The Entity - Salt (2003)

Formed in 2001, The Entity was a short lived Norwegian band that released a demo, single and this EP, 'Salt' in 2003 before shortly thereafter breaking up. I will admit I originally bought the EP just because I liked the cute sad looking Goth chicky on the cover and since The End Records was selling it for something like $5 I couldn't resist. Fortunately it wasn't just a novelty thing as I've enjoyed this EP immensely since those seven years ago that I bought it.

The Entity were a bit hard to describe as their sound was something like depressive Gothic rock/metal similar to Katatonia, but I honestly think this band had their own thing going on. The title track is an absolutely beautiful semi-acoustic song, which kicks off with acoustic guitars, cello, violin, light percussion and Håkon Viken's sombre voice. During the chorus however things pick up and it's here that the music takes on a Gothic metal sound and Håkon displays the true power and range of his voice too. 'Duality' is my favorite song on this EP and it's a bit heavier, amazingly catchy and somewhat more typical Gothic metal, but I absolutely love it. Again the music is quite engaging here and Håkon's vocals are incredible and that chorus always gets trapped in my brain for hours after listening to this song. Great stuff. 'Nemesis' is a cover from the popular Norwegian rock band Seigmen who later transformed into Zeromancer. This song continues the heavy Gothic metal sound shown on the previous song and whether or not this cover is close to the original is beyond me, but I certainly do enjoy it considerably. Finally, 'Acoustic Salt' closes out this nineteen minute EP and as you probably already guessed its a full on acoustic version of the title track, which swaps out all of the electric guitars and adds a piano instead of the cello and violin. Brilliant stuff, indeed.

If somehow you ever come across this EP definitely give it a shot. The Entity are unfortunately a very underrated band, which I'm sure had they continued they could very well be one the bigger names in the depressive Gothic rock/metal genre.

Sigh - Scorn Defeat (1993)

During their twenty year run, the Japanese weirdos in Sigh have proven to be one of the most interesting and diverse groups to emerge within the metal underground. Constantly changing and at times going out of their way to be just plain odd, Sigh is truly a must hear band.

Their debut, 'Scorn Defeat' was originally released on Euronymous' Deathlike Silence Productions shortly after the legends murder in late 1993 and has been re-issued a number of times with additional bonus tracks and variant cover artworks. Personally I own the 2000 version, which has a cover artwork that features some giant Japanese demon monster clubbing people and raping the land, but honestly I like the original and much simpler cover that has Shinichi decked out in black metal gear with katana in hand whilst his other is set ablaze. You know it fucking rules.

Anyway, on this '93 debut Sigh's sound was still within the black metal genre, though curiously they hardly sound Norwegian or Swedish in any way, shape or form and in fact manage to create a sound that's mostly of their own. The music moves at a mostly mid-paced speed with very little usage of frantic riffing or blast beat driven percussion, while at the same time ominous keyboards, piano and occasional clean chanting pop up throughout the album. Hints of thrash and doom metal also run their course and some obvious nods to Venom and Hellhammer are also present.

'Gundali' is one of the albums highlights and features just a synth backing while Mirai speaks in a sinister tone almost creating the effect of some sort of ritualistic sacrifice. The song then concludes with an absolutely beautiful piano ending, which always takes me by surprise when I listen to this album. 'Ready for the Final War' really seems to draw from that Venom and Hellhammer vault of sound I mentioned earlier, though the keys add a slightly more unique flavor to this particular one. 'At my Funeral' is probably my favorite song as it's another mid-paced piece that has a superb piano riff, which pops up numerous times and at least for me adds a strange sort of catchiness to the song.

Although this album is just a mere glimpse of what Sigh would soon become, I think I still favor it over most everything else they've done. Don't get me wrong though as I've found all of their work to be great, but some of the stuff from the late 90's is almost uncomfortably weird. So, I suppose that's why I appreciate the old school vibe this record holds so much.

If you've never heard Sigh then definitely give them a chance as they truly are one of the most enduring and avantgarde metal bands to ever exist.

Kvist - For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike (1996)

Back in the day (something like then years ago or so) when I was first getting into black metal one of the very first recordings I picked up was the one and only album from the Norwegian band, Kvist.' Their 1996 full-length, 'For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike' has stood the test of time for me and still to this day I largely consider this as one of the most original and absolutely most supreme offerings ever within the Norwegian black metal scene.

What truly made Kvist special, is that Kvist's music was diverse and different. Often times moving at a mid-paced speed while at other times going at a blinding fast pace with raging fast double bass drums, the band even slowed down a bit here and there and often times managed to create some very epic sounding moments too.

Contrasting to almost all other black metal bands of the mid-90's period, the two guitarists semi-raw but highly melodic guitar melodies were absolutely breathtaking and the fully audible bass guitar was something nearly unheard of in black metal music at the time. The drum work was also clever the whole way with plenty of frantic double bass work and plenty of drum rolls and cymbal crashes too. I also find it quite interesting the way the drummer changes pace in the songs suddenly, which is not really that typical in black metal, but this surprising choice works perfectly.

The vocals I can only describe as some sort of whispery black metal voice filled with hatred and evil, which I honestly can't think of any other comparison due to how original they sound. The lyrics, although not included in the booklet, are entirely in the Norwegian language. Therefore it's remained something of a mystery as to what they are about though I'm inclined to think that if you understand the language you might be able to decipher what is being said.

Finally one of the best aspect's of Kvist's music was the synthesizers. For me the synths are absolutely some of the most, if not, the most memorable melodies ever created on a symphonic black metal record. The synths carry a similar feeling that the early records from Satyricon and Emperor had, though they somehow sound even darker, more epic and just simply beautiful sounding throughout the entire album. It must also be stated that the synths play more of a backing role on this album allowing the vocals, guitars, bass and drums to be fully audible, whereas almost all other symphonic black metal releases place them in the front.

As for favorites, well, the album only contains six songs and I can safely say these are six of the finest black metal songs ever wrote. Seriously if I was to put together some sort of top fifty favorite black metal songs I'd absolutely have to include every song from this album because each one is simply flawless. Seriously though, 'Svartedal' is probably the best black metal song ever.

Stated earlier, Kvist only created this one and only album and curiously none of the members names are even mentioned in the booklet, though Trondr Nefas of Urgehal was said to have been in this band at one point, but it still does make me wonder if the names mentioned on Metal Archives are in fact the true participants on this album.

I've been listening to, ' For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike' for about ten years now and since that very first spin I knew this album would stick with me for life. If you're curious to hear this album you don't have to worry about paying high amounts for it on eBay since it was recently re-released and should be easily available.

It is a shame that Kvist didn't create more than this one album, but at least they gave us this one album to cherish for many, many years.

Now, if any one has seen any Kvist patches then definitely let me know. My metal vest is aching to have one attached to it.

Skeletonwitch - Breathing the Fire (2009)

Before even hearing one single studio song from Skeletonwitch, I'd witnessed the band on the live stage two times and through those two experiences had formed a rather favorable opinion of the band. Now I must admit when I first got my hands on this album I was absolutely amazed by it, I was, but after numerous listens I've found that the album hasn't stuck with me as closely as that initial spin had. But I'll get to that in a moment.

For those that are unfamiliar, Skeletonwitch is an Athens, Ohio, USA based thrash metal band with black and death metal influences on the vocals. Since forming in 2003 these guys have been busy having released a DVD, one demo, one EP and after releasing, 'Breathing the Fire' last year they had three full-length albums behind them.

Again, their style is fairly straight forward and simple; thrash metal with black and death metal style vocals, catchy riffs, quality solos, gore/death lyrics, but what I find to be odd about the recording is the simple fact that the songs are so short. Between these twelve songs the album runs for just a little under thirty five minutes, and if they were a Slayer, 'Reign in Blood' era tribute band I wouldn't think anything of that length, but since they're not a tribute band I find it to be just odd. Basically most of these songs sound like they are not completely finished. Most sound like there should be an extra verse, an extended solo, some sort of intro or outro to them, and while some indeed have these characteristics, most don't. Does it ruin the songs? Absolutely not, because each of these songs have incredible energy filled with great fist pumping head banging moments, but just as your about to really feel their music it feels more like the band is cutting me off.

However after seeing the band live twice and listening to this album a number of times its become clear to me that Skeletonwitch is simple and to the point, but since the talent is clearly present I really think they'd benefit if they upped the lengths of their compositions. No, they don't need to make an album like Dark Angel's godawful, 'Time Does not Heal,' but adding some of the things I mentioned above probably wouldn't be an entirely bad idea. Nevertheless these guys give a quick blast of thrashing mayhem, which I enjoy and will most likely enjoy for a while, but I'd say this isn't the sort of album I'd take to the grave with me.

Photos from Bloodstock Open Air

If you feel to inclined to check out my photos from Bloodstock Open Air then follow this link to do so. Unfortunately I didn't get photos of every single band I saw and not every photo is great either, but I think there are at least a few cool ones in this album. So, check it out.

England and Bloodstock Open Air 2010

Recapping my entire Bloodstock experience and the journey to England is surely no easy task since the whole experience was one big sensory overload of pure bliss even if there was some confusion and hard times at the onset of this adventure. This was my first visit to England as well as Europe in general and my first time attending a massive metal festival like Bloodstock. You might ask yourself why I've never been to a huge metal festival before, but the simple answer is simply because no such thing exists in America. We used to have the Milwaukee Metalfest where I lived, but it was unfortunately laid to rest five years ago, and besides I'd hardly describe that fest as being massive.

The whole idea for visiting Bloodstock was very random and only occurred to us in late June while drinking and enjoying some live music and as such we had to plan quickly. Unfortunately neither me nor my friend Mike were able to get a decent amount of time off, in fact I was only able to get seven days and Mike had only five days off. So, that meant it was more or less to England, enjoy Bloodstock and head back home. This aspect of the journey is a little disappointing to me because once we did the research we discovered that there was much to do and see in both London and Birmingham as well as the small town we stayed in named Lichfield. However we both had such an amazing experience with Bloodstock that we both plan to attend once again, but obviously get more days off from work and absorb much more of what England has to offer.

My friend Mike and I arrived in London, England a little after 6AM on August 12th and arriving so early was somewhat weird because for one thing we couldn't check into our hotel in Lichfield (about 3 hours from London) until 2PM and we were also right smack in the middle of the early morning rush hour. We had also just got off of an exhausting eight hour flight and while I'm sure some people can sleep on an uncomfortable air plane we surely could not (even though we tried).

When we were still back home and planning we had thought about exploring London before hoping the trains out to Lichfield, but since we really didn't want to carry our luggage all over London we decided to just take the rails out to London right away in the morning. I don't know about you, but we initially found the London rail system to be quite confusing and somewhat overwhelmed at how gigantic the whole thing was, but perhaps its just because there isn't anything like this back home. So, after all the confusion we rode the rails to a certain point in London we had to hop another train that would take us to Lichfield, which was roughly a two hour ride. Before even riding the train we realized it was quite cold and rainy outside, which is something we not only didn't expect but also hardly packed for either.

Well, after finally hoping a number of trains we were on our way to Lichfield. I must admit along the way it was really cool running into other metal heads that were going to Bloodstock and they have my eternal gratitude since they were kind and helped us out a lot with the questions we had. So, once we were in Lichfield we decided it was time to find our hotel, which unfortunately was not as close to the train station as we had originally thought it to be. Instead of just hoping in a cab and having one of them show us where the hotel was we decided to walk it, which turned out to not work so well since we didn't know exactly where we were going and along the way we got completely soaked by the on and off morning showers. After searching (but not finding) we decided to walk back and do what we should have originally done and that was take a cab out to the hotel. Turns out it was fairly easy to find, but it was at least a mile or more up the road, which is a bit much when its cold and the skies are pissing down on us. Thankfully we were able to check into our hotel a little early when we arrived at noon and getting unpacked and cleaning ourselves up a bit we just decided to take a little nap since we were both pretty damn worn out.

A few hours later we decided to go and explore Lichfield and at least find some sort of store where we could buy a jacket or hoodie to keep us warm since neither of us thought to bring one along. I have to admit I was absolutely impressed with Lichfield, because it was such a beautiful city and I really thought all the buildings and just the way everything was laid out was just so nice. The city had a very old timey feel to it, which I love, and everything was so artsy and creative looking plus it was such a clean and friendly city, which is quite different from where I come from where most everything is worn down and generally quite dirty and poorly maintained. It was sort of like I was in a dream world of sorts since it was just so different from my home of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The rest of our day more or less just consisted of exploring Lichfield and getting all the proper info we needed for the rest of our journey. After a while we got some beer and decided to head back to the hotel and call it a day and get ready to rise early and enjoy Bloodstock.


The first day of Bloodstock was somewhat discouraging, at first, because once again it was cold, rainy and the entire field where Bloodstock was held was nothing but mud (good thing I didn't buy those new shoes). Honestly I somehow expected to be severely sick by the end of the weekend, but fortunately things turned out quite the opposite. While walking around both myself and my friend were quite impressed with the Bloodstock area and we really enjoyed visiting all the vendors and supported their cause by purchasing t-shirts and patches. The first band we actually saw on Friday was a Sheffield, England based band known collectively as, 'Black Spiders.' These guys played a type of catchy hard/stoner rock, which really surprised me and left me wanting tons more. Unfortunately we only caught their last two songs, but I do know I'll be hunting down this bands releases soon enough. Next we headed over to the New Blood Stage where we caught a band named, 'Betraeus.' These guys played some sort of thrash hardcore crossover stuff, which much to my surprise was fairly good. I was also instantly amazed by how good the lighting was for this considerably smaller stage. It's funny to think, but the lighting is actually better than our local venue, The Rave. Back to the Ronnie James Dio stage we caught, 'Ross the Boss.' This band is a relatively new (formed in '06) band lead by Ross Friedman who is best remembered as the guitarist of Manowar between '80-'88. Much like Manowar this was straight forward power/heavy metal, and although I'm not a Manowar fan I'd have to admit Ross' performance at Bloodstock was fairly engaging. Next was the long running German heavy/speed metal band Rage, who I have just a little bit of past listening experience with. We watched most of their set and I did find the whole thing to be quite good and it really started to make me wonder why I never followed the band closer.


Following Rage was the Finnish viking/folk metal heroes of Ensiferum. Naturally these guys grew quite the crowd for them and I personally was excited to witness their live show once again. The band played songs like, 'Twilight Tavern,' 'Stone Cold Metal,' 'One More Magic Potion,' 'Iron,' 'Into Battle,' and 'Token of Time.' Each song was played with much conviction and I really enjoyed seeing these guys again. Moving on it was time to see Cathedral who had stepped in at the last minute to replace Behemoth who had to cancel due to lead guitarist/vocalist Nergal being ill. It was sort of funny to be able to see Cathedral since just a few days before we left I was saying to a friend of mine how I wished Cathedral would tour the USA, because I really don't think they ever have. I've been listening to Cathedral for about eight years now and I'm fond of almost all of their albums. Therefore, I had something of a, 'moment' while they were playing. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about though as we all have these moments when we see our favorite bands perform. Anyway, Cathedral played songs like, 'Vampire Sun,' 'Utopian Blaster,' 'Funeral of Dreams,' 'Cosmic Funeral' and of course, 'Hopkins.' It was an incredible moment for me. Gorgoroth was next and they came out as fierce as you'd expect them to be and complete with corpsepaint, blood and lots of spikes. The band ripped through some new stuff, which was great to hear, but personally for me it was much cooler to hear classics like, 'Destroyer' & 'Katharinas Bortgang.' We decided to venture around a bit from this point on an caught, 'Sonata Arctica' from a distance, but my freakin' god is that band ever wanky.


A bit later we again watched, 'Meshuggah' from a distance and although the band pulled in a huge crowd I just couldn't get into their sound at all. Somewhere around that same time we caught bands like, 'Enforcer' & 'Power Wolf' on the Sophie Lancaster Stage, and although I don't really remember Enforcer I must admit Power Wolf's utter corniness was just great to witness. Also back on the New Blood Stage we saw Credit to Dementia briefly, but they didn't make much of an impression on us. The final act for the evening was Opeth, but their was one minor problem. Our shuttle back to Lichfield left at 10:30, which meant we were only able to catch a small portion of Opeth's set (four songs). However some Opeth is definitely better than no Opeth. My digital camera also decided to go and die on me right before Opeth hit the stage too. Anyway, it was enjoyable seeing the guys again, this being the fourth, errr, I guess three and a half times I've seen them now. The band played the songs, 'Windowpane,' 'The Grand Conjuration,' 'The Drapery Falls,' and one of the songs from, 'Watershed,' but the name is eluding me at the moment. I'm sure the rest of their set was stunning though I'm somewhat baffled by Mikael's strange stage behavior. I guess I'll never understand why he always feels the need to rant on and on about the most pointless topics, but talking about how he used to be a, 'fat bitch' or joking about both him and Martin double fisting each others assholes is a bit much, I think. Weird.

So, in the end day one turned out to be colossal for us, and of course it was cold and on and off rain all day/night long. Nevertheless once I got the music in me I was just flying the whole time. Fortunately the next two days would prove to be even further enjoyment for us. Unfortunately on the way home that evening we did something really stupid, but I'll save that for another time.

While riding the bus Saturday morning we met a really nice guy from Spain named, Paulo and had a really interesting chat. We also exchanged contact info and hopefully if we go to Bloodstock next year will be able to meet up with this great guy again. Anyway, after stepping off the bus Saturday morning we were once again greeted by plenty of mud and literally it started raining soon as we walked off the bus. Great.


When we walked in Saturday morning we were taken aback by some sort of medieval battle going on, which was quite fun and amusing to witness. While doing so we unfortunately missed Evile and only saw their last song, which kind of sucks since they are quite enjoyable on stage. Shortly thereafter we caught bands like Onslaught and Obituary, which are of course stunning, and we also saw Edguy, which is super corny, but somehow still fun to watch. I can't help but think that Tobias Sammet (Edguy vocalist) really, really wishes he was Bon Jovi, but I suppose he'll probably never hit it that big. A bit later we saw Amorphis and having been a fan for ten years now it was just amazing to finally see them, though their short forty minute set was more of a tease than experiencing the real thing. At any rate I had another one of, 'moments' while they were playing. They played, 'Silver Bride,' 'Against Widows,' 'Sky is Mine,' The Castaway,' 'House of Sleep,' 'The Smoke' and 'My Kantele.' A tease indeed, but absolute bliss for a long time fan such as myself. Hopefully a USA tour is in the works, because I really need to experience the full thing soon.


After Amorphis was Devin Townsend and I've always thought that absolutely everything Devin has done to be completely boring. Therefore we quickly moved on. It was somewhere around here where I made my little Bloodstock tour video and accidentally walked right past my buddy Joe that I was hoping to meet there. Unfortunately we never found each other, but perhaps next year we will. We also watched a band called, 'Regardless of Me,' which was fairly straight forward female fronted melodic metal from Italy and we also saw English death metal legends, 'Benediction' shortly after that on the Sophie stage. The night concluded with Fear Factory, which is a band I've known about since I was a kid, but they never did much for me, but seeing them did bring back some memories of listening to their records back in the day. Children of Bodom was the headliner for Saturday, although again our bus was leaving around 10:30, so we just decided to call it a day after FF since an evil dark cloud was brooding on the horizon and it looked as if a nasty storm was coming once again. No idea if it did, but I honestly couldn't care about missing an overrated band like Children of Bodom.


On the third day we made it a little late to Bloodstock since we had to take care of our laundry , but we caught interesting bands like Korpiklaani, Gojira and the mighty Bloodbath, which again was another one of those special, 'moment' moments for me, haha. We also witnessed an interesting band on the New Blood stage named, 'Orestea,' which was more female fronted melodic metal and quite good too. Finally we saw Cannibal Corpse and more or less called it a day again. Twisted Sister was the headliner for Sunday, but I'm really not much of a fan, although I heard it was quite an amazing experience for those that stuck around the whole time. Unfortunately though we had to get up early on Monday and get back to London to catch our airplane, which left at 12:20, and due to some delays on the train ride back we just barely made it. I seem to remember arriving at the gate around 11:50.

All in all, Bloodstock was a tremendous experience for me and England in general was just breathtaking as well. We really hope to return next year for Bloodstock again, but we hope to be able to get more days off from work so we can enjoy England a bit more and see some of the amazing sights in London, Birmingham and Lichfield too.

Lastly I apologize for having this review take so long to post, but when I returned home Monday evening I was informed of some unfortunate events that were taking place at work and I was forced to make several calls these past two days to rectify the situation. Of course besides that I was also going through all my photos and videos I took at Bloodstock as well as emailing friends and letting them know about my wonderful English adventure.


In the end I absolutely recommend going to this festival, because it was just such an incredible time that I really can't even put it all into words, but if your a long time metal head like me than I can clearly tell you that this was metal heaven, my friends. So, start saving that money and join my buddy Mike ad me next year for Bloodstock 2011. Will see you there!

Go here to see lots of photos from Bloodstock
Go here to see some videos from Bloodstock, which I'll be continuing to upload for the next couple of days.

Off to England

This afternoon I'll be leaving the USA and heading over to England for the Bloodstock Open Air Festival. I'll be seeing stunning bands like Opeth, Cathedral, Amorphis, Bloodbath, Gorgoroth and many other amazing music makers. Also I hope to see some of the attractions England has to offer, take in the culture, learn some crazy British slang, get really drunk and who even knows what else along the way. When I return I'll have a full report on the Bloodstock experience as well as the whole trip in general. Wish me luck, I can't wait to leave!!

Sear Bliss - Forsaken Symphony (2002)

When, 'Forsaken Symphony' was released back in 2002 it largely had the same effect on my that Opeth's, 'Blackwater Park' had on me the previous year. That effect being that I compulsively listened to the damn thing nearly everyday for weeks/months on end until I had more or less memorized every word and detail the release had to offer. Eight years later and this release still remains a true favorite of mine, and at least in my own opinion a genuinely supreme offering of original sounding black metal music.

Sear Bliss was formed back in 1993 by vocalist/bassist András Nagy in Szombathely, Hungary. On this release the band combines raw mid paced black metal with haunting/symphonic/fantasy sounding keyboards and includes the novel usage of a trombone, baritone and tuba in their music.

The brass instruments give the album a sound that’s really not quite like any other I’ve heard before. Sometimes its very dark and haunting, but at other times its very relaxing and mystical sounding. When combined with the keyboards/piano and the scathing black metal sound it creates some of the most overly atmospheric and ethereal sounding black metal ever conceived. Like the brass instruments the keyboards carry stunning dark melodies and also some that are fantasy and very dreamy like. When you listen to this release you feel a number of emotions and considering this is black metal I'd have to say that's pretty immense.

While the production is raw in character and the guitars do have that classic Norwegian chainsaw effect to them they still offer up some great riffs and some of the solos on this beast are just colossal all the way. Of course the keys, brass and vocals do sometimes overlap the guitars, but by no means does it harm this album. András Nagy's bass work is unfortunately not very well heard, but his vocals sort of remind me of Abbath from Immortal, but much more grim and overall way better than anything that Norwegian could hope to pull off. Another interesting thing is his lyrics, which are quite original and I can’t help but think there’s some type of story involved with the lyrics and the album cover.

How about the standout tracks? You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you this, but honestly there isn’t one bad song on this recording. That’s not something you’ll hear me say that often, but it’s the absolute truth. Although my definite favorites from this album are, ‘My Journey to the Stars’ & ‘The Forsaken.’ Both of these songs utilize the brass instruments to their full potential and I’m quite sure once you hear them you’ll be mesmerized by them as well.

Another nice touch about this album is the artwork, which is just beautiful. From the remarkable cover artwork done by Kris Verwimp (Thyrfing, Crom, Marduk, Dark Fortress, etc.) to the inside booklet artwork which features some very dark looking pieces plus some nice nature photos. Sear Bliss knew right from the start they had a masterpiece on their hands with this one, and they made sure every little thing was perfect.

Eight years later and, 'Forsaken Symphony' absolutely remains as one of my favorite black metal albums and fortunately Sear Bliss continued onwards from this album and created two more stunning albums in 2004 & 2007. If you've never heard this band then definitely consider getting your hands on this release or one of their other albums since each and every single one is fantastic.

Earth - Hibernaculum (2007)

“The Sun revolves around the Earth.” This was the sentiment when the now-infamous duo of Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley formed Sunn O))), following in the footsteps of drone-pioneer Dylan Carlson and his band Earth. Well, after a few years, Sunn O))) became a big name; Earth dropped off the planet amidst drugs, depression, and other personal problems.

Finally, after almost a decade-long hiatus, Earth returned with a revamped sound. The drone was still there, but now clean, almost country/blues riffs plodded along in place of the gritty, fuzzed metal/drone sound that they had originally become known for. Hibernaculum serves as a history lesson into Earth’s past, taking older tracks and revamping them in the new style Earth is now known for.

Hibernaculum opens with ‘Ouroboros is Broken’(originally an 18 minute on Earth’s debut Extra-Capsular Extraction), a looming, droning 8 minute track that perfectly encapsulates Earth’s new sound: Zen-like, minimalist blues-drones. The Sabbath-like fuzz of the original cut is gone, replaced by clean, dark riffs and slow, meticulous drumming.

‘Coda Maestoso in F (Flat) Minor’ was first featured on Pentastar, Earth’s third full length. A similar base is heard, but again, it is now cleaner, and now the tempo has been dropped even further. There is no rush to this music; the sound will come and go as Carlson sees fit.

‘Miami Morning Coming Down’ perhaps has the most notable changes. It was, at first, another fuzzed (I’ve used that term a lot, but it’s the only one that describes what I’m trying to say) drone piece featuring just bass and guitar, found on a compilation album. It is now a more melancholic ‘duet’ of piano and guitar alternating through parts of the original riff. The revamped ‘solo’ has the most distortion of any of the first three tracks, but it is still minimal, and fits beautifully with the new sound.

‘A Plague of Angels’ was the only track that was not originally on one of Earth’s first few albums. It was found on a very limited split with Sunn O))) from the year before (Angel Coma, limited to 2000 copies and only sold on their European tour). It’s 16 minutes long, and as much unhurried and deliberate as any of the other tracks. Carlson’s twangy, country-esque riffs are out in full force here, coupled with the incredibly slow drumming of Adrienne Davies.

For those new to Earth, Hibernaculum is a great introduction to both the sound Earth now embodies and the sounds they used to produce. For old fans, it is a fantastic EP to put on and zone out to. Close your eyes and just let the sounds swirl in your mind.

Nadja - Skin Turns to Glass (2008)

Originally released by NOTHingness Records in 2003 in a limited quantity of 120 copies, The End Records re-released the second Nadja album in 2008 with a different cover artwork and one LONG bonus track.

Nadja is a duo from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, lead by Aidan Baker who is quite well known within the experimental electronic scene, and Leah Buckareff whom I don’t believe plays in any other bands. Aidan and Leah’ music could probably be best described as ambient drone/doom metal with some shoegaze characteristics. Although only four songs are present the album runs for no less than seventy nine minutes and fifty five seconds. Needless to say these are long songs.

The music as you can imagine is slow but very heavy and mostly instrumental. It’s interesting to me the way the opener, ‘Sandskin’ has more of a traditional heavy doom vibe to it while the title track for example is mind crushingly heavy dark song with piano accompaniment and low growled vocals provided by Leah. ‘Slow Loss’ is again a very heavy song with lots of reverb present, but also plenty of calmer ambient drony moments that sort of fluctuate between these two moods. The untitled track on the other hand is almost purely ambient save for some heavy parts near the end of the song.

All in all this is a very good record and really one of the best drone/doom metal albums I’ve heard recently, even if it is a few years old. To date Nadja has released a lot of albums and EPs, and I do know I’ll definitely be checking them out in the near future. If you're into stuff like Sunn O))), Boris, Earth and Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine, then definitely check out Nadja!

Thy Infernal - Warlords of Hell (2001)

Formed back in 1996 in Portland, Oregon, USA, Thy Infernal (by their own claim) was one of the most extreme live bands in America as they appeared onstage with spikes, boar heads, smoke, corpsepaint, animal guts, six foot inverted crosses and plenty of blood splitting to boot – they also made some incredibly awesome black metal music.

Baring similarities to Marduk and other high speed black metal acts the four members; Armageddon (bass & vocals), Rapist (lead guitar), Slut (Rhythm guitar) and Impalor (drums) delivered one overly Satanic, evil and hate filled recording back in 2001 through Moribund Records. What really separates the band from being a pure Marduk or Dark Funeral clone however is that while each and every song is incredibly brutal each is also loaded with colossal riffs and killer solos. Throughout these seven songs (44 mins.) they constantly switch between melody & dissonance plus the breakdowns are handled wonderfully, which only adds to the chaotic nature of their music. It will also sound a bit odd, but several parts of this CD actually sound catchy to me and frankly many a times I've found myself banging my head in a mad fury while listening to it too.

As much as I enjoy the overly brutal nature of this album I actually enjoy the somewhat slower sixth song, 'Night Of The Full Moon' the best, which has a great epic feel to it plus an amazingly awesome guitar ending, which then segues beautifully into the final song, 'Warlords of Hell.' 'Rotting in Hell' & 'Dark Wings Unfurl' are also freakin' jaw droppingly amazing, but all in all there isn't a dull moment to be found on this supreme offering.

It's truly a shame Thy Infernal are not mentioned more often when USBM is discussed, because these guys truly were one of the finest, but unfortunately in 2002 the band was laid to rest and Winter of Apokalypse rose from the ashes, though I've never heard this band. I've owned this album for eight years now and never once has it bored me or left me unsatisfied and as such I can easily say this is one of the most stunning releases ever within the USBM scene.

Forget about complete crap like Krieg and Judas Iscariot or other utterly terrible entities like Xasthur and Leviathan. Go pick up a truly talented, mesmerizing, evil and brutally amazing band like Thy Infernal instead.

Veneficium - De Occulta Philosophia - A Missae Tenebrae (2008)

Not to be confused with Veneficum from Illinois, USA, this is Veneficium from Montreal, Quebec. Veneficium has been billed as one of the oldest black metal bands from this region and having formed way back in 1994 it seems this could be true. Curiously when looking at the past releases from this band you won't find much, except demos from '98 & '07. Okay so some bands move slow... well, okay this three piece moves very slow, but at last after fourteen years of existence Veneficium released their debut album in 2008 through Sepulchral Productions... and then called it a career.

On 'De Occulta Philosophia - A Missae Tenebrae' Veneficium offer up symphonic black metal in the best Limbonic Art, Sirius, Obtained Enslavement, and oddly enough Veneficum style. I guess you know what to expect; raging fast drums, semi melodic speedy guitars, harshly screamed vocals, and symphonic keyboard orchestration throughout the entire album.

With nine songs present and clocking in at just a little over fifty minutes one must certainly ask themselves if Veneficium is able to capture interest and keep attention. Well, guess what? Yes, you guessed right, this is a decent release. As is the case with symphonic black metal the keyboards often times take the center stage and this release is certainly no different since throughout the entire album the listener is hit with a haunting wave of dark symphonic synths and fortunately at no point do they sound cheap or amateurish in their execution. There certainly are some interesting riffs on this album, but generally the keyboards and raging fast drums and hellish screams overlap all that, but that's a standard practice of most symphonic black metal bands anyway.

In the end this is an enjoyable release, which I find has often times gotten better in the past couple of years since I originally got my hands on it. It's a bit of a shame these guys broke up after this release, but at least they left us with one great record and honestly if you dig symphonic black metal definitely consider checking this band out.

Weeping Birth - A Painting of Raven and Rape (2003)

Weeping Birth was first conceived back in 1999 as a two-piece and the demo, 'Officium Tenebrarum' was recorded that same year. In 2000 Vladimir Cochet parted ways with bassist Lionel and this album was wrote and recorded by just Vladimir, but not released and Weeping Birth was put on hold. Before releasing this album back in September of 2003, Vladimir created several other solo projects (Unholy Matrimony, Mirrorthrone, Deafening Loneliness and Accurst Journey), which have also brought him considerable attention.

Weeping Birth plays extremely brutal semi-technical death metal mixed with the sound of symphonic black metal, which forms together a very unique sound that you really don't hear that often. The thing I truly admire about this album is that there’s so much variety present. Most of the time the music reaches speeds of insane fury whilst at other times can be slow and gloomy or even a little epic occasionally. The same goes for the vocals since they appear in the form of low death growls, grim black metal screams, spoken and cleanly style vocals. The death metal vocals are the most frequently used, yet they remain interesting and very hateful throughout the entire recording. The spoken & clean vocals are done rather well and have a strange mysterious feeling to them that works quite well with the music.

The drums are performed via a drum machine and while you can easily tell they are programmed they have a metallic/industrial like feeling to them. The drums also have an epic feeling on several tracks on this album thus once again proving the large amount of diversity this album holds. The keyboards often have that old Dimmu Borgir, Emperor or Gehenna symphonic style to them that's haunting, epic and very ethereal sounding all at once, plus the occasional piano thrown in only enhances this atmosphere further. The guitar playing is often times hard to hear due to the vocals, drums and keyboards being more audible, but when they are present you’ll be hearing some excellent guitar playing. As for favorite’s it’s almost unfeasible to mention any single song since there all very, very good, but since this is a review I’ll simply say track three, ‘The Mental Bloodtide’ is the brightest spot on the record for me.

In addition the artwork is another high point of this release. Yes, yes you guessed it, Vladimir even did the artwork. He has his own web design company called Weeping Web, which makes websites, logos and album artwork.

After this album Weeping Birth was put on hold again, but I just found out that Vladamir put out a new album back in 2008 titled, 'Anosognosic Industry of the I,' which I'm hoping is as stunning as this debut release.

Dimmu Borgir - Spiritual Black Dimensions (1999)

Throughout the years Dimmu Borgir has often times been regarded as the biggest posers, sell-outs and fakes within the Norwegian black metal scene. In spit of such harsh claims they've made some pretty fucking great records. They drew in some serious attention with their '96 release, 'Stormblast' and no less than a year later they were a household name within the metal underground after inking a sweet deal with Nuclear Blast and releasing, 'Enthrone Darkness Triumphant.' In '99 they released, 'Spiritual Black Dimensions,' which is a severely overlooked gem of grandiose Norwegian black metal.

Of course Dimmu Borgir have always been known for their highly synthesized approach to black metal, but on this old release the synthesizers became nearly the main focus of their sound as the guitars tend to ride the backseat at times, although some clever solos and neat riffs do pop up here and there. As for the synths they hold a very dark, orchestral haunting vibe that's ridiculously atmospheric in their execution, while the piano parts are also masterfully placed too. What I think I really like about the keys is that they basically never disappear and are present throughout nearly the entire record and fortunately they sound stunning for the whole journey through this album.

In recent years keyboardist Mustis was booted from the band for not contributing anything, but on SBD he truly shines through as the most gifted member of the band, and if you really need any proof just give the songs, 'Reptile,' 'The Promised Future Aeons,' or 'Grotesquery Conceiled' a chance.

Also before Shagrath was wearing dresses onstage and fucking ugly sluts that Nicolas Cage wouldn't even touch anymore he was delivering what I'd have to say is his finest vocal performance. On SBD he screams with such malice within his voice on every single song, but he also adds these spoken parts and low grumbly voices, which just sound fantastic to me and work so well with the music. Simen 'Vortex' Hestnæs (of Borknagar and Arcturus fame) also appears as a session musician by adding some fantastic cleanly sung parts on four of the songs that only enhance them further whereas when he finally joined the band two years later his then over produced voice just ruined the songs.

Furthermore I really find very little fault with this recording and often times when I play it I end up asking myself why it's so overlooked or generally just hated. If you've never heard it then definitely give it a shot as it's truly one of Dimmu's finest performances.