Reviews – Page 504 – Wonderbox Metal

Evilheart – Quinquaginta (Review)

This is the third album from Mexican Blackened Death Metallers Evilheart.

Essentially evocative Death Metal with a Blackened twist, Evilheart impress with their vision of Extreme Metal on Quinquaginta.

Think of a cross between bands like Behemoth, Morbid Angel, Melechesh, Belphegor and Nile; bands that are at home combining heaviness and mood.

This is full of impressive riffs, leads and solos. The dark melodics and shining leads are richly textured against the harsh rhythms and pounding drums. It’s apparent that thought and practice has gone into this, and it’s an album that’s as precise as it is passionate.

The band work their magic though a mix sheer ferocity and bright melodics, knowing instinctively when to use one and when the other is more suitable. This results in a brutally atmospheric set of songs, allowing the band to choose the best tools for the job, whether that’s churning, seething ambience or straight-to-the-jugular blasting.

Quinquaginta is full of energy, dynamics and choice riffs. The songs are well-composed slabs of well-thought out and proficiently delivered Metal that have a good combination of instant appeal and depth for longevity.

At almost an hour in length this is an album that you can get absorbed in. There’s a lot to enjoy here and the song lengths allow the band to spread their dark wings and disseminate their message on their own terms and in their own time.

If you’re looking for some advanced Death Metal with a brutal atmosphere and professional delivery then Evilheart are here to provide you with what you seek. Very impressive.

Wolfbastard – Wolfbastard (Review)

Wolfbastard are from the UK and play Black Metal/Hardcore. This is their début album.

Like a cross between Darkthrone and Discharge, Wolfbastard play Crust-infused Black Metal that’s as ugly a version of Blackened Hardcore as you’re going to get. D-beat fury and icy rage combine to fuel these songs with an unearthly layer of unhealthy grime.

Harsh screaming vocals are your guide as you traverse the difficult terrain ahead of you. Pounding drums and savage guitars are your constant companions on this unfriendly path.

The songs are short, unmerciless and barbaric. Like a primitive template of how to merge two already atavistic styles, Wolfbastard’s début excels at showing how enjoyable Blackened Hardcore can be. These songs are imbued with an Old-School fury; Hardcore energy and Black Metal hate, combined in just the right amount.

The music is surprisingly catchy in many ways. The songs may not last long, but while they’re around the band make sure the playing time is filled with good riffs and memorable vocal patterns, with many a chorus being quite singable. Well, assuming you want to run around shredding your throat raw by shouting things like Nuns for the Slaughter, Summoning the Antichrist or Wolfbastard. Which maybe you do, who knows? If that’s the case, have at it old bean!

At any rate, this is a release that once again shows how fertile and diverse the UK Metal scene is. Wolfbastard are a worthy addition to the UK’s growing roster of quality bands, and this album is both strong and enjoyable.

Highly recommended.

Skvara – Carpathian Pagan Terror (Review)

Skvara are a Ukrainian Black Metal band and this is their second release.

This is underground Black Metal with a raw, fuzzy sound. It’s dark and cold, just as we like it.

The guitars seem to slither out of the dark murk of the songs like snakes sliding through water. The frozen, Blackened melodies do well to create both atmosphere and aggression, while the bass is actually audible and makes a good contribution.

Seething, screeching vocals lash across the back of the music like a vinegar-dipped whip, with every scream a torrent of pain and outrage.

Throughout these 34 minutes Skvara show that they have a deep love for the Black Metal Old-School elite. Importantly, however, they also show they have ambition and talent for the music, as the songwriting on Carpathian Pagan Terror is already quite proficient for such a young band.

Good riffs, melodies and ideas are included and for the most part these songs are very well-composed and performed. Skvara pretty much have all of the necessary components for an enjoyable Black Metal release. If they manage to tighten up their songwriting in a couple of places then they will very quickly become a force to be reckoned with, as this release clearly shows they have a massive amount of promise and potential already.

Highly recommended.

Opus Inferii – Ancient Mysteries Unveiled (Review)

Opus Inferii are a Brazilian Black Metal band and this is a re-release of their 2012 début album.

Here we have 48 minutes of Occult Black Metal. It’s raw, infused with darkness and cold to the touch.

Ancient Mysteries Unveiled has a solid sound that’s underground enough to suit the music but strong enough to not do the band any disservices.

This has the air of 90s-era Second Wave Black Metal and there’s a Swedish Melodic Black Metal influence at play here too, alongside a Norwegian one as well. Kind of like Dimmu Borgir stripped of orchestration and merged with Dissection, as well as a hint of mid-period Immortal here and there. This allows the band to not be constrained by just a single style. There are quite a few nice touches and ideas on this release, including moments of introspection, atmosphere and grandeur alongside the ritualistic violence.

The songs contain both blast beats and mid-paced sections, with a good balance between rhythm and dark melodics. The riffs are bleakly emotive but also know when to get heavier and meatier as required.

The singer’s Blackened rasp is one that does the genre proud. There are no issues with his performance at all.

This is such a classic style and it’s always a joy to hear Black Metal that’s played with such conviction and with talent. Add to this an infectious sound that allows the band to show off their wares without impediment and you have a recipe for success.

I really enjoyed this. A great combination of older Black Metal styles wrapped in darkness and shrouded in mist. Opus Imferii have impressed.

Wederganger – Halfvergaan Ontwaakt (Review)

Wederganger are a Black Metal band from the Netherlands. This is their début album.

This is largely mid-paced Black Metal with a haunting, mystical sound. They have a knack for combining typically dark Black Metal auras with more hopeful/heroic feelings to create music that is a double-edged blade, with one side sounding evil and malevolent and the other sounding epic and heroic.

Let’s start things off by saying that this is a damn fine record, with strong songs and interesting ideas.

The vocals combine strangled screams and confident cleans. These work with the dual nature of the music to create an atmosphere that’s both epic and grim. You can kind of think of it as Darkthrone meets Bathory, with probably a little more of the former in their sound rather than the latter. Either way, it results in Halfvergaan Ontwaakt sounding a bit different to the usual Black Metal norm, which is to be commended.

Wederganger continue in this vein for just under 44 minutes, working their black magic on the listener and weaving a spell that’s quite enticing. Their interesting take on Black Metal is infectious and it’s quite clear that the formula they’ve developed on Halfvergaan Ontwaakt works. These are enjoyable songs that perfectly straddle the boundaries of Orthodox Black Metal and epic, Folk Black Metal.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable release that uses two very old styles as its musical base, allowing the band freedom to create their own vision of what Black Metal should be.

And do you know what? Their vision looks pretty damn good.

Favourite Track: Dodendans. Perfectly judged, sorrowful cleans with just the right amount of vigour, powerful leads and a hypnotic, crawling delivery make this track a winner among a wealth of strong songs.

Norylsk – The Catholic Dictatorship (Review)

This is the second album from Polish Grinders Norylsk.

This is ugly Grind for fans of Regurgitate, Brutal Truth and Squash Bowels. It’s fast, brutal and the epitome of savage.

Norylsk largely have an Old-School sound but they do have some modern elements and ideas here and there. This is enhanced by a heavy, modern production.

Growls, screams and something that sounds like gargled broken glass are the main forms of attack from the singer. I worry about the health of his throat.

Norylsk blast, groove and tear their way through these tracks with clinical precision and furious focus. It’s a near-unrelentingly heavy assault and the band clearly know what they’re doing.

This is Deathgrind for people who like the Old-School style delivered in a modern way. It’s an impressively brutal album but one that doesn’t become too one-dimensional thanks to good songwriting and a few non-standard ideas in places, (including clean female vocals and spoken word on Mental Selection).

For Grindcore with weight and substance, look no further.

Horsebastard/Noisebazooka – Split (Review)

This split is brought to us by the UK’s Horsebastard and Austria’s Noisebazooka. Both bands play Grindcore.

Horsebastard are up first and deliver the goods with 6 tracks of furious blasting Grind in four minutes.

High pitched screams slice through the noise as if made my by some form of giant insect come to feast on man.

The drum sound is unusual and is frenetic and frenzied. Surely this must be the work of a twisted, multi-limbed insect? I think the term insectile Grind must have been invented for Horsebastard.

The tracks blur by in a haze of shrieking, blasting and abrasive guitars. It’s unhinged, unhealthy and reeks of fabulously wanton violence.

It’s all pretty much over before you’ve blinked and Horsebastard have left a funny taste in your mouth that you’re quite happy to experience again.

After that we have Noisebazooka with 7 tracks of even more crazy Grindcore in just under 7 minutes.

The vocals are strange shouts where the singer sounds just a hair’s breadth away from losing it totally. The music is even more manic than Horsebastard; this is not of the insectile variety though, it’s more experimental, almost, with unusual riffs, ideas, effects and time signatures alongside the traditional blasting.

Noisebazooka definitely have an individual take on Grind and theirs is a sound that will not be for everyone, even within Grindcore’s already limited audience; this is due in large part to the shouting-style of the singer.

If you can get on board with their unorthodox style then there’s a lot to like here and the music is very well crafted and pieced together.

Overall this is a good split showcasing these two different-but-complementary bands. Check it out.

Myrkur – M (Review)

This is the début album from this Danish solo Black Metal project, although on this release she is joined by other musicians too.

This is second-wave Black Metal with supplemental ethereal flourishes. Angelic clean vocals and harsh, daemonic screams play out across music that’s as frozen as it is beautiful. Think bands like Burzum and Vinterriket, only with added atmospheric instrumentation and stunning female cleans.

And stunning is the right word, as the brains behind this outfit has an amazing voice. Sounding transcendentally beautiful and uplifting, her voice is an incredible tool that gets used just right. The screaming doesn’t let the side down either; this is the kind of scratchy, static-like high-pitched shrieking that works so well in Atmospheric Black Metal.

If the music was straightforward Black Metal I think that it might be put to shame by her voice. However, in reality the Black Metal core is added to by so many other instruments and elements that the beauty of the clean vocals and the icy nature of the guitars don’t reveal too much contrast as there’s a lot of other music going on to bring the two closer together; in addition to the standard Black Metal instruments we also get piano, violin, horn, tuba and other traditional Scandinavian instruments used on the tracks.

The main juxtaposition comes when the angelic cleans aren’t being used; here we get malevolent Black Metal with frosted fury and malignant intentions. These sections segue nicely into the more atmospheric/Folkier parts though, so there’s no massive disconnect, only a compelling and involving soundscape that contrasts the beauty of a frosty landscape with the dangers inherent in such a scene.

M doesn’t contain songs in a traditional sense; the tracks are movements designed to showcase an emotive musical tapestry that takes the best from second-wave Black Metal and adds extra layers to it via clean singing and bright atmospherics.

There’s not really anyone playing this kind of Black Metal at the moment, certainly not with this level of proficiency at any rate. It’s definitely a less-travelled path that Myrkur is treading and it’s going to be pretty exciting to see where it leads in the future. My hope is that the songs become lengthier and even more epic in scope, as my only real complaint about M is that it is over far too quickly.

But I digress. For the moment let’s ignore what the future holds and concentrate on what we have; authentic Black Metal with an individual and highly emotive take on the source material. M is a success in every way, and after the tantalising glimpse into her world that was her début EP, we have not been disappointed by the promises it contained.

This is a class album; doing something a little different with Black Metal while still retaining the core of the style has worked wonders.

This album will garner all kinds of praise from all kinds of people. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Animus Mortis – Testimonia (Review)

Animus Mortis are a Chilean Black Metal band and this is their second album.

This is an intriguing blend of Progressive and Post-Black Metal that lasts 40 minutes and makes a very good impression. It’s Black Metal for the modern age, taking influence from the aforementioned sub-genres to add to their Blackened pot, creating something unusual.

This sits nicely alongside albums from bands like Entropia, Thaw, Outre, Hope Drone, Tempel, Decline of the I, Wayfarer, Deafheaven and many others that play Black Metal with a non-standard spin on things. Bands such as these take up the mantle of Post-Black Metal, (willingly or not), to expand their musical horizons and add to their Blackened palette.

Chants, screams, growls and all manner of other vocalisations are used to great effect to provide a rich vocal performance. These are multifaceted and varied, allowing the singer ample avenues for exploration and experimentation. Wailing, shrieking and moaning torment appear to be his choicest methods of delivery; these are frequently layered on top of each other to create a nightmarish juxtaposition against the more resplendent music. I imagine it could be somewhat of an acquired taste for some people when confronted with his style, maybe rather preferring the more standard screams that appear less often.

The music is highly emotive and has an understated epic feel to it. It has a heart that’s twisted and warped though, kind of like Deathspell Omega with added Shoegaze. The music can be quite beautiful, with uplifting sections as well as parts that are more barbed and dangerous. The vocals supply the main ugliness and horror to the music, with the singer frequently sounding inhuman or possessed, adding a disturbing aura to the songs.

This is a compelling release due to the fact that it attempts to do something a little different from the norm and largely succeeds. The ubiquitous blast beats, the gleaming guitar melodies and the corrupted vocalisations all merge together to produce something greater than the sum of its parts.

This is music to become entranced by. Let Animus Mortis lift you up and help you explore the less-travelled paths that they wander. It may seem a daunting proposition, but it’s one that’s worth it.

Neter – Idols (Review)

Neter are a Spanish Death Metal band and this is their second album.

This is well-recorded and precise Death Metal that mainly shies away from the faster, more brutal end of the spectrum and instead concentrates on rhythmic execution and melodic accompaniment.

This isn’t to say that the band don’t know how to knock out a blast beat when they need to, (there are plenty of these), it’s just that this isn’t their only or even main mode of assault.

Sharing aspects of bands such as Bolt Thrower and Morbid Angel, Neter combine this with elements of the Polish scene like Decapitated and Vader. As such, Idols covers quite a bit of ground, all in a solid, proficient manner.

The rolling double bass and pulsating guitars are clipped and efficient, lending a vitality and instant-appeal to the music. The guitars knock out riffs with ease and these roll out of the speakers in a very ear-friendly fashion. Solos and leads are done well and add to the songs.

The singer seems more than qualified for his position and growls his heart out alongside the pummelling drums and undulating guitars.

The entire album sounds familiar enough to be instantly appealing, yet not too similar to the band’s Death Metal heroes that it becomes off-putting or derivative.

Idols is competent Death Metal played professionally. Check it out.