Kreigsmaschine : "Enemy of Man"

Not relenting in our need to bring the blackness for national black history month, we find this Polish band with a German name features two members of  Mgla among it's ranks. Their guitarist and drummer. More ambient than Mgla, comparison to Ulcerate are not unfounded, though the bands forgos needless wandering into the more technical side and captures the ringing chords so in some ways it's not unlike Blut Aus Nord either, they find themselves in the same purgatory between occult death metal and black metal.

I like how dark this is and the sonic space this album typically inhibits. The album does tend to allow the songs to drone together in one bass laden throb. The vocals stay in a mid- range growl, that are often more of a bellow,   the vocals on this album  are better than say Ulcerate's vocals, but they are by and large an after thought when it came to the fine point of the song writing.

 Not relenting in our need to bring the blackness for national black history month, we find it coming from PolandThe album stomps to life with "None Shall See Redemption". It backs the needed punch in the dark to get your attention. The vocals circle a deeper drain as they gurgle in a some what lower register than they typically are through out the album's course. The drummer is pretty creative with some of his more technical experimentation with double bass, the drum mix is much better than your typical Ulcerate album where their treble mixed nature makes them sound sterile like a drum machine.

The only complaint it that all of the songs begin to take on a similar throb. On "Lies of the Father" this is done with enough lurching sway to make it stand out , but the general vein of drone in their lurching swing begins to numb you out once the album reaches "Farewell to Grace".

The formula seems to be give you some breathing room as the lights go low and pound the point home in the most spectrally ominous manner they can summon. The level and approach of ambiance is where they change things up, along with smart drumming which at times is the only thing to differentiate the riffing. Some songs carry more drive and gallop, but retain a similar feel.

The drumming is really one of the album's strongest suits, along with the bands ability to blend atmosphere with this darkened swamp of riffs. The lower throat singing type vocals that chime in midway through
"Asceticism and Passion" bring a new coating of creepy to things and provide some variance in the vocals they were beginning to really need mid way into the album .

The band comes at you with the same storm cloud in the albums final act. If you are not listening careful it begins to sound as if the previous song is still going. So dynamical things start to get a little opaque by " To Ashen Havens".  They blasties creep in a bit, but the song retains such a similar feel this is not fully realized.The progression are not so accented that stand out , but a blur of shuddering guitar.

The title track closes out the album at a similar pace as what the band had been riffing off of for the bulk of this lp. The syncopation shifts a tad here, but the drone retains the stain. They linger on the chords in a very sludge drenched doom manner now, before launching off into a elephantine shuffle.It hits in a similar monolithic manner as Meshuggah to me, technical but in an understated only the drummer gets the joke way.They simmer down and drone out the same way they came into this world. I'll give this a 7.5 , round it up if you are a huge Mgla fan.
4.5

Behemoth : "The Satanist"

I like Behemoth for what they are , it's entertaining, they have written some catchy songs with crushing riffs that have been worth a head band or two. To be honest I had to listen to the opener of their new one three times, to be able to pay enough attention, in order to discern if I liked it or not. When it comes to my cool riffs don't make for a good song, these guys sometimes find themselves on the rougher end of the deal. There are some elements that remind me of "Iowa" era Slipknot.

They try really hard and that is worth something. They are trying really hard to be black metal and some times this album makes me think I might have liked it more when they wanted to be more industrial or more like Dimmu and epic everything out. Their blast beats too often sound like a kid running faster down a hill than his legs want to agree with. There is a pretty mean almost At the Gates kind of gallops that hits in "Furor Divinus"

Lets talk about the lyrics. I was under the impression Nergal was a thelemite, so the very heavy handed upside down cross , in your face approach to the lyrics seems a little juvenile. Their earlier more ambiguous lyrics, held more occult to them, since by definition occult means hidden. They almost remind me of Deicide lyrics at times, and the Glen Bentonesque moments don't end there, they crop up in  moments in the rush brutality of the vocal phrasing in "Messe Noire".

The balance of dynamics in not as finely tuned as it was on "Evangelion", to some this might come as a good news as it's a heavier album and much more death metal. The hyper blast of "Amen" strikes me as an attempt to use the rapid fire pace to rush an otherwise mediocre riff past you, in order to get to the solos, which are the album most shining moments.

While this album is by and large a disappointment, it does have some moments of redemption on the creepy title track. Nergal comes close to singing here, and the song has groove, both elements contribute to better songwriting. The bass playing is pretty stellar on this song, so it makes the fact that these are talented guys capable of doing more frustrating as a listener. Their is a similar touch of melodious fury on "O Father O Satan O Sun" it hits a very Led Zeppelin like groove. I'll give it a 7.5, but wanted something different than trying to rush the songs past me, it does have some worthwhile moments and if you are a fan of the band round it up to an 8,



    

5.3

Mgla: With Hearts Toward None

One of the buzz generating metal albums of the year of the variety cooler than say Cattle Decapitation, a Polish band with a Swedish sound. It's very Dissection, in that in doesn't rely to much on the blast, some exceptional drumming on this album and the songwriting isn't to shabby.

The songs are just numbered so that is how we are going to do it here

1- first off the guitar riff this opens with is where the Dissection comparisons started for me and when I say that I don't mean in the tribute band manner Thulcandria goes about it. The groove it hits a minute in is a winner in my book. Off the bat the drumming impressed me but the vocals feel one dimensional but in its open this wasn't a distraction.

2-this one is more melodic but darker and still powerful almost a sludge feel its a riff that wouldn't be out of place on a Tool or Neurosis album and I suppose you might as well go ahead and say Behemoth, but despite a homeland they don't have much in common with them.

3-the blasties break out and before this song I just wasn't hearing the black metal but this song qualifies it even has a drone to it and to be honest the riff sounds like a variation of the previous song just taken to a dynamic turn , when the drums go into the groove it's epic and that's not a adjective I throw around lightly to describe every gallop that shows up, but this section redeemed the song for me that seemed one dimensional before this transition. They revert back to blasty mcnasters and it seems a little like taking the easy way out to me, though there are some creative accents as they song winds down.

4- back to the more melodic take on things, this has a churn similar to Nachtmhstium but without the punk underbite. I am beginning to pick up on their formula of let's riff of variation of this theme then bookend end it with blast sections.

5-mid tempo the chords have a nice ring to them, the straight snare pattern isn't my favorite as this drummer has already done some more interesting work but before we fix it let's have a blast...beat that is. I can hear a little Immortal if I open my ears up its in the way they let the chords ring out.This guys feet canfucking fly though and I do like the fact the lyrics are discernible.

6- the beginning makes you think they are going for an old school metal opening they head fake to the left hand path and it powers along. The riff is pretty driving so it distracts me more often than not the snare is a little stiff, the disco hi hat works and gets it lubed up. It gets into Watain/ Bathory territory , particular with vocal chant.

7- this one opens with nice cymbal work and takes a drone into the actual song with spoken words muffled in the back ground. It builds into the blast. The double bass is the only thing that really provides variation once the vocals kick in. The drums switch up in what would be the chorus section but is a more driven variation of what they have been droning on. This is pretty powerful stuff in the feel it captures, though maybe not the most compelling song writing even though it's not a faceless blur of blast beats. They have generous sense of dynamics yet in the last three and a half minutes of the album I was hoping for some thing a little more sonic and it stays pretty straightfor forward. They playing in dead on and excellence is in the execution here though the influences are worn on their sleeves I'm split on scoring this one so I'll round it up to an 8 as the bands it's derivative of are some of my favorites so, that the way to steal