ALBUM REVIEW: Fractal Generator, "Convergence"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 07/06/2024
Label: Everlasting Spew Records

 
“Convergence” CS//CD/DD//LP track listing:
 
1. Cryogenian
2. Convergence
3. Askesis
4. Ancient Civilizations
5. Obelisk
6. Ciphertext
7. Xiphoid
8. Algorithmic Pathways
9. Encephalon
 
 
The Review:

Fractal Generator return for a blackened tech death encounter of the third kind here. Much like the first two albums, this is of the sci-fi themed variety of the genre. The Canadian members, known only by binary code, have created a concept piece about new planets arriving in the current solar system and the album explores this idea.
 
There are some quirky elements here- choral vocals on “Ancient Civilizations”, synths here, there and everywhere- but there are also the expected elements; death growls, warp speed drums and a distinctly dystopian atmosphere. Since Pestilence introduced atmospheric instrumental link pieces, other bands in the death metal genre have followed suit with mixed results- but things are done very well here.
There are no separate instrumental tracks, but the band does set the tone for each track with interesting intros and a surprisingly lush palette of sounds features across the songs- as mentioned.

“Cryogenian” sets the tone- fast and furious, all other tracks offer sinister creeping dread, along with  the blasting- such as “Obelisk”. The passages of riffs in “Ciphertext” are sublime and elsewhere on the album, things are just as impressive. Once again, Fractal Generator have delivered an excellently written, played and produced example of how this type of extreme metal should be done.

This is for fans of the genre- of course- but is strongly recommended because of this fact. You won’t hear better this year.

“Convergence” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Deadspawn, "Pestilence Reborn"

By: Thomas Gonzales

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 11/01/2020

Label: Independent

"Pestilence Reborn" DD track listing:

 1. Warpath

02. Ex Inferis 2. Ex Inferis

03. Communion 3. Communion

04. Pestilence Reborn 4. Pestilence Reborn

05. From Ruins 5. From Ruins

06. Language of Creation 6. Language of Creation

07. This Ascension 7. This Ascension

08. Limits Of Flesh 8. Limits Of Flesh

09. Shiatan 9. Shiatan

10. The Plague Within 10. The Plague Within

The Review: 

Deadspawn is starting the new decade off in a BIG way with the debut independent release “Pestilence Reborn”. Formed in 2009 Deadspawn have undergone several line-up changes, and dropped two EPs prior; 2013’s “The Ascension”, and 2015’s “The Source of Chaos”. Drawing from the well-springs of entropy, the band shapes their US blend of Blackened Death Metal into a writhing and shifting cacophony of sonic bombardment, and malign visions.

On the surface Deadspawn doesn’t attempt to hide their influences, spanning many subgenres of extreme metal, the casual listener could get lost in the familial techniques of their peers. However, upon closer inspection, one may be surprised to find the way these methods are executed to be the shining achievement. “Pestilence Reborn” has the unique ability to create a very palatable pacing that helps break the monotony that often plagues albums in the Death Metal subgenre, from blast beats, to guitar flourishes, and solos, the band expresses a solid technical understanding of their style of music. Taken in singles, or as a complete piece, the album has enough diversity to keep the listener enthralled for its rather robust run time.

The standout song on the album, also happens to be the title track, “Pestilence Reborn”. While not the most inventive song on the list, its adept execution of competent song writing has an almost single like nature, something fans could listen to outside the context of the surrounding tracks. Its punchy introduction immediately elevates the pulse, before passing through the veil of chaos, and animating the Hellscape that defines the themes of “Pestilence Reborn” with some of the best screams and tremolo riffing on the release, its pandemonium, and it’s lovely.

Deadspawn’s focus on horror and fantasy elements help paint an image of torment and chaos befitting of a band who’s biography quotes Clive Barker, and tells the story of barbarous warriors atrociously  destroying their enemies before “willingly passing through the gates of oblivion to conquer a new world”. The new world is ours, and the last words on our lips will be “Deadspawn”. “Pestilence Reborn” is a fun release that has enough serious song writing, and technical prowess to really encourage the promise of this Phoenix based group going forward into the new year, and maybe, beyond.

“Pestilence Reborn” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Ancst, "Ghosts of the Timeless Void"

By: Conor O’Dea

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 02/03/2018

Label: Lifeforce Records

Ancst have evolved, seemingly effortlessly, certainly gracefully, and sound more like themselves than ever - whatever inner telos they have been moving towards has been realized in this beautiful album

“Ghosts of the Timeless Void” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Dying Embers
2). Shackles of Decency
3). Concrete Veins
4). Revelation of Deformity
5). Unmasking the Imposters
6). Of Gallows and Pyres
7). Quicksand
8). Republic of Hatred
9). Dysthymia
10). Sanctity
11). Self-Portrait

The Review:

Lex transitum per ignem, in honorem Molechi prohibens

Pure Fucking Hate. As album opening phrases go, this quote from 2017's “Life” is poignant, jarring, and certainly germane to the themes raised throughout Ancst's second full-length album, “Ghosts of the Timeless Void”. Where the film discusses the return of life-form responsible for an extinction avalanche on Martian soil, one cannot help but think that Ancst's object of antipathy may be more earthbound. And while we may speak of dying embers and pyres here, the fires of injustice-fueled rage are an abiding conflagration across the album - there are no coals cooling in the furnace of Ancst's anger, and the insatiable Moloch of capitalism continues to consume endless sacrifices.

The sound that this side of Ancst has been evolving towards, to my mind, first manifested on track two of the 2013 EP, “The Humane Condition”, which was partnered by the first release of their first ambient/drone work, “Lamenting a Dying World”. That track, “Entropie”, captures a sound that eloquently defines Ancst: polished but savage, graceful, commit and unrelenting. And they have been prolific: despite this being only their second full-length, 2017 saw the release of the superb “Furnace” EP as well as two top-notch splits, one with King Apathy, one with Depravation. This is not to ignore 2016's brilliant “Stormcaster”, the most fulsome interlocution of the soundscapes first explored in “Lamenting…”. Across the course of these releases, Ancst have entered the elite pantheon of 'do no wrong' bands for me: I always eagerly anticipate new music from them, no matter what the sonic angle. “Ghosts of the Timeless Void” is no exception.

It's interesting to compare LP openers here: “Moloch” is one of the most explosive album introits that I have ever heard - instantaneous teeth-kicking power unleashed from go. “Dying Embers” starts off considerably more restrained by comparison, even slow by Ancst's punishing pace-standards - until about the 1:00 mark - when everything explodes in dynamic fury. It almost feels like an inversion of the earlier structure in certain ways. This more thoughtful approach allows Ancst to marry the melodic, riff-dense elements of their approach to some mindful sophistication in terms of metrical and rhythmical variety. But it is never heavy-handed, never overly obvious, and at no point loses the plot of what makes Ancst a standout band that places them high in the melodic crust mythos. Poignant exemplars of this maturation are found throughout the album: in the opening riffs of “Quicksand”, in the death-inflected “Unmasking the Imposters”, in the epic “Republic of Hatred”, in the classic blackened tremolo work of “Sanctity”. “Dysthymia”, is the closest I have heard Ancst to creating what almost sounds like post-black/blackgaze ballad. Meaningless subgenre references aside, what I am trying to emphasize is that Ancst have evolved, seemingly effortlessly, certainly gracefully, and sound more like themselves than ever - whatever inner telos they have been moving towards has been realized in this beautiful album. Listen to it from start to finish and love it. I know I did.

“Ghosts of the Timeless Void” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

REVIEW: Mendacium, "Decimating Titans" [EP]

By: Conor O’Dea

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 09/02/2018

Label: Redefining Darkness Records

“The entire EP is unrelenting and relentlessly riff-dense, at once brutal, joyous and, dare I say it, punishingly fun. Highly-caffeinated and intelligent death-encrusted black metal; recommended wholeheartedly. I can only hope that there is a full-length in Mendacium's future!”

“Decimating Titans” CS//DD track listing:

1. Decimating Titans
2. An Invocation for Bloodshed
3. Eviscerate
4. Make No Grave in My Name

The Review:

Daniel Jackson is a man of prodigious talent, possessed of an expansive and deep musical vocabulary. His project Void Ritual presents a melodic and grandly atmospheric approach to black metal; there are bold and sweeping passages of sorrow and mourning, of victory and triumph throughout the battlefields and icy wastes conjured in the skald-worthy sagas of “Holodomor” and “Heretical Wisdom”. This is not to suggest that Void Ritual is in any way lacking in savagery; it is rather a filtered savagery that uses war as one of many compositional features along its complex musical topography.

This dilution of violence in Void Ritual is inverted into pure warlike alchemical distillation in the new EP by Daniel's other musical project Mendacium, aptly entitled “Decimating Titans”.  For me, the double entendre of decimation wrought by the Titans as well as that wrought upon them by the revolt of their offspring are both gratifyingly scored by this short and devastating 4-track album. Blistering must be one of the most overused words in metal reviews, but damn it, I am not sure there is a better way to describe the opening and unrelenting full-clip salvo of the opening (and title) track here. Almost instantly bursting into onslaught, this song feels like the autobiographical account of endless slaughter, each verse punctuated by a chorus that can only be likened to the gloating over the corpses of enemies. 

“Invocation to Bloodshed” bears a deeply magickal resonance in its structure, evoking whorls of high theurgic energies, complete with preparatory chants and refrains, line by line moving the spell towards its final, devastating release at 3:11. The next track, “Eviscerate”, may, in fact, be an account of the bloodletting unleashed by the ritual of the second track: it cuts a bloody swathe through its 4 minute path, an unforgiving barrier of spinning blades that leaves no living being alive in its wake. “Make No Grave in My Name” functions as an excellent tombstone to this blood-soaked metal mausoleum and reminds me, for obvious reasons, of Robert E. Howard's short story “Dig Me No Grave”: "Then, even as we cried out in horror, it was gone and our dazed gaze met only the shuddering walls and blazing roof which crumpled into the flames with an earth-shaking roar."

The entire EP is unrelenting and relentlessly riff-dense, at once brutal, joyous and, dare I say it, punishingly fun. Highly-caffeinated and intelligent death-encrusted black metal; recommended wholeheartedly. I can only hope that there is a full-length in Mendacium's future!

“Decimating Titans” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

TRACK PREMIERE: Pittsburgh blackened / doomed death barbarians Slaves BC debut "Lo"

Slaves BC has announced the release of their sophomore full length "Lo, and I Am Burning". The new full length shows a strong evolution from their previous material, and Slaves BC have delved further into their black and death metal influences to reach new depths of horror. Lyrically, this is the most personal Slaves BC has ever been with songs dealing with depression, suicide, loss, crisis of faith, and the current political turmoil in America.

The new LP will be available on limited 180 gram vinyl from The Fear and the Void Recordings. The vinyl pre-order will be available here and will go live March 2nd, 2018. The album will be released via bandcamp digitally and vinyl pre-orders will begin shipping on March 16th, 2018.  Today is gives us great pleasure to debut the track “Lo”.  Which you can check out below.  

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

FOR THOSE ABOOT TO ROCK: Riffs of Canada with Occvlt Hand (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

By: Mark Tremblay

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 13/09/2017

Label: Possessed Records

“Not Everyone Deserves a Happy Ending” is full of riffs; riffs that pummel, slow-to-a-crawl, and riffs that grind everything to dust. Occvlt Hand have really created an exercise in the variety of heavy riffs one can employ on a record without ever repeating themselves, or creating a similar experience.  

“Not Everyone Deserves A Happy Ending” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Intro

2). Smash My Bones, Inhale The Dust

3). Michael

4). Total fucking Absence of Light

5). He Who Walks Behind The Rows

6). Interlude

7). Long Live The New Flesh

8). Not Everyone Deserves A Happy Ending

The Review:

Occvlt Hand have unleashed their slab of Crowbar/Entombed worship sludge metal. This album has one goal, to be a crushingly heavy experience for the listener.  Although it is the bands first full length record, the pacing and sonic flow of the album is spot on. This is not merely a collection of heavy tracks, but a logical flow of ideas. Playing this record in a different order would almost cheapen the experience. Very few young bands appreciate the experience of an album, so it is impressive the way Occvlt Hand is able to write with this in mind.

“Not Everyone Deserves a Happy Ending” is full of riffs; riffs that pummel, slow-to-a-crawl, and riffs that grind everything to dust. Occvlt Hand have really created an exercise in the variety of heavy riffs one can employ on a record without ever repeating themselves, or creating a similar experience.  What is perhaps the most exciting thing about the record is to see where Occvlt Hand goes from here. It seems that the possibilities for this band going forward are endless.

“Not Everyone Deserves  A Happy Ending” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Belphegor - "Totenritual"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 15/09/2017

Label: Nuclear Blast

Once again, as they have over the vast majority of their discography, Belphegor has produced an excellent album of the best blackened death metal. This is every bit as good as anything else the band has put out from one of the best extreme bands in the world, no question.

“Totenritual” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Baphomet (4:47)

2. The Devil's Son (4:20)

3. Swinefever - Regent Of Pigs (4:50)

4. Apophis - Black Dragon (6:12)

5. Totenkult - Exegesis Of Deterioration (5:43)

6. Totenbeschwörer (2:15)

7. Spell Of Reflection (5:21)

8. Embracing A Star (5:34)

9. Totenritual (2:46)

The Review:

Austria's finest exponents of blackened death metal return with another feral storm of blast beats, vicious riffing and blasphemous atmospherics. Belphegor get everything right here- if 2014's “Conjuring The Dead” was a little mechanical in production for some tastes (not mine, I loved it!) then this is a slightly more organic proposition. From the get-go of “Baphomet” the band are firing on all cylinders, with blackened smoke belching from the exhaust.

The sound of “Totenritual” is the sound of a band invigorated. Belphegor have been around for two decades plus now- hard to believe, but there it is. Helmuth and Serpenth are joined by Bloodhammer this time around- not a session drummer, but a full time member. The band feels complete and it is my hope that Bloodhammer is in this for the long haul- his playing is fantastic; technical enough, very quick and with a nice feel to it. Helmuth and Serpenth are as on point as usual and the mix is a little more forgiving this time around- the drums are not as overpowering/high up in the speakers.

As the album progresses, there is a nice uniformity to the tracks- “The Devil's Son” really ignited the stereo- a classic Belphegor track- while “Swinefever” is just as effective, albeit at a different pace. The black metal has perhaps been amplified a little- particularly on tracks like “Apophis- Black Dragon”, which utilises atmospheric riffing along with blast sections, but the material never gets overly melodic. “Totenkult – Exegesis of Deterioration” is another epic with plenty of changes and memorable riffs- something which elevates Belphegor above most other bands in their sphere.

There is also an instrumental on this nine track album; “Totenbeschworer”. The track has some some very doom like atmospherics which sets up the rampaging “Spell of Reflection” and the more restrained “Embracing A Star” (acoustic intro included!). The coup de grace comes with “Totenritual” which is a blasting beast of furious sounds until the final minute when the album plays out to the sounds of acoustic guitar, sound effects and a pervading vibe of darkness.

Once again, as they have over the vast majority of their discography, Belphegor has produced an excellent album of the best blackened death metal. This is every bit as good as anything else the band has put out. Whether you favour the earlier menace of “The Last Supper”, the crazed sounds of “Bondage Goat Zombie” or the dialled up death metal of “Conjuring The Dead” you will find much to enjoy here. One of the best extreme bands in the world, no question.

“Totenritual” is available here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW - Necrowretch - "Satanic Slavery"

By: Conor O’Dea

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 14/04/2017

Label: Season of Mist

 

“Satanic Slavery” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1.Sprawl of Sin

2.Tredeciman Blackfire

3.Satanic Slavery

4.Evil Names

5.Hellspawn Pyre

6.Bestial Rites

7.Curse of Blasphemy

8.Verses from the Depths

The Review:

There's rigor mortis. There's decay. There's profound deliquescence. And then there's Necrowretch. “Satanic Slavery” is the third full length for these French madmen, and the old school approach to death metal here is almost ancestral in its atavism. While there are some Gallic contemporaries kicking out similar barbarisms, like Venefixion, and while there are obvious comparisons to Angelcorpse and Incantation, what really gets me charged up about this album is how much, for me, it evokes early Sadus and, to a lesser extent, Morbid Saint. I'm talking “Certain Death” era Sadus here. It's in the spastic energy. It's in the unhinged nature of the vocals. It is in the fact that the music feels ever so slightly 'dangerous' in that classic 'if you are a false, do not entry' way.

I'm at a bit of loss to really identify highlights as the album is pretty relentlessly excellent. Songs that really stand out for me in terms of brutally catchy hooks would be “Tredeciman Blackfire”, the title track and the closer, “Verses from the Depths”. However, the real standout factors for me are the decipherability of the thick bass, amazing runs like the Annihilator evocative riff midway through “Sprawl of Sin”, and the reverb-soaked vocals. This album is immensely enjoyable, almost ebullient in its putrid malevolence.

This corpse is filthy and moving indefatigably and relentlessly under its rotten machinery. For something so embedded with crust, rust and cadaverous unmentionables, it is an incredibly refreshing, riff-dense monster of an album. Who would have thought such a breath of fresh air would have come from the tomb? Elegantly and savagely decomposed.

“Satanic Slavery” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

VIDEO PREMIERE: "Dead Burning Christ" by Kratornas

"The long awaited new track from kvlt blackened death metal band KRATORNAS has arrived! We are pleased to present to you the lyric video for the band's new single "Dead Burning Christ" which is from the band's upcoming new album which will be released in December. "

Band info: official || facebook

THE SLUDGELORD PRESENTS: "Thanatos" by Germanic misanthropic ragers Implore

 

Today, on the 11^th day of September, two thousand and sixteen, Implore unleash their new EP “Thanatos”.  Appropriately named after the Greek mythological demon, who was said to be the personification of the death, Implore have created 5 new tracks which are every bit as extreme and vitriolic as we’ve come to expect from these Germanic berserkers.

 

Petro Manel sheds some light upon this release

 

“Thanatos” is like a deep breath of fresh air for Implore's sound. It keeps the essence of the brutality in “Depopulation” adding some new details that bring the songs to a new level. The five tracks in this new EP are full of anger and hate, experimenting with new structures, riffs, and vocal lines, keeping the straight-to-the-point philosophy that makes this new 7" a short and intense one”.

 

So if you’re a fan of Napalm Death, Nasum and Black Breath, you will not want to miss this release via Wooaaargh and Grind Promotion Records  which you can order here. If you need further persuasion check out this blistering release in full with today’s exclusive stream below





Band info: facebook || bandcamp

The Sludgelord News: SARPANITUM: New Track From Atmospheric Blackened Death Metal Troupe Monopolizing Stereogum; Blessed Be My Brothers Release Day Draws Near

With the release of Blessed Be My Brothers, the forthcoming new long player from atmospheric blackened death metal troupe, SARPANITUM, now less than two weeks away, today Stereogum thrusts forth the pulverizing tones of second cut, "By Virtuous Reclamation."

Captured at Dreaming Studios UK by drummer Leon Macey (Contrarian, Mithras, The Senseless et al) and centered on the abysmal consequence of religious warfare, SARPANITUM's Blessed Be My Brothers heaves with a deliciously diseased synthesis of traditional death metal, blackened riff onslaughts, perverse melodic atmospheres and an alluring brand of controlled chaos that can only come from the technical prowess of its creators.  

Relays guitarist/bassist Tom Hyde of "By Virtuous Reclamation," "The song takes place during the Council of Clermont, specifically the speech given by Pope Urban II with the aim of manipulating Christian Europe into taking arms against Islam in the East and effectively starting what we now know to be the First Crusade. It is a grim reminder of how, throughout history, the elites exploit spirituality in order to make false claims and turn religions and races against each other in war. Musically it is filled with chaotic melody, brutally intense drumming and vibrantly ancient atmospheres."

Adds Stereogum, "The squelching psychedelia and massive-sounding production artifice that Morbid Angel hit upon during this period constitute the groundwork for SARPANITUM. You can hear a lot of other contemporaneous death metal greats in their sound, too: Nile's theatrical keyboards and grandiloquent song titles; the florid lead guitars of Vital Remains; Hate Eternal's insane speed and deep, commanding vocals. The band SARPANITUM resembles most strongly is probably Mithras, which is fitting; Mithras main man Leon Macey drives this album's rhythms with his impossible athleticism and clicky kick drums, while SARPANITUM guitarist Tom Hyde sometimes performs with Mithras live. But while playing influence whack-a-mole with this album is fun, it doesn't remotely convey the titanic physical presence that SARPANITUM brings to bear. Blessed Be My Brothers sports a combination of flashy speed and sheer power more commonly seen in blue-chip NFL defensive ends and 21st century war machines; it is a dazzling, mind-melting aural experience. And unlike many of this approach's lesser practitioners, SARPANITUM can and do write nasty hooks aplenty."

Get browbeaten with "By Virtuous Reclamation," courtesy of Stereogum at THIS LOCATION.

And if you missed it, taste the chaos of intricately-titled fourth movement, "Glorification Upon The Powdered Bones Of The Sundered Dead," still playing at Decibel HERE.

Named in part after Babylonian mother goddess, Sarpanit, meaning "the shining one," companion of the chief god, Marduk, SARPANITUM -- who feature within their rants current and former affiliates of Mithras, Lantlos and Tenebrous Aeon -- has maintained a maniacal DIY ethos, crumbling stages throughout Europe supporting the likes of Insision, Visceral Bleeding, Desecration, The Monolith Death Cult and Macabre since their formation in 2003. Based on Babolyanian folklore, the band's Galactic Records-released debut full-length, Despoilment Of Origin (2007) was an eloquently guttural performance of mythological blackened death metal that reaped the praise of underground listeners and media outlets in the proverbial "know." The band's Fidelium EP, independently-released four years later, reaffirmed their inexorable brutality both sonically and conceptually. Crowned, "one of the most compelling death metal releases of the year," by Last Rites and guaranteed to, "tickle the taste buds of anyone into this kind of domineering metal in the vein of The Monolith Deathcult and Mithras," the EP established SARPANITUM's ability to cohesively meld audio savagery and epic, cinematic segments, centering itself on the ultimate perils of religious fanaticism using first person perspectives from genuine participants of the First Crusade.

Blessed Be My Brothers will be unleashed via Willowtip Records on February 17th, 2015. Preorder your copy today at THIS LOCATION.  

http://www.facebook.com/sarpanitum
http://www.willowtip.com
http://www.facebook.com/willowtip
http://www.willowtip.bandcamp.com
http://www.twitter.com/Willowtip

Source: Earsplit PR