Diabolical Messiah – Demonic Weapons Against the Sacred

Big hooks and big tremolo riffs  are the first thing to come to mind listening to Diabolical Messiah’s second studio album; throughout the album’s short duration, those two are the defining characteristics of the Chilean veterans’ songwriting along with the nearly constant roar of the band’s vocalist. Almost every song is a brief burst of fire, burning bright and then ending after alternating and repeating the same two or three riffs in a manner reminiscent of Nunslaughter in approach, if not in sound, with nine of the ten songs on the twenty five minute album being around three minutes long or shorter. In contrast to the relatively simplistic composition, a lot of the best riffs are catchy and well-written long form melodies that draw me in consistently, demanding attention after shorter sections of ripping shorter riffs that range from the more chaotic sounds of Incantation’s fastest riffs to reminding me of Sadistic Intent and to things that are unique to Diabolical Messiah.

Despite the fact that most of the album is right around the same tempo and despite the fact that the drumming is nearly constantly doing similar blasting patterns, Diabolical Messiah know when to ride a series of short phrases and when to shift to a melody (or to do one of the relatively few slow parts) in order to keep memorability at a maximum and keep listeners engaged. Sparse harmonization adds flavor without being overused enough to start feeling saccharine, and the guitar tone and production are massive enough to really let the guitars carry the album; though death metal at its best is often a combination of catchy vocal lines, heavy and interesting drum patterns, and sick riffs, Demonic Weapons Against the Sacred is, by virtue of the fantastic guitarwork overlaid over repetitive drumming and vocals, a fundamentally riff-centric album. While this would often be a bit of a detriment to me, the songwriting here is strong enough to keep me coming back consistently, and after a few months of listening, to it, I can’t recommend the album enough.  Demonic Weapons Against the Sacred is a great accomplishment for Diabolical Messiah, and yet another excellent addition to the Dark Descent Records catalog.

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Wampyrinacht – We Will Be Watching. Les cultes de Satan et les mystères de la mort

Finally, fifteen years after being recorded, Wampyrinacht’s full length debut has been unleashed upon the world. Jumping from ripping speed metal rhythms to more traditional eerie Hellenic black metal to interspersed moments of neoclassical shred, Wampyrinacht have really recorded something special and, at least to my ears, unique. The atmosphere is tremendously Greek in the best of ways despite the regular tempo and sometimes even style shifts within a song, with a doom metal dirge sometimes shifting to a keyboard-laden section of gloom to more neoclassicism to black metal again in a single stupendous long piece. “Ambitious” is probably the best word to describe the album; not content with just rehashing standard Rotting Christ or Necromantia tropes, Wampyrinacht have really shoved enough quality content into each song that attempting to describe it all individually would nearly require a section by section description, and as much as I hate schizophrenic bands that attempt something similar, Necrolord and Mantus really managed to avoid the jammed-together feeling that lesser songwriters evoke when doing something comparable.

Past the songwriting itself, some other things that deserve mention are Necrolord’s fantastic vocals and the solid production that gives the whole mix room to breathe without sounding too clean for comfort. While I don’t generally like the choice to forsake an old logo for text, in this one case it fits the sampled artwork (Luis Falero’s “Witches on the Sabbath”) fantastically, lending a nice touch of good presentation to the overall package. Classic Hellenic sounding stuff is more or less my favorite sort of black metal, and it’s great to hear so many killer additions to it this year (Wampyrinacht, Cult of Eibon, Caedes Cruenta, and more). I desperately hope that this makes it to vinyl at some point, and that it gets the attention that it deserves.

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Legionnaire – Dawn of Genesis

I’ve been watching this band for a couple of years now waiting for this to come out- though their demos were a bit sloppy, the sheer potential that I saw for a great album merited periodic checkups to see when it was coming, and Legionnaire have not disappointed. The classic sounds of USPM groups and related bands are some of my favorites, and based on my preferences, Dawn of Genesis almost feels tailor made for me; massive hooks and leads hearkening to Slough Feg and Brocas Helm tie in with the speedy rhythms of Liege Lord or early European power metal groups such as Scanner, and only rarely do the influences become specific enough to a particular song or album to become noticeable. Big harmonized leads and rousing gallops intertwine in a familiar way, and vocalist/guitarist Aku Tienssuu’s powerful voice croons over the instruments with enough authenticity and barbaric charm to win over anyone familiar enough with heavy metal to ignore that he’s (quite intentionally) less pristine than some listeners are used to.

In the end, a band like Legionnaire is as firmly nostalgic as can be- heavy metal to the bones, and gloriously unashamed of it. Half of the tracks start off with the catchy dual leads that countless bands have used as their bread and butter, and at times, it feels like as many rhythms are variations on gallops as not, but none of the nostalgia harms the album for me. There are plenty of newer heavy metal bands that dip a bit too closely to the sounds of the legends that they emulate, detracting from the music via familiarity, but as much as I can hear my favorite bands in Dawn of Genesis, I hear them in the same way that I hear lesser known peers rather than in the same way I do a clone. Each time I listen to the album, I revel in the searing love for heavy metal that Legionnaire want to share so badly with the world. Though I haven’t been particularly impressed with a lot of the recent heavy metal and speed metal coming from Finland, this album and the recent debut release from countrymen Chevalier (who I understand are friendly with Legionnaire, with the two having played shows together) prove that the country is still producing incredible heavy metal.

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Ljosazabojstwa – Sychodžańnie

The occult horror of a certain type of black/death generally somewhat influenced by or otherwise in line with Mortuary Drape is one of my favorite things, and Ljosazabojstwa clearly agree, given the content on Sychodžańnie and on the demo that came before it. From the first bits of atmosphere created by a haunting organ introduction through the very last chords, everything about this EP is massive; monolithic doom-driven rhythms do combat with the vocalist’s echoing snarl, subtle keyboards occasionally provide an extra layer, and the whole package is complimented by the immense production that ties the entire package together. Ominous interludes, sometimes mid-track, build tension, and whenever appropriate buildup has been reached, well-timed eruptions launch trudging doom into ripping hellfire before spiraling back to a horrifying crawl.

Though I mentioned Mortuary Drape as a point of comparison (and a clear influence), Ljosazabojstwa are by no means a clone of anyone; chaotic tremolo melodies, pretty leads, fiery death metal, and blazing thrash merge seamlessly to form a package that fits the mood that Mortuary Drape, Necros Christos, or similar bands put me into without feeling like a pointless ripoff at any point. Though sometimes the non-metal interruptions get a bit much for me, the overall package is startlingly strong, and a welcome change of pace from the onslaught of more straightforward death metal releases that I’ve been hearing from this year so far; as a point to their credit, the interludes are well written (or well picked, for the samples), and my general distaste for lengthy and frequent interludes may well be more of a problem for me than the interludes themselves.

Ljosazabojstwa fundamentally call for a return to the occult, and I welcome it with open arms. Sychodžańnie is catchy, memorable, and excellently performed, with more than enough variety and strength of both songwriting and pacing to keep the EP interesting from listen to listen. Most great EP’s leave me wanting more from the band, and as much as I’m looking forward to hearing Ljosazabojstwa’s first full length, this is a rare EP powerful enough to merit the repeat listens and reflection to occupy me until whenever the band feels that another release is necessary.

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Soulskinner – Descent to Abaddon

Composed of several present and past members of classic Greek black metal bands (and a former Obsecration member), Soulskinner have been chugging out great death metal for two decades now between their current name and their original one. A lot of bands lose steam over that long of a period, but Soulskinner just keep putting out amazing stuff, and Descent to Abaddon is no exception. The album is absolutely massive in scope and to a lesser extent in style, ranging from a gorgeous thick atmosphere recalling some of the earlier Greek and Finnish death metal bands to the crush of Bolt Thrower, and even to moments that thrash or recall Deicide, all generally within the same song. Riffs range from a death/doom crawl to blazing speed and intensity, showcasing the band’s versatility and lack of interest in having a singular tempo to great success.

Despite a variety of influences that would overwhelm a lesser band, Soulskinner know how to effortlessly jump from one mood to another, though their real strength for me comes from the fantastic leads and the moodier bits of the album. The atmosphere that comes from the interplay of the leads and tremolo melodies is enrapturing and it’s hard to really make a comparison to any of the best sections because I don’t get the same vibe from many other bands despite the similarities to a lot of my favorites. Sometimes the leads make for a certain dreaminess that I don’t associate at all with good death metal, which adds an extra layer to an already gigantic album.

They also present an impressive lack of genuine weak points- the only real part of the entire album that actually bothers me is the breakdown in The Fall, and that part doesn’t last long enough to detract much from the entire song, let alone with the whole album. Something that some other fans of the band have criticized is that some of the leads and melodies are repeated throughout the album a bit too much, but as true as that is, it doesn’t irritate me at all; the variations on the same melodies are done well enough and are killer enough in the first place that hearing them in different contexts is a bonus more than anything else.

Overall, Descent to Abaddon is a fucking fantastic listen, and proof that Xtreem music is still putting out killer albums. Soulskinner’s previous album was finally released on vinyl last year, marking their first full length to be pressed to wax, and I really hope that this one is as well, because I’ve rarely heard an album so deserving of the vinyl treatment in recent years that hasn’t been pressed.

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Ravenous Death – Ominous Deathcult

A lot of modern death metal eschews the entire concept of being catchy- not all of it, certainly, but often the focus of a band is to crush, or forge a certain atmosphere at the expense of memorability, or to rage chaotically without giving much of a chance to grasp onto anything. That’s not necessarily a criticism- I adore a lot of stuff that does that- but a big reason why I love Altars of Madness and Scream Bloody Gore so much is that they’re endlessly catchy, and Ravenous Death deliver hooks and instant catchiness in a way that’s not at the forefront of death metal today. Hailing from Mexico and comprising of a group of scene veterans that come from more bands each than many albums have songs, Ravenous Death put their long songwriting experience to excellent use on this first EP release.

Ominous Deathcult is a fairly varied affair that tears through five songs that range from massive crushers to fast tremolo-heavy somewhat more melodic affairs to the doom, gloom, and eeriness of the EP’s closer, but for all that the songs are different, they don’t sound random, and flow together satisfyingly throughout the duration of the 19 minute release. Enthralling tremolo melodies intertwine with big chugging rhythms, with just enough harmonization of the leads to attract attention without overusing harmony like some groups do. Influences from bands like Morbid Angel, Entombed, and even moments that remind me of Demigod  are present but Ravenous Death have done a good job of forging their own sound even on their first release, and as much as it’s familiar, Ominous Death is not nostalgic, and it definitely stands on its own feet. The rare solo section is short and sweet, which is how I like them in death metal, and the production is pretty good overall. There’s only a single section I’m not particularly fond of in the entire demo- a bit of the chugging rhythm work on “Throwing Up Guts”- but given how good the release is overall, it’s a very minor complaint. Very much interested in seeing where Ravenous Death goes from here- the band has announced their pairing to Memento Mori for their upcoming full length, and given the quality of the music on this EP, it’s well deserved.

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Necrot – Blood Offerings

Necrot is a band that’s best described as being absolutely pummeling, with no intention other than to pound listeners into submission. They don’t play technical or complex music, they don’t sell themselves as introspective- they just crush and rip their way through their approach on death metal, and that’s why so many people have come to love them in recent years. Pounding and groovy riffs are reminiscent of Bolt Thrower, the least mystical sections that Demigod conjured, or some of the other groups that extremely prolific members of the band are also involved with, but despite being reminiscent of other groups Necrot have their own distinguishing flavor that I keep coming back to. Brief moments of melody pop up for just long enough to draw attention and vanish just as quickly, adding an extra layer to an already extremely catchy album. Vocalist Luca Indrio rasps over the music at a pitch that’s just a bit higher than what listeners unfamiliar with the band might expect from their music, but he does so excellently, perfectly fitting the music, and timing his assaults well with the riffs and the primal drumming, which ranges from more standard death metal beats to some punk ones, always perfectly suiting the music, and often carrying a riff far further than it might otherwise be palatable.

Though I said earlier that the band willfully steps away from complicated songwriting, that isn’t to say that the composition was done carelessly- there’s a large variety of influences integrated into the album, and each song flows excellently through them, and even at their most similar, extremely well written transitions separate riffs that on a less competent album would blend together, leaving behind a distinctly memorable assault. On a related note, despite many sections of extreme repetition of a single riff or group of them as well as sections that spend a lot of time developing a single idea, Blood Offerings does an excellent job of avoiding overstaying its welcome at any point, and will likely be in my rotation for a long time. After the hype that Necrot built around themselves through years of excellent shows and several killer demos, it’s nice to see them deliver.

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Chevalier – A Call To Arms

Good raw speed metal  has been popping up more and more in the last few years, but this is certainly one of the best of the bunch that I’ve heard recently. Chevalier hearken back to many of my favorite classic USPM and international (particularly French) speed metal bands while forging their own sound entirely with big melodies, fast rhythms (with a few slower points that just make the rest of A Call To Arms hit that much harder), and a constant pounding drum beat in the background. Recorded in a rehearsal room, the “demo’s” lack of polish is stunningly charming, and makes for an interesting offset to the tightness of the entire performances, and speaks very, very deeply to my taste in heavy and speed metal.

This is a real guitarist’s album to me, with every song being chock full of tight solos that come in and out of the performance, popping up and then vanishing just as quickly, and with unexpected leads coming in and out of the rhythms constantly. Sometimes everything but the guitars drop out entirely, leaving only powerful and consciously medieval sounding leads to enrapture listeners, and every careful listen reveals new guitar parts that I missed on the previous listen. Despite the central focus on guitarwork, other aspects are far from ignored- the drumming is extremely competent, and the bass is audible and well done. There are some fantastic grooves where the two lock in together to great effect, and vocalist Emma Grönqvist fills everything out wonderfully from her place at the backseat of the recording; the choice to keep her mixed somewhat to the bottom of the mix both makes for a really cool effect and keeps her from overwhelming the absolutely fantastic riffing that makes the release so damn cool. There really aren’t any choruses in the traditional sense of the word, and that’s also a cool point to me- the whole thing is a showcase of unrelenting, uncompromising prowess, a love letter to speed metal and to heavy metal that gives me the shivers. I’m very much looking forward to more material, and hoping that the band’s plan of releasing the demo on vinyl at some point is realized. Until then, I’ll wait eagerly for the tape version to come out.

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Perdizione / Nihtglóm – split

I’ve been finding it hard to nail down exactly what I love so much about this split, but it really tickles me on a level that’s hard to put into words. Coming from obscure New Jersey metal cult Nihil Verum Nisi Mors, this split is at its most basic level a presentation of two anonymous one-man projects of  simple and sinister raw black metal. Though it’s a split, both sides tie together sonically, filling out a package that’s been filling a hole in my listening that I didn’t realize existed.

To start with Perdizione’s side: the whole thing is extremely muffled and distant in the best of ways, pounding its fury through a layer of reverb and separation that gives the project an ethereal feel. The wonderfully simple drums drive along melodic riffs that range from unconventional melodic lines that are almost hard to identify as black metal without the context of the rest of the music to more traditional trem bits, the entire thing being as hypnotizing an affair as I’ve ever heard, whether it’s carrying you through one of the more traditional bits or through the cool solo towards the end of Diavolo Odioso’s side; Perdizione carries you off to a dream, and the darkness of the project, supposedly about Catholic hell, is as rapturous as anything the Catholics ever wanted you to feel about their god.

Nihtglóm’s side immediately stands out as being much more direct in its gloomy attack, with much less distant production and a much more straightforward take on black metal, though it doesn’t suffer at all for it. Another thing that immediately stands out is that the bass is absolutely massive, sometimes playing the rhythm by itself and sometimes playing alongside the melodies, as much at the forefront as the guitar. The melodies that Nihtgenga, author of Nihtglóm’s music, creates are huge and captivating, endlessly catchy for all of their evil. Where Perdizione makes me throw back my head and worship, Nihtglóm makes me move it, as his side of the split is much more aggressive, marking a perfect counterpart to the dreaminess of the first half of the tape. Tasteful drumming ranges from blistering double bass to laid back single beats, carrying listeners to the depths of the cold night.

I’m really hoping to hear more from these two, because this tape has really blown me away, and left me with a deep craving for more.

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Engulfed – Engulfed in Obscurity

Engulfed in Obscurity is the debut album from longtime scene veterans Engulfed, all of whom have been in Engulfed and other bands for the long years leading up to this spectacular album. Massive and multifaceted, Engulfed take cues from Incantation and Dead Congregation to bring a long and harrowing death metal assault that stays as focused and punishing from the moment of conception until the very end. Massive tremolo picked rhythms play against quick melodic lines that sometimes harmonize with the rhythms and sometimes dart off to do their own things, and Diabolical Conquest-esque harmonized slower bits of trilling doom make for a good counterpart to the blazing tempos that the album sometimes reaches towards.

Though the album is fairly straightfoward in its style, the delivery is anything but, with the band doing their best to keep both guitars from playing the exact same notes for longer than a bar or two and with no riff being repeated more than a few times. Frequent tempo changes and jumps from melodicism to punishment are extremely compelling, and vocalist/bassist Serkan’s powerful howling adds an extra demonic flair to the mix. The drumming, though locked into a few similar patterns, changes up tempo and moves back and forth from pattern to pattern enough to keep from ever getting stale, driving everything forth wonderfully, and the drums are mixed excellently (save for perhaps a tiny bit of clickiness at points in the kick, which is a very minor issue on this album), which is always something that I listen to.

Overall, especially for a debut, I can only call this album a massive success, and say that I’m already looking forward to the EP that the band promises is coming next year.

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Image source: Blood Harvest Records

Lantern – II: Morphosis

This has been a great year for both Dark Descent Records and for fans of death metal, and Lantern have provided with II: Morphosis an excellent addition to both groups. Strange, atmospheric, and with a lot of subtle layering and melodies, Lantern is one of the more compelling and ambitious of the recent Finnish death metal bands, and their return with their second full length album is absolutely welcome. They have a talent for lengthy and complex composition, a fantastic and multitalented drummer (who is also the guitarist and bassist), and a willingness to sometimes completely abandon strange atmospheric sections to have periods of crushing death metal that sets them aside from many of their peers as a unique and captivating entity to be watched. Vocalist Necrophilos has an incredible voice that’s unique and powerful, howling over the music that Cruciatus has so adeptly written.

Right from the first song on the album, Black Miasma, the tone for the future material is set: sections of spacey, psychedelic trippiness, soundscapes of awful terror, ripping death metal, and sections that crawl down almost to being death/doom; from there, the entire album continues in its vein. That being said, each song has its own unique flavor, with the main focus being the interesting guitarwork, which ranges from crushing rhythms to great sections where both guitars are doing entirely different things to fantastic soloing. The lyrics, which I normally don’t focus on much, are also very well written (albeit with a sometimes humorous focus on rhyme scheme), and Necrophilos’ voice lets you hear each word clearly without straining.

“Is this where I shall witness my last?
Is this the way my days are bound to pass away;
In despair and solemnly aghast?”

As a final note, the production is as solid as you’d expect from Dan Lowndes, and the cover art is fucking phenomenal.

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Image source: https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ii-morphosis

 

Ascended Dead – Abhorrent Manifestation

Abhorrent Manifestation can’t be shoehorned into a single line, but if I had to do so, it’d be to call it an amazing showcase of ripping primordial death metal devastation. Now that my favorite newer San Diego based extreme metal band have finally given us a full length release this year, it’s easy to see that Ascended Dead have been refining their approach through the years between their first demo and this album. Continuing in line with their prior material (and reusing three songs from said earlier material), Abhorrent Manifestation rips right into full bore right from the start, blasting through sections that sound as angry, chaotic, and uncompromising as any death metal has ever been. The only real break is a pretty acoustic instrumental halfway through the album, letting listeners up a bit before cutting through listeners like a scythe all over again.

Image Source: Ascended Dead’s website

The sharp and technical leads that constantly pop up over the blistering rhythms remind me of Morbid Angel on a bender mixed with the aggressive insanity of Necrovore, and CK’s relentless, powerful drumming showcases exactly why he was recruited to Funebrarum. Insane solos break away with swirling madness before vanishing as quickly as they came, while the howling vocals roar over the whole thing with the power and anger needed to drive this sort of music, always perfectly complimenting the vicious instrumentals. The whole thing is tied together by the excellent production that the album has, which keeps the aural assault from becoming exhausting or from blending together.

The main deal breaker for most bands that attempt a similar form of music is that they don’t have the songwriting chops to make their music remain interesting or memorable, but Ascended Dead have none of that problem, using their expertise from years of writing music both for Ascended Dead and for earlier bands to forge the raging songs that they play. The band describe their music as “dark, chaotic, demonic, bestial Death Metal, without limitations” and I’d say that they’ve certainly accomplished that. While the music is in a lot of ways fundamentally rooted in death metal’s early history, Ascended Dead are clearly looking towards the future.

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Suffering Hour – In Passing Ascension

In Passing Ascension is an ode to the terrifying unhumanity of life, of the howling of the void, of the vast emptiness behind the veil of existence and of power of the infinite that looms above all of us. Sometimes technical, always strange, and coming from a diverse source of influences that intertwine gorgeously, Suffering Hour have created a sound that’s all their own. The band self describes their influences as ranging from Dead Congregation to The Chasm and Mgla, and you can really hear the sheer amount of things going into the album. With blistering leads soaring above slower sections of atmospheric dissonance, with each warped section providing not only a unique and memorable flavor but a fantastic listening experience for those lucky enough to have stumbled into the album, the music ebbs and flows through the forty minute duration of the album, never losing any of the power that In Passing Ascension immediately starts with.

The band refer to themselves as “cosmic blackened death metal” and that description makes sense even from the very beginning of the album. In Passing Ascension opens with a mixture of the various types of riffing and atmospheres that make up the release before launching into the album proper. Swirling and layered guitarwork, relentless drumming, and varied vocal styles showcase the band’s songwriting and technical ability, while frequent tempo changes keep any one song from becoming monotonous. Shifts in direction from ripping death metal to slower sections of slowly scraped eerie chords a la some of the more dissonant modern black metal bands keep the pace of the album from ever getting too familiar; intense attention is required to absorb the nuances of the music, lest the listener lose pace and get lost in the chasm that Suffering Hour creates with their music.

Moving past the songwriting, it’s important to note how great the production is; mastered by Resonance Sound Studio, the album is dynamic, massive, and clear without ever feeling overly clean, and each instrument is given its own space to breath and exist in a way that often gets lost with this sort of material. Guitar, drum, and bass tones are on point, as is the mixing of the drums (often a tough point for extreme metal bands).

This release has impressed me on every level, and I eagerly await my copy of it getting here on wax. I’ve been excited for this to come out since the first singles put out by Blood Harvest Records, and the album doesn’t disappoint.

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Review: Tomb Mold – Primordial Malignity

Tomb Mold has only existed for a year and has already quickly made a name for themselves as one of the better and one of the more unique modern death metal bands; exploding into creation with two demos last year and now an album this year. I became aware of them almost immediately after their first demo, The Bottomless Perdition, came out due to a Canadian acquaintance sending it over, and it totally blew me away; blisteringly raw and chaotic, it was fundamentally a tribute to the classic Finnish death metal scene that I love so much and it immediately marked Tomb Mold as a band to be watched.

They soon put out another absolutely killer demo, which contained the first version of one of the songs on the album and marked a step towards the sound that they’ve embraced for the album- more complex, a bit less raw, no less killer.

Then came Primordial Malignity, which blew away all of my already extremely high expectations and is currently my favorite album to have been released this year, as of the time of this review, and quickly over repeated plays coming to be an early call for a recent favorite in general. Gone are the caverns of screaming noise; instead, there’s an organic crush of decay, beating down listeners into the abyss. The music is as strange and harrowing as I was hoping, but Tomb Mold have developed far beyond the base (if fucking killer) Finnish worship of their early demo material into something that I didn’t foresee at all but am extremely pleased with. They have evolved to play a style of death metal that, while retaining the same Finnish influence, has integrated the band’s other influences and identities as musicians to become something all their own. Fast and bouncing leads, ghastly rhythms, and horrifying snarling vocals are complemented by fantastic drumming that drives everything forward splendidly. Whenever a riff is played enough to even hint at becoming overly familiar, not only does the riff change but often the tempo does as well, with rapidfire changes between the bizarre twangs of Tomb Mold’s leads and a few more straightforward sections keeping the entire album grounded. Brief solos pop in and out for just long enough to impress without ever being distracting at all, which is how I think that death metal solos should be- I’m a much bigger fan of the Disma approach towards soloing than the Malmsteen one (at least in my death metal), and the Disma approach towards soloing is the one that the album has taken.

Filthy, massive, and just long enough to feel like a proper album without staying on for a second longer than the band felt like it had to (just barely surpassing the half hour mark), Tomb Mold have written an album to be listened to again…and again….and again.

 

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