Black metal – Page 152 – Wonderbox Metal

Sühnopfer – Offertoire (Review)

This is the second album from French Black Metallers Sühnopfer.

Sühnopfer play Black Metal that’s sharp, atmospheric and full of Blackened melodies bubbling beneath the blasting surface.

The vocals sound genuinely unhinged. They consist of high pitched screams that are piercing in a way that demands attention.

The songs are richly written with an emphasis on grandiose melodies and expressive guitars. This is Black Metal that’s absolutely played on its own terms to the beat of an older drum. Well, an older set of blast beats mainly.

The sound of the drums is infectious and the guitars seem to shine like crystal. This gives Offertoire a brightness that stands out, even with the dark core that’s inherent in this style of music.

Recalling melodic late 90’s dark delights from the likes of Setherial or even Satyricon, Sühnopfer rarely let up the pace and it works for them very well.

The band manage to create a medieval quality to these tracks, with the rhythms and leads frequently seeming to be inspired by this era; further enhanced as well by the album cover.

This is an album that hits the right spots and ends up as a very satisfying listen.

Highly recommended.

Wömit Angel – Maggotmouth (Review)

Wömit Angel are from Finland and play Crust-infused Black Metal.

This is their latest EP, which is the follow up to their 2014 release Holy Goatse. There are three tracks of odious Black Metal lasting all of seven and a half minutes.

It starts off with the title track Maggotmouth, which is all blasting hatred and frothing at the mouth. It’s primitive, underground Black Metal crossed with a Punk/Crust aesthetic that’s rough enough to hurt.

As opening statements go it’s a good one.

The next track Children of Moon follows up Maggotmouth with equal fury. Vocals are rasped threats and the music is suitable ascerbic. Deep, gargling vocals back up the higher ones and they sound suitably disgusting.

The final track King-SM is a re-recorded version of a track from their début demo Gnitimov fo Gninnigeb Eht. This follows the same format as the previous two songs and cements Wömit Angel’s enduring appeal.

This is a band who write attractively murky riffs that do the Blackened Crust thing well and leave no doubt in my mind that Wömit Angel are the real deal.

If anything I’d say that Maggotmouth represents a good step forward for the band and an improvement on Holy Goatse, which in itself was no slouch.

Quality work from these peddlers of filth. Keep it up!

Arthedain – Arias Exalted (Review)

Arthedain are from Germany and play Black Metal. This is their second EP.

Arthedain play Black Metal that’s powered by the frosted winds and icy to the core.

Razor sharp Blackened riffs cut though the chill and the blasting drums pummel all who dare expose themselves to these bitter elements.

When the band slow themselves down they show themselves perfectly capable of getting themselves into a good groove.

Subtle atmospheric highlights enhance the compositions and the band create suitably darkly majestic soundscapes to accompany their art but without ostentation or vulgar overtness.

At 14 minutes in length this only a short introduction to the band really, but it’s one that I have really enjoyed. Arthedain play their Black Metal very well indeed.

Here’s hoping their début album will be as good as this.

Eerie – Into Everlasting Death (Review)

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

With an album cover that screams “QUALITY METAL”, Eerie explode out of the speakers like a freight train, all speed and power. Their brand of Black Metal is of the underground, yet-still-state-of-the-art variety.

Blasting drums and Blackened melodies merge into a holistic listening experience that transcends mere descriptive words. This is elemental Black Metal, torn from the void and given form by practiced hands.

This is not a one-dimensional blast-fest though as Eerie have degrees of venomous attack and enough variety and light/shade to provide the listener with real depth.

Powerful vocals dominate proceedings, be this Blackened screams, commanding shouts or subtle cleans; the performance level is high and the delivery faultless.

These songs have the feel of exciting, otherworldly Black Metal that was highly prevalent in the late 90’s/early 00’s and Eerie take me back to those days whilst still managing to sound completely of the here and now.

Into Everlasting Death is a well-composed, highly realised incarnation of high Black Metal art. Seek it out.

Kjeld – Skym (Review)

Kjeld are from the Netherlands and this is their début album. They play Black Metal.

This is Black Metal that’s as cold as ice and as hard as diamond. The band have a great production that carries them along. It’s a dry, cold sound that suits the delivery of the music.

Their songs promote images of a barren and inhospitable landscape, which is just like Kjeld’s sound; frosted and ageless, with slivers of melody peaking out through the ruins of long dead civilisations.

The band have a talent for these subtle melodies that seem to ooze out of the rhythm guitars like glaciers. They play fast but the atmospheres created are enduring and lasting.

The impression Kjeld give is one of permanence and durability. They seem built to weather the storms and the biting cold, steadfastly waiting for their moment to come. With the release of Skym that moment could be now.

The drums blast and the thick guitars burn cold beneath the dark majesty of the music. Harsh screams are well-placed in the mix and the singer does the genre proud.

Coming across as early Black Metal in the Scandinavian style, Kjeld have somewhat of a timeless quality to them; they manage to sound simultaneously classic and contemporary.

Skym is a really, really good album. Have a listen and let the frost creep in.

Sigihl – Trauermärsche (And a Tango Upon the World’s Grave) (Review)

This is the début album from Polish Black/Doom/Sludge Metal band Sigihl.

Sigihl play their Black Metal with added elements of Sludge, Doom and Drone.

This is special, in a disgustingly infectious way. There’s no guitar, but there is a saxophone. Sigihl make Black Metal art by their own rules. It’s intriguing, depraved and utterly compelling.

Calling it Black Metal though is a bit misleading, as although Black Metal is an integral component of their writing, equally important is the Doom/Sludge influence.

The bass-heavy distortion is combined with a saxophone sound that seems dredged up from the most sinister and worrying parts of a Silent Hill game. It’s unusual and instantly appealing. Sigihl have really worked out how to get the most from emotive filthiness.

The wailing vocals are buried by the bass and provide an unhinged counterpoint to the plaintive saxophone melodies.

The repetitive dirge/Drone-like nature of the music is infectious and draws you in, eager to experience the joyful misery that this cavalcade of woe is pedalling.

Sigihl have created a listening experience that’s almost tangible enough to touch.

A very individual release, destined to be tragically overlooked by many Metal fans. Don’t let this be the case with you.

Decline of the I – Rebellion (Review)

This is the second album by Post-Black Metal band Decline of the I.

Rebellion is an interesting and sometimes eclectic mix of the rabid and the beautiful.

A lot of time and energy must have gone into this album in order to give it so much depth and texture. Every song has a lot going on and the compositions reflect the restrained chaos that’s encapsulated here.

Brutal Blackened mayhem is artfully weaved into the overall structure of a wider musical framework that encompasses a multifaceted palette. Fragile and expansive Post-Metal guitar melodies flail against pure Blackened spite in a battle for supremacy. It’s impressive how the various feelings and emotions play off each other yet always manage to retain a cohesiveness despite the warring elements.

Vocal contributions come from three members and as such the vocals are as varied and eclectic as the music itself. Horror-fuelled screams and atypical verbalisations give the impression of a warped insanity lurking deep at the heart of the music. The music itself does nothing to dispel this of course, being a product of demented genius in its own right.

Much like Decline of the I themselves; Post-Black Metal is a very interesting and rich subgenre and Rebellion ticks all of the boxes for why this is so. It manages to pull off everything from atmosphere to barbaric savagery, sometimes simultaneously.

A very impressive album and a big achievement.

With albums like this to start the year with 2015 is looking very bright indeed.

Natanas – смертность (Review)

This is the fourth album from Natanas, a one-man Black Metal band from the US.

Another month, another Natanas album…

Okay so I exaggerate, but the man is Hellishly productive. And it’s good stuff too. He may have manufactured some form of Black Metal assembly line but his Quality Control department are clearly paying attention to the goods that are produced.

Having said that of course, this is clearly not for everyone, which is something I’ve mentioned before about the last two Natanas releases All Is Permitted and Treachery; the casual listener, the casual Black Metal listener, even, will probably find this a tad challenging.

If you like your Black Metal dark, challenging, atypical and in the vein of bands like Xasthur, Portal, Mitochondrion, Enbilulugugal, Ævangelist, etc. then Natanas is worth checking out.

Also, I’m sure his screeching vocals have gotten higher, raspier and wetter this time. It sounds like he’s rupturing himself every time he opens his mouth. This is not a complaint of course, rather the opposite. He takes time out from trying to turn himself inside out though, as other vocals are included from spoken word to deeper screams that almost remind of Neurosis/Crowbar in style.

смертность has a good amount of variety within its self-imposed framework, with the album retaining the tribal, hypnotic, pseudo-Industrial feel that Treachery did so well. As such this is a very holistic album; listening to a song in isolation is all well and good, but for the full effect it’s best to put on the entire album and just get lost in the murk.

Every time I listen to Natanas by the time I get to the second or third song I’m totally absorbed in the dark, unfriendly, bleak, rotten, urban sprawl that seems to be described. The low-key, lo-fi, production actually adds to the feeling of the album rather than detracting from it.

Natanas has always been a band that goes against the odds for me. If I had just flicked through one of these albums I’d probably think, “No, I don’t think so”, but against all expectations and prejudices смертность, and the previous albums…well, they just work. The various disparate elements and the raw, uncompromisingly lo-fi sound gel into something that just does it; it hits that hidden spot that you didn’t even know you had.

As such, I’m a big supporter of Natanas and heartily recommend that you give смертность a try. It may not do it for you, but who knows, maybe it really, really will…

Dead in the Manger – Cessation (Review)

This is the début album from the mysterious collective that is Dead in the Manger.

Dead in the Manger play a curiously unusual mix of Depressive/Funeral Black Metal and Blackened Grindcore, as ably showcased on their début EP Transience.

On this latest release the band continue with their exploration down the path lass travelled, (never travelled?), that they started on Transience.

The juxtaposition of Depressive melody and harsh Blackened Grind is still not something that’s common and by all rights it shouldn’t work, but Dead in the Manger take a hitherto largely unexplored sub-genre that probably hardly anybody else is usually bothered with, let alone covets, and make it fully their own.

A harsh Black Metal ambience and general negatively-charged melodicism are created by the band only to then smash it into a mutated, bastard Grind template that results in songs combining both atmosphere and aggression.

It’s like someone has taken Shoegaze Black Metal and given it some real backbone.

So has their sound progressed from Transience at all? Yes; I’d say that the Black Metal component is more prevalent on Cessation, although that could also be due to the fact that they’ve learned to incorporate beauty and brutality at an even deeper level on this release. There’s also more mid-paced sections where the band demonstrate that not only can they create an evil atmosphere but they can maintain it.

In order to get something like this right you really need to know what you’re doing, and Dead in the Manger have proven that their first release wasn’t just some fluke. Cessation is even better.

A highly recommended listen. If you haven’t done so already you need to discover Dead in the Manger.

Oh, and the band logo and album cover? Fantastic.

Voices – London (Review)

This is the second album from UK group Voices. They play Progressive Blackened Death Metal.

Featuring former members of Akercocke, this is an album full of promise from the start as Akercocke were one of the best and most individual bands that the UK had to offer.

As soon as the dark acoustic opener Suicide Note starts I’m instantly hit with the feeling that Akercocke gave me in their more restrained moments. Then Music for the Recently Bereaved blasts out of the speakers and I feel warm and fuzzy inside and out.

If voices aren’t the heirs to Akercocke then I don’t know who is. They’re definitely their own entity but they channel the same primordial power and majesty that Akercocke did so well.

Blasting Death Metal, scathing Black Metal, Progressive Metal, Avant-Garde and everything in between make up these tracks. Progressive Blackened Death Metal is as good a term as any, but it seems so small. Voices are just bigger than that and have a whole lot more on offer than that mouthful of a genre tag implies.

The songs here are varied and full of interesting ideas and avenues for exploration. The band essentially just do what they want and I’m incredibly glad of this as it has resulted in a top quality album full of modern Extreme Metal that stands alone.

Growls, screams, cleans; the band do it all with style. It’s like Akercocke, Arcturus, Opeth and Emperor were crushed up together, digested and vomited up as a slick, professional, fully formed Extreme Metal machine. It’s classy and in a class of its own.

I love it when bands do their own thing and inject their art with personality and character. It’s even better when they do this with obvious talent and a passionate hunger. London is all of these things and more.

This is ambitious and hugely impressive. For a snapshot of everything that Extreme Metal should be these days then London is flawless.

In fact that’s all I need to say really; London is flawless.