Arson Awards 2014: Top 12 EPs

I know I've been around here a lot less than I used to, but I'll keep coming back every year for this shit, for sure. I've moved my reviewing thoughts and general music updating to a webzine named Metal Invader, and that might explain something. Anyway, off we go!

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12. Baths - Ocean Death

Genre: Minimal / Electronica / Glitch

Listen

11. Mormoan - Empyreal Wisdom

 Genre: Funeral Ambient / Dungeon Synth

Listen

10. Trepalium - Voodoo Moonshine

Genre: Swing Death Metal / Jazz

Listen

9. Mournful Congregation - Concrescence of the Sophia

Genre: Funeral Doom Metal

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8. Vermin Womb - Permanence

Genre: Grindcore / Death Metal

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7. Kever - Eon of Cycling Death

Genre: Death Metal

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6. Vuyvr - Incinerated Gods

Genre: Black Metal

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5. Satariel - White Ink: Chapter 1

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

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4. Inter Arma - The Cavern

Genre: Black Metal / Sludge / Post-Metal

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3. Svartidauði - The Synthesis of Whore and Beast

Genre: Black Metal

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2. Worsen - Blood

Genre: Black Metal

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1. Skelethal - Deathmanicvs Revelation

Genre: Old School Death Metal

Listen

Doombringer - The Grand Sabbath (2014)

Origin: Poland
Genre: Black / Death Metal
Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions

Ever since listening their demo Abhorrent Dreams of the End in 2010, I patiently waited for a full work because it was and is among my favourite demos of the recent years. It seems and sounds like I am going to be all over it for some time, new scars have been carved for this year's lists for sure. Side project of Cultes des Ghoules / Bestial Raids members!

Happy Halloween!

Latest releases:

Nightbringer - Ego Dominus Tuus [Listen]
Winterfylleth - The Divination of Antiquity [Listen]
Darkspace - Dark Space III I [Listen]
Mare Cognitum - Phobos Monolith [Listen]
Inter Arma - Sky Burial [Listen]
Young And In The Way - When Life Comes To Death [Listen]
Horsehunter - Caged In Flesh [Listen]
Obituary - Inked In Blood [Listen]
1349 - Massive Cauldron of Chaos [Listen]
Bastard Sapling - Instinct Is Forever [Listen]
Occultation - Silence In The Ancestral House [Listen]
Ascension - Deathless Light [Listen]
Energumen - Void Spiritualism [Listen]
Den Saakaldte - Faen i Helvete [Listen]
Sempiternal Dusk - Sempiternal Dusk [Listen]
Under the Church - Under the Church [Listen]
Heresiarch - Wælwulf [Listen]

Which classic albums should I listen today?

* Epicus Doomicus Metallicus by Candlemass
* Them by King Diamond
* Season of the Dead by Necrophagia
* Dark Medieval Times by Satyricon
* Blood Fire Death by Bathory

Which classic horror films should I watch?

* Inferno (1980)
* Black Sunday (1960)
* Hellraiser (1987)
* Carnival of Souls (1962)
* Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Which Arson Café reviews should I read?

* Ravencult - Morbid Blood (2011)
* Warbringer - War Without End (2008)
* Abigor - Fractal Possession (2007)
* Nordor - Erga Omnes (2012)
* Gorgoroth - Pentagram (1994)


And don't forget to listen to the end of this world:

How to go to shows alone

Casually lean against walls.

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Stand in the front row during sets so at least you feel involved enough in the sense that you are actually really 'seeing' the bands. Also,  you can pay close attention to the bands and try to learn something by watching people play.

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Involve yourself in something pocket-sized between sets (small book, notebook, calendar, flyers etc...)

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Read everything on the walls around you. If you act interested, you might find that it actually is really interesting.

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Send a couple of funny texts to friends from out of town about your bleak social life or make a couple of phone calls between sets. BUT it's important not to be on your phone too much because you want to remain present (otherwise, what's the point?)

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To strike up brief conversation with neighbors, ask: "What band is this / is next?" or "did ____ already play?" etc.

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Remind yourself to stand tall, convince yourself via internal monologues to feel proud and dignified in the fact that despite loneliness and social anxiety, you are doing good things with your time and you are at a show for the music, a.k.a. the most important reason. Plus, you are brave and strong and loners are mysterious anyway and maybe someone has a crush on you or wants to be your friend because they keep seeing you at every show and they are starting to wonder about you.

Mortals - Cursed to See the Future (2014) Review

Album | Cursed to See the Future
Country | United States
Genre | Sludge / Crust / Black Metal
Label | Relapse Records

Coming from New York, the all-female trio Mortals release their second full length record Cursed to See the Future under the Aegis of Relapse Records, which is also the first release of the band through a certain label (all their previous records were self-released). One can't say Relapse hasn't proven itself exemplary these years and here is another valuable newcomer band they found and promoted, as this record fuses the unconventional parts of sludge and black metal naturally and perfectly as they are.

The tracks of the record range from four to nine and a half minutes and clock up to fourty seven minutes in total, making Cursed to See the Future the longest and most important release of the band so far. The production here is very clean and pleasant, giving the distorted guitars and the vocals a bit higher attention into a direct and full sound. The album carries a unique essence when it comes to it's content, flowing perfectly as it progresses and constantly offering divergent moments as well as memorable parts.

Mortals grew from a metal / punk outfit to sludge / hardcore and now something like blackened sludge and their earlier steps still have a spot in their music. There are plenty of hardcore and sludge elements in Cursed to See the Future, mainly in the prolific and distinct riffs of the tracks that are aimed to bulldoze the listener with their heaviness, as one of the finest characteristics of the record. The guitars sculpt the characteristic sound of the record and the switching of lines is so natural as if it was meant to be, a truly remarkable effort compiled of a bunch of amazing riffs, not a poor one included.

The turn towards black metal is also apparent in the album, unfolding during it's very first moments in the opening track “View from the Tower”, which also serves as a first taste of the devastation the album causes. There are sparse moments and sparse riffs inside the various guitar melodies, while “Series of Decay” is a composition strongly into the black metal temperament. Mortals have a gift in creating solid compositions the same way as the all powerful Darkthrone and that's what makes this record so easy listening and organic.

Apart from the guitars, another amazing point of the record is the screams of the vocalist, high pitched screams moving between black metal and crust, they are accurate and legit through the whole album. Mortals did a great job with Cursed to See the Future, which has elements of various genres very well mixed together. 

DAMAGE: [8.5/10]