FROSTHELM - Pyrrhic Revenger Records The tagline in the promo info for this band was blackened thrash. Immediately I checked out who produced this release. Regular readers of SFM666 (and frankly who isn't) will note that over the past couple of years I've mocked the present age of blackened thrash because it has become assembly line generic because one guy, as producer, is always placing his sound onto bands. The result is always boring crap. Thankfully FROSTHELM is free from that taint. This is the sophomore full length by FROSTHELM, a five piece act who hail from the great state of North Dakota. Years ago during my time in the military I served with a guy from North Dakota. We were in Alaska then and he use to say it was colder at home. So where else in the US would you likely find a black metal act that is truly grim and frosty? Well not Brooklyn, I know that. After one play of this release I can tell you that the blackened thrash tagline is totally wrong. This is great USBM. From the opening notes of this release it's obvious FROSTHELM's influences lay over thousands of miles away to the fjords of Norway. But then they take on what is past USBM's greatest attributes. They fire off on the aggressiveness plus add the cool shit. That being some fiery leads which fall into old school metal territory or death metal note bending surgery with melody and bite. Of course there's plenty of tremolo picked melodies. The vocals are full on harsh meets caustic quality. In the end I find this more enjoyable then what the coasts produce. https://revengerrecords.com/ https://frosthelm.bandcamp.com/album/pyrrhic https://www.facebook.com/frosthelm
STELLAR MASTER ELITE - Hologram Temple Unholy Conspiracy Deathwork I've said this before but it bares repeating. Years ago I got into an online debate with this local music scribe who worked for that big hipster website, pitch something or other. Anyways according to him "Black Metal must progress in order to be taken seriously. "My answer to him was, "Serious to whom, hipsters? Sorry but no thanks. I believe the genre will be fine without your intervention." Of course history has shown how poor his hipster intervention has done within the genre. They gave us bad music and a politically correct orthodoxy that attacks artists. Still Black Metal continues to move on. Which brings us to this band here. STELLAR MASTER ELITE is a four piece act from Germany whose sound is basically a cacophony of extreme metal styles all woven together within a blackened web. This is my first listening experience with the band who have been around since 2010. Also this is their fourth full length and after giving it the usual five to six plays I have to say that yeah it's good but far from being progressive in that it's all been done before. Obviously not to this degree but all the ingredients needed to put this together have been widely used as far back in black metal's second and third waves. As far as the ingredients go STELLAR MASTER ELITE uses multiple vocal personalities, electronica, ambient noise, spoken word elements which all push towards the Avant-Garde genre experiments of before. Now add on some gloom and doom, straight up death metal destruction as well as Euro hardcore and there you have it with black metal as the glue in a nutshell or nuthouse if you prefer. Actually it all works out very well. http://ucdeath.com/ https://stellarmasterelite.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/smemusic
POUNDER - Uncivilized Hells Headbangers Records I first learned about POUNDER via their Faster than Fire EP which came out last year on Shadow Kingdom Records. If you caught wind of that one then you also know what to expect here. If not then listen up. POUNDER is what I describe as a supergroup. This is another project by the amazing Matt Harvey of EXHUMED. Matt had the idea for doing this type of band, which is straight up 80's metal worship, for a while. It finally came together a few years ago which brought about the a fore mentioned EP. Here we have the debut full length and all I can say is that it's a page ripped from the past. Along with Matt, who sings and takes care of the rhythm guitar duties, you've got lead guitarist Tom Draper whose been playing with CARCASS the past year. On bass you've got Alejandro Corredor of NAUSEA (LA). Finally the drums are performed by session-est Gus Rios. Now when I say 80's metal worship I'm referring more to the popular mainstream side of the genre. There's some power ballads on here so be warned. The lion's share of the cuts do rock you out of complacency. The production is so spot on that you could mistake this for some long lost gem from over thirty years ago. Of course POUNDER follow the 80's metal release script verbatim on this eight song release. On here you have your choice cuts, your filler numbers and of course the power ballads. The choice cuts here are opener "Fuck Off and Die" which will end up being a crowd sing a long anthem. The title track is a fiery blast with decent melody as well as some decent lead work by guitarist Tom Draper. The same thing works for "Red Hot Leather". Not surprising they're the first three songs on here. "The Mists of Time" reminds me of the MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP. As far as the power ballads, “Long Time No Love” (sounds like something DOKKEN could've done) and “Answer the Call,” once again it's guitarist Tom Draper who pulls out his best Michael Schenker imitation to make the VH-1 video savy songs worthwhile. The filler tracks are decent enough. If there was something I'd criticize this for it would be the vocals. Look in all honesty I like Harvey's singing on here. But I just wonder what somebody else with a better range could do with these songs. Other then that I think POUNDER's debut honors their 80's fore-bearers.
CALICO JACK - Self Titled Underground Symphony At a time when I would've thought the Pirate Metal genre was dead along comes this one. OK so I'm not immune from the whole Pirate Metal thing. I've seen SWASHBUCKLE twice and enjoyed em. And if you thumb through my CD collection you'll find at least one ALESTORM release along with two from RUNNING WILD. I'm also pretty sure I wrote about one a decade ago from Canada, of all places, called BLACKGUARD. I believe they were on a big metal label at the time which was jumping on the Pirate Metal bandwagon. So here we now have a band from Italy, of all places, doing the whole pirate thing. They're even named after an English pirate from the 18th century. What, no Italian pirates? Yeah well before I delve into this band's music I need to make something clear. I have never subscribed to the whole romanticism and revisionist history of piracy. But I'm not going to use this review to elaborate my true opinion based on real history. You can all go look it up yourselves. As far as CALICO JACK goes this their full length debut carries all the cliche pirate memes that fall in with the genre. It's part folk metal part power metal which is a Euro-centric characteristic for these types of bands. What made SWASHBUCKLE different and likable was that they were basically a speed metal band with a shtick. This Italian act is a six piece band with one of it's members playing violin. Yeah you need that and it's featured quite prominently in their songs as a lead and rhythm instrument. Along with songs containing typical galloping rhythms, some power metal bombast numbers, etc. These guys do indulge in some calypso influences. Probably the closest they're ever come to the Caribbean. But it does lend to them some authenticity. That and tossing in a type of jig dance tune. Vocals fall into that gravelly throat well. The end result is that CALICO JACK know their pirating skills well as far as the music goes. Break out the rum. https://www.undergroundsymphony.it/ https://www.facebook.com/CalicoJackOfficial/
OTHUUM - The Astral Horror Self Released If H. P. Lovecraft only knew that his literary work would go on to inspire thousands of metal musicians. Yeah well just for the record I am a Lovecraft fan and have a bunch of anthologies on a book shelf. Although I must admit I'm not a fanatic. I have my favorites from him that's why when I learned about this band and their influence I had to look up the origin of their name because it didn't ring a bell. So according to some written Lovecraft Mythos material I have Othuum is one of the Great Old Ones but a lesser god. It's a twisting rope-like monstrosity covered in tentacles with a singular alien face in the middle of squirming, ropy mass.
Of course that would not correctly describe this German doom act well. On this their debut full length OTHUUM trudge along the traditional path of epic doom. Their eyes might be staring up towards the astral but their music is firmly derived from the Leif Edling school of doom. I'm not saying they're copying CANDLEMASS. But some of the cuts on here carry the influence which is about as obvious as the tentacles on Cthulhu's face. I'll also drag PARADISE LOST's name out of the vault because of the band's singer uses clean tone vocals as well as deathly growls to get the point across.
The Astral Horror is a six song affair. Actually it's five rather long songs with a short opening intro. Blast it a few times and it will take on a mesmerizing effect on your consciousness. "Curse of Darkness" is a hypnotic ten minute journey to the astral plane. The real heaviness, as in solid head banging riffs, kicks in on "The Anti-Cosmic God". Melodic guitar solos weave throughout like falling stars in the night sky. Although my favorite track on here is "Infernal Tentacle Wars" since it has that foreboding CANDLEMASS aesthetic running within. A good intro for an old one to enter the foray. All in all OTHUUM's The Astral Horror is a good debut that you're average doom head should be blasting at high volume. https://othuum.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.facebook.com/othuumband/
KRIGERE WOLF - Eternal Holocaust EP Self Released All hail Sicilian blackened death metal! This is my first time checking out this two piece act who have been around for a decade now. This duo have been proficient as far as releases go. They've got three full lengths in their pocket plus two splits, a single (do those really matter?) and now this EP. On this one the band covers DISSECTION's "Night's Blood". I have a thing about covers of my favorite bands. I give em props because they didn't fuck it up but on the other hand they didn't make it their own. Making one's own identity seems challenging here. The opening intro track of ambient noise, horse neighing and what sounded like Apache war chanting lost me. Thankfully that was followed up by this band's meat and potatoes blackened death metal approach. There's a war going on within this two piece act. At times they're straight up genre stalwarts producing a decent predictable sound. And then suddenly the ferocious drumming and fiery tremolo picked soloing as well as savage riffs cuts through. Think MARDUK meets ANNAL NARHRAKH in a dark alley. One of the cuts on here, "Vision of Death”, which appeared on one of their early full lengths is re-recorded on here. According to the promo info the band is returning to it's roots so giving an old song new life seems fit. With the exception of the intro and the cover song these four originals are damm good. The word, punishing, comes to mind as far their sound goes. Mean death metal monster grumbling coupled with dire screamed vocals conveys the torment. If this EP is a return to their original sound then why would they ever stray far from the tree. Especially if they're doing so well.
SCHATTENFALL - Melancholie des Seins Redefining Darkness Records
It's rare while writing about a release that I'll mention cover artwork. This gets an exception since the cover here, a painting done by artist Valeria Metzker (www.facebook.com/bloodartoilpaintings/), is a complete representation of the music performed by this German band. This is atmospheric black metal which conveys a lot of sadness, melancholy and the feeling you get while staring out a window on a miserable rainy day. The album title translates into English as "melancholy of being" so there you go. This is the second full length by SCHATTENFALL. Their debut, Schatten in Schwarz, came out in 2017. They're a three piece act consisting of Vladimir Bauer - guitar, bass and music composer. The drum work is handled by Yurii Kononov. As far as vocals and lyrics go they're done by Stefan Traunmuller who joined the band in 2018. The band also employs some guest musicians as far as acoustic instruments and background vocals go. Strangely enough I say they're a German band yet they consist of members from Germany, Austria & the Ukraine.
As I stated earlier this is atmospheric black metal and as we all know that genre term has become "suggested" over the years. Many artists and phonies alike have latched themselves onto the vehicle because it's become the go to hip black metal genre description term. As far as this band goes they really are atmospheric black metal in that their music lays out a full array of obvious emotional responses. They don't leave nothing to chance as the melodies and ambient passages with chanted vocals on a few leave the listener in staring at bleak depression. You will never be happy again. http://www.redefiningdarkness.com/ https://schattenfall.bandcamp.com/album/melancholie-des-seins https://www.facebook.com/SchattenfallOfficial/
BLIND MONARCH - What Is Imposed Must Be Endured Black Bow Records
I love the promo info which came with this release. In the past I have stated my respect for promo writers because sometimes they have to make a sow's ear into a silk purse. Now that is not the case here but the promo info on this release is kinda cool. For example this band "weave moments of a dubious beauty into a corrupted majesty of ugliness and despair." Wow I'm in awe. Also this album "was captured in a derelict space in the North of England during the bleak mid-winter of 2017." Once again that's awesome. My turn, so it's a little after 4 AM. I got home from work an hour and a half ago after another twelve hour shift. I'm tired, I smell and I pushed play to this BLIND MONARCH's full length debut. Seriously I feel like this music. Sludgey death doom painfully slow but adding some ambiance which gives it a sense of being. This the band's four song slightly over fifty four minute long debut is mostly about crushing your bones and pounding your flesh into a fine paste. The ambiance comes in at various spots but mostly on the last track when guest vocalist, Fiona Blyth, chimes in. Otherwise this stalking behemoth is on par with some other UK acts that indulge in thunderous and ground shaking riffs, pounding drums and a mix of vocal styles. Tom Blyth uses his singing talents to covey the idea that he's either a grumpy bear woken early from hibernation or a screeching blackened banshee. Either variety works well with this music.
ENTRAPMENT - Imminent Violent Death Dawnbreed Records As a metal enthusiast as well as a person with a Dutch heritage, I do keep up with extreme metal acts from my ancestral homeland on a regular basis. ENTRAPMENT are a band very familiar to me. Actually this is a one man project created by multi-instrumentalist Michel Jonker. Over the years, OK a decade now, Jonker has put out some decent music that's part ASPHYX and PESTILENCE lite with a touch of classic Swedish death metal influence. Alright more then a touch but hey who's judging. Years ago ENTRAPMENT were fixtures on the great Dutch label Soulseller Records then went on to put out their last album, 2016's Through Realms Unseen, on Pulverised Records. Now they're back on a label from their homeland, Dawnbreed Records. Hopefully this works out and maybe it will not be only me and a heck of a lot of Dutch metal fans that'll absorb this one. Imminent Violent Death is all that it's title suggests. Fully charged old school death metal performed as you love it. I've always liked Jonker's rough and caustic vocals. It's a cross between Martin van Drunen and L-G Petrov. Musically yeah if you're into (and frankly who isn't?) old school death metal with influences mainly from Sweden but some Dutch touch then here you go. According to the promo info this is going to be the last release by Jonker and company (he has a live band who've been with him for years now). Oh well Jonker does have other projects and he'll obviously keep creating great music in the future. So to this swan song I say hell yeah, turn up the fuckin volume. https://www.dawnbreed.com/nl/ https://entrapment2.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/entrapmentdeathmetal/
BANDIT – Stand & Deliver EP Dying Victims Productions BANDIT is a new one man extreme metal act out of Finland. The one man is multi-instrumentalist Bitchlord (aka: Niko Salmelainen). For the past few years now Niko has also been busy with his other bands; SABRETOOTH and TERROR CROSS. So consider this EP his side project. Now the promo info genre tagline here is blackened speed metal. But after blasting this six song EP I'm inclined to believe this has more of an old fashioned hardcore vibe running throughout along with the blackened speed metal aesthetic. Songs like "I'm Gonna Steal Your Girlfriend" and "Rat King" and "Get Nuked" definitely have that 80's hardcore venomous side. Bitchlord has an obvious punk snarl to his vocals. The riffs are fairly simplistic and I'm not saying that in a bad way. The short solos follow suit. Basically this is six short sharp shocks. No song runs longer than four and half minutes. If I told someone this was some long lost demo from an 80's hardcore band (GBH?) they'd believe it.
ROAD WARRIOR – Power Dying Victims Productions ROAD WARRIOR are a new Australian power trio made up of veterans from their Tasmanian extreme music scene. One guy was even in MOURNFUL CONGREGATION. A few other bands mentioned in the promo info are CAULDRON BLACK RAM, STARGAZE and a few others. No offense but those latter acts are not household names but they're also far from the style of music being performed on here. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is a side project for these guys to get their creative juices churning towards an outlet to the old.
Seriously this is a freaking nostalgia trip back to 1981/82 musically as well as artistically by checking out the cover. Back in my youth when I lived in a Northeastern burg I'd go to this head shop that masqueraded as a record store. Along with all the vinyl by artists now dubbed Classic Rock there was a small section marked as "Imports". That's where I would find all of the early metal greats especially NWOBHM stuff. If the band name sounded metalish and the artwork gave off an impression of the same then you bought it.
So how old school 80's metal in influences is there on this release? Well first off the bass playing stands the fuck out. At times it's even used as a lead instrument which brings in memories of early MAIDEN. The vocals kind of remind me of Scott Reagers of SAINT VITUS until those heavy metal screams kick in. Hey give me a metal falsetto scream and you'll win me over because I have sung in a band and I'd lose a nut trying. Plus I grew up with that style of metal singing.
If there's something I don't give a thumbs up to as far as this release goes it's the guitar work. Some cuts start out with long running intros which seem like prog territory. Secondly 80's metal had bands pushing the outstanding catchy riffs. Out of the eight cuts on here there's a couple that stand out well in that regard. "Devils in Waiting" is one of my favorites for various reasons all mentioned previously. "Back Alley Toyko Woman" would be my second pick. Otherwise Power is a decent listen. https://www.dying-victims.de/ https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/road-warrior-power https://www.facebook.com/RoadWarrior1986
POWER FROM HELL – Lust and Violence Reissue Dying Victims Productions For those of you who are not aficionados in South American metal here we have an act that's been around for quite some time and is still going strong today. POWER FROM HELL is scheduled to have a new album out later this year on High Roller Records. Nowadays POWER FROM HELL, who hail from Brazil, are an actual four piece band. But early on it was more like a one man project created in 2001 by guitarist,bassist and vocalist Sodomic (aka: Aron Romero) with help from a friend or two on drums or as a second guitarist.
From 2002 to 2011, Sodomic via POWER FROM HELL released four LPs and this one here is a reissue of the last one he did prior to committing himself to smaller format releases. He finally got back into the LP swing of things in 2015 with the Devil's Whorehouse full length which came out on Hells Headbangers Records. That's where my introduction to this band starts. Add to that I've become a fan. On here the basic theme is old school black metal, ala the first wave influence. Think BATHORY, VENOM and SODOM with MOTORHEAD for inspiration but in the long run it's speed metal burnished in black with a dull sheen. The production values are from the 80's which a trademark of South American extreme metal. If you remember DARKTHRONE during their FOAD period then this is the sound they were shooting for but couldn't get because they had more money to record properly and cleanly.
In the end yes it's cool stuff but it has it's drawbacks. First off there's too many songs. After listening to the fourteen cuts you'll notice a repetitive nature within the riffs. The drum work is very boring. Add to that the vocals are muffled way too much. Then again you might like that if you read the lyrics which for the most part deal with Sodomic's obsession with S&M and B&D. Still it's like a car crash, you've gotta look. Also it's like a steady hornet's nest hum which can be comforting and there's a few solos that swing in which give it old school style. https://www.dying-victims.de/ https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/power-from-hell-lust-and-violence https://www.facebook.com/OfficialPowerFromHell/
TORPEDO - Rocking Hard Compilation Dying Victims Productions File this one under when good extreme metal minds meet, great things occur. A few years back Dan Deathbanger of DEATHHAMMER went to Tasmania where he met Will Spectre of the band SPECTRE. This joining of extreme artistic minds produced two demos. The four song 2016 release,Torpedo Metal and the three song 2017 follow up Flaming Steel Attack. Both of those demos have been combined to produce this full length compilation.
Basically the end result is an old late 80's underground extreme metal head's dream come true. Yeah that's a reference to myself. What we have here is true speed metal as it sounded back then and what this duo has created today. Now let's remember I was an adult back in the late 80's so unlike some of the younger revisionist types in the modern metal media who learn things from Wikipedia, I'm telling you the truth. The genre term "Speed Metal" has been mis-characterized so much over the years it makes me want to vomit after I read what useless scribes of the modern media say about it. Fact, the term speed metal was a quick toss out term used in the late 80s to describe music which was faster than traditional 80's era classic metal but did not have the riff style of what we know to be thrash. It was PRIEST and MAIDEN played at 78 speed. In the years that followed we, the fans, just called it metal. TORPEDO have found that old vein and have re-mined it to produce some extraordinary results. This sounds like a long lost classic from 1987. The clean, clear and high end vocals, with plenty of heavy metal screams, are fuckin incredible. Every song on here is cool as fuck with these rustic sounding riffs and power chord blasts. The solos are majestic as well as biting and venomous. This release is a non stop blast with a steady rhythm of determined speed as well as punishment. Hey let me be honest (as if I'm not?), I'm kinda old. OK I'm in my fifties but hey I still love my extreme music especially relics of the past which have not been shitted upon. To hear great music from my past produced by two individuals half my age and sounding so fucking good. I am impressed as well as appreciative. Speed Metal's existence actually was a small niche within metal's genre future perspective. The bottom line here is that these two guys have threaded the needle of STEEL. Nuff Said.
HEXECUTOR – Hangmen of Roazhon EP Reissue Dying Victims Productions Play some SLAYER dude, horns up! Seriously that's what we have here in a way that shows no mercy as far as copying the past, The thrash revival of over a decade ago is far from over. Most of those participants turned out to be silly after their second or third albums. Here we have a French act who totally missed out on the revival but don't give a flying fuck. This is an incredible four song EP that originally came out in 2014. Since then HEXECUTOR has released a split release with another French act, MANZER, in 2016 plus a full length Poison, Lust and Damnation that same year. OK I haven't heard those releases but fuck it. This four song EP is a trip back to memory lane. Welcome riffs as well as soloing that'll rip your eyeballs out. Old school caustic vocals that drag you in. There's even a few screams. Once again this is a fuckin reissue from a few years back. All I can say is SHIT, WHY DIDN'T I HEAR IT BACK THEN? From what I do know from the info packet is there's more to come from HEXECUTOR. I'm going to check out their last release but for all of YOU, pick this thing up. Seriously it will bring back memories and have you slam dancing in your room. Now excuse me because I have to pick up the mess I made in my office. https://www.dying-victims.de/ https://hexecutor.bandcamp.com/album/hangmen-of-roazhon
NIGHNACHT - Christophilia EP Hells Headbangers Records NUNSLAUGHTER might be on hold but Don of the Dead is not holding back. Here we have the new project from him which is about as filthy, lo fi and hateful as a lot of South American blackened death. Whether he was going for that I don't know. All I do know is that this is not NUNSLAUGHTER part two at all. What we have here are five cuts of insufferable hate and disgust. Blackened slow death to the max. From the man who gave us Devil Metal and invoked a sense of humor into the whole brutality of the genre. This is just a taste to what will come later this year when a full length comes forth. Sure I'm smiling throughout these five cuts especially during "Abducted Raped and Eaten" and "Agony". OK, bias alert, so I'm a NUNSLAUGHTER fan big fuckin deal. But I'm glad Don didn't do a repeat of his previous greatness.
WITCHING HOUR - And Silent Grief Shadows the Passing Moon Hells Headbangers Records Over the past few years I've showcased many releases by various acts who were influenced by Teutonic blackened thrash. So now we have the real deal. WITCHING HOUR hail from Germany, have been around for over a decade and have refined their sound through a handful of releases. This one in particular, the three piece act's third full length, will not fall into place with what you consider blackened thrash.
And Silent Grief Shadows the Passing Moon is six drawn out cuts with a running time of just under forty-three minutes. By blackened thrash standards that's long. Secondly I wouldn't even consider this blackened thrash. The songs on here have more of a NWOBHM influence in song structure than Teutonic thrash. The participation of vocals is minimal compared to overall instrumental runs within the songs. What vocals there are you could consider them to be agonizing cries or screams. But getting to the music the band does turn up the dial once in a while to venture into blackened speed. They go full on during the album's final track "As I Walk Among Sepulchral Ruins". But for the most part the album consists of repetitive riffs, some tremolo picked rhythms and a lot of sustained carry over balance that goes by old school metal ways. There are cool points to this release, The latter point of the opening and title cut with that cool solo aka: "...And Silent Grief Shadows The Passing Moon / Once Lost Souls Return". In between there's too much room to invoke MAIDEN into. Nuff Said. https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/ https://witching-hour-germany.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/WitchingHourThrash/
HITTEN – First Strike with the Devil (Reissue) Dying Victims Productions I was at a local music store (CDs, Vinyl, DVDs, etc.) a week ago to pick up some new releases. While thumbing through the CDs I couldn't help but notice all of these "Reissued and Remastered" classics which were already reissued and remastered years ago. Basically some major metal labels are mining every buck out of our (the fan's) pockets with these continuous reissues. While there are some cool labels putting stuff worth while. Case in point here we have HITTEN who in their native country of Spain are herald as heavy metal heroes. They've been around since 2011 and have three full lenghs to show for it. What we have here is a reissue of their debut full length from 2014. HITTEN are like FATES WARNING which is America's version of IRON MAIDEN. Therefore if MAIDEN ain't around then they fit the bill. Generally speaking it's NWOBHM or if you will, speed metal / power metal. Listening to this release I kinda know the answer to the question "what if" MAIDEN would've ventured into if they kept with Paul Di'Anno as their vocalist. I'm not saying it's better than what did happen with them but this is very good. They have those twin guitar galloping rhythms running throughout this eight song album. Plenty of savage solos permiate through the melodies giving it that lost but not forgotten nostalgia feel. One important note is that in 2017 the band changed vocalists after their second full length (Irony?). So this adds to this release's iconic status. https://www.dying-victims.de/ https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/hitten-first-strike-with-the-devil https://hittenheavymetal.bandcamp.com/album/first-strike-with-the-devil https://www.facebook.com/HITTENOFFICIAL/
CHALLENGER - Turned to Dust Dying Victims Productions Before I get into this review I need to mention that if you're a fan of old school 80's style metal, thrash, speed metal, etc then this German label Dying Victims Productions is your go to place for all of that. Seriously just go to their Bandcamp site, check out their bands and buy, buy, buy. I will not steer you wrong. Here's another great one by this label. CHALLENGER are a four piece act from Slovenia. This is their debut EP and they know classic 80's era metal. They're more NWOBHM than California eye liner, cross dresser, glam metal. Of course that's a good thing. Think songs with a melodic flow that have a distinct galloping riff pattern. Real guy vocals with a few explosive heavy metal screams thrown in. And of course some cool soloing like a hot knife into butter. CHALLENGER's first release is just four songs but it'll remind you of the songs you heard on old comps from the 80's. Then again it could bring back memories of seeing some great band in a club from back in the day. I really cannot name drop any act who they remind me of. They basically come across as one of those second tier acts that really were cool as fuck. And some times you enjoyed them better than the headliners. https://www.dying-victims.de/ https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/challenger-turned-to-dust https://www.facebook.com/challengerslo/
To be totally honest, and I am to a point which pisses people off. If you came up with a top ten list of good USBM bands I'd probably point out that nine of em suck or are over hyped horseshit. The reason is simply that when USBM bands ape other people's shit then they fall into that cliche which Europeans have been laughing at us for years now. Sure once in a while we get some original thought or at least a new twist to a well traveled style. But the fact is that USBM acts have had a tough road to traverse. That's why I really like bands or artists who do find ways to fly over the pathways.
AT DUSK is one of those I speak of. AT DUSK is a one man BM project created by multi instrumentalist Korihor (aka: Ross Major from California). Just for the record Korihor has been pushing this blackened personal vehicle for almost a decade now. He's put out a slew of split releases and this here is his second full length. Condemned is a four song opus, if you will, of original sounding blackened fury which also delves into an outright curse upon traditionalism and the feelings of loss.
According to the promo info there's more to it like excommunication from faith, losing faith, being judged as well as death. I know what that's like. But as far as the music goes I love the real guy screaming as if he's resentful. challenging and finally at a loss. The song structures move within a blackened doom style with plenty of abrasive moments mixed with a frenzy of resentment. That would be put towards angry riffs, blast beats and when all done a piano lends balance to give some ambiance. All in all this is the way USBM should be, unique. Condemned is probably the best thing, a drawing upon your feelings thing, an emotional garden of growing pain as well as redemption. Who in black metal is doing this now? Ah maybe a few but it all has to do with the environment. What we have here is something which screams from your soul, your blackened soul. https://pacificthrenodies.weebly.com/ https://atdusk.bandcamp.com/ https://atdusk.webs.com/
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Attention
In Jan. 2020 some not so nice person(s), who obviously don't care for Metal, decided to complain to a social media platform about something I posted. That got me banned from posting links there under the former blog title Scumfeast Metal 666. Fine I just changed the name to what you see now. Hey I'm still here and, under our present day situation, will be more extreme then before.
Editor/Creator: Usurper of Eternal Condemnation and Inverted Opinions
Formerly SCUMFEAST METAL 666 and now EXTREME METAL MANIAC Blog
Info Articles Opinions & Reviews
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created and maintained by mr. wolf:
band or label inquiries about a review can contact me via email. All those inquiries will definitely be checked out. No guarantees of course. I only write about what interests me. You can also contact me through the Facebook page on the link or use my email address mr.wolf69@yahoo.com
Extreme Metal or Music is generally a form which is accepted by 1% of all of the music loving public. It is elitist in every way and that's important to those of us who call ourselves fans. The 99% of people who will not like it are Not Supposed To. The music wasn't made for them, "the masses". It's music that's for those who take things to that "other" level. There is nothing hip or fad about it. In fact I treat those two notions very harshly.
