All reviews below are written and executed by Drako
Assumption – Paradox of The Arrow
You should assume that this rips!
PR/Review: I have a Death/Doom offering on my list next for you all and this is from Assumption with their upcoming third full length that’s titled “Paradox of The Arrow” this band formed in Italy back in 2011 and this upcoming album drops on the 13th of November and the offering starts out with acoustic guitars that ring out and there’s this big disgusting riff that sounds like it’s being played in a cave over the clean guitars, then, they go into dissonant riffing with some tremolos added in after these. They add in some chugs next and blackened tremolos afterwards and they drag out the cold dissonant riffing, you can also hear the rumble of the bass behind them; then, they go to palm-muted riffs while they keep the tremolo harmonies in-between them and there’s black metal style passages and arpeggios basically all over this and they close off the first track with catchy dissonant passages with bass underneath them. Groovy tremolo riffs at a slow pace and these sound spooky in tone appear as well and there’s plenty of chugging going on too. Then, they add palm-muted chugs more and these will absolutely get you to bang your head to them and when they slow things down, they do it to slow crawling riffs and they let these ring out also.
This is FFO: Spectral Voice, Father Befouled and I’d add in some hints of Autopsy also.
There’s creepy droning harmonies that happens for a couple of seconds before they add these slow, monstrous riffs in. This then goes to my favourite track on this upcoming banger that’s named “Tombs Upon The Sun” it has industrial style synths to start it off, with some choirs behind them and it kicks off with eerie drawn out riffs and slow ride hits and taps before going to isolated palm-muted grooves and power chord sections before they bring the drums back in; bouncy riffs happen again for a time. They decided to add in some mid-paced gallops on this particular track before going back for more grooves, as the chorus has chunky, groovy tremolos with more of those blackened dissonant harmonies added in-between them, next, they then add tremolo harmonies as well that are a little slower than the other tremolos. They drop everything out to let the bleak harmonies breathe and there’s a couple of eerie harmonies with string bends happening too that slightly gets faster towards the end. There’s some sick slow paced riffs happening in some of this in addition to the grooves and tremolos that are slightly quicker and that guitar tone is straight up nasty; the guitar solos on this are atmospheric, mid-paced and occasionally shreddy and you have some slight technical elements with tapping parts.
The vocals aren’t all just growled, there’s some spoken word elements on the back half of this; some ugly sounding harmonies are going on here and the fifth track is the most thrashy and aggressive on this album and they isolate this harmony that has this nasty string bend in it. There’s this eerie Mongolian style of choir behind it too and they isolate the drums with the synths for a short time before they bring back the clean guitar passages. This is a ripping and disgusting Death/Doom release that has black metal atmosphere, ugly dissonance and it has elements of groove in it too, definitely add this to your release radar!
Rating: 8.5/10
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Balance of Terror – Addicted To Any Kind of Rot
Brutal Death that will leave you pummeled and terrified.
PR/Review: Up next here that I have here for you all is this upcoming sophomore full length from this French Brutal Death act that’s called Balance of Terror. These dudes formed in France back in 2014 and they’re unleashing their sophomore full length offering that’s titled “Addicted To Any Kind of Rot” this will drop on the 11th of December and this album has cold and dissonant passages to open up with and the vocals come in right off the bat before they explode into groovy riffs, tremolos and blast beats. There’s some slight d-beat influences creeping in on here as well and they’re thrashing in here already and they put in more tremolo riffs and there’s fast, bouncy grooves that has these sick palm-muted riffs in-between them; then, there’s some sick blast beats and tremolo riffs that they dial up to eleven in terms of speed. There’s some killer riffs throughout this and they also put in trills in-between them, next, there’s diminished passages that return for a short time and then you get these drawn out riffs with some of the cold dissonance remaining and there’s sick bouncy riffs that go on as well that’s really quick too; there’s syncopated chugging going on that’s pummelling too. This has ferocious breakdowns at points, you have quick and flashy harmonies and these were on my favourite track on this album that’s named: “Inebriated Perversity.”
This is FFO: Cuttered Flesh, Deeds of Flesh (old) and add influences from the likes of Internal Bleeding as well.
There’s bouncy riffs going on next with more bleak atmospherics thrown in and there’s some very fast riffing on here that’s going at blazing speeds now and again; the breakdowns that are on this crush across the entire offering, you get diminished runs next and the drumming across this is absolutely ferocious with fast, stop on a dime transitions from blasts to groovy fills. They do stompy rhythmic sections riff wise here and there at occasional points to add more aggressive and awesome riffs; more chugs go on and they’re fucking nasty all the way through, then, they add in really quick gallops and some stop-start riffs happen on occasion. The vocals are a mix between low growls, mid-ranged screams and there’s some low guttural burps and even some slam vocals too, which you all know that I’m not that keen on; catchy hooky sections get added in that repeats too before some sick alternate picked riffs come in with palm-muting and fast runs done alongside them and they isolate these killer grooves too. Tremolo harmonies come in next in-between these sick ass riffs and there’s even a badass pick rake or two also; there’s tremolo gallops going on at one point. There’s a shreddy guitar solo in track six and there’s not many at all on here and if you love Brutal Death, with cold black metal influences then you’ve definitely got to check out this killer upcoming sophomore full length.
Rating: 8.35/10
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Deviated Instinct – Scavenger Gospel (EP)
Absolutely ripping Death/Punk
UK Review Diary 1: So, I have got a total of four new reviews for you all here and first up here is this Death/Punk outfit that’s based in Norwich and these dudes formed in 1984 and they maybe one of the first Death Metal bands period alongside Necrophagia, Morbid Angel, Death and Possessed. They’re one of the first crust punk bands to emerge also; this is Deviated Instinct and their brand new EP that’s named: “Scavenger Gospel” and before we get to the music, I’m letting you all know that I’ve reset the diary numbers due to wanting to start a fresh for the website that I write for. Anyways, this EP starts out with droning and eerie notes before some feedback comes in, they isolate some groovy riffs after this and they add in some bouncy grooves with palm-muted chugs in-between them that’s happening. The drummer, Daniel does a lot of blasts and mid-paced stomps, next, they add in more bouncy riffs that will get you headbanging and then, they have some nasty isolated chugs too happening all across this. There’s quite some nasty power chord sections too on here, also, you will hear the bass occasionally too.
This is FFO: Discharge, Suicidal Tendencies and there’s influence from WOLFBRIGADE too.
They even isolate the bass and they go straight for the throat to put in some groovy and thrashy sections that straight up reminds me of Wolfbrigade. There’s also plenty of d-beats and grindy homages in here as well, next, they slow things down to add in a couple of doomy blackened grooves before they go straight back into the riffs. Alternate picked power chords happen next they add in these short and sweet bouncy harmonies between riffs before more chunky palm-muted goodness comes at you, then, they put in these diminished hooks and melodies before grooving with them; they even add in a sick death/doom breakdown towards the end of the title track. My favourite track in this killer EP is named: “Half Life” and it starts with isolated bass with feedback under it, then doomy grooves come in before they start moshing with power chords and nasty chugs for the most of the song and these sound sick too and this song is focused on pummelling you from start to finish. They include some pinch harmonics too for variety and there’s a pull-off or two that are done in-between these and for a time you have a few black metal style chord progressions happen here and there in track five. There’s a couple of whammy bar dive bombs as solos at the end, but that’s the only solo that I heard in this; there’s a few dead notes too on this teaser of an offering and all in all, this is a pretty killer and awesome Death/Punk EP that’s packed with groove, doom and pummelling riffs. Definitely give this a spin!
Rating: 8.15/10
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Rotten Aura – Anthology of Decay
Rotten OSDM with a touch of buzzsaw.
Next up on my list is this Kansas, US based OSDM band that’s known as Rotten Aura and this Death Metal band formed sometime around 2022 and they’ve just released their killer debut offering that’s titled “Anthology of Decay” and it starts out with a surprisingly melodic intro track that goes to palm-muted chugs over the melodic phrases. It then erupts into my favourite song on the album already and this is “Eternal Hatred” as it begins with tremolo riffs before erupting into bouncy trills and palm-muted gallops and they add in some power chords that sounds absolutely meaty and nasty in-between them. In-between the power chords, they stop the palm-muted gallops and do tremolo bursts instead before they transition into them properly before going back to the killer riff; they add in a lot of hammer-ons/pull-offs in this song and it makes it even more nasty. Thrashy grooves come in on the next song right off the bat with mid-paced drum fills and there’s a tiny bit of audible bass on here also, next, there’s these sinister tremolos going on and there’s sick cascading grooves going off that straight up makes you want to bang your head; they isolate this sick riff that’s like a cue to beat someone up before they go all in and slam it.
This is FFO: ASHEN, Cannibal Corpse and I’d add influences from Entombed too.
They then add in bouncy grooves that are topped off with some diminished runs after them and then they go to some crawling grooves. Tremolo harmonies come in next before groovy power chords and trills are thrown in the next section before they add in abrasive tremolo riffs that sounds meaty and cutting; eerie harmonies happen after these before more heavy and chunky trem riffs are thrown at you. More palm-muted chugs are added in and they then add in some killer pinched harmonics in-between these awesome riffs; the drummer, Clint, does some ridiculous turnovers and fast syncopated beats and in track five at the end, they include a sick ass breakdown with pinch harmonics in it. Tremolo harmonies come back in along with some brutal death style riffs and they add in more pinches, next, the solos on this full length are mid-paced, shreddy with tapping sections and technical seasoning. Another awesome track that’s got that wonderful buzzsaw influence in it is ‘Mouth of Madness’ they isolate some tremolos on it briefly as well and they briefly isolate a few riffs in addition to the tremolo ones; they isolate a couple of sinister tremolos too and there’s a Brutal Death style breakdown again at the start of track eight before they go into more thrashing; more cascading riffs are on this and they add in some colder black metal passages on the final track that happens for just over a minute. This is some absolutely killer Death Metal debut full length that you definitely should check it out.
Rating: 8.35/10
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Demonic Manifestation – Grimshrine
Mexican buzzsaw filth!
On my list for now, my final review for today is from this Mexican OSDM act that’s known as Demonic Manifestation and this band formed in Mexico in 2012, this is the band’s third full length overall and this one is named: “Grimshrine” and this album has groovy buzzsaw/HM2 riffs right off the bat before they go into palm-muted chugs, tremolo harmonies happen next as well as sick riffs that will get you pulling a ‘this is filthy’ face, awesome grooves come back in that are headbang inducing. There’s definitely tremolo riffs too and the drums are doing lots of chaotic blasts, fast technical riffs happen next with palm-muted ones that are thrown in there; mid-paced grooves with syncopated drumming is added in too and they fade out these harmonies before finishing with more chugs. Some absolutely pulverising thrashy tremolo riffs, harmonies and blast beats are in this and it adds to the overwhelming aggression on this before they slow down and add these big riffs that they let ring out; more tremolos reappear, but these aren’t as fast, but they still are abrasive and there’s this absolutely evil sounding breakdown kind of riff in the middle of track two that sounds absolutely monstrous. Galloping riffs are also added too and this whole offering is groovy as fukk and they add in more mid-paced harmonies before they get back to thrashing.
This is FFO: Entrails, LIK – Sthlm and definitely hints of old Bloodbath as well.
Syncopated stop-start riffs happen before more crushing and pummelling riffs come back at you and double kick fury is definitely included on this too, then, galloping harmonies kick in that sounds eerie and they put in some doomy atmosphere and let these riffs ring out. More palm-muted goodness happens again and there’s these brief fast syncopated notes that they do before they throw more killer riffs at you; there’s some d-beat and mid-paced influences halfway through this and my favourite track is a perfect example of this: “Host” as it has these groovy d-beat sections, more mid-paced goodness, the bass is isolated on here for a time, the guitars are too as well, they even isolate and include clean guitar passages that is so atmospheric and ominous before they dive back into the groove. A pretty lead section closes this track off and the solos on here appear more than once in a song and they’re chaotic and shreddy; diminished harmonic sections are added on here and at points, Enrique’s growls have this echo, cavernous effect on them and the drummer, Felipe absolutely pulverises the shit out them and there’s a solo that’s melodic and mid-paced done too and they do include a few slower paced harmonies as well. This is some absolutely pummelling HM2 Death Metal that’s packed with groove after groove, thrashy energy, nasty aggressive tremolos and fast shredding. This is an album that you should definitely spin!
Rating: 8.85/10
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Dungeon Serpent – Lamentations of The Shadowkingdoms
Beautiful yet dark Melo Death!
Alright, so I have a total of five brand new reviews for you all here today and kicking things off is this the Canadian based Melodic Death Metal act that formed in 2019; this is Dungeon Serpent with their sophomore full length offering that’s titled “Lamentations of the Shadowkingdoms” and before this, this band was known as Necrotizing Fasciitis before they changed their name. Onwards to the music, this starts out with a somber violin accompanying it with wind instruments, then a clean guitar comes in temporarily and then doomy and drawn out distorted riffs kick in. You can slightly hear the bass behind this section too as this sequence repeats; catchy harmonies come in with groovy and palm-muted chugs enter the equation with some more bass noodling behind them. This is a instrumental track, then, they put in some faster tremolos to add some speed and aggression, they harmonise these too; you will hear some synths temporarily as well. There’s acoustic guitars featured on this too along with the other somber sounding instruments, next, there’s a lead guitar section in the beginning of the second track. Some trills happen and then the vocals cut through, there’s high pitched pick scraping too; they go straight back to the groovy riffs, take a break and explode into blast beats and thrashy tremolos.
They put in a few pinched harmonics now and again, then, the band isolate more clean guitar and they put choirs behind them for atmospheric purposes; there’s lots of tremolos going on in this song now. There’s palm-muted tremolos that Repenter does and the vocals on here to me are hit and miss throughout this, as Arawn does these very dry raspy screams that I’m not a big fan of, but his growls are sick and I like em’. They put in fast and killer riffs on here that aren’t grooves or tremolos; they go back to the doomy atmosphere to add in these ominous melodic crawling riffs with the bass following them, then, some diminished arpeggio passages come in that adds to the atmosphere on this.
This is FFO: An Abstract Illusion, Opeth and there’s elements from the likes of Kataklysm too.
They go back to a slow pulverising groove after they briefly switch to more blazing tremolos and blast beats and they put in a couple more pinch harmonics in-between these bouncy hooks. They put in a few doomy harmonies that are melancholic on this, then, more blast beats come in and the drumming on this ranges from fills, to groovy sections and blasts, some whammy bar accents happen slightly and rarely. Some catchy power chord movements are on this that’s designed to get you to headbang and my favourite song on this upcoming banger is called “Tranquil Sleep of The Dead, Endless Seas Aflame” and it has more acoustic passages and audible bass on it, beautiful clean passages, violins and woodwind thrown in there. It then goes into blast beats and acoustic tremolos, slightly more groove and short, but sweet power chord sections and there’s an atmospheric and melodic guitar solo in this track that has hints of technicality; this then after a while goes back into tremolo harmonies. It has got technical bass work as well in places and there’s a groovy riff that they end on, next, the last track on here is a symphonic outro instrumental track. This killer and beautiful full length will drop on the 30th of October, absolutely check this one out.
Rating: 8.3/10
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Fog Wall – Gloomweaver
This spider will batter your skull!
On my list now is a brand new OSDM outfit that hails from Nevada, this is a totally new band who have released a debut offering that’s titled “Gloomweaver” this is none other than Fog Wall and their brand new full length features a creepy soundbite that warns you to stay out of the manor, then some sick downtuned tremolos come in and that tone is thick and dark as fukk. They then add in grooves with some slight harmonies between them that they repeat before adding in some bouncy harmonies. They put in a Deathcore style breakdown next that’s ripping and they isolate the bass for a short time before including technical sounding harmonic runs that repeat before these huge riffs that they ring out get added in that are so filthy, you have quick dead notes too in here. They include some quick fire trills in-between mean as fuck riffs and these big chugs with the bass being added behind them sounds sick as hell, you even have a few dissonant arpeggio chord patterns happening in addition to these riffs. There’s killer breakdown riffs before these bouncy ones that they put in and there’s some Bolt Thrower style rhythmic stomps with the guitars too; more soundbites come in about the darkest of nights after this.
This is FFO: Pestilence (official), Apogean and add elements to the likes of Dead Nexus also.
Cascading tremolos happen in here with fast bass accompanying them, blast beats happen after these alongside them also and this is absolutely thrashy as hell and there’s some triplet tremolos going on that’s straight up Morbid Angel inspired and in the background, you will hear some choirs going on and when they isolate the bass, they do it a couple of times briefly. Tremolo harmonies are going on as well and bouncy grooves come back in before more meaty and chuggy sections, diminished bass runs are going on surprisingly in this also and it’s awesome. Alex is one hell of an incredible bass player and more groove happens in this next that will get you banging your head and when they stop the crushing riffs, they do so so that more soundbites can come back in before they slam back into the riffs that they slow down towards the end. Some very thrashy grooves and chugs are also on here and Alex can growl and scream tremendously fast and he does some grindcore style vocals on this full length in places; there’s harmonies with string bends in them and nasty syncopated triplet chugs are also included and these stop and start.
Diminished and cold passages get thrown in in spots as well that adds more atmosphere and more synths that sounds mysterious and melodic comes in and Alex screams over them and these sound pleasant too, but Alex does these twisted black metal shrieks over them and does an evil laugh that sounds sinister as fukk and this is on ‘Strangling Gloom’ and this is a black metal track with cold, piercing tremolo harmonies and absolutely artillery-like blast beats. Groovy blackened riffs come in next that are killer and this is my personal favourite track on the album, you get more bass noodling and technical playing on track eight and there’s nasty breakdowns all over this song and then, some eerie slow paced harmonies show up on here that are melodic too. This has doomy spots on it towards the back half of it, then, slow crawling riffs are on here next before it goes into some sliding and on the last track, there’s a soundbite from Ranni from Elden Ring and this track has nasty pinch harmonics in it; more melodic grooves are added on this. This album has plenty of breakdowns, crushing riffs, thrashy transitions and energy; if you love Death Metal that has hints of Deathcore and Tech Death, then definitely give this ripping offering some attention!
Rating: 8.65/10
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Acausal Intrusion – Vomit Meditations
Dissonant technical death metal that’s disgusting.
Up next on my list is this Technical Death Metal outfit that formed in the US in 2020 and this is the fourth album by Acausal Intrusion and this full length by them is called: “Vomit Meditations” and this album features the likes of a creepy and eerie piano to kick things off, then some synths join in as well before the drums roll in. Guitar harmonies come in next that are somewhat pleasant despite being a little diminished. These stop and then some sick and ripping fast tremolo riffs come in with blast beats being done behind them and these slowly get faster for a time and some diminished grooves happen next with these harmonies that have an effect on them on occasion. The grooves are somewhat slower and doomy in composition, then, the guitarist, JM does a few pinch harmonics and ugly dissonant passages that come in; next, you have these massive palm-muted chugs that sound disgusting being added in this. You have some slides happening here and there that stop and start in-between breaks. Some diminished runs happen across the album and there’s crushing blast beats in here too and they do these creepy descending tremolos also; some synth harmonies come in and when they drop things out to become more doomy, there’s eerie clean harmonies and pick slides happening and these isolated sound vile.
This is FFO: Replicant, Malthusian and add some influence from Gorguts as well.
There’s some black metal style harmonies that sounds bleak and cold, there’s a couple of guitar effects that are intricate and odd happening also, next, the band add in some disgusting bass lines under the riffs that you can temporarily hear. Bouncy harmonies and tremolos happen too and the intricacies in this are mind-boggling on occasion, then, you will hear a few tapping sections; feedback comes in on my favourite track on this full length and this is named: “Convex Hidden Echoes” it has got huge riffs with a choir behind them, the riffs are doomy and some spiralling guitar slides happen again. Catchy harmonies and tapping comes in for a time before more ambient droning riffs are heard, these harmonies sound creepy that JM adds next, they take a short break and then the groove comes in with bouncy riffs that has tremolos in-between with some bass chugging behind them that’s been put in and then, a brutal death style breakdown comes at you that’s rather short, but it’s nasty. They end this track off with an aggressive burst of speed; the vocals on here are very low registered and guttural like something that you’d hear in Brutal Death, a mix of Jason Barnet and Jon Gallagher. Very fast tremolo harmonies come in to add more aggressive atmosphere on here, then, the drums go to a mid-paced stomp alongside the blast beats across the album; chiming synths along with ride cymbal hits transition next and they go to these acoustic guitar passages and they harmonise these creepy tritones before some more pleasant type of harmonies come in. This is a wild, technical and disgusting listen that will open your mind and confuse you, it confused me at times reviewing it; it’s some killer stuff that combines technicality with disgusting doomy riffs, odd scraped sections and transitions that will melt your brain, get on it!
Rating: 8.45/10
Bandcamp // Facebook
Dissect The Masses – A Vile Disfigurement
Upcoming stellar debut incoming….
Blackened Tech Death band that’s known as Dissect The Masses and little is known about this band, as there’s no previous releases from them. Anyways, this is their upcoming debut that’s called “A Vile Disfigurement” this releases on the 11th of December and it features members of Benighted, Unaligned and Fleshbore. This offering has my favourite track from it right in front (something that’s becoming slowly more common.) It opens up with blisteringly fast tremolo harmonies and it has some isolated drum rolls before they launch into pummelling grooves and these are slightly bouncy in composition too and then, they riff even quicker whilst not straying away from the groove too much; they take a pause near the end of the track “Flesh Maniacs” and a pummelling breakdown closes the track off. Creepy harmonies happen next and under them, you will hear the bass, they then put in more bouncy riffs and eerie harmonies show up next and after these some heavy ass palm-muted chugs come in; drumming wise, there’s double kick fury and pulverising blasts all over this and then there’s some mid-paced tremolo harmonies in here and they then add thrashy intensity.
This is FFO: Fleshbore, Vale of Pnath and there’s definitely influences from Aborted in here.
There’s killer thrashy riffs power chord and tremolo wise and they’re fukking pummelling, then, more bouncy fast riffs are going on and you have a chunky riff before a solo that’s absolutely nasty sounding and they go to a chuggy groove that’s absolutely crushing and the guitar players just dry hump this before adding in another disgusting chunky and chuggy breakdown. You have plenty of isolated drum rolls, more sick and bouncy harmonies and hooky sections added in and they do some ominous sounding sections with string bends being done in them. There’s some creepy, crackling and whispered soundbites and then there’s more palm-muted goodness with diminished cold passages thrown in beside them and dude, these riffs absolutely rip and they’ll make you want to mosh.
There’s some absolutely awesome and nasty pick rakes on occasion happening; this is jam packed with killer riff after killer riff and it shows no fukking mercy and there’s a couple of dive bomb moments going on here and there. Eerie tremolo riffs happen throughout most of this absolute ripper and you will hear lots of bouncy harmonies all across this masterpiece, next, there’s some absolutely blistering tremolos on occasion happening and the guitar solos are atmospheric, mid-paced and though rarely, are shreddy with tapped phrases and even technical elements like sweeping and sweep tapping too. A track or two is insanely fast on this full length and it repeatedly just keeps pummelling you again and again; they also add a few pinched harmonics at one point as well. You have industrial and sci-fi synths at the end of track eight, the title track. If you’re a lover of Tech Death and Blackened Death, then you absolutely must check this out once it drops, it’s absolutely stellar!
Rating: 9.5/10
Bandcamp // Facebook // Instagram
Niveous – Cult of The Void Star
Absolutely wintery and Occult themed black metal that’s pretty good.
Alright, so just two reviews today that are on here and first up is this Wisconsin, US based black metal project that’s named Niveous and this band formed in 2024 and they released their debut offering earlier in the year and this is titled “Cult of The Void Star” this album features effects of crashing meteors and this goes into tapping, tremolos and blast beats and they include some tremolo harmonies before going to groovy sections for a time, there’s diminished arpeggio passages all across this too and they put in these bouncy grooves until you hear some bass on this that has a mean sounding snarl to it. This isn’t thrashy and speedy all the way through, as they slow down to add catchy hooks and diminished arpeggio chords; my favourite track on this offering is titled “Servants of The Monolith” and the intro straight up sounds like Behemoth, before they get into palm-muted chugging tremolos.
This is FFO: Immortal, Tsjuder and hints of BEHEMOTH! As well.
The drummer, Nortaath does rhythmic stomps and blasts all over this full length and he does vocals too; there’s icy diminished passages all across this and the vocals are a combination of high shrieks, guttural growls and raspy shouts and when they go back into the riffs, they’re groovy and sound like Behemoth again too. You have a few solos that are mid-paced that adds to the atmosphere also, next, the band includes some chanting on this full length and these appear on track three and there’s a few pick rakes happening as well. There’s more sound effects on track four with synths and violins too, then, there’s droning and whistling before they launch into blistering tremolos and blast beats; they include the synths back in slightly and there’s these dual guitar harmonies that show up too on here that they fade out on, as they end it with industrial style synths. There’s lots of grooves and diminished passages all over this and if you like your black metal to be harsh, cold sounding with lots of tremolo harmonies and arpeggio chord progressions, then definitely give this a spin!
Rating: 8.15/10
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Sellsword – …With Might and Vengeance
Triumphant and mighty power metal!
UK Review Diary 2: Last up that I’ve got on here is this Power Metal band that’s based in York called Sellsword and this is a new offering that they released earlier in the year and this is their third full length overall and it’s titled: “…With Might and Vengeance” this band formed in 2013 according to Bloodstock.co.uk, as the metal archives appears to be down. Anyway, this starts out with an epic symphonic violin intro that’s layered and has choir behind it, you can then hear a harp! This is stuff that you’d hear from the likes of Rhapsody Of Fire; this is the intro track, the title track, then, they go back into the synths and riffs come in behind them with tremolo ones. Harmonies then come in that has an occasional pinched harmonic in there, next, they include bouncy harmonies and epic runs with these too.
The chorus is epic and powerful and there’s a couple of palm-muted, chunky riffs added in and there’s some blackened moments with tremolo harmonies and blast beats before they go back into the standard ones; bouncy riffs that will get you headbanging come in and there’s hintsof palm-muted harmonies and trem riffs now and again. There’s a harpsichord added too and you should know that I love that instrument and they also include a pretty ripping breakdown too on some songs, like track three for example. They even isolate a lute on here as well, next, they change key a couple of times also; a drum beat can be heard with the sounds of crows and these sick riffs come at your throat and they sound huge and are palm-muted. There’s these harmonic runs going on and you have the slight dongs of bells in-between riffs on this awesome album, then, they drop everything out to violins and singing before everything comes back in.
This is FFO: Rhapsody Of Fire, Dragonland and add hints of Lionsoul too.
You get Viking style chants and choirs that come back in as well, before epic sounding harmonies fade in, there’s guitar gallops and fast chugging, fast power chord transitions and nasty pinch harmonics are included also. Fast harmonies show back up and these are groovy and badass too, next, a ballad shows up with piano and somber melodies and slower chugs as well as grooves; you have synths behind these too on occasion and they isolate the bass with little ride cymbal hits and the awesome and epic choruses return before these are isolated before female shouting comes in on track six ‘Boadicea, Rise!’ The guitar solos on this album are melodic, atmospheric, mid-paced and shreddy with tapping and sweeping in them, then, the synths get isolated for a short time and some are chimey and wintery sounding too. There’s fast and proggy sounding riffs that are added a little too and my favourite track is: “The Age of Night” it has a dracula, vampiric style synth with epic harmonies over them with groovy riffs happening next, the chugs are mid-paced and nasty, there’s multiple solos in this track and you get some death growls. This is some excellent power metal that is full of chuggy riffs, soaring harmonies, vocals, sick synth passages, ripping solos and occasional thrashy energy, then definitely check this awesome offering out!
Rating: 8.5/10
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Einherjer – Lifeblood
Hail to the lifeblood of my ancestors!
Got one short, but sweet review for you all and I will try to keep this as in depth as I can. This is the well renowned Norwegian Viking Metal band that’s called Einherjer and they released their tenth full length offering that’s titled “Lifeblood” this band formed in 1993 and this album features the likes of clean chanted vocals along with death growls that are powerful and there’s clean gang vocals on here as well. There’s grooves guitar wise and tremolo ones as well that are done on this. The harmonies are slow, atmospheric and melodic, next, the grooves that they do are crushing too.
This is FFO: Brothers of Metal, Ensiferum and I would add bits of Unleash The Archers too.
There’s groovy harmonies that are quite blackened that’s going on too and my favourite track on here is called “Gone” it’s a somber ballad type of track with groovy palm-muted chugs in it and it’s got whammy bar accents and even some black metal influences and there’s the dongs of bells happening in it as well; some guitar effects are added in like wah pedals before more chugs come in and on a song called “Malstrøm” they drop out the guitars and leave in the bass and drums. The chorus in it though is quite catchy, next, clean guitars appear in this and there’s then clean singing in Norsk before they add in the distortion and this is another ballad track that also has rich harmonies in it and some synths; some blackened diminished sections appear towards the back half of this album. The solos are melodic and mid-paced as well as being quite pretty too, then, there’s a technical solo that’s shreddy and has sweeps in the song ‘Saltworn Runes’ is straight up a Melodic Death Metal track that’s groovy and it too, like ‘Gone’ rips, it has a killer breakdown section and blackened atmosphere as well. This is an awesome Viking Metal offering that combines atmosphere, grooves and mid-paced stomps. Definitely check this one out!