ALKONOST – On the Wings of the Call CD review

ALKONOST – On the Wings of the Call CD
Einheit Productions

The Russian band ALKONOST, named after the Slavic goddess of death, play the type of pagan folk metal which is for genre connoisseurs and not your typical Paganfest slummers. Their music is epic and melodic consisting of heavy handed riffs and thunderous bass lines that could sit well with fans of Doom (yes there is a folk doom sub genre). Although there’s some keyboards and folk song structures, the pieces missing are the acoustic/folk instruments which are almost obligatory within the genre. That’s one thing which sets ALKONOST apart plus their ability to add a slight progressive metal style and yet keeping it within the pagan folk metal boundaries. Another part is the duel vocals with the male, bassist Alexey Solovyov, taking on the harsh thundering growls while the female, Alena Pelevina, are sung clean with a touch of the operatic. Speaking of Alena she has a beautiful voice but for some, aka: anyone who hates older NIGHTWISH or WITHIN TEMPTATION, the operatic vocals can be tough for most extreme metal fans to accept.

If you can get passed all of that and don’t mind songs sung in their native tongue then you’ll enjoy ALKONOST. On the Wings of the Call is their seventh full length and if I dare say most accessible to English speakers. The band is well known in their homeland as well as Eastern Europe but breaking out onto western audiences has yet to come. Since they are now on this German label they’re hoping things change. I’ve only been a fan for a few years now but once I heard their unique take on pagan folk metal I became an instant fan. The seven cuts on here are simple guitar driven melodies that owe more to the gothic progressive metal side of the aisle. The atmosphere is laid back with nothing that will drive one to jump out of their seat and shout. To me this is decent background music which would even be a delight to the shoegazer crowd. I like the way they keep the keyboards mostly in the background not to overwhelm the listener. It’s a hypnotic journy to the motherland.


www.einheit-produktionen.de/

ABIGOR – Time is the Sulphur on the Veins of the Saint CD review

ABIGOR – Time is the Sulphur on the Veins of the Saint CD
End All Life Productions

It’s sad to say but I only have two releases by this Austrian Black Metal institution and those are from the 90s. I haven’t heard anything of theirs in over ten years. As far as their older material well Channeling the Quintessence of Satan from 1999 was a swift industrial kick in the genre’s backside. My all out favorite Nachthymnen from 1995 is simply brutal and surpasses the simplicity of what the Norwegians had previously done. So when I pushed play and heard the newer ABIGOR my first thought was should I be wearing a black wig and high on some designer drug? The term “cyber black metal” was coined back in the 90s so it seems that ABIGOR have taken that aesthetic to another level. This makes DODHEIMSGARD sound tame in comparison.

Time is the Sulphur on the Veins of the Saint contains two long tracks running close to the twenty minute mark. They are simply designated as “Track I” and “Track II”. Actually you can hear multiple tracks spliced within each which then are tied together. Both cuts are layered with industrial/experimental intensities which push this into a chaotic mess. There’s some blackness buried under the eclectic acid jazz which is what most of their music consists of. I give credit to drummer Thomas Tannenberger for keeping things grounded and interesting. TT assaults with blast beats which run into complex jazz runs which reminds me of Bill Bruford. If it wasn’t for his pounding I would’ve drifted off in a hypnotic trance. Arthur Rosar’s vocals vary in style which is a complete change from the past. No more BURZUM-ish schrieking like their previous vocalists. Rosar spends most of the time howling like a ninety year old lady who still smokes two packs a day. Peter Kubik is still the Robert Fripp of Black Metal. At times he sounds as if he’s wearing metal gloves to achieve some of the more shrill noise.

There are two types of music. One is the stuff you actually enjoy listening to. The other is technically brilliant of the avant garde fair which you name drop to snobs but you never really listen to. This new ABIGOR release falls into the latter category. Years ago critics use to sing the praises of bands like ARTURUS and VIRUS for their advancements in progressing the Black Metal genre into an industrial waste pool with a KING CRIMSON rubber ducky. Probably the critics of today will be more in tuned to this than I since for them anything other than “plain o’l black metal” is the thing. As for me well it’s an interesting dink but I’m simply a Neanderthal now pardon me while I throw on some PROFANATICA.

www.e-a-l.com/

HEATHEN FORAY – Armored Bards CD review

HEATHEN FORAY – Armored Bards CD
Black Bards Entertainment

This Austrian band takes the Viking/Battle metal genre to a new level. On the opener, and title cut, their sound reminded me of AMON AMARTH and DRAGONFORCE sharing the same tour bus. They’ve got the melodic death part down with the six finger fret dancing guitar soloing and the growled vocals. Ah but then that’s followed by “The Blight” which is a page ripped from Metal’s classic past with pounding riffs for headbanging and a decent crowd joining chorus plus some melodic soloing. Hell yeah this is great! Fact is that HEATHEN FORAY adds alot of cool stuff to their sound that doesn’t touch on the usual pagan black motif. This is their sophomore release. I never heard their debut, The Passage, from last year so all I’m going on is how well they compare to their contemporaries. HEATHEN FORAY seemed to have grasped a sound that’s distinct from the pack. Along with the afore mentioned styles the band blends much more into the stew. Power Metal gets blended in along with typical Folk elements but never overwhelming or blatantly obvious homage’s. “Bifrost” is a perfect example of everything coming together and it’s also sung in German. “Messenger of God” is pretty straight up Melodic Death Thrash worthy of a pit while “Endless Sorrow” could almost be considered a soul crushing Doom ballad. Another standout track is “Hopfen & Matz” a rowdy folk number perfect for a bar fight. All in all HEATHEN FORAY cover the bases to make this a damm good release.

www.black-bards.de/

POLLUTION – Modern Warfare CD review

POLLUTION – Modern Warfare CD
EBM Records

This Serbian band’s brand of Thrash is pure paint by the numbers early California Bay Area sound. If you wanna hear the release that early EXODUS could have made then here you go. This is their debut but it’s part of EBM’s “Thrash is Back” series which is a few years late for the revival. Maybe no one told the band about it. Be that as it may Modern Warfare has eleven decent tracks but nothing which really grabs hold of you in 2010. That’s not to say it’s a bad release on the contrary they are quite good at recreating the past and that’s part of the Thrash Revival appeal. Maybe with this release some people will toss these guys into the “retro thrash” can and forget about em. I’m optimistic like I was with the all the bands from the Thrash Revival’s first wave. Who knows, they might come out with a killer sophomore effort. I hate to say it but I kinda like this more than the last EXODUS release.

www.ebmrecords.com/

KRIEG – The Isolationist CD review

KRIEG – The Isolationist CD
Candlelight Records

It’s safe to say that over the past decade USBM has come into its own respectfulness to the point where you won’t even hear a Norwegian snicker anymore. Although with a variety of styles going for it which has made it hard to nail down sub genres, the USBM scene can be separated into three categories. They are underground/cult, mainstream and hipster, which is a damm far cry from the days of kvlt, troo and false. KRIEG are thankfully of the former, the underground/cult, and hail from my birthplace of New Jersey, despite rumors to the contrary that I appeared out of the Black Forest circa 1318. Since the late nineties KRIEG, aka Lord Imperial and a revolving door of backing musicians, has been the most creative when it comes to putting out releases (full lengths, EPs and Splits) consistently. Although they’ve put out a few splits since, the last full length was 2006’s Blue Miasma which was something of a depressive departure from the band’s former brutality. Since then Lord Imperial has been constructing this new one in the hopes that it would raise some spirits, his and hopefully fans.

When I first learned that Candlelight Records was putting this out I thought it was a misprint. Nothing against Candlelight of course but it’s a step up for KRIEG and might imply a “comeback” of sorts. After a few blasts of The Isolationist I’d say it is, although what Lord Imperial has conjured up from the depths of his mind to display here is definitely sick and twisted, it’s also slightly polished. Even with the shine, The Isolationist is a great release as far as modern black metal standards go in 2010. It’s not as necro as say The Black House but that was 2003 and as much as I’m known to be a stickler against sweeping progressiveness, on here it’s not always the case. On “Photographs of the Asylum” there’s an unnerving sense of desolation and despair which harkens back to KRIEG’s past. It’s as if Lord Imperial is channeling painful past memories as an influence which drags the listener into the pit of violent despair. It’s definitely one of my favorite tracks on here. The song “Ambergeist” is another impressive track which starts off brutally horrific and ends with the black n roll style which was last touched upon on the Blue Miasma full length. “Depakote” is another captivating track that draws you in slowly as it starts off like a blackened doom of a snail’s crawl. Suddenly it switches to full on brutality with blasts intense enough to crack the lead paint on your walls. It then switches to some psyched out chamber of horrors bad trip only to revert back to the blasting then outro doom.

One good note about the polishing this has is that Lord Imperial sounds far more menacing with his vocals. Listening to the screams during “Blue of Noon”, with its added dread of a guitar tone, you could imagine a forest clearing itself of all wildlife out of fear. Not all is on here is dominated by pain. At times this does become an endurance test for those who expect more that blood curdling intensity. Some cuts like “Decaying Inhalations” and “All Paths to God” seem to drag on while the experimental doses of noise, ala “Remission” and “Religion III” sound like filler tracks. Be that as it may, just like past releases by KRIEG, this one is not to be shared but savored preferably late at night.

www.candlelightrecordsusa.com

HACAVITZ – Metztli Obscura CD review

HACAVITZ – Metztli Obscura CD
Moribund Records

If there’s one nation that tends to get overlooked when it comes to the Black and Death genre extremes it’s Mexico. Although their numbers as far as insane sounding bands go is small, almost everyone is on par with their contemporaries in other countries. HACAVITZ is one of these overlooked bands who I first got into back in 2007 with their Katun release. This latest one is just as good. In fact Metztli Obscura will scorch your ass worse than a screaming sphincter burrito from a Mexican gut truck. Yes I had to use a cheesy Mexican cuisine reference but atleast I didn’t mention black beans because I hate black beans. They’re disgusting. I might like my metal black but not my food and in some circumstances neighbors as well. But anyway, Blackened Death Metal is on the menu here with HACAVITZ, aka: Antimo on guitar, bass, vocals and Oscar on drums. Metztli Obscura is a step forward as far as writing incredibility infectious songs, nine of which are on here. It will shake you BM foundation with it’s all out attack. This is just all out anger with a better production job than their last one. Along with being a great guitarist Antimo’s vocals are down right vicious whether he’s in growl mode or screaming. Lyrically most songs are sung in English and Spanish but when he starts singing in some Aztec language this get cryptic. What NILE is to ancient Egypt, this duo is to the ancient Aztec.

www.moribundcult.com

BLOOD CULT – We are the Cult of the Plains CD review

BLOOD CULT – We are the Cult of the Plains CD
Moribund Cult

For those of you out there who feel the confines of Black Metal are too limiting and artists should be given limitless space to stretch the genre’s boundaries, I give you BLOOD CULT. Hailing from the fertile land of America’s Midwest this band incorporates country, bluegrass and a few other styles into the Black Metal formula. If this was released on some nondescript label I’d consider it a one off novelty act but it’s on Moribund which means it’s serious. Secondly this band has been around for years, having released over a dozen demos, a handful of comps and one official full length We Who Walk Behind the Rows from 2005. But it’s 2010 and a perfect year for the flat out ridiculous.

This dink starts off with some typically raw sounding BM with some added black n roll on “My Forest Home” from there the band takes things into directions which will make you cringe. “Devil’s Sabbath” delves into hippydom slightly which is nothing new but “Ludi Ceriales” takes things all the way to the Burning Man fest. From this point on the band rarely comes close to not sounding like a complete joke even when adding some VENTURES to the BM mix. I’m guessing this will likely be heralded by the “hate black metal” crowd as being new and innovative. The problem is that it’s really not new at all as far as novelty acts go. Black Metal meets Americana, big fuckin deal. I’ve heard alt-country bands do metal songs at a bar I once worked at and it was not enjoyable. Want more novelty band history, how about DREAD ZEPPLIN or BLACK VELVET FLAG? Those bands were once novelty acts which were heralded as genius until the novelty worn off. This band should just change their name to the GRATEFUL BLOOD and sign up with an Indie Rock label.

www.moribundcult.com