SECRETS OF THE MOON – Privilegivm CD Review

SECRETS OF THE MOON – Privilegivm CD
Prophecy Productions/Lupus Lounge Records

SECRETS OF THE MOON break away from what people would traditionally consider the German Black Metal style. I’m not going to get into that description but after doing some background work I come to find out that this band has been tagged as (choose one) Progressive, Post Black Metal or Avant-Garde. Since this is my first time checking out one of their releases I have nothing to go on as far as their past work. I will say that after a few spins of Privilegivm I’m of the belief that these Germans are definitely swimming in the deep dark end of the blackened pool. During the early part of Black Metal’s second wave there never was a definitive sound per say. You had so many bands experimenting with the genres new found freedom. If there was one thing which they all had in common, to an extent, was a foundation in creating a crushing sound. SECRETS OF THE MOON, who I now know started in the 90s, has that part down and simply adds to it giving each cut on here variety. So for the listener this is not just music but a listening experience or for those of you perplexed, their songs are long. Privilegivm is over an hour’s journey into a world with no joy but plenty of pain, misery and doom.


http://www.prophecy.cd/

FUNERAL GOAT – Mass ov Perversion CD Review

FUNERAL GOAT – Mass ov Perversion CD
Daemon Worship Productions

For those of you who are regular readers of Scumfeast Metal, and frankly who isn’t, then you know that I have a sick & twisted perversion for bands with the word “goat” in their name. Not that I’m weird or sexually attracted to the creatures. The fact is that the goat is the anti-animal to the lamb, plus it has horns. But anyway I got into this band last year drawn by the goat moniker but it’s the music which held me in complete appreciation. When Dutch Black Metal band SAURON called it quits in 2008, their bassist HerrAIDS and drummer Ludas still had plenty of hate flowing through their veins. Naturally they teamed up to create FUNERAL GOAT with HerrAIDS taking on the guitar and vocal duties. This, their debut release, is not a continuation of SAURON but instead it’s something more on the lines of primitive satanic Black Metal and they do worship the goat, “Kiss the Goat”. Of the thirteen cuts on Mass ov Perversion most are short blasts of frenzied slash and burn black hatred with the exception of songs like the opener “Praise the Beast”, “Conjuration” and “Communion ov the Blacklord”. Also the duo isn’t afraid to add a little outside of the genre touches like on “Conjuration” where they slip into Doom mode or “Essence ov Impiety” where they kick out some Black & Roll ala DODSFERD. Sound wise Ludas’ pounding drums are the commanding element on here. HerrAIDS guitar sound is akin to a dentist’s drill possessed and his vocals are more like barks that alternate between typical harsh screams and deathlike grunts. Obviously this is not for any fans of the post-Black Metal hippie stuff. Think more on the lines of a more blasphemous version of HELLHAMMER which to me sounds perfect.


www.daemonworship.org

CANIS DIRUS – A Somber Wind from a Distant Shore CD Review

CANIS DIRUS – A Somber Wind from a Distant Shore CD
Moribund Records

There’s so much BURZUM influence on here that I believe this Minnesota duo would elect Varg Vikernes as governor of their state. FARGO in corpse paint this is not although I can dream can’t I? CANIS DIRUS are just another one of those bands that believes the world would be a better place with less humans walking upon it. So what better label to release their debut on than Moribund who are in my not so humble opinion the best label around for pure no bullshit underground Black Metal. Even though the label’s corral of bands performing similar styled music is rather full there’s always room for more hate. A Somber Wind from a Distant Shore is an incredible piece of work which really submerges the listener in waves of slow tremolo picked distortion. It’s the feeling of being drowned in one of their state’s beautiful thousand lakes. The opening intro is titled “Choking and Drowning” so go figure. Technically this has just four official cuts with a short intro and outro. Although the atmosphere on here conveys alot of anger and disgust there’s almost of sense of sadness and regret. CANIS DIRUS means “dire wolf” and in many ways this could be the wails of nature after being betrayed by its tenant, humanity. If that’s too philosophical for ya oh well. Great Atmospheric Black Metal can be very thought provoking.

CANIS DIRUS, aka: TMP – all instruments and RH – vocals, are not just two misanthropic kids in a basement studio going through Ritalin withdrawal, placing their feelings of nerdish indifference and lack of sex onto a depressive Black Metal template. There’s a true Pagan/Heathen mindset going on here which is worse than some spooky nightmare, its reality. The vocals convey tragedy and betrayal which are set within the ambient soundscapes. It’s like standing at the shore of a lake and hearing the screams from the other side echoing across the distance. Yes it’s out there in pain and misery and it could be headed your way. That’s not something that dreams are made of, that is fuckin reality. This effect is driven home when the rhythm subsides into acoustic passages that are intertwined with lead guitar workings. Once again there’s a water reference like being thrown into a cold lake. It’s that shock of a wake up call which occurs often on here in between the vice grip tension of repetitive rhythms which make this worthwhile.

www.moribundcult.com

FORGERY – Harbouring Hate CD Review

FORGERY – Harbouring Hate CD
Candlelight Records

Irony, it’s like being hit up side the head with an iron and going “Whatafuck”? So I just did a review about a new Thrash Revival band in which I cited my disgust with post Thrash bands like MACHINE HEAD. So what’s next in the stack from Candlelight Records? Wow it’s a carbon copy of 90’s era post Thrash pre Groove Metal from Oslo, Norway, although this could’ve come outta California and you wouldn’t know the difference. I thought third rate PANTERA copycats from my area of the country were bad enough. This reminds me of back in the 90s when I’d hear stuff like this and say, “If this is what Metal has become then I hate Metal”. Guess what, FORGERY is not a new band either. According to their bio they originally started out in the 90s as a heavy Thrash band. But for some untold reason they put the band on hold until now. So this is their actual debut full length which sounds like 90’s era MACHINE HEAD and to some extent FEAR FACTORY, who I never liked either. I always thought of this as Metal which guys secretly hated but since chicks dug it and the guys wanted to get laid, well there you go.

www.candlelightrecords.com

HAVOK – Burn CD review

HAVOK – Burn CD
Candlelight Records

Colorado’s HAVOK are the embodiment of all the cool things about Thrash. This, their debut, is proof that there’s plenty of life left in a genre that creates music this fun as well as aggressive. These riffs were made for headbanging and slam pit action. They even find some room to throw in melodies and technical leads to charm connoisseurs, snobs and wannabe know it alls. It’s kinda funny that just a month ago I was telling a friend that this Thrash Revival, which I’ve always supported, was on its last legs as far as bands putting out quality releases. Thankfully I was wrong and in this band’s case being wrong ain’t a bad thing. Even though this is the band’s debut full length HAVOK have been around for five years and have a demo plus a few EP releases under their bullet belts. From what I can see the band has been playing these cuts on Burn for a while now. It’s a shame that this has just come out recently because after one listen you’ll place HAVOK on the same pedestal with other Thrash Revival acts like MUNICIPAL WASTE, TOXIC HOLOCAUST and WARBRINGER. Also like those mentioned bands, HAVOK doesn’t bring much to the genre that one would consider fresh but then who the fuck cares, right? It’s Thrash dammit! It’s supposed to get your blood flowing, throw your mind into berserker mode and express jerky motions in public. If I wanted forward thinking music I’d play some Post Rock boredom and then slit my fuckin wrists. So to all the snobs out there who will listen to this and then scream “I hear TESTAMENT or I hear METALLICA”, I got a big Fuck You to your faces. Both of those bands today only wish they could come up with songs like “Ivory Tower”, “The Root of Evil” or the closing monster of a cut “Afterburner”. Sure they had their salad days and no one disputes that fact. TESTAMENT is still putting out decent stuff. I don’t wanna even talk about those other guys. But the fact is that bands like HAVOK bring back that glory of old without being an all out cover sounding band like TRIVIUM or some post Thrash era wank like MACHINE HEAD. This is a worthy addition to your Thrash Revival CD collection which could sit proudly next to the past greats.

www.candlelightrecords.com

IMPETUOUS RITUAL – Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescense CD review

IMPETUOUS RITUAL – Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescense CD
Profound Lore Records

You gotta love a release that comes with an inner sleeve which unfolds into an inverted cross. With that said listening to this is like being lost in the Australian outback with no water but you do have an Ipod that only plays THORR’S HAMMER and BESTIAL WARLUST on shuffle and for substance you’ve ingested their local variety of peyote. What the Hell did I get myself into with this one? Oh yeah I remember now since this act contains two members of the Australian band PORTAL. Obviously those dingo-men hybrids didn’t care for the review I gave their release last December. So now we have this, their side project (?) which they find me wondering around in the outback aimlessly tripping my balls off and proceed to tear me limb from limb like the ravished dingo-men they are. The last words I scream of course are, “More Fuckin Cowbell”.

Whereas I considered PORTAL as overhyped dingo shit, this thing is more in line to what I’d consider greatness in the most sick and twisted of fashions. The music on here is like a huge gaping maw waiting to devour you and a thousand other as of yet unidentified souls. Whatafuck is influencing these Aussie musicians in order to come up with something as insane as this? Its reverb induced Death Metal & Doom which is so fuckin brutal that’ll it will make those bands from South America put the bones back in their noses and go back to living in the fuckin jungles. No wonder the water in their toilets turns to the left because this is the true (TROO?) music of Hell. When their songs creep along its like being dragged across a floor of up turned ten penny nails very slowly. Then it gets worse because when they speed things up its like being shocked by electrical cords ripped from broken lamps and then getting the golden shower treatment. Although not in that specific order of course, trust me I know.

This came out late in 2009 which sucks because it would’ve been at the top of my year end faves which is why I hold out in naming them till the first week of January. But like everyone else in the fucking Metal media we’re getting it now and I’m behind everyone else as usual. Still though Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescense blows everything I thought was great in 2009 outta the way. To me this is a milestone in Extreme Metal which also means you cannot come from behind and try to copy it. If you did then you would obviously look like a buffoon if not a blatant copycat. I also give props to Profound Lore because they are one of the few labels out there in Extreme Music which literally forces people like me to actually listen closely and think about what I write whether I like it or not. In the case of this release by IMPETUOUS RITUAL, I have to get up from the fuckin floor.

www.profoundlorerecords.com