This is the début album from Exordium Mors who are a Black Metal band from New Zealand.
This is Black Metal with a Thrash influence and songs that are interesting and well developed. The riffs are powerful and propel the songs onwards and upwards in a blaze of raw melody and colourful leads.
The band have a strong grasp of dynamics and have lots of ideas that they pour into The Apotheosis of Death. This makes for a fascinating and satisfying listen as Exordium Mors provide an important lesson in Extreme Metal in 54 minutes.
It’s a chaotic frenzy of Blackened Thrash and bloody sacrifice. It’s frenetic, impassioned and coursing with vitality. It’s imbued with a terrible majesty and undeniable presence.
Exordium Mors have built up their own kingdom of Extreme Metal and lord it over their subjects with the confidence of those who know they are untouchable in their own lands.
The Apotheosis of Death is varied and interesting and you’re never sure what dark labyrinth the band are going to explore next. The savage Blackened brutality of the songs is a multidimensional, expertly realised and fully textured Extreme Metal reality that the band have carved out for themselves.
This is an advanced album that’s probably not for the casual listener. For hardened Black/Extreme Metal fans though this is what you’ve been waiting for.
Those Who Bring The Torture are from Sweden and this is their fourth album of Death Metal.
This is the latest album featuring Rogga Johansson, who we’ve met before in Megascavenger. This should already tell you a little something about the quality levels on this release.
According to the promo text, Those Who Bring The Torture play their Death Metal in a style that will suit fans of Grave, Hypocrisy and Malevolent Creation; it’s hard to argue with this description.
This is Swedish Death Metal at its core but with a few additional elements that prevent it sounding generic. Imagine Hypocrisy if they created a Swedish Death Metal album but with their own, older sound.
The songs are heavy and strong, and like its Swedish Death Metal heritage it’s strong on melodies. These melodies are memorable and provide a focus point for the songs to move around. There are some great riffs here and each track demonstrates a band who are capable of combining Death Metal brutality with sterling melody and songwriting.
Vocally the deep growls are bowel loosening and very satisfying. Higher screams are added to this when necessary and it’s a faultless performance all round.
This timeless and classic approach to Death Metal pays real dividends and Piling Up is an easy album to like. The songs carry themselves with an air of familiarity but just enough to evoke a smile and not enough to roll the eyes like you’ve heard it all before.
Those Who Bring The Torture have got their killing style down to a fine, bloody art. Anyone who’s into Old-School/Classic/Swedish Death Metal will have no cause to complain when they hear this.
Time to raise the flag for proper Death Metal once more. Let the slaughter commence.
Featuring guitar, drums and electronics, The Haunting Green have an interesting sound that combines Doom, Post-Metal and a touch of Drone to create 28 minutes of dark, emotive music.
The soundscapes the band create are textured and impressively detailed. The added but relatively subtle electronics flesh out their sound in a way that enhances the tracks a great deal.
The vocals sound anguished and tortured which lends them a personality missing from a lot of generic shouters out there.
These are well-written songs that grow and spread the more you listen to them. The merging of Post-Metal and Doom means that we get to enjoy both the introverted subtlety of the one as well as the extroverted heaviness of the other.
I really like this release. It’s a very good example of music taking liberties and experimenting with the basic sound of a subgenre, resulting in something a little different from the average. The quality levels on this are through the roof and it’s a convincing, compelling and complete experience.
Give The Haunting Green some of your time. You won’t be disappointed.
The Von Deer Skulls have their origins in many different countries and have a suitably unusual sound to boot.
I suppose the best way to describe this band is Experimental Rock with elements of Drone, Ambient and Electronica/Industrial.
The tracks here are largely laid back, relaxed affairs. Low-key riffs and sounds move the compositions forward whilst soft vocals and gentle noises punctuate the flow.
This is relatively easy listening and the overall mood is an atmospheric one. Although I wouldn’t describe them as having a dark sound per se, it’s certainly not a bright and hopeful one either. They seem to be aiming for a slightly creepy, unnerving sound and I think they’re headed in the right direction.
The guitars are largely lo-fi but the distortion is noticeable here and there. They even approach a Rocky beat in places.
This is a good release from a band who are still finding their sound and these songs give them a good base to work from. If you enjoy this kind of Experimental Post-Rock then The Von Deer Skulls should be right up your street.
Give this band some of your time and see what you think.
Breakdust are from France and this is their second album.
Breakdust play Thrash Metal that’s aggressive and heavy. Their style is influenced by Classic Thrash but delivered in a modern style.
The band manage to mix the old and the new together quite well, with some songs being straight ahead Thrashers, and others having some different influences, (splashes of Death Metal hints here and there, for example).
They incorporate a fair few different ideas and feelings into this release, usually quite small things amongst the Thrashings but they all make a difference. Keyboard effects and female vocals, for example.
For a basic idea think a combination of Testament and Sepultura which the band then add to to make it their own.
Vocally the singer mainly uses harsh mechanistic shouts, but variety is added to this with deeper growls and some cleaner vocals.
The music is of the heavier variety with plenty of double bass, crushing riffs and even some blast beats making an appearance.
It’s clear that the band can play well and there are some nice technical passages and good solos floating around.
This is a comprehensive album that’s been impressively put together by a coherent vision of what they want to achieve.
A very worthwhile listen – check them out.
Favourite Track: Mother Will Kill Us All. A proper Thrash Metal epic.
Uburen’s début album Withered Roots is a fiery homage to the band’s Norwegian heritage done in a much more aggressive style than is the norm for most Viking/Pagan bands. I asked some questions to find a bit more about them…
Give us a bit of background to Uburen
Uburen is a 3 piece band formed after ending other music projects. All members had a common interest in Norse mythology and the old Norwegian culture and wanted to form a band that would deliver both musically and as a live preforming band with a stage show that will not be forgotten right away.
What are your influences?
Bands that influence us are many, but among some of the more known bands: Enslaved, King Of Asgard, Varg, Vreid a lot of the underground bands also offer a lot of inspiration for their music and their will to continue on self economy.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
Nowadays we listen to a lot of various bands such as Woods Of Ypres, Wyrd, King Of Asgard, Solstafir, Khold.
What did you want to achieve with your new album?
We would like to spread our music and the message of a dying culture, meet new people have some drinks and play concerts.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
With a budget nearly none from our own pockets we ourselves think its pretty decent, but can’t really measure up to Amon Amarth or Enslaved.
Tell us about your sound – it’s a lot heavier and more extreme than a lot who play this Viking style
The sound on Withered Roots is heavily inspired by folk and black metal, but not “nice sing-along boy-scout-campfire” music or music is inspired by the frontline on the battlefield and we try to captivate the macabre, anguish, anger, fear, hate, despair and all the raw emotions.
Tell us about your lyrics
Our lyrics focus around the darker side of the Norse history and mythology from the tales of creatures such as “Nøkken” the disapearence of men lured in and suffocated in the cold lakes fact based stories of brutal executions such as the “Blood Eagle” songs that tells stories with underlying words from the old sagas for instance about never giving up fighting ’til you die. Not trying to avoid your fate, keep walking through every winter.
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process and how you create your songs.
The song writing process varies from song to song, usually one of us has a riff or bits of lyrics then we sit together think it through, what feeling and what message we want to tell when the song is put together we play through couple times take a break for at least 1 week to reflect if its how we want it to be.
In my review I say “Imagine Enslaved if they were less Progressive and more aggressive, or maybe Amon Amarth if they used Black Metal as the basis for their sound rather than Death Metal”. What are your thoughts on this?
It’s and honour to be compared with such bands as Enslaved and Amon Amarth we are all fans of them since way back, but we have not intentionally tried to sound like anyone. Our sound has just formed itself from our own minds.
How do you see your position in the wider Black Metal musical framework/genre?
Can’t say that we have given much thought to playing within a certain genre like Black Metal or Folk Metal its just music inspired by old Norwegian history and folk lore and our past is grim so that we sound like Black Metal just happened.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
We have no planned direction for our music nor for our lyrics, it will continue to evolve with us. No compremise.
What does the future hold for Uburen?
At the moment we are looking into playing at festivals around where we are wanted. We have some booked, but those are secret for now we would also like to go into the studio again in the not to distant future whenever our pockets allow it. Maybe even another music video.
Cathedral Fever are from the US and play Hardcore that’s chaotic, Crusty and dark.
The cover intrigues me. What lies within?
The answer is anger. Anger lies within.
Cathedral Fever are the kind of band who always sound loud, even when played at low volumes. It’s no mean feat. Their sound seems strong enough to overcome mere physical limitations of air vibrations and get to the very meat of the matter – sounding pissed and playing pure rage.
The songs have personality and the band understand what makes this kind of violent Hardcore Metal interesting. Rather than just being one dimensional displays of rage and anger they understand the need for dynamics, a bit of variety, (within stylistic limitations of course), and the importance of a good riff.
They don’t neglect the bass either, which is a very undervalued and under-used instrument in my opinion. Good stuff.
Another interesting element to their sound is an almost Old-School Metal/Rock feel to some of the riffs on occasion. It’s not a huge part of their sound but it’s there enough to make a note of. The blending of Metallic Hardcore guitars with a Rockier sound to some of the riffs works well. Add this to the Crust vibe that covers everything and the songs work well.
This is a really good EP from a band with enough talent to force people to take notice of them. Check them out and see if they can knock you down.
Colombian Necktie are from the US and this is their début album.
The band have a basis in Hardcore but build elements of Sludge and Metal on top of this to create something heavy, raw and nasty. I’ve been watching this band’s development over the last few splits and EPs that they have released and it seems that with this album they’ve taken everything they’ve learned and ramped it up to the maximum.
A suitably crushing sound heralds the start of the album and it immediately draws you in. The recording is arid, focused and everything sounds both tight and loose at the same time.
Colombian Necktie have a relatively varied sound that employs bits from many different Metal subgenres and puts them to work creating this monument to Hardcore Sludge. Sludgecore, if you will. And I’m glad they did as it sounds just great.
This belongs to the same stable of bands such as Charger, Eyehategod, Enabler, Mistress, Serpent Eater, Ilsa, etc. – bands that are doing their own thing by their own rules and make a virtue out of the heavy, filthy and unclean.
For the most part Colombian Necktie’s songs are tightly compressed balls of rage. Hardcore and Sludge sensibilities combine along with the odd Stoner Rock moment to create an album with a vicious swagger and an attitude that just won’t quit. Add to this the odd synth effect, some other interesting ideas and the emotional closing track Kevin’s Song, (which is by far the longest track here), and you have an engaging and diverse album.
The singer is impressively rabid the whole time and sounds like he would be great live, which of course can be extended to the entire band.
Considering their past releases I was hoping this would be a good album but they have more than exceeded my expectations in this. I knew it would be of a certain quality but wasn’t expecting an album of this depth and nuance.
A highly recommended listen for all connoisseurs of heaviness.
Australasia are from Italy and play Post-Black Metal Shoegaze.
Well, I love the album cover, so that’s a good start.
These are largely short compositions although they have all of the time they need to make themselves felt.
These are songs that are as emotive and translucent as any in the style. They take the listener through the usual gamut of emotions typical of Shoegaze releases of this nature.
Post-Black Metal comes about when Black Metal and Post-Metal meet, as can be expected from the name. The addition of the Shoegaze tag usually specifies something similar, only in my experience tends to mean that the band have a fragile, brittle sense about them; not in any negative way but rather in the sense of everything being pushed and focused into making the songs as expressive and emotive as possible.
In Australasia’s case the emphasis is on the Post-Metal side of the equation rather than the Black Metal side, (although this aspect of their sound is still present). In addition to this the band also employ some Electronica influences and use this as a further aspect to their sound.
All of this describes Australasia perfectly as they have the hauntingly fragile delivery and highly evocative emotional appeal that typifies this kind of music. And they do all of it very, very well.
There are largely no vocals, so the instruments take centre stage. The only exception to this is some female vocals which are strong and assured; they appear very briefly as a small but important enhancement to a few tracks.
A recommended listen for seekers of sensation everywhere.
Ukrainian band Narrow House play Progressive Doom and this is their second album.
This is varied and atmospheric Doom, with elements of their Funeral Doom past widened and expanded to included a much larger musical framework.
Playing heavy, dark and slow is still a feature for the band, however, but now they also use additional tools in their toolbox, including non-standard Doom implements such as choirs, saxophone, cello and contrabass, as well as orchestration, piano, keys, etc. that are more typical of the style.
A lot of the songs are more upbeat and have more of a Progressive feel to them. Some tracks such as The Midwife to Sorrows, for example, still have Doom aspects but can also be thought of as Progressive Metal songs with slow parts.
The songs are surprisingly short but still manage to pack a lot in. Narrow House are high on content and depth where they are lacking in length of song. The level of orchestration, effects and additional instrumentation on the tracks mean that each song is densely packed with layer upon layer of musical interest.
The clean vocals are dirge-like and full of depth and authority, whilst the occasional growls are low key but powerful.
This album is a surprise as I wasn’t sure what to expect from the band. From the Progressive Metal-style album cover to the name that gives nothing away, this is an atypical release in many respects. This is a very good thing, as the band have produced an extremely good album that manages to ably differentiate itself from the ravening hordes whilst keeping quality levels high and having a lot of personality and colour.
This will probably be a bit too left of centre for some Doom fans, which is a shame as this is a remarkable release that deserves a wider audience. This is a hugely impressive album that won’t settle for being average and definitely stands out in a sea of mediocrity.
Listen with an open mind and you’ll find that Narrow House have produced quite the corker.
This is the début album from Exordium Mors who are a Black Metal band from New Zealand.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
Wonderbox Metal 