Sonny's Forum Replies

Imperium Dekadenz - Into Sorrow Evermore (2023)

Released 20th January on Napalm Records

At one point I found myself over-saturated with black metal and consequently for the last year or so I have paid it very little attention, other than for a few releases from acts I was already familiar with. So to a new year and I feel ready to put black metal back on the menu and as fate would have it, the first release to cross my path was the new album from German atmospheric black metal duo, Imperium Dekadenz. My only previous contact with the band was via 2007's Dämmerung der Szenarien album which I found to be a solid, if not especially earth-shattering, effort, so it has been a while since I paid the band heed.

Well, even after a solitary playthrough, Into Sorrow Evermore had a firm hold on my attention as it was immediately apparent that this was a cut above your run-of-the-mill atmospheric black metal release and was one that demanded further scrutiny. Most of the tracks here tread a line between atmospheric and uptempo melodic black metal, erring more on one side or the other depending on the track and are atmospherically epic and expansive. There is plenty of variety, though, with a couple of tracks that have a slower tempo and a greater emphasis on post-metal-derived melancholy, almost channelling a doom metal sensibility, in the vein of the stuff someone like Deha produces on a regular basis. The riffs are great with a fairly meaty sound for black metal, with each being sufficiently melodic and memorable that they live long in the memory, a trick too many atmo-black bands are unable to replicate. Vocalist Horaz has a great line in washed-out shrieking that fits the blasting and riffing perfectly and it is always great to hear real drums on an atmo-black album, they just give it a natural authenticity that programmed drums are unable to reproduce convincingly.

Thematically the album is on solid ground, the lyrics comprising a philosophical contemplation of the implacable majesty of the natural world and Man's place within it, a subject any atmospheric black metal fan will be extremely familiar with. There is no compulsion on the part of the duo to push boundaries and you won't be overwhelmed with layers of dissonance or overly complex rhythms and song structures, but Into Sorrow Evermore bears the hallmarks of a band who have been honing their craft and songwriting skills within their own field of expertise and if you are a fan of classy, natural-themed atmo-black in the nature of Wolves in the Throne Room you will find much here to revel in. For me, Imperial Dekadenz have definitely given me a big push to climb back aboard the black metal express and for that I am extremely grateful.

4.5/5

I'm with you here Vinny, I find The 3rd and Mortal to be a bit of a drag to be honest.

Thy Darkened Shade - Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya (2023)

Released 10/01/23 on World Terror Committee Productions

It has been over eight years since the unholy Hellenic duo, Thy Darkened Shade, released the first part of their "Satanic Book", Khem Sedjet, but finally they are back with the second volume, entitled Mahapralaya. This latest instalment is an interesting combination of the accessible and the dissonant that has a distinctive Greek flavour and a progressiveness that gives the whole a narrative feel, as if the band are regaling us with an epic tale of satanic adventure. The songwriting is key to this feeling of progression through a narrative as it's complex and interesting structure leads us organically from one chapter of infernal doings to another.

Whilst there is a degree of technical dissonance employed throughout, the band are unafraid to resort to melodic passages and riffs, reminiscent of the recent, more accessible side of Deathspell Omega and symphonic flourishes to add a sweeping epic quality to the album. Personally, I find this more palatable than out and out dissonant black as I often find myself overwhelmed by that form of black metal and I find it difficult to fully absorb what is going on, but here I think TDS have struck a superb balance between the melodic and the dissonant which makes the experience much less alienating, although whether that is a good or bad thing depends on how unforgiving you like your black metal to sound.

Technically, the band sound excellent and with crystal clear riffs this is no raw as fuck demo-quality blaster. Drums are provided by guest musician, Hannes Grossmann, who is the current drummer with Triptykon and who provides a precision and skill that only enhaces the already impressive musical endeavours of multi-indtrumentalist Semjaza. Vocally there is plenty going on, from all-out black metal barks to almost spoken-word snarls and and on to choral flourishes that further expand the sound into more epic territory without ever sounding overdone or cheesy.

Overall, I found this to be a compelling listen with just the right level (for me) of dissonance to keep it from feeling too "cosy" without it tipping over into wilful angularity and there are sufficient hooks to allow it to remain in the memory after the disc has stopped spinning. The progressive songwriting leaves no possibility of boredom setting in as repetition is not an issue with Mahapralaya, yet it remains well-structured and coherent. I haven't been paying much attention to newer black metal over recent months, but with Thy Darkened Shade's latest my attention has been firmly attracted.

4/5

The RYM tags for this are Power Metal, Symphonic Metal and Neoclassical Metal which, when chanted together, sounds like a shamanic curse against me personally, so Fellowship and me are off to a bad start. I have my boiling vats of bile and venom ready to pour onto the efforts of these upstart southerners, so let's get to it. Well, er... actually I didn't really mind it that much. It isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I have certainly heard plenty of other power metal that has offended my ears far more than this. It's faintly ridiculous, but I really can't bring myself to hate it (and I fully expected to). It is overblown, but more in a Queen-like way than a Dragonforce one, which makes it less irritating as it doesn't seem as earnest and po-faced, which is instant death for a genre as ridiculous as power metal can be. Another reason for my lack of vitriol aimed it's way is the vocals - the guy just doesn't piss me off with OTT vocal histrionics and is far more bearable than the vast majority of European PM singers I have heard. Don't get me wrong - I will, in all likelihood, never, ever play this album again, but it was kind of... OK. [shrug] so shoot me!

3/5

I definitely want to check out the Hate Forest album, although it isn't on Spotify dammit. I must confess to having hit saturation point with black metal this year and so I haven't listened to very many new releases at all. I seem to be in a minority of one with being a massive fan of DsO's The Long Defeat, the only other couple of releases I have heard that I would recommend are Wiegedood's There's Always Blood at the End of the Road and Archgoat's All Christianity Ends EP. I think I also probably enjoyed the BaN release more than most too, mainly due to my love of psych metal.

On the downside, the latest Saor was my disappointment of the year and I'm not digging that Autonoesis as much as everyone else seems to be. I found the Celeste to be boring and Scarcity's Aveilut was just horrible. So not a standout year for black metal for me personally I'm afraid - I'll try harder this year!!

Hi Ben. Could you please add Finnish doomsters Mansion's latest album, Second Death.

It seems like this is the album that has grabbed everyone's attention as far as thrash metal goes in 2022 and I know little about it or it's creator, so check it out I must. The opening track sounds so much like Planet Caravan that I'm surprised Sabbath's lawyers haven't slapped an injunction on it, so it is hardly off to a genre-defying start. The title track follows and this is much more like what I would have expected and really hits the spot, until... what the fuck is smooth jazz elevator music doing here in the middle of an ass-kicking black metal track? Oh, but things get worse my friend as that snoozy interlude is followed by a migraine-inducing neo-classical guitar solo that is less than welcome in my earphones and I'm left scratching my head as to what is going on here and whether I even have the right album on! So I checked and yes, Spotify confirms that this is the record everyone is so stoked by. I'd better stick with it then I think with a sigh, but this could be a long hour. Luckily, the title track is the most egregious, although not only, example of Autonoesis wanting to be everything all at once so the low point has been passed and it should be plain sailing from here on.

Indeed, Raise the Dead is much more up my street with it's uncomplicated blackened thrash appealing far more to my palate. There is a short exuberant solo towards the end of the track, but it falls far short of the neo-classical excesses of that exhibited during the title track. Generally speaking I did enjoy the rest of the album, when it blasts and thrashes is when it appeals to me most, although the viking-ish instrumental Valhöll did manage to capture my imagination somewhat too. The washed out shrieking vocals were pretty decent and certainly sounded effective enough. I just get the feeling that there was too much of a concerted attempt to cram as many influences into the tracks as possible, which often sounded contrived and distracted from what should have been a fucking good blast.

As I have indicated often enough before, I don't like getting into discussions over genre minutiae, but I think if, for example, Moon of Foul Magics was to become The Pit release of the year then it would sit uncomfortably with me as I think it is much more of a black metal than a thrash record, although there are undeniably thrash elements present. Overall it is an interesting enough release, not always for the right reasons and when it is good it is very good, but there is just too much inconsistency of vision which ultimately I found frustrating.

3.5/5

What you're describing there is very much the post-rock component of the atmospheric sludge metal sound Sonny. That characteristic without much in the way of genuine sludge metal is generally regarded as post-metal.

Ah, right you are! Like I've said before, I'm not much of a theorist so you will have to excuse me if I miss the obvious.

Thanks for mentioning the Satan album, Xephyr, as I missed it first time around. I didn't think it was still possible to produce a pure heavy metal album this good. It manages to harken back to the band's NWOBHM roots whilst still sounding fresh and relevant. I have this pegged at a 4.5 currently, but I absolutely love each and every track and I don't hear anything I don't like, so it may make it to a perfect 5.0 yet! This would definitely be my nom for The Guardians' crown.

The Otolith - Folium Limina

Released 21/10/22 on Blues Funeral

Initial thoughts after three or four playthroughs, although I suspect this is an album that will reveal itself more fully as I become more familiar with it:

SubRosa were one of my favourite 21st century bands, their three albums released in the 2010s being among the very best doom metal from that decade, More Constant Than the Gods in particular lodging itself very near the summit of my 2010s metal list. So it was with great disappointment that I learned of their disbanding in 2019 and the apparent loss of a singular-sounding metal band. However, three years later, in this winter of 2022, the bulk of Subrosa's members return with a new album under the name The Otolith, to much rejoicing from yours truly. Thankfully Folium Limina retains all the ingredients that made SubRosa such a compelling listen, be it Levi Hanna's thick, crunchy doom metal riffs, Sarah Pendleton's seductive vocals or the atmospheric and unsettling violin work of Sarah and Kim Pack overlaying proceedings. As with the classic albums, the tracks all clock in at around the ten-minute mark, so give themselves plenty of time to develop without becoming self-indulgent and overstaying their welcome.

Where Otolith differ from Subrosa is that they lean more heavily on post-metal / atmospheric sludge metal songwriting and it's reliance on building atmosphere, rather than a straight-up doom metal approach. They also feature harsh male death doom vocals as provided by bassist/vocalist Matt Brotherton who is also bassist and vocalist for atmospheric sludge crew Huldra, and I am guessing his presence in the band may be the influence for a more post-metal style of songwriting. It also feels like the classical strings take a more prominent role during Folium Limina's run time, often being pushed right up front rather than acting as a provider of atmospheric layering as was it's main purpose in SubRosa. These differences are not at all jarring however, and The Otolith are very much a continuance of the sterling work begun by SubRosa and I would be very surprised if any fans of the latter didn't enjoy Folium Limina as it still contains those idiosyncrasies that made SR such a compelling and singular doom metal act. Personally, I don't think it is quite up there with the very best of SubRosa, especially More Constant Than the Gods (not much is though), but it is certainly a strong follow-up to SR's final album, For This We Fought the Battle of Ages and is a very welcome continuation of the SubRosa legacy.

4.5/5

Your review sparked my interest Sonny so I checked out "Folium Limina" over the last few days & really enjoyed it. It's probably not something that I'd generally regard as falling into my musical comfort zone but it simply sounds so fresh & is so well executed that it easily won me over in the end. I find it interesting that it's being tagged as a combination of doom metal & atmospheric sludge metal because there's very little sludge metal here other than some sparingly used hardcore vocal yelps. To my ears this is more of a hybrid of gothic metal, doom metal & post metal. The doom riffs are there is droves. The post-metal tag is warranted given the use of stripped back atmospherics & alternative instrumentation while I find it strange that no one has put two & two together as far as the gothic component goes as there's a clear ethereal wave influence to both the female vocals & the instrumentation. Regardless, the six lengthy pieces are all of a high quality, even if they do test your patience a bit. I'd imagine that Ben will probably enjoy this one.

4/5

Where I quoted atmospheric sludge metal was more with respect to the songwriting rather than suggesting that it contained any sludge metal. Rightly or wrongly, I always associate atmo-sludge with songs that have a lengthy build to a climax, which is what I was getting at here.

Ben, do you have any suggestions for February?

Here's my selections for Febtruary, Vinny. Hope I'm not too late.

Acid - "Lucifera" from "Maniac" (1983)
Blessed Death - "You Are Nothing" from "Hour of Pain" (2006)
Critical Defiance - "Misconception" from "Misconception" (2019)
Razor - "Legacy of Doom" from "Evil Invaders" (1985)
Slayer - "Hallowed Point" from "Seasons in the Abyss" (1990)

Another new release Ben. Could you add Ahab's The Coral Tombs please.

The Howling Void - Into Darkness Ever More Profound (2023)

The Howling Void is a funeral doom metal solo project and is the brainchild of Ryan Wilson, who is a member of many other projects, including the underrated funeral doom duo, Excantation, veteran grindcore band Intestinal Disgorge and black metallers Endless Disease, to name just a few. I have been somewhat of a fan since 2013's Nightfall album but whilst the four albums prior to this are solid slabs of mournfulness, I have never exactly considered The Howling Void to be an upper echelon funeral doom outfit. This isn't about to change any of that, but it is possibly my favourite release of his to date, although I have still to check out his more highly rated first three albums.

The four tracks crawl along at a snail's pace, but don't possess the crushing heaviness of an Esoteric, rather their mournfulness is expressed in a more wistful and reflective way than the often desperate-sounding and world-shaking grief of the genre's premier exponents. This is not a criticism, per se, there is definitely room in the funeral doom world for lighter and less crushing version and it gives a different perspective on the style that may appeal to those put off by the unremitting weight that they may otherwise be confronted with. I have said it before and it bears saying again, I feel there is a correlation between this lighter form of funeral doom and atmospheric black metal where both use very different means to achieve a similar airiness of atmosphere. Third track, Deeper, Darker Waters, even employs a tremolo picking technique reminiscent of atmo-black at various points, whilst retaining the plodding funereal drumbeats.

There is liberal use of keyboards, yet thankfully without overdoing it and straying into symphonic metal territory and theguitar work possesses a reasonably melodic quality. The vocals are servicable, although I prefer them a bit deeper and gruffer myself, but they feel a little buried in the mix at times and I find I really have to concentrate for them to register sufficiently. So, essentially a good album with some nice atmospheric touches that doesn't, for me, quite deliver the soul-crushing weight I love from my funeral doom, but is still nonetheless a reasonably satisfying listen and represents a different side of the genre that certainly has it's place.

4/5

Could you add Thy Darkened Shade new album (released two days ago), Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya, please Ben.

Hi Ben, a belated happy new year and could you please add The Howling Void's brand new album, Into Darkness Ever More Profound.

Any one of these would be a worthy winner Ben.

Darkthrone - Astral Fortress (2022)

If I was backed into a corner and was forced to choose my favourite metal band, then I would probably choose Darkthrone. Not just because of their classic black metal albums (although that is reason enough), but also because of their obvious passion for and love of metal that I too share, their absolute refusal to compromise in their musical endeavours and their lack of concern as to how they or their music are perceived by the outside world. Let's face it, how many metal bands would dare even think of putting out an album with a cover that is merely a photograph of the drummer ice skating?

So, anyway, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto return with their 20th studio album and continue with their crusty, blackened take on doom and heavy metal that came to the fore on previous release, Eternal Hails. This one is a take on late-80's, early-90's underground trad doom fed through a blackened crust filter, but updated with better production and, in truth, it differs very little from it's predecessor to the extent that they could both have been released together as a double album and no one would have batted an eyelid. I know most metalheads now want to shit on Fenris and Nocturno for not endlessly recycling A Blaze In the Northern Sky, but this is what they do now. Is it as good as their 90's stuff? Well obviously not, but I quite enjoy this tiny niche that the duo have carved out for themselves and their more recent material is kind of quaint in it's lack of pretension and total disregard for trends or adherence to the zeitgeist. For those who know of it, Fenris and Nocturno Culto kind of remind me of Lance and Andy from the BBC show Detectorists with their dogged refusal to be affected by the world at large and their almost idealistic existence in their own little corner of the globe.

Where I feel Darkthrone succeed most, is in their ability to gradually reshape their music in directions that interest them whilst still embracing a unifying "sound", as in the blackened crust that still forms the backbone of what they are about, whatever other genre thay may be focussing on otherwise. This continuity gives us diehard fans a way into whatever it is they are doing and with it comes a kind of surety as to what you are going to get. Darkthrone seem uninterested in suddenly changing direction for the sake of it and are unlikely to throw out too many jarring curveballs to their audience. Of course, this is much to the chagrin of a lot of the online metal community, whose almost ADHD-like desire for continuous change and intellectual challenge (from albums the majority will only listen to once or twice) makes a band like Darkthrone anathema to them and attracts huge amounts of criticism as the keyboard warriors vent their spleen against the duo. But of course by then, Fenriz is off skating up some frozen fjord and couldn't give two fucks what some music know-all from gods-know-where has to say about it!

Astral Fortress start out very strongly with Caravan of Broken Ghosts which has a great crusty trad doom main riff that gets even better when the duo put their pedal to the metal on the speeded up section that used to be one of the staples of trad doom, the track as a whole coming off as a necroticised version of Pentagram or early Saint Vitus. I think Nocturno and Fenriz take their feet off the gas a little on the next couple of tracks, Impeccable Caverns of Satan and Stalagmite Necklace. They are decent enough and I really like the main black 'n' roll riff of the former, but they lack dynamism and start to drag the album down a bit, sounding as they do like outtakes from Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales that didn't make the cut. So, despite side one tailing off to some extent, side two is a much more convincing experience. Kicking off with the bizarrely named The Sea Beneath the Seas of the Sea, the track itself is bookended by an intro and outro that sound a bit like very early (circa Fly By Night) Rush - believe it or not! The track as a whole is Darkthrone's own particular take on a ten minute trad doom epic that sounds like it's been dug up after thirty or forty years of decay. Next up, Kervorkian Times is my favourite track on the album with a killer main riff and Nocturno Culto spitting fire and bile, proving that even in their fifties these guys are still underground metal legends. A short instrumental and we're into final track Eon 2, which doesn't on the face of it have anything to do with the instrumental Eon off of Soulside Journey, but which does contain a Maiden-esque galloping riff before it settle back into the doom-pacing of the rest of the album.

Nocturno Culto's vocals are undiminished by time and he still fires out riffs left, right and centre and Fenriz is a complete legend so, to me, the world is a much better place with a band like Darkthrone and their love of metal and refusal to compromise still in it. So what I'm trying to say is "fuck the haters".

4/5

Elegiac - Vampiric Odinism (2019)

The frenetic release output of Elegiac is the first thing that caught my eye when researching this review. This one man bm outfit (Zane Young) has released 4 EPs, 15 splits and 9 full lengths since 2014. That is pretty prolific output who has eight other "active" projects on the go on top of Elegiac. The New York based artist deploys a good mix of conventional black metal fodder with a heavy dose of black 'n roll added for good measure on his seventh release, Vampiric Odinism from 2019. Looking at the artwork that adorns the release and pictures of Zane online I had expected a more shamanic or ritualistic offering than is actually the case. Although there are some distinct parts where this is the case the more catchy moments are actually the better ones.

I would loosely assign Behexen and maybe Sargeist as influences I hear in the sound although they like the scathing attack of Behexen and are lacking some of the primitive elements of early Sargeist to say the least. There are occasions were the vocals take more of a front seat and sound like the breathy incantations of any credible atmo-black artist but in the main it is the tremolo that rules the roost here with Zane's vocals a rasping accompaniment with a background setting of very basic and sometimes barely audible drums.

Overall, Elegiac offer very little in the way of impressing more than any other USBM artist. The deep voice that Zane adopts on occasion to (I assume) add some threat or menace to proceedings is laughable in all honesty and the whole release just bubbles instead of reaching boiling point all that much. The shamanic/ritualistic parts sound lazy and disinterested and when some sense of momentum or energy does start to form it gets killed by them on a consistent basis. Left to power on through the tracks with their heavy metal-esque drive (Sacrifice) then things take on a much more impressive shape and sound and it is a shame there is less of this to enjoy overall.

3.5/5

Similar to Rafn on my draft selection, I think some of these insanely prolific one-man black metal projects would be better served with a bit more quality control. Some of them would benefit massively from other collaborators who could help steer them towards a bit less quantity and a bit more quality, rather than releasing their every musical notion upon an unsuspecting (and often uncaring) public. Most of the metal world's most impressive albums are made up of tracks that have been worked through tirelessly and honed, sometimes for years, yet these guys churn out new releases within mere weeks of previous ones. There is no denying that a significant number of these one-man projects are talented guys, but they just need a bit of self-editing and polishing of their work to achieve more recognition. Solo BM projects like Austin Lunn's Panopticon and Andy Marshall's Saor have released exceedingly well-regarded albums over recent years, because they have the discipline to work on and improve their material until it is ready for release, rather than rushing it out so they can clear the decks for their next half-formed idea.

Well that's my two-penny's worth, what do other Academicians think?

It's been a while, but I don't think my top ten for '82 has changed much over recent years:

1. Witchfinder General - Death Penalty

2. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

3. Motörhead - Iron Fist

4. Black Sabbath - Live Evil

5. Venom - Black Metal

6. Pagan Altar - Judgement of the Dead

7. Ozzy Osbourne - Talk of the Devil

8. Tank - Filth Hounds of Hades

9. Scorpions - Blackout

10. Manowar - Battle Hymns

I know it's not in the site remit, but it was a good year for hardcore punk so, just for interest, how about my top ten punk albums of '82:

1. Bad Brains - Bad Brains

2. Discharge - Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing

3. Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters

4. Charged G.B.H - City Baby Attacked by Rats

5. Circle Jerks - Wild in the Streets

6. Misfits - Walk Among Us

7. The F.U.'s - Kill for Christ

8. Anti-Nowhere League - We Are... The League

9. Bad Religion - How Could Hell Be Any Worse?

10. MDC - Millions of Dead Cops

Deadlife - A Moment of Silence (2019)

Deadlife is one of the many projects of Rafn (aka Anders Nord) who also plys his trade as Hermóðr and Mist amongst others. He is a prolific releaser of material, with 21 EPs and albums as Deadlife since 2018 alone. A Moment of Silence is a single track lasting 17 minutes that mixes some of the atmospheric black metal of Rafn's other projects with Deadlife's DSBM for a melancholy, yet hypnotic release that won't exactly cause much of a stir, but which is actually quite a nice piece of gently morose black metal. It doesn't do anything fancy, but it's fairly minimalist approach and uncomplicated arrangement is quietly reflective and actually quite a calming experience. There's not much more to say really, other than I enjoyed it and actually like it more than his work as Hermóðr.

3.5/5

Set Chaos to the Heart of the Moon is the Roadburn set performed by the Belgian psych/drone/jazz collective on 17th April 2021. Starting off with Sustain, I guess you had to be there to appreciate the track as it is a bit of a nothingness really, it's random and disparate vocalisations don't do much for me in this recorded form and does very little to build any anticipation for the hour plus that is to follow, although I can see how it may be considerably more effective (and possibly disturbing) in a live setting. Those opening eight and a half minutes are followed by Zâr: Empowering the Phurba: Éon Phanérozoïque which is where the bass and percussion introduce themselves as the driving force behind the piece with the rest of the band doing all their "twiddly bits" over the top of this propulsive force which seems to gain monentum and power as the track proceeds.

The five-part, twenty-seven minute suite, Vajrabhairava is up next, starting with it's heavily eastern-influenced, shamanic atmosphere it is the most interesting part of the set for me and marks the point, quarter of an hour in, where the album finally gets going properly. The psychedelic jazz presented during Vajrabhairava is very hypnotic, in particular The Great Wars of Quaternary Era Against Ego, which comes off like a jazz version of a Hawkwind jam from their seminal Space Ritual live album and I have found myself zoning out more than once whilst listening to it, thoughts off and away elsewhere, pondering the nature of time, space and reality, such is the effect of this sonic mindwipe on my neural pathways! The final twenty-plus minutes are dedicated to another lengthy suite, the three parter, The Conference of the Stars which once more has at it's centrepiece, after a sax-led crawling first movement, a glorious jazzy space-rock jam that is dynamic and propulsive, as if hurtling between astronomical bodies on a tail of fire, which marks another high point of the album for me. The performance sounds impeccable, and it is evident that NM are consummate musicians who are technically excellent and who gel together impressively in a live environment.

Overall, this is an album that gets off to a slow start and begins to test my patience early on, but which redeems itself with some quite sublime, psychedelic-laced musical adventures to places few others dare to tread. I get a similar sensation from this as from another Roadburn set, Waste of Space Orchestra's Syntheosis, which isn't musically the same, but is certainly spiritually so. For all the plaudits for the droning avant-jazz, it is the kineticism of The Great Wars of Quaternary Era Against Ego and The Conference of the Stars Part Two: the Ascension that really grabs me, their dynamism providing more focus and direction than the sometimes (to me) aimlessness of the most avant-jazz sections. I can imagine this was a brilliant live experience and I am sure that a Neptunian Maximalism performance is indeed something to behold, with the recorded version probably lacking a bit of the x-factor you sometimes get with the best live acts. When it is good, it is absolutely superb, but there are a couple of sections I could do without if I am being honest (as in the first fifteen minutes) and so I can't award it my very highest scores.

4/5 (may get bumped at a later date!)

Hi Ben, my nominations for February:

Leviathan - "Within Thrall" from "Scar Sighted" (2015) [5:37]

Decayed - "Archdemon" from "Resurrectiónem Mortuórum" (1996) [4:05]

Drudkh - "The Nocturnal One" from "All Belong to the Night" (2022) [10:24]

Runtime: 20:06

Krüller is the first release I have heard from Author & Punisher and so I have no idea of the project's development arc throughout it's existence up to that point, other than what I have gleaned from other reviewers, who all seem to agree that this is an artist who is always improving. Well, Krüller certainly seems like a very polished and well put-together album for a solo industrial artist - I must admit I was dreading some kind of avant-garde noisescape that would send my head into a spin, but this is nothing of the sort. Most of the songs are far more melodic than I would have expected with the industrial effects being used to add a layer of atmosphere that is very effectively handled in the main. I personally can't hear where the drone metal element the tagging suggests is to be found as the majority of the tracks, when stripped back, contain very little drone. I would suggest the majority of the tracks have their roots in darkwave and gothic or alternative metal with the use of the industrial toolbox adding a hardness and alienation to the sound that may give the impression of a more extreme form of metal than is actually present here. Whilst this approach is by and large successful, it sometimes falls short, particularly on Blacksmith where it sounds to me like two different tracks are playing separately, a Swallow the Sun-like gothic lament and a Prodigy-inspired industrial dance track, the two not gelling together at all and just coming off like a complete mess to me and, after a couple of playthroughs, it has me reaching for the skip button at this point. Luckily Blacksmith is followed by the title track that rounds off the album and this is my favourite of those on offer, feeling like a heartfelt cry from the soul with the industrialised pounding adding to the melancholy atmosphere.

One aspect I haven't seen much around the discussion of this album is exactly how good a vocalist Tristan Shone is. I found his singing to be quite affecting at times and it's generally melancholy tone acts as a perfect counterpoint to the almost ever-present industrial pounding, serving to emphasise the humanity of his voice which, I would suggest, is the true heart of the album. The inclusion of a cover of the fantastic Glorybox by Portishead strengthens this claim, I think, and reinforces the impression of humanity's small daily triumphs in the face of an industrialised hegemony.

Generally speaking, I found this to be an interesting and surprisingly emotional album. I think there is far more to it than the obvious "gimmick" and although it is not always completely successful to my ears, I am glad it exists and I can hear why it has gained so many advocates over the past few months, even if I may not be the most ardent of them. Author & Punisher is definitely an artist whose future releases I will look out for to see how his sound develops moving forward.

4/5

I am still not too keen on atmo-sludge sitting in the Fallen, Daniel, but the two releases I have listed above (CoL and Celeste) are both currently in The Fallen and so I thought it would be disingenuous of me to ignore them, despite my own feelings on the subject. I have also been listening to the Author & Punisher album today and I don't feel that belongs in The Fallen either as I can hear virtually no drone metal on it.

I am sorry if I've fucked it up, but how do you wish us to present the qualifying releases then if each clan is to have different criteria for suitability? Do you want me to just list a certain number of releases, say six or seven? I'm a bit confused.

Edit: I have edited the original post to a more manageable list.

Unsurprisingly, given my rudimentary knowledge of death metal, I have never heard of Floridians Monstrosity before, despite their thirty-plus years existence within the Floridian death metal scene. I have since found out that they were the original home of Cannibal Corpse vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher who left Monstrosity after their second album, Millennium, to join CC. For In Dark Purity, Monstrosity's third full-length, the band recruited new vocalist Jason Avery who, on the strength of this, seems like a more than capable replacement for "Corpsegrinder" and I must confess that I like this more than any Cannibal Corpse album that I have heard (which, believe it or not, is most of them).

The band are really tight and the riffs are thick and chunky with Avery vomiting out the lyrics with imperious contempt. This is exactly how I like death metal to sound, hard as fucking nails with a good degree of competence, but without being overly technical or showy. I struggle sometimes with death metal albums where all the tracks sound very similar, but on In Dark Purity each track is very well defined and there is plenty of variety on offer without straying too far beyond what makes the band's blistering approach so great. The solos are quite varied too and are fairly dynamic sounding, but with a kind of old-school metal aspect to them rather than just a short burst of squealing every time a solo is required! Even the cover of Slayer's Angel of Death that closes out the album, although superfluous, is as well done as anyone could expect from a band that isn't Slayer.

This is one of the most mature-sounding death metal albums I have ever heard - even with the song titles the band refuse to resort to the cartoonish or ridiculous. For my money In Dark Purity must be one of the best-kept secrets of late-nineties death metal and is an album that I will definitely be seeking out for purchase. Pity the cover art is so shit, though!

4.5/5

Alastis - Revenge (1998)

Alastis are not a name that has crossed my path before and they don't seem like a band who have made much of an impact on the metal world with no ratings here at Metal Academy for any of their albums and 120 the most for any of them on RYM. They formed in 1987 as Fourth Reich, but changed their name to Alastis in 1989, originally playing black metal and releasing five full-lengths before splitting in 2004. Revenge is the fourth of these albums and was released in 1998. The album is tagged as black, gothic and doom metal, but I hear very little doom metal here and the black metal is pretty much restricted to War D.'s rasping vocal delivery. Metal Archives has it tagged as extreme gothic metal and I would go along with that as a better descriptor.

Apart from the harsh vocals which are a change from most of the gothic metal I have heard previously, this is a fairly unremarkable album. It isn't terrible by any means and I have listened to it three times without any great hardship, but it just sounds like a fairly middle-of-the-road rehash of Paradise Lost style gothic metal with medium paced riffs and overlaid keyboards but without Nick Holmes' charismatic singing. The performances seem fine and all the songwriting elements are in the right place, but the whole is lacking any kind of spark and comes across as being purely functional. Once it has gone from my speakers it has also gone from my mind. I often see the "kids" describing stuff as "mid" on the RYM boards and I have never really got what they mean before - but now I think I do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on this at all, but I can't think of any reason to go back to it when there are so many other things to listen to.

I'll have to give it a very ordinary 3/5.

I will select the Deadlife EP.

Exmortus - The Sound of Boredom

EDIT

Exmortus - The Sound of Steel (2018)

Sigh. I kind of feel like Exmortus exist in the wrong era. The old-school album artwork should really be clue enough but those retro heavy/speed metal vibes are not just isolated to the album cover alone. Within the ten tracks here there is enough 1990's neoclassical references as you could ever hope to find (if "hope" is the right word for you - it is not for me, "misfortune" is a much more accurate word). All this guitar wankery is played at breakneck speed to try and impress further upon the listener how talented the artist is. Problem is it is all the energy of Vektor, rehashed into some dull attempt to sound vaguely as interesting as they were; I mean this album is one of the main reasons that I left The Guardians clan behind last year.

Literally no opportunity to show-off is missed on here. However long the intro to a song is, rest assured that some lead or over the top melodies are right around the corner. They even have the nerve to park an instrumental track in the middle of the album and call it A Minor Instrumental. If only they would have confined all the showboating to this one track! When not widdling their way to eternity the band try and get the chops going but it lacks any edge to make this anything like a thrash release with any concrete credentials. This is just an exhausting record and I do not not what tired me out soonest, the content or the continued reaching for the mouse to skip the album along.

Utterly pointless and instantly forgettable, The Sound of Steel is all filler and no killer. Yes the guitarists can play and the sub-genre (Neoclassical thrash??) demands more of this stuff but it is just so dull and presents zero appeal to me.

1.5/5

Yeah, I saw the neoclassical tag associated with this and immediately my eyes glazed over and I passed it by.

Gama Bomb - Sea Savage (2020)

So, as I said before, I haven't listened to Gama Bomb since 2008's Citizen Brain album, which I bought at the time, but haven't spun a whole lot since as, to be honest, it didn't do much for me (I will have to revisit it though after this). Gama Bomb write short, breakneck, often humourous, thrash metal that makes no attempt to break new ground and I have no problem with that. Of the twelve tracks on Sea Savage, the longest is four and a half minutes with half the album's songs clocking in at under three minutes and, I must admit, the band in full flow do thrash fucking hard. The tongue-in-cheek humour that is employed throughout isn't especially jarring and doesn't detract from the music at all - and let's be honest here, thrash metal, lyrically, can often be ridiculous even when played straight-up.

No, by far my biggest bugbear with Sea Savage is regarding the vocals. Mostly they are fine, but way too often vocalist Philly Byrne resorts to a ridiculous falsetto that feels like it may be a parody of Painkiller-era Rob Halford and I hate it. It occurs at some point in nearly every track and totally ruins them for me. It's use is most prevalent on the title track and it makes that track virtually unlistenable to my ears.

Despite this quite substantial misgiving, I still have to give the album a 3.5/5 because, as I said earlier, it does thrash so fucking hard and at it's best it is quite infectious, but that damn scream is just so fucking annoying that I can't ignore it and must reflect it in the score.

3.5/5

I've not listened to them since 2008's Citizen Brain, so I will take the Gama Bomb album.

Vinny, the floor is yours.

I am already well acquainted with both Death the Leveller and Colosseum, so I will take the Alastis album, Ben. Over to you.

Leviathan is a solo project of Wrest (Jef Whitehead) who also releases albums as Lurker of Chalice. He is one of those artists I have heard of, but listened to, very little. In fact, Scar Sighted is the only album of his that I have heard previously, back when it was released in 2015 and in all honesty it didn't do a whole lot for me back then, so it's probably time for a re-evaluation. This is actually quite dense stuff as, after a short intro, we dive straight into The Smoke of Their Torment which feels like Deathspell Omega playing tech death. There is a significant death metal element present on quite a bit of the Scar Sighted, which gives it a thicker and beefier sound than you might normally get on a typical black metal album. Third track, Dawn Vibration, again features a beefed-up, but quite dissonant vision and you start, at this point, to feel that Wrest is probably working through some internal issues. Lucky is he to have the ability to utilise art to express his inner torments, because if these disturbing soundscapes had no outlet then heaven's knows where their creator would be, mentally speaking. A lot of the lyrics are as dense as the music, but a line from Gardens of Coprolite seems quite telling, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up and like the wind our sins sweep us away" - not exactly the thoughts of one who is comfortable with their lot or who has a positive view of society as a whole!

I think I generally got more out of Scar Sighted this time round than previously, perhaps with more of an insight into it's creator, or maybe because I have become more open to dissonance than previously, although I can still only really take it in small doses. It probably says quite a bit that my favourite track is Within Thrall which is more of a straight-up black metal blast with a vicious main riff, closely followed by the title track which has more than a passing resemblance to funeral doom. Don't get me wrong, I did quite enjoy the more dissonant stuff, but it isn't a style of metal that moves me especially and I really didn't like the last track, Aphōnos, which was a step too far for me as I just found it tedious, so Scar Sighted would probably struggle to attain my higher ratings, although I can definitely hear why others more inclined to the style may find much to enjoy here.

3.5/5

January 2023

1. Monolithe - "Sputnik-1" from " Kosmodrom" (2022) [submitted by Sonny]

2. Candlemass - "When Death Sighs" from "Sweet Evil Sun" (2022)

3. My Dying Bride - "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium" from "Trinity" (1995) [submitted by Daniel]

4. Saint Vitus - "Clear Windowpane" from "Born Too Late" (1986) [submitted by Sonny]

5. Spiritual Beggars - "Angel of Betrayal" from "Ad Astra" (2000)

6. Conjurer - "Basilisk" from "Páthos" (2022)

7. Mortiferum - "Incubus of Bloodstained Visions" from "Preserved in Torment" (2021) [submitted by Ben]

8. Sentenced - "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die" from "The Cold White Light" (2002)

9. Orodruin - "Ruins of Eternity" from "Ruins of Eternity" (2019)

10. Rapture - "This Is Where I Am" from "Futile" (1999) [submitted by Ben]

11. Pantheist - "Lust" from "Amartia" (2005)

12. Horn of the Rhino - "Reins of the Warlord" from "Dead Throne Monarch" (2008) [submitted by Sonny]

13. Doomshine - " Sanctuary Demon (Chapter of Prognosis)" from "The Piper at the Gates of Doom" (2010)

14. Cavurn - "II" from "Reheasal" E.P. (2017) [submitted by Daniel]

15. Greenmachine - "Golgotha" from "Mountains of Madness" (2019)

16. The Ocean - "Benthic: The Origin Of Our Wishes" from "Pelagial" (2013) [submitted by Daniel]

17. The Otolith - "Hubris" from "Folium Limina" (2022) [submitted by Sonny]

18. Procession - "To Reap Heavens Apart" from "To Reap Heavens Apart" (2013) [submitted by Ben]

Hi Xephyr, may I make a suggestion for February which is:

Acid - "Prince of Hell and Fire" from "Maniac" (1983)

Yeah, I have no problem with this, Daniel.

OK, so what, at one point as we passed from summer to autumn, felt like a very lacklustre year for doom metal, has picked up quite considerably and ultimately has produced some sterling releases, albeit the year as a whole is lacking depth of quality. My current top ten now looks like this and I would have no problem recommending any of them to a fan of Fallen-related metal:

1. Dvvell - Quiescent (10/10)

2. Messa - Close (9.8/10)

3. Monolithe - Kosmodrom (9.1/10)

4. Epitaphe - II (9.0/10)

5. The Otolith - Folium Limina (9.0/10)

6. Mournful Congregation - The Exuviae of Gods: Part I (9.0/10)

7. Shape of Despair - Return to the Void (8.8/10)

8. The Funeral Orchestra - Funeral Death - Apocalyptic Plague Ritual II (8.7/10)

9. Conan - Evidence of Immortality (8.5/10)

10. BlackLab - In a Bizarre Dream (8.2/10)

There are still a couple of releases I need to work up reviews for, such as Darkthrone's Astral Fortress and Spiritus Mortis' latest, but this is where we are at the moment.

The Otolith - Folium Limina

Released 21/10/22 on Blues Funeral

Initial thoughts after three or four playthroughs, although I suspect this is an album that will reveal itself more fully as I become more familiar with it:

SubRosa were one of my favourite 21st century bands, their three albums released in the 2010s being among the very best doom metal from that decade, More Constant Than the Gods in particular lodging itself very near the summit of my 2010s metal list. So it was with great disappointment that I learned of their disbanding in 2019 and the apparent loss of a singular-sounding metal band. However, three years later, in this winter of 2022, the bulk of Subrosa's members return with a new album under the name The Otolith, to much rejoicing from yours truly. Thankfully Folium Limina retains all the ingredients that made SubRosa such a compelling listen, be it Levi Hanna's thick, crunchy doom metal riffs, Sarah Pendleton's seductive vocals or the atmospheric and unsettling violin work of Sarah and Kim Pack overlaying proceedings. As with the classic albums, the tracks all clock in at around the ten-minute mark, so give themselves plenty of time to develop without becoming self-indulgent and overstaying their welcome.

Where Otolith differ from Subrosa is that they lean more heavily on post-metal / atmospheric sludge metal songwriting and it's reliance on building atmosphere, rather than a straight-up doom metal approach. They also feature harsh male death doom vocals as provided by bassist/vocalist Matt Brotherton who is also bassist and vocalist for atmospheric sludge crew Huldra, and I am guessing his presence in the band may be the influence for a more post-metal style of songwriting. It also feels like the classical strings take a more prominent role during Folium Limina's run time, often being pushed right up front rather than acting as a provider of atmospheric layering as was it's main purpose in SubRosa. These differences are not at all jarring however, and The Otolith are very much a continuance of the sterling work begun by SubRosa and I would be very surprised if any fans of the latter didn't enjoy Folium Limina as it still contains those idiosyncrasies that made SR such a compelling and singular doom metal act. Personally, I don't think it is quite up there with the very best of SubRosa, especially More Constant Than the Gods (not much is though), but it is certainly a strong follow-up to SR's final album, For This We Fought the Battle of Ages and is a very welcome continuation of the SubRosa legacy.

4.5/5

Candlemass - Sweet Evil Sun

Released 18/11/22 on Napalm Records

Thirty-six years on from the release of their genre-defining debut, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, Candlemass have come full circle with the return of Epicus vocalist, Johan Längquist. The band have featured some great doom metal singers over the years, particularly Messiah Marcolin and Rob Lowe, but it was with Längquist that they first made their name. Epicus Doomicus Metallicus was a seminal doom metal release and one of the genre's most important albums, to the extent that a whole subgenre was named after it and Längquist's contribution was integral to it's success. This all, of course, does not mean that Sweet Evil Sun is anything like as good as the debut, it demonstrably isn't. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since those days and Candlemass' style has actually changed very little, so a degree of stagnation is to be expected. That said though, neither is this the sound of a band going through the motions in search of one more payday, so consequently it sounds heartfelt, albeit quite generic. I would have no problem putting this on a par with Rob Lowe releases like King of the Grey Islands or Death Magic Doom and it is much better than the band's 1990's output.

This being Candlemass, even though it is mid-tier material for them, it is still better than a significant proportion of new doom metal releases - it is chock-full of terrific doom metal riffs (check out the crawling riff to Angel Battle as it transitions into a faster, Sabbathian killer and back) and catchy, singalong choruses (the title track and Scandinavian Gods in particular). Längquist's voice still possesses great power despite the passing of the decades and Leif Edling's former co-conspirator in Avatarium, Jennie-Ann Smith, shares vocal duties on the track When Death Sighs which, if memory serves, is the first time Candlemass have featured female vocals and makes for a really nice dynamic within the track, adding an additional dimension to Candlemass' traditional sound. When Death Sighs also features my favourite guitar solo on the album as Lars Johansson channels Tony Iommi circa his masterful Dirty Women solo.

My biggest criticism would have to be reserved for the production. There just doesn't seem enough bottom end and the album sounds overly trebly, which is never a good thing for a doom metal release in my book, and here I think it robs the tracks of some of their power and heft. Of particular irritation was the drum sound on Scandinavian Gods which threatened to derail an otherwise very enjoyable track. Overall though, I would have to admit to being somewhat surprised by the quality of a release from a veteran outfit which, in all truth, I held out very little hope for.

4/5

 

I've noticed that Monolithe have been linking your review on their social media platforms Sonny. You're a fucking global super star mate! Next you'll be dating Taylor Swift & partying with Paris Hilton.

As long as I'm back home in time to take the dog out for a walk before bed!!😂

Hooray, after a mere eleven days of sub-zero temperatures and no hot water, we have finally got a new boiler fitted. You sometimes take for granted the simple things like having a shower, but after washing in a bucket with kettle-boiled water for a week and a half, it feels like one of life's great luxuries!

It sounds like you are slowly succumbing to the melancholy charms of The Fallen, Vinny.

A track from the new Ahab album, The Coral Tombs, due out 13th January

Single from The Otolith's debut, Folium Limina. Otolith features several members from now-defunct doomsters SubRosa.

There isn't, in truth, a lot to choose from here is there, but here's my top 10:

1. Black Sabbath - "Paranoid" (1970)

2. Black Sabbath - "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (1973)

3. Motörhead - "Motörhead" (1977)

4. Judas Priest - "Sad Wings of Destiny" (1976)

5. Rainbow - "Rising" (1976)

6. Black Sabbath - "Master of Reality" (1971)

7. Black Sabbath - "Sabotage" (1975)

8. Judas Priest - "Sin After" (1977)

9. Black Sabbath - "Vol. 4" (1972)

10. Black Sabbath - "Technical Ecstasy" (1976)

There's no doubting Black Sabbath's domination of 1970's heavy metal that's for sure.

That's interesting, because I don't always like to dissect an album over an intense period of repeated listens myself. I like to spin something a couple of times and maybe jot down a few initial thoughts then move on to something else for a while (or several something elses). If it has gained enough traction in my brain, then I will return to it and be a bit more active in my listening, hopefully then being able to form some more solid opinion on it. Of course, if it is something I have been anticipating or if it really grabs me immediately I might just hammer it to death over a couple of days and go from there - as was the case with the Monolithe LP.

I can't balieve that I had never noticed that Cardinals Folly weren't already on the site!

As much as I love Monolithe, I certainly don' t take it personally if someone else doesn't have the same view, so I wouldn't beat yourself up over it, Xephyr. It would be a sad and stale world if we all loved the same things and, hey, at least you gave it a chance!

Have you anything for January, Ben?

Messiah - Choir of Horrors (1991)

During my dive into the early years of death metal during my Voyage of (Re-)Discovery project, I happened upon Messiah's debut, the 1986 album, Hymn to Abramelin. Well, that didn't go too well and it held little lasting appeal for me as I found it to be a bit of a mess, Messiah seeming like a band with more ideas than they could bring together successfully. So five years later and four years after their sophomore Extreme Cold Weather (which I haven't heard) they were back with Choir of Horrors. Now this is much more up my street as they seemed to have decided what they wanted to do and concentrated on doing that well rather than throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks. What they do very well is a thrashy kind of death metal that reminds me a lot of Poland's Vader whose debut appeared a year after Choir of Horrors. The band playing on Choir of Horrors are unrecognisable from the one that produced Hymn of Abremalin, having seriously tightened up all round, both playing and songwriting-wise, and this is actually a really punchy slab of thrash/death that should appeal to any nineties extreme metal-loving, right-thinking person. OK, you've heard plenty like it since, but in context I think it is a great example of early nineties death metal. Really good songs, great vocals, a solid rhythm section and neck-wrenching riffs that appeal more to the physical side of extreme metal than the cerebral, which is what i signed up for in the first place!

Don't you find it amazingly satisfying when a band you have written off as terrible or not your kind of thing then ram it back down your throat and prove you wrong? Messiah have certainly done that here and I will most definitely will be seeking a copy of this to listen to whilst I bite into my huge slice of humble pie! Another winner for the review draft.

4/5

COVID finally caught up with me after 3 years of avoiding it.  Both my wife and I tested positive towards the back end of last week.  We have isolated since then even though only "guidance" to do so as opposed to any mandatory requirement in the UK.  Keeping an eye on my wife who has breathing problems anyway but to date she seems to be okay.  I am glad of the downtime in some respects but really conscious that work was starting to pick up this past couple of weeks and eager to get in amongst my emails as I know there's money to be made, however will look after our health first and be sensible.

That sucks. Get well soon both of you.

As Vinny knows I'm sure, it has been the coldest week for years here in the UK and annoyingly, my wife and I have had no heating or hot water since last Friday due to a broken down boiler and a useless boiler insurance company (yes, SSE, I'm looking at you)! Hoping it will be finally fixed tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath to be honest.