Black metal – Page 199 – Wonderbox Metal

Morth – Towards the Endless Path (Review)

Morth is a one-man Black Metal band from Bulgaria. This is his début album.

This album has plenty of occult melodies for the listener to enjoy. Sometimes these melodies can seem quite jaunty or folksy, which is a nice touch among the overall darkened vibes that Morth creates.

The long songs have an epic feel and there’s plenty of atmosphere to soak up here. The music is expansive and seems to revel in a certain primitive sophistication that some of the early Black Metal bands found themselves experimenting with. It’s the kind of music that makes me feel nostalgic and never fails to raise a grim smile.

Synths and keyboards are never too far from the action, wrapping the twisting melodies in their dark embrace.

Vocally we get trademark Black Metal croaking screams that fit the music perfectly. These vocals are absolutely of the classic style and go hand in hand with the classic atmospheric music.

This is well-constructed atmospheric Black Metal with a nice line in melodies and uplifting leads and synths.

Very enjoyable.

Interview with Frozen Ocean

Frozen Ocean’s latest release The Prowess of Dormition is 25 minutes of quality atmospheric Black Metal. Wonderbox Metal caught up with the brains behind the project once more to find out a bit more information…

For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

Hello. I am Vaarwel, the only person behind this project.

Give us a bit of background to Frozen Ocean

Frozen Ocean was founded in 2005 and had 10th anniversary last year. I always be the only member of this project, and will be. “The Prowess Of Dormition” is nineteenth official release.

What are your influences?

I usually try to avoid influences to create something original, but for “The Prowess Of Dormition” I can mention Vinterland, Thy Catafalque and obscure Russian band Valhalla as entities that inspired me somehow.

What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

I generally listen to brutal and technical death metal, so I’d like to recommend to check upcoming Wormed album named “Krighsu”.

Give us a bit of background to The Prowess of Dormition – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?

“The Prowess Of Dormition” has no particular concept or plot, but all the songs are about struggle in philosophical sense, as entity overcoming the hindrances. Struggle is the only thing that can make us better than we are and pushes the evolution forward.

How do you go about writing your songs?

I write the music first, keeping in mind the title and concept, and only then write the lyrics. I record all instruments and vocals by myself, and do all the sound work as well.

How did the recording process go?

Relatively fast.

What’s your favourite song on the album and why?

Title track, I guess, because it is the quintessence of whole EP both in music and in lyrics.

What does the future hold for Frozen Ocean?

Something new and unexpected, as usual.

Oranssi Pazuzu – Värähtelijä (Review)

This is the fourth album of Black Metal from Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu.

Oranssi Pazuzu play Black Metal that incorporates elements of psychedelia and Progessive Metal into its dark embrace.

This is the great thing about what Black Metal has become – it has developed way beyond the initial confines of the original genre into all manner of weird, wonderful and splendid things, probably more so than any other genre in many ways. Purists may disagree and say that Black Metal is one specific thing or another, of course. Whether they’re right or not is largely irrelevant, but what is relevant is that Black Metal has been used time and time again as the base inspiration for many a band’s exploration into wider sounds and different pastures.

All of which serves as a slightly long-winded introduction for Värähtelijä; here is an album that does exactly as previously described – it takes the base of Black Metal but does so much more with it than your average Darkthrone clone.

Here we have music that has been expanded upon with psychedelic and progressive properties, as well as the claustrophobic apocolyptica of Neurosis and the extravagant otherworldliness of Sigh. All of this is wrapped up tightly in an emotive, atmospheric blackened cloud and hidden deep in a murky cave somewhere, awaiting discovery by you.

Yes, you.

The atmospheres created on Värähtelijä are surely born of the void, born from some howling, other place that refuses to conform to our physical laws. Surely? The depth, texture and mood displayed on these tracks is more than most bands manage in a lifetime. That’s not so say it’s always 100% effective in everything it does, but again; it’s way more effective than most bands succeed in being when they add a bit of mood to their music. However, Oranssi Pazuzu aren’t “adding a bit of mood to their music”; this is pure mood music and everything here is designed to emote and emote strongly. And it does.

This is certainly not one-dimensional and there’s a lot of different ideas, sounds and styles incorporated into their trippy take on dark music.

Hugely impressive and a great absorbing listen for anyone into music that takes time to appreciate as it seeps into your mind and takes over.

Vargstuhr – Howlings (Review)

Vargstuhr is a one man Black Metal band from Spain. This is his début release.

Unexpectedly, this album starts with an acoustic, folk-influenced track that has semi-clean vocals chanting rough outpourings. It’s a left-field opener that has a lot of rustic charm. After this, a frosted guitar melody blows in, heralding the next track and just when you think you’re in more familiar territories the guitars drop out and clean vocals appear. Then it goes all raw and evil, and at this point you realise you’re not dealing with an average release.

Howlings pays tribute to the fertile experimentation of the early Scandinavian Black Metal scene, effortlessly recreating the feel of the era and the feeling that anything is possible as the early innovators started to diversify out from the original blackened template.

This is both primitive and sophisticated at the same time. The recording is clearly on a low-budget, and at times it becomes quite unbalanced or strange, (what’s up with the horrible blasting snare drum sound on Howling 5: The Hunt, in Search of the Prey?), but honestly I can’t care that much as for the most part it suits the style of the music and represents a certain rawness and authenticity that I can get on board with. Besides, I’ve heard a lot worse.

The playing and songwriting can be similarly described; this is not the high-polish, high-gloss of the mainstream, this is strictly underground Metal fodder and sounds all the better for it.

Howlings combines atmosphere, melody, folk influences and raw Black Metal into 45 minutes of music that I can’t help but really enjoy. It genuinely takes me back a couple of decades and shows a mind with a keen understanding of the early Black Metal scene when it was right on the cusp of birthing itself into the heavily-fragmented, multiplying, mutating sub-genres of the blackened style that we know today, but just prior to this when everything seemed so genuinely exciting.

Even ignoring all of this though, purely on its own merits, Howlings is a very enjoyable slab of primitive Black Metal that has aspirations for so much more and succeeds in breaking out from the well-worn path into its own trail, writing its own story.

Well done that man.

Folteraar – Vertellingen Van Een Donkere Eeuw (Review)

This is the début album from Black Metallers Folteraar who are from the Netherlands.

This is claustrophobic, suffocating Black Metal that features the kind of fuzzed-up, filthy guitar tone that feels like it’s going to swamp you and end your existence.

Primitive and atavistic, it seems that Folteraar draw their strength from the same primordial well-spring of ancient power that first gave birth to Black Metal’s sicking abortion. This is heady stuff that’s definitely not for the casual listener; true acolytes only will appreciate this.

There’s a definite evil, otherworldly vibe to Folteraar. So much so that it’s almost impossible to think of this as music that is being played by a band; it’s more like this has been conjured up direct from Hell. The inhuman screams that accompany these filthy hymns further enhance this impression.

The tracks are relatively short, designed to quickly establish and maintain a dark, grim atmosphere. The unhurried pace is uncaring about the standard structures and practices of mainstream music and is more concerned with mood and feeling. This is one of the many reasons that this album succeeds where it could quite easily have been a sloppy failure in less talented hands.

Ohh, but this is very nice. Of course, it isn’t, but you know what I mean. It’s rare you hear Black Metal this deliciously depraved and esoteric.

Goholor – In Saeculis Obscuris (Review)

This is the début EP from Slovakian Blackened Death Metal band Goholor.

Offering up a 16 minute EP as their first venture into the world, Goholor play their Death Metal with a decent side of Black, making for sickening noises and dark Metal the likes of which are not for the average person.

Deep growls are backed up by scathing screaming highlights; the singer has the kind of growl that many a Death Metal vocalist can only imagine.

The music is well-played and obviously written by people who know how to handle the style. It’s precise and focused without being overly so, leaving room for a rougher edge that allows the songs to breathe and move freely in the gloom of the blackened auras that the band create.

With good riffs that harken back to the old-school, the band’s Black Metal influences enhance their well-crafted Death Metal core. The Black Metal elements add further depth to the tracks as the dark melodies worm their way into the essence of the songs’ aggressive tendencies.

A very enjoyable first release that delivers the goods and also promises much for the future.

Recommended.

Cult of Erinyes – Transcendence (Review)

Cult of Erinyes are a Black Metal band from Belgium. This is their latest EP.

Featuring 19 minutes of Black Metal, (2 originals and a Mayhem cover), Cult of Erinyes play sharp Black Metal with ritualistic auras.

The EP has a strong sound that allows all of the instruments to be heard well, even the lesser-spotted bass guitar gets to play its part.

Poisonous riffs and black moods pervade the tracks and the guitars give a good account of their time in Hell. At least, I’m assuming that’s where they’ve come from.

The songs are of the classic style, wrapped in darkness and grim portents. It’s mainly a mid-paced affair that gives the listener plenty to think about as the band attempt to bring on the apocalypse.

The singer’s icy rasp is well-performed and heavy with contempt. It sounds good.

Transcendence is probably my favourite track out of the three. It boasts a crawling, malevolent aura and really slow-builds to an unnerving ending; the music slows down and takes on a mystical quality while the singer repeats “remember my name” over and over.

An enjoyable EP that provides a good blackened fix.

Stillborn – Testimonio de Bautismo (Review)

This is the fifth album from Polish Blackened Death Metallers Stillborn.

Stillborn play abrasive, rough Death Metal with a Black Metal edge. It’s gritty, jagged and quite enjoyable. A Thrash Metal influence raises its head on some of the riffs too, lending the band an extra energy on occasion.

Their sound is one of a Black Metal band playing Death Metal, with the recording following this accordingly.

This is malevolent, Satanic music that has a decent blackened side to the deathly brutality. The songs have an earthy authenticity to them that’s made all the more enjoyable simply due to the good riffs and barbarous blackened sheen that everything has.

Ugly growls and dirty shrieks form the bedrock of the vocals as the music blasts and slashes its way through the 34 minute playing time. The songs are well-written and it’s clear that the band have learned a thing or two during their near two-decade existence.

Decent riffs, decent songs, murderous atmosphere; Stillborn have a new fan here.

Recommended for all fans of underground brutality.

Seven Sisters of Sleep – Ezekiel’s Hags (Review)

This is the third album from the USA’s Seven Sisters of Sleep. They play Sludge Metal.

On this album Seven Sisters of Sleep combine a lot of influences from a wide array of nasty, extreme sub-genres into their potent brew of Sludge Metal. Doom, Hardcore, Death Metal, Black Metal, Grindcore…it pretty much all gets a look in at some point in these 50 minutes.

This is nasty music that seems to revel in the filth and dirt, with no stone of depravity left unturned or unsoiled.

This is a wild and dangerous ride through all things heavy, taking pit stops in the aforementioned styles and mashing them together with all of the subtlety of a maniac with a very big hammer. Having said that though, there’s a fierce guiding intelligence at play behind the scenes here, and the band obviously know what they’re doing with the material they have bloodily birthed.

There are a lot of giant riffs on this release and whether the band are playing fast, slow or anywhere in between, they steer this ship of gloom with unerring accuracy through the fog of Sludge. Or something. I think my metaphors got a bit out of control there. Regardless, think of Ezekiel’s Hags as the nastiest form of Doom, shot through with streaks of blast beats and a predilection for terror.

The vocals are every bit as nasty as the music, even more so as they have a real splenetic fury to them.

This is an exceptional release full of horrorful energy and a testament to what you can do with the variety and interest that can be had with Sludge Metal.

I can easily imagine fans of Ilsa, Serpent Eater, Secret Cutter, Colombian Necktie, Cult of Occult, Behold! The Monolith, Nightslug and Eyehategod taking a real shine to this. I know I have.

Frozen Ocean – The Prowess of Dormition (Review)

Frozen Ocean is a one-man Russian Melodic/Atmospheric Black Metal band and this is his latest EP.

Frozen Ocean return with more wonderfully melodic Black Metal that creates plenty of atmosphere. I have previously reviewed The Dyson Swarm, so this new release was most welcome.

This is mellifluous, melodic music that’s enhanced by keyboards to greater heights of atmosphere and mood. The feeling, for me, is very much one of following in the great Windir’s footsteps,

Vocals are deeper screams than are normally associated with the style, giving the polished, shiny music a rougher edge of aggression that suits it.

Grand, epic and richly melodic, (have I mentioned that?), this is a very enjoyable EP that it’s easy to like.

Check it out.