Wonderbox Metal

Fimbulvinter – Начертаны Резы Древних Заклятий (Review)

Fimbulvinter are a Russian Black Metal band. This is their début album.

Fimbulvinter’s Black Metal is thoroughly of the old-school, so much so that it even contains a relatively high proportion of proto-Black Metal in the form of more classic-era Metal riffs and licks, including leads and solos.

There’s a pagan feel to some of the guitars and the band successfully capture the original Scandinavian style while also infusing the music with other elements. Infectious riffs from even earlier times are frequent additions and there’s enough of a melodic edge through the leads to grab the attention.

The songwriting is really strong and the band’s grasp of dynamics and pacing is good. These songs are exactly that; songs. Coupled with the highly enjoyable leads and the well-considered rhythm guitars, Начертаны Резы Древних Заклятий aptly demonstrates the band’s considerable talent in writing tracks that are actually quite catchy and memorable.

Screamed vocals make up the bulk of the release, but growls also appear on occasion adding that little bit extra variety and interest.

At only 36 minutes in length Начертаны Резы Древних Заклятий doesn’t outstay its welcome; in fact it leaves you hungry for more. The Metal leads, blackened guitars, solid riffs and rasping hatred that flow easily from the band make this album an extremely enjoyable listen.

Definitely one not to overlook. Very highly recommended.

Old Pagan – Ogdrun Jarhar (Review)

Old Pagan are from Germany and play Black Metal. This is their fourth album.

Here we have 43 minutes of raw, underground Black Metal spread across 8 tracks, including a Secrets of the Moon cover.

Featuring a sharp recording that screams lo-fi darkness, Old Pagan play orthodox Black Metal that’s enhanced by keyboards and cuts straight to the bone like a serrated, rusty blade.

Frozen melodies and dark incantations power these songs, which complete their running time like Satan himself is chasing after them. The music is fast and furious, blasting icy beats and chilling riffs across the airwaves.

Screamed vocals accompany the blackened melodies and pounding drums with ease, keeping pace with the high-energy music and attacking the listener with frenzied abandon.

If you like your Black Metal fast, relentless and raw, you can do a lot worse than Old Pagan; these veterans know what they’re doing.

Redemption – The Art of Loss (Review)

This is the sixth album from US Progressive Metallers Redemption.

Redemption’s Progressive Metal is melodic, song-oriented music that features keyboards, a raft of high-profile guests and a The Who cover. Importantly, it also has some extremely well-composed pieces of music that are Metal enough to have kick and progressive enough to take the listener on a journey.

This album has a very bright, strong sound, allowing the band’s music to shine and stand uninhibited on its own merits. It sounds good.

The band are clearly all well-versed in their chosen instruments, but one of the reasons I like Redemption is that for the most part they don’t let all of the technical, ostentatious playing get in the way of the song itself; this is paramount, more than anything else really. As such, this is an album full of catchy, memorable tunes that have the extra advantage of added depth due to the exploratory avenues that are opened up by virtue of being a Progressive Metal band.

There’s a mix of song-oriented tracks that are largely straightforward Metal songs, combined with a few where the band really let their progressive side shine; this is particularly demonstrated on the final track At Day’s End.

A vocalist with a great range and capable of delivering a sterling performance is required for music like this, and this is what they have.

At 76 minutes in length there’s a lot of music here to absorb, but it’s worth the time as Redemption have created a compelling and engaging listen.

Cut the Architect’s Hand – We Dig No Graves (Review)

Cut the Architect’s Hand are a Metal/Hardcore band from the US, this is their latest album.

Featuring a Hardcore base, Cut the Architect’s Hand layer Metal trappings on top of this, building an album that has depth and longevity due to its commitment to creating involving and engaging underground heavy music.

This reminds me of the extremely fertile cutting edge/violent Hardcore scene about 15 years ago, when it seemed that almost every band that came out from the US on labels like Trustkill Records were doing something new and interesting.

Cut the Architect’s Hand are torn from the same cloth as this era. Imagine the atypical wanderings of Botch mixed with the primal aggression of something like For the Bleeders by Vision of Disorder; this should give you a good idea of what you’re in store for should you delve into this record. And delve you should.

The songs are gritty and well-worn, like they’ve been harshly sanded down prior to being unleashed on the world. It’s quite a savage, unpolished sound, but it fits the band’s aggressive music and this is 34 minutes that you won’t regret spending.

It’s all very well-written and structured, with fast brutality and interesting riffs around every corner. Moments of introspective Post-Hardcore are dotted around here and there, adding further texture to already textured music. I like that each track has a distinct personality and something of its own to offer the listener.

Absolute top quality. Makes me quite nostalgic for the early 00s too, while also showing that although it’s not as commonplace these days, this kind of inventive and individual heavy music is still alive and well in 2016.

For fans of forward-thinking, Hardcore-based aggressive Metal.

Mithridatic – Miserable Miracle (Review)

This is the début album from French Blackened Death Metallers Mithridatic.

Boasting a heavy and dirty sound that immediately puts me in mind of Arkhon Infaustus’ Blackened Death Metal classic Filth Catalyst, Mithridatic reveal themselves to be a similar proposition, albeit one with its own blackened charms, of course.

The songs are extremely satisfying and have that fine ratio balanced just about right between Black Metal and Death Metal influences. As such, these songs are both brutal and grim, providing the listener with some of the strongest Blackened Death Metal currently out there, in my humble opinion.

Mithridatic have obviously taken their time with these songs. They’re well-composed, well-structured and have just enough variation to keep things interesting without losing their sense of direction. Blackened riffs, fluid guitar solos, darkened melodies, moody malevolence, brutal assaults and blasting mayhem are all used effectively during these tracks.

High screams and growling shouts form the bedrock of the vocals. The singer has a certain quality to his voice that allows him to have instant charisma, putting me in mind of Morbid Angel on occasion, (whose influence also extends to aspects of the music).

A very impressive achievement. For me, Blackened Death Metal is a style that is all too easy to do poorly, but when it’s done right it really gets the hairs standing on end. This is one such release; not only due to the atmosphere the band create, but also due to the quality and personality of the songs themselves.

A mix of Arkhon Infaustus, Morbid Angel and a touch of Akercocke? Sign me up.

Go check this one out immediately.

Valerinne – Monumenta (Review)

This is the third album from Romanian instrumental Post-Metal band Valerinne.

Treading the same stylistic landscape as bands like Pelican and Russian Circles, Valerinne offer up 63 minutes of long, epic tracks that take the listener on a journey in sound and the many ways that it can be used to evoke certain feelings.

Post-Metal and Post-Rock are rightly known for bright, resplendent guitar melodies, shooting out of, (usually), darker music to create multi-faceted and rich compositions that aim to strike a chord with the listener. The music on Monumenta certainly meets that goal and these five songs have more than enough meaningful content to satisfy.

The guitars aren’t the only star of the show though, as not only is there an extremely solid rhythm section providing a firm backbone to the tracks, but added synths also make appearances, subtly enhancing the musical soundscapes and adding value whenever and wherever they’re used.

Deftly utilising the Post-Metal/Post-Rock tried-and-tested build/release mechanic, these tracks take their time exploring the various sounds and feelings of the world they find themselves in, building to crescendo before moving off in into other areas, repeatedly, as the nuances of the songs demand. These are frequently slow and gradual shifts, with the music having a glacial, unhurried feel, despite the sometimes upbeat drums and rhythms.

Albums like this are effortless to enjoy; it’s very easy to just put them on and slip out of the everyday world, getting lost in the exotic and enticing soundscapes created by a talented group such as Valerinne. Press play on this album and this is precisely what happens.

Sit back, take it all in and savour.

Ashen Horde – Nine Plagues (Review)

Ashen Horde is a one man Black Metal band from the US. This is his second album.

The production on this release is quite satisfying; the guitars have a really nice darkened tone to them and the drums are solid and firm.

The songs themselves have a Black Metal base with added Thrash and Death Metal elements fused in. Thrashy Blackened Death Metal, although a bit of a mouthful, would do justice as a description I feel. Unlike a lot of Blackened Death Metal though, the emphasis is more on the Black Metal side, although this is up for debate of course.

The Death Metal aspect of the band lends the songs a forceful muscularity that a purely Black Metal band would probably lack, and in some ways the album sounds like a Death Metal band covering Black Metal songs, musically at least. The brain behind the band can clearly play though, and there’s some quite technical messing about, (itself a technical term…), here and there.

Vocally we get curious snarls that seem half-spoken and half-spewed. I can’t help but wonder how much better they would be if they had more of a traditionally screamed delivery though, but this is a minor quibble; they do the job.

Featuring decent blasting, enough complexity to satisfy and songs that grow over time, this is one to settle into and take your time with.

Strangulate – Catacombs of Decay (Review)

Strangulate are an Indian Death Metal band, this is their début album.

Strangulate’s Death Metal is raw and brutal, going straight for the throat with their direct assault.

The gruesome riffs and bloody vocals sound like they were recorded about 20 years ago and then sealed in a crypt and forgotten about. Until now. It seems that some hapless victim has stumbled upon these ancient recordings and unleashed them on the world.

The band’s ugly approach to Death Metal is not polished, not state-of-the-art, not technical and not precise, and once they have you in their grip you wouldn’t want it any other way. This is 33 minutes of murderous, nasty music that knows a thing or two about how best to go about causing as much damage as possible.

Music like this is very honest and the passion of the band comes through in the delivery. The songs may be raw and unyielding, but they play the classic style well and the songwriting is on point. There’s a pleasing mix of blast beats and the mid-paced, with plenty of tasty riffs along the way that are catchier than you might think, too.

I hear elements of bands like Cannibal Corpse, (old) Hypocrisy, Gorerotted, Incantation, Severe Torture, Suffocation and a host of others in their sound. They pick and choose their influences with care and Catacombs of Decay is enriched by the band’s knowledge of their Death Metal heritage.

I mustn’t neglect to mention the singer, either. His clipped barking growls are performed flawlessly, perfectly capturing the essence of the style.

Mixing the old-school and classic styles of Death Metal to provide us with a great combination of blasting brutality and well-thought out riffs, Strangulate’s début is a winner and definitely rough and fierce enough to scrape your skin off.

Highly recommended.

Slabdragger – Rise of the Dawncrusher (Review)

This is the second album from this UK Doom/Sludge band.

This is an album full of sprawling epics, lasting 61 minutes in length, largely spread across 4 songs. There are five tracks in total though, with the fifth, (actually track 2 – Evacuate!), being the odd one out as, at under 5 minutes, it’s nasty, frenzied and comparatively short.

Slabdragger are heavy. They have the kind of thick, syrupy rhythm guitar that feels like it could swamp entire cities with its distortion. This immediately makes these tracks a very satisfying proposition, regardless of any other considerations.

Huge Stoner riffs power things, while the pounding drums set the backdrop. These tracks provide an ample exemplar of fuzzed-up filth and Slabdragger use all of the various tools at their disposal to spread their dirt far and wide.

During the playing time the band cover a lot of bases and visit several different grime-covered planets in the Sludge spaceways that they navigate. Yeah, yeah; as Sci-Fi metaphors go, it’s not the best, but it’s a nod to the theme of the album so just run with it… Suffice to say that this is an album that doesn’t get boring and even though it’s long there is a lot of content here to enjoy. Whether you prefer upbeat rage, downbeat misery, reflective calm, monolithic Doom or mid-paced crushers – Slabdragger have it covered.

Drawn-out cleans, insectile screams and dark shouted growls provide more than enough vocal variety and are all buried in the tide of crushing guitar riffs that the band peel off with ease.

Shot through with groovy melodies and ugly intent, these tracks are full of treasures and delights for those brave enough to pick through the musical ruins that the band inhabit; ruins that were probably once a thriving world, crushed and destroyed by the band’s incredible heaviness, I would imagine.

Most of my favourite parts on this release are provided by the guitars, this could be a chunky, grooved-up riff or when the band settle into a hypnotic repetition that you think you can just lose yourself in.

The Doom/Stoner/Sludge concoctions that they have come up with on Rise of the Dawncrusher are so very, very satiating that at the end of this veritable feast of filth you feel full and satisfied. Slabdragger have delivered the goods, make no mistake.

This is an extremely ambitious and impressive album, one that you need to have in your collection.

A must listen.

Camel of Doom – Terrestrial (Review)

This is the fourth album from UK Doom Metal band Camel of Doom.

This unusually named band play experimental Doom Metal that contains elements of Progressive Rock, psychedelia and a bit of Sludge Metal alongside the usual genre trappings. Continue reading “Camel of Doom – Terrestrial (Review)”