The 11th Hour - Burden of Grief (2009)

This 11th Hour has nothing to do with Leonardo DiCaprio or the environment, instead it is a doom metal collaboration between two very busy men. In one corner, you have the prolific Rogga Johansson, he of the many Swedish death metal revival bands (Ribspreader, Demiurg, Revolting, Paganizer, Carve, and so forth). In the other, Ed Warby, of Gorefest, Demiurg, Hail of Bullets, and also many other projects. The two have taken time apart from their hectic schedules to co-author an album of traditional doom metal, with a mix of clean and growled vocals.

Burden of Grief has a huge production, but offers little by way of innovation (fans of Rogga's other bands know this just isn't going to happen anytime soon). The riffs are sufficiently crushing, but dull as far as note selection. The clean vocals are average, think Memory Garden or Candlemass without anything close to that range. The growls and grunts sound like...well, most other Rogga bands. "One Last Smoke" is a little silly to open the album, and at first I thought they were mocking the genre, but later tracks like "Origins of Mourning" and "Weep for Me" are far better, and the entire album is actually a concept about a dying character.

The 11th Hour is not about to call my attention away from any of my current doom rotation, but it's a decent enough project if you like death/doom with a professional, clean sound: Saattue, Memory Garden, Solitude Aeternus, and so forth. At no point did I actually feel 'the doom' while listening to this record, nor even a small amount of despair, but it is not unpleasant.

Highlights: Origins of Mourning, Weep for Me

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/11thhourdoom

Bornholm - March for Glory and Revenge (2009)

Six years is quite the stretch between albums, but Hungarians Bornholm have put the time to good use, crafting a worthy successor to their debut ...On the Way of the Hunting Moon. The nine new tracks showcase the band's heathen, hammering affection for both the charge to battle and the subtle glories of times past, and perhaps times to come. The March for Glory and Revenge steers the band on a collision path with many others who match the gallant, snarling black metal aesthetic with epic synthesizers and acoustics, but Bornholm proceeds to trample many of them straight into the dust.

Faded armor, rusty blades
Once they were knights,
Once they fought
A sound reflecting throughout the graves
Heroes of honour singing
Dark, mournful hymns

One of the album's obvious strengths is the mix. So many of these pagan/folk black metal bands dwell within the margin of oblivious production values, but Bornholm has torn a page directly from the bible of Blood, Fire Death and studied it well. The guitars and vocals take the center stage, black as pitch and effectively capturing the lost glories of their lyrical matter like flies in amber. The synthesizers perform their function admirably, as a backdrop to provide gravitas for the metal cavalry, and when this band decides to open their throats to some cleaner emissions, they don't sound like awkward fools who decided to form a band at last month's Renaissance Faire.

This is also a subtle album: not subtle in its clarion call to warfare, not subtle in kicking your face in with its steed, but subtle in that its charms grow upon you without the need for sickly memorable melodies. This is WAR, and you are on the BATTLEFIELD. Behold the leering greatness of "Towering Clouds Over the Fields in Carnumtum", or the savage hedge of spears thrust forward through "Light Burst Into Flames on the Horns of Baphomet", or the longing bliss of "Consecrating the Spear of Destiny". Bornholm has also taken an interesting approach which lyrically combines the occult with anti-Roman myth and history.

Oh, cold carpathian wind
I hear your call, bringer of storms
The stars shining above the mountains
Like lights above the graves

March for Glory and Revenge is a lot of fun, and a triumph for the Hungarians, one you will come to know within minutes of first listening to its "Call of the Heathen Horns". A more than adequate celebration of olde.

Highlights: Mournful Hymns, Towering Clouds Over the Fields in Carnumtum, Light Burst Into Flames on the Horns of Baphomet, Consecrating the Spear of Destiny

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (blood flows from the throat of the mountains)

http://www.bornholm.hu/

Garroter - Corporal Punishment (2009)

Garroter is a brutal Polish death metal act that shares more in common with the mosh obsessed USDM slam scene than countrymen Vader and Behemoth. Corporal Punishment is their first full-length effort and, while musically not all bad, presents the same basal, scatological gore we've already heard a thousand times, going on a million times. They've not much to add, really, unless you want another "Anal Penetration", "Human Toilet", "Forced to Fuck" or "Cum While I Eat Her". I'll give them a few points for "Dick-Pick Lobotomy", though, as that is a sensitive procedure I've never really followed up on.

The music consists of the expected array of chugs and bursts of quicker speed, but the band often likes to 'feel out' their slower grooves to produce even more moshability, as on "Human Toilet" or the Obituary-like slower segments of "Ungodly Mutation". As the album progresses, the tracks begin to get a little more fluid, punchy and mathematical, and this actually produces some of the better music, ala "Dick-Pick Lobotomy" (there it is again!) and "Human Putrefaction". The tone of the record is deep and dark, the drums are not the only percussion here, as the vocals of Doman and the guitars themselves all compete to see which can bludgeon you the hardest. Nothing really stands out here, but not for a lack of competence or brutality.

Highlights: Dick-Pick Lobotomy, Human Putrefaction, Hack Dissect Anatomize

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.garroter.metal.pl/

Marionette - Enemies (2009)

Marionette is another frustrating band that simply adds nothing to the table, despite the fact they have nearly every Swedish melodeath cliche covered. Aggressive vocals in the vein of At the Gates; chug laden breakdowns; melodic guitar lines to convey the glory moments; and keyboards, which range from bad techno rhythms to the more epic, symphonic feel for the chorus parts. These are all elements we've grown accustomed to, from the regrettable decision by fame hungry Swedish bands to try and please everyone.

The debut album Spite left much to be desired, and unfortunately its follow-up Enemies is in the same stagnant territory. They've got the budget, and they've got the musicians, but every time they start building something good up, they always seem to ruin it. A good example would be "Stench of the Herd", which opens with a pretty good, 'epic metal' riff and some keys...and then it quickly dissolvies into a Slipknot-style mosh rhythm, then to a Soilwork groove verse, and then the good riff is back, and then it's gone again...for more bouncy nu-metal. Are you familiar with the tragic Greek tale of Tantalus? I feel like a delicious meal is hanging, forever just beyond my reach, or a cool cup of refreshing water, and this frustration persists through almost all 13 tracks on the record, though a few of the late songs like "Through Veils" and "Their Knives" are honestly not bad.

I don't mean to give the impression that Marionette sucks, because clearly they do not. Their energy is explosive, but often misplaced in some poor decisions. If the band could kick a lot of the more generic nu-metal grooves, the weaker techno keys (the string, choir and proggish keys are equally cliche, but at least they sond good), and work on the vocals, they've got the potential to be a top shelf export. At it's best, Enemies is a more aggressive ape of Natural Born Chaos, with a few too many tricks up its sleeve.

Highlights: Through the Veil, Their Knives

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

http://www.marionette.se/

Hollenthon - Tyrants and Wraiths EP (2009)

After the excellent Domvs Mvndi and the monumental With Vilest Worms to Dwell, Hollenthon had blown the ailing Therion out of the water and established itself as the new standard for dark, symphonic metal. While it was no jumping of the proverbial shark, year's Opus Magnum took a few spins to get into, and even then did not live up to the greatness of its predecessors. As if in response, Martin Shirenc and his stalwarts have released a 4-track EP with some great new tracks.

Phantom crows brave the skies
Fallen squires branding the cross
In the wake of rebellion Lucifer's morning star
By the light of the ages the damage is done
Burying the laughter the bright light of darkness is undone

None of the material on Tyrants and Wraiths is as memorable as an "Y Draig Goch", but certainly a small step beyond what was accomplished on Opus Magnum. The production is as bold and bombastic as ever, and most of the tracks are straightforward black/death metal with slight embellishes of symphonic grace and chorals: "Tyrants and Wraiths" is heavy and effective, but not as strident and immediate as "Innocent Sin" or the mystical "Deathly Dirges". Closing track "Of Hollow Men" is the longest track and boasts some excellent choir work, dark and thriving like a ritual about to fall at the next eclipse, a sacrifice.

With luck, this is a teaser for what's to come when Shirenc drops his next full-length album. It's only 4 tracks and 20 minutes, but individually these were more exciting than most of the tracks on the last album. The EP also features two live videos from the 2008 Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (fractured tombs and catacombs of woe)

http://www.hollenthon.com/

Way to End - Desecrated Internal Journey (2009)

The debut of French Way to End is an apocryphal, depressive work of torment, weaving patterns of hypnotic discord like an abyssal spinster, each thread revealing a morbid, hidden delight. Imagine a slower, more restrained alternative to Deathspell Omega, and you may begin to understand what this band is creating. Desecrated Internal Journey is an apt title, as this album carries enough emotional moments to catalyze your regrets and impart a morose sorrow. In other words, a great chance to sip some absinthe and mourn your life and the world.

The riffing is somewhat complex, in that it rarely settles into a repetitious pattern: that would only lighten the unease that Way to End is attempting to establish. The dark ambient intro "Facing the Abyss" gives in to a saloon-like piano, before the bristling of "A Step Into the Void", which begins to unravel the psyche with its wandering bass lines, and the creepy but entertaining riffs which conjure a subtle and shining atmosphere of futility. This feeling never lets up through the remainder of the album; through the glorious pomp that christens "At the Threshold" to the album's largely acoustical, instrumental send-off "No Dreams". A full 40 minute trip into the misery and limits of the flesh, the bruising of the soul and the taunting of failed youthful dreams.

Desecrated Internal Journey has an expressive mix which captures the voluminous swell of its backing vocals amidst the broiling guitar chaos and haunted rasp of Hazard. The bass playing is superb for this band, creating a substrata of inescapable horror that will swallow any who decide they want to 'burrow out' of the album's terrifying recollections. This is a different kind of 'depressive' than the bathroom mixing majority of bands who claim the title; it is professional, and pandering, and ready to kill anyone who crosses its path.

Highlight: finding that I still had a pulse after exposure to this album.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

http://www.myspace.com/waytoendmetal

Acceptus Noctifer - Amores De Ofício (2009)

Amores De Ofício is the full-length debut of Portugal's Acceptus Noctifer, after releasing a few demos and splits. The style is sheer black metal, nothing more and nothing less, with a clear but bloody meat production. The guitars are carnal and well balanced with Sataere's morbid vocals, and the drum machine is just far enough back that it won't distract you too much. The lyrics are in Portuguese, but the inflection is enough that fans of straight from the hip black metal should enjoy them.

An album like this lives and dies by the quality of its riffs, and while the tone of Amores De Ofício really allows the guitars to shine through, like blood pooling on the tiles of an old slaughterhouse, the riffs themselves are average at best. The band offers just enough to keep one afixed, but even the more epic tracks like "Seja Essa A Tua Sede…" and "Funérea Madrugada" neglect to produce much interest. They serve only as a sufficient backdrop for the crepitating Sataere's bleak poetry. I found the strongest track to be the elegaic closer, "Canteiro de Ossos", which produces the best atmosphere. The acoustic instrumental "Rio de Moinhos" is also quite striking.

Acceptus Noctifer has its black heart in the right place, but just needs more thought placed in the actual guitars. They sound fluent, vibrant and raw (like countryman Onirik) but the note patterns did little to provide dark inspiration.

Highlights: Canteiro de Ossos, Rio de Moinhos

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.myspace.com/acceptusnoctifer

Temple of Baal - Lightslaying Rituals (2009)

One often associates French black metal with its more bizarre artists like Peste Noire or Deathspell Omega, but there are a number of notable bands who deliver a more 'traditional' experience within the confines of the genre. I wouldn't call Temple of Baal a strictly traditional black band, as they employ some death metal influence, but their delivery is hostile, blasted black metal with a dark, throbbing low end courtesy of the cranked bass guitars. Lightslaying Rituals is their third full-length album, and successful as far as it provides 40 minutes of brutal entertainment for diehards of oppressive black metal that doesn't sound like it was recorded in an outhouse.

I might compare this most to a band like earlier Marduk, though not as ceaselessly rapidfire. Lightslaying Rituals has its share of grinding, blasting tracks like "Piercing the Veils of Slumber", "Triumph of Heretic Fire", "Angstgeist" or "Vectors to the Void", but it also paces itself with a sense for slower, dense thrashing like great "Poisoned Words" or the breakdown in the excellent final track, "Blessed in Blackfire". Throughout the entire album is this turbulent, violent atmosphere created through the brazen production values. This is the type of black metal band that could perform well alongside death metal or -core bands; they stick to the image and lyrical aesthetic of the former, but have throwdown riffs that could get a pit going easily, without coming off cheesy. Temple of Baal is aggressive, and they sound good. They don't write the most memorable riffs and they're not huge fans of melody, but their punishing sound will beat the pulp out of you.

Highlights: Triumph of Heretic Fire, Poisoned Words, Blessed in Blackfire

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/templeofbaal

Canopy - Will and Perception (2009)

Sweden's Canopy are not one of the better known melodic death acts from that area; but as Will and Perception is out to prove, perhaps they should be? This second album is a clear improvement over Serene Catharsis (2006), a work which transcends the trappings of its genre to explore varied terrains. The core of their sound has more in common with the progressive, slow death of an Opeth than the synth-bathed thrust and groove of a Soilwork or Dark Tranquillity, but there are enough melodic pick me up moments to relate to the latter.

Canopy has taken great care to craft this collection of songs. Few of the individual riffs will jump out at you as legendary, but they flow well into a unified listening experience. The gruff vocals and bludgeoning chords of "Decipher" are graced by the presence of the synths, rather than replaced. "Perception" creates a beautiful, cascade of melancholy through the opening melody, and as it breaks into its chugging bridge, and then a folklike tranquility, the guitars continue to exhilarate. If you seek heavier fare, the band answers with "For the Sickened Voice to Hear" and the dark, mesmerizing "Riddance". Perhaps the most interesting track is "Counsels and Maxims", an instrumental with acoustic guitars, guitar ambience, and a drum machine with some very cheesy clapping...it works remarkably well among the more pensive and aggressive vocal songs.

Will and Perception has made a believer of me, that a band Canopy may very well be the future of this ailing genre. They manage to capture the ponderous ruminations of Opeth without reaching into some void of over-indulgent boredom. Also highly recommended to fans of Finnish acts like Noumena and Insomnium.

Highlights: Perception, For the Sickened Voice to Hear, Counsels and Maxims

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.entercanopy.com/

Nexus - The Paradise Complex (2009)

Nexus is an Australian band performing progressive death metal, with an emphasis on progressive. The thin, hectic guitar work reminds me of a band like Zero Hour, but placed within a heavier framework. Mid to late period Death would be a good starting point, but the music created on The Paradise Complex is far more intensified, with a lot of double bass driven rhythms and trapeze artist bursts of melody.

Lyrically the band narrates a complex fantastical/pseudo-science reality which is long on prose and philosophy and short on camp. A cosmic fiction that matches well with their harrying rhythmic explorations. The vocals are performed by the drummer, a melodic death snarl with some grunts mixed in. I'd be impressed if he was multitasking this at live performances, but then the drums, bass and guitars are the true spotlights of this band, rendering the vocals almost obsolete (aside from the lyrical insight into the Nexus storyline). Though the first few tracks are loaded with acrobatic riffing, it took until "Paradise Complex II: The Reasoning" before I found a piece I could sink my teeth into, with its onslaught of fusion dynamics and shifts from dual melodies to the band's thrashing, noodling core. "The War of Thought" also features some of the better moments, from its tranquil introduction to the raging metal climax.

I feel Nexus would hold a natural attraction for fans of Sensory artists like Spiral Architect or Zero Hour. Perhaps also Cynic or Atheist. The guitar tones are very spastic and thin blooded, but every instrument is audible, including the lackluster vocals. At this point, the strength of the band lies in their athletic musical proficiency, and they wisely keep most of the tracks on the shorter side, so they don't drift off into wanking. Clearly the band has some interesting ideas and an endless wealth of complex riffs, which they will probably develop for the future.

Highlights: Paradise Complex II The Reasoning, The War of Thought

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/nexusmetal