I wasn’t even sure if I was going to like it. It’s ugly, it’s abrasive, and that was after the first spin.

Many hours later…

Song titles are very useful to help convey the context of the album, so it’s no surprise that Nirriti have ridiculously long song titles. Esoctrilihum have some competition here. Take the first track “Mandukya, The Primordial Toad Croaks At The Outer Edge Of Sushupti”. First of all, I want a primordial toad; second of all, I want my voice to echo as Bhasma’s does. At first it annoyed the absolute shit out of me. Have you ever looked at your phone like it doesn’t have your best interest at heart? That’s how I looked at mine throughout the course of my listening… like what the fuck did I get myself into? But what ended up happening was I started to like it. Those drums are the battering ram of the gods, JFC!

This is what would happen if Teitanblood and Deathspell Omega were to sound like if they assimilated each other. Even Furze is probably thinking ‘goddamn, I thought my lyrics were indecipherable and obnoxious as fuck’! Not even close, buddy.

Dhrupad Anutpada (ধপদ অন$ৎপ&দ): Apophatic Ragas Of Non- Origination will kill you if given the chance. “In The Hallways Of Pure Existence, Freewill And Determinism Play Their Futile Game Of Chess” is absolutely nun-fucking insane. Blasting so savage that you’ll lose feeling in your arms and legs from swinging them around like a fucking idiot; you might end up in a coma, who the fuck knows? More importantly, who fucking cares? Nirriti don’t.

“One Foot On Samsara And The Other On Nirvana” is about as crazy as the title sounds. The amount of reverb that is used on the vocals is like an instrument in itself; that’s what almost sunk this battleship for me. They might do the same for you, I don’t know, I don’t control your life choices… You do you, buckaroo.

“Glissando Of Ever-Fleeting Moments As The Ephemeral Wheels That Carrieth The Chariot Of Perpetuity”… I had to look up what a Glissando is: ‘Glissando (from the Italian glisciare, meaning “to glide”) is a musical technique of sliding continuously or rapidly up or down a musical scale from one pitch to another’. Okay, that’s interesting. How that translates into the literal wall of sound that is spewing from my speakers, I have no idea, but there it is. These songs are endurance tests; thinking of them as weights for your ears to lift and get stronger is a pretty accurate way to describe the feeling.

“Golden Yolk of a Black Egg of a Multicolored Peacock” and “Vilambit Laya of Vitanda Mridangam Forewarns a Pan-Philosophical Defeat (Symphony No. 0 in Doom Minor)” are the last two tracks, and this is where the Indian music comes out proper. Below the howling wind vocals, there are Sitars and other crazy noises that bring the haunted sands to your living room.

To say that Dhrupad Anutpada (ধ্রুপদ অনুৎপাদ): Apophatic Ragas of Non-Origination is a challenging album might be an understatement. It’s decidedly not something you listen to if you want to chill out. I’ll admit that I was ready to hate it after that first listen. I stuck with it, and am I better off? That remains to be seen. However, I’m more inclined to recommend this than I was, which is saying a lot about my musical tastes.

Fuck it. Go get this slab of raging noise and blistering Black Metal if you like Deathspell Omega, Furze, Teitanblood and Thou Shalt Suffer… or some of the other spaced-out, cosmic devotees that make psychotic music like this. You’ll love yourself in the morning. Trust me.

A little history since they’re new to me (and maybe to you, too, constant reader). Their first Demo Promo-MMXIV: Tetragrammacidal Oration came out in 201,4 and since then they’ve released two full-length albums (I love these titles, they’re so ridiculously long), Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix from 2017 and Typho-Tantric Aphorisms from the Arachneophidian Qur’an from 2023. Okay, you’re all caught up.

Getting started with “Multi-Armed Bellicosity of Babalon-Durga Riding on the Xeno-Beast of Grand Apocalypse to Trigger the Outbreak of a Pan-Dimensional Holy Pogrom” yep, that’s the song title. There’s a static-filled speech at the beginning before the blasts storm through with a terrifying brutality that reminds me of Last Days of Humanity, especially their The Sound of Rancid Juices Sloshing Around Your Coffin album and Totten Korps Tharnheim: Athi-Land-Nhi; Ciclopean Crypts of Citadels. At first it sounds like a group of monkeys on LSD left in a room with instruments, but then you start picking up the pinch harmonies, the beating from the relentless blasting, and it starts making sense the more you delve into the madness.

Second track “Techno-Tehomic Inovation of Malignant Shadow Shakti on the World.Wide.Web. of Internet” is a bit less challenging of a song. There’s more structure in the arrangement. The drums blast away like there’s no tomorrow, but there’s also some killer thrashing in the midsection that helps with balancing out the violence on display. The guitars are sort of buried on the first track but not the second, as there are riffs galore.

Third and final track “Astro-Theological Gomaya Initiation with the Sacred Excretion of Hawking Radiation Emitting from the Universe’s Anus” is another big time blast fest; this time though the guitars come through with mitigation of savagery.

The vocals on this record are bile dripping goodness, and I actually ended up enjoying the shit out of this EP. The artwork is fucking badass depicting my favorite Hindu goddess in all her glory.

When all is said and done I found myself liking this album more than I thought I would at first, because Cyber-Tantric Paradigm of Radical Sri-Vidya is a tough nut to crack. It might even put you off, but the key is to let your ears tune in and really hear what Tetragrammacide are doing.

This is for the hardcore, the riptide of chaos that Tetragrammacide creates is nothing short of an audible knife fight on a Conan the Barbarian scale. If you love Totten Korps, Last Days of Humanity, Gnaw Their Tongues and Bone Awl… you need to get this angry sonofabitch now. There’s more to this utterly nasty slab of raging death and that’s why it demands repeated listens. Get it!

Here I have Gryla and their second album The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass. Torbjørn Kirby Torbo is the one-man mastermind behind the chaos on display. This is a savage bit of work, blasphemous to infinity and beyond.

“The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass pt.1″ gets it going with a choir, singing hallelujahs three times before the blasts rise from the pits of Hell. Torbjørn has a great raspy voice for Black Metal, and he also lays out a couple of Death Metal growls along the way. I pick up some early Darkthrone circa Soulside Journey and A Blaze in the Northern Sky in there, and that vibe continues with “The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass pt.2″ a rip roaring Black Thrash number that lays waste to the churches across the land. Scythe like riffs combusting against the blitzkrieg of the drums.

Gryla pays homage to Gorgoroth on “Banners Soaked in Crimson Essence” sounding like Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam, Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt and  Instinctus Bestialis rolled into one brutal Black Metal killer.

There’s a bit of a Punk vibe evident on The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass, an album that throws two giant sized middle fingers at Christianity and that shows up on “Imposer”. A violent duo of sickness is what follows with “Carnal Beast” another Punked up blaster that goes for the throat and doesn’t let go and “Spewing Fecal Abjurations” does that job with ease. Riffs tearing and slashing flesh and bone and boring into the soft brain matter in order to keep the corruption going.

With The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass, Gryla have unleashed a fantastic Sophomore release that doesn’t let up from the get go. Black Metal purists will eat this up, especially fans of Darkthrone, Gorgoroth and Dødheimsgard. Get it and enshroud yourself in blasphemy!

Former Blood Storm bassist and long-time Incantation member Chuck Sherwood has put together Balefire. There’s not much about who else is in the band other than Sherwood but right now I’m interested in how killer this fifteen-minute epic Death Metal mutation that’s just really goddamn fun to listen to.

Straightaway there are forty-three seconds of horrors with “Black Sun” before “Sands of Gemini” kicks off good and proper with this perfect blend of chaotic blasting, and razor-sharp riffs and its 3:27 runtime is put to its limits.

This is a brutal album. For some odd reason, I’m associating their name and the song “Wildfire” by Destroyer 666, I don’t know… don’t judge ha-ha! But it could also be that I get a little taste of Destroyer 666 peppered in Balefire’s grisly delivery, and it’s not the only influence because of course there’s going to be an Incantation connected sound and it’s mixed about and suitably salted with some Angelcorpse.

“Barbaric Rebirth” is next and it’s, naturally, another go for the soft bits; full of (literal) war lust and sheer nihilistic rage. Satiated they move onto “Lord of the Red Lands” and there are plenty of riffs to go around, this is a merciless display and I’m crossing my fingers that there will be a follow-up that’s longer.

There’s a final respite found in “Black Moon”, but if you’re like me you’ll just set it on repeat and let it beat you in the head all day long. The things I do for you, constant reader.

I digress, if you’re a fan of blood-soaked, brain hemorrhage-inducing Blackened Death Metal warfare then you need look no further than Balefire; for you fans of Sadistic Intent, ‘90s Vader and of course Incantation and the immortal Blood Storm. Get this fucker and feel your soul rot.

Well, literally within a day of those thoughts, I get the promo for this EP. 33 minutes, 5 new songs, and a cover of Running Wild‘s “Riding the Storm”, and the Hellenic-inspired melodic death metal lads (with a new guitarist) haven’t lost a step at all, and dare I say might even be even more polished and deadly.

Continuing their Greek history/mythology themes wrapped in a rough and gravelly but tight form of melodic death metal that’s in the same wheelhouse house as Arghoslent (in sound only) and Helcaraxe, but a little tighter and a little sharper.

The band signals their return to the fray with the EP’s opening number, the blistering “Orations/Reascension of Mastery” (a perfect song title here), where at 1:35 seconds in, they deliver one of the year’s early best riffs and most rousing, chord progressions, which contines for the rest of the song’s head banging brilliance.

“Thy Wounded Sovereignty” continues the EP’s killer start with more fervent galloping riffs before the mid-paced march of “Under an Accursed Dynasty” slows things down a bit, before some blackened elements show up.

“Morphos of Degeneration” is a more atonal, angular track that isn’t quite up to par but the 6-minute “Cathedral of Ancestry” delivers more of the band’s rousing mix of tumbling, gruff melodies and stern blasts perfectly.

I’m not super familiar with Running Wild‘s popular Pirate metal from Germany but the track “Riding the Storm” is fun and shows House of Atreus’ classic heavy metal influences are as strong as their death metal ones.

This EP fucking rips and will be tough to beat as the EP of the year when it comes down to it a whole 12 frigging months from now- it’s that good.

“Intro: The Devil’s Hour” is the instrumental… first track, it sets the atmosphere of the album perfectly, setting the scene for what’s to come. The second track, which is also the title track “Nocturnal Demonic Visitation”. It’s here that I picked up little bits of Incantation, especially in the buzzsaw-like guitar tone and slightly cavernous production. This sick motherfucker blasts along with vitriolic rage until “Vampyrum Spectrum” slows things down and is named after one of the members; this track burns with black fire, boiling and churning with Satanic malice, right until the 2.00 mark when it picks up speed and seamlessly segues into “Filius Diaboli”. This track is also named after one of the members. It blasts like a furnace with some evil riffs until the “Outro: Messe Mortuaire”.

Overall, Nocturnal Demonic Visitation is a tight five track EP that deserves attention. This is grand maul Death Metal with some sick as fuck riffing throughout. FFO: Sepulchral, God Macbre, Cemetery and Incantation. Old School French Death Metal at it’s rawest, and an EP definitely worth your consideration.

This has a classic Black Metal feel, and from the opener “Vanguard of Black Years” it’s obvious that the nineties are alive. The frozen riffs are clean and precise, the drums quick and brutal, and for this being just one dude; it’s an ice beast of an EP. Tyrst keeps it fast throughout “To Trespass the Commandments of Tangible Being” and “From Unremembered Dark Pagan Dreams” these being blast furnaces of vitriol. It isn’t until the eleven-and-a-half-minute title track that he slows things down for a doomy, atmospheric ride down the river Styx.

The production is suitably grim, especially on the first two tracks, at first, the drums are lost in the mix, but it sounds like a knob was turned or something supernatural happened because in the middle of “From Unremembered Dark Pagan Dreams” everything becomes crystal fucking clear, it’s gradual and in some strange way it works in the universal scope of the album.

In all honesty, I love European Black Metal, especially when it properly holds the torch high for the ninety’s scene, conjuring the spirit of Moonblood and early Darkthrone, a melding of German and Norwegian Black Metal that is cold as the snow-topped mountains. Recommended listening.

Let’s start with the obvious, Greek legends, Varathron contribute a re-imagined version of a track from 1993 entitled “The Mystic Papyrus”. This is a mid-paced and atmospheric piece of Black Metal at first; the slow, Egyptian intro that ends around the fifty second mark, when the song finds a menacing stride marching like an army across an open steppe. At the two-minute mark there’s a brief, blasting salvo that goes for forty-seven glorious seconds before the pace is regained and the song ends with an epic solo.

German veterans Ungod, on the other hand, are pitch black, tremolo picking riffs and shrieking vocals. “Sinister Forms of Fallen Stars” is nasty, face pummeling, a ritualistic assault on the ears; uncompromising Black Metal served on a tarnished platter.

This is a short but flesh-ripping EP. Varathron and Ungod have both shown that the nineties are still alive, both are still very much active, hopefully with new albums on the way. Be aware, the nineties are alive, the past is alive! Pick this up and sentence your mind to death.

And you’d think with such a short turnaround (unless these 4 songs were written in the Verses sessions), there would be a drop in quality or a rushed feel, but somehow, Nightwolf has managed to improve in the on the prior album as Sentinels of Time is a little better and a little more epic and memorable.

Starting with the EP’s clear centerpiece, the 11-minute “Claws of Vanagandr”, the sterner but, majestic, Viking stomp is readily apparent and it ends with an excellent climactic blast beat that’s more dynamic than anything on Verses. “Memories of Steel” is also another 11-minute or so number, and follows the prior song’s delivery with a slightly more somber but urgent gait, then another mid-song melodic blast beat, that’s far better than anything on Verses.

The shorter (a mere 8 minutes) title track delivers a more furious, frosty salvo of slicing black metal that shows nNightwolf can deliver something a little more fierce on top of his more militant marches. “A Drakkar’s Last Journey” ends the EP with Nightwolf’s penchant for needless atmospheric/acoustic numbers, but if the three previous numbers are anything to go by, we will get another album soon and it will be a real barnburner (church burner?).

“Revelaton from the Great Vastness Thereafter” sets the tone quickly as crushing riffage melds with a massive doom flavored dirtiness that manages to be both clean and hard hitting in its presentation. The multiple vocals gives that Autopsy flair of unhingedness as does the overall vibe of the music itself. Gone are the more direct almost Swedish death metal attributes of what I seem to  remember from Conjuring the Obscure. This is death doom of great quality, sure to appease fans and stalwarts of not only the aforementioned Bolt Thrower and Autopsy, but of Asphyx, Dismember/Entombed, Obliteration, and Incantation. Many times Abythic manages to give me the same feelings that the two Murder Squad albums were able to induce; that wonderfully dirty and dank catchy death metal that seemed to ride the rails of almost coming part though in a perfectly planned manner. Controlled chaos. Not because of the chaotic and/or technical prowess of the notes themselves, but, to steal the the debut title from Murder Squad, in the insane, insane, and mentally deranged nature that Abythic are able to achieve. Some fat chunky riffs as well as some memorable melodic ideas, if that’s what you want to call them, all come together in an asylum metal of death totality that simple rules.

A bit faster in pacing and tempo, though no less crushing in its tank like fortitude, “Conquest of the One True Creed” comes in taking no prisoners, reminding again of Bolt Thrower or Temple of Void with its dominating heaviness. About the track’s halfway point sees that Auotpsy/Murder Squad essence rearing its head as pained tormented screams and Germanic spoken word mix with slow tortured doom infused death. The clarity of it all while still coming off in a filthy aesthetic is fantastic. A bit of the olden ways of Abythic pop up for a blast beat induced barrage of tremolo picked, raged fueled death before letting off the steam a little before fading things out quickly and effectively. A great track, that gave me a bit of that same excited-ness equivalent to the first time I heard the old Earache Grindcrusher compilation, back in the day.

With a spoken intro of the Teutonic tongue shifting over to English and nestling in behind some fat doom drenched chords and a simple yet effective melody line, “Victory in Your Eden of the Doomed” eventually opens up into another fat riffed monster, wielding the hammer of crushing old school death metal while simultaneously riding the sharpened edge of the sword of doom. The track never really strays away from the intial plan and path it sets up, but it works in its driving emotion and balanced structure and ends up feeling shorter then its five minute run time. Before you know it, the EP is over and ready to rip again. Abythic and Eden of the Doomed are kind of the aural equal of being hung, drawn, and quartered. Brutal, disgusting, unsettling and maybe a tad long in the tooth, but also dynamic and epic, and definitely get the job done.

The template is simple; distant howls, frosty, tinny, tremolo-picked riffs (though still clearly produced overall), a semi-pagan sense of atmospheric, militant regality, a few keyboards, and a windswept mysticism. It’s all culled straight from the 90s, second-wave Scandinavian scene, notably later Immortal, early Abigor and maybe a hint of  Blood Fire Death and Viking era Bathory, and done with a primal vigor and energy that makes it a solid homage, but having a little of its own aura. And all the more impressive its a single person.

The first track “Structures of Collapse”, delivers a resolute, 6-minute stomp and blast that’s a satisfying introduction to what the rest of the album will be delivering. However, it’s the second track “Vengeance Reign”, where I’m really drawn into what Nightwolf is delivering here with a hearty, rousing, medieval/Viking trot and gallop. “Realm of Fire” has a more more punky, percussive sneer amid the semi-Viking melodies and marches while the rangy “Tides of Slidhr” delivers a stern, steady mid-tempo march which really imbues the Bathory comparison. The last song “Shadow’s Dominion” plods along with a determined repetition, but it’s still got a strong regal presence.

A couple of acoustic numbers (“Into Dust” and closing outro “Windswept Burial”) fill out the 7 song album, so there is only really 5 true songs, though they are lengthy numbers in the 6-9 minute range and all deliver impressive numbers that show an artist locked into a sound with confidence.

Now that I have that joke out of the way and you’re recovering from squirting vodka through your nose (burns, doesn’t it), let’s talk about BM. USBM, to be specific. I purchased and somewhat recently finished reading Decibel’s USBM book. To my dismay, the book itself was not about bowel movements in the United States. After my disappointment faded, I found some cool bands I hadn’t previously heard, but it also got me thinking about my reviewing habits. I’m not sure I’ve reviewed any black metal yet for the site. So, here we go…

Hulder is one-person black metal. One-woman black metal, to be specific, and this is her debut full length titled Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry. It begins with some choral vocals in the first track, which is called “Upon Frigid Winds.” That’s definitely a tease, though because it only lasts a matter of a couple of seconds before the music kicks in. It has a certain lo-fi production reminiscent of the second wave of black metal, but the synths behind everything certainly make you think of early Dimmu Borgir.

That second wave black metal vibe continues through the next two tracks, minus the synths. There’s nothing to deviate from this until track 4, which is called “De Dilje.” Referring back to my previous paragraph about the USBM book, this reminds me of a band I heard based on a recommendation from that book called Wind of the Black Mountains. It’s an atmospheric track with a background of synths, black metal rasps, and cleanly picked guitar.

All of the previous influences come together quite well on track 5, which is called “Purgations of Bodily Corruptions.” You have your black metal rasps, synths, and some appropriate riffing. The synths and guitar intertwined carry this track quite well, despite its abrupt ending.

The next track is called “Lowland Famine.” While it is one of the longer tracks on the album, it’s mostly carried by a blast beat throughout the beginning. The great part about this is that the song is carried in the latter part by a weeping guitar melody, which is the only music audible as the track finally ends. It’s the best one on here and worth a listen just by itself.

The vocals which come in and carry the title track “A Forlorn Peasant’s Hymn,” are the first and only time I ever thinking of another female fronted black metal band, namely Myrkur. These vocals with only synths in the background last for a little over 2 minutes before we’re into some serious BM territory again and this vibe lasts throughout the rest of the track.

I was going to mention the final track in a little more detail, but you’re likely already weary, so let’s make like a responsible teen and wrap this up. The truth is that you’ve heard this done before. That’s okay because music doesn’t always have to reinvent the wheel. When it’s done with heart, it’s still good. That’s the case here with Hulder’s debut. There’s quite a bit of variation within the songs themselves and the album as a whole to keep it interesting during its nearly 40-minute runtime. It has quite a charm to it and if this type of symphonic/atmospheric black metal is up your alley, I’d highly suggest giving this one a spin… or whatever the equivalent of a “spin” is on your iPod.

My initial spin of The Ancient Ritual of Death left me a bit underwhelmed. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, maybe something a tad more out of the box and/or different and exploratory than the output of the member’s previous acts. Though sticking with what you know and are good at, and loving what you do are probably as good as any reason for Beast of Revelation to sound exactly as it does, which is an unsurprising, yet lethal, mix of Incantation, Extreme Cold Winter, Asphyx, and Winter. While I don’t want to say the songs all sound the same, they do all follow a similar path and gait, with none of them really taking a step away or moving too far from the central idea or riff within each track. Yet the familiar theme and musical ideology that runs through each song bridges the album into a conglomerate whole that ultimately, satisfies immensely.

From the very first notes of album opener, “Legions” and its slow, crawling, and earthen death doom dirge, you know what kind of listen The Ancient Ritual of Death is going to be. The droning, simple, crushing riffage seeps itself into every pore of your being by the song’s end. Some fantastically tortured vocal wretchings from McEntee is the glue that really makes everything stick together in just the right way, his subtle nuances and flairs within his cavernous guttural bellows really adds to the oppresive and lurching death metal found within. Pretty much the same can be said about the majority of the album’s tracks, some riffs stick a little more, some vocals twist and brutalize a bit more, and Bagchus’ beats never really venture into nothing more than a steady and dependable backbone, no real fills, rolls, double bass or blasts are to be found within a country mile of The Ancient Ritual of Death, though his performance is  genuine, full of fortitude, and and menacingly powerful.

Where Beasts of Revelation tends to succeed most with The Ancient Ritual of Death is in the Paradise Lost/Officium Triste/Extreme Cold Winter sway of both “The Unholy Roman Empire” and instrumental album closer “We, the Lords of Chaos”, the death metal meets Black Sabbath-ian beginnings of the album’s title track, and the album highlight, “The Fallen Ones”. The hooks sink a little deeper on “The Fallen Ones”, containing an almost anxious feeling of forbodingness and an awaitng of an enveloping darkness. The leads/melodic flairs add a great feel and open the song up in a simple yet vast way, again showcasing some formidable traits of a Paradise Lost/Officium Triste styled depression. Throw in some ferociously possessed vocals from McEntee and this riff driven threnody is quite a looming yet enjoyable affair.

Though its exact nature I’m unsure of without having access to the album’s lyrics, The Ancient Ritual of Death clearly has a story and/or concept to tell. Lyrics or not, it’s strongly felt and conveyed in the song’s titles, presentations, and overall sibling nature to each other. Imagine each track of The Ancient Ritual of Death as an accompanying journey soundtrack to Dante and Virgil’s quest through the Nine Circles of Hell and you might just get a glimpse of how these songs coalesce into a whole that manages quite a lot with just a little.  Beast of Revelation forgoes all the fancy accouterments employed by so many other acts and go straight for the jugular in a stripped down, patient, and most effective and affective way. This isn’t your gothic tinged romanticized view of death, doom, and destruction, nor is it going to ever be guilty of inducing a circle pit. No friends, Beast of Revelation and The Ancient Ritual of Death is the dank, grimy gooeyness of true forbidding darkness moving slowly across the land, devouring all into a forever nothingness…and it’s all quite wonderful.

Boy, who knew Shakespeare was a prophet?

But I digress. After one self released EP, and a killer debut album, The Spear and the Ichor that Follows in 2015 on Dark Descent Records, Minnesota’s House of Atreus signed with Iron Bonehead Productions and has released the second album, From the Madness of Ixion, and it shows a even more polished and confident take on the band’s gruff, melodic, historical death metal.

Again with Greek mythology and history as the central theme (though lacking the dramatic Shakespearean quotes from the debut) for the lyrics, and a looser Arghoslent, Sacriphyx and Helcaraxe styled take on melodic death metal mixed with traditional heavy metal, House of Atreus have improved the song writing, tightened up the production,  and released and album that should elevate the band into a far higher pantheon within Olympus.

Opener “The Madness of Ixion” (A Greek King sentenced to life on a fiery wheel in Tartarus after making moves on Zeus’s wife) , gets right to it with a galloping, catchy rager of a track that set the tome for the rest of the album, including a nice heavy metal solo and moody close out. First single, “Zealous Iniquity” highlights the band’s development and evolution with multiple time changes and rousing riffs and leads as does third track “Oath of the Horatii”, (The tale of two warring Roman cities sending three brothers each to battle each other) one of my favorite tracks on the album.

“Cordelia” returns to the band’s Shakespearean influences of the debut and slows things down a bit with more of a mid paced march telling the tale from the tragedy of  King Lear but ends with a killer , rousing canter. “Call to Thee , Concubines” is the album’s longest cut at almost 8 minutes, and really highlights the band’s development with a level of depth and range in a long track that has to be on point to keep the listener’s attention. Which the track does effortlessly, especially with the song’s somber slow down at its mid point and its almost melodic black metal closing climax.

Instrumental track “Ad Homineim” breaks things up a bit before pure barn stormer “Prometheus Bound” renders the albums fastest, most direct and shortest track. Closer “Bonded By Supremacy” ends the album with another 7+ minute track, and it ends the release with a perfect mood and pace signalling that House of Atreus are ready for the big time with a Century Media or Metal Blade type jump to the majors.

With the release of Bölzer’s first new song from “Hero”, the nine-minute plus ‘I Am III’, much of that vitriolic online commentary abruptly shifted away from the world’s most well-known metal band to an act formed as recently as 2008 with less than ten songs to their credit. Ah, the ceaseless wonders, and inevitable repercussions, of the hype machine. Social media is nothing if not a series of isolated bubbles and walled-off echo chambers to be fair, but the disgust leveled at Bölzer for the direction they were taking their music was eye-opening in its intensity, at least from my little corner of the globe. So, all that banal gossip aside, where does that leave us with “Hero”? Are seismic creative changes indeed underway or is the band merely progressing steadily along like they’ve done ever since day one?

To begin, a few things are immediately apparent. The production here is much bigger than any they’ve had before, wide open and vast with an immense drum sound. I’ve seen the band perform in small to mid-sized venues, areas where they absolutely excel, but “Hero” emanates from the speakers as if one was soaking it in from the middle of a huge concert hall. The band has also seen fit to really open up their songwriting this time around, a direction they previously hinted at with the somber heft of “C.M.E’ from “Aura” and to an even greater degree on ‘Labyrintian Graves’ from “Soma”. The songs here are given ample breathing room and the more compact, and dare I say traditional, songwriting common to black and death metal exhibited on their “Roman Acupuncture” demo is largely eschewed. Through their short career they have never showed any inclination towards stasis with each release displaying a noted and palpable change from the one that preceded it. “Hero” continues that trend, perhaps to a greater degree than before, and so there is plenty here that is new within the Bölzer universe.

The abundance of more measured, often slower, riffs that comprise the bulk of these songs brought to mind a particular album that I would not have readily associated with their earlier material, “Hymns” by Godflesh. There is an obvious comparison to be had when contrasting many of the individual riffs between the two albums, and the strong emphasis on heft and power, but perhaps a less expected comparison is that of Okoi’s vocals to Broadrick’s (or if you’re feeling extra anti-kvlt, Steve Brooks’ vocals in both Floor and Torche). There is no getting around it, as soon as the second track and first proper song ‘The Archer’ kicks in, you’ll be greeted by the man’s newfound gusto for deep, sonorous clean vocals. Deep and sonorous perhaps, but of a tone which I suspect will create an immediate decision point for many a listener. The contrast of clean vocals to music is not inappropriate, personally I think it works just fine, but it can be slightly jarring in a way not unlike what Blood Revolt were doing on their sole 2010 album “Indoctrination”. Simply enough, you’ll hear it and know immediately if it’s going to work for you or not and no amount of waxing poetic for or against in a review is going to change that. So we’ve got clean vocals that bring to mind both Torche and Godflesh? An ever-increasing distance from their earliest material coupled with slower and (rarely, but still unfortunately) more ponderous songwriting? All true statements and satisfactory explanations both for the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth sure to accompany “Hero”.

Even as it arrives at the tail end of November, I would not be surprised to see it become one of the year’s most divisive albums. This will go down as one of those rare albums unlikely to inspire any feelings of indecision, every conversation I’ve had on it has swung strongly pro or con, while at the same time being difficult to recommend. That difficulty doesn’t stem from it being a poor album but rather the curious and occasionally esoteric composition choices. The unrelenting storm of hype that surrounds Bölzer at the moment ensures that nearly everyone reading this has at least a passing familiarity with the band and has formed at least a rudimentary opinion if the band tickles their fancy or not. If you’ve never cared for Bölzer before then I doubt there is anything on “Hero” that will change your mind. If you liked “Roman Acupuncture” and “Aura” but started to drift away on “Soma” then this is going to be a hard sell but if you’ve enjoyed them from conception right on through then disregard the hype and give this a listen. You might be very glad you did!

We only get four tracks, but they’re a sumptuous bunch. Even though two of them are ethereal instrumentals, their Raison d’Etre quality keeps them from being throwaways like the ones you find on most other metal albums. I would even be interested in a full album in this style from them. But, of course, the death/doom is what we want the most, and those two tracks do not disappoint. At around eight and seven minutes each, these vast pieces journey through the raw, honest bite of early Avernus, the romantic melancholy of early Anathema, and the gloomy frolic of Visceral Evisceration. The vocals are of the impassioned, gruff variety similar to Shades of God-era Nick Holmes and Lee Dorian around the time of the Soul Sacrifice EP that you don’t hear too often nowadays, and it fits here perfectly. And, of course, no gothic death/doom recording would be complete without some angelic female vocals, which make a welcome appearance here in the closing track, “Nemo Ante Mortem Beatus.”

Even with throwback metal being all the rage in recent years, this is the first time I’ve encountered this specific sound from a new band. Hopefully, Asphodelus won’t succumb to the same fate as many of the bands that inspire them. We need more of this.

By the sound of this album, Infernal Curse, in spite of all pleading from the producer, held a sharpened upside down cross to his neck and commanded thee to crank everything.  Of course, if metal is for anything, it’s extremity right?  On Apocalipsis the catholic cathedral reverb is cranked a few notches past what most bands would deem to be tasteful. The vocals are one solid stream of spewing ash cloud, no distinguishable words or changes in tone.  The guitars are tuned low, distorted and pushed until the notes convert to the blackest oil forcing through the speaker cone spreading outward from the cabinet saturating each layer of the recording.  The guitar solo/lead parts are boosted enough to get your attention and are generally of an unhinged thrashy style.  The bass surely lends to this heavy blend, running deep like the guilt felt after a spirited midnight mass sermon.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the bass output came from 2 1×18 cabinets.  The drumming serves the whole, riding the middle, pulling with muster to keep the songs wrangled and continuing in a forward trajectory.  The Toms rumble uncontrollably, and due again to the reverb each snare hit sounds like 1.7 with long aftershocks.  It’s an unwavering, monochromatic black vacuum of an album, consuming hope and expelling sulfuric vapor.

Bluntly put, Apocalipsis comes off as a monotonous rush to usher in the age of the anti-christ, but with strong atmosphere and delivery which is what should hook you even if the riffs don’t right away.  Repeated listens reveal it to be a more varied record than what first impressions would lead you to assume.  At 4:31 of “Litanies Unto Djinn”  starts one of those unhinged solo’s that I mentioned and which offers some silvery light apart from the shadows.  “Obituaries” is built on some early US death metal style groove.  Each song includes passages of mid-paced death groove though they never really change the overall forceful momentum of the record, but serve as devices foreshadowing the next collapsing-cave like, down tuned bashing.  The longest track “Adharma” is placed three-quarters in and stands out as featuring longer doom-y parts leading to and following their signature grinding blackened assault.  Track 1 and 9 are short intro and outro respectively so you really have a 7 track album at 33 minutes which is pretty perfect all factors considered.

Infernal Curse offer up a destructive black/death metal record with tones and production of a dead serious (show me a fun one) funeral doom record.  They’re rooted in Sex Trash and Sarcafago, but with the modern heft and emphasized atmosphere of playing Ignivomous through an echoplex tape delay.  Personally I very much enjoy and gravitate to records that are unrelenting, urgent, yet rather monotonous in their delivery.  Monotony is almost always is used in a negative connotation with music yet it can be commonly attributed across metal and other genres that find support and fans generation after generation whether it’s classic techno or atmospheric black metal.  Within the context of Apocalipsis the word is simply meant as descriptor and not detraction.  Beyond that is the conviction of those delivering the music, and I feel it here from the band.  Bass player Deicidal Abominator could very well be hammering out two notes over an entire song but my impression is that live he would come off like a witch doctor under the possession of ancestral spirits, his savage playing channeling their dark power.  Infernal Curse really sell the material and that’s more than can be said for many albums.

The first song rips into your speakers with Midnight Terror, and it greets you with a blood curdling scream and you kind of get the idea of what terror is, just from that alone. I’m hearing a bit of Sodom with some of Tom Angelripper’s bass rumble, a bit of Destruction with it’s death n roll riffing and a touch of Slayer speed, especially in the soloing. I say these bands as a initial basis but at times you get a feel of many other bands in this deathly mix. Plenty of old school vibes, and thrashing riffage that gives your neck a headbanging workout. Next you get into a Motorhead/Sodom vibe with “Night Ripper”, just listen to that bass power the song!,  I haven’t heard a bass rumble so prominent in the mix since Overkill’s WFO album. Just some excellent riffing following along with it, think of a speedier Cianide.

Vocalist R.R. Bastard has a Martin Drunen thing going (circa Consuming Impulse ) but lower and more subdued. Mid-way in you get some more maniacal screams and yells going on courtesy of some horror movie sampling. “Death Blow” continues with more of a galloping style riffing that just hooks into your brain and with some intense buzz saw guitars at the 2 minute mark. They end the album with a cover of Cianide’s “Rage War” ( which is very appropriate, I think ), which blends in perfectly with their sound and musical direction.

Another solid release via Iron Bonehead and at just 4 songs and with some drop dead amazing cover artwork ( worth the price alone! ) Tales of the Ripper gives a great introduction to the band and one can only hope they continue with this passion and energy with their debut, I for one hope so and you should too.

While most other acts of this ilk can sometimes get lost in their own madness and a bit too bogged down in murk, Altarage keeps their insanity focused and lean. They’ve managed to capture a monstrous, obscure sound without burying every instrument, so you can actually hear what they’re doing as they tear at your flesh and drill into your ear holes. Some powerful riffs even emerge amidst the droning and churning of their unhindered ferocity — the massive doom riff that drops right in the middle of “Graehence” is especially crushing. And, the variety of their attack keeps you on your toes as they effortlessly transition between sophisticated Incantation-meets-Mortician-like blasting, funereal droning, and even some Godfleshy grooves, like in the cleverly-titled “Womborous.” Each song never stays at one tempo for too long while always maintaining its frightening intent and efficiency. None of the tracks run over 5:15 and the whole assault is over in just 36 minutes, which is about perfect for this style.

Aside from the vocals, which sound like they were recorded through a wormhole from a hell dimension, Altarage doesn’t come across as otherworldly as Ævangelist or as mechaniacal as Autokrator, but their more structured and balanced approach makes a more lasting and powerful impact. Along with the latest album from Abyssal, NIHL may represent a shift toward more memorable songwriting within this loosely defined sub-subgenre that’s been pushing the limits of death metal. The inhuman arms race may be over, but we’re the winners.

Autokrator was originally intended to be a new album from N.K.V.D. — another noteworthy industrial black metal project — but it was deemed too great of a departure, and I agree. Autokrator shares a similar martial tone at times, but not much else. Despite this new project’s moniker meaning “one who rules by himself,” lone N.K.V.D. member, Loïc.F, has assembled an international council to provide vocals, drums, and samples for this monstrous new direction.

The approach taken by Autokrator is actually a return to one of industrial’s original tenets: deconstruction. All of the basic elements of death metal are here, but they’ve been pulverized and amplified. It might be best to listen to the album with the same mindset you would have for an ambient, noise, or power electronics recording. Not only are there no discernible riffs, but you also can barely make out any chords. The guitars, which could very well be bass guitar, form an unbelievably massive, throbbing wall of sound. Drums exist in varying tempos from mid-paced marches to hyper-fast blasts, but those guitars don’t seem to care as they rumble and vibrate along with no regard to anyone or anything. Everything sounds like it was recorded in an old, abandoned factory with the vicious, inhuman growls of the two vocalists echoing through abandoned corridors, drums hammering on rusted steel, and guitars being played through amps built from the old machinery as they spew broken fragments of themselves. It’s one of the most merciless things you’re ever going to hear.

The overall sound isn’t too dissimilar from Ævangelist, but without their dark ambient undercurrent. Attempting to layer any more sounds would be futile here — like trying to enjoy classical next to a shuttle launch. There are a few moments of pure ambience, such as the closing moments of “Act 2 – Exsuperator” and “Act 6 – Sit divus, modo non vivus” that resemble Desiderii Marginis, but those are soon blasted away by the rockets. Most of the tracks follow the same formula with the exception of “Act 4 – Autokrator” and closer “Act 8 – Optimus princeps,” which offer some respite with some slightly less booming textures. They’re nice curiosities, but the supreme heaviness of rest of the album is the main attraction because, let’s be honest, we’re here to see liftoff.

Lyrically, each track focuses on the exploits of a different Roman emperor (or emperor’s wife, in the case of “Act 7 – Imperial Whore”). This seems at odds with the apocalyptic atmosphere of the music, but it’s certainly not off-putting by any means. It’s not like they’re harping on about how “radikul” they are. My biggest criticism might be too subjective, but I have to bring it up. Fade outs are a pet peeve of mine, and most of the tracks here close with them. It’s not quite as bad when they blend into some ambience, but for the ones that don’t, it just feels anticlimactic. Although, once the next track explodes, I quickly forget all about it.

Self-released digitally in early March, Autokrator was quickly picked up by Iron Bonehead for a vinyl release. I hope this proves to be a lasting partnership, and that Loïc.F continues to create more twisted sounds with both Autokrator and N.K.V.D. I can envision the two projects evolving in different but equally interesting directions, and helping to mend industrial metal’s reputation in the process.

The band is called Nuclear Perversions. The demo is titled Desolation Rituals. It’s being released on only 300 cassettes and Bandcamp by Nuclear War Now’s ugly European cousin Iron Bonehonead Productions. There are three upsidedown crosses, two gas masks, and a big ol’ bullet belted pentagram in their logo. That’s right, the pentagram has a bullet belt. You should know by now if you’re the least big intrigued in this release.

The intro opens with the sound of sirens, machine gun fire, and the click of goose stepping boots while ominous keyboards moan in the background.   Eventually explosions and more gunfire lead to the radio static of world flattened in the aftermath of glorious Satanic destruction. It actually manages to draw you into the devastation set follow.

“Satan’s Wrath” stomps its way out of your speakers right away with a marching gait and downright obliterating tone. The bestial side of black metal can sometimes get a little too low-fi and blurry for its own good, but the recording is clear, full of muscle and power, without being clean. The band smartly keep it simple and aggressive. All but one song clocks in at just over the three minute mark and there’s nothing too complicated in the songwriting department.

What sets this group apart from some of their bestial brothers is that for all their feral bloodlust, there are some nasty shrapnel chunks just jagged enough to hook you into their apocalyptic war hymns. The chorus for “Crushing the Symbols of the Holy” is guaranteed to make you bang your head and raise your fist to your new leader. “Weapons of Mass Perversion” slows the blitzkrieg pace down just enough for you to really self-righteously savor them rolling the Panzer over your grandmother who didn’t fall in line with the new regime.

Another thing making this a standout release is the vocals. Never before has someone having the balls to refer to himself as Nocturnal Werewolf of Blasphemous Devastation and Nuclear Goatvomits so lived up to the title. He’s got a gigantic roar, but he’s also got a higher pitched warbly yell that really puts things over the top. The closest comparison I can think of is what you wished the vocals on a Conqueror record would have sounded like. In those moments you would swear the doctor from the The Human Centipede just snorted giant rails of crystal meth and Viagra, walked outside wearing nothing but a bullet belt and spiked armbands, howled at the sky, and started chasing your dog down the road under the “Sodomic Nuclear Sunrise” that closes out the meat of the demo.

With only 18 minutes of music excluding the intro and outro, Desolations Rituals manages to add up to more than the sum of its parts. Nuclear Perversions creates a much bigger mushroom cloud than their payload would lead you to expect, or that any single aspect of this demo would lead you to believe them capable of. There’s death, there’s darkness, and they’ll grind you into gravel.

I’m not privy to the lyrics, but considering the cover art and Sanskrit album and song titles, I think it’s safe to say that the theme is based in Hinduism, which I’m not going to pretend to know anything about outside of what I gleaned from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Apparently that movie pissed off some people in India for its depiction of Kali as an evil goddess. Something tells me they won’t appreciate her depiction here either.

Despite the overt Hindu theme, the music itself is largely void of Indian influence, so don’t expect to hear sitar-based black metal or anything like that. Well, there is a little of that, but the vast majority of the album is in the same emotive, occult, Czech-ish vein as their debut. However, this is no retread. As good as their debut was, this surpasses it in every respect. First off, the production style here fits the music perfectly. It’s raw and harsh, yet every element is unclouded and appropriately balanced. “Authentic” is a word that comes to mind as nothing sounds phony or forced. And, then there’s the music itself. The riffs are more biting, the drumming more intense, the vocals more venomous, the atmosphere more rich, and the overall songwriting and flow of the album feels more varied and sophisticated. To put it simply, this is their Ride the Lightning.

As previously mentioned, there isn’t much tying the music to the theme, which is neither here nor there, but some Indian instrumentation does bookend the album. Deep chanting and sitar set an ominous, mystical stage in the LP’s first few minutes and the closing track, “दिव्य प्रेम की ज्वाला से दग्ध” (“Burnt by the Flame of Divine Love” according to Google Translate), is a dreamy mix of sitar, spoken word, guitars, and marching drums that surprisingly remind me of Type O Negative’s “Can’t Lose You” off of Bloody Kisses, and not only because both include a sitarist. The feeling and pace are also similar and both are album closers. But, this is an isolated resemblance as the rest of the album is total serpentine blackness. Obvious reference points are country mates Master’s Hammer, Root, and Maniac Butcher, but Cult of Fire have developed their own sound that culls from a variety of influences, making each song its own unpredictable journey. A woodsy hue á la Agalloch and Drudkh colors tracks like “अस्तित्व की चिता पर” (On the Funeral Pyre of Existence) and “खण्ड मण्ड योग” (I couldn’t get a clear translation for this one), which also includes some of the wintry ambience of Forteresse in its subdued pace and sad tremolo guitar work. Then there’s the dynamic melancholy of “शव साधना” (Spiritual Bodies), which plays like a mashup of Kroda (minus the folk) and early Emperor before launching into manic thrashing right before its abrupt end. “काली मां” (Black Goddess) is a hypnotic, solemn number with chanted vocals which is then immediately contrasted with a haunting force akin to Lunar Aurora at full-speed in “मृत्यु का वीभत्स नृत्य” (Macabre Dance of Death). Album opener, “संहार रक्त काली” (Black Blood Destruction), and “मृत्यु ही सत्य है” (Death is Truth) end up being the most straightforward tracks, but they earn their keep with vehemence. At times, this rich tapestry has a hint of musty ‘70s aroma from the subtle Hammond organ that creeps into several of these tracks and adds another layer of character, but it never overpowers.

I’ve been comparing this to a lot of other bands, but none of these influences really hit you over the head. They’re all seamlessly woven into a cohesive whole that Cult of Fire can call their own. If this year’s amazing Bölzer EP and slew of other great releases from Iron Bonehead Productions didn’t already get them on every serious metalhead’s radar, this certainly will. They might have some trouble topping it, though.

Their inconspicuous moniker and logo style had me expecting retro Teutonic thrash, but the first few seconds of “CME” quickly disproved that theory with churning guitars and deep, cavernous vocals. It seemed I was in for more murky death of the Grave Miasma, Muknal, Pseudogod variety. Oh, but what’s this? Clean vocals? These distant cries completely change the atmosphere and eventually prove to be an integral part of their sound. Things soon get even more out of the ordinary when lilting, atonal chord progressions come into play that I’ve never heard in this context before, but probably wouldn’t be out of place on some noise rock album. The doomy The Chasm feel of the mid-section ends up being the most familiar part of the song.

I’m surprised yet again as “Entranced by the Wolfshook” explodes with a massive, memorable riff that sounds like early Smashing Pumpkins shat from the bowels of hell. I don’t know if this was their intention or not, but it’s brilliant either way. The rest of the track is fleshed out with some enjoyable chunky guitars and dissonance, but damn, that riff just absolutely owns and thankfully makes more than one appearance. With my expectations on high, 10+ minute closer, “The Great Unifier,” seems slightly lackluster, but can still be counted along with the other two tracks as one of the best I’ve heard this year as it weaves varied tempos, discordant guitars, and a healthy amount of impassioned vocal wailing.

Even though this can most definitely be defined as death metal, Bölzer has crafted something with it that very few others have: a sound that’s unlike anyone else, yet feels completely natural. Never before have I heard such vibrant personality from such oppressive darkness. If they can now expand that into a full-length, the upper echelon awaits.