Revenant Vrykolakos - Chthonic Metal

After their band logo had caught my eye their existence kept floating around in my murky brain and when i saw that they had released something i jumped at it straight away!

As their logo promised (for me at least) music that was something else, something that whispered in my ear that this could be good in some kind of exotic way i also got more or less what i felt & hoped for, the members Komos - Bass, Eidolon - Drums, Erebos Shroud - Guitars, Tyrant Lykaon - Vocals have created a band based on The Darkside of Greek Mythology, Werewolves, Pagan Life and Death... i am no big expert but the topics in themselves are pretty exiting for me and it fits their cool logo with ease!

Their music is label´d as Black Metal but i feel thats a bit too simple to describe it, what i hear is a quite wide mix of inspiration like early heavy metal and speed to early death & thrash but also they have an (as a whole) a full flexing theatrical sound not too far of like some late 70´s/early 80´s progressive hard rock bands had but not in the choice of instruments/sound but in the dramatic compositions and build ups.
Some nice tempo changes and each song has many engaging parts molded into them with a dynamic touch. What could be argued is the most "Black Metal" here is the good (and quite articulated) raspy/croaky vocals (i had a bit hard to swallow the clean sung parts though) and the guitar sound other then that Revenant Vrykolakos have succeeded well in creating their own unique sound.

The only thing thats not directly good here is the production (a bit uneven and thin) but that is nothing strange when its a self release and all but when they (and they will) get signed to some smart label and get a proper mixing and mastering all their strengths will surface for sure!

All in all a intriguing debut that leaves its claw mark and i look forward to their future releases!

The photo over here is old and one member is not in the band but i keep it as it is a cool pic. under here is an updated photo....just as it says on it.

Track list:

1.     To Where the Dead Rivers Unite                                 06:44    
2.     Advent                                                                        06:37    
3.     Cadaverous Initiations Into the Chthonian Mysteries     08:09    
                                                                                Total:  21:30

Regnans/Draziw split

From Darker than Black Records comes a ominous split with the Australian Regnans and the American Draziw! (Both one-man bands)

This split is quite easy to review as it delivers a straight traditional cold punch from its bullet belt hip, Regnans starts off first and its master Quoll knows his past and present well as his sound is chilly and windy semi-raw black metal with a flair of misanthropic and hateful deliverance...

Nothing "new" is of course found in any of the bands here but thats not the point and i guess you know that already... the point is to kill! hehe and they both do and its easy to see why they decide to do this split together as they share much of the same taste in sound etc.
I feel that Regnans has a more lean towards a meditative (nice repeated riffings that pulls you legs down the well) but harsh vibe and Draziw leans more to vile aggression...
The second song i think is the best Regnans track but all three is good by all means, and the first track on Draziw side is best but also again here all his (Schrat Von Krieg) compositions from start to finish is solid.

A enjoyable split that is easy to listen to repeatedly and also a good introduction to both bands, look forward to both their future releases.

This split is Regnans second release after last years demo "Bloody Beginnings" and this is Draziws Fourth release after last years 3 demos "Geheimgang" & "Architekten des Teufels' Reich" & "Burn Them".

Track list:

Side A
1.     Regnans - Return to the Soil     06:26    
2.     Regnans - Vermin     06:12    
3.     Regnans - Winds of Winter     04:43    
Side B
4.     Draziw - Cold Dark Blood     03:58    
5.     Draziw - Forgotten Ways     03:40    
6.     Draziw - Under the Dark Sign     04:08    
7.     Draziw - A Hallucination of Lust     03:07    
                                                   Total: 32:14   

Istidraj - Muerte Mundi Militia

After hearing the "Lux Noir" teaser single(2 tracks) i had very positive feelings for this
album "Muerte Mundi Milita" (their fourth album) but i was not prepared to be hell-slapped around like this!

What i have heard so far from all of Istidrajs releases (they started in 93) is around 4
recent ones so i have an "ok" grasp on their nowadays sound which is a very effective and inspired
mix of old school head banging death/Thrash metal and  with a unhealthy splash of black metal on top of it all...

...so after the short brooding intro and the first song (which i have heard many times on the single) i was
bewildered! Istidraj have hear taken a almost full step into the black metal darkness and it sounds
really good! The whole soul of the band seems like they have stepped into a maelstrom of negativity
and misanthropy without loosing any of their creative fire grooves, every track is solid and they have a well
thought out dynamics both internal (songs) and external (album as a whole) with both blasting war marching parts to great layered almost melancholic melodies and to strong build ups. Both bleak and grand is a feeling that one is left with after listening and it is very easy to press on the repeat button to hear it all again...yes it builds nicely also with repeated listening.

2016 is the year Istidraj have made their big black great opus (released both on cd & tape) and it deserves
a well made 180 gram vinyl release! Its varied and devastating journey and is something that (at least)
Europeans would love to hear so a wider spread of this release would be a smart choice...we´ll see
what happens in the near future!

Production is also more massive (and is good balanced) and one can almost smell of fire & brimstone smoke
coming out of it. There is some small spoken samples here and there that is not so often found
in this genre but they fit just nicely into it all and gives it a bit of "the shitty situation the world is in now"
feeling but i cant really say i hear all that is said though...one song starts of with a short intro
that almost sounds like something from Ministrys "Psalm 69..." hehe but the actual song is
not but instead it blasts of with some evil death metal riffs...!

...Last track has nothing to do with the actual album and i dont really know if its wise to include
it as it is a electro/techno mash-up remix of Lux Noir song... i found it funny and entertaining but
some might be put off by it...Either way this album comes of recommended to most of you out there that
likes their black/death metal like demonic bulldozer high on both  priest(of any religion i suppose)
 corpses and the smell of a world that is on fire!

Best songs is 4,6,8(and 9 as i feel that 8 & 9 is bound together)

Track list:

1.     Praeludium ad Finem Mundi 03:06    
2.     Lux Noir             03:43    
3.     Triumphant Ends     07:20    
4.     Via Negativa             04:25    
5.     Thy Destroyer ov Life     04:59    
6.     Malak al-Maut             06:32    
7.     Illuminating Darkness     05:45    
8.     Regicidal Ad-Dajjal     05:52    
9.     Earth's Crematoria     04:12    
10.     Lux Noir (Re-Nir mix)     03:31

Tape released by Iron County Records
contact: ironcountyrecords@gmail.com

Cd released by Iron, Blood And Death Corp
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ibdc666/?fref=ts

Drawn into Descent - Drawn into Descent

From Belgium comes a new Atmospheric Black Metal band...well the atmospheric part is correct but i would not call this black metal due to the music  lack of hate, negativity, satanism  and/or random anti-content but dont get me wrong these 6 tracks are enjoyable as long as you dont expect a blasphemous black metal assault!

I would rather label this music as kind of existential post rock metal with a taste for black metal sounding riffs etc, i found the music have a shimmering gleam to it and rather positive effect rather then some real depressive madness that can (i say "can" as its just as hard to find a diamond in a shitpile in the dsbm genre) be found in the world of DSBM.
Sure when one read the lyrics one can see why some could categories this as depressive music but not for me really...even if the vocalist do a good job to scream them out in pain  i found this release more of a uplifting and a bit soaring sound track to your everyday life.

The actual music sound as you by now should know by some repeated composed parts to try to drag you down into a negative blanket.... luckily these boys are pretty good musicians so the know when to change pattern and/or put on a extra layer of guitars etc, it never gets boring and it is easy to sit these 45 minutes through, it builds its parts up good (mostly in a mid tempo) and it does not matter really that i dont feel any anguish or similar things from Drawn into Descent because it has its own quality anyways to it.

All in all a nice levitating journey that fits great to have in your ears when sitting on a train/buss or whatever...yeah a kind of "road movie cozy gloom sound track" is a fitting description.

Best track is: 6

Track list:

1.     Prelude     03:18       instrumental
2.     Elude     08:44    
3.     Solitude     09:47    
4.     The Realm of Unbecoming      05:53    
5.     Pariah     08:19    
6.     Gallows     09:39    
                                       Total: 45:40    

Released by: Immortal Frost Productions
mail:
Immortalfrostproductions@hotmail.com 
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Immortalfrostproductions/?fref=ts

Band page:
https://www.facebook.com/DrawnIntoDescent/?fref=ts
 

The Cloven Hoof #2 -Flyer 4-

Update

Krypthall - Intolerance and Hate (Victory and the End of Our Path)

Krypthall is a one man band from Mexico and the same behind this entity is behind Herxsebet among others.
For those who has heard Herxsebet knows pretty much what to expect here....

...For those who has not i can say that Krypthall is a mountain of raw evil filth!
Very minimal  "melodies" and primitive rhythms that almost sounds like some old satanic tribe  pounding away in dead of the night, one of the main things you have to like/enjoy/drool to to "get" this type of creation is the extreme raw production and the unwillingness to construct proper songs... it sometimes sounds like you are inside the vocalist unruly stomach with all the drips & blurps and shit moving around... not nice but in a good way. hehe

His own description of Krypthalls content is "Misanthropy, Negativity, Ugliness, Violence, Despair" and that is very accurate i think and it also hit me when listening to this last release which is also a compilation ( yes Krypthall has shut its coffin lid now) is that this sounds very much like Orloks latest seven inch "In Spectral Castles of Thy Horned Emperor"! (Orloks stuff is slightly refined though) Yes so if you dig that one you will like this release for sure!

Prepare for cryptic hell flames licking the hallways of eternity!

Track list:

1.     Key of Neo-Nekrokosmo (Intro)     01:55    
2.     Lords of Velahaprovetokv     02:54    
3.     Majestic & Bloody Twilight (A Tribute to Moonblood)04:38    
4.     Impale the Scum Betrayer     02:06    
5.     Fuck Off Pseudo Underblacker Shit     02:23    
6.     S.3.3.3     06:53    
7.     The Primitive Black Furor (of the Ancients)     02:22    
8.     My Rotten Place     03:54    
9.     Omega Su In Np Md     02:03    
10.     Embraced Wolves to Nocturnal Winter Majesty     03:24    
11.     Fullmoon     02:33    
12.     The Lost Hope     04:09    
13.     Ave Regnum Lvcifer     05:09    
14.     Odi Profanum Vulgus, Et Arceo     07:18    
15.     Once the Forest of Psychotic Wind     03:08    
16.     Kill & Destroy for Our Pride     02:31    
17.     Rance Shostakovich (The End)     00:59    
                                                                                 Total: 58:19   

Released by: Caligo Arcanum Productions
link:
https://www.facebook.com/CaligoArcanum?fref=ts
Mail:
Obscurer666@hotmail.com

Mork - Den vandrende skygge

From Halden in Norway winds linger in cold anguish and old wounds...souls from the olden times dont get any rest here and thus inflicting their energies on the present...which takes the form (this time) as the second full length from Mork!

Feelings of  both ancient proud pasts fighting the intruding forces and a down beated circular emotion digging deeper without no end in sight... so yeah both an empowering experience as well as a bleak meditative one is what is constructed here and besides that the whole atmosphere is very Norwegian  which is for me a good thing.
The production is well made with both some rawness kept intact as well as all instruments is very balanced,the sharp but round guitar sound is nice, drums is held back just enough not to drown the rest and without losing power and the vocals is just slightly above it all rasping away in hate, nothing to complain about but feels like the studio time was quite an intense time for them...

Melodies are good from start to finish with the basis of the second wave and have a very "in the woods the old ghost is tormenting the moon" feel which is nothing new but these guys do their legacy proud i think as they thread this wooden dark paths with both a firm understanding of their own bleeding soul and with competent creativity.

Some songs like the first one(track 2 as the first is an intro) has also some unorthodox instruments like violins and some keyboards (or some other similar old school contraption) and this can very easy make me puke but not here haha they just makes the vibe much deeper and truer to the old times... no prog.

I have no problem at all to recommend this  new album to anyone whom says like black metal.
A strong ride from the cradle to the grave.

Best tracks: 2,5,9

Track list:

1.     Skogens dyp        
2.     I sluket av myra        
3.     Den lukkede porten        
4.     Hudbreiderens revir        
5.     Død og begravet        
6.     Den vandrende skygge        
7.     Enden ligger ved berget        
8.     Morkent        
9.     Ravnens natterike kaller        
10.   Invertert korsfestelse