They are back, Nocturno Culto and Fenriz the most beloved duo in all black metal history with their brand-new album It Beckons Us All.
It would be useless to try and tell the humungous influence Darkhthrone has in all black metal journey, so let us get to the point: This album is about their last phase concerning more black doom approach that started circa The Old Star album and continues to this day and this is maybe the best of that lot with only 7 songs clocking in at 43 minutes.
Howling Primitive Colonies: starting with a black heavy metal that kind of resound the bands of old (and by that, I mean bands from the 1980’s) but with the unmistakable mark of DT all over it, this opener has a delicious riff, not fast at all, almost snail-paced all along, but played with hate and disdain, and for REAL fans (not fans from OVERGROUND) this one will sound appetizing with its progression (reads: various phrases put together). The influence of something older than 1980’s it is noticeable. I would say it’s all about riffs.
Eon 3 – if it’s all about riffs, this one has a great and unforgettable one, and if one finds it alike the first track and the riffs so repetitive it’s about it: easy to understand and easy to like music, that’s what the veterans offer in this one with lots of effects on Nocturno Culto voice… Nothing goes overproduced here, it’s all primitivism and aversion to modern sounds and production. Low fi is the name of the game.
Black Dawn Affiliation – Now I must say nothing is off path with this track, the difference being some dark ambient effects to deem their black doom approach of their own music something more mysterious. Of course, it’s noticeable this track is heavy as dense fog enveloping the landscape.
And In That Moment I Knew The Answer – the shortest song of the album is also an instrumental one with a festival of heavy bass, melancholic solos, lugubrious riffs and downcast drum fills. Perfection in being despondent. I truly dig it.
The Bird People Of Nordland – I can’t even fathom what the title means and one can say this track follows the enigmatic formula with very doom-laden energy that SURPRISINGLY transforms itself on a little bit faster metal and a more recognizable Darkthrone from the days of old. But strangely that doesn’t make more than a change of tempo because the song remains hermetic.
The Heavy Hand – The riffs and drums in this one are more consistent, never really changing, and its iteration shows the cohesive factor of the disc: if one wants to understand this album in one track, just skip to this one.
The Lone Pines Of The Lost Planet – really sounding something like Metal Church, this track is a 10-minute business without the thrash velocity. In fact, the more repetitive it sounds, it has some different phrases as the song progresses. To be more exact this song has 3 distinct parts and an outer space vibe that is really strange and cool as fuck! A bold epic approach for an album that maintains its identity all along.
This is the most anti-OVERGROUND Darkthrone manifesto in the last years. Doomy all along, it may be that this will not be deemed their best album, of course not… But NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE, can say that they sell out in this one. Darkthrone ALWAYS indicate the path to the unknown…
It Beckons Us All is out this Friday on Peaceville.
Magyar band Exodikon are no new to extreme metal style as they are all from a band called Cryptic Remains and they claim to play melodic death metal and I beg to differ just a little, because it’s only death metal in essence, thus it is heavier. But on the press release they used an interesting terminology – Introvert Death Metal – and they must be the only band in the world playing that style.
Well introvert or not, they are very seasoned musicians and good in what they do using a bit of technicality, because they have an elegant taste in the musical texture they use, like the acoustic guitar by the end of The Awakening Depth – The Psychics of the Manipulated or in the percussive whirlwind the drummer Attila István Hekele uses all the time, mainly in the track Life Weight Loss – The Aesthetics of Contempt that has different tempos, all intelligible but nonetheless very well played.
By the course of the CD, for the first or second spin the predominant vocal (as they seem to be two singers) causes a tad of strangeness on the listener but this impression soon goes away because it’s mainly due to that aspect that the identity of Exodikon is different from other bands as in the tune The Nature of Descent, which is very cohesive, and the melodic element appears only in the guitars. As one can note this is a very equilibrate album and the songs are well distributed. And the progressions don’t end here!
The gargantuan The Lord of Wounds – The Incubation of Pain is a prove to that. The guys play like hell, even the production of the CD being slightly clean, but that does not impair their great and frantic cadence: even not being that complex to the listener, they sound like they’re using all the weapons they have, and they have an arsenal! Maybe this is the most thrilling song of the whole album for it condenses Exodikon sound!
However, Uninverse (SIC) – The Logic of Zeitgeist is a game changer… remember what I said about the vocals? Well, in here they make total sense, and the song would not be the same without them. I mean both of them add the differential music the band executes! The song gets more brutal in the course of time.
Other great track is Imago Dei – The Syntax of Deity, that is dramatic and has over again, different phrases all along, and by the middle of that song one is already taken: it lays siege to the listener who wants to binge in extreme metal! Its labyrinthine however its catchy!
All in all, Exodikon may not cause a stir in the first time one hears it. But by the end of several spins on the album it is easy to be convinced otherwise because they play with intensity and may not sound generic … no, definitely they are not generic!
First thing: maybe or just maybe Wrektomb has revolutionized the way death doom is played in this new album called Bovine Mockeries of Human Posturing. Another important heads-up: this album really depends to be good or bad on the equipment one is spinning it. For example, I have put it once on phone and I though it was normal stuff, but when I’ve played it on normal speaker the album sounded ace. Given that advise let’s start our analyses.
Bovine Mockeries of Human Posturing – the debut full length – is not your conventional death doom metal. It has some atmospheric vibe into it that makes the whole things trippy, and the notes lingers as in the first 7-minute track called Gored Into Reality that places its bets on a hypnotic way it is played. If I have any objection is that the vocals are too placed in the background. Either the production should have posted it on the foreground, or either it was preferable to be an instrumental album because it would sound the same anyway. This “restriction” also works in a dramatic second song called Unexpected Encounters with Nature, that shows originality on the titles of the tracks and of course, on the way the song is executed, Long phrases defines it but with a touch of melodic death metal but never being sell-outs. An uncanny track for sure because they place their bets heavily in the eeriness, but I don’t believe they are making some non-sense avant-garde experimental metal, although the creativity runs rampant, they are still playing death doom. This latter song is a 9-minute biz.
Another 9-minute song answers by the name Quantumcreep that is even more interesting and give the band some traction. No, it’s not because it is joyful. But it a decent doom death metal with long and captivating phrases, something hypnotic like “atmospheric Death Metal” but this terminology wound not make any sense. The fact is that this band has a myriad of different things happening when one thinks there is happening just a monotonous power chords, but in fact it is happening a lot of things in the background. A great opus. If not perfect it’s at least a cool stuff.
Society Supported Psychopaths shows at this point why they are here. And they are here to spread despondent music and desolation and sometimes desolation is exactly what we need, for the song follows the heavy snail-paced agenda all the way and that is good for the eardrums. The sense of urgency appears in the last section of the song with dissonant guitar effects, and it confounds the senses.
The nail in the coffin (or I’d rather say the icing in the cake?) is the last suicidal death metal ten-minute song This Decay of Me that lives up (or it dies up?) to its name with the crème de la crème of the style into one song to pack the album. Over again the pensive atmosphere permeates the ambient and contaminates the air.
This album is not for everyone, but it is not bad either. This is for specific kind of people who seeks specific sounds. This album may or may not become cult one day. I hope it will…
Bovine Mockeries of Human Posturing – (Personal Records)
Vorga returns with their sophomore album with many better black metal sounds that will melt one’s face away!
After the excellent album Striving Toward Oblivion released in 2022 they had the task to create something with quality and this new opus, Beyond The Palest Star, won’t let their fans down with a infernal cosmic attack on the opener called Voideath that shows melodic black metal played with passion for the style and although is difficult to find (or to explain) what is so special about tis track, it shows the dexterity of the band and the production definitely puts Vorga on the pantheon of the greatest Black Metal bands! Proof is the anthemic guitar in the very last part of the song which deserves more and more spins.
The second song brings the diverse nature of their music in the form of The Sophist, where the symbiotic instrumental show why Vorga is so cool… sometimes is not just about composition of the song, but how it is played and the sound of the drums alongside the change of several change of phrases makes this tune something special: gritty melodic music is what it is!
However Magical Thinking is a more obvious biz, with the music resounding a melodic Death Metal band and not a black metal one but this does not change the nature of the disc because at the end of the day the cohesive factor of the album prevails.
The Cataclysm brings more excellence and over again the notes on the song highlights their musicianship because the atmospheric melody in this one along with really heavy guitars matches their spatial proposal of the album. It’s a strange trip and when the following track – Tragic Humanity – enters, resounding Dark Funeral, it throws the listener in a state of levitation throughout the room. I said it is strange and by the end of the track the real black metal fan is finally hooked.
Fractal Cascade announces the final stretch of the album, and Vorga shows how to play a proper atmospheric black metal music and it’s a perfect blend of melodic, hypnotic and true black metal that oozes from the speakers in a delicious repetition that never gets boring.
The Terminal, the last song of the album, seems to be a summary of the album and the several pieces joins into one great track, and the highlight of the moment is he solo and by the second part of the song.
Vorga is not playing to be a band and they are serious about their intentions: for me, since the beginning they are in for the kill, and Beyond The Palest Star will be the corollary of a star that was born into greatness. This cats really take black metal the way it must be. If you don’t like them, soon you will, be aware of that.
Beyond The Palest Star is out now on Transcending Obscurity Records.
Herxheim is a band known for their “war metal” (aka blackened death metal) approach in their brutal sound, but this EP shows something different. Kinda same sound but with a doom-laden approach, heavy as fucking fuck and with a old school death metal (Autopsy, Cianide, you name it) flavor to their ultra-heavy sound!
The opener The Surrogate razes the room to the ground with the raddest sound possible, with heaviness that will crush your head, relentless to the core, disgraceful to the bone: The snail-paced sound works all the time in their side, the heavy riffs sound simply like a bulldozer and none will be spared by their dement sound.
The seconds and best track of the EP called The Anointed is one the most headbanging song I’ve heard this year so far! The chorus and the subsequent phrase sound like a black doom Suffocation (have you imagined that???), so true it makes one want to bang his head while walking down the streets, and it’s impossible to resist, of course only of you are a fucking poser, which I believe you are not. This I so ace, it’s hard to believe I ‘m able to listen to a so fucking cool track in 2024! It’s really THAT good!
The Enchanted brings the very same kind of approach but its noticeable in the very beginning of the tune, sounding so 1990’s that it makes me happy to belong to the extreme metal community: guttural bellows, monstrous drums, beefy riffs, abysmal ambient, cool change of tempos, everything is there, and there’s no way to dislike it. Chunky track lemme say it!
And Their Pyrrhic Victories is just the icing in the cake in putridity matters, muddy sound, infernal bass lines and the cadaverous attitude permeates this last track like a curse: it so heavy it crushes the ground.
This new EP of Herxheim is a great surprise because it’s not business-as-usual. In these times where sometimes, creativity is not the norm, they come as purveyors of uttermost destruction.
Now that the incredible Invincible Shield is out there, here comes another guide for you to be informed what’s the worst and what’s the best Judas Priest album. Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know!
The criteria used here in simple: Just studio albums were used, no lives, compilation, singles or bootleg. Only the Priest in raw form!
Nostradamus (2008) – This album is simply deplorable. Who the fuck gave the idea for such stupid album? There is the most detestable thing: incidental tracks in the middle of totally lackluster songs. Nothing saves here, just go away there is (actually) nothing to hear here.
Point of Entry (1981) – This album is from where Priest tried some commercial success, went full KISS mode and then failed miserably. Only two songs are good in this album. The opener track Heading Out to the Highway and the cool Hot Rockin‘. But there are lazy anomalies like You Say Yes (really, WTF???) and Desert Plains, forgettable tracks like Turning Circles and On The Run and the absolutely terrible: Solar Angels. The worst song Priest has written.
Ram It Down (1988) – For some this is the worst Judas Priest album, but there are Nostradamus and Point of Entry in its way: There are semi-cool songs and lot of fillers, but the crime of the century is the fake news propaganda to deliver a real deal Heavy Metal album. Instead, they used programmed drums: there is no parole for such crime.
Angel of Retribution (2005) – This album marks the return of Rob Halford to Judas Priest and one can just imagine the expectation around this album. The first time the gang who had recorded the much-loved Painkiller reunited. Well, this is an excellent… Halford album. I mean, Rob brought Roy Z (who worked with him as a produced on his first Halford album, called Resurrection, released 7 years prior to this) to the fold, and what it was intended to be a proper Judas Priest album was watered down by Roy’s production. The album has no drive. Of course, there are good moments like the beautiful Angel, the absolutely rock n rolling Hellrider and the EPIC Lochness. But also comes some silly songs like Deal with the Devil and Demonizer. Well, if this is no Painkiller, ate least it could be heavier…
Redeemer of Souls (2014) – This is an honest work by Priest and the premiere of the guitarist Richie Falkner substituting KK. Downing. But by this time It seems that Glenn Tipton already started evolve his Parkinson’s Disease and maybe that’s why the album is not a killer one. The songs are cool, they have potential, but they were executed in a slower manner. People seem to like this album, but not sufficiently to cause an impression, being good or bad. Highlight goes to the song Gates of Valhalla, which must be killer played live.
Turbo (1986) – Now this is the one of the most wronged albums in history.: Turbo was released in 1986 and people hated it because it was not heavy and too hard rock for Judas Priest. (this was a time when all the biggest names were going to easy hard rock, like Accept, AC/DC, Yes you name it). That been said, it has a sequence of the most fun Judas Priest songs: I remember hearing this one in VINYL so the side A is absolutely rad! While the side B is completed with fillers… This is no classic Judas Priest but at least this album has been pardoned in recent time.
Rocka Rolla (1974) – Well and here goes a half-century that Judas Priest recorded its first album! Rocka Rolla is very interesting and good rock n roll album, but there is no metal here yet. They would appear with that on the subsequent release Sad Wings of Destiny. But this is historical to the core! It is marvelous to hear the embryonic Judas Priest.
Demolition (2001) – When Demolition was released, it was no surprise that Judas Priest was a different, but ever evolving band, and the shock that Jugulator has caused was already a thing of the past. But although not being the most perfect album ever, it has some really cool songs, like Machine Man, One on One, Hell is Home, Blood Suckers, In Between and Metal Messiah. And of course, others that today doesn’t sound like a good idea, like the uninspired Jekyll and Hyde, the silly Close to You, and the embarrassing Lost and Found.
Firepower (2018) – This album delivers what the title suggests. Firepower was received to great acclaim, there are killer songs like Evil Never Dies, Flame Thrower (what an effing tune!) and the title track. There is just two problem here: Glenn Tipton doesn’t play in this album. If he did, prove me wrong. The other one is this is no revolutionary album, they preferred to go on the safe way of metal. If this is what gets to make a good Priest album, so be it!
Jugulator (1997) – Now the controversial Jugulator: simply put, this album is a train going into one’s direction to kill and destroy. Okay there is no Halford here and a new member (Tim Ripper Owens) always make things strange. Purists hated it, because it was too heavy for the audience here but, fuck, this is the deal! If you like REALLY HEAVY SOUNDS how come not enjoy yourself listening to Dead Meat, Abductors, Bullet Train and the absolute sensational Cathedral Spires? I mean, people always wanted another HEAVY album like Painkiller and when it came some ignored the Priest’s call. Shame on – SOME of – you.
Invincible Shield (2024)– Okay, now this is the new Judas fucking Priest album and to be direct: This is the best album Halford recorded since his return to the band in 2003. Also, this is their best album since Painkiller. One would say it is flawless. This is METAL with capital M. How can they do a such killer sequence of HEAVY songs? Panic Attack (if you don’t hear a reference to Painkiller here you are a poser), Invincible Shield,Devil in Disguise, Sons of Thunder, damn!!! This album even was the highest position Priest got in UK. If you want to know what’s DSU opinion about it read the review of the album HERE…
British Steel (1980) – A lot of people (and other lists) say this is the best Judas Priest album. I beg to differ. For me it’s a continuation of Hell Bent for Leather (or Killing Machine if you will), but that’s not a bad thing, right? However, the very fact that people disagree if this or Painkiller is their best offer it is sufficient to make this classic album interesting: if one wants basilar Judas Priest is all here: the attack of KK. Downing and Glenn Tipton, the incredible voice of Rob Halford, and classic songs like Breaking the Law, Rapid Fire, oh well, ALL OF THEM actually – that has been making the happiness of Priests fans and heavy metal enthusiasts across the globe. Even a reggae laden tune like The Rage sounds METAL in Priest’s hands.
Sad Wings of Destiny (1976) – After their debut, the band started to play pure Heavy Metal. What happened? I believe even Halford doesn’t explain it on his book Confess. This is an epiphanic experience: Victim of Changes (a favorite in Priest’s concerts even to this day), The Ripper, Tyrant and Genocide. I mean, these guys even back in the day showed they were the true masters of true metal. The beauty of this album is something outlandish. Perfection!
Sin After Sin (1977) – Talking about perfection, Sin after Sin is a fan favorite between all Priest’s fans. There’s no one who considers this album not being good. Sinner is the epic opener. Let Us Prey / Call for the Priest, Starbreaker, Dissident Aggressor (even Slayer made a cover of this song on their album South of Heaven), not talking about the beautifully made songs Last Rose of The Summer and Here Comes The Tears and the unlikely cover of Joan Baez:Diamonds and Rust. I mean, wow.
Screaming for Vengeance (1982) – After the tentative success by hard rock means on Point of Entry,Judas Priest got back on its feet with Screaming for Vengeance, a metal classic through and through, no frills. With this album they reconquered the throne of the masters of metal, if it’s not so how can explain the success of tracks such as Electric Eye, Riding on The wind, You’ve Gotta another Thing Coming and the title track??? Essential for any fan of heavy metal and all its subgenres.
Painkiller (1990) – Now this is the… Okay I won’t end the phrase… But hell, this is pure dynamite, destructive commando by the heavy metal masters, the one and only Judas Priest. Back in the day one can observe that the band tried to be “heavy” with the album Ram It Down that flopped. The thing is, this is so important that they became relevant over again, teaching how to play heavy metal to consecrated bands and new bands alike in all the metal umbrella. Remember, some years forward, grunge would appear promising to break Heavy Metal legs. It didn’t happen. What is more the courage to be the defenders of the faith in the beginning of the 1990’s was a heroic approach. Songs like All Guns Blazing, Hell Patrol, Metal Meltdown reconfigured the status quo of the world of rock n roll. Just check out what Ozzy, AC/DC and Black Sabbath were recording after 1990. Let’s call it “Painkiller effect”.
Stained Class (1978) – Now Stained Class is the first-class Priest album. For all effects this one can be considered the first speed metal album of the world with the opener Exciter. Controversial, it was the album that got all the band in front of jury. Classics like Better by You, Better than Me, the impacting Beyond the Realms of Death, the sensational Invader, the infamous Saints in Hell, the perfection of Savage… if you got here and you are in your teens and never heard this album, go listen to it now, and get a free class of Heavy Metal and how it’s done. Nuff said!
Hell Bent for Leather (1978) – Also known as Killing Machine, this one comes after Stained Class and as you can see it was released at the same year, but it is a totally different animal. Street anthems on how to (mis)behave are second to none: Hell Bent for Leather, Running Wild, Killing Machine, Take on the World are instant classics and a manual on how to survive streets. Do you wanna know how to a bad guy, don’t listen to “core” bands. Listen to this opus and you’ll have everything to know on how to be a real headbanger.
Defenders of the Faith (1984) – First time I’ve heard this one it was a shock. I have heard about a band called Judas Priest, but I thought they were a bunch of old farts making some basic rock. I’ve never been MORE MISTAKEN in my entire life. When Freewheel Burning started its first accord, I discovered that all the bands I was listening by the time (for instance: Exciter, Running Wild, Living Death, Iron Angel) were kind of Priest impersonators. This album caused such an impression in the young me that it is partly responsible for me being here writing about heavy metal DECADES after. Eat Me Alive, The Sentinel and Some Heads are Gonna Roll still take tears off me. In this particular uber classic of the music we all love, the danger was in the words. Each of them Halford professes along with the killer riffs by Glenn and KK are direct shots in the head of the enemies. This is one of the most marvelous things that ever existed. Purest heavy metal.
Hailing from France, Alkhemia appears with its debut and hell, how I love some ace debuts like this one. Almost perfect in a way to play black metal that is inspired of Mgla, Uada, Odraza and other bands, but the result is a little bit heavier than that, believe me.
The almost ten-minute song that opens the opus, called Homoprescence, has a fast cadence and a very good production, where everything is in place music wide. The drumming is always on spot and the guitars are in a background, but this approach is for a greater good: intense and heavy, this song says it all about the release, so you get it or leave it from this point on.
Toxicon, although very alike in intensity and tempo to the first song, sounds like a continuation of such, kinda melodic, but not too much, always leaving a buffer for the most extreme metal that is. The bellows from the abyss are really excellent and everything else are also second to none. The more the spins the better it gets.
Sinister are the ways in which Transhumanization starts, presenting more aural pleasure to the black metal afficionado, as they continue the binge presenting different soundscapes but with the same appetite as showed in the other tracks, in other words: they also sound to feel happy when playing their demonic songs. The tune changes in tempo by the middle to final section of the song, and it only adds to its excellence.
The highlight of the album is the epic 11-minute-song Primaveal Pantheon, that shows their proficiency in making a robust top-tier black metal number, in which the cadence is the best thing out there and this song alone outmatches all the others, while the others are no bad tracks at all… I mean, this is clearly the high point of the disc. I’d say this song is almost progressive in its approach although Alkhemia is not a progressive band. If you know what I mean.
Almost like a segue, enters the last song of the opus – Reminiscence Quintessence– opens with spoken word and a large than life keyboard that presents afterwards a helluva black metal number with a really good riff and heavier-than-thou sound environment. This song doesn’t best the others but it is a great track anyway.
This is the best debut I’ve heard in times… Set to take the black metal scenario by the storm, if you lose Alkhemia and their excellent Abraxas, you’ll only have yourself to blame.
Abraxas is going to be out on Malpermesita Records.
Gruesome and pernicious, the debut EP of Blestemat (which features “Carl”, the guy in the bands such as Blodtår and Morcaint) presents us with pure diabolic black metal worship: Only 6 tracks clocking in at almost 23 minutes of real oppressive music to ruin your despondent day!
Curses’ Salvation is uncompromising Scandinavian attack with a robust bass line and intense rhythm on drums as the guitars are first rate sharp assault that will throw one back in time. Meanwhile the ghostly Blestemata starts as a snail-paced piece and the doom-laden tune and eventually, by the middle of the song it goes in a crescendo of first-rate black metal blending the brutal and the forlorn music into one place.
Rebellious Webbed Wings also sounds like the very old days of the style with a cadence that is reminiscent of old Satyricon and Darkthrone in a monumental way!
After an interlude, Glowing Earth enters and immediately it shoots one’s mind with fast drumming and top-notch riffs that transform themselves in a purest Bathory culto by the end of the tune. Arrgghh!
Last song I Am His Light, shows us the cream of the crop of raw black metal… Horrible as horrible can be, it elevates the soul and then destroys one’s mind with powerful barrage of black fucking metal, let me tell ya!
All in all, Blestemat hits the nail on the head in this short but intense EP that also lives up to its name. A band to pay attention in the future!
Poisonous Metal is out now on Silent Future Recordings.
Hailing for Belgium, Lhääd comes with its sophomore album called Beneath with 6 songs that clocks in at 40 minutes of pure abyssal decadence and barbarous infernality, with hypnotic sounds all around, and sometimes repetitive phrases, which are so cool, it deserves a track-by-track close look.
Beneath 1 – This song has an atmospheric guitar (like all the others for that matter) and fast and furious drumming that sounds like a paradox: it’s not calm by any means, but it’s definitely not a raw black metal as well. It’s solid in its intentions to cause an aural impact on the listener.
Beneath 2 – this song definitely remembers the Varg Vikernes riffs but again, it doesn’t have a snail-paced cadence, it’s played with heaviness and gusto for savageness. This aura in any other band wouldn’t make any sense, but here it’s like the best thing ever. The vocals are sunken in the backdrop and somewhat one perceives clearly what it’s all about: the production in this one just adds insult to injury!
Beneath 3 – The ghostly beginning of this song brings a true bad omen, and when it actually starts one can hear the malevolent intent with malicious rhythm, monstrous vocals and wicked cadence, all packed in a rock-solid sound.
Beneath 4 – The vigorous riff of this track announces another gruesome musical experience, this time around getting the listener out of the frying pan into the fire: let me say that some repetitions at this point is not a bad thing, I mean, the black metal executed here is addictive to the bone. One of the best “insistent” and orthodox black metal I’ve heard this decade so far.
Beneath 5 – With spellbinding ambience and monumental torment the fifth track starts and continues to bring chaos, nightmare and demise to the listener! There is a calm, but ghastly intermezzo and the song soon returns to what it once was: Deliberative decay and infernal doom. Vocals in this one is kind of guttural, mind you.
Beneath 6 – to pack up the album, with a cavernous guitar comes the sixth song, now in a middle to snail pace cadence. This track is majestic as majestic can be. It somewhat resounds a mix with Burzum and Sarke (the lad who controls everything behind these sounds, Lykormas, sound like Nocturno Culto). This is a highlight, believe me.
Beneath is a helluva experience that deserves a lot of spins because it gets better by the time. Really a great album.
Beneath is out TODAY on – Amor Fati / Extraconscious.
Okay, Deathgrind, Brutal death metal, technical death metal, this time around, one can call Defect Designer as he/she wishes because maybe they are everything in this new album called Chitin. Not that they throw a confusing musical abashment and leave people in awe just for the sake of it. They do make some good music, it’s a controlled craziness if you wish.
For example, in Uglification Spell they dare to divide the song in two parts leaving one wondering if the second track has just started. It’s a beautiful piece of deathgrind which is heavy and mental at the same time while To Ziggurat more insanity and even though the song not being the fastest of the album, it doesn’t’ stop to amuse by constant change of tempos and phrases on the guitar.
Simulacrum continues the brutal binge and it’s very interesting to try and guess what is going next in the song. They work in the sound textures all the time and with We Will Need Your Chitin is no different, they play with the concept of tempo, bringing thrashy parts, rock parts, a brutality at will and believe me when I say, It’s not random music.
The riff of We Prescribe is instantly recognizable not withstanding being the fastest song of the album, the production in this piece reflects the diligence of the band within the studio. Perfection.
Let’s jump to an interesting piece called Shine Shine that destroys the notion of death metal, because although all the heaviness in a mid-tempo piece this song is an excellent rock piece. No, it’s not deathcore, mind you. It’s just a great song. And somewhat is upbeat! The subsequent track called Story Of A Styrofoam starts with a jazzy intro and this one is the crazier on the album which I love. After some sleight of hand, the song explodes into a grindcore that will melt your face off!
Nu, Pogodi! sounds a song off of a cartoon. Yeah and that’s it. Adorable.
But Orgone Accumulator is a bona fide dissonant technical death metal that will destroy your senses. The riff choices are on the spot in this one.
Defect Designer is not just technical bull and pell-mell notes. It’s also creativity, something that’s very important (and also very rare) on Death Metal. This album shows this band is about to be big!
Chitin is out TODAY on Transcending Obscurity Records.
Dark Souls United 