Skyeater - The Maw of Time

By Aaron Sullivan. When you live in a large city you can list its pros and cons. I happen to live in Los Angeles and depending on the day, can depend on which side of that list is a bit longer than the other.

By Aaron Sullivan.


When you live in a large city you can list its pros and cons. I happen to live in Los Angeles and depending on the day, can depend on which side of that list is a bit longer than the other. But one thing that has always been in my pro list is that as a major city you get to see a ton of bands as its a for sure tour stop for most bands. But what makes it even better is that the local scene itself has a ton of great bands that make going to the smaller shows as good if not better than seeing the tour bands. Skyeater is definitely one of those bands that does the local L.A. scene proud.

Last year I reviewed their demo here on Metal Bandcamp. While some things have changed some have remained the same. The most noticeable is the production. Having recorded at Earhammer Studios with the great Greg Wilkinson (Asunder, Lycus, Fórn). The songs have depth and a real clear sound. Their ability to seamlessly move from funeral dirge openings to tremolo picked Black Metal insanity is something I really enjoy. And it’s not just that they do it, it's that it's done so well. The doomier parts of "Anticosmogony" have a real Asunder feel to them. Songs are saturated in atmosphere. You can almost smell the burning of a pyre as they play lit only by the light of a full moon. The way they utilize the two guitars is really cool also. Allowing for riffs to be played while the other adds these small accents, if you will, throughout. The one thing that always stands out the most to me is the drumming. It’s really top notch. Which says a ton as all the members are very talented.

I was lucky to catch these guys very early on and hear their evolution as a band and for that I am grateful. They really have shown themselves to be one of the best in the L.A. metal scene. When this is published they will be on a small West Coast tour spreading the good word of metal. I suggest you catch them if you can. If you can’t, them by all means do yourself a favor and purchase this album. I doubt you’ll regret it.

Short and to the point 7

By Aaron Sullivan. As people who know me know, Death Metal is one of the genres I just can never really get into with the exception of a few bands and albums here and there. But, add some DOOM and you’ll get my attention. Hands of Thieves album Feasting on Dark Intentions does just that and it got my attention.

By Aaron Sullivan.

Artwork by Jason Graham

As people who know me know, Death Metal is one of the genres I just can never really get into with the exception of a few bands and albums here and there. But, add some DOOM and you’ll get my attention. Hands of Thieves' album Feasting on Dark Intentions does just that and it got my attention.

Chunky riffage and a grittiness are big part of their sound. Vocals are mix of gurgling screeches and deep growls. The atmosphere is dark and primitive sounding, and there is a huge low end to their riffage. At times elements of Black Metal creep in as well. With only four songs they do so much and show a ton of promise.

Originally released by Transylvanian Tapes on cassette Feasting on Dark Intentions is now being released by Baneful Genesis on limited vinyl, so make sure and get you one!

The great thing about year end lists is finding the stuff you missed especially in genres you're not that familiar with. Deathrock is for sure of those genres. Thanks to Cvlt Nation's top ten list I found out about one such band right in my backyard. Los Angeles's own The Wraith and there EP Shadow Flag.

With the opening of "Comatic Romance" I was hooked. The driving bass line. The hoarse pucky vocals and gothy guitar sound. Reminded me of "The Hunt" from New Model Army (a song made famous to most metal fans by Sepultura). The rest of the EP follows along those same lines. Fans of Killing Joke and Samhain would dig this. While Shadow Flag may borrow heavily from that 80’s deathrock sound it still feels very fresh. Hope to catch these guys live soon.

Artwork by View from the Coffin

From Sacramento California comes Vrtra and their album My Bones Hold a Stillness. An album that is based in Black Metal with hints of DOOM, Death, and Post-Black Metal to spice things up. All done with such fluidity the transitions are seamless.

The sound is huge! Guitars and Drums right in your face with vocals mixed in the middle. There is an epicness to the three tracks. The songs have weight. Vocals feel as though they are devouring everything in their way. They can shift from these beautiful middle sections to pummeling blast beats of destruction to drive the song home.

You ever hear an album and while you’re not sure what the hell is going on, you also know you can’t stop listening to it? That’s was the case with 夢遊病者’s album 5772. According to google translate 夢遊病者 is Japanese for Sleepwalker. Aptly titled as their music can feel like a mix of beautiful fantasies and a fever dream.

What is their genre you say? Might be easier to tell you what genre they don’t play. Experimental would be the easiest and bit of an understatement. There are elements of Black Metal, Krautrock, Shoegaze, and Ambient all mixed perfectly. Done in a way that captivates the listener because you're never quite sure where they may go next. Vocals are ghost like. Breathy and low in the mix almost whispered. This is an album done by people that have thrown out the rules and forged their own path. Just a great listen. Even it you don’t find it to be something you want to hear again, I doubt you'll be mad if you hear 5772 at least once. And I’m certain you won’t hear much else like it.

There are those labels that when they announce the release of an album, just based on their track record you know you are going to check it out - and most likely give them your money. Fallen Empire has been a label like that for me for some time, and when they announced the release of Tardigrada’s latest album of Atmospheric Black Metal, Emotionale Ödnis, I was interested.

The album setup is 5 songs with a short instrumental intro before each of them. It’s a formula that works. The intros are soft and light, before the songs kick in with their epic feel and melancholic atmospheres. Vocals are high pitched wails like those found in DSBM. But despite the sadness of the music there is a still a bit of light in each song. Like moonlight shining through dark clouds. Things never get too flashy or technical and Tardigrada are not doing anything unheard of before. But Emotionale Ödnis is a solid album from start to finish, as I have come to expect from Fallen Empire releases.

Gravecode Nebula - Sempiternal Void

Written by Steven Leslie.


As a diehard devotee to extreme music for close to 20 years, it is increasingly rare for me to find a record that truly scares me. Gravecode Nebula’s Sempiternal Void, released last year, is one of the few records post 2000 that has been able to accomplish that feat. To be honest, I’m very surprised that this album somehow managed to fly under the radar and was not a prominent feature on many best of 2013 lists. Truthfully, it’s probably the lack of publicity this band has received that has helped make it have such an impact.

Not since the early days of second wave black metal, when bands shunned the spotlight and simply let their music (and sometimes their actions) do the talking, have I heard an album so terrifying and so sincere at the same time. It is that very sense of the unknown that helps make this album such a prized possession in my ever-growing collection. There are a few things worth noting before I really dig into the album. First, this is not an album that sits neatly inside a single subgenre. This is one of the few modern records that manages to combine elements from several different genres, mainly black, death and doom, without diluting or destroying the essence of any of them. This isn't just a tremolo riff thrown over some death metal grunts with the occasional slow atmospheric buildup. Instead, it is a lethal combination of the best aspects of all these genres. On a random side note, the presence of Hel’s spectacular bass lines should destroy anyone’s preconceived notion that women in extreme metal is just a gimmick.

At a little over an hour Sempiternal Void is not an easy listen. This is not a record you can just throw and headbang along to or drop in as background music. This album needs, nay demands your full attention. Kicking off, “Bloodcraft of Andromeda” sets the tone for the rest of the journey. The song starts off slow with a lumbering riff and simple but powerful drumming as a disembodied roar creeps in. As if this blackened doom template wasn't sufficient, at three minutes the pace picks up and we are treated to some spectacular straight up black metal riffs and blast beats, before dropping back into the atmospheric death/doom that started the song. The rest of the track continues to mutate between genres. One minute brings a minimalist slow doom riff like you might hear on a Monarch record that then transforms into some of the best death/doom around, before throwing you completely for a loop with a section swirling black metal chaos. It is a testament to the bands skill that these elements flow together so seamlessly. This constant ebb and flow makes this album so engrossing and rewarding.

Each of the remaining five tracks follows this template of constantly morphing between agonizing death doom sections and blistering blackened assaults. The performance of each band member is spectacular throughout, making it hard to highlight just the guitars, bass or drums, as they all meld together so effectively to create such a devastating whole. In fact trying to point out a single riff or drum fill would actually do this record a disservice, as it is the whole rather than it’s individual parts that make this such a fantastic album. That said, it is worth taking note of the stellar vocal performance put in by The Zodiac. It is rare that you find a vocalists with such versatility. Whether it is horrifying deathly bellows, atmospheric spoken word sections or ominous chants, he somehow manages to accomplish all of them with the same level of expertise. The superb uses of effects by Dyingnysus and Lupericus Infernale are also worthy of note. While never taking prominence, their subtle touch adds a layer of darkness that would be otherwise be sorely missing.

While this album is most likely to appeal to fans of death/doom, as the majority of the album sticks close to this template, there are definite rewards to be found for black metal and extreme metal fans in general. Fans of the current wave of blackened death metal being produced by bands like Abyssal, Grave Miasma and Grave Upheaval, will find much to sink their teeth into on Sempiternal Void. I would argue that while not stylistically fitting neatly into the black metal genre, Gravecode Nebula have managed to create a record that touches on that magnificent darkness that the early second wave bands made their calling card in a way that many modern black metal band fails so miserably to accomplish. So pick this one up, turn off the lights, and drift off into the sempiternal void.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]