Wonderbox Metal

Outre – Ghost Chants (Review)

Outre are a Black Metal band from Poland and this is their début album.

After their début EP and their split with Thaw, this has been an eagerly awaited release from these talented Black Metallers.

Theirs is a form of Black Metal that combines Atmospheric Black Metal with a Post-Black Metal sensibility to create transcendent Dark Art.

This is a band who are no stranger to pure Blackened brutality either though, as there are plenty of faster and heavier sections in their music as well as the more atmospheric and considered ones.

Ghost Chants features sophisticated and modern Black Metal that’s more Deathspell Omega than Darkthrone. The songs are exemplars of the style and this is a very professional and well-recorded album that nonetheless loses none of Black Metal’s inherent venom or antagonism.

The exceptional vocals this time around add an entire other layer to Outre’s sound, especially with the extremely talented vocalist they have employed. The vocals on Ghost Chants are diverse and brilliantly performed. Taking in pretty much all aspects of a Black Metal performance that you can think of, these are a crowning addition to an already superb band.

Ghost Chants is an exceptional release by an extremely gifted troupe of Black Metallers.

A must.

Porta Nigra – Kaiserschnitt (Review)

Porta Nigra are from Germany and this is their second album. They play Black Metal.

This is atypical, eccentric Black Metal that has a marching, martial feel to it as well as diverse other influences lurking around its dark underbelly.

The largely mid-paced assault is of a more individual variety than the usual Darkthrone-influenced one that you might expect.

Additionally, the extra sounds and noises in the form of samples, trumpets, keyboards and other instruments introduce aspects of their sound that further mark them out as different from the pack.

The vocals are varied screams and shouts as well as the occasional clean. Coupled with the charismatic music you never know quite what’s going to happen next on the album.

The songs have a Black Metal identity that’s further added to by elements of Heavy Metal, Punk and Avant Garde, depending on the whims of the band members it seems. It all sounds remarkably coherent however and as a whole the album works.

Lots of different moods and styles around these core musical themes are explored and Porta Nigra have impressed with their ability to create a diverse body of work on Kaiserschnitt.

This is a band who have completely stamped their own personality onto the Black Metal template and have produced an album that stands apart and stands strong.

Check this out today.

Profanity – Hatred Hell Within (Review)

Profanity are from Germany and play Brutal/Technical Death Metal. This is their latest EP.

The band have a strong presence and their Death Metal is tight and precise.

Profanity have a sound that combines the Brutal, the Technical and the Progressive all in three songs, 20 minutes. As they’ve been around since 1993 they clearly know the sound they want and are experienced enough to achieve it, (even if this is the band’s first release in over a decade).

They manage to combine these aforementioned sub-genres in such a way that the end result borrows from both the New School and a more timeless brand of Death Metal.

The songs are intelligently composed and the extended, (for the style), running time of the songs, (or two of them at least), allows the band the space to really work themselves into a Technical/Progressive frenzy.

The vocalist is blessed with a deep, growling roar and he sounds utterly inhuman.

The production is strong and the band can all really play. I also love the bass; I love a band who actually use the bass as an integral part of their sound and here it has a chance to shine like the rest of the instruments. There’s even a bit of a bass solo!

Let me calm myself down a bit before I continue. The excitement is too much.

However, exciting is a good word for Profanity. Not in a high energy way, (although they have plenty of that), but just from the sheer rush of speed, brutality and technical mayhem that the band so easily and effortlessly dish out.

I must confess I’d never encountered Profanity before this. If Hatred Hell Within is anything to go by it’s definitely my loss as this EP is a sterling release by this band. It promises extremely good things for the future and here’s to their next album!

Angmaer – Toward Darkness’ Paradise (Review)

Angmaer is a one man Black Metal band from the UK. This is Angmaer’s début album.

This is raw, Old-School Black Metal with a cold sound and an even colder heart.

Angmaer is the sound of a horrific curse, born of its Scandinavian forefathers and birthed into an uncaring underground world where it has slowly been uncoiling and feasting on lesser entities.

This will take you right back to when you first heard badly recorded Black Metal back in the early 90’s and it all sounded so visceral and nasty. Toward Darkness’ Paradise harken’s unashamedly back to this era.

The vocals are acidic and burn upon exposure. They’re performed as well as any in this genre and really have a sharp, frosty tang to them.

The songs have plenty of aggression but also slow the pace where necessary. The darkened feelings and Blackened atmospheres are cultivated through every part of these songs and it really does almost feel as if you’ve stepped back in time.

This is also a release that looks to the future though. Reliving past glories is one thing, but the riffs here have their own take on Black Metal’s infernal light; Norway filtered through the UK.

Time to support the underground and check out Toward Darkness’ Paradise.

Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern/Eternal Sleep/Chiral – Sed Auiss – Split (Review)

Here we have a split between three different one-man Black Metal projects. All bands have contributed two songs each to this release.

Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern, from Germany, is the first to perform and offers up 15 minutes of music, longer than both other bands.

These songs have a good sound and provide emotive Black Metal with strong vocals and good riffs.

There are quite a few nice aspects to Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern’s sound. Crisp, raw guitars, Post-Black Metal interludes, near-static screaming vocals; it all adds up to a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

The music takes the listener on a journey and covers various moods across the running time. As well as being Blackly aggressive the mood is also a reflective one.

This is my first encounter with Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern and I have to say I’m very impressed.

Next we have Eternal Spell; hailing from Chile and contributing 8 minutes to this split.

In contrast to Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern, Eternal Spell’s take on Black Metal is a more primitive and straight-for-the-jugular affair.

This Black Metal takes the raw template and infuses it with elements of Speed Metal and Punk to produce two tracks that kick you right where it hurts.

It’s resolutely Old-School and unreservedly underground. It’s honest, enjoyable and not lacking in charm.

Finally we have Chiral, from Italy, who we have met before, here, here and here. It’s always a pleasure to hear new work from this talented individual so a further 12 minutes of music is most welcome.

As usual it’s high quality, high calibre Black Metal that continues the development that the artist has shown so far of actually improving with every release.

This is sharp Atmospheric Black Metal that contains a decent amount of melody without blunting the strength of the attack.

The melodies, grooves and speed captivates from first listen and the well-performed vocals are authentically fierce. Both the screams and growls sound great and they help bring everything else together.

Whether playing faster or slower the songs are well-written and capture the dark essence of Black Metal straight from the off.

Another win for Chiral.

Overall this is a worthwhile split to get your hands on especially for Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern and Chiral’s contributions, which are my favourites.

Incinerate – Eradicating Terrestrial Species (Review)

This is the third album from US Technical/Brutal Death Metallers Incinerate.

With a quality Death Metal album cover, this is the kind of band that it’s easy to like. Once the usual pointless intro is out of the way, we get lots of brutally satisfying USDM-esque carnage with plenty of chugs and squeals to keep fans of the style happy.

This is a well-oiled Death Metal machine that chews you up and spits you out with a mechanistic relish.

Ultra-guttural vocals are the order of business although some variation is added by some screaming. They hit the spot nicely.

The playing is precise and surgical, with enough technicality to please and enough straight-ahead brutality to satisfy.

If you like your Death Metal in the classic US vein then Incinerate have what it takes to scratch that deep, bloody, sore itch.

For fans of Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Deeds of Flesh, Defeated Sanity, etc.

Aegrum – De Arrival (Review)

This is the second release from Aegrum who are an Indonesian Symphonic Black Metal band.

This is underground Black Metal with an atmospheric element characterised by the added keyboards. Coming off like something that should have been released in 1995, De Arrival is an endearing and honest paean to lost times and old glories.

The guitars are as paper thin as anything from the mists of Black Metal history but retain a dark lustre nonetheless. The Blackened melodies are sharp and provide an underpinning backdrop for the mournful keyboards.

The vocals are like solidified lightning and flash out on top of the music with evil intent.

For me, there’s a lot of nostalgic character present in a band like this, and it really does take me back to an earlier time. I have a similar emotional response to Aegrum as I do to Cosmic Infusion, which is one to savour.

This is really enjoyable. Be sure to check this out and get your hit of well-performed mid-90’s style Symphonic Black Metal.

Veld – Daemonic: The Art of Dantalian (Review)

This is the fourth album from Belarus Death Metallers Veld.

Sometimes, only Death Metal will do. Sometimes, it’s the only thing you want to hear. To someone like me an album like this is right up my street, so to speak.

Here we have a flawlessly produced album that has a shockingly strong sound and contains Death Metal that’s non-generic and padded out with interesting enhancements and ideas.

The press blurb touts similarities to Nile, Behemoth and Hour of Penance; all hard hitters and all equally hard to argue with.

Veld are a talented band it seems as they’re equally at home creating an impressively brutal noise or revelling in dark atmospheres. The fact that they can equally play these differing styles of Death Metal and do it well makes this album very listenable and enjoyable.

Some top riffing and melodies accompany the skilful drumming. Quasi-Black Metal influences make the cut too and it all adds character to the assault.

Veld have created some involving music here. Blasting Death Metal with enough variety and interest to make them interesting and enough core violence so they don’t lose their edge.

Highly recommended.

Forgotten Tomb – Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love (Review)

Forgotten Tomb are from Italy and play Black Metal. This is their eighth album.

Forgotten Tomb specialise in negatively-charged Black Metal with a healthy amount of Doom influence thrown in. I’ve always found their work to be highly engaging and have always viewed them as sounding akin to what Paradise Lost might have ended up like had they discovered and embraced Black Metal early on.

Like Paradise Lost, Forgotten Tomb have a good ear for the melodies. They twist, turn and wind their way through the songs with an emotive passion that brings these seven tracks alive with a rich despondency. The melodic leads may form a central point of focus, but the rest of the music rallies around it effectively too.

Having said all that though, Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love has a bit more bite than previous releases; not that they’ve lacked for this in the past, it’s just that this latest release has more of a vicious snarl to it than some of their other work.

They haven’t turned into Anaal Nathrakh, of course, and the depressive element of their sound is still their major driving force; but there’s an increased aggressive side to the band on this release. It’s as if they’re no longer content to merely be vessels for the misery and they’re now wanting to take a more active role in its propagation.

The music has a professional recording and is nicely heavy. The guitars have a very satisfying tone and the vocals are sounding as good as ever, maybe even a little more evil than normal.

Forgotten Tomb have mastered the art of sounding catchy without drifting too far into commercial-sounding waters. They’re a band who, after so long, know exactly how to write a good song, and Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love is full of them.

This is an extremely strong album that demonstrates how to write Depressive Black Metal with enough kick and personality to truly engage and connect with the listener. Bleakly wonderful.

Sonic Prophecy – Apocalyptic Promenade (Review)

This is the second album by US Power Metal band Sonic Prophecy.

Sonic Prophecy play Heavy/Power Metal with grand ambitions and enough rocking riffs to fell a house. Think a mixture of Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, Manowar, Blind Guardian, etc.

The songs are rousing and catchy. Galloping guitars and upbeat drums mean Apocalyptic Promenade is powered forward at a good pace and there is enough variety and interest throughout to stop the listener from becoming bored.

The songs concentrate on good structure and composition rather than being concerned with technicality or speed purely for the sake of it.

The musicianship is polished and tight with plenty of leads and solos included. Keyboards work well with the guitars to create the themes and atmospheres that the band employ. The Heavy Metal component of their sound stops the Power Metal from becoming too ostentatious but that doesn’t mean they lack creative flair or passion.

The singer knows how to carry a good tune and has the ability to back this up. To my ears he reminds of the Queensrÿche singer with a bit of Iron Maiden mixed in.

Sonic Prophecy have released an impressive and ambitious 73 minute album chock full of Power/Heavy Metal goodness. Highly recommended.