metal / metalcore

While browsing through my pile of CDs to be reviewed, I found this little thing. I think it has been there for a while. I remembered when it came in. I opened the envelop and saw the CD plus the biography. I read the words "symphonic" and "metalcore" which almost caused the album to become forgotten.

Why? Well, I simply don't like metalcore and it has been ages since I listened to symphonic metal. Today the album almost literally fell into my lap while I was sorting out the CDs. I decided to give it a shot and I have to say, I am not as disappointed as I thought I would be.

The album opens with the powerful and forward pushing 'Lilith'. Immediately influences from bands like Arch Enemy, Trivium and Lacuna Coil appear. Fronted by the versatile Lola Van Loo, this Swiss band is a raging tribute to metal, certainly capable of causing most pits and crowd surfers. So far so good but the following track, 'Don't Waste Your Time' somewhat reduces the joy. Although this is not a bad song, you can hear a searching band, not yet fully convinced of their abilities. Either that, or they take the element of experimentation a bit too far.

Then again, 'Crawling In The Dirt' is a top level metal track, combining the best from Otep with the best of Arch Enemy and that is a serious compliment. It also show a bit of humor, which I think is a good thing. 'Blue Scorpion' is a cracker but also seems to drown in the planned versatility of the band. Sometimes I feel as if Chaoseum tried to adopt too many influences at once, giving the music an unnecessary complexity. In my opinion, fans will crave more tracks like the brutal 'F.T.S.' or the pummeling 'Devil's Wedding'.

'First Step To Hell' is not a bad album. In fact, it's certainly above average. The music is performed to perfection. There is plenty of power and the whole thing is varied enough to remain interesting, apart from a few missteps. What Chaoseum needs now is heaps of stage performances. If all goes well there, there is a big change for founding them on big stages in the future. In a few years, they might release a masterpiece. This CD has planted the seeds for that. There is potential, that's for sure.


​Serge

hardcore / grindcore / crust

black metal

grunge / alternative metal / progressive rock

doom

alternative rock

death metal

punk rock

bandcamp

electronic

electronic / darkwave / EBM / Industrial

shoegaze

progressive rock / progressive metal / post metal 

Fire by the Silos is an album released in the beginning of the month by British instrumental progressive metal group Toska. Sixty four minutes long, the record has nine tracks: The Herd, A Tall Order, Abomasum, Congress, Fire by the Silos, When Genghis Wakes, Ataraxy, Prayermonger and The Heard. An interesting album, that reveals a mature, proficient and very technical band, Toska doesn’t have any fears when experimenting with distinct sounds, synchronicities, cadences, dissonances and interchanging rhythms, interweaving all those elements in a very interesting musical mosaic, with a majestic degree of experimentalism that really makes them an extraordinary musical act, that definitely doesn’t know what a comfort zone is, since their main musical disposition is to disrupt them all.

With an intelligent, diverse and unconventional musical identity, that departs from exceedingly original premises, the music of Toska is bounded by audacity and opulent doses of vertical, dissolute and flexible creativity, despite the fact that their sound is prominently heavy, and they never retreat in the slightest degree the ferocious nature of their music. Nevertheless, I do think that Toska is a band that works better as a live act (but this is just speculation, I never had the privilege of seeing them playing). While their sound is powerful and full of qualities that make their style to be quite exuberant and consistent, Fire by the Silos is a very extensive album, that eventually becomes repetitive, and highly fractured by hazardous levels of predictability and monotony – although these deficiencies, in a general evaluation, doesn’t harm the album in any way –, especially when you fully acknowledge the anatomy, the dynamics and the general propensities of their musical diagram.

Despite their apparent flaws, I must say that Toska has some abrasive and coherent virtues, that definitely consolidates wisely the sensibilities of their style. With rude and tempestuous, but also expansive and serene harmonies, they advance vigorously towards experimental territory with more bravery, tenacity, cohesion and graciousness than most bands do, with a level of creativity and security that is definitely above the ordinary standards.   

But I feel they pushed some of their most organic and vital musical elements too far on this album, revealing too much of them. When the album finishes, you feel saturated, without the curiosity or the need to listen to more of their stuff. Toska has to learn to leave the audience with the “I want more” taste, that is the basic premise of conquest. Of course, this is only my personal evaluation about Fire by the Silos. But, like I wrote some lines above, I do feel that they are the type of band that simply sounds perfect in a live performance, being Toska one of those acts that are just made for live concerts, rather than records. Despite this observations, I should point it out that Fire by the Silos – regardless of minor deficiencies – is an interesting, aggressive, pungent and exhilarating record, that elaborates dispersive and severely dilacerating atmospheres, that makes universes collide, in the rapturously extreme dissonances that falls over the strenuous harmonies of their elegant and very abrasive sound, with versatile dispositions that definitely makes Toska one of the most promising acts in their genre, active nowadays in the contemporary underground scene.  


Wagner

drone / ambient

death metal / grindcore

death industrial / dark ambient

Exabyss Records

post rock / ambient / electronic

ambient / classical

funeral doom

gothic rock / alternative / metal

drone / ambient / folk

dark ambient 

alternative rock / funk rock

facebook

indie / dreampop

industrial / electronic

Perc Trax

​Serge (2 & 3 by Patsker)

alternative / metal / metalcore

heavy metal / power metal

hard rock / stoner rock / alternative rock / grunge

thrash / death metal

doom

doom / sludge / post hardcore

pop rock

pop rock / alternative rock

​Serge

heavy brass metal

Trumpet, trombone and drums and… they play metal. Here is Ottone Pesante’s second album Apocalips. Yes, no guitars and so what? The trio plays heavy brass metal and expresses how intensive wind instruments can be.

The cover of Apocalips shows seven trumpets revealing the evil and suffering that the people of the world will perish. Ottone Pesante’s musical style is far from apocalyptic but has a dramatic undertone. Their brass music in combination with the heavy metal way of playing, delivers an unexpected dazzling and beautiful pallet of original vibes. 

Ottone Pesante are the trumpet player Francesco Bucci,  the trombone player Paolo Raineri and drummer Beppe Mondini. Their first album Brassphemy Set in Stone was a surprising piece of work although it received mixed opinions. We are sure a lot of people couldn’t box their weird approach of metal.  

History shows several introductions of jazz instruments in metal music. Jazz fusion in metal started in the beginning of the 90’s. Celtic Frost introduced already in 1985 the French horn in their ground breaking album To Mega Therion. One of the first bands who used a trombone in metal was Sear Bliss. This Hungarian black metal band is still active and employing this instrument to complement their dark atmospheric playing. In the year 2010 the Norwegian avant-garde metal band Shining released their album Blackjazz. The saxophone on the album contained a free jazz style which rendered Shining worldwide attention.

Apocalips starts with Shining Bronze Purified In The Crucible in a very jazzy way but changes in metal riff- like chords. The trombone vibrates like a bass guitar. Ottone Pesante increases speed on The Lamb With Seven Horns And Seven Eyes. The drumming is pure metal with a punk touch. 

These Italian wind blowers swing through the whole album like a three lunged elephant. They create a creepy atmosphere with their high tempo mixed with blazing alien sounds. The instruments construct all kinds of metal related feelings with interesting experimental pulsations. 
The Fifth Trumpet, is the only track with vocals. A dark intro guides us to the most extraordinary  song of the album. Lifting up the tension slowly, the fifth track explodes with the black metal vocals of Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation). This is to our opinion, by far the most experimental conceptualization ever recorded in terms of avant-garde music. 
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Ottone Pesante’s bizarre alterations never get bored. Their wall of sound is artistic and inspiring. Two unique worlds of music converged together in an elegance almost beyond words. This is daring art with lungs and lips!


Patsker

heavy metal / power metal 

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‘The history of Brazil will cross the ocean’ tour, brought Armahda, a Power Metal band from Sao Paulo Brazil, to several European countries. By chance the self released cd was given to me by the owner of a second hand cd shop, which the band had visited during their European tour. 

My hunger  to  discover  new  underground bands who,  like Armahda, play  music with passion and emotion was unexpectedly rewarded. A quick search on the net showed that there was still no review of this cd. So here it is, on our Merchants Of Air website.

The band was formed by Maurício Guimaraes (vocals and all instruments) and Renato Domingos (all instruments) in 2011. They recorded the album with guest musicians in 2013 and they toured during summer of 2018 on the European continent with a complete band.

At the first listening of this debut cd, released in 2015, I was immediately hooked on their greasy and heavy speedy guitar sound.  Brazil has many bands who play different styles of Metal, Armahda is a band that mixes many Metal styles to their  own style. From Speed Metal riffs with screaming guitar solos and fast double bass drums, to  Pagan/Viking Metal songs, to serene semi acoustic indigenous influenced parts. The lyrics take you to the painful and unknown  history of their native country. The second song on the album contains the sentence: ‘history is written by the ones who win’ and opened my ears and eyes for the rest of the album!

Paiol em Chamas is the only song in Portuguese on the cd, and is by far the most aggressive piece of Heavy Metal music on the album! Screaming your guts out in your own language is still the best  way to do so!  This self-titled album gives you more and more details after every listen. The lyrics are published in the booklet and give you insight of the history of Brazil. From time to time you feel the emotional ghost of System Of A Down wandering  around, but this is more a compliment than a comparison. The musicians play their instruments like it’s the day before they won’t be able to play anymore…

Armahda gives you honest Metal with speed, power and passion!!


​Patsker

 

thrash metal

Three years ago, when Merchants Of Air was still in its infancy, I got acquainted with Finnish heavy rockers Supremate. Back then they released their self-titled debut album, one in which I saw both potential and possible points of improvement. I remember writing the review from the perspective of a festival attendee, arriving at the event in the early afternoon. Now the band returns with a second full length, and I have to say, they have been evolving away from the young Nirvana, Offspring and Pantera coverband they used to be in the beginning of this century. Now Supremate is a full grown band with a solid and powerful sound.

'Uniting Flaw' contains ten tracks, all grafted from old school thrash metal. Opener 'Despite The Scars' immediately delivers the potent riffs and the raw, somewhat aggressive vocals. Although influences from their thrash, groove and heavy metal heroes are still present, the band seems to have found their own sound, one that most headbangers and riff enthusiasts will certainly appreciate. 'The Crown Don't Make A King' is a perfect example of that. It's loaded with delicious metal riffs but also leaves some room for experimentation, mainly in the drums.

My favorite track here is 'Territory' (not a Sepultura cover), closely followed by the crushing 'Blackness' and the groovy 'Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints'. These three songs show how much the band has been evolving in the past few years. Most of the instrumentation seems to come quite naturally. Only the vocals feel somewhat forced at times, as if the vocalist tries to overpower the music. I sure hope he can keep this level of aggression and roughness going for the foreseeable future.

I feel like the talent and potential of Supremate is slowly blooming. 'Uniting Flaw' shows a more coherent and experienced band than the debut album did, which is a good thing. Of course this album is no 'Master Of Puppets', 'Cowboys From Hell' or 'Rust In Piece' but it certainly is an entertaining piece of old school heavy metal. As before I think these songs will work better on stage than in the living room but if played loud enough you might find yourself banging your head multiple times. So check it out, you just might find a new favorite tune.


​Serge

black metal

bandcamp

With three songs – Bǽl, Opaque and Mǽdland – Bǽl is a strong, lugubrious and poignantly aggressive EP, released by British black metal act Normakk. With a very somber, evasive, discreet and effective atmosphere, the songs are beautifully composed, and from the very beginning, denotes a pungent and starkly spontaneous originality. With a graciously sensible competence, able to display in a positively sincere fashion the most pervasive aspects of the genre, Bǽl is raw black metal done in a proverbially sophisticated and elegant scale. With strident and expansive, but sensibly reliant, and, to a certain degree, darkly sentimental guitar lines, the general musical groundwork of the band is thoroughly exhilarating, consistent and dense, and obliterates on the vicinities of its melancholic melodies the most elusive aspects of black metal. Undoubtedly, a work of irreprehensible grandeur, Bǽl is a marvelously fantastic and unique work of art. Normakk closely follows the traditional old school, with a very peculiar, creative and dense style, with premises that outstands its genuine and salutary virtuosities, shining away any possibilities of being classified as just another generic act of the genre.   

black metal / death metal

Altar Of The Dying is an EP released on July 30, by American blackened death metal group Throne, from Jackson, Michigan. Almost twenty-four minutes long, the work has seven relatively short and very concise tracks: Intro, Heresy Of The Highest Order, Not Of Shadow Nor Fog, Altar Of The Dying, Covenant Of Darkness, Where Angels Cower In Fear and Plagued Upon The Unholy. With an aggressive, dense and very rapid sound, their style can be described as methodical, rude and severely traditional, albeit a little predictable, although this does not affect their general performance. With a fiber and a level of brutality that makes their sound to be profoundly eviscerating, drastic and virulent – but also efficiently concentrated –, Altar Of The Dying is a very energetic, hostile and straightforward work. With highly consistent harmonies and incredibly lucid and somber guitar lines, the group certainly manages to deliver a powerful and pungent style of extreme metal, that is poignantly effusive and dark. Although there is nothing here that you haven’t heard several times before in similar albums of the genre, Throne is a competent, skilled and creative band, that proves their ardent and passionate compromise with extreme metal, on this exceedingly great and powerfully grotesque EP. 

doom

Ashes is an EP released on July 20, by Danish doom metal group Doomcult. Almost twenty three minutes long, the record has three tracks: Sulphur, Ashes and Black Fire. An excellent, pleasant, very delightful work, with way more poetic tendencies if compared to the traditional groups of the genre, Ashes has a melancholic and disturbing, but exceedingly ascendant, philosophic and serene atmosphere, that rises above the sensational and placid stability of its harmonious and dense sonorous configuration. While the first song, Sulphur, deserves to be highlighted, all three songs present an artistic level of security and a musical technique that stands as far superior to the average level. With a sensational style that makes them a powerfully potential reference for the genre in the underground scene, the consistency of the sound of Doomcult – as well as the audacious, but at the same discreet originality present in their music – showcases in the end an absolutely splendid final result. Certainly being one of the most genuine and spectacular releases that I’ve ever heard on the genre – being amazingly passionate and frivolous at the same time – Ashes, by Doomcult, is an exponentially marvelous experience on doom metal, highly recommended to everyone that is an enthusiast of the genre.   

black metal

bandcamp

A dark, rude, depressive and melancholic traditional black metal work, Drowning in Sorrow is an EP released in June by a Finnish musician, that presents himself by the alias of Sathanian. Almost twenty-four minutes long, the EP has five tracks: Depressing Dreams, Wanderer, Drowning In Sorrow, Despair and Kenkiintuijottaja. Despite being better described as traditional black metal, the EP has some discreet traits of DSBM, which is present in the predominantly slow, digressive and dispersive harmonies, that really stands for a surreal and profoundly melancholic mood. The cynic and sorrowful atmosphere of the work is genuinely beautiful, and has a formidable musical consistency, that is ostensibly framed by conspicuously sinister and funeral vocals, that sometimes emphasizes its presence more for its morbid, almost neutral sterile qualities, than for its grotesque nature. A promising, very interesting work, that is sidelined by its truly proverbial and eloquent understanding and execution of the genre, Drowning In Sorrow is an emotional, poetic and very somber work, that has everything to please enthusiasts of the genre.    

black metal / post black metal

bandcamp

An interesting EP with four tracks – Dramatic Truth, Winds Of The End Of Afternoon, Jonas and Alone – the music of Sabactâni can be described as a melancholic twilight forever lost in the everlasting vicinities of depressive and anxious thoughts. A marvelous post black metal group from Brazil, their originality is amazingly eviscerating, with a powerful and afflictive sonority, that energizes the genre at the core of its structure. With powerfully ascendant melodies, that revolves around aggrandizing, but at the same time dismissive and dispersive harmonies, the disillusion that is felt as the epicenter of their style is symbolic to the mood that better defines the genre, and takes a major layer of beauty and poetry in the virtually insane musical diagram of the band, that can be felt as simple and humane, at the same time. A wonderful EP that brilliantly aggregates major qualities to the genre, with a severely robust and consistent anatomy of abundant sonorous virtuosity, B.O.R.E.A.L, by Sabactâni, certainly can be classified as a vigorous and sensational state of the art work. 

black metal / crust punk

bandcamp

Fallen From The Hull is an Ep released by American black metal act Nailwalker, from Austin, Texas. Twenty-five minutes long, and with four sensationally fantastic tracks – Juvenile, Feeding The Devil, Without A Thread To Pull On and Meant For All Fours – Fallen From The Hull is a formidably majestic state of the art work, that brings on the crest of its tempestuous, direct and incinerating melodies all the aggressive devices truly inherent to the genre. With a sober, technically proficient and genuine veracity that is the main engine of their music, Nailwalker is a fantastic musical creation, that introduces into their music in a perfectly incisive and precise manner crust punk elements, as well as more melodic and melancholically somber sonorous tonalities. With beautifully poetic and thoroughly original guitar lines – that somewhere along the way, unveils an amazingly superb, lugubrious and dissonant solo – Fallen From The Hull is one of the most perfect, authentic and astoundingly beautiful experimental black metal pieces that I’ve ever heard. With furious, but lancinating and dramatic vocals as well, as soon as this EP is over, you want to hear it again! 

black metal

bandcamp

S/T is a two track EP released on August 17, by Canadian black metal act Mandragora, from Victoria, British Columbia. With two amazingly sinister songs – In Scarlet Embrace and Beyond The Lacheist Prisons – Mandragora performs old school traditional black metal, on a virtuous and dissonant style. With somber and aggressive tunes, and pervasively grasping cutting edge vocals, the sound of the duo is thoroughly groundbreaking and energetic, doomed to fall beneath the imperial demise of its own projected desolation. With a responsive aggressiveness, that is more melancholic and lugubrious than hostile or belligerent, the overall sound of Mandragora is quite provocative and inventive. Very reminiscent of the early Norwegian black metal scene, the style of the duo is profoundly proverbial, obscure and essentially imaginative, although they do present a formidable degree of originality, that makes their sound quite distinctive, but without losing the quintessential trademarks of the genre. An excellent work – as a matter of fact, a gracefully fantastic two track EP – on the course of its seventeen minutes, Mandragora definitely gives a sonorous lesson about what true old school black metal really is.  

black metal

Dark Lore is an EP released on July 27 by American DSBM artist Moon Bog. Almost twenty three minutes long, the work has four tracks: Under Burning Leaves, Reawaken the Frost, Mount Sorrow and The Strain. A splendid, beautiful, philosophic and marvelously poetic musical work, with an abundant layer of sonorous melancholy, the general style of the artist is profound, graceful and exceedingly rough on the introspective universe of its expansive sensibilities. With genuinely patient and somber harmonies, that plays on the majesty of its precociously filtered and salutary guitar lines, the melodies are dramatically tense, but profoundly calm at the same time, as they extend to the transparent, but lugubrious oceans of its frivolous sensitivities the turbulent pandemonium of its restless state of mind. A passionate, cosmic, exhilarating work, whose pervasive sensibility plays a vital role at the cornerstone of its infuriating, but peaceful and placid sagacious artistry, the formidable level of creativity and excellence displayed by the artist on this work is simply extraordinary, and will certainly please all genuine DSBM enthusiasts that will be happy enough to listen and to enjoy this fantastic pearl of the genre. 

black metal

bandcamp

Self-Destruction is a wonderful EP released on July 25, by Russian DSBM artist Dystert Natt. Very concise, only ten minutes long, the work has four tracks: Ashes And Snow, Insomnia, Scars'14 and Sing To Me An Alcoholic Lullaby. The general style of this musician is DSBM on its most typical and traditional layer. Nevertheless, it is abundant in beauty, and has several qualities that stands out on the course of its sonorous brevity. The melancholy, the mordacity, the overall serenity and the discreet sadness that is overexposed at the most frivolous panel of its virtuous musical context is excessively evasive and lugubrious, but has a poetic beauty that easily disperses and dilacerates the macabre rudeness of its shadows. The guitar lines are ostensibly impeccable and whimsically elaborated, although they are plain and simple. Unadorned, direct and full of lethargic grievances, Self-Destruction – as predictable as it is –, has a consistent, dramatic and sincere layer of sonorous beauty and stylish purity, that certainly makes this wonderful EP a very pleasant experience to hear. 

black metal

bandcamp

With only two tracks – Vacuous and Obsequious Vermin –, Histamine Haven is the debut of an eponymous Canadian project, released on July 24. With a raw and traditional approach to the genre, the record is absolutely fascinating, has a consistent style and definitely has what it takes to please a large audience. With solid, but at the same time dissolute guitar lines, Histamine Haven has a ponderable and serene conjuncture of harmonies, that – despite brief passages of virulent aggressiveness – gracefully elevates the internal dynamic conflagrations of its expansive rhythms to a fateful standpoint, where the experimental colors of the sound extrapolate the venomous frontiers of its own unfathomable hostility. Unraveling a fantastic and versatile tone of primordial stature and creative audacities, the style of Histamine Haven has mordacious peculiarities, and a very original musical groundwork. The way the artist promotes the balance of the most violent and hazardous aspects of his music with the more serene and sensible components of his sonorous splendor denotes a vigorous and majestic ambivalence that is gracefully dilapidated almost to the level of perfection, and certainly will captivate the listeners, almost immediately.  

Wagner

avant-garde / jazz / metal / experimental

Self-Extinction is an eccentric, but extraordinarily fantastic album by experimental jazz metal group Inhumankind, released by I, Voidhanger Records, from Italy. With nine relatively small, concise experimental tracks – Double-Headed King, Annihilation Of All Inferior Thought-Forms, Against All Odds, Citizen Qayin, Land Of The Shells, Blue Skin, Antinomic Self-Cosmogony, Self-Extinction and Eternal Sleep – this album is a great example of a genre rarely practiced or exposed nowadays, which is, more or less, conventionally described as jazz metal. Doing a fusion of several different, apparently disparate styles of music, and incorporating elements from jazz, contemporary and classical music in a very peculiar and evocative, but at the same time increasingly discreet disposition, the general artistry of Inhumankind is difficult to conceive or understand, but it’s delightful to hear and to experience. Ingratiating a colorful infusion of melodies into a gracefully splendid mosaic of textures and intonations, Self-Extinction is a horizon of opium barbiturates fully immersed in a solution of compulsory and hallucinatory caffeine, upon which a sonorous wave of curious serenity integrates your soul, to test your willingness to dive into the universe of a surprising and exponentially fascinating category of sound.

While the overall disposition of the music is simple – even ordinary by more inflictive and postmodern standards –, its somewhat fragmented nature makes each and every one of its artistic components and cells seems awkwardly impregnated with light cavities and low densities, that craves beyond the unitary dispositional structure of the music. While its curious anatomy, exceedingly impressionistic in form, saturates the epicenter of its own sonorous perimeters with the dead anxiety of its technical precision, there is a curious, but salutary consistence in between the musical notes, that makes everything quite majestic, despite the apparent simplicity that is obviously denoted throughout its notoriously subtle context. 

The quietness between the notes, and the intelligent use of silence as a musical component is quite a remarkable feature within the framework of its expansive sonorous embodiment, that amplifies the impressionistic nature of the tunes. And while there are not too much melodic variations throughout the album, it’s distinctive and deliberate harmonious predispositions are sagacious singularities, that works intelligently within the artistic concept that is generated by its inherent effect. 

While I haven’t particularly loved this album – mainly because of the genre, which failed to captivate me –, I certainly give credibility to its originality, audacity and creativity, that deserves to be highlighted and properly complimented. If you look for something very unusual to hear, and want to be surprised in a very unexpected way, you have to listen to Self-Extinction, by Inhumankind. Undoubtedly, it will be one of the most unique musical experiences you will ever have in your life.  


Wagner