Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Age
This is quite an improvement from Ultima Thulee. It’s written and played with more intensity, and the production has become more focused on showcasing the band’s evil power. Also of note is that the keyboards have become more integrated into the rest of the music. I’m impressed.
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The Bluetones - Are You Blue or Are You Blind?
The only even remotely interesting thing about this Oasis-sounding wimp-Rock is the blue swirl vinyl, and looking at that ceases to be interesting after about 3 seconds.
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Blot Mine - Kill for Inner Peace
Sometimes I’m impressed by how well a demo is produced. This is one such case. I was going to say that it’s especially important, since this is a Black Metal band, and often they (or maybe used to) have poor production on purpose. But then I noticed the lyrics which don’t seem to have much to do with Satan (they’re mostly about death), and so even though musically this is fast-paced melodic Black Metal, I’m not sure that description really fits 100%, and actually that’s cool.
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Bloodlet - Entheogen
The Victory label is well known for quality Hardcore, and Bloodlet is certainly no exception to that. However, they do incorporate some slower tempos and an untraditionally heavy guitar tone into their sound. I think these things help to give them an individual sound, but some may be put off by such “innovations.”
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Blazemth - Fatherland
This band’s For Centuries Left Behind EP was hard to beat, but it has been done. This has a thicker production, but is still total darkness - Black Metal more or less in the way of Emperor, with haunting keyboards. They also inject a touch more Death Metal into their old coffin spirit than do the aforementioned masters. This has produced a very worthy follow-up to their debut EP, but let’s have a full length already!
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Blackmail - A Female Impersonator
Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger springs to mind as I listen to this, but it’s a little more varied than I remember that album (it’s been a while since I’ve spun that one), maybe with a touch of Danzig (the first LPs), and perhaps King’s X. For what they’re trying to do, this is probably great, and they are talented musicians, but this is honestly not a style that much appeals to me. But maybe if there had been more than four songs to convince me.
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The Black - Black Blood
Although The Black play pretty standard new-wave Black Metal, they wisely keep the songs short - less than 3 minutes - so that they are always at maximum intensity. And it is easier to remember shorter songs. Their use of keyboards is very effective, especially in the excellent “The Goat of Mendes,” and this also helps them create a unique identity. These things, combined with the superbly tortured vocals of Rietas, raise this band above the competition, and give them a fairly individual sound.
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Black Tape for a Blue Girl - Remnants of a Deeper Purity
Seventy-six minutes of melancholy Gothic Ambient so depressing that you’d probably kill yourself if you listened to it all at once. This makes My Dying Bride sound like the Beach Boys, in terms of how gloomy it is. The mixing of male and female vocals reminds me somewhat of Dead Can Dance, but since I (unfortunately) have a rather small frame of reference for this type of music, that’s only to be expected. I recommend that all devotees of dismal and joyless music give Black Tape for a Blue Girl a listen.
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Bile - Teknowhore
This album takes a couple listens to really understand. These guys take a lot of aggression, some heavily distorted guitars, and add all kinds of electronics to get their interesting crossover sound. Imagine KMFDM on steroids trying their level best to emulate Slayer, while expanding their traditional Industrial style. It’s normally an intense listen (much more so than their debut, Suckpump), but sometimes drags a bit. The final track is perhaps more experimental than the rest, going from Ambient to Noise - I’m tempted to say, by way of Death. Fans of hard Industrial, or those looking for something new, but still fairly brutal, would be well advised to check this out.
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