So when I think of Australian Black Metal I'm going with my favorites like BESTIAL WARLUST, DESTROYER 666, NAZXUL and of course PORTAL. I could easily name drop a few more favorites but you get the idea. And Australian BM bands do have a unique sound and style. So when I first checked out this second album by Australia's CHRIST DISMEMBERED I was kind of surprised.
Just for the record CHRIST DISMEMBERED is a five piece BM act who originally started out back in 2012. Their debut full length, which I never heard, came out in 2017. After that it's been silence until now. Hey I understand you've got other obligations other than crushing religions and hailing satan. Plus there was that Wuhan Flu thing which turned your nation into a concentration camp.
But anyways CHRIST DISMEMBERED come across sound-wise as nothing consistent with Australian BM. Instead this album is completely influenced by late 1990's / early 2000's Scandinavian Black Metal. It's melodic as well as harsh which reminds me of Sweden's DARK FUNERAL or 2000 era MARDUK. Now that's not a bad thing since I've got a ton of CDs and some vinyl behind me on the shelves that represent this style of music when it first came out decades ago.
So let's give CHRIST DISMEMBERED's sophomore full length it's due. Archworm has a snarling harsh vocal style which is fucking cool. The musicianship by this band is perfect. There's plenty of icy energy riffs, blast beats and some decent soloing. The band does introduce some melodic atmosphere at times which sticks with the script.
In the end CHRIST DISMEMBERED's second full length would be remembered as a classic BM album if it was originally released a few decades ago. As for now it's something cool to blast for a day or two and then move on. I've got the original stuff on the shelf.
RITES TO SEDITION - Ancestral Blood Self Released This release originally came out last year but since this band is from my state, is doing something unique and was pushed to me by some good promo people I figured why not write about it. RITES TO SEDITION are a melodic black metal act out of Charlotte, North Carolina which is a two hour drive west from where I call home in our state. The band started out in 2014 and this is their debut full length. Now when I say what this band does is unique is really about the state's musically history as far as black metal goes. DARKMOON is are high water mark and a bunch of hipster acts are our low point. RITES TO SEDITION sound like our state's version of DISSECTION and to me that's cool as fuck. They like to do long compositions which are filled with tremolo picked melody, thrash runs as well as a tech death touch which gives it a modern feel.
There's some bloodied but unbowed throaty blackened vocals, amazing soloing and the major song structuring is top notch. Among the main tracks the band invokes some cool intro interludes lasting a minute or more. They're cool sounding invocations as opposed to time fillers. All in all this is an outstanding fuckin black metal release. Why is this not on a label?
NEKROKRAFT - Will o' Wisp The Sign Records Music Deja Vu, that's when you are listening to a new release and swear that you've heard it all before. I know that can be said about a lot of releases especially if you write about new music like I do. Will o' Wisp is the debut full length by Sweden's NECROKRAFT. Musically the band puts forth a classic melodic black metal sound somewhere inbetween DISSECTION and DARK FUNERAL. Although I wouldn't tie them directly to either of those acts. NECROKRAFT do incorporate some keyboards plus the guitar melodies are harsh with thrashy song structures but not overwhelming in the blastbeat dept. Still I had this feeling that there was something similar going on. The band started out in 2012 by guitarist Doc (aka: Timmy Rustan) and vocalist Angst (aka: Angus Norder). Angst also is the newest singer for WITCHERY. Over that time they produced a few short format releases prior to this full length. If you wanna hear those then check out their bandcamp page at the following link: https://nekrokrafter.bandcamp.com/ This release is tight and fast with only seven cuts, yeah that's thrashy. Another thing I noticed is that it was mastered at the famous Necromorbus Studio in Stockholm. That might be what I'm thinking of as far as deja vu since many a blackened metal act (and every Swedish DM act of note) has passed through their doors. This release does have an old school second wave black metal feel to it. More like a newly discovered recording than a new band trying to copy the past. Will o´ Wisp is a decent release but I think their next one, hopefully, will be a milestone in that a new band that puts that evil grim grin back on your face because they remind ya of the past without being retro. http://thesignrecords.com/
If you would have told me in January that in December the one black metal release on almost everyone's end of year best of lists (everyone with good taste that is) would be by a little known band from France who could just as well be a WINDIR tribute act, I would of said "In 2016? Yeah sure". Yes I am serious because after all of these years, especially listening to and watching all the craziness in the black metal scene, nothing really surprises me much. Think about it, here you have a band that put out a demo in 2007 and an obscure seven song self released ep, Ancestors' Age, in 2009 (which no one knew about, don't bullshit me) and puts out a full length in 2016 that sounds exactly like a beloved Norwegian, albeit second tier, black metal act. Hell five years ago genre enthusiasts would be screaming "FALSE"! But nowadays this band's been getting a million keystrokes of praise. Go figure?
As always let me be brutally honest with you. After listening to Hanter Savet a few times I pulled out my copies of WINDIR's Likferd and 1184 (yeah I know I'm not a completest go ahead call me names, fuck you) Next I started playing them together to see how close a comparison between the two bands was. Yeah well after a while I got confused. Has anyone asked VREID what they think? So let's just cut to the chase. VINDLAND's Hanter Savet is an absolutely beautiful sounding release. It's melodic black metal with such a rich tone that carries you along. And sure let's just toss out all the cliches shall we? It's epic, it's majestic sounding, I can feel my pagan blood rushing through my veins. Well not really I was born in New Jersey but you get the idea.
Supposedly band mainman, Camille Lepallec, spent four years writing/working on Hanter Savet. That's obvious just by listening to the well balanced amount of melodic riffs versus the exquisite harmonies. The way the time signatures simply flow with their changes without being jolted out of your seat. The subtle allowance of lead guitar work as if it were decorations to complement instead of mandatory requirements. Musically that's the basic draw to this style of black metal. As far as the vocals go, they're what I like to call "real guy harsh" touched with the various emotional throes of triumph and sadness. There's plenty of ambient (atmospheric dude) intros, outros and in song segues to give you time to pause and reflect or in my case go to the toilet.
Yeah Hanter Savet follows the whole blackened pagan/folk genre to the hilt. I have no qualms about that since I'm a genre fan. Also I'm not going into discussing the individual cuts. Releases like this are best looked upon as a body of work much like a classical piece of music as opposed to a collection of songs, which there are nine with only one I'd consider long at eleven minutes plus. Nor am I impressed or jaded enough to care that the lyrics are sung in Breton which is a language from the VINDLAND's home in Britianny, France. Let's be honest, 90% of black metal vocals are a mix of rasps, howls, wails and grunts. If it weren't for lyric sheets you wouldn't know whatafuck they were singing about.
Perfection is a rarity in my book and in metal music so Hanter Savet does have a few scratches upon it's pristine surface. After repeated plays things get monotonous and that wandering off feeling turns to nap time. I found folding laundry while this played to be a fitting chore. Sorry there's no ice giants or trolls in the back woods for me to slay anymore not since the woods were torn down and replaced by a high end housing project. Be that as it may Hanter Savet is a great release. Is it a tribute to Valfar of WINDIR, did his spirit inspire VINDLAND to continue on with his musical legacy (because VREID sure as hell didn't) or is it simply a very well done cloning of WINDIR? For now I don't know that answer and I wouldn't trust any metal media scribe who believes they do. I'll just place this in my own list of 2016's best.
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Attention
In Jan. 2020 some not so nice person(s), who obviously don't care for Metal, decided to complain to a social media platform about something I posted. That got me banned from posting links there under the former blog title Scumfeast Metal 666. Fine I just changed the name to what you see now. Hey I'm still here and, under our present day situation, will be more extreme then before.
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Extreme Metal or Music is generally a form which is accepted by 1% of all of the music loving public. It is elitist in every way and that's important to those of us who call ourselves fans. The 99% of people who will not like it are Not Supposed To. The music wasn't made for them, "the masses". It's music that's for those who take things to that "other" level. There is nothing hip or fad about it. In fact I treat those two notions very harshly.
