Decrepitaph "Resurrected and Rotting" Doomentia Records Skulls collide in a zombie feast when this American band unleash their sick tunes of Death. This delightful EP is opened with an intro made by Pyykkö of Hooded Menace, who has also taken care of ending this piece with a synth outro. In between here weget 2 tracks of doomed, down-tuned, up-tempo and swamp-soaked Death Metal. It´s varied and in tune with the dead, this US unit show how lethal real Death Metal actually is. Comes in a limited edition of 500 copies, 100 clear vinyl (sold out) and 400 black vinyl, with inner sleeve with lyrics. Unholy
Oracle of the Void "In Darkness is found the greater Enlightenment" Obsidian Records There´s really not a lot to say about this one. Originally released as a demo back in 1995, and now, for reasons unknown, released as a 10" vinyl. I do not know who will actually find this of interest. This Australian band has been insignificant, like so many others, and all they do is play some sort of Black Metal that has no purpose. It sounds like crap and is extremely bad. A band that have been listening too much to the Emperor demo, perhaps also the Enslaved demo, and just tried to play something that is inspired by it. This is horrible! The riffs are horrible. The compositions are really bad. Booo. 4 tracks, and this vinyl comes with inner sleeve with lyrics. Black vinyl. Unholy
Hell Darkness "Heartfelt" Doomentia Records Hell Darkness release their first material on this fine 7" vinyl, one song on each side, both songs delightfully catchy and well written. A brilliant thrashy pace and a vibe within both songs that contain blackened filth expressed and played with balance and style. The riffs are nice and add character to the music. The vocals are not your typical ugly style vocals, though claiming them to be clean is not intentional. But there´s a great balance in the vocals, there´s no need to go apeshit to convince the listener, this is a solid debut! Add to the thrashy and blackened style a touch of groove and a strong will, and you should have a good idea about the musical qualities of this band. Unholy
Organ: Organ: 7” Duplicate Records A new band presented in the old school way, in the shape of a vinyl 7” single. Basically this is one song, which I believe represent the band, with two additionals - an ambient track and a remix drum’n bass kinda thing as b-side. The real song is interesting as it is composed in a very untraditional way, with blasting drums over slow disharmonic guitars. No vocals, except dialogue samples. The track is technical and varies a lot from blasting to more down tempo. All the way it’s technical with tossing and turning rhythms. The clean guitar melodies brought my mind towards Virus and I almost expected Czral’s tortured voice emerging anytime. So this little teaser makes me want to hear more, and that ought to be a good sign. Luna
Eljudner "Blod og Kvad" Duplicate Records This 7 inch vinyl features two tracks that create a feeling dating back to the 90´s style of Norwegian Black Metal. Add to that a little touch of something similar to the undefinable Viking Metal genre, and this is where I would place Eljudner musically. The first track is really good. The way it slowly develops into a song with an excellent pace and with musical solutions that work well and have an unpredictability about it. The guitar sound is awesome and the music is written and performed with great conviction and ease. Turning the vinyl give you an equally fine tune, though a bit more monotonous but by far showing off phenomenal song writing qualities within a well adjusted and balanced Black Metal style that will please many. Comes in a limited edition of 500 J. Loon
Balmog "Nausea" Bloody Productions A limited 7" hand numbered in 500 copies. 2 tracks of pretty okay Black Metal but not something really amazing. Some cool riffs, some okay tendencies but it´s really music most of us have heard many times. No Black Metal feeling, just Black Metal music. (u)