Astrum - Battalions of Hell (2013)

Prior to Battalions of Hell, Astrum was a band I enjoyed more in spirit than in actual music content, essentially a primal and punked out alternate history imagining of the old Hellhammer/Celtic Frost aesthetics which suffered from a little too much sloppiness and also blandness in the riffing selections. That has changed with the third full-length, because the pieces have really fit together into something better-paced and better-rounded, not to mention superior in terms of production and writing. Granted, it's still exactly the same set of sounds you'd have expected if you actually heard the older works, but the riffs, even if not original by any means, still hang with you, and Tim's vocal delivery here is really on point, with the familiar, beloved raving and haughty barks of Tom G. Warrior...I mean, really, if you've run out of Warhammer records, and you want more in this very particular niche, then I'd urge you to track this down.

Basically, envision if somewhere between Apocalyptic Raids and Morbid Tales, Celtic Frost had decided to cultivate a union of occultist lyrics and old school hardcore punk with a few spurts of morbid thrash, and ignore the Oriental mystique and experimentation that flowered throughout To Mega Therion and Into the Pandemonium. Maintain the horror and ritualistic lyrical bent, but revoke all pretentiousness, and you arrive at Battalions of Hell. The riffs, while more or less based on variations of the familiar motifs these early 'first wave' black metal masters conceived, feel feisty and fresh thanks to the raw buzz of the distortion; not so grimy and gutter-spawned as the classic material of the hardcore band Sheer Terror (who also had a massive Hellhammer influence in their riffing), but quite straightforward and translatable into a live setting, which I'm sure will make an evening with Astrum hella entertaining. Not all of the riffs are facsimiles of this one influence, mind you; they'll often cruise more directly into a crusty oi punk terrain, some drawn out traditional Sabbath-ian doom licks, or a bit harder of a thrash/black bit with some muted sequence, even a blast beat, but they all revolve around this consistent core which honors the Swiss butchers wonderfully.

Production is still pretty threadbare, but the instruments are well mixed to give a clean, live impression in which you can make out all the rich, ripping fill work and the booming thud of the bass lines. Which, granted are not all that interesting, since Tim's focus is more on the vocals and guitar, but the volume and enthusiasm are both very steady, and I'm not sure the style of writing really lends itself to using the bass for harmonies or individual grooves set apart from the rhythm guitar structure. Just enough echo and pitch on the vocals so that they really sound like a younger, more energetic Warrior (nothing like the Triptykon stuff), when he used to belch forth a mid-paced whine in the 80s. The lead guitars are completely atonal, frivolous and sporadic in the tradition of old thrash or speed metal when tapping and scale techniques weren't priorities, but they also help to saturate the writing with an extra dimension of immediacy and busyness that keeps its intense. I'll also add that the lyrics are quite solid. Not a lot to them, maybe, but each gets its imagery across concisely and effectively without any need for eloquent verse.

The best, though, is how Astrum doesn't bore you here with the same shit over and over again in a direct sequence. Sure, some tempos and riff patterns are only mildly reconfigured across separate songs, but they open with a blasted title track, then cruise into a groovy number, then fast again, slow again, and so on. It's simply a well structured album, and its hellish defiance is very much viral. Tunes like "Moonscapes of Infinity" and "Under the Pentagram" are among the best he's ever written. Not all the songs are amazing, and a few inhabit a redundant sonic space, but overall, this is tight. Obviously, if you're hunting for technical instrumentation, progressive qualities or unique songwriting, Battalions of Hell is probably not some Holy Grail from which you should drink. Tim leaves no room for second guessing his influence, and he bears it proudly on his sleeves...but that makes this record no less fun, trust me, and he seems to finally have mastered what he set out to do with Apocalyptic Dawn and Tales of Witchlore. It will be interesting where he goes from here, whether he'll mete out more of the same or perhaps drag in some other cult sounds for an added level of dynamic potential. But I doubt we'll be hearing Cold Lake II anytime soon.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (galloping the unholy steeds)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Astrum/200580086972

Astrum - Tales of Witchlore (2011)

I'll give Kentucky's Astrum some credit. They are one damned straightforward band, seeking little more than to punk up the formula of grisly proto-black metal pioneered by Tom G. Warrior and Hellhammer back in the early 80s. Simple, almost sludgy guitar tones propel the leaden rock beats while Timpaler von Mulciber's constipated bark draws a clear comparison to that Swiss icon. To that extent, Tales of Witchlore succeeds more than its predecessor Apocalyptic Dawn, an album of good intentions that was somewhat crippled by an occasionally messy vocal meter and crude instrumentation. It might not feel 'leaps and bounds' beyond in terms of songwriting quality, but it definitely cracks a few more poseur skulls.

It's the antithesis of complexity, for example, but you can easily circle pit the shit out of a track like "Triumph of the Black" or "Devil Worshipping Bitch", because there is something so lewd, honest and menacing about the guitar tone. I was having flashbacks to Sheer Terror here, a surge of filthy hardcore charisma, even if Astrum don't write riffs that are quite so catchy. Of course, there are some pure punk/hardcore riffs present, like the chorus bits in "Blood and Sand" or just about all of the calamitous, crashing "Master of Rock", but the oozing, bruising and fairly loud guitars render them no less of a threat. Timpaler's vocals might not always have the most effective of syllabic patterns, but they definitely seem tighter here than on the last album, so that is also a definite plus, and I liked how he threw the reverb over the chorus to "Devil Worshipping Bitch" (though the volume was mildly overbearing). Also, even though it's twice as long and much more of a direct Hellhammer style than the others, the closer "Gray" had some promise to it, some crushing rhythms which felt like a punch straight to the colon.

I think the one lingering issue of importance that I took away from Tales of Witchlore is that the straightforwardness I mentioned earlier often works to the songs' detriment. Usually the tactic here is to fill a 2-3 minute track without a simple riff or two, maybe a bridge with a solo, and call it quits. This isn't itself an awful technique, but with such simple notation, a few alternations, twists and turns in the tracks wouldn't help. A fraction of added depth to each would have gone a long way towards making each of the pieces more sinister, dynamic and effective. I realize that one doesn't approach a band like Astrum for a highbrow experience, more to kick the mud off the old combat boots; but there is a bit of space here where the repetitive (often similarly structured) verse riffs might have been better molded with a few subtleties.

Otherwise, the gripes are few. At first I found the cover a little cheesy, but hey...an illustration of a cute, naked witch sitting in a pentagram? I'm a hetero living in Salem, Massachusetts, so who am I to complain about that? The lyrics aren't bad at all if you're into the old Venom, Bathory and Hellhammer stuff; some are even funny ("Devil Worshipping Bitch"), and there are a few thinly veiled tributes in "Spectrum of Death" to Celtic Frost which I found amusing, but mostly they continue along the paths of the occult and impending nuclear Armageddon that were prevalent on the debut. Astrum might also seem not so unique, as there a number of other bands who pursue the same, simple strengths of their shared inspiration, but a lot are European, so it's fairly badass to have one here in the South. Perhaps I might not have the most glowing opinion of Tales of Witchlore, but all told, this IS a step forward for the band, and really, they're only a few strides from developing into something pretty damn fun. It might not be the perfect soundtrack to some necromantic rite, but hell if I couldn't listen to this while kicking some Avenged Sevenfold fanboi in the face.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (you can hear their cackles crack)

http://www.myspace.com/themightyastrum

Abominant - Where Demons Dwell (2010)

There is always something to be said for persistence, and perhaps Abominant are one of our most stalwart American lessons in this virtue, having released nine full-length albums, all but hidden from mainstream recognition, offering nothing more than the purest of death metal aesthetics that conjure up the Florida blasting of a Morbid Angel or Malevolent Creation, with a tinge of the good old Dutch style of Sinister and Pestilence. At times, I feel like they're a poor man's Hate Eternal, but predating that Erik Rutan vehicle and catapulting through a wider range of storming dynamics.

Granted, the few efforts I've heard from this Kentucky outfit have hardly been distinct, but perhaps Where Demons Dwell serves as the proper catalyst to a re-evaluation of the veterans' backlog, because this is a well-written, mature album that clenches the attention span through most of its eight compositions. It opens with "Baptized by Steel", a blazing piece which exchanges Morbid Angel like blasting for a pretty smooth, downtrodden breakdown and escalating groove that would have a crowd turn wild, though I wouldn't call this the highlight of the album. "Bloodland" offers some more uplifting, streaming guitars that are instantly more catchy, and the thrash breakdown is quite good, while "Firestorm" is one of the better sheer onslaughts on the album, the celerity of its primal grinding enhanced by a simple but entrancing half-melody and another of the band's characteristic breakdowns that waltzes between early 90s Pestilence and Ripping Corpse.

"Rain of Ash" offers more ritual speed, the chords of the initial charge casting a ghastly old flavor soon eclipsed by the band's venomous adherence to raving lunacy, and right when you thought another blitz would taint the album monotonous, they slow to a dreary crawl through the opening moments of "After the Fallout", holding off the blasted tendency until the mid point. "The Wolves of Hate" and "Blackened Earth" both return to the frenzied pacing, but both are complete with quality riffing and a forceful veneer that proclaims Abominant was not born yesterday and might damn well outlive even the damned cockroaches in the end times. Speaking of end times, Where Demons Dwell closes with its title track, a ripping infernal holocaust that yet again visits that delightful old Pestilence churning as it bursts through the crust of purgatory. More of the thrashing breakdowns cede to a rather unexpected, melodic muting sequence deep in the track that truly wraps the experience, making it another of the album's best.

Nothing could be sweeter than hearing a veteran band like this, far off the radars of most of the Nile, Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse worshiping death metal flock, create one of their most enduring pieces, and their long relationship with Deathgasm Records (sixth album through the label) seems to have paid off. I won't promise you that Abominant are technically explosive, unerringly brutal, or even mildly innovative; or that Where Demons Dwell is bound to achieve cult classic status, but there is no questioning the time and care placed in it, seasoned dynamics and willingness to explore and expand the typical blasting motif when the song itself calls for a deeper layer of disturbed consciousness. An American band, performing 90s style death metal without any trace of trendiness or bullshit: you could do a lot worse than this album.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.myspace.com/abominant