Wonderbox Metal gets sent a lot of new music, (which is great), but there’s no way that everything can get covered unfortunately, (which is not so great). This column hopes to redress this balance, if only slightly, by taking a look at a handful of releases that a record label has recently sent out that might have otherwise slipped through the cracks.
Godz Ov War Productions have released some good albums over the years, so now seemed as good a time as any to catch up with some of their latest output. According to the label, they are “an independent label dedicated to extreme music from the depths of the underground.”Let’s see what they’ve got…
Eradicate – Demise Towards the Dasein – Death Metal – Turkey
We’ll start with this very robust little 13-minute demo/EP from Eradicate. The band play old-school death metal with a healthy dose of cavernous doom.
The singer bellows like an absolute daemon. His deep growls are murderous and dark. There are some lacerating screams used too, but whether this is the same singer or someone else in the band I have no idea. Either way, they’re damn good, and I like the way they work together across the tracks.
The songs are well-written and without extraneous fat. Lean and lethal, the music is crushing and harsh, just like this sort of thing should be. Whispering Paranoia is brief, groovy, and ancient, with the sort of characterful delivery that sticks out. Involution within the Void brings in the band’s doom influence, as well as their blast beats, making for a well-rounded piece of filth that’s both savage and atmospheric. Closer Pseuodic Liberty of the Mind consolidates the band’s strengths further, unleashing a 5-minute slab of destruction that simply devastates.
As the band’s first release, Demise Towards the Dasein is a very strong one. I will definitely look forward to hearing more from Eradicate. A top underground find this one, don’t miss it.
Toughness – The Prophetic Dawn – Death Metal – Poland
More death metal now, this time a full debut album from Toughness. This is death metal of a much more esoteric variety, however. Toughness do not follow the easy route with their music, and instead deliver the sort of vile, shapeshifting, underground death metal that’s as dark and evil as it is satisfying and rewarding.
Playing the sort of atypical and idiosyncratic death metal that should please fans of bands like Demilich, Ad Nauseam, Morbid Angel, and Immolation, The Prophetic Dawn is a monster of an album.
It’s technical and impenetrable, but also engaging in a way that feels almost subversive somehow. The songs are dense, murky swarms of mutant riffs and wayward rhythms, a feast of jagged wandering bass and off-kilter drumming. Snatches of dissonant anti-melody occasionally break through to provide undiscovered colours to briefly brighten the songs, before being sucked back down into the music’s great amorphous mass.
This is the sort of album that you really need to spend some proper time with in order to truly appreciate its impact, but once you start to fathom how its labyrinthine ways work, that’s when the true rewards start to emerge.
Definitely not for everyone, but impressive nonetheless.
Angrrsth/Czort – W Czeluść – Split – Black Metal – Poland
Angrrsth start this split and offer two tracks, 14 minutes of material. Imagine a mix of Mānbryne, Keep of Kalessin, and Panzerfaust, and you’ll have a decent starting point for Angrrsth.
Blasting out of the gate with a full and darkly aggressive sound, Pętla starts off fast and sharp. When the band slow down they unleash the atmosphere, and are grand and imposing. I particularly enjoy the last two and a half minutes or so, with its epic sound and clean chants. Przerwana shows an even darker side to the band, with malevolent rhythms and immersive atmosphere.
Czort are next, with two tracks, 9 minutes of material. As a starting point for this band’s sound think of Satyricon and Uada, with a touch of Rotting Christ.
Źródło Upadku offers an energetic and melodic take on the style, with layered guitars and rhythmic darkness. It’s a good song, and the winding sinister melodies burrow deep in the listener’s skull. Ofiara follows in the footsteps of the previous track, only with a more epic feel. With sharper melodies and good songwriting, Ofiara is a moody work of melodic art.
A good split from two band’s I haven’t encountered before. One for connoisseurs of black metal to explore.
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