Shortly after reviewing Necrodaemon Terrorsathan, I received the Mercenary Musik reissues of Belphegor’s first 2 albums. Thank you, Mercenary! The Last Supper, the band’s first album [originally released in 1995 -Editor], is a chaotic onslaught of Blackened Death Metal with a raw (not underproduced) sound. The music seems to fuse American-styled Brutal Death Metal with Australian War/Black Metal for a full-on bloody blast-fest. The fast pace rarely lets up and the aggressive attack never falters. Those of you looking for lofty keyboard-drenched atmosphere or melodic rhythms would be advised to look elsewhere.

Azarath hails from Poland and play Death Metal. Having heard that, I’m sure that you’re probably guessing that they sound a whole lot like Vader. To tell you the truth, a lot of Death Metal bands from Poland do, in fact, sound a whole Hell of a lot like Vader does. Azarath, however sounds more like old Florida style Death Metal a-la Morbid Angel or Deicide. In a way, they sound a lot like other bands that try to copy that style. This could easily have been an album by Sadistic Intent or Belphegor, for example. You have guttural low growling, higher pitched shrieks, down-tuned guitars, blasting drums and enough brutality to constitute a mass murder. Originality? None here, pal. This is almost by the numbers Florida Death Metal - only from Poland instead of Tampa. The difference between Belphegor or Sadistic Intent and Azarath is that those two bands have at least taken the sound and added a little something here and there, then dosing it up with the right amount of Hellish feeling. Azarath has the sound and some of the feeling but really, this isn’t any different than the other stuff on the market from better bands. I have about a dozen albums of this already and though I did enjoy it, I’m forced to deduct points due to unoriginality. That and the pointless “atmosphere” piece in the middle. Folks, anybody can take an old recording of “Rule Britannia” and dub some screaming woman’s voice and the sounds of someone sharpening a knife over it. The difference is that only a few people can make it go somewhere. This piece is just pointless. It doesn’t add but rather detracts from the whole feeling of the album. David Horn from S.O.D. magazine would probably be hailing this as a masterpiece, but cookie cutter Death Metal doesn’t do it for me anymore. You have to give me something more substantial. Had this come out 8 years ago, I might have been more impressed, but not today. I’ll still buy their next release when it comes out, but to quote that guy on the Food Channel, they have to “kick it up another notch.”

This has nothing to do with the black!

The least Metal of these three reissues [This one, plus In the Flowers Shade and In Nomine Noctis. -Editor], Fetish sounds like a cut-rate Switchblade Symphony, or whatever, with (occasional) guitars. There are still some parts that I like (elements of “Homini Noctis,” for example), but overall this is getting too far away from anything that I care about, and into the realm of what might be called Electronica.

“By supporting Armagedda you support the death of yourself, your family and your friends. Armagedda wants you dead.” Have you ever heard such moronic, childish bullshit in your entire life? That’s like saying, “We hate our fans and we don’t want you to buy our CD.” Maybe the band wants you to download MP3 versions of all of their music instead of purchasing it at the store? That way, you could listen to the music but at the same time, not support Armagedda. Musically, this band sounds a whole lot like Darkthrone with a bit of Dissection and a raw enough sound to give them some punch where it counts. Of all of the bands on Breath of Night, this band has to be the most generic (in terms of songwriting), but at the same time, you can tell that they have that Black Metal feeling in their music. One thing I noted is that though there are a total of eight songs on this album, the inlay only had lyrics for three. Why this is the case is beyond me. I will state clearly that two of the three songs had shitty lyrics and that “A” (the bassist. Yes, it’s just the letter “A” - kind of like “D” the Vampire Hunter) has a better command of the English language than Graav. Musically, this is pretty kick ass Black Metal in the older Norse way and though there are a lot of unintentionally funny bits in their inlay, they do deliver the goods when it comes to intense old-school Black Fucking Metal with no frills. Not the most original band but worth what you’re going to pay for their album - or the time it takes you to download their album off the Internet.

I get the feeling Arkona just didn’t have the money to do this album the way they wanted to do it. Either that or they so desperately want to keep their “underground” status that they couldn’t bear to clean things up a bit more. Zeta Reticuli has a slightly raw sound and the whole album was mastered at a low volume so you really have to crank it to hear stuff clearly. The keyboards and clean vocals are used mainly as a garnish as the guitars are the most prominent instrument. There are a lot of good ideas on this CD that make Zeta Reticuli something that you can listen to without getting bored halfway through it. It doesn’t have a whole lot of originality as all of these ideas have been done before. The good thing is that Arkona executes these things well and the resulting music is definitely a cut above average. If you like your Black Metal in the old Norse style (like early Dimmu Borgir or split CD era Emperor), Arkona is definitely your cup of tea. Just remember to turn your stereo down after you finish listening to this album because the CD you throw on next may just blow the glass out of every window in your neighborhood.

This was a very difficult album for me to review simply because this is not at all the type of music I normally listen to. And, for that matter, this is not music the average reader of Metal Curse would likely listen to, either. Arise from Thorns plays somewhat Folk-influenced Melodic Rock with dreamy melodies and Pop sensibilities. Imagine, if you will, a much lighter version of The Gathering minus the metallic edge. This band does have a lot going for it though. Keyboard-driven atmospheres combine with acoustic guitar melodies to create interesting, varied-tempo songs that have a certain catchiness to them. Singer Michelle Loose has a lovely and enchanting voice, and her vocals breathe vibrant life into the 14 tracks on Before an Audience of Stars. No complaints on the production. Everything sounds very well done. Michelle’s vocals complement the music perfectly, never overwhelming it. Proper restraint was used with the keyboards as well. They never become so loud in the mix as to drown out anything else in the music. All in all, Arise from Thorns is a talented band that knows how to write good music. Although I did find the music to be soothing, this is just not my cup of tea. However, those of you looking for something a little different might want to give this a try.

Awful production: muddy, low, hissy. I can’t stand that shit. I also can’t stand it when bands ask you to review their vinyl LP with “gatefold cover and killer artwork,” but what you get is a shitty dub tape with a photocopied piece of paper insert. With these two strikes against them, the music here would have to be pretty fucking awesome to salvage a respectable review. No chance. This is more of that symphonic, trollish, avant-garde Black Metal that was an original idea seven years ago. Or at least I think so. The production is so ridiculously bad that it’s hard to make anything out but wanker keyboard arrangements and Popeye talking. This gets about ½ of a motion light going on the stereo and it seriously sounds like it’s coming from the house two blocks down rather than out of my speakers. “Majestic opus” my ass!

Thrashy Death Metal, with some melancholic overtones. That statement brings the first Desultory album to mind, but this really a different approach to more or less the same idea. And then there are badly done “clean” vocals… I wish that people would just stop trying to do what they can’t. But, that might make this sound worse than it really is, because actually it’s pretty good.