ARES KINGDOM - In Darkness at Last review

 

ARES KINGDOM - In Darkness at Last

Nuclear War Now! Productions

OK so a little history for ya. Years ago I learned about a band called ORDER FROM CHAOS. They were this cool sounding blackened death metal act from Kansas City, Missouri. Unfortunately by the time I got two of their full lengths (An Ending in Fire from 1998 and Dawn Bringer from 1995) the band had broken up.

A few years later I learned that two members of ORDER FROM CHAOS (aka: guitarist Chuck Keller and drummer Mike Miller) started a new band called ARES KINGDOM. They enlisted Alex Blume (who also plays now in PERDITION TEMPLE) to sing and play bass. I got into them with their second album, Incendiary from 2010. And I immediately was a fan. We're talking insane sounding blackend death thrash to the fuckin hilt.

So after years of being a fan and buying their releases (full lengths and EPs) the band puts out By the Light of Their Destruction in 2019. Now in my not so humble opinion By the Light of Their Destruction was a tour de force of blackened death thrash. Think VENOM, ABSU and POSSESSED all rolled into one extreme bag. 

So here we are with their new album and is it better or at least equal to it's predecessor? Well this one is slightly better in a barbaric way of torture metal. All the cool stuff about their last release is taken a click higher. This trio is so meshed together they create an amazing sound. 

Chuck Keller puts out these psycho riffs as well as distorto solos. Mike Miller's drum work is relentless and at times he's the fucking lead sound amidst the riffs. Finally Alex Blume's bass lines bludgeon plus I think he's a great extreme metal vocalist. He's got this thick harsh scream / yell that reminds me of King from DECEASED. 

All in all In Darkness at Last is one of my favorite albums of 2022. This one gets ranked high. Even better is that I finally got to see ARES KINGDOM this year downtown with Italy's BULLDOZER. 

 

http://www.nwnprod.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/in-darkness-at-last

LORD FOUL - Demo Collection 1993​-​1994 Reissue review

LORD FOUL - Demo Collection 1993​-​1994 Reissue

Nuclear War Now! Productions

The first time I saw the name LORD FOUL mentioned was in an article about obscure USBM on a website which catered to collector scum and eventually hiptards. This was over a decade ago but with a name like LORD FOUL you remember it. Basically LORD FOUL was a one man black metal act from Louisville, Kentucky which started out in 1993. 

The one man behind this project went by the name of Roach. The guy was also in a death/grind band but got into the whole second wave of black metal coming out of Europe at the time. LORD FOUL would go onto record two lo-fi demos. The first was Killing Raping Burning from 1993 and the second one The Devil's Advocate came out in 1994. LORD FOUL kinda died after that from no one caring about em.

So fast forward to the year 2001. Germany's NARGAROTH puts out their second album Black Metal Ist Krieg. And along with a few other covers on there is their version of LORD FOUL's “I Burn for You” from the first demo. Now I'm sure it took a few years until the world wide web got big for people online asking about this LORD FOUL band. In fact Roach didn't even know people were interested in the band until years later. 

So in 2009 both LORD FOUL demos were put on a compilation CD release which came out on Forever Plagued Records. It would later be released on vinyl for the collector scum a few years afterward. This was the time I learned about LORD FOUL. But it wasn't until now that I've heard the original material thanks to Nuclear War Now's reissue of the demo compilation.

So aside from the great cover photo of "The Man" or "The Ghoul" played by the producer, directer and actor Herk Harvey in one of my favorite horror movies of all time aka: 1962's Carnival of Souls. Ah this is very lo-fi bed room / basement style black metal from the early 90's. Musically it's down right sloppy but Roach's vocals are good and the inbetween song movie samples are cool. If you wanna know some history then here you go. 

http://www.nwnprod.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/demo-collection-1993-1994

 

HARVEST GULGALTHA - Altars Of Devotion review

HARVEST GULGALTHA - Altars Of Devotion 

Nuclear War Now! Productions




There are times when things you're supposed to like are not up to snuff. Take this Phoenix, Arizona outfit for example. HARVEST GULGALTHA play blackened death doom, a style of extreme that I've written thousands of words of praise for bands who also create it. This band does a decent job of it on this their debut full length. But in a time when so many other acts have perfected a richer and horrific sound, HARVEST GULGALTHA are simply small fish in a huge sea.

Originally this came out as a limited to 100 copies cassette under the band’s Aphotic Sonance label. As with their original 2012 demo, Nuclear War Now! Productions also re-released it under their label. Sound wise what we got here is primal blackened death doom that stays away from any modern twists. A decade or so ago this would've been great and to a degree it still is. The cavernous vocals standing upfront and there's that thunderous wall of guitar/bass noise that keeps a steady level of power. 

Although Altars Of Devotion is eight cuts in just slightly thirty eight minutes you would think it was just one continuous song with some atmospheric breaks. Listening to this is like watching a bog that emits gas and shows a few ripples. This trio keeps things minimal with absolutely no guitar leads, simple lumbering song structures with a non deviating tempo. Likeable but not noteworthy.

http://www.nwnprod.com/

https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/altars-of-devotion

https://aphoticsonance.bandcamp.com/album/harvest-gulgaltha-altars-of-devotion

https://www.facebook.com/harvestgulgaltha