Slayer - Show No Mercy (1983)

When it comes to Slayer most people usually say their favorite albums are, ‘Reign in Blood’ or ‘Hell Awaits,’ and while I do enjoy these albums and recognize their significance I’ve always had an insane amount of worship for their debut, ‘Show no Mercy.’

Show no Mercy has always reminded me of Metallica’s debut, ‘Kill ‘em All’ for the simple fact that they’re both fast, angry and aggressive thrash records with a strange degree of adolescent innocence underscoring both albums while they’re also great drinking, fish pumping, head banging, sing-a-long metal classics. What’s also interesting is that both albums have a raw sort of production to them and it’s also notable that both bands would become increasingly more proficient at their craft on their next couple of albums.

Anyway, all Metallica comparisons aside, Show no Mercy’s song selection is quite amazing with the lead off track, ‘Evil has no Boundaries’ pumping the listener up instantly while ‘The Antichrist’ has always been my favorite Slayer song. You’ve also got to love, ‘Die by the Sword’ or the slightly darker sounding ‘Black Magic’ and ‘The Final Command’ is just goddamn epic sounding.

I also much like the fact that Tom Araya uses lots of high pitched vocals on this album since they seem to work perfectly with the music. He really didn’t use the high vocals after this album and that’s a bit unfortunate I think, but his more aggressive shout did seem more fitting overall considering the darker mood of the next couple Slayer albums. What's more Jeff and Kerry’s riffs/solos are quite amazing to say the least and show a good amount of NWOBHM influence. Furthermore as already stated I like the youthful violence this album holds. They were young, pissed off and ready to let the world know about it.

At just thirty five minutes, Show No Mercy delivers the goods perfectly and has done so for many years of my life. I remember I first bought this album on cassette sometime back in the early 90’s and I must have played it too much because eventually my cassette player ate my tape. Bastard! It’s strange to think that I was just two years old when this album came out; many of you were just fetuses in 1983 or even a few years from even being conceived for that matter.

At any rate, if for some reason you don’t own this album definitely check it. It might not be as technical or fast sounding as future recordings, but it remains a true statement of thrash excellence in my opinion.

Recipients of Death - Recipients of Death (1988)

This is one of my all-time favorite albums!

I randomly discovered this band about six years ago when me and some friends were at a second hand shop browsing through the used LPs in search of some classic metal. I remember I found a bunch of cool records that day. I picked up Slayer’s, ‘Live Undead,’ Massacre’s, ‘From Beyond,’ Black Sabbath’s, ‘Never Say Die!’ and then I saw this beast. I had no idea who they were, but somehow that Mushroom cloud on the cover was saying, ‘Buy me, buy me you fucking asshole!’ So, I bought it, and holy mother of fucking Jesus Christ have I ever loved this band since that day!

The Recipients of Death were a short lived Californian quartet who released their debut album in 1988 and one final EP in 1990 before calling it a career. Musically this is pure 80’s thrash/death metal largely influenced by the gods of that era, namely; Slayer, Possessed, Dark Angel, Kreator and Sepultura, (etc. etc.). Lead guitarists Zac Taylor and Albert Gomez were freakin’ riff gods and their solos were absolutely colossal thrashing madness ripped straight from the aforementioned bands, mostly Slayer though (especially the song Seizure). Chris Broguiere handled the drums and he was one of those thrashy death metal drummers that absolutely destroyed the skins, but he still knew how to throw in plenty of drum rolls and roaring fast double bass pedal work too. Dead Rich G. handled the bass and vocals and while the bass is somewhat hidden you can occasionally hear it poking out. His vocals bring to mind Don Doty’s voice on the first two Dark Angel records and his lyrics are very, very well wrote too.

What’s interesting about this album is that it’s only seven songs long and just twenty minutes in length and it’s so good that I’ve often times played it two or three times in a row. It’s one of those albums you just toss on the record player and headbang the entire time you’re listening, and believe me I’ve done this many times. I’ve also often times thought about framing the poster that came with the LP so when friends visit they could ask me who the fuck the Recipients of Death are. I love this album!

I was going to end this review by saying it’s a crime against humanity that this album hasn’t been re-released, but I just did an EBay search and found that it has indeed been re-released on CD recently with the EP they did after this full-length. Bought it instantly of course, amazingly only $5.99 too. Go here to pick up yourself a copy. Fuck all other music. It’s going to be a thrash metal week here at Lunar Hypnosis.

Lastly thee metal archives list the band as being active, which I couldn’t find any info about, but if it is indeed true I’m going to hunt these guys down and make them play for me and then thank them for this short but incredibly awesome record.

Dahlia's Tear - Under Seven Skies (2007)

Dahlia’s Tear (solo project of Anil Emre Dedeoglu) first came to my attention a few years ago through his album, ‘My Rotten Spirit Of Black,’ which was quite a pleasing album, though it’s his 2007 release, ‘Under Seven Skies’ that has become a true favorite of mine over the past year.

Anil’s music is within the dark ambient genre, though his music is noticeably far more harmonious and generally more dynamic, fascinating and varied than your typical dark droning ambient band, which are nearly a dime a dozen these days. The music has a very strong dreamy and otherworldly quality to it which allows the listener to pass into a realm of unknown thoughts and visions which may very well elude them when not listening to music like this. This is truly a great album to listen to while lying in bed since personally I’ve had some very interesting thoughts and dreams pass through my brain while under the influence of Anil’s songs.

It’s interesting since the music is more than just lush melodic synthesizers; Anil’s music also features distorted electric guitars in the background, industrial characteristics, sampled voices, female and male chanting, treated field recordings, piano and some well placed subtle beats too. I also love the way the music carries a very cold atmosphere to it and even though it’s fairly hot outside today I still feel a slight chill as a listen to this album and occasionally notice the hairs on my arms standing on end too. Wonderful.

Additionally the album comes packaged in a sharp looking digipak with wonderful artwork too. If you have any love for dark melodic ambient music then this is surely not one to miss as its absolutely fantastic for its entire forty eight minute duration.

Glorior Belli - Manifesting The Raging Beast (2007)

Glorior Belli was formed in France back in 2002 by Infestvvs and Antares, and quickly the, ‘Evil Archaic Order’ demo was released in 2003, and followed up with the debut album, ‘Ô Laudate Dominvs’ in 2005. Today Glorior Belli has become more or less the solo project of Infestvvs as he writes all the music, lyrics, and plays guitar and vocals. For at least this album he is joined by Dispater (from Merrimack, Blackgod, and Heol Telwen) on Bass, and m:A Fog (from Black Flame, Disiplin, Daemusinem, and Dying Awkward Angel) on drums.

This French band offers up orthodox black metal with plenty of melodic twists and turns and music that ranges from being quite brutal to sounding almost doom-ish at times. I’ve seen people say Glorior Belli sounds like old Mayhem, but I completely miss this comparison, and in actuality they sound similar to their fellow countrymen in Deathspell Omega. Though I wouldn’t say they are exactly the same, but you can definitely hear comparable composition ideas and related lyrical themes. The lyrics are written considerably well, poetic like in nature, and deal with the Luciferian Philosophy. Though I’m not 100% familiar with this concept, I do have to admit its worth investigating, at least for the sake of curiosity.

It should also be mentioned that the production of the album is way above the usual underground standards, forsaking the usual immature grimness that so many feeble bands still feel akin too.

‘Manifesting The Raging Beast’ has become something of a modern classic and although the band has already released two new records since I have not gotten my hands on them just yet. Moreover at just a few seconds over forty minutes Manifesting disappoints very little, and in fact absolutely crushes most other black metal records released in recent years.

Pentagram - Relentless (1985/2005)

Forming in the early 70’s, Arlington, Virginia, USA based band Pentagram is perhaps most famous as one of the pioneers of the doom metal genre despite having only released six albums in the past thirty nine years the band has been together. Throughout the bands history the only constant has been vocalist Bobby Liebling with a nearly nonstop revolving line-up that has featured members from such bands as Place of Skulls, Raven, The Obsessed, Internal Void, Spirit Caravan and many others.

After being somewhat active (they broke up and reformed numerous times and used different alias too) for nearly fifteen years the band self released their debut, ‘Relentless’ (originally self-titled) in 1985, although I own the 2005 re-issue made available by Peaceville Records.

Drawing a clear influence from the early Black Sabbath sound Pentagram (along with Saint Vitus, Trouble and Witchfinder General) were among the first true doom metal bands. Through eleven songs Bobby spins tales of death, religion, revenge and love while guitarist Victor Griffin pounds out some of heaviest (and at times) slowest riffs imaginable. Martin Swaney’s vibrant and thick bass guitar only adds to the heaviness whist drummer Joe Hasselvander grooves along with the rest of the band adding is own unique fills to this record. Relentless has a total underground production job that just barely sounds above demo quality, but somehow this garage like sound gels well with the heaviness of this type of music for a transcendent and wickedly delicious experience.

Generally the music ranges from classic 80’s ultra slow doom metal to more rockin’ doomy numbers reminiscent of those early Black Sabbath records we all know and love. Frankly I find this album to be hard to describe as it’s just that good (basically I’m left speechless), but essentially if you have any experience with classic traditional doom metal then you can truly anticipate one of the finest entries in the doom metal genre with Relentless.

It’s hard to even choose a favorite as all of the songs are stunning and its one of those records you can easily put on and appreciate from start to finish. Play it loud and let the heaviness crush you and if any strength should remain in you after listening, then hit the replay button again and allow the evil and anguish to wash all over you yet again.

Kingston Wall - II (1993)

After the absolutely remarkable debut album, ‘I” in 1992, Kingston Wall returned a year later with, ‘II,’ another strong album that showed no signs of any sophomore slump.

II sees Kingston Wall really starting to explore there psychedelic & progressive influences more strongly and tends to leave behind the more hard rocking groovy edge that a lot of the songs on I had. A good number of the songs are mellower, longer in length and have all the glorious trippy psychadelia progressiveness of bands from the 70’s. Another new inclusion is a folk influence, which is best displayed on the two instrumentals, ‘Istwan’ and within some of the riffs in, ‘And it’s all happening.’ All together four instrumentals grace this album, and since the songs are longer this time around there are lots of instrumental parts during the songs that do have vocals. As implausible as it is to me Petri’s guitar work is even stronger on this release with just absolutely colossal riffs and solos of grand proportions. There isn’t a moment on this record where this man fails to impress, plus Sami’s drum work is diverse and interesting, and Jukka’s bass lines are thick and heavy; everything just fits in perfectly together.

Some of the strongest songs within Kingston Wall’s short recording career also appear on this album, namely, ‘We cannot move,’ ‘Two of a Kind,’ ‘I Feel Love,’ and ‘Shine on Me.’ Two of a Kind features a lot of those godly epic guitar solos and stunning riffs I spoke of earlier and I honestly wouldn't hesitate to say this song has become something of an all-time favorite for me. Just a colossal song. Meanwhile the cover of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love is probably the most hard rocking song on the album, and certainly shows another side of Petri’s influences and then there’s Shine On Me, which is a lengthy courageous psychedelic/progressive masterpiece. This particular song also features Sakari Kukko on saxophone, and if you’re an Amorphis fan you may recognize that name since he played flute and saxophone on two of their albums.

All in all Kingston Wall delivered another album of monumental proportions with II, and much like their debut it is absolutely essential for progressive/psychedelic/hard rock music fans. One of my all-time favorite albums right here, folks. Check it out.

Orphonic Orchestra - Orphonic Orchestra (2006)

Orphonic Orchestra was a local band from my neck of the woods (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) that formed back in 2001 by guitarist/backing vocalist and all around mastermind Johnny Mars.

The bands debut full-length, ‘Free Me’ came out in 2005 and a year later they released this tasty little six-song EP that musically continued their hard rock/light harmonious metal style with pop catchiness and lovely female vocals along the lines of Lacuna Coil or Evanescence. However what separates Orphonic from these well established names is through the use of a violin and viola player that adds a neo classical touch to their music. Besides that I wouldn’t shudder to say lead vocalist Kassandra Quirke completely owns over Christina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil and John’s guitar work remains diverse, melodic and interesting for the entire twenty two minutes of this EP, which is something you really don’t see in those other bands.

I personally like the song, ‘Power Hungry’ the best, which starts out with a sample of Mr. Bush talking about the Iraq war, and then drives forward with a strong folky sort of main guitar riff, and one hell of a catchy chorus if I do say so myself. Plus the song features a totally bad ass guitar solo towards the end of the song that’s certainly hard to resist. ‘Left Behind’ & ‘Reasons’ also have similar traits but feature more participation from violin/viola player Mandy Leigh, and John’s backing vocals roll up more plus I also appreciate the darker vibe that Reasons seems to have and once again the guitar work is quite appealing in this one too.

Also for a self produced EP the whole thing sounds rather decent although the drums seem a little buried over the vocals and guitar at times, and the bass guitar is no more than a distant pulse, but that can be overlooked. There isn’t much to find negative about this EP (well... the lyrics don't appeal or apply to me much)and if these six songs were any indication of things to come then I wouldn’t be surprised if this band would have eventually landed a record deal. Unfortunately the band was laid to rest in 2008 after the drummer quit and the band was unable to secure a replacement. Nowadays some of the members are playing in some new bands which I haven’t heard, but perhaps they’ll capture a unique and interesting sound just this band did.

I have no idea if this EP is still in print, so I decided to upload it (hopefully they won’t mind). You can check it out here: Here

Necromantia - Scarlet Evil, Witching Black (1995/2005)

In the past twenty years or so Black metal music has become known for a lot of notorious traits; murder, suicides, church burnings, Satanic worship, Paganism and poor recording qualities (amongst many other things). There’s one other common attribute that black metal is known for and that’s the lack of any sort of vibrant bass guitar work. Even high profile bands like Dimmu Borgir or Emperor have the bass guitar hidden under their maelstroms of speedy guitars, orchestral synths and raging fast drums. However then there is Greece’s legendary Necromantia who defied convention back in mid-90’s with their classic, ‘Scarlet Evil, Witching Black’ album.

Originally released through Osmose Productions fifteen years ago, ‘Scarlet Evil, Witching Black’ was re-released in ’05 through Black Lotus Records with an all new and entirely different cover artwork (look at them boobies, man, haha), booklet layout, re-mastered sound and a Manowar cover song tacked at the end of the album.

So, you may be wondering what’s so special about this release, aren’t ya? Well, Necromantia pulled one of the oddest moves in black metal when they decided to use not one, but two bass guitars, no rhythm guitar at all, and just a few well placed guitar solos here and there. Unique you ask? Yes, very much so, and for those that have craved bass guitar in there black metal this would be a release to track down. The dual bass attack creates a very thick and ultra heavy sound unlike anything else heard in the black metal genre at the time (or even really today). The band’s performance on this album can be only described as avant-garde and that’s certainly not a word I throw around loosely. The sound could be portrayed as some sort of fast to mid-paced black metal with the dual bass guitar assault alongside, orchestral synths, piano, grimly screamed vocals, epic spoken passages and the occasional guitar solo. The album even takes a radical turn away from black metal with a song called, ‘The Arcane Light Of Hecate,’ which blends atmospheric synths with bombastic percussion and jazz (and it’s amazing too).

‘Scarlet Evil, Witching Black is like nothing you’ve ever heard before, because there is nothing else like this. The mood of the album is especially dark and atmospheric, but still hasty, malice filled, epic and dynamic sounding music. Necromantia exists somewhere between the more romantic beautiful side of black metal and the crazed Satanic occult side of the genre, and when mixed with all of the above your ears are treated to something that’s only been done by this band.

Undoubtedly a legendary black metal recording and indeed a must for anyone that craves thoughtful originality in there black metal music.

Live Review: A Silver Mt. Zion @ Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, NC - 5.20.10

Let me start by saying the tour poster to the right is of course not from the show I went to (unless it's suddenly become two years ago), but I could not find any other and this one was too badass not to use.

Carrboro, NC is about a two and a half hour drive from where I currently live, but seeing as how it is one of the biggest hubs of great live music in North Carolina, it is well worth the drive (which I attempt to make quite frequently). And a chance to see A Silver Mt. Zion (currently performing as Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra) was definitely worth the drive. Most people know ASMZ as the side project (not quite accurate, but whatever) of several of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's founding members, including Efrim Menuck, Thierry Amar, and Sophie Trudeau.

Free Electric State opened, I guess only because they are a local band. Their style is mostly a surfy alt-rock, with (meh) female vocals. Not very interesting or unique, but I guess they really didn't try to be, and it was an excuse to grab a few beers away from the stage.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra took the stage shortly after 10:00pm. Efrim's stage banter as a part of Silver Mt. Zion is well known, and tonight was no exception. He answered any and all questions, and joked/ranted with the crowd about Whole Foods Market, older professors jogging in unfortunate outfits, music, the weather, and this one guy's laugh which he said sounded like choking on a 'fish covered in peanut butter'. It added a more personal element to the show, which consisted of a large portion of their new album (everything except 'Piphany Rambler')as well as a few classics (a slightly varied 'God Bless Our Dead Marines' and '1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound'). Their bombastic post-rock/punk mixed with all kinds of influences from folk to classical filled the venue for over an hour and a half, and each minute better than the last. Efrim's manic foot tapping and yelped vocals coupled with the beautiful guitar and violin sections created an air that seemed to strain between crazed schizophrenia and calming, beautiful ambiance. To say it was just a good show would be a vast understatement. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact I had to work the next day I probably would have followed them for a few more shows, just to try and capture the sound of that hour and a half again.

Forest of Shadows - Departure (2004)

Back in 2002 Forest of Shadows left me astonished with their dark melancholic doom metal, which for better but most likely worse came at a most unpleasant time in my life. In 2004 the band released their debut album, ‘Departure,’ which had been highly anticipated by me, but for whatever reason I kept having trouble getting into it. I think initially it was due to the lack of the violin and flute that had graced the previous MCD, but listening to this album now I’m really not sure why I didn’t like it since it’s an outstanding album.

Departure was played and composed entirely by Niclas Frohagen, and maybe it was for the best since Niclas constantly had trouble finding a solid line-up since the bands onset in the late 90’s. In any case the music of Forest of Shadows is filled with slow doomy riffs that exhale melancholy and mourning, as well there are some darkwave-ish electronic beats, keyboards, and light piano work alongside both aggressively growled vocals and cleanly sung Gothic-ish singing. Five songs are present, but the album exceeds the hour mark by just a few minutes. The album reaches its high points with the songs, ‘November Dream,’ which has one of the most sorrowful sounding main riffs ever, and, ‘Bleak Dormition’ is also stunning despite being an instrumental. ‘Open Wound’ & ‘Departure’ are also quite memorable.

Since re-discovering this album last autumn, I’ve played it a lot and I am most definitely still scratching my head in puzzlement when I try to figure out what it was that left me unsatisfied initially. If you enjoy any sort of dark depressive melodic doom metal then I certainly have to recommend this album to you as well as the previous mentioned MCD, ‘Where Dreams turn to Dust.’

Frozen Shadows - Hantises (2004)

During Frozen Shadows fifteen years of existence the band has been placed on hiatus a few times, they’ve had a few members split and they’ve only unleashed three creations – A demo titled, ‘Empires de Glace’ in ’96, their full-length debut, ‘Dans les Bras des Immortels’ in ’98 and this little gem here called, ‘Hantises,’ which saw release back in ’04.

The two early releases from this Montreal, Quebec based band drew plenty of influence from the early Emperor, Satyricon and Immortal records, while Hantises (that’s French for ‘Obsessions’) did away with the lo-fi production and turned up the tempo considerably perhaps placing them within the same ballpark as bands like Tsujder, Setherial or Marduk. So, obviously we’ve got furious blast beats, incredibly speedy tremolo picking and power chord riffs as well as some brief synthetic enrichment and hateful vocals.

What’s interesting about this record is that while the music is almost always high-speed there’s some sort of strange groove within Alvater and Namtar’s guitar work that actually makes it catchy and pretty much forces me to headbang for the entire record. Melkor’s drumming is absolutely merciless and while the majority of the record is blast beats it also shifts to galloping slower paces at times to even some militaristic like beats here and there. Myrkhaals’ synth work is briefly but tastefully used while it’s his malicious screams, howls and shrieks ripped fourth from the bowels of hell that really propel this record to even greater heights. Interestingly there are few moments where the music moves at a near snail like pace often times building up to an epic summit, which in turn blasts the listeners head cleanly off when the battle continues. I love records like this.

Frozen Shadows is more than likely one of the oldest black metal bands from Quebec and since the scene there is overflowing with interesting talent right now I’d say now would be about the right time to make album number three while shredding us all to pieces in the process. If you haven’t heard this album, then do so, it’s a stunning release that deserved a lot more attention both then and now.

Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times (1994)

A year after Darkthrone’s, ‘A Blaze in the Northern Sky’ was released (and the Norwegian black metal scene had truly been set in motion) a young man by the name of Sigurd Wongraven (Satyr) appeared in 1992. An untitled demo emerged that same year, the band reduced to just two members and released the much acclaimed, ‘The Forest is my Throne’ demo in ’93, then the following year the massively astonishing debut full-length, ‘Dark Medieval Times’ surfaced in April of ’94.

Satyricon took the sound and production style of Darkthrone and added in acoustic guitar passages, flutes, epic keyboard orchestrations, folky riffs and even a greater deal of overall melody. Satyr’s guitar held a largely static, treble, raw tone to it - sounding more like a grinding metal appliance rather than an actual guitar, but you’d be hard pressed to find a guitarist that could create the same type of melodious evil that came out of this man’s guitar. I won’t even comment much on his vocals, but simply put they are some of the best ever laid down. Furthermore behind the drum kit Frost was flawless, never missing a beat while thumping the drums to pieces with not just blast beats but also occasional drum roles, militaristic beats and other interesting surprises too.

The atmosphere this album holds is just unbelievable. The album invokes feelings of hatred, sorrow, evil, and even beauty at times. This is largely due to the synth work which is also majestic, gloomy and ghostly sounding on various parts of this recording. Also I much like the cover artwork drawn by Jannicke Wiese-Hansen since it seems to fully capture the mood of the album plus the grim photos of Satyr and Frost on the back of the album are certainly intimidating too. To think that these two were eighteen and twenty years old when this album was released still astonishes me.

Satyricon would go on to record and release another enormous album in late ’94 called, ‘The Shadowthrone’ and largely the bands most accomplished creation emerged in 1996 titled, ‘Nemesis Divina. I find little of what Satyricon does today to be of any worth, but at least we’ve got these three classics to satisfy our hunger for truly evil Norwegian black metal music.

Halgadom - Sturmwoge (2006)

I suspect this 2006 release from Halgadom went severely unnoticed for reasons having little to do with the fact they are on a small label and probably more for the reasons that the band has some interesting political views (or so I hear at least). Nevertheless, this German based band released one gem of an album four years ago called, 'Sturmwoge,' which is also the first full on metal release from the band as well (other releases were a mix of neo folk & metal).

After an ambient/neo classical intro with spoken vocals, the action kicks off with, 'Neuer Adel,' a fast paced melodic and very catchy pagan metal piece of music. Halgadom's music on this release is mid paced, melodic and loaded with great solos, plus three different vocal styles to boot. Each song features some incredibly memorable riffs and the solos are quite simply mind blowing, in particular on, 'Bruderschaft' & 'Werdung,' but the band impresses the whole way through this forty one minute album.

Occasionally some thrash metal influences can be found within the bands work on this release, and that naturally gives the music more energy and as you can probably expect is able to charge the listener up considerably. I've used this album many, many times to wake myself up and it works even better than you'd probably guess.

The vocals appear in the form of low death metal-ish growls, raspy black metal screams and cleanly sung vocal passages. The two harsher styles are also often times layered over each other creating an even more so powerful presence within the already lively music. Plus the production is fairly well done, its still underground and not perfect, but its by no means a raw black metal production job. It shouldn't bother anyone, though I don't think anyone that listens to this sort of music would have a problem with any sort of abysmal production if that were the case.

All in all, I find little fault with this recording, save for maybe the fact that its a little short, but at least all forty one minutes of the recording are sublime with no fillers to be found. If you dig German Pagan metal then by all means check out this recording, you shall not be disappointed.

A Legend has left us...

As many of your probably already know, legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio passed away early Sunday morning from his ongoing battle with stomach cancer. Dio was widely recognized as one of the greatest vocalists to ever stand on stage and with a music career stretching all the way back to the late 50’s, he famously played in bands like Elf (’70-’75), Rainbow (’75-’79), Black Sabbath (’79-’82, ’91-’92), Dio (’82-’10) and most recently Heaven & Hell (’06-’10). He was also credited as having popularized the “Devil Horns” or “Evil Eye,” which each and every one of us used every time we saw a band live.

Personally and regrettably I never explored Ronnie James Dio’s solos albums too thoroughly or his early efforts with Elf and Rainbow nor did I ever see Dio perform live despite having toured in my city over the years. For me his three albums he did with Black Sabbath are immense metal classics which everyone should own and his most recent performance with Heaven & Hell was just as stunning. Today is a day to pull out any and all Dio CDs & LPs and play them loudly and remember him for the legend he truly is. R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio.

New Tattoo

On Thursday afternoon I had a tattoo finished and while some of you may instantly recognize it others may not. In any case its the fallen angel that Black Sabbath has used on numerous releases and most recently Heaven & Hell used it on their debut album too. I got this tattoo because Black Sabbath is one of my all-time favorite bands and honestly there's few things in this world better than those early albums with Ozzy. Of course I also adore the three releases with Dio and even the more obscure and often neglected albums with Tony Martin are great too. It's a tribute to gods like Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, Dio and I guess even a goofball like Ozzy Osbourne. Now, go listen to some Black Sabbath goddamn it!

BTW apologizes if it looks a little weird. The tattoo is basically on my elbow and its a bit shiny in this photo since I had the balm on to heal it. Over and out.

My Dying Bride - The Angel and the Dark River (1995)

For me My Dying Bride’s, ‘The Angel and the Dark River’ has always had a strong significance, because it was the first MDB album I heard and the first real doom metal recording I ever heard too. Going into it I really didn’t have any preconceived notions of what it was going to sound like. I had read that it was dark and gloomy, and that was more than enough to attract my interest. Now several years later this still remains my favorite creation from MDB and basically one of my all time favorite records.

On this third album MDB was going through a transition faze by making their music not nearly as heavy as previous recordings and perhaps taking their sound into a slight gothic territory. Lead singer Aaron also completely dumped the low growls in favor of just his morose weeping clear vocals, which I feel are still to this day some of the best ever recorded. When Aaron sings you can truly feel the misery in his voice and you stop and question what happened to this guy to make him sound so sad. Is he for real or is it just a gimmick (I always wandered back then, but eventually found out about)? As well, his lyrics about loss, anguish and dark romanticism, written in a truly poetic manner are simply marvelous. Of course there’s no overlooking Andrew and Calvin’s fantastic guitar work either, as both men provide some beautiful riffs and even bass player Ade has a big part on this record. However for me the thing that has always kept me coming back for more with this album is Martin’s lovely keyboard and heartbreaking violin efforts. His violin playing is gorgeous beyond any words but so very sorrowful sounding, while the keyboards often have that strong funeral-ish sound that has become a customary attribute in the doom metal genre.

Picking favorites from this album is no easy chore, but I must say that I’ve always been particularly drawn to, ‘The Cry of Mankind’ because of the mystifying poignant feeling it supply’s. ‘From Darkest Skies’ is also stunning, sounding like a slow funeral elegy to the base of hell, whilst, ‘Black Voyage’ has always been my favorite MDB song because of the dazzling violin and superb guitar work. Naturally, ‘A Sea to Suffer in’ is just as impressive, although the much slower,’ Two Rivers Only’ has always had a very special place in my heart as well.

The Angel and the Dark River is a testament of greatness in the doom metal genre and I really feel it’s the strongest album the band has recorded. Certainly many of the bands succeeding albums like, 'The Light at the End of the World' or 'The Dreadful Hours' have been remarkable listens but never did the band come close to sounding as moody, atmospheric, grief-stricken and even epic sounding as they did on this 1995 release. Definitely not an album to miss.

Falls of Rauros - Hail Wind and Hewn Oak (2008)

To say I've been obsessed with Falls of Rauros since hearing them in late 2006 would be but an understatement since the band pretty much became a favorite through their debut, 'Into the Archaic' back then and the follow-up EP, ‘Of Stone and Stars in the Sky’ in 2007 revealed two utterly amazing new songs, one of which is nothing short of being one of the best black metal songs I've personally ever heard (both re-recorded here on their second album). So expectations for this debut were high, but much to my delight Falls of Rauros released what I believe to be the finest entry in the black metal genre in 2008 and surely an album I’ll be listening to for many, many years to come.

The band describes their music as 'North Appalachian Heathen Black Folk Metal,' and I'd say it fits them perfectly. Imagine a sound reminiscent of early Ulver, Wyrd, Satyricon mixed with Agalloch and Woods of Ypres and perhaps even a prog band like Opeth due to the long and ever changing song structures found in Falls of Rauros’ music. Although the production is not perfect (this may turn some listeners off) and the drums sound a bit odd at times its the overall mood and the highly impressive guitar work that never fails to be perfect on, 'Hail Wind and Hewn Oak.' Falls writes some of the absolute most sinister, beautiful and dreadfully sorrowful sounding guitar riffs I've heard from a black metal band in a long time. I should also mention that the acoustic sections are blissful, the brief usage of synthesizers is tasteful and atmospheric and the few guitar solos spread out through the album are just epic in their magnitude.

If you don’t mind I’d like to personally analyze my favorite song on this album as well. The second song, ‘The Fire we Fathered’ has literally become one of if not my favorite black metal song since it first appeared on the aforementioned EP in 2007 and the revamped version found on this album is even grander. It’s rare when you hear a song that holds such an ever changing sentiment and actually remains interesting, but that’s exactly what this twelve minute epic does. I feel that this song unmistakably starts out rather peaceful and almost joyful sounding at certain points with the beautiful guitar harmonies and backing choir vocals amongst the blackened screams and raging drums and guitars. However a little past the six minute mark something malevolent takes control the mood descends to utter darkness and despair. Suddenly the music shifts to a doom metal like pace with only an acoustic guitar, drums and an electric guitar playing an absolutely menacing riff are heard amongst some whispered vocals. Then at the eight and half minute mark the music picks up and this guitar riff truly becomes one of most poignant and depressive sounding things I’ve ever heard in a black metal song. A wave of chilling frost washes over me and the hairs on both my arms and the back of my neck stick on end as an atmospheric synth passage eventually makes its appearance and closes this song out perfectly. I absolutely love this song!

Now, I wouldn’t have minded some lyrics in the booklet, but the nice landscape nature shots found instead certainly do set the mood perfectly for this album too. Speaking of which try listening to this album in your car while driving around on a snowy evening or while walking through a forest; the effect is gigantic and it would seem this is exactly what these four guys intended when they wrote/recorded this album.

Truly, ‘Hail Wind and Hewn Oak’ is an album for the ages and a tremendous breath of fresh air in the often stagnant black metal scene. I find that I never tire of these brilliant songs one bit and occasionally I even notice things I hadn’t heard previously. In the future if they fix the production issues they could very well be the next big thing within the folk infused black metal genre, but even if they stay the way they are currently I’ll still have an infinite passion for Falls of Rauros’ music.

Irezumi - Endurance (2008)

Although the name might make you think this band is Japanese, Irezumi is in fact the French based solo project of a guy named Manuel. At first glance of this wonderful digipak you'll notice beautiful snow covered mountains, and when you open it you'll notice more of the same wonders before your eyes. These landscapes are indeed fine visuals to go with this enchanting music.

Irezumi creates lush wondrous icy cold ambient music filled with melody and character that transports my mind to a place of utter bliss and tranquility. When listening to this music I'm sometimes reminded of the ambient work of Ildjarn, but also artists like Thy Veils, Asmorod, Robert Rich, and basically any other dark esoteric ambient artists you can think of. There's also a few samples spread out across the sixty sixty minutes of this recording, but they hardly distract you from the serene wintry excursion Manuel takes you through.

I've listened to this album a lot since acquiring it and I can easily see this is an album I'll continue to listen to for many years to come. Especially when the snow starts falling again or even when writing or reading a book this album will be ideal.

All in all, Irezumi is one of the most engaging and interesting ambient artists I've heard in recent years and I do hope he follows this album up with another strong release some day soon.

Woods of Eternity

Betray-Ed's first CD release was on Noori Records, the highly acclaimed "Haunting Memories" released last year. One year later, Noori Records is proud to present the new Betray-Ed opus, that shows a huge step further on this duet into the neofolk path.

The CD will be released next monday (17th), in a limited edition of 30 copies. I did the cover artwork for this release, as well, my LH comrade has been quoted on the promotional poster you see above. You can pre-order a copy by sending an email here: mindboosternoori@gmail.com. 9€ with shipping included.

Symbiosis/Ancient Tundra - These Engulfing Winds Never Die (2010)

‘These Engulfing Winds Never Die’ is a split CD-r album connecting Symbiosis and Ancient Tundra on Hypnotic Dirge Records, which is also a record label that’s completely new to me. The album comes packaged in a fancy jewel case with a 12-page booklet and a region free DVD-r, which features promo videos of the two bands as well as trailers for other releases on the label.

Symbiosis is an Italian ambient band lead by Valerio Orlandini, which I’ve known about since mid-2006 when Valerio sent me his first demo for review on Lunar Hypnosis. So, Symbiosis kicks off this split and although I had expected it to be new songs it seems that’s quite the opposite here (somewhat). The first song, ‘Intro – Slavine di Luce’ is the same intro piece found on the project’s 2008 debut, ‘Slavine,’ and it sets the stage perfectly for some calm wintry ambient music. However the second song, ‘Il Trionfo della Caducità’ was originally featured on a promo CD for labels/radios only in late 2007, and this particular song shows a much different side to Symbiosis that’s a bit more akin to martial symphonic music or something along the lines of heroic medieval soundtrack music.. The third song, ‘Sol Indiges’ is also another old demo song, I think, but from which release I don’t recall. Anyway, it’s a decent melodic ambient piece, but it sounds a little too upbeat for my tastes. ‘As I Remember’ is the first new song from Symbiosis and its pure dark wintry ambient music with even the sound of harsh wind roaring in the background, while the last song, ‘Luce Invernale’ is apparently a re-recording of another song from Slavine, though it doesn’t sound too different to me.

Ancient Tundra is the other band on this split and this is my first time hearing this project of N. Skog from Canada. Ancient Tundra’s music is once again within the ambient genre and is quite engaging music as well. We’re dealing with pure wintry ambient music here that’s truly able to transport my thoughts to a realm of frozen beauty and if I allow my eyes to close I can feel my body leaving as well. Ancient Tundra’s music is fairly melodic in its delivery, but remains calm enough where you can relax to it or read a book while listening. There are also some indistinguishable voices present, but they don’t distract the mood at all and in fact just make the music all the more interesting on this arctic voyage. In particular I enjoy, ‘Land of the Midnight Sun’ the best, though the other two songs are fantastic as well. I would have actually preferred at least one more AT song on this split since it’s just a little under fifty minutes and I see no reason to not make an ambient release at least an hour in length. I’ve read that some of the other releases from this band have some black and doom metal characteristics; nevertheless impressive stuff here and I look forward to hearing more from Ancient Tundra regardless of style.

As for the DVD, well, once I figured out the menus I was good to go, and as previously mentioned we’ve got promo videos for Symbiosis and Ancient Tundra here. Some of the Symbiosis videos are a little more abstract, weird and even feature songs that are not on this split. ‘E Ultima Venne la Neve’ is the most interesting video that features both various landscape shots, but also some drawings, though I’m not sure where they originate from. On the other hand, Ancient Tundra’s songs primarily feature frozen nature landscapes set to his music, which seems to work perfectly, although in some cases the visuals that are shown throughout the video appear over and over again. So, not quite as cool as some of Vinterriket promo videos out there, but still interesting enough to hold my attention. Additionally there are trailer slide show type of videos promoting other Hypnotic Dirge Records releases, which after watching I can honestly say there are some really interesting bands on this label that I might have to investigate eventually. The one thing that really bothered me (and it could just be my TV or DVD) was that when text would appear on the screen it was often partly cut off on the sides, but it could just be my set up and not the DVD itself.

As a whole this is some really interesting ambient music and if you’ve enjoyed Symbiosis as I have the past couple of years then I’m sure you’ll want to check it out. Of course it will also serve to introduce you to the very interesting Ancient Tundra, which as I spoke earlier, I really need to hear more from soon.

In Flames - Colony (1999)

Back sometime in late ’99 or early ’00 this here album from In Flames served as my introduction to the band as well it got me into just about every other Swedish melo death band that was cranking out albums at the time. Yes, my friends, if you don’t dig much on the newer In Flames sound then you’ll be happy to know that there was a time when these guys were writing some seriously kick ass music. Mind you now, I do have some love for the just about everything In Flames has done, but nowadays their songs greatly lack the melody, energy, well wrote lyrics and powerfully growled vocals that made their first four album so grand.

I still remember the first time I heard songs like, ‘Ordinary Story’ or ‘Embody the Invisible.’ Fuck, I was hooked from the start, man. In fact, Embody the Invisible served as my 5:00 AM alarm clock for a good two weeks or so after I bought the album. These songs were equally powerful, full of life, catchy, melodic and generally just awesome songs to headbang too. I suppose that’s what all of the old In Flames albums are like, really, and unfortunately this was the last album were they truly captured this sound. Sure, the follow up, ‘Clayman’ had its moments, but it was already clear on that album that changes were coming.

Anyway, besides the two opening songs there are other quality numbers like the hard hitting, ‘Scorn’ or the bit slower but catchy, ‘Resin.’ There’s also a little folky instrumental called, ‘Pallar Anders Visa,’ which instantly brings me back to the band’s first album. There’s also a re-recording of the bands classic. ‘Behind Space,’ and while I don’t like it as much as the original it’s still a nice addition to the album. And as I’ve already said each song has plenty of energy, catchiness and some pretty bad ass solos to boot. Fuck yeah!

It’s a bit sad that nowadays In Flames doesn’t even play any songs from this album (or the previous three) live, but I suppose some bands are just ashamed of their pasts (Dimmu Borgir’s another one) even if it’s the pinnacle of their careers. You’ve no doubt heard that Jesper left the band earlier in the year and thus leaving the band with no original members. How this will affect their sound I do not know, but I don’t see them regressing and making an album like Colony, Whoracle, The Jester Race or Lunar Strain again.

At any rate, for me this is just a great album to throw on when I need a little energy booster or when I’m in the mood to blast good music from my car at obnoxious volumes while driving around (Hey, the white homies do it with their rap music, so why can’t I?).

Nachtmystium - Eulogy IV (2004)

As I mentioned in my earlier review of Nachtmystium’s ‘Worldfall’ EP, the band began life as a fairly common lo-fi, raw, dissonant and cold sounding black metal band and for the most part they were utterly terrible in less of course you’re REALLY into that particular sound. However after the ‘Demise’ full-length the band released this short five song twenty one minute EP called ‘Eulogy IV,’ which was the first truly interesting output from this Illinois, USA based band.

After a fast, catchy and old school sounding black metal song called, ‘My Vengeance’ the band treats my ears to one of the absolute most breathtaking black metal songs ever conceived with the title track, ‘Eulogy IV.’ The song opens with an absolutely magnificent guitar solo and then rips into a commanding but sorrowful dirge of epic black metal godliness which is all at once; memorable, stunning and spellbinding in its overall execution. I fucking love this song. Following the title track is another unforgettable song called, ‘Bleed for Thee,’ which once again has amazing melodic characteristics and an astounding solo at the end of the song that follows behind Blake’s malevolent screams flawlessly. Just stunning. ‘The Wound which cannot heal’ starts out as a relentless and scathing black metal song, but midway through the song slows up considerably and once again a solo of absolute bliss begins to pour out of my speakers. The final song, ‘You get nothing’ is similar to the opener and it’s a fast paced vile sounding black metal song that completely pummels the senses.

Eulogy IV is an interesting listen since the songs are still clearly black metal and still have the typical raw lo-fi guitar sound present, though the melodic qualities and varying speeds make it a very engaging listen. I highly recommend this EP as well as everything Nachtmystium has released following it.

Forteresse - Métal Noir Québécois (2006)

Generally speaking I don’t normally care too much about the lyrics in black metal music. This is largely because 90% of black metal bands haven’t evolved past the ‘Hail Satan/Kill Christians’ boringness that has been the norm for the genre since the beginning. So it was definitely refreshing to see Forteresse not only writing their lyrics in a different manner, but also setting some excellent music to those lyrics. While the words are wrote in French, Forteresse writes about their homeland Quebec and their strong pride they have for their homeland as well as writing about Quebec’s history overall. Definitely a nice change if you ask me.

Lyrics aside Forteresse’s music is raw, yet quite monumental black metal. Each song clocks in at over seven minutes in length, filled with distinctive melodic melodies, and brutal as the battle field, Forteresse has definitely crafted something special with, ‘Métal Noir Québécois.’ While the music is indeed brutal and rather fast the whole way through the guitar work seems to remain melodic most of the time with appealing riffs and solos here and there. Interestingly the band also incorporates some traditional folk music at the beginning of a few of the songs. I’m not sure if it’s sampled or if the band plays it themselves, but it definitely surprised me when I first put the album on.

Forteresse is the work of just two members; Moribond handling the instruments and Athros providing the vocal attack. Athros also played/plays in at least six other bands, but mostly newer ones that haven’t made much of a mark in the black metal scene yet. It seems like in recent years I've heard a number of interesting bands from Quebec, such as; Sombres Forêts, Frozen Shadows and Gris. Who knows, maybe the next big wave of truly enthralling black metal bands are destined to emerge from Quebec. We shall see.

Spectral Lore - II (2007)

Originally released in 2007 in a limited amount of just fifty copies, Spectral Lore’s second full-length is an absolute gem to behold both in physical presentation and musical style.

As far as the presentation is concerned I can honestly say this is one of the more unique releases I’ve had the pleasure of getting my hands on. It comes in a heavy wooden box with the words ‘Spectral Lore’ and 'II’ etched on the front and unfolds like a digipak, plus there are indentations to hold the booklet and CDr inside. I’ve always been a fan of special releases like these and it always makes me proud to be a fan of this type of music, because lets face the facts, no mainstream artist has the imagination to release something like this. Fortunately once you actually play this album the allure is enriched tenfold.

Spectral Lore is a hard band to classify since as it stands I can’t really think of any other band that sounds exactly like this. However it could be said that Spectral Lore’s music fits within the structure of a raw black metal style with some doom metal-ish elements as well as plenty of purely acoustic and ambient sections. When the music is within the raw black metal style the guitars have the tendency to carry the typical raw buzzing tone to them, but they by no means lack melodic components and there are plenty of interesting guitar solos too, which in some cases seem to hold a more folky approach. The acoustic guitars as you can probably imagine are elegantly performed and sound absolutely breathtaking and beautiful all at once, while the ambient parts are dark, ominous, and eerie to boot.

Vocals are somewhat typical of the genre, but are certainly not without their own charm and in fact are somewhat limited in use at times. In any case though, they are callously screamed and are more or less impossible to distinguish, but that’s black metal music for you. I think another thing that really captures my interest with this release is the absolute cold feeling it presents. The first time I listened to the album I was on my way to work during a snow storm and the music seemed to blend in perfectly with the snowy landscapes I seen as I went along. Even now sitting in my apartment I feel this aura of unbridled spine-chilling wintriness hovering around me, which as you might guess is superb.

‘II’ gracefully kicks off with an acoustic intro called ‘Introitus’ and then hammers into the incredible twenty five minute ‘The Thorns That Guide My Warpath,’ which for what its worth is undoubtedly one of the finest black metal songs I’ve ever heard and features all of the qualities stated above. The magnetism is certainly not just limited to this song though since others like ‘Towards The Great Crossroad' or 'Through An Infinite Dreamscape’ are just as outstanding. Generally speaking though at one hour and seventeen minutes, II is indeed one of the finest atmospheric musically journeys one can undertake.

Assuming your into anything ranging from Ulver’s early trilogy of releases, (old) Satyricon, Burzum, Agalloch, Procer Veneficus, Caïna, Vinterriket, Velvet Cacoon, Falls of Rauros, and maybe even Xasthur, then I absolutely implore you to check out this very interesting release.

The special wooden box version of this album is long sold out, but back on March 28th, Temple of Torturous re-released the album as a digisleeve CD limited to 1000 copies.

Nokturnal Mortum - Голос Сталі (The Voice of Steel) (2009)

I first began listening to Nokturnal Mortum about nine years ago and I can honestly say this group of Ukrainians has never, not even once left me disappointed with any single album they’ve released. From their early synth laden black metal masterpieces like, ‘Lunar Poetry’ or ‘Goat Horns,’ to their very strongly folk influenced previous album, ‘Weltanschauung,’ I’ve found absolutely everything from Nokturnal Mortum to be epic, majestic, well composed and absolutely relevant; truly solidifying this band as one of the most novel and breathtaking black metal bands ever.

On ‘Голос Сталі (The Voice of Steel)’ NM has defied all expectations and crafted what is truly their magnum opus and largely what I wouldn’t hesitate to call one of the finest black/folk metal releases ever. It’s almost unthinkable the level of epicness a song like ‘Голос Сталі’ reaches, the appearance of an awesome blues solo in ‘Валькирия’ or a totally 70’s sounding progressive rock solo in ‘Моєї Мрії Острови’ as well as the overall catchiness and breathtaking guitar work that graces ‘Україна.’

This just sheds a little bit of light on this record, to actually fully explain it is nearly impossible because there is just so much going on. Each and every song offers up so much; be it an astonishing synth melody, a marvelous guitar riff/solo, some form of catchiness, extraordinary heights of epicness or one of the amazing sounding folk instruments. There’s very little that’s dark or evil about this release, in fact I find the whole thing to be quite uplifting and it fuels me with vigor as I listen each and every time. I’ve blasted this release at ridiculous volumes while driving around, I’ve head banged like a mad man, I’ve had the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight and I’ve absolutely, positively adored every last second of this album every time I’ve played it. Basically what I’m saying is; this is one for the ages, a true testament of greatness, a masterpiece, my new favorite album and surely one of the finest recordings those well tuned ears of yours will ever hear. I love this album.

Furthermore I must also point out that the album cover and the booklet is absolutely stunning thus making a truly great album all the more beautiful in its overall depth and importance. If you’ve heard any previous Nokturnal Mortum release I absolutely implore you to pick this one up or if you’re just curious about the black/folk metal genre then I can honestly say this is one of the finest entries ever in this field. Don’t miss this spectacular release!

The Waking Cold - Doorways of a Fading Heart (2004)

The Waking Cold is the solo project of Chris Greene who back in 2003 joined Agalloch as their full time drummer, but later departed for reasons I don't recall. ‘Doorways of a Fading Heart’ is his first and (I do believe) only album, originally released on Agalloch bassist's JWW's Audio Savant Records in 2003. This is a diverse album of ambiance, noise, industrial and symphonic passages.

The album opens with, ‘The Dirt under my Nails’ a rather straightforward ambient piece with Gregorian style chants in the background and features some slight noise elements into this short opening song. ‘Independence’ is the noisiest song on the album featuring some harsh electronics mixed with subtle yet quite beautiful and relaxing synth work. ‘Deadlust’ is definitely my favorite song on the album opening with some weird laughter, screaming, and moaning, which occasionally pops up throughout the song. Musically this one is more ambient/industrial/noise sounding reminding me of a band like Puissance or Atomtrakt perhaps. At times it also sort of reminds me of the Terminator 2 movie theme. ‘Servitude or Longitude’ is a basic dark ambient piece that has a strong foreboding atmosphere to it. ‘ATFG’ continues in the same manner, while, ‘Sleep and you shall Sing’ is a nineteen minute dark ambient piece that reminds me of the previous two songs.

From what I do recall, this release was limited to something like 200 copies and is most likely sold out and even if it isn't, Audio Savant is gone now so I'd assume it's impossible to find. Therefore, I've made it available for download. Do check it out. This project deserves more listeners.

Download Here

Dark Fortress - Ylem (2010)

Dark Fortress’ career has been somewhat of an uneven ride over these past sixteen years they’ve been making music. They’ve released absolutely colossal albums like their debut, ‘Tales from Eternal Dusk’ and their third album, ‘Stab Wounds.’ They also have some just plain decent recordings like their second album, ‘Profane Genocidal Creations,’ but unfortunately their previous two albums; ‘Séance’ & ‘Eidolon’ were generally boring and largely forgettable in the end.

‘Ylem’ marks a return to the massively enjoyable form that originally had me hooked on this band when I first heard them seven years ago, however Ylem is also the bands most diverse and daring record to date. Largely this album borrows a little bit from every single Dark Fortress record and blends it together to form one of the godliest creations of their career as well as one of most enormous black metal recordings you’re going to hear in 2010.

The thing that really makes Ylem interesting is that each song has its own style and you’ll find that this album makes use of many different styles of heavy metal throughout its eleven songs and seventy minute duration. The album often shifts between a faster, brutal hard hitting sound to a slower atmospheric sound, all the while each song features superb riffs/solos and absolutely fantastic vocals from Morean. On the previous album Morean sounded damn near exactly like original vocalist Azathoth, however on Ylem he uses various different vocal styles with everything ranging from his own unique blackened screams, to low death growls, whispery vocals and even epic cleanly sung parts, which sound just fantastic too.

Songs like ‘Ylem’ or ‘Satan Bled’ are fast head banging black metal songs, while ‘As the World Keels Over’ or ‘Evenfall’ are slower, atmospheric, haunting black metal masterpieces. ‘Hirudineans ‘ is the catchy fist pumping mid-paced song on the record whilst ‘The Valley’ truly pushes the album to epic territories and lastly album closer ‘Wraith’ might very well fall into the Gothic genre.

Each and every time I’ve listened to this album I’ve pretty much found myself within some darkened bliss by the end since each and every song is different even if some common characteristics exist between some of them. What matters is that through superb musicianship, excellent vocals, atmosphere and even catchiness, Dark Fortress has crafted an album for the ages. In the end this is the best release for Dark Fortress since Stab Wounds and surely a sign of even better things to come for this band. Now, having toured Europe the past couple of months I do hope they make it over here to the USA so they can conquer us with their commanding tour de force known as Ylem.

Colloquio - Si Muove E Ride (2007)

Colloquio is the musical vessel of one Gianni Pedretti whom has been active with the project since the early 90’s. Previous to 2001 Gianni’s work had been released as cassettes and limited CDs only, which would probably also indicate these early efforts are out of print and impossible to get these days. In 2001 his first CD with Eibon records was released, and now six years later his latest effort with two of the members of 'Act Noir' beside him ‘Si Muove E Ride’ sees light.

While I find Gianni’s work to be incredibly gorgeous and despondent sounding, I’m at a loss to actually identify its genre. The songs feature beautiful synth melodies, piano, occasional electronic beats, and Gianni lightly singing over the music in the Italian language. The music is at almost all times; calm, dark, and sorrowful sounding, which makes it a fantastic album to listen to on chilly dismal rainy days. Previous to hearing this full album, my ears had only been treated to a few random songs from this band, but I do know that had I heard this about five years ago it really would have gotten to me since my general disposition back then was of a more depressed personality. Oh, and I absolutely love the cover art work too.

Depressed feelings inside or not, you can still certainly enjoy this lovely music from Gianni. With that in mind I think I’ll try picking up some of this bands previous recordings, and if you haven’t heard Colloquio then this is definitely the time to experience this stunning dreamy band.

The Evisceration Plague Tour @ The Rave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA - 04.30.10

On Friday evening my friend and I went to our local venue, The Rave, for a night of extreme death and black metal mayhem. This concert again was in ‘The Rave Underground,’ which leads me to believe all metal shows at this venue will be in the basement from now on. Even so, this place was packed for this show. Quite a number of people showed up and honestly they really should have had it upstairs on the bigger stage, but perhaps they didn’t expect such a huge turnout. Enough small talk though, let’s get to the action.


Lecherous Nocturne: Up first from Greenville, South Carolina is Lecherous Nocturne, a band that was completely unknown to me before their gig, but it seems there foundation dates all the way back to 1997. Since then they’ve released two demos, an EP and full length albums in 2006 and 2008. As far as their style is concerned these guys played relentless brutal death metal with plenty of energy to get the crowd moshing and head banging right from the start. I don’t really get into this sort of music that much anymore, but they seemed to be diverse enough to keep my attention while they played out their set. They were even handing out some CDs during their set to the people that were causing the most chaos in the pit, which is never a bad idea when you’re a mostly unknown band. So, all in all a decent set from these guys, but like I said earlier I don’t get much pleasure out of this sort of music any longer so this was most likely the first and last time I’ll hear Lecherous Nocturne.

Skeletonwitch: Following LN was Skeletonwitch from Athens, Ohio. I saw these guys about 2 ½ years ago opening for Danzig (I think), and they made a pretty damn strong impression on me, but for whatever reason I never got around to buying their CDs. Naturally I’ve remedied that blunder and now have their latest album in my hands for listening and later reviewing purposes. Anyway, Skeletonwitch’s music is a fair mix of ruthless death, thrash and black metal. The music is fast, the solos are strong, the energy is insane and the onstage battle is merciless. The band’s key feature is their singer Chance Garnett who is a very charismatic front man who easily gets the ground pumped with his onstage persona. Of course the musicians behind him do their part as well by playing smashing out some killer riffs/solos and beating the guts out of the drum kit. The band played a lot of songs from their new album as well as a few from the older releases; all of which seemed to be highly favored by the crowd. In the end I do believe everyone was happy and honestly this set was the highlight for me tonight. Of course I’ve also got my Skeletonwitch CD now to blast from my car stereo at obnoxious volumes while driving around. Oh, and Chance left us with three must do favors, 1) Drink lots of beer, 2) Smoke lots of weed and 3) Eat some fucking pussy. Well, I at least went to the bar and got another beer.


1349: Now 1349 was the true reason I wanted to come to this gig. To be fair I’ve got some love for Cannibal Corpse, but I’ve got a fuck load more love for 1349 and Norwegian black metal in general. So I was rather psyched up for their performance. This (as far as I remember) would be the first time I’d get to see some genuinely awesome Norwegian black metal, although I did catch Windir live years ago too, but I think they usually get lumped into the Viking metal genre. Anyway, a few days before the show I found out that 1349 was not going to make it to the USA for the first half of the tour because of drummer Frost’s visa issues (probably something to do with his grave desecration arrest back in the early 90’s) and also something with that ash cloud over Europe. So, needless to say I was pissed. However without any notice at all I approached the merch table before Skeletonwitch hit the stage just to find 1349 merch available and to also discover that 1349 would indeed be playing. Fantastic.

1349 took the stage in near darkness (just a few lights in the back of the stage), clad in corpsepaint, spikes, leather and the guitarist even wore some sort of hooded black robe. Absolutely what I’d expect from a Norwegian black metal band such as 1349. This whole near darkness stage light set up was actually a bit of an annoyance for me since I was in the photo pit trying to get some photos, but it was completely impossible and if any of my fellow photographers got any good shots I’d seriously like to know how they pulled it off. Anyway, 1349’s performance was quite enjoyable on this evening and I liked the fact that the band just played and didn’t bother talking to the crowd or wasting any time at all with other matters. It was quite amazing to see just how fast Frost is on the drums and I suppose it’s obvious when you hear the albums, but seeing him actually reproduce the same sound live is really something to behold. The other three members performed quite well too, and I must admit Ravn is indeed a fine black metal front man. I can’t seem to remember exactly what songs they played, but I do know that the few from the earlier releases were more favored among the crowd then the newer material they played. What seemed a little odd is that the band only played for what seemed like about 35 minutes, and after the last song they simple just walked off stage (the bassist didn’t even seem to realize is was done since he was the last one off). Nevertheless it was great to see them perform tonight and I do hope they come back as headliners some day with a few other black metal bands opening for them.


Cannibal Corpse: I’ve known about Cannibal Corpse for at least 13 or 14 years now, but I really didn’t get into them until about eight years ago when I had a temporary love affair with all things death metal related. I recall at some point I had numerous CC albums and even listened to them quite often, but I suppose in the end my love for black metal won over my brief interest in brutal death metal.

After a short break Cannibal took the stage and proceeded to tear this place up. The band ripped and shredded through songs like ‘Disfigured,’ ‘Scattered Remains, Splattered Brains,’ ‘Evisceration Plague,’ ‘Gutted,’ ‘Pounded into Dust’ and ‘Pit of Zombies as well as popular numbers like, ‘Fucked with a knife,’ A Skull full of maggots’ and of course ‘Hammer Smashed Face.’ The thing that sort of threw me off however was simply the fact that the band would always take a little break between each song and Corpsegrinder would either say something to the crowd or just try to get the crowd pumped up. As far as I remember they only played two songs in a row without these little breaks. Nevertheless this was a decent performance, but it’s honestly been a while since I really listened to CC so even the songs that probably should have got me going were not winning me over much.

It’s hard to imagine that Cannibal Corpse has been at it for twenty two years now but I can only assume they’ll continue on as long as Corpsegrinder is able to growl and the rest of the band is able to play and headbang while delivering some of the sickest death metal imaginable to the masses.

Full size photos from this show are available here.

Ether - Depraved, Repressed Feelings (2007)

Ether is the latest solo project from Scythrawl, who has also played with Trails of Anguish, Unquintessence and Nefastüs Diès. Ether’s music is said to ‘represent a journey into despair and the deep, negative emotions that grip those who just can't cope with their surroundings.’ Sounds interesting enough to me.

Ether’s music is more or less fairly brutal black metal, but with a bit of a psychotic rage and depressive undertone intact. Frenzied raw guitar riffs mingle with grindcore-esque styled percussion and painful high pitched shrieks of horror and ghostly spoken parts lead the chaos, while each of the six main songs are followed by a short dark ambient piece. The music is on the other hand not always overly brutal and sometimes a bit more mid-paced, and it’s at this point in the songs where a more miserable feeling can be heard, but mostly the songs stick to the brutal pace. The ambient pieces, although short (longest is only 1:37 in length) are great and I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing Scythrawl undertaking a dark ambient project someday.

For a debut album ‘Depraved, Repressed Feelings’ is fairly good, and should definitely be investigated by those that adhere to sick, cruel, depressively brutal music.