Nightbringer/Acherontas-The Ruins of Edom (2012)

Nightbringer/Acherontas-The Ruins of Edom

Considering that I have been voraciously devouring anything and everything American black metal luminaries Nightbringer have put out since the day Lucifer Trismegistus first viciously carved the sigils of Satan unto my unsuspecting mortal form, it is needless that amid a sea of terrific releases I was anticipating this year, this was high upon the list.  Nightbringer is, quite simply, one of the greatest American black metal bands currently still in operation, utilizing vile yet grandiose riffing that takes the usual chthonic atmosphere of black metal to a far more dangerous level.   Acherontas too, is no mere acolyte in the scene, crafting darkly melodic overtures that draw heavily upon the riffs of such Swedish legends as Dissection and Necrophobic, while adding a more dissonant aspect that puts them firmly in the “Orthodox” black metal camp. 

The resulting split could in some sense be considered a display of consistency on both bands’ part, yet I could not help but feel that for me personally, it represented the hitting of a creative rut that most great bands eventually stumble upon in their careers.  The split opens on the Nightbringer side with a cavernous, ritualistic dark ambient piece that serves as an effective, haunting introduction to Mare, the first true metallic track on the release.  In the tried and true spirit of a Nightbringer song, tremolo-picked melodies whirl (dare I say waltz?) like possessed dervishes over a blood-soaked mountaintop, equal parts nocturnal and blistering, while blasting drums simultaneously hammer away at the foundations of your sanity. 

The race towards perdition eventually slows down and culminates in a paean of dark triumph, providing a satisfying conclusion to this blasphemous assault.  While Mare was undoubtedly the most enjoyable piece on the split for me, in the end it still felt like an inferior rehashing of the scorching style they had perfected on Apocalypse Sun, albeit with every element that made the latter release great toned-down and condensed into more accessible form.  The song’s relative predictability and straightforward song structure ended up only making me crave the more mystical, jarring realms of their past releases, despite it being in all regards a solid track.

That being said, the second Nightbringer track would prove far more lackluster in form.  The Grave-Earth’s Son drags itself into nonexistence with its lack of song dynamics and plodding pace.  While similar, slower numbers had worked well for Nightbringer in the past through the sheer majesty of their melodic fervor, Grave-Earth’s Son simply just sits there and stews in menace, but ultimately doesn’t deliver the conclusive bite that would have made the song stand out for me.  While certainly not lacking in the trademark Nightbringer atmosphere, the song proved to be a narrative to nowhere, not aggressive or purposeful enough for its own good. 

After another long dark ambient interlude that, while serving its purpose effectively, felt anticlimactic as the epilogue of a below-average Nightbringer performance, it’s finally Acherontas’s turn to spread their miasma over hallowed ground.  And they do so, in great form.  Layil is a monstrous track that takes the mystical diabolism of Vamachara and adds a degree of dissonant urgency not unlike what we have heard in French luminaries Deathspell Omega’s work.  The riffs are relentless in their shifting nature and pummel the listener like molten meteorites.  Yet they never become too convoluted for their own good, and ultimately serve as mere conduits for a powerful atmosphere of unearthly blackness.  The track eventually pulls itself into a subtle yet beautiful melodic riff that draws this symphony of darkness to a close.  In contrast to Naas Alcameth’s monstrous howls however, Acherontas’s vocalist seemed rather meek, especially in the context of Layil’s more bombastic nature.  This minor irritant only slightly detracted from my overall appreciation of the track. 

Alas, the moment of triumph is all too ephemeral, as the Acherontas side draws to a close with yet another ambient outro that seems all too anticlimactic.  In the end, The Ruins of Edom falls prey to its own lack of ambition, yet is framed in a grandiose manner that belies the rather brief moments of triumph within its enclosure.  While the release does contains its flashes of brilliance, I cannot help but feel that so much more could have been accomplished through this unholy alliance.

7/10 

Adversarial/Antediluvian- Initiated in Impiety as Mysteries(2012)

Adversarial/Antediluvian- Initiated in Impiety as Mysteries

Sometimes life is filled so many good things, it's hard not to take all of it for granted.  Eventually, it all becomes a blur, and our instant access to the vast bounties of information and entertainment obscure the little things that make life worth schlubbing through.  Little things like, oh, for example, a mega split featuring two of Death Metal's defining and original acts unleashing sonic devastation and plague-ridden winds of the occult onto your undeserving and worthless ass.

I try to live for the little things.

Initiated in Impiety as Mysteries is a culmination of destruction unlike just about anything you have heard.  Both Adversarial and Antediluvian bring their A+ + material here; Adversarial, a weapon of mass destruction and unholy fire, and Antediluvian, a cryptic curse of malevolent evil echoed amongst the ruins, have evolved well past many, if not all, of their peers and become something truly diabolical and wicked.  In truth, this split is slightly more important for Adversarial overall, but this harbinger brings forth the Word of two evils with equal vigor and violence.  Initiated in Impiety as Mysteries is not only essential, it's required in this modern age of Death Metal where merely imitating other bands is sufficient for success.

Adversarial start of this split, and this was the side I was easily the most excited for.  The bands debut LP, All Idols Fall Before the Hammer, was to me a disappointing masterpiece.  It was an album that was brutal beyond words yet as dynamic, intense and intelligent as any Death Metal album in history.  It also featured a production which would have killed a lesser album for this reviewer, and made it impossible for others to enjoy.  Between the non-existent vocals, the weak guitar tone and the utterly ruthless ping-holocaust of the snare drum, All Idols Fall Before the Hammer featured a barrier for entry that kept it from the recognition it, and the band, deserved.  Production will not be an issue for those that listen to Initiated in Impiety as Mysteries, as Adversarial's side of the split, titled "Leviathan," features the best produced material the band has released.  The guitars and bass whirl and twist in the vortex, forming a swirling mass of black matter that blots out all light, while the guttural machinations of vocalist Carlos are not lost in the mist but proudly and freakishly inhuman.  And yes, they fixed the snare sound, a triumph even the most masochistic of us can be happy about.  This isn't just the best produced Adversarial material though.  This is the best Adversarial material period.  Even the brilliance of All Idols Fall Before the Hammer pales in comparison to the inhuman feats of bestial guitar wizardry and supersonic percussion on display here.  Their exact sound is (thankfully) difficult to shoehorn into one genre or another.  We hear some Incantation, Blasphemy, Demilich, Angelcorpse and Immolation, but it all feels fluid and organic.  Adversarial are playing with demoniacal fire of their own design, walking a mythical and dangerous path that few have ever tread.  The bands technicality may not jump right out at you, but multiple listens reveal deeply entrenched complexity and inhuman precision.  Discordant riffs and tight, precise drum work drives each track through their serpentine paths of unhallowed entrancement.  "Spiraling Towards the Ultimate End" is particular stands out, not only as the best track on the split, but as one of the best Death Metal songs I've ever heard.  Equal parts haunting and brutal, the track deftly jumps from slaughter to introspective dissonance, and the two minutes or so of the track will leave you feeling cold and dead inside... and I mean that in the best way possible.  With this track alone, Adversarial have ascended, or descended, into true hellish preponderance.

Antediluvian really didn't need this split as much as Adversarial needed it to announce their grand declarations of genocide.  The bands brilliant debut, last years Through the Cervix of Hawaah, was more then enough to put Antediluvian amongst the elite purveyors of death.  That doesn't mean the band didn't try to out-do themselves again on Initiated in Impiety as Mysteries; the bands side of the split, entitled "Lucifer," is an masters-course on occult ritual and demonic influence via sound waves.  Various personal additions have obviously added to the bands improved technical chops, which are leaps and bounds from their early, underwhelming demo material, but it's the song-writing here that stands out most.  Antediluvian take over-used terms like "occult," "creepy," and "evil" much more seriously then many of their peers, and seek to develop them in new ways that isn't "doing it like Autopsy/Incantation/Entombed" did it.  Sure, their sound is informed by the past, with such influences as Incantation, Imprecation and Beheirt coming through quite clearly.  Yet much like Adversarial, Antediluvian have created their own sick rituals of sacrifice and malice, not merely stolen others.  The skin-crawling dissonance of "Dissolution Spires" or the suffocating, rhythmically intense miasma of "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh(I Am That I Am)" are unlike anything I've heard in Death Metal before: familiar yet alien.

I think it might be obvious which side this particular reviewer prefers.  I take nothing away from Antediluvian here: this band is clearly working on a different level from most of their peers, even in the brilliant Canadian Death Metal scene.  Their twisted, deformed nightmares are impressive beyond words and deserving of endless accolades.  But something about Adversarial, really since I first heard All Idols Fall Before the Hammer(well, the first time I heard it.  My first listen was spent mostly cringing) speaks to me on a deeper level.  Their incredible mix of pure technical prowess and atmospheric, emotional detail is without a doubt something to behold in terror and adulation.  To see these two bands working like this to bring down all we thought we knew about Death Metal, it's equal parts unsettling and exhilirating to think what the future might hold.  What can we, as mere mortals, do in the face of such an all encompassing artistic realization of evil?

I don't think we stand a chance.

Rating: 9.5/10

Muknal/The Haunting Presence- Split(2012)

Muknal/The Haunting Presence- Split

The Black Twilight Circle are no doubt divisive, and I am not really going to get into all that with this review.  Yes, the whole thing is on the pretentious side, but then again it's impossible to ignore the sheer quality of the bands and releases from this shadowy collective of musicians.  The Black Twilight Circle, along with related record labels Rhinocervs and Crepusculo Negro, has become the center of the American Black Metal scene not through style and image, but by releasing some of the best Black Metal on Earth.  Muknal and The Haunting Presence represent new territory for the BTC however. It may seem that Muknal's cavernous, suffocating miasma of New York-styled Death Metal and the reverb choked, balls out aggression of The Haunting Presence don't really fit in with the rest of the BTC and their atmospheric, genre challenging terrorists.  But in fact they do: both bands create gloomy, rotten atmospheres of dust and insects, giving one the sensation of being forever sealed in an ancient tomb.  This focused, effortless atmosphere is a trademark of the BTC, and the true strength of this transfixing little split from two of my favorite acts in modern Metal.

The first two tracks belong to Muknal: this was the side of the split I was most excited for, as Muknal have already released the best Death Metal album of this year a few months ago with their s/t demo.  That demo has remained one of my favorite releases this year, and the chance to hear more material from the band was exciting.  I am not disappointed: "Hecatombs" and "A Winged Emblem of Evil" are the definition of subterranean evil and cosmic devastation.  Drawing heavily from New York gods Incantation and Immolation as well as the fiendish Imprecation and the demented Infester, Muknal are all about spawning suffocating atmosphere's of spiritual horror.  Muknal are not merely happy being another "Incantation-clone" and like Dead Congregation and Grave Upheaval, seek something greater for themselves and their music: dissonance and effective use of sampled sounds and gloomy electronic noises gives the two tracks a very ritualistic intensity that most imitators couldn't evoke in a dozen releases worth of material.  It's all so expertly crafted and effortless, and even more impressive when you consider that Muknal appear to be developing a more technical sound.  "A Winged Emblem of Evil" in particular has a strong, atmospheric technicality to it with the complex guitar play and fantastic drum work.  Both songs are certainly more complex then the material found on the s/t demo, and may signal a departure from the bands primitive roots.

The last two tracks are from The Haunting Presence, one of the first bands to really stand out from the BTC collective genre-wise.  With a sound clearly influenced by Blasphemy, Demoncy and Archgoat, The Haunting Presence seems like the exact type of project that would be leading an anti-BTC charge.  "Malignant Curse From Beyond" and "Hideous Faces of Unknown" are two reverb drenched abortions, viciously thrashing about in a muck of biowaste and sulfur.  Alternating between destructive speed and oceanic trenches of darkness and doom, The Haunting Presence show a masterful control of the bestial barrage without sounding like a cheap imitation.  This is also easily the best produced material the band have released, sounding both balanced and well mixed yet utterly caustic and raw.  The low end rumbles and roars and the riffs spew grime and gore while the demonic grunts of Ghastly Apparition echo above the Hellish aftermath. And once again, the bands super-primitive veneer is challenged a bit on "Malignant Curse From Beyond" which adds a small layer of complexity with some dynamic rhythms and complex drums.  I would not call The Haunting Presence anything less then primitive and dessicated however, so don't expect too much complexity.

As much as I love this split and the bands involved, I have no doubt that both projects will struggle for the notoriety they clearly deserve.  On one side you have hardcore BTC haters who, even if they like the music, will refuse to support any project involved.  On the other side we have the hardcore BTC fanboys who may look at Muknal and The Haunting Presence as the ugly ducklings on the collective, playing unrefined genre's that have long grown stale.  I sincerely hope it doesn't come to this(Fact: if you are a Death Metal fan and not into Muknal, you are missing out), but it's hard not to feel like this is a possibility.  For those of you who could care less about collectives or genre elitism, then this split will gladly devour your soul and you will be glad to offer it.

Rating: 9/10

Male Misandria / Malveillance - Split(2012)

Male Misandria / Malveillance - Split

Though Suffering Jesus Productions has,sadly, recently closed its doors, one of its final acts was to getout this split between Italy's oddly named Male Misandria andQuébec's Malveillance. While the uninitiated listener might find itodd to see a split between a grindcore band and a black metalproject, the similarities are apparent immediately upon listening.Both Male Misandria and Malveillance provide unrelenting and viciousblasts of musical violence that go for the throat and don't stopuntil they've tasted blood.

Male Misandria start the split off with“Magister Makeup”, an intense track which balances brutality andspeed with skill and good song writing to great effect. It providesan immediate glimpse as to the showing MM make here. The guitar toneis clear and gives every riff a clarity which allows theirmemorability and heaviness to shine. This is a definite plus giventhat the music depends heavily on the guitar; the bass is inaudible,the drumming provides what it needs to but doesn't shine, and thevocals are impassioned but don't step far out of an often seen mix ofhigher screams and lower growls. There are moments when the screamsget particularly high pitched and out of control, and that's when thevocals shine the most; “Marble Marquinia” and “Mothlife” bothprovide great examples. Though the other aspects of the music aren'tparticularly exceptional the riffing is thankfully strong. As said,they are memorable and heavy, switching up enough to keep the songsinteresting and exciting while not changing up so much that the riffsdon't make an impact. Male Misandria are strong song writers ingeneral; “Marble Marquinia” and “Mannerless Maternus Mo” havedramatic openings, “Mothlife” ends with a high speed solo, andthe way a melodic lead threads its way through tremolo picked rhythmguitar in “Male Model Merge” is reminiscent of certain types ofblack metal. The crescendo of Male Misandria's half is “Martyr”,which nears 6 minutes and is the longest track on the split. It's adramatic and complex song that shows off MM's strength as songwriters. It's full of interesting moments: it opens with an“Egyptian” sounding riff (or at least Egyptian in the bounds ofthe West's musical imagination), before shifting into black metalinspired riffs. The song has many moments that nearly hit epicterritory, and it has a very interesting bridge where atmosphericguitars and distant, echoing vocals mix with shifts between blackmetal inspired riffing and thick chords. They wrap things up with aninexplicable dark ambient/industrial track, “Masto B”, whichdoesn't make a ton of sense, but is at least solid for what it is.

Malveillance's side opens with its ownweirdness. “Rien” is an ambient track over which F(Malveillance's one and only member) simply speaks in a way thatbrings to mind a pissed off, slightly drunk man. If I understoodFrench, I might be able to read more meaning in to it, so I'll giveit the benefit of the doubt. Everysong is named after an individual. A web search got me hits on a fewof the names, who appear to be important figures in Québec of someform or another, so it seems safe to say that Malveillance's half ispossibly dedicated to a variety of influential figures in Québec'shistory. As soon as “Rien” finishes, F immediately kicksinto what Malveillance is known for: filthy D-Beat inspired blackmetal with a raw, simplistic and hateful style that is no doubtinfluenced by the work of Norway's Ildjarn. The guitar and bass havea thick and dirty raw production that I find benefit's Malveillance'ssound even more than the production on his previous release,Consentir a L'absurde. Theonly problem with the production is the drums. The cymbals have avery tinny sound; I can't decide if it's a crappy drum machine, or ifthe recording of real drums wasn't done quite right. If you can lookby it, the core of Malveillance's sound is present and as strong asever. The songs shift between one or two black/punk riffs, with athick, low end sound. As is typical of this style, the songs arepresented in some ways as variations of a theme, providing an intenseand holistic listening experience, rather than one dominated byclearly demarcated songs. I think Malveillance is one of the top actsof this style, and any fan of it should find there thirst sated byhis performance here. It's length of only 14½ minutes gives it lessvariation than Consentir a L'absurde,but it more than provides the visceral experience I look for in thiskind of music.

The split ends witha few bonus tracks from each artist. Male Misandria presents a lessrefined version of the grindcore previously. The production is muchrawer, probably because the songs were recorded in 2007. “Spazio”isn't as interesting as the earlier tracks and “Love” is yourtypical under-10-seconds grind track. “Vivere da padroni” and “ViOdio” are more interesting thrashy numbers with some audible bassactually popping up. Some synth weirdness pops up here at times mostprominently in “Vi Odio”, where it shows up in the break down andsticks around for the rest of the track. The synths are prettyawkward, and I'm glad they dropped them. Those last two song are alsoa bit over long. The bonus tracks aren't totally unwelcome, but theyreally bring to light how much MM have evolved as song writers in 4or 5 years.

Malveillance onlyhas two bonus tracks. “Cloportes Soumis” fits in with the styleof the earlier songs, and it seems like it might have fit betterthere. A cover of Crude SS's “Nazi Go Home” follows, and it'sbeen infused with the Malveillance sound so much that it's not reallyidentifiable as anything but. Still, it's a nice track that closesoff the album well.

Overall the splitis an excellent showing by both bands and I highly recommend it tofans of either, to fans of grindcore or extreme punk/black metalmixtures, or in general to anyone who likes extreme music that boilsdown to a musical punch to the face. Though Suffering Jesus' labelside is unfortunately dead, they're distro is still open, and thissplit is more than worth its cost.

8.9/10

-Faulty

Metal Archives (Malveillance) / Myspace (Malveillance) / Metal Archives (Male Misandria) / Myspace (Male Misandria) / Buy (Suffering Jesus Productions)

Nuclearhammer/Begrime Exemious- Heretical Serpent Cult(2011)

Nuclearhammer/Begrime Exemious- Heretical Serpent Cult

Nuclearhammer and Begrime Exemious are two names I have picked up as I perused the various forums, blogs and distros in my ever eternal search for music. Both bands have built up a solid reputation across the internet, which we all know is the final authority on what good Metal is, so when I saw these acts had a new split, Heretical Serpent Cult, I thought this was a good chance to check them out.

And once again, the old school curmudgeons that stalk the internet’s various dank and lifeless holes are rewarding old school sensibility and image.

Forgettable and basic, Heretical Serpent Cult is as generic and lifeless as the albums title. On one hand we have Nuclearhammer, who unabashedly steal ideas from Blasphemy and Archgoat at every turn. Devoid of any personality or creativity, Nuclearhammer blast through the first half of this split like a barely functioning jackhammer, beating on the eardrums without any reward for your endurance. The band even throw a Taxi Driver sample at you on the opening track “Storms of Wrath,” which while adding a certain irony to the bands utter lack of creativity, is just as generic as the bands plagiarized and lifeless sound.

Begrime Exemious make an even worse impression. While Nuclearhammer might be pointless, they are at least tight and nasty. Begrime Exemious can’t even play as a band: sloppy, listless old-schoolish Death Metal that lacks any attitude or real brutality. Clearly influenced by early Floridian Death Metal, Begrime Exemious are a scattershot and inorganic mix of Obituary, Morbid Angel and Deicide. Everything about Begrime Exemious’ side of the split is offensive to the ear and so poorly played, it is a wonder the band were ever allowed to record for any label. No doubt the fact the band are perceived as “old-school” is likely the bands only leg to stand on.

Listening to Heretical Serpent Cult has me wondering about the state of Death and Black Metal in 2011: is creativity and originality truly dead? Does all it take to make a record nowadays is your ability imitate older bands that are exponentially better? I understand that everything has already been done, and I also get that originality is not always good. I can get behind blatant worship as well as anybody(I have listened to Putrevore’s Morphed in Deathbreath an ungodly number of times), but what I cannot get behind is a total lack of personality. Heretic Snake Cult has about as much personality as Kobe Bryant on Valium. A truly horrifying, and boring, vision

Rating: 3/10

EDIT: Well, I knew it would happen eventually. I made a mistake, important enough to bare mentioning: this split features four covers, three by Nuclearhammer(three original tracks) and one from Begrime Exemious(five original tracks). I stand by everything I wrote in this review 100%, but it was pretty dumb for me to forget to mention that the split featured covers. Rather than merely edit the review and try and cover up the mistake, I am gonna own up to it with this edit, as a reminder of my hubris... or whatever.

You can find an edited version of this review on Metal-Archives.

Morbosidad/Witchrist- Split(2011)

Morbosidad/Witchrist- Split

Thought I might as well knock out another split, this time a split from Bestial Black Metal demons Morbosidad and Occult Death Metal monsters Witchrist. Both acts have seen a huge spike in popularity over the last few years. Morbosidad are one of the busiest and most talented purveyors of Bestial Black Metal on Earth, and unlike many of their peers don't merely comp Blasphemy every other song to fill up albums. Witchrist's impressive full length Beheaded Ouroboros has made them one of the hottest up and coming bands in Death Metal. So a split from these two acts seems like a great idea.

And it works on this very uncreatively titled Split. The two Morbosidad tracks, titled "Plagarias Ceremoniales" and "Horda Del Apocalipsis" are both under two minutes and are fairly straight forward Black/Grind tracks, but they are a ton of fun and very much up to par with the blast beat heavy aural assaults Morbosidad are known for. The two Witchrist tracks on the other hand are a bit different from what we heard on Beheaded Ouroboros: the production is still very cavernous and thick with distortion, but more balanced. The songs themselves(titled "I" and "II" in another fit of anti-creativity) are much more straight forward Death Metal romps. Seeing as this is a split with a band as no nonsense as Morbosidad, it makes a lot of sense and the Witchrist tracks are actually pretty bad ass. This more stripped down machine Witchrist are running with this release, but it's still pretty interesting.

All told, this four song split is actually shorter than the split I just reviewed(clocking in at barely 8 minutes, with the Witchrist track "II" taking up most of the run time), yet I found it much more satisfying. These are two of the best bands in their respective genres, and hearing them together on the same release, even a mostly insignificant one, it still a blasphemous delight.

Rating: 7/10

Cruciamentum/Vasaeleth- Eroding Chaos Unto Ascendant Flesh(2011)

Cruciamentum/Vasaeleth- Eroding Chaos Unto Ascendant Flesh

Cruciamentum and Vasaeleth are two of the more solid young acts involved in this Old School Death Metal Revival that is in full swing. Vasaeleth's debut full length Crypt Born & Tethered to Ruin was well received by many, and Cruciamentum have generated a lot of excitement with their Convocation of Crawling Chaos demo. Both acts are heavily influenced by Incantation, but load their albums with plenty of tasty riffs to keep listeners tuned it. I was pretty excited for this split, mostly for new material from Cruciamentum.

Unfortunately, Eroding Chaos Unto Ascendant Flesh features only two songs, one from each band, and neither are world breakers. Vasaeleth's track, "Profane Ceremonial Exudation" is a fairly standard affair: distortion choked, primitive Occult Death Metal with a strong Doom Metal influence. It would have been the weakest track on Crypt Born & Tethered to Ruin, but it's still a solid song. The Cruciamentum track is more interesting, if only because we don't have a full-length from this young group yet. The track, titled "Rites to the Abduction of Essence," it a bit of a departure from Convocation of Crawling Chaos: the track is more cleanly produced, although it remains cavernous and heavy. The riffs are still excellent, and it is clear the guys in Cruciamentum are skilled song writers. The vocals are perhaps the biggest change however: no longer indiscernible guttural growling, the vocals remind be more of Bolt Thrower, a mid-low growl that is much louder in the mix. Overall, it is little more than a taste of what to come, and not enough of one to really get wild about.

I fail to see the purpose of releasing a split featuring only 2 songs, but I suppose there is nothing wrong with the idea. It does make grading something like this difficult. In the end, neither track is awe-inspiring, but neither are bad. A decent little split, and a window into the future of Cruciamentum at the very minimum.

Rating: 5/10