I wouldn’t call this band Doom Metal at all. More like self-pity with fits of music. Very melodic songs stuffed with heavy guitars and strange keyboard tones. The odd thing is that it all fits together to make a very cohesive release. The band is good at arranging the parts for each song. The only thing that distracts me is the vocalist. He growls, he screams, he wails, he sounds like a hollow banshee. It’s not very compatible with the rest of the music in most places. Not horrible but I think I would listen to something else.

Weird acid dreams washed up onto the shores of desolation. The suffocating insanity of deep space dementia. Hypnotic swarms of pulsating bass with real grooves, pushing their way up through interstellar damnation. Or, as Lemmy might say “a fucking black nightmare.” And, no I’m not talking about Hawkwind. Blood of the Dragon very wisely avoid the one thing that would have likely done them in - vocals. This all instrumental disc engulfs the listener in a subdued storm of multi-layered aural delights, and is not to be missed.

From the initial spoken-word seconds of the first track, I knew that this was going to be a classic. I would quote from the lyrics here, but I’d really have to quote the whole album. These bastards are nice and pissed off about everything, and I couldn’t agree more. Their thick, heavy Hardcore sometimes reminds me a bit of Retaliation era Carnivore, and other times of early Sick of It All (and a little early Suicidal Tendencies on the track “Shut My Eyes Forever”), and exactly matches the intensity of the lyrics and traditional gruff HC vox, while being very well played and catchy at the same time. Victory Records has put out some excellent Hardcore in the last few years, but Blood for Blood are in the elite of even the Victory roster.

“Dark and depressive Gothic Art Metal.” Oh man, what’s next? Can’t anyone think of a way to be “dark” that does not involve vampires, or supposedly romantic “Gothic sexuality.” And I just don’t see how this is “Metal” in any way. I’m not sure there are even guitars on this album. It’s all very friendly synths over top of simple drums and bass. I’m sure they think the spoken-word vocals are plenty “dark,” but really they’re just low-pitched and buried in the mix. Maybe I don’t understand stuff like this, but it just puts me right to sleep. And I mean that in the bad way.

This is the second release of the controversial Blood Axis, a band that has been associated with Nazi ideology and racism by more than a few PC fascists out there. Of course, given the imagery and such, it’s easy to believe that they are just your run of the mill skinhead Industrial act. This CD does nothing to dispel that image, beginning with a speech by British Fascist leader, Oswald Mosley. The production on this is fucking incredible for a live recording. The music is very repetitive but has a certain militaristic feeling. The band also incorporates some Celtic influenced Folk bits into their music and it really adds to their sound. The strange thing about this “live recording” is the fact that you can’t hear the audience at all. Between songs, you get howling wolves in the distance, but no people. Regardless of their political ideology, I like this band. Hopefully, they will be able to actually play live here in San Francisco, but after the PC fascists (one of the protesters had a sign that said “no free speech for fascists” - what a bunch of hypocrites!) ruined things, I doubt that they’ll come back.

Last Episode has once again surprised me by finding yet another talented Black Metal act that isn’t afraid to throw in something different. Admittedly, adding Folk elements (accordion, mandolin, violin and acoustic guitar), female vocals and such isn’t something that’s new, but Black Messiah has managed to produce an album that hints at other bands (such as Cradle of Filth and Emperor), but really sounds like nobody else. The lyrics on this are totally Satanic, and Zagan manages to be coherent enough so that even though there aren’t any lyrics printed in the booklet, you can figure out what most of the songs are about. Besides, with song titles like “Crusade of the Blackened,” “Diabolic Rites,” and “Queen of Darkness,” you really don’t have to guess that these guys follow the left-hand path.

Supposedly this band’s drummer was taught by Satan. That counts for something in my book. Anyway, BM play mid-to-fast paced technical (you won’t believe some of the solos) Death Metal, and I’ll bet they have sick lyrics - the vox are too raw to understand, which is good, but there’s no lyric sheet, which is sort of bad. The sound is passable, and the conviction is super high. Plus, there can be no doubt that any band with a song called “Raped & Killed (But Not in That Order)” is cool.

Give me a fucking break. I hate it when some jerkoff like Mikey Ford tries to pass off this supposedly “ambient” bullshit as music - oh, excuse me all to Hell, I mean “musick.” This is the most talentless, worthless thing I have ever heard. And also the most hilarious! This makes Abruptum sound like they knew what they were doing. I can’t believe that anyone thinks that this is “evil” or “dark.” It’s just Mr. Ford, his $26 Casio keyboard, a picture of some chick, and maybe three hours by himself, thinking how smart he is to be ripping off all the fucking morons who will believe that this is actually “An experiment in sonic magick.” I wish I had the necessary space to print the entire press release - it’s an awesome work of propaganda and bullshit. And normally I wouldn’t comment on someone’s photo, since these reviews aren’t meant to be taken personally, but it seriously looks like Mike is in the late stages of AIDS decay. I guess I don’t totally blame him for stealing the money of anyone stupid enough to buy this, since he apparently needs the cash for AZT, but how can he keep a straight face about it?

After various detours, changes and having experienced all the ups and downs of the music business, finally Bifrost have come up with a third album. Both their previous CDs had been on the infamous Nazgul’s Eyrie Productions and have thus been widely ignored by the Metal press. Now they seek their fortune with a release on their own label, Hammerheart Records. I was afraid they might have fallen prey to the ”Gothenburgh trend” with all its happy melodies but it didn’t happen and even the adding of a keyboard player didn’t do any harm, but added another dimension without noticeably watering down their original sound. The vocals are somewhere between early Skyclad and hysterical Macabre and are less one-dimensional than in the past. I’m not really sure if I like every vocal trick Guido did, but it´s surely original, so what the fuck. I honestly admit I was prepared to rip this CD to shreds, but I like it and so will you. Welcome back Bifrost!