For those keeping track, this is their 8th full-length album, and it’s another feather in these savage Nordic horde’s cap. These guys have stayed true to the Black Metal philosophy and continue to shred the faces of non-believers. With this new album, Monolitt, Mork is set to cleanse the earth with some proper Norwegian Black Metal.

I covered Syv in these hallowed pages back then, and it turned out to be my Black Metal album of the year if I’m remembering correctly. It had this ritual nature to it, and Monolitt expands on that with crushing intensity and high-powered riffs straight out of Hell.

First track “Under vekten av verden” seethes with unholy rage. They lock into a Satyricon groove alá Rebel Extravaganza (“Filth Grinder” to be exact), and it’s off to the races. Those blast beats are delicious, benefitting from excellent production that literally shoves your face in its furious glory.

“Ødelagt” is quick as fuck at the beginning and then slowly devolves into a crawling chaos with a snappy riff that reminds me of Old Man’s Child on The Pagan Prosperity. These songs are so diverse and so deadly that merely listening isn’t enough… You feel them in your bones. “Torden” comes rising on a diabolical set of riffs, almost Emperor level, the disjointed riffing reminding me of “The Prophet” from Prometheus: the Discipline of Fire and Demise. It’s unrelenting mid-paced delivery is unholy point throughout.

Syv had some killer moments on it, and there’s even more killer moments on Monolitt than you can shake a stick at. Like the slow part in “Skrømt” is like wading through a poisonous swamp where everything wants to kill you. One second, droning riffs are swirling around your ears like there’s no tomorrow, and the next peeling off blasting sections like a bandage from a septic wound.

“Ferdamann” crawls into your ears like the creatures in Star Trek 2. It’s slow-burning, merciless, and pure evil. This is one of my favorite tracks on Monolitt, it’s got a bit of a Gorgoroth-filled center… think Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam or anything from Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt.

“Inn I en annen saere” has an almost Dissection vibe to it, circa Reinkaos, with maybe a smidgen of Gorgoroth added for flavor and Immortal to give it suitable gravitas. Oddly enough, for me anyway, I sort of hear the refrain from “Diary of a Madman”, that background harmony just makes sense in this context.

“Martyr” is my second favorite track; it’s got a Doc Martin on your throat and is ridiculous fun while being beaten to a fucking pulp. The battering ram drums, competing with the lumbering guitars, are pulverizing. “Jutul” has some of that staccato riffing and artillery shells going off around the 1:36 point where the song just fucking rips open a hole in the space-time continuum to a place where demons mosh while they tear each other apart and eat each other back to life in a spray of blood and gore.

“Utryddelse” plays with tempos like a deranged kid with a pile of severed heads. One second it’s like listening to the screaming of the damned, the next it’s Borknagar-esque rhythms that could’ve been on The Archaic Course/True North. These songs bleed with the spirit of Norwegian Black Metal, and Mork has created a magnificent Norwegian Black Metal album. I keep highlighting the Norwegian part because I don’t really hear any other influences (besides that Ozzy one). No Dark Funeral, no Marduk, no Impaled Nazarene… just pure Norwegian darkness. That’s what we’re here for, right?

Go get this motherfucker, trample over your neighbors’ children to get to the record store before they do. Monolitt is a fucking beast of a Black Metal plague unleashed upon this unsuspecting world!

I found out about Darkthrone through the classic Transilvanian Hunger; picked up from an Albuquerque bookstore, used. It wasn’t some hole-in-the-wall store either; no lit candles guided my way, nor were there Goth girls.

That was 1994, and the Black Metal gods were smiling on me. I immediately wanted everything from them, and I was able to get my fiendish little paws on Panzerfaust, Ravishing Grimness, The Underground Resistance, and anything else this savage Nordic horde spewed forth from Necrohell Studios.

This is their 22nd full-length, and I fucking love it! Here’s something I noticed over the course of its 41:07-minute runtime. This is Darkthrone’s Black Album. Hear me out before you call for my crucifixion. The last few albums have been leading to this point: Eternal Hails……, Astral Fortress, and It Beckons Us All.

The Black Album (Metallica’s seminal 1990 release that skyrocketed the band to obscene heights) showed them slowing down and getting way heavier in a “Thing that Should not Be”, “Harvester of Sorrow” sort of vein. So why am I comparing this new Darkthrone album to Metallica’s bestselling album? In a word… maturity.

There’s a level of ambience on a Darkthrone album that’s new to me. Pre-Historic Metal is a menacing, pitch fucking black Norwegian Troll striding across the icy mountains. From the count-in on “They Found One of My Graves”, a Black Thrash number that will have your head banging so hard your brain will be sloshing around in your skull. It’s that good, and Fenriz adds some interesting fills, keeping it thrashy with not a blast beat in sight.

The title track bursts along with suitable speed and ferocity. Nocturno Culto’s voice is gritty and… older. Older than time? Not that old, but it’s got the weight of years behind it, so semi-old. “Siberian Thaw” has a bit of a “Quintessence” feeling to it; there’s a cool part where it’s all slow and brooding, and then the song bursts forth like a demon baby from an infected womb.

“Deeply Rooted” is more of a ‘standard’ Darkthrone track and throws back a bit to Hate Them and Sardonic Wrath. ‘Standard’ because it seethes with barely contained hatred and bile, so you know… a Darkthrone song.

It’s funny how in the press release it says “for fans of Darkthrone”… like no shit, you don’t say? But it’s funny because you’ll have a mountain of Darkthrone impersonators, bands who stick to the formula: Esoctrilihum, Embers Of Ouroboros, and An Autumn for Crippled Children. But at the end of the day, there’s only one Darkthrone.

“The Dry Wells of Hell” and “So I Marched to the Sunken Empire” are my favorites on Pre-Historic Metal. They crawl and writhe across the sound waves, fat and smelling of suffering and Brimstone. Especially the latter, which is utterly frightening in how good it is, bringing in some reminiscent memories of Thorns, Arcturus, and later Ulver.

“Eat Eat Eat Your Pride” is a raucous, abandon sort of track, a bit punkish and angry as a swarm of wasps with rabies, also has Fenriz doing his best Mercyful Fate-era King Diamond voice. The song even has a Don’t Break the Oath vibe. But it is closer “Eon 4” that shocked the ever-stinking shit out of me. It’s a light, ambient journey, a trip through Hell, and it’s Darkthrone at their most vicious since “Snø og granskog (Utferd)” from the mighty Panzerfaust album.

Out of their recent releases, this is by far my favorite. It’s a culmination of decades of Black Metal mastery and shows why these fuckers are at the top of their game. I don’t know if the comparison to the Black Album was made clear, because this could also be mentioned in the same sentence with Satyricon’s Age of Nero or Now, Diabolical, and not be out of place at all.

With stellar production, this is a Darkthrone album for the ages. So I wholeheartedly recommend it to keep the heat at bay this summer. Horns up!!

There’s a little of all of the above going on here as Mirai Kawashima has decided to completely re-record 2007’s Hangman’s Hymn, arguably one of Sigh’s most popular releases. It’s certainly my favorite, and honestly, the only Sigh album I’ve truly revisited with gusto over the years.

As the mighty Grimulfr stated in his review of the original 2007 release, this was a top tier release back in 2007, and frankly, I saw nothing wrong with the original recording or delivery, it has a cheeky frantic, loose, and rough charm, and dripped with thrashing, catchy orchestral bombast as tracks like “Introitus / Kyrie”, “Inked in Blood”, “Salvation in Flame/Confutatis”,  “Me-Devil”, “Death With Dishonor”, and “Finale: Hangman’s Hymn/In Paradisum/Das Ende” were total earworms.

The thing is, even with a whole new production, and new members in American drummer Mike Keller (Azure Emote, Changeling, Malignancy) and new bassist/guitarist Nazomu Wakai adding some slick new riffs, leads blastbeats and fills, as well as a human string/brass troupe, the album largely retains its original sound and charm.

Sure, everything sounds newer and sharper, but production was never really a major issue for the original (if a bit ….thin), as it was 2007. There are subtle tweaks to the vocal patterns and delivery, the more Iron Maiden -ish sounding leads, and the new live string/brass section sounds more epic and organic. But to be honest, the same few songs I listed above are still fucking killer, and still total earworms. But the few songs I didn’t really love in 2007  (i.e, “The Master Malice”, “Memories As A Sinner”, “Rex Tremendae / I Saw the World’s End”) are still songs I skip on this version.

That all said, the album is, again, still killer, 18 years later, a testament to how good it was back then, and how good it is now. And I’ll admit, my favorite tracks “Death Before Dishonor”, “Salvation in Flame” and “Hangman’s Hymn”, now with blast beats, cool violins, choirs and argeggios are indeed even more fucking killer.

Now, if only Suffocation would take a note from Sigh’s book and redo Breeding the Spawn. Now, there is an album that actually NEEDS a do-over.

After their third album, The Sins of Mankind, in 1993, the band, as did many of their peers in the 90s, went into a bizarre direction with Black Faith in 1995 and Spirit in Flames in 2005.  Both efforts saw the band embracing grunge, groove metal, and leaning towards traditional rock, as well as the band abandoning their classic band logo.  Suffice it to say, both those albums are abysmal efforts by the band.  Interesting enough, right after both these albums were released, the band broke up, until regrouping in 2013, in order for the band to get back to their true death metal roots.

The band’s sixth album Shadow Gripped, in 2018, and the follow-up EP, Ballcutter, a year later, proved the shift back to the band’s death metal roots.  It was great having vocalist/guitarist-mainman John Walker returning to his death metal vocals.  The band recaptured the essence of the first three albums, but mainly the first two.

Cancer returns with John, bringing in all new members, most notably Gabriel Valcázar as their new drummer from Wormed!!  Robert Navajas – guitars and Daniel Maganto on bass join in on the fray, and the opening guitar riff on “Enter the Gates” is a thing of beauty, and John lays down a killer vintage 90’s growl.  There are some nice guitar melodies and John’s vocals, well, it’s still John, however, he is enunciating a lot clearer now.  He really made a statement with the last album with his deep vocals, and while he always was more understandable than the typical death metal vocalist, on this album, his vocals are really clear.  I notice the vocals may not be as deep as the last album.

This song is also slower in nature, which is an interesting take on opening up your album, after the last album was released seven years ago.  I am like, open with a brutal fast death machine number!  This song has some galloping action going on until around the three-minute mark when the signature speedier Cancer moments take center stage.  We get a nifty little guitar solo as well.  I would say the first half of this song is rather vanilla until the speedier moments come in and Gabriel’s double bass and drum techniques truly shine.

“Until the Died” has a killer opening with the drums and then right into the faster moment with breathtaking double bass chest collapsing drums. A lot of instrumentation is going on, and it’s a full minute before the vocals come in, again very enunciated.  John sounds good; however, I would have liked for maybe the vocals not to be so pronounced with the enunciation.  It diminishes the brutal factor a tad.  There are some great guitar solo moments happening, something Cancer has been known for, and right after that mid-paced moment, the song gets faster, and the guitar soloing continues.  Some of the mid-paced galloping, though, is very headbang worthy of your time, with the timing of the beat.  A really fun moment.

“Amputate” was the first single the band chose to release in anticipation of this album.  That opening rhythm section works really well, as the song then slows down.  The mid-paced rumbling heaviness again has excellent drums, with the song title repeated multiple times throughout the song.  A good song to release prior to the album.  But I would have released “Covert Operations”, which starts fast from the opening jump.  Actually this would have been a great song to open the album with.  The riffing is maddening. The shifts of some of the stop and start riffing are definitely killer and this song is rooted in 1990/1991 vintage Cancer “Fucking” Cancer.

Inverted World is a good death metal album.  Nicely produced, and the musicianship is excellent, especially getting the Wormed drummer, as he shines throughout.  I prefer the band’s previous album Shadow Gripped, as I felt that was more brutal and harkened back, a lot more, to their first two albums.  This one is cleaner sounding, which is still cool, however, the band has increased more of that groovier sound to the songs, and while still death metal, at times, the album comes across pretty vanilla, and not dangerous, which is how death metal should be.  The album cover is certainly killer, and I love the two-toned classic band logo adorning the album cover. Decent effort, but Cancer can do better.

From the press release: Syv was performed, recorded & mixed by Eriksen himself, with engineering assisted by Freddy Holm (who also contributes with strings and synths). Mastering work on the album was carried out by studio mastering guru Maor Appelbaum (Sepultura) in collaboration with Jack Control at Enormous Door (Darkthrone). It’s this production that makes Syv a stellar Black Metal release, just in time for the Equinox.

“I tåkens virvel” is the grandiose opening track, and I say that because I wasn’t expecting what I got. A mid-paced Black Metal monster, not exactly Black ‘n’ Roll like Satyricon did on Age of Nero or Now, Diabolical, but it moves with that Blackened Rock beat that’s undeniable. This track channels some old-school Borknagar especially The Olden Domain era and I am all over it.

“Holmgang” brings the Kampfar in deft tempo changes and vocals that soar like ravens, the same goes for “Heksebål” and Mork are on fire, there’s not a bad song on the album, thanks to that granite solid production letting the music breath like a Nordic dragon. It’s uplifting in some ways, bringing a smile to the face; before it’s ripped off.

“Utbrent” brings the blasts to the fore. It’s also the first single, and it’s forceful riffing against the blitzkrieg created by the drumming and rumbling bass that’s like a 7.5 earthquake against your bleeding ears. But there’s so much going on in the middle of the track they slow down to writhing riffs. It’s a set-up for “Med døden til følge” another urgent, and kicking like a pissed-off stallion. Mork manage to mix different Black Metal styles together to make a nasty black posolé. It’s a captivating and bombastic delivery that only Mork could make possible.

“Ondt blod” brings the Watain and DHG discordance with a killer central riff and it’s followed by the immense brutality of “Tidans Tann” with it’s sabre-sharp riffing. But the show stopper is “Til syvende og sist” a whopper of an instrumental that has this badass middle section that moves with Enslaved like ocean tides, rolling with elements of deadly beauty.

For final track “Omme” they go full on Ulver, a traditional-sounding number that is as relaxing as it is ominous. A truly awesome way to close out this beast of a record. You constant readers who love Kampfar, Borknagar, Dødheimsgard and Taake will definitely enjoy this, it’s a fantastic Black Metal release and I guarantee it will be a favorite for you guys, as well.

I got a couple of recommendations and this is the first review for the newer-than-new debut for Avmakt and it’s called Satanic Inversion Of… yep, so how is it?

Avmakt captures the essence of the primal era of Darkthrone, so think A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Total Death, Soulside Journey and Transylvanian Hunger. This isn’t a review of Darkthrone, however it’s about Avmakt. So again, how is it?

Fucking great, thank you very much. Avmakt are not Darkthrone clones, let me set that record straight right fucking now. This album hits right off the bat with “Ordinance” a slick Black Metal blaster, it really is a blowtorch of hellfire and the production shows that in a very brutal way. Second track “Poison Reveal” is a favorite delivering a battering ram “Cromlech” feeling in it’s deadly delivery, guitars that buzz like overdriven chainsaws and clear, organic drums.

“Sharpening Blades of Cynicism” is the third and longest track, clocking in at a respectable 10:02 minutes, it sports a few deft tempo changes that keep the song careening forward; it’s a wonderful Black Metal track and a true centerpiece for Satanic Inversion Of…

“Towing Oblivion” has the most Panzerfaust feeling to it, especially “Hans siste vinter” and “En vind av sorg” from that pitch black slab of Norwegian Black Metal, oh yeah Avmakt are from Norway too, shocker.

I can hear a bit of early Watain in Avmakt’s delivery mostly their Rabid Death’s Curse and Lawless Darkness albums.

Satanic Inversion Of… is an excellent debut, and closing tracks “Charred” and “Doubt and the Void” are perfect, perfect I say! Black Thrash meets cold as steel Black Metal with no frills, the former being a dirge that bursts into frenzied blasting and furious chaos in giving way to the latter.

At the end of the day Avmakt have opened Pandora’s Box and unleashed a powerful debut. It has great production, the songs are long but they don’t overstay their welcome, and the riffs and blasts are eardrum crushingly heavy. For you fans of Darkthrone (duh!), Watain, Sotherion, and the raw as fuck halcyon days of the early 90s. I wouldn’t steer you wrong, constant reader… You’ll like this.

10 songs and opening with “We Rise We Fall”, at close to 5 minutes, may in fact be one of the most intense and scorching death metal opening tracks the band has ever done.  Opening with a ripping guitar riff and the double bass over the riffing is fast. Eric House continues to eat drums and then he rips into a nice blast beat before the mid-paced meltdown comes in with Dave’s killer enunciated vocals.  Very much so.  You do not need a lyric sheet either.  The snappy little blast beat returns then right into that massive mid-paced heaviness.  It’s dynamite.  Check out that blast beat and double pounding at the 2.34 part.  This smokes!!!  Then the song slows down and a nice little nifty guitar solo comes in and sounds a bit otherworldly.  This guitar tone may be the heaviest tone the band has achieved thus far.  It’s a real dirty guitar sound, but you can make out the chords and riffs without issue.  The song finishes up with more blasting than traversing back into the slower mid-paced, excruciatingly heavy riffing.

Whew—if you’re not wiping the sweat off your unibrow than you’d better start cracking.  “The End of Reason” begins with some slower riffing and then right into the mid-paced speed, with excellent and understandable vocals from Dave’s throaty pipes.  This song showcases Morta Skuld’s skill with the rhythm section – it’s on fire.  The jumpiness at the 1.40 section I can see a pit swelling and swelling as if Jaws was circling the pit chasing everyone and nipping their legs to smithereens.  This is a nice slow grinder to wedge in the middle of a live set.

“Soul Piercing Sorrow” has a great old-school gallop, mixed in with massive snappy blast beats.  Once the mid-paced part kicks in Dave lets out a killer growl and the song has more heavy riffing and then returning to that old school gallop, then BOOM-right into a scorching blast.  The main guitar riff is super catchy and the Holy Shit part is the 2-minute mark.  The song gets into a monster-heavy riff, as the song slows down, from the gallop.  This part…JFC..that riff….it’s lethal and will lop off heads within a 1,000-foot radius, for sure. I enjoy some of the creative guitar soloing going on towards the end and it has a little Disincarnate flair to it, then right into that heavy AF riff.

Ending with “By Design” is a bit different for the band, as the song is mid-paced and does not start off super aggressive, but this gives the song a chance to have those riffs breathe first before the song picks up the pace.  The pace stays slow to mid-paced until the 2.57 with the double pounding blasting and then boom, right into full fledged blasting.  This is super aggressive and I really like the guitar riffing and picking during this segment.  Super chunky.  More guitar soloing going on and the song teeters towards the end with the slower parts returning.

There you have it.  Another Morta Skuld album to kick your buck teeth in, right down your gulliver.  The album is the heaviest the band has written and is no less aggressive than prior efforts.  There are plenty of tempo shifts galore, to keep you on your toes and the album is excellent and a well-written death metal album.  As a side note, I collaborated with Dave again, as I did on their previous album Suffer for Nothing.  The song lyrics I helped write on this album are: “We Rise We Fall”, “The End of Reason” and “Oblivion”.  I had a lot of fun and when you’re able to be part of your friend’s brainchild, as Morta Skuld is for Dave, well that means the world to me.  Creation Undone is brutal, melodic, ripping, and quite honestly crushes skulls like this album cover depicts.  Buy or get pushed into a wood chipper!

Which brings me to Mortuary Drape and their brand spanking new album Black Mirror. Having formed in 1986 and releasing multiple demos before releasing All the Witches Dance (1994), and the very good Secret Sudaria (1997) I can remember that album as capturing the Black Metal formula in a very Italian style with flourish, so I went back through their discography on Spotify and realized that they were a lot better back then… Fast forward to 2023, nine years after their last release Spiritual Independence mind you.

Is it bad? No. Does it have good songs on it? Yeah, there’s a couple that got my head bopping and those are mostly the ones I will be touching on. The album starts with opener “Restless Death” a bit of ethereal keyboard and some monotone chanting before it gets going, there’s just something missing… anyway, “The Secret Lost” saves the day by being a hefty thrasher with a Blackened edge to it.

“Drowned in Silence” “Into the Oblivion” are a couple of filler tracks that are able to at least make my head move; before the surge of “RattleBreath” which is one of my favorite tracks along with the aforementioned “The Secret Lost”… so two favorite tracks out of eleven. Meh. They represent the best of what Black Mirror has to offer. Honestly, the last half is a blur of mediocrity, and it hurts to say this but at the end of the day this is quite frankly a boring album. “Nocturnal Coven”, “the Mistress of Sorcery”, “the Unburied”, nothing is memorable with this outing to the Black Metal park.

So, ultimately blah. Black Mirror has some good riffs but they’re not enough to raise it to the level that Mortuary Drape had before their nine-year silence. This is for the diehards, if you liked them then you’ll like them now.

The band, with mainman Chris Reifert (vox/drums) older now, full tours were not going to happen so the band has increased their market share success by playing fests throughout the world and garnering even more followers.  MDF, 2022, was incredible and Autopsy’s performance was outstanding.. The band has been a bunch of writing machines since reforming – releasing eps and a total of 5 full lengths, and now Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts is their sixth full length since reforming.  That is a lot of albums and some are definitely better than others.

This album comes only one year removed from their last album Morbidity Triumphant.  Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts is 11 songs in 41 minutes and “Rapid Funeral” starts things off with some nice isolated guitar riffing from Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles, as well as the drums coming in and Reifert’s vocals are much higher on this song.  The guitars are filthy and the signature varying vocal tones begin to take shape a bit, before the higher register screaming vocals come in, which quite honestly, I am not a fan of…Higher than normal, and grating to these ears.  Towards the end the doom dirge comes in and the squealing guitar solo goes on for a bit.  Sounds like a funeral march…Pretty good opening song.  “Throatsaw” comes in next and is a short ditty of a number at 2.31 the song gallops and Cutler lends some vocals as well, which he usually does.  The song is a good tune with the song title being screamed relentlessly throughout the duration.

“Well of Entrails” at 5.06 is the longest song and the signature doom-death filthy dirge immediately starts and is tempered with some excellent doomy guitar melodies..  One of the best opening Autopsy moments, since their reformation, I might add.  Plodding and the 1.30 the song gets slower and Reifert’s regular vocals come in and sound incredible.  This part reminds me of something that could have been on their Retribution for the Dead ep all those moons ago.  The song picks up the pace and gallops and great riffing and then some squealing guitar solos..before the song gets into the slower moments.  I would have liked the song to stay the slow doom-death dirge speed throughout..the speed earlier which goes on for a bit, makes the song less evil, IMO, as the slower creepier moments take center stage.  The title track is a speedy number and Chris screaming his head off and his varying tones sound really good on this song.  More guitar solos on this song as well, this album may have more guitar solos than any other prior Autopsy album.  This is a really strong song.

“Coagulation” ends the album and opens with a really doomy moment and Chris’ vocals are really deep and disgusting.  Sounds like he is vomiting up gobs of mucous, bones and meat.  This song is heavy and the melodies are great.  Greg Wilkinson’s bass guitar is thumping on this song and then the tempo shifts to a rather upbeat jumpy moment, more solos and then back into the doom dirge.

Autopsy’s Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts is a good Autopsy album.  The production is organic and well-done for their brand of death metal.  There are some really good songs on this album and some fair-middling tracks.  Now this is coming from a long-time fan, since their debut album, and who saw them on their Acts of the Unspeakable tour with Incantation and Vital Remains decades ago….but I feel the band would benefit from waiting a few years between releases.  I think since touring is not something they do, which would eat more into their writing process, they do have more time on their hands to write.

With that being said that does not equate to better albums.  Some of the songs fly by, with no true staying power and that’s kind of been the case now with their last few releases.  2013’s The Headless Ritual I feel was their last real memorable album, if I am being honest.  The album cover, once again done by Wes Benscoter, is gross and exceptional, his artwork is still some of the best in the industry.  All in all, good album, Autopsy can do better, though.

On the project’s third full-length, Hellripper‘s sole mastermind James McBain isn’t just putting his best foot forward – he’s leaping ahead into a whole new stratosphere. Warlocks Grim & Weather Hags is a modern Speed Metal master class.

Since 2014, McBain, has built quite a reputation for himself with his Venom and Sabbat-influenced brand of Blackened Speed Metal, not just for his ability to throw down absolutely blistering riffs seemingly at will, but also for being an artist willing to go the extra mile to nurture a growing fan base (known as the “GOAT KULT”) through the difficulties of a global pandemic; granting fans consistent, interactive access on social media and fully embracing the modern demands of being a successful musician (especially notable considering Hellripper exists in a scene not necessarily known for embracing anything modern).

All this is to say, McBain has created a fully-formed Hellripper brand – the sort of which could, very easily, become a breeding ground of endlessly consistent, if not sometimes somewhat uninspired output. Some bands can make this work really well (Midnight, NunSlaughter) but all-too-often, the thrill can peter out and become little more than indiscernible audio content (Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth of late). Even considering myself very much a fan of Hellripper, I sorta assumed that the former was closer to how the project would play out in the long run – especially with 2020’s The Affair of Poisons which, very solid and enjoyable as it was, didn’t exactly push the needle on McBain’s project by any stretch.

A cursory glance is all it takes to notice that things might be a little bit different this time around. Where The Affair of Poisons ran a track list of fairly consistent (and relatively brief) run times, WG&WH is practically a magnum opus, with track lengths regularly exceeding the 5-minute mark, suggesting that McBain is taking more time to flesh these songs out, maybe create a more dynamic listening experience – and it takes no time at all to realize how true that theory is. It’s not often that you hear an album’s first track and say “holy shit this is the best song this band has ever recorded,” and yet “The Nuckelavee” does just that. Beyond the absolutely bonkers-good, incendiary speed metal riffs thrown at your face right out of the gate, McBain is embracing the flip side of his all-out-assault like never before, deploying a heavy dose of Maiden-inspired melody to create a much more balanced attack. The melody he unleashes just before the song’s first brilliant solo is a thing of absolute beauty; a hell-spawned ear worm birthed to infect as many listeners as possible to spread Hellripper‘s unholy agenda.

And when I call McBain’s solos brilliant, there’s not a lick of hyperbole there – his guitar work has always been the X-factor that separated him from other similar acts, and he’s only proving that point further all throughout WG&WH, weaving together a seemingly endless barrage of hand-cramp-inducing blackened speed wizardry. Between the album opener, “The Cursed Carrion Crown” and “Poison Womb (The Curse of the Witch)” alone, you’ve got enough fire power to start blasting away into the earth and make it all the way to Hell’s doorstep itself, with enough ammo left over to start taking some pot shots towards Heaven just for a laugh. But it’s not just the additional melody making a big impact on the album, because McBain is also leaning further into the blackened side of Hellripper‘s sound. Though always a part of their genetic makeup, there are plenty of newfound instances of just straight up Black Metal here – most notable on the midsection of “I, The Deceiver” and particularly through album closer “Mester Stoor Worm,” adding a far more sinister and eerie tone to the mix befitting of the album’s folkloric, demonic leanings.

But the best part of all by far is that, while Hellripper has grown into something to be taken very seriously, McBain hasn’t lost sight of what made the act so popular to begin with – the sadistic fun of it all. There are moments on this record that will absolutely take your breath away, like the brilliant mix of pure Black Metal fury and swaggering Heavy Metal bravado found through the bridge of “Mester Stoor Worm,” or the end of the album’s title track when McBain goes all-in on his Scottish heritage, bringing in bagpipes to beautifully match the guitar melody (this doesn’t need to be an all-the-time thing, but if McBain were to start incorporating bagpipes, tin whistles and bodhrans every once in a while to his music, you’ll get zero complaints from me).

And the Goat Kult’s true nature still perseveres, bringing an evil smile to your face on the incredibly fun “Goat Vomit Nightmare,” which very much sounds in the punkier tradition of Midnight or Gehennah, and “The Hissing Marshes” which is pretty much the Blackened Motorhead worship you’ve come to know and love on Hellripper‘s previous releases. These are far more stright-forward, “get to the point” tracks that pull off the job of maintaining balance on “WG&WH” beautifully, ensuring the album really can be all things for all Kult members new and old. But even the more simplistic overall nature of these tracks show McBain’s improvement as a musician, going the little extra mile to just add even a little more melody and catchiness that just make you want to get in on the fun all the more.

I knew that I was going to enjoy Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags. I did not know that it would blow me away the way that it has. Even if you’re not generally a Speed Metal fan or into it’s more modern resurgence, I plead with you – BEG of you to give this album a chance, because I genuinely think these riffs are so good, the songwriting so solid that they’ll win over even the least interested of metal fans. I genuinely thought the modern Speed Metal movement would have to start losing steam at some point, but between Poland’s Aquilla and their brand of power-forward Speed Metal releasing my favorite album of 2022, and the promise of new music from the likes of Bütcher and others on the heels of what was a pretty damn strong year for the genre, it seems that as long as bands like Hellripper are around, there’s still room for it to not just exist, but completely thrive. At this point, even this early in the year, I can tell you it’s going to be tough knocking this album off the top of my “best of 2023” list. Drink the Goat Kult Kool-Aid and get yourself in on this pronto.

So what can we expect from Autopsy in 2022, now with another new bass player (and producer) in Greg Wilkinson (Static Abyss, Brainoil, Deathgrave, ex Graves at Sea)? Well, more Autopsy is what you get. Nothing more nothing less.

Even with Wilkinson’s thinner, less sloppy, less moist production, it’s what you have come to know and love about Autopsy. Miasmal, viscous death metal with ample chunks of punky blasts and more importantly, oodles of the scrawling, oozy bits that the band has perfected over the years. You get about half of each on the album 41-minute runtime.

Personally, it’s the icky, doomy songs and parts that make Autopsy what they are, and the songs that either feature or completely deliver on that component are the standouts; i.e start of  “Final Frost”, sickly, grooving “The Voracious One”, “Tapestry of Scars”, classic sounding “Skin by Skin”, “Slaughterer of Souls”, personal favorite  “Your Eyes Will Turn to Dust”  and other moments are by far the album’s best cuts imbuing classic “In the Grip Dead of Winter” vibes.

But there are plenty of the feral blasting numbers and meaty sways like the opener “Stab the Brain” and start of  “Knife, Slice, Axe, Chop”, meaty sway of “Flesh Strew Temple” and  “Maggots in the Mirror” though the more raw, dryer production saps a little of the ickiness from everything, especially the bass with has lost some of that sinewy twang from yore.

That all said, I can’t help but feel we already got an Autopsy album in 2022 with Static Abyss‘s Labyrinth of Veins, as it’s Reifert and Greg Wilkinson basically doing the same thing just without Danny Coralles and Eric Cutler. But you can never have too much Autopsy, right?

Born out of Covid-19 and its subsequent lockdown, this duo came together to create this project and album, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, it sounds like Autopsy. Though not quite as sinewy and viscerally moist as Autopsy,  as it has a surprisingly clear production, Static Abyss has that same shambling mix of punky death metal and filthy doom ooze. And of course, Reifert’s feral barks and shrieks singing songs like “Feasting on Eyes”, “Mandatory Cannibalism” and “Clawing to the Top of the Dead”. So he’s still in his Autopsy wheelhouse lyrically as well. Reifert experimenting with intellectual prog rock this is not.

One listen to the track above is pretty much all you need to know. And any words past this are pretty much just filler and fluff. A couple of minutes of gnarly, sneering death metal, then a scrawling, sickly crawl with Reifert’s throaty shouts about severed heads. Then the next 9 tracks do the same thing in different ratios and amounts. Some tracks are doomier and more festering like “Nothing Left to Rot”, “Mandatory Cannibalism”, the vomitous 7-minute title track, and “Clawing to the Top of the Dead” . Some deliver more focus on simple, old-school death metal like “You Are What You Kill”, “Jawbone Ritual” or “Morge Rat Fever”. Most do a little of both, like “Contort Until Death” and “Tectonic Graveyard”. It’s pretty simple, sloppy and satisfying.

The only real question are,  do you want more Autopsy, that’s not actually Autopsy? And how will the next Autopsy album really differ from what we are hearing here? Is this just the grisly leftovers on the butcher’s floor and the prime meat is still on the slab? Isn’t this just basically Autopsy 1.5 and tiding us over and keeping us interested in Reifert’s output in the meantime?. The answer is yes to all, and that’s perfectly Ok.

Their Wounds Deeper than Time 2017 album, their first full album in 20 years, brought in some quicker blasts and enhanced musicianship.  That was one of the best albums for 2017.  Album number six, Suffer for Nothing, has been crafted for the last three years and is 10 songs in 40 minutes.  This is old school death metal done right, but Morta Skuld still sounding fresh and new at the same time familiar.

“Extreme Tolerance” opens immediately with the Holy Shit rolling drums of Eric House and the guitar riffing comes right in and the songs gets right into a blast.  My good friend, Dave Gregor’s vocals are the clearest he ever has sounded.  You don’t even need the lyric sheet – that is how clear his vocals are.  Vocals in the mid-range, raspy nature and the lyrics tell a tale to each song, so understanding them, is a damn bonus!  Some excellent riffing from Dave and Scott. Side note – with the album still not released at the time of this review, Scott Willecke left the band, to concentrate more on his career – good luck brother.  Morta Skuld have already found his replacement.  A gent they have had tour with them before – therefore he is already familiar with the band’s material.

“Abyss of the Mind”, is up next and has that punishing Morta Skuld signature mid-paced groove with some excellent guitar melodies. John Hill adding to the rhythm section with his nice bass work.  About halfway through the song there are some spoken word, like moments, over the drums, then the guitar solo rips right in, over the double bass.  The song picks up pace, with a vintage old school early 90’s beat, then right back into that punishing mid-paced part.  I love Morta Skuld returning to the riff several times.  It’s memorable and catchy.  This song should have been called “Frank punches holes in things listening to this track”.  Dave then lets out a nice growl and the song trails off with some feedback.

“The Face I Hate” has to be mentioned, because the song title rules.  C’mon – think about how many people’s faces you hate and you just want to drop the elbow??  Starting with a brief guitar solo then right into the galloping speed, then right into the mid-paced part and Dave singing the title of the song.  Really nice lyrics and when Dave says hate – I know he has a few people in mind – he spits it out scornfully and with some malice.  Good!  The song then shifts into a mid-paced rumbling heaviness with a blast in between these moments several times.  This start and stop section is killer.  The songs gets into the 90’s gallop, then a little faster then back to the mid-paced heaviness and start n stop blasting.  It’s fucking sick!!!

As if the album has not ripped your face off enough, the longest track, “Machines of Hate”, closes out the album.  This is a lyrical collaboration with Dave and I.  I wrote lyrics to this song last year and Dave used some of them.  My lyrics were inspired about the end of days and very apocalyptic in nature.  I incorporated all their – prior album names into the lyrics with some other parts Dave uses in the chorus parts, several times.  I am very humbled and honored he decided to use them and credit me in the liner notes. The music is bludgeoning, as it starts with a monster blast beat and quick mid-paced moments and some excellent guitar work.  At times melodic and at other times just reaching out from the album to slice your head right off so it can tumble down the hill.  Some more killer drumming from Eric, as he does a few little fills, which amount to a mini drum solo – the dude is talented and he can replicate the shit live – so that’s even better.

Suffer for Nothing is one of the best albums for 2020.  Morta Skuld know how to write excellent death metal which is still new, without forgetting their signature sound.  The songs are all catchy and memorable.  The first day I received the music – no joke, I listened to the album 5x.  90’s death metal is my fave time period for death metal and Morta Skuld were always the purveyors in the early 90’s.  I love all forms of metal and extreme death metal.  But the albums I go back to time and time again are the ones which are memorable, get stuck in my head and are well written.  That’s what Morta Skuld’s prior output does for me and add Suffer for Nothing to that list and their stellar discography.

Please pick-up the album, like their FB page and inquire about merchandise.  Once that’s available pick yourself up some Morta Skuld swag.  Get the album, or else that poor bastard, adorning the striking album cover, will pay you a visit – and he will not be wearing a mask.  Buy or Die!!!

Being that I am not a loyalist, I am going to do my best to be objective and not compare new and old Katatonia. This should be easy since I haven’t heard their entire discography. In fact, my only real experience with them is from their previous album The Fall of Hearts. It seems there are many fans who love the newer direction the band have taken, then of course, there are the many who despise it and love the earlier works (we metalheads are frequently not fond of change). Neither of those approaches will cloud my judgment.

Let’s be clear right from the start. If you weren’t already aware, the metal here is in the attitude, not the execution. I mentioned The Fall of Hearts in my last paragraph. If you’ve heard that record, I must say you basically already know what to expect. The first track, “Heart Set To Divide,” doesn’t take long to get going, nor to let you know where it’s going. It takes about five seconds for the remarkable vocals of Jonas Renkse to kick in. Once the rest of the instrumentals really kick in, we’re treated to what can be very easily compared to latter day Opeth, except this track has a main hook, doesn’t meander for 10 minutes, and actually goes somewhere (yeah, I said it).

Track 2, “Behind The Blood,” kicks off with a solo that has a lot of swagger before the main verse. After that, another solo takes over, then back into the verse. There’s an incredible hook, which really shows off Jonas’ pipes again. This is my favorite track on the album by far and is dangerously close to “song of the year” territory. After hearing it a couple times, it got lodged in my brain.

“The Winter Of Our Passing” is the next track I wish to mention as it has a seemingly out of nowhere “fuck” and is a standout because of it. When I heard it the first time, I said out loud to myself; “What the…?” Well, you know. I had to rewind to make sure I heard it correctly because it seemed so out of place. The more I listened, though, I feel it’s impactful. Of course, there are a great number of bands (some even in their names) who liberally throw out the old “f bomb,” but if used frequently, it seems to just attempt to make up for a lack of variety in the lyricist’s vocabulary. That is not the case here.

I want to finally make mention of the closing number on the album, “Untrodden.” The intro is about 15 seconds of piano, then into the verse. The chorus is stellar and so is the guitar solo. When listening, I imagine myself taking a drive at night during the summer with the moonroof open. It’s a fitting end to the proceedings.

When it comes to this album, reviews seem to be on the side of a grand proclamation of a “masterpiece” or that it’s lackluster. As with most grand proclamations, the truth lies much closer to the center. There are fantastic moments and this is a definitely a mood album. It doesn’t work for me in the gym. I hesitate to call it “low energy,” but it’s also not going to make you want to punch walls or move mountains. I do enjoy individual tracks throughout, but they sound quite similar. City Burials is the sound of a confident band doing what they choose. It has been described in the metal circle as “progressive rock” or “post rock.” I think it tends to fall a little closer to the “goth rock” category. Before reading this review, I’m sure you already had a stance on Katatonia, likely knew whether you would like this album or not, and my words have probably not swayed you. I do recommend giving this album a chance to grow on you. After the first few listens, I was ready to bash it, then never return. However, I grew fond of it after repeated listens, letting it work its way into my brain.

However, I’m still not sold on every single track, together as an album, despite multiple standouts. Those standouts don’t make up for the rest of the songs that just blend into the scenery. While City Burials certainly has merit, the most value, in my mind, is adding the songs to your playlist and enjoying them when they inevitably come up in your shuffle.

Well, Holmes is back, and is still the weak link, though it’s great to hear still growling again- he just lacks the sheer power and authority of his predecessors-  It also is not helping that the material and song writing on TAOSID drawn is the weakest of the band’s discography.

Yeah, I’m sorry to report that despite the expected killer, Sunlight/buzzsaw guitar tone, Nick Holmes and the veteran lineup, the album is just a bit flat and falls short the genre’s current leader, Entrails output as well as  some of 2018s releases from band  influenced by them like Gravestone or Demonical, and even second tier or new acts like Carnation and Organic, Angerot and Sentient Horror.

The album  is OK, and has a few decent moments but like the last album and even dating back to 2008s highly anticipated return, The Fathomless Mastery, there simply isn’t that sure fire go to riff or song like say “Like Fire”, “Cry My Name” or “Eaten”that identifies the album and band in 2018.

There are some decent Swed-death riffs and gallops like “Bloodicide” or “Morbid Antichrist” and even some more fun, dare I say crusty/punk riffs as heard on “Deader”, “Warhead Ritual” or closer, the wonderfully titled  “Chainsaw Lullaby”, but they seem a tad out of place.  A couple of numbers do  carry  little more menace and weight, befitting the bands legacy, such as “Levitator”, stern march of “Only the Dead Survive” or the mid paced chug of “March of the Defilers”, arguably the album’s best track.

When who your singer is makes more waves than the actual songs and album, it means the magic just might be gone, and I’m afraid that its  starting to look like the case for Bloodbath, who though remaining a revered fixture in the genre due to the early work, other bands have simply surpassed them at this point in their career no matter who the vocalist is.

Several years ago, Morta Skuld signed with Peaceville Records and Dave was a man with a plan.  Dying Remains was reissued to a stunning remaster 4 years ago and As Humanity Fades and For All Eternity receiving facelifts as well, in 2016.  Excellent sounds and it was killer I was able to buy them from Dave at the Baltimore show, recently.  Well, they sold out of As Humanity Fades, but nothing that Ebay couldn’t fix for me and I scored a copy within 10 minutes of the show ending.  Morta Skuld are still in the process of getting 1997’s Surface remastered, and it has proven to be an arduous task with the layout.  This sucks.  Maybe I need to find out where the graphic artist is and pay him a visit.  Anyway, I snoozed and failed to realize the band released a brand new album, Wounds Deeper Than Time.  Yes-please everyone needs to start the public shaming of Frank.  Well I picked up a copy at the show and I am truly upset at myself.  Here is why.  I handed in my best of, for 2017, kinda early, due to the holidays and taking the family on a vacation.  Had I waited longer this album would have made my list.  If we do our supplemental piece, Fillings and Cavities, this mutha effer will be on it, without a doubt.  Yes, this is one of the best albums of 2017.

The band actually opened the show I saw them at with the album opener, “Breathe in the Black”.  Not only a perfect album opener, but a fantastic way to start a live show.   The heavy crunch of the guitar and the windmilling blast beats, not only capture the essence of what initially made Morta Skuld great 25 years ago, but ups the ante, by way of upgraded production values, the strongest song-writing in the bands career and a true commitment as to why Dave decided to reform the band in 2012.  Dave’s vocals sound deeper and angrier and the guitar playing is top notch.  Scott Willecke plays guitar, as well and he kicks ass live.  A nice dude, as well.  It’s also cool that both he and Dave do guitar solos.  Eric House, smashes the drums, because quite frankly-he wants to.  The way he pummels you with the double bass and then the song picks up speed.  Quick little blast, before going into a more powerful blast and then right back into the groove.  Aj kills it with his powerful bass guitar playing and the added heaviness adds to the strongest rhythm section, the band has ever had.  And if you thought the band would let up on the gas pedal-then crawl back under that rock and never leave.  “Hating Life” [no-not a Grave cover song], is brutal, with blasts and some well done guitar soloing at the 1.49 section.  Dave also sings a little clearer in certain sections and also let’s us know he still has the brutality, with some well placed vicious growls and higher register growl/screams.  The mid-paced pounding brutality also will collapse chest cavities worldwide.  And while your chest is collapsing, and you’re choking to death and cities are falling into sinkholes, all around you, you will continue to say: “I Will Get Through This, I’m Hating Life”, over and over and over again until death comes to wisk you away.    Rest of the album- this good??  Hell yes.  How about “Devour the Chaos” with the evil guitar melodies and riffing and yes I caught some vintage pinch harmonics in there.  I started swinging once I heard ‘em.  The tune has a classic death thrash beat and mid paced rumbling heaviness which will pummel you and “Scars Within”-Oh Lordy, Lordy, Lordy.  Monster blasting, vocals, ethereal guitar soloing and some monster riffing at the 3.35 part.

The production is top-notch, all instruments sound great, nothing buried.  When a guitar solo needs to be lifted in the mix, it’s never obnoxious, and is in line with the rest of the production.  Every song drips: catchiness, class, brutality, melody and well-written and well-thought out songs.  No filler-only killer.  And christ almighty-good to see Peaceville throwing some coin at Morta Skuld.  The layout is one of the best I’ve seen.  Interesting and visually striking album cover, with an enormous booklet.  24-panel booklet with photos, pics, and killer graphics.  All housed in a great digipak.  Morta Skuld are the fuck back, either step the fuck away or come closer and join ’em.  Wounds Deeper Than Time is a godly album.  Buy or Die!

“Australis,” sets the tone for Ursa, slowly moving in with waves crashing along a shore at night, and calm clean guitar notes which are soon accompanied by Mr. Orlando’s graceful croons. This song does what most do on the album and continually builds on its atmosphere, adding more layers throughout its duration. The end result is a very dense sound coupled with tremendous songwriting that is sophisticated and elegant.  This pattern continues throughout the album and there isn’t a weak track to be had.  The ocean sounds also appear in numerous tracks as well.

https://vimeo.com/154294542

For me, Ursa is remarkably reminiscent of what I consider to be Novembre’s crowning achievements, Classica and Novembrine Waltz. ”The Rose” and “Easter” are prime examples of this and I read that “Umana” is an old song that was written a long time ago. The way this album reminds me of older material leads me to believe a lot of the songs on this album probably consist of ideas from the past. Ursa would have been a fitting follow up to Novembrine Waltz. Nevertheless, this album is an excellent balance of all that has ever been a part of the bands sound and it gracefully combines them.  The epic “Agathae,” closing in at almost ten minutes long,  is an instrumental tour de Novembre, covering a lot of musical bounds that the band have dabbled in over the years.  This band seethes Italy in their music.  It’s one of the bands defining traits in their progressive doom/death variety.  This album, much like former albums, is bathing in aural cultural influence.

“Annoluce,” featuring Anders Nystrom of Katatonia fame is the albums official single and though the harsher vocals are put aside on this track, Ursa is still loaded with Carmelo’s signature cathartic wail. The more extreme side of the vocal duties seem effortless to him but it’s a welcome part of the band that I hope they don’t abandon. The dynamic that is created between clean to harsh singing is so necessary that I feel that’s why I didn’t love Materia. Plus, let’s face it we all want to scream like Mr. Orlando at some point in our weekly routines.  I’d sure feel better.

Ursa is that good ladies and gentlemen. It’s going to last as one of the best records this year, if not one of the bands best ever, and the musical/metal world is a better place having them in existence.  Please don’t make us wait another decade for more.

In fairness, while Paradise Lost, one third of the seminal UK doom triumvirate received much deserved praise for The Plague Within,  and rightfully lauded for a ‘return’ to form, the fact is, since both 1999s The Light at End of the World and 2001s The Dreadful Hours, My Dying Bride, already returned to form with Aaron Stainthorpe growling again ( an apparent must have for ‘returning to form’ apparently). And other than Evinta, the subsequent 4 albums have delivered the band’s trademark sound, with a blend of the band’s late 90s gloomy goth and more feral doom/death of the band’s early days balanced perfectly.

So here is album 12, and based on opener  and first single “And My Father Left Forever”, you would think the return of original guitarist Calvin Robertshaw and the band’s pure gloomy, violin tinged whine welcomes a pure return to the likes of The Angel and the Dark River or Like Gods of the Sun.  So fans of that era will rejoice initially, but for grumpy old fucks like me, it’s not a good start at all (although I did warm up to those albums eventually). However, the immediate growls and dissonant lumber of second number “To Shiver in Empty Halls” quickly dispel any doubts the band has reverted, and the rest of the album follows suite with the sublime, typically morose sound the band has perfected. Did I really doubt them?

While the production seems a bit lighter and airy then previous efforts, the band’s overarching tone and hue is intact. Dreary, somber, but sensual numbers glossed with subtle violins, keys and straining emotive leads. Stainthorpe displays nice balance of his clean croons, which are still an acquired taste, (though used well on the dare I say, ‘catchy’, sing along  title track and the utterly rending “I Almost Loved You”). And while his bellows have lost some power, they are a welcome change of pace especially when used to good effect on the likes of “A Cold New Curse” or “I Celebrate Your Skin”, one of the better songs the band has penned in their recent discography, with maybe a subtle nod to the “Sear Me” series.

And speaking of the band’s better songs, the album ends with the 10 minute “Within a Sleeping Forest”, arguably one of the band’s most complete, balanced songs of their career. It’s flocked with somber church organs, has a patient, melancholic trundle and a stern finale rather than a sonorous fadeout.

Feel the Misery won’t have the ‘wow, growls again!’ factor of The Plague Within had , but the fact is, My Dying Bride have been painfully consistent if not underrated for a while now, and Feel the Misery is another fine release in an already seminal 25 year career. Oh, I felt the misery alright…..

A Umbra Omega starts off with a one-minute intro called, “The Love Divine”, which very much has a strange ambient/industrial vibe of 666 International or Supervillain Outcast but transitions into the second song, “The Aphelion Void”. “The Aphelion Void” starts off feeling very much along the lines of more traditional DHG ala Kronet til Konge with strong blast beat sections and anthemic Norwegian styled tremolo riffs. Vicotnik’s songwriting has never been stronger and it is very refreshing how guitar driven this album is even though there is a great deal of variety in instrumentation. It should also be noted that each song on this album is roughly ten to fifteen minutes long.

The 3^rd track, “God Protocol Axiom” starts off with extremely strong blasting and tremolo riffs that transition into what I can only think to call an “Avant Garde” circle pit part with dissonant guitar lines and Aldrahn’s operatic and all over the place vocal patterns. Some might not care for Evil Deadish vocal harmonizer parts that are all over this record. There is not nearly the industrial feel on this album as there has been on the last few DHG releases.

Track 4, entitled, “The Unlocking” finally features more traditional grim vocals.  Most of the vocal arrangements so far on this record have been quite bizarre.  “The Unlocking” has some almost Fantomas like chorus parts.Vicotnik’s guitar work on is quite technical as far as the arrangements go and it makes for a very entertaining listen.

There is also great use of freeform jazz all over this record with saxophone parts prevalent on many of the tracks on this record.  Most of the acoustic work on this album is off the charts droning. As Dodheimsgard’s band name translates to “Realm of Death” so do the sound-scapes present on this album.

Some might struggle with Aldrahn’s vocal effects but I find they add to the overall eclectic soundscape that A Umbra Omega presents. This is definitely an album of the year candidate in my book.  I greatly prefer this to the new Arcturus record which is another review in it of itself. This is definitely an album to make time for and get lost in.  A Umbra Omega is definitely a continuation of what has already been a diverse discography of more traditional straight forward black metal to black thrash to black industrial and now here we are in 2015 with this gem of Kult Norwegian Ambience.

Dodheimsgard have continued to push the limits with their song arrangements and experimentation into different styles of music and I think that is a great strength of this record.  It does not get boring.  It sounds like all elements that band have presented before and also offers many new ideas guitar phrase and vocal pattern wise.

I would definitely recommend this album for fans of bands like Virus, Ved Buens Ende, Keep of Kalessin to name a few.  There is definitely elements on this album that will please both the traditional and the avant garde metal fan and encourage you to take a listen and to go back and check out DHG’s back catalog as to me they are one of the most diverse bands in the genre.  A Umbra Omega is an album of the year candidate for absolutely sure.

However, now Iv’e absorbed the whole album in its entirety, my disappointment has abated. While Nick does sound a bit ragged and certainly less commanding than Akerfeldt or even Tagtgren, it still works. And it works because of A) the song writing is soooo fucking strong, you almost forget there are vocals, and B) the vocals are so low in the mix and raw that you barely notice them. And thusly the album is a successful album, fitting in perfectly with the Bloodbath supergroup legacy and possibly even being a stronger album than The Fathomless Mastery-  which I think received such a strong reception (myself included) as it was a 4 year wait AND saw the return of Åkerfeldt, but was the weakest Bloodbath album by far.

Armed with the expected mid range Sunlight dirty buzz and hum, the guitars are exactly what you’d expect from these guys. Huge, beefy, thick riffs and and a rumbling commanding rhythm section all come together perfectly- though i’d still give the nod to the other Paradise Lost guy, Gregor Macintosh and his side project Vallenfyre. But the strength of the album isn’t its robust mid range buzz saw tone- its the riffs.

And while certainly other bands have delivered this style admirably in 2014 (Unwilling Flesh, Brutally Deceased, Revel in Flesh) the collective innate experience and veteran song writing chops of these guys oozes through every crawling lope and blast, like its in their very pores. Sure there is no instant classic like “Eaten” or “Like Fire”, but each song is strong, even “Unite in Pain”, when taken as a whole. The likes of “Anne”, slow lurcher “Church of Vastistas”, romping “Mental Abortion”, “Beyond Creation” (arguably the album’s standout) and the sprawling closing title track, perfectly mix catchy and brutal mid range savagery in confident tight deliveries that simply show the band as the possible pinnacle of the style.  Even when putting the pedal fully to the metal like “Total Death Exhumed” or “My Torturer”, it never loses its sense of restraint or memorability, but the band is definitely more effective working with heftier crawls and grooves all imbuing the best parts  and classic sound of Entombed, Grave and Dismember into one as heard on “His Infernal Necropsy”.

I think Vallenfyre’s Splinters just nips this in my year end list, and I’d be lying If I said it wasn’t partly because of Nick Holmes’ dry performance which seems to sap just a little of the albums power. And lets not forget that the band debuted over a decade ago when Swedish death metal and death metal in general was in a lull (and had Dan Swano), and a lot of bands have done this style really well (and bands like Entrails, possibly better) since then, possibly further lessening Bloodbaths immediate impact. But that does not stop Grand Morbid Funeral from being great and certainly sure to litter many year end lists.

Three albums in after a 16 year layoff has produced three top notch albums including last years The Headless Ritual, which one could argue is one of the best releases of the band’s career and now barely a year later the equally as impressive  Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves.

Of the three comeback albums, I feel this one has closes ties to the band’s seminal 1989 debut, Severed Survival. While The Headless Ritual was more languid and featured more longer, oozing songs, reeking of Mental Funeral, this album has more, shorter, direct songs. Don’t get me wrong there is still plenty of the classic twisted, crawling filth the band is famous for, but there are no 7 , 8 or 11 minute monsters as with the prior two comeback releases.  But for the most part tracks like the immediate punky, crusty throttle and gurgle of opener “Savagery”, the title track,  “After the Cutting”, “Forever Hungry”, “Parasitic Eye”   and particularly “Teeth of the Shadow Horde” are more par for the course.

Fear not though the likes of ‘King of Flesh Ripped”, personal favorites “Deep Crimson Dreaming”, swampy twang of “The Howling Dead” and the superb bluesy crawl of “Burial” deliver the classic slimy, doomy crawl while future classic and favorite live track, the dare I say ‘anthemic’  “Autopsy” ends the album in self homage, mixing feral crust and icky mucus-y scrawl into a perfect, putrid gruel that few bands can match.

However on the flip side, the production appears to have been cleaned up and dried up a tad as the sound isn’t nearly as filthy as the last two albums. Now this isn’t Archspire or other clicky tech death production but it certainly lacks some of the moist, grisly, sinewy throb and twang or yore even if Chris Reifert keeps things slightly dirty with his ghoulish retching vocals. And thusly, Autopsy somehow manage to be both prolific and keep the quality top notch three albums into a comeback that matches the bands early classic offerings and puts the likes of Obliteration and Slaughterday back in tier place.

While 2011’s Macabre Eternal was a fine comeback album, The Headless Ritual sees Autopsy trim the fat and somehow improve on that lauded release. Part of Autopsy‘s success is that the core trio of Eric Butler, Danny Coralles and Chris Reifert, responsible for the band’s classic first two albums are all here for the reunion. It’s not Reifert cobbling together a comeback with a bunch or nobodies or other famous dudes from other bands. This is still the Autopsy lineup from Severed Survival and Mental Funeral 20 years later, and it that’s why it still sounds like it over 20 years later.

After those classic releases and subsequent albums, Reifert and co somehow open The Headless Ritual with two of the best tracks the band has ever penned within the albums first three cuts: Opener “Slaughter at Beast House” and third simply stunning, epic track “She is a Funeral”, the album’s two longest tracks (6 1/2 and 7 1/2 minutes respectively) manage to compress everything that made the band’s first two releases so timeless. Both tracks contains sinewy, sloppy punky death metal of Severed Survival mixed with crawling fetid doomy moments of Mental Funeral, and recall “Retribution for the Dead”. The tracks are so good, it actually makes listening to the rest of the album difficult, because even though every song is awesome, classic-tinged Autopsy, you keep coming back to these two. For example, poor “Mangled From Below”, sitting squarely between those two monsters, is liable to get skipped, despite a classic, throbbing, old school Autopsy romp.

Reifert is in top form throughout, hacking and gurgling through typically Autopsy inspired lyrics like the surprisingly melodic segue “Thorns and Ashes” and “When Hammer Meets Bone”, but it amazes me that every song from the aforementioned true new classics to the likes of “Coffin Crawlers” and “Running from the Goathead” can be so damn good and relevant when played with such an archaic and familiar stench. “Arch Cadaver” initially reeks of “Torn from the Womb” with a sickly doom ooze before shifting into a twisted high energy expulsion. “Flesh Turns to Dust” delivers an unmistakably Autopsy-ish twisted shamble. Every track sounds and reeks of Autopsy, even with a shinier more visceral production.

After the instrumental title track oozes out of view, it’s hard not to appreciate how Autopsy have easily been one of the most successful reunions that somehow kept their pungent original sound many years later, and still have it sound so fresh.

Sentimental hogwash aside, this is the Bride back to doing what they do best, something they mostly failed to do on their previous outing (save for “The Poorest Waltz”). Despite having been largely written and recorded at the same time as A Map…, both the production and songwriting on The Manuscript are much stronger, making these songs some of their most powerful since The Dreadful Hours.

The title track gets right down to business (no filler intros here) with regally mournful guitar and violin melodies that immediately recall their genre-defining mid-90’s output. Aaron’s clean vocals have always been a sticking point for some, but they sound better than ever here, especially during the moments of more pronounced harmonization. The lone acoustic guitars that close the song are splendidly haunting, much like the final moments of Benediction’s “Dark is the Season” (one of the greatest death metal songs ever written, by the way) — not a bad song to emulate, if that was their intent. Even though “Vår Gud Över Er” is the one track not recorded during the A Map… sessions, its production is identical to the rest of this EP, but it is a slight deviation style-wise as it harkens back to the death/doom of their classic Turn Loose the Swans album. Heavy, majestic riffs coupled with Aaron’s signature growls brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. Unfortunately, the gutturals are confined to this song, but the rest have their own redeeming qualities. “A Pale Shroud of Longing” makes use of the chunky, meaty riffs from Like Gods of the Sun while perfectly-titled closer, “Only Tears to Replace Her With,” cuts deep and leaves you bleeding with some of the most fragile, moving songwriting and lyrics the band has ever penned.

Just when I thought they might be more dead than dying, My Dying Bride have delivered one of the biggest surprises of the year (next to Tate-less Queensryche’s return to relevance) and reclaimed the gothic doom crown (of sympathy). It’s nice to see you back in prime form, old friend.