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Ripper – Towards Rebirth Review

Apparently Chilean death-thrash crew Ripper raised quite a ruckus in the 2014-2017 period with a series of well-regarded…
#NewsBeep #News #Music #2026 #3.0 #ChileanMetal #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Entertainment #Jul26 #MorbidAngel #MorbidSaint #review #Reviews #Ripper #Sepultura #ThrashMetal #TowardsRebirth #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/710082/

Apparently Chilean death-thrash crew Ripper raised quite a ruckus in the 2014-2017 period with a series of well-regarded hyperkinetic death-thrash albums, the most recent of which was 2016s Experiment of Existence. I missed all of this buzz-worthy carrying on and came to their latest release completely tabula rasa. Sometimes that’s the best way to greet a band with established history, as you bring no expectations or biases developed from past experience. The version of Ripper I encountered on their 3rd album Towards Rebirth are coming off a nearly 10-year layoff to deliver mega-aggressive, speed-drenched death-thrashery of an impressive caliber, reminding of early days Sepultura, Morbid Saint, and at times even Nocturnus (R.I.P. Mike Browning). While it’s safe to say Ripper’s sound and approach are stuck in the late 80s/early 90s, they attack their assignment with so much wanton exuberance that it’s hard not to get behind the effort and enjoy the ensuing conflagration. But how much raw aggression can a band push out after 10 long years collecting rust and dust?

After a tasty and brief instrumental opening, Ripper rips it up on “World of Darkness,” blasting and thrashing like an industrial meat mauler. But wait…I know that wild opening riff from somewhere, but where? Why, it’s almost exactly the lead riff from Riot’s immortal speed metal gem “Thundersteel”! How dare they filch such an iconic piece of New York metal history! Ultimately it isn’t too big a deal, since that “borrowed” riff is consigned to history almost immediately and they blanket the field with numerous other frenzied leads and multiple transitions up and down the tempo dial. This is pure thrash insanity with frenetic drumming, berserk basslines, and vocals that sound like vintage Max Cavalera after bad Taco Bell lettuce. The title track offers no respite with a slick cascading lead riff that kicks names and takes ass as the high-velocity madness runs wild and free. The guitar work is especially inspired, and the commitment to thrashing until death and beyond is much appreciated. The maelstrom of maniacal speed has no let-up, and as Ripper try to rupture space and time, you’ll be treated to nods to the early days of Morbid Angel on “Into the Coldness of Land of Dead” and “The Source Exterminator,” and “Message from the Other Side” recalls the early days of Deathrow.

The biggest surprise is the 6-minute instrumental “The Secret Dawn.” It’s a throwback to the 80s where such long-winded compositions were normal and almost expected, as bands sought to flex their wank hands to impress the masses. While I’m normally not the biggest fan of such non-vocal shred factories, this one is an engaging ride from start to finish, and it leaves me quite impressed with what Ripper are capable of. Elsewhere, the slightly more techy vibe of “The End of the Universe” brings the Nocturnus flavor to the airlock, and it’s a fun little ditty. The writing and playing are solid, and though every track is a blast fest, there are interesting musical choices and enough nifty riffs per song to keep the brain engaged. Do the individual tracks eventually start to blur together? Sure, but it’s an entertaining enough blur. At just under 42 minutes, things move too fast for Towards Rebirth to feel overlong, though a minute of 2 could probably be shaved off a track here and there.

The boys in Ripper are a talented lot. Patricio Spalinger and new slinger Nicolás Young come at you at full force 120% of the time with a cavalcade of ripping, tearing thrash lines and side-quests into zippy old school death grooves. What I like most about their six-string interplay is how it reminds me of so many 80s and 90s bands without really ripping any of them off (minus that whole Riot thing). There are some truly impressive riff and solo moments here, and these cats know how to craft cool, memorable leads that stick. New bassist Tomás Barriga plays at a berserk pace, delivering a chaotic low-end rumble that’s very audible and sounds like he’s always on the verge of losing control. At certain moments, his playing begins to sound like a car engine about to overheat, and that adds to the sheer rush of the music. Patricio Spalinger’s death vocals are one-dimensional and often no more than a rough bark, but they fit the style well and detract not at all.

Towards Rebirth is a rocket ride full of overdelivered speed, and there’s enough raw energy here to power a small town. It doesn’t offer anything new, aside from a very sore ass after all the kicking it receives here. I had good fun with Ripper’s latest, and it’s got me digging into their earlier releases hoping for more of the same. Ripper are reborn hard and mean, and they want to sonically abuse your ears. Let them.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: facebook.com/ripperchileoficial | instagram.com/ripper.chile
Releases Worldwide: July 24th, 2026

Apparently Chilean death-thrash crew Ripper raised quite a ruckus in the 2014-2017 period with a series of well-regarded hyperkinetic death-thrash albums, the most recent of which was 2016s Experiment of Existence. I missed all of this buzz-worthy carrying on and came to their latest release completely tabula rasa. Sometimes that’s the best way to greet a band with established history, as you bring no expectations or biases developed from past experience. The version of Ripper I encountered on their 3rd album Towards Rebirth are coming off a nearly 10-year layoff to deliver mega-aggressive, speed-drenched death-thrashery of an impressive caliber, reminding of early days Sepultura, Morbid Saint, and at times even Nocturnus (R.I.P. Mike Browning). While it’s safe to say Ripper’s sound and approach are stuck in the late 80s/early 90s, they attack their assignment with so much wanton exuberance that it’s hard not to get behind the effort and enjoy the ensuing conflagration. But how much raw aggression can a band push out after 10 long years collecting rust and dust?

After a tasty and brief instrumental opening, Ripper rips it up on “World of Darkness,” blasting and thrashing like an industrial meat mauler. But wait…I know that wild opening riff from somewhere, but where? Why, it’s almost exactly the lead riff from Riot’s immortal speed metal gem “Thundersteel”! How dare they filch such an iconic piece of New York metal history! Ultimately it isn’t too big a deal, since that “borrowed” riff is consigned to history almost immediately and they blanket the field with numerous other frenzied leads and multiple transitions up and down the tempo dial. This is pure thrash insanity with frenetic drumming, berserk basslines, and vocals that sound like vintage Max Cavalera after bad Taco Bell lettuce. The title track offers no respite with a slick cascading lead riff that kicks names and takes ass as the high-velocity madness runs wild and free. The guitar work is especially inspired, and the commitment to thrashing until death and beyond is much appreciated. The maelstrom of maniacal speed has no let-up, and as Ripper try to rupture space and time, you’ll be treated to nods to the early days of Morbid Angel on “Into the Coldness of Land of Dead” and “The Source Exterminator,” and “Message from the Other Side” recalls the early days of Deathrow.

The biggest surprise is the 6-minute instrumental “The Secret Dawn.” It’s a throwback to the 80s where such long-winded compositions were normal and almost expected, as bands sought to flex their wank hands to impress the masses. While I’m normally not the biggest fan of such non-vocal shred factories, this one is an engaging ride from start to finish, and it leaves me quite impressed with what Ripper are capable of. Elsewhere, the slightly more techy vibe of “The End of the Universe” brings the Nocturnus flavor to the airlock, and it’s a fun little ditty. The writing and playing are solid, and though every track is a blast fest, there are interesting musical choices and enough nifty riffs per song to keep the brain engaged. Do the individual tracks eventually start to blur together? Sure, but it’s an entertaining enough blur. At just under 42 minutes, things move too fast for Towards Rebirth to feel overlong, though a minute of 2 could probably be shaved off a track here and there.

The boys in Ripper are a talented lot. Patricio Spalinger and new slinger Nicolás Young come at you at full force 120% of the time with a cavalcade of ripping, tearing thrash lines and side-quests into zippy old school death grooves. What I like most about their six-string interplay is how it reminds me of so many 80s and 90s bands without really ripping any of them off (minus that whole Riot thing). There are some truly impressive riff and solo moments here, and these cats know how to craft cool, memorable leads that stick. New bassist Tomás Barriga plays at a berserk pace, delivering a chaotic low-end rumble that’s very audible and sounds like he’s always on the verge of losing control. At certain moments, his playing begins to sound like a car engine about to overheat, and that adds to the sheer rush of the music. Patricio Spalinger’s death vocals are one-dimensional and often no more than a rough bark, but they fit the style well and detract not at all.

Towards Rebirth is a rocket ride full of overdelivered speed, and there’s enough raw energy here to power a small town. It doesn’t offer anything new, aside from a very sore ass after all the kicking it receives here. I had good fun with Ripper’s latest, and it’s got me digging into their earlier releases hoping for more of the same. Ripper are reborn hard and mean, and they want to sonically abuse your ears. Let them.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: facebook.com/ripperchileoficial | instagram.com/ripper.chile
Releases Worldwide: July 24th, 2026

Apparently Chilean death-thrash crew Ripper raised quite a ruckus in the 2014-2017 period with a series of well-regarded hyperkinetic death-thrash albums, the most recent of which was 2016s Experiment of Existence. I missed all of this buzz-worthy carrying on and came to their latest release completely tabula rasa. Sometimes that’s the best way to greet a band with established history, as you bring no expectations or biases developed from past experience. The version of Ripper I encountered on their 3rd album Towards Rebirth are coming off a nearly 10-year layoff to deliver mega-aggressive, speed-drenched death-thrashery of an impressive caliber, reminding of early days Sepultura, Morbid Saint, and at times even Nocturnus (R.I.P. Mike Browning). While it’s safe to say Ripper’s sound and approach are stuck in the late 80s/early 90s, they attack their assignment with so much wanton exuberance that it’s hard not to get behind the effort and enjoy the ensuing conflagration. But how much raw aggression can a band push out after 10 long years collecting rust and dust?

After a tasty and brief instrumental opening, Ripper rips it up on “World of Darkness,” blasting and thrashing like an industrial meat mauler. But wait…I know that wild opening riff from somewhere, but where? Why, it’s almost exactly the lead riff from Riot’s immortal speed metal gem “Thundersteel”! How dare they filch such an iconic piece of New York metal history! Ultimately it isn’t too big a deal, since that “borrowed” riff is consigned to history almost immediately and they blanket the field with numerous other frenzied leads and multiple transitions up and down the tempo dial. This is pure thrash insanity with frenetic drumming, berserk basslines, and vocals that sound like vintage Max Cavalera after bad Taco Bell lettuce. The title track offers no respite with a slick cascading lead riff that kicks names and takes ass as the high-velocity madness runs wild and free. The guitar work is especially inspired, and the commitment to thrashing until death and beyond is much appreciated. The maelstrom of maniacal speed has no let-up, and as Ripper try to rupture space and time, you’ll be treated to nods to the early days of Morbid Angel on “Into the Coldness of Land of Dead” and “The Source Exterminator,” and “Message from the Other Side” recalls the early days of Deathrow.

The biggest surprise is the 6-minute instrumental “The Secret Dawn.” It’s a throwback to the 80s where such long-winded compositions were normal and almost expected, as bands sought to flex their wank hands to impress the masses. While I’m normally not the biggest fan of such non-vocal shred factories, this one is an engaging ride from start to finish, and it leaves me quite impressed with what Ripper are capable of. Elsewhere, the slightly more techy vibe of “The End of the Universe” brings the Nocturnus flavor to the airlock, and it’s a fun little ditty. The writing and playing are solid, and though every track is a blast fest, there are interesting musical choices and enough nifty riffs per song to keep the brain engaged. Do the individual tracks eventually start to blur together? Sure, but it’s an entertaining enough blur. At just under 42 minutes, things move too fast for Towards Rebirth to feel overlong, though a minute of 2 could probably be shaved off a track here and there.

The boys in Ripper are a talented lot. Patricio Spalinger and new slinger Nicolás Young come at you at full force 120% of the time with a cavalcade of ripping, tearing thrash lines and side-quests into zippy old school death grooves. What I like most about their six-string interplay is how it reminds me of so many 80s and 90s bands without really ripping any of them off (minus that whole Riot thing). There are some truly impressive riff and solo moments here, and these cats know how to craft cool, memorable leads that stick. New bassist Tomás Barriga plays at a berserk pace, delivering a chaotic low-end rumble that’s very audible and sounds like he’s always on the verge of losing control. At certain moments, his playing begins to sound like a car engine about to overheat, and that adds to the sheer rush of the music. Patricio Spalinger’s death vocals are one-dimensional and often no more than a rough bark, but they fit the style well and detract not at all.

Towards Rebirth is a rocket ride full of overdelivered speed, and there’s enough raw energy here to power a small town. It doesn’t offer anything new, aside from a very sore ass after all the kicking it receives here. I had good fun with Ripper’s latest, and it’s got me digging into their earlier releases hoping for more of the same. Ripper are reborn hard and mean, and they want to sonically abuse your ears. Let them.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: facebook.com/ripperchileoficial | instagram.com/ripper.chile
Releases Worldwide: July 24th, 2026

Apparently Chilean death-thrash crew Ripper raised quite a ruckus in the 2014-2017 period with a series of well-regarded hyperkinetic death-thrash albums, the most recent of which was 2016s Experiment of Existence. I missed all of this buzz-worthy carrying on and came to their latest release completely tabula rasa. Sometimes that’s the best way to greet a band with established history, as you bring no expectations or biases developed from past experience. The version of Ripper I encountered on their 3rd album Towards Rebirth are coming off a nearly 10-year layoff to deliver mega-aggressive, speed-drenched death-thrashery of an impressive caliber, reminding of early days Sepultura, Morbid Saint, and at times even Nocturnus (R.I.P. Mike Browning). While it’s safe to say Ripper’s sound and approach are stuck in the late 80s/early 90s, they attack their assignment with so much wanton exuberance that it’s hard not to get behind the effort and enjoy the ensuing conflagration. But how much raw aggression can a band push out after 10 long years collecting rust and dust?

After a tasty and brief instrumental opening, Ripper rips it up on “World of Darkness,” blasting and thrashing like an industrial meat mauler. But wait…I know that wild opening riff from somewhere, but where? Why, it’s almost exactly the lead riff from Riot’s immortal speed metal gem “Thundersteel”! How dare they filch such an iconic piece of New York metal history! Ultimately it isn’t too big a deal, since that “borrowed” riff is consigned to history almost immediately and they blanket the field with numerous other frenzied leads and multiple transitions up and down the tempo dial. This is pure thrash insanity with frenetic drumming, berserk basslines, and vocals that sound like vintage Max Cavalera after bad Taco Bell lettuce. The title track offers no respite with a slick cascading lead riff that kicks names and takes ass as the high-velocity madness runs wild and free. The guitar work is especially inspired, and the commitment to thrashing until death and beyond is much appreciated. The maelstrom of maniacal speed has no let-up, and as Ripper try to rupture space and time, you’ll be treated to nods to the early days of Morbid Angel on “Into the Coldness of Land of Dead” and “The Source Exterminator,” and “Message from the Other Side” recalls the early days of Deathrow.

The biggest surprise is the 6-minute instrumental “The Secret Dawn.” It’s a throwback to the 80s where such long-winded compositions were normal and almost expected, as bands sought to flex their wank hands to impress the masses. While I’m normally not the biggest fan of such non-vocal shred factories, this one is an engaging ride from start to finish, and it leaves me quite impressed with what Ripper are capable of. Elsewhere, the slightly more techy vibe of “The End of the Universe” brings the Nocturnus flavor to the airlock, and it’s a fun little ditty. The writing and playing are solid, and though every track is a blast fest, there are interesting musical choices and enough nifty riffs per song to keep the brain engaged. Do the individual tracks eventually start to blur together? Sure, but it’s an entertaining enough blur. At just under 42 minutes, things move too fast for Towards Rebirth to feel overlong, though a minute of 2 could probably be shaved off a track here and there.

The boys in Ripper are a talented lot. Patricio Spalinger and new slinger Nicolás Young come at you at full force 120% of the time with a cavalcade of ripping, tearing thrash lines and side-quests into zippy old school death grooves. What I like most about their six-string interplay is how it reminds me of so many 80s and 90s bands without really ripping any of them off (minus that whole Riot thing). There are some truly impressive riff and solo moments here, and these cats know how to craft cool, memorable leads that stick. New bassist Tomás Barriga plays at a berserk pace, delivering a chaotic low-end rumble that’s very audible and sounds like he’s always on the verge of losing control. At certain moments, his playing begins to sound like a car engine about to overheat, and that adds to the sheer rush of the music. Patricio Spalinger’s death vocals are one-dimensional and often no more than a rough bark, but they fit the style well and detract not at all.

Towards Rebirth is a rocket ride full of overdelivered speed, and there’s enough raw energy here to power a small town. It doesn’t offer anything new, aside from a very sore ass after all the kicking it receives here. I had good fun with Ripper’s latest, and it’s got me digging into their earlier releases hoping for more of the same. Ripper are reborn hard and mean, and they want to sonically abuse your ears. Let them.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: facebook.com/ripperchileoficial | instagram.com/ripper.chile
Releases Worldwide: July 24th, 2026

https://www.europesays.com/ie/342658/ Shine – Wrathcult Review | Angry Metal Guy #2026 #35 #AtTheGates #Behemoth #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Decapitated #Éire #Entertainment #Hate #Hazael #IE #Ireland #Jan26 #Music #OldMan'sChild #PolishMetal #Review #Reviews #shine #Vader #Wrathcult

Something must be in the water over in Poland, because the country churns out quality death metal like few others. The phrase ‘Polish death metal’ always grabs my attention, whether it’s technical like early Decapitated, thrashy à la Vader, or as blackened as Behemoth. Such was the case when I espied Shine’s Wrathcult lying unclaimed in the promo bin. The invention of guitarist Tomasz Dobrzeniecki (ex-Hazael), Shine unleashes a Polished debut of blackened death, eliciting prompt comparisons to compatriots Hate and Behemoth. While both provide apt reference points, there’s an acerbic tunefulness that evokes At the Gates and Old Man’s Child, as well. Given the glamor of these benchmarks, does Wrathcult let a light Shine down on Poland’s latest blackened death metal opus?

If you give me a word to sum up Polish metal, I’ll say ‘conviction,’ which Wrathcult oozes with calculated rabidity. Whether brandishing steady chugs, rapid-fire trems, or slinky, groove-infested crawls, Shine feels focused and frothing with finely-tuned fire. Dobrzeniecki’s description of the music and lyrics pins the overarching inspiration of Wrathcult on pre-Christian beliefs and the arcane powers of primeval mysticism, specifically calling out the intersection of ‘Germanic, Norse, and Slavic mythology.’1 While it’s not a theme I would’ve divined on my own, this context adds helpful color once Shine shows me where to look. In particular, the clean singing (“The Lamb Against the Wolf”) and chanting (“The Horror of the Night”) sprinkled throughout Wrathcult often give proceedings a ritualistic zest, culminating in one of my favorite tracks, “The Necklace with Runes.” The clean drawl at the beginning is underscored by finely crafted, deeper vocal layers, and while I’m generally unmoved by rhythmic spoken word, singer Marek Krajcer’s performance reads as a ceremonial incantation, reinforcing Wrathcult’s primordial basis.2

Wrathcult by Shine

Musically, Shine exhibits a cunning understanding of the crossroads between death metal, black metal, and melody. Besides the cleans, Krajcer projects a deathly growl that’s at once confident, scathing, and commandingly effective throughout Wrathcult. Guitarists Tomasz Dobrzeniecki and Mateusz Waśkiewicz supply equal doses of second-wave fervor and dulcet leads that are as barbed as they are captivating. Mid-album song “Oddajcie co moje” sports not only the hookiest melody of the bunch, but also contains one of the best bass grooves. Though subtle, Wojciech Gąsiorowski’s ambling bass-lines burble and thump with delightful heft, solidifying a resonant dimension on tracks “The Lamb Against the Wolf” and “Wrath of the Hammer.” With the high caliber of musicianship featuring on strings, an anemic drum performance could dull the entire showing. Thankfully, Paweł Duda seizes the opportunity with gusto, lashing his kit with precision strikes. Overall, Shine lays me on the ground with meaty, well-executed performances that belie Wrathcult’s debut status.

While many moments on Wrathcult fly me in the sky, a few aspects creep in and dim the power of Shine’s light. The production bolsters strong performances across the album, allowing proper room for each instrument to gleam—especially the bass. The forty-six-minute runtime keeps Wrathcult digestible, although riff repetition presents an opportunity to trim thirty-to-sixty seconds from several tracks for a tighter experience. And while Shine serves up several great jams on Wrathcult, a few weaker cuts create dips between the peaks of its strongest material. To be clear, there are no bad or inessential songs that I skip,3 but I do find myself waiting out some moments to get to better ones. Still, there’s variety in the songwriting that keeps affairs engaging and blood pumping through Shine’s blackened heart.

Shine’s Wrathcult should garner its fair share of devotees, living up to the high expectations of Polish blackened death. It’s taken many spins to unlock Wrathcult’s otherworldly secrets, and I’m of a mind that there are even more treasures to unearth. Anyone looking for melodious fury and a band with possibilities on the horizon should be paying attention. When I snatched Shine’s debut, I asked myself, ‘What will I find? Will love be there?’ While I can’t guarantee the same results for you, my answer is a resounding, ‘Yeah.’

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: January 30th, 2026

Something must be in the water over in Poland, because the country churns out quality death metal like few others. The phrase ‘Polish death metal’ always grabs my attention, whether it’s technical like early Decapitated, thrashy à la Vader, or as blackened as Behemoth. Such was the case when I espied Shine’s Wrathcult lying unclaimed in the promo bin. The invention of guitarist Tomasz Dobrzeniecki (ex-Hazael), Shine unleashes a Polished debut of blackened death, eliciting prompt comparisons to compatriots Hate and Behemoth. While both provide apt reference points, there’s an acerbic tunefulness that evokes At the Gates and Old Man’s Child, as well. Given the glamor of these benchmarks, does Wrathcult let a light Shine down on Poland’s latest blackened death metal opus?

If you give me a word to sum up Polish metal, I’ll say ‘conviction,’ which Wrathcult oozes with calculated rabidity. Whether brandishing steady chugs, rapid-fire trems, or slinky, groove-infested crawls, Shine feels focused and frothing with finely-tuned fire. Dobrzeniecki’s description of the music and lyrics pins the overarching inspiration of Wrathcult on pre-Christian beliefs and the arcane powers of primeval mysticism, specifically calling out the intersection of ‘Germanic, Norse, and Slavic mythology.’1 While it’s not a theme I would’ve divined on my own, this context adds helpful color once Shine shows me where to look. In particular, the clean singing (“The Lamb Against the Wolf”) and chanting (“The Horror of the Night”) sprinkled throughout Wrathcult often give proceedings a ritualistic zest, culminating in one of my favorite tracks, “The Necklace with Runes.” The clean drawl at the beginning is underscored by finely crafted, deeper vocal layers, and while I’m generally unmoved by rhythmic spoken word, singer Marek Krajcer’s performance reads as a ceremonial incantation, reinforcing Wrathcult’s primordial basis.2

Wrathcult by Shine

Musically, Shine exhibits a cunning understanding of the crossroads between death metal, black metal, and melody. Besides the cleans, Krajcer projects a deathly growl that’s at once confident, scathing, and commandingly effective throughout Wrathcult. Guitarists Tomasz Dobrzeniecki and Mateusz Waśkiewicz supply equal doses of second-wave fervor and dulcet leads that are as barbed as they are captivating. Mid-album song “Oddajcie co moje” sports not only the hookiest melody of the bunch, but also contains one of the best bass grooves. Though subtle, Wojciech Gąsiorowski’s ambling bass-lines burble and thump with delightful heft, solidifying a resonant dimension on tracks “The Lamb Against the Wolf” and “Wrath of the Hammer.” With the high caliber of musicianship featuring on strings, an anemic drum performance could dull the entire showing. Thankfully, Paweł Duda seizes the opportunity with gusto, lashing his kit with precision strikes. Overall, Shine lays me on the ground with meaty, well-executed performances that belie Wrathcult’s debut status.

While many moments on Wrathcult fly me in the sky, a few aspects creep in and dim the power of Shine’s light. The production bolsters strong performances across the album, allowing proper room for each instrument to gleam—especially the bass. The forty-six-minute runtime keeps Wrathcult digestible, although riff repetition presents an opportunity to trim thirty-to-sixty seconds from several tracks for a tighter experience. And while Shine serves up several great jams on Wrathcult, a few weaker cuts create dips between the peaks of its strongest material. To be clear, there are no bad or inessential songs that I skip,3 but I do find myself waiting out some moments to get to better ones. Still, there’s variety in the songwriting that keeps affairs engaging and blood pumping through Shine’s blackened heart.

Shine’s Wrathcult should garner its fair share of devotees, living up to the high expectations of Polish blackened death. It’s taken many spins to unlock Wrathcult’s otherworldly secrets, and I’m of a mind that there are even more treasures to unearth. Anyone looking for melodious fury and a band with possibilities on the horizon should be paying attention. When I snatched Shine’s debut, I asked myself, ‘What will I find? Will love be there?’ While I can’t guarantee the same results for you, my answer is a resounding, ‘Yeah.’

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: January 30th, 2026

Something must be in the water over in Poland, because the country churns out quality death metal like few others. The phrase ‘Polish death metal’ always grabs my attention, whether it’s technical like early Decapitated, thrashy à la Vader, or as blackened as Behemoth. Such was the case when I espied Shine’s Wrathcult lying unclaimed in the promo bin. The invention of guitarist Tomasz Dobrzeniecki (ex-Hazael), Shine unleashes a Polished debut of blackened death, eliciting prompt comparisons to compatriots Hate and Behemoth. While both provide apt reference points, there’s an acerbic tunefulness that evokes At the Gates and Old Man’s Child, as well. Given the glamor of these benchmarks, does Wrathcult let a light Shine down on Poland’s latest blackened death metal opus?

If you give me a word to sum up Polish metal, I’ll say ‘conviction,’ which Wrathcult oozes with calculated rabidity. Whether brandishing steady chugs, rapid-fire trems, or slinky, groove-infested crawls, Shine feels focused and frothing with finely-tuned fire. Dobrzeniecki’s description of the music and lyrics pins the overarching inspiration of Wrathcult on pre-Christian beliefs and the arcane powers of primeval mysticism, specifically calling out the intersection of ‘Germanic, Norse, and Slavic mythology.’1 While it’s not a theme I would’ve divined on my own, this context adds helpful color once Shine shows me where to look. In particular, the clean singing (“The Lamb Against the Wolf”) and chanting (“The Horror of the Night”) sprinkled throughout Wrathcult often give proceedings a ritualistic zest, culminating in one of my favorite tracks, “The Necklace with Runes.” The clean drawl at the beginning is underscored by finely crafted, deeper vocal layers, and while I’m generally unmoved by rhythmic spoken word, singer Marek Krajcer’s performance reads as a ceremonial incantation, reinforcing Wrathcult’s primordial basis.2

Wrathcult by Shine

Musically, Shine exhibits a cunning understanding of the crossroads between death metal, black metal, and melody. Besides the cleans, Krajcer projects a deathly growl that’s at once confident, scathing, and commandingly effective throughout Wrathcult. Guitarists Tomasz Dobrzeniecki and Mateusz Waśkiewicz supply equal doses of second-wave fervor and dulcet leads that are as barbed as they are captivating. Mid-album song “Oddajcie co moje” sports not only the hookiest melody of the bunch, but also contains one of the best bass grooves. Though subtle, Wojciech Gąsiorowski’s ambling bass-lines burble and thump with delightful heft, solidifying a resonant dimension on tracks “The Lamb Against the Wolf” and “Wrath of the Hammer.” With the high caliber of musicianship featuring on strings, an anemic drum performance could dull the entire showing. Thankfully, Paweł Duda seizes the opportunity with gusto, lashing his kit with precision strikes. Overall, Shine lays me on the ground with meaty, well-executed performances that belie Wrathcult’s debut status.

While many moments on Wrathcult fly me in the sky, a few aspects creep in and dim the power of Shine’s light. The production bolsters strong performances across the album, allowing proper room for each instrument to gleam—especially the bass. The forty-six-minute runtime keeps Wrathcult digestible, although riff repetition presents an opportunity to trim thirty-to-sixty seconds from several tracks for a tighter experience. And while Shine serves up several great jams on Wrathcult, a few weaker cuts create dips between the peaks of its strongest material. To be clear, there are no bad or inessential songs that I skip,3 but I do find myself waiting out some moments to get to better ones. Still, there’s variety in the songwriting that keeps affairs engaging and blood pumping through Shine’s blackened heart.

Shine’s Wrathcult should garner its fair share of devotees, living up to the high expectations of Polish blackened death. It’s taken many spins to unlock Wrathcult’s otherworldly secrets, and I’m of a mind that there are even more treasures to unearth. Anyone looking for melodious fury and a band with possibilities on the horizon should be paying attention. When I snatched Shine’s debut, I asked myself, ‘What will I find? Will love be there?’ While I can’t guarantee the same results for you, my answer is a resounding, ‘Yeah.’

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: January 30th, 2026

Something must be in the water over in Poland, because the country churns out quality death metal like few others. The phrase ‘Polish death metal’ always grabs my attention, whether it’s technical like early Decapitated, thrashy à la Vader, or as blackened as Behemoth. Such was the case when I espied Shine’s Wrathcult lying unclaimed in the promo bin. The invention of guitarist Tomasz Dobrzeniecki (ex-Hazael), Shine unleashes a Polished debut of blackened death, eliciting prompt comparisons to compatriots Hate and Behemoth. While both provide apt reference points, there’s an acerbic tunefulness that evokes At the Gates and Old Man’s Child, as well. Given the glamor of these benchmarks, does Wrathcult let a light Shine down on Poland’s latest blackened death metal opus?

If you give me a word to sum up Polish metal, I’ll say ‘conviction,’ which Wrathcult oozes with calculated rabidity. Whether brandishing steady chugs, rapid-fire trems, or slinky, groove-infested crawls, Shine feels focused and frothing with finely-tuned fire. Dobrzeniecki’s description of the music and lyrics pins the overarching inspiration of Wrathcult on pre-Christian beliefs and the arcane powers of primeval mysticism, specifically calling out the intersection of ‘Germanic, Norse, and Slavic mythology.’1 While it’s not a theme I would’ve divined on my own, this context adds helpful color once Shine shows me where to look. In particular, the clean singing (“The Lamb Against the Wolf”) and chanting (“The Horror of the Night”) sprinkled throughout Wrathcult often give proceedings a ritualistic zest, culminating in one of my favorite tracks, “The Necklace with Runes.” The clean drawl at the beginning is underscored by finely crafted, deeper vocal layers, and while I’m generally unmoved by rhythmic spoken word, singer Marek Krajcer’s performance reads as a ceremonial incantation, reinforcing Wrathcult’s primordial basis.2

Wrathcult by Shine

Musically, Shine exhibits a cunning understanding of the crossroads between death metal, black metal, and melody. Besides the cleans, Krajcer projects a deathly growl that’s at once confident, scathing, and commandingly effective throughout Wrathcult. Guitarists Tomasz Dobrzeniecki and Mateusz Waśkiewicz supply equal doses of second-wave fervor and dulcet leads that are as barbed as they are captivating. Mid-album song “Oddajcie co moje” sports not only the hookiest melody of the bunch, but also contains one of the best bass grooves. Though subtle, Wojciech Gąsiorowski’s ambling bass-lines burble and thump with delightful heft, solidifying a resonant dimension on tracks “The Lamb Against the Wolf” and “Wrath of the Hammer.” With the high caliber of musicianship featuring on strings, an anemic drum performance could dull the entire showing. Thankfully, Paweł Duda seizes the opportunity with gusto, lashing his kit with precision strikes. Overall, Shine lays me on the ground with meaty, well-executed performances that belie Wrathcult’s debut status.

While many moments on Wrathcult fly me in the sky, a few aspects creep in and dim the power of Shine’s light. The production bolsters strong performances across the album, allowing proper room for each instrument to gleam—especially the bass. The forty-six-minute runtime keeps Wrathcult digestible, although riff repetition presents an opportunity to trim thirty-to-sixty seconds from several tracks for a tighter experience. And while Shine serves up several great jams on Wrathcult, a few weaker cuts create dips between the peaks of its strongest material. To be clear, there are no bad or inessential songs that I skip,3 but I do find myself waiting out some moments to get to better ones. Still, there’s variety in the songwriting that keeps affairs engaging and blood pumping through Shine’s blackened heart.

Shine’s Wrathcult should garner its fair share of devotees, living up to the high expectations of Polish blackened death. It’s taken many spins to unlock Wrathcult’s otherworldly secrets, and I’m of a mind that there are even more treasures to unearth. Anyone looking for melodious fury and a band with possibilities on the horizon should be paying attention. When I snatched Shine’s debut, I asked myself, ‘What will I find? Will love be there?’ While I can’t guarantee the same results for you, my answer is a resounding, ‘Yeah.’

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: January 30th, 2026

SHIPPING LATE FEBRUARY: Shine “Wrathcult” LP / CD from Dark Descent Records.

"Shine is the newest brainchild of Hazael’s Tomasz Dobrzeniecki, and their first album leaves no doubt that a new force in Polish extreme metal has awakened."

FFO: Bathory, Morbid Angel, Entombed and Dismember

#SHINE
#TOMASZDOBRZENIECKI
#WRATHCULT
#DARKDESCENTRECORDS

SHIPPING LATE FEBRUARY: Shine “Wrathcult” LP / CD from Dark Descent Records.

"Shine is the newest brainchild of Hazael’s Tomasz Dobrzeniecki, and their first album leaves no doubt that a new force in Polish extreme metal has awakened."

FFO: Bathory, Morbid Angel, Entombed and Dismember

#SHINE
#TOMASZDOBRZENIECKI
#WRATHCULT
#DARKDESCENTRECORDS

Phobocosm – Gateway Review

By Steel Druhm

Well, lookee who just oozed in! Phobocosm, Canada’s infamous cavern creepers and dealers of oppressive death metal, return to shove a lump of revolting slime-scuzz in everyone’s stocking with fourth album, Gateway. When last we heard from them on 2023s Foreordained, they were continuing to tweak and refine their revolting mash-up of Incantation, Immolation, Ulcerate, doom and vaguely pos-metal-y bits with an emphasis on the ominous, unsettling and atonal. When all the gears lock in for Phobocosm, they’re capable of inspiring a real sense of existential dread and unease. They’ve always crafted their music to achieve this effect and conjure dark, unpleasant atmospheres through crushing heaviness. Foreordained nailed the formula, making for a dense, harrowing listen. Gateway mines the same toxic waste pits, searching for the next eldritch nightmare, but takes a somewhat different path there this time. Can they regurgitate as many repellent sounds as before and continue their stellar track record? We’ll need to do some DEEP spelunking to get answers.

It’s immediately apparent that Phobocosm made some changes at the writing table this time. Instead of burying the listener with 6-7 long-form assaults on your calm, Gateway features only 4 proper songs with 3 interludes stitching them together. Opener “Deathless” sounds just as a Phobocosm fan would expect, with buzzing, nerve-jangling riffs emerging like locust hordes as a growing sense of unease and danger is conveyed. It’s unhurried as dark moods are slowly crafted with anticipation and dread rising. When the chaos kicks off, it’s mid-tempo death-doom, grinding and heavy as fuck. Riffs slither everywhere, and death vocals bubble up from some bottomless chasm. There’s a lot of Immolation here, but it never feels like a clone by-product. It’s nasty, satisfying, and creepy. “Unbound” dials up the aggression and urgency with vicious blastbeats and insanity-inducing riffs scorching your brain and sense of safety. It’s 6-plus minutes, but the vibe is so impactful and extreme that you want it to be longer to prolong the glorious punishment. Some of the leads and flourishes are very memorable and appear at just the right moment to really pop. There’s a mood here that’s hard to describe, but it’s highly immersive and ugly down to the fucking bone marrow.

“Sempiternal Penance” keeps the winning streak going with another massive abomination loaded with guttural vocals and tremendously chaotic, deranged riffs. At times, it sounds like an unholy ritual is underway, but something dark and malevolent is starting to take control, and it’s high time to get the fuck out. “Beyond the Threshold of Flesh” is the longest cut at 8:27, and Phobocosm excel at making these kinds of tracks work to their benefit as they escalate and deescalate the sense of fear and danger, but never let you off the meat hook. Rather than feeling like an effort to endure, the track sucks you into a cloud of grasping horrors, chews you up, and vomits out your maimed remains before you even know you’re on the menu. That’s a success in my book. What are the downsides? The presence of the three interludes. While they track the style of the main cuts and effectively maintain tension, it’s really the 4 main set pieces that are the most interesting. That means you get about 9 minutes of good but less essential musical grout between those high points, and it feels like they’re padding out an EP. At 35-plus minutes, Gateway doesn’t feel overly long. The production is perfect for what Phobocosm do, with layers of murk and reverb creating the death cavern. The mix grants the guitars exactly the frightening, intimidating presence this style of death needs.

Gateway sees former guitarist Rob Milly back for the first time since 2016s Bringer of Drought, and his work alongside Samuel Dufour’s excellently unnatural playing leaves no one safe. The riffs and “harmonies” these two conceive are nasty, putrid, and grotesque with bloody roots in death, doom and black metal. This is the reason Phobocosm’s sound packs so much raw venom, and the tandem’s dissonant maelstroms leave behind plenty of little details to unearth with subsequent spins. Once again, Etienne Bayard blows the doors off the crypt with massive death vocals. He’s a superb croaker and makes everything considerably more menacing and horrible. Basically, he’s the very Mouth of Madness.

Phobocosm are one of the most reliable death metal monstrosities out there, and Gateway is another ruthless sucker punch to the epiglottis. While I fear this is dropping too late in the year to get the attention and end-of-year list space it deserves, Gateway definitely has my full attention as 2025 winds down. This is another high-quality dose of excessive extremity that deserves to be heard and marinated deeply within. Take my advice and follow Gateway into lunacy before it becomes another thing you foolishly missed.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/phobocosm | instagram.com/phobocosm
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#2025 #35 #canadianMetal #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #gateway #immolation #incantation #nov25 #phobocosm #review #reviews #ulcerate

Phobocosm – Gateway Review

By Steel Druhm

Well, lookee who just oozed in! Phobocosm, Canada’s infamous cavern creepers and dealers of oppressive death metal, return to shove a lump of revolting slime-scuzz in everyone’s stocking with fourth album, Gateway. When last we heard from them on 2023s Foreordained, they were continuing to tweak and refine their revolting mash-up of Incantation, Immolation, Ulcerate, doom and vaguely pos-metal-y bits with an emphasis on the ominous, unsettling and atonal. When all the gears lock in for Phobocosm, they’re capable of inspiring a real sense of existential dread and unease. They’ve always crafted their music to achieve this effect and conjure dark, unpleasant atmospheres through crushing heaviness. Foreordained nailed the formula, making for a dense, harrowing listen. Gateway mines the same toxic waste pits, searching for the next eldritch nightmare, but takes a somewhat different path there this time. Can they regurgitate as many repellent sounds as before and continue their stellar track record? We’ll need to do some DEEP spelunking to get answers.

It’s immediately apparent that Phobocosm made some changes at the writing table this time. Instead of burying the listener with 6-7 long-form assaults on your calm, Gateway features only 4 proper songs with 3 interludes stitching them together. Opener “Deathless” sounds just as a Phobocosm fan would expect, with buzzing, nerve-jangling riffs emerging like locust hordes as a growing sense of unease and danger is conveyed. It’s unhurried as dark moods are slowly crafted with anticipation and dread rising. When the chaos kicks off, it’s mid-tempo death-doom, grinding and heavy as fuck. Riffs slither everywhere, and death vocals bubble up from some bottomless chasm. There’s a lot of Immolation here, but it never feels like a clone by-product. It’s nasty, satisfying, and creepy. “Unbound” dials up the aggression and urgency with vicious blastbeats and insanity-inducing riffs scorching your brain and sense of safety. It’s 6-plus minutes, but the vibe is so impactful and extreme that you want it to be longer to prolong the glorious punishment. Some of the leads and flourishes are very memorable and appear at just the right moment to really pop. There’s a mood here that’s hard to describe, but it’s highly immersive and ugly down to the fucking bone marrow.

“Sempiternal Penance” keeps the winning streak going with another massive abomination loaded with guttural vocals and tremendously chaotic, deranged riffs. At times, it sounds like an unholy ritual is underway, but something dark and malevolent is starting to take control, and it’s high time to get the fuck out. “Beyond the Threshold of Flesh” is the longest cut at 8:27, and Phobocosm excel at making these kinds of tracks work to their benefit as they escalate and deescalate the sense of fear and danger, but never let you off the meat hook. Rather than feeling like an effort to endure, the track sucks you into a cloud of grasping horrors, chews you up, and vomits out your maimed remains before you even know you’re on the menu. That’s a success in my book. What are the downsides? The presence of the three interludes. While they track the style of the main cuts and effectively maintain tension, it’s really the 4 main set pieces that are the most interesting. That means you get about 9 minutes of good but less essential musical grout between those high points, and it feels like they’re padding out an EP. At 35-plus minutes, Gateway doesn’t feel overly long. The production is perfect for what Phobocosm do, with layers of murk and reverb creating the death cavern. The mix grants the guitars exactly the frightening, intimidating presence this style of death needs.

Gateway sees former guitarist Rob Milly back for the first time since 2016s Bringer of Drought, and his work alongside Samuel Dufour’s excellently unnatural playing leaves no one safe. The riffs and “harmonies” these two conceive are nasty, putrid, and grotesque with bloody roots in death, doom and black metal. This is the reason Phobocosm’s sound packs so much raw venom, and the tandem’s dissonant maelstroms leave behind plenty of little details to unearth with subsequent spins. Once again, Etienne Bayard blows the doors off the crypt with massive death vocals. He’s a superb croaker and makes everything considerably more menacing and horrible. Basically, he’s the very Mouth of Madness.

Phobocosm are one of the most reliable death metal monstrosities out there, and Gateway is another ruthless sucker punch to the epiglottis. While I fear this is dropping too late in the year to get the attention and end-of-year list space it deserves, Gateway definitely has my full attention as 2025 winds down. This is another high-quality dose of excessive extremity that deserves to be heard and marinated deeply within. Take my advice and follow Gateway into lunacy before it becomes another thing you foolishly missed.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/phobocosm | instagram.com/phobocosm
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#2025 #35 #canadianMetal #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #gateway #immolation #incantation #nov25 #phobocosm #review #reviews #ulcerate

Phobocosm – Gateway Review

By Steel Druhm

Well, lookee who just oozed in! Phobocosm, Canada’s infamous cavern creepers and dealers of oppressive death metal, return to shove a lump of revolting slime-scuzz in everyone’s stocking with fourth album, Gateway. When last we heard from them on 2023s Foreordained, they were continuing to tweak and refine their revolting mash-up of Incantation, Immolation, Ulcerate, doom and vaguely pos-metal-y bits with an emphasis on the ominous, unsettling and atonal. When all the gears lock in for Phobocosm, they’re capable of inspiring a real sense of existential dread and unease. They’ve always crafted their music to achieve this effect and conjure dark, unpleasant atmospheres through crushing heaviness. Foreordained nailed the formula, making for a dense, harrowing listen. Gateway mines the same toxic waste pits, searching for the next eldritch nightmare, but takes a somewhat different path there this time. Can they regurgitate as many repellent sounds as before and continue their stellar track record? We’ll need to do some DEEP spelunking to get answers.

It’s immediately apparent that Phobocosm made some changes at the writing table this time. Instead of burying the listener with 6-7 long-form assaults on your calm, Gateway features only 4 proper songs with 3 interludes stitching them together. Opener “Deathless” sounds just as a Phobocosm fan would expect, with buzzing, nerve-jangling riffs emerging like locust hordes as a growing sense of unease and danger is conveyed. It’s unhurried as dark moods are slowly crafted with anticipation and dread rising. When the chaos kicks off, it’s mid-tempo death-doom, grinding and heavy as fuck. Riffs slither everywhere, and death vocals bubble up from some bottomless chasm. There’s a lot of Immolation here, but it never feels like a clone by-product. It’s nasty, satisfying, and creepy. “Unbound” dials up the aggression and urgency with vicious blastbeats and insanity-inducing riffs scorching your brain and sense of safety. It’s 6-plus minutes, but the vibe is so impactful and extreme that you want it to be longer to prolong the glorious punishment. Some of the leads and flourishes are very memorable and appear at just the right moment to really pop. There’s a mood here that’s hard to describe, but it’s highly immersive and ugly down to the fucking bone marrow.

“Sempiternal Penance” keeps the winning streak going with another massive abomination loaded with guttural vocals and tremendously chaotic, deranged riffs. At times, it sounds like an unholy ritual is underway, but something dark and malevolent is starting to take control, and it’s high time to get the fuck out. “Beyond the Threshold of Flesh” is the longest cut at 8:27, and Phobocosm excel at making these kinds of tracks work to their benefit as they escalate and deescalate the sense of fear and danger, but never let you off the meat hook. Rather than feeling like an effort to endure, the track sucks you into a cloud of grasping horrors, chews you up, and vomits out your maimed remains before you even know you’re on the menu. That’s a success in my book. What are the downsides? The presence of the three interludes. While they track the style of the main cuts and effectively maintain tension, it’s really the 4 main set pieces that are the most interesting. That means you get about 9 minutes of good but less essential musical grout between those high points, and it feels like they’re padding out an EP. At 35-plus minutes, Gateway doesn’t feel overly long. The production is perfect for what Phobocosm do, with layers of murk and reverb creating the death cavern. The mix grants the guitars exactly the frightening, intimidating presence this style of death needs.

Gateway sees former guitarist Rob Milly back for the first time since 2016s Bringer of Drought, and his work alongside Samuel Dufour’s excellently unnatural playing leaves no one safe. The riffs and “harmonies” these two conceive are nasty, putrid, and grotesque with bloody roots in death, doom and black metal. This is the reason Phobocosm’s sound packs so much raw venom, and the tandem’s dissonant maelstroms leave behind plenty of little details to unearth with subsequent spins. Once again, Etienne Bayard blows the doors off the crypt with massive death vocals. He’s a superb croaker and makes everything considerably more menacing and horrible. Basically, he’s the very Mouth of Madness.

Phobocosm are one of the most reliable death metal monstrosities out there, and Gateway is another ruthless sucker punch to the epiglottis. While I fear this is dropping too late in the year to get the attention and end-of-year list space it deserves, Gateway definitely has my full attention as 2025 winds down. This is another high-quality dose of excessive extremity that deserves to be heard and marinated deeply within. Take my advice and follow Gateway into lunacy before it becomes another thing you foolishly missed.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/phobocosm | instagram.com/phobocosm
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#2025 #35 #canadianMetal #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #gateway #immolation #incantation #nov25 #phobocosm #review #reviews #ulcerate

Phobocosm – Gateway Review

By Steel Druhm

Well, lookee who just oozed in! Phobocosm, Canada’s infamous cavern creepers and dealers of oppressive death metal, return to shove a lump of revolting slime-scuzz in everyone’s stocking with fourth album, Gateway. When last we heard from them on 2023s Foreordained, they were continuing to tweak and refine their revolting mash-up of Incantation, Immolation, Ulcerate, doom and vaguely pos-metal-y bits with an emphasis on the ominous, unsettling and atonal. When all the gears lock in for Phobocosm, they’re capable of inspiring a real sense of existential dread and unease. They’ve always crafted their music to achieve this effect and conjure dark, unpleasant atmospheres through crushing heaviness. Foreordained nailed the formula, making for a dense, harrowing listen. Gateway mines the same toxic waste pits, searching for the next eldritch nightmare, but takes a somewhat different path there this time. Can they regurgitate as many repellent sounds as before and continue their stellar track record? We’ll need to do some DEEP spelunking to get answers.

It’s immediately apparent that Phobocosm made some changes at the writing table this time. Instead of burying the listener with 6-7 long-form assaults on your calm, Gateway features only 4 proper songs with 3 interludes stitching them together. Opener “Deathless” sounds just as a Phobocosm fan would expect, with buzzing, nerve-jangling riffs emerging like locust hordes as a growing sense of unease and danger is conveyed. It’s unhurried as dark moods are slowly crafted with anticipation and dread rising. When the chaos kicks off, it’s mid-tempo death-doom, grinding and heavy as fuck. Riffs slither everywhere, and death vocals bubble up from some bottomless chasm. There’s a lot of Immolation here, but it never feels like a clone by-product. It’s nasty, satisfying, and creepy. “Unbound” dials up the aggression and urgency with vicious blastbeats and insanity-inducing riffs scorching your brain and sense of safety. It’s 6-plus minutes, but the vibe is so impactful and extreme that you want it to be longer to prolong the glorious punishment. Some of the leads and flourishes are very memorable and appear at just the right moment to really pop. There’s a mood here that’s hard to describe, but it’s highly immersive and ugly down to the fucking bone marrow.

“Sempiternal Penance” keeps the winning streak going with another massive abomination loaded with guttural vocals and tremendously chaotic, deranged riffs. At times, it sounds like an unholy ritual is underway, but something dark and malevolent is starting to take control, and it’s high time to get the fuck out. “Beyond the Threshold of Flesh” is the longest cut at 8:27, and Phobocosm excel at making these kinds of tracks work to their benefit as they escalate and deescalate the sense of fear and danger, but never let you off the meat hook. Rather than feeling like an effort to endure, the track sucks you into a cloud of grasping horrors, chews you up, and vomits out your maimed remains before you even know you’re on the menu. That’s a success in my book. What are the downsides? The presence of the three interludes. While they track the style of the main cuts and effectively maintain tension, it’s really the 4 main set pieces that are the most interesting. That means you get about 9 minutes of good but less essential musical grout between those high points, and it feels like they’re padding out an EP. At 35-plus minutes, Gateway doesn’t feel overly long. The production is perfect for what Phobocosm do, with layers of murk and reverb creating the death cavern. The mix grants the guitars exactly the frightening, intimidating presence this style of death needs.

Gateway sees former guitarist Rob Milly back for the first time since 2016s Bringer of Drought, and his work alongside Samuel Dufour’s excellently unnatural playing leaves no one safe. The riffs and “harmonies” these two conceive are nasty, putrid, and grotesque with bloody roots in death, doom and black metal. This is the reason Phobocosm’s sound packs so much raw venom, and the tandem’s dissonant maelstroms leave behind plenty of little details to unearth with subsequent spins. Once again, Etienne Bayard blows the doors off the crypt with massive death vocals. He’s a superb croaker and makes everything considerably more menacing and horrible. Basically, he’s the very Mouth of Madness.

Phobocosm are one of the most reliable death metal monstrosities out there, and Gateway is another ruthless sucker punch to the epiglottis. While I fear this is dropping too late in the year to get the attention and end-of-year list space it deserves, Gateway definitely has my full attention as 2025 winds down. This is another high-quality dose of excessive extremity that deserves to be heard and marinated deeply within. Take my advice and follow Gateway into lunacy before it becomes another thing you foolishly missed.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/phobocosm | instagram.com/phobocosm
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#2025 #35 #canadianMetal #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #gateway #immolation #incantation #nov25 #phobocosm #review #reviews #ulcerate

Terror Corpse – Ash Eclipses Flesh Review

By Saunders

Already boasting a killer debut EP to their name in 2025, courtesy of the sick, old school deathgrind mayhem comprising Systems of Apocalypse, Texan wrecking crew Terror Corpse hit the ground running in their short time together. The newly minted outfit come seasoned with underground cred, featuring members that have logged time in the likes of Malignant Altar, Oceans of Slumber, Necrofier and Insect Warfare. Recording the EP as a five-piece, debut full-length Ash Eclipses Flesh finds Terror Corpse stripping back to a trio and shifting tact musically. While remnants of the heavily grind-influenced charge of Systems of Apocalypse remains intact, Terror Corpse mine the fetid soil of vintage death metal, citing the likes of Celtic Frost, Incantation and pre-2000s Morbid Angel as key influences. Throw in shades of Immolation, Terrorizer, early Carcass and Exhumed, and you have a recipe for a good old-fashioned beatdown. However, don’t be fooled into thinking Terror Corpse is a run-of-the-mill act riding the decaying coattails of legacy acts of the past. Ash Eclipses Flesh respects the past, while paving its own twisted path through grisly killing fields and dank caverns of grotesqueries.

Terror Corpse merge old timey underground aesthetics with a vital injection of their own character and modern appeal. Presenting a grimy and wickedly brutal collection of grind-encrusted old-school death, Terror Corpse both encompasses and deviates from the deathgrind formula of the EP, pivoting into deathlier, guttural realms. Any disappointment of the sound shift is swiftly bludgeoned on opening track “Pyre of Ash and Bone.” The song makes a hellish statement, hammering down violent, riffy death marches through menacing atmospheres, as uber low guttural vox, squealing leads, and livewire drumming seal the deal. Dobber Beverly again cements his status as a cult legend in extreme metal drumming. Also handling guitar duties with main vocalist Mat V, the duo reinforces the album’s retro, brutish charms, primitive clubbings, and ominous atmosphere with a vital collection of top-shelf riffs, mangled leads, and headbangable delights.

Ash Eclipses Flesh revels in shifting gears from dense, noisy chaos and relentless blasts to knuckle-dragging grooves, and monstrous, caverncore-esque swarms, Terror Corpse also incorporate infectious bursts of thrashy death and gnarled, punkish grind into the fray. After a solid, respectable beginning, Ash Eclipses Flesh really hits stride on third cut “Womb of the Hollow Earth,” and it’s a ripping, high-potency ride from here on in. Elsewhere, they delve into death-doom slogs, inflicted upon the devastating “Fallout Obliteration,” and punishing mid-section on the lurching, vicious stomp of “Sons of Perdition.” Refusing to neglect their classic grindcore and splattery deathgrind roots, Terror Corpse bring the filth and dual vox, including shrieky highs, to the thrashing intensity of “Nuclear Winter.” Meanwhile, the tremendous “The Hollow That Devours” intersperses cavernous double bass rumbles and thrashy bursts with immense mid-paced chuggery and thick, insidious grooves.

Versatile tinkering of their songwriting formula ensures the songs chart diverse territories, while remaining uncompromisingly brutal and wickedly infectious. Even the closing cover of Celtic Frost’s “Into the Crypts of Rays” doesn’t feel wasteful or tacked on. Terror Corpse inject the song’s anthemic, punky edge with their own beefed-up deathgrind spark. Beverly’s energetic, nuanced drumming proves essential as the album’s beating heart, driving the fluctuating pulse rate and need for speed, slick tempo shifts, and rambunctious, sewage-coated grooves. The power of the riff compels, not through technical wizardry, but courtesy of a firm understanding of the genre’s classic origins and grimy, atmospheric underpinnings. Infectious and rancidly beefy riffs, wildly unhinged leads, and sinister melodic currents define the excellent axework. There are no glaring flaws or major drawbacks preventing a strong recommendation. Perhaps you could argue Terror Corpse aren’t doing anything especially new or innovative, while the dominant, incomprehensible gutturals might be a tough sell for some listeners.

Twenty-twenty-five has delivered diverse treats across the metalverse, including top-notch death metal releases of varied persuasions within the genre. Ash Eclipses Flesh is another not to be missed. What they lack in bells, whistles, techy flair or innovation, Terror Corpse more than compensate through their authentic and fresh spin on a vintage sound. A tightly performed, superbly produced, and invigorating slab of riffy old school death, armed with gnarled deathgrind and grisly brutal death ammunition, Ash Eclipses Flesh is a surefire corker and end-of-year list disruptor.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Facebook | Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: November 21st, 2025

#2025 #40 #americanMetal #ashEclipsesFlesh #carcass #celticFrost #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #deathgrind #exhumed #incantation #insectWarfare #malignantAltar #morbidAngel #necrofier #oceansOfSlumber #oldSchoolDeathMetal #review #reviews #terrorCorpse #terrorizer

Terror Corpse – Ash Eclipses Flesh Review

By Saunders

Already boasting a killer debut EP to their name in 2025, courtesy of the sick, old school deathgrind mayhem comprising Systems of Apocalypse, Texan wrecking crew Terror Corpse hit the ground running in their short time together. The newly minted outfit come seasoned with underground cred, featuring members that have logged time in the likes of Malignant Altar, Oceans of Slumber, Necrofier and Insect Warfare. Recording the EP as a five-piece, debut full-length Ash Eclipses Flesh finds Terror Corpse stripping back to a trio and shifting tact musically. While remnants of the heavily grind-influenced charge of Systems of Apocalypse remains intact, Terror Corpse mine the fetid soil of vintage death metal, citing the likes of Celtic Frost, Incantation and pre-2000s Morbid Angel as key influences. Throw in shades of Immolation, Terrorizer, early Carcass and Exhumed, and you have a recipe for a good old-fashioned beatdown. However, don’t be fooled into thinking Terror Corpse is a run-of-the-mill act riding the decaying coattails of legacy acts of the past. Ash Eclipses Flesh respects the past, while paving its own twisted path through grisly killing fields and dank caverns of grotesqueries.

Terror Corpse merge old timey underground aesthetics with a vital injection of their own character and modern appeal. Presenting a grimy and wickedly brutal collection of grind-encrusted old-school death, Terror Corpse both encompasses and deviates from the deathgrind formula of the EP, pivoting into deathlier, guttural realms. Any disappointment of the sound shift is swiftly bludgeoned on opening track “Pyre of Ash and Bone.” The song makes a hellish statement, hammering down violent, riffy death marches through menacing atmospheres, as uber low guttural vox, squealing leads, and livewire drumming seal the deal. Dobber Beverly again cements his status as a cult legend in extreme metal drumming. Also handling guitar duties with main vocalist Mat V, the duo reinforces the album’s retro, brutish charms, primitive clubbings, and ominous atmosphere with a vital collection of top-shelf riffs, mangled leads, and headbangable delights.

Ash Eclipses Flesh revels in shifting gears from dense, noisy chaos and relentless blasts to knuckle-dragging grooves, and monstrous, caverncore-esque swarms, Terror Corpse also incorporate infectious bursts of thrashy death and gnarled, punkish grind into the fray. After a solid, respectable beginning, Ash Eclipses Flesh really hits stride on third cut “Womb of the Hollow Earth,” and it’s a ripping, high-potency ride from here on in. Elsewhere, they delve into death-doom slogs, inflicted upon the devastating “Fallout Obliteration,” and punishing mid-section on the lurching, vicious stomp of “Sons of Perdition.” Refusing to neglect their classic grindcore and splattery deathgrind roots, Terror Corpse bring the filth and dual vox, including shrieky highs, to the thrashing intensity of “Nuclear Winter.” Meanwhile, the tremendous “The Hollow That Devours” intersperses cavernous double bass rumbles and thrashy bursts with immense mid-paced chuggery and thick, insidious grooves.

Versatile tinkering of their songwriting formula ensures the songs chart diverse territories, while remaining uncompromisingly brutal and wickedly infectious. Even the closing cover of Celtic Frost’s “Into the Crypts of Rays” doesn’t feel wasteful or tacked on. Terror Corpse inject the song’s anthemic, punky edge with their own beefed-up deathgrind spark. Beverly’s energetic, nuanced drumming proves essential as the album’s beating heart, driving the fluctuating pulse rate and need for speed, slick tempo shifts, and rambunctious, sewage-coated grooves. The power of the riff compels, not through technical wizardry, but courtesy of a firm understanding of the genre’s classic origins and grimy, atmospheric underpinnings. Infectious and rancidly beefy riffs, wildly unhinged leads, and sinister melodic currents define the excellent axework. There are no glaring flaws or major drawbacks preventing a strong recommendation. Perhaps you could argue Terror Corpse aren’t doing anything especially new or innovative, while the dominant, incomprehensible gutturals might be a tough sell for some listeners.

Twenty-twenty-five has delivered diverse treats across the metalverse, including top-notch death metal releases of varied persuasions within the genre. Ash Eclipses Flesh is another not to be missed. What they lack in bells, whistles, techy flair or innovation, Terror Corpse more than compensate through their authentic and fresh spin on a vintage sound. A tightly performed, superbly produced, and invigorating slab of riffy old school death, armed with gnarled deathgrind and grisly brutal death ammunition, Ash Eclipses Flesh is a surefire corker and end-of-year list disruptor.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Facebook | Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: November 21st, 2025

#2025 #40 #americanMetal #ashEclipsesFlesh #carcass #celticFrost #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #deathgrind #exhumed #incantation #insectWarfare #malignantAltar #morbidAngel #necrofier #oceansOfSlumber #oldSchoolDeathMetal #review #reviews #terrorCorpse #terrorizer

Terror Corpse – Ash Eclipses Flesh Review

By Saunders

Already boasting a killer debut EP to their name in 2025, courtesy of the sick, old school deathgrind mayhem comprising Systems of Apocalypse, Texan wrecking crew Terror Corpse hit the ground running in their short time together. The newly minted outfit come seasoned with underground cred, featuring members that have logged time in the likes of Malignant Altar, Oceans of Slumber, Necrofier and Insect Warfare. Recording the EP as a five-piece, debut full-length Ash Eclipses Flesh finds Terror Corpse stripping back to a trio and shifting tact musically. While remnants of the heavily grind-influenced charge of Systems of Apocalypse remains intact, Terror Corpse mine the fetid soil of vintage death metal, citing the likes of Celtic Frost, Incantation and pre-2000s Morbid Angel as key influences. Throw in shades of Immolation, Terrorizer, early Carcass and Exhumed, and you have a recipe for a good old-fashioned beatdown. However, don’t be fooled into thinking Terror Corpse is a run-of-the-mill act riding the decaying coattails of legacy acts of the past. Ash Eclipses Flesh respects the past, while paving its own twisted path through grisly killing fields and dank caverns of grotesqueries.

Terror Corpse merge old timey underground aesthetics with a vital injection of their own character and modern appeal. Presenting a grimy and wickedly brutal collection of grind-encrusted old-school death, Terror Corpse both encompasses and deviates from the deathgrind formula of the EP, pivoting into deathlier, guttural realms. Any disappointment of the sound shift is swiftly bludgeoned on opening track “Pyre of Ash and Bone.” The song makes a hellish statement, hammering down violent, riffy death marches through menacing atmospheres, as uber low guttural vox, squealing leads, and livewire drumming seal the deal. Dobber Beverly again cements his status as a cult legend in extreme metal drumming. Also handling guitar duties with main vocalist Mat V, the duo reinforces the album’s retro, brutish charms, primitive clubbings, and ominous atmosphere with a vital collection of top-shelf riffs, mangled leads, and headbangable delights.

Ash Eclipses Flesh revels in shifting gears from dense, noisy chaos and relentless blasts to knuckle-dragging grooves, and monstrous, caverncore-esque swarms, Terror Corpse also incorporate infectious bursts of thrashy death and gnarled, punkish grind into the fray. After a solid, respectable beginning, Ash Eclipses Flesh really hits stride on third cut “Womb of the Hollow Earth,” and it’s a ripping, high-potency ride from here on in. Elsewhere, they delve into death-doom slogs, inflicted upon the devastating “Fallout Obliteration,” and punishing mid-section on the lurching, vicious stomp of “Sons of Perdition.” Refusing to neglect their classic grindcore and splattery deathgrind roots, Terror Corpse bring the filth and dual vox, including shrieky highs, to the thrashing intensity of “Nuclear Winter.” Meanwhile, the tremendous “The Hollow That Devours” intersperses cavernous double bass rumbles and thrashy bursts with immense mid-paced chuggery and thick, insidious grooves.

Versatile tinkering of their songwriting formula ensures the songs chart diverse territories, while remaining uncompromisingly brutal and wickedly infectious. Even the closing cover of Celtic Frost’s “Into the Crypts of Rays” doesn’t feel wasteful or tacked on. Terror Corpse inject the song’s anthemic, punky edge with their own beefed-up deathgrind spark. Beverly’s energetic, nuanced drumming proves essential as the album’s beating heart, driving the fluctuating pulse rate and need for speed, slick tempo shifts, and rambunctious, sewage-coated grooves. The power of the riff compels, not through technical wizardry, but courtesy of a firm understanding of the genre’s classic origins and grimy, atmospheric underpinnings. Infectious and rancidly beefy riffs, wildly unhinged leads, and sinister melodic currents define the excellent axework. There are no glaring flaws or major drawbacks preventing a strong recommendation. Perhaps you could argue Terror Corpse aren’t doing anything especially new or innovative, while the dominant, incomprehensible gutturals might be a tough sell for some listeners.

Twenty-twenty-five has delivered diverse treats across the metalverse, including top-notch death metal releases of varied persuasions within the genre. Ash Eclipses Flesh is another not to be missed. What they lack in bells, whistles, techy flair or innovation, Terror Corpse more than compensate through their authentic and fresh spin on a vintage sound. A tightly performed, superbly produced, and invigorating slab of riffy old school death, armed with gnarled deathgrind and grisly brutal death ammunition, Ash Eclipses Flesh is a surefire corker and end-of-year list disruptor.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Facebook | Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: November 21st, 2025

#2025 #40 #americanMetal #ashEclipsesFlesh #carcass #celticFrost #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #deathgrind #exhumed #incantation #insectWarfare #malignantAltar #morbidAngel #necrofier #oceansOfSlumber #oldSchoolDeathMetal #review #reviews #terrorCorpse #terrorizer

Terror Corpse – Ash Eclipses Flesh Review

By Saunders

Already boasting a killer debut EP to their name in 2025, courtesy of the sick, old school deathgrind mayhem comprising Systems of Apocalypse, Texan wrecking crew Terror Corpse hit the ground running in their short time together. The newly minted outfit come seasoned with underground cred, featuring members that have logged time in the likes of Malignant Altar, Oceans of Slumber, Necrofier and Insect Warfare. Recording the EP as a five-piece, debut full-length Ash Eclipses Flesh finds Terror Corpse stripping back to a trio and shifting tact musically. While remnants of the heavily grind-influenced charge of Systems of Apocalypse remains intact, Terror Corpse mine the fetid soil of vintage death metal, citing the likes of Celtic Frost, Incantation and pre-2000s Morbid Angel as key influences. Throw in shades of Immolation, Terrorizer, early Carcass and Exhumed, and you have a recipe for a good old-fashioned beatdown. However, don’t be fooled into thinking Terror Corpse is a run-of-the-mill act riding the decaying coattails of legacy acts of the past. Ash Eclipses Flesh respects the past, while paving its own twisted path through grisly killing fields and dank caverns of grotesqueries.

Terror Corpse merge old timey underground aesthetics with a vital injection of their own character and modern appeal. Presenting a grimy and wickedly brutal collection of grind-encrusted old-school death, Terror Corpse both encompasses and deviates from the deathgrind formula of the EP, pivoting into deathlier, guttural realms. Any disappointment of the sound shift is swiftly bludgeoned on opening track “Pyre of Ash and Bone.” The song makes a hellish statement, hammering down violent, riffy death marches through menacing atmospheres, as uber low guttural vox, squealing leads, and livewire drumming seal the deal. Dobber Beverly again cements his status as a cult legend in extreme metal drumming. Also handling guitar duties with main vocalist Mat V, the duo reinforces the album’s retro, brutish charms, primitive clubbings, and ominous atmosphere with a vital collection of top-shelf riffs, mangled leads, and headbangable delights.

Ash Eclipses Flesh revels in shifting gears from dense, noisy chaos and relentless blasts to knuckle-dragging grooves, and monstrous, caverncore-esque swarms, Terror Corpse also incorporate infectious bursts of thrashy death and gnarled, punkish grind into the fray. After a solid, respectable beginning, Ash Eclipses Flesh really hits stride on third cut “Womb of the Hollow Earth,” and it’s a ripping, high-potency ride from here on in. Elsewhere, they delve into death-doom slogs, inflicted upon the devastating “Fallout Obliteration,” and punishing mid-section on the lurching, vicious stomp of “Sons of Perdition.” Refusing to neglect their classic grindcore and splattery deathgrind roots, Terror Corpse bring the filth and dual vox, including shrieky highs, to the thrashing intensity of “Nuclear Winter.” Meanwhile, the tremendous “The Hollow That Devours” intersperses cavernous double bass rumbles and thrashy bursts with immense mid-paced chuggery and thick, insidious grooves.

Versatile tinkering of their songwriting formula ensures the songs chart diverse territories, while remaining uncompromisingly brutal and wickedly infectious. Even the closing cover of Celtic Frost’s “Into the Crypts of Rays” doesn’t feel wasteful or tacked on. Terror Corpse inject the song’s anthemic, punky edge with their own beefed-up deathgrind spark. Beverly’s energetic, nuanced drumming proves essential as the album’s beating heart, driving the fluctuating pulse rate and need for speed, slick tempo shifts, and rambunctious, sewage-coated grooves. The power of the riff compels, not through technical wizardry, but courtesy of a firm understanding of the genre’s classic origins and grimy, atmospheric underpinnings. Infectious and rancidly beefy riffs, wildly unhinged leads, and sinister melodic currents define the excellent axework. There are no glaring flaws or major drawbacks preventing a strong recommendation. Perhaps you could argue Terror Corpse aren’t doing anything especially new or innovative, while the dominant, incomprehensible gutturals might be a tough sell for some listeners.

Twenty-twenty-five has delivered diverse treats across the metalverse, including top-notch death metal releases of varied persuasions within the genre. Ash Eclipses Flesh is another not to be missed. What they lack in bells, whistles, techy flair or innovation, Terror Corpse more than compensate through their authentic and fresh spin on a vintage sound. A tightly performed, superbly produced, and invigorating slab of riffy old school death, armed with gnarled deathgrind and grisly brutal death ammunition, Ash Eclipses Flesh is a surefire corker and end-of-year list disruptor.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Facebook | Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: November 21st, 2025

#2025 #40 #americanMetal #ashEclipsesFlesh #carcass #celticFrost #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #deathgrind #exhumed #incantation #insectWarfare #malignantAltar #morbidAngel #necrofier #oceansOfSlumber #oldSchoolDeathMetal #review #reviews #terrorCorpse #terrorizer

Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin Review

By Steel Druhm

Seattle-based old school deathers Degraved have been lurking in the back alleys since 2020, tweaking their rancid and rotten caveman-trapped-in-a-cesspool sound for maximum repulsion. 2025 sees them finally give birth to their debut full-length, Spectral Realm of Ruin, and let’s just say their offspring ain’t a looker. Sounding like a time-locked study into the effects of early 90s death on the human brain, you get a nauseating fusion of early Cianide,1 Incantation, Autopsy, and disEMBOWELMENT. This is low-grade, scuzzy, and exceptionally fetid skunk cabbage suitable only for the worst of us. And though the band is sunk up to their privates in the past, they bring enough vim and venom to make things passably fresh and only slightly maggot-infested. If you like your death moldy, oldy, and evil, this just might be your steaming gorilla biscuit.

What I enjoy about Degraved’s style is their blend of ogga-booga caveman idiocy with cavern crawling slime-tentacle riffage and the ever-present coating of muck, mire, and infected poo-crust. This shit just sounds raw, unholy, and filthy. Opener “Pariah of Death” wastes no time flinging waste with abandon, using moist and greasy riffs and thundering drums to backstop sub-human toilet huffing vocals that sound like the NYC subway announcements but a little angrier. Frantic solos, some of which reek of the early days of Death, and some plodding, menacing doom bits round out a crypt rocket of a tune that gets you raving in the fresh graves. “Sulfuric Embalming” is a nuclear bomb of unpleasant noise; blasty, chaotic, raw as fuck, and completely unhinged for the sake of lunacy. The unusually moody guitar phrasing that snakes into the song around the midway point is a nice touch, but this beast is here to swing the deathhammer, and you are all nails.

“Stalker of the Heard” is another piece of trashy nastiness with an extra shot of dissonance and dotted with Tom G. Warrior-esque “UHHs” and OHs” for added spice. This one is teeming with cavern-born Incantation and Immolation riffs that have never seen the light of day, and surprise, surprise, they all bite. There’s an ideal blend of power chugging, mid-tempo devastation, and blasting thrash to keep you off balance. The massive beefbrained chugs at 2:32 are exactly what my metal heart needs, and they feel so right (and wrong). Not everything Degraved do finds that sticky sweet level of decay, however. “Unseen” is the longest cut at over 7 minutes, but it’s the least entertaining cave cretin, lapsing between ooog booga idiocy and bits of Winter and Autopsy but without the charm of either. The quiet interlude in the back-half reeks of something off Death’s Human, and things emerge from this proggier stanza with some effectively brutalizing riffs, but as a whole, the song comes up a bit short. At a short and sharp 35-plus minutes, there’s more to love than tolerate on Spectral Realm of Ruin and the overall experience is appropriately horrific and gruesome. The production is a dead ringer for the shit that was dropping between 1990 and 1994, and the level of murk and reverb in the mix is superb.

NE handles vocals and bass and does a bang-up job. His deathy mutterings and cave roaring are wonderful, and his occasional vomit and wretching noises are a twisted treat. MM and DZ handle the guitars and deliver a bevy of caustic, evil sounds that drip with evil and awful. The solo work is especially delightful and deserving of a round of applause and a spleen ‘n cheese soufflé. They pack that perfect blend of raw energy and somewhat thoughtful progression and add a lot to the dirt and sleaze. LP’s drum work is loud, abrasive, and rowdy, and that’s enough for me. A talented crew in search of cheap morgue space.

Spectral Realm of Ruin is not new, unusual, or groundbreaking, but it will fuck you up and piss on your grave (PISSGRAVE!!). It’s entertaining and disgusting, and sure to repel those whom you seek to offend. What do you have to lose by checking this out besides that shower-fresh feeling? Cleanliness is overrated anyway. I myself haven’t bathed in weeks! Now go get Degraved.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: degraved.bandcamp.com/album | instagram.com/degraved
Releases Worldwide: November 14th, 2025

#2025 #30 #americanMetal #autopsy #cianide #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #degraved #disembowelment #incantation #nov25 #review #reviews #spectralRealmOfRuin

Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin Review

By Steel Druhm

Seattle-based old school deathers Degraved have been lurking in the back alleys since 2020, tweaking their rancid and rotten caveman-trapped-in-a-cesspool sound for maximum repulsion. 2025 sees them finally give birth to their debut full-length, Spectral Realm of Ruin, and let’s just say their offspring ain’t a looker. Sounding like a time-locked study into the effects of early 90s death on the human brain, you get a nauseating fusion of early Cianide,1 Incantation, Autopsy, and disEMBOWELMENT. This is low-grade, scuzzy, and exceptionally fetid skunk cabbage suitable only for the worst of us. And though the band is sunk up to their privates in the past, they bring enough vim and venom to make things passably fresh and only slightly maggot-infested. If you like your death moldy, oldy, and evil, this just might be your steaming gorilla biscuit.

What I enjoy about Degraved’s style is their blend of ogga-booga caveman idiocy with cavern crawling slime-tentacle riffage and the ever-present coating of muck, mire, and infected poo-crust. This shit just sounds raw, unholy, and filthy. Opener “Pariah of Death” wastes no time flinging waste with abandon, using moist and greasy riffs and thundering drums to backstop sub-human toilet huffing vocals that sound like the NYC subway announcements but a little angrier. Frantic solos, some of which reek of the early days of Death, and some plodding, menacing doom bits round out a crypt rocket of a tune that gets you raving in the fresh graves. “Sulfuric Embalming” is a nuclear bomb of unpleasant noise; blasty, chaotic, raw as fuck, and completely unhinged for the sake of lunacy. The unusually moody guitar phrasing that snakes into the song around the midway point is a nice touch, but this beast is here to swing the deathhammer, and you are all nails.

“Stalker of the Heard” is another piece of trashy nastiness with an extra shot of dissonance and dotted with Tom G. Warrior-esque “UHHs” and OHs” for added spice. This one is teeming with cavern-born Incantation and Immolation riffs that have never seen the light of day, and surprise, surprise, they all bite. There’s an ideal blend of power chugging, mid-tempo devastation, and blasting thrash to keep you off balance. The massive beefbrained chugs at 2:32 are exactly what my metal heart needs, and they feel so right (and wrong). Not everything Degraved do finds that sticky sweet level of decay, however. “Unseen” is the longest cut at over 7 minutes, but it’s the least entertaining cave cretin, lapsing between ooog booga idiocy and bits of Winter and Autopsy but without the charm of either. The quiet interlude in the back-half reeks of something off Death’s Human, and things emerge from this proggier stanza with some effectively brutalizing riffs, but as a whole, the song comes up a bit short. At a short and sharp 35-plus minutes, there’s more to love than tolerate on Spectral Realm of Ruin and the overall experience is appropriately horrific and gruesome. The production is a dead ringer for the shit that was dropping between 1990 and 1994, and the level of murk and reverb in the mix is superb.

NE handles vocals and bass and does a bang-up job. His deathy mutterings and cave roaring are wonderful, and his occasional vomit and wretching noises are a twisted treat. MM and DZ handle the guitars and deliver a bevy of caustic, evil sounds that drip with evil and awful. The solo work is especially delightful and deserving of a round of applause and a spleen ‘n cheese soufflé. They pack that perfect blend of raw energy and somewhat thoughtful progression and add a lot to the dirt and sleaze. LP’s drum work is loud, abrasive, and rowdy, and that’s enough for me. A talented crew in search of cheap morgue space.

Spectral Realm of Ruin is not new, unusual, or groundbreaking, but it will fuck you up and piss on your grave (PISSGRAVE!!). It’s entertaining and disgusting, and sure to repel those whom you seek to offend. What do you have to lose by checking this out besides that shower-fresh feeling? Cleanliness is overrated anyway. I myself haven’t bathed in weeks! Now go get Degraved.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: degraved.bandcamp.com/album | instagram.com/degraved
Releases Worldwide: November 14th, 2025

#2025 #30 #americanMetal #autopsy #cianide #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #degraved #disembowelment #incantation #nov25 #review #reviews #spectralRealmOfRuin

Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin Review

By Steel Druhm

Seattle-based old school deathers Degraved have been lurking in the back alleys since 2020, tweaking their rancid and rotten caveman-trapped-in-a-cesspool sound for maximum repulsion. 2025 sees them finally give birth to their debut full-length, Spectral Realm of Ruin, and let’s just say their offspring ain’t a looker. Sounding like a time-locked study into the effects of early 90s death on the human brain, you get a nauseating fusion of early Cianide,1 Incantation, Autopsy, and disEMBOWELMENT. This is low-grade, scuzzy, and exceptionally fetid skunk cabbage suitable only for the worst of us. And though the band is sunk up to their privates in the past, they bring enough vim and venom to make things passably fresh and only slightly maggot-infested. If you like your death moldy, oldy, and evil, this just might be your steaming gorilla biscuit.

What I enjoy about Degraved’s style is their blend of ogga-booga caveman idiocy with cavern crawling slime-tentacle riffage and the ever-present coating of muck, mire, and infected poo-crust. This shit just sounds raw, unholy, and filthy. Opener “Pariah of Death” wastes no time flinging waste with abandon, using moist and greasy riffs and thundering drums to backstop sub-human toilet huffing vocals that sound like the NYC subway announcements but a little angrier. Frantic solos, some of which reek of the early days of Death, and some plodding, menacing doom bits round out a crypt rocket of a tune that gets you raving in the fresh graves. “Sulfuric Embalming” is a nuclear bomb of unpleasant noise; blasty, chaotic, raw as fuck, and completely unhinged for the sake of lunacy. The unusually moody guitar phrasing that snakes into the song around the midway point is a nice touch, but this beast is here to swing the deathhammer, and you are all nails.

“Stalker of the Heard” is another piece of trashy nastiness with an extra shot of dissonance and dotted with Tom G. Warrior-esque “UHHs” and OHs” for added spice. This one is teeming with cavern-born Incantation and Immolation riffs that have never seen the light of day, and surprise, surprise, they all bite. There’s an ideal blend of power chugging, mid-tempo devastation, and blasting thrash to keep you off balance. The massive beefbrained chugs at 2:32 are exactly what my metal heart needs, and they feel so right (and wrong). Not everything Degraved do finds that sticky sweet level of decay, however. “Unseen” is the longest cut at over 7 minutes, but it’s the least entertaining cave cretin, lapsing between ooog booga idiocy and bits of Winter and Autopsy but without the charm of either. The quiet interlude in the back-half reeks of something off Death’s Human, and things emerge from this proggier stanza with some effectively brutalizing riffs, but as a whole, the song comes up a bit short. At a short and sharp 35-plus minutes, there’s more to love than tolerate on Spectral Realm of Ruin and the overall experience is appropriately horrific and gruesome. The production is a dead ringer for the shit that was dropping between 1990 and 1994, and the level of murk and reverb in the mix is superb.

NE handles vocals and bass and does a bang-up job. His deathy mutterings and cave roaring are wonderful, and his occasional vomit and wretching noises are a twisted treat. MM and DZ handle the guitars and deliver a bevy of caustic, evil sounds that drip with evil and awful. The solo work is especially delightful and deserving of a round of applause and a spleen ‘n cheese soufflé. They pack that perfect blend of raw energy and somewhat thoughtful progression and add a lot to the dirt and sleaze. LP’s drum work is loud, abrasive, and rowdy, and that’s enough for me. A talented crew in search of cheap morgue space.

Spectral Realm of Ruin is not new, unusual, or groundbreaking, but it will fuck you up and piss on your grave (PISSGRAVE!!). It’s entertaining and disgusting, and sure to repel those whom you seek to offend. What do you have to lose by checking this out besides that shower-fresh feeling? Cleanliness is overrated anyway. I myself haven’t bathed in weeks! Now go get Degraved.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: degraved.bandcamp.com/album | instagram.com/degraved
Releases Worldwide: November 14th, 2025

#2025 #30 #americanMetal #autopsy #cianide #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #degraved #disembowelment #incantation #nov25 #review #reviews #spectralRealmOfRuin

Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin Review

By Steel Druhm

Seattle-based old school deathers Degraved have been lurking in the back alleys since 2020, tweaking their rancid and rotten caveman-trapped-in-a-cesspool sound for maximum repulsion. 2025 sees them finally give birth to their debut full-length, Spectral Realm of Ruin, and let’s just say their offspring ain’t a looker. Sounding like a time-locked study into the effects of early 90s death on the human brain, you get a nauseating fusion of early Cianide,1 Incantation, Autopsy, and disEMBOWELMENT. This is low-grade, scuzzy, and exceptionally fetid skunk cabbage suitable only for the worst of us. And though the band is sunk up to their privates in the past, they bring enough vim and venom to make things passably fresh and only slightly maggot-infested. If you like your death moldy, oldy, and evil, this just might be your steaming gorilla biscuit.

What I enjoy about Degraved’s style is their blend of ogga-booga caveman idiocy with cavern crawling slime-tentacle riffage and the ever-present coating of muck, mire, and infected poo-crust. This shit just sounds raw, unholy, and filthy. Opener “Pariah of Death” wastes no time flinging waste with abandon, using moist and greasy riffs and thundering drums to backstop sub-human toilet huffing vocals that sound like the NYC subway announcements but a little angrier. Frantic solos, some of which reek of the early days of Death, and some plodding, menacing doom bits round out a crypt rocket of a tune that gets you raving in the fresh graves. “Sulfuric Embalming” is a nuclear bomb of unpleasant noise; blasty, chaotic, raw as fuck, and completely unhinged for the sake of lunacy. The unusually moody guitar phrasing that snakes into the song around the midway point is a nice touch, but this beast is here to swing the deathhammer, and you are all nails.

“Stalker of the Heard” is another piece of trashy nastiness with an extra shot of dissonance and dotted with Tom G. Warrior-esque “UHHs” and OHs” for added spice. This one is teeming with cavern-born Incantation and Immolation riffs that have never seen the light of day, and surprise, surprise, they all bite. There’s an ideal blend of power chugging, mid-tempo devastation, and blasting thrash to keep you off balance. The massive beefbrained chugs at 2:32 are exactly what my metal heart needs, and they feel so right (and wrong). Not everything Degraved do finds that sticky sweet level of decay, however. “Unseen” is the longest cut at over 7 minutes, but it’s the least entertaining cave cretin, lapsing between ooog booga idiocy and bits of Winter and Autopsy but without the charm of either. The quiet interlude in the back-half reeks of something off Death’s Human, and things emerge from this proggier stanza with some effectively brutalizing riffs, but as a whole, the song comes up a bit short. At a short and sharp 35-plus minutes, there’s more to love than tolerate on Spectral Realm of Ruin and the overall experience is appropriately horrific and gruesome. The production is a dead ringer for the shit that was dropping between 1990 and 1994, and the level of murk and reverb in the mix is superb.

NE handles vocals and bass and does a bang-up job. His deathy mutterings and cave roaring are wonderful, and his occasional vomit and wretching noises are a twisted treat. MM and DZ handle the guitars and deliver a bevy of caustic, evil sounds that drip with evil and awful. The solo work is especially delightful and deserving of a round of applause and a spleen ‘n cheese soufflé. They pack that perfect blend of raw energy and somewhat thoughtful progression and add a lot to the dirt and sleaze. LP’s drum work is loud, abrasive, and rowdy, and that’s enough for me. A talented crew in search of cheap morgue space.

Spectral Realm of Ruin is not new, unusual, or groundbreaking, but it will fuck you up and piss on your grave (PISSGRAVE!!). It’s entertaining and disgusting, and sure to repel those whom you seek to offend. What do you have to lose by checking this out besides that shower-fresh feeling? Cleanliness is overrated anyway. I myself haven’t bathed in weeks! Now go get Degraved.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: degraved.bandcamp.com/album | instagram.com/degraved
Releases Worldwide: November 14th, 2025

#2025 #30 #americanMetal #autopsy #cianide #darkDescentRecords #deathMetal #degraved #disembowelment #incantation #nov25 #review #reviews #spectralRealmOfRuin

https://www.europesays.com/nl/52571/ Proscription – Desolate Divine | Zware Metalen #2025 #Amusement #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DesolateDivine #Dutch #Entertainment #finland #lantern #maveth #Music #Muziek #Nederland #Nederlanden #Nederlands #Netherlands #NL #proscription #recensie #ZwareMetalen

Proscription – Desolate Divine Review

By Dear Hollow

Last we met Finland’s Proscription, an overwhelming amount of promise was almost as intense as their blackened death attack. While rerecorded songs from their 2017 demo such as “I, the Burning Son” and “Blessed Feast of Black Seth” singlehandedly tamed the experience with jarring simplicity and excessive repetition killing momentum, tracks like “Conduit” and “To Reveal the Word Without Words” were elite blackened death. The promise was insane, causing a bigger stir in the underground than the music itself. While Conduit was solid, Desolate Divine promises even bigger and better – and delivers.

Proscription in a way, feels like a blackened death metal underdog story. The band’s constituents are assembled from the fringes of Finnish black/death, most prominent likely being formidable vocalist/guitarist Christbutcher of Maveth, Cryptborn, and Excommunion fame, although caliber from Brutal Torment, Tramalizer, and Ominous offer their relentless services. This background in more brutal stylistic tendencies pairs neatly with the mountain of sound that Proscription offers. Unlike its predecessor, which dwelt in hints of insanity and riffy mid-tempo crunch, Desolate Divine is a streamlined and no-holds-barred brutalizer of an album, bordering on war metal. Paired with a uniquely blackened death obscurity that appears in haunting leads and hints of atmosphere, Proscription offers a winning formula that is slightly held back by its brickwalled production but ultimately improves upon its predecessor in every way.

If it’s intensity you want, Proscription has it in droves. Haunting leads and blackened tremolo are often the only tether to sanity, their only sense of tangible in their blasting of Behemoth-through-the-war-metal-machine. Bottom-heavy beatdowns are aplenty, with an old school riffy death metal template a la Morbid Angel or Bolt Thrower with the insanity of blastbeats and panicked rhythms (“Bleed the Whore Again,” “Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn”), while overlapping leads, flaying technicality, and wild solos cut through tremolos both down-tuned and blackened (“Gleam of the Morning Star,” “Entreaty of the Very End”). Centerpiece “The Midnight God” (a previously released track in a 2023 split with Sulphurous) and closer “The Great Deceiver” (also from a previously released 2023 demo) offer nearly perfect overlapping of relentless beatdown, blackened grime, and riff – both expertly placed throughout the album. It’s refreshing that previously released material is a highlight rather than a hitch.

Desolate Divine is a bit of a tale of two halves. Proscription goes off the rails in the first half, forsaking every act of subtlety for sheer violence, while the second half is a much more ominous affair. Don’t get me wrong, these tracks will rip you a new one, but at their core is a much more plodding and stable approach, focusing on an almost marching rhythm throughout, making their more obscure and haunting qualities that much more impactful and downright epic when the technical insanity and rhythmic heft collide (“Heave Ho Ye Igneous Leviathan,” title track). Even synth makes appearances in haunting, spacious overtones in this second act (“Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn,” “Not But Dust”), capitalizing on the more haunting attack.

Desolate Divine is dense and unforgiving and certainly imperfect. The brickwalled production and the jarringly start-stop songwriting (not uncommon for other acts like Belphegor or Adversarial) make it difficult to uncover the treasures amid the muck; the central melody of “Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn” sounds too much like Inspector Gadget, and ambient interlude “Not But Dust” feels out of place. However, it’s a step up from Conduit in that its previously released material is a highlight, and there are no bad songs aboard this uncompromising album. It seamlessly blends deathened viscera and blackened flaying in ways that few else can, with stunning brand-setting performances across the board from largely unrecognized Finnish black/death veterans. The potential on Desolate Divine is almost as suffocating as the blackened death metal Proscription wields.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: proscription.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/proscriptionhorde
Releases Worldwide: August 29th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Adversarial #Aug25 #Behemoth #Belphegor #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #BrutalTorment #Cryptborn #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DesolateDivine #Excommunion #FinnishMetal #Maveth #MorbidAngel #Ominous #Proscription #Review #Reviews #Sulphurous #Tramalizer

Proscription – Desolate Divine Review

By Dear Hollow

Last we met Finland’s Proscription, an overwhelming amount of promise was almost as intense as their blackened death attack. While rerecorded songs from their 2017 demo such as “I, the Burning Son” and “Blessed Feast of Black Seth” singlehandedly tamed the experience with jarring simplicity and excessive repetition killing momentum, tracks like “Conduit” and “To Reveal the Word Without Words” were elite blackened death. The promise was insane, causing a bigger stir in the underground than the music itself. While Conduit was solid, Desolate Divine promises even bigger and better – and delivers.

Proscription in a way, feels like a blackened death metal underdog story. The band’s constituents are assembled from the fringes of Finnish black/death, most prominent likely being formidable vocalist/guitarist Christbutcher of Maveth, Cryptborn, and Excommunion fame, although caliber from Brutal Torment, Tramalizer, and Ominous offer their relentless services. This background in more brutal stylistic tendencies pairs neatly with the mountain of sound that Proscription offers. Unlike its predecessor, which dwelt in hints of insanity and riffy mid-tempo crunch, Desolate Divine is a streamlined and no-holds-barred brutalizer of an album, bordering on war metal. Paired with a uniquely blackened death obscurity that appears in haunting leads and hints of atmosphere, Proscription offers a winning formula that is slightly held back by its brickwalled production but ultimately improves upon its predecessor in every way.

If it’s intensity you want, Proscription has it in droves. Haunting leads and blackened tremolo are often the only tether to sanity, their only sense of tangible in their blasting of Behemoth-through-the-war-metal-machine. Bottom-heavy beatdowns are aplenty, with an old school riffy death metal template a la Morbid Angel or Bolt Thrower with the insanity of blastbeats and panicked rhythms (“Bleed the Whore Again,” “Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn”), while overlapping leads, flaying technicality, and wild solos cut through tremolos both down-tuned and blackened (“Gleam of the Morning Star,” “Entreaty of the Very End”). Centerpiece “The Midnight God” (a previously released track in a 2023 split with Sulphurous) and closer “The Great Deceiver” (also from a previously released 2023 demo) offer nearly perfect overlapping of relentless beatdown, blackened grime, and riff – both expertly placed throughout the album. It’s refreshing that previously released material is a highlight rather than a hitch.

Desolate Divine is a bit of a tale of two halves. Proscription goes off the rails in the first half, forsaking every act of subtlety for sheer violence, while the second half is a much more ominous affair. Don’t get me wrong, these tracks will rip you a new one, but at their core is a much more plodding and stable approach, focusing on an almost marching rhythm throughout, making their more obscure and haunting qualities that much more impactful and downright epic when the technical insanity and rhythmic heft collide (“Heave Ho Ye Igneous Leviathan,” title track). Even synth makes appearances in haunting, spacious overtones in this second act (“Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn,” “Not But Dust”), capitalizing on the more haunting attack.

Desolate Divine is dense and unforgiving and certainly imperfect. The brickwalled production and the jarringly start-stop songwriting (not uncommon for other acts like Belphegor or Adversarial) make it difficult to uncover the treasures amid the muck; the central melody of “Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn” sounds too much like Inspector Gadget, and ambient interlude “Not But Dust” feels out of place. However, it’s a step up from Conduit in that its previously released material is a highlight, and there are no bad songs aboard this uncompromising album. It seamlessly blends deathened viscera and blackened flaying in ways that few else can, with stunning brand-setting performances across the board from largely unrecognized Finnish black/death veterans. The potential on Desolate Divine is almost as suffocating as the blackened death metal Proscription wields.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: proscription.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/proscriptionhorde
Releases Worldwide: August 29th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Adversarial #Aug25 #Behemoth #Belphegor #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #BrutalTorment #Cryptborn #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DesolateDivine #Excommunion #FinnishMetal #Maveth #MorbidAngel #Ominous #Proscription #Review #Reviews #Sulphurous #Tramalizer

Proscription – Desolate Divine Review

By Dear Hollow

Last we met Finland’s Proscription, an overwhelming amount of promise was almost as intense as their blackened death attack. While rerecorded songs from their 2017 demo such as “I, the Burning Son” and “Blessed Feast of Black Seth” singlehandedly tamed the experience with jarring simplicity and excessive repetition killing momentum, tracks like “Conduit” and “To Reveal the Word Without Words” were elite blackened death. The promise was insane, causing a bigger stir in the underground than the music itself. While Conduit was solid, Desolate Divine promises even bigger and better – and delivers.

Proscription in a way, feels like a blackened death metal underdog story. The band’s constituents are assembled from the fringes of Finnish black/death, most prominent likely being formidable vocalist/guitarist Christbutcher of Maveth, Cryptborn, and Excommunion fame, although caliber from Brutal Torment, Tramalizer, and Ominous offer their relentless services. This background in more brutal stylistic tendencies pairs neatly with the mountain of sound that Proscription offers. Unlike its predecessor, which dwelt in hints of insanity and riffy mid-tempo crunch, Desolate Divine is a streamlined and no-holds-barred brutalizer of an album, bordering on war metal. Paired with a uniquely blackened death obscurity that appears in haunting leads and hints of atmosphere, Proscription offers a winning formula that is slightly held back by its brickwalled production but ultimately improves upon its predecessor in every way.

If it’s intensity you want, Proscription has it in droves. Haunting leads and blackened tremolo are often the only tether to sanity, their only sense of tangible in their blasting of Behemoth-through-the-war-metal-machine. Bottom-heavy beatdowns are aplenty, with an old school riffy death metal template a la Morbid Angel or Bolt Thrower with the insanity of blastbeats and panicked rhythms (“Bleed the Whore Again,” “Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn”), while overlapping leads, flaying technicality, and wild solos cut through tremolos both down-tuned and blackened (“Gleam of the Morning Star,” “Entreaty of the Very End”). Centerpiece “The Midnight God” (a previously released track in a 2023 split with Sulphurous) and closer “The Great Deceiver” (also from a previously released 2023 demo) offer nearly perfect overlapping of relentless beatdown, blackened grime, and riff – both expertly placed throughout the album. It’s refreshing that previously released material is a highlight rather than a hitch.

Desolate Divine is a bit of a tale of two halves. Proscription goes off the rails in the first half, forsaking every act of subtlety for sheer violence, while the second half is a much more ominous affair. Don’t get me wrong, these tracks will rip you a new one, but at their core is a much more plodding and stable approach, focusing on an almost marching rhythm throughout, making their more obscure and haunting qualities that much more impactful and downright epic when the technical insanity and rhythmic heft collide (“Heave Ho Ye Igneous Leviathan,” title track). Even synth makes appearances in haunting, spacious overtones in this second act (“Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn,” “Not But Dust”), capitalizing on the more haunting attack.

Desolate Divine is dense and unforgiving and certainly imperfect. The brickwalled production and the jarringly start-stop songwriting (not uncommon for other acts like Belphegor or Adversarial) make it difficult to uncover the treasures amid the muck; the central melody of “Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn” sounds too much like Inspector Gadget, and ambient interlude “Not But Dust” feels out of place. However, it’s a step up from Conduit in that its previously released material is a highlight, and there are no bad songs aboard this uncompromising album. It seamlessly blends deathened viscera and blackened flaying in ways that few else can, with stunning brand-setting performances across the board from largely unrecognized Finnish black/death veterans. The potential on Desolate Divine is almost as suffocating as the blackened death metal Proscription wields.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: proscription.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/proscriptionhorde
Releases Worldwide: August 29th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Adversarial #Aug25 #Behemoth #Belphegor #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #BrutalTorment #Cryptborn #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DesolateDivine #Excommunion #FinnishMetal #Maveth #MorbidAngel #Ominous #Proscription #Review #Reviews #Sulphurous #Tramalizer

Proscription – Desolate Divine Review

By Dear Hollow

Last we met Finland’s Proscription, an overwhelming amount of promise was almost as intense as their blackened death attack. While rerecorded songs from their 2017 demo such as “I, the Burning Son” and “Blessed Feast of Black Seth” singlehandedly tamed the experience with jarring simplicity and excessive repetition killing momentum, tracks like “Conduit” and “To Reveal the Word Without Words” were elite blackened death. The promise was insane, causing a bigger stir in the underground than the music itself. While Conduit was solid, Desolate Divine promises even bigger and better – and delivers.

Proscription in a way, feels like a blackened death metal underdog story. The band’s constituents are assembled from the fringes of Finnish black/death, most prominent likely being formidable vocalist/guitarist Christbutcher of Maveth, Cryptborn, and Excommunion fame, although caliber from Brutal Torment, Tramalizer, and Ominous offer their relentless services. This background in more brutal stylistic tendencies pairs neatly with the mountain of sound that Proscription offers. Unlike its predecessor, which dwelt in hints of insanity and riffy mid-tempo crunch, Desolate Divine is a streamlined and no-holds-barred brutalizer of an album, bordering on war metal. Paired with a uniquely blackened death obscurity that appears in haunting leads and hints of atmosphere, Proscription offers a winning formula that is slightly held back by its brickwalled production but ultimately improves upon its predecessor in every way.

If it’s intensity you want, Proscription has it in droves. Haunting leads and blackened tremolo are often the only tether to sanity, their only sense of tangible in their blasting of Behemoth-through-the-war-metal-machine. Bottom-heavy beatdowns are aplenty, with an old school riffy death metal template a la Morbid Angel or Bolt Thrower with the insanity of blastbeats and panicked rhythms (“Bleed the Whore Again,” “Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn”), while overlapping leads, flaying technicality, and wild solos cut through tremolos both down-tuned and blackened (“Gleam of the Morning Star,” “Entreaty of the Very End”). Centerpiece “The Midnight God” (a previously released track in a 2023 split with Sulphurous) and closer “The Great Deceiver” (also from a previously released 2023 demo) offer nearly perfect overlapping of relentless beatdown, blackened grime, and riff – both expertly placed throughout the album. It’s refreshing that previously released material is a highlight rather than a hitch.

Desolate Divine is a bit of a tale of two halves. Proscription goes off the rails in the first half, forsaking every act of subtlety for sheer violence, while the second half is a much more ominous affair. Don’t get me wrong, these tracks will rip you a new one, but at their core is a much more plodding and stable approach, focusing on an almost marching rhythm throughout, making their more obscure and haunting qualities that much more impactful and downright epic when the technical insanity and rhythmic heft collide (“Heave Ho Ye Igneous Leviathan,” title track). Even synth makes appearances in haunting, spacious overtones in this second act (“Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn,” “Not But Dust”), capitalizing on the more haunting attack.

Desolate Divine is dense and unforgiving and certainly imperfect. The brickwalled production and the jarringly start-stop songwriting (not uncommon for other acts like Belphegor or Adversarial) make it difficult to uncover the treasures amid the muck; the central melody of “Behold a Phosphorescent Dawn” sounds too much like Inspector Gadget, and ambient interlude “Not But Dust” feels out of place. However, it’s a step up from Conduit in that its previously released material is a highlight, and there are no bad songs aboard this uncompromising album. It seamlessly blends deathened viscera and blackened flaying in ways that few else can, with stunning brand-setting performances across the board from largely unrecognized Finnish black/death veterans. The potential on Desolate Divine is almost as suffocating as the blackened death metal Proscription wields.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: proscription.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/proscriptionhorde
Releases Worldwide: August 29th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Adversarial #Aug25 #Behemoth #Belphegor #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #BrutalTorment #Cryptborn #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DesolateDivine #Excommunion #FinnishMetal #Maveth #MorbidAngel #Ominous #Proscription #Review #Reviews #Sulphurous #Tramalizer

Castrator – Coronation of the Grotesque Review

With Burdizzo‘s ready, New York’s female death metal foursome Castrator are back to crush spermatic cords and eviscerate…
#NewsBeep #News #Music #2025 #3.5 #Aug25 #CannibalCorpse #Castrator #CoronationoftheGrotesque #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Deicide #Entertainment #MorbidAngelDeathMetal #NewYorkDeathMetal #review #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/61050/

Castrator – Coronation of the Grotesque Review

By Tyme

With Burdizzo‘s ready, New York’s female death metal foursome Castrator are back to crush spermatic cords and eviscerate eardrums with their second album, Coronation of the Grotesque. Despite forming in 2013, Castrator didn’t release Defiled in Oblivion until 2022, that debut finding its way into the hairy palms and ears of our very own, stun baton-wielding overlord Steel, who gave it a respectable 3.0/5.0. While founding drummer Carolina Peréz (Hypoxia, Mama Killa), bassist Robin Mazen (Derkéta, Gruesome), and Defiled in Oblivion vocalist Clarissa Badini (Vicious Blade)1 return for another go-round, guitarist Kimberly Orellana, lauded by Steel as one of Castrator’s biggest assets, was replaced by Sara Loerlein from The Breathing Process. With some concern about the impact this lineup change would have, I soldiered on to determine if Coronation of the Grotesque finds Castrator at their most vicious, or serves as a signal this beast needs spayed.

Clinging to many of the ’80s and ’90s death metal tropes that fueled the fires of their debut, Castrator didn’t steer Coronation of the Grotesque into any new, uncharted territory. Still sonically sliced from the same loins as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Morbid Angel, the formula repeats as bludgeoning bass lines and battering ram drumming set the boundaries within which all the brutal riffs, shredding solos, chugging breakdowns, and bestial vocals do their work—standard fare, yes, but excellently executed. Within seconds of the opening throat punch that is “Fragments of Defiance,” a barbarous ballbuster full of powerhouse riffage and lots of Rick Rozz-inspired whammy dives, it’s apparent that Castrator has upped their game. Clarissa Badini, in particular, has further refined her technique, inflections of David Vincent and traces of Glen Benton intact; her gutturals are even more rib-rattling, and when positioned against or layered under her higher-pitched raspy screams, the effect is absolute devastation. Bucking the predominantly masculine milieu in which they operate, Castrator continues their march toward the death metal elite, and Coronation of the Grotesque is the staircase they ascend.

From performance to production, each aspect of Coronation of the Grotesque improves on Castrator’s past. As good as Orellana was on Defiled in Oblivion, Sara Loerlein completely shreds her way through Coronation of the Grotesque’s thirty-seven-minute runtime. From the frenzied, dissonant leads and Deicide-ic chugs of “I Am Eunuch” to the thrashy, speedy riffs and Celtic Frost-ian breakdowns of “Deviant Miscreant,” Loerlein proves an upgrade, and her soloing, whether melodically melancholic (“Remnants of Chaos”) or full-on fretboard furious (“Blood Bind’s Curse,” “Mortem Opeterie”), is excellent. Spotlighted in its space by Noah Buchanan’s great production work, which also manages to bring more power to Pérez’s drums and allows Manzen’s bass work to shine through in a way it never did on Defiled in Oblivion. Castrator infused Coronation of the Grotesque with an altogether better flow as well, filled with stronger songwriting.

From the tragic, ruthless killing of Mahsa Amini to the abhorrent deeds of predator Naasón Joaquín García (“Covenant of Deceit”) and the ancient Sumerian eunuchization of males meant for slavery and servitude (“I Am Eunuch”), Castrator forgoes pedestrian blood-n-guts to focus more on the societal ills of injustice and human suffering, which adds a layer of gravitas and intelligence to the proceedings. Coronation of the Grotesque packs a walloping punch, and my quibbles with it are few, my biggest being what seems to be Castrator’s habit of tacking a cover song on the end of their albums. Defiled in Oblivion’s version of “Countess Bathory” was fine but unnecessary, as too is the superfluous inclusion of Castrator’s version of Exodus’ excellent “Metal Command” here. I didn’t find it engaging at all, and it diminished what could have been a more visceral conclusion had “Discordant Rumination,” with its final bits sounding reminiscent of the mid-section in Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength,” ushered things to a close.

I walked away from Coronation of the Grotesque with the same “Fuck yah!” feeling I had when watching that scene from G.I. Jane, when a bloodied and beaten Demi Moore raises her battered head to scream “Suck my dick!” at her domineering master chief. Castrator are legit, no doubt, and their excellence shouldn’t be any more impressive because they’re all female, but it is, and I am here for it. If you liked Defiled in Oblivion, you’ll love this. If you’re hearing about Castrator for the first time, Coronation of the Grotesque is definitely worth spinning. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 15th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Aug25 #CannibalCorpse #Castrator #CoronationOfTheGrotesque #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Deicide #MorbidAngelDeathMetal #NewYorkDeathMetal #Review

Castrator – Coronation of the Grotesque Review

By Tyme

With Burdizzo‘s ready, New York’s female death metal foursome Castrator are back to crush spermatic cords and eviscerate eardrums with their second album, Coronation of the Grotesque. Despite forming in 2013, Castrator didn’t release Defiled in Oblivion until 2022, that debut finding its way into the hairy palms and ears of our very own, stun baton-wielding overlord Steel, who gave it a respectable 3.0/5.0. While founding drummer Carolina Peréz (Hypoxia, Mama Killa), bassist Robin Mazen (Derkéta, Gruesome), and Defiled in Oblivion vocalist Clarissa Badini (Vicious Blade)1 return for another go-round, guitarist Kimberly Orellana, lauded by Steel as one of Castrator’s biggest assets, was replaced by Sara Loerlein from The Breathing Process. With some concern about the impact this lineup change would have, I soldiered on to determine if Coronation of the Grotesque finds Castrator at their most vicious, or serves as a signal this beast needs spayed.

Clinging to many of the ’80s and ’90s death metal tropes that fueled the fires of their debut, Castrator didn’t steer Coronation of the Grotesque into any new, uncharted territory. Still sonically sliced from the same loins as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Morbid Angel, the formula repeats as bludgeoning bass lines and battering ram drumming set the boundaries within which all the brutal riffs, shredding solos, chugging breakdowns, and bestial vocals do their work—standard fare, yes, but excellently executed. Within seconds of the opening throat punch that is “Fragments of Defiance,” a barbarous ballbuster full of powerhouse riffage and lots of Rick Rozz-inspired whammy dives, it’s apparent that Castrator has upped their game. Clarissa Badini, in particular, has further refined her technique, inflections of David Vincent and traces of Glen Benton intact; her gutturals are even more rib-rattling, and when positioned against or layered under her higher-pitched raspy screams, the effect is absolute devastation. Bucking the predominantly masculine milieu in which they operate, Castrator continues their march toward the death metal elite, and Coronation of the Grotesque is the staircase they ascend.

From performance to production, each aspect of Coronation of the Grotesque improves on Castrator’s past. As good as Orellana was on Defiled in Oblivion, Sara Loerlein completely shreds her way through Coronation of the Grotesque’s thirty-seven-minute runtime. From the frenzied, dissonant leads and Deicide-ic chugs of “I Am Eunuch” to the thrashy, speedy riffs and Celtic Frost-ian breakdowns of “Deviant Miscreant,” Loerlein proves an upgrade, and her soloing, whether melodically melancholic (“Remnants of Chaos”) or full-on fretboard furious (“Blood Bind’s Curse,” “Mortem Opeterie”), is excellent. Spotlighted in its space by Noah Buchanan’s great production work, which also manages to bring more power to Pérez’s drums and allows Manzen’s bass work to shine through in a way it never did on Defiled in Oblivion. Castrator infused Coronation of the Grotesque with an altogether better flow as well, filled with stronger songwriting.

From the tragic, ruthless killing of Mahsa Amini to the abhorrent deeds of predator Naasón Joaquín García (“Covenant of Deceit”) and the ancient Sumerian eunuchization of males meant for slavery and servitude (“I Am Eunuch”), Castrator forgoes pedestrian blood-n-guts to focus more on the societal ills of injustice and human suffering, which adds a layer of gravitas and intelligence to the proceedings. Coronation of the Grotesque packs a walloping punch, and my quibbles with it are few, my biggest being what seems to be Castrator’s habit of tacking a cover song on the end of their albums. Defiled in Oblivion’s version of “Countess Bathory” was fine but unnecessary, as too is the superfluous inclusion of Castrator’s version of Exodus’ excellent “Metal Command” here. I didn’t find it engaging at all, and it diminished what could have been a more visceral conclusion had “Discordant Rumination,” with its final bits sounding reminiscent of the mid-section in Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength,” ushered things to a close.

I walked away from Coronation of the Grotesque with the same “Fuck yah!” feeling I had when watching that scene from G.I. Jane, when a bloodied and beaten Demi Moore raises her battered head to scream “Suck my dick!” at her domineering master chief. Castrator are legit, no doubt, and their excellence shouldn’t be any more impressive because they’re all female, but it is, and I am here for it. If you liked Defiled in Oblivion, you’ll love this. If you’re hearing about Castrator for the first time, Coronation of the Grotesque is definitely worth spinning. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 15th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Aug25 #CannibalCorpse #Castrator #CoronationOfTheGrotesque #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Deicide #MorbidAngelDeathMetal #NewYorkDeathMetal #Review

Castrator – Coronation of the Grotesque Review

By Tyme

With Burdizzo‘s ready, New York’s female death metal foursome Castrator are back to crush spermatic cords and eviscerate eardrums with their second album, Coronation of the Grotesque. Despite forming in 2013, Castrator didn’t release Defiled in Oblivion until 2022, that debut finding its way into the hairy palms and ears of our very own, stun baton-wielding overlord Steel, who gave it a respectable 3.0/5.0. While founding drummer Carolina Peréz (Hypoxia, Mama Killa), bassist Robin Mazen (Derkéta, Gruesome), and Defiled in Oblivion vocalist Clarissa Badini (Vicious Blade)1 return for another go-round, guitarist Kimberly Orellana, lauded by Steel as one of Castrator’s biggest assets, was replaced by Sara Loerlein from The Breathing Process. With some concern about the impact this lineup change would have, I soldiered on to determine if Coronation of the Grotesque finds Castrator at their most vicious, or serves as a signal this beast needs spayed.

Clinging to many of the ’80s and ’90s death metal tropes that fueled the fires of their debut, Castrator didn’t steer Coronation of the Grotesque into any new, uncharted territory. Still sonically sliced from the same loins as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Morbid Angel, the formula repeats as bludgeoning bass lines and battering ram drumming set the boundaries within which all the brutal riffs, shredding solos, chugging breakdowns, and bestial vocals do their work—standard fare, yes, but excellently executed. Within seconds of the opening throat punch that is “Fragments of Defiance,” a barbarous ballbuster full of powerhouse riffage and lots of Rick Rozz-inspired whammy dives, it’s apparent that Castrator has upped their game. Clarissa Badini, in particular, has further refined her technique, inflections of David Vincent and traces of Glen Benton intact; her gutturals are even more rib-rattling, and when positioned against or layered under her higher-pitched raspy screams, the effect is absolute devastation. Bucking the predominantly masculine milieu in which they operate, Castrator continues their march toward the death metal elite, and Coronation of the Grotesque is the staircase they ascend.

From performance to production, each aspect of Coronation of the Grotesque improves on Castrator’s past. As good as Orellana was on Defiled in Oblivion, Sara Loerlein completely shreds her way through Coronation of the Grotesque’s thirty-seven-minute runtime. From the frenzied, dissonant leads and Deicide-ic chugs of “I Am Eunuch” to the thrashy, speedy riffs and Celtic Frost-ian breakdowns of “Deviant Miscreant,” Loerlein proves an upgrade, and her soloing, whether melodically melancholic (“Remnants of Chaos”) or full-on fretboard furious (“Blood Bind’s Curse,” “Mortem Opeterie”), is excellent. Spotlighted in its space by Noah Buchanan’s great production work, which also manages to bring more power to Pérez’s drums and allows Manzen’s bass work to shine through in a way it never did on Defiled in Oblivion. Castrator infused Coronation of the Grotesque with an altogether better flow as well, filled with stronger songwriting.

From the tragic, ruthless killing of Mahsa Amini to the abhorrent deeds of predator Naasón Joaquín García (“Covenant of Deceit”) and the ancient Sumerian eunuchization of males meant for slavery and servitude (“I Am Eunuch”), Castrator forgoes pedestrian blood-n-guts to focus more on the societal ills of injustice and human suffering, which adds a layer of gravitas and intelligence to the proceedings. Coronation of the Grotesque packs a walloping punch, and my quibbles with it are few, my biggest being what seems to be Castrator’s habit of tacking a cover song on the end of their albums. Defiled in Oblivion’s version of “Countess Bathory” was fine but unnecessary, as too is the superfluous inclusion of Castrator’s version of Exodus’ excellent “Metal Command” here. I didn’t find it engaging at all, and it diminished what could have been a more visceral conclusion had “Discordant Rumination,” with its final bits sounding reminiscent of the mid-section in Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength,” ushered things to a close.

I walked away from Coronation of the Grotesque with the same “Fuck yah!” feeling I had when watching that scene from G.I. Jane, when a bloodied and beaten Demi Moore raises her battered head to scream “Suck my dick!” at her domineering master chief. Castrator are legit, no doubt, and their excellence shouldn’t be any more impressive because they’re all female, but it is, and I am here for it. If you liked Defiled in Oblivion, you’ll love this. If you’re hearing about Castrator for the first time, Coronation of the Grotesque is definitely worth spinning. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 15th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Aug25 #CannibalCorpse #Castrator #CoronationOfTheGrotesque #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Deicide #MorbidAngelDeathMetal #NewYorkDeathMetal #Review

Castrator – Coronation of the Grotesque Review

By Tyme

With Burdizzo‘s ready, New York’s female death metal foursome Castrator are back to crush spermatic cords and eviscerate eardrums with their second album, Coronation of the Grotesque. Despite forming in 2013, Castrator didn’t release Defiled in Oblivion until 2022, that debut finding its way into the hairy palms and ears of our very own, stun baton-wielding overlord Steel, who gave it a respectable 3.0/5.0. While founding drummer Carolina Peréz (Hypoxia, Mama Killa), bassist Robin Mazen (Derkéta, Gruesome), and Defiled in Oblivion vocalist Clarissa Badini (Vicious Blade)1 return for another go-round, guitarist Kimberly Orellana, lauded by Steel as one of Castrator’s biggest assets, was replaced by Sara Loerlein from The Breathing Process. With some concern about the impact this lineup change would have, I soldiered on to determine if Coronation of the Grotesque finds Castrator at their most vicious, or serves as a signal this beast needs spayed.

Clinging to many of the ’80s and ’90s death metal tropes that fueled the fires of their debut, Castrator didn’t steer Coronation of the Grotesque into any new, uncharted territory. Still sonically sliced from the same loins as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Morbid Angel, the formula repeats as bludgeoning bass lines and battering ram drumming set the boundaries within which all the brutal riffs, shredding solos, chugging breakdowns, and bestial vocals do their work—standard fare, yes, but excellently executed. Within seconds of the opening throat punch that is “Fragments of Defiance,” a barbarous ballbuster full of powerhouse riffage and lots of Rick Rozz-inspired whammy dives, it’s apparent that Castrator has upped their game. Clarissa Badini, in particular, has further refined her technique, inflections of David Vincent and traces of Glen Benton intact; her gutturals are even more rib-rattling, and when positioned against or layered under her higher-pitched raspy screams, the effect is absolute devastation. Bucking the predominantly masculine milieu in which they operate, Castrator continues their march toward the death metal elite, and Coronation of the Grotesque is the staircase they ascend.

From performance to production, each aspect of Coronation of the Grotesque improves on Castrator’s past. As good as Orellana was on Defiled in Oblivion, Sara Loerlein completely shreds her way through Coronation of the Grotesque’s thirty-seven-minute runtime. From the frenzied, dissonant leads and Deicide-ic chugs of “I Am Eunuch” to the thrashy, speedy riffs and Celtic Frost-ian breakdowns of “Deviant Miscreant,” Loerlein proves an upgrade, and her soloing, whether melodically melancholic (“Remnants of Chaos”) or full-on fretboard furious (“Blood Bind’s Curse,” “Mortem Opeterie”), is excellent. Spotlighted in its space by Noah Buchanan’s great production work, which also manages to bring more power to Pérez’s drums and allows Manzen’s bass work to shine through in a way it never did on Defiled in Oblivion. Castrator infused Coronation of the Grotesque with an altogether better flow as well, filled with stronger songwriting.

From the tragic, ruthless killing of Mahsa Amini to the abhorrent deeds of predator Naasón Joaquín García (“Covenant of Deceit”) and the ancient Sumerian eunuchization of males meant for slavery and servitude (“I Am Eunuch”), Castrator forgoes pedestrian blood-n-guts to focus more on the societal ills of injustice and human suffering, which adds a layer of gravitas and intelligence to the proceedings. Coronation of the Grotesque packs a walloping punch, and my quibbles with it are few, my biggest being what seems to be Castrator’s habit of tacking a cover song on the end of their albums. Defiled in Oblivion’s version of “Countess Bathory” was fine but unnecessary, as too is the superfluous inclusion of Castrator’s version of Exodus’ excellent “Metal Command” here. I didn’t find it engaging at all, and it diminished what could have been a more visceral conclusion had “Discordant Rumination,” with its final bits sounding reminiscent of the mid-section in Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength,” ushered things to a close.

I walked away from Coronation of the Grotesque with the same “Fuck yah!” feeling I had when watching that scene from G.I. Jane, when a bloodied and beaten Demi Moore raises her battered head to scream “Suck my dick!” at her domineering master chief. Castrator are legit, no doubt, and their excellence shouldn’t be any more impressive because they’re all female, but it is, and I am here for it. If you liked Defiled in Oblivion, you’ll love this. If you’re hearing about Castrator for the first time, Coronation of the Grotesque is definitely worth spinning. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 15th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Aug25 #CannibalCorpse #Castrator #CoronationOfTheGrotesque #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Deicide #MorbidAngelDeathMetal #NewYorkDeathMetal #Review

Sepulchral Curse – Crimson Moon Evocations Review

By Tyme

Turku, Finland’s five-piece blackened death outfit Sepulchral Curse, have been carving their niche into the Finnish metal scene since 2013. Their 2020 debut album, Only Ashes Remain, which was backed by the full force and weight of the mighty Transcending Obscurity marketing machine, made quite an impression on fans1 and critics alike with its raw power and overt melodicism. After the departure of drummer and principal songwriter Tommi Ilmanen, however, 2023’s Abhorrent Dimensions was a beast of a different fur, with some of the melodic intricacies of its predecessor dialed back in favor of ferocity. Now, supported by new label Dark Descent Records and with the full Abhorrent Dimensions line-up intact, Sepulchral Curse returns with Crimson Moon Evocations. I was surprised that AMG had never covered a Sepulchral Curse release before, so I was excited to get to work. After re-acquainting myself with their previous efforts, I dove into Crimson Moon Evocations, wondering whether I’d howl or scowl.

Sepulchral Curse continues to drain the “black” from its blackened death metal swamp, replacing it with a healthy dose of doom on Crimson Moon Evocations. Gone is the bright, youthful thrashiness of Only Ashes Remain and the overtly straightforward, middle-aged deathliness of Abhorrent Dimensions, leaving only a cadaverously mature darkness in its wake, a fitting reflection of Mark Erskine’s beautifully murky cover art. Guitarists Jaako Riihinäki and Aleksi Luuka, who split songwriting duties here, have crafted an album that mixes Hyperdontial barbarism with the moody melodicism of Ocean of Grief. Full of melancholic leads (“Wildfires,” “The Currents of Chaos”), doom-heavy chugs and dense, chest-piercing riffs (“The Locust Scar”), there’s plenty here to keep heads bobbing and fists engaged. Niilas Nissilä’s bass, though not always audible, combines well with Johannes Rantala’s world-beating drum work to bring extra heft to the Crimson Moon Evocations riff-fest. Add the always guttural, brute-heavy vocals of Kari Kankaanpää to this primarily mid-paced affair, and Sepulchral Curse seems to have successfully crossed over into the realms of melodic death doomdom.

From start to finish, the journey through Crimson Moon Evocations‘ forty-minute runtime took me by surprise. With Riihinäki’s and Luuka’s dual guitar work hanging lushly in the garden of Tomi Uusitupa’s warm mix, the crushing tremolos of “House of the Black Moon” stand tall alongside the Slayer-like leads of “Beneath the Dismal Tides” and the monstrous power of “Crimson Passage” as album highlights. The doomier approach shows fans this is not the stock-in-trade Sepulchral Curse they are used to but a band stretching past the boundaries of its previous efforts to carve out a more sustainable future. And if the inherent darkness embedded into Crimson Moon Evocations is any indication, the future for Sepulchral Curse may have just gotten brighter.

Still, as evolved as Sepulchral Curse have become on Crimson Moon Evocations, there’s still work to do. While I am a big fan of Kari’s monstrously cavernous vocal delivery, the sheer density of the man’s crushing approach can sometimes leave a listener gasping for air. Previous efforts saw backing vocals provided by Ilmanen and Nissilä offset that density with plenty of blackish rasps and shouts. On Crimson Moon Evocations, Kari stands alone in the vocal spotlight with only “Empress of the Dead” offering some level of strident, Nissilä provided variety. Combine this issue with the fact that, since its inception, Sepulchral Curse has never really done anything to place itself head and shoulders above what any other band is doing in the blackened death, and now doom, space, and you are left with just one more fair-to-middlin’ affair.

Sepulchral Curse is a good band. Crimson Moon Evocations is a good album, and I enjoyed it well enough. This “goodness” stands both as the band’s blessing and its curse. And while the opening of this last paragraph has made it clear what score I’ve assessed, it bears reiterating that Sepulchral Curse has done nothing here that’s got me mixed or disappointed, but they’ve also not done anything very good or great. However, I am encouraged by this newfound darkness they’ve tapped into and will be hoping for a howling great time on the next outing.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records | Bandcamp
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 28, 2025

#2025 #30 #BlackMetal #CrimsonMoonEvocations #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #Feb25 #FinnishMetal #Hyperdontia #OceanOfGrief #Review #SepulchralCurse

Sepulchral Curse – Crimson Moon Evocations Review

By Tyme

Turku, Finland’s five-piece blackened death outfit Sepulchral Curse, have been carving their niche into the Finnish metal scene since 2013. Their 2020 debut album, Only Ashes Remain, which was backed by the full force and weight of the mighty Transcending Obscurity marketing machine, made quite an impression on fans1 and critics alike with its raw power and overt melodicism. After the departure of drummer and principal songwriter Tommi Ilmanen, however, 2023’s Abhorrent Dimensions was a beast of a different fur, with some of the melodic intricacies of its predecessor dialed back in favor of ferocity. Now, supported by new label Dark Descent Records and with the full Abhorrent Dimensions line-up intact, Sepulchral Curse returns with Crimson Moon Evocations. I was surprised that AMG had never covered a Sepulchral Curse release before, so I was excited to get to work. After re-acquainting myself with their previous efforts, I dove into Crimson Moon Evocations, wondering whether I’d howl or scowl.

Sepulchral Curse continues to drain the “black” from its blackened death metal swamp, replacing it with a healthy dose of doom on Crimson Moon Evocations. Gone is the bright, youthful thrashiness of Only Ashes Remain and the overtly straightforward, middle-aged deathliness of Abhorrent Dimensions, leaving only a cadaverously mature darkness in its wake, a fitting reflection of Mark Erskine’s beautifully murky cover art. Guitarists Jaako Riihinäki and Aleksi Luuka, who split songwriting duties here, have crafted an album that mixes Hyperdontial barbarism with the moody melodicism of Ocean of Grief. Full of melancholic leads (“Wildfires,” “The Currents of Chaos”), doom-heavy chugs and dense, chest-piercing riffs (“The Locust Scar”), there’s plenty here to keep heads bobbing and fists engaged. Niilas Nissilä’s bass, though not always audible, combines well with Johannes Rantala’s world-beating drum work to bring extra heft to the Crimson Moon Evocations riff-fest. Add the always guttural, brute-heavy vocals of Kari Kankaanpää to this primarily mid-paced affair, and Sepulchral Curse seems to have successfully crossed over into the realms of melodic death doomdom.

From start to finish, the journey through Crimson Moon Evocations‘ forty-minute runtime took me by surprise. With Riihinäki’s and Luuka’s dual guitar work hanging lushly in the garden of Tomi Uusitupa’s warm mix, the crushing tremolos of “House of the Black Moon” stand tall alongside the Slayer-like leads of “Beneath the Dismal Tides” and the monstrous power of “Crimson Passage” as album highlights. The doomier approach shows fans this is not the stock-in-trade Sepulchral Curse they are used to but a band stretching past the boundaries of its previous efforts to carve out a more sustainable future. And if the inherent darkness embedded into Crimson Moon Evocations is any indication, the future for Sepulchral Curse may have just gotten brighter.

Still, as evolved as Sepulchral Curse have become on Crimson Moon Evocations, there’s still work to do. While I am a big fan of Kari’s monstrously cavernous vocal delivery, the sheer density of the man’s crushing approach can sometimes leave a listener gasping for air. Previous efforts saw backing vocals provided by Ilmanen and Nissilä offset that density with plenty of blackish rasps and shouts. On Crimson Moon Evocations, Kari stands alone in the vocal spotlight with only “Empress of the Dead” offering some level of strident, Nissilä provided variety. Combine this issue with the fact that, since its inception, Sepulchral Curse has never really done anything to place itself head and shoulders above what any other band is doing in the blackened death, and now doom, space, and you are left with just one more fair-to-middlin’ affair.

Sepulchral Curse is a good band. Crimson Moon Evocations is a good album, and I enjoyed it well enough. This “goodness” stands both as the band’s blessing and its curse. And while the opening of this last paragraph has made it clear what score I’ve assessed, it bears reiterating that Sepulchral Curse has done nothing here that’s got me mixed or disappointed, but they’ve also not done anything very good or great. However, I am encouraged by this newfound darkness they’ve tapped into and will be hoping for a howling great time on the next outing.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records | Bandcamp
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 28, 2025

#2025 #30 #BlackMetal #CrimsonMoonEvocations #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #Feb25 #FinnishMetal #Hyperdontia #OceanOfGrief #Review #SepulchralCurse

Sepulchral Curse – Crimson Moon Evocations Review

By Tyme

Turku, Finland’s five-piece blackened death outfit Sepulchral Curse, have been carving their niche into the Finnish metal scene since 2013. Their 2020 debut album, Only Ashes Remain, which was backed by the full force and weight of the mighty Transcending Obscurity marketing machine, made quite an impression on fans1 and critics alike with its raw power and overt melodicism. After the departure of drummer and principal songwriter Tommi Ilmanen, however, 2023’s Abhorrent Dimensions was a beast of a different fur, with some of the melodic intricacies of its predecessor dialed back in favor of ferocity. Now, supported by new label Dark Descent Records and with the full Abhorrent Dimensions line-up intact, Sepulchral Curse returns with Crimson Moon Evocations. I was surprised that AMG had never covered a Sepulchral Curse release before, so I was excited to get to work. After re-acquainting myself with their previous efforts, I dove into Crimson Moon Evocations, wondering whether I’d howl or scowl.

Sepulchral Curse continues to drain the “black” from its blackened death metal swamp, replacing it with a healthy dose of doom on Crimson Moon Evocations. Gone is the bright, youthful thrashiness of Only Ashes Remain and the overtly straightforward, middle-aged deathliness of Abhorrent Dimensions, leaving only a cadaverously mature darkness in its wake, a fitting reflection of Mark Erskine’s beautifully murky cover art. Guitarists Jaako Riihinäki and Aleksi Luuka, who split songwriting duties here, have crafted an album that mixes Hyperdontial barbarism with the moody melodicism of Ocean of Grief. Full of melancholic leads (“Wildfires,” “The Currents of Chaos”), doom-heavy chugs and dense, chest-piercing riffs (“The Locust Scar”), there’s plenty here to keep heads bobbing and fists engaged. Niilas Nissilä’s bass, though not always audible, combines well with Johannes Rantala’s world-beating drum work to bring extra heft to the Crimson Moon Evocations riff-fest. Add the always guttural, brute-heavy vocals of Kari Kankaanpää to this primarily mid-paced affair, and Sepulchral Curse seems to have successfully crossed over into the realms of melodic death doomdom.

From start to finish, the journey through Crimson Moon Evocations‘ forty-minute runtime took me by surprise. With Riihinäki’s and Luuka’s dual guitar work hanging lushly in the garden of Tomi Uusitupa’s warm mix, the crushing tremolos of “House of the Black Moon” stand tall alongside the Slayer-like leads of “Beneath the Dismal Tides” and the monstrous power of “Crimson Passage” as album highlights. The doomier approach shows fans this is not the stock-in-trade Sepulchral Curse they are used to but a band stretching past the boundaries of its previous efforts to carve out a more sustainable future. And if the inherent darkness embedded into Crimson Moon Evocations is any indication, the future for Sepulchral Curse may have just gotten brighter.

Still, as evolved as Sepulchral Curse have become on Crimson Moon Evocations, there’s still work to do. While I am a big fan of Kari’s monstrously cavernous vocal delivery, the sheer density of the man’s crushing approach can sometimes leave a listener gasping for air. Previous efforts saw backing vocals provided by Ilmanen and Nissilä offset that density with plenty of blackish rasps and shouts. On Crimson Moon Evocations, Kari stands alone in the vocal spotlight with only “Empress of the Dead” offering some level of strident, Nissilä provided variety. Combine this issue with the fact that, since its inception, Sepulchral Curse has never really done anything to place itself head and shoulders above what any other band is doing in the blackened death, and now doom, space, and you are left with just one more fair-to-middlin’ affair.

Sepulchral Curse is a good band. Crimson Moon Evocations is a good album, and I enjoyed it well enough. This “goodness” stands both as the band’s blessing and its curse. And while the opening of this last paragraph has made it clear what score I’ve assessed, it bears reiterating that Sepulchral Curse has done nothing here that’s got me mixed or disappointed, but they’ve also not done anything very good or great. However, I am encouraged by this newfound darkness they’ve tapped into and will be hoping for a howling great time on the next outing.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records | Bandcamp
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 28, 2025

#2025 #30 #BlackMetal #CrimsonMoonEvocations #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #Feb25 #FinnishMetal #Hyperdontia #OceanOfGrief #Review #SepulchralCurse

Phrenelith – Ashen Womb Review

By Alekhines Gun

In the early 2010’s, the world saw an explosion of the New-School-Old-School Revival of death metal. Spearheaded by outfits like Tomb Mold, Gatecreeper, Hyperdontia, and Undergang—to name but a few—this wave of bands represented taking the crust, filth, and savagery of your favorite genre founding fathers and launching them forth with wrath into of the modern era. Standing shoulder to shoulder near the front of this pack was Phrenelith, a Danish group whose debut Desolate Landscape made them scene darlings almost overnight. Unfortunately, sophomore release Chimaera opted for an increase in muck and atmospheric decor at the cost of some of their first album’s power, and was received somewhat divisively. Now, some four years later, Ashen Womb is prepared to drop like an anvil on their unsuspecting fanbase. Will they continue to dive into the murky wells, or has this womb been gestating a return to glorious, bone-powdering violence?

As it turns out, Phrenelith have opted for option C. The approach of Ashen Womb, in both music and sound, pitches for a merging of the melancholy of Chimaera with Desolate Landscape’s cement-shattering methodology to songwriting. The production sidesteps both previous releases, at once managing to be muddy in its tone with leads vibrant enough to cut through the mire. Making his LP debut, drummer Andreas Nordgreen quickly etches his identity into the band, flowing between creative drum fills from measure to measure, giving repeated refrains in “Chrysopoeia” and “Astral Larvae” an engaging quality. Much like the artwork adorning the cover, the more melodic tones are buried but bright, even as bassist Jakob plays in tandem with guitar leads rather than chords, laying riffcraft to savage the crust below. The atypically warm DR lets everything shine in this paradoxical sonic quagmire, creating the suffocating character Chimaera opted for without sacrificing the clarity of barbarity at work.

Older fans will be stoked to hear the return to immediate violence in the compositions. Lead single “Stagnated Blood” toys with a repeated riff at alternating octaves, stringing together hooks and character into a ruthless scorched earth assault. “A Husk Wrung Dry” rocks an infected 7/4 riff replete with whammy abuse and staccato-laced chords which slide from bouncy to bludgeoning. Guitarists David and Simon Daniel toy with bends, modulation, and sustained tapping sections recalling the more crystalline moments of Innumerable Forms, with Simon’s vocals a belligerent, reverb-soaked guttural soup. The vocals in particular are masterfully placed—both within the mix and the music—lyrical arrangement flawlessly adding titanic force to ruthless riffing while knowing when to be silent and let the music speak for itself.

Nonetheless, the specter of Chimaera looms betwixt the heavier moments, filling the negative spaces with gloom and somberness. Title track “Ashen Womb” and “Nebulae” end on repeated, haunting melodies, drawn out to a protracted conclusion. “Sphageion” serves as one of the better interludes I’ve heard, with tension-building distortion and Andreas breaking into a free-form drum solo which would go over swell in a live setting. Even the instrumental opener “Noemata” manages to carve an identity as a curtain-lifter rather than a pointless buildup, rendering Ashen Womb a journey rather than a mere collection of tracks. True, the atmospherics are sometimes heavy-handed; there’s no need to bookend songs with a cumulative couple minutes of Paysage d’Hiver-esque wind and sounds, and a minute could be trimmed off of both emotive fade-outs. Despite this, the mastery of seamless transitioning, rather than sandwiching of the disparaging elements gives Ashen Womb its own flavor in the Phrenelith landscape.

Few bands can manage to make each album its own time capsule of sound and style, but Ashen Womb accomplishes that and more, cementing Phrenelith as a band with chapters. Some may cling to the idea that Desolate Landscape is a collection of better songs, but Ashen Womb is a better album; a journey with highs, lows, and tension-building. By managing to merge the melodicism and mood with the brutality, rather than sacrificing one for the other, these Danes have continued to evolve their sound in an admirable direction. Who can say where the fourth release will take us? One thing’s for sure: it won’t be what any of us expect, other than a commitment to high quality, lethal weapons grade, unadulterated death.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ashen-womb | https://www.facebook.com/phrenelith/
Releases Worldwide: February 7, 2025

#2025 #35 #AshenWomb #DanishMetal #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Feb25 #Gatecreeper #Hyperdontia #InnumerableForms #PaysageDHiver #Phrenelith #Review #Reviews #TombMold #Undergang

Phrenelith – Ashen Womb Review

By Alekhines Gun

In the early 2010’s, the world saw an explosion of the New-School-Old-School Revival of death metal. Spearheaded by outfits like Tomb Mold, Gatecreeper, Hyperdontia, and Undergang—to name but a few—this wave of bands represented taking the crust, filth, and savagery of your favorite genre founding fathers and launching them forth with wrath into of the modern era. Standing shoulder to shoulder near the front of this pack was Phrenelith, a Danish group whose debut Desolate Landscape made them scene darlings almost overnight. Unfortunately, sophomore release Chimaera opted for an increase in muck and atmospheric decor at the cost of some of their first album’s power, and was received somewhat divisively. Now, some four years later, Ashen Womb is prepared to drop like an anvil on their unsuspecting fanbase. Will they continue to dive into the murky wells, or has this womb been gestating a return to glorious, bone-powdering violence?

As it turns out, Phrenelith have opted for option C. The approach of Ashen Womb, in both music and sound, pitches for a merging of the melancholy of Chimaera with Desolate Landscape’s cement-shattering methodology to songwriting. The production sidesteps both previous releases, at once managing to be muddy in its tone with leads vibrant enough to cut through the mire. Making his LP debut, drummer Andreas Nordgreen quickly etches his identity into the band, flowing between creative drum fills from measure to measure, giving repeated refrains in “Chrysopoeia” and “Astral Larvae” an engaging quality. Much like the artwork adorning the cover, the more melodic tones are buried but bright, even as bassist Jakob plays in tandem with guitar leads rather than chords, laying riffcraft to savage the crust below. The atypically warm DR lets everything shine in this paradoxical sonic quagmire, creating the suffocating character Chimaera opted for without sacrificing the clarity of barbarity at work.

Older fans will be stoked to hear the return to immediate violence in the compositions. Lead single “Stagnated Blood” toys with a repeated riff at alternating octaves, stringing together hooks and character into a ruthless scorched earth assault. “A Husk Wrung Dry” rocks an infected 7/4 riff replete with whammy abuse and staccato-laced chords which slide from bouncy to bludgeoning. Guitarists David and Simon Daniel toy with bends, modulation, and sustained tapping sections recalling the more crystalline moments of Innumerable Forms, with Simon’s vocals a belligerent, reverb-soaked guttural soup. The vocals in particular are masterfully placed—both within the mix and the music—lyrical arrangement flawlessly adding titanic force to ruthless riffing while knowing when to be silent and let the music speak for itself.

Nonetheless, the specter of Chimaera looms betwixt the heavier moments, filling the negative spaces with gloom and somberness. Title track “Ashen Womb” and “Nebulae” end on repeated, haunting melodies, drawn out to a protracted conclusion. “Sphageion” serves as one of the better interludes I’ve heard, with tension-building distortion and Andreas breaking into a free-form drum solo which would go over swell in a live setting. Even the instrumental opener “Noemata” manages to carve an identity as a curtain-lifter rather than a pointless buildup, rendering Ashen Womb a journey rather than a mere collection of tracks. True, the atmospherics are sometimes heavy-handed; there’s no need to bookend songs with a cumulative couple minutes of Paysage d’Hiver-esque wind and sounds, and a minute could be trimmed off of both emotive fade-outs. Despite this, the mastery of seamless transitioning, rather than sandwiching of the disparaging elements gives Ashen Womb its own flavor in the Phrenelith landscape.

Few bands can manage to make each album its own time capsule of sound and style, but Ashen Womb accomplishes that and more, cementing Phrenelith as a band with chapters. Some may cling to the idea that Desolate Landscape is a collection of better songs, but Ashen Womb is a better album; a journey with highs, lows, and tension-building. By managing to merge the melodicism and mood with the brutality, rather than sacrificing one for the other, these Danes have continued to evolve their sound in an admirable direction. Who can say where the fourth release will take us? One thing’s for sure: it won’t be what any of us expect, other than a commitment to high quality, lethal weapons grade, unadulterated death.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ashen-womb | https://www.facebook.com/phrenelith/
Releases Worldwide: February 7, 2025

#2025 #35 #AshenWomb #DanishMetal #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Feb25 #Gatecreeper #Hyperdontia #InnumerableForms #PaysageDHiver #Phrenelith #Review #Reviews #TombMold #Undergang

Gutless – High Impact Violence Review

By Saunders

In a banner year for death metal of especially brutal, dissonant and challenging varieties, as we close in on the end of another action-packed year for metal, it’s time to return to the simpler joys of the death metal genre. Enter rising Australian upstarts Gutless. Following their 2018 demo release, the quartet finally unleashes their debut LP, High Impact Violence. Gutless make it clear from the outset they are wired into the old school framework of ’90s-flavored death, pulling no punches. While indebted to the classic American death metal eras of the early to mid ’90s, Gutless feature their own twisted, muffled charms and modern interpretations to smash out an album of solid substance and plenty of ballsy attitude, neck-snapping riffs, and tidy chops. But as end-of-year burnout kicks in and list season begins to take shape, do these Melbourne lads have what it takes to make a significant splash in the death metal cesspool of 2024?

Not being familiar with the underground history and previous short-form releases by Gutless, I dug out their well-received Mass Extinction EP from 2018 in preparation for the High Impact Violence to follow. It was a particularly nasty, feral slab of old school goodness, hinting at their potential. High Impact Violence features a more refined, polished update of their earlier material, yet retains a nasty, no-frills underground edge, including nods to the classic Floridian scene, and early Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and Dying Fetus. Straight off the bat, when dissecting the Gutless DNA threaded into their formula, their strong affiliation with ’90s death metal shines through. Rather than hone into one particular influence, Gutless sculpt their own robust sound, built upon blunt force aesthetics, favoring brutish, tautly wound assaults, thuggish riffs and curb stomping beatdowns.

Amidst the aggressive, take-no-prisoners songwriting, Gutless boast the riffs, bludgeoning, tightly executed musicianship, and upgraded retro flair with an endearing charm that is easy to like. So, while initially, the overall package seemed to blaze by without leaving much of a lasting impression, repeat listens have treated the album kindly. This becomes all the more palatable considering the lean twenty-six-minute runtime. “Bashed and Hemorrhaging” does what any lean, mean death metal album should do, feasting on fast, aggressive rhythms, rabid vocals, and sick, pit-ready groove sections. The belligerent, no-frills assault continues to batter senses and hammer skulls across the album’s efficient duration. Gutless leverage the rough and tumble riffs and chunky mid-paced surges with tasteful soloing and blastier explosions (“Scalpel Obsession”), deft thrash and slam-infused dynamic twists (“Galvanized”), and old school grind, pummel and melodic flair (“Carved into Existence”). Certain tracks, such as those named, stand out from the pack, but it’s all solid, if sometimes unremarkable fare.

High Impact Violence succeeds more often than it falls flat or fails to impose itself on the listener. Yet despite its strengths and solid qualities, the album is not without some issues. Each song offers cool moments; however, a handful of tracks fail to carve deeper impressions in the memory bank once the frenetic attack subsides. More song-by-song individuality and further development of their songwriting skills will hopefully yield stronger results next time around. Allan Stacey and Tom Caldwell skillfully wage war on their instruments, cherry-picking from their influential touchstones with an energetic mix of old school death riffs, clubbing grooves, and occasional melodic flourishes and nifty solos. Drummer Ollie Ballantyne bludgeons his kit with reckless abandon, employing a busy, aggressive, groovy style without relying heavily on excessive blasting or one-dimensional rhythms. Joe Steele isn’t left behind, his meaty low-end given moments to shine. Caldwell’s motor-mouthed, muffled growls are serviceably performed, though a little more variety and unhinged edge of the early vocal eruptions would have added a welcome layer of grimy menace.

Overall, Gutless exhibit a fine example of their long-gestating efforts in finally unleashing their debut LP to the underground masses. And although the final package does not quite deliver a knockout punch, High Impact Violence remains a polished debut and hopefully a springboard to greater things in store for the band’s future endeavors. Perhaps splicing the album’s accomplished riffcraft, refinement and addictive sense of groove, with the nastier, rawer aesthetics of their early work could produce a more potent platform for this beast to grow.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: gutlessmelbourne.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/gutlessmelbourne
Releases Worldwide: November 22nd, 2024

#2024 #30 #AustralianMetal #CannibalCorpse #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DyingFetus #Gutless #HighImpactViolence #OldSchoolDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #Suffocation

Gutless – High Impact Violence Review

By Saunders

In a banner year for death metal of especially brutal, dissonant and challenging varieties, as we close in on the end of another action-packed year for metal, it’s time to return to the simpler joys of the death metal genre. Enter rising Australian upstarts Gutless. Following their 2018 demo release, the quartet finally unleashes their debut LP, High Impact Violence. Gutless make it clear from the outset they are wired into the old school framework of ’90s-flavored death, pulling no punches. While indebted to the classic American death metal eras of the early to mid ’90s, Gutless feature their own twisted, muffled charms and modern interpretations to smash out an album of solid substance and plenty of ballsy attitude, neck-snapping riffs, and tidy chops. But as end-of-year burnout kicks in and list season begins to take shape, do these Melbourne lads have what it takes to make a significant splash in the death metal cesspool of 2024?

Not being familiar with the underground history and previous short-form releases by Gutless, I dug out their well-received Mass Extinction EP from 2018 in preparation for the High Impact Violence to follow. It was a particularly nasty, feral slab of old school goodness, hinting at their potential. High Impact Violence features a more refined, polished update of their earlier material, yet retains a nasty, no-frills underground edge, including nods to the classic Floridian scene, and early Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and Dying Fetus. Straight off the bat, when dissecting the Gutless DNA threaded into their formula, their strong affiliation with ’90s death metal shines through. Rather than hone into one particular influence, Gutless sculpt their own robust sound, built upon blunt force aesthetics, favoring brutish, tautly wound assaults, thuggish riffs and curb stomping beatdowns.

Amidst the aggressive, take-no-prisoners songwriting, Gutless boast the riffs, bludgeoning, tightly executed musicianship, and upgraded retro flair with an endearing charm that is easy to like. So, while initially, the overall package seemed to blaze by without leaving much of a lasting impression, repeat listens have treated the album kindly. This becomes all the more palatable considering the lean twenty-six-minute runtime. “Bashed and Hemorrhaging” does what any lean, mean death metal album should do, feasting on fast, aggressive rhythms, rabid vocals, and sick, pit-ready groove sections. The belligerent, no-frills assault continues to batter senses and hammer skulls across the album’s efficient duration. Gutless leverage the rough and tumble riffs and chunky mid-paced surges with tasteful soloing and blastier explosions (“Scalpel Obsession”), deft thrash and slam-infused dynamic twists (“Galvanized”), and old school grind, pummel and melodic flair (“Carved into Existence”). Certain tracks, such as those named, stand out from the pack, but it’s all solid, if sometimes unremarkable fare.

High Impact Violence succeeds more often than it falls flat or fails to impose itself on the listener. Yet despite its strengths and solid qualities, the album is not without some issues. Each song offers cool moments; however, a handful of tracks fail to carve deeper impressions in the memory bank once the frenetic attack subsides. More song-by-song individuality and further development of their songwriting skills will hopefully yield stronger results next time around. Allan Stacey and Tom Caldwell skillfully wage war on their instruments, cherry-picking from their influential touchstones with an energetic mix of old school death riffs, clubbing grooves, and occasional melodic flourishes and nifty solos. Drummer Ollie Ballantyne bludgeons his kit with reckless abandon, employing a busy, aggressive, groovy style without relying heavily on excessive blasting or one-dimensional rhythms. Joe Steele isn’t left behind, his meaty low-end given moments to shine. Caldwell’s motor-mouthed, muffled growls are serviceably performed, though a little more variety and unhinged edge of the early vocal eruptions would have added a welcome layer of grimy menace.

Overall, Gutless exhibit a fine example of their long-gestating efforts in finally unleashing their debut LP to the underground masses. And although the final package does not quite deliver a knockout punch, High Impact Violence remains a polished debut and hopefully a springboard to greater things in store for the band’s future endeavors. Perhaps splicing the album’s accomplished riffcraft, refinement and addictive sense of groove, with the nastier, rawer aesthetics of their early work could produce a more potent platform for this beast to grow.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: gutlessmelbourne.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/gutlessmelbourne
Releases Worldwide: November 22nd, 2024

#2024 #30 #AustralianMetal #CannibalCorpse #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DyingFetus #Gutless #HighImpactViolence #OldSchoolDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #Suffocation

Formé en 2006, #Father-Befouled joue un #death-metal #impie et #désolé. Après plusieurs premières #sorties, le #groupe signe chez #Relapse-Records pour la sortie de "Morbid Destitution of Covenant" en 2010, puis va se diriger vers le #label #Dark-Descent-Records pour leur troisième #album, "Revulsion of Seraphic Grace".
https://youtu.be/hOiGYS1zz38?feature=shared

Adorior – Bleed on My Teeth Review

By Mark Z.

Somewhere along the way, Adorior got angry. When this English group released their 1998 debut Like Cutting the Sleeping, they sounded like a pretty traditional black metal band, albeit with occasional experimental touches in the form of cleanly sung segments and moody atmospheric passages. I don’t know what happened after that record was released, but when the band returned with 2005’s Author of Incest, they sounded ready to take up arms against the entire human race. Author of Incest is, simply put, one of the most incendiary albums ever recorded. With its scalding guitars, pummeling drums, and enraged vocals, the record showed Adorior infusing a hefty amount of death metal into the proceedings, ultimately resulting in a napalm bombing in musical form. The album’s opening track, “Hater of Fucking Humans,” is easily one of the most vicious blackened death metal songs of all time, and vocalist Melissa Gray’s performance on that track remains one of the most furious and unhinged I’ve ever heard. Now, after years of dormancy, the group are finally back with their third album, Bleed on My Teeth. Does it continue the band’s diabolical conquest of humanity?

It’s obviously been a long time since the last album, and in the interim Adorior lost all prior members except Melissa1 and drummer “D. Molestör.” Thus, one would understandably be concerned about whether Adorior could maintain their aggression. Fortunately, Mr. Molestör seems to have selected a suitably angry cadre of newcomers from other projects he’s been involved with, including current or former members of Grave Miasma, Cruciamentum, and Qrixkuor. Opener “Begrime Judas” shows that these new recruits have just as much pent-up rage as their predecessors. With explosive riffs, fiery tremolo runs, and surging rhythms, the song is livid and combative, making it sound like no time has passed since Author of Incest. As if to further drive home the band’s militant nature, the track even features a ruthless half-time thrash break overlaid with samples of automatic gunfire. Such intensity rarely subsides until the title track concludes the album with wailing notes approximately 50 minutes later.

Just like the last record, Bleed on My Teeth matches the scorching fury of Impiety while sounding blunter, heavier, and looser. Señor Molestör is an absolute madman on drums, moving furiously between blast beats, frantic thrash drumming, and pummeling breaks that hit like artillery strikes. The guitars ejaculate a nonstop stream of hostility, veering wildly between whiplashing tremolos, searing chords, and even some more rhythmic ideas. Songs like “Ophidian Strike” and “Moment of Mania” may sound chuggier than the others, but they don’t lose one drop of intensity because of it. Likewise, “L.O.T.P. – Vomit Vomit Vomit Bastard” is one of my favorite tracks here not just because of its title, but also for how it swells with gigantic mid-paced riffs that give rise to a triumphant aura and an obscene yet strangely catchy refrain (“He likes to make them cum & then revel in their shame… He likes to make them say his name…”).

If there’s one hangup I have with this album, it’s the vocals. After almost two decades since the last album, Melissa’s raspy shout still sounds pissed off, but she occasionally sounds strained, and her loose sense of timing sometimes feels at odds with the music. Nonetheless, her wild approach ultimately won me over, and her occasional air siren screams only add to the maniacal energy. The chanted gang shouts in songs like “Scavengers of Vengeance” further propel the rampage and are a nice callback to similar moments from Author of Incest. Production-wise, the album is hefty and hot. While it sounds louder than its DR8 would suggest, everything remains clear while swarming together in a way that’s fiery and forceful, but never exhausting. The record’s dynamic drumming, superb sequencing, and occasional moments of brief ambience only further stave off fatigue.

Ultimately, Bleed on My Teeth is a paragon of extremity. It leaves no orifice unfucked. It is an expulsion of hostility, a firestorm of fury, a fist in the ass of decency. Above all, it is a glorious return for Adorior, and a surefire treat for those bloodthirsty cretins who have been waiting so long to finally hear more of what these maniacs have to offer. Close your eyes, open wide, and let them bleed on your fukkin teeth.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Labels: Dark Descent Records | Sepulchral Voice Records
Websites: adorior.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/adorior
Releases Worldwide: September 27th, 2024

#2024 #40 #Adorior #BlackMetal #BleedOnMyTeeth #Cruciamentum #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #EnglishMetal #GraveMiasma #Impiety #Qrixkuor #Review #Reviews #Sep24 #SepulchralVoiceRecords

Adorior – Bleed on My Teeth Review

By Mark Z.

Somewhere along the way, Adorior got angry. When this English group released their 1998 debut Like Cutting the Sleeping, they sounded like a pretty traditional black metal band, albeit with occasional experimental touches in the form of cleanly sung segments and moody atmospheric passages. I don’t know what happened after that record was released, but when the band returned with 2005’s Author of Incest, they sounded ready to take up arms against the entire human race. Author of Incest is, simply put, one of the most incendiary albums ever recorded. With its scalding guitars, pummeling drums, and enraged vocals, the record showed Adorior infusing a hefty amount of death metal into the proceedings, ultimately resulting in a napalm bombing in musical form. The album’s opening track, “Hater of Fucking Humans,” is easily one of the most vicious blackened death metal songs of all time, and vocalist Melissa Gray’s performance on that track remains one of the most furious and unhinged I’ve ever heard. Now, after years of dormancy, the group are finally back with their third album, Bleed on My Teeth. Does it continue the band’s diabolical conquest of humanity?

It’s obviously been a long time since the last album, and in the interim Adorior lost all prior members except Melissa1 and drummer “D. Molestör.” Thus, one would understandably be concerned about whether Adorior could maintain their aggression. Fortunately, Mr. Molestör seems to have selected a suitably angry cadre of newcomers from other projects he’s been involved with, including current or former members of Grave Miasma, Cruciamentum, and Qrixkuor. Opener “Begrime Judas” shows that these new recruits have just as much pent-up rage as their predecessors. With explosive riffs, fiery tremolo runs, and surging rhythms, the song is livid and combative, making it sound like no time has passed since Author of Incest. As if to further drive home the band’s militant nature, the track even features a ruthless half-time thrash break overlaid with samples of automatic gunfire. Such intensity rarely subsides until the title track concludes the album with wailing notes approximately 50 minutes later.

Just like the last record, Bleed on My Teeth matches the scorching fury of Impiety while sounding blunter, heavier, and looser. Señor Molestör is an absolute madman on drums, moving furiously between blast beats, frantic thrash drumming, and pummeling breaks that hit like artillery strikes. The guitars ejaculate a nonstop stream of hostility, veering wildly between whiplashing tremolos, searing chords, and even some more rhythmic ideas. Songs like “Ophidian Strike” and “Moment of Mania” may sound chuggier than the others, but they don’t lose one drop of intensity because of it. Likewise, “L.O.T.P. – Vomit Vomit Vomit Bastard” is one of my favorite tracks here not just because of its title, but also for how it swells with gigantic mid-paced riffs that give rise to a triumphant aura and an obscene yet strangely catchy refrain (“He likes to make them cum & then revel in their shame… He likes to make them say his name…”).

If there’s one hangup I have with this album, it’s the vocals. After almost two decades since the last album, Melissa’s raspy shout still sounds pissed off, but she occasionally sounds strained, and her loose sense of timing sometimes feels at odds with the music. Nonetheless, her wild approach ultimately won me over, and her occasional air siren screams only add to the maniacal energy. The chanted gang shouts in songs like “Scavengers of Vengeance” further propel the rampage and are a nice callback to similar moments from Author of Incest. Production-wise, the album is hefty and hot. While it sounds louder than its DR8 would suggest, everything remains clear while swarming together in a way that’s fiery and forceful, but never exhausting. The record’s dynamic drumming, superb sequencing, and occasional moments of brief ambience only further stave off fatigue.

Ultimately, Bleed on My Teeth is a paragon of extremity. It leaves no orifice unfucked. It is an expulsion of hostility, a firestorm of fury, a fist in the ass of decency. Above all, it is a glorious return for Adorior, and a surefire treat for those bloodthirsty cretins who have been waiting so long to finally hear more of what these maniacs have to offer. Close your eyes, open wide, and let them bleed on your fukkin teeth.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Labels: Dark Descent Records | Sepulchral Voice Records
Websites: adorior.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/adorior
Releases Worldwide: September 27th, 2024

#2024 #40 #Adorior #BlackMetal #BleedOnMyTeeth #Cruciamentum #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #EnglishMetal #GraveMiasma #Impiety #Qrixkuor #Review #Reviews #Sep24 #SepulchralVoiceRecords

Record(s) o’ the Month – June 2024

By Angry Metal Guy

As the summer sun scorched the earth, June delivered a cornucopia of crushing riffs, haunting melodies, and enough blast beats to rattle even the most hardened skulls.1 But finally, the time for the Record(s) o’ the Month for June has arrived! We understand there’s a certain impatience surrounding this, but to give you a peek behind the curtain here, the writers at AngryMetalGuy.com take great pride in the albums they reviewed being the Record o’ the Month. Thus, it’s important that we not hand out the award willy-nilly because we feel the writers should not be too easily rewarded. Such ease and timeliness make writers weak. And, you might be unaware of this, we aim to develop super reviewers; a class of reviewers with opinions and analyses so potent that your taste receptors will dance and sing upon checking out our recommendations.2

Long story short, these things take time. So, confidential details of our absolutely-IRB-approved-research aside,3 June turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable month with a couple of albums that I had trouble leaving off the list. But the top slot? You almost certainly should’ve guessed it. So, without further ado (and before impatience metastasizes into a tantrum4), we present you the Record(s) o’ the Month for June of 2024.

Enjoy the flame war and list-making competition!5

Calling Ulcerate anything other than the world’s premiere modern death metal act would be a mistake. Unlike some bands, whose meteoric rise makes them feel overhyped, Ulcerate has slowly and steadily gained steam since their debut in 2008. Having been a fan since 2009’s iconic Everything Is Fire, it has been exciting to follow their trajectory from a dissodeath band appreciated by the Trve Connoissevr to every release being one of the year’s most anticipated albums.6 Over time, Ulcerate’s sound has continued to develop, and that evolution has increasingly distinguished them from the pack. Cutting the Throat of God [purchase on Bandcamp], which was released June 14th from Debemur Morti Productions, is a powerful continuation of their journey, achieving a perfect balance between the dissonant intensity that defines their earlier work and a newfound melodic sensibility that adds depth (and more importantly, contrast) without sacrificing brutality. This album doesn’t just revisit the themes of existential dread and philosophical inquiry that Ulcerate has always explored; it deepens them, bringing a profound sense of urgency and emotional weight to their music. The atmosphere is suffocating, yet there’s a sense of catharsis in the sheer ferocity and precision of their compositions. As Thus Spoke gushed with glee, “Ulcerate’s greatest manifestations of existentially anguished, veil-tearing truth and ambitious composition” are contained within Cutting the Throat of God, making it perhaps the most profound work to date.

Runner(s) Up:

Crypt Sermon // The Stygian Rose [June 14th, 2024 | Dark Descent | Bandcamp] — In a year devoid of quality doom, Philly’s classic doom mongers Crypt Sermon brotherly shoved themselves into the spotlight with their third opus The Stygian Rose. With the Candlemassive sound heard on their past records intact, Crypt Sermon loads in scads of traditional metal elements and flirts with more extreme elements as they put on an atmospheric doom composition clinic. The band continued to refine, and master, a perfect blend of crushing doom riffs and soaring, majestic melodies that evoke a powerful atmosphere. The Stygian Rose is bolstered by a commanding vocal performance, that when paired with the band’s intricate, and heavy, compositions, raises the bar for the genre. As Steel Druhm enthusiastically exclaimed, “If this isn’t the doom album of 2024, someone made a merger deal with the Devil.“

Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System [June 28th, 2024 | Rotted Life Records | Bandcamp] — If I’m honest, I couldn’t take this record seriously at first because it’s named after the thing that a certain anarchosyndicalist is yelling as he’s forcibly grabbed by Arthur, King of the Britons7 in one of Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s most iconic scenes.8 Yet, Kenstrosity and I have an uncomfortable level of overlap musically—when he’s able to contain his enthusiasm for bad things—and so I decided to give Noxis the ol’ College Try. Fortunately for Noxis, and the readers here, the ol’ “College Try” means something different when you have a PhD. Thus, I dug deep into the Violence Inherent in the System and quickly realized that I had chosen wisely. Not only does Noxis play a delightfully energetic form of death metal that doesn’t feel like a direct homage to any scene or band, but Violence Inherent in the System is well-produced fun, and it contains the first ever—as far as I’m aware also the only—bassoon solo on a death metal record. What have we ever done to deserve the bounty of the scene?

#2024 #Blog #Candlemass #CryptSermon #CuttingTheThroatOfGod #DarkDescentRecords #EverythingIsFire #Jun24 #Noxis #RecordOTheMonth #RecordOTheMoth #RecordSOTheMonth #RottedLifeRecords #TheStygianRose #Ulcerate #ViolenceInherentInTheSystem

Record(s) o’ the Month – June 2024

By Angry Metal Guy

As the summer sun scorched the earth, June delivered a cornucopia of crushing riffs, haunting melodies, and enough blast beats to rattle even the most hardened skulls.1 But finally, the time for the Record(s) o’ the Month for June has arrived! We understand there’s a certain impatience surrounding this, but to give you a peek behind the curtain here, the writers at AngryMetalGuy.com take great pride in the albums they reviewed being the Record o’ the Month. Thus, it’s important that we not hand out the award willy-nilly because we feel the writers should not be too easily rewarded. Such ease and timeliness make writers weak. And, you might be unaware of this, we aim to develop super reviewers; a class of reviewers with opinions and analyses so potent that your taste receptors will dance and sing upon checking out our recommendations.2

Long story short, these things take time. So, confidential details of our absolutely-IRB-approved-research aside,3 June turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable month with a couple of albums that I had trouble leaving off the list. But the top slot? You almost certainly should’ve guessed it. So, without further ado (and before impatience metastasizes into a tantrum4), we present you the Record(s) o’ the Month for June of 2024.

Enjoy the flame war and list-making competition!5

Calling Ulcerate anything other than the world’s premiere modern death metal act would be a mistake. Unlike some bands, whose meteoric rise makes them feel overhyped, Ulcerate has slowly and steadily gained steam since their debut in 2008. Having been a fan since 2009’s iconic Everything Is Fire, it has been exciting to follow their trajectory from a dissodeath band appreciated by the Trve Connoissevr to every release being one of the year’s most anticipated albums.6 Over time, Ulcerate’s sound has continued to develop, and that evolution has increasingly distinguished them from the pack. Cutting the Throat of God [purchase on Bandcamp], which was released June 14th from Debemur Morti Productions, is a powerful continuation of their journey, achieving a perfect balance between the dissonant intensity that defines their earlier work and a newfound melodic sensibility that adds depth (and more importantly, contrast) without sacrificing brutality. This album doesn’t just revisit the themes of existential dread and philosophical inquiry that Ulcerate has always explored; it deepens them, bringing a profound sense of urgency and emotional weight to their music. The atmosphere is suffocating, yet there’s a sense of catharsis in the sheer ferocity and precision of their compositions. As Thus Spoke gushed with glee, “Ulcerate’s greatest manifestations of existentially anguished, veil-tearing truth and ambitious composition” are contained within Cutting the Throat of God, making it perhaps the most profound work to date.

Runner(s) Up:

Crypt Sermon // The Stygian Rose [June 14th, 2024 | Dark Descent | Bandcamp] — In a year devoid of quality doom, Philly’s classic doom mongers Crypt Sermon brotherly shoved themselves into the spotlight with their third opus The Stygian Rose. With the Candlemassive sound heard on their past records intact, Crypt Sermon loads in scads of traditional metal elements and flirts with more extreme elements as they put on an atmospheric doom composition clinic. The band continued to refine, and master, a perfect blend of crushing doom riffs and soaring, majestic melodies that evoke a powerful atmosphere. The Stygian Rose is bolstered by a commanding vocal performance, that when paired with the band’s intricate, and heavy, compositions, raises the bar for the genre. As Steel Druhm enthusiastically exclaimed, “If this isn’t the doom album of 2024, someone made a merger deal with the Devil.“

Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System [June 28th, 2024 | Rotted Life Records | Bandcamp] — If I’m honest, I couldn’t take this record seriously at first because it’s named after the thing that a certain anarchosyndicalist is yelling as he’s forcibly grabbed by Arthur, King of the Britons7 in one of Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s most iconic scenes.8 Yet, Kenstrosity and I have an uncomfortable level of overlap musically—when he’s able to contain his enthusiasm for bad things—and so I decided to give Noxis the ol’ College Try. Fortunately for Noxis, and the readers here, the ol’ “College Try” means something different when you have a PhD. Thus, I dug deep into the Violence Inherent in the System and quickly realized that I had chosen wisely. Not only does Noxis play a delightfully energetic form of death metal that doesn’t feel like a direct homage to any scene or band, but Violence Inherent in the System is well-produced fun, and it contains the first ever—as far as I’m aware also the only—bassoon solo on a death metal record. What have we ever done to deserve the bounty of the scene?

#2024 #Blog #Candlemass #CryptSermon #CuttingTheThroatOfGod #DarkDescentRecords #EverythingIsFire #Jun24 #Noxis #RecordOTheMonth #RecordOTheMoth #RecordSOTheMonth #RottedLifeRecords #TheStygianRose #Ulcerate #ViolenceInherentInTheSystem

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
ABERRATOR – Dark Descend Records To Release Beckoning Tribulation Debut

https://bravewords.com/news/aberrator-dark-descend-records-to-release-beckoning-tribulation-debut

#Aberrator #DarkDescentRecords

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
ABERRATOR – Dark Descend Records To Release Beckoning Tribulation Debut

https://bravewords.com/news/aberrator-dark-descend-records-to-release-beckoning-tribulation-debut

#Aberrator #DarkDescentRecords

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
ABERRATOR – Dark Descend Records To Release Beckoning Tribulation Debut

https://bravewords.com/news/aberrator-dark-descend-records-to-release-beckoning-tribulation-debut

#Aberrator #DarkDescentRecords

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
ABERRATOR – Dark Descend Records To Release Beckoning Tribulation Debut

https://bravewords.com/news/aberrator-dark-descend-records-to-release-beckoning-tribulation-debut

#Aberrator #DarkDescentRecords

Stuck in the Filter: May 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

I thought the onset of summer would mean a total solar beatdown. Instead, it’s brought the rain. Absolutely chucking down rain. But, if you thought that bad weather leads to mercy from me, you’re dead wrong. In fact, I pushed my minions even harder to dredge up as many waterlogged nuggets of notable ore from our perpetually overtaxed filtration system.

And so, as my “staff,” who are definitely paid (don’t look into it) dry off in the industrial-grade wind tunnel, allow me to introduce May’s Filter entries for a public I truly don’t care about at all (don’t look into it). BEHOLD!

Iceberg’s Divisive Defenstrations

Cobra The Impaler // Karma Collision [May 24th, 2024 – Listenable Records]

Belgium’s Cobra The Impaler bill themselves as carrying the torch of classic-era Mastodon, a band hitting so many spectrums of metal comparing one’s music to theirs is a much safer bet than not. Led by primary songwriter and ex-Aborted guitarist Tace DC, the band sit somewhere in the murky grey between progressive and technical modern metal. The aforementioned Mastodon worship is strong here—especially in opener “Magnetic Hex”—although the crystal clean production by Jens Borgren really prevents the use of the term “sludge.” Elsewhere there are prog-metal moments of Virus/Vector-era Haken (“Karma Collision,” “The Fountain”) and some of the relentless, drums-in-front compositions of Gojira (“Karma Collision,” “The Assassins of the Vision”). Vocalist Manuel Remmerie’s also has his work cut out for him, delivering plenty of admirable cleans in both high and low registers alongside full-throated screams and somewhat less effective pitched growls. The instrumental performances here are top-notch, professional in the verse/chorus sections, and continuously—sometimes outstandingly—creative in the free-form bridges. There is some tightening to be done with the accessibility of the choruses—they fall flat against the superior instrumental sections— but there are moments of brilliance and a ton of potential in this five-piece.

Capstan // The Mosaic [May 24th, 2024 – Fearless Records]

Anyone who’s plugged into the post-hardcore scene should know that Florida’s Capstan transcend the—rightfully deserved—vitriol thrown at the style. I don’t think any Fearless band has ever been reviewed here, but Capstan’s latest opus The Mosaic deserves a shoutout to whomever hasn’t run screaming from these halls. Led by vocalist Anthony DeMario—sure to be a divisive figure with his unapologetic pop punk cleans—the band has continuously augmented their Warped-core sound with the mathy guitar noodlings of Chon or Polyphia, and an impressive triple vocalist attack for thick, elaborate harmonies. This album, clocking in at over an hour, doesn’t pull any punches, showcasing trip-hop, breakdown-laced numbers (“Bete Noire”), full throated anthems about self-loathing and heartbreak (“Misery Scene”) and even lighter, crooning ballads (“What Can I Say”). Synergy and professionalism are where the band shine; everything has is slickly produced and the performances—especially those vocals—are whip-smart. Plenty of editing could have been done, but you can tell how much fun the band is having. Anyone with a passing interest or nostalgia for 2000’s post-hardcore should check this out. Plus their drummer plays with traditional grip, and watching a jazz guy slam out breakdowns is pretty rad in my book.

GardensTale’s Dose of Decay

Strychnos // Armageddon Patronage [May 17th, 2024 – Dark Descent Records]

I don’t always check out albums that set the comment section and/or Discord abuzz, but when I do, it rarely results in anything less than interesting. Case in point, the bottomless evil of Strychnos, a Danish outfit that struggled to get off the ground in the early 00’s, eked out a single EP in the 10’s, and suddenly started shitting out heaving platters of malicious black/death since the pandemic. Armageddon Patronage is the second full-length off their new production line, and it brings every horseman along for its deadly ride. War is embodied by the lethal double feature that starts the charge, with swelling riffs battering the unjust to fertilizer. The unflinching and unfeeling brutality of Famine seethes from “Choking Salvation,” and out the beaks of “Pale Black Birds” pours Pestilence with slavering enthusiasm. Frontman Martin Leth Anderson, who also handles bass for Undergang, employs a bellowing growl that encapsulates hopelessness and suffering, and the excellent, malevolent riffs usher an effective aura of utter destruction. Death, however, comes not at the end, but during the doom-laden centerpiece, the despondent “Endless Void Dimension” with its atmospheric Gregorian chanting. I have no qualms becoming a patron to this spiteful chunk of armageddon.

Dear Hollow’s Shtanky Shwamp of Shrieks

Saidan // Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity [May 24th, 2024 – Self-Released]

Saidan do things a little differently. The Nashville duo’s themes rooted in Japanese folklore and the formidable and mysterious yokai in particular, combined with a relentlessly riffy and punk-driven tour-de-force of black metal proportions are always food for thought in the act’s brief and formidable history. Seamlessly transitioning between punk chord progressions and bouncy drums to blastbeats and kvlt tremolo to groovy riffs and rhythms, anchored by Splatterpvnk’s ripping vocals, it never shies away from punishment. However, interwoven with this assault is a distinctly melodic undercurrent that brightens the progressions and gives purpose and a sense of fun – a hyper-melodic black metal act would be jealous. You won’t be able to shake the grooves of “Desecration of a Lustful Illusion,” the symphonic black intensity of “Genocidal Bloodfiend” and “Veins of the Wicked” hit you like a cyclone, and the classic thrash solos and anime-theme-song vibe of “Sick Abducted Purity,” “Visual Kill,” and “Switchblade Paradise” are guaranteed to get your head banging – plus, the interlude “seraphic lullaby” and instrumental closer “suffer” ain’t half bad. Visual Kill is like if Powerglove wrote a black metal album that you could actually take seriously, backed up with the technicality, songwriting chops, and sheer unbridled energy to make it work.

Parfaxitas // Weaver of the Black Moon [May 31st, 2024 – Terratur Possessions]

The minds behind Parfaxitas should need little introduction, although the moniker will likely not ring any bells. Representing three separate scenes and their respective contributions to black metal lore, two American stringsmen from acts Merihem, Suffering Hour, and Manetherean, Icelandic drummer B.E. from Almyrkvi, Sinmara, Slidhr, and Wormlust, and Norwegian vocalist K.R. From Whoredom Rife collide. Weaver of the Black Moon combines the blueprint of second-wave Norwegian black with the obsidian dissonance of Icelandic, and the experimental edge of American acts, making it a tour-de-force of both vicious sound and tortured atmosphere. Dissonance rains down like acid, a backdrop, and shroud of otherworldly sounds that shimmer and crunch in ways that recall both the winding passages of Suffering Hour and the psychedelic rawness of Wormlust simultaneously. Hammered by vicious blastbeats and guided by tortured barks, the guitar and meandering fluid bass guide listeners from untouchable intensity (“Thou Shalt Worship No Other”) to haunting and hypnotic atmosphere (“Ravens of Dispersion”) – stealing the show. Parfaxitas features a whole lot of firepower, culminating in epic closer “Fields of Nightmares,” a crescendo of punishing and otherworldly proportions.

Aseitas // Eden Trough [May 30th, 2024 – Total Dissonance Worship]

After Aseitas’ formidable 2020 album False Peace, which narrowly missed my AOTY’s, the Portland trio is back with another album – which could easily be classified as an EP in its tidy thirty-minute runtime. Eden Trough condenses the lofty and decadent ambition of its predecessor for an album devoted to complete takedown in winding riffs, punishing death metal, and ravaging vocals. From the thick and punishing signature shifts of “Libertine Captor” and “Alabaster Bones,” complete with shifting riffs and a liminal sense of melody, to the more droning and haunting “Break the Neck of Every Beautiful Thing,” to the epic and cosmic psychedelia of ten-minute centerpiece “Tiamat,” Aseitas’ shows its tantalizing and gradual progression to an echelon of indispensable in the world of dissonant death. Offering influences of convulsive mathcore, mammoth post-metal, and unhinged yet intensely calculated technicality, Eden Trough is a must-listen for the long-time fan, as well as proffering a snapshot to the curious of what makes Aseitas so special to begin with.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Progalicious Ponderings

Azure // Fym [May 23rd, 2024 – Self Release]

Are you way into high fantasy and exuberant, progressive albums that reflect that sentiment? If so, look no further than Azure’s third opus, Fym, which over its runtime recounts the tales of a mystical fox’s journey in a frightening and whimsical world. Normally I wouldn’t think twice about an album with such a storybook concept.1 But between Chris Sampson’s vocal navigations that ring as hyper-tenor and dolphin-like (“The Lavender Fox”)2 as they do sullen and heart-wrenching (“Kingdom of Ice and Light,” “Moonrise”), and Galen Stapley’s mystical fretboard wizardry that marries funk chords, soundtrack melodies, and dance-able shred, Azure packs too much sunshine in their prog for me to ignore. And at almost eighty minutes, they pack a lot of it too. However, each run through Fym’s pages finds a new rumbling bass bounce to propel a hop, a new vocal run to twirl my tongue (with notes that I couldn’t possibly hit), or a synthfully sinful refrain to stain my brain matter with happy juice—”The Azdinist // Den of Dawns” or “Agentic State” unite these ideas best—it’s truly a hard album to put down. Combining just about every era of Genesis with the acrobatics of Dream Theater, the play and ambition of the earliest of Pain of Salvation theatrics, and healthy dose of modern bastardizations (check the autotune/pitchshifting on “Doppelgänger”), Azure has made a mighty statement with Fym that I’m still digesting. And with as many inventive synth patches, harmonic vocal layers, and cinematic builds as this rainbow dose of prog pushes, it’ll be quite some time before I’ve made up my mind about it all. So I’ll continue in pieces. Or all at once. Whatever time allows because Fym is just that much fun.

PreHistoric Animals // Finding Love in Strange Places [May 16th, 2024 – Dutch Music Works]

And here we are with, what’s that, another prog concept album? This one’s a little less terrestrial though, featuring healthy infusions of a futuristic space drama and heavy-hitting synthwave doots and bounces. Over the course of their past couple works, PreHistoric Animals has found an ease in comfortable exploration with their King’s X-like tendency to grip with a barbed verse melody or chorus explosion, layered tastefully with harmonic vocal accompaniment and groove-heavy riffs. But, despite that comparison, it’s clear from the opening synth pulse of “The City of My Dreams” and “Living in a World of Bliss” that an electronic and hooky identity that’s caught between Toto and Yes imbues the edges of refrains that stick like honey to vocalist Stefan Altzar’s easy-on-the-ears narrative. Finding Love in Strange Places can get bogged down a touch in its word-driven nature, though, especially on the various interludes and certain longer tracks like “Unbreakable” and “Nothing Has Changed but Everything Is Different.” None of that fluff ever truly interrupts Finding Love’s heartbeat rhythms, which hold a steady if highly syncopated simplicity and form a hi-hat charming vessel that keeps the head nodding in progressive pomp. Oh, and it helps that guitarists Altzar and Daniel Magdic (ex-Pain of Salvation) have studied the slow-burn solo nature of greats like David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Brian May (Queen), with tasteful legato and searing ascensions aiding in earned crescendo at Finding Love’s best moments (“Living in a World of Bliss,” “The Secret of Goodness”). Having reliably churned out confident and catchy works every other years since 2018, PreHistoric Animals fly relatively low in the flock of modern prog, but these space-bound Swedes have earned a likely lifelong aquatic fan at this stage of their growing career. Give Love a chance!

Matrass // Cathedrals [May 17th, 2024 – La Tangente Label]

And, last but not least from my assortment, Matrass hails from France to bring you Cathedrals, which is… yes, you guessed it, another prog concept album! If you’re worried about another album of the synthtastic and 80s prog-themed variety, though, don’t fret about what Matrass brings to the table. Playing closer to post than progressive waters, Cathedrals flitters about dreamy, lounge jazz guitar passages before crushing down with Cult of Luna riffs and Tesseract-inspired, low-end atmospherics. But most important to the groove and cinematic lilt that defines Cathedrals is the methods by which vocalist Clémentine Browne navigates jangling verses with gentle croons and accented, rhythmic spoken word before frying down with screeching and hissing fervor against heavy chord crushes. That talent for establishing and reinforcing mood lands idiosyncratic in the realm of post acts, so her exact methods may not fit the bill for all fans of the rise-and-fall aesthetic the genre offers. And though Matrass remains largely iterative of this mood through its hour-long run, it’s that successful idea of atmosphere that allows peak tracks “Shreds,” “Adrift” (which features Browne on saxophone instead), and “Cathedrals” to conjure such powerful and drifting thoughts in my head. And when you’re in its valleys? Matrass still maintains a textural backdrop that spells high potential for this young act.

Saunders’ Sulfuric Stash

Desolus // System Shock [March 10th, 2024 – Hells Headbangers]

Who’s up for some explosive, throwback thrashy goodness? Although hailing from the States, Desolus take plenty of inspiration from classic German trash titans Kreator, Destruction and Sodom. Throw in classic Dark Angel vibes, a heavy, modern edge and crunchy production job, and the band’s debut System Shock ticks all the boxes for a thrashing great time. This shit is seriously jacked with unhinged, old-school aggression, spitfire riffs and stampeding percussion propelling the album’s ten speed-driven assaults. An utterly deranged, ’80s underground-inspired vocal performance adds further steel-plated authenticity to a retro-minded sound that manages to sound fresh and inspired. Aside from rare moments of slower melodic nuance on the otherwise blistering “Sea of Fire,” and the aptly titled “Interlude” providing a handy breather, Desolus crank speed and intensity to the max, rarely breaking from their relentless stride. The opening one-two salvo of “System Shock” and bonkers lunacy of “From Man to Machine” set a savage tone and gritty platform from which Desolus launch assault after assault of high-octane thrash mania. “Cures of the Technomancer” is an absolute riff beast with groove and speed for days, while “The Invasion Begins” deftly puts you in a false sense of bouncy melodic security before jamming the afterburners into a typically ferocious attack. Exuberant, nasty stuff.

Terminal Nation // Echoes of the Devil’s Den [May 3rd, 2024 – 20 Buck Spin]

The second album from Pittsburgh bruisers Terminal Nation hits with sledgehammer force, obliterating any semblance of subtlety in favor of an extra beefy, in-your-face hybrid of death metal and hardcore. Echoes of the Devil’s Den features a searing, politically charged and seriously pissed-off bite. High-profile guest vocal slots seamlessly blend into the vicious attack, including strong turns from Integrity‘s Dwid Hellion (“Release the Serpents”), Killswitch Engage‘s Jesse Leach (“Merchants of Bloodshed”) and Nails frontman Todd Jones. Jones features on “Written by the Victor,” a vicious tune that harnesses thick, neck-wrecking grooves and punishing, doom-laden death grooves. The album’s hardcore influence and political slant may turn off certain listeners, but those who don’t mind some hardcore in their death stew should find plenty to like here. The gritty, muscular exterior features nods to Bolt Thrower and All Shall Perish, while the weighty, mid-paced crush, chunky riffs and breakdowns are balanced by tasteful melodic counterpoints and livelier bursts of speed (“Dying Alive”). Not all works; the provocative, anti-police song “No Reform (New Age Slave Patrol)” musically has its moments; however, the heavy-handed lyrical approach sticks out like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, Echoes of the Devil’s Den swings and slugs you more often than it misses.

Steel Druhm’s Sewer Tarts

The Troops of Doom // A Mass to the Grotesque [May 31, 2024 – Alma Mater Records]

For their sophomore outing, Brazilian death-thrashers The Troops of Doom took their vintage Sepultura-esque sound and juiced it up considerably from what we heard on 2022s Antichrist Reborn. A Mass to the Grotesque still sounds a bunch like classic Sepultura but it’s much more refined, developed and expanded in scope. Yet it’s still a frenzied, thrashing assault full of lyrics about evil, demons, and all things anti-Christian. It sounds like something that should have dropped in as the 80s thrash wave started mutating into proto-death, and that is a beloved era of music for yours Steely. Songs like “Chapels of the Unholy” and “Dawn of Mephisto” sit right on the bleeding edge of thrash and early death, with Slayer-tastic riffs colliding with early examples of death grooves. What makes this so entertaining is how the band reaches outside of the Sepultura homage bubble to drag in new elements to expand their sound. Some songs feel slightly progressive (“Denied Divinity”) while elsewhere they shoehorn epic doom into the massive “Psalm 7:8 – God of Bizarre.” The straight-up riffbeasts are my favorites though, with “The Imposter King” being a big, fat, sweaty highlight. While these cats are always going to get compared to classic Sepultura, they made real efforts here to stake out their own identity. This is a wild, testosterone-fueled ride featuring the maximum allowable Satan, and I support that.

#20BuckSpin #2024 #AMassToTheGrotesque #Aborted #AllShallPerish #AlmaMaterRecords #Almyrkvi #AmericanMetal #ArmageddonPatronage #Aseitas #Azure #BelgianMetal #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #Capstan #Cathedrals #CHON #CobraTheImpaler #CultOfLuna #DanishMetal #DarkAngel #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Desolus #Destruction #DissonantDeathMetal #DreamTheater #DutchMusicWorks #EchoesOfTheDevilSDen #EdenTrough #FearlessRecords #FindingLoveInStrangePlaces #FrenchMetal #Fym #Genesis #GermanMetal #Gojira #Haken #Hardcore #HellsHeadbangers #Integrity #InternationalMetal #KarmaCollision #KillswitchEngage #KingsX #Kreator #LaTangenteLabel #ListenableRecords #Manetherean #Mastodon #Matrass #May24 #MelodicBlackMetal #Merihem #Nails #PainOfSalvation #Parfaxitas #PinkFloyd #Polyphia #PostHardcore #Powerglove #PreHistoricAnimals #ProgressiveMetal #Punk #Queen #Review #Reviews #Saidan #SelfReleased #Sinmara #Slidhr #Sodom #Strychnos #SufferingHour #SwedishMetal #SystemShock #TechnicalDeathMetal #TechnicalMetal #TerminalNation #TerraturPossessions #TesseracT #TheMosaic #TheTroopsOfDoom #TotalDissonanceWorship #UKMetal #Undergang #USMetal #VisualKillTheBlossomingOfPsychoticDepravity #WeaverOfTheBlackMoon #WhoredomeRife #Wormlust #Yes

Stuck in the Filter: May 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

I thought the onset of summer would mean a total solar beatdown. Instead, it’s brought the rain. Absolutely chucking down rain. But, if you thought that bad weather leads to mercy from me, you’re dead wrong. In fact, I pushed my minions even harder to dredge up as many waterlogged nuggets of notable ore from our perpetually overtaxed filtration system.

And so, as my “staff,” who are definitely paid (don’t look into it) dry off in the industrial-grade wind tunnel, allow me to introduce May’s Filter entries for a public I truly don’t care about at all (don’t look into it). BEHOLD!

Iceberg’s Divisive Defenstrations

Cobra The Impaler // Karma Collision [May 24th, 2024 – Listenable Records]

Belgium’s Cobra The Impaler bill themselves as carrying the torch of classic-era Mastodon, a band hitting so many spectrums of metal comparing one’s music to theirs is a much safer bet than not. Led by primary songwriter and ex-Aborted guitarist Tace DC, the band sit somewhere in the murky grey between progressive and technical modern metal. The aforementioned Mastodon worship is strong here—especially in opener “Magnetic Hex”—although the crystal clean production by Jens Borgren really prevents the use of the term “sludge.” Elsewhere there are prog-metal moments of Virus/Vector-era Haken (“Karma Collision,” “The Fountain”) and some of the relentless, drums-in-front compositions of Gojira (“Karma Collision,” “The Assassins of the Vision”). Vocalist Manuel Remmerie’s also has his work cut out for him, delivering plenty of admirable cleans in both high and low registers alongside full-throated screams and somewhat less effective pitched growls. The instrumental performances here are top-notch, professional in the verse/chorus sections, and continuously—sometimes outstandingly—creative in the free-form bridges. There is some tightening to be done with the accessibility of the choruses—they fall flat against the superior instrumental sections— but there are moments of brilliance and a ton of potential in this five-piece.

Capstan // The Mosaic [May 24th, 2024 – Fearless Records]

Anyone who’s plugged into the post-hardcore scene should know that Florida’s Capstan transcend the—rightfully deserved—vitriol thrown at the style. I don’t think any Fearless band has ever been reviewed here, but Capstan’s latest opus The Mosaic deserves a shoutout to whomever hasn’t run screaming from these halls. Led by vocalist Anthony DeMario—sure to be a divisive figure with his unapologetic pop punk cleans—the band has continuously augmented their Warped-core sound with the mathy guitar noodlings of Chon or Polyphia, and an impressive triple vocalist attack for thick, elaborate harmonies. This album, clocking in at over an hour, doesn’t pull any punches, showcasing trip-hop, breakdown-laced numbers (“Bete Noire”), full throated anthems about self-loathing and heartbreak (“Misery Scene”) and even lighter, crooning ballads (“What Can I Say”). Synergy and professionalism are where the band shine; everything has is slickly produced and the performances—especially those vocals—are whip-smart. Plenty of editing could have been done, but you can tell how much fun the band is having. Anyone with a passing interest or nostalgia for 2000’s post-hardcore should check this out. Plus their drummer plays with traditional grip, and watching a jazz guy slam out breakdowns is pretty rad in my book.

GardensTale’s Dose of Decay

Strychnos // Armageddon Patronage [May 17th, 2024 – Dark Descent Records]

I don’t always check out albums that set the comment section and/or Discord abuzz, but when I do, it rarely results in anything less than interesting. Case in point, the bottomless evil of Strychnos, a Danish outfit that struggled to get off the ground in the early 00’s, eked out a single EP in the 10’s, and suddenly started shitting out heaving platters of malicious black/death since the pandemic. Armageddon Patronage is the second full-length off their new production line, and it brings every horseman along for its deadly ride. War is embodied by the lethal double feature that starts the charge, with swelling riffs battering the unjust to fertilizer. The unflinching and unfeeling brutality of Famine seethes from “Choking Salvation,” and out the beaks of “Pale Black Birds” pours Pestilence with slavering enthusiasm. Frontman Martin Leth Anderson, who also handles bass for Undergang, employs a bellowing growl that encapsulates hopelessness and suffering, and the excellent, malevolent riffs usher an effective aura of utter destruction. Death, however, comes not at the end, but during the doom-laden centerpiece, the despondent “Endless Void Dimension” with its atmospheric Gregorian chanting. I have no qualms becoming a patron to this spiteful chunk of armageddon.

Dear Hollow’s Shtanky Shwamp of Shrieks

Saidan // Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity [May 24th, 2024 – Self-Released]

Saidan do things a little differently. The Nashville duo’s themes rooted in Japanese folklore and the formidable and mysterious yokai in particular, combined with a relentlessly riffy and punk-driven tour-de-force of black metal proportions are always food for thought in the act’s brief and formidable history. Seamlessly transitioning between punk chord progressions and bouncy drums to blastbeats and kvlt tremolo to groovy riffs and rhythms, anchored by Splatterpvnk’s ripping vocals, it never shies away from punishment. However, interwoven with this assault is a distinctly melodic undercurrent that brightens the progressions and gives purpose and a sense of fun – a hyper-melodic black metal act would be jealous. You won’t be able to shake the grooves of “Desecration of a Lustful Illusion,” the symphonic black intensity of “Genocidal Bloodfiend” and “Veins of the Wicked” hit you like a cyclone, and the classic thrash solos and anime-theme-song vibe of “Sick Abducted Purity,” “Visual Kill,” and “Switchblade Paradise” are guaranteed to get your head banging – plus, the interlude “seraphic lullaby” and instrumental closer “suffer” ain’t half bad. Visual Kill is like if Powerglove wrote a black metal album that you could actually take seriously, backed up with the technicality, songwriting chops, and sheer unbridled energy to make it work.

Parfaxitas // Weaver of the Black Moon [May 31st, 2024 – Terratur Possessions]

The minds behind Parfaxitas should need little introduction, although the moniker will likely not ring any bells. Representing three separate scenes and their respective contributions to black metal lore, two American stringsmen from acts Merihem, Suffering Hour, and Manetherean, Icelandic drummer B.E. from Almyrkvi, Sinmara, Slidhr, and Wormlust, and Norwegian vocalist K.R. From Whoredom Rife collide. Weaver of the Black Moon combines the blueprint of second-wave Norwegian black with the obsidian dissonance of Icelandic, and the experimental edge of American acts, making it a tour-de-force of both vicious sound and tortured atmosphere. Dissonance rains down like acid, a backdrop, and shroud of otherworldly sounds that shimmer and crunch in ways that recall both the winding passages of Suffering Hour and the psychedelic rawness of Wormlust simultaneously. Hammered by vicious blastbeats and guided by tortured barks, the guitar and meandering fluid bass guide listeners from untouchable intensity (“Thou Shalt Worship No Other”) to haunting and hypnotic atmosphere (“Ravens of Dispersion”) – stealing the show. Parfaxitas features a whole lot of firepower, culminating in epic closer “Fields of Nightmares,” a crescendo of punishing and otherworldly proportions.

Aseitas // Eden Trough [May 30th, 2024 – Total Dissonance Worship]

After Aseitas’ formidable 2020 album False Peace, which narrowly missed my AOTY’s, the Portland trio is back with another album – which could easily be classified as an EP in its tidy thirty-minute runtime. Eden Trough condenses the lofty and decadent ambition of its predecessor for an album devoted to complete takedown in winding riffs, punishing death metal, and ravaging vocals. From the thick and punishing signature shifts of “Libertine Captor” and “Alabaster Bones,” complete with shifting riffs and a liminal sense of melody, to the more droning and haunting “Break the Neck of Every Beautiful Thing,” to the epic and cosmic psychedelia of ten-minute centerpiece “Tiamat,” Aseitas’ shows its tantalizing and gradual progression to an echelon of indispensable in the world of dissonant death. Offering influences of convulsive mathcore, mammoth post-metal, and unhinged yet intensely calculated technicality, Eden Trough is a must-listen for the long-time fan, as well as proffering a snapshot to the curious of what makes Aseitas so special to begin with.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Progalicious Ponderings

Azure // Fym [May 23rd, 2024 – Self Release]

Are you way into high fantasy and exuberant, progressive albums that reflect that sentiment? If so, look no further than Azure’s third opus, Fym, which over its runtime recounts the tales of a mystical fox’s journey in a frightening and whimsical world. Normally I wouldn’t think twice about an album with such a storybook concept.1 But between Chris Sampson’s vocal navigations that ring as hyper-tenor and dolphin-like (“The Lavender Fox”)2 as they do sullen and heart-wrenching (“Kingdom of Ice and Light,” “Moonrise”), and Galen Stapley’s mystical fretboard wizardry that marries funk chords, soundtrack melodies, and dance-able shred, Azure packs too much sunshine in their prog for me to ignore. And at almost eighty minutes, they pack a lot of it too. However, each run through Fym’s pages finds a new rumbling bass bounce to propel a hop, a new vocal run to twirl my tongue (with notes that I couldn’t possibly hit), or a synthfully sinful refrain to stain my brain matter with happy juice—”The Azdinist // Den of Dawns” or “Agentic State” unite these ideas best—it’s truly a hard album to put down. Combining just about every era of Genesis with the acrobatics of Dream Theater, the play and ambition of the earliest of Pain of Salvation theatrics, and healthy dose of modern bastardizations (check the autotune/pitchshifting on “Doppelgänger”), Azure has made a mighty statement with Fym that I’m still digesting. And with as many inventive synth patches, harmonic vocal layers, and cinematic builds as this rainbow dose of prog pushes, it’ll be quite some time before I’ve made up my mind about it all. So I’ll continue in pieces. Or all at once. Whatever time allows because Fym is just that much fun.

PreHistoric Animals // Finding Love in Strange Places [May 16th, 2024 – Dutch Music Works]

And here we are with, what’s that, another prog concept album? This one’s a little less terrestrial though, featuring healthy infusions of a futuristic space drama and heavy-hitting synthwave doots and bounces. Over the course of their past couple works, PreHistoric Animals has found an ease in comfortable exploration with their King’s X-like tendency to grip with a barbed verse melody or chorus explosion, layered tastefully with harmonic vocal accompaniment and groove-heavy riffs. But, despite that comparison, it’s clear from the opening synth pulse of “The City of My Dreams” and “Living in a World of Bliss” that an electronic and hooky identity that’s caught between Toto and Yes imbues the edges of refrains that stick like honey to vocalist Stefan Altzar’s easy-on-the-ears narrative. Finding Love in Strange Places can get bogged down a touch in its word-driven nature, though, especially on the various interludes and certain longer tracks like “Unbreakable” and “Nothing Has Changed but Everything Is Different.” None of that fluff ever truly interrupts Finding Love’s heartbeat rhythms, which hold a steady if highly syncopated simplicity and form a hi-hat charming vessel that keeps the head nodding in progressive pomp. Oh, and it helps that guitarists Altzar and Daniel Magdic (ex-Pain of Salvation) have studied the slow-burn solo nature of greats like David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Brian May (Queen), with tasteful legato and searing ascensions aiding in earned crescendo at Finding Love’s best moments (“Living in a World of Bliss,” “The Secret of Goodness”). Having reliably churned out confident and catchy works every other years since 2018, PreHistoric Animals fly relatively low in the flock of modern prog, but these space-bound Swedes have earned a likely lifelong aquatic fan at this stage of their growing career. Give Love a chance!

Matrass // Cathedrals [May 17th, 2024 – La Tangente Label]

And, last but not least from my assortment, Matrass hails from France to bring you Cathedrals, which is… yes, you guessed it, another prog concept album! If you’re worried about another album of the synthtastic and 80s prog-themed variety, though, don’t fret about what Matrass brings to the table. Playing closer to post than progressive waters, Cathedrals flitters about dreamy, lounge jazz guitar passages before crushing down with Cult of Luna riffs and Tesseract-inspired, low-end atmospherics. But most important to the groove and cinematic lilt that defines Cathedrals is the methods by which vocalist Clémentine Browne navigates jangling verses with gentle croons and accented, rhythmic spoken word before frying down with screeching and hissing fervor against heavy chord crushes. That talent for establishing and reinforcing mood lands idiosyncratic in the realm of post acts, so her exact methods may not fit the bill for all fans of the rise-and-fall aesthetic the genre offers. And though Matrass remains largely iterative of this mood through its hour-long run, it’s that successful idea of atmosphere that allows peak tracks “Shreds,” “Adrift” (which features Browne on saxophone instead), and “Cathedrals” to conjure such powerful and drifting thoughts in my head. And when you’re in its valleys? Matrass still maintains a textural backdrop that spells high potential for this young act.

Saunders’ Sulfuric Stash

Desolus // System Shock [March 10th, 2024 – Hells Headbangers]

Who’s up for some explosive, throwback thrashy goodness? Although hailing from the States, Desolus take plenty of inspiration from classic German trash titans Kreator, Destruction and Sodom. Throw in classic Dark Angel vibes, a heavy, modern edge and crunchy production job, and the band’s debut System Shock ticks all the boxes for a thrashing great time. This shit is seriously jacked with unhinged, old-school aggression, spitfire riffs and stampeding percussion propelling the album’s ten speed-driven assaults. An utterly deranged, ’80s underground-inspired vocal performance adds further steel-plated authenticity to a retro-minded sound that manages to sound fresh and inspired. Aside from rare moments of slower melodic nuance on the otherwise blistering “Sea of Fire,” and the aptly titled “Interlude” providing a handy breather, Desolus crank speed and intensity to the max, rarely breaking from their relentless stride. The opening one-two salvo of “System Shock” and bonkers lunacy of “From Man to Machine” set a savage tone and gritty platform from which Desolus launch assault after assault of high-octane thrash mania. “Cures of the Technomancer” is an absolute riff beast with groove and speed for days, while “The Invasion Begins” deftly puts you in a false sense of bouncy melodic security before jamming the afterburners into a typically ferocious attack. Exuberant, nasty stuff.

Terminal Nation // Echoes of the Devil’s Den [May 3rd, 2024 – 20 Buck Spin]

The second album from Pittsburgh bruisers Terminal Nation hits with sledgehammer force, obliterating any semblance of subtlety in favor of an extra beefy, in-your-face hybrid of death metal and hardcore. Echoes of the Devil’s Den features a searing, politically charged and seriously pissed-off bite. High-profile guest vocal slots seamlessly blend into the vicious attack, including strong turns from Integrity‘s Dwid Hellion (“Release the Serpents”), Killswitch Engage‘s Jesse Leach (“Merchants of Bloodshed”) and Nails frontman Todd Jones. Jones features on “Written by the Victor,” a vicious tune that harnesses thick, neck-wrecking grooves and punishing, doom-laden death grooves. The album’s hardcore influence and political slant may turn off certain listeners, but those who don’t mind some hardcore in their death stew should find plenty to like here. The gritty, muscular exterior features nods to Bolt Thrower and All Shall Perish, while the weighty, mid-paced crush, chunky riffs and breakdowns are balanced by tasteful melodic counterpoints and livelier bursts of speed (“Dying Alive”). Not all works; the provocative, anti-police song “No Reform (New Age Slave Patrol)” musically has its moments; however, the heavy-handed lyrical approach sticks out like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, Echoes of the Devil’s Den swings and slugs you more often than it misses.

Steel Druhm’s Sewer Tarts

The Troops of Doom // A Mass to the Grotesque [May 31, 2024 – Alma Mater Records]

For their sophomore outing, Brazilian death-thrashers The Troops of Doom took their vintage Sepultura-esque sound and juiced it up considerably from what we heard on 2022s Antichrist Reborn. A Mass to the Grotesque still sounds a bunch like classic Sepultura but it’s much more refined, developed and expanded in scope. Yet it’s still a frenzied, thrashing assault full of lyrics about evil, demons, and all things anti-Christian. It sounds like something that should have dropped in as the 80s thrash wave started mutating into proto-death, and that is a beloved era of music for yours Steely. Songs like “Chapels of the Unholy” and “Dawn of Mephisto” sit right on the bleeding edge of thrash and early death, with Slayer-tastic riffs colliding with early examples of death grooves. What makes this so entertaining is how the band reaches outside of the Sepultura homage bubble to drag in new elements to expand their sound. Some songs feel slightly progressive (“Denied Divinity”) while elsewhere they shoehorn epic doom into the massive “Psalm 7:8 – God of Bizarre.” The straight-up riffbeasts are my favorites though, with “The Imposter King” being a big, fat, sweaty highlight. While these cats are always going to get compared to classic Sepultura, they made real efforts here to stake out their own identity. This is a wild, testosterone-fueled ride featuring the maximum allowable Satan, and I support that.

#20BuckSpin #2024 #AMassToTheGrotesque #Aborted #AllShallPerish #AlmaMaterRecords #Almyrkvi #AmericanMetal #ArmageddonPatronage #Aseitas #Azure #BelgianMetal #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #Capstan #Cathedrals #CHON #CobraTheImpaler #CultOfLuna #DanishMetal #DarkAngel #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Desolus #Destruction #DissonantDeathMetal #DreamTheater #DutchMusicWorks #EchoesOfTheDevilSDen #EdenTrough #FearlessRecords #FindingLoveInStrangePlaces #FrenchMetal #Fym #Genesis #GermanMetal #Gojira #Haken #Hardcore #HellsHeadbangers #Integrity #InternationalMetal #KarmaCollision #KillswitchEngage #KingsX #Kreator #LaTangenteLabel #ListenableRecords #Manetherean #Mastodon #Matrass #May24 #MelodicBlackMetal #Merihem #Nails #PainOfSalvation #Parfaxitas #PinkFloyd #Polyphia #PostHardcore #Powerglove #PreHistoricAnimals #ProgressiveMetal #Punk #Queen #Review #Reviews #Saidan #SelfReleased #Sinmara #Slidhr #Sodom #Strychnos #SufferingHour #SwedishMetal #SystemShock #TechnicalDeathMetal #TechnicalMetal #TerminalNation #TerraturPossessions #TesseracT #TheMosaic #TheTroopsOfDoom #TotalDissonanceWorship #UKMetal #Undergang #USMetal #VisualKillTheBlossomingOfPsychoticDepravity #WeaverOfTheBlackMoon #WhoredomeRife #Wormlust #Yes

Vanhelgd – Atropos Doctrina Review

By Kenstrosity

My third review ever for this site covered Swedeath quartet Vanhelgd’s fifth outing Deimos Sanktuarium. I was still a n00b then, and my reference points for a great many albums then pales in comparison to the arsenal of touchstones at my disposal today. Six years after my inevitable installment as Grand Spongus of Angry Metal Guy, Vanhelgd marks my first repeat band from my n00b era as they prepare to unleash their sixth salvo, Atropos Doctrina. There’s no time like the present to revisit a band from my critical upbringing. Onwards, to Atropos Doctrina!

Six years between albums changed Vanhelgd, but not as much as some might reasonably expect. Their crunchy combination of Desolate Shrine somberness and Aphyx stomp remains largely unscathed by the passage of time. However, gone entirely are those occasional dalliances with the English language. Good riddance. Also diminished in quantity, Deimos Sanktuarium’s hooky vocal refrains—delivered with an assortment of harsh vox, gang shouts, and ecclesiastical cleans—make way for more guitar-forward fixes (“Kom dödens tysta ängel,” “Gravjordsfrid”). Vanhelgd’s production values shifted, too, moving from a naturally powerful assortment of tones and textures to a thinner, boomier, and louder sonic palette to the record’s detriment. In mood, Atropos Doctrina makes for a more mournful outing than past releases, moving further into doom territory than ever before and evoking a weeping sort of death we more commonly hear from contemporaries like Be’lakor and The Drowning—and used to hear from classics like My Dying Bride (“I ovigd jord”). Overall, though, Vanhelgd successfully maintain their identity as another solid Swedish death metal band sporting a tasteful application of the style.

Consistency is Atropos Doctrina’s greatest asset. Forty minutes of rock-solid, somber death metal that glides through movements as a knife through softened butter, Atropos Doctrina represents Vanhelgd’s songwriting touchstones at their most fluid. After a quick, no-nonsense ripper that immediately launches the record into an adrenaline rush (“Saliga äro de dödfödda”), “Kom dödens tysta ängel” gently grounds me with a more mid-paced march that keeps the energy up just enough to leave me wanting more. More is exactly what I get as the record proceeds in that mid-paced, lightly melodic vein until just over midway through. At that point, album highlight “Atropos Hymnarium” absolutely obliterates my bones with a raucous, and thoroughly unexpected, Black Royal riffset that would fit right at home on Firebride. A chef’s kiss moment if there ever was one. I don’t have to wait very long before the next memorable moment either, as the back end of the record prioritizes tight, well-edited numbers that say what they have to say and move right along. This allows closer “Gravjordsfrid” to hit twice as hard with its main melody, a sullen but emotive refrain that strikes the heart and tugs at its strings. As the song transitions into a piano rendition of that same theme, I feel the weight of woe lighten into newfound peace, marking the final rest of Atropos Doctrina as it fades to black.

Unfortunately, as Atropos Doctrina fades to black each time, I feel very little draw to the idea of returning. This record contains within it a number of compelling passages and beautiful moments (just listen to those lead guitars on “I ovigd jord”), but in between those sparks of brilliance lies a preponderance of stock-standard blackened, melodic death metal that hardly moves the needle past average. As a result, half of the record enters one ear and falls unceremoniously out of the other even during focused spins. I don’t take this term lightly, yet the ultimate takeaway is that much of Atropos Doctrina is generic. Competent and enjoyable, but generic. Consequently, all that the record’s more pedestrian offerings can hope to achieve is to keep the momentum going strong (“Ofredsår,” “Galgdanstid”). Thankfully, that’s exactly what they do. Nonetheless, and especially for a band as well-established and obviously well-versed as Vanhelgd, it takes more than that to stand out.

At the end of the day, Atropos Doctrina is an enjoyable, if ultimately unremarkable slab of sorrowful Swedeath. Vanhelgd understand their sound and wield it well, but they need to either explore more distinctive ways of approaching the format or further capitalize on their best ideas if they want to make a lasting impression. I don’t envy them the task, but I wish Vanhelgd luck, and remain hopeful for what comes next.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: vanhelgd.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/vanhelgd
Releases Worldwide: July 12th, 2024

#25 #2024 #Asphyx #AtroposDoctrina #BeLakor #BlackRoyal #BlackenedDeathMetal #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DesolateShrine #Jul24 #Review #Reviews #SwedishMetal #TheDrowning #Vanhelgd

Vanhelgd – Atropos Doctrina Review

By Kenstrosity

My third review ever for this site covered Swedeath quartet Vanhelgd’s fifth outing Deimos Sanktuarium. I was still a n00b then, and my reference points for a great many albums then pales in comparison to the arsenal of touchstones at my disposal today. Six years after my inevitable installment as Grand Spongus of Angry Metal Guy, Vanhelgd marks my first repeat band from my n00b era as they prepare to unleash their sixth salvo, Atropos Doctrina. There’s no time like the present to revisit a band from my critical upbringing. Onwards, to Atropos Doctrina!

Six years between albums changed Vanhelgd, but not as much as some might reasonably expect. Their crunchy combination of Desolate Shrine somberness and Aphyx stomp remains largely unscathed by the passage of time. However, gone entirely are those occasional dalliances with the English language. Good riddance. Also diminished in quantity, Deimos Sanktuarium’s hooky vocal refrains—delivered with an assortment of harsh vox, gang shouts, and ecclesiastical cleans—make way for more guitar-forward fixes (“Kom dödens tysta ängel,” “Gravjordsfrid”). Vanhelgd’s production values shifted, too, moving from a naturally powerful assortment of tones and textures to a thinner, boomier, and louder sonic palette to the record’s detriment. In mood, Atropos Doctrina makes for a more mournful outing than past releases, moving further into doom territory than ever before and evoking a weeping sort of death we more commonly hear from contemporaries like Be’lakor and The Drowning—and used to hear from classics like My Dying Bride (“I ovigd jord”). Overall, though, Vanhelgd successfully maintain their identity as another solid Swedish death metal band sporting a tasteful application of the style.

Consistency is Atropos Doctrina’s greatest asset. Forty minutes of rock-solid, somber death metal that glides through movements as a knife through softened butter, Atropos Doctrina represents Vanhelgd’s songwriting touchstones at their most fluid. After a quick, no-nonsense ripper that immediately launches the record into an adrenaline rush (“Saliga äro de dödfödda”), “Kom dödens tysta ängel” gently grounds me with a more mid-paced march that keeps the energy up just enough to leave me wanting more. More is exactly what I get as the record proceeds in that mid-paced, lightly melodic vein until just over midway through. At that point, album highlight “Atropos Hymnarium” absolutely obliterates my bones with a raucous, and thoroughly unexpected, Black Royal riffset that would fit right at home on Firebride. A chef’s kiss moment if there ever was one. I don’t have to wait very long before the next memorable moment either, as the back end of the record prioritizes tight, well-edited numbers that say what they have to say and move right along. This allows closer “Gravjordsfrid” to hit twice as hard with its main melody, a sullen but emotive refrain that strikes the heart and tugs at its strings. As the song transitions into a piano rendition of that same theme, I feel the weight of woe lighten into newfound peace, marking the final rest of Atropos Doctrina as it fades to black.

Unfortunately, as Atropos Doctrina fades to black each time, I feel very little draw to the idea of returning. This record contains within it a number of compelling passages and beautiful moments (just listen to those lead guitars on “I ovigd jord”), but in between those sparks of brilliance lies a preponderance of stock-standard blackened, melodic death metal that hardly moves the needle past average. As a result, half of the record enters one ear and falls unceremoniously out of the other even during focused spins. I don’t take this term lightly, yet the ultimate takeaway is that much of Atropos Doctrina is generic. Competent and enjoyable, but generic. Consequently, all that the record’s more pedestrian offerings can hope to achieve is to keep the momentum going strong (“Ofredsår,” “Galgdanstid”). Thankfully, that’s exactly what they do. Nonetheless, and especially for a band as well-established and obviously well-versed as Vanhelgd, it takes more than that to stand out.

At the end of the day, Atropos Doctrina is an enjoyable, if ultimately unremarkable slab of sorrowful Swedeath. Vanhelgd understand their sound and wield it well, but they need to either explore more distinctive ways of approaching the format or further capitalize on their best ideas if they want to make a lasting impression. I don’t envy them the task, but I wish Vanhelgd luck, and remain hopeful for what comes next.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: vanhelgd.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/vanhelgd
Releases Worldwide: July 12th, 2024

#25 #2024 #Asphyx #AtroposDoctrina #BeLakor #BlackRoyal #BlackenedDeathMetal #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DesolateShrine #Jul24 #Review #Reviews #SwedishMetal #TheDrowning #Vanhelgd

Hyperdontia – Harvest of Malevolence Review

By Steel Druhm

Danish/Turkish old school death metal project Hyperdontia was unknown to me until I was heavily exposed to their 2021 album Hideous Entity during several sessions at my local tattoo parlor. I initially thought they were blasting an Immolation album I couldn’t place and I quickly got on board with the classic death metal the band was delivering. The formula itself was an old one, but it was spiced up by impressive technicality and dynamism that flashed influences like Mordid Angel and early Pestilence. A few years on and here comes third full-length, Harvest of Malevolence and Hyperdontia haven’t changed much. It’s pure, rip-roaring OSDM fury with little effort made to bring it into modern day. The band flashes tons of chops but never threaten to turn the brutish stomping into something wanky or fancy-bepantsy. Will such a basic approach net big returns with so many bands out there doing the same thing? Let’s sink our teeth into the album meat.

No, intro, no fucking around is the death metal mantra I can get behind, and opener “Death’s Embrace” comes right out swinging. That classic old time death gallop segues into rabid blasts and mammoth grooves as you get shook up and smacked down by the ugly racket. It’s the kind of death you buy into immediately and there’s a lot to love about the grisly precision with which the band slices and dices. “Salvation in Death” swifts tempos willy-nilly, often sounding like something off Pestilence’s Testimony of the Ancients, and those burly riffs are money. It runs about a minute too long, but there’s good fun to be had. “Marking the Rite” hits the spot as well with a healthy portion of nasty, abrasive riffage and titanic grooves. It’s high-energy shit and it scratches the common death itches, though it isn’t doing anything new.

The rest of Harvest of Malevolence is less impactful, however, with the writing starting to fray around the edges. I appreciate the mild flirtations with Bolt Thrower-esque power plowing during “Pestering Lamentations,” and “Defame Flesh” moves from eerie Incantation-isms to thrashing intensity with Morbid Angel living loudly in the riffage, but “Pervasive Rot” is very stock and generic and goes on for what feels like a week, causing me to lose focus multiple times along the way. “Irrevocable Disaster” is blasty and convoluted and reminds me of the stuff off Pestilence’s mighty Consuming Impulse, but it never gets anyplace better than average. At a short 39:50, there’s still a sense of bloat riding several tracks though none reach the 6-minute mark. The bigger issue is a looming feeling of over-familiarity. The best moments rise above the sense of “heard it all before,” but the bulk of the album hits the bar and falls back into the muck of just good enough.

The band is uber talented and capable of high levels of technical showboatery, which makes it all the more impressive that they restrain themselves from going full wanky cranky. Mustafa Gürcalioğlu (Diabolizer, Engulfed) and Mathias Friborg (Sulphurous) are very talented axe murders and they dot the landscape with a good collection of cutting riffs and chunky grooves. They also dazzle with solo work that rides the line between impressive and maybe too melodic for the surrounding brutish cavemanery. Friborg’s vocals are appropriately guttural and ugly but there’s little variation to his delivery. Malik Çamlıca (Diabolizer) makes sure his bass is present and bubbling, and I enjoy the drumming of Tuna (Redivivus, ex-Phrenelith). The man rides his kit hard and puts it away broken, and my ears are routinely drawn to what he’s doing back there. Talent abounds, but the resulting material is less than you’d expect from such an able crew.

Harvest of Malevolence is a completely serviceable death metal album with a few fairly killer moments. No one will think it’s a waste of listening time, though many may arrive expecting more than what’s delivered. Hyperdontia have all the tools to be a tier-one player in the death arena, and their earlier album are impressive. This one feels less bitey. I’ll probably give it a fair number of spins, but I suspect this will be swept away by the tides of new releases before long.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: hyperdontiaofficial.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/hyperdontia | instagram.com/hyperdontiaofficial
Releases Worldwide: June 21st, 2024

#2024 #30 #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Diabolizer #HarvestOfMalevolence #Hyperdontia #InternationalMetal #Jun24 #MorbidAngel #Pestilence #Review #Reviews

Hyperdontia – Harvest of Malevolence Review

By Steel Druhm

Danish/Turkish old school death metal project Hyperdontia was unknown to me until I was heavily exposed to their 2021 album Hideous Entity during several sessions at my local tattoo parlor. I initially thought they were blasting an Immolation album I couldn’t place and I quickly got on board with the classic death metal the band was delivering. The formula itself was an old one, but it was spiced up by impressive technicality and dynamism that flashed influences like Mordid Angel and early Pestilence. A few years on and here comes third full-length, Harvest of Malevolence and Hyperdontia haven’t changed much. It’s pure, rip-roaring OSDM fury with little effort made to bring it into modern day. The band flashes tons of chops but never threaten to turn the brutish stomping into something wanky or fancy-bepantsy. Will such a basic approach net big returns with so many bands out there doing the same thing? Let’s sink our teeth into the album meat.

No, intro, no fucking around is the death metal mantra I can get behind, and opener “Death’s Embrace” comes right out swinging. That classic old time death gallop segues into rabid blasts and mammoth grooves as you get shook up and smacked down by the ugly racket. It’s the kind of death you buy into immediately and there’s a lot to love about the grisly precision with which the band slices and dices. “Salvation in Death” swifts tempos willy-nilly, often sounding like something off Pestilence’s Testimony of the Ancients, and those burly riffs are money. It runs about a minute too long, but there’s good fun to be had. “Marking the Rite” hits the spot as well with a healthy portion of nasty, abrasive riffage and titanic grooves. It’s high-energy shit and it scratches the common death itches, though it isn’t doing anything new.

The rest of Harvest of Malevolence is less impactful, however, with the writing starting to fray around the edges. I appreciate the mild flirtations with Bolt Thrower-esque power plowing during “Pestering Lamentations,” and “Defame Flesh” moves from eerie Incantation-isms to thrashing intensity with Morbid Angel living loudly in the riffage, but “Pervasive Rot” is very stock and generic and goes on for what feels like a week, causing me to lose focus multiple times along the way. “Irrevocable Disaster” is blasty and convoluted and reminds me of the stuff off Pestilence’s mighty Consuming Impulse, but it never gets anyplace better than average. At a short 39:50, there’s still a sense of bloat riding several tracks though none reach the 6-minute mark. The bigger issue is a looming feeling of over-familiarity. The best moments rise above the sense of “heard it all before,” but the bulk of the album hits the bar and falls back into the muck of just good enough.

The band is uber talented and capable of high levels of technical showboatery, which makes it all the more impressive that they restrain themselves from going full wanky cranky. Mustafa Gürcalioğlu (Diabolizer, Engulfed) and Mathias Friborg (Sulphurous) are very talented axe murders and they dot the landscape with a good collection of cutting riffs and chunky grooves. They also dazzle with solo work that rides the line between impressive and maybe too melodic for the surrounding brutish cavemanery. Friborg’s vocals are appropriately guttural and ugly but there’s little variation to his delivery. Malik Çamlıca (Diabolizer) makes sure his bass is present and bubbling, and I enjoy the drumming of Tuna (Redivivus, ex-Phrenelith). The man rides his kit hard and puts it away broken, and my ears are routinely drawn to what he’s doing back there. Talent abounds, but the resulting material is less than you’d expect from such an able crew.

Harvest of Malevolence is a completely serviceable death metal album with a few fairly killer moments. No one will think it’s a waste of listening time, though many may arrive expecting more than what’s delivered. Hyperdontia have all the tools to be a tier-one player in the death arena, and their earlier album are impressive. This one feels less bitey. I’ll probably give it a fair number of spins, but I suspect this will be swept away by the tides of new releases before long.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: hyperdontiaofficial.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/hyperdontia | instagram.com/hyperdontiaofficial
Releases Worldwide: June 21st, 2024

#2024 #30 #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Diabolizer #HarvestOfMalevolence #Hyperdontia #InternationalMetal #Jun24 #MorbidAngel #Pestilence #Review #Reviews

Crypt Sermon – The Stygian Rose Review

By Steel Druhm

Over the last few years, I’ve slowly morphed from the traditional/trve/doom metal guy into the rancid death metal guy. It seems 85% of the promos I grab these days are death-related or death-adjacent. Questionable tastes aside, I was still excited to change things up and bask in the latest from Philly’s doom wardens Crypt Sermon. When last we saw them nearly 5 years ago, they’d released their sophomore outing The Ruins of Fading Light. While I wasn’t as enamored with it as I was with their killer Out of the Garden debut, it had some stellar moments and it’s grown on me over the years. I hoped The Stygian Rose would trend more toward the debut, but instead, the band found a slick middle ground between the classic doom of the debut and the more exploratory style of The Ruins. The Stygian Rose reasserts the mighty influences of Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus while allowing a large volume of traditional metal ideas to flow through the material like a refreshing blast of ice-cold beer. A slightly proggy edge surfaces at times too. In short, this is one fragrant corpse flower!

Opening monolith “Glimmers in the Underworld” wastes no time establishing its classic doom bona vides, sounding like a long-lost Solitude Aeturnus track with trve metal muscle included for added impact. The guitar work is stellar, switching from massive doom grooves to Judas Priest-esque dueling solos and Maiden-friendly harmonizing. Cutting through all this are the larger-than-life vocals of Brooks Wilson who sounds reborn, projecting might and majesty everywhere. Over the song’s 8-plus minutes, the band varies mood and tempo but never takes the boot off your neck or lets the momentum lag. It’s a triumph. The classic doom goodies continue on “Thunder (Perfect Mind)” which could have been on the debut. It sounds like a product of the doom revival of the late 80s/early 90s and the mournful guitars hit hard and chill the soul. Brooks completely owns this one with a tremendous performance, commanding the mic like a true Doom Lord.

The album highlight arrives with “Scrying Orb” where the band goes deep into classic doom for a massive, sweeping experience full of despondency and epic dimensions. There’s more feeling feeling here than on some entire doom albums and this is a Vegas-backed Song o’ the Year candidate. Brooks sounds wounded and vulnerable until it’s time to invoke the Elder Gods in a haunting, liturgical chant when the brilliant chorus arrives. This is a show-stopper and I can’t escape its wickedly mystical powers. Then comes the gigantic 11-minute closing title track to celebrate your interment in the mausoleum of metal excellence. Beginning with somber piano lines, things slowly climb toward doom grandiosity with Brooks joining the battle around the 3rd minute, delivering some of his best vocal work as he swings from leather-lunged raw bellowing to softer, poignant crooning. The guitar work is stunning and elegant, especially during the song’s final act. No song is weak, though the middle section is slightly less tremendous and a bit more proggy than the bookending moments. At 44:50, the album is the ideal length and even the long-form cuts avoid feeling fatty due to excellent structuring. The production by Arthur Rizk is spot on, giving the guitars mass and force and allowing tons of room for Brooks and company to hawk their sonic wares.

I couldn’t be more impressed by the guitar maelstrom generated by Steve Jansson (Daeva) and Frank Chin (also Daeva). They dig deep into Mount Doom for inspiration, plunging well below Balrog depths to reach the real gems. Their lusty infusion of traditional metal influences adds a glossy, vibrant coating to the heavy doom core, reminiscent of the glory days of Candlemass when Mats Björkman and Lars Johansson were on shred detail. The doom riffs are present and accounted for and all the extra embellishments are rich, meaty gravy. Brooks Wilson sounds completely renewed vocally. Where he sounded strained and thin at times on The Ruins of Fading Light, he sounds colossal and unstoppable here. He glides from strength to strength effortlessly while giving the material a ton of gravitas and power, like Rob Lowe in his prime sprinkled with Magic Dio Dust™. The songs are well thought-out, well-executed, and packed with sticky staying power.

I knew Crypt Sermon had better days ahead of them, and here they are. The Stygian Rose builds on the prior releases to create a towering doom edifice with an unshakeable foundation. If this isn’t the doom album of 2024, someone made a merger deal with the Devil. Now get to your morbid florist and buy a dozen of these long-stemmed doom wonders. Let the Sermon recommence.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: cryptsermon.com | cryptsermon.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/cryptsermon
Releases Worldwide: June 14th, 2024

#2024 #40 #AmericanMetal #Candlemass #CryptSermon #DarkDescentRecords #DoomMetal #HeavyMetal #Jun24 #OutOfTheGarden #Review #Reviews #SolitudeAeturnus #TheRuinsOfFadingLight #TheStygianRose

Crypt Sermon – The Stygian Rose Review

By Steel Druhm

Over the last few years, I’ve slowly morphed from the traditional/trve/doom metal guy into the rancid death metal guy. It seems 85% of the promos I grab these days are death-related or death-adjacent. Questionable tastes aside, I was still excited to change things up and bask in the latest from Philly’s doom wardens Crypt Sermon. When last we saw them nearly 5 years ago, they’d released their sophomore outing The Ruins of Fading Light. While I wasn’t as enamored with it as I was with their killer Out of the Garden debut, it had some stellar moments and it’s grown on me over the years. I hoped The Stygian Rose would trend more toward the debut, but instead, the band found a slick middle ground between the classic doom of the debut and the more exploratory style of The Ruins. The Stygian Rose reasserts the mighty influences of Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus while allowing a large volume of traditional metal ideas to flow through the material like a refreshing blast of ice-cold beer. A slightly proggy edge surfaces at times too. In short, this is one fragrant corpse flower!

Opening monolith “Glimmers in the Underworld” wastes no time establishing its classic doom bona vides, sounding like a long-lost Solitude Aeturnus track with trve metal muscle included for added impact. The guitar work is stellar, switching from massive doom grooves to Judas Priest-esque dueling solos and Maiden-friendly harmonizing. Cutting through all this are the larger-than-life vocals of Brooks Wilson who sounds reborn, projecting might and majesty everywhere. Over the song’s 8-plus minutes, the band varies mood and tempo but never takes the boot off your neck or lets the momentum lag. It’s a triumph. The classic doom goodies continue on “Thunder (Perfect Mind)” which could have been on the debut. It sounds like a product of the doom revival of the late 80s/early 90s and the mournful guitars hit hard and chill the soul. Brooks completely owns this one with a tremendous performance, commanding the mic like a true Doom Lord.

The album highlight arrives with “Scrying Orb” where the band goes deep into classic doom for a massive, sweeping experience full of despondency and epic dimensions. There’s more feeling feeling here than on some entire doom albums and this is a Vegas-backed Song o’ the Year candidate. Brooks sounds wounded and vulnerable until it’s time to invoke the Elder Gods in a haunting, liturgical chant when the brilliant chorus arrives. This is a show-stopper and I can’t escape its wickedly mystical powers. Then comes the gigantic 11-minute closing title track to celebrate your interment in the mausoleum of metal excellence. Beginning with somber piano lines, things slowly climb toward doom grandiosity with Brooks joining the battle around the 3rd minute, delivering some of his best vocal work as he swings from leather-lunged raw bellowing to softer, poignant crooning. The guitar work is stunning and elegant, especially during the song’s final act. No song is weak, though the middle section is slightly less tremendous and a bit more proggy than the bookending moments. At 44:50, the album is the ideal length and even the long-form cuts avoid feeling fatty due to excellent structuring. The production by Arthur Rizk is spot on, giving the guitars mass and force and allowing tons of room for Brooks and company to hawk their sonic wares.

I couldn’t be more impressed by the guitar maelstrom generated by Steve Jansson (Daeva) and Frank Chin (also Daeva). They dig deep into Mount Doom for inspiration, plunging well below Balrog depths to reach the real gems. Their lusty infusion of traditional metal influences adds a glossy, vibrant coating to the heavy doom core, reminiscent of the glory days of Candlemass when Mats Björkman and Lars Johansson were on shred detail. The doom riffs are present and accounted for and all the extra embellishments are rich, meaty gravy. Brooks Wilson sounds completely renewed vocally. Where he sounded strained and thin at times on The Ruins of Fading Light, he sounds colossal and unstoppable here. He glides from strength to strength effortlessly while giving the material a ton of gravitas and power, like Rob Lowe in his prime sprinkled with Magic Dio Dust™. The songs are well thought-out, well-executed, and packed with sticky staying power.

I knew Crypt Sermon had better days ahead of them, and here they are. The Stygian Rose builds on the prior releases to create a towering doom edifice with an unshakeable foundation. If this isn’t the doom album of 2024, someone made a merger deal with the Devil. Now get to your morbid florist and buy a dozen of these long-stemmed doom wonders. Let the Sermon recommence.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent
Websites: cryptsermon.com | cryptsermon.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/cryptsermon
Releases Worldwide: June 14th, 2024

#2024 #40 #AmericanMetal #Candlemass #CryptSermon #DarkDescentRecords #DoomMetal #HeavyMetal #Jun24 #OutOfTheGarden #Review #Reviews #SolitudeAeturnus #TheRuinsOfFadingLight #TheStygianRose