Déhà - Decadanse (2022)

Decadanse is an interesting album for me to approach, for while I've heard a few of this artist's myriad projects in the past (Yhdarl, Silver Knife and Wolvennest to name but a few), he's been on a massive productivity streak with this 'solo' act...dozens of full-lengths and collaborations in just the last 4-5 years, part of which was possibly spurred on by pandemic-era isolation, but is showing no signs of slowing down even today. From what I've just briefly been able to read, the Déhà project is one that intentionally avoids pigeon-holing itself into too narrow a niche, but if I had to describe this, it's almost a horror landscape terraformed through a mixture of drone, doom, black metal, industrial and electronic ingredients, programmed drums with extreme vocals ranging from a prolonged rasp or growl to whispery nightmares or soaring mid-range harmonies.

There are but two tracks, each 22-23 minutes in length and obviously narrating a creepy, grandiose concept through musical construction that transforms from careful control to calamity, but always focused on forming oblique and harrowing imagery in the listener's mind. There are times when this is lurching along like the most stolid funeral doom, and others when it intensifies into blasting frenzy and tremolo picked note progressions. The guitars vary from rather predictable trudges and black metal melodies to more spacious, eerie anomalies that are constantly offering up a higher dimension beyond the aggressive substrate of the songwriting. His vocals are splayed out almost like paints of blood and ichor splashed on a canvas, becoming a part of the atmosphere just as often as they're a metallic, percussive focal point. And what's more, there is a tendency to lurch into some unexpected electronic/techno part which is quite fun despite sounding a little less dire and serious than the rest.

I'm not going to claim I was totally bowled over by Decadanse, I mean it delivers what is advertised and successfully transfers the feelings of gloom and fright into the mix, but occasionally it relies on some repetition, or riff patterns that are a bit predictable or repetitive. In the span of 20+ minutes, there could certainly be a few more interesting riffs or atmospheres on exhibit, I don't know if they struck often enough through this particular album's play-length as they might have on some of his others. But having said that, when I pull myself back about a mile from the details, and just appreciate the dark and monolithic atmosphere, the obvious amount of work places in the tortured vocals, and the placement of segues like the electronic parts, or the creepy acoustic break in "I Am the Dead" with the filtered vox, this is definitely an imaginative and involved work that fans of lightless, atmospheric dread will get a lot of, and I'm surely prompted to listen to more of what he's done directly under the Déhà handle.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://deha.bandcamp.com/

Burial Ground/Grave Wax/Severed Limbs/Crospy Maniac - Four Paths to Horror (2015)

Four Paths to Horror is a 12 track split CD featuring four bands, three of which are projects from prolific death metal gurus Kam Lee, Rogga Johansson and Patrick Bruss, who combined must make up a not insignificant portion of death metal releases these last two decades. The idea of course is that all of these groups have a heavy lyrical bent on the horror genre, something that can probably also be said for the wealth of that trio's constituent bands. That is truly the connecting ligament on this release, because individual, while there are comparable traits between the acts, they often approach their genre with different production values and songwriting quality, and while that's not always an unwelcome factor on a split recording, it sometimes works to the detriment here because the level of professionalism seems highly inconsistent.

First off you have Americans Cropsy Maniac blasting through four tracks and six minutes of Carcass spawned deathgrind, starting off with some samples to their namesake slasher and then just bludgeoning you at high capacity with only a few hints at tossing in some background guitar melody or something that could actually make the tunes mildly more interesting. It doesn't quite work, and though I could say these guys are the most energetic on the split, they also gave me the least return. Belgium's Burial Ground, a group that has existed almost entirely on the demo/split level thus far, dishes up some crude but evil old school death metal that I thought was quite cool, almost like a mix of Autopsy's raw and grotesque punk-death form and the more structural Germans Morgoth on their earlier recordings. The riffs didn't always stick with me so well, but I can at least say I experienced some fond flashbacks for that late 80s/early 90s era, they had some curious quirks like a loud bass tone and even some narrative on their paean to "Last House on the Left". Fans of old Autopsy, Asphyx, and the like might wanna track them down, I believe they've got a compilation out that might have all their split material.

Even uglier is Kam Lee's Grave Wax, who have an even cruder and uglier style than anyone else on the split, and though Lee's vocal effects are cranked up to almost caricature level, these tunes were also quite fun, almost as if you were listening to them live but Lee was too high on the mixing board thanks to some zealous dweeb sound guy that wanted to fuck with the knobs. However, just like Burial Ground, these are actually fun, especially "Transmuting Techno-Terror". Ugly, inspired, no fucks given death metal. And bringing up the tail end of the recording are two tracks from Rogga Johansson's Severed Limbs, a decent project with a chunkier Swedish sound, although not just an emulation of Entombed or Dismember, but a more American style to the riffs, simply dowsed in that familiar production. These are two of the stronger cuts on the whole thing, and like his album Sores Galore that I reviewed earlier in the year, if you dig his other groups like Paganizer or Revolting you are likely gonna enjoy this stuff also. It's not a project he puts much importance in but certainly a worthy one.

In all honesty, I would have dug the Grave Wax, Burial Ground and Severed Limbs contributions as their own individual mCD/EP releases, or at least maybe just a 2-way split from the first two. Cropsy Maniac's inclusion here felt a bit stylistically disparate from the others beyond also belonging to the death metal genre in some way or form, you might have more fun checking out one of their own recordings; and the production across the bands lends to an uneven sort of experience, which I'm not terribly fond of on split recordings, but if you love all the piling on of the retro death metal these last decades then I think there are certainly enough highlights that it just squeaks by on the quality meter.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Burialground666/
https://www.facebook.com/gravewaxdeathmetal/
https://cropsymaniac.bandcamp.com/

Sons of a Wanted Man - Kenoma (2020)

Les Acteurs de l'Ombre must have the market cornered for Euro bands that combine elements of black metal, post-metal and sludge into coherent, unified sounds, and Sons of a Wanted Man is their latest export, a Belgian band which does this seamlessly on their debut full-length Kenoma. In fact, this cross hybridization feels so natural in their hands that I no longer care where one of the genres begins and ends, just that it's all being battered over my head in an emotional, earnest outpouring of snarls, chords, fat bass lines and intense drumming. That's not to say I'm entirely impressed with this record, in fact I was zoning out a number of times due to what I consider excessive song lengths with a lot of predictable patterns, but Kenoma is a respectable package at least.

I can't stress enough how much the element of surprise is important to me when I'm hearing a new record, perhaps not as much in very traditional metal styles, but certainly when I've got a band in a newer medium that gels as well as this one. To that extent, I found a lot of the chord progressions throughout this fairly familiar, though they're heavily saturated with a full bodied distortion, and a ton of searing passion in the rasped, black metallic vocals. Even where the band will just let the guitars trudge along by themselves, like in the depths of the title track, it becomes a little too redundant, expected and patience-draining. That's not to say these choices are bad, but there's just so little to actually snag my ear as I'm passing through. In a lot of cases, the band will shift between these mid-paced, driving chord sections redolent of stuff like Katatonia, and blasted black metal mode, but otherwise the mood of the sequences doesn't really change around so much with the tempos, it's all a wearying gray that, like many shoegaze or blackgaze artists, attempts to compensate with a wall of force in the guitars and beats, and that doesn't always translate into memorable compositions, though it's certainly pleasant and consistent.

Now, occasionally they'll throw something over the top, some slight touch of dissonance created in the churning chords or the melodic shadows cast by the upper strings, and that creates immersion for me, but so many of the bottom end rhythm riffs on this record are just bleak and void of interest, such as the chugging at the heart of "Serpentine", where the same note is beaten to death (fortunately this is one of the shorter pieces). In other times, you'll get just a little bit of the unexpected like the drifty, dreamy vocals in "Canine Devotion", and that definitely helps to flesh out the experience. If you're seeking out something like a Slowdive or Hum balanced against black and sludge, I think you could do far worse than Sons of a Wanted Man. The murky production of the guitars is quite honest and raw, the lyrics have a nice philosophical, pleading style akin to intellectual hardcore, and the cover art and packaging is tremendous. Musically, it's solid, especially if you don't mind some familiarity with the basic building blocks, but I can tell from this that there's plenty of potential territory to grow into in terms of including more off-the-beaten-path melodic riffs or chords, or atmospheric passes that have a little more hypnotic effect that is crucial for this mix.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://soawm.bandcamp.com/

Kludde - In de kwelm (2019)

It's been a fair spell since the Kludde debut In den vergetelheid in 2008, but despite the many seasons the Belgian band has landed with a sophomore congruent with the sounds of the debut, a huge brick of black metal and sludge aesthetics with an even distribution across the album. When it comes to individual tracks, this doesn't always pan out in a 50/50 ratio, but the band is consistent when it smooths over the edges to make them fit. In fact, there's also a fraction of a death metal influence here, both in the vocals which feature more of a sustained hybrid of rasp and growl to their roar, and a few of the riff progressions which feed into or are fed by some of the album's grooves.

Now, if I were to favor one side of the band, it would probably be the faster, more black metal strain of riffing they create in tracks like "Schabouwelijke praktijken I - De rabauwen" or "Bloedkoesj", mildly engraved with melodies that help thunder it all forward. Once they go a little more mid-paced in that niche, the chord patterns become a little more predictable, and I find that also to be the case when they're laying out the sludgier sequences in tunes like "Schramoeille". That isn't to say that this is particularly weak material, it still hits you square in the gut thanks to the massive production values, and the other components like the vocals and lead guitars help flesh it out so it doesn't become too stagnant. In de kwelm is nothing if not forceful and consistent, while they might lack for some of the subtlety up front, they aren't really about that, but knocking you the hell over, which is exactly what this loud and potent mix will do, or what the material would do to you at a gig with Cerulean's massive growl digging your grave.

Some might actually find it too even of a beating, but thankfully Kludde mixes up the tempo and riffing throughout. For example, "Poesjkapelle" is like a punkier/crust piece that strikes just at the right time to brighten up the record, and the closer "De laatste reis" is a moody, murky doom piece that opens with tribal drumming, clean guitars and sparser electric riffs, before it gradually explodes and kicks you back into the bleachers. In de kwelm is a well-rounded, professional album that has no intention of boring its listeners, and could find itself a pretty broad audience between fans of crust and d-beat, harsher sludge, and the more rockin' black metal acts like Denmark's Horned Almighty. A little more nuance, originality to the chord choices, perhaps even a further integration of more dissonant, evil riff patterns, or extra instances of the atmospheric stuff which does occasionally appear, and this would drill itself into my memory a lot further. No question though that this is a step up from the debut, the decade between them been spent honing the chops.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://www.facebook.com/kluddeband/

Saqra's Cult - Forgotten Rites (2017)

I was interested in Saqra's Cult for two reasons. Firstly, both of its cultists were also present in a blackened thrash act Maleficence which release an EP last year that I covered. Secondly, and perhaps the more important, this was purportedly a band themed around the Inca Empire. While that might not be a completely novel theme, at least a few Central American bands closer to home having delved into it, I'm not sure I've really heard it implemented in a way that satisfied me as some sort of ethnic, atavistic manifestation of the subject matter into the metal medium. Granted, these guys are from Belgium, but hell, Nile are from the USA and they have well developed their Egyptology into extremity by this point, so I don't really think your entire band has to hail from a particular region or culture to experiment with its history as a musical outlet.

Now, after listening to Forgotten Rites a few time, I'm still not too sure that I've gotten the 'Incan Fix' that I seek. Certainly this album looks beautiful with its gold and dark contrasted artwork, but apart from a few tribal ambient pulses like the intro to opener "Solemn Sacrifice", it's a rather straightforward mid-to-fast paced black metal effort with some tangible death metal elements as well. That's not to say it's not a solid metal album on its own right, but it functions more along the usual tropes. Rhythmic batteries steeped in double bass drumming and speeds that are often quite tame for the genre. A hybrid of growls and snarls which is not uncommon these days in a lot of French and Belgian. A thick and viscous tone to the rhythm guitars which reminds me of bands like Aosoth or Saligia, rather than the airy and tinny aesthetics present in a lot of pure necro black metal. There's also a fat, ruddy bass tone here which works well to anchor the production and keep the record nasty and beating on you; this is most deliberate in "Mesak" but you can feel it throughout

The riffs have just enough of a tear to them in general to remain engaging, though they only rarely bust out a hook or an individual pattern of notes that really makes me want to go for a double take. A lot of the chord progressions are fairly commonplace and predictable, and while executed effortlessly they don't conjure up enough of the cultural mystique or ancient fear that I would have hoped for. It just seems like it needs a few more unique sequences to break up the bulk of its riffing, especially in a longer (10+ minute) track like "Solemn Sacrifice" which just doesn't have enough interesting content to fill itself. To be fair, the rest of the tracks are considerable shorter, but even then there were parts that I didn't feel terribly inspired with. The limit here is that the themes are delivered to you too much through the lyrics and your own imagination, rather than what you actually hear on the disc. That said, it still feels suitably ritualistic and dingy enough to transport you somewhere, to some fallen, shadowy space, and there is firm groundwork here which could be engineered into a more fulfilling escape into the annals of myth and history. One to watch.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://www.facebook.com/saqrascult/

Maleficence - Realms of Mortification EP (2016)

There's been quite the explosion of blackened thrash metal these past couple years, and while it's likely grown a little redundant and unnecessarily retrospect to some, I've been enjoying quite a lot of what I hear, provided that the bands focus on both the riffs and production aesthetics of their distant forebears, but tweaking the formulae just enough that I feel like it's an alternative take on a well trodden path. Maleficence happen to meet most of these prerequisites, taking a meatier, nastier approach to material that wouldn't have seemed so out of place on an early Destruction or Sodom recording, and then ensuring the riff selection is varied and consistently savage.

To be clear, once the swell of the dark ambient intro subsides, this is not a group that focuses in too heavily on atmospherics, instead opting for a more potent, clean studio mix in which the guitars are punchy and effective and vocals placed at a volume that emphasizes their ghastly, barking abandon. Riffing here is highly reminiscent of Mike Sifringer, only it's not as flecked with industrial steel as All Hell Breaks Loose or The Antichrist, but more of a polished Sentence of Death or Mad Butcher. The drums are forceful and enhance the charging momentum of "Pyre of Penitence", while the bass has just enough of a distorted coil and groove to it that you can really pick out where it deviates from the rhythm guitar line. They'll spurt out some picked tremolo riffing sequences to spin just enough of a Slayer-like proto-death metal undercurrent that complements straight up old 80s Teutonic thrashing, and throw up a few melodic bits you wouldn't otherwise expect (in the opening of the title cut), but there are other passages in which it's nearly indistinguishable from that classic thrash sphere.

Fortunately, the Belgians are not lazily spewing forth black/punk riffs that are all too predictable from the get-go, and there seems to have been a modicum of effort and enthusiasm here in the writing. The attention to the more accessible recording places this more firmly into the camp of bands like Erazor and Raise Hell than dingier, atmospheric groups like Power from Hell and Diavolos, but that's not a bad thing, as Maleficence just let the riffs do their talking for them, and that dialogue is established with a vivid and determined force. Not incredibly memorable to the point that you'll be hearing it in your head 25 years later, or perhaps even 24 hours later, but the tunes are entertaining enough throughout their existence, and a full-length of this quality, with the same commitment to varied, intense, impactful writing, would likely stir up some appreciation.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] 

https://www.facebook.com/maleficenceband

Aborted - Termination Redux EP (2016)

With the exception of a couple albums that succumbed to a bit too much of a -core inspiration, Aborted have maintained a largely consistent career as one of the most visible, productive forces in death metal, touring often and hitting hard with audiences that are impressed by their brutality, balance of technicality, and the high level modern production values they champion on their records. I myself have not felt a strong connection to their songwriting in years, the first three albums (Purity of Perversion, Engineering the Dead and Goremageddon) remaining my favorites, from times well before they had blown up the world over. There have been a few fun cuts since then, in particular on 2012's Global Flatline, and yet despite those 'high' contemporary standards of studio sound and riffing intensity they have set for themselves, I simply don't find much of their material all that absorbing.

It's not for lack of trying, because once the rather lame intro to Termination Redux subsides, they throttle you with scores of riff progressions over the four tracks and 15 minutes that channel everything from death and goregrind to the hook-drenched death-thrashing punch of the mid-era Carcass style that informed a lot of their older albums, as if it were siphoned through the high impact capacity of Napalm Death and the roiling grooves of Morbid Angel. Ceaselessly energetic drumming, brick shitting rhythm guitar tone that bursts directly into your face, and some kind of scientifically calculated ratio of blasts to double bass storms to breakdowns that were certainly plotted as blueprints to entertain both their purist brutal death following and the -core guys that are likely to see them on all manner of tours with their favorite bands. Plenty of intricacy in some of the rhythm guitars, but a topping of growls and rasps that feel 100% risk-less and towing the party line for most modern bands of this niche. The bass lines sound rich, fat and fantastic, whenever the drums and guitars aren't too busy to obscure them, and best used in the little atmospheric, spoken break in "Bound in Acrimony" which is among the more immersive moments on this short-player.

Where Termination Redux really doesn't do much for me is in its faster, blasted deathgrind sequences in which the chords selected, as forceful as they are performed, feel like any other banal band putting together the first 3-4 chords that come to mind and sound passable. The same could be said for the breakdown riffs. The notes here just don't stick to my brain, and I found that some of those more involved, mid-paced patterns were just so much more interesting that I wish they were prevalent over more of the run-time. The mix here is loud and engaging, but also super-clean, and thus nothing you haven't heard a hundred or so times already. The Belgians certainly don't lack for any testosterone, nor do they show any signs of slowing down after their 20+ years, and I think an audience that was heavily into the last two full-lengths (Global Flatline and The Necrotic Manifesto) will chew this right up, but I found only an ephemeral entertainment at best, here and gone in a flash of whirling limbs, a creature of structure and production, empty violence and exhibitional proficiency but not one of any sterner auditory dynamic or substance. You might stab someone in a shower to this today, but you won't be singing it in the shower tomorrow.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Abortedofficial

Emptiness - Nothing But the Whole (2014)

Belgium's Emptiness is not a band which could ever be accused of putting its roots down in one site and never moving. From the more structured sophomore Oblivion, with its frenetic and memorable death metal riffing palette, to the more loosely defined surreal black metal of Error, they've never precisely locked down one single sound, and somehow that fact has kept them interesting. With Nothing But the Whole, they sort of attempt to continue the atmospheric overtures of the latter while bringing back a more consistent and diverse riffing component, and the result might just be their most interesting and unique effort to date, notably for just how well its disparate parts flow together as a whole...

The intro tune on this thing ("Go and Hope") is brilliant; distant and eerie tremolo picked guitars accented with creepy spoken word passages and cleaner plucked guitars that help the momentum ascend into a broiling, echoed distortion and subsequent calm. It's incredibly unusual and catchy, with a similar, captivating psychedelic effect I felt on the first Oranssi Pazuzu record, and thus ran my expectations for the entire record straight up the charts. That song is not exactly characteristic of the entire album, which explores a broad range of black, death and thrash metal aesthetics in the rhythm guitar structures, some freakish and others quite mechanical, but they absolutely keep the ball within an atmospheric playing field. Dense, broiling bass lines, somnolent voices hovering above the instruments, and a near constant ambiance created through the guitars that serves up a welcome contrast to the churning and grooving riffs used to maintain the metallic balance. Most importantly, there is just always something compelling happening within the music which the ear can focus on, so even if a riff comes up short in quality, it never stands alone in the esoteric nightmare Emptiness is forging here.

A few of the songs seem so deliriously post-industrial in nature that I'm reminded of some of Dodheimsgard and Mayhem's experimentation, or the Polish band Non Opus Dei, who had a few similar albums, or maybe even a black/death metal analog to Coroner's much debated Grin, but I think a lot of Error does bleed through onto this more so than its predecessors. Particularly the vocals, which are an ebb and flow between a wall of nihilistic barking and the more sinister, cerebral garbles and whispers that help loosen the architecture of the record to something more spontaneous in nature. Upon first exposure, there was no telling what was going to happen next...for example, the percussive, meandering "The Past is Death" cedes to the haunting, escalating ambiance of "Lowland" at the close of the record, but at the same time that sort of 'completes the circle' they had set up at the start. The drums are often more akin to scene-setting dark theatrical effects than standard beats, and the thick bass is constantly concocting a subliminal groove in between the viral metallic outbreaks.

Nothing But the Whole is ultimately a pessimistic, emotional journey which shows very little respect for convention while simultaneously and subconsciously keeping those bases covered, if only by the bands' toes while they choose where on the field to steal next. It's brooding and leaves a sulphuric residue in your ears and mouth, almost like you were chain smoking to some cut-up noir film reel via projector, in which some eccentric had hidden a message of the end times you are trying to unravel. The lyrics are personal and interesting, contending with the processes of self-awareness and addiction, and while it's not perfect, it is those very imperfections which make for such immersion. My personal tastes still run towards their second album, being a riff guy that album's genius would be criminal to ignore, but Emptiness have delivered what is easily one of the most mesmerizing efforts in recent months, something I'll surely still be visiting years from now. Plus that cover...fuck!

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (to end up in the same cage)

http://www.emptiness.be/

Pestifer - Reaching the Void (2014)

Part of me is a major nerd for progressive ideas enveloped in a tech death metal context, but by the year 2014 I'm afraid that a lot of acts exploring that 'fringe' seem themselves to be repeating the past. Take Pestifer's sophomore Reaching the Void, for all intensive purposes a vortex of busy melodic riffs, bass lines that explore much of their fret-board, and a level of complexity which never eschews composition for pure wankery. Problem is, while the Belgians are not shy on the application of ambitious musicianship, it's still something we've all heard before. That's not to say I didn't derive some enjoyment from the album, but its labyrinthine charms do not always lend themselves to the most ambitious, memorable songwriting...

At its most clinical and convulsive, the playful and punctual thrash riffing passages brought to mind a death metal analog for Deathrow's underrated masterwork Deception Ignored, with some overt nods to Voivod's dissonant 80s material. Early Cynic (Focus), Watchtower (Control and Resistance) and Atheist (Unquestionable Presence) are other obvious references due to the flow of the bass player and the frenetic pulse of the music, with a hint of older Gorguts or 90s Death and Pestilence. But to place this in a more modern context, the songs feel like a collision between Canada's Beyond Creation, Germany's Obscura and America's Vektor, with that spacey, clean cosmic feel of the former two and then the occasional death/thrash viciousness of the third. Pristine, punchy production on the rhythm guitars allows us to hear every drum and bass note, and there are mass amounts of notes flying around, even though precious few seem to stick beyond their own hectic function. But don't be fooled into thinking this is even remotely chaotic or sporadic, because everything is heavily structured here and the band rarely escapes the envelope presented by the list of bands I name-dropped above. Thus, you've got a lot of minor variations on pre-conceived riffing formulas, arpeggio patterns and not a lot else here...

That's going to be enough for some, because let's face it, there is so much more actual 'music' here than on your garden variety death metal record, and even though many bands from Sceptic to Decrepit Birth have sought this sound, it does not seem like there's a heavy overpopulation of them, so there remains that slight illusion of nuance and 'freshness' which captivates the listener who is an admirer of the ability exhibited on the instruments. Through its tight cohesion of melodies and darker, dissonance, Reaching the Void is certainly a disc of some depth, so much fluttering about that I spent a few listens just picking out the bits and bytes of what I enjoyed, but on the flipside this is a 'plug and play' sort of album where many of the tempos and riff sequences could have been mixed up into their neighbors and you wouldn't really be able to distinguish them from one another. The bass, leads and drums keep things interesting, because they're actually dispensing some effort to stand out rather than facing subjugation by the guitars, but ultimately I came away from this feeling more like I'd experienced an 'exercise' than a set of songs I want to re-spin endlessly.

Pestifer have their chops, and I appreciated the detail and effort of this album, but it's not something I'd revisit when I wasn't in a very specific mood; but on the other hand, I obviously share a passion for many of the bands which influenced this one, and though I'd love to think the Belgians could travel further outside the box like their inspirations did at one time, Reaching the Void is more than enough to at least appreciate for the time spent in its conception and execution. If you own and enjoy at least a half dozen of the bands I referenced earlier, or others such as Gorod, Illogicist and Hellwitch, I think this is an easy enough recommendation.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.pestifer.be/

Possession - Anneliese EP (2014)

There was a pretty obscure Kansas death metal band called Possession, and the logo's slightly similar, so when I first saw the promo for this 7" in my inbox I thought they might have reformed. Not the case at all: this is actually a Belgian band of a more infernal pedigree, performing a primal concoction of black and death metal which hearkens back to the age of bands like Hellhammer, Bathory, Venom and other diabolics of the early to mid 80s who were satisfied with committing the most gruesome and unholy works of simplified aggression to tape. How successful these guys are? I can't exactly form a firm opinion of just the two tunes on this, but if you're really into the basest of metal tunes, evil cover artwork and a 'true' sensibility to what they're doing, this quartet might not disappoint.

Personally, I found the stuff pretty crude and inoffensive, with a strong rock ethic to the riffing of the title track which is admittedly sort of bland when you consider all the raving, theatrical rasps of the front man and how much better they would have been served with something more interesting in structure. The drums are very slappy sounding, the bass thick and oozing with distortion, the murk of the rhythm chords unbreakable, but honestly the only thing here that was distracting me was the reverb-soaked ranting accompanied by descending back-up howls that feel like gargoyles free-jumping off burning cathedrals. Unfortunately, when a rock creature strikes the ground at terminal velocity, it's likely to break up into pieces, and there just wasn't enough to this particular song to keep me wanting to go back to it. The B-side "Apparition" was a little more to my liking, with evil wailing guitars, more morbid chords and even a breakout blast-beat section, so there was just an innate if minimal level of variation which kept my imagination better occupied, and even if the mid-paced rhythm guitars were comparable to the first tune, they are simply more menacing.

So that leads me to believe that, while the Anneliese EP itself might not be a prime showing of the band's talent, given a longer record they will likely have the chance to shine between the faster and slower-rock material. With a vocalist like this, I think putting some more nuance into the guitars, with more compelling or eerie note choices would go a very long way towards making Possession one of the most goddamned evil sounding acts on the planet. But they're not quite there yet...which is fine, they've only been around a few years and definitely have the potential to pull in that proto-extreme metal crowd who worship a time when black, death and thrash metal were often woven into a singular, sinister package. Those into bands like Bones, Usurper, Venom, Von, Darkthrone and comparable sounds might want to give these guys a listen, but I feel like they've got better in them for the future.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

https://www.facebook.com/hisbestdeceit

Toorn - Kronieken van het Einde (2012)

Kronieken van het Einde ('Chronicles of the End') is the sophomore self-released album from Belgian musician Gorik van Droogenbroeck (aka Cerulean), who has been involved with a number of other related projects like Kludde or Trancelike Void (live), but had put together Toorn ('Wrath') to employ his black and doom metal influences into massive, expressive structures that were surely prevalent on his 2009 debut Galgenberg. That album was beyond tight, and frankly I'm a bit disappointed that more people didn't take notice of it, because it put a mildly folkish spin on the downtrodden, sorrowful terrain ploughed by Katatonia through the 90s, or the first two Agalloch records (think Brave Murder Day filtered through The Mantle). For those who missed out, through, here's yet another chance to get acquainted, and an album that rivals its predecessor in terms of professionalism, while dialing back some of the swollen song lengths of the debut (though he still ekes out a few 10+ epics here).

Melody is the law within these pieces, and van Droogenbroeck certainly has a knack for stringing along both graceful and depressing note progressions that capture the restless momentum of some bleak afternoon of pregnant gray clouds and ceaseless, cold precipitation. Clean, ringing tones are incorporated not only to spice up the central rhythm guitars with an effect not unlike that of Amorphis' Tuonela, but also built into their own mesmerizing monoliths of sadness like "Zomerzonnewende" or the brief "Hiaat". Granted, many of the basic chord patterns used to fuel the momentum of these tracks will prove relatively familiar to those for whom melodic doom is the daily bread and butter, and some degree of dragged on repetition is inherent to the style, but the effect is still quite emotionally poignant, especially since Gorik has really mixed up the track listing so that the larger centerpieces ("Omen", "Carpe Omnia") are broken up by shorter ones. The bass is quite fluid and melodic through the record, especially in pieces like "Verloren", and I was rather impressed by its ability not to be entirely overshadowed by the melodies. The beats rarely do more than one would expect of these rhythmic configurations, but the snare and kick sound firm without becoming intrusive, even when elevated to near blast levels during the surges of "Carpe Omnia".

Vocally, you're getting a long, guttural drawl that hovers over the expansiveness of the guitars, occasionally tied off in more of a rasp, which when paired with the more dissonant rhythm patterns, definitely creates an eerier, haunting black metal vibe which is also crucial in breaking up the mournful glimmer of the melodies. Still, I must admit I wouldn't mind Toorn moving further in this direction, to a more nightmarish area that he offers only hints of here. It seemed as if Galgenberg was slightly more intense and harrowing. Kronieken van het Einde creates this 'sailing' quality to it through numbers like "Solitaire" and "Verloren", and I enjoy the segues that create a progressive/folk quality to most of the longer tunes, but there remains plenty of contrasted emotional space for the music to explore. For one mind crafting and over an hour of music, though, I will say that there are very few points at which the material becomes vapid or exhausting, and it's definitely built of peaks and valleys, climaxes and anticlimaxes which keep the content from wearing out its welcome. All told, I can't see any reason fans of the first album wouldn't like this, because the riffing is often pretty close in nature; also recommended to fans of Katatonia, Daylight Dies, Novembre, Insomnium, or heavily melodic, mid-paced black metal with decent production values.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.facebook.com/detoorn

Emptiness - Error (2012)

Having discovered Belgians Emptiness through their superb 2007 sophomore Oblivion, I had build up rather massive expectations for the inevitable follow-up, which I'm afraid haven't exactly been met with Error. Not to write this off as a negative step or a bad album by any means, but here they've gone for a more chaotic, atmospheric tone that falls somewhat short of the riffing explosions characteristic of Oblivion, and I'm not sure the trade pays off. Granted, both of the band's earlier works were quite distinct and atmospheric efforts in of themselves, but the guitar progressions felt more expressive and structured where here they form simpler patterns beneath the low pitch of the vocals, with perhaps a sheen of black influence circa the recent Enthroned (which Phorgath and Nerath Daemon also play in).

Tracks like "Worst" and "Error" are loaded with these simplistic tremolo lines whose intention is to hypnotize the listener while the tectonic gutturals belch forth alongside the thundering drum belligerence of drummer Twan. Very often, the tracks will lurch into these shifting, dissonant grooves that feel seismic in origin but rarely catch the ear for long, or they'll drift into spacier ambient/distorted guitar sequences where the percussion will subside, or the occasional blasted burst. The leads are frenzied and often trippy (once again, I'd refer you to the title track "Error") but rarely very memorable, and though the band are playing in perfect lock step, there seems something so loose and messy about the songs that it seems underwhelming after the sheer magnificence of the last album. That said, there are some points here where it all really gels together to create this warm, cavernous post-metal cacophony with strains of textured chords that write about the mind, usually deeper on the record like "Low" or the closer "No Earth".

Particular threads are certainly consistent with Oblivion, like the minimalistic approach to song titles, the deeper vocals and a number of the guitar sequences, but I feel they were definitely attempting something more tangibly ominous and raw. Strangely, Error is perhaps the most consistent of the band's records in terms of its internal variation. It plays out like a single, menacing symphony from some subterranean space, and it's nearly as oppressive, jarring and unnerving as something from Australians Portal, or perhaps a death metal Neurosis. Alas, this time out the songs simply are not of the caliber that I wished to experience repeatedly; but those who are heavily enamored of the voluminous, chasmal death metal redolent of early Autopsy, Incantation or Immolation, and would be interested in an admittedly different take on the aesthetic, would certainly do well to give these sepulchral emissions at least a once over. For if anything, Emptiness retains a unique quality to it that you won't hear every day.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.emptiness.be/

Enthroned - Obsidium (2012)

There are always certain preconceptions one forms for a band like Enthroned who are more or less an institution in the black metal scene due to their level of perseverance and survivability. When I hear a new album from the Belgians, I know the following: It's going to be damn well produced. The cover art will prove interesting and memorable. The songwriting will involve top of the line musicianship for its form. The aural aesthetics of the album will be at best somber, but more likely menacing, atmospheric and utterly dark. The lyrics will be thoughtful and threatening. And for the past 15 or so years and seven full-lengths beyond the debut Prophecies of Pagan Fire, I would have added that it's probably not going to be an album I really care for or remember long past the initial exposure. Hell, even the debut itself could not be counted as a personal favorite, but it does evoke some nostalgia being one of the first such records from Belgium that i owned.

I say all this because their 9th long player, Obisidum is the most immersive and interesting album they've written in a very long time. Ever, perhaps. The context is much the same as its predecessor Pentagrammaton: dark and obscure occult philosophies propelled by tense, traditional black metal fundamentals. The band's blasting is on par with nearly everything else out of Europe, and the rasp of frontman Nornagest easily comparable to other long term tyrants of Europe like Marduk, Dark Funeral and Satyricon. Taut, rampaging tremolo rhythms are interspersed with moodier, dissonant sluggish sequences that transform a tune like "Sepulchred Within Opaque Slumber" or "Oblivious Shades" into a haunting vortex of oblique misery. But what I most loved about the album is the strong use of chanting, sparse synthesizers and other crucial catalysts of atmosphere that help to break up some of the more predictable patterns on the album; or the tendency towards massive, spring-loaded grooves as in "Horns Aflame" which evolve it from a 'pretty good' black metal record into a potential juggernaut.

Enthroned don't dowse us in pretty spikes of accessible melody, but dissonant flumes of convulsive chaos that wrench at the very tether of our souls. Where these rushed rapids of hostility are conjoined with the dour, concentric chants as in the bridge of "Petraolevm Salvia" before its ear splitting, frenetic lead guitar, Obsidium takes on an immense depth that I simply cannot contribute to a lot of their average alumni like Carnage in Worlds Beyond or Towards the Skullthrone of Satan. There's an increased willingness to expand their central sound, to try new things without tipping the scales, and it really pays off. Each time I would listen through this beast, I got the feeling I had just journeyed through some dark tunnel of apparitions, lucky to emerge from the other end. The individual guitar riffs might not possess the greatest level of memorable compulsion, but wrought in such furious explosions as these they become very hard to resist indeed, and they've certainly piqued my attention far more than they have in memory. Well fucking done.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://www.enthroned.be/

Macabra - Blood-Nurtured Nature (2012)

Nostalgia has been the bread and butter of death metal for years now, hundreds of bands deciding to push back against the increasing technical/studio standards that progressive and brutal death have been evolving since the 90s. Believe me, I hear more of these old school cavern-core and Swedeath records that possibly any other sub-genre of metal outside of black, and for every good band in the field, there are a few who aren't. As for Macabra, the collaboration of a Belgian vocalist (Adrien 'Liquifier' Weber) and US illustrator and multi-instrumentalist Mark Riddick, they take this retrospective approach to the extreme, dressing down the production to give it the atmosphere of a bare bones demo, so decidedly old school that in listener I lost complete track of what year I was actually living in...

The press release I had for this album compares it to recent acts like Necros Christos and Grave Miasma, but I'm hearing more of a direct connection to the prototype sounds of bands like Autopsy, Cianide, Asphyx and Death. The guitar tone is incredibly boxy during both the chugging mutes and chords, and the vocals so humble you'd think they were being grunted at you from a few meters away in a rehearsal room. Gutturals and rasps are alternated here to create a claustrophobic, sepulchral environment through which the pangs of saddened dual-melodies thread like the ancient death/doom artisans of yore, but the band goes one step beyond this, including all manner of cheesy choir synthesizers and effects to enrich the campy and suitably horrific atmosphere created through the ridiculous song titles like "Consuming the Fleshly Wax (The Rule of Decomposing Eminence)" and "Thick Slabs of Moribund Fat (Hung on Hooks)", which coincidentally number among my favorites here; and they're not afraid to incorporate an all-out clean, ambient passage as with the intro to "Contribution to Your Dis-elaboration (Sustenance of the Void)".

All of this sounds like some eager band of wretched hi-top sporting longhairs churning out their first demo in the year 1989, thanks to the absolutely polish free allure of the mixing. Don't get me wrong, this is not some muddy sounding slop-fest. The guitars are incredibly clear, the drums clapping, kicking and simplistic, the bass doing little more than hover and plug along the background. When the synthesizers arrive, they add to the live vibe of the recording, since they don't seem to have been mixed to some symphonic gloss. Strangely enough, it works ingeniously well. If the music itself were not so stripped, simple and invigorating, with careful attention paid to each line of melody, each intercession of keyboard, vocal and guitar, Blood-Nurtured Nature might not yield such entertainment. But even if the riffs feel derivative from time to the time, the vocals like a hundred acts to come before, there is something so authentic and fun about this record that it should not be missed by any past-starved maven of the macabre.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

Serpentcult - Raised by Wolves (2011)

Belgium's Serpentcult made a good sized splash a few years ago, along with California's Jex Thoth and Canada's Blood Ceremony, as a budding artist in the field of crushing doom. What did the three bands have in common? They were (or are) all fronted by females, something that had to that point been an admitted rarity. Well, three years post-Weight of Light, the Serpentcult siren Michelle Nocon has left the fold, and the band has moved, as a trio, into a somewhat different direction, which I'd brand a darker but accessible extension of the stoner and sludge genres, occupying a niche somewhere near Eyehategod, High on Fire, Ramesses, Electric Wizard, but with a little more underlying groove to the ritual mesh of depression.

Raised by Wolves is but four compositions, ranging from 8-11 minutes, and to their credit, they never let any particular stretch of material drone on to the point that it's some mind numbing attention killer. These pieces play out like individual stories, and yet they're wholly consistent with one another in terms of the fat guitar tone and sparse, bitter vocal rasping. I admit that I found the latter half of the album more engrossing than the former. "Longing for Hyperborea" has an almost grunge or post-hardcore aesthetic below, a minimal groove that flows into the escalating, melodic chords, but what truly captivated me is the bass guitar curving beneath, and the creepy ambiance and drumming of the bridge. "Growth of the Soil" is also quite organic and jammy in nature, with segues of depressing clean guitars that take the listener's hand and lightly guide him/her into the crashing waves of clamor and chaos.

The other tracks are more or less the same style, but while there are little bits and pieces that I appreciate, such as the higher pitched, psychedelic vocal stylings which feel like a paranoid mix of Mastodon and Neurosis, I wasn't quite as stimulated. In general, the guitar riffs are rather dull throughout the album, reliant more on their crown and fluid motion to envelop the audience, rather than interesting patterns. Meaty chords, basic melodic slides and very little contrast in note selection, and often not so bleak or dire as the cover art might insinuate. Not as energetic or propulsive as several of the debut's songs ("New World Order", etc), and the lack of Nocon's shrieking 'female Ozzy' presence is felt very early on. However, Raised by Wolves compensates for its dearth of freakout moments with a more measured, methodic negativity, though it's nowhere near the level of something like a Dopethrone, which makes me want to tear out my own organs with my bare hands and then stamp on them since we're so fucked anywhere. I'm not a huge fan overall of this grooving, sludge style, but certainly the Belgians are no worse for wear than they were for the debut.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.serpentcult.be/

Thurisaz - The Cimmerian Years (2011)

When I first read the title of the new Thurisaz album, I was rather surprised and misled into thinking it might be something along the lines of a Robert E. Howard tribute, or at least a conceptual album devoted to his character Conan the Cimmerian. Would have been strange, consider how the band's sophomore Circadian Rhythm was a pendulous, pensive concept cross-fusion of melodic death and dark progressive elements. Just a cursory glance at the cover reveals a modern cityscape, though, so it appears the Belgians have decided against the swords & sorcery that the title implied, but that's really alright, because I'm not quite sure how such a controlled act like this would have pulled it off.

The Cimmerian Years follows somewhat loyally in the footfalls of its predecessor, with a mix of death and doom elements cast in the glow of pristine production values, rhythmic variation and a mash of vocal styles that include grunts, snarls and mid-ranged male cleans. Songs like "Second Mirror" and "The Carnival of Miscreation" almost have a folk-like drive to them, in which the melodies snake and loop about, begging a comparison to earlier period Opeth. But then, much of the mix and modernization accrued by Thurisaz is more redolent of modern Opeth. If you're picking up what I'm putting down, then you'll note that I think this album sounds like a lot like someone pulled out various aspects of the Swedes' entire catalog, from Morningrise to the more modern Ghost Reveries, then tossed in a handful of Dan Swano's Nightingale, Katatonia or the lesser known Swedish prog metal outfit Wolverine.

Not to say that its terribly derivative, or that it fails to embark on a journey of its own, but I often found myself lapsing off into unconsciousness as I was trying to absorb myself into its polished flights of morose fancy. I found myself distraught by the rasped vocals, they sound a bit cheesy in a mix so clean, whereas the pianos and synthesizers woven into the background also failed to distinguish themselves outside of a mere, ambient accompaniment. There are some fine vocal harmonies throughout, especially in tunes like the brooding folk of "Inner Voices" or the intro to "Fare Thee Well", but they often reign in too tightly to create a numbing sensation that drained my attentions. The Cimmerian Years has its moments, and fans of Circadian Rhythms should not find themselves too disappointed, but there's too much focus on the variation of its conflicting styles, and I felt it was a bit too subdued on the whole.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.thurisaz.be/

Enthroned - Pentagrammaton (2010)

Enthroned have got to be one of the most and least interesting black metal bands in the universe, simultaneously, and this cannot be the simplest of tasks to accomplish. Their debut Prophecies of Pagan Fire was a strong if traditional effort, but since that point, the band seem to have developed on a split hair: on one hand, their lyrics, concepts, titles and artistic visions have all come along way, through would be efforts like Armoured Bestial Hell, XES Haereticum and Tetra Karcist. On the other hand, they're still playing rather run of the mill black metal fare, out of which nothing staggeringly important ever seems to manifest, despite an intense effort on the part of their limbs and vile spirits.

Pentagrammaton is their 8th full-length, and it is choked with so much of what it should take to succeed in this realm, and yet it flounders in its ability to deliver memorable content. The contributions here from the newer members are powerful, with storm-like, taut drumming skills and driving guitars, all complementing the centrifugal force of Nornagest, whose black howling is as voracious as ever since taking over this duty. The selection of tracks are dynamic and potent, but they almost unanimously fail to engage the memory beyond just blowing the listener's mind out the back of his/her head. They rarely outlast their welcome, as we can sense in the strange, thrash driven atmosphere of "Magnvs Princeps Leopardi" or the battering "Rion Riorrim", or the charging slaughter of "Nehas't", with only one bloated epic to be had in the nearly 9 minutes of "Unconscious Minds" which ironically supplies some of the strongest moments on the album.

Enthroned manage all the intensity of the top flight Norse and Swedish bands. They can run gun to gun against a 1349 or Marduk with ease, and there is no question Pentagrammaton presents some dire atmosphere ("I Missi Solemnibvs", "Ornament of Grace") and punishing exercise ("The Vitalized Shell"). But for all the ritual knives it runs across your throat, for all the artillery it launches at your weakened mortal shell, so few of the riffs deliver anything worth sticking to, any final nail in your coffin, and the result is another of those ceaseless efforts that you wish you could wrap yourself around. Certainly, Enthroned remain one of their country's chief exports in this field: their technical ability, thoughtful occult concepts and ghastly, dark production standards would be hard for anyone to match. If only their black breath of fire could do more than scorch my awareness, but reduce me to cinders.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (an evocation in filled ecstasy)

http://www.enthroned.be/

Emptiness - Oblivion (2007)

Guilty to Exist had already proven an adequate foundation for this Belgian experimental death metal squad's immense and immersive permutations on the genre, but what it lacked was a truly distinct riffing ability, the means to draw the listener back beyond its elemental, atmospheric outreach. Oblivion addresses these issues and more, with an incredibly rich production that was easily one of the best of 2007, in death or any other metal, and a slew of full bodied guitar work that more than apologizes from the shortcomings of its elder sibling. But behind this, Emptiness remain loyal to their grim, engrossing aesthetic, only tightening the duration and number of tracks they will require to cave in the listener's cranium while having he/she drooling for more.

No time is spared in parading the three years of evolution this band has undergone; "Truth of Trinity" comes out with all cylinders firing off into the void, a brief wash of noise and samples exploding into a well of complex riffs that constantly lay scourge to the mind, produced with as much discord as a technical black metal record, a mix of the band's guttural and higher pitched rasping vocals, and a tendency to continue quickening until the deeper, thrashing segments of the track that are bathed in pale, clinical lighting. "Summon" goes beyond even this, with one of the most superb arrangements on the entire record, an unforgettable stream of melodic wildfire and intense bass playing that stands out well on its own below the descending dementia of the guitars during the jazzy, atmospheric break at 1:00. This is followed by a great, twisting mute riff before 1:30 which dominates its own lead accompaniment, and the tracks wailing climax imprints deep into the memory.

Merely half a second later, the frenzy of "Feeding Force" continues the compulsive brilliance, a roiling mesh of brilliant grind/thrash, deep battering grooves and sporadic bursts of arching melody that once again pass unto legend. Essentially, you are given no chance to rest your bones before the next ass kicking, the rising hostility of "Crushing Ignorance" which completely rocks your kneecaps off again, sprawling you upon the asylum floor. "Forgotten" offers a glint of melodic despair, once again hinting at black metal through its morose hysterics, later adapting a gliding, pensive death metal structure which feels like parasailing across a dense, black sun. Also of note would be the chaotic crusher "Beyond the Rites", the thrash and bounce of "Guilty to Exist" (named for the debut album), and the sleek, memorable grooves that inaugurate "Exhausted Forms". "Slave" and "L.E.A.D." are likewise worth hearing, but they are the least of the band's compositions here, so it's just as well that they arrive so late in the duration.

Oblivion sees Emptiness reaching their true potential, and it's easily one of the best Belgian albums of its class. It may lack an engrossing industrial sequence as the one which closed the debut (though there are a pair of title track segues that fit this bill), and yet it compensates with so much good riffing that you'll very quickly lose count. Dark, concise, and compelling, there really are not many other albums out there like it, and it's set up some huge expectations for anything the band could possibly produce in the future. My initial reaction to this album was one of disturbed enticement, but through only a few shorts years it has grown into a tense rapture. Well worth whatever you would need to spend on it.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10]

http://www.emptiness.be/

Emptiness - Guilty to Exist (2004)

I'm surprised Belgians Emptiness have not caught on by this point, because surely they offer one of the more unique experiences in European death metal, and stand as one of the finer examples of the medium from their home turf. I might be hard pressed to call their approach 'experimental', but there is a particular progression at play throughout their works which is refreshing and difficult to peg on any specific influences. The band's 2004 debut Guilty to Exist is not the better of their albums, but it establishes the band's uncanny taste in mixing grooves, flowing melodic chords, industrial/ambient segues, and guttural poetry into a distinct portrait of depressive aggression which parallels their tasteful eye in cover packaging.

The band has shared members with a number of other Belgian bands, in particular the black metal veterans Enthroned and death unknowns Hybrid Viscery, but Emptiness is by far the most enthralling of their creations, and the 17 tracks and 44 minutes of Guilty to Exist are at the least a rounded introduction. Few of the compositions here are substantial beyond a mere 2-3 minutes, with the exception of the finale "The Loss and Blind Perceptions", but strangely they need little time to envelop the listener in a cerebral, subterranean state of bewitchment channeling everything from Morbid Angel, Vader and Napalm Death to the morbid, abstract striations of a Demilich or Alchemist, bleak bottom feeding of a Disembowlment, and even the primal melodic/industrial leanings of a Fear Factory.

"Tyrants Forever" serves as hors d'ouvres to the remainder of the record: a slight, grating intro descends into hammering grooves and then a splash of pensive, melodic guitars that reverberate across a landscape of punishment. There are no truly compelling riffs within its borders, but it sets up a style that the band will keep coming back to through "Subhuman Submission", "Age of Nothing" and "Xenomorph". These are not among the album's better selections, yet functional as a backbone to more wide ranging pieces like the septic, blackish metal that drives "None Existence", the immensely atmospheric "Tenebrium Prophecies", or the desperate fury of "By the Loss of Our Dogma". Coupled with some interesting industrial intros/interludes like "Into the 11th Blackshell" or the pair of tracks titled simply "Interludium", you are cast to and fro upon a sea of negative psychic turbulence that resonates in atmosphere (if not notation) well past the records playtime.

However, the best single piece on Guilty to Exist is the beautiful, harrowing industrial/ambient finale "The Loss and Blind Perceptions", which swelters through a carefully measured filtration of rambling yet sparse percussive beats and synthesized melody. Here, the artist's vision is so well realized that you wonder why they didn't just scrap the metal pieces and write us a dozen such excursions. I personally loved this, and would love more, but I can ultimately understand its place in the band's broader cosmos of thought. Emptiness will immediately capture the attention due to their unique style, but in the end, the sum of their debut is far more palatable than many of its individual parts, which do not promote careful composition in the guitars so much that they forge many brief links in an unforgiving whole. The band will destroy this effort with the following Oblivion in 2007, but its still one of the more intriguing Belgian death records I've come across.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.emptiness.be/

Breathless - Breathless (1985)

By all the Primordial gods of the underverse, do I spy a pair of angry dinosaurs rumbling on the cover of this obscure Belgian record, in the foreground of incendiary comet-fall that will end the existence of all their kind and more? That is at the same time both the lamest and greatest thing I've ever borne witness to, and naturally it causes any expectation of the music to be quite high, or quite low. But damn the Belgians Breathless, because they've got a little old metal record here that neither sucks not tears the walls down. This was another of those bands to dress in tight cougar pants, or red pants with leather jackets, shades, mullets, and you fucking name it. The semi glam consciousness reminds me of their countrymen Crossfire or the excellent Ostrogoth, but it really does not translate into their sound whatsoever.

Essentially, Breathless perform rugged speed metal with a singer, Pascal Remans, who likes to use his voice as a shrill weapon of warfare, sort of like a Lizzy Borden but not as silk-like in his execution, and balancing the higher range with some pretty blunt, melodic vocals that crash into the dirty, bluesy guitar tone. Half of the songs here are quite good, and then the other half rather quick to forsake on the road to nostalgic bliss, but I don't hold any real negative impression of the record, regardless of the occasional, annoying vocal line that seems often uncalled for. The riffs are nothing that special, though there's a nice balance of six and four strings here, and a vibrant tone to the leads that definitely gets you in the mood for music of this period.

I actually think this band works best when its strutting itself at a mid pace, like the barroom grit of "Hells Fever". The leads are great, and it picks up to some solid speed metal, while Remans howls over it like one part goblin set ablaze, and one part mournful ghost creeping about some ruins. "Bring Back Home" is a raging, Judas Priest derivative with insane shrieking vocals that will have you laughing in between horn throwing, but 'with the band' and not against them. I also like the traditional use of the familiar classic guitar line in the band's namesake "Breathless" and the questionably sexy "Devil's Speed on Her Body", with some doom-like bridge riffs above which Remans screams like a spiritual precursor to King Diamond's solo records. There is one other solid speed metal track in "On the Wings of the Dragon".

The band really only comes unhinged on the weak ballad "The Night Crusader", though the lead within is acceptable, but in general, their music does little more than sate the ears temporarily, provoking nothing truly memorable over the course of 34 minutes. Unless you truly endear yourself to Remans Halford-on-crack cries, you may lose interest only after half the record, which would be unfortunate since several of its better tracks arrive late. Breathless might have fared pretty well on the mid-80s Metal Blade or Roadrunner rosters, but they were instead confined to Gigametal/Troglodyte. Oh, who am I kidding, anyone who is on a record label called Troglodyte is pretty fucking awesome without even reaping a few quarters.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]