ACT OF IMPALEMENT - Infernal Ordinance review

 

ACT OF IMPALEMENT - Infernal Ordinance

Caligari Records

I've said it before but it always needs to repeated. You never know where great extreme metal will pop up. Especially when that band puts out music which is familiar as well as taking a cool direction which cements themselves as being worthwhile. 

Case in point here we have ACT OF IMPALEMENT who are a three piece band from Nashville, TN. who started out in 2012. As far as their history goes they've put out a handful of demos, short form releases and a full length in 2018 titled Perdition Cult. Here were a few years later with their second full length and I'm liking what I hear. 

Musically ACT OF IMPALEMENT are into old school death metal with some cool influences to back their material. Think of ENTOMBED's death n roll era meets classic BOLT THROWER. Yeah that's not much of a stretch these days but the punishment this trio does is damm good. 

I mean this is pure filth riffage. It's a grotesque mangling of the classics complete with sick melodic soloing dive bombing in. And yeah how could I not love a song titled "In Wolflight". We're talking about headbanging worship as well as slam pit educing action with every song on the release. A helluva lot on "Creeping Barrage", "Atomic Hecatomb" and fuckin "Blasphemies Rebirth". When was the last time you heard a release that could deliver that? 

Of course the vocals are a mix of blast furnace versus real guy screams. Both of which are cool as fuck. Yeah out of nowhere this fuckin album becomes one of my favorites of the year by far. More proof that wherever you are in this world. There's probably a cool extreme metal band right around the corner.  

http://www.caligarirecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://actofimpalement.bandcamp.com/album/infernal-ordinance

SERPENT OF OLD - Ensemble Under The Dark Sun review

 

SERPENT OF OLD - Ensemble Under The Dark Sun

Transcending Obscurity Records

In my not so humble opinion I believe the sub-genre of Blackened Death Metal has reached it's limits on the template. If you push the needle any further then you're in Death Doom territory. So we're looking at a sub-genre which is about thirty something years old. In that time it's gone from some melodic stuff to the brutal/tech death route and finally we're at the edge where the sound is emissions from the bowels of hell. Oh yeah I like where we're at right now musically.

So for a blackened death metal band to achieve some success and appreciation they need to do a couple of things. First off the musicianship must be perfection. Next up the song writing must be strong, concise and not drag the listener into dragged out soundscapes of atmospheric projection. Third I think the vocals must come across as having the singer recorded from inside a well or on fire. And finally the music must be so horrific that it would turn a normal person to have such nightmares which would put them in an insane asylum.

Case in point here we have the debut album by this Turkish five piece, SERPENT OF OLD. Yes the band is new but the players behind the music are veterans of their extreme music scene. Three members are also in the death thrash act ARCHAIC VANITY. This band's vocalist is also in the brutal death metal act DECIMATION. I know about them since they had a couple of releases out on Comatose Music. 

As far as SERPENT OF OLD go yeah they check all of the boxes I previously mentioned. For starters yes musically this is blackened death to perfection. There's plenty of tremolo picked riffs, savage high note soloing and heavy handed DM riffs as well. With two guitarists working in tandem it's easy for there to be a great mix of savagery and atmospheric moments. 

As far as the vocals go you've got the combination of the bestial and the brutal. Yeah Cthulhu would approve. Finally the songs, there are six of em, two of which are over eight minutes in length, one is over seven minutes and another is over ten minutes. the shortest cut, "Virtue of the Devil is in His Loins", is almost a fuckin prayer with extreme tremolo picked guitar. The final cut, "Idiosyncrasy" is just shy of five minutes and is like the icing on this filth cake. 

Remember what I said about song writing? Well the longer cuts on here are like mini-epics of hellish torture that mix up the song structures enough that there's no drag or repetitive sounds. So it's 2023 and with bands reaching their peak within the genre constructs. It's all about perfection instead of copying. This debut album by SERPENT OF OLD is perfection in blackened death metal.

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://serpentofold.bandcamp.com/album/ensemble-under-the-dark-sun

OAK - Disintegrate review

 

OAK -  Disintegrate

Season of Mist

This release came out in February but I finally got it in May. Why am I writing about it in fucking July? Well for starters it's a one song 45 minute full length of pure atmospheric death doom. Yeah something perfect to play on a after work late night if you're not feeling worn out. But as I'm writing this I do have that amount of time to kill because I have a Thai soup cooking on the stove and it's a good three hour deal on that one. 

So this is a side project by Guilherme Henriques who is also in the black metal band GAEREA from Portugal. Just for the record GAEREA put out a pretty decent full length last year on this label. So it's no shocker that the label would put out this the sophomore album by em. Along for the ride is GAEREA drummer Pedro Soares. Which means Henriques is responsible for the guitars and vocals. 

Musically this is paint by the numbers classic sounding atmospheric death doom. The Finnish do it so well but at least separate things into songs. There's plenty of black metal touches obviously. The musical mood swings from quiet instrumental passages to Guilherme's bestial vocals and trudging riffs with drummer Pedro Soares adding some excitement with a good BM drum push.

Overall I'm not on drugs for this one nor am I able to do coffee for so long. Basically atmospheric death doom to the hilt and I believe dinner is ready.

https://www.season-of-mist.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://oakdoom.bandcamp.com/album/disintegrate

FERAL / CRAWL - Made As Those Who Are No Longer Alive split EP review

 

FERAL / CRAWL - Made As Those Who Are No Longer Alive split EP

Transcending Obscurity Records

This will probably be my favorite split release of the year. Now for those of you who scoff at the idea of split releases let me explain something to ya. I use to have more split releases on vinyl and cassette then you probably have in your music collection. Decades ago it was the thing for a up and coming band to hit up a popular act and do a split release with em. Of course it became a joke.

I believe it was ANAL CUNT who came out with the song "No I Won't do a Split with You". And that was the problem. Be that as it may the cool thing with a split release is that you buy it for the band you know. And hopefully the other band is cool as well. Which here seems to be the case with FERAL and CRAWL. 

First off FERAL and CRAWL are both Swedish death metal bands. FERAL is a five piece act who started out in 2007. They were part of that whole old school Swedish death metal revival back then. I have their Welcome to the Graveyard demo from 2009. (I have quite a few band demos from that whole DM revival) But unfortunately I never followed up afterwards. Since then of course they've released three full lengths and a handful of short form releases. 

As far as CRAWL goes they're a four piece act who burst onto the scene in 2014. The band is made up of scene veterans from such acts as DEMONICAL who I know well. A couple of others are DECOMPOSED and DISCARNATE. Just to add more familiarity to the story. I reviewed CRAWL's debut full length, Rituals, from 2018 and yeah it's good.

So with all of the preview info it's time for some musical expectations. Well both of these acts have an affinity to one of their Swedish death metal peers and the Boss HM pedal. The band I'm talking about is DISMEMBER and their first two amazing as well as classic albums. Both of these bands contribute two songs each which simply bleed DISMEMBER worship in their own ways.

FERAL stick to the tradition but give the sound a slight modern touch. CRAWL on the other hand stick with what they were doing on their debut album. Which was adding a touch of hardcore flair much in the same vein as DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN or DISFEAR. 

As always when it comes to split releases I look at em like a wrestling match. In this case FERAL wins out but hey CRAWL is just as good. And like I stated earlier it's split releases where a fan can get into two bands at once and afterwards let the collecting start. So here ya have two great bands with back catalogs worthy of your support.    

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://feralsweden.bandcamp.com/album/made-as-those-who-are-no-longer-alive-split

GATEWAY - Galgendood review

 

GATEWAY - Galgendood

Transcending Obscurity Records

This is the second full length by GATEWAY, a one man death doom act from Belgium. The one man is Robin van Oyen. Just some history for you. Robin started GATEWAY back in 2014. After one well received demo, Aeternae, which was three cuts. He followed it up with the self titled full length in 2015. After that well things got shortened. From 2016 to 2021 Robin released four EPs. 

So here we are in 2023 and the death doom Robin has produced is good and has been around for well over a decade or so. Finnish bands doing the same thing for a long time. Now with that said I have to say the production on here is immense. The bestial vocals are part cavernous part painful. The riff package consists of diabolical rhythms, pounding riffs and once in a great while some tremolo excitement. 

Like I mentioned before this is nothing new to anyone, yeah like me, into modern European sludgy horrific sounding death doom. And hey how bout what's come out of Australia for example over the past fifteen years. Be that as it may if this is the only album this year doing this kind of destructive mind fuck on reality then I'm in the dark dungeon with it's torture. Hails!

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://gatewayband.bandcamp.com/album/galgendood

NIGHT DEMON - Outsider review

 

NIGHT DEMON - Outsider

Century Media Records

I was a NIGHT DEMON fan years ago when they were part of what I considered the new wave of traditional metal. Their second CD, Darkness Remains from 2017, was my introduction to em. I kinda liked that one to a point. But then they were silent for a long time. Well there were those single songs posted. But hey as a fan I was waiting for something cool.

Well after giving this a few plays I'm kind of ashamed I originally liked this band. I mean hey I'm not a lame-stream mainstream metal type of person. Seriously there's some cool sounding 80's metal action going on. The title track as well as "Obsidian" are decent rocking stuff. Then comes "Beyond The Grave" and you just wanna puke. It's like a grunge ballad.

The second half of this album is not that exciting. "Rebirth" is a third rate radio hit by a third tier concert band. "Escape From Beyond" is actually the best song on this album to a point. The weak break down sucks after they're ripping a good riff. Sad fucking stuff altogether even after their wannabe be MAIDEN break down. The rest of it blows as well.

In the end this is not that good.   

https://www.centurymedia.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://nightdemon.bandcamp.com/album/outsider

DEAD AND DRIPPING - Blackened Cerebral Rifts review

 

DEAD AND DRIPPING - Blackened Cerebral Rifts

Transcending Obscurity Records

Well I must say this one starts off with a quick punch in the face and then settles down to a wrestling match. I'm not surprised since this one man death metal act is from New Jersey. By the way I was born in Jersey many years ago and lived there till my early teens. We didn't have death metal back then. In fact the evil band around then was SABBATH and yeah I was a fan. I wore a SABBATH Sabotage shirt to school in the 8th grade one day and got sent home because I wouldn't turn it inside out. 

Which brings us up to today, as I mentioned earlier DEAD AND DRIPPING is a one man band. That one man is Evan Daniele who is responsible for all the instruments and vocals. Musically Evan covers a lot of DM territory. Now here's the fun part. This release, Evan's third full length since starting out 2016 under this band name, is probably the most progressive, tech death and brutal DM release I ever heard. 

Vocally whether it's the satanic frog, the brutal DM pig or the cavernous beast, Evan sings it perfectly and maybe beyond. Is it real or computer generated I'll let you decide. What you can't question are the song structures as well as the long song titles and psychotic lyrics. I mean I'll go with pushing the line when it comes to brutal death metal but this release goes beyond my sickness level.

Evan Daniele is either a genius or a soon to be mass murderer high on prescription drugs. In that case DEAD AND DRIPPING's Blackened Cerebral Rifts is definitely something of a challenge to even the hard core BDM fan. If you're welcome to that challenge then here ya go. 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://deadanddrippingus.bandcamp.com/album/blackened-cerebral-rifts

ORPHALIS - As The Ashes Settle review

 

ORPHALIS - As The Ashes Settle

Transcending Obscurity Records

It's 2023, I still like my traditional death metal but hey give me the fucking crazy shit and I'm cool. Case in point here we have the fourth full length by Germany's ORPHALIS. They're a five piece death metal act who found boundaries and shattered em over their decade plus career.

ORPHALIS are a German death metal band with an interesting musical description sound-wise. I have never heard their previous albums, sorry about that. But overall this comes across as DM which sits well with the neanderthal brutality meets tech death. What's really cool is how the sound messes both styles and then links in touches of progressive DM atmospherics. 

This is not something for me especially listening to it after 3 AM in the morning  Yeah this is savage, brutal and in a way brilliant. Personally not my thing but hey Tech Death Metal fans take hold of this one. Brutality and Tech Death for all.

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://orphalisger.bandcamp.com/album/as-the-ashes-settle

VOMITHEIST - NekroFvneral review

 

VOMITHEIST - NekroFvneral

Transcending Obscurity Records

As readers of this site know (and frankly who doesn't read this site) I freely admit my guilty pleasure of hyperbole. But what I am about to describe to you extreme metal enthusiasts out there is true. This is probably one of the best death metal albums of 2023. Yeah I know it's only the middle period of the year. The Fall season release dump is not here yet. But seriously this is the shit. 

This is the debut full length by this three piece Swiss death metal act. So let's start with their band name, VOMITHEIST. Now everyone knows that if there was a fifth component to the big three Swedish DM trident I'd include VOMITORY as number five. I mean these guys got vomit in their name. I love that shit as well as bands having "wolf" or "goat" in their titles. 

Next up comes their album title, NekroFvneral. Yeah it's literally necro funeral and what's not to like about that scene. But of course the end result is always the music and this Swiss band brings on an ass kicking performance. Musically this is old school death metal from back in the day completely savaged and reborn into a cool as fuck image. 

Imagine if you will, DISMEMBER and AUTOPSY having a deformed child. Yeah that's what you get with VOMITHEIST. You've got the HM-2 Boss Pedal worship utilzed to perfection. The riffs are as crunchy as burnt toast. The leads come down like bolts of lightning from above. The song structures are a mix of the classic DM to death & roll at certain times and then some doom. Drum work is fucking amazing. The vocals are a mix of filth and nasty. 

In the end what more can I say which I started with?  I love this album. Their opening track is "Strangled by Entrails". The title track sounds like DISCHARGE. In-between it's a fuckin twisted filth ridden mess with Tom G grunts added to the vocals. Best fuckin death metal album of 2023. 

  

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://vomitheistdm.bandcamp.com/album/nekrofvneral

HAXANU - Totenpass review

 

HAXANU - Totenpass

Amor Fati Productions

Well this is kinda interesting. This is the second album by Alexander Poole under the band name HAXANU. Alexander performs all instruments but vocals are left up to the one who goes by L.C. For those of you who might know Alexander Poole has been involved with quite a few bands in his illustrious BM career. 

Most notably he was in KRIEG for a while. I have a split EP with KRIEG and LEVIATHAN in which Alexander Poole is the guitarist in KRIEG. As far as this release goes it's total blast-beat frenzy of wannabe atmosphreic BM. Add to that someone involved here loves Sweden more than USA as far as BM goes. Cool stuff if your're late to the BM party. And I'm not.

https://shop.amor-fati-productions.de/en/

LISTEN HERE:

https://amorfatiproductions.bandcamp.com/album/h-xanu-totenpass

THORN - Evergloom review

 

THORN - Evergloom

Transcending Obscurity Records

Around fifteen years ago the thought of a one man death metal act was considered a rarity or to some degree mockery. Nowadays that's not the case especially with all of the technical tools available. It also helps when the one man is also in another band and this is a side project.

The one man here is Brennen Westermeyer from Phoenix, Arizona who performs all instruments. While doing some research I found out that Brennen is also the singer for the band FLUIDS. I have a NUNSLAUGHTER / FLUIDS split cassette which came out last year on Hells Headbangers Records. Well of course I fuckin do, it's NUNSLAUGHTER dammit. 

But anyways as far as this third album by THORN goes. This is what I like to call late night death doom. Brennen's vocals are the brutal package while the music is mostly atmospheric to tranquil heavy. The riffs are fine but the soloing creates a harmonic feeling almost as if this is psych. I mean "Thanatos Basileos" pushes the gambit on the peyote induced DM idea. The final cut and the title track reinforces the whole trip idea. 

In the end I wished I'd smoke weed nowadays instead of still being a speed freak and beer drinker. This THORN  album is perfect for a death metal pot smoker. 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://thorndm.bandcamp.com/album/evergloom

UNFELLED - Pall of Endless Perdition review

 

UNFELLED - Pall of Endless Perdition

Season of Mist

OK some explaining to do with this one. So if you're a supporter of Season of Mist records or even Northern Silence Productions. Then you might know of the Australian black metal band WOODS OF DESOLATION. If not then I'll explain. WOODS OF DESOLATION is a one man BM project that started out in the mid-2000's. The one man multi-instrumentalist behind the project simply goes by the name "D". 

I got into this band back in 2011 with his Torn Beyond Reason full length which came out on Northern Silence Productions. What you had with WOODS OF DESOLATION is harsh atmopheric black metal which was in all honesty generic but still cool sounding. D also has a side project called FOREST MYSTICISM which has no full lengths out but plenty of small form releases. I have their Hearken three song CD from 2018.

So in 2016, D started this side project UNFELLED and released a six song demo Beneath Distant Skies. Which brings us up to date. This time around D is with a band and the music is a side harsher. D handles bass and guitar duties on here. Along for the ride is drummer Vladislav Petrov who most BM fans know from DRUDKH. But on vocals he's got a cool dude in Mitchell Keepin formerly of two great Australian BM bands NAZXUL and PESTILENTIAL SHADOWS. 

Musically this is a more ferocicious take on D's usual post BM atmopheric style. There's still plenty of laid back melodies which are punished by Petrov's drum work and D's savage tremolo pick rhythms. Mitchell vocals just keep the pain going. Out of these seven cuts I hear pretty much (again) a generic following. It's 2023 so we haven't moved far from the original ground. 

Be that as it may this is just an exhilarating album. It's a modern epoch to revel any of your easy on the ears bullshit. I'd play "Wreathed Wings" or "Veil of Perdition" up your kvlt wanna-be face and watch you suffer. Normally I'd say I'm biased but with this release it's a big fuckin NO. This album is amazing!

https://www.season-of-mist.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://unfelled.bandcamp.com/album/pall-of-endless-perdition

IMMORTAL - War Against All review

 

IMMORTAL - War Against All

Nuclear Blast

I believe the song "Blashyrkh My Throne" says it all. This is the second album under the name IMMORTAL with original guitarist Demonaz at the helm. A few years ago when the first Demonaz led IMMORTAL album came out, Northern Chaos Gods, I said it was far better than what Abbath was doing with his solo stuff. Now with this new one I still stand by that opinion.

At present Demonaz is the sole member of IMMORTAL. On this new one he includes session musician friends. For example Arve Isdal (aka: Ice Dale) from ENSLAVED and AUDREY HORNE plays bass and additional guitar. The guy also played on Demonaz's March of the Norse album from 2011. On drums you have Kevin Kvale who also plays in GAAHLS WYRD.

War Against All is Demonaz's continuation of Battles in the North style writing with plenty of BATHORY influences thrown in. Basically it's what Abbath did when Demonaz couldn't play guitar anymore after Blizzard Beasts. Which led to a string of great IMMORTAL albums starting with At the Heart of Winter and ending at All Shall Fall. 

In the end this is exactly what you want as an IMMORTAL fan, which I am. Eight songs one of which is a seven plus minute epic instrumental "Nordlandihr". Every song on here is perfect. Abbath might've been the face of IMMORTAL but Demonaz was alway's it's soul. And on the albums he didn't perform on he was still there helping out. 

So if you think about it, including Demonaz's solo album March of the Norse, then 2018's Northern Chaos Gods and now this one. This man has kept the spirit of Blashyrkh and the cold cruel landscape of true Norwegian black metal alive now for a while. I hope he keeps it going without any reunions, nuff said.

https://www.nuclearblast.com/eu/

LISTEN HERE:

https://immortal.bandcamp.com/album/war-against-all