Krater - Nocebo (2011) | 92%

With Hands Towards Mouth

The most important thing in black metal is the creation of atmospheres. Gritty, dark, mournful or even romantic are all worthy choices and Germany's scene is one of the best at it. The rich cultured country has been producing its fair share of extremely good and diverse acts such as Nagelfar, Desaster or Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult. Krater is no exception, their music is extremely well crafted and it's one of the best modern black metal albums I heard. It has the right cohesion between aggressiveness and atmosphere and while it doesn't deviate much from the norm and it's not creating a 666th sub genre, it's pretty damn amazing.

I somewhat had this restraint towards traditional black metal a while ago, I thought the whole schtick wasn't inventive enough and that some innovation should be encouraged. I'll admit it was a foolish way of thinking. Black metal has reached new grounds recently and saying that it's stagnating is simply bad attitude. Plenty of bands are pushing the boundaries without sweetening the genre to death into shoegaze or progressive territories. Pushing towards unorthodox might, rapacious decomposed essays of traditionalism or even punk, hardcore or crust heavens, the scene is nowhere near his final potential and while there's conservatism in the scene, I'm slightly positioning myself in the middle. Numerous reinventions aside, the question is why should it deviate ? Why should it progress towards abandonment of the roots ? I'm all for pure black metal when it's that accomplished. Mediocrity has many shapes and more often than not innovation leads directly to it.

Nocebo, despite its name, didn't harm me at all. Evil and dark without falling into self parody of satanism that I often find lacking in originality. Building their shadowy atmosphere out of misanthropy, hate and everything dark enough to be wrote about ! There's two songs in English but the rest is in German and I must say the Germanic intonations really suits their music in a weirdly martial way. The vocals are pretty memorable and varied, murmured on the fifth untitled track and thoroughly screamed on the others. It's a big part of how good Krater is and the vocal melodies are well articulated and understandable, too bad I don't understand German. It has this sense of mournful melody that the gifted Polish project Mgla has, this same sense of tragedy and majesty that an album like With Hearts Towards None has. The last twelve minutes track Zerrissen really reminds me of that album with these melodic yet cutting like butcher knives leads and these powerful hopeless vocals.

While they have some atmospheric moments such as the intro and the last minutes of the final track, they managed to embody the hatred so well with their riffs alone. Fast paced like on ''Parasit'' or slow and unorthodox. The songwriting, restrained and exploded at the same time is perfect. Rooted in traditionalism, the album is still undeniably modern in its sound and catchiness. I defy all the black metal fans to not get moved by their fast tremolo riffs and the furious, vivid vocals.

A true example of how to write challenging and competent black metal this decade. interesting and grabbing you by the deepest memories of your soul, the crackly hands are gonna open your mouth and justify the foray of molding darkness into your larynx.

Krater's Facebook

Days of Yore - The Mad God's Wage (1997) | 93%

A bright jewel out of Québec's metal mines

I'm ashamed to say that I discovered this band due to a Danish friend who showed them to me. No one can always be a prophet in his country, eh ? I was really surprised by the quality of this album as I'm not really a fan of the Québécois power metal scene even though bands like Forgotten Realm or Icewind are quality but it's a bit too cheesy for my taste. Released in 1997, an era not well known for its power metal, especially this side of the Atlantic, The Mad God's Wage is a really and rich powerful album with a lot of nuances.

For some reasons, I thought of a mix of Rhapsody and Virgin Steele to describe Days of Yore's only full length album. They have the bombastic approach of the Italian LARPers and the intelligent and conceptual side of Defeis' seminal band. The album has 18 songs and it's a bit under an hour but there's seven songs under two minutes. These interludes are all pretty good and interesting, nevertheless, the album would had been stronger without that much clutter. An album like Symphony X's masterpiece V has a much stronger sense of progression and use a similar concept. Sometimes the short songs could just be integrated into the ''real'' ones such as the pretty useless ''Essence of God'' and its 36 seconds.  Despite my criticism on the format of the album, it's still a very good album and a pretty worthy example of epic power metal done well.

An unique quality of the album is the vocals, Jérôme Parent's delivery is high pitched and pretty powerful. While he could be more diverse, he's still enjoyable albeit somewhat tiring. He's an acquired taste but I don't hink most fans of power metal will have a problem with him. The vocals are pretty much non stop and aggressive when they're present, there's a certain sense of urgency to them. The vocal melodies are simply superb such as the ones in ''The Visage of Doom''. Unfortunately, he apparently refused to sign the contract the band got from Metal Blade and their last demo was released with the vocals of Sylvain Giguère, one of the guitarists. I'm not very knowledgeful about the scene back then but I can hypothetically say that this kind of music didn't have a lot of support, not like the situation is any better today. 

Both the lyrical themes and the atmosphere of the album are well presented and epic as fuck. Never bordering the cheesy kingdom of europower with their inane lyrics that would make J.R.R Tolkien lose his shit. The songwriting is shiny thoughout the course of the album, it's speedy and full of technical but feelsy solos such as in ''Imperilled Kingdom''.  The duel guitars (brothers Martin and Sylvain Giguère) are excellent, garnishing the music with awesome leads that are never superfluous and are always justifying the need for instrumental interludes. The bass is quite audible playing tasty licks and is a good counterpart to the guitars. The orchestrations are great and totally professional and can outclass the likes of Michael Romeo, it doesn't feel cheap and it's full of refinement. The production for a first album of a band outside of a vast scene is pretty much perfect, the guitars, the bass, the keyboards and the drums are all rightfully placed and nothing is overshadowing anothing. Melding fast paced power metal and deep and luscious neoclassical, the band succeeds at creating an epic aura of magnificence demonstrated by the magnum opus of the album, the six minutes ''Clash at Dawn''. Combining heavy solid riffs with a true sense of melody and sophistication is what Days of Yore were doing, not unlike other Canadian power bands like False Witness, they have the honesty to stay heavy even though they're integrating progressive and symphonic influences. Definitely an influence of the underrated American power metal scene. 

Saying this album is underrated is an understatement, the musicality is impressive and the songwriting is top notch. Listen to this album, my friends. A true shame it was their sole full length release, it's yet another case of a band that deserved a better career.

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

The End of Six Thousand Years - Perpetuum (2012) | 85%

Tomato sauce constellation

Oh Italy, the land of pasta, expensive cars and chest hair. The legendary country also has a vivid and varied metal scene and TEoSTY is one of the most diverse band I heard recently. Modernity has its fair share of good things and I believe the genres the band succeeded at mixing together is pretty interesting.

Their sound is not divided into snippets like many progressive bands are doing. Ah, a black metal part here and then a three minutes acoustic interlude before a keyboard solo ? Nah, not here. The mix of melodic death metal, black metal, progressive sludge, post hardcore and even crust is a well digested amalgamation. It almost sounds like Cult of Luna fighting with Amon Amarth. Imagine that, sludge hipsters with dress shirts fighting fat vikings.

It may sound like metalcore sometimes but that's perhaps due to the combination of many distinct genres than to the will to play this kind of music. I'm not trying to justify that I like that because it's not metalcore but it doesn't feel like they're in the same ocean as many of the contemporary core bands. They prefer to dive into the sea with the likes of The Ocean (haha) or the aforementioned Cult of Luna but with a much more concise and heavier approach because of the death and black metal parts. The influence of post metal giants like Neurosis and Isis is also present in their sound but It's much more aggressive than your usual post band too due to these extreme tendencies. 

The vocals remind me of Aaron Turner a bit mixed with a death approach, they're well served by the solid and modern production and are rightfully in your face. I guess we could compare them to one of the other metalcore band I can appreciate, the German band Heaven Shall Burn but add the post hardcore elements to the equation. They're certainly one of the highlights of the album, strong and powerful they're a good complement to their music. The band made me think of At the Gates if they were hipsters and were fans of post metal.

The album, like I said, has a clear direction and while we can identify the many components of their sound, there's no obvious moments where you say to yourself : ''HA, Neurosis influenced that part!!!! ''. The genres are mixed so well that it's hard to qualify at first. It's still pretty dreamy in its own way, a darker approach embellished by thoughtful sludge and some black metal riffing such as in ''Cygnus''. The music is not technical, it's groovy and emotional, it has some pretty enjoyable almost shoegazey breaks such as in the longest track ''Gemini'' and the last almost Alcest-like track.

They're a pretty cool band with good songwriting skills that putting the atmosphere first and the technicality second. It's better than their debut too which was more core-ish and less influenced by post metal/hardcore, perhaps because it's four years ago and the band changed a lot since then. It's an evolution that I can get behind though! If you want to hear a band influenced by many metal schools that's succeeding at building their own sound. If you're not scared by their diverse approach, you'll appreciate Perpetuum.

TEoSTY's facebook

Millarca - Drunstall (1996) | 90%

The Nihonzaru Made Me Blush

The musical world is cruel and nasty. It's so immense and not often rewarding. Who's choosing who gets big and well known? Satan? Jesus? Brian Slagel? I have no idea. One thing I know is that Millarca deserved a better fate than this. They released two great demos before falling even deeper into obscurity.  Dig, dig, dig into the ground for some doom sustenance and you'll rarely regret what you'll found.

Surprisingly from Japan, Millarca plays epic doom metal and they were pretty good at it. It's super fun that a bunch of Japanese dudes decided to truly go against the grain and play this kind of music instead of silly Visual Kei, thrash or black metal or anything else that was trendy in the Japanese scene. Released in 1996, the same year Boris released their debut and Corrupted was about to release theirs, this demo is truly interesting. Perhaps we can see that the scene was evolving and getting more varied but I don't want to be an historical revisionist. There's always been pretty unique bands and while Millarca certainly wouldn't had been out of place amidst the American or European doom scenes, they were in Japan.

Drunstall, their second demo is the more potent one. The four songs are all interesting and they really knew how to play their style well. If there's a band that needs a reissue of their stuff, it's them. They're a true gem of the doom underground and a label like Shadow Kingdom should pick them up just like they did with Epic Irae (Quicksand Dream's previous name). It's the second time I mention this label in less than a week but I really like their direction, they're a great benefactor to epic metal. Come on release a compilation of their two demos!

The greatest influence is perhaps Candlemass. The tone of the vocals is definitely an obvious nod to the Swedish giants. Kotetsu Kimura's delivery is exceptional, it's almost a tragedy that he never joined or formed other projects. Nevertheless, you could say ''Hey Tony, a Japanese band with a clean vocalist, it will sound like shit !'' No, dude, not with this project. His vocals on ''Devices'' are stellar. They're not too deep and not too high, he has an awesome non cheesy and clean voice that can convey the dark feel of the music without the need for an harsh throat. You can't really hear a thick accent and the parts where you can, it only adds to the charm of the band and it's in no way distracting or laughable. He has nothing to envy the heavyweights of the genre. 

While the production is something that you could expect from a 1996 doom metal demo, it's really not bad. The vocals could be a bit higher in the mix but they sound totally fine. The clean guitars are nicely recorded, the third  track, the instrumental ballad ''The Road to Drunstall'' is an example of how good the band is at creating vivid soundscapes. You feel at ease in the hot springs with your fellow macaques. It's a bit muddy at time but that's another part of their charm and I wouldn't have it any other way. The bass is still audible such as the start of the opening track ''Into the Forest''. The riffs are melodic and their tone is appreciable and oddly modern for their era. The songwriting and sound wouldn't sound out of place on a epic doom revivalist's album. It's more concise than their first demo (two songs, twenty minutes), this one has twenty five minutes divided into four tracks. Not that the first demo was direction-less but it's much more condensed here. Still, they totally fit as a perfect duo of obscure rocky epic doom. Millarca knew how to compose good riffs and good solos while respecting the de facto rules of doom metal and integrating both originality and grace to their music.

The atmosphere is murky but alluring not dissimilar to early While Heaven Wept with its sense of melody and despair. It's just really fucking good, do yourself a favor and check them out, I have no idea if there's physical copies on the net but it's easily found on download blogs (un)fortunately and that's until someone decides to re-release the demos.

Yeah.
Devices/The Road to Drunstall on Youtube

Tales of Medusa - The Fatal Wounding Gaze (2010) | 98%

The Mythological Secret of Cascadia

There's not a lot of information about this band, they want to stay a mystery, while I like the shadowy aura, I reckon they're entitled to a lot of recognition. Nevertheless, they play music for the good reasons and that's honorable. Compared to a band like Ghost who's using their ''secret'' identity as a gimmick, Tales of Medusa is all about the songwriting and I must say that this release is one of the best albums I ever heard. It's hard to get their albums and I must thank my friend Steven (SolstafirAquilaria on the Archives) for the vinyl rips of their two full length albums, you're a true warrior ! While I salute that they press their releases themselves, hence explaining the highly limited number of copies, they truly deserve to be signed. A label like Shadow Kingdom would do great things for them. But alas, they don't want to!

Ridiculously epic and totally perfect, this band deserves to play amphitheaters while gladiators fight till death and then, the emperor will offer them slaves, gold, rubies and a platinum statue of their deity, Mark Shelton.

There's many things explaining how Tales of Medusa is so great but something that really grabbed my attention at first is the immense production, it's tight and the riffs are heavy. The album starts with the roar of a beast, perhaps a lion and then the avalanche of amazing riffs pierce your eardrums with its catchiness. The guitars are perhaps a bit too high in the mix compared to the drums and the bass but that's a small complaint since they're so good that it just doesn't matter. The sound, old school, is obviously adequate to their epic metal genre. It sounds like a mix of the most epic NWOBHM side like Elixir and the  USPM scene. It's neither amateurish or too professional and polished, it's the perfect production for an album of its kind. The solos are also pretty cool, intricate enough, there's no inane virtuosity to find here, you can use something else than shred to vanquish a dragon, eh, Malmsteen ?

Another wonderful aspect is the mix of tempos and the variety of the songwriting. From speedy short numbers like ''I Found Her Eyes in the Coldest Storm'' to longer songs like ''An Ancient Tragedy'', the band can do anything.  They still keep things relatively compact, there's no fifteen minutes epics like Symphony X likes to do. They still have the time to establish an awesome atmosphere. The diversity of the album is outstanding and it's not even something that you can hear at first since it's so appropriately produced and composed. From mid paced songs to slower tempos, Tales of Medusa will tell what you want to hear, softly and hardly like a gladiator or a courtesan. Blood or lust but in the end, a pleasure is offered as a tribute.

The Fatal Wounding Gaze, a testament to all things epic is a force to be reckon with. I can't hardly hear any weaknesses. The vocals are very interesting. Both powerful and emotional, they can convey feelings extremely well. Even when they're restrained and soft like on some parts of the final track ''An Armor Drenched With Sorrow''. The clean delivery is enjoyable and it's never forced. Even though, the vocals are pretty laid back, it works well for both the more aggressive and slower parts. The soaring cleans could be more powerful but I feel it's charismatic enough. From epic chanting to NWOBHMish vox, I felt fully satisfied with this side of the band. The complementarity between the vocals and the guitars are akin to the great bands of the epic heavy universe like Cauldron Born and I'd be hard pressed to find a better recent band playing that style. We'll see with Borrowed Time and their first full length though.

A careful attention to details, a care for the glory of the old days and an exemplary comprehension of musicality made this album a true hidden masterpiece. Like a rogue, it strikes in the shadows but the results are no less efficient. This is my discovery of the year and an album for the ages. While I like the heavy revival movement in Canada (Striker, Axxion...) and elsewhere, this is miles ahead. The quality of the songs are astounding and the talent of the band is undeniable. Look in Medusa's eyes, be fatally wounded forever. The dark age of epic heavy metal has never been so distant.

Iron Man - Black Night (1993) 90%

"You fight with the strength of many men, Sir Knight."  

When a new review challenge was annouced on the Metal Archives, I looked at what classics I could write about and I remembered Iron Man's debut album, Black Night and I knew it was a good choice. This band never really got the credit they deserved in my opinion. Many reasons  could explain this folly. One : they never really got a stable lineup even though it's all about the guitarist Al Morris III. The band got more than 5 singers for fuck's sake ! Two : they were probably 10 years too late, in 1993 the doom scene was already explosing into many directions with Sleep, Kyuss and the likes and traditional doom got a bit left behind.Three : perhaps the band wasn't innovative enough for the new fans of the genre who thought that the Black Sabbath touch was getting boring. Hint : it never was and it never will be ! 

While Pentagram and Trouble were more essential to the development of the American doom metal scene, Iron Man is no less an extremely talented and important part of the equation. One of the best bands from the awesome Maryland scene, they're playing a very fun kind of traditional doom influenced by the most classical sound you can find. The album is almost 50 minutes for 10 tracks but it feels so short and you're left wanting for more. While there's some slower moments, they prefer to keep things groovy, baby and it's totally ok with me! Led by Morris, the album title is obviously a pun since he's definitely an epic black knight in shining armor. I always found interesting that an African American plays doom. Like a souvenir of the past, the bluesy influence of Jimi Hendrix is subtlely present and appreciable. He has awesome riffs and solos in his arsenal and there's no filler. It's a fast doom band with a shitload of leads and it's always interesting and varied. The solos are never forced and are always full of feeling. It's never to show off and it's necessary to build the cool atmospheres like on the second half of ''Leaving Town''. Iron Man always been able to have both great riffs and solos but also good transitions between the two. It also doesn't forget the Sabbathesque greasy bass lines and the fun drum rolls but the highlight is clearly Morris' playing. He knows what doom is and what it should be and he's greatly successful at keeping it true. The lyrics are honest and nothing extravagant, they talk about life, social issues and concrete dark stuff even "Vampires", a metaphor about drugs. It can be a bit boring but it totally fits their music, it's not epic after all, it's the Saint Vitus' school, I guess!

   
I can't really say I'm a big fan of the vocals on this album though. Rob Levey's  performance on his only album with the band is merely decent. He apparently did nothing else based on what the Archives say. He can be compared to both Osbourne and Dio, I guess. He's definitely not bad but he's mundane, unmemorable and derivative. I highly suggest the other Iron Man albums, especially The Passage for better vocals. But let's not forget Morris' other band, Force and their only self titled album released 2 years before Black Night. A very good album with a woman at the mic, very interesting to say the least. If you like the current female fronted doom trend, be sure to check them out as well ! They're a bluesy version and even more traditional band. Formed way back in 1976, it was an excellent prelude to Iron Man. Their future is bright with Dee Calhoun who's a very interesting singer with a lot of personality and I cannot wait to hear the new album titled South of the Earth set to be released this year.

Their music can be accused of conventionality but who really cares ? It's traditional doom we're talking about and along with Revelation, Iron Man is very underrated. Yeah, many bands were pushing the metal universe to new heights of extremity during the early nineties. Doom has always been a conservative music genre, this opposition to change is both a blessing and a curse. I mean, I like to hear to some innovation in my doom but keeping things simple and playing it with honesty, love and passion is the most important thing. Black Night is a great example of traditional doom from a truly underrated band of its generation.

Iron Man on Facebook