This is the début EP from Polish Blackened Death Metallers Morthus.
This is a 3 track EP that contains such wonders in its short playing time!
It starts with the track Torment; suitably titled, it seems to be the usual kind of perfunctory intro until it redeems itself with some actual music about halfway through. This segues into the second track Beast from the Abyss and it’s clear that although this is their first non-demo release, it’s impressively professional and has a great sound.
The band play with a Death Metal core while adding some melodic Black Metal influences to the riffs and the occasional scream that enhances the main growling vocals. Merging the two genres of Black and Death can sometimes create mixed results, but they have distilled their influences into the right measures it seems.
The guitars take the Death Metal base and throw in some tricks from both Black and Classic Heavy Metal, including some duelling guitars and some excellent leads/solos.
Stylistically they remind of Hypocrisy in the sense that they combine these three elements quite naturally and seamlessly, although it should be stressed that they don’t actually sound too much like Hypocrisy except in a very superficial way.
The third song is named In the White Wolf’s Kingdom and is another master-crafted combination of the various Metal styles. It slowly unfolds with a Blackly melodic Metal riff into a mid-paced jog before introducing faster elements. They also add additional choral elements to their repertoire and these work very well. It’s another win for Morthus who suitably demonstrate their talents on this all-too-short EP.
Morthus are a perfect example of why the Extreme Metal underground deserves so much support – there are hidden gems tucked away everywhere in plain sight, all you have to do is go looking for them and you will be rewarded.
This is an absolute top-notch release and I cannot wait until they release a full album. If it’s even half as good as this it will be better than most.
Secrets of the Sky play interesting Progressive Doom/Post-Metal that has a good dollup of Post-Black Metal/Blackened Doom mixed in as well. So many sub-genre labels! As you’ve probably gathered they have a fair bit going on.
The band have a firm grasp of dynamics and of the heavy/light aspects of their sound, and although the songs are of a good length, they also raise the tempo when they need to.
A very sturdy production allows the instruments to sound very solid. Everything is played proficiently and the songwriting makes the most of this.
The music is a pleasing blend of the above, already diverse, sub-genres. Doom riffs, Post-Metal meanderings, Blackened melodics and sound-walls all contribute to the feel of a very colossal album. Extra instrumentation/effects enhance the tracks on occasion adding to an already rich palette.
Largely, the band are are both heavy and dark. Wisely, however, they juxtapose this against lighter, acoustic sections, more hopeful refrains and moments of brighter atmosphere amidst the murk.
Vocally the singer grunts and screams his way over the towering guitars and iron-cast drumming. It’s not until the second song Decline that clean vocals are used for the first time; these are expertly delivered and raise the bar extremely high.
This is a highly accomplished album, all the more impressive for being their first. Highly recommended; whatever secrets the sky holds is obviously serving them well. Seek this out and learn from them.
Favourite Track: Decline. A masterwork in emotive expression and dynamic melodics.
This is their latest EP – two tracks, 12 minutes of music.
The first song All Mortal Greatness Is But Disease starts with an immediate and gritty sound. This is fuzzy, underground Black Metal with a good sense of dark melodics and some fiery riffs. The production may be decidedly Necro but the passion displayed is evident.
When the vocals start they’re somewhat surprising on two counts; the first is that they sound much clearer than everything else, recording-wise; the second is they’re not the standard Black Metal shrieks I was expecting, instead they’re a little deeper and have more character.
Overall an enjoyable song that trades between speedy melodics, a riffy swagger and slower, darker moments. Almost 4 minutes in they even inject a lighter, almost-Medieval section. A good song.
The second track Rake is a Townes Van Zandt cover, only all Black Metallified, (yes it’s a word…). The track works very well as Black Metal and I am left with the definite desire to hear more from Grue.
As a taster for whatever they’re going to do next this is a great little release. I know you’ve got room in your collection for this EP, so pick it up and put it on.
Frozen Ocean have recently released the impressive album The Dyson Swarm. It’s a surprisingly effective release that mixes Black Metal with Electronica/Industrial sounds. Finding out a bit more was the next order of business…
Give us a bit of history to Frozen Ocean.
I am afraid this history won’t be very epic. Frozen Ocean was founded in 2005 in Moscow, Russia, as a solo project of me and was intended to play black metal related stuff. After recording of the first demo “Snow is the Ash” I decided to make something different and dug into dark and drone ambient fields, in which the very first official release, “Depths of Subconscious” was produced. Later the project returned to black metal related music, but next started to bounce from style to style (or a mix of ones) from one release to next.
What are your influences?
Too hard to distinguish, because for every release they are different. In general I have always admired Ulver, how they had their versatility through artistic evolution and simultaneously kept the highest level they achieved. In particular, the musician who inspired me to start making my own works is Mikael “Vaalkoth” Baiyusik from Tearstained, Night Conquers Day, Into The Sunless Meridian and Shadowcaster.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
The album that could become “release-of-the-year” in my personal charts – “Existence” by Australian progressive death metal band Aeon of Horus. Also I would like to recommend to everyone the last work of Russian industrial brutal death metal band 7 H.Target called “0.00 Apocalypse”; this album will crush you to dust.
What did you want to achieve with your new album?
At least to have a wider reception and recognition for the project worldwide. I had a hope that this kind of experiment would be something relatively fresh and original (as far as is possible nowadays) and thus attractive to a listener.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
As always, the reception and feedback could be wider, but I am quite happy with the existing one. In the modern music world nobody can predict the audience’s answer for your musical proposal. And of course things get more complicated when you present some stuff that lies outside of trends. So that is great that some people have found this album attractive and listened to it more than one time; I think that is the best approval for the musician.
What can you tell us about the concept behind the album?
“The Dyson Swarm” is devoted to close and outer space, and the place of humanity in it. It is built like a journey through the cosmos beginning on the Earth orbit and Solar system and longing to the known edge of Universe and further beyond, and each track describes some phenomenon or object you could face during that journey. Album’s title is describing one of the variant of Dyson sphere – a gigantic hypothetical astro-engineering construction the purpose of which is to utilize the radiated energy of the central star in a star system in the most efficient way. Humanity’s future, on the certain stage of its development and raising level of energy consumption, is hardly imaginable without stuff of that kind.
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process
The whole thing begins from the conception of release, and when I have the whole picture and structure of album in my head, I start making songs for it. When all the songs are recorded, at least in some scaffold state (without some parts or instruments), I take a listen to the whole yet incomplete release, and decide what and where should be added or changed to fulfill the requirements of the general idea. Thus I get the release united under one concept, but with the distinctive songs. Speaking about the production, all the steps of the production are performed by me in my home studio.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
It will be something new, as usual, at least it will be different from things Frozen Ocean presented earlier. I will continue to shift shapes and styles, continue to experiment with merging of musical directions for the best representation of release concepts and emotional colouring of them. For instance, I will develop the usage of folk instruments started earlier (when I played mandolin on “Autumn Bridges”) and try to add them to electronics and metal in equal ratio.
What’s next for Frozen Ocean?
Soon Italian label Bylec-Tum productions will release the whole “Norse” Trilogy on one tape for true underground activists. Next plans are too loose to reveal, but they include the very first Frozen Ocean vinyl release.
Hellhate are a Black Metal band from the Ukraine, and this is their début EP.
This is a short EP at only 15 minutes but it functions as a good introduction to the band.
Hellhate have a raw sound that is nonetheless clear and functional. It wraps darkness around the already grim riffs and holds them tight.
The high pitched rasps are demonic and maniacal, giving the impression of an angry imp not entirely dissimilar to the cover.
Each song is a good collection of Black Metal riffs in the Old-School style mixing Darkthrone and Satyricon with a even a little hint of Black Sabbath now and again to the guitars.
Hellhate seem just as comfortable playing slowly as they do when blasting, and they do both producing a well-rounded release that I have really enjoyed.
When they blast they sound tight and focused and when they get a good Black Metal groove going then it’s all I can do to keep still while I’m listening. Up to the Stench is a particularly good example of when the band exhibit both traits in an extremely satisfying way.
It may be little more than a taster EP but this is the kind of Black Metal that it’s easy to like; simple, well-written and evil. If you like Black Metal you can’t fail to like Hellhate.
This is the third album of Black Metal from Swedish band Nefandus.
After enjoying their previous EP Your God Is A Ghost I was looking forward to hearing the next chapter in their development.
The first track starts out slow and sinuous, uncoiling slowly like a snake charged with lethal energy and ready to kill. The entire album has the feeling of something best left undisturbed, with a brooding malevolence bleeding from every unnatural pore.
Dark melodies are leaked out of a cold vacuum into a warm world entirely unprepared for what they herald. The menace and antagonism is tangible and each song brings this threat closer to reality.
The album name is strong and apt, for it does sound like reality is being assaulted from without, and the thin membrane that separates this world from the next is being slowly eroded to let something through. Nobody but Nefandus can say what will happen when the wall finally falls, but judging by these harbingers it won’t be anything good.
So let the hymns of hopelessness that Nefandus have come to spread into your life, but hide behind the sofa while you listen as this is not for the weak and you may not survive the sermon.
This is the third album from US Sludgy Black Metal group Wolvhammer.
This is music that’s covered in filth and reeks of the underground; Black Metal that’s so impure it’s slowly mutating into a hideous Sludge Metal behemoth that threatens to corrupt and taint everything around it.
The band are absolutely focused on their misanthropic mission and are honed and coiled to a lethal point.
The great thing about this album is the songs themselves; there is a great sense of Doom’n’roll to these tracks that are propelled forwards with a Punk/Crust swagger that builds on their Black Metal roots and persists through the Sludgy mire they have created for themselves.
Put simply; the songs bleed negative emotion through every sickened pore.
The poisonous, bile streaked vocal shrieks are representative of dire inner struggles. They seem to reach out of the songs and force you to pay attention, all the while though you’re distracted by the grim musical bonanza that is spreading around you.
The guitars ply their Blackened trade with consummate ease and the entire album is just flowing with feelings artfully plucked, brutalised and abused by these purveyors of filth.
Does this sound good to you? Does it? Well it should. Wolvhammer have created a wonderfully dank album that I heartily recommend to all.
This is a stunning album.
Favourite Track: Death Division. It’s just so damn good.
Italy’s Chiral return with a new release in the form of this EP.
I previous encountered this band on their Eternal Winter demo and was suitably impressed. At only 10 minutes in length it was an enjoyable listen of frozen Black Metal, and as I said at the time, I have been looking forward to hearing what comes next.
Well the wait is over, as now Abisso is here; this time delivering us 22 minutes of music to feast on.
Things start off slow and atmospheric with Alto I: Disceso Nel Buio, which really, really does it for me in establishing a mournful but almost martial atmosphere. The vocals this time around are even more bowel looseningly deep than previously.
Alto I: Oblio is fast and razor sharp and the vocals are high shrieks that can cut flesh at 100 paces. Frozen melodics quickly give way to soft acoustics that have almost and Opeth-vibe to them before we’re back in the fast lane once more. Propelled by atmosphere and driven by a love of Black Metal, this is a great track. As a bonus, you can even hear the bass doing some great things.
Track three is Alto II: Abisso; at almost 12 minutes long this is the main event, so to speak, of the EP. This once more explores the waters of 70’s inspired Opeth-style acoustics with some nice leads making an appearance. The atmosphere doesn’t let up and the dirgy sounds build and morph into a more Blackened landscape with ease. Vocals streak like static across this icy tundra and the entire song really hits the spot.
Finally we have Alto II: In Assenza, which at just over 1 minute in length is an outro of sorts.
This is the eighth album from Russian band Frozen Swarm.
The band play atmospheric Black Metal/Ambient.
They open with Syzygy which is a wonderfully composed piece of Dark Ambient that sounds straight out of a science fiction film and is a great piece of music.
The second track CE-4 starts in a similar vein until the addition of drums and light Black Metal-esque guitars add a gentle beat to the emerging aural tapestry.
Vocals are present, very much low-key and used like another instrument.
The Sci-Fi/cosmos-themed album is powerfully atmospheric with Black Metal, Electronica and quasi-Industrial sounds merging with a cinematic soundscape to create and involving and absorbing journey into deep space and beyond.
Mortals are from the US and play Black Metal. This is their second album.
This is a Crusty form of Black Metal that takes the Darkthrone sound and kind of crosses it with a band like High on Fire to create something a bit different yet recognisable instantly.
This is an album of long songs that are primitive but not in a negative way. There is a sort of primal power to the riffs and energy that the band offer the listener.
The vocals are serrated rasps that call out to the darkness and the terror within. They’re ably produced and a satisfying listen, the same of which can be said for the album as a whole really.
The song lengths give the Darkthrone-esque riffs time to germinate and seed, allowing the band to develop them fully.
The tracks are bleakly emotive and hit the spot whether the band are playing fast and sharp, slow and dirge-like or mid-paced and rocking. Whatever, it all hinges around razor sharp riffing and a guitar tone to die for.
A very nice release indeed. Old-School Black Metal with a helping of Sludge and arrogance. Just what the doctor ordered.
This is the début EP from Polish Blackened Death Metallers Morthus.
Wonderbox Metal 