Black Metal

  • Ragnarok – Malediction (2012)

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    “Holy Shit” are the first words that come to mind after listening to the latest essay in Black Metal brutality from Norway’s Ragnarok. Under the name of “Malediction”, this band unleashes their latest savage release that will blow you away since the opening riffs. Featuring ten tracks of relentless Black Metal, this is by far one of the most brutal releases we have ever heard. With the addition of Bolverk on Guitars, the band is as brutal as it has ever been in this release.

    Opening with the piercing “Blood of Saints”, the band unleashes their riffage attack very early in the album and never lets go. With crystal clear BM riffs and blazing drums they attack the listener in every single waking moment of this release. HansFyrste again does a great job handling the vocal duties and you will be hearing his demonic screams in your nightmares for days to come. Using very traditional BM structures on tracks like “Demon in My View”, the band takes advantage of their polished musical skills and excellent production to bring their destructive sound to life.

  • The Furor – Sermon of Slaughter (2012)

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    Making its way from Australia, today we have The Furor’s latest EP titled “Sermon of Slaughter”. Being very truthful to its name, this pummeling release features four high-octane Death/Black Metal tracks that remind us of a cleaner and better produced version of bands like Impiety. Funny enough, the mastermind behind this one-man band is Disaster, Impiety’s drummer since 2011 or so.

    With a very furious start, “Conquest of Carnage” opens the release with gut-wrenching vocals and killer riffs. The band’s intensity is hype-fast, like the energizer bunny on crack. The drumming is quite solid and very diverse, something you usually never expect from one-man bands, luckily Disaster is an actual drummer. The brief moments that keyboards are introduced take this song to a whole new dimension since they greatly enhance it and serve as powerful contrast to the underlying brutality.

  • Forgotten Tomb - …And Don’t Deliver Us From Evil (2012)

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    After a very interesting “Under Saturn Retrograde”, Forgotten Tomb returns with their very weird mixture of Black Metal, Doom Metal, and Gothic Rock. In “…And Don’t Deliver Us From Evil” they deliver seven very inconsistent songs that the more we listen to it, the less and less we like it. Unlike “Under Saturn Retrograde”, this release just feels dull and aimless until the last two tracks that are quite decent.

    Filled with dull sluggish Black Metal tracks, the first four songs in this release are a total snorefest and it is until “Love Me Like You’d Love The Death” that the band really delivers something listenable. With the extra layer of trippy melodic elements in this track, it really helps the band craft something enjoyable and quite engaging after we were about to give up. The guitar work is also worth mentioning since it is quite good.

  • Dordeduh – Dar De Duh (2012)

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    After their excellent teaser of an EP “Valea Omului” back in 2010, the expectation grew immensely for Dordeduh. Consisting of the original song writers of Negură Bunget, this band has had so much expectation leading to this release that while a very solid and unique release, it kind of falls short and feels somewhat underwhelming. While not saying this release is bad, it just feels that it took so long for what it actually is.

    Opening with the epic “Jind De Tronuri”, this track eclipses the band’s first EP, duration wise, since it clocks in at 16 minutes. With an excellent atmospheric ritualistic feeling, this track is quite engaging and it nicely builds up to some killer Black Metal sections with some progressive elements reminding us of Enslaved. This whole approach continues on “Flacararii”, but in this track, after the atmospheric section the band chooses to go with a very crappy raw BM part before jumping into the progressive sections. This track also shows that the band sounds a lot like Enslaved in some of their progressive parts.

  • Eïs – Wetterkreuz (2012)

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    Originally known as Geïst, today we have Eïs and their latest full-length release titled “Wetterkreuz”. As one of the most ‘straight forward’ bands on Prophecy productions, the band plays a very well-crafted blend of Melodic Black Metal with atmospheric elements that is both brutal and majestic. Featuring 50 minutes of music distributed in five tracks, the band sets a very atmospheric mood that is nicely contrasted by harsh screams, furious riffing, and very tight drumming.

    Opening with some wind effects and German spoken lines, the mood is set to creepy since the very beginning. As soon as the guitar and drums roll in, “Mann aus Stein” sounds a bit like Falkenbach, Enid (the band’s members have been/are involved with the band), etc. However, things change when some more layers of traditional Black Metal are made evident and goes back and forth between melodic and aggressive.

  • Downfall of Gaia – Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes (2012)

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    Jumping on the whole Cascadian/hipster Black Metal / Post-Black Metal movement, today we have Metal Blade and one of their latest signings Downfall of Gaia. The German band plays a very well-constructed Black Metal with lush atmospheric elements, but with a very traditional instrumental core. While the band is actually pretty good at what they do, they are still nowhere near as excellent as main competitors Wolves in the Throne Room, and even lesser known bands like Fell Voices, Woman is the Earth, etc.

    Opening with the atmospheric “[Vulnus]”, this album quickly delivers the traditional lush guitars of said style of music. The drumming and overall pace of things is very adequate and this song feels crushing, but at the same time filled with melody. The wall of sound created on the first track nicely blends into “Drowning By Wing Beats”, another song that starts with very emphasized drums that are quite good and slowly moves into faster and harsher territories. The vocals are quite fitting for the style, and sometimes it reminded us of the intense delivery of bands like Sun Worship (also from Germany).

  • God Seed – I Begin (2012)

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    Finally! After their crushing live performances in 2009, the band faded away with Gaahl’s retirement from the metal scene, but they are now back and stronger than ever. Presenting their debut full-length release titled “I Begin”, the era of God Seed finally begins. Moving past the whole Gorgoroth thing, King and Gaahl are ready to make a name for them and with a star studded cast they have crafted nine tracks that will surely puzzle some people, but that ultimately conquer the opposition.

    With members of Dimmu Borgir (live), Djerv, and Thorns, this new band has managed to deliver an album that goes beyond Black Metal with some very interesting influences that one wouldn’t have expected from King and Gaahl. Opening with the relentless “Awake”, this is more of what one would expect since they sound like Gorgoroth circa “Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam”, the last release were King and Gaahl worked with said band. The track features excellent riffing and very commanding vocals all surrounded by punishing drums.

  • Anaal Nathrakh - Vanitas (2012)

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    Total aural destruction is probably the best way to describe Anaal Nathrakh’s latest ear-piercing sonic abuse of a release titled “Vanitas”. As one of the band’s that constantly keeps improving their abilities to abuse the listener through their extreme music, Anaal Nathrakh has done it again with this release and delivers ten punishing tracks that will make your head fall off after headbanging for almost 40 minutes.

    Blasting this release wide open with “The Blood Dimmed Tide”, the band opens with some Industrial-ish passage before heading to full-blown chaos. The vocals are as crushing as always, and the drumming is as intense as ever. The traditional deranged screams nicely make this piece very memorable indeed. Blasting into “Forging Towards the Sunset”, we are barely given any time to mellow out when the abuse returns. This track has some cool clean vocals that add a bit of an epic feeling to the song in the same way that Emperor did back in “In the Nightside Eclipse”.

  • Flagellated Seraph – Beyond Salvation (2012)

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    Mysterious Swedish outfit Flagellated Seraph delivers us their debut full-length release titled “Beyond Salvation”. With six tracks of fast-paced Melodic Black Metal, this band will surely surprise you with the quality of their music. Coming from Hellthrashers Productions, we expected something totally different from this release, and we are very glad it turned out this ways since some of the songs in this album are just killer.

    Opening with a warm-up track “Reminiscence of The Serpent”, the band fully unleashes its riffing power as “He Who Bears the Mark”. While at first this might seem like your average run of the mill BM band, the song suddenly shifts into excellent melodic territories. Reminding us of older Dark Funeral, Marduk, and the likes, Flagellated Seraph has the skills to deliver extreme intensity tracks that are very well crafted. The massive drumming is one example of the band’s mystery musician’s abilities.

  • Hell United – Aura Damage (2012)

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    Arriving on our latest promo pack from one the most brutal labels in the planet, Hellthrasher Productions, today we have Hell United and their sophomore release “Aura Damage”. Hailing from Poland, our first impression of this band was that they are as crushing as their fellow countrymen Behemoth. Delivering 35-minutes of high-octane Blackened Death Metal, this band is sure to turn a few heads and snap more than enough necks in the moshpit.

    Dominating since the opening track, “Aural Damage” is off to an excellent and very violent attack with “Red Limitations”. The riffing is hyper-intense, the drumming is super crushing, and the vocals are as demonic as Behemoth’s, so you know what you can expect from this relatively unknown outfit. The band does a great job in shuffling things around so the songs don’t sound like copies of each other, a problem that has blamed Behemoth in the last few years. The neck snapping action continues with the anthems of destruction: “Apostle of Plague”, “Deathlike Cold”, and “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie”.

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