Origin of Infinity was established in the year of 2017. Two years later the trio recorded their debut album "The Last Day On Earth" in Hellsound Studio, which first was published digitally in December of 2019, but a year later it was out on both CD and vinyl formats. The progressive metallers from Decín (Czech Republic) packed their debut release with 12 pieces of the most profound musical experimentalism. Their sort of progressive alloy sounds way modern to me, since it combines elements of all the newbie styles, which I am not fond of at all. Nevertheless, the over 26 minutes stuff has a very punchy sound production with downtuned guitars and all the clichés of the 21st century. The trio on this record is Vladimír Novák (guitars/bass/piano), Miroslav Kocegura (drums) and Tomáš Hospodka (guest vocals). Sorry guys, but I have to say your music is very boring. Hopefully, they are going to create more interesting music in the future, so herewith I wish them good luck in the so-called search of originality!

Catalonian grinders of death Ósserp are ready to lash out the unsuspecting herd of underground freaks with their third full-length portion of post-apocalyptic aural visions. The new studio album is collecting nine masterfully arranged pieces that are about to smash your consciousness and leave your soul empty afterwards. The Barcelona-based quintet's music is not that super straightforward kind of death/grind, it is rather experimental and focusing on getting the maximum epicness out of their tunes instead. So when I name Behemoth as an example, you already know what to expect there, right? They sound modern and operate with all the possible streams of modernism within the extreme music of the 21st century. On this record Ósserp is: Vali (vocals), Xavier (vocals), Dani (guitar), Benjamín (bass) and Álex (drums). They are pretty experienced musicians, so you are definitely going to enjoy their circa 43 minutes of explosive yet monumental black/death/grind madness. This cardboard promo has a simple cover, but the original one is absolutely stunning as it was painted by none other than Paolo Girardi. All I can say is that it's a very pro material with a sort of ethereal futuristic touch and I really enjoyed listening to the following tracks: "Tot Crema", "L'Home en el Laberint" & "Lluna Negra". Keep your eyes on them in the future as they will be going to impress you more and more!!!

Actually, this is a re-release of Purnama's debut album, originally issued in 2017. "Lioness" consists of seven powerful compositions, which display a killer hybrid between the elements of melodic death metal and deathcore. The recording line-up on this album was Jakub Viták (vocals/guitar), Václav Vanícek (guitar), Jarda Bejr (bass) and Petr Liebich (drums). The Czech quartet debuted rather well and managed to plant the seeds of success for their second album "Flame of Rebellion" (2020). Yet "Lioness" is about to offer a broad variety of extreme musical solutions with its over 34 minutes playing time. So you are going to face lots of hammer blasts, epic guitar passages and quite evil vocal parts there. All this you have to imagine with a flawless sound production. The 8 pages of the booklet include all the necessary infos, like the lyrics, some band photos and a couple of live shots. Thanks to Slovak Metal Army this re-release became simply great!!! Preferred tracks are: "War for Home" and "No Evil No Gods".

Sarmat from Poland was founded in 2018 and "RS-28" is their heavy-weight debut release. The recording musicians are the following: Lukasz Kobusiñski (vocals), Daniel Szymanowicz (guitars/bass/keyboards), Krzysztof Kopczeñski (guitars) and Krzysztof Klingbein (session drums). The quartet managed to record a menacing alloy of death/black metal in the spirit of Behemoth, Marduk and Belphegor. The eight musical parts of the CD will bring you to the savage warfields and leave a devastating mark in the souls of the weak. Their lyrical and graphical contents are filled with fear, weapons and destruction. This type of music kind of storms with the speed of the light, stops or slows down just for a few seconds to continue onward the aural havoc. The 33 and a half minutes long disc sounds totally killer, but we all know that Polish extreme metal bands are maximally aware of this ruse. They just can't fail at that point. So what you're going to get from Sarmat is the pure essence of the unmerciful brutality. The band already added two new members to their fold, namely Pawel Korneluk on bass and Krzysztof Szalkowski on drums, so from now on they are a five-piece war unit.

Scabbard is a pretty old death metal band hailing from the Czech Republic. Being established in the year of 1992 they've managed to release 3 demos, 2 splits and 2 long plays until 2000. Then it was followed by a 6-year pause and since 2016 they are active again. If you ask me "V ríši zla" is a totally badass comeback album. On this record the band returned to lyrics written in their native language as it was used for their very first demo titled "Soudný den". By the way, the actual lyrical content is quite explicit, a well-aimed strike so to say, so be prepared. The death metal the trio performs is maximally straightforward and true to their roots. Dear metal-hearted ladies and gentlemen this is pure old-school death metal the Czech way!!! So if you're into Krabathor, then you will dig the new songs of Scabbard likewise!!! The album was recorded, mixed & mastered at famous Shaark studio, thus you can expect a balanced punchy production. The CD lasts over 35 minutes and will most likely blow your mind in the right direction. The musicians in charge are Alex (bass/vocals), Tomáš (guitar/vocals) and Dan (drums). Highly recommended stuff for all the members of the deathrash community!!!

After a reasonably long hiatus, the Czech masters of thrash metal have finally returned. Their brand new record "Deathonation" consists of 10 ass-kicking songs, which will be going to please all the true thrashers worldwide. It's their 5th album up to now and believe or not, but it is a real trendkiller, a hard punch into the face of all the wannabe posers. The music itself is a perfect combination between the US and the European kinds of thrash metal. Sounds massive and crush the way it has to. Let me remind you Shaark was formed in 1991, thus no need to question the skills of the musicians behind it. They did a perfect job on "Deathonation" and they are as follows: Peroon666 (vocals), Alex Nejezchleba (guitars), Bája (bass) and Zdenek Pradlovský (drums). At the end of the CD as a bonus you can listen to the thrash metal adaptation of Deep Purple's classic "Speed King". Awesome interpretation and that's for sure!!! Shaark is finally back and it was definitely worth waiting for!!! So go and get this circa 42 minutes long masterpiece right away!!!

Solar System from the Czech Republic returns with its sophomore full-length album called "Synchronicita". The band was established in 2010 and prior to this material they've released 2 demos and the debut album "Atlantis" in 2015. The 11 songs of "Synchronicita" are written in the neoclassical way of power and heavy metal. So expect a big dose of sheer epicness full of mind-blowing guitar solos, heroic vocal parts, pummeling drum patterns and stout bass lines. Their stuff sounds powerful and their melodies are pretty catchy. There are four neoclassical warriors in the ranks of Solar System, i.e. Oto Gajdoš (vocals), Petr Štrauch (guitars), Martin Vanek (bass) and Jan Gajdoš (drums). Oto sings in Czech, so it adds some kind of special flavor to their repertoire. Anyway, if you like virtuoso guitar parts in the style of Yngwie Malmsteen then you have to get to know the 50 minutes of "Synchronicita" too. The packaging of the CD is nice, so feel free to order it directly from the band at any of the following links.

Nate has sent me this older material of The Crypt too. "Odal" is from 2019 and it's their second full-length album. On this record the members – Skyler Champeau (vocals), Nate Yuggoth (bass/acoustic guitars/backing vocals), Adam Haste (lead guitars/backing vocals/keyboards) and Aaron Fischer (lead guitars), plus the usual bunch of guest musicians – are about to guide you into the spheres of classical heavy metal, in particular the earliest forms of it. They kind of successfully reached the epic feelings extracted from the 80's hard rock, heavy and doom metal bands. What's more, the overall sound production is also very close and reminiscent of the pioneers of the before mentioned genres. So the 8 songs and the over 59 minutes of "Odal" are going to surprise almost everybody, especially the ones who've started to listen to and like The Crypt, because of their blackened thrash/death metal debut material. Anyway, I think the fans of Candlemass, Mercy, Memento Mori, Mercyful Fate, Trouble or The Obsessed will respect this album in one or another way! This is pure past-praising metal music with maximally darkened lyrical content! Preferred tracks are: "The Lost Magics", "I Turn My Back" and "Under Black Sails".

The Crypt is a Fish Creek-located obscure metal band that started its career in 1998, though before (more precisely between 1995-1998) it was known as Cryptic. With Cryptic they've released 2 demos, but shortly afterwards changed the band's name to The Crypt. The given single was released in 2020, titled as "Crystallized", is nothing but a 13 minutes long experimental song. This lengthy atmospheric track combines almost everything from heavy and thrash to death and black through psychedelic and progressive metal. The lyrical content of The Crypt has been fixed from the very start and is dedicated to the ancient ones. This excellent song was recorded by Nate Yuggoth (vocals/bass), Adam Haste (lead guitars), Andrew DiCesare (session lead guitars) and Frank Schilperoort (session drums). It sounds rather good and proportional to be honest thanks to Daniel Pavlov from Belarus, who was in charge of mixing & mastering. Believe it or not, but at the beginning of the song (somewhere around 2:37 until 4:00) I've found some cool parts reminiscent of Possessed's timeless "Death Metal" hymn. I am not sure if this great single is still available in physical format, but you can listen to it at The Crypt's bandcamp profile. Hail the ancient ones!!!

The 2021 release of The Crypt is a full-length one. It unites 13 songs in almost 47 minutes. Compared to all the previous materials this stuff is definitely the most experimental one in the band's career. Moving maximally away from the well proven metal sound and giving space for the elements of electronic music have turned the songs of "Выкадиш" to some sort of post-apocalyptic industrial darkwave synthesis. On this release the core of The Crypt is: Nate Yuggoth (bass, vocals, vocorder, rhythm guitars, programming), Dan Smrz (drums, keyboards, programming) and David Smrz (programming, sound effects). This trio was supported by a big number of guest musicians, like Adam Haste, Sam Lozoff & Lukas Kubelka on lead guitars, MP & vH+ on keyboards or Mike Browning of Nocturnus AD on theremin, just to name a few. While the musical factor mutated a lot, the lyrical content remained unchanged, it is still about the ancient ones. To be honest, the new musical direction of The Crypt is not my cup of tea at all, but let's the fans of the band judge them for such an unexpected move. The disc comes with a laconically designed 6-page booklet including three thematic artworks by Klea Kotollaku, Kirsten Logerquist & Nate Yuggoth, a band photo and all the mandatory credits. Order this over programmed ritualistic piece of electronic art at the links below!!!

"Embers of Limerance" is the fourth long play record by The Crypt. Unlike any other releases by the band it is entirely acoustic. Its 41 minutes and 10 musical chapters will provide you with a super relaxed vibe. Instruments-wise, besides the acoustic guitars, the rather big musicianship of The Crypt (I've counted 13 people in total) also used piano, flute, organ, rubab, bass and different kinds of percussion there. The male and female vocal parts are as varied as their choice of instruments there, for example you would even hear some throat singing in the song titled "When at Last the Light Goes Out". In general, it is about a great acoustic mix between classical and Latin music. From the latter one I would especially mention the inclusion of tropical elements. To cut it short, this album is just perfect for resting and having a quality chilling time. What's more, you can spin it more than once in a row as their acoustic program doesn't get boring even after the third time of listening. But after this stuff I am totally clueless, where will the musicians of The Crypt go on their upcoming album music-wise. I say let us be surprised!!!

This CD was handed to me personally by Yura, the guitar player of Voracity, when he visited Uzhhorod in 2020 as a session bass player for Blood Expectoration. The Rivne-located trio was formed in 2011 and prior to this album they put out an EP, a split and two promos. So let's dissect their debut release in detail. "Shrunken Heads Vertigo" includes 9 songs of quality slamming brutal death metal. It's fairly technical, super groovy (as it should be) and supported by a huge sound. Voracity on this record is: Alex (vocals), Yura (guitars) & Vlad (drums). Their debut album lasts over 26 minutes. After the short, but long-titled intro "Voluptuous Ceremony upon the Afflicted One" we bump into the heavy-weight title track "Shrunken Heads Vertigo" that is simply brain-crushing, a sonic orgy of brutality. It follows "Cannonball Decapitation", a typical Dying Fetus-influenced tune. Have to admit, this US BDM brigade along with slam masters Devourment have impacted the most of Voracity's musical direction. I guess that's fine, right? I mean this kind of genre isn't too varied, the emphasis is on the groove of the riffs, dynamism of the drum patterns and the utterly brutal death grunts. They have it all and bring them in giant doses, thus their formula is more than valid. Besides the killer title track my other favorites are "Strangulate the Disgruntled" and "Decimate the Lowlife". Man, this debut material is so sick, simply hats off! There have been two CD versions released, one with the cover art of Mottla (as seen here) and the other one comes with the art of Recrean Azaza. Let me tell you, both covers are sick! Currently the band is working on new stuff and they have a new drummer, Bogdan from Necropsy Defecation and Statist. Can't wait to check out some more slamming death metal madness from these Ukrainian sickos!!!

"Arrelats" is the fourth album by Vrademargk from Terrassa, Catalonia. On this record the four-piece brigade – Jordi Urbano (vocals), Rafael Ruíz (guitars), Germán Padierna (bass) & Manel Rodríguez (drums) – brings their creativity to a higher level. The musicality and riff-structuring of their new songs are really impressive. Besides the rather tranquil opening instrumental tune "Lividesa" you're going to perceive six outstanding tracks performed in the best traditions of melodic death metal. Most of the time the name of At The Gates pops up in my mind, but let me assure you right away that this quartet has a big potential and delivers lots of unique moments during their 35 and a half minutes repertory. Their music is quite dark, it's fairly epic (in the vein of Behemoth), but also intriguing if we take a look at the Catalan lyrical content and the way it has been presented to us. Their homie, Eloi Boucherie from Vidres A La Sang, was responsible for recording & mixing the album, which sound-wise turned out freaking cool. My personal favorites off of "Arrelats" are "Estigmes sobre cendres", "L'art de morir" and "Eudaimonia". What else? Just surf to any of the links below, listen to the music of Vrademargk and keep your eyes wide open for their future releases!!!

Built up on the primeval musical and ideological sources of the Scandinavian black metal scene Vrag from Hungary is ready to deliver us their 3rd full-length record "Harcom". The five compositions produced by the sole member of the band, Vrag (all instruments and vocals), lyrics-wise are dealing with the coldness, solitude and misanthropic sides of the human soul. And frankly speaking this particular kind of attitude and inner vibe is characterizing the entire music of "Harcom" as well. It's purely saturnine, filled with hatred, anger and disgust towards the humankind. The guitar riffs and melodies aren't complex at all, on the contrary, they're very simple and basic, the way they should be for this type of music. Thus creating a rather monotone, sort of background atmosphere on which the misanthropic lyrics were appropriately laid down. By the way, all the lyrics are written and sung in Hungarian, but you can find the English translations to them in the booklet. These very long yet mostly mid-pace-oriented, marching-like songs have been forged in the best traditions of such notorious black metal hordes as Burzum and Nargaroth. The CD is lasting over 45 minutes and sounding damn good, so don't hesitate to order your copy in time!!!