Review: Demonic Death Judge – The Trail

First published here: http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/album-ep-reviews/review-demonic-death-judge-the-trail/

The beautiful artwork adorning the new record from Finland’s Demonic Death Judge gives you a little taste of the mountainous groove contained within. ‘The Trail’ may come from frozen northern shores, but it aches with a Deep South groove that is very satisfying. I have previously enjoyed Demonic Death Judge’s work, particularly the predecessor to this, ‘Seaweed’ It is out now through Suicide Records.

The ghostly, country acoustics of the opener ‘Cougar Charmer’ give a very Appalachian mountain feel, something that remains in the melodies throughout this record. The bluesy ‘Filthy as Charged’ is brilliantly addictive, as is the hardened sludgy doom of ‘Hardship’. The guitar tone is thick and cumbersome, dredging the rivers of groove to find some great licks deep in the endless mud. The vocals are harsh and raw, something that works well against the chunky swagger of a song like ‘Shapeshifting Serpents’, which also contains some of my favourite more tripped out sections of the record.

Modern sludge comes across as kind of soulless at times; trapped in an endless cycle of EyeHateGod riffs and nihilistic screaming misery. And that is all well and good but sometimes you need something to feel a little bit, I don’t know, optimistic? Feel good? Parts of ‘The Trail’ almost do, like the rising melody of ‘Flood’ that leads into a righteous blues groove. Something like that is really hard to feel grim about. It makes you want to bang your head epically slow. The psychedelic wanderings of ‘Fountain of Acid’ lead into a reprise of the opener, which feels even more beautiful now.

By the time the glorious rumble of the title track lumbers into the closing, incredible groove of ‘We Have to Kill’, the infectious riffing and melodies have wormed their way into your brain and will not leave. ‘The Trail’ is a record designed to be appreciated multiple times; the insidious nature of the songwriting becoming more and more apparent with each listen. Demonic Death Judge are a band I initially had preconceptions about because of that kinda awkward band name. They’ve proven to me that they are essential listening.

https://www.facebook.com/demonicdeathjudge/

https://demonicdeathjudge.bandcamp.com/album/the-trail

https://suiciderecordsfinland.bandcamp.com/album/the-trail

Review: Old Corpse Road – On Ghastly Shores Lays the Wreckage of Our Lore

In the four years since their last full length, ‘Of Campfires and Evening Mists’, UKBM has missed Old Corpse Road. They’ve always felt a bit more visceral than a band like Winterfylleth without losing any of their traditional heritage themes. Their newest album, ‘On Ghastly Shores Lays the Wreckage of Our Lore’ is another fine addition to the canon of black metal from the isles of Britain, and it is out in May on Trollzorn Records.

The ethereal blast of the opening title track sets the scene for the tales of watery myths and legends to come. The tidal, ahem, tempests of ‘Harbingers of Death (Voices in the Tempest)’ sweep you along on waves of icy riffing, while cold melodies seep into your skin and leave you shivering in their wake. Vocals like the shrieks of a howling wind entwine with storytelling elements, bringing us the eerie tales of yore. ‘Black Ship’ is a great example of their epic scale and ferocious black metal combination. Acoustic folk builds into a fearsome maelstrom of tremolo riffing, savage growls and huge clean vocal sections that give this song a scope as vast as the open sea. And when that slower section comes in, with sweeping leads? Oh my…

Old Corpse Road have struck pure black gold on this record. It marries the barely tamed power and rage of traditional black metal to the kind of grandiose folklore vision that the likes of Enslaved or Drudkh brought to the genre. ‘Sea Fire’ feels like if Melechesh were from Yorkshire, not the Middle East; capturing an ancient feel without losing strength. The gothic piano of ‘As Waves Devour Their Carcasses’ provides a ghostly respite from the fury, before the one-two hit of ‘Demons of the Farne’ and the titan ‘The Ghosts of the Ruinous Dunstanburgh Castle’. The former thrashes with fiery fury while the latter soars on a blizzard wind through 16 minutes of some of the most epic black metal you may hear this year.

‘On Ghastly Shores…’ is a black metal opus of grandeur, of blackened majesty and frozen beauty. Old Corpse Road feel sometimes a little unsung beyond these shores, but with albums like this that should change. This is now the high watermark for 2020 black metal. Impeccable.

https://www.facebook.com/OldCorpseRoad/

http://www.oldcorpseroad.co.uk/

https://oldcorpseroad.bandcamp.com/music

http://www.trollzorn.de/

Review: Daelkyr – Eternal Decay

Turkish black metallers Daelkyr have just recently self released their debut EP, ‘Eternal Decay’, and it is four tracks of pretty raw, clattering black metal. I’m hoping that, with its proximity to Greece, that Turkish black metal is just as good, because I’ve never come across it before.

Opener ‘As the Fog Rises’ hits you immediately with a ferocious buzzing attack, constant blasting and a rough rasping vocal. This is raw as fuck, frozen streams of bile spewing hatred and violence. But it isn’t totally one dimensional though; there are plenty of nice dynamic shifts within the icy torrents of black metal which is good. The title track is a little slower, the measured pace allowing a bit more melody to sneak through the blizzard, while ‘Grey Inferno’ draws deep from the second wave to create something equally fearsome and bleak.

As ‘The Ritual of Existence’ fades to a triumphant close, I’m excited about the prospect of more Daelkyr in the future. Uncompromising in its attack, this is no tinpot raw black metal debut. Accomplished, well written and dynamic, ‘Eternal Decay’ is a hidden gem. Seek it out

https://daelkyr.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/daelkyrofficial/

Review: Death Courier – Necrotic Verses

Review by Sandre the Giant

Greece’s Death Courier are legends of old school death metal, with their iconic debut ‘Demise’ coming out in 1992, but they’ve been around since 1987. They returned to the fray in 2009 and released ‘Perimortem’ in 2013, but ‘Necrotic Verses’ looks to be their magnum opus, a mere decade later. It is out in June through Transcending Obscurity.

The title track that opens this record is probably the most visceral piece of music I’ve encountered in my lockdown purgatory. The old school thrashy death violence is breathtaking; each riff underpinned by a battery of blasting drums and dense bass and the pace is relentless. You’ll be battered by the brutal ‘Mourning Ecstacy’, mesmerised by the chugging ‘When Death Fits to Skin’ and drowned in the murk of ‘Pillars’. ‘Necrotic Verses’ is a pure old school death metal record, still imbued by the thrashy nature from which classic death arose. These guys are true originals, and each song just reinforces their credentials.

From the snarling ‘Visceral’ to the guttural roar of ‘Immune’, Death Courier are living proof that it is never too late to bring freshness to an ancient and founding genre. ‘Necrotic Verses’ is something to behold, enthralled by, and its one of the most straightforwardly brutal yet absorbing releases this year.

https://deathcouriergreece.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Death-Courier-423460954403378/

https://www.facebook.com/transcendingobscurityrecords

Review: Antipope – Apostle of Infinite Joy

I do feel like ‘Apostle of Infinite Joy’ is far too cheery a title for a metal album, but then again, what do I know? Finalnd’s Antipope have evolved over the five albums and thirteen years of existence form a more progressive black metal outift into a band that is happy to incorporate many styles into their sound to get their music out there. ‘Apostle of Infinite Joy’ is out now through Fertile Crescent Productions.

Opener ‘Harbinger of Dawn’ is pretty catchy, framed by some galloping riffing in the background while a memorable vocal hook soars above some thrashy goodness. There’s a lot of heavy metal/thrash licks throughout, which really helps some of the songs worm their way into your brain. If you imagine what Cradle of Filth was like without all the histrionics, you may come close to this. Layers of gothic atmospheres soak ‘Intoxicating Darkness’, while the title track opens with doomy melodic riffs, which I really like and then turns a bit prog.

That’s the thing with albums like these; sometimes the genre splicing leads to the songs feeling disjointed or out of place. Antipope avoid most of those pitfalls, and they can definitely hit some good heavy notes, for example in the driving thunder of ‘Red Goddess’ or the blasting psychedelica of ‘Veneral Ritual for Dispersion and Reintegration of the Soul’. ‘Apostle of Infinite Joy’ is a record that will not necessarily blow your mind, but you’ll struggle to not enjoy these well written songs.

https://www.facebook.com/antipope

https://fertile-crescent.com

Review: Worm – Gloomlord

The Floridian swamps birthed Worm, whose second release ‘Gloomlord’ is out now through Iron Bonehead and looks to enhance their reputation as purveyors of horrendous, suffocating doom. I reviewed their debut full length, ‘Evocation of the Black Marsh’, here in 2017 and yet in 2020 there’s nothing more apt in these times of disease ridden armageddon than an album that sounds like this…

The bleak drudge of ‘Putrefying Swamp Mists at Dusk’ opens the album with eerie atmospheres and sludgey vocals. The guitar tone reeks of tar and murk, seeping through a lightless gloom. If this is an ‘intro’, the rest must be terrifying. It is, with the morbid crawl of ‘Rotting Spheres of Sentient Black’ gurgling up from fetid voids deep below the earth. The eerie, almost weeping tones echoing throughout the rumbling slime of ‘Apparitions of Gloom’ is haunting, while the wailing solo that winds through the tectonic crunch of ‘Melting in the Necrosphere’ is devastating in its execution.

The closing salvo of the lumbering monolith ‘Abysmal Dimensions’ is an encapsulation of how Worm’s spectre is growing, and looming large over the genre as a whole. There are bands who try to reach the kind of foul misery of ‘Gloomlord’, but very little even comes close. This is a magnificent expulsion of music.

https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/worm-gloomlord

https://www.facebook.com/IronBoneheadProductions

Review: Dopelord – Sign of the Devil

First published here: http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/album-ep-reviews/review-dopelord-sign-of-the-devil/

Lords of Eastern European classic doom, Poland’s Dopelord have returned to follow up their classic third record, ‘Children of the Haze’, with their newest offering. ‘Sign of the Devil’ is out now through Green Plague Records and it feels ready to fill time until the next Electric Wizard record is conjured from the hazy depths. I must note as well that the album artwork is stunning, encapsulating a lot of classic doom influences; religion, kings, plague, death and magicks.

Electric Wizard is an obvious first comparison point when the rolling, fuzzy riffs of super catchy opener ‘Witching Hour Bell’ rumbles from your speaker, down to the dense groove and Ozzy-esque wail. In fact, there is more than a little Sabbath lurking within these occult riddled walls, albeit layered below deep layers of distortion. ‘Hail Satan’ is a thunderous stomp through Satanic rituals, while the anthemic ‘Heathen’ has riffs strong enough that they’re worth getting high on. The whole record ripples with a tunefulness that this kind of music often lacks, and sacrifices none of the weight to achieve it.

It isn’t merely all bulldozing cliff face riffs though; the dreamy psychedelica of the start of ‘Doom Bastards’ provides a respite from the heavy but doesn’t lift the gloom as there’s plenty of driving stoner riffs lurking further ahead, as well as an absolutely killer solo too. ‘World Beneath Us’ is a more traditional slab of lumbering haze w hile the short rampage of ‘Headless Decapitator’ has a great burst of punkish attitude injected into it and is like nothing else here.

‘Sign of the Devil’ is already a front runner for my doom album of 2020, and considering how much of this year I’ll probably spend inside listening to music, I doubt I’ll come across many that come close. Addictive melodies sweep through massive riffs, skittering through some psychedelic moments but never leaving behind any of the glacial crush that makes this such a great record. Dopelord are ‘bastards of doom’ indeed.

https://www.facebook.com/Dopelord666/

https://dopelord.bandcamp.com/album/sign-of-the-devil

https://www.facebook.com/GreenPlagueRecords

Review: Hand of Omega – Left Hand Wrath

First published here: http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/album-ep-reviews/review-hand-of-omega-left-hand-wrath/

The debut demo from Stoke on Trent’s Hand of Omega is called ‘Left Hand Wrath‘, and this sludge doom quartet are looking like devastation is their forte with a two track, twelve minute bludgeoning on the cards. It is out now self released.

The sickening guitar tone that rises from ‘Amazon Burning‘ is met by the equally disease ridden vocal snarl, drowning within a suffocating murk. It’s a pretty heavy place to start, and it only continues down this path of nihilistic dread. There are moments of utter Lovecraftian insanity, when the pace rises and the song flails like an unknown beast. The second part of this miasma, ‘Convolution‘, has absorbed much of the same bile that infested the opener, and sounds like if EyeHateGod released a bedroom black metal demo. Except with way more low end. The bass crunch on these tracks is thunderous, and unlike a lot of sludge there is no bluesy groove saturated in here, just pure straightforward violence.

‘Left Hand Wrath‘ is a brutal reminder of how lo-fi, sanity cracking sludge can feel like the end of the world, and why that self destruction is so addictive. Hand of Omega are here to be feared, and there will be few survivors.

https://www.facebook.com/handofomegaband/

https://handofomega.bandcamp.com/releases

Review: Innards – Back from the Grave, Straight to Your Face

The debut EP from Portuguese deathgrinders Innards is only a mere three tracks, but that’s probably as much as the world was ready for right now. This relentless, grinding slab of death metal feels more at home in the grim north than sunnier climes but hey, what do I know. It is out now through Transcending Obscurity.

The start of ‘Intro – The Night of the Anthropophagus’ is basically the story of the album cover, which is totally cool. After which, a brutal chainsaw riff gallops through its victims, and a nasty growl spits bile over a solid d-beat/crust assault. This is death metal in its rawest form, all speed and fury with little to no subtlety. It’s fucking great too, and if to boost their credentials even more they get a solo from Sodom’s Frank Blackfire and guest vocals from Kam Fucking Lee on the lightning fast brutality of ‘Enlightment Through Hate’. Close with the slightly slower crush of ‘The Fog’, steamrolling everything in front of it and you’ve got yourself a hell of a debut.

If you dig Repulsion, Grave or early Carcass then Innards is for you. An almst untouchable EP, these guys are going to be incredible on a full length and I cannot wait for it. Hopefully it won’t take too long. Death metal is eternal, and Innards prove it.

https://innardsdeath.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Innards.DeathMetal.PT

https://www.facebook.com/transcendingobscurityrecords

Review: Abeyance – Portraits of Mankind

The debut from Italian melodeath quartet Abeyance was released late last year through Sliptrick Records, and is the culmination of two years work to create something personal and unique to them. ‘Portraits of Mankind’ is out now.

The opening title track has plenty of really nice riffs, and has good grasp on the balance between melodies and aggression. I really like the propulsive catchiness of ‘In Falsehood Dominion’, which also has a touch of the epic about it in certain sections. This feels like quite an old school melodeath record, like early In Flames or Dark Tranquillity rather than newer influences. There’s no clean vocals which is a strange bonus I thought afterwards, and everything seem concentrated on creating simple yet effective metal music. ‘Mine are Sorrow and Redemption’ has a nice piano accompaniment which provides a pleasant addition, and that same instrument returns in the final track intro with aplomb.

The chunky riffing that opens ‘Innerscape’ feel very Amon Amarth-esque, but lacking a little of that band’s grandeur. Closing with the epic fury of ‘Secretly I Joined Dark Horizons’, Abeyance have hit upon a pretty good old school melodeath style that feels quite different in the shiny modern metal world. ‘Portraits of Mankind’ is for those of us that need just a little less melodic in our melodeath, and Abeyance know the score.

https://www.facebook.com/abeyancemetal/

Dead Pulse Shop