Haemoth - Black Dust (2026) Review

If you had dealings Haemoth's second full-length album, Of Vice, Suffering and Destruction in 2004, you're certainly one of the bookworms of this scene. The band's run of demos and few records since the late '90s is of a semi-legendary status, yet I've always felt they never got the recognition they deserved due to numerous French black metal bands operating at the time. 

When they signed up with Debemur Morti Productions for the release of the excellent In Nomine Odium (2011), I thought things would then get rolling for them, but no — what followed was another 15 year-long silence. Today, we can finally witness the sun turn black with the project's fourth album, Black Dust, this time on Agonia Records and with a never-forgotten, unique trade of black metal malice.

Mylingar - Út (2026) Review

Following the malignant trilogy of dead roads, dead dreams, and dead souls released by anonymous Swedish (?) project Mylingar between 2016 - 2019,  we were left stunned and aghast but also almost forgot about them thereafter. Nearly seven years is a long time to wait, as the band’s return to action with their third full-length album, Út, and first chapter of another trilogy, begins something new without a single edge softened, picking up where it was buried in 2019 with Döda själar. The long break has only allowed the darkness to insistently seep into Mylingar’s domineering black / death metal anticosmos, crying out in phrases of ritual and dissonance from a wound once opened, and now re-torn. 

The new record consists of seven tracks, whose titles form a sentence in old Norse that translates to the grim following: “May my blood cultivate the soil from below” [1]. Út’s production provides a distinct sense of a cold enclosure, a chamber sealed and echoing riffs sometimes distinct, sometimes under impenetrable layers of buzz. Mylingar’s ever-present pressure concedes to some unsought blurriness, however there’s an appreciable level of compositional intermixture and rhythm fracturing that not only destabilizes the listener’s footing, it also adds to the album the intrigue and substance necessary for such works to float. Both sound and music are disturbing, a cohesive descent to places of unlight with disharmony woven into every formal decision the record makes.

A strange tension between motion and stasis is established under the overarching wall-to-wall carnage, where it’s not directly clear when the band slides from one track section to the next. Closest relatives to this kind of relentless, compressed savagery would be bands like Altarage or Abyssal, with moments distantly reminding me of Serpent Column / Impetuous Ritual at times, however Mylignar also use restraint as a weapon, unlike their tempestuous contemporaries. Opener “Megi”, alongside following tracks “blóð” and “mitt” are overtaken by this trance and keep pummeling to a point of meditative disconnect. Slower passages are dragged along for extended torment, and the first side is not even the most unsettling of the album.

Alongside the surplus of primitive force encountered on the vehement lines of “raekta”, lies the complete surrender of the band to its bestial self, as Út slowly introduces elements of harsh noise electronics in the beginning and end of “jarðveginn”, one of the most punishing pieces of the album. Inside the turbulence, one can also notice the verminous, Cruciamentum-esque death metal riffing on “af”, as well as the truly monstrous middle part. The closing "neðan", the longest track on Út, opens with what could be a seriously malformed, late ‘00s - early ‘10s era Krallice guitar notion, and then indulges in distorted electronics that completely liquefy the album into abstruse harsh noise. 

Mylingar always proceed with a playing style that defies segmentation, and the overall musicianship nails it: uncanny and foundational bass work, drumming that articulates the record’s processional rhythm, and the highlight of these absolutely agonizing vocals moaning against sizzling magma (most notably, for me, on “raekta” and the high-pitched screams of “jarðveginn”, but really, everywhere). By the time it ends, and due to the album’s otherworldly denouement, it feels like Út has taken the listener somewhere fairly far from the point of departure, despite an apparent homogeneity.  Considering the period in which the band released their previous trilogy, it’s only safe to assume there’s more from Mylingar in the works, and maybe closer than you think.

Release: April 17th, 2026 | Amor Fati Productions
Rating: 4 out of 5

    [1] AN NCS PREMIERE: MYLINGAR — “ÚT”. No Clean Singing. (2026).

Full of Hell & Primitive Man - Suffocating Hallucination (2023) Review

Through different practices of establishing oppressive darkness, it is not unreasonable to consider Primitive Man and Full of Hell were actually churned out of the same furnace. The main distinction is of course the speed of each band's material, the former stomps an overwhelmingly heavy and slow doom metal palette, while the latter skins sound to its extreme with fast paced grindcore. Common ground is found - which is also what distinguishes both from the larger part of the aforementioned genre families - in the excessive use of noise and power electronics. 

Once noticing a collaboration album between these two artists, it feels like such an act was just bound to happen eventually, especially among such like-minded individuals. Suffocating Hallucination is characterised by a thick, impenetrable, ugly and intimidating atmosphere, as it is met in the works of both bands. 

It is a record that features both their capabilities under the same blanket, yet each respective identity somehow stays intact, and you can be pretty sure of what material was written by which of the two. The vocals also swap between Primitive Man’s growls and Full of Hell’s screaming, but in terms of tempo compromises, most of the record is middle to slow paced with a few distinct faster moments. 

The listener gets what was promised with Suffocating Hallucination, as it ticks boxes for: an ultra speedy, 25 second track “Bludgeon” as the stamp of Full of Hell, a dark ambient / noise texture interlude “Dwindling Will”, a painfully decelerated Primitive Man anthem “Trepanation of Future Joys” and the clearest amalgam of the two projects, “Rubble Home”. At the longest piece, the closing “Tunnels to God”, it is the first time we witness these otherwise gruesome bands adopts more melancholic nuances through the fog and the noise, as the song slowly progresses and deconstructs itself. 

Such attempts substantiate the inspirational drive behind the creation of Suffocating Hallucination and save the record from being obsolete, as all the pieces are here, hideously refreshed and promptly served on a plate. As a follower of Primitive Man and Full of Hell by now, I see merit in both sides and acknowledge this work, as one of the better collaboration examples lately.

DAMAGE: 3.75/5 [Great]

Release date: 03 Mar 2023

Release label: Closed Casket Activities

Listen: Bandcamp

Sightless Pit - Lockstep Bloodwar (2023) Review

The crossover of Dylan Walker (Full of Hell) and Lee Buford (The Body) sounds like it was always meant to happen, as both musicians are extremely diverse with multiple collaborations and like-minded experimentation in extreme sound. As Sightless Pit, the project released a debut album Grave of a Dog in 2020, which to me wasn't really a work that stood so steadily on its feet. While the follow-up Lockstep Bloodwar is not really a piece of the same cake, the same uncertainty echoes in its material.

Completely void of guitars, the record contains elements from multiple different musical islands. One can come across trap rap beats, slight trip hop atmospheres, ambient and drone, the element of noise is quite prominent at times and the vocals are mostly comprised of whispers / screams, in middle or slow paced tempos in a rather down tuned and fatigued album. Lockstep Bloodwar also has multiple features almost in every track, musicians lending especially their vocals for the pieces that go more towards its trap rap lines.

While the endeavor is surely ambitious, problems lie in the overall coherence of the release. It feels like Sightless Pit are constantly trying a series of unconventional elements without a clear objective, the tunes wander around the different genres without achieving to evoke any particular feeling, for example it is not as unsettling as a noise album, it's not as soothing as a trip hop release, it's not really post industrial, it's not as tongue in cheek as trap and so on. Lockstep Bloodwar is an attempt to open a way to a new soundscape, but each of its components is actually timid and in the end, suboptimal. 

I only enjoyed the album opener, which gives some nice 90's Portishead vibes, and the noise track "Morning of a Thousand Lights" as both musicians are very capable of such compositions. Particularly dreary were "Flower to Tomb" which had me thinking that one needs to listen to some Imperial Triumphant to understand how to record distressing vocals, the self-titled track (what is this?) and the lethargic "False Epiphany". Brittle shrieks and feeble vocals all over, as is the record itself.

DAMAGE: 2/5

Listen:

Bandcamp

Vermin Womb - Retaliation (2022) Review

It's been six years since Vermin Womb's relatively decent but undeniably heavy debut Decline, and the band has returned with a vengeance in 2022 with an equally smashing work. Retaliation clocks at just 18 minutes (shorter than before), and takes no breaks, as all weapons in their arsenal are thrown at once from the first second. I am not sure if such approach has been more and more common among new bands that attempt extremity in their sound the last few years, or that I have been oblivious before, yet there's nothing less than non-stop hammering of violent riffs, ugly growls and background noise throughout the whole of Retaliation, which feels like the tree trunk feels when going through the wood chipper. Once you dig behind the aural malevolence, the guitar work is not groundbreaking, consisting of simplistic black / death / war metal lines, sometimes in irregular timestamps, the vocals - while brutal enough - barely change and the drums sometimes miss out, which clears out a tactic followed in Retaliation, the use of the production. The aim of this work is to create a thick layer of fast, uncomfortable and stressing music, making it more of a texture rather than a set of compositional undulations, and that's why the record can often sound a bit flat or indifferent if you look at it closely. I understand Vermin Womb have clear goals in their mind and negativity blisters everywhere in the essence of their work, which should go hand in hand with the material itself, yet I would have seriously prefered more insight in terms of musicianship. That being said, Retaliation has everything to be praised by fans of this extreme style, but do a test for yourself: play the tracks in shuffle and then see if you can tell one from the other. Nevertheless, the band's latest work keeps it up and is a solid effort that is worth listening, but if you enjoy it, then maybe you missed the point. [3/5 - Good]

Origin: United States

Label: Closed Casket Activities

Release date: 02.09.2022

Listen: Bandcamp

Primitive Man - Insurmountable (EP, 2022) Review

It has happened that I have turned off a Primitive Man record, especially their early material, just because of how empty and long the compositions were. At the same time, when they aim more accurately, their absolutely crushing side becomes more prevalent. 

While I enjoyed their last couple of albums, I still think a major issue of this band is the length and the monotony of their work, which is always too much for too little. Funnily enough, this EP is longer than their last full length Immersion, and it includes a Smashing Pumpkins cover of the song "Quiet", but you will not recognize it.

Insurmountable that the equally scourging production of their recent works, and the same musical approach, so not much have changed: the second track "Boiled" is a solid noise / dark ambient piece, "Cage Intimacy" is borderline boring but a certain fan pleaser, the opener "This Life" is the actually legit and enjoyable piece and "Quiet" surpasses the notion of a cover, it's vastly different, it didn't fully fit to my ears and just makes you want to listen to the actual Smashing Pumpkins. 

Therefore, this EP is a hit and miss for me, I'm taking away the first track and probably nothing more. But still, just for the average amount of heaviness they manage, it's a pass.

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Label: Closed Casket Activities

Country: USA

Release date: May 13th, 2022

Website: Facebook

DAMAGE: 3/5 [Good]

Μνήμα - Disciples of Excremental Liturgies (2022) Review

 Band: Μνήμα

Country: Greece

Album: Disciples of Excremental Liturgies

Label: Phantom Lure

Website: Instagram

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It's high time we had a conversation about this prolific project from Athens, Greece, which I have not really talked about since their inception in 2017, despite all the mini-releases they have put out so far. Μνήμα (Greek for "tomb") fall into the category of black metal with considerable leanings towards noise and sound distortion, in the broad family of bands like Candelabrum, Black Cilice or Obskuritatem, aiming for recordings as uncomfortable and harsh as possible, and they have been doing so since their first, self-titled demo. One could think that Μνήμα didn't have the intention to release a full length, judging from the persistence on putting out demos and splits, yet it's almost after 20 mini-releases that we arrive to Disciples of Excremental Liturgies.

This record blooms on reverb, acerbity and disgust. For the untrained ear, an album like that will not survive much when it kicks in after a short instrumental introduction (this and the outro, performed by Spider God) with the enormous piece "Cosmic Lunacy", which climbs up to 12 minutes of duration. Μνήμα were never an easy listening project and the same tradition is continues with Disciples of Excremental Liturgies, yet one can identify distinct changes in the musical approach if one manages to filter out part of the noise and focuses on the compositional groundwork. From that perspective, Μνήμα's chaotic element is maintained but we are now presented with moments significantly more melodic than what they have been used to do so far, and don't let that word fool you into thinking the project has gone any softer.

Listening to Disciples of Excremental Liturgies, apart from the distinct raw black metal routines, there's a serious Finnish / Greek black metal influence on the guitar riffs of the tracks. "Cosmic Lunacy" basically fully consists of such riffs, which are usually heard with much clearer production from other bands, but the essence is reminiscent, and that's even more obvious with the opening melodies of the self-titled track. I particularly liked the dismal lines at the ending part of "Cosmic Lunacy", where Μνήμα almost hinges towards more experimental playing for a second. There are already plenty of painful fast & middle paced moments in these two tracks, establishing the band's scourging sound.

Another highlight and noticeable aspect of this work is the unmistakable vocals. While going with screeched out, tense shrieked vocals all the time, at times an echo is employed and the voice goes at even higher volumes in the mix, making it truly deafening and ugly. It gives the feel of the vocalist trying to forcefully vomit somewhere (even though if you're a fan of the band, you know where), and there's also times of semi-gargling sounds that are aimed to convey the message of hatefulness Μνήμα is full of. Of course everything is unfathomable and I have no idea of the lyrics, I think I could tell the opening of "Νεκροσάβανο" (fabric used to cover a deceased person's body in the grave), where he goes "Γιατί δε...." and then mayhem.

Regardless of the blistering cruelty in Disciples of Excremental Liturgies, I would say it's the least noisy release Μνήμα has put out so far. Melodies are distinct, some tracks are not as hard hitting as in the past (listen to Spectres of Oblivion and you'll see) but I wouldn't say it's an easy listening album by any means. Hints of melodic aptitude were present before as well, if you listen to their wonderful demo Possessed Templars, released 2 years ago, yet with the debut full length I feel like Μνήμα aim to establish an anchor to their discography as one full work to suggest to someone. Obsessed with death and the human ceremonies around them, in a vile and blasphemous manner, but really raw, Μνήμα is definitely one of the upcoming raw black metal bands to look out for. A second full length is in the works apparently, so let's see how things evolve from here.

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Release date: January 15th, 2022

Tracklist:

1. The Key of 1000 Spirits 

2. Cosmic Lunacy

3. Disciples of Excremental Liturgies

4. Νεκροσάβανο 

5. Suicidal Necromancy  

6. Abyssal Curses

Listen:

Youtube | Bandcamp

Portal - Avow (2021) Review

A confusing headache

The Australian band Portal have a long history since their inception in the mid 90’s and definitely one of the most unique projects in extreme metal, posing as a challenge to the ears even of experienced listeners. There are not a lot – if any – other artists that manipulate sound like them, as the term death metal is only set by convenience and not because it is reminiscent of the genre’s typical examples. In fact, it couldn’t be more far away. It’s not driven by extreme technicality either, but instead wrapped around tense and ugly cacophony that shreds the average idea of riff / song structure completely. 

Big shoes had to be filled after their, in my opinion, most dominant album to date, Ion from 2018. That record has their craft mastered and in frenzy, with a cutting edge production, fully aggressive and non-linear turnarounds that I still haven’t recovered from since it was released three years ago. I learned the band with Swarth, another beloved but not their best album, while the further back one goes, more and more murkiness thrives in their material. I think Portal had a great decade in the 10’s, but every time I am through with one of their releases I don’t feel like expecting another one. This makes the waiting time between records easy, but to experience new work is always a new challenge, especially when it’s not one but two full albums. As the release of Avow had been announced for the year, the band dropped a second surprise album the same day, named Hagbulbia, and the way I decided to listen to these was one after the other and with no prior reading / listening to singles or sneak peaks of what they might contain. Such is this band that it is very difficult to have your attention elsewhere when they’re playing. At first glance, it can be noticed how they return to dark grey / black cover art after the slight more different artwork of Vexovoid and Ion, which also hints the earlier records.

I don’t have any kind of expectations before going into a Portal record, mainly because of the kind of uniqueness they have. And honestly, Avow takes off with its longest track “Catafalque” that half way through was for me rather dull and ineffective in what this band achieves usually. The cutthroat sound of Ion is missing but the composition itself feels like it’s halting, it gets too repetitive with unimaginative riffing and delivers not even close to the impact that the listener is used to from this extraordinary project. The same frustrating pace is kept with the second track “Eye”, both of which do not appear to me as Portal’s bright moments when it comes to longer running tracks (“Olde Guarde” from Ion was brilliant). Such mannerism of slower, more minimal parts in their songs apart from the frenetic faster moments, seems to be overly exercised in Avow as Portal adapt more and more clearer noise elements (again, the noise track from Ion was brilliant) but it doesn’t manage to maintain the crushing atmosphere it aims for, while at the same time being quite unstable between its different songs. For its first half, the record does not have by any means the successful flow of previous releases.

Going harder and radically more extreme, as Portal used to do, is a rare occurrence in Avow. A few instances in “Manor of Speaking” bring back some of this glory, as well as the last track “Drain”, but there is not much more other than unfathomable monotony with unclear purpose, at least to me. I don’t think I have heard a piece as repetitive and predictable as “Bode” from the group for example, which shows how for the most part either they didn’t really know how to fill the empty parts of their compositions, or the experiment simply failed in this release. At least it is not easygoing or any softer at all than what we are used from them, and the uncommon song constructions are presented through the band’s own mindset, so you will definitely recognize this as a Portal record from the first seconds. In a more general sense, it could still be enjoyed a lot from the band’s fans, while for me the idea will be simple from now on, sticking to specific older material where real scare and substantial darkness are present. Comparing Ion and this back to back, is a quite clear indication of this band’s highs and lows.

Portal went for a form of musical disintegration with Avow, which still has the main elements of the band that makes them loved among their fans. For me, the idea was not acutely conveyed, as I found several times throughout the listen that the material was aching and the tracks didn’t deliver, resulting in an overall underwhelming effort with just a few fine, scattered moments. As for Hagbulbia, a pure noise record with some hints authentic intensity, it was this, that saved the day and the year in regards to the band for me. In an otherwise disappointing effort, Portal decide to make some material that steps even further from metal and more into abusive electronics, joined by The Curator’s imposing vocals makes up a fine outcome. 

Damage “Avow” : 2/5 [Below Average]
Damage “Hagbulbia”: 3/5 [Good]

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Primitive Man - Immersion (2020) Review

Three years after Caustic, Primitive Man releases an album which is half as long in duration, and also the shortest of their three full lengths, including the debut Scorn from 2013. For some reason, this was the first characteristic that drew my attention before getting into Immersion, which has already been widely praised by everyone who knows this band. Primitive Man have been relatively active in between the full lengths with a lot of split releases, most of them with quite interesting underground artists, however I have to admit it's only Scorn and Caustic that I had heard of them until now (and of course, the cover of "Sweet Leaf"). The band dictates its own law with immeasurable heaviness, playing one of the most direct and ugliest forms of doom out there, and to even call it like this feels slightly out of place. Doom metal can be beautiful.

The sludge / noise combination of elements, widely used by bands from the United States in the recent years, along with openly expressive lyrical negativity, has been a weird growing trend over there. Primitive Man leave no space for anyone to doubt their sincerity though, and this comes from someone who wouldn't claim to be their biggest fan. For the first time with this band for me, I gave them points and acknowledged the album's title being aligned with its effect, as Immersion can get quite immersive. The band's music was harder to follow with Caustic, a record which was over an hour. The content has been distilled multiple times now and the result is more consistent, more solid, and not at all less violent.

For its own sake, Immersion has an amazing production. The natural and pleasing sound of the drums makes each snare hit directly through your heart, the monstrous growls are unsettling, and the guitars are ripping all along during the album. No unwanted dust can be found in the overall sound, except when Primitive Man wants it to be there. Noise touches are of course present like before, especially in "∞", even though the real terrifying moments for me with Immersion are when they play faster. Parts of the closing track "Consumption" and the introduction of "Menacing" (one of my favorite tracks from them by now) display this clearly. At the same time, most of Immersion is painfully slow, putting shame to a big chunk of the scene that includes bands that even touch the same musical subgenres.

Arguing that Primitive Man got more accessible is false argument, they just got better. The tracks in Immersion are all memorable and they co-exist in one album perfectly. As a band that can achieve heaviness like no other, one couldn't say that the same verdict has not been delivered once again. Generally, I do believe that bands from the US today tend to get too much promotion and too much praise. Especially experimental artists, who touch a bit of grindcore / black metal / noise, seem to get into a wave that favors them even though the music is supposedly extreme. On the other hand, Primitive Man I can stand and admire. Immersion could be their best album to date, not much more to say for it.

August 14th, 2020 | Relapse Records

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Listen to Immersion:

Sutekh Hexen - Yule XV

1. Yule XV

We bid your company, to this handful of ashes held to the sun, this glint of silk and flashing anthem, this child’s tear shining before the grave. If your heart measures its meter by sea tide, if the razed earth cries out through your throat, if the moon tugs at your fingertips and the winter is to you a summons; migrate to our verdant rainscape, join us, as more than mere audience but as congregation, poised on the razor’s edge of significance, an ephemeral convergence of souls who might by our integrity participate in something grander than the amnesiac spell of this age. For our collective howl of beseeching and joy and weeping demands a mass to instantiate the sacrament, and thus your dedication means more than mere spectatorship—it is necessary to make meaning, to make our collective honoring of sun, dark, and the deeper things of mortal consciousness substantial.

Lockdown Chronicles #6

Art: John Anster Fitzgerald - The Artist's Dream

"I think that in bringing sanity to our intoxicated age, history has an important part to play. I do not mean that this is to be brought about by any supposed ‘lessons of history’, or indeed by anything easily put into a verbal formula. What history can and should do, not only for historians but for all whose education has given them any breadth of outlook, is to produce a certain temper of mind, a certain way of thinking and feeling about contemporary events and their relation to the past and the future. 

I do not know whether one should accept Cornford’s thesis that Thucydides modelled his history on Attic tragedy; but, if he did, the events that he recorded fully justified his doing so, and the Athenians, if they had seen themselves in the light of actors in a possible tragedy, might have had the wisdom to avert the tragic outcome. It is an ancient doctrine that tragedy comes of hubris, but it is none the less true for being ancient, and hubris recurs in every age among those who have forgotten the disasters to which it has always led. In our age, mankind collectively has given itself over to a degree of hubris surpassing everything known in former ages."

Playlist: 

1. Gnaw their Tongues & Dragged Into Sunlight - Alchemy In The Subyear

2. Asagraum - Black Sun Prayer

3. El-Ahrairah - Stone Throwers

4. Nocternity - Opaline Eye of Death

5. Gormanudr - Portal

6. Hæthen - Taking the Auspices

7. Vilkacis - Defiance

8. Black Vice - Emergence

9. Ildjarn - Eksistensens Jeger

Dragged Into Sunlight - Terminal Aggressor II (Single, 2020) Review

Origin: United Kingdom
Label: Prosthetic Records
Release: January 10th, 2020
Type: Single

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Right when I was wondering about the Dragged Into Sunlight camp, since I re-listened their remarkable collaboration album with family friendly project Gnaw their Tongues, named NV from 2015, this mini release came out and had me thinking that probably it's part of a bigger record for later this year. Yet, it seems the band has reached an impasse with their label Prosthetic Records, who released this track behind their backs and the members themselves will not have any profit at all from it.

By ignoring this, the fans should still do the right thing and not buy the track from Bandcamp, instead find it elsewhere and just support them through their Gofundme page (link below). Apart from all that, we are now into half an hour of new Dragged Into Sunlight material, and judging by the length of their previous two releases, NV and WidowMaker, one might as well trick themselves into thinking that this is a full album. 

Terminal Aggressor II is related to the band's first ever release from 10 years ago, which was also named Terminal Aggressor I and was in the same format of a single, long track. Their affiliations with noise have always been present in their discography, and that element doesn't shy away at all with Terminal Aggressor II, which could be based mostly on abrasive dark ambient / noise, than pure black metal. You will be treated with unsettling sounds, haunting samples, vocal screams and slow paced, painful parts that characterize Dragged Into Sunlight, well placed in a thirty minute tune that can be vaguely split in two fifteen minute sections.

Right around the fourteenth minute, and after a long multi-layered session of noise practicing, a drum tempo starts building up that gives way to the black metal part of the song. The vocals are tormenting and the guitar lines simple but effective, it doesn't increase speed at any point and generally presents a more meditative, noisy structure that gives out a listen quite far from comfortable. However, from what I believe the potential of Dragged Into Sunlight is, and as much as a nightmare this track is, I still think there was some space for them to push their boundaries. 

What happened with Prosthetic is rather strange since they have been there for quite some time now, but they deserve the support no matter what. My opinion is that this specific project can top many spooky-listening black metal / noise bands out there, they don't have the popularity they could have, and that's why I expect to be moved more than what happened with Terminal Aggressor II. A surely interesting listen, but well into Dragged Into Sunlight's comfort zone.

Track listing:

1. Terminal Aggressor II

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AOTY 2017: Top 10 EPs

Shuffling through releases of my favorite format, I saw new violent Svartidauði material, as well as Sinmara and finally another One Tail, One Head EP. Great new bands come around, like Abkehr, Daeva, Chevalier, Thantifaxath’s mini album appealed to me more than their full length a couple of years ago and Poison Blood was a reasonable / nice crossover. Fever Nest was the best gift of the year and close to the epitome of filth, just how it’s done. I want to change my approach to end year lists drastically in the future, but I hope this kind will stick around.

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10. Poison Blood – Poison Blood

9. Chevalier – A Call to Arms

8. One Tail, One Head – Firebirds b/w Prowess

7. Oranssi Pazuzu - Kevät / Värimyrsky

6. Daeva – Pulsing Dark Absorptions

5. Svartidauði – Untitled

4. Thantifaxath - Void Masquerading As Matter

3. Abkehr – In Asche

2. Sinmara – Within the Weaves of Infinity

1. Fever Nest – Black Carrion Fowl

Endon - Through the Mirror

Feels like putting needles in your brain.

1. Nerve Rain

2. Your Ghost is Dead

3. Born In Limbo

4. Pensum

5. Postsex

6. Perversion Till Death

7. Through the Mirror

8. Touch Your House

Twilight - III: Beneath Trident's Tomb (2014) Review

Album | III: Beneath Trident's Tomb
Country | USA
Genre | Black Metal
Label | Century Media Records

| Seek no shelter |

The known supergroup returns with a third and final album, as they have announced that this will be the last record ever to be recorded under the Twilight entity, for reasons unknown but respected. Many musicians from many different styles have come and gone in the band, which retained a basic black metal sound since it's conception in 2004, offering a couple of interesting albums to listen to. I can't say I'm a big fan of them after all, as it wasn't but a couple of moments that I felt something in their albums, yet that made me even more curious to listen to their swan song.

While the debut record was driven by the downer attitude of Wrest of Leviathan and Malefic of Xasthur, who both contributed heavily into it, the second was a bit different, missing Malefic and instead keeping Isis and The Atlas Moth members. Today, an even more surprising attendance is no other than the frontman of Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore. I didn't expect such a collaboration to be sincere, and III: Beneath Trident's Tomb should be a fine goodbye message from the band. Still, I didn't get as much as I wanted from a hyped album like this, which includes a handful of really, really talented musicians.

Twilight's song structures are confusing and baffling, trying to create a distorted image of reality and sound while playing, with most of the album being driven behind droning melodies or distant vocals. Beneath Trident's Tomb is mentally aggressive instead of purely out of sound, managing to create nightmarish layers of sounds that pretty much describe the urban disgust in the gut of it's main members. I fully trusted Imperial of Krieg in the vocal section and he completely payed of, at least the vocals are amazing.

Such strange and druggy atmosphere is very fragile, revealing a weak point of the album, which is the slowly growing apathy towards it as it moves on. Slowly, you begin to realize that you chose to listen to the album and instead you have been drifted off and do other activities (on and off the computer), leaving this as a background music. It doesn't offer much with the first couple of plays and I had to listen several times before discovering some sorrowful beauty, in slow and desperate tracks like "Swarming Funereal Mass".

There are various influences in the band, from black metal to alternative rock to sludge and so. Beneath Trident's Tomb hardly goes too fast, except maybe a part in "No Shelter Fevered Ones" and "A Flood of Eyes" which are not that good either. Behind the thick and noisy production often underlies a pack of peculiar electronic sample sounds, making the record even more creepy but not any more evil, at least to me. It's either insightful and genius or it seems to me as if the song writing is poor and unstable, lacking the needed consistency to work out.

The skills of the two guitarists are rich and they are working good together, creating some direct riffs that characterize the tracks a lot, forming the band's overall music as well. Of course, then there is the great Imperial and the rather boring and typical drumming, the least appealing aspect of the record to me. The compositions are hard to follow and rather assymetrical and even though the beat seems to keep up well, it stretches the weak points of the songs in the end. Also, I would prefer more intensity in the fast paced moments, where it seems like Wrest doesn't want to hurt the snare or something.

I appreciate the overall melancholy this album provokes. It's monotonous and catuous, having a few noise / industrial moments to help to it's cause. Yet, I thinks it's main body is not that appealing after all, consisting of purely combined song parts and spiritless melodies (is that the point or?). I can say I enjoyed some of it, like it's vocals and it's general psychosis, but I was left with mixed feelings after listening to it and I'm still not sure if this was a musical blunder done on purpose to create the aforementioned feelings.

If you take the last song of the album "Below Lights" which is also the second slower after the opening "Lungs", it's dull content of noises, vocals, a bearly listenable guitar and no rhythm apart from some drum hits (sounding machine made, was there a drum machine), is indeed not interesting. Most of the album includes such parts and there are a few improved segments that truly deserve your attention. I would say Twilight close their little chapter with an average album, like their previous one and maybe they will be called a failed mutation in the future.

DAMAGE: 5.5/10

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Havohej - Kembatinan Premaster (2009) Review

Havohej "Kembatinan Premaster"
Summer 2009, Hells Headbangers Records

Havohej (Jehovah backwards... Isn't that satanic enough or what) claimed the USBM scene of the early 90s when they released a milestone album "Dethrone the Son of God" in 1993, which is considered one of the most significant records of black metal, it helped the creation of the genre and influenced a lot of bands around. Their blood brothers Profanatica were missing a full length release until 2007, despite being around since 1990, and after they got back on track with their first ever album "Profanatitas De Domonatia", it worked for the second son as well. Havohej released their second full length 16 years after their debut titled "Kembatinan Premaster", and the fans were expecting it with anxiety and desire.

The band is Paul Ledney's project, who is a member of Profanatica, and was a co-founder and drummer of Incantation as well, so he knows his stuff and is pretty experienced. In the early 90s, he became famous for his photos as a nun or naked, as well as the sacrilegious lyrics against God and Christianity in general. After all these years, with such and accepted and promising full length album, the bar was too high already and with two EPs "Tungkat Blood Wand" and "Hornbook Seytan", he gave the world an idea of what was to come. I didn't want to believe it, but something did go horribly wrong. I ignored the signs of disappointment that described these two EPs and aimed straight for this full length when it was released, to get the whole picture.

Paul has changed his prow to a different direction, which is peculiar at a first listen. There are several noise and dark ambient elements in the music that almost describe half the album, the titles of the tracks have changed into industrial-esque ones (i.e. Melancholike) and the whole sound is different. The interesting riffs of the first records, that defined the album's power, are gone. There is no guitar structure at all, instead there is a continuous noisy background glitch that keeps screeching in every song with the same sound. I assume this was done on purpose and was meant to be something primitive and innovative, which to a certain extent is, but in the end, it's just an exhausting buzz inside your head. All these machine noises are down-tuned and distorted to an amount where the clear drum sound is there alone. I can see how he attempted to create a really dark album with minimal and crooked sounds, in a way that it's not exactly black metal anymore, but something else, as noisy and evil, but it didn't work out. The structure of the album is random and the songs jump from part to part without any consistency, meaning that the dark ambient/noise elements with the drumming/vocals/guitar hush (whatever that is anyway) have not been mixed well.

"Kembatinan Premaster" has 8 tracks and lasts 34 minutes and there are tracks that climb up to 7 or 10 minutes in length. That's unusual for this band, which would not surpass 3 minutes of each song in the past, but that has also changed in the name of experimentation. There are some fast songs that remind the early era like Pious Breath, Hatefull Unto God and the opening track, but I feel like the guitar is missing and I can't withstand to listen to them for more than one time. Hopefully, Ledney's vocals have remained unharmed and their sinister sound does add something, the little it can add when the rest of the instruments are not in its favor. There is regular drumming, with fast and middle and slow paced moments, even though he has reduced the variety into the basic drum pattern, probably on purpose again but does sound repetitive and boring. Even the ambient tracks, like the ending of Pious Breath (which is exactly the same as the intro in Melancholike... What was that, a copy-paste sample in Ableton?), the intro of Hatefull to God or the outro, have nothing special at all to offer to the listener. They are pretty much nothing. If you have noticed the wrong spellings of half of the words in the song titles, i did notice it myself and i clearly don't get the reason behind them, they just look hilarious to me.

I'm not comparing the two albums since they are different in many ways. This is not a failure because it is not as good as "Dethrone the Son of God", it is a failure because it fails in production and in composition and that's why I believe it will really appeal to a few people after all. Paul Ledney has a deranged mind and he used it to create a weird album with immense darkness, but he just released a deranged album with little music in it. I can't recommend this to anyone, even though I think 1 out of 20 people will like it for some reason, and if I should really recommend a track for a taste, that would be the 7 minute Bloud Of The Word. It is the only track that has noise samples worth listening to and it is bearable for its length.

Track listing:
1. Kembatinan Premaster
2. Pious Breath
3. Bloud and Souls
4. Melancholike
5. Bloud of the Word
6. Sundowning (Destroie Men and Beasts with Lookes)
7. Hatefull unto God
8. Homerica Medicatio

DAMAGE: 2.5/10

Aracnophobia - Cult to the High Priests (2013)

Aracnophobia "Cult to the High Priests"
Early Winter 2013, Self-released

Listening Needs
 

This is a project from Costa Rica i was not aware of, with several releases already, all of them this year's. It is an independent act by a guy named  Eduardo Tencio, who is creating the music all by himself. I would say that the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" does not apply here, because the sickness of the album art here can easily describe the sickness of the album.

Aracnophobia (Arachnophobia: the fear of spiders and other arachnids) plays a mixture of dark ambient and noise, the two bastard sons, the black sheep subgenres of electronic music, and when used properly, they are super effective to a sane person's mental well being. This is one of his early releases that came out this February, clocking 26 minutes, which makes it unclear for me if its a full length or an EP/demo. I am, most of the times, in the mood for such music and i was inclined towards this one because of the interesting cover and song titles.

As the album unfolds, the first song starts with distorted noises and a voice talking. What he says is indistinguishable, but of no importance as well, the result is pretty haunting anyway. The music is atonal and does not follow any pattern or structure, from the first two and a half minutes you have the idea of what you're going to listen to. The second song is richer in sounds, it continues with stinking screams but has a couple of nice samples and a basic weird sounding bass, which dims the room further more. The next song seems like it is a bit louder than the other two, it does not give anything new to the listener, it maintains the album's position and breeds the darkness.

The second half of the album contains the strongest tracks off it, with three tracks that contain various distorted sounds apart from the primary background noise. The fourth track is my favourite, for a really high pitched blare it has, not used in the rest of the album. The last two songs are the longest, over six minutes each, they are murky and ominous, just as the rest of the album. A zestful album, as a whole.

When i first gave a listen to this via bandcamp, the end of each track was brusque, and i thought that it was meant to be a long one track divided into pieces, so i downloaded it to see if it flows like that. Sadly, it didn't, so a downside of the album is the untimed and sloppy endings of each song. It might sound like its not that serious, but in dark ambient a non-stop monotonous album can inject madness in your head, whereas an album that takes stops every now and then, loses its power.

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DAMAGE: 6.5/10