BALEFIRE - Self Titled EP review

 

BALEFIRE - Self Titled EP

Iron Bonehead Productions

For the most part I'm against that whole "For Fans Of" descriptive definition. I'd say 99% of the time the PR info is stretching it a bit. But this time around I'll say this release is for INCANTATION fans as well as anyone who is into Death Metal circa 1990 to 1995. Ah yeah those are the glory years as well as some Death Doom type of filth. 

BALEFIRE is the latest side project from INCANTATION  bassist Chuck Sherwood. On this six cut release you'll get honestly four true cuts book-ended by an instro intro and an outro. Now the four cuts are good as far as being a homage to early 1990's Death Metal. I mean what else would you expect?

The four real tracks are good as in the riffs are decent. The vocals are bestial and of course the rhythm section rules. Now with all respect to Chuck Sherwood yeah I like this release and would pick up another one from BALEFIRE. But I'm an INCANTATION first and foremost. I became a fan of them since the mid-1990's and I'll always like what they put out. Nuff Said.

https://ironbonehead.de/

LISTEN HERE:

https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/balefire-balefire

ANCESTOR OF KAOS - Animal Ritual review

 

ANCESTOR OF KAOS - Animal Ritual

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Every time I give this release another listen I get more excited. What we have here is the fourth full length by Florida's ANCESTOR OF KAOS. Now a little history for ya. This band originally started out in Cuba back in 2005. Now thankfully in 2013 they came to the US and call Miami their new home. 

Now on a side note I use the word "thankfully" because I'm all for seeing a Metal band escape a far left dictatorship and come to the US. In fact years ago I said in a Facebook comment to a hipster that I'd trade a college class of wanna-be socialists to a communist country for one of their Metal bands. Obviously that hiptard was offended. 

Be that as it may there's a lot on this release to like. Musically ANCESTOR OF KAOS are Black Metal / Blackened Thrash which is the tagline description to a point but there's so much more going on here. Take your minds back to the formative years of BM aka: the first wave. Yeah things were thrash oriented back then to say the least. ANCESTOR OF KAOS are like that in all of their chaotic hate filled glory. 

Now add in some traditional metal hooks, a few cool guitar solos, painfully screamed psychotic vocals and some early Death Metal influence. So that gives ya ten tracks of something which sounds like a fuckin cool demo from 1989. Ya gotta blast this one to absorb the utter insanity of this release. 

A great example is the drum work which for the most part sounds like that old style of banging on Tupperware. But the drummer goes ballistic to the point where he's Black Metal Neal Peart or Hellhammer, you chose. As I was saying about the guitar soloing they're like Florida DM circa 1988. Besides that the riffage on here is non generic typical modern day Blackened Thrash shite. 

The bottom line here is yeah this album is really good because it's sound is exciting. Obviously they're not trendy and their hate is real. So call me old, call me bias or hell call me an SOB. But don't call me anything other than a fan of cool music. So if you're into Black Metal that's not a polished turd then here ya go. Nuff Said!

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/animal-ritual

GLORIOR BELLI - Self Titled review

 

GLORIOR BELLI - Self Titled

Season of Mist

I first got into this French Black Metal act with their second full length Manifesting the Raging Beast from 2007. If any of you people remember it was in the late 2000's when French Black Metal really came into being cool as fuck as well as noticed by fans world wide. I mean the French Black Metal bands were putting out far better stuff than the Scandinavians at that time. Yeah that's in my not so humble opinion. 

But after a few years in started to stink and yeah in my not so humble opinion. French BM quickly moved into that whole experimental phase which was part of the trend. To me that's why I lost interest and this band here is a perfect example. 2009's Meet Us at the Southern Sign was a damm good release but that was the last one I really liked. I did pick up a few more releases by em but was not happy with em. 

So here we have GLORIOR BELLI's eighth full length and first since 2018's The Apostates. Musically this is not the kinda cool stuff they were doing two decades ago. On a whole this is standard melodic Black Metal. There's some crazy parts tossed in, like the weird chorus vocals. But basically it's melodic punishing riffs, traditional pounding drum work and vicious vocals. 

Some of the riffs do touch on the atmospheric element which was big in late 2000's French BM, aka: the trendy stuff. But overall it's straight up melodic Black Metal with some rockin lead work thrown in to give it a modern appeal. In the end I'm walking away.  

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

LISTEN HERE:

https://gloriorbelli.bandcamp.com/album/glorior-belli

DRUDKH - Shadow Play review

 

DRUDKH - Shadow Play

Season of Mist

DRUDKH have been around now for over two decades. If you're a fan of this Ukranian Black Metal act, which I am, then you understand that their first four releases are amazing. After that the band started to play around with their sound. I can't say many of those releases are faves of mine. Basically they were hit or miss for me. 

Eventually the band got back around to making, in my not so humble opinion, great music within their style and it's been great. Their last full length, All Belong to the Night from 2022, was a return to form. This one here, Shadow Play, is a companion piece. Main-man Roman Saenko has returned the band's sound to the early atmospheric Black Metal style. Well not too early in fact I'd say it's similar to what he was producing fifteen years ago. 

Be that as it may this full length definitely has a depressive angst ridden tone to the sound. Yeah and for obvious reasons. The riffs are punishing to a point but they still have that cascading effect which washes over you. A couple of cuts start off with instrumental openers. The vocals are far more hateful than usual as well as carrying a tone of desperation. 

In the end you've got six tracks in all spanning around fifty-five minutes. I like this one a lot. Obviously what's going on in the Ukraine these past few years is an influence on this release's sound and atmosphere. It's in a blackened mode of pain, trauma, anguish and full blown anger. It's reality there people.   

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

LISTEN HERE:

https://drudkh.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-play