Death SS: Black Mass (1989)

Holy hell that is a creepy-looking album cover.  Death SS is a band I have long known about, but never really given a chance.  They have some rather odd album covers that led me to believe the band was something of a joke band (just look at the cover for Heavy Demons for proof).  They often wear horror movie-inspired costumes and just generally came off as a gimmick band to me.  I am now not sure that is actually true, after listening to this album, in fact.  I finally gave them a chance and was pleasantly surprised.

Death SS is an early Italian metal band, forming in the mid 1970's.  Their music is rooted in early heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and some of the NWOBHM with the occasional speed or doom metal riff.  As alluded to, horror is an important part of the band's image and lyrical content.  The creepy intro to "Horrible Eyes" is a perfect example.  In fact, every song on here basically tells a horror story, which is quite alright with me.  And the vocals, which are delivered in a sort of Alice Cooper-esque sneer, really sell the horror.

This is my first experience with Death SS, but after hearing this one, it will likely not be my last.  This is highly competent old school metal with horror themes and it is a ton of fun. 

Barbarian: To No God Shall I Kneel (2019)

First, props to the awesome album title.  I kind of love it.  Now that that is over, at one point it seemed like blackened thrash metal was kind of a rare thing.  I am not really sure what has happened over the last decade, but suddenly there are tons of these bands out there.  And from all over the world.  There are groups in Asia, South America, North America, and many countries in Europe.  It has kind of become THE underground sound.

Of course, Barbarian is another one of these.  The Italian band has been around for a little more than a decade now and I do own their 2016 album Cult of the Empty Grave.  All of the hallmarks of the genre are here: filthy and dirty riffs, belligerent attitude, and snarled vocals.  But far more than just going through the motions, Barbarian is sincere in their approach.  Sort of odd for a band who penned a song called "Obtuse Metal", which I just find hilarious.

The songs are all catchy as hell, particularly tracks like "Sheep Shall Obey" and the title track.  And that is the best part of the album, just how easy it is to get caught up in the riff and start banging your head. 

You would think I would be getting tired of this genre, but when bands keep putting out stuff that is this insanely infectious, I will keep getting the stuff.  And Barbarian definitely does this style well.

Black Hole: Land of Mystery (1985)

I have mentioned before that one of the things that I absolutely love about being a metalhead is seeing some of the devoted, underground labels unearth a forgotten album and re-releasing it so that new fans can hear it.  Hells Headbangers has made a lot of headway in this respect.  Without them, I would not have come across Black Death, among others.  Black Hole is another of these bands, though I was not aware of that at first.

This album really surprised me when I first listened to it.  I had not done any research on the band when I first listened to the album and I was shocked by how much they sounded like Ghost.  In fact, I figured they were some band that was taking Ghost's sound and running with it since the band has been steadily working their way into the mainstream.  Imagine my surprise when I released that this album was released nearly a quarter century before Ghost's debut album.

The sound on this album is heavily rooted in latter Ozzy-era Black Sabbath with some Blue Öyster Cult thrown in for good measure.  The band makes heavy usage of organs, giving the sound an eerie, occult atmosphere, like a dusty, old 70's cult horror movie.  In addition, the bass guitar is a primary melodic instrument, propelling most of the songs forward.  As if the music were not enough to draw comparisons to Ghost's Opus Eponymous, there are the dry vocals that sound exactly like Tobias Forge's work.

The songs are all a bit lengthy, each one lasting more than six minutes.  At points in a few songs, the band kind meanders a little too much dragging down the momentum a bit.  The atmosphere continues to be spooky, but it kind of loses something in those moments.

It is amazing how an album from 1985 can sound simultaneously retro and be ahead of its time.  I do not want to mention that other band again in this review, because it is clear that Black Hole came first and their sound is based on Black Sabbath instead.  The album really did take me by surprise and it is the perfect soundtrack for a cheesy, cult horror movie.

Forgotten Tomb: Hurt Yourself and the Ones You Love (2015)

That is quite the emo-sounding title, but that is something that not really unusual for Forgotten Tomb.  The band is one of those who I checked out a long time ago when I was living alone but had kind of forgotten about.  I liked the band, and their take on blackened was certainly unique.  But as I became busy with other things, I was not able to keep up with each and every band anymore.  That changed recently when I picked this one up along with a number of other releases.  This was not the primary target, but I decided to check the band out once again.

Forgotten Tomb is an Italian band that now combines black metal, doom metal and gothic metal into an unholy concoction that is as likely to depress the listener as it is to be blasphemous.  Their sound does appear to have evolved over the last several years since their previous release that I have heard.  For one thing, they have tightened up the songs considerably.  That album, Negative Megalomania, had just five songs and all but one were considerably longer than ten minutes in length.  Not one of these songs makes it to that length.  The songs here are much more straightforward without as much instrumental meandering.

The music here is probably closer to gothic doom than black metal, the only remaining black metal elements being the harsh, raspy vocals and the occasional tremolo riff.  This is slow-paced, massively heavy metal with a claustrophobic atmosphere.  Even the lighter moments feel suffocating and evil.  The problem is that most of the songs end up going at about the same pace with little differentiation between songs.  The album as a whole tends to drag as a result without anything clearly compelling happening.  The title track is the exception as the keyboard melodies toward the end are terrific and helps build that song into the most memorable on the album.

Forgotten Tomb have evolved in their sound significantly, but I cannot help but feel that they seem to have lost some of what made that previous album so interesting.  At this point, they sound like any number of other bands.  They used to have a unique quality that seems to have either left their sound entirely or become too commonplace in other bands that Forgotten Tomb no longer stands out.  That is a shame.

Morbus Grave: Abomination (2019)

This is the third of the trio of death metal demos I picked up as a package deal from Redefining Darkness Records.

Morbus Grave is an Italian death metal band that has been the longest active of the three bands from this package.  They formed in 2012 and have released three demos and a split with Lurking Terror. 

After a short, eerie intro, this song kicks off into a fast-paced and energetic punky death metal song.  The band's sound seems rooted in the early Stockholm sound of groups like Dismember, Nihilist and Grave.  The first two songs are very fast, which makes it that much more shocking when the slowly grinding "The Horrible" comes on.  There are moments where that one picks up the pace, but it's general sound is much more in the vein of death/doom bands like Cianide than the aforementioned speed merchants. 

Morbus Grave is not the most interesting of the three bands from this short series, but they are decent enough.  They do not do anything new or groundbreaking, but it is highly competent old-school sounding death metal.  Nothing wrong with that.

Abhor: Occulta Religio (2018)

Abhor fits in well on a playlist with Fleshgod Apocalypse.  For one thing the music is fairly similar: extreme metal with symphonic elements.  In addition, both bands are from Italy.  But that is where the superficial similarities end.  Abhor bases their metal sound in black metal whereas Fleshgod Apocalypse is more of a death metal band.  And of course, the symphonic elements are toned down considerably in Abhor's music, but they are a major element in that of Fleshgod Apocalypse.  I guess I really have no idea where I am going with this.  I am not sure how this band escaped my notice for so long, because I really enjoyed this release.

The album title here is definitely appropriate.  Abhor's music is generally slower-paced, doom-laden black metal but with some symphonic elements.  Many of these come in the form of organ music that gives off the atmosphere of an occult ritual in most parts.  In other parts, the effect is of the soundtrack to a cheesy ghost movie.  The vocals are often delivered in a guttural raspy voice, but there are moments of clean singing and even chanting which just adds to the occult ritual and/or ghost  story soundtrack.

Abhor strikes a perfect balance between traditional black metal and symphonic elements.  Those elements never overwhelm the black metal foundation and complement it quite well.  This is a very impressive album from a band I was not previously aware of, but will definitely be checking out further now.

Sangue: Sangue (2017)

Okay, this is going to be a short review, because this is a very short release.  There are just two songs here and neither one even reaches three minutes in length.  Yep, super short. 

I have never been able to really get into too many bands from Italy.  I enjoy Rhapsody of Fire a little bit and there are a number of up-and-coming power metal bands there.  Necrodeath was awesome in the 80's.  There's Lacuna Coil's old stuff and Graveworm.  Their best band is probably Fleshgod Apocalypse.  There seems to be something of a lack of identity when it comes to Italian metal bands.  I'm not sure a two-song demo is going to be enough to find that identity, but damn it, I'm going to try. 

Sangue is a newer band and this is their debut recording.  They have a full-length album coming out this year that I may be checking out, because this is some killer stuff.  It took a few listens to fully digest what is going on here, but luckily that all took less than half an hour. 

First track "The Rite of Cosmic Void" is the highlight here.  It has one hell of a dark and suffocating atmosphere to go along with the death metal riffs.  The production and vocals give off a cavernous vibe.  The effect is that the song sounds like something that would have been done by Tiamat around The Astral Sleep.  Second track "Il sudore delle catacombe" is more of a straight-forward rager with shredding riffs.  Unfortunately, it feels more like a work-in-progress without being completely fleshed out.

Sangue has potential.  I will probably consider checking out that full-length.

Deathless Legacy: Dance with Devils (2017)

Deathless Legacy started out their existence as a tribute band for Italian horror metal legends Death SS.  The band has since started recording their own material, but definitely still have the same horror vibe, so much in fact that Rob Zombie himself chose them to support his band.  This has given Deathless Legacy a lot more exposure and a potential breakout.  Dance with Devils is Deathless Legacy's third album, and their second in as many years.

A lot of bands over the years have attempted to marry horror imagery and metal music.  Chief among them is the aforementioned Rob Zombie, but there have also been Theatres Des Vampires, Cradle of Filth, and Lordi, among many others.  Some are more successful than others.  The real key is to present an interesting live show, but make sure that the music is high quality as well.  The hope is to appeal to more than just the Hot Topic crowd (is Hot Topic still a thing?  I have no idea).  It is obvious the horror elements are there on this release.  Song titles like "Headless Horseman", "Witches' Brew", and "Devilborn" give that away quite quickly.  From an audio standpoint, there are the cackling Wicked Witch-style vocals of singer Steva La Cinghiala, the frequent eerie keyboard melodies, and the skits performed between songs by members of the band credited solely as "performers".  I have read that the band puts on some impressive live performances, and I could believe that based on what I am hearing on this album.

Musically, Deathless Legacy are kind of all over the place.  Some songs come close to power metal, whereas others are more on the doom metal spectrum.  Others are barely metal at all.  So it is a little bit uneven and inconsistent from a musical standpoint.  The real star of the album is clearly the vocalist.  There are not many long breaks in songs where there are no vocals and most of the music is not terribly technical.  The music mostly seems to simply be there to support Steva.  Which is not to say that the music is bad at all, frankly I would like to hear it a little bit more.

For the most part, this album is quite catchy and the musicianship is certainly competent.  Steva has a very intriguing voice.  The only real issue is the lack of a real standout track.  It is a fun album and I am sure they are very interesting in concert, but I cannot really say the album has a lot of replay value.  Ultimately, I am not likely the target audience for this release.  I don't even know if Hot Topic still exists.

Atlas Pain: What the Oak Left (2017)

Folk metal is an odd genre.  I doubt I am saying anything new.  Obviously there are a lot of different types of folk metal, depending on the region the band is pulling influence from, and the metal can be different depending on if the band is using melodeath, black, or power metal.  There are also varying degrees of what percentage the split is between the folk elements and the metal elements.  The best folk metal bands strike a healthy balance between the styles, usually without the folk elements completely overwhelming the metal riffs, while being more than just window dressing.  It is certainly not an easy balance to strike.

Here we have the debut full-length from Italian folk metal band Atlas Pain.  The band was formed in 2013 by Samuele Faulisi, who sings and plays the guitar and keyboard for the band.  Atlas Pain has previously released a demo and an EP.  As a fledgling folk metal band, it would be too much to expect Atlas Pain to be able to strike the right balance between folk and metal, and they do seem to struggle with it at times.  Honestly the keyboards sound somewhat out of place at times and really detract from the guitar work.  It is also difficult to tell what kind of regional folk elements the band is going for.  At times, it is pretty clearly Celtic folk, but other times the band sounds like they are striving to be more of a straight melodeath band.  It is this distinct lack of a cohesive identity that makes this album limited in its effect and longevity.

The other issue is that some of the songs veer very far into cheesy territory, making songs almost unlistenable.  The major culprits here are "Till the Dawn Comes" and "The Sword" which utilize a lot of bouncy, lilting keyboard melodies and sing-song choruses that come off far too upbeat.  It does not bother me when bands sound like they are having fun, I do enjoy Finntroll and Korpiklaani on occasion, but apart from the harsh vocals, these songs almost sound like they would be at home on a Disney soundtrack.  That is probably an overstatement, but they are ridiculously upbeat.

The album is not really bad.  The musicians are all competent, and the harsh vocals are reasonably impressive, though it would be nice to change things up a bit more.  I enjoy most of the lead guitar melodies and wish those would have taken center stage over the keyboard melodies.  Some of the songs are quite good.  It is actually kind of a fun listen, the biggest problem is that it is mostly forgettable.  The band seems to be striving to create the next Wintersun album.  Unfortunately, they just do not have that ability, yet.  Time will tell, the talent is certainly there.  The results just are not.

Cyrax: Reflections (2013)

If I had to pick just one word to describe the sound of Cyrax, it would be eclectic.  I think that is the most accurate descriptor for a band that combines such a wide and varied mix of music into their sound.  The Italian five-piece can go from blues rock to metal at the drop of a hat.  None of which would be possible if the musicians were not all as incredibly talented as they are.

The album starts off with the track "Doom Against True Hell", which features a hefty amount of synthesizer programming to open things up before diving into a much more standard power-chord-driven riff, which is easily the heaviest riff on the release.  That sound is frequently spliced with more programming, some choral vocal lines, and singer Marco Cantoni's howling vocals.  This sets the stage for most of the rest of the songs, which manage to throw a number of other influences in as the album progresses.

Along the way, there are some strange moments which may be considered missteps depending on the listener.  For instance, "My Kingdom for a Horse" features some vocal segments that can best be described as akin to rapping.  Which is strange, to say the least.  Other sections feature more of the choral style, which is typically done quite well.  Much of the album relies on keyboards to drive the melody, which can be interesting when done well, but some of the more experimental sections can be a little strange.  And of course the track "Feel the Essence of Blues" is much more of a blues song than metal, which is a bit of an unusual and rather courageous addition.

The members of Cyrax are clearly talented musicians, which is the only reason that they are able to pull this album off.  It is a very strange and varied release that sees influences from a variety of non-metal genres, as well as metal.  Is it for everyone?  Probably not.  But it is certainly an entertaining and interesting release.

I.C.S.: National Blasphemy (2014)

I've been getting lots of Italian bands sent to me lately.  Most of them have been rather impressive.  That's notable because Italy has not had a lot of really great metal bands over the years.  Graveworm, Lacuna Coil, Necrodeath, and Fleshgod Apocalypse have been among the more notable groups from the boot-shaped country.

I have no idea what "I.C.S." stands for.  I have not been able to find anything on it either in the material from the band, it's probably in Italian.  Or not.  Oh well.  There have been a lot of bands with acronyms as their names sent to me lately too.  It's an epidemic.

What we have with I.C.S. is a thrash metal band with some very strong punk inflections, to the point where they are almost a crossover band at several points.  Influences are clearly Overkill, Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, and other groups.  It is fast-paced and almost upbeat at times.  The lyrics border a bit on the grotesque occasionally which is a little strange for thrash metal.  Song titles like "Overrotten Anal Supremacy" and "Erection and Resurrection" are typically the type of titles you would see in a goregrind band.  But the band also stays true to the genre with the far more thrash-like "Toxichrist" and "Foolish Party".
I am impressed with this group.  They write extremely catchy, crunchy riffs with a good sense of the style.  There is nothing really here that no one has heard before.  I.C.S. do not reinvent the wheel, but what they do is write some damn infectious retro-styled crossover/thrash metal.  That's perfectly acceptable.  Plus it makes great driving music.

Dementia Senex: Heartworm (2013)

Huh.  Where do we begin?  Dementia Senex is a kind of odd band from Italy with quite the disparate influences.  Ulcerate is probably the most accurate reference point for Dementia Senex's sound.  The band draws from brutal death metal and post-metal weirdness to form a dissonant, chaotic sound.

Despite the wildly different styles, like Ulcerate, Dementia Senex seems to know what they are doing, which makes all the difference in the world.  It is a little difficult to combine two seemingly wildly different styles like these into a cohesive sound, not to mention one that actually sounds good.  The songs are generally on the longer side which allows for a lot more time for experimentation.  The music is marked by frequent tempo and riff changes with some sections driven by dissonant chords and screaming and others by more typical death metal-styled riffing.

Dementia Senex is an impressive mix of atmosphere and aggression, the two major elements they draw from their varied influences.  What is consistent however is that the production brings these two seemingly diverse sounds out perfectly.  Despite the unusual combination, the band sounds great.  All of the instruments can be heard clearly, with the stunning guitar work the big highlight.  The vocals are agonized and strained, yet intense adding to the dark atmosphere.

Dementia Senex shows an unusual mix of styles, but it works for them.  This is recommended for fans of Ulcerate and other weird death/post-metal hybrids.

Mad Agony: Chernobitch (2013)

Mad Agony is another of those bands that have recently re-formed even though precisely no one was clamoring for a return.  They previously released a demo in 1992 before disbanding in 1993 and then returned in 2011.  This is their first full-length album.  I do not really know what lead to the re-formation of this long-dead Italian traditional metal band.  All I know is that they have re-formed.

The album starts off with the intro track, "Industrial Waste" building into the title track "Chernobitch", which I think misses the point of what Chernobyl was.  Musically, Mad Agony bears a strong similarity to German heavy/power metal bands such as Primal Fear, Sinner, Accept, and others.  The songs are melodic, but the riffs definitely have a heavy, razor-sharp edge to them.  Vocalist Max Zanetti has a powerful, wailing voice that furthers the comparison to Matt Sinner.  It fits the music very well and calls to mind metal vocalists from the early 1980's.

The big problem with this release is that a lot of the songs tend to drag at times.  Mad Agony is trying to do a little too much musically at times and the band loses focus and the songs suffer.  There are a few songs that could be a minute or two shorter and would be much better for it.  They are at their best when they are playing fast and heavy, loud and proud.  The straightforward material is the best material here.  Mad Agony even succeed with the much slower and acoustic-driven "Eclipse of a Friend", particularly during the remarkable guitar solo work.  The ultra fast, thrashy section in the middle of "The Poetry of Rage" is another triumph.

The album is a tad on the long side, but it is interesting and entertaining enough.  For those looking for some real 1980's-style German heavy metal, Mad Agony fits the bill.  Or you could just turn on those well-worn Accept albums instead.  Your choice.

FMA: Vardan: The Woods is My Coffin (2013)

Originally reviewed here.

As a metalhead, I try to immerse myself in as many different types of metal as I can. I find there are styles I like more than others of course, but I usually try a little bit of everything. One style that I have done only minimal exploration of is depressive black metal. I have heard Xasthur, Leviathan, Silencer, and a few others, but that's really about as far as I have gone. Most of it is a little tedious to listen to, long and very slow songs without a lot of direction. So I was a little reluctant to look into Vardan when the first song started.

Vardan is a one-man black metal band from Italy lead by Vardan, of course. This is as basic as black metal gets, minimalist riffs which are typically very slow, drums doing little more than keeping time, and tortured wailing vocals. The songs are quite long, with the shortest being just over six minutes. Vardan does do a decent job at changing up the riffs to keep things from becoming too monotonous. There are only five songs so it makes the length of each song a little more bearable.

Vardan is not, as it turns out, a depressive black metal act, despite the extremely slow-moving opening track. He does slow things down frequently and there is a little bit of depressive influences in the music, but he also throws in the occasional faster-paced riff just to keep things a little more interesting.

Ultimately this is probably a little too raw and simple for me. I like my black metal to have a little more going on than a couple of endlessly repeating riffs. I could see being able to listen to this in the dark alone, but it is not something that would have frequent playbacks in it.

HI-GH: Night Dances (2013)

Yeah, you can probably tell some things about this band from the cover of the album and their band name.  If you guessed that they enjoyed pot on occasion, you would probably be pretty accurate.  HI-GH also has a little bit of a weird sense of humor, best shown by their name for their style of music.  They play a combination of punk and speed metal that they refer to as "spunk".  Yes.

The Rome-based HI-GH plays a fast-paced, energetic brand of metal that bears a very strong resemblance to the early days of Metallica, Slayer, and Overkill.  Yes, I named three bands that are well-known for thrash metal.  But I am referring to the early recordings of those groups, back when the punk influences were more pronounced and they were just playing a faster brand of heavy metal (that's really all speed metal is in reality).  Think "Hit the Lights", "Rotten to the Core", and other tracks along those veins.

That being said, some of the songs are much closer to punk than the speed/thrash described above.  Tracks like "Zig Zag Shaped" definitely have a lot more punk than metal in it, with the simple, repeating riff and standard chord progression.  Real punk though, not the pop punk shit that most associate with it.  Dirty and raw-sounding punk.

It becomes pretty clear as the album goes on that this is a very light-hearted band.  Songs are a little humorous at times without a whole lot of heavy themes.  The songs are fun.  Tracks like "Let Me Know" which has a very bouncy and peppy feel to it.  Many of the songs in the middle of the album are a lot more light-hearted than expected.

The final track, which is twelve minutes of experimentation and random noodling, could be lost without any effect on the rest of the album though.  It does not match the rest of the album at all and is pretty tedious to listen to.

Overall I enjoyed this album.  It is not anything terribly special.  It's a bunch of songs that sound like the early days of thrash metal, when most of the bands were playing a combination of punk and speed metal.  It's an interesting retro-sounding album.  Not bad.  Not terrific, but it is a lot of fun.

VladPromotion Quick Reviews Pt. 2

Last year I was sent a bunch of promos from one individual that I just did not get around to.  Seriously, there were a lot.  So I am now tackling them.  No time to do individual reviews, just a quick and dirty look will have to do.

ERADICATOR: MADNESS IS MY NAME (2012)

Eradicator is a fairly young, German thrash metal band that plays a style that bears more of a sonic similarity to the earlier, more melodic style of Destruction when speed metal was still a major part of their sound.  In other words, this is not the type of proto-black/death metal that Sodom and Kreator, um, created when they first started recording.  It is more of Motorhead on steroids, mixed with Testament and Megadeth.  The riffs drive the music, which is what good thrash metal does, and make no mistake, this is definitely good thrash metal.  It is decidedly old-school in sound, but manages to sound fresh at the same time.

H.O.S.:  THE BEGINNING (2011)

Alright another acronym!  Is it Hogs of Steel?  Hell on Skis?  Horatio Octavio Sanchez?  Nope, apparently it is Harvester of Sorrow, a Metallica reference for those of you who don't know.  The title of the album is helpful because this is the Italian band's debut album.  And despite the Metallica reference in the name of the band, they do not really show a ton of Metallica influence in the music, apart from being a thrash metal band.  The vocals resemble Mille Petrozza of Kreator, particularly after taking over full-time vocal duties, and the riffs sound closer to other Bay Area bands such as Heathen and Forbidden.  Italy is not really known for thrash metal, other than Bulldozer and Necrodeath, so it is not much of a surprise that a band from that country would take influences from both the Bay Area and Germany.  The combination works well for H.o.S.

IRON KINGDOM: CURSE OF THE VOODOO QUEEN

Taking a break from the thrash metal of the last couple of reviews is Iron Kingdom's debut album.  Iron Kingdom is much more of a traditional metal band with roots in the music of the NWOBHM and the American power metal scene.  I kind of like the music to this one.  It's strong traditional-sounding metal, but I absolutely cannot get past the vocalist.  His voice is high-pitched and ridiculously annoying.  As the album goes on, it gets a little better, but that might just be getting used to it.  It's unfortunate that something like that would detract from an album that otherwise is interesting from a musical standpoint, but that's the way it goes.  They do pull an Iron Maiden with a historical epic at the end of the album, this one about Montezuma.  So points for that I guess.

KAOSMOS: KAOSMOS (2012)

Huh.  Apparently Italy is developing a thrash metal scene.  This is the second band just in this group of bands from this promoter.  This is just a five song EP, but a couple of the tracks are more than seven minutes in length so it is a worthwhile length.  This one is much more similar to the Bay Area thrash metal scene with an emphasis on melody over brutality.  It also utilizes a bit more experimentation and progressive structures, with some similarities to Anacrusis, Heathen, and others from when thrash was expanding their sound.  The buildup to the second track "Walking in the Rain" is incredible and once the vocals kick in, it is even more impressive.  The vocals soar over the riffs like air-raid sirens and are incredibly powerful for this genre.  In the third track they are even joined by some death growls, creating an unusual dichotomy.  Kaosmos is definitely impressive.

KUAZAR: WRATH OF GOD (2009)

And now we check in with Paraguay.  And not shockingly, Kuazar exists on the more brutal end of the spectrum.  Not surprising when South America's most well-known thrash metal bands are Sepultura and Sarcofago.  Kuazar takes their sound from the early blackened/speed/thrash of Sodom and Kreator with a little of their South American brethren thrown in for good measure.  Speed and intensity are the name of the game with Kuazar.  It is not particularly brutal for this type of thrash, relying instead on the precision of the riffs and the manic vocal style.  Very impressive as well.

FMA Reviews: Hour of Penance: Sedition

Originally reviewed here.

Hour of Penance is another band that really does technical death metal well. They combine brutality with technicality with some fantastic results, ending up sounding like a more technical version of Nile. The brutality never lets up on this album either. Hour of Penance kick things into high gear in the second track, after a melodic introduction, and never lose their energy. The result is a punishing and intense album that threatens to crush the skull for about a half an hour or so before it is finally over. The only reprieves are the few seconds in between tracks.

What Hour of Penance do well on this release though is to weave some incredibly melodic guitar leads throughout the otherwise colossally heavy riffing. And the lead guitar has a terrific tone to it as well, adding to the distinctiveness. It is almost beautiful in an otherwise ugly sound.

The songs on the album do tend to sound somewhat the same by the end. The nice thing about Hour of Penance is that they do not overstay their welcome though. The songs are all reasonably short, none of them are longer than five minutes. The album itself is fairly short as well. The band just kicks the listener's ass over and over for half an hour and then calls it a day. That detracts somewhat from the fact that the songs kind of run together. So at least if they are not totally original, they make things quick and move on.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I think I would still prefer Spawn of Possession and Gorod over Hour of Penance from technical death metal albums released last year. But Hour of Penance is plenty good.

FMA Reviews: Melencolia Estatica: Hel

Originally reviewed here.

Sounding like a dream that keeps getting stranger and stranger, going off the rails towards oblivion, Melencolia Estatica's Hel is one of the more surprising albums of the year. The album is a concept piece centered around Fritz Lang's masterpiece of early cinema, Metropolis. I will admit to being somewhat naive about that piece, having only read about it or heard others talk about it. I have never seen it myself, though the pieces I have seen would suggest a fairly powerful message.

Melencolia Estatica is the project of Climaxia, who performs the bass and guitar duties. She, that's right she, is the only stable member of the group. The vocals are handled by Afthenktos, who possesses a fairly impressive range for a black metal vocal style, which is used to terrific effect over the course of this album. Melencolia Estatica has been making some noise in the depths of the Italian black metal underground for a few years now. This is the group's third full-length album.

The music is dark and suffocating. The atmosphere is extremely foreboding. All of which serves to drive home the underlying threat of the demise of mankind as found in the film that inspired this album. This is doom-laden black metal that always sounds slightly unhinged and deranged. It is unpredictable and chaotic. At times it is ethereal and dreamlike and at others it is torturous and aggressive. The soundscapes crafted by Climaxia take hold deep within the soul and refuse to let go. The album is deeply affecting.

This is definitely music for headphones. The vocal effects come across best that way. The whispers and screams from the void are much more effective through the use of headphones instead of stereo speakers. Besides, it is much easier to get lost in the music that way. To shut everything else out and let it whisk you away.

I found myself completely engrossed in this album. And it got stronger and stronger with repeated listens. This is one of the biggest surprises of 2012 for me. An absolutely breathtaking experience.

My Favorite Metal Band from Italy

I decided on Graveworm due mostly to the fact that I am more familiar with more of their catalog than I am for some of the other bands listed in my Honorable Mentions. It is likely that my pick will change in the future. Graveworm is a melodic black metal band that occasionally delves into gothic metal. The most interesting aspect of the band is the fact that they frequently tackle a really bizarre song to cover. "Losing My Religion", "I Need a Hero", "Message in a Bottle", "It's a Sin", and "Fear of the Dark" have all been covered by Graveworm, adding their own spin on the songs. Graveworm has a bit of a somber overall tone which is improved even moreso through the use of keyboards and symphonic instrumentation.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Fleshgod Apocalypse
Forgotten Tomb
Hyades
Lacuna Coil
Necrodeath