DEATHSTORM - For Dread Shall Reign Dying Victims Productions Here's the fourth full length by Austria's thrash metal veterans DEATHSTORM. I've got one of their previous CDs from a few years back. I forget it's title but it had a cool cover and sounded damm good. So if you're a fan of releases by Germany's High Roller Records (their former label) and I know many who are, then you might know of DEATHSTORM. I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't graced the stages of all the good European metal fests. They've been around for a decade now so who knows. Music wise DEATHSTORM are not going to blow away the minds of the jaded crowd. But to the modern day hesher this will appeal to you. Personally I think these Austrians are fucking great. As almost always the influences from the past abound. But unlike so many other acts DEATHSTORM didn't pick one act of the heyday years of thrash to emulate. When listening to For Dread Shall Reign you'll hear some SLAYER influence which I don't have a problem with. They definitely like modern era DESTRUCTION but then who doesn't. In between all of that there's a surprise or two. The song "Sulphuric Scents" is totally SABBATH influence. Even the guitar solo on it sounds like Tony Iomni made a guest appearance. Another oddity is when a few Chuck Schuldiner’s signature riff patterns as well as soloing techniques come out of nowhere but sound at home in DEATHSTORM's song writing. The boys have the basic chops down as far as exciting riffs, powerful drumwork and of course gutsy real angry guy vocals. In the end if you want thrash perfection in 2020 well you've got it here. https://www.dying-victims.de/ https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/deathstorm-for-dread-shall-reign
SHED THE SKIN - The Forbidden Arts Hells Headbangers Records Alright call me bias but I'm like a magnet to almost everything Ash Thomas (guitar and vocals on here) is involved with. The guy is an incredible modern artist when it comes to death metal. If you're a fan of bands like CRUCIFIED MORTALS, ESTUARY and the DM supergroup SURGIKILL then you know what I mean. Buy the way the guy loves Finnish death metal. Which brings us to this release and the third from this act who've been around for nine years now. Nice little side project since it also has Kyle Severn of INCANTATION and Ed Stephens plus Matt Sorg both of BEYOND FEAR and RINGWORM respectively. With this foursome the death metal influences rage on with some old school touches of Finnish and USDM.
Taking that into account, The Forbidden Arts sounds like something from thirty years ago. Thankfully the production is modern as in great bestial vocals and soloing that stands out. The riffs vs vocals is as heavy as an elephant sitting on your face. If this is not one of my favorite DM releases in a while then I'd be lying. https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/ https://shed-the-skin.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/shedtheskin
COLTRE - Under the Influence EP Dying Victims Productions I'm always amazed how Dying Victims Productions finds bands that come off sounding like newly found 80's era demos. Take this English trio here for example. This band is about as original as a twenty year old hesher with an ANGEL WITCH back patch on a denim vest. By the way COLTRE do come off influenced by ANGEL WITCH. That's not a knock against em because their songs on here do well for em. My favorite out of this short bunch is "Plague Doctor". This song comes across as MAIDEN-esque with some 70's Hammond organ blasts as well as KING DIAMOND atmosphere and MEGADETH thrash riffs. Second favorite track is "Fight", a melodic NWOBHM rocker with a catchy early 80's style melodic riff as well as a lead guitar harmony. By the way the vocals are clean, amazing and harmonious. Frankly a band like this needs a full length because they're doing good stuff and for an old fuck from the past it makes me smile. https://www.dying-victims.de/ https://coltre.bandcamp.com/album/under-the-influence https://www.facebook.com/Coltre.Uk/
SHITFUCKER - Sex with Dead Body Hells Headbangers Records So it's been a while since I've anything from Detroit, Michigan's SHITFUCKER. The last thing I have from them is a split 7"er they did with MIDNIGHT from a few years back. My history with them goes back a few years when they played a local club with MIDNIGHT. I automatically liked their approach to scum punk metal. So afterwards I bought from them their full length debut Suck Cocks in Hell and a t-shirt with a cool virgin killers rip off look. The shirt is pictured below and speaking of looks ah yeah I got a lot of those from people who, even in extreme circles, kinda mistook it for something else.
But here we are with this trio's latest full length, their second. OK so from the title and cover photo it's obvious that these guys have not cleaned up their act. I can say the same for their music. With the exception of the crappy intro and outro the band delivers on nine cuts. What I'm expecting is scumfuck metal with some punk rock n roll touches. SHITFUCKER does it here.
For the most part on here SHITFUCKER sounds better than their debut. They incorporate more of a filthy blackened thrash approach. Of course my favorites by them tend to be the heavy punk rock n roll influenced cuts like "Leather Lady Lover" and "Skitzoid". But overall it turns out to be a great release by them. https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/ https://shitfucker.bandcamp.com/album/sex-with-dead-body
LJOSAZABOJSTWA - Gloryja Smierci Godz ov War Productions The return of old school death metal crosses all borders including the confines of Belarus. Here we have the debut full length by LJOSAZABOJSTWA. Don't even ask me about pronunciation. All I do know is that in Belarusian it means "murder of fate". After listening to their release I can say it sounds about right. For the record LJOSAZABOJSTWA like their death metal dressed in blackness and doom. There's five cuts altogether on here and all over seven minutes each. Despite the genre tags this band's sound is intricate whether it's the amazing solo work or the drum fill textures. The band does the genre basics to perfection aka: crushing fast riffs, blast beat drumming, death doom vocals. But yeah it's everything else added in-between that makes for a damm good release. http://godzovwar.com/ https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/g-oryja-mierci https://lszb.bandcamp.com/
UNIVERSAL DISORDER - Act II: Existential Glimpses of Chaos and Order in a Cosmic Womb EP Self Released Ah there's nothing like listening to atmospheric black metal late at night. For me right now it's after 2 AM and I'm somewhat tired from work. Be that as it may it's better than writing about this on a sunny hot afternoon. UNIVERSAL DISORDER is a unique two piece act. They came about in 2019 and consist of Sweden's Daniel Seestrand who handles all the instrumentation. And on vocals you have Sovereign (aka: Joonas Juntunen) from Finland. Obviously since I'm ignorant of this band's work (and how many times will you read a reviewer admit that?) I checked out their debut release which came out last year and was titled Act I: a Pilgrimage in the Chaotic Streams of Creation and Uncreation. Once I got the idea then tackling this one was easy to a point. I've been listening to black metal for a very long time. It's 2020 and sadly I have to say I know what I like and I know what bores me. So for me of late there has to be something interesting in order for me to even care about a new black metal act. There a couple of things that I can say about UNIVERSAL DISORDER. Sound-wise what you have here is late 90's style atmospheric black metal. There are two cuts on this EP, like their debut, and the compositions have a doom side to them. The rawness is there to a nostalgia effect. The guitar tones of the tremolo picked riffs sound like grinding sheet metal or better yet a beehive being electrocuted. The rhythms feel well into a misery beat. The vocals by Sovereign run the gambit of harsh blood curdling screams to ghostly spoken verses. All in all this is late night music for creatures like myself. The band's influential motto seems to be "Chaos that Runs Through the Universe". Yeah well there's a lot of that going on of late. I have no doubt that these two individuals are gunning for some sort of mainstream musical acceptance. In fact I look at this as art and maybe you will as well. https://universaldisorder.bandcamp.com/album/act-ii-existential-glimpses-of-chaos-and-order-in-a-cosmic-womb-ep https://www.facebook.com/UniversalDisorder
SPARAGMOS - Invitation from Host of Wrath Reissue Selfmadegod Records OK so I'm an ANTIGAMA fan although not a huge fan but I've got a couple of releases from when they were still on Relapse Records. I've never paid any attention to their band member's previous acts. But now I've learned that their vocalist, Lukasz Myszkowski, originally sang and played guitar for a band called SPARAGMOS in the 90's. In fact he was like 18 when this band started in 1989. What we have here is a reissue of their debut full length, which originally came out in 1992. This CD also comes with the band's 1990 demo Mortal Organic Remains tagged on the end. For someone like me who thought he was a huge Polish DM fan, well I've got an education. Musically this is old school death thrash and a touch of grind Polish style. I gotta say Lukasz Myszkowski, as a vocalist back then, was just as warped as he would be known as later on. The standouts here, aside from the vocals, are the disjointed riffs as well as the psychotic guitar work. They might've grew up in a scene with VADER but the seeds of ANTIGAMA are all over the place. Invitation from Host of Wrath was a ten cut release which originally came out just on cassette. It takes a couple of listens to get into this one and hats off to ya if it only took one. Bonus part for this release is the inclusion of the band's Mortal Organic Remains demo from 1990. This little o'l band from Warsaw, Poland sounded pretty basic as far as demo quality death metal with thrash touches creeping in. Overall it's cool but obviously way primitive for the times. This portion of the release is for collectors only. Overall I'd say the Invitation from Host of Wrath material is the real worth while gem here. https://selfmadegod.com/ https://selfmadegod.bandcamp.com/album/invitation-from-host-of-wrath
THRONEUM - Oh Death Oh Death Determinate, Preach and Lead Us Astray Godz Ov War Productions Earlier this year I did a write up for SOLIUM which is the side project for THRONEUM's guitarist/vocalist The Great Executor. So I was glad to see this Polish blackened death institution come out with a new full length. Their last one was The Tight Deathrope Act over Rubicon which came out in 2018 on Hells Headbangers Records.
Just for the record THRONEUM have been around for a very long time and have a shitload of releases to show for it. They've put out a handful of full lengths, a few EPs and a bunch of splits. So looking at this one here I have a hard time calling this a full length. You've got three proper songs and three instrumentals. As far as the instrumentals go I think they're just filler. So I'm just going to concentrate on the three proper cuts. Opener "Alpha: Soulside Space Stream" is a fifteen plus minute romp of atmospheric blackened death. The cut shows how the band has moved away from their old meat and potatoes death metal material and onto something leaning toward an avant-garde long winded approach. Fine but this song would've been better cut in half.
URFEIND - Purisablopa Vamamarga Conjurations Years ago you had all of these progressive minded types in the music media (hipsters) who wanted black metal to move out of it's parameters and combine other watered down indie rock styles into it's cannon. They wanted the genre to more challenging for their tastes. Of course we all know the results sucked and were mocked even to this day. Of course I get the idea about hearing something different from the genre's early creators. But instead of promoting horrible outsiders making indie rock music with a sprinkle of black metal. I rather wait for the artists in the genre to push boundaries from within. Case in point, here we have a band from Germany who push their black metal vision against the boundaries in a subtle way while still sounding interesting. According to their bio, URFEIND is a militant and anti-cosmic Black Metal project with a strong devotion to the thursian path. I had to look up "Thursatru" and found it to be a spiritual undertaking where the flesh is only looked upon as a cosmic bond which imprisons the spirit, in which matters of the flesh are insignificant. Sounds like soul worshiping to me but hey whatever you're into. Musically the basic template here is atmospheric black metal but the band adds in some twists which become essential as you're listening to this their second full length. First off I love the off kilter drum work on here. Sure there's plenty of blastbeats going on but there's some off template pounding that sticks out like why haven't other bands done this.
Next up are the vocals which for the most part are what I like to call, I've got throat cancer but I'm singing style BM vocals. Then the vocalist adds some clean wails from afar. But the best are when this guy does his filthy fuckin German metal dude style. Take all of that and then the music or individual songs are like being guided through an eerie menagerie. So far 2020 has not been overwhelming when it comes to black metal or at least awesome stuff. Sure there's been a couple of decent releases so far but this one by URFEIND just draws you in. I like this release. I like it a fuckin lot. https://www.facebook.com/vamamarga.conjurations https://urfeind.bandcamp.com/album/urisablo-a https://www.facebook.com/Urfeind/
SHEZMU - A Travers Les Lambeaux Krucyator Productions This is the debut full length by Montreal, Quebec's SHEZMU. They're a three piece death metal act who also use Egyptian mythology as their musical influence although they're not following in the footsteps of NILE. Their name comes from the Egyptian God of wine and oils, as well as blood and slaughter. That latter attribute, blood and slaughter, is much more in line with what SHEZMU is musically. Musically SHEZMU drive their style of death metal through the blackened doom tunnel previously drilled through the underground by HOODED MENACE and PORTAL. Although these guys have a lighter touch as in adding some genuine atmospheric riffage. They also have no problem with some thunderous bass playing. For me those latter two points are a keeper for me. The vocals are cavernous with a few creepy screams squeezed in a few times. The band inserts a Middle Eastern influenced acoustic instrumental right in the middle of the release. A nice touch which breaks away from the extreme noise from the mummy's tomb. In the end yeah this is cool. https://krucyator.com/ https://shezmu.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.facebook.com/shezmudeath
BLACK ALTAR / KIRKEBRANN - Split release Odium Records My fan allegiance to Poland's BLACK ALTAR goes back to 2008 when I heard the Death Fanaticism. That was black metal with blasphemy as a religion and their mainman singer/bassist Shadow (aka: Dariusz Sieradzki) as it's anti-priest. It took a few years but I finally got a copy of their self titled debut from 2004. Which by the way is equally as good. Yes I am trying to convert you. But since then BLACK ALTAR has settled on putting out short form releases, aka: an EP and a couple of splits. Their material from those splits can also be found on the Suicidal Salvation / Emissaries of the Darkened Call compilation which is also on Odium Records. Also the label is run by Shadow. So here we are in 2020 and BLACK ALTAR starts the decade off with another split release this time with KIRKEBRANN from Norway. On here BLACK ALTAR deliver three cuts although the third one is an atmospheric outro so for argument let's just say there's two. But they are two damm good ones.
"Deus Inversus", which there's a video below of, and "Ancient Warlust" are both contemporary sounding black metal. The production is good. Shadow's vocals, which are like a thunderous rasp, are commanding. The riffs are solid and the rhtyms are of that blitz attack. Maybe that's because Shadow aligned himself with former MARDUK drummer Lars Broddesson and former VADER guitarist Mauser. So of course it sounds great. Am I bias? Yes and fuck you! Next up on this split are the Norwegians KIRKEBRANN who are new to me. They're a five piece BM act who've been around since the early 2000's. But they never released anything until seven years ago. To their credit their recorded out put prior to this has been a full length and a couple of splits. Musically their four cut contribution on here is decent.
KIRKEBRANN have a black n roll side to em which I like. Their vocalist is a filthy barker. Sound-wise they remind me of MARDUK or FUNERAL MIST, yeah I know go figure. They have the whole assault black metal style down pat on their first two cuts aka: "Begrensa Bevissthet" and "Faux Pas". Third cut, "Et Nederlag" harkens back to the more traditional Norwegian BM style while their final cut, "Ufodte Klarhet" is an instrumental. As always with split releases I like to pick a winner if possible but for me it's a tie. The BLACK ALTAR side is great and I'm putting my bias aside here. Plus KIRKEBRANN are cool as fuck. Which makes this a perfect split for the BM in you. http://www.odiumrex.com/ https://blackaltar.bandcamp.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.
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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.
