Album Reviews

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    Ash Borer – Cold of Ages (2012)

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    As one of the most brutal USBM bands of these days, Ash Borer has carved a name for them with crushing and relentless Black Metal brutality with some Noise/Drone and weird FX’s to add to their music. Originally released in 2012 by Profound Lore Records, today we have the Double LP version of “Cold of Ages”, one of the most devastating records of 2012. Released by Pesanta Urfolk in extremely limited quantities, this is one release you must hear on vinyl.

    Opening with the sheer brutality of “Descended Lamentations”, the band delivers a 16-minute song of epic proportions. The drumming is hellish, the riffing is ultra-powerful and the screams are phenomenal. The band achieves an extreme level of brutality that almost no USBM band has ever come close to. Our favorite track in this release is “Phantoms”, thanks to the sick opening riffs and the weird outro that the track features.

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    Australasia – Sin4tr4 (2013)

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    Being huge fans of Post-Rock and Post-Metal, we were pretty psyched about this release after doing our research on the band. Needless to say, this release is one of those albums that feels extremely repetitive and after a while gets on your nerves. We do not doubt the band’s abilities or flow of ideas, but the songs in this release get very repetitive and dull after 15 minutes.

    The album open with “Antenna”, a very dreamy Post-Rock piece that is quite good and engaging, the only issue is that all the remaining songs sound the same. The Black Metal-esque riffing is quite effective and promising, but was used more as a gimmick than actually part of the band’s sound. With “Spine” and “Apnea” we start getting quite sleepy since there are not many different things except for some cool keyboards and atmospheric elements, but not enough to really help discern the songs.

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    Frigoris – Wind (2013)

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    Arriving this June on Hypnotic Dirge Records and Misanthropic Art Productions we have Frigoris and their sophomore release “Wind”. Perfectly mixing acoustic guitars with melancholic Black Metal, the band creates a very powerful and emotional atmosphere around their songs. Hailing from Germany, this band is an ideal match for fans of bands like Agalloch, Fen, and Woods of Ypres, and older Empyrium.

    Opening with the mysterious intro “Windgeflüster” that features some nice acoustic guitars and whispers, the band fully explodes with “Zwischenwelten”. This straightforward Pagan/Black Metal track is quite melancholic and perfectly crafted to create a special atmosphere. The BM harsh vocals are quite good, but what elevates this release is the creepy whisper/acoustic guitar combination that bands like Empyrium have used in the past.

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    Lychgate – Lychgate (2013)

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    Delivering a very impressive debut self-titled album, Lychgate combines highly atmospheric music with brutal Black Metal in a very crushing and terrifying way. Featuring tracks form the band’s ‘dormant’ years, this release carves out perfectly songs that are both chilling and very harsh. With over 37 minutes of music, this release is by far one of the best we have reviewed this year when it comes to Atmospheric Black Metal.

    Hailing from the UK, the band warms up with “The Inception”, an dense and creepy mood setting intro. When the first track, “Resentment” arrives, the dramatic keyboards/organs create a very bleak and commanding atmosphere, but it is ultimately the riffing that completes the band’s awesome wall of sound. Having elements of bands like Way to End and Nidingr, the band’s sound is hellish and very well constructed.

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    Children of Bodom – Halo Of Blood (2013)

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    Finally returning to their days of glory, today we have Children of Bodom and their most cohesive release since “Hate Crew Deathroll”. With “Halo of Blood” the band returns to their playful and skillful entertaining music that is both technically proficient and quite catchy. Having tanked their last 3 releases, it is quite refreshing to hear the band going a bit back to their roots and re-capturing the elements that made them the successful band they are now.

    With the opener “Waste of Skin”, the band instantly delivers their signature CoB sound with catchy keyboards and excellent lead guitars. Once the rhythmic guitars come in, the song already hooked you because of its catchiness. Alexi Laiho’s solos are as good as in the past, and the overall musical experience greatly brought us memories of when we first listened to the band in the past.

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    Lost in Kiev – Motions (2012)

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    Arriving from Moodisorder, today we have Lost in Kiev and their debut full-length release “Motions”. Featuring seven lush Post-Rock tracks, this French band specializes in creating very emotional cinematic music that any fan of the genre would greatly appreciate. Heavily focusing on highly atmospheric content, this five-piece crafts very unique and powerful music that will transport you to landscapes painted by your imagination thanks to the very ethereal musical style.

    The mood setting intro “>” nicely builds up to the hypnotic “A Mere Shift Of Origin”. This tracks atmosphere is greatly aided by the spoken vocals, creating a nice complementing feature that slowly explode into powerful distorted guitars. The band’s very martial approach allows the track to perfectly progress and the lush keyboards create a solid contrast in the atmosphere.

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    The Black Dahlia Murder – Everblack (2013)

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    Delivering one of the most surprisingly awesome albums of 2013, today we have The Black Dahlia Murder and their imposing release “Everblack”. We have long discarded this band as one of the vanilla Deathcore bands since their earlier days, but today we are shocked in the excellent quality and brutality behind their latest release. Mixing elements of Melodic/Technical Death Metal with some Deathcore influences, the band has managed to craft a very powerful and devastating sound of their own over the years.

    Exploding with the technical “In Hell Is Where She Waits for Me”, the band immediately showcases their excellent mixture of melodic elements with brutal DM/Deathcore sections. The music is quite intense and makes you immediately want to start headbanging. “Goat of Departure” continues the riffing onslaught with catchy melodic sections and inhuman growls. The band’s sound has surely come a long way since their earlier stuff and they now sound like a million dollars.

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    The Devil’s Blood - III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars (2013)

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    Recently demised The Devil’s Blood returns with one last hurrah with the raw and direct “III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars”. Never intended to be the last release of the band, and never properly completed, this release maintains the mystical magic of the band with a less refined and perfected packaging. Featuring the last seven tracks we will ever hear from this excellent band, this release is indeed very good, but it also has a bittersweet taste of what it could have been if the band polished it as much as their previous releases.

    The release leads off with a 22-minute epic under the title “I Was Promised a Hunt”. Supposedly written backwards, this track is a tour de force that goes through tons of different moods and delivers an excellent introduction to the band’s swansong release. The female vocals are outstanding as always and they immediately induce a trance-like state. There are also some male vocals that while odd at first, provide a nice contrast to F’s singing and the lush choir arrangements. The atmosphere in this track is quite dense (as always) and has a very dark vibe to it, greatly enhanced by the brilliant guitar work.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Svartsyn – Black Testament (2013)

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    Out of the tons of Black Metal releases we get each week at Infernal Masquerade, there are just a handful that are worth purchasing, sadly “Black Testament” is not one of them. One-man beast Ornias returns with Svartsyn and this very insipid release that while not bad, it is just too linear and predictable to generate any positive emotion from us.

    After a quite interesting and bleak intro track, the band blasts away with “Revelation In The Waters”, a very solid and punishing BM song that sadly is the only highlight of this release. After this track goes by, the rest of the songs feel just too similar. The music is quite decent indeed, but it lacks creativity and direction. We found ourselves getting pretty antsy to reach the end of the album very single time we listened to it (over five times… we counted).

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Aborym – Dirty (2013)

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    Ever since Mysticum and Diabolos Rising/Raism disappeared form the Industrial Black Metal scene, there have been countless of uninspired bands and releases trying to achieve the same level of brutality, catchiness, and overall deranged awesomeness of said bands. Malignant Eternal and Aborym are the only two bands that ever came close to said greatness. With “Dirty”, Aborym returns with a double CD release filled with crazy electronics and massive drums, a considerably better effort than their previous release “Psychogrotesque”.

    Opening with the average “Irreversible Crisis”, the band really kicks things off with the mega-catchy “Across The Universe”. Filled with very tense electronics and clean vocals, this track is nicely elevated by Faust’s supreme drumming abilities. The band nicely keeps the intensity up with “Dirty” and “Bleedthrough”, both very brutal tracks that are quite solid and well crafted. Our favorite track in this CD is the atmospheric “Rapped By Daddy”, a song that creates a very deranged atmosphere, perfect to creep out my neighbors by blasting it at 3 am on a Tuesday.

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