concreteweb - Darknagar Records

Rebirth The Metal Productions

Distribution:

GrimmDistribution

Sevared Records

Review Type:

A short review, this time. And yes, I know this compilation was released more than a year ago, in the meantime, but so what?...

This review deals with the fourth volume within Darknagar Records’ series that pays tribute to the huge, yet sometimes underestimated Death Metal scene from Russia. Seen the title, you smartass was aware of that, of course…

Once again, it compiles stuff from the many, differing faces of Death Metal, being Brutal Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Grinding Death Metal, Progressive Death Metal, Traditional Death Metal, Slamming Death Metal, Blackened Death Metal, Thrashing Death Metal and even deader deadlier Death Metal.

There’s modern stuff and there’s old schooled material, there are adventurous bands and traditional ones, there’s no-nonsense brutality and high-tech experimentation. Some take it serious, others hilarious. But in any case, every open-minded Death Metal adept will surely discover some interesting songs.

Several bands I did know before, some I had heard of before, yet not been able to listen at, and more than two hands full of the bands presented are new to me. And seen the fact that there are quite a couple of mostly interesting ones amongst them, I think this compilation series is nothing else but a recommendation for every single fan of dead deadly death-breathing f*ckin’ Death metal.

[I do not intent to give a score to a compilation]

Symbol Of Domination Productions

0/100

Necroheresy

Dirk — Tue, 26 Dec 2017 13:40:49 +0000

Artist:

Necroheresy

Album Title:

Asylum

Release Date:

Friday, June 16, 2017

Label:

Distribution:

Review Type:

As you can read in my review for Necroheresy’s debut Divine Betrayal (published on June 16th 2015), I was very pleased by the intensity and craftsmanship of this Slovakian band. Those actual and former members of e.g. Karpathia, Silva Nigra, Evil Dead and Aeon Winds did convince me, so I was impatiently waiting for some new material. It took a while, but here they are, once again, with their first full length.

Asylum gets released in an edition of 500 copies via Symbol Of Domination Productions, a fast-growing sub-division of Satanath Records, the label that did release the Divine Betrayal EP at the very end of 2014. This time, it gets co-released by two other Russian labels, Wings Of Destruction and Darknagar Records, both of them labels that did co-operate with Satanath Records before. The album lasts for half an hour, and the lyrical side, once again, is written and sung (or better: spawned, growled, grunted, screamed, whatever) in the band’s mother tongue. The eight-page booklet does not include any translation of the lyrical concept, but the titles have been translated at the back cover, so it might give a hint of the band’s poetry…

Asylum starts with a horrific introduction, with Gregorian chants, a praying priest, church bells, a weeping baby, ominous soundwaves etc. – indeed, it surely sets the tone for a lot more to come, and you might guess what’s next to experience: morbidity and disgust, evilness and horror! In nominee patris, dear reader… But then, suddenly Silence Before The Storm is like the storm after silence, breaking lose in a mostly devastating way. This track, and so do the other ones, go on, and further, where the former release did end. This is an old schooled assault that has not necessarily the intention to take prisoners. Merciless, violent and remorseless, they’ll torture, disfigure and rape those victims.

Yet to my opinion, Asylum goes further than Divine Betrayal, and this for several reasons. There’s the variety, for example. The quintet is taken their influences from a wider source, from much more angles of nastiness and hatred. You still got some punky elements (like in Consecration), thrashing ones (hello Silence Before The Storm, or the deadly piece Blind Monk), purely Death-oriented excerpts (listen to the bulldozering storm-raid Portent or the thrashing whirlwind assault Mortal Addiction), or rather Doom-laden compositions (a selection of excerpts out of Four Rooms Of Sanatorium, for example, is like a monument within this direction, though this track coming with elements from the most nasty opposite too); but it’s somewhat ‘wider’, more open-minded and universal than before. The sound too did progress, for the final mix is simply adorable. What a wall of noise, what a monumental eardrum-attack! And it does focus on all ingredients, no matter whether we’re listening to the lead instruments or the rhythmic parts. In another way, this stuff is heavier than before, yet fading further away from the Death Metal approach from 2014’s EP. It’s more like a crossover, an evolution, a symbiosis of Crust, Death, Black and Thrash Metal, Punk and Groove, all rooted in an old school jacket.

Oh yes, I cannot but mention this; I just have to, for Bathory is the reason why I am into Extreme Underground Metal: Satan My Master… You know, the original is (almost) always better, but Necroheresy’s version of this KKKult trakkk is oh so attractive.

75/100

various artists

Dirk — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 09:07:02 +0000

Artist:

various artists

Album Title:

Russian Death Metal vol. 3

Release Date:

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Label:

Distribution:

Review Type:

After Russian Death Metal and Russian Death Metal vol. 2, we can finally enjoy Russian Death Metal vol. 3, indeed the third volume with nothing but Russian Death Metal. I guess the smartest ones amongst you were aware of that; but just to make sure you’re perfectly informed, it’s my pleasure to make sure you’re with me… You’re welcome…

Like both former volumes, this compilation is a joint-(ad)venture in between Darknagar Records and the Russian Death Metal community (and being a registered trademark), and once again it comes with quite cool designed artwork by Onkel Hryum. Eighteen bands are represented with known as well as previously unreleased or new material. And once again the album compiles stuff from different angles and sub-genres within the legendary open-mindedness of the Russian Death Metal scene.

I initially wanted to introduce each single band, but that would bring me too far. It has nothing to do with being lazy, but this isn’t ‘but’ a compilation (not meant the negative way, but… okay, I admit: I’m lazy, haha).

The Mutilator: hailing from the shores at the Volga, bringing quite traditional, old styled Death Metal with lots of symphonic keyboards
Corvus Lives Again: rhythmic and energetic Blackened Death Metal from Astrakhan (close to the Caspian Sea)
Dead Point: with members of The Nameless; focusing on the elemental basics of the timeless Death Metal current, with brain-smashing drum assaults, dual vocals and some technical (dual) riffs
Incarnator (Ekaterinburg): actually rather Thrash Metal-oriented, yet with quite some Death Metal elements
Permafrost: a solo-outfit by Ukraine-born Sergey Timoshenko, penetrating grinding elements within quite classic and somewhat bloody Death Metal nastiness
Total Despair: brutal and technical Old School Death Metal
Mонсальват (pronounced: monsalvat): melodic, rhythmic, technical and progressive mid-tempo Death Metal
Accidental Death Benefit: five-piece from the Irkutsk region, bringing fast and brutal Grindeath, yet with quite some surprises (cf. the doomy excerpt towards the end)
Panopticon Death from the city of Tagil: pounding and melodious (listen to those guitars!) Epic Death Metal (cf. the warrior mentality of Unleashed and Amon Amarth!)
The Nameless: main band of Nikita Popov, Arthur Gogol and Yuri Popkov (here with Ivan Rasstrygin); pure Death Metal, deskinned from modern trendiness or progressive semi-happiness
Alcoholic Russian Bear: as this young trio’s band-name might reveal, this is not to be taken all too serious; though the members perform quite serious shit: morbid and nasty Grind-edged low-tuned Death Metal; from Russia’s capital city…
Voices Of Death: energetic and slamming Grindeath from Voronezh
Gutted Bride: trio from the Murmansk region, bringing brutal and oppressive Death Metal, nicely balancing in between the technical progression and the elements from the early years’ scene
Chestburst (from Moscow): a five-piece bringing surprisingly cool and slowly-slamming Doom-Grind-injected Traditional Death Metal, with passages ‘slower than Doom’
Nakka (from Tver, at the North-West from Moscow): a combo that combines Groove with Grind and Death Metal; including a female ‘vocalist’ (damn, Gella’s throat spits as much venom and sulphur as many male colleagues!)
Leichttraktor: bringing a short Grind / Death assault, rhythmic and groovy, highly technical and discordant
Absorbed Dose: a modern approach on the timelessness of Melodic Death Metal, including technical high-skilled elements, nice vocals (a blackened grunt and deeper growls), and melodious structures
Tekna: a mad combo from Pyatigorsk (close to the Georgian border), bringing a mixture of experimental Grindtech and the tradition of old schooled (Brutal) Death Metal, yet maintaining a certain melodic character

As you can see, there is quite some diversity, once again. It shows a certain open-mindedness, for the Death Metal scene might be accused as lacking inspiration and an own identity lately. Anyway, whether you agree or not, I think that this sampler represents quite a fine elite from the current scene in the Russian Federation. I can truly recommend this to any Death Metal fan, in order to find out which band will convince you to go search for their next official release.

80/100

various artists

Dirk — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 10:58:34 +0000

Artist:

various artists

Album Title:

Russian Death Metal vol. 3

Release Date:

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Label:

Distribution:

Review Type:

The Mutilator: hailing from the shores at the Volga, bringing quite traditional, old styled Death Metal with lots of symphonic keyboards
Corvus Lives Again: rhythmic and energetic Blackened Death Metal from Astrakhan (close to the Caspian Sea)
Dead Point: with members of The Nameless; focusing on the elemental basics of the timeless Death Metal current, with brain-smashing drum assaults, dual vocals and some technical (dual) riffs
Incarnator (Ekaterinburg): actually rather Thrash Metal-oriented, yet with quite some Death Metal elements
Permafrost: a solo-outfit by Ukraine-born Sergey Timoshenko, penetrating grinding elements within quite classic and somewhat bloody Death Metal nastiness
Total Despair: brutal and technical Old School Death Metal
Mонсальват (pronounced: monsalvat): melodic, rhythmic, technical and progressive mid-tempo Death Metal
Accidental Death Benefit: five-piece from the Irkutsk region, bringing fast and brutal Grindeath, yet with quite some surprises (cf. the doomy excerpt towards the end)
Panopticon Death from the city of Tagil: pounding and melodious (listen to those guitars!) Epic Death Metal (cf. the warrior mentality of Unleashed and Amon Amarth!)
The Nameless: main band of Nikita Popov, Arthur Gogol and Yuri Popkov (here with Ivan Rasstrygin); pure Death Metal, deskinned from modern trendiness or progressive semi-happiness
Alcoholic Russian Bear: as this young trio’s band-name might reveal, this is not to be taken all too serious; though the members perform quite serious shit: morbid and nasty Grind-edged low-tuned Death Metal; from Russia’s capital city…
Voices Of Death: energetic and slamming Grindeath from Voronezh
Gutted Bride: trio from the Murmansk region, bringing brutal and oppressive Death Metal, nicely balancing in between the technical progression and the elements from the early years’ scene
Chestburst (from Moscow): a five-piece bringing surprisingly cool and slowly-slamming Doom-Grind-injected Traditional Death Metal, with passages ‘slower than Doom’
Nakka (from Tver, at the North-West from Moscow): a combo that combines Groove with Grind and Death Metal; including a female ‘vocalist’ (damn, Gella’s throat spits as much venom and sulphur as many male colleagues!)
Leichttraktor: bringing a short Grind / Death assault, rhythmic and groovy, highly technical and discordant
Absorbed Dose: a modern approach on the timelessness of Melodic Death Metal, including technical high-skilled elements, nice vocals (a blackened grunt and deeper growls), and melodious structures
Tekna: a mad combo from Pyatigorsk (close to the Georgian border), bringing a mixture of experimental Grindtech and the tradition of old schooled (Brutal) Death Metal, yet maintaining a certain melodic character

No score for a compilation, as far as I’m concerned…

0/100

Sacred Sin

Dirk — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 18:16:04 +0000

Artist:

Sacred Sin

Album Title:

Eye M God

Release Date:

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Label:

Distribution:

Review Type:

Sacred Sin were / are one of the best known bands from Portugal, initially formed in 1991. They debuted in 1992 with the EP The Shades Behind, followed one year later by their full length debut Darkside (via Portuguese label Musica Alternativa). In 2014 that album was re-released by Satanath Records, Envenomed Music and Rebirth The Metal Productions – I invite you to read the review on that re-release done by undersigned, which was published on the update of December 25^th 2014 (+ biographic info, which I won’t repeat right here for you can check it out there).

Two of those labels, Satanath Records and Envenomed Music, this time in co-operation with Darknagar Records, do re-release the second full length too, Eye M God, originally released in 1995 via the label Dinamite. It was initially recorded in Portugal’s capital city Lisbon (at the Angel 2 Studio), mixed at the Um Só Céu Studio during Spring 1995, and mastered at Audio Pro by Marsten Bailey. The new edition has been remastered earlier this year at Cave Mastering, and comes with renewed artwork.

Strongly within the vein of their debut album, Sacred Sin continue to explore the extremities of the Extreme Music borders. There are quite some influences, undeniable, from the American scene, just like the debut, but the main differences might be the darker sound (blackened, if you want to [and I do want to!!!]), and the thrashier execution. For one reason or another, the European scene (with the ones from Holland, Poland and Sweden coming to mind especially) is taking over the torch from the North-American one, despite the elementary basics rooted in the Florida- and California-based scenes especially.

Nocturnus-meet-Torchure, Unleashed-meet-Pestilence (!!! – do not ignore this statement !!!), Vader-meet-Incantation, Bolt Thrower-meet-Phlebotomized, you know what I mean??? More technical than before, more Black- and Thrash-edged, yet maintaining the initial details that made their first release(s) quite attractive…

83/100

Necroheresy

Dirk — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 15:49:47 +0000

Artist:

Necroheresy

Album Title:

Divine Betrayal

Release Date:

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Label:

Grotesque Sound Productions

Wings Of Destruction

Distribution:

GrimmDistribution

Review Type:

Slovakian outfit Necroheresy was formed in 2012 by former and current members of e.g. Karpathia, Aeon Winds, Krajiny Hmly, Silva Nigra or Concubia Nocte. To my knowledge, this is the band’s first official release, having a total running time of almost twenty minutes, for five tracks and an intro. The latter, also the title of the album, combines church balls and Gregorian chants with some background noise, and believe me: it sets the tone for quite some intense experience!

With Falosny Prorok (meaning ‘false prophet’), the band shows its (rotten) teeth. Necroheresy surely, convincingly, proudly, pay tribute to the old school. I know, once again another old school revivalist, you might think. And yes, that’s correct: another band dwelling within the hyped spheres of early days revival. But what the frikadellekes: this is Glorious Tribute! What these sweet guys bring is a pure tribute to the Old Days, but with so much persuasion and craftsmanship at the same time. No, once again it totally lacks of originality, but it is full of highlights. Pieces like the somewhat punky Ohen Z Nebies (‘fire from the skies’) or the thrashing Slepy Mnich (‘blind monk’) show this band’s professionalism and joy-to-play, but this gets even further. Despite the short length (eighty minutes, including the intro and outro), there is so much pleasure for the listener, for this EP makes the (aged) fan proud being into the scene for two, three, and why not, fifteen decades.

Oh yes, I just need to mention this too: what a great balance in speed: sometimes the band dooms into the slowest dimensions of slowless, then again the speed up to tempos beyond blastness. And what a cool solos. And what about those truly deep-guttural grunts? Or the sublime, though very morbid sound, being rough and harsh, yet totally appropriate…

Fans of the Swedish, German and Dutch Old School scene will adore this material! That’s a promise!

83/100

Abhoth

Dirk — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 15:39:50 +0000

Artist:

Abhoth

Album Title:

Abhoth

Release Date:

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Label:

Grotesque Sound Productions

Distribution:

Rebirth The Metal Productions

GrimmDistribution

Sevared Records

Review Type:

I honestly cannot sum up more than five bands from Montenegro, but this act, Abhoth, hails from that former Yugoslavian country. They were formed somewhere in the middle of last decade, initially meant to be a studio-only project (and I think it will stay that way). But I am not sure this trio (Branko Jugović, Miloš Klikovac and Srdan Mišović) [FYI: Miloš and Branko are also in KK Street Bangers and Zaimus; about the latter, I will write a review pretty soon about their The Unholy Spells Of Night-demo, release via Cold Raw Records] did release anything at all before this EP. Anyway, this self-called mini-album was recorded in 2013 and 2014 at their Rebellion Studio (studio duties were done by Branko), and originally released the digital way in June 2014, and now put on CD for a better promotion and distribution by e.g. Satanath Records (once again in a co-operation with Darknagar and Grotesque Sound).

Abhoth is not your ‘usual’ release, for it’s full of contradictions: old style versus modernism, heaviness versus elegance. Of course I will go little deeper on this matter. The whole thing, lyrically inspired by the great works of Lovecraft, is clearly rooted in the old schooled tradition of (European) Death / Doom-Death Metal, but it does breathe the ingenious progression some bands seem to explore lately. For H*** sake: ‘progression’ does not, and I repeat: NOT mean ‘Progression’ and in ‘Progressive Death Metal’. But this aside… The vocals come right from the depths of one’s belly, the bass lines are so eighties, the solos can’t help you stopping to bang your (pretty) head, and so on; but what sort of characterises this band too, is the use of fantastic keyboard layers on top of pretty heavy yet varying rhythms and melodies. Sometimes this element is little comparable to the earliest works of Phlebotomized or Sinoath, when considering those synths, but SepticFlesh, Rotting Christ, Therion or mighty yet totally underestimated German act Torchure might have been of influence too.

Anyway, I hope this band will come up with some new material soon. Why shouldn’t they anyway?

85/100

Inner Missing

Dirk — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 18:56:48 +0000

Artist:

Inner Missing

Album Title:

Defeat

Release Date:

Monday, October 13, 2014

Label:

Distribution:

Review Type:

Inner Missing were formed under the moniker Odium in early 2008. Back then they were a duo. Soon after, they changed their moniker into the current one, and they evolved into a real band. Throughout the years, Sigmund and his crew recorded several full lengths and EP’s / singles, and their style evolved from old schooled Doom-Death into a more experimental form of (Traditional) Doom Metal. That evolution continues with Defeat, Inner Missing’s fourth studio full album.

As from the very first song, it is clear that this permanent evolution has not come to an end yet. The Secret starts with acoustic guitars, joined by atmospheric keyboards and melodic bass lines, and slowly turns into a melancholic Metal piece with quite some references to the melancholic side of the Doom-scene. Nice are the leads, creating a brave sphere. Than it all turns into a more Progressive way, with avant-garde riffs and absolutely unique and unusual vocals: a somewhat tragic / dramatic mixture of operatic voices and plaintive crooning. There are no more grunts or screams this time either. When the whole gets more intense, I mean when all instruments join in (take notice of the sublime keyboard passages), this track really surprises undersigned for being so distinctive from what we’re used to. It was no coincidence, this opening song, for the whole Defeat-album brings forth this alternative view on (Traditional) Doom. In general, and in comparison to the past, this stuff sounds lighter (which does not mean that it is less dark!), and despite being recorded and released one year only after Perjury, the Gothic-elements have decreased (at least when it comes to the instrumental structures, not in reference to the sorrowful, woebegone atmosphere) in favour of the Progressive attitude I mentioned before. The increased experimentation might work confusing, I think, and it makes Defeat a more difficult album to get through. At the other hand, the multi-layered structures are a challenge and once you are able to get deeper into the concept, it becomes more and more interesting. There’s quite some variation too, with highly technical pieces interacting with neo-classic moments, or with the search for balance in between avant-garde experiment and inherent tradition.

I think it is worth giving a try! You might adore it…