Vader are a Polish death metal band and this is their sixteenth album.
I always enjoy a bit of Vader. This veteran band have been banging out reliable death metal for decades now, and show no signs of letting up. Solitude in Madness is another 30 minutes of such, and it’s easy to enjoy if you like your death metal fast, brief, and laced with thrash. Continue reading “Vader – Solitude in Madness (Review)”
This is the third album from Psychomancer, a death metal band from the US.
Shards of the Hourglass is a monstrous death/thrash metal release that falls somewhere between Swedish death metal and the more adventurous side of 90s death and thrash metal. There’s a vicious German influence too – think a mix of Vader and Destruction. Take all of this together and it makes for a surprisingly engaging 58-minute blend of extreme metal. Continue reading “Psychomancer – Shards of the Hourglass (Review & Interview)”
Hekata are a Russian death metal band and this is their debut album.
Hekata play a virulent mix of death metal, black metal, hardcore, crust, and grind. It’s quite the mix, and essentially results in songs that merge these influences into blackened slabs of Scandinavian-influenced deathcrustcore. Or something. You get the idea, I’m sure. Continue reading “Hekata – Ruin (Review)”
Vomitile are a death metal band from Cyprus and this is their third album.
War and slaughter, that’s what Vomitile offer us on Pure Eternal Hate. The album title and cover adequately portray Vomitile’s brand of punishing death metal, and they give us 37 minutes of material to become battered and bruised by. Continue reading “Vomitile – Pure Eternal Hate (Review)”
Slaughterday are a German death metal band and this is their latest EP.
I have a huge soft spot for Slaughterday. Ostensibly no different to any number of other old-school death metal bands, there’s just something hard to define about them that I just really enjoy, (check out Nightmare Vortex, Ravenous, and Laws of the Occult to see what I mean). Continue reading “Slaughterday – Abattoir (Review)”
This is the latest EP from Faustian Dripfeed, a Norwegian melodic death metal band.
Having enjoyed the band’s debut EP Between This and Death, it’s great to catch up with Faustian Dripfeed once more for this new EP. Continue reading “Faustian Dripfeed – Faustian Escapades (Review)”
This is the debut album from Colombian death metal band Mouldered.
Mouldered play violent, gruesome, brutal death metal. It’s uncompromising and ugly, just as you would want from this kind of thing. Continue reading “Mouldered – Chronology of a Rotten Mind (Review)”
This is Thunderwar’s debut album. They are a death metal band from Poland.
After their very enjoyable and promising EP The Birth of Thunder in 2013, we now have some fresh material from Thunderwar.
Thunderwar play their death metal with a melodic edge, a slight blackened feel and a sense of grandeur that’s aided and abetted by some sterling riffs. Continue reading “Thunderwar – Black Storm (Review)”
Neter are a Spanish Death Metal band and this is their second album.
This is well-recorded and precise Death Metal that mainly shies away from the faster, more brutal end of the spectrum and instead concentrates on rhythmic execution and melodic accompaniment.
This isn’t to say that the band don’t know how to knock out a blast beat when they need to, (there are plenty of these), it’s just that this isn’t their only or even main mode of assault.
Sharing aspects of bands such as Bolt Thrower and Morbid Angel, Neter combine this with elements of the Polish scene like Decapitated and Vader. As such, Idols covers quite a bit of ground, all in a solid, proficient manner.
The rolling double bass and pulsating guitars are clipped and efficient, lending a vitality and instant-appeal to the music. The guitars knock out riffs with ease and these roll out of the speakers in a very ear-friendly fashion. Solos and leads are done well and add to the songs.
The singer seems more than qualified for his position and growls his heart out alongside the pummelling drums and undulating guitars.
The entire album sounds familiar enough to be instantly appealing, yet not too similar to the band’s Death Metal heroes that it becomes off-putting or derivative.
Idols is competent Death Metal played professionally. Check it out.
Ogotay are a Death Metal band from Poland and this is their second album.
This is muscular Death Metal that has a touch of the mystical and the mysterious about it. There’s an occult vibe that hangs around the tracks like a dark aura, infusing them with the feeling that there’s more going on here than just mere music.
The songs share some elements of fellow Polish band Behemoth, as well as, (to a lesser extent), Vader and non-Poles Nile. There’s brutality and extremity on display but Ogotay also manage to foster those occult atmospheres, as mentioned previously, and these lend the tracks an extra level than if they were purely standard Death Metal; like something feral restrained by ritual.
Bands like Behemoth, Nile, Immolation, Morbid Angel, etc. are a huge influence in the Death Metal world because they are doing something a bit different with the style and do it very well indeed. Due to this, when bands are influenced by them this can easily be to their detriment as it usually ends up coming too close to the original.
What I like about Ogotay is the fact that while they are reminiscent of bands like these genre-leaders they have enough of their own personality and character to step from out of the shadows and into the light on their own merits. Yes, there may be shades of other bands in their style, (as with all bands), but they are definitely their own beast.
To this end, Dead God’s Prophet is full of interesting ideas and well-developed themes and concepts. The band understand what’s needed to write a good song and use this within the Death Metal framework to unleash eight quality tracks in 37 minutes. Each song is identifiable as its own entity and holistically the album flows and fits together very nicely.
I also like the way that they manage to flip between a riff-based approach and a more emotive, atmospheric one, yet they still retain that core of brutality that we demand from the best death Metal.
I’ve been very impressed with this release. Ogotay have managed to stamp their own personality and identity onto the Polish Death Metal scene seemingly effortlessly.
I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from this band in the future, as Dead God’s Prophet is strong enough to easily fight its way to the top of the pile.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 