Black Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Yaotl Mictlan – Dentro del Manto Gris de Chaac (2010)

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    Yaotl Mictlan has always been one of the most interesting bands that we have ever heard to come out of Mexico. With a mixture of indigenous Aztec and Mayan elements, the band crafts their Death/Black Metal with a ‘folk-ish’ aspect, but the end result is something that you wouldn’t expect. The band’s sound is indeed very heavy and just uses these elements to highlight parts of their songs, not to revolve around them.

    In these days, every band out there has to have a gimmick in order to be successful (or have ridiculously good musicians), and Yaotl Mictlan’s indigenous gimmick is what actually makes them stand out from countless average Death/Black Metal bands in the world. However, this gimmick is not just for show purposes since the band spends quite a good deal of effort to make their lyrics historically relevant and incorporate part of their heritage into their music.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Lustre – A Glimpse of Glory (2010)

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    Hailing from Sweden, Lustre (one man band) brings us his second full-length release with “A Glimpse of Glory”. Mixing Ambient elements with the raw beauty of Atmospheric Black Metal, we get a very solid release that instantly became one of our top 10 releases of 2010 so far. During the 40 minutes of “A Glimpse of Glory”, Lustre reminded us of bands such as Enid, Blut aus Nord, Velvet Cacoon, etc. combined with the ethereal nature of artists like raison d'être and Robert Rich.

    Each of the three tracks found in “A Glimpse of Glory” focuses more in creating a very enthralling atmosphere than on the ‘Black Metal’ aspect of things. There are distorted guitars through most of the album (two thirds maybe), but there is only a little section (on track one) that has harsh BM screams. We didn’t even care if anybody was singing since each song crafts a mysterious atmosphere that gave us chills while listening to them at night.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Primordial – Spirit The Earth Aflame (2010)

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    Hailing from Ireland, Primordial is one of our top 50 bands from all times and “Spirit The Earth Aflame” is one of our all-time favorite albums. When we heard that Metal Blade was releasing this timeless classic we got psyched about the possibility of some great bonus material on this version of the album (we currently have 2 other versions).

    If you know who Primordial is, you probably worship this album as much as any other fan of the band and can skip till the next paragraph of this review. If you don’t know who the band is, then we must tell you that this band was one of the first to successfully combine Celtic/Folk influences with aggressive Black Metal elements, giving them a very dark and powerful sound that was unheard off back in the late 90’s and early 00’s.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Sezarbil – Dark God (2009)

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    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.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Teratism – Via Negativa (2010)

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    Two years after “Pure Unadulterated Hate”, USBM band Teratism is finally back with another hard-hitting grim as fuck Black Metal release that will rattle your insides. With a full-on devil worshipping and the occult concept, Teratism is one of the top flight USBM bands this days and with “Via Negativa” the have pushed their diabolic sound to new heights.

    Summer time is the time for warm weather and sunny skies, but Teratism creates a very thick and chilling atmosphere with a relentless Black Metal attack very similar to its Nordic counterparts that will bring forth darkness and bleakness to any sunny day. “Via Negativa” has a very raw sound to it, but it never feels like it was recorded in a shed or a toilet; the production highlights the raw and destructive sound of the band while maintaining enough quality to rival any big budget BM production.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Pest – Tenebris Obortis (2010)

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    With a very chaotic and gloomy Black Metal sound with Thrash influences, today we have Pest and their fourth full-length release “Tenebris Obortis”. While this release is not highly original, it still has enough elements to make it a very solid release that will find it self lingering in your playlist more than you would have expected.

    “Tenebris Obortis” features 10 tracks of solid Black Metal that sometimes feels like a sample platter of sound bits of Gorgoroth, old Dark Throne, Arckanum, etc, but still has enough personality to stand on its own and not get called a recycle band by all the critics and followers of the genre. There are a few ‘weird’ direction shifts between the songs that might put of some people, but for us they actually help this album flow differently and avoid getting dull.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Haar – Haar (2010)

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    Hailing from Edinburgh, Scotland today we have Haar and their self-titled debut EP. The band plays a mixture of Black Metal with progressive elements that sounds a bit like Wolves In The Throne Room meets Deathspell Omega. While the band’s sound is not strikingly original, they can still craft solid tunes of darkness.

    Featuring 26 minutes of music divide in 3 songs this EP release will certainly entertain all the fans of obscure sounding Black Metal. The band’s sound is greatly enhanced by recording all instruments at the same time, providing enough rawness and a live feeling to their music.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Sorgeldom – Inner Receivings (2010)

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    Today we have an interesting Black Metal band from Sweden with the name of Sorgeldom. We call this band’s music interesting because their sound has some of the Scandinavian Black Metal feel to it mixed with some experimental rock/shoegaze elements. The band never goes as far as sounding like a Post-Black Metal band, but they do have a cleaner/slower edge in their sound that few others have.

    Sorgeldom in not by any means a revolutionary band, but they do a pretty solid job in incorporating different elements into a strong Black Metal foundation. The band has somewhat shifted from their original sound and now they are trying to find a middle ground between the harshness of traditional Black Metal and their experimental elements.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Blasphemous – Bearer of the Darkest Plagues (2010)

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    Sometimes we wonder if Infernus really listens to whatever he puts out/sells on his Forces of Satan records label. Blasphemous “Bearer of the Darkest Plagues” is released by Baars Records, but Forces of Satan has it for digital download and we are not impressed.

    With a very low-fi cassette-demo sounding production, Blasphemous second full-length has minor flaws that greatly bring down the quality of this album. The band’s style of Blackened Death Metal is very retro sounding but still holds it’s own, until you hear the drumming going from slow sections into the blasting sections. It seems that the drumming is playing in a slower gear than the rest of the music.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Lightning Swords of Death - The Extra Dimensional Wound (2010)

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    “There is a turd in the punch bowl, I repeat there is a turd in the punch bowl.” Is exactly the first thing we thought when listening to “The Extra Dimensional Wound”. After a mostly decentstack of albums we have reviewed in the last few weeks we had to get a turd of an album. Playing harsh Black Metal in the way of Bathory, Venom, etc. Lightning Swords of Death has failed to capture the feeling and inspiration behind these legendary bands.

    With a wide variety of uninspired riffs, an overly loud bass guitar line, and sub-par vocal “The Extra Dimensional Wound” will create and actual wound in your ears from listening to this release. We are not always completely negative, and we can say that the drumming in this album is probably the best thing going for it, besides the song titles and the super cool band name.

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