Lurk - Lurk

Here we have one of 2012 years best albums! Lurk is an finnish death/doom/sludge band that do everything just right!

 
Its sound has some parts of Neurosis, Triptykon & Entombed (yeah it also sounds like a mutated Lg Petrov at the mic.) and some parts throw in some mean doomish tunes just to return to some groundhitting headbanging death! It is heavy & brutal and gloomy & you love get massacred by Lurk all night long!

This debut album will put this four finnish men on the map!


Track list:

1.     Soar    
2.     Unfinished    
3.     Codec of Becoming God    
4.     Fire the Blood Sky    
5.     Pitch Beneath Eternity    
6.     Deliverance    

what more can i say? Just listen to it!

End of the Year Holocaust

I cant help my self when i see soo sweet creations from the blackest side of humanity! I just have to dive into the deathparty and sing a long! ;)

This time the vile treasures are:

Vanhelgd - Church of Death (vinyl)
Vallenfyre - a Fragile King
Drowning the Light/Evil split (Tape)
Drowning the Light - An Alignment of Dead Stars
Drowning the Light - A World Long Dead
Atra - Of Demise, Evil & Necromancy
Arckanum - The 11 Year Anniversary Album
Nefarious - The Universal Wrath
Satanic Warmaster - Revelation

Vampire -First demo -

Oh that lovely cover and Vampire logotype screamed to me from the dark & swelling sea of "svensk" death metal! I think many thats into this cant ignore this neat designed little package and i think no one will be especially disappointed by the music either!

This demo only consists of three songs but these three songs deliver enough blood & guts for one to be really engulfed by it! I hope they work on a full album soon goddamn it! ( Oh! i got to pic up the 7" thats about to be released from to the death records soon too, and i heard that this will have an extra song as well!!)

Drawn by Mattias Frisk from Vanhelgd

This horror themed old school death metal (think end of the 80´s & early 90´s) is is both rottingly nostalgic as it is fornicatingly timeless!

It´s quite primitive and analogue in a good way and with enough thrash/death showmanship to stay alert for the next offering from this Swedish band Vampire!

Track list:

1.     At Midnight I'll Possess Your Corpse
2.     The Night It Came Out of the Grave    
3.     Under the Grudge    

Gifts from santa sangre

Well, i myself bought them... since nobody else knows what kind of music i crave for the moment.... so this is the best option.

This time i got:

Lurk - Lurk
Mordant - Black Evil Master
Malfeitor - Unio Mystica Maxima
Negative Plane - Et in Saecula Saeculorum
Nine Covens - ...On the dawning of Light

Degial - Death´s Striking Wings

Usually when a "hype" is boosting something i don't get especially affected by it but this time the hype around Degials first full album did get me to salivating a bit extra....

 
...But as everyone knows that a Hype is a hype is a hype and nothing more.

So the first round of listening at this record i was a bit mentally distracted by the...hype and did not get so exited of the music i heard then, but after the second & third spinn i got into it as i should have been in the first place and i liked it!
Sure there is a lot of Morbid Angel worshipping here (nothing wrong with that!) but they bring a lot to the table from there own brains & pockets.
It is both old school and timeless (could been done in 1995 or in 2025), both furious & feral but i feel (even know after like 10 spinns) that some tracks is a bit on the cold side (track 5) and not as feverishly unholy as one hoped for... (like track 3!!)

 
But most of the time Degial is smashing your face in with an great effort like in one of the albums best songs "Swarming"! Here you get your bloody money worth with a lot of thundering & hysteria in an evil fitting way!
Song seven is also one of the better tracks here and the last one is also great & eerie.

The production is good with both enough clearity and enough roughness to please one´s senses.
It is a good album but i belive that Degials next album and/or the one after that will fullfill its hype much better. They show much potential so i will surely follow them along the way down to hell.

Dont get me wrong " Death´s Striking Wings" is good & worth getting by all means but dont go out hoping for some death metal revolution...

Track list:

1.     Eye of Burial Tempest    
2.     Serpent's Tide    
3.     Swarming    
4.     Chaos Chant    
5.     Death's Striking Wings    
6.     Temple in Whirling Darkness         
7.     Perpetual Fire    
8.     Black Grave (The Gateway)         

Next step is to hunt down the rare vinyl ep "Death and Darkness Buries All...." ! I have heard it and i liked it too plus the artwork is striking!

Infuneral - Torn from the Abyss

If you hunger for some traditional but good black metal from Sweden (or whatever) Infunerals second album "Torn from the Abyss" can work pretty well if you ask me, both fittingly brutal & hatefull and even a bit melancholic & sometimes nice melodic parts (some an choir parts too) that gives the whole record a great balance.

 
You have the tremolos and blast beats and raspy (a bit darker voice then the usual "raven" style) songstyle so nothing new there under the moon but it is done in a stabile and convincing maner so you should like it. Somber & nihilistic from the start to finish.

Track list:

1.     I        
2.     Reveal the Horns         
3.     To Inter with Funeral Rites         
4.     The Plague of Humanity         
5.     II         
6.     Dust         
7.     A Scent of Death         
8.     The Circle Master         

Best songs: 2,3,7

The devil commanded me to buy EVERYTHING i could find from them!! Ha Ha ha... or something.

My Art! Necrocurse Fanart

Min Kniv - Av Aske

To get this rerelease (the first tape was from Fossbrenna) from Terratur Possession of Min Kniv - Av Aske demo was something that lingered in my head for some time and now when i finaly got it i´m not disappointed, there is a danger in building up an internal hyper around some band or album just from a feeling... but this time it turned out well.

The music here is in the Depressive Suicide Black Metal style and you can hear echoes from Forgotten Woods and Burzum ( like the singing style & effects.) etc.

This demo has 3 pretty long tracks (from 6 min to around 10 min) that slowly evolves and builds up a cold aura of loneliness & sorrow, it drift in and out from slow and faster parts and in the second song there is a long keyboard interlude that works great. The singning is evoking some pain and when the three songs end you feel that Av Aske has succeed in fucking with your emotions just as its intent, good job!

The only thing i miss here is more songs or that this two member group will get out new material soon!

Its good but a little to little.

Drowning the Light - The Blood of the Ancients

Here is another bleak DTL album!

This one was released two years later (2009) then the last i wrote about and even if it sure sounds like DTL this record has plenty of new ideas & vibes going for it.

It all starts out like many of Azgorhs stuff with an melancholic clean guitar/keybord intro that is nice & then it moves over to the grittier parts, the new stuff is in the details here & there like interesting rythms and keybord tunes....
he even sings quite different in  two songs, in the "The Darkness is the Guiding Light" he sings more like some brutish punk and parts in the epic war hymn "Residing in a Kingdom now Lost" he chants with a clear dark voice to an great effect.

The first "real" song is one of the least good here (the singing seems to be some what misplaced) & also the "Servant of an Unholy Plague" is bland (but the lyrics is one of the best here funny enough!).

 The strongest songs for me is track 4,5,6 and the last song "Victory in sight" which is really great! Strong grand melodies mixed with sincere bitter tears. Well worth a listen!

Track list:

1.     So far from Home         
2.     Night of neverending Turmoil   
3.     Chamber of lost Hope   
4.     Lunar Reflection in Blood (Vampyres of the Old)   
5.     The Darkness is the guiding Light   
6.     Residing in a Kingdom now Lost   
7.     Servant of an unholy Plague   
8.     When Dusk breathes its last Breath   
9.     Victory in Sight 

A fitting end to another work of art in the DTL museum.

Drowning the Light - Of Celtic Blood & Satanic Pride

Rewind your clock to 2007 for a moment and listen to two of (of 9(?) releases)  DTL´s dark installations that got out that year.

This cd combines both the "Of Celtic..." album & the "Flames of Sacrifice" demo into one vile entity!

The first 8 songs that start the record is the "Of Celtic..." and i must say it has the strongest material (not that "Flames..." is far behind.) The raw buzzy guitars is like always dominant as is Azgorhs hatefull & mourning shrieks! The drums trashes on in the name of damnation...
Dont hunt for the bass though!
If you ask me i dont think it is need here anyway.

The lyrics is great, this work is about Azgorhs bloodline and it is also interesting how he fuses his satanic beliefs into it all. Worth reading!

It sounds majestic, ugly yet strong and very much Drownig the Light !!
This may not be his strongest work as an whole but it has many bloody gems like "My Honour is True" & Last Breath (this track is a moody instrumental piece with clear tunes.)

Track list:

1.     The Cry of the Wolf         
2.     Of Celtic Blood & Satanic Pride         
3.     My Honour is True         
4.     Fight... Till the Lonesome End         
5.     Immortal Bloodline         
6.     To the End of Time Part II         
7.     Lucifer, He Who Lights My Path         
8.     Last Breath


And now for the last part the demo "Flames of Sacrifice"!
Its best song is the first one "Blood on the Altar of Time" with a strong & hard driving melody and painfull singning, the only song thats a bit too sloppy is the "the Pathway to Oblivion" where it sounds like they improvise much of the time... luckly the screams is extra sorrowfull here.

 
It has a few more segments with speed compared to the former part but it fits well rubbing shoulder with it anyway....but who whould suspect anything else?
Sweet evil & muddy demo from the land down under.

Track list:

1.     Blood on the Altar of Time          
2.     The Dead of Winter          
3.     Flames of Sacrifice          
4.     The Pathway to Oblivion          
5.     Last Sunset of a Dying Autumn, Pt. 2          
 

Not so much more to say rather then this is a typical & great DTL album with its killing ups & chilling downs.

Ofermod - Mystérion Tés Anomias

 
I just wanted to mention this compilation-cd with Ofermods classic early releases now when they are back in high gear and all!

The first two tracks is from  Mystérion Tés Anomias single (1998) and the last two is from the Netivah Ha-Chokmah demo (2004). Truly dark & strong emanations lingers from this songs!

A must have.

Necrocurse - Shape of Death

On this dreary sunday i felt i needed an extra kick in my ass so i put on the compilation-cd "Shape of Death" from the Swedish death metal bastards Necrocurse! And it worked pretty well i might say!

With Hellbutcher (Nifelheim) screaming on the vocals and the rest of the ratpack from diversity of bands (Masticator, Runemagick) murdering their way ahead through the graveyards and onward this felt soo right!

 
Instead of an aura of grayness that this day offered me i now got splatter of blood and guts and really groovy and hard hitting songs all the way to the setting sun. (sure it is only 5 songs but put it on repeat goddamn it!)

The death metal Necrocurse create is inspired more by older death then the "modern" ones.

The shaped cd is nice and fun but remember it cant be played on vacuum players etc...


Track list:

1.     Shape of Putrid Abomination         
2.     Insane Curse of Morbidity         
3.     Chaos Carnage Cataclysm         
4.     Dust to Flesh (The Evocation)         
5.     Souls of a Thousand Funerals         

Atra - Death Coven

From the rotten and cracked underground-soil in Australia comes this quite primitive & raw band Atra, for you how dont know this band i can say it somewhat takes you back to 90´s when LLN where pesting around in France,  it  has some touches of Drowning the Light quite naturally...

 Also from the OAA cult (Ordo Ater Anguis).

So it should not come as a surprise that Atra has an hatefull and depressing aura, all of the ten tracks is sinking deep into your brain and dragging you down the well outside in the cold winter night.

 My personal choice is the songs 2, 7,10.

1.     Introduction     
2.     Moonless Night     
3.     Death Coven    
4.     Seven Plagues by Seven Centuries         
5.     Empires of Melancholy         
6.     Interlude         
7.     Black Spells Written in Funeral Smoke         
8.     To Consult the Spheres of Death and Dying        
9.     Bloodred Horizons of Eternity         
10.   The Gate        

 A great record everything from the bleak artwork to the harrowing music is just right for its purpose.

Lord of Pagathorn - Shine Through My Scars, Morning Star!

Now it is time for a big, heavy and old finnish goat dear fiends!

After some silence (2 years) this "gang" have released a new Ep "Shine Through My Scars, Morning Star!" which is a teaser for the coming full (of meat) album! ... it will not likley be out this year but 2013 is not so far of now.
This 2-song Ep contains only exclusive material and will not be on the album, after hearing the first song with all of its deep and ugly glory one can hardly wait for more the second song is a Venom cover "In League With Satan" which is good and all but thats not the reason one buys this sweet vinyl.

 It sounds like a giant pissed-off goat that more then likely will chop away your head or more. Deep & beasty singing & the axes & wardrums is cutting down the mountain at ease. Unpleasant and just right!

There is not so much more to say about this only that it is a promising foretaste. (Bring the shovel!)

LvxCælis - Mysteria Mystica Maxima XXIII

After the fitting start with Nigredo - The Dead Head these Chile (love you Chile!) based messengers brings us their first full album "Mysteria Mystica Maxima XXIII"!

It feels rewarding to sink your teeth into this variant of enlightening Gnostic Luciferianism this time of the year where the night is in glittering frost and the stars glance back at you with an eternal cold gaze.

Who wouldn´t want to be reborn into a soul free from the physical body? ...LvxCælis takes you one step closer anyway to something bigger... thats a good verdict huh? ;)

From the majestic symphonic intro over into the six-string hell you take a long journey through rituals of damnations, worshipping the lord of light and luring up namless things from the abyss.
The singing is sung in mid-guttural raspiness but some clean voice is used on some priestish chants that linger in the background from time to time.

There is even some tracks (like song 2 & 4) that in structure pays tribute to some of the older "gods" like Venom & Bathory but everything is coted in LvxCælis own heavy spit.

All in all this is a very good album that works its magic in a nice serous way. 
Both rocking and invoking!

And for a smashing all-nighter play this record together with Hetroertzen & Horns! 

Track list:

1.     Under the Nine Rays of Darkness     
2.     Summoning Ceremony         
3.     Ascending Through Eternal Fire         
4.     Heaven & Hell     04:58    
5.     Pvrificatio (Liberate Me!)         
6.     Mass for the Master         
7.     Come Forth from the Abyss         
8.     Slaughtering of the Lamb         
9.     Cross Initiation        
10.    I Have Seen the Light         

Adustum - Searing Fires and Lucid Visions

Let´s continue with some more Qliphoth black metal masturbation!

From Kempen in Belgium comes this group with strong nighttime devotion, this first release from them is an promising start but i think they will reach their gruesome goal on the next or the album after that...

First thing that is one of the most important aspects of this kind of music is that one should be able to  take it serious and on that "thing" they manage very well.
The other is the music itself and its here where it feels like Adustum will evolve and get better and more interesting in the future.
Dont take me wrong because everything is well played and there is a lot of dark tension which is great but it feels like the quite long songs lose there "meat" after a while. maby they just should had made them shorter? i dont know but i put my trust in them in realising greater rituals in the future.

Track 3 is has this problem the most but then just when you start losing your "faith"
The last (4) song starts and it is awesome! Damn did they put all the power and effort on this one?! One could think so! It has many interesting guitar landscapes and interludes, some neat drum blastings and a big plus for the percussion intermission-bridge! An epic and strong song.

As i said Adustum will grow and grow fast, they show many furtile seeds in this debut!

Maby some time in the future we will see a "QlipFes" where Ofermod & Mephorash & Adustum (and many more) play side by side? Who knows? ;)


Track list: (the records ends after aprox 30 min.)

1.	V.O.H.I.R. - Exvocatium Dæmonicus
2.	Ravenous Copulation Upon Her Altar of Catamenia
3.	The Eulogy of One Through Three Times Three
4.	Psalm CLVI - The Rites of Lunar Blood

Nightbringer - Hierophany of the Open Grave

Enter the hellish chaos that Nightbringer grants you! Feel the great black dissonance when you stumble down the twilight corridors, let the old ones come closer as you fumble with the keys given to you...

There is much to digest and learn through this big artwork, much to take in and research here. (if you like to become a bit wiser that is.)
The whole experience is very serious and you buy it! Everything is done with such fingertip sensitivity that nothing falls to chance.... or becomes boring. This is a really majestic dimension you will be harassed by!

The music in itself has an very big & atmospheric sound to it, hunting guitars fly around and melts greatly with the blasting drums and creates an united form of a draconian maelstrom. (this well made wall-of-sound reminds me a bit of Katharsis - Vvorld Vvithout End.)
The the ghastly singing lays almost lose on top of the music and but at the same time feels very concentrated to tell the listener secrets thats found from the forgotten worlds.

All of the song rituals holds up nicely against each other but my personal choise must be tracks 3, 4 & 5.

Track list:
1.     Rite of the Slaying Tongue    
2.     Eater of the Black Lead    
3.     Psychagogoi    
4.     Lucifer Trismegistus    
5.     The Gnosis of Inhumation    
6.     The Angel of Smokeless Fire    
7.     Dreaming Above the Sepulcher    
8.     Via Tortuosa    
9.     Old Night