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Album Review – Loathfinder / The Great Tired Ones EP (2017)

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A newborn Blackened Doom entity hailing from Poland will bring endless obscurity, fearfulness and anguish to your mind and soul with their menacing 28-minute debut opus.

We might not have the slightest idea of who they really are, but we know without a shadow of a doubt that their spine-chilling, perverse Blackened Doom lives up to the legacy of bands such as Forgotten Tomb, Woods of Ypres and the early days of Katatonia, also presenting an ominous vein inspired by the most funereal form of Atmospheric Black Metal. I’m talking about a newborn evil entity known as Loathfinder, who have just released their debut EP titled The Great Tired Ones, a 28-minute opus that, above all things, will bring endless obscurity, fearfulness and anguish to your mind and soul.

Founded somewhere back in time in the imposing city of Cracow, one of the most fertile cities not only in Poland but in the entire Europe in regards to arts and music, Loathfinder are a remorseless spawner of the most obscure elements found in Extreme Metal, with The Great Tired Ones being the amalgamation of all their evil. Displaying a visceral artwork by Polish illustrator Robert A. von Ritter (Diabolizer, Armagh, Ragehammer), with the design and colors originated by Polish illustrator and graphic designer Maciej Kamuda (HerezA, Misanthropic Rage, Virgin Snatch), this is an album that will certainly be part of your personal playlist for a long time if you love the rotten and grim sounds of old school Blackened Doom piercing your ears.

Flies buzzing and thunderous bass and guitar lines ignite the damned feast named Genetic Gloom, with the cavernous growls coming from an unknown creature impregnating the musicality through and through. Furthermore, a few moments of tranquility are meticulously inserted amidst the ominous Blackened Doom that reeks in the air, with steady beats dictating the song’s lugubrious rhythm. Darker and more aggressive due to its infernal gnarls and deep guttural growls, Feast on My Entrails presents lyrics that couldn’t be more putrescent (“My cradle is rotten / Black fingers ream my ribs from inside / As I gaze into sky with learned apathy / And miss places I’ve never been / When venom is dripping from every wall / Only thing you can do is spit, spit and spit”), which together with its mesmerizing riffs and rumbling ambience (led by the song’s Stygian bass lines) turn it into a macabre hymn of darkness.

Metallic and lancinating bass sounds kick off another vile creation by Loathfinder, the excellent Scents of Regression, bringing forward putrid growls and doomed beats in total sync, increasing the song’s obscurity even more. Not only that, this song also offers the listener a solid Doom Metal sonority with the band’s blackened vein pulsing inside it, enhanced by sharp guitar solos and riffs. And lastly we have the title-track The Great Tired Ones, where a truly macabre intro goes on for about a minute until all instruments rise from the pits of hell, also displaying acid lyrics perfect for the music played (“Through the black eyes / Of agonized priestess / We were allowed to see / The gathering / Of faceless / Of whipped / And lost in time / The Great Tired Ones / Black chain of greatest lies / The Great Tired Ones / One were all, all were One”). If you love Blackened Doom, get ready for almost ten minutes of mournful passages, cutting guitars and desperate growls, ending with rancid gnarls that will darken your mind instantly.

You can savor the 28 minutes of hatred and anguish found in The Great Tired Ones by clicking HERE, and also grab your copy of this devilish album at Loathfinder’s BandCamp, at the Godz ov War Productions’ BandCamp, or at Discogs. This is a beyond solid debut album by Loathfinder, with no fillers, no artificial sounds and no happy feelings, but only the deepest rooted form of our good old Blackened Doom, and if those enigmatic musicians were capable of delivering such high-quality music with their very first release, I’m sure Blackened Doom will remain strong and menacing for years with Loathfinder being one of the new remarkable names of the genre.

Best moments of the album: Feast on My Entrails.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2017 Godz ov War Productions

Track listing
1. Genetic Gloom 6:08
2. Feast on My Entrails 6:50
3. Scents of Regression 5:25
4. The Great Tired Ones 9:37

Band members
*Information not available*

Album Review – HerezA / I Become Death (2017)

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This Croatian bulldozer is ready to take the underworld of heavy music by storm with their savage sophomore opus, a vortex of devastation blending the most hazardous attributes of Punk and Death Metal that will crush your skull ruthlessly.

Rating4

hereza_coverForged in the deepest fires of Beli Manastir in July 2014, a town in eastern Croatia close to the border with Hungary, Punk/Death Metal infernal duo HerezA, which by the way is Croatian for “heresy”, has been battling against all odds in a country otherwise barren for their music style, violently carving their name in the entrails of their homeland through their wicked creations. After the release of their debut album Misanthrope in 2015, lead singer Ivan Kovačević and multi-instrumentalist Slobodan Stupar are ready to take the underworld of heavy music by storm with their savage sophomore opus, a vortex of devastation accurately named I Become Death.

Displaying a darkly intimidating artwork by Polish illustrator and graphic designer Maciej Kamuda, I Become Death will utterly shatter your neck and dismantle your braincase in its 30 minutes of vicious extreme music, bringing forward the most hazardous attributes of Death, Thrash and Black Metal, magnifying their impact with the addition of elements from D-Beat Crust, Hardcore and Punk Rock. Everything is played at the speed of light with all instruments breathing fire and hatred, featuring obviously the well-known high-quality melody and cohesiveness of European Metal. Put differently, HerezA sounds like an unstoppable sonic Leopard 2A7, one of Germany’s most successful and powerful battle tanks in history, aiming directly at your head.

The most brutal Blackened Death Metal is blasted by Slobodan in the title-track I Become Death, a monstrous business card presented by the Croatian duo where Ivan gives life to the destroyer of worlds with his infernal growls through the song’s bestial lyrics (“I come in form of devastating waves / Penetrating radiation filling up the graves / Where I go, I bring the hellish fire / A burning inferno my only desire”). And there’s no time for your head to stop buzzing, as another fantastic sick devastation in the form of music named Jebem Vas U Usta Ladna (or “fucking your cold mouth” from Croatian) comes crushing mercilessly, with Slobodan exhaling anger and aggressiveness through his Death Metal beats and flammable riffs while Ivan keeps growling like a maniac; followed by Homo Homini Lupus Est (“man is a wolf” from Latin), not only an amazing portrait of their fusion of Punk and Death Metal with a strong D-Beat Crust vibe, but also an underground hymn for slamming into the mosh pit.

Get ready to be pulverized like an insignificant insect by this demented duo in the frantic Uništi, Pali, Ruši (Croatian for “destroy, burn, tear it down”), the best tune of the album in my opinion where cutting guitar lines and wicked Black and Death Metal beats make the music sound as if Cannibal Corpse went The Exploited. And again drinking from the fountain of D-Beat Crust and mixing it with elements from Black Metal, Ivan continues to fire his beastly growls in In The Name of God, a song spiced up by its anti-religious lyrics (“They’ve build their biggest temples / To worship their false saints / Covered with diamonds dressed in gold / A hunger for money never getting old”), whereas in the brutish Full Moon Slaughter the duo viciously puts the pedal to the metal, with Slobodan delivering tons of melody through his riffs, but obviously always sounding insanely heavy, leaning towards old school Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal.

hereza_bandNeplodna Jama, or “barren dich”, is perhaps the song with the highest amount of old school Punk Rock and contemporary Punk Metal elements, with the guttural vocals by Ivan being the song’s Death Metal ingredient, feeling like this time it’s The Exploited going Cannibal Corpse. Torn from the Death’s Bed, the slowest composition of all, presents solid guitar lines and beats by Slobodan in sync with the gnarls by Ivan (albeit not as kick-ass as the rest of the album), while in Pošast (“vermin”) the band gets back to their electrified amalgamation of Punk Rock and Death Metal, inspiring you to ferociously smash some skulls into the pit. And Tombcrawler, the high-octane deathblow in I Become Death, begins in a somber way before bursting into sheer brutality, keeping the rampage going on in full force until the song’s sinister neck-breaking ending.

In case you’re thinking “HerezA are awesome, but how am I going to see them live if they’re only two guys?”, let me tell you there’s nothing to worry about, as the duo is joined on stage by their henchmen Bojan Babic on guitar, Milan Prodanovic on bass and Leonardo Markovic on drums, which means their apocalyptic music is materialized quite often at metal pubs and venues in Croatia for the total delight of headbangers all over Europe eager for a sonic bloodbath. And even if you’re not planning a trip to Croatia anytime soon, you can still follow Ivan and Slobodan at their official Facebook page, and purchase I Become Death at the Godz ov War Productions’ BandCamp page. After listening to the extreme compositions by this Croatian bulldozer, your metallic senses will never be the same again.

Best moments of the album: Jebem Vas U Usta Ladna, Uništi, Pali, Ruši and Full Moon Slaughter.

Worst moments of the album: Torn from the Death’s Bed.

Released in 2017 Godz ov War Productions

Track listing
1. I Become Death 4:15
2. Jebem Vas U Usta Ladna 2:30
3. Homo Homini Lupus Est 3:05
4. Uništi, Pali, Ruši 2:20
5. In The Name of God 1:25
6. Full Moon Slaughter 3:35
7. Neplodna Jama 1:55
8. Torn from the Death’s Bed 2:16
9. Pošast 3:33
10. Tombcrawler 4:14

Band members
Ivan Kovačević – vocals
Slobodan Stupar – all instruments, backing vocals

Guest musician
Denis Sloboda – guitar solo on “In the Name of God” and “Pošast”

Album Review – Eteritus / Following the Ancient Path (2016)

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Follow the ancient path of old school Death Metal engendered by another promising band from the underground of Polish music.

Rating4

eteritus_coverOnce again, it’s time to take a direct flight to the beautiful Republic of Poland, more specifically to the city of Toruń, for another blast of high-quality Polish metal music. Located in northern Poland, Toruń is not only one of the oldest cities in the country, but also the birthplace of the renowned astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. This charming and important city, which was was added to the list of Seven Wonders of Poland in 2007, might have the nickname “City of Angels” due to the angel in its coat of arms, but after listening to Following the Ancient Path, the debut full-length opus by Death Metal quartet Eteritus, we should also start calling it as “City of Death Metal”.

The band was founded in February 2013, when guitarist Zimny (also known as Zima) and drummer Nitro met, and after vocalist Liam Tailor joined the band one month later they already started working on new material. One year after the band’s inception, the EP Tales of Death was born and Eteritus’ lineup was completed by bassist Greg. After receiving many positive reviews from fans and critics, the band began working on what would become Following the Ancient Path, a storm of old school Death Metal for fans of sheer aggressiveness in music. Featuring a dark and traditional artwork by Polish artist Bartek Kurzok (who has already worked with other amazing underground bands such as Abigail, Ulcer and Deathstorm), this is one of those albums that despite knowing what you’re going to get, you always feel positively surprised with the level of professionalism and dedication from all band members, which always translates into kick-ass metal music.

A metallic Intro presenting eerie guitar sounds warms up the listener until Biocentric kicks off emanating aggressiveness, with vocalist and guitarist Liam Tailor leading the band’s sonic attack boosted by the sharp sounds and endless electricity flowing from the guitars. Moreover, this tune is tailored for some sick headbanging due to its menacing rhythm, which can also be said about the heavy and barbaric Hellish Imagery, where Liam delivers anger and darkness through his growls while Nitro varies between pure groove and demonic blast beats, living up to the tradition of old school Death Metal. And in the demonic composition The Unliving Thing, Liam becomes the creature exhaling brutality through its horror movie-inspired lyrics (“Dark moon reflects in the eye of the beast / He longs for his brood, calls for his kin / Watching with dead eyes / Searching for blood / Running from daylight / Hiding from sun”), with Nitro and Zima supporting him with his blazing beats and riffs, respectively.

eteritus_bandConsider yourself in the eye of a metal storm while listening to the vicious Eye of the Storm, a pure Death Metal chant where all instruments sound boisterous, especially the bass lines à la Alex Webster by Greg. Due to its awesome rhythm, the song never gets boring or tiresome; quite the contrary, it’s bestial in its entirety, maintaining the fire burning in the fantastic Incinerator, with its flammable lyrics (“Walking on the ashes of a scorched, dead world / Burned to the ground in a fiery storm / Cemetery silence, instilling fear / The light in your eye like a tip of a spear”) and its accelerated rhythm led by Nitro. Blending elements from Thrash Metal to their traditional Death Metal, this is not only one of the top moments of the album, but it will also work perfectly when played live.

The bestiality in Following the Ancient Path goes on with another carnivorous composition titled Somber Mind, with the band generating the perfect dark ambience for Liam to fire some really deep gnarls, including some obscure guitar solos and crushing beats, followed by the also solid End of Line.  The second to last song of the album brings forward sheer darkness, with the cutting bass guitar by Greg igniting a feast of visceral growls and intricate drumming, also showcasing poisonous riffs and endless aggressiveness. And if you love kick-ass high-octane Death Metal with hints of Black and Thrash Metal let me tell you that Mortal Prophecy will certainly satisfy your needs, being vile and thunderous from start to finish, also presenting interesting tempo changes and a fiery guitar solo at the end.

You can follow the ancient path of old school Death Metal engendered by Eteritus by liking their Facebook page, and grab your copy of the album at the Godz ov War Productions’ webshop or BandCamp page, as well as at Discogs. Yet again, we’re facing an up-and-coming band from Poland delivering top-of-the-line extreme music, consequently carving their names in the underground Polish scene, and I believe they will soon conquer other parts of Europe and the rest of the world thanks to their honesty, their talent, their passion for heavy music and their electrified attitude.

Best moments of the album: Eye of the Storm and Incinerator.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2016 Godz ov War Productions

Track listing
1. Intro 1:25
2. Biocentric 4:23
3. Hellish Imagery 4:32
4. The Unliving Thing 4:04
5. Eye of the Storm 3:07
6. Incinerator 3:16
7. Somber Mind 3:41
8. End of Line 3:41
9. Mortal Prophecy 4:16

Band members
Liam Tailor – vocals, guitars
Zima – guitars
Greg – bass
Nitro – drums