Norselaw -

Genre: Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, Fucking Metal
Label: Unsigned

Man, who would have thought that buying an album based entirely on pity would yield such positive results? Allow me to explain:

Norselaw himself apparently had a dispute with his then employer that ended with his (in my opinion, wrongful) termination. Having only recently lost my job due to similar but completely different circumstances, I decide to toss my fellow warrior a bone and bought one of his albums. He 'suggested Serpent In The Circling Sea' as it would play to my tastes... how this metal marauder knew such a thing is still a mystery to me, but goddamn, was he ever right!

'Serpent In The Circling' Sea features a plethora of headbanging highlights from beginning to end. Norselaw's mastery of the art of the shred, for one. Where on Earth did this guy learn to wield a guitar in such a manner? My guess is he transferred whatever skills he learned as an axe swinging viking from hundreds of years ago to his new modern day "axe". Or at the very least, he's The Doof Warrior from Mad Max... hmmm...

Up next on the docket, we have the vocals. Let's get the clean vocals out of the way; they're rough. Not bad by a long shot, but they could definitely use some refining. As for his bellowing, fuck man, if he shouted at me to, "Get out of the way," in that tone, I'd be in the next state over before he could finish his command. Motherfucker is scary.

Have I mention lyrical content yet? Norselaw pulls his imagery from everyday political strife ("fat blue line guarded by swiiiiine!"), to Conan The Barbarian to H.P. fucking Lovecraft. And speaking of Lovecraft, Fungi From Yuggoth is one of the best tracks on the album, not only due to the ever-presence of the Old Ones, but because of Jamie Lannister's energetic drumming. Guy lets his fucking hair down and says, "fuck your ability to ever hear anything ever again!" and proceeds to rupture the eardrums of anyone within range in a berserk barrage of percussive power!

If you walk away from this review and can only manage to remember one thing, make it this: Norselaw is law. These guys fucking rule!

Yen Pox - Between The Horizon And The Abyss

Genre: Dark Ambient
Label: Malignant Records

Having been a rabid fan of Yen Pox's Blood Music (the 2010 two disc re-issue to be precise), you could easily say that I was more than a little excited to find Between The Horizon And The Abyss in my mailbox. The damnedable duo of dark ambient is back in my library and ready to make the missus second guess coming to bed with me (Phelios, Yen Pox and False Mirror are regulars in my nightly rotation and she happens to find them, "scary").

Between The Horizon And The Abyss starts off like just about every other dark ambient record you've ever heard; low rumble droning that gives way to small crackling noises and eventually syths and yadda yadda yadda. If you're a fan of dark ambient/noise/drone/blech, you know the drill... wait, did a ping pong match break out during the recording of Cold Summer Sun? What the hell is that and why does it sound out of place, yet it feels like it fits right in as if it were guided by some kind of auditory feng shui?

The point is, Yen Pox takes what you thought you understood about this genre and the abilities of the various instruments therein and tears down the veil to reveal an infinitely expanding universe of sonic possibility and impossibility. It's goddamned crazy, man.

I don't think that I can make my admiration for this project any clearer than that, but I'll just hammer the point home here in case you missed it: Yen Pox are fucking geniuses. Just shoot the next Yen Pox albums into my veins...

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