ARGUS MEGERE - Cerburea apusului review

 

ARGUS MEGERE - Cerburea apusului

Loud Rage Music

So when I saw this release come in for review and learned the basic PR info about it I got excited. ARGUS MEGERE is another Romanian Black Metal band fronted by Fulmineos (aka: Emilian Matlak). I'm familiar with one of his other bands ORDINUL NEGRU. I've got two of their full length releases and they're both damm good. After listening to this one a few times I can say yeah there's a huge difference in the two bands. 

Just for the record ARGUS MEGERE is a band Fulmineos started way back in 1996. Their first full length, Obscur și etern, came out in 2001. What we have here is their fifth full length. Now since I can't judge this upon the band's previous releases. I will say it's far different than ORDINUL NEGRU which is just great Black Metal. 

ARGUS MEGERE is a grandiose mix of a lot of things. I mean there's Folk influenced Black Metal, melodic atmospheric keyboard driven prog, straight up Black Metal as well as a touch of Doom. This is what, in the past, I described as late night Black Metal. There's five tracks on here with only one an instrumental, "Șarpele din Nouri", being under five minutes. The other four tracks are long epic journeys into atmospheric realms of rich sound. 

Always remember that in order to come away with this style you need great musicianship. Whether it's the delicate use of keyboards, the dynamic drum work, the melodic guitar sounds that run throughout and of course the various vocal styles being performed. I mean this is not just an album. It's a classic piece of music composed by the Romanian artist Fulmineos. 

A decade ago I said the future of Classical Music will be created by artists from the Black Metal scene. It was a total boast on my part at the time based on listening to one or two albums I liked. But here we are now and listening to this it's like I am proven right. Even better is that this is not what those hiptard losers back in the day thought Black Metal would "progress" into. 

Yeah this is Black Metal on it's own artist's terms producing some amazing sounds, ruling atmosphere and an enjoying tranquil touch at moments while still under greatness by a raw blackened attack. I like this a lot and also I can die now. I mean nothing is gonna beat this one so Boom! Just kidding but it is an amazing release which should be checked out.

http://www.loudragemusic.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://loudragemusic.bandcamp.com/album/argus-megere-cerburea-apusului

FELLED - The Intimate Earth review

 

FELLED - The Intimate Earth 

Transcending Obscurity Records

Here we have the debut album by this blackened folk metal act from Oregon. Now for a few years I've heard folk elements injected into black metal. It's nothing new to the scene. What FELLED, who are a four piece act, are doing is something completely different from what you might have heard in the past.  

Trust me when I see the term "Neo-folk", I walk away. Basically I know it's some hipster scribe bullshit. I'm going to see WARDRUNA later this year and if you called them Neo-Folk then Einar Selvik will come out and punch you in the face. So for facts sake FELLED are not hipster Neo-Folk. For starters they're from Oregon. Yeah I know we're trending on bad ice here. But you will be surprised. 

The basics for FELLED are a very cool sounding atmospheric black metal act which utilizes a violin player as a lead instrumentalist. She, Tiffany Holliday, is your lead guitarist and your rhythm maker plus she adds some vocals. So this is something I like, I like a lot. Two of the members of this band are also in the Doom metal act POET. So there's some melancholy influence there on this five song forty minute release.

In the end I keep going back to some melodies on here which make this one of those late night black metal classics. The bestial vocals, the guitar tremolo picked rhythms and the violin solos. Add to that the mixture of beauty and blackened intensity. Yeah I like it. I like it a lot. 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://felledblackmetal.bandcamp.com/album/the-intimate-earth-folk-black-metal

IKU-TURSO - Pakana review

IKU-TURSO - Pakana

Wolfspell Records




Well it's always cool to hear some black metal from the pagan vastlands of Finland. OK sure their vocalist is Dutch but in the greater overview it's always good to hear some pagan black metal. Especially in this band's case because they're old school influence abounds. 


This is the second full length by IKU-TURSO, a band who's been around since 2017. It's my first time hearing their music and honestly it's been a damm good time. No surprise here that Pakana is a concept album. Most of the classic BM albums of the 90's were that and more. This one is about a journey into the unforgiving wilderness of ancient days and of the old Gods. Yeah we've been there before. 


Sound-wise this is completely second wave black metal with some folk moments which are really cool. It has a duel influence going on. One is pure old school Finnish pagan influenced metal and the other is total Norwegian BM. Honestly the two should never meet but on here it works. In this instance I'm gonna name drop some familiar favorites like ULVER, early SATYRICON and MOONSORROW as influences on high here.


Aside from their folk approaches and subtle keyboard touches IKU-TURSO employ your standard blast beat, icy tremolo picked rhythms and one sick sounding screamer Lafawijn the Dutchman. I like how the keyboards are applied as a backdrop which keeps it from being symphonic. Song structures vary from rhythmic violence to more atmospheric melancholy. Interspersed between the vocal rasps are some spoken word parts as well as good ol' Finnish style gutturals and gang shouting. Oh well, someone broke out the vodka on that cut.


Pakana is everything for someone who has been listening to black metal since it's inception. I'm sure somebody with less than meaningful intentions could picked this apart like de-boning a chicken. Personally I find this release to be fantastic simply because it contains moments which remind me on why I still like black metal. 


https://wolfspell.pl/

https://iku-turso.bandcamp.com/album/pakana

https://www.facebook.com/ikutursobm

HIIDENHAUTA - 1695 review

HIIDENHAUTA - 1695

Inverse Records




For years now I always considered myself to be fairly knowledgeable about the Finnish extreme metal scene. I'm a huge fan of their black metal bands/artists. As far as doom metal goes they rule. They have one of the best grindcore acts in the world, ROTTEN SOUND. Also my all time favorite folk metal act, KORPIKLAANI, calls Finland home. And let's not forget about NIGHTWISH. But of course I give this release a listen and class starts again.

Here we have the band HIIDENHAUTA, a four piece act from Satakunta, Finland. Musically HIIDENHAUTA are melodic black metal to a point plus they add some folk touches to their sound. This is their second full length and obviously the first time I've heard them. There are many things about this band as far as this release is concerned that pushes them beyond the norm as far as melodic black metal goes.


First and foremost are the duel gender vocals. The male vocals by Tuomas Keskimaki are screamed, yelled and of course are caustic. They're also sung in Finnish. I've said it before but it always bares repeating. The Finnish language sung in anger makes Germans singing in their own tongue sound like pussies. Now Tuomas is paired up with on vocals by Emma Keskimaki. Her vocals add a soft airiness touch. It's a perfect match.

Other points of interest are the use of keyboard interludes which gives a few songs an interesting dynamic as well as atmosphere. As far as the black metal melodies go guitarist Otto Hyvarinen keeps things partly savage with some basic tremolo thrash. Other times he's showing off some straight forward metal riffage and evens gets a bit technical. Drummer Eetu Ritakorpi follows everything up with pure organic aggressive power.

Just for the record 1695 is a concept album. According to the promo info (because I'm not an expert) the release's premise is the Great Famine in Finland from 1695 to 1697. It was during those years period that every third person of Finland died because of starvation or the accompanying diseases and epidemics. By the way at that time the country was under Swedish rule. Ouch, someone still has a grievance.

As sometimes it's history and it's remembrance which creates good music. HIIDENHAUTA's 1695 is an amazing piece of work. It falls in there with many other black metal acts who left their mark on our collective mindset when it comes to shedding light onto the past. This one just sparked my interest into learning more. 

http://www.inverse.fi/

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Hiidenhauta

https://hiidenhauta.bandcamp.com

VARMIA - Z Mar Twych review

VARMIA - Z Mar Twych 

Folkvangr Records 




What we have here is a mixture of Slavic style folk and black metal which follows both Pagan brutality as well as some modern off template takes. This is the debut album by this Polish four piece who started out last year. The promo info mentions ENSLAVED which I can understand since the lead vocals (sung by their guitarist) are a mix of gruff/harsh while the backing vocals (sung by their bassist) are clean. That's done sporadically throughout the release and it is annoying. 

This release starts out with an acoustic guitar intro but then things do turn to darkness and some harsh black metal ensues. There are a couple of tracks that sound like they were ripped from ENSLAVED's playbook. Other times the band tosses in some death metal song structure to pick up the violence. Not my thing at all but I won't throw em under the bus. Musically VARMIA are an exciting band mainly because of all the elements they take from their peers. 

https://folkvangrrecords.bandcamp.com/album/z-mar-twych

https://www.facebook.com/varmiaband

ARGUS MEGERE - VEII review

ARGUS MEGERE - VEII

Loud Rage Music




Most of the time when it comes to black metal releases I can easily jot down notes as to my thoughts on particular topics for further lines which I'll include in a review. Not this one because I was mesmerized by these four long tracks for a few days before I even typed a word. According to the promo info ARGUS MEGERE are a misanthropic black metal act. Ah not to these ears because I'd put them clearly in the necro-romantic spectrum.

ARGUS MEGERE hail from Romania, Timisoara to be correct and have been around since 2005 under their present name. This is their fourth full length and supposedly is highly anticipated. Actually I'd call this Romania's black metal answer to ENSLAVED, although there's influence from their fellow countrymen NEGURA BUNGET. The progressive touches are there as well as the symphonic touches. Sickened harsh vocals, and yet some clean ones, cover a mixed landscape of raw blackened fury meeting up with a classical composition. Toss is the proggy as well as symphonic elements and you have ARGUS MEGERE pretty much nailed.

Their selling point on here is the use of extended instrumental passages in the songs. At times you just feel whisked away into pagan Romanian dream state. Throw in the medieval style church choirs and Gregorian chanting it all starts feeling like a velvet shroud covering your body. This is what I wanna hear as far as black metal goes when I come home late from work and just wanna relax.

http://loudragemusic.com/

https://loudragemusic.bandcamp.com/album/argus-megere-veii

https://www.facebook.com/argusmegere