Finsterfrost/Zerfall/Napalm Records/2019 CD Review

  Finsterfrost  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  musical  style  they  describe  as  being  black  forest  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Zerfall"  which  will  be  released  in  August  by  Napalm  Records.

  A very  hard  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  while  all  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  When  clean  vocals  are  utilized  they  give  the  music  more  of  a  pagan  metal  feeling  along  with  the  music  also  having  its  atmospheric  moments  and  grim  black  emtal  screams  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording.

  The  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  along  with  some  keyboards  also  being  added  into  some  parts  of  the  music.  Folk  instruments  are  also  used  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  as  well  as  some  orchestra  elements  also  being  utilized  at  times  and  when  acoustic  guitars  are  utilized  it  gives  the  music  more  of  a  progressive  feeling.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  feeling.  All  of  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  as  well  as  the  music  also  adding  in  a  decent  amount  of  post  black  metal  elements and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  German  and  cover  nature,  humanity  and  the  philosophy  of  Nietzsche. 

  In  my  opinion  Finsterfrost  are  a  very  great  sounding  black  forest  metal  band  and  if  you  are  looking  for  something  that  is  very  original  sounding,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Zerfall"  and "Ecce  Homo".  8  out  of  10.

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Decayed/The Oath Of Heathen Blood/Lusitanian Music/2019 CD Review

  Portugal's  Decayed  have returned  with  a  new  recording  which  continues  the  raw  and  old  school  style  of  black  metal  from  previous  releases  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "The  Oath  of  Heathen  Blood"  which  will  be  released  in  September  by  Lustanian  Music.

  A  very  ritualistic  sounding  intro  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  while  synths  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  music.  Vocals are  mostly  grim  black  metal  screams  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are utilized  they  are  done  in a  very  old  school  yet  chaotic  style.

  During  the  faster  sections  of  the  music  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  feeling.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  the  music  also  bringing  in  a  good  amount  of  80's  and  90's  influences.

  On  some  songs  the  solos  and  leads  also  adding  in  more  of  a  dark  and  melodic  style  as  well  as  another  ritualistic  interlude  being  added  onto  the  recording  as  the  album  progresses  which  also  introduces  clean  playing  into  the  music  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction,  spoken  word  parts  also  return  on  a  later  track.  The  production  sounds  very  raw  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  paganism,  occultism,  mythology.  death  and  horror  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Decayed  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  raw  and  old  school  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Oath  Of  Heathen  Blood"  "Torn  By  Lions"  and  "The  Cronos  Device".  8  out  of  10.

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Falls Of Rauros/Patterns In Mythology/Gilead Media/2019 CD Review

  Portland,  Maine's  Falls  Of  Rauros have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  continues  the  folk  influenced  style  of  black  metal  from  previous  releases  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Patterns  In  Mythology"  which  will  be  released  on  July  19th  by  Gilead  Media.

  A  very  heavy,  atmospheric  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  utilizing  a  great  amount  of  melody  as  well  as  adding  elements  of  post  metal  onto  the  recording.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  tremolo  picking  can  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  raw  feeling.

  Vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  Most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  when  acoustic  guitars  are  utilized  they  bring  elements  of  folk  music  onto  the  recording.

  At  times  the  vocals  also  go  into  more  of  a  deeper  direction  along  with  some keyboards  also  being  added  into  some  parts  of  the  music  as  well  as  one  track  also  introducing  clean  vocals  onto  the  recording.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  failure,  victory,  celebration  and  resignation  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Falls  Of  Rauros  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  folk  influenced  atmospheric  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Weapons  Of  Refusal"  and  "Memory  At  Night".  8  out  of  10.

FB: https://www.facebook.com/fallsofraurosOfficial/ 
Bandcamp: https://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/patterns-in-mythology
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fallsofraurosofficial    

    

Nevel/Leven/Babylon Doom Cult Records/2019 CD Review

  Nevel  are  a  duo  from  the  Netherlands  that  plays  a  very  atmospheric  and  depressive  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Leven"  which  will  be  released  on  July  26th  by  Babylon  Doom  Cult  Records.

  Experimental  and  electronic  music  style  soundscapes  start  off  the  track  which  is  also  45  minutes  before  adding  some  guitar  riffing  onto  the  recording.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  along  with  the  vocals  being  high  pitched  depressive  black  metal  screams.

  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  atmospheric  and  dissonant  sounding  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow, mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  clean  vocals  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  song.

  The  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  as  the  track  progresses  clean  playing  and  keyboards  can  also be  heard  mixing  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  song  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  towards  the  end  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  telling  a  story  about  a  person  struggling  throughout  life  without  a  real  perspective.

  In  my  opinion  Nevel  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  and  depressive  black  metal  duo  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  8  out  of  10.

Chephreon Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Chephreon is a mix of Black metal fucked with influences of Speed, Thrash and NWOBHM combined with raw and evil vocals. We are a five piece band, two guitars
bass, drums and vocals. 

2.You have your first album coming out in August, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording?

The style for the album is a bit hard to define as the album came together on it's own basically. The album was written in a month pretty much from start to finish
and we had to cut few songs out. Best definition we could give is that it's raw Black metal mixed with a lot of melodies. We tried to show many sides of our band on
our first album; Synth, piano, clean melodies, ultra fast stuff on some songs and just straight forward Heavy riffs.




3.Your lyrics cover satanic, occult and necromancy themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the left hand path?

The fascination towards left hand path mainly comes from our need to try to understand the world better with a view that the right hand path simply doesn't offer.
Right hand path also fits only for the weak, people who are willing to submit to middle eastern based religions that don't fit into the Scandinavian countries.
A specific path on the left hand path that we follow is present in the lyrics of this album quite intensely.


4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Chepreon'?

Name Chephreon is derived from a fourth pharao of the fourth dynasty who's name in greek is "Chephren". Originally the idea was to go in the direction that the band
Nile has gone but it didn't feel right to copy anyone else so we let that idea go and went for our own direction. The name just stuck.


5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the album cover?

The picture shows our vocalist High Priest of Necro Magics is committing a grave robbery and it was a strong and powerful statement towards the
middle eastern madness that we call Christianity. If you go deeper into the picture the meaning kind of changes in a way. As it still is a statement towards the church,
it also symbolizes the attempt to revive the european and scandinavian spirit and strength - Therefore the title "Necromancy"


6.The band started early this year but already has a full length coming out, do you feel you put a great amount of time and effort in getting your name heard out there?

To be honest it hasn't taken that much time. Effort for sure as we are trying to push towards technical style of playing so that of course means that you really have to
think scales on the guitar and so on but in the end, it is totally worth it. It has been very easy to create now that we have a good bunch of guys playing and we see
that we have a lot that we can improve on but we have a lot of potential as well and the results so far haven't been complete shit either.


7.Has the band done any live shows or have any plans for future performances?

We haven't played to a live audience yet, we have focused on creating a good catalog that we can whip out once someone asks us to play somewhere, although we are going to
arrange our own shows illegally if nothing else comes our way. We will shove our music and attitude down live audiences throat forcefully if necessary.


8.The new album is going to be released on 'Forever Dead Records', can you tell us a little bit more about how you came in contact with this label?

It's a label that resides in our home town, Mikkeli. We were able to get our music there until and if someone else wants to release our music. The good thing about
being on FDR is of course that we have the reins in our own hands so we make the albums completely separately and by hand ourselves and we get to market to FDR's audience
which is great at this point of this band's career.


9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?

We are very slowly just getting there. We have gotten a good feedback what we are doing well and great criticism on points that we still clearly have to work on. First
demo is at least sold out for the most part (might be completely, no one remembers) and we have gotten some pre-orders for the full length already which is a good sign. The
release is limited 88 CDR copies so I don't think we end up heating the stove with the leftovers by winter. Long way to go still but we will pave the path for ourselves.


10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

The songs that are ready for the next album are faster, more melodic, technically more difficult and they sound pretty good even now on the demo phase which is a great
sign of course. We are intentionally going to push the boundaries of Black metal because we don't want to be copying anything that anyone else is doing. Might be a complete
swing and a miss or great success. Failure is not an option though so we will make the best second album we can make, through power of the Dark Gods it shall be done.


11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Dissection, Death, Stone, Megadeth, Mayhem and then soundtracks of movies have influenced us greatly with the synth parts of the songs, classical music and the great
composers of the 17th century. There's only a handful, if we would list everything I think I would need to buy a new keyboard. Me as the composer I cannot listen to almost any
music because I am playing and trying to create new stuff all the time so I get worn out. Rest of the guys are mainly listening to those influences that we listed and of course
on those similar lines, many more.


12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Our full length album called "Necromancy" will be out 8.8.2019 so get that, limited 88 copies, through Forever Dead Records facebook and email: Foreverdeadrecords@hotmail.com
or straight from the band through facebook message or bandcamp. FUCK THE WEAK, YOU HAVE NO PLACE ON EARTH! Thank you for the interview!

Temple Of Abraxas/Temples Forlorn/Forbidden Records/2019 Full Length Review

  Temple of  Abraxas  are  a solo  project  from  Tucson, Arizona  that  plays  an  occult  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2019  album  "Temples  Forlorn"  which  will  be  released  by  Forbidden  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  atmospheric  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  very  fast  and  raw  musical  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  and  the  music  also  has  a  lot  of  second  wave  influences. 

  The  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  some  synths  also  being  added  into  some  parts  of  the  music. 

  At  times  the  vocals  also  get  very  deep  and  demonic  sounding  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  couple  of  instrumentals  are  added  onto  the  recording.  The  production  sounds  very  raw  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Temple  Of  Abraxas  are  a  very  great  sounding  occult  black  metal  solo  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "A  Thousand  Swords"  "Below  The  black  Earth"  and  "Twilight  Enthroned".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXCQbUs99k     

Hellvetron/Trident Of Tartarean Gateways/Iron Bonehead Productions/2019 CD Review

  Hellvetron  are  a  band  from  El  Paso,  Texas  that  plays  a  ceremonial  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Trident  Of  Tartarean  Gateways"  which  will  be  released  in  August  by  Iron  Bonehead  Productions.

  A  very  dark  and  ritualistic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  horror  movie  style  synths  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction.  Elements  of  doom  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  slower  sections  of  the  music  and  the  vocals  are  done  in  a  very  deep  yet  grim  black  metal  style.

  A  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies.  Influences  of  death  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  songs  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard.

  The  songs  also  add  in  a  good  mixture  of  both  old  school  and  modern  influences  from  both  of  the  more  occult  forms  of  black  and  death  metal  and  at  times  reminds  me  of  a  mixture  of  the  slower  music  of  Beherit  mixed  with  Incantation  and  Disembowelment  but  still  maintaining  a  style  of  their  own.

  Ritualistic  sounds  and  synths  also  are  utilized  on  other  tracks  and  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  at  times  as  well  as  the  vocals  also utilizing  bestial  and  cavernous  style  growls  at  times  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  melodic  chants  can  also  be  heard.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  chthonic  Witch-Gods  of  the  Tartarean  Realms,  Left  Hand  Path  and  Infernal  Alkhemy  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Hellvetron  are  a  very  great  sounding  ceremonial  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "I.  Opening-Queen  Of  The  Void"  "Iv.  Evocation-King  Of  Thaumiel"  "Vi.  Offering-Dark  Solar  God"  and  "Ix.  Transformation-Altar  Of  Scorpions".  8/5 out  of  10.

http://soundcloud.com/iron-bonehead-productions/hellvetron-rite-tartarean-gateways