punk rock / post punk

With all the overproduced, extensively complex and often electronic music these days, one might almost forget that there's also a wide range of musicians who love to keep it simple.  They don't need anything but their guitar to make their statements.  If we're speaking about making statemens, the punk rock scene should clearly step to the foreground.  Since the seventies punkers have been kicking against the pricks, standing on the barricades and shouting out their anarchy lifestyle everywhere in the world.

Punk indeed never dies.  It ages a bit, that's true but it's always nice to hear some uncomplicated songs about everyday observations.  Enter Kansas City punk artist Este Leon, the man behind the solo project Braggers.  Russian Winter Records released this fine debut and it's a great throwback into the early days of punk, and post-punk for that matter.

The eight songs drive on a mid-tempo drum beat and simple guitars which accompany a rough but strong voice.  Most of the songs remind me of old punk icons like Sex Pistols, The Clash or Dead Kennedys but also of post-punk bands like Joy Division, Psychedelic Furs or The Jesus and Mary Chain.  Yet, we're not done there.  At times Braggers comes close to the darker, experimental scene where projects like Bain Wolfkind roam.

In all their simplicity, songs like 'Brighter Day', 'Better Life' or 'Brand New Day' are excellent songs with a pretty decent live-capacity.  Here and there I can imagine an enthusiastic audience singing along with the lyrics and building a party in front or, or why not on, stage.  I just might be one of them but more likely I will be shaking my ass somewhere in the back with a strange smile on my face while I observe all these people dancing.  



Serge

doom metal

Everyone will face numerous so called 'bad days' in his life.  On these days absolutely nothing works out like it should or like it is planned.  That project at work fails, the love of your life friendzones the hell out of you, you have to pay your taxes but you're broke because you had to get your car fixed because some asshole tried to break into it...  

Everything you touch, falls into pieces.  Your life is becoming an immense cesspool of misery and despair.  Well, to stop you from becoming a raging madman, slaughtering innocent people on a busy shopping street, here's an album to guide you on your journey through all your daily woes.  It will not make you any happier but at least now you have a perfect soundtrack for these days.

Funerary is a band from Phoenix, AZ (USA) and a rising star in the American doom metal scene.  Since their inception in early 2013, they have been a monolithic steamroller, slowly devouring the competition by blending doom, sludge, post-metal and drone or black ambient into a distinct own, hellish sound. Every extreme metal fan should get a hand on a copy because 'Starless Aeon' is a brutal, crushing masterpiece, breathing a bleak atmosphere of eternal dismay.

There's five songs on this album with 'Beneath the Black Veil' and 'Depressor' as the long sludge/doom anthems and the other as downright punishing pieces of extremely sluggish metal.  Opener 'Coerced Creation' is an intense and immensy heavy, slow track with colossal guitars and both screams and growls.  

Influences from bands like Sun O))), Yob, Conan, Nootgrush, Evoken or Corrupted are never far away.  Like almost all of the songs on this album, 'Coerced Creation' seems to drag itself on tentacles of adversity and desperation.  From the very beginning of this album a thick, black mist rolls through my speakers.  But that might just be my imagination.

Title track 'Starless Aeon' differs from the other songs by being a nice piece of drone ambient, functioning both as a breather and an intro for the final ten minutes of downtuned punishment in 'Depressor'.  'Atonement' can also be described as a drone track but features some deep, guttural vocals of impending annihilation.  

So in all, this is an excellent piece of doom metal which every fan of extreme slow music should have in his collection.  It's as simple as that.  Doom metal is far from death, it constantly renews itself with brilliant bands like Funerary.  It's bands like these that make me so happy I started this website...



Serge

metal / alternative

Euhm, well you know. This is, euhm.  No, wait.  This album is... 

Sometimes when I listen to an album I really have no idea how to start the review.  I can either just tell you what I hear, which will probably end up being a very dry sum of influences and elements, or I can try to grasp the feel of the album.  Usually I prefer the latter but here that's a very tough thing to do.  This is indeed a highly surprising album, blending nineties alternative rock with, and here we go, progressive metal, dark ambient, heavy metal, black metal, death metal and gothic rock.  

The sheer number of bands that Mercy Brown reminds me of is as impressive as this debut is.  Tool, Arch Enemy, Machine Head, Within Temptation, Sepultura, Otep, Opeth, Slipknot, Morbid Angel, Sick Of It All, Deftones, Fear Factory... The list goes on and on.  However, somehow Mercy Brown succeeded in bringing all of these influences together and turn them into a very distinct sound.  

The band was born in 2010 in Spokane, Washington (USA).  Since then they shared the stage with a number of completely different sounding bands.  Basically there's three highly talented and experienced musicians and one of the most versatile vocalists I've ever heard.  Sera's voice ranges from brutal death growls and blackened screams to vigorous raspy punk and vivid 'female fronted metal' voices and she alternates them without losing a note.  Combine this wide range of vocals with equally versatile musicians and you get something stunning.  

The album opens with 'From The Sky', which is actually an intro and borrows heavily from the noise and dark ambient scene.  'Birds' immediately shows what this band is capable of by blasting out of my speakers with a crushing intensity.  Although most of the songs are quite slow (why not add 'doom' to the list of influences as well), the sheer brutality of the death metal riffs and rolling bass are simply crushing.  Here Sera comes up with some blackened crust vocals (sure, another genre reference...).

This constant pounding on our eardrums continues throughout the entire album, reaching a highlight in 'Hidden In Plain Sight'.   It's here that I'm also becoming aware of the immense technical quality of Mercy Brown, indeed hidden in plain sight somewhere beneath the wall of sound created by stunning riffs and blasting drums.  On 'In The Dark' the entire post-rock/metal scene comes knocking on my door, asking why the hell I forgot to mention them in this review.  Like the noise/ambient scene earlier this one only has a small role in this play but it's there, nonetheless.  It's mainly present in the alternation between calm, clean passages and fierce blasts of distortion.

Another highlight is 'One (the Edge of)', which was also a single earlier this year.  I can understand why they selected this song as a single.  One one side it's a bit calmer, call it 'radiofriendly' if you like while, on the other hand, still showing the techical abilities and the versatility of the band.  For categorising-nerds this is also the easiest one to classify: 'Alternative Metal'.  

And there you have it, beyond the immense variety of genres mentioned in this review, I think it's safe to classify Mercy Brown as one of the most interesting bands in the modern day alternative metal scene.  I can only hope that one day they will come over to Europe and show their abilities to a hungry audience.  I will be somewhere in the middle, or maybe in the back, yelling at people about  how 'fucking awesome this is'.



Serge

power metal / progressive metal

About twenty five years ago, I didn't know that ambient music existed but I was in love with intros from bands like Amorphis, Cradle Of Filth, My Dying Bride and many more.  I even recorded several tapes compiling all these intros.  The titles of theses tapes was 'Satan, Roald Dahl and Me'.  Don't ask me why.  New, a quarter of a decade later, I'm still fascinated by intros from metal albums.  To me, these, usually short, anthems belong to a genre of their own and I actually still collect them. Lothlöryen will probably be present on 'Statan, Roald Dahl and Me - part 121 or so'.  The song '...A Journey Begins' fits perfectly in this genre and I quite like it.

So there you have it. I've spent a whole paragraph on the intro of an album without even mentioning anything about this band.  Well, Lothlöryen hails from Brazil, was founded in 2002, recorded several albums and e.p.'s and toured with the likes of Korpiklaani and Arkona.  'Principles Of A Past Tomorrow'is their sixth effort overall and I must say, I'm happy it arrived my inbox.  Not only for the intro but also for the solid, powerful blend of folk and power metal this sextet plays.  Yet, Lothlöryen manages to give the genre a modern, progressive feel by incoporating some great electronic elements into their music as well.

What we hear on 'Principles Of A Past Tomorrow' is a tremendous throwback into the heydays of heavy metal.  With potent songs like 'Heretic Chant', 'God Is Many' and certainly 'Manipulative Ways', Lothlöryen reminds me of the chants of power and glory that bands like Manowar or Halloween used to write.  When I imagine this bands live on stage, I can clearly see the audience raising they fist to the rhythm and singing along with some of these brilliant choruses.  'The Night Is Calling' for example is an excellent power metal song, perfectly suited for some audience participation.

What surprises me the most on this album, is the European sound of it all.  Lothlöryen doesn't sound like they're from Brazil.  If I had to listen to this album without reading the biography I would have guessed Germany or Finland.  Even the folk elements have this European feel and they're very uplifting.  Brazilian folk music is highly percussive, or at least that's what I imagine by listening to bands like Sepultura and some traditional musicians.  On this album the tempo is a lot lower.  These are mostly mid-tempo songs, sometimes a bit faster.  

Another huge plus are the instrumental bits between some of the songs.  I quite like these.  They combine the songs perfectly and help providing a huge concept-feel.  In fact, there seems to be a concept in this album.  By including speeches from Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, Lothlöryen seems to place themselves in the science/astronomy/atheism camp, becoming a strong force to spread the word of reason. In fact, if you take a good look at the cover art, you will clearly see some of the greatest scientists of all time. 

To conclude: Lothlöryen has gone a long way since their inception at the beginning of the century.  With a vigorous album like 'Principles Of A Past Tomorrow', providing enough power, energy and variation to remain interesting, they prove that they can clearly compete with todays headliners in the progressive and power metal scene. Add some very vehement vocals and a propellent drive in the songs and the result will not disappoint.  We're dealing with talented and experienced musicians who know a thing or two about songwriting.  This is a glorious tribute to heavy metal, that's for sure.


Serge

dark ambient

I must admit that I've never heard of Kammarheit before. I guess I'm a clingy type of listener. I tend to play the same favourite albums when I'm alone, which is like always wearing the same coat or shoes because you just feel most comfortable in those. Which makes it hard for me to allow new stuff in (let alone remembering the name, genre and feel of all the good stuff that flows through our headquarters or that we've seen live). Maybe that's why Serge asked me to try to write my second review. For him, exploring the musical multiverse has become an addiction and opening your mind is never a bad idea, is it?

So let's give Pär Boström's third official album a spin. This Swedish composer has been making dark ambient for 15 years and you can definitely hear his craftmanship. The theme of his previous work was insomnia, of which Boström has been suffering. I don't know if The Nest has the same background, but I can imagine. In any case, it's clearly not about the pretty things in life, like all truly touching art. 

It's music from a top level. Comforting soundscapes just the way I love them, and many people with me. It reminds me most of Svaixt's album Virsme Versmé, without the bowls but with the same power to drag you into a satisfactory meditation. The melodies are soothing and beautiful. Subtle sounds add even more depth to the dreamy and sometimes rather scary atmosphere. Don't dwell around alone in the dark with this album as your soundtrack, unless you love the feeling that an invisible force is watching your every move. 

I can imagine what it would be like to witness this project live in a theatre. To sink into your comfortable seat, enjoying the respectful silence of the entire audience (everyone's afraid to cough or even move), close your eyes in full trust that no one will spill beer on you or step on your feet, sink even deeper in your chair, let the music take you to a place where nothing else but the music matters anymore. Maybe an early stage of sleep overwhelms you, but you continue soaking up the soundscapes into your very centre. I've experienced those moments at Cold Meat Fests and Antwerp Ambients. Those were the days, and Kammarheit drags me right to them again.



Eline 

stoner rock

We're back in the amazingly wide desert of stoner rock.  Over the past years/decades this genre has been spreading like an evergrowing octupus and digging its tentacles into the worlds of metal, post-rock, hardcore and psychedelic rock.  Today we're going on a journey through space with a trio from Greece.  A trio that doesn't claim to be unique or original but just wants to play their immersive music, preferably quite loud.

Arrakis was born in 2012 and released a first effort in the form of an e.p. last year.  'Ammu Dia' is their debut full-length and, although it doesn't show a headliner in the genre (yet), it's a very promising one.  Prepare for an hour of instrumental stoner rock and psychedelic jam rock in the vein of bands like Monkey3, Karma To Burn and several other worshippers of The Riff.

The seven songs on this album are excellent examples of vintage stoner rock, alternating heavy riffs with long outbursts of psychedelic landscapes.  The fact that there's absolutely no vocals, nor samples, makes it more challenging for the band to maintain a decent level of variation and in a way all of the songs sound quite alike.  Yet, that doesn't harm the overall quality of the album.

What strikes me most is the experimental nature of some of these intense jamsessions.  At times things get a bit noisier but no matter where the music leads to, it always returns to the glorious, vintage riffing that was invented and perfected in the seventies.  On this album, it shows a band that is gaining confidence and that carries the stoner heart in the correct place.

Besides the obvious influences from early day stoner rock bands, I'd like to mention that 'Aztec' reminds me a lot of my all time favorite band, Kong.  This is a (mostly) uptempo track with a brilliant drive and some very strong riffs.  Many of the songs are, but this one stands out because of the earlier mentioned reference.  

In all, this album fits in well between your albums of Colour Haze, My Sleeping Karma or Om.  'Ammu Dia' shows a good band on its way to becoming a great band and in that way it's an excellent debut.  I hope that this trio will continue to grow and evolve their songwriting abilities.  If so, I dare to say that we're dealing with a very interesting player in the future stoner scene.


Serge

experimental / idm / ambient

It's a warm day today, quite perfect for a lazy afternoon with some good music, a refreshing beverage and a good book, or a relaxed game of Sims 4.  The album I'm about to review is actually one of my current 'custom music' albums in that game.  Believe it or not, but listening to albums while playing Sims is an interesting combination and a welcome change from listening while doing the dishes.  It opens new ways to start writing a review.  

A. Karperyd is an active member of the Swedish electronic music underground since the late eighties, playing in bands like Omala, Obconic and Hox.  This album is his first under his own name, although he recorded some music for dance performances.  'Woodwork' contains a number of edited live recordings, a brilliant blend of glitch electronics, trip-hop and ambient.  As if Autechre and Scorn have spent some studio time with Biosphere.

For the main part, Woodwork is a don't-know-what-you're-going-to-get album.  It opens with a repetitive piece of ambient music, driving on a slow breakbeat and an dreamy vocals in 'Natural Nature'.  This track immediately creates a warm, comforting atmosphere which continues throughout the entire album.  'Public Transport' incorporates some noise elements and a rough sound over slow paced beats, enhancing the strange feel of the album.  So does 'Correlation and Dependence', but without the beats.

At this point I'm also reminded of acts like Mmoths, Raime and several others I've seen at the Dutch Incubate festival and I really hope I can catch A. Karperyd performing this material live.  It has to be quite an enchanting concert if you ask me, with 'Rejected and Awarded' as a clear highlight.  This is an amazing track, blending old school trip-hop with early experimental electronics.  The beats in this one are slow but lively, a weird combination but it works damn well.  'Villovagar' digs even more into the trip-hop genre and is another great song for the warm summer nights.

'Winter Tone' incorporates some electro-acoustics in a way many drone and dark ambient artists do these days.  At this point I'm reminded of some of the most experimental works of people like Aidan Baker which suddenly makes me realise how well-varied this album really is.  This song differs a lot from the previous ones by being grittier, noisier and colder.

Title track 'Woodwork' is an immense track, combining bright ambient with the bombastic atmosphere of, well, some black metal bands.  This has clearly nothing to do with black metal by the way but somewhere in this eleven minutes lasting epos, I'm reminded of those stunning intros and keyboards arrangements.  In fact, I should be comparing this song to some of the works my Wolfgang Voight (Gas).

The Autechre reference returns in closer 'Low Light Conditions', which is a perfect closer for this album.  I've been listening to this amazing piece of work for a few times now and there's still sounds appearing or disappearing, creating new connections in this wide and beautiful trip.  I can only recommend getting your hands on a copy of this album if you're an experimental ambient fan like me.  This is arguably one of the highlights of 2015 and one of my personal favorites.


Serge

black metal

With all the new directions black metal is evolving into, it's no surprise that some bands turn their backs on the modern sound and start playing the ancient, occult and primitive form of the genre.  The album we're about to review is one of them, honoring the original style in all its aspects: raw, mid-tempo, lo-fi production and a grim, bleak atmosphere.  

Saritap is a one-man project.  We can't find a lot of information about the project, which actually isn't a bad thing.  It adds to the mystical image surrounding the music.  This e.p. was originally self-released as a digital download as well as on tape in november of 2014.  Now Iron Bonehead productions is about to re-release the cassette in a limited edition of 100 copies.

What we hear on 'Sorcerers of the Seven Gods' is some of the most primitive black metal you'll encounter these days.  The four songs remind me of very early bands like Beherit or Mayhem.  The title track drives on rough blast beats and hauted, obsessive vocals in perfect ancient black metal tradition.  It's stuff like this that fascinated me on the old Candlelight releases and it still does.

'Serpent's Stones Mysteries' is my favourite track on the album, an evil mid-tempo anthem with an intensly cold atmosphere.  This song even takes me back to the time when Venom decided they were the most evil band in the world, inspiring many bands to outdo the 'originators of black metal'.  So does 'Tower of the Black Moon' which seems to have borrowed direct influences from old punk rock as well.

So in all, this is an excellent example of primitive black metal and a must-have for anyone who is nostalgic for those good old days.  Somewhere in hell, Euronymous and Dead must be listening to this e.p., banging their heads (or what's left of it) in approval.  For once, I agree with them.  This is epic stuff.


Serge

grindcore

In recent years one vocal sample has always been a decent addition for a song and made me instantly like the band that uses it.  I'm talking about the 'I Want You To Get Mad, My Life Has Value Dammit' (watch on YouTube) speech by Howard Beale in Network (1976, also used in the Zeitgeist movies).  I've heard it in some noise and dark ambient releases but the most well known band using that speech is Maybeshewill.  Now we can add Cut To Fit to the list while we prepare for utter damnation and chaos.

Cut To Fit is a grindcore band from Lahti, Finland, formed in 2008.  Inspired by bands like Nasum, where they got their name from, these youngsters aren't shy of driving many hours for a gig in front of five people.  It's just what they do, this is a perfect example of a DIY band that will go to any length to perform, write and record their brutal and sick music.  To be honest, the world needs more bands like Cut To Fit.

The music on Black Mouth contains all the right ingredients to become a decent grindcore album.  A brutal blend of hardcore, death metal and punk are being mixed into sixteen songs, lasting about twenty four minutes.  However, this isn't just fast paced metal noise blasting through our speakers.  It also shows a glimpse of musical craftsmanship that often seems to disappear behind a wall of sound.  The amount of variation is quite high, resulting in a great alternation between blast beat driven attacks and slow, crushing pieces of doomgrind.

Cut To Fit also incorporates samples and a bit of dark electronica here and there, enhancing the twisted atmosphere of their music.  This is an odd aspect if you realise most of the songs are short, fierce punk driven grind tracks, with 'Stains' and 'Kaikki Kaikkia Vastaan' being some of my favorite destroyers on this album.  When things get slower, they don't get less punishing.  'Choke' is a brilliant piece of extreme metal, perfectly suited to bang your head off your shoulders.  Like closer 'Black Mouth' and some others on this album, this song comes very close to sludge and post-metal as well as being sick grind-stuff.

For a band that started off stealing riffs from Nasum, they have come a long way.  Not that the riffs are very original, they're grindcore riffs, fast, thick and gore like most grindcore bands play but Cut To Fit plays them so well that I quite like this band, even though I don't listen to the genre very much.  I also rarely go to grindcore gigs but I think I might make an exception whet Cut To Fit comes to town.  I'd really like to mee these guys...



Serge

thrash metal / stoner rock

Bring out the whiskey and the cowgirls and meet me in the desert.  We're about to party hard, have a huge BBQ and enjoy some heavy rolling western thrash 'n' roll.  All of this is delivered by Salzburg, Austria formed thrash cowboys Proll Guns and rocks damn hard.   I know, Austria doesn't sound so hot and desert-like but believe me, you'll soon find yourself in the middle of a bar brawl in the middle of Texas.

There's three songs on this e.p., all heavy but groovy rock 'n' roll songs with a hint towards stoner rock, be it at a very high paste.  The insane tempo and rough, raspy voice of Evil Ed are almost a guarantee for mosh pits everywhere.  In fact, the stoner rock riffs are played with a tremendous thrash and often black metal attitude which results in a sublime combination of party and wreck things.

So if you're a fan of anything in between Motorhead, Warrior Soul, Monster Magnet or Alabama Thunderpussy, you should get your hands on this stuff.  Even more so, if you ever have the opportunity to see these guys live, drop everything and go watch.  Proll Guns bring a full-on western show, complete with saloon girls and liters of alcohol.  Party on...


Serge

black metal

Just when I thought black metal couldn't get any stranger, Black Plague Records throws this bizarre album in my mailbox.  They call it 'Black Schizophrenic Metal' and they're absolutely right to do so.  This is one of the most terrifying, outlandish and peculiar pieces of extreme music I've heard in a while.

It all begins quite cliché, an intro which seems to be an alternation of 'The March Of Death', followed by drumrolls, guitars and someone being either tortured or receiving excellent oral sex.  But then hell break loose, blastbeats and haunted screams take over and create some fierce old school black metal.

Illness hails from Poland, a country with an obscure black metal tradition.  Next year they can celebrate fifteen years of sickening morbidity and play songs from over ten releases.  If so, I really hope they come over to Belgium because I want to see some songs from this e.p. in a live setting.

'Dødskyggen' is probably one of the most 'normal' black metal songs on this album, driving on hyperspeed blast beats and traditional riffs.  There's also some old school heavy or thrash metal elements present but the majority of both this song and its predecessor is bleak, cold and downright wicked.

But then things get even stranger.  Not yet in the excellent 'The Kingdom Comes' (a Mysticum Cover) but in the haunting 'Grobowa Mg³a'.  Here black metal is combined with film noir fancy fair music and a number of samples and industrial elements.  The result is mesmerizing, intense and bizarre to say the least.  This song will haunt your dreams.

The industrial elements are also present in closer 'Cranium', which is another odd piece of extreme music.  It's mainly these two songs that I'd like to see performed live, and especially the crowd reaction to this music.  Fact is, I really dig this experimental urge.  It's daring, that's true but it's so damn awesome.


Serge

sludge / doom / post-metal

A while ago, I reviewed the debut e.p. from The Insekt Life Cycle, a post-rock band from the Philippines.  As I mentioned in that writing, the members have a background in metal bands and one of them sent me this crushing gem, a twenty five minutes lasting steamroller of post-metal and doom. Hateure was formed in 2007 and released a first demo two years later.  Currently the band is working on their third full-length but they have now released this 'Body & Soil' e.p. as an example of what they're up to these days.  

The album opens somewhat psychedelic with title track 'Body & Soil'.  This song issues an interesting post-rock/shoegaze atmosphere before finally bursting out in highly distorted post-metal, or sludge if you will.  However, here too the stoner rock elements remain present in the sound of the guitars.  

Yet, as good as this song already is, 'Reptililian Blues' crushes all competition.  This song is an immense doom anthem, almost twelve minutes long, driving on a slow, cumbersome tempo and heavily distorted guitars.  Deep growls are added over the punishing riffs, creating some awesome noise.  This is one sick and epic song that slowly evolves, varies and alternates.  Damn, this is good.

'Koleoptera ' closes the e.p. in perfect sludge-doom tradition, again being a terrifying slow song with a twisted, intense atmosphere.  If this really is what Hateure is up to for their upcoming album, I'm game.  'Body & Soil' is a very promising and actually highly refreshing piece of modern day doom metal which is too good to ignore.


Serge

grindcore

As I said before, I'd often like to listen to a certain album while doing some household chars.  Today is bathroom cleaning day, so when I found this Gutalax album in my download folder, I couldn't really resist.  While listening to this, suddenly my toilet doesn't seem as filthy as it is.

Gutalax hails from The Czech Republic and has an unhealty fascination with excrement and with grindcore.  Both are combinined into a thirty minutes lasting flow of musical diarrhea with brutal guitars, blasting drums and a vocalist who makes rhythmic pig squeals (and sometimes human screams as well).

The album opens with a fart and from there it never gets better.  'Fart Fart Away' even ends with the 'I Like Farts' song from Family Guy.  In fact, it gets even sicker with titles like 'Smokes Ass With Diarrheal Sauce', 'Brothers In Ass' or 'Hairytails'.

Yet, if you listen to the music beyond the immature humour, you'll find a bunch of decent grinding riffs and a lot of variation in tempo.  Most of the music isn't as fast as most grindcore songs but issues a mid/up tempo speed and that's a welcome chance once in a while.

Fact remains, Gutalax will remain a novelty-grindcore band and that is just fine.  The vocals are quite unique and maybe downright irritating for some people.  However, fact remains, they give this band a highly recognizable edge and it remains enjoyable for about thirty minutes, both on CD and live (I think) on festivals like Obscene Extreme, where they played several times.

So is this album recommended? Well, if you're into sick, twisted, deviant, disturbed and gore humourous grindcore it is.  If you're not, check it out anyway, either you'll vomit out your own intestines our you'll shit bricks, laughing.


Serge

symphonic black / death metal

We'll keep on banging our heads today.  It's extreme friday at Merchants Of Air, and what better place to go to for some intense metal than Finland?  I'm even wearing my Amorphis '20 Years Tales Tour' t-shirt while I'm listening to some stunning symphonic death/black metal, named 'The Art Of Chaos' by youngsters Enthring.

'Youngsters' might not really be a correct word to describe this band.  Founded in 2006, completed three years later Enthring spawned a first demo in 2010 and a debut full-length the next year.  This led to a tour with Korplikaani in Brazil.  Their new e.p. has a very appropriate title, because this music is brilliantly ordered chaos.

There's three songs on this e.p., each of the being a symphonic anthem with fierce guitars, furious drums and haunted screams.  Above these typical blackened death metal elements, Enthring incorporates a huge amount of keyboards to enhance the bombastic atmosphere.  In that aspect, Enthring could indeed stand next to bands like Korpiklaani, Finntroll or Children Of Bodom, even though this is clearly not folk metal (well, maybe 'We Thrive on Chaos' is).  

Other bands that often come to mind are black metal pioneers like Dimmu Borgir or Limbonic Art.  My favorite track, 'And We Dream of Our Demise', is a perfect example of this combination while opener 'The Second Vengeance Orchestra' is an amain and intensely chaotic piece of extreme metal that's just to brilliant to resist.

This e.p. is very promising, to say the least.  It makes me hungry for more from this band and also for live performances.  If played decent, this music will stun and awe many audience members and make them run to the merchandise stand immediately after the gig, that's for sure...


Serge

black metal

Has it already been so long since black metal emerged on the extreme music scene?  Damn, time flies, especially in the music business.  Anyway, old doesn't necessarily mean outdated.  We're here to review the latest album by agruably one of France's oldest black metal bands, Osculum Infame, not to be confused with the Brazilian death metal band.  In fact, the French band was founded earlier, much earlier, about twenty years earlier.

According to Discogs, Osculum Infame released a first demo in 1993 and a first full-length (on tape) two years later.  Several releases later the band seemed to vanish into oblivion.  The band was reduced to a two-piece of guitars and drums but refused to burn out or fade away.  In 2010 a compilation from previous demos was released, two years later a mini-album saw the light of day and now 'The Axis Of Blood' is available for purchase, and, well, this is one damn good black metal album.

In perfect blackened tradition, the album opens with a haunting dark ambient intro, named 'ApokalupVI'.  As a dark ambient fan, I'm quite fond of stuff like this.  The intro is seamlessly followed by 'Cognitive Perdition of the Insane' which immediately becomes on of my favorite tracks on the album.  The down/mid tempo insanity of this track is amazing and blessed with a tremendous bleak atmosphere, complete with church bells.

On 'Kaoïst Serpentis' the blast beats appear, along with the typical screams and thrashy riffs.  At this time Osculum Infame reminds me of many atmospheric black metal bands but with out the bombastic keyboard passages.  This is just brilliant bleak and wicked black metal, truly honouring the twenty plus years old tradition of evil music.  At a bit over four minutes the track suddenly turns into a twisted piece of feedback, noise and screams, combined with great percussion before eventually blasting out into a brutal black metal track.

The amount of variation on 'The Axis of Blood' is pretty perfect.  Besides the earlier mentioned elements of ambient and noise, Osculum Infame comes up with some nice black 'n' roll passages, combining Immortal with Khold.  This combination is almost a guarantee for great songs and 'My Angel' is clearly one of them.  Once again it's a down/midtempo song with a neat sense of melody beyond the sheer brutality.

In ancient beliefs, 'Osculum infame' is the name of a witch’s supposed ritual greeting upon meeting with the Devil. The name means The Shameful Kiss, or The Kiss of Shame since it involved kissing the devil's anus, his 'other mouth'. This deviant behaviour, or at least the atmosphere it breathes, is also present in the music on this album. There's something unsettling about it, something cold and impending.

'Let There Be Darkness' for example, really takes me back to the glory days of the Scandinavian black metal scene of the nineties and the beginning of the new century.  This blast-beats driven beast is quite stunning and perfectly capable of inducing a few whiplashes here and there.  'Inner Falling of the Glory of God' takes on the mid tempo approach again and quickly becomes another highlight on this album.

'Inner Falling of the Glory of God' and 'White Void' are a bit slower but seem to incorporate something that reminds me of harsh post-rock/metal.  On 'White Void' there's even some violins audibly, creating a brilliant piece of post-metal folk or whatever you'd like to call this.  If anything, it proves how versatile Osculum Infame actually is.

So in all, this really is a great album with the perfect amount of alternation between traditional, chaotic black metal and malignant black 'n' roll.  If you're a fan of either of both, 'The Axis of Blood' will surely be a welcome addition to your collection.  I think you will played it often and I think you'll be amazed by this intense but well-varied piece of black metal.


Serge

post-rock

I can't believe how much the post-rock genre has evolved over the past decade or so.  Once it was a genre with a few bands, Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai and Godspeed! You Black Emperor.  Very few people could imagine different approaches to the style because it was a slow, instrumental genre, mainly influenced by shoegaze.  However, new bands came in and incorporated different elements from cinematic soundscapes to harsh, distorted guitars.  Today, post-rock is a widely spread genre which on his turn influences numerous other bands.

We Deserve This is (mainly) a one-man post-rock project from Germany, founded in 2010 by Jan Platek.  His version of the genre, is a very heavy one, reminding me of bands like Jesu, Monkey3 or Jakob.  'Pacific' is his latest release and it's a very strong one, a harsh and complex trip through distorted landscapes and lively sequences.  My guess is that Platek is influenced by most of the bands I've mentioned in this review already but also has a background in metal.

Opener 'The Moon, The Stars And Everything Else' and title track 'Pacific' somewhat breathe a dark metal-atmosphere while strongly holding on to the typical post-rock songwriting.  The tempo is not as slow as most of the songs in this genre but issues a nice drive which make these very enjoyable songs.  They could also be  fan-favorites on concerts.

Speaking of gigs, I wonder if We Deserve This ever plays live.  I can imagine it being a great performance, at times overwhelming and quite epic. If really hope he does because I for one really want to see this.  I'm often stunned by the sheer quality of one-man bands but, being a gig-addict, I always wonder about those things.

On 'Pre Caution/Post Action' the tempo goes down a bit.  This is one of those typical post-rock anthems that reach perfection.  Continuously alternating between gentle soundscapes and heavy, energetic (but slow) passages, this song can stand next to some of my favorites in the genre.  '12/13/13' takes that feel even further at first but comes up with similar mid-tempo drums as the first tracks.

I really dig this blatant in-your-face style of post-rock.  I love the vigorous guitars and the mid-tempo rhythms that are present in most of the songs.  So as far as I'm concerned this is a fantastic album with enough variation to remain interesting and refreshing for the entire duration.  On 'I Quit' the sound of the guitars remind me of nineties rock bands, adding an element of melancholia to the whole.

So in all, I'm once again pleasantly surprised by a one-man post-rock band.  This time it's one that doesn't go big on cinematic atmosphere but incorporates a crushing sound which still has something intimate and minimal.  I'd like to end this review by mentioning that 'The Serious Ending' is my favorite track on this album and another brilliant piece of heavy post-rock.  Love it...



Serge

thrash metal

Since we've started this website, we've seen a lot of bands from so called 'troubled' countries.  From the war in Ukraine to the financial crisis in Greece, many bands have tried to cope with their problems by playing extreme music and often renewing a genre.  Another one of those troubled countries is Egypt, an archeolical goldmine but also a place of corruption and religious conflicts.  

Excimer is an Egyptian thrash metal band, born in 2013 in Alexandria.  This album, their first full-length after an e.p. and a single, was already released in 2014 as a digital only album.  A year later, it got picked up by German label Witches Brew who requested to release a CD-version, and with good reason.  'Thrash From Fire' sounds as if it comes straight from the eighties and is hugely inspired by bands like Sodom, Testament and other bands from that era.

The album opens with the hyperspeed thrasher 'Hell On Earth'.  This song surely has to power to get those heads banging, and so does the entire album.  In fact, simply everything about this album breathes this dirty, apocalyptic atmosphere of the golden era of thrash metal; from the artwork, over the bandlogo to the lyrics and the flashing guitar solos.  This is the area where Metallica used to dwell (before they lost their minds), along with Overkill or Vio-Lence.

'Victims Of Plague' is one of my favorites on this album, along with 'Cry War'.  Both are fast songs with fierce thrash riffs and quite brutal vocals.  The vocals in particular are stunningly intense.  They sound somewhere between death growls and blackened shrieks.  Along with the high speed of the drums, these vocals often create a thrash-induced black metal feel which is quite awesome.

Besides the obvious influences from the early thrash metal scene, these youngsters also draw influences from the unstable state of their country.  'Provoke The Slaughter' and 'War Terror' really do sound like extreme protest songs while 'The Curse Of Seth' seems to dig into the rich ancient history of Egypt.  All of these songs are solid thrash metal songs with a high level of songwriting and musical craftsmanship.

To some people, Excimer might sound a bit outdated, both in music and in production and also in artwork.  However, this is exactly the most brilliant aspect on this album.  It would fit perfectly between albums by the bands I've mentioned in this review, and if Municipal Waste or Nuclear Assault is in your collection, so should Excimer.



Serge

thrash / death metal

Finland, why is your metal so good?  Ever since I've been writing for this website bands from Finland have been surprising me time and time again.  It doesn't even matter what subgenre the bands play.  Every band from Finland seems to excell in what they do.  It must be something in the water of the great lakes or just something genetic.

Take Falling From Grace for example.  They look young and the band is only in existence for two years but they already sound like a full-blown thrash/death metal band.  This e.p. is their second effort after a demo in 2014 and shows a band that has been working hard.  In their biography, they call it 'groove metal' and to some extent they could be right but they lift up the level to new extremes.

The e.p. opens with 'Pathetic Perfection', a killer track combining Slayer with Children Of Bodom and pouring a thick metalcore sauce over the whole, especially in the brutality of the vocals.  'Machine' follows a similar path: fierce death metal, played at an immense paste and a tremendous in-your-face sound.  'Abandoned Hope' takes thinks a bit slower, and actually groovier, but is in no way less intense.

After that, the tempo goes way up again and the band blast their last bits of brutality through my already tormented speakers.  In fact, the tempo regulary changes within the songs, bringing enough variation to remain enjoyable.  Closer 'Blind Belief' incorporates some hardcore punk influences as well, becoming my favorite track on this e.p. 

I can clearly see this provoke brutal moshpits and walls-of-death wherever Falling From Grace performs live.  This is extreme metal for both the old and the new generation, perfectly combining old school thrash and death metal with a modern day metalcore sound.  This is a highly destructive force, hopefully coming soon to a festival or venue near you.


Serge

grindcore

Wait, a band named Bruce Campbell?  Must be some sort of ambient or noise thing then? Maybe crooner or singer-songwriter?  But then, why the title 'Los Angeles Noisecore'?  Noise after all?  Well, yes but not noise like you expect it.  Bruce Campbell is named after the actor who is notorious for his roles in Evil Dead and Army Of Darkness.  So we're clearly dealing with some horror-lovers here.

The band hails from, surprise, Los Angeles, California and plays a punishing style of grindcore or goregrind with violent guitars, guttural vocals, haunted screams, hammering blast beats and sickening imagery.  Most of the twelve songs on this tape drive on hardcore punk tempos and death metal riffing, which is always a good recipe for this style of extreme metal.  The tempo is insane and so are most of the riffs.  Bruce Campbell is a hyperspeed steamroller, crushing everything in sight.

This tape is actually a compilation of two previous releases by this band, brought by Give Praise Records, who are always in for some brutal, rotten, vulgar and downright disgusting stuff.  If you're a grindcore fan, this thing should obviously be in your collection.  You absolutely can't go wrong with this intense ferocity.  Your parents will hate it, your neighbours will hate it and most of your friends will hate it but who gives a f**k.  This is what grindcore is supposed to sound like. 


Serge

stoner rock / psychedelic rock

"Space Fisters, across the universe. On the starship stoner sound, under captain Fuzz".  

If you know what song I just blatanty parodied, you're either quite old or you have been digging into the history of silly music and discovered a pearl.  If you don't know the song, go to YouTube and search for 'Star Trekkin' by The Firm.  It's hilarious.  It has absolutely nothing to do with the album I'm about to review but that doesn't matter.  So go ahead and enjoy 'Star Trekkin' and come back soon to read the rest of this review and buy the album.  

At least, if you're into a heavy psychedelic stoner sound which sounds as vintage and crushing as possible.  Space Fisters from Cranves-Sales, France are pleased to present their 'Vol 1', a 36 minutes lasting tribute to the mighty power of the riff.  Yet, this trio has a lot more hidden in their sleeves, making this album one immense jamsession, combining blues, hard rock and doom metal into a psychedelic trip.

The songs are very complex, constantly changing tempo and intensity without ever losing the vintage hard rock sound.  Sure this can be compared to bands like Sleep, Melvins, Black Sabbath and Kadavar, or something in between, but the complexity of the songs somehow also remind me of a progressive metal band like Opeth or Pain Of Salvation.  The four songs on this album breathe both the typical stoner sound and the tendency to experiment with their instruments.

What strikes me most on this album, is the tremendous live feel.  This might as well be  a recording from a fantastic on-stage performance.  All the necessary elements are present: groovy riffs, slow build-ups, crushing outbursts of distortion, psychedelic guitar solos , a great voice and a healthy sense of humour.  What else could you possibly need for a strong gig, right?  

My absolute favorite track is closer 'Bozz', an epic piece of music, combining all of the above with lengthy instrumental improvisations and guitar solos.  Here too I'm reminded of a non-stoner rock band, namely The Doors.  When I close my eyes and imagine the live performance again, I can see a big part of the audience getting in a state of blissful trance, dancing like drugged-out hippies, trying to grasp the sound to take it home with them.

Well, you can take this home with you and quite frankly, you should.  This is about as close as you can get to the original sound of the seventies while maintaining a loud, in-your-face kind of bulldozering sound.  Space Fisters (I didn't make a dirty joke about their band name yet, how awesome is that?) delivered bigtime with 'Vol. 1'.  If their as convincing on stage as on LP/MP3/CD, I can see a great future for these guys.


Serge

("there's stoners in the backstage now, backstage now, backstage now, there's stoners in the backstage now, fuzzing up their amps")