— / Dawning – Split

by Brett Stevens on January 9, 2014

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Preposterous Creations put out a split between reclusive act – – – and by their own description, long-standing but frequently interrupted American band Dawning, who re-recorded their signature song “Divine Arrival of the Massive Hoof.” The result makes for interesting listening and aims to be obscure and withdrawn, which for the most part enhances the experience.

– – – are clearly aiming for the Deathspell Omega crowd, but using a more traditional heavy metal attack that might draw comparisons to Cradle of Filth and early Dimmu Borgir. However, what this band has over the art-rock crowd is that they believe in songs that still move with a sense of purpose toward clarifying a repeated rhythm and melody. This both brings them closer to rock, and away from the overly-configured aesthetic of later black metal. Most of these riffs would fit on a Fates Warning album and count as both heavy and interestingly melodic, but its melodies are a different story entirely and would be at home on a Celtic rock or world music album. The mixture of the two results in less of an oil-on-water fusion than heavy metal mixes normally do, mainly because it sticks to a solid basis of 1970s post-NWOBHM riffing technology.

Dawning brings out one track, but it’s a long and epic one; this is basically funeral doom metal with a 1980s Gothic influence. I realize that all 1980s is new again since there are similar political, economic and social conditions, but “Divine Arrival of the Massive Hoof” seems like it comes by this influence honestly. The result is dragging guitars under ringing keyboards that move into riffs with a covert groove that expand into more battle-drawn riffing. From this lighter faire, it returns to the dark and accompanies it with keyboards of the Vincent Price-meets-Summoning variety. As a result, it creates a dark atmosphere with the explorative inner nature of Gothic and industrial.

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Assück – Anticapital

by Mike Alexander on January 8, 2014

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Grindcore requires some magic to pull off convincingly in the first place, but it’s doubly hard because 95% of grindcore bands confuse music and message in importance. Grindcore is music first, message second. When the message comes first, grindcore becomes an incoherent advertising campaign, not art.

Assück’s strength is that they do not let the messages of the songs (which are often from a leftist angle) eclipse the power of their music. The music is the most important thing here. The first album from Florida’s purveyors of supreme grindcore is also their definitive work.

Few are capable of mastering a distinct fusion of styles, fewer still are able to take that fusion and lay it out coherently. Assück are one of those few. Hardcore, crust, death metal, thrash, and grindcore all register as present here riff­wise. Riffcraft is dissonant, harsh, constantly shifting in tempo (sometimes irrespective of the drums), and at times even catchy. There’s a sort of looseness to the playing that sometimes reminds of jazz improvisation, but not nearly as random.

Though a cliché, this album does evoke an aura of “organized chaos.” Assück are also masters of building and releasing tension, not just in songs but throughout the whole album. There are three distinct climaxes, one being “Feasts of War,” the next being the last section of “Civilization Comes, Civilization Goes,” and the third being the final track.

Assück know precisely how much material to pack into an album, as the album maintains its exertion of power throughout the fifteen minute run time. Anticapital is in the upper echelon of grindcore and deserves the highest recommendations.

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Rotten – Cryptic Catacombs

by Jon Wild on January 7, 2014

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Death metal in its heyday achieved an atmosphere: an impending sense of demise from impersonal forces beyond the listener’s control. Technique was used to achieve this, but mechanical dexterity was not the end objective of an album – which is where many modern death metal bands go astray. This, coupled with crystal-clear production, often creates a product which evokes no sensation beyond being pummeled with a digital baseball bat. Fortunately, the real “underground resistance” against this monstrosity still exists.

The first demo from Rotten, a solo project from the vocalist of Avulsed, shows a denial of all contemporary aural standards in a return to Joined in Darkness style riffing. Recorded “live from the sewer” production showcases intense lumbering melodies alternating between longer power-chord notes and tremolo picking; which trades rhythmic motion off from the guitars to the drums, creating a “push-pull” effect elongating each melody and strengthening its texture.

The incorporation of synth elements – including programmed drums, strengthens the demo’s inhuman sensation, embodying a subterranean force manifesting itself among human civilization. Simultaneously familiar and foreign, this demo represents a strong foundation from which further works may arise.

Released only on cassette, interested parties may order through the project’s website.

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Various Artists – Servants of Chaos (Debemur Morti Productions)

by Brett Stevens on January 6, 2014

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Interesting compilation from Debemur Morti productions that you can listen to online:

1. Behexen – “We Burn With Serpent Fire”: the generic black metal that’s always playing in the background of record stores. This is it.
2. Porta Nigra – “Megalomaniac”: there’s clean singing and rockin-in-a-boat rhythms. Get it away.
3. Setherial – “The Neural Cage of Self Infliction”: cool song title. Cool first couple riffs. Then campfire melodic heavy metal.
4. Nunfuckritual – “Parthenogen”: slightly boring track produces mildly melodic drone with compelling rhythm. But would you want to hear it more than twice?
5. Manetheren – “II”: strobing melodic drone of some type of metal/emo crossover, but is the best so far from this genre that I’ve heard.
6. Sidhr – “Hex”: spanky hardcore/black metal crossover that doesn’t really go anywhere, substitutes frenetic energy for songwriting.
7. October Falls – “Bloodlines”: more emo, very typical, flee while you can.
8. Archgoat – “Penetrator Of The Second Temple”: churning tumescent sonic violence, raginginly primitive with riff-based song structure.
9. Blut Aus Nord – “Epitome II”: this band was always primitive and not quite put together black metal, but now they’re linear droning emo. It kind of churns on an on in a single mood. For wallpaper lovers.
10. Rex Muendi – “The Flesh Begat”: a boring and predictable version of early Bathory set to disco beats.
11. Wallachia – “Dual Nothingness”: bog-standard melodic black metal that melds into a 80s heavy metal/Goth mix. Screechy.
12. Infestus – “Down Spiral Depersonification”: an attempt to fuse post-metal with the harder edge of black metal, this is both a welcome addition of musicality and screamingly obvious, which makes it useless for repeated listening.
13. Monolithe – “Monolithe III (excerpt)”: When black metal went from “pick the best” to “approve of anyone in case they’re in your social group,” music like this got encouraged. It’s musically literate in about five styles and works through them, from a basis of rather poppy, melodramatic doom metal with basic and obvious chord progressions.

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Cruxiter – Cruxiter

by Brett Stevens on January 4, 2014

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Cruxiter hail from both Texas in 2013 and a mystical land where it is always the early years of classic heavy metal. Heavily influenced by the first two Iron Maiden and Mercyful Fate albums, but incorporating a diverse range of influences in technique and songwriting, Cruxiter on their self-titled debut take us back to the days of nascent speed metal.

Approaching their music from a classic metal sensibility, Cruxiter also carry over a melodic influence from the 1960s-1970s period of guitar rock, thus injecting a wide range of variation in lead guitars and riff fills. The result has a buoyant tendency that counterbalances the nimble riffing, creating like impressionistic painting a sensation that is best observed from a distance. When this music is playing across a room, the listener identifies the tune first, and gradually tunes in to the beat of the riffs, then can hear the individual riff textures when drawing closer to the speakers.

Coating these classic metal anthems are higher intoned but adroit vocals that like a fencer quickly change position to take the best vantage of each adjustment in underlying riff or song. The result moves along quickly but, owing to its guitar-heavy rock heritage, develops the solo to complement the song and the vocals, giving it a harmonic depth in addition to the intertwined guitar and vocal melodies. Like all of the techniques Cruxiter keeps on hand, these are applied with different emphasis on each track, keeping songs distinctive and thus energy high from beginning to end of this promising debut.

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Codex Obscurum – Issue Three

by Brett Stevens on December 31, 2013

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The third edition of contemporary old school print zine Codex Obscurum brings vast improvements to this already-promising zine. Under the guidance of editor Kevin Ord, Codex Obscurum has improved its readability, positioned its content for an in-depth view of the metal scene, become more consistent about its most important sections and added experimental content that expands what we think of metal zines.

The first thing a reader will notice is that readability is improved. This refers to the visual appearance of the text and how easy it is on our eyes. Since the 1980s, computer and printer technology for the average person have improved (all of this cool stuff was available then, you just couldn’t afford it). As a result, backgrounds and gradients are more likely to be used, as are complex fonts. The problem with that is that when the result is put out through a Xerox-like format, these fancy things can blur together or create contrast differences that apply torque to human optic nerves. This time around, the Codex Obscurum guys dialed back the fonts and went for more computer-y fonts on lighter backgrounds. Their best format remains the one they used for the Summoning, Disma and Nocturnal Deathstrike Records interviews, which is a white page with a border of hand-drawn art. Of course, this is the most expensive to create because it requires a human artist, but I wish the whole zine could be this way. It’s a killer look that is both like the old school and takes advantage of newer layout abilities. I also don’t mind if the whole zine is in Times New Roman and a good sans-serif font. That being said, however, readability is massively improved here and layouts mentioned above are positively gorgeous. It reminds me of the best of the 1980s zines that always seemed like little art books.

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In terms of content, Codex Obscurum was never a slouch. Previous issues included high profile acts like Incantation, Skepticism, Morpheus Descends and Rozz Williams. Issue #3 has chats with Saint Vitus, Mortuary Drape, Disma and Summoning among others, raising the Codex Obscurum profile even further. The zine has also stabilized its organization so that the vital content is present and in the roughly expected proportions. There are more record reviews and a solid block of interviews framed by show reports and features. In particular, having a big block of record reviews at the end is useful for the person who picks up a zine to figure out “what’s happening” in the metal world and might have a few minutes to scan for something fun to buy at the end of a long work-week. This “feels” more solid as a zine since the relevant content keeps coming and there’s no filler, with firm boundaries between sections such that none of them seem to be second-class citizens. In addition, Codex Obscurum has added experimental content in the form of stories and reflections. While some of this was indicated in the past, such as the surreal and passionate tribute to Slayer‘s Jeff Hanneman from the second issue, here there’s a crossover more like a bleed-in from a literary zine or chapbook. The result helps the end of the zine not trail off, but offer solid content of variegated types consistently throughout.

The result of all of the above is that the third issue of Codex Obscurum shows this zine picking up where the past left off, and going further. Not only that but it does so with high quality and in a way that gives this zine its own personality and brand. I’m looking forward to seeing more from Codex Obscurum as it races forward into the future …of the past.

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Profile: Nicole of Sinister Path Promotions

by Brett Stevens on December 30, 2013

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One of the great questions facing metal at this time is how it will propagate itself in a rapidly-changing record industry. Some have gone old school, and there’s evidence suggesting this is the most viable direction. Others are working with the new media to take advantage of its unique abilities.

Sinister Path Promotions is a pioneer in this recent field. By working through social media, Sinister Path reaches a large number of potential fans via their mobile devices and allows them to discover new metal. In addition, Sinister Path concentrates interest in a series of mp3-based compilations which help promote lesser known bands worldwide.

We were fortunate to be able to have brief interactions with Nicole, head of Sinister Path Promotions. Here are her answers to our interrogations.

When did you start Sinister Path Promotions, and what was your intent?

I started Sinister Path Promotions February 2013 (launched via Facebook) with the intent to share metal, and create a community for metalheads to interact. My best friend had recently passed away and I wanted to throw myself into something positive to honor my metalhead mate. My main intent at that time was to create a comfortable, non judgmental, interactive environment. We shared music links, news and did a lot of interactive type posts.

In a few months, we managed to build up quite a large fan base and I wanted to get my teeth stuck into my passion: supporting underground metal. There were a lot of larger pages posting about the more widely known metal bands but not many focusing on the underground. In April 2013 I then put together the first of what is now four independent/unsigned metal band compilations. More recently I’ve gotten involved in interviewing bands and have interviewed with people including Paul Speckmann (Master), Dennis Röndum (Spawn of Possession), and Matt Young (King Parrot).

The main goal of Sinister Path Promotions is to help bring exposure to underground metal. We do that by way of the compilations, interviews, news, and regular posts and interaction on the Facebook page. There are a lot of plans I have for the page and I’m excited to see where this can go!

What sorts of bands do you promote? Do you include “modern metal” (deathcore, metalcore, indie-metal, emo-metal) within that sphere?

I started Sinister Path Promotions with a focus on old school death metal, black, and brutal death metal. For me, death metal is where my heart is, but I think when it comes to promoting bands and doing it in a positive, approachable way, this means trying to include a variety. For us now, the focus is predominantly independent/unsigned metal bands and this includes all sub genres.

The last compilation included the largest variety of metal bands yet: death, pornogrind, brutal death, slam, groove, viking, black, prog, technical death, funeral doom, industrial, folk, thrash, and more.

I take submissions and also and hand pick bands based on what I think the compilations need in terms of balance.

You’re Australia-based; a lot of famous metal has originated there. Do you have a top five or so of bands from Australia?

Top 5? You can’t do this to me! Yes, Australia has spawned some beast bands and it would be difficult to narrow it down. There are so many bands who have been so influential to me like Bestial Warlust, Damaged, diSEMBOWELMENT, Sadistik Exekution, Destroyer 666, Mortal Sin, Blood Duster. Then there are Aussie bands I’m following at the moment and cannot wait to see what they come up with next. I’m thinking about PORTAL, Ne Obliviscaris, Be’lakor, Entrails Eradicated, DEATHFUCKINGCUNT, Seminal Embalmment, King Parrot, Mephistopheles, Disentomb, Nocturnal Graves off the top of my head.

What are the day-to-day activities of Sinister Path Promotions? Are you planning to expand?

I run with a very small group of active admin (at the moment there are only four of us). Our day-to-day aim is to expose underground metal by posting music links, art, news updates, tour updates etc. We pepper this with some more well known bands, gear porn, interaction statuses, specific posts about underground musicians, statuses about our own personal gear/merch, basically anything that will be engaging and could help bring exposure to a band.

We have just launched a new compilation, so linking songs off that and promoting the bands involved in that is a priority at the moment. Us admin continually work in the background corresponding with each other about independent/unsigned bands that could potentially be approached to be involved in our samplers.

In terms of the future for Sinister Path Promotions, the independent/unsigned compilations are ongoing, the interviews are ongoing, the active nature of the page will always remain the same. I’m interested in exploring a variety of things including the potential of being a label, and setting up shows.

How did you (Nicole) get involved with extreme metal — was there a first band? What made you like this weird form of art?

The more extreme types of metal? Probably checking out gigs at University I think. There was quite a large metal scene there and shows on all the time. Prior to that I listened to heavy music all through school, and as a kid my dad was into punk and heavy rock. My brother used to sneak me into metal shows when I was underage too which is pretty cool haha. Was always open to heavier forms of music and always looking but I got serious about heavier and more extreme shit from Uni onwards really. I mean, I’ve always been into my music, have played guitar for 13 years, learning the drums, have been in bands, solo performances over the years. I know what it’s like to try to get exposure and I think that’s why promoting the underground is so appealing to me. I’m like a woman possessed trying to get the word out, and the moment when someone is introduced to a band via the compilations or the page, that’s the sex for me you know? That’s what it’s all about.

Can you tell me more about this underground bands compilation you’ve put out. Is it a physical release, and how did you select bands? Who do you think will enjoy it most?

You can have a look at the compilation at http://sinisterpathpromotions.bandcamp.com/

The latest one is called: Sinister Path Promotions Unsigned / Independent Metal Band Compilation December 2013

Released through Bandcamp as a digital release; you can stream it or download it completely free. If you click on the individual tracks you’ll find more information on the bands so you can support them.

This current one has 42 metal bands from all over the world.

I approach the majority of the bands on it. I do have people who inbox the page or contact me other ways, and I check all of them out from there but mostly I look to gather up a variety of bands and styles and from there talk to them about being involved.

The compilations are a great way to check out some bands you might not have previously been exposed to and great for those interested in supporting the underground.

They’re awesome for bands to get involved with for a number of reasons. It helps bring some exposure because we link the bands on the compilation on a regular basis. The bands involved can contact me on the page any time they’d like to put out some news, info on new releases, pics, anything they’d like.

If people are interested in your promotions company, where should they go to contact you and/or read more?

They can contact me by emailing sinisterpathpromotions@gmail.com.

Check out the Facebook page for Sinister Path Promotions (inbox me there if you’d like).

The compilations can be streamed / downloaded for free at the Sinister Path Promotions Bandcamp site.

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Lethal Prayer – Spiritual Decay

by Mike Arsenyev on December 29, 2013

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I used to move around a lot when I was a young adult (perhaps I still am young compared to some of the other more seasoned writers at DMU). Shortly before I moved to Tampa, Florida I was acquainted with a band from Pennsylvania called Lethal Prayer, which was like a mixture of Acheron and Incantation influences with a Dissection-esque undertone. Lead guitarist Belial Koblak also relocated to Tampa and gave me CDs of each of his projects. I grew keen to Lethal Prayer because of the era that it was from and the mentality that’s behind it.

Spiritual Decay was self-released in 1996 by Koblak’s Decaying Filth Music which issued most of his recordings and demos. The album comprises straightforward early 1990s death metal with competent musicianship. Koblak makes good use of his classical influences to present interesting ideas which might’ve been unorthodox in the death metal period when Spiritual Decay was released.

Most riffs are in the format that was standard for death metal and integrated into songs of typical underground metal construction. This formula is roughly: introduction -> development -> chorus  -> revisit development -> epic-like endings usually encompassing the chorus section. Sometimes additional passages are introduced to divert from being too formulaic but the focus is generally on riffs more than song structure.

Unfortunately Spiritual Decay was the only full-length release that would emerge from the Lethal Prayer camp in their twenty-plus years of existence. If band stability was consistent and line-up issues had not been a problem with being productive, Lethal Prayer might have breached the realm of obscurity as they fine-tuned their musical output.

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Aosoth – IV: An Arrow in Heart

by Mike Arsenyev on December 28, 2013

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Formed in 2002, Aosoth launched themselves down an intellectual path blazed by the Order of Nine Angles, a theological Satanist outfit whose ideology differs greatly from the usual atheistic, materialist Satanism of modern “black metal.” This would become significant as the band evolved musically to match their inclinations in aesthetic and ideal.

Early Aosoth releases fit within the run-of-the-mill French black metal style with more aggression and yet control than most bands of that type were demonstrating at the time. As the band incubated their sound changes came, and each release improved upon prior works while also reaching for a style more likely to be unique to Aosoth.

IV: An Arrow in Heart meshes textures the way a painter mixes paint and applies to canvas. Most songs are in a somewhat standard format with riffs recycled often. Though the pitfalls of being monotonous from repetitive riffing are present in this release, Aosoth keep it interesting by having well-thought-out structures and progressions. Occasional ambiance meshes with the bleak and desolate droning riffs to provide an atmosphere of distress.

As black metal has found itself in a position of being separated from its origins without having discovered a path to the future, releases like IV: An Arrow in Heart site astride two very different standards, loyalty to form and need to innovate. While none will argue that Aosoth has left black metal behind like the post-metal et-al crowd, it is clear that this band has found a way to innovate within a faithful tribute to the past, and the result has given the band the voice it had desperately needed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqq-YKI5dlU

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Carbonized – Demo Collection

by Brett Stevens on December 27, 2013

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The Swedish grindcore band Carbonized came from an era when metal was still defining itself, and grew up alongside the more intense death metal acts which were putting Sweden on the map. Carbonized remains somewhat less known because the band embraced weirdness and unconventionality in everything it did, which makes for great art but not a conveniently wrapped-up listening experience.

Through three classic albums — For the Security, Disharmonization, and Screaming Machines — Carbonized put its mark on the death metal and grindcore underground by using outrageous technique and converting ideas from other genres into their metal equivalents. While in too “raw” of a form on the Carbonized releases, these ideas were picked up by other bands in more easily digestible forms and thus made their way into the core of those genres.

Luckily someone has bootlegged the Carbonized demos in the grand tradition of underground metal. The three demos and one EP on this CD chronicle the emergence of Carbonized and, as time goes on, its refinement from a fuzzy concept to a clear personality and eventually, such a strong presence that its songwriting is immediately distinctive even when simpler and less polished than what we expect from the albums.

The “Auto-da-Fe” demo from 1989 shows the band as a primitive grindcore/death metal hybrid that leans toward the kind of epic statement that death metal bands made but without much reliance on tremolo strumming. “Re-Carbonized” from 1990 shows the style most will recognize from For the Security, with detuned guitars and recursive-chug riffing among the broad chord progressions played without embellishment in rigid linear rhythms. This gives the music a stark and birds-eye-view character but also places it outside of where death metal was, musically, at the time. This isn’t riff interplay so much as an advanced layering of verse-chorus pairs. Next is No Canonization which shows a messier and more conventional grindcore band that could have been on par with Napalm Death in the same year. A strong inclination to use melody to counter-balance chromatic riffing gives this an expansive feel. Finally, “Demo 3” from 1991 shows us a more confident and technically advanced band who have mixed the techniques of death metal into primitive grind and come up with a melodic but structured and semi-theatrical sound. Its essential character and weirdness shines through, which preserves the esoteric feel of this material.

Probably of interest only to Carbonized fanatics or at least Swedish death metal devotees, Demo Collection reveals facets of this band who shared members with Dismember, Therion and Entombed that had been lost to time. For those of us who think For the Security may be one of grindcore’s lost classics, seeing these demos emerge again is both a treat and an invitation to explore the murky history behind this shadowed movement.

Tracklist:

    “Au-to Dafe” Demo 89

  1. Final Chapter
  2. Paradise Lost
  3. Au – to – Dafe

    4. “Recarbonized” Demo 90

  4. Intro
  5. Recarbonized
  6. For the Security
  7. Two Faces
  8. The Monument

    9. No Canonization EP 90

  9. No Canonization
  10. Statues
  11. Au-to – Dafe

    12. “Demo 3” 1991

  12. Dark Curses
  13. Carnage Mass
  14. Emperors of Death
  15. Purified from Sulphur
  16. Hypnotic Ain
  17. Syndrome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4t4IdKzSVg

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