Melbourne’s Taramis are often spoken of as one of the first Australian groups to experiment with progressive & technical metal elements & I don’t have any reason to dispute that, although I’m not sure they were doing it quite as early as people sometimes make out to be the case. They started life in 1983 under the Prowler moniker, playing mainly covers & eventually releasing a demo tape called “Blood & Honour” in 1985 which I checked out for the first time only a couple of years ago, finding it to showcase a fairly traditional heavy metal sound that wasn’t exactly the “Progressive Heavy/Power/Thrash Metal” that Metal Archives would have you believe. The “Blood & Honour” cassette wasn’t too bad though & I ended up quite enjoying it as the talent the band members possessed was already evident even at that early stage in their evolution. The name change to Taramis was inspired by a character from Robert E. Howard’s "Conan the Barbarian" stories & would align with Prowler’s shift of focus towards original material in 1985. It also saw the group starting to attempt more complex, technical & progressive song structures with front man Shane "Joel" Southby’s soaring higher register vocals seeing them morphing into more of a power metal act in my opinion. Taramis’ first live show would take place on New Year’s Eve of that year & they’d quickly become a staple of Melbourne’s metal scene, largely off the back of their strong relationship with the notorious Metal For Melbourne festivals.

Taramis would release their debut album “Queen of Thieves” through the Metal For Melbourne label in 1987 & is another release that I only got around to checking out in more recent years. It’s here that you’ll see the band becoming more ambitious with their compositions & heading in more of a progressive power metal direction with the lyrical content trending towards more epic, fantasy-based themes. I quite like “Queen of Thieves” which would go on to be internationally licensed by legendary American metal label Metal Blade Records & made Taramis arguably the first Aussie metal band to secure international distribution. They’d record an untitled demo tape in 1988 which I enjoy too. In fact, I’m gonna suggest that it’s probably my favourite Taramis release these days but things went a little quiet for a few years after that release.

Now that we’ve got the historical stuff out of the way, we’re brought up to the time when I first became aware of Taramis as a 15 or 16 year old Sydneysider in the early 1990’s. My first exposure to the Victorians came through the opening track “Dreaming” from their (at the time) brand-new sophomore album “Stretch of the Imagination” which I heard played on a late-night underground metal radio program & recorded to cassette for further investigation over the week that followed. “Dreaming” would receive regular replays over the next month or so & led to me picking up a dubbed copy of “Stretch of the Imagination” shortly afterwards. I gave the album a few listens & quite liked what I heard for the most part but I’d soon place my cassette towards the back of my collection in search of increasingly more extreme music, only returning to it on Spotify this week in order to develop a firm opinion on a release that owns a fairly significant position in the early Australian metal landscape.

Taramis had undergone some significant lineup changes between their two full-length albums. Original guitarist Craig Robertson & bassist Danny Komorr had departed & been replaced by former (& future) Nothing Sacred axeman George Larin & talented bassist Evan Harris who would later go on to join well-known Melbourne power metal act Black Majesty in the mid 2010’s. These acquisitions saw Taramis’ ever-growing technical aspirations taking on a much more pronounced form with Larin also bringing with him a noticeably more aggressive & thrashier edge to the riffs & making “Stretch of the Imagination” comfortably Taramis’ most intense & complex work. Producer Doug Sanders (who had previously worked with the likes of Tyrus, Hobbs Angel of Death, Light Force, Persecution & Mass Confusion) does a reasonable job at bringing it all together too, although the guitars due sound a bit thin & tinny & the drums are very clicky indeed so it sounds very much of its time. Harris' contribution stands out as being particularly accomplished & those that enjoy a more pronounced bass guitar component in their metal will no doubt get some kicks out of his almost virtuosic performance here.

The sound of “Stretch of the Imagination” sits somewhere between progressive metal & technical thrash metal with the former being the more pronounced of the two. Both approaches are highly enjoyable & well executed from an instrumental perspective but, as with “Queen of Thieves”, it’s frontman Southby’s vocal performance that comes under the most scrutiny & will ultimately determine whether this record is for you or not. You see, while Southby’s highly theatrical & (at times) wincingly high-pitched delivery sometimes manages to hit the mark in terms of creating epic power metal atmospheres, just as often we see him failing to fully hit his notes & contorting my face into something akin to a cringe. The instrumentation is unanimously expansive & classy though which manages to save Taramis’ second full-length from being a creative failure. To highlight the flaws in more detail, the tracklisting on “Stretch of the Imagination” is noticeably inconsistent. The stronger material (see opener & album highlight “Dreaming”, the full-throttle thrash metal of “Behind These Eyes” & short closer “Delayed Reaction”) is very solid indeed & generally coincides with Southby’s more successful efforts. Similarly, half of the songs fail to capture me in the same way as I simply can’t accept Southby’s patchy attempt at Messiah Marcolin meets Bruce Dickinson air-raid operatics on songs like “Maze of Glory”, “Another Tomorrow”, power ballad “Lonely Star” or the particularly dreary “Diceman”. Thankfully, the better material is just strong enough to overcome the less impressive inclusions, leaving me with a generally positive feeling coming out of the album. The inclusion of a classy progressive metal instrumental (i.e. the fairly decent "Jigaboo Boogie") certainly helps though as it gives the listener some welcome respite from Southby’s vocal assault.

Qualms aside, I’ve quite enjoyed this revisit. I’m not sure I can prescribe to the general consensus that “Stretch of the Imagination” is Taramis’ finest work any more though. I think I simply find Southby’s delivery to be a better fit for the progressive power metal sound of “Queen of Thieves” & the 1988 demo these days so I favour those ever so slightly over this one, despite the fact that the more technical & thrashy sound would usually be something that should appeal to me more on paper. I don’t think I feel strongly enough about any of Taramis’ releases to see me returning to them in the future though if I’m being completely honest.

For fans of Sieges Even, Realm & Watchtower.

1995 saw the release of Saint Vitus' seventh full-length album, "Die Healing" and marked the return of original vocalist Scott Reagers to the fold. It followed what is widely considered the band's weakest album, 1992's "C.O.D." which, following the departure of Wino, had featured Count Raven's Chritus on vocals. Now, as much as I love Wino's grizzled vocals, I think Reager's more eccentric style actually better captures the soul of Saint Vitus, so his return was well-timed and he is on fine form here. "Die Healing" was intended to be the band's swansong (although that notion has consequently been proven premature) and it seemed apt for them to end as they began with Reagers behind the mic.

Kicking off with one of the band's best tracks, "Dark World", Die Healing immediately exorcises the ghost of "C.O.D.'s" mediocrity and points towards a band intent on going out in style. Dave Chandler has an ear for simple but effective doom metal riffs and he sounds unlike anyone else with an instantly recognisable and unmistakeable guitar tone that many have tried and failed to adequately reproduce. There is a certain rawness to the best Saint Vitus material, derived from their early days touring with hardcore punk bands, that makes them sound like the sort of band who have just rolled up in a rattling old Transit van, unloaded their own battered gear, plugged it in and just started playing. Now while I am certain that is far from the truth, it doesn't alter the fact that when they are at their best that is exactly how they sound and personally I love that about them.

The tempo here is generally pretty slow, although they sometimes switch it up a little to provide contrast. "Let the End Begin", for example, is one of the album's most sluggish tracks, but contains an uptempo mid-section where Chandler lets rip with a much more energetic riff and guitar solo before reverting back to the creeping grind of the opening section. In fact the guitar solos are generally pretty shred-like with DC going fret-crazy and teetering on the edge of feedback, almost Hendrix-like at times, as on "Trail of Pestilence" for example. The band are also unafraid to lampoon themselves and the wider doom ethos a little bit, with "The Sloth" telling an apocalyptic tale of a marauding Kaiju-like sloth creature slowly laying waste to all around it like a slow-motion Godzilla.

Saint Vitus are unquestionably my favourite of the very early doom metal bands and whilst Trouble, Pentagram et al have their moments for sure, I think SV are the most consistent, C.O.D. aside. Whether it is Reagers or Wino on vocals they just encapsulate that filthy, grizzled aesthetic that so typifies the earliest trad doom scene and which lends them an air of authenticity that feels like they could turn up to play at your local pub on any given night. Great band, great album check it out if you haven't already.

The Ghost of Tomas Lindberg

It is with trepidation that I finally get around to reviewing what may very well be the final At the Gates album. One of the fundamental bands that I discovered during the mid/late 2000s for introducing me to heavier/extreme sounds in metal music. I want At the Gates to send us off on a stellar finale, but because of circumstances that span well outside the range of this forty-two minute album, this swan song turns out to be less impactful than expected.

Now I try going into these types of reviews with a preset that a record released posthumously should not affect its score. Sometimes the emotion is justified (i.e. Trees of Eternity's Hour of the Nightingale) while others leave me feeling more empty. The Ghost of a Future Dead meets me somewhere halfway between the two. On one hand, At the Gates are quite influential on my life as mentioned previously, but on the other, this record is brought down the same reason as Avenged Sevenfold's Life is But a Dream from a few years back. In both cases, the lead singer had been dealt a terrible hand and it drastically affected their voice. Tomas Lindberg's cancer diagnosis as well as the treatment must have left his vocal cords destroyed and you can hear that with how shrill the vocal delivery is here. Jens Bogren has done all of the amplification and modification possible to make the vocals sound adequate, but even that falls short most of the time. It's an album that doesn't compliment its shortcomings very well.

Which is a bit of a shame because beneath the vocals is a very solid melo-death album. The instrumentals are very good and deliver some top quality riffage and melody. Early tracks and promotional singles lead the way with "The Fever Mask" and "The Dissonant Void" being early album standouts. "Tomb of Heaven" hits hard and reminds me a lot of Slaughter of the Soul in its presentation/execution. But it's after that song that the album just kind of flattens out. The second half of the album drags on and has no standout features that haven't been done already, and better, in the first half of the record. After the penultimate track brings everything back down and prepares the listener for the finale, "Black Hole Emission" continues in the exact same style as what was brought before. It is a lackluster way to end an album that was already losing steam about five songs previous.

And so, after more than three decade career (which included a lengthy hiatus), At the Gates seemingly comes to its end. And in a weird way, The Ghost of a Future Dead follows in the career of At the Gates in its presentation. The first few tracks are heavy and driving (The Red in the Sky is Ours), which is followed by about two or three songs that grow even more aggression (Slaughter of the Soul) before resting on their comfort zone during the albums second half (At War with Reality, To Drink From the Night Itself). This is not the way I expected these giants of the Gothenburg death metal to go into that good night.

Best Songs: A Ritual of Waste, Of Interstellar Death, Det Oerhörda

For Fans Of: Dark Tranquility, In Flames, Arch Enemy

This highly regarded Ukrainian duo first crossed my path back in 2009 through their excellent 2004 sophomore album "Autumn Aurora" which triggered me to explore the rest of Drudkh's back catalogue (well, at least the metal releases from it) over the next couple of months. Their 2003 debut album "Forgotten Legends" would be positioned quite early in that journey & didn't disappoint either, gradually becoming my drug of choice when it came to Drudkh. "Forgotten Legends" is a surprisingly accomplished atmospheric black metal effort for a first-up release & very quickly shows the duo of vocalist Thurios (Rattenfänger/Astrofaes/Blood of Kingu/Hate Forest/Old Silver Key) & guitarist/bassist Roman Saenko (Hate Forest/Precambrian/Rattenfänger/Windswept/Blood of Kingu/Dark Ages/Necrom/Old Silver Key) to possess a very strong understanding of the elements that make the subgenre engaging. Session drummer Yury Sinitsky (Lutomysl/Blood of Kingu) keeps things very simple in a similar way to that of Varg Vikernes on the classic Burzum records which allows Saenko's trance-inducing & repetitive riffs to slowly envelope the listener. I wouldn't say that these riffs are taken from the top shelf of the black metal spectrum but they are unanimously enjoyable nonetheless, keeping the tempo around mid-pace throughout & never being tempted into frenetic blast-beat territory. It's only when those riffs are combined with Thurios' blackened shrieks that we see the atmosphere reaching its full potential though & I'm subsequently gonna suggest that it's Thurios' contribution that is the most important component of the early Drudkh sound. His keyboard work is surprisingly scarce which leaves "Forgotten Legends" sounding quite traditional. The listener will no doubt pickup on the nature themes even if they can't interpret the lyrics because this record simply "feels" earthy, without ever fully crosses the line into the pagan black metal territory.

The tracklisting on "Forgotten Legends" is extremely consistent with the three lengthy metal tracks & the rain-soaked atmospheric outro piece all being very strong but never tempting me to claim any of them as genuine classics. All three of the proper songs have their moments & harness a pretty dirty guitar tone that always maintains a bit of bass to good effect. If pushed, I'd probably suggest that the sixteen-minute opener "False Dawn" is my pick of them as it slowly draws you in & maintains your interest for the full duration of the piece. It was a bold move to open their first full-length with such an epic undertaking but it has paid off in my opinion. One probably needs to remember that both of Drudkh's band members had paid their dues by this point though given that they'd both been a part of Hate Forest for seven years when they recorded "Forgotten Legends".

As with Drudkh's other popular releases, I've really enjoyed this revisit & feel that "Forgotten Legends" is a solid black metal record that will satisfy most punters who maintain a penchant for the more restrained, measured & atmospheric side of black metal. While 2006's "Blood in Our Wells" is often referred to as Drudkh's pièce de résistance these days (along with the previously mentioned "Autumn Aurora"), I tend to favour this record just slightly over both of Drudkh's other early masterpieces. I really enjoy its epic feel as the two musicians show a clear enjoyment & an undeniable talent for their chosen craft.

For fans of Burzum, Hate Forest & Walknut.

I first became acquainted with Sweden's Unanimated through their debut album "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" which I picked up through one of my Neuropath band mates shortly after it was released in 1993. While Unanimated's initial effort didn't exactly fit inside my traditional extreme metal comfort zone, I nonetheless found myself quite enjoying its unique blend of melodic death & black metal sounds & gave it a few repeat spins at the time. In fact, I still regard "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" as one of my top ten melodeath releases to this day which is really saying something. By 1995, I was more heavily involved in the tape trading scene than ever before so, when I heard news of a brand-new Unanimated record, I immediately went about picking it up through one of my European contacts, looking for more of the same from the Swedes yet also hoping that they might push things up to a new level. Many death metal fans will tell you that they did too. Me? I'm not so sure.

"Ancient God of Evil" is a very polished release for the time with the crystal-clear Dan Swanö production job giving Unanimated the best possible chance at succeeding in their quest for extreme metal stardom. It's also a touch more melodic than its predecessor with the black metal component being a little stronger & taking the form of some pretty cool keyboard-backed atmospheric sections. It's worth noting that these guys were amongst the first to attempt the more melodic black metal sound & were quite influential on that subgenre so they were old hands at it by this point in their careers. Raspy vocalist Micke Jansson (Damnation) does an excellent job as the band's main focal point while the all-star rhythm section of bassist Rickard Daemon (Dismember/Murder Squad/Carbonized/Damnation/General Surgery) & drummer Peter Stjärnvind (Merciless/Murder Squad/Black Trip/Damnation/Entombed/Krux/Nifelheim/Pest/Regurgitate) hold down the back end with aplomb, leaving plenty of room for their band mates to build their instrumental hooks. While guitarists Jonas Mellberg (Therion) & Johan Bohlin (Desultory) may present a plethora of memorable melodic ideas between them though, they aren't exactly virtuosos & struggle to achieve anything above a very basic guitar solo so I think they often would have been better off going without & focusing purely on the riffs.

The song-writing on "Ancient God of Evil" is very consistent in that there are no weak tracks included, mainly because Unanimated were a class act so, even during the songs that sit furthest from my comfort zone, I generally maintain some level of admiration for the scope & execution. Despite the undeniable class & consistency though, "Ancient God of Evil" isn't exactly chock full of highlights. Like most melodeath, I find popular, hook-laden songs like opener "Life Demise", "Oceans of Time" & "Dying Emotions Domain" to be more agreeable than they are exciting. It's the short instrumental "Mireille" & catchy closer "Die Alone" that hit me the hardest & show the full potential in the mid-90's Unanimated sound. There's no doubt that Unanimated knew what they were doing. I'm just not quite sure this sound & style is something that I can get completely onboard with though so I'd probably position "Ancient God of Evil" slightly behind its older sibling "In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead" in terms of my overall enjoyment of the package. It's still one of the better examples of blackened melodeath that you're gonna find though so I've managed to find some space for it at the bottom of my top ten melodeath releases as well.

For fans of Dissection, Necrophobic & Thulcandra.