Sonny's Forum Replies
I'm happy to see this thread. Anyone that knows me will understand how much importance I place on cover art. I'm a lover of art in general, but particularly dark art.
I actually managed a list of Dan Seagrave covers on RYM for quite some time. I really should replicate that over here at some point.
I've been thinking about creating a list of all Kris Verwimp covers. There are a LOT of them, and it's pretty easy to tell who was behind them, so I'll try to get onto that soon. If you want to know what his work is like, just check out Cermonial Casting's covers from 2004's Immortal Black Art album.
I thought a project like this might interest you, Ben. I seem to remember us having a conversation about cover art once or twice back in the RYM days. I too love art, in fact, as much as I would love to be able to play a guitar, if I had one wish that could gain me a talent, it would be to be able to paint like some of these guys.
Didn't Kris Verwimp do Uada's "Djinn" cover? I like that one very much, so I will have to check more of his work out.
Cool lists, Sonny! Do you have any favorite cover arts by the talented Travis Smith? Check out a lot of his work in his official website: https://www.seempieces.com/
You are right, Andi, he is extremely talented. I am currently working on a list for Swedish artist Pär Olofsson, but I will start one for Travis straight after. I haven't really considered his body of work as a whole before, so can't give a favourite, but I really like that Living Sacriifice "Ghost Thief" cover.
The second of these lists is dedicated to Swedish artist Ola Larsson. Although he isn't a prolific cover illustrator, I think the list provides a great view of how a developing artist evolves over time, with his earlier covers being quite crude compared to his gorgeous later, sci-fi and Lovecraft inspired material.
https://metal.academy/lists/single/247
I would recommend checking out some more of Ola's work on blogspot:
Mournful Congregation - The Exuviae of Gods Part 2 (2023)
A year on from the release of the wonderful Part I, Mournful Congregation unveil the second part of The Exuviae of Gods EPs. Of course both EPs are album length for most bands, each weighing in at almost forty minutes, but that is short for this particular band. In common with Part I, Part II contains a re-recording of a track from their 1995 An Epic Dream of Desire cassette demo, this time around opener Heads Bowed being the track getting a makeover.
Whilst Mournful Congregation are absolutely practitioners of that most sorrowful of all doom metal sub-genres, funeral doom, what they do better than virtually every other band is imbue their funereal dirges with a sliver of light and hope. They definitely conjure up a sorrowful, mournful atmosphere with their music, but they always seem to be able to add a wistfulness that says, yes, death has come, but fear not, death is not the end. I am not at all a religious or even a particularly spiritual person, but there is something about Mournful Congregation's music that always makes me feel less oppressed by the thought of life's inevitable ending. Fortunately the band are also able to deliver this ray of hopefulness without ever compromising on sheer crushing weight, the reworking of Heads Bowed being a prime example, it's heaving weight being countered by the lightness of the acoustic guitar intro and outro that bookend the track.
The second and shortest track, the sub-nine minutes, The Forbidden Abysm, has more of a death doom vibe about it, being the "fastest" and heaviest track on display here and is pretty decent, although the least interesting of the three. Closer, The Paling Crest, weighing in at eighteen minutes, is the real heart of the album and the EP's standout piece. Beginning with an acoustic guitar and harmonised clean, choral-type vocal intro complete with a soaring electric lead solo, it segues into the track proper with Ben Petch's abyssal growls being accompanied by leaden chords and more of those soaring guitars, backed by a subtle application of keyboards. Around mid-point this subsides and is replaced by a light and airy, picked acoustic melody that is itself swept away as the heaviness returns, albeit with a more hopeful atmosphere permeating the hulking chords. Lyrically the band seem to back this up, with Petch intoning that "Fear of death is fear of wisdom" and "Fear of natural order is fear of nature itself, For death is merely the consequence of birth", the implication being, "So what are you worrying for?"
I am a massive fan of the sorrowful and heart-wrenching heaviness of funeral doom, but there is something very appealing about Mournful Congregation's wistful acceptance of the inevitability of death and the absolute conviction that it is nothing to be feared, which comes across not only lyrically, but also in the atmospheres they create with gorgeous, airy melodies being woven into their heavier backdrops of mournful sorrow to lend their music a positivity lacking in so much doom metal. I slightly prefer last year's Part 1 of the Exuviae of Gods EPs over this, but it is still a fine release and one I would have no reservations about recommending.
4/5
Love this track. Right up my street. I've already put Sphere of Apparition on follow on Bandcamp in readiness for release day!! The production sounds really great, those guys have done a brilliant job - love that cover too.
The Abbey - Word of Sin (2023)
The Abbey are a Finnish five-piece who play doomy gothic metal with some progressive tendencies. Probably the most well-known member is female vocalist Natalie Koskinen who is, of course, vocalist with funeral doom merchants Shape of Despair. The Abbey employ dual male/female vocals, but shy away from the "beauty and the beast" style of male growls and ethereal female wails, focussing on a harmonised and layered clean delivery. Formed in 2021, Word of Sin is the band's debut full-length release.
At their doomiest a comparison with Draconian Times-era Paradise Lost is justified, but that isn't the only card they play. They throw in a couple of quicker tracks, A Thousand Dead Witches and Temple of Pain, that have galloping, heavy metal-style riffs that energise the album and contrast quite nicely with the slower, more laconic material. In truth, though, for me there isn't enough weight to the majority of the album and it sits quite firmly on the lighter side of the gothic doom fence, concentrating on producing beautiful melodies rather than playing to the melancholy, sorrowful nature that the best of the genre has to offer. Admittedly, what they do, they do very well and Word of Sin has some very nice melodies indeed which may stay with you well after the album has finished playing.
The album ends with the Lovecraftian-themed two-parter of Old Ones Prequel and the almost thirteen minutes of Old Ones itself and sees The Abbey indulge a more progressive side of their sound. Old Ones Prequel is an acoustic guitar and male-voiced piece with singer Jesse Heikkinen sounding very much like Wayne Hussey of UK gothic rockers The Mission and serves as an intro to the album's main event. Old Ones proper begins with an ominous doomy atmosphere that possesses one of the albums most memorable melodies combined with some very nice, soaring lead work. Around mid-point the melody fades and we are treated to an organ-led instrumental passage that evokes a high-ceilinged and expansive volume of space set aside for the worship of the unseen Old Ones, eventually giving way to a ponderous riff, more soaring lead work and a harmonised choral vocal that combine as one to a rather satisfying crescendo. This closing two-parter is by far my highlight of the album and the band's unleashing of this more progressive side is a path I hope they continue down with further releases.
The production on Word of Sin is decent, but again emphasises the lighter over the darker and heavier. The vocals and guitar leads are given particular prominence with the riffs lacking the density that I prefer in any doom-related enterprise and with the rhythm section taking a back seat for the most part. The production, however, does perfectly suit the Old Ones and it's more progressive tendencies and serves to emphasise just how superior this closing section of the album is.
3.5/5
Not exactly destined for the graveyard this one, but my sister found an old Motorhead Reading Festival 1979 scarf of mine amongst some of my dad's stuff she was sorting out. I didn't go to the Reading Festival in '79 (that summer's festival for me was Zeppelin at Knebworth Park), but I picked this up at a gig on the Bomber tour in November the same year. Can't believe it's 44 years old - older than a lot of you reading this no doubt!!
Threads of Unknowing's smothering of it's tech-death aspirations with the filth-ridden atmospherics of old-school death metal results in a classic case of an album falling between two stools and failing to satisfy the occupiers of either of them. I can't imagine for one minute that any adherent of the more expansive side of technical death metal, which VoidCeremony seemingly wish to align themselves with, are at all appreciative of the muddiness that the production has bestowed upon the album's sound. It seems to detract from the efficacy of the technical elements, elements which are surely better served by the clarity of a cleaner production. On the other hand, acolytes of the Morbid Angel / Autopsy cavernous approach are unlikely to be overly impressed by the album's technicalities.
I am becoming increasingly self-conscious about my aversion to the more technical forms of metal and I really wish I could "get it" so that I didn't appear to be such a glaring ignoramus, but I just don't I'm afraid. I guess my relationship with music and metal in particular is more based on either the buzz metal creates with it's energy as personified in memorable killer riffs and searing solos or in all-encompassing atmospheres, be it the expansiveness of atmospheric black metal's nature-based themes or the oppressive darkness of funeral and death doom, sludge or drone metal. To me, technical-based metal of the type that VoidCeremony deal in, is just too counter to what I look for and is probably better suited to people who are more interested in the intricacies of music production itself. I understand the compulsion to be challenged by art and to venture outside one's comfort zone, but I've played that game and have no further wish to expend a huge amount of time and mental energy on something I derive little enjoyment from. This somewhat rambling explanantion is by way of an apology as to why I am unable to get on board with what a band like VoidCeremony are trying to achieve, a problem have encountered previously with the likes of Gorguts' Obscura album.
Now, it isn't all bad news for me with Threads of Unknowing, because suddenly, in the album's latter stages, things take a turn for the better as the band turn a corner onto a more progressive road. At the Periphery of Human Realms (The Immaterial Grave) is a rather lengthy title for what feels like an instrumental intro into the progressive epic that closes out the album, Forlorn Portrait: Ruins of an Ageless Slumber. I wouldn't say they abandon their technical approach completely here, but they do dial it back a bit and lean much more towards a progressive style, a move that I am much more in support of. The last track in particular sounds much more like something King Crimson may have laid down around their Red era, had they been even remotely interested in death metal. This track just flows so much better than the earlier techy tracks and the changes in tempo and timbre are much less jarring and feel much more organic.
I agree with other reviewers that the deeply growled vocals are distracting and sound completely out of place for the majority of the album, a harsher vocal with a bit of a higher register feels like it would be much more appropriate, but I guess the band knew what they were aiming for. So, in summary I would have to say that Threads of Unknowing feels like a worthy misfire to me. Whilst I applaud the band's unconventional approach to technical DM, the production is just too anomalous and does the band no favours at all. I enjoyed their efforts significantly more on the two closing tracks which took a more progressive approach than the earlier tracks' technicalities which, frankly, left me cold.
3/5
A terrific album, Daniel, as is his S/T from the same year. A massively underappreciated talent.
Necrosis - Kingdom of Hate (1987)
Necrosis were formed in 1985 and featured brothers José Miguel and Andrés Nacrur on guitar and drums respectively. They were both previously members of Massacre (Massakre) and featured on the Pissing into the Mass Grave demo I reviewed previously. The band are another Chilean band with an on/off career, splitting in 1990 after the suicide of then bassist, Alfredo Peña, reforming in 1999 only to split in 2003 due to the perennial "musical differences". They reformed again in 2006 and released three albums before splitting once more in 2017.
Necrosis have much more of a Bay Area sound than both Massacre and Pentagram and sound less extreme as a consequence, coming on more like Exodus or Death Angel. Kingdom of Hate was their first demo, 1500 copies being released in 1987, available on cassette only. The sound quality is very good for a 1980s demo release and sounds very professionally produced, the production on the guitar solos being the only aspect of the production that is really less than stellar, sounding a bit distant at times. The riffing is captured very well, though, and has a nice crunch and depth, whilst the drums and bass are served very well indeed, both being perfectly audible throughout.
Kingdom of Hate contains four tracks with a total runtime of 24 minutes and kicks off with the almost nine minutes of opener, Prayer, which begins with a nice lengthy and classy intro riff, before it gets down to the real business in hand, i.e. thrashing you goddamn ass off! This is a brilliant track that switches from a quicker riff to a slower, chuggier one and back to great effect before encompassing some manic soloing over a supercharged, thrashy blastbeat. Prayer is the kind of longer thrasher that has more progression than a lot of straight-up thrashfests, reminiscent of Metallica's classic-era tracks and is my favourite of the four on display here. Fall in the Last Summer is a track that gets itself into a wicked groove and sounds like a cross between Exodus and Spreading the Disease-era Anthrax and I imagine had Chilean mosh pits heaving. My Fears has a bit of a crossover feel to it, alternating between a throbbing main riff and quicker, punkier breakdowns. The EP closes with the title track which is pretty much a straight-up, no nonsense, Exodus-style thrasher.
Overall, this is a lot more recognisable fare for mid-80s thrash fans, particularly fans of the Bay Area sound and doesn't flirt with extremity and the emerging death metal style as both Massakre and Pentagram did previously, but rather plays it a bit safer. This is still a very good demo and shows that the classic Bay Area sound need not be confined to the US. All four of the tracks available here ended up on Necrosis' debut album, The Search, which was released in the summer of '88 and was their only official release prior to their original split in 1990.
4/5
Nice work once more Vinny. Unknown takeaways this month for me were Phantom G.D.L. and Strike Master, both of which were great. Plenty of recognizable stuff this month too, which is nice and great to kick off with one of my favourite later Kreator tracks! I still struggle most with the "groovy" stuff, but that's my problem and not a problem of the playlist.
Do you have anything for October's playlist, Ben?
Pentagram - Demo #1 (1987)
So, as the title suggests, this is the first proper demo from Santiago's Pentagram who are not to be confused with the legendary US doomsters and, in fact, changed their name to Pentagram Chile in 2012 in deference to the US legends. Despite having only one studio album to their name in 2013's The Malefice, they have been an on and off presence in the Chilean scene for almost forty years now. They were formed in 1985 by guitarist and vocalist Anton "Behemoth" Reisenegger and fellow six-string slinger, Juan Pablo "Azazel" Uribe, both of whom remain in the band to this day. For the demo they were joined on drums by Chronos drummer, Eduardo "Eurynomos" Topelberg with Reisenegger also filling in on bass guitar. Recorded at Nacofon Studios, Santiago in January of 1987, the demo features three tracks, Fatal Prediction, Demoniac Possession and Spell of the Pentagram with a total runtime of just over fifteen minutes. For a 1980's demo this has pretty good production and is much better than the Massacre demo sound-wise, giving a decent indication of the band's aggressive vitality.
In common with a lot of eighties' South American thrashers, Pentagram took their cues from the Slayer / Possessed school of aggressive thrash that would form the basis of the new genre of death metal. The pace is not quite as relentlessly frantic as Massacre and the songwriting is better with the band exhibiting a greater degree of control over their aggressive tendencies. The riffs are strong and memorable with some nice variation in pacing, although when they let rip, they really unleash hell and I think their aggression is more effective for being so well-controlled. The throbbing, cyclonic riff of closer Spell of the Pentagram is particularly effective and is my favourite on the demo, but they are all terrific. Vocally Anton Reisenegger reminds me a fair bit of early Chuch Schuldiner with his rough and ragged, almost shouted style. The drumming is tight even though it does suffer a bit in the mix and the bass is perfectly audible throughout, as is common with most Chilean thrash. The soloing is OK, but is probably the aspect that most reveals the youthfulness of the band and is one of the few aspects where they could improve significantly.
Simply put, if you are interested in mid-to-late Eighties' thrash and it's metamorphosis into more extreme styles like death metal, then this demo is an absolute must and is one of the best thrash demos you would likely hear. Fans of Slayer, Possessed and Kreator need to check this out.
4.5/5
Massacre - Pissing Into the Mass Grave [Demo] (1986)
Massacre were one of the very first Chilean thrash metal bands, forming in 1982 as Sepulcro, changing their name to Embrión in '83 and finally to Massacre (or Massakre) in 1985. Pissing Into the Mass Graves was the bands first demo, and is probably the oldest available Chilean thrash recording. It was released in September of 1986 on cassette only. The three tracks featured on the demo are the title track, Pissing into the Mass Grave, Our Everyday Blood and Death Poem. It starts off with an intro of the sound of some poor soul presumably suffering hellish torture before exploding into the title track which is an absolute belter and sounds pretty good here, despite the rough, ie zero, production values. It has an addictive as fuck main riff which is as good as anything the Big Four wrote and rattles along at a breakneck pace. The vocals have a quite annoying echo effect on them, unfortunately, but otherwise are aggressive and harsh-sounding, in common with a lot of South American thrash. The soloing is buried in the production sadly, but from what can be heard it sounds great. I have unfortunately been unable to find a better version of this track which is very sad because it sounds like a rough-hewn deathly thrash diamond.
Our Everyday Blood is more of the same, although the riff is nothing like as memorable as that of the title track and it suffers a bit more because it has even more of the barely audible soloing, which is one of the biggest disappointments of the whole demo because it sounds like vocalist/guitarist Yanko Tolic and fellow guitarist José Miguel Nacrur really let rip on this one. Side two of the cassette is taken up by the almost eight minutes of Death Poem which start off with a chuggy slower riff before exploding into a much pacier affair. The echoing effect on the vocals here, though, is just too much and becomes quite annoying and distracting. Death Poem may suffer from a bit of a case of overbombing with the band chucking pretty much everything at it, but I do like that chuggy riff that keeps making a return at various points throughout the track.
All in all, this is an interesting listen and very early on sets the precedent for Chilean thrash, borrowing from all manner of styles like d-beat, death metal and the black metal of the likes of Hellhammer. It is worth checking out if only for the title track which I think is a thrash classic. The production sucks, but I have heard far worse and if you are used to listening to underground metal demos it shouldn't present too much of a challenge.
3.5/5
Godthrymm - Distortions (2023)
Godthrymm's newest album just came out last week and it's more of what you'd expect from the band, but at the same time I'd expect nothing less. So far this one is just as quality as their first, so if Sonny hasn't seen that this one dropped yet I'd highly recommend to check it out.
Only just seen this post today, Xephyr. I will definitely check it out as I enjoyed the first album quite a bit.
Jesu - Jesu (2004)
I've not listened to Jesu before and, to be honest, it's a little bit more shoegazey sounding than I would normally enjoy, but for some reason I found it exceedingly listenable.
My suggestions for October, Ben:
Ancient - "Trumps of an Archangel" (from "Svartalvheim", 1994)
Carpathian Forest - "Journey Through the Cold Moors of Svarttjern" (from "Through Chasm, Caves and Titan Woods", 1995)
Profane Order - "Of Bile and Malice" (from "One Nightmare Unto Another", 2023)
Sacramentum - "Blood Shall Be Spilled" (from "Far Away From the Sun", 1996)
Carpathian Forest - Through Chasm, Caves and Titan Woods (1995)
The debut EP from a Norwegian BM crew who, I think it is fair to say, never really lived up to their early promise. At this point in their existence Carpathian Forest were a duo comprising Nattefrost on vocals, guitar and keyboards and Nordavind on guitar and keyboards, with session musicians providing the rhythm section of bass and drums. The five tracks here were recorded in '93 and '94, three of them are punky, lo-fi black metal of a style familiar to any fan of early 90s black metal. The first of the remaining two tracks sits at the midpoint of the EP and is titled The Eclipse / The Raven which is a quite reflective, acoustic guitar-led piece with restrained synths and a croaking, whispered vocal from Nattefrost that is actually very effective. The other anomalous track is the closer and longest track on the EP, Journey Through the Cold Moors of Svarttjern, which is a viking-like folky acoustic piece, again with subtle keyboards and Nattefrost's shrieking vocals recorded as if heard from a great distance in the ice-laden, northern woodlands. Both of these tracks make this an interesting release in CF's catalogue as it is an aspect they didn't really explore further going forward, sticking more to the formula laid down by the other three tracks here. This is a great pity, because I think both of these tracks are effective in execution and provide a nice contrast to the punky, crusty sound of their more usual black metal fare and could have been well-suited as counterpoints in their later full-lengths.
Unfortunately Carpathian Forest never reached these heights again, mainly because they didn't sound like they took it all seriously enough. Their crusty, thrashy, punky version of black metal, their lack of urgency in getting material issued and their attempt to inject a degree of humour into their music all fell a bit flat after this and although I do enjoy some of their later output, it feels to me that after the strength of this initial release they have become Norwegian black metal's great underachievers.
4.5/5
Undeath - Lesions of A Different Kind (2020)
I really like Undeath's modern take on an old favourite, that being the cavernous OSDM style of the late 80s and early 90s as practiced by the likes of Autopsy and Incantation. Their debut, Lesions of a Different Kind, takes the filthiness and looseness of sound typical of the OSDM style and ever-so-slightly clean and tighten it up. The production isn't as cavernous-sounding and gritty as the originals and the playing is tighter, with a small degree of technicality added that the likes of Autopsy never seemed interested in. That said, though, they still retain plenty of the fundamentals of the style and this is no super-crisp technical death metal exercise by any means, but rather a modern upgrade, OSDM v2.0 if you like.
Alexander Jones' vocals (no, not the Infowars idiot) are the typically low-pitched growls of Reifert and co. that have that "gurgling demon" quality that is my favourite incarnation of extreme metal vocalisation as he intones the gore- and horror-filled lyrics of tracks like "Suitably Hacked to Gore" and "Chained to a Reeking Rotted Body", with Black Dahlia Murder vocalist, the late Trevor Strnad, lending a counterpoint to Jones' growling with his harsher shrieks during the title track. The riffs pour out like molten lead and have some nice hooks guaranteed to set heads nodding with enough tempo variations to keep the listener interested. The lead work is concise and efficient with Sanguisugabogg drummer Cody Davidson supplying a more expansive solo on the opener, "Suitably Hacked to Gore". Bass and drums combine well to drive the riffs, with drummer Matt Browning doing some cool stuff without becoming too showy.
Look, Undeath are not going to satisfy those who crave innovation and constant envelope-pushing from their extreme metal, their's is very much a retreading of old tropes that have been with us for three decades or more now, but if you can't ever get your fill of this particular style of OSDM (like me) then they will supply you with a fresh, modernised version of that which you crave. Thanks for the recommendation, Vinny.
4/5
Thanks a lot Vinny. That will give me something to get my teeth into.
Ha ha, Dethklok. I had forgotten all about them. I used to love Metalocalypse back in the day, stupid as fuck though it was. Thanks Andi, I'll give it a go.
Morbid - Year of the Goat (2011)
I paid a mint for an original CD copy of Morbid's seminal December Moon demo a few years back, but it is also available here on this comp of Morbid's demos and a couple of live sets. Whether you enjoy this is dependent, I suppose, on how you feel about listening to demo and bootleg quality material. Personally I don't have a problem with it, but I understand if people do. Unfortunately Morbid, who featured legendary Mayhem frontman Dead before he joined the black metal legends, never released any official studio stuff, so this is pretty much the sum total of the band's output. The sound on the four opening tracks, which comprise the December Moon demo, is pretty good and give an indication of what great potential the Swedes had, especially considering this was recorded in 1987. The sound quality of the rest of the tracks is not so great, but if you are conversant with 80s demos and bootlegs you will have heard far worse! The remaining six tracks on CD1 are rehearsal recordings of December Moon's four plus a short instrumental, Citythrasher, and the track Deathexecution which was the opener on an earlier cassette only demo, Rehearsal 07/08/1987. All these tracks are great examples of the melting pot that was underground metal of the mid-to-late 1980's with thrash metal mutating into the bastard twins death and black metal and bands being unafraid to explore new realms of extremity.
The live material is taken from two shows, the first from a show at Stockholm's Birkagarden recorded in late October '87 (this show is available as the 2000 album Live in Stockholm) and the second was recorded earlier in the year, in April, at the Ultrahuset also in Stockholm. The sound isn't great and the crowd noise is obtrusive, but these two shows give an insight into the early Scandinavian extreme metal scene and it is always great to hear a Dead live show (if you know what I mean)!
So, as a record of an important underground band that was influential in the very early years before the explosion of Scandinavian extreme metal, this is interesting stuff and, despite any qualms about the quality, these six or seven songs are fucking awesome. To be honest, I kind of love this dodgy-sounding crap to hell so I'm like a pig in shit with this sort of thing.
4.5/5
Hi Daniel, here are my suggestions for October:
Brutality - "These Walls Shall Be Your Grave" (from "Screams of Anguish", 1993)
Gorguts - "Condemned to Obscurity" (from "The Erosion of Sanity", 1993)
Morbid - "My Dark Subconscious ("December Moon" Demo 1986)" (from "Year of the Goat", 2011)
Necrophobic - "Unholy Prophecies", from "The Nocturnal Silence", 1993)
Nile - "Wrought" (from "In the Beginning", 1999)
I know this is supposed to be a thread where members give out recommendations to others, but I wonder if I might make a request for recommendations here.
Due to the challenge I undertook to gain admittance to The Horde and my general preference for OSDM, I have very little experience with modern death metal. So, bearing in mind that I dislike dissonance and am not too keen on the more technical releases (although I don't mind a certain degree of technicality), could anyone recommend me some good death metal released in the last two or three years, please.
Profane Order - One Nightmare Unto Another (2023)
I think it is fair to say that most people see black metal as a cold genre. It isn't just it's fascination with the northern realms of forests, mountains, ice and snow, but also a coldness of emotion and a steely, frigid and spiteful attitude to everything from death to religion. War metal, however, I would suggest, is a very hot genre, it's atmosphere and aesthetic feeling very much like a flaming blast of furnace-heat as if issuing from the very gates of Hell itself. This is an atmosphere that Profane Order have replicated on One Nightmare Unto Another exceedingly successfully. The tracks here are blistering and fiery affairs that seethe with a hot-blooded rage and visceral savagery so typical of the war metal aesthetic.
What it doesn't have, however, is the muddy and messy production that can sometimes render war metal releases into barely discernible blurs of chaos. This isn't by any means a precise production job as you may hear on a tech-death album for example, but it also doesn't neuter the visceral power of the tracks under a cloying layer of muddiness, rather striking a decent balance between chaos and legibility. The sound is thick and chaotic, exhibiting the looseness I associate with war metal that says "these guys are barely hanging on by their teeth" as they pummel and pulverise their way through the album's twenty-five minutes. Not always typical for war metal, though, the riffs are perfectly audible and show a bit more variation than may sometimes be on offer, such as during the slower, more brooding moments of closer Of Bile and Malice.
I surely love me some Blasphemy and Beherit, but I am not such a "trve" war metal purist that I believe you should barely be able to discern any sort of riff or melody to experience that authentic death metal experience, so I am perfectly good with this kind of production job, because behind it Profane Order still have that unquenchable war metal fire in their bellies as they spit out savage and brutally blistering salvos of incendiary hatred and blasphemy.
4.5/5
Demoniac - Nube negra (2023)
Released 1st September 2023
I have often been heard extolling the virtues of Chilean thrash metal and I believe it to be the only thrash metal scene that still retains any real relevancy. In the vanguard and on point of the Chilean assault on the world's thrash fans is the excellent Demoniac, whose previous album, 2020's So It Goes, only lost out in the race to be my AOTY for that year to MSW's superb Obliviosus. Well, it has been three years already since they dropped that beauty and they are back with a new album, Nube negra (Black Cloud) and it is no black cloud on my horizon, I can tell you.
There have been a change or two in the Demoniac camp since the release of So It Goes, with guitarist Nicolás Young leaving to be replaced by his Asedio band mate Javier Cisternas and drummer Rodrigo Poblete vacating the stool with mainman Javier Ortiz taking up the sticks in addition to providing vocals, guitar, keyboards, clarinet and accordion - oh, and all the lyrics and songwriting! Still, it is Ortiz' vision on show here and as such Nube negra doesn't miss a beat in continuing where So It Goes left off, despite the personnel changes.
After a short intro of storm effects and a quite reflective-sounding acoustic guitar piece, Nube negra leaps up and goes straight for the throat with a proper pummelling slice of high-octane blackened thrash that hits like a hammer blow. It seems that this time around the black metal influence to the band's thrashing is more pronounced, even so, the riffs still retain that memorable melodicism that marked So It Goes so well, whilst managing to sound even more aggressive than before. The short instrumental Marchageddon and third track Ácaro continue this blistering assault and everyone is on fine form, Ortiz' drumming is lethally potent and drives the track forwards at breakneck speed whilst his blackened vocals spit venom at all and sundry. La Caida continues in the same vicious vein, with Vicente Pereira's pronounced bass work that is so characterisric of Chilean thrash, combining with Ortiz' drumming to provide a precise and powerful framework upon which the guitarists can go to work as they unleash some lethal-sounding and expansive soloing with keyboard support also boosting the depth of the sound. At this point we have reached the final track on side one and Demoniac throw us their first curveball. As La Caida ends with a lone piano outro, we are led into an accordion-fronted piece, Synthèse d'accords that swirls along like something you may hear at some weird, nightmare circus showground.
Side two then kicks off with the seven-minute Granada which begins with an intro featuring Ortiz' haunting signature clarinet, that was used to great effect on their previous outing, however the track soon takes a darker turn as the traditional metal instruments enter the fray before finally erupting into a full-on head-charge with more soaring and savage-sounding lead work howling to the heavens as the guitarists let rip with gusto. Veneno continues in similar vein, with the guitars howling ever more frantically, like a duel between Randy Rhoads and Steve Vai, until at midpoint the track draws a huge breath and takes on a reflective and almost drone-like tone ending the tape slowing and the track grinding slowly to a halt with, for my money, the only misstep on the album. El Final closes out the album with a whirling dervish of a riff that burns a blistering trail to a dizzying album's end.
So, is Nube negra as good as So It Goes? Well, I'm still undecided. It's a close-run thing with the former still just about holding the lead, but I think Nube negra has a very real chance of toppling it as my favourite Demoniac album. It feels less progressive and other than the mid-point breather of Synthèse d'accords and the first part of Granada, it is a fiery and aggressive affair, guitar solos performed with an incendiary, almost neoclassical fervour, a brutally exacting rhythm section, high velocity melodic and memorable riffs and Ortiz' blackened vocals spitting out the lyrics with venomous spite. Everything taken into account, this makes for a 2023 thrash metal album that you absolutely must hear.
4.5/5
Nice review Daniel. It has occured to me that this is the only Archgoat release I haven't rated, so I will have to check it out soon. Personally I think Archgoat are a very consistent and classy act in the world of War Metal.
I will have to post a new top ten too, because the last one was two years ago, before I had heard Teitanblood's Death. I'd better check out that Infernal Coil album first, though.
So, my first time checking out the Horde playlist as a bona fide member of the clan. Top discoveries for me this month were Horrendous and the unpronouncable Sanguisugabogg with their charmingly-titled Testicular Rot. Others that caught my ear were 200 Stab Wounds, Splatterhouse and Torture Rack.
Immolation, Bloodbath, Tzompantli, Atheist and Teitanblood are familiar already and were represented by great tracks.
I didn't really care for Fleshvessel, Geryon, The HIRS Collective, Waking The Cadaver and Aborted - but I still have much to learn!
All in all, great fun and an enjoyable listen.
At the risk of showing my ignorance, what is a discord?
Quoted Sonny
Discord is a social app where you can create a Server and invite people to it. You can then craft the server to your liking with text channels where people can send messages, or create voice channels that people can join and talk. It's highly customizable since you can have bots do automated things or give people certain roles that allows/disallows them to do things that you specify. With how MA is currently set up, it'd basically be an alternate version of what we already have here if set up. Separate text channels for each clan, running announcement channels that would alert everyone of the new Features of the month. It's just more immediate than forums, since people use it to chat in real time like text messaging.
Just to chime in since I'm technically a regular, sites like Metal Academy take a tremendous amount of effort compared to normal social media sites. And honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way since it makes the content on here more interesting and based less on engagement farming for the sake of a number going up. Algorithms and all that junk.
But again, it takes effort. Right now my schedule and brain capacity between work, studying, and the rest of my life doesn't allow me to get the creative review juices flowing. As I'm sure you've seen from my lack of reviews or engagement on a lot of monthly things. Hopefully this'll turn around eventually but the framework of the site does ask for a lot out of people. Which again, is fine.
Ah, thanks for the explanation Xephyr.
Might I be bold enough to ask the question, if you wish the site to have broader appeal, then are the longer-time members like myself who have been happy with how the site functions and how we can interact with it for several years now, really the ones to ask about changing it? There are obviously many people who register and then disappear, some even starting off like they might hang around, but they don't. Have they been contacted to enquire as to why they didn't ultimately think it was for them?
Does anybody feel that the lack of resources such as tracklists, labels etc. for the releases has a negative effect?
At the risk of showing my ignorance, what is a discord?
For myself, depending in the subject, I would possibly be interested in some articles, for example Daniel, I would really like to hear about some of your experiences as an insider in the early Aussie death metal scene, but interviews with musicians, like interviews with actors, I find tend to be self-aggrandising and excuses for promoting whatever their latest project is and so I very rarely read interviews.
I admit that the site has its pros, but as long as it's just the few of us, there really isn't much activity going on as most of us don't post often. I could be wrong on this, but doesn't more people visiting generate more revenue for the creators to put towards the site?
I don't think the site is monetised in any way, Rex, and all the costs have been borne by Ben and Daniel alone.
Hey Vinny. My submissions for October are:
Demoniac - "Granada" (from "Nube negra", 2023)
Destruction - "Reject Emotions" (from "Mad Butcher" EP, 1987)
Nuclear Assault - "Cross of Iron" (from "The Plague" EP, 1987)
*Opprobrium - "Curse of the Damned Cities" (from "Beyond the Unknown", 1990)
*The band were called Incubus when it was released, but it is on Spotify as Opprobrium)
Hi Ben, could you add the new Demoniac album, Nube Negra, please.
I must admit that I have considered attempting other clan challenges just for the fun of it and I did make an aborted attempt on one of the Guardians challenges (which I may yet revive). Apart from anything else, they are a good way to get into less familiar genres as they tend to include releases that are important to the genre as well as being of a high quality. I found the Death Metal challenge to be extremely rewarding and I learnt quite a bit about the genre whilst doing it. I think there is sufficient satisfaction in completing one for it's own sake.
I seem to remember an early conversation when a merit system was dismissed as being distracting and causing a tendency amongst some people to "mine" rewards.
Distracting how?
Because the point of the site is not to accumulate rewards that create a "hierarchy" as is rife on metal archives.
I mentioned that the hierarchy wouldn't actually mean anything but just be for fun.
It is certainly something you can bring up with Daniel and Ben, Rex. I don't care either way personally, I only brought it up to illustrate that a conversation had already been had.
I must admit that I have considered attempting other clan challenges just for the fun of it and I did make an aborted attempt on one of the Guardians challenges (which I may yet revive). Apart from anything else, they are a good way to get into less familiar genres as they tend to include releases that are important to the genre as well as being of a high quality. I found the Death Metal challenge to be extremely rewarding and I learnt quite a bit about the genre whilst doing it. I think there is sufficient satisfaction in completing one for it's own sake.
I seem to remember an early conversation when a merit system was dismissed as being distracting and causing a tendency amongst some people to "mine" rewards.
Distracting how?
Because the point of the site is not to accumulate rewards that create a "hierarchy" as is rife on metal archives.
I must admit that I have considered attempting other clan challenges just for the fun of it and I did make an aborted attempt on one of the Guardians challenges (which I may yet revive). Apart from anything else, they are a good way to get into less familiar genres as they tend to include releases that are important to the genre as well as being of a high quality. I found the Death Metal challenge to be extremely rewarding and I learnt quite a bit about the genre whilst doing it. I think there is sufficient satisfaction in completing one for it's own sake.
I seem to remember an early conversation when a merit system was dismissed as being distracting and causing a tendency amongst some people to "mine" rewards.
I have just noticed that the Atmospheric Sludge challenge is under the Infinite yet the bands are also under the Fallen, even though there is no genre on which the Fallen members can vote. Do these releases need to be removed from the Fallen altogether and does atmospheric sludge need to be uncoupled from sludge metal?
It's something I've always wanted to do. Unfortunately it would require completely rebuilding the search function, so comes at more cost than I can currently manage. I'll do it one day, but in the meantime, Daniel's solution works well enough. I'd also like to search for releases that ONLY have a particular genre or subgenre.
That's fair comment Ben. With an acceptable work around there is really no need to run to excessive expense.
Yeah, that's something that we've had on our radar for a while Sonny. I'm not sure how hard or costly it would be to implement (Ben might) but you can kinda work around it by searching on releases with a Black Metal genre that are also in The Horde for example.
Ah yes, good idea. I hadn't thought of that.
Edit: I have just tried it for black metal releases that are in The Fallen and it has given me exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Daniel.
Long and oftimes arduous has the path been, but finally I stand upon the threshold of the Halls of the Deathly and gaze upon it's wonders as it commences it's secrets to reveal.
Now that I've completed the Death Metal - the 1st Decade challenge, I thought I would rank the list:
1. Death - Human (1991)
2. Autopsy - Mental Funeral (1991)
3. Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness (1989)
4. Possessed - Seven Churches (1985)
5. Obituary - Cause of Death (1990)
6. Demilich - Nespithe (1993)
7. Atheist - Unquestionable Presence (1991)
8. Incantation - Onward to Golgotha (1992)
9. Carcass - Necroticism-Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)
10. Immolation - Dawn of Possession (1991)
11. Pestilence - Consuming Impulse (1989)
12. Brutality - Screams of Anguish (1993)
13. Gorguts - The Erosion of Sanity (1993)
14. Amorphis - Tales From the Thousand Lakes (1994)
15. Deicide - Deicide (1990)
16. Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade (1992)
17. Asphyx - Last One on Earth (1992)
18. Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence (1993)
19. Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten (1991)
20. Nocturnus - The Key (1990)
21. Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery (1995)
22. Demigod - Slumber of Sullen Eyes (1992)
23. At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul (1995)
24. Entombed - Left Hand Path (1990)
25. Dismember - Like an Ever Flowing Stream (1991)
Thanks guys.
Ben / Daniel, I believe I have now completed the Death Metal - The 1st Decade clan challenge and as such I would like to seek admission into the hallowed halls of the Horde clan. It has taken a mere four years, but I believe I now have earned that fourth badge!!
So now that I have (finally) completed the Death Metal the 1st Decade clan challenge, I think I will put this thread to bed now. I have thoroughly enjoyed this time travel back to the late 80s / early 90s via the early releases of death metal and have found some absolute corkers to keep me going for many a year. As a bit of a death metal skeptic going in, it just goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks! I have discovered plenty of new favourites and believe I now have a much better understanding of a genre I had merely scratched the surface of before. This is not the end of my death metal exploration, not by a long shot, but I don't need this thread to log it any more and so will bring it to a close now. Thanks for indulging me and for joining me for the ride...
Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery (1995)
I have been listening to this over the last couple of days in conjunction with At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul. Both bands being instrumental in the development of what became known as "The Gothenburg Sound", the two albums were released a mere fortnight apart. I must admit that, of the two, I prefer this as there is just a bit more to interest me than with Slaughter of the Soul. A big plus for me is Mikael Stanne's vocals which I much prefer over Tomas Lindberg's. His singing style is still very aggressive, but sounds to me like it has more of a black metal flavour than a hardcore one. The riffs may be less memorable than At the Gates' best, but the guitars don't sound quite as swamped in distortion and as such pack a greater punch to my way of thinking.
The most striking thing about The Gallery, though, is the production which is a revelation. Each of the instruments can be heard distinctly and clearly, the biggest benefactor of this being bassist Martin Henriksson whose bass lines are perfectly audible and as a consequence it is easy to hear what a terrific job he does weaving his lines in with Anders Jivarp's pummelling drum patterns. It also allows us to easily distinguish between the lead work of the two guitarists and generally gives the whole album a crisper sound than is often the case with Swedish death metal. I also feel that The Gallery scores over Slaughter... in that it has more variety, with the inclusion of slower sections, acoustic parts and even female vocals to provide some contrast to the pulverising riffs. The Gallery also sees Dark Tranquility dabble a bit more with technicality than AtG, although I don't wish to overegg it, this certainly isn't tech-death, but the rhythms and leads sound more complex and technically specific than those on Slaughter of the Souls.
I don't wish to set this review up as a competition between the two albums, it has just come out like that as a consequence of my listening to them that way, comparisons between two pioneering albums of the same genre, released days apart becoming inevitable. Anyway, I'm giving it to The Gallery on a TKO. This is an album I am likely to return to again in the future for sure.
4/5
At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul (1995)
At the risk of becoming increasingly repetitive, At the Gates are yet another band I have encountered on my journey through death metal's beginnings, about whom I know very little, despite previously having seen their name all over the place. This time, though, after actually listening to them, I am not filled with the feeling that I have been missing out. It's not that this is terrible or anything like that, in fact it is extremely tight and aggressive. It's just that, to my untrained ears, it sounds like an awful lot of the metalcore that I have encountered whenever I have ventured into Revolution territory and as such it doesn't really float my boat that much. From what I gather, this was enormously influential and a pivotal release in the development of melodeath and the "Gothenburg Sound", neither of which I am much of a fan of, so it was always going to be a bit of a reach for me.
On the plus side, the riffs come thick and fast and, at times, are fairly memorable, even though the guitar sound is of the Entombed / Dismember, heavily distorted Swedish style of which I am not the world's biggest fan. The rhythm section of bassist Jonas Björler and drummer Adrian Erlandsson work really well together and sound like a very tight unit, providing a lot of muscle to back up the frantic riffing. I don't really go for the hardcore-derived vocal style of singer Tomas Lindberg, I much prefer my death metal with the gutteral growls of Reifert, Vincent and Chuck to this "shouty" style which very often rubs me up the wrong way wherever I encounter it and is probably the most offputting aspect of the album for me.
I can definitely hear how influential this album has been upon not only no end of melodeath wannabees, but also on the development of metalcore, the earliest practitioners of which must have been well acquainted with this. I would have to say that this is a very good example of a style of metal that I am not the biggest fan of and, a bit like my attitude towards Trivium's In Waves, it is an album I would probably only return to when I was in a mood for something different from my usual fare, acknowleding it as important in the development of metal and being enjoyable enough in it's own right, without it really resonating with me on a personal level.
3.5/5
I have been reacquainting myself with Amorphis' Tales From the Thousand Lakes over the last couple of days and during the course of that I noticed how many of my favourite albums were released that year, so I thought I'd do a quick top 10.
Sonny's Top Ten Releases of 1994:
1. Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
2. Mayhem - De mysteriis dom Sathanas
3. Enslaved - Vikingligr veldi
4. Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger
5. Cianide - A Descent Into Hell
6. Burzum - Hvis lyset tar oss
7. Fimbulwinter - Servants of Sorcery
8. Thergothon - Stream From the Heavens
9. Gorement - The Ending Quest
10. Amorphis - Tales From the Thousand Lakes
Nothing rates less than a 9/10 for me on this list.
Amorphis - Tales From the Thousand Lakes (1994)I am finally on a bit more familiar territory with an album I have known for quite a while. Tales From the Thousand Lakes is actually one of the first albums I got into when, after a hiatus of several years, I ventured back into metal in the late nineties and it was one of those I got a dodgy copy of using that new-fangled Napster thingy, so beloved by Lars Ulrich & co. Over the years, I had actually begun to doubt whether this was as good as I thought it was back then, or if it was failing to age well, but revisiting it now has re-ignited my love of it and confirmed that it has stood the test of time and still maintains it's reputation as a one-of-a-kind classic.
Tales... is the band's sophomore full-length, following 1992's The Karelian Isthmus and is a concept album based around the Finnish national epic poem known as The Kalevala. The first half of the nineties found most death metal bands pushing the boundaries of extremity, whether through increasing technicality, plumbing greater depths of cavernous doominess or just sheer bloody-minded brutality, becoming more and more extreme seemed to be the order of the day. Amorphis, however, pursued another route entirely, whereby the story was the key and the music to express it needed to be more accessible and expansive than mere technicality or brutality would allow. Tales From the Thousand Lakes is absolutely rooted in death metal, but it also has much more going on. The darkness of violence, blasphemy and evil which were the staples of death metal's ethos and aesthetic up to this point are entirely absent and TFtTL has a far lighter and airier feel that any death metal I have heard that was produced prior to this. It displays an epic nature that borrows from classic heavy metal and even Candlemass' style of epic doom metal with an expansive style that suits the material beautifully and breaks the mould for death metal, the songs incorporating a previously unknown level of melodicism into the genre. As a consequence every track has it's own atmosphere, yet they all flow together magically, to produce a coherent and consistent album that is accessible, aesthetically pleasing and incredibly memorable. Into a death metal-based foundation is woven folk metal and progressive elements with a variety of vocal styles from DM's usual deep growls to soaring cleans and a creative use of keyboards at key points without overdoing this side of things. This is a point that needs emphasising, I think, despite using potentially cheesy and overblown styles like folk and progressive metal, the album itself never descends to cartoonishness and is incredibly restrained and tasteful throughout it's runtime.
Undoubtedly Thousand Lakes was incredibly influential and I wouldn't be at all surprised if fellow Finns and symphonic metal flag-bearers Nightwish weren't heavily influenced by it, along with any number of more obvious melodic death metal outfits. This is assuredly a lightning-in-a-bottle, one-of-a-kind album that any number of bands (including Amorphis themselves) have attempted and failed to replicate anything like as successfully and it is a testament to original songwriting and strong storytelling emerging from the extreme metal scene of the 1990s. A classic of melodic and atmospheric extreme metal.
4.5/5
I listened to Snowland this evening whilst taking Koko for her last walk of the day. I have to use Spotify for my mobile listening so I could only find the MMXII re-recorded version. I still found it to be very much up my street and I'm itching to hear the rawer, original version. Is it on YouTube or Bandcamp do you know Vinny?
It is on both YouTube and Bandcamp Sonny, but I listened to it on Bandcamp.
Nice one. I'll head on over and grab a copy from BC.
The last couple of full-lengths from Québec depressive/atmospheric black metal duo Gris are worth checking out. 2007's "Il était une forêt..." is arguably Canada's most widely celebrated black metal release however I prefer their 2013 double album "À l'âme enflammée, l'âme constellée..." to tell you the truth.
I'd second Il était une forêt... I found it to be one of the most affecting DSBM releases I have heard.
I listened to Snowland this evening whilst taking Koko for her last walk of the day. I have to use Spotify for my mobile listening so I could only find the MMXII re-recorded version. I still found it to be very much up my street and I'm itching to hear the rawer, original version. Is it on YouTube or Bandcamp do you know Vinny?