GATES OF SLUMBER - Self Titled review

 

GATES OF SLUMBER - Self Titled

Svart Records

Well it's been a while since we last heard from this great US Doom three piece. Their last album, The Wretch, came out in 2011. The band broke up a few years later. After that two former band members passed away. But in 2019 mainman Karl Simon (guitarist / vocalist) decided to revive the band with two thirds of APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE on board. You've got Chuck Brown who did play drums for GATES OF SLUMBER in the early 2000's. And also there's Steve Janiak on bass and vocals.

Now from what I had read Karl Simon just got this act together in order to do some big shows, play the old songs and collect a paycheck. But hey the guy has so much talent plus he's with two great friends so it was inevitable that this line-up would record something together. And here we are years later with a damm good GATES OF SLUMBER album. By the way I am a huge fan of this band so that's a bias alert. 

With that said this new self titled album is not an obvious follow -up from 2011's The Wretch. Instead it's a throwback to the band's early SABBATH-ian roots with quality help from the new guys. The addition of Steve Janiak is a stand out with his heavy handed bass lines plus his added vocals give things a newer approach. Chuck Brown, whom I'm use to being the guitar / vocalist for APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE, played drums for GATES OF SLUMBER on their debut album. So it all comes to a reunion of sounds. 

So yeah musically this is amazing US Doom. I love listening to "The Fog", "We Are Perdition" and of course the opening track "Embrace the Lie". But hey all six tracks on here are great. All I can say is Karl Simon please keep things going. 

https://www.svartrecords.com/en

LISTEN HERE:

https://thegatesofslumber.bandcamp.com/album/the-gates-of-slumber

PESTILENT HEX - Sorceries Of Sanguine and Shadow review

 

PESTILENT HEX - Sorceries Of Sanguine and Shadow 

Debemur Morti Productions

It's good to see some newer bands making early era Black Metal great again. In this band's case it's Symphonic BM but not from what you've been exposed to by the generic wannabes who copied past greats. PESTILENT HEX are a two piece act hailing from Finland who started out back in 2017. Their debut album, The Ashen Abhorrence, came out in 2022 and on Debemur Morti Productions. 

On this their second full length their sound is some what grandiose, definitely hypnotic and harsh as fuck. The band consists of multi-instrumentalist Lauri Laaksonen who's responsible for the guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. I know him from his work in the death metal act DESOLATE SHRINE. Matti Makela is responsible for the vocals and lyrics. Once again I know this guy from his work in the death metal band CORPSESSED. 

So with all that said this duo takes the old 1990's Symphonic BM style and compresses it into something morbid yet classical to a point. The opening piano instrumental piece "Nocturne" is a perfect example of BEETHOVEN deranged. From that point onward it's controlled chaos meets a wall of sound with ice covered tremolo picked riffs, over the top blast beat drum work and some cool sickening and harsh vocals. The keyboard parts are held into the rhythm background. 

The seven cuts on here (six real songs and the above mentioned intro) take the listener to realms where you feel like you've been thrown out into your back yard naked. You're surrounded by hungry wolves held on leashes by black hooded figures who you cannot recognize. Let the raveness torture begin with some synths in the background. In the end you're enveloped by the harsh beauty even with diabolical pain. 

I always say the best BM releases come out when the temperature is low. The past three nights listening to this it's been below freezing after midnight. That's real atmosphere to concern oneself when it comes to Black Metal. I'm enjoying this one a lot in a way that's on a plane of existence. A horrific place where I just can't resist. 

https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/

LISTEN HERE:

https://pestilenthex.bandcamp.com/album/sorceries-of-sanguine-shadow

ASS TO MOUTH - Enemy of the Human Race review

 

ASS TO MOUTH - Enemy of the Human Race

Selfmadegod Records

So with a band name ASS TO MOUTH I'm gonna guess that these guys are into some extreme porn. Although on this release I couldn't find anything in their fourteen cuts which represented that. To me that's actually a good thing because at this point in time I'm tired of it. On the good side I found this band to be pretty cool sounding. 

ASS TO MOUTH are a three piece Grind / Brutal Death Metal act hailing from the great nation of Poland. Now as we all know Poland is the most Extreme Metal nation in Europe and Grindcore is nothing new to their musicians, But listening to this band's third full length I'm like holy shit that nation rules another genre. ASS TO MOUTH mix Grindcore, Brutal DM and some fuckin cool as Hardcore to their sound.

This is an album that I could see a lot of modern punk rock fans leaning to. I mean the vocals are a mix of screeches and hardcore vocals. The drum work sounds like pounding on Tupperware. There's a cool rocking anti-Notsee song. Some gang vocal sing along cuts meet with grinded out endings. In the end this fucker rocks. 

 

https://selfmadegod.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://selfmadegod.bandcamp.com/album/enemy-of-the-human-race

WHOREDOM RIFE - Den vrede makt review

 

WHOREDOM RIFE - Den vrede makt 

Terratur Possessions

Norway has been going through a Black Metal rebirth over the past few years. If you're in the underground (yes it exists) then you probably know about a few newer bands from that nation who have come out with some remarkable music. WHOREDOM RIFE is one of those bands. This is a project started by multi instrumentalist V. Einride back in 2014. You might know him from his time in KEEP OF KALESSIN. While Einride is responsible for the guitars, bass and drums he's joined by Kjell Rambech who is responsible for the cool as fuck vocals.

What we have here is WHOREDOM RIFE's fourth full length release and in all honesty I've been behind the curve when it came to checking out their previous releases. Den vrede makt is the first album by them that I've checked out the year it came out. Be that as it may when anyone says this band is a return to Norwegian Black Metal greatness it's not a nostalgic copycat run through. 

WHOREDOM RIFE's latest six song release is slightly over fifty minutes in length or in other words their songs are long. Also this is not a re-imagining of KEEP OF KALESSIN who I can honestly say I was never a huge fan of. So with this band and on here V. Einride creates this atmosphere which in part are icy tremolo picked melodies, aggressive hypnotic hostile environments and just plain old school savagery. 

Here is an album that I'll be listening to for many years to come. WHOREDOM RIFE's take on Norwegian Black Metal is a rejuviniting fit for the modern day listener. V. Einride doesn't destroy it by going beyond the template which was done in the 2000s. The beauty is here as well as the grim and frosty elements and the full blown melancholic draw. Damm this is a great album. 

https://terraturpossessions.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://terraturpossessions.bandcamp.com/album/den-vrede-makt

NUNSLAUGHTER - Devils Congeries Vol. 5 Compilation 3 CDs & DVD review

 

NUNSLAUGHTER - Devils Congeries Vol. 5 Compilation 3 CDs & DVD

Hells Headbangers Records

So as I've said many times before yes I'm a NUNSLAUGHTER fan but I only own their full lengths and a few EPs. So years ago when Hells Headbangers Records decided to do this compilation series on NUNSLAUGHTER short form releases I was always on board. Obviously because I'm not going to buy every short form release they've ever done. And by the way there are two many out there and it would cost a lot. I have the four previous volumes in this series. 

So here we have another cool collection of stuff which rules in NUNSLAUGHTER circles aka: Everything. I will say that the majority of the EP recordings are cool. The live stuff is OK. The cover songs are decent. But yeah this is for Fans Only especially if they don't wanna pay out the ass to own the oringinal vinyl. 

https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://nunslaughter.bandcamp.com/album/devils-congeries-volume-5

DESTRUKTOR - Indomitable review

 

DESTRUKTOR - Indomitable

Hells Headbangers Records

For some strange reason Australia is a nation that can boast some pretty fuckin extreme metal acts let alone two well known hard rock bands and two cool punk bands. I don't need to name drop em all. If you're into cool music then you should know who I'm talking about. But anyways years ago I heard DESTRUKTOR and I was floored on how cool they sounded. So of course I placed them in with the extreme metal greatness of Australia. 

Now that was based on getting their debut full length Nailed from 2009 and their last one Opprobrium from 2015. Both of which are greatness when it comes to Blackened Death Thrash. So here we are nine fuckin years later and I'm at a crossroads. Indomitable is a good release still holding true to the band's past style. I mean diabolical riffs, powerful drum work and cavernous vocals. But after nine years ya could've improved. Instead this is average sounding Blackened Death Thrash. 

https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://destruktor.bandcamp.com/album/indomitable

DECEASED - Children of the Morgue review

 

DECEASED - Children of the Morgue

Hells Headbangers Records

I belong to this Facebook Metal group site (don't laugh) and a while back someone posed a question on who in Metal is the most consistent band since starting out. To me the answer was easy and it's DECEASED. I mean they started out in the mid 80's. Their debut album, Luck of the Corpse, came out 1991. Over the years they've always had a sound which was part Death Thrash and part straight up Metal. Despite going through various line-up changes they still hold to a certain sound which is recognizable. They never sold out to musical fads / popular trends. I mean there's a clear reason why I call DECEASED America's best Metal band because of what I just told ya.

So here we have DECEASED's eleventh full length although I thought 2021's Thrash Times at Ridgemont High was a covers compilation album. But on here it's the mighty sound which you know carries you though out this album. Obviously when it comes to this band's sound it's King Fowley (vocals) who has the vision and it always stays true. I still say that their 2018 full length, Ghostly White, is fuckin amazing. 

So on here you got plenty of death thrash assaults to the head which make you wanna rise to the occasion of slam pit action. But this time around the musicianship kicks in a lot of melodic touches especially on some of the guitar soloing. But still it's the amazing song writing. I mean you've got the galloping riffs, the death thrash punishment, some doom style moments and of course their newer melodic yet harsh style. 

Every listen to this album excites the fuck out of me. Musically it's the epicness of cool sounding extreme metal. The song structures are diverse in the band's normal style but then kick out into wild territory. I mean this one here is a fuckin masterpiece, period end of story. 

https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://the-true-deceased.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-the-morgue