[ALBUM REVIEW] Forlorn Winds - The Day the Wolf Swallowed the Sun

 

Genre - Black Metal

1. A New Age Dawns

2. Norn's Destiny

3. The Day the Wolf Swallowed the Sun

4. Realm of Decay

5. Ancient Flesh

6. Signal of Gall

7. Transfiguration of Conciousness

8. Forlorn Winds

Finding any substantial information about this mysterious act called Forlorn Winds is proving to a bit of a futile endeavour. What I do know about them is they are a recent project involving members of both Polish stalwarts Dark Fury and the American act Pantheon, and although there is a considerable distance between both artists, it certainly doesn’t show in their music, for this comes together in absolutely sublime fashion. It’s especially surprising in that this appears to be mainly the brainchild of Vautrin from Pantheon, a band which I was never a fan of at all, but this succeeds them on every level imaginable.

Given that both members are from two notorious NS bands, you’d be safe in assuming this is comes across heavily in the elitarian atmosphere these two guys conjure together, and regardless of what side of the line you stand you’ve got to admit that it’s utterly fucking pulverising at times.  With The Day the Wolf Swallowed the Sun the emphasis is very much on the bleak grinding tumult of the guitars with Vautrin’s deep reverbed vocals superimposed on top.  If you want a basic comparison I’d liken Forlorn Winds to a hybrid somewhere between the rhythm work of Drudkh and the occult vacuity and force of Greek act Acherontas, which I can certainly hear in the vocals.

The drum work itself though deserves a mention; J’s work is flat out with his relentless blasting broken up tastefully adding a sweeping wave of brutality to this album. Just listen to the opener, “A New Age Dawns”, it’s absolutely fucking devastating and levels everything in its path, leaving nothing but dust and ash in its wake. The vocals emanate from the inferno with all the ardour of the fallen one himself. The rest of the album pretty much follows in the same pattern, razor sharp riffing surging to and fro, deep echoed vocals and a never ending blizzard from the kit.

The album even has a huge kick of Mgla to it, very noticeable in the arrangements of the title track with the vocal patterns and riffing. If there’s one complaint it’s the lack of variation, it seems like every track is just a different manifestation of the first one in one way or another, but when you listen to the first track you might consider than to be a positive rather than a negative. But then again you could say that about 90% of black metal albums anyway, so sort of a moot point.

If you’re looking for a no frills, no prisoners, no sympathy black metal album then look no further for The Day the Wolf Swallowed the Sun will drag you kicking and screaming into pitch black oblivion and show absolutely no remorse. Certainly a pleasant surprise from these two seasoned individuals anyway and one that most people would do well to check out. 

9/10

Sounds like - Acherontas, Stutthof, Mgla

Originally written for Metalcrypt

[ALBUM REVIEW] Heretic - A Time of Crisis

 

Genre - Heavy/Thrash Metal

1.	The Divine Inquisition
2.	Tomorrow's Plague
3.	Betrayed
4.	Remains
5.	A Time of Crisis
6.	For Your Faith
7.	Raise Your Fist
8.	Heretic
9.	Child of War
10.	Police State
11.	The End of the World
12.	Let Me Begin Again

HERETIC were another one of the many bands that existed in the eighties that were criminally overlooked for one of many reasons. Their debut (and until now only) album for me was always one I considered ‘up there’ with the classics of US Heavy Metal. Indeed for any self respecting fan of ripping, snarling eighties metal “Breaking Point” is a must have; find me a metal fan who can resist the manic assault of that opener and you’re a better man than I. It was only after a brief obsession with METAL CHURCH did I ever find out of their existence, namely due to the fact HERETIC was the stage in which vocalist Mike Howe launched his career, later going on to replace the illustrious David Wayne in the aforementioned METAL CHURCH.

 Reunions of classic bands after a long period of time are always a sticking point with me, more often than not it’s either a blatant cash cow or simply a bunch of crusty old has beens pining for their youth, something which I believe has only been exacerbated by the internet era with a lot of more overlooked/underground bands gaining exposure who would not have otherwise done so. Sometimes it’s just best to let these things die, though thankfully from what I’ve heard from “A Time of Crisis” it certainly comes across as something a bit more genuine than an assemblage of nostalgia and fervent desperation.

Fair enough the only consistent member present is Brian as Julian gave way to Mike for the debut, but Angelo and Glenn certainly slot in well enough alongside these two. With opener ‘Tomorrow’s Plague’ and its socio-political driven verve with its hefty guitar tone and simplistic structure you can pretty much set the scene here for the rest of the album. It’s all much the same, with some peaks and troughs along the way; ‘Betrayed’ is another great track in a somewhat similar vein, chunky and riff driven and although the guitar tone does appear ‘modernized’ to some extent it never steers close to groove territory thankfully. By the fourth track though it all begins to blur together and exposes their rather simple blueprint. Not that it’s bad, it’s just well... a bit exhausting.

‘For Your Fate’ is a pretty fucking poor song, there’s no two ways about it, a cringe inducing horrorfest of clichéd, anti-religious spiel with a dreadfully basic structure; but the biggest faux pas with “A Time of Crisis” lies with the re-recording of ‘Heretic’. Just fucking no. There are some songs which should just be left alone, and this is a prime example. Julian’s vocals just don’t compare to Mike and they don’t suit the song at all, resulting in a pale imitation of what is arguably the best track the band have ever written. Still though, “Child of War” ups the ante considerably in what is probably the best track on the album, an energetic and crushing Motorhead-esque piledriver that shows when the band really let loose, they can actually sound pretty fucking killer and get the necks moving. ‘Police State’ hammers on with the same tenacity and tasteful soloing and that ever present thick, choppy riffing and ‘The End of the World’ closes the album on a positive note, another impressive number with thunderous drumming and guitar set to overdrive.

It’s clear Brian has shifted the emphasis in HERETIC to heaviness rather than the classic Power/Thrash sound they used to deliver, and while there are plenty of great moments to be heard on “A Time of Crisis”, it does come across at times as a touch sterile, by no means helped by the fact that Julian just isn’t the vocalist he was back on “Torture Knows No Boundary”. I suppose it’s to be expected somewhat but at time’s he sounds really badly out of tune and strained. It doesn’t compare at all to “Breaking Point” but is certainly an acceptable comeback. I’ve heard much much worse and with songs like ‘Child of War’ that will keep you hitting the repeat button, there’s definitely some replay value to be had, and that’s the important thing. 

7/10

Sounds like - Metal Church, Reverend

Originally written for The Metal Observer

[ALBUM REVIEW] Death Strike - Fuckin' Death

Genre - Death Metal

1.	The Truth
2.	Mangled Dehumanization
3.	Re-entry and Destruction
4.	Pay to Die
5.	The Final Conflict
6.	Man Killed America/Embryonic Misconceptions
7.	Pervert
8.	Remorseless Poison

Death Strike need little introduction to anyone who would consider themselves seasoned in the realm of death metal, the legendary Paul Speckmann’s  debut foray into the genre has garnered pretty much cult status now as a genre classic and not without good reason. This reissue of 1991 album by Dark Descent compiles the debut demo from ’85 together with four other tracks for the rather aptly titled Fuckin’ Death, and being brutally honest, could you possibly have a more suitable description for the sensory annihilation present on this disc?

It’s that fact that half this material was recorded back in the mid eighties that really makes it stand out, death metal was still in its infantile stages back then with extreme metal making a transition between the crust influenced filth of Hellhammer and the ilk to a more brutal strain with bands like Possessed and Slaughter emerging out of the underground with a significantly more potent and brutal form of metal unlike anything heard before, and when you realise it came out at the same time as two monumental releases by the aforementioned bands you wonder why the fuck it never got quite as much attention as it was just as influential if not more so than those classics.

In case you’re one of the unenlightened still wondering who the fuck Death Strike are, Fuckin’ Death was essentially just the first Master album under a different moniker, and if you ask me, along with Master’s debut and possibly On the Seventh Day are the only things worth owning by Speckmann. The first four tracks as previously mentioned are from 1985 and astonishingly ahead of their time. It’s basically ‘Hellhammer on crack’, fast brutal and utterly primal Death Metal with that huge hardcore influence shining through. Paul’s vocals are a maniacal and wretched reverbed howl that just add to the chaos conjured with Kirk’s unbridled leads, the d-beat styled drumming and thundering, bowel shaking bass. Songs like “Pay to Die” and “Re-Entry and Destruction” are impossible not to like, it’s extreme metal heaven (or hell, whichever you prefer), straight-forward, catchy and downright punishing.

The next four tracks are noticeably different; “The Final Countdown” starts off with a doomy dirge and forgoes flat out speed for a suffocating heaviness that certainly hints at a change in thinking within the band, also evident in the increased length of the songs. “Man Killed America” follows much the same pattern while “Pervert” presses a little harder on the gas while closer “Remorseless Poison” reverts back to that ominous onslaught of bass driven death. And if like me you got your hands on the vinyl copy you also get a bonus 7” of rehearsal tracks which are a nice addition albeit nothing to write home about.

It’s the lo-fi shoddy execution and production of the whole thing which adds so much character to this release and so many others from the same time frame, a character and feeling which is sadly lost on today’s tech and blast obsessed bands. In my books Fuckin’ Death is pretty much a classic of primitive death metal and when you consider when it originally was released that makes it all the more spectacular, and now that it’s finally seen a re-release it makes obtaining a copy something that won’t cause your bank account to have a fit. 

9/10

Sounds like - Master, Hellhammer, Possessed 

Originally written for Dead Void Dreams

[ALBUM REVIEW] Nordwind - Wendehorn

 

Genre - Black Metal

 

1. Gazing from the Void  

2. Spear of Mastery  

3. Death  

4. Spirit of Ruin  

5. Chaos  

6. Fimbulvetr    

This album certainly came as a welcome surprise right out of the blue. Nordwind are a Canadian band with strong ties to another well known Vancouver act Godless North with Wendehorn being their debut foray into the imposing wilderness of black metal. And for a first album, it’s an extremely impressive effort which contains a lot more character than a lot of the Black Metal coming out of Canada at the minute, opting for a rather more stripped back and raw pagan themed approach than the separatist black metal movement emanating from Quebec at the minute which seems to be gaining momentum again.

It’s obvious from the monstrosity of a riff which splinters “Gazing From the Void” that Absurd play a considerable influence in their sound; ugly, obnoxious and in your face not least exaggerated by the thundering drums and Kveldulv’s reverbed roaring. The whole album in general is very much focused on the guitar work, it’s without a doubt the strongest aspect present anyway powering through the songs with enough force to level a skyscraper. It’s heavily influenced by the classic Nordic style as well, more than once bringing to the fore visions of Satanic Warmaster in its almost rock-like arrangements. “Spear of Mastery” contains some impressive lead work injected in among the chaos to help shake things up a bit.

The songs all generally follow the same basic pattern and it has to be said that the first half of the album is stronger than the second, but that by no means says that the rest is bad, indeed it’s still better than a lot out there at the minute. The pulverizing guitar and drumming is the unarguable highlight here though Kveldulf’s vocals are still very strong, opting for a lower guttural rather than harsh screaming. It also happens to be very well produced as well which is a bonus especially in the genre of NSBM.

So yeah, it’s in its simplicity that it really shines and their blend of raw, raucous and blistering black metal is as subtle as a fist to the face and will leave you with barely a chance to catch your breath. As stated though it does tend to lose steam the longer it goes, but I still find this act has a lot more personality and replay value than Godless North, containing an almost perfect balance between the raw and atmospheric. Nordwind will certainly be an act to look out for in the future. 

8/10

Sounds like - Absurd, Gorgoroth, Satanic Warmaster

Originally written for  

 

[ALBUM REVIEW] Sathanas - La Hora de Lucifer

 

Genre - Black/Thrash Metal

1.	Angels Forsaken
2.	La Hora de Lucifer
3.	Forged In Eternal Fire
4.	Engraved In The Book Of Death
5.	Battle Of Bewitchment
6.	Darkconjurings
7.	Hammer Of Demons
8.	Nocturnal Reign
9.	Blackest Hate

US black/death metal Horde Sathanas have been toiling away in the nether regions of the extreme metal underground for what seems like nigh on forever now. With La Hora de Lucifer they’ve released their eighth album and yet somehow despite being an extremely solid purveyor of this style of music, still remain relatively unknown to most. La Hora de Lucifer is much more thrash oriented than their previous efforts though, they’ve taken their foot off the death pedal and injected a noticeably significant amount more speed this time around. While the formidable Nightrealm Apocalypse was more Possessed, this album is rather more aligned with the likes of Usurper and early Bathory.

Indeed it’s those aforementioned bands, Bathory anyway along with Venom that obviously play a huge part in Sathanas’ sound and rubs off visibly here. “Forged in Eternal Fire” even bears a title suspiciously similar to a certain famous Bathory song, and from the overtly satanic lyrics, Paul’s cutthroat blackened vocals and the thunderous procession of drums and crushing razor sharp riffs there’s certainly something here for any self respecting fan of black/thrash to get their teeth into. Granted, it’s nothing you could ever call groundbreaking and structurally all the songs on La Hora de Lucifer are much the same in their execution, but when it’s delivered with such ferocity and underground conviction like this then I’m not complaining.

Songs like “Battle of Bewitchment” and “Nocturnal Reign” are riff filled and solo strewn sermons of blasphemy and perfect examples of the level of quality that I’ve come to expect of this band by now. At the very least they’re consistent, I mean they’ve been at this game for 24 years now with little to no recognition and still haven’t released one album I would ever consider as sub-par, neither an album that would ever be considered an ‘essential classic’ either and La Hora de Lucifer continues this trend. It’s definitely one for the fans of Desaster, Usurper and the ilk to check out if they haven’t already.

7.5/10

Sounds like  - Deasaster, Usurper, Destruction

Originally written for Metalcrypt

[ALBUM REVIEW] Morbid Saint - Spectrum of Death

 

Genre - Thrash Metal

1.Lock up Your Children

2. Burned at the Stake

3. Assassin

4. Damien

5. Crying for Death

6. Spectrum of Death

7. Scars

8. Beyond the Gates of Hell

Years ago, back when I was getting into the genre as a young, naive metalhead, Thrash Metal was probably one of the most extreme forms of music I had set my ears upon. And like many other people I’m sure, the apex of brutality lay with SLAYER, “Reign in Blood” was unlike anything else ever heard, the most brutal and maniacal sounding noise ever put to disc. Then came Teutonic Thrash, SODOM, DESTRUCTION and the ilk and not long after MORBID SAINT crawled out of the abyss of underground Thrash and propelled it to a completely unheralded level of brutality and evil that few bands have ever come close to matching.  Simply put, “Spectrum of Death” makes “Reign in Blood” and “Pleasure to Kill” sound about as offensive as the fucking Beach Boys.

The fact that “Spectrum of Death” still remains much of a mystery to many casual fans of Thrash Metal is due to a myriad of various reasons, they had their problems and most notably the lack of distribution and backing of a decent label severely scuppered their ability to get “Spectrum of Death” the recognition it deserved, and is still much of a problem to this day with even shitty bootlegs fetching crazy prices on eBay. If you were to try and pin a sound on “Spectrum of Death” I would say the closest thing would be that it was the fastest, most aggressive and homicidal Thrash album never to come out of 80’s Germany, I mean this had about as much in common with American Thrash at the time as The Beatles did. I’d maybe even go so far to say that “Spectrum of Death” could be filed in along with the likes of POSSESSED as a very primitive form of the early stages of US Death Metal, and it’s understandable when you realise Chuck Schuldiner was a huge fan of the band, bagging them numerous support slots along with DEATH.

Musically it’s an album that’s basically unrivalled in terms of vicious, bone grinding ferocity. Take the intro to the classic opener ‘Lock up Your Children”, the pulverising double kick and breakneck riffing is just flat out insane; and then you have Pat’s vocals, you’d almost believe that was Pat on the fucking cover, a demon tore up from the bowels of hell spitting blasphemy with an aggression that would rip the flesh from your bones. The shorter songs such as ‘Burned at the Stake’, ‘Damien’, ‘Crying for Death’ are all infested with an absolute mountain of face cleaving riffs and unbridled drum work that’s somewhat comparable to being caught in a furnace of broken glass; they’ll leave you utterly exhausted, blanketed in bloody lacerations and needing extensive neck surgery . If that isn’t a sign of a good Thrash album then you’re probably better off listening to “The Black Album”.

With the drumming, it’s the ‘not-give-a-shit’ looseness of the timing that really gives the album that psychotic feel; it’s incessant, imposing and so punishing I’d rate this as the finest drum performance any Thrash Metal album in history, quite a statement. Similarly the guitar work spewed forth by Jim and Jay is a continual bombardment of saw toothed riffs and incinerating solos flailing wildly all over the place. It’s the longer tracks on the album that really set it alight though, ‘Assassin’, widely regarded as the best on the album has tempo shifts galore ranging from fast to hyper-fast and together with that break at 1:12 it’s enough to cause a seizure. The best Thrash song ever? Probably. ‘Scars’ is similar in its execution, inhuman vocals expelled from the maelstrom of riffs and drums; it’s probably fair to say Pat Lind sounds like Mille Petrozza on crack. Oh and then there’s the breakdown in ‘Beyond the Gates of Hell’, a fitting closer to the album that in case there’s anything left standing makes sure it’s levelled to dust by the end of the album. Find me a chorus in the whole genre of Thrash with as much wretched conviction as Pat screaming “Beyond the gates of hell, looking through the dark, forever I will be, beyond the gates of hell” and you’re a better man than I. Pure unadulterated evil.

Thrash has never and will never reach this level of ferocity ever again, many have come close, for me only DARK ANGEL and DEMOLTION HAMMER have threatened to usurp the throne of MORBID SAINT in terms of sheer unhinged brutality. It’s everything Thrash Metal should be and unfortunate they never got the recognition they deserved when it mattered, when the album originally came out. What more can I really say about this iconic slab of Thrash Metal that hasn’t been already? It’s just been rereleased on vinyl by Relapse and CD by the band themselves, so now you’ve got no excuse. 

10/10

Sounds like - Dark Angel, Slayer, Possessed

Originally written for The Metal Observer

[ALBUM REVIEW] Timor et Tremor - Upon Bleak Grey Fields

 

Genre - Pagan Black Metal

1.	Of Fame And Doom
2.	Solstice
3.	Eternal Woe
4.	Nights Radiance
5.	Shores Of Light
6.	Helrunar
7.	Funeral Dawn
8.	Northern Lights (re-recording)

Atmopsheric Black Metal has always been a tag that piques my interest. Fair enough you could argue that all Black Metal should contain an element of ‘atmosphere’ be it bestial, depressing, noxious or in TIMOR ET TREMOR’S case, a primitive pagan oriented slant on the genre which in their case they describe as ‘Chattic Black Metal’. What the fuck is ‘Chattic’? I hear you say, well apparently the Chatten were an ancient Germanic tribe that settled in North West Hessen and this is where the band derives their influences and releases them in their music.

So moving on from our brief history lesson, it’s hard to describe the material on the all too brief forty four minutes of “Upon Bleak Grey Fields” as anything less than utterly enthralling. There is the obvious huge Germanic influence present, similarities could easily be drawn to fellow acts such as OBSCENITY, HELRUNAR and HEIMDALL’S WACHT but there is also a faint undercurrent of graven pride the likes you hear from PRIMORDIAL and a more than coincidental AGALLOCH and WOODS OF YPRES vibe especially in the clean vocals. It encapsulates the atmosphere they’re shooting for perfectly without sacrificing the element of brutality, a trap which many bands fall into rendering them limp and lifeless.

Straight from the guitar driven punch of ‘Solstice’ you know this is going to be an engaging listen. Hendrik’s harsh vocals together with Marco’s spellbinding riffing whips up an atmosphere that’s enough to transport you back those times that they sing about with so much spirit and respect. ‘Eternal Woe’ even has a radiance about it which recalls latter WATAIN among others in all its thundering, tremolo driven intensity before eschewing this mid-way for a brooding section filled with clean vocals that I can only compare to the late David Gold and a magnificent guitar lead. The clean vocals crop up all over the album and really add a fine touch of downtrodden misery to proceedings. It’s almost like this at times could be the album WOODS OF YPRES always wanted to create but could never find that upper gear.

“Northern Silence” continues the atavistic dirge with its AGALLOCH-esque progressions and in ‘Shores of Light’ we’re treated to those fantastic clean vocals again woven seamlessly into a thread of longing with those harsh vocals, pounding drums and bleak riffing that trails off into the beyond. It is in fact these final four songs beginning with ‘Shores of Light’ that really set this album apart though, ‘Helrunar’ ups the intensity again while album highlight, ‘Funeral Dawn’ has all the echoes of that aforementioned WOODS OF YPRES sound again, only better. The clean vocals are executed with such sombre credibility and together with the melodic, ringing guitar passage that closes the song out accounts for something utterly sullen yet sublime indeed, as is the vitriolic fury of the re-recorded ‘Northern Lights’. Picture yourself straddling an endless battlefield with blood and death still coursing through your veins, and a cold hard stare over the destruction beneath to behind a horizon of despair where you just know something better is waiting. That may give some insight, at least to me anyway as to the sound that TIMOR ET TREMOR are trying to convey here on “Upon Bleak Grey Fields”.

They always did show a large element of potential before, “My Oaken Chest” was a decent if slightly undercooked release but with “Upon Grey Bleak Fields” they have fulfilled that promise ten-fold and come up with an astounding album that easily sits up there with the best, and that’s no easy task. It contains ‘atmosphere’ in every sense of the word, a spiritual and standalone piece of work that contains a passion and fire that so many other bands could only wish to posses. Harsh yet melodic at the same time, “Upon Bleak Grey Fields” is an expert release in a genre beginning to get saturated with bands all plying the same trade. Don’t be surprised if you hear a lot more from these guys in the near future. Highly recommended. 

9/10

Sounds like - Woods of Ypres, Obscenity, Primordial

Originally written for Metal Observer