Ah, sometimes it is truly fine to get confused in a positive way. That’s exactly what happened to me when Aleksey from Satanath Records (amongst others) informed me about the debut of the project The Malice. I have to admit that I did not know this entity, but apparently it’s a pan-European collaboration of two famous and experienced sweeties.
How many extreme bands do you know from Kazakhstan? I have to admit that my knowledge was limited to just a handful of acts from out there. But I do follow for some years is SevenSins, originating from the far East of this immense country, quite close to the Russian Federation and not that far away either from China or Mongolia. Anyway, this band started as a Death Metal oriented act at the end of this century’s first decade, and throughout these years they released three full-length albums and one EP.
The origins of From The Vastland are rooted in Iran, the birthplace of founding member Sina. Iran actually has an extremely small yet enormously interesting Black Metal scene, but breathing ‘Iran’ and ‘Black Metal’ in one gasp is not always that evident. Some acts therefor remain in anonymous spheres, but in the case of From The Vastland, Sina took the decision to move over to Norway. For more information about this story, check out the .net or the information in some of my previously posted reviews.
Armenia-based (Funeral) Doom label Funere once more comes up with a unique piece that twists with atmospheres and emotions. During its young existence, this label did release just a limited amount of things, but without exception all of them are quite unique in approach and professional in essence. Quite the same, evidently, goes for this debut recording by a mysterious Icelandic act.
There are different definitions, or explanations, for the world ‘arallu’. But most of the time, it refers to the Mesopotamian / Babylonian / Sumerian mythologies, with ‘arallu’ being a kind of entity, or a genie, spawn from Enki, master of storm winds and bringer of darkness, then again referring to the underworld itself, where the dead got judged by the deities Nergal and Ereshkigal; a dimension also known as Irkalla, Kur or Ganzir.
I had not heard of this band before, but apparently that is not that strange. You see, this combo from Israel was formed in 2017, but they did not release anything ‘huge’ and ‘official’ yet. But hey, they might put their moniker on the international map as from now on. Why? Because of Corroded By Darkness.
One of the most creative and productive musicians / producers from Switzerland must be Sergio Da Silva aka B aka Bornyhake Ormenos aka Moplat aka S.Rottenvomit (as studio wizard, not as instrumentalist) as, well, whatever, who’s known from the Swiss Chaos Studio, known as the owner of labels like Azif Records and Rotten Vomit Records, and known for being active in uncountable bands and projects such as Kawir, Borgne
In 2018 some East-European musicians joined forces under the moniker of Monumentum Damnati: Abhoth (music & lyrics, also bass guitars), Athame (synths), Shoggoth (guitars) and Nyarlathotep (drums). Somehow they did prefer to stay ‘anonymous’ (with masks), even though it is said that they are ‘known’ artists from Belarus and at least one other country from the Far East of Europe (and maybe the U.S. of A.).
I have to admit that I do not know that much bands from FYROM aka the Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia aka North Macedonia nowadays. Born For Slaughter, Aeon Arcanum, Maras or Tremula are a handful of bands that I do appreciate, but I have to thank Satanath Records’ Aleksey once more for introducing me to Vehementor.
Well, this was something I did look forward to so passionately! When Aleksey Korolyov told me there would be a new Abigorum album, I couldn’t wait to listen to it. I was (and still am) very impressed by all former material he created under this moniker. But there was more. Apparently he did not create this album on his own anymore. No, this time he co-operated with some other musicians, turning Abigorum from a solo-outfit into a real band.
