Mörkö - Itsensänimeävä (2013)

Finland seems to have put a premium on its out-of-the-box, unusual, psychedelic black metal, with a band like Oranssi Pazuzu starting to generate some worldwide interest and then another level of solid and experienced acts helping to steer the form towards further nuance. A more pertinent comparison for Mörkö would be Jumalhämärä, an act that shares several active members in Harri Talvenmäki and Heikki Kivelä who perform the rhythm section here. Like Jumalhämärä, this project has been kicking around since the mid 90s, though a hiatus was taken several years back to release experimental rock records under the name Disorder of Deadeight, which served as spiritual precursors to this latest, four track, 35 minute effort under the original moniker.

While fans of the one (Jumalhämärä) would certainly appreciate the other (Mörkö), there are a few subtle differences here worth exploring. Though it's free-flowing and superficially, deceptively jammy on a surface level much like that band, Itsensänimeävä is actually a more structured and certain experience bleeding together cycles of hypnotic repetition, jarring dissonance, organic percussion and two particular strengths that really drew me under the spell: the uncanny vocal arrangements, and perhaps more importantly, this band's amazing ability to weave original post-black tremolo picking patterns that are anything but boring drifts of intellectual waste...they actually captivate the listener with fulfilling successions of notes that subjugate and then strangle the imagination. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the monolithic latter half of the nearly 14 minute "Kosmoksen huhmareessa", where the drums die out and cleaner guitar tones are used to distribute wave after wave of these fascinating, mesmerizing patterns that rank among some of the better experimental guitars I've heard on any metal record lately. That said, they also integrate them into some of the more metallic progressions on the record seamlessly, oft with a more traditional blackened bent that fuses into the jangling, distorted grooves (like the depths of "Nesteen luo").

Mörkö also shows a capacity for warmth and consonance in the music that constantly contrasts against their wilder half, and this is evoked through some of the lighter, dreamier, almost shoegaze riffing patterns here. Bass lines are busy throughout the album, possessive of a cleaner, punching tone with stolid grooves that can just as easily shift into the faster picking of the rhythm guitar. It's presence conjures comparisons to other Scandinavian curiosities like Norway's Virus, in which the presence of the low end, swerving thrum of the instrument provides its own source of mind control, though I wouldn't say the composition of the lines was as strong, as, say, The Agent That Shapes the Desert. The drumming here is fantastic, with a lot of toms that help lend a 'drum circle' feel alongside the snaking, eerie guitar patterns, but again they can easily mutate into the appropriate, busy blasting with loads of jazz-like fill eruptions which themselves provide an whole other level of listening pleasure. On some level, the percussion and playing all around is intensely technical and meticulous, but the organic choices in production give leave a live, improvisational impression reminiscent of how I felt for Jumalhämärä's Resignaatio record.

But I've got to make special mention of the vocals, which are seemingly all over the place, yet compelling despite the gulf in techniques. Monotonous spoken word passages, faint and raspy whispers panning across the headphones, haunting atonal harmonies, and even something so guttural and unnerving that I could not readily identify it as a human voice! There are several lines of recognizable black metal snarls, but they tend to be the exception to the rule here, and often seem to support one of the other techniques rather than stand on their own. All told, in first listening through Itsensänimeävä, you've got next to no idea where anything is going next, and on further repetitions, the subtleties of the picking patterns and the layers of percussion really begin to set in and reveal just how much bloody work went into this thing. Admittedly, I felt the album was a fraction on the short side, if only because this is such 'lose yourself' music that 35 minutes feels abrupt. 1-2 more tracks and 10-15 minutes would have created a more substantial escape, but then on the other hand it might also run the risk of stretching ideas a little too thin...so it's not a major flaw.

Points also for the translated song titles and lyrics that were included in the promo...I hope this might be the case for the actual album release, and more bands (of any primary language) need to do this. I don't speak a lick of Finnish, so getting to experience these psychotic images first-hand was a treat, and elevated the music itself to yet another level of sickening intimacy. Prompt, poetic and disturbing, I took away a similar vibe as I have from numerous Jute Gyte albums, and I cannot stress enough how important good lyrics are at getting the bigger picture of an artists' intentions. Ultimately, Mörkö prove another entity worthy of the margins of the black metal format, thinking a little beyond and outside (if not 'above') the status quo to summon forth fascinating results. Having heard the other, aforementioned groups in this scene, I can't claim that this was entirely a novelty, nor is it completely consistent in riffing quality, but it holds up and reveals further details through a number of listens, and is easily recommended to other experimental/avant-garde/blackish groups like Virus, Yurei, Ved Buens Ende, Candy Cane, as well as the members' other work.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (spirit is he who refuses the union)

Lamentations of the Ashen - EKIMMV (2011)

With three tracks eclipsing 15 minutes each, one of which nears the 23 minute mark, EKIMMV is an album that demands a large degree of patience and contemplation from the listener. It's a demand that I'm not sure is consistently warranted, for while there are some pleasant and engrossing riffing progressions throughout, and the sole musician behind Lamentations of the Ashen, Bon Vincent Fry, is adept enough at building layers of tension and sadness through a mixture of fell snarls, atmospheric tremolo picking and subtle bass contours, these behemoth compositions seem to drift, drift, and drift some more through a series of overt, patchwork transitions. So, the earnest attempts to imbue them with highly necessary variation tends to meander, never quite achieve a climactic payoff, and only a handful of the rhythm guitar patterns really stick.

Interestingly, the wordy song titles like "Eventide Sentinels Bedecked with Ineffable Twilight" and "Viperine Shades Linger Quiescent Among Erstwhile Passions", while lovely, seem to really set up the expectations that this is going to be quite indulgent and channel a Romantic, poetic sensibility which I feel it definitely does accomplish. This is clearly true of the lyrics, which have a classicist sense of wonder in capturing their imagery which dial back centuries. The rhythm guitar structures are largely rooted in tremolo picking sequences, which encapsulate an antiquated, Gothic longing rather than the sinister despotism I generally equate with much of the black metal genre. This is statuary black metal, regal and lonely and meant to elate the listener's spirit to a state of soaring and sadness, not to repeatedly prod the audience with aural pitchforks, and I don't believe anyone seeking out such an aesthetic would be ultimately disappointed with what Fry concocts here. He also doesn't shy away from anything: understated, atmospheric synth pads implemented sparingly across the course of the record. Samples in numerous languages. Solemn, ambient drops within the meat of the metallic content. Or cleaner, sparkling guitar passages that could be just at home in an alt rock context as this. Predictable this is not, but at the same time the pieces seemed to be wedged into the puzzle at random.

Where I find no faults at all would be the production, which is impressively clean, and even without losing the emotional depths of each instrument. Guitars are bright enough to cut right into the imagination, but gain a little power and traction when blossoming into denser chord patterns. The drums sound live and fresh, with an effortless capacity to handle the variety of beats through lumbering kicks and steady snare strikes, not to mention there are some experimental percussion sections as you'll hear in "Viperine Shades..." that might take you by surprise. The bass is pretty bleak and smooth, often just wallowing along in the wake of the guitar but always somehow managing to add another tonal tier to the experience. Fry's rasping is nothing necessarily out of the ordinary, but he generates enough of a nasty sustain that it fits the mood of the music rather well, even if there are few individual lines that I might consider gripping or interesting. Most impressive are the subtle nuances, sounds you'll hear on the edge of perception that are constantly woven in and out of the music; even if they're just synth or feedback, they often generated a compelling, panoramic effect. I'll also note that Patrick A. Hasson of Black Chalice lends his clean, haunting vocals to the track "Veiled in Clairaudient Litany" which felt like it veered into a minimalistic Dead Can Dance territory before picking back up with the guitars.

Ultimately, though, I found myself struggling to retain interest the more journeys I made through this. For one, the 5 minute instrumental intro, "...of Wraiths in White", which is essentially a piano leading into some glaring feedback and then a few droning notes, seemed the driest and least worthwhile piece on the whole album, and might just have been left off. The outro, "Ascent into the Empyrean", built on angelic synth choirs, also seems a fraction cheesy and not living up to its potential. As weighted and swollen as the three primary tunes are, they're far less irritating and decked out with generally more interesting ideas. Just not always configured into the most climactic or emotionally resonant progressions, so I often had to dig around to find a few truly inspirational moments. That said, EKIMMV's conflagration of components does feel somewhat if not entirely original, and fans of dreamier, spacious bedroom/basement black metal which doesn't adhere to any specific set of rules might find this a journey worth experiencing.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lamentations-Of-The-Ashen/168536829851639

Forestfather - Hereafter (2013)

Proof positive of the power of online networking, Forestfather is a project long in gestation which was finally brought to light when original member Kveldulf (from Chile) inevitably collaborated with a pair of prolific US musicians, Jared Moran and Michael Rumple, who, between them, in particular Moran, have written and released a wealth of other ventures across numerous genres. In listening to Hereafter, though, you really can't tell that there's any sort of cultural gulf or distance between the members, because the five tracks here flow seamlessly across an emotional, folkish, black metal landscape; dark in a reflective sense but largely built upon crescendos of loss and rustic reverie. A number of styles are distributed equally across the 37 minutes of content, and more importantly the vocal arrangements offer a rather unique mesh of timbres that are simply not something you'll hear on many recordings in this niche.

There are probably four central themes to Kveldulf's playing here that are given even face time through the record. Bright, hazy drifts of chords performed at a moderate pace reminiscent of the mid-period Drudkh records, which are anchored by the most potent bass lines on the disc. Tasteful, folksy acoustic licks that transition rather well in and out of the distorted escalations. Dreamy, shoegaze-like, minimalist melodies that stretch into the highest elevations of rhythmic pitch on the record, while canvasing the other instruments (great example of this is after the 1:00 mark in "Ethereal", which is very true to its title) and creating some of the most haunting and effective instances of the experience. And lastly, there's a more savage, traditional black metal ethos with intense, melodic picking supported by the hammering double-bass lines. This was most impressive in the first half of the track "The Emerald Key", which had patterns that instantly summoned nostalgia within me for Borknagar records like The Olden Domain and The Archaic Course, not to mention Enslaved around that later 90s era. Shimmering, well-plotted, yet as solemn as a wall of granite.

I wouldn't necessarily say that the majority of the riffs here were equally memorable, but each cut has at least a few to distinguish it among the album as a whole, and Forestfather has a number of other distractions to help balance out any tedium I might have felt during the less interesting progressions: the foremost of which is the multi-pronged vocal attack here, in which a number of sharp, clean lines tend to take you by surprise. Far from a common commodity in this genre, Rumple's performance nevertheless sheds the strange Scandinavian soaring of an ICS Vortex for something more dagger-like and unnerving in shape, with some soothing and expressive harmonization that adds quite a lot to the rural imagery conjured up through the chords; not to  mention the crazy screaming in the back-end of "All Tears to Come", which is bloody fantastic. I wasn't half as immersed in the black snarls here, which are really par for the course, but in fairness there are some individual instances where the lines become wretched and ugly enough to really stand on their own. But I'd actually go so far to say that I would have preferred more of the harmonies here, since there are entire swaths of the record filled only by the rasps that don't feel nearly as refreshing.

Bass lines are silk-smooth, really finding their stride during the mid-paced sequences of the album where a groove is established to bolster the sad and pretty high-end picking patterns. The drums also feel fairly loud and natural without becoming obnoxious or drowning out the other performances. A lot are performed with a laconic, rock sensibility befitting the ebb and flow of the guitars, but numerous double kick sections and loud, abrasive fills help to challenge some of this tranquility; and there are some outright blasted components like in the latter half of "The Emerald Key" or in "The Days Ever-Done" which are more or less like a Frost/Pure Holocaust-era desperate charge through a blizzard. But, really, it's a testament to the variation here that even the percussion-less pieces, like the intro and bridge in "The Days Ever-Done" hold the attention through their composition and never give the listener any urge to be anywhere else. There's a dramatic egality across Hereafter, between its calms and storms, which seems meticulously structured without ever revealing any semblance of robotic predictability....

...that's not to say I loved every track equivocally, and was, in fact, rarely blown away here, but there was indeed something pleasant and compelling about the experience which rarely put me to sleep. For a debut, Hereafter is strong and self-assured, the sort of rustic acclimation that many black metal/folk artists seem to strive for without achieving. I felt transported to some woodland riverbank where a rucksack of supplies awaited my arrival, and then departed on a journey worth taking. Forestfather is not particularly 'evil' or sinister as far as black metal goes, nor is it happy and summery, but more like a long autumn afternoon hike when you are standing in the shadows of the trees just as often as a clearing, surrounded by withering foliage. A curious evolutionary nook between folk-era Ulver, Olden Domain Borknagar and the quixotic current flavors of bands like Wolves in the Throne Room, Woods of Ypres or Alcest...but certainly not restrained to these, there's really a lot of potential appeal here for anyone who wishes to whittle away his/her sorrows in a campfire headspace beyond the eavesdropping of humanity.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Forestfather

Black Chalice - Submission DEMO (2012)

I'm often at a loss as to what constitutes a demo recording or an 'official' album, especially in the metal underground, where the latter can often prove just as important or substantial as the former. In the case of the Submission demo by Black Chalice, it probably has something to do with the studio process and the original intentions for the material. This is actually a considerably longer work than the Obsidian album I covered, and recorded the year before. Strangely enough, it offers some of the added variation I felt could have strengthened that work, but at the same time it's a little less consistent overall, and there were a few points at which I felt myself nodding out. I guess this better deserves the brand of 'death/doom' than Obsidian, because the growls here reign supreme, and it definitely possesses a more mournful, crushing, funeral pall, but texturally I also felt it a little dryer, less saturated with the imagination of that album.

Submission opens with a four-minute instrumental constructed from clean, sad, scintillating guitars that eventually builds into a union of chords and single picked melodies, and then beyond that comes the really heavy stuff. There's still a combination of drudging, filthy chords and melodies, but the former feel a little more gratingly tuned, and the latter seem slightly less tethered to the bottom line. The drums are really underwhelming here, faint beats that barely support the huge, ugly riffs canvased above them, though they pick up steam in the bridge of "Regret" when they start hammering away. The guttural vocals take on a maudlin, almost monotonous drift as they would in many recordings of this field, and they don't really distinguish themselves as being particularly weighted or brutal. "Submission" itself features more clean guitars, and some of the submissive, clean vocals that are commonplace on Obsidian, but it also has a pretty weak transition and then picks up into what is basically an admixture of driving, older Katatonia-style guitars. I found "Cornea" more to my liking, though the rhythm guitar distortion seems to clip a little and nearly bust out of its own recording.

The last track, "Wain" seems to come from a separate recording session and has a more repressed quality about it. Melodic vocals, groovier riffs and a bass-heavy, Sabbath like substance to some of the riffing in the bridge. Perhaps an attempt to make inroads to a more antiquated style of doom metal, but it does seem a little out of place with the rest of the material, and sloppily constructed so that the riffs don't exactly flow into one another in a meaningful way. That said, I actually did enjoy the project of Patrick using his clean vocal style over this more psychedelic riffing aesthetic, I only wish he were louder. Lyric-wise, Submission was quite good as the other Black Chalice material, especially the song "Regret" where I really enjoyed the closing line: When will we be sorry? We will be sorry. Still very personal and deep, wrist-cutting and depressing, but perhaps a bit more image-laden. Ultimately, I think this was a work borne of experimental intentions more so than Obsidian, but some of the songs drudge on a little much without many ideas of note, and "Wain" just didn't fit for me. Not without a few moments, but I simply felt more rewarded by the experience of Obsidian.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10] (feeling the light burn out)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Chalice/394750917213235

Black Chalice - Obsidian (2012)

What hit me the hardest about Obsidian is just how abrupt the album begins, especially for a death/doom record. No lengthy, pretentious acoustic passages to kick off the experience, no treacherously slow build into the solemn and crushing riffs. This one just dumps a bucket of sorrow directly over your noggin through a miasma of churning, burly doom metal progressions, haunting and tonal clean vocals that hover below the loud swell of the chords, and a foundation of dreamy atmospherics that seem as if they could only been inspired by a dreary, overcast New England coastline. Or at least that's how I'll imagine it, since Black Chalice is the work of one Patrick A. Hasson of Maine, who some underground pundits might recognize from his black metal oriented projects Auspicium and Avulse.

But even more important, this album got me nostalgic for what must be my favorite doom metal epoch, the 90s, when the strong presence of the British scene was joined by an emergent Swedish wave of Gothic-tinted bands. For instance, some of the emboldened chord patterns here recall the first two Lake of Tears records, but then Patrick is constantly splaying out resonant melodies beneath them that remind me of Paradise Lost (circa Icon). Granted, this is marginally more solemn and funereal in disposition than those albums, to the point that it might even appeal to fans of stuff like Evoken, but this guy clearly dug out the roots of the genre and avoids the droning, endless excess that the style has often fallen into, even on the longer pieces "Heliocentric" and "Obsidian" that make up about 21 minutes of content between them. Some might balk at the stiffness of the drum programming, or the oft calamitous resonance of the production in general, but this tape is nothing if not consistently eloquent and oppressive in equal turns.

Naturally, he gives himself more space to explore in the wider tunes, like "Obsidian" where the drums drop to a sparse cadence, the drudging bass-lines rumble beneath a glaze of harmonies; or "Heliocentric" where he produces these warm, climactic fusions of the grainy rhythm guitars and melodies. But most of the material is based on the same, steady formula of dirty chords and drifting vocals. The singing is strangely subdued, and this might also prove a turnoff for those accustomed to the vocals being on top, but in reality this just gives them the substance of another instrument in the mix. He doesn't exclusively stick with this one style, capable of belting out the dirgelike gutturals most equate with the genre, but it certainly feels more drugged, numbing and ultimately unique. I did feel at times like the album might have benefited from further variation, perhaps some vocal-only passages or tempo shifts, but as it stands, four tracks in 33 minutes isn't quite enough to wear out its welcome by turning the same few tricks repeatedly.

All in all, a fairly unique style here that rewarded me with the escapism I seek of it. The lyrics are personal and cautionary as opposed to poetic and image-heavy; dealing largely with depression, alcoholism and the confines of the human condition, but at the same time their humble. Patrick isn't speaking to you through some pretentious haze of Gothic grandeur, but more on a person-to-person level, and it helps to ground the epic quality of the music, to 'reel it in' if you will. You know, I just had to make a fisherman joke because I'm an asshole, and because there's just something so contemplatively coastal about this...lighthouse doom...a walk on the rocks, breakers spraying your toes with cold, salty tears. Obsidian isn't perfection by any means, but it IS an experience, and there's not a lot more I could ask for in a niche of metal that I sometimes find to be the antithesis of compelling. Recommended for your next gray afternoon.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (I long to trace my veins)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Chalice/394750917213235

Slutvomit - Swarming Darkness (2013)

I came across Slutvomit's Turning the Cross Towards Hell EP a few years back, and while that mightn't have been anything to get the panties in a bunch over, it was the sort of filthy and impetuous blackened speed or thrash metal that I tend to favor for its ideals of looseness and vileness; a cruel visage that automatically helps drive home a set of derivative 80s based riffs and ideas that might otherwise be easily ignored. The material there wasn't on the same level, as, say Antichrist's Forbidden World, a stunning and unforgettable gem of a record which simultaneously placed its chest nuts in the fires of the past and present, with a set of insidious, blazing riffs and disgustingly effective vocals that have yet to leave my car stereo...but considering that most of the bands I fancy in this style are decidedly European, it was refreshing that we had Slutvomit sitting out in the Northwest and pitchforking themselves with potential...a potential that is certainly realized on their Invictus Productions debut.

Swarming Darkness has pretty much everything I need in my dirty vest-slinging speed-death thrashing black madness. Nasty and lecherous vocals with a nice resonant echo that recollects the proto-Teutonic hostility of bands like Kreator and Sodom. Fast riffing patterns that, while obviously reformed and rearranged from an array of classic records circa Slayer, Possessed, etc, still come across as driven and incendiary, with no shortage of effort in their execution. Warped leads that add an otherworldly, underworldly aesthetic of flair to the more workmanlike speed of the rhythm tracks, and take the whole experience to a level above the mere median of metallic efficiency. Drumming consistency that sounds like the guy's seat is on fire, with plenty of kick strength, fills and yet still a cohesion to the classic, punishing styles of a Hoglan or Lombardo. And last but not least, a clear but not obscene polished production which provides for the little inconsistencies or flaws that give a metal record some actual character. Swarming Darkness did not disappoint me on any of these levels, and though much of the content was already available on their previous demo and EP, its all splayed out here with a level production and impish, charismatic glee.

To be honest, much of the album plays out with an uncomfortable level of sameness that might have been better served with a broader array of riffing variation, but that's not to say that they don't insert a few more mid-paced breakdowns. Some of these instances (like in the titular opening cut itself) definitely seem to take their cues rather closely from classic cuts found on records like Kreator's Pleasure to Kill, and quite a number of tunes have similar speed-picked patterns that vary only in a few chord selections or note intervals. The song titles themselves seem like they've just been paraphrased from their influences ("Bombing the Chapel", etc) and the respective songs aesthetically close to those influences, but it's not like this is a niche brimming with originality...pretty much all of the international acts in this category are recycling Slayer, Kreator, Destruction, Possessed, Bathory and their ilk into hellish breaths of inspiration, and mileage will vary on how they stick the evolved leads, choruses, and rhythm guitars into the listener's memory. I found that Slutvomit has just enough of this to remain intense throughout, in particular on the more substantial tracks like "Morbid Priest (of Hell)" or "Harbinger of Doom" where they really go off the hinges and burn the audience to cinders. Swarming Darkness is perhaps not the equal of Forbidden World, or Aura Noir, or Germany's Nocturnal, but its entertaining enough to start a drunken riot of horn throwing and bottle smashing on whatever native plane of the Abyss you call home. Hail...*hiccup* Satan!

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] 

http://www.myspace.com/northwestmetalofdeath

Scythe - Subterranean Steel (2013)

Many readers will likely recall the Chicago tyrants Usurper, who were more or less a crushing 90s amalgamation of Celtic Frost and Venom vomiting vitriol straight from the Midwest, with a handful of cool records like Diabolosis and Skeletal Season. Scythe is essentially the direct continuation of the Rick Scythe persona from that era, embedded into a more uptempo speed/thrash chassis with death & black metal dressings. Subterranean Steel is the second album of this new trio, and I was taken aback at just how brutal and riff-driven this was. The cover art, while fun, doesn't do the music any favors, because you really don't get the impression that is some visual based gimmick act circa Goddess of Desire or Dethklock, but a more serious exhibition of spikes, leather and inferno...and some sharpened spikes indeed.

The guitar tone here is crisp and boisterous, the riffs generally built as harsh, hellish approximations of trad thrash, speed and heavy metal that can 'rise to the occasion' of Scythe's wrenching growls and snarls. This leaves a lot of room for variation, and indeed the track list across Subterranean Steel doesn't shy away from covering a lot of ground, from the slow and steady thrashing of "The Bray Beast" which reminds me of a more primitive 80s Testament, to "Nights of Terror" which is pure nasty speed metal lickin' that comes across like a more muscular alternative to early Megadeth or Metallica...to "Subterranean Steel" itself which is possibly my favorite on the disc, steady and unbridled chugging force with a nice build to a more atmospheric climax. Almost all of the riff construction is deviously simplistic through the record, but even though one can draw parallels to this or that band from the past, it still seems consistent and fresh and not so much of a ripoff as an homage, much like Usurper did. And for those seeking a little more extremity, the trio answers with pieces like "The Grunting Dead" or "Beyond the Northwoods" that channel bombastic old black metal like late 80s Bathory into the equation.

The album wouldn't succeed without its abrasive, punishing tones, and these extend beyond the growls and guitars to a potent drum mix in which you can hear each level snare strike and thundering kick that 'bulk' up the force of the riffing. The bass lines also pump along with some volume, although structurally they often seem to support the rhythms directly and thus can seem a little less noticeable until he swerves off into a groove during a change in patterns. The leads to tunes like "Thunder Hammer" are generally pretty basic and bluesy, and not all that interesting, but considering Rick's double duty as guitarist/front man I was hardly expecting Zakk Wylde. In fact, Subterranean Steel as a whole is just not a complex or frenetic experience. It's more about confidence, certainty, and crushing the listener's ear drums in with an extreme evolution of classic metal tropes, and the horror-borne lyrics fit right in with Scythe's later Usurper material. Ultimately, while its not unbelievably memorable or unique, this is just a fun record with some righteous head bangers. Like Usurper, Scythe keeps it heavy and honest, and that's why this impious Illinois institution is in no danger of closing its doors.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.scythe.us/index.html

Manifesting - Descension Through the Seven Forbidden Seals EP (2013)

Manifesting is a Minnesotan death metal duo with a pair of evocative pseudoynums (Sepulcherous and Maw, respectively) who have set out to deconstruct the genre into its most primitive fundamentals, creating a quintessence of raw, pummeling downtuned chords and roiling grooves that structurally and stylistically eschew any sort of progression, technical merit or advancement beyond what was created at the twilight of death metal as a musical form. Seriously, the material manifest for Descension Through the Seven Forbidden Seals EP is not unlike the primordial, mucky stew of organisms from which human evolution was supposedly spurred forth. It might be argued that the writing here lacks any real semblance of nuance or grace, or really much of any thought at all...it's as if the pair turned on their amps and let the abyss flow them, churning out the first chord patterns that their muscle memories dictated...

Eerily, and curiously, the EP is bookended by a pair of chanted male choirs that sound like they might have been sampled from some recording of monks, which misled me into thinking the music might seek out a more atmospheric aesthetic, but once those enormous, null rhythm guitars broil and blast through "Asomatous Hubris" you feel like you feel like some ancient prey, clubbed and dragged back to the Neanderthal's lair for consumption. While the track list doesn't exactly follow a uniform tempo pattern, shifting through slower and faster sequences, the guitar progressions are uniformly minimal to a fault, often just a pair of slovenly chords swishing back and forth like a bad breakfast in your gut. Several tracks ("Disciples of Murmur", for example) border on death/doom territory with their slow, steady sense of bombast, but the pair is fully capable of careening into a warped, nihilistic frenzy of blasted insanity to contrast the mournful, soul devouring gulfs of nihilistic lumbering. Drums do take a back seat to the rhythm guitar, but they're really raw with slapping kicks and tinny cymbals that actually fit cohesively into the mix.

The bass lines generally provide a grimy shadow of the rhythm guitars, while the vocals are a 'no holds barred' sustained growl every bit as colorless as the note choices. Lyrically they provide brief, horrific glimpses of necromancy and occultism, generally more interesting than the music itself, but that's not saying much, since what Manifesting have set out to accomplish is to channel some of the filthiest ancient death metal (Incantation, Autopsy, Rottrevore) in reverse, reducing even the formative works of that important early 90s period to soaking wet cemetery sludge. On the one hand, I have to respect the dedication here to cleanse all warmth, melody, complexity and memorability from the songwriting, but on the other a lot of these riffs did absolutely nothing for me, so basal and effortless their construction. Thus, ultimately, Descension Through the Seven Forbidden Seals became something which relied all too heavily on its own sense of voluptuous primacy and foulness, and not on mesmerizing music. This is mad dark due to the clamorous, raunchy production, but not particularly evil in construction. I wasn't completely sold on the material, but other fans of grotesque atmospheric death metal like Vasaeleth, Grave Miasma, Wrathprayer and Hellvetron might elicit a stronger reaction.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/MANIFESTING/161053033964734

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]