Bestial Borelust: A Rant + Desecresy - The Doom Skeptron

After a few busy months, I'm finally back and ready to continue blogging. I was planning on creating a new banner and coming up with a new, more user-friendly layout. However like all things productive I put that off until I completely forgot to do it altogether. Maybe soon, maybe soon...

Now you might be wondering what has been taking me so goddamn long to get back on here. It is summer after all. I should have loads of free time. Well to tell you the truth I do, but I've been spending it on other activities. Music, bar my instruments, has irritated the fuck out of me in the last few months, and 2012 has been shaping up to be one of the weaker years in extreme music outside of the demo scene. Why? There's plenty of erm...great bestial black metal right? We've got Pseudogod, the recently released Wrathprayer, and a bunch of quality demos and EPs. What else do we have? Not much. Even outside of metal it's been a relatively forgettable year.

The whole bestial black metal movement was initially fine by me. There's a bunch of solid acts like Diocletian, Archgoat, and numerous others who make all the Ross Bay Cult worshippers cream themselves in delight. The problem with this movement in 2012 is that, like with all subgenres, it's reached a point of oversaturation. That wouldn't be such a bad thing if it wasn't so sudden.  Maybe it really is just me, but it feels like the whole bestial black metal and associated "war metal" scenes literally exploded in late 2009 and have since been carried over the end of the world on the waters of excess. If it's just me then I apologize now, but it's a thought that's kept me from even feigning interest in black metal for quite some time.

Now comes the part where I come across as a hypocrite. I'm going to recommend that you listen to fucking DESECRESY: gloriously groovy doom-influenced death metal.

Sounds derivative right? Who cares. This shit is wonderful. Told you I'd sound like a hypocrite.

These Finns really know what they're doing when it comes to songwriting. Despite being about as technically challenging as tying one's shoes, The Doom Skeptron is littered with cool phrases and great headbanging grooves. The numerous nods to Bolt Thrower and the similarities to Slugathor's (featuring the same members) less slow side make the album worth listening to. The Doom Skeptron isn't the most original material on the face of death metal (anything but considering the influx of old school death metal bands - almost as bad as bestial black metal), but these guys do a great job with it. That's a lesson that can be learned by all these basement-dwelling bestial black metal acts that keep popping up overnight. If you're going to mimic a style or feel, do it right and with your own spin. Becoming the umpteenth clone of Blasphemy is about as cool as wearing corpsepaint in public.

The Doom Skeptron is consistently catchy and appealing. Each track has a particular standout riff or passage that creates a strong atmosphere and usually leaves my neck sore. "Sons Of The Burning God" is probably the speediest on the album, but the groovy chugging gives way to some interlaced melodies that carry the weight of the song. This is the case even with the slower tracks. The pummeling nature of the low-end creates a gap for the nuanced guitar melodies to become the focal point. In essence the lead guitar isn't competing with any other instrument for the limelight for most of The Doom Skeptron, although you won't be headbanging to the leads so much as the pounding rhythm. An exception is the personal favorite of mine and opener "Forged From Chaos," which features a sinister melody that plays during breaks and ends the song on a softer note. "Declined Resplendence" and the powerful "Burial Adorations" both make for a strong middle and the fitting ender "The Solemn End" closes up the album.

I'm definitely a fan of the solo work and the production values on the album too. The solos are less distracting than usual and serve to immerse more than anything on The Doom Skeptron. As if the production doesn't do a good enough job of that as is. The album is dark, with a hearty low-end and a solid bass although the instrument itself is mixed rather low beneath all the distorted cacophony. The vocals bear a bit on the side of monotony though, and although they fit, they could use a bit more variety. Other than that this is a solid release worth checking out in a year that hasn't been so kind to any metal subgenre.

8.0 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Forged from Chaos
2.	The Sleep of Titans
3.	The Sceptre of Damnation
4.	Burial Adorations
5.	Declined Resplendence
6.	Vortex Unwinding
7.	Sons of the Burning God
8.	The Solemn End

Listen // Buy

Cianide - Gods Of Death

After reviewing Alcest I figured you should get a dose of ballsy, testosterone-fueled death metal. So I present to you: Cianide's Gods Of Death!

Masculinity: This album has it. These old-school death metallers from Chicago don't know when to relent. High gain riffing and muddy, reverb-drenched soloing dominate the soundscapes on Gods Of Death. Consistency is the name of the game for Cianide and their sound really hasn't changed much since the early '90s. However this time around there's more than one track that breaks the seven-minute mark...

Balls: This is what Cianide excels at. "Rising Of The Beast" is filled with thrashy d-beats and some unintentionally funny, traditional death metal lyrics like "six, six-fucking, six" and "All your gods are dead, now you fucking die!" It's this goofy charm that makes Gods Of Death so appealing. Pit fiends and ripped dudes wanting to flex need not worry, there's plenty of bruising to be done when the pit riffs on "Idolator" and the entirety of "Terrorstrikes" play too. I feel like Gods Of Death is a hard album to hate for that reason. The album is fun and energetic, not to the point of stupidity or cheesiness, but it has all the bouncy crossover sounds of thrash seamlessly blended with the intensity of death metal. Sadly the longer songs are really boring. The second long track, "The One True Death" almost borders on doom/death metal, and that'd be fine if it was one of the many OSDM revival bands that usually incorporate that sound like Funebrarum, but instead it makes for a boring track that I often find myself skipping over.

Good: That's what Gods Of Death is. It's not really much more than that to be completely honest. The production is clear but filled with just enough reverb, and the riffs are sometimes catchy enough to become stuck in your head, but there is absolutely nothing special on Gods Of Death.

7.0 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Desecration Storm
2.	Forsaken Doom
3.	Rising of the Beast
4.	Dead and Rotting
5.	Idolator
6.	Terrorstrikes
7.	The One True Death
8.	Contained and Controlled

Eructation - Demo 1992

Eructation is not a well known metal band. This Swedish band formed in 1988 and had only one release in their short running. That one release is this 1992 demo, and it's pretty sweet for the whole twelve and a half minutes it lasts. It's also unique in that it doesn't fit into any of the Swedish molds, foregoing the melodic sounds of their Gothenburg brethren and the more intense, hardcore-influenced brutality of their Stockholm cousins.

In fact the sound on this album is more fluid and bassy than anything. Tobias Karlsson's basslines are excellent and almost progressive, giving the album a very rich and deep sound that the production compliments perfectly. "Day of Confusion" is a mid-paced riff-fest with a really cool, almost dissonant sound to the riffing. I wish they explored this sound more on the demo because although the idea is present on that track, it isn't developed extensively. The track does have a nice, catchy build up though regardless. "Foul Feast" is a bit more in line with straightforward, typical bassy death metal. There's not really much else I can say about it. "Consider to Die" is a thrashy monster of a track with some really cool double bass breaks and riffing. The melodic pseudo-solo close to the end of the song is pretty reminiscent of other Swedish classics, but obviously this demo predates most of them and the song still kicks ass.

In a scene where everyone was hopping on the bandwagon these guys stood out. Sadly they couldn't stick around to develop their sound more.

8.5 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Day of Confusion
2.	Foul Feast
3.	Consider to Die

bass death madness

Nocturnus - The Key

I'm going to do a week's worth of late '80s and '90s death metal reviews just because I feel like it. I'm going to start with an old favorite of mine: Nocturnus' The Key.

Science fiction themes fit death metal so well. Nothing is more foreboding than change and progress. No environment is as dangerous as space. Nothing is as unknown or bizarre, either. Florida's Nocturnus incorporate elements of sci-fi into their original and proto-technical death metal style. Their debut full-length The Key features a sci-fi concept about a robot going back in time to kill Jesus. What is more badass than that? Nothing. They were also one of the first death metal bands to successfully incorporate keyboards into their sound without completely ruining the 'metal' part of the music.

The Key is a bit thrash-heavy at times, but so were most early death metal albums especially those produced in Florida. The vocals are the primary culprit here but when Mike Browning is doing those and playing drums at the same time, who can complain? Apparently he left Morbid Angel because Trey Azagthoth had an affair with his girlfriend, and that really sucks for Morbid Angel because his drumming performance on here is fan-fucking-tastic. Cymbal embellishments, syncopation, varied time signature changes, d-beats, blastbeats, etc. are all part of his repertoire and he exercises all of them on The Key. "Standing In Blood" is a great showcase of his intensely technical style while the entirety of the album serves as a showcase of his speed.

Guitarist Mike Davis is no slouch as well. His chops are speedy and refined. There are so many solos on The Key it's tough to count, and most of the tracks have two or three. There are a few kickass headbanging riffs as well, such as the intro to "Visions from Beyond the Grave." The latter half of the tracks tend to be a bit more keyboard-laden which is fine and fits the whole concept. By the end of "Empire of the Sands" the keyboard elements are at their strongest and most ominous. The production and mixing is one of the better jobs done in the early Florida death metal scene as well, and the guitar has a really unique tone to it. Sadly the bass isn't as audible but is still certainly present. Other than that this is a classic album that should be missed by no one.

9.0 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Lake of Fire
2.	Standing in Blood
3.	Visions from Beyond the Grave
4.	Neolithic
5.	Undead Journey (CD Bonus Track)
6.	Before Christ / After Death
7.	Andromeda Strain
8.	Droid Sector
9.	Destroying the Manger
10.	Empire of the Sands

Sonne Adam - Transformation

OSDM is now officially a fad with major labels like Century Media signing bands of the style and promoting their music. So how does a commercial label handle such music? Surprisingly well if Israel's Sonne Adam are anything to go by.

Sonne Adam's debut Transformation released in April 2011 and I honestly hadn't heard much about it. I heard some skepticism from others when they learned who was producing the non-LP versions of the album, but not much other than that. Upon my first listen I noticed a few things. One that these guys have a unique sound, and two that the former means I can't rant about how they sound like Incantation in this review.

Despite being an old school death metal band first and foremost, there's a lot of doom in Sonne Adam's sound. The oddly dry, crunchy guitar tone combined with slow-paced doom structuring leads to some tracks that take a bit long to wind up. I'd argue that the guitar tone is almost sludgy but that might be taking it a bit far, and honestly I'm not a fan. The tone leaves a bit too much space making Transformation significantly less abrasive than its OSDM counterparts. It also doesn't leave much room for imagination, and Transformation is significantly less 'visual' than its peers like Disma if that makes any sense.There are a few effects on here which serve as an attempt at creating atmosphere to substitute for the lack of harshness, a light echo on the vocalist's delivery being the most noticeable. His delivery is otherwise relatively clean and it's surprisingly easy to make out the lyrics, especially on the more spacious tracks like "We Who Worship the Black."

The atmosphere on Transformation is much stronger than the questionable production. Sonne Adam's songwriting lends itself to interesting, swirling riffs which often devolve into the more cavernous doom sections. "Take Me Back to Where I Belong" is probably the most obvious example of this. Some of the more layered sections are my favorite and they seem to crop up more on the latter half of the album. "Shine" features some interesting tremolo subtleties while the title track's solo is best described as eerie, and the closer "Apocalypse" is almost Mithras-esque in the same regard. There's also a ritualistic sound present, but while other bands capitalize on it Sonne Adam seems to utilize it as more of a fleeting presence.

Something about Transformation just irks me though. Parts of it stick, and it isn't unmemorable, but I don't find it very satisfying. As a cohesive release Transformation is fine but individually a lot of tracks are lacking or littered with filler riffs, their fillerness exacerbated by the production. "Sonne Adam" is pretty boring until the latter half of the song, and "I Sing His Words" plods along with a degree of predictability. The most dull track on Transformation has to be "I Claim My Birth In Blood" though. Lame vocal whisper effects and snooze riffing make it easily the least interesting track. The album as a whole is enjoyable if hit or miss and definitely worth a listen though.

7.5 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	We Who Worship the Black
2.	I Sing His Words
3.	Sonne Adam
4.	Solitude in Death
5.	Take Me Back to Where I Belong
6.	Shine
7.	I Claim My Birth in Blood
8.	Transformation
9.	Apocalypse

Necrovorous - Funeral For The Sane

What a year for death metal. The frothing-at-the-mouth horde of OSDM fanboys has to be sated by this point. Greece's Necrovorous hit the scene to force-feed more reverb and subterranean production to the old school death metal fan in you.

Hmm. Let's take a dense slab of death metal and slather it with a bit of d-beat, and sprinkle it with a pinch of doom.That must have been what Necrovorous were thinking when they wrote Funeral For The Sane. Necrovorous for some reason sound very modern although typically combining the aforementioned elements that comprise the early-mid '90s sound. In a similar vein to Swedish acts Tribulation or maybe even Revolting, Necrovorous' Funeral For The Sane plods along at a familiar mid-pace. "Succubus Dormitory" sets the tone for the album but is soon forgotten as Necrovorous plunges into the pit-opener "The Flesh That Smiles." I just love how you can hear A. Devilpig's (what a retarded name) fingers sliding around the guitar strings, and the basslines close to the end reverberate with a nice intensity. The production is really something to talk about here. It's dense, dark, and every instrument stands out in the mix. This is how old school death metal in general should sound with 2011 production techniques.

There's a lot of groove to this album. Songs like "Malignant Entrapment" and my favorite on the album, "The Vilest Of All Dreams" are chugging monstrosities. The latter begins with a solo and some doomier riffs which lead into a fun mosh riff backed by a d-beat. As with most OSDM, there isn't much in the way of technicality on this album, and the musicians get by with some of the more simple riffing this side of Dead Congregation. That's totally fine by me.

Obviously this is all stuff you've heard before, and that does make Necrovorous' latest seem a bit less appealing. Now you might be one of those asshats (don't worry I'm one too) that's like "Oh shit another OSDM clones' release to throw into the folder already filled with a hundred other albums." Funeral For The Sane is actually worth listening to. It's a catchy departure from the usual noisy riffs and Incantation worship bands that seem to be the current trend.

7.5 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Sanity's Fall (Intro)
2.	Succubus Dormitory
3.	The Flesh That Smiles
4.	The Vilest of All Dreams
5.	Deathknells
6.	Mind Lacerations
7.	Malignant Entrapment
8.	Spawn of Self Abhorrence
9.	Funeral for the Sane
10.	Dwellers of My Flesh

Ritual Necromancy - Oath Of The Abyss

Ritual Necromancy shocks nobody but pleases everyone with their full-length debut, Oath Of The Abyss.

The more and more I listen to it, the more and more tired of the OSDM revival movement I become. Some idiots go so far as to label this kind of death metal as a different genre, like "artistic death metal" or "atmospheric death metal" but that's like calling all the progenitors (the "old school") by those labels as well since their music is so goddamn similar. I am generally a forward-thinker when it comes to music, and I always love seeing what bands can put out next and what the current genres' limits can be pushed to. This old school death metal movement pushes none of those limits and leaves no room for originality, but sometimes it's just good for a fun little romp. This is where the appeal of this recent movement is, and earlier this year Disma kicked my ass with the infectious Towards The Megalith. I've got Funerus and Necrovorous on hold too. I love this stuff nearly as much as I love esoteric tech death, but it's starting to wear thin.

The majority of the bands that fit this bill are mimicking Incantation's warm, hellish, doomy death metal. Ritual Necromancy are no exception. After the semi-ambient intro "Accretion," the blasting opener "Cacophonic Dementia" rises from the depths of hell and threatens to drag you back down with it. Mid-paced riffs pound while a great bass-drum sound reverberates throughout the album. There's a few doom-influenced riffs, as is typical, that break up the fuzzy blasts, some of them are quite memorable. "The Chasm" is a good example. Not really sure why they chose to name the song after another death metal band though, but it's absolutely fitting for the earthquake-inducing music. "Desecrated Presence" is one of the better fast-paced tracks on the album. Imagine Satan tremolo picking away while demons open up a mosh pit in the bowels of a great volcano. That's pretty much what it sounds like.

The organic production really makes the fuzziness stand out. Lots of reverb, distortion, and strong bass frequencies are littered across the hellish landscape Ritual Necromancy creates on Oath Of The Abyss. There aren't very many standout riffs though, and the production really hurts their memorability. This is mostly in part to the very genre being based on the imitation of OSDM. There are a few cool standouts though. The title track has one of the more memorable outro riffs which drones on and on, in a good way. Although not the most unique combination of OSDM elements, overall Oath Of The Abyss is a fun but unmemorable listen, one that I'll be coming back to and forgetting over and over again.

6.75 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Accretion
2.	Cacophonic Dementia
3.	Descent
4.	The Chasm
5.	Desecrated Omnipresence
6.	Penitence
7.	Consummating Crypts of Eternity
8.	Oath of the Abyss

JEFF The Brotherhood - We Are The Champions

Man all I wanna do is play some fucking video games but all this schoolwork piled up the week before break and I haven't had time to do anything but study my ass off. And so is life. However, now that I'm back onto the review scene, I'll try to update at a regular pace.

JEFF The Brotherhood is a unique musical duo from Tennessee. Brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall are the masterminds behind the music, and although they're only recently bursting onto the indie rock scene, they've got quite a few limited releases under their belt stretching all the way back to 2002. On We Are The Champions, JEFF The Brotherhood combines elements of psychedelic and garage rock with punk and old school '70s and '80s heavy metal.

"Hey Friend" is the definition of the latter heavy metal style and sets high standards for JEFF's latest excursion (ironically . After all this is the type of music that JEFF The Brotherhood excels at. Going into We Are The Champions I was expecting a more cohesive doomy, psychedelic rock album. I was caught off guard when the punk beats and four-chord progression on "Cool Out" came on. The frustrated riffing and down-toned progression made the out-of-nowhere blast beat ending feel that much more appropriate. Tracks like "Bummer," "Diamond Way," and to an extent "Wastoid Girl" however are much more low-intensity and reminiscent of older Weezer. These tracks are more dull, less inspired, and honestly dripping with insipidity. I've always hated Weezer and their ilk for that reason.

There are a few more gems on We Are The Champions though. "Shredder" is a personal favorite, combining punk-esque rhythms with schizoid guitars. "Ripper" brings back that classic heavy metal and psychedelic rock sound, with trippy sounds, structures, and noise lacing slow doomy riffs. The whole album is in fact layered with a degree of fuzz and noise. In fact if there's one word I'd use to describe We Are The Champions it would be "FUZZY." The album is noisy, not too heavy, and caked in effects, like early heavy metal. Although technically indie rock, the punk and heavy metal influence leads to an easy, and relaxed, listening experience that has some redeeming features despite the more derivative tracks.

7.0 out of 10

Tracklisting:
1.  Hey Friend
2.  Cool Out
3.  Bummer
4.  Shredder
5.  Diamond Way
6.  Endless Fire
7.  Ripper
8.  Mellow Out
9.  Stay Up Late
10. Health and Strength
11. Wastoid Girl

Disma - Towards The Megalith

Posting will now be on a when-I-can basis. However, that doesn't mean I'm giving up just yet! I'm gonna try to redo the banner and some other stuff sometime this week to make it more fitting. And maybe get some dropdown bars working for the reviews so I don't have to have such cluttered sidebars...

Disma is an interesting old-school death metal band that really garnered a lot of attention in 2011 with their most recent release, Towards The Megalith. As Disma's first full-length, it's quite an impressive combination of reverb-filled brutality and suffocatingly heavy doom riffs.

The OSDM scene has really gotten a lot of attention as a reactionary movement to the whole technical death scene which itself has fractured into many splinter movements. Disma is a new face amongst the plethora of bands spearheading the OSDM movement, and likely they'll be mentioned alongside modern classics like Funebrarum and Blaspherian. This album has all the trademarks: heavy as fuck riffing, guttural vocals, and the production quality one would associate with old-school death metal.

As most old-school death metal is, Towards The Megalith is a riff based monstrosity of an album. There's plenty of memorable chug-along riffs in the opener "Chaos Apparition" and my favorite of the album, "Spectral Domination." There's also quite a few tempo changes which keep the sometimes long-winded songs from getting stale. "Lost In The Burial Fog" is a prime example here, and the track remains interesting throughout despite visiting similar patterns and structures explored on the other tracks. There are some weak links though, and the middle of the album does drag quite a bit. "Vault of Membros" almost treads into funeral doom territory with it's plodding pace and the absolutely abyssal vocal approach. "Purulent Quest" on the other hand is a completely forgettable track that really serves no right to be on the album.

Although Towards The Megalith is generally a derivative venture, it's overall a great one and easily one of the highlights for OSDM this year. Definitely worth checking out if you're into that stuff.

8.5 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Chaos Apparition
2.	Chasm of Oceanus
3.	Spectral Domination
4.	Vault of Membros
5.	Purulent Quest
6.	Lost in the Burial Fog
7.	Of a Past Forlorn
8.	Towards the Megalith