Wolf's Hunger - Bež'te živi vraćaju se mrtvi

Artist: Wolf's Hunger
Release Title: Bež'te živi vraćaju se mrtvi
Year: 2016
Label: Symbol of Domination Productions
Genre: Thrash/Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Bež'te živi vraćaju se mrtvi
2. U vatri sazdan
3. Gvozdeni puk (Kult rata)
4. Vostani Serbije
5. Rusija
6. Slava Gromu
7. Lešinari će slaviti moje ime
8. Egzekutor
9. Rod

Continuing to struggle against the odds, Serbian thrash/black metallers Wolf’s Hunger have taken their love World War I, Serbian history and Slavic heritage to the fullest as the group presents another hellish uncompromising and merciless attack. With a nine-year gap having a slew of line-up changes as guitarists Rastko and Milan left, former member Dovla returned as the second guitarist was filled by Igor Marić, drummer Milos Stanic left and was filled by Ivan Gašpar, the group’s second full-length was released September 9, 2016 on Symbol of Domination Productions.

Immediately from the start, it’s apparent throughout here this one goes for the type of explosive, raging rhythms that’s become quite apparent in their discography. Leaning so heavily on the thrash stylings for their work here, this one readily features the tight, bouncy riff-work that generates the style and tone of those earlier stylings quite nicely which comes from the generous ability to shift between the ravenous, full-throttle rhythms or the sprawling, meandering riff-work that keeps it all contained in a cohesive, dynamic state. Rarely deviating from these styles makes this one quite the impressive and truly immersive album by allowing a series of generously-padded elements to function within the exploits of the album’s penchant for fiery riffing and ferocious patterns that come from the occasional introduction of frosty arrangements and tremolo-picked riffing that denotes it’s black metal pedigree. While that leaves the attack here for the most part exceptionally fun and enjoyable, it can lead to a lot of overly stale and repetitious writing here as the bands’ determination to remain in these patterns keeps this from really exploring that many altogether different realms of their sound being so stuck here utilizing so many repeat performances of their admittedly-fearsome full-throttle rhythms or tight mid-tempo chugging patterns which are well in appearance here. Overall, it’s all that really holds this one back.

Not really offering up much of a problem that’s all too damaging and detrimental here, this one comes off a little repetitious but still fierce and fiery enough that the fans of the genre’s stylings or those that can appreciate the bands’ localized flavor will wholly enjoy this one.

Score: 89/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://symbolofdomination.bandcamp.com/album/sodp068-wolfs-hunger-be-te-ivi-vra-aju-se-mrtvi-2016

Solitude (Jap) - Beneath the Sky

Artist: Solitude (Jap)
Release Title: Beneath the Sky
Year: 2015 (2016 reissue)
Label: Spiritual Beast (Test Your Metal Records reissue)
Genre: Traditional Heavy Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Venom's Angel
2. Blow
3. Reach for the Sky
4. Don't Need Mercy
5. Escape for the Crime
6. You Got My Mind
7. On the Edge of Sorrow
8. December

Finally reaching US shores, Japanese metallers Solitude have worked long and hard to make inroads on this side of the Pacific as they’ve managed to create quite a name for themselves in their homeland being the base label for many foreign releases in the Japanese market. While taking a nominal six-year gap between releases, the group releases their second album originally June 17, 2015 on Spiritual Beast before a US release November 25, 2016 on Test Your Metal Records.

Immediately blasting forward with an impressive charge, the group offers up a furiously intense and engaging blast of modern-sounding old-school heavy metal. The tight, crunchy riffing is the album’s greatest highlight, giving this one the fine ability to withstand a solid mid-tempo chug that gets featured throughout here or fire away on intense, nearly thrash-style rhythms such is their speed and ferocity. That, in particular, generates a raucous, energetic sheen over the whole section utilized with the efforts stylized and highly-appealing dynamics in the riffing which creates quite a fun time throughout here as the album manages to highlight quite effectively within enjoyable elements. Even when featuring thoroughly engaging work here with the explosive soloing on many of the tracks as well as the ability to dip into melodic accents to the riff-work when the group employs their mid-tempo style, the album is quite consistent and carries itself incredibly well while still being able to give itself a great sense of variety throughout here. About the only real issue here could come from the album’s raw vocal display which seems to be a much more personal issue here as on the whole it’s not terrible but the gruff style might not be all that enjoyable to some as it takes some getting used to that style in order to really enjoy it. Once it happens, though, that’s really all that really holds this one down.

A truly enjoyable and engaging blast of furious heavy metal thunder, there’s not a whole lot of really detrimental elements found here to hold this down and gives this one the overall kind of appeal awarded for fans of traditional heavy metal, Japanese variants of the style or generally ripping classic metal in general.

Score: 95/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.testyourmetalrecords.bigcartel.com/product/solitude-reach-for-the-sky-pre-order

Red Cain - Red Cain EP

Artist: Red Cain
Release Title: Red Cain EP
Year: 2016
Label: Self-Released/Independent
Genre: Melodic/Progressive Heavy Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Guillotine
2. Dead Aeon Requiem
3. Hiraeth
4. Unborn

Born as an industrial/gothic act in 2012, Canadian heavy metallers Red Cain quickly moved away from this style into a more melodic metal act inspired by the European acts in the style following the introduction of orchestration guru William Lancaster and multi-instrumentalist Rogan McAndrews into the groups’ core ranks. With the line-up solidified and ready to go, the groups’ self-released debut EP was originally released November 25, 2016.

From the outset, the band sets up a rather intriguing mix of molten progressive rhythms and tons of charging melodic rhythms that make for quite an intriguing and enjoyable time here. There’s plenty of incredibly fun and enjoyable riff-work here with the main focus on driving progressive rhythms that contain plenty of challenging patterns skillfully interwoven with bright melodic outbursts, featuring plenty of tough rumbling underlying rhythms and a sense blend of dynamics throughout here with the intervening symphonic orchestrations providing this one with the backbone upon which the fiery mid-tempo grooves produced by the progressive-tinged riff-work balances out quite nicely. It works as a fine set-up for the bands’ proper introduction here with this one really exploring all facets of their work quite nicely, and with the lengthy tracks allowing for these to come through it gives off quite an impressive feel and tone throughout here though the band still employs one minor piece that does come out here. There’s quite ample evidence here that the group is much more comfortable and able in the stronger, more vibrant sections of their sound and really haven’t tackled the slower, more dragging tempos yet as these are much more of pain to get through when the band stops and attempts to go for the plodding sections that just drag on endlessly and stretching this one out more than it really should, and even this isn’t that bad due to being a debut offering here. Otherwise, there’s not much to dislike here.

With only a minor stumbling block and not even that detrimental of one anyway, the album’s much greater enjoyable factors here with the stronger sense of melodies interwoven with progressive rhythms make this one quite a worthwhile and appealing act to watch for fans of melodic or progressive heavy metal.

Score: 85/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://redcain.bandcamp.com/album/red-cain-ep

Violblast - Conflict

Artist: Violblast
Release Title: Conflict
Year: 2016
Label: Suspiria Records
Genre: Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Deep into Darkness
2. Conflict
3. Wielders of Fear
4. Sings of a Murder
5. Invisible Death
6. Reprisal
7. Paths of Aggression
8. Bearing Witness
9. Individuality

Formed as Betrayer in 2012, Spanish thrashers Violblast quickly adopted their current moniker in order to perform quite vicious and intense thrash throughout their homeland which enabled them to hone their craft into a debut EP release. After several years of promoting that release, the group finally prepares their full-length debut November 25, 2016 on Suspiria Records.

From the start, this here comes off as a tight, ravenous and fully ferocious offering with plenty of truly thunderous and vicious thrash on display. Employing a far more tight and modern form of the style here with a slight old-school bent, this one goes for the ravenous approach in it’s riff-work with great results here with the crunchy patterns clearly putting this one in the thrash realm keeping this one flying along at truly explosive rhythms due to the high-flying speed on display. That offers the highest value here within this one as the album just flies along quite ably diving into tight thrash patterns in the riff-work while utilizing a series of straightforward arrangements to carry this along while still managing to get a large amount of work out of the occasional use of classic thrash-era arrangements which adds an extra dose of chaos to the proceedings by balancing up the truly ravenous sections against more controlled and refined segments which makes for a truly enjoyable thrashing experience. The main minor stumbling block here comes from the album’s tightly-wound riffing structure which doesn’t really let the album breathe all that often and causes it to zoom by way too quickly here as there’s not a whole lot of really lengthy pieces here. That could’ve given the riffing the space to really work wonders had it just been stretched out by a few minutes overall with a couple extra moments on each track to really give this one the opportunity to really enjoy the fruits of its labor, which can be a factor to explore in the future.

Managing on a few minor problems that really could be worked out in their future work, this ends up being quite the enjoyable and explosive ravenous thrash album with some old-school influences that works incredibly well for those that enjoy this more intense side of the genre or want something more than just another Bay-Area ripoff.

Score: 91/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://violblast.bandcamp.com/album/conflict

Bloodride - Planet Alcatraz

Artist: Bloodride
Release Title: Planet Alcatraz
Year: 2016
Label: Inverse Records
Genre: Retro Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. S.O.B.
2. Planet Alcatraz
3. War in Me
4. Beyond Repair
5. All We Deserve
6. Baptizing Demons
7. Grave Is Calling
8. Rat Racer
9. Storm Under My Skin
10. Marching Off to War

Continuing to rule in the old-school, Finnish thrashers Bloodride has steadily gained their style and approach quite readily throughout the years while taking their influences into a rather fearsome, ferocious assault. Keeping their consistency intact once again throughout their sound, the group’s third full-length effort was initially released November 25, 2016 on Inverse Records.

From the beginning notes this here is quite apparently a rather ferocious and charging blend of old-school riffing with a more vicious, modernized bite. There’s a great deal of old-school influence here in the riffing which takes that predominantly crunchy up-tempo style into the majority of the album’s paces and creates some rather frantic and finely-stylized thrashing patterns here. Likewise, this approach is styled nicely alongside a more vicious tactic of whipping up groove-styled rhythms and patterns in the riffing and coupling that with some deep churning death metal-styled patterns for a rather impressive blast of extremity against the more vicious attack. This is quite a fun attack though it tends to end up giving this one a rather troubling nature of not really being able to realize it’s true potential by keeping it wildly veering between the more ravenous old-school approach as well as the more deeply-churning energies that aren’t that well-constructed and keeps this off-balance throughout here. It’s enjoyable enough as it is, but the manner of making all their elements coming together into a coherent whole is a slight misstep.

There’s some troubling nature here with the rather troublesome writing that doesn’t generate the kind of consistently-coherent feel that the material really requires of it, though the fact that it’s still got enough enjoyable elements makes for a somewhat straightforward appeal to the most devout old-school thrasher fanatics only.

Score: 80/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:

http://www.inverse.fi/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=601&osCsid=132bf975b33d35fefe6783390e68485a

Veldraveth - Malformations of God

Artist: Veldraveth
Release Title: Malformations of God
Year: 2016
Label: Evil's Records/Satanath Records
Genre: Old-School Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Yetzer Ha'ra
2. In Chaos Born
3. Malformations of God
4. In Terms of Violence
5. Ominous Omen
6. No Place for God
7. Thunderstorms
8. No Return
9. Murder
10. Zyklon-B in Conclave

Coming up through the ranks, Venezuelan black metallers Veldraveth have taken a long, winding road from their start back in the early 2000s as they’ve brought more ravenous and devastating material that furthers their deadly attack even further. Taking their time to get the release right with a lengthy six-year break from albums, the trio’s third full-length album was originally released March 26, 2016 in a co-release from Satanath Records and Evil’s Records.

Marching along with impunity, the group offers a wholly caustic and explosive old-school style attack that charges along with quite a devastating tone. Led by the tremolo-based riff-work that carries this one along into tight, frantic set-ups that offer straightforward, simplistic tones without really deviating much from this basic framework, offering up the kind of darkened bouts of fury that’s wholly engaging here when the band is clearly in their furious stages. Balanced out by a series of mid-tempo sprawling patterns that act as buffer-sections that are kept to a minimum throughout here rather than being placed at the forefront of the album and a series of challenging, intricately-designed epics that bring forth more stylized tremolo-picked patterns as well as charging thrash-influenced segments that add a dynamic sense of chaos to the proceedings, overall this is a furious if slightly familiar attack while becomes the albums’ main failing point here. However enjoyable the blasting chaos and furious intensity derived from the riff-work may be, there’s still the overriding sense of being far too close to the source material to really generate the kind of creativity featured here that allows this one to stick out here as this one tends to feel way too similar to dozens of other acts in the genre playing this particular style and it really does lower this one slightly.

While there’s still plenty of highly enjoyable elements found here that makes for a truly enjoyable, vicious and intense black metal album, the few flaws present here are enough to placate those enough here to leave this one more for those who prefer the South American style of black metal or prefer the more intense stylings in the genre.

Score: 87/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://veldraveth.bandcamp.com/album/malformations-of-god

Antimateria - Valo aikojen takaa

Artist: Antimateria
Release Title: Valo aikojen takaa
Year: 2016
Label: Purity Through Fire Records
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. Sieltä mistä valokaan ei milloinkaan karkaa
3. Tieni kohti lopullista tuhoa
4. Roihuten läpi yötaivaan
5. Kun aukeaa mysteerit kuoleman
6. Kadoten merien hautaan
7. Valo aikojen takaa

Emerging from the bowels of the genre, Finnish one-man atmospheric black metal project Antimateria has quickly gathered themselves into a force within the genre as main man Ahma has turned the project into a beast of celestial black metal magic. Quickly coming out with the projects’ first proper piece of recording, the debut full-length was originally released September 1, 2016 on Purity Through Fire Records.

From the start, it’s quite clear here that there’s a strong and profound sense of raw, celestial-worshipping black metal at hand. From the tight, churning riff-work that takes the simplistic tremolo-style series of patterns and merges them with a strong series of light keyboard work to really get this one going here. Even with the raw, gravelly production it’s still possible to discern the warm, lush atmospheric melodies swirling around throughout here which comes from the simplistic riff-work and rumbling rhythm section charging away in the background which manages to make for quite a stylistic contrast to the rest of the album here with this one really generating the kind of light, serene atmosphere that plainly keeps this in the genre for the majority of the running time. Given the fact that the extended, generous lengths of the tracks for the most part here, the ability to really let the melodies sink in and create the haunting atmosphere possible this really manages to make this hold up much more than expected with the melodies and rhythms coming together quite nicely, but the fact that the album’s thick, gravelly production style becomes the main problem here as this tends to reduce the type of variety and dexterity found within the riff-work and gives it a much too apparent sense of solidarity with the songs sounding much too similar and familiar to each other. The album comes off like a rather straightforward blur of simplistic riffing and driving-but-familiar drumming that manages to hold the atmospheric keyboards in check throughout here which doesn’t really detract it as much as expected.

Despite losing some of its power here with the thick, raw production featured here, the fact that there’s still a lot to enjoy here with the extended, atmospheric sections at play here really tends to give this one a big bump and makes this one work rather well for fans of this type of simplified atmospheric black metal.

Score: 89/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.purity-through-fire.com/shop/sites/ger/catalog.php?cat=1&startat=0&artnbr=2564&letter=&lang=de&art_sort=0#det2564

Defiatory - Extinct

Artist: Defiatory
Release Title: Extinct
Year: 2016
Label: Black Lion Productions
Genre: Retro Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. The Final Conflict
2. Reaper
3. Aeons End
4. Dogs of War
5. Extinct
6. Destiny
7. The Black Vortex
8. Furor Unleashed

Coming together in 2015, Swedish thrashers Defiatory have quickly settled into a groove of old-school thrash worship that has taken the bands’ love of the genre to it’s fullest with the group quickly finding their full material quickly enough in their career. With the group appearing as a supergroup of the Swedish death metal scene, the group’s debut release was originally released June 3, 2016 on Black Lion Records.

Almost immediately here it becomes apparent that the band is clearly adept at displaying the kind of old school-fueled burst of Bay Area-styled revivalist thrash in grand order. The tight, crunchy patterns and full-throttle riff-work at the center of the music here gives this a generously furious up-tempo thrash-inspired blast of fiery thrash, and with the album going for the generally dexterous leads and straightforward energy there’s plenty of old-school nods throughout the album. Though the album doesn’t generate the kind of variety in their rhythms that effectively recalls that scene to it’s fullest, the riffing patterns utilized here are much more in league with that and really manages to  employ the distinctive crunch barreling along throughout here which is mostly due to the far more vicious and intense patterns featured which give this a far more modern and dynamic effort here which makes the rampaging material quite enjoyable and intense. Though this works quite nicely in generating fiery, frantic material it also causes this to slip into one-dimensional thrashing for the most part here, never really offering up much of anything beyond just admittedly-crushing material without really changing it around and providing any kind of variety. There’s a few spots scattered here but for the most part that lack of real dynamic or varied material does come across here, and although there’s some leeway given here due to being a debut it’s the one issue to be found here.

With only a few minor quibbles to be found here due to being a debut album which doesn’t really hold it back all too much, this here comes off as absolutely enjoyable and vicious modern-sounding revival thrash that will undoubtedly appeal to fans of that side of the spectrum or simply intense thrash in general.

Score: 91/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://defiatoryblacklion.bandcamp.com/album/extinct

Fatalist - The Bitter End

Artist: Fatalist
Release Title: The Bitter End
Year: 2016
Label: F.D.A. Rekotz
Genre: Swedish Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Aberration
2. Bloodfest
3. Coloured Red
4. Devoured
5. Fear of Death
6. A Hollowed Shell of the Body
7. In Diluted Thoughts
8. Suicidal Aftermath
9. Symphony of Chaos
10. The Bitter End
11. Tortured Existence

Initially appearing in the mid-2000s, California death metallers Fatalist quickly gained notoriety for their sincere and dedicated approach to the Swedish variant of death metal before a disbanding before a rebirth two years later that sees the band back and tighter than ever. Being the first recorded output for drummer Griffin Figueroa after Tyler Castro left following the reactivation of the project, their long-awaited true full-length debut is released September 23, 2016 on F.D.A. Rekotz.

It’d be hard-pressed to believe this wasn’t a group of Stockholm-centered youths emerging from the early-90s scene here such is the powerful and utterly unrepentant approach this takes with the Swedeath scene. This goes for the ever-present and familiar churning riff-work that contains those loud and proud swirling patterns and charging rhythms that were commonplace in that initial scene, buzzing away with abandon while the ferocious riffing keeps this one moving forward at a grand pace. Likewise, there’s also the genre’s prototypical mid-tempo efforts that let the pace down in favor of sprawling riff-work and more prominent melodic work which gives these efforts much more of a variety compared to the type of work found elsewhere here as the most ferocious tracks here are much more prominent throughout here. Granted, this here is all to be expected to be a part of this one with the band playing so closely to the genre’s heyday that there’s not much of a surprise here in many of these tracks. It’s all too familiar and goes through too many of the scenes’ cliches that there’s not much of a real identity to the band here with them playing with these tracks in such an approach, even though there’s a competence level to the material that does make for a somewhat more appealing time here than would be expected. Still, it’s an issue that does occur here and holds it back somewhat.

Even though it’s so obviously a part of the same scene as dozens of different bands here and that nothing here is all that different from those groups, this one still carries enough of a positive charge here that this is a fine choice for the most diehard and ardent Swedeath follower while those looking for more impactful work should look elsewhere.

Score: 82/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here;
http://fda-records.com/gx2/de/fatalist-the-bitter-end-cd-9-23-16.html

Barrow Wight - Kings in Sauron's Service

Artist: Barrow Wight
Release Title: Kings in Sauron's Service
Year: 2016
Label: Heavy Chains Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. No Sleep till Gondor
3. Osgiliath
4. The Cult
5. Grond
6. Knights in Saurons Service
7. In League with Sauron
8. Dwimmerlaik
9. Harrower of the Dark
10. The Palantir

Founded in 2006 by high-school friends, Canadian metallers Barrow Wight have quickly taken the band’s sound to a venom-charged, reverb-fuelled heavy metal punk nightmare through the years as they’ve refined and honed their sound. With two years of work touring and preparing material having secured a stable line-up comprised of Antero on vocals/bass, Akiva on guitar, and Ace on drums, the group prepares their debut effort September 30, 2016 on Heavy Chains Records.

As evidenced by their thematic imagery, the group is quite clearly at home employing fantasy-style work here to their simplistic dirty heavy metal style. The riff-work takes plenty of cues from straightforward punk-laced early traditional metal as the chug-heavy rhythms and unvarying style make for a rather simplistic style of attack while being augmented by rumbling bass-lines and pounding, straightforward drumming that doesn’t deviate from the norm all that much, keeping this one solely one-note throughout here in terms of presenting rocking, high-energy punk rhythms within simplistic heavy metal. As that becomes the most prominent aspect of this one, though, that leaves the album so simplistic and single-minded that it really does this a disservice by simply offering only slight tempo deviations for any kind of variety and on the whole there’s just not a whole lot of really engaging material here once it lets the tricks of the trade be presented. There’s not a whole lot really wrong with this attack, which does come off rather nicely here due to the influx of rumbling heavy metal and fiery riff-work throughout the album, but it’s just way too simplistic to really count with the short and to-the-point running time of the majority of the tracks certainly not doing that any favors, though this here does get a slight pass for not only being a debut release from the group and a chance to rework that could be highly beneficial in the future.

Though there’s some solid work at times here, the fact that there’s just not all that much work here that really brings this one up from the mediocre realm ends up causing this one to mostly appeal to die-hard fans of the dirty rocking style or those that really enjoy the other facets of the band on display throughout here.

Score: 80/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.heavychainsrecords.com/shop/cds/barrow-wight-kings-in-saurons-service-cd