Mysthicon/Silva - Oculis - Corvi/Witching Hour Productions/2020 CD Review

   Mysthicon  are  a  band  from  Poland  that  plays  an  old  school  and  atmospheric  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "  Silva  -  Oculis  -  Corvi"  which  will  be  released  on  September  22nd  by  Witching  Hour  Productions.   
 

   Dark  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  musical direction.  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal growls  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  along  with  some  songs  also  adding  in  clean  playing.



  Most  of  the  music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  era  while  the  synths  also  give  the  songs  more  of  an  old  school  and  atmospheric  feeling.  Elements  of  doom  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  along  with  some  tracks  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  whispered  vocals.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  one  track  also  introducing  spoken  word  parts  onto  the  album  as  well  as  the  guitar  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  when  they  are  utilized,  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  also  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  album  also  closes  with  a  cover  of  Lux  Occulta's  "Passing  Away"  which  also  introduces  clean  vocals  onto  the  recording  briefly.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the lyrics  cover  Darkness  and  Occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Mysthicon  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  and  atmospheric  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Arise"  "Star  Prophet"  and  "Wolves  Of  Morning  Dawn".  8  out  of 10.

https://youtu.be/reyoZ_7OlOA

    

Ophion/Antediluvian/Nefast Films Records/2020 Full Length Review

  Ophion  are  an  international  band  with  members  from  Spain  and  the  Dominion  Republic  and  plays  a  very  epic  and  atmospheric  form  of  blackened  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Antediluvian"  which  was  released  by  Nefast  Films  Records.

  Water  sounds  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  direction  which  also  introduces death  metal  growls  onto  the  recording.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  along  with  some  grim  black  metal  screams  also  being  utilized  at  times.

  When  synths  are  utilized  they  also  give  the  music  more  of  an  epic  and  atmospheric  sound  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a  great  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  a  couple  of  tracks  also  introducing  acoustic  guitars  onto  the  recording.

  Distorted  sounding  melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  along  with  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  as  well  as  some  spoken  word  parts  also  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  album  and  as  the  album  progresses  an  instrumental  is  also  added  onto  the  recording  and  a  couple  of  songs  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  vocals.  The production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  antiquity,  ancient  civilizations,  mythology  and  esoteric  history  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ophion  are  a  very  great  sounding  epic  and  atmospheric  blackened  death  emtal band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Panophion"  "Atlantean  Gates"  and  "Theology".  8/5  out  of  10.

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/album/3dM33JvJLstCIgcxfg1O2e

Bandcamp

https://ophion-official.bandcamp.com/releases

Lyric Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cet3VW1qCBo

Full Album on YouTube 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICCZlxyoFic&t=792s

Merchandize    

Ardormort/The Desolation Letters/Pacific Threnodies/2020 Cassette Review

  Ardormort  are  a  solo  project  from  Rhode  Island  that  plays  a  mixture  of  atmospheric  black,  funeral  doom/death  metal,  ambient  and  dungeon  synth  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2020  album  "The  Desolation  Letters"  which  will  be  released  on  cassette  on  September  29th  by  Pacific  Threnodies.

  A  very  atmospheric  dungeon  synth  orientated  sound  starts  off  the  album  while  also  capturing  the  atmosphere  of  a   fantasy  movie  soundtrack  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction.  The  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  and  they  also  mix  both  the  heavy  and  atmospheric  parts  together.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  while  the  synths  also  mix  in  some  elements  of  dark ambient  at  times.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  also  being  very  heavily  rooted  in  funeral  doom  metal.

  All  of  the  drum  beats  are  also  programmed  along  with  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  showing  some  black  metal  style  tremolo  picking.  All  of  the  tracks  are  also  instrumentals  along  with  the  music  also  showing  an  influence  of  death  metal  at  times  and  the  production  also  sounds  very  dark.

  In  my  opinion  Ardormort  are  a  very  great  sounding  instrumental  mixture  of  atmospheric  black,  funeral  doom/death  metal.dark  ambient  and  dungeon  synth and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "A  Study  Of  Death"  "As  The  Smoke  Dances"  and  "Torn  Riker".  8  out  of  10.

https://pacificthrenodies.bandcamp.com/album/the-desolation-letters



  

Infesticide Interview

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

-Infesticide is Death metal in the way it always had to exist...

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

-Shorter songs, definitely the main difference!
The past album songs have a very skillful structure, 30 riffs per song and a length for 5 minutes as minimum.
Envenoming Wounds its direct, a powerful with dark expression...
Musically I consider this album as the statement of our beliefs.

3.The band started out playing thrash metal but the newer music is more death metal, what was the decision behind going into this musical direction?

-No... Infesticide is a whole different band. There's false information online... (specially those stupid leeaches from Metal Archives)
Infesticide was not a name change.
I put you on context;
Inherited was a thrash band where I participate at the age of 15 years old,  band disbanded in 2013
later on early 2014 Infesticide was created... 2 completely different bands! and obviously different band members.

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?

-Lyrics are about an infeccion I had...
got pig-blood from my local slaughterhouse for some gigs, later that night the pig blood poured onto an opened wound located at my neck.
The Next day I started feeling awful, the fever was so high that I had hallucinations... the rest you can imagine.

5.Originally the band started out as 'Inherited' what was the decision behind the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Infesticide'?

-Back to answer No. 3.

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

-Oil on canvas...it's a vision from every song name

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

-Don't have favorite gigs.
about stage performance 1 word: Intense...

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

-I don't pay attention...  We expect nothing
Death Metal outlook seems pathetic... full with HM-2 sound, Emg and low tunning... pretending sound "cavernic" just adding stupid ammounts of reverb... We prefer to not take part, If you dig our art: good! if doesn't: we don't care.

9.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?

Go check In Obscurity Revealed!

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

Same... executing Death Metal.

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?

Morbid Angel and Necrovore

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

Not really, Take care!

www.facebook.com/infesticide.death 

Diabhal Interview

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

We are a death metal band from the US, specifically New York

2.Recently you have released your first album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording?

Our style is very much unique to us, at our very core, we're a death metal band. The stylistic approach we took to our debut record however also includes influences from Black Metal, Deathgrind and specifically Old School Death and Doom all with a very New York Death Metal edge

3.A lot of your lyrics cover horror themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?

I've (Tameem) personally have always loved horror movies, I've always considered death metal to be the auditory equivalent to the horror genre so using one for inspiration to the other only seemed fitting

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

One day our guitarist Miguel called and told me that our name at the time was already taken by a pretty well known underground death metal act. He suggested Diabhal which simply means "Devil" in Irish

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

It's an edited version of the famous art piece by John Martin, painted in 1835, called "The Fall of Babylon", we chose this art to represent our music because it was the most chaotic and aggressive piece of 19th century art we could think of

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 yet to perform live due to the current pandemic. We can promise that when this all ends, we'll deliver one of the most aggressive and powerful live shows possible

7.On the new album you also done a cover of Baphomet's "The Suffering" what was the decision behind doing your own version of one of their songs?

I've always loved the album "the dead shall inherit", I consider it one of the staples in early death metal. I always wanted to do a version of the song "The Suffering" in our style, we tried to do the original classic justice, at the end of the day we pretty much just played it a little faster hahah

8.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black, death metal and grindcore?

All of our reviews have been overwhelmingly positive but we are still trying to break out stronger in other heavy music scenes

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

I see us developing our sound more, we want to write a similar album but stronger and more aggressive than the last. The tracks for the second record are a lot doomier with more of an emphasis on our old school death metal sound but the faster parts will be even FASTER

10.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?

For this record we were listening to a lot of bands like Incantation, Entombed, and Cannibal corpse, but our influences range across almost all genres. Everything from black metal to grindcore is incorporated in our sound

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Music is our biggest interest, some of us play video games

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

Thank you for having us on here! Check out our debut album M M X X out everywhere now, Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and Youtube! Our second album is currently in the works and will be released sometime next year!

Facebook.com/Diabhal
Diabhalmetal.bandcamp.com
Youtube.com/channel/UCrEhFc5dXODLAjIfJcOEVyg

Ascian/Elysion/Black Sunset/MDD Records/2020 CD Review

  Ascian  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  post  black  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Elysion"  which  will  be  released  in  October  as  a  joint  effort  between  Black  Sunset  and  MDD  Records.

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  while  spoken  word  samples  can  also be  heard  briefly  before  going  into  a  heavier  doom  metal  direction.  Most  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.

  Death  metal  growls  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording  while  clean  vocals  are  also  utilized  at  times.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  grim  black  metal  screams  also  being  utilized in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard.

  The  tracks  also  mix  in  some  elements  of  post metal  as  well  as  clean  playing  also  being  utilized  on  the  other  tracks  and  as  the  album  progresses  an  instrumental  can  also  be  heard  which  also  introduces  pianos  into  the  music.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  melancholic  themes.

  In my  opinion  Ascian  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  post  black  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band. RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Misery  Seeds"  and  "Colder".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/AscianDoom/

  

Infesticide/Envenoming Wounds/Blood Harvest Records/2020 CD Review

  Infesticide  are  a  band  from  Mexico  that  plays  a  blackened  form  of  death  metal and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Envenoming  Wounds"  which  will  be  released  on  September  25th  by  Blood  Harvest  Records.

  A  very  dark,  heavy  and  brutal  sound  starts  off  the  album a long  with  some  blackened  metal screams  a  few  seconds  later.  The  riffs  also  add  in  decent  amount  of  melody  while  the  music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  death  metal  style  showing  a  tribute  to  Morbid  Angel.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  old  school  yet  chaotic  style.  Growls  are  also  utilized  at  times  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  as  well  as  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  lot  of  blast  beats,  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  couple  of instrumentals  can  also  be  heard  one  of  which  also  adds  acoustic  guitars  onto  the  recording.

  Infesticide  plays  a  musical  style  that  goes  back  to  the  early  90's  era  of  black  and  death  metal.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover violence,  death,  chaos,  gore  and  mental  issues.

  In  my  opinion  Infesticide  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Envenoming  Wounds"  "Perpetuating  Madness"  and  "Utter  Darkness".  8  out  of  10.

http://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/envenoming-wounds 

www.facebook.com/infesticide.death