Lake of Blood - Omnipotens Tyrannus

By Justin C. Lake of Blood play what, at first blush, seems like pretty standard USBM. The opening song of Omnipotens Tyrannus puts me in mind of a more aggressive version of the Cascadian sound, but like a lot of bands that manage to elevate themselves beyond "serviceable" into good or great territory

By Justin C.


Lake of Blood play what, at first blush, seems like pretty standard USBM. The opening song of Omnipotens Tyrannus puts me in mind of a more aggressive version of the Cascadian sound, but like a lot of bands that manage to elevate themselves beyond "serviceable" into good or great territory, the details make all the difference.

That wave of sound that opens "Blood & Mercy" suddenly breaks at just after the 1:30 mark, and you get an awesome, stuttering riff that kicks off a new direction, string scrape included. I usually hate those, but for whatever reason, it just screams "METAL!" here in an utterly satisfying way. The slithery melody line that follows is addictive as anything I've heard in recent memory, and we're off on an 11-minute black metal odyssey.

There are a lot of great touches here. The majority of the vocals are a lower growl than the typical black metal shriek, but it's also mixed with some unhinged howls and even some cleanly chanted vocals in "Agape." The taut, distorted riffing is sometimes overlaid with an acoustic guitar pushed way up in the mix. This isn't done in the usual "Now it's time for a folky interlude" way, but rather it's added as additional texture.

Like the instruments themselves, the song structures in general also have a lot of variety, mixing in slower passages with all the fury. "In Wells of Shadow" features a an eerie, doomy intro that morphs into some of the highest energy music on the album, and ultimately the track mashes the two ideas together in a pretty ingenious way.

If there's one minor fault to the album, it's the length, or more accurately, how that length is delivered. 76 minutes isn't an absurd album length for metal--it can and has been done successfully--but it doesn't completely work here. There are a couple of overly long outros that could have been cut for an overall tighter album, but I think the real issue is the sequencing. The penultimate track, "Omnipotens," is the longest song here, stretching over 16 minutes, and it's probably the most unusual song in terms of structure, sound, and pacing. Having the bulk of that track fall after the 60-minute mark and following it with a three-minute, mostly instrumental outro track can cause a bit of fatigue. I did an experiment where I started with listening to that track first, and I liked it much better that way. I was charmed by its oddities and dissonance in a way that I wasn't when listening to it in the "proper" order of the album.

But that's a problem with an easy solution: If you get a little worn out, press pause and come back to it. Whether or not that track would have made a better standalone EP is a minor gripe compared to the fact that you get so much good music here.

Mouth of the Architect - Dawning

By Natalie Zina Walschots. For all ten years of their venerable career, Dayton, OH post-metal band Mouth of the Architect have been seeking a balance between delicate, emotive atmospherics and crushing, sludge-influenced heaviness. Dawning represents their finest effort in this regard, the huge, looping song structures

By Natalie Zina Walschots. Originally published here by Exclaim.


For all ten years of their venerable career, Dayton, OH post-metal band Mouth of the Architect have been seeking a balance between delicate, emotive atmospherics and crushing, sludge-influenced heaviness. Dawning represents their finest effort in this regard, the huge, looping song structures (which gesture towards pioneers in the genre like Neurosis and Isis), filled with moments of fragile intricacy and frail emotiveness, are pitted against the ponderous weight of doom metal structures and laden, psychedelic guitar tones.

Photos by François Carl Duguay.

Dawning sits neatly between their tender 2008 offering Quietly and 2006's more aggressive The Ties That Bind, with disarming moments like the opening of "How This Will End" standing in contrast to the rest of that track's towering intensity. A great deal of the fine balance that characterizes Dawning is made possible not only be the finely crafted instrumentation but the perfectly deployed dual vocals of Steve Brooks and Kevin Schindel, who can layer death howls overtop of each other, contrast harsh against clean, or offer moments of naked, crooning vulnerability.

[DELETED] Dave’s Demo Roundup Vol. VII - Runemagick Special

By Dave Schalek. Long running Gothenburg doom/ death trio Runemagick are currently on hold, but are still a presence given their recent activity on Bandcamp. Runemagick have uploaded a lot of early demo recordings, six in all, plus all of their full-lengths from 2002 onwards. All of the newly uploaded material has been remastered for a digital release.

By Dave Schalek.

Long running Gothenburg doom/ death trio Runemagick are currently on hold, but are still a presence given their recent activity on Bandcamp. Runemagick have uploaded a lot of early demo recordings, six in all, plus all of their full-lengths from 2002 onwards. All of the newly uploaded material has been remastered for a digital release.

In this installment of Dave’s Demo Roundup, I take a look at the release of the demo material. I should say that I only have a passing familiarity with Runemagick, so I’m eager to dive into these releases with my ears wide open.


Initially, what Runemagick have released is a little confusing. For example, the first of the demo releases is a single song, “Nocturnal Creation,” which may be taken from either Full Moon Sodomy or NecroLive, both from 1992. I’m not familiar with either of the original demos, but the version of the song included on Full Moon Sodomy is less than two minutes long according to Encyclopaedia Metallum. This version, however, is over seven minutes long, so I can either assume that either a) this song was originally recorded and released on NecroLive (interestingly, Encyclopaedia Metallum does not list a song length for the version of “Nocturnal Creation” on NecroLive), or b) Encyclopaedia Metallum's information is in error.

At any rate, whatever the case, the remastering of the song itself is well done; beefing up what was probably a primitive sounding recording to begin with. The song showcases Runemagick's early approach in blending straightforward Swedish death metal with the more plodding pace of doom metal and with minor moments of melody.

Curse of the Dark Rune is the next release and is a three-song demo originally recorded in the ‘90s and released in January, 1995 according to Runemagick’s Bandcamp page. However, Curse of the Dark Rune does not appear as one of the “official” demo releases in the band’s discography, increasing my confusion. You know what? I’m going to stop worrying about the official canon at this point. Let’s just get on with it.

Curse of the Dark Rune is definitely a step forward from "Nocturnal Creation" as the musicianship is tighter, the recording is better with a snappier drum sound. The music is more melancholy, resulting in a doomier sound as blastbeats have been largely excised.

Dark Dead Demos appears to have been recorded just prior to the release of Runemagick's first full-length, The Supreme Force of Eternity, in 1998. Interestingly, though, most of the songs did not appear until 2000 with Runemagick’s third album, Resurrection in Blood. Decidedly heavier and less melancholy than Curse of the Dark Rune, Dark Dead Demos also features a deeper vocal delivery from band founder Nicklas Rudolfsson, and a faster pace. Dark Dead Demos also proves that Runemagick had a wealth of written material to choose from by the time of the release of The Supreme Force of Eternity.

Sepulchral Realms was recorded in Runemagick’s rehearsal room in 2001 and was originally released as a demo in between full-lengths. Appearing here in remastered form, this appears to be that demo with an identical track listing, including a "heavily improvised" cover of "The Return Of Darkness And Evil". What if Bathory had played doom metal? Answers here.

The last of the demo releases is the two-song Eternal Dark. One of the songs, "Doomed", originally saw the light of day on a 7" vinyl split with Lord Belial. Obviously difficult to find today, here’s your chance to get on board with an obscure release. Both Eternal Dark and Sepulchral Realms are very professional sounding recordings and thinking of them as demos is a bit of a stretch, regardless of the circumstances regarding their original release.

Needless to say, Runemagick's presence on Bandcamp should invigorate interest in the band with what are ultimately modestly priced demo releases, and remastered full-length albums like the 2003 classic Darkness Death Doom. Devotees of the band as well as newcomers such as me have much to explore here.