Megiddo
Hymns to the Apocalypse
[GPR]
Megiddo, the brainchild of guitarist/bassist/drummer/vocalist/songwriter
ChorazaiM, has raised the bar on independent black metal releases with the
first official Megiddo release "Hymns to the Apocalypse". In other
reviews, the music has been labeled 'Unholy Hateful Black Pentagram Metal'
a description that is both apt and limiting. It has the malevolent
atmosphere of black metal and the low-fi rawness, but the riff style is
VERY old-school black/death/thrash influenced (a'la early Sodom), and the
vocals - talk about fucked up! Very harsh, almost snarled instead of
shouted, and with some nice distortion on them (not 'distortion' like bad
industrial - more like just shouting so loud it overdrives the mic). In
fact, the whole demo is riding that edge of 'so loud it crackles'
distortion that just makes the whole thing not only feel evil, but pissed
off to boot. Don't meet this man in a dark alley.
The songs on this are vaguely reminiscent of Graveland circa "Carpathian Wolves" in that they're overall not fast, but instead concentrate on settling into that triplet-based 'triumphant strut' rhythm - but the abundance of half-step riffs make this seem less 'majestic' and more morbidly oppressive - sort of like you're expecting your own death. Very effective, and it makes the shifts to the fast double-time rhythms seem that much more frantic (sort of like a tamed early Sodom, since the drums are nowhere near as sloppy as Witchhunter...). That's three mentions of Sodom already... did I also mention a blistering cover of "Burst Command 'til War"? Classic - must be heard to be believed. Other hot spots are the opening one-two punch of "The Final War" and "Blackened" and the instrumental "Across the Shores", but there isn't a bad song in the bunch - seven songs, 32 minutes, and not an ounce of fat.
Overall, this is a very good black metal release - it is faithful to the style but injects enough new and classic influences to come up with something recognizable but FAR from re-hashed. "The final war on hand..."
© 1999 lord vic
The songs on this are vaguely reminiscent of Graveland circa "Carpathian Wolves" in that they're overall not fast, but instead concentrate on settling into that triplet-based 'triumphant strut' rhythm - but the abundance of half-step riffs make this seem less 'majestic' and more morbidly oppressive - sort of like you're expecting your own death. Very effective, and it makes the shifts to the fast double-time rhythms seem that much more frantic (sort of like a tamed early Sodom, since the drums are nowhere near as sloppy as Witchhunter...). That's three mentions of Sodom already... did I also mention a blistering cover of "Burst Command 'til War"? Classic - must be heard to be believed. Other hot spots are the opening one-two punch of "The Final War" and "Blackened" and the instrumental "Across the Shores", but there isn't a bad song in the bunch - seven songs, 32 minutes, and not an ounce of fat.
Overall, this is a very good black metal release - it is faithful to the style but injects enough new and classic influences to come up with something recognizable but FAR from re-hashed. "The final war on hand..."
© 1999 lord vic