Galibot - Euch’Mau Noir bis (2026)

Surprisingly, Galibot is not my first encounter with mining-themed black metal, as the Germans in Dauþuz have been exploring the niche for years, albeit from a more Medieval and folkloric perspective. This younger French act has a slightly more modern vibe about them, with a lyrical focus bent more on 20th century industrial era mining, which was prominent in Northern France until well into the 60s. I admit that's a fascinating subject to deal with, and as much as I love the wintry, naturalistic, Viking and Satanic schools of black metal, the older me is definitely paying attention to wherever else this beloved music might journey conceptually. The question is, how does Euch'Mau Noir bis translate this theme into its music, and does it succeed?

This is a remaster/remix of an album a couple years old with another track tacked on so it's still pretty early on in the band's development, which formed around three years prior. It's about as straightforward as melodic black metal can get, and apart from a few sound effects, the machine-like efficiency of the drums and overall performances, and the desperation that this niche create through its surging rhythms, rasped vocals and melodies wrought with sadness...I didn't connect the music much in my imagination with the subject. It's there in the din of the cover photography and lyrics...perhaps in the narrative interlude track, but the sense of melody and urgency created through the battering percussion and ceaseless atmosphere of the riffing has an extremely orthodox black metal feel. There are some female vocals, some slight flourishes of other eccentricities or atmospherics, I think the band I was most reminded of here was Switzerland's Borgne, who have a comparable, mechanical feel to the black metal process, although theirs is more tinted by the industrial music fundamentals.

The drums here definitely feel like a relentless machinery, whether it's the intense fills or the precision blasts and kicks, but often they feel a little too flawlessly monotonous and over the top, where some more dynamic balance would have served the album as a whole. The rhythm guitars are vicious and powerful, but I always got the impression they were only about two-thirds of the way into memorable hooks when they rinse and/or repeat. Vocals are well mixed and full-bodied for the genre, trad rasping but with a slightly suicidal edge to them, but they often follow the course of the riffing without leaving much of an impression. Galibot has a powerful, competent sound to it, but it needs a few more peaks and valleys to chisel out the experience into something more soul-crushingly effective, and perhaps some more ambience, samples and other instrumentation to deliver the rich theming.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://galibot.bandcamp.com/album/euchmau-noir-bis-les-nords

Deströyer 666 - Bitter Scorn EP (2023)

Bitter Scorn is little more than a bite-sized after mint to the phenomenal Never Surrender record, Deströyer 666 riding high on another success, and I have to admit it delivers. Partly on the strength of the cover song; K.K. Warslut and friends do not mess around when they decide to include something like this, and whilst Dio's "I Speed at Night" is a much different pick than something like "Prometheus" from the Terror Abraxas EP, it's another awesome execution which fully translates the driving, simplistic heavy metal number into their more volatile, armored and aggressive style, which feels flush with the increased elements of speed and thrash metal that have dominated their last two albums, but have always been in the DNA to some degree.

The new original, the title track, is also pretty good, with a great chorus and a vocal break that reminds me of something Venom would have done in their heyday. Like a lot of their recent material, it's largely built upon a speed/heavy metal structure but then injected with some of the blackened thrash elements, and yet they just don't sound a lot like the myriad of other bands doing their style. Perhaps because they've built up such a unique foundation from which to approach it, or the way they produce the guitars, Deströyer 666 has been fairly original for some time. Now, this is a 7", it's limited, collectible, and there are those restraints, most people will have to check out the Dio cover (at least) online, but it's worth hearing, and "Bitter Scorn" itself I think is available on one of the deluxe editions of Never Surrender, where it's probably a better fit. So as an individual PRODUCT, this has limited appeal beyond collectors, but the tunes will please those into the last decade of Deströyer 666.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

https://www.destroyer666.uk/

Disastrous Murmur - Rhapsodies in Red (1992)

Another of the earlier Austrian death metal acts alongside Pungent Stench, I remember Disastrous Murmur largely for their hilarious, distinct band moniker as well as the gruesome and cheesy cover art on Rhapsodies in Red, their debut. These guys had a sound that, at the time, I found very UN-European. Sure, there were some parallels in that scene, like the earlier Atrocity records, but for the most part the sound developed here reminds me a little of Cannibal Corpse or Malevolent Creation evolving on a slightly separate path. Certainly more Florida or New York than Sweden, Finland, Holland or England. It's chuggy, ugly, and walks that borderline between the OSDM and brutality emerging through the 90s, with a guitar tone that sounds quite thrashy and choppy, and a few riffs to match, definitely giving off a slightly Eaten Back to Life vibe though I don't really think the bands honestly sound that close together.

This is very agile stuff with a lot of shifting tempos and gory, guttural vocals, but I find that the mix on this one has always detracted for me. In the way a lot of very archaic death metal records did, especially in the first half of the 90s. The guitar is sometimes too crunchy for its own good, and rarely is spitting out riff progressions that stick in my memory. The drum performance is good, but the levels feel off, with the kicks drowning out other stuff, making the guitars seem a little thinner. Also, while the vocals definitely have a pretty extreme sound, they weren't very distinct, just bludgeoning along with the dexterity of the death/thrashing rhythms and not leaving much more of an impression beyond their brutality. The bass here is audible, kind of bouncy and fat and blends in a lot with the lower drums, but I know there's always been a market for this style...I think Malignancy is an example where they took something similar to this and got a lot further with the creativity and songwriting.

I don't mean to sound totally down on this, because it definitely has some effort and intensity behind it and feels like a record that would have been more impressive for me had I been listening to it back when I first encountered Suffocation, Deicide, etc. Sometimes they get a rhythm guitar going which reminds me a bit of Death, Obituary or Pestilence and I dig those, but they will usually change it up too quickly before it can settle in. The occasional keyboards are kind of cool but they sometimes feel too obscure in the mix, except the intro to "Into the Dungeon" which rules. The lyrics are appropriately gross for the image that the band was conveying, and probably on the more shocking side for 1992, but musically this is an album I have to listen to more for its bludgeoning than the music value. It often sounds calamitous as if the young band was just trying to force rhythm after rhythm down your throat, and it just doesn't always stick the landing. But for 1992, it gets some lenience and is by no means bad.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://disastrousmurmur.bandcamp.com/

1782 - Clamor Luciferi (2023)

There's just so much 'right' about Italian bands performing horror themed metal, so much that it crosses most of the sub-genres, from the brutal bludgeoning of Fulci, to the cult blackening of Mortuary Drape, the shock rock/heavy metal of Death SS, escapist giallo doom of Paul Chain, or the funeral parlor sounds of Abysmal Grief. Sardinians 1783 definitely conform most to that final category, but they definitely eschew a lot of the atmospherics and cinema-reel creepiness to bludgeon you straight in the face with a sluggish brand of primitive stoner doom that borders heavily on the nihilistic sludge made popular by Eyehategod and Electric Wizard. The sort of 'bad high' or 'bad trip' which just beats on you repetitiously with dour guitar tone, fat evil bass, wanton and wastoid vocals, steady and simple drums, little else to distract you.

So the album title, the band name, the cover artwork, and the sinister/occult themes of the songs are all a win for me, but unfortunately, when you've got such a straightforward style, it relies so heavily on you getting those riff patterns that bore themselves into the listener's psyche. When you're working with such basic chord progressions, I think there's an impetus to play it safe and then just flood those ear canals with crushing ton, and Clamor Luciferi might partly wind up a victim of that. There are some moodier bits here like "Tumultus XIII", where the guitars rumble along at more of a dirge against the plodding bass, and you feel like the music is rising to some vaulted cathedral ceiling, but others like the minimally titled "Succubus" and "Demons" are almost TOO one-track, with nothing in there to really surprise or freak you out. The vocal mix is interesting, he has a sort or dirty chanted style which is almost entirely smothered by the guitar tone and bass, but at the very least it feels like someone is whispering you subliminal messages very close to the rhythm of the instruments.

Whenever the band stretches out of these samey patterns, it gets more interesting, even in "Devil's Blood" where it starts out sparser but emits the most threatening, basic doom riff on the album. The production is never the issue, that bass sounds fat enough to rupture your tires, and the guitars have a dirty fuzz to them which works in the format. Perhaps the vocals could be more pronounced, but really 1782 needs to take this stylistic concept and then broaden it out, with more atmospheres, organs, or maybe some unexpected, minor key harmonies, or more psychedelic guitars/blues, because it grows dull fast unless you are in this super specific mood for something so drawling. Clamor Luciferi album is by no means a terrible album, it's fine, but it just needs a lot more ambition; the organ intro "A Merciful Suffering" set me up for some further expeditions that never manifest.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

https://1782doom.bandcamp.com/album/clamor-luciferi

Dawnbringer - Snake (2020)

Snake is another unusual highway stop in the Dawnbringer trajectory, an album that very heavily leans of heavy metal traditions but also tries to mix a few of them together into a novel outcome. Gone (but not entirely gone) are the melancholic strains of Night of the Hammer, and in its place we've got what feels like a modern tribute to London's grimiest sons Motörhead. There are riffs here or there which feel exactly like them, as in the uncomfortably "Iron Fist" intro to "Out of Mind", or the bridge of "Paradise Lust", or "Killed by Death", etc being contained as a medley in "Inferno" (also, coincidentally an album title). Others seem more to capture that punk/metal/speed in spirit, like the opener "Return to the Shrine" which doesn't quite clone Lemmy and the boys, but plays around in the same sort of sandbox. And I think that was the better way to approach this. Then you have a few of the band's further embellishments, a melodic sensibility which is more reminiscent of other NWOBHM bands or maybe some Thin Lizzy, or Chris Black's other band Superchrist which is a little more rock & roll to begin with.

It's an odd choice as a follow-up to their style from a few years before, but as more of a tribute to Lemmy who had ben gone a half-decade by this time, it at least delivers on the studio mix and energy. While I wish they hadn't included a few of those too-close, albeit brief mirror riffs, there are also some tunes which feel rather unique in that bass-driven speed/heavy sound, like "The Idea of Progress" with its great glaze of melodies and guitar effects, or "Twisting the Nest" with the great bass lines and snaky grooves, or "Loyal to Death" which puts an almost atmospheric, poppy polished spin on this sort of rock & roll. The bass tone is awesome throughout, as is the guitar tone, everything, with Chris continuing some of his more refined vocals. The best produced Dawnbringer record? Quite possibly, but only in service to a hybrid of styles that don't feel much like their own. Granted, there has always been a Motörhead influence in the vocals of this band, and some of the riffs, sure, but I feel like a project as this one could have been more effective if they changed the name, excluded any direct covering of riffs or tracks and just gone with something in that style, all dressed up with their own penchant for melodies and other influences.

I do realize this was allegedly written long ago, finished around the time of Lemmy's passing and was never meant to be a proper release. There's nothing malign about it, it's an independent release and by no means some sort of cheap commercial cash-in on a tragic loss. However, once you smack it down into the Dawnbringer lineage it kind of sticks there, and thus feels like another weird anomaly in a steady progression of them. Plenty of style here, also some substance, Chris Black clearly groks his inspiration and even expands upon it; he's a talented chap, but the presence of the direct referential licks/covers kind of betrays what could be an amazing peripheral tribute to one of the greatest musical institutions our ball of mud has spewed forth. It's also just not that memorable other than the strange story of its very existence. It's fine, but I'm never choosing it over the original article, nor am I choosing it over records like Unbleed, Nucleus, Sun God or Night of the Hammer. It remains as just a curiosity and hopefully a speed (metal) bump on the road to their next original work.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

Dawnbringer - Three Soldiers Standing/Night of the Sinner EP (2011)

This was a weird little ditty to drop between Dawnbringer's two epic heavy metal albums Nucleus and Into the Lair of the Sun God, since it's a pair of unreleased tunes from back in the days shortly after Unbleed was released. As such, you can expect a much rawer style, and in fact, the mix on these is so disheveled and demo-level that it makes that debut album sound like it was recorded in an AAA studio by comparison. That does also limit my enjoyment a little, since the beats sound like a couple cans being slapped, the bass is just present on the edge of perception, and the overall effect is a little cringe. However, the guitars do sound pretty damn good, you can hear the brightness of the leads against the bustle of rhythm guitars performing a hybrid of heavy, speed, and melodic black metal, and the vocals are nasty in a good way, creating their own contrast against the cleaner backups belting out the choruses. Hell, they sound better than they did on the Sacrament EP, although I think the mix on that was overall much cleaner than this.

As for the songs themselves, they're both pretty good. They're not as rustic or melodic sounding or escapist as Unbleed, these have a more urban, aggressive, violent feel to them, with a bigger influence from thrash metal twisting into the other styles from that record. Granted, there are moments like the breakout rhythm in "Three Soldiers Standing" where it would have fit right in, but these feel more like they were being developed for a more asphalt-tearing sophomore effort that never quite manifest. The mix holds me back from giving this a higher recommendation, but if you did enjoy Unbleed, or if you like a lot of old demos from the first few waves of melodic death and black metal, or maybe some of the bands coming out through Invasion records back in the mid to late 90s, then this digital/7" release could be worth a listen. It's an artifact, for sure, and I think the songs could actually benefit from a re-recording if the band ever went back to that style. However, for anyone else who hasn't already heard Dawnbringer, the three full-lengths I mentioned in this very review are the better starting points. 

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

Dawnbringer - Sacrament EP (1996)

Before deciding to run through Dawnbringer's catalog and offer some thoughts, I'd never even heard the Sacrament EP. I wasn't even aware that it existed. But here it is, one of (if not THE) first releases from the prolific Chris Black, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist that would go on to at least a half dozen excellent bands including Aktor, Superchrist, High Spirits and even a stint in Pharaoh. Dawnbringer would clearly be seen as one of the more extreme projects in his canon, a sort of heavy and black metal fusion which wasn't too out of place with a lot of the Scandinavian melodic black or death metal acts of the mid-90s. This initial EP is a strange one, as it mixes some fairly well produced riffs with shoddy, effects-ridden vocals and lots of acoustic guitars.

The last of those excel out of the starting gates in the opening instrumental, relished with some weird ambient sounds and pianos. Then we're treated some driving melodic riffs that were probably pretty tasty for melo-death/black fans at that time, and barking, semi-BM vocals which have an unfortunate effect on them that feels like it was ported over from a telephone call or tape recorded, and they kind of spoil the rest of the mix which is admittedly smooth. The acoustics are lush, the drums are well executed though if they're a machine or not it fools me, and the bass is present if not a major factor. It's really those faster electric guitars which are the highlight here and setup for what was to come later. I'm assuming that Chris plays ALL the instruments on this, I know at least two of the three band pseudonyms are attributed to him and having heard his guitar work later, that's probably him too, but regardless, this EP is really only compelling to me as a historical artifact establishing the excellence that would follow. "Sacrament" and "In a Handful of Dust" have some strong riffing material, shredding and atmosphere but still feel a bit 'demo' or incomplete due to the beats and vocals.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

Skeletal Remains - Desolate Isolation (2021)

Desolate Isolation is a compact little fan package released through Century Media for completists to own the 2011 Skeletal Remains demo of the same name, remastered, with some bonus content. I have to admit that, having the Beyond the Flesh full-length already gives me all the original music from the demo, but I was attracted to the cover of "Chronic Infection" by Pestilence, that also happens to be one of my favorite tunes from the Dutchmen, and one of my favorite death metal tunes in general. Further disclosure: if you've grabbed the 2021 reissue of Beyond the Flesh, then all of this demo stuff is already included, INCLUDING the cover. So what does that really leave here? Some live tunes, a couple bonus tracks, and an additional cover of Asphyx's "Evocation" taken from a compilation.

The three demo remaster tracks do sound fun and chunky, a little denser than what I've listened to of the original release, and the Pestilence cover doesn't quite match the original for me, but it plays it fairly close, and you get that same amazing sense of groove and almost 'rappy' vocals in the verses, which sound so over the top, unforgettable from van Drunen and that is what Chris Monroy is also aping here. But the bridge, the drumming and some of the little details throw me off. That said, it's proof that this band has excellent taste, although if you've heard their full-length albums and noted the influences then this will offer you no surprise. The Asphyx cover fares pretty well too, and here he gets a little closer to van Drunen, though the mix offered on this one doesn't really compare to any of their original albums. Considering that the live tracks are taken from pretty early off in their career, I do think they sound excellent, drawn from a Tokyo performance and sounding almost studio quality; I'd have been mighty impressed if I were there to make the comparison directly.

Otherwise, the two 'rare tracks' are pretty solid, with "Crippled Sanity" which has another of those meatier tributes to early Death that were so prevalent on the first two records. "Planetary Genocide" was released as a single around the time of Devouring Mortality and fits more with the content of that album, and that is to say that's pretty much peak Skeletal Remains in my opinion. Old school and evil with some Death, Obituary, Pestilence and Asphyx vibes, but also just clinical and modern enough to parallel the Californians' transition into what they've come today. So, in summary, Desolate Isolation is going to have more value if you don't already have the reissued debut CD without half the content, and its core is limited to stuff that already exists on another full-length to begin with, but it's by no means a bad product and the extras are at least enjoyable or well recorded in the case of the live offerings.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/SkeletalRemainsDeathMetal

Cirith Ungol - Servants of Chaos (2001)

Servants of Chaos makes for an interesting fan package in that it offers an extensive exposure to what the band was up to in that entire decade before they dropped their debut record. Largely comprised of their 1978 and 79 demos, each album-length in of itself, with some live tunes tacked on, it's about as comprehensive a backlog as one might ask for and really rounds out the collection of any completist. Naturally the presumption is that this material is going to embrace the 70s hard rock aesthetics even more than their first few official studio efforts, and I think that holds true, but even then I wasn't prepared for just how wild and adventurous the band was going to be. This shit is raw, it's often all over the place, but you can generally hear how they formulated the heavier hitting sound they would progress with.

"Hype Performance", the opener slaps you with some very Hawkwind-sounding spacey hard prog rock, with weird sounds and keys glitching through the guitars, where some of the other tunes like "Last Laugh" have more of the vibe you'd expect from their era, bluesy hard rock with some talky vocals that almost remind me of punk and garage, or even later grunge stuff like Mudhoney. There are a number of the recognizable tracks like "Frost and Fire", but they sound even quirkier with the acid synthesizers, or "Better Off Dead" which sounds like you're jamming it through even more of a marijuana haze coming from the back of some airbrushed van. Even "1000 M.P.H." makes an appearance, sounding a little more suited to this mesh of material than on One Foot in Hell where it ended up. Tim's voice is already in that grating, warlike mode on many of these earlier tunes, and to be fair, the demo-level production has a good raw charm to it that makes the band sound absolutely savage, despite the nerdy prog cheese that they are often escaping towards.

Some highlights for me were the instrumental duo of "Ill Met in Lankhmar" and "Return to Lankhmar", based on the Fritz Leiber classic fantasy stories, they really manage to capture the vibe of those old anthologies with the prog rhythms, synthesizers and blazing leads, making me which they'd have these all re-recorded on some possible concept album in the Lankhmar setting. In fact a lot of the stuff from that '79 demo is instrumental, and while it does feel weird not to have Baker's voice present, they experiment with some weird sounds in "Witchdance" and "Feeding the Ants" too. To that extent, much of the material does feel unfinished or not properly organized, it's clearly not the full band spread we'd expect since there are also a lot of drums missing, but it's definitely imaginative. 

The live recordings are from the 80s and kick some ass, raw and ripping and Baker himself sounds phenomenal, potentially even more menacing than he does in-studio. The cover of "Secret Agent Man" was unexpected and doesn't feel as if it belongs, but they definitely create a dirtier and amusing version of that song which feels like it's filtered through acid trips in some abandoned garage. There are also some rehearsal recordings which sound alright, again the rawness seems to work with the vocal style and certainly makes the rhythm guitar sound more crushing. All told, there's a lot going on with this compilation, they include some extensive notes on their earlier years, and while I can't say I'd make a recommendation for new fans, or that it's got a high ratio of quality to the quantity, old heads who already love Cirith Ungol band might find it an entertaining, flawed retrospective.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/cirithungolofficial

Aura Noir - Increased Damnation (2000)

Increased Damnation is an interesting fan package which covers a few historical components for Aura Noir, studio and live material for the completionist. That said, this is not a compilation you are turning to for consistently, the contents are all over the place, but, along with the first two records and the live record they'd put out years later, dating back to 1996, this sort of 'completes' the first phase of their career. The entirety of the Dreams like Deserts EP is present, giving that a needed reprint for the time, and there are a selection of live tunes from another of their 'Elm Street' gigs, though I think these are later recordings than on the live album and there is a track difference since Deep Tracts of Hell was available, with "Swarm of Vultures" represented in a pretty raw and blistering form.

The Fenriz-fronted "Mirage" starts things off, transplanted from the EP, but featuring his vocals, and this is a much cleaner-produced version that fits more with forthcoming album The Merciless than the original EP. There are also some demo tracks from Deep Tracts of Hell, and they sound pretty sweet, I'd hazard that I found these a bit more impactful than what ended up on the actual album, just some writhing and nasty Teutonic-flavored thrash with ravenous vocals that hover just below the attack of the guitars. As the closer of the compilation, they've even got the most primitive version of "Tower of Limbs and Fevers" with just Aggressor performing, and his vocals are wild and hilarious almost like some sort of drunk narrator...some of their goofiness actually reminds me of lines that Fenriz has included on some of the 2000s Darkthrone output. Ridiculous but also charming, and this version of the tune has a weirdness in general to it that almost sounds like it's part Ved Buens Ende if that were thrash-injected.

The lack of rare or unreleased materials here limits its viability to me as a product, sure there are specific mixes of tracks you haven't experienced, but several are redundant just to this compilation. Granted, there was not a lot of Aura Noir material out there by this period, and if you hadn't had access to the EP then this might have been worth it for that fact alone, but this is not something I would ever have even broken out for a listen again if I wasn't writing through their discography. That's not to say it sucks at all, some of the alternate mixes are quite good or perhaps even preferable, but unless you're hell bent on grabbing everything the band has ever released, this is easily passed over for any of their full-length studio material.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

https://www.facebook.com/auranoirofficial

Arcturus - Disguised Masters (1999)

What way to better champion your newfound eclecticism than the obligatory 'remix' album? Disguised Masters is not built entirely of such distractions, but much of its playtime is devoted to versions of tracks off La Masquerade Infernale injected with drum & bass, industrial, looping, and other electronic mediums that were so popular throughout the 90s. On one hand, their material lends itself well enough to casting the widest net possible, it's not as if they hadn't (and wouldn't) incorporate this stuff straight onto their originals, but unfortunately this record suffers where many of its kind do...just because you 'can', doesn't mean you 'should', and the practice rarely translates into anything justifiable or memorable enough here that I've ever wanted to spin back through it. That's not to say this is some immature, amateur bout with the techniques, but just not very impactful even if you're compelled by the idea of such already gonzo tracks being reshuffled into some fractured dancehall of the imagination.

I suppose the two new originals here would provide the biggest carrot on its stick, but the intro "White Tie Black Noise" is just a swell of ambiance that ties into "Deception Genesis", a track that admittedly does feel like a B-side off La Masquerade, with a sort of progressive dark trip hop vibe which wouldn't have been out of place on Ulver's electronic records. In fact if you just line up the timing, this seems like it was Rygg's headspace for most of his projects, and it could just as easily fall under the catalogue of one as the other. There is a bit of mystique to this one, I like the bass grooves, the little sweeps of strings and the creepy narrated vocals, plus you get a little guitar in its depths. The odd re-imagining of "Du Nordavind" is also pretty interesting, a more frightening, noisy carnival version from the older album. Beyond this, though, I found very little consistency in the remixes. The 'G. Wolf Levitation Mix' of "Painted by Horror" has some nice, clunking percussion and eeriness about its dark ambient thrums, but it just never adds up to much after the first few moments. There's an ensemble/classical re-recording of "Ad Astra" which is also quite soothing, where the 'Magenta Experience' remix is just kinda cheesy beats being layered onto it.

I do think that the hybridization of forms here, like neo-classical ambient to jungle was pretty novel for this period, but it might have been better served for another project of perhaps a full-length where it was used more in new originals than chunks of earlier songs. It's pretty clear that Arcturus got the hint, since they implemented similar ideas so tastefully and sparingly into the full-length after this, but as it stands, Disguised Masters is a not-unpleasant but unnecessary excursion into the collective mindset of a band already on the fringe of its genre, trying to transmogrify onto the fringes of other adjacent sounds that were fomenting in the same era. Lots of good individual beats and grooves, little direction. The low point in their canon, but not irredeemably so.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/arcturusnorway

Satyricon & Munch (2022)

You could see Satyricon & Munch as the second half of the experiment they started with Live at the Opera, but while the former was a direct interpretation of the band's black metal sound into some choral and grand, this is instead an attempt to translate the works of expressionist Norwegian painter Edvard Munch into a dark musical context. This is far less accessible, granted, though there are some parts with acoustics or other softer moments that make for perfectly acceptable background as you're browsing through the deceased collaborator's artwork. It's a curious mash-up of mediums reminiscent of Metallica's Lulu with Lou Reed, only this isn't so tragic, poetic and vocal, but rather minimalistic and sees Satyr and Frost branching out into new styles themselves.

LOTS of ambiance and noise here, and I can honestly say that they do a decent job getting their feet wet in that genre, and in fact some of those brooding moments are the most immersive of the experience. There are a few drones which grow obnoxious as drones do, and some light industrial-feeling percussion that often breaks out in the distance to cool effect. Orchestrated keys, slight dissonant or distorted guitars and rolling percussion often give the record some martial qualities, and there are also some very minimal, spacious synth parts which are quite absorbing when they arrive deeper into the track. Oh yes, this is just one track, almost an hour long, and I think that presents the biggest hurdle towards appreciation, since you have to take the more somber or soothing moments along with the bizarre and annoying all in a single sitting, but if I'm being completely honest with you, I'd say there are probably 30-40 minutes here which I found to be a pleasant or perturbing escape, and the rest is chaff that does little more than extent out the length of the album.

Of course, I'm not standing at a museum exhibit while hearing this in the background, I can only sift through online images of Munch's works, so the maximum impact might be one you had to witness at a particular time and place, and I can forgive the audio work that much. However, I can't at all find fault with the willingness of these longstanding black metal mavens to involve themselves in these sorts of cultural projects which not only open the minds of others who might have a dim view of black metal, but also can expand Satyricon's own portfolio of sounds they can integrate into their future material, and I hope to an extent they will. This might be the most 'outside' thing Satyr has worked on since he was in the folksy Storm, and though I can understand while few will enjoy it, and I myself even had a negative reaction the first few times I listened, it has a few moments of sublime impact like the art it is providing tribute to and accompaniment for. A very Ulver move, gentlemen, and if anyone was into Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell they might want to give this a try.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.satyricon.no/

Toxik - Kinetic Closure (2020)

Kinetic Closure is the sort of obligatory re-recording of classic tracks that you might expect with a 'comeback band' once they've got some new members in the fold and want to modernize their material, whether it's because they genuinely think it needs to be brought in line with whatever else is going on, or because they have some issues with the original recordings. There's a new singer here in Ron Iglesias, who honestly does his best to channel his predecessors, often succeeding in the higher pitched delivery, and the production of the instruments is not a far cry from the originals. Louder, more aggressive with the newer drumming, new cover art that ports Think This into the Trump era. To be fair, this was a pretty limited release, so nobody was touting this as some important milestone for the band, and it's usually going to be picked up alongside Breaking Clas$ and In Humanity on the III Works collection, where it's a better valey; but this ultimately falls short to me.

There are just some glaring differences in the production and vocal delivery that don't vibe with me as well as either of the original albums, even though the whole band puts in an earnest attempt. Josh is obviously still a ludicrous player that can match himself, the plunkier bass lines and more intense drums were sure to attract younger thrashers who had grown up on more extreme metal than even the frenetic thrash of that late 80s period. Ron is a good singer and I certainly wanted to hear him on newer material, but at best he plays it safe with the screaming of the earlier front-men, and at other times he sounds a little off. For me, the most attractive part of this is hearing the material from the Kinetic Closure single, a pair of tracks that goes off into the more bizarre, experimental thrash tangent that the In Humanity stuff did. These tunes are both nuts and I think I like them even more than the Breaking Clas$ EP, they certainly got me juiced up for modern Toxik more-so than hearing the other tunes I already knew from my teenage years.

Crazy rhythmic spiraling thrash that helps maintain that surgical feel while dropping a lot of the band's more traditional speed/power metal roots in favor of some occasional mid-paced thrash before the following fatal flurries of Christian's highly technical approach. "No Rest for the Wicked" might be the slightly more catchy of the pair, with more ties to the older material, but "Kinetic Closure" itself is a little further into the asylum and a sign of where the band would head with its next, proper third full-length. At any rate, like their other EPs, this felt like the natural direction the band would have taken if not for the decades between formations, and that's a good thing, we didn't have Toxik coming back with some shitty nu-metal or metalcore and a completely ability to read the room. They knew where they left off, they knew what we wanted, and they began delivery with syringes of shrieking, bludgeoning technique. But as relatively, polished as the re-recordings were, I don't find them necessary.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://toxikmetal.net/

Vendetta - Black as Coal (2023)

Vendetta's earlier 80s material had a lot of personality to it, and Brain Damage stands as one of my favorites in that second or third tier of German thrash metal, a record with some tongue-in-cheek elements that felt like a more tightly controlled, dynamic alternative to Tankard. But since the group's 2002 reunion, I haven't been able to connect with much of what they put out. The first of those albums, Hate, was the best of the three before this one, but it's been dodderingly average thrash metal which lags way behind the renewed efforts and energy of juggernauts like Kreator, Sodom and Destruction. Black and Coal makes an honest attempt to bridge the band back to its glory days, and it certainly does sound like a seasoned, confident group which knows its business, but this one just never quite goes the distance that it needs.

Let me be clear, the musicianship is totally adequate, with some thundering drum-work, a reasonable bevy of rhythm guitars with a nice chunky modern tone that can also convey the melody or leads, and vocals that fit the Vendetta style, though this is the same front-man they'd had since reuniting, and not quite as charismatic as the earlier albums when the English was probably a little more challenging. But to be fair, you could convince me this was the other guys just a bit older if I wasn't paying attention to my notes. So Black as Coal has almost the whole package going for it, except for good songs...it has all the finish and features of your contemporary thrashing, produced to current standards of its peers, and understands how to implement some degree of dynamic range, but very, very few of the guitar riffs here or chorus parts remain in the memory even momentarily after you hear them. You'll hear some nods to their classic material, only a bit more iron-clad due to the modern tone, but they never surpass or even come close to the quirkiness of Brain Damage.

Plenty of effort, and it doesn't quite become generic to the level of something like an AI-generated band (they're starting to pop up out there), but it's hard to think you could throw this many riffs at a wall and not have at least a few more of them stick. "For Dear Life" with its choppy verse rhythms and cleaner vocals is probably the most unique feeling, but still zigs when it should have zagged and doesn't end up delivering more than a moment's curiosity. It's strange, because if you'd never heard this genre before, and queued up Black as Coal, it would seem an exemplar of thrash aesthetics, but it simply lacks the nuance of quality songwriting or standout leads, it's not nasty or aggressive enough to skirt by on extremity alone, and even the cover is bland as fuck. File this one along albums like The 5th or Feed the Extermination as middling-if-proficient German thrash that doesn't do its band's legacy much justice.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

http://www.vendetta-band.de/ 

Witchery - Nightside (2022)

Restless & Dead was one of my favorite metal albums of the later 90s, an absolute blitz of memorable songs performed in a legit hybrid of thrash, speed and black metal that I was completely in love with. They held it down to an extent with Dead, Hot and Ready, and have had a few reasonable full-lengths in the ensuing decades, but like their sister act The Haunted, I feel like a lot of the songwriting, particularly the riffs seem like they're just drawn from a grab bag of average fare, tucked into songs, slathered with whatever vocalist they can find at the time who sounds louder than Toxine but doesn't have the benefit of good tunes to back him up. The fire and energy have often just felt absent from the band, like it's an obligation that they just occasionally revisit when they remember there's still a fan base out there.

I'd love to report that Nightside is some return to form, but for most of its running length it's bog standard black & roll with a series of riffs that sound utterly uninspired and effortless, drawn from the good old legacy of Venom and the 'head, sometimes flowing more in a pure black/thrash direction like the "Storm of the Unborn" intro. Most of the momentum can only be provided by the drums or background choir ambiance even there, or the appreciably fat bass tone of Victor Brandt, because the rhythm guitars just don't do much for me. A squirrely, atmospheric lead, maybe, but otherwise it can become fairly vapid material. When the band is cranking out as much force as it can, in one of the singles, "Popecrusher", or the similar "Churchburner", it nearly reaches the levels of yesteryear, but then again you just keep waiting for some great breakdown or melody or something to rise above the din, and it only 'nearly' gets there every time. The vocalist, Anders Norder, who is on his third Witchery record, has the style they've always been using, a growlier spin on the black/thrash rasp, but he often comes off a little overbearing than the riffs, making them fade a bit into the undercurrent.

Production is fine, and the album is overall packed with enough heat not to feel completely phoned in, but the songs just don't stand out to memory as much as I'd want. "Crucifix and Candle" with its more moderate rocking swagger, is a slight departure, but even that doesn't throw me any surprises that would elevate the experience, and the closer, "Nightside", which alternates between slower, doomy grooves and sparse atmospheric parts with whispered guest vocals, is my favorite track here. "A Forest of Burning Coffins" has a great title but goes too over the top to provide a brutal thrasher with only a slight melodic payoff. In the end, this one just ranks between its two predecessors for me, still a crooked mile away from the inspiring works of the band's formation, but never quite sucking either, it's just there are literally dozens of black & roll, black/thrash/speed or whatever groups in this subgenre that do it all so much better nowadays. Compare this to the latest from Hellripper, or Knife, or Cruel Force, or Antichrist...Nightside keeps the Swedes on the tracks, but the engine continues to sputter along with only brief surges of quality mileage. The cover art...I get it, but kind of an eyesore.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/officialwitchery

Septicflesh - Reconstruction EP (2023)

Reconstruction is essentially the leftovers for those of who don't have a particular version of the Modern Primitive full-length to chew on, and I happen to be one of those poor schlubs, hearing these for the first time when I had access to the digital files. As it turns out, these are purely symphonic, cinematic pieces that don't incorporate the death metal elements the band have been built upon. However, they do possess the same glance back at the great times of antiquity, perhaps more so than the heavier tracks, and the Philharmonic really gets to excel over these pieces with the freedom from accompanying the dark grooves and the extreme metal drumming. Both "Salvation" and "The 14th Part" are pretty good, especially the choirs and vocals of the former, which set up a sort of audio play, sometimes creepy, in which to lose yourself.

The final track is the pure symphonic rendition of "Coming Storm" without the aggressive instruments, and this too is quite cool to experience, like a rousing scene in a film where battle is joined or there is some great escape from disaster. The depth here is wonderful, equivalent to what you'd hear in a film or video game score, and proves again the multi-faceted talents of Septicflesh composers, and what having those broader interests can bring into their metal music. Ultimately it's not the most memorable stuff, but if you're into dark opera then it's worth hearing even if you don't like death metal. I'd definitely at least recommend that, if you haven't picked up Modern Primitive, you get the version that includes this for additional value if the price difference isn't too great. It's a fine addition and bumps up the album just a fraction in my estimation. But on its own, a well-executed if passing curiosity.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://www.septicflesh.com/

Vektor/Cryptosis - Transmissions of Chaos (2021)

 Transmissions of Chaos is the first Vektor release since the band's troubles and dissolution in 2016, and they've chosen to share it with the comparable Dutch act Cryptosis, who were poised to release a pretty good debut in Bionic Swarm that same year. The pairing is a good one, both bands having a fusion of technical thrash and death elements, without sounding quite the same, but complementary to the other, which is more than I can say for a lot of bands that decide to share wax (or tape) like this. The futurist/sci-fi/cyborg thematic elements also jive pretty well in unison, and if there were any hope for a New Wave of Science Fiction Death/Thrash, these would certainly be two of the flag carriers launching their vessels out in the cosmos.

The Arizonans had been doing it for years, after all, and their contribution here pretty much picks up from where they left off on the great Terminal Redux. Kinetic riffing passages powered by David's nasty vocals, flurries of clinical melodies that give it that cosmic or otherworldly feel, hearkening back to Voivod although Vektor doesn't quite play with the same guitar language that Piggy created for the Canadians; instead it's more of a cutting edge progressive metal style with a bit more consonance to it, lots of lines reminiscent of Florida's Cynic and other bands of that ilk. The tunes here are not their catchiest, and a little chaotic in how there is the flux between the cleaner guitars and the space-shark-like frenzy in "Activate", or the cleaner vocal sections of "Dead by Dawn", a more elaborate track on which they're trying something new. Interesting material, and the bass playing of Stephen Coon is a standout, along with the estimable duo of DiSanto and Nelson, but probably better to have been committed to this limited release rather than a proper new full album.

I think it is Cryptosis who have penned the more cohesive material for this, and I was really feeling the hyper-riffing and ravenous barks of "Decypher" that break out into some catchy, Middle Eastern sounding melodies. The drumming is sick here, the production explosive and it just feels more impressive as a song than anything on 'Side A'. "Prospect of Immortality" is another strong piece, slower but longer and more involved (the second side is set up quite like Vektor's). I also loved the leads, the bass tone, honestly these are two of the band's better tracks...but that's also where Transmissions loses a bit of value. Both of these would appear on Bionic Swarm, and though they do match well enough with Vektor, they match a lot better with themselves, and are thus better experienced on that full-length. Assuming DiSanto and company might remix or re-record or include them with a future release, either as part of the core track list or bonus content, this split might become completely irrelevant. So bear that in mind, but if you're a big fan of the Arizonans, and this is the only place it's ever available, it might just be worth it.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/VektorOfficial

https://cryptosis.net/

Lucifer's Chalice - The Pact (2017)

On the surface, The Pact comes across pretty cool, with a simplistic and iconic sort of cover that aesthetically transports me back to the years of the NWOBHM movement, groups like Witchfynde or Angel Witch or Pagan Altar. Noting that this is a four-track album with occult themes would seem to deepen my interest, and once you're listening through you'll note they even pick up some classic samples from 60s and 70s horror flicks like Twins of Evil or City of the Dead. Unfortunately, I felt a little let down by the musical content of this debut, not because it's awful by any means, but because it seems so plain compared to what I might have expected from the title and lyrics, or the fact that it relies on tunes that are between 7-11 minute but doesn't tell a good enough story by way of the musical choices and structures.

The Pact is essentially blue-collar Iron Maiden worship, and while there is nothing at all with following in the footsteps of one of the (justifiably) most popular heavy metal bands of all time, they just don't do anything to further that or expand upon it. Now Eddie's crew have certainly explored a lot of dark and gloomy themes in its time, usually on the earlier albums, but the idea that one could transform that into something more sinister, occult, atmospheric is an appealing one. But when you listen to such basic, repetitive and unappealing riff progressions as you hear around the 3 and a half minute mark of the title track on this album, it's just immediately too bland to leave an impression. The basics are here, with a solid melodic production to the rhythm guitars, and some decent grooves in the bass playing which are reminiscent of Steve Harris, and a couple of the tracks like "Full Moon Nights" border on taking this where it needs to be, but I was constantly wishing the whole mood were darker, that there were some more dissonant and surprising choices in the notes, maybe breaking the mid-paced melodic anthems up to take some more chances.

Vocalist Charlie Wesley doesn't have a bad voice, he's clearly no Bruce Dickinson or earlier Mercyful Fate-era King Diamond, which he also slightly resembles...but who the hell really is? The issue is that a lot of his delivery is monotonous...where some lower or mid-range sneering lines would give this more of the evil vibe I'd have hoped for, he doesn't seem quite confident to spread out the delivery to the point where you get a more dynamic and cinematic personality that would itself help flavor the guitars a lot more. With titles like "Priestess of Death" or "Hung at the Crossroads", you'd expect something a lot more sinister beyond the samples, and The Pact comes up short. They lack the timeless earworm melodicism of the Angel Witch s/t, the doomy overtures of Pagan Altar, and even the more fun naughty hard rock and heavy metal of Witchfinder General and Demon, sticking with the safer bet of the world's most beloved metal band, but not in the same compelling way that they did throughout their classics in the 80s. Going by the fact that several of the members also play in darker bands of the doom or death variety, I would think they'd possess a little darker vibe.

I found much of this would just blend together and lack distinction. I'm not going to shit on this as entirely incompetent or inauthentic, it's not offensive to my ears. They clearly wanna give some love to their influence, and they're not exactly a 1:1 copy, the vocals are a little different as are the moods on a few of the riffs, but even among the ranks of whatever-generation modern throwback heavy metal this doesn't have much going for it. Think darker, more ambitious, if you're going to create such sprawling tracks as the opener here, take us on a journey. Go out on a limb. Make it look like it sounds, and yes I'm aware that history has given us hundreds of records that look a lot more evil than the musical content, but it's the 21st century and we know better. Old Sabbath, old Maiden, or old Hammer Horror films just hit the spot much more than this album can; huge shoes to fill, granted, but this doesn't even get its laces off.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

https://luciferschalice.bandcamp.com/album/the-pact

Tenebro - L'inizio di un incubo (2022)

Spawned forth from the same death metal primacy that brought us bands like Fulci or Scolopendra, Italy's Tenebro hope to pay tribute to their rich history of horror cinema, or horror themes at large, with some of the most repulsive tones and vocals they can muster. Another comparison might be Denmark's Undergang in that they stick with their native tongue for the lyrics, and have that utter, guttural sort of approach to the songwriting, though I found L'inizio di un incubo a little simpler and more thuggishly chugged out. Of course, I don't think you can avoid the semblance to Mortician, for the same reason, especially how they switch between the slower chugging and squeals to blasted grind parts in tracks like "Ultima Tomba"; this record occasionally musters more of an atmosphere than some of the NY legends' works, but the bottom end has much of the same disconcerting, unforgivingly brutal effect upon the listener.

The bass is so thick you could like a sewer full of syrup and other goo, and against that the guitars are flexed out with a grotesque tone that carves into the depths. Like their aforementioned counterparts from the Big Apple, they use drum programming here, and while it's good enough to give you an idea of how the tempos are supported, I found it fairly wimpy and completely overpowered by the other instruments and Il Becchino's monstrous gutturals that are almost impossible to trace beyond blunt syllables. The faster it goes, the more it gets lost to me, though there are a few places throughout, like the intro to "L'Imbalsamazione Dell'Amore" and it's weird, almost Godflesh atmosphere where they enter the attention span a little louder, almost like a tribal pacing before the roiling and spleen-rupturing. I'd also add that I enjoy this album more when they pack on some more layers, like higher pitched tremolo guitar lines to accompany the nasty murk. Samples and screams and such are placed in a few strategic places, sometimes effective and others not, and bits like the organ that opens the album are quite cool and I wouldn't mind more of them.

However, those atmospherics often contrast a little strongly against the revolting crush of the metal riffing, and the entire album suffers from an unevenness including the drum machine quips I had already mentioned. It's like the mix just can't carry it when the guitars and bass are fully liquifying your speakers. Some of the uglier atmospheric effects just become obnoxious rather than horrifying (such as the outro), and when it comes to the construction of rhythm guitar riffs, these don't exactly go anywhere interesting. And that might not be the point of L'inizio di un incubo, but I long to explore bands like this that can concoct some more evasive or compelling material that helps define and enrich the basic bludgeoning. That said, the Matt Carr artwork here is excellent, evocative and does somewhat prepare you for the sound, and if you're just seeking out extremity without regards for much form over function, a combination of the band's I compared them to, then this is for sure fucking ugly death metal that creates a foundation the Italians can expand much further, and spoiler alert: they do exactly that with some of their later EPs and superior sophomore full-length.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://tenebro666.bandcamp.com/

Old Ghoul - Old Ghoul EP (2023)

Doom is perhaps the most natural fit of all metal styles for the horror aesthetics, partially because it hails from 50+ years ago to align with when and where so many of those post-Monster classics of that burgeoning cinematic field arrived, but also because, by design, it's got the most space to work through its atmospheres and haunted tones if we've approaching through purely aural aesthetics. Italy in particular has had a lot of bands embrace this post-Sabbath mixture, but to an extent, the Americans have also carried that torch, with groups like St. Vitus and Pentagram and The Obsessed making a lot of waves, the first of those probably touching upon such themes the most, while the others only dabble superficially in between the drug anthems and other more personal subject matter.

Old Ghoul is a project from the prolific Chad Davis, who is himself quite versed in doom itself through the excellent Hour of 13 and The Sabbathian, but has also played around in other genres including death and sludge and black metal. For this debut EP release, he sticks right to the source of his inspiration, largely reminiscent of the three US bands I mentioned above, and straight back to the moderately paced, Sabbath sluggers which would stick an accessible groove and thus inspire 10,000,000 stoner acts that followed. To that extent, this material is decent, especially the first track "The Crypt of Night", which of the three flirts around with a slightly darker vibe, vocal effects that help differentiate his delivery from the Ozz-man, although a lot of the pacing in the lines is quite similar. The rhythm guitar tone is another feature for me, just potent and clean and cutting into you just enough to complement his vocals, and then the drums have a nice, raw, live vibe to them which sits well with such simplistic material. Bass is a little weak, it doesn't really stand out for itself and with so much room in which it can maneuver, it just doesn't perform more than the bare minimum.

Where Old Ghoul runs into an issue is that at three tracks, I would have liked Davis to flex a little more dynamic muscle. There are some elements of "The Devils at Brocken" which get a little angrier, but in terms of tempo and riff construction, all three of the tunes are just too similar. Had "The Crypt of Night" balanced off against a faster, groovier number and then maybe an eerier, atmospheric piece, I feel you'd get a better experience and idea of the project's capabilities, unless they simply don't exist, which I'd find hard to believe. The production itself is just right, the tunes are decent, but I found myself a little less interested with each as the EP progressed, and they also transform into something a little more blander that doesn't really manifest the vibes that the cool, cloaked cover creep promises, becoming more of a stoner-by-numbers sort of doom that offers no more surprise than a competent but forgettable lead guitar. Nothing wrong with that vibe, but I want the blood, the bats, the moon, the skeletal talons, the gravestones, and this offering largely just floats around the cemetery like the haze from a bong, intermingling with the fog and gaslight but never drifting too low to associate with the more frightening denizens of its environment.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://regainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/old-ghoul