Black metal – Page 151 – Wonderbox Metal

Obsequiae – Aria of Vernal Tombs (Review)

This is the second album by US Black Metallers Obsequiae.

Aria of Vernal Tombs is the follow up to their first album, Suspended in the Brume of Eos.

The album features a cover that is dear to my heart as it depicts Valle Crucis Abbey, a place I’ve been to many times. With that in mind I happily pressed play and the band didn’t let me down.

Obsequiae return with another round of medieval-influenced Black Metal. They play Melodic Black Metal and have refined their melodic attack by improving on the already well-defined melodies from their début.

The production means that Obsequiae sound bigger, better and bolder this time around, but it’s not just that; the music sounds more confident and sure of itself. Something has clicked somewhere and Aria of Vernal Tombs is even more enjoyable than its predecessor.

Medieval instrumentation adds authenticity to the tunes and it merges seamlessly with the Metal. You can almost imagine this kind of Black Metal being a popular form of music all those centuries ago…almost…

This release is a nice and natural progression for Obsequiae and I hope they continue to develop in the future. The longest song here is just under 5 and a half minutes in length but I can easily imagine them writing involved songs twice that length. Here’s hoping.

For now though, slip on Aria of Vernal Tombs and become immersed.

Ecferus – Prehistory (Review)

This is the début album by Ecferus, a one man Black Metal project from the US.

This is Black Metal that’s somewhere between the Cascadian type and the more dissonant style of Black Metal.

The songs feature emotive riffing that seems to wind around on a journey, searching for something that was lost long ago. It’s marvellously composed.

The thing that I love about Black Metal like this, (well, one of the things), is the sense of exploration and wonder that it brings me. This is well-thought out music that is more than just a collection of riffs, it’s about atmosphere and feeling in the widest sense.

The pieces of music contained on this 36 minute release provide the listener with a musical framework wrought from the Blackest Black Metal from which they can feel the wonder and awe that the artist clearly feels about the universe and our existence.

A decent amount of variety is incorporated across these 4 tracks and there’s a lot to absorb here. Even the faster sections are dedicated to providing the listener with a thoughtfully emotive experience and taken holistically every song works hard, (though effortlessly), to engage and stimulate.

Ecferus are a great example of all that is right and healthy with the Black Metal scene in 2015.

An essential listen, I feel.

Kafirun – Glorification of Holy Death (Review)

Kafirun are from Canada and play Black Metal. This is their latest EP.

After their enjoyable début release Death Worship, Kafirun return with more True Black Metal to assault the masses with.

Kafirun play their Black Metal extremely well. It’s authentic, pitch-black and full of malevolent feeling.

The songs are like hymns to darkness and the relatively varied and emotive vocal delivery leads the sermon in ritualistic worship.

There’s a touch of Mayhem and Deathspell Omega to their Black Metal assault, both in the vocals and music.

The band have a really good sound – it’s raw enough to have the Black Metal aesthetic without it detracting from the overall performance as it’s also thick and balanced enough to be an enjoyable listen.

It’s only a short EP at 21 minutes in length, but each track showcases the band’s songwriting skill and passion for Black Metal.

Kafirun have shown us once again that they’re ones to watch. Keep it up!

Hellripper -The Manifestation of Evil (Review)

Hellripper is a one-man Black Metal band from Scotland and this is his first release.

If you’re anything like me, when you think of one-man Black Metal bands you tend to think of the longer, darker end of the Black Metal spectrum; crazed loners creating malevolent art that sprawls aeons of textured oblivion.

What you probably don’t think of is raw, underground, Speed Metal infused Black Metal. This entire EP is shorter than the average one-man Black Metal project’s song length.

This is ugly and primitive but not without character. The riffs have attitude and it’s like a Blackened Motörhead mixed with Impaled Nazarene or Audiopain and a sprinkling of early Kreator.

The songs are good, much better than you might think. The more I listen to it the more I think of a Blackened version of Kreator, when they first started off and were all spikes and attitude. Hellripper are cut from the same bloody cloth.

Short, loose and surprisingly catchy, Hellripper have produced an enjoyable ride through the worst part of town.

Listen loud.

Outre – Ghost Chants (Review)

Outre are a Black Metal band from Poland and this is their début album.

After their début EP and their split with Thaw, this has been an eagerly awaited release from these talented Black Metallers.

Theirs is a form of Black Metal that combines Atmospheric Black Metal with a Post-Black Metal sensibility to create transcendent Dark Art.

This is a band who are no stranger to pure Blackened brutality either though, as there are plenty of faster and heavier sections in their music as well as the more atmospheric and considered ones.

Ghost Chants features sophisticated and modern Black Metal that’s more Deathspell Omega than Darkthrone. The songs are exemplars of the style and this is a very professional and well-recorded album that nonetheless loses none of Black Metal’s inherent venom or antagonism.

The exceptional vocals this time around add an entire other layer to Outre’s sound, especially with the extremely talented vocalist they have employed. The vocals on Ghost Chants are diverse and brilliantly performed. Taking in pretty much all aspects of a Black Metal performance that you can think of, these are a crowning addition to an already superb band.

Ghost Chants is an exceptional release by an extremely gifted troupe of Black Metallers.

A must.

Porta Nigra – Kaiserschnitt (Review)

Porta Nigra are from Germany and this is their second album. They play Black Metal.

This is atypical, eccentric Black Metal that has a marching, martial feel to it as well as diverse other influences lurking around its dark underbelly.

The largely mid-paced assault is of a more individual variety than the usual Darkthrone-influenced one that you might expect.

Additionally, the extra sounds and noises in the form of samples, trumpets, keyboards and other instruments introduce aspects of their sound that further mark them out as different from the pack.

The vocals are varied screams and shouts as well as the occasional clean. Coupled with the charismatic music you never know quite what’s going to happen next on the album.

The songs have a Black Metal identity that’s further added to by elements of Heavy Metal, Punk and Avant Garde, depending on the whims of the band members it seems. It all sounds remarkably coherent however and as a whole the album works.

Lots of different moods and styles around these core musical themes are explored and Porta Nigra have impressed with their ability to create a diverse body of work on Kaiserschnitt.

This is a band who have completely stamped their own personality onto the Black Metal template and have produced an album that stands apart and stands strong.

Check this out today.

Angmaer – Toward Darkness’ Paradise (Review)

Angmaer is a one man Black Metal band from the UK. This is Angmaer’s début album.

This is raw, Old-School Black Metal with a cold sound and an even colder heart.

Angmaer is the sound of a horrific curse, born of its Scandinavian forefathers and birthed into an uncaring underground world where it has slowly been uncoiling and feasting on lesser entities.

This will take you right back to when you first heard badly recorded Black Metal back in the early 90’s and it all sounded so visceral and nasty. Toward Darkness’ Paradise harken’s unashamedly back to this era.

The vocals are acidic and burn upon exposure. They’re performed as well as any in this genre and really have a sharp, frosty tang to them.

The songs have plenty of aggression but also slow the pace where necessary. The darkened feelings and Blackened atmospheres are cultivated through every part of these songs and it really does almost feel as if you’ve stepped back in time.

This is also a release that looks to the future though. Reliving past glories is one thing, but the riffs here have their own take on Black Metal’s infernal light; Norway filtered through the UK.

Time to support the underground and check out Toward Darkness’ Paradise.

Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern/Eternal Sleep/Chiral – Sed Auiss – Split (Review)

Here we have a split between three different one-man Black Metal projects. All bands have contributed two songs each to this release.

Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern, from Germany, is the first to perform and offers up 15 minutes of music, longer than both other bands.

These songs have a good sound and provide emotive Black Metal with strong vocals and good riffs.

There are quite a few nice aspects to Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern’s sound. Crisp, raw guitars, Post-Black Metal interludes, near-static screaming vocals; it all adds up to a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

The music takes the listener on a journey and covers various moods across the running time. As well as being Blackly aggressive the mood is also a reflective one.

This is my first encounter with Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern and I have to say I’m very impressed.

Next we have Eternal Spell; hailing from Chile and contributing 8 minutes to this split.

In contrast to Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern, Eternal Spell’s take on Black Metal is a more primitive and straight-for-the-jugular affair.

This Black Metal takes the raw template and infuses it with elements of Speed Metal and Punk to produce two tracks that kick you right where it hurts.

It’s resolutely Old-School and unreservedly underground. It’s honest, enjoyable and not lacking in charm.

Finally we have Chiral, from Italy, who we have met before, here, here and here. It’s always a pleasure to hear new work from this talented individual so a further 12 minutes of music is most welcome.

As usual it’s high quality, high calibre Black Metal that continues the development that the artist has shown so far of actually improving with every release.

This is sharp Atmospheric Black Metal that contains a decent amount of melody without blunting the strength of the attack.

The melodies, grooves and speed captivates from first listen and the well-performed vocals are authentically fierce. Both the screams and growls sound great and they help bring everything else together.

Whether playing faster or slower the songs are well-written and capture the dark essence of Black Metal straight from the off.

Another win for Chiral.

Overall this is a worthwhile split to get your hands on especially for Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern and Chiral’s contributions, which are my favourites.

Aegrum – De Arrival (Review)

This is the second release from Aegrum who are an Indonesian Symphonic Black Metal band.

This is underground Black Metal with an atmospheric element characterised by the added keyboards. Coming off like something that should have been released in 1995, De Arrival is an endearing and honest paean to lost times and old glories.

The guitars are as paper thin as anything from the mists of Black Metal history but retain a dark lustre nonetheless. The Blackened melodies are sharp and provide an underpinning backdrop for the mournful keyboards.

The vocals are like solidified lightning and flash out on top of the music with evil intent.

For me, there’s a lot of nostalgic character present in a band like this, and it really does take me back to an earlier time. I have a similar emotional response to Aegrum as I do to Cosmic Infusion, which is one to savour.

This is really enjoyable. Be sure to check this out and get your hit of well-performed mid-90’s style Symphonic Black Metal.

Forgotten Tomb – Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love (Review)

Forgotten Tomb are from Italy and play Black Metal. This is their eighth album.

Forgotten Tomb specialise in negatively-charged Black Metal with a healthy amount of Doom influence thrown in. I’ve always found their work to be highly engaging and have always viewed them as sounding akin to what Paradise Lost might have ended up like had they discovered and embraced Black Metal early on.

Like Paradise Lost, Forgotten Tomb have a good ear for the melodies. They twist, turn and wind their way through the songs with an emotive passion that brings these seven tracks alive with a rich despondency. The melodic leads may form a central point of focus, but the rest of the music rallies around it effectively too.

Having said all that though, Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love has a bit more bite than previous releases; not that they’ve lacked for this in the past, it’s just that this latest release has more of a vicious snarl to it than some of their other work.

They haven’t turned into Anaal Nathrakh, of course, and the depressive element of their sound is still their major driving force; but there’s an increased aggressive side to the band on this release. It’s as if they’re no longer content to merely be vessels for the misery and they’re now wanting to take a more active role in its propagation.

The music has a professional recording and is nicely heavy. The guitars have a very satisfying tone and the vocals are sounding as good as ever, maybe even a little more evil than normal.

Forgotten Tomb have mastered the art of sounding catchy without drifting too far into commercial-sounding waters. They’re a band who, after so long, know exactly how to write a good song, and Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love is full of them.

This is an extremely strong album that demonstrates how to write Depressive Black Metal with enough kick and personality to truly engage and connect with the listener. Bleakly wonderful.