Arcana - Inner Pale Sun (2002)

Originally wrote & published on March 16th, 2004

My discovery of the Swedish band Arcana a few years ago was a very important and moving experience for me. For years I had been searching for music in this vein, but prior to this I could only find music like this from video game soundtracks and movies. If you’re not familiar with Arcana they play a medieval darkwave like style of music that breathes beauty and etherealness.

When I hear this band I feel as if I’ve been taken back in the past to a medieval era full of darkness, yet still full of beauty and grandeur. The music is created with keyboards plus the addition of some percussion, and operatic like male and female vocals. The keyboards display a very dark and haunting feeling mixed with a medieval undercurrent throughout these eight songs. It’s bands like this that amaze me greatly, because every time I hear stuff like this I find it to be almost impossible to believe such music could be created with just keyboards. The absolute standouts on this release are ‘My Cold Sea,’ ‘We rise above,’ and the very despondent ‘Innocent Child.’

All together Arcana delivers a delightfully moving and haunted experience throughout these eight songs. If you’ve never heard music like this before then I strongly recommend it since this is some of the most breathtaking music these ears of mine have ever heard. And while you’re at it be sure to check out Ophelia’s Dream, Dargaard, and Weltenbrand.

Arkillery - Northern Destroyer (2003)

Originally wrote & published on October 15th, 2003

Arkillery is an American black metal solo project from Krom. Arkillery’s sound lies somewhere between thrash and black metal with possibly the worst production job ever. If you think bands like Ildjarn or Graveland had raw productions wait until you hear this. The biggest difference is that these bands used a studio to record their songs. Although a weak one but nonetheless they did. Arkillery on the other hand is much different as the songs are simply just recorded live in Krom’s rehearsal space. Needless to say this results in an extremely raw sound, perhaps the rawest I’ve ever heard.

Now while I have no problem with raw thrashy-black metal one of the things that makes this band sort of hard to fully enjoy is the fact that all the songs are long…very long in fact! Most of the songs clock in at over ten minutes while others are around the seven and eight minute mark. Sure there’s really nothing wrong with long songs, but in this case a large part of the songs are instrumental and for me it’s kind of hard to listen to something like this that’s sourly under-produced and repetative. Some of the other songs hold more of a Viking metal sound to them similar to the epic works of Bathory yet again these songs would have been really great had they been actually recorded in a studio.

The vocals of Krom range from grunt-ish like rasped black metal vocals to clean Viking like vocals. Although I don’t have any lyrics I’m guessing they deal with Viking related material since Krom claims to play Viking metal. There really isn’t any specific song that stands out for me, just certain parts in each song. All the songs have some really great guitar work in them, which proves Krom really knows how to play. The drumming is rather basic though and while I’m not sure I think the drumming may be from a drum machine.

Overall, it’s a bit hard to fully grade this man’s work. On one hand he proves to be a great musician with a lot of good ideas, but on the other we have the ultra raw production, which brutally affects the music. As far as I’m concerned you're either going to love this or you’ll be slowly sedated into a coma-like condition while listening. However if you desire to hear some of the rawest black metal ever then Arkillery is your band.

Antestor - Martyrium (2000)

Originally wrote & published on March 15th, 2005

Decked out in corpse paint, spikes, black clothes, grim looks upon their faces, and all of the other customary black metal gear, yet you probably won’t find any upside down crosses or pentagrams in this band's wardrobe. In less of course they have a big X covering them, which probably by now has you wondering what the deal with this band is.

Norway’s Antestor plays un-black or white metal as some have come to call it or if that doesn’t make things clear they play black metal with Christian lyrics. Yep Antestor plays black metal and worships Jebus, and you thought burning down churches and writing unholy hymns to Satan was rebellious, silly you. Well I’d say the rebels just got rebelled against. Actually, Antestor’s roots date back to 1989 when the band was formed under the name ‘Crush Evil’ in Oslo, Norway smack dab right in the middle of those rebellious kids that were burning churches and writing songs about all things evil. Even before his untimely death Mayhem’s Euronymous was so bold as to say, “The Militants of Norwegian black metal will Force this band to split up,” which of course never quite happened, and then last year Mayhem’s drummer Hellhammer joined the band as session drummer. Oh my, the times they are a changing people...

Musically these guys play melodic mid-paced black metal with doom metal influences, and believe it or not they actually do it pretty well. Some of these songs have some rather interesting guitar riffs in them, the vocalist uses no less than three different vocal styles (death, black, clean), the synth work gives the album a nice atmospheric touch, and if you can get past the ultra corny Christian lyrics then you’ve got one decent black metal album in your hands. The lyrics, well, are your typical praise Christ, destroy evil lyrics, which the band put best on display with ‘Materialistic Lie.’

‘Lustful bodies skinned to the core , still crying out for so much more, Needing eyes filled with desire , made to be just another liar, Turn away it’s hell to pay , Not a very nice place to stay.’ So as you can see the corny meter is going crazy on this album, but I suppose if you actually were a Christian you’d find something of value in this album's lyrics.

Far from being the most original album, Antestor's ‘Martyrium’ is still a pleasant melodic black metal release that can be enjoyed by all without the fear of Satan getting his clutches on you. So gather up the wife and kids, get a good fire blazing, sit back, and learn about Christ the black metal way.

Angizia - Die Kemenaten scharlachroter Lichter (1997)

Originally wrote & published on November 29th, 2005

In recent years we’ve seen lots of bands blending the dark chaotic sound of black metal with real classical instruments rather than just synthetic ones. Generally these instruments are sparingly used, and in most cases are just there to add more background variety to the music. However what happens when the neo classical instruments take the center of the stage and the black metal elements hide behind the stage curtain? Well, you get Angizia’s ‘Die Kemenaten scharlachroter Lichter,’ of course.

Angizia is one bizarre band, but then again Austria has given birth to several outlandish and unique formations over the years. Angizia is perhaps one of the most outlandish of these acts. The band's music is in essence romantic neoclassical music with minimal black metal influences and a contemporary musical theater influence. The main instrument on the recording is the piano, in addition to cello, flute, bass, drums, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar.

There are also three singers or characters to be precise; one has a soft female soprano voice, while the second has a goofy tenor male voice, and the last uses harsh black metal screams that remind me A LOT of Silenius from Abigor. The black metal influences become evident by these harsh screams, but they also use trebly distorted raw electric guitars in the background to add atmosphere I’d assume. Although only five songs long they are agonizingly extensive; the shortest of which is eleven minutes while the longest clocks in at over sixteen minutes. The lyrics are basically a story written by Michael Hass AKA Engelke, and that explains why the songs are so long.

While in theory it’s probably a cool idea, however at over sixty minutes, this recording is utterly too long. The instruments are played with conviction, but they are simply not diverse enough, and the fact that the guitars really don’t add anything to the recording doesn’t help much either. Had this recording been cut down to say thirty minutes I probably would have enjoyed it much better, as there are some really interesting aspects in this release. Either way Angizia is certainly doing something different musically, and for all I know they may have worked out some of these bugs by their most recent release.

Akhkharu - Nocturnal Impiety (2000)

Originally wrote & published on December 5th, 2002

Akhkharu have a sound that would make you think they're Swedish or Norwegian, but this band is actually from Pennsylvania USA. The band's sound is a mix of Gothic, Black, and Dark metal with dual male and female vocals plus the band also has that symphonic sound which we often see today. By description you'd probably think these guys sound like Cradle of Filth or someone close to them. However, Akhkharu really doesn't sound too similar to those British lads.

Lead singer Keith uses a variety of vocal styles ranging from normal raspy black metal vocals, to low death growls, and he even uses some operatic like vocals in a few of these songs. He also plays the keyboards and guitar on this recording. His keyboard work on this album is a lot like his work with his solo dark ambient project Erebus. -- if you've heard that then you know what to expect. One of the real highlights of this album is female singer Lauren's excellent vocals. She doesn't sing in the operatic style, but instead just uses normal singing and does a great job. I think she performs best on, 'Garden of Desire.' The music portion of this album is very melodic and mid paced sounding. Yes there are a few moments when the music picks up, but they're few and far.

Although Akhkharu has a sound I normally enjoy quite a bit there's just something about this album that turns me off to it. I'm not even sure what it is, and that's what's so weird about it. The production could use some work, and I wish the music was a bit faster, and it would be nice if the keyboards were a bit more interesting sounding. Minor complaints, but still this album is definitely recommended for the fans that can't get enough of this style.

Agalloch - Tomorrow Will Never Come (2003)

Originally wrote & published on August 27th, 2003

In mid 2003 Agalloch embarked on their first US tour, and while traveling the west coast the band was selling this limited 7” record. Both of these tracks were recorded during ‘The Mantle’ sessions back in 2002, but were deemed unsatisfactory for the album. In addition this 7” was released in a limited quantity of just 500 hand numbered copies and features the signature of one of the members within the inner sleeve.

The first song ‘The Death of Man version III’ is merely just a reprise of ‘A Celebration for the Death of Man.’ The song opens with some spacey synth and then goes into the actual song, which sounds almost exactly like the version of the song found on the album. Kind of pointless if you ask me since there’s barely any difference here.

The second song and title track is a bit more pleasing. It’s a melancholic and depressing acoustic folky song, and after the first minute or so there's a sample of two people talking about a variety of topics. This actually reminds me of ‘Godspeed you Black Emperor’ a lot. Obviously this record is reserved for just the diehard Agalloch fans or those that were fortunate to see this great band while on their brief tour. If you missed this don’t be disappointed, because the music contained herein is nothing overly special. Rumor has it that the next Agalloch album won’t be surfacing until early 2005. I think I need more than this to hold me off guys!

Aeoga - COAV (2004)

Originally wrote & published on September 9th, 2005

Aeoga is a mysterious group of two from Northern Finland creating music quite similar to their label mates Halo Manash. The pair wishes to remain anonymous on a personal level as to focus all energies and ideas on their music and not have their listeners worry about who is creating the music. ‘COAV’ is their debut album and also the first release for the Aural Hypnox label. Similarly to the other releases on this label Aeoga presents us with sixty five minutes of dark ambient ritualistic music. None of the tracks are titled and I have no idea what COAV means or stands for; so this only adds to the mysteriousness. In addition to the ghostly synths there’s guitar feedback, drum and cymbal hits, intimidating chanting, and assorted odd samples. The dominant nature of this work is very smooth and relaxing, but very sinister and disconcerting too. At times the music can take a sudden turn towards more daunting speeds, but nothing is rushed or out of place. When listening to this album I seriously sense something horrifying is on the verge of occurrence, something malicious! All but one track is over seven minutes and while each song has a similar composition no two songs sound exactly alike. COAV comes in a unique octagon shaped cardboard cover including a 6 panel textured cardboard sleeve. Powerfully spine-chilling dark music indeed that I can’t possibly recommend enough to you.

Interview with Paul Kuhr of 'Adventcraft'

Originally wrote & published on February 22nd, 2004

Adventcraft is a graphic design and photo manipulation business run by November’s Doom vocalist Paul Kuhr. This will probably seem like a strange interview so let me explain how this came to be. Seeing how I’m a student in college studying the same stuff that Paul does for a living, in one of my classes I was to interview someone in the graphic arts field. After thinking about it for a few weeks Paul popped into my mind and so I decided to interview him. Paul has done cover artwork for some well known underground bands such as Absu, Behemoth, Skepticism, and of course his own band Novembers Doom. Finally my thanks to Paul for doing this... since it is kind of strange.

JJM: When was Adventcraft first started, and what type of services do you usually perform?
Paul Kuhr: I've been doing freelance Design work for the past 10 years or so. Adventcraft itself didn't start until 2003, as I used to be under the name "Rainfall Graphics". Typically I do CD cover design, and layout work, but recently I have been working on many websites.

J: Is Adventcraft just a one-man operation or are there others that help you out? If not, would you consider ever hiring other people to help you out?
PK: It's basically a one-man operation, but I do have a person who I use for original photography from time to time. I do hope to expand someday, but right now, there's not even enough work for one-person full time.

J: Typically how long does it take for you to complete a project?
PK: That depends on the project. From start to finish, on a standard project, it could take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks. It depends on how critical the customer is, and how close I can come to their vision.

J: Is there any specific project that you are most proud of?
PK: Most of the pieces I have been most proud of, were not used by the customer. I tend to design a piece, and I will love its outcome, and the customer changes it so much, I no longer have the same feeling for the piece. But, at the end of the day, the customer has to be happy, not me.

J: Do you have any long-term goals for the company?
PK: I would like to see a network of sorts in the future, where many artists who do this same work, can work together, farm work to each other, and share resources, to make all of our jobs easier, and allow us all to be more creative using photography, or resources we might not be able to get otherwise, For instance, If I need photography in a desert, I can't get to that easily living in Chicago, but maybe an artist in Nevada, or Arizona would be able to take the job, or at least, supply me with the photo resources.

J: It seems most of your clients are either from bands or record labels. Would you or have ever done anything non-music related?
PK: Sure! I've done work for companies, and businesses like McDonalds, and some local medical supply offices, among many others. I will work on any project, as long as I feel I can deliver what the client needs.

J: What programs do you usually use when creating something?
PK: I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, InDesign, and for web Adobe GoLive. There are other programs, but these are the foundation. All on a Macintosh.

J: Did you take some courses to learn how to use the various programs you work with or did you just teach yourself?
PK: I took a 2-year Photo-offset course in College, but I am mostly self-taught on the software.

J: I’m sure each project you do carries a slightly different price tag, but typically how much do you usually charge someone for your services?
PK: It depends on the depth of the project. If it's only a CD cover design, it will be less then if it's a full layout. Sometimes we will work out a set price up front, and sometimes it will be hourly. Every project is handled differently.

J: Well, that is about it. Thanks for doing this interview Paul.
PK: You're welcome! I hope this helps you out!

http://www.adventcraft.com
Paul@novembersdoom.com

Ancestral Fog – Rid The Human Plague (2005)

Originally wrote & published on November 7th, 2005

A few of the guys from Merrimack, Christicide, Antaeus, and Bliss of Flesh got together back in 1999 and spawned the unholy force known as Ancestral Fog. This French band gives us their take on the brutal black metal genre and the results are simply fantastic. At first listen it seemed like these guys were influenced by the usual bands, but after further inspection it seems they're drawing influences from bands like Kult of Azazel or perhaps Antaeus, but it's hard to tell for sure. While a lot of brutal black metal bands tend to bore me these days, the important part about Ancestral Fog is that the music is melodic and each instrument is played with precision and absolute dexterity. For the most part the music is almost always super fast and brutal but there are a few interesting breakdowns and cool drum parts to this demo also. Vocalist Terrorizt is one fine black metal singer, unleashing hellish hate filled screams that few can come close to sounding as good as.

Production wise the demo is also decent, but the overall sound quality probably could have been better. All things considered I’m very impressed with this demo and would very much like to hear a full length album soon!

Algol / Shroud Of Despondency – Whispers From An Empty Room (2004)

Originally wrote & published on August 5th, 2004

I’ve always been a fan of split CDs, compilations, and such. They are a nice way to introduce yourself to bands you’ve never heard before and in the case of Algol and Shroud of Despondency they fit that category perfectly.

So up to bat first are Algol and American black metal band with a nice melodic, atmospheric, and a slight electronic touch to their music. Although I won't pigeonhole them too much as they like to call their music ‘Dark Vinlandic Art.’ Algol was formed in Pennsylvania, USA by the then only sixteen-year-old Dalkiel and nineteen year old Sarnath back in 1998. After a few demos, the band recorded their debut in 2000. Since then the bands had some line-up issues, but luckily they’ve now established a strong line up for live shows and their new album is in the process of being recorded.

The songs that really stand out the most are ‘Numbing dreams with sad purple edges’ and the excellent cover of the Nirvana classic ‘Milk it.’ ‘Numbing…’ makes good usage of atmospheric keys in this song plus some nice melodic riffing and Dalkiel’s painful sounding vocals are quite great. Towards the middle of the song things slow up a bit and suddenly the music consists of just the keyboards and some electro beats while Dalkiel mournfully screams out the lyrics. Subsequently the cover of Nirvana’s song ‘Milk it’ is really good. I’m an old school Nirvana fan so this cover is cool to hear and I was a fan of Nirvana before Kurt blew his brains out, unlike most people out there. Anyhow, Algol keeps the song rather true to the original and they do a nice job of capturing the same amount of emotion displayed on the original. The only real difference is the vocals during the chorus are black metal screams and there’s some usage of keyboards. Otherwise the songs are very true to the original and show the same amount of anger and angst that Kurt Cobain put into the original. Overall the band's five songs are all played nicely and it should be interesting to hear their next album.

Shroud of Despondency is a Michigan based depressive black metal band with a little bit of a doom & death metal sound combined herein. The band itself consists of just one member by the name of Rory Heikkila, but he has used various session members for his previous recordings. Now I tell ya the thing I like about bands such as Shroud is that they can go from playing slow and doomy to fast and brutal in a flash of a second, and they do this a lot since the four songs here are all long tracks each of which clock in at over nine minutes or more. Another nice characteristic is Rory’s vocals since they are diverse and full of flavor. They range from black metal screams to slow death metal growls on these four songs. In addition during the slower moments the band achieve a really spooky atmosphere that works well. I guess there really isn’t any particular track from this band that stands out more than the other, because frankly they’re all good.

All things considered the listener is treated to over an hour of quality music from these two American bands. Prior to hearing this split I hadn’t heard anything from either of them, but I think I’ll be keeping my eye on them from now on. Do yourself a favor and go pick up this CD from Paragon records.

Akerbeltz – Tabellae Defixionum (2001)

Originally wrote & published on January 20th, 2003

From the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) comes the necro black metal band Akerbeltz. Akerbeltz is for the most part a solo band with some small contributions (lyrics) from his wife Lillith. The music of Akerbeltz is easily comparable to black metal of the early 90's. Bands such as Darkthrone, Satyricon, Immortal, Burzum come to mind when listening to this recording. As usually with early 90's sounding black metal the production is raw, and Akerbeltz is no exception. This is certainly not the worst production I’ve heard from a band of this style, but the production used fits the music perfectly. As usual with old school sounding black metal we get lots of great guitar playing, brutal drumming, raspy/grim vocals, and a dark cold atmosphere from this album.

Akerbeltz vocal style actually reminds me of Abbath of Immortal a little bit. Although I think Akerbeltz vocals sound much more grim then Abbath could ever do. The drums are good and are almost always brutal, but I think the double bass sounds a little strange on this recording.

It's hard to choose a favorite song from this album since there all really good. My personal favorite is probably the 3rd song 'The Forest is my Haunt' because of the killer opening to this song, and the way it’s blended together with the previous song. Overall quite an enjoyable album from Akerbeltz and to put it simple if you like black metal of the early 90's this band and album is definitely worth your time.

Accomplice Affair – Jezioro Wspomnień (2007)

Originally wrote & published on December 13th, 2007

Accomplice Affair is a Polish ambient/experimental band centered around one sole member named Przemyslaw Rychlik. Around this time last year Przemyslaw released his debut album on one of The Eastern Front Records sub-labels, so it should be fairly obvious that he’s ambitious and has lots of music to share.

I haven’t heard his debut ‘Act of Creation’ just yet, but at least on this album the listener can expect to hear slow guitar riffs, light backing synths, and spooky whispers in the Polish language. The music has a very tranquil quality to it, and the guitar work carries a strong post rock influence to it. Although the guitar remains soothing the whole way and never gets to loud or fast sounding. The synths serve mainly as just a drony backing ambiance and don’t really carry any sort of melody, but it works all the same. The vocals are not used on each and every song, but rather they are placed suitably and are not overdone at all.

All in all, a rewarding and relaxing recording is what you’ll get when listening to ‘Jezioro Wspomnien.’

Agalloch – The Mantle (2002)

Originally wrote & published on September 5th, 2002

And so finally the wait is over, and the latest masterpiece from Oregon's darkest band is here. If you read my review of the debut album 'Pale Folklore' then you know how much I adore this band and how special they are to me. Although its taken me more listens to 'The Mantle' then 'Pale Folklore' to realize what a great album it is, but I can safely say the new Agalloch album is nothing short of being brilliant in every sense imaginable. I did not discover Agalloch until about a year ago so my wait for this new album has not been as long as it has for some people, but it sure seems like it has. Now as I sit here and write this review I must come to a conclusion as to which album is better?

As for 'Pale Folklore' it instantly hit me as being amazing while 'The Mantle' took me about 4 or 5 listens until I could see what a piece of artwork it is. I've been questioning myself this over and over again, and I think it of course has to do with the music change. The music on The Mantle is still dark & depressive, but a lot of the metal that was on Pale Folklore has been drained out here on The Mantle. In fact we don't even start hearing any metal until about the 4th song 'I am the Wooden Doors.' And at that point were already about 25 minutes deep into the album. Almost all the songs on the album are built up on acoustic guitars, and when mixed with Agalloch's dark atmosphere they really create something special.

After the short intro track we go into the second song 'In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion.' Prior to this album being released I had read the band had a strong ''Godspeed you Black Emperor' influence present in their music. I've only heard a maybe a handful of songs from this band, but I think I can see the influence. The next song 'Odal' has a very similar feeling to it as well. I especially like the 4th and 6th songs as they have the good old Agalloch dark metal feeling in these songs. As usual these songs are dark, and feature some excellent guitar riffs, and I'm sure these will be the songs that get you addicted. I think after I gave these ones several listens I finally realized what a grand album this is. But let's not forget the last two songs 'And the Great Cold Death of the Earth' & 'A Desolation Song.'

'And the Great Cold Death of the Earth' once again features some excellent music and depressive lyrics. The booklet says that parts of the lyrics for this song are taken from Cherokee folklore. Rather interesting lyrics I must say, and got to admit I like them. Finally the last song and possibly the saddest song on the whole album. The song is a love song in a way or rather it would appear that Haughm hasn't had to many good experiences with love, and he's more or less singing about his hate for it. I really like this song, because I can totally relate to what he's saying in these lyrics. I guess you could say I haven't had much luck in this area of life either.

Another thing I'd like to comment on is John Haughm's vocal performance on this recording. Once again he uses the grim vocals, but for the most part he uses the clean vocals a lot more. There's just something about this guys voice that I just think it awesome. His voice is dark & haunting, and really captures the music well. I personally think he sounds best on the 6th song. Although some might not want to see this, but I certainly wouldn't mind if in the future the band used all clean vocals. The grim vocals are good, but they tend to sound weird when there's nothing but acoustic guitar being played. Even though this album is damn near perfect there is one thing, which I loved on all previous releases that's missing here on The Mantle. That being the symphonic instrumental songs. To my knowledge these songs were always wrote by 'Brener' and it would appear that he's no longer part of the band. When he left I don't know, but without him the band definitely has lost one talented musician. I should also mention that this album has a lot of instrumental songs on it, but some of them tend to be a little boring since they're all rather lengthy. Sorry I just loved those old symphonic songs like 'The Misshapen Steed' and 'Foliorum Viridium' and this album would have been even more amazing with the addition of a song like one of those.

Well in case you haven't figured it out yet Agalloch's 'The Mantle' is quite the album. I would easily say this album is on the very top or close to the top as being my favorite of the year so far. And although this new album sounds a lot different than 'Pale Folklore' I still love it...maybe even more so then Pale Folklore. With just two albums completed the band has proved to me and countless others that they truly are an unique and one of a kind band. Get this album!

Adhur / Aiumeen Basoa / Ilbeltz – Triarchy Of Vasconia (Iluntasunaren Itzulera) (2000)

Absu - Mythological Occult Metal: 1991-2001 (2005)

Originally wrote & published on October 3rd, 2005

It’s already been four years since Absu’s last studio album, and it seems the band is going to make there fans wait a little bit longer for the next one. So to treat their fans ears until that next studio album the band has released a two disc collection of rarities, Old EPs, covers, and live recordings; fittingly titled ‘Mythological Occult Metal.’

This collection kicks off with a rarely heard song from the Gummo soundtrack called ‘The Gold Torques of Uláid.’ This particular song is an all out thrash metal assault using clear vocals and superb musicianship the likes of only Absu can deliver. Next up is ‘Never Blow Out the Eastern Candle’ a song taken from the World Domination compilation. Having already heard this compilation I was familiar with the song and it’s your basic Absu sound on this one. Following that is an alternate version of ‘Stone of Destiny’ from the ‘Tara’ album although I can’t find too many differences between this track and its album counterpart. Tracks 4-6 are some of the most interesting songs on this collection, but mostly for how different they sound compared to latter day Absu. These tracks are taken from the 1991 EP ‘The Temples of Offal’ and here the band offer up straight forward brutal death metal. At this time Proscriptor hadn’t entered the band yet and instead they had a guy named Benbow on drums, Lindholm on guitar, Equitant on bass, and Shaftiel was handling the low growls and guitar. Surprising indeed as I never knew the band sounded like this, but ultimately its just boring brutal death metal.

Tracks 7-8 are taken from the ‘...And shineth unto the cold cometh’ EP released in 1995. It’s at about this point in time that Absu really found their sound and started mixing thrash and black metal with some more exotic influences. Both songs are just excellent and are without a doubt one of the best parts about this collection. The final three songs come from the ‘Hallstattian Swords’ 7” which is a recording that was never released. The songs are certainly interesting as they are just epic synth compositions and there is no metal insight here. Again certainly a surprise to hear these dark bombastic songs, but they are undeniably enjoyable for me.

Moving on to the second disc we have the bands cover of the Mayhem songs ‘Deathcrush’ and ‘Silvester Angfang,’ taken from ‘Originators of Northern Darkness’ Mayhem tribute. Naturally they are performed excellently and sound much better than Mayhem’s original. ‘Swing of the Axe’ is taken from the ‘Seven Gates of Hell’ Possessed tribute and again the song is performed flawlessly. ‘Transylvania’ is from the ‘Call to Irons’ Iron Maiden tribute album released back in 1997. I’ve already heard this cover, but I must admit the band does a fantastic job here covering this classic Iron Maiden tune. They play the song totally true to the original and Proscriptor’s amazing drumming really adds something to it. The cover of Destruction’s ‘Bestial Invasion’ is taken from a live studio jam back in 1996. While they perform the song decently the production certainly leaves a bit to be desired. The following four songs are various live songs recorded between 1995 and 1997. These particular songs are interesting since they have Mezzadurus from Blood Storm on vocals and bass. Once more the songs are performed rather well, but the quality isn’t exactly perfect. The final two songs are unreleased rehearsal tracks recorded back in 1993. As you can expect from rehearsal songs they are nothing to get excited about and with the lack of vocals and a poor production there probably going to be skipped over by most people.

Additionally this collection comes in a nice thick digipak with many photos, and a detailed booklet. All things considered ‘Mythological Occult Metal’ is a decent collection of material, and Absu fans will certainly appreciate hearing these rarities. However I think this release should have been cut down to just one disc as the live recordings and rehearsal songs could have easily been trashed since there nothing overly special. As I said at the beginning of this review; it’s been awhile since we’ve heard anything from Absu and from the looks of things were going to be waiting a little bit longer.