Review: Bonehunter – Dark Blood Reincarnation System

Review by Sandre the Giant

Finnish black metalpunkers Bonehunter have been terrorising my ears since their Bathory-worshipping debut ‘Evil Triumphs Again’ in 2015, and I reviewed ‘Children of the Atom’ here in 2018 too. They’re back with some more raucous blackened punky thrash on new record, ‘Dark Blood Reincarnation System’, out in August through Hells Headbangers.

After ‘World of Darkness’ sets the scene with a dystopian monologue, ‘Black Magic M16’ tears out of the gate with a satisfyingly fuzzy guitar tone and some tasty licks. Rampant riffing, snarling vocals and a galloping speed metal attitude give Bonehunter and irresistable quality as they barrel through a litany of excellent, catchy tracks. But the songwriting is anything but simple, with a lot of intricate guitar work on the measured doomy chug of ‘Gashadokuro’ and even the super memorable ‘Altered Beast’ isn’t just a simplistic banger.  The guitar tone in ‘Chromium Death Mechanoid’ is pure blackened filth, and it gives every this authentic, nasty stench about it. ‘Virgin Devil Princess’ is a killer, solos tearing across galloping NWOBHM riffs and a supremely energetic vocal performance, while the closing title track feels a little like a black metal take on some of Iron Maiden’s mid 80s stuff.

‘Dark Blood Reincarnation System’ gives us the absolute best of Bonehunter; nasty blackened riffs galloping along at thrash/speed metal pace with a heathly dose of punkish attitude. A release that is immediately thrilling and visceral, providing a joyous energy with everything it touches, ‘Dark Blood Reincarnation System’ is just spectacular.

https://www.facebook.com/bonehuntermetal

https://bonehuntermetal.bandcamp.com/

https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/

Review: Kamra – Conversing With Ghosts

Review by Sandre the Giant

The two track debut of atmospheric and experimental Slovenian black metallers Kamra, ‘Conversing With Ghosts’, is out now through Onism Productions and proves to be an interesting and challenging listen.

Opener ‘Lantern of Ghostly Unlight’ builds with creepy atmospherics, cold clean guitar slicing through a thin murk before some unsettling vocals begin to haunt the chords. As dense, discordant black metal begins to build in tension, it becomes a vast dark soundscape for unholy rites to be vested upon. It is certainly atmospheric, in the same way I’m sure Fritzl’s basement was (deeply unsettling), and the pure malevolence seeping through every note is glorious. ‘Oozing the Thirteenth Hour’ is, if anything, even more horrifying, somehow marrying the eerie, ambient noise horror of The Axis of Perdition to ‘Ordo Ad Chao’-era Mayhem’s blackened chaotic spirals. It rarely likes to stay in one place, blazing into new dimensions of darkness at the drop of a hat and then dragging the eldritch horrors it finds back with it.

‘Conversing With Ghosts’ is a startling debut, immediately marking Kamra as a band doing something different and potent within the black metal sphere. Experimental, atmospheric, just plain weird, whatever you want to go with, Kamra are not a band you’ll soon forget and that is incredibly rare these days. ‘Conversing With Ghosts’ is transcendent.

https://www.facebook.com/VoicesOfKamra/

https://onismproductions.bandcamp.com/album/conversing-with-ghosts

Review: Cemetery Echo – Come Share My Shroud

Review by Sandre the Giant

The debut EP from Buffalo, New York’s gothic death ‘n’ rollers Cemetery Echo, ‘Come Share My Shroud’, has been two years in the making, and is laced with plenty of Danzig, Fields of the Nephilim and an unhealthy dose of the funereal vapours. It is out in August through Petrichor Records.

The sinister, creepy opener ‘Beneath the Crypts’ sets the scene for the kind of moody 80s horror you’re about to receive, with a note that sounds like a tolling bell repeated over atmospheric ambience. The driving title track is loaded with classic gothic electronica vibes, with additional snarling vocals giving it a bit of an edge. There’s an undoubted Danzig feel here, and even a little Sisters of Mercy too, and it provides an insanely catchy yet grim track. Lead single ‘Youth Disease’ is more of the same; insidious melody bringing ghoulish charm to something inherently dark, and the Depeche Mode-meets-Mayhem gloom of ‘Transylvanian Moon’ closes us up with a martial beat, cold evocative melodies and a particularly dark edge to it

‘Come Share My Shroud’ is a delightful detour into a genre less travelled by the Killchain. Even though bands like Fields of the Nephilim and Sisters of Mercy influenced a huge amount of bands I listen to, I often ignore this style. I’m glad I made a change this time, as Cemetery Echo are an infectious and addictive prospect that I will definitely be following. ‘Come Share My Shroud’ is an instant recommendation.

https://www.facebook.com/cemeteryecho/

https://cemeteryecho.bandcamp.com/album/come-share-my-shroud

https://hammerheartstore.com/collections/all/petrichor

Review: Norse – Ascetic

Review by Sandre the Giant

Australian black metallers Norse have created some of the more dissonant and unusual black metal in the past few years, and I have reviewed some of their previous releases here and here. ‘Ascetic’ is their newest offering, out in September through Transcending Obscurity and I have high hopes and fears for what lies beneath.

The opening title track is the churning maelstorm of darkness I was expecting; lurking somewhere between the wallowing depths of Portal and the atonal dissonance of Deathspell Omega. The melodies are horrendous, twisting conventional scales into new forms, while a brutal battery holds almost together the chaos above. The alien sound of ‘Parasite Warmongers’ is just wrong; like Godflesh have been through that hellgate on the Event Horizon. ‘Fearless Filth Seeker’ starts with almost what you would feel as melodic, serpentine and clean beneath a snarling roar but it breaks the walls of chaos thrown at you before. That of course, does not last and the fear and horror begins to build up again throughout this creeping opus, crushing bending guitar reminding us of their death metal roots. ‘Accelerated Subversion’ ploughs cosmic depths to pull out gut churning, Gorgutsian riffing and eldritch notes of torment.

I’m only halfway through, and there are still so much things to try and explain and describe. ‘Radical Depression’ shows the first hints of fragility with a slow burn build through tinkling guitar and quiet drumming into a grinding, atmospheric piece that is possibly the most accessible thing here so far. ‘Zero Insight’ is the most intense song on the record, like nuclear war inside a black hole, while ‘Blight’ and ‘Useless’ give us a gutpunch closing stretch; the former blasting at us with full undeniable fury into the latter’s deathly droning miasma. In fact, the closing minute or two may be my favourite moment on this record; a concentrated rumble with a gloomy atonal melody drifting over the top as it fades into oblivion providing a strangely peaceful closure.

I don’t often find records that cause me to try and edit my word counts, I normally need to pad out a little bit but ‘Ascetic’ needs so much to describe just the kind of music here. I’ve seen Norse’s sound being described as futuristic, which I really hope is innaccurate because by the sounds of it the future is totally fucked. ‘Ascetic’ is a record designed to confound, to terrify and to absorb your mind into its splintering insanity. It may be too intense for some but I have sunk into its depths and it had such sights to show me. Outstanding stuff.

https://www.facebook.com/norse.official

https://norsemetal.bandcamp.com/

https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/

Review: Wilczyca – DrakoNequissime

Review by Sandre the Giant

More Polish black metal you say? Does this country ever stop producing such darkness, such bile, such hatred? Not recently, and the new record from Wilczyca, ‘DrakoNequissime’, is another blast of raw blackness coming from Godz Ov War Productions. It is out now.

Opener ‘Nienawidzę Jezusa Chrystusa’ is raw, harsh and noisy black metal, savage vocals and a rusty chainsaw guitar tone giving a lot of early Mayhem vibes, while the dark atmosphere that is conjured up feels like Beherit or Archgoat in intensity. ‘Sic Luceat Lux’ has this harsh, South American thrashy vibe going through it as well, while the title track brings a good dose of atmospheric black metal fury to the mix. ‘Jeszcze zemści się Ziemia’ starts with a deep, melancholic clean vocal (I assume this is Roman Kostrzewski who features on this track?) and atmosphere before bringing the rage back. It is an effective change of pace, and is something I hope is explored a little further in future releases too. ‘Czarny ołtarz’ is a more midpaced horror, while epic closer ‘Nema’ is everything that has come before, completing the circle.

‘DrakoNequissime’ is an incredibly varied record for something that doesn’t even crack half an hour. Sure, it is all black metal but it runs the gambit of thrashy, raw and savage to the more gloomy, atmospheric and creepy stuff as well. You struggle to find bands with this sort of range on albums twice as long as this, so Wilczyca’s work is highly recommended.

https://www.facebook.com/wilczyca.kult

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/drakonequissime

Review: Phantasmagore – Abominations…

Review by Sandre the Giant

Chile’s Phantasmagore have a new EP out this year, and their debut demo ‘Abominations…’ just got a vinyl release as well, so I thought I’d go back and revisit it. I first heard it last year thanks to Burning Coffin Records, and it is three tracks of raw death metal.

Opener ‘Master Crusher’ starts with a screaming woman and a hideous chopping noise, so you know that there’s going to be some gory stuff coming. When that first riff kicks in, man what a grumbling chainsawing rager it is. It moves at no great pace, as it seems more concerned with bulldozing everyone into corpses with the bile soaked roar and the crunchy guitar tone. ‘Assimilation of the Intruder Cell’ is another churning brute of a track, combining the tone of Dismember through the uneasy swagger of Incantation. Closing with the classic Necrophagia song, ‘Bloodfreak’, Phantasmagore have stamped their credentials solidly from the get-go here on ‘Abominations…’; closing with one of the more gutwrenching songs in the death metal canon is a ballsy move.

Chile has been one of my go-to countries for extreme music this year, with a slew of tremendous bands pumping out brutal hit after brutal hit. Well you can add Phantasmagore to that list, because this demo is awesome and promises much for the upcoming work. I can’t wait to hear it!

https://www.facebook.com/phantasmagoreisdead/

https://phantasmagore.bandcamp.com/

https://burningcoffinrecs.bandcamp.com/

Review: Artach – Sworn to Avenge

Review by Geary of War

Canadian black metallers Artach are not messing around when it comes to making music with their second full length offering in as many years. “Sworn to Avenge” is available via their Bandcamp.

Opener ‘Tuiteam an Duine’ – Irish Gaelic for ‘Human Flooding’ starts with the bleak cold sounds of winter which feels a little odd given this heatwave but the mood is set. With a frenzied sound with a mix of old school worship dragged into the here and now with a modern crispness and heaviness this is a rampaging starter. ‘Ice Throne’ has tinges of blackened death and heavy metal about it. It is impossible to keep your head from nodding even a little bit. ‘Shimmer’ is a grand affair. Flurries of aggression are balanced out with moments of groove and solos. The rasping and howling speak of a tortured soul. Was the shimmer in question the last vestige of hope? The closing moments of this song are all kinds of epic and grandness. We move into the 21:35 long epic called ‘Endless Tundra’ which is a bold telling of the search for the northwest passage. Keeping the Irish connection strong the first icebound route was discovered by an Irishman. This song has all the twists and turns you would expect from its length. Despite its run time this track flies by as you are taken on the journey.

A moment to recover is granted with the sinister opening to ‘Into the Frozen Woodlands’. That is all you do get however as the speed and aggression are picked back up. ‘She Gathers Leaves’ follows a similar path as the band follows a more traditional sound. ‘Mistress of Black Thorns’ mixes things up again, keeping the listener on their toes; swagger, odd timings, blasting and riffing. This is a real star of a track. Bringing this brutal record to a close is ‘Winter’s End’. Lulled into a sense of calm with the first three minutes you can be forgiven for being jolted back into attention as an almost Iron Maiden like riff is violently merged with old school black metal once again.

With the jagged band name and bleak setting you can look upon the cover and get a taste of what’s in store, then you add in the hooded man with the sword and your ideas may be subverted, perhaps not. This is the real genius of Artach. They are making music that crosses genres; a bit of black metal, death metal, old school horns up fists of air grabbing metal as well. My favourite moments are when the band pushes the edges of what to expect and if they keep up this rate of writing, next year we are all in for a treat.

https://www.facebook.com/ArtachBlackMetal

https://artach.bandcamp.com/

Review: Funeral Chasm – Omniversal Existence

Review by Sandre the Giant

The debut record from Danish funeral doom newcomers Funeral Chasm, ‘Omniversal Existence’, revolves around insomnia and the related issues of anxiety and depression that can stem from it. It is out now through Aesthetic Death Records.

Opener ‘Embellishment of Inception’ is immediate with its mournful leads, and at eight and a half minutes proves to be the longest track here, while almost short by funeral doom standards. The clean vocals rise from the gloom, bringing an uncanny My Dying Bride feel to proceedings. In fact, it lends a properly regal effect to each song; strong and elegiac accompaniment to the hellish growls that are of course part and parcel. ‘The Truth That Never Was’ is a melancholic epic, and there’s again a lot more clean vocals than I was expected from funeral doom.

That isn’t so much of a criticism as an observation. It actually works very well, like on the gloomy ‘Mesmerising Clarity’ or the soaring, blackened misery of ‘Sunrise Vertigo’. Funeral Chasm’s work is monstrous in weight and scale but it often appears to be delicate when observed closely. The at-times unbearable weight crossed with guttural roars is starkly traditional of funeral doom but there’s always something there to latch onto as a purely FUNERAL CHASM thing. There’s dashes of Winter, Thergothon, even some Swallow the Sun as well, but the music never feels rote or standard. It feels alive with emotion and pain. The powerful and evocative vocals of ‘Astral Reality’ are the standout moment of what makes the band feel different to me.

As closer ‘Through the Eyes of the Joyless’ creeps to its inexorable conclusion, all melancholic leads, haunting growls and the everpresent sense of scale, Funeral Chasm have absolutely sold me on their work. ‘Omniversal Existence’ is the kind of album that 2020 saw me find in abundance, but this year is less frequent. Therefore it vaults very high up my list of recommended records for this year. Bloated, magnificent misery!

https://www.facebook.com/Funeralchasm

https://funeralchasm.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php

Review: Vottovaara – Paluu

Review by Sandre the Giant

One man Russian band Vottovaara has been making music since 2105 but ‘Paluu’ is the debut full length after a self titled demo in the first year of existence. It has been released independently in digital format but Wroth Emitter Records has done the CD version, and it is out now.

Opener ‘Om Asato Ma Sat Gamaya’ immediately showcases a lot of the folk elements that you will learn to expect. Acoustic guitar, jawharp and ethereal clean vocals build within the song, creating a mystical atmosphere that pervades a lot of metal from Eastern Europe. The melodic death metal sound comes in for the last two minutes, maintaining the same rhythm and melody but just harder. ‘Tie karjalaisten maalla’ is full of memorable hooks enhanced by tinkling keyboard and the battle cry of the eponymous track is a brilliant song for warriors to fight to, with a grandiose scale feeling like it tells a tale of a battle in different movements. The title track is a rousing instrumental full of great soloing and frenetic guitarwork, while closer proper ‘Kiitollisuuden kalma-vaaran’ is a perfect distillation of all facets of Vottovaara’s musical elements.

Rounded up by two 2017 demo versions of the album tracks, ‘Paluu’ is one of these records that on first listen I enjoyed but didn’t love. But as listens repeated, I grew to appreciate what they were going for and I realised that the potential for some excellent stuff is there for the unlocking. Vottovaraa’s work is solid, memorable and possessed of some genuinely fun moments, and I think the band is only going to get better. ‘Paluu’ is still definitely worth a listen though.

https://www.facebook.com/Vottovaaraofficial

https://vottovaara.bandcamp.com/

http://www.wroth-emitter.org/

Review: SolarCrypt – Rot in the Multidimensional Sewer

Review by Sandre the Giant

Costa Rica isn’t the first place I think of for metal, but I have been wrong before. In fact, Central and South America is something of a hot bed and has been for years, so really SolarCrypt and their debut demo ‘Rot in the Multidimensional Sewer’ should come as no surprise. This four track death fest was originally released late last year but has got a CD release through Morbid Chapel Records just this month!

Opener ‘Fractal Crypt for the Bleeding Cosmic Decomposition’ is a murky, old school death metal monster. The low end is devastatingly heavy, enough that the deep growls are almost lost in it but not quite. I like how SolarCrypt mix an old school death metal sound with a surprisingly technical composition, almost masking the musicianship in a filthy atmosphere. ‘Through the Rotten Flesh of the Antithesis of Creation’ feels much the same; chugging riffs and crunchy bass rumble with strong drumming and an increasingly rabid growl for supremacy. You get a lot of old school Incantation about the cacophonous density of ‘The Chant of Decaying Omen’, and closer ‘Fetid Fragments of the Mental Excretion’ comes across like Bolt Thrower fighting with early Carcass in a very satisfying way.

‘Rot in the Multidimensional Sewer’ is probably the best death metal demo I’ve heard all year. The songs feel like SolarCrypt have been around for decades, not just a new outfit. I will be looking out for everything more coming from SolarCrypt and Costa Rica now too, as this is excellent.

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