TAIVAL - Journey To Beyond review

 

TAIVAL - Journey To Beyond

Wolfspell Records

Well this is definitely a journey to the dark past. TAIVAL are a four piece black metal act from Finland. Musically on this their debut full length the band is not completely in the whole old school necro filth which Finnish BM was known for back in the day. They run the gambit of melody as well as the depressive atmospheric stuff. 

There's no surprise on that latter point since two members of TAIVAL (their vocalist who goes by the name O and their guitarist / bassist who goes by the name J) were once in a depressive BM act called ALL ALONE. Why am I not shocked? Anyways these two guys hooked up with brothers (J. Norvik on drums and K. Norvik on keyboards) to form TAIVAL. 

Actually I like what I'm hearing here. I like how their use of the keyboards is either a supplement to a song's structure or it's a defining moment to a cut. The guitar riffs are plain BM playing with the patented hornet's next sound quality. On a couple of cuts the tremolo runs are good. The drum work is basic. I think O is the star here with his harsh like a man on fire screams. 

Overall this is decent black metal in that it reminds ya of a demo from 1997. The band admits that this was recorded in "the desolate rehearsal basement during the winter of 2023". Obviously they were going for authenticity. I've got five bucks that says this band gets huge at least in the underground BM scene in five years.

https://wolfspell.pl/

LISTEN HERE:

https://taival.bandcamp.com/album/journey-to-beyond

ATTIC - Return of the Witchfinder review

 

ATTIC - Return of the Witchfinder

Van Records

In all honesty (and if you are a regular reader of this blog then you know I'm honest as the day is long) I learned about this German five piece band earlier this year. I'll give props to a favorite Youtube channel of mine for recommending them. But just for the record ATTIC started out in 2010, released their first demo in 2012 and now we have their third full length. And yeah I haven't heard their two previous albums. 

So whats cool about ATTIC? Well if you give this one listen then you'll believe that this band is the musical reincarnation of early MERCYFUL FATE. I mean vocalist Meister Cagliostro is a dead ringer for King Diamond. But as far as the songs go ah yeah it's also a reminder of the Hank Shermann and Michael Denner guitar era. The songs are haunting, sometimes there's an added MAIDEN-esque galloping rhythm thrown in along with some black metal touches. I do like all of the songs on here but the final cut "Synodus Horrenda" is an amazing opus. But anyways this is just an amazing album period end of story. 

Then again OK it's MERCYFUL FATE worship so why should you check it out? Well honestly I hate bands who are carbon copies of others. AC/DC worship bands are the worst. But I listen to this and think well King Diamond hasn't come out with anything new in a while. I'm a huge MERCYFUL FATE fan and here we have a new band that's taking something we all know and continued on where it left off. 

With that all said I believe ATTIC's Return of the Witchfinder album will be played a lot by me this year and I've got to get their early stuff. 

https://van-records.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://attic-vanrecords.bandcamp.com/album/return-of-the-witchfinder-2

SAXON - Hell, Fire and Damnation review

 

SAXON - Hell, Fire and Damnation

Silver Lining Music

Just for the record the words "hell, fire and damnation" best describe the honeymoon with my first wife. But anyways aside from a needed divorce many years ago here we have the I don't know anymore number album from SAXON. Seriously I'm not going to look it up. I remember their first album came out in 1979.

But anyways I got into SAXON in their early days when they were NWOBHM. My favorite album by em is still 1981's Denim & Leather. I'd say you were still in your dad's balls back then but no it has to be your grand dad's balls and he was probably listening to new wave crap back then. But yeah the band's early 80's output is classic fuckin metal. 

Be that as it may for the last twenty years SAXON has been on a roll putting out powerful albums via some outstanding production values. In recent years they put out a full length, sandwiched between two covers albums, titled Carpe Diem which I thought was OK. Listening to this new one you can hear similarities to their last release but it's more laid back.

Personally, after giving this plenty of listens, I think SAXON are seeing the limits of where they can go. Of course introducing their  new guitarist, Brian Tatler ( taking over after the retirement of founding member Paul Quinn) gives em strength out the wazoo. It's still musically Biff Byford showing the world he can still sing with some familiar lyrical themes put to classic metal song structures. 

Hello and welcome to the past twenty years (or more) of this band's cookie cutter career. Now don't get me wrong over the past two decades SAXON has put out some killer albums but this ain't one of em. The fast power songs are boring. Actually I like the slower melodic "Madame Guillotine" which has an amazing guitar solo. Another favorite from this album is "Fire and Steel" which is a fast paced rocker with, once again, showing off some sizzling guitar soloing. 

In the end SAXON are still on average auto-pilot but with great guitar soloing. It just doesn't work for me then again any old fan with a hint of integrity should agree. Where's the anthems? Where's the songs that put your fists in the air? Hell where's the songs about being proud to be into metal? Sorry they're not here and so am I.

http://sl-music.net/en/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1taLuc_qnO0&list=PLxJJcP5YX06eoEAtbMk4R75Nt-FWwSHgc&index=2

NECROT - Lifeless Birth review

 

NECROT - Lifeless Birth

Tankcrimes

NECROT are (in my not so humble opinion) one of the better (if not the best) new school US death metal bands today. The reason is simple and it's not hype. Since their debut Blood Offerings which came out in 2017 they've broken out and created damm good death metal which hearkens to the past but doesn't dwell there as if they're copycats. Their second album, Mortal from 2020, was just fuckin amazing. I mean that was my favorite album of that year. So does this Oakland, California keep it going on their third try? Ah well hell yeah.

 

Lifeless Birth is a notch up (or below if you prefer) in the diabolical sound of this band's progression from starting out with hardcore influences (listen to their demos) to pure old school death metal with cool soloing by Sonny Reinhardt that's more rhythm at times but does attack from above slices. Luca Indrio's bass playing is solid and his vocals are a standout as far as being deep sounding and hateful. Add in Chad Gailey as an damm good drummer with his work on here, to much triggers aside. 

On Lifeless Birth the band shows some obvious progression without losing what was great about in the past. The song structures on here display a varied guitar riff pattern with bass line accompaniment that deviates from standard groove. It's like the early days of tech death minus the insanity. I mean sure you can bang your head and start a slam pit to the sounds of this one. But for me this is an intense sounding piece of work that grabs for solid attention.

I've listened to Lifeless Birth around a dozen times in the past couple of weeks. Each listen I find something more cool about it. They're coming to my town in a month or so which will be my first time seeing em. I'm psyched about that and prepared to blow some cash on merch. Be that as it may NECROT newest album is obviously their best. It's an all out captivating listen. 

https://www.tankcrimes.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://tankcrimes.bandcamp.com/album/lifeless-birth