Review: Neter – Inferus

Spanish death metallers Neter are back with a new record full of death metal brutality and glory. ‘Inferus’ follows their great debut ‘Idols’ from 2015, and is out now through Satanath Records.

Opening with a delicate piano intro ‘The Cords of Sheol’, the beast is awakened with the ominous thrust of ‘Faceless’, a track of immense weight that takes a measured pace and brings to mind ‘Demigod’-era Behemoth. There is a wonderful depth to the songwriting here; it doesn’t just feel like a collection of cool riffs and brutal vocals, it feels like a coherent journey throughout a cohesive whole. Neter take influence from American and European death, leaving the chainsaw frozen north alone which is a welcome change at the moment. It seems that everyone has gone all Swedish, so this is a great thing! The production is warm and thick, like cloying blood, wrapping the ferocity of songs like ‘Blazing Fallout’ and ‘Galvanize’ in a smothering embrace.

‘Inferus’ is a superb album. It feels like a regal overlord of the more flailing and savage records of this year, carrying gravitas and weight rather than simple minded savagery. Neter’s work is remarkably mature and deep, and this record shows their flair for the grandiose and density. Excellent.

https://www.facebook.com/neterofficial/

http://satanath.com/

https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat186-neter-inferus-2018

Review: Spawn of Annihilation – Insurrection

Mexican brutal death metallers Spawn of Annihilation have been around for almost a decade but their debut full length only just came out this January. ‘Insurrection’ is out now through Brute! Productions, and will appeal to fans of Hour of Penance, Suffocation and Dying Fetus.

Bursting forth with a mesmerising display of technical brutality, Spawn of Annihilation hit all those sweet spots you’ve been waiting to itch since the last Suffocation record. The low end is massive; rumbling and dense. The guitarwork is frenzied and intricate, without losing any of the powerful chug. The songwriting is tight and the vocals are guttural, doom-laden roars. Basically it ticks every box you need it to. You have both speedy (‘Absolution Through Death’) and destructive, chugging, neckwrecker tracks (‘The Era of the Vengeance Will Begin’), both careening through a gritty production that enhances each and every flesh stained note.

You’d be hard pushed to find any wasted motion on ‘Insurrection’. A cannon of devastation aimed squarely at the planet, Spawn of Annihilation have dropped one of the most engrossing and well written brutal death metal records this year, and it will crush you.

https://www.facebook.com/spawnofannihilation/

https://spawnofannihilation.bandcamp.com/

https://bruteprods.bandcamp.com/

Review: Fetal Bleeding – The Quest of Immortality

Indonesian death metallers Fetal Bleeding have released their debut full length record ‘The Quest of Immortality’ through Brute! Records, and they’ve been going for about 8 years now. I’m looking forward to sampling this musical massacre.

Opener ‘As Torture Becomes Lust’ hits you immediately with a very dense bass, chunky riffing and devastating vocals. Brutality reigns supreme through this record, with barely a space to breathe within the suffocating miasma. The production helps this feeling too, layering a thick tar over everything, increasing that black heaviness. Your obvious musical touchstones are Aborted, Suffocation, early Dying Fetus. Breakdowns crash upon you, rumbling drums constantly pound into your skull and a cavernous terror stalks the fields, destroying anything in its wake. I love the relentless violence of ‘Legion of Delusion’, the cacophonic mania of ‘Grief Cavity and the savage beating of ‘Salvation by Death’.

The record is just the right length for this style as well. You’re faced with all the awesome brutality you can cope with, but it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Riffs pile devastation on all those who listen, while bile soaked vocals churn and roil under a massive low end. Fetal Bleeding are destruction through music, and this record is great.

https://www.facebook.com/fetalbleeding.brutaldeath/

https://fetal-bleeding.bandcamp.com/

https://bruteprods.bandcamp.com/

Review: Northern Crown – Northern Crown

The thunderous doom and smoky atmospheres of Northern Crown’s debut record has returned on their newest, self titled record. ‘Northern Crown’ is out now through their Bandcamp, and it oozes with the early Deep Purple and Black Sabbath influences that pervaded their first record, but engages you on a more visceral level.

Opener ‘I Am Your Slave’ reeks of classic Candlemass; vast thrusting riffs laden with organ and a commanding vocal performance. Vocalist Frank Serafine has a similar voice to Rob Lowe of Solitude Aeternus, and there is a subtle power and magic to it that gives this album a feeling of grandeur. The stomping ‘Merciless, They Let You Suffer’ is a killer track, ripe for any ‘hit songs of 2018’ playlist, with a galloping nature that reminds you of classic rockers like Rainbow. But Northern Crown approach all facets of heavy music with the same magnanimity, paying tributes to prog (‘The Desert and the Wind’), as well as miserable Yorkshire doom (the My Dying Bride cover ‘Your River’) and gloomy, occult and organ laden proto doom (‘Forged from Nothing’)

‘Northern Crown’ is a statement. Northern Crown are a band that are almost chameleonic in their worship and execution of classic doom, when the differences between that, classic rock and classic heavy metal were blurred. Sometimes an album comes along where you struggle to pick the best song. Few albums this year have achieved this so well, and Northern Crown’s journey has only just begun.

https://music.northerncrownband.com/album/northern-crown

https://www.facebook.com/NorthernCrownDoom/

Review: Wurm Flesh – Excoriation Evisceration

Sacramento, USA is the home of brutal death metallers Wurm Flesh, whose debut record ‘Excoriation Evisceration’ is out now through Comatose Music. A visceral and savage beating through death and devasation awaits those who enter the lair of the Wurms…

After the obligatory intro, the chugging Suffocation-esque low end thunder of ‘Deceased and Festering’ sets the tone immediately. This is dark and horrendous brutality, not overly concerned with slams and pig squealing but more with a guttural, bowel scraping heaviness. ‘Enshrined in Rot’ has a sickening groove to it that struggles to stay afloat under a swampy bass and relentless blasting. Wurm Flesh don’t mess around here; they are in and out in 25 minutes. Each song has its purpose, doesn’t overstay its welcome, and most importantly slays with the most brutal of intentions. In fact, the longest track here is probably the best, ‘House of Flesh’, and it shows that if Wurm Flesh wants to, the song lengths can increase without losing quality. The short sharp assault approach works perfectly in a debut however.

Ferocious riffing, inhuman vocals and a thick, saturated production that really enhances the low end engine powering this vehicle of murderous death and cruel sadism along, ‘Excoriation Evisceration’ pretty much nails everything a fan of brutal death needs, and it does it so quickly you’ll be reaching for the repeat almost immediately. Killer stuff.

https://www.facebook.com/WurmFleshOfficial/

https://wurmfleshofficial.bandcamp.com/releases

https://comatosemusic.bandcamp.com/album/excoriation-evisceration

Review: Sumeru – Summon Destroyer

Bruising Australian heavyweights Sumeru have released their new record, ‘Summon Destroyer’ through WormHoleDeath and on a limited cassette run on Medusa Crush recordings. Prepare to feel the rumblings of the earth itself beneath each mighty step of the Destroyer.

After the ritualistic hum of ‘Inanis Kultis’, the lumbering grooves of ‘The Temple’ come striding from olden places, and a mesmerising Eastern vibe begins to flow. Sumeru feel like the less esoteric parts of Mastodon given new life, each song vibrating with a primal thunder and power. There are also little moments that are reminscient of the dreamier end of stoner doom, like Baroness. The chugging, droning title track creates a rend in the universe from whence flows the Mastodonian worship of ‘Embrace the Cold’, while the polished enormity of ‘Durga! Durga!’ is a wondrous shrine built to the greatest of the Neurosisian riffing. The best surprise is the gloomy violins of the introspective closer, ‘A New Ritual’, which is the strongest piece on an album full of good tracks.

‘Summon Destroyer’ is an album that doesn’t necessarily sound like anything new; in fact it is this mighty grasp upon the metal of old and the addition of a nice, raspy guitar tone that makes Sumeru such a grand prospect. But they aren’t just a one riff pony, and in fact their mighty roar hides a fragile heaviness.

https://www.facebook.com/mountsumeru/

https://sumeru.bandcamp.com/album/summon-destroyer

http://www.wormholedeath.com/

https://medusacrushrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/summon-destroyer

Review: Sektarism – Fils de Dieu

Funeral doom from the darkest and most miserable orthodoxy of France, Sektarism have returned with their third opus, ‘Fils de Dieu’, out now through End All Life Productions and distributed by NoEvDia. Two tracks, forty five minutes of crushing, soul draining experiences that leaves you an enlightened husk, a shattered soul in a world of death.

‘Oderunt Dum Metuant’ opens with a solitary beat, quietly building as groans and chants begin to haunt the music. Like a dissonant religious ritual, the intensity of the screams grows as cymbals and gongs appear. The tension this is creating is unbearable; it feels like when the crescendo comes, the world is going to collapse. This isn’t a ten minute intro, this is the preparation for the ceremony ahead. You’ve been anointed with the unholy oils, prepare to meet your doom. ‘Sacrifice’ is indescribable. First of all, destroy your perceptions of what makes a ‘doom’ record. There are no massive chugging riffs here, stench of weed or galloping axe wielding battles. This is doom as it is in the most primal; inexorable fear of death, torturous glimpses of the unknown. The guitar work shimmers in feedback, teasing you with moments of recognisable heavy metal before going back to draining your life force.

They say good music can feel like a religious experience. This album is what you’ll hear when Jesus comes back and you discover everything was a lie and the eternal void is all that waits for us. His bloodied hands, leading us into our death and disintegration from existence. Nothing matters. Except maybe buying this album. You’ll need to get ready for the end…

https://www.facebook.com/sektarism

https://www.noevdia.com/

https://www.noevdia.com/shop/sektarism-fils-de-dieu-cd/

Review: Cloudburst – Cloudburst

Cloudburst are an Indonesian group who are dropping their new, self titled record in January through Samstrong Records. Their sound is very sharp, mixing the likes of Converge or Botch with the grindcore intensity of Pig Destroyer or Cattle Decapitation, all of which sounds like a recipe for success. ‘Cloudburst’ is the followup to well received debut, ‘Crying of Broken Beauty’.

Opener ‘Strange Acrobat’ is a fearsome piece of noise, with angular riffs plowing through drifts of grindcore ferocity and spoken word sections clashing with barks and screams. It feels very unique; the kind of sound that modern bands strive to find but most don’t. ‘Crimson Mask’ feels very Botch-like and while never quite reaching the genius of those Americans, Cloudburst’s music features both the melodic (‘Tornado’) and the savagely raw (‘Personal Golgotha’) elements that dance to their own beat. The menacing ‘Human Origami’ is my personal favourite, with a particular powerful vocal performance both in the spoken word and the throat shredding screams.

‘Cloudburst’ is a record full of disjointed, visceral beauty. Songs splay from every angle, a grinding performance holding it all together into a cohesive whole. Cloudburst are interesting, doing things that you don’t hear a lot of bands going for. This style hasn’t felt this fresh since Botch died, and that is high praise indeed.

https://burstingcloud.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/burstingcloud/

Review: Feral – Flesh for Funerals Eternal

Sweden’s Feral play, well you’ve probably assumed already, old school Swedish death metal, complete with huge riffs, a horrendous guitar tone and enough ancient, fetid evil to raise all sorts of madness from the graves of their ancestors. Transcending Obscurity have, once again, unearthed a classic and it’ll be out at the end of the year. Enter the left hand path…

‘Vaults of Undead Horror’ sounds exactly as you’d expect. Massive chainsawing riffs, thrashing their way across devastated landscapes while throaty roars growl and howl above. Swedish death metal never gets old; that guitar tone pulls me in immediately and Feral make no attempt to reinvent the wheel. Instead, that wheel is planted firmly in the massive groove left by Entombed, Grave, Dismember etc, but it is also driven deeper and harder. Feral are just that, rabid death metal flies from the spitting, snarling ‘Black Coven Secrets’, while the crushing ‘Buried’ is a weighty, meaty course of riffs and more riffs. Sometimes it’s ok for all your songs to sound the same, if that sound is AWESOME. Ask Motorhead.

‘Flesh for Funerals Eternal’ is a record of unbridled savagery, and glorious worship of my personal favourite subgenre of death metal. I mean, it would be difficult to do Swedeath badly to be honest, but the directness, the quality and the fearsome talent on display here keeps me up at night. Feral are stunning, and so is this record.

https://www.facebook.com/feralswe/

https://feralsweden.bandcamp.com/

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Review: Dalkhu – Lamentation and Ardent Fire

Slovenian black metallers Dalkhu have impressed me in the past with previous album ‘Descend…into Nothingness’ which I reviewed here. Therefore, their new record on Godz ov War Productions, Lamentation and Ardent Fire’, really has big shoes to fill. Let’s see if they can equal or even improve.

Opener ‘Profanity Galore’ builds slowly, with tribal drumming coupling with cold melodies and then a jagged thrust of molten black metal spews forth. Dalkhu balance the fine line of fiery, fearsome black metal with dashes of ice cold melody, like snowfall on lava. ‘I Am’ gallops like prime Marduk; an endless torrent of thrashing riffs that flow from the depths of hell. Dalkhu’s attack is nothing short of relentless, and even when the pace slows slightly, there is an air of menace lurking there in the darkness of ‘A Race Without Hope’, ready to bite the seeking hand.

While devastating us with blackened death rage in the likes of ‘Gaps of Existence’, or claiming our souls in the more menacing moments, Dalkhu build on the great work they started with ‘Descend…into Nothingness’ and create something even darker and heavier. ‘Lamentation and Ardent Fire’ will probably be an underrated record this year, but it is a stunning piece of music and deserves your attention.

https://www.facebook.com/DalkhuOfficial/

https://dalkhuofficial.bandcamp.com/music

http://godzovwar.com/shop/en/godz-ov-war-releases/1925-dalkhu-lamentation-and-ardent-fire.html

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/lamentation-and-ardent-fire