Flotsam and Jetsam - Unnatural Selection (1999)

Unnatural Selection has a bit of a bad rap for incorporating notable elements of the groove metal that was popular in the mid 90s, but I have to say that it's at least better than the three albums leading up to it. The band's second album after returning to the Metal Blade stable, it suffered somewhat from not having any relevance to what was going on in its day, and thus a general lack of interest, since the Gothic/fairy metal, melodeath and metalcore scenes were really vaulting into the stratosphere. There was also a bit of redundancy here to the lyrics, a lot focusing around personal addictions ("Liquid Noose", "Chemical Noose", etc). In general they're quite bad, with one song ("Fuckers") particularly awkward and embarrassing, but Flotsam and Jetsam were never strong in this department, and just about everything scripted from When the Storm Comes Down on could have used revision, even if the actual subjects were appropriate.

A lot of the groove elements hit up front, with "Dream Scrape" hammering out some rhythmic bounce circa Sepultura's Chaos A.D. and a dense, funky bass tone that is more than a little reminiscent of Korn, if not as utterly dominant. The second song here, "Chemical Noose" might as well be a Prong song, it uses the same percussive sense of harmonics and muted thrashing momentum that would have placed it comfortably on, say, Beg to Differ if not for the lyrics. A little ironic, considering their former bassist Troy Gregory had joined that band. However, what I found appreciable about this album were the catchy vocal lines conceived by Eric A.K. and the gang. There's a lot of melody and passion to songs like "Brain Dead" and "Promise Keepers" which shows that those years spent flirting with the mainstream on Cuatro or Drift were not entirely wasted. In particular, that latter song has an interesting fluctuation of Pantera groove and these ethereal male choirs in the chorus that feels totally unexpected.

The guitar lines are also quite creative here, a mix of hard rock, thrash and even some semi industrial or post-hardcore sounding structures that obviously were pretty well thought out even when they don't completely deliver the goods. New drummer Craig Nielsen stepped in for Kelly David Smith (who has since returned), and his busy rock beats are a good match for Jason Ward's thick, plunking bass. The leads are frivolous and rarely memorable, but I feel like there's a more distinctly 'thrash' feel to this record that trumps its predecessors between 1992-1997 even if it still relies on some degree of accessibility. Knutson's work here is pretty catchy, with the possible exceptions of "Falling" where it seems a little more melodic than necessary and of course the aforementioned "Fuckers", which is one of those lame ranting songs that seems, to the audience, targeted to no particular individual, but to the band probably a critic or backstabbing friend or ex-girlfriend. The lyrics suck, the boring grooves supporting it suck, and it should have been left off.

On the whole, though, I found myself playing the songs in my head more repeatedly than any others since maybe "The Master Sleeps", so I can't claim that Unnatural Selection is quite so miserable as it's oft made out to be. A lot of the riffs are dead weight, I couldn't care less about some of the groovier tunes like "Dream Scrape" or the slow burn of closer "Welcome to the Bottom", but a few tunes like "Brain Dead" are loaded. Not a triumphant return to form, but it's certainly not scraping the bottom of the barrel either like its all too mediocre successor...

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (how many beatings do I have to take)

http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/

Flotsam and Jetsam - High (1997)

It's sad to me that the first thing most will remember about the sixth Flotsam and Jetsam full-length High will be the fact that they listed the song titles on the back each with their own knockoff logo of a famous metal act that influenced them. A sweet little gimmick, but if you thought that this some how would infer that the band were going to put out an effort WORTHY of those roots, then I'm afraid you would have been mistaken. High is a more metallic effort than either Cuatro or Drift, to be sure, and there are a number of tunes I wouldn't kick out of bed for crackers, but in the end it's just another of those many, modernized thrashings of the mid to late 90s that fail to evoke the power and potential of the prior decade, the immortality that for some strange reason the genre exuded before succumbing to a trite and dated commodity.

Songs like "Hallucinational", "Your Hands" and "It's On Me" certainly have their hooks, and they at least seem to recognize the band's power/thrashing foundation if not fully implement it, but then there is another chunk of the album devoted which pursues a more trendy, groovy rock side that I'd expect out of Black Label Society or Corrosion of Conformity (after they stopped being cool). "High Noon" is particularly guilty of this, a rather blase bluesy stoner rock oriented song, but songs like "High" itself and the moody saloon rocker "7 Lucky Day" are also more or less barking up the same tree. "Monster" wouldn't have been out of place on the previous album, a rather quirky hard rocker with a bit of that Black Album or later Metallica groove, and even some of the more straight and aggressive pieces like "Toast" seem to suffer from a lack of strong riffing progressions or compelling ideas.

I think the production here also took a slight nosedive from the prior two albums, having switched from Neil Kernon over to long-term Metal Blade associate, A&R director and at one time vice president Bill Metoyer. The lyrics are pedestrian at best. The vocals feel more repressed, the guitars a little more humdrum and sludgy, though to be truthful it does rather match the more groove oriented, low end writing, the burning bluesy leads, wah wah pedaling and other components. This was still the same lineup as they'd been using for two albums prior, and they certainly feel gelled together and on the same page, but ultimately High delivers nothing more than a steady pummeling at its faster moments, the sort you'd not scoff at if you were looking for a Friday night bar fight in some obscure suburb in the middle of fuck. But it's no 'Saturday Night', if you catch my drift, and the switchblades and motorbikes have been supplanted by butter knives, Tonka three wheelers, and the dulled fisticuffs of missed opportunities.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10] (I know it seems like I like falling)

http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/

Flotsam and Jetsam - Drift (1995)

I remember first seeing the optical illusion cover image for the fifth Flotsam and Jetsam album and filed it away in the 'different but cool' cabinet. Of course, after Cuatro, I was not exactly looking forward to any output from the once great Arizonans, but inevitably my curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to see if the music itself had undergone some sort of revolutionary evolution along with the choice in artwork. I was surprised to discover that Drift was a bit more straightforward and metallic than its predecessor, and honestly a fraction superior in terms of quality. The lineup from Cuatro had remained, and they'd even reined in Neil Kernon once again to handle the production and some of the mixing. However, it's ultimately just as banal as its predecessor, and there's a good reason why so many I've spoken to struggle to even recall its very existence...

Drift opens with a tune called "Me" which is a bit of a choppy hard rocker with a few melodic tremolo mute patterns that collide into the rock configuration of the chorus, but despite the questionable use of 'what I take I take on the chin' as a vocal line, it's peppy enough to have a little fun with. Once "Empty Air" arrives with that electronic intro that bursts into the big bass lines and guitar grooves, though, you can tell that Flotsam were still pretty settled into the idea of becoming a more commercially viable heavy rock band with only traces of their former selves present in the songwriting; that they were still trying to rise to the shifting landscape of the 90s and unearth some fresh new sound that was going to rejuvenate their following. Not bloody likely when half the album consists of rock songs like "Pick a Window" or the almost Western feeling power ballad "Destructive Signs" (which feels a little like Death Angel's "A Room with a View"), but at least they prove that, in a kinder world, they may have had the chops for the passive, mainstream radio rock audience.

A couple of the songs, like the bass driven "Smoked Out" or the biting groove-fest "Blindside" manage to retain a bit of the band's original aggression, though once again we might argue that these were trying to be alt-metal or grunge and have very little to do with the power/thrash that initially fueled Doomsday for the Deceiver. Lot of bluesy little guitar fills and leads, and really there are only a few cuts here like "Remember" that possess the proper muted thrash riffs you might recall from When the Storm Comes Down. Eric A.K. sounds decent once more, but the performance here is a little less balanced or dynamic than Cuatro. He's a little more incendiary, or acidic, and in places redolent of No Place for Disgrace, though I wonder why the rest of the band couldn't also 'regress' and beat the tar out of us with the actual music.

In the end, though, despite my stylistic indifference towards a lot of the sounds that went into Drift, it's not poorly written for what it is. A number of the tracks are weak, and few of them are compelling beyond a few minutes' exposure, but I feel like it's an inch harder than Cuatro and pretty tightly structured. Just be warned that it's NOT the Flotsam and Jetsam you worshiped from 1986-1988: aside from the vocals, and a few throwback riffs, this is a polished, modern take on hard rock. The lyrics suck, the worst they had written to its day. It did not do well for the Arizonans, who would in turn not be able to renew their deal with MCA, and instead drift back over to their alma mater Metal Blade Records...hopefully to come to their senses and remember exactly what the fuck they were doing in the first place.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10] (reaching out to empty air)

http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/

Flotsam and Jetsam - Cuatro (1992)

So the 90s managed to smack Flotsam and Jetsam across the face just like any other thrashing 80s hopeful. Slight changes in style were to be expected, and Cuatro, their second album for MCA put them in collaboration with Neil Kernon, a pretty big time producer and studio engineer who had worked with huge names like Judas Priest and Dokken. To their credit, they didn't morph quite as much as other acts from their niche, and Cuatro is more or less a more progressive extension of When the Storm Comes Down, if not in complexity than in dynamic range. But this album really starts to sag after a pair of passable opening tracks, and despite the fact that they were 'growing' as artists and experimenting with more rock-like structures, it just about severed all interest I had in the band's future...

I feel like Flotsam and Jetsam couldn't quite shake the specter of Metallica which hung over them even here, because there are a lot of simpler songs involving leaden grooves like the openers "Natural Enemies" and "Swatting at Flies" that kept making me think of "Sad But True" or "Enter Sandman" from The Black Album. Granted, Eric A.K.'s vocals are vastly different than James Hetfield's, but it's this 'dumbing down' sensation, this mainstreaming of the band's base thrash/power/speed sound into something contemporary, heavily overdubbed and generally safe for radio play with its anti-drug, anti-gang, we're all the same victims inside, good will to all men schtick that thrash bands were sort of forced into to cope with the ever-liberalized world of the 'open minded' that the 90s helped catalyze. A rage against nothing. There are thrash riffs here or there, peppered about the bulk of Cuatro, but so many of its constituent tracks are far too moody and rock-inflected that they feel like they're fighting at the straightjacket to escape the asylum of their past. Why? I've no idea.

Granted, Cuatro is far better produced than its predecessor. They got that right, at least. The guitars are still thick and effective but the heavier chords, chugging and melodic leads that glaze most of the facts are in close balance with the cleaner guitar sequences. Troy Gregory had left to join Prong, but the Arizonans did well in bringing on Jason Ward, a skilled, busy player with a deep tone who keeps the listener engaged with the thrumming of "Forget About Heaven" and several other cuts. More importantly, Eric A.K. himself sounds loads better than When the Storm Comes Down, richer and fuller in the mix, but this comes at the expense of some of his aggression. He's very soulful throughout this track list, and implements soothing harmonies that once in a while remind me of Layne Stayley of Alice in Chains. It's a decent fit for all these grooving songs spliced with melodies, and in particular he really blows up during "Secret Square" when he shifts from the low, deep range to screaming.

Alas, the album just fails to register beyond a handful of tolerable tracks like the pumping, uppity Anthrax-like momentum that opens "Natural Enemies" or the mild, mid-tempo groove of "Swatting at Flies", and there are some like "Wading Through the Darkness" and "Double Zero" that were admittedly pretty terrible. Who the hell were they writing this for? The alternative Doc Martin crowd was not going to like it, the loyal 80s thrashers weren't going to like it, the grunge guys weren't going to bite from this metallic-tinted apple. Was there a hidden scene for pseudo-funk rock-progressive-groove-post-thrashers I was blissfully unaware of? If so, then I'd imagine they might consider Cuatro a masterwork of expression, but for myself it was a prime example of how experimentation and enrichment can occasionally backfire and sully everything you've worked for. Flotsam and Jetsam's fourth outing isn't completely terrible, and there are moments where a catchy melody or impressive array of musicianship save it from the slag pit, but it was unfortunately a product of its time that simply doesn't belong in any other.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10] (take it from me, I'm broken too)

http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/

Flotsam and Jetsam - When the Storm Comes Down (1990)

While Flotsam and Jetsam's relationship with Elektra Records was rather short-lived, they were fortunate enough to sign over to an imprint of comparable magnitude in MCA for its followup to No Place for Disgrace. I can remember this as being one of those 'make or break it' moments for a thrash band in the later 80s. They had the momentum, they had the musicians, and they were coming off a fan favorite debut and an even mightier sophomore, so When the Storm Comes Down was essentially projected to become the band's Master of Puppets, a goal that was sadly not met at all. This was met with a lukewarm at best reaction, and I'd say that, despite the band's continued slot on the rosters of decent labels, this was more or less the beginning of their sink back into obscurity...

Not that the music here sucks by any means, but there are certain faults in the production that do the rather adventurous writing little justice, and a few stupid songs that mar the remainder. I wasn't the hugest fan of the mix on the previous album (my favorite), and things seemed to only grow worse here, though arguably it falters in different ways. Erik A.K.'s stringy, melodic vocals feel too pinched and tinny in the mix, an unwelcome contrast against the meatier production of the rhythm guitars which were akin to ...And Justice for All or Persistence of Time. A lot of the curious little spikes of melody as in the verses to "6, Six, VI" just felt as if they were lingering far too much in the background, behind even A.K. in potency, and the funkiness of Troy Gregory's bass lines on this album, which show no lack of fluency and creativity, still came off rather flat. Not to mention that there was one song here, "No More Fun" which was a little too 'funky' for its own good, like Infectious Grooves or something and adjoined with goofy guitars and weird druggy lyrics alongside the bouncy pace. The drums are also just 'meh' in the mix.

On the other hand, there was no shortage here of decent and effective riffs that constructed themselves into some mildly memorable songs. Again, while I don't like the blaring funkiness of the bass tone in "The Master Sleeps", it's pretty well structured with those dense thrashing rhythm guitars and melodies that would thrill fans of mid to late 80s Metallica, Testament and so forth. "Suffer the Masses", while not a favorite, is definitely a well written mid paced head banger in which Knutson belted out stronger melodies, even if the backing vocals in the chorus were lackluster when leveraged against the soaring guitar lines. "Burned Device" is also a pretty solid performance from Eric over the glinted acoustics of the intro, and at 6 and a half minutes it has a lot going for it, while pieces like "October Thorns" and "E.M.T.E.K." are also effectively incendiary and show some thought in their own architecture.

However, even these are not quite good enough to scale to the summit of excellent achieved with "No Place for Disgrace", "Hammerhead", or the rebellious "Hard On You", and unlike the second album, I found that one shed a bit of its resonance with subsequent listens. Not to mention that "No More Fun" is a hands down dumb idea, and the closer "K.A.B.", one of those dorky acronym tunes from the 80s which is like 28 seconds of repeating the same vocal line 'Kill all bastards' is neither interesting or particularly humorous. It should be an unwritten law that you can not feature two acronym songs on your album! But beyond that, When the Storm Comes Down is too clean, and too polished in general, and the nasal vocals and imbalance of muscular thrash riffs and melodies really threw me off and continues to do so over 20 years later. Fans of the more progressive West Coast speed/thrash records like Heathen's sophomore Victims of Deception or Mordred's first two efforts Fool's Game and In This Life might want to check this out for its comparable creativity and tone, but for myself this was the opening chapter in a long stretch of mediocrity from a band I had very high hopes for.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (our time slips away)

http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/

Flotsam and Jetsam - Live in Phoenix (2005)

Flotsam and Jetsam waited over 20 years to nail us with a live offering, and the jury's out on whether this was too late to care. Long past their prime, but still releasing tolerable embellishments upon the sound and style they established through No Place for Disgrace, the band seemed to enjoy a small cult following despite the massive amounts of potential they seemed to espouse in the 80s. After all, with an alumni like Jason Newsted, whom they followed onto the Elektra Records roster, and further deals through MCA and Metal Blade, it was all but a sure thing that these Arizonans would become one of the 'saved' second tier of hopeful thrash metal acts. However, it just never happened for them, and thus they remain perpetually under the radar, surviving if never thriving.

I must admit I'm at wit's end with this sort of double dipping live DVD and separate live audio CD production that Live in Phoenix represents. It was also put out as a DVD, which in my opinion would be the preferred medium through which to experience it, but for some reason the label involved wanted to turn a buck on the audio alone. This could have been great: two decades of interviews, videos, rare tracks, a live gig in their home territory and then an audio CD bonus, all in one single package and well worth the attention of the long term fan, but instead it feels rather complete, and it's not like the actual set is all that impressive either. Kudos to the band for mixing up the playlist to incorporate something from all eras and manage to make it sound like it belonged together, but the performance itself leaves a little to be desired, in particular Erik A.K.'s vocals which aren't as spry and consistent as they once were...

I'm sure veterans will be a little disappointed that the only cut off Doomsday for the Deceiver is "Hammerhead", but at the very least they were offering a trifecta of "Hard On You", "Escape from Within" and the title track from No Place for Disgrace, which I'd consider their best album. Only "The Master Sleeps" makes it from When the Storm Comes Down, and the rest of the material from the MCA years consists of "Swatting at Flies", "Wading Through the Darkness" and "Secret Square" (Cuatro) and "Me" (Drift). The return to Metal Blade period is highlighted by "Chemical Noose" (Unnatural Selection) and the triad of "Trash", "Dig Me Up to Bury Me" and "Nothing to Say" from My God, which was their most recent studio album at this time. Note that there is nothing from High, which is probably acceptable since so many loathed that record with a passion...

The rhythm section does a pretty good job through the set, and as usual their music was a fine mix of grooving rhythms you could mosh to and more complex melodic structures. Most of the guys had been in the band for some time, at the very least since the late 90s, so they all do an adequate job. The lead tone is exciting and retains the vitality of the originals, but I'm not so sure about some of A.K.'s performance, which seems really strained on tracks like "The Master Sleeps". Half able to hit those notes, and half cracking or disintegrated in the attempt. That said, even though it makes sense for them to mix up the material, it's not the greatest of sets. For the built in audience, they should have included at least two more Doomsday songs and perhaps one other from the third album. But then again, I don't think this was a 'resurrection of Flotsam and Jetsam playing the oldies' gig so I can't really blame them for staying current...only for the fact that I just don't care for some of these selections.

Ultimately, it's not worth owning unless you are desperate to hear the band in some incarnation upon the stage, and have had no other means. And even then, spend a little extra to track down the DVD, because it's a lot more fun to witness when you can see them leaping around the stage in defiance of the geriatric lethargy these veterans can often experience. I've gotten to catch them a few times and I will say that they're better encountered in the flesh than on your couch. Unless you've got them on your couch...in the flesh...errr...I don't like where that's going.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10]

http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/

Desultor - Masters of Hate (2012)

Swedish duo Desultor deal in such a balanced contrast of extremes that you have to wonder why a lot more bands haven't tried it, and Masters of Hate is the sort of debut which should rocket them into the radars of many modern enthusiasts. Formed in 2007 and drawn from members of lesser known acts like Auberon and Machinery, they write in a hybrid of aggressive death and thrash metal, but use a clean and charismatic style of vocals that would take you instantly unawares had you not had prior warning. Markus Joha, who is also the guitarist, has a timbre somewhere between Bruce Hall (late of Agent Steel), Urban Breed of Tad Morose and a few shreds of Warrel Dane's haunting psychosis, sans the screaming.

In fact, Nevermore is not a bad comparison towards Desultor overall, or those late 90s/early 'oughts Agent Steel records, only the first is more choppy and technical in its riffing and song structures and the latter clearly cast in a speed/power mold. Desultor are more about blowing you over with these brazen, textured floods of chords and tremolo picked guitars over tight and muscular drumming that very often accelerates into a pure blast beat. It's this extremity that will be sure to win over the younger crowds, since Masters of Hate almost never lets up with regards to its sheer force. There are segments of more progressive, melodic and slower guitars embedded in a number of the tracks (like "Black Monday" and "The Luxury of Pain"), usually surrounding the fulfilling lead sequences, but for most of the 34 minutes they are content with tearing us a new one, and they do so with a mechanical precision that is frightening.

About the only thing here that doesn't really stand out much is the bass, which is contributed by a guest musician; but not because you can't hear it barreling along in the mix, it's just impossible to consciously register it next to the vocals, drumming and corpulent guitar tone. The band is not afraid to incorporate more aggressive snarls and sneers where it suits the music, from a rasp to a more gruff tone, but these points never feel quite so distinctive as Joha's memorable, unique chorus patterns in tracks like "Division Insane" or the crazy "Caged". As I hinted, the leads here are quite well written, never unique or innovative but sure to sate fans of Jeff Loomis, Dave Mustaine or other comparable axe luminaries. Yet it's the rhythm guitar that really exacts the most emotional damage, from the insane matrix of tremolo hammering to the brighter spikes of clinical thrash that pepper "Denies", which is perhaps my favorite single track here.

All told, Masters of Hate is one of those albums capable of playing to a broad audience. Those into faster, modern power or thrash metal which sounds as if it escaped the 80s, the more aggressive melodeath acts out of Scandinavia (Darkane, etc), hell even people into the rather generic 'extreme' mutations you hear in the gimmick band Dethklok will appreciate the music (if not the vocals). But don't mistake Desultor for some shallow, emerging trend. They know just how to rein in their skills and keep control of their compositions. None of these explode past the 5 minute limit, and most are held to a respectable 3-4 minutes of ass kicking with few if any arbitrary indulgences. I found that it lost a layer or two of shine after a half dozen listens or so, the lyrics I've seen were rather bland, and I wouldn't brand a number of tracks unforgettable. However, it's talented, fun and fresh, and I have no doubt we'll be hearing a lot more from them once this starts to circulate.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (we are all beneath contempt)

http://www.myspace.com/desultorsweden

Outcast - Awaken the Reason (2012)

Awaken the Reason might not seem such a progressive long jump from its predecessor Self-Injected Reality, as much as that album was from Outcast's debut First Call/Last Warning. But it's easily another victory in the French band's repertoire, and proof positive that they're one of the absolute best acts evolving the mathematical, grooving 'djent' genre from its Swedish instigators Meshuggah. Granted, I understand that the use of 'djent' is often restricted to those younger bands that embrace it, but certainly the grooves on this album are representative of that style pioneered on albums like Destroy Erase Improve or Chaosphere, fashioned into jerky, seismic mutations of standard tempo chugging breakdowns. And though I'm sure the band get tired of the comparisons, I must also say that the harsher vocals of Wilfried Fagnon bear strong resemblance to Jens Kidman's percussive invective.

That said, Outcast are one of the few groups in my opinion that are actually 'forwarding' this sound through their application of jazzy, irradiating death/thrash leads and patterns that are even more complex than what the Swedes offer us at their most manic. There is almost always this richness of content compacted into each of the tracks, whether the bouncier maneuvers of "Elements" with its dissonant patois or the brief, spurious "A Solace from the Shade" which plays out like a hybrid of Fear Factory chorus climaxes and technical, surgical thrashing rhythms on par with bands like Theory in Practice as it lurches into its broken but intense math grooves. The leads are generally brief and insane, the band reluctant to gorge itself on its obvious musical prowess, but the real show are the brilliant picking and tapping pattens instated through pieces like the excellent "Fallen Years" (around the 3:00 minute mark) or the swerving yet melodic slugfest that is "Man's Last Failure". Even better, Awaken the Reason is strewn with interludes and breaks in the action which serve to pace it out better than similar albums that attempt an all out rhythmic onslaught on listeners.

"Awaken the Reason Pt. IV: When Dawn Brings Clarity" is a three and half minute instrumental featuring a prominent piano and some ambiance, while the opening tones of closer "Awaken the Reason Pt. XI: Reprise" and "Isolation" open with some dirty, resonant cleans. There is also the use of both deeper gutturals and more atmospheric vocal lines woven through the album to offer some respite from the prominent barking timbre, and these are managed quite well. As far as production, Awaken the Reason is pretty much in lockstep with most modern artists in the niche, with all the guitars and drums quite clear, and the bass set an appropriate lower angle which nudges its way easily towards the ears even if it's not so reactive and prominent as the higher tones. Ultimately, while I enjoyed Self-Injected Reality slightly more as a progressive step for the whole Meshuggah/Special Defects sound, Awaken the Reason does prove that its predecessor was no fluke. Outcast is one hell of a band, and though they're more complex than countrymen Gojira, I'd be stunned if they couldn't eventually reach that level of attention.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://www.facebook.com/outcastofficial

Bothildir - For What Once Was... (2006)

Bothildir is a project involving the drummer/vocalist Adroth, who also works in various other New England black metal projects like Shadar Logoth and the more recent, impressive Infera Bruo, but unlike those groups, this is music he has written, performed and recorded entirely on his own. To that extent, For What Once Was... does suffer from a few of the problems that plague a lot of one man, bedroom/basement black metal outings. The production has a few crippling obstacles, especially in the guitar tone, that I found difficult to hurdle, and the music itself doesn't feel quite as distinct as some of the later work he's involved with. That said, For What Once Was... is not entirely lacking in creativity; and considering this was an earlier manifestation of the man's talents, and not put out through a label or dealt a large budget, expectations should not run through the roof to begin with.

Bothildir was certainly going for a sound akin to those from the early through mid-90s classics circa Scandinavia, in particular you can hear some Immortal or Satyricon influence, maybe a dash of Burzum's evil tremolo picking. However, the synth tones he incorporates give the material a far more bombastic feel, something you'd expect more from the mug swilling pagan battle metal of a Bal-Sagoth, Equilibrium, Turisas, or perhaps even Summoning. Thus, the seriousness of the grimier riffs is in a charger like "Atrocities of Mankind" is counterbalanced by a more brazen, majestic, lighter tendency. There are a few pure orchestral/synthesizer pieces on the album, "The Misanthrope" and "Prelude: Beyond Majestic Mountains" which definitely have a bit of an earlier Nobuo Uematsu/Final Fantasy feel to their construction, and Ardroth experiments with a deeper, narrative clean tone on the title track, or a folksy Ulver like acoustic adjoined to creepy keys on the intro to "Dominion", one of the best moments of the album.

Hell, I think I even made out a Princess Mononoke sample (from the English dub) on that very song, and it featured one of the more hypnotic tremolo guitar progressions on the album in the verse. Another I enjoyed was "Entities of Putrid Cognizance", which has a dirtier, oblique mix to it but centers about these great, thrashing warlike guitars that weave well with the synthesizers that come in after a few measures. On the other hand, this song, and several others, certainly showcase one of the album's flaws: an inconsistent production between tracks that perhaps too overtly reveals an individuality that betrays the sum flow of the experience. Whether they were just recorded at different periods with different tones is understandable, but it lends the music a rather cobbled together feel. I also disliked the chugging guitar tone here, especially in the song "With Luciferian Pride" where it felt the most clunky grooving along, but really the mix of the guitars is lacking throughout.

Also, the decrepit rasping, while suited to the material, never really stood out to me, pretty average for the style and lacking of the venom and vitriol of its influences (Darkthrone, Satyricon and so forth). The overall impression I was left with was that, while I personally share a lot of Ardroth's tastes and inspirations, that the music itself never really broke the mold of so many others following this path. However, there are some strengths here which would be impossible to deny. The lyrics, at least those I've read for "Atrocities...", are decent and swollen with poignant imagery, if a bit haughty. Ardroth can write some pretty catchy, hypnotic guitar licks in what is generally a fairly stagnant niche ("Atrocities..." and "Dominion" in particular). The album also casts this palpable, balanced shadow of rustic scenery and glorious archaic warfare, so at the very least it succeeds in offering some escape to the listener, which is really the key.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (thundering crashes devoid of love)

http://www.myspace.com/bothildir

Weregoat - Unholy Exaltation of Fullmoon Perversity EP (2012)

Weregoat is a band bred for a particular atmosphere of grave soil churning primacy and hideous ritual evil. A trio that, while offering almost nothing original whatsoever, manages to even trump its own influences with such a flawless execution of focused filth. Simple and ridiculous lyrics that might read like the menu if Hells Headbanger Records were a cafe and not a music label. Repulsive guitar tone that plays like a mix of Autopsy and early Swedish bands like Carnage or Nihilist from their earlier inceptions. Ominous gutturals that are near indecipherable and sound like they are being howled at you from the confines of a forsaken sepulcher. Spikes, leather and absurd stage names 'Sadoseducer', 'Nocturnal Hellfuker' and 'Indiscriminate Impregnator' (I'm still laughing from that last one) which reek of Hellhammer and Blasphemy.

All of this seems like it could be the perfect recipe for some typical, disaffected throwback to the popular surge of early 90s extreme metal worship that I'm constantly hearing and growing tired of; yet Weregoat are so strong in this medium that they almost instantaneously refresh it. Like the first time you turned 17 and went to a frightening horror movie, or put on a death metal disc back in the late 80s and were astonished at just how disgusting it was. Yeah, Unholy Exaltation of Fullmoon Perversity is 'retro', and nostalgic, but it's such a well executed EP that it easily belongs in the collection of any connoisseur of ghastly, morbid proto-death/black metal. The guitar tone is a beautiful thing, as if they made concrete from a mix of sewer slime and cemetery soil and laid it out as the foundation for their terrors.

I love the grisly feedback and yawning ambiance they use sparsely throughout the record, or the wild and airy, urgent leads they spit into the vaunted ceiling of "Nuclear Cunt". The solemn and distant melodies used to accent the rhythm-sludge in the bridge of "Invoke the Black Oblivion". The dense grooves bisecting "The Hideous Stench of Occult Slaughter" which play out like a mix of Realm of Chaos-era Bolt Thrower and Symphonies of Sickness Carcass. The laid back tinniness of the drumming, which despite hovering at the edge of the perception behind the huge resonance of the vocals or the churning guitar tone, seems as if it was cast at the perfect volume. The balance of shorter undead bursts like "By the Light of the Moon" and "Antichrist Kommand" with more swollen, structured miasmas like "Invoke the Black Oblivion" and "Nocturnal Hunt". The fact that at 8 tracks and 25 minutes, it never comes close to wearing out its welcome.

Sure, Weregoat is a derivative band, and they don't hide it. The riffs, while all quite catchy in the context of the atmosphere, are not complex or individually memorable when taken away from the whole. The composition is about as subtle as molestation circa rabid gorillas. The lyrics as misogynistic and disturbing as possible. Some of the members hail from acts like Engorged, Ritual Necromancy, Splatterhouse, Lord Gore, and Frightmare, so primitive death and black metal is old hat. But for whatever reason, I have not been able to stop spinning this fucking music. They've dialed my erogenous gore-spot and continue to apply pressure as they bleat and baaaa off into the sickening lunar night.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (annihilation, inverting creation)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Weregoat/194437767248125