Witching Hour - ...And Silent Grief Shadows the Passing Moon (2018) / 90%.

In the pale moon light! In the witching hour!

When I got this in my email from Hells Headbangers, I was expecting nasty black/thrash, something like Nifelheim, Desaster, Occult Burial or Bonehunter (from HHR as well) but no, I was surprised to hear what Witching Hour actually play. I’ve been familiar with the name for a while but that’s actually the first album from the German trio I check and it’s a banger.

What surprised me about this record is how smart it actually is. It’s really rare that a black/thrash band manages to be actually intelligent while retaining their primal destructive instinct. Witching Hour are like a barbarian who didn’t dump their intelligence stat. I think the latest non Vektor thrash band I’ve heard that wasn’t completely only into destroying corpses with their teeth musically was Norway’s Nekromantheon (definitely fucking due for a new record, by the way) and that’s saying something. I guess we could say that the shadow of Deceased isn’t far as well and Fowley’s mark is surely present in Jan Hirtz’s rough drawl.

Their approach is epic and long winded. The decision to start with a ten minute track was bold, especially considering that the first half is instrumental. It did create an interesting and worthwhile introduction to the album. It then continues with five packed tracks full of intricate thrash riffs not only content in delivering aggression but also focusing on delivering interesting time signatures without entering Mekong Delta German progressive thrash territories. Witching Hour also incorporates a large amount of heavy metal in there, it’s ancient occult metal and it made me think of Demontage, the unknown jewel from Toronto, in many ways. Drawn out songs full of incredible riffs combining melodic might with precision, wits and passion are what they offer on here.

They also offer some moments to breathe and gather your spirit such as the first moments of the superb closer “As I Walk Among Sepulchral Ruins” and its repetitive but atmospheric guitar introduction. I got nothing bad to say about this record, it gives me what I want in thrash metal in 2018, it’s not overly long, it delivers the riffs, it’s not fucking dumb and about pizza or “fun” and it remains evil while never becoming unnecessarily full of thicc nacho cheese.

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Ice Queen - I and II (2018)

Here's my take on the two releases of Ice Queen, the new project of Leeches of Lore's leader Steve Hammond. The debut was released back in March while the second was just unleashed earlier this week. The reviews are part of a new thematic series focused on "ice" related bands!

Ice Queen – Ice Queen (2018)

Ice Bucket Challenge I

I was saddened to hear of Leeches of Lore's recent termination but I was confident that their leader Steve Hammond would continue to produce top notch music and I wasn't wrong. Ice Queen, his new solo project, is basically a continuation of his former band with many twists and spins.

The first really noticeable element is the fact that it's pretty much a voluntarily raw project and it’s much heavier than what Leeches of Lore did on their latest albums. Hammond seems to be fine with just unleashing simple but efficient ideas with almost an approach similar to automatism. Motel of Infinitely, LoL’s swansong showed heavier tendencies but Ice Queen isn’t as eclectic and varied as its former identity. Hammond increased the noise, crust and thrash metal influences and decreased the duration of his songs. That direction made Ice Queen really intense, almost like a grindcore approach. The guitars are thick but sharp and the bass is loud and filling (check out “Burrowing”) and there’s hardly any time to rest except for the country ballad of “Black Water”, a stylistic influence much more prevalent in Leeches of Lore or Hammond’s other non-metal projects.

Ice Queen are hard to classify, really. The structures are quite simple but the coating has all kind of things to make it shiny and exciting. It’s like if you took NWOBHM heavy metal but added a bunch of iconoclastic thrash and Melvins-esque sludge to the formula. It’s just fun riffs with an identity and soaring fun vocals. Hammond can’t do no wrong as far as I’m concerned.

87%

Ice Queen – Ice Queen II (2018)

Ice Bucket Challenge II

The second release of Ice Queen expands where its predecessor left off and brings out some new things to the fold. While the debut showcased a brand new take of Hammond’s peculiar metal sound he spent a decade exploring with Leeches of Lore, II has some fun with the new sound.

Ice Queen is once again built upon a core of fast paced heavy metal with noise, hardcore and thrash elements but wait, there’s more! There’s layers of experimentation here such as the minimalistic dark ambient of “An Abandoned City” or the noise and voice effects of the closer “Quiet”. There’s also a bunch of metal experimentation such as the doom/death riffs of “The Witch King of Urbana” which are intertwined with eerie bits of electronica or the ghostly drone of “Dreams, Dreaming” and it all works. Hammond’s signature special move is that he’s able to assemble a wide array of styles together to form a solid, oozing mass capable of grasping your interest till you’ve heard the same twenty minutes album on repeat.

Regardless of the experimentation, there’s still some pretty metallic bangers like the thrashy/sludgey anthem of “Blizzard of Ants” with its harsh screams or the incisive Mastodon-esque “The Bunt”. All in all, Ice Queen II justifies its existence by exploring other themes than the debut. It would had been easy to release them as a “full length” album of forty minutes but I like that shorter format. It’s easy to focus on the different strengths of those to the point compositions and gather everything you can from them.

84%

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Darkthrone – Arctic Thunder (2016) / 95%

Ted and Gylve are going camping again

Ever since their creation already three decades ago, Darkthrone has been mastering the metal arts. From death metal to icy black metal and hardcore punk fueled heavy/thrash, Ted and Gylve always did what they wanted and it’s never been anywhere near close to mediocrity. While we can go back to their classic trilogy for our black metal needs, I’ve been loving their recent material a lot and I often listen to their underrated and somewhat overlooked mid-era period (Hate Them in particular). The point of this introduction is to say that their whole discography is fucking immaculate and that’s a testament to both endurance and passion.

After my immediate love affairs with Circle the Wagons and The Underground Resistance, I was really expecting Arctic Thunder to be incredible. Unfortunately, I was a bit skeptical at first, it just wasn’t as good as I wanted to be. It seemed like a collection of good riffs without a cohesive feel or actual songs. I kept trying though as I knew the magic was there somewhere. The album was on constant rotation in December and January and turns out my understanding of it was waiting for me by the campfire. It was looking at the bright stars and the crisp flames wondering what I wasn’t grasping. With a judgmental look on its immaterial face, the record pierced my soul and I finally understood it. 

The main quality of Arctic Thunder is that it’s metal down to its core. It’s all about the riffs and it doesn’t hide anything under a false sense of gimmicks, an overcooked production or flashy but sterile musicianship. The album is like a strong imperial India pale ale, it contains a looooot of hops and it fills you up to the brink. The amount of riffs it has is almost criminal. I do think that some songs could had been longer but the tightness and the contained attitude is what makes this record so great. It’s epic by the strength of its riffs alone. The power of Nocturno’s guitar is enough to elevate the entire thing to another level. Perfect metal guitar tone.

Darkthrone doesn’t care about fluff or unnecessary elements, it’s riff after riff, thunderous drum beat after drum beat and bone shaking harsh vocals singing frosty anthems till you’re dead. 

BOREAL FIENNNNNDS

To talk about the sound of this record, we need to talk about their evolution since their watershed album The Cult Is Alive. They’ve been shedding their black metal skin since more than a decade while incorporating traditional metal elements (especially on their 2010 and 2013 records), punk, crust, D-beat or thrash metal. For this 2016 opus, it’s like if they decided to go back in time yet again but to an alternate dimension. One where black metal is still an essential part of their sound but where they wouldn’t have to leave their modern (read “ancient”) influences aside.

They took the sound developed on their previous five full lengths, mixed things up, pushed the black metal aura to the front and just went for the jugular. The album, rich with mid-paced riffs is apt at mixing thrashy black with some old school proto doom/death (Fenriz mentioned Dream Death himself and Satan knows he knows his shit) and it’s a lethal combination. Arctic Thunder brought back Darkthrone’s black metal from the dead but when you mess with necromancy, the corpse of your ancient friend can come back... changed. In this case, it came back as evil as before, hungry, angry and with a curious interest for hiking and camping.  

Nocturno handles almost all of the vocals on this record and it adds to the darker and murkier atmosphere they were going for. While I liked Fenriz’s silly but insanely great clean vox (listen to TUR’s “Valkyrie”), it wouldn’t had been a great fit here and like the old Norwegian wizards they are, they were wise enough not to include them here. Ted’s vocals are awesome (that’s not news for y’all, I hope) and he shines on the opener “Tundra Leech”. It made me want to sing the title while walking in the snowy roads of my city. 

TUNDRA LEEEEECH!

The quasi lo-fi production of Darkthrone has reached its peak here, I absolutely love the tone of the guitars and the drumming is both natural and loud without being overdone. The songwriting while highly condensed is all over the place and it’s due to the riffs variation. They can channel Iron Maiden (check out the intense title track), their buddies of Aura Noir, Celtic Frost or even Sabbath without breaking a sweat. There’s no much variation except for some slower tempos but it’s not needed. Darkthrone doesn’t do things for you, anyway. 

All in all, Darkthrone is still proving that they’re one of the best metal bands of all time by looking at the genre’s extensive repertory and making it their own. Making relevancy an unknown concept, the Norwegian duo aims for excellence and memorability and they succeed at both. Arctic Thunder is timeless, precious and essential metal

Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct (2016) / 83%

*Insert witty joke about Dave Mustaine here*

James and Lars are back in full force after the insanely fun train-wreck of Lulu and Hardwired is perhaps the best thing Metallica could had done in 2016. Say what you want about the quartet, they never gave up and they’re always willing to experiment and renew themselves. At this point, they just do what they want and they earned this right.

Considering Kirk lost all his riffs in an iPhone incident (how fucking dumb is he?), the whole album is a collaborative effort by Metallica’s eternal duo. The tall blond rhythm guitar god basically lifts the album to another level and the Danish tennis legend keeps things rooted in an efficient simplicity. Kirk is alright at times but he rarely has the place to shine and I’m not even sure Metallica has or even need a bassist. Use Robert’s skills, dammit.

This is a frustrating record since it's easy to identify what was necessary to make it a great one. The main faults are once again the overindulgence the quartet has and their complete lack of editing. This could be seen as the "old metal legend" syndrome as Priest and Maiden did it as well. Metallica's arch nemesis Megadeth's recent endeavors (except for Dystopia actually) sucked but for other reasons.

I thought Death Magnetic was a fine record plagued with a messy loud production but Hardwired managed to sound renewed without compromising the identity of Tallica. It's just four guys having fun playing a style of music they like and I believe this is the biggest strength of this album. The biggest metal band on Earth sounds confident, powerful and convincing. I have no issues with the production either, it’s heavy without being brick-walled.

One of the consensus that I've been seeing online is that it would had been a strong eight songs record and that most of the second disc is sort of weak. While I agree for the most part, I do think that the 12 songs (13 if we consider the new version of Lords of Summer as part of the record) are all solid and interesting. It’s just too much to take in.

The first disc is catchier and faster while the second has this groovy doom approach but the entire opus is cohesive in its sprawling length. This is a feat in itself since I feel this is a song based effort. A compilation of new material if you will. It's self contained well-written numbers of mostly 6-7-8 minutes alternating between the eras of the Californian icons. Mixing the rock sound of the Loads, the thrashy comebacks of Death Magnetic and a fair share of the groovy heavy metal of the self titled, Hardwired is ultimately a fun album with strong songwriting and diverse footings. Metallica never wrote an uninteresting album and that's one of the reasons they're metal's biggest band. This one is no exception.

Highlights:
-The Lovecraftian Alice in Chains-esque vibe of “Dream No More”.
-The excellent leads at the end of “Halo On Fire”.
-The aggressiveness and riffs of “Spit Out the Bone”
-James’ vocals
-The RJD medley on the bonus disc is awesome, especially "Tarot Woman".


CD1 85%
CD2 79%

Skeletonwitch – The Apothic Gloom (2016) / 78%

A gloomier and evolved approach 

Skeletonwitch is band that I’ve been ignoring since their excellent sophomore effort Beyond the Permafrost mostly because I stopped following melodic death metal except perhaps for a very small number of bands like Dark Tranquillity. Following the departure of founding vocalist Chance Garnette (I guess he became unlucky?), the American quintet managed to revitalize their sound with this sweet extended play.

The sound of the Ohio based band has always been a mishmash of styles surrounding their melodeath core like their thrash leanings. They also had some black metal elements as well but, as far as I remember, those were never as obvious as they are here. I feel the melodic black approach those guys took here has injected some life in their formula and the addition of vocalist Adam Clemans (Wolvhammer) adds a certain blackened sludge/crust. The final track of this EP, “Red Death, White Light” (the title reminds me of a The Velvet Underground album) is basically a mix of their melodeath sound with a shitload of post-black metal and it’s superbly done. Clemans’ vocals are not as insanely high as Garnette’s but I think he did a fantastic job and he fits the style.

The first three tracks, while good, just don’t reach the same level as the last track. The two tracks sandwiched between the title track and the seven minutes closer are fast bangers with a lot of groove but they just don’t do much to reinvent the formula (not that it was needed, you could say). The first track, “The Apothic Gloom” brings a certain melancholia to the EP with its soft introduction and some Swedish doomy death feels. I was almost reminded of Tribulation’s The Formulas of Death and their semi-gothic influence with this track. There’s a musical depth in those songs just like the death metal played by bands such as Horrendous. It’s not just pure melodic aggression.

Skeletonwitch are once again successful at melding genres together and things are looking well for their next full length album if they continue to expand their sound like they did with this release. Maybe someone will give them a leaf stone so they can evolve Gloom into Vileplume and be even better.

Sarcoptes - Songs and Dances of Death (2016) / 88%

Sarcoptes – Songs and Dances of Death (2016)
Cimmerian Shade Recordings

"Knock, knock, I'm Death, what's up!?"

Epic thrashy black, that's what up.

I do think it’s still possible for metal bands to release quality material falling in the traditional way we classify genres. After all, death, black or thrash are well defined styles played by a large numbers of young musicians. Nevertheless, bands playing one dimensional extreme metal nowadays tend to get boring and unimaginative. I’m not generalising, of course but bands like Vektor are much more interesting than generic shit like Bonded by Blood or Evile.

I mean, I’ll enjoy a new and well done old school death metal album but if I want to hear the style, I’ll go back to the classics (freaking Asphyx or early Deicide hits the spot). Damn, it’s nice to hear some inventiveness from time to time. Metal is a genre where almost everything has been done, bands who manage to impress with their distinctiveness are often the ones who are combining many genres at once to create some new concoctions. Sometimes, the recipe just doesn’t work and is inedible, some pretentious kids think they can compose 15 minutes songs of Opethian proportions and get away with it but you actually need a lot of talent to pull off those mashups. Sarcoptes are definitely above average on that front. The duo from Sacramento combines black metal with an healthy dose of thrash aesthetics and riffing (possibly due to their Californian origin) but they also add a huge helping of symphonic and epic influences to their superbly crafted debut album.

I like how the album flows, it starts with four six minutes tracks, delivering epicness in a well contained package and then the two longest tracks are unleashed at the end. “Barbarossa” and its thirteen minutes duration clearly was the highlight of this tight but expansive record for me. It ends with lasers and World War 2 warfare effects recalling the B series classic starring Jane Fonda but surprinsingly, it fails to be cheesy or ridiculous.

At times it sounds like it’s combining the early material Cradle of Filth (I don’t care what you guys think, Dusk and Her Embrace and Cruelty and the Beast are fucking excellent) with the melodic, riff based approach of Dissestion or Immortal at their thrashies. The symphonic arrangements are audible and sometimes in your face (the joyful conclusion of “Within the Labyrinth Mind” combined with the mighty blastbeats is incredible) but they’re never asinine or boring. They knew that the winning formula was to compose ultra good riffs before anything else, their songs are complex, rich and mostly fast while keeping the epic feel throughout the whole thing. The mid paced moments are extremely well done as well, their music has this sense of grandeur and it’s really interesting.

I’ve been mostly ambivalent towards symphonic black metal these days, I’m not quite following the genre as I think most of what I’ve heard is on the asepticized side but Sarcoptes with their clever mix of black, thrash, epic and symphonic metal could very well make me interested in the genre again

Oh and compared to Iron Maiden’s Dance of Death, the cover art isn’t crappy at all!

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Metal Bounty Hunter: Volume 7 - THRASH EDITION

Lars Ulrich is in no way affiliated to Metantoine's Magickal Realm.

Vektor – Terminal Redux (2016) / 90%

Earache Records

These guys definitely ate their cereal this morning

Vektor are possibly the best thrash band on Earth (and in the universe) and while I think this new album of theirs isn’t better than Black Future, it’s still a top notch affair. The 5 years it took them to finish this album were worth it since it’s a tremendous trip into space. Not a lot of bands can pull of a long album like this one, with its seventy-three minutes, it takes a lot of time and energy to full absorb all the kinetic energy that those four Americans deliver. Keeping the listener interested througout he whole record is a grand feat by itself but Vektor also has the ability to bludgeon them with their pristine skills.

While Vektor hasn’t changed its formula (you don’t change a winning one), there’s a lot of surprises to enjoy on Terminal Redux like those clean Lion King-esque chanting on the superb opener “Charging the Void”, the clean vocals of Disanto on the phenomenal semi ballad “Collapse” and also, the fact, that well... they did a “To live is to Die”-esque ballad. This shows that like Metallica, they have the balls and the vision to try new things. The clean break on “Recharging the Void” is probably the nearest a thrash band has come to including cheesy 90s pop influences in their music with those soulful female back vocals reminding me of the ones in Dream Theater’s Scenes from a Memory. This is possibly their best track ever.

Nevertheless, their greatest strength is those extended, rich and completely bonkers tracks and this album is pretty much just that. They’re able to convey emotions with the help of their precise and chirurgical technical musicianship and it’s extremely rare to hear a thrash band do something like that.

While I think there’s absolutely no bad or simply “ok” moment (t’s all pretty damn great), god it is exhausting. I mean, it starts with three seven minutes tracks before giving us a short atmospheric interlude. Still, I’ll never skip any parts since I want to hear the whole sci fi savagery in all its glory. Vektor deserves their fanboyism. They rule the cosmos.

Spacebook

The Paolo Girardi thrash duo!

Division Speed – Division Speed (2015) / 77%

High Roller Records

Bombing the shit out of London

This quartet from Saxony evolves in a particular thrash style pionnered by their legendary compatriots of Sodom, this genre is called “War Metal”, no it’s not raw black/death played by heroin addicts former bodybuilders, it’s super fast barbaric thrash metal about war, in this case the infamous World War II. The fourteen songs albums (including 2 short interludes) is all about dropping bombs on everyone for like forty minutes and that’s a great thing in their case. They mix the raw intensity of Motorhead and Uncle Tom’s band with a fair share of proto black/thrash goodness (think Desaster, Aura Noir) and it’s pretty damn cool. 
The sole guitar of Venomessiah (lol) is thick, greasy and alternates between those insane fast riffs and those more mid paced ones and he has those solos of the purest Slayer quality, just unfiltered aggression played with the guitar.

Their vocals are raw croaks with all the necessary venom to make Churchill trembles with fear. Their music, unlike the Normandy landings, is just freaking fun. I’m starting to dig thrash again after a long break, there’s a primal quality to this kind of stuff that you just don’t find elsewhere. It's present here.

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Wildhunt – Descending (2016) / 82%
Metal On Metal Records

Classy Austrian thrash power trio

This Austrian trio’s debut album is definitely some top notch thrash metal. Combining the epic side of Metallica or Heathen and the complex power trio attitude of Coroner, Wildhunt were able to write compelling songs showcasing all the extent of their skills and their versatility.

The 1 hour album has many different moods and is quite varied, the band shines on the long tracks such “Crystal Deth (U.M.D.A.)” or the eight minutes opener “Age of Torment” but they’re also delivering the goods with their shorter ones. I personally think mid paced thrash is the best since it doesn’t only rely on blistering speed to be effective, it relies on subtle (as far as possible for the genre) songwriting.

Wolfgang Elwitschger (Austrian names are awesome) is super talented and plays the sole guitar while handling the mic duty as well. His vocals are very good too, clean and not so high pitched, they add to this classy and distinguished flair the band has. His solos are also on the proggy/power metal side and he simply delivers on that front too. There’s also a huge bass presence, the lines are pretty groovy in“Death Spares (N)one”. All in all, their musicianship is intense, well calculated but it never overshadows their epic songs. Smart thrash, guys.

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Metal Bounty Hunter: Volume 4

I'm back with 4 fresh bounties to deliver, there's two speed metal bands from Germany, one doom/stoner band from Finland and a progressive metal about cats from the US! None of those guys are robots...

Tailgater – Rehearsal Demo (2015) / 75%
Independant: Bandcamp

Raw pure german steel

There’s some things in rehearsal demos by heavy metal bands that you just can’t find in well produced albums, it’s primal, raw and you can’t hide your faults with the help of modern technologies and some studio magic. That’s what I liked in the two releases of Finland’s Legionnaire and that’s what I liked in the debut of Tailgater. The five songs are fast and fun affairs preaching the bibles of Priest and Maiden. Fast twin guitar melodies, high pitched & fist raising choruses and thunderous drums, it’s a super legit demo full of well placed nostalgia. Songs like "Messenger of Emptyness" possess this sense of epicness that's hard to achieve.

Sure, the live rehearsal feel won’t please everyone since its recording quality is lacking but Tailgater is a cool discovery and they’re a band with a lot of potential even though they’re obviously not reinventing the wheel nor trying to do so.

Tombstoned – II (2016) / 80%

Svart Records

Tony is reviewing Finn doom again

The sophomore full length from the Helsinki trio is quite interesting. Their doom/stoner blend is tighter than on their self titled effort and there’s some great influences thrown here as well. Outside of the obvious psychedelic background (just look at the artwork), there’s sort of a deathrock/goth influence, especially in Jussi’s clean, mournful powerful vocals. The way the vocals were recorded and their presence at the forefront of the production is perhaps the thing I liked the most about II, the lyrics are easily understandable and it’s a good way to differentiate yourself from the countless 

Electric Wizard wannabes who hide the fact they can’t sing for shit under a ton of unnecessary (or in their case, maybe it’s necessary) reverb. Don’t worry though, the bass is still thunderous and the guitar tone is savage enough to compete in the best league the genre has.

The album almost reminds me of Sister, the masterpiece of the now deceased In Solitude in its ability to mix its core sound (in this case doom) with estranged elements to create a potent and groovy formula. I wasn’t expecting anything fantastic with this album but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. It’s far from generic but still has enough familiar elements to please most fans of the genre(s).

The Cosmic Kitten Project – The Kitten Galaxy (2016)  / 73%
Independant: Bandcamp

Catnip flavoured progressive metal

I’m not sure if these guys are trolling or not but they actually wrote a four page story about space cats (or space kitten) and their “kittendom” or whatever, and it’s as infantile as doing a concept album about My Little Pony (check out Glacier Frost if you want to have some fun or cry). Anyway, even though it’s this peculiar element that lead me to review their first extended play, they’re not bad at all. I must say that I’m happy that they’re instrumental and that there’s no lyrics about space cats, I’m fine with Slough Feg’s Traveller as far as silly sci fi concept albums are concerned, thank you very much. John Petrucci and his dystopia concept album/musical comedy where “music is outlawed” and there’s a “chosen one” can go fuck himself.

Musically it’s fine, their progressive metal hits the spot without relying on djent modernism and masturbatory shredding. There’s a lot of keyboards and programming but the guitars are atmospheric and the riffing is decent. The compositions are well done and they offer a wide variety of moods and tempos throughout the three songs. Even if their concept is ridiculous, they’re good musicians who possess enough musical knowledge to craft intricate spacey prog metal numbers.

Septagon – Deadhead Syndicate (2016)  / 83%
Cruz del Sur Music

Efficient & clean speed

When I discovered that Markus Becker, the singer of Atlantean Kodex (one of my favorite current bands) also used his pipes in this band, I had to check it out. Compared to the classy epic doom/heavy metal of his other band, Septagon (awesome name) plays an awesome mix of speed metal, some power and heavy metal and sprinkles of thrash. His clean voice fits the distinctive style like a glove and he’s not overused, he’s such a great singer and he’s showcasing all his versatility with this record.

It’s technical with lots of expertly played guitar solos with a semi neoclassical vibe, it’s also intense as hell but knows when to slow things down and give us the time to catch our breath (listen to “Henchman of Darkness”). The songs are loaded with stuff, the four songs ranging to five to six minutes give us a lot of ideas to chew on.

Like many thrash bands, they took the social issue approach for their lyrics like the 1984 themed track “Unwanted Company”, they’re not too dissimilar from Anthrax (check out the last track “Secret Silver Panorama Machine” or Megadeth on that front.

Risen Prophecy - Into the Valley of Hinnom (2015) / 81%

The prophecy that will bring balance to metal?

...well, maybe not but it's not still super cool metal!

These Brits sure like their metal American and it's certainly a good thing. Their second full length was a late 2015 surprise for me, I wasn't expecting much as I thought the cover art was a bit silly (done by Jowita Kamińska, co-head of their label Metal on Metal) but this freaking rocks. Composed of four songs ranging from 6 to 11 minutes and 2 short instrumentals acting as an introduction and a conclusion, this album is a strong piece of superbly crafted epic metal with thunderous riffs and quality vocals.

I'd say the biggest influences are Iced Earth's early material mixed with an healthy dose of Manowar, Testament or also some german speed steel. It's high octane metal with blistering blastbeats, technically apt and old school soloing (“To the Wolves” has a cool one) and a varied and talented lead singer who intertwines between deep manly vocals and high pitched Kingdiamondesque ones. Dan Tyrens is a well rounded singer with a lot of range and he's much better at the violent thrashy groove vocals than Russell Allen (please stop, dude). There's also some well placed gang shouts to emphasize certain lines from these biblical and mythological lyrics.

The riffing of Ross Oliver (the sole guitarist in the band) ranges from super heavy and Jon Schaffer only wish he had his skills. The production is mighty and helps the music a lot, the two most epic tracks (“Brood of Vipers” and the title track) keeps a well balanced sound between the atmospheric epic sound with some subtle symphonic arrangements and heavy riffage throughout the whole songs. There's no moments wasted and the 4 tracks are all excellent, no filler, all killer like it should be. The 35 minutes album isn't too short though, I feel it's an appropriate duration for an hybrid genre like theirs as some of their influences kept unleashing overlong albums that were repetitive and in the end, dull.

Risen Prophecy is a band that doesn't mess around and delivers extremely well written thrashy power metal with a distinctive feel combining many classical influences that most metalheads can enjoy. It's epic, fun, well composed, not much more to ask for this sort of traditional metal.

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Occult Burial – Promo MMXV (2015) / 75%

Evilness from the Capital

Occult Burial is a power trio from Ottawa and they play a vicious, old school sort of metal that will turn the dead into nightly shadowy creatures. The three dudes (including the drummer of super good trad metallers Iron Dogs from the same city) are on the edge of releasing a full length or, fuck I need them to!

This demo is about 10 minutes of pure first wave black metal fury with all the rightful elements you can expect from a band worshiping the tape-trading days of the 1980s. It has Cronos-esque vocals intertwined with the lovely “ughhhh” from Tom Gabriel Warrior's book of proto-extreme metal, evil thrash riffs from hell with solid but brief soloing and fast, backbeats drums. Think of a even more primitive Aura Noir and you're not far from what these dudes managed to sound like. It's super fast black/thrash with some heavy and speed injected into its undead organs. The production is raw but adequate and the riffs are distinct and hellishly heavy and uncompromising. I've seen the band live last summer and their energy was easily transposed to the stage. Bullet belts, alcohol and Satan is always a good mix.

Signed on the great Irish label Invictus Productions, Occult burial was born to rip you a new nasty hole. It's fun and wonderfully retro while never forcing the issue. They just love Bathory's debut so much and it's apparent and frankly, there's nothing wrong with that. Solid demo from these Canadian headbangers. Get it for free on Electric Assault's Bandcamp page.

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They're playing an evil gig in Montréal soon, here's the event page.

Ranger – Where Evil Dwells (2015) / 83%

Gotta go fast for Satan

After two pretty good extended plays (2013 and 2014), Ranger from Helsinki are back with their debut full length and they're ready to tear you a new asshole with it. The Fnns, like Carl Hagelin who plays with the New York Rangers, are hellishly fast. They're even trying to make you summon Satan, check out “Black Circle” with its occult “Say you love Satan” line repeated numerous time at the end mimicking the infernal opener of Hell Awaits (happy thirtieth birthday, by the way!) This song is about the famous Acid King affair, a pretty metal subject, to be fair!

Speed metal can be a hard genre to define, sometimes it's wrongly used or simply added to another style to be more precise. For me, speed metal is the clever mix of heavy, thrash and power metal into a super fast (that's a given) lunchable. It's also often more melodic than your usual thrash metal. Ranger are one of those bands, they play bombastic speed metal with dual lead guitar solos and an overall badass attitude.

The album is the perfect length for its style, a bit less than forty minutes and it works so well for the ripping approach they favor. Nourished by the Canadian two headed school of speed, Razor and Exciter but also by Americans Agent Steel or even Megadeth. There's legitimate Mustaine influences in the super high and screeching vocals and some of the more politically inclined lyrics (see the opener “Defcon 1” without any of the nutcase propaganda of ol' Dave. Dimi's vicious vocals fits their well written and over the top lyrics. 

It sure is fast but the dudes know how to write interesting long numbers, the title track is even an ambitious ten minutes track (not totally unlike some of Blood Tsunami's stuff). It succeeds at keeping things relatively fast and interesting with its military beat and its excellent leads all over the place but it's hard for anyone to pull off a truly compelling track like that, it does sound like a bunch of songs mashed together. Still, that's a minor concern and the overall pacing of the album is quite okay. A bit weird that the single “Storm of Power” is finishing the album though but it ends on a high note as it's ripper. 

Even if they're fast as fuck, they take their time to blast your head with a wide array of riffs and they remember to unleash some mid-paced goodies from time to time. Their musicianship is strong and despite the two guitarists being recent acquisitions to the team, a certain chemistry is present. The drums are thundering and doesn't rely on blastbeats to be in your face, there's some cool bass licks and the instrument is more present than in your usual speed/thrash/power metal band. The guitars are quite incisive and the overall production suits their needs like a ten ton bulldozer. 

They took their time with their debut full length and it shows, I think they achieved the sound they wanted and while it's not original, that's irrelevant due to its awesomeness. It's retro metal, it's well done and they preach and worship the right entities. It's never boring and it's fun, evil metal that doesn't take itself too seriously and that's always a plus for a genre like theirs. Sure, Where Evil Dwells doesn't reach the level of quality of their classic influences but

It's pure energy with blistering solos. Alongside Speedtrap, they're the best speed metal representatives of Finland. Gotta go fast!

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Why? - L'Uomo Appeso (1995) / 74%

Italian penile thrashy avant garde metal

Why I am reviewing this?  Well, it deserves to be since it's underrated stuff and I hope I'll help giving them a tiny bit of exposure through my review. The Italian quartet managed to stay alive for six years releasing four demos during their existence and outside of Alexandro Naitina who's in the excellent post metal band The End of Six Thousand Years, the musicians kept quiet. It's kind of a shame since they were pretty damn interesting, they need a re-release of their material as soon as possible!

L'Uomo Appeso (the hanging man) is their fourth and latest demo and it's perhaps the one with the largest avant garde/alternative metal influences in their discography. To my knowledge, all their lyrics are in Italian but this is the only one with all the titles in this romantic languages. The singer is pretty unorthodox, maybe akin to Faith No More's Mike Patton. It's a clean & fast paced delivery with some spoken vocals influences. He's not quite my style of vocalists for thrash but he fits the Voivodian approach the band was aiming for. Combined with the poetic but weird for metal language, he's probably one of the reasons this band never made it big but eh, he's probably as good as Snake! (Snake is obviously the weakest part of the Quebecois proggers.)

There's a huge funk influence in their sound, quite apparent in the song “La Giostra”, there's these groovy keys intertwined with the heavy bass presence but sadly the low production (still their best) wasn't truly able to transpose their vision as much as they wanted to. Their sound also has some post punk elements thrown in the mix making the avant garde tag warranted since even if it's fairly technical, it's not spastic thrash but rather weird, fucked up and fun stuff. This is almost not metal in some places, the guitars are often buried by the bass and the vocal declarations and the fact there's only one guitarist left in the lineup compared to their other demos probably influenced the metallic amount of this one.

The structure of the demo is quite strong, it's starting and ending with nice instrumental songs, the compositions are mostly on the short side and the rhythm is fast paced. I'm not quite sure I would be able to withstand a long release of these guys, thirty minutes is even perhaps too much for me, it's a bit grating at times due to the vocals and it's not easy to get into.

Nonetheless, Why? is a very fun band, perhaps underwhelming in some places but that's probably due to the release being a demo, getting a do it yourself production wasn't as easy twenty years ago. Out of old school thrash, avant garde meta or Voivod albums to check out? Listen to these Italians.

I have three of their demos that you can guys can download here: On my Dropbox

Craven Idol - Towards Eschaton (2013) | 93%

The sound of crumbling cathedrals

The new extreme metal powerhouse Dark Descent Records is rapidly becoming the best label in the underground and Craven Idol is perhaps my favourite release from the label. While I can appreciate some of their bands like Corpsessed and Adversarial, I'm not the biggest fan of this old school death metal revival trend, the scene basically has fun spreading the doctrine of Incantation without writing new rules. On the other hand, Craven Idol while firmly rooted in oldschoolism, mixes genres and styles to breach more boundaries.

Decorated by another gorgeous painting by the Italian mad genius Paolo Girardi. He's perhaps the best artist to grace the genre in years and 2013 is definitely a great year for him with the new albums of Cauchemar, Lycus and Inquisition, The cover art reflects the evil and fiery anti religious feel of the record. The cathedrals are crumbling, Death is awaiting. Don't miss your turn to join the apocalypse.

Their debut album is a exceptional slab of black/death/thrash crafted by the Armageddon. They probably achieved exactly what they wanted to with “Towards Eschaton”, it's pretty much perfect in every ways. I haven't heard their 2010 EP but I can only applaud such talent. The album starts with its best track, the six minutes “To Summon Mayrion”. Its atmospheric and rich ambiance are hellish and proves that their style can be done with class and melodies without turning into a modern, saccharine wankfest. This track pretty much embodies everything that is right about metal, it contains interesting slow and fast riffs, great intricate leads and harsh vocals full of venom. The riffs of Scourger (who played drums on the new Solstice EP) and  Immolator of Sadistik Wrath (I wonder if that's his real name) are insane. They're blistering, groovy and aggressive like their style deserves but there's a certain facet of their sound that made them stand out. A bit like Ares Kingdom's Incendiary is such an important record in my opinion. There's a mysticism to find and a cultured and pertinent background to such heartfelt and passionately heavy music. It's certainly as beautiful as the cover art, a different kind of beauty, one that you can't find in mainstream media, one you can find in mythology or the bloody lies the bible spawned. They transposed Melechesh's intelligence into an harsher, yet still pertinent setting. Their production is also top notch for their genre and mixed with their pristine song writing, it created a marvellous album.

Thick and rich like a slice of pumpernickel bread, Craven Idol isn't as shallow as as the devil's fart, no no no! Their songwriting is otherworldly and the temptation to press the replay button is as strong as when Eve ate the forbidden fruit. The mere thirty-three minutes explains this seduction and even if I feel they still had the time for one or two other tracks, it feels unnecessary, they said and delivered what they were supposed to in the most blasphemous fashion. Decidedly more varied and not as rooted in black and traditional metal as a band like Aura Noir, they're also more subtle and not as “FUN”. Tracks like “Aura of Undeath” are powerful hymns using background choirs to accentuate the effects. The band delivers the short, insane tracks like the epitome of might and magic that is “Orgies” 

Destroying Destroyer 666 at their own game, Craven Idol just managed to release the best extreme metal album of the year. If you're still listening to the new Carcass, you might be disconnected and your judgement might be blurred, just sayin'. I crave thy idol and you should too.

Craven Idol on Facebook
Dark Descent Records

Droid - Malfunction demo (2013) | 77%

These are the riffs you are looking for.

Droid is a new band from Ontario and their first demo is a very cool piece of metal. Hailing from the Voivod land, they can be qualified as an apprentice to the seminal band but they're so much more than that.

You can almost guess what it's gonna be with the simple yet mysterious cover art. I have no idea what it' supposed to be, an alien with some kind of gun, a weird nose with a potent infection? I don't know but it's cool and evokes the early art of Away, you know before he tried his hand at computerized stuff and it turned to shit? The green tape gives you a good hint that you'll listen to something more intelligent than your average thrash band. The logo, damn cool, reminds me of a thrash version of fellow Ontarian black metal Sylvus. A weird thing to say but I love coincidences!

Much more interesting than most rethrash bands wearing Municipal Waste caps, they mix the idiosyncratic approach of Piggy's distinctive riffing with a catchy speed metal approach and some progressive overtones. It's quite melodic, both in the instrumental and the vocals department, it's not as brutal as a band like Sacrifice. Nevertheless, it's not as progressive as new prog thrash gods Vektor. It has this heavy/speed metal edge found in many Ontarian bands (Axxion, Midnight Malice...), while not NWOBHM worshipers themselves, the traditionalism of the scene is felt within their solos especially in the latest track “Ceres Solution”. The old school feel of the production helped the songwriting in my opinion. It's not as bombastic and modern as Striker's latest album and it's good that way. The raw quality is good for the cold approach of the trio. Hard hitting riffs and heavy bass lines are your friends here. The release is fast paced, 4 songs of 3 to 4 minutes and the songwriting is quite good for a first demo.

Their sound is a fresh mix of thrash and speed metal with some progressive influences from time to time. Jacob Montgomery leads the charge with his guitar playing, he has good chops and while a second guitarist could be needed sometimes, it's not a serious issue. His vocals are varied as well, from high clean vocals to a more raspy harsh thrash voice, the second track “Zenith in Red” showcases both styles. I prefer the clean approach since I think it gives an original sound to the thrash/speed songs. What would be fun to hear is a full blown mix of early Voivodian thrash and Canadian NWOBHMish speed metal, the best of both world, I would say.

A very promising band indeed, get their tape, it's green and stuff.

 Get their tape and/or stream the demo here.

Terrorama - Genocide (2012) | 80%

Vicious Pummeling death/thrash

Terrorama's third album is yet another half hour of vicious death/thrash played by veteran musicians. Peter Lidén, the owner of I Hate Records, plays something not very common on his label here but there's something familiar here : the old school feel. Similar to Hypnosia, Vulcano or Sarcofago, the band delivers a slab of vitriolic burning metal that will please the aficionados of pummeling classic onyx.

Genocide is a brief attack on all your senses and it's a fun ride, well fun is relative since the subjects are quite gritty and as a future history teacher, I'm pretty happy to read about other historic matters than World War II. Politically conscious, the band writes about the violent excesses of humanity as illustrated by the gruesome painted cover art. There's tracks about the Soviet era and even Uganda. You guessed it, it's all about famous genocides like the Holodomor (the last epic track) is literally “extermination by hunger” in Ukrainian is about the Stalinian purges in the 1930s and I fucking loved that era. History is a very dark subject and when the lyrics are well written, it's always fantastic. So kudos to the lyricist(s), great job and it's a change from the usual dark, evil or satanic subjects.

Even the longer tracks like “Conceived in Abhorrence” are machines of destruction fueled with the rage of early Kreator or Nifelheim's seminal debut. Armed with fast riffs with the right amount of rawness, the guitars are screechy and high. The production, capable, is right what the band needed, metal shouldn't be too clean and sterile anyway. Even though the band managed to mix death and thrash metal in their formula, there's some black metal here and there mostly in the tremolo riffs and the dark cavernous vocals such as the epic six minutes mid paced conclusion. There's also thrashier songs like the title track evoking Show No Mercy. It relies more on the early days of thrash or the proto black bands than on the more melodic side of this nowadays stale genre. The band acts as a good death metal counterpart to Norway's Aura Noir, both evolving in the modern scene with livid old school influences but also enough punch in their songwriting to keep things interesting.

Four years after Omnipotence, the band hasn't lost its power. It's fast, heavy and has this raw savage sound. Nonetheless, it's nothing extraordinary and while I played it often because it's easy to listen to, I'm afraid it won't quite pass the test of time. Definitely not mediocre but a bit mundane and I think it's for the purists of the genre, a good add for most metal veterans anyhow.

http://terrorama.bandcamp.com/

Nuclear Hellfrost & Tetragrammaton split (2013) | 80%

A combination of crusty, thrashy and unorthodox black metal

What we have here is a split between two American black metal bands and just like USBM is, it's two pretty different projects but they still fit together. Nuclear Hellfrost is from the midwest and Tetragrammaton is from the sunshine state of Florida. While I'm a bit outside of my comfort zone with this release as it's pretty raw black metal, I can definitely enjoy the music as it's damn nice stuff. The release is very short, only twelve minutes for five songs but it's worth a look.

Nuclear Hellfrost's side is 3 songs including an Hirax cover and they play a very punky/crusty form of black metal. It's trashy as fuck too. The members are also in Nak'ay who are more of a grindcore band with shorter songs, they're pretty interesting as well if you like the style. Nuclear Hellfrost's vocals are what you could expect from a lo-fi band, they're screechy but not without their charm. The crust influence is also more present than in the riffs. The production is crap but I really don't mind, the riffs are pretty audible anyway. The second track ''Necrotic Upheaval'' has a very good riff reminding me of Nifelheim a bit but played with the means of a vegan punk living in a hippie community. It also has some interesting samples at the beginning, I'm not a fan of them but it worked at creating a spooky atmosphere.It's very infectious and I appreciate heir very fast paced approach and their punk influences. They're a band worth your time if you like your black metal with a crust and some thrash filling.

Tetragrammaton on the other hand is more on the traditional black spectrum. I'm reviewing this split because of the band's submission on the Metal Archives. I approved the band sent them a message due to their interesting imagery and name. They agreed to send me the tape in exchange of this review and I'm grateful for it. Their sound, albeit quite fast as well, is darker and more laid back. It has a semi unorthodox feel, not enough to piss off the detractors of the style though since it's not quite technical. The material on their 2012 is a bit better in my opinion, it's not as dark and wicked though, it's slower and almost doomy. Nevertheless, on both releases, they play a melodic approach to raw black metal and it's quite fun. The riffs, fast and furious, are natural and in the front of the production burying the vocals. The two songs on the split are somewhat more punky, definitely not as much as Nuclear Hellfrost's tracks of course, but you can feel a crust tendency especially in the way it's produced. A very good band overall, I'm interested to hear what they'll do next.

Two good bands complementing eachothers very well is what we have here. A punkier and thrashier band on one side and a riff hungry fast paced unorthodox black metal band on the other. Recommended for black fans who like things to be different.

Listen and download the split for free on their bandcamps.
Tetragrammaton's Bandcamp
Tetragrammaton's Facebook 
Nuclear Hellfrost's Bandcamp

Valpurgis Night - Psalms of Solemn Virtue | 75%

A decent mix of epic doom, heavy and thrash

This band was a total surprise for me and they're a good example of an underrated act who deserves more attention. I believe their original sound is quite fresh and original and it's done tastefully. The British trio from London has a lot of chops and even though it's their first and only album to date, it's a very good one. What really pleased me is the mix of genres. Valpurgis Night goes through epic doom, heavy metal influenced by their NWOBHM ancestors and everything is rightfully coordinated. It's like putting Pagan Altar, Candlemass and Celtic Frost together with a good dose of Witchfinder General, Sabbat and an healthy dose of the rare good groove metal. It's heavy as fuck, it's cryptic and dark and it sent some shivers down my spine when the epic side of the band showed his true nature.

What really impressed me is Preacher Edwards' vocals, he's not unlike an authentic cleric spouting the holy words. He has an ominous but charming voice evoking many emotions, both mysterious and epic. He reminds me of Johan Lanqvist (the singer on Candlemass' debut) but perhaps with a narrower range. He still has a lot of charisma and emotion in his voice. He's evolving in a clean and high range and he's demonstrating the full range of his abilities throughout the whole record. He can conjure some kind of grungey attitude on the great ballad ''Woken By The Silence''. He's also handling the guitars and he's doing a good job, the tone is interesting and just like the music, it's varied enough to keep the listener interested. The songwriting is catchy and got many hooks and there's some embellishment reminding me of gothic metal à la My Dying Bride. The songs are moody and mostly slow and they're quite groovy. There's no useless solos to create transitions, it's based mostly on the vocal approach and that's definitely the strength of the band. While I appreciate the thrashy side of the band, I really prefer their laid back epic doom side and that's the identity I'd like to see developed more. A good example is the epic sections of the eight minutes final track ''Row to the Rhythm 'The drums are pretty dynamic and there's surprisingly a lot of blastbeats to be found here. They're a very apt companion to the good bass licks.

There's a good working man etiquette to this release, the production is honest although nothing special unlike the sound of the band. Sometimes, it's too much though, the intent of mixing many genres and influences is honorable but the line is hard to establish. I think the groove parts are too numerous and are detrimental to the overall quality of the album. Still, if you feel adventurous and you want to hear a different approach to epic doom. It's worth it for the vocals alone.

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