Fallujah are from the US and this is their third album of progressive death metal.
Fallujah are one of the more interesting and individual bands out there. Their previous album The Flesh Prevails was an exceptional release that really showcased their blend of technical/progressive death metal, with bright melodies and soundscapes created with ease, all wrapped around a modern death metal core.
They have now returned with Continue reading “Fallujah – Dreamless (Review)”
This is the début album from Russian Death Metal band Sarpentra.
If you think of bands such as Nile, Behemoth, Melechesh and Septic Flesh you’ll be on the right lines. This is aggressive, atmospheric and dark Death Metal that’s further enhanced by choirs, orchestration and operatic vocals.
The core of the band is fast and brutal, with deep growls and blast beats leading the way. This is tempered by the atmospheric side of the band, which reins in the brutality, (or tries to), so that the band’s grander and more cinematic side can come to the fore.
The technical brutality of the band blurs by as they indulge their atmospheric side and the two taken together merge into something really special. They may not be the first band to play this style but they sound like they’re doing it on steroids. While some Death Metal bands dabble in their Classical components, here they’ve been taken to the nth degree. It’s as if Therion had created reinterpretations of Nile songs and then asked Behemoth to perform them.
These are songs that have real presence to them. It’s undeniable. There are so many stand-out moments on this album that it’s hard to credit. The lightning-speed playing combined with the exotic melodies and the orchestral bombast…it’s a heady mixture and Supernova is nothing if not ambitious.
A lot of hard work has clearly gone into writing and recording these songs and it’s all paid off handsomely. This is an album that feels like a tour of a strange new land, one that’s ripe with danger but worth exploring nonetheless.
Very impressive and very, very good. Make this a high priority listen.
The Big Jazz Duo arre from Italy and this is their début album.
Looking at the album cover and knowing the band’s name, you’d probably never guess that they play Death Metal. But they do; Experimental/Atmospheric Death Metal/Deathcore.
This is sickeningly heavy with grooves and breakdowns aplenty. Speed and brutality are also present, as are pignoise vocals and scathing screams.
There’s a Djent aspect to their sound too, which seems to go hand-in-hand with a lot of Deathcore.
The band also include orchestral interludes, atmospheric sections and the like in their sound, which immediately makes them more interesting and raises their game.
Deathcore and Djent are two sub-genres that can get very stale, very quickly, if not handled well. The Big Jazz Duo avoid this trap by mixing these up with more traditional Death Metal and a melodic edge, as well as the more experimental aspects of their sound.
The songs are well written and the band understand the need for dynamics and pacing. A very polished and strong production rounds off the package and ensures that the songs have the best chance to shine.
These songs may be largely quite short but they’re packed to the rafters with goodies. Heavy groove, blasting carnage and atmosphere all merge together to create a listening experience that, in all honestly, makes me really fucking happy. I can always tell when I’m getting into an album when I start spontaneously bouncing along to it without realising. As you do.
If you imagine a cross between The Black Dahlia Murder, All Shall Perish and Xehanort then you’ll be on the right lines.
So, Brutal Death Metal, Djent, Deathcore, melody, atmosphere, orchestration…all in 31 minutes and all very well-written? I’m sold!
An extremely impressive album, especially considering the oft-dreaded Deathcore/Djent aspects of their sound.
Very highly recommended.
Sulphur Aeon play Death Metal. They are from Germany and this is their second album.
I love a good album cover, and this one is just brilliant.
Sulphur Aeon are not your standard Death Metal band. Sure, the ferocious riffs and brutal delivery are there, but they also add a lot more on top of this. Sound enhancements, effects, interesting vocals and chants, etc. add to the feeling of something special, mysterious and subtly disturbing.
A strong feeling of the underworld pervades this release, with mysterious sounds and otherworldly echoes aplenty.
The vocals are bowel-shakingly deep and sound as evil as they do inhuman. Added to this there are various shouts and chants also included that ratchet up the atmosphere and feeling as well as the aura of otherworldly darkness that these songs exude.
Musically this is interesting Death Metal in the grand tradition of bands like Behemoth and Nile; bands that are not content to play generic Death Metal and instead infuse their style with atmosphere and character. Sulphur Aeon have both in spades.
These songs are heavy and brutal yet still manage to make room for atmosphere and no small amount of melody and leads. The musicianship and songwriting skills of the band are all top-drawer and these 53 minutes speed by in a blur of remarkable Extreme Metal.
This is a very impressive release that is guaranteed to make waves in the Extreme Metal scene. There’s not enough individuality and differentiation in the Death Metal scene, (why fix what largely isn’t broken?), but thankfully Sulphur Aeon have produced an album that builds on all of the strengths of Death Metal and takes the genre further than most.
Essential listening. Go and get this now.
Ur Draugr are from Australia and this is their début EP.
This release is 20 minutes long and features Ur Draugr’s captivating take on Atmospheric Death Metal.
Unseen Golgotha is just under 7 minutes long and opens softly, with some light acoustic guitar guiding the way.
This slowly builds in atmosphere until the crashing guitars and thundering drums enter proceedings. Finally we get pitch-black growls entering the song and the dark atmosphere is ramped up by a factor of ten.
Tense melodies and charismatic music means that this song is an instant revelation.
Up next is the title track The Wretched Ascetic. This serves as the EP’s centrepiece at just over 10 minutes in length.
It’s a churning maelstrom of a song that builds like an oncoming storm with a heavily percussive backdrop and immense rhythms powering it along.
Like the first song, this second track is extremely impressive and ably showcases the band’s aesthetic of organic, atmospheric Death Metal that has some undertones of Black, Post- and Progressive Metal.
The final track on this wonderful début is Sombre Moribund. At 3 minutes in length it’s the shortest track here and serves as a gentle outro to the EP.
If you long for the olden days of classic Opeth but don’t want an Opeth rip-off band then Ur Draugr are the band for you.
This is a hugely impressive release. I can only imagine how good their eventual album will be. Here’s hoping and waiting expectantly.
Sarpanitum are a UK Death Metal band and this is their second album.
Sarpanitum take a three-pronged approach to their Death Metal that combines traditional Death Metal, melodic atmospheres and a touch of Black Metal’s heart of darkness.
The band’s melodic edge is a sharp one and it’s incorporated directly into their heaviness rather than seeming like an addition to it as is frequently the case with other bands that combine brutality and melodics.
Added keyboard sounds subtly enhance this already keen melodic sensibility they have and I really like the sense of atmospheric brutality that they create. There’s a Middle Eastern feel to a lot of the melodies that adds an exotic touch to the songs, as well as no small amount of epic grandeur.
The vocals are as dark as night; thick, deep, malevolent growls that are so low as to be akin to rumbling thunder.
Blessed Be My Brothers… has a thick, dense sound that’s uncompromising and combined with the band’s complicated riffing is impenetrable to the casual listener. This is Death Metal for real Death Metal fans who want something a bit more interesting than the standard generic fare.
Fans of Nile, Mithras, Lelahell, Gorguts, Morbid Angel, Sidious and Dying Out Flame should love this.
Highly recommended.
This is the second album by this German Death Metal band.
Ingurgitating Oblivion is for lovers of dissonant, Doom-infected Death Metal replete with dark atmosphere and malevolent sounds. This is for fans of Gorguts, Morbid Angel, Immolation and other purveyors of interesting and atypical Death Metal.
That the band have talent and can play is apparent straight away. Add to this a production that settles nicely around the band like a foggy miasma and songwriting skills that have clearly been honed over time and you have an album that has all of the necessary ingredients for something truly special.
On first listen this is an album that gels together instantly and on repeated spins it merely settles deep into your conscious even more, like a welcome indoctrination. This, of course, assumes that this style of Death Metal is one that you can take; if not then there’s no hope for you really, and you’d be better off with something simpler and easier to absorb.
This is Progressive Death Metal without any trace of pretension. The songs exist not to satisfy the musings of the musicians but to satisfy themselves. They operate purely in their own right and owe nothing to anyone other than their own sense of internal aesthetics.
This really is a first-rate release. The songs have longevity and depth oozing out of them and you know this is going to be an album that you’ll keep returning to in the years to come.
I love music that is a bit different, has something extra to offer; Continuum of Absence definitely has this.
Fans of challenging and interesting Death Metal take note.
Beyond Mortal Dreams are an Australian Death Metal band treading their own path on their own terms with this 18 minute, 4 track EP.
Three original songs and a Beherit cover are what we get, and this EP is over far too quickly as Beyond Mortal Dreams deliver the goods.
And those lead guitars! I love a good solo and there’s plenty of fretwork on these songs to keep me happy. The guitars generally are both aggressive and atmospheric, in the way that Nile manage so effortlessly; yet also take aspects of bands like Immolation. These are the bands that are not just concerned with aural bludgeoning, but who are also interested in immersing the listener in the mood of the song as well.
The drums form the bedrock on which everything else is built and it’s clear that the drummer is not human but rather some form of multi-armed cyber-mutation that’s been programmed to pound skins for all it’s worth. Impressive stuff.
This EP is a fantastic listen and I can’t wait to hear more from them in the future.
After a disconcerting intro, Finnish Death Metal band Corpsessed proceed to terrify the listener with their thick and impenetrable evil sound.
Of Desolation starts things off and just oozes menace and class. Sounding like it has been transported to this plane of existence from some horrible Hell-dimension, the band proceed to channel 48 minutes of thoroughly upsetting music that uses sound as a warning of what’s lurking in the darkness.
The band evoke strong feelings of dread and fear with their songs through skilful use of dark melodies and subtle additions of Black Metal touches to their sound. Indeed, although Abysmal Thresholds is thoroughly grounded in Death Metal there are detectable influences from the Black Metal camp that serve to enhance the innate sense of wrongness and ungodliness that these songs inspire.
Corpsessed have mastered the art of atmosphere there’s no doubting that; these tracks bleed malevolence. The guitars create a foundation of unease from which the songs are moulded while the guttural vocals underscore everything and spread their darkened word.
This is more than a mere album; this is like a message from some damned, horrible place. Each song is a new word and by the end of it you’ve lost your mind. I can’t get enough of this! This is Death Metal at its best – dark, scary, heavy, brilliant.
This album sounds like the aural equivalent of Death itself.
Zealotry are from the US, and play an ambitious brand of Death Metal that attempts to offer something a little different from the run-of-the-mill USDM hordes.
It succeeds. They kick their début album off in epic style with Avatars of Contempt. A twisting, turning odyssey into the realms of horror; this is a very strong way to open an album and sets the scene perfectly.
Mere brutality is not enough for Zealotry, nor should it be as they are blatantly capable of delivering so much more. And they do; they make good use of eerie melodies as part of their sound and are clearly more interested in creating an atmosphere for the listener rather than just blasting them into submission. They also know when to utilise calmer moments of restraint amidst the Deathly goings-on.
This is a very musical album; one that you could imagine listening to if they released an instrumental version. The vocals are important though and elevate the album higher than would be possible for a purely instrumental version, but for me the emphasis of this album is squarely on the music, and specifically the guitars. These guys know how to play and use their talent to fashion some impressive atmosphere/emotion-based riffing that tells a tale without a single word. The swaying, winding riffs in Decaying Echoes – one gem amongst many.
This is one of those exceptional albums that I particularly enjoy because of the sense of being taken on a journey through the soundscapes to places unknown and sights unseen.
It’s a great feeling when you discover a band that is attempting to do something a little out of the ordinary with a genre, and it’s an even better feeling when they do it well. The Charnel Expanse is a success; now all it needs is a wider audience. Let’s see what we can do about that, eh?
Wonderbox Metal 