Immortal Bird - Empress/Abscess

By Justin C. It's easy to get fixated on subgenres in metal, although I'd argue that there's nothing inherently wrong with that impulse. Humans like to categorize things, and I've caught myself trying to work out the relevant percentages for Immortal Bird

By Justin C.

Cover art by Kikyz 1313

It's easy to get fixated on subgenres in metal, although I'd argue that there's nothing inherently wrong with that impulse. Humans like to categorize things, and I've caught myself trying to work out the relevant percentages for Immortal Bird on more than one occasion. 57% death, 33% black, 10% grind? Take 13.7% away from death and add it to grind? Where's my pie chart, damn it? But although that genre slipperiness robs me of an easy first sentence for a review, it's also a sign that Immortal Bird are doing things right--if they slapped together a bunch of sounds and the boundary lines were clear for all to hear, it wouldn't sound as good as it does. So let's go with blackened death-thrashish grindy Bird-core and leave it at that.

Photos © John Mourlas. All rights reserved.

Immortal Bird’s first full length, Empress/Abscess, is both a refinement and an expansion of the sound on the band's EP, Akrasia. Rae Amitay's vocals remain a fantastic centerpiece. Yes, they're raspy, screaming goodness, just like you'd expect and hope for, but they also bleed with emotion, be it rage, sorrow, or despair. One could probably argue that most metal vocals are packed with emotion, but it's no small feat to clearly convey such a depth and breadth of feeling while you're screaming like a banshee. The riffing proves itself to be the equal of Amitay's vocals, and I think they're also a step up from the previous EP. "Saprophyte" pits ringing arpeggios against thrashy chugging, only to switch it all up later to angular black metal dissonance. The opening of "Sycophant" could be from a straight-up hard rock song from that genre's glory days, although the entrance of Amitay's vocals dispels any illusion that this is retro radio fare. The interaction between the band members is another big part of these songs' strength. Vocals, riffs, and drums all key off of each other, acting and reacting. Like the genre blending, the lines between rhythm and lead blur. It's a pleasure to hear a band getting this so right--I want to hear musicians interact, not individual parts recorded separately without regard to the whole.

Photos © John Mourlas. All rights reserved.

The last two tracks of the album find the band stretching their sound. "To a Watery Grave" might start up with an air-raid siren riff that builds and breaks into a stomping, punk rhythm, but the band's not above having a little fun with a jazz piano reprise of the main riff later in the song. It makes me feel like I should be sitting in an opulent hotel, drinking a martini with my pants off. (That's what bankers do in opulent hotels, right?) Album closer "And Send Fire" is long by Bird standards, and it's a push and pull between slower, moodier sections and grinding, jagged fury. Is the outro a wee bit too long? Maybe, but maybe it only seems to that way because it's in contrast with the complete lack of filler through the rest of the album. Even with a bit more experimental flair than Akrasia, the songs are still immediately accessible. "Accessible" can be a dirty word in music, suggesting a lack of depth or interest, but that's not the case here. It's not "easy" music, but it's music that's easy to get close to. The songs are well crafted, making all the zigs and zags seem natural, rather than something to be puzzled over. Immortal Bird songs burn directly into your ear and stay there, and Empress/Abscess isn't going to be leaving my heavy rotation anytime soon.

Immortal Bird - Thrive on Neglect

By Justin C. Immortal Bird’s self-description of “crusty blackened proggy deathgrind” may be tongue-in-cheek, but I think it actually reveals a nugget of truth. As I’ve listened to their newest, Thrive on Neglect, on nearly endless repeat these past few weeks,

By Justin C.


Immortal Bird’s self-description of “crusty blackened proggy deathgrind” may be tongue-in-cheek, but I think it actually reveals a nugget of truth. As I’ve listened to their newest, Thrive on Neglect, on nearly endless repeat these past few weeks, I realized that the key to their addictive sound is rooted in duality. They offer up ever-mutating songs, shifting tempo and feel, playing with oblique angular sounds and quick-change ups that will tickle your noggin while maintaining an emotional and musical immediacy from more straightforward realms of metal, making sure you’re not ignoring your feels in the face of the intellectual challenges of the music. Yes, the previous bit may be one of the most pretentious paragraphs I’ve ever written about music, but bear with me, because I promise that it gets to the heart of what I think makes this band so special, and what makes Thrive on Neglect their best album yet.

Vocalist Rae Amitay and bassist John Picillo are joined on this album by two new friends, Nate Madden on guitars and Matt Korajczyk on drums. The core of their sound from previous albums remains the same, but it’s refined and sharpened here. “Vestigial Warnings” takes twisty turns through blasty grind and slower, doomier fare, only to return to a primal stomp at the end. But balancing that, there are moments like the beginning of “House of Anhedonia,” where Amitay opens the song by screaming “We are cursed!”, moments that offer an immediacy that bores right into your brain. “Avolition” is long by Bird standards, coming in over 7 minutes, but it has a telescoping guitar riff that’s one of the favorite things I’ve heard in a while--and of course they fade out with a version of the same riff with harmonics, and I’m a sucker for harmonics. Technically interesting, but still grab-you-by-your-shirtfront direct. Add to that a high, slinky bass riff, and any instrumental music itch I have is well and truly scratched.

The instrumental prowess is matched by emotionally raw lyrics that describe, well, let’s say human relationships that perhaps aren’t operating at their peak. The beginning of “Avolition” offers twisty, dark word play in its first line, “Infatuated with not being alone.” Amitay lets her voice range from low growls to a higher rasp, but her voice never does anything that doesn’t bleed rage and honesty. In album opener “Anger Breeds Contempt,” she percussively bellows “You are. Infection. If. I turn. To face you. I. Know I’ll. Become salt.” adding a nice Biblical allusion thrown in for good measure. If you didn’t know before, her rhythmic delivery here shows her split life between vocalist and drummer.

As of late, we’ve all read a sickening amount of bullshit justification about why shit like stupid Nazi-inspired lyrics somehow “keeps metal dangerous,” but Immortal Bird shows a different, better way. This music is dangerous because it’s musically challenging and emotionally direct and raw. Confronting your inner demons is always more dangerous than lame shock tactics, and adding musical complexity and immediacy in such a fine balance shows Immortal Bird at the top of not only their game, but the whole damn metal game.

Immortal Bird - Akrasia

Written by Justin C.

Artwork by Kikyz1313

I faced a challenge when writing about Immortal Bird: My esteemed colleague, Andy Osborn, said the songs on their EP Akrasia reminded him of "a death metal Ludicra." That's high praise in his book and mine, and it's also one of the most succinct ways of describing Akrasia. But just in case you weren't convinced to check it out after seeing it on both Andy's year-end list as well as mine, I'll throw some more words at you to try to sway you.

Photo © John Mourlas. All rights reserved.

Rae Amitay has shown her drum prowess in lots of bands--including Woods of Ypres, Thrawsunblat, and Mares of Thrace--but she also provides the vocals for Immortal Bird. They're a vicious rasp, and one might be forgiven for thinking the lyrics "I'll chew on glass / I can't swallow my pride" from "Ashen Scabland" might be literal, not figurative. There are a lot of choice sensory moments in the lyrics, too, including a nest that "reeks of disease / soaked with mites and fleas" and the observation that it's "hard not to scream / when steel wool is your blindfold." “Akrasia” means acting against one’s better judgment, and lines like “I’ll be your great regret / the one that makes you pray for death” brings the point home. My own regret is that I didn’t get this review done before Valentine’s Day, because this EP is clearly for lovers.

Photo © John Mourlas. All rights reserved.

The guitar and bass--by Evan Berry and John Picillo, respectively--do more than just keep up with Amitay’s vocals. There's a great variety of riffs here, from the swarm of angry insects on "Spitting Teeth" to the pairing of black metal dissonance and Pantera-esque grooves in "The Pseudoscientist." There are even moments of respite, like when the guitar switches to quiet, muted arpeggios in "Ashen Scabland" while Amitay asks, "Where do you think you'll go when you die?" Well, maybe "respite" isn't the right word...

Photo © John Mourlas. All rights reserved.

None of the tracks are particularly long, and there's only four of them, but Akrasia has a full-album feel. The fact that they can pull elements of death and black metal together and juggle them while still maintaining a clear band identity makes me hope for a full-length, and soon.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Errant - Errant

By Justin C. O.K., I’m not even gonna pretend I’m not a big fan of Immortal Bird (see, for example, here and here). So when I found out vocalist Rae Amitay was doing a solo project, I expected to like it. Sure, she could have done an album of deathcore-stye Prince covers that might have been hard to learn to love, but I had higher expectations.

By Justin C.


O.K., I'm not even gonna pretend I'm not a big fan of Immortal Bird (see, for example, here and here). So when I found out vocalist Rae Amitay was doing a solo project, I expected to like it. Sure, she could have done an album of deathcore-stye Prince covers that might have been hard to learn to love, but I had higher expectations.

Her self-titled album errant does not disappoint. Playing all the instruments, she brings the fire, feeling, and pathos from Immortal Bird, but shows it to us from a different angle. Album opener "The Amorphic Burden" starts on a subdued, doomy note, but it's not long before the song explodes into a very satisfying, full-tilt riff accompanied by Amitay's unmistakable rasps and growls. Not content to stop there, the song morphs again into an almost sunny-sounding, blackgaze vibe. It's a four-and-a-half minute song with at least three distinct movements. Pretty much what you'd expect from someone of Amitay's compositional skills. (And of course, Amitay still knows her way around a drum kit, throwing in a little off-kilter rhythm here and there to spice things up.)

The second track, "A Vacillant Breath," answered the question I immediately had when I heard about this project: Will Amitay do clean vocals? She does indeed, and she does them extremely well. Not long after I heard this track for the first time, I made a pandemic-terror-run to the grocery store and heard Heart's "These Dreams" over the store's sound system. The fact that I could hear a bit of the Wilson sisters' in Amitay's voice should say a lot about just how good her singing is. (This is also my humble request for a Heart cover on her next album.) The lyrics of "A Vacillant Breath" are a tour through a personal hell of self-loathing, with lines like "If there is a method to hide how deeply I have failed / I've yet to learn it,", but the emotion laid bare in both the clean and harsh vocals elevate the track well above a mere inventory of misery.

She may not cover Heart this time around, but we do get a cover of Failure's excellent track "Saturday Savior." If you don't know Failure, that's understandable because they never got the attention they deserved, but let this cover be an introduction. Amitay does a pitch-perfect take on Ken Andrews's vocals, and although the track isn't as ferocious as the EP's other three songs, the mood it sets is a fitting closure to a damn-near perfect debut. I want more of this. A lot more. Please?

Festival Spotlight: Shadow Woods Metal Fest

Shadow Woods Metal Fest "the new mid-Atlantic, open-air, camping-based metal fest" has really piqued my interest. Not because of the camping bit; frankly I'm feeling a little too old for that (there will be cabins available though). There's also the minor problem of the festival being in Maryland, and me being in Denmark...

Shadow Woods Metal Fest "the new mid-Atlantic, open-air, camping-based metal fest" has really piqued my interest. Not because of the camping bit; frankly I'm feeling a little too old for that (there will be cabins available though). There's also the minor problem of the festival being in Maryland, and me being in Denmark... No of course it's the lineup of bands of that got me interested. But before we dig into that, let's get some of the practical information out of the way:

"The inaugural installation of Shadow Woods Metal Fest, kicks off on September 25th - 27th, 2015, in White Hall, Maryland, about 30 minutes north of Baltimore. There will be ZERO ticket sales at the gate for - advance presales to those 21 years of age and older is the only way into the fest, which is also BYOB. There are only 350 tickets in total to be sold, and three-quarters have already been snapped up."

And as for the lineup; there's bona fide Metal Bandcamp favorites like Falls of Rauros, who released what was probably my all-round favorite album last year. And Immortal Bird who released one of the best albums of this year. Metal Bandcamp stables like Black Table and The Flight of Sleipnir. Exciting newcomers like Dweller in the Valley and Snakefeast. And of course Midnight who I'm sure will be good clean satanic fun for the whole campsite family.

The Shadow Woods Metal Fest website has complete details and links to tickets and the fest merch store There's also Bandcamp links to nearly all the bands involved. But if you're interested in reading a few words about some of them, here's nine bands from the lineup that we have covered previously. Enjoy, and if you get a ticket and go, have a fantastic fest.


Falls of Rauros.
As much as this album is a loving showcase of guitar compositions, nobody in this band is slacking off. The drums are fierce, restrained, and intricate at the same time, and the interplay of the bass with both the guitars and the drums is incredibly well done. You can hear all of this because the album is mixed in a way somewhat unusual for metal--all of the instruments and vocals are more or less at the same level. It's the kind of production more common to jazz albums, but it works amazingly here, letting each individual instrument room to breathe. Read more.

Immortal Bird.
Rae Amitay's vocals remain a fantastic centerpiece. Yes, they're raspy, screaming goodness, just like you'd expect and hope for, but they also bleed with emotion, be it rage, sorrow, or despair. One could probably argue that most metal vocals are packed with emotion, but it's no small feat to clearly convey such a depth and breadth of feeling while you're screaming like a banshee. Read more.

The Flight of Sleipnir.
On the band's latest album—the 12-track, fittingly titled Saga—melodic and smoky doom riffs form the base of many tracks, and, as the title implies, this is their most adventurous album yet. It continues the fundamental musical themes the band have always explored, and in that respect the mist-shrouded fjords it evokes are welcomingly familiar. However, it's not so much the terrain itself but a deeper exploration thereof that sets the new album apart. Read more.

Hivelords.
There are many words that get used to describe metal bands, especially of the black or blackened variety: evil, demonic, twisted; but Hivelords manage to pull off something I find more rare: deep, ominous, creeping, oozing, existentially threatening. Their sound suggests a maturity far beyond their years. Most musicians toil for years before they find such a perfect union, but Cavern Apothecary manages it all. Read more.

Black Table.
Simply put Black Table's Sentinel is post-black metal. For a more in-depth description I would go with black metal mixed with the grime of sludge, the angular riffs of hardcore, and the melodies of post-rock. A smorgasbord of heaviness. Black Table are talented musicians, and their sound is intricate. But Sentinel is not filled with progressive noodling; there are brilliant riffs aplenty and the songs, especially opener Heist, are quite catchy. Read more.

Dweller in the Valley.
Younger Dryas is raucous and raw, belligerent and blackened beyond saving. Dweller in the Valley play with a driving energy that's impossible to ignore. All facets of their blackened death metal gleam in their own way despite their light swallowing qualities. Dweller in the Valley are already a potent force and could very well establish themselves as a name to be remembered in the American black metal scene. Read more.

Velnias.
The atmosphere created on these 5 songs make them feel as though they are played outside by the light of lit torches. Beautiful acoustic passages give way to foreboding DOOM dirges before crashing into chaotic Black Metal. Never jarring in it shifts but rather pieces in a puzzle that were meant to be put together. Vocals are deep raw shouts. Guitars buzzing and raw. Drums holding pace with the rise and fall of the tempo. At times coming across as a rawer version of Agalloch. But by no means a copy. Read more.

Snakefeast.
The unusual line up of instruments for this album alone arouses my curiosity… vocals, bass, drums, cello, sax… and unusual is the listening experience that the quartet from Baltimore/MD called Snakefeast offers us with its debut The Pythoness. It could roughly be called progressive blackened sludgy jazz, but it combines so many different stylistic elements, that it forcibly resists to be pigeonholed. Read more.

Midnight.
The compilation contains 21 tracks of their blistering blackened heavy metal, complete with '80s-style solos, devastatingly fun hooks and Athenar’s signature blasphemous, raspy vocals. While it of course doesn’t feel as whole or flow as smoothly as a proper full length, it fits the band’s raw and in-your-face style perfectly. Read more.

Migration Fest 2018

By Matt Hinch. I don't travel much. I live a mere two hours East of Toronto and I might get into the city once a year for a show at best. So driving all the way to Pittsburgh was a big deal. But that big deal was Migration Fest 2018.

By Matt Hinch.

I don't travel much. I live a mere two hours East of Toronto and I might get into the city once a year for a show at best. So driving all the way to Pittsburgh was a big deal. But that big deal was Migration Fest 2018. Totally worth the sweaty-palmed eight and a half hour drive. Damned traffic. Three days packed with bands either on Gilead Media or 20 Buck Spin or hand-picked by them. The trust level here was sky high.

As much as I would have liked to I didn't see every band perform. Out of the 26 bands (I think) that shook the foundation of Mr. Small's I only completely missed 4 bands. Not bad if you ask me. So nothing here on Zombi, Deadbird, Pryolatrous, or the Cancer Conspiracy. Sorry. Other than that I'll try and recap the first multi-day festival I'd been to since 1996. I told you I don't get out much.

Day 1

I also missed the pre-show Thursday night because I was taking in a Pirates game, so at the coincidental time of 4:20 Friday afternoon Migration Fest proper fired up with Cloud Rat's violent grind. I wasn't as familiar with them as I thought but their energy pulls you in anyway. Couch Slut followed up with a hugely anticipated set. Their noisy sludge grind sucked people in as vocalist Megan O. screamed, rolled around, bloodied herself, and threw other cautions to the wind. She's a force on stage and the only disappointment was that she wasn't able to get down on the floor and kick all our asses.

I missed enough of Forn's set that I can't really comment much but I heard enough to regret missing most of it. However OSDM locals Derkéta crushed. It's a simple kind of death metal but they were tight and when they locked into a groove there wasn't a head that wasn't nodding. They looked like they were having a really good time too. As did many over the course of the weekend.

Perhaps the most talked about set from Friday was from black metal extremists, Yellow Eyes. They impressed so much their merch basically evaporated. They looked like an unassuming bunch but holy shit did they rip! Fierce, cold, and fast. Vile screams forced attention and the drummer...my goodness. Such ferocity and power! I thought he was going to break every piece of that kit. Yellow Eyes left many simply awestruck.

Bongripper shifted gears rather abruptly for those taking it all in. Going from Yellow Eyes's lightning-quick BM to instrumental doom, Bongripper was one of the main draws for me and I grinned/scowled the whole time as I watched hundreds of heads all nodding in unison, slowly, as they bulldozed their way through a heavy, heavy set preceding Khemmis.

The Colorado group had the crowd excited. Their newest LP, Desolation is fantastic and I was not alone in anticipating some of its songs blessing our ears. Obviously they did and did well. I started close to the stage but too far to the left. After 4-5 songs and failed attempts at a decent picture I moved to the back of the room and boy, did it make a difference. The vocals were sharp and the twin guitars flourished in an even more powerful way than they do on record. It was one of the best sets of the weekend and a fitting end to MY night. I skipped out on Zombi (never listened to them) in search of grub before everything closed!

Day 2

I know I wasn't the only one anxious to be on time for Day 2. “Last minute” replacements, Immortal Bird were set to open Saturday's festivities. I even heard one fella say it was the only set he actually watched. Hanging out with friends was a big part of the weekend. Immortal Bird, like everyone else, did not disappoint. Their amalgam of styles went over well and served as a killer kickstart. Props to vocalist Rae and the rest of the band for the afternoon adrenaline shot. Especially the drummer!

The crowd thinned noticeably for Scorched. They didn't deserve that. But the young death metal upstarts didn't let the smaller crowd get them down. Groovy and tight, they pounded through some gnarly tunes led by their circle-headbanging singer. On the drive back to my lodgings at the end of the day we discussed rules for a circle-headbanging competition between him and Corpsegrinder. They should just tour with Cannibal Corpse anyway.

I was wandering around and missed the start of The Ominous Circle's set. Shame on me. While I personally enjoyed some of the later sets more I think TOC made the biggest impact. Donning black hoodies under black leather jackets (hoods up obviously) and grim reaper masks the Portuguese monsters made for a very visual display. The singer even wore robes, gloves, and something to make him seem 8 feet tall. Maybe he is. Good god though did they put on a show. The singer openly gestured with his hands when growling from the depths of Hell, and stood stately with hands crossed when his cult mates were doing the heavy lifting. They were surprisingly great and they were quite busy at the merch table as well.

I can't say much about Mutilation Rites as I didn't catch all their set. I was getting a head start on Spirit Adrift merchandise but what I did see held true to their dirty and and wretched style. They introduced their new drummer and otherwise burned through their mid-afternoon set as one would expect. Their new album, Chasm is pretty good by the way. This is also a good time to say that you should not trust the order I'm talking about the bands in. There were changes and it was all just so much fun I may have lost track.

I totally skipped on Deadbird to take a much needed walk and scarf some chocolate bars but you can bet your ass I was back in time to get a decent spot for Spirit Adrift. I was close but with a central spot this time and I could hear it all. Nate's vocals came across different than on record. Less doomy? Still great! Some people even said it was better. With a similar setup as Khemmis their twin guitars soared as well. They've got such a grand, epic style of trad doom that translates extremely well to the stage. Or more likely vice versa. They even played a new song! It was somewhat more urgent, thrashier even, than their previous work and if you're a fan, be excited.

Mizmor. OH MY GOD, Mizmor. Ungodly heavy. Wholly doomed black metal is right! Whether slow or raging the air vibrated with negativity. They switched out drummers a couple times. Both great. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think one of them was Hell's MSW. (I think it was Mizmor's ALN beating the skins for Hell too.) The biggest impact came from the vocals. All those fucking terrifying screams you heard on Yodh are real, man. He pulled it all off live and you felt it in your bones! Spectacular.

I'll admit I hadn't listened to Pelican in a long time. Not sure why. Maybe I heard an EP I wasn't fond of and moved on? No matter. Their set made me want to get back into them. Maybe it was the shared back line or maybe I just misremembered their recorded works but they were heavy! Their musicianship was never in question but they looked like they were having a really good time. So were we. Vocalists be damned!

Due to a faulty Bluetooth connection, broken auxiliary cable, and fickle CD player I listened to Krallice's Years Past Matter on repeat for six and a half hours driving down to Pittsburgh. That didn't mean I didn't want to see the wizards of experimental technical black metal in the flesh. I had mixed feeling watching though. On one hand, gazing with awe at their fingers, hands, and feet and seeing the multitude of notes unfurl was pretty cool. On the other hand, that kind of playing doesn't necessarily make for a lot of stage movement. That was a bit expected but I can still feel a little let down. It didn't seem to bother anyone really though as their Saturday-ending set was met with raucous admiration.

Day 3

OK. The home stretch. I wanted to see Lev Weinstein drum for Pyrolatrous after seeing him in Krallice the night before but pints and puppies at a nearby brewery (Grist House) was too good to rush so I missed their whole set. But, pints and puppies! So Daeva was the first act I caught. It was also their first show! Impressive! Basically thrash metal. Good performers. And the vocalist made me think of a more extreme Dave Mustaine for both visual and audial reasons. I'd keep an eye on these guys.

O Canada! Torontonians Tomb Mold (figuratively) followed me down from Canada to infect the Mr. Small's stage with their filthy brand of death metal. They kicked ass to one of the more packed rooms over the whole weekend. They're a band on the up and up and you could tell by the reaction they received. Their new album, Manor of Infinite Forms is getting a lot of hype and they lived up to it! Just as nasty as you would expect. I'm bummed I didn't get one of their Fest exclusive shirts though.

The Cancer Conspiracy's set was my break for the day. Not that I didn't want to discover but I needed some moving air. The air sure was moving when Hell took the stage. They pushed the PA to its limits with slow, insanely heavy doom. Their mantra is “lower your head” and I did. Parked behind the sound booth I closed my eyes, lowered my head and banged/swayed through their loud and impactful set. I live for this kind of heaving doom that you can feel more than you need to see. Absolutely crushing!

False followed them with keyboard-accented black metal fury. Although I did have some trouble hearing the keys from a couple spots in the room. You couldn't help but hear vocalist Rachel's desperate screams though. Their atmospheric blackness was a nice change of pace from Hell but impressed on their own merits regardless of when they played. I talked to keyboardist Kishel for half of Mournful Congregation's set too. But that was later. There was another big Fest draw to see. Thou.

I'm not as familiar with Thou as I thought I was. That didn't mean I didn't enjoy their sludgy and hard-hitting set. With a third guitarist! They obviously drew a large crowd too being one of the bigger names on the bill. They crushed. In fact, I'd say they're better live than on record. As it should be. Although at the rate they're pumping out releases this year you would expect a band to be as locked in as they were. They kept the set relatively heavy thankfully and they have me excited for the upcoming Magus now!

Yes, I missed half of Mournful Congregation's set but that was only two songs. Their third comprised the other half. Slow, meaningful death doom filled the room as the fullness of night took hold to the delight (despair?) of the sweaty masses. This was one of those sets where I felt bad for not digging into their work more. The emotional performance won me over enough to put their newest slab back on my phone. Everybody wins!

Judging by the enthusiasm Fest closer Panopticon received I felt like I had missed the boat on them. I'm glad I stuck around. Bluegrass doesn't really do it for me but luckily their set was all ripping black metal. Sure, there were some acoustic moments and otherwise not-flesh rending movements but it was the only time the no moshing policy was disregarded, however briefly. They killed it. And made me a believer, as good performances should. Almost every song they played was so triumphant you thought it was going to be the monumental end to the fest. But they just kept throwing out more and more. No one complained. In fact, they even got an encore! People lost their minds for their whole set and with good reason. Plus, Austin Lunn is hilarious. They couldn't have chosen a better band to wrap up the crazy weekend.

Three days, over 25 bands and untold millions of degrees of heat later and I doubt you could find a soul there that left unsatisfied. The quality of bands that performed was rock solid top to bottom. Every band nailed it on stage and it all ran on time! Early even! Kudos to Adam and Dave for putting on such a fantastic festival of noisy, angry, heavy, dazzling, loud, and entertaining underground metal. Fans migrated for the weekend from across continents and Migration Fest was worth the trip however long. The only problem now is waiting to do it all over again.

Max and Matt having fun.

In the words of more than one Fest performer, “MIGRATIOOOOOOONNN!!!!!”

Andy's Best of the Rest

Written by Andy Osborn.

So much metal, so little time. Busy as we are here at Metal Bandcamp trying to dissect and divulge the best heavy releases available on our favorite service, we don’t always get around to digging in to everything we would like to cover. Hidden gems are uncovered on an almost daily basis so sometimes they just get lost in the chaotic whirlwind that is the collective mind of part-time bloggers. So looking back at the last 12 months, I’ve exhumed some of my favorite albums that for one reason or another never got a proper review. All of the following releases could be drooled over and written about at length, but for sake of brevity - and my sanity - here’s the best of the rest.

5. Speedtrap - Powerdose

Traditional speed metal came back in a big way in 2013. One of the groups leading the charge is Finland’s Speedtrap, whose full-length debut floated criminally under the radar upon its release in August. Riffs rip and twist their way across what may be a fairly standard template, but the beefy production and blistering finger-wizardry make Powerdose a perfect argument for revivalists.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

4. Immortal Bird - Akrasia

Artwork by Kikyz1313

I was enthralled by Thrawsunblat’s effort early this year, so another 2013 release featuring Rae Amitay was a devilishly surprising holiday gift. Not sticking to a single genre, Immortal Bird sounds like they have the fires of hell driving their passion for all things extreme. The complex, ever-bending songs coupled with Rae’s vocals remind of a death metal Ludicra, a comparison I save only for the most worthy of projects.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

3. Fir Bolg - Towards Ancestral Lands

Cover painting by Stephanie Simona

I listened to this album solely hoping to finish the laugh that the cover art started, but what this French solo project lacks in art direction it makes up for in energy and focus. It’s essentially a thought experiment in what Immortal would sound like if infused with folk influences, but holy hell does it ever work well. Fans of blackened riffage look no further.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

2. Noumena - Death Walks With Me

2013 was an incredible year for melodeath and saw top-notch releases from genre stalwarts Kalmah, Arsis, Dark Tranquillity and Hypocrisy. But the one that surprised me the most is this fourth full-length from little-known Finnish troupe Noumena. They fuse deeper than hell male vocals with poppy female harmonies and uplifting melodies that bring a fresh sound to the usually melancholic style. You’ll be humming along to these choruses for months to come.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

1. Satan - Life Sentence

Cover art by Eliran Kantor

These middle-aged NWOBH-ers burst back onto the scene two decades later with hands down the best trad metal album of the year. Life Sentence is a nonstop rager filled with infectious riffs, dueling lead guitars and good old fashioned metallic fun. The tight as leather songwriting is absolutely flawless as the Brits tell tales of war and strife, and even manage what may be the first appropriate 9/11 remembrance in metaldom. With better consistency and re-playability than any other album released this year, Satan have re-opened and re-written the book of British metal with this masterpiece.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Riffs for Reproductive Justice

Riffs for Reproductive Justice is terrific compilation of dark music for a good cause. A handful of songs are from albums we have featured, like The Unraveling by Ails and Empress/Abscess by Immortal Bird another handful birds are from bands I have enjoyed live

Riffs for Reproductive Justice is terrific compilation of dark music for a good cause. A handful of songs are from albums we have featured, like The Unraveling by Ails and Empress/Abscess by Immortal Bird. Another handful are from bands I have enjoyed a lot live, like Dawn Ray'd and Closet Witch. On top of that are tracks from all-time favorites like False and Woe - this really is a great collection of songs.

100% of proceeds from the compilation will be donated to the National Network of Abortion Funds. Here's Ursula Le Guin on why this is a very worthy cause, why abortion rights are so important:

It’s like this: if I had dropped out of college, thrown away my education, depended on my parents … if I had done all that, which is what the anti-abortion people want me to have done, I would have borne a child for them, … the authorities, the theorists, the fundamentalists; I would have born a child for them, their child.

But I would not have born my own first child, or second child, or third child. My children.

The life of that fetus would have prevented, would have aborted, three other fetuses … the three wanted children, the three I had with my husband—whom, if I had not aborted the unwanted one, I would never have met … I would have been an “unwed mother” of a three-year-old in California, without work, with half an education, living off her parents….

(full excerpt here)

Their body. Their choice.

Hey, Check This Out! #1

Hey, Check This Out is meant to be an irregular column of DIY reviews, presenting just the basic facts about albums that we wanted to give a full review but for some reason it never happened. First up is 3 very different bands from USA. Enjoy. Band: Replacire. City: Boston, Massachusetts.

Hey, Check This Out is meant to be an irregular column of DIY reviews, presenting just the basic facts about albums that we wanted to give a full review but for some reason it never happened. First up is 3 very different bands from USA. Enjoy.

Band:	Replacire.
City:	Boston, Massachusetts.
Genre:	Hits all the right tech metal notes.
Interesting fact:	Vocalist Evan Anderson Berry also plays guitar in Immortal Bird. Check out the awesome Replacire Eyeball Teeth Skull shirt.

Cover art by Dorian Cleavenger.

Band:	Dofka.
City:	Cleveland, Ohio.
Genre:	Dokken. A darker and slightly harder Dokken, but still.
Interesting fact:	Jim Dofka has contributed a guest guitar solo to each and everyone of Pharoh's albums.

Band:	Sovereign.
State:	Arizona.
Genre:	USBM at it's finest.
Interesting fact:	To our excuse this one took it's sweet time getting a full Bandcamp release. Mixed and mastered by Chris Grigg of Woe fame.

Eight Bells - Landless

By Justin C. So this is the part of the review where I need to tell you what sub- or sub-sub-genre this album belongs to so you can decide whether you hate it or not and move along accordingly. But Eight Bells' newest, Landless, presents that problem I'm always happy to have:

By Justin C.

Art by Nate Burns

So this is the part of the review where I need to tell you what sub- or sub-sub-genre this album belongs to so you can decide whether you hate it or not and move along accordingly. But Eight Bells' newest, Landless, presents that problem I'm always happy to have: an album that exists in its own little universe. Gun to my head, I'd say it's a mix of doom and psychedelia, but it's not typical of either of those.

As on their last album, The Captain's Daughter, Melynda Jackson handles guitar and vocals and Haley Westeiner is on bass and vocals, but they're now joined by Rae Amitay (see also, Immortal Bird, Thrawsunblat) on drums. Landless may be a step down in heaviness from The Captain's Daughter--although you'll still find some choice outbreaks of vocal and percussive violence--but it's several steps up in composition and songwriting. The songs all have a familial resemblance to each other, but without falling into the trap of being repetitive. There's a melodic sensibility that weaves through all the songs, and it's a sensibility that all the instruments carry.

The riffs alone are a masterclass in theme and variations. Jackson throws out a riff, then revisits it as a tremolo version, or a staccato version. Sometimes the band lets a song break completely, like "Hating" at the five-minute mark, but bits and pieces of the song's main themes float through the ambient section, riding on the bass and distant drum swells. Remember how I said this album isn't typical of doom or psych? This is the place where that line is drawn. There's some trippy stuff happening here, but it's not some jam band's 17-minute-long free-jazz exploration or an endless doomy slog. Likewise, the slow build in the album's longest track, "Landless," is just the right amount of anticipation before the screaming/blasting/tremolo explosion. And you'd be hard-pressed to find an earworm as persistent as the delightfully off-kilter riff in "Hold My Breath" from most pop bands, let alone a doom or psych outfit

Jackson and Westeiner's chant-like vocals, sometimes in unison, sometimes harmonized, sometimes drifting apart completely, adds an ethereal vibe to the proceedings. In a way, the album feels like a 40-minute-long meditation, or maybe a soundtrack that's broken free of its movie, insisting on being front and center. It might put you in mind of a lot of different things, but in the end, it's weird, engaging, lovely, and brilliant.

Lingua Ignota - Caligula

Way back in 2011, Tori Amos threw out a random comment in an interview about the power of emotion in music: “I'll stand next to the hardest fucking heavy metal band on any stage in the world and take them down, alone, by myself.” As I remember it, there was a

By Justin C.


Way back in 2011, Tori Amos threw out a random comment in an interview about the power of emotion in music: “I'll stand next to the hardest fucking heavy metal band on any stage in the world and take them down, alone, by myself.” As I remember it, there was a short burst of garment rending and name calling from the dumber side of the internet metal community, completely missing her point and falsely equating “power” with “volume.” There are a lot of metal bands Amos probably isn’t familiar with (see, for example, Immortal Bird) that do deliver the kind of emotional experience Amos was referencing. But the fact remains that Tori is and always has been metal in spirit, and for emotional power, she easily outshines basic-bro metal bands.

This memory resurfaced when I first heard Lingua Ignota’s debut full-length, Caligula. Kristin Hayter is the creative force behind the project, and although she and Amos don’t share a lot of sonic similarities, they do share some experiences. Both Amos and Hayter have played with or have ties to the heavy music scene (Trent Reznor and Maynard James Keenan in Amos’s case vs. The Body and Full of Hell in Hayter’s), both have “complicated” relationships with Christianity, and both have classical music training, piano and voice, respectively. But while Amos has often mixed her emotional power with a bit of sweetness in presentation, Hayter’s music is the ragged edge of an exploding star.

That’s not to say there isn’t beauty in Hayter’s work. Album opener “FAITHFUL SERVANT FRIEND OF CHRIST” finds Hayter’s voice riding on a beautiful string arrangement. You might mistake it for a legitimate hymn if it were not for the dark timbres and the final lyrics, “Bend before unending night.” The fact that she invokes Satan to stand beside her in the next song is another hint that we haven’t stumbled onto Profound Lore’s first gospel record.

Picking genre tags is even less helpful than usual here. The accompaniment to Hayter’s singing is often minimal, with piano or keys punctuated by an occasional industrial or noise flourish. But Hayter’s work is first and foremost defined by her virtuosic voice, ranging from the choral to the operatic and all the way up to black metal-esque screams. “FAITHFUL SERVANT” has a stunning choral arrangement of layers of Hayter’s voice in a striking-but-clean vocal style, but the very next track, “DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR,” finds her diving into the lower depths of her impressive range, pleading, “How can you doubt me now?” The song eventually erupts into Hayter’s barely contained shrieks, and the dripping venom she adds to the line, “Every vein of every leaf is slaked with poison” is delivered with such nuance and delicately applied timbre that it’s difficult to imagine anyone singing the word “slake” in a way that’s more viscerally evocative of the word’s literal meaning.*

There are too many amazing moments to detail here, although I’m tempted to do it. The album is a tour-de-force performance pitting Hayter’s substantial chops against soul-shattering emotions barely restrained. I’ll confess: I wanted to write this review much earlier, to coincide with the release of the album, but I just couldn’t do it. Part of that was because the usual b.s. and work stress, but part of it was that the music demands an investment that can be difficult to give. That is in no way a critique--great art should challenge us, or maybe more than that, great art should sit us down in a chair in a room and scream in our faces until we acknowledge it, and Caligula does that. Hayter has been relatively open about her history of a domestic abuse survivor, and although she describes her music as a way of talking about those experiences allegorically, there’s very little to shield the listener from that power, and as someone who’s had some run ins with abuse in my own adult life, I initially shrunk back.

But much like Hayter had to write this music, I felt I had to write this review. I’m going heavy on the astronomical analogies, but this album is a meteor strike to your soul, and if it doesn’t produce a reaction in you, then you might be dead inside. If your takeaway from another site’s blurb is, “Oh, singer-songwriter with electronic/industrial touches, a pretty voice, and occasional metal shrieks,” your expectations going into this are going to be shattered like the breaking glass in “SORROW! SORROW! SORROW!” (even after many, many listens, the sound still startles me every time. That’s where this music is going to take you.) I know I’ve paraphrased this Iggy Pop quote about Coltrane dozens of times, but this is music that can be difficult to get close to, and it’s not going to be for everyone. And that’s fine. But for those who can engage with this work, I think you’ll find yourself changed to a degree you wouldn’t have expected. I am.

*It’s at 1:07 in the track. Go listen now. Do it. I’ll be here when you get back.