BlackenedDeathMetalZine

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Necromass/Mysteria Mystica Zofiriana/Unisound Records/1993 CD Review

Necromass are a band from Italy that play a style that I would describe as atmospheric black.death metal and this is a review of their 1993 album "Mysteria Mystica Zofiriana" which was released by Unisound Records.

Drums range from some slow to mid paced beats with a lot of fast playing and brutal blast beats, while the keyboards have a very dark and evil sound with a ritualistic edge, as for the bass playing it sounds very powerful and adds to the darkness of the music.

Rhythm guitars have a mixture of slow to fast black metal riffs with a good amount of death metal influence while the acoustic guitars gives the music an atmospheric sound, as for the lead guitars they are fast and noisy guitar solos that have a melodic edge.

Vocals are a mixture of high pitched black metal screams mixed with some deep death metal growls with some occasional clean singing, while the lyrics are of the left hand path with songs about rituals, the darker side of the Caballa and you can tell that Aliester Crowley influenced the songwriting on the album, as for the production it is very raw and primal sounding while still capturing the sounds of the instruments.

In my opinion Necromass where a very underrated band for their time and if you are a fan of early 90's occult black/death then you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Sodomatic Orgy Of Hate" "Mysteria Mystica Zothyrianna" and "Black Mass Inition". RECOMMENDED BUY.

Samael/Eternal/Century Media Records/1999 CD Review

Samael are a band from Switzerland that started out as an atmospheric black/death metal band which later added industrial elements to their music and this is a review of their 1999 album "Eternal" which was released by Century Media Records.

Drum machines on this album are mostly slow industrial beats while the synths are very dark and atmospheric sounding as for the bass playing it is all rhythm bass which follows the riffs coming out of the guitars.

Rhythm guitars mix melodic black/death with industrial and gothic together and they are mostly mid paced while the lead guitars are very noisy and distorted with a touch of melody.

Vocals have a little bit of a black metal feel but are mostly distorted industrial type of vocals with some clean singing while the lyrics cover topics such as depression, and dark themes with an esoteric feel as for the production as this album which was recorded at Mountain Studio during the spring of 1999 sounds very professional and you can hear all of the musical instruments that are utilized on this album.

In my opinion this was a good album from Samael and while I prefer their older material and alot of fans called this album I still feel this was a good album. If you are a fan of industrial/goth or symphonic black/death you might like this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Together" "The Cross" and "Infra Galaxia". RECOMMENDED BUY

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Akercocke/Choronzon/Earache Records/2003 CD Review

Akercocke are a band from England that plays a mixture of black metal,death metal and atmospheric symphonic metal and this is a review of their 2003 album "Choronzon which was released by Earache Records.

Drums are mostly fast with a lot of blast beats while the synths are very dark and avant garde sounding which gives the music a more satanic edge, as for the bass playing it is all rhythm bass that follows the riffs coming out of the guitars and at times they have a very powerful sound.

Rhythm guitars are mostly fast and brutal riffs that mix black metal, death metal,noise and thrash together while the lead guitars are mostly fast solos that contain a flavor of melody to them with some noisy effects.

Vocals are a mixture of deep death metal growls mixed in with some high pitched black metal screams with some clean singing vocals as well as spoken word parts, while the lyrics are very satanic with some Thelema, Sex Magick, Goetia and Enochian as well as anti christain elements, as for the production on this album which was recorded at Goat Of Mendes Studios sounds very professional and you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on this album.

In my opinion Akercocke are a very talented and original band and this was a great album from them, if you are a fan of avant garde black/death metal you should this album to your collection. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Praise The Name Of Satan" "Valley Of The Crucified" "Bathykolpan Avator" and "Scapegoat". RECOMMENDED BUY