Hells Headbangers

  • Denouncement Pyre – Almighty Arcanum (2013)

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    Delivering 42 minutes of barbaric old-school Black/Death Metal, today we have Australia’s Denouncement Pyre and their latest release “Almighty Arcanum”. With a refined devastating sound, this Aussie band pummels through nine hate filled tracks that will rattle your speakers from beginning to end.

    After the warm-up instrumental intro “Breath of Tehom”, the band blasts away with the soul crushing “An Extension of the Void”. The band’s musical abilities have greatly improved over the years and on tracks like “The Deceiver”, they sound like a less Black’n’Roll version of Satyricon. The tempo of this release is quite ‘relaxed’ in some tracks, allowing Denouncement Pyre to have a very unique and dark vibe; “He Who Conquers All” is a great example of a less intense track that creates a very cavernous and well-crafted atmosphere.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Superchrist – Holy Shit (2012)

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    Promoted under the moniker of ‘Beer Metal’, Superchrist’s latest released titled “Holy Shit” falls a bit under the expectations generated, but still delivers 10 hard-hitting rock and roll tracks. The party atmosphere is definitely present in this release and while most of the songs are quite catchy, the band fails to deliver beyond their one punch approach.

    Delivering punches since the opener “Run to the Night”, this release starts with a very upbeat tempo and a nice atmosphere of debauchery. The riffing is pretty solid and the drumming nicely follows, however the best thing is the raspy vocals that reminded us of a younger Lemmy from Motörhead at some points. As the tracks: “Take me To The Graveyard”, “Hot Tonight”, “Get Lost”, and “Burn Again” follow, it is quite evident that the band does only one thing, but they do a hell of a job at it. While this takes away from the band a bit, it will surely not bother other people.

  • Witchtrap – Vengeance Is My Name (2012)

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    Arriving all the way from Colombia, today we have Witchtrap and their impressive old-school Thrash Metal release titled “Vengeance Is My Name”. Featuring 40 minutes of intense balls-to-the-wall Thrash Metal, this release is an early candidate for Thrash album of the year 2012. The band delivers the old-school vibe brilliantly and their compositions are both entertaining and technically proficient.

    After the misleading acoustic intro track, “Winds of War” delivers the first of many pummeling assaults of catchy riffing, high-octane drumming, and traditional Thrash Metal slur unlike anything we have hear this year. The band’s ability to sound like Kreator, Death Angel, Forbiden, used to do in the 80’s its impressive, but what is more impressive is how they complement the sound with even more technical abilities and keep the vibe intact.

  • Midnight – Satanic Royalty (2011)

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    Presenting a very interesting mixture of Speed, Heavy and Black Metal with some occult/psychedelic Rock elements, today we have Midnight and their debut full-length release: “Satanic Royalty”. After achieving a great kvlt/underground status for years it is about time that Midnight comes to the spotlight with their super catchy music. Having only released EP’s and singles, the band has perfected their sound over the years, and with “Satanic Royalty” they will storm the scene by surprise with their hard-rocking tunes.

    For over 30 minutes and 10 tracks, Midnight brings back that good old sound of bands like Venom and Motorhead, but making it their own with some occult Rock elements. Since the opener “Satanic Rotalty”, the overall hard-rocking feeling is very evident. The ‘harsh’ vocals are more of a powerful scream that can easily be understood and the overall production of this song (and album) is a very effective mixture of old-school with modern cleanliness giving it a very crisp and authentic sound.

  • Gravewürm - Blood of the Pentagram (2010)

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    Legendary USBM act Gravewürm have returned with their 7th full-length release titled “Blood of the Pentagram”. In this album the band continues to create their very disturbing sound by combining raw Black Metal elements with Thrash/Doom/Death Metal influences that give the band’s sound a little edge over the rest of the average sounding BM bands these days.

    However, not everything is enjoyable in “Blood of the Pentagram” since this release tends to get a bit too simplistic and repetitive in nature. The band exploits the raw and lo-fi approach to things and creates a very creepy sound, but it fails to deliver when the music tends to get boring and super repetitive.

  • Nocturnal Blood – Devastated Graves - The Morbid Celebration (2010)

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    When it comes to having a raw and crushing sound, only a few bands can be as effective as Nocturnal Blood. Unluckily, Nocturnal Blood also lacks depth and enough variation in their music to be 100% effective. That being said, we don’t think that “Devastated Graves - The Morbid Celebration” is a bad album since it’s crushing and relentless, but we will not say it’s amazing either, since it lacks depth and variety and feels like a 26 minute long song.

    Having only one member, Ghastly Apparition, the ‘band’ quickly takes command with a very raw sounding assault of guitar riffs, slurred growls and relentless drumming. With “Devastated Graves”, you will surely be brought to your knees due to the fact of the massive rawness and brutality behind this song. However, once tracks like “Death Calls”, “Impure Devotion” and “Ghouls Wrath” go by, you soon realized that Nocturnal Blood is a one-trick pony.

  • Children of Technology – It’s Time to Face the Doomsday (2010)

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    Hailing from Italy, today we get the debut-full length album of Thrash/Crust-Punk newcomers Children of Technology. With similarities to old school Voivod, Cro-Mags, The Exploited, among others, this band will surely appeal to you if you like your music to sound old school and have that Crust Punk-ish feel to it that bands have been perfecting over the years.

    The main thing that you will notice is that while Children of Technology is not a bad band, the genre does not allow for much ‘improvement’ or ‘experimentation’ making them sound a bit like everybody else. While this is not particularly bad, if you are looking for something ‘innovative’ might as well skip this album. But if you are looking for straight up old-school music, then “It’s Time to Face the Doomsday” will satisfy all your needs.

  • Prosanctus Inferi - Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation (2010)

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    Featuring J. Kohn of Black Funeral (USA) fame, Prosanctus Inferi is one of those bands that you will either love or hate to death. Their style merges Black and Death Metal elements into a blender and creates very brutal and mostly aimless 2-3 minute musical ‘compositions’ that will either make you headbang like crazy or scratch your head wondering WTF is going on.

    “Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation” the band’s first full-length album features 13 songs and around 25 minutes of sheer brutality. If you like your music to be extremely brutal and somewhat pointless then this is the album for you. The band’s drummer Antichristus committed suicide before the release of this album.

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