Black metal – Page 205 – Wonderbox Metal

Narbeleth – Through Blackness, and Remote Places (Review)

This is the third album from Cuban one-man Black Metal project Narbeleth.

As I said about his second album, A Hatred Manifesto, this is the real deal. Here we have 35 minutes of Underground Black Metal, spreading darkness, disease and terror through all the lands.

Like the second album, this contains seven originals and one cover, (this time by Judas Iscariot).

It’s dark, icy music that sticks to the well-loved Orthodox Black Metal left-hand path and pays homage to the 90’s Scandinavian scene.

The production is sharp and clear, allowing the songs to scythe through the airwaves like a cold blade through flesh.

The songs are enjoyable and never attempt to be anything they’re not. The riffs are good and the guitars frozen in time. It’s a style that’s instantly familiar and comfortable to any fans of the genre, and on Through Blackness, and Remote Places it’s played well and with passion.

This is a release that it’s easy to like; unless you never got into the style or you’re just tired of it, you’ll find plenty to satisfy here.

Satanic Assault Division – Kill the Cross (Review)

Satanic Assault Division are from Denmark and this is their second album. They play Black Metal.

I’m guessing that the name alone is enough to let you know what kind of music this is. Yes, here we have Traditional Black Metal with lots of bite and plenty of violence. What might surprise you, however, is just how damn catchy and memorable this record is.

The songs are full of decent and substantial riffs. The guitars are dark and sharp, exactly as this kind of Black Metal should be. The band demonstrate very early on that they have good songwriting skills and these tracks make an impression.

Blasting drums provide plenty of speed and groovy, mid-paced riffs lend the music an extra energy, with the band firing on all cylinders. There’s even the odd guitar solo; these are usually understated and brief but provide extra interest when they appear. The solos, alongside some of the more Rocking guitars, lend this a Black ‘n’ Roll feeling in places, although this is but part of their sound.

The singer’s voice is full of bile and hatred, croaking out from the Blackened tunes as if in a murderous trance.

This is a band who have produced a Black Metal album with an emphasis on catchy music and the kind of songs that it’s easy to like.

14 tracks, (one a cover) – 55 minutes of scathing Black Metal. Best experienced at full volume.

Chiral – Night Sky (Review)

Chiral is an Italian one-man band. This is his second album.

I have enjoyed watching Chiral’s development over the course of his releases that he’s put out so far. From the primitive Proto-Death/Black Metal of Winter Eternal, to the frozen Blackened landscape of Abisso, to the more ambitious Atmospheric Black Metal of his splits with Haate and Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern/Eternal Sleep…the brain behind Chiral as consistently impressed with both the quality of his music and his progression within it.

So what of this latest release then? Showing that he doesn’t sit still, Night Sky continues the previously developed themes of Atmospheric Black Metal, only this time adding a Post-Black Metal element to the music, resulting in an album that favours mood and texture over all else.

For a surface comparison to to other bands, I’d say Night Sky combines elements of Wolves in the Throne Room, Falls of Rauros, Falloch, Vinterriket, and Opeth.

The songs are long and ambitious tracks that show a love of both Black Metal and a more naturalistic sound that is quite atavistic in its realisation. Folk melodies and influences would be an appropriate description, although it feels somehow older than this.

Acoustic passages, Folk instrumentation and Progressive Metal tendencies work together with the icy, Blackened core to create Atmospheric Post-Black Metal that takes in many influences over the 58 minutes of material and ably demonstrates the talent and skill of Chiral.

These songs are slow-builders; ramping up the atmosphere and emotional content over the span of the playing time and layering just enough keyboards and extra instrumentation on top to really provide a consistent sense of space, flavour and feeling.

So there you have it. Another quality Chiral release, his best work yet I’d say.

Fans of Atmospheric Black Metal take note.

Show Me Wolves – Between Man, God and False Idols (Review)

This is the début album of Icelandic one-man Black Metal project Show Me Wolves.

So, this is a little different. Here we have Progressive Black Metal that takes elements of both Old-School Black Metal and cutting-edge Post-Black Metal as well as, believe it or not, bits of modern Metal here and there. Okay, so on paper it sounds a mish-mash of genres that normally never meet, but when you listen to it it does all make sense. For the most part, anyway.

Black Metal with a modern, Progressive flavour is the main order of business, but there’s a good deal of other stuff going on here. The modern Metal influence is not as jarring as it first might seem, as in reality this mainly means the Progressive Black Metal is added to by some stirring, upliftingly bright melodic guitars that serve as an icing on top of a Blackened cake. Think the types of melodies used by bands like Killswitch Engage and the like, only Blacken it up some.

It’s an unusual route to take but it works well due to the coherent delivery. Ultimately, this is Post/Progressive Black Metal that’s modern and forward-thinking, yet retains an atavistic violence at its core.

The vocals are harsh screams, unyielding in their extremity and a definite counterpoint to the largely shiny, resplendent music. He sounds angry, and I like that. Clean vocals also appear occasionally, lending a despondent, lonesome edge to things.

Before listening to this, the low-rent album cover led me to believe I was in for some Old-School Darkthrone clone, but I was quite wrong. Between Man, God and False Idols has impressed. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than a lot and shows massive promise.

One to check out, for sure.

Loputon Suo – Loputon Suo (Review)

Loputon Suo are a Finnish Black Metal band and this is their début demo.

Lasting only 12 minutes, this is a dense, murky affair with elements of Melodic Black Metal and Death Metal included.

The vocals are bestial growls that are worryingly feral. They give the band a feeling of something dangerous and uncompromising. Decent riffs and a dark aura work with the melodic guitars in a complementary fashion.

When the ferocious growls are mixed with the atavistic music and Old-School melodies, something quite special emerges. This demo has an obscure and authentic feel above all else.

The recording is stripped back, raw and befitting of both the demo status and the style. However, that’s not to say it’s a bad sound, and it’s quite endearing in a harsh, violent way.

Very enjoyable. Check this out for your underground, Blackened fill.

Meuchelmord – Apathie (Review)

Meuchelmord is a one-man Black Metal band from Germany and this is his latest release.

This is Depressive Black Metal that starts gently with a soft piano intro and quickly descends into the kind of despondent, oppressive music that Depressive Black Metal is all about.

Aspects of Shoegaze are present in the mix and the songs easily invoke feelings of sadness and nostalgia in the listener.

The vocals are mainly high-pitched screams that are just as serrated and barbed as you would expect, lashing out from the down-beat music like savage whips.

There’s a decent, fuzzy guitar sound that strikes just the right tone between being cold and emotive. The tracks are straightforward takes on the sub-genre and have enough dynamics and content to work.

Piano parts are artfully laced throughout the tracks just enough to add a further veneer of melancholy to things.

I favour this kind of music the slower and more miserable it sounds, and Apathie is no different.

Try this out for size.

Favourite Track: Jahr.

Stellar Master Elite – III: Eternalism – The Psychospherical Chapter (Review)

This is the third album from German Black Metallers Stellar Master Elite.

Here we have Black Metal that managers to foster an air of festering rot alongside a sophisticated malevolent darkness. It’s an intriguing combination that gives Stellar Master Elite a distincive flavour when compared to a lot of bands.

Their music has a depressive, Doom-drenched Black Metal base that’s not a million miles away from a band like Forgotten Tomb in spirit, although in reality they don’t sound too similar. The music is powerful and atmospheric without being pompous or overblown. This is very definitely epic music, but in a miserable, negativity-infused way.

The deep growling vocals consolidate the feelings of Funeral Doom/Death-gone-Black Metal. The singer’s voice is full of dark promise and has a gruff, tight character that allows it to be both brutal and compact. The screamed vocals are more typical-Black Metal, but no less effective for this. Clean vocals appear on the fourth track, adding yet another dimension to the band’s music.

Keyboards/synths/Hellsounds add a considerable amount to the already emotive Blackened dirge and it quickly becomes apparent that this is an integral aspect of the band’s music. They’re also creative and atypical in many respects, which is something I like.

This is a diverse and well-paced album, with lots to keep the listener interested and many different moods and palettes used effectively. There’s plenty of feeling thrown into the mix here, as well as a decent helping of prime-riffage. Occasionally the streamlined darkness that the band peddle brings to mind Enslaved and their sterling work in similar areas.

This is an impressive collection of long songs that successfully fuses Black Metal, Doom and all things dark and evil into 63 minutes of quality Metal.

Enjoy.

Deluge – Æther (Review)

This is the début album from Deluge, a French Post-Black Metal band.

The album cover alone was enough to entice me to listen to this as a priority, never mind anything else. For me, it’s a cover that promises much.

So on to the music – does it deliver on these early promises?

Well, it starts off without any fanfare or pointless intros; blast beats and an absolutely thunderous sound erupt from your speakers, and it’s like being hit by a wave of churning, violent noise. It’s a very strong opening.

Deluge play fast, violent Black Metal that’s enhanced and added to by more restrained and atmospheric Post-Metal influences. Merging these together, the band create Post-Black Metal that employs the best tools from both styles. But this is a merging that, for the most part, preferentially gives free rein to one or the other of the two; switching between styles with the effortless ease of a professional.

The songs benefit greatly from this approach. The blasting venom is first-rate and the more considered atmospherics are top-of-the-line as well. Resplendent melodies combine with the vitriolic Blackened delivery to create songs that are more powerful than if they were simply one thing or the other.

The vocals are angry Hardcore-esque screamed shouts that spit the French lyrics like they’re hot and poisonous.

Apart from the strength of the songs, (which is the main thing of course), and the album cover, the other main strength of Æther is the positively immense production. Sharp, modern and colossal; this is a recording that suits the band’s delivery and character.

So, back to the original question – does Æther deliver? Yes. Very much, yes.

Temple of Baal – Mysterium (Review)

This is the fifth album from this French Black Metal band.

Their fourth album Verses of Fire was 61 minutes of top quality Extreme Metal and was a welcome experience that was a slight change of direction from their earlier, purer Black Metal approach. That album brought more Death Metal influences into the mix, although their Blackened side was still a huge component in their sound.

Fast-forward to 2015 and Mysterium relegates the Death Metal influences to the back seat and their Black Metal roots get to set the direction once more. This is not the more primitive Black/Thrash of their older work though; this is more refined, epic and gloriously sophisticated in its realisation. As such, the songs are generally longer and more involved than their previous averages, and the thick dark aura of the songs is cloying with its aggressive malevolence.

This release is full of Blackened riffs, blasting fury and evocative melodies. There’s a driving majesty that underpins each of the tracks on this album, so regardless of the particular style of music that makes up any given section it’s holistically all brought together by an iron will and a coherent vision. This shouldn’t give the impression of an album that’s “all-over-the-place” or struggling to find an identity as there’s none of that here. Rather, this is sophisticated Black Metal that still takes influences from Death and Thrash Metal, but they’re subsumed into the overarching Blackened style and whatever the band does with these influences is consistent and reasonable within the confines of their sound.

These songs are well-written advanced exemplars of the style and each one brings something extra to the table.

The vocals are dark growling screams, perfectly suited to the environment they find themselves in.

The production of the album is a strong one; it’s huge and powerful yet manages to maintain the feeling of raw, restrained chaos and fettered Blackened evil that the songs exude as easily as breathing.

I was a fan of Versus of Fire, but this is better. The progression of their sound is welcome and it seems that Temple of Baal are one of those bands that are always looking to better themselves and to see what they can do better or different next time. It’s not a massive change in style, of course, but it’s enough to make Mysterium into an extremely compelling and engaging listen.

Overall, this album is a triumph and really, really strong. However, there are times on this release when they really outdo themselves. Sometimes, when the drums are blasting, the rhythm guitars are full of emotive darkness and the leads are exotic and powerful…well…it’s just a hair-raising experience.

Great stuff. I’m very happy with Mysterium.

Sacrilegious Impalement – First Three Nails (Review)

Sacrilegious Impalement are a Black Metal band from Finland.

This latest album collects together their three first releases – their début demo and two early EPs; Sacrilegious Impalement and World in Ashes.

The fact that their main songwriter is named Impaler Von Bastard means you know, or at least hope, this is gonna be class.

And it is.

With that in mind, this is raw and blasphemous Black Metal that takes the base skeleton of the genre and runs with it, faithfully recreating the core of the pure Black Metal style.

It’s a relentless assault that’s cold and frosted to the touch. This is Black Metal that lacks subtlety, mercy or any redeeming virtues. These songs drip with grimness and bile, as is their birthright. It exists to be pure fucking Black Metal and that is all.

The production is decent despite the raw nature of the music, and everything is audible and where it needs to be. It’s not an overly polished sound though, and the requisite underground feel is intact.

Even though this release features three releases a few years apart it still sounds coherent and consistent throughout, despite the slight variations in recording and writing.

For a fix of true Black Metal played proficiency and verve, Sacrilegious Impalement hit the spot.