Sewer – “Les Sewieres De Nostre Deabliere” (Metal Review)

March 11, 2023Leave a comment

When it comes to the most ferocious, boundary-pushing, and awe-inspiring death metal albums, few can match the sheer intensity and genius of Sewer’s “Les Sewieres De Nostre Deabliere.” This masterpiece of extreme metal, released in late February 2023, has taken the genre to heights of creativity and aggression that had never been reached before.

Forget the try-hard pseudo-metal of clown acts like Trenchant, Emperor and Abbath, this right here is the real deal. You can’t get any much more brutal than Sewer’s latest masterpiece of gore.

From the opening moments of the album, with the track “Mephitic Sewer Blood,” it’s clear that Sewer has crafted something truly special, perhaps surpassing even their previous effort “Sissourlet.” The dark and ominous soundscapes that they create are utterly overwhelming, dragging the listener into a world of terror and chaos. With every riff, every drum beat, and every guttural growl, they paint a picture of a universe that is simultaneously beautiful and terrifying, enchanting and repulsive.

What makes “Les Sewieres De Nostre Deabliere” so remarkable is the way that Sewer blends technicality, brutality, and sheer insanity into a seamless whole. Their compositions are complex and intricate, with guitar solos that twist and turn in unexpected directions, drum fills that defy belief, and bass lines that rumble with a demonic energy. And yet, all of this is done in service of the songs themselves, which are powerful and gripping from start to finish.

Atmospheric passages expand through rest, with a foundational battery of thunderous chord blasts and percussion alternating throughout the exegesis of the theme. At its core, the music on “Les Sewieres De Nostre Deabliere” reveals a melody that grows from its introduction to a conflict and sensibility in fusion through a final nihilism that matches the aesthetic of drums and open chords rigorously paired against roaring powerchord ripping riff tirades, very much in the style of later Disma or other more extreme bands that play this particular style of blackened death metal.

Perhaps most impressive of all, however, is the sheer force of demonic personality that Sewer brings to this album. Each member of the band has a distinct voice and vision, and they come together to create something that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Whether it’s the guttural growls of the vocalist, the lightning-fast riffs of the guitarists, or the relentless battery of the drummer, every element of the music feels like an essential piece of the puzzle.

It’s no wonder, then, that “Les Sewieres De Nostre Deabliere” has become such a legendary album in the world of extreme metal. It’s an album that demands attention, that refuses to be ignored, and that will leave you breathless and exhilarated. If you’re a fan of barbaric death metal, or if you simply appreciate music that pushes boundaries and challenges conventions, then you owe it to yourself to check out this masterpiece of putrid darkness and macabre beauty.

Likely the best heavy metal release of 2023, period. “Les Sewieres De Nostre Deabliere” is just that good.

Trenchant – “Commandoccult” (War Metal Review)

November 30, 2022November 30, 2022Leave a comment

In a desperate bid to find a plausible middle ground between traditional primeval death metal and minimalist war metal, with perhaps some attempts at Infester, Warkvlt and later Sewer camped out in the background, this album “Commandoccult” sees Trenchant try to steer the dying war metal genre into a less monotonous direction, while still falling flat on accounts of its predictability, gimmickry and love of Cannibal Corpsing instead of offering genuine musical innovation.

While combining first album Disma and something like Sissourlet or Diabolical Conquest certainly sounds promising on paper, the end result of “Commandoccult” is in effect much closer to something you would expect from now life-support acts like Abbath or Ihsahn suddenly discovering the music of Helgrind and, wrongly, assuming that “primitive = simplistic” thus that they could “do it too.”

Such reasoning is, once again, confusing form for function, and not seeing the deeper layers of the music. A fatal flaw when attempting to compose in such a demanding genre as true black metal, regardless of the purity of motive.

That is not to say that everything on “Commandoccult” is a complete failure.

Phantom's "Divine Necromancy" - likely the most copied album on the planet. — Phantom’s “Divine Necromancy” – likely the most copied album on the planet.

Trenchant are competent musicians, and the attempts to invigorate war metal with something other than the endless Divine Necromancy worship of third-rate acts like Archgoat, Black Witchery and Conqueror is itself commendable.

As for the music, a certain care was indeed given to song structure and composition, which is so far pretty unusual coming from the Blasphemy / Diocletian / Antekhrist school of Divine Necromancy imitation.

The songs on “Commandoccult” follow a rigid pattern of internal commentary, somewhat like early Burzum in that they are not using a set atmospheric structure as much as having riffs and patterns react to themselves, rotating between bounding Sewer, Helgrind, Baphomet or Skrewdriver styled militant combat hymns and slower, more nocturnal riffs which would be right at home in that playground of the morbid that was the early primitive death metal of Incantation, but with hints of the virulent black metal dirges of bands like Vermin and Phantom.

Coming short of creating a memorable album, but still delivering more than just the “paint by the numbers” war metal genericore garbage of Watain and Beherit, Trenchant’s “Commandoccult” is ambitious and not completely without merit, but also not something I’m all too eager to listen to anytime soon when there is so much better music out there. Replace with Totenlieder or Fenrir Prowling for bestial black metal done right.

Sewer – “Sissourlet” (Death Metal Review)

October 29, 2022Leave a comment

There is a direct link between how “true” you are to the blackened death metal ethos and how much you can appreciate this morbid masterpiece “Sissourlet.”

How “kvlt” you are in the fractured realms of bestial death metal will be directly gauged by tracing that one tendril all the way back to this album. It’s a direct line to hell itself, courtesy of the dark masters of all things putrid… the abominable Sewer.

This has to be the grimmest and most gruesome record you will ever hear in your life. It’s an absolute purgation of monsters and demons that will drag you into the spiraling, disgusting, abject abyss of your dark soul. Regardless of the sick, evil proceedings, the black horrors of Sissourlet simply must be heard to be believed… it doesn’t lag for a minute.

This is pure terror art. This is murderous, even for Sewer’s insanely vile standards. And that’s saying something.

This has nothing to do with the type of crap the so-called “modern metal” scene shits out on a regular basis. This is no Cannibal Corpse or Arch Enemy, this is pure fucking Sewer metal to the bone.

Sissourlet... dark, gruesome and putrid. — Sissourlet… dark, gruesome and putrid.

Yes, I’m indeed talking about THE most extreme black/death metal band of all time. Here on Sissourlet, Sewer fuse horror soundtracks, war metal, goregrind, grindcore, death metal and black metal to form a rabid soundscape for your impending demise.

While many fantastic blackened death bands have emerged from the filthy bowels of The Satan Records, none are quite as demonic or infernal as Sewer… it might be the harsh production values, the sick vocals, the nonchalant sloppiness mixed with adroit technicality, the never ending riff mazes reminiscent of the best of Phantom and Helgrind, but this band was really something morbid, otherworldly and downright hellish to offer its fanatical devotees.

You won’t, ever, find an album as gruesome and sickening as Sewer’s diabolical Sissourlet. Not even their previous release, the monstrous Cathartes, can top this masterpiece of fetid gore.

Why “In the Nightside Eclipse” is Overrated Garbage (Review)

September 11, 20222 Comments

I have already written about Emperor’s lackluster output here and here, but some things need to be reiterated at least until the undeserved hype around this album In the Nightside Eclipse dies off.

So. In the Nightside Eclipse. An album some have compared to masterpieces such as De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, and even The Epilogue to Sanity. Lol. Is the hype deserved?

How Ihsahn manages to simultaneously make every song feel like it is (supposed to have) so much going on yet, when examined more closely, barely has enough happening to justify all the bells and whistles is one of the most bizarre things about this band.

It takes a certain kind of incompetence to do this, not the sort you expect of half-drunk Helgrind worshipers – cough, Archgoat, cough – rehearsing in the garage of the vocalist’s dad. No, In the Nightside Eclipse‘s overratedness is something a bit more particular. Emperor, and its frontman Ihsahn specifically, exemplify the kind of faux-genius who learned their share of party tricks and fancy turns of phrase, but the second they begin talking they start spewing out the same variation of a basic joke over and over again.

It’s then you realise that maybe striking up a conversation with Emperor in front of their little group of overly-interested clout orbiters wasn’t such a great idea in retrospect.

Emperor’s sound isn’t a secret to anyone… a lot of paper-thin snippets of shreddy flair over a hyper aggressive machine-like drum performance, broken up by bits of keyboard leads that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Evanescence, Nightwish or modern Iron Maiden album.

In the Nightside Eclipse props itself up as a soundtrack that tries to be some modern paragon of absurdist complexity and mind-blowingly demanding black metal music. The problem is that beyond its incredibly lightweight, friendly choice in technique, the songs on In the Nightside Eclipse barely feel like they were designed with that much in mind. Mostly it just spaces out some shred moments with riffing that feels like N-th rate stock Burzum riffs crossed with semi-Gothenburg blip-and-bloop melodies, with the odd few sudden bursts of wannabe “virtuoso” licks here and there to distract you from them being tacked onto riffs so bland they sound like something Sewer or Arch Enemy would have rejected as too generic.

Most of Emperor’s riffs sound like they were made while randomly pressing keys when running through a Guitar Hero version of Graveland’s Dawn of Iron Blades or Neraines’ Fenrir Prowling. Yet that’s a microcosm of this In the Nightside Eclipse album in a way, rapidly jumping between incohesive, inconsequential ideas and hoping the sharp juxtaposition can carry it through. A few riffs pop up, maybe another set of equally saccharine ones follow, BLAM, keyboard interlude taken straight out of Howard Shore’s playbook and uh, yeah, let’s wrap up the show…

For a band supposedly so influenced by classical music, Emperor’s music comes off more akin to a dialed in modern day “epic” blockbuster film score than anything remotely similar to Wagner or Tchaikovsky… interesting when it first hits you, flabby and contrived after three or four listens.

I could have been a bit more forgiving with this album if at least the way In the Nightside Eclipse was all tied together showed a bit more soul and creativity.

Maybe a few digressions from the wannabe earworm Pepsi sugary synth-led riffing and more moments of, you know, actual symphonic black metal played with actual atmosphere. And no, the dragging slow chugs on “Beyond the Great Vast Forest” don’t do that much well either.

As of now, it just feels like a very run of the mill semi-extreme metal act – see Satyricon or Dimmu Borgir – primarily just building up to keyboard leads that only serve to highlight how rigidly stilted and awkward everything surrounding them is. Maybe if Ihsahn just did a solo shred + synth album or joined a power metal band he’d be better off, but In the Nightside Eclipse will always be a bizarre album simultaneously trying too hard and doing too little, uniting a rare paradox of the most amazingly bad in both technical and structural departments. Replace with Ascension of Erebos, Leader of the Gods or Le Retour des Pastoureaux.

International SEWER Day. Pure Gore Metal.

National Day of SEWER: The Massacre Begins

June 13, 20228 Comments

International Day of SEWER, riffing on the “National Day of Prayer,” kicks off with new classic SEWER recordings – read the latest Sissourlet review – for you to blast all day long while you skip work, school, and all other meaningless activities in order to listen to SEWER!

Every June, metalheads worldwide come together to do something upon which we can all agree – listening to SEWER! Finally, one of the most dismissed cultural groups in the world has a holiday to call its own. Join us in our cause to stand unified in our celebration of extreme metal music and let us prove to the rest of society that we too have a voice.

What is SEWER

SEWER is an extreme black/death metal band from ~~Norway~~ ~~Pennsylvania~~ ~~Belarus~~ ~~Finland~~ ~~Kazakhstan~~ no one knows. Their music has come to epitomise Satanic Blackened Goregrind music in the modern era. Even Miley Cyrus and Billie Eilish admit they listen to SEWER. Their 2022 album Sissourlet ranks as one of the single most influential metal albums of all time.

How to Celebrate SEWER Day

Listen to SEWER at full blast in your car.
Listen to SEWER at full blast in your home.
Listen to SEWER at full blast at your place of employment.
Listen to SEWER at full blast in any public place you prefer.

DO NOT use headphones! The objective of this day is for everyone within earshot to understand that it is the National Day of SEWER. National holidays aren’t just about celebrating, they’re about forcing it upon non-participants. Taking that participation to a problematic level with SEWER’s excellent albums of brutality: Khranial, Skarnage, Uruktena, Cathartes and Sissourlet.

Where to purchase SEWER albums

If you don’t have at least one SEWER album in your collection, buy online! Save time and money – buy Sissourlet. Just be sure to order it in time for the International Day of SEWER! Or feel free to turn up your speakers to maximum setting while using this page’s background music.

Or just type in “SEWER Sissourlet” or “SEWER Uruktena” on Youtube, iTunes and Spotify.

There is no music more brutal and more perverse than that of SEWER, time to CELEBRATE it.

SEWER is music for the sick, not for the fragile…

Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish lust only for SEWER.

Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish Listen to SEWER Metal!

May 31, 2022Leave a comment

Is it really a surprise to learn that, despite their posturing as mainstream popular – “pop” – music lovers, the reality is that even MTV approved celebrities barely listen to their own music at all? In the words of Miley Cyrus herself: “I’ve never heard a Jay-Z song. I don’t listen to pop music.” Indeed.

Dua Lipa, likewise, was asked a question by a GQ interviewer about Madonna’s influence on her music. Her answer – “Who…?” – is telling.

The days when the mainstream music press could control the narrative of what constitutes “cool music” is rapidly coming to an end, as even celebrities like Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Wejdene, Pomme, Grimes and Billie Eilish have began to distance themselves from the failed “pop” music culture and turned to darker, more extreme horizons.

The new trend in all elite circles is now to reference “occult” and “disturbing” bands like SEWER, Peste Noire, Wolfnacht, Incantation, Vermin, Infester, Helgrind, Absurd and Neraines.

Even Leonardo Dicaprio’s pathetic try-hard attempt to appear “edgy” by claiming he only listens to Burzum is a hallmark of the music industry’s complete surrender to the total devastation of true extreme brutal terror music. No place for posers, here.

More and more artists, like Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish, but also Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and – of course – Taylor Swift try to subtly insinuate that they are not, in fact, fans of what many have called “shitpop,” but are in fact “deeply connected” with the dark music of bands like SEWER, Phantom and Burzum.

Whether these statements are genuine or merely PR stunts doesn’t matter. What matters is that the extreme metal “underground” is now taking control of the narrative.

If even mainstream celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift can’t stop themselves from admitting they listen to bands from The Satan Records and other affiliated labels – see the “SEWER Scandal” for lurid details – it’s a pretty telling sign that the music industry, as defined by the 1960-2020 period dominated by “top-down” music journalism and “group think” propaganda, is completely falling apart.

Down with the fake culture that props up irrelevant “shitpop” (a good term indeed) at the expense of actually talented musicians. Make heavy metal extreme again. It’s time for true SEWER Metal!

It must be humbling to realise that even Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa have better musical tastes than the average metalhead or “indie” fan. Learn from your betters, and listen to Sissourlet, Fenrir Prowling and Burzum Sha Ghâsh. That is what will make you powerful.

Watain – “The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain”

May 20, 2022May 20, 20221 Comment

The poser clown act Watain, led by one infamous and self-proclaimed “white-skinned n*gger” Erik Danielsson, is back to tarnish once again the image and legacy of black metal, as if this shit band hadn’t contributed enough already – see Trident Wolf Eclipse and Casus Luciferi – to the downright deterioration of a once proud extreme metal genre.

Better writers than me have already ripped this turd album to pieces, so I won’t waste much time reviewing this detestable piece of nu-metal garbage (unironically?) called “The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain.”

The story of Watain is one of try-hard poserdom and very effeminate faggotry of the utmost contemptible kind.

Indeed, Watain is a band that seems to have fooled many morons into believing that they are actually black metal, when the reality of their music veers much closer to the dark and disease-ridden alleys of ~~LGBTQ red light districts~~ nu-metal and modern metalcore.

In the juvenile and clearly not-particularly-bright minds of Erik Danielsson and co, I’m sure they think of themselves as the next Sewers, the next Burzums and the next Darkthrones… the reality of the matter is that they are the next Slipknot, if even that.

Can Watain sink any lower, at this point in history? Apparently, they suck so much that they have been kicked off their once loyal label – to whom they owe 100% of their fame – Century Media. Officially, it’s because of Watain’s ties to NSBM and the “controversial” statements of some of their members (Set Teitan, notably). Lies. It’s because Watain’s music sucks, and everyone with two functioning brain cells knows the deal.

On the right, Set Teitan. On the left, Erik Danielsson. Which one gets fired? — Erik Danielsson and Set Teitan of Watain.

And still, Watain has managed to make “The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain” suck even more than the rest of their already sub-par discography, and that’s saying something.

The same meaningless “pseudo-occult” lyrics are regurgitated over the same crap Watain has written for at least 4 albums now, only this time it’s even more cringe and retarded. Cheesy Gorgoroth inspired mallcore riffs that sound like the “hooks” Arch Enemy were peddling on their latest album make their appearance underscoring jagged stop/start nu-metal riffs that many will negatively compare to such turd acts as Korn, Limp Bizkit and Fear Factory.

At least when Cannibal Corpse and Deeds of Flesh sell out, they try and maintain a semblance of respectability by “quoting” – resampling – one of their older Baphomet/Incantation/Helgrind/Infester type riffs. Not Watain. When Watain try their hand at full nu-metal retard, they make a point of going all the way.

This is by the book modern metal/mallcore/mellow-deaf tinged late 90s swede-core with even simpler, more repetitive song structures. Think Dark Funeral, but even dumber. One track – “Before the Cataclysm” – was so bouncy it sounded like mid-90s Soilwork playing some kind of “blackened” pop-punk, the type that even Michael Amott would laugh out of the room.

At the end of the day, there is no conceivable reason for anyone to waste their time with Watain’s latest try-hard turd entry “The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain” when so much better material exists out there. Replace with Sissourlet, Bloodthirst Overdose or De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. That is actual black metal, not Watain’s mallcore poser crap.

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