Reviews – Page 592 – Wonderbox Metal

Eissturm – The Purpose (Review)

This is US band Eissturm and they play Black Metal with Ambient and Folk touches.

This is Black Metal in the style of Vinterrikket with Metal tracks interspersed with more Ambient, Folky numbers.

In the Metal parts the guitars are fuzzy, atmospheric and concentrate on building mood with layers of ice cold depth. It’s heavily distorted and laden with reverberation.

The guitars aim to create maximum emotion and the extra effects create a veneer of feeling that radiates outwards from the songs like a cyclone.

The vocals are either emitted like static; scratching and screeching their way through the storms, or howling and tortured; crying out in anguish against the wind.

The ambient tracks reinforce the fact that this is Black Metal born of a frigid, desolate environment where survival is hard and night is perpetual. Each one adds to the mystique and flavour of the album and draws you into their world even more.

Like walking through a snowstorm in a barren landscape with no food or shelter for days. Icy and atmospheric Ambient Black Metal done well.

Cauldron Black Ram – Stalagmire (Review)

This is the third album from Australian Death Metal band Cauldron Black Ram.

The band have a very striking sound that instantly forces you to sit up and pay attention. Sort of like Six Feet Under crossed with Venom and Celtic Frost.

There is an air of Sludge to the songs; a foetid whiff of mouldy corpses long sealed in a basement. Add to this a decent Black Metal influence on occasion, and you have a bumpy ride over the screaming bodies of countless poor passers by as this Metal juggernaut rolls into town.

They have a very fluid sound in the sense that the songs can morph into different shades of Metal quite quickly, with different riffs, vocals and drumming patterns all asserting themselves dominantly depending on the song. All of this happens within the Death/Black/Sludge Metal framework of course, but it does mean that there’s never any chance to get bored when the band have so many tools to club their way into your attention.

Although I wouldn’t call them Old-School per se, there is a definite Old-School streak to them and they even have some prime Heavy Metal, almost Iron Maiden-type moments now and again.

This is an interesting and gratifying Metal album. All the more so for the fact that it’s a little different from the norm. A lot of talent and effort has gone into these songs, and it shows.

Get your fix of Cauldron Black Ram today.

Terminal Prospect – Redefine Existence (Review)

Time for a bit of Swedish Melodic Death Metal in the form of Terminal Prospect and their second album Redefine Existence.

At 11 tracks in 34 minutes, most of the songs are quite short and to the point. This is from the same school of Metal as The Haunted, early In Flames, Darkane, At The Gates, etc. and it’s better than you probably imagine.

The album starts with the high-pitched screams of the singer, whose vocals appear to be designed to scratch at the brain while the music batters your chest. He screams and shrieks his way through the songs in an effective manner, and it works particularly well when he locks into a rhythm with the guitars and they work together as one.

The songs are streamlined and full of melodic flourish, while still keeping the Thrash feel of the riffs alive and well. There are some nice guitar parts and the band have a vibrant feeling to a lot of the riffs. This vibrant feeling is important; it would be easy for a band like this to have tired-sounding guitars. Although it’s exceptionally hard for any group to have completely unique riffs, melodies etc., and Terminal Prospect don’t fall into this category, (as most bands don’t); at least they still sound young, fresh and full of life. There is no going-through-the-motions here, it’s all done for the love of Metal.

A quality album that is easy to digest and leaves a pleasant taste in the mouth. Recommended.

Sammath – Godless Arrogance (Review)

This is Sammath’s fifth album of Black Metal misanthropy from the Netherlands.

Oh but this takes me back! This is for the people who couldn’t get enough of Panzer Division Marduk – this has the same intensity and visceral assault.

Straight away the band are a whirlwind of razorblade riffs and frenzied drumming. As brutal as a stabbing and as clinical as a missile; these songs are not interested in who gets hurt but only in the wanton amount of collateral damage they can cause.

Accompanied by savage vocals sharp enough to tear reality the music is ferocious and vicious as only scathing Black Metal can be.

Dark melodies cloaked under waves of rhythmic misanthropy truly manifest themselves over time in the 8 hymns to warfare and death that the band deliver.

This is cold and violent. This is murderous and intense. This is Godless Arrogance.

Thy Flesh – Thymiama Mannan (Review)

Thy Flesh are a Black Metal band from Greece who play a particularly Daemonic brand of Blackened darkness.

The songs have a ritualistic quality to them in addition to the usual razor sharp guitar lines that pepper a release like this.

The vocals are savage and vomit their word-made-shadow out into reality from places unknown.

Frozen and obscure melodies strike from these barren hymns of ice and lash out at the listener from behind barricades of pounding war drums. They speak of eerie atmospheres and unearthly longings, voiced in the language of Black Metal and oncoming apocalypse. Perhaps Thy Flesh herald something long forgotten, something returning to exact payment for a disturbed slumber that should have gone undisrupted.

Mixing elements of Dissection and Ondskapt, Thy Flesh have crafted an expertly delivered offering of occult Black Metal that more than hits the spot. The band have enough instant appeal to satisfy but have sufficient depth to their compositions to allow digestion over time to improve satiety even more.

Well played and decently written; this is a worthy addition to the genre and a quality début for the band. You can feel the darkness approaching, heralded by a storm of knives.

Avulsed – Ritual Zombi (Review)

This is Avulsed’s sixth album and the veteran Death Metal juggernaut shows no sign of let up in either the aggression or quality departments.

If you haven’t encountered Avulsed before then I heartily recommend you get hold of their entire back catalogue as they have released some great Death Metal over the years.

Their style is brutality spiced up with unexpected moments of melody and a large degree of catchiness. Yes; Death Metal with songs!

Their latest album is no different; here we get ultra-heavy song-based Death Metal with a production that melts faces all delivered by a band who have made Metal their true calling in life. This passion shines through and I think is one of the reasons that Avulsed are so good at what they do.

They’ve never shied away from the odd unexpected moment either; the odd keyboard-enhanced section or Spanish guitar track has been known to make it through the mincer on occasion to throw in a bit of light in all of the gore-drenched chaos. This is the exception of course, as the vast majority is pure unadulterated Death Metal.

This zombie-themed album smashes skulls and scores kill-shots with every song. Vocalist Dave Rotten once again putting in a stellar performance with guttural, bowel-loosening growls honed through decades of use.

There is also a cover of Death’s Zombie Ritual to chew on.

Avulsed continue to be one of the best Death Metal bands around. This album is expertly crafted, proficiently played and staunchly Death Metal; any fan of brutality should have this in their collection.

Ogre – The Last Neanderthal (Review)

This is the fourth album by US Doom/Heavy Metal group Ogre.

This is 70’s inspired Metal combining Hard Rock and Traditional Doom into a retro package with a healthy, organic sound.

The songs have a heady atmosphere and personality by the bucketful. The singer wails and croons over the top of unrestrained guitars and drums that sound very natural.

The band as a whole generally try their best to capture the essence of early Black Sabbath and the songs match accordingly. This is not simply some copycat band however as the album makes sense on its own and has more than enough merits to warrant its existence.

Alongside the hefty guitars the songs have a Blues Rock vibe to them that lets them dig into a comfortable slow groove until they spend themselves in a state of blissful satiety.

When the riffs are pumping and solos are blazing this is life affirming music. Feel the Metal and use it to club your enemies, Ogre-style.

Kaoskult – Secret Serpent (Review)

This is the first album by Polish Black Metallers Kaoskult.

The band play occult-influenced Black Metal steeped in the raw stuff of other worlds.

The vocals are primal and operate almost as a form of chanting over the slashing guitars. Utterly evil and devoted to darkness, they’re mainly deeper than a lot of Black Metal bands get away with. They also experiment with some subtle clean vocals that seem to swim under the knife-like guitars and these work well.

The guitars rip and slice their way through the 39 minutes of offerings and know when to slow down as the ritual demands rather than being full-on all of the time.

Certain tracks lock nicely into a satisfying mid-paced groove for parts of the song. When the faster sections arrive they are no less gratifying however. We also get treated to some chuggy, almost-Thrashy riffs on occassion. Eternal Threat, for example, has all of these within its 6:10 playing time.

The black melodies infect the brain and there are some choice riffs on these songs.

A quality album full of spite and bile.

Lucifer’s Hammer – Night Sacrifice (Demo MMXII) (Review)

Chilean band Lucifer’s Hammer have released this EP/Demo full of Traditional/Classic Heavy Metal.

First thing I want to note is the excellent cover – simple and effective. Love it.

As for the music? One could almost apply the same terms to it. This is resolutely Old-School Classic Heavy Metal, taking cues from Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

For a demo the sound is not that bad, although they could certainly benefit from a slightly better recording. The songs work however, regardless of this.

Each track is straightforward and has enough catch and hook to be enjoyable. The vocalist sings with gusto and appears to have gotten the Old-School Metal attitude and harmonies exactly right. He lives up to the images of his idols well, as do the band as a whole.

It will be interesting to see how they develop when they eventually put out a full length album. Time to keep an eye on this band I feel.

Alterbeast – Immortal (Review)

Alterbeast are from the US and on this their début album they treat us to a Technical Death Metal showcase.

Immortal is 8 tracks in just under 30 minutes of a band showing that they can not only play insanely well but that they can craft enjoyable Metal while they do it.

It shreds, rips, blasts and batters in all the right ways and at the end of it you’re left wondering what the Hell just happened. And where did your teeth go?

Their sheer wanton love of Brutal Death Metal and technical proficiency combines effortlessly to produce one hell of an album. Alterbeast manage to straddle both brutality and technicality at the same time so that one doesn’t overpower the other. This effortless sewing together of the two sub-genres of Death metal means that Immortal is a very complete album with both songs and fretboard domination. They can also be surprisingly melodic whent hey want to be, further emphasizing their advanced songwriting skills.

The singer has an amazing voice whether he is growling deeply or screaming his lungs out; either way he stays on top of the melodically-chaotic mayhem and demonstrates a gleeful attitude to his attack.

The sound of the album is just immense; all of the instruments are crystal clear and the guitars have a great heaviness to them that translates into molten gold when the solos and leads appear. As for the drummer he is technically precise without sounding sterile and forms a real backdrop to the carnage that the guitars wreak and the aggression spewed by the singer.

I won’t hide my love for this kind of ultra-modern, ultra-slick Death Metal. This is essential.