PROFANATICA - Crux Simplex review

 

PROFANATICA - Crux Simplex

Season of Mist

PROFANATICA are back and I say that with a fuck you smile. I've always had two favorite releases by em and finding out this year that one of em is not mainman Paul Ledney's favorites kinda shocked me. But anyways yeah they are back in that this album represents something special. I've been a fan for a long time but their last two releases, Rotting Incarnation of God full length from 2019 and the Pale Fuck EP last year were boring. 

Crux Simplex is a return to the really old PROFANATICA with better production. This is what I saw on tour months ago. Yeah this is real USBM with the filth and fury of old. The riffs are manacle with a sense of torture. The drum work is just solid without thrills. The bass is far from out going but steady. Then there's Paul's vocals which have not changed in over a few decades. We're talking harsh, filth ridden and ghastly singing which is sick.

The bottom line here is that this is the original Black fuckin Metal of old. This album is not a rehash but instead a reminder of what once was and can be done again as long as you have someone in charge of creating it. Period, end of story, greatness.

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

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH2X8VSGNGw

ROAD PIG - Still the Future Is Bleak EP review

 

ROAD PIG - Still the Future Is Bleak EP 

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Punk Fuckin Metal from the great state of New Jersey, yeah it is great because I was born there. Wait who am I kidding, NJ is a shithole in it's most urban sections. It's safer to live where the Jersey Devil roams. Be that as it may ROAD PIG sound cool as fuck on this four song EP. 

Now we're not talking about another anarcho crusty punk type of band we all heard back in the late 80's/early 90's. This ain't some Food Not Bombs bullshit. I wanna say it reminds me of some cool 90's Punk that was aggressive and didn't give a fuck but they knew how to play their instruments. I mean this comes across like the ADOLESCENTS meets The BULEMICS at Sunlight Studios in Sweden. 

Does that sound cool to you because it sure as hell sounds good to me. This band is using US Hardcore Punk mid-80's style riffs (aka: no DISCHARGE) and adding that 90's era snarl and filth. Now with that said they make it all sound fresh as fuck. Now if they show up at my doorstep looking and smelling like a bunch of hippie punks I'll tell em to go fuck off. But after this the band needs a full length.

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/still-the-future-is-bleak

MARDUK - Memento Mori review

 

MARDUK - Memento Mori

Century Media

As a MARDUK fan from their early days I can honestly say that the Mortuus era of the band has been a tough sell. Personally I like his work when he's doing FUNERAL MIST. And if you're a Black Metal fan you should as well. Now I'm not saying the albums he's been on starting with 2004's Plague Angel have been bad. In fact I think his tenure as vocalist/songwriter have helped the band move into these modern days of the genre without sounding like an oldies band. 

Be that as it may the Mortuus era albums, this new one being the seventh, have been hit or miss for me. I'd say the first three are good and the two afterwards have a handful of decent songs on em. But their last one, 2018's Viktoria, is by far their worst. So I come into this one feeling that I have nothing to lose. Oddly enough I'd say this is an improvement but not by much.

Look as far as the singing and musicianship go then yeah MARDUK are doing well. As far as the songs go, they've ditched the war themes of the past two albums and embraced death. I mean you've got songs like "Heart of the Funeral" followed up by "Blood of the Funeral" and of course "Shovel Beats Sceptre". There's a couple of others involving a dirt nap as well. Are they trying to say the band is dead?

Musically I think the more memorable cuts are the ones where the band really cuts loose for example "Year of the Maggot". The riff and drum work are from the past but the bass is thick and Mortuus has that blood dripping vocal going. I'd say the same for "Heart of the Funeral" and it's companion "Blood of the Funeral". Like I said earlier it's better than their last one. But they're still on cruise control. I hate the album cover as well.

https://www.centurymedia.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmoDqMdYIug

EXSANGUINATION - Burial Rites review

 

EXSANGUINATION - Burial Rites

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

This is the second album by these death metal Massholes who wanna be Swedes. Their first album, Spectral Hymns, which came out in 2021 was damm good. I mean here you have some hungry as fuck young musicians who love the old death metal ways and want to put their own personal stamp to history. 

Now while I liked their debut with it's Boss HM-2 pedal Swedish death metal sound. This one pushes a more blackend thrash avenue which is also damm good. I mean hats off to drummer Brendan Roche who pretty much controls a lot of these songs. Add to that bassist Kevin Macdonald who pounds on the four strings of rhythm and thunder. 

I must add to the fact that guitarist / vocalist Dan Lozzi has perfect blackened blast furnish vocals. Guitarist Justin Chappell, who I hope does the lead guitar soloing, is just really cool with the sound and approach. It's like the icing on a cake. Not over done but just right. 

If you're familiar with this band's debut, and frankly who isn't, then this one should rip ya a new asshole. EXSANGUINATION just take the past and rip a new face to it. It's like seeing em taking a straight razor and slitting the throats of all those in front of the stage. The assholes of course.

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/burial-rites

SEPULCHRAL CURSE - Abhorrent Dimensions review

 

SEPULCHRAL CURSE - Abhorrent Dimensions

Transcending Obscurity Records

Back in 2020 I called SEPULCHRAL CURSE's debut full length, Only Ashes Remain, Finnish Death Metal at it's finest. Basically this five piece act created something worthwhile and re-imagined to make it exciting as fuck. Here we are a few years later with their second full length and the band repeats in the greatness dept. 

Abhorrent Dimensions is a perfect title for this release. Musically it's like being torn from reality and placed into a realm where crushing slow torture is the norm. Twisted melodies weave through a horrific atmosphere which leads to a ghastly end. All the while a monolithic beast narrates while the carnage is carried out.

Now in real sense the band keeps with their crunchy / crushing old school death metal and doom approach. They still include a strange sense of melody whether it's within the riffs or biting solo work. Plus there's the inclusion of what I call modern black metal. What I mean there is it's less on atmosphere and history but heavy in necro filth dept. Plus the vocals are bestial and believable.

By the way all of that are trademarks of great Finnish extreme metal of the past. But SEPULCHRAL CURSE are not about copying. I do believe this sophomore album is better than their debut in that they have a sound / style and they're progressing in it. To me it's the aggressive sounds with beautiful harmonies intertwined and with a beast of a vocalist. Which leaves me saying the same thing I did a few years ago. This is Finnish Death Metal at it's finest and again one of my favorite releases of the year. I've also got this one repeating over and over again. 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://sepulchralcursefin.bandcamp.com/album/abhorrent-dimensions

UADA - Crepuscule Natura review

 

UADA - Crepuscule Natura

Eisenwald

OK so I'm outside of a local club having a smoke inbetween bands weeks ago and I got into a conversation with this other guy out there. We're talking about Metal, upcoming shows to the club and of course Black Metal comes up. So he asks me if I'm going to the UADA show. And I told him that I never heard them. But I knew that the singer is also in CEREMONIAL CASTINGS who are one of my favorite USBM bands.

So he explains to me who they are and where they come from as well as their sound. He never mentions CEREMONIAL CASTINGS. But this guy told me to check em out if I like melodic BM. (Hmmm, melodic BM?) Well UADA are playing next week downtown so I've got this new release and hey it's pretty good. UADA have been around since 2014 and have three prior full lengths out to their credit. But hey I can't check out everything. 

As far as Crepuscule Natura goes there's something here which captures two elements which to me are good and bad. The good part is that this album, which is five cuts with a run time of forty two minutes, has this warm Swedish BM tone. No name drops from me because there's an overall influence going on here. Something original / different is the vocal style of Jake Superchi which is not really new to me since, as I mentioned earlier, he's also in CEREMONIAL CASTINGS. He does show off his variety of singing whether it's shrieks, howls and growls.

But musically this is far from mere copying of the past. Instead it's a homage retro-fitted for modern audiences. The guitar work on here is pretty damm good with cold melodic riffs and intricate soloing. That was a trademark to the old Swedish sound in melodic BM or the blackened death metal stuff. The rhythm section literally kicks fuckin ass. The sound structures are amazing. 

At first I wasn't into this album but it grew on me to the point where sure I miss hearing CEREMONIAL CASTINGS but this release is just so fuckin cool. I mean it rocks (ah yeah!), plus it carries you onto planes of wonder as well as bludgeoning battlefields of imagination in the coldness of what you feel black metal does. I can't wait to see em live. 

https://www.eisenton.de/

LISTEN HERE:

https://uada.bandcamp.com/album/crepuscule-natura

DETERIOROT - The Rebirth review

 

DETERIOROT - The Rebirth

Xtreem Music

Back in 2010 we had the rebirth of bands doing the whole old school death metal revival thing. It was cool I loved it and I've got a shitload of CDs and vinyl from it. But here we are in 2023 and now the whole old school thing is more like an afterbirth. I mean it's cool to hear younger musicians repeating what was done before. But it's also cool to hear about bands who actually started out back in the day, never got their due but are back to kick some ass. 

Case in point DETERIOROT a band who started out in 1992. Yes that's fuckin right, over 20 fuckin years ago when you were still sucking yer mommy's tits. But they didn't put out a full length until 2001's In Ancient Beliefs. Nine years later they put out their follow up The Faithless. And now, after thirteen years, we have their third full length The Rebirth. 

The band's only original member is guitarist / vocalist Paul Zavaleta. This guy started out in Paterson, New Jersey which was a shithole in the late 70's from my recollection. I lived in Fairview, NJ in the 70's. It probably got worse in the fuckin 90's. Now he is in Charlotte, North Carolina which probably still reminds him of Jersey to a point but with different food. 

Be that as it may Paul Zavaleta hooked up with some other musicians in the past few years who like the old stuff and this is the fuckin rebirth of DETERIOROT. Now I know a couple of bands who started out in the 90's and never got where they wanted to go. But in the latter 2000's they revived themselves and sound damm good. DETERIOROT is doing just that and sound fantastic.

Yes this is old school death metal which comes across like an past undiscovered gem. Musically this is a cross between INCANTATION meets DISMEMBER meets CIANIDE in a dark alley and all hell breaks loose. For someone like me it's a hell fuckin yeah. I mean the tone of the riffs are damm cool. The soloing is fluid at certain times and lighting bolts at others. And of course the vocals are ghastly. I mean this is one of the best death metal albums of 2023 which should've come out in 1992. 

http://shop.xtreemmusic.com/english.main.index.php

LISTEN HERE:

https://deteriorot.bandcamp.com/album/the-rebirth

TSJUDER - Helvegr / Scandinavian Black Metal Attack 2xCD review

 

TSJUDER - Helvegr / Scandinavian Black Metal Attack 2xCD

Season of Mist

Wow where do I start? OK in my not so humble opinion TSJUDER were supposed to be the heir of Norwegian Black Metal greatness in the 2000's. I mean their first three full lengths are killer as fuck. But for some reason those "heirs" went to GORGOROTH and later on to 1349. Now nothing wrong with that because I like those bands as well but look whatafuck happened to em. No wonder DIMMU BORGIR got so big.

Now to be honest TSJUDER didn't work the system either. 2004's Desert Northern Hell is my favorite from these Norwegians and was obviously the best black metal album of that year. And then they went silent for a few years. After that period of time the band released two albums which I thought they were OK. So here we are in 2023. 

In my not so humble opinion Helvegr is the true heir to 2004's Desert Northern Hell. This is cold cruel face ripping BM. I mean Nag (aka: Jan-Erik Romoren) on bass & vocals sounds rejuvenated in his pure hate filled singing. Guitarist Draugluin (aka: Halvor Briseid Storrosten) is providing cold, cruel, bludgeoning riffs. Jon Rice, a session drummer from the US, nails everything as far as cool blast beats to fills and onward. 

Helvegr is a school lesson on what black metal is all about. We're talking about a fierce attack with claws that'll rip your face off sound-wise. Add to that some atmospheric takes which come about like the entrance of an almighty demon. Yes this is amazing black fuckin metal. And if that is not  enough then the digi-box set adds a second CD, Scandinavian Black Metal Attack which is the band doing five BATHORY covers. So I've got three words for ya, HELL FUCKIN YEAH!

  

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

LISTEN HERE:

https://tsjuder.bandcamp.com/album/helvegr

SLOMATICS - Strontium Fields review

 

SLOMATICS - Strontium Fields

Black Bow Records

Years ago I said in a review that the SLOMATICS are a good doom band to play late at night. But not too loud and make sure the outdoor speakers are not on or the cops will show up again for playing music too loud. The SLOMATICS are one of my favorite Irish bands. I'm part Irish as well so yeah there's some bias in liking a cool band. But hey this band deserves it.

I got into the SLOMATICS some years ago and have watched them go from a damm good sludge band to something more progressive. They have the simplistic ability to crush, kill and destroy you sonically. But they also show compassion with some psych and proggy atmospheric touches. Case in point I love the song "Voidians" which has a psych calling and yet breaks into some fuzzy sludge.

Add to that "Time Capture" which is total proggy psych in a quality way. But of course ya gotta like opener "Wooden Satellites" as well as "I, Neanderthal" because that's the band at their sludge metal best. All in all as a fan I still think Canyons from 2019 is their best album. This one here is a fun step forward and still very good. 

http://www.blackbowrecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://slomatics.bandcamp.com/album/strontium-fields

GRAVERIPPER - Seasons Dreaming Death review

 

GRAVERIPPER - Seasons Dreaming Death

Wise Blood Records

A few years back I was giving the thumbs down to various blackened thrash acts. The main reason was that the majority of the acts were generic sounding. It was like standing in the grocery store staring at ten different brands of white bread. So nowadays a band who's playing in this style has to bring something unique to a genre that's been run through the ringer. 

This Indianapolis four piece act are not re-inventing the genre. But at least on this their full length debut they're giving it a shot. First off I like vocalist/guitarist Corey Parks' singing style. He doesn't do the generic black metal shrieking vocals. His vocal style comes off like a caustic bark similar to pre-cookie monster death metal. Add to that the song structures this band creates are not generic at all. 

The riffs rum the gambit of death & roll, black metal and of course standard old school thrash. Opener "To the Grave” is the type of song that'll get a pit started even at a home for geriatric heshers. "And I Curse Reality" is a Teutonic thrash influenced cut you wished DESTRUCTION would do nowadays. "Ripped and Torn Apart" plus "Divine Incantations" have a slight MAYHEM vibe going on. That's a nice way of saying they borrowed.

Another cool thing about GRAVERIPPER's sound is that the two guitarists don't bury the bass player. I mean in almost every song here, there's ten, bassist Chris Pilotte's playing is standing together with the guitar riffage. Hell I think he does a solo or two. Yes that is very cool. Some of the guitar solos are decent and the drum work is satisfactory. 

By the way it took me a good four listens to this release before I became a fan of this band. Anyways yeah this is a cool debut full length. GRAVERIPPER wins the award for putting out the most non generic blackened thrash album of 2023. That's nothing to scoff at either. 

https://wisebloodrecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://graveripper.bandcamp.com/album/seasons-dreaming-death

CROM – The Era Of Darkness review

 

CROM – The Era Of Darkness

From the Vaults

If you're expecting something influenced by the Conan saga (aka: comics and movies) you're not gonna get it here. CROM, who hail from Germany, are a epic heavy metal act. Then again you could call em power metal with that viking saga influence. When this came in for review I pushed play and listened to it five times in a row while I was doing other stuff. Ah yeah it's that good.

This is the first release I've heard from CROM. The band started out as a one man act a while back in 2000. The one man is Crom aka: Walter Grosse. The first full length, Vengeance, came out in 2008. This is the fourth full length and from what I've read CROM is an actual band now. Be that as it may when I heard the first cut of this album, "Into the Glory Land" I was hooked. 

On this album CROM comes across musically as TYR meets Nordland era BATHORY. I mean the vocals are clean, powerful and epic as fuck. The song structures are powerful and yet melodic. The guitar solos come in like lighting bolts. I mean everything about this album is damm good. Songs like "Heart of the Lion", "The Era of Darkness" and "Together We Ride" (aka: the front end of the album) are amazing. I mean you'll want to grab up your sword and shield because it's time for battle with your comrades on your side. 

The second half of the release is good but not as strong as the first end. I like the melodic epic ballad style of "In Your Eyes" as well as "Bridge to Paradise". "Riding into the Sun" is good but is a repeat of some songs on the first half. But hey all in all The Era Of Darkness is like the dark horse pick for greatness in 2023. If you're a searcher for great music or just lucky to have something dropped into your lap (like me) then you'll like this one a lot.

https://fromthevaults.dk/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/1005417

OR HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMHENn73Fbw