All shades of silence

I was listening to Katharsis again recently and passed by their short split release with Antaeus, released in 2009 and right before the end of the band’s glorious journey in black metal. It was out in February that year, a few months prior to the amazing final EP, Fourth Reich, when the curtains dropped for one of the genre’s most hard-hitting entities at the time. 

A lot has already been written about the main albums of their discography, as well as more generally when writing related articles, which are all focused on full-length releases of bands or movements at certain time periods. I’ve done so myself as well, intimidated by the sheer amount of material out there if you consider every EP, demo or split that gets pressed today. 

Nevertheless, a few split releases always stand out over the years. I tried to limit myself to cases of just two featured bands, not more, and also looked at duration lengths similar with those of a full-length, at least 25 - 30 minutes or more. This is a crude listing of the quickest examples of this category that came to mind, and I’m sure there’s so many that could be added. Let’s get into it.

The scythe and the harvest

Discovering old obscure releases with little or no recognition is a great past time of mine. As much as I like to boast about how much of this genre I've listened to, records always skip through the cracks, not to mention all the demos and EPs that I'm still, after all these years, clueless of. 

Furthermore, older releases also usually have that sound, you know what I'm talking about. As of today, we're looking at the first and only record by Athenian black metal band Mournblade, self-titled and originally released through Kyrck Productions & Armour in 2001. Actually, I'd like to write about that label separately one day (Wild Rags is another case of a brooding article) because of its approach and quality. 

Lo-fi lowlife - D. 7

Continuing a series of short playlists started about seven years ago. 

Back then a solo venture, now as a sequence of tracks discussed within a close circle, actively brainstorming the next selection while the music plays. Void of strict genre direction.

No links, imagine this given to you in secret in an old, folded piece of paper. Does it even mean anything, or is it just words?

 

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Assault on the inner life 

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Omegavortex - Mutilation Paradise
Temple Nightside - Adrift in Sepulchral Entropy
Azarath - Sign of Apophis
Witchburner - Apocalyptic Visions
Cadaveric Incubator - Through the Flesh
Dismember - Under a Blood Red Sky
Heresiarch - Swarming Blight
Ascended Dead - Nexus of the Black Flame
Ebony Pendant - Conjuration of Sophistry Exalted (Being of Oblivion's Maw)
Saidan - Kanashimi
Ripped to Shreds - Righteous Fist to the Teeth of the Wicked

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Previous lowlists found here.

Proclamation - Nether Tombs of Abaddon (2012) Review

The final album by the Spanish war metal horde didn't diverge even to the slightest from delivering exactly what was expected, and exactly at the same manner: bestial chaos in reverb and echo. As daring this style inherently is, Proclamation had decide to fully compromise to its definition parameters with a record that sounded like their previous works, sounded like well-known war metal, focused on efficient simplicity and primitive aggression you already know of. 

It's hard to tell tracks apart, as they all move at the same fast-tempos and feature a thick, noisy production that turns the guitars into a layered sound rather than a more noticeable aspect. The few riffs and solos that one can notice are great, yet the overall frantic attitude of the record is executed well, but repeated to exhaustion not just by Proclamation, but by the whole of this genre. A ten-track runtime feels a bit tedious, it relies too heavily on washed-out reverb and sits well as a product of a stale, yet clear-cut formula. Fans of black / death metal are right to worship this band, especially as one of the voices of its more recent status and rebirth 15 years after the classics of the '90s, but that's about it. Combined with the never-failing, red-and-white blasphemous cover art, the purposeful murk and raw noise in visuals and music, Proclamation made just another standard war metal album, before breaking up a year later. Being active for a decade (2003 to 2013), the band was infamous in the '00s inside that niche's circles, and the record proves why. 

It works like a charm, given that you already are a fan and have the appetite for this specific sound. I wouldn't be able to say which Proclamation album I prefer even if my life depended on it, and despite their shortcomings whenever I listen to them again, I somehow always suggest them around for a listen. A mediocre yet acceptable blast of underground chaos.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 

All Shall Perish - The Price of Existence (2006) Review

As the band celebrates the 20th anniversary of this album with a 30-day tour and the release of a remastered version, coupled with the roll we have going on here with related posts, it is high time we discussed one of the foundational deathcore releases, and undoubtedly one of the best. I don't think I'm mistaken, but All Shall Perish's live shows around 2005–2006 were among the first instances in which the genre term itself was even being uttered, alongside Despised Icon's "Montreal deathcore" tag. On The Price of Existence, however, the band's aerobatics reached high enough to gaze over into the neighboring territory of death metal.