Hound Ov Hel - Ragnarok

Here is the debut EP of the Bavarian band Hounds ov Hell!

Lets not beat around the torn bush, this debut is promising.
Just as i felt about Totenwache debut i feel/hear here the importent seeds thats a new project needs  and that is natural strong fire and onwardness, they play in a compact and mid paced black metal that is pretty traditional but has a nice corrupted personal soul just suited for creating  their own bleak & quite grand atmosphere.

It is quite clear that the Vocals help to rise this project even higher as they have both the misanthropic smolky rasp as well as the echoing screams of a tormented  (but fighting) existence....

Even if one could say the riffing is straight & simple they are selected with care and spite as they whip your back just as inteded, drums is stomp on in a endless fever and is more like a backbone for the voclas and guitars to fulfill their dark higher prophecies.
Production is nice, nothing really raw or fancy but has a good balance and organic dryness to it

It is just 4 tracks but they leave their negative mark enough to make me look forward to their next release....hehe sounds healthy i know.

A plus for the logo and cover art which was the first reasons for me to go after this.....Yeah a solid start for sure but they leave also room for growing inside this molded creation that they call Hound Ov Hel!

My eyes are plucked out and peeled!

Released by :
Winterwolf Tonschmiede

link:
https://www.facebook.com/WinterwolfTonschmiede/

Idolatry - In Nomine Mortis

Turn the 6 & you got a 9...Under these 3 years that has passed from first album until now have quite a lot happened i would say....to make it simple in one word: mutation

Mutations can go either way and when you know what this word means in this context (swap of a strong OG lead vocalist) you know this can break a band! 


Well we have some luck people as the band have succeded to grow a new tentacle and made it fit for this new singer to grow from and excel, it is of course a quite different experience listening to Idolatry now from before as previous singer brougth both his very own scarred and varied poetic soul & his whole bleeding wine cellar (not literally) into the band so naturally with a new singer this would not be left intact....though it works good in its own way.

So after some times spinning this album i am ready to say what i think of this sophomore album, this is a solid good effort and some songs  is even really great! (i am looking at you "Hail, Death"& "Breathing Dust")...First song after the intro is one of the less good ones  as it lacks some of the bands fiery & engaging melodies but it does not hurt really the overall verdict for me as the track that follows correct this immediately with some storming galloping guitar work that gets my horse into a overdrive! And then after that one the record hold its power and quality through out. (perhaps Reborn in Poison is similar standard as the first song but it is sandwiched by top songs so i cant really say for sure hehe)

This "new" Idolatry works their wheels just as good as before they only take some different sound roads & paths, the satanic cutthroat rituals is still here and i feel the band is in a good place to relish and at the same time have space to grow into a even better band in the future.

Extra plus to the two last tracks as they serves as a dark and moody ending of this creation!
Makes a lasting impression!

Take your time and check it out!
 Satan is on their side i heard. hehe

Released by:
Humanity's Plague Productions
link:
http://www.hpp666.com/

Tracklist:
1.     Ex Nihilio     01:27    
2.     Toward the Widening Eye     05:57    
3.     The Calling Void     03:22    
4.     Hail, Death     04:53    
5.     Reborn in Poison     06:01    
6.     Revelations in Black     03:38    
7.     Breathing Dust     04:53    
8.     Hidden; Quivering     04:34    
9.     The Serpentine Possession     06:27    
10.     Nihil Fit     02:18    
      Total 43:30

Totenwache - Der Schwarze Hort

After a promising debut demo in 2017 and a split the year after this German horde has smashed it out of the park with this excellent full album!

They have taken care of and expanded on all their early qualities and crafted a hour of top shelf black metal experience, if you are not familiar with the band the play in a classic mid to semi fast BM with wandering melancholic & galliant melodies, full of  bleak atmosphere (quite Finnish feel i think) and layers of feeling that makes their music grow from each listen.
Enough raw (not the production but the delivery) and underground to feel true to all the important points.

Right from the start (after the nice intro) the band shows what level they stand in at the moment and one cant deny their good taste in melody picks and riffs, when you make pretty long songs with a selected few cords you easily can fall into the boring swamp so its very important to understand what make this type of song work and that is the last problem this band has...
...well do they have some problems at all (music wise) ?
I cant really pin point any at this stage of their existence really...well the problem can be to follow this up as they from the look/sound of it has made a "perfect" album...cant be easy to keep that solid quality, my tip is to do an EP first before the next full album to test out new ideas on.

One of this years top album for sure so snatch it up! You wont be dissapointed.
Extra plus for the nice book/digi packaging and artwork one cant guess that this is a self released CD!

band contact:
https://totenwache.bandcamp.com/

Tracklist:

1.     Intro     01:14       instrumental
2.     Urteil: Niedergang     08:05    
3.     Galgenvögel     05:27    
4.     Des Königs stolze Acht     06:41    
5.     Der schwarze Hort     07:54    
6.     Der Heiler     05:40    
7.     Die alte Legion     05:26    
8.     Todbringer     06:33    
9.     Gloria Antichristi     09:08      
Total: 58 min

NEW Triumphant Cadaver releases is out!

Hi there gott folk!
Time to catch the two new  smashing tapes!

Wallachian Necromoon (4 tracks inc Moonblood cover)& the new Whore Blood (2 long tracks) is now here on offer!
7 euro for a tape and 5 euro for shipping (one or two tapes same shipping price)
to order mail to:   intotherawwar@gmail.com

Pre order time for coming TC tapes

For get on the pre order list mail me on:
intotherawwar@gmail.com

click for larger pic

Triumphant Cadaver -Tapes in stock-

Mail me for questions/orders:
intotherawwar@gmail.com

click for larger picture

PUTERAEON - The Esoteric Order

Last year this Swedish death metal band celebrated ten years in existence.....i "found them" today Hahah and even stranger why i have not heard of them earlier is that they are also a smashing good band!

Oy vey, better late then never.

The album here is their debut full album (from 2011) and before this they had released three demos from what i can see. (would be interesting to hear them to see the progress up to this record)
I had bought this vinyl version of the strength of a persons good word for it but then i had forgot to listen to it....and now when i finally did, wow!
It floored me from the start with the moody intro with thunder and all that melts into the start track that bulldozer your head straight off!

Besides the mighty compositions and punchy production the horror movie & Cthulhu Mythos themes is handled great and levitates the songs personality to a higher level, the song structures is very dynamic and also quite dramatic in a storytelling kind of way.
The riffs is both groovy and hard hitting and the whole band is tight as a gorillas butt!

Their sound is rooted in old school but has a distinct updated sound as well without putting you off.....no its not like the new 20 buck spinn super nasty raw death metal wave (which i also enjoy of course) but that dont take anything away from this bands deadly power.

Also the variation through out the album is well structured with different tempos put in the right places to make the whole experience flow like a river of blood, it has a distinct Swedish death metal feel but not in a copy-cat way plus their takes on the lyrics has a strong personal touch.

So if you are like me and never have taken the time and listen to PUTERAEON do it now if you like to indulge in some tasty cold nordic intestines.....

One thing to have in mind is that i review the vinyl version with eleven songs and the CD has 13 songs.... i dont miss anything and more songs could only make it feel bloated, it is already almost 50 minutes so i would not change anything. Plus the vinyl cover art looks even better with some minor changes.

Released by Cyclone Empire
link:
https://www.metal-recycler.de/html/shop.php?lang=english

Immatura Morte - the schizophrenic damnation

I been a fan of IM since the second demo "Perditricem Sui Possessionem" from 2015 and have almost all of the previous eleven releases at this point, all has more or less same good standard/style/atmosphere so if you like one release you will most likely like the next one you find.

As this is a pretty obscure Mexican one-man band(Besharth is the creator) i am happy to see it getting released & spread outside its home country on labels like Hatework Propaganda (Germany) and Perverse Homage (USA), well deserved i think. (also if you fins the latest RAW WAR-zine i did an interview with the man there as well)

This new album "The Schizophrenic Damnation" continues on its threaded path of dwelving into the creators mental state and battling the Schizo demons from both an occult viewpoint and a personal one both in a destructive AND a constructive way...at least thats how i feel about it.

It is a frantic and melancholic journey and feels heavy on one's shoulders but it feels also that it goes forward even if its minimal in steps (psychologically speaking), it is dissonant and it is dipped in a hysteria one easily can imagine one feels from having these spiritual weights all life, how will this end? How can a person get a stabel structure on a spiritual highway crossing storming inside?

Beats me but the musical consecration IM presents add something to me personally and dont retract so that would count as a good result i feel.

If you new to this band and feel like giving it a try prepare for a twisted and raw black metal with a flair for morbid melodies that slowly drown you in a void.

Last song here is my top track pick, it hits that sweat spot with a solid balance of what i enjoy from IM, it encapsules all pain from Besharth and combines it with ash bleak compositions that elevates the whole  into a grand ending.


Tracks
Side A
1.     Blood and Incense     05:17    
2.     Essence of the First Death     05:54    
3.     The Schizophrenic Damnation     07:17    
Side B
4.     Firstborn of the Destruction     04:27    
5.     Through Exile     06:41    
6.     Baaltzelmoth     05:03    
        Total: 34:39    

Released by:
Perverse Homage
Link:
https://perversehomage.bigcartel.com/

Kaznaxtheh / Odvas ‎– Embrace Of The Abyss

As you readers perhaps know i have reviewed a couple of Odvas tape releases in recent past well here is its first 7" outing!

Also this is Odvas third split release and this time it is the American dungeon synth/ambient project Kaznaxtheh (this band has some earlier splits with bands like Funeral Altar & Megalith Grave) that
share its space...and also gets the honor to start the split off!

Regarding the track title "Overture IV: The Beckoning Abyss" the audial experience here fits very well as you get a grand and moody organ playing slowly almost like it is pushing you forward to the abyss....agonizing screams is heard in cloaked surroundings and you feel that this is the last drab moments in your life....very nice feeling in other words hehe....not overtly dramatic composed but as fitting this type of genre it is flowing like an ambient curse.

On the flip side the mood is ceternly on the opposite side of the spectrum! Odvas track " Embrace Of Wounded Grey Foliage " has a floating and almost comforting calmness to it, you can hear oh so slightly in the background some kind of human activities (like steel forging or something) but the atmosphere that is fronted is of a soothing tune & embrace...very nice experience and if one should count this Odvas track to its previous ones i feel here a larger story has come to an positive ending....or at least  a positive break until next time.

This split sides is like night & day regarding its moods and for me it worked very well...perhaps Odvas best split to date. It also gave me a reason to look after more material from Kaznaxtheh.

Released by Far From... Records
link:
https://www.facebook.com/farfromrecords/

White Fog - Vampyric Sacrament

Shrill, sharp and cold vampyric melancholy is what spread into my consciousness when listening on
this debut demo from this one man band White Fog, it starts off with a atmospheric intro ambience cut that sets the tone with some dark keyboard tunes, bad weather and ocean waves and a scream from a far...then the first song gets going with its quite low key raw black metal, the overall feel here is bleak and negative...shadows arise!

First i thought the guitars and drums & vocals was all over the place and had no real apparent structure and meaning apart from melacholy rythm that runs through it all.... but after second listening it fell in place quick and the composistions is played in a rather unorthodox and avantgarde style  but incased in a thin windy bubbel.

End of this track  has a nice ambient outro with some instrument sound (damn i cant remember whats the name of the instrument) part which i would like to hear more of (no common sound to hear in this part of the hood)  sounds great.

Third and final track is more or less like a continuation of the previous song with same choking strigoii vibe and delivery. Raw whispering vocals underline the amnesic mood plus sure its probably programed drums here but it works nice (i am not the biggest hater on that stuff either so..)

Phantom does a fine & straight forward job here to bring an early taste of what he has to offer, i look forward for his future progressions/releases. (also i think he does his own artwork too besides music which is a nice touch)

self release
Link:
https://whitefogband.bandcamp.com/releases

 Track list:
1.     Hanging Ghost     01:18       instrumental
2.     Vampyric Sacrament     02:49    
3.     Crypt of Nocturnal Curses     02:26    
        Total 06:33

TRIUMPHANT CADAVER UPDATE

Moon Labyrinth & Bleakness Projection tapes are in the factory so place your pre orders!!
They will be out in a few weeks.
mail for pre order:

intotherawwar@gmail.com

The release list you see here is the major bulk of releases that shall be out before the end summer, after that there is as you probably know already many booked releases (more on that later)

 click for larger pic

New Triumphant Cadaver tapes finally out!

*** Triumphant Cadaver releases April ***

7 euro a tape //  5 euro shipping for 1-2 tapes, 8 euro for 4 tapes
mail me for more order/questions
mail:  intotherawwar@gmail.com


TC:10 : 4-band split tape -C.D.S.S-
TC:11 : Skroth
TC:12 : Liksminke
TC:13 : Psuchagōgoi

 

click for larger pics

Ondfødt - Dödsrikets kallelse

So its really been four years i go first one got out!

Damn that means i have not much time to live...ah well it is what it is i guess.

So from what i can remember i was quite into the first album "Hexkonst" but thats about it from what i can recall....thought for a while to listen again to it now so i can compare them both but i did not do that in the end...if its good its good either way.

So from the start it blasts off as a solid Norwegian black metal, its not raw in its sound but quite raw in its delivery and feels enough genuine to buy it (as last time). The band is tight and conjures up nice hatefull attacks in a pretty fast thundering pace but also has some slew of Nordic melancholy in it as you can suspect.

As i said it is solid but also very by the numbers so i kind was a bit bored but suddenly around track 7 (which is a good moody interlude) the album turns from good to great! 
Here the band shows a more thoughfull and melodic taste and soul which grabs me a whole lot more, a more mature darkness (that word mature sounds boring but it is far from that).
 Even the ending finnish cover song of a Hämys track sounds top of the line!

After second and third spin the first tracks sinks in a bit better but that last half of the album is worth the asking price and a plus for the design and look of the CD and vinyl, looks great & suits the content like a spike glove. ( the cover gives my a similar feel as kiss the elder album :D )

Released by Immortal Frost Productions
link:
https://www.immortalfrostproductions.com/

http://smarturl.it/dodsriketskallelse?fbclid=IwAR3V9LJJ3ghk6pWgwIFi6c-aWBaynHS_h5LP6m-fUkOc-w8HlmRWExxnxuM

Limited to 1000 copies (i would call that rather unlimited copies hehe)

Grusig - Dr Ahfang vor Misäärä

This is a special release due to its mystical and forgotten past, the major of this album is a recent discovery from early 1900. It was found deep in a undisclosed forest in Switzerland.
From what was found one learned that this was recorded by a different kind of  human breed that had a flair for human blood and composing melodic and melancholic troll humping songs, nowadays these "humans" is only told about in obscure fairytales....but they was real back in the past.
Swamp troll troubadours is one way of describing them.

....ok well after that delerious introduction over to the actual music, from the start i felt at home as the starter track feels very Chotzä with its jumping and pumping black metal rock, same with second song but here things start to surprise you with some amusing jazzy scatman vocal bridge thrown in and the ever so present guitar solos make themselves a prominent part. In general i dont despise solos or love them either but if they are infused well into the song and makes melodic sense compared to the rest of the song its great for me and here (even if there are quite many) they are done well even great sometimes. (yeah some solos are super like the one in song 6!!)

It feels very connected to the "street" just as i feel Chotzä does even if it has an ancient atmosphere the old past is still existing in our blood and our lands soil...dont matter how many layers of concrete or asphalt is put on our lands our past will never die.

I understand why this music was put under a new monicer and not used for the next Chotzä material as they experiment a bit more here with different types of instruments and sounds, even quite much electronic infusions can be heard here and there, it all could have become a mess but the two members Gruäbähung & Grüsu balance all with good taste. On paper this is something not many bands would feel competent enough to take on as a project...

...Also some parts sounds like a sound track to The Rococo Art Movement That Dominated The Seventeenth & Eighteenth Century but in a very dark way.

Track 4 & 5 is for me i think  the best tracks but really all songs has good dynamics and interesting sounds to make this album "Dr Ahfang vor Misäärä" a total immersive experience....only thing i would like is to have english translated lyrics only to get that 100% kick....as the album title...does it mean: Dr Assfan of Misery? hehe

One thing i wonder though is how they recorded all this music as early as the early nineteenth century? Will probably never be solved but i am glad they found this old treasure.


Released by Northern Fog Records
http://northernfogrecords.de/

TC Tape Delay

These four tapes has been pushed back into late of Mars due to tape factory problems.
Will post again when i know more.

--TC Tape Update--

Here is a flyer for the coming releases (this & next month)
from Triumphant Cadaver::::::

Pre order lists are open for the first 4 tapes.
 
 Mail: intotherawwar@gmail.com

click for larger view

 

*** Triumphant Cadaver update /// Pre-orders for next batch ***

After a slight delay of some week due to tech probs these two tapes are now in production! 
A bunch of pre orders have already come in so make sure to get on the pre order list if you wanna make sure to get them.

Mail me at: intotherawwar@gmail.com 

click for bigger pic

Coming Triumphant Cadaver releases !

These two will reach the tape factory first this month and soon after that Liksmink & Psuchagōgoi will hit the factory for an early february release.

click for larger pic

New tapes are out!

Triumphant Cadaver releases 8 & 9 is out!

Megalith Grave (4 tracks) and Wolves´ Winter (5 tracks) batches unleashed!
7 euro á tape

 click for larger pics

for order mail: intotherawwar@gmail.com