The spirits are moving again and stars are falling. The unconditional break was mostly due to unwillingness of a truck to get out of the way. It intended to hit hard; so hard indeed that it almost succeeded to bury me six feet under. So with the excuse getting quickly out of the way, let's focus on some music.
Elder, young guns from Massachusetts, have been surfing on my radar for quite a time now. If I remember correctly, I came across Gemini, which is the first song off of Dead Roots Stirring, from the YouTube's suggestion column while blasting out Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats' Black Sabbath-ian influenced acid rock Blood Lust. Being more than impressed, I got hold of the whole album and since then Dead Roots Stirring took unreasonable amount of spinning. Simply the record kept growing on me. The heavy psychedelic gain perfectly intertwins with stoner rock which gives certain hypnotic power. Although the core of Elder is brilliant guitar display by Nick DiSalvo, the efforts of bassist Jack Donovan and drummer Matt Couto can not be overlooked. Collectively Elder takes you back to the vintage '70s era with incredibly glowing sounds. They further stretched the credibility on Spires Burn/ Rise 12" EP released on Armageddon Shop. Just a few days back, I got in touch with Nick DiSalvo and he compiled a list of 10 albums which are in constant rotation for a while and/or have been sonically influential. Enjoy and don't forget to catch Elder with Church of Misery on 24th May (for tickets/more info, visit here).
Let's have some grilled & smoked chicken with sour creamy mashed potatoes, fresh green salad and garlic rice. Grab a beer and enjoy these crappy videos!
Many of you already know the collaboration between Mikael Akerfeldt and Steven Wilson for a new project Storm Corrosion. The self titled album is set to be released on May 7 on Roadrunner Records. But before that a new video for the song Drag Ropes has been released which is amazing in every way imaginable. Forget about the song. The video is so epic that I keep rewinding over and over again. The clip was directed by Jess Cope who did a brilliant job on the art of puppet moving animation. Don't miss it at any cost!
Do you remember about that Pantera track which surfaced at the mid of last year? It was explained that the track was a result of a fun jam between Dimebag, Phil and Sean Yseult. Again few days back, a lost track Piss evolved from The Vulgar Display of Power sessions which has got a video now. You can watch it below along with a solo Dimebag track which is basically a promotion for a new Dimebag Skateboard.
Danish black horror metal horde Denial of God will be releasing their 2nd full length album entitled Death And The Beyond on Friday, July 13th via Hells Headbangers Records. They have released a promo video for the track Black Dethe which features scenes from the movie Nosferatu(?)
Enjoy three new performance-videos of Emptiness, Decapitated and Black Breath below!
Given Trondheim's rich history and cultural importance, it's not much of a surprise that many bands from the area follow the chosen path of Black Metal. It's true that Norway lost those glamorous activities to some extent over the years from let's say when the second wave of black metal thing was going on but Norway still holds characteristic bands who are making quality music applying innovative ideas. As the whole old school revival strategy in the scene is going on, the breed of Faustcoven can be useful once they come in the limelight. Faustcoven's sound leans more into blackened doom side of things along with the first wave of Satanic sound from the 80s- imagine Necros Christos meets Hellhammer.
It's a little surprising that Faustcoven is still on the radar of a very specific group of fans as around ten years have passed since the band's inception with some demos and two full length albums previously under the belt. Maybe it's because of the fact that frontman Gunner Hansen, who handles the guitars, vocals and bass duties, is a full time Chemical Engineer if I'm not mistaken. So timing is an issue here. The addition of Johnny Tombthrasher in 2006 added strength and inevitably he became a key member. The duo made a great start on the album Rising from Below The Earth and the follow- up Hellfire and Funeral Bells carries the torch further with authorative song writing.
Art by Seth Bennett
About 5 months ago, the title track Hellfire and Funeral Bells was already floating in the Web and indicated a substantial release. Also add that it was coming out on Nuclear War Now! Productions. So it had all the makings of a monumental album. After a bit of delay which is never a bad thing given the amount of time and energy that goes into polishing a solid piece of work, Hellfire and Funeral Bells LP finally came out on April 4th. It's understood that Gunner worked hard with amps and guitars in order to make the sound as evil and crushing as possible. He posted, "I have also been working like a maniac with the guitar sound. Found a suiting rehersal room that can take the earbleeding volume of a classic 100W Marshall JCM800. And it has unfortunatly taken me a long time to get the hang of micing up the amp. This is very different from the simulated direct line in type I have done before. I probably spent something like 20 hours moving the mic back and forward and tearing my hair out. Now that this is straightened out I have finished up the guitar tracks for two songs tested some different mixes etc and will return to the others as soon as I have time. The songs at least are turning out good so far (Barbarian Wrath)." The final product was drenched in dense production and all the dedication which went behind the album certainly paid off.
The album runs just over 40 minutes with six tracks pouring vicious black/doom/ death which shatters everything above and below. Fans of every extreme genre will find something to cling into. Even there is a refined touch of heavy metal which alternates between mid and slow paced passages. The opening riff of the title track Hellfire and Funeral Bells is memorable along with the crawling lead work at the very end. The whole track Convent of Earthly Delights is one of the highlights of the album esp. the way it transforms, the track keeps ringing inside the head. Dr. Carswell starts off with a speech which then transcends into horrifying vibrance and outcry of mourning. When Faustcoven decides to dive into melancholic doom on Lost in the Forest of Suicide or Choir of Mentors, it shows the band is equally capable of producing anguish and sadness filled with torturous vocals.
Dark Descent continues the trend of jolting crushing records one after another this year.
The stunning piece of cover art by Alexander Brown reflects the mood, attitude and overall feel of the music which conjures large sum of emotional connection. Never a doubt in the first place with the hint of musicianship being displayed on The Drear which gives birth to a monumental piece of work entitled Netherwards. The mere tagging of doom/death will be misleading. The sound delves into sludge laden death to blackened doom to funeral doom and so forth. The bold approach to the contemporary scene with keeping old school worship in tact is nothing short of applauding. Anhedonist has arrived.
If memory serves right, my first introduction to Anhedonist was through a mixtape curated by Coffinworm last year. I followed the path to The Drear and enjoyed it to some extent but Netherwards is completely on its own league. I was in great anticipation after coming across the news of a new album and that anticipation reached to another level when the album cover and second track Estrangement got premiered just a few days back. Now finally I got hold of the whole thing and it's growing on me like a weed. Each of the four tracks with a total spinning time of 40 minutes calls for utter devastation in the vein of causing grief and misery.
The opening track Saturnine starts off like the calmness before the storm and after around 2 minutes of floating, the first riff strikes. The doom laden death sound filters raw filthiness of Incantation, Disma and Coffins. You'll get hooked to the proceedings and there's no way out. The production is dense and also contains the perfect edginess. You can even hear clearly the guitar scream when the technique of pinch harmonics has been applied. When Anhedonist slows things down on Estrangement with funeral doom infused with melodic passages, it shows the band can successfully nurture every end of doom metal either it's Disembowelment or Loss. There is a vast difference between making a plan and executing it perfectly. It's mesmerizing how Anhedonist applied each of their ideas and polished the final product flawlessly. The track Carne Liberatus shows further variations. It even enters into blackened death territory in the manner of Mitochondrion. The strong hold of Anhedonist is slow/mid paced melodic doom channel which takes full effect on Inherent Opprobrium again. In mid way through, the track turns into doom/death sludginess of the early '90s era. The transition continues alternating between guttural and screeching vocals. This 15- minute long closer leaves a memorable mark with the presence of enough dynamics.
Netherwards is a journey into our very dreams and emotions with plentiful of dark and hollow atmosphere. Imagine walking into a void of nothingness. It's a cloud of unknowing. You can sense that a shadow is approaching; once closer, it will take away all the pain.
The mighty ol' Electric Wizard strikes with a new 7'' EP Legalise Drugs & Murder without much of a fuss containing two songs which may or may not be included on the upcoming album. It's kind of weird listening to Wizard in such a small burst but the songs don't stray away from Vinum Sabbathiinfused with spacey and distorted psychedelic doom. The band sold 800 clear Vinyl new edition on their recent London show. 800 Purple Edition is sold out and Regular Edition Black Vinyl may or may not be available on Rise Above Records.
With handful of NWOBHM releases this year from the veterans like Angel Witch (who released As Above, So Below) and Pagan Altar (gearing up for Never Quite Dead), let's turn our attention to a fairly unknown band Heavy Cross churning out glimpse of quality composition on the debut EP Street Wolf with mass load of inspirations from NWOBHM in the vein of Saxon, Tokyo Blade, Angel Witch to classic heavy metal acts such as Oz, Heavy Load etc. Keep an eye on Hells Headbangers for more information. You can listen to the tracks, Street Wolf and Red Light Woman, below.
This is Peter Engkjær from Danish death metal band Deus Otiosus. I’ve been asked to reveal a bit about the guitar setup behind our death metallic sound. If you have not heard the music yet, you can do so here: deusotiosus.bandcamp.com
In Deus Otiosus we are two guitarists, myself and my brother (Henrik Engkjær). We are in no way sound experts, but I will try to take you through our different guitar setups and equipment. Hopefully it won’t be to boring, and even more hopefully someone out there will be able to use one or more of our “tricks”, or perhaps just be inspired to try something new. Now remember: a good sound doesn’t make your music better, but it can sure help communicating it to others easier. If the music is poorly written it will be a waste of time producing good tone, but if the music is original and good, it will be just that regardless of production quality (within reason of course).
We use two different approaches when making guitar sound and tone; one setup for live/rehearsal and another setup for recording. Me and my brothers "live setup", as I will call it, is somewhat similar in concept although different in terms of equipment. Both use a classic: "guitar -> various stompbox floor pedals -> Marshall stack"-setup.
Peters equipment
Primary guitars
Epiphone SG
Epiphone Explorer
BC Rich Warlock
All three have had their stock bridge pickup replaced with a Seymour Duncan Dimebucker, which gives a hot output as well as combats feedback at high gain. They are all guitars that I have acquired fairly cheep, but with the right modifications and adjustments, I find that they play and sound just as good as any expensive guitar out there -- at least for my use!
Pedals
From right to left (guitar to amp): Wah, Tuner, Noise Suppressor, Power Stack, Equalizer
I use the following specific brands:
Vox Classic Wah Boss Tuner Boss Power Stack Boss Noise Suppressor Boss Equalizer (rarely used) The Power Stack pedal produces the majority of my sound. It sounds very close to the classic tube amp distortion, and is very simple to adjust and has a lot more gain available than most tube amps. The Noise Suppressor is used to suppress feedback and noise when I'm not playing. The wah is my latest addition, and I use it a lot for solos. A tuner is essential, and I'm a real tune freak. (I tune almost between each song when playing live or even rehearsing)
Amp
JCM 900 with standard 1960 cabs
A very straightforward two channel amp. I used to use the overdrive channel, but ever since I got the Power Stack I only use the clean channel and let the Power Stack produce the distortion. This gives me a very sharp tone, which I rather like.
Henriks equipment
Primary guitars
Gibson Explorer
Epiphone SG
Gothic Les Paul
Again, these are guitars that can be bought very cheap, but they play very well and sound great.
Pedals
Right to left (guitar to amp): Tuner, Noise Suppressor, Tubescreamer
Henrik uses the Tubescreamer in combination with his amp distortion, which produces a very old school heavy but distinctly sharp tone. He also uses a Noise Suppressor to combat unwanted feedback and noise. A tuner goes without saying.
Amp
JCM 2000 with standard 1960 cabs
A newer and bit more advanced amplifier than my own, in terms of available settings, but their sound is quite similar I would say.
Notes on equipment
As you maybe can tell I am somewhat more of a gadget geek than my brother, but despite this I think that our guitar tones are quite similar. I think it just comes down to having an appropriate amount of distortion and the right equalization. Since it’s death metal we like to have a lot of distortion, but too much sounds awful and tends to introduce feedback and drown the tone. As for equalization I like it when the guitar has both the low and high frequencies, so it sounds both heavy and sharp in tone. (So lots of "low" and "hi", very little "mid")
Our equipment is in the cheaper end of the spectrum, but in my experience it doesn’t require much to make a big metal sound, just the right settings and maybe a few modifications. We are not trying to make music that sounds beautiful -- it's old school, rotten death metal! I will say however that we've had bad experiences with cheaper pedals that has broken down or not functioned optimally. I would therefore recommend to buy higher quality pedals, such as Boss or similar, as these are built like tanks and can take a lot of abuse, and always work as you expect them to!
If you, like us, have some cheaper-end guitars, and you are not completely satisfied with it or them, try giving it an adjustment (move the strings closer to the fretboard, intonate each string, etc.) or maybe even change a pickup. These things are not as complicated as they sound, and you can get a lot of help online. Don't be afraid to try, because if you fuck up you can always get a professional guitar tech to correct your mistakes or finish the job for you.
Recording setup
We use a trick that our trusty studio engineer Pede showed us, where the guitar goes through a guitar pedal that simply produces two identical outputs (could be a Boss Chorus or similar, with the effect off, of course). One line is fed through a tube amp stack (on “Murderer” I think it was a Peavey Triple X) that is recorded with a microphone, the other goes through a Line 6 Pod and then into the recording station. This way we can record a single rhythm guitar, that produces two independently adjustable tracks, that together forms a big enough sound for one side. Henrik records one of these for one side and I record one for the other, and they are panned out (not 100% I think, but close to it). We might use different equipment for the next album, but the "one guitar, two tracks"-trick will probably be used again, as it gives a big sound and saves a lot of valuable studio time.
Feel free to try out or rip off any ideas, but more importantly: make some killer songs!
The main reason for writing about Whitehorse is that they do not get enough recognition among the sludge/doom fans despite being continuously putting out quality materials. Last year's LP Progression simply flew under the radar of every year end lists. Either we forgot about Whitehorse or several line up changes might be a factor. Anyhow the way Whitehorse is evolving, they are bound to move the crowd sooner than later. After releasing some live records since the inception, the self titled debut release knocked a few punch. Starting from drone/death to funeral doom to sludge to noise, Whitehorse incorporated everything and that too with some dignity. The follow up LP Progression although shorter than what you'd expect doesn't disappoint a bit. It's downright heavy, crushing and dirty.
Pete described that some fans who were not entirely familiar with Whitehorse looked genuinely terrified at a show when the opening track Mechanical Disintegration was played and unearthly demonic vocals had been unleashed in the middle/last segment. It's that horrifying. The noise effect has been controlled with great impact throughout the track. The title track Progression starts off with a bass section and heavily down-tuned funeral doom chord progression takes an unexpected doom laden death turn. You won't be able to restrain from headbanging along with gnarly riffing and Craig Pillard era Incantation vocal summoning with a tempo down. The guitar tone is unbelievably swamp drudg-y. Give the track Remains Unknown a bit of time as it slowly builds up. The sound texture underneath resembles spacey/ verby tone. The middle section gives a kind of feeling as if the earth has been destroyed and only fossils and cremated human embers lying on the ground and buried. The shattering of dying hellion around dismantling atmosphere adds tension to the air. Then silence; tribal drum beats confirm the dissipating ritual process. The track Control, Annihilate delves into a sluggish aura of raw vulgarity and acts as a perfect bridging between Remains Unknown and Time Worn Regression. The hellion rises again to dry out any bit of earthly being and mutilate it. Time Worn Regression is a percussive noise generator and complements the variations of intense scorching throat radiation throughout.
The noise texture plays an important role for doom/death sound that Whitehorse is trying to achieve. It's not there just for the sake of it. Progression is the perfect name for the album although you might complain about the album art which looks a bit like clip art image but it's misleading. The album gives a perfect launching opportunity for Whitehorse. It looks like they are willing to experiment and provide a different dimension with a modern approach which is fresh and filthy at the same time.
Currently the vinyl version of Progression is available via At A Loss Records.
A press release explains that all three men have performed Van Zandt throughout the years, either solo or together, and their collective love for the late singer-songwriter will be displayed on the aptly titled Songs of Townes Van Zandt. The nine-song set arrives June 12 through Neurot/My Proud Mountain. The performers tackle three songs each on the collection, described as a great homage to Van Zandt's "broken-hearted love songs and gloom-ridden tales." [exclaim.ca]
You can stream Scott Kelly's cover of St. John The Gambler below.
NYC is currently swarming with quality old school death metal bands. After raw maggot ridden offering from Mutant Supremacy earlier this year, now Thevetat has arrived with bone wrecking classic death metal in the vein of Bolt Thrower, Malevolent Creation, Possessed etc. Not much is known about the band yet but they are all set for a Demo Rehearsal Tape release which will contain three songs. The band described, "Songs were crafted to unleash the ultimate death metal with intensity and dark feelings." So far they have released one track Lifeless which you can listen above. For more info, visit here.
The duo, X.S. and Alal'Xhaasztur, of Hellvetron who are also the members of Nyogthaeblisz which is a band noted for controversial contents over the years. But the people who ripped them off purely on the basis of their anti- semitic and chaotic lyrical possession and mere a thought given on the musical creativity and innovation. Generally Black metal has never been free off stirring up controversies among the media and definite group of people which led to banning bands in certain venues and also countries which is a haphazard and unnecessary prospect. It looks like these things do not affect X.S./A.X. as they continue to expand. Nyogthaeblisz has a split coming up with GoatPenis and under the other project Hellvetron, they have unleashed a new album Death Scroll of Seven HellsAnd Its Infernal Majesties which explores into a different kind of territory of black/death metal shredding off those controversial constitution to some extent.
Many of you already know the internet riot thing that took place on Hellride Forum between Terry Jones and the bassist blaming each other for many things followed by cancellations of shows which naturally many thought because of the departure of bassist but Terry later announced the original reason as his daughter had to undergo open heart surgery (hope all is good). Now it looks like things have finally been settled inside Pagan Altar camp and they added a new bassist to the line up. Recently Pagan Altar has released an exclusive preview of the upcoming album Never Quite Dead scheduled for Summer release.
Al Cisneros is indeed a busy man and it does not look like he's going to have a free time anytime sooner this year- Sleep's Dopesmoker reissue, tours and now his project OM is all set for the release of a new album on July 24 entitled Advaitic Songs which will be available as 2LP/ CD/ Digital Version. You can watch the teaser for the album below.
Do you remember that post about the longest stoner doom tracks where Bongripper snapped the first place? If you missed the list, visit here. Recently Bongripper has uploaded a new track Fisting (Unmastered) from an upcoming split on the Bandcamp Page which also will be played on April 14 at Roadburn Festival. Listen to the track below.
Preview of Never Quite Dead
Pagan Altar- Dance of the Vampires
Om- Advaitic Songs (teaser)
Bongripper- Fisting (Unmastered)
Hope all of you are enjoying the contents of this blog; if you have any suggestion/tip, please send e-mail to gravedig2 (at) gmail (dot) com. You can subscribe via e-mail on the right hand side and for the Facebook Page, visit here. Happy weekend!
How many times the eight- letter word Marshall devastated your ears? How many times did you almost faint? How many times you watched those towering amps, the walls of Marshalls, in concerts/shows? Countless times, right? The creator of Marshall Amplifiers, Jim Marshall, has died April 5 at age 88. Surely, Marshall played a very important role in the history and can't be emphasized with words. Who knew it would change the face of music when The Who's Townshend asked Marshall to produce a louder amp? Let's crank up the gain in the honour of Jim Marshall one more time.
As many of you already know that at the end of last month, Weapon entered studio to record the third full length and Relapse debut Embers And Revelations with producer Terry Paholek scheduled for the Fall of 2012 release. In an official press statement, guitarist/ vocalist Vetis Monarch commented, "Weapon loyalists can expect no-holds barred, satanic death metal that the band displayed on it's previous work, but further refined and sharpened to ferocious perfection. Embers And Revelations will be the apex of malice via music." Around two weeks back, I had an opportunity of contacting Vetis Monarch and despite his busy schedule, he arranged some of his recent favourite albums for Grave Dig readers. Enjoy!
Lvcifyre- The Calling Depths
Hail of Bullets- On Divine Winds
Rudra- Brahmavidya: Immortal I
Origin- Entity
Loss- Despond
Nightbringer- Hierophany of the Open Grave
Absymal Dawn- Leveling The Plane of Existence
Mitochondrion- Parasignosis
Aosoth- III
Nader Sadek- In the Flesh
Weapon will be touring with Marduk, 1349 and Withered throughout the month of June. For more information, visit here.
The Black Satans- The Satan of Hell
Nothing can't be more interesting than some black metal going hand in hand with snow fight. Extreme cold or anything like that does not affect these dudes, they like to play when shit is RITE and white. The main guy does not care whether he looks like Mikael Akerfeldt or not, he is in the hunt. When you are in frustration and depressed, don't cut up, just beat the hell out of a tree. Pause at around 2:44 when snowballs get thrown at you or else you might have to run for shelter.
Trollech- Ve Stinu Starych Dubu
Long gone those times of playing guitars on stage. It's more sexier over water. You have to play the power chords in such a style that at first people think it's Metallica but then throw some Iron Maiden leads just to create more confusion. Finally add the vocals and show your corpse paint in full. Hug the trees like you are leaving someone eternally and cover yourself with leaves for more sympathy. Pretend you are dead and buried with the best guitar in the world Apollo.
Dark Kirchensteuer- Leb Doch Selber
Hanging from a tree is the best METAL method of suiciding. You might jump off a cliff but that wouldn't help your cause. DK shows you how to cross the street everytime without having the fear of getting run- over. Play an acoustic guitar like it's electric guitar- sounds better. Finish it off with the kind of tapping that even Michael Romeo would have been proud of. Finally introduce your celebrity drummer who got thousands of fans in myspace and the camera crews who are known for the visual effects in Avatar.
Ancient- Lilith's Embrace
Who said MTV does not air black metal videos? Join the forces with blue angel. Don't walk around the forest half naked; kneel down and beg for some clothes.
Immortal- Call of The Wintermoon
The infamous Immortal video!
Anatomia is on the verge of releasing a new LP Decaying In Obscurity on NWN Productions, the word "verge" might be the greatest cliche as NWN, which is one of the greatest metal labels, is also notorious for delaying albums, all in a good sense though as the finished product matters most. Now Anatomia teases us with a new track Consumed In Darkness which is the 9th track (?) of the album following the unleashing of Cadaveric Dissection as already posted before. Blast the song in full volume and pray the album comes out anytime sooner.
Think a malevolent creature named ZOM characterized by malice is rising from the deepest blackened cavity underneath coursing its way through adamantine objects in a swamp. Its coming. All the other varmints now bending on their knees praying that it never sees the day of light. They surely can't stop with their worthless prayers as it is blessed by the most darkened soul. What do they do now? Nothing. It's on its way devouring yet hungry. The unbearable caterwuling shattering the mother earth piece by piece. ZOM has arrived and within a blink of an eye, everything is destroyed.
Now ZOM discharges a playlist which wrecks everything in its wake. Listen below, hear what ZOM has to say about the tracks and catch the band today at Dublin Day Of Death with Necros Christos, Cruciamentum and more. For more information, visit here or here.
Vomitor - Midnight Madness...total fuking chaos!!
Syphilitic Vaginas - Black Sorcery
Wrathprayer - The Darkest Fyre...claustrophobic, raw and punishing!!
Sodom - After the Deluge...classic Metal of Death!!
Despise You - I End Me...unforgiving, spiteful hate!!
Repugnant - Premature Burial...Swedish masters!!
Anti-Cimex - Cries of Pain
Occultation - Somber Dawn...just released a new album, Three and Seven. Can't recommend this band enough. Twisted meandering riffs combined with haunting female vocals and a black mass atmosphere
Evil Spirit - L'Inferno (Sempiternal Punishment)...new band from Berlin. Think early Melvins meets Black Sabbath meets Autopsy with some of the most original vocals I have heard in a long, long time. Killer demo!!
The world which is becoming more pretentious day by day particularly in music where one pretends to like a band simply because other “trve kvlt” people liked it or vice versa without even giving it a proper spin, the consequences bound to end up disastrously if this trend continues in near future. The quality of music, if we focus particularly on black metal, can not be measured regarding whether the graph has gone up or down because practically it’s impossible to listen to all the black metal bands over the world and then compressing the whole for judging but theoretically may be. So from this ever expanding industry, Mgła, hailing from Poland, is one of those bands who write music that they hold closer to the heart and in doing so not straying away a bit.
Some weeks ago when I first came across the news that Inquisition signed a deal with Season Of Mist, I thought, "Ok, let's wait for the next full length and have some opinion then." But deep down inside I'm still worried about Inquisition because Inquisition is one of those bands which I respect not only because they genuinely act like what they try to represent but also the sheer musicianship that Dagon and Incubus put forward. After fifteen years from their inception into the industry, talking about talent is a worthless proposition; it's all about what they bring into the table now or what they have more to offer precisely. Many so called Black metal elitists or Inquisition elitists in particular may disagree with me about the fact that Inquisition's best album to date is Into The Infernal Regions Of The Ancient Cult. And there are several reasons tied regarding this opinion. There is no doubt that Dagon is one helluva musician and Incubus drumming has given a new dimension to black metal sound but certain musicians born to provide extremely limited quality and at the same time enjoyable elements; after that they are done, get what I mean? Look no further than Ulver- Bergtatt, Kveldssanger and Nattens Madrigal- then they packed up and moved forward. It's not that Garm and co. suddenly became incapable of putting forward another album like aforementioned ones but certain aspects need to be understood. They had already given what they could regarding that scenario and bringing out another album like those would mean nothing musically. If you look closer to Inquisition's discography, rest aside the earlier thrash days, considering all the albums after Into The Infernal Regions Of The Ancient Cult, each one basically revolves around this album- the riffs, the vocals and overall composition. I'm not saying that later albums are not enjoyable at all; definitely they are- Ominous Doctrines Of The Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm was among the best from last year. For those who undergo hard time digesting Inquisition's sound, frog- croaked vocals are for giving surreal and unearthly experience. If Dagon used the regular black/death vocals, it would take away the actual purpose that Inquisition originally intents which is to provide trance- like feeling. Listening to Inquistion is like a ritual taking place beside a calm sea under an obscured moon where women are sacrificed and blood's being sipped by devil hearted souls. I remember watching the movie Inquisicion (directed by Paul Naschy) to connect more with Into The Infernal Regions Of The Ancient Cult as the samples in the album were taken from the movie. The scenes were more than horrifying and the characters were sick in every way imaginable; no surprise that Dagon picked up the samples from this movie. As far as the name Inquisition is concerned, it may or may not be a direct influence from the movie. The production was raw for Ancient Cult which gradually became somewhat cleaner in the later albums. So you see too many factors circle around Ancient Cult for which I'm claiming it as the best Inquisition album and a cult classic too. All these being said, what I'm suggesting? Is it time for Inquisition to quit? Don't get me wrong here. No. As I already stated, I'm worried about Inquisition's progress more than anything. We all know how great of a musician Dagon is, how incredible the live ritual is but bringing out another Inquisition album is where the danger lies. It may be as good as Omnious Doctrines or even Ancient Cult but if it's equivalent or semi equivalent then what's the purpose of a new album; one can always listen to the previous ones. Can Dagon put out a greater effort? Time will answer surely.
So, what do you guys think? Which is the best Inquisition album? Are you concerned about the future of Inquisition? Would you like to see a new album?
The great "Vorfeed", along with "Blood Bringer" who helped with the setlist, has posted live recordings of Mitochondrion's set (FLAC form) from Rites Of Darkness III which took place last year in San Antonio, Texas. There were lots of management issues regarding the festival with the Promoter reportedly claiming his Paypal account got frozen with what like $50K in it and other communication problems which led to cancellations of many bands. Despite all those problems, most bands actually were able to pull it off with great performance and you bet Mitochondrion was one of them. As far as finding quality live Mitochondrion stuffs, chances are very slim, so surfacing of this out of the blue is something to be happy about.
Wormridden created by the members of Anatomia (Japanese death/doom band who are preparing a new album entitled Decaying In Obscurity soon to be released on Nuclear War Now! Productions; listen to Cadaveric Dissectionhere) and Undergang (Danish filthy death bringers who already set underground on fire by the release of Til Doden Os Skiller this year) are all set for a demo release on Extremely Rotten Records. The tape entitled Infesting The Grave has been sent for pressing and hopefully it will be released soon. So far the band has released a killer track Infested By Worms which you can listen below or from the bandcamp page. It's distorted, loathsome and raw as the band perfectly described : Slowly decomposing Death metal rising from the graves of Tokyo and Kill- Town.
The opening song Empireum off of Ufomammut's first part of the saga Oro entitled Oro: Opus Primum which originally surfaced at The Obelisk is pretty much what you expect from the band- unsettling, disrupting and sickening- all in a good sense. The video is about 14 minutes of unnerving imageries psychedelic to the core. The song Empireum indicates what's in store for the rest of the album as well as the follow up Oro: Opus Alter. Watching the whole video unfolding gives a different sort of experience along with the psyched out notes for which they are known.
Ufomammut's Oro: Opus Primum comes out April 13 on Neurot Recordings
Welcome to Freedigger Edition where we focus on a particular band which officially gives the entire album for free! But don't take things for granted, if you like an album, please buy it and support the artist.
So this Norwegian band Skull has been slowly gaining the attention of the vicious underground circle and there is no denying the fact that they deserve it. In the recently released self titled demo, Skull offers grinding death/crust with a fury of pummeling riffs good enough to get you headbanging for the whole length. Atleast I can't stop listening (+headbanging) to it. The amount of talent which these guys possess can't be described in words really. Other than Skull, they run several other projects- Katechon (blackened crust) is another one worth of mentioning here too. Coming back to Skull, the production on this demo is the best thing that Skull managed to pull off. It has that cutting edge factor which's very soothing to the ears and sharpening at the same time. I'm going to go ahead and claim that this demo is the early contender for being one of the best demos in this year; I'm pretty much sure you can't argue about it much after listening to it. Download the whole thing on Skull's bandcamp page for free or else you can also order the cassette form on Prostata Records.
Deathronation's Exorchrism, released in the year 2011, may or may not be a full length as it contains songs gathered from what Deathronation had written in the period from 2004 to 2010 and one song known to be composed for Embodied Grief (a band of guitarist and vocalist Stiff Old) back in 2001. Exorchrism follows 2006's demo "A Soil Forsaken..." and despite being promising there was room for improvement on the earlier demo. The band took some time to release their next offering and what a great punch they managed to throw forward! This is old school death metal done with a great intensity. Last year I wasn't aware of the fact that they released this one; just a week ago I got hold of Exorchrism and since then it has been on the heavy rotation playlist.
With the album progression you would notice that they are not breaking any sort of boundaries or something but surely they have found a sound which literally stimulates everything in its wake. The production is rugged up to the point perfectly giving an aura of filthiness. The riffs are like the buzzing sound of a chainsaw with the gain turned up; listen to the track One Once Forgotten. The vocals are drilled through enough magnitude with the pursuit of bass playing under the lines of variable drumming. Most of the songs are around 5 minute mark and the monster Scorn Dominion hits around 8 minute mark making the whole thing to clock over 28 minutes long. It's very clear that the band is heavily inspired by Death, old Florida scene, Immolation but throughout the entire length they managed to keep the tension with some sort of dignity by which you can't say that they are one of those copycats. All the signs on this effort, as a whole, positively indicates the band's potential to come up with further great materials when they get set for a proper album release as said earlier that Exorchrism contains collective songs.
I'm not entirely sure about the reasons for taking forever to release Exorchrism; maybe the members were busy with other projects but certainly we don't want to see another long gap. Although you can't argue much if they keep continuing the trend of coming up with greater songs. Deathronation needs more exposure atleast from the German underground base if not from all over the world and also I do feel like the band members need to make the band as their top priority now. Once in the limelight, Deathronation will be unstoppable.
Deathronation's Exorchrism came out last year on Dead Master's Beat/GodEater Records.
