2009

Hailing from the Czech Republic today we have Sezarbil, a Black Metal band that while not very original it’s actually very entertaining. Sezarbil, like countless other Black Metal band has a tick and brutal sound that is very brutal and destructive in nature but it’s nothing we haven’t heard before.

However, if you are a connoisseur of Black Metal we all know that bands in this genre sound a like, but the good ones are equally effective in creating the destructive atmosphere that we all love about this genre. Sezarbil falls in the category of the good bands since with “Dark God”, they have crafted 9 tracks of pure Black Metal hatred against humanity and religion.

In the last few years most of the new kids playing Death Metal (or at least trying) have managed to completely miss the point and get a solid grasp on the genre. We can guarantee that most of those bands have gone and changed into playing Metalcore or dissolved. However, there are always a very limited number bands that truly get it and release bad-ass demo’s, Crematoria is one of them.

Hailing from Denmark, the band formed in 2008 and released their first demo in 2009. This 3-song release is aptly titled “Demo(lish)”, featuring very solid songs that punch you right in the face. With some Trash foundations on their riffs the band has crafted these songs very nicely, and while they might not be revolutionary, they are solid and very catchy.

With the current boom of female fronted bands where the girl does the harsh vocals, it’s almost impossible to find a band that is good enough when comes to mixing both clean and harsh vocals. Arsenic Addiction is probably one of the few bands that fit this description and that we can stand for more than 10 minutes.

While most people think that Kittie and bands like Otep, Walls of Jerico, etc. were the first bands to use harsh female vocals, they cannot be more wrong. We remember back in the day, getting a demo CD from an American band named: Forty Days Longing, and if you heard the album you would be easily convinced the singer was a very brutal dude, but surprise to us, it was Zdenka Prado a female vocalist (she also provides screams for Garden Of Shadows, and currently for Estuary (ex-Estuary of Calamity).

While checking our ‘to review’ folder of digital promos sent by bands we happened to stumble upon this little gem that was hiding underneath the piles of albums we get every month. Daylight Misery is a band from Greece that plays a mean combination of Death/Doom Metal with some Gothic Metal influences.

Highly focused on the guitar work rather than the keyboards, the band creates a very depressive atmosphere (the part we love the most from the genre). When the keyboards are used, they are like the icing on top of an already delicious cake. This 3-song promo is probably one of the best we have received in quite a while and their upcoming release “Depressive Icons” sounds like it will be even better.

Jumping on the Trash revival bandwagon we have Great Awakening from the USA. Having formed in Florida in 2006, the band does a great job in bringing the good-old days of Trash back. Great Awakening’s music is very decent for a Trash Metal release, but they do not offer any edge that would allow us to consider them a force to be reckoned with.

Their 2009 demo titled “Hit n’ Run” showcase 3 very decent songs Trashy songs that have the old-school vibe, but are missing some soul and originality to them. While we don’t expect every band to re-invent the wheel, we do expect some level of originality when it comes to playing a genre that has been around for over 20 years.

With the logo calling for similarities from Voivod we were expecting a soulless clone of this band, but instead we found a very good Progressive Trash Metal American band that is set to make a name of their own. Hailing from Arizona, this quartet does a great job into mixing progressive elements with old-school Trash that will blow you away.

While there are some Voivod influences, “Black Future” is an album that clearly stands out from all the ‘new’ Trash Metal releases these days. The riffing is the main driving force behind this release, but it’s perfectly crafted around complex song structures that are unlikely in many Trash releases.

After listening to Italy’s Jewish Juice second release “Hidden Into Rotten… With a Black Flame of Light” we were very interested to listen if the band’s talent was going to be consolidated into creating a better release than “Hidden Into Rotten”. For our general surprise the band has done a great job in maturing and crafting their own sound and not needing to throw a bunch of shit together in order to sound brutal or different. With “Soaring Above Death” we get 5 songs that really show what this band is capable off.

In “Soaring Above Death”, the band has come to terms and decided to go with a Black Metal foundation that has Death Metal influences, but it’s never chaotic and badly constructed like on some songs of their previous release. The vocals still vary between growls and BM screams, but they feel more uniform and never get to be obnoxious.

When Patrick Mameli decided it was time to bring back Pestilence, he enlisted the services of Tony Choy (Bass) and Peter Wildoer (Drums) in order to record “Resurrection Macabre”, the band’s return to their Death Metal days, and first album in 16 years. Many people where left off wondering what happened to Pestilence with their very good (and for some atrocious) release of “Spheres” an album that saw the band change their musical style considerably.

“Resurrection Macabre” in a few words is: A fucking brutal and technical release. This album is something we were expecting from Pestilence back in 1993, however this release still sounds good for this time thanks to a superb production. Patrick has brought back the full aggressive Pestilence sound that we all loved from their beginnings and the technical aspect of “Spheres” combined together into a brilliant release.

With all the hundreds of Black Metal albums being released every month is hard to determine which ones are worth buying. Today we have Lux Ferre from Portugal and their second full-length album “Atrae Materiae Monumentum”, this release is one the ones we can easily recommend you spend your money on.

The band plays a very basic and Black Metal that has the old-school feeling to it but it’s not under produced to sound like it was recorded in the woods or in the bathroom. Lux Ferre centers their sound on aggressive riffing and relentless drumming, an old but effective formula that fans of true Black Metal will greatly appreciate.

For all of us that like our Black Metal with some Melodic aspects to it, today we have Angmar, a French band that would easily be considered a pissed-off version of Alcest. Angmar features magical acoustic/atmospheric passages similar to what Alcest, Fen, Celestia, etc. are doing but with an overall focus on Black Metal.

“Zurück in die Unterwelt” is the band’s second full-length album and a very memorable one. The band kicks off the album with a very hypnotic atmospheric part with backing choruses that sets the stage for the Black Metal assault that is to follow. The whole album varies between melodic sections into full-on BM aural assaults.