Locust Amber Records focus on tape releases especially, but there are some vinyl releases too that the audience gets offered by this label. All together: thank you! Also parent label Legs Akimbo and sister-label Skullhouse release quite some stuff on vinyl. Some have been reviewed recently, some others are to follow in a very near future. Just enter the label’s name(s) in the ‘search’-tab and you’ll find out…
This review deals with a four-way split-LP, called Sepulchral Voices, with two bands / projects on each side of the 12-inch long player, all of them bringing two elegies to irritate the ignorant ones that populate Mater Terra. They joined forces ‘for an unrelenting display of unholy power and disgust’, visually strengthened by the artistic talents of Mr. Riddick. It comes in an edition of 250 copies, being pressed on white vinyl, and with inclusion of postcards, like 2-sided ones (15x15) with the band’s pictures, or one (30x30) with the song lyrics. Side A focuses on American-inspired Death Metal, while the other side shows the blackened angle of this unique split-LP.
Side A starts with Thorns With Venom (taken from the band’s first demo, later re-interpreted on the full length Spit On The Holy Grail) and Where Assassins Rule (from that very same demo, Impale Thy Crux), kindly provided by Paraguayan act Master Of Cruelty (called after a song by the legendary Paraguay-based Thrash-act Violent Attack). With these tracks, the band brings a fast, morbid, violent and old schooled form of (universal) Death Metal, based on fast riffs, a heavy-as-f*ck rhythm section and venom-spitting grunts. Within the lead passages, there for sure are quite some hints to the Thrash scene from the late Eighties. 8/10
Both other tracks on Side A, Into Oblivion and Devoũr The Virtũoũs, are courtesy of Fetid Zombie, nowadays the most active outfit by Mark Riddick. I recently uploaded the review for the re-release of Grotesque Creation (see update March 10th 2016), but I have to admit that both compositions on this split are so much more convincing. Okay, that isn’t but a personal opinion, but I think that Mark sort of found his ultimate sound for his Fetid Zombie-outfit. Everything fits this time, everything gets performed with persuasion, and in a fine-tuned sound-equilibrium. I even dare to say that the second track, Devoũr The Virtũoũs, is a monument. At the one hand there are the typifying guitar riffs and bass parts that did characterise the American scene more than two decades ago. At the other hand, the changes in tempo, the acoustic parts, the synth lines, the monstrous drum patterns, the additional screams, the ultimately crafted duelling solo at the end, and so on; this is an evolution that surprises me the positive way! 9/10
The B-side starts with The Withering and Embodiment Of Filth, two new pieces by young Singaporean duo Nocturnized (drummer / vocalist Abominathor and guitar player / bassist / vocalist Hades). What they bring is quite traditional, quite Scandinavian-inspired Black Metal with an epic and paganised approach. The highly melodious songs stand out with warlust, conviction and grandeur, and despite the lack of originality, both tracks captivate undersigned. Actually, the performance is of a very high level: guitars (with inclusion of grandiose leads and solos!), vocals, drums (damn, aren’t they cool?!), about all details are performed the ideal way. 9/10
Sepulchral Voices ends with Goathead and In Charge Of Hell, performed by international act Vomit Church (3/4th from Greece, 1/4th from Mexico). If I’m not mistaken, it’s their first effort in almost a decade. Their sound strikes me each time, for being so post-modernistic and raw. It’s that chainsaw-production that grabs me by the b*lls time after time. Vomit Church convince with their overwhelming, overpowering execution. Thrashing riffs, fierce solos, majestic drum parts, rusted screams, full-force rhythms, hammering constructions, a taking-no-prisoners mentality, and still being able to maintain melody and atmosphere; it’s quite remarkable how easy this seems to be, even after such a long period of silence (haha, ‘silence’ in a review for Vomit Church, isn’t that cynically funny???). I truly adore the slower passages, especially in the track In Charge Of Hell, and here too I cannot but refer to the Scandinavian scene (though the Greek one surely comes to mind too!). 9,5/10