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THOSE POOR BASTARDS – “Behold The Abyss” LP Reissue

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THOSE POOR BASTARDS – “Behold The Abyss” LP Reissue (Tribulation Recording Co.) After discovering the weird “country doom” of THOSE POOR BASTARDS, Behold The Abyss quickly became one of my favorite albums. Each track has a unique and catchy style which lends itself to being easily memorable and soon becomes one of those addictive albums that’s great to sing along with. Behold The Abyss is a concept album which centers around the murderous and necromantic deeds of an evil traveling minister named Edgar Switchblade and his horse Old Red – who eats people. Having just the right mix of creepiness… Continue reading

Greywolf – “The Beginning”

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GREYWOLF – “The Beginning” (Arthorium Records) By Crom it’s my destiny! What we have here is an anthology of selected tracks from no less than six demos recorded between 2012 and 2013 by GREYWOLF before their self titled debut full length album in 2014. A treat for fans of epic fantasy inspired heavy metal, most tracks appear to revolve around Robert E Howard’s mythos. Tracks like By The Power of Crom, The Elephant Tower, King Kull, Thoth Amon and others are tastefully peppered with the sounds of thunder, howling wolves, clashing swords and warrior chants. Rounding out the collection of… Continue reading

SUMMONING – New Album Details Announced

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Ever since the release of their debut album Lugburz (1995) SUMMONING have proven themselves to be the true guardians of Middle Earth! What started out as a project deeply rooted in traditional black metal took an epic turn in the following years – evergreens like Dol Guldur (1996) and Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame (2001) bear witness to a continuously refined soundscape. Five years after Old Mornings Dawn, Protector and Silenius have turned over a new leaf in their bottomless saga: titled With Doom We Come, SUMMONING finally unveil first and hotly anticipated details about their upcoming opus, which… Continue reading

DRACHENFEUER RELEASES REALM OF LIGHT

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Dark Age Productions announces the release of the debut album of DRACHENFEUER titled Realm Of Light on Double CD Digipak and limited edition Cassette. DRACHENFEUER is cinematic dark ambient soundtrack “dungeon synth” for fans of Summoning, Mortiis (Era 1), Ringbearer, Elffor… The music of DRACHENFEUER is an epic journey through Middle Earth and its creatures. Soundscapes that will transport you to a land where dragons breath fire, where warrior legions raise their swords, where the beauty of friendship comes to a dark edge and where mighty forests cover the land in darkness… The album was recorded at W.A.R. studios in… Continue reading

CHRONOSPHERE – “Embracing Oblivion”

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CHRONOSPHERE “Embracing Oblivion” (Punishment 18) Oh you dirty bastards over there at Punishment 18… This is just the kinda band my ears have been hunting for! On their second full length, Greek act Chronosphere plays totally energetic, automatically catchy old school speed / thrash metal. Which brings to mind classic bands like: Assassin, early Metallica, Agent Steel…  and numerous acts from Shrapnel & New Renaissance Records. Yet “Embracing Oblivion” is recorded with  an excellent punchy clean and modern production so it doesn’t sound dated. There is some fantastic artwork on the cover as well which fits just perfectly! Excellent stuff,… Continue reading

Rauhnåcht “Urzeitgeist “

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Rauhnåcht “Urzeitgeist” (Hammerheart) I’m listening to this second album by Austrian Rauhnåcht during a thunderstorm and it really puts the music into a proper context. Combine the slower, dreamy sort of black metal on display with the foggy & wet cover art and you really get a full sensory experience.  It’s not a completely slow paced affair, there are some blasting sections which fit right in but for the most part it’s a very atmospheric album which I suppose it should be with the new genre name of “Alpine black metal”. Tracks like ” Der Weg Zurück” and the title… Continue reading

DEN SAAKALDTE “Faen i Helvete”

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DEN SAAKALDTE “Faen i Helvete” (Agonia) Just try to imagine this: a black metal supergroup filled out by members of: Gorgoroth, 1349, Koldbrann and Nidingr. For the most part Den Saakaldte (The So-Called) sounds like what you’d expect, a hurricane of furious blasting beast and howling vocals but it’s the moments where they slow down and cut a bit looser with a more classic metal style groove and experiment with some interesting vocals  on tracks like ” Som Et Arr På Sjelen”  and “Endelost Ode” (with a classic Hellhammer/ Celtic Frost influence). This is where I am really attracted to… Continue reading

PACT “The Infernal Hierarchies, Penetrating the Threshold of Night”

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PACT “The Infernal Hierarchies, Penetrating the Threshold of Night“ (Moribund) This is the sophomore full length release of American black metallers Pact. The playing is catchy and tight, bringing to mind US black metal bands like Absu and Von (albeit with far better recording & production). The thing which eventually grew a bit tiresome for me was what I would call the dual possession style vocals. As an accent this would be great for a chorus or part of a track but with each of the 9 songs utilizing this same vocal effect I found myself really enjoying the parts… Continue reading