DEPRAVITY - Bestial Possession review

 

DEPRAVITY - Bestial Possession

Transcending Obscurity Records

Well it's been five years since we've heard from Australia's most Brutal Death Metal act. While listening to this their third full length I see they've taken on a torture side to their musical performance. What I'm saying is at most times they're brutal imterpretors of pain and sufferring. But then they'll allow some elegant guitar come forth. Although most of the time it's dive bomb solos which are cool.

I like how when one song ends and it's as the beating torture is over. But then boom it's starts all over again. When I was in the military years ago we called that the Soviet / Commie torture technque. Be that as it may DEPRAVITY's third full length is a pit of Brutal Death Metal deprevity that goes unmatched in their nation.

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://depravitydeath.bandcamp.com/album/bestial-possession

BLOOD OF THE WOLF - V: Indomitable review

 

BLOOD OF THE WOLF - V: Indomitable

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Fall season albums are always the surprise killers that show up unanticipated and reek fuckin havoc. This one here covers my yearly thirst for Eastern European Blackened Death to the hilt but hey they're a four piece from Chicago, Illinois. So sorry to my friends in VADER and BELPHEGOR but this US band is vintage sounding brutality with a blackened edge.

BLOOD OF THE WOLF started out in 2013. Their full length debut, I: The Law of Retaliation, came out in 2015. Since then the band title all of their full lengths with Roman numerals and then a worded title. Their first two full lengths were self released. In 2019 the band released a four song EP with was III: Blood Legend and came out on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. Since then the band has stayed with the label with releasing 2022's IV: The Declaration of War and this latest one. 

Like I mentioned earlier this is Euro-centric Brutal DM with touches of blackening. These eight tracks are perfect in that realm of extreme. The vocals have that brute force aggression. The riffs are part diabolical and on the attack. Add in the drum work which is on par with the riffs as in punishing or machine gun firing. The guitar soloing is where I'd take a point off since they're not out there in for the kill as opposed to what the band is doing for the most part.  

Yeah this album is fucking amazing. There's no atmospheric breaks, no instro intros or boredom. It's a relentless attack which is made to beat you down to pulp. I like this album a lot. You would like this album a lot if you're an Extreme DM fan. If you've read some of my recent DM album reviews on this blog (and frankly who doesn't). Then you would know I've been bored with a lot of DM these days. This album by BLOOD OF THE WOLF shatters all of that. It's one of the best fucking sounding DM albums of the year. 

https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/v-indomitable

DWELLING BELOW - Wearisome Guardians reviews

 

DWELLING BELOW - Wearisome Guardians

Transcending Obscurity Records

Back in the mid to late 2000s you had a new league of bands giving the sub-genre of Death Doom a new set of legs to stand on. The sound was cavernous and had a claustrophobic atmosphere ridden with filth. The riffs were slow and heavy but once in a while they became psychotic. The guitar soloing was unpredictable as in lighting strikes. Finally the vocals were bestial and the rhythm section were either perfectly timed or totally eradic. It was definitely Death Doom with some blackened bits slipped in for fun.

Now since then every year there's a new band reproducing the same sound over and over again with not much progressive changes. Also you still have a few of that old guard trying their best to stay relevant in a scene with so many imitators. Then there's the fans who buy (hopefully) the records / CDs who are like wow this new band is just as good as the band I liked last year. 

Look I've never been accused of being jaded in the past but I have friends who are. They gave up on most new Extreme Metal a decade or so ago. I've always been the believer in new bands reinventing the old and giving it some open air to breath as well as infect the minds of young listeners. But as of now well this type of Death Doom has hit a brick wall just like most Black Metal and Old School Death Metal. 

With all of that said here's the second album by the US Death Doom act DWELLING BELOW. They're a three piece act who started out in 2023 and are also together in a Prog Tech Death band called HIERARCHIES. The three guys are guitarist Nicholas Turner, bassist Anthony Wheeler and drummer / vocalist Jared Moran. Also these guys are in a ton of other bands especially Jared Moran. 

These guys created a damm great sounding fifty plus minute dissonant Death Doom album.The musicianship is extraordinary. The soundscapes are all about dread as well as destruction. I've listened to at least a dozen full lengths this year doing this type of Death Doom style and I have to say this second album by DWELLING BELOW is the best. It also hits that brick wall I mentioned earlier. This is as best as it gets for this sub-genre. Everything after this one will be decent.   

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://dwellingbelow.bandcamp.com/album/wearisome-guardians

DETERIOROT - Awakening review

 

DETERIOROT - Awakening

Xtreem Music

First off there's a lot to unpack here. So as far as history goes back in the late 1980's there was a Death Metal band out of New Jersey called MORTUARY. Now since that name has been used by more than a few other bands this one changed their name to DETERIOROT. That was in 1990 and the band continued onward. It wasn't until 2001 when the band released their debut full length, In Ancient Beliefs, on a small California label. Interested parties should check out the 2016 reissue of this album on Xtreem Music. 

Now fast forward to 2010 which is when I first picked up a CD by DETERIOROT. It was their second full length which also came out on this label. Basically it was old school Death Metal which at that time was making a come back after many years of bullshit alterations. The band did come out with a third album, The Rebirth, in 2023 but I never heard it. 

Which brings us to the now and this the band's fourth full length over all. Basically you've got the mainman Paul Zavaleta from the old days, who now lives in Charolette, North Carolina, on vocals and guitar. With him are are a  bunch of younger die hards who've rercently joined him on this Old School DM journey. You've got Arthur Reid on guitar, Travis Meredith on bass and James Goetz on drums. 

So musically yeah this is an Old School Death Metal bone being gnawed upon by a beast from the underworld. Paul Zavaleta is probably one of the better DM vocalists out there who's never gotten the credit he's due. His singing style is bestial, sinister and downright creepy. I like it a lot mainly because it reminds me of what others I like have been doing over decades. 

Next up there's eleven songs, although the opening cut is an instro. As far as the songs go what you clearly have is a massive amount of Death Doom brutality joined with diabolical atmosphere. It's a combo of early USDM and early Finnish DM. The riffs are sinister, the guitar leads cut through the eeerie fog like knives stabbing an unknowing victim. Sometimes they're slow and foreboding but will kick into a speedy run. 

All in all it's an amazing release. In my type of world it would be one of the best US Death Metal albums of the year. Better yet it's a down right classic which should sit beside all of the others which came before. Nuff Said!

https://shop.xtreemmusic.com/english.main.index.php

LISTEN HERE:

https://xtreemmusic.bandcamp.com/album/awakening

VEILBURNER - Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy review

 

VEILBURNER - Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy

Transcending Obscurity Records

If you're a fan of this blog (and frankly who isn't) then you know over the past bunch of years I've sung the praises for this two piece Blackened Death Metal act from Pennsylvania. Mainly because they're not cliche in style of what you would expect. I don't like using hiptard terms like "experimental" or "avantgarde". Previously I've said VEILBURNER are a Blackened Death experince that will weird you out. 

Now I thought their last album, 2024's The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom, was like H.P. Lovecraft put to Extreme Metal music for late night listening pleasures and haunts. This new one goes a bit further into the realm of complete hysteria. I mean the opening title cut is so fucking pychotic and angry sounding that you're like what the fuck at first and then it get's jazzy to a point which is weird. 

But from there this album grows to peak insanity. There's absolutely brutal sounding cuts and then it's Blackened filth meets Tech Death. Cross that with BAUHAUS meets FUNERAL MIST in an ecletic theater of hallucinagentic drug extesy. I thought their last album was a masterpiece. But hey "That Which Crypts Howls Grandeur" is so fuckin out there. The final cut "Reeking of Tragedy" just blows up your pitiful mind. 

This is an easy pick for Exreme Metal greatness. VEILBURNER either get better with each new release or they just get creepier. If you wanna fuck with people's minds then play this. 

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://veilburnerband.bandcamp.com/album/longing-for-triumph-reeking-of-tragedy

GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY - Death Never Sleeps review

 

GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY - Death Never Sleeps

Transcending Obscurity Records

So after work I always stop at my favorite convenience store for a six pack of good beer (aka: IPAs) to finish the night off. At the store I always frequent they've got a new clerk who works two nights a week. On this one night the guy is wearing a Metal band shirt. So I'm like "So you're into Metal"? He was like yeah. Now while the transaction was going through I told him that I knew of the band on his T-shirt (it was WHITE CHAPEL ala Death Core). I then told him I'm not a fan of them. 

When I was leaving he told me to have a good night. To which I told em "well yeah I'm gonna drink this beer and listen to some fuckin Death Metal"! Then I threw him the horned fist salute and walked out the door. The DM band I ended up listening to that night was GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY and hell yeah it's some great stuff.

GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY are a five piece USDM act who hail from New York (I don't know if it's from the city or up state). They started out in 2017. Their debut full length, Ageless Violence, came out in 2020 on Translation Loss Records. By the way Translation Loss Records is a good label. I've got more than a handful of releases by bands on that label. But switching over to Transcending Obscurity Records is a good thing because, in my not so humble opinion, they're a great label that knows Death Metal. 

With that said Death Never Sleeps just starts off with a face ripping cut "Slaughter the Gerontocrats". That's right, no boring instro intros just a straight fucking DM attack that's old school NYDM as hell. What's really funny is that 3/5th's of this band was in a New Jersey BM act called WOE. While another band member spent time in New York's Blackened Death act MUTILATION RITES. There's no BM influences at all on here. 

Death Never Sleeps is a perfect nine track DM album that runs a few seconds over thirty four minutes. In that time span you've got cool brutal yet monster like vocals by Doug Moore. He also adds a few harsh blackened screams. Musically is where the DM fun erupts. The riffs diverge between crushing, headbanging fun to thrashy I wanna start a slam pit and hit somebody type of stuff. The guitar soloing is typical lightning dive bomb stuff which is classic. 

In the end overall this year I've listened to a bunch of DM acts who in the past I was a huge fan of. But in 2025 they bore me. GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY is a damm good sounding DM band. I mean play this release in the morning play it at night. Hell play it while you're fucking. Yeah this is one of the best DM releases of the year.

https://tometal.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://gloriousdepravity-label.bandcamp.com/album/death-never-sleeps

CASTLE RAT - The Bestiary review

 

CASTLE RAT - The Bestiary

King Volume Records

I first learned about this New York City act back in 2024. There was a lot of hype about em on the internet, mostly by hiptards. But I first checked out a live performance video they did at a hipster club in Brooklyn, New York City. Now despite the hype I thought they were decent. 

Their debut album Into the Realm from 2024 was pretty good. It was basically that whole NWOBHM meets Occult Doom style. I liked it especially The Rat Queen's (aka: Riley Pinkerton) vocal style. But that was then because on my first listen to this their second album I can say things have changed. After a few more listens you can understand the changes. 

Basically CASTLE RAT have become more atmospheric and bombastic in their overall sound. In other words it's like the difference between a club sound band and one that plays arenas. The NWOBHM style has been replaced with an almost Power metal influence. The Doom edge is still here and there. The production has been amped up especially on their drum sound which is thunderous. 

The collaboration of The Rat Queen's dynamic vocals as well as guitar riffs, The Count's (aka: Franco Vittore) cool lead guitar work, the thunderous bass by The Plague Doctor and newest member (Charley Ruddell) and drummer extrodinare The Druid (Josh Strmic) make this a powerful fuckin album. 

To me this feels like a concept album with instro interludes that break from the explosiveness conveyed musically. For me I do like the rawness of their first album. But after a few listens this one is an epic piece of work. How you surpass this one is another story and good luck to em. In the end it's a damm good release.

https://www.facebook.com/kingvolumerecords

LISTEN HERE:

https://castlerat.bandcamp.com/album/the-bestiary