Black Metal

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    The Iniquity Descent – The Human Apheresis (2012)

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    Featuring Mathias Lillmåns of Finntroll fame on vocals, today we have The Iniquity Descent and their debut full-length “The Human Apheresis”. Playing a very traditional and average Black Metal, this upcoming band still has a long way to go before we can say they are a force to reckon with.

    Delivering ten blows of powerful Black Metal, “The Human Apheresis” is one of those albums that immediately after the first track you start wondering if you already heard the next song, because they are all very similar and repetitive. Don’t get us wrong, the riffing is quite powerful and the drumming is superb, but the quality of the songs is constantly lacking since the band repeats the same sections over and over until you stop caring.

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    Martyrdöd – Paranoia (2012)

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    Delivering a wall of crusty guitars and a very decadent (but effective) mixture of Punk and D-beat with Death and Black Metal influences, today we have Sweden’s Martyrdöd and their full-length release “Paranoia”. While we usually don’t like this type of music, Martyrdöd does a great job in making it engaging, brutal, and well sounding, enough for us to be fully immersed in the 11 tracks presented in this release.

    Opening with some sick riffs, “Nog Är Nog” fully delivers the unexpected: a five minute song (not 2 minutes like other bands) with excellent melodic elements as well as the traditional crusty sound and punkish edge of these kinds of releases. The band’s focus on the catchiness of the riffing is excellent perfectly contrasting the more aggressive sections. With a more Black Metal influences tracks like “Överkom Er Rädsla” and “Hör Världens Rop” feel like a punkish version of Immortal with some of Satyricon’s edge from the 90’s. These two songs are the perfect example of why Martyrdöd is beyond your typical one-dimensional crust band and can delivers in many different fronts while maintaining their identity.

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    Essenz – Mundus Numen (2012)

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    Making its way from Germany, today we have Essenz’s latest full-length released titled “Mundus Numen”. With a very healthy mix of traditional Doom Metal with some Black Metal and Sludge hints, this release takes you down to the bowels of hell and back with a very powerful and dark sound. For six tracks, “Mundus Numen” showcases the band’s tuned low guitars and raw power when it comes to speed things up.

    “Extinguish Shapes - Innermediate” opens this release with very powerful Sludgy riffs that nicely morph back and forth to painful Doom sections. The atmospheric elements make this track even more dense thanks to their unconventional nature, and the female vocals add a very nice extra touch. Before we know it, “Sea of Light – Pleroma” explodes in our face with some furious Black Metal in the vein of bands like Watain and Horna. The switch from Doom to BM is pretty rapid and very well engineered to deliver a powerful blow. This track again drones back between furious BM riffs and some deeper slower passages.

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    Winterfylleth - The Ghost of Heritage (2012) reissue

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    While we wait for some more new music from Winterfylleth, Candlelight is re-releasing their debut full-length release “The Ghost of Heritage”. With a complete overhaul in the packaging and a remastered sound, this excellent album sounds even more impressive and clear than before, showcasing Winterfylleth’s destructive nature.

    The wall of distorted guitars is immediately set with the devastating opening track “Mam Tor (The Shivering Mountain)”. In this track the band shows their polished BM sound similar to Wolves In The Throne Room and those kinds of bands. The riffing is punishing, but the harsh screams are just magical in this context. There are some clean choir-like vocals that add creepiness to the song and nicely contrast the excellent guitar work. Things turn a bit into the unknown with the atmospheric acoustic guitar driven track “The March to Maldon”, a very nice and momentum building song. This track was just the buildup before the explosive “Brithnoth: The Battle of Maldon”.

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    Al-Namrood – Kitab Al Awthan (2012)

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    Saudi Arabia’s most interesting ‘ethnic’ Black Metal band is back with another release that features intriguing middle-eastern atmospheres and crushing Black Metal merged to near perfection. With “Kitab Al Awthan”, Al-Namrood pushes forward in their musical exploration delivering over 47-minutes of intelligently written music that is both captivating and very brutal.

    Opening with the lush “Mirath Al Shar”, the album instantly transports you to a somber and mysterious place thanks to the excellent atmosphere created. The production this time is considerably better and you can really hear the richness of the band’s percussions and epicness of their middle-eastern influences. The rawness of their Black Metal foundations is first unleashed on “Min Trab Al Jahel”, and we again noticed considerable improvement in the production values when compared to their previous release. The fusion of atmospheric keyboards and the raw distorted guitars is majestic, giving that creepy feeling of being trapped in a maze similar to the ones in the Prince of Persia games.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Moonreich – Curse Them (2012)

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    After Moonreich’s impressive debut “Loi Martiale” in 2011, we have them returning with even more devastating Black Metal in their digital-only EP titled “Curse Them”. Featuring three new tracks and a cover of Christian Death’s “Deathwish”, this short but sweet EP continues where the band left off and delivers a pummeling 20 minute aural assault that showcases how strong and brutal Moonreich is.

    Blowing up since the first track (“Slay the Prophet”), the band’s high-octane Black Metal riffing onslaught immediately delivers waves of brutality. Similar to bands like Watain and older Behemoth, Moonreich does not fuck around and delivers tons of blistering riffs in a very short amount of time. The drumming is pretty brutal and this track embodies the full range of the band’s aggressiveness.

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    Pseudogod – Deathwomb Catechesis (2012)

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    After countless split releases, Russia’s Pseudogod delivers their debut full-length “Dethwomb Catechesis”. Pummeling through eight tracks of violent Death/Black Metal that creates a thick-as-fuck atmosphere, the band does a pretty solid effort in presenting us with their debut release. Hailing from Russia, this band sounds like it has a lot of hate and anger to vent and they sure make their point with “Deathwomb Catechesis”.

    Opening with the demolishing “Vehement Decimation”, the band immediately fills the room with a wall of distorted guitars and hellish growls. The band’s sound is a brutal as you can get and thanks to the thick distortion layer, it sounds entirely demonical. “Malignant Spears”, “Saturnalia”, “Azazel”, and “The Antichrist Victory”, keep delivering waves of negative vibes, adding to the overall atmosphere of destruction that this release present. We particularly like how the band gets a bit Doom-ier in some sections like on “Azazel” and it’s very decadent slowdown passage that also features and excellent guitar solo.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Furze – Psych Minus Space Control (2012)

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    Making its way from Norway, today we have Furze’s latest deconstruction of Black Metal titled “Psych Minus Space Control”. In this release, this one man band delivers 43 minutes of brilliant music perfectly split in five intriguing tracks. Furze’s ability to create trippy space rock tracks with infused Black Metal elements is just outstanding.

    The minimalist opening sequence of “Occult Soul, With Mind” has a very funky sci-fi vibe that we haven’t heard since Angst Skvadron “Sweet Poison” release. The very rudimentary approach to music that Furze opts to use is quite interesting to listen to and on tracks like “Psych Mooz Space Control”, it is evident that the man behind this band is brilliant. With very retro sounding guitar work and an ever-present mellow bass guitar lines, these first songs nicely set the mood of this fine release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Burzum – Umskiptar (2012)

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    Keeping up with releasing an album a year since his release from jail, Mr. Varg delivers Burzum’s “Umskiptar” this 2012. Combining the ‘traditional’ Burzum sound with some of the ‘new’ elements he showed in “Fallen”, this new release is a perfect mixture of both Black Metal and Folk elements, that while not groundbreaking it is still a solid release for this one man outfit.

    Drawing inspiration from the Norse poem “Völuspá”, Varg does a solid job in creating chilling atmospheres that have a powerful Nordic feeling to them. Opening with the “Bloostokkinn”, this song feels like a war chant due to its atmosphere and spoken word sections. In “Joln” the quintessential Burzum guitar work marks its presence and delivers perverse riffs nicely paired with harsh and clean vocals. One of the things that made “Fallen” such an interesting release was the clean/spoken sections and “Umskiptar” is full of them as well.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Llvme – Yia De Nuesu (2012)

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    With a very lush and elaborate sound, today we have Llvme and their second full-length release “Yia De Nuesu”. Mixing elements from Doom, Folk, and Black/Death Metal, this band has a very rich and entertaining sound that will blow you away with excellent melancholic passages and sheer brutality moments.

    Opening with the majestic “1188-1230” track, this release immediately establishes a melancholic atmosphere full of aggression and emotions. The female vocals and violins in this track are excellent and nicely contrast the heavy elements of the track. “Helmantica” brings forth a more aggressive stance from the band and some very Dimmu Borgir-esque keyboards. The riffing is very well crafted and the drums are stellar. “Vettonia” has that same Folk Metal vibe that bands like Eluveitie exploit to no end (the bagpipes), but it somewhat feels different with some nice stop-and-go moments and the direct Amorphis ‘rip-off’ section at the end of the track.

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