Matricide - 2004 - Blasphemic Fire

Swedish Black Metal act Matricide has offered us seven tracks on this cassette, which is a re-release of their 2002 demo with three bonustracks added, including a Von cover. The music is mid-paced to fast and the first four tracks remind me of a tighter version of early Emperor and Sorhin. The vocals on this part sound very much like the vocals of Sorhin.

The bonus material shows some progress toward the newer Swedish Black Metal sound similar to the likes of Watain, Ondskapt and Funeral Mist, with the vocals sounding reminiscent of those of
Ondskapt. The first four tracks have a considerably worse soundquality than the bonustracks, the music can be heard somewhere in the distance, but the feeling in these tracks is just amazing.

Be sure to check out their recently released debut album Black Mass Gathering.

Standout tracks are "Blasphemic Fire" and "Seven Daemons".

Friday October 29 2004, by :Vragh:

Weltbrand - 2006 - The Cloud of Retaliation

Out of the Netherlands comes this Black Metal horde, with their second fullength. Presented here are eight tracks of mostly fast Black Metal with the odd slower track thrown in for variation plus one industrial sounding interlude and an outro. The sound actually has somewhat of a  eath Metal feel to it.

The vocals sound like a mix between Nimroth, formerly of Cirith Gorgor, Maniac, and early Emperor, with some Aldrahn and Quorthon showing up every now and then.

Musically this reminds me mostly of the Zyklon-B sideproject from the '90ies as well as earlier Frozen Shadows. Not at all a bad combination.

The soundquality is slightly murky and, as with the music presented here, also quite similar to Zyklon-B and Frozen Shadows, and as mentioned earlier with rather a Death Metal approach to it. The vocals are at the front with the guitars and the snare drum quite high in the mix as well. The rest of the drums and the bass unfortunately disappear to a certain extent in the murky production. This is quite good. Released as a limited A5 digi, as well as regular CD.

Standout tracks are "Channeling Black Energy", "Descending of the Black Ash Rain", "...And the Winds Brought Death".

Tuesday October 14 2008, by :Vragh:

Vesania - 2005 - God the Lux

Out of Poland comes this Black Metal act with their second fullength. 12 tracks of slow to mid-paced, slightly melodic Death/Black Metal with keyboards is what we are presented with here. There is an industrial feel to the music as well. Musically this sounds like later Malignant Eternal and Dimmu Borgir as well as Emperor and Arcturus with a distinct Death Metal approach.

The vocals sound like those in Behemoth, which really comes as no surprise since it's the same person singing in both bands. More towards the darker, deeper spectrum, actually reminding me somewhat of the deeper vocals from earlier Cradle of Filth. They remind me of those in Malignant Eternal as well.

The production is full and quite industrial sounding. More towards a Death Metal production, really. The keyboards are present throughout the album. At times they play their own thing, and at times they are just laying down background ambience, but this is actually handled rather well. I am usually not a big fan of keyboards in the music I listen to.

Standouttracks are "Rest in Pain", "God the Lux", "The Mystory" and "Legions are Me".

Monday November 27 2006, by :Vragh:

Orcustus - 2002 - Demo

Orcustus is a Norwegian Black Metal band with a few rather known names in the ranks. Tormentor (Gorgoroth, Gaahlskagg), Dirge Rep (Gehenna, Enslaved) and Infernus (Gorgoroth) are members of this band, along with newcomer Taipan. This demo is really great, retro Black Metal at its finest.
The soundquality and vocals give a feeling of classic 1992-93 era Black Metal with the vocals sounding reminiscent to those of Emperor on their split with Enslaved and Marduk on their Those of the Unlight album.

The music is midpaced to fast with influences from the Emperor part of the aforementioned Emperor / Enslaved split and early Gorgoroth. The last track, "Lucifuge Damnation", could very well have been from Zyklon-B's Blood Must be Shed MCD. This is very interesting, and the coming fullength, to be released probably towards the end of 2004, certainly is something to look forward to.

Two of the three tracks from this demo, "World Dirtnap" and "Death Becomes You", have also been released on a 7" by Southern Lords in 2003. Unfortunately both of these releases are sold out. Both the demo and the 7" were limited to 1000 copies.

Standout track is "Death Becomes You".

Thursday May 20 2004, by :Vragh:

One Tail, One Head - 2008 - One Tail, One Head

Out of Norway comes this horde with their first demo containing four untitled tracks. Musically this reminds me a lot of the early half of the '90ies. Groovy Black Metal with a very classic sound and feel to it, somewhat reminding me of earlier Deathspell Omega at times.

The vocals mostly sound like a more desperate and guttural version of those by Fenriz on the first Dødheimsgard album and are moving with the music more than I expected. There are also some parts Mannevond of Koldbrann present.

The soundquality is typical demo sound, also reminiscent of the earlier years. This reminds me of the Emperor demo from -92, the music is a bit distant and though you do hear all the instruments, they are distant and some of the nuances of the music might get lost because of this, the first few times you listen to the tape. What can be heard most is the vocals, followed by the guitars and then the drums. This band is part of the Nidaros scene in Norway among such bands as Kaosritual, Selvhat,
Knokkelklang and Min Kniv. Grenjar and Vantro should also be mentioned. A very interesting scene for those of us who miss the raw sound of the earlier days.

Standout tracks are "I" and "IV".

Sunday August 23 2009, by :Vragh:

Nightbringer - 2005 - Rex Ex Ordine Throni

Out of the United States comes this Black Metal act with a promo of their part of a split with Temple of Not, a band they share members with. This promo consists of 4 tracks of mid-paced to rather fast and slightly melodic, wellplayed Black Metal in the vein of Emperor and Carpathian Forest, with parts Watain and a less plastic sounding Limbonic Art at times, even. An interesting mix of Norwegian Black Metal with a slightly American sound.

The vocals remind me a bit of those in earlier Emperor, Ancient and Dark Funeral, but with a slight American sounding twist to them.

The production is a bit towards the thin, rather like the early days of the scene. The drums are what you hear most in the mix, with quite a De Mysteriis feel to the sound of the fills. There is also a keyboard present, which is more towards the front of the mix on the two last tracks. The use of the keyboard is the main similarity to Carpathian Forest. This has clear potential.

Standout tracks are "The Void" and "Mors Philosophorum".

Sunday January 14 2007, by :Vragh:

Kythrone - 2003 - Christripper Command

Chilean Black Metal band Kythrone have released their first effort on CD-R, and it is indeed a promising piece of Black Metal Art. This is very well executed midpaced to fast Black Metal, with a slightly chaotic feel to it. The individual instruments are clearly audible despite the chaotic sound here, the vocals sound a bit similar to those of early Emperor, although more aggressive. At times I find similarities to both Morbid Angel and Lux Occulta in their music, but this is all mixed into the bands own sound and it's very interesting. It seems the bands in the Chilean Black Metal scene are getting better and better.

The only bad thing about this release is that here are only two tracks, an evil sounding intro and the title track.

Be sure to check out their upcoming 7", to be released sometime during 2004.

Tuesday June 8 2004, by :Vragh:

Isvind - 1994 - Isvind 7"

IThis is Norwegian Black Metal horde Isvind's first official release. Probably their strongest effort as well, with really great material. Presented on this 7" are three tracks, two of which are Black Metal
and one is a folk track. Isvind play harsh, mid-paced to fast and slightly melodic Black Metal in the vein of Darkthrone and Burzum, soundwise, also reminding me of Ulver at times, with vocals reminiscent of very early Emperor and Nattens Madrigal era Ulver. The music is actually very catchy, but without being silly.

The production is quite cold which gives a nice extra touch to the music. What's very refreshing is that Isvind actually has a very unique sound, a special atmosphere somehow, and all of the tracks here are really good. The folk track is the only one like it in their repertoire, but you do notice some folk music influences in the other tracks as well.

This is one of the classic releases in the scene, and not without reason, so be sure to try to get hold of this one. It is limited to 1000 copies, so it might be a bit hard to find, but it is well worth the effort.

Wednesday November 3 2004, by :Vragh:

Incursus - 2005 - Incursus 7"

American Black Metal act Incursus has released their first 7", containing two tracks plus an intro and an outro. Quite good, fast Black Metal is what we get on this black vinyl.

The mostly snarled vocals remind me of mostly of Spectre of Vultyr, with hints of a less highpitched
Maniac of Mayhem, Cerastes of Mysticum and Wrest of Leviathan (US).

The music reminds me of Vultyr and early Emperor with a bit of Thorns thrown in here and there.
This sounds like Norwegian Black Metal with a twist of USBM thrown in. Not bad!

The soundquality is slightly muffled, with a strangely bass oriented sound with a lot of treble in the
guitars. The drums are present, but a bit unclear and a bit at the back of the mix, with the vocals at the front and guitar in between. The bass is given a bit more space than is usually the case in Black Metal.

This is well above average Black Metal with a few surprises along the way. Of the two tracks "Black Burial" was the one that stood out slightly more. My only complaint with this release is that it was not a fullength. This is a band I will keep an eye on, for sure. Well worth checking out!

Wednesday October 15 2008, by :Vragh:

Grimm - 1993 - Nordisk Vinter 7"

Presented on this 7" by Norwegian Black Metal band Grimm are three tracks, including an intro, of mid-paced, slightly melodic and harsh Black Metal. The production is quite good, this does sound very much early '90ies, both when it comes to the music and the production.

The first track, "The Embrace of the Cold" sounds very similar to Carpathian Forest, which might not be such a big surprise, since Nattefrost handles the vocals here, and most of the bandmembers are in Carpathian Forest now. The second track, "Born in the Hands of Doom" is musically similar to
very early Emperor mixed with My Angel era Arcturus and some Metal influences added to that.

The only annoying thing here is the intro, "Darkest Depth", which unfortunately is too long, and not too good. This is the only thing that was released by Grimm. Well worth checking out. This release is included on the Carpathian Forest DVD We're Going to Hell for This - Live Perversions as bonus audiotracks, and as an added extra bonus the intro is not included here.

Monday November 1 2004, by :Vragh:

Frozen Shadows - 1999 - Dans les Bras des Immortels

Here we have the first album by Canadian Black Metallers Frozen Shadows, an album well worth to check out. Aggressive northern style Black Metal with keyboards that are not used excessively. I find traces of earlier Emperor, Marduk and Ulver as well as Gorgoroth here, but this album actually reminds me mostly of Enslaved's second album Frost, and the vocals are very similar to Grutle's Black Metal vocals on that album.

The music is mostly fast, with the occasional midpaced parts. The soundquality on this album is also very similar to that on Frost. You can clearly hear the drums and the vocals, the bass is a bit muffled and the guitars are slightly in the back of the mix. Some longer tracks are on this album, clocking in at around 8-9 minutes each. These Canadians have actually managed to catch some of the Northern spirit that usually just is not present on so many albums.

Be sure to also check out their recently released second album, Hantises.

Standout tracks are "Dans les Bras Des Immortels", "Au Seuil des Tenebres" and "Lunes Funebres".

Tuesday June 22 2004, by :Vragh:

Ewig Frost - 2003 - Forgotten Grimness Returns

Back in 2003 this Austrian Black Metal horde released this five track demo. What we get here is some really good oldschool Black Metal. The material on this demo sounds like it was produced back in 1992-94, reminding me a lot of Isvind and early Emperor, but with better soundquality. The overall feeling in the music is quite Nordic. It's good to hear that there are still bands out there capable of capturing the old sound.

The vocals are also somewhat similar to early Emperor, sounding at times like a slightly more highpitched version of the vocals on the Wrath of the Tyrant demo and the split with Enslaved.

The soundquality on this recording is clear, you hear the vocals, the somewhat fuzzy guitar and the drums without any effort, in the mix. There seems to have been two recording sessions on this demo, the last three tracks have a slightly more murky sound to them. If you find a copy of this demo I
strongly suggest that you buy it. Limited to 66 copies.

Standout tracks are "Die Brut", "Twisted Blood" and "Warlust".

Wednesday March 9 2005, by :Vragh:

Beastcraft - 2005 - Into the Burning Pit of Hell

Out of Norway comes this Black Metal horde with an album that is truly amazing. I haven't heard such raw power in a long time. The music is mid-paced to fast, and aggressive as Hell, reminding me of early Emperor due to the fuzzy sound. Some Urgehal can also be heard here. This has to be heard!

The hatefilled vocals sound like they have been recorded in a huge crypt. This is something that reminds me of the mid '90ies. The vocals have similarities to those by Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection (R.I.P), but with more distortion to them. Most excellent!

The production is abit filthy and dark, rather bassoriented and with such aggression! You hear the guitar and the bass most in the mix, followed by the vocals, and then the drums slightly further back. This is reminiscent of days of yore, when the bands weren't as plentiful, and actually had a message to deliver that wasn't all words and no action. The tracks are usually short and to the point, without being annoyingly short.

Standout tracks are "Enter the Chasm", "Burnt at His Altar", "Black Witchcraft", "Unholy Blood Ritual" and "Into the Burning Pit of Hell", with "Enter the Chasm" being one of the best Black Metal tracks ever recorded, along with Armagedda's "My Eternal Journey", Ildjarn's "Skogssvinet" and a few others.

Saturday October 21 2006, by :Vragh:

Ascaroth - 2005 - Emperor of Human Fears

Out of Sweden comes this Black Metal horde with a three track demo. Mostly mid-paced, but at times fast thrashing Black Metal with some serious groove here and there is what we get on this release. The music sounds very much like Swedish, slightly melodic Black Metal, really. Which it of course is.

The vocals remind me of early 1990ies Black Metal, mostly sounding like a raspier version of those by Ihsahn of Emperor.

The soundquality and production of this recording is quite clear. As good as many albums out there.

As stated earlier there are three tracks on this demo, which I actually find to be a bit insufficient. Two tracks of their own and a cover of Burzum's "War" is what we get, and I would have enjoyed this a lot more had there been two more tracks of their own on it. None the less, this is a good release from a rising horde. Well worth checking out.

Sunday January 15 by :Vragh: