IRDORATH - The Final Sin Art Gates Records Well so far 2020 has not been a good year for black metal as far as I'm concerned. Sure you would think since we're in a world wide pandemic with pestilence, people dropping dead everywhere and church closings. It should put a smile on every grim and frosty face out there. But musically it's been average at best. But then this little ole glimmer of hope came in for review and now things don't look so bad after all. IRDORATH is a four piece act from Austria. They've been around since 2005 and this is their fifth full length. I kinda feel ashamed for not hearing about em before. That goes especially for their past two releases, 2013's I Am Risen and Denial of Creation from 2017. I spotlight those two releases because with this new one it's three in a row where the anti-religion is the main theme in title and songs. Maybe it's a trilogy or just what they like to write about. At this point I don't know.
As far as what I do understand is that IRDORATH are a pure modern black metal sounding act. Now for you who don't know what modern black metal sounds like then here you go. Think about plenty of thrash oriented riffs. Toss in some actual guitar soloing. Spice it up with a variety of refrains in the song structures. Forgo any synths for background rhythm or atmospheric breaks. And just let the guitars supply amazing riffs, tremolo fills and even some acoustic breaks.
The drum work must be immaculate with thunderous bass and good blastbeat action to accompany the guitars. The end result must have an epic quality as if the band is performing from a mountain top or the bowels of hell. As far as the vocals go you've got what I consider blackened death style singing. A mix of the blast furnace harsh and somewhat growled in order to sound threatening. Yeah that's all of what this band is doing on here. Add to that the ebb and flow of how these nine songs carry on as if a concept piece was being displayed. Over the past 3 or 4 years the term "Modern Black Metal" has been tossed around a lot to describe plenty of over hyped mainstream horseshit. Those band's glory had more to do with the guy tweaking the knobs then creating cool sounding music. So for me IRDORATH still have that organic, true feel going for them on this release as opposed to being made good. They're a band who should be on your must listen to list. This might be one of your favorite BM albums to pick up this year. https://www.artgatesrecords.com/ https://soundcloud.com/irdorathofficial https://irdorath.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Irdorath
HERON - Time Immemorial Sludgelord Records HERON are a four piece sludge metal act from Vancouver, Canada who I first learned about in 2018 via their debut full length A Low Winter's Sun. I thought that release was damm good. A very heavy and electric crunch sounding album. I even gave em a slight YOB comparison. But HERON are not your typical sludge heavy for the sake of heaviness type of act. They actually write song cool tunes. So I'm kinda glad they're still around. On this their second full length they're still sans a bassist. Letting the duel guitars and drums to do all the damage to your psyche. The vocals are still part harsh abrasive screams and part bestial growls. Now what's cool is that the band isn't repeating what came forth on their debut. On here some of the songs come off as more melodic with a dark atmospheric touch. Sure HERON is still in the business of brutalizing your senses with other cuts. But they also lay out some haunting sounds that kinda coincide with our current event status (aka: Pandemic 2020). Without going into more of the present day depressives of the time. I don't play happy music to mask the obvious. So HERON right now meets my needs to face the obvious bleak future. Don't freak out, it's sludge metal and not death doom. Plus their final cut "Endless" does leave you wanting more. So I hope there's always going to be more from HERON. https://thesludgelord.bandcamp.com/ https://thesludgelord.bandcamp.com/album/time-immemorial https://www.facebook.com/heronsludge
DEATH COURIER - Necrotic Verses Transcending Obscurity Records So whenever I read a promo which describes a band as legendary I think to myself, "according to who?" or "I'm just fucking ignorant." The bottom line here is that at least I'm honest. I've never heard of DEATH COURIER before. They're an old Greek death metal act who originally came out in the late 80's. In 1992 they released their debut full length, Demise. A year later the band broke up. and what was huge in extreme metal in 92/93? Ah yeah so it's no wonder I must have missed this band. Actually when it comes to the whole Greek extreme metal scene at around that time. I am a fan of the black metal acts and that's pretty much it. So in 2009 their bassist/vocalist got the band back together adding some new blood with a guitarist from another Greek DM act called VERMINGOD and a drummer who didn't last long. The result was the full length Perimortem. I never heard it.
Fast forward to the now and DEATH COURIER is still lead by their original bassist/vocalist (with a dream) plus the same guitarist who brought along the drummer Ilias Iliopoulos from his band VERMINGOD. Things always work better when you're familiar with one another. That's something I've always said during those satanic group sex rituals I use to attend back in the late 90's. But I digress. Modern day DEATH COURIER sound like modern day Euro old school death metal. I know that's screwed up as a definition. If anything they remind me of VADER which is cool as fuck. They've got that Euro death thrash touch going for them. The riffs are as solid as a brick shit-house. The drum work mostly follows the riff work as a companion. That definitely works for me. I'll give props to the soloing because most of the time the guy lays down some disjointed solos that leave you going whatafuck. By the way thank you. The vocals are that beast in the woods sound (can I say VADER again?). Damm it all to Greece. So what we have here is a a three piece of veteran players showing us all how death metal, or death thrash if you prefer, should be performed. The end result is one of the most enjoyable and punishing albums you will hear in 2020. And seriously as far as what is going on of late you need this. This is the sound you're into during a world crisis. I doubt these guys knew ahead of time of a world pandemic. But hey I'm in lock down and enjoying the living brutality of this release. You should too. https://tometal.com/ https://deathcouriergreece.bandcamp.com/album/necrotic-verses-death-metal https://www.facebook.com/Death-Courier-423460954403378/
RIVER OF SOULS - Usurper Self Released So I was listening to this the other night while we here in the states are trying not to have anxiety attacks or depressive outbreaks during this fucking pandemic. I couldn't believe how calming or better yet, soothing this band's music made me feel. Hey it's sludge, death metal and a bunch more. I'm also the type of guy who blasts IMMORTAL during ice storms without worrying about trees crashing. But hey that's me. So here we have RIVER OF SOULS, a five piece act from Holland. Sorry guys I'm of Dutch heritage and I use certain terms. So with that said this is the second full length by this band. They've been around for a few years and although I've never heard their debut, The Well of Urd, from 2017. I just love what they do on this one. Seriously what you have here is doom, sludge and some melodic moments of death metal. I guess the definitive term to use for this band's overall sound and style is diversity. Yeah I know and let me slit my wrists out of spite. Even though RIVER OF SOULS use some varied song structures that feature the cold embrace of melancholy, the crushing fist of death and some damm good guitar soloing interludes. It's the vocal variety which speaks volumes. You've got some cleans, caustic stuff and total OPETH stuff. Which brings me to the finale, RIVER OF SOULS are totally influenced by early OPETH. Is that cool? Well it depends on how much of an OPETH fan you are. I mean listen to "A Spirit's Weight" and tell me that this band didn't let their influence veil down a second. Or how about the eleven minute plus "The Tightening". In the end it's an enjoyable release of doom stillness as well as some melodic passages and proggy, tech death interludes. A dutch version of OPETH yeah I'll go that way. Strangely enough I can't stand OPETH. I think they suck, they blow and are boring. I've got almost all of their releases and the used CD stores won't even buy them. But this release at this space in time is worthy. Nuff Said. https://riverofsouls.bandcamp.com/album/usurper https://www.facebook.com/riverofsoulsband/
ETOILE FILANTE - Magnum Opus Caelestis Northern Silence Productions So the genre tagline for this band in the promo info was "cosmic black metal". My answer to that is NO, seriously no more weird out of bounds genre suggestions for sub-genres of black metal. Seriously years ago I actually walked up to some hiptard loser who uttered the words "transcendental black metal". He's lucky I didn't kill him. But seriously I'm really sick of bands/artists or whoever trying to separate themselves from the pack with a word or two when in reality they're not different at all from the established precedent. After giving ETOILE FILANTE's debut full length a few listens I come away thinking it's simply ambient black metal. In other words it fills a void in the background while I can do many other things while still listening to it. This band or act if you prefer are from France. I was not surprised by that since the French black metal scene of late have been purveyors in post blackened aesthetics more than others. And honestly they're quite good at it. Personally I prefer their early days of blasphemy than their adventurism in the avant garde but hey they're French. With all of that said this is a four song outing. The opening track is twenty two minutes in length. They do shave the song times down as the release flows on. As far as the whole "cosmic" thing goes, well they add plenty of synths to add a prog supplement to a simplistic black metal style. I'll give em their due, if David Gilmore was into black metal then he would of arranged some of the guitar solos. But the tremolo picked melodies work well on here. The synth arrangements are well done and never sound like filler. The vocals are tortured which is good. In the end I keep thinking of BORKNAGAR minus the clean vocals and the Viking themes. But the progressive styles are in full on this release. While the opening long cut is an epic journey which is worth while to fold laundry to. I found the latter three shorter cuts to be the most interesting. For example "Koyaanisqatsi" is like blackened death doom with keyboards as the main melody maker. In the end this is what I use to call black metal to fall asleep to late at night. Turn it on, turn off the lights and pull the covers over. https://northern-silence.de/ https://etoilefilante-northernsilence.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Etoile.Filante.France
GOD DETHRONED – Illuminati Metal Blade Records If there's a comeback of the year award then Henri Sattler and his band would be my nominee. Of course that deserves a back story. I've been a fan of GOD DETHRONED for a while. They're Dutch death metal vets, technically since only Sattler (guitar & vocals) is the lone original band member since starting out in the early nineties. I finally joined the fan base in 2001 with their Ravenous full length, which was their fourth one by that time. I always thought they were a decent band. Then in 2009 to me they became a great band when Sattler and crew released Passiondale, a concept album based on the horrors of World War One encased in the saga of one battle. A year later they followed it up with Under the Sign of the Iron Cross, their second part WW1 themed concept album.
When the new decade moved on we the fans were promised part three of the band's war metal saga. But those promises were dashed when Sattler announced in 2011 that the band would be splitting up again. Then in 2014 Sattler revived the war weary corpse of GOD DETHRONED. Still it wasn't until 2017, that's three years longer than the war itself, when the war trilogy came to a close with The World Ablaze. That release wasn't a bad piece of work but definitely paint by the numbers mediocre. Like most trilogy concepts it felt like alright let's end this fucker and move on. Which brings me to this new one Illuminati, the band's eleventh full length release. After one listen I was thinking comeback but from where is an important point. Since they're back to the anti-religious themes then I'd say there's inspiration from the early days circa the late 90's. There's plenty of blackened melodic moments with the addition of keyboards used as a backdrop. The opening title cut expresses that style perfectly. On a whole the rest of the album is split between fast head ripping cuts paired with the more melodic pieces. All of which has this majestic quality especially when they employ choir like shouted chorus'. It's part old GOD DETHRONED meets modern metal audience expectations. Obviously that's a gimme considering along with mainman Henri Sattle on guitars & vocals you've Michiel van der Plicht who's been playing drums with the band since 2009. Jeroen Pomper who came on board in 2014 is still on bass. The new blood is Dave Meester who's taken over the lead guitar spot since last year. For me GOD DETHRONED were a consistent band for years then reached the summit for a little while only to come crashing down. Illuminati is a good comeback. Henri Sattle delivers a great harsh vocal performance. There's some good soloing by Meester, hopefully he won't be part of the revolving door history of lead guitarists this band has had. In the end it's damm good. https://www.indiemerch.com/metalbladerecords https://goddethroned.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/goddethronedofficial
HEGONY - First Stab EP Self Released So if you're a regular reader of this blog (and frankly who isn't) then you know I'm a sucker when it comes to Polish death metal. First off I'm not Polish so it's not a heritage thing. I save that for my love of Dutch death metal. But as far as the Polish DM bands go it's a different appreciation. Now of course various European nations and the United Kingdom all have some famous death metal scene histories. And yes I do like it all but for me the Polish bands all come across as being far more brutal and ferocious sounding then many of their contemporaries. Sure the early Swedish and Finnish bands all started out heavy as fuck. But when they moved onto more melodic styles the Poles just got meaner. So here we have the debut EP from the Polish four piece HEGONY. It's basically a five song affair running a little over twenty minutes and has some great cover artwork. Now if you're a fan of Polish DM (and frankly who isn't) then while listening to this EP you're gonna name drop an influence or two. Yeah I know it's hard not to think VADER whenever hearing a death metal act from this nation. But musically there's that as well as some BEHEMOTH. Strangely enough I even hear some DEICIDE. Musically their sound is typically brutal and deep with some of the riffs coming at you with a electric buzz. The bass is very prominent with some amazing drumming. To break things up there's a subtle dark ambiance that runs through a few cuts. Everything comes across as dark like an approaching storm and then you get caught up in it. Of course the vocals are bestial as if bellowed by a cave beast. If there's one thing missing, and I've been hearing it a lot of late on other DM genre releases, it's the lack of guitar solos. Then again on here it's kinda made up for by nuanced riffing and various effects. All in all I look at this as HEGONY's demo. This originally came out late in 2019. Prior to that they only had a single. Right now they have one cut appearing on a Polish four band split release titled Underground Covenant - Anal Terror II. Any way if you're collector of Polish DM then here's one to check out because I believe what they do next is really going to be awesome. https://hegony.bandcamp.com/album/first-stab https://www.facebook.com/hegony/
SICARIUS - God of Dead Roots M-Theory Audio This is the second full length by California black metal act SICARIUS. Their debut, Serenade of Slitting Throats, came out in 2017 to from what I've read were rave reviews. Obviously the days when black metal acts matured from album to album are over. I've noticed it over the past decade. On here this five piece sound like they've been at it for a while. Well they started out in 2014 so I guess that's considered a while now. As far as their brand of USBM goes, with the exception of maybe a minute's worth of ambiance on the opening track. They literally fly out at you with violent ferocity. To me it's like MARDUK and say blackened grind-sters ANAAL NATHRAKH getting into a back alley brawl. There's plenty of break-neck speed coupled with grinding rhythms and insane drum work. But it's more than slash and burn your face off theatrics. There's actual times of melodies, quick atmospheric touches, a subtle nod to death metal plus the symphonic black metal style song structures minus the keyboards. Of course the vocals on here are the corpse paint icing on this blackened cake. We're talking insanely violent and tortured. It's as if the guy is on fire. Truly amazing vocals on here people which will sink their teeth into you. I've gotta be honest here, for the past decade my appreciation for new black metal acts has waned a bit. Sure there's been some memorable releases but compared to years before it's totally different. With all of the post genre over-hyped horseshit experimentation, the paint by numbers copycat drivel and beggars of mainstream appeal acts it's no wonder on my part to why I've gotten bored. Obviously I'm being nice since I know some people who believe black metal ceased to be exciting by 2000. Be that as it may I consider SICARIUS to be a definite breath of fresh corpse paint on an old face. I mean come on how can a knock a band that places a secret BATHORY cover track on the end of their release. Better yet it's an ironic choice of covers since here's a band that'll raise your blackened spirits. https://www.m-theoryaudio.com/ https://sicariusblackmetal.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.facebook.com/sicariusblackmetal?ref=hl
XPUS - In Umbra Mortis Sedent Transcending Obscurity Records Death, doom and gloom from Italy as far as this one goes. And it has some meaning considering the chi-com bat aids is going on. I kinda doubt XPUS will be having some hometown shows via the national lock down. But hey lets enjoy some dismal music for the times at hand. I mean what else you're going to do while self distancing. XPUS are a three piece death metal act who like things old school. This release, their second full length, sounds pretty much like a death doom homage to various acts from the past. XPUS seem to avoid any personal innovation on their part. Their devotion leans more towards the USDM style all the way. We're talking a lot of down tuned heavy riffs. The vocals are of the bestial, cavernous and ghastly. Strangely enough I was listening to Blessed are the Sick the other night. XPUS must be using that as a focal point. Unfortunately this recording is missing a few things like some fiery guitar solos to start with. Otherwise what you get is a decent affair that does conjure up the spirit of the original sinners. https://tometal.com/ https://xpus.bandcamp.com/album/in-umbra-mortis-sedent-death-metal https://www.facebook.com/xpus666/
KVAEN - The Funeral Pyre Black Lion Records KVAEN is a solo project by Swedish multi-instrumentalist Jakob Bjornfot. Musically this is straight up melodic black metal. But if the spirits of Quorthon (Thomas Forsberg) and Jon Nodtveidt dared make their influences present in the living then Bjornfot has them.
The Funeral Pyre comes across as a long lost 90's era epic of black metal mastery. We're not talking about copycat bullshit either. This is originality created by the greatest of influences. Sure it's a debut album but by a man who's performed in a few melodic death metal acts for a few years now.
For me this is like beauty and the bestial. The beauty comes across in so many ways. There's the melodic rhythms and song structures which sweep along tremolo picked riffs. There's melancholy moments which get crazy in parts but resume into melodic blackened death harshness. From there the parts get intricate with some mesmerizing soloing. The bestial acts flow through the harsh vocals and higher pitched soloing and tremolo picked rhythms which are put forth a wall of power. Each of which has their fare share of texture to the degree of excellence. Trust me I love black metal but I've been bored with it's complacency and it's experimentation. Here's an artist who brings back the passion and the onslaught. https://blacklion.nu/ https://kvaen.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/OFFICIALKVAEN
SOPHIST - Dissolution Niflhel Records The genre tagline for this is blackened grind. Now sure it's all that but I'm going to let my imagination run wild. So for me, after listening to it a few times, comes off more like a macabre concerto performed deep within the bowels of a slaughter house. And no I'm not guilty of hyperbole. SOPHIST are a three piece act from Edmonton, Alberta in Canada who started out last year and pumped out 3 short form releases (an EP and two singles). This is their full length debut which also includes the two songs from those singles. I believe it's safe to say that this band had an early vision of what they wanted and quickly put it out. Now as far as the sub-genre of blackened grind goes there's two schools of thought as well as performance. Most of you familiar with the sound will cite England's ANAAL NATHRAKH as a mile-marker. Yeah sure they've put out some cool releases over the years but there are times when they've gotten too technical and very insane.
Of course over the years I've heard bands tagged as blackened grind who fall on the weaker side of the aisle. In that they have the chops as well as violent fury running through their music. They just don't fully bring on that total black metal atmosphere of dread. That's why I believe SOPHIST actually gets blackened grind right and are probably the best at it as of now. Dissolution just starts out from it's opening track at a full blown sprint. It goes through ten tracks in just over thirty minutes of play time without slowing down at all. I have a lot of admiration for the drum work on here. It's just this relentless animalized brutality. Second favorite thing on here are the vocals which come across like a sick demented and possessed priest giving a sermon for the ages. Add to all of that hysteria are the guitar and bass riffs. For the most part it's some steady grind assault but with some wild dissonant chord progressions and a dive bomb solo or two which is short but painful. Finally there's this feeling of claustrophobia which permeates throughout this recording. It's as if you're whole reality is being destroyed around you and you're trying to dodge the debris. Like I said before this is blackened grind done right. https://niflhelrecords.com/ https://sophistmetal.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/SophistMetal/
Short Cuts are short reviews of stuff/bands you probably know.
NAPALM DEATH – Logic Ravaged by Brute Force 7"er Century Media Records So what you have here is a two song teaser from the band's upcoming full length. There's a dose of nostalgia in the format choice for me since you get an original cut and a cover tune. The original, "Logic Ravaged by Brute Force", is not grind or death metal sounding at all. Basically it's this rhythmic industrial style post punk sounding number. Barney uses a monotone singing voice along with shouts and screams. Dare I say it comes across as a hit song. The cover tune is "White Kross" by SONIC YOUTH from their 1987 Sister album. It's pretty much done straight via NAPALM DEATH running it through their ringer. In the end if you listen to this five times in a row it grows on ya. Then again you need to do that since upon first listen you'll scream "SHIT". I'm sure the tools in the mainstream metal media will rave on about this. Personally it's easily forgettable. https://www.centurymedia.com/
MY DYING BRIDE – The Ghost of Orion Nuclear Blast Honestly I kinda lost excitement in MDB way over a decade ago. Now that's not to say their output since then was bad. I have many of those albums and some of em are decent. A few of em are worth going to sleep over. The best I can say is that they've been consistent. The worst I can say is that their formula has now become repetitive to the point of boredom. On this their first full length in five years (for obvious reasons if you've kept up on the band's personal matters) is also the first one for Nuclear Blast since being a long time staple at Peaceville Records. For the most part musically this falls back into the decent category. I think the first four cuts are the best on the album. The second half of the album kinda gets mediocre. Overall their melodic and somber aesthetic to gothic doom is still intact. Trust me if you're a long time fan you'll buy it. https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop/index.html
KREATOR – London Apocalypticon – Live At The Roundhouse Nuclear Blast OK it's 2020 and your love affair with live albums is probably not a big deal especially if you've grown up in the age of the internet. But I didn't so a live release for me is still something to check out at least for curiosity's sake. Plus I'm a KREATOR fan and I haven't seen them in quite a few years. This live release is from a 2018 performance they did at The Roundhouse in England. Now I believe they played here in my town a year ago with label mates SABATON but I opted out in going. What you have here are seventeen tracks from their Gods of Violence tour. It's over an hour's worth of material spanning the band's long career. To me that's a good thing because I wanna hear a full set and not a greatest hits live piece of crap. KREATOR has changed over the years so I want to hear it all which are the old thrash classics plus the newer stuff which ain't bad. In the end it's a great fuckin album. For you KREATOR fans or those of you who are Teutonic thrash four completists, and I know a few, then here you go. https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop/index.html
DEMONS & WIZARDS – III Century Media Trust me they're not a URIAH HEEP cover band. Actually I read about DEMONS & WIZARDS years ago and when I saw the name I figured cool they're named after my favorite album by URIAH HEEP. So I figured maybe they're influenced by URIAH HEEP and checked out their second album, Touched by the Crimson King. I was also excited because now they were taking a reference in their release title to my favorite KING CRIMSON album. And after a listen I figured out they were Euro Power Metal (sigh). Basically this band is a side project of ICED EARTH''s Jon Schaffer and BLIND GUARDIAN's Hansi Kursch. In other words it's a power metal fan's wet dream come true. I'm not a big fan of this metal genre. I will say after fifteen years since their last album and now on a big label hey good for them. Musically it's quality power metal or should I say music. If you're a fan of these guy's other bands then you'll like this. Don your battle vest and dream of Wacken glory. https://www.centurymedia.com/
VIOGRESSION - Perception Blur compilation Horror Pain Gore Death Productions For anyone out there going, who? Let me explain in my not so humble opinion. VIOGRESSION were a USDM act from the Midwest. To be more accurate they were from Milwaukee, Wisconsin which was and still is a hot-bed when it comes to metal. Remember people, before the Maryland Death Fest it was the Milwaukee Metal Fest which reigned supreme for quite a few years. Now VIOGRESSION should not be seen as a connoisseur's type of act. Honestly if you've been into USDM from the nineties, especially bands from the Midwest which were many, then they should come to mind easily. I have a copy of their debut album, Expound And Exhort, from 1991. I have a reissued CD, yeah oh well. VIOGRESSION had a follow-up full length but I never checked that one out. Musically VIOGRESSION were a death metal act heavily influenced by OBITUARY. But they added some flair in the guitars, some atmospheric passages as well as soundbites. Now when this compilation came in for review I pulled out their debut and blasted it for o'l time's sake. I think it still holds up today. So what we have here on this release is a how did they get there type of release. Perception Blur contains a bunch of tracks from the band's demo days circa 1989 - 1990.
If there's one gripe I have about this release it's that the cuts on here are not in chronological order. Particularly VIOGRESSION was originally a thrash band but this release opens with the four tracks from their Execution demo from 1990. This was when the band was totally into death metal as well as heavily influenced by OBITUARY. These tracks are damm good and hold up well over the ages. After which comes their Perception Blur when the band was still in their thrash mode. Once again these five tracks hold up well. There's a definite West Coast thrash influence going on. I'm thinking METALLICA obviously and maybe some EXODUS. Honestly I hear bands today doing similar material. But ya know this originally came out in 1989 at a time when thrash was old hat and death metal was in bloom. The final tracks consist of demo cuts when they were still calling themselves APOCALYPSE. It's more primitive sounding and a couple of these tracks would find themselves re-done on the Perception Blur demo. The release ends with two rehearsal cuts. But overall it's their tracks from the Execution and Perception Blur demos which are worth the price of admission here. http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/ https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/perception-blur https://www.facebook.com/Viogression
WARDAEMONIC - Acts of Repentance Transcending Obscurity Records So when I think of Australian black metal it's bands like BESTIAL WARLUST, DESTROYER 666 and NAZXUL who come to mind first. I know some of you out there will say "what about PORTAL man?" Yeah well I've always seen them as a death metal act. Be that as it may my overall impression when I think of black metal from Australia is abrasive, thrashy and at times having some death metal influences. Of course I thought NAZXUL slightly changed that perception a bit. But now we have a new contender who throw a wrench into the mechanism of preconceived ideas. WARDAEMONIC, ya gotta love that name, are technically not a newer band. They've actually been around for fifth-teen years and have four previous releases under their belts (3 full lengths and an EP). Acts of Repentance is their fourth full length and probably first to give the band some world wide exposure. It's also my introduction to em and I love learning about new stuff. What I like about this release upon hearing it is how their sound was totally unexpected. Acts of Repentance is a five song album with a running time of slightly over forty-five minutes. So we're talking some long songs here people. Their shortest song is the opener which is just over seven minutes where as their longest passes the twelve minute mark. So we're not talking about some blackened thrash and bash act here people. Quite the opposite, this release envelopes you for three quarters of an hour. It fools you into believing what's coming next in their blackened bag of genre tricks. And you're like wow that was cool, what's next. Listening to this I can't help but think of MARDUK with a better script and an injection of cobra venom. The songs on here are fierce in your face attacks. Let's give props to the vocals and drum work which is like a two pronged attack while the guitar work either is in brutal riff mode or complete dissonant rhythm style. Oh yeah and you can actually hear the bass player. Yeah I'm shocked, shocked I say, to hear bass playing on a black metal release. In the end I keep thinking Sweden with this band's sound and fury. No offense to them of course because this is actually a perfect release. This is the kind of album that will scorch your soul and break you out of that mundane feeling of present day black metal. I just couldn't stop listening to this one because it had me tagged to constantly search every facet which are many. I've been waiting for a black metal album to have me think holy crap bring me back. I've found it. https://tometal.com/ https://wardaemonic.bandcamp.com/album/acts-of-repentance-black-metal https://www.facebook.com/Wardaemonic
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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.
