This is the latest EP from “supergroup” band Nader Sadek.
The project features contributions ex- and current members of such notable bands as Cryptopsy, Aura Noir, Decapitated and Cattle Decapitation.
This is dark Death Metal with an aura of evil and a Classic Death Metal feel to it without it ever becoming overly Old-School in nature.
The general vibe is one of a cross between Morbid Angel and Deicide, although there is more going on here than just this, notably so on closing track Descent which features more of a Doom/atmospheric influence.
There are four songs on this EP, clocking in at just under 21 minutes in total, and each one of them has clearly had a lot of work put into it.
It’s very well recorded and the drums in particular sound thunderous. Everything is tight and well-played, as one would expect from musicians of this calibre.
The songs are enjoyable flights of Death Metal fancy and do a great job of delivering the goods.
Just Before Dawn is an international “supergroup” of sorts. This is their second album.
This is a war-themed Death Metal album in the Swedish style, replete with Chainsaw sound and harrowing melodics. This is combined with a good Bolt Thrower influence to produce the mother of all War Metal sounds.
The album features contributions from members of bands like Megascavenger, Massacre, Bolt Thrower, God Macabre, Bodyfarm, Aeon, Puteraeon, Morgoth and Demonical. Due to this, you know it’s going to be played and performed well, which it is.
As this is essentially Swedish Death Metal there are no real surprises here, content-wise, but that’s not important; what is important is the songs themselves and how good they are.
The calibre of the musicians involved and their collective experience means that they are not found wanting in this regard, of course. The songs are as warlike and bloodthirsty as you would expect.
The tracks pound and demolish their way across the battlefield like an armoured steamroller; heavy, relentless and unstoppable.
In some ways there’s not a lot to say about an album like this. If you like the Swedish style, if you like Bolt Thrower, if you like good riffs and good songs…you’ll like Just Before Dawn.
Rash Decision are from the UK and play Crossover Thrash/Hardcore.
Fast songs with short tempers; Rash Decision play Hardcore mixed with Thrash in its Speed Metal guise.
I find this style of music can get really stale, really fast, but the nice thing about Rash Decision is they manage to avoid this pitfall.
How? A couple of reasons. The first is the sheer energy and enthusiasm that these songs have. They seem alive.
The second is that although the songs are short they’re still actually songs. The band know how to write a good tune and there are hooks and catchy moments spread throughout this album like bountiful gems.
The vocalist has a good voice with just the right amount of belligerence and charisma.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable release from a band that play with passion and know how to write a good Old-School Hardcore tune mixed with a bit of Speed Metal for good measure.
If you’re looking for a perfect example of a Death Metal band that combines emotive destruction with wanton slaughter then you’d be hard pressed to better Arroganz. Their third album Tod & Teufel is a must for all fans of interesting, individualistic Death Metal everywhere. I quizzed their guitarist -P- to find out more…
Give us a bit of background to ARROGANZ!
ARROGANZ are – K – (vocals / bass / guitars), – P – (guitars / vocals) and – T – (drums / vocals). The bands origin is the city of Cottbus (Ger). Nowadays we live in different cities.
What are your influences?
Life and death. A lot of dark arts and music are given to us and we have a heart for all its being as long as it is honest and filled with spirit. Surely you could hear some of the influences – but we don’t like to be compared with these and other bands all the time.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
Just to reduce it to actual (2014) albums: Tryptikon – Melana Chasmata, Morbus Chron – Sweven, Ophis – Abhorrence In Opulence, Deathronation – Hallow The Dead, Dark Fortress – Venereal Dawn, Woods Of Desolation – As The Stars, Herder – Gods, Stench – Venture
What are your opinions on the current state of the Death Metal genre?
German death metal is growing more and more as t is recognized by the international underground better than ever.
Your take on Death Metal is a bit more individualistic and interesting than the norm and includes, to my ears, shades of atmospherics, Black Metal and My Dying Bride-esque melodics. What are your thoughts on this?
We just don’t go along with any trends. The construct of ARROGANZ contents and expresses a special philosophy and spirit. You can hear that certain combination of black/death/doom/rock’n roll elements and we feel free to do whatever we want to do! I don’t see anything ARROGANZ has in common with My Dying Bride. It is a great band but it serves a different style of music.
What did you want to achieve with your new release?
By releasing “Tod & Teufel” we manifest the line-up and its being in 2014.
We just made another big step!
Are you happy with how it turned out?
100% yes. You wouldn’t have been able to listen to it if it was different. We are satisfied as fuck and can’t wait to release that bastard. Our new label FDA REKOTZ is doing a great job and we get the support for “Tod & Teufel” that we need.
Talk to us about the lyrics
-K- writes the lyrics. The lines of “Tod & Teufel” are deep and dark philosophical – as well as spiritual. They are a strong outbreak of an inner being and very open. But instead of talking about them: Read them!
What’s the meaning of the title?
We don’t want to translate it into English. It is about freedom – the will and want to do, what you want and need to do.
How do you go about writing your songs?
-K- writes the songs. Then we arrange them together and try to get the best out of them. When we’re done doing this, I (-P-) make a preproduction. We all try to give the best amount of atmosphere, darkness and dirtiness to the songs. It is not only important to write it perfect, it is always about how to play it, too!
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
We are a very creative band – of course we already got ideas for the next onslaught. We will go the way we started to go – the songs will sound like ARROGANZ and probably will be different…that’s our attitude.
What’s next for Arroganz?
The first shows and festivals are confirmed. After the release we’re going to play gigs and in 2015 we’re going to have a split EP with three other German death metal bands.
This is the début album from Serbian Progressive Thrash Metal band Alitor.
Alitor play Thrash Metal with bite and a Death-esque Progressive edge. Straight out of the gate it’s high-octane stuff and has an immediate charisma to it.
The musicianship of the band is first-rate. There is some very skilled and technical playing going on here. This is true of all of the instruments, even the oft-neglected bass.
The songs combine snappy Thrash riffs with piercing Progressive melodies and hybrid Thrash/Death Metal vocals. The singer is quite varied in his approach and frequently veers into more Death Metal territory than that of classic Thrash.
These are involving and complex songs. The drums, bass and guitars are all played and executed at an advanced level and the strong recording makes the most of this. Imagine a classic Thrash band, mix this with Death at their Proggiest, add a splash of Death Metal and Alitor will be the result.
With every song, (bar the first), being longer than 5 minutes this is an album that has plenty of depth and a lot to offer. Eternal Depression is somewhat of a misleading title as there is nothing to get depressed about here.
Have a listen to Alitor and let them blow you away.
Varathron are a Black Metal band from Greece. This is their fifth album.
Untrodden Corridors of Hades is a nuanced Black Metal album that contains many different interpretations of the style all bound up in the band’s vision and flawless delivery.
The songs here have good variety within their chosen genre and Varathron work with rich textures to create their dark art.
Interesting riffs, Blackened melodies, subtle keyboard highlights, solid drums, expressive vocalisations; these are the ingredients that make this album what it is.
Whether playing winding Septic Flesh-esque riffs or revelling in the slower, slithering nature of Black Metal’s dark underbelly; Varathron ply their trade with skill and ease.
These songs are intricate beasts that rely on feeling and intensity of passion rather than stand-out catchy riffs. This is music that may be overt in delivery but it has a very subtle subtext that means it works its magic best gradually over time.
If you’re after one-dimensional blasting Black Metal then you’ve come to the wrong place. Listening to Varathron is more like listening to an involved ritual of summoning. This is Black Metal perfectly at ease with itself.
Varathron have released a complex listen that’s no less satisfying because of it.
Let the band take you on a tour and tread these corridors with them, you won’t regret it.
This is a split between the Aires, Rui P. Andrade and Earthly Beasts, all are Portuguese and solo artists/projects. This is a collection of three tracks of Ambient/Drone that lasts just over 29 minutes in total.
As always with these kind of releases I have to be in the mood for them, but when you are in such a mood this split is a good place to visit.
Aires, who we met before with Aires, starts us off with the first track Solvet Cosmos in Favilla. This starts with tense noises and keeps this up throughout the 9:05 playing time, subtly twisting and morphing it at a glacial pace as the track develops. Subtle samples can be heard in the background and the entire thing comes off with an Industrial/Black Metal vibe, almost like an ambient work by a band like Blut Aus Nord.
Initially I wasn’t too fussed by this to be honest, but it slowly worked its insidious charms on my brain and by the end of the track when it starts to splinter and fracture into nothingness I was hooked. Great stuff.
The next track, Turdus Merula, is by Rui P. Andrade. This ebbs and flows with Ambient patience through the 10:46 playing time to create a dark sonicscape that sounds like the aural equivalent of the release’s cover, really.
I like this track as it has recognisable changes within it, flowing between louder and softer moments and undulating as the artist sees fit, eventually descending into noise territory as it begins to unravel near the 9:00 mark.
The final track on the split, Erebus, is by Earthly Beasts and it starts off with some extremely ominous sounds akin to something from the Silent Hill games. Thankfully the track then goes on to do what I was hoping it would do and it turns into quite a harrowing series of sounds and noises designed to unnerve and terrify.
The purity of horror that this song initially creates though does not last, as even though it does carry on the theme some of the noises take on a pseudo-Techno feel and sometimes I almost expect a dance beat to appear. Thankfully it doesn’t but it changes the dynamic of the song enough to create a different mood than the one of pure malevolence that it started with.
Of all of the tracks here this is the most rhythmic, and it balances the background aura of despondency against the harsher foreground rhythmic noise in such a way that the 9:20 playing time flies by and you’re not sure whether to be scared or relieved.
This is a great showcase for three talented artists. If you’re partial to Drone/Ambient sounds then I heartily recommend you go and get this.
A varied, enigmatic and above all quality release.
Temple of Void are from the US and this is their début album. They play Doom with an infusion of Death Metal.
Temple of Void’s 2013 Demo was a really enjoyable 3-track taster for the band, and this début full length takes those three songs, adds 5 more and results in Of Terror and the Supernatural.
Their sound is one of Doom Metal mixed with an Old-School Death Metal influence, which manifests in the faster sections, the deep vocals and the general air of rotting heaviness that the band exude with every diseased pore.
Opener The Embalmer’s Art is like a microcosm for the album as a whole. It has faster, gritty sections which are tempered by largely slow and Doom-y main parts and morbid, grim vocals. The guitar melodies are haunting, downright miserable and very, very powerful.
Somehow, even though this is only a début, Temple of Void have managed to produce a piece of rotten artistry that sounds as if it has taken decades to coalesce into being. The songs sound mature and so full of atmosphere and dark tidings it seems impossible that these are new songs and not long lost tracks from the vaults of Peaceville history.
Upon first listening to the album it sounds instantly welcoming and familiar without sounding stale or old-hat. Upon subsequent listens this feeling is reinforced and very quickly the album shapes up to be both an old friend and a stunning new discovery.
The vocals are deep growls that have an instant presence and charisma. Somewhat reminiscent of the singer of Opeth at his expressive, malevolent deepest; the singer of Temple of Void has a phenomenal bellow that really clears the cobwebs away.
I’m incredibly impressed with this. The quality of the riffs, the depth of feeling that they evoke and the whole structure of the songs in general speaks volumes about the talent of the band.
Crawling Death Metal-laced Doom has never sounded so good.
Algoma are a Sludge/Doom band from Canada and this is their début album.
Algoma play the kind of filthy, grim Sludge akin to the likes of Eyehategod, Fistula, Buzzov.en, etc.
The riffs are heavy and large and have the relentless inevitability of a slow-moving avalanche. Reclaimed by the Forest seems to be powered by these monstrous guitars, as if they have an energy all to themselves; self-generating and powerful enough to make everything else follow suite.
Vocally the singer has a voice that’s somewhere between a shout and a bark.
The band’s sound is murky and dense, as one would expect from a Sludge Metal group, but there’s a healthy amount of Doom to their style meaning they go slower than some similar bands.
At almost 42 minutes in length it doesn’t outstay its welcome and the infectious nature of the Sludgy guitars mean that it’s a good album to zone out to and become encased in the heaviness.
Each song is a smorgasbord of heaviness, crunchy guitars and bile.
SSS, (or Short Sharp Shock), are from the UK and play Thrash Metal/Crossover. This is their fourth album.
Featuring Metal that’s heavy, antagonistic and to-the-point, SSS’s latest album is a Thrash/Crossover onslaught that is as good an overview as any of where this particular style is at in 2014.
The songs are instantly catchy and memorable enough to stick around after a few spins. The chuggy guitars and stub-nosed riffs mean that subtlety is not a key part of their sound, but subtlety can be overrated; sometimes you just need to have some violent fun and SSS provide the soundtrack.
SSS manage to capture the intensity of Hardcore, the riffs of Thrash and the pure heaviness of Metal. This combination embodies the Crossover spirit and the songs rumble and chug along nicely, battering everything else aside with their enthusiasm and blunt delivery.
The vocals are gritty and belligerent shouts that perfectly straddle the Thrash/Hardcore divide. Added higher/lower screams/growls add emphasis and a bit of extremity when needed. There’s even a guest spot from the singer of Carcass.
Although I’m not a massive fan of this particular style SSS are clearly better than most.
This is the latest EP from “supergroup” band Nader Sadek.
Wonderbox Metal 