Beyond Mind-The Wrath of the Dead Tongue

Offical Myspace
Label:Self Released
Released: Oct 2009
Release Type: EP, CD-R lmt 100
Genre: Down Tempo Black Metal

New Zealand, verdant plains, terrible acoustic guitar comedians, sheep, and well... more sheep; not the kinda place you'd expect black metal to take root. Well lo and behold, Beyond Mind, one of the only bands I know of from New Zealand (besides Black Boned Angel and Ulcerate, here look for yourself). Regardless, in my eyes, they are worthy flag bearers to this young scene.

Interestingly enough, black metal has proven to grow (and thrive) in the most unlikely places (San Francisco, I'm looking at you) which of course is due to such a dedicated fanbase. Similarly to many offsets of punk, black metal proves easy for the novice to walk into, yet as we've seen with the Myspace era, bedroom black metal has become one of the worst things we've had to deal with. Quorthon set the mark, one which no one could ever reach, but it was Varg's attention to minimalism and isolation that proved to be every black metal kid's wet dream. Uninspired, and downright awful guitar riffs run through artificial distortion paired with a poorly programmed drum machine and vocals with more distortion and reverb then you'd ever think possible and you've got the blue prints to a significant portion of black metal out there. To make my point, maybe a good anecdote would be that cat that poops the most expensive coffee bean, Beyond Mind may just well prove to be one of those poop beans, lost amidst some stupid animal's shit.

A pleasant surprise for me, and big plus was the thick and strong production, something that's far from the tepid waves of static and anonymous cymbal crashes that have become a mainstay as of late. The thick and robust production works so well, I really can't stress that enough. The bass drum really punches and the bass even does a good job in the super slow dismal sections. I was surprised to realize it was a programmed drum kit, as they sounded pretty good. The strong, clean, yet ominous production is the kind that any black metal purist shouldn't scoff or vilify as it works oh so well.

My affinity for the production aside, Beyond Mind couples a slower and more pensive sound which excels when juxtaposed against blazing blast beat sections and riffs to match. Straying from languid exercises in monotony, Beyond Mind emphasis slower sections which harsh contrasts and effectively moving song structures. Personally, the shifts from quarternote bass thuds and distant drumming, to full on cacophony are some of the best parts of the album. The interplay between the guitar, drums, bass, and vocals works surprisingly well as they all drop out at times to highlight another, keeping an effective juggle going of textures atmosphere and mood. The quiet clean picked guitar, to an addition of vocals, then drums is a common trick, yet Beyond Mind utilizes it in such an effective way actually creating a sense of excitment in the listener as to what might come next. The variance of tempo, rhythm, riffs, vocal patterns, and mood make this EP an exceptionally enjoyable and an easy listen.

As mentioned earlier, the drum programming is pretty good, in fact, it's miles ahead of most bands. Accents, interesting and varied fills, ordination to highlight vocals, or guitars, as well as shifting beats and a decent sound create solid ground work for the vocals, guitar, bass, and even piano to wander on their own. The vocals are very throaty, drawn out whispers, screams, groans, and everything in between, yet they remain quite decipherable ( and the same tone). They, as well as the band itself, remind me a lot of Silencer(Swe), luckily for them the vocals aren't as ludicrous and the the production and variation's a bit better. One of the highlights for me is the lonely bass line that begins "Caressed by Cold" (which is probably my favorite song, excellent motif), setting the theme for the song. There's good use of the bass throughout this EP, something I can't say for most black metal. The intro could be shortened, but interestingly enough, the very similar outro is great.

If you enjoy black metal at a slower pace and dreary, then this is for you. A nice surprise, being the cynic I am, Beyond Mind come off very promising with this one. Proving to have compelling riffs and widgets as well as an effective atmosphere, Beyond Mind get the job done. Buy it on their myspace, and take a listen there too.

-F

Infernal Stronghold-Godless Noise

Official Site
Label: Forcefield Records
Released: July 2009
Release Type: LP/CD Full Length
Genre: Black/Thrash/Crust

Further quenching my thirst for the blasphemous cacophony that is Infernal Stronghold is their second full length album aptly titled Godless Noise. As with all their releases I've encountered, the LP of Godless Noise is wrapped in a beautiful package. Gorgeous printed matte jacket covered in obscure and endless details as well as necessary information (song titles and the like). The inner jacket is a slick glossy picture on one side and lyrics and legal info on the other side. Offering to be limited to 700 and only 12 bucks i can't see how anyone could pass this up. I'm sure the cd is just as nice, although to quote the guys themselves "10 songs, 27 minutes. Sounds waaayy better on vinyl."

Now with the music. Infernal Stronghold retain their taste for a rough production that sounds organic, powerful, and cacophonous, but never hazy and obscuring. They have found a perfect match of old school European d-beat mixed with 90's Norwegian black metal and an overall polish that comes from the competence and understanding of a modern day, level headed engineer. The vocals are vicious and strained, mid-range black metal rasps, to crusty shouts, all dirty and raw. The guitars shred through thrashy riffs amidst a razorwire mesh of distortion and static, leaving the bass to be support and the unadulterated drums to maintain its own space. The dirty and thrashy vibe, coupled with the black metal vocals and aesthetic tied to the punky sections cement this lp as heads above the rest.

For the most part, the songs are short and varied blasts of blackened thrashcore(think of Anti-Cimex collaborating with Horna playing old Sodom songs or something along those lines) that manipulate fast sections of blast beats to d-beats, to mid-paced thrash affairs and all that lies in between. "Crippling Blasphemous Persistence" stands to be the most black metal track offered on the album, a catchy tremolo picked riff coupled with a powerful blast beat carry the song and even a slower section with a very somber riff that highlights Infernal Stronghold's arsenal of tricks and abilities; this track is probably my favorite on the album.

Infernal Stronghold do an excellent job of mixing all elements to their sound equally, creating a unique sound that stays true to the title Urban Blasphemy. The lyrics offer commentary on(against) religion, political/societal issues, as well as personal and interpersonal issues. I found the lyrics to be quite good and refreshing when compared with countless bands spewing fuck yous or fuck religion; a bit more introspective than that.

Infernal Stronghold are geniune with their music and don't look to impress anyone or do anything for anyone else besides themselves and their fans. Support them and buy their shit, nice guys and great merch that's dirt cheap. Buy here for the LP/CD, and here for older releases/merch.

-F

Anaal Nathrakh-In The Constellation Of The Black Widow

Official Myspace
Released: 2009
Label: Candlelight Records
Release Type: Full length, CD
Genre:Black Metal

Yes, yes! finally! With Anaal Nathrakh's Hell is Empty... listeners(at least myself) saw a pretty large shift to a more death metal approach, one that lacked the vigor, filth, and brazen frenzy that their earlier work contained. With In The Constellation... listeners are lucky to hear Anaal Nathrakh combine the unrelenting fury of their demos and first LP as well as Domine Non Es Dignus and Eschaton's cleaner production, stronger use of melody as well as clean vocals.

I always found Anaal Nathrakh's filthy sound to be their strongest and most individualistic attribute. The barrage of vocals, layered in all types of screams, gurgles and what not put against relentless blast beats and machine like guitar riffs gave Anaal Nathrakh a very angry and violent vibe. This comes out plenty within this album, but in addition to the fury there's plenty of catchy and melodic guitar work, not to mention great leads and solos and catchy, powerful sounding choruses. The seamless combination of all these factors makes In The Constellation... the most fluid, well rounded, and mature album they've released to date.

One of Anall Nathrakh's strongest points are their vocals. From distorted and industrialized howls, to low chants, to more typical death metal vocals, more typical black metal vocals, and even great clean vocals, Dave Hunt carries out an amazing performance, one that defiantly allows the album and the band to retain their own sound. I can't stress enough how diverse, powerful and important the vocals are and how much I enjoy them.

While this is easily my favorite Anaal Nathrakh album, and one of the best albums of 2009, there remains two issues. The first: when listened to on sub par speakers or headphones, a lot of the music gets lost because of so many layers and different sounds. Many times the higher screams, along with the cymbals and higher guitar sounds can blend together and become hard to distinguish, and for many at times might sound like there's too much going on. The second issue is that songs like In The Constellation Of The Black Widow and More Of Fire Than Blood are very similar with their anthematic clean chorus, much like older tunes (When Fire Rains Down... and Do Not Speak come to mind), which isn't really an issue, but more of a concern that they might become too comfortable with that said format and rarely stray from it. One can make the judgement that they might have 4 types of styles and simply mix and match them to effortlessly create each song.

At times Anaal Nathrakh are their harshest with tortured, industrialized screams and a vicious riff amidst blast beats, but at other times Anaal Nathrakh are their most civil and digestible. An example is at 2:09 in Terror In The Mind Of God the guitars go into a very Gothernburg type of riff. Another example, which I find funny, is a friend of mine who is mostly into stuff like Killswitch Engage found this to be an enjoyable listen because he loved the chorus of More of Fire Than Blood. In this case, being more accessible has only helped and improved Anaal Nathrakh. Parts like 2:44-3:09 in The Lucifer Effect truly have an epic grandeur and are highlights of the album.

The icing on the cake for this album is their revisit to my favorite Anaal Nathrakh song, Satanarchist. They do an excellent job with this song, changing it enough for it to sound new and exciting, but at the same time staying faithful to the demo track.

A really stellar album. Full of scathing blast beats and tremolo sections, heavy palm muted stomps, catchy and anthematic choruses and everything else in between. Powerful, ravenous, melodic and catchy, this is their peak.

Download (320, and is the only rip that isn't fucked up, every other one I found sucked)
Buy

-F

Hellacaust - Disgust

Hellacaust Myspace
Released: 2008
Label:Blood Bucket Productions
Type: Full Length
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal

Ever wonder what being buried alive next to thousands of others, then somehow sawed to pieces by some terrible mass-murdering machine? Well if you haven't I don't know what you're doing with your day, but if it had a soundtrack it would be Hellacaust. Grinding black metal with huge flirtations towards the realm of crust and old fashioned thrashcore, Hellacaust pull off a polished release full of spite, anger, malice and misanthropy.

A filth ridden sound matched with a sparklingly clean production create and furious sound and works quite well for these Candian godstompers. The guitarwork jumps from catchy thrash leads to full blown black metal tremolo affairs. The guitarwork is spot on and flawless, very interesting and enjoyable. The drums blast and stomp, ranging from hyper fast blasts, the thudding d-beats, and everything in between; high energy. The vocals stay in the crust/black metal region, becoming quite understandable at times, and at others just venomous and scathing howls.

The in your face attitude reeks of punk demeanor and could be a strong reason why I make this band out to be some kind of punk hybrid. The music is really angry and pissed off, something that makes it a whole lot better. Fuck christians, fuck this, fuck that, fuck the world I say! Serious stuff here, but not without some fun (listen to the gang chorus and beers clinking together in Millennial Regression). Riffs and solos really stand out, Whore sounds like some (un)holy grail of awesome riffs that Destruction left laying around somewhere. Half way through Feeding the Wound a great riff leads to a nod to older metal in a bitchin' solo and all kinds of shit, not to mention the awesome chant- Stand, Stand, Take a fucking stand!.

This album is a great mixture of the nihilism and ferocity of black metal, the riffs,rhythm, and attitude of thrash and the anger of crust punk. Great stuff buuuuuuy!

Buy here or here
Listen (link courtesy of Attila)

-F

Ancestors- Ancestors II

No Site
Release Date:2009, April 14th
Label: Youth Attack
Release Type: EP; 7" white vinyl limited to 333, Cassette
Genre: Black Metal

Mark McCoy's enigmatic feedback drenched and punk ridden black metal project Ancestors strikes back with just over eleven minutes of harsher-than-thou music. For those of you unaccustomed to Mark McCoy he's the dude behind Youth Attack Records, Charles Bronson, Das Oath, etc and has more of a punk grounding when it comes to music (I even hear he's moved into visual art too, nowadays). That said, none of this is included in the Ancestors package. Info is rare and hard to come by for this band, owning the actual EP offers no help, except for eerie, but ultimately nice packaging and a thick white disc that appreciates the value.

Ancestor's style is defiantly an acquired taste. The guitar unleashes a fury of feedback and static throughout the whole record playing what sounds like sped up punk riffs. The frantic howls and drums are set against a permanent wash of static that weaves in and out of the music. While the production sounds like it's piss poor, it's obviously intentional and trying to capture that vibe that made the LLN so special (or horrible). Walking that line between punk and black metal like his American contemporaries Bone Awl, Ancestors strays from the stagnate and hypnotic virtues that seems to be Bone Awl's game and offers plenty of variation within each song.

In all honesty, each song sounds pretty spontaneous and like some sort of self satisfaction for Mr. McCoy. The songs are enjoyable, but they don't carry the feeling that serious and long term thought were put into them. If not listening too closely, the two songs can feel like many more shorter songs simply smashed or segmented together. Overall the music is harsh and bombastic, but there are instances of melody and some sense of relief (around the end of the second track is a good example). But be ready for high energy, loud, and painful as hell music.

I like this EP, and Ancestors is certainly gaining popularity in the underground, just try to find the first EP for a fair price. A cool direction to take black metal in, and a very cool and mysterious vibe to put out. Hopefully a more cohesive full length is in the works.

Buy here
Listen here (Great blog by the way, be sure to check it often)
-F

Infernal Stronghold/GATT- Pests

Official Sites:GATT----Infernal Stronghold
Released: February 2009
Label: Metalwar/Bullshit Propaganda
Release Type: 7" Split limited 500
Genres: Black Metal/Crust/Death Metal/Thrash Metal

Being just one of the goodies I picked up from the awesome Repulsion show, Pests, is a butting of heads between Philly's own Infernal Stronghold and GATT of Indonesia. What drew me to this release immediately was the beautiful packaging. The jacket is covered in beautiful gold detail via silkscreen and the inside is the same. There's writing galore and plenty to keep you intrigued and interested. If the pretty packaging wasn't enough, there's two patches included, much in the same style (with the dark gold print it's pretty hard to tell what's going on in the patches, but who cares? they look neat). Anyway, before even listening I was won over by the amount of effort simply put into presentation on both band's behalf.


So never hearing either band I was skeptical, worried that all this packaging was a guise to cover up shitty music; thankfully I was wrong.


Hand scratched into the inner rim of the vinyl one can tell that the first side is Infernal Stronghold's offering. With a cacophonous and hallowed out production, Infernal Stronghold play a very crusty version of black metal. Vocals drenched in reverb and throat blisteringly vicious, they spew lyrical venom in a very punkish attitude (although, from what I can tell there's only one singer, he kinda sounds like the chick from Nausea every now and then). The riffs exemplified jump from punk rumblings to thrashy outbreaks (listen to the second track to see what I'm talking about) all without conflict or any filler. The guitarwork is excellent and catchy. Quickly becoming a favorite, Infernal Stronghold absolutely slay with this thrashy crust meets black metal approach, something I'm a complete sucker for. They even incorporate some neat thrash breaks and blast beats, fan-fucking-tastic.


On side B we get GATT which made me an instant fan in the first 3 seconds. I cant really describe how awesome it is, but there's brief feedback then this slimy, throaty, "bleh!" (only thing close to it I can think of are some of Belphegor(AUT)'s blehs) that unleashes a really heavy thrash riff. If i had to finger them, I'd call GATT crusty death metal, similar to Hellshcok (although a hellauva lot better). Plenty of tempo changes, deep throaty vocals and downtuned thrashy riffs amidst blast beats, midpaced stomps and d-beats keeps the momentum flowing for GATT's side. The vocals are spot on, mid-ranged rasps, deep bellows, and high-pitched screeches, really ace. Each song is composed excellently and has enough variation to keep you pounding your fist but never allowing you to get lost, bored, or confused. I'm a big fan simply with this release alone. Crusty and heavy as hell, GATT absolutely fucking slay here.


This shit's cheap enough, defiantly buy it and support two bands who actually kick ass and seem to put a lot of effort into their music. Buy here

-F

Csorna - Black Horizons

Csorna Myspace
Release: 2009
Label: Self-Released
Release Type: Demo, Mp3
Genre:Black Metal

Relatively unknown, and maybe that’s how they want it, America’s Csorna offer up absolutely no information in terms of their lineup, image, or product. There’s no physical manifestation at the moment to confirm this band’s actual existence, all that exists are two demos in mp3 format with song titles and album art. The band’s myspace features no information, nor does it allude to any. When it all boils down to it, it doesn’t really matter.

Csorna’s Black Horizons blurs by quickly in a storm of static, wails, drums, and surprisingly melodic guitars. Playing a style of black metal that flirts with punk, the d-beat region, Csorna exemplifies competent and promising bedroom black metal. To unaccustomed ears, the permanent hiss of Csorna’s guitars that cuts through the foreboding intro track of ambiance could be quite offsetting, but when given time the listener is privileged to hear actual notes, melodies and progressions. The production found on Black Horizons is purposefully raw sounding and establishes mood quite well, yet it also allows everything that needs to be heard by the listener to remain in plain sight. Making comparisons is usually an unfair game, but Csorna seems to run with the school of lo-fi acts like Akitsa, Bone Awl, Vordr and Ancestors, while stepping away from the first two’s obsession with simplicity. There exists enough progressions, rhythm changes and structure so that the music maintains its vital energy and keeps your head banging.

The vocals are buried deep in the background and contribute a throaty and distorted kind of death howl a bit similar to Archgoat. The drums pound away beneath the sea of static allowing only the bass drum and various cymbal crashes to be heard on a consistent basis. Each song contains catchy, yet simple punk styled riffs which often rely upon power chords and predictable transitions. My favorite sections are when the drums break away from the ambiguity of lo-fi blast beats and slam into a powerful sounding punk beat (check out 2:25 in “Passage Through The Depths” and the beginning of “Bellows Of Ancient Souls”).

While the band isn't breaking ground, nor are they pushing boundaries, there's something I really like about them. The combination of death metalish vocals, abstract static of the most lo-fi quality, and the melding of punk and black metal in terms of song writing make this highly enjoyable.

A promising release, one can only hope that this band moves away from the crutch that is Myspace and release physical output. Download both demos here.
-F

Weapon - Para Bhakti... Salvation

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theweaponchakra
Release Date: 2008
Label: The Ajna Offensive
Release Type: EP

I've never understand why this was myself, but black metal and solos seem to mutually exclusive phenomenons. Virtually all of the black metal bands I've encountered lack solos of any kind. It still befuddles me to this day. Especially when we have a band like Weapon putting solos into their own brand of black metal so well.

At two songs, Para Bhakti... Salvation is a relatively short affair, although to say it doesn't command your full attention throughout its 14 and a half minutes is very, very wrong. "Archana" sucks you in with its hypnotic and violent whirlpool of pounding blastbeats, crunching tremolo riffs, and satanic vocal incantations. The leads are effortlessly weaved into the song, adding an extra element of melody, but don't detract from the atmosphere whatsoever. "Archana" climaxes with a rousing solo and a wall of pounding double bass.

At this point it is safe to say that Weapon are no slouch when it comes to musicianship. The production has a raw, primitive edge to it yet retains enough clarity for the individual instruments to cut through. The drummer is no one-dimensional blastbeat machine, as he augments the songs with a variety of crashing fills and cymbal crashes. The guitar, is by no means, typical either. There are numerous catchy riffs and leads here, though they are far from being melodic and pretty.

"Para Bhakti... Salvation", the second half of this EP is a slightly different animal. While "Archana" retained a constant, slightly droning, blast-beated rhythm throughout, "Para..." shifts gears ever so slightly. The opening of it could very well be death metal, although there is an undeniable black metal mavolence to it. The song shifts into a slightly "rocking" midtempo swagger about two minutes in, though it could just be me. The song takes a steep dive into blastbeat territory, before it shifts back into the "rocking" riff, albeit backed by driving double-bass this time. The solo here isn't too commanding on its own, though juxtaposed to the rhythm, it adds a sinister and aloof melody. The song ends with an eerie chanted melody and tribal drums, begetting at the great and terrible things that are sure to come from this band.

Highly potent and highly recommended.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?yme20imwynz

Purchase

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