Attic - Foster

By Justin C. Surprise reunions with old friends are a good thing. Way back in 2015, I reviewed the debut album from Attic, a band dabbling in several subgenres and occasionally happy spring-time lyrics, but making it all work. If you’d asked me recently if that

By Justin C.


Surprise reunions with old friends are a good thing. Way back in 2015, I reviewed the debut album from Attic, a band dabbling in several subgenres and occasionally happy spring-time lyrics, but making it all work. If you’d asked me recently if that was the last we’d heard of them, I probably would have bet that they’d moved on to day jobs, families, and all the rest. But here we are, almost five years after their debut, with a second album, Foster, in our hands and ears.

I think it says something that, in the sea of of Bandcamp notifications and promos I get, I immediately remembered who Attic was when I saw the new album notification. Their “bright death metal,” for lack of a better phrase, stood out in a crowd of OSDM caverncore bands. Foster sees the band with a new singer and down one guitarist, but the musical sensibilities that made Seasons so damn enjoyable are still present.

Attic still do the magic trick of mashing up doom, death, black, thrash, and some proggy tendencies all together without sounding like a sonic slop bucket. Hell, you can hear all of these in the opening track, “Of Endless Sage and Sky.” The death-doom intro leads to chunkier riffs, then the song slows down to a crawl with ringing riffs before firing back up to a thrashing good time. It should make for a distracted listen, but Attic uses all these and still sounds like the same band throughout. In a time when it sometimes seems like memorable riffs are few and far between, Attic puts out a barn burner like “The Wyrm,” filled with chugging riffs that make me want to drive a million miles an hour and pound the steering wheel.

Attic has brought forward a lot of what they did well on their debut. The simple, ringing riff that opens “Summer” harkens back to “Spring” on Seasons. “Summer” has a sunrise-breaking feeling carried by all of four notes, but the band favors this kind of straightforward melodicism, and in another move that could turn deadly in leser hands, they use repetition to build momentum, like in “The Washing.” This is not a case of “We like this riff so we’ll keep playing it until the audience leaves to get a beer.” This is “We’re going to wring every bit of metal goodness out of this riff until we’re all spent.”

Add all this in with and overall stronger sense of songwriting and style, while still pushing the edges a bit (check out the cool pizzicato riff and whispering vocals of the closer “Particle”), and we’re left with an album that gives no indication of a long gap between recordings. It’s a unique band that’s managed to survive and progress. But I better not have to wait five more years for another album, or I’ll...furrow my brow? Frown? That’s menacing, right?

From The Metal Archives Vol. 2

[When I add labels to the Metal Labels on Bandcamp page I usually scan their releases looking for anything interesting I might have missed. The reviews on The Metal Archives are a great help when doing this: a couple of great reviews

By the reviewers from The Metal Archives.

[When I add labels to the Metal Labels on Bandcamp page I usually scan their releases looking for anything interesting I might have missed. The reviews on The Metal Archives are a great help when doing this: a couple of great reviews means an album I should probably check out. With this series I'd like to share some of my finds - in this edition we have three very different takes on black metal from Bulgaria, Brazil, and Scotland.]

Artwork by Stidesigner.com

Perfectly Calm starts off with a medieval-symphonic and melancholic touch that runs for trying to create an atmospheric passage which is easily accomplished, "Indifferent" shows the display of powerful soundscapes and slow vibe that will rise even more in the following tracks, a great opener that sets the vibe for the emotions, keep an eye the violins presence, voices and ambient, this is a song that may seem out there at first, but will grow on you over time. "Dissolving into Nothingness" deserves a special mention, depression, emotion and despair running through the violins, dense fog rising on the vocal work and despaired atmosphere, simply 7 perfect minutes of atmospheric black metal with an epic touch, indeed the highlight in the whole album and simply stunning... [read InternalStruggle's full review here.]

Perceiving these guys as an entity that serves in the temple of form and structure would be much more accurate observation, as their music is all about the melody, proportion and carefully conceived arrangements. The opening track "All Man’s Redemption" stands as the best possible testimony to that claim, there is no need to go any further. The guitar sequence at the beginning, the way they build dynamic of the song by placing layer after layer of outstanding riffs, only to culminate at the 3:16 mark with that amazing guitar break – absolutely nothing about this song indicates a beginner’s effort. Which leads us to the true highlight of this album and that is the outstanding guitar work. Literally every song on The Wayward Ceremony has some interesting and contagious guitar hook that is catchy and apt to get instantly remembered... [read Towards The Inevitable's full review here.]

Hey, Check This Out! #2

Hey, Check This Out! is an irregular column of DIY reviews, where we give you just the basic facts about albums that we wanted to give a full review but for some reason it never happened.

Hey, Check This Out! is an irregular column of DIY reviews, where we give you just the basic facts about albums that we wanted to give a full review but for some reason it never happened. Without further ado:

Artwork by Andrew Millar of Patrons of the Rotting Gate

Band:	Patrons of the Rotting Gate.
City:	London, United Kingdom.
Genre:	Progressive Black Metal ~ Sorrowful dissonance.
Interesting fact:	The Rose Coil is the proud recipient of a 0% review from The Metal Archives, with the awesome line "If I wanted to drift aimlessly, I'd snort some ketamine."

Band:	DreamLongDead.
City:	Athens, Greece.
Genre:	Primitive monolithic punkish doom death metal.
Interesting fact:	Recorded in Universe217's studio. A band that's pretty much the opposite of primitive and punkish.

Cover art by Joshua Klegerman

Band:	Clad in Darkness.
State:	Chicago, Illinois/Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Genre:	Jazzy post-black metal.
Interesting fact:	Leading internet metal experts are trying to convince the band to make a new album. We give such endeavors our full support.

Lucifer's Child - The Wiccan

By Andy Osborn. One of my favorite things about the Greek scene is how the bands can so clearly influence each other while still sounding wholly unique. Katavasia, a supergroup of sorts

By Andy Osborn.


One of my favorite things about the Greek scene (and there are a lot of them) is how the bands can so clearly influence each other while still sounding wholly unique. Katavasia, a supergroup of sorts, emerged last year with an incredible debut that sounded entirely Hellenic but still stood its own, war-torn ground. And with such influential bands as Rotting Christ and Varathron running strong for over two decades, it’s great to see the influences imparted without giving way to (too many) imposters.

I pretend to be a student of this scene, so I was shocked to stumble across Lucifer’s Child months after The Wiccan was unleashed. Their first album is so fun, so unique, and so singularly Greek that one would of imagined it igniting the metallic blogosphere into a drooling frenzy. But with the ‘best of’ rush getting earlier and earlier every year, it’s no surprise that a new, unknown Greek band on what’s traditionally a Norwegian Viking-ish label would get lost in the mix late in the year.

What draws me to Lucifer’s Child is how clearly defined their sound is already despite having no clear history. It’s far removed from traditional black metal, with nary a tremolo or double bass beat to be found and odd, circusy riffs drilling themselves into your brain and triggering whatever sort of dance mechanism black metal fans may have. Vocalist Marios Dupont does his best Sakis Tolis impression, and while that type of thunderous cry has become a mainstay on the peninsula, it’s still a refreshing vocal attack that fits the quartet.

But they don’t reveal this all at once, as the opening track only hints at the cards they’re holding without giving away the full hand. It’s a mid-paced rocker with some - but not too much - guitar trickery that’s a perfect appetizer for the dessicated feast to come. I declare all bands should copy this method: Instead of having some nonsense ambient intro that doesn’t doesn’t sound anything like the rest of the record, make an “Hors de Combat” to tease and intrigue, holding back until you really want to show off.

And showing off is just what they do for the next few tracks. “A True Mayhem”, “Spirits of Amenta”, and “He, Who Punishes Slays” are just plain ludicrous in what they achieve. While the song construction is fairly simple - take a fairly weird and catchy-as-fuck riff and toss in some rockin’ drums - it’s executed so well what it disguises you from what this really is. It’s upbeat alt-rock disguised at black metal. It’s what Queens of the Stone Age would sound like if they moved to Norway and started worshipping the devil. It’s a Kvelertak record from a different dimension. And it’s fucking cool. I’ve played those three tracks more than anything else in the past few months since I discovered them, that's how strong their hold is.

So it’s a bit sad that this epic build-up and subsequent fun doesn’t last forever. The first four tracks are by far the best and really define The Wiccan, because after some middling sameness, “Lucifer’s Child” and “Doom” completely ditch what they’ve been showing off so far and see the band transforming into some sort of psychedelic doom group - a look that doesn’t exactly fit them.

It’s an unfortunate note to end on, as the songs perfectly show the band’s weirdness without any of the fun. Although it doesn’t fully realize its potential, The Wiccan is still a wickedly fun album packed with ridiculously fun riffs and the type of joyful, upbeat rhythm that black metal usually tries to stay away from.

Attic - Seasons

By Justin C.


I had a moment of doubt when first listening to Attic's Seasons. The band kindly provided lyrics, so I read along while I listened. I was brought up short when I got to "Spring." This is not a mournful affair about how all the villagers that died during the winter must now be buried. In fact, it's a downright sunny affair, with lyrics like, "It's time for spring / prepare for smiles." Happy springtime smiles? What kind of death metal is this? How can I take this seriously? But then I realized something: How many overly serious (and dare I say "comical"?) analyses of Satan do I have on my iPod? And raise your hand if you really, truly need some more songs about Chtulhu. The bottom line is this: This album rips hard, so if Attic wants to throw in some April showers and May flowers, I'm O.K. with it.

2014 death metal sometimes felt to me like it was all about OSDM and Entombed worship. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but Attic's take is fast, bright, and heavy on thrashy goodness. The band self-identifies as tech death, among other things, but the instrumental chops serve the songs. None of them break the 5-minute mark, and they're refreshingly free of wankery. The vocals favor a higher/raspier approach compared to a lot of death metal, but it works, and it adds a slightly blackened feel. The riffage is catchy, and it varies everywhere between hints to Master of Puppets goodness and proggier affair--check out "Fall" for examples of both in one song. The band is fantastic at effortless switches between ripping metal and melodicism, as shown in "Centralia" and "When Trees Attack." "Snow" even offers a nice break as a Russian Circles-esque instrumental tune.

If the springtime-happy lyrics I mentioned worry you too much, don't be afraid. There's plenty of other material covered here. The aforementioend "Centralia" is about Centralia, Pennsylvania. A coal vein under the town caught fire in 1962, and needless to say, it will be burning for a very, very long time. The sinkholes, carbon monoxide, and other poisonous gasses eventually forced all but seven of the town's residents to abandon their homes, and Attic has deftly turned the town's sad story into a horror movie-themed tune.

Seasons shows Attic going in a lot of directions all at once, but they make it work for them. Sometimes a laser focus isn't everything, and even if they choose to keep their song writing fast and loose like this album, I don't think that would be a bad thing at all.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Bränd Jord - Ledan & eländet / Förstärkta defekter

Written by Majbritt Levinsen.


Ledan & eländet (ennui & misery) by Swedish band Bränd Jord (scorched earth) is a very intense and interesting album. The variety of melodies and styles you'll find cramped into the 12 tracks is impressive and makes the album memorable. You'll hear angsty vocals with bleak lyrics accompanied by a highly energetic, raw and melodic mixture of Black Metal and a hardcore-punk-ish attitude and a whole lot of progressive touches.

Bränd Jord manages to capture the internal struggles of life’s hardships that on the outside only shows as total resignation to the fact that you are stuck on life's bottom level or the depths of your own troubled mind. The cover for this release couldn't have been chosen more successfully. "Beim Dengeln" (whetting the scythe) by Käthe Kollwitz from 1905 depicts the core of Bränd Jords lyrics, as she documented the lives of the less fortunate by capturing harrowing moments of despair, inconsolable loss and devastating feelings.

I have had a hard time choosing tracks to point out as each track has their moments of brilliance and something worth mentioning. "Bittert flöde" (bitter flow) the opener actually almost made me burst out in laughter, there is something in the manic drumming and the frantic pace of the track from the get go that caught me of guard. I wasn't expecting it and as the track progressed I got more and more curious how this would evolve. I love to dive down in the layers of this kind of music and let myself get carried away on the bass’ frequencies while the drums holds the pace and the guitars coats everything in while the vocalist tells his accompanied poetry of despair and anxiety. All of the songs on this album have extremely enjoyable structures and a lot to absorb and digest. They are all a ride you want to rediscover over and over.

The last song on this album "Oduglighetens krona" (the crown of incompetence) however, is one of those I have enjoyed listening to the most. Musically it hits a nerve in me and raises some good emotions from the gut. It is simply a good song to close off an album filled to the brim with the turmoils of the human mind and a lot of musical surprises.

The lyrics orbits around the same theme over and over: an even gray colour palette of troubled thoughts from a troubled soul.

"Potentialen var aldrig något att tala om
Nu är det slutligen för sent
Småsinta, patetiska drömmar
Speglar en futtig existens"
-- "Nollpotential" (zero potential)

The potential however for these 3 guys from Gothenburg is already there, and has proven with this album that the darkest places of the mind can harbour something highly creative, intriguing and enjoyable.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

The 27th of November they released the EP Förstärkta defekter (reinforced defects) containing 4 tracks, which are all just as interesting and varied as the above mentioned tracks and just as highly recommended! I simple love the skewed desperate chaotic structure of "Återvändsgränd" (dead end) and I find myself grinning with joy like a lunatic. This is what makes me happy and drives me to continue exploring the endless universe of music.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Castevet - Obsian

Written by Atanamar Sunyata.


Castevet’s Mounds of Ash was a marvelous experiment in martial movement, creating a black hole in the middle of metal’s Venn diagram. The album remains, in my mind, a glorious beast of delectable dissonance and polyrhythmic savagery. It has also remained in rotation since its 2011 release.

With Obsian, Castevet have switched out a central cog of their rhythmic contraption; Nicholas McMaster (Krallice, Geryon) has replaced Josh Scott on bass. This change has produced a subtle but fundamental shift in the band’s sound, moving them away from that merciless march and further into the unknowable void. Ian Jacyszyn’s extraordinary and intricate drumming has loosened up a bit to accommodate these new sonic possibilities.

Impossibly inventive chords and arpeggiations remain at the blackened core of Castevet’s art. Andrew Hock is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting guitar players of our time. His fascinating riffs slash and churn, transmuting discord into memorable malevolence and anti-melody.

Photo by Carmelo Española.

Instead of adding constant weight to the windmilling fury of these riffs, Nicholas McMaster’s bass lines weave in and out of the mayhem, pushing the songs into anomalous dimensions. These wormholes sometimes open into lands of full-on prog; there’s a mind-blowing section of “Cavernous” that’s laden with the psychedelic glory of an early Genesis track. It makes me smile every time. The mysterious horns that graced Mounds of Ash are also more prevalent, manifesting in insidious and disquieting ways.

Although the riffs on Obsian are often as harsh as Andrew Hock’s vocals, violence is not the album’s raison d’être. A sense of wonder radiates from these multifarious compositions, as if the band are in awe of their own creation. I’m certainly in awe; Obsian is one of my favorite albums of 2013.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Code - Augur Nox

Review by Andy Osborn.


Enslaved and Borknagar are two of my favorite all-time bands. There’s just very little sweeter to my ears than black metal aesthetics combined with progressive theatrics, slick guitar work and the occasional cleanly sung chorus. So I was beyond upset with myself for not having heard Code before the announcement of Augur Nox, their first album in four years. I have since binged on their back catalog and fell in love with their brand of mind-bending extreme metal that forgoes darkness and evil for something less tangible but equally disturbing. In the years since sophomore album Resplendent Grotesque the band has changed drastically and now boasts only a sole original member. But on their third full-length the English/Norwegian quintet have been able to keep the fire burning hot and stay true to their unique sound all the same.

Original singer Kvohst’s mind-bending and varied vocal performance was a defining piece of the Code identity, so even the most seasoned throat-burner would have trouble living up to his mystical aura. Switching between fire-breathing proclamation and preacher-esque clean passages, newcomer Wacian follows almost the exact form as his predecessor while even wrestling with similar deeply poetic and thought-provoking lyrics. Few people in this world could pull off such a niche approach, and the Englishman nails it. Vocal similarities aside, there are notable differences in approach taken by the band on Augur Nox. For one, the tracks are far less direct. While the band’s earlier work was firmly rooted in progressive tendencies, the songs had easier to decipher hooks that boasted a slightly firmer structure. But it’s rare that experimental-leaning bands ever ever pull back the reins with age so the new approach isn’t exactly shocking. Twenty minutes longer than their previous effort, it’s a massive, complex work nigh impossible to fully grasp as there’s no limit to the ever-flowing textures. When all seems relatively quiet, there always seems to be something hiding just beyond the veil; quiet, undecipherable whispers, ethereal echoes dancing across the soundscape, a bass fill humbly working its magic almost unnoticed. This leads far past their previously traveled realms and treads into the lands of experimentalism where the likes of Arcturus and Solefald reside.

Code play right into my tastes, so it’s no surprise I can’t speak highly enough of their work on Augur Nox. It’s an album that’s going to demand half a dozen spins just to scratch the surface, even when the melody and energy hit you immediately. But all this espousing can only go so far, as this is a work to be appreciated with an open mind free of expectations. Fans of metal extreme and calm will find much to appreciate in Code’s approach to the dark arts, though those seeking something that adheres solely to one or the other may be disappointed. A balancing act to be sure, but the multinational collective pull it off once again, this time on an even tighter rope.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Enslaved - Below the Lights

An Autothrall classic. Originally published here.

Cover art by Truls Espedal

I feel that to endear an album with the term 'Enlightenment' is often to reek of some attempt at pretentious misdirection, and yet there is no other choice I could use to so accurately describe Enslaved's 7th full-player, Below the Lights. From the rune inscribed, unforgettable and glum cover image to the 46 minutes of near impregnable aural genius on parade, this is a band reaching a new vista of potential and simultaneously airbrushing the Norwegians' previous excursions into experimental, progressive territories into a portrait for the ages. Up to its release, I admit to having viewed Enslaved as 'that band who released the stunning Frost and then a bunch of other albums which were gradually scaling in range and quality. But thanks to Below the Lights, my favorite album of 2003, they have become one of the acts I most closely pay attention to, eagerly anticipating each new studio effort and never having been let down since.

Photo © Per Ole Hagen, Artist Pictures Blog, All rights reserved.

This is pretty much a template for how to incorporate varied stylistic influence into a cohesive fusion and vision so seamlessly gelled that I simply cannot imagine it ever fragmented into its scattered roots. Progressive rock of the 70s and 80s, psychedelic overtones, historical and folk cognizance, 'wall of sound' or 'shoegazing' guitar passages, and lying deep at its heart, the same polished and potent black metal rasping and riffing the band introduced in the early 90s. It's not Enslaved's first dance with self-production and engineering, as they had been locked in the DIY mentality for several prior albums, but Below the Lights was clearly the very best the band had managed to its day. An earthen authenticity enriches the dynamic guitars, and much of the disc feels as if it could translate directly into the live setting. And yet, there is nothing 'pop' about it. Just a cloying sadness and darkness to the album worthy of those underground recordings that continue to thrill the core, devoted black metal audience.

The use of subtle orchestration and ambiance is but one of many weapons in play here, and a solemn synthesizer piece is used to inaugurate the opener, "As Fire Swept Clean the Earth". Immediately one can glean a sense for the warmer, jazzier textures being incorporated to the guitar chords, and the swerving complexity of the bass, and yet there are brazen tremolo lines and Grutle rasps so isolated and defiant that they could condense the clouds to darken the sky and induce a steady, cold precipitation. Cleaner vocals and guitars are threaded through the verses, while warbling whammy effects and sprinkles of sporadic lead melodies create an even denser palette of experience. But, as excellent as this piece is, it can't even begin to cover the myriad pleasures that await the listener throughout the album's duration...

Photo © Per Ole Hagen, Artist Pictures Blog, All rights reserved.

I can only point out a few of the highlights, otherwise this would turn into a 10,000 propaganda polemic. "Queen of Night" wins enormous marks for its transition from eerie, Jethro Tull flutes and acoustics to leaden, winding prog-metal grooves, bottom feeding bass ruptures and then it even explodes into this frenetic speed/thrashing sequence around the 4 minute mark. "Ridicula Swarm" begins with another engrossing, layered synthesizer sequence that transforms into a slew of violent riffing redolent of the band's earlier albums, and back again. "The Crossing" opens with a tranquil sensibility, tiny organs in the distance beyond its acoustics; but then flattens you with a massive wall of resilient electric melodies over an almost tribal foundation, Dirge Rep yet again proving that he's more than just a blaster on his swan song (with this band).

In fact, I think this is the best single album that guy has ever performed on, and not just for his technical ability, but contribution to the lyrics and writing. He even joins the band's internal choir for the intro to "Havenless", which is as swaggering, manly and memorable as you're going to get from anything even tangentially related to the Viking/folk metal scene. The musicianship of all parties involved is never less than stunning, but not just for its technical merits, but the impact of each individual sound. Like the kick drum and bass guitar in "A Darker Place" which create an uncanny, pounding sensation, or the constant contrast of Grutle's grisly bark with the cleaner, more refined melodies that surround it. Or the seemingly random electronic tangents fused into various tracks, which once again reflect the band's proggish influences. It should also be noted that the new guitarist here, Ice Dale is perhaps the perfect match for Ivar's playing.

Photo © Per Ole Hagen, Artist Pictures Blog, All rights reserved.

Overall, Below the Lights represents a balance of brilliant ideas and meticulous execution, which I would deem utterly flawless were it not for the final track ("A Darker Place") slightly lagging behind its forebears in eloquence and compulsion. And by slightly, I mean that it's still superior to most of the other tracks in the band's backlog, it just feels like it's marginally shier in ideas and distinction than those leading up to it. But otherwise, this is mandatory material, less jarringly developed than Mardraum and more thematically consistent than Monumension. It looks good, it sounds superb, and it even reads wonderfully! Simple, searing imagery rooted in folklore is well integrated to the emotional shifts in the music. Once more, Enslaved proves that growth need not come at the expense of credibility, and this record remains a hallmark for 'progressive black metal' or whatever sonic niche you deem to place it.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Note: This is on the Osmose Productions Bandcamp, so the entire album is for sale, but you can only stream two songs from it...

Eschatos - Heirophanies

Review by Andy Osborn.


I’ll be honest, I’m drawn to bands from lesser-known locales. While there will always be a flood of talent from the usual geographic suspects, I find discovering music from less-populous nations a rewarding form of rooting for the underdog. I’m particularly fascinated by areas physically close to Scandinavia that have yet to see much extreme music seep into their ecosystem, exactly like Eschatos’ home of Latvia. Even forgoing the aforementioned reasons, Eschatos are the type of band that I find myself on a never-ending quest for. A completely independent act, they create interesting music with a proper grasp on their craft and message, even offering their wares for free. Groups like this are what Bandcamp is all about.

The five track Hierophanies was quietly unveiled at the beginning of 2013. The nightmare-inducing yet beautifully rendered monstrosity adorned on its cover is a perfect metaphor for Eschatos’ music; their objectives are clear, their intentions sinister. A deep sense of tension lays within the fretwork, adding an ever-present sense of dread to the relatively slick guitar tone and production. They prove that black metal doesn’t need to be lo-fi and murky in nature to produce a feeling of unease in the listener, a trick borrowed from Enslaved - from whom Eschatos no doubt take much inspiration.

Photo from Eschatos @ Wacken Metal Battle semi-final 31.05.2013 taken by Laima Faltere.

The music is clearly prog influenced, without the need for baffling time signatures or hyper-complex structures. This stripped-down approach is from where the quartet derive much of their strength, but also some weaknesses. Overly-simplistic guitar solos unfortunately result from this method, they tend to distract rather than enhance. Luckily these missteps are few and far between. Vocalist Kristiāna’s shrieks are downright gut-wrenching; she joins the small but reputable ranks among the upper echelon of female black metal vocalists. Her style is uncannily similar to Ludicra’s Laurie Shanaman, in fact, this whole album could be mistaken for the newest offering from the Bay Area geniuses, had they stayed together and been transplanted to the small Baltic nation.

Admittedly I know very little about the Latvian metal scene, but I’m confident in saying Eschatos are among the small country’s elite. Their music is a brand of its own, funneling inspiration from well-known foreign waters and mixing it with an unknown homegrown concoction. Who knows, maybe with the help of this debut we’re just a few years away from discussing the “Riga sound.”

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Ephel Duath - On Death And Cosmos

Review by Natalie Zina Walschots. Originally published here by Exclaim.

Artwork by DehnSora

Italian progressive metal band Ephel Duath have undergone several transformations and line-up changes over the course of their amorphous career. The current incarnation of the group is the product of another complete turnover ― only founding member Davide Tiso remains and occasional drummer Marco Minneman has returned to the fold. Steve DiGiorgio joins them on guitar, as does legendary vocalist (and Tiso's partner) Karyn Crisis. The three-song EP, On Death and Cosmos, is a welcome evolution in Ephel Duath's sound.

While still jazzy and avant-garde in aesthetic, there's a sense of restraint and keen intelligence that their earlier work lacked. For example, "Black Prism" pulls back to become positively minimal by the end, the lone guitar bare and aching. Crisis's astoundingly deep, resonant voice is a highlight, the vastness of her range often providing a welcome counterpoint to the myopic intricacy of the music. An extremely promising restart to Ephel Duath, On Death and Cosmos is the kind of substantial EP that makes one long for a full-length.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Enslaved - Frost

By Andy Osborn. Their second full-length, Frost is the album that solidified Enslaved’s place in the black metal grimoire, launching what continues to be a decades-long career as one of the genre’s most interesting and varied acts.

By Andy Osborn.


Their second full-length, Frost is the album that solidified Enslaved’s place in the black metal grimoire, launching what continues to be a decades-long career as one of the genre’s most interesting and varied acts. Though guitarist Ivar Bjørnson was only 17-years-old, his command of desiccated riffage was already on par with his fellow infamous countrymen, while 20-year-old Grutle Kjellson was shrieking like a banshee permeated with the stuff of the album’s title.

Now considered a classic of Norwegian Black Metal, the young band was already setting themselves apart from the herd by approaching the style not from the satanic madness that was already a fad, but from a perspective worthy of the heritage and old gods upon which the album is based. The Norse-themed collection gives hints to the band’s progressive tendencies as they dabble with a mix of electronics, acoustic guitar overlays and song structures light years ahead of the typical death-obsessed buzzsaw picking played by their peers. It’s at the same time wholly black metal and wholly something else; almost 20 years later the album still has a captivatingly original sound. The almost non-existent bass and treble-obsessed guitars are a far cry from the heavily polished sheen Enslaved’s production will later take, but the flat sounds conjure up a heart-melting nostalgia.

While the album is as interesting and dynamic as you would expect from the band, it’s not without its missteps. The Vikings get a bit too close to Asgard on “Yggdrasil,” a bombastic war chant that goes nowhere and accomplishes little. And it’s clear the band is still afraid to fully showcase their unique voice, with a few songs playing standard bm fare and showing a restraint in their mead-fueled expression.

From the Mortal Kombat-esque bridge on “Fenris” to the furious tremolo assault on “Wotan,” Frost is a perfect foreshadow to the band’s long and varied catalog. The still-youngsters are only toying with the arsenal that they are yet to unleash upon the world, but they do it with such enjoyment and execution that the album stands on its own chilly legs, still revealing itself almost two decades later as a pinnacle of black metal experimentation.

Enslaved - Monumension

Enslaved's Monumension from 2001 marked an important step in their transition from a straight black metal band to the King Crimson of Viking Metal. On Monumension they maintain a base of thrashy black metal, but contrasts it with Pink Floyd-esque psychedelic rock. As befits the progressive tendencies none of the songs feel alike, but despite that the album flows well; moving from straight black (and death) to the aforementioned psychedelic parts with ease. And tossing in elements of sludge and doom, and even a couple of blasted sequences along the way. Keyboards are used well; they add atmosphere and progressive touches but never threaten to overpower the songs. The production has an organic feel; everything sounds a little rough around the edges, creating an interesting contrast against the progressive intricacies. Monumension is an album that feels alive. Check out the reviews from AllMusic and From the Dust Returned.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Barrowlands - Demo 2012

Barrowlands 2012 Demo is black metal wrapped in warm and comforting Cascadian cloth. The use of acoustic guitars and cello gives the epic melodies a tinge of folk music. The sorrowful sound of the cello in particular fits this type of black metal very metal. The riffing and the blasting are still there though, just not in abundance; in fact the drumming is quite dynamic. The intensity ebbs and flows through the use of subtle tempo changes. The tremolo picking is sometimes accentuated by interesting guitar leads, solos even. An enjoyable and very atmospheric demo.

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Averse - The Endesque Chants

Artwork: Topher Crowley

French band Averse have added the 2010 release The Endesque Chants to their Bandcamp. This is progressive black metal, or rather this is 70's tinged progressive rock mixed with explosive post-black metal parts. There's lots of acoustic interplay, including a lovely instrumental. Instruments like clarinet, harp and violin gives some of the quieter passages a folkish feeling, not entirely unlike early King Crimson. The black metal parts are intricate and appropriately harsh.

The musicianship is outstanding from everyone involved, the production is warm and organic sounding, and lets you enjoy every single well played note. I like this a lot, but if the idea of Tales from Topographic Oceans era Yes with occasional double kick drumming and harsh vocals sends you screaming, then you should perhaps skip this. Here's a review from Don't Count On It Reviews.

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Besides the cover, the download includes images of the lyrics, credits and thanks.

Haar - Haar

Haar's self-titled EP is progressive black metal that mixes the black metal with heavy and slow sections, at times sounding almost like a doom band. All three tracks of the EP are good, but the standout is the centrepiece 'To Forgive An Enemy'. Here's what the enthusiastic review from Lurker's Path had to say about it:

The latent despair swells and explodes in an ecstatic chorus, where the lyrics beam through with defiance: "YOU’RE AN ENEMY, FUCKED-UP ENEMY. YOUUU! TO FORGIVE AN ENEMY, FORSAKEN ENEMY. YOUUU!" ... Whatever’s being said, you’d want to fuck up your enemies too after a rousing sing-along like that.

Listen to the track below, and click the player to hear the rest of the EP.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]