underground Black Metal – Page 9

Posthum – The Black Northern Ritual (Review)

This is the third album from Black Metallers Posthum.

The album starts with an immediate display of emotive riffing and charismatic vocals. Okay, I’m hooked.

Blood-curdling screams are distinctly of the Black Metal style, but there’s something about them which gives them an edge; in the same way that when you’re listening to the singer of, say, Satyricon – there’s just something extra going on with his voice that allows him to stand apart from the hordes of other, similar Black Metal vocalists.

The riffs and dark melodies that Posthum use are a major highlight for me. There’s a lot of emotion and expressiveness going on here. You could almost class it as Post-Black Metal in this regard if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s just so damn evil. In a way the guitars share that similar something extra that the vocals have; they’re just plain better than most.

This extends to the songs themselves as well. The level of songwriting and riffcraft is extremely high. On first listen the tracks already feel intimate, but not in a bad way; not in the way that makes you think “I’ve heard all this before”. No, this is the intimacy of a familiar lover, just one that you’re meeting for the first time. It’s a slightly disconcerting feeling but a very welcome one. On subsequent listens whatever dark magics Posthum are party to worms their way into your brain even deeper and The Black Northern Ritual is a powerful beast indeed.

On the face of it Posthum do nothing different or new; this is Raw/Underground Black Metal. However, and this is where the magic lies; they play this well-worn style with some undefinable and special quality that just propels them onto a whole other level. It’s something about their songwriting that connects on a visceral level and reminds you of why you loved Black Metal all those years ago when you first heard it.

I pressed play on this album, expecting yet another decent but ultimately average Black Metal album. More fool me. What I got instead was the start of a Blackened love affair.

This album is special.

Witchclan – The Dark Binding (Review)

Witchclan are from the UK and this is their second album. They play Black Metal.

This is raw, underground Black Metal with more melody than you are probably expecting and more evil than you can fit into a very large box.

Sinister, inhuman vocals scream out hatred and occult messages whilst the band play at breakneck speeds.

Surprisingly thick rhythm guitars provide a powerful base for the Blackened melodies to dance over, some of which are unusually upbeat. The entire production is unusual actually, and it lends the band a definite edge over their peers as The Dark Binding just sounds different.

This is added to by the band’s songs themselves. This is not your usual Darkthrone-worship. Witchclan have a lot more personality and individuality than that.

Don’t get me wrong; this is recognisably Black Metal and no-one would think otherwise, but the sound they have and their choice of melodies and riffs…Witchclan are forging their own way through a genre that has seen it all before and they should definitely be commended and supported for this.

Rather than just echo the Black Metal greats, Witchclan put their own individual spin on things in a superb way. They have ended up producing an album that is very obviously Black Metal but with a rotten freshness that puts most other raw Black Metal bands to shame.

Witchclan court their auras of darkness and mystery with great zeal and fervour, and the hymns to fell powers that are recited on this release have all of the requisite components to engage and terrify the listener in equal parts.

If I was to sum up this album in one word, that word would be evil.

There’s Underground Black Metal, and then there’s Witchclan. This is a dark gem and a must for connoisseurs of supreme Black Metal art.

Favourite Track: Dawn of the Serpent Kings. One of the shortest tracks here, but with a brilliantly realised air of malevolence and an otherworldly martial quality. Music for a daemonic invasion.

Lord of Pagathorn – Nekros Philia (Review)

Lord of Pagathorn are from Finland. This is their début album of Black Metal.

Now this is the stuff! Underground Black Metal that’s both scorching and frozen to the touch. The fires of fury and the frost of winter combine in Nekros Philia.

Lord of Pagathon have got Black Metal’s aura of frosted damnation and Hellish torment down to a fine art. The vocals scythe and scathingly burn whilst the guitars ply their dark melodics and groovy Blackness like they were born to it.

The blistering speed is offset by mid-paced malevolence and small interludes. The band successfully set the stage for their icy Black Metal and then populate it with Blackened fire and storms of razor sharp ice.

This is passionately played and delivered with real bile and venom. There’s a palpable aura of darkness and hatred emanating from these songs and you can feel the weight of Black Metal history pressing down as you listen.

Lord of Pagathorn have produced an album that documents an aural descent into the maelstrom and straight into the heart of the abyss.

Check them out.

Perdition Winds – Aura of Suffering (Review)

This is the début album from Finnish Black Metallers Perdition Winds.

Perdition Winds play Underground Black Metal with a harsh sound and a strong feeling of desolation and unholiness.

The band’s songs are on the longer side and they use this time to rip through aggressive Black Metal that is steeped in Blackened melodies and malevolent moods.

The vocals are throaty rasps halfway between a scream and a growl. The singer shrieks and roars through the tracks like something possessed and his daemonic voice offers no letup throughout.

The tracks alternate between blasting chaos and groovier sections that harken back to the days of Darkthrone’s best. Mid-90’s Black Metal is still a firm favourite amongst Black Metallers and Perdition Winds will find many willing worshippers here.

Blackly melodic guitars seem to occasionally swim out of the aggressive songs and rise above in showers of grim colour. I particularly enjoy these parts as it really captures the imagination like only Black Metal can sometimes.

Because sometimes, when you’re in a particular mood, only Black Metal will do. Perdition Winds cater to this craving perfectly.

Laster – De Verste Verte Is Hier (Review)

Laster are from the Netherlands and this is their début album.

I’m a fan of Laster’s first release Wijsgeer & Narreman so was looking forward to hearing this. The quality album cover was the first thing I liked, and the music soon followed.

Laster play raw, underground, atmospheric Black Metal that’s epic in length and epic in scope.

The band seem to play from beneath a shroud of distortion and hazy guitar fog. The drums and vocals swim just beneath the surface, prowling like unnatural predators seeking the souls of the weary and weak.

De Verste Verte Is Hier is less about individual riffs and more about dark feelings evoked by the instruments that howl and gust like the wind. Laster create dark sonicscapes of reverberating nightmares and ever-present darkness.

Atmosphere is a big part of Laster’s identity and they wield it like a weapon. Desolation, despair and negativity are commonplace, but less common are the little rays of hope that occasionally pierce the gloom, such as on the main starting riff of Tot de Tocht ons Verlicht.

These are not songs to idly listen to, these are songs to experience.

For fans of bands like Vinterriket, Fell Voices, Ash Borer and the like.

Isenblast – Unleashing the Demon Scourge (Review)

Isenblast are from the US and this is their début EP. They play Black Metal.

This is raw, underground Black Metal with a sound like infernal nail scraping and bountiful Blackened energy.

Unleashing the Demon Scourge sounds exactly like it does just that. This is blistering Black Metal that isn’t a 100% blastfest but still never lets up with the intensity regardless.

The band play like the infernal fires are after them and even inject lightning solos into their heady Black Metal mix. I particularly enjoy these parts as the band seem to have an innate ear for a quality solo and the rhythm guitar usually settles into a good Blackened groove while this is going on.

The vocals are another highlight as they’re just so throat-scrapingly raw. High pitched screaming may be the usual Black Metal style but this singer does it as well as any and it sounds just great.

Each of these four songs is well-written and shows a band that are hungry to prove themselves, and with this EP they certainly have.

It’s always a pleasure to hear unadorned Black Metal played with passion, energy and integrity. Isenblast have crafted a great collection of songs here and I greatly look forward to their first full length.

Highly recommended for all lovers of the dark arts.

Ius Talionis – Eleutheromania (Review)

Ius Talionis are from Germany and this is their first release. They play Black Metal.

Although this is actually a demo release the quality of both sound and content belies this.

This is underground Black Metal with a raw-in-a-good-way sound that has a warmth and approachability to it despite the icy aura that the riffs themselves exude. The bass deserves special mention as not only is it audible but also adds tangible atmosphere and depth to the proceedings.

The songs lack ostentation and are atavistic beasts drawn from the dawn of Black Metal and harken back to the days when the likes of Burzum and Darkthrone were just dark amalgamations of potentiality and burgeoning threat.

This is Old-School Black Metal viewed and produced through the prism of history and hindsight. As such it perfectly captures the raw essence of Black Metal without ever falling into the trap of complacency, pointless hero-worship or any number of pitfalls that might befall the common Black Metal band.

These songs have a good deal of honesty about them and each one is truly enjoyable as an exemplar of the Blackened art of mood, pace and malevolent tribute.

Eleutheromania is a very impressive début release. With 4 songs in 36 minutes it could have easily passed as a début album. The fact that they haven’t done this and we still have this future début to come is a very exciting prospect indeed.

Ius Talionis are a band to watch that’s for sure. If they can keep the quality levels up then I predict a great album from them at some point.

Wömit Angel – Holy Goatse (Review)

Wömit Angel are from Finland and this is their second album of Black Metal.

This is dirty Black Metal fuelled by Punk and raped by Thrash.

The band boast a raw but strong sound and their filthy rage-filled attack comes off loud and clear.

Vocally we get stinging, lacerated shrieks with the occasional deeper, daemonic grunt. They sound authentic and intense.

The songs are short bouts of violence that may be underground blasts of hatred but manage to be remarkably catchy. Some nice hooks are included in the tracks and odd flares of melody are thrown in with the general chaos of the guitars.

It’s as if Impaled Nazarene, Motörhead and Venom have been crushed up, eaten and regurgitated as gooey Black Metal projectile vomit. Eat it. Eat it all back up.

Wömit Angel have produced an enjoyably venomous assault on the ears. Check them out.

TKNKNTJ – 2008-2009 – Takaisinvaellus/Täällä Helvetissä Olen Aina Valaistunut (Review)

Here we have two demo recordings from Finnish Black Metal band TKNKNTJ – Takaisinvaellus originally released in 2008 and Täällä Helvetissä Olen Aina Valaistunut originally released in 2009.

Takaisinvaellus is the longer of the two releases at just under 28 minutes, with Täällä Helvetissä Olen Aina Valaistunut clocking in at just under 16 minutes.

This is Underground Black Metal with a surprisingly satisfying sound that hits all of the rights spots for people who have a lust for all that is Blackened.

The vocals are scathing and full of razorblades. The rhythms and patterns of the vocalist are pleasingly interesting and although he pretty much has a standard Black Metal croak, it’s nonetheless a great voice delivered with passion. Not content with this, however, we’re also treated to a cleaner approach on occasion and the singer pulls this off admirably. He’s sometimes backed up by the odd deeper growl as well.

The band primarily play upbeat and fast but they also have enough slower, sinister passages to keep things varied and interesting. Blackened melodies seep out of the speakers like insidious rotting worms ready to corrupt the unwary and eat away at the unworthy.

This is evil music created for the love of darkness and sin. There is a malevolent aura to the grimness of the tracks on this release.

The fact that these were originally demo recordings is hard to believe in some ways as the quality of both the music and the recordings are better than some albums from similar bands.

Check them out.

Sangus – Saevitia (Review)

Sangus are a Black Metal band from the US.

The band play raw, ugly Black Metal that is capable of boiling blood at a hundred paces. This is infernal stuff that channels the underworld into 5 tracks of scorching, noisy Black Metal that recalls bands like Black Witchery and Watchmaker.

The songs are full of Crust and bile as they tear through the short playing time on this release, (a scant 15 minutes that goes by in a blur of whiplash and black tar), and afterwards you’re left wondering what the Hell just happened.

Although primarily concerned with making a horrendous mess of your insides with their focused, direct assault; the band do know how to insert a few Blackened melodies into the short songs and even have time for the odd guitar solo/lead now and again.

There is an impressive amount of rumbling threat to these songs. The violence is out in the open for everyone to see yet there’s always the hint of worse things to come just beneath the surface.

The final track Ossos: SSS is the longest one at almost 6 minutes in length and is a bit different from the ones that precede it. This track is all about the experimental noise and dark sounds. It’s an interesting choice for a closer, although personally I would have preferred another Black Metal track similar to the ones before as these were all so good.

This is a great little release filled with bark, bile, anger and nails. Highly recommended.