Five tracks in 32:05 is just long enough to be a full-length, and that’s where Pandemonium of Egregores lurks, in these darkened winter shadows where you think you’re safe; it’s an unsettling album, like the strange geometry in Lovecraft’s Dreams in the Witch House.

Beginning with the “Overture”, the beast is let loose with the True Mayhem-ish “Shadows over the Valley”. Meyhnach’s raspy howl echoes the Wolf’s Lair Abyss and Grand Declaration of War era of True Mayhem to a T. There’s this cool Punky riff in the chorus that just kicks against the blitzkrieg drums and creates all sorts of havoc.

Not to be outdone, “Fifty Winters” is hands down my favorite track on Pandemonium of Egregores. Its suitably frozen delivery had ice falling from my phone in little razor-sharp riffs. It almost has a bit of a Blackbraid aggression to it (especially their “ Wardrums at Dawn on the Day of My Death” from Blackbraid III).

As I said, this is more of a melodious approach than on Black Metal Cult. That’s not saying that they went total Funeral Doom or wacky shit like that; I’m saying that Mütiilation gives the songs time to breathe before throttling you with cascades of blast beats. The title track is where they lay their souls bare, so to speak. For almost eight minutes (7:54 to be exact), you’re subjected to the aural equivalent of the planet cracking in half.

For a band that has been in existence since 1992, Mütiilation have consistently released the best that France has to offer, starting with 1995’s Vampires of Black Imperial Blood (my favorite album). The production is spectacular, as is to be expected, although the bass could have been bumped up a notch to bring it forward a tad.

Final track “Hashischin Cage” moves deftly between blasting and mid-paced. A great closer to this solid release. If you love Deathspell Omega or the True Mayhem, then Pandemonium of Egregores is the album that will get you through the winter. Picking this album up will make you immortal!

But 7 years after Phobiate and apparently riddled with a 3 years of recording/production issues, the UK duo is back with their third album, Ónkos (tumor or lump?), and they have leaned even further into the murkier, doomier side of their sound that has been present on prior efforts but fully dialed in here as the 43 minute album is only 2, 20+ minute songs, “Mount Morphine” and “The Ever Aftermath”.

There is still a massive HM2 buzz in the guitar tone, but it mostly sounds like a 45rpm single being played at 33rpm. At times, it’s truly devastating, especially when the band delivers the slower, doomier riffs, which are littered in both tracks as well as standard Swe-death canters, short-lived blasts, and even some subtle keyboards and discordant black-ish metal moments.

But it’s the slower, lumbering moments within the two tracks that get my attention. I mean, the last third of “Mount Morphine” (minus the atmospheric final few moments) is simply crushing, and the middle of “The Ever Aftermath” is the same. That all said, everything else is just ‘there’, the canters, blasts, and atmospherics don’t really stick with me or make the 2 songs particularly impactful or memorable. And there are several minutes of wasted music that’s just ‘atmosphere’, which are fine if they work to make the entire song better, not just to end the song with a couple of minutes of mood.

Ultimately, I came away a bit let down by Ónkos, bored at times, even, especially considering the 7-year wait, and all we got were 2 songs and maybe about 30 minutes of real music. But it does have some moments buried away in there. That said, I’m giving the debut from Japan’s Heteropsy, a lot more attention, and it’s a very similar style and sound.

Signum sees the band flexing their muscles in the most Marduk way possible, and that’s from the first riffs of “A Dance Above the Abyss” echoing the “Christraping Black Metal” of Panzer Division Marduk. This is pure savagery unleashed, hell on all fronts.

“Falling Monuments” reigns it in at the beginning, but only for a short while, because by the end of the track, they have laid waste to the remaining threads of your sanity. The drums become a battering ram that is just jaw-dropping, and it’s scorched earth all the fucking way.

After three China cymbals *tinks* they rip a new asshole for the world with “My Blood is my Voice” another Marduk raging track. Hammerfilosofi has so much combative riffing that it’s like a mental war going on in your ears, but goddammit, that chorus sounds like “I am the Black Wizards” by Emperor, and that’s okay.

“Centuries” is automatically my favorite song because its introduction is from Twin Peaks; plus, it’s a pretty haunting track, with some reverb-heavy vocals and the air of menace that permeates through the boundaries of the song.

“Funeral Veil” brings back the Marduk level blasting and chaos, a staggeringly vicious little number that serves as a face-degloving ceremony; there’s a respite around the three-minute mark where it becomes a discordant dirge before the whirlwind picks up speed again. “Destroyer of Worlds” does exactly what it professes to be, it’s outrageous brutality and the once again, heavily reverbed vocals. It gives it a cavernous feel like echoes from a dark past.

“Meta-morphobic (The Infamous Lord of Shadows)” is a slow burning death machine that erupts into a blast furnace of hypnotic fury; the force of the song is tsunami level; rushing over you and sweeping you into a black flood of hatred.

“Premonitions Long Forgotten” brings some Dissection into the miasma, especially in the midsection, where it’s a crawling horror before the blasts kick in for the remainder of the song.

Overall, Hammerfilosofi have staked their spot in the pantheon of Black Metal. Signum is a fucking solid album, nasty Black Metal that pays homage to the greats in Marduk, Funeral Mist, and even Funeral Winds. This is an album that you need to have in your collection.

This is the case with Trivax and their revival of violence on The Great Satan (directed at the Ayatollah Khomeini, who is depicted on the cover as Satan). It’s safe to say these guys are not fans, and rightly so. I’m going to try and concentrate on the music itself and not so much the political part. It’s safe to say that I fucking love this album. So here I go…

“Atash” prepares your soul for what you’re about to experience. A chugging, bulldozer riff gets things underway with martial drums. It’s a menacing groove that gives way to the blaster piece “To Liberation and Beyond”. I want to like, write out the beats but it would look stupid as fuck ie: bum a dum dum dum dum bum bum. You get the idea. It’s another killer track that makes the introduction to The Great Satan an ovation to rebellion and cleansing ultraviolence.

“Lawless Eternal” starts off with this melancholic clean riffing that gives way to a earth-moving blast section, and by this point I’m starting to get these Disiplin vibes pretty much right from the start, yes I’m just mentioning it now… so what? There are parts where I experienced The True Mayhem feels on this track (circa Grand Declaration of War) that I’m actually talking about.

There’s a bit of Revenge and some Watain that creeps into “Here Comes the Flood” one of my favorite tracks, because of how Trivax manipulates their instruments and intertwines traditional and incredibly emotional passages while maintaining this lush background of blistering Thrash.

“The Great Satan” and “Daemon’s Melancholia” are the massive center, a bloody Citadel. The former is a gut punch to the Iranian regime that instigated the 1979 Iranian revolution, the latter is a gorgeous tapestry of brutal Death Metal head-butting against a torrent of savage riffs intertwined with traditional melodies.

The lyrics are delivered in English, Persian, and Arabic, and I cannot go without mentioning the production, especially the bass drop at the end of “Operation Ramadan”  Samuel Turbit from Ritual Sound did that perfectly. I also mention it because it makes “Ya Saheb Az Zaman” such a haunting track. Capturing the heartache and suffering that war has brought upon their homeland.

“Operation Ramadan” is another favorite track, it’s so fucking catchy and unrelentingly heavy with a chorus that’ll have your defiant fist in the air. Final track “Tamam Shod” is hard-hitting and powerful. An epic ending to this utterly mesmerizing album.

Trivax are another band I want to hear more of. SIN and Eloah Burns Out are their first two releases. These are great songs on a great album that is definitely for people who like Disiplin, The True  Mayhem, Watain, and Aura Noir. Pick it up and be amazed!

They released C.O.L.D. (1996) and Sure to be Pure in 2000. Neither were well received and the band ended up splitting soon after. I guess some members lost interest in Death Metal (as if that’s possible) and made a Trip Hop side project called Day Off Sin, which sounds about as cool as it wasn’t.

Thankfully for their Death Metal fans, they reunited in 2013 for Unholy Black Splendor and it was a welcome return to form .I am going to jump ahead a few years, otherwise I’ll be doing a History lesson instead of a review; which is why I’m here now in 2024… time traveling like a mofo.

Those Who Reign Below is a bristling Death Metal album front to back. “Extreme Unction” is the opener and it brings the brutality while reminding me of Morbid Angel, especially Domination and Hate Eternal’s Upon Desolate Sands and the comparison pretty much stays present throughout Those Who Reign Below. You know what though? I fucking love it. Like fellow countrymen Loudblast, who are releasing a new album next month, it’s an old school French Death Metal return indeed.

“I am Hell” grabs you by the throat with a slew of massive blasting and the beefiest riffing imaginable, it’s followed by  “Evil Shall Come Upon You” and “Phantoms of Caïn”. To keep things interesting this isn’t a complete blast fest; Mercyless knows how to slow down and pulverize your fragile eardrums till they fall out and then you have to staple them back into your ears. Savage riffs, holy fucking shit!

It doesn’t stop there either, there’s eleven tracks on this album and I’ve only cracked the surface. “Thy Resplendent Inferno” is just that, a fucking Infernal track, the drumming on this album is fucking amazing, Johann Voirin (according to Metal Archives he’s the current drummer, so there you go) is a maniac, his blasting is powerful and precise. According to the presser: There are three guests on the album: Patrick Bonvin (Construct Of Lethe / Near Death Condition), Thomas Münch (Manzer), Stephan Baillot (Ritualization / Misgivings). So that’s cool as fuck as well.

“Crown of Blasphemy” is a brutal Morbid Angel meets Angelcorpse whirlwind of Death Metal fury, while “Prelude to Eternal Darkness” is a mid-paced rumbler with intermittent blasts thrown hither and yon, some killer guitar work at the mid-track mark propels it forward.

I love press releases: The cover was designed by Mexican artist Nestor Avalos, whose talent represents all the darkness emanating from this album. The production was entrusted to Raph Henry of Heldscalla Studio, who sculpted a sound highly representative of the violence and anger of this extreme and irreligious music.

I couldn’t have said it better, but anyway, this album kicks like a mule, the build up on “Chaos Requiem” is a bit reminiscent of Morbid Angel’s “Blasphemy” then there’s that discharge blasting that’ll put a smile on your face.

“Absurd Theatre” brings more blasting and some killer guitar acrobatics that reminds me again of Morbid Angel, “Sanctus Deus Mortis” is the next track and it sets the stage for the creeping evil of “Zechariah 3:1” from the New International Version of the Bible: “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!”

So there’s that, in case you were wondering, constant reader. With that, Those Who Reign Below ends. This album is a happy trip down memory lane, Mercyless, and Loudblast are considered the first real French Death Metal bands and if you’re looking for the for fans of; look no further than the aforementioned Loudblast, Morbid Angel and Angelcorpse. An awesome return indeed!

So, fortunately not all French musicians are stuck in the 40s and Meyhnach, the heart of Mütiilation, has cobbled together another pitch black slab of hard biting Black Metal. This coming hot off the heels of his project with Suicide Circle recently.

Black Metal Cult is six deep cuts into the soul of French Black Metal, raw, unrelenting and completely blasphemous. I’m glad that Meyhnach decided to resurrect Mütiilation after apparently declaring the band dead in 2019. Black Metal Cult stabs into the heart of human emotions and the first, and title track, does this with calculated precision; a dagger to the heart of Christianity and a chain mail gauntlet to the face of society as a whole. Second track “Hominicide” is a mid-paced boom-bap song that erupts around the 1:48 mark and just keeps hitting harder and harder, the 2:58 point propelling the song forward like an armored column. Meyhnach sounds absolutely vicious on this album, his delivery on deadly point. “From the Plains of Ice and Death” has an Immortal At the Heart of Winter feel to it, like an ice and snow tornado that picks you up and throws you to the edges of sonic extremity.

“Into the Cursed Necropolis” is another foray into cosmic battles, the power of the song is elemental, a mostly Black Thrash punisher that’s so cold you might need a jacket for the 4:43 point where it gets massive, like an iceberg crawling across a frozen sea. In many ways Black Metal Cult is a comeback since their last release Sorrow Galaxies in 2007. That was an awesome swan song album if there ever was one.

“The Fall of Islam” is the longest track, clocking in at 8:48 minutes of vile hatred. Alternating between quick blasting sections before slowing down for the midsection of the song. It’s hard biting and savage, which is exactly what I want from a Mütiilation song, evil nastines.

Final track “ The Mirror of Disillusion” has a bit of an Emperor-esque riffing attack in the beginning, and that’s another thing that I love about these French musicians, because they’re as violent as their history could make them.

I really hope that Meyhnach decides to keep Mütiilation going. Black Metal Cult is a fucking beast of an album, crushing from beginning to end. This is essential for the fans that waited a long time for this moment. I urge you, constant reader to check this out and also Suicide Circle, and while you’re at it give a listen to Hats Barn and Drowning the Light. Salut le Black Metal Français !

333 is the eighth studio album from Funeral Winds and right out of the starting gate “Sovereign of Shadows” comes ripping in with a drum roll, blasting all the way, but then it slows, not to a crawl, but to a mid-paced throat grabber with menacing ice cold riffing lowering the temperature considerably and this doesn’t let up with second track “Eternal Nightmare” where it slips into a twisting and turning riff at the 2:30 mark before the whirlwind whips up again that serpentine riff comes back at 4:30 and continues as a marching Black Metal reaper across your eardrums.

“Cast the Gauntlet of Doom” comes in as a slow burner before a quick flurry of blasting and it goes back to the slow burning fire over a nasty riff. Is this a better album than Stigmata Mali? Not particularly, granted the songs are still just as strong but it doesn’t do much to better that album. Which doesn’t mean that 333 is a bad or boring or any other negative words album; on the contrary it’s a strong Black Metal album… just not as good as, and you can take that as you will. Tracks like “Ancient Wrath Unleashed” which is one of my favorite songs and it’s followed by another Black Metal killer with “The Damned Ones Shall Rise” spitting venomous bile and sporting some sick time changes to boot.

“Forever Cursed and Bound” oozes black blood as it travels it’s dark path. Closing tracks “Birthed by Pure Malevolence” and “Conjuration of the Blind One” which is a fucking doozy of a closing track, clocking in at 7:11 minutes. solidify that 333 will appear on my 2024 list already.

So, at the end of the day, or review as it were, I enjoyed 333 enough to recommend it. Let the pitch blackness wash over you, bask in Funeral Winds Black Metal greatness, I can assure you that you won’t be disappointed.

Suicide Circle is the suicide side project of Meyhna’ch from Mütiilation, and stop the presses, it’s a grand  fucking opus of the DSBM sub-genre and as I listen to Bukkake of Souls for the fifth time this week and as I read the press blurb I decided I’m going back to their first album Shotgun Prayers to see what was different about that as opposed to Bukkake of Souls. Besides the obvious vocal delivery the music didn’t change in the wrong direction, although I guess it’s hard to fuck up music this brutal and desolate.

So the music part, that’s why we’re here correct? Things start off in furious Black Metal style with “the Star Spawn”, rising from a lava field of feedback and raw screaming for 6 minutes and 27 seconds, slow and methodical with riffs so sharp they’ll cut your flesh off, the beating here is so lulling that it makes your skinless head bob like one of those ridiculous kitchen chickens.

“The Highest Spheres” has a more traditional Black Metal heart, starting with an lone, agonizing riff that permeates the track and propels it forward to punishing effect, taking a bit mid-song to let you breathe. I cannot love this album enough, after being sick for the past week, coming back to finish my review; it’s like a pitch-black blanket for healing. “the Advent” soars on the wings of a skeletal dove, while the title track “Bukkake of Souls” is an eight minute skull fuck… have you seen a Serbian Film? The revenge skull fucking that the protagonist gives his tormentor is invigorating and Suicide Circle capture that feeling perfectly. Suffering, isolation and the depth of despair are the fuel for this album.

“For Nothing”, “the Prince of Darkness” and “Any of You” provide the razors for you, the latter being a slow-burning effigy, militant drums, combined with Meyhna’ch and Kham’s crushing delivery have gone into this cauldron and created a fantastic DSBM album that oozes bile and general hatred for humanity overall.

2023 is just about done with. You still have time to pre-order Bukkake of Souls since it comes out the 29^th. So you should do that, constant reader, 2024 probably won’t be any better than this year, but it’s always a great year for Metal and throughout the world, the healing power of music is what we need more than ever.

A little research into this French band shows that it was originally started as a one-man project by the frontman for industrial metal act Sybreed, Benjamin Nominet, who only hung around to deliver a demo before other members jumped in. And those other members now include members of medieval epic black metal band Glaciation, and somehow British Guitarist Mike Barber from Wizardthrone.

So I dug deep into Unlightenment and was greeted with one of 2023’s best symphonic black/death albums, that delivers 52 minutes of sheer bombast. Like a fine French wine, I’m greeted with notes of fellow countrymen Anorexia Nervosa (notably 2004 Redemption Process), and a heavy front nose (is that a wine thing?) of Sweden’s Grief of Emerald and their 2012 effort It All Turns to Ashes.

So with the album opener “Scolopendra”, already impressing my palette, its second track “Shards”, where I’m blown the fuck away by the band’s blistering, but epic intensity fueled by big, brash brass blowouts and some clean vocals scattered around.

But the band isn’t just about a nonstop, ferocious take (though the next track “La nuée” is just that) on the usually swirly goop of symphonic black metal, as they can get a little more creative with the genre as heard on the likes of “Scales”, with its more adventurous choral and vocal arrangements or “Mazed Interior” where Emperor’s latter technical motifs can be clearly heard (bolstered by Arnhwald Rattenfänge’s Ihsahn-ish rasp).

The album end cap of the 10-minute “À la néante” and 8-minute “Narcosis” shows a band in command of their style, but assuredly ambitious with it as well. The former, is a patient expansive track with more latter Emperor twistiness (especially the bass of Nicolas S) and lengthy atmospheric moments, while the latter after its initial brass heavy bluster, injects some haunting, creepier themes and female vocals to close out, befitting the sleep deprived song title.

Enlightenment is a fucking phenomenal album, that has been steadily creeping up my year-end list the more I listen to it.

Opener and title track “Invoking the Abysmal Night” is an outright blaster and opens things up in a positive way. It propels the album and gives a glimpse into the future of your eardrums, as the merciless beating they’re receiving tears them apart. Second track “Followers of the False Prophet” is a Dissection dripping burner, like fiery gasoline dripping from a torch in the forest, it creates an evil miasma of unease before the Hardcore Punk infused “Through Devil’s Breath” a 3.56 minute slice and dicer, the opening riff that permeates and worms it’s way into a pummeling stomper of balls to the wall blasting and Hardcore fury.

The stellar production needs to be mentioned because without it this might’ve ended up being just a mediocre Black Metal album. I mean, it’s their fifth full-length release and I want to hear more, so a deep dive is in my future. But your future, constant reader, should include Aegrus. “Temple of Ardent Worship” and “Nocturnal Rites of Faust” prepare you for the one-two punch of “Those Who Hide from the Light” and “Where the Forest Emanates Death”. And then it’s over and you hit play again, and again.

Aegrus remind me of the of the Punk side of Watain, F.O.A.D. era-Darkthrone. But within that is a cold burning flame, and that’s where Dissection and Taake and Carpathian Forest live, in the murky darkness below. Aegrus has captured Satan by the tail with Invoking the Abysmal Night, there’s enough interesting things going on that it keeps you on your toes wondering what’s next. So, I recommend this one, constant reader. Great Black Metal for the coming Winter.

What better way to start an album than with sirens and the sounds of battle, the fury of “Cemetery Fields” catches fire in this way, with a volley of blast beats interspersed with German radio communications, I believe that if Bolt Thrower had played Black Metal, it might have sounded like this. Beautifully savage yet it’s on tracks like “Eternal Attrition” and “Nachtschreck” are where restraint is shown with an amazing solo in “Eternal Attrition” that gave me chills. I love the pacing of Feuerwalz, it follows the bloody course of a battle, from the opening salvo to the bleeding out of “Shrapnel Exsanguination” which features another killer as fuck solo that ends the track in flesh-shredding fashion.

Over the course of Feuerwalz I also get thoughts of Mayhem and their Grand Declaration of War album, probably from the martial drums and some rhythm changes that harkened to that album. “Labyrinthine Trench Sectors” is where the album finds its end, striding with purpose across the fields, taking out survivors along the push to the next battle, eight minutes and twenty-eight seconds of sneak attack and retaliation; at times slow with a lull in the fighting while quick shifting to quick blasts till all that’s left is just the sound of merciless artillery pounding the earth.

With Feuerwalz, Minenwerfer has taken what they achieved with Alpenpässe and brought the brutality of the Somme to crush your eardrums. It’s a tale that 1914, Kanonenfieber, and Bolt Thrower (yeah, they’re Death Metal but…), also Marduk, because war can’t be discussed without mentioning them, and admittedly there are times when Panzer Division Marduk comes to mind. When you get down to where the grenade hits the ground, this is a pretty snappy fucking album, pacing, and tempo keep it from being a simple Black Metal album to a furious, bestial whirlwind that grabs you by the throat; do you like those bands I mentioned? Minenwerfer should be in your collection if they aren’t already.

Stigmata Mali translates as “The Stigmata of Evil.” The bleeding hands of Christ can’t touch the opening blast of “Open the Wounds”, slow at first before the first blast hits. The title track is a burner as well, seemingly born on the back of the first track. This album is reminiscent (to me with the keyboard) of Satyricon’s Rebel Extravaganza, in terms of pacing and the overall tempo changes within the songs, it has moments of unrestrained fury that threatens to boil over, “The Angels of Darkness”, “Odious Emanations” are outcries to the Lord of Darkness each one pounding with a brutal production that will freeze your speakers. Closing track “The Bornless Forever” seethes with controlled malevolent hatred, ending the album in blistering fashion, with a knife slash to the gut.

Overall, this is a great album to listen to while watching an avalanche destroy a town. Merciless and unrelenting, Stigmata Mali harkens back to the furious vitriol of the first wave of Black Metal. The influences of Satyricon, Nargaroth, and Marduk are alive in Funeral Winds who don’t really need an introduction at this point. This is a AAA level Black Metal album, and I would be a shitty fan if I didn’t recommend Stigmata Mali, for those whose black flame burns bright.

Facebook/Funeralwinds

Innermost finds the band in the middle of this conflict and therefore the anger and despair of war are reflected in these six tracks. “Those Who Howl Inside the Snowstorm” strikes with the power of a blizzard, drums blasting and ice-cold guitars. At the 1.49 mark, there’s a raging mid-song march before driving towards the song’s end; a short blast before “By Full Moon’s Light Alone the Steppe Throne Can Be Seen” which is the first of the over three-minute mark tracks, a steady ride that’s beautifully crafted and powerful.

This is what I love about European Black Metal (not to shun American Black Metal), the history creates the atmosphere, and years of war and suffering have ingrained all that into the music.

“Temple of the Great Eternal Night” is a perfect example of this, as well as the album closer “Solitude in Starry December” both having a controlled rage that gives way to lush interludes, allowing the songs to breathe and express themselves.

Innermost came out late in 2023, so if you haven’t picked it up, I urge you to do so; not only will you be helping Ukraine, but you’ll be getting a solid Black Metal album to boot. I realize that at the beginning I mentioned a list of similar bands, each being from Ukraine and Russia and while they all have different styles, that European style burns in Hate Forest as well. I didn’t mention Drudhk, and I should before I go, because if you like them, you’ll love Hate Forest.

One last thing, I don’t give a fuck about politics which is why I am only mentioning it: music before ideology. Slava Ukraine!

That said, to this point, the eastern block (outside of Germany and Poland) has been surprisingly quiet on the matter. The only band of note that I can immediately recall to recent memory, is Serbia’s Terrörhammer (don’t come at me with whatever band you think I should know about I’M WORKING ON IT), and the biggest reason for their limited exposure, it seems, was due to it having been formed by current Gorgoroth front man, Atterigner (briefly known as WarBeast Holocausto). His time with the band, however, was very brief. Upon Atterigner’s departure to focus his efforts on Gorgoroth, fellow founder and guitarist Pentagramator the Helltyrant (amazing moniker) said “fuck it” and kept the thing going without him. And thank Antichrist! Because 10 years, one full-length and a couple EPs later, Terrörhammer is here to bring us an absolute blast of an album that takes everything you love about the genre, and punches it up to 11.

Gateways to Hades is a prime example of an album finding success through its simplicity. It’s also the band’s first release featuring a full cast of full-time members (albeit, it’s only 3 dudes), which shows in the confidence of the band’s impeccable execution. Terrörhammer knows you, me, your mom (?) and everyone else is here for one thing – THE RIFFS. After setting the table perfectly with a spooky, 80’s slasher-vibey intro, they punch you with a doozy of a riff on the appropriately titled “At Dawn We Attack,” an all-out assault from start to finish with finger-shredding, neck-snapping guitar work and tight, busy drumming that sounds the equivalent of shoving an entire jar of nuclear-grade horseradish up your ass and haphazardly jumping into the running of the bulls. You’ll find a similar blitzkrieg attack on “Blizzard of Blood,” which, beyond the blistering riffs, further shows off the insane drum work of Igor Kuzmanović (AKA Debilczyna) who puts on an absolute clinic, seemlessly switching between relentless blasts, D-Beats and a flurry of fills that leave you out of breath. It’s his drumming that takes a track like album closer “Tronized Goat Master” from being a really good song, to an absolute banger – expertly accentuating Pentagramator’s wrist-disintegrating tremolo picking with blasts that would give a metronome catastrophic failure in about 6 seconds, but ready to lay down a superb groove at the drop of a dime when called for – and boy do they ever call for it about 3:20 in, launching into a massive groove highlighted by bassist U-Predator 47’s rumbling bass lines that will shake the teeth right out of your skull.

It’s not all full-speed ahead, however. In fact, some of the band’s most memorable material manifests when they take the foot off the accelerator a touch – such as on the inescapably catchy “Midnight Patrol” whose black n’ roll vibes could easily be mistaken for a Bewitcher track. It’s a punky, upbeat affair with a totally necessary chanting “HEY!” section that will go down like the finest of whiskeys in a live setting, and puts the band’s ability to write earworms on par with their ability to melt faces, a balance not everyone can pull off so successfully. “Transylvanian Whore” certainly showcases this ability as well, this time putting their Motorhead worship to good use and providing another track capable of making you windmill on command while simultaneously making your toes mindlessly tap along.

On an album like this, I often find the best ones often have the shortest reviews (and for me, this is a quick one). Over-explanation just isn’t necessary. Do you like banging your head to really gnarly riffs? Can you get down with the likes of Sodom, Nifelheim and Demiser? Are you down to clown with Beelzebub themselves? If the answer is yes to any or all of these, you’re gonna friggin’ love this one, just as I do. It’s about as simple as that. Get your hands on this and get ready for some good, sleezy, sadistic fun.

And that is no surprise considering the band features former and ex-members of Old Man’s Child, Dimmu Borgir, Susperia, and Funeral, so there is an adequate lineage there to indeed make an impressive album and take doom metal and make it a larger, more bombastic sound.

Basically, if you took the member’s Funeral and Dimmu Borgir influences, you’d have Abyssic’s basic sound; big, crunchy loping guitars playing slow, morose riffs backed by deep, pained bellows and sumptuous, dramatic piano, strings and brass at every note – not just an interlude here or there or a bridge, but full on symphonic black metal levels of dynamics and delivery. And being doom metal, we get it in lengthy 6 to 18 minutes dirges to make for an enthralling yet despondent 50 minutes of music.

And of course, as its doom metal, there are plenty of moments of rending, wilting sadness in the riffs, that are only magnified by some of the orchestration- case and point the second track “Chronicles of the Dead” and sternly morose “Mirror of Sorrow” where you get the Funeral– ish  (whose “The Architecture of Loss” still makes me tear up like I’m mainline onions into my eyes) vibe of loathsome despondency backed by delicate ivory tinkling that really hits home.

“Djevelens Lys” changes things up a bit with blast beats here and there that imbue more symphonic black metal but mingle with absolutely crushing doom metal and a gorgeous if short mid-song bridge with a flute and piano.

But the standout has to be the 18-minute closing title track, an absolutely soul-withering monster of a number that covers a gamut of pacings and various degrees of sadness and hate including two, lovely late song, string-filled breaks that both climax with decisive, depressive power and fades out with somber elegance, signaling the end of an excellent album perfectly.

Hats Barn has been in existence since 2005, coming out of the darkness of Lille, Hauts-de France they unleashed the Total Genocide Devastation demo followed by a split and a compilation album. Playing in a style very similar to fellow Frenchmen Ad Hominem, raw with a nice side of low-end bass. It is the “opening-Ten Psalms of Death and Khaos” that lowers a cloud of French darkness upon one’s listening device, followed by “Baal-Zebub”, “Y.H.W.H” and “In Nomine Leprosy” which are blazing, traditional Black Metal songs.

Those tracks fly by though, and it isn’t until “Under the Pillars of Death” that they reign in the hellfire and spawn a lumbering, tortured beast that continues to devastate through “Total Death Kult”. The production is raw, not four guys in a basement with a four-tracker raw, but it is an Osmose release, so it has enough guts to sound full of rage.

At the beginning of this review, I name-dropped a handful of legendary French bands, however a name I didn’t mention was Mayhem (probably because they’re fucking Norwegian, and Hats Barn are French), but I should have; because the feel of this album is like what they created in the early years of the scene. It is “Que le Sang Coule dans les Fleuves” and “The Man Returns to Dust” that close the ritual that is Y.a.HW.e.H, an album that I liked; don’t get me wrong, there’s much to like about this release. What it is, and what it wants to be are two different things, and that’s what keeps me from loving it. But if this pulls your tentacles then I can only say check it out and revel in Hats Barn’s Satanic lunacy.

Take this album from Necrom for example: On the surface, this should be a slam dunk of an release to promote.  Objectively speaking, I’ll just get to the point – All Paths Are Left Here… is one of the best examples of Old School Swedish-obsessed Death Metal I’ve heard in a minute. If the title wasn’t enough of a giveaway, it worships at the altar of all things Entombed and Dismember, with buzzsaw guitars blazing, monstrous grooves and breakdowns throughout, and enough earworm melody to make it all stick. And the band is based in the now war-torn city Kharkiv, Ukraine – providing even more incentive to want to get up and support the band through these unimaginably difficult times.

But of course, because life is never easy, there’s an elephant in the room. A pretty friggin’ big one.

Necrom consists of a foursome of Ukranian metal veterans, including guitarist Eugeny “Knjaz Varggoth” Hapon, who you may know as vocalist and guitarist of Nokturnal Mortum, a band that was considered an early pioneer in the NSBM scene. Though he has made some statements in more recent years about distancing himself from that ugly world of metal, in my opinion they were never really enough to answer for a career that was, even by NSBM standards, RACIST AS FUCK. Early NM work aside, he was also the driving force behind the ultra-racist Warhead (with album titles including Defenders of the Blood and the not-remotely-subtle Aryan Nation’s Rebirth), and even MORE overtly racist Aryan Terrorism (not that I should need to elaborate, but song titles like “Jewish Provocation,” “Our Banner Swastika!” and “A National Socialistic Call” should pretty much fill in any blanks you might have about what those enlightened individuals were all about…)

I’m not here to tell you how to feel about all of this. The argument about separating art from the artist, and the issue of whether to accept varying degrees of racist undertones (or overtones, as the case may sometimes be) in many corners of the metal universe are well-documented and debated topics that I, more than likely, have nothing new to contribute to. I’m here presenting you only with facts pertaining to one member of a band – facts that I do feel are important and necessary to address before presenting you with a band you may feel inclined to support and give money to in exchange for their art. Do what thou wilt with this information.

Musically speaking, as mentioned earlier, you’re going to be hard pressed to find an example of early Swedish Death worship as compelling and well-crafted as this. We’re talking some riffs and grooves that will stick around with you – starting perhaps most notably on second track “Fathers Will Feast.” Halfway through the song, the band transitions from an all-out speed attack to an absolutely filthy mid-paced rumble, before knocking you straight in the mouth with a bruising Blood Red Throne-esque breakdown that’ll put some hair on your knuckles and take your lunch money. Follow-up “Food for Worms” follows a very similar pattern, hitting you with more of the kind of back-breaking heft that makes having to go reverse-cowboy with Shaq seem like taking it easy. But even that is nothing compared to the onslaught in store for you on the Lovecraft-inspired “The City the Old Ones Built,” which foregoes any of the speedier elements found on the previous tracks for a straight-up, rumbling bulldozer that grinds you underneath it’s blood-and-guts-soiled treads until there’s nothing left but a bloody, mashed-up pulp. Fun stuff!

And the relentless pummeling just keeps coming and coming like a festering army of the reanimated dead. “The Walls Have Hands” breaks out some super creepy, scene-setting synths that drape over the rest of the music like a torn-up, cobweb-ridden death shroud. You can find similar effects on opener “Dagon” and closer “The Woods of Weird West,” and sprinkled intermittently throughout the record. Frankly, they work so well I wonder why the band isn’t using MORE of them, because they serve as some real highlight moments that give the music an extra added layer of depth behind the otherwise full-throttle attack.

This is an album I want to absolutely adore, and with a set of particular blinders on, this would, without question, rocket straight to the front of the line for my favorite albums of 2020. It’s that infectious. It reaches a level of wonderful nostalgia for a style of Death Metal I can never get enough of, and executes it with some real palpable energy. Sadly, for me, I haven’t been able to fully get past this project’s association with Knjaz Varggoth and his ridiculously racist past, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t put a cloud over my judgement of this record. For his sake, I hope he has left that part of him in the past, and if he truly is willing to not shy away from it and be better for it, good for him. Either way, it’s not my job to tell you how to feel about all the factors at play here. I’ll leave that up to you.

Anyway, this brings me to discuss Krolok’s new and second overall full length, Funeral Winds and Crimson Sky. While their aesthetics, mainly the lo-fi production values, would easily lump them into the traditional category of black metal, many stylistic choices they make throughout their recordings, and especially on the new one, would place them firmly on the atmospheric side.

Now that categorizing them is out of the way, the music deserves some dissection (not the band). The album is a tight 6 tracks and 36 minutes, so love or hate it, it won’t take up much of your time. After a suitably windy intro, including some almost tribal sounding drums, the first track “Black Lore of the Fens,” gets moving. Buzzsaw guitars? Yep. Background synths? Absolutely. Reverb-drenched vocals? You got it, friend. On the first track, the riffing is the star, despite not bringing anything new to the table, but the background synths are certainly a welcome addition.

On the next track, “Towards the Duskportals,” the synths are a little more at the front for the first part of the track with some playful “tings.” At less than halfway through, the song takes more of a turn into the traditional with a galloping guitar riff leading the way. What stands out on this album so far, despite only being two tracks in, is that Krolok are not afraid of changing the tempo.

The shortest track on here, which is a couple later at track 4, “Path to the Haunted Ruins,” serves as a bit of a segue. It’s instrumental and includes some cleanly picked guitars, but with its short length and lack of vocals, probably could have been left off.

To conclude the album of course is the longest track, which is also the title track. It begins with some unorthodox instrumentation, which honestly sounds a bit like the fire alarm from the fire department a couple of miles down that I can hear daily, although obviously not as loud. This builds into a crescendo before the song kicks in. What’s most intriguing is the end of the track, where of course the black metal instrumentation fades out, the wind picks back up, a church bell tolls, and some footsteps walking away end the album. Not bad.

At the end of the day, have you heard this before? That answer will almost always be a “yes.” However, what Krolok have done here, they have done quite well. When the only complaint is “yeah, but it’s been done,” that’s not much of one, is it? It’s like complaining about pizza because you’ve had it before. That makes you a monster… and if you complain about this album, I think that’s kind of the same thing.

One such act that caught my attention is Glaciation, because it at one time featured Alcest’s Neige, and now features vocalist Hreidmarr, formerly of one of my favorite symphonic black metal bands, Anorexa Nervosa. And while the not the same theatrical, sweeping orchestral epic style (there are more subtle keyboards used), its certainly a very enjoyable, certainly French and militant sounding album comparable to last years excellent release from Véhémence, Par le sang versé, (though less medieval), Abduction’s upcoming Jehanne and label mates Bâ’a‘s recent Deus Qui Non Mentitur album. 

The album actually takes a while to get going as the opening title track was actually a but forgetful, but luckily there are 6 more lengthy songs to flesh out the 50 minute run time. Second track, the 9 minute “Le rivage” is where I was pulled into Ultime éclat, (ultimate shine/sparkle?), with its delicate acoustic intro, blistering riff then regal, clean, French sung vocals, and then the 6:30 minute climax with a glorious melodic riff and subtle female vocals in the background.  On a side note, the French language is perfectly suited for this type of savage, blackened Romanticism , the usually softer prose collides with the savagery spate fort with rasping vehemence sounds like spurned lovers at each others throats.

Third track ,”Et puis le soufre” delivers a killer shimmery riff about 1;45 in, as does fourth more primal track “Acta Est Fabula” right at the start of the track, and uses those enigmatic clean sung french vocals again (and a creepy French spoken work sample at the end of the track), before unleashing yet another simply brilliant riff and piano to close the track out at the 4;14 mark.

” Ce qu’il y à de chaos” adds some more upfront, majestic keys to the already elegant fray and penultimate track “Vers le zéro absolu” intially slows things down a bit before a more traditionally French dissonant tangent and swirling orchestration kicks in mixing with super busy, layered melodies, it’s quite a lot to take it, but its also quite breathtaking. Closer “Les grands champs d’hiver” ends the album with a delicate piano piece, that allows for a nice cool-down period after the prior track ( and album’s) and a pretty killer French black metal album that highlight a scene that’s making some serious noise in 2019 and 2020.

The main reason for the album’s failure is the guitar tone and production. It’s fucking awful. I get that this type of music is supposed to be raw, grimy and filthy, but its like they forgot to mix the guitars completely. They are so far back in the mix, distant, tinny and and thin, that it renders what I imagine is some pretty spiteful nasty bestial /death metal, utterly devoid of  bite.

I went back and listened to tracks like  and “Narcocult”  and “Crown of Flies” from the debut, just to reaffirm the difference, and my fears were cemented as that album has a raw, savage primal-ness that is still heavy and rusty blade sharp. But here, tracks like “Infidel and Unclean”, “Gogamgoz”, “Saracen” or “Progeny Devoid” sound like really bad rough mix, demo tracks sapped of all potential black/death/thrash nihilism.

Even the drums sound flat as hell and only element that carries any sort of malevolent sneer is the dual vocals of Helmkamp and drummer Cameron Grant (Crucifier). It’s not murky or muddy for the sake of nauseating atmosphere or blistering in a raw, sick fashion, it’s just baaaaaaaad.

Thankfully the release is just 6 tracks and 23 minutes, so  its over quickly. I hate that Helmkamp appears to have phoned this one in, lets hope its a minor blip in his otherwise perfect legacy.

Necrogenesis wastes no time in pummeling the absolute hell out of the listener. The opening track “Sunset Glow” has all of the speed, and intensity of groups like Dark Funeral and Marduk but mixed with a tinge of death metal influence which is to be expected with these lineup changes on this 2019 release. It is cool hearing Destructhor playing these type of riffs.  At times, Necrogenesis reminds me of his early work in the band Odium.  If you have not check out the album The Sad Realm of Stars.  Surprisingly Odium is apparently still active and also features Nils Fjellstrom on drums (You learn something new every day).  Dominator’s drumming really is a step up over Widigs and this is not a knock to Widigs. More or less just a preference of this reviewer.

Other strong tracks on the album include “Devilry” which has one of the more death metal opening riffs on the record.  “The Idea of One-Ness” has a very cool clean intro part which minds me of Immortal Battles from the North.  “Amen Whores” is probably my favorite track on the record.  It has all of the elements of a classic traditional Norwegian Black Metal song mixed with intensity and catchiness of some of Destructhor’s other projects.  This song also has a vocal part towards middle of the song that sounds like a total ode to Attila and Keep of Kalessin’s “Come Damnation”. Another thing I rather like about Necrogenesis is when there are guitar solos they are mixed a bit differently and have a bit of a different sound which adds a bit to the ambience.

Overall, this a highly enjoyable over forty minute album that is sure to please many listeners. For those of you like for a hyper aggressive brutal black metal record.  Look no further.  Well done Osmose productions!

It seems like every year there is a handful of massive funeral doom albums that are so meticulous that they take numerous listens to analyze.  Funeral doom in and of itself can vary depending on artist and approach to instrumentation.  This writer was caught a bit off guard in discovering Mournful Congregation’s fifth full length release The Incubus of Karma.  Granted, it has been since 2011 that these guys have released an album (The Book of Kings).   What was really surprising for me was the label that is putting out this effort.  Osmose productions are not exactly known for beautiful crystal clear funeral doom bands.  When I think of Osmose Productions currently I think of a multitude of grim black metal bands.  Going further back in time I think of releases like Immortal’s Battles From The North or Marduk’s Opus Nocturne or to get a little bit weird how about Diabolos Rising? Much like the game of Sesame Street “Which one of these is not like the other?” Mournful Congregation’s latest release adds some unique depth to the Osmose Productions catalog.

On to the album itself, this one is a monster! Clocking in at over eighty minutes in length.  This is definitely an album to find time for and lose yourself in.   There are only six tracks on The Incubus of karma.  The shortest track is the opening instrumental “The Indwelling Ascent” which clocks in at a whopping three minutes and ten seconds.  The track itself feels like you being pulled towards an ethereal light.  Each guitar note sustains and is held with a great amount of methodical preparation. The layered notes blend into harmony and sometimes three part harmony.  I found it hard to move the first time listening to this the first time through.  I may have been experiencing auditorial bliss paralysis as every note held my attention. With a career spanning over twenty five years these Australians no time in reintroducing what they do well and let the listener know that the album they are listening to has been methodically arranged and masterfully performed.  We are only one song into this so far!

The Incubus of Karma has a unique flow to it.  When four of the six songs are over fifteen minutes and the other two songs are three to five minutes it creates some unique paths as you listen to it. “The Indwelling Ascent” does a fantastic job of segueing into the next track, “Whispering Spiritscapes”. This album does take a bit of patience to get into. The layered guitar work of Damon Good and Justin Hartwig dirges with a sense of utter melancholy. It takes until the third song to get to any vocal parts. Bringing back memories of older My Dying Bride and Anathema records. This is also the first longer track on the album clocking in at nearly sixteen minutes. Good’s vocals blend perfectly with the double and sometimes tripled up harmony lines.  The build to the first clean section is on point and is truly a unique listening experience.

“Scripture of Exaltation and Punishment” is probably my favorite track on the record.  Opening up with a chiming bell section that segues nicely into some continued meticulously morose riffing. Like a funeral procession the way the guitar hooks work with the simplicity of Tim Call’s drumming is at time emotionally jarring which is exactly what one would want out of a good Funeral Doom Record. Being six years since there last release. Mournful Congregation have built gorgeously brooding album that is a fence clearing home run. So far, this is the strongest release of 2018 for Funeral Doom. It is still early in 2018 but this is going to be a hard record to top for this genre. Off the charts good.  If I had my druthers I would venture out to Migration festival in Pennsylvania this summer to see them live.  With as locked in as this entire record is on record it makes me extremely curious to see what there live sound entails.  Buy this immediately.

I am not surprised at all that COHOL toured Japan with Portal.  I could see how they would contrast each other.  COHOL have a much cleaner guitar sound and it does not sound like they play eight string guitars.  In watching some live videos I can see where stage attire might be similar to an extent.

The second song “Infrastructure” has unbelievable layering going in the string section from sharp buzzsaw phord chords to layered dissonant harmonies over sharply abrasive vocals.  I would compare the vocals to a band like Summon or maybe to an extent Dimmu Borgir. The clean section of “Infrastructure” is quite breathtaking.

The following song “Chaos Ruler” feels like being thrown into a different frying pan and for some reason reminds of Behemoth’s Demigod.  For the sake of this review we could call it triumphant riffing, invoking the feeling of going into battle.

Osmose Productions continues to be one of the best International underground metal labels there is.  They seem to always find unique sounding artists. From bands like Immortal to Marduk to Angel Corpse to even Impaled Nazarene it seems like they always find the most eclectic talent across the world.

COHOL has created a very memorable album here and being on the Osmose roster is no surprise after listening to all of Rigen.  Rigen is meant for anyone that is looking for an avant garde black/death record that is well produced. Give this one a chance if you are looking for something outside of the burial vault.

France’s Benighted, now on their 5th album have bought forth not only one of their finest works but one of the most downright enjoyable and listenable death metal albums of 2007. What’s most impressive is how they are able to allow their violent tendencies to swing in uncontrollable fits of fury but then effortlessly harness all these constituents back into their control to converge them into a crushing, cohesive wall of sound.

They even take risks, risks that shouldn’t work, risks that if some bands even thought about trying to integrate into their sound they would be hung, drawn and quartered on the spot. This mob have no such problem, and the one moment of sheer lunacy that best exhibits this and which screams to me as SACRILEGE is near the close of ‘Grind Wit.’ Riding on the back on one of their numerous monstrous pile driving grooves, everything suddenly slows down and vocalist Julien begins to…rap, yes you read that correctly, rap, its brief but its there and guess what, it somehow meshes into the framework of the song.

Insane.

How they do it is still beyond me, I mean, imagine if Karl Sanders of Nile slipped some free-styling into one of his Egyptian epics, how the hell would that sound? Regardless, from then on the album continues to crush and impress until its conclusion. One of the numerous highlights is ‘Smile then bleed,’ featuring buzzing, whirring and scything riffing that bites and gnaws furiously through the speakers.

Benighted are on to something here and easily one of the most impressive European death metal bands in current circulation. Whereas Aborted seem to subside in their brutality and quality with each release its reassuring to know that there are bands like Benighted to offer a bludgeoning but daring and refreshing alternative.

V – Halmstad is well-crafted, at times beautiful, eloquent music that without the vocals would be readily accessible to a wide number of people. More acoustic and piano interludes, more quiet moments and more angst is what is on display. Get your razor blades ready. Kvarforth claims fans have been so overwhelmed that they have killed themselves. Once again suicidal black metal that does not push me to despair. This is supposed to be the most extreme, intense, over the edge wailing depression ever recorded. Kvarforth is not very successful as a motivational speaker. Speaking of vocals, his vocals range from harsh to pathetic whine/sing, which really sounds pathetic, not in an angst kind of way, just pathetic. The attempt at pain is comical. Maybe we are supposed to believe this is the mythical Ghoul, as replacement, though to me he sounds like Fozzy Bear. The lame female vocals do not help matters either.

It is the music that matters most, right, so what about it? “Låt oss ta allt från varandra” is nice somber music (the crying sound sample adds nothing), his vocals are much more focused here, a more convincing delivery. Nice fast guitar solos, a bit of anger to the vocals, and some distortion to the guitar really help, a fine song. “Attiosextusenfyrahundra” is Shining’s take on Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata “Moonlight Sonata”, and is a simplified version of just the famous first movement. If I want to hear it for real I’ll just pop in my cd with Evgeny Kissin on piano and listen to all three movements and get the full intensity of expression. “Neka Morgondagen” features vocals that are not as bad, with some Tom Warrior grunts and some Tom Araya high notes, and some harsher music at about the six and a half minute mark. “Besvikelsens Dystra Monotoni” is closest in style to the previous releases. The intro is building to something, the drums kick in to help, then the voice, still building, waiting for a release of tension, then a sweeping guitar lead, melodious. Bring in some aggression via rhythm guitar, just as it is starting to get repetitive, break to somber guitar with some Fozzy moments, then nice keyboards and acoustic solos, drums kept subtle. By about the eight-minute mark we need a mood change and we get it with a more up tempo chugging guitar and drums to match, finally it drifts off in distortion at 10 minutes. Quite an achievement.

Years ago Shining was interesting but unknown, now they are mildly entertaining but certainly not captivating and everyone is singing their praises, caught up in some spell that I am immune to the effects of, apparently. It won’t last. If we are to believe the hype most of you are going to commit suicide anyway.