It’s time to get morbid and slam into the pit to the sound of the crushing Death Metal by this up-and-coming act hailing from Sweden.
It’s time to get morbid and vile with some old school Death Metal made in Karlskrona, known as Sweden’s only baroque city, pulverizing your senses and leaving you completely disoriented just the way we love in extreme music. I’m talking about the infernal duo comprised of guitarist J. Åberg and bassist R. Svensson, who together formed in the year of 2008 a demonic entity known as Morbid Spawn. Shortly after the formation of the band, a four-track demo called Demo Anthology was released in 2009 and the duo started looking for a drummer for the band, but unfortunately they couldn’t find a permanent one after several tests with different candidates. The project was then put on hold until 2015 when they recorded a single just for fun, culminating with the release now in 2018 of their first official album, the five-track EP And So It Begins.
And they need only two seconds to start pulverizing everyone and everything that crosses their path in the opening track S.G.T.D, where the drums sound deeply violent and bestial while J. Åberg smashes his strings mercilessly, not to mention the song’s classic Death Metal lyrics (“The Rightful deprivation everlost in Obsolete / Surrounded by the Conceit, a False Valor of Yourself / Pandemonic Treason, Your Treachery induce us all /Benighted Bastard Of Filth, your downfall will succeed”); turning it into a highly recommended option for slamming into a nasty circle pit. Then showcasing deeper growls, which end up giving the music a more ferocious and raw vibe, Path To The Celestrial Realm brings forward flammable riffs accompanied by low-tuned and menacing bass lines that will embrace you and prepare you for a demented drumming onrush. In other words, fans of classic Cannibal Corpse will love this crushing tune from the bottom of their bloody hearts; whereas Tortured feels even more rhythmic and devastating, with enraged and bestial roars permeating the air while the reverberating sounds of guitar and bass exhale sheer havoc and chaos, resulting in a first-class old school Death Metal hymn for the masses condensed in less than three minutes.
In the following tune, the action-packed, demolishing Immolated Incantation, visceral words are beautifully growled and barked (“Deceptional Distress / Pernicious Pain / Piercing through Me / From Within; Prevailed by Horrid struggle / Feeling it through my vein / Starting to feel insane /Insane!”), proving Death Metal gets even more entertaining when the lyrics are as aggressive as the music. As a matter of fact, the name of the song is already an ode to the purest form of Death Metal, sounding vile, crude and demented, in special the song’s nonstop beats and fills. And last but not least, Morbid Spawn fires another putrid and obscure tune named Never To Return, a crushing feast of demonic guitars, thunderous bass punches and endless violence, also presenting over six minutes of gruesome vociferations and that somber intricacy we love in Death Metal riffs, with the music flowing powerfully until everything morphs into an eccentric and Stygian ending.
You can listen to And So It Begins in its entirety on YouTube, purchase the album from Morbid Spawn’s BandCamp page and from the Podreira Records’ BandCamp page, or simply follow the band on Facebook. No matter which one of these options better suits your needs, you should be prepared to be pulverized inside the circle pit, slamming like a beast to the sound of this skillful Death Metal act from Sweden that might have taken a while to deliver their first opus to the world, but the wait was definitely worth it and opens a promising (and devastating) path for the band in a not-so-distant future in the world of underground extreme music.
Best moments of the album: Tortured and Immolated Incantation.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2018 Independent
Track listing 1. S.G.T.D 4:41
2. Path To The Celestrial Realm 3:47
3. Tortured 2:37
4. Immolated Incantation 4:05
5. Never To Return 6:29
Band members
J. Åberg – guitar, drum programming
R. Svensson – bass, drum programming
In order to properly celebrate nothing more, nothing less than FIVE years of The Headbanging Moose, there’s nothing better than paying a humble tribute to a true Warrior of the North as our metal chick of this month of October, a woman that perfectly represents all the passion, strength and perseverance from the people that make our beloved Canada one of the best places to live in the world. Born in 1985 in Vancouver, one of the most beautiful cities not only in the province of British Columbia but in the entire country, here comes the dauntless vocalist Brittney Slayes, whose real name is Brittney Hayes, frontwoman and founding member of Canadian Heavy Metal band Unleash The Archers, always ready to show you what metal music from the Great White North is all about.
The talented Brittney, who discovered her voice when she was five years old and began singing in her local community choir at the age of eight, traveled with several choirs during her school years, taking part in many musical theater productions and working with some of the best vocal coaches in Western Canada. In university, she attended the UVic School Of Music, but choosing instead to attain her undergraduate degree in History. Furthermore, during her time at the University of Victoria, she traveled the world as a member of the Juno Award-winning ensemble the Uvic Chamber Singers. As a UVic alumna and the lead singer of Victoria-born Unleash the Archers, Brittney gave a keynote talk on July 10, 2018 for UVic’s upcoming conference Boundaries and Ties: The Place of Metal Music in Communities, with her talk, entitled “View from the ‘Apex’: A Metal Musician’s Views on Metal and Community”, drawing on her firsthand experience with local, national, and international metal communities. And do you want to know what our metal warrior thinks about us, metalheads? “People are so open-minded. They’re not going to cast judgement and never give you a chance. From what I’ve seen, metalheads are very kind and caring and open-hearted. I just think that the metal community is uplifting, really,” said our wise vocalist.
Apart from her time singing with different choirs, our Canadian warrior had never been involved in any other bands or music projects before founding Unleash The Archers back in 2007 with her boyfriend and drummer Scott Buchanan, and according to Brittney herself starting the band was the best thing she could have ever done (and we all agree with that, of course), allowing her to use her background in classical music and her four octave range to provide a more dynamic approach to the band’s incendiary fusion of traditional Heavy Metal with Power and Melodic Metal. In late 2008, the band recorded a self-titled four-song demo, which featured two songs (Black Goat of the Woods and Destroyer) they would end up re-recording for their first studio album. In one of her interviews, Brittney explained a little more about the origins of the band, saying it all began when Scott, former guitarist Brayden Dyczkowski (who left the band in 2014) and herself were in university, when Scott and Brayden were playing in a Death Metal band together, and as the drummer’s girlfriend Brittney simply loved to go to their shows and rock out. When the band broke up, she called Brayden and asked him if he wanted to start a band with herself as the vocalist and Scott on drums, and from that day on Unleash The Archers became a reality, leading the band to grow and become a reference in Canadian metal music, winning the Best Metal Band and Best Vocalist awards during the 2015 Vancouver Whammy Awards, as well as being voted number 6 in Exclaim Magazine’s Readers Choice Awards for Best Metal Albums of 2009.
Apart from the aforementioned self-titled debut demo, Unleash The Archers have already released four full-length albums and one EP, those being their 2009 debut album Behold the Devastation (when she was still known as as B. Hayes), the 2011 album Demons of the AstroWaste, the 2012 EP Defy the Skies, the 2015 album Time Stands Still, and last year’s highly acclaimed opus Apex. Currently comprised of our Canadian Valkyrie of metal Brittney on vocals, Grant Truesdell and Andrew Kingsley on the guitars and harsh growls, and Scott Buchanan on drums, as well as Nick Miller taking care of the bass duties during their live performances, Unleash The Archers have a great selection of official videos, lyric videos and unofficial live footage for us to enjoy for hours on YouTube. For instance, you can join Unleash The Archers in their quest for metal with the songs Tonight We Ride, Ten Thousand Against One, Apex, General Of The Dark Army, Time Stands Still, Cleanse The Bloodlines, Awakening, The Matriarch and Dawn Of Ages. And if live concerts and performances are your cup of tea, you can enjoy Brittney and the guys kicking ass with the songs Dreamcrusher and Time Stands Still live in Montreal in 2015; General Of The Dark Army live at the Pont Rouge in Monthey, Switzerland in 2016; an acoustic version of The Outlander recorded live at CHSR in New Brunswick with Matt Nightingale during the 2011 “Tour Through The AstroWaste”; and their full set during their 2015 appearance at ProgPower USA in 2015. When asked about her favorite Unleash The Archers songs, those she believes a newcomer to their metal world should definitely take a listen at, Brittney said she has always loved Battle In The Shadow (Of The Mountain), from their second album Demons of the AstroWaste, saying she has a strong emotional connection to that song, also including on the list Four In Hand, from their debut album Behold the Devastation, as it’s about sin becoming personified as a cloaked figure riding around in a chariot pulled by the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Interesting, isn’t it?
Brittney has also been featured in several other bands and projects as a guest musician, each one of them being very peculiar and showcasing all the talent and range of our metal warrior. For instance, she provided additional vocals to the song Leather Lord, featured on the 2013 EP Live at Mushroom: Vol. I, by Canadian Power/Heavy Metal band 3 Inches of Blood; guest vocals on the song Queen of the Galaxy, from the 2014 EP Queen of the Galaxy (and also featured on the 2018 album The Extraterrestrial Compendium), by American Power/Thrash Metal band Dire Peril (and you can also check a cool live version of it in 2016 at the Blue Lamp HERE); vocals on the song Lunar Sunrise, from the 2014 album The Age of Ether, by American Power/Progressive Metal band Disforia; vocals for the full 2018 album Terror of the Cybernetic Space Monster, by American Power Metal band Helion Prime, like in the song Spectrum; vocals for the excellent song Burn It Down (With Fire), from the 2018 album Shadows from the Past, by American Heavy Metal band Lords of the Trident; and last but not least, she was also a guest on the song Siren’s Song, from the 2016 album Lawful Evil, by The Dread Crew of Oddwood (an acoustic pirate band from San Diego, California).
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Regarding her career and life on the road, Brittney said that living life through music is every musician’s dream, living and breathing music every second of every day while on tour, and she wants to keep playing with Unleash The Archers everywhere, every corner of the globe, every continent and every type of venue, from Japan to Scotland, from Brazil to Antarctica (if they can find metalheads there, of course). When asked about the main difference between festivals and regular shows, she said that in the end they’re not that different, only that there are a lot more bands hanging out backstage waiting for their turn and the atmosphere seems quite a bit more laid back. Having already played with Unleash The Archers all over the world, from North America to China and Japan, Brittney has been collecting a lot of good memories and moments from each and every concert, such as their performance at Hell & Heaven Fest in Mexico City in 2014, where they played a side stage but were able to see the concerts by some of their favorite bands like Angra and KISS. Furthermore, all that passion for heavy music and her family had a very positive impact on her performance on stage. For instance, her brother used to play in a punk band and her father worked as a musician for a long time in the 60’s and 70’s. She used to play with his music equipment when she was a little kid, and there are many pictures of Brittney rocking out with an old SM57 in her hand standing on a table or any other stage-like apparatus. Also, as aforementioned, she was always involved in musical theater, drama, choir or any other sort of performing art, making her feel very comfortable when facing the crowd, it doesn’t matter if at a small venue or at a big renowned festival.
As it happens with any up-and-coming artist in metal music, Brittney has been asked several times through the years about who her biggest idols and influences are in music and in life in general, and her answers couldn’t be more classic, more inspiring and, of course, more metal. She said in one of her interviews that as a vocalist she has always been highly influenced by the one and only Bruce Dickinson, the metal god Rob Halford, Geoff Tate, Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray), Björn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork), Daniel Heiman (Lost Horizon), and Jonas Heidgert (Dragonland), among many others, with bands such as Iron Maiden, As I Lay Dying, All That Remains, Helloween and Septicflesh playing an important role in the development of her taste for music and her singing style. Furthermore, Brittney mentioned that the unparalleled Countdown To Extinction, released by Megadeth in 1992, was the first metal record she’s ever heard in her life, and that was basically the moment that would define her musical preferences for the rest of her life, but she also complemented her thought by saying Best Of The Beast, Iron Maiden’s first “best of” album, released in 1996, was the album that inspired her to use her vocal talents as a singer in a metal band. In addition, when questioned which bands she would choose if she could create her own festival, Brittney simply listed Iron Maiden, Lost Horizon, Iced Earth, Sabaton and Dragonland, all beyond formidable acts, also saying that she would love to tour with Iced Earth, one of her favorite bands of all time, as their music speaks to her on a whole other level.
And last but not least, When Brittney was asked how it feels to be in a Power Metal band from a country like Canada where the Power Metal scene is not as developed as in other places like Scandinavia and Japan, she admitted it’s a bit tough for bands that play metal the likes of Unleash The Archers due to the music culture in Canada being a lot more inclined to Death Metal and other more extreme styles, with Canadian metalheads growing up with bands like Kataklysm and Voivod, even saying a Power Metal band can feel very “lonely” in the country. However, she also mentioned that even in that not-so-inspiring scenario there are still lots of traditional Power Metal acts all over the country, proving that as long as Power Metal bands keep playing music from their hearts and stay united and strong, the genre has all it takes to grow in popularity among Canadian fans. And there’s no one better than the warrior princess Brittney to lead that metal army and “unleash the archers” upon all of us.
“There’s always going to be those faces in the crowd that you have known since the beginning, and that you know will always be there for you; they were fans, and they’ve become friends. I think that there’s very much this foundation of fans that keep you standing. That will never change. The only thing that happens is that it just grows.” – Brittney Slayes
Take a deep breath and enjoy a vicious and nostalgic feast of heavy sounds made in the United States, proving modern-day Metalcore can be just as pulverizing as old school extreme music.
Hailing from Charlotte, the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, the incendiary Metalcore unity known as Violent Life Violent Death made their mark in late 2016 with the release of their first studio offering, V-EP, a five-track vicious, nostalgic effort blending the most visceral elements of Metalcore with hints of heavier-than-hell genres such as Thrash and Death Metal. Now in 2018 the band formed by vocalist Scott Cowan, guitarists Joseph Benham and Joey Park, bassist Justin Campbell and drummer David Holquin returns with a refreshed and even more ruthless contribution in the form of their second release, a brand new EP entitled Come, Heavy Breath, proving modern-day Metalcore can be just as pulverizing as old school extreme music.
“Our goal was to create a piece of music that had nostalgic qualities to it but with a new-school edge. Having spent some time in other bands has definitely helped create the sound we have adapted with this band, as we took a good look into what we feel has worked and not worked for us in the past and narrowed it down,” said Violent Life Violent Death, also explaining a little more the concept behind their new EP. “With Come, Heavy Breath, we really wanted to illustrate moments of fervor that draw a gasp, or, a heavy breath, as the title depicts. These are the moments of awe that we each experience in life, whether they be conjured through excitement, joy, sadness, loss, lust, love, wonder, etc., while bringing them each to life through our music in as straight forward of a manner possible, demanding the attention of the listener.”
The title-track Come, Heavy Breath, an austere and dynamic Metalcore tune tailored for disturbing the peace of your neighborhood, couldn’t have started in a more distorted and violent way, with Scott beginning his growling attack while Justin and David generate a brutal neck-breaking ambience with their metallic weapons, whereas in Backbiter the band puts pedal to the metal in a sonic onslaught of contemporary Metalcore infused with Melodic Death Metal and traditional Death Metal elements, with the guitar duo Joseph and Joey being on absolute fire with their crushing riffs while Scott screams almost like if he was not human. Put differently, this magnificent song lives up not only to the band’s own name, but also to the legacy of the most violent forms of Metalcore and Hardcore. And in Rot they keep the level of aggressiveness and destruction extremely high, with the razor-edged sound of the guitars inspiring us all to slam into the pit while David also adds his touch of adrenaline to the music through his fierce and straightforward beats.
Mourn is another tune perfect for cracking your spine in half headbanging and for jumping up and down with the band, with the vocals by Scott sounding even more deranged and furious, making it quite impossible to stand still to such demonic display of modern metal music, and there’s no sign of the band slowing down as we face the next song in the EP, entitled Lovers/Deceivers. Quite the contrary, Violent Life Violent Death blast sheer aggression from their instruments, with highlights to the amazing synchronicity between David’s beats and Joseph and Joey’s infernal riffs. And as the last act in Come, Heavy Breath it’s time to roar and gnarl together with Scott during the six minutes of classy Metalcore featured in the song Narcissist, bringing some welcome elements and nuances from Thrash Metal, which in the end translates into an accelerated pace, groovier bass lines, and obviously not a single second of peace, with Joseph and Joey sounding crisp, raw and very melodic at the same time until the music fades into a somber and menacing finale.
After all is said and done, the excellent Come, Heavy Breath, which is by the way available for a full listen on YouTube, will certainly help Violent Life Violent Death cement their name as one of the most promising (and one of the heaviest) Metalcore acts of the past few years, leaving us eager for more of their flammable music. And in order to show your support to those five metallers from Charlotte, you can go check what they’re up to on Facebook, subscribe to their YouTube channel, and purchase Come, Heavy Breath from their own BandCamp page or Big Cartel, as well as from iTunes or Amazon. And when you have the album on your hands, simply take a deep, heavy breath and enjoy Violent Life Violent Death’s chaotic onrush of sounds just the way the band itself expects you to do.
Aiming at creating a heavy and apocalyptic noise, with their old school Death Metal inspirations generating a filthy and powerful landscape, here comes a promising Portuguese horde crushing us all with their pulverizing debut opus.
Founded in the year of 2015 in the Portuguese capital Lisbon under the name Extreme Carnage, the pulverizing Death Metal five-piece horde known as Beyond Carnage has just released their debut opus, a five-track EP entitled Profane Sounds Of The Flesh, conceived with the aim to create a heavy and apocalyptic noise, with their old school Death Metal inspirations generating a filthy and powerful landscape. Having two of its tracks strongly inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft as well as European pagan legends, while the rest of the EP relies on an apocalyptic vision with a blackened atmosphere trapped in a paradox of organized chaos, Profane Sounds Of The Flesh is an amazingly aggressive welcome card by Beyond Carnage, accrediting the band as one of the most interesting new names of the Portuguese extreme music scene.
And the band comprised of vocalist João Colosso, guitarists Luís Correia and João Amado, bassist Inês Coelho and drummer Luis Abreu waste no time in their quest for Death Metal, as it’s time for total devastation with this talented Portuguese act to the sound of the opening track Infectious Parasitic Fungal God, with João Colosso almost vomiting the lyrics with his cavernous growls, while the band’s guitar duo will crush your spine with their demented riffs, bringing pure old school Death Metal for your avid ears. Then in the mid-tempo, demonic tune titled Necro Wizard, simply break your goddamn neck to the sluggish beats by Luis and the heavy and scorching guitar riffs, with Inês adding her personal dosage of obscurity to the music with her low-tuned bass.
And the band offers more of their straightforward Death Metal in Curse Of The Burning Rain, pounding their instruments like creatures of the dark, with the deep growls by João Colosso becoming as devilish as they can be, urging us all to slam into the pit to the sonic havoc blasted by the entire band. After such demented level of destruction, we have the even more disturbing Prophecy From A World Beyond, inspired by classic Death Metal the likes of Unleashed and Six Feet Under, with the band’s stringed trio Luis, João Amado and Inês giving a lesson in violence and gore, sounding raw and aggressive just the way we like it (not to mention João Colosso’s vile and putrid roars). And closing the album we have more of the band’s reverberating Death Metal with the song R´lyeh, Mother Of All Abominations, another killer metal feast where Luis showcases an amazing performance on drums, alternating between more rhythmic, potent beats and faster passages.
As previously mentioned, Profane Sounds Of The Flesh, available for a full listen on YouTube or on Spotify, has all the elements needed to turn it into a mandatory listen for fans of underground Death Metal, being an exciting sample of what we can expect from Bayond Carnage in the near future. In order to show those Portuguese metallers your support, go check what they’re up to on Facebook, subscribe to their YouTube channel, and obviously purchase Profane Sounds Of The Flesh directly from their BandCamp page, as well as from the Firecum Records’ webshop or from Discogs. In the end, you’ll feel disoriented and completely smashed after listening to the 25 minutes of brutality blasted by Beyond Carnage throughout the album, exactly what your metal soul was craving, as that’s what good Death Metal is all about.
Best moments of the album: Curse Of The Burning Rain and Prophecy From A World Beyond.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2018 Firecum Records
Track listing
1. Infectious Parasitic Fungal God 5:18
2. Necro Wizard 4:40
3. Curse Of The Burning Rain 5:07
4. Prophecy From A World Beyond 3:41
5. R´lyeh, Mother Of All Abominations 7:02
Band members João Colosso – vocals
Luís Correia – guitars
João Amado – guitars
Inês Coelho – bass
Luis Abreu – drums
Like a firestorm crossing the desert valley, here comes the unstoppable Algerian dark angel of Death Metal armed with a brand new and crushing concept opus.
The unstoppable Algerian dark angel of Death Metal known as Lelahell is finally back with a brand new opus titled Alif, the follow-up to their 2014 pulverizing album Al Insane… The (Re)Birth Of Abderrahmane, containing 10 tracks of unrelenting Death Metal riffs with an Algerian folklore accent, combined with fast blast beats and technical rhythms. Spearheaded by Redouane Aouameur on vocals, guitars and bass, an iconic figure of the Algerian metal scene (as you can see on Highway To Lelahell – An Algerian Metal Documentary), and supported by the ruthless German drummer Hannes Grossmann (Necrophagist, Obscura, Alkaloid, Blotted Science, Hate Eternal), Lelahell are ready to take the world of heavy music by storm once again, with the music found in Alif cementing even more their already solid path of destruction.
Each Lelahell release is conceptually linked to the character of Abderrahmane, yet focusing on another evolutionary step – another chapter in his own book. Featuring a classy cover artwork by Björn Gooßes from Killustrations (who has already worked with bands like Wolfheart, Motorjesus, Amon Amarth, Death Angel and Sodom, among several others), Alif focuses on Abderrahmane’s first steps in his new life, just like a child learning to speak and walk, learning about the world around him full of foes and fears, and that’s why Abderrahmane needs to save himself from those dangers. Musically speaking, Alif is like a firestorm crossing the desert valley, leaving you disoriented due to its endless heaviness, furious speed and undisputed rage, which together with the album’s intricate concept turns it into a must-have for any diehard fan of old school Death Metal.
And Hannes provides his welcome card by pounding his drums manically in the opening tune Paramnesia, being quickly joined by Redouane and his pulverizing riffs and bass punches. However, it’s when he starts barking the song’s lyrics that things get serious in this sonic havoc that lives up to the legacy of brutal and technical Death Metal, showcasing intricate drums and wicked guitar solos. Then a headbanging riffage ignites another belligerent and absolutely devastating tune by Lelahell, named Ignis Fatuus, with the sound of the guitar being insanely heavy, strident and therefore awesome. Furthermore, try following the lyrics along with Redouane (“A delusion, great confusion, foolish fire, Ignis Fatuus / Hallucination, false impression, false hope, Will o’ the wisp / A Fantasy, at first sight, strange light, Ignis Fatuus / It is just an erroneous perception of the reality”); whereas Thou Shalt Not Kill is a cinematic, epic bridge to the imposing hymn Ribat Essalem, where the duo showcases all their skills by blasting slashing riffs and solos, stone-crushing beats and classic demented Death Metal vocals, resulting in a circle pit-catalyst that will please all fans of the genre.
Adam the First gets closer to what they did in their previous album, which means a darker sonority and deeper guttural vocals, also presenting a smashing vibe led by Hannes and feeling at times like that type of Progressive Death Metal commonly found in the United States (but infused with elements from Redouane’s homeland), followed by The Fifth, another brutish display of classic Death Metal by Lelahell where the infernal and demonic growls by Redouane take the song’s malignancy to a whole new level, while Hannes doesn’t stop smashing his drums for a single second. And in Insiraf / Martyr, groovy beats initiate a vile and bold feast of cavernous sounds spearheaded by the uproarious riffs and bass lines by Redouane, with Hannes bringing his usual heavy artillery to support the band’s mastermind in his quest for Death Metal.
An ominous start suddenly morphs to a battering ram of Technical Death Metal made in Algeria in Litham (The Reach of Kal Asuf), with the Algerian nuances bringing a welcome extra flavor to the musicality while Redouane declaims the song’s lyrics in a devilish way (“A dominant symbol of their entity / The veiling of the men is an ancient custom / The origin remains obscure and conjectural / One fold is brought across the face to form the veil / The cloth is wrapped around the head / Touaregs and nomads, wearing those clothes to cover their faces against the desert storms.”). Then setting fire to the music with his lancinating riffs, Redouane kicks off a short and extremely vile Death Metal extravaganza titled Parasits, blasting sheer aggression and hatred in the name of extreme music. Lastly, Redouane’s coup-de-grâce comes in the form of an obscure and crisp Death Metal tune named Impunity of the Mutants, with Hannes sounding like a thunderstorm in the background. Very technical, detailed and full of layers, this is a must-listen for newcomers to the cataclysmic world of Lelahell, presenting sick bass lines and bestial beats that together flow powerfully into an epic finale.
If you have what it takes to enter the realm of crushing Death Metal ruled by Redouane and his Lelahell, you can check what the band is up to on Facebook and listen to more of their music on YouTube, and purchase your copy of Alif (available for a full listen on Spotify) from their own BandCamp page or Big Cartel, as well as from iTunes, Amazon or Discogs. In addition, although I’m not sure who’s responsible for the drums on their live concerts after the departure of Slaveblaster in 2016 (but something tells me he’s still playing with the band somehow), the multi-talented Redouane together with bassist Ramzi Curse (who replaced Nihil in 2015) are indeed a live act, proudly carrying the flag of Algerian and African metal wherever they go, and if I were you I would definitely keep an eye on their agenda for concerts not only in Algeria, but anywhere else where good Death Metal is appreciated. Well, I guess I don’t need to say what you should do if you don’t support Lelahell, right?
Best moments of the album: Paramnesia, Ribat Essalem and Impunity of the Mutants.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2018 Metal Age Productions
Track listing 1. Paramnesia 4:33
2. Ignis Fatuus 3:04
3. Thou Shalt Not Kill 0:30
4. Ribat Essalem 4:27
5. Adam the First 4:26
6. The Fifth 4:01
7. Insiraf / Martyr 5:37
8. Litham (The Reach of Kal Asuf) 5:54
9. Parasits 2:44
10. Impunity of the Mutants 5:16
Band members Redouane Aouameur – vocals, guitars, bass
Hannes Grosmann – drums
A violent and frantic album by three Finnish metallers who know exactly how to blend classic Scandinavian Death Metal with the more modern sound of Deathgrind.
From the swamping lands of Finland, old school Death Metal/Grindcore unity Galvanizer emerges with their debut full-length album Sanguine Vigil, after having paid all their dues like we were used back in the 90’s with several demo tapes and a 7″ EP titled Horrid Tales of Death…, released in 2015. Fans of bands like Machetazo, Abhorrence and Haemorrhage will have a good time listening to the ten pulverizing tracks featured in Sanguine Vigil, being recommended for admirers of both classic Finnish Death Metal and the more modern Deathgrind sound found in the scene nowadays.
Formed in 2015 as a one-man project, this Laitila-Tammela-based act quickly turned into a power trio, comprised of Vili Mäkinen on vocals and bass, Aleksi Vähämäki on guitars and backing vocals, and Nico Niemikko on drums, becoming one of the most promising underground bands in Finland due to their old school approach and their youthful energy. Featuring a gory cover art painted by Turkka G. Rantanen, a Finnish institution famous for his works with Demilich, Demigod, Adramelech, Depravity and many more, Sanguine Vigil is a violent and frantic statement by Galvanizer, sending a sound message to everyone that stands in their way that they’re not among us to fool around. “Expect the same primitive Finnish grinding death madness but this time much more faster and brutal,” said Aleksi about their new opus, probably devilishly grinning about it.
An initial narration which seems to be taken from one of the Friday the 13th movies ignite the moshing feast titled Mood For The Blade, an amazing welcome card by the band exploding into a grinding devastation by Galvanizer led by the infuriated growls by Vili, while Aleksi sounds heavier-than-hell on the guitar. Then simply slam into the circle pit to the frantic Grindcore spearheaded by Nico and his unstoppable beats in Enjoyment Of Annihilation, with its lyrics reminding me of the always inspiring words by metal masters Carcass (“Pulmonary artery hemorrhage / hacksaw through the raped face / cock dismembered brutally / rectum penetrated ghastly way / pleasure to kill / cadavers raping is the name of thrill / game of life / deep thoughts of dirty, sick mind”); followed by Deathbeat Deity, the perfect fusion of old school Death Metal with contemporary Grindcore translated into a rhythmic, pulverizing wall of sounds, with highlights to the amazing job done by Nico on drums and the slashing riffs by Aleksi.
The title-track Sanguine Vigil, the longest of all songs, begins in a somber and ominous manner, morphing into a dense and crushing sonority where Vili growls deeper and deeper (also extracting aggressive tones from his bass) while Nico keeps kicking some serious ass with his beats and fills, whereas Grind Till… You’re Dead! brings forward an absolute brutal demolition in less than two minutes, with all three members pounding their instruments, generating a tornado of violence and gore recommended only for the brave. And the trio keeps blasting their high-octane music with no mercy for our souls in Domestic Mastication, another straightforward, classic Grindcore composition with Vili and Aleksi grinding their strings from start to finish; and in Gorefestation they add an extra dosage of groove to their music thanks to the thunderous bass by Vili, resulting in a fantastic display of extreme music where Nico gets even more demented on drums than before, enhancing the song’s punch considerably. Put differently, the grinding extravaganza proposed by Galvanizer can’t get any better than this.
In Premature Rot, another groovy and flammable chant where the band continues to pave their path of destruction, have fun singing along those beautiful lyrics with Vili (“A premature rot is your fear / as minor treat comes real / accidental slit of the blade / can kill by horrible way / deep wound and painful omen / uncleaned and it’s open / let in the streptococcus / and other hocus pocus”), before the demented Unfinished Autopsy comes crushing your skull mercilessly, with an anguished intro and total havoc being the main ingredients in such hellish feast of Death Metal and Grindcore, with the entire band blasting sheer aggression and rage through their riffs, punches and beats. And as the icing on the cake we have their cover version for Finnish old school Death Metal/Grindcore band Necrobiosis’ A Painful End For Curiosity, originally released in a split album with a Hungarian band named Intense Agonizing in 1994. Well, their version is just as demonic, berserk and gory, and you can compare both by checking the original version HERE.
You can have your brain smashed by Galvanizer by taking a full listen at Sanguine Vigil on YouTube, and get to know more details about the band and their music on Facebook and YouTube. Hence, there’s no excuse for not supporting Galvanizer and not purchasing their visceral music, as Sanguine Vigil is on sale from several different locations, such as the band’s own BandCamp page, the Everlasting Spew Records’ BandCamp page or webstore, in different formats from the Me Saco Un Ojo Records’ webstore, as well as from Record Shop X, iTunes, Amazon and Discogs. Got it? Or should I say “gore” it?
Best moments of the album: Mood For The Blade, Deathbeat Deity and Gorefestation.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2018 Everlasting Spew Records
Track listing 1. Mood For The Blade 3:45
2. Enjoyment Of Annihilation 2:30
3. Deathbeat Deity 3:09
4. Sanguine Vigil 5:14
5. Grind Till… You’re Dead! 1:23
6. Domestic Mastication 3:03
7. Gorefestation 2:26
8. Premature Rot 2:28
9. Unfinished Autopsy 3:37
10. A Painful End For Curiosity (Necrobiosis cover) 3:04
Band members Vili Mäkinen – vocals, bass
Aleksi Vähämäki – guitars, backing vocals
Nico Niemikko – drums
These Kazakh corpse gods of Thrash Metal take no prisoners in their quest for extreme music, infecting us all and spilling our blood into the circle pit to the sound of their new pulverizing album.
Formed in 2010 in the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest metropolis set in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, Kazakhstan Thrash Metal maniacs Zarraza have just released their long-awaited debut album Necroshiva, following up to the band’s 2013 EP Cutting Meat. Fast & Loud. And one of the hardest working metal bands in Central Asia, having already played in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, takes no prisoners in their quest for extreme music, with each of the eight groovy and pulverizing songs in Necroshiva crushing your minds mercilessly like a runaway train of evil.
Comprised of Nick Khalabuzar on vocals and guitar, Alex Filatoff on bass and Ruslan Konon on drums, Zarraza’s only concern in Necroshiva is how their lyrics would be translated into Kazakh or Russian. “Anti-religious songs full of sarcasm and quotes from Giordano Bruno and Pierre-Simon de Laplace are not welcomed in a country where there is a significant Muslim population,” said the band, but that seems to be only a minor issue for them in the end. Displaying a beyond devilish and somber cover artwork by Russian artist V. Smerdulak (Katalepsy, Melancholy, Semargl, Arkona), Necroshiva is everything we love in Thrash and Groove Metal, being highly recommended for all mandatory thrashing activities such as slamming into the pit, headbanging like a beast and raising your horns to the band’s infuriated music.
Abyss Above Me kicks off the album with an explosion of brutal and austere Thrash Metal, a fantastic welcome card by this Kazakh squad led by the demented drumming by Ruslan and the raspy, choleric vocals by Nick, bringing elements from Groove, Death and Black Metal, and their furious onrush of extreme music goes on in the also belligerent Shadows, with Nick sounding bestial with both his growls and riffs, while Alex adds tons of groove to the musicality with his rumbling bass. Then we have the title-track Necroshiva, an insanely demolishing display of Thrash Metal with a strong progressive vein, where Ruslan is even more impressive with his intricate beats and fills and its modern-day lyrics go along extremely well with the music (“War’s for gods… Slaughter of lambs / It’s hecatomb we made for thousand years / Immortal rites of human sacrifice / Transformed into modern way of life”); followed by another complex and infuriated tune titled More Than Hate, an almost-Death Metal creation by the quartet led by Nick’s spot-on riffs and solos, with the level of adrenaline being exactly what you need to crush your skull into the circle pit.
Dark waves permeate the air in the melancholic and apocalyptic bridge Echo Of The Future, setting the stage for the modernized thrashing feast named Dead Star, displaying hints of Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal the likes of Arch Enemy and the early days of In Flames. Furthermore, Nick managed to sound even more boisterous on vocals, as well as the metallic bass lines by Alex which will punch you in the head mercilessly. After such beautiful exhibit of extreme music, get ready for a Progressive Thrash Metal voyage in Voice Of The Forgotten, with the music flowing in some sort of demonic Dream Theater-ish mode, but of course with Nick bringing rage to the sound with his roars, all spiced up by some electrifying guitar solos. And ending the album on a high and violent note we have 150 Words, with its lyrics reeking of malignancy (“Serpent – you crawled inside my world / To steal – affections of my soul / To brew your bile words of hate / And sting me in back to weaken / Your only way to live is betrayal / Soaking dirt to digest”). Musically speaking, it’s a frantic, violent Thrash and Death Metal attack by Zarraza, leaving us eager for more of their devastating music.
I’m not sure if you have already realized you’re in front of a metal band from the distant land of Kazakhstan playing top-notch Thrash and Groove Metal that only the finest bands from the United States, the land of thrash, are capable of reproducing, which means you should definitely show your total support to Zarraza by buying Necroshiva (available for a full listen on Spotify) from their own BandCamp page, CD Baby, iTunes or Amazon, and by following them on Facebook, VKontakte and YouTube. The corpse gods from Kazakhstan are among us to stay, and you better be prepared to spill your blood into the pit in the name of Thrash Metal.
Best moments of the album: Abyss Above Me, Necroshiva and Dead Star.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2018 Independent
Track listing 1. Abyss Above Me 5:00
2. Shadows 3:48
3. Necroshiva 3:13
4. More Than Hate 3:28
5. Echo Of The Future (instrumental) 1:29
6. Dead Star 5:38
7. Voice Of The Forgotten 4:39
8. 150 Words 3:27
Band members Nick Khalabuzar – vocals, guitar
Alex Filatoff – bass
Ruslan Konon – drums
Guest musician Evgen Hablack – bass on “Necroshiva”
Let’s turn up the heat on this last month of summer here on The Headbanging Moose with some old school, gory and extremely violent Death Metal, and in order to do that in style we have “recruited” the unstoppable Mallika Sundaramurthy, frontwoman for American Technical/Brutal Death Metal band Abnormality, as our metal chick of the month. Born in Gardner, a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States, but currently residing in Prague, the beautiful capital of the Czech Republic (or Czechia), Mallika is not only the owner of a potent voice, but she’s also absolutely passionate for all things Death Metal, being a huge supporter of underground metal as a fan, as a musician and as a businesswoman as well. Having said that, get ready to slam into a vicious circle pit together with Mallika, because things are about to get as savage and heavy as hell.
Half Indian and half English-American, with her father coming from Chennai, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu on the Bay of Bengal in eastern India, and her mother being from New Hampshire, a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, Mallika is married to Russian musician Serge Gordeev, from Death Metal bands like Epicardiectomy and Fleshbomb. As you can see, pure Death Metal runs through the veins of the couple, which led to the creation of their own label Ultimate Massacre Productions. But before we talk about their label, let’s focus on the early days of Mallika, who has been playing in Death Metal bands since 2002, a couple of years after she graduated from Gardner High School, located in Gardner, Massachusetts. While Mallika was giving her first steps in extreme music, she was at the same time studying illustration at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, in Boston, Massachusetts, which she graduated in 2004. And that knowledge she gained through her studies was not in vain, becoming a fundamental part of her up-and-coming career.
Regarding her career as a musician, Mallika got into Heavy Metal during her high school years. In the beginning, Mallika was more into classic rock and metal the likes of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Alice in Chains, with her taste for heavier and more brutal music growing after she started listening to the pulverizing Death Metal by Deicide and Cannibal Corpse. By the way, becoming a fan of Death Metal was the main reason why she decided to do extreme vocals, which is pretty much the same path followed by anyone who chooses to play an instrument based on their favorite bands and styles. And just as a side note, our ruthless growler joined her first metal band while studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain, but there aren’t any details available online about that part of her career.
What you will for sure find online are all details about her history with her own Death Metal band, Massachusetts-based squad Abnormality, formed in late 2005 by Mallika together with guitarist Jeremy Henry, drummer Jay Blaisdell and guitarist Michael O’Meara (who left the band in 2009), with bassist Josh Staples joining the band in 2009 and guitarist Sam Kirsch in 2015 to complete their current lineup. The band strives to make high quality extreme music without worrying about conforming to certain boundaries or styles, having released to date a four-track demo in 2007 (including the song Visions, which found its way onto the popular video game Rock Band 2 as a bonus track), a three-track EP titled The Collective Calm in Mortal Oblivion in 2010, and the full-length albums Contaminating the Hive Mind in 2012, and Mechanisms of Omniscience in 2016. If you want to have a very good taste of all the brutality and electricity flowing from the music by Abnormality, you can check for instance their official videos on YouTube for the songs Mechanisms of Omniscience, Monarch Omega, and Fabrication of the Enemy, or even take a more detailed listen at their full discography at their own BandCamp page (which obviously means you should also buy their albums from there). Furthermore, Mallika mentioned in one of her interviews that Abnormality did a cover version for the classic Desperate Cry by Sepultura at the formation of the band when she joined a band named Teratism on stage, impressing their then members Jay and Michael (culminating with the creation of Abnormality, as you can see), also playing other cover songs live over the years such as Eric Clapton’s Cocaine and Death’s The Philosopher, but never including any of those in their recorded material. Finally, one last interesting note about Abnormality is that their first concert ever happened in 2006 at a house party organized by their drummer Jay, including the bands Dehumanized, Sexcrement and Soul Remnants. That was probably one hell of a demolishing Death Metal party, I must say.
Apart from Abnormality, Mallika, who takes care of her potent voice by doing usual things like getting proper rest, keeping her throat hydrated and avoiding alcohol, is also the frontwoman for American Death Metal all-female band Castrator, an international project formed in 2013 and based in New York City with members from distinct parts of the earth such as Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Colombia and the United States. As you can see by the name of the band, Castrator is a confrontational band, with all of the song titles found in their 2014 demo and 2015 EP, both titled No Victim, being some sort of feminist revenge fantasy, such as Honor Killing and The Emasculator. Mallika explained that the band was born when her friend Carolina Perez, drummer for American Death/Thrash Metal act Hypoxia, expressed the desire to form an all-female band, aiming at writing aggressive music, playing some devastating concerts, and have fun together above all things. She also mentioned it was important to bring up through the horror and intensity of their lyrics the issues and struggles women from all over of the world face every single day, in particular parts of the world where women’s rights are far behind. When writing the lyrics, Mallika researched and read countless stories and documentaries of individual cases of honor killings, as well as violence, rape, and murder against women, translating all that hatred and negative thoughts into Death Metal lyrics. In order to be smashed by Castrator, go check their BandCamp page, where you’ll be able to listen to (and to buy) the austere and utterly brutal tunes Honor Killing, No Victim and The Emasculator.
Our relentless growler was also part of American Technical/Brutal Death Metal band Parasitic Extirpation from 2011 until 2015, with whom she recorded the EP Putrid Crown, in 2014. You can enjoy Mallika kicking some serious ass in this also very interesting band with the title-track Putrid Crown, and all other tracks directly from their BandCamp page. And even with all her duties with Abnormality, Castrator and Parasitic Extirpation, she still found time to be part of several other bands and projects as a guest musician, like singing live for British Technical Brutal Death Metal unity Unfathomable Ruination, in 2017; and being a guest studio singer in the songs Circumcised with a Chainsaw, from the 2013 album Skewered in the Sewer by Indian Brutal Death Metal act Gutslit; the title-track The Redemption of Past Supremacy, from the 2012 album The Redemption of Past Supremacy by American Brutal Death Metal act Habitual Defilement; Endless Outrage, from the 2016 album Ouroboric Stagnation by International Brutal Death Metal act Neurogenic; Dies Irae…, from the 2013 album Lords of Rephaim by America Brutal Death Metal act Pathology; Tower Deflower, from the 2012 album Festering Human Remains by America Death Metal act Scaphism; the superb cover version for Pat Benatar’s Heartbreaker, from the 2014 EP XXX Bargain Bin Vol.2 by American Death Metal act Sexcrement; and Incinerator, from the 2013 album Black and Blood by American Death Metal act Soul Remnants. As you can see, all those songs are beyond brutal and demolishing, exactly the way good Death Metal is supposed to be.
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With respect to Mallika’s main influences in music, she’s a diehard and longtime fan of several renowned acts of the Extreme Metal scene such as Suffocation, Gorgasm, Decapitated, Immolation, Cryptopsy, Cannibal Corpse, Monstrosity, Carcass and Morbid Angel, among several others, with American Death Metal masters Hate Eternal, standing out among their influences if you take a detailed listen at their music. Questioned about which album she would take to her own grave, Mallika answered Pierced from Within, released in 1995 by American Technical Death Metal band Suffocation, and while listening to that album it makes total sense as to why she handpicked it instead of tons of other classics. Needless to say, Suffocation would obviously be part of her dream metal fest lineup, also including bands such as Immolation, Deeds of Flesh, Cryptopsy (with Lord Worm), Origin, Malignancy, Monstrosity, Vader, Gorgust, Wormed, Defeated Sanity, Napalm Death, Incantation, Vile, Decapitated, Hate Eternal, Nile, Krisiun, Devourment, and so on. And lastly, when asked to list the five albums any metalhead must have in his or her collection to have a deeper understanding of what Brutal and Technical Death Metal is all about, Mallika selected Close to a World Below by Immolation, Effigy of the Forgotten by Suffocation, Altars of Madness by Morbid Angel, She Lay Gutted by Disgorge, and Masticate to Dominate by Gorgasm. Also, when questioned about what inspires her and the rest of Abnormality when writing their lyrics, she said that the whole band enjoys writing about current events at home and abroad, conspiracies, and their contempt for the New World Order, as well as other things in their lives, in their imagination, science fiction and fact, corruption, and time travel, always focusing on the darker side of humanity and never afraid to take a political stand. Of course, Mallika considers real life horror far worse than anything imagined in fiction, albeit she also thinks those monsters in fiction reflect that same dark side of our own humanity and the evils that we are capable of.
Mallika’s business side together with her utter passion for extreme music are an essential piece of Ultimate Massacre Productions, an extreme music label managed by Mallika herself and her husband Serge Gordeev, originally founded in 2012 by Serge as a licensed merch supplier for metal bands. After her arrival and after taking on Mexico’s Human Decomposition as their first signed band, the project propelled to a new and promising direction, which could be seen in her own words at that time. “We thought it would be great to build the label together, combining our collective experience and passion for music to grow Ultimate Massacre,” she said, also mentioning that “our main goal is to spread great music that we ourselves love, and to help the bands on our roster to reach new levels.” Mallika and Serge work endlessly for the joys that art brings with it, putting a lot of effort and passion into making the label a genuine home for underground extreme bands. Based in Prague, the label has increased their portfolio considerably through the years, including today bands such as Apophys, Incontinence, Chordotomy, Fungus, Imperium and Natrium. Hence, if you consider yourself a true death metaller, you can keep an eye at their official Facebook page for new kick-ass bands and releases from the underground Death Metal scene.
As aforementioned, Mallika is a huge admirer and connoisseur of underground metal music, saying she’s fine with a huge part of metal music staying underground mainly because it’s extreme and offensive, and therefore not recommended for mainstream listeners. However, she also said it’s extremely difficult to survive in the underground scene, as the majority of underground musicians have to have income coming from other sources such as day jobs despite their passion and dedication to heavy music. Well, having to face issues like that doesn’t seem to be a problem for musicians like Mallika, because the underground scene at least in the United States seems to be very strong to her eyes, with lots of great bands keeping the flames of extreme music burning bright in her homeland. For instance, she recommends bands like Malignancy, Disgorge, Dehumanized, Bloodsoaked, Guttural Secrete, Goemagot, Sapremia, Habitual Defilement and Expurgate for starters, and from her hometown she thinks you should take a good listen at Revocation, Sexcrement, Dysentery, Hivesmasher, Scalpel, Scaphism, Soul Remnants, and many, many more. She also mentioned she believes that classifications in metal such as Deathcore, Power Metal, Blackened Death Metal and so on are necessary to help listeners find new bands according to their likes and dislikes, as long as people are not carried away with creating new subgenres. Furthermore, Mallika has a very peculiar view on how many people nowadays end up knowing new bands through illegal downloads, as she understands that albeit illegal downloads are inevitable due to several reasons such as lack of money for buying all the music downloaded, those fans need to realize the bands depend on that money to stay alive, but as long as they support the bands in other ways like attending their concerts, buying a shirt or listening to their music for free on Spotify or YouTube, some sort of balance can be reached.
When asked about how she feels being a woman in a male-dominated scene like Death Metal, Mallika said she has always felt good, always having a good time with her bands since the beginning of her career. She mentioned there are more and more talented and hardworking women making a name for themselves in the Death Metal scene, being really proud of them and supporting them whenever and however she can. She said it’s not easy to be a woman in metal as there’s a lot of sexism in the world and even more discouragement for a woman to be part of the extreme music scene; however, she hopes one day that will end, and it will become something we won’t even think about discussing as men and women will just be equal in numbers and in talent. If you think about names like Angela Gossow, Tarja Turunen, Simone Simons, Doris Yeh, Cristina Scabbia and Alissa White-Gluz, not to mention all the other ladies who put their hearts and souls into making first-class metal music from all parts of the world, I also believe we’re not that far from reaching Mallika’s dream.
Last but not least, Mallika is as aforementioned a professional graphic and concept artist in the video game industry, having already worked for Harmonix Music Systems (the company that created the Rock Band franchise) for four years, and later becoming a freelance artist and working for a company called Techona as a graphic artist since earlier this year. Regarding her time with Harmonix, Mallika provided a few interesting details about how Abnormality got involved in the game Rock Band 2 with the song Visions. While she was working on the game together with a team of artists, the company allowed employees to submit music for consideration to be entered into the game; at first she didn’t want to do it, but the rest of Abnormality asked her to try, and in the end the company picked their music to be one of the songs of the game together with a lot less violent (or I should say not violent at all) bands like Bon Jovi, Avenged Sevenfold and Blondie. Needless to say, Mallika is not only passionate about Death Metal, but also crazy for old school Death Metal album arts, dark fantasy and surrealism, being inspired by artists such as Zdzisław Beksiński, Wayne Barlowe, and Dan Seagrave. As a matter of fact, you can easily see all that passion for abstract art and surrealism in the Abnormality album arts, all designed and created by our obstinate growler herself, as well as the cover art for the 2012 split album Phylum Morph-Apokalupsis by American Brutal Death Metal/Grindcore bands Animals Killing People and Andromorphus Rexalia, the layout and cover art for the 2016 album Eon by American Technical Death Metal band Formless, and the cover art for the 2013 EP One Inch Monster by Swedish Thrash Metal act Sonic Assault. As talented, honest and diligent as she is, being capable of screaming and gnarling like a beast with her band and of translating all the violence and gore of Death Metal into stunning album arts, it’s more than obvious why Mallika has turned into a reference in extreme music, and may she have a long and prosperous reign as our queen of guttural vocals.
“I see there are many more talented women stepping up the plate in the death metal scene. I am really proud of my fellow ladies who are kicking ass, and I call many of them friends. I DO personally go out of my way to support women in metal, especially those who work hard, carry themselves professionally, and play really well. I know it’s not easy. There is so much sexism in the world, and we women are so often discouraged from taking part of the extreme metal scene.” – Mallika Sundaramurthy
Summoning the forces of chaos through the primordial horror of sinister music under the cloak of Satanic and anti-Christian opposition, here comes a Colombian infernal horde armed with their brand new opus.
Forged in the deepest fires of Pasto, the capital of the department of Nariño in southwestern Colombia, in 2007 by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Brannagh Bapheker, but currently located in Pereira, the capital city of the Colombian department of Risaralda located in the foothills of the Andes, the demonic Black Metal act known as Evil Nerfal is unleashing upon the earth their second full-length opus, titled Bellum Est Pater Omnium, which translates from Latin as “war is the father of all”, summoning the forces of chaos through the primordial horror of sinister music under the cloak of Satanic and anti-Christian opposition, inspired by the early days of Mayhem, Marduk, Sarcófago, Enthroned and Denial of God.
Bellum Est Pater Omnium is an album that mixes European Black Metal elements from the 90’s with influences from old school metal made in South America, also including elements of Death Metal and western classical music. The result of this symbiosis is a Black Metal characterized by extreme intensity and speed, overloaded with contrasts of times (medium and slow speeds), polysemic in its riffs, versatile in the configuration of melodies and, above all, polyphonic, full of nuances, harmonizations and superposition of musical figures. Furthermore, the philosophical substratum that sustains the repertoire of lyrics of songs is based on the ontological configuration of evil, a poetic that evokes the cosmic supremacy of Satan, imbricated in knowledge, the anti-christian force, the anti-culture par excellence, while the strength of an inner experience that advocates for freedom in the opposition, in the experience, because Black Metal is a “consistent existential praxis”. And if none of this makes any sense to you, simply hit play and let you soul be darkened by the scorching music by Evil Nerfal.
An orchestral intro titled Coriolan (Overture) lets the curtains fall majestically for the furious and austere Fuck Off Jesus Christ, with Brannagh Bapheker extracting sulfurous riffs from his guitar while at the same time gnarling like a demonic entity. Furthermore, Purson Dominus crushes his drums ruthlessly, spreading sheer blasphemy and hatred in this devilish hybrid of Black and Death Metal. After such demented start we have In Endless Torment, another infernal creation by this Colombian outfit that might sound slower than its predecessor, but it’s still as dark as the pits of hell, with Brannagh once again delivering ominous riffs and bass punches while the beats by Purson alternate between a Doom Metal-inspired pace and the utter aggression from classic Black Metal.
The temperature rises once again in a hellish display of old school Black Metal titled Foedus Versus Deus (Against The Great Drone Of History), with the vocals by Brannagh bringing nuances of the rage of classic Death Metal, resulting in one of the best songs of the album without a shadow of a doubt; whereas En Las Fauces Del Demonio (Taedium Daemoni) begins as a diabolical march of extreme music led by the thunderous beats and fills by Purson, exploding into cataclysmic Black Metal to the growls by Brannagh. Moreover, the beauty of this song is the fact it’s sung in their mother tongue Spanish, sounding even more pulverizing, wicked and eccentric. And their sonic onrush of otherworldly sounds and noises goes on in the belligerent Agon (Bellum Est Pater Omnium), with both Brannagh and Purson firing sheer Black Metal through their instruments, summoning all the evil present in our decaying society.
Satanic Madness Black Metal Unleashed is an instrumental extravaganza led by Brannagh and his classic guitar riffs while Purson keeps the pace at a dark and demolishing level, setting the tone for the hard-hitting Sathanas Kingdom Rises, a demonic, chaotic devastation bred by the duo that will please all fans of underground Extreme Metal where Brannagh screams and growls like a beast nonstop, and with the merciless pounding drums by Purson making the whole song even more impactful. Then we have Vestigial (Manifiesto De Misantropía), their second blast of unrelenting Black Metal sung in Spanish, also presenting hints of the most vicious form of Death Metal in its blasphemous waves with Purson showcasing a great performance with his intricate, raging beats and fills, before an epic and orchestral outro named Egmont (Finale) puts a climatic end to this precious gem of underground extreme music.
You can join Evil Nerfal in their blasphemous and sulfuric quest for Black Metal by visiting their Facebook page and by listening to their music on SoundCloud, and if you want to show your true support to devilish Black Metal from the underworld you can purchase the scorching Bellum Est Pater Omnium (which by the way is available for a full listen on YouTube) from the GrimmDistribution’s BandCamp page, on iTunes, on Amazon or at Discogs. May Evil Nerfal continue to pave their path of obscurity, blasphemy and hatred for many years to come, proving high-end underground Black Metal is stronger than ever even in places far away from its birthplace Scandinavia.
Best moments of the album: Fuck Off Jesus Christ, Foedus Versus Deus (Against The Great Drone Of History) and Sathanas Kingdom Rises.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2018 GrimmDistribution
Track listing 1. Coriolan (Overture) 2:25
2. Fuck Off Jesus Christ 4:20
3. In Endless Torment 4:44
4. Foedus Versus Deus (Against The Great Drone Of History) 4:31
5. En Las Fauces Del Demonio (Taedium Daemoni) 5:25
6. Agon (Bellum Est Pater Omnium) 4:16
7. Satanic Madness Black Metal Unleashed (Instrumental) 5:35
8. Sathanas Kingdom Rises 4:18
9. Vestigial (Manifiesto De Misantropía) 3:42
10. Egmont (Finale) 1:36
Band members Brannagh Bapheker – vocals, guitars, bass
Purson Dominus – drums
An astonishing combination of brutal violence, shredding guitar solos, blasting drums and soaring vocals inspired by classic and melodic Death Metal.
If you consider yourself a diehard fan of modern-day Melodic Death Metal you have to take a very good and detailed listen at Shades, the debut album by Italian metallers Coiled Around Thy Spine. Formed in 2017 in the city of Turin by Italian guitarist Sergio Costa, when he met American drummer David Archie Weiss online, Coiled Around Thy Spine not only have their core essence deeply rooted in Melodic Death Metal, but it’s the classic Death Metal influences spiced up by symphonic elements that make their music so entertaining, electrifying and vibrant, with all songs in Shades being highly recommended for slamming into the pit, banging your head nonstop or simply enjoy their intricate and flammable waves.
After Sergio and David started working on the music together, they decided to expand beyond the initial instrumental idea, recruiting Italian vocalist Daniele Rosso to complete the band’s lineup. Unfortunately, David decided to quit the band for personal reasons before the release of Shades, but that doesn’t mean Coiled Around Thy Spine will call it quits and cease their quest for top-tier metal music. Quite the contrary, featuring a simple but very effective artwork by TheSmashedRabbit, Shades is an astonishing combination of brutal violence, shredding guitar solos, blasting drums and soaring vocals, inspired by classic and melodic Death Metal as well as contemporary metal masterpieces alike, proving this up-and-coming metal unity is here to stay, and after listening to the album you’ll certainly be eager for more of their music.
A movie-inspired intro named Candles builds the ambiance for the hard-hitting tune [God Mode: On], blending the most visceral and modern elements from Melodic Death Metal and Blackened Death Metal, sounding absolutely pulverizing form start to finish with Daniele blasting devilish gnarls and growls while Sergio Costa shreds his guitar in a demonic way. Put differently, this can be called an evil and bastard hybrid of Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir. Then we have Dissected, where David sounds beyond brutal on drums, elevating the impact of this hellish tune considerably, also presenting hints of the music by Arch Enemy on vocals and guitars and flowing demonically until the end; followed by How Freedom Dies, another crushing spawn by the power trio where the strident and sharp sound of guitars is simply outstanding, bringing a high dosage of malignancy to the music. Moreover, its background keyboards add a touch of delicacy to the ambience, bringing more balance to this well-crafted, full-bodied chant. And their Arch Enemy-like vein arises once again in the title-track Shades, a darker and more melodic metal extravaganza than its predecessors, with the only issue being that the music never reaches the same speed as the rest of the album (its level of heaviness and aggression is still quite gargantuan, though).
Their intricate and berserk feast of sounds and tones goes on in Subhumanized, led by the lancinating riffs and solos by Sergio while David keeps smashing his drums, sounding modern and vile from start to finish, whereas in The Sick Game, their most demonic song of all, guitars and keys complement each other flawlessly, supported by the pulverizing drumming by David. Furthermore, the song also displays interesting nuances of Progressive Death and Black Metal, resulting in a lesson in extreme music by the Italian trio where Daniele bursts his lungs screaming like a demon. The second to last spawn of dark sounds by Coiled Around Thy Spine, titled In Vain, showcases more of their high-octane, flammable music tailored for banging your head frantically, with all three members sounding demented with their instruments (in special David and his Stygian beats and fills), and their final avalanche of extreme sounds, named Safe, is perhaps their most obscure one, leaning towards modern Black Metal in a true feast of rhythm, harmony, and darkness led by Daniele and his otherworldly growls, not to mention Sergio and his neck-breaking riffs, ending the album in a menacing and climatic manner.
You can listen to Shades in full on Spotify, and if you have what it takes to face the modern and absolutely threatening music by Coiled Around Thy Spine you should definitely visit their Facebook page for news, tour dates and everything else that’s related to the band, and purchase the album on iTunes or on Amazon. As aforementioned, Shades combines the brutality and heaviness of Death Metal with the finesse of modern-day Melodic Death Metal in a fantastic way, proving this now Italian duo (who will certainly find another sensational drummer to replace David soon) has all that’s needed to thrive in the world of heavy music. And we’ll all be eagerly waiting for more of their incendiary music in the near future, of course.
Best moments of the album: [God Mode: On], How Freedom Dies and The Sick Game.
Worst moments of the album:Shades.
Released in 2018 Independent
Track listing 1. Candles 1:54
2. [God Mode: On] 5:36
3. Dissected 6:17
4. How Freedom Dies 4:48
5. Shades 6:52
6. Subhumanized 5:54
7. The Sick Game 5:16
8. In Vain 5:59
9. Safe 7:50
Band members
Daniele Rosso – vocals
Sergio Costa – guitars, bass, synth
David Archie Weiss – drums, synth
It’s time to get morbid and vile with some old school Death Metal made in Karlskrona, known as Sweden’s only baroque city, pulverizing your senses and leaving you completely disoriented just the way we love in extreme music. I’m talking about the infernal duo comprised of guitarist J. Åberg and bassist R. Svensson, who together formed in the year of 2008 a demonic entity known as Morbid Spawn. Shortly after the formation of the band, a four-track demo called Demo Anthology was released in 2009 and the duo started looking for a drummer for the band, but unfortunately they couldn’t find a permanent one after several tests with different candidates. The project was then put on hold until 2015 when they recorded a single just for fun, culminating with the release now in 2018 of their first official album, the five-track EP And So It Begins.
In the following tune, the action-packed, demolishing Immolated Incantation, visceral words are beautifully growled and barked (“Deceptional Distress / Pernicious Pain / Piercing through Me / From Within; Prevailed by Horrid struggle / Feeling it through my vein / Starting to feel insane /Insane!”), proving Death Metal gets even more entertaining when the lyrics are as aggressive as the music. As a matter of fact, the name of the song is already an ode to the purest form of Death Metal, sounding vile, crude and demented, in special the song’s nonstop beats and fills. And last but not least, Morbid Spawn fires another putrid and obscure tune named Never To Return, a crushing feast of demonic guitars, thunderous bass punches and endless violence, also presenting over six minutes of gruesome vociferations and that somber intricacy we love in Death Metal riffs, with the music flowing powerfully until everything morphs into an eccentric and Stygian ending.
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 