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Album Review – Ov Shadows / The Darkness Between Stars (2018)

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Representing an exploration beyond the sane and mentally sound, this talented Swedish horde is ready to haunt our souls with seven unrelenting tracks of atmospheric and sinister Black Metal.

“Embrace your shadow self – your dark aspects. Don’t hide away. Let those harmless creatures, turn into raging monsters. Let chaos guide your consciousness. You are ov Shadows.”

Those few sentences frame the concept behind Swedish Black Metal horde Ov Shadows, representing an exploration beyond the sane and mentally sound. With their music and lyrics, Ov Shadows acknowledge the duality that divide a persona and the shadow self, continuing further into the dark, a portal into chaos without barriers and rules. And after crossing that portal, you’ll be ready to explore the sinister realms of Atmospheric Black Metal ruled by Ov Shadows in their brand new album, entitled The Darkness Between Stars.

Formed in the city of Gothenburg in 2016, the band comprised of RA (aka Ronny Attergran) on vocals and bass, AF (aka Andreas Frizell) and AA (aka Anders Ahlbäck) on the guitars, and JW (aka Jonas Wickstrand) on drums returns after their 2016 debut EP Monologues with more of their Stygian sound, delivering epic riffs that turn from mournful to triumphant in a way that is stirring and emotionally satisfying. In other words, The Darkness Between Stars has everything that one could possibly want out of a Black Metal album, those being a truly dark atmosphere, an epic feel, the right mix of melody and grimness, and an engaging song structure.

Ominous sounds emerge from the dark chambers of hell until the quartet begins their devilish mass in the title-track The Darkness Between Stars, blasting sheer brutality and blasphemy during its almost 7 minutes of music.  RA sounds like a possessed demon on vocals, while JW delivers the most classic form of blast beats, generating a straightforward musicality recommended for admirers of the genre. In Bellowing Shadows, darkness and rage keep flowing from the band’s instruments in an excellent display of Black Metal, with their evil guitar duo AF and AA cutting our skin with their old school riffage, whereas RA’s gnarls sound and feel even more disturbing. And displaying hints of Doom Metal and Blackened Doom (but still reeking of putrid Black Metal) we have The Hanged Man, where JW continues his pulverizing path while both guitars sound as sulfurous as they can be, all spiced up by a sinister atmospheric passage before all hell breaks loose again.

The acid Disguised As Altruism is another demolishing Black Metal feast by Ov Shadows, with its guitars getting more and more scorching as the music progresses while the overall malignancy is considerably boosted by JW’s unstoppable beats, living up to the legacy of Scandinavian Black Metal. The Ritual of the Natural Flame already begins in full force, with the four members of the band summoning total darkness with their Stygian instruments, in special RA and his high-pitched demonic roars (not to mention the song’s somber and absolutely menacing break). After such beautiful blast of Black Metal, strident riffs and gnarls set the tone in the dense metallic extravaganza named Hordes Abiding the Narrator, with all instruments generating a mesmerizing dark ambience perfect for RA and his vociferations. Lastly, their final onrush of blasphemy and obscurity comes in the form of a 7-minute devastating tune named A Sky In Vain, where AF and AA create a wall of darkness with their riffs while JW switches between classic Black Metal drumming and Doom Metal-inspired beats, flowing into a melancholic and obscure ending.

If you want to take a detailed listen at The Darkness Between Stars, click HERE and enjoy this very cohesive and professional album in its entirety. Also, in order to show your true support to this skillful Swedish horde, simply visit their Facebook page for news, tour dates and other nice-to-know details about the band, and their YouTube channel for more of their unrelenting Black Metal. And of course, purchase The Darkness Between Stars on BandCamp or on Big Cartel, letting the somber music by Ov Shadows penetrate deep inside your mind, blackening your thoughts until there’s no way back.

Best moments of the album: Disguised As Altruism and The Ritual of the Natural Flame.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2018 Black Market Metal

Track listing
1. The Darkness Between Stars 6:58
2. Bellowing Shadows 5:40
3. The Hanged Man 6:26
4. Disguised As Altruism 5:56
5. The Ritual of the Natural Flame 7:19
6. Hordes Abiding the Narrator 5:58
7. A Sky In Vain 7:42

Band members
RA – vocals, bass
AF – guitars
AA – guitars
JW – drums

Album Review – Helslave / Divination EP (2017)

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Prepare yourself for a grim and murky fusion of old school and modern Swedish-inspired Death Metal by five Italian troopers in their path of destruction and killing.

Formed in 2009 by guitarist Jari, Italian Death Metal act Helslave is a Rome-based band taking its influences from the 90’s Death Metal and Melodic Death Metal Swedish scene, adding their personal twist to generate a mix of old and modern school metal music. After releasing a self-titled demo in 2010, followed by the EP Ethereal Decay in 2013 and their first full-length album An Endless Path in 2015, the band started playing shows all over Italy and Europe, sharing the stage with acts such as Grave, Asphyx, Havok, Hideous Divinity and Destroyer 666, also appearing at Metaldays in 2014, keeping themselves busy and always charged up to continue their path of destruction wherever they go.

In the beginning of the year, Helslave entered the studio to record a brand new EP titled Divination, comprised of four brand new tracks leaning towards darker and heavier sounds, playing their already traditional Swedish-inspired Death Metal in the vein of Grave, Entombed and Desultor, all embraced by the devilish artwork designed by Misanthropic Art. Prepare yourself for grim and murky old school Death Metal, the kind of stuff that doesn’t rely on triggered blast beats, light-in-the-loafers warbling, or anything but the crudest building blocks to construct its killing art. Hence, although Divination lasts for only around 16 minutes, that’s more than enough for Helslave to crush your spine mercilessly.

In the opening track, beautifully titled Summoning The Eternal Eclipse, an ominous intro morphs into sheer devastation by Jari and his henchmen, with drummer Francesco Comerci dictating the song’s demented rhythm in a solid display of Swedish Death Metal. In addition, newcomer Diego Laino and his Unleashed-inspired vocals keep the song’s ferocity at an extremely high level, perfect for declaiming the song’s menacing lyrics (“Silence falls, it freezes all around / the arrival of divine / ancestral ritual summon
/ Blinding lights, no human eye can see
/ let the plague fall on the weak”). And there’s no time to breathe, as the band rises from the pits of hell with another brutal carnage named Lord Of Lies, presenting old school, visceral Death Metal with hints of other extreme genres such as Black and Thrash Metal to add more dynamism to the musicality. The guitar duo Jari and Lorenzo Fabiani are simply fantastic, blasting scorching, darkened riffs through their instruments, not to mention the intricate beats by Francesco in this ode to obscurity.

In The Spawn Of Astaroth, the band slows things down a bit, but that doesn’t mean they don’t fire truly dismembering riffs and beats, with Diego growling like a beast while Francesco and bassist Luca Riccardelli maintain a dense ambience in the background. Moreover, the final guitar lines exhale pure Black Metal, not to mention the song’s insurgent lyrics (“The fate of a great battle / has to be faced / an indomitable army has to be defeated / We are the ones who walk the left hand path / As written in the blood of the prophecy / The only way to conquer this land”). And Desecration, their last spawn of vicious Death Metal, is fast, demonic and amazingly neck-breaking, again presenting traditional piercing riffs and solos by Jari and Lorenzo as well as the complex and vibrant drumming by Francesco, being highly recommended for fans of Unleashed and Obituary.

You can take a full listen at Divination on YouTube, and follow Helslave through their Facebook page, YouTube channel, ReverbNation and SoundCloud. And if you want to show your true support to high-end underground Death Metal, you can purchase the EP at Helslave’s BandCamp or Big Cartel, at the Black Market Metal’s Big Cartel, or at Discogs. The only “issue” with Divination is that it’s only 15 minutes long, but as aforementioned that doesn’t stop Helslave from shining and destroying with their unrelenting Death Metal, leaving us eager for more kick-ass extreme music by this hardworking Italian squad.

Best moments of the album: Summoning The Eternal Eclipse.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2017 Black Market Metal

Track listing
1. Summoning The Eternal Eclipse 4:08
2. Lord Of Lies 3:32
3. The Spawn Of Astaroth 3:43
4. Desecration 4:35

Band members
Diego Laino – vocals
Jari – lead guitars
Lorenzo Fabiani – guitars
Luca Riccardelli – bass
Francesco Comerci – drums