Edition for true metalfans
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#16†30.05.2021
Trve Metal Zines
News•Reviews•Interviews•Exclusive
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CREW
Evgeny-Destroyer Editor-in-chief, design https://www.facebook.com/ evgeny.dubovskoy Mail: destroyerr78@mail.ru WhatsApp: +79180242178
Olga «Blackie» Schneider Editor, interviewer, text corrector https://www.facebook.com/ olga.metalheart Mail: olgaschneider.1997@gmail.com Inst:https://www.instagram.com/blackie_metalheart/
https://destroyerr78.wixsite.com/insidethedarkness https://www.facebook.com/InsideTheDarknessMetalZine https://www.instagram.com/inside_the_darkness_webzine https://vk.com/insidethedarknessmetalwebzine https://twitter.com/metal_webzine
Editor’s brief
Andrew Stanton Editor, interviewer, text corrector https://www.facebook.com/ andrew.stanton.71216 WhatsApp: 0044 07527 362762
A special thanks to... Helmuth Lehner (Belphegor) for his TOTAL support
...and especially to these people Hails to everyone who’s reading it right now! for the interviews We sincerely hope that each of you is going Don Crotsley (Nunslaughter) well, and since the world is slowly getting back Danielle Evans (Stridskvinna) to the normal life, we’re always open for any Choria (Choria) collaborations with you guys regarding any live shows reviews. Summer is just beginning, and we Angelica Hecate (Hecate Pagan) Pablo Mesias (Urku Llanthu) hope it’s gonna be hot for everyone! Hanephi (Kafirun) But now, a traditional thanks to everyone who has taken part in this issue. Enjoy this one and stay strong! In Metal, Olga Schneider, editor
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CONTENT
News from hell..........................................6
Nunslaughter Interview with Don Crotsley................................................................8 Stridskvinna Interview with Danielle Evans.............................................................10 Choria Interview with Choria.............................................................12 Hecate Pagan Interview with Angelica Hecate................................................................14 Urku Llanthu Intervie with Pablo Mesias......................................16 Kafirun Interview with Hanephi................................................20
Best Metal releases..............24
Stories about Metal bands..............58
Inside The Darkness reviews............78
Metalheads are waiting for it............118
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Inside the Darkness issues
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World Metal News
Two of Europe’s most revered metal bands are set to combine forces to bring their ‘European Siege 2021’ tour to the old continent in Autumn 2021. Sweden’s ARCH ENEMY and Poland’s BEHEMOTH are joining together for a handful of dates, bringing their longtime friends and metal legends CARCASS in the special guest slot. Opening the evening’s thunderous proceedings will be hotly-tipped gothic metal newcomers, UNTO OTHERS (formerly known as Idle Hands).
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ARCH ENEMY live 2021 2021-09-28 – Dublin, Olympia Theatre (IE) 2021-09-30 – Glasgow, O2 Academy Glasgow (UK) 2021-10-01 – Manchester, O2 Academy Manchester (UK) 2021-10-02 – Birmingham, O2 Academy Birmingham (UK) 2021-10-03 – London, O2 Academy Brixton (UK) 2021-10-05 – Paris, Le Zenith (FR) 2021-10-06 – Toulouse, Le Bikini (FR) 2021-10-08 – Lisbon, Sala Tejo (PT) 2021-10-09 – Madrid, Palacio Vistalegre (ES) 2021-10-10 – Barcelona, Palau Sant Jordi (ES) 2021-10-12 – Lyon, Le Radiant (FR) 2021-10-13 – Milano, Alcatraz (IT) 2021-10-15 – Berlin, Columbiahalle (DE) 2021-10-16 – Prague, Tipsport Arena (CZ) 2021-10-17 – Katowice, MCK (PL) 2021-10-19 – Budapest, Barba Negra (HU) 2021-10-20 – Vienna, Gasometer (AT) 2021-10-22 – Ludwigsburg, MHP Arena (DE) 2021-10-23 – Den Bosch, Mainstage Brabanthallen (NL) 2021-10-24 – Brussels, Forest National (BE) 2021-10-26 – Zurich, Samsung Hall (CH) 2021-10-27 – Frankfurt, Jahrhunderthalle (DE) 2021-10-29 – Munich, Zenith (DE) 2021-10-30 – Dusseldorf, Mitsubishi Electric Halle (DE) 2021-10-31 – Hamburg, edeloptics.de Arena (DE) 2021-11-01 – Gothenburg, Partille Arena (SE) 2021-11-03 – Helsinki, Ice Hall (FI) 2021-11-05 – Stockholm, Annexet (SE) 2021-11-06 – Copenhagen, Forum (DK)
Bloodstock Open Air is the UK’s biggest independent METAL festival. Held at the picturesque location of Walton on Trent in Derbyshire, Bloodstock Open Air has won the hearts and minds of fans of heavy ROCK AND METAL by consistently showcasing the strongest metal line up on UK soil. Bloodstock 2021 takes place at Catton Park, Derbyshire from 11th-15th August 2021. Lineup Judas Priest, Cradle Of Filth, The Black Dahlia Murder, Kreator, Dark Tranquillity, Butcher Babies, Cattle Decapitation, Paradise Lost, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, Noctem, Memoriam, Evil Scarecrow, Necrot, Ghosts Of Atlantis, Sylosis and many more bands. Cradle Of Filth have replaced Dimmu Borgir.
BELPHEGOR AND BATUSHKA EMBARK ON EUROPEAN CO-HEADLINING TOUR! Black Rituals tour, which kicks off 10th November in Stockholm, Sweden at Slaktkyrcan. 10.11.2021 - Stockholm [SWE], Slaktkyrkan 11.11.2021 - Gothenburg [SWE], Musikens Hus 12.11.2021 - Oslo [NOR], Parkteatret 13.11.2021 - Malmo [SWE], Plan B 14.11.2021 - Aarhus [DEN], Voxhall 16.11.2021 - London [UK], 229 17.11.2021 - Bredford [UK], Esquires 18.11.2021 - Manchester [UK], Bread Shed 19.11.2021 - Birmingham [UK], Castle and Falcon 20.11.2021 - Louvain-la-Neuve [BEL], Mass Deathruction Fest 21.11.2021 - Zaandam [NLD], De Flux 23.11.2021 - Übach - Palenberg [GER], Rockfabrik 24.11.2021 - Hamburg [GER], Headcrash 25.11.2021 - Dresden [GER], Puschkin 26.11.2021 - Prague [CZE], Futurum 27.11.2021 - Kosice [SVK], Collosseum 28.11.2021 - Ostrava [CZE], Barrack Club 30.11.2021 - Budapest [HUN], Barba Negra 01.12.2021 - Munich [GER], Backstage 03.12.2021 - Graz [AUT], Explosiv 04.12.2021 - Milan [ITA], Black Winter Fest 05.12.2021 - Monthey [SUI], City BELPHEGOR’s new currently-untitled album will be released late November 2021 via Nuclear Blast records. The band will premier II or III tracks from the upcoming offering during this crusade.
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NunSlaughter • Death Metal from United States
Interview with Don Crotsley
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
NunSlaughter are one of the remaining Metal bands in America. Andrew Stanton talked to Don of the Dead about the current American scene. Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness Thank you for the interview. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? To be in depth would be a very long story. The short of it is….NunSlaughter started in 1987 with 3 guys that wanted to make Death Metal in Pittsburgh PA, USA. It was
just a passion that drove us to create blasphemous metal and since then NunSlaughter has never stopped.
you like growing up? I began by listening to my parents records which was mainly Motown (from my dad) and 50’s Do Wop (from my mom). Once I heard Kiss, I knew that Metal music was for me. My favorite underground music was Slaughter, Death/ Massacre, Necrophagia, Sick From Hate, Matricide, Venom and Hellhammer.
eath. Metal is D M e t a l . al. Death is D h Met t a e r e t h g u la S n u N One of the longest continuous running death metal bands in the world. We have over 150 releases and have traveled to 29 countries to deliver our brand of Devil Metal. What bands did
This music is what NunSlaughter has continued to draw on to make music. - Why do some bands get bigger while others stay underground? Is it just a question of luck? I would say some luck, some talent and some desire. We never wanted to make a full length album so we avoided it for almost 13 years. We never wanted to perform live so we avoided it for almost 15 years. So on and so forth. We make music for ourselves. If others dig it that’s great. What do you think of Black Metal? I can say I am a huge fan of early Black Metal like Bathory but not much of a listener of new Black Metal bands. It seems watered down with keyboards and extraneous elements that just clutter the music rather than add to it. - What good bands are in America these days? Many excellent bands in the USA. Moulder, Centenary, Blood Tusk, Midnight. Too many to mention.
Unfortunately, the underground has too many bands and not enough fans, as a good friend told me once. - Why do so many people avoid Satanic bands? I have no idea. Satanic bands are what I mainly
to go South and join the Florida scene? Absolutely not. - What can fans expect from your new album? The new album has a few songs that were written with our drummer, Jim, who died
listen to. People like different subjects but I tend to hate Christ and what his stupid image stands for and how religion, all religions, oppress people. - What is the Metal scene like in Pittsburgh? Not very familiar with the Pittsburgh music scene. I have not lived there in 30 years but I am sure it is thriving. - Did you never want
a few years ago. About half the album are new tracks written with the current members of the band. I think this LP is a bit faster than our last one and definitely more aggressive sounding. - Do you have a message for our readers? Metal is Death Death is Metal NunSlaughter Death Metal.
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Stridskvinna - Black Metal from United States
Interview with Danielle Evans
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
Who didn’t love Automb? But now they have gone their separate ways. Danielle Evans has a new band and Inside the Darkness wishes her well. Andrew Stanton talked to the woman herself. - What can you tell us about your new band? What kind of music is it? My new band is a studio project for now. It is kinda hard to pinpoint the exact sound be-
cause I am still writing but the three songs I have written gui-
For now, I’m focusing on doing everything except from drums. I also have a friend that I’ve been bouncing guitar ideas off of but the EP (or album) will (most likely) feature me on guitar, bass, vocals and Scott Fuller from Morbid Angel on drums. I say most likely because my ideas might change and I might bring other people on board, I’m not 100% sure yet.
d n a c i s u m eate r c o t d e t t. i y o j n e l I just wan l e wi l p o e p t a I hope th t a r parts for are sounding like second wave black metal with some death metal and atmospheric elements. - Who is in this band?
- Are you a long way off a debut album or EP? I am more than halfway to finishing an EP but I’m in no rush. I know that the best content will come from me taking my time and letting the creative process happen naturally. - What happened to Automb? Automb ended because Serge and I decided to go our separate ways on a personal level and it didn’t make sense to continue Automb after that. - Will the new lyrics be similar to Automb’s lyrics? They will be slightly similar in the sense that some of them will be nature centered again but they will be less “left hand path”. My lyrical themes so far are about spirituality, manifestation and overcoming struggle. I think that they will be quite relatable for a lot of people. During lockdowns, it seems odd you were able to start a new band. Again, this is a studio proj-
ect for now so I’m only interacting with other musicians via email/phone. - Will your new sound appeal to Automb fans, or is that not the aim? It seems like it has appealed somewhat to Automb fans already based off
a specific crowd of people. - Is it much easier, quitting and starting afresh, with the knowledge and experience you have now? It is! It’s not easy, at all, but the experiences and knowledge I gained from Automb have really helped me get my feet on the ground. - Do you have a message for our readers? I just want to say thank you guys for your support and be patient with me and my writing process. Good things take time. Follow my Instagram page: https://www. instagram.com/ Stridskvinna
of what I’ve shared already. It was not my aim, though. I just wanted to create music and I hope that people will enjoy it, not just 11
Choria - Atmospheric Black Metal from Indonesia
Interview with Choria
Interview by Andrew Stanton
Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? Ave! Choria was formed on December 17th, 2016 in Indonesia. Started as a jamming project between Rsharsh (vocals, guitars) and Jou (drums) playing various music such as Hardcore, Punk, and some Black Metal hits. We agreed to form a band to brought such landscape, history, and nature-themed music under the name of Choria. We released our debut song entitled “Nature Teaches” in 2017 following
the recruitment of Zardlord (guitars), Steew (keyboards), and Vakh (bass) on the band. - What bands influenced you? We are highly influenced by any Black Metal, Post Metal, and Darkwave musicians. Furthermore, we love how they put a theme in their
To assess what Indonesian Metal Scene looks like can be watched from how many extreme labels and bands emerged in the last two decades. Indonesia has the biggest Metal fan in Southeast Asia. Every city in Indonesia has its own c o m m u n i ties, bands, and some hidden gem if you digging it well. Of course, there are m a n y bands from Europe such as Switzerland, Sweden, France, Germany, etc. who have played and toured in Indonesia since the last decade. Most of the shows were organized by communities,
ern t t a p r u o p e e k o t We want it. h t i w t i f y d a e r l a as we
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works that relate to the condition where they’re living. - What is the Indonesian Metal scene like? Do European bands ever play live there?
tour organizers, or labels in each city they were played in. - Is the Black Metal scene growing there, or getting smaller? Black Metal has always grown along with the emerge of Thrash Metal and Death Metal bands in Indonesia since the 90s. We thought that today’s black metal has huge fans and there’s always a new gem that came out of nowhere and attract the public’s attention. We don’t really care but actually, we are friends in the real life. - What can fans expect from your new album? We received so many reviews and appreciation from our latest release. Most of all give positive critics compared to our debut and we don’t really care about what people expect from us or our next release. As far, we create our music based on what we love and listen to. - Can you tell us about the song ‘Sermon of Demise’? Who sings on it? Our second opus is a concept album and put a lady named Maria Van De Velde as the main character. The song, “Sermon of Demise” is a song about regret of her. - What is the story behind ‘Maria’s Tale’?
“Maria’s Tale” split into two parts and the song tells about Maria Van De Velde’s life journey of love, death, and her cruelty in the name of Ashtaroth. - What does your album cover represent? The album cover represents our lady, Maria, chained under the Oak Tree in an isle called Onrust. Created by an artist and also our drum player, Jou. The isle now becomes a tourism object and national museum of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia. - Will you always make this kind of music? Some bands change their style. We love to play this way. To create such gloom riffs and minor scale. We want to keep our pattern as we already fit with it.
What other Indonesian bands should our readers check out? All the music released by Vallendusk, Pure Wrath, Dusk In Silence, Exhumation, Deafness, and Enssena are always on our favorite list. - Do you have a message for our readers? Our second full-length “A Dismal Repertoire” can now be streamed on all digital platforms. Support us by purchase our release through bandcamp or Interlude Records. Stay safe! Thank you for your time. Hail, Choria.
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Hecate Pagan - Raw Black/Metal from Mexico
Interview with Angelica Hecate
Interview by Andrew Stanton
Hecate Pagan are a cool Raw Black Metal band from Mexico. Andrew Stanton spoke to singer Angelica Hecate about their new upcoming album. Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. Thank you very much to you for the invitation to this interview, it is a pleasure to be part of this great magazine. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? Hecate Pagan comes from an old band from which we divided the members which we had to put oth-
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er members in order to achieve our goals as a group to get new music and do shows outside of our country Hecate Pagan is a Mexican
man can bring to the world, the evil that can make you a slave to yourself and that if you do not join that world coven you will see blood, destruction and death! That is Hecate Pagan in his music. - Who are the members of Hecate Pagan? Hecate Pagan are: Satoshi Lira (Drums) Amourtus (Guitar and bass) Hecate (Summons, keyboard). What bands did you like growing up?
urselves o e is r p r u s o ant t ’t want We always w n o d e W . s m albu twice. with the new s g n o s e m a he s to record t Black Metal band that is already on the door new music full of tears, hatred, truth about the darkness that humanity lives, the evil that
There were many but I grew up with Hard Rock such as Warrant, Skid row, Whitesnake, Guns and Roses, Poison among others then I was more extreme I started listening to Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer among others from there the influences for what I do now with my group! - What is the Mexican Black Metal scene like? Black Metal in Mexico has taken ground in recent years. In my opinion the good bands within the Black (scene) are in the states of Mexico the Black scene there is more support than in the city each band grabs its influences from cult bands! some very good Black bands in Mexico people need to support more of their bands to be able to do more events of the genre! What Mexican bands should our readers check out? There are many bands but I recommend Xibalba, Black Hate, Gersuva, Majestic Downfall, good Mexican bands! - Why do some bands prefer to make Raw Black Metal? Is Symphonic Black Metal and Melodic Black Metal too nice? I have always said that Black Metal should be crude, perhaps because of the type of lyrics that normal-
ly speak darkness, blood, wars, hatred, evil and demons! It goes hand in hand that is why we opted for Raw Black Metal although it is not A rule that should be so since there are very good Symphonic and Melodic Black bands, they are bands that do very well and work
hard so that that fusion of black with symphonic or melodic comes out precise and very compact and gives it a good atmosphere and why not if it sounds nice! Does your album have a release date yet? Yes of course the album will be released at the beginning of June under Satirus Production before that there will be an official video with the first single title from the same EP with the name The all-Seeing eye. It was an EP with 5 songs.
- Are you touring yet? If we have had many invitations from 2020 until now but we have not really taken any since the pandemic has not allowed it because if it is to expose a lot to contracting the virus in 2020 we had a tour to Colombia but it was not possible due to the pandemic we stayed To return to that same country and the same cities as soon as it is possible to play, we had the island of Cuba which was not possible either, we hope to enlarge that tour encompassing Central America and South America, Cuba, hopefully in 2022 we can already travel while we will continue making music and more. Black Metal!!! - Do you have a message for our readers? Thanks to the magazine and its people for the interview with the readers who read us, we will continue to make Black Metal to fill their ears with a lot of darkness and we hope one day to reach so many cities to burst heads with our music and greetings from Mexico!!! - Thank you for your time. Thank you very much to you for the invitation to this interview, it is a pleasure to be part of this great magazine. 15
Urku Llanthu - Dark Folk/Metal from Ecuador
Interview with Pablo Mesias
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
Urku Llanthu are a cool new band from Ecuador. Andrew Stanton talked to the man himself, Pablo Mesías, about the new album. Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. Greetings, my name Pablo Mesías, founding member of the band URKU LLANTHU. Thank you very much INSIDE THE DARKNESS for your attention and support. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? URKU LLANTHU It is a solo Musical Project originating in the city of Quito-Ecuador, which was born in 2018 and which in turn for-
mally comes to light with audio and video material for the year 2020, Full Disc in format physical that is available from November 2020. Album that contains 8 unreleased tracks (1 intro + 7 songs) and bears the homonymous name of the musical project “URKU
of the “URKU LLANTHU” Project (Pablo Mesías) dates back to 1998 when, together with more members, he was part of the band “ACRACIA” from the capital city, the vocal part being the position to occupy, a period that lasted until 2004. After this project in 2 0 0 5 until 2010 he would be part of the band “NEKROPSIA” also from the Ecuadorian capital, occupying the same place in the vocal part. After a few years in the period from 2013 to 2016 he would be part of the group “BLASFEMO” in vocalization, going shortly after with some members of that same
name e h t s i hu t n a l L u k r ts U i d n a t c e j pro o l o s e h t . w of o d a h S n i a t oun M s i n o i t a l s n tra LLANTHU” accompanied by its official video-clip. The musical trajectory of the only multi-instrumentalist member
band to form “ALKITRAN” a project also originally from Quito-Ecuador; continuing in the same profile of the vocal part occupying the period from the year 2016 to the year 2018. Year in which an idea that was firm a long time ago was born and that comes to light in the present 2020 in a totally independent way with the name of “URKU LLANTHU” adding string instruments, percussion, harmonics such as piano, wind instruments etc. ... and thus getting to musically capture the ideas and compositions of its only member Pablo Mesías (Atuk Urku Llanthu - pseudonym) the same as in its atmosphere for maintaining the attachment to the Andean worldview and the rescue of the ancestral language “Quechua” typical of many indigenous peoples, it works with the genre “Dark Ambient” / “Dungeon Synth” / “Folk Metal” in an instrumental environment that marks the feeling and thinking of the person who gives rise to this musical framework and the project, under the proprietary seal by the same composer and author “TAKIRI PRODUCCIONES INDEPENDIENTE “. - What bands did you like growing up? I had the opportunity to listen to very varied music from a very young age, from instrumental works of classical music,
the folklore of Ecuador, as well as works already more framed in rock and roll such as: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Bathory, Celtic Frost among many more. - What does Urku Llanthu mean? Urku Llanthu is the name of the solo project that I represent, its name is taken from the ancestral Quechua dialect, which in its translation is Mountain Shadow. Is the Ecuadorian scene very different from the Colombian scene? In terms of trajectory and validity in the rock and roll & Heavy Metal scene, there is similarity in chronology. If there is a marked difference in terms of international projection and diffusion, in that sense in the brother country of Colombia the bands have a different management than Ecuador. - When people make this kind of music, is it everyone’s dream to be better than Arcana? Are they considered the kings of the genre?
I have a lot of musical memories of Arcana and its trajectory. I find his instrumental proposal very interesting framed in the medieval aspect and that makes it quite interesting. In my particular case and especially in the musical framework of URKU LLANTHU there is a difference, especially in the cultural expression of the compositions based on the ancestral aspect of this region of the planet. - What other Ecuador bands should our readers check out? There is a good number of bands from Ecuador every day with a better proposal and quality, but among those that in one way or another have an international connotation are: Total Death, Ente. 17
Urku Llanthu - Dark Folk/Metal from Ecuador 18
- How do you personally describe your music? URKU LLANTHU is created musically with very marked influences towards the genre Dungeon Synth and Dark Metal, emphasizing the rescue and mention of the ancestral culture of this region and that is still valid in its expressions, habits, customs, legends and sounds. Creating an enveloping atmosphere in the magical and ritual side of beliefs hand in hand with Andean mysticism. - What do you think of Mortis? Personally and from my criteria, Mortis is a musical reference with an extensive and diverse career. From its beginnings to the present, I continue with great interest and emphasis on its excellent quality work. Of course it is in my opinion and with good reason one of my biggest and most marked influences. - When I heard your album, I heard influences of Folk music. Is this something that interests you? Of course it is of my deep interest to maintain and promote in
my musical work the ancestral aspect, customs, rituals, ancient beliefs that go hand in hand with the vision in folk art. Hence, among many reasons, plus a main one, which is the presence and use in URKU LLANTHU of the Quechua Dialect that is in
force in Ecuador and in several countries in this region, such as Peru. - Do your songs have any meaning, or is it just music? They are musical compositions inspired by the various an-
cient places in the history of the original peoples of this latitude. The Andean worldview, rituals, spirituality as a way of life. Also at the same time they are subjective subjects and loaded with a great atmosphere and ancient memory that still has much to know and explore. - Do you have a message for our readers? First of all, I would like to thank INSIDE THE D A R K NESS who made this pleasant interview possible, Andrew Stanton, a fraternal greeting from a distance. Greetings to the followers and readers; Keep exploring this musical universe with interest, each time you will surely find new expressions full of energy and ideas that are yet to be discovered. Follow and listen to URKU LLANTHU from Ecuador. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much.
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Kafirun - Black/Metal from Canada
Interview with Hanephi
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? Hanephi: KAFIRUN was established in 2014 with the intent of creating a new project that is uncompromising, dark, dense and with occult inspired substance. After the initial line up was completed and each member started to find their most po-
tent place in the band, we recorded KAFIRUN’s first EP called “Death Worship” which was followed by our second EP called “The Glorification of Holy Death”. After these releases
worldwide. In 2016, a Polish record label re-issued these two EP’s as a compilation album under the title of “The Worship and Glorification of Holy Death”. Right after this release, our original drummer was replaced with our current brother. In 2017, we released our debut fulllength album “Eschaton”. This album was released and re-issued via several labels on vinyl, cd and cassette formats.
ded u l c x e I reason to e The u d s i e r e h Christianityed current state its weaken estern countries. in most w we’ve received very positive feedback from the underground scene
To promote the album release we’ve played a few select gigs in Canada and toured over Mexico in late 2018. Since the release of the debut album, we’ve been working on new material and expanding upon our initial ideas and concepts. The very first track of our recent works have just been released as a single with an accompanying music video. - What is the Canadian scene like? What local bands should our readers check out? H: Canadian metal scene is very fruitful and it has a lot of solid bands, both in the underground and global scene. Regarding the underground, eastern Canadian metal scene has more established and globally recognized festivals and bands, that being said, the western Canadian scene where KAFIRUN is also located, slowly but surely establishing itself as a strong metal underground stronghold with excellent bands and festivals. A few bands come to my mind from our local Van-
couver metal scene. Burial Kult, Tyrants Blood, Auroch, Atrae Bilis, Mitochondrion, Finite and of course legendary Blasphemy. What bands did
you like growing up? H: At a very young age, I started listening to the classic heavy metal and thrash bands. Destruction, Kreator, Sodom, Slayer, WASP, Celtic Frost, Death etc. Later in my teen years, I got into more underground and extreme music, likes of 90’s bands such as Mayhem, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Satyricon, Dark Throne, Gorgoroth Satyricon and many many more. What does KAFIRUN mean? H: The word itself can roughly be translated as disbeliev-
ers or infidels in the context of religion. As it is defined in Islamic teachings and in Tasawwuf, which consists the mystical and esoteric teachings of Islam, the main principle of the faith is to submit the self and the individual’s will into God’s will, thus ultimately letting your soul dissolve into God, a full circle, returning back to the source. This is a common teaching in Abrahamic religions, removal of the will power from the individual to subdue all his potential, a descent into a pacified state of being, where the soul is not liberated but instead condemned to a perpetual servitude in nothingness. So with all that is in mind for us KAFIRUN philosophically represents a thought that rejects this religious principle as well as rejecting God’s words, his will and all hierarchical divine order. - What are your lyrics and themes about? H: Our lyrics are reflections that mirror and reveal the dark depths of our individual thoughts and visions. 21
Kafirun - Black/Metal from Canada 22
The themes evolve around the ever liberating death and the unknowable nothingness, where infinite potential awaits. There is also an occult and a religious aspect to our lyrical concepts, these are mostly based upon our personal interpretations of the religious writings and personal experiences with such beliefs and teachings. - Does anti-religion go down well in Canada? H: It is fair to say that Canada is a very liberal country, having anti-religious opinions, generally is not an issue. But these days with the on going woke culture and online mobs, having anti religious opinions against religions other than Christianity might cause a backlash and you might get accused of bigotry. The reason I excluded Christianity here is due to its weakened
current state in most western countries. Making fun of Christianity or using anti-christian imagery and expressing such thoughts through music/art is generally an accepted norm in
an example, there is a good chance you might even get accused of racism as well as bigotry and all sorts of made up claims against you. - What is the Vancouver live scene like? Have European bands played there? H: We have a vibrant live music scene here, at least we used to up until the Covid-19 pandemic has stalled the world. There are lots of active local bands playing various styles of metal music. Local support for the live gigs would vary depending on the bands, the venues and of course the gig dates. Regarding European bands, we definitely get to enjoy seeing lots of them when they tour within Canada. From what I’ve seen so far, most North AmeriCanada but if you have op- can tour schedules already posing thoughts/ideas/art include Vancouver BC for towards, lets say Islam as their concert dates as well.
- Have you toured much around Canada and the US? What are the best places to play? H: We haven’t yet toured in Canada or the US but we’ve some plans to make it happen in the future, at least to play at a few select locations within Canada. For underground bands, touring in Canada is a tough endeavour to manage and finance. The country is very vast and distances are quite long between Eastern and Western provinces. Our only neighbouring country is the USA, which requires expensive fees to be paid and permits to be obtained for even underground bands to enter and tour over the USA. In contrast to Europe, where bands can much easily travel to nearby countries, here in Canada we have a bit of dis-
advantage in that regard. - What can fans expect from your new album? Do you have a date yet? H: We do not have a set date yet for the next album though we are cur-
our regards to the fans, zines and bands around the world for their support. For those who have just discovered KAFIRUN, visit our official website at www.kafirun.ca for more information, contact details and social media links. Thank you for this interview.
rently working on the new material and we already have a few songs completed for the next record. As a whole and as individuals in the band, we always have the intent of creating music that has depth and resonating substantial quality to it. - Do you have a message for our readers? I would like to send out 23
Latest releases
Grabak Black Metal band from Germany released the seventh Full-length album Scion on March 31, 2021. A few years after «Furia l» on the «Agash Daeva» album, the band thought it would be a good idea to bring a second part of the concept to life. «Furia» stands for everything that means destruction, decay and fall. Social values, cultures and religious concepts are nothing but cobwebs in autumn or a blow job on a gloomy street corner. They are interchangeable and
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have no meaning in the course of the eons. Everything repeats itself, is recreated, and disappears again. And that order in chaos is Furia. No compromises are made in terms of style. Furious riffs are paired with mid-tempo parts that skillfully set the desired atmospheric density to music. Once again, the Saxon veteran collaborated with Echolux recording studios to provide this opus with the right sound. Let’s follow Grabak into the abyss of human souls, which can present themselves in many diff erent ways, and let’s face the conjured demons from old and new times.
Tracklist: 1. Scion 2. Epitomes of Cruelty 3. Furia II - Weltenbrand 4. Blutkelch 5. The Sirens Song 6. Heirs of the Serpent 7. M.A.I.D. - My Art Is Death 8. Black Water 9. Echoing the Sound of Hell
Wode Black Metal band from United Kingdom released the third Full-length album Burn in Many Mirrors on April 2, 2021. With six new tracks spanning 40 minutes of meticulously summoned infernal ferocity Wode scorch the landscape and drape it in the foul reek of death’s fog. One may hear the ancient voice of obscure and revered gods reflected through Wode’s sulphuric incantations, the raging fire of the most blasphemous legends of the past called upon by the spirit of chaos and death. Shrouded in sepulchral black metal atmosphere and freezing cold melodies ‘Burn
In Many Mirrors’ displays a studied regard for songcraft and motive well beyond mere convention, transforming into a concentrated dark chorus of ruin and abomination. Now into the second decade of existence in the material plane, Wode’s definitive melding of black metal’s ecstatic desecration, death metal’s sharply attuned sense of violent purpose and classic anthemic 80s metal
instills ‘Burn In Many Mirrors’ with the elements necessary to sear itself into the fervent heart of the faithful. Tracklist 1. Lunar Madness 2. Serpent’s Coil 3. Fire in the Hills 4. Sulphuric Glow 5. Vanish Beneath 6. Streams of Rapture (I, II, III) Lineup E.T. - Bass T.H. - Drums, Guitar, Synth & Keys M.C. - Guitars, Vocals, Synth & Keys D. Shaw - Guitars, Backing Vocals
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Latest releases
Evil Drive Melodic Death Metal band from Finland released the third Fulllength album Demons Within on April 2, 2021. Evil Drive represents a more Melodic Metal Music style with some thrash metal influence. The face of the band is the stunning female vocalist Viktoria Viren, whose powerful performance consists of dissonant heavy vocals. The group was put together in January 2013.
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Tracklist 1. Ravens Way Lineup Ville Wiren - Guitars Viktoria Viren - Vocals J-P Pusa - Guitars Antti Tani - Drums Matti Sorsa - Bass
2. Payback 2. Breaking the Chains 3. Demons Within 4. Rising from the Revenge 5. We Are One 6. Too Wild to Live Too Rare to Die 7. Lord of Chaos 8. Bringer of Darkness 9. In the End 10. Ghost Dimension
Saille Symphonic Black Metal band from Spain/Netherlands/ Belgium released the fifth Fulllength album V on April 9, 2021. Sail or Saille is the 4th letter of the Irish Ogham alphabet, meaning «willow». The band name is pronounced [sahl-yeh]. Hailing from the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium, SAILLE is slowly, but surely making their mark on the metal scene and performed all over Europe. In 2019 SAILLE felt the need for a dramatic overall change, which led to a fresher, but most importantly much darker, heavier approach and sound. Since their inception, SAILLE has released four acclaimed albums of which the 2017 release ‘Gnosis’ was very well received and praised. With every song sounding unique and full of riffs, savage drumming,
thunderous bass and excellent vocals. At the same time, SAILLE was seeking a deeper darkness, both live and in the studio. Therefore, the fifth album is an entirely different style.
Lineup Tony Van den Eynde Drums Reinier Schenk - Guitars Kristof Van Iseghem - Bass Juanjo Pérez - Guitars Jesse Peetoom - Vocals
Tracklist 1. Suffering Sanctuary (Parts 1, 2, 3) 2. Fetid Flesh 3. Charnel Chamber 4. Loathsome Legacy 5. Empty Expanse 6. Baleful Beauty 7. Terror Tapestry 8. Mirror Motions
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Latest releases
Wolfchant Pagan/Folk Metal band from Germany released the seventh Full-length album Omega : Bestia on April 9, 2021. WOLFCHANT was founded in 2003 in Sankt Oswald, Lower Bavaria by Lokhi, Skaahl, Gaahnt and Norgahd. In 2020 the band signed a new contract with REAPER ENTERTAINMENT and the new disc «OMEGA : BESTIA» is now released. The popular mixture of extreme metal mixed
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with timeless melodies, driving riffs and epic parts as well as the aggressive screams and the choral vocals was retained and expanded with a lot of flair by several nuances. Tracklist Disc 1 1. Omega : Bestia 2. Komet 3. Into Eternal Darkness 4. Im Zeichen des Tiers 5. Der Geist und die Dunkelheit 6. Bestie 7. Jäger der Nacht 8. Out in the Dark
9. The Flame Disc 2 1. Kelch deiner Freiheit 2. Wolkenheer 3. The Last Storm 4. The Devil Rides Out 5. The End Lineup Lokhi - Vocals (harsh) Skaahl - Guitars (lead) Nortwin - Vocals (clean) Ghust - Drums Seehb - Guitars
Throne Melodic Blackened Death Metal band from United States released the first Full-length album Pestilent Dawn on April 9, 2021. Revered and respected among the Midwest heavy music community, Throne have captivated and crushed the masses with a ferocious, relentless and intricate formula of Death Metal all their own. Since storming from the gates in late 2017 with their first jaw dropping live performance, Throne have consistently gained momentum, sharing the stage and holding their own with major extreme acts such as At The Gates, Exhumed, Revocation, Suffocation, Belphegor and
Goatwhore. The band’s debut full length, ‘Pestilent Dawn’, showcases the band’s mastery of the genre. It’s a complete Death/ Black bludgeoning from beginning to end that will certainly leave listener’s mouths agape in awe and necks sore from non-stop headbanging! Lineup Leslie Drake Bass Kollin Perpignani - Drums Nathan Barnes Guitars, Vocals Joseph - Guitars
Tracklist 1. Intro 2. Amongst the Sinners, They Came Forth 3. In the Midst of Chaos 4. And They Shall Weep 5. Eternity in Mourning 6. Pestilent Dawn 7. Born of Death 8. Beyond Malice 9. All Creation Wept 10. Humanity’s Dusk
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Latest releases
Goath Black/Death Metal band from Germany released the third Full-length album III: Shaped by the Unlight on April 9, 2021. Influenced by old bands like DEICIDE, MORBID ANGEL, MAYHEM and BLASPHEMY the three guys from Nuremberg (Germany) founded the band GOATH in the very end of 2015. with the new album in their hands the band is waiting for what they are best known for: «Tearing down world`s live clubs and spreading their satanic message through the dark sounds of death/- and black metal!...» With «III: Shaped by
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the Unlight» GOATH stick to everything they believe in and that is playing aggressive Death / Black Metal its purest form. Raw, very powerful and evil - and this time even darker than ever! Most of the material was recorded while playing live in the studio, just like on their previous albums. No clicktracks and not thousands of overdubs! This is what makes «III: Shaped by the Unlight» so brutal. The energy that GOATH i s
spreading here punches the listener directly into the face. Tracklist 1. Symbiosis of Vengeance And Guilt 2. Pretending to Serve While Raping 3. Shaped by the Unlight 4. Dissolving Flesh Redemption 5. Epitome of Perpetual Rage 6. Smoltification 7. Clitless Loyalty 8. Perception 9. Impregnated with Black Fire Lineup Serrator - Drums Goathammer - Guitars, Vocals Nils Fjandannson - Bass, Vocals
Elgibbor Black Metal band from Poland released the fifteenth Fulllength album Corruptus Vindicta on April 9, 2021. «Elgibbor» means «The Almighty God» in Hebrew. Elgibbor started as oldschool black metal band. Since ‘Stronger Than Hell’ band presents black metal with folk/ambient influences à la Darkthrone and Graveland. This release is based on the book of Job, and is bound to be 1 of the greatest Elgibbor titles EVER!
Tracklist 1. Land of Darkness 2. Curse the Black Day of Birth 3. Accused 4. Tormented 5. A Bitter Tounge 6. Scum 7. Whisper of Him 8. Dust & Ashes Lineup Aaron Kirby - Bass Logan Thompson - Drums Sebat Frost - Guitars Fire - All instruments, Vocals Azahel Frost - Vocals
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Latest releases
Cannibal Corpse Death Metal band from United States released the fifteenth Full-length album Violence Unimagined on April 16, 2021. The title tells you everything you need to know about Cannibal Corpse’s fifteenth hellish opus. Comprised of eleven tracks, it is state of the art death metal played with passion and breathless precision, making for another flawless addition to what is inarguably one of the premier catalogues
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the genre has thrown up. «It really follows the path we’ve been going down for a few years now,» states bassist and founding member Alex Webster. «I think we approach the writing in a similar way most every time: each of us try to write the heaviest, most memorable songs we can. We want each song to have its own identifiable character. Showing my age, I like to say you can ‘drop the needle’ on any point of one of our albums and quickly tell which song you’re listening to.»
Tracklist: 1. Murderous Rampage 2. Necrogenic Resurrection 3. Inhumane Harvest 4. Condemnation Contagion 5. Surround, Kill, Devour 6. Ritual Annihilation 7. Follow the Blood 8. Bound and Burned 9. Slowly Sawn 10. Overtorture 11. Cerements of the Flayed
Spectral Wound Black Metal band from Canada released the third Full-length album A Diabolic Thirst on April 16, 2021. Montreal, QC black metal band SPECTRAL WOUND play virulent towering melancholic black metal. With their new album “A Diabolic Thirst”, which follows 2018’s “Infernal Decadence”, the band take their own methodology of Quebecois black metal through vicious sonic layers that culminate in six triumphant ferocious hymns where blood freezing melodies and harsh yet massive overtones bring a decadent and euphoric flow to this glorious masterwork the band have conjured. Another black metal triumph
emanating from Canadian soil, one exposing once again the richness of Quebec’s unparalled black metal scene, “A Diabolic Thirst” not only captures that pure classic melodic black metal essence that was eminent in the late ‘90s/very early ‘00s but also serves its purpose today as a masterowk of glorious blackened magnitude.
Tracklist 1. Imperial Saison Noire 2. Frigid and Spellbound 3. Soul Destroying Black Debauchery 4. Mausoleal Drift 5. Fair Lucifer, Sad Relic 6. Diabolical Immanence Lineup Illusory - Drums Jonah - Vocals Patrick - Guitars Sean - Guitars Sam - Bass, Vocals
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Latest releases
Ildaruni Pagan Black Metal band from Armenia released the first Fulllength album Beyond Unseen Gateways on April 16, 2021. Ildaruni emerged as a raging force from the depths of the Armenian underground metal scene in the year 2016. Musically, Ildaruni represents a blend of relentless, epic black metal and ancient folk melodies, forgotten from times immemorial. The lyrical themes explore the height of the Urartian domain through the cognitive machinations of a bygone age and the esoteric apprehension of ancient pagan occultism.
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Beyond Unseen Gateways, is a hymn to the blazing light that sank into shadowy shrines, to the wild darkness that covered the debris of Ardini, to the bygone flame that enlightened the sanctum of Haldi. Delivering the blend of ancient folk melodies and traditional black metal, filled with scorching aggression and chaotic transitions, the opus introduces an authentic sound and a spiritual journey to the mysteries untold. Each song is an inseparable part of a grand ode that explores the Urartian domain’s height and the esoteric knowledge of pagan mysticism.
Tracklist 1. Haldinini Baushini, Imsheini Tariani 2. Treading the Path of Cryptic Wisdom 3. Perpetual Vigil 4. Boundless Numen: Gardens of Ardini 5. Towards Subterranean Realms 6. Exalted Birth 7. Arakha 8. Whence Ravenstone Beckons Lineup Robert Meliksetyan – Guitars, Keyboards, Lyrics Arthur Poghosyan – Drums Mark Erskine – Guitars, Keyboards Artak Karapetyan – Vocals Garbis Vizoian – Bass, Lyrics
Hymnr Black Metal band from Russia released the first Full-length album Far Beyond Insanity on April 23, 2021. Describing themselves as a «Black Metal band from unknown parts of the world» HYMNR plays its cards very close to its chest when it comes to its lineup, saying little more than that it is comprised of V on Vocals, V1 on Guitars and VII on Drums. Intriguingly, the band did have this to say regarding both its formation, and it music: HYMNR is an entity, a
formation that spawned itself. The music, the story, and the concept of HYMNR is its own tale, charting the tragic path that has led the world, humanity, and religion on a downwards spiral. HYMNR is not so much a band as a concept that sets forth the old anguish-filled tales of how it all ended up where it did. What HYMNR is, no one can say, except maybe the individual minds of the ones who are
willing to embark on this journey. HYMNR needs to be heard and seen, and, above all, felt. Tracklist 1. Part I 2. Part II 3. Part III 4. Part IV
Lineup VII - Drums VI - Guitars, Bass V - Vocals
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Latest releases
Ulvehyrde Black Metal band from Norway released the first Full-length album Englemakersken on April 23, 2021. ULVEHYRDE became an entity in 2018, formed by the the past and present forces from Beastcraft, Sarkom, Angst Skvadron, Voluspaa and Paul DiAnno. The music is described as fundamental mid-tempo black metal with
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lyrics based upon old, dark, Norwegian history. An excellent, obscure and deeply cold release that spans the true norwegian black metal spirit and ULVEHYRDE pays perfect homage to the dark denizen of the nocturnal glades, and is a true paean to backwoods malignity.
Tracklist: 1. Jarlen 2. Disippelen 3. Likbålet 4. Englemakersken 5. Dødsuret 6. Skarpretteren 7. Diabolisten 8. Svartbækken Lineup Uvel - Bass Judikator - Drums Noctum - Guitars Straff - Guitars Sorath Northgrove - Vocals
Old Forest Black Metal band from United Kingdom released the sixth Fulllength album Mournfall on April 23, 2021. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, the Old Forest is a small forested area which lies east of the Shire in Buckland. The Old Forest is one of the few survivors of the primordial forests which covered most of Eriador before the Second Age, and it once was but the northern edge of one immense forest which reached all the way to Fangorn forest. OLD FOREST‘s new album ‘Mournfall’ is 8 tracks of doomladen Black Metal, ethereal atmospheres and melodies combined with tectonic riffs – the
perfect follow-up to their 2019 5. My Haunting album ‘Black Forests of Eternal Vision Doom’. Old Forest shares 2 6. Solitude Apocalypse members with In The Woods…, 7. Shadows Immemorial and can be seen as the depressive 8. A Bitter End Black Metal counterpoint to that 9. The Raven Looks On band’s recent material. The CD 10. Black Alchemist bonus tracks are the recently 11. Sussex Hell Hound unearthed and unreleased 2001 12. Serpent & Saint demo ‘Sussex Hell Hound’ Tracklist Lineup 1. Tyrant Spell Kobold - Vocals, Keyboards 2. The Anvils Beleth - Guitars, Bass 3. Despair is my Name Kobro - Drums 4. Red Sky in Mourning
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Latest releases
Gloomy Grim Symphonic Black Metal band from Finland released the seventh Fulllength album Agathonomicon on April 28, 2021. GLOOMY GRIM is back with last album! The band started in 1995 in Finland as one-man band by Agathon’s will to make music in his own terms. In addition to horror film soundtracks, the biggest inspiration for Agathon has always been the dark life itself. As the music evolved, Agathon decided it’s time to gather a full band around
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him. Since then, Gloomy Grim have released six full-length albums and they have toured all over Finland, Baltic, Russia and Europe. Now after 26 years of terror, Agathon decided to make his last testament to humanity and «Agathonomicon» is going to be end of GLOOMY GRIM’s recording career...
Tracklist 1. Invitation 2. The Hermit 3. Master Inside 4. Third Eye Opening 5. They Are Waiting 6. Conjunction to the Ground 7. To the Death I Have Sworn 8. Purity, Beauty, Freedom 9. Blood, Monsters, Darkness 10. Haunting, Hunting, Howling
Vreid. Vreid rose from the ashes of the band Windir after the death of frontman Valfar. Vreid was formed by three former Windir members and a new guitarist, Ese, who was replaced by former Windir guitarist Strom in 2010, making the connection with Windir even stronger than before. With ‘Wild North West’ the band pushed their vision to new heights. ‘Wild North West’ is not just a collection of songs but a concept album that developed alongside an entire movie.
Throughout eight chapters the listener will be taken on a journey deep into the mountains, to a dark place where the borders between reality and fantasy fade and where death is only one step behind you: The Wild North West.
Tracklist 1. Wild North West 2. Wolves at Sea 3. The Morning Red 4. Shadows of Aurora 5. Spikes of God 6. Dazed and Reduced 7. Into the Mountains 8. Shadowland Lineup Hváll - Bass, Keyboards (additional), Vocals (additional) Steingrim - Drums Sture Dingsøyr - Vocals, Guitars Strom - Guitars
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Latest releases
Trauma Death Metal band from Poland released the EP Acrimony on April 30, 2021. Trauma - the legendary polish Death Metal band, more than 25th years on stage! TRAUMA are back with a new release, which is the follow-up to their 2020 «Ominous Black» album. The 4-song mini-album «Acrimony» was recorded in Traumatic Sound Studio in Elbląg during the same session as «Ominous Black» and produced by Mister and Wiesławscy Bros while
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it was mixed and mastered in Hertz Studio in Białystok, Poland (BEHEMOTH, VADER, HOUR OF PENANCE, BEHEADED) October 2018 - March 2019. Once again the band collaborated with world-famous artist Mariusz Lewandowski (ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, BELL WITCH, PSYCROPTIC, SHRINE OF THE SERPENT) who designed the cover of «Acrimony».
1. Internal Sacrifice 2. The Godless Abyss 3. Reign of Terror 4. Reality When You Die (Gorefest cover) Lineup Arkadiusz «Mały» Sinica - Drums Jarosław «Mister» Misterkiewicz Guitars, Bass, Samples, Vocals (backing) Artur «Chudy» Chudewniak - Vocals
Devoured Death Metal band from Indonesia released the second Full-length album The Curse of Sabda Palon on April 30, 2021. Devoured formed in 1998 and deals with Indonesian mythology and history in general. The Curse of Sabda Palon is the album, self-released by the band, dedicated to the legend of Sabdo Palon. Sabdapalon was a priest who cursed the king of the land after he had converted to another religion, this is happened around 1478. For fans of Old School Death Metal like Entombed, Nihilist, Carnage.
Tracklist 1. The Curse of Sabda Palon 2. Agenda Perputaran Jagad Raya 3. Hasut, Jerat, Bunuh 4. Ambigu Kuasa 5. Hutan Hujan Darah 6. Siasat Sang Maha Patih Paripurna 7. Sabda 13 (Gemuruh Air Puluhan Ribu Dosa) 8. Dang Hyang Sabda Palon 9. Sirna Ilang Kertaning
Bumi 10. Dreaming in Red Lineup I Nyoman Sastrawan Vocals Safik Rosad - Guitars, Vocals (backing) Rahadian Aldy - Drums Ardian - Guitars Mal - Bass
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Latest releases
Nattverd Black Metal band from Norway released the third Full-length album Vandring on April 30, 2021. Formed in the late 90’s, NATTVERD is a band that has always preferred that its output be judged on purely musical merits, rather than on the past or future reputations of its extremely skilled and experienced lineup, and to this end the true identities of its musicians have always been kept private. Titled «Vandring» it forms the final chapter of the Black Death trilogy which includes the 2019
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EP «Skuggen, and 2020’s full-length «Styggdom». According to the band, whose lineup is composed of Ormr on Vocals and Guitars, Atyr on Guitars, Sveinr on Bass, Antichristian on Drums, and Serpentr on Guitars, «Vandring» is «a more dynamic album than last, because they have challenged the core that is NATTVERD, whilst at the same time staying true to the spirit that is the band. The band have pushed some boundaries, which has resulted in more diverse tracks, that touch a lot on melancholy, and is even more aggression, with epic moments.
Tracklist 1. Det Bloer Paa Alt Som Spirer 2. Martyrer Av Kristus 3. Naar Taaken Fortaerer Alt 4. Med Rive Og Lime 5. I Moerket Slumrer Ravnen 6. Gudsmenn, Deres Svik Erkjenn 7. Det Hvisker I Veggene 8. Langt Langt Der Borte I Det Fjerne
Rituals Of The Dead Hand Black/Doom Metal band from Belgium released the second Fulllength album With Hoof and Horn on May 1, 2021. In 2018 the world witnessed the reincarnation of the infamous ‘Buckriders’, various gangs of vile robbers who terrorized the borderlands of Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands in the late 18th century. Led by their menacing captain, they sold their souls to the Devil, rode by night on the backs of flying goats and mercilessly pillaged and burned the houses of godfearing Christians across the dim and bleak marshlands… The unholy Belgian three piece known as Rituals Of The Dead Hand, fully embraced this piece of dark folklore and translated it into a relentless attack of old school death/black metal on their debut ‘Blood Oath’, an album hailed by critics and
fans alike. Now, three years later, the shadows are moving again… On their second offering ‘With Hoof And Horn’, Rituals Of The Dead Hand walks the same path of no-nonsense, old school extreme metal updated in a modern and contemporary atmosphere. Again, the four lengthy tracks dive into the legends, myths and tales of the notorious robbers who were ultimately caught, tortured, trialed and executed for their horrific and blasphemous acts… Truth or legend? Simple folklore or further proof that the Devil is always lurking in the dark, especially behind man’s most sacrilegious deeds? Whatever your answer is, with ‘With Hoof And Horn’, the Buckriders will ride again!
Tracklist 1. Praesemino 2. Sulphur 3. Inception 4. The Defiling Days 5. Vuurstaeck Lineup Lykaios - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards Isangrim - Drums, Keyboards, Samples Beleth - Bass, Vocals (backing)
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Latest releases
Lord Vampyr Symphonic Black Metal band from Italy released the sixth Full-length album The Vampire’s Legacy on May 7, 2021. Italian Black/Gothic Metal legends LORD VAMPYR return 3 years after their heavy metallic-oriented «Death Comes Under The Sign Of The Cross», with their 6th album «The Vampire’s Legacy», which is a step forward for the band, as they are proud to compose and record their best album so far. «The Vampire’s Legacy» has a
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fresh and powerful production and at the same time is a return to the glorious roots, to their black metal sound. A vampyric black metal music, atmospheric, foggy, cold and gothic, melodic and romantic, coming directly from Transylvania and Dracula’s and vampires’ legacy. For fans of Cradle Of Filth, Theatres Des Vampires, Moonspell, Rotting Christ, Vlad Tepes, Carpathian Forest, Ancient, Siebenbuergen, Notre Dame.
Tracklist 1. Towards Darkness 2. The Vampire’s Legacy 3. The Evil’s Origin (Strigoi Pt. II) 4. Mircalla 5. Wicked 6. Mater Vampirorum 7. In My Tenebra 8. Blood Ballad 9. The Village 10. Inno A Dracula Lineup Lord Vampyr - Vocals Seth666 - guitars Deathblast - guitars, lead guitars Hellvete - Bass/keyboards Aeternus - Drums
Seth Black Metal band from France released the sixth Full-length album La morsure du Christ on May 7, 2021. French black metal pioneers SETH have once again lightened the flame of the early days with ‘La Morsure du Christ’, which can be seen as sequel to their acclaimed debut ‘Les blessures de l’âme’. Returning to their original sound, the band employs French alexandrine verse in their lyrics and choose a striking image as an album art. In a world moving further away from religion and spirituality, the demise of the Notre Dame symbolizes
the end of the Christian reign and the ultimate betrayal of God. From the ashes of the cathedral, a godless world will come into being. Tracklist 1. La morsure du Christ 2. Métal noir 3. Sacrifice de sang 4. Ex-cathédrale 5. Hymne au vampire (Acte III) 6. Les océans du vide 7. Le triomphe de Lucifer
Lineup Esx Vnr - Bass Alsvid - Drums Heimoth - Guitars Saint Vincent - Vocals Drakhian - Guitars Pierre Le Pape - Keyboards
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Latest releases
Nordjevel Black Metal band from Norway released the EP Fenriir on May 7, 2021. “Fenriir” is an EP that shows all sides of Nordjevel, from the very beginning, right up to where band are now. Nordjevel had a few extra tracks which they decided early on in the recording process didn`t fit their up coming album, so the band decided to include
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two tracks, the title track “Fenriir”, along with “Rovdyr”, and make them exclusively available for this EP.
Tracklist 1. Fenriir 2. Gnawing the Bones 3. Rovdyr 4. Fallen Angel (Possessed cover) 5. Det Ror og Ror (Live at Brutal Assault 2019) Lineup DezeptiCunt - Bass Doedsadmiral - Vocals Dominator - Drums Destructhor - Guitars Valla - Guitars
Reality Grey Melodic Death Metal band from Italy released the third Full-length album Beneath This Crown on May 7, 2021. REALITY GREY represent the vanguard of the Italian scene, starting in 2004 playing the so called «Melodic Death Metal» and on a quest to redefine and pioneer their own form of that genre and go beyond. A tight five pieces able to break the Melodic Death Metal dogmas with a modern
hybrid of metal in its pure form, melody, brutality and complex, yet catchy, songwriting. Tracklist 1. Legion (Intro) 2. Fade in Fear 3. Kings of Nothing 4. Preachers of Hatred 5. Daybreakers 6. Powerblast 7. Multidimensional Hollow 8. The Fury
9. Dreaming 10. Reascent 11. Beneath This Crown 12. Indelible Stains 13. The Void Lineup Alex - Bass Anto - Guitars, Vocals (clean) Tommy - Vocals Albo - Guitars Francesco Inchingolo Drums
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Latest releases
Djevel Black Metal band from Norway released the seventh Full-length album Tanker som rir natten on May 14, 2021. A new era, the third if you’d like, is here. Ten years ago, Djevel burst into the Black Metal scene with the debut «Dodssanger». With fierce, raw energy and a breathtaking, ominous melodic touch, the trademark sound of the band had been placed. Now ten years into the story, the band has kept the sound and spirit but evolved through three stages of new musicians being added to the signature riffs of main composer
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Ciekals, developing the music to new heights, while still maintaining the sonic outlet that identifies Djevel. So here we enter the third era, where Ciekals and Faust (ex-Emperor, Blood Tsunami) have been joined by new vocalist/bassist Kvitrim (Vemod). The raw feeling is still intact, and the acoustic elements have returned. But the eerie, haunting atmosphere has grown stronger, making it the most varied output from the band thus far.
Tracklist 1. Englene Som Falt Ned I Min Seng, Skal Jeg Sette Fri Med Brukne Vinger Og Torneglorier 2. Maanen Skal Være Mine Oine, Den Skinnende Stierne Mine Ben, Og Her Skal Jeg Vandre Til Evig Tid 3. En Krone For Et Oie Som Ser Alt, Tusind Torner For En Sonn Som Var Alt 4. Tanker Som Rir Natten 5. Naar Maanen Formorker Solen I En Dodelig Dans, Ber Jeg Moder Jord Opp Til En Siste Vals 6. Vinger Som Tok Oss Over En Brennende Himmel, Vinger Som Tok Oss Hjem
Ildfar Black Metal band from Norway released the first Full-length album Som vinden farer vil on May 14, 2021. The solo-project Ildfar plays Black Metal reminiscent of the 2nd wave Black Metal of the Norwegian mid-90s. Originally founded in 1994 by sole member Favn, the project was inactive for long periods of time and never officially released anything. Songs were written, material recorded, but it was only in 2018 that Favn decided to take the next step and started rerecording the old songs, some of which dating back to the mid and late 90s, for the debut album «Som vinden farer vil». Hence, it is no surprise that listening to
the album creates strong feelings of nostalgia in those of us who were around back then when Norwegian Black Metal was in its prime.
7. Under the Graves (of 1994) 8. Pesten 9. Behold The Throne 10. Lyset I Skumringen 11. Norges Haller
Tracklist 1. Taakeheimen 2. Under Sorte Vinger 3. The Last Dawn 4. Den Gamle Mannen Hvisker Mitt Navn 5. Som Vinden Farer Vil 6. Vandring
Lineup Favn - Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards
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Latest releases
Avertia Black Metal band from Norway released the third Full-length album Når nordavinden kaster kniver on April 1, 2021. Avertia is highly inspired by 90’s Black Metal and some Heavy Metal bands like Iron Maiden, Mayhem Taake, Bathory, Darkthrone, Windir, Mayhem and so on. Tracklist 1. Dødsdans 2. De villeste makter 3. Vandreren 4. Den norske fjellheimen 5. Når nordavinden kaster kniver 6. Havets siste åndedrag 7. Det glemte folket 8. Mørke skyer 9. Forakt 10. Vestavind
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Ischemic Blackened Death/Doom Metal band from Canada released the second Full-length album Ischemic on April 2, 2021. Ischemic formed in 2012 through the unholy power of Kijiji, where both Isabelle Tazbir (vocals/lyrics) and Adam Korchok (guitar) were searching for fellow ghouls to play some sort of doomy, monolithic Death metal. They linked up and began to pull together people from their respective friend groups to play in the band. It wasn’t long before the lineup was solidified and Ischemic could begin churning out filthy, crushing metal from the void. Tracklist 1. Scabs 2. Crawl Out of Hell 3. Illusion of Humanity 4. Scattering Garden
Profane Souls Black Metal band from Brazil released the first Full-length album Ritual de Blasfêmia on April 6, 2021. Album that represents the 25 years of the purest infernal black metal in Brazil ... horde that arose in Curumba MS. This album brings band’s blasphemy ritual. Tracklist 1. Devastação Satânica 2. Sabedoria Profana 3. Tempos de Guerra 4. Batalhas Sangrentas do Mal 5. Almas Profanas 6. Ritual de Blasfêmia 7. Nazareno Charlatão 8. Na terra de Satã Lineup Becka Witchhammer - Guitars Joycethorns - Bass Lucifery Drums
Inoculation Death Metal band from United States released the second Full-length album Celestial Putridity on April 8, 2021. Tracklist 1. Dimensional Connectivity 2. Celestial Putridity 3. I Am Where the Foregods Meet 4. Verity Consumated 5. The Edge of Town 6. Unmade 7. Ovnis Triangulares 8. Xerthaneus 9. Kaneh-Bosm 10. Universal Entropy Lineup Anthony Allen - Guitars, Vocals Nick Nedley - Bass, Vocals Charlie Winters - Drums, Vocals
Shamael Funeral Doom Metal band from Italy released the first Fulllength album Melancholie der Engel on April 15, 2021. Shamael is like a long, feverish nightmare from which you cannot wake up, a fascinating one-man band that invokes a devastating funeral doom on a par with the best names of the style. Masterful. Hypnotised by this absolutely pantagruelic crescendo of atmospheric funeral doom band surrender to four songs that increasingly need to grow in scope, this album finally being crowned by ‘Moonsoon’, over 13 minutes long. As terrifying as its cover, Melancholie der Engel is like being thrown into an abyss of revelatory ascent, like being cruelly abandoned on a stage of immense universal solitude. Tracklist 1. Leaf 2. Crown Shyness 3. Way of Woe 4. Moonsoon
Exaversum Black Metal band from Mexico released the first Full-length album To Live and Die With on April 15, 2021. 1. Intro 2. Mortals Fall 3. Pray Before the Plague 4. Remember This Loss 5. Dies Irae 6. Icarus Falling Again 7. Mortis ex Nihilo 8. To Live and Die With 9. When the Chaos Awakes 10. Outro Lineup Northen - Everything
Lineup Raffaele Galasso - Everything
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Latest releases
Ande Atmospheric Black Metal band from Belgium released the fourth Full-length album Bos on April 18, 2021. Ande is a one-man-project from Belgium and «Bos» is the newest effort. The fourth album is mainly inspired by the power and beauty of nature, everyday life in small towns, reminiscence and loss. It’s musically situated between second wave, atmospheric and post black metal bands. Tracklist 1. De messentrekker 2. Het broek 3. Vogelvlucht 4. Ransuilen 5. De bierteller 6. Mijn hart 7. Achter de bomen 8. Het afscheid Lineup Jim - Everything
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Crypts of Despair Death Metal band from Lithuania released the second Full-length album All Light Swallowed on April 23, 2021. Death metal band Crypts of Despair have made a quantum leap from their well-received debut full length to the new one. The progression is not merely aesthetic but intrinsic; it’s as if they’ve unlocked some inner beast by channelling diabolical forces through them. The sound is absolutely pristine, able to express the band’s penchant for playing fast, devastating music as well as doing justice to the myriad variations that they incorporate. This is the perfect death metal album of the times, without any dilution of the raw appeal of the genre. Tracklist 1. Being - Erased 2. Anguished Exhale 3. Choked by the Void 4. Condemned to Life 5. Synergy of Suffering 6. The Great End 7. Disgust 8. Excruciating Weight 9. Bleak View
GOREGANG Death Metal band from United States released the EP Long Live The Grime on April 30, 2021. GOREGANG comprised of Jeramie Kling (INHUMAN CONDITION, VENOM INC, THE ABSENCE) on vocals and guitar, and Taylor Nordberg (INHUMAN CONDITION, THE ABSENCE) on drums, guitars and bass, combine the disgusting guitar tone and crusty nature of Swedish death metal of the late 80s/early 90s with their hometown heroes of the Florida death metal scene. Tracklst 1. Born. Slave. Death. 2. Pernicious Thief 3. Long Live The Grime 4. Farm The Mother 5. Electric Head Part 1 (The Agony) [White Zombie cover] 6. A Cavity In Reality - Intro (Live) 7. False Flags (Live) 8. Plague Of Hammers (Live) 9 Cathedral Of Chemicals (Live)
Necrophilisma Death Metal band from Bosnia and Herzegovina released the second Full-length album Underground Celebration on May 1, 2021. Tracklist
1. Pressure Inside Waiting 2. Religious Delusions 3. Indignation 4. Devil’s Control 5. Underground Celebration 6. Tormented Souls 7. Children of the New Age 8. Nothing but Darkness 9. Death Infection 10. No Blessings 11. Years of Horror 12. The Grotesque (Benediction cover) Lineup Mirza «Groba» everything
Selamović
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Empire Melodic Death Metal band from New Zealand released the first Full-length album Blind War on May 1, 2021. Empire is a metal band from Christchurch New Zealand. Starting as best friends in high school Empire has gone on to perform all around New Zealand with international acts such as DragonForce, Twelve-foot ninja and national big hitters Alien weaponry and Devilskin. With an new album out soon 2021 will be a big year for them. Tracklist 1. Ragnarök 2. Skäl 3. 317 4. From the Sun 5. Blind War 6. Lone Wolf 7. Ravens Call 8. Warcry Lineup Timothy King - Guitars Jeremy Ditmer - Guitars Diego Attinger - Vocals Edward Scales - Bass Dallas Pickles Withey - Drums
Sheogorath Melodic Black Metal band from Austria released the third Fulllength album Lunacy Gone Astray on May 1, 2021. Sheogorath is like video games and philosophy surrounded by barren frigid landscapes, embedded in melodic BlackDeath-Thrash-Metal… Let‘s just call it video games metal. Sheogorath was founded by Matej Kollar (ex – Synthesis) as a solo project with the ambition to record his musical ideas apart from any band involvement in Vienna end of 2013. Patrick David Pazour (ex – Satanic Cockrockers), a longterm friend, soon joined the project to help out with the vocals and lyrics. The line-up since then has been and still is Matej (guitars and drum programming) and Patrick (lyrics and vocals). Tracklist 1. Des Tors Weisheit 2. Blackest Times 3. Divided by Fear 4. Mindslayer 5. Lunacy Gone Astray 6. My Forlorn Tale 7. Wrath 8. Towards Oblivion 9. Vaermina 10. The End
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Latest releases
Zwiespalt Black Metal band from Germany released the second Full-length album Distanz on May 7, 2021. «Distanz» is about the conflict between the need for isolation and the desire to reach for the stars. It’s a journey into solitude, through storms in withered fields, getting lost in the rising mist of autumnal forests and ending in the icy cold and desolation of winter. It’s about burned-in memories of a time long gone that still creep through your mind. Tracklist 1. Firmament 2. Sturm 3. Nebel 4. Brand 5. Momentum 6. Rauschen 7. Zenit 8. Frost
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Oldskull Old-School Death Metal band from Thailand released the first Full-length album Nether Hollow of No Return on May 15, 2021. Tracklist 1. None Shall Live 2. Funeral Culmination 3. Murky Waters 4. Perpetual Void 5. Spectral Congregation 6. Execution Temple 7. Frostmen 8. Arcane Serpents 9. When Downfall Comes Lineup Nocturnal Power - Bass Warranat - Vocals, Lyrics Saran - Guitars, Songwriting Patiwat - Guitars AKK66 - Drums
Gmork Black Metal band from Russia released the fourth Full-length album Quintum Corpus on May 15, 2021. Gmork is a werewolf in Michael Ende’s novel «The Neverending Story». Tracklist 1. Caput Mortuum 2. Homini Necesse Est Mori 3. Adam I 4. Adam II 5. Ordo Ab Chao 6. Sarcoma Lineup Gloomyrain - Vocals Myrk - Guitars Noctus - Drums Executor - Bass
Дрём Funeral Doom Metal band from Russia released the fourth Fulllength album 4 on May 15, 2021. Дрём means «dormancy/slumber» in Russian. One-man project, the performer is unknown. In the ninth year of the project’s life, the long-awaited fourth full-length from the famous master of Funeral Doom Metal comes out. The ruthless, inexorable heaviness of the compositions symbolizes emptiness and fatality, total destruction and helplessness in front of the outside world. Tracklist 1. Невроз 2. Руины 3. Октябрь 4. Howling Wood 5. Ghost Ship
Anima Mortuum Black Metal band from Chile released the third Full-length album The Throne on May 15, 2021. Anima Mortuum means Dead Soul in Latin (Ánima = Soul; Mortuum = Dead). The lyrical content, the main theme, explore different areas of life related to thrones, as a symbol of authority. In that sense, history has shown us that at times that symbol has been used to imposes subjugation through abuse of power, domination, violence and oppression. Tracklist 1. Under the Moonlight 2. Recursive Tyranny 3. Graveyard Dust 4. My Skull 5. Embrace the Dead (Part 1) 6. Falling Into Abjection 7. Claws Of Doom 8. Ephemeral Existence 9. The Throne Is No Longer Dark 10. Embrace the Dead (Part 2) Lineup Zvi Tacussis - All instruments, Vocals Sergio Rivera - Guitars
Gravecarver Melodic Death Metal band from Sweden released the second Full-length album The Shadow Chapter on May 21, 2021. After one of the wildest debuts on the Folk/Metal scene in 2019, the Vikings Havamal are ready to come back to the battleground with their most ambitious project to date, great Norse mythology story-telling with epic instrumentals. Tracklist 1. The North Awakens 2. Fenris 3. Nidhoggr 4. Kraken 5. Empire of the Ashen Sun 6. Nornir’s Call 7. Jormungandr 8. Hel 9. The Curse of Grendel Lineup Lennie - Guitars Kjell - Guitars Björn - Vocals Andreas Herlogsson - Drums
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Latest releases
Zgard Zgard Pagan Black Metal band from Ukraine released the seventh Fulllength album Place of Power on May 21, 2021. ZGARD is a synonym for “amulet” in the culture of Huzuls, an ethnocultural group who for centuries have inhabited the Carpathian Mountains. ZGARD is truly a remarkable phenomenon in the Ukrainian metal scene. Tracklist 1. Arise 2. Trap of Cold 3. Old Ruins 4. Ascension Fog 5. The Fiendmother 6. Place of Power 7. Last Harvest 8. Thaw Lineup Yaromisl - Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drums, Keyboards, Sopilka, Drymba, Programming Lycane - Drums
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Palus Somni Black Metal band from United Kingdom/United States released the first Full-length album Monarch of Dark Matter on May 28, 2021. Meaning ‘marsh of sleep’ in old Latin language, the name of an area of the moon, Palus Somni’s Monarch Of Dark Matter is conceptually based on cosmic mysticism, a combination of the description of the physical universe and its metaphysical counterpart, the spiritual connection to the nature of the Universe through mythological references. Tracklist 1. Monarch of Dark Matter 2. Igneus Solis 3. The Dark Maria 4. Sidus Ludoviciana 5. Calignious Stellar Womb 6. Unholy Cosmic Quintessence 7. Chained to the Northstar 8. Iron Empyreal Rain 9. Frozen Moon Chaos
KHANDRA Black Metal band from Belarus released the first Fulllength album All Occupied by Sole Death on May 28, 2021. Fitting with their name, a term to describe deathly ennui over the nothing, Belarussian black metal act KHANDRA champion a style that is bleak, cold, and detached. Tracklist 1. Mute moleben 2. Irrigating Lethal Acres with Blood 3. Nothing but Immortality for Aye 4. In Harvest Against the Sun 5. With the Blessing of Starless Night 6. Thanatos 7. All Occupied by Sole Death
Stormruler Black Metal band from United States released the first Full-length album Under the Burning Eclipse on May 28, 2021. The St. Louis-based two-man project – featuring the dark lyrical genius and deft skill of guitarist/vocalist Jason Asberry and drummer Jesse Schobel – combines unrelenting black metal atmosphere and vision from varying metal genres with a brutal, modernized twist of inspiration culled from war, highfantasy and history. Tracklist 1. Shine of Ivory Horns 2. Reign of the Winged Duke 3. The March Onto Golden Lands 4. Age of Steel & Blood 5. Culling of the Blood Moon 6. Blood of the Old Wolf 7. Journey to the Unknown 8. Under the Burning Eclipse 9. Prithee, Chosen 10. Of Hollowed Souls & Distant Flame 11. An Empire of Ash & Dust 12. At the Cliffs of Azure City 13. Illuminating the Ancient Sky 14. Dawn of the Eternal Fire 15. A Message From a Foreign King 16. Mark of the Valkyrie 17. Blood Ritual 18. Fear the Old Blood 1 9 . Fields of Mortal Shame
King of Asgard Melodic Death/Viking Metal band from Sweden released the fifth Fulllength album Svartrviðr on May 28, 2021. On their fifth sonic assault, «svartrviðr», KING OF ASGARD maintain the perfect balance between the grim and the epic, darkness and twilight while keeping their sound crushing and stripped down to essentials. The blackened death veterans deliver an example of Sweden’s classic style at the border of harsh and evocative Nordic blackness and the captivating epic melodies of their homeland’s death metal. Founded in 2008 in Mjölby, Östergötland, the band rose from the ashes of cult act MITHOTYN. Due to their lyrical topics and visuals relating to local and Norse myths and sagas, runic writing and art styles as well as the occasional use of traditional melodies, the Swedes are sometimes categorised as Viking or pagan metal. Tracklist 1. Frôðr 2. Rifna 3. Hæimr 4. Kvikr 5. Ammobiærg 6. Svartrviðr 7. Harmdauðr 8. FæigR
Goats of Doom Black Metal band from Finland released the sixth Full-length album Shiva on May 31, 2021. GOATS OF DOOM should require no introduction. For the past decade, they’ve remained one of the Finnish underground’s best-kept secrets, largely because of a somewhat misleading moniker, but make no mistake: GOATS OF DOOM are 100% black metal through and through. Their stout catalog has seen the band develop from a synth-based style of black metal during their first three albums; then, with an expansion from a trio to quartet, GOATS OF DOOM truly began their ascent with 2018’s Rukous, where an uptick in aggression melded with the mysterious atmosphere of old. Tracklist 1. ἀπōκάλυ 2. Uljas uusi maailma 3. Luomiskertomus 4. Armon varjot 5. Korjuu 6. Rotat 7. Shiva
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/diabologyband https://www.instagram.com/diabologyband https://twitter.com/Diabology8
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Diabology Thrash Metal band from the United States.
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Diabology are a teenage thrash metal band from Los Angeles, CA. Members Jesse Bergen (guitar and vocals), Jack Kleinman (guitar), Joseph Mazisyuk (bass), and Matthew Morales (drums), met up on the rock school circuit. They were united by a love of metal and a desire to break out of the rock school mold to start working on original material. Defying the many subgenres of metal, they choose to simply call their music thrash, a tribute to the old school sounds of the late eighties, with a young and refreshing voice. The band began playing many wellattended and prestigious gigs around the Los Angeles area, but things really took a turn when they released their debut LP, ‘Nobody Believes Me’. Taking the metal world by storm, the album was featured in countless magazines and received a fair share of radio play but the icing on the cake was when their song «Defiling Innocents» made it to the top of Kerrang’s American Excess Spotify playlist. There is no saying where Diabology will go from here.
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/Elabismoband https://www.instagram.com/elabismobanda https://elabismodoom.bandcamp.com/releases
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of El Abismo Doom Metal band from Peru.
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El Abismo was born in 2016 as a personal project of Carlos Hidalgo, former guitarist of En Las Espesas Nieblas, a renowned Peruvian doom metal band from the 90s. This project was joined by Daniel Roncagliolo on vocals (ex Kranium and Hand Of Doom) and Cesar Echegaray on drums (Inmemorial, Aneurisma, Sanat Kumara and La Hoja). The debut album features six songs recorded, mixed and mastered in Eddie Plenge’S Dragon Verde studio. The recording process lasted from June 2016 to December 2018 and all the songs were composed and produced by Hidalgo. The palette of sounds that the album covers is intended to be varied. From mid-times reminiscent of NWOBHM bands, through the death-rooted doom of the early nineties, the vertigo of black metal, to passages that owe something to post-rock. The album was released in February 2020 and the first song released on digital platforms was ‘Lilith’. Thrashirts Records, the renowned Peruvian label that organizes the Lima Metal Fest, was in charge of editing the material in its first edition.
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/stratuzofficial https://www.instagram.com/stratuz_official https://stratuz1.bandcamp.com/releases
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Stratuz - Death Metal band from Venezuela.
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Stratuz was born in the city of Caracas in 1984. Over time they achieved a very personal style, combining trends from Doom to Brutal Death, loaded with drama and atmospheric environments. Their first demo was released in 1993. In 1995 they made a split-cd («In Nomine ...»), which managed to place itself very well abroad. In 1998 Stratuz was invited to the «Festival del Sol» in Spain, together the Finnish band Stratovarius and at the same time the Spanish label Repulse Records included Stratuz to participate in the Repulsive Tour’98 throughout Spain and Portugal together with the bands Centinex and Anasarca. Later the band went to Holland and then to the city of Koln - Germany where they were expected to participate in the Musikfestival Komm’98 as headliner. Upon their return, Stratuz finished recording the album «The Last Angel» which was published at the end of 1999. This album achieved excellent reviews in Venezuela and abroad, and signed with the LSP-COMPANY label of Belgium, for a new album entitled «Spirit Seduction». Stratuz disbanded in 2006 and in 2019 after several attempts, they managed to consolidate and relaunch the band, making a brief live presentation as part of a documentary on the history of extreme metal in Venezuela. Stratuz is currently working on new material, part of it is being presented via streaming because of Covid-19.
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/Lamentchrist https://www.instagram.com/lamentchristofficial https://open.spotify.com/artist/4S8lzEG9PFtGnLT6vf8klb
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Lament Christ Funeral Doom/Death Metal band from Peru.
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Lament Christ was formed in early ‘94 by Juan Carlos Sotelo, then joined him William, El Pastor and Robinson Ocampo as guitarrist, bassist and drummer They started out playing doom death, and in 1998 they recorded their demo In Ventus Est Dolor... With good aceptation worldwide. It was originally printed in tape format and released early 1999 and then in 2002 was rereleased in CD format and in 2018 re released in tape format (all sold out), and in 2011 Lament Christ was disbanded due to lack of musicians acording to funeral doom style, but in 2018 the band came back with a new line up with William Castillo one of former members and recorded their long waited album debut called THE AGONIC FALL OF MOURNERS (2021) via Thrashirts Recs (PE).
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/Beheth666 https://behethblack666.bandcamp.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-ivq0hUQAlklFlnSIOYSw
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Beheth Black Thrash Metal band from Bangladesh.
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Beheth Black Thrash Metal band from Rajshahi, Bangladesh. So everything started with the two members of Thy Ethos in search of the darkest side of the music Black Metal while doing Death Metal. The plan was going on but there was a problem they needed a vocal. Somehow xic was there for some personal works. Yeamin invites xic for a quick jam and so then «BEHETH» was formed. They jamed continuously covering Sodom, Mayhem, and Slayer! But the band was missing something very serious, they planned to work on a single without any kind of financial help or support 4 man were trying their best to extend their pocket money and time for the band. The work was paused like 4 months and they had to cancel the composition for some inner problems in the band with the guitarist. The guitar player absence was effecting bad vibes for the whole band! Then Beheth was left with 3 man, they needed a guitarist but the rage and affords were boosting the whole band to continue the single’s work. But something bad happened again. COVID 19 occurs! Xic had to move to his own home town and the work was getting delayed. But who can stop when three bloods are running the same energy same power to release a single debut track. Ayman asked xic if he can send the voice from his hometown Rangamati. Xic somehow manage to send the voice clip. That’s how the debut track of BEHETH, «DEATH EXORCISED» was released.
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Band Link https://jidarkness.com https://journeyintodarkness.bandcamp.com https://www.facebook.com/JourneyIntoDarkness
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Journey Into Darkness - Symphonic Death/ Black Metal band from the United States.
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Journey Into Darkness is the solo project of ex-guitarist Brett Clarin from the death metal band Sorrow (Roadrunner, 19911993). The music is a unique style of symphonic black death metal with occasional interludes of dark synth. The music focuses on dark and sinister melodies all while maintaining heaviness and intensity. The new release “Multitudes of Emptiness” has eight tracks that will leave the listener floating in the vast emptiness of space and existence where nothingness prevails. Four songs are a unique style of symphonic black death metal and three tracks are dark interludes. The final song is a hybrid of the old synth style and the new heavy guitar style, an emotional instrumental that blends heavy doomy guitars with synths and orchestral parts. The lyrics are well thought out and will help draw the listener into the intensity and emotion of the music.
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Band Link https://www.facebook.com/hordacannibal https://hordacannibal.bandcamp.com https://www.instagram.com/hordacannibal
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Horda Cannibal Brutal Death Metal Band from Mexico.
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Hiding around the moldy walls of San Francisco de Campeche (Mexico), in mid-2019, ANDRES CANNIBAL and ANGEL KRONOZ, two human-flesh addicts, zombie films and tabloid news (death, murder and mutilation!) lovers, obsessed with GORE-GRIND and DEATH METAL bands like MORTICIAN and CANNIBAL CORPSE, decided to give life to a son of a bitch musical spawn. This spawn of death was baptized as HORDA CANNIBAL and now seeks to zombify every human being that attempts to listen to its Gore- grind rhythm and create a true rhythmic carnage in which all the zombified bodies run and crash towards each other until everyone are dismembered and there are only human remains left. All with the aim of keep all the flesh and then sell it in the town’s market. To accomplish the main goal, the members started the creation of insane singles like ZOMBIFICADO (Zombified), KAPALA, GRANJA DE CUERPOS PUTREFACTOS (Rotten-bodies Farm), HORDA CANNIBAL (Cannibal Horde), and AL RITMO DE LA CARNICERÍA (To the Rhythm of Carnage). In July 2020, the carnage was joined by EL TOSTO, who, with the knife in his hand and blood-stained apron, put his own bag of flesh and bones to complete the horde. With this lineup, they have recorded their first EP ‘FESTIVAL DE CARNE’ (Flesh Festival), containing six fleshy and bloody anthems. In the present, these three deranged, continue with their destructive and corruptive labor of well manners and human minds, making new singles, looking forward to record their first album and deliver the human flesh all over the world.
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/COMEBACKFROMTHEDEAD https://www.instagram.com/comebackfromthedeadofficial https://comebackfromthedeadofficial.bandcamp.com
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Come Back from the Dead - Death Metal band from Spain.
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COME BACK FROM THE DEAD is a Galician Death Metal band with Héctor Lopez on guitars (Nashgul, Black Panda, Asedio) and Marcos Pazo to the drums (Cenopath, Sepulchre, Ekkaia) formerly as a two-member studio band for puking rotten and ruthless death metal. Both have other bands but they have never considered Come Back from the Dead as a side project. The band was formed in 2008 as a nameless gravestone in an abandoned cemetery. After a break but with some songs that damaged their brains, they decided to reform the project in 2012 as a band of 5 dismembered limbs. Some friends had wandered in morbidity into the rehearsal until Paul (throat), Miguel (guitar) and Iago (Bass) completed the festering to the doomsday. In late 2014 they recorded their first demo with two songs that would serve as a prelude to their first album, «The Coffin Earth’s Entrails», 10 tracks of old school death metal released in 2015. In 2017, after a few shows in the Spanish state, they recorded the EP «Caro Data Vermibus». Two years after their highly acclaimed EP “CARO DATA VERMIBUS” comes with a refreshing style of old school Swedish death metal meets dark American death metal, not too unlike ENTOMBED covering AUTOPSY. The band is creating unforgettable music that begs for repeat listens. The riffs are some of the sickest you’ll hear, savage and yet tuneful, which you will be humming long after it’s over. Just when you thought that this kind of death metal music has lost its charm or flavor, you get an album like this that changes your perception completely by expertly using the best elements of classic styles to concoct a formidable sound, one that is both consistent and individualistic but crusty and raw as hell.
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Band Link https://www.facebook.com/sarmat7v7 https://sarmat1.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.instagram.com/sarmat.band
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Sarmat - Black/ Death Metal band from Poland.
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SARMAT band was formed in 2018 by two guitarists: Daniel Szymanowicz (known from CALM HATCHERY - bass, exAGGRESSOR, ex-EXTREMIS NECROSIS) and Krzysztof Kopczeński (ex-SPIRIT CRUSHER, ex-CARNES). The guys have composed the music for the debut album quite fast and then have started the preparation for the recordings. They have invited Krzysztof Klingbein, the session drummer (known from DEATHSPAWN and many session recordings for plenty of bands) for cooperation. The recordings have been realized until the spring of 2020 year, when Łukasz Kobusiński (ex-MORTIS DEI, ex-PUKI ‘MAHLU) was asked to work with SARMAT. He recorded vocal parts to the lyrics of the friend to the band. Vocal parts were recorded at Invent Sound Studio in Bydgoszcz, Poland by Szymon “Sigmar” Grodzki in summer 2020. In autumn that year the album was given to the hands of Arkadiusz “Malta” Malczewski, who mixed and mastered the stuff in Santa Studio in Warsaw, Poland. There are 8 songs lasting more than 33 minutes on “RS-28” album. The band name concept is based on THE WEAPON OF ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION - the Russian super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile RS-28 SARMAT (also known as SATAN 2). Band lyrical themes are destruction, military industry and human fears and obsessions. The style of music played by SARMAT can be described as a mixture of death and black metal having dynamic character with a lot of fast parts, aggressive yet understandable vocal and compositions diversity.
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Band Link http://www.kafirun.ca https://www.facebook.com/KafirunBand https://kafirun.bandcamp.com https://www.instagram.com/kafirun.band
We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Kafirun - Black Metal band from Canada.
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Kafirun falls under the Black Metal genre. Not in the pure/raw BM sense though. More in the sound of Blackened Death, Dissonant, Occult, Aggressive BM. The band was established in 2014. They are located in Vancouver BC Canada. They have released material via labels from Italy, Germany, Australia, Poland, US and Israel. The dank caverns of black metal are populated with plenty of bands obsessed with both the darkness of life and the evil side of religion. But only a few of those bands back up their music with consistency and realism. Kafirun are one of those bands. Their dizzying brand of black metal is meant to draw the listener into hypnotic submission, so their mind can be opened and their will corrupted. For fans of Thantifaxath, Misþyrming, Mgla. Lineup Hypnocrotizer - Bass Hanephi - Guitars Luzifaust - Vocals Mesmorphion - Drums
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https://www.facebook.com/cannibalcorpse
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Review by Andrew Stanton Cannibal Corpse Violence Unimagined. It’s time for one of America’s most controversial bands ever, and it’s charming I’m telling you. To be honest, there’s not much I can say about this band that hasn’t been said already. It’s very stereotypical of an old school Death Metal album. Very fast and very brutal. The songs are about zombies and torture, but without reading the lyrics you will have no idea. I suppose after reading the lyrics, it pretty
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much becomes a different album. The album begins with an explosion of noise. No fancy intro on this one. The rhythm guitars and the blast beats are very cool here. Nice fast deep growled vocals that should be to be expected. The musicianship and guitar solos are probably better than anyone ever gives them credit for. But to be fair, Cannibal Corpse are famous for other things. In all honesty,
I could just say it’s a Cannibal Corpse album, but that wouldn’t be much of a review. The album I have been given to review actually has the banned cover. I don’t know if this is UK only. But then again, it’s Cannibal Corpse, you know what you’re getting here. You wouldn’t buy it if you didn’t want it. Nothing really nice here. I’m still waiting for them to do a cover of Skid Row’s ‘I Remember You’, but I feel it’s a very long wait. It’s a Cannibal Corpse album for fuck sake.
https://www.facebook.com/urkullanthu
Urku Llanthu - Urku Llanthu. Released in December last year, this is some Dark Ambient music from Ecuador. Not as good as Arcana, but definitely better than Mortis. Folk Metal plays a big influence on this album. It’s very soothing at times, but not for everyone. Eight tracks and playing for over an hour might put some people off, but it’s worth a listen. Lots of synthesizers and acoustic guitars, no singing on this one. As it’s all in Spanish I have no real idea what it’s all about and not being too educated on the Folk side of Ecuador, I’m perhaps not the right guy to review this. But I am enjoying
Review by Andrew Stanton it a bit. It is more like a Folk version of Arcana, or more like Arcana’s more Folky numbers like ‘God of the Winds’. One of these songs runs for a good 20 minutes, so you might wanna skip that track. It’s good, but if you’re expecting Arcana, prepare for disappointment. But it’s a good debut. All in all, it’s okay. Not as creepy as
Arcana, but I do prefer this over Mortis. Certain parts of this remind me of the Resident Evil soundtracks, while other parts remind me of The Elder Scrolls soundtracks. This is one band I can imagine getting much better very quickly, and I look forward to it. Good job.
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https://www.facebook.com/choriablack
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Review by Andrew Stanton Choria - A Dismal Repertoire The second full length album from Indonesian Black Metallers Choria. The dark atmosphere is a big part of this one. Very much along the lines of Burzum and early Emperor. Even though the songs are quite long (6 and 7 minutes), the album remains fairly short at 38 minutes. By no means an easy listen, but I have definitely heard a lot worse. The guitars have that
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classic alarm clock sound, high pitched ringing. Very noisy. The dark energy and atmosphere are what make this album. I must admit, I never heard their first album. I’m guessing it was more of the same. If anyone ever heard Russia’s Porcha, it’s like that. If you’re a fan of this genre, you know what to expect. Nothing m o r e , nothing less
really. Very stereotypical of these bands. As far as I’m concerned, this is the hardest kind of Black Metal to get into. It really does take the right listener. Someone who will sit and try to understand it. It is very good, or at least I’m enjoying it. It’s good but it’s ONLY for people who can appreciate this sub genre of Black Metal noise. When the album comes to an end, you can expect some serious ringing in your ears that only Black Metal can provide. Enjoy if you know how.
Review by Andrew Stanton Whatever happened to ultra fast 1 minute songs? According to my resources, Ischemic do a very high energy live act. I’m struggling to picture it personally after hearing this. Some bands clearly can’t grasp the concept of ‘entertainment’. To me it’s just boring s h i t . If you
disagree
and
arguing about it, then be my guest. You will never convince me that I’m wrong. When I review an album, no matter how bad, I always try to find something, anything good to say about it. And I failed with one. According to Metal Archives, these guys have been around for quite a while, so obviously someone is buying their stuff. And quite frankly, they’re welcome to it.
fancy
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https://www.facebook.com/Ischemic
Ischemic - Ischemic Some Canadian Black/ Doom Metal crossover music. Four songs running for just under an hour (yes, really). Epic songs playing around the 10 and 20 minute mark. Way too epic for most I imagine. Very hard to get into. I’m struggling myself. I’m basically just quickly losing patients with it. It always amazes me that this stuff actually has an audience, but it does. I’m halfway through song two and I’m very bored. I just can’t be bothered with it. Boring, boring, boring. It’s also very slow but NOT depressing, just slow.
https://www.facebook.com/Profane-Souls-102729611794553
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Review by Andrew Stanton Profane Souls - Ritual de Blasfêmia. Some quite lively Black Metal from Brazil. Similar to Endezzma, but I would say probably not as good. I think they are not as good songwriters as Endezzma. But it’s not crap. One thing this album has is a good, short length. These guys have been releasing demos since 1998. This year we get to hear their first full length album. It’s all in Portuguese I think. It’s a bit of a rough production, but it all adds to its entertainment. It never
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gets crazy over the top. The blast that never quite works. It has beats stay fairly calm. At certain taken this band a very long time to reach this stage. Was it worth it? Well it’s okay. I’m not exactly blown away by it, if it was longer I probably would have given a more harsh review. I can give them a lot of respect for a 30 minute album. And as I said, it’s not completely shit. Will I listen to it again? Probably not. But times, I’m glad they exist. If they keep i t reminds releasing 30 minute albums, I me of the very early days would beg them to stick around. of Black Metal. Sometimes it It could be better, but probably sounds like multiple vocals 90% of albums could be. trying to create a big anthem,
t e c h n i c a l , sophisticated Review by Andrew Stanton version of Deicide ( If anyone ever wanted to hear that ). Basically, not as much think it’s Satanic from what I can tell. And even finishing off fun as Deicide. This is a great with a cover of Deicide’s ‘The band to be fair. I’m excited to Truth Above’ and obviously hear what they do next. It’s very the shortest song. The sound much a Death Metal band, I fail p r e t t y much a m o r e to hear the “Blackened” part if I’m honest. But it’s very good. It’s Deicide for posh people. I love it personally. As a fan of Deicide from the start, it’s hard not to love. Imagine if Kirk Hammett was in Deicide, that’s what this is like.
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https://www.facebook.com/ZedDestructiveBand
Zed Destructive Corroded by Darkness. A new Blackened Death Metal band from Israel. So far, to me at least, they sound very much like Israel’s answer to Deicide. It goes on a bit for me personally. Nearly an hour long. If only they stuck to Deicide’s 30 minute album style. Some beautiful musicianship on this album. Some amazing guitar work. I will say, I think this will appeal to Death Metalheads a bit more than Black Metalheads. I could imagine a few Black Metal fans not liking this at all. As far as musicianship goes, especially the guitars, I might say it’s better than Deicide, but Deicide definitely writes better songs. Some of this I do actually love. As far as the lyrics and topics go, I have no idea what these songs are about, but I don’t
https://www.facebook.com/roraimabanda
Review by Andrew Stanton Roraima - WR. My first experience with Venezuelan Metal. Certainly very interesting. Like a cross between Black Folk and Atmospheric Black Metal. Even though it’s not exactly great, it’s an intriguing listen. If you hate Black Metal and you hate Latin Folk, avoid this like the plague. A lot of instrumental
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stuff on here. This is one of those bands who writes songs about nature and folklore and nice stuff. The blast beats kick in and the screams are quite intense at times, but the Folk side takes this band in a different direction a lot… In a good
way. Not an easy listen at all. Whether I love or hate this, I’m so glad they exist. The quirkiness is pretty amazing to me personally. Sometimes it reminds me of early Burzum, Emperor, Mayhem and then the other side of the album is like Aztlan. If Insan ever read my reviews, They would kick themselves if they heard this band. The more I listen, the more I’m starting to appreciate it. When I first got into South American Metal, I remember searching for a Black Folk band, and finally I found one. But as I said earlier, definitely not an easy listen. This is one band that has got my attention and I’m now dying to hear the two albums they released before this. Definitely not for everyone, but if you’re looking for something a bit offbeat, then check it out.
https://www.facebook.com/JourneyIntoDarkness
Journey Into Darkness Multitudes of Emptiness. This time we have some space themed, sci-fi ambient Black Metal from Florida. This is the solo project of Brett Clarin (ex-Sorrow and ex-Apparition). Doesn’t really mean anything to me personally, but maybe you know him. It’s actually quite good, the music sounds very similar to Arcturus but the vocals are more Emperor. Apparently he released another album way back in 1996. So fans have seriously had to wait for this. At certain moments it reminds me of Voivod. The synthesizers play little jangly parts every now and then. It’s an album for the Black Metalheads who aren’t goths and aren’t interested in Goth culture… Maybe. It’s all about the stars and the planets for
Review by Andrew Stanton some reason. Don’t go thinking Darkspace, this isn’t so extreme. It’s actually very enjoyable. Two growls - screeched and deep, which is always good. It labels itself as Blackened Death Metal, I disagree personally. I don’t know what kind of Blackened Death Metal this guy has been listening to. But it’s a very cool mish mash of Arcturus and Emperor, and quite frankly it works. It never tries to become dark and
scary, it stays fun and cool. Originally, I never understood w h y Black Metal bands write songs about space instead of Satanism, I probably still don’t understand it, but I have enjoyed this short album. I think a bit of Industrial Metal would have fitted in with sound, a bit of machinery banging about in the background might have sounded cool. But what do I know? I just review albums.
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https://www.facebook.com/MourningDawn
Review by Andrew Stanton Mourning Dawn Dead End Euphoria. Like a sort of cross between Doom Metal and Post Black Metal. It’s Doom Metal, but the Black Metal influence is hard to miss. The songs are way too long for my liking, but I will try to be open minded about this one. Sometimes it reminds me of the very early Paradise Lost stuff,
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like the Shades of God era, but other parts are very much in the vein of Happy Days or Nocturnal Depression. The sound is actually good, but it’s length makes it outstay it’s welcome very quickly. The songs range from around 10 minutes to 20 minutes ( not a joke ). This is a French band, but the lyrics seem to be in English. Also, they have been around for a while, this is their fifth
album, so people must be buying their stuff. But the length takes the piss a bit too much for me. Nobody will laugh at a 2 minute song, nobody who matters at least. As I said earlier, the sound is actually good. With shorter songs I would have loved this. Whatever good points I make about this album, it’s length is impossible to ignore. I am fully aware some people love this stuff and will probably love this too, but the level of patients they have must be crazy. And it’s not that depressing, at least I didn’t find it depressing. It’s more boring than anything. I have no interest in hearing their previous albums, I doubt I’ll ever have the time. Quite frankly, I have better things to do.
album. I have to say, these guys have been around for so long, I ’ m almost embarrassed to say I’ve never heard of them before. As far as I’m aware, I think this is the only Dutch band I have heard after The Gathering. It doesn’t really have any real target audience, it’s probably just for those people who have heard everything before and just want something fresh. And if that’s you, go ahead and buy it.
Review by Andrew Stanton A very heavy use of keyboards on this, not like Gehenna’s ‘First Spell’, but more spacey and a bit more uplifting. Certainly an interesting
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https://www.facebook.com/phlebotomized.official
Phlebotomized Pain, Resistance, Suffering. A veteran band from the Netherlands. I would say they sound like Nocturnus, but based on their years active, I think I have to say Nocturnus sounds like Phlebotomized. Certainly not as straightforward as Nocturnus. A bit more of an avantgarde, Doomy sound. I think there’s a bit of DSBM in here too. They remind me of a lot of different bands actually. Certainly not stereotypical or predictable. They seem to just do their own thing really. The songs seem to range from anything to 1 minute to 4 minutes. No real clue what any of these songs are about. Easy to listen to, but not for everyone. The songs are okay. This isn’t a crap album, but it’s hard to say what kind of Metalheads would like it.
https://www.facebook.com/Dreams-In-Darkness-143123726132494
Review by Andrew Stanton Masochist - Chaos of Possession. Not very long ago, this Argentinian Black Metal band used to be a Doom Metal band. All the Goth and Doom influences are still present here, probably to please their original fans. Some beautiful parts on this. Some very fairytale style interludes. To cut a long story short, it’s very much Bishop of Hexen with a much smaller
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production. But what they have, they have used well. This is Symphonic Black Metal, but Goth and Doom fans shouldn’t be disappointed. The growls and the blast beats are good, but the keyboards
add their magic to this. Some good guitar work also. Sometimes it’s a bit like the early Gehenna stuff, like First Spell. But the keyboards aren’t as dominant. There are parts where everything stops to let the keyboard player do his thing. At times it becomes very Bal Sagoth as far as the interludes go. The Black parts are very raw and the Goth parts are very sad. The tiny production is really blowing me away. It’s one of those sorts of albums where you are reminded of a lot of different bands ( good bands ). It actually has a very European sound. It’s very different to what South America usually does. It’s a hard album to find faults on. It’s all very perfect, or perfect enough. I think this British guy needs to give them a warm welcome to the Black Metal world. I hope you stay around for a long time.
www.facebook.com/rattenblackmetal
Ratten - Roi de Rats. First of all, definitely NOT for everyone. A kind of cross between Post Black Metal and DSBM. It’s very good. It just takes some getting used to. A very distressing listen. I love it. This is a new band from France, and they’re killer. Like a more extreme version of Nocturnal Depression and then something else. The American DSBM band Sadness keeps springing to mind. A definitely takes the right sort of listener. It’s all in French from what I can tell, but even if it was in English I doubt I would have known. I t reminds me of so many great bands. All the energy of Emperor (almost) and nearly as depressing as Sadness. This is
Review by Andrew Stanton the first time I have ever heard this sound. Let me know if there are other bands similar. The blast beats are
very fast but the guitars are very s l o w and doomy. This is a bit of an oddball band. It’s a tough, tough listen. A s far as depressing Black Metal goes, Ratten ranks high. Of course, not a very nice sound. Intentionally very distressing. Well I like it, but you can make your own mind up about it.
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https://www.facebook.com/hostiaband
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Review by Andrew Stanton Hostia Carnivore Carnival. Death Metal from Poland. 17 tracks under 24 minutes. I’m already loving it. Loads of 1 minute legendary songs. This is the second album from these guys. I’m now dying to hear their first. The drums and rhythm guitar add a good kick on this album. The growls are a fast, deep boom, but I hear additional vocals also. The band just churn through the album. It
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often sounds very effortless to me. The songs just get on with it. No interludes or pretentious parts. Just great energy and entertainment. No real clue what any of this is about, but who cares? Judging from the song titles, I would say the
topics are very random. So many bands can’t understand the power of 1 minute songs. It’s absolutely perfect. Not dull for a second. The longest
song on here is 2 minutes and it’s perfect. If you hate this, I would be very confused by it. This band has set such a high bar for themselves and for anyone else planning a release this year. Setting a high standard for yourself is never good, because it means their third album needs to be perfect again and again and again, but I have a lot of faith in Hostia to deliver. Maybe next time they will add a nice acoustic ballad for good measure, who knows? Truly awesome.
https://www.facebook.com/AcrossTheShadepl
Across the Shade - Hope. Some fairly depressing Melodic Death Metal from Poland. Some very pretty guitar work on this, the only part I’m really enjoying if I’m honest. Like In Flames, but without the energy. It’s slow and a bit dull, but once in a while we get a nice guitar solo. I personally need a bit more, or a lot more. It’s very much the DSBM of Melodic Death Metal. It’s all in English and it’s short at only 34 minutes. They’ve actually been around since 2014, but this year we get their debut. It wasn’t worth the wait in my opinion, but you might love it. If you’re a Doomhead, it’s probably your thing. I don’t like this, but I understand it has appeal to the right Metalheads. It’s like early Paradise Lost with nice guitar
Review by Andrew Stanton work ( if that sounds like your thing ). They write songs about sadness and loss, so it’s pretty obvious what this is like. Don’t get me wrong or anything, I love depressing music, I just don’t really feel these guys. I’m mostly just sitting here waiting for the next nice guitar piece. I can fully
understand millions of people will hear this and say I don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s just not doing anything for me, but by all means, ignore me if you want. It’s not completely terrible, it’s just not my thing.
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https://www.facebook.com/sangvisband
Review by Andrew Stanton Sangvis - Season One. I’m not exactly sure what this is. Maybe Nu Metal or Hardcore. This was an album I got sent to me. No real information about it. Sometimes it reminds me of Hatebreed, Linkin Park, Rammstein, Into Eternity, Fear Factory. Not fast enough for me personally. It’s more of that slow angry music. The songs are okay to be fair, I just prefer faster singing. But they have definitely tried their best. Not sure how many singers are in this band, but if it’s only one, it’s certainly
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impressive. More information coming through - they’re Russian and they used to be a covers band. This is their debut. It’s a debut that has definitely been sent to the wrong writer at Inside the Darkness, but I’m trying to stay open minded about it. I hate this kind of music, but I am tolerating it so far. It’s okay, just
not my thing. If this sounds like your thing, you will probably love it, because it’s been done very well. It’s a very long album; over
an hour. It’s an album I like parts of. But bear in mind, I am a Black Metal head. It’s VERY different to what I usually listen to. The clean vocals and the angry parts almost give you the impression they’re not sure what kind of music they want to make. Every song pretty much sounds like two different bands duetting. Now maybe I’m just very uneducated with this genre, but that’s not my fault. It’s definitely good for what it is, it just needs a listener who can appreciate more than I can.
Review by Andrew Stanton know how to turn the Black Metal trademarks on when they’re needed. I’m enjoying this album. It never goes overkill the
w a y Enslaved do. It all just stays nice. It’s like a sort of cross between Black Folk and Melodic Black Metal,
it’s very good. I have to admit, I haven’t heard many Swedish Black Metal bands, but I think I should start hearing more after this. Just great stuff, good energy, good songs, some very beautiful parts here and there. The album is shortish, just shy of 40 minutes. If Golgata read Inside the Darkness, there is a guy in the UK saluting you. Good job, sirs.
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https://www.facebook.com/Golgata-977034225680712
Golgata Tempel. The second album from Swedish Black Metal band Golgata. Some quite fast singing on this one. Not dull at all. Not quite Black Thrash, but nearly as good as. Not a particular extreme album, the guitar work gives the album more of a soothing sound. Quite a few different kinds of vocals on this. Sometimes it reminds me of a much lighter version of Enslaved. If you ever wanted to get into Black Metal, this might be a good starting block for you. It’s all in Swedish I guess. Not a single word in English. It’s all very nice really, but they
https://www.facebook.com/AustralKult
Review by Andrew Stanton Austral Kult - Nullius in Verba. A new solo project from the drummer of Lucifera, Mr. D. Hellrazor. First of all, very different from Lucifera. More Raw Black than Black Thrash. Slower than Lucifera. This is a short EP, only four tracks. When I say Raw, I mean very Raw. Certainly not an easy listen. This is one for the true Black Metalhead. But as I nearly always say about these kinds of projects, for just one man, it’s very impressive. The sound is very Mayhem,
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Temple of Decay, Burzum, Gorgoroth style. Nothing fancy has been added to take the edge off. If you’re looking for more of a challenge, you found it. The blast beats don’t bother stopping
or slowing d o w n . It’s
the
classic sound of walking through a minefield. It’s an album for people, maybe a bit more extreme than me. It requires the right kind of listener, you know the ones. People like me, who are a bit biased to Colombian bands, will probably prefer it over other people. But if you like this kind of raw noise, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Review by Andrew Stanton Corpse, Queensryche, Arcana, Hammerfall, Deicide… And why not? I can say 100% it’s not for everyone, but I at least love it. And it’s definitely worth a moment of your time to check out. The songwriting seems to be all over the place, but in a really good way. It’s a story I wish I
understood, because it at least sounds good. Xael ( however it’s pronounced ) have been quite prolific in the last few years, releasing a few fulllength albums that I now want to hear. The sound really does have it all, from brutal to truly beautiful, there’s some very mysterious sounds on here, and spacey stuff. Since the ridicule of Marilyn Manson and Limp Bizkit, all of a sudden it looks like America has started to pull it’s socks up and bring real Metal back, and not a moment too soon. Awesome.
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https://www.facebook.com/xael.metal
Xael Bloodtide Rising. Certainly very interesting. A lot of different sounds and styles on this one. It’s hard to really say what their main style is, but they’re labeled as Death Metal. Apparently this is a sci-fi concept album from America. I have to admit, I’m not really getting it so far. If I’m allowed to be honest, I would say it’s some very melodic Death Metal with a lot of ambience and a bit of Power Metal in there. It sounds great. The growls are deep on this album. The energy is good, but there’s a lot of slow parts on this. At certain moments I thought I was listening to Arcana. It’s a very odd mish mash of Cannibal
https://www.facebook.com/SAILLE.Official
Review by Andrew Stanton Saille - V. According to me sources, this is Symphonic Black Metal, but I think I have to disagree. It never gets fancy like Symphonic Black Metal. The energy is okay and the guitar work is very nice on here. The lead growls are quite good, but the songs are a bit too slow for me. Sometimes it reminds me of Carach Angren without the stupid, cringy parts. The
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songs aren’t exactly great, but they have good parts to them. They don’t seem
t o
be a band with themes and topics, which I prefer. Just write about anything, or so it seems. Why bother limiting your subjects? They seem to move around a lot for some reason, from country
to country. Currently in Belgium if my sources are anything to go by. They have released a lot of full-length albums over the past few years. They seem to be going strong. The songs don’t get wild enough for me. It all sort of stays very mid-paced. It’s okay, it just never really blows me away. Definitely not shit, just not for me. I think it’s one for fans of Melodic Black Metal and probably only those guys.
https://www.facebook.com/sarmat7v7
Sarmat - RS28. Apparently Blackened Death Metal, but sounds more like Deathcore to me personally. Named after a missile of some kind, and hailing from Poland. This is quite an impressive debut, but a bit too slow for me personally. Slow, deep growls, which I don’t really like. But it’s okay all things considered. This is one of those very charming bands themed around war and destruction and all that nice stuff. Like a more extreme version of Bolt Thrower. From somewhere in Poland, but all in English from what I can tell. Even though it’s supposed to be Black Metal, it reminds me more like Hatebreed than anything. Sometimes
Review by Andrew Stanton they sound like Decapitated. If I’m allowed to be honest, I don’t really hear any Black influences on here. The songs aren’t amazing, but it’s not shit. I’m basically not the right person to be
reviewing this. I prefer fast singing. But I understand a lot of people do love this stuff. If you do hear this as Black Metal, give me a shout, because I would be very interested in your opinion. Pantera fans would love this. I was tempted to not review it, but I thought “what the hell?”.
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https://www.facebook.com/vetterkult
early Venom and Voivod, probably Review by Andrew Stanton not as good, but worth a listen. But the rest of the album is way too laid Vetter - Av Sublim not as good. Long, slow songs back. There is maybe one song on this one. All in Norwegian, that might almost resemble Natur. Apparently Black Folk, but so no idea what it’s all about, but Folk Metal, but you will have I’m not hearing it. So far all I’m not particularly interested. to use your imagination. It I’m hearing is very extreme Quite dull really. All the mostly sucks and it’s definitely Raw Black Metal as far instruments and vocals seem not worth buying just for track as I’m concerned. This is to just go off aimlessly. Track 4, 4. I can never believe some a solo album, and even ‘Morgensolens Rike’, has a real bands actually exist. Surely though he has been around kick and took me by surprise. his audience is maybe 2 or 3 G o o d energy. Similar to people. Just boring. If Vetter since 2003, he didn’t reads my reviews, I suggest release anything you actually try listening until 2012. So he’s to some Black Folk, I think been taking his time. it will help you a lot. And also, Certainly not an easy shorten the songs and make listen by any means. Even them faster. I’m struggling if I’m honest. Sort of like Darkthrone, but
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https://www.facebook.com/incarceration
Incarceration Empiricism. Some VERY raw Death Metal from Brazil. Quite fast vocals at times. The blast beats just explode on this short EP. It’s very rough around the edges and unrehearsed. It’s only for those super extreme guys. If you think it’s an easy listen, you’re clearly more extreme than I am. A lot of the time it reminds me of the very early days of Death Metal. Very early Death, Carcass, Zeitgeist, Terrorizer. It’s one tough, tough listen. A very long time ago, we used to joke about albums that sounded like they were recorded in their bedroom. This is one of them. Very
shows and mosh pits must be hell. A few Review by Andrew Stanton years before this EP, they released an album in 2016, amateur. It will take a very and I imagine it’s extreme fan to stomach this. more of the same. I will try As it happens, it’s okay all to hear it this week, because I things considered. The energy quite enjoyed this a little bit. is very good throughout. But Even though it’s a little bit it’s no place for beginners. awful (or a lot), I can almost It’s just intentionally very appreciate it. If you’re a fan raw and horrible. Their live of the early days of Death Metal, give these guys a minute of your time. You might really like it.
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https://vk.com/club100222245
Review by Andrew Stanton Sibireal - Blood Color Sky. Another band I’m reviewing this month. Apparently Black Metal, but I’m not getting it personally. I think it’s more Hardcore Punk than Black Metal. The vocals are very fast on this one. In 2017 Sibireal released a 2 track single called ‘Giennah’, this debut album features both of the songs on it. It’s a very hard listen. Very extreme screaming. Not my thing at all. Why it calls itself Black Metal is beyond me. I
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would love to know what Black Metal bands these guys listen to. The songs are all in English, but I have no idea what they are about. I’m struggling to get into this if I’m honest. The more I listen, I am starting to hear a bit of Black coming through here. But it’s a
very hard listen. I think most Black Metalheads will have trouble with this one. The fast screaming is just
overkill, or maybe I’m just too much of a lightweight. I will let me be the judge. One thing I will say, the energy is pretty amazing. They’re definitely not scared to go totally over the top. Between tracks I get a bit of ringing in my ears due to its craziness. It’s very intense. As far as I’m concerned, the Black Metal parts were only a little bit of two of the songs. The level of energy is through the roof. I actually think it would be better a bit toned down if I’m honest. I definitely want to hear their next album. How more extreme can they get? I’m intrigued.
https://necralant.bandcamp.com
Necralant Temples of Ruin. Following up from last year’s self titled album, USA’s Necralant are back with Temples of Ruin. The music is quite lively on this album. The drums and rhythm guitars do a good job here. Sometimes similar to Endezzma. The songs are short on this one. Raw Black Metal is pretty amazing when it’s done well. Sometimes the vocals remind of Jeff Walker from Carcass. I think the shortness of the songs is what makes this great. The energy is very good. Never boring. Certain tracks on this, I think the interludes are the best parts of them. The songs aren’t amazing, but if these were 7 and 8 minute songs, I would have been more harsh. But it’s not a bad album. They remind me of a million other bands. Nothing particularly
Review by Andrew Stanton innovative. Just another Raw Black Metal really, but I have heard a million bands doing it a lot worse than this. So I can give them some credit. I’m mostly just glad they decided to keep the songs short. For the record, if these were 10 minute songs, I would have said this was shit. But because it’s short and with good energy, it’s definitely
worth checking out. If they release another album next year, I will definitely listen to it.
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https://www.facebook.com/paraphilia.band
Review by Andrew Stanton Paraphilia Primodorium of Sinister Butchery. A new Death Metal band from Portland, Oregon featuring ex-members of Banewalker and Maestus. A bit slow for me personally. Very much like Morbid Angel’s ‘God of Emptiness’. With faster growls, this would be awesome. The drum lines are very cool and have a good speed. It’s one of those Death Metal bands more for the Doom guys. Because of its lack of energy, I admit I’m finding
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it a bit boring. However, it’s only short. Only 15 minutes. At the end we have a cover of Deicide’s ‘Children of the Underworld’. This is obviously much faster. I wish all the EP was this fast. When the best song is a cover it’s hard to believe
they’re a great band. But it is a great cover version to be fair. Fans of slower Death Metal bands will probably love this EP. Even at just 15 minutes I still got bored. I’m gonna be 100% honest here, I believe in this band. I hear they have the talent. With their Deicide cover, they prove they can make fast Death Metal. I’m dying to hear what they do next, because I believe this band knows how to deliver. Sadly, they just chose to not do it on this EP. Speed up the growls next, I know you can do it.
https://www.facebook.com/genunebm
Genune - Inert & Unerring. Some quite relaxing Black Metal from Romania. Maybe a bit too relaxing for its own good at times. Really epic songs about weird things. Though it’s all in English, I can’t really make any of it out. Songs about insanity and depression I think. Would definitely have benefitted from shorter songs. The concept is better than the final result. Even though I’m quite enjoying this EP, the songs are outstaying their welcome too quickly. But it’s certainly an interesting release. I can guarantee there are millions of bands a lot worse than these guys. I wouldn’t really call it DSBM or Post Black Metal, but along those lines. A lot of acoustic guitars and keyboards, it’s a strangely beautiful
Review by Andrew Stanton listen. I think all Metalheads go through a phase of trying to find something new and fresh, and I think this band is one of the go-to bands. Even though it’s not amazing, the idea is amazing. And they definitely deserve
a moment of your time. According to my sources, they released another album in 2018 and I will try to hear it soon. I admit, I don’t know much about Romanian Metal, but after hearing this, I think I should. I understand it’s not for everyone, but fans of slower Black Metal or DSBM will love this.
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https://www.facebook.com/AgathonTheBeast
Review by Andrew Stanton Gloomy Grim Agathonomicon. Even though active since 1996, I can’t really believe I have never heard of them before. Apparently Symphonic Black Metal, but as far as I’m concerned they sound more like Endezzma (or at least so far). The energy is good on this album. It never really gets dull. The musicianship is good with all the band
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members doing a good job. They seem to be one of those bands with a lot of themes and topics. A good variety of different kinds of Metal, but never symphonic. I hear some Blackened Death Metal, Doom, Black Thrash, Raw, Blackgaze, DSBM. It’s quite cool. Some of the musicianship gets a bit odd at times, I don’t know if unusual instruments or just playing in an odd way. To the right kind of Black Metalhead, basically the ones who just listen to anything, it’s near impossible
to hate this album. Well I like it personally, but you can make your own mind up. The energy is good and they cater for a lot of different Metalheads. If you hate this, I am at a loss to what you’re looking for and quite frankly, I’m not fucking interested. You’re probably just one of those people who reads those magazines that just talks about the same 15 bands all year round. And that’s pretty sad as far as I’m concerned.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100035336415791
Ulvehyrde Englemakersken. More Black Metal from Norway. Mid-paced and not super heavy. This is a band that came out last year with the single ‘Jarlen’ ( which is on this album ). Like Enslaved without the Viking theme. For me personally, the album stays too mid-paced and doesn’t mix it up enough. Not a single word in English, but according to my sources, it’s not Viking themed. But Satanic either, so who knows? Not as good as Enslaved, and to be fair, they would probably agree with me. It’s nothing I haven’t heard a million times before. The pace is killing this for me. I feel I’m just waiting for the album to go crazy and it’s not happening. Because of its refusal to go faster, it doesn’t interest me. There are a few songs on here that are slower than the others, but strangely no songs faster than the others. It’s just boring. I just have no interest at all in this album. Why some bands just refuse
Review by Andrew Stanton to go wild when writing songs is a complete mystery to me. They must know Metalheads will find it dull, but they do it anyway. I will say one thing, if
Ulvehyrde read Inside the Darkness, listen to Lucifera, Nocturnal, Endezzma and Fedra and learn how to entertain Metalheads. Let’s be honest here, the whole point of making music is to entertain people. If you’re gonna be slow, be depressing with it. Otherwise, what is the aim?
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https://www.facebook.com/omegabandofficial
Review by Andrew Stanton Omega - Nebra. If I’m honest, I’m not really sure what to make of this one. But it definitely goes on. Four tracks and just shy of an hour long. An Italian Black/ Doom band. It’s certainly a strange listen. They remind me of so many different bands - Tool, In The Woods, Opeth, Portal. It’s all very arty and weird. I think I hear a lot of DSBM influences here. All the songs are over 10 minutes,
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and even though interesting, the energy never does anything. It’s a very sleepy album. Fair enough, if you’re looking for something
strange and innovative, check it out. But if you’re not, if you’re looking for full-on Metal, this is not for you. To a Metalhead like me, it’s very dull, but each to his own. The songs never end and never really get started in my opinion. On one hand, I can understand a lot of people loving
this album, and probably even think that I don’t know what I’m talking about. Most of the album stays along a Blackgaze path, but then uses odd little ambient interludes to change the focus. Some fans of Blackgaze would love this. There might be people who say this review is very unfair and think this album is amazing, and there probably are, but by all means, buy it if you’re one of them. But it’s not for me. I need more than epic songs of slow growls and ambience.
www.facebook.com/becerus
Becerus Homo Homini Brutus. Like Obituary, Italy’s Becerus doesn’t see the purpose of lyrics. So basically the songs are just growls - pa pa pa pa pa. I for one don’t see a problem with this, and let’s be honest, even if it had lyrics, I doubt I would have been any the wiser. It’s just energy and fun and nothing else really. Very short songs and just very cool. Sometimes they remind me of America’s Teddy Bear Autopsy. The growls are deep and powerful. It has an old school feel about it. If like me, you always thought Carcass were way too serious, Becerus are just straight to the fun. Delete the boring parts and just cut to the chase. All I’m getting is good blast beats and roooaaarrr, screeeeeee,
Review by Andrew Stanton roooaaarrr. Nothing else. I won’t bother trying to art it up. I actually think whoever reviewed this, they would say pretty much what I’m saying ( unless they hate it ). I know to some people, lyrics are everything. This isn’t
for you. This is for those other people. I will say though, it’s a hard album to review to be fair. I can only really talk about its energy, it doesn’t really have much else. Imagine if Six Feet Under didn’t have any lyrics or topics, that’s what Becerus are, and quite frankly, I think they’re very cool.
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https://www.facebook.com/devouredband
Review by Andrew Stanton Devoured - The Curse of Sabda Palon. Over the last few months I have been quite impressed by the Indonesian scene. It’s a scene that has passed me by for decades. This seems to be very Hindu inspired Death Metal, and it’s very cool. The growls are quite fast on this one, no time for boring shit. Not in English, but not a problem. If I’m honest, they remind me of a lot of great bands. The growls have a real crunch
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to them. The blast beats are good. Good guitars and bass. No one is really letting the side down here. Some songs are around the 5 and 6 minute mark, but most tracks are very short. Like a sort of cross between Deicide and Cadaver. Very entertaining. I don’t know if it’s my
imagination, but I think this is a concept album. I sort of wish I knew what it was about, but as I said, it’s not in English. This is a band who have been around for quite a while, and with quality like this, you would expect them to be legends by now. Whether you’re a fan of Norwegian B l a c k Metal or American Death Metal, Devoured deserves a moment of your time and you won’t regret it.
https://www.facebook.com/nattverdofficial
Nattverd Vandring. This Norwegian Black Metal band has been around for quite a while, but only started releasing stuff a few years ago. The energy is very good on this album. The songs keep the energy going. There’s also beautiful piano parts on here. It’s very much your standard Norwegian Black Metal. Nothing really new here. It’s an album for those people who love this sort of stuff. Their songs are much shorter than Emperor or Mayhem. It’s all in Norwegian, so no idea what the songs are about. The second vocals are a bit odd, but very cool. Deep, clear chanting maybe. I’m not really
Review by Andrew Stanton hearing anything I haven’t heard a million times before, but they do it well. The blast beats are good here. The vocals are pretty much what you’d expect. The guitars and bass are good. It’s all done well, but it’s pretty much just another
Norwegian Black Metal album with all the trademarks. It’s fair to say not every band wants to be innovative. Some bands just want to make Black Metal and there’s nothing wrong with that. Even though it’s nothing new, it’s not boring or crap. It’s ok I suppose.
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https://www.facebook.com/Goath666
I’ve already told it so many times and now it seems like I’m gonna tell it again and again: Germany saves modern Black Metal scene. So much killer stuff has been released this year, and one of these releases is «III: Shaped By The Unlight» by Goath, which was released April 9th, 2021. The lyrics are completely dedicated to the absurdity of human mind, these are endless reflections about human’s place in this reality and all this philosophy related content, you know so clearly what I’m talking about. Some of lyrics can be taken literally, some of them have strong occult analogy. So we can see that the band has definitely found its own occult way so to say.
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Review by Olga Schneider A s for the music, the shortest and the most exact description of this opus is simply raw and evil. This is a perfect mix of Death and Black with strong old school influences like Belphegor from 90’s, but probably way more melodic, mixed with early Deicide. This opus will
definitely lead you into a long journey through the darkest depths of human mind, without any compromises. The cover is definitely worth special attention. It looks like some Lovecraft related theme with a tentacled creature which is actually strongly associated with primal fear and similar things. Creepy and majestic. There’s nothing but only good things to say about this release, such bands who keep old school Extreme Metal traditions alive and strong in the condition of modern tendencies are always worthy of deepest respect.
Review by Olga Schneider he loves. Of course it can’t be compared to anything he did with Theatres des Vampires, but he still tries to create this vampyric atmosphere with the same riffs you could hear on his previous
albums and of course the lyrical content. No deep reflections/topics and anything like that, but he doesn’t actually need it. Just purely aesthetical content so to say. Might be a good reason for some kind of nostalgia.
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https://www.facebook.com/LORD-VAMPYR-OFFICIAL-362994842331
All of you still remember the old good Theatres des Vampires with his participation. I also do as nobody else cause I actually grew up on two of his projects, and one of them was the early Lord Vampyr. The previous LP was released almost a decade ago, and after all these years of silence, his new LP named «The Vampire’s Legacy» was suddenly released. Cannot say that with this release he created something new, and this project will never do anything absolutely new for themselves, this dude will always remain some kind of oldie that just makes music that
https://www.facebook.com/askog666
Review by Andrew Stanton Åskog - Varþnaþer. A new Black Metal band from Sweden featuring exmembers of Lord Bellial and Murdryck. At times this gets very fast. It’s all in Swedish, but according to my sources it isn’t Satanic. Apparently they write songs about darkness and nature (whatever that means). I have to admit I’m not very educated with Swedish Black Metal, but I’m enjoying what I’m hearing. Sometimes on this album the songs are just totally chaotic. Just wild guitars
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and blast beats and fast growls. If I was told it was Satanic, I doubt I would have questioned it. Some clean vocal parts remind me of Enslaved. Even though totally over the top and chaotic, it’s surprisingly a fairly easy listen. It has the ‘walking through a minefield’ experience sound. The songs are quite long o n
here, but often so fast and crazy, they soon pass by. Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? The more I listen, the more I’m convinced they don’t really sound like anyone. It’s absolutely insane and for the most part, they keep it up. There’s a few parts where the music drops, but it’s not dull. I’m almost tempted to describe it as Enslaved doing Black Thrash, but there is a lot of other stuff in here too. Åskog are a very entertaining band. After hearing this, I’m really surprised Swedish Black Metal doesn’t get more respect. Nothing else to really say, just buy it.
www.facebook.com/djevelmakt
Djevel is a Black Metal band from N o r w a y founded in 2009, and «Tanker Som Rir Natten» which was released this year is their seventh full-length album. Actually I didn’t hear that much about the band before this release, but this one made the impression that these dudes definitely know how to create traditional underground Black Metal nowadays. You won’t find any modern influences on this album, everything sounds raw and old school. It’s
Review by Olga Schneider full of cold melancholic atmosphere that keeps the listener’s mind in tense every moment. At the same time, it’s endlessly relaxing and even melodic here and there. The focus isn’t on speed, but rather on this atmosphere, so you can even find some
acoustic guitar and choir parts somewhere. The lyrical content is made in Norwegian, and I think it’s... Beautiful! The point is that Norwegian isn’t that known worldwide, not a lot of people can speak and even understand it, so it also creates a solid part of the whole atmosphere.
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https://www.facebook.com/oldskullofdeath
Review by Andrew Stanton Oldskull Nether Hollow of No Return. Some brutal Death Metal from Bangkok. Very early on here, the album explodes with energy. Sometimes it reminds me of Napalm Death around the ‘Harmony Corruption’ era. On track two, the album slows right down, but picks up again on song three. Some charming songs about death and destruction. This is an easy band to get into. The songs remain
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pretty simple. All the musicians here are very good, but the deep growls are amazing. This reminds me of a lot of bands I used to listen to around the early 90’s. For Metalheads my age, this is hard not to love. Some of the songs go on a bit, but it’s not dull. It’s all done well. I
could keep this review very simple if I wanted to. If you love Napalm Death, Deicide, Cancer, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Death, Cannibal Corpse, just buy it. It’s your thing. The overdrive on the guitar solos seem a bit high, but who cares. The album is so good, any fault I find, I just ignore it. This is the band that could put Thailand on the Metal map with the right guidance. Comparing this to shit like Marilyn Manson that passes for Metal these days, It’s perfect (or perfect enough). All hail Oldskull.
Review by Andrew Stanton hoping they influence millions of new bands. It’s a style I won’t be getting bored of anytime soon. As far as I’m aware, this is the only band I have ever heard from Arkansas and I love it. If you’re a Metalhead who hates this,
contact me please, because I’m intrigued. But as I said, despite how they describe themselves, I could imagine some Black Metalheads really hating this. But for the Black Metalheads, there is stuff on here for you. If I was to rate this out of 10, I would probably give a solid 7 or 8. It never gets boring. People of Arkansas, be proud to have these guys around.
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https://www.facebook.com/Pantheon666
Pantheon Age of Wolves. When I was first given the information about this band, it said it’s for fans of Carcass, Dying Fetus, Amon Amarth, Dissection and At The Gates. So basically I was very confused even before I pressed play. They are credited as Black/Death/ Thrash from the USA. I almost hear it in parts. It’s quite an interesting sound. The music creates a real groove on some of these songs. The energy is very good. The growls are both deep and high pitched (which I’m guessing is the Black and Death parts). So far I think it’s the groove that makes this great. It’s real toe tapping stuff. But I will say, it’s definitely more Death than Black. The high pitched screeches just appear every once in a while. It’s very hard not to fall in love with. It’s all fairly perfect. I’m
https://www.facebook.com/thronumvrondor
Review by Andrew Stanton Thronum Vrondor Dies Tenebrosa Sicut Nox. Despite the title, this is all in English. A bit of Blackened Death Metal from Belgium and it’s quite good. Last year I remember reviewing a Belgium Black Metal album that blew me away, so this is clearly one of the cool scenes. Though from what I remember, this is very different from that a l b u m . Sometimes
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this album reminds me of Satyricon. Even though it’s all in English, I’m not really sure what these songs are about. The vocals are deeper than Satyricon. Also their lyrics sort of remind me of what Satyricon writes too. It’s very much Belgium’s answer to Satyricon, if that sounds like your thing. Certain parts of the music reminds me of Armenia’s Divahar. It’s not amazing, but it’s not shit. The guitars and drums are
great on this album. My only real issue is the songwriting. The songs sort of sound the same, but it’s okay really. All the Black Metal hallmarks are constantly present. It never goes lightweight. The guitar distortion is as over the top as you’d expect. This band has been very prolific over the years, releasing many full-length albums. I’m almost surprised I have never heard of them before. If you support the Western European scene, this ones for you.
Review by Andrew Stanton appealing part of their sound. Even though Black Metal, I think some old school Death Metalheads would love this. Sometimes they remind me of Incubus ( Beyond the Unknown Incubus ). You might totally disagree, but I
don’t really think all the Black Metal trademarks are here. I think they were influenced by a lot of different sounds. I’m not gonna call it perfect, but I love it. Basically, it’s an album for those people who know good music when they hear it. If you’re one of those people, buy it. I hope they become HUGE, but only time will tell.
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https://www.facebook.com/AranAngmar
Aran Angmar - Black Cosmic Elements. Featuring exmembers of Pestilence, God Dethroned and Legion Massacre, this is some very cool Blackened Death Metal from Greece and the Ne t he rl ands . Most people agree, Greece is one of the leading countries when it comes to Black Metal, perhaps just as important as Norway. This is some very easy Black Metal to quickly get into. This is a new band, but looking at their accolades, I can tell they are very experienced. If you hate Black Metal, I would still recommend checking Aran Angmar out. This is a 30 minute album, Deicide style. The vocals are a good growl, and I think is probably the most
Upcoming albums
Florida death metal legend Terry Butler (OBITUARY, DEATH, MASSACRE, SIX FEET UNDER) has joined up with fellow former MASSACRE members Jeramie Kling (also of VENOM INC, THE ABSENCE, GOREGANG) on drums/vocals and Taylor Nordberg (THE ABSENCE, GOREGANG) on guitar to form INHUMAN CONDITION. The music for «Rat God» was written by Kling and Nordberg in the fall of 2019, when they were writing for what was to be a new MASSACRE album. The pair left the group the following year and teamed up with Terry Butler to form INHUMAN CONDITION to release the music. The album (along with 5 other songs to be released at a later time), features three guest solos by Rick Rozz (DEATH, MANTAS, MASSACRE), and guest lyrics/vocal patterns by CANNIBAL CORPSE drummer and lyricist, Paul Mazurkiewicz. «Rat God» will be released on June 4, 2021.
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After 30 years of fronting Black / Death Metal underground alongside veterans ACHERON, lead vocalist Vincent Crowley is pursuing a solo career. This new musical entity veers to a different dark and macabre path, being influenced by all kinds of metal genres. “Beyond Acheron” was recorded at Sonic Lounge Studios with Joe Viers as the producer. This 8-track album has a dark sound while maintaining a great production. “Beyond Acheron” is a conceptional album that climbs through the ladder of death. From beginning to end it takes the listener on a ghastly journey with sombre tales of doom, casting a Poe-esque shadow. The album is set to be released in June as a digipack cd, jewel case cd, limited Wooden Box, Lp and on all digital platforms together with cult Norwegian Vulture Lord which are back after 17 years with a new album “Desecration Rites”. Beyond Acheron will be released on June 10, 2021.
Crypta offer a raging sonic monster in a class of its own: the newly staffed Brazilian/ Dutch death metal unit is set to drop jaws with their long awaited debut offering Echoes of the Soul. Formed in June 2019, the four-piece line up consists of vocalist and bassist Fernanda Lira and Luana Dametto on drums, both former members thrash metal frontrunners NERVOSA, plus supremely talented guitarists Sonia Anubis (Cobra Spell, ExBurning Witches) and Taina Bergamaschi (Ex-Hagbard). These four powerful women enforce a heightened level of potency and experience from their successful past and current projects, enhancing influences from both classic and modern death metal genres, plus signficant extreme and black metal elements, to create a sound of their own. Echoes of the Soul was recorded in January 2021 at the Family Mob Studio (Brazil), mixed by Arthur Rizk (Code Orange, Powertrip etc.) and mastered by the famed Jens Bogren (Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Sepultura etc.). Echoes Of The Soul will be released on June 11, 2021.
Things change, times change, people change, and yet even when sounding fresh and new and delivering just five tracks in 45 minutes on their 19th album, Eternal Hails, the Norwegian black metal legends remain defiantly and eternally Darkthrone. The album is an exploration of the very finest vintage metal and the best of doom, all delivered in the unmistakable darkthrone style, whilst also incorporating instruments such as the moog to further expand upon these soundscapes. Tracklist 1. His Master’s Voice 2. Hate Cloak 3. Wake of the Awakened 4. Voyage to a North Pole Adrift 5. Lost Arcane City of Uppakra Lineup Fenriz - Drums, Vocals (additional), Bass, Guitars (additional) Nocturno Culto - Vocals, Guitars, Bass Eternal Hails will be released on June 25, 2021.
“The Nightmare Of Being” were recorded in several different Swedish studios. Tomas Lindberg said: «The overall theme deals with the topic of pessimism, and I have been diving deep down in pessimistic philosophers. Trying to understand this way of looking at the world. It is not a negative album, more a gateway into new ideas for me personally, trying out different perspectives. You could call the album an introduction to pessimism as a concept, I guess. It is a very dark album, but not negative. It still sounds like AT THE GATES, 100 percent. It is just more of everything.» Tracklist 1. Spectre of Extinction 2. The Paradox 3. The Nightmare of Being 4. Garden of Cyrus 5. Touched by the White Hands of Death 6. The Fall into Time 7. Cult of Salvation 8. The Abstract Enthroned 9. Cosmic Pessimism 10. Eternal Winter of Reason “The Nightmare Of Being” will be released on July 2, 2021.
Over the past months, Norwegian Black Metal icons TAAKE have released a series of 10» splits with three different bands (WHOREDOM RIFE, DEATHCULT and HELHEIM), on three different labels, and, as always happens in the case of vinyl releases, fans have been asking for a CD version. “Avvik” translates to anomaly or deviation. And even though Taake have been recognized as an important act within the Norwegian Black Metal scene for decades, they have always stood on the outside of main currents of black metal, a scene once founded by deviants and outcasts. Tracklist 1. Ubeseiret 2. Heartland (The Sisters of Mercy cover) 3. Nattestid ser Porten vid I (acoustic) 4. Slagmark 5. Ravnajuv (Darkthrone cover) 6. Brotne Bein og Mannefall 7. Ein Baat i Foss “Avvik” closes one chapter for Taake and opens for a new one. Avvik will be released on July 2, 2021.
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