Ritual Death Metal is the sixth album by Finnish band Deathchain, and the whole was produced, engineered and mixed at the famous Necromorbus Studio by Tore Stjerna (think: Zombiefication, Portrait, Funeral Mist, Merrimack, Jess And The Ancient Ones and many, many more). When it comes to the latter, JATAO: both guitar players share both bands, by the way.
Dark Buddha Rising return with another set of difficult to describe, impossible to label repetitive ambient stripped-down kraut shaman drone doom music. "D" at a mere 12 minutes opens the album, an comparatively smooth guitar line howls away, but instead of the usual explosion of sound one’s come to expect, the music actually drifts into a rather minimalist groove. All of the songs, though much doomier, actually receive the same treatment. The second song “K” enters attacking on a low handed bass riff backed by a meandering vocal almost Buddhist chanting.
So Svart’s label heaves themselves upon the occult folk/psych bandwagon and it is a winner. When listening Iron Marsh one it perceives like they expand the barriers of their material , a cunning mixture of psych, folk, medieval, progressive rock and spiritual music whose final result is an unique sound with its unmistakable stamp, and that despite the acoustic guitar presence, the music is not sterile in this area, giving also prominent roles to good ol’ hammond, violin, flute, horns as well as a good range of percussion.
After leaving Reverend Bizarre, Peter Vicar created a fourth incarnation (Orne and Lord Vicar are the other ones)with E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr combining a much more electronic sound relying less on the sound of electric guitars.
Hailing from Slovenia, Chains must be one of the most obscure bands out there. The project was formed in 2010 and released a first album, called Of Death, in 2011. When Hour Of 13’s Lord Samhain joined Chains, the style changed a lot, yet without losing the elements of the origins.
Jess And The Ancient Ones are a rather unusual formation, seen from a musical point of view, even though they do fit perfectly to Svart’s roster. On May 23rd 2012 the band debuted with a nameless (self-called) full length (review: see Archives Section, update 09/12/12). Apparently there was a split-EP with Deadmask through Doomentia, but I haven’t heard this material, so I can’t say anything about it.
Svart Records holds especially Finnish acts on its roster, yet there are a couple of exceptions. This goes, for example, for High Priest Of Saturn. This band hails from Trondheim, Norway, and consists of three permanent members: Merethe Heggset, Martin Sivertsen and Andreas Hagen.
Svart Records do surprise me time after time. This time it goes for Sammal’s self-called album, a nine-tracker with a sixties-attitude.
These guys from Finland are sick after having drunk too much contaminated milk. They stopped menstruating, apparently, and are trying to get to the most kidney stones. Who will finally produce breast milk and urinate chocolate milk?
Philosophical life questions, spiritual contemplations about man’s human nature and their raison d’être. I want another glass of warm, white stuff… Do I?
Opium Warlords, the brainchild of Sami A. ‘Witchfinder’ Hynninen (whom you might know from e.g. Reverend Bizarre, Spiritus Mortis, Armanenschaft, Lohja SS, Punisment, KLV and several more), return with We Meditate Under The Pussy In The Sky, a five-tracker that lasts for thirty five minutes. We Meditate … is a mainly instrumental record, with an approach rather typifying to Svart Records.
