The Great Old Ones- Al Azif(2012)

The Great Old Ones- Al Azif

How strange it is that one of the most influential creative forces that has helped shape Metal in all it's forms would  be a long dead horror writer from Providence, Rhode Island with one of history's truly great ironic monikers.  H.P. Lovecraft and his cosmic, esoteric Cthulhu Mythos is among the most referenced subject's in Extreme Metal's historically limited lyrical pantheon(also featuring a little cloaked man with horns and various naked, mutilated women), yet seems to carry a certain air of class about it.  Anybody can write a song about Satan or goats or gore, but in order to Lovecraft-up your lyrics, it means you had to actually read what is now considered classic literature(though Lovecraft was only mildly successful in his own lifetime).  Pretty classy, and the main draw behind The Great Old One's newest album, Al Azif.  Though French, The Great Old One's sound is distinctly American; specifically, the new breed of atmospheric, Shoegaze-and-Doom influenced Black Metal popularized by the likes of Weakling, Wolves in the Throne Room and Krallice.  Being French and all, you would hope that The Great Old One's would have some fresh new ideas to bring to a very trendy, very popular genre, other than the whole Lovecraft thing.

Well... no, not really.

Frankly, Al Azif comes and goes, leaving little in the way of extra-dimensional terror or cosmic infestations.  Hell, it barely lifts a tentacle as it plods along at typical Depressive Black Metal tempos and thick, admittedly inviting Black/gaze/Krallice riffs rule the day.  This is just very typical, very mild stuff The Great Old One's are showcasing as dynamic, progressive Atmospheric Black Metal.  Song's follow predictable progressions, usually alternative between a soft intro followed by lots of fast bits, with softer compositions popping in just on time to break the monotony before the fast stuff starts again... usually for excessively long play-times.  Memory fails when trying to find a single highlight in the haze, and the haze itself is pretty bland: more a smokey, smelly mess then a true thickening of the air that causes the lungs to struggle against inhaling it.  The only aspect of the album that stands out in anyway is the wonderful production: I'm a big fan of the thick, static heavy approach to Black Metal, and it does work here, if only to provide the lone bright light in a sea of dimness.  Al Azif struggles to give the listener much of anything: riffs, atmosphere, or even delivering on the promise of it's subject matter.

This is the thing I understand the least about Al Azif: why even bother going with a Lovecraftian theme if all you are going to write are typical, generic Blackgaze songs that Leucosis and Ash Borer did better last year?  Truth is, I know little about Lovecraft as a writer, but it seems to me the man had a really cool vision.  The whole idea of cosmic horror and esoteric, ethereal old spirits slowly devouring our souls and minds sounds pretty fucking twisted, especially considering the age in which Lovecraft wrote these stories.  If your concept band is going to make a concept album about this kind of shit, it better be as demented and perverse as the concept itself.  Compare this tripe to Brown Jenkins, another Lovecraftian themed Atmospheric Black Metal band(now essentially called The Ash Eaters), and it's like comparing an infant wearing a Cthulhu mask to the real thing's massive, tentacle cloaked member.  We could compare this also to the works of Thergothon or Catacombs, but it's pretty much the same result.  Al Azif might as well be titled Al Franken or Al Capone, because in the end there will be no "visions of R'lyeh" to haunt your dreams after listening to this chore.

Al Azif is not a poorly played album.  It doesn't sound bad, in fact it sounds utterly fantastic.  And it really isn't even a poorly written one.  It follows all the established guidelines of the genre to their well-tread ends, on time and with gusto.  It's that none of it feels unique, memorable or intense in anyway: everything is a blur, and the twisted chants of the star cult are completely obscured by the dime-a-dozen Blackgaze eclipse wonderfully suggested on the albums (brilliant looking) cover art.  The rites of Cthulhu this is most certainly not.

Rating: 3.5/10

Putrevore- Macabre Kingdom(2012)

Putrevore- Macabre Kingdom

Late in 2010, I discovered Putrevore's debut album Morphed From Deadbreath, and it was love at fist listen.  Tearing itself from the primordial ooze, drenched in slime and embryonic diffuse, Morphed From Deadbreath was a Precambrian beast to be feared.  Firmly entrenched in the Rottrevore school of down-tuned, gut-bucket brutality, it was a worship album that felt more like an extension of the sound than mere imitation.  Rogga Johansson and Dave Rotten, two titans in their own right, had created the single most impressive love-letters to a sadly under-utilized sound I've ever had the pleasure of being skull-fucked by, and it left me wanting more.

But like all primeval, primordial beasts, evolution must take it's course.  Since we last left Putrevore stewing in a pit of bile and muck, much has changed: the claws have become sharper, the teeth more serrated, the hunting techniques more advanced.  Macabre Kingdom is the definition of a nightmarish predator: massive and hulking indeed, but also in possession of a frightful, instinctual intelligence that sends shivers down one's spine.  Rogga and Rotten have brought their collective experience to the project, writing songs which offer a more diverse pallet of Old-School sensibilities and good ol' American brutality(not bad for a Swede and a Spaniard) than Morphed From Deadbreath.  Rottrevore's trademark sound, revisionist Swedish Death Metal cut free of cheese-tastic melody and guitars tuned to "Black Hole" mixed with strong Proto-Brutal Death Metal elements, remains the core of Putrevore's sound and Macabre Kingdom's devastating assault.  But the two opening tracks, "Mysteries of the Worm Part I and II," give clear indication that this is not more of the same.  Rogga brings his patented Swedish Death Metal vibe to the entire package, but shows a strong understanding of the material by never over-doing it: melody slinks below the torrential riff storms and Rotten's incredible guttural vocal assault, and occasional guitar solos add more to the material than detract from it.  Also present is a healthy dose of Incantation style tremolo picking and Doom-laden devastation, perhaps a bit token for the current era of Death Metal, but executed beautifully here.

That would be more than enough innovation for any band from one album to the next, but Rogga and Rotten must not have been content with even that, and sought to push Putrevore's sound further into new directions.  "Mysteries of the Worm Part II" fit's right in with the modern Occult Death Metal scene, featuring atmospheric keyboards and dark, serpentine riffs that would give Antediluvian nightmares, while "Awaiting Awakening Again" grooves and rumbles like Bolt Thrower and Grave after blowing through two thirty-packs.  Macabre Kingdom doesn't really maintain a consistent tone throughout the album, and instead goes for an all-encompassing view of Death Metal as a whole; it's past and it's present.  There really is something here for everyone, and the fact that Rogga and Rotten can keep the whole album focused and utterly uncompromising over all eight tracks is a monumental achievement.  Rogga has always been known as a "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" kind of guy through his various SwedDeath worship acts, but Macabre Kingdom feels like a coming out party for the gifted guitarist: he deftly and expertly dances between styles and riffs with impressive dexterity and real understanding of the material and the sound.  I never would have guessed that a Putrevore album would be Rogga's most impressive and multifaceted performance, but that's exactly what has happened.  As for Rotten, there is little to be said: this is arguably the most impressive guttural vocal performance on an album since Antti Boman first blew the world's collective dome with his inhuman vocalizations on Nespithe.

I can't imagine Putrevore will remain in the periphery of Death Metal any longer with this release.  Morphed From Deadbreath was brilliant but very niche, as only hardcore fans of the already generally obscure Rottrevore would get much from it.  Macabre Kingdom is truly an appropriate title: the vast appeal of this album will, if justice be served, crown Putrevore as one of the best projects the modern Death Metal scene has to offer.  May they rule with an iron, gory fist.

Rating: 9.5/10

Father Befouled- Revulsion of Seraphic Grace(2012)

Father Befouled- Revulsion of Seraphic Grace

Whether he is summoning pestilential spirits in Black Funeral, divining the bloody remnants of the unborn in Prosanctus Inferi or merely eviscerating the weak in Father Befouled, Jake Kohn is an easy man to figure out: all brutality and death all the time.  Perhaps not the most breathtaking career, but one that has endeared him to the Ross Bay Cult-types and aging Death Metal fans who still think that Technical Death Metal is killing the genre.  Of all three projects, Father Befouled(which he joined after the band formed) stands out as the most "brass-tacks": while Black Funeral routinely delve into dark, creepy ambiance, and Prosanctus Inferi are so brutal and fast as to be alien, Father Befouled... sound exactly like Incantation.  Revulsion of Seraphic Grace is the bands third full-length album of what essentially amount to Incantation-derivatives, as doomy and subterranean as anything Incantation have released, if not anywhere near as classic or intense.  And in fairness, Father Befouled have never tried to be anything but an Incantation clone.  Artwork, song-titles, lyrics; all none-too-clever nods to the Old New Yorkers and their revolutionary and now endlessly imitated style.  So perhaps it's unfair to judge Revulsion of Seraphic Grace as anything but a worship album, a send up to those ancient monsters whom gave life to many a nightmarish soundscape.  If we judge it on this criteria, then were does it stand?

It stands, but barely.

It's not all on the album: Incantation worship has grown painfully stale at this point.  The market has been thoroughly flooded with albums that sound exactly like this, to the point that it's value and listenability has dropped to almost zero.  I'm personally so sick of Incantation worship, it's starting to make it hard to listen to the real thing.  But even taking Incantation out of the equation and merely comparing Revulsion of Seraphic Grace to previous Father Befouled albums, it still comes off as trite and de-fanged.  Compared to 2010's Morbid Destitution of Covenant, Revulsion sounds positively pussy-footed: the production is the bands cleanest and weakest to date, while the tired and breathy vocals are now loud enough to be annoying rather than scenery.  The songs are also universally slower and LONGER, including the ridiculously boring "Triumvirate of Liturgical Desecration," which crawls like a leper with two broken legs across pine-tar for almost 10 minutes.  Such self-indulgent song length for what amounts to a tribute album is just completely unnecessary and even worse, god-damn boring.  Morbid Destitution of Covenant kept things short and simple, allowing for maximum slaughter at maximum efficiency, which is why it remains a favorite among Incantation-worship albums.  For moments at a time, Revulsion delivers some punishing riffs, but the album begins and ends in a blur of "why bother" which is difficult to shake.

At this point, it's hard to imagine we will get much of anything different from Father Befouled: it's what their fans want and it's what these guys want to play.  The cycle is in place and no one is really interested in breaking it, including me.  Death Metal doesn't get much more dank and rotten than it does on Revulsion of Seraphic Grace, so the question becomes: is dank and rotten enough?  Or more importantly, when does dank and rotten just start to mean it stinks like a dead cat by the roadside?

Rating: 5.5/10

Fuck Computers

So my video card melted.

Having freshly moved in to my brand new shitty apartment, complete with poorly painted walls and doors put in backwards, I endeavored to get my out-dated rig set up and ready for late nights of writing reviews in a drunken stupor.

And then my video card melted.

So as of right now, I'm mostly out of commission until next Friday, aka pay-day.

I shall return.  The Curse lives on.

Cheers,
HeySharpshooter

So, Who Wants To Come Over And Help Me Move?

Just a quick update to let readers know that I will be away from the blog for a few weeks while I get moved to a new dank, pest-infested pit of unholy suffering... also known as an apartment.  Between moving preparations, school preparations, work and listening to an ungodly amount of Kate Bush, I just don't have the time at this moment to write terrible reviews about Old-Skull Deth Methul bands.  But once I've finished gathering twigs and dead animal furr for my new nest. expect the Curse to be back in full swing.

Cheers,
HeySharpshooter

Review Round-Up: Raw as Fvck in the VSA

This whole review thing can be a real pain in the ass.  For one, you always need to be on top of the newest releases, yet because of this annoying little thing that keeps forcing me to do things like go to work and bathe, I never have any time to review them. I think it's called "real life" or something, and I'm not too fond of it.  Unfortunately, homelessness limits my Wi-Fi options, otherwise I would sleep in the alley behind the grocery store and listen to obscure shitty Black Metal albums all day, stopping only occasionally to fight off the packs of feral cats.  We all can dream...

The Rain in Endless Fall- Weald of Introspection(2011-2012)

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, The Rain in Endless Fall is the second project of Lord Vast and Grond Nefarious, also of Wylve and the masterful Blut Der Nacht.  With a more Depressive Black Metal slant, The Rain in Endless Fall are not as powerful and primitive as Blut Der Nacht, but it's still a solid project.  Grimm yet oddly melodic, Weald of Introspection does offer some uniqueness in its structure: the opening track "Ashes Left of a Flame That Once Burned Within" is the true song, the final three tracks making up a solid grimm outro of acoustic guitar passages and the hypnotic whispers of rainfall.  It's still pretty standard stuff, but well played and perfectly produced to satisfy your cravings for cold, thin, frozen Black Metal.

Rating: 7/10

Wylve- Wylve(2012)

And here we have Wylve's debut s/t demo, which isn't all the different from the stuff done by The Rain in Endless Fall: melodic, atmospheric and raw.  There is a bit more speed here, but it's all about the repetition and cold, frozen atmosphere.  It's also the cleanest material this duo have produced, but whether that's a good or a bad thing depends on personal preference.  Truth is, neither of this projects hold a candle to Blut Der Nacht, but then again few bands in modern Raw Black Metal do.

Rating: 6.5/10

Grinning Death's Head- Golden Dawn(2012)

Grinning Death's Head have been teetering the line between primitive, skull fucking Black Metal and sloppy, unlistenable Crust Punk better then just about anyone else since their 2008 debut demo, and Golden Dawn isn't much of a departure from the bands previous material.  Brain-injury may result from the raw, incomprehensible production, but sifting through the static waves of pain reveals a deep under-current of crusty, filthy riffs and ruinous, tortured screams.  Songs are simple and catchy, breaking bones and rending flesh with an effective mid-paced tempo, but I imagine the production will scare away more then a few listeners.

Rating: 7.5/10

Torture Chain- Time is But a Doorway to the Incinerator(2012)

If one band in modern Black Metal can make a claim to being the next Darkthrone, my vote would go to Torture Chain hands down.  Easily one of the finest projects in Black Metal today, Torture Chain are a defining modern act, and Time is But a Doorway to the Incinerator is 23 minutes of frozen bliss.  Equal parts unchained aggression and spine-tingling melody, Time devastates the very air, turning into a toxic, flesh-melting mist.  It's all heavily inspired by Norwegian masters as the aforementioned Darkthrone, Mayhem and even a bit of Emperor, but it also brings a bit of that American spirit to the song-writing with it's  crusty, powerful guitar sound and full-throated vocal attack.  Time is easily the bands best material since the nearly flawless Humbling Isolation Terror, and a must listen

Rating: 8.5/10

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 

Witchrist- The Grand Tormentor(2012)

Witchrist- The Grand Tormentor

New Zealand's Witchrist first caught my attention with their debut LP Beheaded Ouroborous: a vile progeny or the corpophagous swarm, slithering and sulking beneath the black, dead soil, searching for the sickeningly sweet scent of Death.  It was easily one of the most impressive and enjoyable debuts I have ever had the pleasure to listen to, and left me craving for more.  How surprised I was then that The Grand Tormentor was able to sneak up on me: it hit the distros and blogosphere before I even knew what was happening.  Needless to say, once I got my hands on the album, I was salivating at the chance to be enveloped in the bands next nightmarish evolution.

Sadly, The Grand Tormentor merely reacquainted me with the evils of high expectations.  The album didn't even sound like the Witchrist I knew and loved: instead of the horrifying stew of Archgoat, Incantation and Beherit I was expecting to dine upon, I instead received a pile of ground Bolt Thrower-meets-Asphyx chuck, raw and covered in flies.  Not necessarily a bad thing, but also not what I signed up for either.  Truth is, The Grand Tormentor is a perfectly fine album in it's own right.  The production is wonderful: powerful and static-riddled, each riff landing with sledge-hammer force.  The songwriting also holds up to scrutiny: an easy mix of groove and Doom that will no doubt satisfy big fans of Bolt Thrower and Benediction.  Needless to say, it's got riffs: "Cast Into Fire" is short. groove-laden and heavy, and will no doubt get heads banging and mosh pits thundering, while "The Tomb" will draw many favorable comparisons to Asphyx with it's slow,   monstrous pace and underpinnings of creepy melody.  The Grand Tormentor works well for what it is.

And this is also my biggest issue with the album: The Grand Tormentor is a pretty massive departure from the bands previous work, so much so that I just can't get behind it.  It may not be objective, but then again music is never truly objective: the value of personal preference is vastly under stated when it comes to the analysis of any album, and disingenuous attempts to curtail it's importance are frankly obnoxious.  I simply cannot get into The Grand Tormentor precisely because it is such a massive departure from a direction I vastly preferred.  Gone is the atmosphere and dessicated bleakness of Beheaded Ouroborous, replaced with groovy-riffs and monotonous guttural grunts.  Many have complained about the bands new vocalist, known as Void, because he lacks the range and rawness of the bands previous vocalist Impecator(these two must have been tortured as children with such names...).  I am not one of these people per-se: Void is a very competent growler, and his style fits perfectly with the bands new direction.  My issue with his vocal attack comes from my problem with the band new direction more than his performance.

It's true, "Occult" Black/Death like Witchrist played on albums like Beheaded Ouroborous and Curses of Annihilation has become pretty trendy in Death Metal.  There are a veritable sea of bands dabbling in occult mysterious and impious practices right now, and I can understand any band wanting to separate themselves from the scene.  But why jump from one trendy sound to another?  There are just as many "Old-Skull Death Methul" bands rehashing played out Bolt Thrower and Asphyx riffs as there are grimm, lo-fi C'thulhu Cultists mucking about, so I really don't understand the change.  And at least the "Occult" Black/Death movement is a new one, born from a revival of classic Death and Black Metal perhaps, but none the less a new phenomenon.  Everything about The Grand Tormentor(no doubt a reference to Benediction's The Grand Leveller) feels watered down, from the musical approach to the artwork to the song titles.  The Grand Tormentor will no doubt appeal to a larger audience, but it's also missing something that the bands previous work had in spades: personality.

Much like recent albums from Undergang and Cruciamentum, Witchrist have toned down their evil in favor of a more accessible, well-worn sound.  And like those recent releases, The Grand Tormentor is a solid album for what it is.  And what it is exactly is a large step back, away from downward progression into true nihilism and instead into well tread paths of various beloved forebears.  Competency can only get this album so far, but those who are looking for a head-banging good time should seek out The Grand Tormentor.  For me, I'll wait for more intoxicating whispers from the dark.

Rating: 6/10

Review Round-Up : Dissonant Fields

It's been a while since I've done a review round-up, but I found myself dealing with four separate albums that shared way too many similarities of influence: Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord and Ulcerate.  So rather then be all redundant and shit(you guys all hate that), a few mini-reviews seemed in order.

Azoic- Gateways(2012)

It doesn't get more fresh then this: a brand new duo from Iceland(though both members have plenty of experience), Azoic have released a damn fine debut with Gateways.  It's not exceptionally original: if you have heard anything from Deathspell Omega, Ulcerate or Blut Aus Nord(or just about any current "Orthodox" Black Metal band or modern "Atmospheric" Death Metal band), you have heard much of what Gateways has to offer.  The strength of the album comes with the details: the production is thick and warm, featuring brilliantly ethereal vocals and a rich, full guitar sound.  Gateways consistently mixes up the intensity and tempo, and it's fairly effortless in it's atmosphere while remaining highly technical and aggressive.  It may be little more then the sum of it's influences, but Gateways works and works well.

Rating: 8/10

Beyond Terror, Beyond Grace- Nadir(2012)

I just don't get this album.

Beyond Terror, Beyond Grace were once one of the better young Techgrind acts around, and seemed well on their way toward joining the elite of that genre.  Then comes this massive shift in sound, and a massive down-shift in quality: Nadir is not a bad album per-se, so much as a just terribly boring one.  Nadir feels like a practice recording, a band toying with a massive change is style and getting the feel for the genre.  These moments have their place, but not on a major release.  Nadir has a few individual riffs and moments where things pick up, but the tempo remains consistent most of the album, the production mix is atrocious and the vocals do not fit the new style in anyway.  Nadir is an ugly, incomplete-feeling album that struggles to find a voice in a crowded, trendy genre... a rehearsal recording dressed up as a full-length album.

Rating: 4/10

Dodecahedron- Dodecahedron(2012)

No album has been more polarizing for me then Dodecahedron.  The part of me that craves adventure, creativity, originality and personality wants to love Dodecahedron for the experimental, genre-bending tornado that it is.  While featuring a dozen or so obvious influences, particularly Deathspell Omega, Dodecahedron never becomes reliant on these influences to justify itself.  From the first note to the last, the album pushes as many boundaries as it can, and quickly as it can.  Mixing elements of Death Metal, Black Metal, Prog Rock and Post-Rock, Dodecahedron is the kind of album that would normally get me all hot and bothered.

Unfortunately, Dodecahedron is equally as limp-wristed as it is progressive.  A strange complaint perhaps: it seems likely that this Netherlands five-piece weren't really trying to crack open too many skulls or slaughter too many innocents with this album.  Yet this particular reviewer still laments the total loss of aggression and intensity in the search for genre-decimating technicality and progressiveness, and it makes Dodecahedron a major missed opportunity for me. It also doesn't help that the vocals are... well, bad.  Anaal Nathrakh bad.

Rating: 6.5/10

Esoterica- Idololatriae(2012)

Like Azoic, Esoterica are another oven-fresh two piece(US based), and their new EP Idololatriae is fairly solid.  It's a very similar album to Gateways, though it also features the strongest modern Blut Aus Nord vibe of all the albums featured here.  It's another slab of thick, warm and technical Atmospheric Black/Death that isn't strikingly original, but works for what it is.  "Dilated" in particular stands out as a dissonant wall of noise, though this track also stands head and shoulders over the rest of the album.  Solid and acceptable.

Rating: 7/10

BONUS REVIEW:

Deathspell Omega- Drought(2012)

Since their shadow looms large over this entire post, it seems appropriate that we touch on the brand new EP from the masters themselves.  They need no real introduction: Deathspell Omega are without a doubt one of the defining Extreme Music acts of this, or any, generation.  Whether every note fills you with intense love or sickening hate, Deathspell Omega have always held great power, regardless of how many times they made drastic, explosive changes to their sound.

Until now anyway.  Drought is an appropriate album title: it's dry all right, in both new ideas and evil.  Imagine Paracletus, merely devoid of any real Black Metal sensibilities, and you have Drought.  It has far more in common with the progressive, Proggy Death Metal of acts like In Mourning or Fallujah then anything else, complete with a butchered production sound.  At times, through sheer force of musical prowess, Drought begins to show some life: regardless of genre, the members of Deathspell Omega are some of the finest musicians in the world and Drought proves it unequivocally.  Yet it was always the song-writing that made Deathspell Omega truly great: a black fog of un-life, filling the air with electricity and suffering beyond compare.  Drought evokes none of these images, drenched in Prog and unimpressive melody, seemingly trying to get by on technical prowess and nothing else.

It's not a devastating blow to the legacy of Deathspell Omega by any means: it is more slight and forgettable then truly disastrous.  Deathspell Omega have always sought new ground for each individual album to stand, and truthfully Drought is yet again a new direction for the band musically.  It was an album of calculated risks, and when a band takes risks, no matter their talent or history, they are capable of a mis-step.  Drought is a failure, but an admirable one.

Rating: 5/10

Hellvetron- Death Scroll of Seven Hells and it's Infernal Majesties(2012)

Hellvetron- Death Scroll of Seven Hells and it's Infernal Majesties

If there is one big positive we can take from the revival of Old School Death Metal over the last seven years(give or take), it would have to be the birth of "Occult Death Metal."  Influenced heavily by New York legends Incantation and Immolation, as well as a diverse group of Death and Black Metal bands from the early and mid 90's,  "Occult Death Metal" remains somewhat of an enigma: it's not really a genre, and the bands who often fall under the label are very diverse stylistically.  The ties that bind these modern acts together are esoteric and misty, but one word always appears in every bio, blurb and review for these acts: atmosphere.  Specifically, a primary focus on atmosphere and emotional intensity over "riff-salads" and guitar solos.  The music these artists create is often lo-fi and organic, in an effort to invoke the old, rotten spirits of the Earth.  And that's exactly what Hellvetron are attempting to do on Death Scrolls of Seven Hells and it's Infernal Majesties: summon the unknown into the light, so that it may devour willing and unwilling souls alike.  Hailing from Texas, Hellvetron fit about as perfectly into the "Occult Death Metal" movement as any artist I have heard.  So much so in fact, that Death Scrolls might just be the birth of a genre: the first real Occult Death Metal album, sans quotation marks.

That's not to say that Death Scrolls is massively different then anything you might have heard before.  The specters of  Incantation, Imprecation and Beherit loom over the entire recording, and modern acts such as Grave Upheaval, Antediluvian, Sonne Adam and Muknal have also touched on many of the dark, twisted themes that Death Scrolls does.  Yet this album does have a claim on being the first true Occult Death Metal album, because the focus is 100% on atmosphere and texture: pulling individual riffs and sections from this light-devouring void of madness defeats the purpose of the compositions, which are built from the ground up to evoke specific emotions of dread and demonic possession.  After a dozen spins of Death Scrolls, I never once found myself even lightly bobbing my head or commenting under my breath about "nice riffs."  That's not to say that the album doesn't have them, or that it's rhythmically spastic, only that everything about the album is nefariously designed to be atmospheric and textured.  The riffs and drums are buried under a mile of reverb, while the tempos remain slow and hypnotically focused.  The compositions are also dense and busy, featuring loud, powerful vocals and extensive use of ambient keyboards and noises, while the bass is overwhelming with it's low-end intensity.  The ambient sounds in particular are my favorite aspect of the album, and with more and more bands making use of them, they still stand out here because they are used appropriately and only for maximum effect.  Death Scrolls is an album meant to be experienced more then merely listened to, which is partly why I don't find it quite as awe-inspiring as many of the albums released by Hellvetron's peers.

Hellvetron have taken the ratio of "pure insanity" and "listenable" and thrown it completely in the direction of screaming nightmares.  Which is not a bad thing, it merely makes Death Scrolls an album with a time and a place to be enjoyed.  If you plan on summoning some ancient atrocity against God in your dank, smelly bathroom, I could not think of a more appropriate album to have ominously proliferating shadows in the swell of incantations and smoke, but beyond these moments(we've all been there), Death Scrolls is just not every day listening.  It's an album that demands being started and finished all in one sitting to really make any impact, so just casually picking out a single track to play for a friend or to throw on a play list is utterly pointless.

Death Scrolls is a fine album regardless of it's limited use: it fits all my personal desires for Death Metal, as it is nihilistic, atmospheric, fresh and strongly rooted in it's thematic purpose.  And no doubt fans of the "Occult Death Metal" movement will greatly enjoy this album.  The atmosphere is effortless, the intensity is sky-high and the evil simply overwhelming.  Hellvetron achieves every single goal it set for itself on Death Scrolls, and my future forays into the unknown in the search for ancient secrets will have a new soundtrack.

Rating: 8.5/10