A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Aborym - Without Human Intervention (2003 - code666)

With No Human Intervention

When i first was informed of Attila's newer project, Italian based Aborym, i was dubious. i hadn't heard anything in the vein of cyber/industrial black metal and i was curious, yet worried i would hear a load of shit. Luckily i was surprised at how good this album is.
We start with a sketchy intro track then full on head first into a hyper fast crazy blur of blast beats and furious solos. Attila's vokills are instantly recognisable and satisfying. I was surprised (and not for the good this time) to hear some 'dansey' beats as oppoosed to the barrage of black metal precussion at one point in the song 'Faustian Spirit Of The Earth'. Yes if you are wondering they are referring to the almighty Bard Faust of Emperor fame who was involved in this project.
This album achieves its goal well by depicting a grim, evil fucked up future for mankind. The misanthropic vibe is ever present. 'Without Human Intervention' is undoubtedly a good album, but can get tedious after half an hour of similar sounding songs, but definitley worth a listen for any bm fans. Fans of more traditional thrashy/deathly style metal might not appreciate this.
Reviewed By - hail erebus

Slay The Masses Score...7.5/10

Back To Top

Aeternus - Burning The Shroud (Hammerheart)

Burning The Shroud

Aeternus blend black and death to create nasty slabs of metal. 'Burning The Shroud' is good. It supplies what every metal fan wants, great vocals and excellent guitar work make up for some cracking songs. Despite this, some songs are a bit repetitive and dull, which is a shame because the band obviously have a lot of talent. The album features new versions of songs and live versions (which are good quality) and only a few new songs which makes a good selection for Aeternus fans.
Reviewed By - hail erebus

Slay The Masses Score...6/10

Back To Top

Akercocke - Chronozon (Earache)

Chronozon

The London based, suit wearing, suave motherfuckers, black metal band Akercocke have recently signed to earache records, and this is the bastard lovechild of the merge. Foul analagies aside, is it any good?
Well the answer is yes actually. It has vision, it has depth, it has atmosphere. When listening to it i feel Mendonca's vocals penetrating my brain and playing havoc..good stuff! This is a satisfying slice of dirty, filthy, evil black metal. So dark, and so brooding, yet mind-meltingly heavy.
Reviewed By - hail erebus

Slay The Masses Score...7.5/10

Back To Top

Anaal Nathrakh - When Fire Rains Down From The Sky, Mankind Will Reap As It Has Sown (2003 - Mordgrimm)

When Fire Rains Down...

This latest effort from the UK's Anaal Nathrakh is shere brutality. Unrelenting, pounding, screaming, vile. If satan's minions and acolytes broke free from hell and laid waste to mankind, this would be the soundtrack to it. But does this pure evil blend of apocalyptic black metal get too intense after a few listens? In many cases yes, pure noise can get annoying but Anaal Nathrakh's music is very passioante and meaningful, keeping the listener frozen to his/her seat. The band recorded four tracks for John Peel at Radio 1 which were played on his session on 16th December 2003.
Reviewed By - hail erebus

Slay The Masses Score...7.5/10

Back To Top

Anorexia Nervosa - Suicide Is Sexy (2004 - Apokalypse Records)

Suicide Is Sexy

Even though this came out in the year 2004 this is not new material. In fact it’s the re-release of their demo material, one of them “Nihil Negativum” actually got some distribution in the underground. However, the other one “Garden of Delight” seems to have been something that band has kept to themselves. So this is probably one of the only places you will be able to hear these three tracks, which pre-dates their more “official” demo of “Nihil Negativum.” Furthermore “Garden of Delight” is so old that it came out when they were known as the band Necromancia, thankfully they later came up with something more original like Anorexia Nervosa. Anyone deep into the underground has heard of Necromantia, so there may have been future confusion.
Now this is an extremely limited release only 999 were printed. I have #592, hand numbered, I wonder if there will be future bootlegs, but as of right now this is the only way you can get this material officially. It comes in an excellent boxed package with a jewel cased CD inside. Inside the boxed case the whole band has signed the inside, so this is truly a collector’s item. These things lasted probably two months, tops, before they went out of print, so unfortunately it is no longer an easy album to acquire. So if you are an Anorexia Nervosa fan and you collect their material, then if you ever see this I suggest getting it. Getting an original print of this will only become more difficult as time goes on and as Anorexia Nervosa becomes more popular the price of “Suicide is Sexy” will eventually be worth a decent sum of money. So don’t hesitate if you see one somewhere. The cover on the Jewel Cased CD was supposed to be the cover for “Exile,” the bands first full length release. However, the record label had rejected it, but it is finally in print for you to see now. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, it is extremely limited.
For those who are more familiar with Anorexia Nervosa’s newer material, be forewarned this is nothing like the music they play now. If you read my review for “Exile” you will see they were not a Symphonic Black Metal band in the beginning. Their demo material isn’t very similar to “Exile” either, but it bears more resemblance to “Exile” than say, “Drudenhaus.” The first demo you hear on this release, “Nihil Negativum,” isn’t like “Exile” either, it’s actually more Death Metal oriented in my opinion. Mostly due to the vocals, the guitar work is still just as strange as that on “Exile.” It seems that when Anorexia Nervosa was conceived as a concept they had initially intended to write a sort of Play in album format, and then perform this play on stage as live shows. A novel idea in my opinion, however, their music was quite lacking. I think the general ups and downs of tempo and feel of the songs is designed to mimic the characters emotions. It was a good idea, as I said, but it was poorly executed on “Nihil Negativum” and even on “Exile.” The demo material is nothing exciting, but you can hear the band’s potential as musicians. I’m glad Season of Mist picked them up after hearing this because that allowed Anorexia Nervosa to develop into what they are today, which is vastly different from how they started. It seems each song has a sort of introduction, strange keyboard effects with spoken word in French over it. I think the actual metal songs are spoken in English though. I rather wish they had printed the lyrics on this release, I think they would be interesting to read over.
The next demo material was recorded in 1993, and it’s before they were even called Anorexia Nervosa. I wasn’t even aware they were called Necromancia at one time, nor did I know this demo even existed; all I knew about was “Nihil Negativum.” I can see why this one got them nowhere. It wasn’t anything new; it seemed like under produced Death Metal with a slight attempt at clean guitar tone experimentation. Granted I enjoy having this old material, to see how Anorexia Nervosa developed as a band and in the end it amazes me even more that they became who they are today. However, the music is not very desirable, but what do you honestly expect from Demo material. It’s not going to be top notch, however, even with good production I don’t see the “Garden of Delight” demo ever interesting me much musically.
The extra material, which is only available on this CD are two live tracks recorded in 1995. I’m simply amazed at the quality of this recording. It’s done in 1995… and I can here everything. This is simply impressive; if anyone listens to the live Mayhem recordings they know the recording quality is less than desirable. However, somehow, probably a miracle of modern technology, Anorexia Nervosa has captured one of their early live performances successfully. Granted the music isn’t anything to brag about, but the two songs featured are better than the songs on “Nihil Negativum” so it shows that they were improving all the time. However, the vocals at the beginning of “Lepros Darma” are just weird and don’t even need to be performed in that manner. I’m not sure what the purpose of doing that was. It threw me off when it came on, because “Autoerotic Death” flowed quite easily. Another aspect of this ultra rare CD is the bonus live video track also recorded in 1995. I’m rather impressed Anorexia Nervosa still had all this extra material, or salvaged it from fans. It’s not something I wouldn’t expect to still be around after almost ten years. The video track is interesting; it’s the performance for the closing of the “Nihil Negativum” demo and is around eleven minutes long. The quality isn’t too bad, the music is audible and you can see the band. However, it’s video taped further back in the crowd, so you see all the fans at the venue in front of you. There are no close-ups of the band or anything; it’s just a still camera capturing the performance.
In closing I’m honestly quite glad I have this album in my collection. It would be very difficult to locate in the future. Regardless of the music’s quality it is still an enjoyable listen. It was an interesting evolutionary note that early on Anorexia Nervosa leaned more towards a Death Metal vocal performance than Black Metal. I would have guessed otherwise, so needless to say I was surprised. As a collector, this is a must have release, it is beautifully packaged and well worth the money spent on it. However, it is not something to purchase for it’s musical content, merely if you are curious about where the band came from in the beginning.
Reviewed By - celtic crust

Slay The Masses Score... (Music Rating 6/10) (Collectability Rating 10/10)... Overall 8/10

Back To Top

At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul (1995 - Earache)

Slaughter Of The Soul

This beauty is not as revered as i think it should be, as one of the metal classics of all time.
It always leaves me speechless when listening to 'Slaughter Of The Soul' beacause it is just so goddamned motherfucking good! At The Gates had a purpose to make an everlasting mark on the world of metal and you can feel this right from that starting riff of 'Blinded By Fear'. Its so intense, so focused and so tight. They get right to the point and don't fuck around.
There is an irresistable punky pulsing throughout which always results in banging of heads! You can't help it! the chord progressions, the epileptic precussion, lindberg's gruesome vocals, the songs themsleves are all heavenly. the songs just flow. Despite this being a thrash record and therefore not bombastically heavy, it is shere intensity that makes up and blows you away. The themes and ideas they tackle with each song are so relevant and personal and i think this helped inspire the music to be so fucking excellent. For example the song 'Suicide Nation' about the high suicide rates in Sweden.
If you miss this one you are a fool. Even if thrashy stuff isn't really your scene you absolutley have to check this album out.
Reviewed By - hail erebus

Slay The Masses Score...10/10

Back To Top

At The Gates - With Fear I Kiss The Burning The Darkness (1993 - Peaceville)

With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness

This pre 'Slaughter Of The Soul' release by At The Gates on Peaceville is a fair effort. The music is great, resonating, harmonious, unholy riffs haunt the listener and some great battery backs it up. You can hear the makings of 'Slaughter Of The Soul' here, but it just is nowhere near as stunning. In places it is a little confused and tiresome and just doesn't have that magical aura that their latter work has. If you are a fan of At The Gates it is worth a look.
Reviewed By - hail erebus

Slay The Masses Score...6/10

Back To Top