Scalpture - Panzerdoktrin

Artist: Scalpture
Release Title: Panzerdoktrin
Year: 2016
Label: Final Gate Records
Genre: Swedish Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Forward March
2. ...Panzer Hooray!
3. Lead from Ahead
4. Dam Busters
5. Flattened Horizons (Pounding Howitzers)
6. No Rest, No Sleep, No Peace
7. Incursion
8. Not a Single Step Back
9. Embrace the Afterglow

Founded in 2009, German death metallers Scalpture have taken the years to hone and refine a vicious death metal charge hailing their old-school sound into vicious bursts of death metal over the years which has honed and refined their attack into a lethal war-themed force. Adding second guitarist Tobias to the group for this release, the groups’ full-length debut is released December 1, 2016 on Final Gate Records.

From the start, it’s quite apparent that the bands’ old-school influences are getting shown at the forefront of the groups’ overall sound here. The basic intention here is the classic churning Swedish-style sound complete with that familiar grinding buzzsaw-style blast to the riff-work which offers a fine series of stylistic changes as the tempos offer up the traditional blend of galloping up-tempo thrash-paced styles to more mid-tempo chugging throughout here. Those mid-tempo paces are where the band explores the vast majority of times here and comes complete with the usual sense of sprawling patterns and melodic trinkling sprinkled throughout to add to a fine old-school sense of straightforwardness to the rhythms that keeps things simple, vicious and intense. When the band drops that in favor of the ravenous, blistering up-tempo work it fares quite well with the swirling patterns and melodic accents generating the kind of atmosphere that keeps this one charging along into that old-school vein which really gives this one a lot to really like about it. However good it may be, though, doesn’t change the fact that the music here is pretty much reliant on that atmosphere to such a degree that there’s no real originality present in the attack at all. The riffs, pattern arrangements and even the melodic interjections are cribbed straight from the Stockholm playbook and replicated with earnest and competent performances that really makes this one feel like numerous other bands in the style. It’s not detrimental in the slightest due to the enjoyment found within this as the music is well-played enough to make a difference, and again as a debut feature that doesn’t become as big a factor as it really could’ve been.

Despite not offering up a truly original thought all that often throughout here, the sheer earnestness and competency of their chosen style to utilize the Swedish old-school sound makes them quite an intriguing rookie to watch in the scene and really gives this one a strong appeal to Swedish-style death metal fanatics or old-school death aficionados in general.

Score: 87/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://finalgaterecords.bandcamp.com/releases/panzerdoktrin

Ungod - Bewitched by Sins and Lust

Artist: Ungod
Release Title: Bewitched by Sins and Lust
Year: 2016
Label: Final Gate Records
Genre: Old-School Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Inner Sight
2. Of Light and Darkness
3. Possessed in Trance
4. Of Flesh, Blood and Brimstone
5. Path of the Apocalyptic
6. Bewitched by Sins and Lust
7. Dust on the Cross
8. When Darkness Dims the Sky Above
9. Blessed by the Whore

One of the country’s biggest genre outfits, German black metal legends Ungod have certainly been much more prolific in their second incarnation now as the combination of splits and full-lengths outweighs the groups’ first output. Now onto their second full-length in the reunion and their third overall, this was released May 1, 2016 and is the bands’ only release for Final Gate Records.

As expected here considering their legacy and history, there’s plenty of ravenous old-school black metal to be found here. The group’s approach of utilizing frenetic, swirling tremolo riffing and plenty of savage drumming blasts creates a mostly frantic assault of gravelly, old-school black metal which works rather well here in giving this one a highly enjoyable chaotic bent in their rhythms that’s much more explosive and frantic than really expected when the group goes for the more up-beat tempos. The penchant for slowing down and giving into a more relaxed, mid-range style as present here does manage to come off rather nicely with the plodding patterns coming together nicely alongside the blistering, frantic patterns and frenetic, blasting drumming which is all wrapped up together quite well as these make for a seemingly coherent, raw old-school effort. Frankly, for as good as this approach is, the album does still feature a rather difficult nature to get over in the inherently raw sound and vibe present here which is quite a bit removed from the typical sound expected on such a release as the mostly low-quality production here really only favors the riffing as it’s got a decent enough sound but doesn’t really do much for anything else as the drumming is loud, clattering and sounds far away from the rest of the music, the bass is simply clanking away without much rhyme or reason and the vocals are weak-sounding horror-filled shrieks without much power or deviation in them which makes them feel quite low overall. It’s a pretty detrimental problem here but not a crippling one.

Despite some problems, there’s still enough to enjoy about this one as it does have enough to really like here that it does manage to overcome enough of them to be worthwhile enough mainly for fans of the rawer-style of old-school black metal or fans of the band in general, though others who like a slight bit more polish in their experience should heed caution.

Score: 80/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://finalgaterecords.bandcamp.com/album/bewitched-by-sins-and-lust

Harm (Gr) - The Evil

Artist: Harm (Gr)
Release Title: The Evil
Year: 2016
Label: Final Gate Records
Genre: Retro Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Vlad the Impaler
2. Knife Penetration
3. The Evil
4. Undead World Crusade
5. City of the Dead
6. God Forgives - My Chainsaw Not
7. Gutted like a Dear
8. Dead Body Love
9. First Blood 1918
10. Panzer Apocalypse

Storming onto the scene, the German death metal group Harm showed their mettle on the previous release and the storming impact featured here continues their ultra-heavy, mid-tempo old-school death metal attack. Being the first recorded output with new bassist Felix who joined several years ago, their second full-length is released June 18, 2016 on Final Gate Records.

As was established on their previous album, this here is generally a more mid-tempo and simplistic death metal attack that goes for large, sprawling vistas through the doom-influenced rhythms. This here is mostly just a singular riff repeated around a crushingly heavy mid-tempo pace that features scorchingly heavy swirling patterns that offer up a rather blasting impact with the group’s few outbursts of dynamic dexterous drum-work that accompanies this mostly simple-minded approach which is where this one really scores quite well. With the album’s mostly straightforward approach that opts for the chugging riffing and sprawling patterns in the arrangements, there’s plenty of utterly dynamic and crushingly heavy moments here where it takes the agonizing rhythms along through that series of rhythms here, and for extra variance it does nicely segue into a series of faster patterns propelled by some sterling drumming and urgent chainsaw-style buzzing riffing that ups the tempo into a feverish gallop which is a finely accented companion piece to the more dominant plodding tempos. While these here give this one such a rousing feel and tone, there’s a slight hint of repetition to be found here as this one goes about itself in a rather stylistically similar manner. So many of these rhythms and patterns are kept in the same general air through the majority of the tracks here that it can lead to a bit of a struggle to determine where things are with this one at times, though it’s not nearly as detrimental as expected here as this one has so much more to really like about it.

With plenty of positives to really get worked up about and only a few minor issues that really aren’t that detrimental to this one all that much, this has plenty of positive elements to be found that make it a solid, worthwhile choice for any fan into this brand of old-school flavored death metal or resolute revivalist fanatics that prefer this approach.

Score: 88/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://finalgaterecords.bandcamp.com/releases