Ctulu - Ctulu

Artist: Ctulu
Release Title: Ctulu
Year: 2016
Label: MDD Records
Genre: Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Serce krwawe
2. Treibjagd
3. Totenhauswind
4. Rozgoryczona, rozczarowana, gotowa na wszystko
5. Heerführer der Herre
6. Dämmerung
7. Von Mondeswächtern und Menschverächtern
8. Die Arkadaden von R'lyeh

Exploiting their sound even further, German black metallers Ctulu have exploited their dark, depraved sound even further with responses from their previous releases fueling their fire on the new album. With the three-year gap between releases seeing former session drummer Infernal Devastator becoming their full-time drummer, their fourth releases was originally released November 18, 2016 on MDD Records.

For the most part throughout this one it manages to really delve quite nicely through it’s rather tight and frantic settings while featuring plenty of utterly enjoyable work here. There’s a strong elegant simplicity to the album, using a strong series of straightforward riff-work that aggressively switches from swirling tremolo leads to find ravenous thrashing quite often throughout here which makes for a rousing and truly energetic offering which is from the fine mixture here with these coming together into this furious whole. Alongside the energetic offerings, the bands’ trademark slow, deep crawl is still present with the group displaying the same fine mid-tempo chugging series of rhythms here which manage to counterbalance the aggression so well here that when these extended segments come together there’s a fine sense of enhanced energy found in them that it creates a fine counterbalance that comes off in great harmony to the fiery intensity featured much more prominently. This whole approach is very nicely accomplished here with the album generating quite a lot of strong riff-work and rhythms here, and the fact that the album does feel quite a bit shorter than previous efforts does make itself known here as the album’s lone flaw. There’s not a great deal of work within this one that really captures the gravitas and epic feeling of many of their previous albums which makes it feel the shorter running time quite easily with only a few tracks overall and not many of them containing the multi-faceted sections so prominent in their work highlighting this facet even moreso than usual. Otherwise there’s not a whole lot else really wrong here.

Though it’s not quite as grand and twisting in it’s rhythms as many of their other work out there, this one is still such a fine and enjoyable release with so much more positive to overwhelm and outweigh the negatives that this serves as a fine offering for their fans or those into extreme metal as a whole.

Score: 91/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://againstmagazine.us9.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=4ff93d94107089f67de331724&id=7aac7d7677&e=4b6c195669

Across the Burning Sky - The End is Near

Artist: Across the Burning Sky
Release Title: The End is Near
Year: 2016
Label: MDD Records
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. The Death March
2. Demons Rising
3. Towards The Sky
4. Sacrifice
5. Call of the Ancient Gods
6. The Fourth Deadly Sin
7. Shadows Embrace
8. Ashes to Ashes
9. Bloodlines
10. The End
11. The Final March

Formed just in 2014, Swedish melodic death metallers Across the Burning Sky have come together from a collective of scene veterans with nearly two decades of experience in the genre that have manifested themselves into the claim of old-school influences. With the group finally coming together to their first release, the debut full-length was originally released October 28, 2016 on MDD Records.

From the outset this here is pretty apparent and forceful about the old-school influences in their melodic death metal stylings by offering a charging variant on the style. There’s a strong simplicity inherent in this one by going for the generally energetic mid-tempo pacing while letting the more furious and pounding rhythms lead along into the more frantic sections that add a nice balance and energy to this one. Though it’s mostly simplistic, there’s a driving energy by meshing that within the melodic firepower of the main riff-work featured here which creates a wholly melodic and blistering sections here with the sweeping patterns firing off the melodic prowess in these frantic sections. That is a perfect display of their professionalism in their seasoned experience which comes off well here, but does manage to draw up the one small facet on display here in that the tracks are so straightforward and simplistic that it never offers up any kind of variation to enable the tracks to generate any kind of length here as this one is so short and over so quick that there’s the very likely possibility that this one turns into a shortened burst of material but then is just over and it really seems as though the tracks could’ve been expanded a bit more beyond just three-minute blasts of effective melodic death metal. Still, it’s the only real issue to have with this one.

With the fact that it’s just so quick and over so soon due to a real lack of variation within itself which makes this come off so short, there’s not much else really wrong here that really drops this one down as the main problematic issue here so that all fans of melodic death metal are encouraged to check this out.

Score: 85/100

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

Pessimist (Gr) - Call to War

Artist: Pessimist (Gr)
Release Title: Call to War
Year: 2010 (2016 reissue)
Label: Self-Released/Independent (MDD Records reissue)
Genre: German Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Trommelfeuer
2. The Massacre of Nanking
3. Infernal Death
4. Prelude (Arm for War)
5. Call to War
6. Son of Satan
7. It's Time to Fuck (with Hate)
8. Death by Torture
9. Another Day in Mania

Formed in late 2006, the German thrash band Pessimist established the ability to perform spirited old-school German-styled thrash and shows plenty of signs of becoming one to watch in the future with an immensely enjoyable and polished effort from a band this young. Following several quickly-released demos and an EP, the prepares this debut full-length independently March 27, 2010 with  CD reissue December 10, 2010 on Firefield Records and a new reissue September 23, 2016 from MDD Records.

For the most part, this is a pretty impressive debut from a band that’s a lot better than it should to be this devastating and destructive this early in their career. A running feature throughout the album is the absolutely devastating guitar riffs employed here, which are tinged with that dirty, grimy sound that signals prime 80s-era German thrash to the fullest in the heavy, crunchy flavor. Filled with a destructive attitude, the riffing onslaught on display is a true assault managing to stuff the songs with an impressive array of riffs that are downright memorable as well as being virtuosic solo displays. Complete with thunderous double-bass drumming and a groovy, slinky set of bass-lines this here is some primo thrash that’s far better than expected to come from a band this early in the game. Now, stylistically, the second half here isn’t all that much different from the first half and features a majority of the same features, but there’s a minor flaw that does erupt from this set-up. The biggest difference in the two halves is the quality of the songwriting, with a clear and discernible ability to tell that the better songs are placed up at the top of the album while the weaker and clearly-less-interesting efforts are on the back half. Most of this is due to the songwriting rather than the performances, as the songs in and of themselves lack the spark of their preceding songs, coming off more like rehashes rather than being individual, unique tracks as the repetitive nature of the songs becomes apparent. This is certainly not a true flaw in the album, as the tracks can be enjoyable for some, but the somewhat subpar writing is apparent and drags it down rather than any sort of issue within the record. Still, it’s really the only thing really wrong with this one.

While the second half here is of somewhat lesser quality than the first in the songwriting department that leaves them without the bite of the top half, sonically this is purely enjoyable and competent thrash that follows along the German template quite accurately and is heartily recommended to aficionados of German thrash or just plain pure thrash fans in general.

Score: 90/100

Does it sound good? Order the reissue from here:
https://pessimist-thrash.bandcamp.com/album/call-to-war-re-release