[a short review (once again), yet dealing with another unique recording]
Country (for what it’s worth): Spain
Members: David Muñoz (everything; also known as keyboardist for Sun Of The Dying Sun and Arwen)
Type: jewel-case compact-disc
Duration: 46:21
Genre: Dark / Gothic / Doom-Death Metal
In the meantime, in January 2023, Italian act Shamael did independently release a second album (Il Suono Di Mille Orchestre Parte I), but I would like to come back on the debut. That first album, Melancholie Der Engel, was actually released two years ago, but it deserves some additional support for sure. I never mind writing down my thoughts on material that isn’t totally new, especially when the quality of that material is worth it.
At the very end of last decade, Swiss vocalist (and keyboardist) David Genillard aka D.G. (known from his collaboration in e.g. Nightshade, Sic Semper Tyrannis or Duthaig) decided to start a new outfit that dwells within spheres of traditional Doom-Death Metal. He joined forces with string-master J.G. Arts (here active as J.A.), who you might know from his notorious Doom-act Doomcult (the Netherlands).
When I think of Palma De Mallorca, I usually see beaches and bars, bikinis and more bars, beaches and bikinis (there’s nothing else to experience out there, you see; and since I do not like beaches, I’ll focus on the bars and the bikinis…). But this Balearic island is also home to Helevorn, a combo that celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. Happy birthday to you and stuff… No, seriously, Helevorn are a band from the city of Palma, dwelling around as from the very end of last century.
Negre PlanY is a new sub-label by Negra Nit Distro from the country of Catalunya – oops, I mean from the region of Catalunya. On June 21st 2019, this label brought out two things as first releases, being the debut full length for Melangia (unfortunately this album did not come my way (yet), so I can’t write down my thoughts on it) and a split which this review will deal with. Tetrarchia Ex Bestia is a four-way split, gathering four pretty interesting acts from Spanish soil.
This is a nice surprise! A new Vidres A La Sang came my way, and I wasn’t even prepared for these Catalans’ return… What a nice surprise, as I said…
Hailing from the beautiful city of Barcelona, you know, the capital city within the independent new country of Catalonia (no further comment…), Survival Is Suicide are a duo that started playing together under this name more than a decade ago. In 2011 Epojè (drums) and Zaratozom (vocals, bass, keyboards) released their debut album, …Just Like Spiders Eat Flies, which was mixed and mastered, by the way, by no one else but Javi Félez.
Catalunya has a lot more to offer than cava, separatism, Escupemetralla, Gaudi and overcrowded beaches. It’s home to Nuckin’ Futs too, a cheerful combo from Barcelona that was formed in 2012, and named after a fragment from some highly intellectual movie from 2003. Quite soon the band came up with a first self-released EP, Evilution (2013), and in 2014 they released the debut full length Slavery via Fair Warning.
Despite more than a decade of existence, Catalonian act (I dare not to mention ‘Spanish act’ anymore) Human Ashtray have a very selected biography, with one release in 2007 and one in 2012. That’s it, until now. As a four-piece, these guys now return with Exile, a seven-song album that lasts for about twenty-eight minutes. The material was recorded, mixed and mastered at the Trempol Studio with guitarist Xevi Alegre behind the desk.
No gods, no masters!
