PORTAL - Avow review

 

PORTAL - Avow

Profound Lore Records

If PORTAL recorded themselves taking a dump in their recording studio cave complex. A plethora a metal media scribes would hail it as the greatest thing they ever did. Of course it would be an EP or a split release. Now I open here with that statement because I thought their last full length, Ion, was not that good. 

In fact I still hail 2007's Outre and Swarth from 2009 as their best releases. I'm a huge fan of those releases. In fact I was blasting Outre the other day. So I don't see myself as not getting it while everyone else does when it comes to liking the band's more recent material. I look at it as herd mentality and a very small herd it is.

Now with that type of pre-release not so excitement I delved into this latest one with an open mind. Seriously I did. So I have to say for starters Avow is more of an endurance test of nerves then an album. When the album opened with the screams on "Catafalque" I was like cool. And in fact even though it's too long a cut at ten plus a few second in length, it was a great way to set the tone. 

But then the rest of this album played through and I got bored with it. How bored you ask? Well the second time listening to Avow I remembered I needed to send some detailed emails to work. So basically this release was just background noise. And that's my big problem with modern day Portal. 

When PORTAL started out they were a blackened death metal act be it in their own unique style. Then afterwards, and especially on this one, they're just a noise rock act with vocals spoken over a wall of deranged noise. And what's with the "experimental" tagline they've been given of late? Is that from idiots who never heard of No Wave from the late 70's/early 80's?

I'd say the song "Bode" brought me back from the abyss of boredom. Frankly I was about to do laundry. I gave this five listens and in the end it starts off strong and finished well with "Drain". But inbetween it's pointless noise by a band who forgot how to write songs which capture your attention. I feel sorry for em. 

 

https://profoundlorerecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/avow

FELLED - The Intimate Earth review

 

FELLED - The Intimate Earth 

Transcending Obscurity Records

Here we have the debut album by this blackened folk metal act from Oregon. Now for a few years I've heard folk elements injected into black metal. It's nothing new to the scene. What FELLED, who are a four piece act, are doing is something completely different from what you might have heard in the past.  

Trust me when I see the term "Neo-folk", I walk away. Basically I know it's some hipster scribe bullshit. I'm going to see WARDRUNA later this year and if you called them Neo-Folk then Einar Selvik will come out and punch you in the face. So for facts sake FELLED are not hipster Neo-Folk. For starters they're from Oregon. Yeah I know we're trending on bad ice here. But you will be surprised. 

The basics for FELLED are a very cool sounding atmospheric black metal act which utilizes a violin player as a lead instrumentalist. She, Tiffany Holliday, is your lead guitarist and your rhythm maker plus she adds some vocals. So this is something I like, I like a lot. Two of the members of this band are also in the Doom metal act POET. So there's some melancholy influence there on this five song forty minute release.

In the end I keep going back to some melodies on here which make this one of those late night black metal classics. The bestial vocals, the guitar tremolo picked rhythms and the violin solos. Add to that the mixture of beauty and blackened intensity. Yeah I like it. I like it a lot. 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://felledblackmetal.bandcamp.com/album/the-intimate-earth-folk-black-metal

SPECTRAL WOUND - A Diabolic Thirst review

 

SPECTRAL WOUND - A Diabolic Thirst

Profound Lore Records

As the saying goes, the third time's the charm. Montreal's SPECTRAL WOUND had two previous full lengths which black metal fans probably thought were decent. Speaking for myself I'd say yeah they were OK. A Diabolic Thirst, the band's third one, will have people wondering wow what changed? Well after giving this a chance listen, at first, I'd say the band revamped the best aspects of their previous work. The end result here is a very powerful and explosive sound. Which is why I've been blasting it many times.

There are a couple of things about this release which remind me of late 90's/early 2000's black metal from Finland. For starters the black and white cover art/photo. Next up musically it's got those raw necro filth styled vocals. The band does inject some melody into their brand of black metal when they're not trying to rip your head off and shit down your neck. So it's not entirely a Finnish copycat. There's plenty of homegrown aspects to their sound (aka: Quebecois black metal style).

The sound on here is mournful as if every verse sung by vocalist Jonah is agony. The melodies invoke that same emotion. With twin guitars there's a continuous wall of riffs, either tremolo picked or just straight up. The band invokes some doom at times and even some chance atmospheric passages. The bottom line here is that every so often a black metal act from Quebec will knock me for a loop and own my stereo. This one will do.

https://profoundlorerecords.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://spectralwound.bandcamp.com/album/a-diabolic-thirst

GRAVE MIASMA - Abyss of Wrathful Deities review

 

GRAVE MIASMA - Abyss of Wrathful Deities

Sepulchral Voice Records / Dark Descent Records

Well first off I love looking at an album cover that stares back at you and not in a nice way mind you. Looking at this monstrosity I think Lovecraft. As if this thing not only wants to kill you but eat ya afterwards. And not out of hunger either, I'm thinking it just wants to eat you because it's what evil things do.

Now on a similar note this latest one from England's GRAVE MIASMA is something of beast willing to tear you to pieces. This is the band's second full length and the first thing they've released since 2016's Endless Pilgrimage EP. On that last five song EP the band had developed their overall sound slightly away from previous releases. This albums has the band continuing of that beaten path. 

Musically this is modern blackened death with some thrash touches. The vocals are cavernous and the riffs are fuckin relentless. The atmosphere on here is claustrophobic and yet the sound is clean as in production values. Every little intricate detail is enhanced from the dive bomb solos to the subtle drum rolls during song structure breaks. 

Abyss of Wrathful Deities reaches the plateau that this band has been climbing towards over the years. The album grows more sinister from beginning to it's climatic end. Certainly one of the better releases of 2021.

https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/

http://www.sepulchralvoice.de/

LISTEN HERE:

https://gravemiasma-svr.bandcamp.com/album/abyss-of-wrathful-deities

MORTIFY - Grotesque Buzzsaw Defilement EP review

 

MORTIFY - Grotesque Buzzsaw Defilement EP 

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

This is the second studio release by Japan's MORTIFY. Supposedly they're a super group but the only person I recognize in the band is guitarist Takuya Koreeda. He use to play bass and scream in COFFINS back in the day. As in yeah on my favorite COFFINS album Buried Death from 2008. 

But what we have here is death grind of the short sharp shock variety. There's twelve tracks on here and most of em under a minute in length. Personally I'd rather hear a full song if you're gonna go the Swedish Death Metal route. But the theme with these guys is simply to rip your head off. If that's your thing then here ya go. I did like the sound bite from the 70's movie The Night Strangler.

http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/grotesque-buzzsaw-defilement

 

SLAUGHTERCOFFIN - Unholy Soldiers of Satan review

 

SLAUGHTERCOFFIN - Unholy Soldiers of Satan 

Corrupted Flesh Records

Well with a name like SLAUGHTERCOFFIN this band has to be from, Sweden? Actually I was expecting this band to be from from one of the northern nations of South America. Whose band members were involved in or know some who perform satanic murder cult ritual killings on unknowing travelers who venture into the wrong neighborhoods.

But no this band is from Sweden and nothing against that. I love Swedish death metal. I've got friends from over there. They're heavily into death metal, black metal and doom. But they're so fuckin nice. Be that as it may I'm sure they'ed be into SLAUGHTERCOFFIN. They're a band which started out a few years ago and this is their first full length or compilation. I just don't know from the PR info. So I did some looking.

Unholy Soldiers of Satan originally was a four song EP. To make it a full length the label added three songs from the band's “End All Life” demo to enhance things. Actually it's a pretty smart idea. Musically the sound on here is blackened death metal/thrash with dependence of the HM Boss pedal for some crunch to their guitars. The vocals come off in that raw bestial style. In all it's old school satanic slam pit inducing stuff.

https://www.corrupted-flesh.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://corruptedfleshrecords.bandcamp.com/album/unholy-soldiers-of-satan-2

PUNCTURE WOUND - Complete Carnage of Coagulating Cacophonous Corpses review

 

PUNCTURE WOUND - Complete Carnage of Coagulating Cacophonous Corpses

Corrupted Flesh Records

So what we have here is pretty cool at least in my not so humble opinion. This is the debut full length by Australia's PUNCTURE WOUND. They're a death metal act that started out a few years back. Prior to this one they just released an EP and a few singles. Yeah I'm sure those hits went to the Top of the Pops. 

But anyways the main reason I think they're cool is that their sound is not a copycat version of some of their country's contemporaries in the death metal genre. In other words they're not blackened, have cavernous vocals or production and there's no wall of suffocating noise. I'm not going to name drop but intelligent readers know where I'm going with that.

PUNCTURE WOUND are pure old school sounding death metal but the kicker here is they sound like they're USDM. In fact let's just name the elephant in the bloody corner. That would be Corpsegrinder era CANNIBAL CORPSE but I'll say they add a touch of Sweden's GRAVE as well.

Now for you jaded fuckers here's an analogy for ya. My favorite kind of bread is Rosemary baked bread. Sure the fuckers who make it nowadays call it "artisan" in order to charge more for it. But basically it's just herb encrusted bread. Now the recipe is probably a hundred years old but I get it every once in a while baked fresh and it's great. 

It's the same way with a new band who takes an old recipe and runs with it. If I was so lucky to see this band play the states I'd be the old guy in the crowd in fuckin awe. And if some loser behind me said "They sound like so n so". I'd turn around and say "well they're not playing tonight so enjoy this or leave, loser." 

PUNCTURE WOUND pretty much check all the boxes as far as great death metal goes. Also it helps to write about em after work at midnight while having a beer. But anyways trudging riffs, YES. Mean guy throaty vocals, yeah check that one. A quality rhythm section that accompanies the riff package, YEP. Amazing solo work in the breaks, ah not as much as I would like but what they do is decent. 

In the end I got to say by the third listen this band won me over. It's old school but it just sounds fresh, exciting and of course diabolical. Meet the new kings of Australian Death Metal.

https://www.corrupted-flesh.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://corruptedfleshrecords.bandcamp.com/album/puncture-wound-complete-carnage-of-coagulating-cacophonous-corpses