JEHOVAH ON DEATH : " Lágrimas de Oro"

This band might be branded as occult rock, which is typically focused on a more retro sound than some of these denser, more modern sounds this Greek band employs. They are very dynamic and work acoustic elements into the songs, not trying to sound like Black Sabbath. The female vocals are rather haunting, though on the opening track sit back as an alto chant. You could almsot think of this as prog rock. Though at just under six minutes, the opening song is the longest, so they do not sprawl things out, which is fine with me. The second song has an almsot 80s metal feel. Though they deviate from this one in the chorus. Lyrically darker than the music; they still have more shadow than your average rock band

For the purpose of this review, I am not counting the guitar interlude before "Catherine Wheel" as a song. It's almost like a Pat Benetar covering "Stranglehold". The multitrack vocals on the chorus are a little over the top and not likely to be replicated live. Though I can hear some Brian May influence on this one. "Suspiria" finds the chorus being more memorable than the verses, which are not dark enough for my liking, but I can hear where the Blue Öyster Cult influence is intended to be. "Blood Madonna" finds them a few notes shy of ripping off "Don't Fear the Reaper," but the song still works even with the anthemic guitar.

"Ride On Ye Furious Host" has a heavier drive to it that flirts with proto-metal. They throw in a decent gallop to throw a guitar solo over. With the title "Lord Let Me Be Your Instrument of Pain," you would think the last song would be heavier. I do like the vocal melody of it, so that balances things out. I will give this album a 9.5. I am glad it is not trying to be Ghost on the Blue Öyster Cult side of the equation. This is the occult rock revival you are looking for. Out on I Void Hanger Records. 

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Black Metal History Month - LABYRINTHINE HEIRS : "s/t"

The vocals are what tip this band in the direction of Black Metal, though these Texans employ more tools of sonic torture than just the weapons of war associated with that genre. The tension of the opening track does hold a gritty feel of the Jesus Lizard, but there are plenty of black metal bands who have experimented well beyond the bounds of the genre, in fact, this track makes me also think of Samael. Dissoance casts a dark shadow over the grooves. The pace picks up in a subtle undercurrent on the second song. A great deal of what sets them apart are the more organic guitar tones, that do not live and breathe of the layers of distortion and reverb. This might paint their sound as being less metallic, but they get to the same place that black metal is striving toward. The renewed bursts of anguish in the rasp of their vocalist aid the cause. They do climax the song in a more sonic explosion. 

After two songs in I am ready for things to switch up dynamically. They get slower and more seething for "The Conceited Determination of Nimrod". Then some of their more deliberate palm muted grooves begin to work their way in. This begins to remind me of a more experimental version of Satyricon's "Deep Calleth Upon Deep" album. This song accelerates more chaotically. These guys do not play as close to the metal rules as Satyricon. There is talk of the dissection of a cow at one part of the song, but that is the extent to which the lyrics make themselves known to me. However later on they say that language is using you again and again before crazed laughter ensues. 

Less form and function move over the murky waters that "Satan's Domain is the Liver". To their credit, this also breaks them away from the palm-muted formula the first few songs were locked in. It is also very dark which I can appreciate. The album closes with "Yaldabaoth Gored to Blindness" which in the title alone makes me pleased as for all the occult imagery used in metal I do not understand why the Gnostic reference to the malevolent creator god is not employed more.  This is compromised a bit with the return to the palm-muted formula. I will give this album a 9, as I really enjoyed how different it is from mainstream black metal and wish more bands would take more chances, even though it leans heavily on a particular formula for songwriting.This drops on I , Void Hanger Records March 26th. 

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SAINT VENGEUR : "Sex and Repression in Higher Society"

 This Polish project is churning out some interesting sounds. This album opens with a darker industrial menace before things shift into a more neon-washed synth wave sound. The piano melodies keep things from being heavy. The sparse vocals are mixed back into the churning wall of synths. The second song "Farewell at Dawn" is the middle-of-the-road synth that relies more upon ambiance. While there are still dynamics in play they do not hook you in and it feels more like background music. After a second listen I discern vocals that are buried in the mix

 "Menarche" has more groove and songwriting invested in it to make it a more effective sonic investment. "Poor Homme" simmers in its 80s-soaked luster. Right now the sound is winning in the sound vs songs debate, but it's being done in a way that works for my ears. It is not until "Immaculata" that this finds songs beginning to sound the same even with the vocals becoming more pronounced. "Symphony of the Night" does not find the synths doing anything that is much more symphonic than what they have already been doing. 

"Affection Paradigm" has a beat that pushes it over the edge into greatness to make it one of the album's more memorable songs. The last song however just sounds like a recap of what the rest of the album has already delivered. This feels a little more gothy than Perturbator, but it does not hit as hard, as the synth lines are less riff and more about the atmosphere, however, if you are into synth-wave it's worth your time. I'll give it an 8.5, it drops on I, Voidhanger Records February 28th. 

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ÆVANGELIST : "Perdition Ekstasis Meta"

 

This is the 4th album we have reviewed for this project. It seems like they are making music that is just as dismal and seething with darkness as previous releases. When things kick in it's apparent from the drum programming that there is a more industrial feel to this album. There is a mesmerizing throb, that shares some sonic ground with artists like Blut Aus Nord.  The nightmarish collage of sounds is impressive for the dense hypnosis of layers they weave around your ears. The vocalist from Anorexia Nervosa continues the growls to this album, which falls into more of an experimental death metal realm, despite its lack of double bass. However aggression is not this project's mission statement, it feels like they are more committed to delving into creepy unsettling hymns of Lovecraft-like madness 

Sometimes their deranged musical portraits are more song-oriented than others, It does not always play to their favor if being weighed against songs vs sounds, as "Endura" is more abstract and sounds like it should be background music for a haunted house. I would caution against smoking weed while listening to this as you might scare yourself.  Thins come together as marginally more of a cohesive song for "Wicked Flesh to Spirit Sublimate". Things still shift abstractly with lots of sound swirling around you but no solid metallic spin until the drums kick in. at the end. There is more of a beat to "Metaphor of Ominous Silence" so it moves with more purpose. This pulse makes it more of a song, but the bubbling atmosphere largely drowns it out without a closer listen. 

There is more of a black metal feel to "Reflected in the Angel's Blade". It converges into an actual riff that fights its way through the hellish ambiance that tries to consume, aligning more with death metal/ Things ebb down for the spacious mood of "Plague Blood Redemption". There is no point trying to discern what these songs are about as the vocals are just another static layer of sound. A guitar melody does swim through this muck which has more in common with Coil than Deicide. It becomes more of a drone. Aaron from My Dying Bride appears in "The Sword and the Crystal". It is doomier and also the clearest example of songwriting, showing they can do it when they try. 

There is almost an industrial march to "Ekstatis Divnae". The guitar carries it forward in a more forceful metal manner.  Like much of this album, it also drones more than pounds. At over fourteen minutes there is plenty of time to get more moods in. These come but in subtle shifts. At the six-minute mark, it's hard to understand what more they intend to accomplish given the single trajectory most of the album has. The track after this is more of an outro so not counting it for the purpose of this review. I will give this album an 8, as the idea of it and the sound is woven to make this are cool, but not much in terms of actual songwriting so it comes down to the why of why this might be something you would listen to regularly.  Drops Sept 20th on I , Voidhanger Records. 

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Death is June - FLESHVESSEL :"Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed"

This band's full length finds them as Chicago's death metal answer to Agalloch. It opens with a great deal of symphonic flair, and finds them jamming passages out with violins. This puts them in a very unique position when it comes to death metal. The grandiose outweighs the aggression on the opening track, but they do come snarling back. The vocals go from a blackened sneer to the more resonate growl of death metal. There are three interludes on this album which I am not covering for the purpose of the review and just focusing on the actual songs. 

The second songs finds them getting heavier and while it's an expansive eleven and a half minutes in length. In many ways it feels like they are going for a more atmospheric take on what early Opeth did , but with more jammed out craziness. The prog decadence takes about five minutes to kick in, though even at the songs more gutsy moments they are never digging into the kind of thing that say Cannibal Corpse does. Flutes and whispered poetry start off the more atmospheric path that "the Void Chamber" starts off on. When things build up for the vocals to come in, they arrive like a manic ghost howling into the night Cascades of guitar battling against a piano piece collides under it all. Four minutes in they finally get more aggressive. Then it ebbs back into jazz. 

They close the album with a more death metal minded "Eyes Yet to Open". It does not remain at the in your face hyper aggression normally expected from death metal for long. There are grandiose operatic asides, and a good deal of blasting firing under the buzz of everything. The song floats off into ambiance at the end, before meandering back to life thanks to the pondering synths. Violins chime on this in a more mournful fashion. This album was a unique experience which I appreciate.  I will give it a 9, as the originality and musicality of it puts it above their peers, who are unknown to me at this time. This is being released on I Voidhanger Records. 

Black Metal History Month : Mare Cognitum : "Solar Paroxysm"

 The fifth album from this project finds a more stripped down and direct approach being taken to this brand of black metal. More in your face . The guitars get aggressive. It does and doesn't sound like traditional black metal. This is what gives the song it's edge. There is a very sonic lushness to the over all sound. Despite the more straight forward approach I might like this even better than what I have heard from this project in the past. Does the song need to me 9 minutes long. Well no but it is done well. The second song picks up from the blast beaten path the first song left on. The only difference being the guitars are more harmonized. This song is not only not as impressive , but begins to bore me a little.  

This is a five song album , but everyone of these songs crosses the ten minute mark. The vocals shift into a lower more death metal like growl on " Terra Requiem". Lyrically I guess there are still some cosmic themes. It slows and becomes more sonically lush. From a song writing perspective very basic, but the sound created makes up for this.  "Luminous Accretion" shifts from a sonic drone like the previous song had to more punchy thrash like riffing with blast beats underneath it. Lots of guitar solos crop up which is not the most common thing in black metal. The drumming is pretty remarkable. If the double bass is real and not programmed. A lot is thrown at you in this one, I am not sure that it is all cohesive. 

The last song "Axtraxia Tunnels"  they lay on the speed to give the feel of more traditional black metal again.  After a few listens it grew on me more. The vocals sit back further into the guitar. There is a sonic wall of sound that I like . For a one man band this is impressive. All of these songs sound good , but not all of them stand out wit ha unique personality that once marked this project. I get being angry and wanting to do something more in your face, and the first song was a fine example of doing that well, it also was a bar the rest of the album did not always touch. I will give this one an 8, I think fans who want more of a black metal sound will be happy.This comes out March 19th on I, Void Hanger Records.    

4.1

NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM : "Eons"

I was just reviewing a mexican death metal band that was trying to sound Swedish thinking how everything sails under the same sun when it comes to metal these days . Then this space ship landed on my computer. I am not sure I would call the first song metal though it is intense. It is industrial and tribal all at the same time. Not unlike the band from the 90s called Crash Worship. John Zorn would also be into this. Not what you expect out of Belgium. Though I would not say Belgium is on my radar for any one particular flavor. This is a lot to digest as it amounts to a triple album. I first notice vocalizations on the second song mid the clanging and sax. They consider themselves to be drone metal that is mixed with free jazz. I hear more of the jazz. It comes to the forefront on this song. I am listening for anything that might mark this as metal half way into the song the intensity builds, but there is now aggressive vocalizing or distrotion. This changes in the third song "Lasmasthu". There is distortion placed on a stringed instrument and allowed to ring out. It is more abstract than the previous songs, which were far from being pop hits.

Four songs in they begin to cross over . Monmentum and intensity being the two elements that begin to take on a more overt metal feel. The ambiance swells. Free jazz is still a more fitting label . Something is heavy about chaos. Growling comes in amid the noise. It is kind of random like the instruments are being thrown down the steps at Regan's house in the Exoricist. These more abstract pieces are at least shorter and not ten plus minutes. "Enuma Elis" reverts more to the tribal throb with chanting over it  as it wrestles with the jazz tendencies.  "Zar" is the first part of the 'to the Moon"  part of the album which I am guessing is the second album of this set. It is more guitar oriented , but no less bizarre. The second song of this section finds vocals becoming more apparent . Some more menacing than others. The they hit the most metal moment yet. Though not how most might experience metal. After this comes more of an interlude with some Jimi Hendrix like guitar standing alone. "the Great Wars" comes out of this and finds the Hendrix liek guitar continuing into this , though there is a marching jazz song that builds behind this

"Homosensibilis' is very John Zorn as it's jazz but very dark. David Lynch also comes to mind. I like the melody to this one . "Oi sonuf" is more precussive based, not as focused on melody. It is also a twelve minute song so the drone is here. The third section "to the Sun" sounds like it is going to be even more abstract and ambient. 18 minutes of sax and drone is a lot to ask of a listener ."Heka Hou Sia" finds the mood becoming more ominous. I was expecting album number three to have more kick than sizzle. I am fine when it is jazz or weird tribal stuff, what I am not into is just droning on noise. It takes about four minutes to get anywhere on "Heliozoapolis" then another five minutes to gain momentum. The last song never gets anywhere. There is a lot of potential here and when you commit to listening to album three albums it feels like there needs to be more of the pay it wanted to promise. So I will round this down to an 8. Most of the credit this is gettting is do to how you have not heard a lot like it.

Death is June - ESOCTRILIHUM : " Eternity of Shaog"

The big thing that this one man band gets right is that it doesn't sound like it is a one man band. The drums are played with comparable skill as the guitars. It also does not adhere to what most death metal coming out of Italy sounds like either as despite the Lovecraft theme, this never sounds like the sound track to a horror movie. The first two songs are excellent. The song writing is nailed while still allowing for experiementation and melody. The third song finds chaos reigning and the results are not as friendly to your ears.This is largely forgiven as   midway into it he pulls his shit together and begins writing a song again. Not blackened death metal, but I can hear how the chaos lends itself to those comparisons.  Not the fastest or darkest death metal. Sometimes the drums do fall further into the mix than they should to make room for things like strings and keyboards which are uneasy compromises . Though more often than not it is pulled off.

There were some folk metal elements introduced on the previous song and those return to a greater extent on "Aylowenn Aela". They are more disonant than frolicking. Suited for the themes of madness that need to be present for Lovecraft. There is a classical piano interlude that I am not counting for the purpose of this review as it does not go any where for it to feel like a song. There are great many dark sonic layers draped over these songs. This works out rather wonderfully for "Amenthlys". The black metal touches are in the scowl of the vocals here. When the song really kicks in two and a half minutes into this it's blazing fast with anger that also recalls black metal , even more so than the chaos of the third song. "Shayr-Thas" blasts out of the previous song. There is a great deal of atmosphere even amid the ragingin blitz.

There us a more straight forward chug on " Namhera". Straightforward is fine at this point considering how weird things have gotten . The song is also only 4 minutes so it works . The title track also falls closer within the more conventional metal bounds thanks to a reocurring riff that could have been from a demo version of an 80s 0zzy track. The last song does have odd touches of atmosphere , but is largely not too far out in left field for death metal.  I will give this one an 8.5, the production could be better , but for what this is it's pretty dope ass death metal that will not bore you. Out on I Void Hanger

Weeping Sores : " False Confession"

This band's  riffs are very angular and when the double bass gives it more punch they are no just falling in line with your average death metal. The vocals are a unearthly low growl. The opener is the longest song at almost 11 minutes. When they lock into the chug they are more death metal. The pacing is doom like, but I feel they are more of a death metal band than they are doom. They could get lumped in with the death doom trend , but their riffs are smart and they care about their songs rather than just being pleased with having captured a sound. As with most bands that are extremely heavy it could be the sheer weight and power behind what they do that impresses me so it remains to be seen if they will be able to keep my attention going into the second song. Midway into the song things get creepy with strings chiming in and creating something that might intend to be like My Dying Bride , but it doesn't capture the woeful despair they did as the meat of the metal does not wane or give the strings the breathing room to do so. The plus side of this is it means even when these other instruments come in to add to their sound they do not compromise it.

"Song of Embers" opens more melodically than the first song. Three minutes later when the vocals come in they get more into a weird atmospheric death metal thing with a taste for doom. The vocals are layered with higher rasps that I suspect might belong to their violinist though she is not credited with vocals so they could be overdubbed layers too. The violin midsection of the song, takes the more romantic chamber sound and blends it in a direction with nothing in common with My Dying Bride , but a sound that is all their's.  They go for a more straight forward heaviness on "Transfiguration of Flesh Into Dreams" .  By straight forward , not a steady flow of Cannibal Corpse double bass, but more focused on the crunch than atmosphere. That makes them still more adventurous than most.  "The Leech Called Shame" also sticks closer to having the emphasis on heavy.  The violin does play a larger role in the mood of the song so this gives it a wider dynamic depth. The violin has a more interesting role to help compensate for the vocals that begin to become a one trick pony.

"Valediction Prayer" is darker and more murky . There is more dissonance in the verses. By verses what appears to be the main riff as they do not follow the typical song structure. The drums shift underneath it in a more progressive fashion.There are some faster passages that border on blasts thrown in , but I would not say anything about this project owes much to black metal.  I am three minutes into "Sink Beneath the Waves" before i check back in to the song, prompted by violin. Otherwise this falls pretty close to your more standard death metal of thinking man's variety, They never have moments that are boring some are just more engaging than others.    This album comes out September 13th.

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Tongues : " Hreilia"

There is a reason I don't start my end of the year lists in November. It takes all of November to catch up with the rest of the year or in the case of this album check out stuff that is coming out in December.  am going through my in-box clearing out some of the promos that I thought would be cool, but upon listening to learn otherwise. While doing this I have come across a few gems the first of these being this band from Denmark. They impress me by being a black metal band that doesn't start off with blast beats. Instead they simmer in discord before allowing things to escalate there. I have said before I don't hate blast beats , you just can't be a one trick pony with them. If blast beats are all you have got then you are typically deleted midway into the second song, as I have too much music to listen to and not enough time for that. The harsh vocals here have a more fiendish rasp to them. 

By the second song the drums to get into a rawer sloppier place, but they still invoke a dynamic ebb and flow. These are at times like Deathspell Omega in their adventurous nature as the song is loaded with odd angular twists and turns. I was not expecting the guitar solo to be thrown in their. The darker throb of "And the Ever Watchful Clouds" sounds more Swedish than Danish as it carries an icy melody that would not be out of place on a Dissection or Watain album. The vocals are growled at cavernous like doom pitch. The song after this settles for being more status quo for black metal until the slower break at the two minute mark. It more blast beats and fast razor sharp riffs. The bass player does anchor this all in and gives it balls like a bass player should, but seldom does as they tend to get lost in the mix when it comes to black metal.The ending finds them stomping down into  more of a death metal like place.

Going into the album's third act they begin to fall in line with a more typical black metal sound , though the guitars still maintain a sense of melody. The album closes with the title track that starts of with bizarre soundscapes and never turns into actual metal from there. Overall this is a very solid album and I am impressed by these guys. I will give this album a 8.5 and keep an ear out for what they do in the future. This comes out on I Void Hanger on December 3rd. If you like your black metal dark and discordant this album is for you.

NEPHILIM'S HOWL : "Through The Marrow Of Human Suffering"

This band from Finland might not be black metal in how kids today think of the genre. The vocal somewhat spoken and declared from behind a veil of effects. The pace picks up on " Of Ordeals and Triumph". This brings them into a more black metal territory, the vocals gain some grit. They are not screamed and remind me of a less dramatic version of what Urfaust does. I like the fact that they put such a hypnotic throb into their music. The song builds but hangs in similar dynamic footing. The ten minute "Hate Revelations" finds them taking on more of a Venom like stomp. The vocals are delivered in a more dramatic fashion with a hateful sneer to them. Less punk influenced by Venom they are clearly metal in their intent. Things get more melodic around the six minute marks as the vocals take on more of a croon and the drums slow into a more graceful gallop.

They return to a more hypnotic throb once again for "Against the Worlds that Bind Us" . His vocals here to take on more of a Cronos like harshness. Not a flat out growl, but increased aggression in the way the lyrics are spat out above the pulse of guitar. Four minutes in the most overt form of black metal comes in by way of the blast beats. The albums reaches it's climatic end with the 12 minute "Through the Marrow of Human Suffering". At this point in the album I have already decided these guys are a bit of an enigma when it comes to Finnish black metal as they are rough around the edges but care about the songs rather than throwing a bunch of raw an reckless blast beats at you. They hold off until two minutes into the song to break them out.

If you are looking for black metal that combines the balance of grit and songwriting from the genres early days with a more sonic swell then this band is who you have been looking for. It generally kept me engaged, I am not sure how often I would listen to this , but appreciate it for what it is , which is enough for me to give this album an 8.

Khanus : " Rites of Fire"

This Finnish band goes at it more like a French band making me take a note to myself that when a band's p/r write up says they are totally unique that means they sound like a cross between Emperor and Deathspell Omega. The vocals are that choked lower King Diamond whisper. Credit where credit is due it's not your typical blackened death metal. The album's production is not as dense. The guitars might be layered, but not so heavily that they dominate everything. In weird time signatures and Urfaust like bellowing it's not like the hundreds of blast beat heavy bands I sort through in my in-box everyday. There are even more shouted vocals tossed in amid the lower growls. The sense of riffing is pretty crazy so while they are not totally re-inventing the wheel, they taking it for their own spin here. I also like the fact the song are fairly compact and not all sprawling ten minute epics. Though midway into "Orgone" there is a sense that are joining the lost common denominator of heavy with some of the death growls locked on the chugs.

There is more dissonance in the declaration "the Daughters of Fire", which finds them resisting the urge to become just another death metal band. I can appreciate the drummer's restraint and the way the riff pulses and throbs rather than throwing themselves into the full frontal assault. The soprano vocals wail away in the background as it begins to speed up. The chanted vocals are all over the place and things are generally chaotic. The closing hymn the " Rites of Sacred Ecstasy" finds strange tendencies questioning song writing choices as the song's more powerful moments find everything joining in a staccato chant then dissolving into something more formless.

This is an interesting album, they get a great deal of credit for bucking the norm when it comes to heavy. Keen ears can go under the surface to hear the influences I think they have adding enough of their own touch to this sound. I'll give it an 8. It's worth a listen if you like progressive black or death metal and prefer it darker and dissonant.

Howls of Ebb : "Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows"

Here's an album I have been waiting for. This project out of San Francisco is bringing some of the wonderment back to death metal. Death metal all too often defaults to re-hashing what Incantation and Morbid Angel have already done.  Little time is wasted digging into the meat of the metal on this one. The helter skelter sense of groove and trippy atmosphere that make this band so awesome are all  intact.The double bass hammers harder here beneath the rubbery bass lineS. There is aggression to this, but  not conveyed in the manner you expect from death metal. The guitar tone is one thing that sets these guys apart from their peers.Not as saturated in distortion, the cleaner tone  has a more organic warmth. They toy with the syncopated riff in "Cabals of Molder" with effected sounds whirling around the the mix. It's not secret that darkness is an essential element of heaviness to me. This factors into what makes "Maat Mons' Fume" really stand out to me. They have more of a proggy sludge feel than death metal, however when the time comes to spazz out the solo section leading into a burst of blast gets crazy enough to belong on a Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. This is all done with much more of a deadly seriousness.

"7 Ascetic Cinders..." reaches a place where the level of  the experimentation reaches surreal n more abstract proportion that gives the song a feeling of intangibility.  The chaos stirred up is one of high prowess, though the song writing element. "Gaunt Vertigo " finds them  throwing down the gauntlet to challenge the listener. The rasp of the vocals becomes  more intelligible for "Subliminal Lock" which hits a groove that is like a cracked out version of "Where the Slime Live".  This is not to say they are aping the Tampa death metal pioneers here, but rather coloring with a similar shade of sinister. They linger on atmospheric noise going into the final song "the Apocryphalic Wick". It creeps into a rasped chant before everything falls in around it and builds up momentum from there. This song works off of a much simpler premise than the rest of the album really alternating between the two sections .

Overall this albums brings to life everything I could want from them. More progressive than just death metal loaded up on a ton of drugs. The bass playing is some of death metal's best this side of Cynic, who lets face it are off in the land of elves with Rush at this point in time. The experimentation is tempered with aggression, though it's not just a monochrome brutality. The playing is dialed up past eleven on this one, but as a collection of songs I'll round it up to a 9.5 and see how it sits with me. Some songs are more obtuse than others, but it's safe to say these guys have cemented their own sound at this point and how weird and wonderful it is . This beast will be unleashed by I Void Hanger Records April 15th.

Black Metal History Month -Skaphe : "2"

Progressive black metal album that doesn't want to be Deathspell Omega. It's progressive in its chaos. Aevangelist is a better reference point for the blackness being explored here. the opening track  does more to test the boundaries of dynamics than the second which doesn't really grab me until it breaks down three minutes in. There is a very cavernous sound to this recording , but tonally things do not suffer because of it. The vocals are tormented death metal roars that sound like some one is losing there mind. While the patterns these growls are unleashed in are some what random  it's effective in the first few songs, by the third song I am ready for something a little different. The chaos begins to come across more like noise jamming and less like songs at this point.These jams are well played. The sonic density being tested here is impressive. The guitars sound like they are swarms of bees buzzing up from hell. Jagged, angular and abrasive would be the right words to sum the guitar playing up with. At least it refuses to conform to the tremolo picked riffs most black metal bands conform to.

The bass that opens the fourth song helps to change things up and provide the dynamics this album begins to need at that juncture. Slowing down the ominous darkness and cleaner vocal tone sets the stage for a more moaned vocal rasp that gives these guys more of a dsbm feel. The production is very occult death metal as well. When it does build into the blast beat section there is an eeire melody played against it to balance it out. When the fifth song descends into the more abstract collision of disjointed ambiance they hit a thing of beauty and then slap you back awake with a screaming blast. The vocals don't have much purpose here but to add to the chaos. It ends with a song that dies down into a more melodic and atmospheric section without compromising the dark and intense nature of this album.

I'll give this album an 8. It's a solid effort and an improvement in the atmosphere this project proves it self capable of constructing. At times there is a more uniform nature to their sound, but overall they keep things varied enough to elements like the haphazard vocal approach are swept aside with the storm of chaos that lures you into it's darkness.

Absconditus: 'Kατάβασις"

Deathspell Omega seems to be the band to beat in France these days, which is a shame because France had a good run of very creative black metal coming out of it. The Death Spell influence is strong on this one , but these guys are not as blatant an homage as some. There is an angular quality and some dark dissonance , but what helps set these guys apart is some of the very melodic guitar harmonies. They work better when they are taking more risks rhythmically than just lunging at a blast . It's in some of the more overt metal moments like like galloping that this band shines and makes the more Deathspell nuances just window dressing rather than jumping on the bandwagon.

"Exultet" seems a little darker to me. The vocals retain the same scream throughout the album dropping down slightly into a more guttural growl as an accent, but on "Exultet" they are double to create an very evil serpentine sound. There is some really excellent guitar work on this album. The drumming is pretty on point as well, but the guitar is where it is at. Most of the songs hand around the eight minute mark, which is a happy medium for me. Droning is not this bands thing so they are in twisting your head around and then out into the next cerebral rampage. Though on the closing song they do drift closer into the path of droning when they lock onto some tremolo picking.

I had to listen to "Hybris" more than once to fully ingest what was happening. It had the crunching angular wreckage mixed with more traditional back metal pacing. The gurgle low sound that could be an inhuman vocal is another good addition to the hellish mix of sounds, this one has more of an Emperor feel to me than Deathspell, though Emperor is obviously one of Deathspell's influences. I'll round this up to a 9.5 it might very well make it onto the iPod. If you need more discordant prog tinged black metal that is not too cool to be metal then here you go.