Black Metal

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    Spectral Lore / Locust Leaves – Split (2012)

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    Keeping busy this 2012, the one man project Spectral Lore delivers another excellent Black Metal release with their split album with fellow Greeks Locust Leaves. Continuing with their highly refined brand of music presented in their latest full-length “Sentinel”, they deliver a crushing 15-minute track that covers half of this excellently packaged release on Order of Theta Records.

    Immediately delivering their aural assault, Spectral Lore opens the split release with a crushing track titled “Duty”. For the span of fifteen minutes the band’s excellent guitar work gives us that Primordial vibe, but with a heavier Black Metal orientation. The singing is as brutal as ever, but it’s the small details the song structure that makes this track engaging. With a several tempo changes, epic atmospheric keyboards, and a pulsating bass guitar line, the band shows again their strength in crafting restless tracks that are very diverse and engaging.

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    Midnight – Complete and Total Hell (2012)

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    After not getting enough of Midnight with their debut full-length release “Satanic Royalty”, this compilation delivers 21 catchy songs that spawn all their pre full-length debut years (eight years and several EP’s and splits). Hailing from Cleveland (WTF), this band is one of the catchiest and most engaging Black/Speed/Heavy Metal bands these days, no other Black’n’Roll band comes close to them.

    Covering their complete early catalogue (minus few tracks), this release shows an interesting progression in the band’s sound (and recording quality). Track like “All Hail Hell”, “I Am Violator”, “Long Live Death”, and “Endless Slut” have that nasty sound and a very sleazy vibe to them, just like one would expect from a truck driver hanging out at a high-school female volleyball game.

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    Silent Leges Inter Arma – Silent Leges Inter Arma (2012)

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    Hailing from Germany, today we have a very interesting sounding Black/Death Metal band named “Silent Leges Inter Arma” and their self-title debut release. While this band has no ‘fancy’ elements on their music, their song writing abilities makes their sound be old school and brutal while still having some modern elements that makes them very unique sounding. If this sounds weird, just imagine Sepultura circa “Morbid Visions” with modern BM elements.

    Starting with a very average track titled “We Are”, the band kind of has a pattern in the opening songs of this release of one average track followed by a good one, seems weird it turned out this way (or we liked the album this way). “Falcon-Headed One” delivers quite powerful growls and very interesting guitar work. Here you can perfectly notice the band’s weird and unique sound that makes them different from the rest, maybe comparable to bands like Secrets of The Moon and such in terms of their guitar work.

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    Germ – Loss (2012)

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    After Germ’s impressive debut “Wish”, released earlier in March 2012 by Eisenwald as well, we are totally blown away at how much a band’s sound can mature and such a short time and with “Loss”, this one-man project delivers 36-minutes of lush and deranged Black Metal with countless influences and a huge atmospheric component. Lead by the Aussie Tim Yatras, better known for his work in Austere, Grey Waters and Woods of Desolation, this new project brings forth an amazing musical proposal that countless bands have danced around, but never quite got it this perfect.

    Moving a bit away from the psycho-sexual electronics of “Wish”, “Loss” takes things to a whole new dimension and produces some of the best atmospheric passages we have ever heard, with some brilliantly introduced electronic splashes. Opening with the heartfelt “My Only Hope”, we get very solemn vocals and excellent mixture of piano with atmospheric elements that nicely culminates very dramatically, lush, and brutal.

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    Freitod – Regenjahre (2012)

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    Delivering a very interesting combination of Black Metal with some Gothic/Dark Metal elements, today we have Germany’s Freitod and their sophomore release “Regenjahre”. This journey through seven tracks and 52 minutes of brilliantly crafted music is a very unique one since the band keeps a perfect balance between harsh and aggressive Black Metal brush strokes and highly melancholic overtones creating a lush Post-Black Metal experience.

    The album start with the title track and the band immediately sets the mood with excellent guitar work and a very catchy pace. The melodic aspect of Freitod is excellent and on tracks like this one they use it perfectly. Combining crushing harsh vocals with dreamy Gothic Metal/Rock clean vocal sections the band creates a very unique and melancholic atmosphere. The band further uses these tools to contrast the brutality of their Black Metal roots with their lush melancholic side, and tracks like “Der Traumsturm” and “Neue Wege” are clear examples of this.

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    Enslaved – RIITIIR (2012)

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    After blowing us all away with the excellent “Axioma Ethica Odini”, Enslaved returns with another excellent release that builds up on their previous albums and further refines their sound. With their very Progressive sound, the band has managed to expand the reach of the Black Metal genre into new and uncharted territories, and “RIITIIR” is the perfect vessel to explore these waters.

    Continuin the “Axioma…” vibe, “Thoughts Like Hammers” features intricate guitar work perfectly adorned by several singing styles. The chorus section of this track is magical, both musically and vocally. With such a very well-directed aggressive sound, the band perfectly fuses in their Progressive elements with the harsh vocals and pounding drums unlike any other band we’ve heard. Moving into funkier and more melodic territory, “Death in the Eyes of Dawn” nicely keeps the album flowing with excellent guitar work, a wide variety of vocals, and a very mellow tempo.

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    Laburinthos – Augoeides (2012)

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    Delivering a very unique and melancholic release, today we have Avantgarde Music’s latest signing Laburinthos and their debut release “Augoeides”. Featuring five very unique sounding tracks, this band crafts a blend of Gothic Rock with some excellent Dark Wave influences that they eloquently call Labyrinthine BlueWave. With very emotive vocals and a depressive aura, this band reminds us to the likes of The 3rd and the Mortal, Yearning and those types of band’s from the late 90’s.

    Opening with the very dramatic “The Great Brothel of Mankind”, the mood is set quite well with such a rich and complex piece. The lush keyboards greatly adorn the well-paced bass guitar and the guitar work. The vocals are very theatrical and fit the music quite well. With even more powerful keyboards, “Crucified Among My Loves” delivers a very interesting tempo changing track. This song reminded us of the initial use of keyboards in Death/Doom Metal from the early 90’s by the Dutch bands, like The Gathering, Etherial Winds, etc.

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    Situs Magus – Le Grand Oeuvre (2012)

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    Outputting a combination of hateful and weird Black Metal similar to Deathspell Omega and Xasthur with some hints of older Blut Aus Nord, Situs Magus delivers their first chapter with the name of “Le Grande Oeuvre”. Intended as a one piece release, this album is split into five movements that showcase the band’s ability to create wicked atmospheres and delivers gut-wrenching screams accompanied by twisted riffing.

    Hailing from France, this new band has a very well consolidated sound for being the new kids on the block. Immediately after the intro, the band’s power is felt by the very dense “Oeuvre au Noir”. Crafting a very depraved and thick atmosphere the band delivers a very grim Black Metal feeling underneath all the atmospheric events. The riffing is quite traditional and the singing is as good as you can expect it, but the pacing of the track is what makes Situs Magus quite interesting.

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    Manii – Kollaps (2012)

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    Featuring the original members of Manes, today we have Manii and their crushing ‘slow’ Black Metal that brings us back to the early days of Scandinavian Black Metal but will a depressive/suicidal edge that makes the songs slow and punishing at the same time. Manes is one of those clear examples that shows that too much experimentation and weird shit going on in one release takes things a bit too far and alienates people. With Manii this two man band goes back to the basics with raw screams, piercing riffs and well-crafted drumming.

    Thankfully for the older fans of Manes, there is still some hints remaining here and there, but the new band’s focus is more on the atmospheric side of thing. Crafting thick and memorable atmospheres is a craft that seems to escape many of the newer bands but on “Kollaps” this is never the issue. Opening with the martial “Skoddeheim”, the band really sets a very slow and painful tempo, reminding us in times to Shining (Sweden) and Bethlehem. The atmospheric elements are bone-chilling and the overall pace of the track makes the vocals sound even more depraved and powerful.

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    Spectral Lore – Sentinel (2012)

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    All the way from Greece, today we have the one-man beast Spectral Lore unleashing a relentless Black Metal release titled “Sentinel”. In this album, Ayloss, the man behind the band, delivers six crushing tracks with brutal Black Metal escapades filled with eerie ambient elements that create a very dense and cavernous feeling around the excellent music. Clocking in around 75 minutes of music, this album is a true gem since every second is perfectly used towards the band’s creative vision instead of wasted in mind-numbing repetition like most Ambient/Atmospheric Black Metals bands.

    Blasting things wide open with the brutal “All Devouring Earth”, the ‘band’ delivers pummeling riffs and intense drumming that will blow you away. As time progresses, the ambient/atmospheric side of things kicks in and allows the song to fully sink it while the inhuman vocals work their magic. Just around the corner “The Dejection of Arjuna” is waiting to slowly creep under your skin will more brutality and perfectly paced tremolo-picking magic.

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