Black Metal History Month - Sliver Knife : "s/t"

 I liked this French band's first album, but can't find the view of it to job my memory, so perhaps it did not leave the lasting impression I thought. They are riding the line here between depressive black metal and atmospheric black metal that leans in the direction of black gaze on the first track with the wailing and guitars growing more distant in the tremolo buzz on the second song. By the time we get to the third song, it is obvious this album is not going to be as dynamic as I had hoped as it sounds almost just like the previous song.  The cavernous product is a cool vibe but does not compress things into a more coherent song structure. Instead, it just echoes out into oblivion. Thus serving a sound rather than a song, with the spoken vocal passsage the main thing that distinguishes this from the previous songs. 

"Transfiguration" is riffier, so this allows the more sonic swell of dynamics to work better against it. In many ways, it is more traditional in its approach to black metal recalling bands like Darkthrone. The howl of the vocals is convincingly anguished. Then on "Reticent Paroxysm" they revert back to to variation of what they were doing on the first three songs that is less compelling without the nuance to set this song apart from the blur of tremolo picking that is burying the drums but it does not sound like they are merely blasting. 

The album closes with the almost fifteen-minute sprawl of "Triumph In Tragedy". The this point the vocals are pretty much just howling being consumed by reverb in the distance. There are marginal shifts in intensity, I am unsure what they had planned for all 15 minutes but it appears just to rest on this stagnant drone and scream over it. The change of plans occurs six minutes in when things break down into the strum of a clean guitar sound. This is something that could have been broken up to help the other songs. That reprieve lasts for less than two minutes and they have stirred things back up into the furious tempest of guitars. What they are doing is cool sound-wise, but there is a uniform atmosphere enveloping the album, though I think it's what they set out to do and well done for this kind of black metal so I will give this one an 8.

Black Metal History Month -Diamond in the Rough, King Diamond's "Voodoo"

 It's amazing how much better this album sounds than the previous one and I am surprised that all of that lies in the addition of drummer John Luke Herbert, who only plays on this album and "House of God".  They get off to a more energetic start, which finds King's vocal approach more aggressive to match the energy of the music. There are none of the nods to rock n roll that could be heard on the previous release. This rips in a manner that recalls "Abigail" As far as his 90s output goes this is the album I revisit the most. Whatever helped the making of this record fall in place like it did the songwriting finds a balance of being theatric but very fluid. "Life After Death" is a great example of this. 

There are songs like the title track that stand up against his most classic material and would be a welcome addition to his live set when he chooses to break it up some from what he's been touring with since right before COVID. His choir of ghostly falsettos is very well-layered. Thematically the is more like "The Eye" as it goes back in time to a creepy era of history, this one just as ripe with magic. The ritualistic drummer is impressive for some guys from Europe to capture. Dime Bag drops a solo on this one, but it's not the best solo on the album."A Secret' is more straightforward with less of the voodoo trapping, but it goes pretty hard in the thrashing break it hits.  "Salem" works as a punchy mid-paced chug. The palm-muted breakdown works really well. The effects on his voice are also a nice touch. It's safe to say this is one of his heavier albums. 

"One Down Two to Go" starts off as a dreamy ballad and builds momentum into crunchy thrashing. "Sending of Dead"  finds the keyboards playing a larger role. It simmers on the mood, with the drums sitting back a bit, so perhaps this dude is what is building the intensity, though the drums vary in where they sit in the mix. "Sarah's Night" is more invested in theatrics. It finds the harpsichord sounds becoming more dominant as the story unfolds. They come back stronger with "The Exorcist" which is supported by a hooky guitar melody. They groove this riff more. King sounds great on this one. The guitar solos are also pretty ripping here as well. They have the riffs down on this album making these songs far more memorable than the past couple of albums. 'the Cross of Baron Samedi" is more deliberate in its pace, but its crunch works. Really this is the last song as it's just outro atmosphere after this even with the hidden track. I'll round this up to a 10, it is a solid return to form.

pst78

RWAKE : "The Return of Magik"

Perhaps the collapse of society is going to find sludge returning as the dominant force in metal. This Arkansas-based band is back after 13 years. A more melodic expanse of sound brings elements of Southern rock to the forefront of the opening track as guitar solos cascade around it. Brittany Fugate's scathing vocals provide a counterpoint to the lower ominous vocal tones of Chris Terry. The title track carries a more menacing thunder to its metallic riffing. The vocals snarl back and forth with effective venom. I can already tell this is going to be the sludge album to beat this year, though they may go off on a tangent in the next three songs that follow since one of them sprawls out into almost 14 minutes. 

I am breaking this album up and listening to each song then taking a break, and listening to it with fresh ears, rather than trying to digest it in its entirety in one sitting. Normally I just write it all out in my first listen but there is a great deal going on here. "With Stardust Flowers" kicks off with a more rock n roll-like riff that carries hook and punches in equal measure, the sneer of the vocals bringing in the aggression. I really like how the vocals are produced on this song, the overall mix of this album is stellar so far as well. There is country nuance to the guitar playing. 

"Distant Constellations and the Psychedelic Incarceration" is a fourteen-minute song. There is a slow build in the sway of its darker hypnotic feel that shares some common ground with Swans. The vocals are more spoken than sung. It takes six minutes before it takes on its shape as a song, and then another minute before distorted guitars swell into it. They get into a prog metal territory that is not unlike what Mastodon did in the mid-2000s.  Despite being almost 11 minutes long" In After Reverse" has a more straightforward crusty sludge attack. The album closes with a melodic guitar outro, I'll give this album a 9.5, it rips pretty hard and sludge bands will have to step up their game to beat out this one.This album drops March 14th on Relapse Records.  

pst77

Black Metal History Month - Nyktmyst : "s/t"

 So far this month I have managed to steer clear of bands relying solely on blast beats, and perhaps that is a turn the genre as a whole is taking, though this album does use them at times, but in a dynamic manner. The Dutch Black Metal project has something odd and angular about their method of attack that keeps them from falling into the blasty mc nasty land. Even the opening track has an odd melodic clean guitar passage in the middle of it before the gates are stormed by the momentum you expect from black metal. At times this reminds me a little of Burzum, but less folk-influenced as I am referring to the first two post-prison albums. The vocals are a reverbed-out roar most of the time but there is more of a chant in places. 

Skipping over the interludes as they typically feel like an outro or intro that got edited out. The second song buzzes with more of a col nocturnal feel that you expect from black metal with more of a throaty rasp to it. Apart from the more chanted/sung vocal passages where it slows into more of a halftime throb there is not a great deal of new sounds being brought to the stable, but tried and true black metal tropes, which are well executed for what they are.

"Portal Tomb" closes the album. The chords ring out in more of a Dissection-like manner. It's a more uptempo track. The vocals fall lower in the mix, so they are not as crucial to the song. If they were they would be placed more forward in the mix. The drums also sit back under the drums forming more of a pattern for the guitar to dominate. Things do speed up a great deal to bring a more intense feel to things. I prefer something creepier from my black metal as this is better than a raw blasting sound, but it does play it pretty straight. This also includes the more galloping half-time ending which is very Swedish sounding. To their credit they put effort into the songwriting I will give this album an 8, hopefully after this introduction, they will experiment more for their full-length, Drops on Iron Bonehead March 21st. 

pst76

Iron BoneHead Productions · Nyktmyst - Portal Tombp

pst76

Black Metal History Month -Diamond in the Rough, King Diamond's "The Graveyard"

 I reviewed "The Spider Lullabye" in 2015 so we are moving on to "The Graveyard". This period always feels like an odd one to me, as King assimilated the Texas band Mind Storm into his band. This is where Herb Simonsen, Chris Estes, and Drummer Darrin Anthony came from. 1996 marks a time when had certainly shifted into its own grooving aggression that rejected the trapping of the 80s. Thus they were trying to fund where they fit in. The album is about revenge, mental illness, and superstition rather than the occult. "The Spider's Lullabye" bridged things in this direction, it's a lot like a heavier Alice Cooper, with King's over-the-top vocals as the narrative. Even this remastered version is not doing to original recording a great deal of favors. To their credit, it is punchier and heavier. 

The pace picks up for the second song. This mix is much more compressed which I suppose was more common from metal in 96, as it has a rawer sound than previous albums. I would place the guitar higher in the mix with almost non-existent bass. There is also more of an underlying rock vibe here. The chorus is pretty strong though. "Heads on the Wall" starts off as more of a ballad. I think it builds up well on the chorus, this is really an underrated song. On the flipside "I'm Not a Stranger' could not come out in 2025, as it delves into the creepy child abduction part of the album. "Digging Graves" might be the most noteworthy song on the album. It moves at a doomier pace than what you expect from him. It also has one of the album's best guitar solos. 

"Meet Me at Midnight" is powered by a more aggressive attack. The opening riff might be one of his heaviest. Once again the guitars could have come forward in the mix. "Sleep Tight Little Baby" opens theatrically, the tempo is darker and closer to doom. The chorus leans further into doom. It is not the album's most focused song as some of the storytelling loses momentum, though the solo section is really cool. "Daddy" is sung from an ...um interesting point of view. Another turn to a slower pace, though this one feels like a darker dramatic power ballad. The plus is you get to hear him sing more from his chest register. "Trick or Treat" is a much stronger song, it's mid-pace works of a deliberate syncopation.

"Up From the Grave' is more of a theatrical interlude. The keyboard tone on "I Am" is unfortunate. I guess he was going for more of a Deep Purple sound. The guitar mix hampers the song, and vocal lines are not as focused as what we heard from him on previous albums. The guitar solo on this song is pretty great, but that is not going to make or break the song.  It's been so long since I have listened to this album these are almost like new songs. The Last song "Lucy Forever" finds him trying harder. making this song work. The mix of this album makes me round it down to a 9, there are some strong moments but the bar he set for himself is pretty, though this is still better than what most bands from this era are capable of. 

pst75

Black Metal History Month- Ignis Tellus : "Ode"

 

The French have a rich history of creating avant-garde black metal, let's see if this band falls into that or just blast beats us into oblivion. They start off as being more folky than what typically comes out of France, so suspecting blast beats to follow. The second song begins to conform to my theory as it reminds me of the raw black metal coming out of Finland, think Horna here, but the vocals carry an angrier rasp. Shifting into more of a march feels better to my ears and the vocals drop into a more deliberate growl as they shift gears for a third time in this song. Nothing groundbreaking in the first song, but they are good at what they do and seem to be angry enough. Two minutes in things drop down to the strum of a guitar for a measure and build back up so a few surprises. 

As the album progresses they prove themselves capable of creating a more melodic throb that sometimes adheres to the more conventional aspects of metal. "Je Crois" is more conventional metal with the deliberate gallop it takes on making me think of early Iron Maiden, but with vocals croaking in agony. The more traditional approach to the metallic gallops they ride into victory upon, sets them in a similar stylistic zip code as Immortal, just without the big grandiose production that creates the booming epic nature. By the time it gets to "Orion," I am now always expecting big metal gallops. This makes the more aggressive thrashing of "Contre l'Homme" more jarring until they get saddled back up to storm the gates of Isengard. The guitar is more tremolo-picked which reverts to the more basic confines of black metal. 

Things bubble up from a more minimal melody into an authoritative stomp for "In Ululatis Abyssi." With this, the song carries more form and function, with many headbanging accents. The title track marches off a darker throb while still waving metal's victory flag in an interesting marriage of sounds. All of that was drawn from the first minute of the song.  "Peste Eternelle" rages in a more black metal direction, as they charge forward with an angry cheer. It works well enough, and is a dynamic departure from the more traditional metal sounds they lead us to expect. The last song reflects some of the themes from the opening track, they are run through a more tremolo-picked black metal that is a more wrathful attack with a darker turn. It is not a whole album of this but bookends the album with the more expected tropes of black metal while casting an apocalyptic shadow over things This evolves in variations of this that play off a wider range of metal history,  I'll give this album a 9 it's a fun listen and I appreciate what they are doing here. 

pst74

Black Metal History Month- Diamond in the Rough, King Diamond's "The Eye"

Now we are 5 albums deep into King's solo career. This album is the only one to feature drummer Snowy Shaw of Therion fame behind the kit to replace Mikkey Dee, who left to join Motorhead. The first thing you notice is the thrashing speeds are dialed back and there are darker more deliberate riffs that power the opening track which might as well be the title track. The story is not as laid out with as blatant of a narrative on this song, though the story unfolds as the album progresses. We know witches are involved. The story becomes clearer in "The Trial" or at least the stage is set for the French witch trials. There is a taunt syncopation to the creeping groove of the song. The overall sound on this album evolves to fit the times to some extent. 

"Burn' has become a staple in his live shows over the years, and is certainly one of the album's strongest songs, which feels like it's more akin to the sound from 'Abigail". Though this album feels like a logical progression from "Conspiracy". King's vocals are also toned down a little and less shrill. Listening back to this album it now sounds like "Two Little Girls" is an atmospheric build-up to "Into the Covent" using a similar theatrical dynamic as what was heard at times in "Them". The drumming is solid on this one, and the chorus works pretty well, but it does not have the same fire we heard on the first four albums. It builds most intensely coming out of the solo section. 

The production was kept more in-house than the previous album and I can hear how they are trying to replicate more of a "Them" sound on this one. All things I did not pick up on when this album came out in 1990. I was still in high school and was just happy to have a new King Diamond album though my tastes at the time were leaning in the direction of Pantera, Deicide, and Slayer. "Though I do not recall ever hearing anyone scream for "Father Picard" at a King Diamond show. I think even for the time the guitars could have been beefed up in places. "Behind These Walls" has a great deal going on from harpsichord sounds to a more "Conspiracy' flare for high-stakes storytelling. The fire is also back in the guitar solos. 

There is more of a "Sleepless Nights" feel to "The Meetings". At five albums into his career, it's not surprising that Kind Diamond had begun to slightly settle into a songwriting formula. While it's very played "Insanity" is an instrumental interlude. At times it feels like something Led Zeppelin would have done. "1642 Imprisonment" gets the job done and sounded better on the second pass through not a song I remember from back when I listened to this album on a more regular basis. The album closes with "The Curse" It's very deliberate with a more Dokken feel to the drumming. Not sure if these are King Diamond's hookiest vocal lines. I'll give this album a 9, not his strongest moment but still better than most, the stakes were being raised for the metal in 1990 and he was trying to find where he fit in the shifting tides.

pst73