Witchery - Nightside (2022)

Restless & Dead was one of my favorite metal albums of the later 90s, an absolute blitz of memorable songs performed in a legit hybrid of thrash, speed and black metal that I was completely in love with. They held it down to an extent with Dead, Hot and Ready, and have had a few reasonable full-lengths in the ensuing decades, but like their sister act The Haunted, I feel like a lot of the songwriting, particularly the riffs seem like they're just drawn from a grab bag of average fare, tucked into songs, slathered with whatever vocalist they can find at the time who sounds louder than Toxine but doesn't have the benefit of good tunes to back him up. The fire and energy have often just felt absent from the band, like it's an obligation that they just occasionally revisit when they remember there's still a fan base out there.

I'd love to report that Nightside is some return to form, but for most of its running length it's bog standard black & roll with a series of riffs that sound utterly uninspired and effortless, drawn from the good old legacy of Venom and the 'head, sometimes flowing more in a pure black/thrash direction like the "Storm of the Unborn" intro. Most of the momentum can only be provided by the drums or background choir ambiance even there, or the appreciably fat bass tone of Victor Brandt, because the rhythm guitars just don't do much for me. A squirrely, atmospheric lead, maybe, but otherwise it can become fairly vapid material. When the band is cranking out as much force as it can, in one of the singles, "Popecrusher", or the similar "Churchburner", it nearly reaches the levels of yesteryear, but then again you just keep waiting for some great breakdown or melody or something to rise above the din, and it only 'nearly' gets there every time. The vocalist, Anders Norder, who is on his third Witchery record, has the style they've always been using, a growlier spin on the black/thrash rasp, but he often comes off a little overbearing than the riffs, making them fade a bit into the undercurrent.

Production is fine, and the album is overall packed with enough heat not to feel completely phoned in, but the songs just don't stand out to memory as much as I'd want. "Crucifix and Candle" with its more moderate rocking swagger, is a slight departure, but even that doesn't throw me any surprises that would elevate the experience, and the closer, "Nightside", which alternates between slower, doomy grooves and sparse atmospheric parts with whispered guest vocals, is my favorite track here. "A Forest of Burning Coffins" has a great title but goes too over the top to provide a brutal thrasher with only a slight melodic payoff. In the end, this one just ranks between its two predecessors for me, still a crooked mile away from the inspiring works of the band's formation, but never quite sucking either, it's just there are literally dozens of black & roll, black/thrash/speed or whatever groups in this subgenre that do it all so much better nowadays. Compare this to the latest from Hellripper, or Knife, or Cruel Force, or Antichrist...Nightside keeps the Swedes on the tracks, but the engine continues to sputter along with only brief surges of quality mileage. The cover art...I get it, but kind of an eyesore.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/officialwitchery

Thou Art Lord - Daemoniorum EP (2022)

The Magus has really been on a tear in the last couple years, offering up fiery revivals of some of his popular bands, and even forming a new solo project which has plenty to offer the Hellenic black metal advocate. In 2022 he laid Necromantia to rest with a brilliant tribute album to the late Baron Blood which was one of my favorites of that year, even if it eschewed that project's bass-driven roots for something more overtly symphonic and accessible. There was also a new EP release for Thou Art Lord, and like the aforementioned, it takes on a slightly more polished and contemporary sound without betraying a 30 year legacy. Having Necromayhem (Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ) and drummer J. Maelstrom back on board doesn't hurt, and the three blaze what must be the fastest trail this Greek act has ever cleared.

Three tracks, all around 2-3 minutes, totally less than 10 minutes, and just blowing the listener the fuck away with memorable melodic guitar lines, perfectly rasped vocals, and snappy drums. Sakis must have wanted to get this stuff out of his system for a long time, it's absolutely written with the Hellenic style in mind, but really faster than you'd expect from most of his stuff, almost like it was a later Rotting Christ record which someone set at the wrong speed on a turntable (especially the opener "Hades"). There's a slight atmosphere of choir on the excellent "The Black Halo", and "Fire, Chaos and Doom" has a bit of a speed metal/punk propulsion to it which is quite a cool balance against the more epic feel of the other two tracks. Production is likewise awesome, just airy and clear without sounding digital or poppy, it conducts this EP like a trio of winds howling at you from high on an ancient temple, Gods and mischief, sacrifices and fornication splayed out below your gaze and grasp. If they do follow this one up with another full length, I hope it's got a bit more dynamic variation, for that is the one flaw here, but as it stands I think you can pick these tunes up on a reissue of DV8 if you don't want the download or the 7". Exciting stuff.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/thouartlordofficial/

Septicflesh - Reconstruction EP (2023)

Reconstruction is essentially the leftovers for those of who don't have a particular version of the Modern Primitive full-length to chew on, and I happen to be one of those poor schlubs, hearing these for the first time when I had access to the digital files. As it turns out, these are purely symphonic, cinematic pieces that don't incorporate the death metal elements the band have been built upon. However, they do possess the same glance back at the great times of antiquity, perhaps more so than the heavier tracks, and the Philharmonic really gets to excel over these pieces with the freedom from accompanying the dark grooves and the extreme metal drumming. Both "Salvation" and "The 14th Part" are pretty good, especially the choirs and vocals of the former, which set up a sort of audio play, sometimes creepy, in which to lose yourself.

The final track is the pure symphonic rendition of "Coming Storm" without the aggressive instruments, and this too is quite cool to experience, like a rousing scene in a film where battle is joined or there is some great escape from disaster. The depth here is wonderful, equivalent to what you'd hear in a film or video game score, and proves again the multi-faceted talents of Septicflesh composers, and what having those broader interests can bring into their metal music. Ultimately it's not the most memorable stuff, but if you're into dark opera then it's worth hearing even if you don't like death metal. I'd definitely at least recommend that, if you haven't picked up Modern Primitive, you get the version that includes this for additional value if the price difference isn't too great. It's a fine addition and bumps up the album just a fraction in my estimation. But on its own, a well-executed if passing curiosity.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://www.septicflesh.com/

Septicflesh - Modern Primitive (2022)

Modern Primitive is now the sixth album in this heavily symphonic, modern phase of Septicflesh's career, which has never produced a single stinker, and yet for all the quality, I can't help but feel a little tired of the whole affair. Granted, when I want a giant orchestrated blast to the face, I will happily mend my ways and turn back to the Greek juggernaut's unparalleled commitment to this style, but I do from time to time miss the 'innocence', or maybe that's not the right word, but the more subtle mysticism of their older recordings, and wish they might find a bridge between the two. What I can say for this album is that it has a mildly more organic feel to its production values...it doesn't feel quite so large and stunning, as if you're standing in some modern museum, but this one almost has a live vibe going on that I appreciate, even though they are still collaborating with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Otherwise, it does feel a lot like a Codex Omega II. Loping grooves that occasionally shift into the harmonic melodies or dissonant chords, enormous percussion between the actual drummer, Krimh, and the orchestra timpani and other drums that crash along. The songwriting actually feels a margin more intricate than the prior album or two, but it's somewhat interchangeable do to the constant, rolling chugs. Spiros' vocals are your usual massive guttural but often affixed with some snarls to create an additional depth, and I think this more natural production also makes him sound a little more ominous. The songs often have a more sporadic and progressive feel to them, like the crazy and chaotic "Coming Storm", but that's not to say they're always interesting, just swinging more for the fences where Codex Omega might have come off a little more conservative to the strengths of the albums before it. The chemistry between tracks is still just as potent, but I have a few hear that I could escape into more than others, such as "A Desert Throne" and "Self-Eater" with their eerie or glorious atmospheric sequences. "Psychohistory" is another one that benefits a lot from the symphonics, erupting blast beats and dreamy, carried-away vibe.

I'll still give the nod to Codex Omega over this, and this one doesn't have me howling in ecstasy quite like The Great Mass, which was a simpler affair but for me the one that best exemplified this style with the catchiest tracks of the era. If you're not exhausted yet with this phase in their career, then I can't imagine this one is going to turn you off...it brings the goods, and tries to submerge them in a fresher audio space, but there might not be quite enough to expand them into new horizons. I feel like this is probably the point where the band would take a hiatus, Spiros and Sotiros and company plotting out a more nuanced and compulsory evolution forward, but for all I know we'll get another half dozen of these records with their deformed, statuesque cover beings and the same sort of grandiloquent, symphonic aesthetics that their material has transformed into exclusively. And of course I'll be there if I still draw breath, but the shine is starting to wane a bit.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.septicflesh.com/  

Septicflesh - Infernus Sinfonica MMXIX (2020)

It's somewhat disgusting to me that a band like Septicflesh can bring so many elements to the table and still sound so fucking professional in the live setting. If you told me this was just clips of their recent studio LPs with a little bit of live audience/ambiance sound thrown in, a few knobs tweaked to make it sound like a smidgeon messier, then I might believe you. But, no, the Greeks can travel to Mexico City, have another orchestra join them (Toluca Philharmonic) and then sound as perfect as this, just fuck off already! I kid, and in fact I'm happy to have listened through this, because as brickwalled and flawless as some of these tunes sound on their studio incarnations, the live performance of the Orchestra brings out an acoustic depth that is often missing in those more sterile enclosures... 

The crowd banter is good, Spiros sounds like he's barking out lots of rock & roll theatrics throughout the whole songs, the track selection is also quite good, visiting a lot of their recent efforts and especially some of my personal favorites off The Great Mass like "Pyramid God" and "The Vampire from Nazareth", which sound truly epic. If you're a big fan of the band's earlier catalog, they don't really bring that forward into this style, which could be interesting, as I think a lot of the elements in those tunes would lend themselves well to orchestrated modernization, but if you're into the entire Sumerian Daemons and beyond era of Septicflesh, you will be in paradise across the two discs. It's one of the better studio translations I've experienced on this kind of release, and maybe even too good if you're hoping to hear a lot of improvisations or minor changes in how they perform the material outside the safety of a studio. To even think that bands like this which used to be, for me, underground death metal bands that I could rarely even find anyone to talk about with, are now on such a level as to perform internationally with such a massive production is the most jaw-dropping thing about it...

There's also a DVD to go along with the audio, and I think this is becoming the new standard for this sort of packaging, which is a good value for the fans. Video quality is quite good here, and of course it feels just that much more magnificent when you can see the large orchestra playing as the band dances around in their strange Clive Barker-world leather costumes and the audience pumping their hands in the air, despite the serious mysticism and intensity of the bands' themes, everyone is having fun and it just goes to show that this is a band which has your back. Septicflesh doesn't fuck around, if they're going to put this together, they're going to do it right, and they did, and kudos to them for doing so. One of the best live album sets on my shelf.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.septicflesh.com/

Septicflesh - Codex Omega (2017)

Septicflesh have become such solid composers, and so synonymous within the symphonic death metal medium that it's hard to believe they could ever truly cock it up, and Codex Omega is another success in that category. It does falter in the same way that a lot of records of this style tend to, but in terms of capturing the Greeks' mythos and esoteric occult lyricism and themes, lending them a larger-than-life, exoticism, this is one of their better rounded efforts since Sumerian Daemons really kicked off this modern stint of their career. They do keep going back to that well, and it has become very heavily produced and for some a little too clean if you miss the hazier atmosphere of their early works, but it's hard not to put one of these 21st century 'flesh records on in your card and hear the rumbling orchestral apocalypse and not nod in admiration.

And that rhythmic battery and volume is so important to an album like Codex Omega, because it's the ticket to its grandiosity, just that modern, sweltering arrangement that washes over you like a cyclops or titan's boot on the way to its personal hot spring. Spiros continues with that bold if monotonous guttural that works so well in unison with the intense drumming, and the bass and orchestration are also highlights of its straight-to-the-dome mix. Back that all up with numerous guest vocals in tenor, alto, bass, and soprano and the fucking City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and you've got something lush and weirdly oriental, kind of like a throwback to Celtic Frost's To Mega Therion or Into the Pandemonium but built more in line with the needs of the modern brickwalled audience. Plenty of catchy, well-arranged tunes here that balance the orchestra with the death metal groove, "Martyr" and the dreamy "Faceless Queen" come to mind, tracks that remind me of what I loved so much about an album like The Great Mass. The clean vocals cut through quite nicely where they appear, reminding me of Therion's later 90s and early 00s output before they got a little too limp.

Codex Omega is great, and there's a lot of that, but if there's one area in which it lacks, it's that like so many of these heavily symphonic-infused efforts, the guitars are often reduced to just percussive chug offs that are meant to support the orchestration and choirs rather than strike out much on their own. To be fair, there are some mournful melodies in places, a little dissonance where needed, some solid acoustics, and there are far worse offenders out there, but I just wish the rhythm guitar wouldn't always be the sacrificial lamb in these cases. It's not that it feels terribly 'missed' here, because you've got all that loud chugging, and I don't think they ever had them in mind to begin with, but I'd like it more if they could use more melodies to blend with the other non-metal elements, or at least more complex rhythm patterns for the heavier parts. Maybe a few more tremolo-picked breaks, etc. They do exist here but it does bring the album a bit short of a masterpiece. That said, I don't think much of the audience for an album like this has quite the same concern, and there are some decent evil harmonic riffs and such to sort of fill in that space. Overall, a very good effort here, not their first and probably not their last.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.septicflesh.com/

Varathron - The Crimson Temple (2023)

I haven't been enamored with everything Varathron has ever put out (Crowsreign, I'm looking at you), but they've always struck me as the Greek black metal band which took what it was doing most seriously, and the result is usually a work of depth that keeps me coming back for years, whether we're discussing the earlier albums or the underrated modern epics like Untrodden Corridors of Hades and their last one Patriarchs of Evil. So I know immediately without even hearing a note of The Crimson Temple that I can trust what Stefan and company will manifest into the world, and this time it might be an album that many could consider a consummate Hellenic black metal work, one that can withstand almost all scrutiny and hopefully match the timelessness of its lofty forebears.

Note, I'm not saying it's the best, or my favorite for that scene, but if you had someone who wasn't in the know inquiring about the distinction of this niche, The Crimson Temple does it all and then some. Not a 'starter kit', mind you, but an album which is probably accessible to those new to the sound. You have the incorporation of glorious metal melodies into the hammering black substrate, with rhythmic patterns that wouldn't be foreign to their fellows like Rotting Christ. Necroabyssious has just one of those iconic rasped vocals, one of the best in the medium, capable of some sneer and sustain but usually just barking along to the beats and guitars with the utmost occult class. The drumming is great, tribal and ritualistic and definitely helps enhance the more folksy moments of this album, whether they be nestled into the harder tracks like "Crypts in the Mist" or the amazingly festive intro "Ascension". Choirs and other native style instruments are non-intrusive and tastefully implemented only to the elevation of the material.

Most importantly, this is super consistent material, and while it all feels coherent in style, they can throw you for a few loops like the slightly doomier, awesomeness "To the Gods of Yore", the charging force of "Immortalis Regnum Diaboli", or the aforementioned tribal bits which take you back to the ancient times which weigh heavy on Varathron's imagination. All this with a glorious, bombastic production which does justice to all of the instrumentation without being overwrought. Are these always the catchiest guitar riffs in their catalog? Not necessarily, and I'd also add that this is hardly the darkest of their works, I feel like Untrodden Corridors of Hades takes that crown, but this is just so brazen, exotic, and magnificent busting out of my speakers that I couldn't care less. Hellenic black metal royalty retained.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://varathron.com/

Vektor/Cryptosis - Transmissions of Chaos (2021)

 Transmissions of Chaos is the first Vektor release since the band's troubles and dissolution in 2016, and they've chosen to share it with the comparable Dutch act Cryptosis, who were poised to release a pretty good debut in Bionic Swarm that same year. The pairing is a good one, both bands having a fusion of technical thrash and death elements, without sounding quite the same, but complementary to the other, which is more than I can say for a lot of bands that decide to share wax (or tape) like this. The futurist/sci-fi/cyborg thematic elements also jive pretty well in unison, and if there were any hope for a New Wave of Science Fiction Death/Thrash, these would certainly be two of the flag carriers launching their vessels out in the cosmos.

The Arizonans had been doing it for years, after all, and their contribution here pretty much picks up from where they left off on the great Terminal Redux. Kinetic riffing passages powered by David's nasty vocals, flurries of clinical melodies that give it that cosmic or otherworldly feel, hearkening back to Voivod although Vektor doesn't quite play with the same guitar language that Piggy created for the Canadians; instead it's more of a cutting edge progressive metal style with a bit more consonance to it, lots of lines reminiscent of Florida's Cynic and other bands of that ilk. The tunes here are not their catchiest, and a little chaotic in how there is the flux between the cleaner guitars and the space-shark-like frenzy in "Activate", or the cleaner vocal sections of "Dead by Dawn", a more elaborate track on which they're trying something new. Interesting material, and the bass playing of Stephen Coon is a standout, along with the estimable duo of DiSanto and Nelson, but probably better to have been committed to this limited release rather than a proper new full album.

I think it is Cryptosis who have penned the more cohesive material for this, and I was really feeling the hyper-riffing and ravenous barks of "Decypher" that break out into some catchy, Middle Eastern sounding melodies. The drumming is sick here, the production explosive and it just feels more impressive as a song than anything on 'Side A'. "Prospect of Immortality" is another strong piece, slower but longer and more involved (the second side is set up quite like Vektor's). I also loved the leads, the bass tone, honestly these are two of the band's better tracks...but that's also where Transmissions loses a bit of value. Both of these would appear on Bionic Swarm, and though they do match well enough with Vektor, they match a lot better with themselves, and are thus better experienced on that full-length. Assuming DiSanto and company might remix or re-record or include them with a future release, either as part of the core track list or bonus content, this split might become completely irrelevant. So bear that in mind, but if you're a big fan of the Arizonans, and this is the only place it's ever available, it might just be worth it.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/VektorOfficial

https://cryptosis.net/

Vektor - Terminal Redux (2016)

By the time Terminal Redux dropped, Vektor was already on a trajectory towards the stars, and I don't just mean the ones out in space that they so love to sing about, but the popularity contest that is American brutal or technical death metal, deathcore, and such. Though they already had two fantastic records under their belts, it seemed like it was this one where suddenly everyone started chattering about them everywhere, placing them on their year's end lists and starting to take it all very seriously. It's not hard to understand why, because the musicianship was formidable, there's a lot of weaponry DiSanto and company could attack with, and they were just plain ambitious when the idea of a technical death/thrash band seemed like an idea that was restrained to Florida and certain parts of Europe in the later 80s and early 90s.

There just weren't a lot of bands channeling Voivod, Cynic, Atheist, Deathrow, old Pestilence, and the like, and these are all components you might hear in Vektor's sound, though to their great credit, they are a copy of none of these. These cats have their own ideas, and Terminal Redux is quite a progressive offering, from the constantly shifting tone and riffing styles, to the ideas like the ethereal backing vocals on a couple of the tracks. This record is an adventure, one in which you don't know where all the turns are coming until you've experienced the entirely a few times over, and that's one of its strengths. Although Dave DiSanto's raspy vocals unify the whole, there's a huge plethora of rhythmic dynamics here, riffing sequences that feel like they took quite some effort to put together with all the instruments, and a penchant for longer tunes that don't ever really grow too tiresome or boring. Is there a bit of self-indulgence and excess? Perhaps, but nothing that terribly surpasses or even rivals many other technical death metal acts or shredders of the past, and it all comes together into a varied assault that largely sticks the landing.

The lyrics are nerdy, excellent excursions into science and science fictional concepts, which can transport the listener to the extra-terrestrial realms the band wants to inhabit, I wasn't paying attention enough to tell if this was a coherent story, but each of the tracks has so much going for it that it wouldn't be necessary. It must be pretty hard to memorize this stuff, so to pull it off in the studio without sounding too artificial is a feat unto itself, and the production is a great complement, crystal clear but honest and never too drowned out in effects or atmosphere that you can't get to the meat of the instrumentation. Terminal Redux does live up to its heights, but it lacked the surprise for me that Black Future achieved, and to a fractionally lesser extent its follow-up Outer Isolation. So this one remains in third place with me, but it certainly feels the most complex and progressive and I can totally understand why others might feel otherwise. Of course, Vektor would hit a wall after this one with the sketchy personal behavior, ensuing breakup and social media shitstorm, so it's a wonder if the band would ever be able to get even crazier than this...certainly the two tracks on the split with Cryptosis do not compare to this material, so we'll have to see if the writing is on the starship walls, or if they can outdo themselves once again with even more labyrinthine song structures.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/VektorOfficial

Ribspreader - Crypt World (2022)

When it comes to Rogga and his thousand death metal projects, I've long since lost the pulse. And who could blame me, because while I was fully on board and interested back when there were just a dozen, I don't think I ever expected the 'central' bands like Paganizer and Ribspreader to remain so prolific through all these years, while so many others were spawned. Yet here we are, with the 9th full-length offering from the latter, and I'm not sure I can properly distinguish it from others by Revolting or whatever else is still kicking around, it's just such an onslaught of middling-to-decent material that I feel like certain chunks could be intermingled, interchanged and none would be the wiser. The rub is that the guy knows his aesthetics damn well, and on almost any album across his career, you can find yourself nodding along or outright headbanging to the finer riffs and leads, and isn't that what matters?

Crypt World has the cool cover artwork that brings you back to the 90s classics, an image that transports you into some cosmic horror/Lovecraftian otherverse where the brutality is the twisted architecture, and sky is grim and you are hopeless flesh to be twisted into the annals of death metal history. The mix is fully competent, with the crunch and burn of the guitars out front, not entirely embracing a typical Swedish HM-2 pedal style tone, but certainly amenable to those seeking that. The riffs range between your fun, flexing d-beat style and then more structured thrashing or Floridian evil. His vocals are gruesome and ugly gutturals, but not too low-pitched, and frankly they feel a little repetitive and underproduced although he does hit some sustain on certain lines and tries not to grow terribly monotonous. I think it's a weakness of this and numerous other efforts, and a bit more time mixing them against the snarls or the thicker riffs would do wonders to make this more memorable. Drums are workmanlike, bass almost never matters through the nine tracks, used only as some concrete reinforcement to the sum battery of the style. The slight industrial metal feel to first verse of "Good Hatchet Fun" is a cute surprise, but not that elaborate.

Quality of riffing itself is solid, nothing too unique or progressive, but there's variation between more open, doomy chords (in "The Bone Church" chorus) and writhing tremolo-picked bits, and some of them sound appropriately menacing and evil despite the factory-churned feel of the production. The leads are a highlight here, whipping and frenzied and often brief, but ramping up the atmosphere that the meat & potatoes death metal lacks elsewhere. Lyrics and song titles are pretty sweet, though they seem like they're pulled from some Rogga AI-generation because of the similarity to so many others, but as I hinted above, the guy just has such a handle on this style that inspired him that he's one of its most ardent emulators and participants. Any time I think I might fall asleep, he knows how to slightly perk my attention with some cutting riff, but as I have thought so many times in the past, what if he merged some of these projects together, took more time refining the best of his ideas, forging the best goddamn throwback death metal the world over? I think he might just do that if he wasn't Rib-spreading himself so thin, and though Crypt World is an effective enough disc, fun for a couple spins, it just can't be more because it feels so slated into a schedule.

Verdict: Win [7/10]
 
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044948155884