Album Reviews

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    Black Desert – The Beginning (2013)

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    Hailing from Spain, today we have Gothic Metal newcomers Black Dessert and their Middle Eastern influenced debut release “The Beginning”. Originally comprised of two members (Isabel Bermejo y Ángel Agüera), this band has now grown to have a full line-up and touring dates. In a world filled with Symphonic/Gothic Metal bands, it is quite refreshing to hear one that sticks to the basics and delivers an engaging performance.

    Opening with the lush “Death Orchestra”, we are treated to cool atmospheric elements filled with powerful riffs and solid drums. A thing to note is that we are not quite sure who (if anybody) played the drums in this release, but they sound quite solid and if they are programmed drums, they did a great job making them sound natural. Anyways, the band’s main characteristic is the subtle Middle Eastern influences and Isabel’s commanding voice.

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    Azziard – Vésanie (2014)

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    The French extreme Metal scene has been quickly growing in number of quality bands in the last few years. From the likes of Merrimack to Glaciation, tons of bands are emerging with excellent quality. Enter Azziard, a Parisian band ready to steamroll the scene with their savage Black/Death Metal combination and their sophomore release “Vésanie”.

    Pummeling through a no BS intro titled “Allégorie”, the band fully explodes into action with the blistering “Disjonction”. Mixing old school BM riffing attacks with modern production values and a hectic pace, Azziard opens this release with a commanding brutality and engages the listener since the first minute. “De lumière, D'Obscurité” and “Sur La Toile” help establish the band’s crushing onslaughts with vicious guitar work, ripping vocals, and monumental drumming.

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    Beast Within – Adversity/Servitude (2014)

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    Being released in a limited run of 500 vinyl copies, today we have Canada’s old school Black/Death Metal juggernauts Best Within and their two song 7”. Filled with filthy and hateful sound, this release showcases the band’s worship for acts like Celtic Frost and Pentagram.

    The “Adversity” side of things features super catchy riffs, reminiscent of current Black’n’Roll bands but with that extra spunk of older acts. The pace is quite mellow and the vocalist’s snarls are perfect for this kind of music. As “Servitude” rolls in, the band consolidates their sound to be quite punishing and old school, but with their own type of sickness. The guitar work is quite powerful and the bass guitar really stands out in this last track.

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    When Icarus Falls – Circles (2014)

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    Building up on their excellent discography comprised of “Over The Frozen Seas“ and “Aegean”, When Icarus Falls delivers another gem with the EP “Circles”. Featuring three new tracks and a remix of “Nyx”, the band keeps pushing the limits of Post-Metal with their own forward thinking sound in this release. Filled with lush atmospheres and savage riffs, this band deserves a place right next to Neurosis thanks to their music.

    The mood is instantly set with the suspenseful “Erechtion”, a track that perfectly dances around the aggression of Post-Metal and the dreaminess of Post-Rock. The band perfectly crafts a very intriguing atmosphere and the harsh lashings nicely contrast it. Keeping on this tradition, “The Great North” exploits subtle keyboards to further the band’s atmospheric component and create very well paced songs. Jumping back and forth between harsh and clean vocals, this track is quite elaborate and a very unique one.

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    The Bleeding – Rites of Putrefaction (2013)

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    With a hefty dose of blistering riffs and gripping growls, today we have Italy’s The Bleeding and their self-released EP “Rites of Putrefaction”. With over 24 minutes of neck breaking Death Metal, this Italian band does a great job of capturing a mix of Florida and Swedish Death Metal, resulting in a very solid self-released first effort.

    Things get kicked off with the catchy “The Hunt”, a track that is quite enjoyable and has a solid amount of powerful riffs and hateful growls. The band’s style is quite traditional, but very enjoyable for fans of the genre. “Rites of Putrefaction” features a faster pace and tight drums, showcasing the band’s excellent execution of all their instruments.

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    SynoP – 77 Bombers (2014)

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    Making its way from The Netherlands, one man Ambient/Neo-classical project SynoP brings us their fourth release titled “77 Bombers”. Inspired by some paintings of crashed 77 bombers, this release is a cinematic experience that is better enjoyed when watching the video the artist crated of the paintings found here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbI5dsnhZz4). For 13 tracks we get a very healthy mix of Ambient with Minimalist touches, spoken word sections, and some very moving Neo-classical passages.

    The album instantly opens with the title track, a song that features some airplane sounds before it creates some cavernous atmospheric passages. As the release progresses, we are left with plenty of scattered pieces here and there in tracks like “Rumble in the sky”, “Endless view”, “Dark clouds over Europe”, all of the helping to create a very hypnotic vibe and furthering the mistery behind “77 Bombers”.

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    Ecocide – Eye of Wicked Sight (2013)

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    Debuting with the crushing “Eye of Wicked Sight”, today we have Ecocide and their old-school Death Metal from Hell. The band immediately reminded us of Centinex and similar outfits from the 90’s, but with all the production advantages of modern day music. Pummeling through 8 tracks and 33 minutes of music, this is one of those releases that will inflict some pain to your speakers.

    After a trippy/spacey intro, the riffing machine moves full steam ahead with the crushing “Planet Eater”. Shifting away from your typical ‘blood and guts’ of Death Metal, Ecocide choses to focus on aliens/sci-fi in this release. The band’s brand of Death Metal is quite catchy and traditional, something very surprising since the members are 20 or so years old. Delivery a bag of bricks to your face with tracks like “Eye of Wicked Sight” and “Unknown Disease”, the band surely makes a bang with the first 15 minutes of the album.

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    Sabbath Assembly – Quaternity (2014)

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    The weirdest band in the planet has finally returned with an even weirder release with “Quaternity”. Sabbath Assembly has been focusing since its inception to re-interpret the hymns of The Process Church of the Final Judgment, and with this release they take things further into darker corners with a bit of a shift from the more Psychedelic/distorted guitars oriented music to a more rudimentary and bone chilling musical deconstruction.

    After the chilling intro “Let Us Who Mystically Represent...”, Jamie Myers (vocals) and Dave Nuss (drums) return with a more elaborate and expansive sound combining minimalistic percussions and string instruments on “Jehovah on Death”. The music in this release, in its majority, is all new and original from the band with just a lyrical inspiration of the Process Church’s vast weirdness.

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    Anathème – Kodama San (2012)

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    Arriving today from France we have Anathème and their Japanese themed “Kodama San” release. Featuring five brilliant Post-Rock tracks, this release gets the band comparisons to Godspeed Your Black Emperor, Mogwai, Tides of Nebula, and Poland’s Lebowski. Adorned by excellent cover art, the listener gets a fully immersive experience with this album and the band’s expansive yet melancholic music.

    Opening with the eloquently titled “Gizmo vs 21st Passenger”, the band uses some cool spoken vocal/samples in Japanese to set the mood as their dreamy guitars lead the way. The vocal arrangements in this track are quite hypnotic and enjoying thanks to some catchy riffs. Further developing their sound with the cascading guitars/drums in “Le Russe Blanc”, we are immediately captivated by the band’s focus on atmosphere and how skilled they are at crafting moving songs.

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    Entartung – Peccata Mortalia (2014)

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    Delivering one of the most savage and yet melodic Black Metal onslaughts of 2014, today we have Germany’s mysterious outfit Entartung and their sophomore release “Peccata Mortalia”. With a very savage sound, this band nicely throws in some melodic and atmospheric elements to create some of the densest and demoralizing Black Metal tunes of this year.

    Opening with a weird intro, the band’s full prescense is felt with the devastating “Blasphemaverit in Spiritum Sanctum”. In this track the band immediately generates comparisons to bands like Horna and Taake with their razor sharp aggressive riffs and commanding vocals. However, Entartung takes it one step further with their ultra-catchy melodic riffing passages. In full (newer) Gorgoroth fashion, “Out of Darkness into Light” delivers more blows with incisive riffs and eerie atmospheric sections.

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