Beyond Dawn - Revelry
This is a lot less Metal than I remember Pity Love being, but after hearing this, I wonder if I’m just remembering it wrong. They try their best to be “dark” and “Gothic,” but I’m not sure that horns are the way to do that. Revelry isn’t dark. It isn’t majestic. It isn’t even interesting. Simply put, this is an irritating and failed attempt to be different.
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Between the Frost - Instinct of Surliness
Fast Black Metal with keyboards. Not exactly inspirational stuff (except maybe the cover art, which depicts the Old Goat watching the son of dog burning on the cross), but still pretty good.
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Bethzaida - LXXVII
The press release asks if these guys are “Norway’s answer to Voivod.” Not bloody likely. But what they are is still pretty damn good, and even somewhat original, Death Metal that ranges from melodic to raw. And certainly very memorable throughout.
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Bethlehem - Reflektionen auf’s Sterben
In trying to be “progressive” and “original,” Bethlehem now only succeed in being pretentious and generally boring. Bethlehem really lost me on their last album, and this is a continuation of that directionless nonsense. There are still excellent elements embedded here and there, but as soon as I start to really like something, it stops and some chick starts screeching, or some other goofiness happens. I’m sure a lot of people think that is really “extreme” and “evil,” but I’d rather hear something I could remember.
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Bethlehem - Sardonischer Untergang im Zeichen Irreligioser Darbietung
Just as dark as their other two CDs, but not as Metal. This is just weird. I’m tempted to say “experimental,” but I think that you have to at least have some idea of what you want to do for that to be true. It sounds as if Bethlehem are getting tired of being a Metal band and are trying as many new things as they can think of. For example, they’ll get a song started, and really be kicking ass, then just stop and have someone scream for a little while. Maybe it’ll simply take more plays (this came in very close to the deadline for this issue) for me to fully “get” what they’re doing, or perhaps they don’t get it, either.
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Beseech - ...from a Bleeding Heart
Heavy, depressing dirges, with some female vocals…
[Metal Curse #11 had an additional loose page (“Last Second Additions”) inserted into the centerfold of the zine, featuring a bunch of even-shorter-than-usual “bonus” reviews of stuff that arrived after the deadline for that issue. This is one of those “Last Second Additions” reviews.]
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Benediction - Grind Bastard
It’s not too often that I hear an album with two cover songs on it, but when one of ‘em is as ass kicking as this version of Twisted Sister’s classic “Destroyer,” I guess I can live with it - even if the other one (Judas Priest’s “Electric Eye”) is sort of less great (still okay, though). As far as the rest of this LP is concerned, it’s sort of far from being brutal, and not really Death Metal anymore (much less Grind), but honestly all these songs are memorable, and despite its lack of intensity, I do enjoy listening to this quite a bit, and can growl along with all the songs. I would have liked this more if Benediction didn’t sound as if they are reigning themselves in so much of the time, but as you can see, it couldn’t have been much more.
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Behemoth - Pandemonic Incantations
Poland’s Behemoth return once more with their own particular brand of Black Metal. Unlike their previous album, this one is more straight forward. There are, however, still quite a few atmospheric elements (acoustic guitars, keyboards, etc.) here and there, they are just not as prominent as in their last album. After the intro is over, this one kicks you in the face with some high speed, brutal Black Metal that is both epic and destructive - often at the same time. This CD also comes in some really excellent packaging - digipak format with great artwork and layout. One to look out for.
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Battlelust - Of Battle and Ancient Warcraft
I already reviewed the original Hammerheart version of this album last issue [Metal Curse #11 -Editor], but I wanted to raise the fist to Pavement for releasing this raw, intense Black Metal domestically. Cheers!
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