concreteweb - Symbol Of Domination Productions

Dungeon Squid Productions

The End Of Time Records

Distribution:

Poisoned Furrows Records

The End Of Time Records

Review Type:

Amaethon is the Austin, Texas based solo-outfit by Jake Wayman, who’s part of the current Calcraft line-up as well (amongst some other great names, as former member, like Nahaya, Vesperian Shadow or Wolvenguard). With this new outfit, he did release two albums in the meantime. The debut, Exclusion Zone, was (quasi) totally written, recorded and performed by Jake himself. The mastering, for your information, was done at the Bonespill Recordings studio (by Bryan Eckermann), and part of the vocals were engineered et the Dead Room Studio with guidance by Clifton Miles.

This first album was released about a year ago in an ever-lasting partnership of Symbol Of Domination Prod. and The End Of Time Records (May 19^th 2025). It’s a jewel-box compact disc, limited to 500 copies. Little later (July 15^th 2025), Dungeon Squid Productions re-issued the material on cassette format, by the way. It does come with rather unusual cover artwork (i.e. the color palette and the drawing style), but it does surely fit to the neo-apocalyptic, psychological and fictional concept. It’s courtesy of Moonroot Art’s Vojtech Doubek.

Exclusion Zone is inspired by the 1972 novel Roadside Picknick (written by the Strugatsky brothers), and Stalker, that legendary motion picture by Tarkovsky from 1979. The album lasts for almost forty-eight minutes and is divided into six coherent chapters, clocking in between about six and a half minutes to nine and a half minutes. It brings a very melodic, technical and timeless form of Black Metal with a lot to experience. A first thing is the structure of the album. Atmospheric parts interfere with modernistic, somewhat Post-oriented ones; up-tempo excerpts come in balance with some decelerated moments, and several speed-up pieces; nostalgic, rhythmic patterns come in balance with explicit straight-forward chapters; eerie riffs and obscure harmonies are interspersed by catchier fragments of contemporary production. Sometimes there’s even a hint of mechanoid extremity, like certain passages in Dark Places To Wander, a track with a rich palette of approaches (Atmospheric / Post and everything in between).

The album is strongly guitar-oriented. The tremolo or main leads sort of carry the whole adventure, injected with sharp solo-work, progressive textures (mind some excerpts in the instrumental masterpiece Red Forest Anomaly, for example) and some dueling riffs. Also the high-pitched, rusty, barb-wired vocals stay strongly at the foreground. But hey, do not underestimate the whole background section, for rhythms and bass guitars, drums / percussions, and the few synths and acoustic strings, are of undeniable importance. Without the tight drum patterns and rumbling beats, the highly supportive six- and four-strings, and all other additions (some fine samples included, like in the aforementioned Red Forest Anomaly), the ‘front office’ (i.e. the main vocals and guitar leads and melodies) wouldn’t be so prominently interesting.

Besides, the album does come with a grandiose production. The sound is powerful, solid, dense, and actually clean too, covering the whole in a modern package. I do like a certain rawness in sound, but then again I do not think it is a necessity when talking about a Post-oriented result. As long as the production isn’t pathetically brisk or sugary, this kind of productional decency is most welcome.

Recommended if you can also appreciate Agalloch, Wolves In The Throne Room, Drudkh, Blood Of Kingu, Winterfylleth, Falls Of Rauros and this kind of limits-surpassing acts…

For the sake of completeness… In the first paragraph, I mentioned two albums under the Amaethon moniker. In early 2026, The Eternal Famine did follow Exclusion Zone, digitally released via Owlripper Recordings, followed by a physical edition via Dungeon Squid Productions and Poisoned Furrows (the latter being the label by Jake himself). This for your important completeness…

Azamoth

Dirk — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 19:46:19 +0000

Artist:

Azamoth

Album Title:

Bellum Nostrum

Release Date:

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Label:

Distribution:

Review Type:

[a short review, yet about an interesting release for sure]

Almost two decades after their debut album Eternity, Israeli act (no, let’s not start a polemic about current conflicts) Azamoth finally return with their sophomore full-length, Bellum Nostrum. Fifteen years in the making, this second album does show the progress this band made throughout the years. Everything was recorded and mixed by the band’s bass player Ratimus at the Pill Sound Design studio, while the result was eventually mastered by the semi-famous Maor Appelbaum (think: Arallu, Dagor Dagorath, Mayhem, The Monolith Deathcult, A Pale Horse Named Death a.m.o.).

For this release, Azamoth signed a contract with Symbol Of Domination Prod., the Moldovan side-label of Satanath Records. Besides the digital opportunity, there’s a jewel-box compact-disc as well, limited to 500 copies, which comes with an eight-page booklet. The visual art is courtesy of the famous illustrator Christophe Szpajdel, probably (one of) the most prodigious designers within the scene for many years. The cover concept, in black and blood-red colors, represents Apocalypse and Armageddon, and that does indeed deeply fit to the sonic content of this album.

And what is that sonic concept? Well, Bellum Nostrum offers thirty-eight minutes of hyper-dynamic, intolerant, frosty and devastating yet still melodious and atmospheric Black Metal. It’s the ‘timeless’ approach in essence, the kind of Black Metal that is universal at the one hand, yet rooted within the purest origins of the scene.

The better part is energetic, fast and powerful. The speed varies from up-tempo to blasting fast, yet with a huge amount of changes in speed and several acceptable breaks. Swords Of Conflagration is a nice example of the ingenious balance in types of rapidity and vigor. The harsh, never-time-to-rest tempo strengthens the furious and maniacal message that defines Bellum Nostrum, ‘our war’ (once again, I do prefer to avoid political controversy, for this article deals with a musical review) (yet still, the title is so topical). Besides, it comes with an all-devastating sound quality, characterized by a well-balanced mix and a meticulous production. All elements are equably represented: lead and rhythm strings, vocals and drums + percussions. It’s so nice to notice that the influence of the bass-lines is parallel to the soloing six-string lines, or to hear that the vocal narratives (what a sulfur-spitting throat!) do not overpower, nor are inferior, to the merciless torture of skins, cymbals and sticks. The riffs are sharp like a scalpel, the rhythm section thunders and crushes, and the vocal chords must have been cultivated in a breeding pond of battery acid, magma and molten lead.

A couple of semi-acoustic parts (mind that majestic intro to Riding With The Blizzard Storms, a true epic symphony – and for what it’s worth, it might be my favorite track on this album), a modest amount of vocal variations (some death grunts, a hint of clean chanting, a few shouts, you know…), injections of Blackened Death and Blackened Thrash Metal, a fine balance of heroic pride and almost arrogant violence; Bellum Nostrum is modestly enriched by different details and elements that prove this project’s highly-qualitative existence.

I mentioned a reference to the ‘traditional’ scene. Well, that’s not unfair at all, I think. Also the promotional press description by distributing company Satanath Records mentions bands like Immortal, Mayhem, Marduk, Blodsrit, Ragnarok, Dark Fortress, Lord Belial and Gorgoroth as recommendation. In some choices I do follow this idea, why not. Yet I think that Azamoth are searching for an own sound, a distinctive approach, and I guess they might get there. But indeed, every ‘fan’ of these aforementioned acts might pay attention! This stuff will injure your brain, your neck-muscles, your mental health too; yet then again, it is worth it!

White Mare

Dirk — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 14:10:00 +0000

Artist:

White Mare

Album Title:

Isle Of Bliss

Release Date:

Monday, April 25, 2022

Label:

Negre PlanY

Distribution:

Negra Nit

Blood Fire Death

Review Type:

At the very end of last decade, Swiss vocalist (and keyboardist) David Genillard aka D.G. (known from his collaboration in e.g. Nightshade, Sic Semper Tyrannis or Duthaig) decided to start a new outfit that dwells within spheres of traditional Doom-Death Metal. He joined forces with string-master J.G. Arts (here active as J.A.), who you might know from his notorious Doom-act Doomcult (the Netherlands). They wrote several tracks and entered the studio, soon accompanied by drummer Thomas ‘T.W.’ Wacinski, D.G.’s colleague in e.g. Nightshade or 3 Days Of Silence (ex).

Baptized as White Mare, this triumvirate finished their debut Isle Of Bliss, inspired by Homer’s Odyssey especially. It was mixed and mastered by J.A. They were joined by some guests, by the way, amongst some involved with Duthaig. For the physical release (and partly the digital one too, evidently), they signed to Symbol Of Domination Productions, this time in conspiracy with Negre PlanY. The compact-disc (in a ‘regular’ jewel-case format) is limited to five hundred copies, coming with a twelve-page booklet. The stunning cover art was created by some Oriane Binggeli, with the general lay-out taken care of by Rayan Tengblad (also active in Duthaig, by the way) and D.G.

Isle Of Bliss clocks more than three quarters of an hour and brings quite ‘traditional’ Doom-Death with a melancholic edge and a funereal attitude. The lengthy hymns (from six to twelve minutes of length) mainly consist of the classic ingredients: hypnotic leading riffage, with varying, often rumbling and pounding drum patterns, moody string assistance, semi-acoustic intermezzi, orbital keyboard-lines, immersive solos, you know, that which characterizes this scene in its bare essence. It sort of means that the basic structure isn’t renewing. Well, no, it is not at all. Those searching for originality better skip this material. But if you do not care about distinctiveness, yet rather focuses on quality, then you will be into it as from the beginning.

I mentioned that orthodox approach. Well, there a couple of elements that ignore the rules of conventionality, but the habitual execution is of a high quality. It’s that simple. The song-writing is deep-thought, the performance impeccable, and the sound-quality of high-professional level. When observing that production, one cannot but admit two crucial elements: the mix and the sound. That sound is very decent, well-polished and pure, yet still perpetuating the grim message of the concept (joy and happiness, as you can guess). It’s rough but not crude, and lucid yet not twinkling. Besides, the different instruments / vocals are well-balanced, for the mix pays attention to both the leading section as well as the rhythm fraction.

Two thing are remarkable, and for a tiny moment even differentiating White Mare’s stuff from most other bands within the scene (even-though it is not totally new or idiomatic): the vocal timbre and the use of piano. In contrast to most acts, the voices here are not of the deeply-growling, long-stretched, thunderous kind. The voice of D.G. is rather raspy, almost blackened, instead of being a (predictable) grunt. It gives the whole a bleak and tragic character rather than a damned one. That’s a nice aspect for sure. That other thing, that piano-play, well, it is not renewing either, of course, but the frequent use of it is remarkable and typifying.

Recommended if you can appreciate the likes of Shape Of Despair, NovemberS Doom, Shattered Sigh, Saturnus, Evadne, Doom:vs or Mourning Beloveth.

Manipulation

Dirk — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 13:44:12 +0000

Artist:

Manipulation

Album Title:

Mind Control Ultra

Release Date:

Monday, June 10, 2019

Label:

Distribution:

Review Type:

Due to health-related circumstances within my family, I am working / I try to work away my delayed reviews for a label, or better, a cooperative of labels, that I adore for several reasons: the varied sonic approaches, the open-minded support, and last but not least, the wonderful guy behind these labels, Mister Aleksey ‘Satanath’ Korolyov. Anyway, whatever, thank you, and stuff…

This review deals with the fourth full-length by Poland’s finest Manipulation, an act that started at the very beginning of this century and which consists of former or current members of e.g. Cinis, Empatic or Deathbringer. Throughout the years, these worshippers of mirage (!) did record and release some material that was quite well appreciated in, especially, their home-country, and after about four years of silence, Manipulation do return with Mind Control Ultra, which gets available after signing to the mighty upcoming label Symbol Of Domination Productions.

This act did record a very modest yet somehow impressing amount of stuff, even though the line-up has not ever been that stable. Especially vocalist-wise, Manipulation did have some issues. However, as a renewed quintet they did collect twelve (new) songs under the banner of Mind Control Ultra; an album that clocks more than forty-six minutes, by the way. Symbol Of Domination Productions came up with five-hundred physical copies, which do include a sixteen-page booklet that contains the lyrics (in English).

From sonic point of listen, Manipulation do perform a very nasty and intense, yet highly technical form of old styled Death Metal. For sure the classic / legendary scene from these guys’ home country does come to mind. But what strikes me enormously is the extended variation and superb atmosphere of this album. When talking about the latter, those spheres, well, this goes further than just performing brutal and devastating Death Metal with that satisfying old-schooled touch of uncompromising fierceness. Actually, these pretty boys (growler Kret, skin-molester Kriss, guitar players Rado.Slav and Vulture, and four-string guitarist Bysiek) know how to combine intensity and energy with detailed eye for content, atmosphere and melody. An element that strengthens this statement is the subtle use of synth parts (acting at the background yet undeniably colourful when used [*]), another one is the addition of some slower parts with smoothly floating melodies as spine. And what about some asphyxiating intermezzos, like that hypnotic excerpt in MK-Ultra, based at first on some intoxicating riff, followed by that mesmerizing and sludgy part!)?

[*] a shorter intermezzo like The Skull With Acid In Eye is an example of weirdly-constructed sonic creativity, mingling psychedelic synth-lines, tribal drum-patterns, jazzy percussion and meditative keyboard-layers (and bizarre manipulated voices at the end).

Yet the better part is harsh and uncompromising for sure. Most compositions are based on a furious rhythm section (the bass-sound adds a level of suffocating obscurity, the extremely varied drum-patterns pound, rage, beat and thunder, the rhythm guitars support the front-line of the warlike hordes at the blood-drenched battlefields; oops, I got overwhelmed by an intolerant level of militant poetry). All this lifts up the timeless leads and melodies, sometimes raging like a rabid bull on acid, then again based on duelling leads and some tremolo riffing, once in a while experimental and progressively high-tech-performed in the vein of some of the U.S.A.’s most notorious bands, or mathematically explored and dissected. Also the progressive, djenty experimentation à la, let’s say, earlier Meshuggah, Gojira, After The Burial and the likes, gets used to enrich this border-trespassing elegance. Once in a while, even subtle hints of Epic / Black Metal do enter the adventure. And I cannot forget to mention the megalithic throat of Kret, quite diversified in expression: growls and grunts, screams, and even some aberrations-on-purpose!

A word about the production: scorching! Honestly, the sound quality is extremely powerful and intense, empowering the energy that characters this extreme stuff. Yet above all, the attention given to a well-balanced equilibrium of all instruments is simply honourable. The aural result therefor isn’t but ear-candy.

A must for fans of, and I’ll keep it enormously open-minded, everything in between Thy Decease, Hate, Origin, Hate Eternal, Decapitated or even Suffocation and Immolation.

Donarhall

Dirk — Sat, 02 May 2020 13:34:47 +0000

Artist:

Donarhall

Album Title:

Helvegr

Release Date:

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Label:

Black Metal Propaganda Deutschland

Distribution:

Black Metal Propaganda Deutschland

Review Type:

Eugen Kohl is a very active and productive musician from Germany. The guy has several (solo) outfits, such as Necrochaos (brutal and intense old schooled Death Metal), Death Carrier (massive Sludge / Doom / Drone), Sinister Downfall (heavy atmospheric Funeral Doom), Hexengrab (hateful Second Wave-styled Black Metal), Urschmerz (Ambient / Dungeon Synth / Winter Synth-injected Depressive Black Metal), Crypt Witch (psychotropic Stoner-injected Ultra Doom Metal) or Nihilisticon (which is not a one-man army, but a real ‘band’, performing timeless and melodic Atmospheric Black Metal), amongst many others.

Another project courtesy of Eugen, aka Gnev, is Donarhall. This Lower-Saxonian based one was formed in 2016 and is responsible for more than one hand full of recordings over a period of just three years. Amongst them, some fine full-length studio albums and two splits (one with Vihan Messu from Finland, one with Greece’s Adventum Diaboli).

During 2019, Eugen ‘Gnev’ recorded his fifth full length studio album under the Donarhall banner, which was (and still is, of course) called Helvegr. Eugen did everything himself (song writing, recording, production), and the result got released in a partnership of Black Metal Propaganda Deutschland and Symbol Of Domination Productions for both digital and compact disc format. The latter comes in a normal ‘jewel case’ with a four-page booklet. The latter is extremely sober, with almost no additional information (no lyrics, but this is an instrumental band, you see…), with a four-page booklet in sober black-and-white artwork (cover + inner sleeve, just like the inlay and the disc itself).

Helvegr, the first release after September 2018’s Arousal, consists of eight instrumental epics, clocking forty-seven minutes (Arousal consisted of exceptionally lengthy compositions, in comparison to all former material). It is like a huge symphony, a majestic orchestration of Dark Aural art. Donarhall are a non-vocal, instrumental project, created out of the ashes of the most sulphurous blackened remains of bleakness. But hey, pay attention, for vocals are totally otiose right here.

Seriously, I love many (most) kind of blackened vocals: from high-pitched screams over diabolical voices to grimly wretched grunts and guttural choking blast-the-lung-out-of-the-body shit. But somehow this project simply surprises, and convinces, even though it is totally instrumental.

Donarhall brings enormously energetic and fast blackened Metal (pieces like the intro, for example, are totally different with their bombastic and doomed character), based on the mighty interplay of the hypnotic twin / tremolo leading riffs at the one hand, and a monstrous, barbaric rhythm section at the other.

Fine elements are the sound and the use of acoustic excerpts. When referring to the latter, well, these acoustic intermezzi (intros or passages in between) are wonderful, for they do add that semi-emotional greatness of epic and victorious conviction. It goes extremely well with the war-mongering passages; and especially some slower excerpts do exhale that glorious, warlike attitude. I also mentioned the sound, and I am truly obsessed by this unique mixture of atmospheric roughness in production, and the professional mix and mastering. Lacking vocals, this purely instrumental experience could have turned into a guitar-only journey, ignoring every detail that lies behind to support the bigger picture. But in Donarhall’s case, the whole instrumentation convinced like a huge organism of darkened Aural Art. Whenever you’re experiencing rather melancholic parts, blasting and erupting pieces, or epic-heroic passages; the well-thought equilibrium of all instruments does lift the whole up to areas of magnificence and glory.

What follows here is nothing but a personal opinion. I like Black Metal. I love Black Metal. I breathe Black Metal as from the Eighties. And Black Metal usually implies ‘screams’ from whatever kind. Most instrumental efforts I experienced, well, they could not convince me at all. Donarhall, however, are an exception, because for some reason, Eugen is able to create something that exceeds ‘words’ to express its message. I wouldn’t mind hearing some grim voices actually, yet then again I do not miss them either. Donarhall are able to tell their story without the use of words, and that’s a unique thing (and not many instrumental bands / projects are able to do this very same good shitty thing!). Cool! And hey, there are voices – not expressing words, not telling a story with full-linguistic sentences or conceptual content, but used and performed as an atmospheric instrument somehow (listen for example to Vagr to understand what I mean – a truly magisterial piece with some overwhelming acoustic excerpts, a monumental rhythm section and intriguing leads).

Purely informative, but a couple of months after the official release of this album, Repose Records did release a tape edition too, though this one being strictly limited to an edition of only fifty copies…

Lauxnos

Dirk — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 13:39:44 +0000

Artist:

Lauxnos

Album Title:

Crushed By Waves

Release Date:

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Label:

The Ritual Productions

Distribution:

The Ritual Productions

Review Type:

Lauxnos is the name of a Russian project, which was formed in 2013 by multi-instrumentalist Kirill ‘Katharos’ Andreevich, who is (or was) active as well in outfits like K.M., Hyperborean Frost, Emptiness Soul, Sona Nil or The Happiness Cage, amongst others. The first years, Lauxnos was (another) solo-project by Katharos, with some very interesting releases (amongst which the Satanath Records debut My Dead Ocean – this actually was my first acquaintance with this project). As from 2017, Lauxnos turned into a band, i.e. that some other members joined forces with Katharos under the Lauxnos moniker. It was not just a live line-up, but in the studio the musicians started working together as well. And that is still the case.

So, this newest full length, and actually the first official full-length studio album as a quartet, was recorded by Katharos (now focusing on the vocals and bass parts) along with guitar players Shoggoth and Amdusias and drummer Funeral. They did perform together in for example Sona Nil, Hyperborean Frost or Emptiness Soul as well, by the way. Everything was recorded and mixed + mastered by the band (aka LXNS Music). The physical edition (compact disc in ‘regular’ jewel case) was printed in 500 copies, and comes with an eight-page booklet, which includes the lyrics in Russian + the English translation. The artwork is somewhat psychedelic, but fitting, courtesy once again of Vladimir / Paint-It-Black Design. It got released in another partnership in between Belarussian Symbol Of Domination Productions and The Ritual Productions from The Netherlands.

Crushed By Waves starts with the lengthiest track on the album, The Voice Of Dead Ocean, which starts with actually a very nice piano melody (with floating synths at the background), joined after a while by a rhythmic drum pattern. At about two minutes, things transform into an acoustic passage at first (basses, acoustic guitars, drums, keyboards), and eventually everything turns into the core business of the band. And that is a fine and well-balanced form of Post-Black Metal / Shoegaze stuff.

The approach is enormously varied and creative. Okay, with creative I do not mean that Lauxnos are a band that renews the scene. They do not, while using many ‘traditional’ elements and structures. But they have that little distinctive, and that for a couple of reasons. One thing is the huge variation. Every single composition seems to build upon many chapters. But the changes in tempo and structure are so naturally performed; truly amazing it is. Sudden breaks and blasting eruptions in speed, the injection of high-quality guitar solos, the balance in between electric and acoustic passages, the use of traditional and modern elements, the vocal diversity; in a very organic way, Lauxnos sort of perform a 2.0-form of Atmospheric-Depressive Blackgaze.

The drum parts, for example, are quite remarkable, and ingeniously composed / executed. Once in a while you sort of need to get used to them, but in essence they are one of the prominent elements within the Lauxnos story. Andy ‘Funeral’ has a very characteristic playing fashion, distinctive from most combos. I have to admit that it might sound like being programmed; at least if you do not know the drums and percussions were played live. But as said, that’s what makes this a remarkable thing.

The better part is based on highly melodious structures, with reverberating / twin / tremolo riffing and a couple of well-crafted solos. They go well with the growling screams, which are blackened most of the time, and grunting once in a while too. And not that uncommon, yet melodic clean voices / choir are not a stranger either. But I might not forget to mention the rhythm string section, which is such great support for the quite technically executed melodies. I did mention the acoustic excerpts and somewhat eccentric, even progressive drum patterns, but now I am rather referring to the highly supportive bass and rhythm guitars. The sound of those strings makes the whole listening experience intensive and arduous, which is a well-thought counterbalance to the tuneful main structure.

And that brings me easily to the quality of the sound. Well, the production is clean – not too clean, as in ‘clinical’, yet very decent. Yet still it maintains a certain harshness and roughness too, which is indispensable, of course. The mix is simply top-notch. All ingredients, both leading and rhythmic, both vocally and instrumentally, both acoustic and electric, have been mixed with such detailed balance in between them. The importance of the bass and rhythm guitars, for example, which I referred to in my former paragraph, therefor are so pronounced, without taking over the lead, yet not fading away as a second class detail either.

Well, I think that every open-minded fan of, let’s say, Harakiri For The Sky, early Lantlôs, Fen, Alcest or Agalloch (and the likes, you know what I mean) will surely adore this newest creation by Lauxnos.

Ethir Anduin

steven — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 08:36:10 +0000

Artist:

Ethir Anduin

Album Title:

Loneliness Of My Life

Release Date:

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Label:

More Hate Productions

Distribution:

More Hate Productions

Review Type:

Ethir Anduin are a productive formation, formed in 2006 in Leningrad by Alexey ‘Fenrir’ Veselov (currently also in Bestial Deform, by the way). Throughout this decade, Ethir Anduin (being a solo-outfit) recorded and released quite some stuff, including a hand full of full-length studio albums (many of them being self-released) (amongst them: I Magen Av Svart Kaos – link below)

More Hate Productions and Symbol Of Domination Productions did work together many times before, and they decided to collaborate once more in order to release this newest Ethir Anduin album, which is called Loneliness Of My Life. The result is an eight-tracker that lasts for seventy minutes (about eight to eleven minutes per song). The compact disc, printed in 500 copies, comes with a four-page booklet, and seen that this project is an instrumental one, there are, evidently, no lyrics included. The cover artwork has something tolkienish, yet seen the moniker of the project (named after the delta of the river Anduin in the southern regions of Gondor in Middle-Earth), that is not a surprise.

Loneliness Of My Life is, well, how to put it. I have to admit that I have never been that thrilled by any of the last Ethir Anduin releases – though I did certainly not dislike them ethir, eh, I mean either. I was always missing something, waiting for something to come – something that eventually did not come at all (or not completely). Something that the more funereal first releases did have, yet which did disappear, unfortunately. Well, with this album, and after several listens, I finally found what I was looking for once again since a couple of years. And damn yes, that’s great to experience.

In some way, Ethir Anduin can convince me the whole of the time. Is there something different in comparison to the (recent) past? Well, yes and no.

No, for Loneliness Of My Life still brings a very melodious and timeless form of (Black) Metal. The basic ingredients are the same. All compositions are of the so-called ‘Atmospheric’ kind, with firm and little heavy structures, a lot of floating melodies (great leads, dual / duelling riffing, and a handful of convincing solos), mesmerizing synth lines, and pounding rhythms. The tempo is quite slow, flirting with the most epic expression of Doom, interspersed with several harsher excerpts.

Yes, because of several reasons. And I know that what follows isn’t but a personal, and therefor subjective element, but, how to put it, I de feel it this time. The compositions are much more well-thought, much more professional in both song writing and execution. There is a lot more to experience, with an increased adultery in performance. I’ll give Life Is Punishment as an example, with so many details to unravel. The better part of this song is based on pretty intense yet ambient structures. But you have that sudden quasi-blasting outburst, the subtle injection of acoustics, and the dark, gloomy spheres veiled around the pushing core. The ability to search for, and find, a great balance in between semi-acoustic moments and pounding passages, in between integer moments and combative ones, and in between slower and funereal fragments and technical elegance, has not been that pronounced for years.

This example is a fragment of almost each single piece on this album. All tracks do have that convincing, even intriguing character, with many things to explore, many elements to dissect. The huge variation is mostly coherent this time, organically cohesive and never pathetically exaggerated. …which is another example of the positive evolution. Besides, the sound quality is simply great. The whole sounds powerful and overwhelming, yet not fake surgically clean (still maintaining that rough-edged rawness). Within the mix, every single detail, every single instrument involved plays its own, mostly important, role. Once again I have to mention ‘organic’. I think it’s wonderful to hear the bass lines supporting the melodies so intensely. I think it’s great to feel that the keyboards at the background are more than simply supportive, yet being part of the totality to create this semi-spiritual sphere. And it is oh so fine to notice that the whole package acts like one fabulous naturally-sounding sonic journey.

Anyway, I can conclude easily with: Loneliness Of My Life for sure might be the best Ethir Anduin recording to date. It’s a thrilling experience with a lot to discover. Once again, it isn’t but my personal opinion, but this might be the start of a new future. I hope Fenrir, the guy behind this solo-outfit, will continue this way, for I do already look forward listening to the new album (whenever it is foreseen).

A Thousand Sufferings

Dirk — Tue, 14 May 2019 12:03:52 +0000

Artist:

A Thousand Sufferings

Album Title:

Bleakness

Release Date:

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Label:

Distribution:

Review Type:

When the band Vex was put on hold, some members continued in a new band, called A Thousand Sufferings. This Flemish horde debuted at the very end of 2015 with the four-tracker Burden, their debut for Satanath Records from Russia. I was honestly impressed by this first effort (see:

Aetranok

Dirk — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 13:00:30 +0000

Artist:

Aetranok

Album Title:

Kingdoms Of The Black Sepulcher

Release Date:

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Label:

Death Portal Studio

Distribution:

Death Portal Studio

Review Type:

From the bleak, Arctic soil of New Mexico hail Aetranok, a quintet that started earlier this decade. At the very beginning of 2014, the band released a first album (on compact disc), Grande Invokation, via Colorado-based Death Portal Studio, re-released a couple of months later, also on CD and digitally, through Senseless Life Records from the U.K. (nowadays known as Sepulchral Silence). Then it took quite some time, but four years after their debut, and after some changes in line-up, Aetranok return with their sophomore album, Kingdoms Of The Black Sepulcher. This one gets released digitally and on CD in an edition of 500 copies via Belarussian Symbol Of Domination Productions (sister-label of Satanath Records) and, once again, Death Portal Studio. The CD-edition (jewel case) comes with a twelve-page booklet and the disc in so-called vinyl-style.

Kingdoms Of The Black Sepulcher was recorded at the Aetherial Studios in the band’s home country. The line-up on this album is: original members and guitar players Meretrix (aka Draka) and Apophis (also the main music writer and lyricist), keyboardist Tenebros, bass player þoros, and new drummer Xamoth (whom you might know from e.g. Itnotk, a band that also includes þoros, or Necronaunce and Music Distroyer [no fault, band’s name written correctly]).

What these guys bring is a very, and I mean VERY, intense, harsh and devastating form of so-called Cosmic Symphonic Black Metal. The pretty lengthy songs (the compositions last in between five and seven minutes) are extremely fast and energetic, strengthened by the artillery drum salvos especially. Oh my beloveth princess of the Underworld, those militant drum patterns crush and destroy. No mercy, just chopping fierceness without remorse. But that’s not the only thing that makes this recording so ‘intense’, evidently. When talking about the strings, it’s a surprising fact to notice, at the same time, a high level of melodicity at the one hand, and an enormous pushing rhythm section at the other hand. The lead parts create a wave of epic and astral elegance, while those melodies are forceful supported by a firm, powerful combination of rhythm guitars and bass lines. All this gets joined by several layers of synths; sometimes taking the lead, then again subtly darkening the whole concept at the background. And last but not least, you have a huge variety on vocals. Grunts and growls, screams, yells and so on, but the better part is simply malicious and tormented. The main vocals breath sulphur, or are like a sweet soundtrack for veins being cut slowly by a rusty blade. Those who remember Vintersemestre or those who are trusted with DUX will know what I mean. Furthermore: (church) bells and chimes, droning noises, hints of Lovecraftian horror, and so on…

The result is atmospheric, yet from a very frightening kind, and at the same time enormously technically written and executed too. The whole maintains a chilly and breath-taking morbidity, an evil grimness lurking beyond. This goes for the passages with synths especially, yet also for some of the blasting outbursts.

There’s one thing that deeply disappoint me, and that’s the sound. The quality is way beneath acceptance, and sometimes the mix fails to concentrate or accentuate important, necessary details. It’s muddy and messy, and way too inconsistent. A pity. But that’s only one aspect (though an important one), because the song writing and performance show these guys’ enthusiasm to rape the listeners’ eardrums with a sardonic, sadistic and sarcastic pleasure. And that is, at the end, what it all is about: Black Metal!!! Besides, in an industrialised Black Noise-oriented lullaby like Liber Khao Ad Veritas, it might be a surplus!

I guess it will be appreciated by everyone who likes stuff in between Sirius, Suffering Souls, Nocturnal Majesty, Limbonic Art, Obsidian Gate, Darkspace, Evil Palace and the likes…

80/100

In Tenebriz

Dirk — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 13:30:59 +0000

Artist:

In Tenebriz

Album Title:

Winternight Poetry

Release Date:

Friday, May 25, 2018

Label:

More Hate Productions

Distribution:

Review Type:

Vladimir ‘Wolfir’ Prokofiev is a very productive designer and musician. As visual artwork artist, he did create the cover paintings for tens of bands / albums (which I am going to list up), and as musician he worked under different pseudonyms before. But his most active outfit surely is In Tenebriz, which he started in 2005. Throughout the years, In Tenebriz recorded and released more than ten full lengths, many EP and several split-releases, especially during the first half of this decade.

His latest-but-one release (in Autumn 2018 he self-released the digital album Winged) was Winternight Poetry, initially released independently via his Bandcamp page. The seven tracks were written and composed in 2017 by the sole member, Russia’s Wolfir, who took care of the (beautiful) artwork too. Shortly after the digital release, 500 physical copies were made (with an eight-page booklet, which includes the lyrics, in his mother tongue, dealing with melancholy, winter, the loss of hope and loneliness), eventually released in a partnership of Symbol Of Domination Productions and More Hate Productions.

The conceptual album has a total running time of almost forty minutes, and brings a slow-paced, floating and transcendental form of Atmospheric Black Metal with an astral approach. The melodic songs are strongly carried by the strings, with duelling tremolo leads and intriguing solos as core. The guitar play is a basic yet essential element to define both this project in general, as well as the album more specifically. But that has nothing to do with the sound quality, for this one pays attention to every single instrumental aspect; but I will come back to this later. As said, the better part is slow-paced, dooming around the whole of the time, which strengthens the dejected attitude. Once in a while, the tempo accelerates, but even then, it is just a mid-tempo-oriented speed that shows up. Not the guitar parts alone characterise this album. Remarkable too are the synths with that specific approach, that specific sound, reminding me a lot of, for example, Lustre and the likes. Half of the time, those xylophone-alike keys are supporting the guitar leads at the background, and many times they play the head-role within this audible motion picture. A third important player is this: the vocals. These ones are grim, deep and undulate. And last but not least, my respect for the whole rhythm section, the total background support. Whether it deals with the mesmerizing synth lines, heavy rhythm guitars, pounding basses or battling drums, this rhythm support is of undeniable importance for the total structure, the covering-as-a-whole of this aural experience. And it is not purely ‘in support of’. Tribal percussion, semi-acoustic intermezzi, and so on; there are various additional elements that put their mark on this sonic drama.

The production is of a high level. As mentioned, there are a lot of individual (yet cohesive) instrumental / vocal aspects. But since the equilibrium shows a magnificent mix at the end, all ingredients are of equally-balanced importance. This goes for the acoustic fragments as well as the heavier excerpts, and everything in between. The result is clean and decent, without any form of exaggerated over-production (luckily!), and lacking any irritating background noises. Okay, little more roughness could have intensified the heaviness and the obscurity, but it did not turn out into some poppy result. Fine!

Recommended if you can appreciate stuff à la Lustre, Nebula Orionis, Frozen Oceans, Chiral, Eldamar, Grimirg, Astarot and the likes…