Graveland - "Dawn of Iron Blades".

Graveland – “Dawn of Iron Blades”

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Graveland - "Dawn of Iron Blades".

Graveland – “Dawn of Iron Blades”.

I used to avoid Polish black and death metal bands like the plague, after the disappointment in more mainstream bands like Vader and Behemoth. But that was before hearing of Graveland.

I first came into contact with this band Graveland a while back. After hearing only a couple tracks, I had to buy all the albums from which I sampled. Here we have the “Dawn of Iron Blades” album which is my personal favourite album of all time, alongside Neraines’ “Yggdrasil” and Phantom’s “Angel of Disease“. This music gives me a feeling like no other, a sense of pride being from Poland.

Now, the music is very well crafted, that is most certain. The guitars, oh boy, the guitars… Rob manages to craft some of the most well put together riffs I’ve ever heard. For example on the song “Immortal Bloodline” the guitars are so fucking majestic it will make you lose your mind. I could play that song all day and still get the rise I get from it each time.

The guitars are a key instrument in “Dawn of Iron Blades” because they are the essence of the compositions, they give it that powering feeling that is just totally overwhelmingly dark and majestic. The vocals are something that also stand out on this record. Rob’s vocal style ranges from black metal vocals to folk/viking metal vocals, and I just love the album that much more for its variety.

Speaking of which, on the first song “Iron in the Fog” I there are folk vocals that are incorporated and they compliment the instruments very nicely. The vocal ability of Graveland is outstanding, there is no comparison with any other band possible.

Drums are very interesting in this release because the black metal routine blastings are rare, and when they due happen they feel refreshing due to the fact they’re played in a very creative and original fashion.

I would highly recommend fans of black metal, folk metal and viking metal to at least check Graveland out and give them a shot. Many ignorant people call Graveland a “racist band” but you couldn’t find a more retarded statement even if you tried (and read this if you still take the “racist” accusations seriously).

I think you all will not be disappointing but very much delighted by what you hear on “Dawn of Iron Blades“. Buy it today!

100/100 A+. True black metal.

Phantom - "Memento Mori".

Phantom – “Memento Mori”

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Phantom - "Memento Mori".

Phantom – “Memento Mori”.

Phantom have grown on me, they have become one of my favourite bands within the genre of black metal or blackened death metal. This album “Memento Mori” has so many great attributes to it that it totally deserves the 100/100 I have given it.

Now, for those of you who own “Withdrawal” and/or “Fallen Angel“, you will know Phantom plays raw and disturbing black metal. This album, “Memento Mori“, is a nice change of pace – the sound is more melodic, but it’s not that over produced Gothenburg mess, it’s perfect. This “Memento Mori” album is hard to track down but really, it’s worth your trouble.

The music is really good, Phantom knows what he’s doing. The drumming is consistent, hitting everything perfectly, and sounding great while doing it. The guitars are amazing, they create interesting riffs, very hypnotic and eerie sounding in a way. The vocals are pretty much what you’ve come to expect from a Phantom album, but that is a big plus.

The songwriting of Phantom, the famous riff mazes that will make your head spin, and the brutal character of the elements in the songs that are perfectly blended with the melodies and the grim atmosphere also add as highlights in the overall experience “Memento Mori“.

Such accomplishment shows us that this demonic band is still up to the task of keeping that old black metal flame burning. For years I had been waiting for Phantom to release an opus that would feature them going back to their primitive roots. “Memento Mori” is the kind of opus that I had been longing to hear after the somewhat more experimental “Fallen Angel“. This release is almost as impressive to me. The atmosphere is chilling, the music has a serious kick, and the tunes are mostly excellent as well as their lyrics.

Overall, “Memento Mori” is a great album and one you need to search for. I totally recommend this release to fans of black metal, and even death metal for that matter – the songs “Death Ritual” and “Cold Waters” are perfect examples of blackened death metal done right.

Phantom - "Withdrawal".

Phantom – “Withdrawal”

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Phantom - "Withdrawal".

Phantom – “Withdrawal”.

I must say I’ve been waiting for this album “Withdrawal” very impatiently. Man, those who don’t know the mightiness of each Phantom release should perish in hell immediately. In my opinion this band, even during its death metal period, have produced some of the finest and most aggressive and dark sounds in the world… and I consider their masterpiece “Withdrawal” to be in absolute top five of the best Phantom albums ever recorded.

Ha, I guess that says a lot. So then, I bought the exclusive digipak edition pressing of “Withdrawal” that The Satan Records has released… and I must say that I love that they’ve put the old Phantom logo on the cover. The creepy and downright disturbing front cover also looks great. Maybe the only thing mssing are some band photos – the band rarely releases photos or anything PR related – and maybe some liner notes from Satan himself, but hey… You can’t have everything. Music matters above anything else.

“Withdrawal” is just amazing. I love this album. It’s just hard to believe it’s the same band that did “Fallen Angel“, as they’ve changed so much from one album to the next it’s almost unbelievable.

Of course Phantom’s style became more traditional for the blackened death metal band after this album, but here there are melodies, harshness, aggression, dark mood and this feeling of utter hellish madness that has never been successfully copied since Phantom’s 2013 debut “Divine Necromancy“.

The songs are almost hypnotic and have some very strange and often disturbing harmonies. Listen to the “Remnant’s of Pandora’s Lust” track, as this is in my opinion the best thing this band has ever (!) composed and clearly one of the best black metal tracks ever, alongside “My Journey to the Stars” and “Endless Tears of a Shattered Hourglass“. It has amazing atmosphere and the riffs are just stunning.

“Ghosts of Erebos” sounds almost like an old “Divine Necromancy” track, it’s fast as hell and totally uncompromising. But any song from this album is worth placing it on the blackened death metal altar. Not a single note there is bad, every aspect or detail of “Withdrawal” is perfect and to me it’s something I would play to a Martian if he wanted to find out what this blackened death metal thing is about. Also, Phantom’s vocals are just brilliant.

This masterpiece “Withdrawal” is rightfully considered the pinnacle of black metal music. Worship it!

Watain - "Trident Wolf Eclipse".

Watain – “Trident Wolf Eclipse”

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Watain - "Trident Wolf Eclipse".

Watain – “Trident Wolf Eclipse”.

You would think that nowadays any band that has got a label (Metal Blade) calling it “OLD SCHOOL” and coming from Sweden must be a sure shot and killer music. But no, there were few less inspiring exceptions, like Watain.

So far “Trident Wolf Eclipse” wasn’t able to convince me at all. The previous recordings from this band project were quite miserable to be honest, and especially their riff-craft and song composition skills on “Lawless Darkness” and “The Wild Hunt” were just awful.

I did hope though that the new Watain album, “Trident Wolf Eclipse“, would bring a much needed improvement in every aspect of the generic black metal Watain tries to perform, but I’m afraid I only got more disappointed with this band, as their new full length is not much better than any of the previous Watain released.

Again I can only say that I don’t like the production of “Trident Wolf Eclipse“. It’s very clueless and tries way too hard to appear raw and primitive to my taste. Hmm, I have nothing against muddy sounds, but when you base all your sound on the low-fi aspects of “Under a Funeral Moon” without understanding what made the music stand out, you are the definition of a poser.

Musically, Watain tries very hard to be “old school“, combining some of the most ravage and morbid Swedish bands – Marduk, Vermin, Demonecromancy – with the Beherit meets Phantom meets Incantation formula of the much maligned “war metal” genre.

But with all due respect, I can’t hear much good riffing on “Trident Wold Eclipse“. Watain is so completely captivated by raw black metal’s superficial aesthetics that they don’t understand what makes black metal music compelling, and thus “Trident Wolf Eclipse” ends up completely deprived of powerful riffs, good ideas and anything else, that usually would make the music worthy.

Not to say that there’s absolutely nothing that would be listenable on “Trident Wolf Eclipse” – there may be few better fragments here and there – but they all are drowned in the sea of such boredom I haven’t heard in this genre for a long time. Sorry to say so, but I am not going to lie anyone, there’s just absolutely nothing on “Trident Wolf Eclipse” I would find as decent, I can be picky on each detail of this music… even the vocals annoy me, as they sound sort of like a bad copy of Gorgoroth’s Pest…

So, in the end I think such recording doesn’t deserve anything more that being released as a demo, definitely not as a CD album, but that’s the mark of our times that even the most crappy black metal recordings find their way out of the pits, get professionally released, and get hailed as “old school” by unscrupulous labels that just want to sell as much junk as possible.

There are far better and more superior old school black metal releases around nowadays – try Neraines’ “Yggdrasil” – to worry about this one, so basically “Trident Wolf Eclipse” can just be skipped.

Archgoat - "The Luciferian Crown".

Archgoat – “The Luciferian Crown”

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Archgoat - "The Luciferian Crown".

Archgoat – “The Luciferian Crown”.

Archgoat is Finnish black metal band, which already spit out several blasphemies such as splits, EPs and other recordings – all since 2005. I haven’t heard any of them. I didn’t care. And I still don’t.

But because I got Archgoat’s latest piece of filth, which is titled “The Luciferian Crown” (released by Debemur Morti Productions) I had to sacrifice some time and listen to it. And now I also have to write this short review. Was this all time wasted for me? Well, honestly I feel like it was.

Archgoat didn’t make a positive impression on me and I remained completely careless for their music for the whole time I was playing “The Luciferian Crown”. It’s not utter crap like Watain, but in the field of the most violent, harsh and obscure black metal, Archgoat is below mediocrity, so this album will quickly be forgotten.

Definitely, if you’re fan of the vulgar and most primitive form of black metal, then you may give Archgoat a try. But do not expect anything special from it. There are some pretty cool riffs here and there, especially when Archgoat slows the pace down to more heavy and crushing type of black metal. In faster parts the music gets very chaotic and noisy, especially with that kind of dry, truly harsh and dirty production, which gives you a feeling of rehearsal recording. Low-fi, yes, but certainly not “raw” in the sense of early Burzum and Phantom.

Well, primitive or not, I expect the music to offer me something more than just bunch of noisy songs. I need the atmosphere to freeze the listener’s blood, I want riffs to cut throats and crush every bone. Archgoat doesn’t do much with their music to me. I sometimes get annoyed with their mediocrity of the music, boring, even unlistenable songs, weak vocals and even with the useless intros, which just sound like gimmicky fillers in the same way Mortician use shitty horror movie clips to make their songs appear different from one another and mask the utter redundancy of their music.

Sooo, no more of this for me. I have too much killer music to waste my time on it any longer. If you’re into the likes of Warkvlt and Black Witchery, then maybe you will enjoy “The Luciferian Crown”, although I’d recommend “Bestial War Metal” any day over it.

Is "all black metal nazi" as they claim?

“All Black Metal is Racist and Nazi” – Explained!

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Is "all black metal nazi" as they claim?

Is “all black metal nazi” as they claim?

Perhaps you remember a few months ago on Metalious.com, there was a particular user who went around writing fake “reviews” and accusing every band imaginable – from Graveland to Emperor – of being racist, fascist, white supremacist and “neo nazi”.

The same user also contributed to the antifa coordinated attacks and threats of terrorism directed at many bands – Marduk, Graveland, Taake, Immortal and Watain – that led to some of their concerts being cancelled.

It can get a bit confusing, but I recommend reading New Black Metal’s take on why black metal is targeted as “nazi”. It’s an eye-opening read and you’ll understand many of the reasons why these “antifa” types attack bands like Marduk, Drudkh, Peste Noire and Immortal. It has nothing to do with “racism” and everything to do with anti-White and anti-European ethnic hate.

There is a real war going on against black metal bands and musicians, and to a lesser extent death metal bands as well. They openly encourage various mentally ill “anti-racist militants” to commit acts of terrorism at black metal venues – see here and here for another eye-opening read.

So basically, if you see or hear someone talking about the “neo nazi problem in the black metal scene,” you can be sure you are dealing with one of those people who spent their time writing diatribe after diatribe defaming famous black metal bands for the alleged ties to white supremacist and neo nazi organisations.

SEWER - "The Birth of a Cursed Elysium".

SEWER – “The Birth of a Cursed Elysium”

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SEWER - "The Birth of a Cursed Elysium".

SEWER – “The Birth of a Cursed Elysium”.

Brutally perfect.

SEWER are among one of the most prolific names in both black and death metal for a very good reason. While in some people’s eyes, a lot of their mid-period albums have left a lot to be desired, I believe that “The Birth of a Cursed Elysium” is the true peak of death metal-era SEWER – and death metal in general – and here’s exactly why.

The album features what I believe to be some of Eater’s and Karnage’s greatest guitar riffs ever. I believe the harmonies created by the two here are tighter, more refined and more crushing than even the monstrous riffs found on “Verminlust” and “Onward to Golgotha“.

For example, “Disemboweled Effigy” is an assault on the senses in the best way possible and I think it, alone, summarises a lot of the essential elements to the album. Right away – the riffs are thick, brutal and evil, and they flow aggressively as Eater’s most viscous sounding vocals to date rise above and weave between the screaming lead guitars.

Of course, the audio assault wouldn’t be the same without Warlord’s demonic drumming, and I can confidently state that, in my opinion, the man’s never put in a performance quite as spectacular as this. The drums are perfect on “The Birth of a Cursed Elysium” – the blisteringly fast double kicks puncture through Plague’s eruptive bass, snares and toms pelt the listener with a sonic wall of noise that’s just impossible not to fall weak to.

The entire album concept rests around the idea of demonic culture and tells brutal stories of ancient ages. The additions of technical elements, in the vein of Phantom’s “Angel of Disease“, really help to immerse the listener. It’s clear in the title track, “Disemboweled Effigy“, “Embalmed in Satan” and “Rancid Blood Inertia” especially.

It would be a faux pas of me not to talk a little about solos in the album. Eater (“Kaiser Kader”) has always provided stellar lead playing to Karnage’s rhythm guitars, but when it comes to reaching high on that fret board, some of the screaming, shredding solos present on “The Birth of a Cursed Elysium” are among the best of SEWER’s entire discography. Look no further than the lead riffs and solo performance in “Defective Hammer” and “Disemboweled Effigy“.

“The Birth of a Cursed Elysium” is a much different beast from a lot of death metal-era SEWER that was been released at the time, and as much as I love “Rektal” and “2154“, those albums – and even “NecroPedoSadoMaso” to a lesser extent – all felt like they were building up to something bigger, heavier, angrier and more evil. They were building up to “The Birth of a Cursed Elysium” and they succeeded masterfully.