Reviews – Page 581 – Wonderbox Metal

Black Anvil – Hail Death (Review)

Black Anvil are from the US and this is their third album of Black Metal.

As the first song Still Reborn slowly unfolds you know you’re in for a treat. There is a Thrash influence to the band that allows their songs to have somewhat of an epic feel to them rather akin to classic Metallica; cross this with an expansive Black Metal feeling the likes of which Enslaved create, (minus Viking influences), and give this whole idea a frozen Black Metal makeover and you’ve an idea of where Black Anvil are coming from.

Initial impressions? …And Justice For All being slowly eaten by Mardraum – Beyond the Within. High praise indeed.

And some of these riffs! Dear me. Excuse me while I have a sit down and compose myself. The band have obviously hit their stride with this album; each song is a powerful collection of riffs, solos, ideas, emotive passages and pulse-raising sections. The overall song is never sacrificed for any of these though, and each track is a delight.

The main vocals are Black Metal screams done in an Enslaved style, while additional vocals consist of everything from gang shouts to mystical cleans.

At over an hour and eleven minutes of music this never gets old or stale; Black Anvil have a lot to offer the listener and it’s easy to get sucked into their world.

A warm, organic production complements the songs and allows them to get under your skin and into your brain. There’s something particularly satisfying about the drum sound especially.

This is an exceptional album written by people who appear to be channelling the essential essence of Metal. This album deserves to be in your collection.

Black Anvil are just too good!

Dråp – En Naturlig Död (Review)

Dråp are from Sweden and play Crust/Hardcore.

The band have a thunderous sound that is heavy and belligerent.

The vocalist sounds rabid, dangerous and thoroughly pissed off. His vocals bark out over the ugly music like a bruiser looking for his next victim. A constant onslaught of abuse and bile streams forth with grim enthusiasm.

The music is muscular and without remorse. The guitars bash and smash their way through the short playing time like a determined beating that never seems to stop.

This is angry music for angry people. There is no subtlety or nuance here, just menace and barbarity. The drums beat, the guitars attack and the vocals snarl.

It’s relentless, it’s harsh, it’s not pretty, but it is good.

Hunt this down and listen to it loud.

Favourite Track: Höstmörker

Gomorrah – To the Depths (Review)

Gomorrah are from the US and play aggressive Thrash Metal with a minor Modern Metal influence.

This is heavy stuff, with a solid sound and production. It allows the riffs to come crashing around you causing maximum destruction.

And there are a lot of riffs, this is a veritable riff-fest of Thrash and caustic melodies. They know their instruments as well and can pull out some nice solos when they want to.

Their sound does have some modern influences to it, but I wouldn’t call them a Modern Thrash Band as they’re far too riffy, heavy and honest for that. Rather you can just hear some Lamb of God influence in some of the vocal inflections and they share some riff ideas with some of the more Melodic of Thrashers; but these are only minor aspects of the band’s sound as the core Gomorrah experience is based on Metal with a big fat capital M.

These songs, (and they are songs), are lively enough and even though there’s nothing innovative or new going on here the band manage to somehow avoid sounding tired and have produced an enjoyable EP. The key ingredient of course is passion; they clearly love what they do and this bleeds over into the instruments and song structures so that the listener can’t help but smile and start banging the old noggin along to it.

If I’m honest as well I think that the ever-so-slight modern influence to the band that I mentioned earlier also helps their cause. There are soooo many retro-style/Old-School Thrash bands around at the moment and a lot of them really do sound tired and stale. It’s nice to hear a band like Gomorrah who don’t fall into the retro trap but also don’t fall foul of trying to sound too modern or commercial either. They have the balance just right for me; it’s a precarious balance of course but at the moment they’re onto a winner.

The more I listen to this the more I like it. Give this a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with them.

Deep In Hate – Chronicles of Oblivion (Review)

This is the third album from French Death Metallers Deep In Hate.

The band have a good line in both brutality and melody and combine the two nicely; crushing riffs and double-bass beatdowns compete with melodic leads and riffs.

This is a band who are fully comfortable at the modern end of the Death Metal spectrum without completely giving themselves over to Deathcore; although there is a healthy influence from that most maligned of subgenres it stays on the Death Metal side of the equation more often than not. The result? Aborted meets Beneath the Massacre meets Whitechapel with, as strange as this might sound, elements of Hypocrisy at their heaviest.

The sound is crystal clear and the band use this to show you exactly what they are capable of in all its visceral glory. This is modern Death Metal played proficiently and with the sole aim of battering and beating the listener into submission.

The added melodic parts are there to keep things from becoming one-dimensional however, and the sheer aggression and brutality of the band as a whole never allows the melodies to get too out of hand; you could never describe them as Melodic Death Metal, for example. It’s a winning brutality-to-melody-ratio; brutality clearly comes out on top but the melodic aspect holds its own when the songs need it.

The vocals are deep roars full of aggression and testosterone. These alternate with occasional higher screams. The singer takes his cues from the Aborted singer and shares a talent for interesting vocal rhythms and patterns.

Each of the songs has its own identity and is capable of being a ambassador for the band. No filler.

Kaotoxin Records seem to have a talent for sniffing out the very best of French Metal talent. Deep In Hate are their latest find; let them be yours too.

Fragarak – Crypts of Dissimulation (Review)

Fragarak are a Progressive Death Metal band from India and this is their début album.

This is intelligent and passionate music lovingly crafted to be more than straight Death Metal. The Progressive aspect of the music is real and almost tangible. The songs and song structures are considered and a lot of work has gone into these tracks.

The band has a keen melodic edge and there are bountiful leads and solos liberally spread throughout the almost 40 minutes of playing time.

The vocalist has a very accomplished voice with a thick, throaty roar reminiscent of the singer of Opeth when he was still doing such things.

Fragarak have a strong sound with all of the instruments being clear and well-defined. The bass should get a special mention for being used to good effect for a change instead of just shadowing what the rhythm guitar is doing, as in a lot of bands.

Most bands of this ilk tend to start out with a Death Metal core and add some Progressive leanings on top of it; or they cover everything up in hyper technicality and math-wizardry to the extent that there are no actual songs left. Fragarak have avoided both of these things and instead have essentially started off from a Progressive Metal standpoint and built the Death Metal into their sound as they went along. In this way they can be compared to, (old), Opeth once more, although it’s a stylistic comparison as musically there is not a lot of similarity beyond the aforementioned.

This is an exceptional album that mixes structure, dynamics, brutality, softness, atmosphere and pure class into a cohesive and enjoyable journey through the lands of proper Metal delight.

The Indian Metal scene is proving itself a fertile breeding ground for exciting and quality music – Fragarak can go right to the top of the list as ones most likely to succeed. A highly recommended listen.

Ghoul – Hang Ten (Review)

Ghoul are from the US and this EP is Thrash Metal with a healthy crossover influence; on this release their normal Death Metal influence is missing.

Ghoul have put out some good music over the years and this is no exception, although it is somewhat of a departure from their normal fare. This is feel-good Thrash-a-rama of the cinematic variety and with a bit of an old-wild-Western-crossed-with-a-biker-movie feel.

The songs each have that confident self-assured swagger to them and the bass is enough to plant images of run-down sleazy saloons in anyone’s mind.

The aural equivalent of a bar brawl in a seedy joint between rival motorcycle gangs; it’s ugly but you can’t help watch the spectacle unfold regardless.

Consisting of either instrumental tracks or tracks with spoken word on them, the traditional Ghoul vocals are absent and the music takes the front seat. As a showcase for the band’s ample musical talents this works fine and the emphasis is purely on the fun-time riffs and the driving tunes.

If you’ve never encountered the maniac ride that is Ghoul before then this is as good a stop as any to get on board with. But be warned, you may need a new set of underwear afterwards.

Eyehategod – Eyehategod (Review)

Eyehategod are from the US and this is their fifth album of Sludge.

Okay, so I’m not going to hide it – I absolutely love Eyehategod. Ever since first getting Take as Needed for Pain 20 years ago (!) I’ve been hooked, and they’re one of my all time favourite bands. I say this in the interests of full disclosure, because if you’re looking for a fully objective and impartial review then you’d best move along as I’m so excited about this album it’s ridiculous!

As soon as you press play it’s just so instantly familiar and welcoming, at least to someone who’s comfortable with this style of crawling Metal. Their trademark swampy sound that has spawned literally thousands of imitators is recognisable straight away and it becomes rapidly apparent that the band have lost none of the skill and talent that they’ve had over the course of their long career.

It would be easy to doubt whether this was going to be any good as it’s been a whopping 14 years since their last album, (Confederacy of Ruined Lives), but as any true believer knows these are false doubts, as this album, quite frankly, is fucking brilliant.

The songs are fantastic and the band effortlessly create That Sound that helped spawn and shape the Sludge genre with such ease that each track slides out of the speakers in a haze of murky guitars, Southern-fried riffs, squalling feedback and snarling vocals.

Eyehategod have come to show the pretenders and the wannabes how it’s done.

This is an essential record for any Metal fan. I can’t recommend this enough. Immediately go out and get everything that Eyehategod have ever done. This is important.

Flawless.

Boddicker – False Flag (Review)

Boddicker are from the US and play Grindcore with a healthy Sludge influence.

A short release at 13 minutes, this nevertheless allows Boddicker to flex their musical muscles and supply us with an all-you-can eat buffet of extremity.

Brutality and aggression are in bountiful supply as you would imagine and there is a Crust/Punk aspect that propels the delivery along with gusto.

Their sound is dirty and Sludge-fuelled and in addition to the standard Grind speed there is a relatively high incidence of slower, Doomier parts where the band take on the aspect of Eyehategod/Buzzov-en and destroy the listener with heaviness and slow-core battery.

The vocalist sounds suitably unhinged and bellows at the top of his lungs with anger and barely suppressed rage.

A very enjoyable EP, mixing a Punk Grind sound with a tasty bit of filthy Sludge. Boddicker are to be commended and recommended.

I bet they’re amazing live.

Narbeleth – A Hatred Manifesto (Review)

This is the second album from Cuban Black Metal band Narbeleth.

This is the real deal – proper underground Black Metal come to terrorize and destroy all you hold dear.

At just over 30 minutes in length it doesn’t mess around; 7 original hymns and a Urgehal cover.

A glance at the song titles and you know what you’re getting. There’s not much mistaking a band with a song called Posercorpse.

But what about the music? It’s Blacker than Black with a better recording than you might expect, which lends the songs an air of freedom to breathe in their skins. A satisfying snare sound and a cold but vital guitar tone seals the deal.

The band play plenty of blast beats but also slow down when necessary to foster an icy, unholy air with twisting melodics; Land of the Heathen being a good example, especially as it unexpectedly features clean vocals. But then Narbeleth likes to throw in the odd unexpected move here and there; such as the guitar solo in Nihilistic Propaganda.

This is exactly what you want from Black Metal.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Narbeleth/369227176434482

Wrong – Pessimistic Outcomes (Review)

Wrong are a Black Metal band from Spain and this is their second album.

Created by two people; one from a Thrash Metal background and one from a Technical Death Metal background. From these unlikely roots an album has grown which is surprising in that it is both the epitome of what is meant to be but also pleasingly fresh and full of morbid life.

Wrong play creepy, fragile, melancholic Black Metal with a depressive/nihilistic edge akin to some of the work by Xasthur and Leviathan only not quite as minimalistic and with more of a Paradise Lost/Katatonia/etc. influence to some of the Doomier riffs; think Forgotten Tomb for some of the parts in fact.

The songs are long compositions and have many different facets to their delivery, from fast and sharp to slow and misery-laden. It’s an approach that serves them well.

The sound is suitably fuzzy and Blackened but it has a solid backbone of precise, focused drumming that grounds the band no matter what they’re playing.

Wrong take you on a Blackened nihilistic journey through the underworld, tastefully underscored by some subtle riffing and even subtler effects that hide underneath the torrent of darkness and the pounding drums.

Pessimistic Outcomes takes me back to prime-time 00’s underground Black Metal and all the associated feelings it has for me. This is a great album full of bleak melodics and nuanced moments propelled forwards by some powerful drumming, expressive riffing and scathing, slicing vocal emanations.

If you only have a choice of one album full of emotive Black Metal this month then make it Wrong.