Black metal – Page 212 – Wonderbox Metal

Vorzug – Call of the Vultures (Review)

This is the début album from US Death Metal band Vorzug.

This is Old-School Blackened Death Metal that takes the brutal nature of Death Metal and adds a Blackened sheen via the guitars and high screaming.

The vocals primarily consist of deep grunts and are backed up by the aforementioned screams. The singer sounds like he’s gargling acid and his cookie-monster style is quite monstrous.

The guitars have a deeply ingrained Blackened edge to them that combines dark melodies with an older Death Metal influence. This results in a pleasing selection of riffs that provide a fresh perspective on the Old-School style.

The band have a good ear for a catchy riff and the Black/Death style means that they have just the right ratio of brutality to melody. The songs harken back to an older era where a good song was worth more than being the fastest/most technical/most brutal/etc.

Vorzug appear to be very talented at what they do and Call of the Vultures is notable for providing an Old-School fix but in a fresh-sounding way. Their passion is apparent for all to see, and in that way they remind me of the recent album from Gruesome, even if stylistically we’re in more Blackened waters here.

The music is propelled forwards by a strong drum sound, though all of the instruments sound good. It’s nice to hear the bass too, especially as it’s used to enhance the songs and is allowed to make its own mark on the tracks.

A very strong album, made a very enjoyable listen by the songwriting skills and catchy Blackened riffing. Definitely worth 33 minutes of your time.

Hope Drone – Cloak of Ash (Review)

Hope Drone are an Australian Post-Black Metal band. This is their début album.

Well this is a long one; 7 tracks across 77 minutes. Hope Drone don’t do things by halves it seems. But then why should they? This kind of music demands complete immersion and Cloak of Ash provides ample opportunity for this.

The music has a Black Metal base onto which is built Post-Black Metal wanderings and Atmospheric Sludge Metal influences.

Hope Drone take the Cascadian Black Metal template and use it to fashion themselves a wide-reaching, emotive album that’s highly textured and richly delivered. All speeds and tempos are catered to as well as heavier and lighter sections, which means that Cloak of Ash is a diverse and pleasurable listen that succeeds in painting in shades of darkness and light.

The Black Metal is never too far from the surface. Even the Post-Metal and Sludge/Doom elements of their sound have that Blackened twinge to them, although that doesn’t stop them from dripping with a darkened beauty. The band can play ugliness and aggression extremely well, but there are enough moments of resplendent glory and delicate allure here that it’s easy to become mesmerized with the band’s hypnotic performance.

The lighter elements are augmented with some Ambient/Drone interludes. When these segue gently into incredibly effective mid-paced atmospherics it’s a very uplifting and transcendental experience. Of course, I’m aware that words like transcendental get bandied around far too often when describing bands like Hope Drone, but it fits like a glove and conveys the appropriate feeling that the band can sometimes create.

The agonised screams are harsh and unforgiving, reminding you that no matter how the music sounds or where it takes you, this is still music forged from the underworld.

Hope Drone have truly created a wonderfully realised piece of Blackened art. I’m thoroughly impressed and completely in thrall to it.

An essential listen.

Locrian – Infinite Dissolution (Review)

Locrian are a US Experimental Post-Metal band and this is their latest album.

Featuring an album cover that makes me feel uncomfortable and like I’m going to go insane, (courtesy of David Altmejd), this is music that caters to people who want more from the bands that they listen to, and more is what Locrian provide.

Locrian play Post-Metal that contains Avant-Garde, Black-Metal and Industrial elements. Electronics, keyboards, piano, samples and a whole host of other instruments grace this album in addition to the standard instruments. Two songs also contain guest female vocals as well. All of this should give you an insight into how much depth, variety and interest there is to be had here.

Elements of Drone, Noise, Industrial, Post-Metal and Black Metal all clash into a wonderful melange of music that reminds of some twisted cross between Russian Circles and Blut Aus Nord.

This is a highly textured and multi-faceted release that requires repeated spins to really make its wonders known. There’s a lot of different things going on here and it’s easy to miss some of it the first time around, especially as there’s a lot of subtle sounds and effects going on in the background, almost behind the main event, so to speak.

There’s a resplendent darkness that seeps from this music like a sentient and malevolent oil stain that’s searching for ways to get into your body. Something here doesn’t have your best interests at heart and it’s subtle, insidious and unfaltering in its desire to do harm.

This is music to get lost to and get lost in. The band have a talent for creating soundscapes that sear your thoughts and burn the mind.

Highly recommended as your dose of something different and sublime.

Bearstorm – Americanus (Review)

Bearstorm are from the US and play Progressive Black Metal. This is their second album.

Bearstorm. Say it again, slowly. Bearstorm. Fantastic name. I was expecting something utterly ferocious with a name like that, but Bearstom are nothing if not surprising. They do have a ferocious element, but for the most part there’s a whole lot of other stuff going on here.

The music is a curious mix of Progressive wanderings, Blackened bite, Technical Death Metal Jazz-wizardry, Post-Metal experimentalism and Southern Sludge.

Their sound is pleasingly hard to pigeon-hole actually. The Progressive Metal influence is apparent from the start and infuses everything else at a deep level. The Black/Death/Sludge/Post-Metal influences in their sound take their cues from this and the band have interesting music at the very core of their being.

I suppose…Mastodon meets Enslaved meets Opeth meets Inter Arma meets Ephel Duath meets Pyrrhon…

The songs are varied and individual affairs. There’s a lot of ideas on display and Bearstorm never shy away from being different or going their own direction. It’s to their credit, as too many bands simply ape what has gone before them, so when a band like this comes along it’s a real pleasure to see them doing something different form the norm and attempting to forge their own sound.

Vocally the singer has a largely Blackened scream that’s supplemented with pitch-black growls on occasion. In many ways the guitars are the focal point of Americanus and the vocals provide an undercurrent to these. They’re done well though so there’s no real complaints from me on this score.

Clearly a lot of time and effort has gone into Americanus, to the point that the band have re-recorded the entire album for maximum effect; this is a re-recorded and re-issued version of their 2013 album. Having never heard the original version all I can say is that this version sounds pretty damn good.

An interesting, exciting and fresh-sounding record; Americanus is more than deserving of your attention.

Favourite Track: Glacial Relic II. An epic that’s Progressively atmospheric and even contains a Country influence. Amazing.

Immortal Bird – Empress/Abscess (Review)

Immortal Bird are an interesting Death Metal band from the US. This is their début album.

This is not a typical Death Metal album. In fact it’s only Death Metal in the loosest sense really. Elements of Black Metal’s darkness and Grind’s chaos infuse it like diseases, while the brutal core only gets stronger and stronger due to these infections.

The singer has an absolutely scathing voice and her vocals seem to lash out of the venomous music like angry barbs.

The songs are an extremely impressive collection of styles and sub-genres. Fusing the atypical Death Metal of Gorguts, the emotive Grind of Cloud Rat, the Hardcore fury and aural inventiveness of Converge, the classic-style aura of Death and the Blackened taint of Ludicra – this is a real merging of different aspects of Extreme Metal, underpinned by a Death Metal core, resulting in an album that really is an incredibly impressive release.

As well as having a certain soft spot for some well-worn and classic genres/sub-genres, I also absolutely love it when you encounter a band that are doing something a bit different. Immortal Bird are the perfect kind of band for this, and I love that they throw so many Extreme Metal influences into their melting pot. The important thing, though, is that they’re doing it extremely well. This release is well-realised and sounds completely natural and unforced. The songs are just that well-written.

These tracks have it all, from blasting to angularity to atmosphere to melody to high-energy. For all the extremity on display here they still manage to throw in some hooks and the entire thing is actually very memorable, quite quickly.

This is the kind of music that causes you to take a sharp intake of breath and say to yourself, “holy shit”.

What more is there to say? You absolutely need Immortal Bird in your life.

This is going in my end of year list, make no mistake.

Thy Art Is Murder – Holy War (Review)

Thy Art Is Murder are from Australia and this is their third album. They play Death Metal/Deathcore.

Thy Art Is Murder have produced a mature and interesting record that brings Deathcore and Death Metal together in such a way that both styles are enriched. Deathcore, as I’ve said before, is really, really easy to do badly. With this in mind, Holy War is somewhat of a different beast to that of the Deathcore masses.

Heavy riffs and breakdowns are in attendance, make no mistake, but the more Death Metal side of things ensure there’s enough straight-ahead brutality on display to please the most virulent Metal maniac.

More interestingly, however, are the Post-Metal and Black Metal influences. “What?”, I hear you ask? Well, these are not the biggest part of their sound, admittedly, but they’re an important component of the songs here as these two influences help raise Holy War up from an enjoyably brutal listen to an enjoyably brutal listen that has more to offer than is normal for the style.

The Post-Metal influence shows in the melodies. Alongside the blast beats and the chugging beat downs are the occasional transcendently resplendent melodies, which are not normally associated with Extreme Metal of any kind, unless you’re the likes of Fallujah, of course.

The Black Metal influence is more subtle, more subversive than the Post-Metal element. This manifests itself through some of the riffs, lending a Blackened bite and atmosphere to the proceedings where another band might go for un-emotive blandness.

Both of these influences are second to the Death Metal/Deathcore side of the band, of course, and ultimately Holy War is an aggressively heavy and nastily brutal listen that takes no prisoners and expects nothing but total domination.

I have yet to mention the vocals. Suffice to say that the singer positively roars his way through these 40 minutes like a man possessed by an urge to kill everything possible. Supplemented with higher screams, his performance cannot be faulted.

In a world where Deathcore is ruled by a handful of top quality bands who oversee a multitude of mediocre ones, Thy Art Is Murder have definitely ascended to the upper echelons of Deathcore royalty. Like most Deathcore bands, they’ve achieved this through a combination of good songwriting skills and by moving away from the core of the genre itself, (pun intended), and into more individual waters.

Holy War is positively divine.

Hladomrak – Hladomrak (Review)

Hladomrak are a Swedish Black Metal band and this is their début album.

This is underground Black Metal that’s raw but not overly so. Hladomrak play with passion and a steely professionalism that sees them produce charismatic songs.

It’s as cold as ice and the band rely on decent riffs and dark melodies rather than go the atmospheric or brutally harsh route. This approach serves them well as the songs are a really enjoyable collection of well-written tracks.

Don’t think this is Melodic Black Metal though. When I reviewed Ctulu’s Sarkomand I said that “this is not Melodic Black Metal, but rather Black Metal that has a lot of melody in it”. I feel that this is extremely relevant to Hladomrak too and describes them well.

There’s a Thrash influence to some of the guitars. I wouldn’t describe them a Black-Thrash band though; rather, they’re a Black Metal band that’s very riff-oriented. This is combined with a more orthodox Black Metal approach and results in some very fine musical darkness.

The vocals are high-pitched and see the singer scraping his metaphorical nails down the metaphorical blackboard with his voice. It goes well with the sharp delivery of the music and the spike-like riffing.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable Black Metal album, all the more so for being a bit different to what I was expecting. The writing is top-notch and the performance levels just as high.

A recommended listen for all followers of the Blackened arts.

Starless Night – Lost in Life’s Endless Maze (Review)

Starless Night are a Black Metal band from the US. This is their second album.

This is Depressive Black Metal that is a little less Shoegaze than a lot of bands of this ilk and a little more aggressive instead. It’s a depressive aggression, filled with negativity and woe, but aggression nonetheless.

The songs are long and the melodies grim. Starless Night are not filled with hope it seems.

The vocals are Blackened screams that sound like the singer is gargling acid. They fit nicely with the venomous interpretation of the Depressive Black Metal style and seem to cut through the music like serrated bile.

Added to this, very occasionally, are some clean vocals that are far more angelic and despondent in nature. These counteract some of the poisonous effects of the main vocals and switch emphasis to the woeful nature of the main theme once again.

The drums blast or double-bass roll their way through the playing time and the guitars unleash their razor-sharp melodies on a bitter, bleak world. One of the things I really like about this release is that Starless Night are just more stinging and evil sounding than most Depressive Black Metal bands. The misery and anguish is here in spades, but it’s barbed and dangerous to approach.

Lighter and Ambient/Drone sections are also incorporated into their sound; this allows the band to draw out every last drop of grief while also allowing the distorted parts to sound heavier and more powerful by comparison.

The music is a long, drawn-out journey through Blackened upset and vicious sorrow. It tugs at the heart while simultaneously slashing at it with fiery claws. Ultimately though the listener emerges, better for the experience, drowned in negativity but enriched by sadness.

Check this out.

Grieving Mirth – Calamitosvs Omine (Review)

Grieving Mirth are an Atmospheric Black Metal band with a multinational lineup. This is their début EP.

This is Black Metal that has speed and melody, neither of which are the main focus for the band though; this comes, instead, from the creation of dark atmospheres.

Even given that though, there is still bite here and the band manage to inject a certain savagery into the proceedings, even given the non-aggressive emphasis of the main themes.

It’s this inclusion of faster and harsher influences into the Atmospheric Black Metal style that marks Calamitovs Omine as separate from similar releases in the sub-genre as it combines these dark moods and atmospheres with an aggressive core that does its Blackened heritage justice.

The vocals have an innate power to them and there’s strength in these vocalisations that flows into the music and vice versa, working together to provide a foundation of muscle onto which the softer, traditionally more brittle, fragile elements of Atmospheric Black Metal are woven.

The songs take the listener into grim, foreboding places and illuminates them with a light that has real presence and force. Also included are a few nods towards Post-Black Metal, and even some clean vocals; both elements are skilfully incorporated into the whole.

This is a charismatic and impressive first release from a clearly talented band. Check them out and give them a listen.

Thorns of Sin – Destroy the Light (Review)

Thorns of Sin is a one-man project playing Melodic Black Metal.

This is well-played and well-recorded Melodic Black Metal in the Dissection vein.

The music is very professional and accomplished, with plenty of shine and polish on display. This would be notable for a full band and is even more so as one person played and recorded everything.

Keyboard accompaniment adds highlights and splashes of colour while melodic guitars shine in their time in the light.

This is Extreme Metal easy listening, and that’s a compliment; Thorns of Sin positively flow out of the speakers and are received most gratefully by yours truly.

The vocals remind me of Dimmu Borgir and there’s a little bit of their, (older), style to this release, as well as a touch of Arch Enemy here and there..

The songs are very enjoyable slabs of Metal and make me nostalgic for the late 90s/early 00s too. There’s 6 originals and a faithful cover of Death’s The Philosopher.

A quality release and one that’s easy to enjoy and recommend; make sure you check out Destroy the Light