Lantlôs - Melting Sun (2014)

Although I had become decreasingly fond of Lantlôs over the course of Herbst's first three albums, Melting Sun is one of those records that offers me affirmation as to why I often stick with bands when I think they might have something hidden in there which has yet to surface. Granted, the last one I experienced (Agape) was more or less a creative coma of dull ideas. This project was by and large surfing on the trending wave of shoegaze oriented black metal expatriates, with nothing more to show for it than meeting the laws of supply & demand, to the point that Neige of the tragically overrated Alcest himself was involved, but it seems that after nearly a decade of gestation, Lantlôs has at long last settled into a comfort zone and begun to produce some quality assurance.

Disclaimer: this is so barely metal that I'd sooner just categorize it with the post, indie and space rock waves of the mid 90s, the black-tinted riffing progressions now a thing of the past, though you might pick out a few tremolo picked guitars or drudging chords which can frankly belong to a number of rock genres. But that's quite alright, because like its title hints, it provides this fulfilling, warm cycle of emotions which brings to mind Chicago abandon-rock darlings Hum from when they had a few singles 15-ish years ago, or perhaps more recognizably a few drop of Smashing Pumpkins' massive alterna-rock bleeding through. Solar flare drifts of brighter guitars careen across the vacuum of weighted chords, thick and juicy bass-lines pumping fresh blood through the glacial rhythmic veins which supply Melting Sun's circulation. Most of these tunes require a little patience for the payoff. Not to the point that they're truly time-consuming, and Herbst reins in the experience at around 40 minutes, but he takes his time in delivering the most heightened and passionate passages above the sailing, soothing strains of ambiance, progg-ish low-end lumps of bass and dreary yet uplifting vocals.

His voice is not exactly memorable, per se, but I think it fits the spaciousness of the music through some of the sustained passages; also helps 'ground' the songwriting aspirations with an everyman quality that sounds like any of your random middle aged neighbors going out to pick up the morning paper and then stopping to ponder a cloud, rainbow or some other unspeakable phenomena of the natural world. Gentler, ambient clean guitar passages and swelling backdrops ("Golden Mind" being a prime example) help round out some of the harder hitting, bulky guitar progressions, and Melting Sun never abandons its central ebb and flow of calm and crushing contrasts, star-tides radiated through the cosmos and soaked into the skins of the living. I would not deem this a massive stylistic departure from any of the previous records I've heard, but it seems handling all the instruments/vocals himself has resulted in more consistent, catchy fare that borders on poignancy, and while it's nothing intensely intellectual or amazing, I enjoyed listening to it...and coming from an individual who though the prior works were middling at best, I hope that means something.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/lantlos

Howls of Ebb Interview

Interview with zEleFthAnD by Autothrall.

When launching this site six years ago, my original intention was not only to write up critiques on a comprehensive body of metal works, but also to converse with the creators behind some of the most compelling and inspirational of recordings I've encountered through my listening. Well, as the months (and years) rolled on, I really failed to launch on this aspect, finding it difficult to dig up the investment I had in the 90s when writing for a print zine. That all changes this Spring, as I embark on a monthly quest to pick the brains of some of the more fascinating authors of agony in the underground! Who better to start this with than the esoteric consciousness behind the Howls of Ebb, whose debut album through I, Voidhanger records has spent several nights with me on the very precipice of sanity...I was honored to speak with songwriter, vocalist and guitarist  Z.L.H..

Auto: The question a lot of people probably want me to ask: what's behind the name Howls of Ebb? Definitely sticks out...
 
Z.L.H.: I had the name prior to writing any content. It came to me quite easily because I already had an idea of the sound and approach in mind. I suppose ‘Howls of Ebb’ could be construed as an (almost) irreconcilable duality of those that are in denial, fearful and/or mournful of humanity's inevitable demise (or decline), and those that embraces it with vigor and might. As the creator, I like to weave through both simultaneously, as a voyeuristic watcher, static, benign, only observing. It’s all very real and directly ties into the concepts and lyrical themes of the music.
 
Though this is the first album for this particular project, you've actually been at this for quite a long time. Could you tell us a little about your earlier band Nepenthe from the 90s? What was it like performing black/death metal in Kansas City so early on, or was there a relatively populated scene? Why'd you call it quits back then? Is its newer incarnation Ligeia a direct continuation?
 
Yes, Nepenthe started in 1992-93. At that time (and I imagine till today) there was no scene in Kansas City. It was just Order From Chaos and a few other folks. We all hung out together, and would occasionally play live for friends and OFC. Nepenthe technically played one live audience show, which was recorded and released as a cassette called ‘Live at Howards’.

In ’95, I changed the band name to Ligeia. The two primary reasons for the change were that the sound and style changed considerably, and band members trickled down to just myself, and Chris Overton, which made it more a project than a band. After the 1996 Ligeia release, In Death Overshadow Thee demo, I became pretty bored with metal in general. The second generation BM bands like Emperor, Mayhem, Burzum, Blasphemy, Impaled Nazarene, Samael, Beherit, etc…quickly were being duplicated (and still are now!) In addition to the stale nature of DM, it just all became hugely repetitive and predictable. The inspiration to create music quickly waned and I just moved onto other things that I enjoyed. My desire to write music picked up again around 2006.
 
I've encountered a number of your previous releases on badGod music, specifically Trillion Red and King Carnage. Like Howls of Ebb, both were pretty unusual. Did a lot of that unconsciously influence you when conceiving Howls' sound, or was this a decision to completely flip the script on anything else you'd written? Will this be taking full priority or will there be future Trillion Red material?   
 
I think HoB has enough room within its boundaries to keep my creative juices flowing for a long time, so I suspect it will be my only working project for many years, or until I either I get bored with it or feel I nothing left to contribute. If I were a gambling man, I would say there are probably 2 to 3 more significant releases to come. I certainly do not anticipate any distractions or other projects.

Moving backwards, Trillion Red was an experimental phase of mine when I learned a lot about production, mixing, effects, processors, and recording. Anything I had available to me, I used. It all ended up quite complicated, and without much of a focus. Later, the urge to create something deadly, stank, and bludgeoning spawned King Carnage. That was a one-off I did for fun, but indeed an excellent record! After I got that ‘urge to kill’ out of me via King Carnage, I thought the ideal candidate for a long term serious project would be a combination of Trillion Red and King Carnage, i.e. something complex, elusive, original, deep, dark, but with a sharp cutting pendulum swinging at all times.
 
How did you meet the other guys in the band, who operate under the handles of Rotten Bliss and Benign Blight? Did they think you were mad when they first heard you jamming some of this material, or did they actually prompt you along this left hand path?
 
Although I always see my own material as nothing out of the unusual, I do think of it as original. I do hear or read a lot of people saying HoB is “strange”, “weird”, “experimental” or “crazy”, but I think in this particular case, these are typical words to use when hearing something original, but not actually fully realizing it yet.

As for mates in the band, B.B. is a long time friend I have known for over 20 years. We share the same tastes in music and have written together in the past, so there were no surprises. On a side note, he happens to write way more bizarre stuff than I do. R.B. is a freak among the most gentle of trolls. He probably has the most diverse taste and skill set I have come across, and a young lad too! For the most part, I don’t think anything I showed him was a surprise, and that is why I liked him so much. He just takes what I have and runs with it.

A lot of what we create is pretty symbiotic. It all starts with seeds and ideas I pull out of the old pocket, and then we break it down, expand it, and put the proverbial puzzle pieces together as a group.
 
When did you cross paths with Luciano and I, Voidhanger records? Was it through a shared love of Darkthrone's Plaguewielder, or did you demo the material to a bunch of labels? How about sharing a roster with other killer bands like The Wakedead Gathering, Ysengrin, Spectral Lore and Bloodway, did that tip the scales?
 
No shared love of Darkthrone here. We actually began talking after I purchased some records from him, as well as traded the King Carnage for albums he released, like the Ysengrin, Ævangelist, Seperent Asecending. I mentioned HoB and showed him a song. He loved it and I also hold his label in very high regards, so it just made sense to work together.
 
It's probably contrived to describe Howls as a 'deconstruction' of death metal aesthetics, but can you actually explain what inspired your decision to tackle this from such a loose, organic and extraordinary perspective?

The musical objective I had (and still carry forth) when writing Vigils of the 3rd Eye was to have loosely defined limits and boundaries, but strictly stay within them. A lot of that is simply a ‘sense’ that comes from years of playing, a decent ear, and a bit of grey hair wisdom. Secondly, it is to create a very dark, deep and heavy morbidity. There wasn’t any midi or digital music going on in the instrumentation and recordings, just guitars, vocals, drums and bass (and that isn’t because of some sound or production ideology we hold). Within the structures we create, we give everything enough breathing room for ebb and flow and to tell as story. That leaves a degree of room for experimentation, and even some improvisational material as well. I coin the HoB sound/style as ‘Limbonic Hymnals’. And surely, there will be more to come.

Vigils was entirely self-recorded and produced, and then sent off to master. Can you reveal a little about the setup, I'm curious how you arrived at some a natural but uncanny sound?

The recording / rehearsal studio was put together over the last 6 years. A pretty penny went into all of it, but certainly worth it, as we are able to create a decent sound without the limits of time. As for the setup, I’ll skip the gear-head talk and just say it all consists of solid fundamentals: a properly treated recording area, good microphones, a great board, and outboard compressors/processors etc…Beyond that, it is just a matter of getting high quality source recordings so that the mixing process is as simple as can possibly be.   

Is there a lot of studio improvisation in there, or are all those subtle, bizarre effects and details plotted in advance?

Actually, there is some improvisation captured in the recording. If it sounds good and wasn’t intended, we will surely use it. That often is the best source material.

I enjoyed reading through the album nearly as much as listening to it. Would you say the lyrics of Vigils of the 3rd Eye are uniformly, thematically linked, or disparate in meaning? I noticed an occult thread throughout, but are there any particular works of fiction or philosophy that influenced you directly or indirectly? Perhaps some horror? 

Many of the lyrics were originally written as short poems over a course of two years. A lot of it was harnessed into lyrical form to fit the structure and cadence of each individual song. There is a loose thread all throughout. No occult content or philosophical derivatives were involved, but perhaps I could say ‘poetic justice’ of a sort.

‘Martian Terrors, Limbonic Steps’ is a first hand account of our coming demise. ‘Of Heel, Cyst and Lung’ is a personal mystic journey in the 4th dimension.  ‘Opulent Ghouls, Blessed be Thy End’ is what happens when an Observer oversteps his bounds and directs death upon undesirables.

Then we have the song ‘Vigils of the 3rd Eye’. This lyric and 'Illucid Illuminati’s' really are the fundamental thread that weaves throughout the entire album. In ‘Vigils’, The Grand Voyeurs are ever-watching and observing the decay of societies, cultures and civilization. Such observations are only seen with a keen and clear eye; e.g. Illusions of pop and underground culture are largely silly inbred and regurgitated ideas that either serves as red herrings in thought and action, or as catalysts to quasi-solutions that only produce more harm.  Humanity lacks the will and path to save itself. Those that try to save it are usually apart of the problem. It is here that we must accept mankind’s inability to see its underline failures and faults, and understand that it will soon come to an end. Only few will embrace it with open arms, and importantly, not to meddle in it, only observe.

Conceptual themes for the 2nd album won’t be dealing with just tangible ends, but deal with more elusive, abstract, and dark ideals and spiritualities I have surmised over the last 25 years. I expect the new batch of material to have a much stronger contextual linearity.
 
Wiley Trieff's artwork for 'Vigils' is outstanding, some of the best I've seen this year. All the panels burn themselves into your mind and won't seem to leave. Was there are a lot of input from you on the booklet images, or did you just let him run with the lyrics and concepts?

Actually no. These were paintings Luciano had in his back pocket, waiting to use for just the right release. It is indeed one of the best layouts I have ever laid eyes on, as it is a perfect merriment of sound, lyrics, and art. Quite the experience!

San Francisco has had a long, eclectic history across a number of metal sub-genres, like the Bay Area thrash in the 80s or the USBM stuff more recently. Have you ever socialized with others in the scene, or do you actively record any of them?
 
There are some really great modern bands here in the SF area! It has quite a vibrant and innovative dark artistic scene now. However, I rarely go to see live performances, so it doesn’t lend a lot of opportunities to meet other artists and forge ties. All 3 of us have other significant obligations that keep us at bay! Hah! I can barely sneak in a good midnight sacrifice these days. It’s a damn shame.
 
Any live shows on the horizon? Are there any particular acts you feel would complement you on tour if given a choice? Or that you'd love to support? I almost find it difficult to imagine you playing alongside more conventional death or black metal acts. 

We have been discussing the idea of playing a few shows, but any kind of tour would be out of the question.  HoB would really require another guitarist to get the full effect live, and of course, time away from work. Its all entirely possible, but we aren’t really being entirely proactive in making such a thing come to fruition.

As for acts to share a stage with, I can certainly think of several: Murmur, Morbus Chron, Sonne Adam, Negative Plane, Sol Negros, or Irkallian Oracle would be great bands to share an evening live.
 
Awesome record, sir! Thanks so much for bringing out that creativity and leaving such an impression. I realize it's but a couple months old, but when might we expect a sequel?!! 

Thank you! We are currently smack in the middle of writing a 20 minute’ish piece for the second Chapter of I, Voidhangers Yogsothery compilation. That should see the light of day in 2015. Right after that we will begin writing the follow-up album. Assuming our flow continues unabated, I would expect to see a full-length release maybe in late 2015, or early 2016. Tough to say, but I would like to keep up the momentum; however, quality governs!

Check out Howls of Ebb on Facebook.
Hear and/or purchase Vigils of the 3rd Eye through Bandcamp.

Goatcraft - The Blasphemer (2014)

If, like myself, you were a black metaller throughout the middle of the 90s, then you would likely have come across a number of side projects or tangential enterprises from various scene musicians that abandoned the harsher instrumentation to forage bleak, occult experiences through the mediums of neo-classical interpretation or, more modernly the fields of ambient/martial recording or dungeon synth. Labels like Red Stream and Full Moon Productions (among numerous others) were not averse to snapping up some of the more curious of these, whether they were haunting solo vehicles or full-fledged orchestral maneuvers, and these sorts of albums eventually collided with the fandom of industrual/dark ambient imprints like Cold Meat Industries or darker Gothic ventures and provided the extreme metalhead or misanthropist with an escape from his/her normal listening, that is unless he/she was as well-versed in classical/folk music as Scandinavian black metal.

I bring this up, because this has been a field slightly lacking over the last decade, or rather it's practice has become more of it's 'own thing' and pushed to the periphery, since there's just so much of the raw and heavy stuff around that it takes an eternity to explore it to the edge and beyond. Enter Goatcraft, a Texan one man act which seeks to once again corral such edgy aural voyeurs into believing in something beyond the standard fuselages of fuzz and ferocity into a more ancient source that, if The Blasphemer is any indicator, is far from disappeared on any map. Judging by the wave of praise I've seen from this recording, it has surely been one of the more 'noticed' jaunts of its type in some years, and after listening through this, I can understand all the praise, since it's an extremely consistent measure of escapism that thrust my imagination straight back into eras of grandeur and antiquity many centuries before I was even born. To an extent, there is some degree of minimalistic composition redolent of the ambient records Varg Vikernes has released through Burzum (the last few of which have become progressively more boring), but The Blasphemer strikes just the right balance of New Age and classical aesthetics that so morbidly swell it with potential.

Essentially, Lonegoat's attack is with a piano and a synthesizer, nothing else is needed to embark on such ritualistic mantras of darkness. Haunted phrases of chords or solitary notes are imbued with glittering, dust like cathedral-spire radiance that feel like bells tolling a soul to Hell for all damnation. A spectral haze of simmering ambiance is misted along the backdrop like the morning vapors rolling off a river into some mourning, plague-stricken village and there are numerous layers of dark, resonating piano keys which feel like some grand horror opera being performed from the top of a black tower, cascading down the spiral stone steps into an empty courtyard below. As ominous as I am making this sound, it's actually quite surprisingly vivacious and busy at times, there's nothing lazy or exceedingly repetitious anywhere and only once or twice does he move away from a concise track length to something more bloated, and even then he will pack a composition with enough performance and raw talent to evict any possible repercussion of lazy self-pandering, useless weight or indulgence (the entire experience is just under an hour, where he could have easily padded it out to fill an entire compact disc).

The Blasphemer is also entirely raw, and his piano sweeps really bounce off the room in which you are listening through it. It doesn't feel highly digitized or processed like a Castlevania soundtrack, for example, and I'm sure this could transfer immediately to any live setting. The music isn't always immensely catchy, nor does it really evade centuries of classical piano tradition, after all it's highly inspired by William Blake's art and archaic soundtrack qualities; but as mood music it is so highly committed. Invested. And, for me, was rewarding enough that I'd recommend it, whether as a score you could impose over a silent horror film or just something to experience with a glass of whine during the onset of a thunderstorm, where the streaks of lightning splay out like visual accompaniment to Lonegoat's key-hammering. It's a rare thing to even attempt such a sound in the 21st century, even rarer to eschew the sheet-music and write it for yourself, so you can bet Goatcraft is something worth keeping your eyes on...for I have a feeling the man hasn't even written us his masterpiece quite yet. Just powerful, gorgeously packaged music for when a rasp, guttural or blast beat just hasn't proven malevolent or magnificent enough.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://goatcraft.net/

Burning Saviours - Boken om förbannelsen (2014)

I remember first checking out Burning Saviours nearly a decade ago, they were definitely one of those 70s throwback/doom bands, alongside countrymen Witchcraft, who seemed to be taking the whole thing to the next logical step of nostalgic retrogression. That's to say they sound a lot like a band from 40 years ago, even to the point where the production on their records mimics that formative epoch. Now, three records and a number of single recordings later, they haven't altered the approach; so Boken om förbannelsen, a collection of four single recordings spanning 2011-2013, is pretty much textbook Sabbath/Cream worship which succeeds in sounding like the hard rock of the members' now distant youths...and whether or not you'll enjoy this really depends on your ability to stomach more of that relatively idea-less, retro rock & roll which seeks to stand on the ceremony of pre-paved riffing progressions and songwriting structures rather than fire up an original spark.

I'd say that, while this sounds pretty authentic in terms of how the instruments are mixed and having a singer (Mikael Monks) with some genuine charisma, this well might just have been tapped too often and for too long to preclude me turning up my noise at some of the chord progressions, which are more or less timid rehashes of songs like "War Pigs" or a million others you could tune into on your local endless commercially recycled hard rock radio station right this second. A lot of those spider-crawling blues grooves that people have been getting high to since 1969, threaded with a slightly tormented melodic scream which is very able at sculpting a chorus which resonates far more than the rest of the songs. That these tunes were penned to be singles is evident, so there's a lot of consistency in terms of their pacing, a lot of chemistry between them, some even being thematically linked. The guitar tone is fantastically clear with just a little of that genuine old 70s mud, while the leads are relatively raw and emotional and generally well enough written...the bass plods away without much individuality and the drums are lethargic but a perfect fit to the peppy mid-speeds.

They do occasionally deviate from the central rock formula here, like the eaves of ringing harmonic blues that inaugurate "Doomus Maximus" or "I Am Lucifer", but at the most modern the latter sounds like an alternative to the Ghost debut Opus Eponymous with a different vocalist. To be truthful, people who love that album will actually appreciate this a lot from a more directly Sabbath-ian vein, there are certainly a number of cuts like the cleaner "Midnight" or "The Offering" which give off the vibe of ritualistic pipe-smoking hippie doom wafting through the rafters of our nostalgia. Ultimately, while I have no question that the band members were able to tap into that lifeblood of ancient heavy metal while in-session to compose these, and perhaps felt the same wonders of their predecessors, they're only doing that by basically borrowing material that had come before and paraphrasing the note passages. Boken om förbannelsen is a pleasant, occasionally catchy offering, and it's nice to have the disparate singles collected into an actual product of higher value, but the Burning Saviours ultimately cop a little too much derivative inspiration to stand out from the shadows of their distant forerunners.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

https://www.facebook.com/burningsaviours

Serpent Warning - Serpent Warning (2014)

Finland's Serpent Warning provides a prime example of what I like to dub 'laconic doom'; and by that I intend no insult whatsoever, only to best explain the style of songwriting they exhibit upon this full-length debut. Basically they stick to the core rock instrumentation and lay out a lot of slower to mid-paced grooves redolent of Black Sabbath, or by extension seminal doom followers like Witchfinder General, Saint Vitus or Pentagram. Riffing structures are minimalistic at best, often just a few woozy chords played out in familiar patterns, though they do occasionally bust out into a more melodic, upbeat charge. Therefore all moments of tension and release are in how much the vocals and lead harmonies can break out of the zone and offer some edge and abandon.

The production on this is really solid, nothing expressively atmospheric but all the instruments are laid out with equivocal volume and no one factor excels beyond the rest. Guitars are dingy but bright when called for, the bass lines are a thick soup of Geezer Butlerisms and the drums mellow but loaded with lots of march like fills that help compliment the simplicity of the chord architecture. Considering the rather close confines the band performs in consistently through the 40 minutes and six tracks, it certainly seemed like they 'felt out' the style they were exploring; thus there's plenty enough variation even when you might have a slightly hard time distinguishing one cut from the next, but the choruses and melodies expressed throughout all have a unique feel to them so you can get some replay value out of Serpent Warning on the whole. At more than six minutes per song, the tunes each hit their stride and give themselves plenty of space without going over the limit, with the sole exception of the finale "Ceremonies of the Sun" that might start to feel as if it's dragging its feet with about two additional minutes of baggage, ending at a rather anticlimactic point.

I always feel awkward when I'm reviewing a forthcoming record like this and then learn that the vocalist has already stepped out of the band, and in this case Samuel Pesonen (who has performed in a number of other acts like The Wandering Midget) has been replaced by a female, Suvi Laaninen, so you can imagine the band's future installments might have a more idyllic, haunting quality to them akin to Blood Ceremony or fellow Finns Seremonia. However, on this album, Pesonen has a decent, melodic mid range with some weight to it, not incredibly complex or varied but he'll differentiate a chorus or two from the more middling verse lines and there's often some bite or vitriol to his timber which reveals a passion for the style. That said, there were moments where he reminded me more of an angst-ridden modern hard rock/nu-metal singer like you'd find in Disturbed or Godsmack, only with his natural accent shining through. Once again, I'm not offering that as some sort of putdown: I'm not usually into that style either, but Samuel does a real good job here of binding together the drums, riffs and that voluptuous bass into something that I enjoyed spending time with, even if it's not an album I envision returning to a great many times in the future.

Basically, if you're into hazy, rainy afternoon doom which hearkens to a 70s inspiration, but from another culture altogether and having the inherent quirks you might expect from that, Serpent Warning is worth a listen. It's not as serenely psychedelic or bluesy as other acts who operate under a similar mantle of mourning, but they definitely have a persistent flow to them which offers enough emotional texture and food for thought, much like the exiting line of monastic figures on the cover art, wandering humbly through the wilderness, soaking in the mist, beauty, and ultimate mortality of their environs; a pretty cool aesthetic to match that scrawling, classy logo.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (no, give me no grief)

https://www.facebook.com/serpentwarning

Vanhelga - Längtan (2014)

Though these Swedes have been around since just after the turn of the century, and started getting active with releases around 2010, I hadn't actually heard them until I sampled their Sommer EP last year. From the looks of the band in some of the pics I've seen, I had expected some really psychotic, fucked up black metal, perhaps of the Lifelover or similar depressive variety, and to be honest that style of off-the-hinges, emotional resonance is not entirely absent from this material; not all that much a surprise since there is a former member of that band in this one. The difference is that I felt like the vocals here feel even more bizarre and disjointed, especially where the guy spits out some echo/delay barks over an otherwise calming, melodic musical progression.

The drums here seem intentionally mixed to sound about thin and faintly perky under the oppression of the truly raw, cruddy electric guitars. Interestingly, though, the riffing sequences have a more glorious feel than you'd expect, even though the tinny little melodic wails are woefully simplistic and predictable. A lot of clean guitars are mixed in with the harsher distortion, which really gives the record a garage appeal that is sure to annoy some who want a more level sense of production. However, in the context of the maddening, raving vocals which are soaked in delay/echo and make all sort of irritating syllabic gestures, it seems to make sense to keep the recording as cheap and dirty as possible. That said, where a lot of other Scandinavian bands of the black metal persuasion tend to go for a more malevolent bent, Vanhelga just sounds slightly insane, at times like they're the only ones in on the joke but at others moodily effective and haunting. Songs tend to be similar in structure or instrumentation, but vary in length and riff count pretty broadly, with some of the best moments being where the guitars just ring out over the raw undercurrent...

Anyway, this is ultimately a weird, left-field experience where particular emotions are vomited forth to the fore and then rescinded into the madness of the musicians. As songs, these didn't really work for me on an individual basis, but if you just wanna laugh or cry for roughly 70 minutes then that seems to be the point. Slightly suicidal, yet in a strange way that keeps the listener guessing what might happen next, even though Vanhelga do stick to a particular set of arrangements that slowly curb their surprise potential the deeper into the track list. Still, some of the pure acoustic sections are quite nice, I just have a problem taking the vocals so seriously, even when I'm used to this alien approach. Fans of Lifelover, Woods of Infinity and Terra Tenebrosa might wish to give this a try if only because this style of joyous dementia has become increasingly rare with the dissolution of its former practitioners via tragic deaths. I was more affected by records like Konkurs and Erotik, personally, but this is close enough that some further refinement, or perhaps more unusual songwriting could fill this band into that open void.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.deathlust.net/

Aurvandil - Thrones (2013)

It's very much a shame I missed this one on release last December, it would have made for a pretty perfect kickoff to a steady winter season and almost seems out of place now that Spring is bursting forth in my neck of the woods. That said, if you've run across Aurvandil in the past, you know damn well what's at stake: a desolate, passionate experience which is best listened to in a state of solitude, preferably as far from the rest of your human surroundings as possible. Thrones isn't quite as impenetrably cold as its predecessor Yearning from 2011, but it's another substantial landscape of subtle, glorious details that won't fail to either lift or drown your spirit, dependent wholly on the reaction you typically observe for such a lonely, poignant sojourn.

This was originally a limited cassette, but has recently been released to wider digital distribution through Eisenwald Tonschmiede. Four compositions, each quite a bit longer than those on Yearning, a bit closer in corporeality to the 2010 EP Ferd. Bleak acoustics set the stage for tunes like "For Whom Burnest Thou", "Ingen Lindring" and "Summon the Storms", and though these guitars might not seem the most captivating in terms of their note construction, they flow really well, and give the listener the impression that a storm is about to strike, which of course what happens when the ruddy-cheeked, grainy electric guitars flow forth and initiate a dirty but majestic ascent into the eaves of distant highlands. Bathory and Immortal remain apt references, but how Aurvandil approaches his production sets him apart. It seems simultaneously lower in fidelity but really maintains a slight air of accessibility. Rhythm guitars power forth without searing into seemingly complex patterns, and there's always a patient, uplifting melody. Bass-lines are actually prevalent, though they usually follow the root notes of the higher-pitched guitars. One of the more distinct measures taken here is how his vocals sort of hover painfully astride the chords, rather than attempting to cut through them or subjugate...

This contributes heavily to the persistent airiness and forward, climbing momentum, even if it's hardly a show of prowess. Like Quorthon howling at you from the opposite side of a fjord or mountain, or like being carried directly on the wind of the raging strings. Though the preference is for faster material once the harder guitars enter a song, he does have some slower, rolling sequences like in "Summon the Storms" where the bass becomes this flood of warmth beneath the distortion. Granted, I wouldn't be opposed to hearing even more variety, but just that raw nature of the vocal and guitars allows for plenty of atmosphere to escape into, and once again I stress the seasonal spirit the music inspires, even if it's not so overwhelmingly frigid this time around. I enjoy this, and everything else I've heard by the guy, so if you're curious to hear a slightly different, windswept interpretation Scandinavian black metal circa the mid-90s that doesn't involve breaking out your copies of Blood Fire Death, Battles in the North or Vikinligr Veldi for the thousandth time, then this is well worth a try.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

Pact - The Infernal Hierarchies, Penetrating the Threshold of Night (2014)

Once these particular birds of prey have discovered the proper tactic to tear out your throat, they don't seem very keen on changing strategies; so you can expect that this Pact sophomore The Infernal Hierarchies, Penetrating the Threshold of Night leaves much the same carnage behind it as did their debut The Dragon Lineage of Satan back in 2012. That's both a good and bad thing, because while they join the ranks of the dependable and devil-driven, one might have hoped for some degree of evolution, variation and atmosphere to shape their sound towards the future. Painfully little of that, this is just a lot more paving of the road to Hell with ill intentions, and unfortunately the riff selection here just sort of wafted through one ear and out the other, leaving a sufficient beating but nothing extraordinarily memorable behind that I would deign to recollect very often.

That's not to detract from the confidence and competence here, the monstrous chords threaded with minor dissonant open string pickings, war-march drum cadences suffused with spleen-rupturing blast beats and double kick storms. Thick, present bass-lines, and a little bit of muddier chugging when a song calls to beef up that bottom end. A singer that continues to use a bit more guttural timber than the rasps generally associated with his genre, but they also thread in a number of those for support, to sound like a convocation of abyssal spirits. I definitely feel this retains that redolence of Bathory, Mayhem and Marduk if they had in turn pledged their unholy allegiances more directly to the war metal throne of groups like Blasphemy and Bestial Warlust, but with the added boon of a more fulfilling, modern production style. Other more recent  comparisons might be made towards Averse Sefira or Denouncement Pyre. Still, while a busy and incendiary album by all accounts, The Infernal Hierarchies... does lack the subtleties and advancements I might have hoped from the first record, an issue I might not take if I could find a few more riffs here that interested me for more than a handful of passing listens...

Really, Pact is for those who want a rush of fuel and absolutely no forgiveness, a vision of the Underworld as as the domain of tyrants who clutch their gauntlets in steel might and let the blood run down their cheeks and chins while they sup on the souls of those that pass through the Leviathan's gates. Its suited to a war against Heaven's host, where you're so locked into the combat mentality that all the dying and flailing of angels and fiends around you blends into this one, cohesive blast of fear and fate, and it just doesn't concern itself with anything innovative or, ultimately, interesting. That's not to say there isn't an acceptable level of deviation with the more mid-paced floods like the opening of "Pactmaker Lucifuge", or a number of bridges over which the baleful, minimal behemoth leads wail into the frenzy, but it felt like such a stock black metal experience this time around that I couldn't get much out of it. Lots of aggression, a fiery production, and very little else in the shadow of these horns, possibly worthwhile to purists that enjoy the faster European style (Dark Funeral, Watain, Belphegor, Marduk) but I felt like that first album was bloodier and catchier.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

Skelethal - Deathmanicvs Revelation EP (2014)

I haven't heard a ton of French entrants into the old school death metal craze of late, but those I have, like that Cadaveric Fumes demo a few years back, have been quite worthy; Skelethal proving no exception with their Iron Bonehead debut Deathmanicvs Revelation. This could be considered raw, unseasoned material revealing a connection to the very roots of the style, though with an uglier production quality that somehow grafts additional personality on the barebones grooves and almost grind-like intensity. I rather felt like this had been recorded in a warehouse or empty studio apartment where a lot of natural reverb gave the songs a remote, distant quality about them without sacrificing my ability to perceive the individual chords and instruments.

The intro is pretty cool. Pianos and bells and haunting ambiance wrought from any cheesy Gothic horror fantasy, and then the band clubs you with the very opposite of elegance. Lots of trotting, march-like guitars with brief spurts of death/thrash and the aforementioned uptempo bursts where I almost had an impression of late 80s Napalm Death. There's also a sense of Swedish momentum with some d-beat-like rhythms and the raw, barbaric tone of the guitars, though with that far-off production style it definitely doesn't come off like the usual Entombed/Dismember clone. The bass guitar is faintly audible alongside the rhythm guitars, but that's largely because the knobs aren't tweaked to provide a ton of low end; it's all to sound as if it's being filtered at you through the environment, cavern-core to the max but we're talking a massive subterranean space as opposed to a small nook or alcove. Therefore, it doesn't seem to suffocate the listener nearly as much as some of the other bands touting this style, which is welcome...though the production choices here are not going to appeal to audiophiles who want everything warm and clear.

Structurally, this isn't the most interesting or unique stuff, with a bevy of riffing progressions culled from the Swedish golden age, peppered with some Autopsy or Floridian influences via Obituary or Death. Vocals are a low roar which can't really be distinguished from a dozen or so other bands. If you are jaded on this particular style (and on most days I am), then Deathmanicvs Revelation is going to leave the impression of a 'me too' sort of band in an already saturated medium. However, if you've got room left in the crypt for another ghastly denizen who keep shit painfully simple, brutal and atmospheric, then you could do a lot worse than Skelethal; and ultimately, this EP's coldness and purity work out in its favor. It's nothing amazing, or even really good, but consistent and effective. Also if you have a fetish for Tentacled Things From Beyond, the cover here provides yet another pinup model for you to obsess over.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://skelethal.bandcamp.com/

Hades Archer - Penis Metal EP (2008)

Not the deepest of dickings, nor a particularly memorable one, because by the time you're about to climax Hades Archer has already expended itself and moved along to the next willing victim. That said, if you're into a rough ride with your blackened war-metal, I can promise you that there's absolutely no romance or foreplay with this EP, just in and out thrusts the pitchfork as your ears are creamed with a violent load of functional blast beats, harsh rhythm guitars which have all the complexity and nuance of a gaggle of grinding sluts you could find in any inner city, and ravenous rasps and barks that talk dirty to you about the Devil's host, bestial acts involving his pet goats and hounds (maybe both at the same time), and a whole lotta damned souls, dead rising, fire and blood.

Arguably, this brand of ultra-violent Underworld bloodlust blew its wad about a decade prior, when bands like Impiety, Impaled Nazarene, Blasphemy and Bestial Warlust took it to its logical, licentious end with an orgy of rehashed thrash, death, punk and heavy metal riffs played at X-rated, savage speeds where the only given atmosphere was its own coked up velocity. There's almost nothing present on Penis Metal which really distinguishes the group from its skull-fornicating forefathers, apart from a few español chileno lyrics. Having said that, it's my experience that a lot of studs into this style don't give a particular damn. Fuck and forget, throw the horns, strap-on your bullet belts and pentagram necklaces for a night and there goes the goddamn neighborhood! Only with less Ice-T. It took longer to read the band members' stage names than to make up my mind on this music, and that's never a good sign! It's little more than pure, testosterone-driven blasphemy predicated on a passion for barbarism, misanthropy, and 'because we can' attitude that precludes much of an chance at any poignant songwriting or malevolent nuance.

That's right: it's not nearly as demonic as it wishes it were, and that's a symptom most bands like this just can't overcome. No patience. Coitus inter-ruptured. Premature e-jerk-ulation. The rhythm guitar riffs lack any semblance of creepiness or diabolic, compelling note placement, nor do the frenzied leads which careen across the chords like drunks fiddling their zippers. Variation is all but alien to this duo, they have clearly not consulted their Kama Sutra and insist on just one position, which transforms the pounding drums into a monotonous, incendiary clamor and makes me quite happy that this was such a short session and you can move on to a more virile client. The super smutty secret Sodom cover circa 1986 is actually the best thing about the EP, because it showcases the mark bands like this are aiming for and falling short of, without any need to consult other sources. Hades Archer improved their libidos considerably for the later full-lengths (For the Diabolical Ages in particular is pretty fun), but Penis Metal is a spent contraceptive full of wannabeEvilSeed lying limp in the sewers of Perdition, just beneath the Moulin Splooge.

Verdict: Fail [4/10] (Metal for men & fuck)