Sutekh Hexen - Larvae (2012)

Full Length, Handmade Birds Records
February 21st, 2012

Genre: Black Metal/Noise
Region: USA

Another disturbing and hazy excursion from Sutekh Hexen.

Larvae envelops the listener slowly, far more incremental and atmospheric than Luciform's brash attack. Isvar Savasana begins creeping with a hypnotic energy. Swirling and frigid, crackling and dragging through bleak static/noise before an ebbing wall of chaos falls upon you, turning into more disturbing scratchy tremolo riffs and fuzzed shrieking. This halts suddenly, morphing into ethereal chimes and a synth-like build only to jolt back into the dark fog of disarray: warped riffs and faint frantic drumming.

This fades and cycles slowly into the next track Lead Us In Warfare. Opening with an evil crawling distorted guitar and bass groove as thunder underneath with sharp discordant sounds circles endlessly. This leads to a break and then heavily distorted vocals with the the groove behind it, eventually shifting slightly in tone and rumbling forth like a fast approaching avalanche before leaving only the bass line. It's like a ritual being performed beneath an collapsing mountain.

Finally we reach the mammoth La Det Bli Lys (Let The Be Light). Cycling samples, creaking and scraping over top a cavernous static while glimpses of a clean guitar surface slowly. As this grows pained cries and whispers rear from the darkness as the background static mounts, and a spoken passage is thrust upward with the acoustic passage quickening. The atmosphere is thick at this point, trance-inducing and deep. This proceeds with various sounds peaking over top the eerie clean riffs with a constant cacophony of whispers and noise twisting in the background; it builds so well. A short gap forms as the oppression loses its grip and then a blast of chaos appears once again, spiraling through the entropic wall of sound while a slow groove gradually breaks through — a final crushing blow from this record entrancing you in the last 2 minutes.

Larvae is much different than their last album and shows off an even darker aspect of their sound, calculated and cold with moments of focused chaos. The vinyl for this album is long sold out but the CD is still available over at Handmade Birds, so pick it up while you can. This is the vinyl rip.

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Pallbearer - Sorrow And Extinction (2012)

Full Length, Profound Lore Records
February 21st, 2012

Genre: Doom Metal
Region: USA

Pallbearer's new record has leaked. I've already ordered my copy but I've listened to it multiple times through their live stream and wow am I impressed. The demo was excellent as was their performance at Rites Of Darkness III (an unexpected highlight of the festival) and this is record goes further — managing to give me goosebumps from the heaviness and despondency layered within.

On Sorrow And Extinction (as on the demo) the vocals are a huge draw for me. A Black Sabbath kind of vibe. They're beautiful, strong and gloomy, very passionate and flow perfectly along side the melancholic, huge, thick riffs to create a wonderful harmony. His voice rings through the suffocating darkness adding much to the cold atmosphere — sometimes they drone and at other times they're sung shaking with melodic majesty, but always exude numbing pain; truly stunning.

Crashing bass licks compliment this dynamic with a deep growl underneath, and a steady beat lifts all this up artfully. Barely reaching a mid pace except for a few moments Sorrow And Extinction steamrolls over you, and with elegance at that. There's five tracks, two of which are reworked from the demo which sound even better than the originals with a few new additions.

The new tracks are so sweet and sad. Foreigner opens with an acoustic melody that soon turns into the fuzzy roar found in the rest of the song, making walls shake with they're sheer might. The vocals on this track are glorious especially near the end. An Offering of Grief pulls you through more lonesome travels at an agonizing pace, a slow crawl of land-splitting riffage and melodic climbs. Near the end coarse yells lead to a brief acoustic interlude only to tumble back into dark territory under a solo. Given To the Grave starts with a low bass lead and choir-like synths, breaking into more full on sad beauty with a clean section soaked in an ethereal atmosphere. This is broken by Brett's sorrowful vocals and crushing, slow grooves and eventually a spacy effect laden solo that plays off the main riff; the tail end is punctuated in this kind of style bringing the album to a close with the heavenly synths fading out.

This is truly an epic, deep journey. Pallbearer do not disappoint and inject their doom with a nod to the oldschool while staying fresh effortlessly. Highly recommended. You can hear this magnificent record streaming at NPR right now, and you should pick it up over at Profound Lore Records too.

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Plague Widow - Plague Widow EP (2012)

EP, Burninhell Records
February 29th, 2012

Genre: Death Metal/Grindcore/Brutal Death Metal
Region: USA

Undeniably one of the more brutal and horrifying EP's in the grind/death metal genre I've heard since Wormed's Quasineutrality. Think Wormed crossed with Portal and you have a disturbing image of what Plague Widow have created here.

Furious and uncompromising in it's twisted display of death and refined technicality. Plague Widow have packed so many dissonant, tangled riffs in this 15 minute EP it's almost overwhelming. Between ominous spoken samples there are squalls of grotesque growls and guttural croaks, vicious bends and harmonics, and blast beats that smash your face into a pulp mercilessly. At various points they channel Portal (Swarth era) and bring frightening discordant atmosphere to their style, an impressive feat managing to distance itself from any kind of copycat antics. Spiraling horror flows through every devastating track. This is a powerful display of musicianship, focus and writing in all conceivable aspects.

This can't be more highly recommended. And guess what guys? I'm not going to be a cunt with this one. No mediafire link for a while because these guys are putting this up for $2.00 minimum on bandcamp and this EP is easily worth more than that. So support these guys. Either pick this up in physical form from Burninhell Records, or listen to it on bandcamp and get a digital copy. You can also follow them on facebook, which I would encourage as these guys clearly will be killing it well into the future.

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Sound Asleep - Demo (2009)

Demo, Independent / Self-released
2009

Genre: Doom Metal
Region: Canada

Sound Asleep are a three piece from Toronto that deliver crushing, plunging dark grooves of doom as deep and cold as ocean trenches. Brace yourself for something massive.

Three gargantuan songs leaving gaping craters and swaths of scorched land in their wake. The first track is an intro that is unsettling and cold, while the other two are 13 and 17 minute behemoths of unbearable weight. The guitar and bass riffs here are relentlessly powerful as are the monstrous vocals with the strong, plodding pummeling of drums driving you further into the ground. This demo has such a wicked growl to it with moments of twangy, crooked dissonance, creaking strings, and mounting feedback buried underneath the rumbling. Each track crawls but without meandering or becoming boring — it's just straight, uncompromising oppressive doom. It commands your attention. Rolling over you like a boulder, smashing down on you like a collapsing tower made of granite. It's grooves are addicting and the tone is vicious.

Highly recommended guys. This is fantastic and they put it up for free. How this band is virtually unknown and only has one release to their name is beyond my comprehension but since they're playing some shows soon hopefully I can get some news on what they're up to, grab a copy of this, and experience their destruction first hand. Follow them on facebook and myspace.

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The Sustained Low ‘C’ of Richard Strauss' “Also Sprach Zarathustra” - Rehearsal 2012 (2012)

Demo, Independent / Self-released
August 2nd, 2012

Genre: Black Metal/Progressive Black Metal
Region: Canada

Castevet just announced a tour of Canada before hitting the Maryland Death festival and they're touring with Ensorcelor, Æsahættr, Sound Asleep, Thantifaxath, and these guys — The Sustained Low ‘C’ of Richard Strauss' “Also Sprach Zarathustra”. I'll be seeing them next month which should make for an intense and noisy show so I thought I'd spread the word about them for those who may be interested.

Containing members of Canadian sludge/hardcore band Titan and the bleak and loud ambient/drone outfit Gates, this is a new project that I'm sure some people here will be interested in. Their approach to black metal could be described as something like Krallice and Castevet, maybe even at some points Thantifaxath.

This rehearsal demo has two tracks on it, one 6 minutes and the other almost 14. Overall it's fast paced with many winding tremolo riffs and a general chaotic atmosphere, thick bass riffs keeping up with the guitar, bursts of feedback and noise, blazing drums and harsh, agonized screaming. They really do sound like early Krallice at points. It stays raw and callous but retains a unique ornate flair, sometimes the riffs slow down slightly but for the majority of the demo they're kept frantic, twisting and spiraling endlessly, playing off each other. The tail end of the last track breaks with lots of feedback leading to a lull filled with angry yelling only to kick back in with heavy, addicting gallops for a nice change of pace.

I'd recommend giving this a shot if you like the above mentioned bands, if you like your black metal progressive. For a rehearsal it sounds promising. You can download this on their bandcamp for free.

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The Twilight Sad - No One Can Ever Know (2012)

Full Length, Fatcat Records
February 7th, 2012

Genre: Shoegaze/Indie Rock/Post-Punk
Region: Scotland

Ah... the new The Twilight Sad record has arrived, and with some slight shifts in sound compared to previous releases too. There's far more synth/post-punkish or new wavy influence this time around while the guitars slide back a little more but this does not bring the album down at all to me. Their style has slowly been shifting with each record and it's never fucked up their gloomy atmosphere or ability to write quality tunes.

Once again James' vocals pull you in with that hypnotic, heavy accent and excellent cadence while the lyrics still encompass strange innocence, familial struggles and not-knowing with relatability despite their quirky nature and structure. As mentioned the synths are pushed to the front, shining and creeping over all the tracks without becoming tiresome and really bring a 80's sort of vibe into their noisey, shoegazey sound — it sets this album apart from the rest of their catalogue without a doubt. Guitar is still laced in feedback and reverb hazing the background up with a thick bass lead in front of it and steady, strong drumming acting perfectly to draw everything together with some great beats. No One Can Ever Know is momentarily upbeat at points but this always collapses into a melancholic tone with a spectral touch.

Clearly another win for The Twilight Sad. I really like the change in direction they've taken with this one. A depressive, mysterious, ghostly journey soak up. Pick this up in whatever form you please over at Fatcat Records if you enjoy it, I'll be picking up my copy when they pass through Toronto at the end of this month.

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Pharaoh - Bury The Light (2012)

Full Length, Cruz Del Sur Music
February 24th, 2012

Genre: Power Metal
Region: USA

Not sure how well that last Pharaoh post went over but fuck it — here's their newest album Bury The Light.

A nice even spread of medium pace and blazing tracks fill up this album which just falls shy of 50 minutes. Stacked to the clouds with heavy melodic shredding retaining the edge of conservatism in terms of technicality, dips into acoustic territory, raspy powerful vocals that have a rare touch of cynic-like modulation in two tracks, strong bass presence right beside the dazzling guitars that holds its own and bubbles over the guitar on occasion, while the drums are a little far back but still strong.

In general the songs are more hit and miss here than on previous releases in my opinion, almost every odd number track is quite good with the exception of the latter half of the album which plays through more smoothly, far more solid in terms of impact. There are still some great tracks with catchy riffs and some awesome solos exuding that classic grand atmosphere you would expect.

Another solid entry into their category. On the first listen Bury The Light is more tame and slightly less memorable than Be Gone or The Longest Night but there's still some nice shredding to be heard. It's up for streaming until the end of the week over here and can be preordered on various formats on the labels store starting tomorrow. No doubt this will be a post that gets taken down before any others by the label/band so get it while you can

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Charon - Sulphur Seraph (2012)

Full Length, Sepulchral Voice Records
January 7th, 2012

Genre: Black/Death Metal
Region: Germany

I've found myself thanking Haxan over at Forever Cursed a lot lately.

Charon have been active since 1997 but this is their first full length, so one should expect that with all that time and huge gulfs between releases that this record would be of a high quality — and I assure you it is. Sulphur Seraph is a writhing tangled heap of blackened death metal akin to Corpsessed, Mitochondrion, and Grave Ritual.

Throughout the record you'll hear wailing and creaking bends fade in and out under the main thrashy, blackened riffs which become like a siren warning of the impending doom. Occasionally the riffs stray from the black metal formula and hit death territory, sometimes dissonant and sometimes more straight forward but always devastating. This is covered by a a storm of percussion and vocals that flail wildly through different styles: spoken and deep, beastly growls, black rasps, even a touch of brutal death metal gutturalness/squeals are touched on briefly. None of it feels out of place and only bolsters the ancient and apocalyptic mood that washes over the whole album.

Fucking great blend of oldschool and newer styles of death and black metal, a crushing debut without question. You can pick up the cd over at the label's webstore.

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Rituals - Rituals (2012)

Full Length, Alerta Antifascista
February 20th, 2012

Genre: Atmospheric Sludge/Post-Metal/Doom Metal
Region: USA

This is the first album from Rituals and wow what a debut it is. A mountainous, beautiful sound is captured by these guys that straddles sludge, post-metal and doom with a sliver of hardcore too. There are five towering, atmospheric tracks to be heard (three hit the 10 minute mark) full of rumbling, fuzzy waves of ritualistic dark sludge that cascade through your ears and fill them with cold fog. Each track bleeds perfectly into each other making the album feel even more like one long, lonely sonic ceremony.

Reverb and warbled effects permeate every corner of the album, amassing from a low ambient whisper up to a soaring, loud, teetering fortress of shadowy doom. Big doom riffs punctuated these moments that repeat creating a hypnotic vibration pulling you in, then slow down even further to envelop you in that already dense, oppressive cloud. Vocals take a Seven Sisters of Sleep and Isis approach albeit at a slower pace but with all the ferocity cranked up around swathes of smooth bass and slow drums. A massive shaking boulder of sound that is paced well, hits hard and demands to be played at high volume.

Another surprising and excellent album of 2012, and once again made free by the artists (you can also hear it in full over here). Very generous. Why not support them by picking up the vinyl over at Doom Rock? Recommended for fans of Isis, Omega Massif, Tides, Lento, Cult of Luna, Atriarch, etc.

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Led Astray - Denying the Inevitable (2005) / In Ways Unforessen (2009)

Full Length, Unsigned/Independent
March 27th, 2009

 

 

Genre: Technical Death Metal
Region: Netherlands

Often there are bands that create high quality, tightly written, skilled music, put out one or two releases and disappear before their music spreads and attains the recognition it deserves. I feel that Led Astray are one of the bands that fit this description so I've decided to make a repost (sort of) of this bands only material: their demo Denying the Inevitable and their only full length record In Ways Unforeseen; the latter is the primary focus of this post however. Virtually unknown but incredibly impressive and exemplary of the style of technical death metal that crushes and shreds evading soulless wankery.

 

In Ways Unforeseen is an album that I cannot praise enough. When I first heard it I was overwhelmed by both the complexity of the skill and writing on display as well as the simplicity of it's direction and style, their ability to blend thrash elements with technical death metal seamlessly in a refreshing way alongside the philosophical lyrical concepts and excellent production.

While clearly tech death there is a strong melodic element injected into the majority of songs. The riffs on display are of such a high quality, carefully thought out and dense with great attention to detail and structure; this is all covered in a subtle otherworldly atmosphere. The relentless thrash side spikes to a blinding pace with venomous technical riffs suddenly giving way to a more dissonant set of chords, only to fall back onto more breakneck tremolo madness, giant palm-muted gallops or bouncy, serpentine hammer-ons.

Moments of furious alternate picking are unbelievable and numerous, as are the thick powerchords that accent them perfectly among limited use of pinched harmonics. A few times things slow down (usually near the end of a track) to a chunky set of powerchords that are undeniably heavy. Only one solo including a sweep appears in the course of this record (on Be The Seeker) and it is short but effective; instead the majority of In Ways Unforeseen is focused on the strong rhythms that plow over you without pause. 

The vocals range from guttural murmurs, beastly roars, brutal death metal squeals, and harsh raspy screams. Drumming is all over the place with double kick blasts and crashing symbol play, never getting to Cryptopsy levels of creativity but providing a solid foundation for all the other elements. Bass lines peak out every so often, occasionally a quiet moment where every instrument drops out leaving the bass on its lonesome is heard. Lyrics surround existential themes and astral considerations fitting the complex nature of the album well.

When it comes to the 2005 Demo, you can hear when comparing the two there was a huge amount of growth between the years both albums were recorded. One song from the demo appears on the full length (Moral Perception) and serves as a good point of comparison, especially in terms of production; admittedly though due to the production the bass lines are far more audible. The demo is no slouch and contains five other excellent tracks that display the same unique and powerful style found on In Ways Unforeseen: thick, technical and thrashy riffs that have a melodic flair without compromising the brutality.

I highly recommend both of these records for any fans of death metal. It's a 40 minute masterpiece. CD copies used to be sold on their official site but unfortunately the site is no more since they split, so I'm not sure where you can pick it up. If you can find it though grab that shit immediately. One of my favorite albums of 2009 and the last decade.

EDIT: I've been told you can still grab copies from Deleterious.nl or you can shoot an email over to jona.rovers@gmail.com. Do it.

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Bonus: Denying the Inevitable DEMO (2005)

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