söndag 30 september 2012

Grá is the new Black

If you have an urge for some new (came out last year) depressive & hateful Swedish Black-metal with a touch of "the old scandinavian times" look no further then Grás first full album, the first release they did was an Ep "Helfärd" in 2010 which was good but a bit on the short side but here you get the full ride!!



I cant ignore that i hear some tones of Niklas early Shining here but with a more old & Burzumish countryside touch and thats perfectly fine by me, the sound is rich and wellmade but not in an new clean and lifeless way and all of the eleven tracks (aprox 50 min) fills their own little mean purposes.... the the ugly outro hits the nail on its head! (i got the smell of a old wooden house and home made booze and suicidal loneliness.. he he.)



Even if the music here is in the veins of many other bands heard before they have here succeded to capture "it" which levitates this album above a whole lot of the other hords.... that "it" is something that is hard to put your finger on so just listen to it.


The only thing thats scars my brain now is that i have manage to miss two of Grá concerts here in Stockholm this summer!! GOD DAMN!!!

lördag 29 september 2012

Flagellated Seraph - Beyond Salvation

The Polish label Helltrasher have now recently released the debut album "Beyond Salvation" from the (for the moment) unknown  Swedish group Flagellated Seraph.


The impression i got when holding the record in my hand at the store was that it felt like some kind of gritty death-metal but then again when examine it a bit closer it felt also like some kind of black-metal.... my gutfeelings said it could be good.... i bought it. On my way home to the sewers i started to listen to it and lo and behold! It was really blasting great!!



As realised that my earlier reflections was quite spot-on except i heard it had even more variations then ordinary death & black metal stuff, overall Flagellated is a deathish black-metal but these guys (?) had much to give so they have crammed in a ....horse into the oven without problems.... Or in other words every track feels very creative, inspired and meaty. The singing is also kind of typical death but with a satanic ritualknife stuck in the neck! Sound fitting and great!

Behind every corner a new brutal/melodic/spooky/hatefull or surprising segment pops up and after all 6 (aprox 33 min) songs have ended i had missed my station that i should have stepped off...

Dont get me wrong that Beyond Salvation is "all over the place art-metal" because that is not the case it is more like they have succeded with bringing every deviant part together just right,  nothing really feels out of place they just brought more to the table then one was prepared for.



In other words if you are anal with your death or black metal that they only should sound in just one special (old) way you may have a bumpy ride here... others who dont have that kind of viewpoint will have
 a bloody good time!


måndag 24 september 2012

New blood!

I dont have time right now to do an complete post (Check in tomorrow night!) so i just give you a pic on  my latest disgusting delights!


söndag 23 september 2012

Agruss - Morok

Here is an good debut album from an Ukraine Atmospheric Black/Death Metal-band, i dont think i have heard so much from that country.... cant remember anything right now (beaten the brain to much maby...) but now with Agruss i will!



This time the focus lies not in some obvious satanic vibe or some bloodletting action, this time the focus is more on the aftermath of some nice holocaust.
With only cold empty landscapes left and the reaper flies around in the Poisonous winds looking for the last living souls to catch.



The music is very competent technically and more then often some memorable or/and emotional  melodies (slower) interludes the dark smashing and riffings with good lasting effect.
Sudden tempo changes split many songs up in interesting manners and one can easily hear that Agruss has been inspired by some of the Japanese group Dir en Greys sound! (thats not a bad thing in my book!!)

The singing changes from deep dry death-growls to high toned black-screams... first i thought when i heard this that they cant do this live because the singing overlapped each other often but then i read that they have two singers so that makes things a little bit easier then.


 Morok has 9 tracks on it but it lasts over one hour!!! The songs length is from 3:36 to 14:13 minutes... it is a bit "heavy" to pick this record up at any time cause it can be a bit dense and thick (in a smart way. ;) ) but at certain times when you want to be in the "death-fog" for an hour or so this will fit the bill perfectly!

Good shit!

lördag 22 september 2012

Infernal War - Conflagrator

Here is a major satanic warmachine crushing  thousands of skulls with the Polish warrior elit at its steering wheel!
 Here is the Ep "Conflagrator" from Infernal War!!
 This group has mixed their "death-salt" well into the boiling black cauldron and they seem to top themselves with every new release too!


Under this five songs you will get your pretty little face smashed over & over and soon it will finally be going straight to hell!
Everything musically here is quite extreme both technically and melodic.(in its on kind of bulldozer way)
The singing lies in the middle of growls and screams and "Warcrimer" does this outstanding!
The only real question mark here is the ending on the third song "Blazing Impious Adoration" it fades out!! You hear the song goes on but they just fade it down & away.... did the studio founding suddenly end? I dont know but they should ended it with a bang (!!!) or something instead of a boring fading.
Other then that (minor thing) everything here is really good!


As you already understands the tempo here is goddamn over the top and atmosphere is perfectly hatefull! This is how a bloddy battlefield could sound like if it were converted (?) from real life to music.



Buy it!

tisdag 18 september 2012

Slagmaur - Skrekk Lich Kunstler (2007)


If you want something on the strange and macabre side you should take a dip into
Slagmaurs twisted world, here is everything on the scary flip-side and the traditional musical arrangements takes a day off.




This incoperates both an unwelcomed (and thats a good thing!) atmosphere of
"wall-of-noise" BM grinding and a sort of art-house horror-theater sound with tortured shrieks.

You kind of get what you see on the cover!



There IS melodies to be found and a structure that you can follow it is not SO
off-beat that you have to be high on LSD to fathom some content but i recommend
you to give it many listenings and under different circumstances...

...it will then shine in alternative ways and give you a deeper understanding of
Slagmaurs goals except from the obvious to crawl into your brain and fuck with it!




I liked this and got intrigued by all the chilling tracks and after it ends you
almost feel like you seen some uncomfortable horror movie.


Try it out if you feel like you are up to it!

måndag 17 september 2012

Svartsyn - Destruction of man (from 2003)

After seeing that Svartsyn had done an split with Arckanum "Kaos Svarta Mar / Skinning the Lambs"(wich came after this cd i write about...) i decided to hunt something down from them, i did it and i found out that my gut feeling was not misleading me.


The sound comes from the good old days of early 90´s (like Arckanum often is to) with fuzzy dark guitars, harsh ghastly screaming with reverb & delay. (a bit on the dry side this time though and not so high pitched.) Really comfy!  ...If you like hell. ;)


Svartsyn lays more weight on the demonic hostility & disharmonys in their arrangements rather then bleak & melancholic "melodies", and the lyrical content is more on the (atleast this cd) coming armageddon with the evil beasts from below crawling up to the surface and violates us feeble human & not so much of the Chaos-Gnostics that Arckanum writes... but i think they are quite suitable to doing spilts anyway.

The seven songtitles is like this:
1.    Archdemon of Binah    
2.     Children of Plague    
3.     Demons Walking on Earth
4.     Towards Chaos    
5.     Devil's Image    
6.     Enemies from Beyond  (this is one of the better songs)
7.     Destruction of Man


And together it´s around 41 minutes so the songs is quite long (from ca 4 min to 7 min)BUT not boring, i like this cd but i am not totally loving it yet but i feel it will grow a lot with more listenings....but/and i will certainly buy more from them!


lördag 15 september 2012

Behexen - By the Blessing of Satan

Incest is normaly a bad thing but when it comes to the finnish black metal world it really has been an....blessing! Such extravagant & blasphemous creatures has come out from that barren and ancient country womb through this sinnfull activity! Totally raping the laws of nature! (suits black metal i think!)

Just take this high profile bands for example Horna, Satanic Warmaster, Sargeist, Mare, Pest & Warloghe, do a little check up if you dont know about random members and you´ll see what i mean.

I almost dare to say that Soumi is the "second Norway" but with its own powers and soundscapes, the second and maby the third coming of black metal is from this very land Finland.

So over to the main topic this time: Behexen! And yes this is one of the bastardbands that has emerge with six arms and two heads from the pitch black caves & thick forests of Finland, this record "By the Blessing of Satan" was my first encounter with the band and it was no denial that they was the hellspawns one wished for!


From the the get go they explodes right in your face with speedy black riffs and hard devildrumming, the singing is as bitchwitching as it should be and has an echoing soundmix to it that crams the atmosphere down even deeper, you get visions of burning churches and other nice things he he.


It has 7 songs on it but it clocks in on around 47 minutes anyway, some long tracks gets a tiny bit dreary and one losses some focus and your thoughts wander away but then the next track usually compensates you with more then enough. satanic energy.


The soundmix is sharp and brutal with its semi-raw style but i would like the guitars to be a bit higher mixed because some melodies and riffs gets a bit drowned by the drums....other then that it is great!


When your heard this good album and then if (you should!) you start to look up more work from them you will never be disappointed... maby  you think you´ll find even better stuff from them...

torsdag 13 september 2012

Listen to the Black Mass from Besatt! You´ll get possessed!


Luck shined up my ass today as a found a another Besatt cd!!! This record "Black Mass" is a bit older (2005) then "Triumph of Antichrist" (2007) but it really does not show because they sound pretty much the same and thats a good thing in my book.


The only thing that's different here in comparison to Triumph is that on the whole it is a bit weaker album, the hooks is not as strong and the "evil ambience" is not as convincing BUT it is enough of a blitzing demonic attack for me to spill my milk and not cry a single tear. ho ho ho

The opening track that is the title track is one of the best here with strong melodies & raging mashing, the second song "Born to Revenge" continues with the hellish winds whiping your tail more then once , then comes the first song "Suicidal Ritual" thats a bit boring and plain at least the last half of it.

"Final War" saves the day then with a mass-murdering inferno of blastbeats and death screams!

The second track thats a bit out of place is the tribute track to Quorthon (he passed away the year before this record) "Son of Pure Viking Blood ", it is not an bad song per se it is just  that it would do better on another record with only this "viking-Bathory" sound on it, the singning is in the clear-voice style and you hear ocean waves and all that... it has that epic nordic feel to it....

The last two songs crawles up again from the sea and get your hair in flames again, the last last song "Demoniacal Possession" is in my ears the third best creation here on Besatts "Black Mass".


Time to hunt down some more stuff from them now!

onsdag 12 september 2012

Horned Almighty - Necros Spirituals

These bitter"danskjävlar" have now constructed a filthy, heavy and groovy fourth album i must say! well, it is not THAT new because it was released all back in 2010 so i am a bit late to bring you the "news" but why the hell should i bother when this cd is as good now as it was then?



The sound is polished but not too nice and it some Entombed (and the like) inspiration (but more black) in there as well (the groovy bits maby...) Then the lyrics is all about the one true force Satan...no surprise there. ;)

I think the second song "Fountain of Thousand plagues" is the "party starter" which will give birth to a sea of headbanging at their shows and then the seventh song "The Illuminated Void" will give the final gloomy doom to the audience and send them away into the forever black sea.
The only small complaint i have is the little weak ending to the whole sha-boom but other then that all the  9 songs has good & interesting structures and hooks.

The growling type of singing that is present here is usually something i dont like but here i appreciatet it, maby because it is quite varied and intense and not just a long ogre moan.


tisdag 11 september 2012

Into the wild...

Well, i will escape into another... dimension tonight so i will and wont be close to the net. ;)
I´ll be back soon but in the meantime take a look at the latest goods. A truly mix of tastes i can say these cd´s are.


måndag 10 september 2012

Besatt - Triumph of Antichrist -

The "polish horde" is known for being more then often a thundering
train of metalflesh thats blastbeating and riffing our asses off
and thats also the case for this satanic gang called Besatt! (Why a swedish name? Kvltish?)





This is the only record i have heard from them so i cant really say
if this is a typical one for them or not but if it is i will
certainly buy more because it rocked clows!

They have made quite a lot of stuff too! Between 1996 to now in 2012 they have made 2 demos, 1 Ep, 5 splits, 3 compilations, 8 full albums, 1 live album & 1 koncert-DVD!


Most of the structures and melodies is a kind of mixture of traditional
90´s black metal alá Immortal and Marduk (a bit of Nifelheim too) etc and 80´s metal bands like
 Iron Maiden.. (but not as "happy")

It really works fine together and nothing really gets on your nerves, song
three (of nine) "Decalogue will Perish" may even be a ungodly given "classic"!
It is a wonderfully hard and engaging melodic enlightenment all the way to its climax.

The songs varies from mid-tempo-axing to speedy-manslaughter and it manages to
surprise you from time to time with different musical angles and turns.
(more then one might expect from this kind of band.)

Maby not perfect on a whole (one or two tired tracks and some overused & silly lyrics)
 but well worth the time and money invested if this is your kind of bodybag.


lördag 8 september 2012

Funeral Mist - Maranatha -


Damn this was good!!!!
For a long time Maranatha-cd has been out of print (that is the info i got anyway) so you can imagine my fucked up facial expression when i suddenly saw it sitting casually between Ariochs fantastic salvation and the almost as good Devilry Ep!

For me the main point of enjoyment in all of Funeral Mists offerings is the the mix of ecstatic ritualistic cotrolled(?) chaos & the multi-layered musical inputs that take this music to a higher plane then the ordinary blackmetal band, it has certainly it´s own evil persona!


From the start with the raging "Sword of Faith" you´ll beginning to understand that you are about to take a long walk on the edge of insanity, the songs that follow is of many different tastes but it keeps the same rotten eerie atmosphere. Some grandiose long tracks is here that creeps under your skin and some razorsharp and/or pestering orcish (sorry for the Tolkien ref!) vocals that crippels your mind.
Some surprising melodic outbursts graces many parts in here to but it does not take the "edge" of in any way rather makes Maranatha even more memorable and worth revisiting.


This is one of the few bands that really makes you feel that you are quite close to one of the gates to hell and show you ugly face of humanity and its fate.

As always with FM the visual artwork in the booklets is wellmade and utterly grotesque! Very fitting the musical score!

(this is one of the nicest pictures...)

Buy it now before it becomes extinct again!!!

torsdag 6 september 2012

Arckanum - Trulen -

I started in the wrong (not wrong in "bad" kind of way) way when i started my experience Arckanums body of work with Helvitismyrkr, i got the chance now to do this from the right angle with his "Trulen" cd!

This is a rerelease of the second demo and it is remastered too wich works fine, nothing of it´s original raw production is lost at all only the overall sound is better balanced out etc.

Trulen serves up an ancient trollish vision thats only Shamaatae is capable of, you hear the old forests winds and animals lurking about. The grim mocking singing and the melodic but fast songs sinks into your mind and gives you a new place to visit.


And to quote him just to underline the meaning to this album read this:
"Pan is the one who creeps up behind, sprinkling gasoline on ones back and flicks sparkling matches at you. Not because for the fact that he hates you but just to get one´s attention...to get you to wake up and for once take your existence or subsistence seriously."

It is a good record but not Arckanums best but that does not say much because most of his work is golden in my opinion.


onsdag 5 september 2012

Sektemtum


If you are one of the ones that miss the good old french band
Mutiilation with Meyhna´ch you now have a new entity to worship
through Sektemtum!

Well this time Meyhna´ch has gathered deviant souls from Arkhon
Infaustus, Hell Militia, Doctor Livingstone & Zöldier Noiz so one
can prepare oneself that the sound is not exactly like Mutiilation.

But fear not because this unholy union have produced a whole
smack of 10 dear i say groovy but blackish bloody meals!
Sometimes one can even hear som Entombedish tunes in it so this is
yeah no "traditional" Black-metal record.... for better or worse
depends on who you ask.

The album is named Aut Caesar aut Nihil and toches on subjects
like hopelessness, nihilism and a whole lot of suffering
and bleak visions BUT with this hard hitting riffy sound nothing
becomes boring, instead everything is spot on keeps you
on your scabby toes at all times.
This would be a good soundtrack to play at the end of this world.


"Sektemtum" stands for "the gathering, the sect, the twilight circle, the end and the beginning".

Stand out tracks: 1: Conférence Catastrophe 3: Dead Whore Fragrance
7: Faded

  And dont miss the interesting and a bit funny trailers and videos you can find on youtube etc...


lördag 1 september 2012

Enochian Crescent -Turning in the bloody towel -

Just as i finally decided to get knee-deep in Enochians world they annonce officially that they putting their very own beast to rest!!!! What the hell!!!
Thats too bad but all existing things will come to an end of course, lucky they have made three full albums, two Ep´s, two splits and one demo. (released at the start in 1996)  I have some tasty stuff to hunt down at least in the near future.

This night i will bring up their (last) full-length soulraping "Black Church"!

 


For thouse who is not so familiar with this group i can warn you now that they is NOT an traditional Black metal gang.... Words like avant-garde, estrange minds and kvltishly unique comes to my mind.

The first thing that hits you in your eardrum is that the structure of songs is sometimes more like those in heavy metal & sometimes folkish medieval and not not relying on worshipping old treasures like Darkthrone, Burzum, Mayhem, Immortal etc etc......................

But they are  certainly sinister at heart and hold the spirit of black metal high (they DO include some traditional Black metal riffings here & there so dont run away just yet.) but they do as few do and that is to create original twisted visions, in other words they march toward to their own unholy abyss.



The second thing one will realise is that the singer Sister Wrath turns the mood up to witching hour and spits and screams with repulsion at you! He hisses like the snake of wisdom and gives you a bitter taste of the given keys from old spirits.

One thing i have a bit hard to muster is that some "clear voices" is used as backing quire or in some few main parts but after a couple of listenings they make some more...sense and blend into this venomously texture much better.

The nine songs is also structured in an dramaturgical three-part drama wich ends with the albums titletrack "Black Church", the titel in itself i reflects as an sarcastic & mocking view on the holy gosspel that is sung in their horrid brothel house called church, the moods vary from direct attacks hymns to evil spellcasting anthems with some depressive seasonings on the side.The clear and hard hitting songs that is done here would be a fitting way now that they will split-up.
well, one Ep was released after this but that bastard-of-a-cd is for some reason hard to get hold of, some day...

The journey you take with them clocks in on around 37 minutes and when all is said & done and only the silence is left you´ll either hate them or you feel optimistic that there is some real personal boiling blood left in this "genre" and not only copycats.