review: BLUT AUS NORD "The Mystical Beast of Rebellion " :review

Blut Aus Nord "The Mystical Beast of Rebellion"
Originally released in 2001.  Re-released in 2011 (the print I have).

1.  The Fall: Chapter I
2.  The Fall: Chapter II
3.  The Fall: Chapter III
4.  The Fall: Chapter IV
5.  The Fall: Chapter V
6.  The Fall: Chapter VI

Second disc of new material added in with re-release:

1 . The Fall:  Chapter 7
2.  The Fall:  Chapter 7.7
3.  The Fall:  Chapter 7.77

It's no secret that I love this band.  Back when I was collecting their older works, I was really bummed out.  This album for quite awhile was out of print and the only copies floating about were expensive.  I love collecting music but I'm not going to pay out the ass for a standard release album.  To my delight, I randomly looked up the album around 2011 and it came up with a different cover and an affordable price on Amazon.  Lo and behold, it's finally been re-released!  On top of being re-released, there's a second disc of more material and it's in a nice digipak setup.  I rushed to buy the album and was stoked when it finally came in, I finally have the long out of print album with MORE!  Did it delight the ears, since it was a blind purchase because of my love for BAN?  Fuck.  Yes.

Before this album, BAN was a band known for melodic passages, and a very "black metal feel" with a perfectly done tinny, lo-fi sound and the usual atmosphere of icy plains or lush, green forests.  This album though, really switched it up.  A more refined production, and an emphasis on industrial tinges here and there.  The drums this time around were programmed drums, and the production was more fuller, sludgier and more alien sounding.  While a track or two switched up the drumming style, most of the album is blast beat Armageddon and break-neck. 

The first track starts blistering fast right from the first second.  Expertly played tremolo picking assaults the ears and doesn't let go.    It's more or less this speed and ferocity until track 5 where the speed takes a break and goes for a more slower, creepy-as-fuck vibe that has perfect atmosphere with it.  The speed picks back up for the last track, and ends the hellish journey.  

This album has a huge card up it's sleeve though to keep it from being standard BM fare in my opinion.  Production and Atmosphere take this formula above and beyond.  The production is ridiculously suffocating.  It's a wall of sound that surrounds you and adds to the riffs and songwriting PERFECTLY.  Vindsvall's shrieks echo, and sound like he himself is locked in the mental institution of hell.  I could imagine him scratching at the walls, bellowing in agony trying to get ANYONE to hear him while hallucinations haunt his every second.  But it's not just the production, it's the riffs as well.  I think they really shine in this release.  They sound depressing, scared and somber.  They do not convey any ounce of happiness at all and carry a sense of absolute dread.  It all wraps up into a perfect sound that match the track names very well.  I could totally see this working as background music for one's "fall".  A descent into hell?  A never ending fall into insanity?  Overall, it astonishes me every listen and reminds me of why I love this band so much.

It all adds up to a scary, somber sounding album that loves to suffocate it's listener with it's speed and fear of what "The Fall" will bring to the mind.  It's absolutely chilling, and a incredible work of music in my opinion.  Sure, it can be seen as maybe a lower point in BAN's career but I still see shit tons of worth in this release.  The atmosphere and riff's that work brilliantly with said atmosphere take this album to some of the best of what BM has to offer.  If you are interested in quite the unnerving ride, check this out ASAP.  

But there's more!  The second disc is a very nice addition.  Very different production (a lot more dryer, if that makes sense) from the album and definitely is from the recent era of BAN.  It's slower and more drenched in atmosphere.  The riffs lull along in a hypnotizing fashion and quiet the listeners nerves down after the first disc.  Still somber, suffocating and depressing in atmosphere but relaxing.  It's a welcome cool down from the hell-ish descent into madness the original release drags it's listener down into.  Plenty of greatness to be found and a welcome addition to the original release.

At the end of this review, to sum up this album I guess its:  A descent into insanity with somber riffing, break-neck speed, a wall of sound, finished with a hypnotizing coming to terms with the soul-destroying end for the listener.  BAN, you never fail to impress me you magnificent bastards!

review: DEATHSPELL OMEGA "Fas – Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum" :review

Deathspell Omega "Fas – Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum"
Released 2007

1.  Obombration
2.  The Shrine of Mad Laughter
3.  Bread of Bitterness
4.   The Repellent Scars of Abandon and Election
5.  A Chore for the Lost
6.  Obombration

Ah yes, another black metal band that I highly respect.  They don't do corpse paint, don't even have official pictures of themselves.  They are very satanist in their views and album image.   They have never played live.  All they care about is making high quality BM and creating incredible imagery for their albums to convey the music.  Like Blut Aus Nord; a band I also highly admire; they are revered in the genre for making incredible BM.  What makes this music more special than others?  Pure.  &^%$ing.  Crazy.  

The intro is quiet, and unnerving.  It gives you no warning before the music kicks into high gear with "The Shrine...".  Furious blast-beats, off the wall riffing and sinister vocals assaulting you ears.  Thing is, the riffs are not your typical old-school or melodic tremolo picking.  They are just, hmmm....WEIRD.  Completely dissonant, loud, with neo-classical flourishes here and there.  Riffs just calculatingly assaulting the listener with weird structures, noises, pickings and coordinated into a perfectly put-together clusterf&*^.  

The first time I heard this, I was blown away.  The album ended and I was in shell-shock of what the hell did I hear?!?!?  The riffs are so crazy, and layered that one listen couldn't even peel apart what was strung in throughout the song. The quiet parts were creepy, unnerving and made me feel like the person on the album cover.  The music switches from fast and nonsensical to quiet, ambient sections  then back to  more weird riffing.  Even when the song is at a mid-tempo part, or a "cleaner" part, the riff patterns, the construction of the parts are just plain straight f%$!ed up.  

The thing that constantly amazes me  is how calculated it all is.  The band didn't write random riffs and cluster them together with no rhyme or reason.  If so, the album would be sloppy, and amateur at best.  What is present instead is tight musicianship from all members.  The drumming is immaculate, the guitar playing is god-like, and the songs are structured with a plan and preciseness in mind.  The ambient, atmospheric parts weave throughout to bring a story along.  With how the lyrics are, the album art is, and the song structures themselves this band is really trying to tell a story.  A tale is being laid out, everything in this composition has PURPOSE, a POINT and a MESSAGE.  Even after many listens, I still haven't even found every little treasure or part that this album has.  To be truthful, I don't think I ever will.  So much is packed into this art, the compositions, the layering and structuring of it all that steam would come out of my ears before I found every little thing.  

To summarize, if you are looking for an album to demand your attention with dissonance, perfectly placed complexity, musicianship of the highest degree and straight-up-wtf-craziness, GIVE THIS ALBUM A LISTEN!  Be prepared to be overwhelmed at first.  Then listen many more times to try and wrap your head around this perfection of black metal.  You will be rewarded :)

review: ESOTERIC - "EPISTEMOLOGICAL DESPONDENCY" :review

Esoteric "Epistemological Despondency"
Released 1994

Disc 1
1.  Bereft
2.  Only Hate (Baresark)
3.  The Noise of Depression

Disc 2
1.  Lamented Despondency
2.  Eradification (Of Thorns)
3.  Awaiting My Death

Clocking in at over 40 minutes for EACH CD, this album is monstrous.  This band is mainly death-doom with some funeral doom thrown in and some "psychedelic" tinges here and there.  Basically what it amounts to is mostly ridiculously slow dirges of just straight up darkness.  The production is claustrophobic, rough but engineered enough to be clear.  The riffs are monstrous, the ambient effects are perfect and the sludge is strong.

To describe it would be heavy, slow guitar riffs couple with leads that grab you by the emotional reigns and don't let go.  They are majestic, and slowly paint a beautiful yet sorrow-full canvas as the music dirges along.  The vocals are deep growls coupled with some high shrieks here and there.  At times, they are echoed as if the band is in the deepest cavern with no hope of rescue.

"Bereft" is easily one of my favorites, it opens the album with some of the most darkest, hate-filled, pissy riffs and attitude I have ever heard.  Listening to the song for my first time on youtube I was really blown away, actually speechless and thus absorbed in  the whole album that my mind was set on getting it.  The mood is perfect and captured amazingly, and it's only the first song!  "Only Hate..."  is easily an oddball though, it is less than 3 minutes long.  The speed is pretty fast compared to the rest of the album and sort-of clashes.  It still doesn't get any complaints from me though.  "The Noise of Depression" closes the first disc by really coming across as what it is titled.  The riffs are slow, the vocal effects are echoed, lazy and seem like the vocalist has lost all interest in everything.  Disc 2 continues on with this trend with the first track having it's fair share of attention-grabbing leads and atmosphere. "Eradification (Of Thorns)" is another easy favorite.  The pace is quickened, and the drumming has an awesome, almost tribal pattern to it.  The album ends with 'Awaiting My Death" and it really sounds like the title.  Clean guitar notes echo over complacent, sludgy riffs that give way to an epic that really carries the mood of hopelessness, anxiety and the unknown of awaiting one's final demise.

What amazes me with this album is mainly a couple of things.  The atmosphere is JUST SO DARK.  I am not talking about teenage-high-school-problems-emo dark, I am talking about straight up despising EVERYTHING.  It is definitely an album to couple with a bad day that takes everything out of you by the end of it.  It's angry, vile and pessimistic as hell.  It might sound horrible to listen to, but with an open mind this album grabs you and just smothers you without worry from the listener.  It's a long journey, but it can be therapy for the ears in a way. 

Second is how every song has it's variation, structure and "quirks" that separate each one.  With only 6 songs and lots of time to use, it is done brilliantly.  Each song conveys the mood described in the title, while sticking with the overall sound and pessimistic-as-hell mood. 

And third is the amount of music on here.  This album is a regular priced album like any other yet its over an hour and a half of original content that was recorded for the purpose of one album.  The amount of creativity and imagination these members had is quite amazing I think.  

A monster that grabs you and blankets you in darkness and comforts you at your worst.  A giant of noise and heaviness that awaits in every downpour.  If this album had a landscape it would be dusk, overcast, and complete with a crippled forest that stretches for eternity.  Yes, sadness and pessimism is not recommended for everything, but some days just lay it on us.  I have my happy music and try to live each day with a decent attitude but some days it is not even gonna come close to happening, whether in events that happen or how life has been playing out.  For those days, this band and album are there to put my ruin into sound and be there for me.  Call me crazy, but monoliths like this album can be a beautiful journey that can be there for you and are a real treat for the ears. 

For those days where I just want to slow down the clock and get lost in waves of sludge.....

BAND SPOTLIGHT: Blut Aus Nord :BAND SPOTLIGHT

Ah yes, Blut Aus Nord.  I'm a big fan of this band for a lot of reasons, and in this post I will exclaim why.  Simple, and to the point. 

Anyways, BAN is a french Black Metal outfit consisting of three members: Vindsvall (vocalist, guitars), W.D. Felds (drums, programming, keyboards), and GhÖst (bass guitar).  It first started with just Vindsvall, but picked up the other 2 later on.  They have became big in the field for their added-later-in-career Industrial touches mixed in with their blend of Black Metal.  Now, before I go on, if you haven't heard of that genre basically it's not race specific.  It might sound race specific, but the black in the name is actually referring to the symbolism of how that color represents the evil side of things. Basically white = good, referring to the christian religion, whereas black = evil, satanic, occult, blah de blah.  It was coined by a band called Venom in the late 70's with their album titled "black metal", and of course it had satanic and occult imagery in the album art.  That is how it started, as you can guess.  Bands like Celtic Frost and Bathory came out and gave the genre it's sound and look and blossomed from there. 

Problem I have with this genre is a mix of reasons:

1.  It is usually standard to have horrible production.  Now, some bands do it right.  Bathory's "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" album is incredible but the production by radio's standards is rubbish.  Really fuzzed out,chaotic and lo-fi.  But, it is awesome in that, and done right.  I can hear all instruments, the songs are written excellently and it is one heavy bastard.  But a lot of bands in the genre are either lazy or don't know how to under-produce the sound right.  It comes out as either weak, flat or a jumbled mess of sounds.  This, I can't stand.  I love a rough production, but take a note from the Bathory album I just mentioned, that production was done perfect!

2.  The imagery does not offend me.  I am an open, easy go guy when it comes to album art and BM is no exception.  A lot of bands put one black and white face paint in patterns to "shock" people and to look sort of like a corpse, hence the name "corpse paint".  Of course, they also have to put on a show to shock people and  get their music across more ears.  This ends up with a lot of bands donning ridiculous leather suites and spike wrist-bands, pyrotechnics and shocking stage decorations like for example, impaled pig heads.  Now, this doesn't bother me one bit.  I like a good stage show like everyone else; I am also a Rammstein fan of course in that regard.  Buuuuuttt, the music also has to be good.  SO many bands put so much into shock factor that they either look really goofy, or the music suffers REALLY bad.  That, I can't stand.  Yes, a presence helps, but back it up with excellent songs and songwriting.  I mean some of these bands are laughable in presence  and put so much into looking "evil" that in the end the music is lackluster and they look like clowns.

3.  The riffing style is great, it really is, but the genre is drowning in tremolo-picking.  I love a well crafted tremolo pick like the next metal-head but it has to be written really good.  Problem?  The genre is flooded with bands that can't write great tremolo picking riffs. They can't write good ones to start and they overuse their crappy rendition of the style to death. 

Soooo as you can see a BM has to be really good to capture my attention and well, Blut Aus Nord has, and for these reasons:

1.  They KNOW how to produce.  Every album production is perfect!  Every instrument is easily heard, I can tell what riffs are being played, the drum style and the atmosphere is excellent.  Each album is easily drenched in an atmosphere that only BAN has really mastered with age,  Earlier albums were typical BM lo-fi done right, but with the industrial mixings, they crafted a sound that perfectly mixes BM, industrial and a really friggin creepy atmosphere.  It has to be heard to fully understand the genius.

2.  The bands imagery is great.  They don't perform live, they only have 1 band photo, which is at the bottom of the post and even then their identities are impossible to see. The album art isn't humorously occult or satanic.  The albums arts range from icy mountains, to green rocky jagged peaks, to an eye, to a forest setting at dusk, etc.  They don't publish the lyrics, so you can interpret meanings for yourself.  The bands views are more pagan and take in a mix of religions.  For example, one of their albums is about going through Buddhism to achieve enlightenment, and the album is that journey. The band don't care about being outwardly evil, or occult.   They prefer a more cryptic and thought provoking look to their imagery, not to turn people away by shock factor.   THAT gets respect for them from me, easily.

3.  Riff MASTERS,  Vindsvall knows how to write excellent music.  His riffs are constructed excellently and are easily catchy.  The songs are written to keep my attention, and the later industrial elements fit perfect.  Even if one riff is a dud, I know another one is coming to easily catch my attention.  This band overall are BRILLIANT songwriters!

Really, what more can be said apart from album reviews?  An easily respectable band, not resorting to shock factor and imagery to rope in music fans.  Nope, all they need to be pinnacles of brilliant BM is their music, which they have let speak for them. 

My ears are forever open for your sonic waves of perfection, Blut Aus Nord!

review: SKEPTICISM "STORMCROWFLEET" :review

Skepticism "Stormcrowfleet"
Release year: 1995

1.  Sign of a Storm
2.  Pouring
3.  By Silent Wings
4.  The Rising of the Flames
5.  The Gallant Crow
6.  The Everdarkgreen

Funeral doom.  Not the most popular genre.  When you tell people that genre name that don;t listen to it, they will automatically assume the weirdest.  Yes, it is a weird genre name but try finding a different name for a sub-genre filled with slow, crushing doom that is filled to the brim with sad atmosphere.  After the initial explaining comes the usual question of "WHY listen to it when it's nothing but really slow, sad, doom??!?!?" and the assumption that the listener is really screwed in the mind.  It's not the most pleasant of music, and the genre has it's fair share of boring bands, but some of the them are so incredible at their skill that they are the exception to the boring bands.  This band is without a doubt one of the best.

The thing is, the music is about as sorrowful as it gets but it is done so well that I don't really pay attention to the sorrow.  This band is soooo incredible at songwriting that it doesn't matter how rain-drenched the atmosphere is.  Sure, the atmosphere is vital and goes together perfectly with the music but it doesn't make me feel sad, depressed or woeful.  When I listen to this bands work, it's more of amazement than sorrow.  If any album out there that is closest to perfect, it is this album.

Basically, they are a four piece band with session players for the bass.  The band consists of a drummer, guitarist, vocalist and an organ/keyboard/synth player.  Most of the music centers around slow, booming drums, dark, lingering riffwork, whispered death-metal-style vocals, and organs/keyboards.  The thing is, not one member stands out from the other.  They all have equal parts that fit together so perfectly that it is really astonishing to my ears.  There is no wasted riff, no unbalance between parts.  Everything fits like a perfect puzzle.  The guitar riffs are excellent, and dance perfectly with the organs.  The drums have a monolithic sound, and the cymbals have a beautiful sound to them.  The vocals are unforced, un-overbearing and sound like a ghosts last haunting words before they passed over. 

I must stress though, that the guitar and organ partnership is immaculate on this album.  They don't try to overplay the other, steal the show, or falter.  They fit together so well that this band would not survive without the organist and guitarist being so synchronized with each other.  It really is spectacular work. 

Every song is amazing and has it's own flavor to it.  Every one has excellent songwriting to keep interest through the whole song, with some parts dropping so much atmosphere on the listener that it is a perfect execution of songwriting excellency.  This album has a ton of atmosphere and the production is in the spotlight of it.  Very bass-y, low-end with a sound to it like they recorded the album in some catacombs somewhere.

Overall, one of my absolute favorites and a pinnacle to my album collection.  For a good first listen to grasp the bands sound, I would recommend "The Everdarkgreen".

review: CELTIC FROST "MONOTHEIST" :review

Celtic Frost - "Monothiest"
Release Date: 2006

1. Progeny
2.  Ground
3.  A Dying God Coming Into Human Flash
4.  Drown In Ashes
5.  Os Abysmi Vel Daath
6.  Temple of Depression *
7.  Obscured
8.  Domain Of Decay
9.  Ain Elohim
10.  Triptych: I. Totengott
11.  Triptych: II. Synagoga Satanae
12.  Triptych: III. Winter (Requiem, Chapter Three: Finale)

* - Digipak Bonus track

    Wellp, already a lot of metal heads know that this band is legendary.  A staple in the early black metal sound, image and a fire-starter to Advante Garde metal.  With the help of a crappy and horrible label, the band was burnt out and by because of this made a glam metal rip-off called "Cold Lake".  This just about made all their fans disgusted and by the time they tried to go back to form with "Vanity / Nemesis", nobody really picked up on it and the band was burnt out (understandably).  The vocalist Tom G Warrior hated "Cold Lake" and that era with a vile passion.  After then, many many years passed and well with Tom being a musical person, would write possible songs and ideas from time to time until when he met and had a meaningful hang-out with Martin Eric Ain (the bassist) during the re-issue meetings of their older catalog.  The two reconnected, and from then on took Tom's work, found a drummer and reunited under the classic Celtic Frost name to record this beast of an album.  To be truthful, "Beast" is an understatement. 

  Right away you can tell this is not gonna sound like anything they have ever released,  The starting riffs easily reveal that the guitars have the most dense, thick, and darkest tones ever recorded.  No band really every had this style so up-front.  The tones are clear, yet sludgy and so incredibly dark that I sat in amazement as to what I was hearing (and this was the first album I ever got by them!).  The drums are lively, played awesome and have a real craftsman-ship to them.  The bass guitar is also done amazingly.  The tone is sludgy as well and easily has a presence, but not overbearing.  Tom's vocals are in top notch, ranging from the epic "UGH"'s, to a dark, pessimistic growling voice, to a clean, low Gothic type of commanding voice. 

  Now not every song is fast and blistering.  "A Dying God...." for example, is half slow and calmly serene parts with clean vocals done excellently by the bassist and half slow, crushing perfectly executed riffs, ending with a moderate paced riff-heaven.  Obviously the album ranges from some thrashy tunes, to some slow and crushing ones, poetic and calm ensembles, ending with the Triptych trio. 

  Triptych starts with Totengott and it is scary.  Keyboards that invoke horror, fear with Martin's voice booming in as a demon prying on your chest to rip your soul out.   One of the best instrumental-ish tracks, ever by far; careful if listened to at night...  Synagoga Satanae comes in and it's an epic one.  easily the longest song and is it incredible.  Many styles, many moods in a mid-paced sermon of pure evil, with the thirs Triptych, "Winter" ending the album with a calm, violin section that is beautifully done and ends the album perfectly. 

  If you love this band, you will love this album, and I think it's easily one of their finest moments. 
NIHIL VERUM NISI MORS

review: WINTER "INTO DARKNESS" :review

WINTER: Into Darkness

Year: 1990
Genre: Death/doom

1. Oppression Freedom / Oppression (Reprise)
2.  Servants of the Warsmen
3.  Goden
4.  Power and Might
5.  Destiny
6.  Eternal Frost
7.  Into Darkness

     So, Anybody who is fairly into death / doom knows who this band is.  Death / doom was getting a strong running into the early 90's and this band started out with a really good demo, leading to this album.  The demo was a fast mix of death with some doom elements, with a cold atmosphere to it.  But this album took the image, sound and production of that demo and decimated it.  The band slowed down their tempo to a crawl, they upped the brutality, and made the production enough of a heavy one to send earth into a black hole.  "Servants of the Warsmen" and "Destiny" are the fastest it gets on this album.  The rest is grudgingly slow and the riffs distort and reverb for ages, with the bass heavy, up front and as bottom heavy as a 800 pound person who had lipo on only the upper half of their body.  Some people love a clean production and some people love sludge...both ends of the spectrum have good sounds but I love sludge and distortion more, and holy sh** does this production deliver.  The vocalist also, shines on this release.  The vocals are like a clean death style, like Paul Khur from Novembers Doom.  Easy to understand in most cases and unique.  It's ruff, gruff and hasty, like a demented lumberjack.

   Overall it's not fast and technical but the riffs are composed perfectly, placed perfectly and are incredible.  Basic, to the point but with enough depth to keep your attention without any hesitation.  How they drone is attention grabbing too.  They echo, creak and groan every last distortion effect until the strings are exhausted and are carrying on nothing but skeletal remains of what they used to be.

  The drumming deserves spotlight too.  Nothing ridiculous and attention-whoring either, the patterns are tastefully slow, crushing and the fills add some meat to the the sparse soup that is perfect by itself but could use some spice.  Everything drumming-wise is precisely and constructively placed. 

   Ah, this is all incredible, and it was game changing back then.  Nobody had a sound like this.  It blew away everyone and pioneered death / doom while laying down some ground work for another sub genre called funeral doom.  But, this couldn't last  for a second album.  The band put out an E.P. of their demo and an extra track, and then disbanded.  This furthermore cemented their place in death / doom history and especially has just now gotten the recognition it deserves.  The band has also gotten back together of sorts and have been playing shows recently, which is awesome in itself.   So if you like incredibly slow, perfectly constructed, and atmospheric doom /death, PICK THIS UP!!!!

Favorite track:  "Destiny"....mmmm them mid-paced drum tempos and power riffage