Album Reviews

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    Murrum – In His Tacita Atria (2013)

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    Hailing from Connecticut, today we have Murrum and their debut EP “In His Tacita Atria”. Featuring 21-minutes of blistering USBM, this band made a strong impression on us. With a powerful sound that evokes the likes of Krieg, Judas Iscariot, and early Nachtmystium, this fairly new band delivers raw and uncompromising power in the shape of five aural assaults. If you are looking for pretty Black Metal with keyboards and stuff, we suggest you look elsewhere since there is only sheer power and brutality in this release.

    After the cliché wolves and fire crackling intro, “Demons of Winter” fully explodes into a furious Black Metal pace. The band’s riffing power is quite devastating and thanks to their hectic drumming, it sounds even more brutal. “Ritual Bloodletting” rolls in packing enough thunder to bring down a building, allowing the listener to have no rest and succumb to the band’s crushing music. The vocals in this release are quite standard, reminding us of Watain at some points, but definitely not extremely shriek-ish like most people like.

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    Satyricon – Satyricon (2013)

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    Five years have passed since Satyricon’s last album, “The Age of Nero”, and people are still not fully over the fact that the band has left their more direct Black Metal style of “Nemesis Divina” back in the closet. For those of you that have kept up with the band’s musical evolution, “Satyricon” is a release that follows the same path and delivers a very unique mixture of Black’n’Roll with strong Black Metal roots and a sick guitar-driven atmosphere. The vocals are Satyr’s signature style, but the music is a bit on the darker and gloomier side, similar to his side project Wongraven, minus the folk-ish elements.

    Opening with the instrumental “Voice of Shadows”, we are treated to solid and devilish sounding guitar melodies. As “Tro og Kraft” rolls by, we got a very Storm/Wongraven vibe from how the guitars create melodic passages alongside Satyr’s BM snarls. The drumming is superb, what else can you expect from Frost, and nicely gives the music an aggressive edge, on a slower tempo. Typical Black Metal structures are very evident on “Our World It Rumbles Tonight” but with a certain slower pace, this helps create a very unique and unraveling atmosphere that only a few Black’n’Roll bands manage to achieve.

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    Ulysses Siren – Above the Ashes (2003)

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    With Thrash Metal being born back in the 80’s in the Bay Area, it is not surprising that many bands just didn’t get enough attention when they should have. Ulysses Siren is the perfect example of how a very high-quality band didn’t get a fair shake and ended up in relative obscurity. Being at least 5 times better than Dark Angel, Testament, Metallica, etc., this band delivers seven riff-driven tracks that represent the band’s early demos. With “Above the Ashes” we have a testament of a band that could have been something else if the right things would have worked out for them.

    Opening with “Terrorist Attack” we immediately feel the Bay Area Thrash vibe with the intense riffing and the crushing vocals. The band’s spares nothing and delivers a brutal riffing assault that only a few bands those days would have pulled off. Showing no mercy, “The Reich” keeps the intensity levels super high with some epic melodic passages and devastating solos. Rounding up their 1985 demo “Terrorist Attack”, featured in the first 3 songs of the album, “Lake of Fire” is the best track in this release, with a heavy Death Angel vibe mixed with some classic Kreator.

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    StoneBirds / Stangala – Kreizh Breizh Session 1 (2013)

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    Making its way from France, today we have two very interesting Stoner/Sludge/Doom Metal bands that make up the “Kreizh Breizh Session 1” split release. While StoneBirds are a more traditional Sludge/Stoner Metal band, Stangala delivers their lyrics in the Breton language and have a very trippy mixture of Doom/Sludge with a certain retro psychedelic vibe. We can say that we completely enjoyed how the both bands complement each other and make this unique split release very different from what we usually receive in the mail.

    The StoneBrids gracefully open this release with the hard-hitting “Red is the Sky”. In this Sludgy tune the band shows their riffing powers and how engaging their lead vocals are. Having that certain Southern/Stoner vibe in their catchy sound allows for the band to sound like The New Black, Chrome Division, and similar acts. As “Game Over” and “Outro Drama” roll by, the band’s sound is nicely consolidated and keeps the crunchy riffs flowing. “Red Lights” shifts gears into a fuzzier and more distorted track with heavier vocals, giving the band a certain edge that makes them sound different from your run of the mill artist. Saving the best for last, “Dark Passenger” closes out the band’s ‘side’ of this split with a mellow doomy vibe.

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    Rotten Liver – Purification by Debauchery (2013)

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    With a heavy knack for killer riffs and powerful melodies, France’s Rotten Liver delivers “Purification by Debauchery”. Avoiding sounding like anybody else, this band takes the best elements of bands like Vreid, Midnight, and old-school Darkthrone and creates their own brand of filthy Black’n’Roll that will have you headbanging since the first song.

    Opening with “Infamous Nil”, the band immediately delivers waves of killer riffs and a very cool melodic vibe. The snarls are quite fitting for the music, but it is the creativity and catchiness behind the song that makes it quite enjoyable and devastating. “Become the Arcanthropos” keeps the flow of the album going with another onslaught of sickening riffs and a very dark-yet-melodic atmosphere that Rotten Liver perfectly creates.

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    Týr – Valkyrja (2013)

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    Delivering their first album on their new label, Metal Blade Records, Faroese Metalheads Týr keep improving on their signature sound with “Valkyrja”. Featuring 13 tracks of super catchy Progressive Viking/Pagan Metal, the band shows no signs of resting in their laurels and manages to build on their legacy with a near perfect release that will captivate all fans of the band. For over 59 minutes, the listener will be treated to Týr’s signature riffing and the charismatic singing of Heri Joensen.

    Opening with the strong “Blood Of Heroes” we get the traditional Týr riffing onslaught provided by Heri Joensen and Terji Skibenæs. With more epic vocal melodies and catchy arrangements, “Mare of My Night” comes out to be one of the standout tracks in this release thanks to that headbanging/chanting alongside vibe the song features. Things get more melancholic with the lush female vocals of guest Liv Kristine on “The Lay of Our Love”. In this track the band shows a different side to them, delivering a mellow track with excellent guitars and very tight drumming.

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    Carcass – Surgical Steel (2013)

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    Having waited since 1996 for this, we are quite impressed on how Carcass manages to bring back their best sound from the “Heartwork” and “Necroticism” and give it a certain modern kick. While fans of the band’s early material (“Reek of Putrefaction” and “Symphonies of Sickness”) will keep on hating for the band’s more ‘mellow’ music, anybody that got over this on the course of the last 20 years should definitely enjoy “Surgical Steel”. Jeff Walker and Billy Steer manage to keep the Carcass legacy intact with this excellent album.

    The opener “1985” gives us a 70 second window into the riffing onslaught that this release will unleash upon the listeners. As “Thrasher’s Abattoir” blasts away, we are immediately immersed into the Carcass sound that we all love: Melodic/Thrash-y Death Metal at its finest. With the band being a huge catalyst for bands back in the 90’s to try new things and re-define the genre, they manage to capture that timeless sound and packaged with an up-to-date production and mixing.

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    Frozen Ocean – Oneiric In Geocentrism (2011)

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    Extremely productive one-man project Frozen Ocean delivers their one of their four full-length releases of 2011 with the transcendental “Oneiric In Geocentrism”. Featuring over 65 minutes of nightmare-inducing Dark Ambient/Drone music, this release feels like a journey through space. While we are bigger fans of Frozen Ocean’s Atmospheric Black Metal, this album delivers a similar vibe that will send chills down your spine.

    Setting off with “The Striding Watchtower”, the mood is very mystic and ethereal allowing the listener to fully immerse into Frozen Ocean’s world. Our sidereal journey continues with the tense “A Chink in Coelosphere” and “Levitation”, two tracks that clock in around 24 minutes of intense atmospheric brilliance. On a lighter note, “Quiver in the Voidrift” releases some of the tension initially, but keeps the album’s flow going very steady.

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    Frozen Ocean – Steamworks: Hibernation (2009)

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    Limited to a short run of 62 CD-R copies, Frozen Ocean presents us with their 2009 EP titled: “Steamworks: Hibernation”. With a behemoth 30+ minutes song, this release is a good stepping stone into understanding the band’s evolution and how Vaarwel’s skills have been changing over time. With a constant stream of releases Frozen Ocean is one of the most active bands we have heard of, so it is nice to hear a bit more from their musical origins.

    Immediately starting with some droning percussions, the album has that unsettling vibe with a martial touch to it. The atmosphere is quite heavy and tense as it slowly builds up. The ritualistic percussions are quite interesting and give it a different vibe to what we have heard in the past from Frozen Ocean. As the song mellows out around the 20th minute, some of the tension gets released and we can finally move over from the edge of our seat.

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    Unshine – Dark Half Rising (2013)

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    The underrated Unshine finally returns in 2013 with “Dark Half Rising”, the band’s latest full-length release. Featuring a very traditional and polished Gothic Metal sound, this band delivers 11 tracks filled with lush female vocals and excellent melodic arrangements. Always focusing on a commanding guitar-driven sound, this band reminds us of the Gothic Metal wave of the early 90’s when the songs sounded natural and never overburdened with extreme orchestrations.

    The Finnish band opens this album with a very mellow and medieval sounding track titled “Nadja's Wailing About Coming Of The Frost”. After setting the mood with the opener, “The Oath To Wilderness Of Unredeemed Nature” brings the first wave of catchy riffs surrounded by lush keyboards with a very organic and compact feeling to them. Led by Susanna Vesilahti’s vocals, tracks like “Arduinna” and “Spellbinder” are very engaging and feature tons of expertly crafted vocal melodies, reminiscent of early days of After Forever and Amberian Dawn.

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