I don’t know what causes so many people in the East Bay (across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco, for those not from the Bay Area) to want to play Doom-infused Metal (Doom/Death, Black/Doom, etc.), but there seems to be a lot of bands in that vein coming from that area these days. Of course, the former kings of Bay Area Doom/Death Metal, Asunder, were from there. The only reason they’re the former kings and not the reigning kings is because the band is now broken up. With their departure from the scene, a number of new contenders have emerged for their spot. Secrets of the Sky is one of the bands vying for that position, and their debut LP, To Sail Black Waters, is indeed a powerful statement of intent. While not as punishingly heavy and atmospheric as old Asunder, or as sonically bleak as Lycus, this record is still in possession of plenty of good music. If there is a band that I could compare their style to, I would say that they’re like a Doom version of old Katatonia. It has a similar depressive and somber vibe, but Secrets of the Sky is decidedly heavier and a bit more progressive minded. A song like “Sunrise” does stray into Progressive Metal territory, but I’d say that this was the only track of the four here that really can be classified as that way. The others are complex, but not overly so. Even though “Sunrise” is intricate in structure, it never degenerates into that navel-gazing self-absorption that I hate so much about Progressive Metal. The remaining songs have a dark and depressive air to them and also have punishing heaviness, something that I look for in good Doom. For a debut, this is definitely an impressive release. Hopefully, this band will keep the Progressive Metal elements to a minimum because that’s the most dangerous component of the band’s sound. All too often, it will take over and the band soon starts making overly complex, narcissistic music that only other wankers will enjoy. If you’re a fan of Doom/Death or Black/Doom in the vein of Lycus or Asunder, Secrets of the Sky is well worth checking out, either live or on CD. I recommend both if possible.

2013 was an interesting year for Middle Eastern Metal music. While there has always been a small scene over in that area of the world, this year saw a number of bands come forward with releases that were good, and some great. Seeds of Iblis and Theoria come immediately to mind, and now we have Jordan’s Chalice of Doom entering the fray with their new LP, Into Hypnagogia. Chalice of Doom plays Doom/Death Metal that is much in the vein of old My Dying Bride, Mourning Beloveth, Chorus of Ruin, and Eye of Solitude. I happen to be a big fan of dark and atmospheric music that has an element of heaviness and brutality. When it comes to that, Chalice of Doom definitely delivers. All of their songs have an underlying heaviness to them, sporting nice guitar tones that have a lot of warmth and a hefty bottom-end. The songs also have plenty of atmosphere, incorporating piano, acoustic guitar, clean male and female vocals, and even flute to heighten the somber and dark mood where necessary. Add to all of that a strong sense of melody and you have music that is both memorable and listenable. Songs like “Bridesmaid of the Woods” and “Dyers of Dusk” are top quality tracks that can stand up against the best in the genre. I’ve listened to this album almost a dozen times and I’m still finding interesting parts that I didn’t notice before. Chalice of Doom is definitely a group to look out for. Given 2013’s crop of solid releases by bands in the area, the Middle East may be an emerging scene that will become a major player in years to come.

Though overtly NS, Graveland still remains one of Poland’s most recognizable and well-known bands. I sometimes wonder why they continue to have so much notoriety, but you can’t deny that the band has achieved a level of fame that few others have. The music of Graveland has evolved into something of a Folk, Dark Ambient, and Viking Metal hybrid over the years, going from the worship of Emperor and Darkthrone to a more Twilight of the Gods-era Bathory inspired sound. Thunderbolts of the Gods, like many of Rob Darken’s more recent compositions, is fairly passive. Things kind of plod along at a leisurely pace, never getting very aggressive or doing anything exciting. Even with the whole “Viking choir” going in the background, this never achieves an epic feeling, which I’m almost positive that Darken wants. Frankly, the most epic and interesting track on this whole record was the outro, “When Hammer Shines.” It’s darker and more bombastic than all of the others combined. After listening to it, I wished that the whole LP had sounded that way. The opening track started off promising enough, but it quickly became more of what I’ve come to expect from modern Graveland. The songs were overly long (each one ranges between seven to nine minutes in length) and didn’t really go anywhere. I doubt Rob Darken will listen to my recommendations, but this album really needed something to hook the listener in. It needs bombast and epic feeling. It also needs some identity. I listened to this multiple times and one of the things I noticed was the lack of Slavic Folk rhythms in the guitar riffing. That always added a nice hook into Graveland’s music, going back to the era of Thousand Swords and Immortal Pride. Removing that in favor of droning guitars and the occasional keyboards didn’t make the music stronger. The lack of any real hooks, bombast or aggressiveness makes this borderline elevator music. Graveland has produced some great material in the past so I know that Rob Darken is fully capable of writing truly epic songs. He just hasn’t done it lately.

Fleshgod Apocalypse isn’t a band I’m intimately familiar with. This is my first actual exposure beyond the usual “one track on the cover-mounted compilation CD from Terrorizer magazine.” I’ve heard mixed things about them, ranging from good to crap and just about everywhere in between. This is a band people either love or hate. The folks that like more Technical Brutal Death Metal (Origin, Necrophagist, etc.) seem to enjoy this more than the people who are more into Symphonic Metal (bands like Stratovarius or even Therion and Dimmu Borgir). The thing about this group is that they fall into a strange gray area between Classically-inspired Symphonic Metal and Brutal Death Metal. Some people have described this LP as a chaotic and overwrought ball of noise. That is pretty accurate for the bulk of what’s on display. The vast majority of Labyrinth is wild and crazy. There is so much going on that figuring out what Fleshgod Apocalypse is trying to do is next to impossible. It doesn’t help that the guitars are nearly inaudible most of the time and the drums are so loud that it drowns out almost everything else. When drummer Francesco Paoli isn’t blasting away like a human tornado, things are a little bit clearer, but that isn’t very often. And then there’s the orchestral stuff… If you played an old Opera record while listening to Technical Brutal Death Metal, the resulting mess would sound a lot like what Fleshgod Apocalypse is doing here. The lyrics seem to be based on the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur (a half-man/half-bull creature that lived in a giant maze called a Labyrinth, hence the title of this LP). Of course, if you just had the music to go by, you’d never know that. If this is a concept album, I obviously missed the story amidst the blasting drums and absolute musical chaos. I may be letting my prejudices get in the way here, but I’m not a huge fan of overly technical music. My impression of this band’s playing on Labyrinth is that they’re doing this on purpose to bludgeon you into a state of mental numbness. If that is the case, mission accomplished! About ten minutes in, I was sitting there in a transfixed stupor, trying desperately to make sense of a cacophony of drums, growling vocals and shrill operatics that was hitting me from all angles. This may appeal to some, but it was a bit too much for me to handle. Maybe a more guitar-focused production would have helped, but I kind of doubt it. Given the band’s tendencies towards hyper-technicality, this would have still been a chaotic ball of noise but with more of a Death Metal sound. Labyrinth is a case of too much at one time. It might look good on paper, but in execution, this style just doesn’t work for me. It’s like getting shot in the head with a .45 caliber handgun (pick your favorite). After the first round kills me, shooting me fifty more times doesn’t make me any deader.

The Mezmerist is one of those bands that few, if any, remember from back in the ’80s. The group only had one official release, a 4-song EP, the original version of The Innocent, the Forsaken, the Guilty (1985). Most of the copies of that EP were kept by the band, and few of them ever found their way into the hands of music fans. After decades of obscurity, Shadow Kingdom Records managed to get the rights to reissue the EP with an additional three bonus tracks, which makes this a compilation of all of the band’s material. While The Mezmerist has an interesting sound, I would never say that this band was something that was criminally overlooked. The main draw for this release was that Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward played on the first four songs. Beyond that, it’s good Hard Rock, but with a vocalist that uses a falsetto style on some of the tracks. If King Diamond was in an old psychedelic Rock band, it would possibly sound a lot like this. It definitely takes some getting used to, which is probably an understatement. Tommy Mezmercardo (aka “The Mezmerist”) was a bit of an eccentric and it shows in his music. This might be one of those releases that should come with a list of drugs the band recommends that you take before listening to it, because maybe you should be tripping balls in order to get the full associated “musical experience.” If you’re into old ’70s Hard Rock, you might find The Innocent… a worthwhile listen. Even with the Black Sabbath connection, this really isn’t heavy or aggressive enough for most Metal fans.

Leila has been a fixture in the Bay Area music scene for quite a while. I’ve seen her perform with a bunch of different bands (Saros, Amber Asylum and Hammers of Misfortune, to name a few) over the years, and I was surprised to see her release a solo album. Musically, this is mostly Ambient soundscapes that has a very strong Amber Asylum vibe to it. It’s ethereal and dreamy but in a darker way than most who do this particular style. I guess the word that really fits this best is “haunting,” because some of the tracks on Cold and Cloud wouldn’t be out of place as interludes on a King Diamond LP. King’s specialty is writing songs about the supernatural, and Cold and Cloud is like the soundtrack to walking through a haunted house. When I listen to this, the images that come to mind are those of abandoned, ruined places. It evokes an odd “nostalgic” feeling that I associate with walking where people used to gather. It’s like an echo or a ghost image of something that used to exist. I know that most fans of Metal might not be into this, but those of us who cross over into Dark Ambient or Goth music will definitely appreciate it. Fans of bands like Autumn Tears, Arcana and Amber Asylum will probably get the most enjoyment out of this because it has a similar vibe and atmospheric quality.

Deranged were kind of an anomaly when they first came out. I remember them being one of the only Brutal Death Metal bands out of Sweden back in the early ’90s. Back in those days, it seemed as if every Swedish band wanted to sound like Entombed, Dismember or Unleashed. Deranged, though, was more along the lines of a Swedish interpretation of Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse. Morgue Orgy continues with the Brutal Death Metal attack that the band has honed over the years. You get guttural vocals aplenty, down-tuned guitars and blasting drums. The songs are straight-forward, bludgeoning you in the face like a sledgehammer-wielding psychopath from the beginning to the end. If you’re looking for flashy guitar playing or operatic female vocals, you’re looking in the wrong place. Deranged doesn’t do any of that. They deliver the brutality as good as any band in the genre. The production on this EP is fair, but someone needs to work on that snare tone. It sounds like a metal garbage can lid, and is also far too loud. The other drums in the kit seem to be okay, but when Rikard Wermen rides that snare, particularly during the blast beats, he drowns out the guitars. The vocals are unaffected, though. Singer Anders Johansson is always front and center, gurgling away over everything like the Swamp Thing with a throat problem. One surprise here was a cover of “Milk” by S.O.D., mostly because it sounds nothing like the original. I could barely recognize it when I heard it the first time. If I hadn’t known ahead of time that this was a cover song, I would have never know because it sounds pretty much like every other track on this EP. It was an odd choice, but the band does a good job of making the song their own. If they had been completely faithful to the original, it would have been out of place, but their rendition had Deranged written all over it. If you’re a longtime fan of the band or of Brutal Death Metal in general, you’ll probably like this . It’s a “meat and potatoes” delivery, giving you everything you want without any frills.

I went into my initial listen almost completely ignorant about this band other than a vague notion of them being Heavy/Power Metal, and having song titles such as “Adversary,” “Victim of Religion,” and “Lucifer My Guide.” The wailing, piercing singing kind of put me off that first play-through, until the second-to-last track, the instrumental all acoustic guitar showstopper “Earth Fire Water Spirit” demanded my complete attention. A 51-second reprise of the title track follows it, to close the album, and without even realizing it, I found myself singing along. After another few spins of this somewhat short (34 minutes) masterpiece, with the vox sounding better and better to me each time, I finally thought to find out who the hell these guys are. It turns out that the singer is none other than Obsession’s Michael Vescera! He has been in too many other bands to go over his complete history, but let me at least mention his years with Loudness and Yngwie Malmsteen, and that he’s also the singer for Animetal USA, which is the American version of a Japanese band I really like (I should say liked, as they have broken up some years ago). No idea why I didn’t immediately recognize him, even if he does get a little vocal assistance on a couple tracks. Living in northern Indiana is toxic to brain cells, though, so I’m going to blame the mind-devouring Elkhart air. I don’t know anything about the mastermind and namesake of the group, guitarist Ron Ravi Warrion, but the remainder of the band’s lineup (Keith Knight, Rob Brug, Tim Thomas) may be familiar to some. The only thing that anyone really needs to know is that unlike many other “supergroups,” Warrion writes songs first, and although they could clearly do it all day long, shows off second. The musicianship here is often stunning, but never narcissistic. Everything serves the song, as it should, rather than the songs being structures built around elaborate solos. The recording and production are as impressive as the songwriting, with a thicker, beefier, guitar tone than many similar bands would even know to want. Awakening the Hydra is an absolutely astonishing album that rewards repeated listens, but will have you, as it did me, singing along after less than one.

This is the fourth full-length LP for Poland’s Demonic Slaughter and their debut for Pagan Records. There are also three EPs and a split with their fellow countrymen Deception (Worshippers of the Darkness, on Hellthrasher Productions), for those who are interested in tracking down the back catalog. Having heard a bunch of this band’s earlier releases, I have to say that Downfall is their best work yet. The songs are tighter and the production here is far better than everything else in their discography to date. Over the years, Demonic Slaughter has developed a sound that is reminiscent of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas-era Mayhem, with vocalist Xaos Oblivion sounding more than a little like Attila on top of it all. I personally like that because De Mysteriis… was one of the best sounding Black Metal recordings ever. The guitars were nice and thick and loud, contrasting sharply with the “freezing cold” (read: no bass) guitars that so many other bands were using at the time. Downfall has an almost Death Metal level of heaviness in the guitar tones, and for me, that’s a positive. It gives the music more brutality and also an air of darkness that the “freezing cold” tone lacks. If there’s a flaw in this recording, it’s that it sounds a bit too much like old Mayhem. The obvious influence aside, this is some impressive Black Metal that has just enough melody to get your head banging, and enough power behind it to kick your ass. My favorite track has got to be the closer, “Cold and Haunted,” because it has an almost Folkish hook in the song that really sticks out. If that’s an omen of things to come, I think their next release will really be something special.

Almost two decades after …Got What He Deserved was released, we’re finally treated to a new LP by Spain’s ugliest Satanic export, Christ Denied. For those unfamiliar with the band, they play a style of Brutal Death Metal that’s more typical of a Gore/Grind band than one that hates Christ and praises Satan. This should stand to reason, being that Dave Rotten and Roger Infected are more known for their work in bands like Infected Flesh (Roger), and Avulsed and Putrevore (Dave). The music is decidedly old-school Brutal Death Metal, primarily influenced by the first wave of Pathological Death Metal (essentially the sons of Carcass). It’s slower than most of the Gore/Grind bands that populated that genre, but they make up for the lack of speed with more brutality. What most folks will have a problem with is the vocals. They’re pretty one-dimensional, mostly consisting of Dave growling “Uh-Uh-Uh” in a pitch that’s just slightly above that of Demilich vocalist Antti Boman, and Roger following Dave by gurgling “Gree-Gree-Gree” like some evil mutant toad. If you’ve ever wondered what a Death Metal band formed by Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog would sound like, this is it. The vocals definitely take some getting used to. If you can get past that, Cancer Eradication is a fairly good LP, though a bit on the hokey side. It isn’t totally awesome, but it does remind me of the early ’90s era of Death Metal. I remember a lot of bands sounding like this back in those days. It’s definitely a throwback in terms of style and sound, so fans of more modern Brutal Death Metal may not like this.

I remember the first time I ever heard Gorguts, back when the Death Metal wave was beginning to build and the scene was still breaking out from under the shadow of extreme Thrash (Slayer/Exodus/Possessed) and becoming enough of a phenomenon that even MTV couldn’t keep their stuff off of the air. Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Deicide and others were getting huge and every band on this side of the Atlantic Ocean wanted to sound like they were from Tampa. Gorguts was the first that I remember where so many genre stereotypes came together on one LP. Their music was initially much more listenable, and while it wasn’t the most innovative, their debut album, 1991’s Considered Dead, was still pretty good. It was more “meat and potatoes” Death Metal back then. Things changed, and their style became increasingly Progressive/Technical. Everyone knows my distaste for such things because I want Death Metal to kick my ass. It’s nice that these guys know how to play their instruments, but Death Metal is more about feeling than complex structures. The main problem that Technical and Progressive bands have is that they tend to focus on things that other musicians might find interesting rather than creating music that the regular fans of Death Metal want to listen to. Such is the case here. The songs are overly complicated, the riffing is anti-memorable and everything sounds like a giant ball of convoluted noise. Songs like “Colored Sands” are atonal and the structures are so fucked up that the individual musicians sound as if they’re all playing parts to different songs at the same time. I imagine there’s a reason for that, but this LP was torture for me to sit through. Even the songs that didn’t sound so fucked up were difficult to listen to because of the hyper-technical playing. The only track I actually liked was “The Battle of Chamdo,” which was a Classical music interlude. Everything else was pretty much unlistenable as far as I’m concerned.

This group has two former members of Ukrainian NSBM band Nokturnal Mortum in it, but Elderblood doesn’t appear to be political in nature. While Nokturnal Mortum has gone the Folk Metal route, gradually altering their Symphonic Black Metal style to incorporate more Graveland-esque Slavic Folk into their music, Odalv and Astargh (along with ex-Symuran guitarist Hagalth, here handling bass duty) have formed a new band that goes back to the older Dimmu Borgir/Emperor style. Son of the Morning is this group’s first release, but you would never know that by listening to it. This is seriously impressive. The production is top notch, the songs are well written, and everything sounds and flows like a band that knows what they’re doing. I hadn’t expected this album to be so good, but pleasant surprises are always welcome. I almost expect a band’s debut LP to sound like crap these days because so many of them do. A lot of groups don’t even develop an identity until their fifth or sixth release. You don’t see bands coming out with a strong Symphonic sound and Classically-influenced keyboards on their first LP very often. What I liked most about this is that while the keyboards play a prominent role in Elderblood’s sound, they never forget to keep the guitars in there. There are times that the keyboards and the guitars sort of blend together, but that has more to do with their tonal ranges coinciding than it does to the loudness of either instrument. If you’re a fan of Symphonic Black Metal in the vein of Dimmu Borgir, this is definitely an album to check out.

Memphis, Tennessee’s Throne has been active since 2009, but this is the first release by the band that I know of, and I have to say that it’s pretty impressive. The music on Perdition is well thought out and structured. Stylistically, this is kind of a hybrid of Brutal Death Metal in the vein of Incantation mixed with Symphonic Black Metal. The net result is that they sound like a more keyboard-intensive version of Imprecation, or maybe Privilege of Evil-era Amorphis, but with later era (maybe Tales from the Thousand Lakes?) keyboards. While I like what Throne did on this album, I think Imprecation’s take on things may be a bit more effective. They tended to focus on the Death Metal parts, using the keyboards and atmospheric elements to heighten things and to make them more intense. Throne does that, too, but in a different way. The difference is that the level of keyboard saturation is much higher on Perdition, to such a degree that there are times when the effectiveness of the keyboards is diluted. This doesn’t really detract from the songs, but I occasionally asked myself, “Why are there keyboards here? They don’t add anything to the song.” Still, that’s way better than having an additional element in the music that makes you think, “This song might have been cool, except…” Even with the minor detractions, I found Perdition to be a very interesting listen. Given that they’re still a relatively young band, I’m looking forward to seeing how they evolve.

I imagine that writing and recording several songs is a bit difficult when your country is embroiled in a civil war between Muslim radicals and a brutal dictator where no holds are barred and chemical weapons are in play. Such is the case with Syria’s Theoria. That this album is really good is a testament to the abilities of Ahmad and Besher, who are the only members. Ahmad plays all the instruments and does the vocals, but Besher does the lyrics and helps with the songwriting. The two of them also have a Doom/Death Metal band called Crescent Moon, which I really need to check out based on what I’ve heard of Theoria. Unlike Crescent Moon, Theoria is Black Metal. Stylistically, I’m having some trouble finding a band to mention that is similar, because on one hand their playing is very familiar, but at the same time, they’ve included elements that make them different from others in their genre. The keyboards bring a lot of additional complexity and atmosphere to the early tracks. The first two, “Sons of Past’s Decay” and “Inner Tempests,” have very basic guitar parts, sounding the most like standard European Black Metal. The last two (of five), though, are the best. “Theoria” starts off fairly similar to the earlier tracks, but develops into a more atmospheric song that incorporates melodic guitars and a slower tempo. “Narcissistic Veils,” the closing track, is probably the band’s best work. While it doesn’t have much in the way of vocals, the music is dark, heavy and full of atmosphere. I hope these guys keep going in the direction of “Narcissistic Veils,” because it’s really impressive. It easily surpasses the other songs, save “Theoria,” which is similar in style and feeling. This is definitely a band to look out for. If their next release is of the same caliber as “Narcissistic Veils,” this Syrian band is going to be putting the established order on notice.

Though they are certified legends in the storied history of Death Metal, Oakland, California’s Autopsy has always been criminally underrated and often forgotten when a discussion of truly exceptional Death Metal bands comes up. Most people will quickly disgorge the names of Morbid Angel, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse and Death, but Autopsy tends to be left off of the list by all those who came to the party after 1995. Granted, Shitfun wasn’t exactly their greatest LP, and it was kind of sad to see them go out on that note. Still, Severed Survival and Mental Funeral are among the sickest Death Fucking Metal albums ever recorded. After their 2008 reunion produced two well-received tracks for the re-release of Severed Survival, the band decided to permanently get back together, producing 2011’s Macabre Eternal and this new record, The Headless Ritual. To say that Headless is old-school would be speaking the obvious. This is how I remember Death Metal sounding. There are no blast beats, monotone growls or constant triggered double-bass drums. What you get is solid, old-school Doom-infused Death Fucking Metal that delivers the goods the way they were meant to be delivered. I don’t normally expect Death Metal guitarists to start shredding during the middle of a song about cannibalism or serial murder, but Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles deliver some pretty sick guitar solos on this LP as well. If you’re a fan of Death Metal the way it was played in the late ’80s to early ’90s, you need to do whatever is necessary to check this out.

Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga is the latest release by Saverio Giove, who is the sole member of Emyn Muil and also the sole member of two other projects (Valtyr and Ymir). Each of his bands is different, with Valtyr being Viking Metal, and Ymir more straight-forward Black Metal. This particular project is Saverio doing Epic Tolkien-influenced Black Metal in the vein of Summoning. While many have tried and failed to match the power and majesty that is the music of Summoning, Saverio’s Emyn Muil makes a valiant effort that mostly succeeds. The first thing that really hinders this LP from greatness is the obvious musical influence. This sounds like a Summoning tribute band. There’s very little that Saverio does here that is different or original. I will give him credit for being able to pull that off because few bands can successfully cover Summoning. The second problem is the sound. It’s not nearly as powerful as it needs to be, particularly where the guitars are concerned, which are far too treble-heavy, making them sound too thin. A richer, deeper tone would have given them more power, warmth and it would have also added a darker edge to the music. They’re buried beneath the keyboards. The drums also need to have a deeper bass tone. Part of the problem may have been because Saverio used a drum machine instead of live drums. Summoning uses a drum machine, too, but they’ve figured out how to maximize it for what they want. There are tracks on this record where the drums sound like those old plastic Ludwig drums that New Wave bands used to use in the ’80s. The tone isn’t deep, and the artificial sound doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the music. Guitar and drum tones are production issues that can be corrected fairly easily, so I don’t deduct much for it unless it’s so bad that a semi-brain dead chimpanzee could have done better. The lack of originality really hurts things far more. When I listen to this album, all I can think of is Summoning, because that’s what it sounds like. For a band that wants to be like Summoning, this is as good as you’re going to get. Of course, if I wanted to listen to Summoning, I have plenty of their music already. Old Mornings Dawn goes everywhere that Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga goes and beyond. What Saverio Giove and Emyn Muil really need is that “special something” that makes this band unique as opposed to a clone. Given a choice between the real thing and a copy, I’ll always choose the real thing, particularly if it gives me more of what I want than the clone. Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga is a good start, though. Hopefully the next Emyn Muil release will be the one that breaks the mold and takes me on a new adventure. This one isn’t bad, but I’ve been to this dungeon so many times that I’m considered one of the monsters.

The marketing of Metal music is always something that I find amusing. Take the promo blurb from Womb of Lilithu for example. The sticker on the front of the CD case reads: “The legendary Swedish Blackened/Death Metal horde has returned with its best album yet!” I like Necrophobic. I’ve followed them since The Nocturnal Silence. But I don’t consider them “legendary.” Bathory is legendary. You can see the influence of Quorthon in every Black Metal LP that came after 1990. Motorhead is legendary. Heavy music owes almost as much to Lemmy as it does to Tony Iommi, and don’t get me started on what the musical world owes Black Sabbath. You don’t see that kind of influence when it comes to Necrophobic. Which brings us to the new LP, Womb of Lilithu. The music here is pretty good stuff, providing melody, atmosphere and also enough ass-kicking Death Metal to satisfy the older fans who liked the early Slayer/Morbid Angel-influenced material from The Nocturnal Silence. Where this record hits a snag is in the vocals. Tobias Sidegard (who has since departed from the band) has a style that is sort of a snarling Hardcore-esque delivery that is at odds with the music a considerable part of the time. The upside to that style is that you can understand most, if not all, of what he’s saying. The downside is that it’s not melodic enough to go along with the music. It’s a bit on the hit or miss side of things. When it works, it’s gold. When it doesn’t, the melody and atmosphere dissipates and the uniqueness of the band’s sound becomes basic Death Metal. It also doesn’t help that he occasionally drowns out the guitars. That leads us to gripe number two about this album. The guitars just aren’t prominent enough most of the time. The other elements that Necrophobic incorporate into their songs often bury the guitars or render them ineffective because they can’t be heard properly. There’s plenty of melody and excellent riffs on display here, but you have to pay attention if you’re going to notice them. Those two things don’t bring Womb of Lilithu completely down, but they do detract from what would have otherwise been an excellent LP. Even with that, I still enjoyed Womb of Lilithu quite a bit. For me, “The Necromancer” and “Infinite Infernalis” are worth the purchase price by themselves. If you can live with the above mentioned detractions, there is still plenty to recommend here.

This 2-CD set is the third full-length release by Battle Dagorath, their fourth overall (including a split with Lorn and Darchon called Enshroudment of Astral Destiny). This band is something of a super-group, consisting of members of Vinterriket (Vinterriket - keyboards) and Lorn (Radok - drums) and two other people with the mysterious stage names Black Sorcerer Battle and ShadowVoid. Over the years, they’ve honed their Burzum-esque droning Black Metal meets Dark Ambient style so that what you’re getting is a pretty refined product. The songs are long and a bit on the minimalistic side, but they never seem overly simplistic. I think the deciding factor that keeps Battle Dagorath from becoming monotonous drone is the Dark Ambient element. The Black Metal portions, while ranging in speed from fast and furious power chord riffing to more Doomy droning passages, tend to be fairly basic in style and sound. The Dark Ambient sections that come in and out of the songs at various times (making them pretty epic in length at times) break things up and throw in some additional atmosphere. If there is a gripe I have about this LP, it’s that there’s very little progression from their last release. As I said, they’ve refined their product quite a bit and may have taken this style as far as they can without going full-on Dark Ambient or retrograding into more traditional Black Metal. This is still a good record, though. If you don’t mind a bit more of the same, Battle Dagorath deliver the goods like only they can.

I used to listen to these guys a lot back when they were a Doom/Death Metal band. Over the years, they’ve morphed into Gothic Rock in the vein of Bauhaus or Love Like Blood. I don’t have a problem with a band changing styles, but Lacrimas Profundere sounds so vastly different from their old material that they really aren’t the same band anymore. This is full-on Gothic Rock with very little, if any, Metal influences. All of the things I liked about their music from their early days (…and the Wings Embraced Us-era) are pretty much gone. Their music isn’t heavy or very dark. The atmospheric elements that they had are barely there, if at all. Antiadore is mostly passive, unadventurous music that even the Hot Topic set will probably think is too lame to bother with. Lacrimas Profundere doesn’t go anywhere that Bauhaus/Love and Rockets didn’t already go decades ago. On top of that, this LP is so inert and lightweight that it makes The Scarred People by Tiamat sound like the last Behemoth LP in comparison. I’d say that I was disappointed, but having caught bits and pieces of their more recent material, I had a good idea what was coming. I’d hoped that there would be something of their old style remaining, even if it’s as small as a guitar tone, but that was not the case here. Sadly, the only thing remaining from the Doom/Death Metal era is the band’s name. As much as I liked this group back in the ’90s, I’m not into this LP or their current musical direction. My recommendation is to avoid this one.

I’ve been following Singapore’s vilest Black/War Metal band, Impiety, for the better part of two decades. Since I first heard them, they’ve changed considerably. Their style has become more and more like a hyper-blasting version of Morbid Angel, though I have to clarify that this sounds closer to later Steve Tucker-era stuff. It’s tremendously technical and because of that and the incredible speed that Impiety plays at, this EP blows by in a blur of blasting drums, shredding guitars and caustic vocals. It reminds me a lot of 2012’s Ravage & Conquer album, though this may be faster and even more complex. The playing is pretty amazing because of both the intricacy and the speed in which the guitars are played. Still, remembering anything about this after it’s done is next to impossible. The closest thing they have to a memorable track is a cover of “Lucifer’s Legions” by Sorcery. Even that, though, is played at least twice as fast as the original. I hate to say that I like the band’s older stuff better, but I do. If I go back and listen to their early material (the demo tapes and ’90s era EPs, conveniently re-released on Vengeance Hell Immemorial by Evil Dead Productions), their music was far more listenable and memorable, mostly because everything was played at a tempo that is essentially half of what their current speed range is today. If you liked Ravage & Conquer, you will likely enjoy this EP because it’s in the same vein. I wasn’t a huge fan of that LP, and although I appreciate the skills that are on display, The Impious Crusade is just too fast and too technical for my taste.