The groovy four-piece squad from Arequipa (Peru) strikes back with their 2nd long play. "Tales of Hate, Lust and Chaos" includes 10 chapters into the super melodic & rolling kind of Death Metal that was maximally influenced by the Swedish Death Metal sound and scene. It seems to me the quartet started to intentionally mix up the musical heritages of such Scandinavian pioneers of Death Metal as ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, GRAVE, DESULTORY, AT THE GATES and ILLDISPOSED. The outcome isn't bad at all, but I'd rather prefer to listen to the above mentioned bands' originals than to the countless copies of the followers. For me it just makes no sense to copy them, but it would be pretty priceless if a Peruvian Death Metal band would sound its own original way. Don't you think so? I am sure the musicians of FERVENT HATE are capable to do that, thus I wish them good luck and a bunch of original ideas for their next release!

I have to say I was pretty focused to listen to the new FLESHGORE stuff, since its predecessor "Denial of the Scriptures" (2016) was simply flawless and in my humble opinion it is still the band's best material to date. The new "Godless" EP features 3 brand new songs plus 2 previously unreleased cover versions. Unfortunately, the new songs did not meet my expectations. First of all, because FLESHGORE's own style seemed to finally emerge in the songs of "Denial of the Scriptures", which I was very happy about, but unfortunately they did not continue to do it here. The new tracks are good and enough technical, but I definitely feel the lack of great ideas, grooves and hooks there. Honestly I've enjoyed only the riff-structures of "Godless", though not entirely, yet that song has some potential, what I cannot say about "Forgiveness" (which generally is a late MORBID ANGEL plagiarism) and "Lord of the Swine" (where they've hit the worst collection of uninteresting riffs). Sorry, but these two seems rather faceless to me, despite the good sound quality. Recently the trio has undergone a minor change, thus Ed Litvyakov (of DATURA), whose name should sound familiar to the extreme and brutal Death/Grind freaks worldwide, occupied the throne behind the drum kit and did an excellent job, as usual. He played drums on the brand new ones, while his colleague Lev Kurgansky (of EZOPHAGOTHOMIA) crushed the skins in the cover songs: "Immortal Rites" from MORBID ANGEL and "Despoilment of Rotting Flesh" from INTERNAL BLEEDING. Both classics got an awesome interpretation! Besides the aforementioned drummers, longtime member Igor Lystopad makes sure to torn the sickest guitar chords apart and Ruslan Drozd is the one, who is responsible for the low-frequencies and guttural pressures. The 5-track compact disc has been packed into a tasty digipak with a pure-evil-motivated cover artwork designed by Recrean Azaza!

FLYNOTES is an instrumental triumvirate from St. Petersburg (Russia) and "Child in the Woods" is their third full-length album already. Each of the eight compositions included there is an integral part of a mesmerizing journey that reflects the musicians' inner visions about the nature and life itself. Different moods (or in their case songs) tell different stories, but somehow I felt common for the entire album the presence of sadness and despair. How different those moods are? Let me list all the song titles for that purpose: "Dark Floyd", "Wolf", "Green Rodeo", "Witch", "Flower Machine", "Marble/Antichrist", "Harvest Time" and "Child in the Woods". The deep emotional flows, which they frequently try to inject into their repertory mostly appear in the form of cyclic patterns. Due to that cyclicality their music gets a hypnotizing character. There's also a bunch of creepy sounds and samples used in there to amplify the already horror-like parts. The band defines their style as Instrumental Rock, well it is indeed instrumental, but the genres of Doom Metal and Post-Rock would fit rather good to their stuff as well. On this record the band is as follows: Roman Komarov (guitars, keyboards), Ilia Rytov (bass) & Natasha Bogulyan (drums). Their CD lasts over 40 minutes and comes with a tasty digipak packaging.

GARHELENTH is a philosophically attached Black Metal duo that aims to support and spread the hate, the pessimism, the darkness, the nature & the morality in their lyrics. The pessimists behind this unholy alliance are Hilnorgoth (composer, guitars, vocals, lyrics, ideas) and Sagroth (backing vocals, guitars in some places). Their music is absolutely grim and raw. It features all the trademarks of the Norwegian Black Metal syndicate. Their set of songs was limited to seven, but trust me if I say each of their tracks is interesting and variegated enough. The album lasts only 29 minutes. However, I felt totally comfortable with this fact as the information the duet squeezed in there is just enormous. The info sheet says it is recommended for fans of GORGOROTH, MAYHEM, DARKTHRONE, BATHORY, IMMORTAL, BURZUM, NARGAROTH, ENDSTILLE, LEVIATHAN, HELLSAW and ARCKANUM. Well, I maximally agree with that! As a curious fact at the end, let me add you here that the band is currently located in Armenia, but their country of origin was Iran and the intermediate one was Georgia for a short while. OK, get this pure essence of true and evil Black Metal right away, right now or be cursed forever!!!

Italians from GODLESS ENTHROPIA define their music as Hybrid Death Metal. Indeed, the material collected on their 14-song debut album is a mix of classic Death Metal along with elements coming from avant-garde, fusion and progressive music. To all this you should add a modern sound-production plus a little Deathcore vibe and the musical formula of GODLESS ENTHROPIA seems complete. Their lyrical themes have been inspired by psychology, linguistics and chemistry. Not the usual Death Metal topics, right? Well, those lyrics are fine to me, but I really can't say the same regarding their songs, which I found super boring and what's more the album lasts almost 60 minutes. I hear the talent and professionalism of the five musicians there, but what's up with the originality and creativity? In lack of those 2 ingredients their music sounds just like a big uncontrolled mess full of meaningless guitar, bass & drum parts. OK, there are patterns, which I can easily compare to GORGUTS, DEATH, CYNIC, DECAPITATED and MESHUGGAH, but even those are so weak in general that I'll definitely not going to give a listen to their stuff again. I really hope the future will add some genuineness to their music!

Earlier I already had the chance to listen to the debut material of Luka Milojica's solo-project HAIDUK. It was the "Plagueswept" demo from 2010. Since that demo Luka (all instruments & vocals) managed to record and release 3 more stuff, all of them are full-lengths, namely "Spellbook" in 2012, "Demonicon" in 2015 and the actual album called "Exomancer" this year. The new album includes 10 well-structured Black/Death Metal songs with a lot better sounding production than ever before. Luka focuses to create cyclically repeating patterns with the addition of the coldest guitar harmonies possible thus giving a hypnotizing character to the whole material. At some point I found his new tracks rather sad and monotonous, but maybe the main idea was to produce exactly such kind of music. I've also noticed the strange kinda unfinished or cut endings in all the compositions that worked maximally good for IMMORTAL's "Battles in the North" album for example, but for the "Exomancer" songs I felt these sharp endings to be a very bad idea. Despite these facts, it was great to witness the progress achieved in the over 30 minutes of "Exomancer". Luka placed to a new level the music of HAIDUK and that's for sure! Behold the summoner of cosmic darkness and astral terror!

The music this Québec-based Black Metal brigade plays is maximally merciless and warlike. It is also pretty close to the vibe of the MARDUK records. "Holocaust Over Dresden" is the second full-length album of the Canadians. It was accomplished by the following skilled musicians: Zokvist (vocals), Exu (guitars), Amok (guitars), Zaïtsev (bass) and Silencer (drums). The 9 mind-piercing tracks of the CD are packed with ultrafast drum patterns, bloodthirsty vocals, abstract bass lines and extreme saw-like orgies of the guitars. Lyrics-wise the album is conceptual and focuses on the historical facts and horrific events of the World War II. It's a totally crushing Black Metal stuff, so don't miss this out!!! Unfortunately, after the recordings Zokvist parted ways with the band and have been replaced by Winterthrone (CARDINAL ROARK, DÉPÉRIR, ex-ENDLESS HORIZON). Currently, the team of HAK-ED DAMM is working in full swing on the new material, so be prepared for their third arrival soon!

Let's start with the necessary information about this Black Metal duo from Athens (Greece), which was formerly a one-man band. It was initiated by Dimon's Night (all instruments) in 2008 and joined by CoproJunkie (vocals) the same year. After 3 demos and a debut full-length album called "Flames of Desolation" (2016), which marked also the debut for new vocalist Pain, the infernal Greeks return with their 2nd long play. "La Danse Macabre" comprises of 10 symphony-soaked Black Metal songs that to my big surprise have been exclusively influenced by the major hordes of Scandinavia, I would mention in the first place such bands as DIMMU BORGIR, DISSECTION, OLD MAN'S CHILD, DARK FUNERAL and SATYRICON. As a sign of their respect to the latter one they even covered the song "K.I.N.G.", which sounds OK in their interpretation, but is pretty far from the success of the original piece. As a whole their own songs are very boring and ineffective to me. I remember well the times, when Greece produced original Black Metal bands with uniqueness as for their musical approaches, it was the end of the 80s and the first half of the 90s, the appearance of the elite: ROTTING CHRIST, NECROMANTIA, VARATHRON and THOU ART LORD. I would better follow that tradition and wish they could do it for their future release!

"Chaotic Matrix" is the second album by Colombian sickos INTERNAL SUFFERING originally released in 2002. Now revisited and reissued for the second time by Russian Satanath Records in collaboration with Rotten Roll Rex from Germany. The current edition consists of a fully revamped layout design (8-page booklet with lyrics), completely remastered material extended by four exclusive bonus tracks. Fans of Slamming Brutal Death Metal will agree that this album still kicks major asses and kind of a timeless release for the Brutal Death Metal community. The eleven songs of "Chaotic Matrix" plus the four bonuses will please without exception all the brutal freaks worldwide. This is when brutality pairs perfectly with sonic speed and relentless energy. If you are listening with pleasure to the early materials of SUFFOCATION, DEHUMANIZED, INTERNAL BLEEDING, PYREXIA, DYING FETUS, KATAKLYSM, DEVOURMENT, ORIGIN and BRODEQUIN, then this stuff won't disappoint you and that's for sure! Guttural bulldozer-like madness guaranteed!!!

Here comes another rerelease from Colombia's most known Brutal Death Metal combo, i.e. INTERNAL SUFFERING. The band's third full-length album "Choronzonic Force Domination", which was originally issued in 2004 by Displeased Records, has been successfully excavated and repacked. The updated version includes 4 bonus tracks and a redesigned booklet. The 9 album tracks sound supermassive and meaty, definitely less chaotic as its predecessors, I am sure it is due to Erik Rutan's proficiency. He was in charge for producing, engineering, mixing and mastering this beast. I assume it as a coincidence, but a few guitar riffs and even the manner of the vocalist Fabio are really reminiscent of the stuff HATE ETERNAL used to do. As a whole "Choronzonic Force Domination" sounds less insane or crude than "Chaotic Matrix", but it is still about the beloved slamming brutality, just with a clearer sound production! I would say their music on this album became more technical and professional. Who said Brutal Death Metal bands can't evolve. Well, the Colombian elite cartel continues marching on!

The latest EP by this extreme industrial metal act from Vienna (Austria) consists of 5 new tracks, a cover and 4 alternate remixes. So in total there are 10 songs in circa 52 minutes. The four Russian immigrants spice well the ripping riffs with explosive and gut-wrenching music. Their lyrics are provocative, violent and aggressive. They define it as: "A call to violence or a new philosophy of higher equilibrium". Well, I am not a fan of electronic music at all, but these Russians do really know how to make a great and domineering mix between the metal grooves and industrial techno. The members of KAAK are: Filin (vocals/lyrics), Zhopa (guitars/music/backing vocals), Adrian (bass) and Mix_errr (DJ). The cover song is "Реанимация" or as they transcribed it to English "Resuscitation" by Russian Punk Rock band ГРАЖДАНСКАЯ ОБОРОНА. Their version became maximally electrified and industrialized. The four remixes afterwards contain even more techno samples and synthetics coming from the cyber world. So the electric funeral is really about to begin, sir!

Grim and frostbitten Black Metal is what to pretend to play this totally new Ukrainian horde. Well, it does not worked for them at all. The band was formed in 2017 by 2 members of the Dnipro-based DEF/LIGHT, namely Ingvaar (guitar/vocals) and Silent (bass). The booklet says Yggr is the drummer, but I am afraid not on this record, as the whole drum sound is too electronic, plastic and unbelievably badly programmed. The seven songs of their debut album are about to show their dedication to the Scandinavian type of Black Metal, which is strongly appreciable, but somehow it was very difficult to listen to the many stolen riffs there. If you ask me, it's a clichй at maximum level. The faster parts are stolen from DARK FUNERAL, whilst the slow marching ones are from the Norwegians: MAYHEM, DARKTHRONE and ULVER. To me their attempts sound so weak and pointless in general that I would easily compare them music-wise to some Brazilian soap opera. Sorry folks, but it sucks in majority. Let's hope they can come up with something better on their next release. Anyone into Black Metal, I would advise first to give a multiple spin for this album. You can listen to "Mörk" in its entirety at: https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat168-lava-invocator-m-rk-2017.

The following is the re-release of MANIPULATION's debut album from 2007. The eight songs of "The Future of Immortality" have been carefully re-mixed and re-mastered by drummer Kriss, plus enhanced by new vocal parts of Kret, the current vocalist of the band. Thus the final result is just astonishing. As one can conclude this Polish Death Metal quintet has been strongly influenced from its very start by the ever-growing success of the Deathcore subgenre. So that vibe is there. Most of the time it's about a technically played compound that pairs with monumental guitar melodies, rapid-fire patterns of the drums and precisely worked out vocal lines. But in turn, the rest of the time, they simply go nuts, it's like when berserkers from the ancient Norse reincarnate into their bodies & souls, and believe me those moments are freaking awesome. The extremeness of Death Metal and the twisted experimentalism of the future are definitely there, so do not expect some plain or primitive music there! The impact of their domestic legend, which is VADER, could be heard in tracks such as "Confession" and "Dispensing of Existence", but that is totally fine if you ask me. As a whole it is a great material!!! By the way, this re-release comes with new artworks and a nicely designed booklet.

This Spanish Doom/Death Metal brigade was formed in 2014 and this is their debut release. The four lengthy tracks of "Raíz Amarga" were created by Evilead (all instruments), Luis Miguel Merino (vocals) and Mortvs Vyrr (lyrics). Their 36 minutes long material was pretty decently composed and arranged in the best traditions and canons of the aforesaid genres. If I had to cut it short, I would say that a well-thought combination of despair and grief radiates all over in their songs. You know, this overall feel of sadness is extremely unavoidable for the true interpretation of a style such as Doom Metal. The beautiful piano, violin & acoustic guitar passages of Evilead make sure to dose the tunes the right way. The balance of these elements, by the way, was just incredibly well used in the first two songs, "Vida" and "Antitesis". Regarding the vocal parts I have to emphasize the deep growling manner of Luis, which adds an additional volume and massiveness to the repertory of "Raíz Amarga". The musical landscapes they touch are quite relaxing and abstract at some point, the way they should really be. But on the other hand, we have some fast blast beats there too, which fragmentally appear in the last two tracks: "Suicidio Ilustrado" and "Luz (Ciego Color)". It was a little bit odd to notice them there, albeit they were definitely nicely incorporated into. If you want to listen to a precisely armored Doom/Death Metal album, then I definitely recommend you to check this debut disc of MORIBUNDO!!!

Are you into slamming Death Metal? Well, I really hope so, 'cause the following nearly 21 minutes long material has an adequate portion of slam and groove elements incorporated. And to my surprise this fine gore-filled kickshaw comes from Colombia. 2013 marks the birth of this 5-piece Death Metal horde and before this actual release the band managed to record a 3-song demo in 2016. Those demo tracks were successfully adapted and featured on "Chronology of a Rotten Mind" plus expanded with 5 newer tunes. At first sight their songs sound pretty much like a slowed down CANNIBAL CORPSE stuff, but with more groove and DYING FETUS-like slam parts. But after a few listens one can easily notice we have something more going on there. Just listen to those tricky bass lines for example. Really masterful execution and all the guitar solos are also worth ones to listen to. Then we have a bunch of ultra heavy razing-like riffs accompanied by extremely sick growls. MOULDERED's debut album is all the way about the old-school times and interpretation of Death Metal. You won't find there any widely and/or commonly used modern garbage elements of the 21st century. It's definitely about gloominess not fanciness. So watch out! The overall sound production is fat and massive the way it should be. Really recommended stuff, moreover it comes with the right cover artwork! This CD was released by a cooperation of 3 underground labels, thus you have multiple options to order it.

This four-piece Stoner/Sludge Metal unit from Tambov (Russia) was established in 2013. From the very start the aim of the musicians was to combine the darkness of BLACK SABBATH, the unrestrained power of RED FANG and the melodies of MASTODON in their music. So their 9-song debut album supports the aforementioned consistency and it also makes sure to bleed your ears out as fast as possible. Their riffs sound massive and enough punchy, something we get used to hear on the Hardcore records. Plus, they've got a great, balanced sonic production, which means by default that nobody can stop them crushing, while their 34 minutes long repertory lasts. Dynamic, groovy, guitar-centric music is it with powerful singalongs. You won't discover any super original things or never before heard musical solutions in their repertory, but the flow will definitely catch you over there. Go, visit their bandcamp profile and give a listen to their current stuff and their materials from the past!

I've been familiar with the previous materials of this Hungarian Deathcore brigade quite well, so I can calmly conclude that "The Sixth Extinction" continues where it was left earlier and progresses further to the next stage of the quintet's musical expression. There are nine phases to perceive in over 33 minutes. The abstraction plays a big role in their songs, because while you listen to their repertory it allows you to think on a conscious level and to peacefully relax at the same time. The guitar players also make sure to treat you with some ultra-heavy (bulldozer-like guitar parts that were widely used by such heavy-weight bands as BOLT THROWER, CROWBAR, MERAUDER or GOREFEST for example) and super slow yet chunky riffs, which by the way were meticulously mesmerized by a decent dose of harmonies and melodies (reminiscent to AT THE GATES in some ways), so in the end you will get a nicely balanced sonic production. If you prefer to listen to a quality Doom/Death Metal stuff with grooves and catchiness provided, then check NADIR's latest long play, as it was definitely created for you!

Another worthy brutal act emerged from the lands of Ukraine. This trio propagates non-stop bulldozer-like Brutal Death Metal in the slamming way! Massive juicy riffs, precise drumming and sick growls are the ingredients of NECROPSY DEFECATION. Their line-up on this 3-track promo was: Arthur Denyshchyk (vocals), Bogdan Girchuk (guitars, bass) & Eduard Litvyakov (drums). The latter musician is known damn-well from DATURA. His skills and endurance during the long blasting drum parts are simply masterful! Just listen to the opening track called "Condemned to death through anal tortures". It storms brutally and unstoppably until the end of the song! The sonic massacre continues likewise in their 2nd tune, called "Flesh gore pieces on ritual cannibalistic altars", which partly reminded me the beloved DEVOURMENT style, especially in the middle of the track, where the slowdowns and nailing double-basses occur. The promo ends with "Feasting of the unborn womb essence". That one is about heavy and bulldozing guitar parts laid upon technically over brutalized drumming with gloriously decomposed grunts and a few pig snorts. I would say it's a really good start, thus eagerly looking forward to the continuation and hopefully next time they will gladden us with a full-length release! The promo sounds superbly, so fans of brutal music will definitely appraise it!

This is a 3-track and 6 minutes long blast from the sickest Montréal-based quintet – NERVOUS IMPULSE! These guys just put together some of the most brutal and craziest shit ever done in the Death/Grind genre! Canada was always famous by their super original and kind of insane bands, so here we have another good example to prove that Canadians are musically sick to the maximum, of course, in the most positive sense of the words! So the following 3 short cuts were placed onto this promo to celebrate the band's 10th anniversary and to show how should sound something really sick and brutal Death/Grind stuff at the speed of light! The first track, "Mouth Breather", was taken from the 4-way split with JAPANISCHE KAMPFHÖRSPIELE, MEAT CUTTING FLOOR & BRUD. This one is about some serious non-stop gravity-blasting hell and unearthly vocal parts reminiscent pretty much to Sylvain Houde's manner, but even further developed. Early CRYPTOPSY/KATAKLYSM madness so to say, but with nervous insanity and awesome precision! It has also a slamming-like ultra dynamical part that will shake your bones in a perfect way. Definitely my favorite track! It follows "Air Burst", a short massacre-like sonic lunacy that was extracted from the 3-way split with RUBUFASO MUKUFO & EPICRISE. That one is way too sick, but with damn good grooves at the end of it! The last piece of the promo displays a little bit calmer, if I can say it so at all, song-structuring and pace in total, but again with bulldozer-like drum parts and very sly riffs. It is called "Act Your Age" and comes from the split with KANDAR. After listening to this promo perpetually 10 times in a row I maximally crave to listen to more NERVOUS IMPULSE in the future and eagerly waiting their 3rd long play to be released! Warmly recommended stuff!!!

Hereby I would report you that the split season of 2018 has been successfully started. The given split represents an ultimate aural bashing of thy ears by four rather extreme gangs extracted from the sickest depths of the underground. Firstly, Canada's unmatched Death/Grind stormtroopers unleash their portion of groove-dependent brutality upon us. "Mouth Breather" is such an awesome tune and it kills from the start till the end. It blends a totally mind-blowing mix of orgiastic riffs, hysterical screams/growls and super-fast drumming with often-used gravity blasts. "The Beer Demon" continues without giving you a single chance to survive. After being torn to shreds in its first half, the pace of guitar riffs slowly turns down and the song ends in quite a strange or let's say chaotic manner. The third piece is "Circling the Drain", which most of the time is about the crazy techniques, but features a few really cool stop-and-go riffs too. Hammering the brains out well plus ending by a riff-massif reminiscent to DEVOURMENT. Slamming at its best! "Allergic to All Cities" follows it. That song-title is just awesome the same way as the musical parts of it. If you want madness, you'll get it! Their repertoire ends with the bulldozer-like tunes of "More Hate" and as I suppose this is their kind of dedication towards the Russian label itself. Frenetic song, no doubt! And the party goes on with five real short cuts presented by Russia's MEAT CUTTING FLOOR. The quartet pays attention to have as many grooves and fun-oriented flicks as possible, whilst proudly wandering in the valleys of Gore & Grind. Fans of COCK AND BALL TORTURE are warmly encouraged to listen to their part of the split. Position three on this CD was conquered by JAPANISCHE KAMPFHÖRSPIELE. Germany's unrepeatable writers of combat radio dramas have victoriously returned with 6 freshly-recorded versions of some of their best old-school classics. Their method of integrating elements of Thrash Metal, Death Metal and Punk into Grindcore seems really effective. Especially if one does it such professionally as they do! The flow and destructive combination of energy and dynamism during their songs are vital and at the same time lethal as well. At some parts I've had felt the definite influence of the MACABRE/SEPULTURA pair. Freaking awesome stuff to be honest, which worth every penny! Do you ever had the chance to listen to Ukraine's BRUD? Well, the recently reunited grind-perverts demonstrate their newest and best songs to date. The seven gore-infested pieces are all about to smash your face as fast as they can. From catchy grooves to ultra-deep pig snorts you can find almost everything there. The palette is quite variegated so to say and it is always hard to come up with something outstanding within this genre, but these Ukrainians know how to put together the most preferable parts. The 23 compositions of this 4-way split and the fair number of cyclical plays proved me easily about the success of this collaboration.

The stout sounding 3rd album of NETER includes 10 killer cuts into a rather riff-centric and groovy substance of Death Metal. The Spanish quartet with such members as Manuel Gestoso (vocals & guitars), Manuel Sánchez (guitars), Andrés Rosales (bass) & Luis Ruiz (drums) knows well how should a monumental Death Metal album look and sound like. Their musical ingredients or let's say influences are mainly coming from the Polish grounds, names of BEHEMOTH, VADER & DECAPITATED should be mentioned in the first instance here, but the Swedish Death Metal movement was also influential on them. The into-your-face punch of the songs and the stunning dynamism are pretty tireless through their entire, more precisely forty-six and a half minutes long, material. The unrestrained energy of the wicked ones has been executed and displayed in an absolute way there. This is the kind of Death Metal, where the forces of dark unite triumphantly! Warmly recommended stuff!!!

The post-apocalyptic Black Metal duo of NOCRUL opens the split with 8 songs out of their debut album "Khorne". In fact, this material has seen the dark of the day at first digitally in October of 2016, then in February of 2017 a cassette release followed it by Neverheard Distro and now "Khorne" reached its materialization on CD as well. As you get used to earlier all the music was composed and all the instruments were played by Khrul. His musical & technical abilities are quite good. The sort of Black Metal he assembled for the material of "Khorne" is mainly meditative. It represents different soundscapes beginning from ritualistic musical solutions through abstract orchestrations to the excessively grim atmospheres of the beloved Northern hordes. The vocal parts brought by Noctis are pretty bloodthirsty, the way the true Black Metal dictates, and filled with lyrics based on Warhammer 40K. It was way interesting to immerse into their 34-minute repertory, especially I liked the song called "Khornate Daemons". In addition to this a special SUMMONING cover has been also included there and titled as "Hail to the Songs of Lugburz". The second half of the split was hired by SKULLTHRONE and their third demo. The London-assigned quintet plays a rather dirty and true to the past kind of Black Metal that on the one hand was great to notice, but on the other hand we all know this approach is becoming less and less common today. The devilship on "Demo III" was as follows: Khrul (vocals), R (guitar), W (guitar & vocals), Nebulla (bass) and Anaal (drums). The unholy decoction of the pentacle devotees builds upon 7 storm-evoked Black Metal compositions, which will definitely send you to hell once you've listened to them! So be prepared for an ultimate portion of the underground black arts and don't hesitate to order hereby your special 25 minutes long journey to decay!

This is already the fourth long play by NORDLAND, a one-man Black Metal horde, which hails from North East England. "European Paganism" divides into three parts. The twenty seven and half minutes long "The Mountain" opens the album. This song is by far the most varied and versatile on the CD. You can find there almost everything that made the Black Metal genre great. I mean all the traditional components and even a big dose of ambientish atmosphere. The generally calmly acting riffs weren't bothered even with the here and there appearing blast-beat parts. Vorh (all instruments & vocals) precisely structured this song and if I had to go into details then I would say he excellently spices some kind of ENSLAVED, SATYRICON, IMMORTAL blend with the atmospheric vibe of HYPOCRISY. The second tune lasts almost 9 minutes and it has the title of "A Burning of Idols". Musically, it comes with the same Nordic key as its predecessor; the feel of SATYRICON is pretty evident there. The lyrics are filled with passion to paganism and hate to christianity. The album ends with the epic "Rites at Dawn". It mostly builds upon marching middle tempos with rather harsh vocalizing, although some blasts are also presented there. Still it's a pretty calm song. As a whole this album is amazing and I only can recommend it for checking out! You can listen to it and the whole back catalogue of NORDLAND at: nordland.bandcamp.com!!!

This Ukrainian band was formed in 2015 from the ashes of CRYSTAL NIGHT. Musically the quintet follows what they initiated with their previous band, though excluding the presence of the keyboard player and thus giving less space for that instrument too. They've decided to change their image maximally, be it regarding the lyrics or the visuals. So it was time to swap the band's name respectively. NORDWITCH represents a way darker musical approach than it was used to back in the CRYSTAL NIGHT days. As their debut album's title suggests the band deepens into the Nordic mythology and not lyrics-wise only, but music-wise as well. The 8 well-composed piece of "Mørk Profeti" displays some kind of twist between the musical heritages of DIMMU BORGIR and ARCH ENEMY. The first one comes mainly when we have a deal with guitar riffs and grandiose arrangements, while the second band's name pops-up in almost all the vocal parts of the 38 minutes and 19 seconds long CD. It is kind of very well stolen Angela Gossow-like manner, if you ask me. The informative musical part on "Mørk Profeti" was supplied by lead guitarist Maksym Vityuk, who's a really skilled and talented 6-string shredder. The rest of the musicians are used to have a backing role most of the times. The band was even lazy to record the drums live, so you can taste some programmed drum-patterns on the album, which in fact sound pretty good, but still they aren't live at all. We'll see if they try to fix that deficiency on their second album. Fans of Melodic Black/Death Metal should take a try with. By the way, Japanese Spiritual Beast has re-released the album in 2017 with one bonus track titled "Darknet Storm".