PURE WRATH - Bleak Days Ahead review

 

PURE WRATH - Bleak Days Ahead

Debemur Morti Productions

This is the fourth full length by this Indonesian one man Black Metal act PURE WRATH. A few years ago I picked up the third full length, Hymn to the Woeful Hearts, which originally came out in 2022. It was in a store, it had a great cover plus the band name was cool as well as the release being on Debemur Morti Productions. I mean everything said yeah this was gonna be great. Musically it was standard Atmospheric Black Metal not much different from French or Quebec acts. I mean hey just look at the label they're on. But hey I liked it a lot.

So here we are with this newest one. And for the record the one man behind PURE WRATH is Ryo (aka: Januaryo Hardy) who is responsible for all instrumentation. Just for the record he uses plenty of keyboards as well as audio sound-bites. Also Ryo is involved in at least a half dozen other Indonesian Metal acts. So to call him prolific is a given.

While listening to this new release I can easily say compared to his previous full length this one has a darker touch. Ryo's vocals are always harsh with a emphisis on anger and despair. So the way the first two title tracks, Parts one & two, come at you is with fierce tremolo picked icy riffage but also toss in breaks of melodic keyboard moments. The other three tracks fall into the same depressive meloncolly trope.

This is late night Black Metal for depressive types who've given up on everything except being creative in their misery. It's that bare light bulb illuminating very little in a darkness that is put there by personal choices. Still it's another good release by Ryo. Although I'm really a fan of Hymn to the Woeful Hearts. In fact before I checked out this new one I ended up playing Hymn to the Woeful Hearts five times in a row that night. Go Figure?    

https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/

LISTEN HERE:

https://purewrath.bandcamp.com/album/bleak-days-ahead

PURE WRATH - Hymn to the Woeful Hearts review

 

PURE WRATH - Hymn to the Woeful Hearts

Debemur Morti Productions

Over the years there's been some cool black metal acts of the atmospheric realm that construct releases based on stories. Some times the stories are based in myth or historic tales. And of course the two main themes are always triumph or tragedy. After reading about the background theme of Hymn to the Woeful Hearts it's definitely tragedy we're talking about here.

Also a continuing theme is that the artists conveying these tales are more like classical composers. Of course instead of orchestral music we get black metal. The composer here is multi-instrumentalist Januaryo Hardy from Indonesia. He basically takes charge of the vocals, guitars, bass and keyboards. There's also some session musicians who handle drums as well as some keyboards, cello and added guitar parts.

As far as the story here goes it's about a mother who survived the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66 (aka: Indonesian Communist Purge) as well as her life afterwards following that event which saw her son kidnapped, tortured, and ultimately beheaded.

Now no matter the story it's the music that counts. As far as that goes I have to say sound-wise Hymn to the Woeful Hearts is an impressive piece of work. It's melodic black metal with plenty of atmospheric touches, some prog moments and of course some rage worthy riffs. 

Januaryo Hardy's vocals are a mix of harsh and some cleans. With the songwriting style he employs you can have some heavy duty blackened action which soften's up near the end. So the cleans as well as keyboards roll in as a break. Kinda reminds me of modern era ENSLAVED a bit albeit less proggy. Still overall it's an interesting and enjoyable release. 

https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/

BLAZE INFERNAL - Demo MMXVIII review

BLAZE INFERNAL - Demo MMXVIII

Self Released




This one was interesting to say the least. The opening cut, "The Beginning" is basically a minute and a half of someone breathing heavy. Ya know decades ago you would have creeps call women on the phone and do that. Of course we're talking about a time before cell phones and caller ID. And no I've never done it. Then again it also sounded like someone who smokes and just ran a block to catch a bus because you know the driver will never stop for ya. Trust me on that one because I do take public transportation. That prick diver will pass you running and go to the next stop.


Now when the second cut, "Gods Amongst Men" commenced I understood what was up with the first cut. That was the drummer of this band breathing hard after his blitz of drum work on this song. The guy is a maniac and hails to him. Of course this release came to my attention via e-mail. I get a lot of nicely worded e-mails from bands asking to please check out our release because we need press, blah, blah, blah. So sure I check their music out and I'm like "Ah, it's a leper".


But this one was different. I have to say the heavy breathing part got me interested and good for that. BLAZE INFERNAL are a three piece act, who have no drummer according to their info. Duh I feel stupid. But hey this Indonesian act creates a sound that incorporates a multi-faceted approach to varied death metal genres. There's some fluid leads on their two actual tracks that will make you think Floridian DM circa 1990. They've got that full on brutality from where-ever. And then there's some melody intertwined. 

Oh yeah and that was all condensed into one song, the seven minute "Gods Amongst Men". The third cut, "To the Void... (Godless Is Truth)" is is basically some death thrash with an incredible lead which Ralph Santolla (RIP) would smile at. This band from Indonesia doesn't need a demo. They need a full length.


https://blazeinfernal.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/Blaze-Infernal-868723293338396/