Raggradarh/Oris/Vacula Productions/2014 CD Review

  Raggradarh  are  a  1  man  band  from  Bulgaria  that  plays  a  heathen  and  pagan  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2014  album "Oris"  which  was  released  by  Vacula  Productions.

  A  very  fast  and  raw  black  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  with  some  grim  screams  and  a  decent  amount  of  melody  which  leads  to  some  atmospheric  sounds  and  melodic  pagan  chanting  being  added  into  the  music  and  the screams  also  get  more  high  pitched  and  after  awhile  the  music  starts  utilizing  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  All  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  songs  and  the  album  continues  the  raw  and  atmospheric  pagan/black  metal  style  on  the  following  tracks  as  well  as  adding  in  an  old  school  black  metal  sound  and  after  awhile  you  can  hear  melodic  guitar  solos  and  leads  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

 On  the  3rd  song  when  the  melodic  pagan  chanting  parts  are  added  into  the  song  the  music  starts  evoking  a  more  dark  atmosphere  as  well  as  having  a  powerful  sounding  bass  guitar  towards  the  end  of  the  track  and  the  last  song  shows  a  more  raw  black  metal  style  in  the  beginning  and  after  a  few  minutes  folk  music  instruments  are  added  into  the  music  and  they  music  starts  evoking  a  more  medieval  atmosphere  while  also  retaining  the  raw  black  metal  parts  as  well  as  addign  in  melodic  vocals  and  a  touch  of  classic  metal.

  Raggradarh  creates  a  very  raw  and  melodic  approach  to  pagan  black  metal  with  his  musical  style  as  well  as  adding  in  a  dark  atmosphere  that  really  makes  you  feel  the  pagan  gods  being  evoked,  the  production  sounds  very  dark,  raw  and  epic  while  the  lyrics  cover  Slavic  Paganism.

  In  my  opinion  Raggradarh  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw  and  atmospheric  pagan/black  metal  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Old  Sword"  and  "The  Doomed  Ones".  8/5  out  of  10.

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Grimwald/The Beserker/Vacula Productions/2014 EP Re-Issue Review

  Grimwald  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  raw  and  atmospheric  form  of  black  metal  with  elements  of  ambient  music  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2009  ep  "The  Beserker"  which  was  re-issued  by  Vacula  Productions  in  the  year  of  2014.

  A  very  old  school  mid  paced  black  metal  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  pagan  style  melodies  and  grim  vocals  and  a  few  minutes  later  atmospheric  sounding  synths  start  becoming  a  huge  part  of  the  bands  musical  style  along  with  some  guitar  leads  a  couple  of  minutes  later  that  enhances  the  melodic  nature  of  the  music.

   There  is  a  great  mixture  of  slow  and  mid  paced  parts  throughout  the  recording  and  the  synths  bring  in  elements  of  atmospheric  and  ambient  music  and  on  some  of  the  other  tracks  there  are  small  amounts  of  clean  playing  being  added into  the  music  along  with some  fast  and  raw  black  metal  parts  that  also  utilize  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats.

  As  the  ep  progresses  clean  and  soft  playing  or  added  into  the  music  with  a  short  instrumental  before  returning  back  to  a  grim  black  metal  direction  on  the  following  tracks  which  also  shows  spoken  word  parts  becoming  a  part  of  the  ep's  musical  direction  and  there  is  also  an  8  minute  track  which  gives  the  music  a  more  epic  feeling  as  well  as  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  thrash  metal  style  guitar  riffing  and  the  ep  closes  with  a  track  that  really  displays  a  more  raw  orientated  approach  to  black  metal  from  this  band  as  well  as  adding  in  folk  music  style  acoustic  guitars  and  depressive  screams.  

  Grimwald  creates  a  very  raw,  melodic  and  atmospheric  black  metal  sound  that  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  ambient  influences  and  their  music  always  evokes  a  dark  and  grim  atmosphere,  the production  sounds very  dark  and  raw,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  depressive  and  nature  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Grimwald  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw,  melodic  and  atmospheric  black  metal  band  with  ambient  elements  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Grimwald"  and  "In  The  Hungry  Fields  Of  Despair".  8  out  of  10.

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Aeonless/Underneath Horizons/Vacula Productions/2014 CD Review

  Aeonless  are  a  duo  with  members  from  both  Finland  and  Bulgaria  that  plays  an  atmospheric  and  depressive  mixture  of  black  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Underneath  Horizons"  which  was  released  by  Vacula  Productions.

  Classical  music  style  synths  start  off  the  album  and  they  also  give  the  music  an  epic  feeling  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  more  heavy  and  atmospheric  direction  and  adds  in  grim  sounding  black  metal  vocals  and  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  amount  of  melody  in  the  bands  musical  style.

  After  awhile  a  great  amount  of  doom  metal  elements  and  guitar  leads  which  use  a  great  amount  of  melody are  added  into  the  music  and  you  can  also  hear  clean  melodic  singing  and  spoken  word  parts  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  recording  sticks  to  mostly  a  slow  or  mid  paced  direction.

  As  the  album  progresses  the  music  starts  to  add  in  a  few  preludes  along  with  clean  and  acoustic  playing  which  also  gives  the  music  a  more  haunting  atmosphere  while  the  main  focus  remains  on  a  heavier  musical  style  and  after  awhile  the  vocals  start  utilizing  more  depressive  sounding  black  metal  screams  and  guitar  riffing  which  is  built  upon  a  more  black/doom  metal  foundation  and  at  the  times  the  vocals  utilize  a  very  deep  and  dark  sound  and  throughout the  album  the  band  also  bring  in  a  few  very  long  tracks  which  enhances  the  epic  feeling  of  the  recording.

  Aeonless  creates  a  very  interesting  sound  with  their  music  taking  a  blackened  doom  metal  style  and  mixing  it  with  the  more  atmospheric  and  depressive  side  of  black  metal  as  well  as  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  which  results  in  a  very  diverse  and  melancholic  sounding  album,  the production  has  a  very  heavy  and  powerful  sound  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  depressive,  misanthropic  and  melancholic  themes.

 In  my  opinion  Aeonless  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  and  depressive  mixture  of  black  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  duo.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sword  &  Scythe"  "Standards  Of  Misanthropy"  "Vulture  Of  Decadence"  and  "Mountain  Peak".  8  out  of  10.

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Profundis Tenebrarum /Hate Decade/Vacula Productions/2014 Demo Compilation Review

  Profundis  Tenebrarum  are  a  band  from  Spain  that  plays  a  very  fast,  raw  and  atmospheric  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  demo  compilation  album  "Hate  Decade"  which  was  released  by  Vacula  Productions.

  A  very  fast,  raw  and  atmospheric  sound  along  with  blast  beats  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  grim  sounding  high  pitched  screams  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  awhile  the  music  also  mixes  slower  riffing  and  melodies  into  their  sound  as  well  as  alternating  between  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and there  are     synths  are  a  huge  part  of  the  recording  and  they  enhance  the  dark  atmosphere  of  the  music  as  well  as  adding  in  elements  of  dark  ambient  at  times.

  After  awhile  the  band  starts  adding  in  more  of  a  fast  style  of  black  metal  along  with  some  elements  of  thrash  while  still  keeping  the  atmospheric  sounds  as  well  as  adding  in  melodic  guitar  leads  at  times  and  at  time s the  bass  guitars  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  music  goes  for  mostly  a  mid  90's  to  early  2000's  atmospheric  and  melodic  style  of  black  metal  and  some  of  the  later  tracks  shows  the  band  bringing  in  a  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts  and  a  couple  of  the  later  tracks  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  and  there  are  also  a  few  long  and  epic  tracks  being  utilized  on  the  compilation  at  times.

  Profundis  Tenebrarum  shows  a  great  amount  of  diversity  on  all  of  the  tracks  bringing  in  rawness,  speed,  brutality,  melody,  atmosphere,  clean  and  heavy  parts  as  well  as  a  great  amount  of  grimness  and  all  of  these  elements  combined  makes  the  music  sound  very  interesting,  the  production  has  a  very  dark,  raw,  powerful,  and  heavy  sound  while  the  lyrics  cover  anti  christian,  death  and  darkness  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Profundis  Tenebrarum  are  a  very  great  sounding  fast,  raw,  melodic  and  atmospheric  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a   fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  compilation.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Tremolos  Adoration  In  Blasphemy"  "Wounds  Of  Heaven"  "Abhorrent  Christendom"  and  "Dark  &  Eternal".  8  out  of  10.    

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Old Pagan/MalediictusS/Narbentage Produktionen/Vacula Promotions/2014 CD Review

  Old  Pagan  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  has  been  around  for  18  years  and  plays  a  very  raw  and  old  school  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "MalediictusS"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Narbentage  Producktionen  and  Vacula  Promotions.

  A  very  fast  and  raw  old  school  black  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  high  pitched  screams  and  the  music  is  very  primitive  in  the  early  90's  tradition  and  after  awhile  the  band  starts  to  bring  in  slow  and  mid  paced  parts  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  while  the  main  focus  is  on  the  faster  material.

  Just  like  with  previous  material  the  band  sticks  to  an  early  90's  style  of  black  metal  and  avoids  any  of  the  trends  of  the  past  20  years  and  plays  this  musical genre  in  its  rawest  and  purest  form  and  they  also  add  in  melody  and  a  dark  atmosphere  which  also  leads  to  a  small  amount  of  synths  at  times  and  the  bass  guitars  have  a  very  powerful  presence  in  the  background  and  after  awhile  a  small  amount  of  deep  growls  along  with  a  few  seconds  of  ritualistic  spoken  word  parts  are  added  into  the  bands  musical  sound  which  also  make  the  vocals  have  a  more  dark  and  grim  feeling  to  them  and  they  also  bring  in  a  cover  of  Darkthrone's  "Ravnajuv".  

  Old  Pagan  remain  true  to  a  fast  and  raw  style  of  black  metal  and  create  a  very  heavy  recording  that  has  all  of  the  best  elements  of  the  early  90's  and  while  there  is  not  much  in  the  way  of  originality  the  music  is  very  well  executed,  the  production  has  a  very  raw,  heavy  and  old  school  sound  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  a  mixture  of  English  and  German  and  cover  Satanism,  Death,  Hatred  and  Darkness.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Old  Pagan  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  early  90's  raw  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "My  Black  Witch"  "Blood  Metal"  and  "Hordes  Of  Hate".  8  out  of  10.

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Ars Moriendi/La Singuleriere Noirceur D' Un Astre/Archaic Sound/2014 CD Review

  Ars  Moriendi  are  a  1  man  band  from  France  that  plays  a  very  atmospheric  and  dark  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "La  Singuleriere  Noirceur  D'  Un  Astre"  which  was  released  by  Archaic  Sound.

  Screams  and  sound  effects  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  which  also  leads  to  elements  of  trip  hop  making  their  way  into  the  music  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  the  music  starts  getting  more  heavier  and  atmospheric  along  with  some  synths  and  black  metal  screams  and  you  can  also  hear  some  melodic  guitar  leads  being  utilized.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  album  sound  very  powerful  and  the  music  also  speeds  up  at  times  with  some  black  metal  guitar  riffing  and  adds  in  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  while  the  guitar  leads  utilize  progressive  elements  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  which  also  leads  to  clean  playing  and  acoustic  guitars  becoming  a  huge  part  of  the  bands  musical  sound  while  the  main  focus is  on  the  more  heavier  parts.

  All  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  their  is  also  a  decent  amount  of  melody  in  the  music  along  with  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  there  is  also  a  great  amount  of  atmospheric,  trip  hop  and  ambient  sounds  being  added into  the  music  in  the  parts  where  synths  are  added,  as  the  album  progresses  the  music  gets  more  diverse  and  every  song  sounds  different  from  each  other  as  well  as  all  of  them  standing  out  on  their  own  and  on a  couple  of  the  tracks  there  is  a  brief  use  of  clean  singing  male  and  female  vocals  and  spoken  word  parts.

  Ars  Moriendi  create  a  very  original  style  of  black  metal  with  his  musical  sound  finding  a  perfect  balance  between  darkness,  atmosphere,  melody  and  heaviness  as  well  as adding  in  elements  of  trip  hop, progressive  and  dark  ambient  to  his  epic  structures,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  French  and  cover  darkness  and  cosmos  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ars  Moriendi  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  dark/black  metal  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Verite"  and  "Ars  Moriendi".  8  out  of  10.

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Tragic Death Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the newer material?

We’re already writing some tracks for our follow up to our first album Apocalyptic Metal. We’re also re-arranging some pretty awesome 60’s and 70’s songs for a covers album we are thinking about doing. We would like to take old songs and pretty much “butcher” them, morphing them into our style. Ideas about going on tour to promote this release and our first album from 2012 has also been thrown around but things are very chaotic for us at the moment so we aren’t sure when that will happen.

2.Recently you have released a split album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction the band has taken with the newer music and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

We are very excited about the split. The songs on our Apocalyptic Metal album were very melodic and more influence by Swedish Death Metal than Black Metal. We have always strived to be something very different since the beginning but on these 3 tracks we feel that we are finally getting to the sound the we “envisioned” for our band. These songs are much more darker, atmospheric, and surely more Black Metal inspired but done so in a style that we believe we can call our own.

3.The band calls it's musical style 'apocalyptic metal' can you tell us a little bit more about this term?

The apocalypse to us is something more of an enlightenment than an end. It’s something that causes destruction and chaos through the drastic changes in the human psyche. When the boundaries of order are broken, both beautiful and demonic forces are discovered. We wanted our style to be something that represented all of that in an aural form, something that demonstrates the beauty and destruction in opening your mind. We create metal that is atmospheric, brutal, calm, and transcendental all in one. Our goal is to set your mind free and get it thinking about everything and anything. One minute you are enjoying a peaceful day and then all hell breaks loose… We aren’t sure if we have yet achieved it but we get closer and closer every release.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer material?

Our lyrics before were about cities crumbling, people dying, werewolves & vampires, anti-christianity and other really cliche metal themes. We still stay true to some of those ideas, especially the apocalypse, but we’ve expanded on the idea of what armageddon could be. Suffer the Salvation speaks of pedophile priests and fundamentalist christians bringing their own demise. ‘Withering Youth’ is actually based on the novel “The Children of Men” about a military police state world on the fringes of Armageddon, something we feel is right around the corner for us all. Finally, ‘The Dissolution of the Clay Children’ is about the ridding the world of organized religion, namely Christianity.

5.The band was originally known as Withering Youth, what was the decision behind the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Tragic Death'?

Withering Youth was formed with Steven, Cody and our old bassist Jake. Many of the songs written for Withering Youth appeared on Tragic Death’s Apocalyptic Metal album. As things didn’t work out with our old bassist we felt that it wouldn’t be right to continue Withering Youth without him so we changed the name when we recruited Joe. Both of the names have an apocalyptic idea to them but Tragic Death is a band name Steven has been using since he was 12 years old. When Withering Youth dissolved Cody and Steven had the realization that Tragic Death would be the perfect name to continue carrying our Apocalyptic Metal idea.

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

We’ve done some pre-show shows for Danzig and Dimmu Borgir. Those were pretty amazing even though we technically weren’t sharing the same stage as them. We’ve had some pretty amazing shows that we ourselves have set up. One of the craziest towns we have ever played in was Brooklyn, WI. Those guys are nuts and we had the place hopping every time we showed up. When we played with Macabre people were smashing beer bottles everywhere! We have that effect on our fans, making them go apeshit, and that is the best compliment we can get. As a 3-piece it’s hard to move around a lot on stage. We do keep the fans pretty active by getting them to mosh and screaming at them to go nuts. We have always prided ourselves on having a highly energetic stage performance.

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

Things are pretty chaotic for the band right now. We have huge goals of touring the West Coast, Midwest, and East Coast in the near future. We also have plans of getting out to Europe to support some bands we are huge fans of. Simply put, work, travel, and legal issues are clouding up some of those plans but we will definitely be playing a lot of shows in California and Wisconsin very soon.

8.Recently you where a part of a split album with Fiends At Feast' what are your thoughts on the other band that was a part of the album?

We are friends with some of the members of Fiends At Feast. We love their style. It’s brutal, organic, dark and compliments the atmospheric style we approached on this release. The guys are all awesome. We hope to eventually get out to Cali and play some shows with these guys. It’s been a pleasure and very easy to work with Fiends At Feast and we couldn’t have asked for a better band to work with on our first split release.

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

It’s actually pretty insane. Indonesia and Brazil love us for some reason!! WE HOPE TO SEE YOU GUYS SOMETIME! In the beginning we were kind of laughed at for calling ourselves Apocalyptic Metal but the response to that style is really positive lately. People seem to be taking us seriously and the feedback we have been receiving from the split so far is above what we expected.

10.What is going on with the other musical projects these days, that some of the band members are involved with?

Even though Tragic Death is the main focus for all our members, music is our lives and we all keep very busy that way. Joe plays in a local Madison band called Cast in Fire. Cody has been working very hard lately on Nexion (name may change soon). It’s an acoustic based metal project that is different from many others where there is focus on tremolo and power chords instead of finger picking and strumming. He uses the acoustic like a metal guitar! Steven does vocals in Lords of Discipline who will be releasing another album very soon. He also has a Black Metal project Chaosophy that focuses on Chaos-Gnostic themes. They will be recording their first album beginning in August.

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

Work has already begun on our next full length. We are always writing and we seem to churn stuff out fairly quickly but we are thinking of adding in many World music influences on this next one as well as upping the atmospheric synths and phrases of our music heard on Purgatory Rites so it is difficult to pinpoint when that will be complete.

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

Sun of the Blind has really effected us. That is a band that is definitely under-rated. Deathspell Omega also had a profound influence on us and, of course, Dissection and Rotting Christ will alway remain a huge influence to all in the band. Lately we’ve been listening to bands like Agalloch, Dordeduh, Blut aus Nord, and Woods of Desolation. We’re really loving the atmospheric black metal coming out recently.

13.How would you describe your views on Satanism and Occultism?

Cody and Steven consider themselves Chaos Gnostic, which is a very vague definition. Basically chaos is a huge part of our lives and we live each day as chaotically as possible. We feel that this carries over into our music. The occult is something we are hugely interested in. We are constantly seeking out information about the forbidden unknown and that gives us new inspiration and insight. Modern Satanism can be ridiculous, especially LaVeyan Satanism. We feel that LaVeyanism is essentially another form of Christianity and just another means for an archaic, parasitic, religion to thrive in the times of knowledge and transcendence. When bands and people go to extremes to try and prove they are Satanic, then it’s obvious they are trying to hard and that automatically disproves any true Satanic outlook.

14.What are some of your non musical interests?

The Occult and specifically Chaos Gnosticism. Crowley, Lovecraft, and other dark writers. RPG games like the Elder Scrolls series. World philosophies and anything relating to the “end-times”. We are knowledge seekers in this band so our interests are constantly drifting and being ‘updated’ so to speak.

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

Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate all our fans across the world and hope to eventually meet you all! We are very eager to spread our Apocalyptic Metal. Enjoy the new split and we’ll see you all soon enough. http://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/purgatory-rites-split-cd