Finally! I have always been ‘into’ Inferno’s Black Metal (the one from the Czech Republic), and the last effort this act did, called Black Devotion, was released in 2009; indeed, it took way too long! Shame on you, guys! But since I am a big boy, I did not cry (yet), for I was ignorantly craving for more… And now there is more to come!
Earlier this year, I reviewed the excellent third full length by Swedish act Kongh (Sole Creation, also released via Agonia), but this review does not deal with a new album but with the band’s 2007-debut. The material was originally recorded for vinyl release via Sound Devastation at Teknikkompaniet with Peter Lundin, who worked with the band afterwards as well.
The legendary Czech act Root, with Jiri ‘Big Boss’ Valter (also a founder of the Czech-Slovakian Church Of Satan), must be one of East Europe’s oldest and most influential bands. Together with, let’s say, Vader, Tormentor, Master’s Hammer, Behemoth and a couple of others, Root sort of metalized the musical expressions behind the Iron Curtain.
Pandemics and plagues, who does not like them? It is, I think (no, I don’t think so; I’m sure) one of the final solutions to save our Earth from that other sickness, called Humanity. Pest is a possibility (no further comment for this writing is a new album’s review and not my personal opinion about the detestable place of the human being within Nature and Earthly Life).
I never hided my passion for Sweden’s Svartsyn (why should I anyway?), and with this seventh full length, I am only more convinced of the superiority of this band. The new stuff was recorded in the Mortsella Studio and mixed and mastered in Clintworks Studio with Dennis Israel, whom you might know from his assistance with bands like Katatonia, Void Of Silence, Opeth, Paradise Lost or Amon Amarth.
This is my first acquaintance with The Moth Gatherer, but I’m pretty sure it’s your first time as well. As a matter of fact, A Bright Celestial Light is the first official (full length) release by this Swedish combo.
When my editor-in-chief handed over some 15 albums to be reviewed about a month ago, I didn't really check what was into the package until about a week later (I had too much backlog work to be done first before I could concentrate on something else), and found myself somewhat dumbfounded at finding the new Aborym album in there. Surely, he knew that this band had Black Metal ties?
French horde Aosoth, with members known from e.g. Antaeus and Temple Of Baal, return with their fourth full length, again via Agonia Records (the reviews on the former full length albums Ashes Of Angels and III are still available within Concreteweb’s Archive Section; see the update on April 13th 2010 and May 7th 2011 respectively).
Tombstone Highway’s latest is worth checking out, but not really a life and death purchase. Not now, but who knows what the future hold? The record is an assorted musical melding pot with ample amounts of hard-, southern- and 70’s rock and chugging metal all rolled into one.
Beissert is one of the many German metal bands that seem to exist to put out angry sounding records that show a lot of brainless stomping furious energy. What holds me back on this album is that there is a sense of exhaustion that builds as the album wears on. The hoarse, screamo-throated metalcore vocals rumble tales of war and destruction, politics and religious sects are delivered sans emotion or melody. It's all pretty standard stuff that's been done before, and done better.
