, what a great piece it is! It’s interesting that you cannot make just one or two obvious comparisons of Coffin Lust to other bands anymore. It’s not just one band, one country or even one continent, but rather a whole legion of killer old school death metal cults. In some ways “Manifestation of Inner Darkness” is almost unique, not many bands sounds alike, which is a great achievement of this band.

Summing things up, if you’ve never heard their “Beyond the Dark” demo then you probably don’t even know that band like Coffin Lust ever existed. So, let me say that “Manifestation of Inner Darkness” should put them in the right and deserved place of old school death metal scene and should catch attention of all maniacs that worship this style of music. This album is definitely a very good piece of filth, it has such a great feeling and atmosphere that personally I felt only a pleasure when listening to it. Check it out then. There’s a CD and vinyl, pick up what format you prefer, but don’t hesitate.

Standout tracks: “Mass Extinction”, “Prophecy of Malevolence”, “Chaos Absolute”, "Manifestation of Inner Darkness"

Final rate: 80/100