Black Metal

  • Inexistenz - Erfundene Welten (2013)

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    With all the fuzz being about Post-Black Metal releases these days, today we have a soul crushing Depressive Black Metal album in “Erfundene Welten”. Being the sophomore release of this Slovenian one-man battle unit, we are quite surprised at the maturity behind this release. Presenting six tracks of painful Black Metal influenced by Doom and more atmospheric bands, this release should appeal to fans of acts like Dodsferd and Austere.

    Opening with the very raw and nihilistic “Verlohren in der Neer”, Inexistenz really sets the bar high for this album with a very Doomy pace and haunting vocals. The drums are quite slow-paced and perfectly craft an extremely melancholic mood. The riffing is quite standard and very fitting for the genre. Things pick up a bit more in the first half of “Erfundene Welten” and they are nicely halted by a lush atmospheric interlude.

  • Ov Hollowness – The World End (2013)

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    The Epic Post Black Metal Canadian outfit Ov Hollowness brings today a hefty dosage of piercing riffs and crushing vocals with “The World End”. For the duration of the 10 tracks in this release, this one-man band manages to socially abuse the listener with punishing guitar work surrounded by an excellent atmosphere and very well paced melodic headbanging sections. If you are a fan of guitar driven Black Metal, this is one release you don’t want to miss.

    Immediately blasting away with “Abstractive”, the band immediately reminded us of bands like Agrypnie that push the boundaries of the genre by taking it to different directions. The guitar work is not your typical tremolo-picking abuse festival; it is more centered and melodic allowing the melodies to flow better while maintaining a very brutal and crushing sound. There are also tracks that are quite aggressive for the more purist fans of the genre, and they can be nicely sampled with “Grey”.

  • Siculicidium - Keringők (Valses) (2012)

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    Arriving in a limited edition 7” today we have Siculicidium’s EP titled “Keringők”. Featuring two tracks, this release has two different ‘reinterpretations’ of Swans iconic “New Mind”. Each track delivers quite disturbing sounding versions of this song that are very traditional to the band’s creepy Black Metal sound.

    Opening with “Valse Triste” the band sets a very slow and painful pace. As you can instantly hear, the riffing closely resembles Swans original version, but the mournful vocals greatly enhance the experience. The Black Metal roots of the band are also very present has the song progresses, adding that extra level of personalization the band gives to the track. As unique as Swans original version was, we very much enjoyed this different interpretation of the song.

  • Grave Desecrator – Unblessed Bootleg (2012)

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    Showcasing the band’s raw talents in a live setting, today we have Grave Desecrator’s official ‘bootleg’ release “Unblessed Bootleg”. Featuring 11-tracks of brutal old-school Black/Death Metal, this live album delivers an aural assault for any fan of the band that is dying to hear how they sound live. With over 40 minutes of music, this crushing release is a must have for any fan of this band.

    Leading this release with the combo of “Hellhound Breed / Sign of Doom / Revelations (Of the Beast) / Stared to Hell”, the band blows away the crowd with crystal-clear renditions of these crushing songs. Butcherazor’s vocals are as brutal as anybody could expect and the powerful riffing is excellently captured in this live recording.

  • Vreid – Welcome Farewell (2013)

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    The kings of catchy Black ‘n’ Roll have returned with another killer release in “Welcome Farewell”. Continuing to push the boundaries of Black Metal mixed with old-school Metal, Vreid shows that they can only keep improving their very unique and aggressive musical approach. For over 40-minutes the band delivers waves of uber catchy riffs paired with hellish vocals and a knack for ridiculously entertaining song arrangements.

    Immediately pounding away with “The Ramble”, the band shows that they haven’t forgotten their Black Metal roots, but they deliver them on their own terms. There are very typical BM riffs here, but they are given an old-school vibe that makes them as addictive as heroin. Tracks like “Way of The Serpent” and “The Devil’s Hand” are excellent examples of riff-a-thons that are the staple of this band’s excellent song writing skills.

  • Scarecrow – Flesheaters III (2013)

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    All the releases we usually get from Finland deliver high quality Metal music, but there are also the ones by very unique and totally weird bands. Today we have one that falls under this category, “Flesheaters III” by Scarecrow. Initially after observing the album’s art that features people with corpse paint, we expected some Black Metal…. and we were totally wrong. Delivering 12 tracks of ‘Horror Metal’ as the band calls it, this release features a very interesting and intense combination of Thrash/Death and some sprinkles of Black Metal with punk elements.

    Opening with a very creepy atmospheric intro, the band wastes no time delivers a high-intensity Thrash Metal-esque riffing on “Killing Machine”. Things turn into a mixture of Thrash and Punk with “Undead Nazi Bastard” and “Eine Symphonie des grauens”. The band again changes gears and delivers the very Punk-ish “Night of the Butterfly Knives”. Up until this moment, the versatility of the band is quite impressive and makes things very hard for us to really fit them in any particular genre.

  • Totengeflüster – Vom Seelensterben (2013)

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    Being huge suckers for Symphonic Black Metal, we got excited when we received the debut full-length release of Totengeflüster titled “Vom Seelensterben”. After several listens we still have mixed feelings about this release, one the one hand, there are some awesome songs, on the other hand, there are some totally filler self-masturbation ‘orchestral’ passages that should just be discarded. This release might have been better served as an EP, since as a whole it has less impact on the listener.

    Opening with the traditional dramatic orchestration, the album finally kicks into gear with “Ein Traumgespints”, a fierce track that reminded us of the aggression put forth by bands like Anorexia Nervosa. The singing is superb and highly aggressive, the riffs are pretty solid and the overall aural experience is quite filling. There are some obvious Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth-esque elements inserted into the music, on tracks like “Ein Monolog im Mondschein”, but we can deal with them as long as they are not overdone.

  • Sanguinary Misanthropia – Loathe Over Will (2012)

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    Making its way from Australia, today we have Sanguinary Misanthropia and their traditional Black Metal debut full-length “Loathe Over Will”. Featuring 68 minutes of punishing Black Metal in the old-school way, this Australian band has a bit of that old Scandinavian BM vibe that has slowly been dying in the last few years.

    Opening with the ritualistic “Revelations 16:4-6”, the band sets a very dark and mystical mood for this release, reminding us a bit of bands like Weapon and such that take carefully craft their Satanic message. Immediately making an impact with crushing old-school riffs in “Devil Everlasting”, the band sounds like the good old BM from the late 90’s before it all got ‘cool’. The distortion on the guitars creates this massive wall of sound that is very typical of older BM releases.

  • Spektr – Cypher (2013)

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    Delivering the first real stinker of the year, today we have Spektr and their latest release “Cypher”. In this nine track waste of time, the band attempts to be very experimental and avant-garde with some shitty Black Metal lined up with Drone and Industrial elements and a production that will make you want to pierce your ear drums, making effectively the most extreme POS we have heard in quite a while.

    The album opens with a boring Drone-like piece titled “Hermetism”, then they deliver the first ‘BM’ dose of the night with the totally horrible sounding “Teratology”. In this track and the next (“The Singularity”), we get to ‘enjoy’ craptastic BM riffing with even more horrible drumming all distorted by some weird studio magic effects that make it sound more kvlt and evil according to the band. While some people might enjoy getting their ears raped by some horrible sounds, we are not too keen to make our pets convulse by listening to this.

  • Endezzma – Erotik Nekrosis (2013)

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    Hailing from Norway, today we have the debut full-length release of the Black Metal horde named Endezzma. In “Erotik Nekrosis” the band delivers seven tracks of very engaging BM that will surely surprise people with their melodic passages and a few interestingly odd elements that make the songs quite enjoyable.

    Opening with the very traditional “Junkyard Oblivion”, we immediately pictured another plain old-school BM release with that nasty sound that we all love. However, as the band pummels through the song, they suddenly deliver a very cool instrumental section that feels completely foreign to the overall structure of the song, and immediately make it 100 times more interesting. This vibe is again present on the Black’n’Roll-ish opening of “Enigma of the Sullen”, blowing away any preconception we had about how this album should go. This track also features a very cool atmospheric passage with even more appealing guitar work.

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