Tommi Gronqvist of Finnish death metal band Desecresy was interviewed by French webzine Mithra! Templezine this week. Tommi explains how Desecresy arose from the ashes of Slugathor, the cohesive songwriting, his homegrown production techniques, the role of those cryptic blackened lead melodies, and how Jarno Nurmi (Serpent Ascending) writes the lyrics.
3 CommentsTags: Black Metal, death metal, desecresy, Finland, Finnish Death Metal, interview, mithra templezine, tommi gronqvist
Finnish death metal band Abhorrence are releasing a live album of their comeback performance at the 2013 Tuska Open Air Festival. Totally Vulgar – Live at Tuska Open Air 2013 is coming out February 10th on Svart Records. Svart released an earlier anthology of the band, Completely Vulgar, that was some of The Best Underground Metal of 2012.
No CommentsTags: abhorrence, death metal, Finland, Finnish Death Metal, live, svart records, upcoming release
Ananku is a term from the Tamil language describing the otherworldly and awesome power of sublime natural places and objects to overwhelm mankind into submission to their will by merely the perception of them. Jarno Nurmi of Serpent Ascending accomplishes this musically on his album of the same name by composing harmonized heavy and black metal style leads atop a death metal rhythmic basic into occult blackened narratives. Riffs are phrased and repeat to numerologically unfold, revealing profound and novel melodic leads as if the petals of a flower gradually blooming into gnostic truth when bathed in unconquered light.
24 CommentsTags: 2016, ananku, Black Metal, death metal, Finland, Heavy Metal, i voidhanger records, Jarno Nurmi, review, Serpent Ascending
In anticipation of their eponymous debut, Southern Karelia’s White Death released a track from the album, “Immortal Hunter of the Moon.” This mid-length track instills expectation by improving upon the previous also eponymous two-song EP released in 2014. Where that recording consisted of raw, foot-stomping black metal that was pleasant enough for a listen once in a blue moon, the new track shows an increase in dynamics that lifts the material to a new level of intensity while also –- perhaps more importantly -– giving it a sense of direction.
12 CommentsTags: Black Metal, Finland, Finnish Black Metal, lappeenranta, War Metal, white death
Jarno Nurmi was interviewed by black metal blog Raw War to promote his one man band Serpent Ascending‘s new album, Ananku. Jarno reveals he has left Desecresy and discusses the Finnish black and death metal scenes along with the mythological, occult, and esoteric motivations behind his latest work, Ananku.
6 CommentsAṇaṅku is a different concept from ancient Tamil language and the word was chosen because it is widely unused and unknown, in many senses, but also because of it’s meanings of course. This is a nod to my earlier interests towards Indian and Asian esoteric traditions from where the process began though it ended up in something quite different.
The album turned out to have emphasis mostly on Northern European culture and identity from which it seeks to find the hidden sacred force that the word Aṇaṅku symbolises in the context. The album is adoration to Earth’s and Nature’s holiness, soil, blood and death.
Tags: ananku, Black Metal, death metal, desecresy, Finland, interview, Jarno Nurmi, raw war, Serpent Ascending, The Enigma Unsettled
Serpent Ascending‘s Ananku came out on CD recently courtesy of I, Voidhanger Records. The solo project of Jarno Nurmi of Desecresy, Serpent Ascending compose heavy and speed metal riffs into occult narratives of blackened death metal. Ananku is limited to 300 copies and may be purchased from Jarno Nurmi himself at the Serpent Ascending bandcamp page.
No CommentsTags: ananku, Black Metal, compact disc, death metal, Finland, Finnish Black Metal, Finnish Death Metal, Heavy Metal, i voidhanger records, Jarno Nurmi, Serpent Ascending
Death Metal Underground staffers Lance Viggiano and Corey M. reviewed Marko Laiho’s new ambient mix he created for Radio Helsinki.
Marko Laiho’s forays into electronic music can be described as anything but explorations of the myth of the machine. Though his aesthetic pallet draws from future invocations – anything we say of the future is always about the present – he blurs the line between the biological and mechanical unlike so much of the greater genre proper. For this mix, created for Radio Helsinki, the bohemian devil troubadour crafts an enveloping near-ambient journey using samples of original work and that of other artists as well. The success or failure of music in this mode is dependent entirely upon pacing over the course of an unbroken set which in this case does not falter. Broken into halves, the latter is more recessed while the former is more pronounced.
16 CommentsTags: Ambient, ambient music, beherit, Finland, Industrial, marko laiho, nuclear holocauto
Article by Anton Rudrick.
Following a tradition of Finnish death metal, Serpent Ascending first proved its allegiance to the old stream of thought on The Enigma Unsettled. The project stood out as possessing that rare gift that grants vision past forms and into the value therein encased as dormant power, codified, awaiting a worthy hero who can pull the Sword from the Stone. While using techniques and musical structures that are well-known, interesting counterpoint and chant-like melodies can be seen in that first album, inserting them in between more conservative power metal riffs that were eerie enough to belong to occult death metal but also displayed a penchant for memorable phrases. Five years have elapsed since then, and several Desecresy albums have seen the definition and reaffirmation of that band into a distinctly esoteric style. Many were keenly expectant upon the future of Serpent Ascending.
4 CommentsTags: 2016, ananku, Black Metal, death metal, Finland, Heavy Metal, Serpent Ascending
Serpent Ascending announced that their debut album Aṇaṅku is going to be released by I, Voidhanger Records on September 16th. Serpent Ascending is the solo-project of Desecresy vocalist Jarno Nurmi and previously released two extremely promising demos, Serrpent Ascending and The Mournful Pilgrimage, that were compiled with one new track in The Enigma Unsettled anthology CD. From the label’s press release:
18 CommentsTags: ananku, Aṇaṅku, Black Metal, compact disc, death metal, Finland, i voidhanger records, Jarno Nurmi, Serpent Ascending, Speed Metal, upcoming release
Article by David Rosales. This review is written on behalf of Akherra Phasmatanás, who so graciously bequeathed his own copy of the album so that its value as a promo investment by the band would not go to waste. He lost his harddrive and the review shortly before completion. Too busy later on and out of metal-reviewing circles, he asked David to review it on his behalf and to officially mention this copy came from him so that the band know he didn’t just drop the ball on them.
It is customary to start off a review of a Finnish death metal band by stating that they are Finnish. This generally carries a tacit implication that the band in question adheres to the particular sound developed more than two decades ago in albums like Amorphis – The Karelian Isthmus and Demigod – Slumber of Sullen Eyes. Such a useful hint, carrying so much information for those familiar with regional old school death metal distinctions, only takes one so far and while satisfactory to the casual customer, does little for the serious listener looking forward to knowing what sets Desecresy apart and what they bringing to the table.
39 CommentsTags: Black Metal, chasmic transcendence, death metal, desecresy, Finland, Finnish Death Metal
