MORGUE - Herald the Dawn review

MORGUE - Herald the Dawn

Godz ov War Productions

This is the sixth full length by France's MORGUE. I first got into this two piece Death Metal act back in 2022 with their fourth album, Lowest Depths of Misery. Since then they've been consistent with releasing a new album every two years. That's pretty good considering the fact that the band first started out in 1997 and had a sporadic timeline on releases. 

Be that as it may when it comes to Extreme Metal I consider MORGUE to be France's best export since their nation's 1990's era of Black Metal. And they've just gotten better with each album. This latest one just takes what MORGUE has done before and pushes it to a better level. The band is still Max Lobier on vocals, guitars and drums with Jerome Blandino on bass. On here they've got a couple of guests on vocals and a guitarist supplying some lead work. 

Musically I've always called MORGUE's sound a cavern of hate. You've got your brutal beat-downs plus atmospheric touches. It's like Blackened Death Grind with creep filled horror movie touches. Add to that the band kicks in melody which ends up falling into a fuckin diabolical pit of disgusting Blackened hate. 

Max Lobier's vocals are a combination of having a burnt Satanic throat and smoking three packs of cigarettes a day. The guy is an amazing drummer to say the least. Plus the way he kicks in with the riffs makes him more of a composer than a simple musician. 

Many years ago I said Black Metal musicians were the present day composers as in classical music. So you listen to a band like MORGUE (yes they're Death Metal but with some blackened touches) and think it's more than quality Extreme Metal. It's more of a grand experience going on while listening to this release. For me MORGUE are just getting better over time which makes this latest release a winner. 

http://godzovwar.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/herald-the-dawn

THRONEUM - Love Is the Law But Death Is the Frame review

 

THRONEUM - Love Is the Law But Death Is the Frame

Godz ov War Productions

Here we have the eleventh full length by Poland's THRONEUM. This Black Metal act released their first demo in 1998. For some of you reading this that was when your parents were into Black Metal. Of course that's if you had cool parents. I know my son told his friends years ago that his dad was into Black Metal, Death Metal, etc.They all thought that was cool.  

Anyways when it comes to Black Metal, THRONEUM are weird. Seriously decades ago I thought ABRUPTUM from Sweden were the weirdest act in Black Metal. But no THRONEUM has em beat. I learned that back in 2020 with their last album, Oh Death Oh Death Determinate, Preach and Lead Us Astray. I was gonna go back and find some of their earlier material but that never happened.

So why is this album weird? Well first off it all sounds like a sick sermon. I mean mainman and vocalist Tomasz Hanuszkiewicz (aka: The Great Executor) sounds like a drunken priest who's given up the faith. Oddly enough he's joined by a guest female vocalist who sounds like a nun who got into the wine as well.

Sound-wise this album sounds like a blackened musical ritual. I mean should go out back into the yard, kill a goat and toss it into a burning pit of fire? I can't wait for my neighbors seeing me do that. Which is all of what you got here musically. Given all of that there's creepy sounds, some cool Black Metal stuff and a touch of Death Metal. 

Like I said earlier THRONEUM are weird and for fans only.  

http://godzovwar.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/love-is-the-law-but-death-is-the-frame

STRICKEN - From Dark Dimensions An Unspeakable Presence Awakens review

 

STRICKEN - From Dark Dimensions An Unspeakable Presence Awakens

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

While listening to this release I was checking out the band line-up. So I see that their drummer is Chris Wozniak who's also in LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR from Chicago, Illinois. Just for the record I'm a huge fan of LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR's early albums. But their comeback album this year was not that good in my not so humble opinion. . 

So getting into this release was at first like thinking it's gonna be LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR minus one. And it's something different. STRICKEN are a Sludge Metal band hailing from Seattle, Washington. And what they are doing is not YOB or anything from the NOLA side of the genre. 

A few months ago I was checking out a local NC band who were Sludge Metal but were pushing a more sonic approach to the sound. I mean the old school is there to like but the genre needs to be improved not in a stupid way but in a Metal way. And this local band was doing so.

STRICKEN are doing the same thing and I like it a lot.

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/from-dark-dimensions-an-unspeakable-presence-awakens

BEHEMOTH - I, Scvlptor review

 

BEHEMOTH - I, Scvlptor

Massacre Records

Before I even touch an opinion upon this release I'll just point out the obvious. Most modern BEHEMOTH fans were once GHOST fans because BEHEMOTH has better videos. Look if you're a modern day BEHEMOTH fan then I doubt you ever heard "Wolves Guard My Coffin" or "From the Pagan Vastlands". Hell the first album I got into em was Grom from 1996 and it took years to get into all of their previous material while the band was putting out new material. 

Be all of that as it may yeah I'm a BEHEMOTH fan and own all of their full lengths plus other stuff. So I look back on all of their releases as fuckin amazing, damm good or decent. Their last one, The Shit ov God, was decent. In other words that CD will gather dust upon it before I play it again. So it's not a big surprise that this EP came out. Hey let's keep old fans like myself interested. OK ya got me so what's on here.

First off you've got two cuts from The Shit ov God album which are outtakes but still are not that good. "Lord of the Horizons" is supposedly a new track but I doubt that. It's a throwaway cut from their last sessions. The good stuff comes next when the band brings back demo songs from their Black Metal days. We're talking about "The Return of the Northern Moon" from a 1993 demo. "Pandemonic Incantations" from 1998 is not so good. 

That brings us to the cover songs.Yeah BEHEMOTH were so cool to do a bad version of a VENOM cover that they invited Shagrath from DIMMU BORGIR to sing on it. At least their live version of BATHORY's "The Return of Darkness and Evil" sounds great. It's my favorite cut on here. The final cut, a rough mix of "Lord ov the Horizons" is forgettable. 

In the end this release, like previous EPs and live albums by BEHEMOTH, are for completists only. 

https://massacre-records.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://behemoth.bandcamp.com/album/i-scvlptor