Djevel - Norske Ritualer

Artist: Djevel
Release Title: Norske Ritualer
Year: 2016
Label: Aftermath Music
Genre: Old-School Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Vi slakter den foerste og den andre, den tredje lar vi gaa mot nord
2. Jeg maner eder alle
3. Doedskraft og tre nagler
4. Med christi legeme og blod under hoeiere fod
5. Til mitt kjaere Norge
6. Med tornespiger var han haengt
7. Maatte vetter rase som aldrig foer
8. Afgrunds Engle

Blazing through the underground, Norwegian black metallers Djevel continues to lead their way through the old-school format as the traditionally-minded group heads out into the same fields and patterns normally reserved to the old-school ways which befit the band members collective experience. Wasting no time in releasing a new album in consecutive calendar years, the groups’ fourth album is released November 11, 2016 on Aftermath Music.

There’s little question here about the bands’ influences on this one, it’s all pretty much spelled out here from the very start with some rather immediate parts coming to the forefront of this one. This is a pretty substantial and impactful old-school release which carries those elements quite handily, from the swirling tremolo-picked patterns that are continuously flowing from ravenous bursts of up-tempo blasts to weighty mid-tempo sprawls throughout here, generating the kind of furious old-school assault that is completely capable of accomplishing this stylistic framework through the album’s epic-length tracks that allow for these types of patterns quite easily. Likewise, this also manages to incorporate the stylistic breaks throughout here where it’s able to weave haunting acoustic segments or ethereal chanting choirs into their pummeling attack which generates the kind of frantic departures within their rhythms that add that extra touch to the bands’ old-school showcase, and with the whole affair wrapped in that stylistic cold, freezing production that compounds the fiery tremolo riffing and thumping rhythm section it all completes the old-school experience incredibly well. That’s also the album’s main curse against it, in that the old-school approach is so heavy and prominent that it doesn’t really differentiate itself from the numerous other second-wave imitators in the genre which are quite prominent in the scene. They’re remarkably proficient and competent in this style, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s quite a familiar approach is the main flaw present.

While the ravenous old-school tendency carried throughout here is the main problem associated with it, there’s little else that really strikes as being detrimental enough to allow this one to be of quite significant interest to any fan or interested party in second-wave Norwegian black metal.

Score: 95/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.aftermath-music.com/page.php?id=448

Heavydeath - In Circles We Die

Artist: Heavydeath
Release Title: In Circles We Die
Year: 2016
Label: Self-Released/Independent (Aftermath Music)
Genre: Old-School Doom/Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. As We Foretold
2. Slumbering Monolith
3. Bleak Future
4. In Circles We Die
5. The Few Remains
6. Rope of Emptiness
7. Into Death's Black Void
8. The Fallen One

Continuing to expand on their sound, Swedish doom/death metal supergroup Heavydeath have taken their years of experience and brought about a rather pronounced and highly effective ode to the old-school sounds of their homeland. With the power-trio wasting no time in ushering a slew of releases, their second full-length effort was digitally-released independently November 1, 2016 before a CD reissue November 4, 2016 on Aftermath Music.

As is to be expected here from the sound of the album, the main focus here is on the crushing doom atmosphere throughout here which makes for quite a fun time. Featuring plenty of monolithic rhythms, loaded with that filthy sludgy sprawl typically associated with the style with the low-slung, barely-moving rhythms keeping this one locked tight in the rhythms throughout here as this one tends to opt for the classic dredging tempos without any real change in the matter which lets the deep, churning riff-work come to a nice head here that lets this one adopt a more ferocious atmosphere during these sections with the lurching tempos letting the riffing come to a more deep and churning centerpiece. This results in some rather fun and engaging pieces at times and is certainly a major part of the album’s success while also managing to highlight one of it’s few minor flaws in the fact that it really does feel it’s weighty presence at times. The slow, dragging tempos are rife with atmosphere, but at the same time completely opening up the album’s running time with the fact that this one really contains quite lengthy tracks that simply plod along lifelessly with barely any energy or weight behind them as the riffing descends into dull noodling as the drumming becomes limp and lifeless doling out the tracks as this is so prominent in the later half there’s little about it that remains as effective as the first half. That part is what makes the album as good as it is.

Though it runs afoul of itself slightly in the later half, there’s still more than enough quality and consistent material to be found throughout here that this one becomes quite a fine and worthwhile release for fans of the musicians involved in the project or appreciate this style of slow, plodding old-school death-influenced doom metal.

Score: 85/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://heavydeath.bandcamp.com/album/in-circles-we-die