Magister Templi - Lucifer Leviathan Logos

Magister Templi managed to sneak up on my aging ass from half a planet away (the metal hub also known as Oslo, Norway) and ran me through with their debut full-length album, Lucifer Leviathan Logos…that makes them sound more like ninjas rather than the masterful metal maestros that they are.

At any rate, Lucifer Leviathan Logos is an album that blindsided me with its modesty, purity, and, well, for lack of a better word, Mercyful Fate-iness. I was expecting more of a Moss-ish sound from these guys (which would have been awesome, too), but as soon as Master Of The Temple started up, I knew I was in for something special.

In case I haven’t made it clear over the course of the last seven years of reviewing metal, I’m an H.P. Lovecraft NUT! And any song that pays homage to The Old Ones is golden gravy in my book. And The Innsmouth Look is, not only a great musical representation of Lovecraft’s work, but it’s also the best I’ve ever heard to date (a title once held by Metallica for The Thing That Should Not Be and just about every Morbid Angel song).

The opening to Lucifer had me scratching my head for a few moments as I tried to figure out how Pantera’s Rock The World and Van Halen’s Running With The Devil somehow collided on my iPod, and after the trans-rock mindfuck subsided, I was treated to yet another instant “Mercyful Fate-y” classic (Jesus! I’m namedropping like crazy in this one, ain't I?).

Here is where I would normally start pointing out the stuff in the album that bores/bugs me. Move along, folks. There’s nothing to see here.

It’s not really easy for me to say this since there have been a ton of excellent albums so far this year, but Lucifer Leviathan Logos is at the top of my list for best album of 2013!

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The Ocean - Pelagial

Yeah, it’s more of the same.

Just figured I’d come right out and say it up front instead of taking four paragraphs to get to it. But like the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And fix it The Ocean don’t.

The concept behind Pelagial is that every song is named after the different layers of the ocean (descending from Pelagial all the way down to Benthic) with the tuning and lyrical content drifting on doooooooowwwwwnnnn while occasionally becoming appropriately violent. It works for the most part, but I think it might go over a lot of listeners' heads if they weren’t either A) informed ahead of time, or B) an oceanographer. Betcha know which one of those I was.

Instrumentally, Pelagial don't seem to stray too far from the usual formula of Mariana Trench scraping bass lines and wispy, progressive riffs with a mixture of ADD-addled drum work versus slow and jazzy fills and thrills. Like I said, nothing really new here.

But the fact of the matter is it don't amount to shit when it’s as good as this. The progressive side of The Ocean always seems to outshine the sludge/core aspect. This has been true from Fluxion to Anthropocentric and remains to be just as true in Pelagial. The addition of an instrumental version of Pelagial is a nice touch, albeit a useless one since the “normal” version is superior due to Loïc Rossetti's mastery of the hardcore bellow and mild clean vocals.

It’s powerful, massive, rolling, deep, and constantly changing while ultimately staying the same. It’s The goddamned Ocean.

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In The Silence - A Fair Dream Gone Mad

These guys must love Opeth‘s Damnation. Or maybe I just REALLY do and can’t help but think of it whenever I listen to any other kind of prog metal…or maybe these guys actually do? Meh. Either way, I’m super-stoked to share this gem of prog metal with you all.

In The Silence is a California-based quartet with one album to their name: A Fair Dream Gone Mad. And let me tell you, fellow prog metal snobs, this album is a titan! It’s got everything you could possibly want in an album: finger snapping solos (some are even thrashy), excellent drum work, fitting and hauntingly soulful vocals, and equally haunting lyrics (I’m looking at you Serenity).

It ain’t all as progressive heaven as I’d like it to be, though. The pacing kinda crashes after track #4 (Beneath These Fallen Leaves) and never fully recovers. I mean, the songs are still good, but they lack the placement and ferocity that tracks 1-4 owned. Again, not bad at all, just a little misplaced.

There’s really not much else to say about A Fair Dream Gone Mad except that if you’re a fan of heavy progressive music, you should skip on down to their website and pick up this album before they’re all gone…which they might be since I waited to long to tell you about ‘em. Try anyway. Tell ‘em Typhon sent’cha!

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Murder Cafe / Earth Burnt Black - Split

Oooooh! A split! To The Head Records, you are much too kind! And that’s enough of the phony baloney intro, so lets dig into the meat of this nut! This dark, gloomy, heavy as lead balls nut!

Murder Cafe, hailing from Grand Junction, Colorado. Murder Cafe starts off our little foray into this doomy split with an intro about how “Government BAD!” Yeah, I’ve never been a fan of minute long intros on splits and EPs, regardless as to how much I agree with the message.

However, the second that shit ends, we’re catapulted into a dreary soundscape of depressive doom. Oddly enough, instead of trying to claw my way out I found myself loving every second of Cloudy Waves Of Conformity. Unfortunately, that experience couldn’t go on forever and eventually the third and final track from Murder Cafe started up. Desperate Reach For The Top showcases vocalist Kyle Davis’ guttural growl, high witchy pitches, and his lounge-y tough-speaking voice. Normally, that’s a really fucking annoying thing to whip out, but Kyle makes it work. Well, they all make it work.

And call me crazy but I’m pretty sure this offering lacks a guitar! Meh. Who needs that anyway? I can tell you will all sensibility that Murder Cafe does not.

Earth Burnt Black. And now we come to the boys from Greely, Colorado. While a shit ton heavier than our previous reviewies, there lacks a certain spark in their dooooom. I’m not saying that EBB is bad at all, I’m just getting the usual comparison between the bands on a split out of the way.

First up in their bag of tricks is a song called Singularity, and I can see why. Everything is tuned down so fucking low that if you were standing between two speakers at a show and they play this, you’d be reduced to a Singularity by being crushed by the HEAVY that this song drops on all who listen. The resulting black hole is someone else’s problem.

And finally, we have Prey. Not quite as destructive as Singularity, but a whole lot more entertaining. Halfway through, EBB goes all SLUDGE out of nowhere, giving me one hell of a case of whiplash! You gotta love that.

Overall, this was an excellent split. Both bands have previously released material floating around out there that I suggest you snatch up before it’s all gone. I know I’m gonna try.

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The Beyond - FROSTBITEPANZERFUCK

The Beyond! Dollars to doughnuts, these guys are a Fulci inspired group and this album is a supernatural themed romp, complete with face eating tarantulas and Schweick the super corpse! I bet... wah, what? Frostbitepanzerfuck? Well, now I'm not sure what to expect from this Pennsylvanian quartet. Luckily, The Beyond set me straight seconds into the first track entitled, Roto-Cunt. It's basically a laundry list of things the missus and I get into once the wee ones are in bed (RE: anal rape, sadomasochism, oral creampies, goat sodomy... oh wait, that last one was from the next track).

It's also a bit of a tease. If you think the rest of the album is going to be a crusty, punk laden journey though the Gross Out Valley... well you're half right. The Beyond take the a hold of my expectations and violently rape the beejeezus out of them! Some songs have the humorous shit down to a science with a punk 'n' roll 'tude while others seem to be more along the blackened route by adding searing blackened screams and blistering black metal riffs into the mix.

Over and over again, I found myself trying to listen to other albums to review only to be dragged back to Frostbitepanzerfuck. Apparently The Beyond have something of a knack for writing subliminally catchy tunes. This became clear after I over analyzed why I couldn't get tracks like Attack Of the Zombie Brigade and Goat Sodomizer out of my head and came up with nothing. Leaving only literal mindfuckery as a possibility.

And for those of you that happen to be fans of that loveable shit smearing, piss drinking, cum spraying nutnob G.G. Allin, The Beyond offer up a tribute to him in the form of Cunt Sucking Animal. Filthy as fuck.

In short, Frostbitepanzerfuck is what would of happened if Anal Cunt and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles made Panzerfaust. So if that sounds like something that might get your white water churnin', then this is the filthy fucking album for you! However, if the thought of having your mind blown by awesome encrusted metal makes your dick shrivel... well then, I'm glad I don't know you personally.

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Dark Elite - Enter The Void (Cassette)

Thus one goes to the stars…(I haven’t read the Aeneid in ages.)

I’ve got to be honest here, I almost passed this one over without even listening to it until I noticed that Timo Honkanen was on guitar duty. His contributions to Battlelore are amazing, so I figured that would transfer over into this ep as well.

Listening to Enter The Void is like getting a guided tour of the cosmos, except that your tour shuttle crashes on a desolate planet and instead of Carl Sagan’s erudite voice narrating our journey, we have the aphotic melodies of Finnish metal outfit Dark Elite to show us the way from here to GRB 090423.

After starting things off with an intro that consists of a garbled transmission of death and doom, Dark Elite’s density pulls us in with the might of neutron star. They slam you about with a mix of scathing black metal, pummeling melodic death beats, and background ambient dissonance. For me, this five track EP is equal parts Winterthrall’s Nightmares For The Sleepless, Be’lakor’s Stone’s Reach, and Phelios’s Astral Unity (a MASSIVE compliment coming from me).

As I mentioned earlier, Timo Honkanen helms the guitar in this act. I am officially going on record and saying that I want to hear MORE of it. Coupled with Enrico Huovinen’s scorched blasting (again, I’m reminded of Winterthrall), Honkanen’s riffing paints a celestial portrait of a cold, vacuous sector of space were dark metal reigns!

As far as EPs go, this one is definitely one of the better offerings that has come my way in quite some time. Yeah, it’s a little on the short side (as all EPs are), but it gives me a good enough idea as to what to expect from this group when they decide to put out a full-length, hopefully sooner than later.

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Broozer - 12x04x12

Hey hey! Grindhead Records! I haven’t heard from you guys in a grip! To what do I owe the honor of this visit from Australia’s premier death/grind label?

*Cartoonish murmurs and whisper sounds*

A SLUDGE outfit from Melbourne, Victoria you say? Color me intrigued, since they managed to find their way onto your label. There must be something special hidden between the covers of this Aztec-ian human sacrifice facade and I can’t wait to find out what it is!

12x04x12 (a quick Google search reveals nothing helpful regarding this album title so, I’ll just assume that it has something to do with the measurements of Australia’s Next Top Anorexic) is pure, high energy sludge from beginning to end that, in my experience, isn’t exactly the best choice to “chill out” with due to Broozer’s sheer ferocity.

At no point in time does Broozer give you any time to recuperate from the last savage beating (I guess you know them better as, “tracks” or “songs”) they dished out. I can see how that could get a little on the raw side for some people, but ultimately there’s no real concern for those weak-necked fools!

Retch Bile’s vocal attack is just that; an attack. His is simply the most violent voice I’ve ever heard attached to a sludge metal outfit. Bravo Mr. Bile! Also up for praise is Dario Amati’s drum work. Subtle and vicious. I have NO IDEA as to how you can make that a working combination of styles, but he does it and man, does he do it to the Moon (Keith Moon, that is). The man is WILD! Last, but not least, we come to Bruce Ibbotson and his six string accomplice; The Riffmeister General… ok, I made that up. But I’m sure he’s got an ax or two with some pretty sick names. The point still stands. The opening riff to Bland is what stands out as the shinning exaple of this guy’s talented ear for this shit. Youtube it and I’m certain you’d agree.

The only major down side to this album is a personal miffen of my own; I REALLY wish that this album was a wee bit longer. But you know me, never really satisfied… unless I am. Which I pretty much am…

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Deadlock - The Arsonist

Whoa! I didn’t know that Spineshank had a new album out! (The only thing that keeps that joke from being perfect is female vocalist Sabine’s presence.)

I’m not really sure how to start this review off, so I’ll just abruptly dive right in; This is easily the most pop friendly sounding “metal” I’ve ever heard in my years since discovering and loving metal. I don’t like to be “that guy”, but I totally feel like him right now. After a little bit of digging, I found out that the pop element of The Arsonist is an intentional move on Deadlock’s part. My question; WHY?! Why mix water and acid? Are you intentionally trying to piss off the metal community? Or are you really trying to push the envelope in terms of creative license?.

Sabine’s vocals are pretty much the reason most fans even give a shit out Deadlock it seems, so you’d think they’d be something special, right? Well, they fit right into the pop world, but make the metalhead in me scratch to my skull! They blare our like a fog horn and overshadow the growling vocals, which by the way, are pretty damned good and feel a little out of place since the majority of the rest of the elements are radio friendly and whatnot.

In terms of instrumentation, Deadlock have this metalcore thing down so if you like synth/pop infused, by the numbers metalcore, this is the band for you and the album you should look into getting. But if you’re like me, you’ll be passing on this one, looking back on Spineshank with fond middle school memories, looking up Height Of Callousness on Spotify, listening to it, hating it, wondering why you were such a nerd and then checking out the newer Spineshank albums…

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Amiensus - Restoration

I'm going to go ahead and start this review off by saying that Joe Waller is a fucking genius. Everything the man touches turns to gold (making it precious METAL, through and through) and his new associative project, Amiensus, is no exception.

To me, very little is left to be discovered in the realm of black metal. It's been merged with doom, death, thrash, symphonic elements, psychedelia, progressive rock, etc....  All with significant impacts on the original genre. All becoming common place. The Amiensus collective must have sensed this disturbance in the metal ley lines and sought to restore what has gone awry with their own very personal brand of progressive black metal.

Restoration is an emotional ride through ancient icy woods that come alive when your back is turned. Song after song, you're pummeled by creatively-twisted arrangements that range from face-crushing death metal to soul-shredding black metal to...Gotye-ish indie rock? Trust me, when you hear it all mixed together it's a thing a unimaginable beauty.

You can tell that everyone involved with Amiensus has poured their hearts and souls into this recording. If you can't hear it in the shared vocal duties (easily some of the best vocal arrangements I've EVER heard are in this album), then you'll feel it by just letting Amiensus take over for about forty five minutes. It's time well spent, though I'm sure ninety minutes would have been a better estimate since you'll probably listen to this album back to back with itself.

I might be going too far in saying that Amiensus is going to be the next great Opethian experience, but I'm pretty sure that the complement is well worth the lumps I'm sure to receive for it.

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Opeth - Damnation (Reissue)

While doing my research in preparation of this review, I noticed that this album seems to catch a lot of shit. And I don’t mean that like, the odd old school Opeth fanboy just blasts it for no good reason either. I’m talking about pages long arguments as to why Damnation is Opeth’s worst album. I mean, these things look like they were written by Ivy League professors. I have to ask, “why”? Why the extreme hatred? Why the surprised reaction? Wasn’t Opeth kind of building towards something like this?

Thing is, I can kind of see why so many felt betrayed. Even if you noticed that they were heading in this particular direction, even if momentarily, it’d still end up being a kind of shock to the system. It’s actually pretty crazy if you think about it; Not a single song on this album is trying to be anything except for progressive rock. Nothing even remotely extreme. Yeah, I can see how some felt alienated by this change. Lucky for me, I have little to no expectation for these albums since I’m fairly new to the whole Opeth deal. And in my opinion, Damnation is my favorite re-issue of the three.

Everything about this album is dead center on the Perfect Progressive Album bull’s eye! Mikael’s voice is right were it needs to be, when it needs to be there. He doesn’t have the best voice in the world, but it’s exactly what is called for here and now and in this album. His progressive structure throughout Damnation is occupying Floydian genius territory! Yeah, there’s a HUGE Pink Floyd influence hanging around here too. You can really hear it in the misty and almost purely atmospheric tones and chillin’ out tempos that populate this album. It should also be said that the incorporation of a grand piano and the creative, ivory ticklin’ mastermind, Steven Wilson is a perfect addition to this line-up of already top-notch musicians in this delicious prog pie.

I also love how even though, not every musician gets a huge slice of said pie (time wise), nobody seems to be underplayed or underused. It’s like I said earlier, where they need to be and when they need to be there. It applies to everything about this album. Not a single note feels like it could of been longer or possibly cut short. None of the lyrics feel forced or even slightly hacked. There’s a perfect balance between vocals to instrumental ratio so that it won’t harsh your mellow (maybe that’s speculation…). There’s not a damn thing that I could say about this album that’s even remotely negative.

Overall: Hate it as an Opeth album or love it as a monumental step in creative direction, either way you have to give it up to Damnation for being a juggernaut of a progressive rock album. I’m even willing to go as far as to say that this album earns a spot towards the very peak of my Best Progressive Albums.

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Opeth - Blackwater Park (Reissue)

I’ve never fully cared either way about Opeth. I mean, I know that these guys are one of the more polarizing bands in all of metal (and one of the biggest reasons for this is today’s subject of review, Blackwater Park) but I’ve just never cared all that much. It’s not that their brand of melodic death metal/progressive metal was a turn-off or anything, it’s just that I never gave them a chance. I think the closest thing to that “chance” would of been when I took a few extra seconds to figure out what the clerk at the 7-11 was listening to one night. Turns out it was this album and I’m not going to lie, it sounded pretty tempting. I just have a shitty memory and forgot to look it up when I got home. Oh well, if it was really something that amazing, it’d find me later on down the road.

And it did. YEARS later, but it did. The fine folks at The End Records (for some fucking reason) sent me a box of CDs, including the re-releases of Blackwater Park, Deliverance and Damnation (watch for those reviews shortly). So thanks for that!

Anyway, on to the review!

The album itself comes in a glossy case with a fairly thick booklet of liner notes and lyrics! That’s some snazzy stuff right there! Also included on the audio disc is a live rendition of The Leper Affinity that fairs pretty well in the grand scheme of things.

Let’s skip over to Disc 2 (a DVD) for a second. You get the 5.0 Surround Sound version of the album album that, I’m sure sounds fucking amazing on a Bose sound system but not all that great coming through my stock speakers in my $200 Magnetbox. Next up, is the Making Of Blackwater Park documentary. Wow… you may as well of watched them record this album in real time because you learn just as much from the documentary. Very in-depth! The boys Opeth talk about how just about every riff was thought up, every lyric was dreamt of and you walk away learning how every moment was genius.

And with that a little too on the nose segue, let’s go back to the main attraction! Since I never got to listen to Blackwater Park beforehand, I can’t tell you if this version is superior to any of the earlier recordings. What I can tell you is that the sound quality is excellent, period. Starting the album up, I was pretty damned excited. I get to listen to an album that I’ve been unconsciously dodging for a couple of years now (it also helped that since it was for review, I had no choice)! About a quarter of the way into the first track, I knew I was in trouble. Aggressive, progressive, melodic death metal? I messed ‘em…

Lyrically, Mikael Akerfeldt’s words are hauntingly beautiful and terrifyingly surreal at times. They’ll take you all over the goddamned place and drag you through murky waters and barbed brier to get you there. But it’s done in such a way that you’ll ask to go again when all is said and done.

As for the overall musicianship… do I really have to say anything here? Most of you already know that this album owns in just about every aspect. Akerfeldt’s voice is simply perfect for the task at hand. Mellow and clean when needed and an oceanically deep growl for when the moments arise. Mikael and Peter Lindgren’s guitar work is also on par with that of some kind of actual guitar Wizard! It’s all so magical! Every riff (that on occasion are played ad naseum, I’ll admit) sounds like a happiness spell that was cast on my eager, prog loving ears. The acoustic stuff is especially pleasing since it’s not overused and punctuates the ends of the better tracks.

Skinman Martin Lopez dazzles on his set with spellbinding rhythms and manic foot work that pops up out of nowhere. I was incredibly happy to learn that the talent didn’t just reside in the vocals and guitars like everyone I knew tried to make me think. This album HAD TO have a competent drummer to be half as good as everyone says it is. I’m also glad to know that I was right, as I always do. And finally, we have bassist Martin Mendez and his speedy bass lines. Seriously, you don’t catch bass rumblin’s like that in progressive metal all too often (and that’s not often enough if you ask me). This guy might be my favorite progressive/melodic bassist next to Ed Vink.

As I mentioned before, some of the riffs are repeated to the point of me being able to point out that they can be a bit repetitive. But they’re great riffs and maybe they deserve to get pounded into your head! No, forget that. They can get to be kind of irritating. So there you naysayers go. I smudged this album a tiny bit. Ya happy?

Overall: I can honestly say that this album deserves all of the hype that’s been surrounding it for eleven years. It is everything you could possibly ask for in a progressive/melodic experience and more. Sure it’s a bit on the repetitive side, but I think that that is a pitfall that every progressive outfit falls into every once in a while. Aside from that, this re-release of Blackwater Park is a “Must Have” if you don’t already have it and if you do, then I beg you to consider this version if not only for the documentary.

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Opeth - Deliverance (Reissue)

Ah! And here we are again with Opeth and their distinct brand of melodic metal! Unlike their previous album, Deliverance is more on the heavy, melodicly death metally side of the spectrum. And this particular re-issue doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles that Blackwater Park re-issue did. Just a shinny new finish to the overall sound quality. Much appreciated as it once again, sounds fantastic.

The sonic assault that awaited me as I switched out my Blackwater Park album for this one left me in somewhat of a daze. It’s pretty obvious that this is the same band as before, but only slightly. All of the uber tight musicianship is still there and Mikael’s voice is still a perfect match for what’s being played all over. The big difference, as stated before, is that Deliverance is heavy as balls! Speedier beats and a hell of a lot more aggression flows from Martin Lopez and this sticks. Especially in those extended blast beats!

The guitar work is top notch once again! Masterful riffs machine gun and chug their way across your eardrums, tearing anything that may resist into hole riddled husks in the process. That is, when they crank up the arggo. Overall though, the guitar tones are still fairly chill if not a little bit fast in some spots. That’s kind of an odd description, but those of you who’ve heard this album before know exactly what I’m talking about. And once again, we have bass work that begs to be acknowledged for the genius that it is. It’s not very often that the murky bass lines of a melodic album get called out front to beat the audience into submission. I’m sure Martin Mendez doesn’t mind answering that call though.

With the brilliance that is Opeth beginning to grow on me, it’s getting harder to pick out things to be unhappy with (normally, it’s not nearly as big a problem if you know what I mean). All I can really say is that apparently, it’s a habitual problem of Opeth’s to be found recycling the same riffs over and over and over again. Sure guys, I we know their great. You know they're great! But that doesn’t mean you should bludgeon us over the collective head with them! Geez…

Overall: Even if there’s not much to report back on about the re-issueness of this re-issue, the album itself is still a powerhouse of a release! Speedier, melodic, minimal prog (meh. I could of use more just to keep up the flow. But you can’t fault a band for exploring the directions they wish to) and a whole lot of heavy! Opeth are scoring two for two with me so far and something tells me that I’m going to love Damnation just as much as these two previous albums... 

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Huntress - Spell Eater

Ugh. Here we go again. Another band that’s hyped up based solely on the fact that they’re fronted by a woman. It doesn’t matter if she’s awesome or if she’s terrible, if she’s ugly or hot. I don’t care. Can’t we just talk about the band in general? Could the promo guy at Napalm Records just of said they this band is a badass heavy metal outfit from California and then build into the fact that the vocalist’s name is Jill and that she’s got magnificent metal pipes? Look at that! I got the point across that she’s a she and she can bust out the metal scream without making it sound like I’m trying to turn your world upside down!

But yeah, all of that aside, what we have here is Huntress and their first full length release, Spell Eater. As stated before, this bunch plays heavy metal. It may not be the old school’s definition, but it’s still pretty damned metal in old school spirit! Think of a slightly slower version of 3 Inches Of Blood with more self-restraint and more vocal variation.

Let’s talk about those heavy metal guitars first. The solo that bust out of nowhere in Sleep And Death was pretty much all you need to hear to figure out what lead guitarist Blake Meahl’s style is all about: playfulness, unpredictability and madness! Manic riffs and out-there solos set aside, guitarist Ian Alden enforces the Metal Is Law mentality fostered by Huntress with his brand of rhythmic ruckus.

Drummer Carl Wierzbicky (who some of you may remember and worship from his work with DarkBlack) kicks out the most purely heavy metal performance of the group. Mid-paced beats and moderately used rolls and the like allow the drums to remain prominent without overpowering the other performances, which I’m sure Carl could of done. The other in the duo of well known contributors is bassist Eric Harris (formally of Skeletonwitch). Eric’s role in this album is understated. He has shown in the past that he’s got the balls to play bass loud and proud, but he’s kinda forced to the back of the class, as the bassist generally is. But it’s not generally this tragic since this album could of used a little more depth and Eric’s talents could of helped out with that.

What this album really lacks though, is catchiness. Sure the band is good overall, but there’s nothing much here to keep you invested until the very end. I never once found myself singing one of these tunes while I was cooking, in the shower or even just after I finished listening to the album and am walking to the fridge for whatever reason. It’s not a deal breaker by any means, but I probably won’t be jonesing to listen to Spell Eater anytime soon.

Overall: Spell Eater is nowhere near as amazing as all of the hype would have you believe, but Huntress really aren’t anything you should pass up if you have the chance to do otherwise. Yes, there’s a female vocalist. Yes, she delivers the goods pretty fucking well (the rumors are true, she sounds amazing) and looks good while doing it. Other than that though, this album is worth a listen but will probably be rejected based on all of the hype or not given a second chance just to be sure. I suggest you give it a shot.

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Nebrus - From The Black Ashes

And the Black Metal Gods (I’m sure there are at least two of them) have smiled upon my sorry ass once again!  I literally jumped for joy when I received this album in the mail and rushed straight home to throw it in my stereo. Long time readers may remember the dripping hard-ons that General Blaspheme and I have for this band. If you don’t and/or my vulgar appreciation for Nebrus is completely new to you, then all you really need to do is listen to just one song and you’ll understand where I’m coming from (and you’ll probably need a new change of underwear as well).

From The Black Ashes starts off strong with “Apocalypse”, a blistering ride through the beginning of the end. They tease you a bit with a break in the bleak with a momentary slow down in tempo that almost feels like everything is going to be okay. Like the world isn’t going to end in this horrible fashion that they’re describing… and suddenly, the sting of reaper’s scythe finds it’s mark on your soul! An awesome way to START your album, if you ask me.

From there, Nebrus just takes your expectations and runs off with them by taking all the vileness of black metal and merging it the finer points of doom metal. It’s like if you took Under The Sign Of The Black Mark and Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, broke them both in half and glued the two halves together to make the greatest mixture of black metal and doom metal that any metal mind ever dreamed of… assuming the breaking/gluing process was successful.

I’m happy to report that Noctuaria’s voice is just as ravaged and raw as ever, which keeps her high on my Favorite Black Metal Vocalist list right between Stefan Fiori and Lord Serpent. This time however, Mortifero duties pertained only to the drums, which are every bit as punishing as they were in Twilight Of Humanity. It’s the same with the guitars. Throughout From The Black Ashes, they are almost always sped up to your standard black metal speed riffs, but occasionally they break off into dreary doom hooks that are always laid in on just the right moments.

But the crowning jewel of From The Black Ashes has to be it’s closing track, “Banquet Of Oblivion”. Hearing Noctuaria scream, “I DON’T EXIST!"

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Welcome To The Eruption

Well, it's been a year, but I'm back from being buried beneath a mountain of bullshit and am ready to spread my uneducated and unsolicited opinions about metal (both "trve" and "whatever dickbag bvzzword ya'll come vp with for anything that isn't death, black, doom, thrash and/or power metal")! Didja miss me?

...yeah. I didn't really notice that I was gone either. But rest assured that my inexplicable love for Ambient Black-Thrash-Doom EX+ Alpha: Special Edition, will continue to go unabated and unaddressed. And hey, if you're lucky, maybe this time around i might finally get around to tell you all The Truth About Batman...

Anyway, I've barely listened to anything new in 2014, so I should probably get back to it and start posting reviews that very few people will read here and that maybe a few more people will take a gander at when they're posted at Crown Of Viserys.

Catch ya on the next post!

Chase "Typhon" Smith

P.S. - I'm also starting a review blog that covers my other passions (cooking, video games, movies and the like) here shortly, so keep your eyes peeled for that when it finally surfaces.