RAVEN - Metal City review

RAVEN - Metal City

Steamhammer

A memory worth sharing. Around five or six years ago I saw RAVEN at a small club here in my town. There was around fifty or more people at the show. That was probably the bar's capacity as well. The place was small but it was a terrific show. Everyone there was singing along to their old tunes. You got the feeling as if you were whisked back in time to their early days playing local venues in England back in the 80's.

Now be that as it may I admit that as far as RAVEN goes my favorite stuff by them is their Neat Records releases. I'm probably not alone there. I'll toss out a second nugget of truth. I really don't know much, nor do I care about, the band's releases that came afterwards up to 2010's Walk Through Fire which was good. Add to that, 2015's ExtermiNation was a little better. In fact I'll say the past ten years has been good for RAVEN.

Which brings us to this latest one Metal City. Since the band has been on a roll leading up to this. I was not at all surprised at how good this is. The Gallagher brothers (Mark and John) plus Mike Heller (who's been on drums with them since 2018) sound fresh as opposed to retro. The release is a cool mixture of NWOBHM and old time speed metal. 

Of course seeing this is RAVEN then you're gonna get some cool riffs, wild vocals & screams, pounding drum work and thick bass lines. Ten tracks in all and to me it's good from start to finish. For me there's a few outstanding cuts like the anthem inspiring "Top of the Mountain", the intense rippers "Human Race"and "Motorheadin", plus the fist raising "Battlescarred". This is easily one of the best albums of 2020.

 

https://www.facebook.com/spvhannover/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKngTm8EtLs&t=1s

 

TEMPLE OF THE FUZZ WITCH - Red Tide review

 

TEMPLE OF THE FUZZ WITCH - Red Tide

Interstellar Smoke Records

A while back a good friend and huge doom metal fanatic explained to me his thoughts on modern day stoner rock acts. His first point was that 99.9% of the new bands are going to sound like some past classic band of the genre. The second point he gave was that if the new band can put out a flawless performance than you can overlook the first point. In the case of this band from Detroit, Michigan my friend's point hold's true.

This is the second full length by TEMPLE OF THE FUZZ WITCH who've been around since 2017. After giving this a few listens I can tell you that yeah this is "pass the bong I think I'm Tony Iomni" style stoner rock. While the release's opener "Baphomet" did not make me enthusiastic it was what followed that won me over. Red Tide is a seven song forty five plus minute high. Obviously some moments are more buzz worthy then others. But yeah it's a must have if not just worthy of your stoner doom fandom and interest. 

For example the second cut on here "Cherenkov Light" is blistering with SABBATH-ian indulgence courtesy of some heavy familiar riffage, clean yet eerie styled vocals and an oh so familiar song structure. Once you hear it you'll be like "crank this fucker up and turn on the strobe light". Too bad it wasn't the opener. and from that point onward this release flows along almost as if it was a concept album. There's plenty of head banging grooves, atmospheric breaks (for the wannabe hippies) and some interesting percussion choices which would make Bill Ward smile. 

TEMPLE OF THE FUZZ WITCH is far from being the second (or is it the fourth) coming of excitement within this genre. They've got a handle on the whole 70's aesthetic of SABBATH without relying on stoner rock riffage 101. Look we all know the originators are gone. Their children are pretty much in the grave. The grandchildren are decent but turned the genre very generic. This is the grandchildren of SABBATH reminding us all how it use to be which is cool as fuck. Keep this band on your radar after you get this release.

https://interstellarsmokerecords.bigcartel.com

LISTEN HERE:

https://templeofthefuzzwitch.bandcamp.com/album/red-tide

MORKETIDA - Traveler of the Untouched Voids EP review

 

MORKETIDA - Traveler of the Untouched Voids EP

Werewolf Records

Here we have a Finnish black metal act that takes a path less traveled as far as their nation's genre style goes. Where as most fans think blasphemy and brutality when it comes to black metal acts from Finland. MORKETIDA, who've been around for a short amount of years, have a different approach on this new release. Since I'm a fan of this label (they put out SATANIC WARMASTER stuff, OK?). I learned about MORKETIDA via their debut full length from two years ago. 

As far as this new four song EP (or mini album if you prefer) goes, this Finnish trio throw in some surprises. First and foremost MORKETIDA have always been a 90's black metal influenced act that incorporates some straight up melodic touches as well as raw simplicity with tremolo picked intensity. And then they toss in some synths which really throw you for a loop.

Personally I think this EP is better than their full length. I also think it's a bridge to even greater things. The title cut makes that most evident with it's acoustic guitar over play covering some blistering blackened melody. The icing on this cake is their cover version of IMMORTAL's "Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss". It's a pretty straight forward cover which would probably work for them live. On here it's decent and makes this a worth while release.  

https://www.werewolf.fi/

LISTEN HERE:

https://werewolfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/traveler-of-the-untouched-voids

SKELETAL REMAINS - The Entombment of Chaos review

 

SKELETAL REMAINS - The Entombment of Chaos 

Century Media Records

So it's been a few years since this California death metal act released their last full length, Devouring Mortality, which came out on Dark Descent Records. Just for the record I've been a fan of these guys since their second full length, Condemned to Misery, which was released in 2015. Basically their first three albums pushed this old school death metal sound via influences from great ones like ASPHYX, OBITUARY and DEATH.

 

So here on their four full length, and on their new label, the band has gone through some major changes. First off guitarist/vocalist Chris Monroy is still at the helm and that's the only thing not different. Guitarist Adrian Obregon is gone and is replaced with Mike De La O who supposedly was the band's original six string slayer. Although I never saw em listed on any albums. Also the band's rhythm section has been changed with some guy from WARBRINGER on bass and a drummer who's bounced around a lot.

I noticed a slight difference in sound upon first listening to this. That was before I learned of the band line-up changes. I'm sure fans will notice as well. Sure they're still firmly planted in the realm of old school death metal. But you can throw away their past influences. This new one comes off sounding like a mix of PESTILENCE meets MORBID ANGEL. Mike De La O obviously comes from the Trey Azagthoth school of dive bomb guitar soloing. The new rhythm section is tighter than a frog's ass (aka: water tight). The only constant is Chris Monroy's vocals and basic riff structures. 

For the most part The Entombment of Chaos is a decent punch to your fuckin face. The first half is delivered with precision and brutality. But for me it's the second half of the album with songs like "Torturous Ways to Obliteration" and "Eternal Hatred" which bring on the weight of hate. Monroy reignites his Martin Van Drunen style caustic vocals better on these cuts. Strangely enough the second half of this release reminds me of their past. While the first part comes across as a newer, streamlined version. In the end it's still a damm good one.

https://www.centurymedia.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hprr7gRL1d0

OKRUTNIK - Legion Antychrysta review

 

OKRUTNIK - Legion Antychrysta

Ossuary Records

Every year I'm assured that there will be something very interesting coming out of the great nation of Poland as far as extreme metal goes. And of course I'm talking about something which breaks away from the usual stuff which we all know is great, like the new VADER album. It just took listening to a couple of cuts on this debut release by OKRUTNIK for me to realize something cool is going on here. 

It was around two or three years ago when I started hearing a fresh take on black metal by a handful of new Eastern European acts. Instead of looking for influences to incorporate into their sound which came from outside of metal. These acts were looking in to classic 70's Hard Fuckin rock and 80's metal for influences. Taking that into the black metal cannon and then adding some amazing grandiose compositions.  The end result is cool as fuck. 

OKRUTNIK are the latest act to be doing all of that. No they're not repeating dirty old BATHORY, VENOM or HELLHAMMER, like we need more of that. In fact there are times when this Polish band comes off like EMPEROR meets MERCYFUL FATE. The first part of this album exemplifies that with some cool touches of old speed metal (not thrash) touches. The vocals come off as venomous with seething hatred in each sentence. Of course since all the lyrics are in Polish I'm gambling here but I doubt they're really singing about cake and soda parties. Good stuff.  

http://ossuaryrecords.com/en/

https://okrutnik.bandcamp.com/releases

LISTEN HERE:

https://soundcloud.com/okruetnik-official/sets/legion-antychrysta/s-zZjkHDFihKm?fbclid=IwAR0reyheJLhlPC-oGhuE2TFhgLpzMX-LIfcY3P8o4ZLqW1y2RuSBxnZ3t_I

ECCLESIA - De Ecclesiae Universalis review

 

ECCLESIA - De Ecclesiae Universalis

Aural Music

Here we have the debut full length by a French band that's tagged as having an epic doom sound from the classic 90's. Now honestly every year I get inundated with doom releases by bands who tap dance their way through sludge metal or stoner rock. Yeah it gets boring but once in a great while I'll hear an exceptional act who capture that epic doom sound from decades ago and it just fuckin shines. In this case ECCLESIA is not it but they're not bad in their own right.

Now on this release ECCLESIA do tap into the whole epic doom esthetic but for the most part this sounds like power metal. Not too bad for a band who's vocalist was once in a DIMMU BORGIR type symphonic black metal act called DEATHCODE SOCIETY. The man, Arnhwald Rattenfanger, can pull off some decent heavy metal screams. The music here can demonstrate some good SABBATH-ian styled riff attempts ala the Headless Cross timeline. But on a whole I'm thinking HELLOWEEN instead of CANDLEMASS. But still a damm good sounding release none the less.

http://www.auralmusic.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://ecclesia-official.bandcamp.com/

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN - The Germs of Circumstance review

 

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN - The Germs of Circumstance

Soulseller Records

Seriously it was two weeks ago when I thought that this would be first year in a very long time that I would not be writing about a Rogga Johansson related release. And look at what we have here. For those of you who read this blog on a regular basis (and frankly who doesn't?) you know that I'm always giving high praise to the most prolific death metal artist in Sweden, Rogga Johansson. This here is just another one of his many side-bands which bares extreme fruit.

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN is a project which matches Rogga (on guitars and bass) with the amazing Paul Speckmann (vocals)from MASTER. This band started back in 2013 and along for the ride are two other Rogga side project alumni as in Brynjar Helgetun on drums and Kjetil Lynghaug on guitar. The Germs of Circumstance is their fifth full length. I must admit that I got into this Rogga project late but ended up with two previous releases by em. Both of those are fuckin great.

While the previous two JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN releases I have are fairly straight forward old school death metal love in a US/Swedish themed attack. This one here is more on the death thrash side of the aisle which is something Rogga has kicked around in other side projects. Musically the riffs are really fast paced with driving drumwork by pounder Helgetun. As far as the DM equation goes it's more Swede death style which includes Kjetil Lynghaug's choice of guitar soloing technique. Of course Paul Speckmann's filth ridden vocal style is spot on and kinda gives this more of a old hardcore edge as well. another winner.

http://www.soulsellerrecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-germs-of-circumstance