RALEIGH DEATH FEST 2017 Preview

Well if you're gonna go to a Death Fest in North Carolina then you might as well make it out to the Raleigh Deathfest. OK most of you probably won't but let me just tell ya what it's all about. Last year a bunch of cool minded and extreme metal oriented locals decided  to put on a one night show with a lot of cool extreme metal bands, mostly locals. I'm speaking of the Raleigh Death Fest 2016. Since it was a total success last year it's creators are back for another round.


The Raleigh, North Carolina area (and the surrounding area) over the past couple of decades has had it's share of extreme music, whether metal or punk, fests. There are too many to name but the bottom line is that this area which I call home has a huge and dedicated fanbase for metal of all genres. I can tell you that seeing this Raleigh Death Fest keep going is extremely important to me because obviously it's music which I love and the bands involved, especially the locals, deserve a spotlight of recognition.


I don't know what the future holds for this yearly event. Obviously I hope it not only continues but grows. As I write this I do understand that most of the readers of SCUMFEAST METAL 666 don't even live in my state let alone in my country. (yeah I know I'm big in Eastern Europe) Be that as it may I'm just gonna showcase what's gonna happen on this coming Saturday night and maybe you'll check out some of these great bands.



Let's start with the Fest's headliner, actually the original headliner bailed out, ELDRITCH HORROR. They are called Raleigh's first death metal band for a good reason. I first saw them at a dank underground club here in town called The Fallout Shelter back in 1990. They were dark, heavy and deathly. I'll never forget how the mohawk crowd were like, "dude we like you but we can't slam dance to ya cause you're too slow." Yeah well history was not kind to ELDRITCH HORROR. Despite putting out two demos, Dwelling Beneath (which I still have a copy of but the cassette doesn't play anymore) and Untouched by the Sun, nothing happened as far a career in death metal and so the band called it quits. 


But some years back there was a benefit show for an old friend who passed away but had no headstone on his grave. ELDRITCH HORROR got back together to play that show and the audience went nuts. I'm thinking it was that show which got them thinking hey let's give it another go. So in 2015 ELDRITCH HORROR released Untouched by the Sun, basically a rerecording of their early material which never got the appreciation it definitely deserved. Check em out here:



Next up, North Carolina is not known for it's black metal. Besides DEMONIC CHRIST, who I saw a while back, we are blackened light. Sure there have been an asortment of local black metal bands over the years but nothing long lasting. That's why I'm extremely interested in seeing PAAGTHEAAN from Wilmington, NC. I checked out their Bandcamp site which I recommend you do to at: 

https://paagtheaan.bandcamp.com/

PAAGTHEAAN are firmly planted in black metal's second wave which puts a frosty grim grin on my face. Hopefully they have some merch to sell.
https://www.facebook.com/PAAGTHEAAN

Next up in my local rave rage is the band DATURA. If there's one performance I am anticipating the most it is from them. DATURA are a five piece act consisting of local extreme music scene vets who for over a year have got together and honed their death metal craft to a point where everyone I know says "You've gotta see this band." Unfortunately every time they play a gig I've been working. Not this time and it's also their Rusty Knuckles Records' debut release CD party. Check this out:

You can also check DATURA at the following sites:

https://www.facebook.com/daturanc

https://www.reverbnation.com/datura2

Next up on the Raleigh Death Fest bill is the return of this area's own one man death metal machine, BLOODSOAKED. Ah yeah I know the feeling, a one man death metal act but I have always supported Peter Hasselbrack, in print and with conversations with friends for a reason. When it comes to his craft, Peter is one dedicated death metal performer. This guy has played huts in South America and beer halls in Europe. All he has ever needed is a mic and an amp to plug in his guitar then it's BLOODSOAKED time. His releases are cool as fuck in fact if it wasn't for Peter I would not have gotten into all the other brutal death metal acts on the Comotose label. Check him out here and you'll see why:

This would not be a true Death Fest without BLOODSOAKED in my not so humble opinion. Peter has always supported death metal in this area and I can't wait to see him perform again especially since he decided to call it quits a few years back. 

https://bloodsoaked.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bloodsoaked666

OK next up, so around a month ago a Ukrainian promo guy tells me about how he is freaking out at listening to Nature of War by Raleigh's own blackened thrash act SUPPRESSIVE FIRE. The guy was asking me how cool it was to see them play on a regular basis. Truth be told I had only seen SUPPRESSIVE FIRE once and that was when I think they had just got their first release out. It was at the club Slims. I thought they were great back then. I haven't reviewed their latest CD, unlike my friend in the Ukraine who has gone apeshit but I will at this Death Fest show. The band's Nature Of War release is on Lost Apparitions Records and I recommend you check em out here:

https://www.facebook.com/suppressivefire

https://suppressivefire.bandcamp.com/

Alright next up we have a band that proves without a doubt the Swedish colony myth in what is now Virginia is true, DEATHCROWN hail from Richmond, VA and have all of the trademarks of Sweden's Sunlight Studios and a knowledge of using the Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal or Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal to it's full advantage.  If this band shows up looking dirty, in leather jackets and wearing vintage NIHILIST shirts then I'll give em respect.

https://www.facebook.com/deathcrownband

https://deathcrown.bandcamp.com/

A break from the festivities will be Raleigh's own NOCTOMB who bring about a blackened sludge terminal skull fuck to the night's precedings. This band is definitely one to watch.

https://www.facebook.com/EnterNoctomb

https://noctomb.bandcamp.com/

And then there's OUTLIAR, no I'm not dissing them. Actually I'm getting drunk but while listening to their Provoked to Anger full length from a few years back it's like a caffeine wake up call. OK I'm being nice since it actually sounds like "Holy shit my dad is home" and I'm jumping out the back window kinda metal. I've always wondered why OUTLIAR hasn't broken big. I mean they've got the whole thrash, death, groove metal thing down to the point where these guys are great at what they do. Check em out here:

https://soundcloud.com/outliar

http://www.facebook.com/outliarmetal

Almost finally is a new local act called GATES OF ENDOR who, after listening to their songs on their Bandcamp page, is something that an old school SOB like myself enjoys as far as blackened death goes.

https://www.facebook.com/gatesofendor

http://www.gatesofendor.bandcamp.com/

Finally,  at least of what I have to say, is BLOODFORCE who hail from the eastern part of North Carolina. I'm definitely looking forward to this act opening the Raleigh Death Fest with some home grown brutality.

https://www.facebook.com/BloodForceOfficial

https://www.reverbnation.com/BloodForce

Well that's about it. I'll see ya there.

DODSRITUAL - Under Sort Sol review

DODSRITUAL - Under Sort Sol

Black Market Metal




Norway's DODSRITUAL might be a new two piece black metal act but the players are fairly known at least to me that is. Their drummer and vocalist Undertrykker plus the guitarist Nevresch were both in the band HAT some years ago. I have a copy of their The Demise of Mankind full length from 2009. I always thought HAT was a funny name for a black metal act even though it's Norwegian for hate. So I'm guessing the duo just did a name change and musically expanded their boundaries in blackness.


As DODSRITUAL the duo have dialed down the blasts in favor of a more twisted melodious take on the genre. Calling this a "progressive move" would be stupid. Basically they've slowed down adding a creepy doom style along with traditional metal trappings which in the long run is cool as fuck. I fuckin love the organ playing while the bloody vocals spew forth in an insulting way. It's like an insulting haunting which is beyond the pale of socially exceptable black metal. 


The best thing about this release is how on all of the ten cuts DODSRITUAL finds ways to push the unexpected. Personally I like when they blacken the classic metal and goth style. It's certainly not innovative but it grabs you by the throat. By the third time I listened to this I was in awe, not only from their change from HAT, but in the way they captivate the listener. Honestly this is not something you'll fall asleep to.

http://www.blackmarketmetal.net

http://www.dodsritual.com

https://www.facebook.com/Dodsritual/

DEATH OF KINGS - Kneel Before None review

DEATH OF KINGS - Kneel Before None 

Boris Records




It was around a week or two ago that I reviewed a seven incher by this Atlanta thrash act and now here they are with their debut full length. But after listening to Kneel Before None I believe an update on genre categorization on my part is needed. So lets just call em metal since the band does bring in some variety whether it's fast raging blasters or straight up classic sounding metal from the bygone days. Ya got yer harsh screeched vocals, extreme metal screams, explosive riffs, a pummeling rhythm section workout and extremely sharp solos.


The nine songs on here definitely harken back to the mid-80s style of metal. Don't call it proto thrash or I'll kill you. I hate that term along with proto anything. No this is metal in the vein of EXCITER but even with that said DEATH OF KINGS are not trying to ride some nostalgia trip revival. This release is for all and is perfect from start to finish. Easily one of the best metal releases of 2017. Hell I really wanna see this band play my town. Great artwork as well and yes I did say this is ONE OF THE BEST METAL RELEASES OF 2017.

http://boris-records.com/

https://deathofkings.bandcamp.com/album/kneel-before-none-2017

https://www.facebook.com/deathofkingsmetal

SUNKEN - Departure review

SUNKEN - Departure

Triton's Orbit




I was ready to sink this release after enduring it's three minute intro and yes that pun was intended. Hey I have no problem with an ambient intro but you've got computer generated keys with ocean sound effects that finally leads into some music at the last ten seconds. On the release it says "Instrumental", no that's an intro. That bleeds into the first actual tune which is blistering tremolo riffed, blast beating industrial sized frenzy with banshee screams. The kinda sound you hear when a CD starts skipping. It reminded me of the scene from the movie Spun. Thankfully the band branches off into a more melodic, albeit harsh, direction.

SUNKEN are a black metal act from Denmark whose take on the genre is influenced by the sea and nature. That explains the ocean sounds in the intro. I've heard plenty of doom bands who use the ocean as influence in their music but never, to my recollection at least, a black metal band. Actually it does make perfect sense since the seas are vast and can be looked upon as dark and treacherous. Now I know why the only time I like going to the beach is in the middle of Winter when it's cold, cloudy and desolate. So with that understanding SUNKEN excels at creating, or recreating for me, a cold and cruel atmospheric black metal journey.

Departure is the debut full length by this Dannish four piece. Aside from the intro this release consists of four long compositions. Each one being a long voyage, pardon the many seafaring puns, which carries the listener along with various waves of emotion being slow contemplation or stormy breathlessness. There are times where the band does drown you with keyboard driven atmosphere which pretty much seems like filler. But while you are at that point then SUNKEN turns the tide just in time to keep your interest in tact. I believe the bottom line here is don't judge a release by it's intro.

http://www.tritonsorbit.com/

https://tritonsorbit.bandcamp.com/album/departure

https://www.facebook.com/SunkenDenmark

NIGHTBRINGER – Terra Damnata review

NIGHTBRINGER – Terra Damnata 

Season of Mist





Even though I own a couple of NIGHTBRINGER releases, the latter ones, I've never written about em. (Maybe I shouldn't be writing about em now.) Basically it all had to do with ill timing. The band started out in 2000 but didn't hit my radar until 2010 with their Apocalypse Sun full length. A year later I took a break from blogging and in that time the band released two more full lengths and a couple of short form releases. Over all that time I've read plenty of reviews, articles, online discussion group postings, etc. about the band. Some of it grounded in reality and other stuff pushing things to the realm of complete ignorance.


Lets get to the basis here shall we? NIGHTBRINGER are, and especially on Terra Damnata, firmly influenced by Scandinavian (at most) black metal. When I listen to this I'm thinking MARDUK, MAYHEM and EMPEROR all got together to put out a super-group collaboration release. Some people might say they have an avant garde approach which later day DEATHSPELL OMEGA employs. That could be true but then again the bottom line is that when the release opens with "As Wolves Amongst Ruins" you're pretty much concentrating on the pummeling effect as the music gallops forward like the four horseman of the apocalypse riding across the land. The so-called esoteric avant garde elements seem so minor that only a hipster douche bag would be overly concerned about em. I push the same point on the second cut "Misrule". 


Seven years ago the mainstream metal media (aka: hipsters) would routinely slag any USBM act that dared to follow the same path that the Scandinavians had already laid forth even if they added to it. In all honesty I never liked any USBM act back in the late 2000s who jumped onto the whole DIMMU BORGIR/CRADLE OF FILTH bandwagon or tried to recreate BURZUM. But while the media elite were slagging certain bands they tried to push other USBM acts that were supposedly "progressive" and "pushing boundaries". The fact is that those hipster acts were not even playing black metal. Then NIGHTBRINGER finally comes into their own and shows that yeah we can push the whole symphonic black metal thing but bring it up to date. So when I continue to listen to this their fifth full length I can honestly say they've reached that plateau. 

I think everything cool about this band and album can fall into one song, "Let Silence be His Sacred Name". It's starts out like a peaceful dream sequence with a somber piano intro. Then it breaks into a nightmarish ferocious blast beated nightmare. You wake up only to find yourself in a occult inspired insane reality. The music takes plunges from the furnace faced riffs into a chasm of despair. I'd would say "atmosphere" but that's hipster speak for "No blast beats/No tremolo picked riffs". You get the idea. Despite the opener, which to me is like Panzer Division Nightbringer, "Let Silence be His Sacred Name" is the finest cut on Terra Damnata. And that might be the release's Achilles Heal. 


While the last three cuts are interesting enough, all of the technical chaos that you've already been subjected to takes a toll on your interest. Only one cut finally breaks the monotony from the rest of the release. That's pretty much the rub. There's a good reason why this sat on the shelf for weeks. When I first got it I gave it one listen then moved on. The second time I played it I didn't even get through it. With all of that said it's still a good release. No doubt it will find it's way on some end of year best of lists.


http://www.season-of-mist.com/

https://www.facebook.com/NightbringerOfficial

https://nightbringer.bandcamp.com/album/terra-damnata

SORES - Demo 1 review

SORES - Demo 1

Self Released




OK so last week I got caught up reviewing two song 7"ers. Now I'm writing about two song demos. I feel like I'm back in my print writing days. So in that case prepare for a print style review. SORES are a two piece black metal act from Greece. On the positive side I think their choice of a band name fits them well. One portion of the duo is vocalist Sacrilegious who also fronts the Greek black metal act INSANITY CULT. The other portion of this duo is N.D. who performs the guitars, drums and adds additional vocals. Just for the record I reviewed INSANITY CULT's second full length, Of Despair and Self-Destruction, back in February of this year. You can check it out here:
http://scumfeastzineblog.blogspot.com/search?q=Insanity+Cult


As far as this two song demo goes clearly these guys are going for the second wave black metal route as in lets sound like DARKTHRONE. Now I use DARKTHRONE as a metaphor for raw black metal from the early 90's. And yeah this demo does sound like it could've come out back then. The release has one song "The Cage I Call Life" split into two parts. Part 1 is the longest at over seven minutes containing your typical straight up fast paced riffs with average blast beating drums. Sacrilegious adds in torturous screams and howls. Someone should call Moribund Records because these guys would fit well with their catalog of blackened artists.

The second part is shorter at just missing the three minute mark but the ferocity is heightened as if now they're pissed. I wonder if part one was about torture and part two is revenge. Whatever the case it's a good short release which should please any devotee of this style. If they were to release a full length it would probably come close to what INSANITY CULT is doing.


https://soresbm.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/soresbm/

GURT - Skullossus review

GURT - Skullossus

When Planets Collide




This is the sophomore release from GURT a four piece metal act from London, England. According to the promo info the band proclaims themselves as party doom. Well after listening to this multiple times I don't hear a party or feel like having a party. Although I do hear plenty of sludge, a dose of death doom, groove plus a singer with scar tissue for vocal chords. Musically GURT are not paving an inch of new territory as far as sludge metal goes. In fact I look at them as reviving the early primordial days when the genre first came about and bands were just tossing everything together.

After a boring spoken word audio intro about the end of the human race, the music portion kicks into gear with "Gimme the Night, Any Day" which pretty much exemplifies every description I laid upon this band. Ya got the sludge, the crawling doom pounding, the death n roll groove at the end. Hell I wanted to jump up and hit something/someone pit style. This is followed up by death cadence number "Battlepants" which would keep a slam pit going. What follows is a punk rock n roll influenced number "Double Barrelled Shot-pun", once again pit worthy. 

Unfortunately from this point onward the release unravels. You get some Southern sludge NOLA style, a couple of short ditties not worth mentioning, some bass heavy mid paced boredom, "Jon Garseeya Later" does return the band to early form ala hardcore grooves with a sludgey filth coating. "The Ballad of Tom Stones and Reg Montagne (Part 1)" is probably as close to doom as this release gets. Like I stated earlier this does sound like something from the very early nineties when hardcore bands started slowing down. Sure there are plenty of well known names to drop. But I've got a box of cassette demos and a stack or two of 7"ers from unknowns. GURT would make those acts smile.


https://whenplanetscollide.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/GURTsludge

https://gurt.bandcamp.com/album/skullossus-2

http://gurtsludge.tumblr.com/