Reviews – Page 518 – Wonderbox Metal

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.

Doomed – Wrath Monolith (Review)

Doomed is a solo project from Germany and this is his fourth album playing Doom/Death Metal.

Doomed’s third album Our Ruin Silhouettes was a good example of quality Doom/Death that ticked all of the right boxes for the genre. Curiously, this new release has a song on it called Our Ruin Silhouettes yet the actual album named this did not.

So how has Doomed progressed on this new release? Well, it’s still the familiar Doom/Death style that lovers of the sub-genre will be so familiar with, (how could it not be?), although on this latest album this seems a bit more riff-hungry in places, with a little more of the Death Metal side of the Doom/Death equation coming to the fore.

The Funeral Doom marches and depressive moods are still present and correct. Doom/Death is a very specific sub-genre, and once you move too far away from the core of this style you’re not playing it any more. The guy behind Doomed knows exactly what he’s doing though and these compositions milk the most from the emotional misery while at the same time allowing for sufficient variation in writing and pacing so that these 51 minutes don’t feel as agonisingly slow as the music can be.

Guest vocalists add further interest to the songs, and these compliment the main Deathgrowls which are as deep and as enjoyable as they previously were.

Due to the ramping up of the Death Metal influence, the guitars have a bit more energy to them in places and as it’s all wrapped up in a crushing production. The riffs seem to jump out of the speakers like eager puppies. Although admittedly, these are dark, misery-drenched puppies determined to drown you in woe.

Hmmm. Misery puppies?

What the Hell, let’s go with it.

Strong leads, melodies and solos abound. As one of the cornerstones of the style, the forlorn melodies are carried out really well. The songs do a laudable job of manifesting the negativity that sits at the core of the music.

The album showcases the Atmospheric side of the band in addition to the depressive. Synths and keyboards add extra layers to parts of the songs and there’s even a hint of a Progressive Metal slant on some parts of this release. If this is further developed even more on future releases then this would be a valuable addition to the Doomed sound, as it already seems to be becoming.

Wrath Monolith is a very impressive album that’s pretty much at the top of its game. I find Doom/Death to be a sub-genre that can easily become a little stale, so I’m pleased to report that this is not the case here. The music holds the attention easily and this is an album that has a lot to offer. As stated, there’s a surprising amount of variety and interest to be had here and it seems that Doomed’s songwriting is just getting better and better.

Very highly recommended.

Decrepid – Osseous Empire (Review)

Decrepid are a UK Death Metal band and this is their second album.

This is Death Metal for all of the purists out there. It’s Old-School in nature and takes a good influence from USDM greats like Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Deicide, as well as elements of UK legends Desecration.

Featuring a decent sound and plenty of good riffs, the songs on Osseous Empire make an immediate impression. The combination of well-thought out guitars and Death Metal heaviness makes the album an easy listen to anyone familiar with the style.

The songs are very rhythmic and riff-heavy, with the band seemingly conscious of the necessary ingredients for a working, holistic song rather than just a collection of guitar parts.

Leads and melodies are few and far between, although solos are included to add colour and spice to their attack.

The vocals are deep growls that are extremely satisfying in their delivery. The singer’s performance is faultless and there’s even the odd scream included to add flavour.

If you’re a fan of Death Metal then it’s hard for me to understand how you wouldn’t like Decrepid. I suppose if all you care about is the ultra-modern, ultra-brutal, ultra-fast or ultra-technical then they might not be for you, but if you like well-constructed songs that have all of the components of timeless, Classic Death Metal then Decrepid are an excellent choice.

This really is an impressive album. Undeniably Old-School without sounding stale or irrelevant, Osseous Empire has massively impressed me with its charismatic songs and atavistic Death Metal personality.

One to get hold of immediately.