Pestlegion/Entsage Gott/Bleeding Heart Nihilist Productions/2018 EP Review

  Pestlegion  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  an  old  school  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  ep  "Enstage  Gott"  which  was  released  by  Bleeding  Heart  Nihilist  Productions.

  A  very  dark  and  heavy   sound  starts  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  raw  musical  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  along  with  a  few  growls  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  the  music  also  mixes  in  influences  from  the  Swedish,  Norwegian  and  Finnish  styles  of  the  genre  and  the  second  track  also  adds  in  a  small  amount  of  synths  in  the  background.

  Pestlegion  plays  a  style  of  black  metal  that  is  very  raw  and  traditional  in  the  Northern  European  tradition,  the  production  sounds  very  dark,  raw  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  Satanism  and  Occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Pestlegion  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Final  Sacrifice".  8  out  of  10.

    

Moenen Of Xebeth/Ancient Spells of Darkness/Nuclear War Now! Productions/2018 CD Review

  Moenen  Of  Xebeth  are  a  band  from  Belgium  that  plays  a  mid  paced  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Ancient  Spells  Of  Darkness"  which  will  be   released  in  August  by  Nuclear  War  Now!  Productions.

  Acoustic  guitars  and  clean  playing  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  while  the  vocals a re  mostly  grim  black  metal screams  along  with  some  keyboards  also  being  utilized  at  times  and  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  as  well  as  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.

  Most  of  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  as w ell  as  sounding  like  it  could  of  easily  been  recorded  and  released  during  that  time  frame  while  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  along  with  the  music  sticking  mostly  to  a  slow  or  mid  tempo  direction  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  songs  a  more  raw  feeling.

  Moenen  Of  Xebeth  plays  a  style  of  black  metal  that  is  very  old  school,  mid  paced  and  atmospheric  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Moenen  Of  Xebeth  are  a  very  great  sounding  mid  paced  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Into  The  Black  Mist"  "Ancient  Spells  Of  Darkness"  and  "Obscured  by  Lunar  Rites".  8  out  of  10.      

Goatskullt/Refuse To Exist!/2018 Full Length Review

  Goatskullt  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  very  raw  and  old  school  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2018  album  "Refuse  To  Exist".

  Dark  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  use  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  which  also  gives  the  songs  a  more  raw  feeling  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  hateful  black   metal  screams.

  A  great  amount  of  90's  influences  can  be  heard  in  the  bands  musical  style  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  melodies  also  being  added  into  the  guitar  riffing  at  times,  spoken  word  parts  and  melodic  vocals  can  also  be  heard  briefly  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard.

  Goatskullt  plays  a  style  of  black  metal  that  is  very raw  in  the  90's  tradition,  the  production  sounds  very  raw  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  a  mixture  of  Finnish  and  English  and  cover  Satanism  and  Anti  Life  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  Goatskullt  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw  and  old  school  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Godfeces"  and  "Perplexion".  8  out  of  10.     

Invocation Spells/Spread Cruelty Into The Abyss/Hells Headbangers/2018 CD Review

  Invocation  Spells  are  a  band  from  Chile  that  plays  a  very  raw  mixture  of  black  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Spread  Cruelty  Into  The  Abyss"  which  will  be  released  in  July  by  Hells  Headbangers.

  A  very  hard  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  using  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  which  also  gives  the  songs  a  more  raw  feeling  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  grim  black  metal  screams.

  A  great  amount  of  thrash  elements  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  riffs  also  utilizing  dark  sounding  melodies  at  times  and  the  music  also  has  a  lot  of  80's  and  90's  influences  but  having  a  more  modern  approach  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  clean  vocals  can  also  be  heard  as  well  as  one  track  adding  in  elements  of  classical  music  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier direction  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.

  Invocation  Spells  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  90's  era  black  metal  and  mixes  it  with  thrash  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  raw  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  evil and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Invocation Spells  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw  and  old  school  mixture  of  black  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ruins  Of  Cemetery"  "Old  Rites" and  "From  The  Graves".  8out  of  10.

Agathos Interview

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

Siles: Agathos is a black metal band formed by members of different extreme metal bands from Valencia (Spain) such as [In Mute] and Noctem, and we pretended to compose giving greater priority to the overall atmosphere than to the instruments by itself, as we come from more technical bands and we wanted to get carried away by the music without being worried about playing every perfect note every time, and we finally found ourselves playing black metal by accident! It was a very natural evolution that we didn’t decide at all, but we are very pleased with the results.

2.Recently you have released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Siles: You will find lots of enraged, raw and dark riffs wrapped inside epic melodies and deep atmospheres. Even while playing black metal we are very far from its classical form. We think it’s a very fresh interpretation form of this style.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Siles: I have always been very abstract in terms of lyrics, I write isolated thoughts as I hear them in my head and sometimes it’s very hard to understand what I am saying, ever for me! But what I can assure is that mainly you will find nihilistic and pessimist philosophy in my words.

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

Siles: “Agathos” is the greek moral ideal, translated as “the good”, we use this name as a sarcasm, as we don’t believe the human can be “good” and we don’t believe that there is a main “moral” that can be applied to judge every action.

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

Siles: I personally design it, and honestly it means nothing at all, I wanted to represent just that, the absence of meaning of things, following the nihilistic philosophy of the lyrics, I wanted to show as everyone wants to find an intrincate meaning of every symbol and every image, when at the end, anythings means nothing, we are just a random work of existence.



6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

We have only played our presentation gig in our city and it was awesome, we didn’t have any expectation of it because we are a new band and our EP was only 1 week out, but we were overwhelmed by the number of the audience and their welcome towards us and our show. We have a powerful, raw and sober performance on stage and we think we transmit a strong energy to the audience.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We are currently trying to book some shows in Spain and of course we would like to go outside our country but it’s a very slow process as Agathos is our secondary project, we are in bigger bands and we have to follow the schedule of our bands to find some free days in our agendas.



8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

We decided to self-release this EP to know the perception from the audience before signing with any label, but we have received some interest from labels, we can’t say anything specific yet but we will keep our audience posted about it when the time comes.

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

We are very happy with the feedback from every people who has taken his time to hear our music, regardless of their musical tastes, but I think that black metal fans have received very well, in fact our full EP is free streaming on Youtube because the channel Atmospheric Black Metal Albums asked us if they could upload it and we are also #7 at the May’s Top 30 Black Metal Releases at Headbangers Latin America.

10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

Siles: I’m guitarist from [In Mute], we are currently on our Gea Spanish Tour and planning a possible European Tour at the end of this year, and we will soon start composing our next album.

Gühl: My other band Afasica are currently finishing the writing of new songs for our forthcoming second EP. Unlike Agathos, this is an instrumental prog metal project, nothing to do with black or extreme metal.



11.When can we expect a full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Hope it can be soon, we are very excited about the composing for our first album and we have already started a new song that probably will be a single that will not be part of the album so we can release at least a song before the album comes out.



12.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?

Siles: I listen lots of musical styles, from classical music to metal going through jazz and a large etc. and to a lesser or greater extent all of them contribute to my compositions. In terms of bands I’m listening nowadays… mmmmhhh… Wiegedood, Aorlhac, Akhlys, Mgla, Batushka, Harakiri from the Sky… these are the more blackish bands, and I’m leaving a lot… besides black metal I’m digging into Ulver, Leprous, Alcest, Trallery, The Faceless, Moonsorrow, and maaaany more!

Gühl: In fact I’m not a typical Black Metal fan. I kind of listen to a very wide range of musical styles including prog, postrock and metal. But I’m very hooked on “new” bands like Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Ultar, Uada or Mgla. Also, I’m enjoying a lot the new Necrophobic album.

Bëor: The bands that have influenced me are mostly Saor, the last album from Khors and the last two albums from Harakiri For The Sky. Y la música que estoy escuchando últimamente son, Rotting Christ, Foscor, Persefone, Uada..



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

Nihil

Albionic Hermeticism/Ancient Hermetic Purity/Signal Rex/2018 CD Review

  Albionic  Hermeticism  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  an  occult  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Ancient  Hermetic  Purity"  which  will  be  released  in  July  by  Signal  Rex.

  A  very  dark,  heavy  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along with  some  grim  black  metal  screams  a  few  seconds  later  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  at  times  the  music  also  gets  very  atmospheric  as  well  as  a  couple  of  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Clean  guitars  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  when  the  music  speeds  up a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  tremolo  picking  can  also  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  songs  a  more  raw  feeling  along  with  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts,  melodic  chants  can  also  be  heard  briefly  as  well  as  the  music  also  bringing  in  a  decent  mixture  of  both  old  school  and  modern  influences  and  at  times  the  music  sounds  very  ritualistic  and  as  the  album  progresses  elements  of  ambient  can  also be  heard.

  Albonic  Hermeticism  plays  a  style  of  occult  black  metal  that  is  very  raw  yet  atmospheric  at  the  same  time,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  Ancient  Egyptian  Rites  And  Gods,  European Paganism  and  Hermeticism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Albionic  Hermeticism  are  a  very  great  sounding  occult  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Mutilated  Hermetic  Fragments"  "Ancient  Hermetic  Purity"  and  "AA  Moete  Hermes".  8  out  of  10.

Funeral Mist/Hekatomb/Norma Evangelium Diaboli/2018 CD Review

  Funeral  Mist  are  a  solo  project  from  Sweden  that  has  had  an  album  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  satanic  and  orthodox  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2018  album  "Hekatomb"  which  was  released  by  Norma  Evangelium  Diaboli.

  Spoken  word  parts  along  with  some  demonic  voices  and  an  evil  background  start  off  the  album  before  adding  in  some  powerful  sounding  bass  guitars  before  going  into  a  very  fast  musical  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  which  also  gives  the  songs  a  more  raw  feeling.

  Vocals are  mostly  hateful  and  angry  sounding  black  metal  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  tracks  also  adding  in  melodic  yet  ritualistic  chanting,  dark  sounding  melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  as  well  as  a  few  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  as  the  album  progresses  chaotic  sounding  guitar  leads  are  added  into  the  music  and  when  synths  are  utilized  they  give  the  music  more  of  an  occult  atmosphere.

  On  this  recording  Funeral  Mist  takes  his  orthodox  black  metal  sound  to  a  different  level  while  also  keeping  the  raw  aggression  that  was  present  on  previous  releases,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  darkness  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Funeral  Mist  and  if  you  where  a  fan  of  his  previous  material,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Naight  But  Death"  "Metamorphosis"  and  "Pallor  Mortis".  8/5  out  of  10.