As with the opener from Vigilance Perennial , “White Granite”, on opener (after 2 minute intro “Détournement”) “Weapons of Refusal”, there is that truly special moment where you realize how perfectly aligned every element of the band’s , Agalloch inspired, forest-y, misty, atmospheric post/cascadian black metal is. About 3 :33 in, there is this shrill, majestic stomp that will set your hairs on end, and the acoustic refrain that follows and songs emotional climax is just as gorgeous, resulting in one of the year’s most complete and enthralling 11 minutes of music.

And from there it just somehow keeps delivering the shimmery, atmospheric, hair raising goods. 8+ minute New Inertia” builds patiently for about 3 and a half minutes before exploding into a black metal vortex of layered melodic bliss. “Renouvellement” breaks things up with an acoustic clean sung interlude of sorts before “Last Empty Tradition” brings in  moodier saunter and sway  for about 6 minutes before one of the bands signature galloping, melodic, shimmery expulsions unfurls from the speakers in glorious, soaring fashion. I’d put these guys over peers Deafheaven and Ghost Bath, and right behind Vallendusk when it comes to these kinds of uplifting, radiant melodies.

9 minute closer “Memory of Night” opens with a patient, rending plod that would make Finnish death/doom bands weep into their puffy shirt sleeves. But about 3:10 in, it takes a turn into a tumbling, tidal, gorgeously layered blast beat that takes my breath away. The song settles into a warm, alluring closing aura and ends the album on a perfect note, where you can finally exhale and appreciate that you just were completely absorbed over the last 45 minutes by one of the  years best albums.

So, how is this strangely named band (By the way Anagnorisis is the moment in a tragic play where the main character realizes the and their true identity or situation) and CD released on a label you’ve never heard of be relevant and why should you care? Well, unless you have been living under a rock or simply don’t care for black metal, you’ve more than likely heard of the USBM project Panopticon and their recent, excellent (if unfortunately vinyl only) release, Kentucky. That band is the brain child of one Austin Lunn ( though he goes via the more black metal sounding pseudonym A Lundr). And guess who the founding  guitarist and vocalist of Anagnorisis was?

Although Anagnorisis is apparently still active, Lunn is no longer in the band and  this was the bands only full length release (though an EP was released in 2009) and was released way back in 2007 on Shiven Records. What we have here, while still falling under the vast black metal umbrella, is a far different project that Panopticon’s, introspective blue grass meets black metal. Anagnorisis, while still an deeper than average intellectual black metal band is more of a progressive,experimental  symphonic black metal band with shades of death metal. It’s something that gives off an early 90s The End Records meets Anorexia Nervosa/Emperor vibe, and is much more honest and regal than much of the US symphonic black metal that was dropping around the same time (Sothis, Abigail Williams etc) and certainly much more than a simple Dimmu Borgir knockoff ( though symphonic intro “Prelude” might make people think otherwise).

The songs range from around 4 to 8 minutes and cover a vast scope of black and death metal. The production is clean and polished ( it was recorded an Mana Studio  by Brian Elliot, who was responsible for the recent Chaos Inception record and mastered by Alan Douches, so it’s not a no name production effort) and the synths are understated yet regal, not overbearing and theatrical. Lunn utilizes a typical black metal rasp, but also used a deep death metal growl about half the time too, giving the album some earthy menace amid the winding, tremolo pick riffs and progressive textures. There’s even an Opeth-ian clean section (which also surface on the title track) and Novembers Doom -ish (Lunn does a spot on Paul Kuhr impersonation with hsi death metal vocals0 vibe to start the albums longest and most progressive standout track “The Weakness”, and superb all out doom closer “To Sleep” was worth the price of the CD alone. In fact the albums last  half is (with the exception of “The Great Divorce”) almost an altogether different sounding act with the aforementioned bands being by far the bigger influence than the the albums early deathlier and blacker hues of ‘Birth of the Pariah”, “Corpse in the Silo” and “Virulence”.

I’m truly surprised that back in 2007 I didn’t hear or read a single whisper about this band or release at any of my usual metal haunts and outlets, not a peep. Even more so when you consider the people involved in recording/producing and mixing the release, let alone the actual quality of the album. And even if you Google this release today, there is very little written about it, making a true unearthed gem of a record that any fans of A Lunn’s work should try to dig up, even if it is a different beast from his current project.

By far my most pleasing and surprising Bargain Bin find so far, even more so considering it was a completely blind purchase at the time.

With a massive low end production, Angerpath’s 37-minute debut isn’t going to wow anyone with technicality or speed, but steady low ends rumbles and grooves that aren’t groundbreaking musically, but at times can be literally. Forgotten World isn’t about fancy shredding or complex time changes, its  about bludgeoning  mid-pace grooves and a few blast beats with deep throaty vocals. From the opening march of “Forbidden Voice For All” Angerpath‘s goal is apparent as the assault begins in ernest with essentially a template for the rest of the album, featuring some huge lopes and steady, pummeling rhythm section,  that’s unpretentious, solid death metal. The rest of the album basically follows suite with tracks balancing massive riffs like “Closed in a Small Thought” and the epic “Hopes”  with more urgent but still relatively restrained blasts like ‘The Darkest Moment” and the title track (after a little forced atmospherics).

Admittedly by the time closer “Every Little Word”, rounds things out, you’ve heard everything Angerpath has to offer, and the deep spoken words are a bit hokey, but I have to admit whenever one of their tracks pops on on shuffle on my Ipod, my neck starts to snap instantly, and the price was right for a new band to me.  It’s just simple, burly death metal goodness that has me keeping an eye on the band for a hopeful future release and Angerpath wont be forgotten as a Polish, no name death metal one hit wonder.

My Dying Bride
Like Gods of the Sun
(Peaceville, 1996)

To encapsulate My Dying Bride‘s transition one must understand their history. In brief, they were part of England’s genre creating ‘trinity of doom’ that included My Dying Bride, Anathema and Paradise Lost. Strangely enough, perhaps, all three eventually mellowed out and became softer versions of their former selves — though MDB would be the only one to truly return to their original sound later in their career. And so when MDB delivered a (comparatively speaking) rather wimpy, gothic and fully clean vocalled effort in 1993’s The Angel and the Dark River, fans were taken aback but it was heralded as successful transitional album due to its beautifully melancholic hues and at the time, adventurous change.

And so the band followed that album up with essentially a very similar album. And frankly in retrospect, being released between The Angel and the Dark River and the universally panned 34.788% Complete, put Like Gods of the Sun in a sort of limbo and seemingly inconsequential in the bands storied legacy. It’s the album that My Dying Bride fans sort of forgot about after the train wreck of 34.788% Complete and the band’s subsequent, attention getting return to death metal roots with Light at the End of the World.

That’s part of the reason I wanted to do this as the BARGAIN BIN REVIEW, rather than any number of more obvious choices. The thing is, now I’m visiting the album almost 15 years later, older, wiser and the truth is that Like Gods of the Sun features some of My Dying Bride‘s, most despondent material they ever wrote. I still have issue with the rather thin, hollow guitar tone, but for the most part the songs are actually pretty strong and violinist Martin Powell saved his best performance for last as Like Gods of the Sun was his final appearance on a My Dying Bride album. And I have to admit, 15 years ago, I was never a fan of Aaron Stainthorpe’s clean vocals, but now as I have matured (somewhat) and opened up to vocals beyond Matti Karki and Dani Filth, as well as enjoyed all the band’s last three albums, they now settle much better with me. Hell, they even resonate with me. A little.

Like Gods… was different than the band’s earlier and later releases in that it featured ten relatively short songs. There were no sprawling 10 or 12 minute songs here. The longest song is only 7½ minutes and the shortest is 4½. So the band had the leeway to write a handful of the band’s flattest tracks in their career but at the same time, hide some truly magnificent tracks. They just happen to be mired within ten songs, not six 0r seven.

For me, albums are all about first impressions, and the opening title track to this album does not set the bar very high. 1996 or 2011, it’s still one of the weaker tracks the band has ever penned and for it to be the album’s opening title track, may have been the cause for my initial hate 15 years ago. The same can be said for the likes of “Grace Unhearing” and “It Will Come”. In fact, the album’s first third is actually pretty dull, lacking any real passion or despondency, feeling like leftover tracks from The Angel and the Dark River. That changes with the album’s longest track “A Kiss to Remember” where MDB delivers a rending mix of riffs and Powell’s emotionally draining violin. On a side note, possibly influenced by 1994’s Interview with a Vampire, the mid-song bridge is darkly sensual, if not even homoerotic. With “All Swept Away” the album delivers the requisite shorter, fiercer track and this one has a surprisingly decent mid-paced riff.

The album’s last third actually delivers what have become two of my favorite My Dying Bride songs, and two of their saddest; the light/dark dichotomy “For You”, which alternates between a stern chug and a delicately haunting woeful crawl and then there’s the tear inducing, closing weepfest that is “For My Fallen Angel” — which has no guitars or drums, just synths, the violin and Stainthorpe’s painful croons. Whether it’s old age or parenthood, or maybe I completely skipped this track the first time around, it gets me *right here* (cue Mike Myers impression) and is arguably the band’s most rending moment amid lots of rending moments.

To be honest, I’m not sure where I’d rank Like Gods of the Sun in My Dying Bride’s considerable discography. Its not their best or heaviest but it’s certainly not their worst. The handful of standout tracks makes it worth revisiting and rethinking alone. Ut certainly deserves a little more respect than simply being My Dying Bride’s forgotten album.

Violation‘s debut was produced by Hypocrisy‘s Peter Tagtgren at Abyss Studio, who also added some backing vocals.  And the sound has to be one of Tagtgren’s beefiest tones, sounding like a mix of a Sunlight Studio buzz and Hypocrisy‘s early releases. The style of the album reflects the production values as Violation seemed caught between two worlds; old school Swedish death metal and the melodic death metal explosion that was occurring when they released their debut. The moody, atmospheric synths and mid range rasps hint at more melodeath influence but some super deep croaks and rumbling mid range riffs keeps balances the material nicely between cantering melodeath of the day, and a more burly old school Stockholm tone. That balance is perfectly defined within the first two track; opener  “Dark Embrace”, a rangy varied number with a plethora of moods and second standout track “Genocide” which alternates between a gruff death metal rumble, a doomy Gorement/God Macabre lope and some bouncy synth moments. Admittedly the  presentation is a bit rough around the edges, and the synths seems a bit out of place within the thicker, more death metal guitars, but the songwriting keeps everything grounded and interesting as a rougher, burlier take on melodic death metal. Tracks like “Invocation” or “Through the Gates of Infinity” are just good songs with lots of nods to both Entombed and Dark Tranquillity and should be checked out by fans of both.

Two years later, and with a tweaked line-up, Violation released Moonlight’s Child again produced by Tagtgren but with a much more polished and cleaner tone, though still retaining a nice Stockholm undercurrent and buzz. And with the cleaner production came a cleaner, more polished and focused album, with a tighter delivery and more of an emphasis on melodic death metal. Though the guitars still had a stern mid range crunch, increased synths, less deep vocals and more cantering, melodic riffs made for an album that oozed a little more of a Gothenburg sound. But in the case of Violation, it was a good thing as Moonlight’s Child was still chock full of great melodic riffs and enamoring synths, but never being quite as ‘death metal lite’  or Iron Maiden-y as many of their solo obsessed melodeath peers. Thanks to the guitar tone and Stockholm backbone, excellent tracks like “Downfall”, “Trapped in Chaos”,  “Nightshades” and “Mortal Divinity” and have just a little more ‘oomph’ bit still have hooks abound. In all, an album and band that appears to have been completely overlooked in 2000 and frankly a band that had more talent and promise than a band like country mates Night In Gale who somehow ended up releasing 3 albums on Nuclear Blast. Violation didn’t record anything else and split up in 2005 with members going on to be in Soul Demise, Hellscape and Cryptic Wintermoon. And while Soul Demise has a similar sound, it’s unfortunate that they could not stay together and continue delivering their more menacing take on a genre  that would end up getting completely saturated with unoriginal clones. A fine win for the Bargain Bin.

One of the finds that piqued my curiosity was an album called Aeon Sky by a band called Sanctus. At the time, it was a purely blind buy, mingled in with all the other Metal Blade leftovers I had stumbled across. Fate must have had its hand in play as it turned out to be quite the little gem…

Sanctus
Aeon Sky
(Metal Blade Records, 2000)

Before the likes of Abigail Williams, The Funeral Pyre and Sothis dragged the US black metal scene into the European styled,  symphonic black metal mainstream, (now mostly defunct) bands like Scholomance, Dreamscapes of the Perverse, Dragonlord, Epicurean,  Veneficum, Vesperian Sorrow and California’s Sanctus were actually treading relatively uncharted waters for US bands a decade or so ago ― long before it became trendy to do so.

Formed in 1998 under the moniker of Pantheon, but long since split-up, Aeon Sky was the band’s only album, though they released a three song demo EP called Fateshifter in 2003. Now, don’t get me wrong this album would never have competed with the big symphonic black and death metal players of 11 years ago, namely the band’s primary influences: Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Borknagar, Arcturus, etc… and  especially when Sanctus was fronted by a singer who looks like a server at Applebees. Still, this seven song (and one intro) affair, full of lengthy, ambitious songs and lots of progressive elements with a clean crisp production certainly should have garnered more attention when it came out. One could argue that Sanctus might have been a little ahead of their time, as back in 2000, when the Europeans still dominated melodic/symphonic metal, modern metalcore was burgeoning and the US was just coming out of a saturated death metal slump.

Admittedly,the drumming isn’t great and  the songwriting is a a bit choppy with some rather messy songs intermingled with some, at times, truly excellent symphonic black metal. But you can’t question the passion and conviction these California kids brought to the table. For example opener “Empyreal” is a complete mish mash of lazy blasts and unsettled energy that makes for a bad initial impression, but with the 6-minute ‘”If We Fall…”  the bands seems to settle down and manage to inject some very nice clean and epic segments by way of female vocals  and spoken words that don’t come across as cheesy, theatrical or overtly ridden with gothic atmosphere like Cradle of Filth (though certainly a baseline comparison). Instead, it retains a clean, fresh, American sound that’s easily identifiable 11 years later. The ambitious, 8-9 minute epics “November”  and “Tired of the Pain” wipe away the slightly grimace inducing vocals for the previous track “Odyssey”. The 7-minute “Thought I Saw Your Wings” is another standout, a regal but tempered mid-paced track before “Thy Desolation”, which is a bit wet, laden with rather clean croons. The nice vinyl sounding, crackling, marching outro “Remnants” rounds out the CD, and leaves me wondering what these guys could have done if they had in fact fulfilled their four album contract with Metal Blade. Unfortunately, it seems like we’ll never know…

To be honest, it’s hard to dislike this CD or the band. They seemed like bright eyed and eager musicians that tried hard but for reason or another, didn’t grasp the attention they deserved. I guess Sanctus were like the Jamaican bobsled team and will remain a sort of lost bygone Trivial Pursuit answer…and unfortunately a bargain bin find.

But at least they have this respectable recording to remember them by.

And with these CDs costing anywhere from 99 cents to a measly $6 or $7… why not take a chance and make blind purchase, stock up on a long lost classic, or even replace a CD you had to trade or sell just to get that penile enlargement surgery?

I often wonder how some of these treasures (or trash) end up in these CD orphanages. I get why there are 135 copies of To the Extreme or St Anger in every used bin, but why would some metalhead purposely trade in his original print of Immolation’s  Dawn of Possession or Import press of Dismal Euphony’s  Soria Moria Slott ― CDs I have actually seen in a used bin?

With a job that takes me all over the state, as well as frequently to other states, my first stop is always the local CD stores, whether it be a Hastings, FYE or some back alley used CD store. I spend hours peruses the clearance bins and CD racks for some hidden metal gem, so myself and hopefully some of the other writers here will regale you of some of our best (and worst) finds.

The only requirements here are that the CDs had to have purchased at some sort of used/clearance music store, either online or retail. The albums also have to be releases that we, here at Teeth of the Divine, haven’t covered already and they also have to be more than a year older ― otherwise we’d simply do a regular review, right?

So without further ado, I present one of my very favorite (and recent) bargain fins finds:

Malignancy
Intrauterine Cannibalism
(United Guttural Records, 1999)

I had only actually first heard New York’s Malignancy on 2007’s Inhuman Grotesqueries, so upon seeing this in the local CD store used tray, I immediately grabbed it, my curiosity piqued as to how the band sounded over a decade ago on their debut, and even more curious due to mislabeled tracks in the back and the misspelling of the band’s name on the CD inner tray spine (spelled Malignacny). No spell check in 1999?

I’m pretty sure, though a somewhat revered release amid brutal death metal aficionados, Intrauterine Cannibalism was probably lost in the great death metal saturation or Nile dry humping that was occurring in 1999. But what we have here is actually a very good old school US styled semi-technical/brutal death metal record with some great songs, that’s much more simple and bludgeoning that their 2007 iteration.

Though still fully rooted in Cannibal Corpse (just listen to the opening riff of album opener” Rotten Seed”), Malignancy’s New Yawk roots bleed though with enough rough and ready slams and denim clad street toughness to give it a slight Suffocation-vibe. Throw in some truly deep guitars and vocals, and despite the water thin snare drum sound, I understand why this CD is viewed as somewhat of a classic. And personally, it’s much more raw and earthy than there long awaited follow-up. I’m pretty sure there’s no Pro Tools or digital shenanigans going on here.

The already mentioned opener “Rotten Seed” has a simply killer, classic groove and other tracks like “Intestinal Sodomy” , “Profitable Extinction”,  “Waterlogged Corpse”, “Bag” and other gloriously nineties death metal named tracks that pull no punches or push no envelopes but captured the essence of ’90s American death metal perfectly.

In all a very well spent $3.99 and a cool little find in a rural mid-Missouri CD store