Dauðaró/Nýir Heimar/ATMF/2023 Full Length Review

 

  Dauðaró  are  a  solo  project  from  Ireland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black  and  funeral  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2023  album  "Nýir  Heimar"  which  will  be  released  in  October  by  ATMF.

  Dark  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  funeral  doom  metal  direction.  Vocals  are  mostly  guttural  death  emtal  growls  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  all  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  while  the  music  also  has  its  atmospheric  moments.  Black  metal  screams  can  also  be  heard  at  times  along  with  some  synths  also  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  as  well  as  one  song  also  introducing  clean  playing  into  the  music  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  briefly.

   Dauðaró  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black  and  funeral  doom  metal  and  mixes  them together  to  create  a  sound  of  his  own.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Icelandic  and  cover  the  writings  of  H.P  Lovecraft.

  In  my  opinion  Dauðaró  is  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black  and  funeral  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Fyrstu  skrefin"  and  "Hogg".  8 out  of  10.

  https://www.facebook.com/daudaro/    

  

The Way Of Purity/The Order Of The Deep Roots/WormHoleDeath Records/2023 Full Length Review

 

  Sweden's  The  Way  Of  Purity  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  shows  them  expanding  on  the  goth  and  industrial  rock  style  that  have  introduced  on  the  last  couple  of  releases  and  this  is  a review  of  their  2023  album  "The  Order  Of  The  Deep  Roots"  which  was  released  by  WormHoleDeath  Records.

  Dark  sounding  keyboards  start  off  the  album  while  also  giving  the  music  the  haunting  atmosphere  of  a  horror  movie  soundtrack.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  while  the  drum  beats  also  add  in  elements  of  industrial  and  clean  playing  is  also  added  on  some  of  the  tracks.

  A  lot  of  the  vocals  are  done  in  more  of  a  clear  style  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  lot  of  melody.  Elements  of  goth  rock  are  also  utilized  quite  a  lot  throughout  the  recording  along  with  the  songs  also  adding  in  both  male  and  female  vocals  as  well  as  some  tracks  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  black  metal  screams.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  touches of  jazz  and  ambient  also  taking  the  music  into  more  of  an  experimental  direction  when  they  are  utilized.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while t he  lyrics  cover  Veganism a nd  Qlipphotic  Forces.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  The  Way  of  Purity  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  black  metal,  goth  and  industrial  rock,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Red  Herring"  "The  Great  Leveler"  "Usque  Ad  Mortem"  and  "This  Is  The  World  You  Deserve".  8 out  of  10.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?utm_source=sendpulse&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-way-of-purity-reveal-new-a&v=Neam1C_lrec&feature=youtu.be

www.facebook.com/thewayofpurity
www.thewayofpurity.com

www.instagram.com/thewayofpurity    .  

Terminalist Interview

 

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

 

“We’ve played a run of shows and seen the world turn for the worse so it seems like a good time to release something new.”

 

2.In September you have a new album coming out, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

 

“’The Crisis as Condition’ is more thrash-oriented than our previous album. I hear it as a technical thrash album featuring prog and black metal elements where the debut ‘The Great Acceleration’ balanced black, death, and thrash metal elements a bit more to reflect the sci-fi themes found on that record.”

 

3.You refer to your music as being 'hyperthrash', can you tell us a little bit more about this term?

 

“Hyperthrash is our way of stating that we are placed in the realm of thrash but that our sound also goes beyond that. We have the occasional black metal blastbeats, a death metal growl and lyrics centering around speed, acceleration, and societal crises which lends something ‘hyper’ to the universe as well.”

 

4.On the new album you cover a lot of socio-political themes, can you tell us a little bit more about the events you cover with the new recording?

 

“In short, the record is about the culmination of crises we’re facing right now, ranging from the climate crisis to political polarization and destabilization to social and economic inequality, the war in Ukraine, the Covid crisis, and so on. On a more abstract level, it’s about the loss of the future. After the 90’s, which to a large degree was a period of hope, progress, and stability, we’re now faced with prospects much bleaker. As we state on the record on the song ‘A Future to Weave’, the future is not what it used to be.”

 

5.On previous releases you had more science fiction orientated lyrics, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?

 

“Sci-fi thrash has always had its own unique vibe and we wanted to play into that niche of the thrash genre. However, the sci-fi topics were also a way of addressing the themes of speed, acceleration, technology, and war that form our lives in the present.”

 

6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Terminalist'?

 

“A terminal is a place from which you depart. It can also be a state from which you pass on from life into death. So Terminalist is a point of musical departure as well as music that kills. The band name is a tribute in part to Vektor’s masterpiece ‘Terminal Redux’, to ‘Terminator’ and so on. You can hopefully hear what kind of music we play based on the name only since the connotations are there.”

 

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

 

“The artwork was created by an incredibly talented British painter named Ryan T. Hancock. Contrary to what some have thought, there’s no AI involved, it’s handcrafted to the core. It shows the earth from a tilted angle being fractured in two by an unidentifiable ball of light. Is it a natural phenomenon, a nuclear bomb, a meteor, or something else? We don’t know.”

 

8.Out of all the shows or tours the band has played so far, which one stands out the most?

 

“Our recent show supporting Voivod certainly stands out. Incredibly nice guys and legends with 40 years in the game.”

 

9.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

 

“Not anything we can tell of right now.”

 

10.On a worldwide level, how has the reaction been to your newer music by fans of extreme metal?

 

“As a new band, you always have to gain a foothold first, especially when entering the scene with self-made genre descriptors such as ‘hyperthrash’. But it seems that people are getting it and more and more are opening their eyes and ears to our music which is an absolute delight.”

 

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

 

“That’s a tough one. It depends on a lot. There’s still plenty of hyperthrashing to be done but it could be interesting to mix the thrashy vibes with something slightly more gothic-sounding or prog rock-inspired. But we’ll see.”

 

13.What are some of the bands or musical genres the band members are currently listening to nowadays?

 

“Our listening habits vary a lot. I’ve been on a spree lately covering Björk, Killing Joke, and Elton John. But of contemporary metal bands that stick out, we’d like to emphasize Enforced, Horrendous, Ashenspire, and Misery Index – and the overlooked oldschool death-thrash act Hellwitch who recently released a new album where they sound as frenetic and hectic as ever.”

 

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

 

“We hope you want to give our new album a listen and contemplate the times of crisis with us. Thank you for taking your time and for the interest shown in the band. We truly appreciate it. Cheers.”

https://www.facebook.com/terminalist

https://www.instagram.com/terminalistcph

https://terminalist.bandcamp.com

Dimentianon/Chapter VI: Burning Rebirth/Pest Records/Paragon Records/Symbol Of Domination Productions/2023 Full Length Review

 

  New  York's  Dimentianon  has  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  shows  the  music  going  for  an  atmospheric  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  death  emtal  with  elements  of  ambient  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2023  album  "Chapter  IV:  Burning  Rebirth"  which  was  released  as a  joint  effort  between  Pest,  paragon  Records  and  Symbol  Of  Dominion  Productions.

  Ambient  style  synths  start  off  the  album  and  also  gives  the  music  more  of  an  atmospheric  feeling  while  also  mixing  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  at  times.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast b eats  can  be  heard  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  grim  sounding  black  metal  screams.

  Melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  death  metal  growls  can  also  be  heard  at  times.  Some  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  along  with  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  also  bringing  in  elements  of  doom  metal  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  the  music  also  having  its  brutal  moments  as  well  as  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts, clear  vocals  can  also  be  heard  briefly  and  one  song  is  also  an  instrumental.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Death  and  Darkness themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Dimentianon  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  atmospheric  black,  doom  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Turn  To  Ash"  "The  Determining  Line"  an d "Black  Angel".  8 out  of  10.

   Play on Bandcamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaCAg2qlxPw

  

Cultus Sanguine Interview

 

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

We completed recordings and mastering in January, than we had a few gigs here in Italy, both headlining or festivals, all with a good response in performance and audience participation, then we practiced live version of the new album songs, now we are planning gigs in Europe and Italy, and starting creating new tunes of decadence.

2.In September you have a new album coming out, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

I think it keeps our shadow metal trademark with an improvement, we have grown in these years. as men, musicians and composers, our style is recognizable, and keeps the mark we left with "The sum of all fears", keeping our style alive.

3.The band was broken up for 17 years, what was the cause of the split up and the decision to reform?

We splitted one year after the release of The sum, stress among us was too high, the pressure in creating a new album better than previous damaged relationships among us, so we decided for a quit, even if keepin in touch among us, in fact, in 2018 during a talk between Federico (guitars) and me we spoke something like "do you know ? I am writing new stuff" ... "me too" , "ok, why dont we create a new album ?" and here we are.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music and also how would you describe your progress as songwriters over the years?

The main theme behind lyrics is the failure in life, all these lives going on day by day in the deeper grey, without passion, with poor relationships and no intentios; in my opinion this is one of the greatest tragedies, dont you agree ?

As lyric composer I wish my pen blade is sharper, and creates deeper wounds, as musicians we are imroved, and more closer among us, we rehearse weekly, so our understood is better, both as musicians and as friends, besides our life engangements as full time jobs and families we try to hang out together in order to share new ideas and for our friendship.

5,Most of the band members have been involved with underground metal for more than 3 decades, do you feel metal has changed a lot from the early era when you first formed the band?

It has changed a hell of it ! when we started back in '93 bands got signed to labels due to the quality of their demo tape, great songs and being original, now bands got deals due to the number of followers, and music in not a main point of choose, speaking music wise, and being a fan before a musician I see main events being a sort of "Best of 80ìs or 90's metal revival", and the bigger problem in music is the dramatic failure in records sales. 

6.Your music also stood out as being very different in the 90's, do you feel that you were a huge influence on the later black, dark and doom metal bands that came out in the past 3 decades"/

Yeah, back in early 90's bands like us, Deynonichus, Bethlehem played a weird mixture between dark, black and doom metal, mixed with a jant dose of insanity,  something that had influence and got extremized into funeral doom or dark metal, some bands admitted our influence in their music, and this is for us a pride , I think that this happened because when we started of course we put our influecies in our music , but we never tried to sound like a particular band. 

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

We always had weird artwork, dark and funeralish, all the images in "Dust once alive" were taken by a great friend of us, they have been shot in an abandoned mental hospital in Parma, 

Artwork for us has always been really important, it must drown the listener deeper into music and lyrics, and in my opinion this one reflects our music.

8.Out of all the shows the band has played over the years, which one stands out the most?

We have in our memory some great shows we had the opportunity to play, in the past I remind with great pleasure back in 2000 "Darkness upon Italy" festival with Carpathian Forest, Mortuary Drape, Opera IX, with a huge audience and all great performances from all the bands, among last ones we had a great show at Rock Hard Festival in Milan.

9.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

We are planning shows for the new album right now, so if some promoter is interested is welcome, we are planning a release party near Milan, and we will play the whole new album for that special gig, besides this we are already confirmed for some festivals in Italy and Europe. We cant plan a propher tour due to our full time jobs, but if someday will arrive a good opportunity we'll consider it

10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black, dark and doom metal?

I think we are appreciated by fans of all these genres and also disliked by fans of all these genres ah ah, because we cant be recognized in a single genre, we dont have a defined audience, or not ? fans into REAL dark metal without gentle vocals or arrangements.

11.In 2021 you were also a part of a split with 'Black Oath', what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?

Personally I love Black Oath ! they are a great band and first of all great people, I know them since 1995, and we are friends , we played a great gig together last year and personally I wait to share stage with them again, if we can we hang at each other gigs, I also had the opportunity to do guest vocals in their last great album. IN particular that tape is a limited tape we did for that show we did together and was sold out at the show.

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

Into a doomer, darker, weirder form, we are far from reaching the perfect funeral sound, so await new albums, we want to give a sound to the smell of tomb.

13.What are some of the bands or musical styled the band members are listening to nowadays?

Above all for me there are Celtic Frost, Devil Doll and Christian Death, then also Death SS,Bathory, Paradise Lost, Depeche Mode, Current 93 and Slayer, a strange mixture that maybe gives a picture of who we are.

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

First of all thanks  for this interesting interview, was a pleasure to reply, drown yourself into suicidal dark metal thru "Dust once alive"

Joe F/Cultus Sanguine

 

https://badmoodmanmusic.bandcamp.com/album/dust-once-alive

Terminalist/The Crisis As Condition/Indisciplinarian/2023 Full Length Review

 

  Terminalist  are  a  band  from  Denmark  that  plays  a  very  technical  and  blackened  form  of  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2023  album  "The  Crisis  As  Condition"  which  will  be  released  in  September  by  Indisciplinarian.

  A  very  fast  and  aggressive  thrash  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  technical  and  progressive sounding  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  blackened  metal  screams  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  lot  of  melody.     

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  also  bring  in  more  of  an  old  school  style  while  the  music  still  has  roots  in  the  modern  era.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  couple  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length,  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  clean  playing  is  also  added  on t he  closing  track.  

  Terminalist  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes technical  thrash  metal  and  mixes  it  with  black  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  a  contemporary  crisis  ridden  society.  

  In  my  opinion  Terminalist  are  a  very  great  sounding  technical  blackened  thrash  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a f an  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Life  Wont  Last"  "A  Future  To  Weave"  and  "Move  in  Strife".  8  out  of  10.

  https://www.facebook.com/terminalist

https://www.instagram.com/terminalistcph

https://terminalist.bandcamp.com

  

Overthrow/Ascension From The Entombed/Redefining Darkness Records/2023 EP Review

 

  Overthrow  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  blackened  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2023  ep  "Ascension  From  The  Entombed"  which  will  be  released  in  October  by  Redefining  Darkness  Records.

  Dark  soundscapes  start  off  the  ep  along  with  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples  before  going  into  a  heavier  death  metal  direction.  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  growls  and  black  metal  screams  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  melody  at  times  and  the  solos  and  leads  also b ring  in  more  of  a  90's  style.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  Elements  of  thrash  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  and  the  tracks  also  capture  a  very  modern  day  brutality.

  Overthrow  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  war,  death,  chaos,  evil  and  Mayan  Mythology  themes.

  In  my  opinion  overthrow  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Lords  of  Xibalba"  and  "Caustic  Vengeance  (Bloody  Driven)".  8 out  of  10.

  https://overthrowmetal.bandcamp.com/album/strike-down-the-saviour

https://www.instagram.com/overthrowdeath/

https://twitter.com/overthrowdeath