Golden Blood is the freshest incarnation out of the blackened underground mass of the 21st century. It is solely led by Erech Leleth, who's currently residing in Austria. His debut EP "Cum, Coke & Blasphemy" embraces 4 songs with 16 minutes playing time. Let me tell you that all those songs are stylistically different, only the dirty punk-like sound unites them as one. The EP starts in the manner of Dissection, with a short but really somber introduction that is followed by powerful thrash metal chugs and the catchy refrains of "Cum, Coke & Blasphemy". The second track is "Nightfall", which is about to mix classic heavy metal with some kind of black'n'roll fun and in addition there's also a killer oriental riff at the middle of it. It's almost sounds like Mercyful Fate meets Motörhead. The next one is "We Will Ride". It storms pretty well in the true Nordic black metal spirit. This song is definitely about grimness and coldness, though for a few parts (you'll find them in the middle) it enters again to the dominion of thrash metal. The fourth and last track is called "Empress of the Unholy Reich". Well, it reminded me pretty much the early records of Arch Enemy, both melodies- and vocals-wise, even if the resulting admixture is about the twists of black & heavy metal. It is already known that by the end of 2020 we'll face the first Golden Blood full-length album too, so listen to this EP a lot and prepare yourself for the continuation!!!

Golgata is a Swedish black metal duo that I was completely unaware of until now, it was formed in 2014 and its debut album was recently released by the Russian record label Satanath Records. The eight tracks of "Skam" are highly atmospheric, epic and induced by Scandinavian folk music. The two spokesmen as they call themselves created an enchanting cavalcade of Nordic melodies that was firmly put into the prebend of the black metal style. Their lyrics touch the themes of dark philosophy, nature and history. The 36-minute long repertory mostly has a calming effect and the tempos are marching, but of course this idyll often breaks under the storming blast beats parts of the drums. Unfortunately, the programmed drum patterns sound totally horrible, too synthetic and ear irritating, if you ask me. This type of music has to be recorded with live sounding drums exclusively! Despite this minor, but still annoying fact, which I deeply recommend to correct for the second album, I found the songs of Golgata very good. No doubt, "Skam" is a decent black metal release! Let me finish this review with words from the creators themselves: "Who we are, are not relevant. But what we are is. What are we? We are the sound of our origin!".

This is already the third full-length album of the Italian blackened death metal horde. With this new record the Sardinian occultists are going to punch in your ear canals so hard and with such a terrible accuracy that you must be a prepared metalhead to survive their circa 34-minute long aural annihilation! The drummer, Simone "ArcOndA" Piras, mainly dictates a lightning speed tempo, thus the eight chapters of "Elohim" storm in a tornado-like manner and leave absolutely no mercy for the listener. The quartet skillfully spreads some of the darkest and eeriest musical moods with a sort of ritualistic approach, the way we used to hear it for example from Behemoth. Moreover, the same goes to the lyrical context found there as their topics are very close to the ones heard in Behemoth before. As you've noticed from my words, this band not really cares about originality, their main objective is to create good and quality extreme music, which I have to admit they've maximally achieved. The current CD, like its predecessor, was released in cooperation of two labels, i.e. Satanath Records and Death Portal Studio. Let's hope for a fair dose of uniqueness on their upcoming stuff!!!

Hadopelagial is a 2-piece harsh black metal coalition from Leipzig. It was established in 2017. Its members are C.C. (all instruments) and Ghoul (vocals/lyrics). Their 8-song debut record was issued by Satanath Records on 18th of March, 2020. Music-wise it is fast, intense, merciless and evil, while lyrics-wise it is most likely satanic. Beginning from the first notes it destroys like a hellish tsunami. But of course, there are moments when they slow down enough for example in the second half of "The Cosmic Ocean" or in the first half of "For the New Path". By the way, the latter one sounds pretty experimental with a slight mechanical touch as for its distorted vocal parts and marching tempos. The over forty-minutes album was fully written in Scandinavian manner, I mean it has ties with the music of Dark Funeral, Marduk and Satyricon, but in the case of the track called "Amunre" there's that specific Beherit feeling one won't mix up with anything else. To cut it short, great start is it. Let's hope for the blasphemous second coming in the upcoming years. But until then, enjoy the return of the black death!!!

The split CD is kicking off with an extremely morose and melancholic track by the Turkish/German trio – Hatevömit. It is called "Possessed Nightmares". This song emits a monotonous, immersive and somewhat ominous tone. The second track "Necro Future" is a bit more energetic and varied, however the vocal themes remain in the well-established sinister formula. The dedicated fanatics of the obscure black/death metal movement will praise their cuts with ease!!! The other two songs on the split are hailing from the cultic American Nunslaughter. These four hellboys know exactly how to create the best mix out of their blasphemous thrash-incited death metal. Both of their anthems, "Fuck the Bastard" and "Satanic Slut", are about pure fucking awesomeness. Their music is enough dynamic, ripping the old-school way, filled with great hooks and, of course, is here to blaspheme all that is holy!!! Needless to say, the cover perfectly captured the current religious situation around the world. Kind of collector's item is this, even if it was limited to 500 copies, so if you're claiming to be a diehard maniac of any of these bands, then don't waste your time, rather order it!!!

Are you into slamming brutal death metal? Hopefully yes, because Human Nihility from Luhansk is about to give you a good lesson how it should sound the Ukrainian way. Their debut 5-song EP storms like an unrestrained tornado, leaving no mercy for the listener and smashing everything on its way! The stuff was mixed & mastered at Beasts Studio, so it sounds excellent and spreads the grooves in the right proportions! It's fairly technical and sophisticated, but still leaving enough space for the raw energy to materialize. The four-piece death squad consists of Viacheslav Platonov (grunts & screams), Dmitry Yemets (guitar), Sergey Kuznetsov (bass) and Dmitry Kim (drums). There are 4 songs of their own plus a cover version of Dying Fetus' "Schematics". Needless to say, the band maximally nailed it! Apropos, I don't think that the Dying Fetus cover coincidentally appeared on this record as the band pretty much plays the same kind of music, having the same vibe and using the same kind of riffing techniques so to speak. On the contrary, their admiration towards them has been shown this way! As a whole, it's a perfect debut material, which I would advise to all the groove-oriented slamming brutal death metal freaks worldwide!

The second sonic onslaught by Human Nihility comes in a form of a full-length album. It gathers 10 well-constructed brutal death metal pieces. The music itself got more mature and the riffs more overthought. The strong influence of Dying Fetus is still there, but here and there I felt the impact of Psycroptic as well. This time the quartet decided to mix and master their stuff at TsunTsun Productions. And what a great choice it was. The result is impressive and speaks for itself. If you like the drum patterns to be executed at mind blowing speeds and spiced up with ripping yet extremely catchy guitar parts, throbbing bass lines and growls coming from the lowest frequencies, then "Biomass Adaptation" is the material you have to listen to and order immediately! Bulldozing brutality at its best! Be sure to check out these Ukrainians and keep your eyes on their forthcoming releases! The cover art was designed by Pedro Sena (Lordigan). Quite sick and rather detailed work, master of his job and that's for sure! Enough said, get this blasting disc of sheer brutality!!! Preferred tracks are: "Price of Purity", "Lords of Creation" and "Sentenced to Life".

Iato hails from Sardinia (Italy) and plays an ultra-melodic yet blasting form of death metal. It was established in 2011 from the ashes of their previous band Ejaculazione HC. The quartet, which builds from the unrestrained forces of Francesco Nano (guitar/vocals), Federico Pisano (guitar/vocals), Andrea Manis (bass) & Lorenzo Balia (drums), put a really strong debut album together. It storms from the beginning to the end. The eight cuts last circa 34 minutes, however they contain so many interesting riffs, drum patterns and crazy vocalizing that one has to listen to it first to believe! On the one hand, I found their music heavily influenced by the Polish scene (Behemoth, Hate, Decapitated, Vader), while on the other hand, when it comes to the modern elements the name of Aborted has to be mentioned for sure. The work of the two vocalists is simply remarkable, they easily shift from the low growls to pig squeals and high-pitched screams, thus adding a hurricane-like vocal appearance to their songs. The tempos are also insane and the sound is very tough, so you can expect no mercy during the material of "Ucronia" and that's for sure! It blasts properly by having the right mood and the right attitude of the musicians! All is left to say, I am eagerly looking forward to Iato's second long play!!!

Wolfir (all music, lyrics and arts) who runs In Tenebriz on his own since 2005, but maybe lately known better as Vladimir Prokofiev from Paint-It-Black Design, is a very productive artist and that's pretty sure, because "Bitter Wine of Summer" is the twelfth full-length album of In Tenebriz. The new album contains eight compositions created in the style of melodic doom metal. The songs are decent as well as their sound. But an interesting fact is that the vocal parts were executed in a black metalish way. There are some flaws here and there, but not too annoying ones, thus the material is quite well enjoyable. It lasts over 41 minutes and comes with a colorful yet tasteful 6-page booklet and pit-art graphics on the playing side of the CD. Six songs out of the eight have lyrics too, which were written in Russian language. I won't say Wolfir's songs are extraordinary, as they aren't at all, but the soundscapes he managed to produce on his own I've found deeply sincere. Nice job there, both musically and visually!!!

The Hellenic black metal duo strikes back with their 3rd full-length album, which fortunately became a little bit more variegated as its predecessor "La Danse Macabre" was. The membership is the same, that is Pain (vocals, guitars, lyrics) and Dimon's Night (guitars, bass, drums, keys). They literally blast their asses off on this record. It is less oriented on symphonic parts, which is definitely a good thing, therefore the speed and the crudity seem to get a bigger role there. Still I found very unanimous the major part of their new album too. It has a few highlights for sure, but those aren't really enough to me. Primitive black metal riffing, typical song-structures and the usual medium-pitched shrills are the ingredients of "With the Fullmoon Above My Head". Despite it has a very good and tasteful sound production I don't really know and can't imagine who are going to listen to them and invest money in buying their records, except, of course, the ones who has to write a review about their stuff, ha-ha... Too many grey albums have been spread over the masses lately, so my suggestion to the duo is still unchanged, please try to create and compose more interesting or simply unique music!!!

Inhuman from Costa Rica has been around for eight years, but I've got in close acquaintance with them only now as their third album the "Unseen Dead" has been released. Well, the eight tracks they perform there were pretty much influenced by the Swedish death metal elite, even their guitar sound is alike, but song-structure-wise there's a very big difference as most of the time their patterns are modern. To me they sound like the last few albums of Kataklysm, just with Swedish guitar sound. Plus, the vocalizing manner of Sergio Muñoz (R.I.P.) is also way close to the vocals of Maurizio Iacono. The other members on this recording were Jonathan Sanchéz (guitar), Kevin Moran (bass) and David Salazar (drums). The quartet did a decent release and that's for sure, but as I stressed it before, they lack of good, really memorable and original ideas. Let's hope they're going to fix this small, but really important factor on their next release. Still I can recommend the material of "Unseen Dead" for fans of Kataklysm, Dismember and Grave!!!

Inprobus is a newborn yet very promising thrash/death metal corps hailing from Slovakia. "Retribution" is the first demo of the quartet, which consists of six well-composed and -arranged songs. The band members – Roman Macalák (vocals & bass), Vojtech Német (rhythm & lead guitars), Richard Német (rhythm guitar) and Szilárd Kurdi (drums) – do a big emphasis on catchy riffs, dynamic grooves and powerful performance. All of their tracks are over four minutes, so it enables them to repeat the punchiest and most memorable patterns to reinforce the overall effect. The vocal parts are varied enough and the refrains are good as well. The demo sounds decently, so I've enjoyed its 31 minutes in entirety. In their repertory you can hear an admixture of thrash & death metal bands of both the past and present, which they've managed to balance in a rather clever way, if you ask me. During multiple listens the names of Testament and Opprobrium popped up in my mind, mainly because of the riffing techniques of the guitarists, though there's a lot more going on in their songs. Thanks to Slovak Metal Army this superb demo was pressed onto CDs, which got packed in the old-school way into slim cases including a two-sided fold out booklet with cover artwork, band photo, lyrics, thanks list and gear descriptions. Dream release of any beginner band, right? Well, let's keep our eyes on Inprobus as I foresee the arrival of a massive debut record!!!

Satanath Records and Rotten Roll Rex are keep reissuing the Colombian brutal death metal cartel's back catalogue. Here they come with 10 songs out of the debut album "Supreme Knowledge Domain" (1999) added with four extra tracks taken from the "Promo 2000". Believe or not, but both of these early records are still pretty ass-kicking to these days, despite the rawness of the sound productions. Let me also remind you that for underground bands it worked usually this way in the past. Howsoever, two decades later these materials have deservedly become classics. One more thing, whenever I listen to "Supreme Knowledge Domain", I always run into analogies with the northern hyperblast dealers from Canada, namely Kataklysm. Of course, you have to mean here their very early records or trilogies exclusively. Even all the crazy growls and screams of Fabio Marin are so reminiscent of Sylvain Houde's ones. Coincidence or not, I don't mind it at all, because the quartet has put the standards of brutality to another level. In a word, this is pure slamming death metal savagery, which strikes hard with its bulldozing dynamism, while the lyrical aspects are fully focused on the ancient ones. A must for all the slamming brutal death metal freaks out there!!!

Well, with this latest compilation CD all the early materials of Internal Suffering have been successfully wrapped in a new shape. The disc starts with the six songs of the "Unmercyful Extermination" EP (2001). It is a very well-structured EP, which has been supported by a rather sick sounding production. The over 18 minutes long EP is filled with ultra-deep guttural patterns, ripping guitar parts, low end bass lines and pretty chaotic drum fills. It is followed by four songs taken from the 2005 split release with Inducing Terror. And it means, you are going to be treated by eleven more minutes of sophisticated brutality. For the end of the CD there has been two special live tracks reserved off the famous "Brutal Domination" DVD (2005). The compact disc itself comes with a superb pit-art graphic, while the booklet has 8 pages, where you can find all the lyrics to the "Unmercyful Extermination" EP, two band photos from 2003 and all the details about the aforementioned recordings. The whole material was remastered in 2020 by Digivision Records from Belarus. So feel free to enjoy the brutal sonic extermination!!!

Spectral black metal mongers from Kalt Vindur are ready to strike you down again. Herewith the Polish quintet – Celsus (vocals), Svart (electric & acoustic guitars, additional voices), Ver (electric guitars), S (bass) and Xakhariash (drums) – collected 9 well-thought-out pieces, needless to say all of them turned out to be simply awesome and rather mesmerizing. To capture the spiritual darkness correctly and to spread it through the wave functions are the domineering aspects of Kalt Vindur. Hats off to the musicians. They skillfully inject the dark superlunary vibe almost everywhere, therefore their quest to implement the gloomiest possible musical ingredients seems to be accomplished in the finest form. "...And Nothing is Endless" is indeed a proud follower to the band's well-received debut full-length album "Delusions" (2017). The five-piece also cleverly incorporates the elements of oriental, which reminded me a cross-breeding between the musical arsenals of Absu and Melechesh. Of course, they do that tastefully and with respect in a diverse Kalt Vindur way. The sound production is top notch, alike to the Nordic bands, but with a ghostly "from beyond" touch. That special atmosphere is extremely well and appropriately supported by the cover art and the flawless 8-panel digipak design. Perfect stuff in a word!!!

Russian post-metallers finally strike back with their third full-length release, which they aptly titled as "Crushed by Waves". The musicians behind that ultra-atmospheric record are as follows: Katharos (vocals/bass), Shoggoth (guitar/backing vocals), Amdusias (guitar) and Andy (drums). The quartet masterfully combines the elements of black metal and prog rock in the 9 songs of "Crushed by Waves". During the circa 46-minute long album the listener will be guided through different soundscapes that mostly tell stories about the ocean, loneliness and ancient worlds. Their lyrics were written in Russian language, but you can find all the translations into English inside the booklet. By the way, the word "lauxnos" takes its origin from the ancient Prussians and means dawn, stars and moon. The music itself is pretty soft, relaxing and meditative, something you can listen on repeat. Plus, it pairs with a very balanced sound production that was built up the proper way! I have to point out the beautifully illustrated booklet too. It was designed by Vladimir Prokofiev (Paint-it-black design, In Tenebriz), who did a flawless job again. Well, all is left to say, let's unravel the mysteries of the deepest and darkest waters and find your peace amongst them!!!

This musically weird shaped metal band from Madrid was founded in 2014. Their line-up consists of Robert Navajas (guitar/vocals), Alejandro Jorge Álvarez (bass) and Luis Aguirre (drums). "Electricmegablack" is already the second album of Mad-Era, both of which were released on their own. The 10 new songs display a rather mature material that mostly combines of Pantera-like heavy riffs and vocal parts really reminiscent to Layne Staley from Alice in Chains. So it has the groove and the heaviness of the metal bands, but also features the soft yet profound elements of alternative rock, grunge and even fusion. If I say there's a huge number of interesting musical solutions going on there, better believe me and give a try to such great compositions as "Facebreaker", "Addiction", "Melt" or the epic "The Power of Healing". The emotional cohesive force plus the sheer will to create something outstanding and memorable incited each member of Mad-Era to focus on the most intelligent and futuristic vibe of their inner selves. These Spanish musicians feel their instruments correctly and play on a fantastic level. I'm not used to listen to such type of music, but have to admit I've enjoyed a lot their kind of musical ride!

This is the fourth full-length record of the Polish death brigade, where the five-piece antichristian unit sets the bar even higher. They present twelve songs forged into the most destructive cavalcade of focused hatred for humanity. Their accuracy is outstanding in every aspect, they have full control over their instruments and are aware of everything they do. They artistically mix the brutal guitar riffs with ethereal melodies, devastating blast beats, bloodthirsty vocal parts and, of course, give the diabolical outcome to us in terms of speed for 46 and a half minutes. From a musical point of view, I would compare the repertoire of "Mind Control Ultra" to their Polish buddies: Behemoth, Hate, Thy Disease and Decapitated. Of course, there is much else going on there that is remarkable and ensures respect towards Manipulation. This is high-tech death metal that hits the right vibe from start to end. There is no complaint about the sound production, as it is very punchy, meaty and demanding as far as speed allows. Elements of modern, let's say djent or deathcore, and black metal are kindly presented there as well. Thus don't be surprised if you'll bump into a few passages reminiscent to Dimmu Borgir or Meshuggah. This is a very diverse musical frenzy that you should listen to right away on the bandcamp page of Manipulation!!!

The story of this Mezõkövesd-located thrash metal band starts in the year of 2006. After two demos and an EP their debut album "Húsdaráló" finally arrives in 2015. The line-up on this record is: István Hajdu (vocals/guitar), István Marton (bass) and Zoltán Pap (drums). It builds up from eight songs and lasts 29 minutes. The music of the Hungarian trio is pretty nostalgic or at least I felt it so. I mean, it will definitely guide you back to the 80s & 90s, when this genre bloomed the best albums ever. If I had to compare their compositions to bands of those times I would most likely pick the following names for sure: Moby Dick, Sepultura, D.R.I. and Kreator. And due to their really meaningful lyrics in Hungarian and the vocalizing manner the similes to Moby Dick are just evident. The album comes with a great crushing sound production, which is proportional and edgy. I do also believe these musicians are maximally dedicated towards the given style and hopefully they will shortly return with their second full-length release! By the way, the last track "Eye for an Eye" is the English version of the third song called "Eltaposnak". Good try, but I really hope they will stick to their native language, because they sound better that way!!!

Mazikeen is an Australian blackened death metal horde grounded in the year of 2013. The band is strangely named, one would say, as Mazikeen is a fictional character taken from a comic book that stands for hostile night spirit (invisible demon), which can create minor annoyances or greater dangers to men. Okay, let's analyze their debut full-length album "The Solace of Death" in details. It has 12 songs (8 songs of their own plus 4 cover versions) with over 77 minutes playing time. Music-wise, the band is particularly influenced by the Scandinavian black & death metal elite, like Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Arcturus, Covenant, Dark Funeral or Dissection, but in my opinion the sonic arsenal of Cradle of Filth did the biggest impact on their repertory. The recording members were: James Edmeades (vocals/lyrics), Andrew Shiells (guitars/synths), Kris Marchant (guitar solos), Aretstikapha (piano/synths), Marco Pitruzzella (drums) plus three guest vocalists: Josh Young, Ian McLean and Ashahalasin. Their own cuts sound rather well-structured and maximally polished, which speak about the skillfulness of the musicians. What's more, I found all the symphonic elements come in a perfect balance with the rest of the instruments there. Unfortunately, can't say the same regarding their cover versions. The four covers are as follows: "Freezing Moon" from Mayhem, "Night's Blood" from Dissection, "The Mourning Palace" from Dimmu Borgir and "Transilvanian Hunger" from Darkthrone. They've managed to add plenty of ineffectual guitar harmonies, drum parts, keyboards and vocal parts there. I mean, it is not a good idea to change the original guitar riffs to some unpleasant ones or to add fast blast beats and double bass rolls, where they are not practicable at all. With no cover songs this CD would be definitely more impressive to me as a whole!!!

Molde is an Irish/Polish black metal unit that follows the dark paths of the Norwegian hordes of the 90s. The music the duo displays on their debut album "The Messenger" is very primitive and monotonous, but with that special freezing atmosphere of the Norwegians. Ollie Ver (all instruments) and Lord Darkstorm (vocals & lyrics) kept their compositions true to the times where all has begun. It's about the source, the straightforward fury and dedication towards the initial idea of the black metal genre itself. The 39-minute CD has been divided into seven tracks. All of them links to the past and triumphantly gathers its precious moments. The entire album sounds raw and old-timer like. Indeed, it was executed in the true spirits of the underground. The conception of the booklet is simple too. It comes with a nice graphic front cover of Peter Hitz, two member photos and a minimal information regarding its recording. Apropos, the band's name has the following meaning: "the dust to which human flesh returns after death". Well, black metal diehards should get their hands on this CD release right away!!! Preferred tracks are: "Into the Winter Moon" and "Call of the Ancient".

Mourner is a fairly young Russian doom/death metal band grounded in the year of 2018 by Gor (vocals, bass), Saw (guitar) and A.D. (guitar, drums, samples). Their debut release "Apogee of Nihility" encompasses seven compositions with a 45-minute playing time. It was built up from the well-known canons of the above mentioned styles forging the most lethal sonic alloy of doom and death. The proportions between those two genres were balanced in an appropriate way and thus the outcome can be described only as honest and real doom/death metal. Most of the time, the riff structures reminded me very much Hypocrisy's pioneering "The Fourth Dimension" album, but you can easily find there influences of My Dying Bride, Anathema, Paradise Lost, Asphyx and Bolt Thrower too. The trio did a good job both songs- and sound-wise. Their material displays a mature level. It has lots of attracting moments, which the expert listeners will discover right at first hearing. The grunts of Gor are deep and deathly indeed. He delivers them in Russian language. If you are eager to know how doom/death metal made in Rostov-on-Don sounds like, then definitely check the debut album of Mourner!!!

Mysthicon was initiated in the year of 2015 by members of Vader, Lux Occulta, Hate and Batushka. In 2019 the band releases "Into the Dark", a 2-song EP, on their own, to tease the underground masses about the kind of keyboard-oriented death/black/doom metal hybrid they stand for. And more than a year later, exactly on the 23rd of September, 2020 their long-awaited debut album "Silva - Oculis - Corvi" was finally aired. The album features 6 tracks of their own plus a cover version on Lux Occulta's "Passing Away" taken from their demo "The Forgotten Arts" (1995). Let me tell you at once with the music of Mysthicon you will most likely catapult back to the glorious 90s, when such great bands emerged and ruled the scene as Arcturus, Covenant, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Hypocrisy and Old Man's Child, just to name a few. The sextet approached us with a brilliant sound production and a repertory that deserves respect. Polish musicians can't fail, you know. So I deeply advice you to check out Mysthicon and their symphonic compound!!! The beautifully arranged 8-panel digipak CD comes with a 12-page booklet in a form of a poster. To cut it short, it's a very attractive debut release, so keep your eyes on Mysthicon!!!

Here's another awesome 4-way split release initiated by Yan Chamberland of Nervous Impulse and Alexander Kantemirov of More Hate Productions. As it should be, the CD starts off with an ultra-brutal mix of new, old and cover songs by the crazy Canadian deathgrinders from Montréal. The back lists 6 tracks of Nervous Impulse, but in fact we will hear 10 cuts in total there. As usual, their mind blasting repertory is about sonic speed, catchy riff slaughters and inhuman voice orgies. And all this you have to place in the tightest and cutting edge sound production possible. The circa 11-minute bash party continues to raise the bar in terms of creativity, so I am surely in for the thrill and looking forward to the quintet's next step! Thenceforward comes 5 songs submitted by the French grindcore unit known as Trepan'Dead. After the release of their 2nd full-length album "Instinct" (2012) the band didn't put out any stuff, so I bet these split tracks will make happy the grindcore society. Their first track "Fanatic" mainly displays an orthodox structuring, which reminded me so much Napalm Death. However, the five-piece combo didn't stick exclusively to the past, as they bravely use modern groove-like elements as well, just let's listen to the songs "Vermination" and "The Shape of Humanity" as examples. The over 9 minutes long material has a juicy sound, so I guess fans of grindcore will be maximally pleased with it! Third position on the split is given to S.I.R. (deciphered as "set it raw"), a grindcore quartet from Moscow (Russia). They perform 5 short compositions in the best traditions of the genre, which are surely going to tear your soul apart. At first sight I could conclude, it is all about non-stop blasting at the highest speeds possible! Massive aural attacks within 9 minutes that's what the fellas from S.I.R. can guarantee for you this time! Oops, we almost reached the end of the CD, less than 10 minutes left, but MoreGore guys from Ukraine will make sure to close it the right way. Well, the four sickos unleash upon us 7 pieces from their fungrind arsenal. To get you an idea what's going on there, you have to imagine the dirtiest punk rock music mixed up by a huge dose of black humor and blast beats, of course. This giant disc comes with a killer 6-panel booklet and a meaningful quotation of Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"!!!

If you are looking for a modern death metal band with lots of breakdowns and melodies reminiscent to Amon Amarth, Gojira, Hypocrisy or Bloodbath, then you probably have to check out the first EP of the Tudela-located five men group called Nihilrage! It consists of five tracks and lasts almost 18 minutes. A calm intro starts the EP to prepare the listener for the aural storm that is ahead. "Merciless War" follows it with some really groovy breakdowns, short blast beat attacks and melodic yet ethereal guitar passages. "Born of Weakness" is sort of an even slower and groovier composition. Then we have "Human Waste", which is a killer double bass oriented song with awesome vocal parts. "Eternal Condemnation" ends the stuff. It is a maximally mid paced track with a few hammer blasts, the usual portion of breakdowns and abstract guitar melodies on the background. The EP has a fantastic sound production, but it also has a big deficiency of good ideas and memorable parts, if you ask me. Nevertheless, I see potential in the songs of "Eternal", so hopefully the band will come up with better songs for their first full-length record, which is already in progress. Time shall tell us...

After a long hiatus the Polish masters of sophisticated death/black metal chaos are returning in the most triumphant way possible to present you their best material to date. Nomad's 6th full-length album lasts over 33 minutes and shows 7 distinct ways to enter the realms of the abstract. The entire material has some kind of special cosmic touch and sinister vibration that craftily pervades through the layers of the background, thus wittingly putting one's mind into a trance. The seven vicious pieces were recorded, mixed & mastered at different studios between 2014-2018, while for the resulting sound production Malta and the Wieslawski brothers were in charge. Needless to say, they've managed to provide a crushing sonority and an unbelievable diversity for all the tracks of "Transmogrification (Partus)". The booklet says Nomad actually is: Bleyzabel Balberith (vocals), Patrick "Seth" Bilmorgh (guitar), Nameless Immenus (guitar), Rothep Patiel (bass) and Gaap Zariel (drums). However, on this album the bass lines were recorded by Orion and the drum parts by Inferno, both from Behemoth. The fabulous cover art, the mystic sigil and the domineering layout were all designed by Michal "Xaay" Loranc. Quite impressive works once again! Besides the standard jewel case CD there's also available a limited 2CD digipak version that includes the 4-song "Tetramorph II" EP with a completely new mix, significantly different from the 2015 release. Oh, and the vinyl freaks can get their hands on two 180 gram heavy black types of vinyl, also containing the "Tetramorph II" EP in 45 rpm quality, all wrapped in gatefold. If you are asking for a fresh yet avant-garde-like formula within the black and death metal genres, then Nomad's new release is the right answer!!! Highly recommended stuff!!!

Nukore is a low-tuned hardcore/rap metal quartet hailing from Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain). Its members are: Aitor Asso (vocals), Ander Martinez-Olaskoaga (guitar/backing vocals), Unai Perales (bass/vocals) and Rafael Battaglia (drums). "One Minute Silence" is actually their 4th full-length album that represents 8 massive groove-oriented short tracks in 23 minutes. It blends really well the late 80s/early 90s rap-influenced metal and hardcore vibe (Suicidal Tendencies, Anthrax, Body Count, Agnostic Front) together with the nu metal movement (Korn, Limp Bizkit, Deftones). Moreover, it is full of mind-blowing breakdowns, catchy singalongs, explicit yet angry lyrical content that were all firmly placed into the modern soundscape of the 21st century. I am sure this kind of music will shake the bones, give the punch and move the masses the right way at a live show. The booklet has all the lyrics included plus the thoughtful cover artwork of Paul Urkijo Alijo. So if you are searching for the ultimate mix between the above mentioned bands and musical genres, then have a listen to Nukore's latest stuff!!!