Praise the Flame - Profane Cult EP (2013)

Praise the Flame is another in the trifecta of Chilean bands, including Malignant Asceticism and Horrifying, to see a vinyl issue through Blood Harvest records of Sweden; and of the three discs, I'd have to say this was also my clear favorite. This was put out earlier this year through Apocalyptic Productions, native to the South American scene, but entirely slipped past my attention. Lethal, incendiary old school blackened/thrashing death metal which took me back to the Brazilian and German scenes in the wake of the first few Slayer LPs. Recalling everything from ancient Kreator and Sodom recordings to a bit of the oldest Sepultura, Profane Cult is delivered with this brazen, monstrous production which really drives home its sinister, unforgiving speed.

I have to say I love the structure of the original EP, expertly bookended with a haunting, warped choral intro ("Perpetual Covenant") and a noisy/spectacle "Outro" smothered in distortion and freakish acid synthesizer tones. Nestled into this experimentation are four blazing originals that seemed like they just escaped a Hellish prison camp together, waiting for the demonic chain-gang supervisor to look the other way and then fording a river of magma back to the world of the living, dragging their molten manacles all the way! The fast picked, richly toned tremolo guitars simply burn the listener through exposure, and they vary up riffing progressions plenty and then cut into them with wild, frivolous leads and squeals while the one constant is the sustained, bloody guttural vocal which just fucking howls over the calamitous intensity and speed. I'm not saying that a lot of the writing here is terribly original, but it sounds so fiery and fresh and unforgiving that it's hard not to think of this as a South American/Teutonic rebirth of what made all those bands sound so evil in the first place.

The drumming is great and really contributes to the chaos with belligerently absurd blast beats that burst out straight into a snappy-paced thrash pattern; though some of it can get a little confusing with the constantly warping rhythm patterns. Bass is fast and choppy but you can certainly make it out when you concentrate, and hear the fills and grooves being applied to the rhythmic razors. Lots of riffs here that will make fans of black/thrash cults like Ketzer, Cruel Force, Antichrist, Nocturnal and Witchtrap happy without being too close in execution. There's also a bonus here in addition to the original EP material; a well rendered, nasty cover of "Before the Creation of Time" via Sweden's Unleashed. Not actually the first thing I'd expect them to include, you figure they'd go the safe route and do something from early Bathory, Venom or more appropriately Hell Awaits, but they pull it off without clashing too much with their own writing. The 12" also has revamped cover artwork (superior to the original). Not the most thematically original style, perhaps, and not note-for-note perfect, but Praise the Flame's raucous energy and infernal effort really sell this stuff. Much fun for the leather, spikes, and Satan crowd.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (Oh Lord, grant them damnation)

http://praisetheflame.bandcamp.com/

Malignant Asceticism - Ascensum Serpens EP (2013)

10 minutes of black metal is rarely enough to build a strong or negative impression of a particular black metal band, but nonetheless that is the format of Malignant Asceticism's first official label release, a limited press EP. This is a Chilean act with a pair of self-issued cassette demos behind them, and a few members hailing from an equally obscure death metal act Putrid Skill, but Ascensum Serpens this is my own first run in with their music, and I came away with a fairly average reaction to the tracks. Not particularly unique or inspiring, but if there's one thing I did enjoy it was their commitment to tempering the traditional aesthetics of the genre with a creepier, atmospheric element that plays out in both the guitars and vocals.

This is far more the case with the song "Seventh Breath", which features some cycled chanting over the thick, roiling guitars in the opening, and then some nasty, dissonant tremolo picking which they relish with some cleaner, backing repetitions that give you the sense you're in some cult horror flick about to 'discover' that you're right fucked. Otherwise, this is pretty basic, caustic black metal with a lot of emphasis on the guitar tone and bass, the former of which is filthy and unrelenting, the latter a bit louder than usual though it only stands out beneath a few of the chord changes. Vocals are nihilistic layers of barks and snarls that have a good sustain/echo to them, though the louder growl is somewhat monotonous and doesn't develop a lot of personality to compete with the more wretched sounding guitar. On the other hand, the drums possess a very real and raw aggression, with rich bucket kicks during the blast sequences and some storming, slashing cymbals. The foot speed is pretty solid and they go for a more sincere, live percussive atmosphere than being picked over excessively in the studio.

The other track, "The Black Dance" isn't quite as compelling as "Seventh Breath", but it has more of a straight, chord driven charge accompanied by blast beats that started off reminding me of classic records like De Mysteriis dom Sathanas or Transilvanian Hunger with a fraction of faintly hidden melody and then a dense, spacious, bridge segment with droning tremolo guitars that took it all to left field where it became a little more interesting, and then built a consistency with "Seventh Breath" in terms of the obscure ground the Chileans seek to cover. But apart from its few sinister, atmospheric flourishes, I can't really claim that the songs really stood out to me. Perhaps because there's just not enough here to get lost in, or that the choices of chords weren't infectiously interesting. They do honor to the 'malignant' in their moniker, because there is potential here for some really eerie, threatening material, and they're far from incompetent, but I didn't get a lot of replay value out of these particular tunes. So other than collectors seeking out limited issue occult black metal records, this could be a 'wait for the full length' situation.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

Horrifying - Euphoric Existence EP (2013)

As the wheels of ancient, ghastly death metal continue to grind along a highway of human flesh and bones, the chorus of engines is joined by past-obsessed acts the world over. It was largely a European/USA thing at one point, but now Central and South America have chimed in with a good number of acts, some of whom are pretty interesting, others not so much. As for Horrifying, a Chilean act releasing a new, limited 7" EP through Blood Harvest records, one of the most devoted labels of this decrepit old school revivalism, this is more of a stretch into the deep past of death metal. Not a Swedening, not a particularly cavernous sounding affair, but something that recounts the raw roots of the form.

There isn't a damned thing on this small collection of tracks which sounds like it was written post-1992, not a single technique here brings to mind anything remotely modern beyond, say, Onward to Golgotha, and even then they don't utilize the Craig Pillard style gutturals, but more of a mid-ranged, partial hybrid between a bark and a rasp that feels entirely caustic and primitive. But, being this archaic in nature is not necessarily enough to titillate the imagination with delicious nostalgia, the thing needs riffs...and to their credit, while there is nothing even marginally original presented throughout Euphoric Existence, the song-craft on the two longer tracks is varied and at least respectable. For instance, the title track sounds like a rawer interpretation of something circa Scream Bloody Gore but with a more echoed, evil vocal style and a huge breakdown with atonal squeals that would have also felt at home on a pre-1990 death metal prototype, not to mention that it does continue to grow slower into a massive, death/doom lurch that keeps the listener engaged.

The other stronger tune here is "Petrifying Hallucinations" which relies heavily on dark, dense tremolo picked patterns that sound like a mashup of old Death and Incantation, only with some zipping, sinister guitars and that raucous vocal performance. Really loved the totally off the cuff, messy lead sequence embedded there and the surgical thrash/death riffs often coursing through the surge. Can't say I was quite so impressed with the opening, under 2 minute piece ("An Agonic Death") but it had a similar effect to this song. At any rate, the production is pretty steady and consistent throughout the 12 minutes of the 7". Both rhythm and lead guitars are possessed of an unpolished primacy that stirs the guts, but clear enough if you pay attention. The drums are expressive, nasty and loud, with a lot of blasting, storm-like fills but also the ability to break it down to a barebones, sparse rhythm for the second track. It's definitely an invigorating and exciting sound to it, despite the obvious age of the approach, but that's not to say the riffs are all great or interesting.

Regardless, there is an audience for this and I find it hard to believe they'd be disappointed with Euphoric Existence, even if it serves only as a teaser for something more substantial in the future. I've honestly grown a little fatigued with this stuff lately, since not a lot of bands are doing anything different or bringing much of a unique identity to the style, and there are just so many new bands emerging into it. But Horrifying is without question a competent newcomer. I found that they were adept at capturing their intended atmosphere, and keeping the songs punishing and morbid, even if it wasn't quite as memorable as the stuff groups like Horrendous and Morbus Chron have been releasing. Raw, unruly and determined, but there still might be a distance to go in the songwriting.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://horrifying.bandcamp.com/

Scalpel - Sorrow and Skin (2013)

Scalpel is another local Massachusetts band, that, up until now, I had honestly never heard of, but thankfully a pretty strong entrant into a field that includes acts like Abnormality and Zealotry. What's more, they've got a pretty curious take on classic 90s brutality which I'd liken to a more 'musical', multidimensional or visionary alternative to later Barnes era Cannibal Corpse (i.e. The Bleeding) interspersed with a number of outright grinding onslaughts and Morbid Angel level technicality. The primitive aesthetics are apparent, from the throwback cover artwork to the calamitous blasted sequences and dual guttural/snarl vocals, this definitely doesn't sound like your typical modern tech death with its ultra brickwalled and polished production parameters.

Sorrow and Skin is one of those rare records in this niche that you'll feel compelled to listen to through its entirety, which speaks a lot for the effort and love that went into the songwriting. Few of the individual riffs or components might come off as fresh as original when broken down, but it's not like the band has pretensions of becoming trendsetters: they love a variety of old school death metal and honor it by butchering your ears with a crafty barrage of varied riffing progressions. The wailing leads in tunes like "Ripe" or the opening of  "Mincemaster" are an immediate standout, desperate and memorable and not at all the sort of clinical and methodic spasms you'd expect from this genre. As for the rhythm guitars themselves, you've got a lot of those deeper, ominous octave chords sliding around, frenzied tremolo patterns picked individually or through chords, and a surprising level of melody embedded into the churning morass. But even better, when this band breaks out into a groove, like in "Mincemaster", they keep it interesting, and seem to entirely eschew the predictable, unimaginative chug patterns so many death and 'core bands lapse into.

They'll even throw a total surprise at you, like "Sorrow and Skin" itself which starts is like an old Death tune imbued with cleaner guitars before picking up the pace. And speaking of pace, the drummer here is maniacal with his kicks and snares blazing away, peppering the beats with loads of extra strikes that always give the music a more harried, chaotic sensibility that keeps the listener on edge. Several of the songs here, like the creepy, surgical "Skullscraper" really highlight the oozy bass guitar tone, though there are other moments where I felt it got a little lost under the pummeling precision of the guitar picking. In terms of vocals, there is nothing out of the ordinary. A strict guttural accented by impish retching, in the Carcass or Deicide mold, but they occasionally incorporate a lighter, grotesque growl like in the verse of "The Black Juices". I'd say this might be where the band most lacks distinction, but they're nonetheless effective, and the vocalists are both multitasking, so you can't always expect the world.

All told, Sorrow and Skin is a fine full-length debut that helps reinvest me into one of the genres I so loved growing up and so earnestly continue to support. That I could wedge this in between listens of The Bleeding, Domination,  Effigy of the Forgotten, Necroticism or even a few Intestine Baalism records and have it fit right in speaks reams of the balance of brutality these gentlemen can muster, and I enjoyed that they were so shamelessly 'songs first'. Rarely on this record did I feel like they just strung a bunch of random jumpy note patterns together to impress anyone with their randomness. The songs all go somewhere, and several of these ("Sentinels of Severed Flesh", "Sorrow and Skin", "Ripe", etc) are among the best I've heard in the genre of late. The album might not be perfect, and I didn't like every track equally, but this is a promising addition to the New England scene which brings its own style and confidence to the game, and its pretty much a given that fans of anything from None So Vile to Pierced from Within to Gallery of Suicide will find something in here to admire.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Scalpelofficial

Vesterian - Anthems for the Coming War Age (2013)

Hollywood is not the first place that comes to mind when I think of black metal, but having now listened through Vesterian's full-length debut Anthems for the Coming War Age, I have to say....fuck it! Let the streets of Tinseltown run red with blood, slay all the starlets and sequels and entertainment biz shysters who have reduced the once proud art of film making to its lowest common denominator status. That double flail and trident ought to do the trick. At any rate, despite this being the band's first proper album, they've been around for nearly two decades now, formerly known as Centurion on their earlier demos and then continuing to churn out material in that format through the later 90s and into the 21st century. Most of the members also have some experience in other, related underground acts from California, and the seasoned approach to classic black metal here really shines through.

Vesterian generates that same atmosphere and excitement I used to feel through the mid 90s when I was starved for releases from Emperor, Marduk, Satyricon, Old Man's Child, Dissection, and much of the extended Scandinavian scene. Fast, evil, unforgiving, and dependent heavily on the sinister repetition of some semi-dissonant chord progressions, potent blast beats, whipping, frenzied and frightening leads (like in "Morax Gates pt.2"), and wrathful barking and snarls. The tremolo picking that dominates the disc is pure hatred, and most of the compositions are pretty substantial, ranging from 6-10 minutes in length. This has a loud, straight to the face mix with the guitars and drums up front, but even though they're rare, the subtler atmospherics like synths or choirs are tastefully managed just to give the driving black metal some added level of texture or immediacy, as if to drown the listener in nocturnal panic. And this is total night music here, no sunshine or soothing sense of melody to reprieve you from its opaque finish, just straightaway black metal that seeks to connect with its audience not out of any purpose of innovation, but through a shared nostalgia. Even the promo pics of the band made me feel as if I'd just been shat back into 1995...

...and that's not necessarily a bad thing, now, is it? Admittedly, the full 61 minutes of Anthems for the Coming War Age can grow a fraction redundant and wouldn't have suffered from some trimming, but it's not as if Vesterian are just endlessly repeating individual riffs. The disc as a whole flows doesn't possess a wide range of variation, but there are slower moving bridges in there and nuances which generally prevent them from becoming a bore. I'd liken this to a number of the earlier Marduk records: you know what you're in for, and there's a lot of sameness in the speed, pacing, and riff structure, but you put it on for a reason and then just wallow in the infernal, incendiary rush. Otherwise, I can't say I have a lot of problems here...the vocal rasps are pretty standard, and don't have a lot of personality. The bass guitars, while in there, really tend to get clobbered by the rhythm guitars in the mix...though this was pretty much the practice for a lot of the records that inspired this one. But at the end of the day, when Anthems for the Coming War Age rises from its coffin, this is a tightly executed effort of classic black metal which has absolutely no delusions as to what it's on about, and that's to stab and bludgeon you repeatedly until the dawn.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vesterian/194632807216852

Nordland - The True Cult of the Earth (2013)

There is this mythological niche in the black metal universe which has of late held a lot of vacancies. I speak of course of that primitive, Nordic majesty once wrought by titans like Bathory, Immortal, Satyricon and Enslaved in their 'primes', or at least when they were molding schematics for the genre to follow them, before traipsing off into their own respective evolutions which often took them to distinctly different pastures. Grim, glorious, epically orchestrated black metal in homage to the paganism and history of Europe, and the sprawling wilderness in which it all took place. Records like Blood Fire Death, Battles in the North, Nemesis Divina, Sons of Northern Darkness, Frost and Dark Medieval Times have forever carved themselves into our hearts, and what makes England's Nordland so special is how it genuinely seems to honor their tradition with an impressively produced, full immersion tide of grey conquest. A spiritual successor to the aforementioned works, and remarkably still manifest from the imagination of a single musician!

When I compare The True Cult of the Earth to its eponymous predecessor, it's quite clear to me that Vorh has done his homework, because both the material and production values here surpass the debut in every conceivable category. The guitars sound even more loaded and emotionally destitute, like the thunder of an ancient Anglo-Saxon battlefield twisted into distorted musical flesh. He doesn't write rocket science riffs here, but primal and potent structures of chords that pound like a flagon on a skull, though they are very often imbued with a saddening sense of melody. The bass playing on this album is fucking magnificent, not because it's technical or particularly groovy, but because it's so voluminous and driven that you can always imagine if the guitars dropped out, that the songs would still haul ass with the rhythm section alone. A lot of maudlin, empty vistas of open picking and sustained chords are interspersed with the burlier blasted sections, and the drums crash, batter and blister along like a cavalry charge through a burning village. Vorh's vocals have all the savagery of an Abbath Doom Occulta and yet also retain that strange sense of vulnerability that emitted from Quorthon's tore throat on the late 80s Bathory records. Nihilistic and imperfect, but then that's the allure...

As if this wasn't all huge enough, Vorh implements cleaner, scintillating string sections (like the bridge of "Dawn Calling of Thunor"), brooding ambiance ("The Great Hall of the Sky"), and distant samples ("Crows") to round out the sum experience. It's largely a guitar driven, traditional black metal record, but carefully matched up with enough placement of atmosphere that it feels like so much more. Without being particularly inventive or unique, The True Cult of the Earth has such a massive sound to it that the listener feels dwarfed by its sense of scale. Seriously, I found it difficult to listen through this indoors, because it seemed it would shake the walls and roof off...unwilling to be contained. Individual riffs are not consistently memorable, but taken as a whole this is just a 'chin up', defiant kick to the teeth of a modern world in which many Europeans have lost their cultural roots/identity. Songs of olde for the ears of now. The album packaging is also quite excellent, and the lyrics will immediately appeal to fans of Enslaved, Immortal, Bathory and Summoning, sweeping and personalized paeans to the Earth and Gods. A solid step forward for Vorh, a tremendous trip worth taking, and further evidence that, alongside bands like Winterfylleth and Wodensthrone, England has developed quite a scene for this stuff in the past five years.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (we watch from the headlands)

http://www.nordland.org.uk/home

The Slow Death - s/t (2008)

As if the name didn't give it away, The Slow Death is a death & doom metal project hailing from New South Wales, Australia, who are seeing their eponymous 2008 full-length debut reissued through Aurora Australis, probably the best doom-related label I've caught down under. From the cover art alone and band moniker, you'd probably expect this to be some righteously grim shit, but you'd actually be surprised that this is one of the more eloquent and graceful acts of its kind. In fact, they're one of the rare death/doom groups in the past 5 years that I'd actually consider 'catchy', due largely to the constant glaze of guitar melodies, succinct & memorable use of pianos and synthesizers, and the eerie, beautiful vocals of Mandy Andresen which set a nice contrast to the sustained death grunts of Gregg Williamson.

Of course, with tracks ranging from 12-18 minutes, you kind of have to hold the attention, and that's not always the case here. But to The Slow Death's credit, they generate enough versatility across the five songs and 70 minutes of content that no two really sound exactly the same, even if a number of the tunes could use a substantial edit down to their more interesting components. This isn't much of a problem on the 'shorter' pieces like "Grave" or "The Slow Death" itself, but certain I felt myself losing focus through "The Prodigal Sun" and the whopping finale "Dark Days". Drudging, low-tuned guitars are performed in the vein of old Paradise Lost, Anathema and My Dying Bride, with simplistic chord patterns that sound familiar but not entirely derivative; thankfully multi-instrumentalist Stuart Prickett (an Aussie underground veteran who also plays for the killer Backyard Mortuary) is steadily engaging us with loads of harmonies and melodies, some gently tapped and others phasing off into a distant, dying light, so there's not a lot of space here for the chord progressions to become dry.

Andresen's keyboards are hardly uncommon throughout the album, and usually fall under two sounds: a raw, orchestral pad as found in the bridge of "The Prodigal Son" or the intro to the band's namesake, or simple and elegant piano lines woven into the somber rhythm guitar progressions. On one hand, they tend to sound a bit cheesy, but at the same time they give the music a broader sense of scale and involvement than if they had just barebacked these tunes with the guitars alone. I can't speak so highly of the bass and drums, sadly, because the former is just not much of a presence through the album, and the latter are programmed. I'm generally of two minds when it comes to the practice: do they disappear into the background and do their job, or do they add some outside element or atmosphere (alien, industrialized, etc) that makes the music feel fresh. On a death/doom record of this caliber, they simply didn't fit for me, especially where the beats become more intense as the band picks up into a busier riffing sequence ("Dark Days"). They're not exactly a deal breaker here, and I've read that Prickett has corrected this issue on their sophomore with a real live drummer, but it would be dishonest to say they weren't somewhat of a distraction.

Otherwise, this is about 50 minutes of spot on, solemn and emotional escapism with about 20 minutes of overkill. I realize it's a 'thing' in this genre to swell up the songs beyond 10 minutes, but really, they need to either hit a climax (or several climaxes) or generate a hypnotic effect to succeed, and a few of these tracks definitely don't have that sort of structure that keeps you at the edge of your seat awaiting the next explosion of sorrow. Plenty of good riffs here, a tasteful dab of clean guitars, and both of the vocalists excel in their respective ranges, especially the layered, choral outro to "Dark Days", but are some segments I'd cut out of there. Lyrically, they manifest the usual Gothic-laden imagery of isolation, loss and regret, reminiscent of My Dying Bride, but there are some well-composed lines in there that show a sense of effort and seriousness (we're not talking Hooded Menace kitsch here). Ultimately, this was a decent album with solid hooks and respectable composition...it has its problems, but definitely made me wanna track down the sophomore to experience the changes. Recommended to fans of Draconian, 90s MDB, Isole, or anyone seeking a lighter, catchier alternative to that other Australian doom mainstay Mournful Congregation.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (crimson veined eyes seek the golden lamplight)

https://www.facebook.com/theslowdeath

Revocation - Empire of the Obscene (2008)

Empire of the Obscene was an album I had the highest of expectations for, and that probably played into my ultimate disappointment with the thing. Having been in attendance for a number of Revocation's live gigs here in the Boston area, I was witness to their explosive energy on stage and their pinpoint musical ability, and the material they were playing was what constituted a lot of this debut. But for whatever reason, the riffs seem to have lent themselves better to a performance rather than a studio disc, because here they don't feel so innovative or interesting, and this is more or less a lengthier expansion to their Summon the Spawn EP, embodying all three of those tracks and a bunch more in that mold. There is a sense of 'padding' here, with a lot of simpler riff structures you don't expect out of Revocation, which in ideal circumstances would make this their most grounded, down to earth writing, if it was terribly interesting. Fuck, the first time I saw the excellent Pär Olofsson cover art to this thing I got shivers...dystopian, ominous, nerdy, symmetric perfection...but the tunes in no way live up to that vision. If only it had been on a Vektor record!?

Anyway, Revocation's professionalism and ability certainly translated to this disc, and you can see why it garnered the label attention that ended in their signing with Relapse. They had chemistry on the stage, and also off. Empire of the Obscene is clean and pummeling, with that swarthy and voluminous purity we heard on the Summon the Spawn EP, only a fraction better. Deep, bowel churning kick drums and a great guitar tone that seemed to combine the mid 80s Bay Area/Master of Puppets aesthetic with something capable of ferrying the band's more modern tech/death metal influences. Buda's bass-lines were dense, leaden and cleanly carried forth in the mix, and even if I'm not the biggest fan of Dave's vocals, here they were at their most salacious and vicious, especially where he lays on the more guttural, gory edge to them. On the other hand, the record is a grab bag of riffs that at best represented the more clinical side of late 80s thrash ala Heathen's Victims of Deception or Sepultura's Arise, and at worst some pretty overt influence from melodic Swedish death metal bands like At the Gates, or on occasional a more brutal aspect of modern post-Suffocation USDM. Unfortunately, even at their most melodic and accessible, the songs here like "Fields of Predation" often feel driven more by superfluous displays of technique than raw emotion.

I'm not sure if they fattened up the album based on the pretense that they wanted more on there apart from the demo/EP tracks, but some of the choices here like the 5 minute instrumental "Alliance and Tyranny" are the sorts of songs I hear once and soon forget, a piece that might of well just been on an Angela Gassow-era Arch Enemy record. Better if Empire of the Obscene had been tightened to about 35-40 minutes of the most kickass material and left excursions like this one out of it. I get that it reveals more of Revocation's progressive rock/metal influences and their willingness to branch out, but it's a lot of wasted time after just one decent, melodic riff. The "Stillness" interlude, too, a gentle acoustic piece that goes nowhere apart from furthering the notion of versatility in the trio's arsenal. There are other songs like "Age of Iniquity" which have really boring thrash/death stop/start patterns among them which simply don't seem to play up to the group's obvious proficiencies, and I wish they had just cut the chaff in a lot of places here. I mean it says a lot to me that the Summon the Spawn material remains among the strongest here...and I was just expecting this to burn the house down and revolutionize modern technical metal. It does no such thing.

But at worst, Revocation are simply providing an exhibition of their chops and technical potential here with a pretty harmless set of riffs that occasionally grow more exciting than stock late 80s riffs sauced in 21st century production standards. Empire of the Obscene is by no means a 'bad' effort, and modern pundits would appreciate its level of balance and control. The lyrics are decent if topically scattershot, and for an album that was initially self-released, Pete Rutcho's production was pristine, polished to a modern pop/rock level, without losing the ability to wrench a neck out of its socket or punch you in the nethers. For whatever reason, though, each time I've gone back to listen to this over the last five years, it has become more and more expendable. The songwriting is far more bland than the sophomore Existence is Futile (still their best album), and it was pretty obvious they were just getting warmed up even when this first dropped. Sleek, competent death/thrash metal that will probably be more impressive to those who never experienced the 80s or 90s influences firsthand, but not terribly exciting or interesting compared to something like Vektor or Immaculate.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Revocation

Despot - Satan in the Death Row (2013)

The cover of Satan in the Death Row definitely gives off the vibe of a more traditional heavy metal record, but this is in fact an all-out, one man black metal express replete with synthesizer orchestration, lots of tempo variation and no shortage of atmosphere. Despot is a Brazilian project involving one B.A.V., who had previously spent years in other Belo Horizonte underground acts like Necrocult and Unholy Massacre before turning his attention strictly to Despot, and this is the first proper full-length experience which is being offered through Bandcamp. He covers all instruments and programming, and if nothing else I came away from the album pretty impressed by the guy's sinister energy and also his willingness to balance off subtle atmospherics with brutal intensity...

A great example of this is the track "Auto-da-Fé" which is a face-tearing black/death metal exhibition that seems like a bastard blackened spawn of Morbid Angel and faster Sarcofago, only he tosses in a lot of eccentricities like chanting and whispers against the filthy onslaught of proto-black/thrash riffs and mechanized sounding kick drums that will leave compound fractures on your skull. Vocals are a harsh, nihilistic roar with a bit of resonant echo, though he can easily veer into rasps or guttural growls for added effect. Subtle sweeps of symphonic keys are executed in the background to create a fulfilling level of drama. B.A.V. is also a rock solid bassist who makes the instrument well known with lots of grooving fills, and as a rhythm guitarist he is even better, keeping the riffs busy, varied and even semi-clinical or technical as he churns up a batch of thrash, death and black metal techniques with ease, cross-pollinating the picking styles so that they remain provocative and engaging even when they're not specifically catchy. The one caveat is that I felt the leads here were sloppy in execution...sort of arbitrary, indulgent, frivolous, uninteresting and not very well put together or even effective as fits of disjointed chaos.

Some are likely going to have issues with the production on the record, in particular the drum sound, but I actually found them bombastic and pummeling enough to mesh in with the soaring synths and choirs, and grimy lead vocals, and it even gave a hint of an industrial/black impression circa Thorns. I do feel like the rhythm guitars would have been better served with a more potent and robust mix, that might have helped balanced out better against the programming, but in the end, for a one man project, you can hear just about everything and a little bit of rawness or imbalance does help to give Satan in the Death Row a refreshing, hellish visage that takes you back to the 90s when black metal recordings were all slightly 'imperfect' in legendary ways. Most importantly, though, B.A.V.'s riffing style is rather peculiar, with a lot of early 90s death/thrash flair that you don't normally experience in the context of black metal. Morbid Angel, maybe, but some of the patterns even reminded me of bands like old Atheist or early Sadist which I never would expect on a black metal production, though this is probably just my imagination.

At any rate, Despot is a compelling project, worth your support in at least checking out, because while there are clear parallels to 90s black metal delivered through the atmospheric synths, that give the record that sense of nocturnal majesty you might recall from a record like In the Nightside Eclipse, Born of the Flickering or Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, the supporting structures of the rhythm guitar are generally even more interesting and give this album a semi-original sound that was compelling to become lost in. The mix can be tightened up, with fatter guitars and maybe a better tone for the bass and guitars, but this guy is no joke, and anything from the concentrated majesty of "Le Roi Nu" to the scathing sympho-black-thrash of "Egregious" just reeks of fiery creation and actual effort being applied. The lyrics are also quite awesome, minimalistic fits of infernal and haunting poetry. I dug this. Check it out on Bandcamp, and let the man know what you think.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (she still wonders as she burns)

http://despotband.bandcamp.com/

Naer Mataron - Και ο λόγος σάρξ εγένετο (2013)

While their prior six full-lengths all tended towards a milder range of variation from one another, Και ο λόγος σάρξ εγένετο almost seems like a new era for Greece's Naer Mataron. Not because it abandons the precepts of its predecessors, or the black metal genre as a whole, but because it molds them into a seasoned, nearly 60 minute experience which itself incorporates an immense level of versatility. But perhaps the most impressive thing I can say for this album is that it embraces the group's Hellenic heritage more severely than any of their older works, not just because of the folksy sing a long tracks here which took me completely by surprise, but also because the metal riffing itself was occasionally evoking the majesty of Greek legends like Rotting Christ, Varathron or Thou Art Lord, something that was in shorter supply with their more aggressive albums that reflected more of a Scandinavian black metal aesthetic.

There are some mid-ranged, almost thrashing/black riffs in the breakdowns and bridges here of tunes like "Demon's Lord" or "The Light Bearer" which take you straight back to what was so special about this scene in the mid 90s: a defiant implementation of traditional heavy metal melody in a niche generally reserved for tremolo picking purity or bum-rushes of glinting, dissonant chords. Not that Και ο λόγος σάρξ εγένετο is entirely void of either of those things either, but Kaiadas and company leave themselves plenty of openings here to explore tempos and atmospheres, which wasn't always the case on older records. The guitars have a lot of punch and clarity to them, especially the muted phrasings, without sounding overly saturated or raspy in their distortion. Some slower, doom-like passages are explored, like a cover of Sarcofago's "Nightmare" which sounds pretty damn smooth; or the contemplative opener "The Magus", which is a slow, sparse and simple composition over which Kaiadas delivers some chilling, cleaner, spoken lines before it convulses into a glorious Greek black riff and he starts his impetuous snarling. For anyone who missed their older style, they do throw out a few bones like "A Secular Pursuit of Coffins" which is straight, nasty, blasted black metal.

The experiments here are likewise pretty great, like the 14 minute title track finale which is a fusion of folk, ambient and tribal drumming with some bluesy guitars and odd, tonal chanting. It's almost as if "Planet Caravan" were re-written through the lens of a Greek folk act, and fairly immersive if you just chill out and give it a chance. The eerie male/female chants of "Eternal Ice" really set up "The Light Bearer", and "Nyhta Pagani" is a wonderful piece for meditation, with traditional guitars and layered female vocals that sound wonderfully genuine rather than corny. Traditional instruments used here include a yayli tanbur (a long necked Turkish lute), a lyre and Tibetan 'singing bowls' (standing bells) in "The Hunt", and all are used rather well with a very natural sense of production that almost feels like you're listening to them in the eaves of the Parthenon, or outdoors in some square of Athens centuries past. Even if there are only about five actual metal originals on the record, it all seems so well balanced and unpredictable, and when you include the simple but attractive digipak packaging/artwork, this is really the most fascinating Naer Mataron to date, no taint at all of a band simply 'going through the motions', but one committed to expanding itself. It's not Praetorians II (my own prior favorite from the band), and it might turn off fans who just tune into this band for its sheer savagery, but nonetheless it sets the band a new standard of aesthetic charm.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

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