Kult of Taurus: Adversarial Paths: The Sinister Essence (2015)

Keeping with the Greek theme from yesterday, here is Kult of Taurus, a band whom I have reviewed previously on this blog.  Kult of Taurus is a fairly recent band and most of the members were not in other groups beforehand.  I had been impressed by the band before, so I was looking forward to hearing more from them.

The influence here is plain as day.  Being a Greek black metal band, the obvious reference points are Rotting Christ, Kawir and Varathron.  But the band utilizes more of an occult atmosphere and the lyrical content is decidedly more in the direction of Satanism and evil instead of the mythology that makes up the content of the countrymen.  The music is not quite as intricate as that of the band's influences, but is based around the more simplistic early 90's Hellenic black metal with a fair amount of Norwegian black metal for good measure.  The vocals are incredibly sinister, some of the more evil-sounding vocals I have heard in some time.  The vocals represent the biggest change from the band's previous album when they were delivered in more of a clean style.

I have mentioned it several times, but it bears repeating.  Hellenic black metal is one of my favorite black metal styles.  Kult of Taurus have captured the sound and feel of the early 90's version of it, and that is exactly the kind of thing I am always seeking.

Swamp: Underground Manifesto (2014)

I first heard Swamp around the same time I heard Fetid Zombie for the first time.  The bands were on a split together and I was blown away by both sides.  But where I was able to track down a significant number of additional Fetid Zombie releases, this is the first additional material I have found by Swamp.

Swamp is a Greek band who combines black and thrash metal in a raw and primitive style.  It is a decidedly old-school style with a lot of pure aggression.  There is a slogan on the back of the album that says "No NU, no Prog, No gay...Old-school & Raw we have to Stay!!!" (punctuation and capitalization all theirs), and that is exactly what this is.  Swamp lives up to that. 

Swamp is an intriguing band.  It is a shame the band has yet to release a follow-up full-length to this album yet.  This album does not really do anything new, but it shows a remarkable ability to keep raw, primal metal fresh.

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. 

Batushka: Hospodi (2019)

This is the third different incarnation of a band called Batushka that I have reviewed now.  The first one was a unique group combining Orthodoxy with their particular brand of black metal.  Then, there was a schism and each of the members of the band claimed he kicked the other out of the band.  And then both members attempted to move on, using the band's name.  The last one I reviewed was the one belonging to Krzysztof Drabikowski, who is largely considered the creative force behind the defunct band.  His further effort was an intriguing continuation of the ideas present on the sole release by the band.  This review will cover the band formed by former vocalist Bartłomiej Krysiuk, who was the first of the two to release new music.

Right off the bat, I can tell you there is a different feel to this release.  Whereas the debut was something of a solemn and eerie affair, this release is much more immediate and aggressive.  There is also a significant difference in production, mostly as a result of this album being released by Metal Blade Records.  There are elements of what made the prior incarnation so intriguing present, but by and large, they are not as important to the overall sound.  For instance, there is still chanting at times, but it is generally used as an introduction to the song, or in the backgrounds.

The music on this release is the biggest difference.  Whereas on the prior incarnation, the black metal was more on the atmospheric side, this is significantly more aggressive, more in the vein of a group like Uada or Mgła.  The riffs are much more apparent and fierce, particularly about midway through "Utrenia".  So this album loses some of its subtlety and becomes more of a standard black metal album, that happens to share some qualities that the earlier incarnation had.  I am not sure that is necessarily a bad thing, but it may not be what was expected in the band had been able to continue.

I see a lot of negative reviews for this album, essentially calling it a cash-grab and illegitimizing the band.  I guess I can understand the feeling somewhat.  The other member seemed to have more influence on the creative aspect of the band.  I guess the question then is, barring what happened here, is the album decent enough to stand on its own?  I think it is.  As I said, it is probably a much more standard-sounding black metal album, and if it were released under any other name, I do not think it would be met with as much hatred and vitriol as it had been.  I think what happened here, releasing this album under the name of a band its owner did not earn, is a shitty thing.  But I kind of like the album.  Maybe even as much as the other new one, though not as much as the original. 

Sammath: Across the Rhine is Only Death (2019)

It was the album title and the cover photograph that grabbed my attention with this one.  There is little more hellish than war and the Rhine River was an important battlefield during World War II.  The album cover captures this, with the bleak color and feelings of isolation on the way to possible death.  It is an incredibly powerful image.  

A number of bands have used warfare as a dominant lyrical theme and have captured various aspects of warfare through their music.  Sammath's goal seems to be to replicate the claustrophobic bludgeoning of being in the middle of a firefight.  Featuring guitar riffs that sound like machine gun fire, drums that sound like heavy artillery and mortars, and the occasional leads that sound like war planes, this is a caustic, pummeling album.  There is not a moment of peace during the entire runtime.  

The first few times I heard this, I was honestly a little disappointed in it.  It certainly makes a lot of noise, but I guess I had something a little more subtle in mind, something with more melody.  Albums by God Dethroned and 1917 have also dealt specifically with warfare and have had enough melody to them to really grab attention.  That is not really present here.  The sound on this is incredibly abrasive, with punishing music and shrieking vocals.  It is not for the faint of heart.  Gradually it has grown on me.  

Ereb Altor: Järtecken (2019)

Ereb Altor is a Swedish band whose music generally combines viking metal with other forms of metal, whether it be doom metal or black metal.  I had never heard the band before, despite the fact that they have now released eight full-length albums.  I decided to take a shot on the album when it was available at the same time as another release I wanted to check out.  That review will be coming shortly.

The band here melds epic and grandiose viking metal with the raw intensity of black metal.  The riffs are often massive, even on the slower moments.  Each song is something of a unique entity to itself, with disparate moving parts and new elements added in each time.  The foundation of Ereb Altor's sound is rooted in viking metal-era Bathory and Enslaved, but there is so much more to it than that.

The best performance on the album is undoubtedly the vocals.  There are a variety of vocal styles used and they range from black metal shrieking to a clean chanting sound.  No matter which style is used at any time, they are always engaging and grab the listener's attention.  The clean singing is perhaps the most noteworthy as it is used often and to great effect.

This album has grown on me a lot with repeated listens.  The first time I heard it, it did not do much for me, but with time it has really sunk in.  The album came close to the Top 10 of 2019.  With a few more listens, I may be re-thinking its placement.

Keys of Orthanc: A Battle in the Dark Lands of the Eye... (2019)

As may be inferred, both the band name and the album title here are Tolkien references.  Orthanc is apparently the name of Saruman's black tower.  Now, I am going to explain that I had to look that up.  The album cover and title were pretty clear to me, but the band name was not.  I have never read any of Tolkien's material.  No, not even The Hobbit.  Fantasy is not really my thing.  I have read the A Song of Ice and Fire books and watched Game of Thrones, and I have seen the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, but that is as far as I have gone.  Horror is my genre.  But metal has gotten a lot of mileage out of Tolkien's material, and this is one more to add to the list.

The music here is somewhat hard to categorize.  There are elements of black metal, and epic traditional metal interwoven with acoustic interludes and keyboard melodies.  The result is a decidedly majestic-sounding album that fits the subject matter quite well.  The closest comparison to another band that I can make is to Bal-Sagoth, but without the campfire vocals and focused moreso on the music than the story.  That is not to say the story is not important.  The band has done an impressive job of telling the story through the music. 

This is an interesting and entertaining listen.  Despite not knowing or caring all that much about the subject matter, the album itself has a lot going for it.  The songs are memorable, particularly the dichotomy between the acoustic, atmospheric interludes and the much more intense black metal sections.  This is an impressive release.

Impiety/Infernal Execrator: Dusthall Desecrators (Live Penang 2015) (2016)

This split is between two bands from Singapore, of all places.  Impiety is a band I am well familiar with and they made my top 100 bands list.  I had not heard of Infernal Execrator before.  As could be gleaned from the split's title, this is a live release, the bands performed a show together.  I am guessing Impiety was the headliner, even though they appear first on the split.

Most of the Impiety tracks appear on albums that I own, so I already know how I feel about the song choice.  The sound is fairly impressive for an underground live release.  If there is an issue it is that the music is slightly muffled when compared to the vocals.  The vocals are very high in the mix and Shyaithan sounds a little rough, but it works with the music well.  Impiety is likely a damn good live act, they sound just as punishing and brutal as they do on their albums.  Someday, maybe I will get to see them live.

The Infernal Execrator side is plagued by some of the same sound issues.  The drums and vocals are high in the mix, with the riffs being somewhat muffled.  In general, this band's songs are generally shorter and, if possible, more intense.  That being said, the brutality is kind of the key to this band without much in the way of subtlety, not that there is much in either band in reality. 

The winner of the split is probably Impiety, but it is a lot closer than I expected it to be.  Infernal Execrator impressed me honestly.  I just like Impiety a bit better.

Nordic Metal: A Tribute to Euronymous (1995)

Despite the name of this release, this is not a tribute album.  My understanding is that it is a collection of songs from a variety of black metal bands to spread the black metal sound in honor of Euronymous's efforts with his label Deathlike Silence.  Euronymous attempted to get some sort of compilation like this together, but was unable to do so before his death.

As this is not a tribute album, I am not going to go through each and every song one by one.  Most of the groups are well-known, including Mayhem, Dissection, Emperor and Enslaved.  And some groups have more than one track here.  Some of the songs are unreleased versions of tracks that appeared on other albums or completely new songs. 

The only track here that is a little questionable is the Mortiis outro.  Mortiis is something of an enigma and the track is far-removed from black metal.  Most of the tracks are about what one would expect from an early-to-mid-90's black metal release: cold and ominous atmosphere and hateful riffs.  There are a few standout tracks however, such as the Abruptum opener "De Profundis Mors Vas Consumet", which sets the tone for the entire release.  Then there's the second Dissection track "Elizabeth Bathori", which is a cover of a Tormentor song that absolutely slays. 

I am not sure what to say about this release other than if early second wave black metal is your thing, this needs to be in your collection.  It would also be a terrific introduction to black metal in general as it features a number of the major bands from the scene.   

Arckanum: Kostogher (1997)

Here we go.  Now we are getting into the sound I really associate with Arckanum.  This is the one-man band's second full-length album and it has taken another massive step forward.  The formula has remained largely the same, but there is a massive improvement in the compositional skills and proficiency at the instruments.

Arckanum's sound has always reminded me somewhat of countrymen Dissection, and that is on full display on this release.  Arckanum is decidedly more black metal, but some of the riffing style is similar to when Dissection is doing a heavier section.  There is some melody present, but by and large, Arckanum's sound is based around a few repetitive riffs, but there is a strong, malevolent atmosphere to everything the band does.  The drumming is particularly impressive, which makes sense because Shamaatae used to be the drummer for Grotesque.  His fills and blasts are inspired on this release, one of the better drum performances I have heard in some time from a black metal release.

The songs on this release do tend to run together a little bit, but that's why it is best to listen to the album as a whole rather than skipping through songs.  As a complete album, it absolutely pummels the listener.  That is the way it should be experienced.

Of the three Arckanum releases I have reviewed recently, this is the best, but there are several more to come soon.  And Arckanum really takes off later.

Arckanum: Trulen (1994)

I guess we are going backwards for the second out of the three Arckanum posts (for now).  This is the band's fourth demo, but the last one before Arckanum released their debut full-length.  A number of the songs that appear on Fran Marder also appear here, though not sounding quite the same.

This is a much more raw and amateur sound than the band had on the debut.  The biggest difference is in the production and the guitar tone.  It's a much more stripped-down sound and does not have nearly the bottom end found on the debut full-length.  But many of the other elements that made the debut so good are here, including the fast riffing style, the nature sounds and the dark and occult atmosphere.  Also present are the vocals, which alternate between harsh screams and hypnotic chanting.

I still have to say that with the choice between this demo and Fran Marder, the latter is the better listen.  The improvement in production has a big impact.  This is a fine demo, but just know that it has the typical limitations of a self-produced demo.  The full-length sounds much more impressive.

Arckanum: Fran Marder (1995)

I have mentioned several times that one of the things that I love about being a metalhead is being able to locate hard-to-find and out-of-print albums because stuff is constantly reissued.  I assume this is at least partially true of other genres, but there are labels whose sole purpose is re-releasing albums that have come before.  Enter Arckanum, a Swedish one-man black metal band whose unpronounceable album ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ caught my attention almost a decade ago.  So, when the band's material was re-issued recently, I started to pick them up.

Fran Marder is the band's debut full-length.  The music bears a slight resemblance to other early Swedish black metal bands, such as Dark Funeral, Dissection and Marduk.  The focus is more on faster, more intense riffing and building a chaotic and evil atmosphere.  The production is extremely impressive, particularly for a mid 90's black metal album.  The structures are mostly simple, built around one or two repeating riffs, but the use of sound effects (particularly stormy weather) gives the album an icy and forbidding feel.

This is an extremely impressive debut for the band.  Of course it is much more raw than some of the later output, but Arckanum got off to the right start.

Coffin Rot: A Monument to the Dead (2019)

Like yesterday's post, the subject of today's post also made my Top 10 albums of 2019.  Coffin Rot's debut full-length made it to #4 on my list of the best albums of 2019.  Coffin Rot is another of those terrific bands congealing in Portland, Oregon and features members of doom metal band Tar Pit, who has been reviewed here previously.  As good as Tar Pit is though, I much prefer Coffin Rot.

This is absolutely filthy, grimy and disgusting death metal done right.  It hits all the right notes for what one should be looking for in a proper old-school sounding death metal album.  The cover art is gory, the song titles ("Saw Blade Suicide", "Necrotized") are hideous, and the music is monstrous.  Featuring meaty, fetid riffs and gurgling vocals, this album is a reminder of the early, dangerous days of death metal.  Reference points are likely the early days of Swedish death metal greats Grave, the highly underrated Benediction, and a little bit of Broken Hope.  The songs chug by at a medium pace, but are packed to the brim with riffs and thunderous bass. 

There really is not more to say.  If you like your death metal filthy and disgusting, this album is absolutely perfect.  2019 was an amazing year for death metal, and Coffin Rot's debut is up there with the best of them all.  Perfect on a playlist with Tomb Mold, Ossuarium and Blood Incantation.

Alcest: Spiritual Instinct (2019)

This album made it to third place on my Albums of the Year list, so I am going to spoil the end of the review by saying that I love this album.  It is however, the biggest surprise from that list, because I never thought that I would truly enjoy an Alcest album.  That is how good this album really is.  It made it past any preconceived notions I had about this band.

The reason for my skepticism about Alcest is their status as one of the leading bands in the mostly regrettable "blackgaze" subgenre, which includes bands like Deafheaven.  The bands combine black metal with ultra-mellow indie rock.  Previous releases from Alcest have been so mellow and focused on the less metal aspects as to be mostly unlistenable to me.  So I never really thought this album would be up my alley.  But then I heard "Protection" and "Sapphire".

What makes this release so impressive is the renewed focus on the more metal aspects.  There are black metal screams here as well as a far more aggressive riffing style.  But it fits in seemlessly with the lush, ethereal and melancholic melodies.  The result is a dark album that is at the same time breathlessly beautiful.  The only downside is that it drags just a little bit in the second half, but the first half is utterly flawless.

I was blown away by this release.  I still highly doubt I will enjoy much of their prior material, and I am by no means going to start checking out other blackgaze bands.  But this album is indeed incredible. 

One and Done? Pt. 14: Satan's Hallow

Satan's Hallow was a band out of Chicago, IL riding the traditional metal wave.  To be more specific, they were one of the many recent traditional metal bands with a female lead singer, joining groups like Smoulder, Iron Griffin, Lady Beast, Savage Master, Huntress and many others.  Satan's Hallow though may have been the best of the bunch. 

Satan's Hallow's sound was rooted in the early 1980's NWOBHM and other speed/traditional metal of the time period.  It is of course obvious to draw comparisons to other female-fronted bands from the time period like Warlock, Bitch, Chastain and others.  Musically though, I think they sound much more like Angel Witch with a bit of Omen thrown in.  But with a woman singing.  Which is just freaking awesome.

The music here is terrific, no-holds-barred true heavy metal with some ripping solos and catchy-as-hell choruses.  And the vocals provide a lot of melody to the riffs.  The result is some blood-pumping, full throttle metal.  The best tracks are the title track, "Still Alive" and "Beyond the Bells".

Well there's bad news and good news.  The bad news is that Satan's Hallow is no more.  The good news is that four out of the five members (only guitarist Von Jugel is absent) have formed the band Midnight Dice.  I will have to check them out to see if they will be carrying on the torch from Satan's Hallow.

Ripper: Sensory Stagnation (2019)

Last October I covered the 2016 album from Chilean thrashers Ripper, Experiment of Existence.  I was blown away by that album and so when the opportunity to pick up their 2019 EP arose, I jumped on it. 

On my first listen to this album, I recall being somewhat disappointed with it.  It did not have quite the same raw savagery that the previous album I heard had.  But repeated listens led to me discovering more and more about the EP and falling for it.  It is different than the prior release I heard, but that is not such a bad thing.

The primary thing I noticed is that there is a bit more technicality to this album.  That is especially obvious in the rather impressive bass parts which bear a strong resemblance to such tech thrash luminaries like Heathen and Atheist.  But the guitar riffs seem pulled straight from the Kreator catalog, fast and intense.  The vocals too have that Mille Petrozza snarl to them.  The result is a release that blends aspects of German thrash, South American death and American technical thrash.  That is quite the mix.

As I said, this release did not jump out at me on the first listen, but repeated listens have my attention.  I still do not think I like it quite as much as the previous album, but it is damn good in its own right.

Μνήμα: Gathering Sorcery to the Eternal Portals of the Past (2018)

This EP was released a month before the demo that I reviewed yesterday, but the sound is something of a mix between both.  It is sort of odd that the song structures in each of these releases is vastly different.  This is the earliest release and there are two songs, of a length of about five minutes each.  The next release in time had just one song, over eleven minutes long.  And then the most recent release had four songs, none of which touched four minutes in length.

As might be expected by now, the production value is not great.  The sound is very muffled, which is sort of a shame because I think the riffs are probably among the best I have heard from this band.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that with a halfway decent (not even decent, I know how these super underground black metal projects are) production, this would easily be the best of the three releases I have reviewed by this band.  I really like these two songs.

The vocals are still not anything to write home about.  I am not sure there are lyrics, it is more like tortured wailing and shrieking.  The guitars are doing some interesting things.  The drums still do not do a whole lot, but they do not sound bad either.  I still have no idea if there is a bass.

So, with these three releases now done, what is my impression of Μνήμα?  Well, it is kind of hard to tell.  As I said, each release sounds vastly different.  This one and Forbidden Creatures of Time are significantly better than the other one.  I am not sure whether I will be continuing to check in on Μνήμα in the future or not.  I suppose just to hear whether they have changed much would be possible.  I certainly would not discount it.

Μνήμα: Forbidden Creatures of Time (2019)

Whoa.  So, according to my review of the band's Metal Archives page, this release came out two months earlier than the one I reviewed yesterday.  You would not know that from the sound quality and musicality though.  This release is markedly better than yesterday's subject.

I am not going to say that this is a particularly great release, but it is significantly better.  This is just a one-song demo, so it is obvious that the song is much longer than anything on the other release.  In fact it is about as long as all four songs on the other demo combined.  The band stretches their musical abilities here and actually comes up with a compelling song with a number of twists and turns and some honest-to-Satan riffs. 

Another huge difference is the production.  It is still a very raw production and it is certainly not good.  There are still major issues, for instance there is almost no bottom end at all (I am still not sure there is a bass guitar here).  But the drums, while muffled, actually sound like drums.  And the guitars are not so soaked with reverb that they cannot be heard.

I still cannot recommend this release to anyone but the most uber-kvlt of raw black metal fans, but there are some of those out there.  I did enjoy this release significantly more than yesterday's though and that is certainly something.

Μνήμα: The Superior Poisoner of Time (2019)

Ummm, yeah.  Well, let me introduce the band and get started.  There is a little bit to cover, though this review likely will not be a long one.  There really is not much here.  That band name is pronounced "mniee-ma" and it means "tomb" in Greek.  I picked up a few releases by this band because it's a Greek black metal band.  I mean, come on.  Well, here we go.

First off, this is the absolute worst production I have ever heard.  And that is saying something.  The vocals are really high in the mix.  The drums sound like they are in the basement of the recording studio being recorded by placing the equipment on the floor.  The guitars can barely be heard over their reverb.  I am not even sure there is a bass guitar. 

Now, on to the actual music.  The release is mercifully short.  The vocals are not really saying anything, and are delivered in moans or squeals or shrieks.  It sounds more like a bunch of tomcats in heat than anything human.  The drums sound like someone tossed a bunch of pots, pans and metal ladles into the dryer and recorded it.  There is really no rhyme or reason behind anything the drums are doing.  Thankfully they are so muffled (floorboards) that they are barely noticeable.  Every once in awhile a riff shines through and you can almost for a couple of seconds hear what this band might be thinking.  But those moments are brief and far apart.

Skip this one.  It is not worth it. 

Abyssic Hate: Suicidal Emotions (2000)

One can already tell that this is not going to be the most uplifting album in the world.  From the band name to the album title to the album cover, it is clear that this Australian black metal band does not have a lot of positive things to say.  And sure enough, this is a style commonly referred to as depressive black metal. 

Abyssic Hate is a one-man project of Shane Rout, who has spent time in Australian metal luminaries such as Hecatomb and Deströyer 666, usually as a drummer.  It is somewhat surprising then that the drums are actually the least impressive part of this album.  In fact, despite the fact that Rout is a drummer, he made use of a drum machine on this release. 

But enough of the negative, this album blew me away.  I have had a little bit of difficulty getting into this style of black metal until I heard Leviathan.  If I had heard this album first, it may have been a significantly different story.  There is a lot going on in this release, even if it seems fairly simplistic on the surface.  The songs are quite lengthy, usually propelled by fairly minimalist riffs, much like Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger.  It is no surprise to know that the band's name comes from a Darkthrone song.  But beneath the riffs is some strangely compelling melodies reminiscent of groups like Joy Division and The Cure.  That is not to say that these elements are overpowering, but they exist in order to propel the emotional center of the album.  The biggest highlight is the opening riff of "Betrayed".  That was the moment that really captured my attention and the album refused to let go after that.

Fans of Xasthur, Leviathan and other depressive black metal absolutely MUST check this album out.  This should be a landmark in the style.  It is truly impressive.  Unfortunately it is the only full-length from Abyssic Hate and Rout has ended this project.  It would have been tough to top this album anyway.