Ghoulgotha - "To Starve the Cross" (Album Review)

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 10/06/2016
Label: Dark Descent Records

To Starve the Cross’ is simply too interesting to be lumped in with the multitudes of bands rehashing Death/Dismember/Autopsy, etc. because it’s too creative and varied to put it in that camp. Though musically different, this album deserves the same hype myself and others have given albums from Morbus Chron, Horrendous, and others. It might be a little more “standard” on the surface, but as you dig into the album, you’ll start to uncover the ways Ghoulgotha take the orthodox and twist it into something different altogether. Don’t sleep on this one.

‘To Starve the Cross’ CD//DD track listing:

1. Village of Flickering Torches

2. Pangaea Reforms

3. The Sulphur Age

4. Abyssic Eyes

5. A Lord in the Shattered Mirror

6. Damp Breeze of Sleeping Veins

7. Visceral Seas

8. Thou, Beneath Ligaments Foul

9. Wounds Immaculate

10. A Holy Book Scribed by Wolves

Ghoulgotha is:

Wayne Sarantopoulos | Vocals, Guitar

Frankie | Guitar

Charlie Koryn | Drums

The Review:

It’s gotten to a point now where the prospect of listening to any more nostalgia-minded death metal usually seems pretty unappealing. But, as it is with anything, if it’s done truly well, that’s going to override any other factor, including my own weariness for this subgenre of a subgenre. But, in Ghoulgotha’s case there is so much they’re doing well in terms of separating themselves from a bloated pack of bands in a similar niche, that setting their foundation in a tired subgenre isn’t really a factor at all here.

Where ‘To Starve the Cross’ works best is when it’s either being weird, doom-focused, or especially melodic. Using “Pangea Reforms” as an example: The song opens with a slow, convulsing doom section that peaks when it settles into a more active take on the kinds of melodies Morgion specialized in on ‘Solinari’. Everything is firing on all cylinders even as the song picks up the pace with stop-start death thrash, before teetering perilously close to losing control—in a positive sense—as the song completely does away with steady tempo or time signatures in favor of something a bit more free. Eventually, the song heads back into doom territory before moving into an awesome melodic death metal section, which comes in at just the right time.

“Pangea Reforms” really gave me a sense of just how multi-dimensional and exciting Ghoulgotha is capable of being, and there are similarly great traits all throughout the album. The very next song, “The Sulphur Age” shines with a similar mix of catchy riffs at the opening, disorienting, spiralling for transitions and some unique bending during one riff in the song’s second half. Finally, the song settles into some excellently-written death doom late into the song’s five in a half minutes which really sells that we’ve been on a pretty expansive journey for a relatively standard-length song.

Because the album belongs to a genre I’m burnt out on, I came into the album with a lot of reservation. I’d heard too much of something like this, and I definitely didn’t want to hear more of it. But here I sit, hat-in-hand to apologize for judging this album prematurely. ‘To Starve the Cross’ is simply too interesting to be lumped in with the multitudes of bands rehashing Death/Dismember/Autopsy, etc. because it’s too creative and varied to put it in that camp. 

Though musically different, this album deserves the same hype myself and others have given albums from Morbus Chron, Horrendous, and others. It might be a little more “standard” on the surface, but as you dig into the album, you’ll start to uncover the ways Ghoulgotha take the orthodox and twist it into something different altogether. Don’t sleep on this one.

You can pick up a digital copy here (on release day) and a CD copy here.

Band info: Facebook 

Deathcult - "Demo '12" EP (Review)

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: EP/Demo

Date Released: 28/11/2012 |

28/03/2016 (CD Reissue)

Label: Invictus Productions

If you missed this the first time, as I did, it’s worth going out of your way to hear.  If you’re looking for a quick way to pigeonhole the band’s sound: think Stockholm in ‘89-’91.  “Deus Bonus Est”, clocking in at just shy of eleven minutes,  travels from devastating death/doom to nasty, thrashing death metal and back again over the song’s considerable duration.  “Demo ‘12” serves as a reminder that the orthodox, when done well enough, can be just as exciting and satisfying as a band trying something different. But again, quality is key, and there just aren’t many bands that can match Deathcult for quality in this style.

“Demo ‘12” CD//DD track listing:

1. Intro

2. Deathcult

3. Beasts of Faith

4. Deus Bonus Est

5. Summoned (CD Bonus Track)

Deathcult is:

O. Ketzer | Guitar, Vocals

P. Nekros | Guitar

M. Goathammer | Drums

Diaboli | Bass

The Review:

“Why are you writing about a four year old demo, you dumb fuck!” you yell at your screen, strangely having chosen to click on the review anyway.

“Because I missed it the first time, not being into cassettes. It fucking rules, though!, I shout back, having somehow managed to hear you through the internet.

Stupid, self-concocted scenarios aside, this review is happening because “Demo ‘12” is being released on CD after only being available on cassette previously. If you missed this the first time, as I did, its worth going out of your way to hear. If you’re looking for a quick way to pigeonhole the band’s sound: think Stockholm in ‘89-’91. But, that also does the band a disservice, as there’s plenty going on, and the material has a unique personality of its own.

Look no further than the gargantuan “Deus Bonus Est”, clocking in at just shy of eleven minutes. The song travels from devastating death/doom to nasty, thrashing death metal and back again over the song’s considerable duration. It works surprisingly well from top to bottom, greatly aided by some extra melody in the song’s latter stages. The songs that surround the demo’s giant original closing track are a bit more by the numbers, but they’re done so well, that it’s difficult to find fault with any of it. There’s a rock n’ roll quality to a song like “Beasts of Faith” that shows that Deathcult have a bit more personality than the average OSDM band, and it’s a swagger that permeates a big chunk of the demo as a whole, though its presence isn’t quite as strong elsewhere.

While Deathcult might not have taken home the sort of accolades that more adventurous counterparts like Morbus Chron or Horrendous have, “Demo ‘12” serves as a reminder that the orthodox, when done well enough, can be just as exciting and satisfying as a band trying something different. But again, quality is key, and there just aren’t many bands that can match Deathcult for quality in this style.

“Demo ‘12” is available digitally here and a CD copy here. 

Band info: Facebook

Horrendous - ‘Anareta’ (Album Review)

 By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full-Length

Date Released: 27/10/2015

Label: Dark Descent Records

There’s so much to enjoy and unpack as I listen to this album again and again, because every song offers a new wrinkle to the formula or another compositional element that most bands wouldn’t think to use. It’s so fucking rich and dense. To put a finer point on things, ‘Anareta’ is the sort of album that lifts death metal as a genre up.  It’s everything I could ask of a death metal album in 2015 and there’s virtually nothing in metal as a whole that’s in Horrendous’ league right now

‘Anareta’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

1. The Nihilist

2. Ozymandias

3. Siderea

4. Polaris

5. Acolytes

6. Sum of All Failures

7. Stillborn Gods

8. The Solipsist (Mirrors Gaze

Horrendous is:

Damian Herring | Guitars, Bass, Vocals

Matt Knox | Guitars, Vocals, Bass

Jamie Knox | Drums

The Review:

What a difference a year makes, when it comes to the landscape Horrendous finds itself in. It was around this same time that Horrendous released ‘Ecdysis’ upon a largely unsuspecting metal press and garnered both exuberant praise and equally insistent jeers from people proclaiming the hype was the product of the metal press hivemind. Putting aside the absurdity of blaming a hive mentality for a lot of people liking an album you’re not into, the truth is that there were some people that weren’t sold on Horrendous the last time around. No band’s ever gotten universal praise, and I’m not here to tell you you’re wrong for disliking them if you do. What I will tell you is that Horrendous prove with ‘Anareta’ that they aren’t content to stay a part of the recent wave of early 90s Death nostalgia, along with Morbus Chron (now defunct) and Gruesome.

Instead Horrendous has taken that sound and created something of an alternate universe where the transition Death made from ‘Spiritual Healing’ to ‘Human’ manifested itself in a very different way. It wasn’t even remotely fair to say that Horrendous was a Death knockoff before, and even less so now, but Death maintains a sort of ideological kinship, in terms of their shared willingness to explore the greater possibilities of the genre. You’ll hear the influence in places—the opening riff in “Polaris” is a dead ringer for the opening riff “Spirit Crusher”—but there is also a lot more going on here.

One of the biggest differences from last year’s ‘Ecdysis’ is a heavier focus on big twin guitar melodies, though it sounds less directly linked to Thin Lizzy or Iron Maiden and tied to 80s Metallica and 90s Opeth. Take “Siderea”, which features some of the finest riffs on the album, a rarity for an instrumental on a death metal album. The opening riff would feel at home on an album like ‘Morningrise’, production differences notwithstanding. Once the tempo breaks, the guitars channel a style approaching that of Metallica’s ‘Ride The Lightning’, or the most melodic moments of ‘...And Justice for All’, thankfully stopping well short of mimicry.

Another big difference, and this might just be perception rather than reality, is that ‘Anareta’ sticks to moderate tempos for the bulk of almost every song. In this case, it’s to the album’s great benefit. When they do break out the speedier thrash or blasting tempos, it’s at the right time for the right reason. Where so many death and black metal bands struggle with keeping songs interesting at sub-thrash speeds, but Horrendous lets their song writing ability carry the weight where most others simply don’t have the song writing chops to maintain the excitement level without speed. Take “Ozymandias” as an example. The tempo doesn’t really pick up until well into the second half of the song, and even then it’s only to sustain the high of the massive, slower moment that precedes it. If you imagine all of the great mid-paced moments that Opeth conjured in the late 90s and early 00s particularly on ‘My Arms, Your Hearse’ and ‘Still Life’, the climax of “Ozymandias” is up there with any of them. The brisk speed that follows that musical high note seems to be there to prevent an abrupt comedown, whether a conscious decision made by the songwriters or not.

Horrendous as a band, and ‘Anareta’ as an album makes me think about the entirety of death metal as a genre. That’s because Horrendous incorporates so much of the genre’s many elements into one sound so seamlessly. Whenever I hear or read someone complain that death metal is out of ideas, I often think they’re not giving the genre credit for how far it’s already come. Death metal casts a pretty wide fucking net when you consider how many different sub-niches there are. Horrendous has found its own corner of the death metal world by blending that early Death sound I talked about earlier with the confident bombast of prime Metallica, and the best of Swedish melodic death metal. They’ve carved their niche deeper by having two distinct voices capitalize on the emotional depth of their music, with the tortured Van Drunen-esque howl of Damian Herring, and the rabid snarl Matt Knox, who’s as good as Tomas Lindberg was in the 90s.

There’s so much to enjoy and unpack as I listen to this album again and again, because every song offers a new wrinkle to the formula or another compositional element that most bands wouldn’t think to use. It’s so fucking rich and dense. To put a finer point on things, ‘Anareta’ is the sort of album that lifts death metal as a genre up. It’s smart, but never devolves into pretentious note-mongering. It’s got that feel of a classic album, without resorting to doing it off the back of another band’s work. It’s everything I could ask of a death metal album in 2015. Only time will tell how this one will stack up against ‘Ecdysis’ years from now. I can only say that I feel even more strongly about ‘Anareta’ now than I did ‘Ecdysis’ when I reviewed it last year. There’s virtually nothing in metal as a whole that’s in Horrendous’ league right now.

You can pre-order a digital copy here and pre-order a CD copy here.

FFO: Dismember, Morbus Chron, Asphyx, Autopsy

Band info: Facebook

Morbus Chron - Sweven - Album Review

Album Type : Full Length

Date Released : 24/2/2014

Label : Century Media Records

Sweven, album track listing :

01. Berceuse (03:18)

02. Chains (04:49)

03. Towards A Dark Sky (07:49)

04. Aurora In The Offing (05:01)

05. It Stretches In The Hollow (05:10)

06. Ripening Life (06:46)

07. The Perennial Link (05:16)

08. Solace (02:14)

09. Beyond Life's Sealed Abode (05:41)

10. Terminus (06:38)

Bio :

As ‘Sweven’ is now about to be unleashed upon the world, Morbus Chron has carved out their very

own territory of unorthodox death metal. They have gone far beyond their raw and simple initial

style, adding many uncanny acoustic parts to create a nightmare world of utter horror. Together

with producer Fred Estby (ex- Dismember), the band has found a warm, yet haunting sound to go

with their vision. The resulting soundscapes spread out like a wasteland of death and terror, sending

chills down the hardest of spines. Guitar and drum patterns flow in various directions, building

cathedrals of darkness in which Robert's tormented vocals echo in agony.

Morbus Chron's evolution is probably even more obvious when it comes to the lyrical themes and the

artwork. The entire presentation is constructed as an entity, where all of the songs are linked

together in an overall concept of desperation and despair. In addition, renowned psychedelic artist

Raul Gonzales has provided 11 individual paintings for the wonderful packaging. His dreamy, yet

uncanny visuals add to the overall impression of a fully accomplished work of pure art - the band’s

progression since their gore-drenched early days is unparalleled.

While many metal bands claim to be breaking new ground these days, Morbus Chron is one of the

few who really is. Musically, as well as artistically, they are miles ahead of most of the competition,

and they are definitely among the bands that make extreme metal matter again. There's a new

stench of death rising on the horizon...

Smell the coffin.

/Daniel Ekeroth

The Band :

Adam Lindmark | Drums

Edvin Aftonfalk | Lead guitars, Vocals

Robert Andersson | Lead Vocals, Guitars

Dag Landin | Bass

Review :

The second full length from Sweden's Morbus Chron sees the one time death metallers expand their sound further. Not for them, the pro-tools perfection and hyper speed of much of modern metal. Instead, what reveals itself here is a much more angular listen- progressive (but not like Cynic or Opeth), dour and downbeat and rather necro in sound. Berceuse sets the mood with atmospherics before Chains shows an impressive breadth of sound over its nigh on five minutes of playing time. The riffing is heavy and also textured the breaks mellow and wistful, the vibe melancholic.

Towards a Dark Sky follows with more textures and some faster sections coupled with some rather odd riffing and an almost jazzy feel at times. The whole thing is just...organic. Some sections are reminiscent of latter day Death, but don't take that as a comparison or reference point. Traditional death/prog metal this most definitely is not.

Aurora In The Offing starts slow with a kind of Floridian tone to the riffs, but mixed with a uniquely Scandinavian feel that brings in a thrash section of some oddness with howled vocals and ringing riffs. There are some excellent passages of guitar interplay around the two minute mark as the band deftly handles the changes. The solos are killer too, and the track is one of the more straight “metal” pieces on the record. It Stretches in the Hollow is more restrained to begin with as clean and creepy guitars set up some stop/start lines. The band then spreads their wings impressively with some progressive passages and more excellent guitar interplay.

Ripening Life is a discordant romp that uses straight time signatures with riffs that are anything but. The Perrenial Link may feel epic in places but is tightly written and focused in structure. Lesser bands may be tempted to stretch the panoramic riffing to ten minutes plus, but Morbus Chron keep it controlled with sludge pacing and dark vibes aplenty. A clean build up section is also included and marks an agreeable bit of respite from the claustrophobic darkness- until it closes in again, of course.

Solace acts as an instrumental bridge, effectively so, before the progressive and penultimate Beyond Life's Sealed Abode. Again, this is heavy but not aggressive stuff with weaved guitars and live/boxy drums. The vocals take a couple of minutes to come in, and when they do there is more jazziness in the guitar approach to be had. Terminus (sadly not a tribute to the 90's Kent also-rans of the same name) is a more exploratory offering from the band as they experiment with dynamics and halting sections.

Hard to categorise, Morbus Chron have created something unique in the metal world. It is certainly progressive, certainly dark and melancholic and certainly unusual. To really understand it, though, you will have to hear it yourself.

Words by : Richard Maw

You can buy it here

Fore more information :

https://www.facebook.com/morbuschron