Bloodthorn - Onwards into Battle
Welcome to part two of the Bloodthorn saga. Onwards into Battle continues the story started on Bloodthorn’s first release In the Shadow of Your Black Wings. This is the story of a mighty king who leads his faithful army to war against an unfathomable evil, which dwells within Tower Bloodthorn. This story is presented in the form of a masterpiece of symphonic Black Metal the likes of which you’ve never heard before. From the opening track, Bloodthorn draws you in and floods your senses with a whirlwind of cascading guitar melodies, raspy Black Metal vocals, thundering drums, and atmospheric keyboard passages. Ethereal female vocals drift into the music to add a haunting yet beautiful dimension. Each aspect of the music seems to enhance another. For instance, the guitars and keyboards complement one another instead of one overwhelming the other. The male and female vocals blend quite well. And neither the drums nor the bass are buried in the production. Each instrument is produced with striking clarity. There’s really no point in trying to compare Bloodthorn to any other band. I’ve never heard anything quite like this; it’s more than just mere music. This is a listening experience that will stay with you long after the music stops. The saga doesn’t end with Onwards into Battle, there are yet more tales to be told…
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Blood Storm - Pestilence from the Dragonstar
Well, this is a clear improvement over their debut, The Atlantean Wardragon. Bloodstorm has sort of controlled their earlier Black Metal chaos, but there is still plenty of speed and intensity here. However, there is also somewhat of an older, raw feeling to this recording, which I like.
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Blood for Blood - Livin’ in Exile
Although just as good as the above-reviewed album [Revenge on Society -Editor], this does seem to be somewhat less heavy, perhaps a touch more Punk Rock influenced, and so maybe even more catchy, somehow. And the singer reminds me of Billy Milano, which I think is cool. Plus, their Motorhead cover (“Ace of Spades”) is included, although it’s not mentioned anywhere.
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Blo.Torch - Blo.Torch
Blo.Torch? Have we really used up all the good band names? You’d think that a group this good could have thought of something better to call themselves. I don’t know what the band name and album cover had me expecting (a terrible New Wave Industrial Pantera hybrid piece of shit, most likely), but this quality Death/Thrash absolutely wasn’t it. Okay, they have their weaker moments, complete with sissified vocals, such as the third song, “King of Karnage,” but for the most part, this isn’t bad at all. Certainly not amazing, though.
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The Bleeding Light - The Bleeding Light
This is a pretty harsh combination of Industrial and Metal, but it’s not really like anything I’ve heard before. They might have things plodding along all distorted with some crunchy riffs over top of it, and then just fade that out, and let acoustic guitars take over. Or maybe some horror movie soundtrack kind of background stuff could give way to crushing riffs and screams, which then is taken over by more straightforward songwriting for a little while, which slowly builds away from that to a million other things at once. But somehow they make it all work, which would have to be really difficult to accomplish. Bethlehem try to do this, but in a less Industrial setting, and don’t do anywhere nearly as good a job of it. Maybe the wasteland of Industrial sounds is what stitches this monster together, I’m not sure, but however they manage it, this is an engaging listen, but I’m not sure how often I’ll be playing it.
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Black Witchery - Summoning of Infernal Legions
The sound quality was the first thing to impress me, but when these blasphemers broke out their acoustic guitars halfway through the first song (of two), I took notice once more, having previously been somewhat lost in the speedfest up to that point. Not bad at all, and I’ll be waiting to see what they can do with more than two songs.
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Beherit / Archgoat - Messe des Morts / Angelcunt
This is a split CD of two of Necropolis Records’ earliest releases. For those of you who don’t remember seeing this stuff on your local record store’s CD racks, these two were originally released only on vinyl and are both long since out of print. The Messe des Morts EP was one of Holocausto’s earlier works with Beherit, only incorporating some of the Industrial influence that marked later Beherit albums. The production is raw and fuzzy, sounding almost like complete shit but with a little polish. The music is awful, and about as chaotic as you can get while still maintaining some Industrial elements. The Archgoat segment of this CD is a bit longer (it was a 10-inch instead of a 7-inch) and not quite as chaotic. This is clearly underproduced raw-as-fuck Black Metal in the older way, but with Death growls instead of the “getting a large, violent animal shoved up my ass” screams that are so much a part of raw Black Metal these days. The music is sort of like a slower version of Darkthrone during the A Blaze in the Northern Sky era but with a little keyboard work to add some atmosphere. Face it folks, this CD is a retrospective look at the Black Metal scene back in the “older days” and should not be treated as anything else. These two recordings aren’t classics by any stretch of the imagination. If you have the vinyl and love the bands, then this is a worthy buy. If you expect something great, prepare to be disappointed.
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Beherit - The Beast of Beherit: Complete Worxxx
This is a “Best of…” compilation CD that features tracks from most of Beherit’s releases. Notable in their absence are any tracks from the first album. The older, chaotic-as-fuck Black Metal material is represented, however, by various demo and 7-inch tracks as well as live and rehearsal tracks from that era. I guess with the first album being re-released by Metal Bastard (or bootlegged by them), the folks at Spinefarm felt that there was really no need to release that material. This CD offers a wide cross-section of songs, ranging from lo-fi chaotic as fucking hell Black Metal to Techno/Industrial Satanic shit with some other strangeness thrown in as well. I wasn’t much of a fan of Beherit’s work (though I did like some of their stuff), but I did find this to be an interesting look at the evolution of Holocausto’s work. This one is for fans of the band only as this isn’t really going to convert anyone.
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Battle Heart - Return of the Ancient Knight
Formerly known as 5 B Hated, back when they were somewhat more Thrashy, Battle Heart is trying with these 4 cuts to reproduce the sounds of Traditional Metal, and they mostly do an okay job. But every now and then the vocals seem to be a little too high and thin. A little more work in that department, and they’ll be all set, since the music is 99% just fine.
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